Pushing Daisy

by Scott Baron

  Daisy kept the beam extended, then focused her attention on a polymer crate on the floor nearby.

  GRAB! she commanded with her mind, willing the beam to reach out.

  The beam reacted, but not as she had anticipated. With a great force, the entire length of the power whip snapped out straight—a ten-meter-long club, but one that had no weight whatsoever—smashing the crate as the beam changed state from limp to rigid, sending it flying with a crash.

  “Holy shit! Did you see that?”

  “I did,” Sarah replied. “Shit! Footsteps, Daze!”

  Crap! OFF!

  The whip snapped back into the gauntlet in a flash. Daisy quickly ran to the crate and began kicking it with her booted foot.

  “Motherfucker! Stupid fucking thing! Goddamn it!”

  Abraham rounded the corner in a run, his weapon raised, pointed at Daisy.

  “I heard a crash. What happened?”

  Daisy turned to face him, cheeks flushed with apparent anger.

  “What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. I was reconnecting one of the leads there, when that stupid thing shocked me!”

  She kicked the crate again, sending it flying down the tunnel.

  “Dammit! That hurt like a sonofabitch!”

  Abraham relaxed, lowering his rifle.

  “Do not damage the equipment, Daisy. We must complete our task and return to Alma to report in.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry about that, it just shocked me, you know? Like, literally shocked me.” She rubbed her hand as if still suffering from a painful jolt. “How are you two coming with your repairs?”

  “Mine is progressing well, I think, but I have not checked on Helen yet. I discovered a flaw in your instructions, however, that would have caused the process to fail once an uplink was attempted. I will show you your mistake, then we will pass this information to Helen.”

  Damn, this guy is smarter than I gave him credit for. More than just muscle, it seems. Now it’s only a matter of time before they get the system back online. Gotta leave a little surprise in this one when he’s not looking. Something to slow them down.

  Daisy set to work, quickly completing the repairs, then backtracking through them, finding a convenient contact point in which to insert a small feedback link. The rest of the unit would function, but if an actual signal was sent through it, her tiny booby trap would short out the system. It would be an easy fix, but at least it might buy a little more time.

  “We’ll have to come up with something better, you know.”

  “I know, but if it’s something overt, Alma will just kill Vince outright.”

  “I thought you didn’t love him anymore.”

  “I don’t. It’s just, well, I can’t let them kill him for what’s in his head. He didn’t ask to be born with it.”

  “Uh-huh,” Sarah mused, then was silent.

  Nearly seven hours later, Daisy was returned to her cell. Vince hadn’t moved the entire day, and his sweat-soaked clothing was beginning to form salty rings where the depleted electrolytes had dried into the material. His breathing was regular, but far too shallow for her liking.

  When they had returned, Helen’s team had received effusive praise from Alma for their success, while the other teams had returned with their tasks incomplete to find themselves reporting their failure to a most unsatisfied god.

  “You will bring Abraham and Helen with you in the morning and will complete your work,” she had told them. Given the tone of her voice, there was little doubt they would succeed, or die trying.

  Daisy was rewarded with a tray of food, then shoved back into her cell and left alone. Just as she wanted.

  She sat on the floor and allowed herself to slip into a meditative state, her eyes open and alert, but her mind folding in on itself, just as Fatima had drilled into her over and over. With her senses slowly dialing in, Daisy reached out for the foreign device clasped firmly to her wrist.

  There you are.

  Now that she had time to properly concentrate on connecting with the gauntlet, she came to a better understanding of how it reacted to her desires. It did not actually need a command, at least not in the sense that she had been forcing it to switch on and off previously. It was more like a phantom limb, driven by impulse and feeding back to her nervous system as if it were a part of her. No forceful commands, but rather, letting it effortlessly do her will.

  Soft is strong, she thought. Okay, let’s try this.

  Daisy felt the whip beam slowly extend as she willed it to.

  Thicker, she thought, making the beam fatten to double its size.

  Longer, she pushed farther, the beam extending into a coil on the floor beside her. She stopped when it had fed out roughly two meters and felt in her mind for the visceral command she had stumbled upon earlier that day. She had said grab, but the feeling behind it was something else. It took a moment to wrap her head around it.

  Hard, she urged.

  The beam once more snapped rigid into a solid beam rather than a floppy loop.

  “Nice,” she said with a smile, admiring the hefty, yet simultaneously weightless length extending from the gauntlet on her arm.

  “Damn, Daisy,” Sarah giggled. “Nicely done. A grower, not a shower, huh?”

  Daisy chuckled, the break in concentration causing the length of the beam to go limp.

  “Aww, it’s okay, Daze. It happens to everyone,” Sarah said with a laugh. “Wah, wah. Sad face.”

  Daisy chortled and retracted the whip all the way, then settled down for the rest of her meditation. There was plenty of time to catch up on sleep, and she had a lot to think about. First and foremost, she needed to let the stress flow from her system and clear her head. A half hour later, she roused from her meditation, moderately refreshed and ready to plan her next moves.

  Chapter Thirty

  Daisy woke early, her body and mind unexpectedly exhausted. She had been up late working over her situation in her mind, but when she finally decided to turn in for the night, she had slept exceedingly poorly.

  Vince was getting worse, and being locked away so close but unable to reach him, Daisy was forced to watch helplessly as he suffered. He had not regained consciousness once, that she had seen, and she was beginning to wonder if he ever would.

  On top of that concern, she was supposed to meet with Craaxit that night, but it was looking highly unlikely she’d make that rendezvous. As it stood, she just hoped to survive the day.

  It was still mid-afternoon when Abraham came to her cell. His casual nature had been replaced by a more cautious body language.

  “Hey, Abe, what’s up?”

  “I am disappointed in you, Daisy. I wanted to be sure I understood the work we accomplished thoroughly before helping the others with their repairs, so I went back and revisited our work.”

  Shit.

  “I saw what you did, Daisy,” he said, tossing the small booby trap feedback circuit to the ground. “Alma was not happy when I informed her.”

  “You know she’s going to try and wipe out all the AIs on the planet, right? You can see she is crazy.”

  “Eliminating mechanicals is one of the greatest deeds any man or woman can achieve, and we are blessed to participate in the final judgment on them.”

  “Told ya. A true believer,” Sarah groused.

  Four more guards joined him, including the aggressive young man still carrying her sword. He hefted it menacingly as he gave her a wicked stare.

  “You are to be brought before Alma. Then she will judge you and pass sentence.”

  The cell door unlocked, and the men streamed in. Sure, Daisy could have fought them all, but to what end? She needed to get to the brains of the whole operation, and these idiots were going to take her to do just that, so once more, instead of fighting back, she allowed herself to be manhandled and hauled down the tunnels to Alma’s main chamber.

  “I count fifteen, Daisy.”

  I see ‘em, she silently replied as she was walked befo
re Alma’s monitors.

  The irises on the cameras shifted imperceptibly as the AI sized her up.

  “You disappoint me, Daisy,” the disembodied AI said disapprovingly. “Kneel before me.”

  “Yeah, not happening.”

  A hard blow landed on the backs of her knees, knocking her to the ground. Daisy turned to see it was the same man who had struck her before.

  With my own sword. Son of a bitch.

  He flashed a nasty smile as he cradled the sword in both hands, one on the grip, one on the dull blade.

  “You will learn to be obedient,” Alma said, smugly. “Arthur, please teach the infidel to respect her lord.”

  “Yes, Alma,” he replied.

  “Here,” the sadistic man said, holding the dull sword out to him blade-first.

  Arthur grabbed it and swung, using it as a club. The grip struck Daisy’s shoulder with a solid whack, but she just smiled. He hit her again and again, yet each time, Daisy smiled wider.

  “Ridiculous woman, that smile will soon be wiped from your smug face.”

  He swung again, but Daisy pivoted on her knees and turned, blocking the strike and catching the sword by its grip.

  With her bare hands.

  Arthur didn’t scream. At least not at first. The blade was so incredibly sharp, the pain of his fingers slicing cleanly from both hands didn’t even register in his brain for a good several seconds as he stared at the blood streaming from them in disbelief.

  Daisy wasted no time, launching into an attack so vicious, so quick, that half the guards in the room lay in pieces before the alarm could even be raised. Her blade slashed through man and weapon alike, leaving a wake of destruction in her path.

  The sword felt wonderfully alive in her hands, reveling in its use and growing in strength as it absorbed the fresh blood. For today, at least, the blade’s bloodlust did not disturb Daisy one bit.

  “Stop her!” Alma cried out in alarm, to the remaining guards across the room. They were safely distant from Daisy’s stabby little friend, but she had a trick up her sleeve. Well, on her wrist, to be precise.

  The power whip lashed out, snapping the weapons easily from the men and women’s hands, two of whom managed to flee.

  The rest were not so lucky.

  Oh yeah! Now I’ve got a feel for how it works!

  Daisy effortlessly threw the remaining guards about the room, snatching them with her whip and launching them with the slightest of movements. Using the device was quickly becoming second nature.

  “Stop!” Alma shouted as she took out the last guard.

  “Or what?” Daisy taunted. “You have no power over me.”

  “Maybe not,” the mad AI agreed. “But I can have Vincent killed before you could even hope to make it back to the cells in time to save him.”

  Daisy hurt inside but knew she couldn’t so much as flinch in the eyes of Alma’s scanning cameras. She couldn’t even let her blood pressure falter. Fortunately, the months of training with Fatima were now paying off.

  “He’s a fucking cyborg, Alma. You know how much I hate them, so go ahead, I’m not stopping you.” Her heart rate, blood pressure, and respirations did not change one bit.

  Alma hesitated, not expecting her leverage to have so little value.

  “I’ve been studying the design. I’m pretty sure it’s that conduit on the right, below the second monitor. Cut that, and her speaker system to the other parts of the complex should be cut off.”

  Nice work.

  “Thank me when it’s over. That’s one hell of a bluff you’re pulling.”

  Tell me about it.

  Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside the chamber.

  Looks like the guards called for backup, she realized grimly.

  Daisy whipped around and threw her sword at the small junction where Sarah believed the comms controls to the speakers resided. Sparks flew as the panel buckled from the impact. The sword, however, did not fully pierce it, once more becoming a dull implement, having left Daisy’s hands.

  Hope that worked, she thought as she ran across the room and scooped up the wicked blade.

  A barrage of pulse fire pinned her down behind an old storage locker at the far side of the room as nearly a dozen armed guards streamed into the room.

  “There are at least ten, Daisy. Seven of them have rifles.”

  She steeled herself for the inevitable injuries she was about to sustain. Stay low and take the rifles out first, she told herself, then prepared to attack.

  “No pulse weapons in my sacred chamber!” Alma cried out to her followers.

  A different sound filled the air. Conventional arms fire as a new force rushed the room. Daisy took the diversion as an opportunity and jumped from her cover, sword and whip swinging in tandem, disarming her nearest assailant, first figuratively, then literally as his severed limbs dropped to the floor. She allowed herself a quick glance at the door.

  Tamara was leading the charge, Ash, Omar, Shelly, Finn, and Reggie close behind.

  “Are they all wearing––?” Sarah wondered.

  “Modified Faraday suits,” Daisy finished the thought.

  She watched Tamara in full-combat mode for the first time and was impressed by what she saw. She had sparred with her plenty, but not holding back, and quite pissed off, Tamara was a deadly dervish.

  Damn, look at her go, she marveled.

  It appeared as though Alma’s guards had summoned all of her able-bodied followers to come to her aid, and Daisy’s friends were doing their best to work their way through them.

  Daisy chopped down the pair that foolishly got within sword-reach, neatly removing those pesky heads from their bodies. Shelly and Omar were occupied in close hand-to-hand combat, as were the others. There was simply no room to fire a rifle without a high likelihood of hitting your own people.

  Tamara found herself locked in a struggle with a pair of young men, both pulling futilely on her much-stronger arm, when Josiah rushed into the room, a large, wicked-looking knife in his hand. He spotted Tamara, her back to him, and rushed for her.

  “Tamara, look out!” Daisy shouted across the room. Tamara looked over her shoulder just in time to see Josiah about to impale her with his blade.

  A massive, rock-hard energy beam surged across the room, nearly punching right through his body as it launched him into the wall and momentarily pinned him there before sputtering and dropping him as it shifted state back and forth from solid to floppy.

  Come on, damn you, Daisy grumbled as she wrestled to control the device.

  As seasoned and tough as Tamara was, a look of mild shock flashed across her face. Daisy gave a quick smile as she strained to rein in the runaway beam. A second later the rigid power whip finally went limp and recoiled back into her gauntlet as she returned to the fight.

  “It is no matter,” Alma bellowed. “My will shall be done regardless what you may do here today!”

  Daisy saw the lights on the communications station all turn green.

  “She’s going to transmit the virus globally!” Daisy called out in warning.

  How much time, Sarah? Daisy asked, struggling to reach the comms unit.

  “Seconds. You won’t make it in time!”

  Daisy desperately hacked and chopped the men and women blocking her path. But they were too many and the distance just too great for the amount of time she had.

  “Any second now!” Sarah shouted in her head.

  Out of the battling crowd, Ash, a nasty slice across his cheek revealing the shining metal beneath, dove forward, wrenching the transmission line from the panel. The exposed fibers contacted his hands, sending a ferocious blast of AI virus surging through his body. Unlike the newer models, he possessed far less robust firewall systems.

  Ash cried out, a horrible sound shrieking from his mouth as his processor was overwhelmed in mere seconds, his mechanical body frozen in place as his AI melted down within its housing.

  “Ash!” Tamara cried out, rushing to his
aid.

  “Tamara, don’t––!” Daisy shouted, but it was too late.

  Tamara grabbed the inert cyborg with both hands, trying to pull him to safety, but the virus that had killed her friend quickly powered its way into her arm, which twitched for a moment, then fell limp at her side, a dangling piece of useless metal.

  Omar saw what happened and quickly stepped to her aid, staying clear of the infected limb but covering her weak side as they mopped up the remaining loyalists in the room.

  Daisy stepped over the bodies to her rescuers. All seemed unscathed but for Tamara’s arm. Ash, however, was a total loss.

  “He sacrificed himself,” she said, looking at the cyborg’s inert body. “He had to know his hardware limitations, but he did it anyway.”

  “He was a brave man,” Shelly said. “And a good friend. His sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

  Daisy stared at his unseeing eyes. All of her dislike and distrust, yet here was an artificial man who gave his very existence to help save not just his fellow AIs, but humanity as well.

  “Come on, you stupid thing,” Tamara growled at her arm as she attempted to reboot it.

  “Sorry, Tamara,” Daisy said. “The older replacement limbs were ‘dumb.’ Yours, has an onboard AI interface to speed the reflexes from the neuro-stimuli. Unfortunately, that makes it vulnerable to a direct infection. I’m afraid it’s going to need a total wipe and reinstall.”

  Tamara sighed. “Just my frigging luck.” She looked at the slim gauntlet on Daisy’s wrist appreciatively. “Thanks for covering my six back there,” she said. “I owe you one.”

  The animosity between them seemed, at least for the time being, to be forgotten.

  “Cool toy you have there,” Tamara added. “Pretty bad-ass.”

  “Thanks. But look at you guys,” Daisy replied. “Those modified Faraday suits are fantastic. Did Chu come up with the idea?”

  “Actually, Tamara did,” Reggie said. “Took Chu’s work and tweaked it to up the shielding over each of our mechanical areas. Kept us invisible as we made our way to you.”