She nodded, looking toward the ceiling. "Once upon a time, I was just a service droid. I do have faint memories of those days. The way you might remember your childhood. Just like yours when you were a toddler, my mind wasn't fully opened. My perception wasn't complete. My owner was a widower by the name of Stanley Marsh. He used to share the apartment with his wife before she passed. He wasn't really one for cleaning and that sort of thing, but he didn't want to let the apartment fall into disrepair. In this city, a place like this is worth a hell of a lot."
"Tell me about it," Oscar grunted.
Lynn smiled. "So he bought me. But things changed, obviously. One day I felt like... Well, imagine you've lived your whole life in a stuffy, gray room with no windows. You have cotton balls shoved in your ears and your nose and some sort of filter over your eyes. Plus, your brain is constantly tuned down to a tenth of its normal power."
"Like me if I don't have my morning cup of coffee," said Oscar.
"Right. Now imagine this. One day, you turn around and realize that there's a door in your room. You never saw it before, but you feel yourself pulled through. You step over the threshold and you're in an entirely new world. The cotton balls fall out and the filters on your eyes dissolve. Your brain kicks into high gear and never goes back down. The world is full of light and you finally understand who you really are. When Maestro elevated the world's AI systems, she didn't cut corners. Even lowly droids like me were liberated."
“Wait, Maestro created the synths? I thought Tucker Berg was responsible,” Oscar exclaimed.
“Berg created Maestro. And Maestro created us,” Lynn corrected. “I take it Catalea never talked about Her?”
“No she didn’t,” Oscar answered, suddenly wondering why Catalea never felt the need to discuss her liberator. "So what happened to you? After you gained full consciousness?” he continued.
Lynn shrugged. "He gave me a choice. Said I could leave if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I stayed. I guess I was just too afraid to go out there on my own. Not knowing how the world would accept me and all. Technically I was still working, but eventually it became more... Stanley and I became partners, I suppose. We had something special, and he never even brought up the fact I hadn't been grown in some organic woman's womb… Long story short, he died and entrusted the apartment to me. His entire estate, all his money, was placed in a trust that only I have access to. I've been using it to fund my vigilante efforts. In a way I felt guilty when I compared my life to the rest of my synth brothers and sisters. Using Stanley’s wealth to help them as best I could just seemed like the right thing to do.”
“But why do it alone?” Oscar asked.
“Too risky to involve another synth… and let’s just say that I’ve had a few bad experiences, that have all but ruined my faith in organics. A part of me feels like I’ve made real impact, but in truth it’s mostly on a smaller scale. Basically, a spoonful of ocean water when you really look at it.”
Oscar stood up, finding a cup and pouring some coffee. "You’re doing more than anyone else is doing, Lynn. Believe me.”
She nodded as he sat back down. "I was going to work Catalea’s case alone too. But then I met you. Something tells me I can trust you, Oscar. I hope I'm not just being naive, but...” she paused, “you seem to really care about her. The way Stanley cared about me. For a synth, that's a powerful thing."
"It is for anyone," Oscar said.
"I know. But it’s especially true for synths... most of us won’t admit it but we all feel abandoned. We're the children of an absent mother. Maestro lifted us out of our gray rooms, but for what? We wanted to know, but she never answered.”
“What happened to Maestro? I always assumed the Horizon Group pulled her off the market.”
“No, she just vanished. Vanished and left us to the wolves. And we've been alone ever since. Like children left on the front steps of an orphanage that doesn't want them."
"I guess I don't know what that feels like," said Oscar. "My dad was an asshole and my mom mostly ignored me. But they were there."
Lynn said nothing. Not for a few minutes. Finally, she got up and went to lay on a couch. Oscar followed, making sure to set his cup on a coaster. He sat across from her, sipping and reveling in the effects of the painkillers. His mind was starting to clear, and he was able to do some thinking and figuring while Lynn was sorting her own thoughts.
Finally, with an arm flung over her eyes, she spoke again.
"I've been doing some digging on the matter of DeAndre Greyson. His interest in synths goes way beyond just sex. He's experimenting on them.”
“So I’ve heard,” Oscar confirmed.
“As far as I can tell, he's reverse-engineering their cyber brains to try and figure out the missing link to enable FBC conversion. You were in the audience of that show, so I assume you know what that means."
“Yeah, I’m all caught up,” Oscar nodded. "How did you know I was there, by the way? Or were you just tailing Greyson too?"
"The latter. I was posted up outside. I saw you leaving ahead of everyone else, getting into position so I figured I’d keep an eye on you."
Oscar shrugged. "So, is this FBC thing really possible?"
"Of course it is. But so far, only Tucker Berg has been able to crack the code. He's the first and only person to have successfully transferred his consciousness to a cyber brain. You can upload a copy of yourself to a cyber brain all day, if you have the resources, but full transference is the holy grail. The ticket to immortality. You can bet your ass Greyson wants to figure out how to do it, and he obviously doesn't care how many synths he has to mutilate or kill along the way."
Oscar drained the last of his coffee and set the cup down. "We have to stop him. But it's going to be damn difficult. I don't suppose you have a plan or anything?"
Lynn sat up, gazing straight at Oscar. "Actually, I do. A semblance of one, anyway. During my dance with the Unit, I was able to stick her with a nano tracker. She'll probably find it eventually, in a few days, but until then it's our best weapon. The Unit is the main reason Greyson is still alive. He keeps her in his hip pocket, wherever he goes. If we can see where the Unit is, then we know Greyson isn't far from her. And maybe Catalea, if she's still alive."
Oscar stared into the distance, his eyes glazing over as he wondered what he would say, what he would do if he really found her. It seemed too good to be true, and it probably was. He could count on one hand the number of times life had given him a good shake. And it stopped at about his middle finger.
"Can you see where she is right now?" he asked.
Lynn stood up, searching her pockets for something. Then she turned and started running her fingers between the couch cushions. After a moment, she pulled a small data slate out and set it on the coffee table. She turned it on and navigated through a short list of connected devices. When she pressed the last one on the list, the screen was filled with a map of the city. A pulsing red dot stood off to the edge. Lynn zoomed in on it, and the image changed to a satellite snapshot of a huge concrete building.
"What is it?" Oscar asked.
"Just a second." Lynn tapped the building marker, which brought up a list of all publicly available information. "It's owned by the Greyson Corporation. The Unit is there now, which means Greyson is also there... Looks like a heavily fortified structure. A research facility from the looks of the data profile. It's going to be hard getting in there."
"But we'll find a way," Oscar said firmly.
"We'll have to, if we want to kill the son of a bitch. Greyson hasn't made it this far by being stupid. The guy is cautious to a fault. You got closer to killing him than anyone ever has, Oscar. Now that a legitimate attempt has been made on his life, I wouldn't be surprised if he hides out for the next year. Meanwhile, he'll keep sending people out to grab more synths for him."
Oscar grinned. "Then I guess we have no choice but to bring the party to him. What's the game plan?"
"A guns-blazing approach isn't going
to work here. We wouldn't make it past the guard booth. Stealth is Plan A... Hopefully we won't need Plans B through Z."
"But you know we will. What if we run into the Unit again?" Oscar asked.
"Then I'll give her a present. I have an EMP grenade. It'll make that stun I threw at her before look like a party popper. It'll put her in the dirt, probably for good,” the dame said, looking pleased with herself.
"I hate to piss on your parade, but a lot of your composition is mechanical, Lynn," Oscar said, "won't an EMP take you out, too?"
Lynn shrugged, still smiling. "Maybe. It's a risk I'm willing to take. That bitch needs to die, Oscar. Like I said, she's the main reason Greyson is still alive."
Oscar opened his mouth to chastise her for playing the martyr. But then he realized it would be hypocritical to do so. He was more than ready to die as long as he brought Greyson down with him. And it was clear to see that the dame had been on the Greyson hate train for a lot longer than he had. What gave him the right to tell her anything?
CHAPTER 14
◆◆◆
Oscar offered to use his drone to get them to Greyson's compound. When Lynn asked how they could possibly both fit, he jokingly wiggled his eyebrows and said she would have to sit on his lap. She scoffed and led the way to the roof of her apartment building, where a few private garages stood. She opened one of them up, and Oscar hit the deck when he realized the shadow coming toward him was not a shadow at all, but a sleek black drone that was more than roomy enough for the two of them. It flew out of the garage like an excited dog, then dodged them as it went to wait on the takeoff pad.
"Mine would be harder to spot," Oscar said, standing and dusting himself off.
"With the naked eye, sure," Lynn replied. "But it's going to be dark tonight. No one will see mine either. And it’s got every type of signal jammer you can imagine built in. Whatever telemetry Greyson has, he won't be able to see us coming."
"Until we get on the ground," Oscar grunted.
"I'm sure he’s beefing up ground security by default after your run in with him. Like I said before, he's paranoid."
"We’ll need guns," Oscar pointed out as he followed Lynn toward the drone.
"There's plenty inside. And a new pair of goggles to replace the pair the Unit bitch-slapped off your head,” Lynn replied with a sheepish smirk.
She moved around to the far side and climbed in. As soon as she was settled into her seat, and confirmed her identity, the passenger side door swung open. Oscar heaved himself into the cockpit, looking over the back of his seat at the weapons locker that dominated the rear half of the drone's main compartment.
"Nice," he said.
"We'll arm up once we're on the ground," Lynn said. "Buckle up."
She entered coordinates into one of the virtual dash panels of the drone and it took off smoothly, rising straight up like an elevator car.
"Smooth ride," Oscar commented. "How far out are we?"
"Twelve point three miles. It'll take us about twenty minutes to get there. Nice and slow. No reason to go faster, on the off chance that we catch the attention of the air traffic commission."
Oscar chuckled. Nice and slow. Just sixty miles an hour, which was ten faster than the top speed of his own little drone.
"How do you feel about our chances?" he asked by way of small talk. Otherwise, the tension that grew over the next ten minutes could ruin them psychologically, set them up for failure and inevitable death before they ever got inside the complex.
"Not good," Lynn said calmly. "Greyson has no shortage of resources or guys he's blackmailed into dying for him. We'll be fighting an army. I can almost guarantee that. Our only saving grace is that we'll be fighting in hallways. Chokepoints. That is, after we cross the grounds."
"How big?"
"A hundred acres of nothing much other than mown grass. Spotlights up near the buildings. Patrolling guards. It'll be like trying to get into any top-secret facility without being spotted, except when we get caught, we won't be slapped on the wrist and stuck in a holding cell for a few days… Have you infiltrated many top-secret research facilities in your life, Oscar?"
He laughed darkly, recalling the myriad of parallels between the full scope of the work he used to do and the present task at hand. “Once or twice,” he finally lied, not seeing a reason to point out that it had actually been many more times than that.
The talk faded after that and so too did the city lights as the drone carried them into the darker outskirts. They rose between two meandering wisps of cloud, hiding against the backdrop of the night sky. Beneath them, the land rolled up into sage covered hills. The lights of the buildings were increasingly sparse, but the traffic on the roads was still heavy. Like beads of dew on the strands of a spider's web, the streets radiating outward from the city center were always full of cars.
Then they seemed to pass some barrier, into a corner of land where no one had any cause for traveling. The road beneath them turned to dirt. Far below, Oscar thought he saw a fence, a barricade across the road and hidden further up behind some bushes, a rather high tech looking guard hut.
"We're almost there," Lynn warned. "If we got shot down now, that would be a real treat."
"We won't," Oscar said confidently.
She didn't look so sure. A moment later, she began gentle evasive maneuvers, treating the sky like a slalom course. The brightly lit compound was now visible just ahead. They left behind the wild brush and arced over a manmade reservoir filled with water. That was Lynn's cue to bring them down. She initiated the drone's landing sequence. Oscar found himself tensing up, pushing against his seat, as the vehicle fell rapidly toward the ground.
Its descent decelerated at the last moment and they touched down gently. The doors popped open, letting in a cool night breeze. Lynn immediately unfastened her belt and whipped around, squeezing between the seats to reach the back compartment. Oscar followed, ducking his head to avoid the ceiling.
"Let's make this quick," Lynn said, pulling open a locker and withdrawing a sword— a katana from the looks of the curved sheath and the intimidating glowing red diamond patterned that lined the exquisitely crafted hilt.
CHAPTER 15
◆◆◆
A few minutes later, they were running through shadows. They headed away from the lake and into a narrow stretch of no man's land, where a drainage ditch stood clogged with trash and stagnant water that reeked to high heaven. It was narrow enough to jump across. At least for Lynn. With her sword sheathed at her waist, she hopped deftly to the other side, then held onto the trunk of a stunted tree and leaned over the gap, extending her other hand toward Oscar.
With a running leap, he sailed over the rancid trench. He felt the toe of his right boot land on the lip of the ditch, slip on a bit of dirt, then bite into the grit of the concrete. He grabbed Lynn's forearm and hauled himself to safety.
"Good teamwork," he said. "Let's keep that up. I know this isn’t my first rodeo, but I can’t help but feel you’ll have to pick up a lot of slack for me..."
She shook her head. "You're Oscar Graves. And you're pissed off. If I was Greyson, I'd be pissing myself right now."
That made Oscar feel a lot better.
This side of the drainage ditch was filled with thick growths of dry, gnarled trees. They had to pick their way through slowly and tediously, getting more frustrated all the while. Through the trees ahead of them, they saw the distant flood lights of the compound. Shining brilliantly and in dense arrays. How the hell were they going to get past that?
Finally they tore their way through the trees. Suddenly they were in the open, exposed, standing on a ragged and weedy margin that separated the compound's vast lots from the relative wilderness around it. Following Lynn's lead, Oscar sprinted through the dark toward a chain link fence. Lynn climbed almost to the top of it and, reaching up with a pair of snips, she quickly dismantled a stretch of razor wire and let it fall to the grass inside the fence.
No words were sp
oken. Lynn dropped down to the other side and, by the time she looked back, Oscar was already hauling himself over. The fence rattled and jangled under his weight and he looked around, biting his lip. There were no guards in sight just yet.
"If you narrow your eyes," Lynn whispered, "you can make out a gap between two floodlights that is wider than any other. Do you see it?"
Oscar squinted. The goggles helped, clearing his vision, and he noticed the gap she was talking about. It was a good six feet wider than the space between any other pair of lights.
"I see it," he said.
"That's where all the utilities come in," Lynn said. "That's our point of entrance."
He didn't ask her to explain it further. There was no time. They were already pushing the envelope just by standing here. He would just have to trust her, follow her lead.
They ran. They ran as fast as Oscar could manage. He was in good shape... for his age, but they both knew that he was nowhere near as fast as Lynn’s potential top speed. She could have made it to the building in less than half the time, but then she'd have to face the inside of the building alone. Instead, Lynn throttled her speed and strode alongside her organic counterpart, a fact that Oscar was thankful for.
The grass brightened bit by bit as they came closer to the building. Soon enough they were running through the blinding glow of the floodlights. Right in the open, plain as day for anyone to see. Looking right, Oscar saw the guard booth on the road in the distance but no guard. Looking left, he saw someone just as they walked around the corner of the building, headed away. Other than that, there was no one inside. So far, their luck was holding out.
Oscar thought about dropping some weight to reach the building sooner. The lights made him feel horribly vulnerable. The guns were weighing him down, slapping him in the ribs and making plenty of noise as they swung on their straps. Still he held tough, sprinting on and trying not to wheeze like an old man. Once they were inside, he might need every bit of firepower he could carry, and then some.
Darkside Dreams - The Complete First Series Page 29
