FAI

by Jake Lingwall

  Kari ended the call.

  “Sometimes you scare me . . .” David said.

  “Did the call go as planned?” Fai asked.

  “Yes,” Kari said. “She’ll be there.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “My algorithms suggest that while she has arrived alone there is a significant disruption in usual traffic patterns surrounding the area at one, two, and five mile radiuses, both on the ground and in the air,” Fai said.

  “We anticipated that, even if I expected her to hide it better,” Kari said. “She’d be stupid to show up alone.”

  “And we’d be stupid to meet her,” David said.

  Kari had already planned on changing the meeting point before David had suggested it, but she let him take the credit for the suggestion.

  “OK, David, you head out first. You’re going to have control over most of the drones. If things go south, get out of here.”

  “Right,” David said.

  She didn’t believe him. He wouldn’t leave her, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Their plan was solid, but Christina had so many resources at her disposal that it was hard to be confident about how things were going to shake out.

  “Be safe,” David said. “And go get her.”

  He slipped out of the auto-auto wearing a large hat and baggy clothes that concealed one of her stealth devices. They had slowly let their drones out of their vehicle over the last few hours and had moved them into place.

  “He is less worried than I would expect,” Fai said.

  “He’s irrational,” Kari said. “I’ll try to explain that later.”

  She knew Fai would want a better explanation of what she meant, but she didn’t have time for that. From the drone feeds surrounding the old airport, she could see Christina walking around looking for her. She wouldn’t search for long. Kari placed the call.

  “I don’t have all day,” Christina said.

  “And I told you to come alone.”

  “Do you see anyone else?” She didn’t sound the least bit surprised that Kari could see her, nor did she try hard to hide the fact that she a large security operation surrounding their supposed meeting location.

  “There is an auto-auto out front that will take you to our real meeting location.”

  “I’m not going to get into some random car after you killed John.”

  “Fine, take the same auto-auto that brought you here. I’ll send you addresses to update you as we go.”

  “No,” Christina said. “We agreed to meet here.”

  “I said I wanted to meet and I still plan to do that. But we have to meet at a location where we can talk before your goon squad swoops in for me. I’m not dumb.”

  “No, you’re not,” Christina said. “But you think yourself much smarter than you are, which is worse.”

  “I’ll send you the address.”

  “This better not take all day.”

  The call ended and Kari looked over to Fai. The AI was dressed in full-length, bulky clothing of various colors that made her look more like a clown than anything else. It would be sure to draw attention at the hyperloop station, but it would better than anyone from Vision recognizing Fai before they met Christina. Besides, this is the Bay Area, you can dress however you want. As long as you don’t look too much like a middle-stater.

  Their entire plan centered on Fai being present as Kari questioned Christina about her involvement with the attack on the research lab. There’s no lying when Fai is around. I ask the questions and Christina gives the answers. When she lies, we’ll have proof that she was behind the massacre. Christina will be giving us a confession and she won’t even know it.

  “Let’s get moving,” Kari said. “It won’t take her long to get here.”

  Kari wore a stealth device under her clothes as well as a hat and a huge pair of sunglasses. Her clothing screamed someone that was trying not to be noticed, but she had no other option. They had parked three blocks away from the massive hyperloop station so they could drop their drones off unnoticed. Now that their vehicle was empty, it drove off to serve other clients.

  “My experiences in this world have been far more exhilarating than I had expected,” Fai said.

  “I’m sorry for that,” Kari said. She sent Christina an updated address that would give her auto-auto a new course that would take her near the hyperloop station. She needed to keep Christina guessing on where she was going for as long as possible.

  “Why are you apologizing? Don’t most people profess to want exhilarating events in their lives?”

  “Not like these,” Kari said. “You deserve to be at university or a library somewhere learning as much as you’d like about the world without the fear of energy blasts.”

  “I would like to spend time at universities,” Fai said.

  “Maybe David will take with him for a visit after this.”

  Kari watched Christina’s progress closely. She was having a pair of the drones she had stationed at the old airport follow her auto-auto in order to keep eyes on the Vision CEO.

  “David said that he hasn’t spent time at Kansas State recently and that he is nearly finished with school.”

  “Well, he was a better student back in high school,” Kari said.

  A group of women dressed in bizarre, burlap-looking clothes passed them with judgmental glances that Kari was fairly certain were directed more toward her ordinary clothing than Fai’s. The closer they got to the station, the more people there were. Typically she wouldn’t be happy about having so many people around, but she needed them now. Kari sent Christina the address to the station and told her to meet them inside the main lobby.

  They entered on the opposite side of the building that Christina would be arriving on, and walked down into the center of the huge lobby.

  The building was modeled after Grand Central Station in New York City. That had been an important hub for steam-powered trains; this hyperloop station had been one of the first major stations in the country. The high-speed trains could take you across the country at well over seven hundred miles an hour. They hardly shared any similarities to the first designs, but the name remained the same.

  They paused in the center of the lobby and Kari flipped through her microdrones that were littered throughout the building until she found Christina walking through the entrance, heading directly for them. She was alone. For now.

  “Don’t let her know who you are,” Kari said. “But send me messages about how close they are to trapping us here. I don’t want to stay too long.”

  “I will do that,” Fai said. “My current indicators might suggest we only have a couple of minutes before escape becomes improbable.”

  “I’ll try to be efficient,” Kari said.

  About half of the people that passed Christina noticed who she was and either tried to talk to her or positioned themselves so they could get a picture with her without the permission she would refuse to give. I didn’t think about that. Are we going to be mobbed by civilians because of Christina’s celebrity?

  “Here I am,” Christina said. She stopped just out of arms reach from Kari and proceeded to try to stab Kari to death with her eyes.

  “You set up the attack on the research lab,” Kari said.

  I told you I would be efficient.

  “Don’t be absurd,” Christina said. “I had nothing to do with it.”

  “You did. And the only reason you hired me to design Fai’s body was so that you could pin the attacks on me.”

  “I did not murder John.”

  She’s telling the truth. Kari didn’t need Fai’s readings to tell her what she already knew.

  “I—”

  “Now, if that’s all you wanted to know, it is time to turn yourself in.”

  “You hired mercenaries to attack the lab,” Kari said. She didn’t know what else to say, so she just continued through her list of statements.

  “What is this?” Christina said. She looked around as if she was missing some imp
ortant details. “A deposition? Because I’ve already testified, on record, to Marshal Henderson. I suggest you turn yourself in and do the same.”

  “There is a strong likelihood that Christina’s people are closing in on us,” Fai said softly.

  “Fai is that you?” Christina asked. She stepped forward and peered into Fai’s eyes. “Fai, you can come home. Come with me.”

  “Kari Tahe was not involved in the attack at the Vision research laboratory,” Fai said.

  “Then she should have nothing to fear about turning herself in,” Christina said.

  “You know she wasn’t involved,” Fai said. “I can read it in your reaction.”

  Don’t give that away, Fai!

  “So this is what it is about,” Christina said. Anger spread across her face with just a touch of fear. It was the first time Kari had ever seen even a hint of a human emotion from Christina.

  “We need to leave,” Fai said.

  Kari turned to go, but Christina grabbed her wrist and held her in place with a surprisingly strong grip. Kari’s hat fell off and her glasses slid off her face. The people, who had been watching Christina, from as close as was socially acceptable, made no effort at hiding their interest now. A small circle formed around them as Kari tried to pull herself free.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Christina said.

  “I’m not waiting here for your people,” Kari said. “I’d rather take my chances with Henderson.”

  “Her people are here,” Fai said. Her voice was worried and Kari didn’t blame her. Kari didn’t have time to flick through the camera feeds from her microdrones. She trusted Fai’s analysis. They needed to leave right now if they wanted to escape, but Kari couldn’t free herself from Christina’s grip.

  “No, they aren’t,” Christina said.

  “That’s Freelancer!” Someone in the gathering crowd had taken his eyes off Christina long enough to recognize who she was arguing with. Her hacker handle seemed to echo off the walls of the hyperloop station.

  “Let me go,” Kari shouted as she tugged at Christina, but the woman was bigger and stronger than she was.

  Fai stepped in and grabbed Christina’s arm. A split-second later Fai had freed Kari from Christina’s grip. They turned around and found a wall of people surrounding them. I guess these people feel differently about me than the border patrol guard. Kari instinctively started to send a message to David. She had hoped to use her stinger drones to cover their escape with the delivery drones, but she would need the small fighting drones now to free herself from this mob.

  Before she could send the plea for help, gunshots rang out throughout the crowded hyperloop station.

  Chapter Twenty

  The screams filled the air and bounced off the walls. People moved in blurs as they ran desperately away from the sound of gunfire. Kari would have screamed, too, but she found that her lungs were already empty of air.

  Christina’s eyes went wide with fear before she joined the masses, running away from the gunshots coming from the side of the station that she had entered just a few minutes ago. She knew she should be moving, or running, or doing anything to get away from the situation, but her body couldn’t move. This is the research lab all over again.

  She managed to look over her shoulder where she was able to catch a glimpse of rough-looking men in body armor firing old assault rifles into the ceiling. It was hard to get a good view of them as people rushed past her, several of whom knocked into her shoulders and nearly sent her to the floor.

  Kari felt herself being lifted off the ground by an inhumanly strong arm just as gunshots erupted on the other side of the building. That’s where people are running! We’re surrounded! She wanted to faint as memories of the research lab filled her mind, drowning out the horror of what was currently happening.

  “This doesn’t appear to be going as planned,” Fai said as she carried Kari through the masses of panicked people.

  Fai’s voice brought her back to the situation. The gunfire had mostly stopped, and the screams were quieter, but no less panicked.

  “They aren’t shooting anyone,” Kari said. “They are just firing at the ceiling.”

  “Based on our previous analysis, I would suspect that they would not want to harm any human except for those who have worked directly on my creation,” Fai said.

  Most people were ducking to the ground now, covering their heads, hoping to escape the wrath of the gunmen. Fai dodged between them, carrying Kari to the west end of the building that led down to the transports.

  “You mean this is the real League of Humanity?” Kari asked.

  “Their markings and symbols would match their profile exactly,” Fai said. “They also don’t appear to be using energy weapons.”

  “Great,” Kari said.

  Shouting from the gunmen reached her ears just before a new wave of gunshots and screams from frightened civilians. She couldn’t make out what had been shouted at them, but she was sure it was directed their way. We’re the only ones running faster than a normal person could move. I guess that’s not exactly inconspicuous.

  David was calling and Kari answered it with audio only.

  “What’s happening?” David asked. His voice was every bit as horrified as Kari felt.

  “The League of—” It was all Kari could get out before Fai leaped over the security barriers and landed on the other side with a crunch. Her metallic body cracked the tile floor. Bullets splattered around them, crashing into walls and smashing into the graphium dividers.

  “I’m sending the drones in!” David said.

  “Shooters at all entrances,” Kari said. “We’re going underground.”

  “Stay on the line,” David said.

  The underground was somehow even more chaotic than the lobby. People were desperately searching for any way out, pounding on doors, rushing about in groups. Kari saw a teenage girl huddled in the corner crying and two boys fighting each other for some reason as Fai carried her past them. It didn’t take them long to reach the bottom floor, where people were gathered around the glass that kept people from falling into the hyperloop tunnel, desperately waiting for the next train to arrive.

  Gunshots sounded through the air again. They were louder down here in the more enclosed space. Kari checked the camera feeds from her microdrones and found the lobby in worse state than when they had left. More League of Humanity soldiers had shown up, and now they were firing bullets into the air, trying to shoot down the sudden attack of drones. People were trying to get away from the fighting, but there was nowhere for them to escape to.

  A mass of them pushed their way toward one of the back exits, but Kari changed the camera feed before she could see what happened.

  “David, stop attacking the League, it’s only making things worse,” Kari said.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Nothing. They are here for Fai, Christina, and me. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

  “I can’t just sit up here and let them shoot you!”

  “Where are we going, Fai?” Kari asked.

  “There are several potential exits,” Fai said. “Sewer and water systems as well as some escape hatches that take us back up to the street.”

  “Where do they open up?”

  “Northwest and southeast corners of this structure, far side of the street.”

  “David, did you hear that?”

  “Yes, I’m looking into it . . . not good. They have the streets blocked off and there are . . . other people from Vision, maybe? Showing up.”

  “We need to take the water or sewer route,” Kari said.

  “That will be more difficult,” Fai said. “I need to break through some lines to create a hole large enough for us to fit through.”

  Tile shattered behind them as bullets dug into the ground a dozen feet away from them. Fai jerked them forward and raced into a bathroom. The door slammed opened to screams.

  “I need to set you down,” Fai said.
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br />   Kari didn’t give her response before Fai set her abruptly and carefully on the ground. Fai, still wearing her obnoxious clothing, ripped a toilet from the ground with a single arm, which caused the huddled people in the room to scream again.

  They are going to catch us.

  “David, you have to get out of here,” Kari said.

  “No! I’m not leaving without you! I’m coming down there!”

  “David Pratt, don’t do you dare!”

  The door to the bathroom burst open again and four bearish men rabidly stormed into the restroom with their guns leveled and their fingers on triggers. Kari closed her eyes and readied the message she had prepared weeks ago to send to David.

  “No more moving!” a man shouted.

  “Kari, please don’t—” David pleaded in her mind. She could hear sirens and chaos coming from his end as well.

  Kari lifted her hands into the air and opened her eyes, happy for the moment that she wasn’t full of bullets. A thick-bearded man reached out for her, but Fai was between them in an instant, tossing the man into a wall of stalls. Water was flooding across the floor from where Fai had been trying to dig them a way out of this mess.

  “Stop or everyone dies!” the next League of Humanity man shouted. His gun wasn’t pointed at Fai, but at the huddled people in the corner of the bathroom who were not doing well.

  “Fai! Stop!” Kari shouted.

  “Kari . . .” David pleaded over their voice call.

  “You’re coming with us,” the man said.

  “So you can kill us? No, thanks,” Kari said.

  “Would you rather die right here, right now?”

  “Oh my God . . .” David said. He was falling apart on the other side of the call and he was not helping Kari get through this.

  “We’ll go with you,” Kari said.

  “Kari, no!” David shouted.

  “I don’t think that is smart,” Fai said.

  “No one dies if we come?”

  “Yes,” the man said. “But we have to go now.”

  He moved forward while his three colleagues redirected their weapons to Fai. They were obviously wary of her after the way she had tossed their companion aside like a rag doll. That man was rolling in pain in the broken shards of the bathroom stalls, but no one moved to help him.