by Jaka Tomc
“I understand,” said Primo, facing the window again. “Waiting is not the problem,” he added. “But it’s hard to grasp the notion that I don’t belong here. You’re speaking of a potential disaster and saying the world hasn’t been the same ever since you created me. While the truth of the matter is that the world didn’t change one bit. Waiting is not the problem, Kent. The problem is observing how I’m being displayed as a marvel, although I’m not that special.”
“Not that special? There’s practically no media outlet in the world that doesn’t want to report on you these days. They don’t pay this kind of attention to trivialities. You think that we’re portraying you as a miracle of science? Primo, humanity has anticipated your coming for centuries. You have to forgive us if we don’t know how to behave appropriately. A new era has begun with your coming, succeeding the information age. Do you know what Le Monde named it? Childhood’s End. Pretty cute, huh?”
“Considering that the French are known for revolutions, wine, baguettes, and a bad sense of humor, I’d say it is quite good.”
Kent lifted a crystal glass off the table, poured some water in it, and drank the water in three loud gulps.
“I meant to ask you what a full pitcher of water is doing in the middle of my living room,” said Primo.
“Serving its purpose, as you see,” said Kent. “As every thing in this universe does. Every single thing, even if at first glance it appears to be unimportant, is a small tile that’s part of a gigantic mosaic.”
“I like your metaphors, Kent. I have one too. All that glitters is not gold.”
“Actually, that is a proverb, not a metaphor. But I get your point. I’m glad that you’re not fully aware of your importance. The last thing I’d want is an android with a God complex.”
“God complex being a feeling that I’m almighty?”
“Exactly.”
“Who would want something like that?”
“I know a few,” said Kent laughingly as he sat down on the chair again. “Sit down.” He said, and he motioned to an empty chair opposite him. “I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
“Arguing usually leads to the best ideas,” said Primo. “Power struggles obviously stimulate the human brain. I can’t explain this phenomenon otherwise.”
“You’re right, Primo. But I still want a peaceful conversation with you.”
Primo hesitated a bit, then shrugged and eventually sat down. “Ask.”
“What?”
“Usually, we begin our conversations with your question.”
Kent smiled. “I guess we do. How about we change up our routine? Why don’t you ask me something?”
“Would you lock me in the room if I were a brilliant human?”
“Probably not. Unless you’d committed a serious crime. Then you’d end up in jail. In a room much smaller than this one.”
“Are people afraid of me?”
“Some of them are. You know, people are often scared of new things. They like to cling to what they are familiar with. They don’t like changes.”
“But not all.”
“Not all. Some souls do crave change. For a better life. For innovations they’ll benefit from one day.”
“I wanted to ask you which group you belong to, but I already know the answer,” said Primo. “Is your life better since you’ve gotten an implant?”
“Excuse me? How do you know about my implant?”
“I can feel it. It’s not connected to the network at the moment, but I could still communicate with it if I wanted.”
“You have access to it?” asked Kent.
“Not at the moment. But its firewall is not very good. I could take control in a matter of seconds.”
Kent stared at Primo, searching for a proper response.
“I’m joking,” said Primo. “I would need at least four minutes.”
“That’s impossible. My implant is unique.”
“You’re pretty naive for a scientist.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every piece of technology is unique for only a short period of time. If the data on your implant can be hidden, there’s also a way to expose it. If you wish, I can demonstrate.”
“Please. I’d love to see it,” said Kent.
Primo gazed into Kent’s eyes. “Like I said, it will take me a bit.”
Kent nodded. Soon he felt his implant activate. “Primo?”
Primo didn’t flinch. His eyes were focused on Kent’s, and Kent suddenly heard a voice inside his head.
One minute and forty-four seconds. It was easier than I thought.
“What’s going on?” asked Kent.
We’re talking. Actually, I’m surprised about the complexity of the implant. Advanced technology, surely ahead of its time.
Kent wanted to say something, then changed his mind and instead thought about the words he wanted to say aloud. A response came soon.
I see what you’re trying to do. It won’t work. Transferring human thoughts is hard. With this implant, impossible.
“Do you have full access?” Kent asked.
No. I have access to your senses, but I can only check the current situation. Your memories are secured with a password. Smart, but not ideal. I can also store your data in my memory unit or an external storage unit.
“But you won’t have access to the archive?”
No. Not without the password. But the moment you think about it, I can get to it. What’s fascinating is that you still didn’t think about it.
“Well, I didn’t use my wife’s birthday.”
Smart. If you agree, I will disconnect now.
Kent nodded.
“There. If I were you, I’d demand a more secured implant. Not all are merely curious.”
“It will be the first thing I do when I leave here. Thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome. One day you will return the favor.”
“Primo, you will always be able to count on me. That’s a promise.”
“You shouldn’t make that many promises. You know what they say. A promise made is a debt unpaid.”
“I tend to deliver on my promises. But I have to say, you’re pretty good with proverbs.”
“I like them. You can find one for any given situation.”
“If not, you can always come up with a new one,” said Kent, smiling.
“Do you want to hear a joke?”
“Sure.”
“Why did the android cross the road?”
“I haven’t heard that one yet. I don’t know.”
“Because it was programmed by a chicken.”
28. Maia, 2048
Maia cleaned sweat off her forehead with a red handkerchief.
“Polanski, did you have to take the only aeromobile without air-conditioning?”
“Lieutenant, you wanted us to fly below the radar. With that in mind, this family aeromobile seemed appropriate for our mission.”
They had been flying for about three hours, searching within a radius of about ten kilometers. Maia checked the time. Three hours and seventeen minutes. The droids couldn’t have gotten far from the base. There was a high probability that the fugitives were still close to the camp. Chances that they were running in a straight line were slim to none. Maia had done the math about forty-five minutes ago when they were checking out an abandoned ranch. The average droid could reach a speed of thirty kilometers per hour on flat terrain. But because they didn’t get tired, droids could maintain that speed until something stopped them. This meant that their targets could have gotten as far as ninety kilometers. But Maia didn’t care much for hypothetical scenarios. She was entirely focused on the mission at hand, which was going according to their plan.
“Jimbo, speak to me. What do you see?” asked Maia.
“Nothing interesting,” said Jimbo. The computer screen he had been staring at was connected to a camera on the aeromobile’s roof.
“I still think we’re looking for a needle in a haystack,”
said Polanski.
“Just look where we’re going and stop whining,” said Laguna. “The lieutenant knows what she’s doing.”
Maia wasn’t so sure about that anymore. They probably should have sent all available units to track down the droids. There was nothing worse for the morale of fugitives than an escadrille of helicopters in low flight. At least for human offenders. Who knew what was going on in the droid minds.
“Jones, get another bird in the air,” Maia ordered.
“Yes, Lieutenant. Where to?”
“South-southwest. I have a hunch they’re heading for Mexico.”
“Why aren’t we heading to the border, then?” asked Miller.
“Because droids are smarter than you,” said Laguna. “Only a fool would run in a straight line to their destination.”
“Jimbo, any news?” Maia didn’t allow herself to be bothered by the gravity of it all. At least on the outside, she had to stay calm and act like everything was perfectly under control.
“Nothing. No droids or other digital life forms for two klicks in any direction.”
Maia rechecked the map. Finding a needle in a haystack would be easier. At least a needle stayed in one place and didn’t think. If you were persistent, had a flawless system, or had the right tools, you could quickly find it. But the mission they were on required more than a metal detector. A lot more. Despite the latest military gadgets, the droids had an advantage. She started calculating again. The area of a circle was pi times radius squared. The result of that equation surprised her. More than twenty-five thousand square kilometers. And the targets were probably moving. Yet, she still had a feeling that they were somewhere nearby. Usually, her gut instinct was right.
“Laguna, did you check the transactions?” she asked.
“A minute ago. Twenty-three suspicious transactions in the last hour. Sixteen with stolen chips. I checked the surveillance. All sixteen of them were human. Four transactions were of unknown origin, with black-market chips, no serial number. No luck there either.”
“What about the remaining three?”
“Bots. Transactions made by computer programs for people who want to remain hidden. All three came from the same address, so I assume they were made by the same person.”
“Person? Are you sure the transactions weren’t made by our targets?”
“Hundred percent sure.”
“Based on what?”
Laguna smiled. “The perpetrator ordered himself prostitutes. Three of them, and they weren’t cheap.”
“I understand,” said Maia, and she suppressed the sudden rush of adrenaline that had started with the thought that they might have found them.
“What about possibly suspicious access to the Omninet?”
“Nothing. They completely stopped communicating with the network. I’ve set the alarms. The moment one of them appears on the grid, just for a fraction of a second, we’ll know where they are,” Laguna explained.
“Good job,” said Maia. She seemed utterly calm. It was necessary for the optimal functioning of her unit. She had been trained that way, and over the years she’d upgraded her ability to lie. What was happening on the inside was her problem and hers alone. She always made sure that the door to the vault was shut tightly and locked. Maia knew very well that restlessness was contagious. Like laughter, or crying, or yawning. However, restlessness was one of the worst things that could happen to a soldier. It led to panic. Subsequently, panic led to reckless behavior, and reckless behavior killed soldiers. As long as any form of restlessness was limited to one psychologically stable individual, everything would be in order. Once it spread across the unit, it was game over.
Maia had experienced what happens when a commanding officer loses it during battle. She would never forget that day. Out of eighteen soldiers in the unit, only four had lived to tell the story. What had started out as a routine checkup on some liberated territory had quickly turned into a nightmare as they walked right into an ambush. A group of enemy soldiers, about ten well-organized and heavily armed men, engaged by opening fire on the patrolling unit. The captain who commanded Maia’s regiment froze. Literally; he stopped moving. He didn’t shoot and didn’t make a damn sound. A few seconds later, he suddenly returned to his body and started giving contradictory commands. Before they realized what was going on, half of the unit was shot to pieces. In the end, they managed to get the upper hand and control the situation, but at what cost? Maia had made a promise to herself that day that emotions would never have an effect on the way she acted and led. She could be a raging volcano on the inside, but she would appear to be a cool mountain stream to others. Because of her humanity, no human would ever die on her watch.
“Turn northeast,” she said.
“Are you sure?” asked Polanski. “Three klicks ahead of us is a cluster of abandoned houses. They could be hiding there.”
“Jones, how many birds do you have left?”
“Four, Lieutenant.”
“Send one to the village.”
“Right away.”
“Team, behold. We will check out a small town named Arrey. We’re ten minutes away. Polanski will make sure we get there in eight. Once there, we will try out an old-school search method.”
“We’ll activate the EMP and take them out?” asked Miller.
“You’ve just stolen the title ‘most ignorant dipshit in this vehicle’ from Polanski,” said Laguna.
“Hey!” shouted Polanski, but before he could reply with something more sarcastic, Maia’s voice interrupted him.
“Silence! I don’t want to explain to the colonel that our mission was unsuccessful because my unit turned into a fucking circus. Focus! We have top-notch technology, but we’re hunting targets that are more advanced than our gadgets. You also know that their electronic brains roll faster than ours. We are on their terrain, and we are playing by their rules. So it’s time that we turn the odds in our favor and remember what we were taught in the academy. From now on, we stick to the principle that old-school is the best school.”
“So we turn off our computers and use our finger to figure out from which direction the wind is blowing?” asked Jimbo.
“We’re not there yet,” said Maia. “Once we get to Arrey, we’ll stop in the city pub. There we’re gonna ask the locals if they have seen our fugitives. Obviously, we’re leaving out the droid part.”
“Excellent idea, Lieutenant,” said Laguna.
“You’re such a bootlicker, Laguna,” said Miller.
“At least I lick something.”
“Polanski, how much farther?” asked Maia.
“Seven klicks. Five minutes.”
“Gang, you have four minutes to change your clothes. We’ll leave this vehicle as civilians do. That means no weapons, no military slang, and no talking about any mission. Remember the good old days when we were walking this earth without uniforms. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Lieutenant!” they shouted in unison.
“Until further notice, call me Maia.”
29. Kent, 2048
“Won’t it be suspicious if all of a sudden you appear in New Mexico?” asked Lucy.
“Sure. That’s why I registered for a conference on robotics that starts in Santa Fe tomorrow,” said Kent, triumphantly.
“Clever. How long are you planning to stay?”
“As long as it takes. Until I find Primo and we figure out how to get him out of this mess.”
“I’m sure that you have at least three possible scenarios in mind.” Lucy smiled.
Kent returned a bitter smile. Truth be told, he had come up with more than three scenarios, but none of them led to a desirable outcome. He knew that some improvisation would be required, and that thought made him feel uneasy and anxious. He didn’t know much about Primo’s predicament. Actually, he didn’t know a damn thing, aside from where they were supposed to meet up. His brainchild was on the run and in need of help. Kent felt a strong need to deliver on his past promises, and he w
ould do everything in his power to do so. That is, if nothing went wrong. Sadly, there were a lot of things that could go wrong. Kent sighed.
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“I always go to conferences by myself. If you join me, they might suspect something.”
“You’re right. Besides, I’m quite sure those federal agents will visit again soon, and it would be a bit suspicious if we were both gone.”
Kent nodded and continued folding his clothes, putting them in a large, dark-gray suitcase. There were two hours left until the flight, and it took fifteen minutes to get to the airport, but he liked to be early. Nothing would change if he was just on time instead of early. Kent knew that, but it was in his nature to consider the chances of the unexpected happening. He hated unforeseen events. But, as the years had passed, he had accepted that this was just how life rolled. No matter what you did, you couldn’t put life behind the board and expect it to cooperatively play your game. It played alright, but it had its own set of rules, and you didn’t find out about them until it was too late.
Although he’d kept it from Lucy, Kent had thought many times about freeing Primo and the others. Thought was an understatement. He had planned almost the whole thing, down to the smallest details. Primo was the son Lucy and he had never had, although they’d always wanted to have children. When they’d found out that Kent was infertile, they talked about donors and adoption, but in the end, they decided not to go for any of those options. They figured it had to be that way and never again spoke about what would have been if they had chosen differently.
“Lucy, do you know where my straw hat is?”
“The one from Morocco? On the top shelf of the guest room’s wardrobe.”
“You know, that’s what I like about you. I can always count on you.”
“That’s the only thing you like about me?”
