The AIC's engine spooled up, blasting them with sand as it turned and headed back to the Arizona base. They were left in the silence of the night.
Kepp checked his watch. 03:00.
"We are right on schedule, gentlemen. Let's keep it that way." They started trudging towards the base.
Jess was a storm of emotions; elation was one of them, certainly, for she was now standing in the Paradigm Headquarters. But guilt, anger and confusion also made themselves known to her. She didn't have time to think about it, to analyze and dissect her emotions like she usually did however, as Kepp had brought her here and left quickly for another mission. She winced a little inside, for she still had not found the courage to apologize for what she said to him. She was now in the charge of President Saro, the head of the whole organization. This made her very nervous.
They were sat inside the President’s suite, a room odd in its bareness, yet what was there - a desk, the carpeted floor and a bookshelf - were of exceptional quality. The President stood behind his desk as Jess was sat in a chair. It didn't make her feel any less uneasy.
"So. You hacked us," he began, rather bluntly. "And now you want a job from us?"
Jess' mouth was suddenly very dry.
"So, err...President Saro, sir..." she began shakily, then paused.
Pull yourself together, for god’s sake. Be confident.
She sat up a little straighter in her chair.
"It was the only way you would let someone like me into Paradigm."
"Indeed, indeed, and what if we don't?" the President smiled. Jess wasn't sure whether it was intended to be reassuring or unsettling. "Then you have just committed one of the highest acts of espionage, and we would have to kill you," he continued.
"But, you're not...are you?" Her palms were sweaty.
"Why wouldn't we? Let's think about it from our perspective. Paragon agents, like Kepp, are generally forbidden from having close relationships with others, none of them have family, it's because it compromises their operational ability, emotional baggage, you see? But we made an exception for Kepp, to our detriment, it would seem."
"Wait, no. Kepp had nothing to do with this; he was really against the idea of me trying to join Paradigm. But I really think I can be useful. I can help you do whatever it is you do."
"Really?" Saro sounded skeptical. "And what is it that we do?"
Jess licked her lips nervously, she knew she had to take advantage of this opportunity and impress him, if she didn't...another one probably wouldn't come. She stood up. Saro waited for her reply, with an impassive expression.
"Well," she began, "you're reported in the media as a top-secret enforcement organization controlled by the government, mostly responsible for drug-busts and for investigating bureaucratic matters. Essentially, like a specialist police force. But I know more, and I have my own theories." She cleared her throat, "Like, there are rumors that Paragons can do telekinesis. I researched this, and I think that's true. It's also said that Paragons can read minds, but I don't think that can happen, although the implants could definitely be programmed to detect some high-level brain wave emissions so a Paragon probably could tell when somebody was lying..."
"Stop. That's enough," ordered Saro. "Did you learn all of this off Kepp?"
"No. He wouldn't tell me anything." said Jess, who sat back in her chair.
"Sounds like Kepp." said Saro, smiling a little.
Jess relaxed for a moment, but that turned out to be a mistake, as Saro's expression quickly turned menacing again, and he pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at her head.
"Now, Jess," began Saro, "don't panic. But if I pull this trigger, you will die." He paused, allowing time for this fact to sink in. "What I need you to do is tell me the following. Firstly, how did you get into our network, and could anybody else replicate this? Secondly, what did you find out? And I want to know it all."
Jess had never had a gun pointed at her before, but now she felt keenly the frailty of her mortality. Her face was pale, and she found words hard to form.
"Answer me," Saro's voice was commanding and insistent.
Somehow, she found the ability to speak again, and so she did, at a breakneck pace.
"I...I got in via Kepp's connection. I copied the network setup from the datapad, and reverse engineered the biometric ID request so I could insert my own reply code without having to be scanned, and then, I just got in and tried to force my way to the root, but I didn't get very far. I just left a message which I hoped the network admins would read, so that when my application came in they knew it was me. I didn't read any files or anything. Please, trust me in this. I really wanted to get in to Paradigm."
Saro continued to stare at her a few moments longer. Jess didn't believe in any gods, but at this moment she felt a strong urge to pray. Then, he started laughing, it was a full hearted laugh, which Jess found oddly appealing. It gave Saro a sense of humanity. He replaced the gun to his pocket.
"You're brave for your age," said Saro, nodding approvingly. "You have mettle, it's what you'll need if you want to survive here. You'll have to sit the same competency tests as the other applicants, so come with me, I'll take you there now. At least now, if you fail, we won't have to kill you," he laughed again. "I'm seriously very impressed. Grown men wet themselves when a gun is pressed to their head, but I had to make sure you were telling the truth."
Jess felt a little lightheaded, but still elated. She stood to follow him as he strode out of the room, adrenaline pumped through her body. "I definitely won't fail," she vowed. This earned another chuckle from Saro.
Kepp found it a little harder to focus than normal. It wasn't the freezing desert night, but rather the fact he had just handed Jess to the care of president Saro, a man who he had a huge respect for, but also a slight mistrust of. He hoped she was okay. Beside him, Haur and Tenzen walked in silence. Kepp had checked their files prior to the mission, as no doubt they had checked his. Haur was a grizzled veteran, into his forties now, but had spent most of him time doing low level bureaucratic investigations, rather than the high profile missions. He had the nouse to work through the organization hierarchy files, to find the real player behind Alpha Cybernetics. Tenzen was a fresh recruit, out on his first mission as a Paragon, Kepp could tell he was slightly jittery, but he had arguably the easiest task of the lot, ripping some files off the system. Finally, himself, Paragon of five years, saddled with the task of turning an employee against his boss, and if not, then to make sure he was of no use to anyone.
The actors for this scene are perfectly cast, he thought. Why was his mind wandering like this? He needed to be more focused.
The camo-cloaks they wore were cumbersome to walk in, but it shielded their radiation from the research station, so any IR monitoring systems would see no heat emitted at all. Of course, with a bright moon it was possible to be spotted by visual sighting as they got closer, but Kepp somehow doubted that.
The research complex was a vast affair, built on a concrete plateau erected in the desert. It included an airport for those employees who didn't want to live on-site, habitation modules for those who did, as well as the main research building itself. The main building was an ultra-modern glass and concrete affair, four stories high, with another four hidden underground. This was where Alpha Cybernetics worked on some of its projects, away from the prying eyes of a government not averse to confiscation of any developments it deemed unhealthy for society. They were close enough so that Kepp could see their entry point - cut the fencing by the landing pads, a short sprint across the back of the complex, and finally silencing two guards before they could make their way inside.
Even after five years on the job now, he still felt a small surge of nerves. He liked that, it reminded him of what it was to be alive.
Hiro Kanzoku was now a man in his eighties, yet still appeared to be buoyed by a youth and energy that eluded most of his younger peers. He woke up at 4:30am, as he always did, and participated in
a morning routine of breathing, meditation and tai-chi. Finally, ritual complete, he shuffled through from his sleeping space into the laboratory. It was still dark; the sun still had an hour before it would rise. He flicked on the lights in the lab, then startled slightly as he discovered they illuminated another person, garbed in a long trench coat, standing close to him, by the door to the rest of the facility.
Kepp locked the door behind him, and faced the diminutive man standing before him.
"My name is Kepp, I'm here to talk to you," he began. "I take it you are Hiro Kanzoku."
"Ah, young man, then you should have used the phone, it is trouble for one to sneak in to a guarded facility is it not?" replied Hiro, with a strong Japanese accent, and a smile.
Kepp ignored this comment and pointed at the bedroom.
"We'll talk in there. It's more private."
The professor turned slowly, on aging legs, and opened the door, shuffling back. Kepp followed behind, and closed the door behind them. Hiro gestured at the only chair in the room. He sat on the bed.
"It is polite to let the guest have seat."
Kepp sat down impatiently, and began to talk.
"We discovered your sentient AI, on the Ganymede research station. You know the laws, and you know breaking them is a felony. You realize that this will result in you being sent to the penal colony for life."
The professor nodded, then stroked his rather thin beard.
"Young man. Rules should not be barrier to intellectual enlightenment. Rules, made by humans. Humans are fallible. Therefore, rules are fallible. It is unneeded obstacle."
"Rules keep this humanity from going more to shit than it already has done, but that's not the point. The point is, you're going to be sent to the penal colony, you don't want that, surely?" Kepp was fishing for an angle from which to drop his offer.
"I understand my action. It would make me sad, of course. There were other things I wanted to research."
"Okay, what if I offered a way you could carry on researching, but for Paradigm instead. We could use someone of your caliber."
"Young man, does not understand, old man has principles. I will not research for Paradigm."
"I have principles," Kepp bristled slightly, "Those are to protect humankind against stupidity like sentient AI. Your creation, it took the entire research station hostage, who knows what would have happened had we not intervened."
Hiro brushed Kepp's objection away.
"Danger was not the robot. Danger was the ignorance of staff."
"Come to think of it, why weren't you on the station at the time? That's suspicious."
"Is it? Perhaps this old man is interested in more things than just a robot!"
Hiro laughed, an energetic huffing.
"Young man, I see you are intelligent, but without wisdom, and your mind, runs on guided tracks. That is dangerous."
"I don't have time for your riddles," retorted Kepp. "Look, you could spend your latter years rotting in jail, with all the other scumbags of mankind, or you could shift location, carry on researching, and just work for a different company, how does that not seem like a good deal to you?"
"No!" The rejection was rather forceful. Hiro sighed. "I shall explain. Paradigm, government, they are afraid of the academics. They fear we will invent something new that will upset their perfect society. Young man, you are washed with their mantra, you do not see with the same eyes as me. Over there, I have no freedom. Here, I can fulfill my curiosity. Alpha make no demands on my time, and always grant generous funding."
"But..." Kepp began to protest.
"You would say: 'Ah, but in penal colony, I can do no research.'" Hiro smiled, his eyes wrinkling. "Young man does not understand, the principle. I have my own free research, or else, nothing. I would rather die."
This took Kepp by surprise.
"I was going to threaten to kill you next if you didn't come with me."
"Young man. This old life, not worth much. I research, because my old mind is curious, but also because, it is the time I am not thinking of my wife and son. Both are dead. Perhaps you do not understand. Young man, not yet endured loss."
Julia's face flashed to his mind, unbidden.
"You're wrong. I've lost someone too."
Hiro placed a hand on Kepp's shoulder, his grip was surprisingly strong. Kepp felt it through the body armor.
"Then you understand."
Kepp shrugged his hand off.
"Look, the point is, we cannot allow you to continue research into this field. So if you're not going to come work for us where we can keep an eye on you, then I'm going to have to kill you." Kepp stared at Hiro; this was not someone he wanted to kill in cold blood.
"The Penal colony was the punishment for this, is it not?"
"I'm afraid that was never a real option. It's all or nothing."
"That is regrettable," sighed the old man, "but, if that is to be my fate. I shall accept."
"That's it, that's your final answer?"
Hiro merely nodded. Kepp sensed that Hiro's mind was set, and there was nothing he could do. Kepp sat without moving, gathering himself for what he had to do next.
Hiro smiled, his eyes sparkled.
"Is young man finding the decision hard?"
Kepp looked at Hiro, half grimacing and half smiling at him.
"It's usually a lot easier. You've pretty much ruined my day."
"I am deeply sorry," came the reply with a surprising amount of sincerity.
There was silence. Kepp stood. Hiro sat patiently, hands on knees, looking straight ahead.
The silence continued.
Finally, Kepp pulled out a capsule of fluid from his utility belt, and a syringe. He knelt before Hiro, holding up the container of clear liquid to him, and filled the syringe with it.
"This, it's a poison. I'll inject it into you, and it'll induce a hemorrhage. You will die, but it'll look like it was from a natural cause."
"How much pain?" asked Hiro.
"I don't know," replied Kepp.
He put the first syringe down next to Hiro, before fishing around and producing an auto-injecting syringe from his utility belt.
"This is a pain pen, contains an awful lot of morphine. This will ensure you die peacefully."
Hiro nodded. "I am ready."
Kepp shook his head, in bewilderment. "How? How can you be so ready to die, and for no reason whatsoever?"
Hiro smiled. "Nobody said there was no reason, you only assume so."
"Wait, there's a reason? There's a reason I'm supposed to kill you?"
"Of course. You provided one yourself, I am a danger to society, am I not?"
Kepp laughed, somewhat derisively.
"I wish I could feel like that's true."
"Perhaps, but of course, number of reasons can be multiple." Hiro continued to smile, enigmatic.
"Like what?"
"Know that nothing is without reason, if that makes you feel better."
Kepp grunted, unimpressed with Hiro's philosophical ramblings. He used a dose of the pain pen on Hiro and waited a few seconds for the effect to kick in, before plunging the syringe of poison into the same spot, slowly emptying it. He stared resolutely at the syringe, and nothing else. Inside, Kepp felt numb and a little nauseous; it was one thing killing drug dealers in the name of justice, but this was entirely different. He was reminded of the confrontation with the sentient AI.
First the creation, then the creator, he thought, this is cruel.
He realized he had to harden his resolve.
This is for the good of society, I can't be so weak. Think of what Saro said, he knows what must be done.
The thoughts helped a little.
Just as the syringe was emptied, his implant received an urgent communication. He turned away from Hiro to concentrate on the message.
"Haur reporting, mission objective accomplished, however, guards were alerted, am pinned in head office. Assist if possible."
Kepp swore under
his breath, but before he had time to react, another communication came.
"Tenzen reporting, files are still downloading, server room is crawling with guards, so far am undetected."
Kepp turned back to Hiro, unable to meet the old man's eyes.
"I cannot move my left arm," stated Hiro, rather matter of factly.
Moments later, he collapsed onto the bed, the deadly stroke taking hold. Some blood seeped out of his nostrils and glided down across his face, a face which would forever be frozen in that enigmatic smile.
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