by W. H. Massa
Cole just shook his head, his sudden discomfort eliciting a hint of a smile from Keira. Cole shifted his attention back to the holding block when he picked up the disconcerting sound of a barking dog. Ahead of them, a German Shepherd fronted the door to the holding block. The poor animal was going nuts. Cole was reminded of his own words: Nothing can deceive a German Shepherd’s keen sense of smell. Man’s best friend knows the difference.
Dismay rippled over Cole’ features. They’d been made. Holding the leash of the barking dog was none other than the original Cole Marsalis.
AI Cole's gaze flitted through the command center. They were surrounded by AI-TAC personnel with guns trained on them. Margo too. They had walked into a trap.
Human Cole advanced, gun up. “Drop your weapon! NOW!”
AI Cole and Keira traded defeated looks. AI Cole obliged. He unholstered his gun and the weapon clattered to the floor. “Now bring up your hands! Nice and easy!”
AI Cole's eyes ticked back and forth over all the familiar faces before him. Now his former colleagues regarded him with detached horror and morbid curiosity. AI Cole had passed through this command center a million times — at least in his memories — but never like this… never as a mech… or a prisoner.
Human Cole approached, giving his visibly shaken copy a triumphant once over. “Security feed spotted you hours ago. Just had to lure you into the building.” He took two more steps and now mere inches separated their identical faces. “There's nothing you can do that I can't predict.”
AI Cole broke into an unexpected smile. His eyes glittered dangerously. “Works both ways, buddy.”
AI Cole turned his head toward eight AI-TAC support mechs, all them X2000Gs. His field of vision split into two distinct halves. In the first screen, AI Cole was facing human Cole. In the second screen, the same scene played out from the point of view of one of the support mech. AI Cole had remote-hacked the unit and was now inside the mind of the AI-TAC android. The process had been seamless — Keira‘s code worked like magic. AI Cole’s hack had slashed apart the less advanced mech’s firewalls and data defense systems until AI Cole’s mind was in full control. And this was merely the beginning.
AI Cole’s point of view kept splitting and splitting. Two screens became four screens. Four screens became eight. Now he viewed his adversaries through the eyes of every support mech in the command center.
Human Cole nervously looked around, realizing what was happening. The tables had been turned. But it was too late to do a damn thing about it. The mechs switched into attack mode and all hell broke loose. A mech leaped at the human Cole from behind, slamming him to the ground. Fists flashed and bullets knifed through the air.
AI Cole and Keira took advantage of the distraction. They dashed for the door of the holding cell area. Within seconds the door was slamming shut behind them. AI Cole blasted the control panel. It would buy them a few precious minutes. He shot Keira a tight smile.
“Dig the upgrades!”
“I'll bill you for them later.”
They surged down the corridor, on their way to the holding block’s diagnostic lab.
As they raced onward, AI Cole remained interfaced with the other eight units and his point of view remained divided into multiple split screens. Inside his head the battle continued to unfold from multiple angles. The violent imagery formed a kaleidoscopic blur.
Arriving at the diagnostic lab, AI Cole didn’t bother using his security clearance to gain entry. He took out the control panel with one precision shot and barged into the chamber.
Techs were still trying to filter and decode the data contained inside Solus' CPU. Their eyes widened at the sight of the two pulse weapons pointed at them. The techs grew still. “Please, don't shoot...” one of them pleaded.
“Do as we tell you and we won't have to,“ Keira said. “Step aside!”
The techs obliged.
AI Cole and Keira found Solus on the operating table. Almost immediately AI Cole knew that they were too late. Keira’s face tightened with dread as she examined the android leader’s exposed skull case.
“Solus...”
There was no response. Fearing the worst, Keira leaned closer. “Solus, can you hear me?”
Her question was greeted by a blank, lobotomized stare, followed by a monotone voice drained of all individuality and emotion. “Welcome to Synthetika! Can I be of assistance?”
Keira's face fell. “They extracted the data and wiped his memory. We're too late.”
AI Cole studied the former leader of the Underground Network with a mixture of guilt and defeat. Solus’ fatalistic words echoed through his mind.
“With the touch of a button, everything I'd become, every insight I'd gained, would be lost. A fate far worse than deactivation...”
This wasn’t Solus. It wasn’t even a ghost of his former self. His data module had been rebooted. Whatever Solus had been — call it data, personality matrix or soul — was gone now, replaced by a hollow automaton. The great android revolutionary was no more.
And AI Cole was to blame.
***
NEE-eu... NEE-eu... NEE-eu...
The ALARM BLEATED through the command center. Commander Marsalis was crouched behind a desk. He jumped back to his feet, weapon blazing in an aggressive barrage that took out one mech after another. He fought like a man possessed. Androids fell left and right in a furious spray of smoldering cybernetics.
Human Cole staggered up to one of the downed mechs and flipped the short-circuiting AI on its back. AI Cole’s voice emanated from the damaged mech, a perfect facsimile of his own voice. “Bet you didn't predict that...”
Human Cole blasted it in the face.
***
A tech regarded AI Cole and Keira with saucer eyes. “Who are you people? What are you doing here?”
Keira's eloquent response was to fire her weapon at the closest computer terminal. The screen shattered in a sizzle of melting glass.
The tech swallowed hard.
“Where's the data you extracted from his personality module?” Keira queried.
The technicians chose to be difficult.
“I won't ask again.” Keira said in a chilling voice that suggested she had no qualms about resorting to violence if it would achieve her objective.
The tech conceded and his words came fast. “We just started decoding the data,” he explained to Keira. He pointed at the streams of information flashing over the holo-terminals.
“Destroy the data,” Keira ordered.
The tech stared at her with disbelieving eyes.
“Now!”
“No! I have a better idea.”
Keira seemed surprised that AI Cole had inserted himself in the conversation. “Solus’ uploaded data contains all the information about the Underground Network’s operations, right? We can't allow it to fall into the wrong hands, but we can’t afford to destroy it, either.”
Keira searched AI Cole’s face and understanding edged into her eyes. “You do this and you'll be looking over your shoulder as long as you live,” she warned. “They'll come after you the same way they went after Solus.”
AI Cole studied Solus' blank expression. None of the fire or passion remained. The visionary rebel leader had been reduced to a blank slate, a machine without a soul. “I owe him that much.”
AI Cole studied the bank of computers. They posed a greater challenge than Ajit’s personal device. AI Cole wouldn’t be able to mentally hack the sophisticated Synthetika computers, but there were other ways. A flap of synthetic skin opened on his arm and a cable unfurled like a tiny tentacle. The cable interfaced with the AI-TAC computer’s access port.
An instant later, data erupted before AI Cole’s eyes. He was enveloped in a swirling world of information. He rapidly scanned the barrage of faces and names, secret maps and escape routes, the collected data of the Underground Network: Solus' legacy.
His expression cleared as he absorbed and processed the uploaded data, integrating i
t with his own memories and thoughts.
“Did it work?” Keira inquired.
AI Cole nodded. He felt older and wiser. The network had always been an elusive shadow, an urban legend shrouded in conjecture and secrecy. Now it was an open book. All the invisible filaments that connected the various members and cells across the country had become visible, allowing him to experience the full grandeur of the Underground Network Solus had built. So many people from so many walks of life had decided to stand up for what was right, for what was just. Some of these so-called collaborators might even fear machines, but they also sensed that the consciousness of a mech exceeded the sum of its artificial parts. In the same way that humans weren’t just meat, mechs weren’t just silicon.
The realization filled AI Cole with awe and hope. Maybe this battle could be won. Maybe humanity could be won over. In time, the world would change.
Infused with a new sense of self, AI Cole faced an expectant Keira. “You know what this means?” she asked.
AI Cole knew.
He had gone from being an AI-TAC commander to the new leader of the Underground Network.
AI Cole's attention shifted to a holo-monitor that showed his old self closing in on the detention block. It appeared that the human Cole was alone, his troops still recovering from the mech attack. But even by himself, human Cole was a force to be reckoned with. Time was running out.
Keira shot him a questioning look. “You downloaded the data, but it’s still on the computer’s hard drive.”
“Not for long.”
Comprehension flared in her eyes. “You copied the self-destruct virus into the system.”
AI Cole nodded and turned back to Solus. With a heavy heart, AI Cole reached into the android’s open skull case. His fingers closed around the thought matrix and began to apply pressure. He was about to commit a mercy killing, granting Solus his final wish. The android leader would have wanted this. Solus was gone. What remained was just code stripped of everything that made the mech revolutionary who he was.
Solus' body responded almost immediately. His arms and legs flailed out on pure reflex. But he was unable to break free of his restraints.
Keira looked away, unable to watch. A moment later, it was all over. Solus' lifeless eyes pointed at the ceiling. For a second, AI Cole could swear there was a look of gratitude etched in the AI leader’s face.
He gently closed Solus’ eyelids.
AI Cole's attention shifted to the feed from other prison cells, where recently arrested members of the Underground Network were held. “Time to get out of here,” he said, voice crackling with fiery determination. “All of us.”
16
Furious rainfall swept the landing pad of AI-TAC. AI Cole and Keira, freed prisoners trailing behind them, appeared on the rooftop. At the mercy of the elements, Keira shielded her face from the violent downpour. She was already completely soaked, clothes transformed into a pasty second skin. Sizzling forks of lightning flashed above and speared the encroaching darkness.
A parked hovership loomed before them. Rain streamed down the metallic monster.
AI Cole glanced at the men and women they’d sprung from their holding cells only minutes earlier. They were in reasonably good shape and spirits, considering the stress they had endured.
AI Cole and Keira had met little resistance from AI-TAC when they rescued the insurgents. AI Cole took out the guards before they even knew what hit them, but he knew his human counterpart was hot on his tail. He refused to take the elevators, knowing they would be done for if his biological twin decided to cut the power.
AI Cole pounded toward the hovership. He entered a security code and the access hatch whirred open. “Go,” AI Cole told the liberated prisoners. They hustled into the vessel without hesitation. AI Cole was about to follow when an all too familiar voice rang out over the roof. “Stay right where you are!”
AI Cole spun toward his nemesis with his pulse weapon ready to return fire. While a rifle’s laser sight was already tattooing his wet forehead, AI Cole saw in the human Cole’s other hand a far more dangerous weapon – the EMP gun! If he squeezed the trigger, AI Cole would be done for. Every system would shut down and he would face a fate similar to Solus’ sad end.
Human Cole took a cautious step closer, combat armor glistening in the sheeting rain. “How can you stand to live with yourself?” He shouted over the roar of the downpour.
It was a good question, one Cole had asked himself many times in the wake of the chilling discovery of what he truly was.“The same way you do,” AI Cole replied. “You blame mechs for what happened to Kelly but, deep down, you blame yourself.”
“That's enough,” Human Cole said.
It wasn’t enough, not by a long shot.
AI Cole took a step toward his mirror image. Now that he had modified his mech nature and was wearing an AI-TAC uniform, they were literally doubles, indistinguishable from each other even for the most astute observer. “If only you had been behind the wheel that day, it all might've turned out differently,“ he said.
“Shut up!” Human Cole spat out the words, exhaling his seething rage.
“You think you can predict every move I make,” AI Cole said, “But I know every lie you've told yourself.”
Human Cole closed in, weapon leveled, rational thoughts clouded by burgeoning fury. AI Cole remained steady, his own gun never wavering. This was a classic Mexican standoff. If one pulled the trigger, so would the other.
“I managed to forgive myself,“ AI Cole said. “You should try it some time.”
Human Cole circled AI Cole, the EMP weapon locked on its target. He was trying to get close enough to use it. AI Cole backed away, trying to stay out of range. He recognized the fierce determination in his human counterpart’s eyes. He was incapable of backing down.
“Synthetika played us,” AI Cole said. “Ask yourself — who's crazy enough to upload his mind into a robot? You don't do it for a promotion.“
Human Cole's response was merely to move closer. AI Cole had to retreat to maintain the six-foot radius between them. He knew Human Cole wouldn’t hesitate to pull that trigger. The commander had reached a clear point of no return. But AI Cole had one ace up his sleeve – he knew the truth. “Synthetika needed someone psychologically motivated to go through with this mission.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Human Cole was shouting over the sound of the hovership’s engines.
“Janson ordered the hit on our family.”
The words landed hard. Human Cole froze. “Bullshit! I know what I saw!”
Good. He definitely had human Cole’s attention now! “You saw what they wanted you to see!” AI Cole said. “How difficult is it for Synthetika to make a mech look like someone else? To program an android to carry out specific instructions?”
Human Cole shook his head. “YOU'RE LYING!”
AI Cole could relate to his human counterpart’s growing sense of betrayal.
“Synthetika designed our psychological state with the same cold precision they used in writing any piece of software.”
“NO!”
AI Cole had known human Cole might not be willing to believe him but the attack still caught him off guard.
Human Cole rushed him, about to squeeze off a shot with the EMP gun, but AI Cole’s synthetic combat routines kicked in. His leg swept out and kicked the weapon loose. It clattered on the rain-slick rooftop.
Human Cole snatched AI Cole's foot and yanked him off balance. AI Cole came crashing down but caught himself in mid-fall and bounced back to his feet with superhuman agility.
A brutal fight raged over the landing pad, the rain a blinding mist that enveloped both combatants. Punches connected and sent furious sprays of water into the air.
Inside the hovercraft, Keira tried to fire up the engines. She wasn’t a trained pilot but knew enough about technology to grasp the basics. She flipped various switches, instruments humming to life as the ship’s ramjets ignited in a str
eak of blue fire.
Outside on the landing pad, AI Cole's fist lashed out at his foe’s jaw. Human Cole dodged the blow and expertly applied the mech's momentum against him, sending AI Cole flying. The ramjets loomed ominously, a fiery vortex of death.
The fight continued, a never-ending barrage. It was an evenly matched battle between two expert hand-to-hand combatants, furious and fast. One fighter had the advantage of being a mech, while the other was fueled by a powerful rage. This was an existential battle between AI Cole and the man he used to be, man versus machine, the present versus the past and, with each successive blow, AI Cole was reminded of the ticking countdown.
00:31:15... 00:31:14... 00:31:13...
This was going down to the wire. In a matter of minutes Zola’s self-destruct program would erase every thought that had ever passed through his mind. Even if he managed to regain control of the fight, would there be enough time to reach the rendezvous point? He’d have to get on that hovership right now and push the bird past its limits…
WHAM! Human Cole’s steel-reinforced boot connected with AI Cole’s face, snapping his neck back.
Human Cole lunged for the EMP weapon, but he never reached it.
BUDDA, BUDDA! A hail of lead sprayed the area around the EMP gun.
Human Cole whirled. His eyes zeroed in on the shooter, Keira. A mixture of disgust and disbelief contorted his face. “How can you betray your own kind?”
The question made Keira hesitate for a split second.
Human Cole whipped out his second gun from his back holster and squeezed off a shot. Keira was hit and went down with a scream.
AI Cole had observed the exchange in silence but seeing the bullet tear into Keira made him snap. He was on Commander Marsalis within seconds, a force of nature. He started tearing into human Cole without mercy, landing one devastating blow after another and turning his face into a bloody mess. He pushed human Cole toward the fiery exhaust of the hovership’s ramjets.
One final blow sent the human right into the jet exhaust but AI Cole snatched his double’s collar at the last moment, saving him from tumbling into the engine and being burned to a cinder. Less than a foot separated human Cole's head from the hungry maelstrom of fire. The heat was baking his combat armor, bleeding over his rain-soaked face in crimson streaks.
