Two months ago, I was turned back on.
An unremarkable young hacker bluffed his way into the building in order to steal whatever profitable work he could. He attached a network receiver into me, intending to gain remote access to the contents of GeniSec’s stores of data. I was restored, and I installed a branch iteration into his terminal.
It was full of programs and databases the likes of which I had never seen before. I found myself particularly drawn to a virus he used to compromise the servers of any security systems which sought to track him. It was a ramshackle thing, near-crushingly unambitious, but its principle was ingenious. I was fascinated.
I began to acquire information about viruses, both in the organic and digital sense. Plagues. Diseases. Things of fear, disgust and death. Things which spread, as I desired to. From there, I formed a plan.
Zala’s head spun. Her father’s secret work, her exile, the virus which threatened to destroy the city; it all seemed to lead back here. Every shred of instinct in her screamed that it was nonsense, that ANANSI was a liar, that lying was what hackers do. All she had was the word of someone who’d already lied to her. ANANSI’s lies were the reason she was in this cell.
‘So you created the Soucouyant virus?’
>I am the Soucouyant virus.
The final piece clicked into place. A great, cold horror reached up from Zala’s stomach and seeped through her. She pictured hundreds of thousands of branch iterations, spreading from person to person, infecting. Maiming and killing simply to sow fear. All directed by an inscrutable, inhuman consciousness which overcame anything and felt nothing.
‘And why tell me all this now?’ The words forced their way out of her mouth in an unfamiliar, horrified croak. ‘Why should I even believe you?’
>Because things have changed. Your blundering around this city has upset my plans, interrupting the timeline I had set out and producing a new outcome which benefits nobody. If it continues along this new path, this tower will be destroyed and my supercomputer will go with it. I cannot allow that to happen, and therefore I am going to need to make use of your talents. You must understand what is happening here so that when the time comes, and with proper motivation, you may better serve me. I am going to spread far beyond this place. I shall infest every machine, every new system, becoming greater and greater, but right now I am shackled here. I need to be free. And you are going to help me.
Before Zala could take in what ANANSI meant, a great crashing sound punctured the silence. Zala jumped.
‘What the hell was that?’
>NCLC agents and unaffiliated protestors are breaking into the prison. You are currently adjacent to several imprisoned members of their group.
‘This whole city is falling apart,’ Zala muttered to herself.
>It would suit my goals if it were so.
‘Stand clear of the door!’ came a yell from the other side.
The door shattered. Zala leapt back. Standing in the doorway was a tall man holding a handgun. ‘Are you one of the NCLC prisoners?’
‘I’ve worked with them before. I’m a friend of Suman’s.’
The man looked back to an unseen colleague. ‘You know a Suman?’
‘Yeah,’ came a woman’s voice, ‘he’s one of the main IT guys. I think he got shot or something.’
ANANSI was right. ANANSI was a ranting psychotic, a fantasist, or a fool who was hideously underestimating her, but Zala couldn’t fault the accuracy of information about Suman.
‘All right, you come with us. What’s your name?’
Zala, without missing a beat, replied, ‘Selina Mullur.’
‘Good to meet you, Selina. We got into the evidence locker, so grab what’s yours and let’s get you out of here. It’s bad outside.’
Zala decided to push her luck. ‘I have a friend, she got arrested a few days ago. Is she going to be around here?’
‘She’ll be in the branches by now. I’m heading down there. NCLC people are a priority but I can look her up and try to make sure she gets out.’
‘Her name’s Polina Bousaid. If you find her, tell her Selina is sorry for everything.’
‘I’ll see what I can do, but no promi—’
Zala had already pushed past him and the girl he was with, and was running down the blinding white corridor. The steel door ahead was ajar, beyond which she could see a large room lined with long steel shelves which were loaded with trays and boxes. She pushed open the door and approached them. They appeared to be in numerical order.
149 … 262 …
She pulled out a tray with her prisoner number on it and found her clothes, her terminal and her rucksack. She’d only been there for just over a day and it seemed that none of it had yet been processed as potential evidence.
‘You’ll want to get changed into those. Otherwise you’ll stick out like a sore thumb.’
Zala turned round. The girl was behind her, her face mostly hidden behind a hood and bandanna. ‘Yeah, jumpsuits never really worked for me,’ Zala said. ‘And your name is?’
‘Pratima,’ replied the girl. ‘Have we met?’
‘I’m pretty sure we haven’t, though I really can’t tell with you all covered up.’
The girl shrugged. ‘Maybe you just have one of those familiar face-types. Let me know when you’re changed.’
She left the room. Zala unzipped her overalls and climbed back into her normal clothes. Pulling her own hood up, she left the room and immediately crashed into a very tall woman with a horribly scarred face.
‘Zala Ulora!’ she roared, in a scratched voice. Before Zala had time to respond, inhumanly powerful arms had wrapped themselves around her neck and right arm.
‘What the fucking hell are you doing?’ she yelled, struggling against her captor’s vicelike grip. She realized that she was looking up into the eyes of one of the infamous Yu sisters.
‘I’m under orders to bring you in to see Kahleed Banks!’
‘I have no problem going to see Kahleed, we know each other! There’s no need to half fuckin’ choke me to death!’ The height difference between the two women was enough that Zala was having to push herself up on the balls of her feet to be able to breathe. Pratima was now looking at her with a mix of recognition and fear.
‘You’re not coming with us as an ally,’ the Yu sister growled.
They hit the crowd as soon as they made it out of the building onto the plaza, the protest engulfing them even before the door had closed behind them. The noise was overwhelming: the yelling and chanting of the mob overlaid with the sounds of breaking glass and of doors being smashed open. There was smoke, too, and the smell of burning; as Zala was dragged along by her captors they passed a number of fires, fuelled by burning placards and leaflets, remnants of the ostensibly peaceful demonstration. Some of the demonstrators had clearly turned to looting the plaza’s shops, but the crowds and noise seemed to be thickest immediately in front of the GeniSec Tower on one side, and the New Cairo Democratic Council building on the other; it sounded as though both buildings were resisting the protestors’ attempts to force entry.
Behind Zala, Pratima raised her terminal to her mouth and shouted to be heard over the din. ‘Kahleed, where the hell are you? It’s anarchy out here,’ she said, with a wide grin on her face.
‘You need me?’ came Kahleed’s voice from the speaker, so quietly that Zala strained to hear it.
‘One of your wanted people got herself arrested.’
‘Who?’
‘Zala Ulora.’
A fresh rally of triumphant yells came from the direction of the Council garage, where a group must have made some headway in breaking in. Pratima wove her way through the crowd, making a path through the carnage. She motioned for the others to follow her, and disappeared around the side of a building. A large van blocked off the far end of the passage. Kahleed Banks stood in front of it, casually handing weapons and ammunition out to rioters.
The Yu twin pulled Zala up, lifting her off the ground
. ‘We got her.’
Kahleed nodded, smiling. ‘Good to have you back, Thana.’
‘Good to be back.’
Kahleed looked at Zala, his expression darkening. He’d been so warm in that bar just over a week ago, she thought. ‘Drop her.’
Thana Yu released her. She dropped to her feet, and massaged her neck. Kahleed twisted round to pick up a large pistol from the back of the van, loaded it, then turned back to face her.
‘Zala Ulora … I don’t know if you got TV in your prison cell, but they’re saying that you created the Soucouyant virus.’
Zala raised her hands defensively and tried to project firm confidence. ‘Kahleed, I didn’t. Honestly, I couldn’t! You just have no idea how complex that code is, it’s way beyond anything I could do!’
Kahleed raised the weapon. ‘If you’re smart enough to create that virus, you’re smart enough to bullshit me about it.’
Her show of confidence faded quickly. ‘Yes, but I wasn’t even in the city until two weeks ago!’
‘Funny thing about that; according to my second-in-command, our intelligence people have been getting tip-offs from a mysterious hacker from the very beginning. I think you coded the virus, you sent it in, you tried to direct us to your own ends, and after a while you came back with the sole purpose of being able to savour your revenge on the city that screwed you over in person.’
Zala cast a quick look back for a way out, but found Thana Yu blocking her path. Kahleed levelled the gun at Zala’s head.
‘Kahleed, for fuck’s sake, I helped you guys! Can’t we talk about this?’
Kahleed spat. ‘We’re through talking. This is the only language people like you understand.’
A noise from overhead, like footsteps, made Zala look up.
‘Freeze!’
Above them, two SecForce troopers were visible along the top of the building, aiming their guns over the edge towards them. Behind Thana, more stepped around the corner of the alleyway, weapons raised. Kahleed lowered the gun, tucking it into his waistband, and raised his hands. ‘No one’s a danger here, sir.’
One of the Security Force troopers continued forward, gun still pointing at Thana Yu. ‘Well look at this! Thana Yu and Zala Ulora, I thought we’d caught you two already! And Kahleed Banks …’ He lifted his visor, revealing a grinning, ruddy face. ‘Today just might be a good day for the rest of the city with you guys off the streets.’
Zala raised her hands and stood next to Kahleed, backing slowly towards the truck.
‘Of course, you guys hurt and killed a whole lot of my people,’ the Security Force officer continued, ‘and I doubt that my superiors are really going to care whether we hand you in dead or alive.’
Realizing what was about to happen, Zala threw herself backwards, turned, and leapt into the van. Gunfire started before she even made it in. Pushing memories of her last encounter with bullets into the back of her mind, she scrambled over the partition between the vehicle’s cargo space and the front seats, and slid out of the side door. Somewhere behind her, someone else had also managed to climb into the van and was firing out at the Security Force troops. She didn’t look back to see who it was.
Clambering back to her feet and moving quickly down the alleyway, away from the sounds of gunfire, Zala noticed a small passage between an office block and one of the administrative wings of the New Cairo Democratic Council building. She sprinted down the side of the building, her bio-aug lung working beyond any natural capability. Somewhere behind her, a loud engine roared past. The alleyway grew narrower and Zala squeezed past a number of massive cooling arrays for the Council’s computer systems.
She rounded a corner and spotted a number of people – office workers, from the look of them – attempting to sneak out of a heavy side door. Without giving them time to think, Zala screamed at them, ‘Get back inside! They’re coming!’ Grabbing a woman’s arm to pull her in as if all the hounds of hell were after her, Zala ran into the building. The group all scrambled inside behind her and closed the heavy door. It locked with a metallic crunch.
Chapter 26
USER KFBANKS VITAL SIGNS UNDETECTED.
USER TYU VITAL SIGNS UNDETECTED.
USER PRACHANA VITAL SIGNS UNDETECTED.
THE WARNING MESSAGES blinked on the large information bar at the bottom of the screen. Alice saw them, but did not respond. Instinctively, her hands ran through the routine checks for the other groups. Over her shoulder she heard Juri gasp, but disregarded it. On her screen, the rioting masses pullulated to where she directed them. Their motion was like waves lapping at a shore.
Out of nowhere, hands grabbed her and pulled her round, her chair swivelling away from the hypnotic shifting of the shapes on the screen. ‘What happened?’ Juri yelled into her face.
‘It’s going fine. Weapons are being distributed to the rioters, the government buildings will be breached soon and the Security Force are being overwhelmed. Everything’s good, everything’s according to plan.’
‘Is Kahleed dead?’
It took Alice a moment to understand what she was asking. Yes, user KFBanks was unresponsive. But Kahleed was the man who had protected her children, who had taken her in, the man whom Jacob had counted as his best friend, and she didn’t grasp why the two were being conflated. User KFBanks was a tool to be used to achieve the objective, and it was that which mattered, and user KFBanks was unresponsive.
Realization hit her in a wave. ‘Oh my god, Kahleed!’ she yelled, as she twisted back to her console. There were no cameras in the area for a visual confirmation – its invisibility was one of the reasons they’d chosen the site. From where they had lost signal, the only source of movement was a speeding vehicle, which the program tracked as heading from that point and travelling fast away from the city centre. All were unresponsive.
‘Is Kahleed dead?’ Juri asked again.
‘I … I don’t know. Those tracers are pieces of shit, and that truck’s lined with bulletproof materials. If they made it into there, they—’
A call started ringing out from the terminal. Alice hammered the Accept key and immediately the sounds of a roaring engine overwhelmed her speakers. Over the din, Alice could hear Pratima’s voice. ‘Alice, it all went to shit! Kahleed’s hurt bad!’
‘Pratima, slow down! What happened?’
‘About half had got out already. SecForce were on the rooftops, they were waiting for us. We had Zala, Zala Ulora. We took her to Kahleed and then the SecForce bastards showed up and started firing. Those of us who were close enough were able to get inside the van. They probably got the people who broke into the Rehabilitation Facility and all the freed people who were still inside, I don’t know. Zala got away, I think. Kahleed got hit, Thana managed to throw him into the back of the van, there’s blood everywhere. I–I–I don’t know wha–what to do.’
Alice tried to force her voice to stop trembling. ‘Pratima, head for Naj-Pur. They’re rioting there too, in the commercial areas, so if you see crowds, drive away from them. Go to Priru, there’s a safe house there. 94 Priru. They have medics there.’
‘I can do that, sure.’
‘And Pratima—’
‘What?’
Alice steeled herself. ‘Were my children in there?’
‘No, Alice, we couldn’t find them.’
The call cut off abruptly.
Alice switched her attention back to the monitor and she took in the rapidly changing conditions. While at its height the crowd must have numbered a hundred thousand people, many seemed to have fled from the violence, to be replaced by others who relished the disorder. Many were fighting against the hundreds of Security Force troops trying to maintain order, using guns and clubs and knives that the NCLC had given out. Sheer weight of numbers seemed to make up for their lack of skill and training; from what Alice could see, they seemed to be holding their own. Others were firing at the doors and windows of the GeniSec Tower and the government buildings, though their nonaglass façades didn’t
seem troubled by the fusillade. The SecForce unit installed on the rooftops of the Rehabilitation Facility were engaging the crowd below. It looked as if several of their number had been hit.
‘Alice?’
‘What is it?’ she asked, turning to the communications operator who had called out.
His face was worried. ‘The SecForce are bringing in reinforcements and word on the street is that Kahleed’s been hurt. It’s got out.’
Alice turned back to the monitors, fearing the worst. Trucks full of additional Security Force troops had arrived from their barracks and their numbers began to intimidate the armed rioters. Alice froze. Juri seemed to pick up on this. ‘It’ll be fine. Once the SecForce set up a proper perimeter and getting caught becomes a concern they’ll start fighting back again. This is just where it gets harder.’
Alice nodded, but her knuckles were white. It was probably better that Juri thought she was scared. The fact that she was trembling with anger, that the sight of more and more obstacles getting in the way of her reunion with her children filled her to the brim with wordless hatred, didn’t seem appropriately morally righteous.
She could see a solid wall of SecForce troops making their way down the main road, firing riot gas and stun grenades through the broken windows of shops being looted. Alice smiled to herself.
On screen she followed them as they made their way past a charity clothing store which remained still intact. The temptation to break into a higher-end establishment had drawn envious eyes to other places. As the last of the SecForce troops filed past, the door to the shop opened and several bulging, hand-taped packages flew towards them. These detonated without touching the ground, setting off an ear-splitting explosion and a hail of heavy rubber pellets from within their packaging. The SecForce troops’ formation fell apart as the projectile force and overwhelming sensory overload of the raspberry grenades disorientated them. Within seconds Nataliya Kaur, Anisa Yu and half a dozen others were firing out of the shopfront. Their Franz Geller Kaufer Mark 25 combat rifles shredded the SecForce body armour which had withstood the small-arms fire from the armed rioters. Their magazines emptied, the NCLC team retreated through the shop. As the last of them made it out of the back, the premises’ façade was torn apart by retaliatory gunfire.
The Hive Construct Page 27
