Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1)

by Mary Fan

  Jane righted her chair and slumped in it. “I’m fine. I’ll take a taxi.” She put her head down on the table. “Please, just… let me go home by myself. I need some space.”

  The rage drained. She resigned herself to detached silence. What happened next—Devin ending the transmission with his usual fake smile, Counselor Mayuri clearing things up with the police, someone escorting her to a waiting taxi—was a dull blur behind the image replaying in her mind: Adam in the grip of a robot, being taken away to who knew where.

  Devin wondered if he should go see Jane right away. She’d be in no mood to talk to him after he’d lied and called her unstable. At least she’ll be safer this way.

  Whereas other Net vigilantes frequented the forums with indignant opinions, one entity was pure action. No Netsite, no forum posts, no mission statements. The Networld called it No Name. It was an entity as untraceable as the Seer and even more silent.

  Most of the Networld assumed No Name was either an elite private security company or a devoted group of Net purists. Devin knew how dangerous they really were from what he had discovered about Sarah, what they had done to her. He wanted Jane to have nothing to do with them.

  No Name had begun several years ago but only recently shown its true power: an online force that mysteriously policed the Net, fighting the efforts of all Netcrews and cybergangs indiscriminately.

  While the public confused Netcrews with cybergangs—groups of online criminals who used their skills for profit rather than activism—the cyberpolice focused on the latter, dismissing Netcrews as harmless agitators and pranksters to be dealt with by private companies. Demons turned on each other often, unveiling the identities of those they disliked and blocking each others’ hacks. For those reasons, the Networld had taken a while to realize one entity was behind the majority of the more sophisticated moves.

  No Name had to have been behind Adam’s kidnapping. Elaborately faked files, detailed planning, records in all the right places—according to Corsair, such intricate work had only been dedicated to one other person: Sarah. Not only was Adam supposed to be on a religious retreat due to distress concerning his executioner training, he’d been transferred into that class only two days before, in the middle of the term. It was too convenient. The transfer must have been orchestrated to provide an excuse for his absence. As with No Name’s previous work, all the usual tells were absent.

  Why would they target Adam? And why Sarah?

  Devin scrolled up the message window on his slate and reread the document Corsair had sent him an hour ago. He didn’t want to believe it.

  A new window popped up.

  Corsair: It won’t change, you know.

  Archangel: There must be a mistake.

  Corsair: I told you. I don’t make mistakes.

  Devin closed his eyes. Denial would do him no good, but he couldn’t bear to acknowledge the truth.

  Sarah DeHaven, what happened to you?

  He opened his eyes and noticed a shadow. Someone was behind him, someone who might have been there for a while. He looked back with a start.

  Sarah stood there, completely still and silent as stone.

  Chapter 4

  An Important Man

  Victor Colt was an important man. Without him, Quasar would not be Quasar, the Silk Sector would not be the Silk Sector, and the Colts would not be the Colts. Once the kings and queens of politics and business, the Colts had been reduced through generations of isolation and unfortunate occurrences to only himself and his two less than extraordinary children.

  Being one of the last of a formidable clan had never bothered him. He saw it, as he saw so many things in life, as an opportunity. After the death of his parents in a tragic accident shortly after his marriage to the accomplished and beautiful Senator Elizabeth Lin, Victor had taken it upon himself to lay the foundations for a new beginning to the Colt legacy. His children did not make achieving his goal easy. Every time he sorted them out, a new problem arose.

  Victor read about the latest problem. Although Counselor Mayuri had marked her communication urgent, he hadn’t found time to read it until almost an entire day later. Being an important man meant time-consuming obligations filled his days.

  Apparently, his daughter had suffered some kind of psychotic episode. The Counselor had taken care of everything with the police, but she was concerned about Jane’s mental health. She had included in her communication a list of psychiatrists in addition to an offer to counsel Jane herself.

  Victor was disappointed. No daughter of his should be mentally ill. Colts were stronger than that. But she was, after all, merely a confused young girl, and biological imbalances could not be helped. He sighed heavily.

  My dear little Jane, why must you make things so difficult for me?

  He would have to spend his valuable time ensuring the police, Counselor Mayuri, and any psychiatrists who might become involved kept quiet. The very thought gave him a headache. He’d had enough distractions for one day—the bothersome last-minute meeting with an exasperating client, the unexpected visit from maintenance to update the internal defense guns on his ceiling, the urgent call from a subordinate in the Eryatian system.

  Victor wasn’t too concerned about his daughter. Jane was a good child, if a foolish one. Thanks to advances in medicine, she would be all right once she received treatment. He was more concerned that Devin hadn’t paid her enough attention to notice signs of her illness. As much as he cared about her, Victor was too busy to watch over Jane and had told Devin to look after his little sister. If Devin had done so properly, the situation with the police would have been prevented.

  “Inbox,” Victor barked at his computer. An abnormally large proportion of the unread communications had been sent by his son. Odd. “Show missed communications from Devin Colt.”

  The computer pulled up a long list, beginning the previous evening. The latest attempt to reach him had been twenty minutes ago. They all contained the same request for an audience. No doubt it concerned Jane’s incident.

  Victor leaned back in his chair and put his feet on his desk, looking blankly past the transparent walls of his office. Devin clearly knew what had happened. He should have taken care of it himself.

  Very disappointing indeed.

  But it was a minor misstep. Compared to the disaster Devin had once been, the current lack of responsibility was no reason for concern. On every other front, Devin was finally becoming the person he was supposed to be. He had much room for improvement, but Victor nonetheless prided himself on the work he had done with his son. His persistence had transformed a thoughtless, out-of-control youth into an elite young professional.

  Devin had been disobedient as a child, and Victor and his wife had made it clear that they expected more. The boy’s schoolwork had improved, but around the age of twelve, he had become the kind of nightmare adolescent every parent dreaded. It began with a few routine attitude problems. From there, it spun out exponentially, exploding into a near decade of mayhem.

  There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to realize the child one puts all one’s energy into is nevertheless determined to stray from the road so thoughtfully planned for him.

  Victor had often felt that way about his son who, despite Victor’s best efforts, had persisted in wasting time, wasting resources, wasting away his life.

  The Colts had always been the best at whatever they chose to do. Victor Colt and his wife were no different. Victor had ruthlessly conquered the business world while Elizabeth rose through the ranks of the Kyderan legislature. Little Jane showed promise. Perhaps she wasn’t as intelligent as previous generations of Colt women, but she could charm her way into getting almost anything she wanted. Victor was well aware that in many cases, likable was the smartest thing one could be.

  Devin, on the other hand, had been a thoroughly disagreeable t
eenager. He’d selfishly dismissed his parents’ advice and willfully sought ways to upset them. That attitude led to many shouting matches.

  Victor had never wanted things to go that way. No, he and his wife had always been very patient. But Devin pushed and pushed. He would make excuses and accuse his parents of not listening, then insult them by saying they didn’t know anything about him and he didn’t need them to make his decisions for him.

  Misbehaviors had eventually become misdemeanors. By the time Devin was fifteen, he had been caught abusing substances, engaging in vandalism, and other juvenile transgressions.

  But Victor Colt was an important man, and Elizabeth Lin-Colt was a powerful politician. Through their combined influence, they cleaned up after their troublesome son time and time again. The ungrateful child had never once thanked his parents for their hard work. He’d even blamed them for his problems, charging them with putting too much pressure on him. Of course they had to pressure him. The little fool would not have gotten anywhere otherwise!

  “What are you planning to do with your life?” Victor had asked one afternoon. “How do you expect to accomplish anything if you’re always engaging in these low-life kinds of behaviors?”

  “Hey, I still bring home the grades, don’t I?” Devin’s young face dripped with boredom. “Thanks to your cleanup crew, I’m still a perfect student on paper, and that’s all that matters, right?”

  Lines formed between Elizabeth’s arched black brows. “Devin, this is serious.”

  Devin’s expression turned from indifferent to enraged. He grabbed a chair and threw it to the ground. “Dammit, I know it’s serious! Whatever worries you think you have—I promise, mine are much worse! But it’s my life we’re talking about, so let me figure it out myself!”

  Victor shook his head. “How can you be so selfish? We’ve seen where your ‘figuring things out’ has led. After all we’ve done for you, I don’t understand how—”

  “You wanna know how it started?” Devin lifted his chin as though trying to match his father’s height. “I realized that my best would never be good enough, so I turned to study meds for help. You were oh-so-proud when I started excelling in school. You didn’t care what I had to go through to get there. So I went further and further until all I wanted was escape. That’s where your guidance has led!”

  Victor frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “You’d know if you cared who I was instead of just what I do! I might as well be a fucking robot to you!”

  “That’s enough.” The rage his idiot son always managed to provoke ignited within Victor.

  Elizabeth crossed her arms. “Devin, if you don’t stop this nonsense now, you won’t go to the University of Kydera Major, you won’t get a Silk Sector job, and you won’t have a life.”

  “Okay, Mom,” Devin scoffed. “You’ve got everything planned out for me. Looks like my life is already over. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got better things to do than stand here and listen to you two repeat yourselves.”

  “Devin!” Elizabeth’s voice was quiet, but sharp.

  “That’s what always happens!” Devin pointed an accusing finger at his mother. “You vent about how I’m not the son you wanted, and nothing I say matters. Then we all leave a little deafer and more fucked up than before.”

  Victor slammed his fist into the table. “What must I do to get through to you? Have you ever listened? Have you ever thought?”

  “Have you ever listened?” Devin clenched his fists. “I’m not a machine, you know! You can’t command me and expect me to do what you programmed me for! I have ideas of my own!”

  Victor turned away, resisting the urge to slam the table again.

  Elizabeth sighed. “Devin, what do you hope to gain out of all this? How are you planning to live?”

  “Maybe I’m not.” Devin stormed out.

  That evening, Elizabeth had found him stumbling out of his room, his wrists overflowing with blood. Of all the things his son had failed at, that was the one thing Victor thanked the Absolute for. He had hoped that Devin, after a near-death experience brought on by his own misguided impulsiveness, might finally pull himself together.

  But no. The number of disciplinary problems had fallen, but the boy’s attitude had remained the same. Things had grown worse when he left for university. Without his parents’ oversight, Devin’s minor tangles with the law became full-blown criminal activities.

  Seven years ago, they got his mother killed.

  “Is this what it takes to set you straight?” Victor had stood over his son, who sat with his face in his hands. “Your mother is dead because of what you did!”

  Devin hadn’t looked up. “I know. I… I’m sorry.”

  “If you’d listened to me and done as I told you, none of this would have happened.”

  “I know.”

  “I tried so hard! You can’t say I haven’t been patient, that I haven’t been tolerant beyond reason! I could have had you arrested or committed dozens of times, and if I had, your mother would be alive.”

  “I know.”

  Looking back from the present, Victor saw how the situation could be interpreted differently. To honor his wife’s memory, he had found it in his heart to forgive Devin, even if Devin never forgave himself.

  Victor had sat down beside Devin. “Your mother loved you to a fault. If her death means you’ll live the life she wanted for you, become the person she wanted you to be, then I know she would think it worth the sacrifice. Despite the hell you’ve put me through, I don’t want to give up on you, my son.”

  From there, Devin finally made the changes Victor and his wife had always wanted, dutifully following the path laid out for him: graduation with honors, Kydera’s top business school, a job at Quasar. Shades of Devin’s former self sometimes returned, and in those moments, Victor was quick to remind him how much his past recklessness had cost. Elizabeth’s death loomed over the family, but otherwise Devin’s past misadventures became something of a joke Victor enjoyed complaining about.

  “He was such a mess before I sorted him out!” he would say with a laugh. “You won’t believe how much melodramatic nonsense he put me through!”

  Look what I’ve created, he thought whenever he saw his son doing exactly what he had been intended for. Look what my hard work has achieved.

  A ping from the computer woke Victor from his ruminations. Once again, Devin had requested an audience.

  “Open new communication,” Victor said. “Send response: affirmative. Time: immediately.”

  He pressed an icon on his monitor to disable the security cameras in his office and another to lower the shades on his four glass walls. Family matters did not need to be seen by outsiders. The shades, made of thin, double-sided monitors, were set on a video presentation that occurred two hours ago. Victor pressed a third icon, and the shades flicked to a view of the skyscrapers outside, making it look as though he sat in a glass box above the Silk Sector.

  The comm in Victor’s office beeped. “Devin Colt, requesting entry.”

  “Enter.”

  The door opened. Devin walked in, and the door closed behind him.

  Victor, still reclining in his chair, raised his eyebrows. “Well? What’s so urgent?”

  Devin’s eyes were attentive, but otherwise his face was expressionless. “I take it you’ve heard about what happened to Jane yesterday?”

  “Of course.”

  “What she described was real. There was a machine, a robot that—”

  Victor cut him off with a heavy sigh. “Devin, I understand you’re in denial about her mental health, but that will not help her recover. Have you been looking for a suitable mental health professional?”

  “She doesn’t need a doctor. Listen, she called me while she was being pursued, and I saw e
verything. I even recorded the conversation, but it was erased from my slate. Whoever sent the machine was careful to cover their tracks.”

  Victor frowned. One thing that never changed about Devin was that in his eyes, his sister could do no wrong. He’d always sided with her, no matter how imprudent her actions. It seemed she had Devin convinced her fantasy was real.

  “Suppose I believe you,” Victor said. “This powerful criminal who can design intelligent machines and falsify documents without detection, why would he expend all this effort on a nice seminary student whose only connection to anyone important is the fact that he is Jane’s friend? If this criminal planned to ask for ransom, why not take Jane herself?”

  Devin started to reply, then hesitated.

  Victor gave him a severe look. No doubt he saw how ridiculous his arguments were. “Devin, I know it’s difficult for you to accept, but the truth is that your sister suffered a disturbing psychotic episode. Now, I find it… touching… that you care about her enough to want to believe her.”

  Devin’s mouth firmed into a hard line. “I can see why you don’t believe me. Perhaps it would make more sense if I begin with what I found out about Sarah. Please hear me out. It will seem… strange.”

  What does Sarah have to do with any of this? Victor nodded, wondering where Devin was leading.

  “It began the day I proposed to her, about three weeks ago.” Devin paced as he spoke, his gaze fixed straight ahead. “Her reaction was… She froze. Completely. It was only for an instant, and she recovered as though nothing had happened, but there was something different about her. She seemed… cold. It wasn’t like her.”

  How is this relevant? “I see.”

  “My first thought was that something had her terrified, that she had been drugged or conditioned or otherwise mind-controlled.”