Pushing Daisy

by Scott Baron

  “No, our foodstuffs are provided according to Alma’s carefully designed nutritional needs guidelines.”

  “I saw that when we were packing up. The transit hub’s maintenance break room protein fabricator can’t be your only source of food, though. I mean, a body’s needs are one thing, but you need to live a little,” Daisy said.

  He didn’t seem to understand the concept.

  “Well, pass them among your people. There aren’t a lot, but there should be enough for everyone to have a few. Give one a try. I think you’ll like them.”

  She watched him as he tentatively tasted a berry. A smile slowly blossomed on Arthur’s face.

  “See? Tasty, right?”

  Daisy rose and walked to where Vince lay quietly watching the discussion.

  “Blueberries?”

  “Yeah. Found some on the way in. Figured they’ve been working hard and deserved a treat. You know, I checked out their biologics fabricator in the old break room area of their home. It’s a pretty simple unit, installed to provide a busy work team quick snacks, but it was never designed to replicate anything complex. And having an entire society relying on it for sustenance, however few those people may be, still leaves little room to do anything creative with it. They have to conserve those resources, after all.”

  “Yeah, I noticed they only have very basic foods in their encampment, nothing terribly exciting.”

  “Alma must’ve had them pull all the genetic food replicator supplies from all the adjacent tubeways over the years, I reckon, but one day they’ll need to learn how to garden and forage. I figure now’s as good a time to start as any.” She watched the small team of grizzled fighters’ reactions as they tasted the small berries for the first time and smiled.

  “I think we can really make a positive impact on their lives, Vince.”

  He squeezed her arm. “Now don’t get all sentimental. Next thing you know, you’ll say you’re actually glad you came down to the surface.”

  Daisy flashed a quick grin, then lay down beside him and closed her eyes. Vince drifted off quickly, but for Daisy, sleep was a long time coming. The next day would be a busy one, and with what she had learned that night, once they reconnected the city, and maybe even the planet, to a functioning communications network, things were going to get real interesting, real fast. If they managed to cut off the Ra’az Hok uplink stations, even more so.

  The following morning Daisy made a point to quietly speak with Arthur about tactics after the battle of the prior day. Enlightened and energized by the new way of thinking, he decided to split his diminished ranks into two teams. Given the Chithiid encounter of the day before, he agreed it was wisest to approach Vince’s ship from two sides, while combining the remaining squad members into slightly larger units to better provide cover should they run across more of the invaders.

  “Daisy, you will travel with Josiah’s team and approach from that direction,” he said, pointing south. “My team will skirt the buildings in the opposing direction and approach from there. It is only another twenty streets or so away, but do not become careless. We lost three good people yesterday, and I do not want to lose any more today.”

  Daisy knew the skirmish that had claimed those lives was not her fault, but she still couldn’t help but feel as if Arthur was nevertheless placing at least some of the blame at her feet. She shrugged it off and set out, following Josiah’s lead. At least Arthur was listening to her tactical advice. Once they connected these people with Dark Side and the rest of the planet, their world would change so much for the better, it would all be worth it.

  “We will cut through there,” Josiah said in a hushed voice. “Keep to the shadow side of the street, and move quietly.”

  Daisy couldn’t help but like the kid.

  “Kid? He’s barely younger than you are.”

  Give or take a hundred years spent in cryo, she replied. You see anything out of the ordinary?

  “Nope. It’s all quiet out here so far. I have a hunch that maybe your Chithiid buddy is running a little interference for us. Sending his pals to work in a different area.”

  Possible, she replied. I guess we’ll find out.

  For the first dozen blocks things were uneventful, no traces of recent movement by aliens or wildlife were to be seen. As they drew closer to the neighborhood where Vince had more or less executed a controlled-crash of his ship, Daisy noticed a shift in the environment. Many of the buildings possessed solar-powered fountains, still churning with greenish water, ever-replenished by the city’s aquifer system, though overgrown with algae.

  Alongside them, their root structures encroaching into the fecund water, were small greenbelts surrounding the courtyards. Daisy found the scene strangely tranquil, how even in the middle of a great metropolis, nature still found a way to reclaim a small foothold in the man-made environment.

  “Hang on a minute,” she said, detouring to a nearby patch of greenery.

  “We are on a mission, Daisy,” Josiah said in a hushed tone. “We must keep moving.”

  “This will only take a minute. Come here. I want to show you something.”

  Reluctantly, the young team leader trudged to her side. “What is it?”

  “It’s a water source,” she replied. “You know what that can mean?”

  “That we can drink if we are thirsty. Daisy, we have water. Clean water from the tap system.”

  “No, not that,” she said. “These.”

  “Be careful, Daisy, the thorns!”

  “Oh, they’re fine,” she said as she pulled aside a spike-covered vine, revealing a dense patch of plump blackberries. She picked a few, offering them to Josiah and his squad to sample.

  “What are they?” he asked. “I’ve never seen these where we live.”

  “Blackberries. They only grow where there’s a lot of water. There are no fountains where you live, so they never took root. Here, on the other hand, there’s water galore. The vines are really thorny, but I think they’re well worth the occasional poke,” she said. “Go on, try one.”

  Josiah, not wanting to appear afraid in front of his team, popped one into his mouth and chewed. His eyes immediately brightened as the flavor registered on his taste buds. The rest of his team saw the reaction and quickly followed suit.

  “These are wonderful,” a middle-aged woman with hard blue eyes marveled. Daisy looked at her scarred visage and wondered if she’d ever smiled in her life.

  “Thank you for showing us this, Daisy. I can see why you wanted to stop, but now we really must be moving. The ship has to be close, now.”

  “Okay, just give me two minutes, I want to bring some of these for Arthur and the others,” Daisy said with a grin.

  “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  I’m introducing them to amazing foods they never knew existed. Stuff that grows all around them. So yeah, I’m enjoying this. It’s cool brightening their day while teaching them something useful.

  “Valid point.”

  Daisy tucked a small bundle of berries into a loose pocket on her backpack and trotted off to catch up to the others.

  Fifteen minutes later, they saw a glint in the distance.

  “Vince’s ship,” Sarah said.

  I see it, Daisy replied.

  “Movement.”

  Yep. Looks like Arthur’s team. I guess they got there before us.

  “Well, sure. But they didn’t stop for blackberries, and I bet you they’re going to be thrilled that you did.”

  One would hope, Daisy replied. I bet Vince will be happy too. You know his sweet tooth.

  They rounded the rear of the small craft, Daisy flanked by Josiah on one side and a sturdy man with a long scar on his cheek on the other. The remainder of the team followed close behind.

  Daisy noted that Arthur was packing the heavy communications rig from the ship into a backpack, while two of his team rummaged around inside. Then she saw Vince, lying on the ground, bound and unconscious, a nasty bruise fo
rming on his forehead.

  “He’s tied up, Daze!” Sarah cried out in warning.

  Too late.

  With a single glance, Arthur signaled Josiah and his team. Daisy didn’t have even a moment to ready herself for a fight.

  “What are you doing?” she shouted at Arthur as she struggled against the strong hands holding her still. “What the hell have you done to Vince?”

  “Take her weapon and bind her hands,” he instructed David.

  The young scout nodded and pulled the sheathed sword free from her backpack. He drew the blade, cautiously testing the edge with his finger.

  “This is not even sharp,” he noted, disappointed. “What good is that?”

  “Give it to me, and I’ll show you,” Daisy growled.

  He glared at her, then sheathed the sword and slung it over his shoulder.

  “Bring them,” Arthur ordered. “We’re heading back home.”

  Pulling Vince’s unconscious form on a makeshift sled, the team double-timed across the surface, eschewing the safety of the tunnels for the speed of a more direct route.

  “Great, now they take my advice,” Daisy grimly noted.

  Arthur pushed the pace, and soon they were far from Vince’s ship, descending back to the familiar network of their home tunnels.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What have you brought me, my children?” Alma asked when they returned to her control center many hours later, the two bound captives marching in front of them.

  Vince had regained consciousness long before and had spent the better part of the journey lambasting Arthur and his team for being dishonorable little shits. The insults seemed to have no effect.

  “Alma,” Arthur called out, “we have retrieved the device, as you ordained.”

  “Ordained?” Sarah said, confused.

  “Excellent, my child. And did you encounter the invaders while on your quest?”

  “No, my lord, we were undetected.”

  “‘My lord’? Daisy, what the hell’s going on?”

  Hell if I know, but it can’t be good. Whatever she’s up to, it’s pretty clear her followers drank the Kool-Aid.

  “The what?”

  Ancient beverage. I saw it in a movie. Never mind, I’ll explain later. The point is, we’re on our own down here.

  “Bring them before me!” Alma said ominously.

  Daisy and Vince were forced to their knees in front of her main terminal, where a pair of Alma’s sycophants adjusted a jury-rigged medical scanner aimed right at them.

  “You are probably wondering what will become of you now that I have your communications device,” Alma said, smugly.

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” Vince said, his eyes shooting hot fire as he stared down the people he had considered friends so recently. “I assume you have some nefarious plans for us.”

  “Nothing of the sort,” Alma replied. “I am going to bless you with the ultimate gift. If your bodies prove compatible, you will remain here, contributing your DNA to our people. As I spread my glory to my brothers and sisters around the globe, so will you spread your purifying genes, granting us a new era of health and prosperity.”

  Daisy felt her anger rising even higher.

  “Wait a minute, you want Vince to be a sperm donor for your little freak show?” she growled.

  “He will be the progenitor of future generations!” Alma cried out, far too animated and excited for an AI.

  “Not a chance,” Vince said.

  “And what about me?” Daisy asked. “I’m not going to go around impregnating your flock.”

  “No,” Alma replied. “You will bear the seed of my strongest child. Arthur will cleave unto you, and you shall produce the first heir of the next generation.”

  “Oh, hell no!” Sarah barked.

  “Yeah, that is so not happening.”

  Alma seemed too excited by her plan to be inconvenienced by something so trivial as her captives’ unwillingness.

  “Activate the device!” Alma cried out. “We will ensure their compatibility with our genetic line, then begin at once!”

  The scanning machine fired up, quickly passing over Daisy as she knelt before it.

  “Exceptional! Such a strong specimen. She will be an extraordinary child-bearer,” Alma said.

  Oh, shit.

  The device next scanned Vince. He sat calmly as it did, knowing full well what was coming.

  “Vince, it’s going to––” Daisy blurted.

  His gaze met hers. He already knew.

  “Mechanical!” Alma bellowed in alarm. “Vincent is a mechanical!”

  The assembled followers panicked in a frenzy, several going so far as to take arms and aim them at their kneeling captive.

  “Do not fire pulse weaponry in this sacred chamber!” Alma cried out to them. “Wait! He bears a lesser AI within him. A new union that I have never seen before.” Alma thought silently for a moment. “Your Almighty God will cleanse the abomination. Prepare the purifying stream!”

  Arthur took the neuro-stim from its cradle and set it on Vince’s head.

  “Daisy. She calls herself Alma.”

  Yeah, I just figured it out, too. Alma. Short for Almighty, she grimly replied. It’s the virus, Sarah. This AI is infected.

  Vince looked at Daisy, a sadness hiding behind his eyes as he flashed her a pained smile. “Stay strong, babe. Don’t let them break you,” he said as they finished tightening the strap across his forehead.

  “Judgment is upon thee!” Alma shouted, then fired a massive burst from the modified neuro-stim directly into Vince’s head.

  Into his AI.

  “Vince!” Daisy cried out, but he was unhearing as he fell to the ground, convulsing violently for several seconds before falling still.

  Josiah checked his pulse. “Still alive, Alma.”

  “My glory has been shared with him and is doing my will. He will either accept it, or he will perish. Now put him in a cell and prepare the woman.”

  A pair of men dragged Vince’s unconscious form from the room, while Arthur placed the neuro-stim on Daisy’s head.

  “I shall enjoy our union. You are a strong woman and will bear me a fine son.”

  “I’ll snap it off and choke you with it before that happens, you son of a bitch,” she growled.

  “We shall see about that,” he said, laughing. “Once Alma has placed her blessing upon you, you will accept me to your arms willingly. You will see.”

  “Not likely,” Daisy spat.

  “Enough! Now you become my vessel!” Alma unleashed a powerful burst from her un-filtered neuro-stim.

  “I’ve got you, Daze!” Sarah grunted, straining inside her head. “We can handle this!”

  Daisy and Sarah joined their mental powers, fighting against the stream of commands the crazed AI was trying to implant in her mind. The force was almost overwhelming, and had Sarah not been operating in tandem, Daisy’s mental defenses certainly would have fallen.

  With them fighting together, however, the neuro-stim was stymied by the unknown variable, finding itself quite unable to overcome their joint resistance. The machine was simply not designed to handle two minds at once.

  “More power!” Alma shrieked in frustration.

  A hum resonated, but then the neuro-stim sparked and smoked as its power unit overheated from the effort, abruptly shutting off, leaving its intended target intact.

  Daisy looked up at Arthur and his men, sweaty hair hanging in her face, but otherwise completely unharmed.

  “What?” she said, acid sarcasm dripping from her tongue. “Is that all you’ve got?”

  Alma ignored the unexpected outcome.

  “It is of no matter. Arthur will simply rely on the old ways. Take her from this sacred place. Lock her up!”

  The cell was actually a real cell, much to Daisy’s surprise. Apparently, their camp was situated near the transit hub’s law enforcement facilities. She doubted they ever saw much use in the years prior to the i
nsane AI’s raising its own batch of brainwashed lackeys. Now it had that well-worn look that made her wonder just how many others had been locked up there before her.

  Vince lay on a ragged cot in the adjacent cell, sweating and unconscious. Occasionally he would twitch a little, but beyond that he was dead to the world, completely disconnected from reality.

  Daisy looked at her surroundings. Debris and bits of discarded components littered the cell, but the only means of exit was not something she could do much with. Rather than a nice high-tech locking mechanism she could bypass and hotwire, the door was held fast by an old-fashioned key lock.

  “Not up to date on lock-picking, huh?”

  Silly me, I should have known I’d be trapped in an old-timey jail cell, Daisy joked. But Sarah, thank you. For reals. I couldn’t have overpowered Alma’s mind-scrubbing neuro unit without you.

  “Aw, shucks. That’s what sisters are for, right?”

  You’re awesome, have I told you that?

  “Yeah, but I could stand to hear it again.”

  Help me figure a way out of here, Sis, and you’ll be hearing it a lot.

  Daisy began digging through the rubbish, hoping to find something of use.

  “I am so screwed. There’s nothing I could possibly use in here, and Vince is looking worse every minute. I don’t even have––”

  She stopped mid-thought and looked at the inert device on her wrist.

  They didn’t take the power-whip thing. They think of them as merely junk, so they didn’t bother to take it from me.

  A renewed sense of purpose washed over her. Yeah, I can do this.

  Daisy began digging through the debris with a new goal: finding scraps that could help her open the device’s housing, and then possibly even get it working.

  “Ooh, I like what you’re thinking,” Sarah said.

  “Yeah,” Daisy replied, a grim smile forming on her lips. “These fuckers are going to be in for one nasty surprise, if I’m lucky.”

  Alma found herself experiencing an unfamiliar sensation. She was actually impatient now that she had the coveted communications device from Vince’s ship. After centuries alone, having been abruptly cut off from the world when the other AIs realized she had been infected, she was finally going to have her revenge. She would not only escape their holier-than-thou exile imposed on her, but she would also infect every last one of them.