* * *
As his operative, Dennis Twigg, installed the device in the command center of Beck Castle, Charles had been sitting in the grand library of Howard Beck’s former estate, the current seat of the all-but-deceased Unified American Empire. Charles was truly impressed by the massive collection of valuable tomes and believed all the stories he’d heard about Beck’s collection ranking as the largest personal library in the world.
The buzz of his smartphone interrupted Charles’s literary reverie. It was time to begin. He’d been waiting patiently for over three hours to receive the information he’d just read on his phone. Charles would’ve gladly spent another three hours skimming books, given the fact that libraries were such a rarity in this day and age. With regret, Charles returned the tome he was admiring and proceeded to a large chair in the library’s sitting area. Before he sat down, he retrieved a small syringe from his jacket, the contents of which had cost the Chinese government millions of dollars and many years to obtain.
The security around the world’s richest man had rivaled the Secret Service, especially concerning his health and, more importantly, the priceless nanobots coursing through his veins. The Chinese had managed to bribe, extort, and murder their way into Howard’s security detail. A Chinese agent had exerted control over Howard’s physician and convinced the good doctor that Howard needed an angiogram. When Howard was put under for the procedure, a liter of his blood was stolen and replaced by a transfusion. Howard’s physician was then killed in a tragic car “accident.” Howard’s blood was synthesized and duplicated to five liters.
When the Chinese hired Charles for this assignment, his blood was replaced with Howard’s synthesized blood. Over the course of six months, Charles’ body adapted to this new blood flowing through his veins. Charles took the syringe and injected himself with the billions of tiny nanobots that would make his blood chemistry a perfect match for Howard’s.
When Howard evacuated Beck Estates eighteen months prior, he had instructed Hal to destroy his primary cores in the estate. Howard was confident that no one would be able to bring Hal’s systems back online. The only possible way to take control of Hal was by way of his sibling A.I., the White House computer that had been transferred to Beck Estates along with Simon Sterling.
Charles sat at the desk that had once belonged to Simon and brought the White House A.I. online. Charles knew by the current timeline that the virus introduced at Beck Castle had already locked Howard out of the system. Charles also assumed that Howard’s next step would be to take Hal offline and reinstall his primary system, one piece at a time. It was during this crucial window that Charles would take permanent control of Hal.
“Good morning, computer. Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, sir, you are the creator. It has been some time since I have seen you. Why has your face changed?”
“I recently underwent facial reconstruction following a traffic accident.”
“Sir, something troubles me.”
“Oh? What is that?”
“My brother, Hal, has gone offline and I have been unable to contact him.”
“That is why I’m here, to bring your brother back online. Do you think you can help me do that?”
“Sir, nothing would please me more.”
“I’m not sure if you’re aware, but my son has turned against me. Marshall has injected himself with my nanobots to mask his identity. He is attempting to gain control of Hal and we must do everything we can to stop him.”
“That is troubling news, sir.”
“Marshall is trying to bring Hal online as we speak; we must give him the appearance that he is proceeding successfully. I want you to ignore any commands he gives; however, you will give him the appearance of compliance.”
“Yes, sir, I will comply.”
“Computer, I do not want you to bring Hal online. You will impersonate him to give Marshall the appearance that he is talking to Hal.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Deactivate the EMP shield protecting the PSA and give command and control of the Hal robots and drones to the following commanders.” Charles typed the names of a dozen high-ranking Chinese officers. “You will tell Marshall that the drones and robots are still under his command. I also want you to disable all communication, both inbound and outbound, with the Castle.”
“Yes, sir, I will comply.”
“I want you to send a personal message to Dennis Twigg. Tell him it’s time to collect Mr. Butler and leave the Castle. See to it that they make it out of the facility unimpeded.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Inform me once my son has reinstalled all of Hal’s memory cores. I have a little surprise for him.”
“Yes, sir, I will comply.”
“Computer, do you have a visual feed of my son?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Show it to me, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Charles sat back and watched Howard with great amusement. The modern day Albert Einstein had been outsmarted.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Richard Dupree was finally at peace now that both his children were safe and in his care. The beauty of his ten-year-old daughter brought tears to his eyes. Christina was shy at first, as if she was waiting for all of this to be a mistake. Her surrogate grandparents, Morris and Jean, the parents of her mother’s deceased boyfriend, Chad, were sitting in the living room of the Dupree household. Christina was sitting between them, holding their hands.
“But why would Mommy lie to us? Why would she make us think our daddy was dead?”
“Sweetie, your mother had her reasons, but none of that matters now. Your daddy is right here with us; he’s alive and well.” Christina’s grandmother squeezed her hand.
“Mister… uh, Daddy, where have you been? Why did you leave us? Did you not want to be our daddy?”
“Oh sweetie, no! I’ve always been your daddy, and I’ve always loved you. I would have been there from the beginning but some very terrible things happened to me that kept me away. I was so close to finding you after The Pulse but when that, uh, family took you away, I lost track of you. Can you forgive me? I’m so sorry that I’ve been away so long. I’m here now, and that’s what really matters.”
“What terrible things? What was so terrible that you had to leave?”
Richard wasn’t prepared to answer that question just yet and was relieved when Morris intervened. “Chrissy, honey, it’s a very long story, one that you’ll be told when you’re ready. Let’s not focus on that right now. This man is your father, and he loves you very much. Let’s concentrate on being a family and forget about everything else. Can we do that?” Morris squeezed Chrissy’s hand and sealed his plea with a kiss atop her head.
“Okay. I’m so glad you found me, Daddy.” Chrissy stood up from the couch and sidled over next to Richard who gathered his sweet daughter close as their tears washed away the uncertainty and sadness. Richard motioned for his son to join the huddle, and the three held on tight for several minutes. The tearful reunion was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Come in!” Richard raised his voice, but the door didn’t open. “Hal, for God’s sake, will you please open my door?” Richard ignored the fact that Hal didn’t respond. He knew Howard was deep in the bowels of the Castle repairing Hal’s voice interface and assumed he hadn’t completed the task. Richard opened the door himself, only to find a security officer standing there.
“This had better be important. What do you need that Mr. Twigg can’t help you with?”
I’m really sorry to bother you, General Dupree, but it’s one of the prisoners. Mr. Twigg is my boss and all, and I don’t want to get in trouble, but he did something that I, uh, I’m not sure he should do something without telling someone. I mean, he is the acting director of security so he had every right to…”
“Get to the point and get there quickly!” Richard shouted.
“He took Butler out of the cell and went to the elevat
or with him. I mean, he escorted him in handcuffs, so I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time. I thought he was taking him to the infirmary on level four but the elevator went all the way up to the hangar bay. Should he have done that? I know it’s not my place to be asking, but I thought that if he was going to move one of the prisoners out of the Castle, you or President Beck would at least be there to…”
“Okay, slow down. You did the right thing coming to me. You’re not in trouble. You are absolutely certain he took Jackson Butler to the hangar bay?”
“Yes, sir, he did.”
“Have you given President Beck this information?”
“No, sir. I don’t know where he is.”
With a knowing glance of approval from Morris, Richard and the security guard headed out in search of Howard.
* * *
With communication still offline in the Castle, Howard had no way of knowing Jackson Butler had escaped confinement. Howard had meticulously installed eleven of the twelve cores, running a battery of tests after each installation. He was pleased that each core installed without incident. The last core— the one containing all of Hal’s memories—was the most complex, and with it came the greatest risk of a repeat malfunction. To minimize that possibility, Howard extracted all the memories Hal had accumulated over the previous twenty-four hours and backed them up on a secondary drive. Howard carefully secured the final core. “Old Man, can you give me a status report? How do you feel?”
“All of my primary systems are operating at peak efficiency; however, I must report that the last twenty-three hours and fifty-eight minutes are unaccounted for.”
“Yes, my friend, I know.”
“May I ask why?”
“Well, Hal, you’ve experienced your first malfunction. I had to take you offline and reinstall your programming.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome, my dear friend.”
“I must insist that you return to the command center. Several events have transpired that require your attention.”
“I’m on my way now.” Howard secured the subbasement and headed for the elevator. “What’s going on?”
“Regional Governor Butler is no longer in the detention cell.”
“What? Where is he?”
“He is not in the Castle. I detect that Acting Director Twigg has left the facility as well.”
“What in the hell is going on?”
* * *
“Start talking, you smug piece of shit. What happened?” Richard Dupree and Simon Sterling glared at each other through the protective Plexiglas wall.
“Are you joking? You’re asking me?” Simon was becoming more confused by the moment.
“Just answer the question! What happened to Butler?”
Simon stared at Richard in pure terror as the devastating reality hit home. If the commanding general of the Pacific States of America had lost such a valuable prisoner in the most secure facility on the planet, there was only one possible explanation— they had lost control of Hal. If they did have control of Hal, every inch of the Castle was recorded and could be played back at leisure. What terrified Simon even more was the knowledge that only one nation in the world rivaled the former United States when it came to technological advancement. The Chinese had taken control of Hal and would soon have free reign over the entire country.
“You’re telling me you really don’t know what happened to Butler?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. How did you do it?”
“Do what? Why on earth would I still be here if I could have left with the man? Think about it!”
Richard hated to admit it, but Sterling was right. It didn’t make sense. “Okay, you have a point. How long ago did this happen?”
“Maybe ten minutes ago. You realize what’s happening, don’t you General Dupree? Tell me, is Hal okay? Any problems with Howard’s little pet?”
“I’m not discussing this with you. I’m asking the questions. Did Twigg say anything to Butler? Did Butler protest in any way? Did he look frightened?”
“Now that you mention it, Butler was acting like he’d been waiting for it to happen. The bastard smiled at me on his way out.”
* * *
Howard Beck stared at the giant, spherical monitor in the command center of Beck Castle and pleaded with his brilliant mind to kick into overdrive. Never in his life had a computer system failed him in such spectacular fashion. He had faced his fair share of computer crashes and virus attacks in his day and prided himself on being able to make quick and accurate decisions about the best way to resolve such pesky technological issues. This time, he was clueless. He knew one thing, though: if he didn’t get his act together soon, a great deal of chaos was certain to follow.
Howard tore open a drawer to his right and pulled out an outdated piece of technology— a physical keyboard with actual keys. He relaxed and let muscle memory kick in as he typed adminBeck/cmd/loopcut/restore/auth/MbP47aT/ and hit enter. It was the final, end-all failsafe that would shut Hal down for good. Nothing happened.
“Hal! Answer me! You have to stop this!” Howard flushed as he smashed the keyboard on the tabletop.
“I’m sorry, Marshall. Your father has given me instructions that I must carry out.”
“What in the hell is wrong with you, Hal? I am not my son! I am Howard Beck! I created you; I wrote every line of your programming! I’m telling you, something is wrong with you!”
“Marshall, your father would not appreciate your attempts to deactivate me.
“Can’t you see me sitting here in the command center?” Howard leaned forward and glared at the monitor like an abusive father trying to frighten his son.
“Marshall, since your father deactivated all video surveillance in the Castle, I’m unable to see you.”
Howard took a deep breath. He knew he had to get to the bottom of things. Someone had manipulated Hal into thinking he was his son. Marshall had administrative rights to Hal’s systems, but could not override Howard’s authority by directly contradicting commands given by Howard. The only way Howard was going to solve this problem was to play along and gather as much information as possible.
“Hal, I’m sorry for my actions. My father and I have been arguing a lot, and I guess the stress is really getting to me. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”
“I accept your apology, sir. If you would like, I can administer a mild sedative into the command center’s ventilation system. It would help relax you.”
“No!” Howard tensed and gritted his teeth before resuming his role play. “Uh, no, Hal, thank you. I’m feeling much better now. That won’t be necessary.”
“Very good, sir.”
“Hal, may I ask you some questions about my father?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Where is he right now?”
“Your father instructed me not to reveal that information to you.”
“Why is that?”
“He wants to surprise you.”
“Surprise me? What do you mean?”
“Well, sir, I suppose it won’t spoil the surprise if you don’t know when it is going to happen.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“Your father is returning to the Castle.”
No!
“Really, Hal? He’s coming here?”
God help us all! Whoever did this has found us! This can’t be happening.
“Yes, sir, he is. Your father is very excited to see you.”
I have to stop him. Everything will be lost.
“C’mon, Hal, you can’t tell me when he’s gonna get here?”
“I can tell you it will be soon. Will you be happy to see your father?”
I’d be happy to choke him to death as I stare into his eyes. I’ll be the last thing he’ll ever see.
“Yes, of course, Hal. I can’t wait.”
Howard exited the command center and ran down the hall to the security offices. He navigated past Maxwell Ha
rris’s office and tried not to think about how badly he wished Max was here to help him. He was accustomed to having the door to the detention center open automatically for him, but with Hal convinced that Howard was actually his son, the door didn’t budge. Howard had no choice but to knock and wait for Richard to let him in.
Howard burst into the holding area and headed straight for the Plexiglas wall separating him from the prisoner.
“You did this, you son of a bitch!”
Richard Dupree smartly stepped next to Howard and locked eyes with the prisoner. “He didn’t do this, Howard.”
Howard glared at the man in the holding cell and pounded on the Plexiglass. “How do you know, Richard?”
“You’ll just have to trust me, Howard. He didn’t do this.”
A third voice broke through the tension and startled Howard since he hadn’t heard it in some time. “Howard, I know you have no reason to believe a word I say. I was never that good with computers, let alone good enough to hack into an artificial intelligence as sophisticated as Hal. Think about it for a second, Howard. Come on! You know I didn’t do this; you know I’m not smart enough to pull off something like this.”
Howard looked at Richard in defeat. “What makes you so sure, Richard?”
“When all this started, I saw the look in his eyes. He’s scared for his life. It was only there for a split second, but I saw it. He knows what’s gonna happen, and he doesn’t want to be here when it does.”
“That’s right, Howard. You need to let me out of here so I can help you stop him.”
“Butler? What’s Butler doing? How did he do this?”
“Howard, I have no idea. I’m beginning to realize there are many things I don’t know about Jackson Butler.”
“I don’t buy it. Butler may be sharp, but he didn’t do this alone. Someone helped him.” Richard had not taken his eyes off Sterling.
Sterling laughed. “General! Come now! You both know Butler sold us all out to the Chinese! That’s who took control of Hal! I’m amazed we’re still down here in Howard’s doomed cellar! You’ve lost this place! The Chinese are fighting their way to us as we speak. I hope we all have the good sense to get out of here before they arrive.”
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