by Kin Asdi
The only thing Meleda couldn’t understand was why Bionex had ordered ten androids. Why was a company investing an enormous amount of credits in machinery which has been banned? It didn’t make any sense to train the androids as a small army unless Bionex intended to plan a coup. For her that was reason enough to disable them as soon as possible.
She had been looking for an update to Miss Danette’s report, but she hadn’t found anything new. Her bots hadn’t come back with anything coherent the last time she had looked. Meleda had the feeling that she had to step up her encryption, and she had quarantined those funny files the bots had gathered. The disappointing results made her think that Bionex was onto her, but she still had her trump card left to play. It was tricky, but if she would time it correctly, she could have unrestricted access without them even noticing it.
She felt a lot better when she got out the shower, and she dried herself as quickly as possible. She needed to eat a good breakfast and after that, she would check her system for new results.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Andena woke up with a start because someone was banging on her door. It was Joshua who shouted, “Wake up! You need to be ready in fifteen minutes.”
Her head was pounding because of the loud noise and the direct command she had received from Joshua. She sat up in her bed and to her surprise she noticed that the text was still there in front of her eye. She recalled what had happened the previous night and decided to continue to flip through the text as fast as she could give the command. She wanted to get to the end as soon as possible. After she had given the command ‘more’ for several times, she reached the end of the program’s lengthy information. With growing interest she read, “To uninstall type: suppressor uninstall. Warning: all stored settings will be deleted when an uninstall has been executed. Re-installing will take as long as the initial install. Press enter to close this text.”
Andena was reading the text again wondering what she should do. It was simple enough to uninstall the program and in the short description, it said it was suppressing parts of the brain. The warning was clear; quickly undoing an uninstall was not an option. She wanted to have a clearer mind to be able to think faster. She made up her mind, and she decided to uninstall the program. She lay down on her bed again and gave the command to close the text.
Not knowing what would happen she took a deep breath and commanded, “Suppressor uninstall.”
A new text appeared, “Uninstalling the program will discard all saved parameters. Are you sure? (Y/N).”
She knew there was no return if she continued and hesitated for a moment but then she heard footsteps reverberating in the hall. To her dismay, she recognised the typical clicking sound of the heels which were definitely Miss Danette’s. She knew it was too late to complete the uninstall because she didn’t want to take the risk. Who knew what would happen if she gave the command. She sighed accepting the fact that she was probably going to have to wait until tonight.
At that moment, she heard Danette trying to open the door but it stayed shut, and she heard her murmuring, “What the fuck is this? Why is this still not organised?”
She heard Miss Danette stomping away angrily and realised she had gotten some extra time. Knowing it was now or much later she knew it was the right moment to go ahead, and she gave the command, “Yes.”
She pinched her eyes closed and was startled when her display showed, “Closing down the arrays......”
She waited for a few moments, but nothing else happened. She decided to get up from her bed to get ready and dressed. She quickly got into the bathroom, and as she looked at herself in the mirror, she got the fright of her life. With trembling hands she touched her hair and came to the conclusion it looked like it hadn’t been washed for weeks! She stepped into the shower and saw to her disbelief there was no soap and no shampoo! But then she realised she hadn’t time for that anyway and looked feverishly around for a solution. Her eyes fell on a grubby hair brush which was lying on the sink, and she was relieved to find some hair elastics at the base of the brush. It took a full five minutes to get her hair into a decent enough plait, and she was quite upset by how much hair there was gathered in the brush. Andena was not at all happy at how she had been treated for the last few days. It suddenly sank in: the suppressor program had stopped working, and she was back to normal!
Although she still felt really strange.
She studied herself in the mirror and saw the numbers embroidered on her suit. She recalled that Miss Danette had called her ‘Double Zero’ instead of her name. She gasped when she remembered that she didn’t know her name, and she started to wonder what had happened to her. The last thing she could remember before she woke up with this horrible tube in her throat, was being attacked by those vines. How she had ended up here was a total mystery, but she was convinced that something wasn’t right. The fact that she was locked in this room was one of the things Andena was worrying about and where was she?
She heard Miss Danette’s heels approaching her door again and within a few seconds, after the door had slid open, they stared at each other for a long moment. Andena was shocked by Miss Danette’s dishevelled state and exclaimed, “Oh my, you look horrible!”
Miss Danette closed the door, and the expression on her face as she looked at Andena was one of bewilderment. Andena realised that she had made a stupid mistake by commenting. She needed to be careful to behave in such a way that it wasn’t obvious that she had disabled the suppressor. Miss Danette’s voice was shaky and raw which made the little hairs on Andena’s neck stand upright. She spoke softly, “Double Zero, I don’t want to hear any personal remarks from you anymore, do you understand?”
It was then she felt the scary and strange urge to obey, and she knew that Miss Danette still had considerable control over her. She whispered meekly, “Yes Miss.”
She saw Danette pinching the bridge of her nose before she said, “I don’t know why your parameters are diverting from the others, but I hope it’s just a glitch.”
Andena looked at Miss Danette whose face was now marred by a troubled expression, as she looked discreetly upwards. She wondered whether Miss Danette was trying to tell her something. On a hunch, Andena decided to look up slowly towards the ceiling of her room and saw to her dismay a camera which was mounted in the corner of the room. She knew she had to keep her facial expression as neutral as possible and thought long and hard about the most appropriate way in which to respond to Miss Danette’s remark. In the end, there was nothing that she could say, except an apologetic, “Yes Miss.”
Miss Danette squinted for a moment and turned around abruptly without saying a word. As she walked out the door, she commanded with a gruff sounding voice, “Follow me.”
Andena understood that something major was at stake, and she didn’t dare to screw it up. It made her feel uneasy that Miss Danette’s direct order compelled her to follow her.
It undermined her free will, but she felt that she still was in control. She knew that a response was required, and so said, “Yes Miss.”
He felt a leg slowly rubbing against his body, and an arm was resting in the nape of his neck. There was something soft but firm keeping the side of his body warm, but all these pleasant experiences were nearly overwhelmed by a horrendous headache. Lunn had to take a deep breath to fight off the urge to vomit, and he moaned softly. A warm body climbed further on his chest and hugged him tightly. It took him a few long moments to figure out to whom this wonderful feeling body belonged: Lily!
He was in no state to respond to her. The only thing he could do was move his arms on her back, and try to relax a bit longer. He had no energy to do anything else anyway, and he shut his eyes hoping he could fall asleep in spite of his throbbing headache.
Danette was shocked when she saw how much Andena had changed since the day before. It was as if Andena was suddenly much more aware of the world around her. The fact that Andena had combed her hair and had braided it into a neat plait made Danette w
onder what was going on. It made her feel even guiltier that Andena was stuck on the program, together with the other androids. Danette started to wonder whether Bionex had altered the settings on Andena’s AI program or whether her personality which was meant to be suppressed, had somehow managed to overrule the core.
As she was walking behind Andena, she couldn’t help but notice the pungent sweaty smell coming from her, and she realised that Andena had no means of washing herself. It was clear that Bionex had never hosted a human.
Andena remembered that they had walked along this corridor before but now she was able to see everything in far greater detail, and she did her best to process this additional information. She was amazed by how immaculate and pristine everything looked. It was as if everything was brand new. She recognised the hall where she had been in before, and she wasn’t surprised at all when Miss Danette ordered, “Sit down on the bench and wait for my return.”
Andena responded in an instant placidly, “Yes Miss.”
Miss Danette growled, “And no stupid tricks, this time, do you understand?”
Andena looked up to Miss Danette as she remembered she nearly had crushed her when she had tried to jump across the hall and said with an apologetic voice, “Yes Miss.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds longer before Miss Danette turned away in a huff.
Andena mulled over what Miss Danette had said, but she still was keen to find out what had changed in her body. It suddenly dawned on her that if she concentrated on a certain move or action, she could summon a little dial. She was also a lot stronger, and that intrigued her even more. It was something she definitely had to try out! She placed her hand firmly on the edge of the bench about a foot away from her. Slowly she increased the strength of her pull until she heard little cracking noises. She hadn’t realised that there was a dial in front of her eye until it started to blink in red. It was clear that she had reached the maximum extent of her capabilities. As she glanced sideways, she was taken aback by how much she was bending the bench. Andena heard noises outside the hall and let the bench drop down again. The bench snapped back with a loud bang, and Andena felt the whole surface shudder for a moment.
The nine androids marched into the hall, and she had to move towards the end of the bench. Watching the androids all sit down in unison was an impressive sight and the bench not only shuddered from the sudden increase in weight but it also made a loud creaking noise. She looked at Miss Danette, who pretended that nothing had happened. She smiled and suddenly her voice reverberated loudly around the hall, “Right! Today we are going to do something completely different. We are going to practice leapfrog.”
Andena remembered she had played the game when she was a little girl, and she couldn’t understand why Miss Danette would choose to do such a strange and silly game. Her voice echoed against the walls of the hall as she commanded, “Stand in a line and make sure you’re ten feet away from each other.”
All of the androids got up from the bench and before Andena had decided where she would stand, the nine women aligned themselves with an equal distance between them. Miss Danette chided her, “Double Zero since you’re a little slow you can start to leap over the rest. As soon as you have jumped over the last one, you distance yourself ten feet and stand still.”
Andena walked to the beginning of the line and understood why they were spread so far from each other: she needed the space to avoid a collision with the next android. She looked at Miss Danette who clearly was short-tempered this morning because she yelled, “What the hell are you waiting for Double Zero? Go, go, go!”
Andena was a little startled, and she quickly made her way to the first girl. She jumped just a little too high and didn’t have enough space left to jump over the next one. She had trouble avoiding a collision but managed to steer her body sideways enough. Flustered, she continued and jumped over the third, and it surprised her that her jump was just perfect. It was as if her body knew what to do with the result that the rest of her jumps were flawless. As soon as she had jumped over the last one, she heard Miss Danette shout, “Zero Nine you’re next!”
Andena turned around to see how the android was copying her and was stunned when she saw the android collide with the one in front of it. Both fell with a loud thud on the floor, and Andena had trouble stifling her giggle as she watched the androids clumsy response. Miss Danette stared at her with disbelief as she shouted, “Analyse what went wrong Zero Nine and next time use your arms to compensate. Do it again.”
The second attempt worked a lot better, and Andena could see that the android used her arms a lot to jump over the others. She gathered she had to ready herself for the impact when Zero Nine jumped over her. She had no idea how heavy the android would be. The thumps of the android landing on the floor were coming closer and then she felt a pair of hands resting on her shoulder for a very short time. Andena was surprised at how gracefully the android landed in front of her, and she got that the android had learned how to jump effectively. She heard Miss Danette shout, “Zero Eight, you’re next!”
Haruz ended the remote connection with the android robot in the lorry and had to take a few deep breaths. He was still in shock about what Tancred had said with such indifference. He still couldn’t fathom the sheer quantity of spaceships that would be invading Earth shortly. The chills ran down his spine as he remembered Tancred’s statement that more than three billion aliens, presumably armed to the teeth, would attack the planet.
An utter and complete disaster!
The only comfort Haruz could derive from this conversation was the moment Tancred had realised that he was stuck in the cave without any drugs. Haruz could see the horror in his eyes when he knew he had to deal with his withdrawal symptoms on his own. It wasn’t surprising he went feral when he understood how he had lost complete control.
Haruz sighed as he stretched his sore back. He had been up all night waiting for Tancred to appear. He had guessed that Tancred was hiding in the field, but it was very strange that it took him so long to leave the field again. Normally Tancred would never miss any meetings, but he had missed several. It was as if the emissary had been kept in the field against his will. It had changed the situation, and all the board members were as shocked as Arnost when they had come to the conclusion that Tancred had fooled them from day one.
Haruz walked towards the main meeting room while preparing himself to deliver the bad news. He was certain that the board wouldn’t object if he were to re-commission all the nuclear weaponry there was on Earth.
Andena was sitting on the bench biting a large chunk of her bar of compressed food. She was ravenous because she hadn’t had anything to eat since she had woken up in this strange facility. It was only after her empty stomach had made a lot of noise that Miss Danette had stopped the training. She was visibly shaken when Andena had told her she was hungry because she hadn’t had anything since she had gained consciousness. Miss Danette sat down next to her and asked softly, “Why didn’t you indicate you needed food?”
Andena thought about that question because it was indeed strange that she hadn’t felt hungry at all. Now she was eating the food: it made her aware she was very hungry but before that she had no urge to eat at all. She retorted, “I don’t know Miss. I think I wasn’t hungry before.”
Miss Danette sighed and pointed to the empty mug and asked, “Do you need more water?”
Andena was only a little startled when her display showed, “Water level at 75 %.”
She hated that the display popped up just like that, but she was pleased she hadn’t had the urge to tell Miss Danette what was on the display. She reckoned it was wise to drink a little more water because the exercises made her sweat. She nodded and said meekly, “Yes please.”
Miss Danette got up and commanded with a relaxed voice as if she knew Andena wouldn’t walk away, “Stay here.”
Andena had taken a bite from her bar and nodded. She was busy chewing the dense food as she watched Miss Dan
ette walk away again. She was staggered when the android which was sitting next to her asked, “Why are you eating?”
Bewildered Andena stared at the android. It was talking to her! The voice sounded nice and friendly, and she had trouble believing that it came from the android. She answered with a hoarse voice, “Because my body needs it.”
The expression on the android changed a little, looking as if she was surprised, “Don’t you have a power pack?”
Andena thought about the question and smiled at the android as she retorted, “Ah yes, I do and the food I’m eating will be used to charge it.”
The android nodded and returned the smile. Andena was bemused when she heard the android remark, “You must be a newer model. We don’t have an internal power source like you. We are dependent on an external power source.”
Andena was intrigued and asked, “How long can you function on one charge?”
“My power pack was drained down to thirty-eight percent yesterday after the training. It is now at sixty-one percent.”
“I see.”
“How much is yours?”
Andena knew she had to make up a number, and she felt pretty good after she had finished the food bars Miss Danette had given her. She said, “My power pack is about eighty percent and rising because of the food I’ve eaten.”
“Zero Five wants to know why you’re not communicating with us.”
Andena was taken aback by the question, and she responded, “But I am talking to you now.”
