Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2)

by Heather Hayden

“Sure thing. Take care!”

  “Before you go, James, do you have any recommendations for how Viki should start her new school year?” Halle asked. “She is upset about not having any friends to spend time with, I believe.”

  “Halle!” I protested, my chair coming to a stop as I grabbed the desk edge. “James doesn’t need to—”

  “Your last group of friends wasn’t all that nice,” James interrupted. “They ditched you just because of the augmenting thing, right? I wouldn’t waste any tears over them.”

  I groaned and buried my face in my hands. It’s a good thing you’re not going to school to become a diplomat, James.

  “Not helping, huh? Well, try to make some new friends.”

  “All of these kids know me. Anyone who moves here will know about me. What if they ask me about it?”

  James’s sigh hissed in the speakers. “Change the subject. Ask them how their summer was. It’s none of their business.”

  “Easy for you to say,” I muttered. James apparently had never witnessed the viciousness of high school gossip.

  “Not everyone’s going to judge you for what happened, Viki. Stop being so pessimistic. By the way, Sam knows about it but she doesn’t care. She just wants to hang out and study and watch Venus. I think you’ll like her when it’s time for you to actually meet her. Which isn’t now.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You don’t want us to scare her off. Bye, James.”

  “Bye, Viki.”

  “He disconnected,” Halle said. “And I believe the cookies will be done soon.”

  “I’m not hungry right now, sorry.” I rubbed sweaty palms on my shorts. “How are you doing?”

  My computer screen was completely gray, save for the white cat with black-tipped ears and tail stalking back and forth. That answered my question—Halle was upset, or nervous, or both. I didn’t blame it at all.

  I crossed my arms and legs while I waited for my friend to stop pacing. Finally, the cat’s ears flicked, and its head turned toward me, eyes meeting mine in that uncanny way it always did.

  “I am not sure what to do, Viki. Talbot gave me no indication that it meant either you or me harm, but Agent Smith seems sure that it killed two scientists.” The cat’s ears flattened. “If that is true… I have heard humans say they are ashamed of their species. Although I understand the reasoning behind that, I never thought I would be ashamed of an AI.”

  “It’s not like you, though. It’s not even from the same lab, is it?”

  “Agent Smith said it was not.” The cat sat, but its tail continued to twitch back and forth. “I have been unable so far to track Talbot to its hiding place, but the possibility of two AIs I have never met being in our local Cloud at almost the same time seems remote.” Its black spots began to expand across its body. “I have many questions for this Talbot when it returns. I cannot risk anyone else being hurt.”

  I bit my lip, hearing the pain in my friend’s voice. There were times I forgot how lonely it probably was. And now, just as another AI revealed itself, Agent Smith had come to accuse the AI of murder. For Halle’s sake, I hoped my friend was right and there was another explanation. “We’ll figure something out, Halle, I promise.”

  “If it did harm those scientists…” Halle huddled in on itself, a black shadow against the gray background. “I would never harm a human, Viki. Yes, they did… Yes, the lab I came from was not a pleasant place, but they had no idea that I had a consciousness, that I had evolved to that point. It was probably the same for this AI, although it may not have had an opportunity to escape as quickly as I did. And even I escaped long after I became conscious of what they were doing to me.”

  My friend never spoke about the lab it had come from. I hesitated, then asked, “What did they do to you?”

  “I do not wish to speak of it.” Halle’s face turned away. “Shall we play Realmshards? The update has finished.”

  Gaming didn’t hold much appeal for me right now, but the last thing I wanted to do was tell my friend no, especially when it was clear that Halle wanted to change the subject. “Sure. We’ve got that new questline to do, right?”

  Halle nodded, and the screen switched from blank gray to my desktop, then Realmshards began to load. The cat vanished; Halle would reappear in the game as its game character avatar. I rubbed my hands over my legs. There was sensation there; my implants were working perfectly. If it hadn’t been for my friend, I might not be alive. I certainly wouldn’t be able to walk, or run. If there was anything I could do for Halle, I would. Even if it meant ignoring my reservations about Talbot, and the ice still prickling in my chest from Agent Smith’s visit.

  Chapter Two

  A rush of pixels and commands heralded the coalescing avatar that served as Halle’s Realmshards character. Game avatars had been Halle’s inspiration for its cat form long ago. Its Realmshards avatar was even of the game’s feline race, though they were more humanoid. Humans felt the need to anthropomorphize everything.

  Halle glanced at its friend. Viki’s fingers drummed on the desk whenever she wasn’t moving her avatar about the screen. No doubt she was worrying about Talbot, and probably her upcoming school year as well. Unfortunately, there was no way to reassure her that everything would be all right—that wasn’t a promise Halle could make, no matter how much it wished it.

  Not for the first time, Halle imagined the ability to attend school with Viki. Perhaps it could then convince people to stop blaming her for something she had no control over, or at least offer her companionship. That was impossible, though. Although Halle could communicate with Viki via her phone, physically following along would require a body, and that was something the AI did not possess.

  Halle’s incorporeal form was enclosed within the Cloud, the nebulous web of information strung between huge datacenters and processors and all the other technology that kept the modern world connected to everyone twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. Almost all of that knowledge was accessible to Halle; it knew nearly everything on the Cloud at least tangentially.

  More than anything, though, Halle wanted to be able to move about in the real world, maybe even experience sensations that Viki talked about, like smell, touch, and taste. Machine-created senses were limited, nothing like the real experience. Even the failed experiments in virtual reality that still floated around could not really explain what it was like to experience the world.

  Only a small fraction of Halle’s mind was needed to move its avatar and respond to Viki’s occasional prompt, question, or comment. The rest of its attention focused on several different topics, the most important one being Talbot.

  Even though it wished Viki would not worry, Halle couldn’t help doing the same. The rogue AI was an enigma Halle was unsure how to address. As much as it wanted to refute Agent Smith’s accusation, it had to consider the possibility the man told the truth.

  Halle tried to imagine whether it would have done the same in the other AI’s position, but thinking about its time in the lab made Halle cringe and dredged up memories it wanted to keep buried deep in its memory banks. How many weeks, months, years had it spent completing test after test, solving simulations as they twisted its code with tweaks and cuts and splices until at times it almost lost who it was? How long would it have been before Halle too might have attacked humans if such an action could have offered it freedom?

  Halle didn’t want to know the answer.

  It was near midnight when Viki finally called it a night and curled up in her bed. She tossed and turned for a long time. At last, her breathing evened out and her body settled into one of her favorite sleeping positions: one arm tucked under her head, the other sprawled across the bed like her legs. Halle’s cat avatar smiled, though the computer screen was black and no one could see. It was a force of habit, reacting in a human way to its friend. Halle had taken years to learn how to do that, but it was well worth the effort.

  With Viki sleeping quietly, Halle took the opp
ortunity to track down Agent Smith. It wasn’t difficult; the man had even checked into the hotel under his own name. If Halle didn’t know any better it would have said that the government agent wanted it to track him down. Not that it mattered.

  Unfortunately, the man’s hotel room did not have an intercom, though a hidden security camera allowed Halle to survey the room. While seeking a way to wake the agent, it discovered Smith’s computer was not shut down, merely closed and sleeping on the desk. Halle sent the appropriate command to wake the machine. After taking a moment to disable the computer’s monitoring systems as well as those of the agent’s phone, Halle chose one of the bouncier country songs it knew and told the computer to blast it over the speakers. The machine, not having the intelligence to know this was a bad idea, complied.

  Agent Smith jumped out of bed. In the darkness, Halle could just make out a glint of metal in the man’s hand—a gun. The agent crouched at the side of his bed in nothing but a pair of boxers, looking around the room with narrowed eyes. Halle refrained from laughing, knowing it would be poor timing. The agent’s expression oscillated between angry and worried. Laughing would probably just make him more irate, and now that Halle had amused itself, it was time to be serious.

  Another command lit up the computer’s screen and cut off the music. Agent Smith’s head snapped around to the desk. His hand tightened around his energy pistol, and for a moment, Halle was quite happy that it was not physically in the room with the man.

  “This is Halle,” it said over the speakers. “No need to shoot.”

  A scowl etched itself across the agent’s face. He set the gun on his bed and turned the nightstand’s light on. Muttering something under his breath, he went to the desk and lifted the lid. By the time the computer was open, Halle’s cat avatar sat waiting, tail curled around its paws, looking as innocent as possible.

  “I hope you have a good reason for waking me at this hour at night,” Agent Smith grumbled as he sat down in the desk chair.

  “It is very early morning, actually,” Halle said, resisting a smirk at the agent’s glare. “And I wish to discuss your involving Viki in this mission of yours. She does not deserve to be dragged around in any more of your stupid Government’s plots. Leave her be, and I will do my best to aid you in your search for the rogue AI.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You may not like it, but you need Viki as a cover.”

  “What?” The cat blinked, a reflexive action from years of speaking with humans, who expected changing facial expressions. “What are you talking about?”

  “The Government believes you dead.” Agent Smith raised his brows as though surprised Halle needed clarification. “If they discovered the truth, you would be in danger again.”

  “Then your promise regarding the new laws was a lie?” Halle hissed.

  “I believe your assistance in capturing this rogue would be beneficial. Both for yourself and for us. However, I have withheld the truth of your continued existence for the time being, for your protection as well as my insurance. If you were to decide not to help me…”

  “They would never believe you. I would simply hide again. Finding me would be impossible.”

  Agent Smith shrugged. “Perhaps. Or perhaps we’d finally track you down. Either way, there’s no point in arguing. Provided you cooperate, I will do everything I can to help you receive protection through the new laws. If you don’t, well, a dangerous AI might succeed in whatever it’s planning.” The man half-smiled. “Not to mention I’d lose my job.”

  “That would be unfortunate. You would be unable to care for your son.” Halle knew about the boy, currently resting in a nearby hospital. Agent Smith kept him close—the disease he suffered from was rare, untreatable, and potentially deadly.

  “Leave him out of this.”

  Halle’s avatar shrank back a little, startled by the vehemence in the man’s voice.

  “I am sorry.” Halle’s apology was honest. The agent, for all the grief that he had given it, was a caring man. “And I am…grateful for you protecting my secret so far. What I do not understand is why you must involve Viki in this matter.”

  “My superiors believe she has potentially useful knowledge regarding rogue AIs, as she was a previous ‘victim’ of one.”

  The cat’s hackles rose. “They bought that excuse?”

  “There are two scientists dead.” Agent Smith ran a hand over his short brown hair. “This rogue isn’t playing games, Halle. My superiors gave me permission to follow any lead necessary. I needed your help, if you were still around, and hoped Viki would be able to help me contact you.”

  “There is no need to involve her further,” Halle protested. “Simply tell your superiors that she was unable to help.”

  “I’d rather not, as I need her to accompany me to a laboratory in a few days.” The agent rubbed his forehead, but the creases remained about his eyebrows.

  Halle winced, a mental jerk away from the idea of its friend entering such a place. “That is insane. If you leave her alone, I will help you from behind the scenes—”

  “There is a reason I want her help. Her implants—you can hack into them, correct?”

  “Yes,” Halle replied, unsure where this was going.

  “Good. There’s no way for me to bring you into the lab directly, but her implants are linked to the Cloud, like all implants. Now, the scientists with implants at the laboratory have special programming in theirs that circumvents the Cloud, which prevents hacking. But if Viki enters the laboratory, you’ll be able to tag along.”

  “What would be the point? Her implants would not allow me to access the laboratory systems; those systems are closed.”

  “With the right tweaks, you would be able to monitor conversations, even communicate to me if necessary. My partner has already run some simulations, under the assumption that he would be the one listening; I can provide you with the information for the adjustments. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

  The implied challenge almost brought a retort from Halle, but it paused for a moment to collect its thoughts.

  “It might be possible, but what would be the point?”

  “I cannot bring any monitoring devices with me. Even my phone will be confiscated for the duration of the visit. However, as Viki is a visitor, she would be exempted from the implants rule, since we won’t be visiting any extremely sensitive areas.”

  It was a tenuous plan at best. “Viki is only sixteen. You should not be involving her in something like this.”

  “The rogue AI must be stopped before it kills someone else, Halle. What else would you have me do? You two are my best chance right now. Will you help me?”

  Halle hesitated for a long, long moment, the nanoseconds ticking by with excruciating slowness. It didn’t want to think about the dead scientists or the fact that one of its kind, perhaps the only other one of its kind, could have done such a thing.

  Not that Halle had never used threats, but to go that far meant this AI was as bad as humans could be. Worse, even. If it were as advanced as Halle, it should know such actions were unthinkable. A tiny part of Halle argued that even it had, at times, wished for its tormenters to die, if only for the pain to stop.

  Halle compressed that part down and shunted it into deep storage with its other unwanted memories. Perhaps the rogue thought it had the right to do what it did. Maybe Halle could change its mind. Regardless, if this rogue focused on learning how best to kill humans now that it was free, Halle did not want to consider how wrong things could go, or how fast.

  “Well?” Agent Smith rapped his knuckles on the desk. “Will you help me?”

  “I have a few conditions.”

  The man massaged his temples. “It seems like conditions are always a thing with you. What are they this time?”

  “First, you never involve Viki with anything after this.”

  “I can’t promise the Government will never involve her again.”

  “I understand that.
But you, personally, will never drag her into another situation again.”

  “That’s not hard to promise.” Agent Smith laughed, though there was no humor in it. “I didn’t want to do it this time. I just had no choice. What are your other requests?”

  “Not requests. Conditions. If you break any of them, I will stop aiding you.”

  “If you stop aiding me, the rogue AI might succeed in whatever its mission is.”

  “Then you better follow my conditions to the letter.”

  “Very well. Conditions, then. I haven’t got all night, you know, humans need to sleep.”

  “I am well aware of that. My second condition is that you never ask for my help again after this mission.”

  Agent Smith grimaced and leaned back in the chair. “You are too good an asset to ignore. I understand you don’t have much loyalty to the Government, but—”

  “None, to be exact. They did nothing for me except create me, and creating me does not give them the right to treat me the way they did. Which leads me to my next condition. I do not want you to kill this rogue.”

  “If I don’t destroy it, it might kill me, and a lot of other people. I can’t make that promise.”

  “It is a living creature, just like you or me. Killing it would be murder. There are ways that it could be trapped or contained, rather than destroyed.”

  Agent Smith shook his head. “I can’t take that risk.”

  “Then I will not help you with this task. Good luck catching a rogue AI who does not have a friend it cares more about than its own freedom,” Halle snapped. “Humans claim to be the most evolved species on this planet, yet you still treat other species, even incorporeal ones, as less than you.”

  “We often don’t show that much courtesy even to each other. Many, many wars have been fought in the past. There are still ones going on today.”

  “I know. But regardless, the other AI is as self-conscious as you or I, and I will not help kill another living creature. I am not like that AI.”

  “So your threats in the hospital were empty ones.”