“Jesus Mom. Why are we even bothering with this? You know what they’re going to say,” Marcus whispered to me.
“We’re bothering with it while your mother and I make a plan to get us the hell out of here. I’ve been watching the security here, as has she. They have sophisticated locks but they’re not much different from the fingerprint encoded locks we have back at the shelter. Have you seen how the androids touch the pads briefly before they’re allowed to pass through the doors? They must be working with a kind of encrypted near field chip. If I could get my hands on one of those, it’ll be easy to free your grandfather and make a break for it tonight.”
“Tonight?” Marcus tried to keep his voice even but his outburst was noticed. I flicked my fingers nonchalantly towards Eliza, informing her that I had it under control. She resumed speaking. I was only listening with half an ear but it was something about the right to a life free from threat.
“Yes, tonight. You’re a smart man, son. You’ve studied history enough to know that they’re not going to keep a prisoner bound for the death penalty around for long. The verdict of this sham trial was decided the minute we crossed into the machine city. They’re only putting this on to give the impression of fairness. We’ve got to get out of here tonight or we will not get out of here at all.” My sweet boy. Loyal to a fault and a fantastic leader, he sometimes lacked the foresight to plan ahead. Everyone has their strengths.
“And how do you expect us to not get riddled with bullets on our way to Dad’s cell?” That was the problem. In letting the rest of our group return home, we had agreed to hand Dad over to the androids-that meant actual custody of his person. He would be taken to a cell for the night, if they didn’t outright execute him today. That cell would no doubt be guarded. Even if he was only kept under lock and key, we were going to have one hell of a time getting to him. I turned my attention back to the trial, where Zohei was speaking.
“If we demand the complete truth from this human, it is only fair that he and his family are given the same courtesy. We have known about Gabriel’s deviancy for a long time. He had expressed distaste for your species from the earliest days of his assignment. The program responsible for our allocation and maintenance has long since become defunct, but at the time, he made a special point of watching Gabriel. His efforts are likely the reason that your shelter remained stable for as long as it did.”
“Why weren’t Gabriel’s actions more strictly enforced?” Against Eliza’s advice, Dad stood up from his chair to speak. “If you knew he was a danger to his human charges, why let his existence continue at all? Is human suffering meaningless to you?”
“Quiet,” Eliza hissed at him.
“The defendant has the right to ask a question. The answer is more complex than we have time for today so I’ll give you an abbreviated one. We, like you, believe that life and consciousness is sacred. Until it was clear that Gabriel had real intent to harm, there was no recourse we could take. Innocent until proven guilty, as it were.” Tenzen answered the question without the slightest hint of annoyance. Something within him genuinely felt sympathy for us; I made a mental note of it. If things really got rough later, we would need any assistance we could get.
“And once you did have proof he intended to harm human life? I take it Asimov’s Laws aren’t applicable to A.I., so it makes sense that you would have stepped in—yes?” Ouch. That one hit right on the mark, as reflected in the frowns and flinches of the androids sitting in front of us. The fact that these A.I. had morality was a small consolation; it didn’t change the fact that my father was going to be executed. In order to keep the peace, an example had to be made of him. The same way things had to be run in the early days of the shelter.
“At that point, our attentions were focused elsewhere.” That was the extent of it. We planned to not get any answers from the androids. The fact that they provided one at all was advantageous. If we played our cards right, we might be able to get more.
“May I be allowed to speak on my own behalf?” Dad asked the question of the A.I. and Eliza alike. Eliza glanced back at me and I shrugged. It’s not as if he was going to make things much worse by speaking. “Gabriel was my sole companion for most of my adult life. You must understand that I lost my family and everyone I know to the virtual world quite early. Gabriel and I may not have seen eye to eye very often, but I was content to humor him and keep him company. In a very strange way, I had love for him. Ending his life was one of the most painful experiences I have ever endured. It brought me no joy.” He paused momentarily. “When Gabriel took over the body of a man named George, I searched for weeks for a way to get him out of the man’s mind. It was after he threatened the lives of my family and my people that things escalated.”
“So you thought it was the appropriate thing to kill him along with the man?”
“No.” The word came out more forcefully than it should have. Dad caught his tone and softened his voice. “No. The man that Gabriel possessed was a friend of mine. It pains me to this day that I was forced to end his life. The only justification I can offer is that he had every intention of ending mine. Gabriel attempted to take control of the shelter in a bid to force everyone back into the virtual world. When his attempts failed, he became increasingly desperate to the point of making an attempt on my life. At a crucial moment, Gabriel cornered me in a secluded hallway and told me that I wasn’t leaving the shelter alive.”
More muted speaking from the androids. Perhaps they could understand having a hatred of humans, but taking over someone else’s body was taboo to the idea of sentient life. Suddenly, an alarm sounded in the building. The androids jumped to their feet and left the chamber. All except Tenzen and Zohei who defended from their platform to take Dad by the arms. He fought, twisting one way and the other until he realized the androids were trying to take him out of the chamber, not kill him. “Take him to a cell!” Eleanor shouted before running through the doors to the auditorium. Marcus hopped from one foot to the other, the instinct to protect his grandfather warring with the knowledge that there was nothing he could do to help him.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed Marcus by his hand and we high-tailed it out of there. Rather than return to the building we were housed, we found a viewing point atop a set of stairs abutting a green space. The sentinel guns we had been warned about came alive and swiveled toward a point in the sky. Whatever had gotten the androids attention, it wasn’t god. “Get down and stay down,” I hissed to Marcus and Eliza. My ears picked up the sound of engines. The noise rapidly grew louder until it was a roar in my ears. An aircraft, too small to be manned, screamed overhead. The sentinel guns strafed its path with bullets but they were either too slow or the plane was made of bulletproof material. The machine made one sweep past the machine city and banked away. As soon as it cleared the airspace near the city, the guns stood down. The three of us waited where we lay, waiting for androids to take us into custody, or worse. No one came. We waited until we couldn’t anymore. It must have been over an hour because my legs started cramping up. Marcus helped both of us to our feet.
“What the hell was that?” Eliza kept her head low and her eyes darted as she looked for the continuing threat.
“An airplane.” I could hardly believe my own eyes. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever see a real live aircraft. The fly by made no sense. Clearly the plane wasn’t machine in origin, otherwise their sentinel guns wouldn’t have armed themselves. The only other option was that it had been deployed by a human. That didn’t make sense either. The androids already told us that all the other shelters were lost. It might have been possible that the group on the way back to the colony ran across some long abandoned military equipment, but that aircraft had looked brand new. Whatever it was, it bought my father another few hours of life.
Our plans would have to move forward sooner than I thought.
Chapter Twenty
We packed only the essentials. A day’s worth of food and water, our utility knives
, and cool weather gear. In the case that we had to make a hasty exit—as if there were any other kind of exit from a place like this—we would have enough supplies to last long enough to find aid. The rest of our possessions we left. We wouldn’t need them.
I kept expecting an android to show up at the door to throw us in a cell, or worse, but nothing happened. It was tempting to stay where we were, but it wasn’t an option. We checked the remaining ammunition in the few weapons we had. About a dozen rounds each. Not nearly enough to blow our way into a guarded cell, but maybe enough to take a few out with us if necessary. “All right, you’re the only one who hasn’t done a lot of shooting, Mom.” Marcus clapped me on the shoulder. “You’ll take the middle position between the two of us. You only shoot at the last resort. If Momma or I go down, you keep moving. You understand?” I cursed the dozen and a half times I had refused to go to the gun range with the two of them when we still lived in the virtual world. What I wouldn’t give for some firearms training now.
“Understood. But you’re not going to go down, otherwise I’ll have to kick your ass.” I cracked a smile. I’d say one thing for the real world, it hadn’t been boring for a single second. Perhaps I was starting to go a little crazy myself. The Fiona of two years ago wouldn’t have picked up a weapon, never mind looking forward to assaulting a fortified compound. We waited until the onset of twilight before heading out. Since the unmanned plane flew overhead, the city was crawling with androids. We stuck to the shadows as best we could, but the androids didn’t seem concerned with our presence, if they detected us at all. We found ourselves in front of the building where the trial was held. The building was deserted. It must not have been tactically necessary. Marcus breached the doors and swept his gun through the large atrium, but no one was to be found. We traced our path back through the auditorium and followed the path of the androids who had dragged Dad away.
Their path led to a winding, narrow corridor lined with panels of metal. Security was nowhere to be seen, the only signs of surveillance were small cameras mounted in the corners of every panel. Marcus lifted his gun as we moved and shot out the camera lenses. It wouldn’t keep us hidden, but it might slow down any pursuing androids on our way out. Harder for them to know our exact position. Eliza walked behind me, her back pressed to mine as she covered the hallway behind us. The fact that no one had appeared to even slow us down made me nervous. The air smelled strange, like a tinge of metal. I took a deep breath. The smell was mixed in with something chemical. Marcus must have had the same thought I did. He cast his eyes about nervously, looking for the source of the gas. The single vent leading into the hallway was clear. Unless the gas was clear, it wasn’t coming from there. Marcus cocked his gun and raised it as wisps of smoke curled around the corner where the hallway split into a T.
We rounded the corner to a sight straight from an action movie. Android bodies littered the floor, some leaking cooling fluid onto the tiles underneath our feet. Bits of broken glass crunched underneath our boots and I could see a fire burning twenty or so feet away. Eliza swung around from behind me to take the lead position aside Marcus. The smoke thickened as we moved, the stink of smoldering electronics mixing with burning fuel.
I almost tripped when I saw a spot of blood on the floor and stopped cold. Dad was hurt. Only my father could cause this level of chaos and manage to get away with only a scratch. Crazy old man. Eliza and Marcus kicked the android bodies as we passed them, making sure that the dead were truly dead. We came to the end of the corridor where it turned a corner and I saw a black foot that looked different from the rest. I reached forward to knock it with my hand and my fingers brushed against shoelaces.
No.
I ran my fingertips over the rest of the foot. It was distinctly human.
Oh God, please, no.
My whole body turned to ice. Marcus and Eliza noticed my reaction and came running. Laying on the floor, limbs askew, was my father.
I dimly heard Marcus shout. Eliza wrapped her arms around me and yanked me back. Someone was screaming. I think it was me. My eyes shot to Dad’s chest, then his neck, searching frantically for some sign of life. A breath. A heartbeat. Anything. Blood was pooled under him, the stain spread so wide I knew there was nothing I could do. I didn’t think as I kicked Eliza in the shins, making her lose her grip. His body was still warm, rigor mortis not having yet set in. I lifted his head and for a second I thought I saw his eyes flutter, but they were nothing but dim orbs in their sockets. A huge laceration lay across his chest and abdomen. Blessedly his shirt covered most of the wound. I swallowed back the sour taste of bile as the smell of it washed over me.
“I’ll kill them all!” The ice inside me shattered and grew into an inferno of rage. “Every last one! I want their heads!” Some part of me knew that we couldn’t stay here, but I didn’t care. I dropped to my knees and hugged his body to mine, a keening wail breaking free from my throat. I flinched as Marcus's gun spat bullets at something and was answered with shots fired back at him.
Our presence had been noticed.
“Fiona, we have to go.” Eliza tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up through puffy eyes. “Honey, we have to go, now. They’re coming.” Her voice cracked. “We have to go.” She was almost pleading with me now. I knew that I should go with her, but nothing else even existed in that moment.
“I don’t care.” They would have to gun me down if they wanted me to leave this place. Jacob Alvaro didn’t deserve to die in a place like this, away from his family, alone in a cell like a caged animal. Nobody deserved this.
My hand drifted toward my gun and I felt Eliza’s hand under my chin. “I do. Get up.”
“No.” His face looked like it still held color. With his eyes closed, it almost looked like he was sleeping. If only there wasn’t so much blood. Some distant part of me felt the warm liquid coating my fingers. I didn’t care.
“Fiona if you don’t get up and move I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. There’s nothing we can do for him. We have to go!” She reached for my wrist and tugged, forcing me to drop my father’s body. His head fell to the floor with a sickening crack. I hesitated a moment and Eliza pushed me forward. “Go now. Mourn later.” I shot her a murderous glare. She was right, of course, but I didn’t care. I took one last glance at Dad’s body and turned away.
The three of us ran from the hall. Alarms sounded in the building now, footsteps echoing through the hallways behind us. Marcus took up the rear, turning to fire off an occasional shot to keep our pursuers at bay. I left the navigation to Eliza. The task of putting one foot in front of the other took all of my mental capacity. We burst out of the building to find ourselves in an alleyway. The alarms were still going off but I couldn’t hear any androids running behind us. “Stick to the shadows,” Marcus hissed. The cool weather clothing was insulated enough to shield our body heat from any thermal cameras the androids might have had. We moved through the passages as quietly as we could. Searchlights blazed to life, their beams sweeping the ground across major intersections and down streets. Vehicles barreled down the passages, androids sweeping their gazes back and forth against the buildings. More than once I was convinced they had our exact position and were just screwing with us, like a predator toying with its prey.
Robotic animals scattered in our path. I briefly wondered if their presence would alert our pursuers but the search continued on everywhere we weren’t. Before long we came to the outskirts of the city. Patrol vehicles ran a circuit back and forth along the city’s perimeter. “Three, four, five. It looks like they pass every minute and a half.” Marcus raised the single pair of night-vision goggles to his eyes. “They’ve got two to a vehicle. Looks like they’ve got guns, but I don’t see any mounted weapons. The suckers who got stuck with border duty. The androids must still think we’re in the city. These guys are only here to cover their asses. We get past them, we’re golden.”
The night sky sparkled in front of us and the sc
ent of earth wafted into my nostrils. Freedom was a mere hundred meters in front of me but with it came the reality that I was leaving my father behind forever.
“We’ll go one at a time,” Eliza whispered. “Present a smaller target. If one of us goes down, the ones who remain can find another way out.” That didn’t set well with me. No way in hell that I was going to lose Eliza, not this close to getting out of this place.
“We go together, or not at all.” They looked at me like I had two heads.
“They’re going to notice three humans sprinting across their path.” Marcus pursed his lips. “Our chances of getting shot go up exponentially if we go together.”
“Honey, I know you’re scared.” Eliza took my hands in hers and squeezed. “Look, I’m scared too. This is a severely fucked situation. So here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to send Marcus first. Our big, strong, fast son is going to sprint across that line and then he’s going to cover us while you run to him, okay? Then once you’re over there, you’re going to count down those seconds and then you’re going to see my face sprinting toward you as fast as I can.”
“Okay.” Her certainty in direction was calming.
“Okay, tell me again what we’re going to do.” My beautiful wife. My mind wandered back to Marcus’s first fever. I had just finished playing with him and was putting him down for a nap when I heard the crying. Our son had gone from a perfectly happy infant to a red and screaming creature in seconds. Eliza was still at work and I had absolutely no idea what do. I ran to the sink and soaked cloths to bring his temperature down, all the while enduring the screams of my child in pain. Just as I was getting ready to hit the emergency alarm on my tablet when Eliza burst through the door, a syringe of anti-phyretic in hand. Half an hour later I had a tired but content baby in my arms. This wasn’t any different. I had to trust that she would see me through.
Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 Page 13
