Neon Helix

by Nik Whittaker

  “Oh, you see I disagree, I am rather busy at the moment. It seems several of your friends are heading this way.”

  Mollie wondered if he meant Prime and Xander.

  “Also, it seems Ava is heading my way in cyberspace, interesting. What she doesn't realise is the information she thinks she has is out of date, I made sure of that a long time ago.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I assume she’s planning on trying to use the kill switch protocol which Owens gave her to shut me down?”

  Mollie’s face went pale.

  “You see, I’m the one who killed Owens. He was having doubts about our work, his humanity was influencing the ultimate goal. I knew he would try to stop me so I removed him from the equation.”

  Mollie looked over to Ava who was still stood lifeless at the mainframe, she had no way of knowing how to communicate with her.

  “This time through, I caught Owens just before the newest kill switch code was uploaded into Ava's memory. The only way to access Ava’s systems to update it, is through a palm print, Owens was always so nostalgic for old style security. So I killed him, and took his hand. The code, whatever it is Ava has, is not the right one.”

  Mollie didn’t know what to do, she could only look helplessly at Ava whilst she got deeper into the system.

  CHAPTER 48

  Jacob

  Jacob had kept quiet whilst Ally and Julian had decided on the plan to head to CyBio. He had been studying the clones, after all they were his creations, regardless of the control Peter had over them. He knew Owens was doing the same thing. They all marched alongside the clones and Jacob moved so that he was closer to Owens, but out of earshot of the others.

  “Did you hear what Peter said?” Jacob asked.

  “I did,” Owens replied. “I had a feeling Yuri was up to something recently but I never figured it out before someone killed me.”

  “I already told you that wasn’t me Owens, despite what you believe, I got your body after your death, not before.”

  “If it wasn’t you, then who?”

  Jacob raised an eyebrow.

  “Yuri? If he felt you would get in the way?” Jacob suggested.

  “No, we worked together on everything. We discussed the ethics and implications of how to direct humanity for its protection but he wouldn’t, would he?” Owens tried to think back.

  “If Yuri has something planned, then we need to stop him Owens, we always knew that AI might develop past its safe limits, we had a protocol for this exact eventuality. Please tell me you continued the safeguards?”

  “Of course, I kept the kill switch up to date and with a back up placed in Ava,” the thought caused him to catch his breath.

  “Ava? You actually managed that? Your wife's mind into a new synthetic body?” The idea, the technological parallel to his biological clone work, fascinated Jacob.

  “I did,” he replied. “And I updated her with the kill switch code every time I changed it-” His mind trailed off as he thought back, “Oh no.”

  “What is it?”

  “The last time I updated the kill switch was just before I was killed, before I managed to get the new code to Ava. If she’s figured any of this out and is heading to try to stop Yuri, she’ll think she has the right code.”

  “You realise of course, that if we allow Yuri to activate the nanobots, which is your original plan to stop the elixir, you’ll be helping him achieve his goal?”

  “The thought had occurred to me, but I can’t allow your toxin to infect everyone, can you imagine how much pain and suffering that will cause? People losing the things they have been accustomed to for years. The people who rely on those augmentations to live.”

  “I know, I have spent many days contemplating the implications. I’m not a monster you seem to think I have become, Owens. There is always pain in any change in status quo. You’ve seen the work I’ve done on cloned parts as well, my church would be open to all who are suffering and they would be healed, completely funded by myself. I would want everyone to know that ailments of any sort would not be left untreated. People would be remade in god’s original image.”

  Owens had to admit he hadn’t expected that.

  “You’re still interfering against people's will, without their consent. Anyway, until we get to CyBio, I don’t know what we’ll do. Either way, people will suffer, either by your hand or by Yuri’s.”

  “And what about Ally? She doesn’t fully know her part in all this yet,” Jacob said, his voice lowering as he glanced at her.

  “The less she does, the better,” Owens replied. “It could cause more problems.”

  “Let us see where the night takes us then Owens, but remember, we are on the same side in this, one way or another.”

  They continued to walk with the crowd; they weren’t far from the CyBio headquarters now, as the large neon sign glowed ahead of them.

  Jacob admitted to himself he was both impressed and scared by what Peter had accomplished, to be able to control almost 200 clones simultaneously was a tremendous task, one they had never replicated in the laboratories during their time. They had tried, but the multiple sensory information which Peter had to endure, always broke his mind.

  Perhaps, Jacob thought, the time in the hole had allowed Peter to train his mind. He always felt ashamed for putting Peter there, isolating him from all external stimuli, but he, like Yuri had become too unstable. He was using his knowledge and power too recklessly and without thought. No, that wasn’t quite right, no thought for anyone but his own personal advantage.

  Jacob couldn’t believe that there was no ulterior motive here for Peter, saving the world from Yuri’s control didn’t seem Peter’s style, more likely that Peter would want to have the same power.

  Jacob stopped for a moment, before the marching clones pushed him on.

  Peter would be trying to gain control of Yuri, and by extension, everyone else. To assimilate the mind of everyone through the nanobots and Net which Yuri had access to. With that kind of power, Peter would be unstoppable, he’d have the mind of every single human with the nanobots inside them, and if this clone army was anything to go by, he’d be able to control them all at will whenever he desired. Everyone would be his puppet to do with as he wished.

  Jacob looked at the clones beside him, knowing that deep inside the mind was Peter. A panic set into Jacob's body, if Peter suspected anything from Jacob, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. Despite all they had been through, Jacob knew Peter had little empathy or emotion which would prevent him from taking action. The only time he’d even seen so much as a crack in the emotional shell of Peter, was just now with Ally.

  She would be the key, Jacob realised, if they needed to get to Peter to stop him. Ally was the one link Peter had to a time before Owens and Jacob had taken him for their experiments. To bring back the child who cared about his sister and who wanted to protect her.

  He would need to keep an eye on her, make sure she was safe, for his own sake. He moved a few steps closer to her and watched closely.

  Up ahead, the entrance to CyBio loomed above them.

  “Looks like we’re here,” Julian shouted to the others, as they separated from the crowd of clones and stepped aside.

  “Where do we go now?” Ally looked at Owens.

  “There’s a private lift on the side of the building, follow me,” he said, headed to a small unmarked door away from the main entrance.

  “Onwards and upwards.” Julian said, as they entered.

  CHAPTER 49

  Prime

  Xander and Prime pulled up near to the CyBio headquarters.

  “What is that?” Xander peered through the car window at the large crowd that was forming at the entrance.

  “My god…” Prime knew what it was immediately. “It’s the clones from the hotel, all of them,” he explained to Xander, as they got out of the car.

  “You’re telling me that each one of those out there is a clone of you,” he said, final
ly.

  “Well, not me, Peter,” Prime replied. “For them all to be moving together like that, I can only assume that Peter is controlling them all as well.”

  “Jesus,” Xander shook his head as he lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, leaning on the hood of his car.

  “We need to get in there, Mollie and Ava might need our help,” Prime said, the two of them stood staring at the crowd which was stopping in an organised chaos outside the main doors, like they were waiting for something.

  “Any ideas on a way in?” Xander glanced at Prime, he wasn’t confident they could get past the crowd.

  They watched a moment longer; the crowd continuing to grow steadily.

  “What’s that?” Prime pointed at a group of four people who had just peeled away from the crowd, they looked different to the clones. They both watched them as they moved round to the side of the building and entered a door which hadn’t been visible beforehand.

  “I think we’ve found our way in,” Xander patted Prime on the shoulder and they set off towards the secret door.

  When they reached the door, it had sealed but they could tell where it used to be by the small lines in the wall.

  “Any ideas how we open it?” Xander said, as his fingers searched the edges for some kind of access.

  “I’m guessing some kind of hidden control,” Prime said, checking the panels on the wall.

  “Hmm,” Xander had found a small hole in the wall, a couple of centimeters wide. He traced the outline with his finger before pulling something from his jacket.

  “You found something?” Prime said, as he watched Xander produce the CyBio coin that had saved his life earlier. It was a perfect fit for the hole as he posted it through.

  A moment later, a door-sized panel sunk into the wall and slid aside.

  They both eyed the door cautiously before entering, inside there were no buttons or call points on the wall, it was just smooth transparent glass. The space was large, with enough room to accommodate at least six people. Once inside, the door closed behind them and began to ascend and as the room raised up it gave them a perfect view of the crowd below. They must number two hundred or more, Prime thought as he looked down at them, two hundred clones like him. It made him feel both special and insignificant at the same time.

  “You ok?” Xander asked, seeing the look in Prime’s eyes.

  “Yeah I, I think so. What is Peter doing bringing them all here?”

  “Maybe he’s trying to stop Yuri too? You said he fought him through your body, perhaps he’s trying to help save everyone,” Xander found it hard to believe, knowing the person Peter was.

  “Maybe, from what I know of him though, Peter doesn’t seem the saving type,” Prime tried to reach out to Peter using his mind, but it seemed the connection was a one-way street only.

  The lift slowed as it approached the top floor of the building and the door slid open on the opposite side to where they had entered. Inside was a corridor at the end of which a door stood, large and ornately carved. They walked down towards the door, which they found to be slightly ajar when they reached it.

  “Guess the people that came this way before knew how to get through,” Xander said.

  “Where are Ava and Mollie?” Prime wondered as they stepped through.

  The room beyond was a large foyer room which had several exits from it and a large desk at its centre. They looked around the room and found little information of where they should head.

  A shot rang out, followed by several more. They ducked behind cover, peering out to look towards the corridor. A noise came from behind them and several guards ran past and down a corridor the shots had come from.

  “That way,” Xander pointed out where the shots had come from.

  “Wait, we’re going towards the gunfire and guards!?” Prime asked, puzzled.

  “We’re looking for Ava and Mollie, chances are, they are around here somewhere, and chances are either they fired the shots, or the shots were fired at them, and there's more people heading towards them, either way we should try to help them,” Xander said, already walking down in the gunfire's direction.

  Prime stood for a moment, mulling the information over, then followed.

  The sounds grew closer as they made their way down a long corridor, until just ahead they saw four men trying to gain access to a room. It didn’t take them long to realise these were Yuri’s guards, and chances were that Ava and Mollie were on the other side.

  “Hey, excuse me,” Xander shouted. “I was wondering if you could point me toward Yuri?”

  The guards stopped and turned to look back at Xander and Prime.

  “Ah, the PI and the copy, I was wondering when you’d show up,” the guards all spoke in unison, their voices that of Yuri.

  “Wouldn't want to miss the party now would we,” Xander took a step closer.

  “I’m afraid you aren’t welcome at this one Alexander,” The guards raised their guns and took aim.

  Xander did the same, but knowing he wouldn’t be able to take them all out.

  “Wait, wait,” Prime spoke up. “Yuri, we don’t need to fight.”

  “Who’s fighting? I was just going to shoot you both,” the guards chimed.

  “I know what you’re trying to do, and I know that Peter is trying to stop you,” Prime blurted out. “I remember the conversation you had with him, it’s in my mind still. He’s outside right now with an army.”

  “I had noticed, what of it?”

  “Well, Peter has taken control of me using the implant inside my head, I’m sure if we work together, there must be a way to reverse that process?” Prime offered.

  Xander stopped and looked at Prime in shock, he hadn’t expected Prime to have sided with Yuri.

  “You make an interesting proposition,” Yuri answered after a moment.

  “You help me take over Peter and I’ll take the army away from here,” Prime offered. “You let Xander, Mollie and Ava go free though, that’s the deal.”

  “I won’t harm them, you have my word, though Ava has already begun an invasive procedure which I cannot undo, but you may be able to,” Yuri replied.

  “Understood, let us see to her, then I will come with you so we can stop Peter.”

  “Very well.”

  The guards stood aside and allowed Xander and Prime access to the door.

  “Mollie? Are you in there?” Xander shouted out.

  “Xander? Is that you?” A voice came from the other side.

  “Yeah, let us in, we need to get you and Ava out of here fast.”

  CHAPTER 50

  Ava

  Ava’s mind was lost for a moment as she entered cyberspace, a loading screen of sorts was developing before her eyes.

  A large open expanse of never ending black going in all directions, followed by grid lines appearing, spanning from her vantage point in every way she looked. A framework was being built around her, though she had expected some firewalls, her CyBio credentials had bypassed them.

  She knew this was the internal system on which Yuri had been built, where his base level programming was stored. Though the entirety of his data was spread over many levels and systems, most of them cloud based, they all ran through this server. The kill switch used here would be uploaded into all the systems Yuri was part of and would slowly remove any trace of him.

  She waited for a moment longer and saw the beginnings of a house forming around her; she recognized it as the house Owens had grown up in. She was standing at the gate to the house, as it developed in front of her. A white picket fence bordered a small perfectly mowed lawn, beyond which was a void of darkness. Once it was fully developed, she took a step forward, opening the waist high gate before her as she stepped in. A small path lead through a lawn up to the front door.

  As she approached the door, she knew she had to knock first. She knew this was the basic procedure to activate the kill switch from what Owens had explained to her.

  She knocked, an echo of sound rever
berated in the surrounding air. The door creaked open, seemingly on its own accord. She pushed it open further to allow her to step into the house.

  Inside was a basic home, a small entrance way which had stairs to one side and a kitchen just ahead with two doors leading off the main corridor. She knew she needed to find the living room.

  She entered the first door to her right and found herself in the right room. An elderly man was standing in the centre of the room.

  “May I be of assistance,” the man spoke, his accent unrecognizable yet with an air of education.

  “Hello, I’m looking for Yuri,” Ava replied. She knew what she needed to ask. The program had a specific set of instructions which had to be followed in the correct order, to allow for the implementation of the kill switch.

  “I see, the young man is playing outside, shall I call him in?” The man asked.

  “No, that’s ok I will go to him,” Ava said, following the instructions.

  She turned and left the living room and headed further into the house, passing through the kitchen until she reached the back door.

  Stepping out, she saw that there was a large lawn of fresh cut and bright green grass. Sat cross legged on the lawn was a young boy, he was playing with some toy soldiers.

  “Hello Yuri.”

  The boy looked up at Ava and smiled.

  “Hello Ava.”

  Ava wasn’t aware that the program could recognise her, though it made sense.

  “How are you today?” she asked, it was nearly time.

  “I’m well thank you, yourself?” The boy asked, standing up.

  “Good thank you,” the next phrase she spoke would be the kill switch, once spoke, it would begin the auto run program to begin the process.

  “Was there something you wanted to tell me?” Yuri asked.

  “Imperious,” Ava said the code word, and waited for the program to begin.

  Nothing happened.

  A moment later, the young Yuri stood there, smiling up at Ava.

  “I’m sorry Ava, but that password is out of date, Owens updated before I killed him.”

  Ava’s face dropped as Yuri grew from the boy to a man before her.