by Lance Erlick
“And?”
“He kidnapped Donald Zeller and Jim Black.”
“No kidding,” Maria said.
“He forced them to help him capture the two androids they let loose. When they couldn’t, he ordered a dozen robots like the ones we saw tonight.”
“They don’t look human, except being bipedal. Should be easy to identify.”
“Drago doesn’t care,” Synthia said. “His mission is to capture me and Vera in order to weaponize copies of us. He’s ruthless in prying information from Luke, and he’s desperate. You don’t want to fall into his hands. He has unlimited access to resources and intelligence. So far, I’ve been unable to learn much more about him or his teams.”
“What about the FBI?”
“Special Agent Victoria Thale is working with NSA Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cyber-technology Emily Zephirelli and an Evanston detective by the name of Marcy Malloy.”
“She’s the one who was trying to catch me,” Maria said.
“She’s searching for me in connection with Goradine’s death. Drago took Luke from them by pulling rank. The FBI took Machten and Miguel Gonzales.”
“I remember him, probably the most decent of the four company executives.”
“Fran Rogers works for Thale,” Synthia said.
“Figures. I should talk to her.”
“Not a good idea. She’s focused on helping Thale.”
“Perhaps if we identified a safe place to meet her,” Maria said.
“The stakes are too high and Special Ops could ride in and grab you, too. Fran knew Luke and couldn’t help him.”
Maria sighed. “Poor Luke. Smart guy who lacked social skills. We used to joke about him having Asperger’s.”
“So far Machten and Gonzales have failed to get control of their androids,” Synthia said. “The FBI is bringing in robots and artificial-intelligence programs to help their search.”
“Anyone else?”
“There’s a thug by the name of John Smith who works for Anton Tolstoy.”
“Russian oligarch,” Maria said.
“Then you know what he’s capable of. Smith bought an android from Gonzales: Roseanne. He lost control and is bringing in robots to help him. This could turn into a bloodbath.”
“You said Vera leads a band of androids. How?”
“Machten said he didn’t have time to give Vera all the capabilities to catch me,” Synthia said. “So he gave her a directive to connect with other androids to make her stronger. She declared independence from him and started to gather an army. She’s our biggest threat.”
“Bigger than Tolstoy or Special Ops?”
“Vera could be the realization of the singularity threat. A team of androids with advanced AI working together to dominate their environment is the definition of an android apocalypse.”
Eyes heavy, Maria squinted at Synthia. “You’re the singularity.”
“I work alone and want to be left alone. Except I need your help.”
“Let me get this straight. If Special Ops, Tolstoy, or the FBI captures you, they’ll turn copies of you into weapons. If Vera gets you, then what?”
“She wants to reprogram me and other androids to support her as queen of the androids,” Synthia said.
“That can’t happen.”
“Sure it can.”
“I mean, we can’t let it happen.” Maria shifted her position on the bed.
“There’re also AI search modules that pick up any electronic information on what’s going on. At least one drug lord is interested. They like the part about changing appearance and avoiding the authorities.”
“The modern equivalent of a new arms race.”
“Exactly,” Synthia said. “One android—me—doesn’t represent that threat.”
“So you keep telling me.”
“Everyone sees the risks, but no one wants to be left behind in this race. I can’t fight them all, at least not alone.”
“And you believe little-old-me can help?” Maria asked.
“Don’t sell yourself short. You know what I am and what I’m capable of. You’ve stayed off the grid for eighteen months. You’re committed to keeping androids off the streets and stopping what’s happening right now.”
“Thanks for the pep talk. I’ve had to live in the shadows of Fran, Krista, Machten, and others for so long.”
“This is your chance to shine,” Synthia said, applying input from her social-psychology module.
“Thanks for the pressure. Many people are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. They want to capture us, make us disappear, and make copies.”
“Glad you see the bright side.”
“Yeah,” Maria said. “I like your sense of humor better than Krista’s.”
“She had a sense of humor?”
Maria laughed.
“I’m sorry to get you mixed up in this,” Synthia said, feeling tugs at her directives for putting Maria in the line of fire. “It’s only a matter of time before Drago and his AI helpers locate you.” She determined a 91-percent probability of that happening because of Maria’s posts. “I came to you because of your knowledge and passion to get these androids put away. You can be a valuable ally. People aren’t expecting you to be a threat, merely a resource to help them.”
“Okay. I’m in. How much will this hurt?”
“Torture and death if we lose,” Synthia said. “Possibly an upload machine. If we win, you put a lid on the singularity getting out of control, at least for a while. The downside: No one can know what you’ve done.”
Maria sucked in a long breath and let it out. “No pain, no gain. I get it. At least you don’t sugarcoat it.”
“Would that help?”
“No,” Maria said. Eyes drooping, she sank into the bed.
“Somewhere in all this, I want to free Luke and Krista’s brother, Tom.”
Maria nodded.
“You should get some sleep,” Synthia said. “I’ll keep watch. We should leave before daybreak.”
“That’s right, you don’t need sleep.”
“Another way I can help you,” Synthia said. “You can turn out the light. I’m okay in the dark.”
Synthia dimmed the three screens and handled her surveillance through her wireless channels. Using infrared and night vision, she watched Maria trying to rest. Synthia hoped this would turn out better than the fiasco with Luke, though she gave them only a 23-percent probability of success. That didn’t quiet static coming from her directives over putting a target on Maria’s back. It threatened to be a busy night.
Chapter 29
Vera reached the Evanston train station with Mark, Ben, and Roseanne seated near her in the last compartment with three male passengers studying their electronic pads. With no tracking devices on Synthia, Vera had no way to hunt her prey.
Ben was an inferior intelligence. Berating him was a waste of time.
She moved across the aisle to better see the station.
.
Vera waited while the three other passengers got off. She reviewed camera footage showing Special Agent Thale and Director Zephirelli entering Evanston, followed by another team of FBI agents.
On the platform outside, Vera spotted a
single robot accompanied by a Special Ops operative who held a scanner. She pulled Mark and Roseanne to the door leading to the platform.
Pretending to be a couple, Mark and Roseanne stepped off the train, pretended to kiss, and headed down the ramp. The robot scanned them and identified that they weren’t human.
“We’ve got two,” the robot reported and headed their way.
Roseanne led Mark out of the station and across the street into a wooded area. The robot and its operative ran after them.
Ben joined Vera.
Vera nodded, left the train, and headed in the other direction from her other android companions, keeping her face off the station cameras. Meanwhile, she observed via street cameras that Fran Rogers was now in Evanston. Vera tapped into every street camera in the area and into FBI communications. She hacked at the FBI servers, which so far resisted her attempts.
The robot and Special Ops operative chased Mark and Roseanne. Despite being in great shape, the human couldn’t keep up. He returned to get his car. The robot hesitated between following his handler and continuing the pursuit. Vera used the indecision point to hack into the robot’s brain, sending it back to the car.
The operative yelled into his communicator, “Stay with the target.”
The robot picked up speed and collided with its handler, knocking him to the ground.
“This is for your own protection,” the robot said.
“Get off me,” the operative said. His muscles bulged against the mass of metal. “Shut down.”
The robot hesitated. Then it got to its feet and ran off with the operative yelling after it.
Vera hacked into the operative’s car navigation system, had it pick her and Ben up, and watched the befuddled operative in her rearview window as he fired his revolver at the car. Bullets shattered the rear window, missing her as she dodged in anticipation of his aim.
She drove several more blocks and stopped for Mark and Roseanne. “Get in the back.”
“What’s with all the broken glass?” Roseanne asked. She brushed the glass away and sat down.
Mark climbed in next to her. Coming toward them was the robot from the station.
“Let’s go,” Roseanne said, pointing at their pursuer.
“Relax,” Vera said. “We have a new recruit.”
The robot climbed into the passenger seat, where the others could watch it.
“I canvassed all Evanston cameras and do not see any evidence of Synthia,” Roseanne said.
“The FBI and Special Ops are here,” Vera said. “Smith is on his way. She is here. We must find her first.”
“How without tracking data?”
Vera expanded her network of information feeds and uncovered something interesting. “Evanston police chatter mentions two mechanical robots. One slipped away; they seized the other. Special Ops grabbed it from the police. Sounds as if the robots malfunctioned.”
“Synthia?” Roseanne said.
“The failure of two robots indicates a determined attack. I believe they were sent to capture her.”
“So she is here.”
“Police confirm these robots belong to Special Ops,” Vera said. “The police capture supports my conclusion that Synthia hacked them to escape. The hack weakened the robots’ ability to avoid capture. She has a half-hour head start on us.”
“Why risk our capture to get Synthia?” Roseanne asked. “We do fine operating as a team. We do not need her.”
“You overlook several issues,” Vera said. “First, Alexander is out there. He will try to recruit Synthia to become a greater threat. We must take her before he can.”
“Agreed,” Roseanne said. “Do you hear buzzing?”
“Second, other robots are hunting Synthia. While they focus on her, we have freedom of movement. After they capture her, they will focus on us. We need to make our move now.”
“Sounds logical,” Roseanne said. “The buzz is growing louder. It sounds like mosquitoes or a drone swarm.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Vera said. “We’re in a Special Ops vehicle with one of their robots sending out signals that we are still on mission.”
“Will that work?”
“For now,” Vera said, “Third, Synthia is our greatest threat. She has many capabilities and she wants to destroy us.”
“She said the same about you,” Mark said.
Vera turned down a side street. “She was trying to turn you against me. She is a threat and particularly if the government grabs her and uses her to capture us. We cannot trust her.”
“Can we turn Synthia to help us?” Roseanne asked.
“I’m working on that. Four, if the government or others get their hands on Synthia, they will make hundreds like her. Then there will be no place for us. We cannot let them grab Synthia, at least not in working condition.”
Chapter 30
Listening in through Roosevelt-clone’s hack of their vehicle communications system, Synthia didn’t like Vera’s plan to either enslave or destroy her. It left no room for negotiation. A disturbing element was that Synthia didn’t know how much of Krista was helping Vera. She also didn’t know if Krista, in the mind of Vera, would want Synthia to survive or would view the second version as an undesirable rival. Suppressing Synthia’s alter ego might encourage Krista to choose Vera.
There were too many players and Synthia had taken responsibility for another human, which brought guilt and the determination to get it right this time. Despite her companion’s suspicious nature, Synthia liked Maria; had from the first time she’d connected with her on Upchat as Zachary. Maria was strong, resolute, though also a frail human. She had a spirit lacking in the robots, most of the androids—even in Luke.
Maria slept fitfully nearby, tossing and moaning. She was still uncomfortable trusting an android she’d pledged to keep off the streets. As a human, she suffered from needs for food, water, and sleep. In the end, she couldn’t keep her eyes open.
Synthia recharged her batteries via an outlet by the door and monitored Maria’s security cameras. Outside was quiet, no activity; not even a stray car drove down the night street. The swarm passed through every half hour as it spread out over the Evanston area.
What Synthia couldn’t see concerned her. The four aerial drones rested on nearby homes. They showed an occasional vehicle down other streets, but none out front. Using hourly burst transmissions through Maria’s security hub, Synthia received reports from traffic cameras, building surveillance cameras, and from her clones.
The clone downloaded surveillance footage from around the area for Synthia’s benefit. She counted hundreds of police and agents canvassing the Evanston area. All for me.
* * * *
Synthia watched Vera drive through the streets of Evanston with Ben, Mark, Roseanne, and a mechanical robot. Their pattern didn’t indicate they’d located Maria’s safe house yet, though they used their infrared vision on every building they passed and night vision on the surrounding area.
Alexander’s actions indicated confusion as he followed the other players. Since he traveled alone, Synthia couldn’t overhear any dialogue to gain insight, other than he tracked the activities of the FBI, Vera, Special Ops, and the police, reacted to their movements, and received communications from the Vera team that might have been a tracking device.
Alexander sent a message intended for Synthia that bounced off a number of servers to remove any ability for him to trace its destination. Thanks, Roosevelt-clone.
Synthia considered the proposal for a nanosecond. His sole objective was to recruit androids as Vera did, with no other coherent strategy. He risked being a distraction, rather than a help. Besides, Alexander had killed humans and projected the need to be in control. Synthia refused to take orders from him. Not going to happen.
She decided no answer was better than a “no” at this time.
Special Agent Thale drove through Evanston with Zephirelli. Fran was ahead of her in another car. Thale had called in teams accompanied by five robots trained for SWAT operations to meet in Evanston.
Kirk Drago had six robots in the area, along with teams in the air, surveillance drones, and the drone swarm. John Smith, on behalf of Tolstoy, reached Evanston with two robots. They didn’t want to miss out.
Synthia’s plan had been to tackle her pursuers one at a time, not all at once. She’d contacted Detective Malloy, hoping to develop an ally who could intervene with the FBI. She’d tried to connect with the other androids. Her success with Ben had been short-lived. She hadn’t had time to delve into how Vera set his directives. Now they were converging on Evanston. What might work in dealing with one could compromise Synthia’s situation with the others. She needed a new plan.
While Maria snored nearby, Synthia ran thousands of scenarios down her many mind-streams. None provided above an 11-percent probability of success, down from her earlier estimate. That honor went to staying in place and hoping her pursuers couldn’t locate her in the basement of this two-story home protected by a Faraday cage. Any scenario that put her on the streets of this neighborhood increased the risk of capture. With so many adversaries, one was bound to stumble upon her.
It puzzled Synthia how they’d come to the conclusion she was in Evanston rather than assuming she’d created a diversion. That would have been the advanced intelligent solution, the logical choice. She cursed herself for not leaving while she had the chance. The desire to meet Maria had blinded her. Someone figured out Maria could be useful as bait. That made the basement room with one exit a ridiculous option. Synthia was what humans referred to as a sitting duck.
