by Lance Erlick
“How did you orchestrate that?” Maria asked, trying to catch her breath.
“Special Ops sent the robots to capture us. They would have done to you what they’re doing to Luke.”
“And make military robots from you.”
Synthia nodded. “I can’t allow that.”
“Your skills are a big threat.”
“Only to those who seek to hurt me. I’m no more dangerous than a cornered bear. Governments have nuclear weapons that could kill humanity several times over. They’re far more dangerous than I am.”
“What’s your plan to stop the singularity?”
“One by one, I need to get the androids and robots off the street. I’m working on ways to track them. So far, Special Ops and the FBI show little interest in capturing the other androids until they get me. I’m their priority, but I’m also their best chance to shut the others down.”
Maria nodded. She paused at the edge of the woods, looked both ways on an otherwise deserted street, and ran across. Synthia kept pace with her.
Chicago-clone reported in.
“What’s your plan, other than scaring people into protesting?” Synthia asked.
Maria shook her head and kept moving. “I’m a powerless, ex-AI developer without the money or resources to fight this. With social media, if I reach the right people, I can get them activated.”
“To do what?” Synthia asked as they crossed a quiet street lined with ranch homes. She scrambled cameras throughout Evanston to confuse her pursuers.
“I don’t know, but eliminating one robot at a time won’t accomplish anything. The government can build more with higher capabilities.”
“Then what?”
“Demonstrate android vulnerability by taking them all at once,” Maria said. “Before they can learn and adapt. Why am I telling you?”
“How do we do that?”
Maria shrugged, turned a corner, and crossed behind a two-story house. “I don’t have all the answers, but we don’t have much time. Companies are ramping up production behind closed doors. They show the world basic robots and for private buyers and governments produce more advanced androids.”
Synthia pondered how talking with a different individual provided insight that talking to her clones hadn’t. Having different perspectives was an advantage Vera could exploit.
“Maria, keep coming up with questions and insight,” Synthia said. “Together we’ll find a way to take them out.”
“With your capabilities? You’re part of the problem.”
“For now, let’s concentrate on our common objective and that I’m your best chance to deal with it. You said you had no power. With me, you do. You can make a big difference instead of sitting on the sidelines. Your social media can help; so can I.”
“That part of you is vintage Krista,” Maria said. “Always seeking angles to get people to do things.”
“I thought that was Fran.”
“From whose point of view did you gather that?”
“From Krista,” Synthia admitted as they climbed over a wood fence. “Okay, so my memories aren’t unbiased. I’m willing to admit new information. Do you have a safe place to get off the streets or not?”
“Come on.”
Maria led the way to the next street and a residential neighborhood with a mix of single-and two-story single-family homes. Synthia flew four drones overhead in a diamond pattern with the pilotless choppers at the farthest points that could cover where they were walking.
Chicago-clone called in.
Synthia experienced sadness as if losing her right arm. She acknowledged the report and its warning.
Chapter 28
Beneath the darkness of a suburban night, Maria led Synthia through the backyards of single-family homes, hopping fences and hedges to keep to the shadows. All the while, Synthia used local camera systems and her drones to watch activity around Evanston. All of the androids had arrived, as had FBI teams and Special Ops groups, along with their robots. Perhaps she should have listened to Krista, but if she fled now, they would grab her companion and Synthia’s chances of escaping unscathed were negligible. She needed a plan her enemies couldn’t anticipate based on logic and her Krista memories, particularly since Vera had similar information.
Synthia opened up her other senses and smelled dogs and cats in the neighborhood, though none nearby. Maria gave off the heavy odor of fear, which Synthia hoped was not on her account and didn’t hint of betrayal. Her ears picked up a persistent hum at different frequencies than her drones. The hum grew louder until she realized what it was.
“Hurry,” Synthia said. “They sent a swarm of drones. They’ll cover every inch of this place in minutes.”
Maria used a key to enter a two-story brick house by way of a back door with no light to show the way. Synthia used her aerial drones to scan for escape routes, but the view was limited in the moonlight. Out the back, the way they’d come, would require jumping a fence at either of the back corners, which would lead her into other backyards. In the front was the well-lit street, the most likely direction her pursuers would arrive. Either way, the swarm would soon make escape impossible.
“No lights,” Maria said. “They’d alert neighbors we’re here. Can you—you have infrared vision, don’t you?”
“I do.”
Using night vision and infrared, Synthia followed Maria into the house, down a set of stairs into the basement, and through a doorway. As she entered, Synthia pulled several mosquito-drones with her, sending them upstairs. At the top of the stairs was a closed door with a lock. The mosquito-drones located a crack under the door and slid inside. The furnishings were old of the type one might expect from senior citizens with collections of mementos of their lives. There was no indication of anyone home or of potential threats.
After Maria closed a door behind them, Synthia lost contact with her drones and the outside world. “What the—you’ve built a Faraday cage.”
Maria turned on the lights to a disheveled room with a bed in the corner, several tables with computers and other electronic gear, and a bookshelf of books on survival strategies. “That’s how I stay off the grid,” she said. “No signal, no cameras, no voice recording. It means I have to go out to do social-media posts, though.”
“It means I can’t receive warnings. I’m blind to what’s coming at us.”
“It also means they can’t track you,” Maria said.
Synthia reached for the door. “I can’t do this. I need eyes and ears on what’s going on out there.”
Tilting her head, Maria
studied her companion. “You’re multitasking. You’ve been monitoring cameras and … that’s how you managed those two robots. Interesting.”
“It may be interesting to you, but I can’t afford to be in the dark. I need to be connected to alert us of danger.” Synthia studied every aspect of the room, which had no windows. The two window wells she’d spotted from the yard overlooked a different part of the basement. This room was an escape risk as well as a fire hazard, with only one way out.
“You can’t go upstairs,” Maria said. “Any suspicious activities will cause neighbors to bring the police. We don’t need trouble. It would be a poor way to repay the elderly couple who let me stay in exchange for house-sitting.”
“So that’s how you stay off the grid without using much money. Impressive. I appreciate your tenacity. However, I need a way to receive warnings.”
“You have a partner?”
“No,” Synthia said. “There’s a drone above the neighborhood. I need to communicate to land it before the swarm alerts Special Ops. I also need to receive camera feeds.”
Maria nodded. “Understood. I’ve set up a camera system to watch the outside of the house.” She activated one of her computers, taking it out of hibernate mode. Images on the screen panned through the front, side, back, side, and front again showing a peaceful neighborhood.
Synthia moved closer. The image quality wasn’t as good as her drones, though it could work. “How are you doing this without breaching the Faraday cage?”
“Fiber optic cables with electromagnetic shielding,” Maria said. “These babies were hard to come by, but they serve their purpose well.”
“How can I connect into this?”
“Just a minute.” Maria stood between Synthia and the computer. “You won’t mess up my cameras, will you?”
“No, but I need to enhance the images so I can see everything going on out there. I also need to connect to my drone so I can see farther out.”
“Really?” Maria sat at the computer and pulled up a control screen. She entered a code to open up access to Synthia. “Try not to destroy anything.”
Synthia sat near the screen for Maria’s sake, while she used her wireless link to hack into the machine’s software. “Do you have more monitors we could connect?”
Maria pointed to the ones attached to two other computers. Synthia switched them to the surveillance machine and used a node on the house cameras outside to communicate with her drones. She landed them on nearby houses so they would draw less attention. The drone swarm hummed through the neighborhood like a horde of locusts. They buzzed around Synthia’s sleeping drones and moved on.
Synthia connected to her Northwestern and Roosevelt clones with one short burst to each.
“Are you okay with the Faraday cage?” Maria asked. She kicked off her shoes and slumped onto her bed.
“Yes, thanks. You asked earlier how I found you and I gave you the short answer. The longer answer is I came across Zachary six months ago.”
“Oh, that.”
“I traced your message to a Constant Connection network shop and a particular seat,” Synthia said. She remained seated and adjusted her face to the least threatening she could for Maria’s sake. “I used security images to identify you. With ubiquitous cameras, it’s getting harder to hide.”
“Impossible, you mean. I wasn’t counting on anyone being that motivated to find me.”
“I wanted to meet you, but you remained out of sight for very long periods.”
“It’s necessary to avoid cameras,” Maria said, leaning on her side to watch Synthia.
“I learned about your social-media campaign against the singularity. When you sent out an SOS post, I realized it had to be you and traced the post.”
“Damn,” Maria said. “I thought I was being very careful.”
“Don’t knock yourself. You have been.” Synthia pulled her chair closer to Maria in what her social-psychology module indicated would be a show of friendship.
Maria jumped to her feet. She looked ready to accuse Synthia of something. Then she stepped back. “Why did you zero in on my Zachary alias?”
Synthia moved her seat back to the computer and softened her face as if to say she was sorry. “When Machten held me prisoner, I searched for friends. Seems Krista wanted to renew connections and I wanted potential allies for when I left Machten.”
“I wish you’d said something back then.”
“I needed to explain myself in person. I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”
“Yeah, this is weird enough,” Maria said. “Me and my android. I’m sorry; I don’t mean to imply I own you or anything.
“I am an android. I don’t offend easily.”
“You must have found dozens of friends through social media. How did that lead you to me?”
“I became twenty-seven of your closest friends on Upchat before you stopped using your account.”
“Oh.” Maria fell back onto the bed. “That’s depressing. I only have twenty-seven friends.”
“You have much more than that. In any case, when I knew you as Zachary, you dropped into Constant Connection and sat in front of me.”
“Yeah.” Maria pointed her finger at Synthia. “You looked like Krista. Yet, you didn’t; you couldn’t. You didn’t recognize me. I couldn’t help thinking you were following me, stalking me.”
“I tracked your movements out of the network shop. You sent me a message on Upchat that someone was following you. I connected your image and your Upchat ID. The incident must have scared you, because you vanished.”
“You really are spooky, like a ghost from the past.”
“Don’t forget. I’m not Krista. Whatever animosity you had toward her, doesn’t apply to us.”
Maria sat up on the bed, hands trembling. She clenched her fists. “I still can’t believe I’m talking to you as a real person.”
“Between Krista and Luke, I have more than a full person inside me.”
“Split personality.”
“They don’t run me,” Synthia said. “They’re just part of me.”
“Has to get awfully crowded in there.”
“I have no sense of being crowded unless I run out of memory.”
“Can I talk to Krista?” Maria asked.
“You have been, as much as you can. I can’t carve out her personality. It’s too well integrated.”
Maria stood over Synthia, examining her intently. “You’re remarkable. Except for a less bombastic personality and you having told me otherwise, I’d be inclined to believe you’re the flesh-and-blood person I knew.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“It’s okay. I’m impressed.” Maria walked around and then faced Synthia. “Mind if I look at your insides? Sorry, that didn’t come out right. I’m curious.”
“Help me get the others off the street and I’ll consider it. Because of Machten, I have a fear of being shut down and not revived or being altered into something bad.”
“Tell me about all the bad guys out there,” Maria said, leaning against the wall. “The ones trying to capture us.”
* * * *
NSA Director Emily Zephirelli was conferring with Special Agent Victoria Thale when she received a call from Evanston’s Detective Marcy Malloy. “There’s been an incident near Evanston involving two robots. One escaped. Police captured the other; then Special Ops rode in and took it.”
“You think they’re after our friend?” Zephirelli asked.
“The machines didn’t present as human, but they’re capable and dangerous. They appear to have fought each other, so perhaps they’re from separ
ate agencies. This is becoming a nightmare.”
“Already is.”
“She’s up here,” Malloy said. “I feel it in my bones.”
“It could be another diversion,” Zephirelli said. Her phone rang. “Got to take this call.”
She ended Malloy’s call and stared at the caller ID: Secretary Derek Chen.
“I’m getting reports of smoke and no fire,” Chen said. “Just got off the phone with Drago. He’s bringing all his resources to Evanston. He’s convinced recent confrontations confirm the Synthia android is there. Get your butt up there and assist him to end this.”
Chen hung up before Zephirelli could acknowledge. She turned to Thale. “Boss wants us in Evanston helping Drago. Even Malloy thinks Synthia’s there. We need to lock the town down.”
“It’ll require a house-to-house search,” Thale said. “I’ll call in more resources.”
Thale had Zephirelli drive while she called Fran.
“Arrange as many agents as possible to assist and meet us,” Thale said. Her face looked weary.
After she hung up, Thale turned to Zephirelli. “This better end soon. You realize androids can run twenty-four-seven and we need sleep.”
“I’m painfully aware of that.” Zephirelli rubbed her eyes. “It’s one of their many advantages. I’ll need coffee.”
“We’ll stop along the way. Anyone in your agency who can help?”
“They’re on their way. Commander Drago is pulling operatives from across the country as well. Despite my boss’s call, I doubt Drago will let us in on this.”
“We won’t be well served if they capture the androids,” Thale said.
“We have to be careful how we play this. I’m under strict orders to defer to Drago.”
* * * *
Synthia pondered how much to share with her companion and decided on more, given she was asking for help and for Maria’s trust. “Special Ops is run by Commander Kirk Drago. He’s a former Navy SEAL who gained the upper hand over the FBI and NSA to capture me.”
