by Ike Hamill
“Why didn’t he just pull the plug himself?” Aster asked.
“I don’t think he knew that she was capable of killing,” Maco said.
“And she’s like his daughter. It wouldn’t have been so easy for him to do it himself,” Ed said.
“But if he left instructions, then he must have suspected he wouldn’t be around to shut her down. He must have suspected that she might do something to him,” Aster said.
“Maybe,” Ed said. “Maybe he was just afraid that he would be hit by a bus or something.”
“Is this our exit?” Ploss asked.
“Yes,” Maco said. “And take a right at the end.”
As Maco guided them through a series of turns the traffic thinned and the houses grew larger. The roads twisted through acres of long yards dotted with enormous houses.
“These are all dead-end roads,” Aster said. “There are no businesses back here.”
“None that you know about,” Ed said. “This is the driveway.”
“Yeah, right here,” Maco said.
They pulled up a long drive and followed a sign to find a little parking lot hidden from the road by tall hedges. Ploss pulled in. They saw no other cars and had a good view of the house, which sat at the end of a path that wound through the landscaping to the top of the hill.
Ploss started to get out of the car.
“Wait,” Ed said. “I think there’s a pattern to her physical attacks. I think the net gets really slow when she’s executing something in the real world. When Jim was shot, and when she was trying to slow down Maco and Kevin, and yesterday.”
“When she was trying to run us down,” Ploss said.
“Yes,” Ed said.
“So what?” Aster asked. “What good does that do us?”
“I believe it suggests that it takes most of her resources to churn through all the data from the all the sensors she has. So perhaps we can overwhelm her by coming at her from several directions,” Ed said.
“This is a secured data center,” Maco said. “I’m sure they’ve set it up so you can only come in through one locked-down entrance.”
“There are two parking spots reserved there for security,” Ed said, pointing through the window. “They’re empty. I think she dismissed the employees, maybe so they wouldn’t talk about whatever automated measures she has in place. If this were a normal data center, I’d say that we wouldn’t have a chance of getting in, but this place was retrofitted into a residential home. That means that the only difference between the front door and a side wall is some clapboards, sheeting, insulation, and drywall.”
“Even easier,” Aster said. “Smash one of those windows.”
“Right,” Ed said. “Just so long as we hit four places at once, we might have a chance of overwhelming her processing power.”
Maco frowned.
“You’re skeptical?” Ed asked.
“Yeah,” Maco said. “Correlation doesn’t guarantee causation.”
“What does that mean?” Aster asked.
“It means that just because networked machines slowed down while she was thinking doesn’t guarantee that they slowed down because she was thinking. What if everything slowed down because she wanted everyone to pay attention? What if she still had plenty of extra processing power to spare?”
“He’s right,” Ed said.
“Doesn’t make it a bad plan,” Aster said. “It just means that we might not be increasing the odds by splitting up. Besides, if we stick together, you guys would be no faster than me. With my leg, I’m not moving very fast right now.”
“Yeah, okay,” Maco said. He leaned over the seat to look at the clock on the radio. “I guess she’s demonstrated that it’s not safe anywhere for us right now. We better strike at her heart. Our process should be going strong by now anyway.”
“What process?” Ed asked.
“Before we left the house, Kevin and I set up my submarine to ramp up a distributed denial of service attack. It takes a while to get going, but it should be bogging her down by now,” Maco said.
“Let’s hope. Her defenses could be pretty strong,” Ed said.
“Maybe you guys are just being paranoid,” Ploss said. “Maybe there’s no security here at all.”
Maco laughed and said, “Right.”
“Okay,” Aster said. “Ploss, you take the back. You guys take the sides and I’ll take the car up to the front door. You guys pile out and let me make the first move.”
“Okay,” Ploss said. He left the car running and got out of the car. Aster limped around the vehicle on one leg as Ploss popped the trunk to get a crutch. Maco and Ed stood and watched the disabled detectives with concern.
“You guys look like you should be in the hospital still,” Maco said.
“Probably true,” Ploss said. He pulled out his gun and held it against his crutch.
Aster pulled away.
The car moved slowly as it left the parking lot and rolled around the hedges back to the main drive. They saw it again as it climbed the little hill towards the front door. The house had a circular drive with a wide patio before the front door.
Ed flinched as they heard the first shot. Maco pointed and they saw the flash of the second shot from the gun mounted in the second-floor window.
“Shit,” Ploss said. “If there’s a chance she’s preoccupied, I guess it would be now.” He threw down his crutch and started to hop and limp towards the side of the house. Ed and Maco ran behind him for a few steps and then passed him on either side, sprinting for the side of the house.
They jumped over the flower beds and pressed their backs against the house’s side and watched Ploss approach. Somewhere above them a shot fired. Ploss glanced up and then ran faster, wincing every time his bad foot touched down. He reached their side.
They heard a crash from the other side of the house.
Ploss pointed towards the back and leaned against the wall as he left Ed and Maco.
Maco inched towards a window. He found a rock on the ground and slammed it against the glass. It bounced off and fell out of his hand.
“It’s some sort of safety glass,” Maco said. “What now?”
Ed glanced around.
“Give me that rock,” he said.
Ed trotted over to a little shed that stuck out from the side of the building. The hasp had a padlock. He used the rock to smash the hasp from the door and swung it open. He ducked inside and came out a second later.
“Let’s try this,” he said. He held a chainsaw.
Ed got it started with a few pulls and revved the engine. Gray smoke puffed from the exhaust as Ed wound it up. He pushed the tip of the blade into the side of the building. The blade caught and the saw dragged itself into the wooden siding. Ed struggled to keep it on track.
The saw a flash and smelled ozone as the saw chewed through a power cord. Ed didn’t slow the chainsaw. He cut a big ragged slash in the side of the building and then turned the saw sideways to cut horizontally. The saw sputtered and threatened to die. Ed gave it more gas. As Ed finished his square cut, Maco disappeared into the landscaper’s shed and came out with a shovel. He pushed the metal blade into Ed’s cut and pushed on the handle, trying to pry away the siding.
Ed shut off the saw and helped him tug.
They freed the square of wall to reveal a small hole into an empty room.
“After you,” Maco said.
CH.16.Investigation ()
{
Aster();
/*****
HIS FOOT WAS A throbbing mess inside the boot.
Aster turned his foot sideways to jam it down on the accelerator. He heard the rifle shot from the mansion simultaneously with what sounded like a hand slapping the roof of the car. Aster looked up to see a little hole of daylight above him. Aster swerved and accelerated as another bullet impacted the car.
The front of the mansion had a half-dozen wide granite steps leading up to the porch. Columns flanked the front door. Aster angled the car
to a collision course with the steps and continued to accelerate. A bolt of pain shot through his ankle as the car bounced up over the curb. He cut the wheel, trying to take the steps at an angle.
The car crunched and groaned as Aster pushed the pedal to the floor. The front tires lost traction for a second and then came back down, chirping against the granite. The car’s momentum pulled them to the top of the steps and into front door. White smoke billowed from the hood as Aster crashed the car through the door. A spinning red light above the frame signaled the intrusion. The car’s airbag fired.
Aster’s left arm had a cast. The airbag plowed the cast into Aster’s forehead. He pushed aside the airbag with his right hand and reached across his body for the door handle. His vision swam in blood from the new gash on his forehead. Aster could see the handle, but his hand swiped at it and came back empty. He tried again.
When he spilled out of the idling car onto the marble tile, the car’s engine began to knock and rattle. Coolant gushed from under the wrinkled hood. Aster pulled himself away from the wreck, across the debris-covered floor.
The engine quit.
The room was quiet for a second except for the gentle sound of waves of coolant spilling from the car. The red light spun.
Aster wiped the blood from his eyes and blinked against the headache forming in the front of his skull. The pink tape on his cracked cast was now stained with blood. Aster pushed himself back farther, away from the spreading puddle of green coolant.
The foyer had a sweeping staircase on the left, that circled around a hanging chandelier. To the right, windows lined a long parlor, empty of furniture. Ahead, Aster saw a long hall that ran the length of the house and ended with giant French doors.
Aster heard the buzz of a small gas engine from outside. The lights of the chandelier dimmed for a second and then came back strong. Down the long hall, he saw Ploss beating against the French doors with some type of stone or concrete pedestal.
Aster pulled himself to his feet with the help of the staircase railing. He limped over to a counter mounted against the far wall. Behind its marble facade, he saw chairs and monitors. Aster lowered himself to one of the chairs and turned on the monitors. Views from security cameras lit up the screens. He pushed buttons to tick through the cameras.
On one monitor, he saw Ed and Maco working a chainsaw. As they finished their hole, Aster heard the chainsaw quit when they set it aside. He watched them tugging at the section of wall. A camera at the back of the house showed Ploss knock the handle off the door. Ploss lowered his shoulder against the jam. Aster winced as he saw his partner bounce off the door.
The cameras seemed to lock in on movement. Another view showed Aster a picture of himself. A fourth angle showed a black appliance rolling down a carpeted hall. As Aster watched the robot turn a corner, he heard the hum of its motor approaching. He drew his weapon.
CH.17.EdandMaco ()
{
EdAndMaco();
/*****
“THOSE WIRES ARE DEAD, right?” Ed asked.
“Depends,” Maco said. “If they’re attached to normal breakers, then they would have tripped when the saw shorted them. Either way, just don’t touch them and you’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean, either way? What if they’re not hooked up to normal breakers?”
“They could reset themselves after a few seconds if no short is detected. Like I said, just don’t touch them and you won’t get shocked. House current rarely ever kills,” Maco said.
Ed’s hesitation evaporated when he heard the whine of the small propellers. He looked up and saw a small helicopter drone descending on their position. Ed dove in through the small hole they had cut in the side of the building, pulling himself through with little regard for the singed wires in the wall.
“Move, Maco,” he yelled.
Ed spun on the floor and reached back through the hole to grab Maco’s hands and pull him through.
Maco grunted as the probe hit his leg. The spike jabbed through his pants and into his calf. Maco jerked away from Ed as his leg muscles contracted involuntarily. Ed scrambled over to Maco, unsure of what to do, when Maco stopped shaking and went limp.
“What happened?” Ed said.
Maco batted a numb hand at his own leg and dislodged the electrode.
“M-M-Move,” Maco said, stuttering.
“What?” Ed asked.
Maco shoved Ed away.
Metal probes, trailing tiny filaments of wires shot through the hole in the wall. Ed heard the buzzing of several more helicopter drones outside. The probes skidded to a stop on the bare wood floor. The wires crossed and tiny blue lightning erupted at the intersections. The probes withdrew as the drones flew away.
“Are you okay?” Ed asked.
“Yeah,” Maco said. He was rubbing his calf. “I don’t think it got me with full strength.”
Ed stood.
The room was an empty library. They had been lucky to cut through the wall at a section with no bookshelves. Most of the walls were lined with deep dark wood. Ed helped Maco to his feet.
“We should have brought the chainsaw,” Maco said.
“I’m not going back out there now,” Ed said.
“No, of course not,” Maco said. “Do you know where the servers are?”
There was only one door out of the empty library. Ed pointed to it. Maco nodded and crossed the floor. He opened the door and peeked through to a carpeted hallway. Maco stepped through and Ed followed.
“I’ve only been on this floor, but I think they said the servers were downstairs,” Ed said.
Maco opened another door from the hallway. He found an empty closet.
Ed opened the next door down and revealed a room with high ceilings and a tile floor.
“Maybe the stairs are near the center of the building?” Ed asked.
Maco opened the door to a bathroom. He flipped on the lights. On the other side of the toilet, a door was about halfway open. Maco went in to look. He found another closet and shut off the lights as he left.
The hall took a turn.
“This place is a maze,” Maco said.
Ed nodded.
After a short run, the hall continued straight and another hallway split left. Ed glanced—the left hall seemed to end at a set of doors out to a patio. The men continued straight. Windows on their left rose to a ceiling that vaulted upwards. Up the wall, they saw a balcony from the second floor.
“What’s up there?” Maco asked.
Ed shrugged.
“I hear fans up there,” Maco said. “Sounds like equipment.”
“There are doors up here,” Ed said. He walked forward and tried to look through the crack between two big double doors. He turned the handle and pushed through into a long dining room. Swinging doors on the right were propped open and led to the kitchen Ahead, another set of doors were closed.
The long table in the center of the room looked like it had an inch of dust on the wood finish. It had no chairs.
“Maco, come on,” Ed said.
Maco closed the doors behind him.
Ed went for the doors at the other end. Maco approached the swinging doors to the kitchen.
“Locked,” Ed said, jiggling the handle
The light coming through the tall windows caught the dust swirling up from the table.
“We can go through the kitchen, maybe,” Maco said. He disappeared through the swinging doors. “I don’t understand the floor plan of this place. Why did they make it so hard to get from one side to the other?”
Ed followed Maco into the kitchen. One wall was all cabinets. The other had appliances and counters. In the center, the sink and cutting boards were mounted in a long island.
“Maybe it makes the house seem even bigger?”
“Wait,” Maco said. “You hear that?”
“More fans?”
Maco shook his head. Ed finally heard it. It was the low hum of a small motor approaching from the far doorway. Maco dropped
to a crouch and motioned for Ed to do the same. The noise stopped, whirred, and then stopped again. They heard the thing roll over the threshold and on to the slate floor of the kitchen.
Maco pointed. Ed shuffled back towards the swinging doors. On the other side of the island, they heard the motor stop.
Ed pointed towards the swinging doors and raised his eyebrows. Maco shrugged. Ed paused at the end of the island and waited for Maco to come alongside. Maco put up a finger and leaned his head around the edge slowly. He saw the corner of the boxy device. It was gray metal and stood only a couple of feet tall. Maco could see one of its knobby wheels where it rested on the tile. He leaned out a little farther.
The thing rolled forward and Maco saw that a little arm stuck out of the top of the box. It had a little claw on the end.
Maco motioned to Ed back towards the other end of the island. He waited for the little box to get close to the corner so they would have enough time to sneak around the other side.
Box rolled another inch and stopped. Ed was at the far end, waving for Maco to join him.
Maco waited another second, to see if the thing would come farther. It seemed to be waiting for something. It didn’t move as Maco crawled down and joined Ed. The two men prepared to bolt for the door.
Ed counted it off with his fingers—three, two, one. When he closed his fist, they bolted for the door.
Maco glanced over at the little box as they ran. The claw spun as he glanced.
Orange light flared in Maco’s eyes and consumed his vision. He stumbled through the door and crashed into the wall on the other side of the hall.
“Come on,” Ed said.
Maco flailed with his arms outstretched. Behind them in the kitchen, the little machine spun and began to roll after them.
“Maco, come on,” Ed said. Maco turned and fell to his knees.
“I’m blind, Ed. It flashed my eyes. I can’t see,” Maco said.
CH.18.Investigation ()
{
Ploss();
