by JOSEPH RAY
“They finally fixed that! They don’t even try to hide it. It just comes out and they just keep moving on. It’s like my Grandma and her walking farts. It’s funny as hell but you don’t dare laugh. I’ll miss it.”
“I’m glad you still have a sense of humor Colonel, but that doesn’t solve our problem here. I don’t have time to prove program corruption. I’d need at least a week with three techs to pour through every line of code in the man’s skull for that.”
“You don’t have a week, or three techs. You have three hours and as many techs as you can round up, so make them count. I’d help you more, but…..”
“I know Colonel, you have to remain neutral. You’ve already done more for me then you should have, and I appreciate it. I’m sure MA Joseph would too if he were human.”
“He is human, don’t lose sight of that. Joseph is a man with a computer attached to his brain. That doesn’t mean he’s a robot. Anyways, good luck today.”
“Thanks Colonel, we’ll need it.”
Andrew Gates left the office of Major Ballistar, along with his own personal tablet to replace David’s broken one. David smiled when he picked it up. The Colonel was always full of little surprises like that. If he ever went to thank Andrew for the tablet, the man would act as though he had no clue what David was talking about. That was just the type of man he was. Ballistar hoped to be half the man his boss was someday.
Having quickly decided that he could do MA Joseph no further good from his office, he made a few calls that would follow Gate’s advice. After he’d confirmed the use of half a dozen technicians, he left his office and headed to the military base. The summer air felt unseasonably cool today, leaving a slight chill on his skin. He took the pedestrian bypass to cross over the road as several military transports hummed underneath, rattling the metal frame of the narrow bridge. The surrounding buildings were a tan color, some sort of stone brought in from another planet. Somehow, the stones reflected the sunlight better than brick and metal, making it easier to cool the buildings in the African sun. They were a strange shape, not quite pyramid but not rectangular nor square. He knew there was a name for the shape, but he never cared enough to bother looking it up.
Children were given aptitude tests at various stages of development, with simulators that would allow for them to try out various careers every five years. The program was called the Realm, some virtual reality technology that had been dusted off and perfected a few hundred years ago. David had been forced into the military, though he certainly was not a soldier. Somehow, the tests determined that he would be fit to oversee criminal affairs, but within the strict confines that the military provided. He was thankful for that last part as he had no desire to be a public attorney. Given that everything was recorded through millions of cameras, attorneys were little more than spokesman for the criminal breed as there was little they could do to prove someone’s guilt or innocence that a recording could not.
The guards all recognized him, especially the ones whom needed his services over the years. Despite their familiarity with him, Ballistar was still forced to shove his hand through the detector for scanning. The beam caught the small device embedded inside his hand and the door to the holding cells opened automatically.
As he’d hoped, half of the technicians had already gathered at the cell of MA Joseph. With any luck, they’d be able to go through the Cyber’s program just before they had to move him to the trial. From across the wide hall that led to the common area, he could see two more white coats heading his way. Five out of six would suffice, though he would prefer at least one more to examine the data. He wasn’t skilled at programming as he should be, though his work seldom required him to be capable with Cyber technology. In his years as a military attorney, he’d never been called upon to a case involving a Cyber before. He hoped it would not be a trend.
David was no more than twenty paces from the group gathering at the cell when the distinct sound of dress shoes echoed through the stone walls of the military structure. Dress shoes that did not belong to the Major could only mean one thing.
“Major Ballistar,” a high-pitched voice yelled from behind him. “May I have a word?”
The military attorney slowly turned around, knowing all too well, whose voice it was that had called him. To his disappointment, Norman Voss was stalking towards him, as fast as his short little legs could manage. Besides being short, Norman Voss also had the misfortune of being terribly bald for such a young man. He was in his early forties, but his hair had left him around the same time as his beautiful wife, once she’d managed to meet the ten-year criteria of the prenuptial agreement that is. His eyes were too large for his tiny face, his nose was nearly non-existent, with ears that stuck out far from his head. He wore a green suit today, olive, with a matching wig and tie. The black shirt underneath actually brought the outfit together, had it not been for the wig on his head. The man did not try to hide the fact that he was bald, seemingly choosing to embrace the opportunity to make a fashion statement whenever given the chance. The little man’s hair always matched whatever he was wearing. One time, David had been unfortunate enough to meet him on the running track. He wore a white t-shirt for the activity, as well as a white wig that was spiked to resemble youth.
“Mr. Voss,” David stated, barely wishing to acknowledge the man.
“Tell me Major,” he stated, his voice scratching in David’s ears. “You weren’t about to examine the evidence without my presence, were you?”
David tried not to moan, managing to force a smile on his weathered face.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied. “I was just about to message you to meet me here.”
“Ah, good!” he exclaimed. “Shall we then?”
Side by side, the pair walked to catch up with the group forming outside of the cell. As the door opened, the technicians quickly went to work, downloading the Cyber’s protocols and directives. They each took turns, dividing the work equally amongst themselves. When they had everything, they exited the cell and gathered at a table in the common room. David wanted to talk to the MA, but didn’t wish to do so in front of the Prosecutor. Instead, the two followed the techs, each slowly glancing over their shoulders as they worked.
“Such a fascinating case,” Norman exclaimed over the shoulder of a particularly annoyed technician. “A Cyber committing murder. This could open up a completely new world of work for us Major. That is if they don’t discontinue the Cyber program all together. If I were in charge of the military, I wouldn’t allow this type of malfunction ever again. I’d scrap them all just to be certain, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Ballistar only made eye contact with the man out of politeness. The man was so short that eye contact came along with guilt as one had to lower their head to make it happen. The little man spoke so fast that David had to replay his words over in his head just to make sense of it all. He played it back a third time as something the Prosecutor said gnawed at him. The Major hadn’t considered the impact the trial would have on all Cybers, thinking only of his client’s future. This trial had more weight to it than he’d given it credit. His mind was drawing a conclusion. He needed to delay this trial as long as possible. If Norman was correct, the future of every Cyber could be at stake. Many people who didn’t work side by side with the Cybers only saw them as a robot in man’s flesh, a piece of property. People like Norman Voss could make the future very bleak for anyone in the MA program, as over half of the advisors and investigators were Cybers.
“Have you found anything?” David asked, pleading for a change of subject.
“Did any of us yell out that we found something?” one of the younger techs remarked with sarcasm.
The Major refrained from boxing the boy behind the ears. He doubted the young man’s father had ever done so in his lifetime. In his day, he’d been knocked on his ass for disrespecting a superior officer. He had to remind himself that the techs weren’t really military, just contracted workers of the military. Still,
a little respect went long ways.
“I’ll go through my section again,” a woman tech responded. “However, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Me neither,” one of the older techs added.
One by one, all of the techs claimed to have found nothing, all except for the mouthy little shit that’d pissed David off earlier. Somehow, he knew that the young tech would be the one to make a claim.
“Found it!” he yelled.
Norman and David formed around the young man, looking over his shoulder at his data pad. Neither of the attorneys had a clue what they were looking at, but it felt better to look than to just assume.
“There was a hidden line of code inside the update,” he shrieked. “Fascinating work, I almost missed it twice. Whoever put it there really knew their stuff.”
“So what’s the code doing?” David asked, trying not to sound impatient. He looked at the big red numbers on the wall, realizing that he only had two hours left.
“Ah, well, about that,” he continued. “It’s heavily encrypted. I could probably crack it if you gave me a few days. Maybe Thursday if you assigned someone to help me or lent me one of the military’s code cracking tablets.”
“Oh I don’t think so,” Norman replied. “The trial is in two hours. Looks like this is a dead end, huh David?”
David ignored the little man’s question, his mind mulling over the task before him. He’d have to see the judge to make a formal request for delaying the trial. If granted, that would buy him a day at most.
“Could you crack it in a day if everyone pitched in?” he asked the young technician.
The other techs gave him a dirty look. Clearly, they believed the Major hadn’t considered how this task alone was causing piles of their daily activities to pile metaphorically upon their desks.
“Well, it’d be a stretch,” he replied. “But I’m sure we could get it done by tomorrow if say……Sarah were to lend me a hand?”
The young kid looked long and hard at the tall blonde girl across the table, the one David assumed to be Sarah. He couldn’t blame the young man for trying to set some personal time with the girl. Her face was wide, but her features were remarkable.
“Yeah, I’d rather spend the night with HIM,” Sarah responded, pointing towards Norman Voss.
Norman straightened his tie, a wry smile forming on the little man’s face. David looked back to the clock once more, knowing that it may already be too late to ask the judge for a delay. Such requests would have to have been done the night before in order to allow for another trial to be scheduled in its place. He would have to hurry.
“Keep working on it, all of you,” he stated, hurrying off.
Little Norman Voss jogged in behind him. David wanted to knock the little man down, just so he wouldn’t have to hear that fast-paced, high-pitched voice of his until the trial began. He damned the Prosecutor for being in such good health, his short legs keeping up with the long strides of the Major.
“Going to ask for a delay?” he squeaked. “Little late for that I’m afraid, but maybe you’ll be in luck.”
David had no such luck. Fifteen minutes later, he was back in the common room, having been rejected three times in the row by Judge Mathis. It seemed that the tech team would have to figure out the encryption in the next hour if he wanted to save MA Joseph, and perhaps all the Cybers employed by the military.
5 CHAPTER five
Despite Abraham’s insistence upon finding another place to refuel and restock the ship, Captain Julius Quaid opted to use the station at Taryon. From the moment they’d stepped off the ship, Quaid knew that their new companion would be trouble. Julius had given him a coat, one of his old ones, to cover the fact that his clothes didn’t fit the Cyber well at all. Abraham claimed that he was merely bloated from being submerged for so long, but Quaid simply blew him off and called him fat. The women made the case that not everyone was three percent body fat like the Captain, and that his own clothing had been fitting him rather snuggly over the last few months.
Abraham pulled and tugged at the coat, trying to get comfortable. It was similar to wool, though made of a synthetic material that he’d never encountered before. It was long and almost reached his knees with several deep pockets. It was simple, with no marking or logos to be found anywhere on its surface. Jenna remarked that it suited him, making the Cyber appear as some outlaw gunman, especially with the black discs over his eyes. Abraham hadn’t cared for the comment, wanting nothing to do with the appearance of a fugitive.
They left the Hopper on the revolving platform, a ticket informing them that it would be several hours before their ship would be fueled. Planning as much, Quaid took the group for supplies. He ordered them only gather the necessities, as their funds had been short as of late. Yet another sign of how badly the group needed a large score. The Captain left the group as he wandered off to sell some medical supplies they’d found on a previous expedition.
Having been split up, the ladies took Abraham on his first journey through Taryon. It was a dark place, though filled with life at every turn. The planet’s terraform hadn’t taken, leaving a mix of rock and island oasis scattered over the terrain. Pools of water could be found in inconvenient places, forcing the group and other travelers to travel in awkward, narrow paths between the pools. The town’s people had placed spotlights inside the water, pointing up towards the sky that reflected off the low hanging clouds. It was a serene view, as though sunlight were breaking through the clouds at night, only in reverse. The air was damp and warm, making Abraham long to take the heavy coat off. He adjusted his body temperature accordingly, but it seemed the centuries in the tank had caused some of his internal control systems to react slowly towards his commands.
“This place is simply remarkable,” he stated, looking up to the clouds with the lights piercing through them. “In all my days, I’ve never seen a sight such as this.”
“You get used to it,” Sandra replied, looking for a food ration store. “You better keep your eyes forward though, less you want to take another swim.”
Abraham looked forward, realizing that he’d nearly stepped into the pool of water before him. There was no transition in the grounds terrain, simply falling off into the water. The spotlight inside the pool was angled towards him, causing his head to reflect the heavy beam. Jenna laughed at the ominous glow coming from him.
“You look like a space angel,” she laughed, pulling him away from the pool. “Watch yourself or one of these religious fanatics will swoop you up and start praying to you.”
Sandra said nothing as she disappeared into one of the bunkers. All of the stores were underground, a metal staircase leading down into them with a sign above to indicate what lie below. Anyone flying overhead and looking down would wonder why so many people were walking around in the barren area.
Jenna kept her arm wrapped around Abraham’s, deciding it best to keep the Cyber close to her. She knew he was smart on a level she would never comprehend, but he seemed a bit of a fish out of water at the moment, uncertain of his surroundings. They walked down the stairs, side by side, their heavy boots pinging off the stone brick walls that lined the stairwell. Abraham put his free hand over hers, realizing that the young girl wanted to keep him in sight rather than show him signs of affection.
“My daughter used to walk with me this way,” he said quietly as they reached the bottom. “You would have liked her, I dare say. You remind of her, in so many ways.”
“I’d love to hear about her,” Jenna whispered. “But maybe wait til we’re back on the ship, okay?”
Abraham felt foolish, a young woman having to tell a Cyber that this was neither the time nor the place for such conversations. Still, he appreciated the manner in which she told him. It was direct, with just a hint of politeness. Yes, she reminded him of Haven very much.
“How are we on protein bars?” Sandra asked, finding the dry rations aisle. “I won’t get stuck eating those fruit and veggies b
ars for a month like last year.”
Jenna picked up a handbasket from the stack by the stairs, handing it to Abraham. He took his hand from hers and held the handle to the basket in his right. Sandra dropped two dozen of the protein bars into it, as well as some batteries and oils from the next aisle. Jenna tried to drop two chocolate bars into the basket, but Sandra snatched them out and placed them back on the shelf before they could settle. The sisters exchanged dirty glances before Sandra caved and dropped one bar back into the metal basket.
Abraham watched the exchange, content with his job to be the pack mule. His arm started to ache, but he wrote it off to atrophy. His eyes scanned the room, taking an inventory list of what the shop had to offer. It was an odd place, with the items on the shelves in no particular order. Fruit bars were next to bullets, which were next to linens, which were next to tablet upgrades. He suspected that if he had an hour to himself, he could fashion the store into a logical system that would make finding one’s wares much simpler. Then, it dawned on him that the placement may have been intentional, showing the shopper things they didn’t realize they’d needed, or simply forgot they were low on.
“What the hell are you sposed to be?” a man asked from the wiring and motherboard section.
The Cyber turned to the man, his scanner pouring him over from head to toe. He was thin, short, but his muscle density suggested constant use, like a mechanic or farm hand. His face was filthy, making it impossible to determine his age. The brown and gray hair jutted out from under his brown ball cap in patches, with no style or order.
“Excuse me?” Abraham asked the man.
“Your eyes boy? What the fuck is wrong with them?”
“Oh, he’s blind without his rendering system,” Jenna intervened. “That’s why I’m holding onto his arm. He can make things out, but his depth perception is a little off. Thanks for asking though.”
The man’s face scrunched into a frown, heavy wrinkles forming on his brow and the sides of his eye sockets. The dirt on his face seemed to intensify at the wrinkles, making them look darker and deeper than they were.
