Code of Pride

by Ryan Kirk

  A strong anger was building up in Br00-S, a depth of feeling he hadn’t encountered yet in his young life. Despite his abilities, his AI was still only about six months old, and he hadn’t yet explored the full spectrum of human emotions.

  Bryce had spent a substantial amount of time with the criminal, and all he could say was that the man was scary? What kind of detective work was that supposed to be? Br00-S knew Bryce was telling the truth, and all of it, as far as he knew, but it still seemed to be so little.

  To make everything worse, every time he glanced at the corpse of the other AI, Br00-S felt a surge of guilt. The robot hadn’t been human, but it had been full of potential. Perhaps it was not as evolved, but its light had been snuffed out before it had become everything it could have been. All because Br00-S had sent another in his place. It was logical, but the waves of shame still washed over him. Hadn’t there been a better way?

  With everything taken together, Br00-S could barely control himself. He would make the sniper pay, and then he would make anyone associated with the sniper pay.

  He turned and stomped off. The police units were only a minute from visual range.

  Bryce called after him. “What are you going to do?”

  The robot never turned around as he shouted back. “Send a message.”

  A part of him, the part that reminded him his greatest strength was logic and reasoning, knew that what he was about to do wasn’t wise. But he couldn’t control himself. He burned at the idea of being beaten, of being forced to sacrifice another life. If he couldn’t take out his anger on the man who had inflicted his suffering, at least he could take it out on the organization that sponsored him.

  The night was late, and the bars were closing down. There was no better time to find trouble, especially the kind of trouble he was looking for.

  Br00-S walked the short journey from Loring Park to the heart of downtown. He kept his sensors tuned up, alert for any trouble that he might be able to finish. Or start, if Sapiens First was behaving itself tonight.

  He knew Detective Lewis had thought about following him. He had sensed the other man behind him, following for a few steps before his pace faltered. Unless he pulled a weapon, he had no way of stopping Br00-S, and they both knew it. Eventually the footfalls stopped and Br00-S was alone once again, the way he wanted to be.

  He decided to aim for the warehouse district. The area had a number of drinking establishments, and several of them catered to rougher types. If Br00-S was seeking out those who agreed with Sapiens First and their aims, he couldn’t look anyplace better.

  There was no particular plan. Night after night he had gone out to patrol these streets and search for those who believed in putting humans on a pedestal above all other intelligence. Tonight should be no different.

  After a half hour, his rage had only grown. What once had been a bright but contained fire now infused his limbs. He was ready to be triggered by almost anything, even a wrong word. The bars were closing and people were stumbling out, but no one argued about Sapiens First, or mods, or the takeover of AI. Dozens of people roamed the streets, sometimes alone, sometimes arm-in-arm with a new friend or potential lover, but no one seemed in any particular danger.

  Br00-S even loitered near the entrance of a bar that was well-known for serving mods. Several people stumbled out, and Br00-S waited to see if any of them attracted unwanted attention. None did, though. Despite the simmering discontent in the air, the night seemed peaceful, which enraged the robot even more.

  His rage had to go someplace. He felt like if he continued to keep it inside, his processors would fry.

  At the limit of his hearing, he finally heard promising sounds. Two deep voices, talking about how they hated how many machines and mods there were in the cities these days. From the slur of their voices and their volume, Br00-S could immediately determine they’d had too much to drink.

  He went towards the sound, leaping across rooftops, forgetting the fact that he had given his clothes to another robot earlier in the night—clothes that even now were being taken as evidence in a police investigation.

  He was reminded of that the second he came into sight of the two men. Both were big, visibly strong even through the bulky jackets they wore. Drunk, they would seem especially large and intimidating to others.

  Br00-S felt nothing like fear. He could only feel hate and determination. These two were weak, pathetic, and prejudiced. Sapiens First or not, they were part of the problem, complaining loudly in public for all to hear.

  He dropped to the ground silently behind them, starting to follow them. He didn’t have any particular plan. When they saw him, he immediately picked up on their disdain. “Look, there’s one of them now.”

  It took Br00-S a second to realize they were talking about him. He was used to walking around in plain sight, able to hide his true identity from people. But without clothes, the world immediately knew him for a robot. He made a plan, adapting to the problem.

  He kept walking toward them, hoping they would start something. He wanted them to, more than anything else at that moment.

  It would have been a simple matter to walk around them or leave them behind. A part of his programming, long since surpassed, tried to warn him from the course he was taking, but he would not be budged. He needed to hit someone.

  As he came closer, one of the men turned to the other. “You want to have some fun?”

  The other man, perhaps less drunk, perhaps just more even-keeled, groaned. “Come on, Matt. It won’t do anything. It’ll just stand there and ask if you need help. Let’s leave it alone.”

  They were only a few steps from one another, and it looked as though the more reasonable friend was going to have his way.

  Br00-S couldn’t let that happen.

  As they passed, he shifted his weight slightly so that he bumped into the man called Matt. From there, he turned into an alley. There wasn’t any need for cameras to catch what he predicted was about to happen.

  His predications were correct.

  “Hey!” Matt shouted after him.

  His friend tried to calm him down, but Matt wasn’t in any mood to be calmed. The alcohol gave him courage and hampered his judgment. “No! That fucking robot just walked into me on purpose. It’s going to apologize.”

  Br00-S could see from his rear sensors that they had turned and were following him into an alley, Matt leading the charge. It was almost too easy. Humans were foolish. They thought they were superior to robots, that they could do whatever they wanted.

  Their idiocy knew no bounds. A wise human didn’t walk into the lion’s den, unarmed, hoping to teach the lion a lesson. But they’d follow a robot into an alley without even a second’s hesitation.

  As soon as he was deep enough in the alley that he was certain he wouldn’t be caught on camera, he turned around.

  Matt and his friend followed, his friend looking as though all he wanted was to go home to a warm bed.

  Matt didn’t seem to have any fears or compunctions. “Hey, asshole, you ran into me. Apologize.”

  Br00-S stared at the man. “I’m sorry,” he said, deliberately pausing to watch the reaction on Matt’s face. Matt was smug, looking back at his friend as though to say, “I told you so.”

  Br00-S continued. “For what I’m about to do.”

  The look of smug satisfaction immediately turned to one of shock. Matt was too drunk to realize what the robot meant. Even Matt’s friend wasn’t sure what was happening.

  Br00-S stepped forward quickly and drove his fist into Matt’s stomach, doubling the man over. As the large man collapsed, Br00-S brought his foot down quickly, breaking Matt’s femur with ease.

  Matt, who moments before had been self-satisfied, immediately became a slobbering mess. Br00-S wanted to do more, longed to do more, but something inside stopped him. He looked over at Matt’s friend, who was holding up his hands and backing up.

  “Look, man. I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Al
l you humans are trouble.”

  The man didn’t seem to have a response to that, but Br00-S saw that the man was within range of the street cameras now.

  As quickly as the anger had appeared, it flickered and died, replaced by an even deeper shame. What had he done? Matt had been guilty of nothing more than drinking too much. Br00-S backed away, too. All he wanted to do was turn off his processors, rest for a while, and recharge. Everything would make more sense once he had some rest.

  Br00-S looked around the alley. There weren’t any convenient ways out except through the entrance they had all used. He followed it and pushed past Matt’s friend, who looked as though he was ready to wet himself.

  Br00-S walked by himself out into the cold night, desperately making his way home.

  Chapter Eight

  The first thing Nat noticed when Br00-S returned to the cave was that he wasn’t wearing any clothes. For a robot, that wasn’t particularly unusual; but as long as she’d known him, he had always worn a hoodie and jeans to protect his identity while working in the outside world. To see him without that layer of cover, especially after being out all night, was particularly worrying.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “I had to give away my clothes,” the robot replied, as he dug through the few supplies he had. He pulled out another outfit, almost identical to the one he had lost. He dressed himself with smooth, practiced motions.

  Deception was hard to detect with a robot, but Nat had the almost-certain knowledge that Br00-S was lying to her. She frowned and searched her memory. For as long as she’d known him, he had never deceived her, not even in the slightest. He hadn’t always told the entire truth, but outright lying was a tremendous, and worrying, difference.

  The second thing she noticed was that Br00-S was acting differently. Spending time with him was like watching a child grow up, just at an accelerated rate. In six months he had gone from a child in the ways of the world to seeing patterns and connections she would have taken days to discover.

  But this was different, something she hadn’t seen before. Br00-S was almost skittish, going back and forth quickly like a kid trying to burn off extra energy. Even when he was young, when Nat had first met him, he had never behaved like this. The evidence pointed to one inescapable conclusion. Something had happened that he wasn’t eager to tell her about. She’d have to dig to find the truth. “B, are you okay?”

  He immediately stopped pacing and looked at her.

  “Yes, sorry.” No further explanation was given. Nat considered pushing harder, but for some reason she remembered she was living with a robot that could harm her with little to no problem. Strange, but such thoughts didn’t often occur to her anymore. Despite her burning curiosity, she figured it was better not to investigate.

  As disturbing as her partner’s behavior was, Nat couldn’t keep her recent discovery to herself. Perhaps he would be able to make some more sense of the information, find a pattern that she didn’t think to look for. “B, guess what I found today?”

  He looked at her with a blank stare.

  Undeterred, she continued. “I figured out what some of the encrypted information we got from the Sapiens First computers was. It was election information, designed to help potential candidates target their advertising more effectively.”

  “So?”

  “So, it means that Sapiens First, a terrorist organization, is actively involved with an election process.”

  He stared at her blankly again, and she pressed on, not willing to give up the argument.

  “Look, everyone knows that Sapiens and Sapiens First have always been related. Anyone who believes differently is dumb as shit. But there’s never been conclusive proof. This could be it! If we could link Sapiens and Sapiens First, we could take them down as a political party!”

  Her robot partner didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm. “That’s not what we’re trying to do.”

  She was confused. “Isn’t it? We’ve been trying to figure out how to make a difference, and it could be right here. If we could discredit the party before they start winning elections, it would be a huge step forward for both AI and humans. B, this could change everything!”

  Br00-S shook his head. “It won’t stop the violence.” He stood and paced the room again.

  Nat frowned, her stomach twisting inside. She had been so sure this was exactly what they were looking for. Why didn’t he see? Why didn’t he believe? He could see connections and patterns beyond her understanding, so maybe she was the one who was missing something. If she couldn’t convince him, she had to be wrong. But how could she be? Her mind raced, but she couldn’t ease the discomfort in her stomach. Were her attempts useless?

  “I came across one of them tonight.”

  The confession stopped Nat in her tracks. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that it took her several seconds to realize he was talking about what had happened to him and not about her idea. She suspected he had lied about the clothes, but if the loss of the clothes had something to do with someone from Sapiens First, there was much more to the story. Yet, she struggled to focus, her attention still centered on her own disappointment. “What happened?”

  “One of them got the better of me. Not much more to it than that.”

  The flat tone with which he shared the information did nothing to alleviate Nat’s reaction. In the past few months she had come to think of Br00-S as being unbeatable, but now he was confessing he had been defeated, and it had even cost him his clothes. Although it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it, whatever had happened was big. Who could have done that to him?

  But Nat also didn’t want to let go of her thread. There was a possibility that they were connected, especially since both had to do with Sapiens First.

  “Do you want to try and help me work through the information I found?”

  He waved her away. “I’ll let you do it. You can tell me what you find.”

  Nat was astounded, her face falling. They had been working together so well as a team. She was about to protest, but Br00-S plugged himself into a power source and crouched in the fetal position, essentially ending the argument before it began. She was shaken, and wrapped herself up with her own arms, shrinking deeper into her sweatshirt. She believed in herself, but she felt as though her partner had just punched her several times in the stomach.

  Br00-S had become everything to her, she realized. Like a friend and father all in one, someone who shared her passions and determination. But now, even with the two of them together in the cave, she felt very cold and very alone.

  She clenched her fists and glared at him, as though that would make a difference. After everything they had been through, she certainly didn’t deserve to be pushed off, not like that.

  Nat could feel her eyes watering, but she refused to let the tears fall. She spun around quickly and positioned herself in front of her monitors. She wasn’t wrong.

  She had worked alone before, and she could again. If Br00-S was too involved in his own problems to help her, there was nothing that said she couldn’t do it herself. She would figure out what Sapiens First was up to, with or without him.

  Nat attempted to work for a while in the cave, but Br00-S’ silent presence made it nearly impossible for her. His complete stillness and dismissal of her was more irritating and distracting than his pacing had been.

  After twenty lost minutes trying to focus, she decided to go to a library. It certainly wasn’t as private, but if she encrypted her traffic and didn’t get into too many shenanigans, she should be fine. She had operated for a long time through publicly available Wi-Fi. Hopefully she wasn’t too rusty after the months of spoiled direct access Br00-S had given her.

  She left the cave and caught the light rail downtown just as the central library opened. It was a four-story behemoth of glass and steel, and Nat had always found the building comforting. It was starting to fade into disrepair, but to her that only made it feel cozy. She passed the homele
ss taking temporary shelter from the weather in the lobby, took the elevator up two floors and found one of her favorite corners, a place that remained quiet no matter how busy the library became.

  With the change in her environment, her focus felt twice as strong as before. She cracked her fingers and stared at a blank screen, mapping out her attack in her head before beginning. Her operating premise was fairly simple. At one point, Sapiens First had been grooming Clive Proskey for a gubernatorial run, probably for the election happening next year. He was an excellent candidate. He was a professional businessman who was well-respected in the community, an active philanthropist, and a man who could make Sapiens’ goals seem reasonable to the electoral masses.

  There had only been one problem: Felix had killed Proskey for fear of what the CEO might reveal to Br00-S. A dead candidate was no candidate at all, even among the shitty choices in most modern elections.

  So she put herself in her enemies’ shoes. Their goal would remain. They wanted someone they knew and worked with to be governor. In theory, that could be anyone, but in practice, it narrowed the field considerably. They would need someone with resources, someone respected within the community, or at least within important circles. Sapiens couldn’t just pull an average Joe off the street and hope he or she would do.

  Her job, then, was somewhat simple. She needed to find someone who fit the profile and start digging deeper. The only complication was that anyone high enough on the social ladder to have a chance of being elected would never allow their association with Sapiens First to become public. Maybe they might express an affiliation with Sapiens, but Nat wasn’t confident enough in that guess to use it as a search parameter.

  The easiest place to begin was with Proskey Enterprises. They were a huge corporation with definite ties to Sapiens and illegal ties to Sapiens First. Digging into them was a logical place to start. Also, she didn’t have any better ideas. After the death of Mr. Proskey, the corporation had temporarily switched to the leadership of the company’s chief operating officer, a woman named Barbara Kings. Nat began with her.