by John Carrick
Ashley told herself that it didn't matter. What did she expect?
Her distaste for violent culture, combined with her superior skills, had shown up instructors and students alike.
Of course, they were quiet. It felt just as awkward for her.
Chapter 32 – Snow in Jerusalem
Thursday, July 9, 2308
Dr. Te’s shop was on one of the exclusive executive plates, hovering over the old city and casting shadows like lily pads over a pond. Lao had one of the most expensive corners. The pads rotated in a twenty-four hour loop; Lao’s shop witnessed the sunrise every morning, and sunset in the west at evening. The expensive section also guaranteed virtually zero walk in customers, and since Lao only saw clients on an appointment basis, he could keep all his retractable walls open during the day.
The robots loved the stimulation. The empty courtyard and garden provided everything he needed for them in the way of testing grounds. Today, however, the retractable panels were closed.
In keeping with the sweeping curves of the district, Lao had incorporated circles into every aspect of his shop’s design. Looking around, Ana realized she was hard pressed to find a right angle anywhere. Even the couches touched down with rounded legs.
Ana knelt before the robotic panther and peered into it’s lenses. “So this is what they want?” Ana asked, getting right down to business.
“You mean these?” Te replied, gesturing to the collection of robots, spread across the shelves of the shop.
“They didn’t send me all this way to come back empty-handed.”
“These are just toys. The controller, now that’s something special.”
Ana raised an eyebrow.
Te held up a common pair of eyeglasses.
“You did it? After all this time, you finally did it?” Ana asked.
“Without your husband’s work, it never would have been possible.”
Ana checked out the activity of the bugs on the shelves.
“They are all scanning, all independent, all streaming back to the same source. Many cups may be poured from a single pitcher,” Te said.
“You’re kidding?” Ana smiled.
Te smiled. “I’m not. The foundation was the mapping work we did installing you guys into the centaurs. I fine-tuned it a bit, but the human mind is the best parallel processor ever invented. You just have to assign the proper inputs. Running an engine or piloting a terillium drive isn’t so different from managing a heart and organs. Circulating electrical data is no different than blood or coolant.”
“So, these are all you need?” Ana asked, gesturing to the glasses.
“Do you have your amplifier?” Te asked.
“I can’t lose it. I’ve got it in one of these pockets, somewhere.”
“Well, once you’ve initialized, it’s easy. I created a partitioned network called Kiowa Field.”
“So, can you run through it for me, just once?”
“You get how the amplifier works?”
“I get that You get how the amplifier works. But I don’t get it at all. All I know is That it works.”
“Don’t bullshit me, little girl. You know lots more than you pretend to know.” Te smiled. “The amplifier has one design flaw. Physically, it invites investigation. It’s not easily explained.”
“The commands are all neural, so all you have to do is close them.” Dr. Te folded the spectacles closed. “And you’re out.” The machines powered down. “The neural link prevents you shutting them down accidentally. To sync with it, all you have to do is put on the glasses.”
He handed them to her. “Go on, give ‘em a shot.”
Ana took the glasses, opened them and gingerly set them on her face. The lenses were clear, and she waited, but nothing happened.
“Oh, the password is Mississippi,” Te explained. “Just think it.”
“Mississippi,” Ana said aloud.
The words Kiowa Field appeared before her. She took a step backward. The expansion suite was overwhelming. Her visual cortex had grown far beyond the data fed to her brain from her eyes. She could see what they saw; like a hall of mirrors, seeing herself from so many angles. She focused on the menu as she would a Micronix menu, opened it…
Insects
Mammals
Rodents
Birds
6 Ants
1 Mt. Lion
2 Squirrels
2 Ravens
2 Dragonflies
1 House Cat
4 Mice
1 Bluebird
4 Spiders
1 Fox
1 Cardinal
1 Scorpion
ø Dog
1 Parrot
6 Wasps
ø Lion
1 Dove
2 Roly-polys
1 Flea
“The dog and the lion?” she asked.
“Unfinished, of course. The big ones are tougher.” Te gestured to the couch. “Go on, put your feet up.”
Ana sat back on the couch, her feet remained on the floor.
“Just pick one,” Te suggested.
Ana focused on the word Mt. Lion. The letters lit up, their minds had merged and Ana took control of the cat.
“When your projected consciousness meets the model’s reception matrix, an image of your conscious-self is written into the robot, as an operator,” Te explained.
Ana knew that she existed both inside the machine and in her own body; she could feel it. The glasses kept her connected and prevented neural spillage or overlaps. As the cat, she raised her head, stretched her neck and yawned.
Ana had wondered about the number of couches through the lab. How many units had Te sold? It may be a lab, but this was also clearly a show room. Perhaps this was a viewing platform, for sport.
“The muscles are composed of electrical fibers,” Doctor Te said. “Once current is applied, they contract. The heart is a kinetic-generator, of my own design. Energy greater than that expended is harvested from every movement, it’s like a watch that winds itself. Even the lungs, the act of breathing serves several functions.
“In addition to the kinetic energy, the cat’s senses are about a million times sharper than anything nature ever invented. In terms of the visual spectrum, you can see and focus at a distance and at levels of magnification that far exceeding anything on the cyber-market.”
“It’s amazing,” Ana said. “I feel like I’m a cat. I AM the cat.”
“Yes, indeed, you are, but it’s going to take at least a week before you can really pass for a cat.”
“What do you mean?”
“Learning the animal’s body, the way it would naturally move… It will take some getting used to.”
“A week, you really think so?” she asked.
“Maybe more.”
The cat stood and took a trembling step forward with one paw.
Doctor Te laughed. “Once Fox and I did all that Centaur mind-mapping, it was really quite easy. If it hadn't been for the tanks, we never could have done it. I say we, because, even though he was halfway around the world, this is as much Fox’s success as mine. All we needed was a couple of more years of research and development, but the government rushed forward, and killed all those people.”
“And so this cat, this is what Croswell sent me out here for? Nice.”
“This arises, that becomes.” Te said, embracing her blatant evasion.
“The bones are terillium?” Ana asked, as the cat hopped up and down.
Te smiled. “The alloy frames are where it’s at. Pure terillium is far too expensive. This mix still holds a charge, and she has a few internal gravity plates and internal phase-cam. However, running them together causes her to heat up like nobodies business, I don’t recommend it.”
“Okay, that’s something to be aware of,” Snow said.
”Look at it this way, she’s designed to be invisible without running the phase cam. And she can move almost silently when you want to run it indoors, or in other close quarte
rs environments. She’s light tight and compact, powerful enough to handle multiple armed aggressors, There’s just no improving on Mother Nature’s design.”
“Did you include any defensive upgrades?”
“One or two, tooth and claw sort of thing. You’ll get to know them over time. She can also carry several of the smaller, short-range, models.”
“Ahhh, the bugs?”
“I just finished the flea. He can jump three miles, on a windy day.”
Ana laughed.
“Does it know me? Will it recognize me as an operator?”
“What do you mean, recognize you?” he asked, puzzled.
“Does it save me in the cache?”
“No. It records operations, but not you. Yet, it can’t operate without you connected, so…”
“You said I don’t have to be focused on it.”
“No, you don’t. How do I explain this? Your decision-making ability resides with you, your collection of experiences and opinions, from which you form values. The glasses scan your conscious mind and then project that consciousness into the cat. When you disconnect, it shuts down. It can’t clone your mind, it just mirrors it.”
“But it’s me in there. I’m doing it.”
“It’s you,” Doctor Te said.
“And what’s with all these couches?”
“It’s an appointment only shop, if that’s what you’re asking. I provide intelligence services, as I always have, not sales.”
“And these guys won’t exactly run off and join the competition.”
“I never expected you to stay forever, Anastasia.” Dr. Te smiled.
Ana got up from the couch and sat next to Lao; giving him a big hug. “It’s good to see you,” she said.
“Where do you think he is then?” He asked.
“Fox? Oh, Stanwood took him, I’m sure. Out in the desert somewhere, that seems to be the consensus.”
“But why?” Doctor Te asked.
“It’s the easiest place to hold him away from Terillium deposits. They can scan in all directions at once, sort of thing. “
“Why did they take him at all?”
“Stanwood thinks Fox is a menace to society. And he might be onto something there.” Ana smiled, “Remember that little chat the two of you had the other day?”
Te nodded.
“Well, a couple of hours later the Epsilon Facility went Boom. They think Fox did it.”
“And they sent you here to keep an eye on me?”
“No. I think they did it because they want the hell out of Dodge; afraid I’ll set the town on fire. Probably some truth and a bit of wisdom to that too.”
“You’re not worried?” Te asked.
“About Andrew? No. Whoever took him had better be all caught up on their prayers though.”
“About us?”
“Ha.” Ana smiled, “I’m not worried.”
“The desert, the desert…” Doctor Te scratched his head. “Yes, that makes sense. Let me get the light coat for Sabor.”
Chapter 33 – Make Reconnaissance
Thursday, July 9, 2038
It was Bravo team’s shift. That meant they were required to be active and awake. The computer-linked cameras monitored the Fox residence; the agents running them would hear the automatic alerts at the exact same moment they informed Stanwood, Miller and Dunkirk.
King and the rest of Bravo team sat around the dining room table, playing spades. Alpha team was racked out in the other rooms, enjoying an early afternoon siesta.
King’s partner, Washington, passed the cards to Welter on his right, who cut the deck. Washington began to deal.
“And no more table talk,” King said, smiling.
Next to him, Carl Di Biase picked up his cards, thumbed through them and rubbed his chest.
Everyone laughed.
Deputy Director Von Kalt was on the patio, lying on a lounge chair. An umbrella obscured the sun, but there was nothing between him and his view of the quiet suburban canyon. He had a bush hat over his face and the Metachron concealed in his right palm, under the left, over his stomach.
The amplifier could do all kinds of cyber-magic.
Before the explosion at Epsilon, the techs had almost finished their Micronix Operating Manual, replete with tutorials on neural-cyber system management and signal segregation, as well as detailed instructions on system intrusion and data-stream interception. Entire advanced sections were dedicated to tele- and pyrokinesis, as well several other amazing abilities. Von Kalt spent hours reading the manual but refrained from trying anything.
Deputy Director Rudolph Von Kalt found himself buried in the avalanche of data that was Project Epsilon. Fox had reported that all the records had been destroyed, but that was far from the truth. The device gave him access to all of the case histories of the prisoners and data recorded by the technicians. Every ability and manifestation had been clinically documented and intimately detailed.
After three days of studying, Von Kalt launched a system intrusion on Johnson. He had only meant to test his new toy, but the Metachron’s neural shims had no trouble worming their way into the soldier’s thinly partitioned cyber-mind.
It was late in the afternoon; both teams were up and about, preparing their evening meal. In less than a minute Von Kalt had full motor and linguistic control. Just to prove he could, Von Kalt walked the soldier from the residential interior, out onto and off the back deck.
Staff Sergeant Johnson fell seventy-two feet and broke both legs.
Retrieving his unconscious body would be easy enough. Looking down at the unconscious staff sergeant from the balcony railing, King volunteered to drive him to the nearest emergency room, since Johnson was bravo team’s pilot.
Von Kalt did not want his first criminal act to be logged into any official record and objected from his place on the lounge chair. “Gentlemen, why don’t you take advantage of this opportunity to practice a little field medicine? We’ve got a metric shit-ton of blue goo here. Use it.”
“Isn’t that kind of extravagant for a broken leg, sir?” Lt. Hernandez asked. “It’s gonna be hard to explain two hundred thousand dollars. If there’s no rush, we can get him right for like two grand.”
“And if our targets return while half of my second team is absent? How do you suppose I’ll explain that?
“This is the part where I could insult you, to make my point, but instead I’ll ask, have you ever done a medical scan in the field?
“Have you ever administered two hundred thousand dollars worth of healing gel? This might be good experience for your record Lieutenant.
“Please try and be more selfishly predictable. It makes your superiors’ job easier.”
Lieutenant Hernandez stood and walked from the knot of soldiers around the staff sergeant. A minute late he’d returned with the medical scanner two fat cartridges of blue goo.
A quick scan of Johnson’s prone body identified fractures in both femurs as well as the left tibia and fibula, six shattered metatarsals, and one splintered patella, Given the injuries and the rocky ground, it figured that Johnson had pin-wheeled after slipping from the balcony.
His forearms seemed to have protected his upper body, which hit first. He legs, however, had taken the brunt of the fall, slapping into the ground. Hernandez conceded the extent of the damage would likely have taken two days of effort at any local emergency unit.
He cracked the seal on the first goo canister and inserted it into the mechanical hypodermic. Over the course of twenty injections, Hernandez delivered the full volume of two canisters. The healing gel did its job before the man awoke.
The soldiers watched, fascinated, as his legs kicked, muscle spasms resetting bones as the synthetic stem cells rebuilt the damaged tissue.
Von Kalt regretted the wasting of the expensive healing compound, but it was replaceable. The lounging commander, and now master cyber-criminal, was confident Johnson’s unconsciousness had resulted from his forceful intrusion, but he’d followe
d the protocols and scrubbed the man’s memory.
Johnson would remember walking over to the balcony railing, taking a breath of fresh air, and then slipping.
The reclining Von Kalt remained in his lounge chair as the staff sergeant, surrounded by his comrades, was finally shaken back to life.
“You all right there, little buddy?” Di Biase asked. “You took a bit of a tumble.”
Johnson stood, assisted by the others, and was led back inside.
Von Kalt wasted no time moving in and out of his subordinates systems. He didn’t again attempt to exercise functional control, as that could not go undetected and would require a scrubbing, but he did everything else. He scanned all their personal accounts, incoming messages and contact lists.
Everyone had some kind of internal augmentation. Of course, none of them had internal delivery, like Von Kalt. They had to activate one of the universal terminals, so the technology implanted within them could communicate its latest updates and info of interest.
This residence, like most, offered inset-terminals on almost every flat piece of glass or countertop. Some had better reception and better graphics than others, but the basics could be accessed almost anywhere.
It had been years since the Department of Defense really had to fear any dangerous cyber-criminals, but Von Kalt knew that statistic couldn’t stay low forever. If he took any more control, if he did anything more than snoop, he’d have to do some mind and memory scrubbing. That meant a period of unexplained unconsciousness. Even these men were not stupid enough to remain unfazed by a spell of contagious blackouts.
It was the power of the forty thousand, the power of the convicted; Von Kalt held them in his palm. Fox would be no match for him. He was no match for him. He’d already solved that issue.
It was the knowledge of the other, the Micronix, the device Pierce had taken. He had seen it there, at the Fuji Dozo briefing. He had seen Pierce take it and go over the railing, as Johnson had.
