Neon Helix

by Nik Whittaker

“I might have an idea for that,” Ally piped up, “Owens, you said no-one else can go into the system with Ava inside already?”

  “Correct.”

  “What if we could send another program through Ava and piggyback on her input?”

  Owens thought for a moment, Ally definitely had Peter’s brains too.

  “In theory, that would work sure, but we’d need a program that's capable of interfacing, basically another AI, we don’t have time to develop one from scratch now.”

  Ally looked at Julian.

  “We know someone that might be able to help with that.”

  “You mean Quartz?” Julian said. “I've not heard from him since I lost my tech.”

  “I’ve kept in touch, let me patch him in.”

  She tapped the communicator on her ear and turned it to a loudspeaker.

  “Hey Quartz, how’s it going?”

  “Good evening everyone,” the voice piped up. “I’ve been keeping my eye on things and I believe Ally’s idea would work.”

  “Quartz! I missed you man,” Julian said.

  “You too Jools, surprised you’re still alive without me to watch your back!”

  Julian smiled.

  “You built this AI?” Owens asked Julian.

  “Yeah, started out with just a few scraps but managed to get him up and running, been a slow developing system ever since.”

  “Hey, less of the slow meatbag!” Quartz shouted.

  “Well, that seems like a safe bet,” Owens said. “You think you can handle the uplink while I work with Prime?” He asked both Ally and Julian.

  “Sure, “Ally replied, already gathering parts from around the room.

  “Great, so Ally and Julian can set-up the uplink with Quartz and stop Yuri. Owens and Jacob, get Prime here to take control of Peter,” Xander stated, getting the lay of the land in his head.

  “What about you and me?” Mollie said to Xander.

  Footsteps outside the door indicated that the guards were coming back.

  “I think they might have been listening to us,” Xander said. “And if so, then Yuri may not be happy with the new plans, Prime.”

  “Perhaps not,” Prime said uneasily.

  A guard stepped into the room. Mollie jumped, drawing the EMP pistol and took a shot. The guard fell to the floor.

  Xander watched as she did.

  “I guess you and me are on guard duty,” he smiled.

  CHAPTER 54

  Jacob

  Jacob had been standing listening to the plan as it unfolded. It was a good plan and would work as far as he could tell. Agreeing to assist Owens was fine, if Peter had his way then his own plans would be stopped as well.

  He looked back at Ava. In the confusion of Xander and Prime arriving, he had taken a look at the circuitry inside her, Owens had outdone himself in creating her, the artistry in the work was higher than anything he’d seen. Before he stepped away however, he had adjusted a couple of parts.

  “Come on,” Owens said to him and Prime as he left.

  “I’ll come with you guys,” Mollie shouted and walked up to them, “I’ve been babysitting him since he fell out the sky, so feel I should continue with that,” she said, skipping the part where she tried to sell him out to Dr Koenig. She was also thinking she didn’t know Owens and Jacob and wasn’t sure she trusted them just yet.

  “I’d like that,” Prime said, smiling.

  “Sounds good to me,” Owens said. “Someone good with a gun is always handy.”

  “OK, you go with them and I’ll stick with Julian and the setup here,” Xander agreed.

  “Follow me, we’ll need to get to my lab,” Owens lead Jacob, Prime and Mollie though the now un-barricaded door and down to a large operating theater. The size of a small hospital ward, it contained several beds, each equipped with its own set of medical tools.

  “What are you thinking Owens?” Jacob said, as they set up the equipment.

  “You tell me Jacob, the receiver and transmitters in Peter and the Clones, what type are they?”

  “Neuro-synchroneity relays, working on base brainwave signals.”

  “Primary and slave or duel purpose?”

  “Duel, we made sure we'd have options. The initial idea was to potentially develop hive minds, with one clone running several smaller sites remember?”

  Owens nodded, he had originally helped develop the system but hadn’t kept up to date with its progress once he had turned to AI work.

  “So in theory, we can alter the receiver in Prime to a Primary and allow it the same level of access as Peter.”

  “You guys know I'm laying right here don't you,” Prime said from the operating table they had told him to lie on.

  “Apologies Prime,” Owens looked down at him. “We can get carried away.”

  “So how do you alter the receiver?” Mollie asked, as she walked around the lab checking for access points, taking her new job of guard duty seriously.

  “Well, the device is built into Prime’s brain, we have to perform slight invasive surgery to get to it for this to work,” Jacob began.

  “Once we have direct access to the receiver, we can attach a link to it and reprogram its functions,” Owens continued. “As Jacob confirmed, the device is a duel function meaning it’s already able to alter from a Slave, or receiver, to a Primary. Once it’s changed, Prime should be able to control and broadcast out to all the other clones.”

  “But I won’t be able to control Peter? He’ll still have a Primary controller as well?” Prime asked.

  “Technically yes, but once we’re dialled in, we will try to boost the signal on yours, in theory it could override Peter’s and allowing you ‘Administrator Privileges’ if you will,” Jacob replied.

  “Let’s get to work,” Prime lay down as the others got to work.

  Jacob began the procedure, applying some bespoke anesthetics which numbed the precise areas needed for the operation, then started the first cut to allow access into Prime’s head. He could see that there were fresh marks from a recent operation.

  “Has someone already cut you open recently?’ He asked.

  Prime was still awake and felt nothing as the cut began.

  “Erm, yeah actually. A doctor in the Underpass.”

  “Doctor Koenig,” Mollie shouted back from her position watching the door.

  “Yeah. He attempted to do something to the receiver. Then Razz tried to do something too, said he could re-tune the receiver,” Prime explained.

  Owens and Jacob exchanged glances, Koenig they had heard of, he was an ex-CyberBio employee, he must have ended up in the Underpass after he had been fired. Razz had also been an influential part of the original CyberBio team back in its early stages. Jacob had nearly completed the cuts now.

  “Well, let’s see what damage they’ve done,” Jacob said ,as he removed the top section of Prime’s skull. Revealing once more his brain underneath.

  “Your turn,” he said, stepping aside for Owens to take over.

  Owens stepped round and produced a tablet. He looked carefully at the brain until he found what he was looking for, a small socket hidden amongst the brain matter. Once found, he connected the tablet by a cable to the brain.

  “This might feel a little strange,” he warned.

  They heard a smash at the doorway, Mollie jumped to attention and aimed the gun at the direction of the sound.

  “What’s going on?” Prime shouted, unable to move due to the cabling.

  “I think someone is coming for us, we better work fast,” Owens looked up to Jacob who came to assist.

  “First, we need to remove the programming on the receiver, then perform a full reboot with the new protocols,” Owens explained quickly. “As soon as I’ve done the update and disconnected, we need to get him back together.”

  Jacobs nodded as Owens tapped on the tablet as fast as he could.

  The door flew open and on the other side stood Peter, or a clone. None of the group could tell for sure.


  “Step away from Prime,” Peter said.

  Mollie raised her gun and fired a shot directly at him.

  CHAPTER 55

  Ally

  Ally looked around the room, Ava was standing at the terminal, whilst Julian was accessing her circuitry. Owens had given him a quick rundown of the system which he found pretty self explanatory, having worked with tech most his life.

  “This going to work?” Xander asked, as he smoked a cigarette with one eye trained on the door which they had barricaded as a precaution.

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” Julian said.

  There was a moment's silence.

  “Listen, Xander, I’m sorry for what happened,” Julian had to say something, although their lives had been tangled up, they had never spoke to each other directly.

  “Don't worry about it kid, I know why you did it and, in all honesty, I’m glad you did. Those dirty cops in the force needed to be exposed. Not saying I’m happy with the repercussions and there’s plenty you could have done to prevent some of that. But that’s the past.”

  “I know…I tried, but it went further, faster, than I anticipated,” Julian paused from the work.

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it, sometimes there’s no right path, just a judgment call, a roll of the dice and we deal with the aftermath,” Xander nodded towards Julian.

  “If you boys are finished boding, we really need to get cracking,” Ally spoke up.

  “Agreed guys, time is of the essence,” Quartzigs’ voice echoed around the room.

  “Nearly ready for you Quartz, you sure you're ready for this?” Julian said.

  “I think so, it will be an interesting experience that’s for sure.”

  Ally passed Julian a small device.

  “Here, this is my comms unit. You should be able to use it to transfer his data.”

  An explosion interrupted the conversation.

  Xander spun on the spot, raising his revolver. Before he could pull the trigger, several Nanos stormed through a hole in the wall made by the explosion. The first one hurtled towards Xander, he fired several shots that impacted straight into its chest, but the body didn’t stop. One arm knocked the gun out of his hand, while another direct punch to Xanders’ chest caused him to fly across the room and into the bank of computers on the wall opposite.

  “So much for our deal Alexander,” Yuri’s voice said. “We’re just here for her, we don’t care what the rest of you are up to,” they all said simultaneously.

  Ally flicked her wrist and extended her bo-staff, poised ready for a fight, she stared down the Nanos before her.

  “What do you want with her?” Julian asked, scanning the floor for any kind of weapon he could use, finding Xander’s revolver.

  “She’s the key to all this, you just haven’t caught up yet,” Yuri said, as the Nanos rushed forwards.

  Ally ducked to avoid a fist and swept with the staff, tripping the Nano, he tumbled and caused an obstruction to the rest.

  “So you’re the one who’s been attacking me?” She shouted.

  “Wait, in the backstreet when I was dragged away by your men, it was you that was attacking us too?” Julian asked, piecing together what happened.

  “Yes, to be honest I aimed to kill two birds with one stone. Capture Ally and send you to get the toxin and nanobots infused.”

  “You knew about the toxin as well,” Ally said, looking at Julian.

  “Indeed. You really are much further behind all this than you realise. I needed a sample of Jacobs’ toxin so I could eliminate it, and you, Ally, you are key,” Yuri said. “But the time for talking is over.”

  The remaining nanos jumped over their fallen comrade and ran towards them. Ally swung the staff above her head and swiped at the one closest, its head snapped back on impact, cracking at an unnatural angle. A quick turn and she connected a second blow to another's kneecap, before windmilling the end of the staff down on the back of its neck as the knee buckled.

  Julian took a shot at another which was about to grab Ally from behind, its head exploded in a mess of wires and sparks. Xander was coming round on the floor.

  Seven more Nanos piled in, and soon Ally was too crowded to be able to get a good shot in from the staff, so she retracted it half way and split it into two separate sticks. She was a whirlwind of metal and flesh as she parried the incoming attacks.

  Julian watched but could not take a shot without risk of hitting Ally. Xander, now on his feet, shook the cobwebs from himself and piled into the fight with fists flying. Several connected punches and his hand was bleeding from the impact against the metallic skin of the Nanos, but he didn’t slow down.

  A Nano threw himself against Xander and took him to the ground, two more jumped on him and pummelled him while he tried to protect himself.

  Ally was receiving more hits than she could deflect, one missed parry and she took a shot to her temple which caused her to lose focus for a moment. In that second, the Nano’s grabbed her, pinning her arms down and disarming her.

  Julian fired several shots now that the risk of friendly fire was gone. He dropped four Nano’s before they pulled Ally away through the door. The ones holding Xander down released him and evacuated the room, following their colleagues.

  “Ally!” Julian shouted.

  “I’ll get her! You get Quartz into the Cyberspace. If we don’t stop Yuri, then it won’t matter if he has Ally or not!” Xander looked at Julian, almost willing him to calm down and get the job done. “I’ll get her, I promise”

  Julian nodded and threw Xander his revolver.

  “Get her back here safely,” he nodded and went back to working on Ava.

  Xander reloaded the gun and wiped his face, blood from several wounds on his forehead seeped down into his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision and headed through the door.

  “Shut him down fast,” he said as he left.

  CHAPTER 56

  Owens

  Mollie watched as the bullet landed directly between Peters' eyes, a perfect shot. His eyes rolled back in his head and the body crumpled to the floor.

  Everyone in the room stared for a moment, hardly believing what they saw.

  Then another figure emerged from the doorway, it was another Peter. He strolled towards Mollie as she was reloading and with a firm swing of the arm, he knocked her across the room; she crumpled to the floor.

  “Don’t look so shocked, did you really think I would confront you in my own body?” The new Peter smiled as he walked in.

  Jacob stood forward, deliberately but conspicuously standing in front of Owens so he could continue his work on Prime without Peter seeing.

  Mollie had bounced back to her feet, taking another aim and shot at Peter, only this time he was ready and avoided the shot by turning slightly as the bullet flew past him.

  “I saved you earlier, if you don’t remember?” Peter said. “Don’t make me regret that.”

  Mollie took aim again.

  “You need to leave Prime alone,” she said, firing once more.

  This time, Peter grabbed a metal tray from one of the laboratory workbenches and ricocheted the bullet back towards Mollie. She took the impact right into head and fell to the ground.

  “Peter, what are you doing? What body is this? It’s not one of our clones, there is no genetic variation as far as I can see,” Jacob looked over the body, searching for a clue.

  “You’re right Jacob, it isn’t one of ours. It’s one of mine,” Peter smiled. “You locked me in that cage in the middle of nowhere hoping to keep me away from the world. Which mostly you did, until I reached out, just far enough to activate one of the clones. It was barely a signal but enough for me to send basic directions.”

  Jacob looked puzzled as he listened to Peter speaking.

  “I got it to set up a separate laboratory, one where I could continue creating clones, with my exact genetic makeup. Once I had them up and running, I ensured that I could transfer my mind into any of them at will, all w
hilst leaving my original body behind to return to at a moment's notice.”

  “Why?” Jacob could only ask.

  “Why? Because I was rotting in a cage you threw me in Jacob, dying slowly. I needed to be free, to escape,” Peter stepped forwards now, heading towards Prime.

  “What have you done?” Peter asked, as he arrived in time to see Prime’s head being sealed with a medical scalpel by Owens.

  “It’s time to put a stop to this madness Peter,” Owens said, as he finished the work.

  Prime rose from the table and closed his eyes.

  “What?” Peter grabbed his head as a pain burst through it. “Get out of my head!” He lurched forward, a punch flying towards Owens, the closest target.

  The impact shattered Owens’ nose and cheek bones from sheer force. He fell to the floor in a shower of blood and lay motionless on the floor.

  Prime opened his eyes, stopping, trying to take control as he looked down at Owens.

  Peter took the opportunity to strike again, grabbing a scalpel from the table next to the bed, he swung at Prime. Before the impact hit, Jacob had stepped in between them and the blade plunged into Jacob's arm.

  “Prime, get out of here!” Jacob shouted through the pain.

  Prime hesitated, he didn’t want to leave them, but he knew that if they had any hope of stopping Peter, he needed to get away, needed time to adjust. He leapt from the bed and ran as fast as he could. Jacob held Peter’s arm, holding the blade still cutting deep.

  Prime looked over at Mollie who was lying on the floor in the corner of the room, just behind a counter, her body hadn’t moved. He wished he could stop and check on her but he turned and saw Peter pulling himself away from Jacob; the blade ripping the skin more on its exit. Jacob cried in pain as Peter shoved him away and followed Prime.

  Jacob fell to the floor, blood pouring from the wound in his arm despite his attempts to put pressure on it.

  Owens lay close by, himself covered in blood from the punch he’d received. Jacobs pulled himself closer.

  “Owens… can you hear me?” He asked, sliding across the floor towards him.

  Owens remained motionless but Jacob detected the smallest rise and fall from his breathing.