by H. L. Burke
She found a wooden chair and dragged it over to sit in front of Hart’s screen. “Do you think they’re listening in on us?” she whispered.
“No. I’m able to detect signal-sending devices, including the one in your bag. Can you call for help?”
She shook her head. “It’s a prototype and the only thing it can connect to … well, let’s just say it is out of range. Are you sure they can’t hear us somehow, though? I need to be able to talk to you.”
“Look.” The lights on the screen blinked out making room for a black and white image of the workshop, complete with Aito sitting in his chair. The image changed to show a sitting room with a crackling fire and large, overstuffed furniture. The door opened, and Rivera walked in. “There are also a few of his men, hired muscle types, scattered around the grounds.” He showed her two men pacing up and down hallways and a group in the kitchen playing cards. “I’m still programmed into the house’s security system … though Rivera was smart enough to restrict a lot of my normal functions. I tried to control the other security measures at first, but they’d all been disabled while I was ‘out’ so to speak.”
“That’s too bad.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to massage away a swiftly brewing headache. “So, the last thing you remember is Miles attacking me in the workshop?”
“Yes. Obviously you got away. What happened to me, though? The computers must’ve crashed.”
“I’m afraid I did that … but the thing is, we did it together.” She exhaled. So, he doesn’t have memories of finding out that he’s Ellis. Shock me, that news was hard enough for him to absorb the first time. “We decided we didn’t want anyone to get a hold of Professor Dalhart’s research.”
“I can understand that. I’ve been refusing to give Rivera any access to it. Tried to convince him I don’t have it. I’d destroy it if I could, but it’s not like I can delete my own memory files. I mean, I have the ability to send an electric surge through my system that would destroy it, but it would wipe out everything. I still want to live, if at all possible … I wish you’d taken me with you.”
“I thought I had.” She moaned. “Hart, I didn’t know that I’d left you behind. When we got here I … you and I …” She swallowed. “I did take you with me. It’s hard to explain.”
“Oh … that makes sense. You downloaded me, didn’t you?”
Nyssa hesitated. In a way she had. “Yes. I got you out of this system and then we crashed it.”
“It must’ve made a copy rather than transferring my program. Blast. Well, at least I don’t feel abandoned anymore. I honestly didn’t mean to have them bring you here. When they brought me back, the last thing I remembered was you being attacked, and I just assumed they’d done something to you. I wanted to be sure you were safe. Instead I got you dragged back into this whole mess after you’d apparently made a clean break. I’m so sorry, Nyss.”
“It’s all right. I don’t blame you.” She glanced over her shoulder and dropped her voice. “So what are we going to do?”
“Is there anyone out there looking for you?”
Ellis is. “Yes, but I can’t count on them finding me before Rivera loses patience.”
“Maybe we can find a way to send a message out, get help. That signal-sending device in your bag, can we modify it?”
“That might work.” She stared at the computer screen. As hard as it would be to tell him, he deserved to know the truth. “Look, Hart, there’s something I have to tell you about the ‘copy’ of you I took from here.”
“I bet you two have been having a lot of fun without me.”
“Yes, we have, actually. He’s been my constant companion and best friend for almost a year now, but it’s more complicated than that. He’s—”
“Aito’s coming back.”
Nyssa froze.
The “delivery man” slipped through the door. “Sorry to interrupt, but it looks as if you might be here a while, so I thought I might see to your comfort.” He stepped aside. A burly man with shoulders so broad they barely fit through the door squeezed in, carrying a bundle of blankets. “It would be a good time to make your lunch order as well.”
Nyssa frowned. “Lunch order?”
“We aren’t savages. Sandwiches be all right?” Aito tapped the burly man on the shoulder. “After you’ve brought the cot in, go tell the cook we’ll need sandwiches … oh, and send up a pitcher of water and maybe some coffee. Do you want coffee, Miss Glass?”
“I guess.” She swallowed.
“Good. If you don’t mind, I’ll keep you company until the food arrives, just to make sure you don’t get lonely.” He leaned against the wall. “Don’t let me stop you two from conversing, though. You have a lot to talk about, I’m sure.”
Nyssa’s hands clenched at her sides. She couldn’t tell Hart about Ellis with Aito in the room. Well, she’d just have to wait.
***
Ellis tapped his fingers against his briefcase as the hired steam car pulled up in front of the narrow, three-story, brick townhouse. While he trusted his return to New Taured had been stealthy enough, he didn’t wish to risk unneeded attention, so he’d arranged to meet his lawyer, Clarence Vanderpool, at his home rather than his office.
O’Hara fidgeted as the driver came around to open her door.
“I still wish you’d let me stop and call this all in to my captain,” she said before getting out.
Ellis activated his chair on the sidewalk and swung into it. He waited until the driver had returned to his seat and started the rumbling engine to address O’Hara. “I’m missing, presumed dead, and my kidnapped girlfriend is a wanted fugitive.” He wheeled towards the front door. “By the time we got through the explanations, anything could’ve happened to Nyss.”
When they reached the door, it popped open without them even ringing the bell. A stocky, dark-skinned man with graying hair gazed out at them, his brows furrowed. Ellis smiled, and the man’s face lit up.
“Thank God, you really are alive!” The man beckoned them inside and shut the door behind them. Then he grasped Ellis’s hand in a vice-like shake. “Your letters had me mostly convinced, but seeing you with my own eyes—it takes such a weight off my soul.”
“It’s good to see you again, too, Mr. Vanderpool.”
Mr. Vanderpool waved his hand. “Come now. That was fine when you were a boy playing beneath your father’s workbench, but now? Now I think Clarence is more appropriate, don’t you? Or should I, in turn, refer to you as Mr. Dalhart?”
Ellis laughed. “Clarence, then, but it will take some getting used to. This is Detective O’Hara. She’s helping me search for Nyssa.”
“Ah, so the police are involved. Excellent.” Mr. Vanderpool—Clarence—led them to the study.
Clarence pulled out a chair for O’Hara then settled behind a large wooden desk in front of a bookshelf of leather tomes.
“So, to business, shall we?” He steepled his fingers and leaned forward. “I have been quietly putting things in motion for you to claim your rightful inheritance. As soon as you’re ready to resurrect yourself, you’ll have full access to the accounts.”
“I will never be able to properly thank you,” Ellis said. “I can’t imagine how hard this was for you.”
“Rivera gave me grief, but he wasn’t willing to have your disappearance investigated—said it would cast the company in a bad light—so that allowed me to function as if you and your father were still alive … and I am sorry about your father.” Clarence sighed. “Ephraim was a good friend. I never understood why he shut himself away after the accident.”
Ellis dropped his gaze. “It changed him … but the past is the past. Let’s focus on the future. I have reason to believe that Rivera might know something about Nyssa’s disappearance.”
O’Hara sat up straighter in her chair. “Why do you think that?”
“If he thinks Nyss has knowledge of my father’s research, that would be invaluable to him.”
Clarence nodded. “
Rivera seemed desperate to buy the manor. Perhaps we shouldn’t have sold it to him.”
“No, there was nothing usable left there. Did you make him pay through the nose, though?”
“Three times the property’s market value.” The lawyer smiled.
“Good man.”
The wrinkles around Clarence’s eyes deepened. “Rivera being involved might explain a few things, such as why he was so eager to keep your disappearance from being officially investigated.”
“If it were, some dark tales would come out. My dad … in his madness, he turned into a monster.” Ellis gripped the arms of his chair. “He may have put me through Hell, but at least I escaped with my life. Others weren’t so lucky.”
“A bad business.” Clarence gave a solemn nod.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Ellis’s letters to Clarence had been intentionally vague about his father’s actions. “We’re going to use it in our favor, though. We’re reopening the Dalhart disappearances. My statement to the police should be enough to get a search warrant for Dalhart Manor.”
O’Hara gaped at him. “Already? Why?”
“Because, I have a feeling that might be where Rivera is holding Nyssa. We’ll have to work fast and quietly. If he sees us coming, he’ll move her. You said you could get me the resources of the New Taured police.” He raised his eyebrows.
She huffed and puffed, her nose and cheeks glowing. “I did, but … but Rivera is a respected citizen of New Taured. He has influence. I can’t just go searching his property.”
“My testimony will provide enough probable cause for any judge.” Ellis reached out and touched her hand. “O’Hara, I need this. Also, if you can solve this, you won’t be the detective who failed to catch a single murderer. You’ll be the one who closed the Dalhart disappearances, over two dozen souls, including a prominent inventor and his son. This will make your career.”
She dabbed at her forehead. “I’m not sure. I think I need some fresh air.” She pushed her chair back, her gaze darting about the room like a caged animal.
Ellis tilted his head.I need to keep an eye on her. She’s up to something.
“There’s a powder room down the hall,” Clarence offered.
“Thank you.”
Ellis sighed as she stumbled from the room. He didn’t like trusting O’Hara, but for his current plan to work, he needed her help. This might be my only chance to get at Nyssa. Blast, what if it is already too late?
Chapter Nine
Nyssa’s head ached. She leaned against the wall and rubbed her damp hands on her trousers. Aito never left the room for more than a few minutes, mostly sitting with his hands folded in his lap, still as a wax museum display. Unable to do the two things she wanted to do—tell Hart about Ellis and fiddle with the handheld in an attempt to send a call for help—she’d settled into a monotonous waiting game, occasionally broken by conversation with Hart. Aito had allowed her out of the lab only to use the washroom/water closet on the other side of the workshop, and that with him standing outside the door the whole time.
After an evening meal of more sandwiches, footsteps approached, and Aito left the lab.
“It’s Rivera.” Hart switched his screen to the view of the workshop. Aito and Rivera stood conversing, the look on Rivera’s face growing increasingly pinched with every word. They turned and started towards the lab.
Nyssa braced herself for Rivera’s anger as Hart turned off the workshop feed.
The men entered, and Rivera tapped his cane against the wooden floor. “According to Aito, you two have been talking about everything except the research.”
“I’ve already given you my answer about that,” Hart said. “I don’t have the information you want.”
Rivera chuckled. “I don’t believe that for a minute. A system with your learning capabilities? Integrated into Dalhart’s workspace and laboratory? There’s no way your wires weren’t wrapped around every bit of his life.”
“Even if I had it—which I don’t—I wouldn’t give it to you.” Static crept into Hart’s voice. “Do you know the damage Professor Dalhart did with that technology? How many lives he destroyed?”
“He was insane. I’m decidedly not … but it doesn’t matter.” Rivera stepped over to Nyssa. His hand clamped down on her shoulder.
She tried to wrench away, but his fingers squeezed until she cried out.
“Let her go!” Hart snapped.
“You made a mistake, letting me know you had this weakness.” Rivera smiled. “This little thief means something to you? I may not be able to make a computer feel pain, but her? Her I can torment endlessly. You have until morning to think it over. Give me what I want or I start taking pieces off your girlfriend. Maybe a finger first … maybe an ear.” He stroked Nyssa’s cheek. Her stomach heaved.
“If you …” Hart’s voice quavered like a tense spring. “If you harm one cell of her body …”
“It’s not up to me, though. It’s up to you. Tomorrow morning, you’ll tell me everything you know about Dalhart’s research, or you’ll watch her die … slowly.”
A tremor vibrated through Nyssa’s shoulder from Rivera’s touch. She broke away from him and backed against Hart’s screen. Rivera couldn’t use her to bully Hart like this. Heat rose from her chest, and she shot Rivera a glare.
“I look forward to your decision.” Rivera turned and left, Aito close on his heels.
Nyssa rested her palm against Hart’s screen. “Are you all right?”
“Am I all right? Nyss, I don’t want—” He stopped mid-sentence as Aito returned.
“You’d best get some sleep. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
“In other words, you’ll be listening in on every word I say.” Nyssa narrowed her eyes at him. “You brought me to convince Hart to help you. How am I supposed to do that if we can’t get a few minutes of privacy?”
Aito put his hand over his heart with a pained expression. “Whatever you wish to say to your computer, you can say in front of me. I’m the soul of discretion.”
“Go shock yourself, Aito.” Nyssa scowled and turned her back on him.
Aito shrugged and settled into his chair.
Nyssa’s eyes burned and her head ached. I am tired. Sleeping will only make tomorrow come faster, though. Still, if I’m to be tortured, it might be best to have all my strength. Shock me, that’s not a call I ever wanted to make.
She pulled her cot to rest beneath Hart’s monitors. With her satchel as a pillow, she lay down and closed her eyes to pray.
Dear Lord, please let me get out of this somehow, but if I have to go through it, please give me courage … and wherever Ellis is, keep him safe.
Her prayers gave way to fitful dreams, and Nyssa slept.
***
“Nyssa! Nyss!”
Nyssa opened her eyes. Someone had extinguished the gas lamps, leaving the glow from Hart’s monitor the only illumination. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the dark room before standing.
“What is it?”
“Aito left to sleep downstairs, and the man he put on watch has this routine that involves walking in circles around the workshop for ten minutes out of every hour. I’ve been tracking it, and he’s like clockwork. So we’re basically on our own for another eight and a half minutes. Can we talk?”
“Of course.” She swallowed. “Have you made a decision about tomorrow?”
“No … yes … sort of. I don’t want to give Rivera any of Professor Dalhart’s research. What the professor did was bad enough, but at least he acted out of a twisted sense of right and wrong, trying to save his son and improve the human form. Rivera sacrificed his conscience on the altar of business ages ago.”
She drew closer to him, wishing she could put her arms around him, wishing he were Ellis. “You don’t have to. I won’t blame you if something happens to me. The fault will be Rivera’s, not yours.”
“Mathematically the idea of preventing God knows how many people from being hurt by Da
lhart’s experiments should be worth the sacrifice of one individual, but when that individual is someone I care about, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to see that happen.”
“I’ll be strong for you.”
And in spite of the insanity of it, she meant it. Shock me, I’m willing to be torn apart piece by piece to ease the conscience of a computer. When did I get hit in the head? But still … better to get out alive.
“How long do we have until the guard comes back?” She dove for her satchel.
“Maybe five minutes now.”
“Probably not enough, but maybe I can get a signal out.” She fished her goggles out of her bag, put them on, and switched them to the night-vision setting. With the room painted in sickly green light, she quickly found the handheld.
“Please, Nyss, we can do that next time he goes on his rounds. Now, can we just talk for a minute?”
She hesitated, then slipped the handheld into her pocket and turned back to Hart. “I’m listening.”
“I was watching you sleep. You’re beautiful, Nyss. I could stare at you for centuries and never tire of it.”
Her cheeks warmed. Shock me, that’s something Ellis would say. How is he so much like Ellis without being Ellis?
“Thank you. I … I care about you, Hart.”
“Even though I’m just a computer?”
“You know you’re more than that to me.” Though even I’m not sure how this works.
“I don’t even know what I am. I thought I did, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. You can’t program morality and emotion. Yes, you can break them down to probability and mathematical values, but the way I work defies that. Mathematically, I should easily choose the good of humanity as a whole over the life of one person, but when that one person means something to me, I don’t. I don’t think like a computer. I think like a human.”
Nyssa bit her bottom lip, considering her options. “There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t while Rivera and his cronies were listening.”
