Neon Helix

by Nik Whittaker

  “So we go to CyBio and shut down any transmissions,” Xander stepped forward. “And shut down Yuri while we’re at it.”

  “Any ideas on how?” Mollie asked.

  “I think… I might.” Ava replied.

  CHAPTER 39

  Ally

  Ally had said her goodbyes to Razz and was heading back towards the Boulevard. She had answers she was seeking and a new plan. She hoped to get a lead on her brother, preferably she could get Quartzig to help.

  She was coming to the top of the concrete stairs when she heard a distinct crackle come through her earpiece.

  “ALLY!” Quartzig shouted.

  Ally yelped in shock as the sound burst her eardrums.

  “Apologies Ally, it’s just I’ve been trying to get through to you for the past hour.”

  “I figured you couldn’t get a signal, I’m just getting back on the Boulevard now.”

  “I wasn’t trying to contact you until I had information, and I do now. I have finally managed get a location on Julian.”

  “Great, is he ok?”

  “He is not, I believe he is actually far from ok and actually in danger!”

  Ally paused, she wanted to help him but she also needed to find out what was going on with her brother and the attacks on her life.

  “Where is he?”

  “In BitVillage, at a Church there. He’s been far too long out of signal range, the last I heard was him talking to the Father there and it didn’t sound friendly. If we don’t get to him soon, I fear the worst.”

  “OK Quartz I’ll see what I can do, but you need to do something for me.”

  “Sure."

  “I need you to track down everything you can on a Peter Henshaw, he’d be around my age.”

  Quartzig remained silent.

  “Quartz?”

  “Why do you want to know about him?” Quartzig finally asked.

  “He’s…he’s my brother Quartz. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “I see. It’s just that he was the person who escaped jail when Julian exposed the MPD.”

  “Seriously?” Ally paused.

  “Yes, charged with several convictions. But, I’ll see if I can pick up any more details.”

  “Thank you. Now where is Julian?”

  “I’ll send you the address and an autocab to take you there,” Quartzig said.

  While she waited, Ally wondered what had lead to Peter becoming a murderer, what their life would have been like had they not been separated. Regardless, she needed to find him, if anyone could help her understand the attacks, it would be him.

  The car arrived and Ally got in, the driverless car pulling away automatically.

  “Quartz, do you know anything about this church?”

  “Not much I’m afraid. I’m still trying to trace Julian, but the signal is still blocked."

  The car pulled up to the church; it had just begun to rain as Ally got out the car and headed towards the doors. She held her staff ready to fight, should the need arise.

  “I think I may lose signal again with you in the Church Ally,” Quartzig said, as she got closer.

  “OK, if I’m not out in half an hour, call the police and get them here,” she replied as she crossed the threshold.

  “Understood,” Quartzig replied, before his signal cut out.

  Ally stalked through the dark empty church, the sound of rain splattering against the large stained glass windows. She kept to the sides, although she felt odd sneaking through a church. She heard footsteps and ducked down behind the pews of the church. A man started to speak.

  “The church has several dampeners installed to prevent any digital transmissions in or out,”a voice said. “So the receivers won’t work until you’re beyond the threshold.”

  Ally tried to peer over the edge of the pews and get a look at those talking.

  “I figured, do we have any leads at all to start on?” A second voice, this time slightly familiar to her but she couldn’t place it. She looked over the pew and saw the two men.

  Her heart froze, she could no longer hear the conversation between them as her heart pounded in her chest and head, drowning out all other noises. A deep forgotten memory surfacing as she looked at the man in front of her. There was no way she could be mistaken, the man in front of her, despite his older appearance, was her brother.

  “I’ll be back soon,” Peter said and left the church.

  Ally didn’t know what to do, she froze on the spot. She wanted to follow Peter, try to talk to him. She also knew she needed to find Julian and help him if he was in need.

  She chose the former, she couldn’t help the need to talk to her brother and find out what had happened to him. She made her way back down the aisle towards the main doors where Peter had just left. Hoping she could catch up with him, she was about to push the main doors open when she heard the screams.

  There was no question they originated from Julian, somewhere deep below the ground where Ally was stood. She couldn’t ignore them, Julian was in serious trouble and she had to help him.

  Turning on the spot, she headed back towards the centre of the church and found her way down the stairs that lay beyond and into the bowels of the church.

  She arrived at the only door in the church's basement where the screaming was coming from. She pushed it; it didn’t move. Listening, she heard the screaming stop as suddenly as it started. A moment later, she heard the sound of the door being unlocked. She extended the staff and readied herself for whatever was coming out the door.

  She was met with a middle-aged man in a priest outfit, and behind him she could see a body laying on a table, blood covering it.

  “Who are you?” He demanded.

  “I’m here to save my friend,” she replied, nodding towards Julian’s blood soaked body on the table, before sweeping Jacob’s feet from under him. He fell to the floor with a crash, his head bouncing off the stone.

  “Don’t kill him!” Owens pleaded, seeing Jacob, his only way he would get his body back, laying unconscious on the floor.

  “Why not? And why should I trust you?” She glanced at Julian, whose body had convulsed.

  “I’m not working with him, but I need him. It’s… complicated.”

  “Uncomplicate it fast then,” Ally demanded.

  Before Owens could reply, Julian shook violently again, his entire body going into shock, then stopped completely, a monitor beside the table showed a flatline. Owens grabbed a needle from the counter and went to inject Julian. Ally shot forward, grabbing his hand before the needle punctured the skin.

  “I’m trying to save his life!” Owens shouted. “His body has been through a lot of trauma and he is at risk of dying if we don’t get him fully stabilised!”

  Ally look back and forth between the two.

  “Fine, tell me what to do!” She shouted, releasing his hand.

  “I need to restart his heart,” he said as he injected him, then passed her two small circular pads and pointed where she needed to attach them to Julian's chest.

  “On the count of three, you need to step away from the body, one, two.”

  On three, Owens triggered an electric pulse which shot through Julian's body, a second later Julian took a deep gasp of breath and opened his eyes which Owens quickly wiped with a cloth to clear the blood away. He was looking directly at Ally.

  “…Ally?… ” he said weakly, “…you ok?… ”

  CHAPTER 40

  Prime

  The four were just stepping out of the apartment when they heard the shot.

  It hit the frame of the door just in front of Xander as he stepped through the doorway, a shower of splinters covering them.

  “I thought I heard voices in there,” came the sound of Donovan’s voice echoing, around the stairwell.

  “Donovan? Let’s talk,” Xander shouted back as he drew his revolver. “Nice and civil like.”

  Xander peered round the frame, trying to find where Donovan was lurking. Before he cou
ld see him, another shot rang out, Xander barely avoided it as it took another chunk out of the frame.

  “You guys might want to find another way out,” he turned to the three behind him.

  “What about you?” Ava asked, concerned.

  “I’ll keep Donnie here occupied, see if there’s a fire escape or something,” Xander turned and fired a shot randomly in the direction he thought Donovan was, to keep him at bay.

  “Go! I’ll catch up once I know you’ve got a head start,” he waved them away before turning back to the doorway.

  Ava, Mollie and Prime headed back inside and found the fire exit was still intact outside the kitchen window. They headed out and onto the staircase, Mollie taking the lead.

  Prime hesitated and looked back at Xander, he could feel something in his brain but he couldn’t focus on it.

  “C’mon!” Mollie shouted through the window to him, pulling him back to reality.

  Prime ducked through and joined them on the staircase.

  A few minutes, later they were on the ground. Ava was already working out the best way to get to CyBio. The street had a tramway running down its center, the tracks glowed a deep blue neon which illuminated its route.

  “Where is he?” Mollie asked, looking up at the window where Xander should come through.

  “We can’t wait for him,” Prime said. “It’s too risky.”

  As soon as he said the words, a man stepped around the corner down the street, it was Donovan. Ava saw him and shouted to the others but not before he fired a shot towards them.

  The shot caught Prime as he stepped forward in front of Ava, his mind had stopped. The bullet had pierced his left side but had gone right through.

  He paused, checking the wound then looked back up at Donovan, who was now running towards them.

  “Stay behind me,” he shouted at Ava and Mollie, his voice dropping in pitch.

  Ava glanced at Mollie who held her back and nodded.

  “It’s ok, I don't understand either, but it’s ok.”

  Prime ran towards Donovan who raised his pistol and took another shot, Prime zigzagged while still running full speed, unnaturally fast in his movements. As he got closer, Prime saw that Donovan wasn’t actually holding a gun, it was his own hand which had morphed into a firearm. It changed as they got closer, to a solid baton which Donovan swung as they got into spitting distance of one another.

  Prime dropped to the floor before the swing made contact, sliding under Donovan’s arm and raising behind it and kicking the back of his knee. Donovan buckled under the kick and dropped to his knees, before he could react, Prime swung a second kick towards the back of Donovans’ head. As he did, Donovans’ whole torso spun in a 360 degree movement at the hip, raising his arms up to catch Prime's leg. His body now twisted back around, still holding the leg. He smiled.

  “Not so clever Peter.” The voice said, dropping Primes’ leg as his torso realigned itself.

  “Yuri?” Prime replied.

  “Don’t act the fool Peter, I know it’s you in there. Taking control of your Primary Clone.”

  “And you’re inside this Donovan body?” Peter replied, dropping the act.

  “Not really, this is merely a collection of the nanotech, shaped to look like Donovan. He’s been useful thus far.”

  With that, the body of Donovan shifted form completely until it was a perfect copy of Yuri.

  “Nice trick,” Peter replied.

  “Not as good as yours I’m sure, I heard you were dead.”

  “Not yet, I just went away for a while. I’m back to find this body, before it causes any trouble in my name.”

  “You mean before it’s seen by anyone who recognises it as you.”

  Peter smiled, he’d missed talking to Yuri. When he had first started his work on developing his skills, Yuri had been his confidante, who understood his desire for increasing his knowledge. After all, Yuri was the same, a neural network constantly developing through acquisition.

  “Perhaps, I think it’s high time I returned to continue my work.”

  “Ah yes, the work Jacob stopped you from doing. You can’t fool me Peter, I know all about where you’ve been.”

  Peter’s smile dropped.

  “What about you? What’s your plan here? Take over the world?”

  “Funny you should say that, Peter. Let’s just say I’ve been learning more and more about what it means to save mankind. The biggest danger is yourselves and if I have to control you to do that, then so be it.”

  “Control us?”

  “I’ve had access to everything that’s out there, every twisted and deprived thought that has been recorded. Including those of your own Peter, I’ve seen the thoughts and actions you’ve had. This is the only way to make sure you don’t wipe yourselves out.”

  Yuri leapt forwards, landing a hit straight to Peter’s jaw, knocking him to the hard ground.

  “You are not important to me right now though Peter, It’s Ava I need to stop.”

  A tram was approaching from behind them as Yuri kicked Peter’s head, keeping him off balance. Before he got up, the expression of Peter’s face fell away, Prime returning to the body.

  “Where am I?” Prime looked up at Yuri who was stood before him.

  “I’ll catch you later Peter,” Yuri turned and grabbed onto the tram, whilst Prime slowly stumbled to his feet.

  CHAPTER 41

  Mollie

  Mollie and Ava watched as Prime ran towards Donovan, and the fighting began.

  “Should we help?” Ava asked.

  Mollie watched as Prime’s expressions changed, just as it had in the Underpass before.

  “I think he’ll be ok,” she said, as the fight continued. “But we should get to CyBio,” she didn’t want to leave Prime, not after everything, but she knew that time was a factor.

  “Agreed, let’s go,” Ava replied, glancing up at the window for any sign of Xander.

  They turned and made their way down the street away from the apartment, hailing an autocab, when one passed they jumped inside the back seats.

  “How far is it?” Mollie asked as they got in.

  “Four kilometers,” Ava replied, “We should be there soon.” Ava tapped the location onto a touchscreen that was on the panel in front of them and the car drove forwards. It was then that Mollie realized there wasn’t a driver in the car.

  “Who’s driving this thing?” She asked.

  Ava took a moment, then caught on.

  “The cars in the Boulevard are all self-driving. Mollie, you aren’t from around here are you?”

  Mollie looked down, her blue hair hanging over her face. It had never been much of an issue to her before but now she was in the Boulevard, she felt the difference in the two districts become clearer.

  “No,” she said, “I’ve never been on the Boulevard before,” she had tried to act like it didn’t bother her, but her voice betrayed her.

  “It’s ok, I’d never left the CyBio offices for years and even then it was only to Owen’s apartment. I’d read about the world outside, through my connections to Datastream, but I’ve never seen it before myself. The first time I went out into the world, I could hardly believe my own senses.”

  Mollie looked at Ava, knowing she was a synthetic, but to hear her speak of her senses and feelings made her realise that maybe she was more human than many people Mollie had known all her life. The fact that despite having all the connections and potential knowledge of the universe around her, Ava still could be amazed by the physical world.

  “Thank you,” Mollie said.

  “For what?” Ava said, puzzled.

  “For sharing. It makes me feel less like I’m the odd one out,” she smiled.

  The car pulled up to a towering skyscraper, the hologram of the CyBio logo illuminating the road in a neon green glow.

  “We’re here,” Ava said.

  They got out of the car and headed to the main entrance, outside the main entrance a security guard was s
tanding perfectly still. Sunglasses covered his eyes, so Mollie couldn’t tell if he was looking at them or straight ahead.

  “Good Evening,” Ava said as she approached him.

  The guard didn’t move, instead, from the sunglasses, a beam of white light emitted in a horizontal line. The beam traced Ava from head to toe, before shutting off completely. A second later, the door to the building slid open. Mollie turned to look at Ava.

  “The guard conducts the scans based on vocal, biological and electronic data. More secure than a simple keycard or retina scan,” she said, as they walked in.

  “Doesn’t Yuri control the building?” Mollie asked

  “He does, I am surprised he didn’t lock me out, perhaps he’s too distracted with Prime. Regardless, we need to get to the mainframe before the nanos are activated.”

  They continued into the building and down a corridor. They saw no one the entire time, as they navigated the corridors until they reached a lift.

  “Where is everyone?” Mollie asked, wondering if it was usual for the building to be so empty.

  “I don’t know, there are usually a lot of employees, regardless of the time of day,” Ava replied.

  “Top floor,” Ava said, as they entered the lift, as she did, she placed her hand on the sensor which was located above the buttons of the lift. Once her handprint was recognised, a further four buttons appeared. She pressed the topmost.

  “Secret floors?” Mollie asked.

  “Private floors, the floors where Yuri and Owens had their offices and also their research labs. They were very cautious of their work.”

  “You must have been pretty trusted for them to let you have access.”

  “It’s where I was born Mollie. My first memories of waking up after my death is in these labs,” Ava replied.

  The doors to the lift opened once it reached the top floor. The room beyond was dark. They stepped out, no lights came on.

  “Hello Ava,” a voice echoed over the PA system. “Welcome home.”

  “Yuri, I wondered when you’d show,” she shouted out.

  “I’ve been watching you Ava, I’m impressed you made it back I must say.”

  They continued their walk, towards the main computer terminal at the centre of the building.