by Nathan Pedde
“For Veer,” Amy said. “It’s not his real name or face. He is wearing a holo-disguise. My current software and hardware cannot see through it.”
“The second?”
“He’s a true enigma,” Amy said. “That is his real face. But there is no information on him. I have picked up on the people calling him Dr. Marcus Oraelius. I doubt it is an official name.”
“I have been fighting with both of them,” Des said. “Veer is a pain, while the other guy has promised to kill me if he sees me again. It’s who I thought it was going to be.”
“There is more,” Amy said.
“I hoped there was going to be. You still haven’t mentioned my brother.”
“I will get to that,” Amy said, “but first, I must show you a video file.”
The video of someone climbing down a steep ladder appeared. It looked like it was taken from a tablet sitting on someone’s desk. The person who shot the footage climbed from a warehouse into the undercroft. Once down, they saw a factory spread out before them. It looked like Amy’s factory. However, the machines were different. Across the factory floor was a single ladder leading into a control room.
The person shooting the footage, climbed the ladder into the control room, which was an exact replica of Amy’s control room. On the screen of the central computer was the image of a young girl. It looked like Amy, but a touch different.
“It looks like one of my sisters was not deleted,” Amy said. “That factory built warbots. Like those you fought earlier.”
“Where is it?” Des said.
“Unknown at this time. It appears I have some corrupted files. I am computing possible locations based on what I know of the station.”
“That’s not good.”
“I do have more corrupted files. I have isolated them and will see if I have them in a backup, but it will have to wait until I have some free cycles.”
“Do we have a video of this Dr. Marcus Oraelius finding this place and exploring it?” Des asked.
“I do. In the end, they turn on the consul and place something on it. To me, it looked like a mold of a hand. But I am unsure of what hand.”
The image in front of them changed to show a woman, who Des knew from somewhere, removing a hand from the console.
“I think it could have been a severed hand,” Susan said. “But I’m hoping it’s not.”
“My sister turned on and then greeted your Grandfather,” Amy said. “The Mysterious Man hacked her and took control before she could defend herself. They effectively killed her and then twisted her corpse into something else.”
“We have bigger problems,” Des said.
“Yes,” Amy replied.
“My brother?” Des said. “Show me a picture of him.”
All the screens changed besides one, enlarging up to a bigger view. It showed Sheemo, hunched over in a corner asleep. An empty plate of food lay on the ground next to him.
Des’s eyes at once went to Sheemo’s hands, which were still there and attached to the body.
“Perhaps it’s a clone hand then,” Des said, turning to Amy’s hologram. “Now, about your sister, can we save her?”
“Negative,” Amy said. “She is dead. An evil virus has taken her place. I will need to kill her.”
“Will she know where you are located?” Des asked.
“Not sure, but I would make the assumption. If they are going to come for me, they’ll be here in three hours. Tops.”
“We need to move,” Des said.
“Move where?” Susan asked. “I don’t have holograms of me wandering around the station.”
“That’s true, but we don’t have a choice.”
Thoughts jumbled through Des’s head. A plan formed in his head, raw and unyielding. “Susan, I need you to pack up the safehouse. We need to destroy anything we don’t want to be discovered.”
“Leave nothing for the enemy?” Susan asked. “What are you two going to do?”
“Elsie is going to help you. I’m going to go deal with the factory,” Des said.
The hologram of Amy stepped in front of Des. “Do I have permission to delete myself?”
“Denied,” Des said. “I have a plan for you.”
“What are you going to do?” Elsie asked.
“I need to deal with Amy and the Factory.”
“Good luck.” Elsie said.
Des made his way down to the factory floor and then up into the control room. Des sat in the chair, looking at the consul. He pulled a small tablet device out of his jacket.
“What is that?” Amy asked.
“It’s what I hope will be your new home,” Des replied.
“New home?”
“This little computer has a dozen or more times the computing power your old home has.”
“And it looks portable. Battery?”
“Built-in.”
“Built in?” Amy asked. “No power lines required? But I take a lot of power.”
Des plugged in a cable to the consul.
“Wow.” Amy said. “This has more cycle capability than I have ever seen. And expansion slots. You can add devices to me.”
“No longer will your only function be to build Nanobots.”
“You added surveillance drone to my list of functions—” Amy said.
“Will it work?” Des asked.
“It will, but what about the Nanobots and the factory?”
“I want the computers wiped clean. I also want the entire factory either burned to slag or dumped into space.”
“I don’t have time to do either, but I can wipe the hard drives clean.”
“Transfer yourself to the portable device,” Des said. “Then wipe the computer. I don’t want a single scrap of data on those systems.”
“I can do more, though. It will cause issues to the station.”
“Explain.”
“Nanobots have a self-destruct function,” Amy said. “They can destroy themselves if I order it while they are on something like a computer, then it will turn into a hunk of slag. As you put it.”
“The issue to the station?”
“I am not sure about how the roof will like it,” Amy said. “There is a chance for structural damage.”
“Will it cause a breach?”
“No. We are eight stories from the hull of the station.”
“Are there any other downsides to this?”
“If I want to destroy all of the machines in the factory and the safe house, you will not have enough Nanobots to keep up with the surveillance. Let alone using the function against the robots.”
“We will have to use them all?”
“No.” Amy said. “Not all. But if I use all of them—”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Des climbed back up the ladder to the safe house. Elsie and Susan had a couple bags stacked by the door.
“What are we going to do with all of the things we didn’t use?” Elsie asked.
“We don’t want to leave them for the enemy, do we?” Susan asked.
“I have a plan,” Des replied. “Well, actually. It’s Amy’s plan.”
Des pulled a small tablet out of his bag. “Amy?”
Amy appeared out of the tablet. A holoprojector was built into it.
“Is that your plan?” Elsie asked. “Did the S-500 model work?”
“S-500?” Amy asked. “I am a K class…”
“Not you,” Elsie said. “Your chassis. It looks like an S-500 model tablet system. Camera, holoprojector, it’s nice. You were only gone for few minutes. How did it install that quickly.”
“Seventy years has made leaps and bounds,” Amy said. “My program isn’t as big as I thought. It went very fast.”
“Okay,” Elsie said. “Check for intrusions?”
“I did a thorough check-in both the hardware and software,” Amy said. “This is a clean machine.”
Susan cleared her throat. “What’s the plan?”
“We dumped all of the things we don’
t want into the factory.” Des said. “I’m pulling all of the Nanobots back.”
Des reminded them about the self-destruct function and the downsides to using it.
“The machines will be hunks of slag?” Elsie asked.
“Yes,” Des said. “If I’m lucky, the nanobots will cause the roof of the factory to cave in burying the factory in rubble.”
“Do we need to stick around here for that to happen?” Susan asked.
“The nanobots are coming here no matter what,” Amy replied. “It will happen in three hours and twenty minutes whether or not this place is empty.”
“It’s time to leave,” Des said. “For better or worse.”
With the three of them working together, the entire safe house was emptied of everything they didn’t want to take with them. It took longer than Des wanted it to take. The only things left were the couches and the mattresses.
Des handed out each of them an earpiece. It wasn’t sophisticated as the ones he was used to and was large enough anyone could see he was wearing an earpiece. It was like he was wearing a wireless set to his phone. The earpiece would allow them to talk to Amy without her having to use external speakers.
Des, Elsie, and Susan jumped onto the hover-scooter. The machine groaned in protest in having the extra weight. Susan sat in the sidecar as Des sat behind Elsie. The seat wasn’t designed for the additional person, and half his butt hung over the back of the seat.
“Where are we headed?” Susan asked.
“A parking garage in the Pink Sector,” Des replied.
“Why not the Green Sector?”
“Because it’s in the wrong direction, and I have the urging to stay out of the Green Sector for the time being.”
“From what happened before,” Elsie said. “I don’t doubt it.”
“But we do need to move on getting Sheemo,” Des replied. “Before we lose the advantage.”
Des hung onto Elsie’s waist as she drove. He felt the warmth of her body. Part of him was excited by the touch.
Time and place Des, you fool,Des thought, wriggling on the seat.
He watched the people walking along the road. They had no idea what was going on around them. How close they were to losing their station, and their home.
The trip took time, except Elsie didn’t take the freeway. She took the smaller side roads through and around the different fields. They reached the Pink Sector. They wove through the streets and into a nearby parking garage. Empty of cars, and it looked like it had a good vantage point for them to watch the collapse of the factory.
Elsie turned into the garage, paying the fare for the gate to open.
“Where do we park?” Elsie asked.
“Top floor,” Des said.
They turned around and around, making their way up to the top of the garage. The garage was empty of people, except for a single white van sitting to the side.
Des looked at the van as they drove past. “Amy, please turn on your thermal camera. Is the van empty?”
“No heat signatures present,” Amy replied.
Des narrowed his eyes at the van. He didn’t like it. He didn’t have the time or resources to do a thorough reconnaissance in the parking garage.
“Park away from the van,” Des said. “Somewhere where we won’t be seen from the street.”
Elsie picked a spot in the middle of the floor. Des glanced up, seeing in the distance the field holding the little grove of trees. Being miles away, the trees were a small green plot of land.
“Why are we here?” Susan asked.
“Because you’re right,” Des said. “We have no plan. The building is full of robots, and the three of us can’t possibly take that on.”
Susan frowned. “So what? We give up?”
“No,” Des said.
Des got off the bike, pulling out a camera from his bag. He placed it on a tripod, aiming it at the field.
“Amy,” Des said. “Take control of the camera. Do you see anyone approaching our safe house?”
“Negative,” Amy replied. “However, there are five hover-scooters with people and two black hover-vans. Make that five black vans. They are twenty miles out.”
“That was fast—” Elsie said. “We left a few hours ago.”
“The robots,” Des said. “How many were at the enemies base?”
“Twenty-five,” Amy replied. “And seven humans.”
“Did those robots come from the building?”
“Unknown, but based on the information on previous encounters, each van can hold up to six robots.”
“Time till collapse?” Des asked.
“One hour, thirty minutes,” Amy replied.
“What does that mean?” Susan asked.
“It means we need to leave,” Des said. “If that’s most of the robots, then if we intend to try a rescue attempt, then now is the time.”
“We know where they are,” Elsie said. “We still have cameras there?”
“Yes.” Des replied. “Amy insisted on leaving a dozen in place to keep track of people.”
“Then we go now,” Elsie said. “Or we never go. We will never get this shot again.”
Des nodded.
“We only have the single bike,” Susan said. “Which only takes two. With Sheemo, there will be four of us.”
“You will stay here,” Des said. “Elsie and I will go in. When we come out with him, he will ride in the sidecar. Elsie and I will double.”
“Let’s do this,” Elsie said, moving toward the bike. “What about the camera?”
“Leave it.”
“I’m recording the footage for later examination, but the camera will become slag once we tell it to, or if it gets touched by anyone.”
Elsie nodded. The parked white van sped up and rooming toward them. Des had his stun gun out, aiming at the vehicle as it slid to a stop, the side door slid open.
Standing in the doorway was Cooley, his stun gun aimed at them and dressed in black. Cryslis sat in the driver’s seat.
“Hands up,” Cooley yelled.
“You put your hands up,” Des countered.
“Take off your helmet,” Cooley ordered.
“Out in the open?” Des said. “No.”
Elsie leaned in, “We are wearing disguises, remember?”
Des raised his visor.
“Helmet. Off.” Cooley ordered.
“Calm the fuck down and give me a moment,” Des replied.
Des handed his stun gun to Elsie and took off his helmet. His disguise was still on his face. He clicked the button on his necklace as it deactivated.
“Now the enemy may see me,” Des said, “and they will know where I am.”
“What is my other name?” Cooley asked.
“Paul.”
“I’m sure the enemy knows that too.”
“For Jupiter’s sake. I don’t have time for this. I have a limited window to get Sheemo. We need to go now.”
“What are you talking about?” Cooley asked.
“Amy,” Des said, his voice low. “Is this the real Cooley?”
“That man is the man using the alias, Cooley,” Amy said in the earpieces. “The woman in the driver’s seat is the woman you call Cryslis. The man you named Cooley and the woman you named Cryslis are real people, would you like to know who they really are?”
“Are they them?” Des said out loud. “And I don’t need to know that information.”
“Yes, it is them,” Amy replied.
“Who are you talking to?” Cooley said.
“Shut it, Cooley. I’m confirming that it is indeed you.”
“Am I,” Cooley said.
“Cooley is an alias, real name unknown,” Des said. “That is your real face. Same with Cryslis.”
“Who are the other two?” Cooley said.
Elsie raised her visor, pressing her earring as her disguise fizzled.“I’m hurt, Cooley. After all that we have been through.”
“And her?” Cooley asked.
�
�That’s Susan,” Des said.
“Great,” Cooley said, lowering his gun. “Get in the van.”
Elsie used the hover-bikes thrusters to raise the bike up, and into the van. She turned off the engine and got off the bike. Elsie and Susan both took their helmets off.
“Drive,” Des said to Cryslis. “We have no time left. Our only shot at getting Sheemo is now or never.”
“What are you talking about?” Cryslis said, putting the van in gear.
“Drive now.” Des said.“I’ll explain on the way.”
Des gave Cryslis directions.
“Really,” Cryslis said, driving down the ramp. “We will be there in twenty minutes. Give us the short version.”
Des took three minutes, spitting out the information that Cryslis and Cooley needed to know. Where the base was, how many people were currently in it, where they were. He left out details like the robot factory they knew the enemy had discovered.
“How do you know all of that?” Cryslis said.
“It is a long story,” Des said, “But don’t freak out… Amy, come out.”
Amy used the holo-projector and appeared in the middle of the van. “Hi. My name is Amy. I am a K Class Artificial Intelligence that Des’s grandfather had built during the last great war between Earth and Jovia. Des is my guardian now and I will help him in any way I can.”
“Sweet Jupiter,” Cooley said. “Where are you keeping her?”
“We have no time for that now. You’re lucky I have two extra earpieces,” Des said, handing them an earpiece each and then went over the plan.
“I like having time to work out details like that,” Cooley said.
“And you two disappeared off the face of the station,” Des said. “With no way to contact you.”
“You left us in the middle of the alley with robots still swarming toward us,” Elsie said.
“Anyways, we will be there in two minutes,” Cryslis said. “Cooley and I will come with you two into the building, Susan. Stay in the van. Keep the engine running.”
Elsie and Susan took their helmets off and put them next to the bike.
Cryslis swerved in the empty street, stopping in front of the building. The building hadn’t changed since they saw it earlier that day.
