* * *
“I still don’t get it,” she looked from Nicky, to Christy, to Shannon, who floated above the dais within the rising and falling rings. She’d plugged Trent’s laptop into a workstation, as ordered, and now stared at a plate-mailed knight standing before a castle moat. Her new bestest girlfriend hung at her shoulder, still reaching a hand back to hold Dillon’s. He hadn’t spoken since after he awoke. Seated on stone, he dabbed at his face with a wet bandage.
“It’s like a game, except it’s not,” Christy said. “They want you to play.”
Nicky’s helmet was off, his crystal brain plugged into an adjacent terminal among the twelve. “Vidar’s attack protocols can aide you as they did me. I’ve downloaded them, so I’ve no need of that device.”
“But. What. The. Fuck?”
“Do you really need your hand held through every fucking detail?” Shannon sounded more amused than frustrated. “I can try this alone. I can do it with Nicolosi. But we can win with a trio, you watching our asses.”
“Christy, maybe you—”
“That’s him, Jessie. That’s Trent.” The girl was very pretty when she smiled. “He put his mind and heart into these programs, and they’re way beyond me. I know a bit about this stuff, but I’m no pro. It’s like a game. You press attack, and the AI attacks. You retreat, and the AI retreats. I-I wouldn’t be any better at playing it than you, or Dillon, but I think it should be you. You two should be together.”
Jessica had watched Jacob play Apocalypse Eternal—that seemed the basis for this construct—but keypad controls, skill sets, combos and yadda-yadda; right now she’d learned how to run in a circle. It was a start. If all they wanted was sentinel duty in a virtual universe, she’d got that bit down. Maybe six eyes were better than four. She couldn’t jack-in, so no risk to her, all reward. But after all they’d been through, Jessica didn’t want to fuck it up over a retarded quasi-video-game.
“You will excel, Valkyrie, that’s what you do.” Nicky said. “I have a suggestion, for your comfort.”
“Yeah?”
“Your spear should have a link port by the battery slot.”
Jessica furrowed her brow before Christy pulled a set line from the workstation, popped the rifle’s inconspicuous port, and jacked the cord in. After a brief hardware search, a three-foot bunny materialized beside the knight, hopping circles around her. Jessica said, “Yeah, you should really be doing this.”
“No. I don’t want to.” The girl stepped back with Dillon and pressed his head against her thigh. At this point, his face appeared more bruised than swollen, a likely testament to his quick-healing vanner nature.
“We’re going in,” Shannon interrupted. “Just worry about keeping up for now.”
That seemed a pretty tall order for a complete novice. Jessica’s eyes narrowed, focused on gray walls, blue water and green grass.
~ 37 ~
Invasion tactics
November 31, 4124 — 3:29 PM
If possible, Jessica’s fantasy armor looked out of place within the medieval setting. Her avatar swiveled to and fro, shield raised and sword drawn, facing the moat. An unmanned parapet loomed a mere fifty feet away; they were well within range of any nasties she expected from The Mission’s defense network. The wall remained silent.
Bunny leapt at her side, a solid, furless marshmallow; his ears flopped with every bounce. Beside him, Shannon grinned, same as their first encounter in an unbuttoned suit and loosened tie. Nicky’s only change in his antiquated uniform was binding his long black hair in a ponytail, and the saber now strapped to his hip.
He patted Jessica on a steel shoulder, “Be prepared for anything. As foreign as this is to you, your instincts will still serve you. Tell us if you notice anything odd.”
The definition of odd seemed in question as a pair of dragons flew overhead, settling beyond the walls. While she understood this was a visualization of data and combat units sent to and from the fortress, she still couldn’t relate what she saw as reality, even a virtual one.
“Thieves in the night, right?” she said. “How do we get—”
Shannon walked behind her and shoved. Jessica belly-splashed into the moat.
“Well, fuck. You want me to swim?”
“No, sink.” Nicky appeared beside her, posture erect in a foot-first dive. His mouth moved without bubbles—his words perfectly clear through the speakers. “This back door is as obvious as their arrogance.”
“Anatali’s arrogance, or the feds?”
“In this case, federal.” Shannon sank as a rock. Bunny frog-stroked beside him. “I am very familiar with this system. It appears they’ve done little extra to protect themselves.”
“Sounds easy.” Jessica touched foot to bottom and marched towards the only observable entrance, a bar-grated drainage hole encrusted with algae.
“It’s far too early to say whether they anticipated a network attack, or simply trust Anatali’s existing protections. That’s one of the variables Dani spoke of. If they are lying in wait, this will be a quick defeat. If not, our odds are drastically better.”
“How will we know?”
“After we succeed or fail.” Nicky drew his saber, ten feet from the grate. “Stand away, Valkyrie.”
Jessica watched Shannon float over to the opening without a stroke. Two yards above it, he made a diamond with his thumbs and forefingers, legs split wide. The water distorted under his aim, rippling, then bubbling upwards. He closed his eyes as his hands glowed a ghostly red—crackle. The grate disintegrated under a crimson crush, a black cloud swirling up around Shannon’s beam. Would the steam attract attention above the moat? Her veterans didn’t seem worried about it.
By the time the particles dispersed, Jessica saw Shannon already half-below the hole, waving her on. Before she took two steps, Nicky had followed him down. Bunny’s paws pressed against her back, changing her heavy bootsteps to moonwalk strides. Whatever skill the AI’s used to bend the rules of this game, she wanted to do the same. Trent’s software in Nicky’s mind seemed potent—at her fingers, not so much.
Headfirst, she tumbled into the hole, spinning head over foot before the rabbit caught her at the shoulders and guided her down. “Thanks. I suck, don’t I?”
“Meep!” Bunny shrugged, ears flopping with a sliver-eyed smile.
Jessica coughed back her giggle, seeing dim light fill the tunnel below. She landed at the T-section with a crunch. Uneven shadows carpeted the ground; the high arched ceiling radiated a canary-lime glow. From their entrance, both ends of the passageway appeared identical. The sickly light vanished at distance.
Still with paws on her pauldrons, Bunny set his head beside her helmet. A familiar transparent square, his targeting control, expanded until it filled her field of vision, revealing the tunnel’s details in crystal monochromatic clarity. Shannon and Nicky conversed in whispers a short distance away. After a crunching step towards them, Jessica inspected the rubble—
“Uh, guys?” Ribcages, femurs, thousands of broken grins and eye sockets stared up at her, layering the floor as far as her vision stretched.
“Do not be intimidated, Valkyrie. They are merely decoration.”
“Cute. We’re ready,” she said. Nicky nodded to Bunny, who lifted and rotated her in a one-eighty-spin. White feet kicked under her arms as they floated backwards, soon gaining speed. The team rounded a sharp corner before pausing at another intersection, this one breaking deeper into The Mission. The men again chattered in gibberish. “What is it, are we lost?”
“They’ve changed it,” Shannon chewed on his lip.
“Since we got here?”
“No. They have not detected us,” Nicky’s head turned rapidly, glancing between passages. The adjustment from radial vision seemed to bother him. “It’s not a problem.”
“Sure, you say that—wait.” Jessica squinted down the new passage, zooming to Bunny’s farthest range and highest magnification. “What’s that?”
Shanno
n’s back was turned to the tunnel, fingers to his temples. “There’s nothing down here. I ran a full sweep.”
“It’s moving.”
“Shit.” He spun on a heel, glaring along her pointing longsword. “Good eyes, Jessie. Don’t move.” Shannon swept his arm among the team. His fingertips traced violet ribbons that absorbed into their bodies. At that, he crept up along the wall, fist raised back at her. Nicky clung to the opposite side, sword double-gripped at his shoulder.
Still dead center in the intersection, she watched their visitor approach, first as a salt and pepper ball. What the hell? The sphere rolled forward at a rapid, if stuttered pace, twenty foot bursts between pauses. Ripples in the water obscured its nature until it was almost upon them. Double her height, the jigsaw globe of bones was textured with hip-joint hollows. Between thick shields of shoulder blades and skullcaps, skeletal claws and feet raked the ground, propelling it onward. It didn’t appear to notice them, keeping its rhythm unto striking distance.
Shannon leapt forward, palms raised flat. As a blur, he slammed into the globe, evoking a hazy flash and muffled thunderclap. The bone-ball skittered back, bouncing twice before regaining traction in a rapid spin. Chips of white ricocheted wall to ceiling, some bits tinkling against her shield. Jessica thought her connection had lagged when she saw a ghostly silhouette advance from the globe’s original spot. It rushed forward as if never struck. She swung at the phantom, cursing as her sword passed through. The transparent sphere enveloped her.
And passed right on by.
She expected to be booted from the network. The foot-long line denoting connection strength never flinched. Jessica had originally thought the line represented hit points or some bullshit—Christy explained that wasn’t far from the truth. Any ‘damage’ in this virtual realm caused one of three results. The first was the defense network disrupting their wireless link, eventually knocking and locking them out if enough damage was dealt without proper recovery time. The second was far more dangerous for Nicky and Shannon. If critical blows were struck, the feedback could corrupt their AI software or fry their hardware, physically damaging or killing them. The third was the most sinister—a reverse invasion—if a live programmer or advanced AI could hijack and trace the link back to the source. Shannon said if that happened…
“D-Do I chase it?” she said. Both men ignored her, swirling water as they dashed onward. Jessica stayed put, splitting her gaze between the solid ball and its phantom, which already turned the elbow out of sight. Guard duty—right.
The ball lurched forward. Small chinks from missing vertebrae and ribs revealed a dark light within. So black it radiated, she marveled at the programming behind it, things that didn’t exist in reality. Nicky stabbed deep. His sword twisted down with the ball’s rolling motion until he braced his legs and pressed back. The monster jiggled in place, vibrating, shedding more bones. Shannon floated above it, arms over his head. A fiery rod materialized between his hands, shoulder-wide, and stretched even farther as he flapped them down. The curved arc snapped straight, a spear, now gripped fist over fist near his face.
Shouting, he thrust down, striking empty air through a tiny hole in its shell. The black light filled with gold sparkles, jetting out of every seam. Ebony to yellow, the light flared. The globe’s form shuddered, then wobbled to a stop. Shannon’s spear vanished.
In underwater mockery, he wiped his 'sweaty' brow with a forearm, smiling. Nicky saluted her, hilt to nose, floating off-center. It was definitely time for dry land.
“Meep!” Bunny swam her into the passageway.
~ 38 ~
The Garden of Sorrow
November 31, 4124 — 3:53 PM
“Can I talk now?”
“Of course,” Nicky said. “While we may be limited, your voice does not carry in this realm. We hear you in reality, though we can only respond here.”
“Uh, yeah. So the fuck was that about?”
“This thing is a bare-bones sentinel, reconnaissance, just like you.” Shannon’s arm was buried shoulder-deep inside the monster. His expressions ranged from lip-bites to smirks. “Its main advantage seems to be its network cloaking—how many are down here, I’ve no idea—I didn’t expect the Feds to go so low-tech. I broke its protocol before it reported us and replicated a proxy to keep its place. They won’t be missing this one.”
“We’re taking it with?”
“Gotta use what we got. No one will notice it driving ahead, and it’s really a fine fighter in a pinch—against opponents other than us.”
Jessica had known Shannon all of seven hours, less than the Winslows, less than Nicky, far less than Dillon or Ayla, but his casual calm and forthright honesty kept her at constant ease when she knew she should be sweating for her life. If he and Nicky had real bodies, she imagined their interaction wouldn’t be much different except for a warm hug or solid slap on the shoulder instead of their cold physical limitations. She really did feel grateful, though she wasn’t sure they could ever comprehend the loss she suffered, or that they could struggle as she struggled. It had to be easier for them, right? Or did it make them even nobler that they put their existence on the line without a God to pray to?
Idealism was a tough pill to swallow this week. Jessica no longer doubted their intentions, but wondered at the depth of choice they had in the matter. She’d call it base programming, protect-the-humans and all that jazz, but they could deviate by choice, like Dolores' reluctance to help, like Nicky’s open-offer for Jessica to run instead of fight. He actually chose this battle and would fight it with or without her, as would Shannon. Just programming? A storybook robot would serve, detain, or destroy her, not risk its and her own existence on an ideal.
Not programming. Humanity.
They believed in something enough to fight and die for it. A sentient robot’s view of mortality had to equate, amplified by knowing there was no heaven for them after death. All their experiences and earthly desires would be erased. Humanity still had that unknown—AI had oblivion.
“We’re running out of time,” Shannon said. “Let’s find a ground floor and go from there.”
The bone-globe summoned a swarm of shards unto itself, plugging its holes before rolling deeper into The Mission.
* * *
Their tunnel ramped as a gradual incline, ending at a bright disk, the water’s surface. The bone-ball breached the plane a hundred feet ahead. Shannon raised a fist. He cocked his head to the side, then nodded, continuing their march. Near the surface, Bunny released her, slowing her strides and dropping her vision back into darkness. One more shove from behind and she stumbled into light.
Her footing settled on flat granite, the chamber’s floor inlaid with a massive, moss-coated pattern of black and rose-colored blocks, their hole at its center. The walls were carved in relief, stone ivy and flowers intertwined with real vines, all reaching up to a milk-white ceiling, its glow bathing the room evenly. The bone-ball had settled half the distance to a far off door, nearly a rugby field away. Just how big was the network? She imagined the constraints of space didn’t matter, this room a chunk of data, none of the architecture connecting beyond their doorways.
“Are we close?” Jessica said, water still draining from her armor.
“We might be.” Shannon scanned the walls “We’re looking for open air—”
The rustling of leaves spun the man back towards the hole. In an eye-blink, Jessica found her vision bouncing off the floor, horizontal and sliding backwards on her belly. Her connection bar drained. Rolling onto her back, she saw a thorny vine wrapped around her ankle, dragging her towards the water.
“Fight back!” Nicky swung at another vine; it arced like a striking cobra. “That doesn’t go back underground!”
She swiped towards her feet, but another jerk cracked her helmet back to stone. She saw Bunny leap, ears to ceiling forty feet overhead. Nicky and Shannon rolled away. The quartet of vines all whipped towards the available target—her. Was she being abandoned,
sacrificed for the team? Fair enough. From the corner of her vision, she saw the bone-ball tear moss in skipping-stone bounce towards the hole. Her connection dipped below half, blinking as the tendrils doubled up on each leg.
Bunny’s black eyes flared red; his cheeks puffed; wisps of smoke escaped his mouth. As parachute ears slowed his descent, he breathed an orange fireball. The torrent blasted the hole, just a yard from her feet. The flames splashed up to her hips, engulfing the vines. The ivy jerked again, but Jessica wedged her sword between granite blocks and yanked back, tearing one leg free as the vines burned through.
The globe of bone slammed into the hole. Skeletal claws shredded the remaining pair. Its top hemisphere split and folded down, a blooming corpse-rose, plugging the hole. Jessica scrambled to her feet and ran to her friends.
“Let’s move!” Shannon turned his back and sprinted towards the door. Jessica lagged behind, waiting for Bunny to land. Wasted time. The cartoon rabbit touched paw to stone and leap-frogged over the team, the first to reach the door.
Nicky wrapped an arm around hers and dragged her onward. Slow as she was, at least she made a useful decoy. At the door, she glanced behind to see a dozen green spikes thrust up through the bone, winding into fern-frond clubs. They pounded down, shattering their new ally in an explosion of dust and debris.
Jessica bounced off the doorframe and crossed the plane, a wall of white between chambers. So much for a quiet invasion.
* * *
“They definitely noticed that, right?” Jessica said, her connection bar two-thirds full and rising.
“Hard to say.” Shannon led them down the seemingly endless corridor, pausing every so often to close his eyes. The walls themselves were made of thick, woody vines, certainly foreboding after her recent fiasco. “They know something is here, but those search programs weren’t able to discern your nature through my cloaking. All they saw for sure was a corrupted sentinel, and I made sure not to leave a signature.”
Anatali: Ragnarok Page 20
