by Lori Bond
“I can execute many trillions of computations at once,” Percival said. I detected a hint of offense in his voice. “I can both download and converse with you at the same time.”
“Of course, you can,” I said to soothe Percival’s ruffled feelings. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m downloading a second Percival program into my suit.”
“I noticed,” said Percival. “Since you are downloading the full file, it will use a fair amount of memory.”
“Right.” All the knights, except Pendragon, were technically secondary devices responding to Percival’s primary computer setup. Percival himself lived on some central computer somewhere with a complete copy on Pendragon’s hard drive. Percival ran the knights from one of those two locations. He wasn’t in any of the other suits although there was a program in all of them giving the AI control.
What I was doing was adding a complete copy of Percival to my suit. It would take up almost all the solid and working memory to run him. I would have limited diagnostic functioning whenever he was on. My weapons response time might be slower too. Of course, that’s why I would test out the new program now instead of waiting for a battle.
“So, I need you to do me a favor, Percival. Can you keep these modifications I’m making to yourself? Do you understand? I don’t want you to tell Arthur and Ginny about it.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Percival began.
“Now, Percival,” Will said from behind me. “That doesn’t seem reasonable.”
I spun around, nearly tripping over some of the cords running across the floor. Grabbing at my racing heart, it pounded away through my shirt and the layers of skin underneath.
“You’re lucky I’m not Arthur,” Will said with a frown. “Next time you start a covert activity, you might want to at least lock yourself in the room. It’ll buy you some time while someone tries to get in.”
“Tip noted,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Helping. When Percival mentioned you were up here, I came to investigate.” He held up a hand to stop my questions. “Percival reports anytime you deviate from your routines.”
“That’s creepy,” I said.
“Probably, but it’s the trade-off for staying safe.” Will turned away from me, done with the conversation. Whatever mood he’d been in since this afternoon had not worn off. “Now, Percival,” Will said turning his attention to the ceiling as if the AI were a ghost floating around up there. “What Elaine is asking is reasonable.”
“Is it?” Percival sounded doubtful, but he didn’t contradict Will.
“Yes,” said Will. “I’m sure you noticed that the new program can deny you, and by extension, Arthur and Ginny from accessing Elaine’s suit.”
“I noticed,” Percival said.
Will’s voice took on an almost hypnotic quality. He kept talking with Percival, and even though most of what he said wasn’t all that persuasive, I found myself nodding along.
“And that is why, you’ll keep Elaine’s modifications to yourself,” finished Will. “And if I change my suit, you will also leave no record or mention of it to Arthur or Ginny.”
“Yes, sir.” The AI’s voice droned in an odd monotone. Then in his more normal tone, Percival added, “Download complete.”
That seemed to snap me out of whatever sort of trance I’d been in. I opened my eyes because at some point they had fallen shut.
Will was studying me, but he smiled when my eyes focused on him. “Percival agreed to keep our changes unrecorded and unreported.”
“He did?” I’d heard Percival agree, but my brain still felt foggy. “Why?”
Will looked away. “I can be persuasive.”
“You persuaded a computer program to go against its programming.” Something about this seemed familiar, but I couldn’t figure out what.
Will rubbed at the back of his neck and shrugged. “It happens. Sometimes if I focus hard on what I’m saying, I can convince someone to see things my way.”
“But Percival isn’t a someone.”
“I heard that.” The AI sounded more than a little peeved.
“Sorry. Percival isn’t an organic someone. He’s a machine.”
Will shrugged. “Percival is the most advanced AI out there. I think he’s more person than machine at this point.”
I stared at Will for a moment, wondering if this was why Stormfield feared Will. For a second, I was a little scared of Will. It was like he could remove a person’s free will, make them his own personal automaton. That was a pretty terrifying power.
Will stared back, probably waiting to see if I would run screaming from the room.
“Do you do this often?” I asked.
“No.” Will shook his head emphatically. “And you would know if I had. You would feel fuzzy and a little confused, and you’d feel like you had to do what I said no matter how much you might want to ignore me. It’s like I create a compulsion you have to obey. I only persuade when there is no other recourse, like now.”
I didn’t feel compelled to do anything, but Will hadn’t been talking to me. “Like now,” I repeated, trying to process everything. It was true that Percival’s programming didn’t allow for leisurely discourse and a slow convincing. I also realized that with a power like this, Will could have had me whisked to the Tool Shed my first night here. If he had whispered a little persuasion in my ear, I would have begged Arthur to let me go. Will could have flat out made Arthur take me there himself. He could make Arthur hand over every invention he had ever made to the LANCE scientists right now.
“This is only the third time I’ve tried to persuade someone since I stopped using my power when I was six,” Will said as if he could tell I needed more information. “I tried when I was fourteen.” He looked away again. “It didn’t go well. I swore I’d never use it on another human again.” He paused a moment and then turned back. “The other two times since then were with Percival. Once to get him to bring me to the Rook instead of a regional LANCE headquarters and just now.”
“And I’ll know if you ever use it on me?”
“You’ll know.”
I nodded. “Then I trust you.”
Will’s face filled with relief. I hadn’t realized how tense he had been, how scared he was that I would reject him. I wondered what had happened when he was six and again at fourteen to keep him from using this power he possessed. Now did not seem like the time to ask.
I nodded again and turned back to my armor and studied all the readout displays on the niche to make sure it was still working even with the new programming. Everything seemed to be fine, so I ejected the USB drive. Glancing over at Will, I asked him if he wanted to install Percival2 on Galahad or test it out on my armor first.
“I wish we had tested it on Galahad first,” Will said with a frown, “but since it’s already in your suit, let’s boot it up. We should keep my suit normal.”
“Good idea. It can act as a control.” I told Percival to load and run the new program.
Will shook his head. “Galahad can act as a safety net. If our programming goes catastrophically wrong, I want to be able to catch you.”
I knew Will meant literally that he wanted to catch my plummeting armor, but it still sounded kind of romantic, and my heart made a flippity-flop in my chest. I hadn’t forgotten Arthur’s boyfriend comment from earlier. Sure, Arthur was being facetious, but a girl could hope.
“Oh ye of little faith.” I grabbed a headset and tossed another one to Will. “Modified Percival is going to work just fine. Let’s suit up.”
Since Percival was always listening in, our suits broke into pieces and reformed around our outstretched arms and bodies.
“Initializing,” said Percival. I waited for all of my readouts to boot up.
“You okay in there?” Will asked.
I finished studying my last diagnostic. “All fine so far. Percival, execute Percival2 and then get out of my suit for now. I want to run exclusively on the new program.”
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“Yes, my lady. Rebooting now.”
All the displays in my suit turned off. I stood in the pitch black of my suit feeling a little claustrophobic while I waited.
“Initializing,” said Percival2. The screens on my suit lit up again. All the pre-flight displays loaded. Once again, all the screens showed everything to be running normal. Only the memory usage on my suit ran high.
“So far so good,” I told Will.
“Percival is monitoring you using the external sensors in my suit,” Will said. “Everything looks fine from here.”
“Of course, it does,” the Percival in my suit said. “I’m amazing at what I do.”
“Okay,” I said to my suit. “Let’s get ready to engage the flight boosters. Will,” I called over the headset, “can you get Percival to open the iris to the training room?”
“Any chance we can listen to some tunes while you train?” my new Percival asked. “This suit is so dead boring, and I don’t want to listen to battle chit-chat all night.”
“Uh.”
Above me the door to the training room opened, and Galahad shot up. My armor stayed put even though I used my toes to signal my suit to take off.
“About those tunes?” my Percival asked.
“I mean, I guess?”
“Everything okay down there?” Will asked. Galahad peered down at me through the hole.
“New Percival seems to have an attitude.”
“I prefer Percy,” said my custom AI. “Percival is so stick in the mud stuck up, you know?”
I glared at the invisible AI running my suit. “Look, Percy. I need this suit to run just like Galahad is running up there.” I tried to point, but Percy had my suit frozen in place. “All Will has to do is say the word and Percival will be back in control, and you’ll be back on a USB drive running on my tablet. Is that what you want?”
“No.” Percy sounded sulkier than Arthur on a bad day.
“Fine. Then you can listen to as many tunes as you want, but we’ve got to get this armor running better than normal. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” The flight rockets on my back ignited, and I shot into the training room before I had time to blink. However, Percy responded to my flight controls, so I stopped and hovered in the middle of the room.
“Your playlist is lame,” Percy said.
I narrowed my eyes. “Boy bands are an underappreciated national treasure.”
“Please,” said Percy. “Ginny has way better taste.”
Ginny had more eclectic tastes. For the rest of the hour, Percy blared everything from French experimental pop to sitar music and classic rock.
Percy might be dead annoying, but he controlled the armor as well as Percival. There were no noticeable lags or drags. And it turned out the music helped my fighting. I had been dancing since the age of five, and it was like music reminded my body how to be coordinated. For the first time, I took out five knights in six minutes. I even managed to tie Will.
Even Arthur noticed the next day. This time I kept Percival in my suit monitoring my readouts for Arthur, but Percy was the AI at the metaphorical wheel. Once again, Percy had insisted on music, and once again, my performance was way better than normal. I took out six knights. It was nowhere near the fourteen Arthur could take down in Pendragon, but it was a lot better than anything I had managed before.
“Is that music playing in your suit?” Arthur asked from the control room.
I nodded. “I’m trying something new.”
“Keep it up,” Arthur said. “It’s working.”
“Of course, it’s working,” Percy said. “I’m an unqualified genius.”
“Shut up,” Percival and I said at the same time.
Will made a snorting sound over his headset, but it might have been a grunt. He was fighting three knights all at once.
Fortunately, Arthur didn’t hear. Percy had figured out how to keep the mic on my headset off unless Arthur said something that needed a response. I was still connected to Will and Percival at all times, but we’d shut Arthur out.
Each day my training got better, much to Will’s and Arthur’s glee. It was like everything was finally coming together. My visions weren’t getting any easier to call up by myself, but I could call at least a glimpse of the future if Will was close enough when I tried. My combat skills in my armor were better than ever though. I wondered if all the upgrades Ginny had been giving Percival over the years had been for stuff other than running the knights.
On Sunday, I took down nine knights in twelve minutes. When we finished training, Arthur made Will and me celebrate with sparkling grape juice. He declared me ready to fight a small Dreki troop by myself if I had to.
“Not that you ever will, Princess. I would never let that happen.” He clinked his glass against mine and then Will’s. “But it’s good to know you could do it if it was necessary.”
I nodded in agreement.
18
WHERE WE ALL EXAMINE OUR PRIORITIES
THAT SAME NIGHT ARTHUR AND GINNY HAD A BARE-KNUCKLES, ALL out screaming fight over the upcoming Keep Consolidated board meeting. At least Arthur ranted and screamed, but even Ginny raised her voice and clenched her fists as she paced the room. Despite Ginny reminding him about it daily for almost a week, Arthur was only now connecting that the date for my vision and for the meeting were the same. Naturally, Arthur didn’t want to go to LA to meet with the Board, and not just because he hated those kinds of things.
“I can’t leave Elaine here, and there’s the whole vision with Will,” he yelled. “If Elaine’s right, something bad happens to him too. You can’t expect me to leave them.”
Will and I were hovering in the hallway just outside the living room. Will raised his eyebrows like Arthur caring about my vision surprised him.
“He promised,” I whispered to Will although it was unlikely the screaming adults would hear us.
“The timing is terrible,” Ginny yelled back. She wasn’t as loud as Arthur, and she didn’t storm around waving her arms, but I’d never seen her fists so tightly clenched. “I can’t control that. We can’t postpone this meeting because of a possible threat. There is always a possible threat. They never go away.”
Arthur looked like he wanted to throw something, but he turned to stare at the illuminated rose window instead.
“Besides,” Ginny added in a lower voice at his back, “LANCE isn’t storming the Rook to take Will by force. They aren’t the Dreki. He’s safe enough as long as he stays here.”
Arthur rubbed at his eyes, but he didn’t disagree.
In the end, I was the one that broke the stalemate, not their fancy counselor, even though they conferenced her in.
With Will following behind me, I braved my raging father and stepmother. “Arthur, you need to go to this meeting.” I didn’t speak all that loud, but it was enough to stun both Arthur and Ginny into shutting up.
“What?” Ginny said into the new silence.
“I don’t think I’m needed here anymore,” the counselor said from her screen. “I’ll be sending the usual bill.”
Arthur waved and her screen disappeared, but he never took his eyes off of me.
“I said Arthur needs to go to this meeting.” I took a seat on the couch. Will sat next to me. I couldn’t decide if he was there for moral support or if this was the kind of side-of-the-road accident Will couldn’t keep his eyes off.
Ginny sat with us, but Arthur continued to storm up and down the room. At least he stayed in enough control to listen and not bite my head off.
“Ginny’s right,” I said. “Everyone realizes you don’t do much for Keep Consolidated.”
Arthur interrupted me. “I do plenty. Between the three dozen research teams I remotely supervise, and the stuff I outright invent on my own, Keep has more patents than any other tech company on the planet.”
“Fine,” I said, trying to keep my temper. “But you don’t do any of the business stuff. Everyone knows Ginny does all her CEO stuff and most
of your President of the Board stuff too. No one expects you to do all that much beyond play in your lab.”
“So, I don’t need to go,” Arthur said. He gave Ginny a triumphant smile.
“I didn’t say that.” I rubbed my hand down my face in an unconscious imitation of Arthur. “They don’t expect much, but they do expect you to show up at stuff like this Board meeting.”
Arthur growled, but then he seemed to get himself back under control. He came and sat on my other side. He reached for Ginny’s hand and then mine.
“Princess, I can’t just leave you here. I don’t think you get it. I can’t let anything happen to you.” Arthur turned to Ginny. “I only just got her back.” Most of the time, not just tonight, Arthur blustered and shouted to get his way, but now it felt like he was almost begging Ginny.
Ginny looked as if her heart would break. She reached up with her free hand and rested it on Arthur’s cheek. He turned his head into her palm. “I know, love,” she said, “but I don’t know what to do. We both have to be at the meeting, but it’s closed door. Elaine can’t come, and you can’t stay here. They need to see you alive and well and in person.”
“Why can’t Elaine go?” Will asked. “I’m not trying to pry, but isn’t she the heir to the Keep kingdom or something?”
Ginny sighed. Her attention shifted from Arthur to us, but she never let go of Arthur. “Legally, yes. We settled that years ago. The problem is that Arthur has never acknowledged Elaine in public. For all the world—and that includes the Board and the financial markets—for all they know, Arthur is childless.
“When Elaine was born, we didn’t tell anyone to protect Tori and Raul’s privacy. After they disappeared, it seemed unwise to mention that Arthur had another loved one for his enemies to target. Obviously, we can’t keep her, you, a secret any longer. But before we introduce Elaine as the future of Keep Consolidated, we first have to introduce her as Elaine Keep. And a private board meeting between the Trustees is not the time.” She looked past me to Will. “You have to trust me on this one.”
I could feel Will nod behind me. I didn’t turn to look, but I reached out and held my hand out toward him, and he took it. The same vision tried to press in on me, but I pushed it away. Now was not the time to worry about Will.
