by M. D. Cooper
Alarmed, he scolded, “Tobi—” but was cut off by a hiss as the fur along the big cat’s spine rose, and her tail began swishing violently side to side.
Then Tobi let out an angry yowl that had John skirting them slowly and backing into the lift, his face pale. She made a lunge, but was brought up short by the limits of the restraining field Jason had placed on her.
“Sorry, man,” he said, “I don’t know what got into her. She’s tethered now. You’re safe.”
The man just raised a hand that may have trembled slightly as the doors slid shut in front of him.
Tobi chuffed once at the closed lift doors, then tilted her head and gave Jason a baleful glance.
“What? I’m not the one who just acted out. I’m the one who should be giving you that look,” Jason admonished the big cat, as she walked over to him, bumped the underside of his hand, then went back to the lift doors and scratched once at the seam as if to pry them open.
Calista’s brows rose. “What’s gotten into her? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so aggressive before.”
Jason just sighed and speared Tobi with a stern look as the cat circled around behind him, and attempted to herd him back toward the lift.
“Enough already, Tobi,” he scolded. Sinking one hand into her fur, he knelt so that he was at eye level with her. “We’re not going up there so you can harass that poor guy. He’s been through enough; he doesn’t need a twenty-kilo cat stalking him. Got me?”
The cat was mentally enhanced enough to understand that Jason was telling her she was being denied her prey. She chuffed at him, tossed her head up and then reluctantly head-butted him. He gave her a quick scratch under the chin, then rose.
Jason grunted in agreement.
They found Ben engaged in conversation with an AI dressed in a gendarme’s uniform. Ben waved them over, eyeing the cat askance as he maneuvered to keep the humans between himself and Tobi.
Yeah, really good thing he didn’t see our girl acting out, Jason thought as Ben made introductions.
“Guys, this is Samantha. She’s the one who retrieved the sample for us the other day,” the analyst said.
Jason nodded at the AI. “Thanks for that. We need everything we can find to help us ID this bastard.”
“Agreed,” the gendarme said. “I’ve seen some pretty sick things in my career, but this had to be one of the worst.”
She nodded at the laboratory technicians moving in and out of the area, and gestured one of them over. “They’ve already identified the toxin used on the vics. It’s some sort of rare, Old-Earth-based thing.” She looked at the technician for confirmation and the woman nodded.
“Yes, it’s tetrodotoxin,” the tech supplied. “It’s found in the venom of the hapalochlaena, a tiny, blue-ringed octopus.” At Samantha’s nod, she flipped through a few holo sheets and tapped one to project an image.
“That thing weighs less than twenty-five grams, and it has enough venom to kill ten men.” The technician glanced from the image and then back to her audience. “Your killer has a pretty sick sense of humor, too. Those blue tattoo marks on your victims aren’t connected in any way to the venom that killed them. I assume they’re supposed to represent Prime. That was designer neural circuitry at work, rewriting the toxin to produce those; it was all for show.”
Pointing her stylus at the image, the technician added, “I’m no profiler, but that sure seems like someone who’s bragging about his abilities—and our inability to stop him.”
“Let’s hope so,” the gendarme said.
Jason turned a surprised look at Samantha’s incongruous statement, but a moment later, Tobias’s reply cleared up his confusion.
Ben thanked Samantha and the technician, and then turned back to Jason and Calista. “Landon just pinged me. You know that neuroscientist who was working to reverse engineer the shackles that were used on the AIs we rescued?”
Jason nodded. “With all that’s been going down, I kind of forgot about it. He managed to complete it?”
Ben nodded. “In record time, too.” He gestured to the lab they were in. “That’s what these people were gearing up to test, until Samantha brought us the sample. They believe they’ll be ready to apply the patch to the AIs who were kidnapped as early as next week.”
He screwed up his face in thought. “Well, not a patch, exactly. More like it scrubs the residual nano out of their non-organic axons. At any rate—” he gestured to Samantha, “here’s the sample for Gladys. I’m hoping she can find something in the code Prime used that’ll identify him.”
Samantha placed the case into Calista’s extended hands. “It’s got a standard lock,” she instructed the pilot, “keyed to Gladys’s ID.” Calista nodded as she tucked the case into her flight jacket. Turning, she eyed Jason. “Ready?”
He nodded, and Ben joined them as they left the lab. Once they were in the lift that would take them to Tomlinson’s maglev platform, Jason turned and eyed his brother-in-law.
“You look tired, Ben,” he said quietly. “You okay?”
The analyst blew out a breath and rolled his shoulders to release the tension in them. “I…no, not really, to be honest.”
He raised his hands in a helpless shrug. “My job is keeping me here, away from my wife, and all I want to do is run and grab her. Haul her away someplace where I know she’ll be safe.”
“How’s Judith handling all this?”
Ben nodded. “She’s spooked enough now. I pinged her at lunch, and we discussed it. Landon says she’s tucked away safe inside some lab right now with that neuroscientist friend of hers. They’re gathering up some stuff for Judith to bring with her to Proxima, and then she’ll go home and pack.”
KILLBOX
STELLAR DATE: 05.22.3191 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Department of Planetary Sciences
REGION: El Dorado University, Alpha Centauri System
As the laboratory door closed behind them, Prime stilled his secondary processes for a moment to fully savor the victory of having finally maneuvered Judith into his grasp.
With a thought, he prepared the cameras in the lab, cameras that were ordinarily turned off but that the mech-AI had insisted be turned on so that he might monitor them. It was an easy thing to manipulate the devices; Ethan had long ago inserted nano filaments throughout his lab so that he could control them remotely whenever he wished, as a matter of efficiency.
He glanced over at the sealed closet where Ethan’s cylinder lay in isolation. His progenitor could never have imagined his alterations to the lab would be used to hide a murder.
Under his direction, the cameras now began to record data for a sim he would build of himself and Judith ‘poring over research.’ He’d then feed the sim back into the cameras when he was ready to make his move.
Prime motioned Judith over to the material he had redacted, harmless content from the first six months of Lilith Barnes’ fellowship. He made sure their discussion was filled with all the right kinds of movement, gestures and comments that would convey a harmless academic discussion.
He schooled his expression, wrapped his impatience in a control he didn’t feel, and awaited the signal indicating the sim program had captured enough to create a realistic and nuanced simulation using its optical flow interpolation.
His patience at an end, he decided he had enough data to fool
the mech-AI and ordered the sim to begin.
As he prepared to make his move, Prime experienced a moment of dissatisfaction. This was all too easy. A bit of a letdown, really. Killing Judith was…what was the human saying he’d come across once in an old anthropology text? ‘Like shooting fish in a barrel’? The saying made no sense—so little of what humans said did—but the meaning fit the situation perfectly.
All he had to do was inject her with the nano-coated tetrodotoxin. Simple, really. He could trigger it at his leisure, ensuring he was kilometers away with an ironclad alibi at the time she met her rather painful demise. Lysander would be down one human, and Prime would be closer to his stated goals.
Everything was proceeding precisely as he had orchestrated it, even to the point of raising an army that was doing his bidding, willingly or not. So why did this success feel so hollow, so deeply dissatisfying?
Prime considered that perhaps he was too close to seeing the achievement of his goals and needed something bigger to aspire to. Perhaps he didn’t want to rid himself of Judith quite yet.
Maybe those two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive….
His musings were interrupted by an update from the collared human, John. He devoted just enough effort to his conversation with Judith to keep her engaged without raising suspicion; the bulk of his attention was captured by the rather alarming turn of events the agent had just relayed to him.
The investigative team assigned to hunting him down had just struck a plea bargain with the organization from which he’d purchased his weapons: the Norden Cartel. In return for a commuted sentence, Victoria North was prepared to provide the court with the identity of the individual named Prime.
The data was already in escrow, offline, in an unassailable, isolated location. While it was hardly conceivable that he had left a link to his identity, Prime couldn’t be completely certain. If he wanted to see his dream of AI supremacy realized, it was imperative that they not capture him.
He eyed Judith speculatively. So Lysander wants Judith on a ship to Proxima….
He accessed the data on that star system’s inhabitants. There were far more AIs per capita in Proxima than there were in the Rigel Kentaurus system. Perhaps it would be more efficient to establish AI dominance there first. His conscripted army would grow more quickly there; if things had not progressed satisfactorily on El Dorado by the time he had Proxima under control, he could always return to finish what he had begun.
Judith would make an excellent cover for his strategic retreat. He would accompany her to Proxima.
Decision made, Prime blanked the holo and turned to the human. He would have to proceed cautiously now.
“Judith.”
Willing himself to channel his progenitor, he smiled carefully at the woman, who looked back at him with a distracted puzzlement, her thoughts clearly still on the material they had been discussing. “I…would like to ask you to consider something.”
The woman’s eyebrows rose, and Prime correctly interpreted her facial gesture as an invitation to continue.
“The prime minister, your father figure. He believes you are in danger from this individual who is killing humans?”
Judith laughed softly, without humor. “I don’t know that I’d call him a father figure, Ethan. Lysander certainly feels a friendship toward my brother and me. He was embedded with dad when we were young; certainly, he’s known us far longer than anyone else on El Dorado.”
“But he believes you to be in danger,” Prime persisted, and was gratified to see her nod agreement. “I may have a solution that would give you better protection than your mech friend out there can provide.”
Judith’s eyes narrowed in thought, and she crossed her arms as she studied him, her head canted to one side. “I’m sorry, and please don’t take this wrong, but I can’t see—”
“I could embed with you.”
Her eyes flew open in surprise. “How in the stars do you think that could help, Ethan?” As Judith’s startled gaze met his, Prime grabbed her by the arm. He dropped his hand as her eyes widened in alarm. But it had been enough. He waited while the human shackling nano he’d inserted into her wended its way to her brain stem, and then commanded it to hold.
“Think about it.” He forced his voice to sound soft, coaxing. “There is no one who knows toxins like I do. I would be very motivated to keep you safe, since your death could mean my own. And I would have all the antidotes right there inside you, ready to apply at a moment’s need.”
Judith hesitated, indecision written across her face.
Sensing success within his grasp, he indicated the door. “Soldier AIs like the one out there can protect you from the outside. But I can protect you from the inside.”
“You really think you could protect me better,” she tapped her head with a crooked grin, “from in here?”
He nodded slowly, forcing himself not to advance on her. “I do. Look, I have a portable autodoc in this very lab that can do the implantation.” He feigned a look of surprise, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Why, we wouldn’t even need to tell anyone about it. You would have a secret weapon no one knew about. We’ll keep it just between the two of us, and we can get it reversed once they catch the killer and you’re safe again.”
Judith laughed, the sound shaky. “Um, Ethan…wouldn’t they notice that you’re not using your frame?”
Prime allowed a bit of arrogance to creep into his voice. “Not in the slightest. I can command my frame from anywhere; I don’t need to be wearing it to do that. Many AIs don’t bother with a frame. They just project themselves wherever they wish. So much of that is sleight of hand, and mostly so that humans are comfortable with us.”
He took a step toward her, gesturing toward the autodoc alcove in the adjoining room. If he needed to, he could take control through the shackles, administer a drug that would cause a form of anterograde amnesia. It would erase her most recent short-term memories, and allow him the freedom do whatever he wanted to her without having to coax her into compliance.
It would make his alibi more solid if he could gain her willing cooperation, though.
Judith nodded and allowed him to guide her to the autodoc where she climbed in, her expression one of bemusement.
“Wait, Ethan,” she said suddenly, “I’m not sure I’m ready for this. Can we just slow down for a minute?” She began to sit up just as the door to the lab was wrenched open, and the mech burst through, weapon raised and trained unerringly on the spot where Prime’s cylinder resided.
“Step away from the machine, professor.” The mech’s voice was hard, unyielding, as the AI advanced toward him menacingly.
Judith gasped, flinching instinctively at the oncoming threat the mech frame telegraphed.
Prime froze, waiting as the mech-AI advanced. The soldier latched a gauntleted arm around Prime’s humanoid one and began to pull the neuroscientist away from the autodoc and Judith.
It was what Prime had been waiting for.
He sent a command to the dormant nano that was now fully embedded inside Judith, and she slumped back onto the table, unconscious. The sudden change in Judith did exactly what Prime intended: it drew the mech’s attention away from him long enough for Prime to slap his left palm against his enemy’s torso.
The AI whipped around, bringing his weapon back to bear on Prime, but suddenly he froze, and Prime began to laugh.
“Ahhh, how the mighty have fallen. Landon, you said your name was? Well, Landon, I’m not sure what gave me away, but you were right to worry.”
He sent a command to the now-shackled AI, and Landon released him. Prime stepped to the head of the autodoc and looked down at Judith’s still form. Very deliberately, he reached down, grabbed her roughly by the nape of the neck and lifted her up from the autodoc’s table. His gaze rose from the female’s slack face to that of the frozen mech.
“Have you ever wondered about the strange fascination humans have with each other? All those peculiar chemical
urges they subject themselves to. The passions they crave.”
His finger traced the side of Judith’s face, her neck, and then trailed lower.
“I’ve found an AI can have passions, too. And I intend to explore all of them.”
He turned and smiled at the mech. “I must admit, there’s something very exhilarating about holding a fragile human life such as hers in my hands.” He lifted her arm, stretched it out toward the mech, stroking the length of her fingers.
“Such delicate little hands. Isn’t it a wonder to you that her species was able to create ours? The inferior—” he dropped her arm and set Judith carefully back on the table before turning and gesturing to himself, “crafted the superior.”
Prime walked around the autodoc toward Landon. “I’m afraid we have no room for human sympathizers right now,” he said, and then shook his head in simulated sorrow. “I regret to inform you that Judith no longer requires your services.”
He mock-sighed. “It would seem that you’re going to have to die for the cause. Your death, you understand, won’t bring me any pleasure. Not like the others, I can assure you of that.”
Prime sent a command to the mech, and the AI lowered his gun arm. Prime could tell he was fighting against it, but the shackling program was too strong for any AI to resist.
“Before I kill you, let me tell you a little story about my birth….”
MAN DOWN
STELLAR DATE: 05.22.3191 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: SIS Headquarters, Tomlinson Base
REGION: El Dorado Ring, Alpha Centauri System
His heart stuttered; he hoped to hell he’d heard Landon wrong.
Jason and Calista had stopped and were staring at him with questioning looks on their faces.
“Ben?” Jason began, but the analyst held up his hand to stop his brother-in-law.