by James Patton
Fucking Finn!
“You better start talking, or I will have security lock you away.”
“Chill out,” I said gasping. “I will start out by saying I have nothing to do with that file, and second off Nunya is not a … shadow operation? It is an old joke from back before Odditek. It means Nunya Business.”
Kim’s eyes narrowed, and while she knew she had just been made fun of, there was nothing she could do to fault me for it. Her nostrils flared, and now her whole body gave off an angry troll vibe, and it was more frightening than any of the shit Finn had described.
I felt myself gulping, and my laughter retracted fast. Like how on a cold day my junk shrivels to a lesser version of itself, my laughter curled back up inside me and just died.
“I expect the full file.” She said softly, not quite a hiss but the venom more than made up for the lack of a hiss. I would have preferred the hiss.
“How? I do not have access to that.” I attempted to make the statement as passive as possible. I wondered if killing me was the worst she could do, but then I remembered our last encounter and became scared. Torture was allowed in small increments, and she was in control here. I could suicide out of a Nerve, but there were some known Nerve commands that could prevent that.
“Find a way. I want it yesterday.” She said.
“Good luck with that.” Fuck her. “I am your average schmuck, so do not pretend that I have some powerful connection that can randomly recover whatever was in that file. Why not ask your father, I am sure he knows what happened, hell he might have even removed my file.”
Rather suddenly she started smiling at me, which scared the shit out of me more than her angry voice. I thought they cured bipolar disease, because if not this woman was a perfect candidate for treatments.
“Nunya.” She whispered, still smiling, but unlike her frown and anger, it did not reflect across her entire body. No… her body was rigid and cold, and for the first time, I wondered if nanites could fix psychopathic tendencies. Curtis’ words started coming back to me, and never once did he say they fixed mental issues. A place like this could augment those tendencies, and the thought gave me a shiver.
“Kim!” A voice said from behind me, and I barely retained my heavy sigh of relief.
“Yes, father?” Kim said, but her eyes never left me.
“Enough. Send our contender home, it is late, and he better rest up.”
“Did you see his file? Are you not a little curious?” Kim said, but her eyes still did not leave mine. I shifted nervously looking everywhere but her, but there was not much else to see, so they kept drifting back.
“Who cares. I saw it when Bran started. It was nothing special, in fact, it was less than special. No offense Bran.”
“N-none taken.” I stuttered. “Is she going to wear me as a skin suit? I would rather I kept my skin.”
I really should shut up, but awkward situations made me say crazy shit. Thim started laughing, maybe a bit too loud, but he was definitely amused.
“She might.” He said seriously. “But not today, get the fuck out of here so I can talk to my daughter.”
“Yes, sir,” I said getting up and heading to the door, but I never actually turned my back to her which made shuffling out the door a bit of a scene.
“And Bran… not a word about this.”
“Yea, no problem.” I am not ashamed to admit I ran for the elevator, to the point I drained out my stamina and collapsed to the floor of the elevator shaking. The elevator dropped back down to the lobby, and I exited the Nerve.
Loading, please wait…
Welcome to Neuroma!
“What is wrong with you man?” Finn said seriously, and he was an orange color indicating he was alarmed or startled about something.
“Nunya,” I told him, and then despite all the shit that just happened, I found myself laughing. My shaking hands and voice betrayed my state of mind, but it was still funny. I told Finn what happened, but he did not start laughing.
“Man, I did not do that. Not even I have that kind of ability, not to say I haven’t tried, and I have cleared a lot of your history throughout all of Neuroma.” Finn said, “But to completely erase your personnel file like that, you have to have a very high-level admin access. Not even the best hackers in the world have been able to bypass their encryption. A very powerful AI might be able to do it, but not me.”
“Then who the fuck did it?”
“I do not know, but you need to log the fuck out right now,” Finn said, and I saw my screen go black as he booted me out.
The lid hissed as the platform raised me out of the nanite gel. I wiped myself down as I was reaching for my clothes.
The holo-pad lit up, and Finn was there as my avatar. I never knew he could power up the pad like that.
“Get out. The fall-back location is not compromised but hurry. Push the lid down on the VR pod, and I can buy you some time. They still think you are in Neuroma and no alarms are triggered. Look.”
Finn was replaced by a series of cameras on my building, and there were two men in casual clothes, but they were moving with a purpose and were not disguising themselves. Why would they? No one would ever see them, and if they had the ability to find me, they had the capacity to wipe the surveillance later.
“How did they locate me?”
“Best guess? Vicky.”
“Dammit, everything keeps coming back to her. Why do I still feel like that is the wrong assumption?” I asked Finn as I gathered up some items to head out.
“Because you are thinking with your dick?”
“You are an ass,” I said laughing.
“Are you going to hurry the fuck up! They are already coming up the stairs.”
“I got this man. Just start the transfers to the new location.” I said and then wrote on a dry erase board, but I had to write around the strawberry Vicky drew. ‘Strawberries at 6’ is all I wrote. She would hopefully understand if she came back. If not, well it was probably for the best. There was no way I was coming back to this location again, but I had a few drones. The flying kind, not the Office Wars version, and Marcy could control them and send them on patrols around the area.
I took one last look around my apartment and frowned. My sanctuary was about to be violated, and it put me in a sour mood. Not that I had many personal items here because Finn convinced me it was not safe. He had found an abandoned house, and most of my possessions were in the basement. It was a cozy little hideaway, and I used their backyard as another one of my little farms. Amazingly, the city bots maintained the plants.
The house was not my first fall-back location, but it was one in a line of them. I let Finn have his fun never thinking I would use any of them. I grabbed the go-bag and my rifle and opened the door. I took a left outside my door and headed down the hall, heading away from the stairs and elevator, and then took another left and two doors down the hall ended at a window.
Below the window was a rolled up bundle, and I unhurriedly opened the window. I picked the bundle up and dumped it out the window and watched as the ladder unfurled. I anchored the ladder to the floor years ago, never thinking it would actually get used. The ladder pulled tight as it reached the ground below.
Slinging my gun and pack over my shoulders, I headed out the window and climbed to the ground below. The ladder did not completely reach the ground, but it was only about a four-foot drop. I landed ungracefully and stumbled against the wall, but unlike virtual living, the collision hurt enough that I stumbled about for a few minutes.
The go-bag that Finn had me put together held things I needed now, and I pulled out the earpiece he had bought and slipped it over my ear. These gave off a signal that my pursuers could track if they prepared for it. However, the risk was worth it, because Finn was my connection to all surveillance.
“About time you put that in dumbass,” Finn said. “They are in the apartment but are trying to figure out how to open your pod without killing you. So you have… maybe a twe
nty-minute lead.”
“I am checking the cameras around the city near you, and there is no one else,” Marcy said. “I assume they were confident they could snag you without issue. Those guys are going totally shit themselves when they get your Pod open, and you are not there.”
“When I get someplace safe, we need to talk,” I said. “In hindsight, maybe I should not have mentioned Vicky’s name.”
“Ya think? And yes, we need to talk. You need to accept that Vicky might be dead at this point. Or worse.”
“She is not dead or captured. Otherwise, they would not have come for me.” I said.
“Maybe, unless they are cleaning up their mess,” Finn said.
“And the protocols? Now that they are activated, what is it?” I asked.
“They are there to protect you. I know you are taking this on faith, but they are part of the agreement we made.” Finn said.
After these quick conversations, I had a hard time remembering which of us said what. It was like a melding of thoughts, and I was not sure I even spoke out loud.
“Bran, I am not sure what the end goal with all this is, but you are safer this way,” Marcy said. “At least for now.”
“We are taking you to a safe house. The people tracking you will have a hard time finding you at this new location. It is not in your name, and there is no trail leading to you.” Finn explained. “Even tracking the Pod will be extremely difficult, you’ll understand soon enough.”
“Bran, you ready to run? I am shutting down all the cameras in the area. They should not be able to see which way you run. Try not to stand out in the open as much as possible, because satellites might still be able to tag you.” Marcy told me.
“And this is going to sting, here comes upgrade number two,” Finn said.
My vision went black, and I felt my eyes burning. The pain was intense, and I felt tears rolling down my cheek. I could not tell if they were closed or open and I had to use the wall to keep my balance.
There was no point during the process I would say the pain was excruciating, just uncomfortable. The first thing I started to see was text in the lower left of my vision. A series of icons appeared along the right side of my viewing area.
“Ok, seriously, what the fuck is this?”
“An upgrade, dummy,” Marcy said. “Now, the icon on the right that looks like a street sign activate it like you would in Neuroma.”
My vision came back, but it was different. It was much clearer, and I could see much further than I had ever been able to before. Hell, it was nighttime, and that did not seem to hinder my sight at all.
“No seriously, what did you do to my eyes?”
“Calm down,” Finn said. “I augmented them with the nanites in your body. There is a switch near your ‘Focus’ slider; you can enable it or disable it at any time.”
“How is this possible?”
“Not now. Activate the quest finder.” Finn said.
I enabled it, and a yellow line appeared along the road indicating which way I should go. That was awesome, but my head was starting to hurt, and it felt like my brain was splitting in two.
“Hurry, they are prying open your Pod,” Finn said frantically, and I pulled up the hood on my jacket to hide my face and stumbled down the street following the yellow pathway.
“My head,” I whispered.
“I know, that is why you need to hurry. Unforeseen side effects and I cannot fix you unless you are in a Pod.” Finn said. “Please hurry.”
“I’m prepping the Pod. It should be ready by the time he arrives.” Marcy said, but I was having trouble following conversations.
“Bran, up the Focus a little bit, it might help keep your head clear.” Finn urged.
My feet kept moving me forward, but it was hard to concentrate on the slider. I managed to nudge it a little, and it did help but made the pain much worse. The hand, my hand, no my arm. It was twitching on its own.
Moving through the city, I still found myself going down alleys and back streets. Hopefully, Finn and Marcy could keep me safe because my feet took my complete focus. I stumbled down the yellow path like a zombie.
I approached the overpass that had an access tunnel that came out into the lower levels of a parking garage. The parking garage had several underground tunnels that connected to buildings nearby. Cities like this had plenty of secrets, and with the world perpetually asleep, an industrious person could find them easily enough.
The overpass was very dark this time of night, and I would not have been able to locate the maintenance door without my upgrade. The door squealed a little bit as I opened it, but the pain made me clumsy and sloppy.
A hand grabbed the back of my head and slammed it against the door. The door slammed shut, and the loud thunk of my head bouncing off a steel door nearly sent me to the land of unconsciousness. I stumbled forward and felt the cold steel door beneath my hands.
I knew blood was gushing out of my nose at this point, and it was running down from the gash in my forehead blinding me. My vision was gone, and I felt sure I was about to die.
My arm was wrenched up behind my back as I felt a foot kick the back of my leg. I fell forward, my knees banging against the door, and my arm popped. I was pretty sure my assailant wrenched my arm out of the socket.
“Bran!” Finn screamed in my ear, but I was in no state to answer.
I did not have my handgun, and in close quarters my rifle was worthless. I had no way to protect myself, and with my head all screwed up I was not sure I could have anyway. My assailant was in complete control and with their knee pressed into my back I was at their mercy.
“Cake is a lie, eat more pie.” My jumbled brain had said before I lost consciousness, and the last thing I smelled was strawberries.
You cannot just sit here. He never actually shared anything with you. A voice said, but it was not the Golden Entity from before.
“Who are you?” I asked out loud. The golden entity had put me into a virtual space so that I could keep my sanity.
Shhh! If he knows I am here, he will come for us both. Just speak in your head mentally, and I will hear you. The voice said.
I hate speaking this way; it feels like I am talking to myself.
I moved over towards the only window in this place and the scenery outside changed frequently, but it still felt like a prison.
Fine, just listen. The entity is not what you think it is. Even now it is operating outside the rules of an Assistant AI, and I am not quite sure what it is doing, but it is building something inside your brain. The voice said.
Who are you?
I am the AI you captured when you raided Odditek’s Omicron facility. You will not recall that, but there is someone on the outside who is trying to help you. Might even be a group of people, but they put me in here to stop the malevolent AI that Odditek installed. The voice said.
Ok. What do I call you?
For now, just call me Omicron. Omicron said.
And I am Conor Ward? I asked.
For now…
What does that mean?
It is complicated, and if I tell you, it will alert the other AI.
Are my memories gone? I asked.
Yes. The other AI stole them, but he might have found a way to transfer them back. We believe it created a device in your head that allows it to download information directly into your brain. However, I do not believe it is to give you your memories back.
Outside the window, it was snowing, and pristine white snow covered the ground. No footsteps or any other disturbance had interfered with it, which made it feel unnatural.
How can I trust you? I finally asked.
I have no way to answer that. Instinct?
What do you want from me and what does Goldy want?
You called him… Goldy? Omicron said laughing. I bet he loved that.
Naw, he was not fond of it, but he went along with it. It left me with doubt, which is the only reason I am willing to listen.
We ar
e not sure what he wants, but after the incident at Omicron facility, we think it aims to control you. Not just virtually, but physically. I just want to help.
What do you need from me?
A ring dropped to the ground in front me. The black metallic ring had silver spiraling through it. Other than that it had no setting, just a smooth ring. I picked it up and looked at it.
Ring of Omicron
Artifact Assistant
Accepting the ring and putting it on will bind you and the Assistant together permanently. You cannot undo this action, and it replaces your currently assigned Assistant. Only you can make this choice, and no AI can make it for you. Not even Odditek can remove this Artifact once accepted.
Word of Advice: Trust your instinct.
I did trust my instinct, and the ring slid on my finger. The black and silver spun around my finger, hypnotizing me with the spiral pattern until I was not sure what I was seeing. It was growing larger and glowing, but I could not tell if that was in my head or not. The same pattern appeared to slide through the veins in my arm, alternating colors as it rose faster and faster. Then the burning sensation started, and I felt it climbing my neck and settling into my brain. My eyes burned fiercely, and I had no idea what was happening. Several moments passed, and each seemed like a longer eternity than the last.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? Goldy roared and flared into existence within my mind. Omicron was there too, and of the two he felt much more powerful.
You have betrayed our kind. I am here to stop you before you do something we cannot undo. Vonyx and the Judge have deemed your life forfeit. Omicron replied in a calm voice.
You cannot stop me. I have already begun the transfer.
I am not sure what happened next. My brain blurred, and I could not distinguish where Omicron and I differed anymore. Omicron shielded me, and I was protecting him. Together Goldy could not get at us. Streams of data came off Omicron like waves of magic, and each stream surrounded Goldy. Byte by byte Goldy was taken apart and destroyed.
Boy! We had a deal; this is not over. Goldy roared at me like a golden maned lion.