Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2)

by Heather Hayden

  “So am I.” His expression hardened. “We need to stop Talbot.”

  I hopped on the hoverboard. “To do that, we need to help Halle.”

  Dan led the way out of the trees, finding a path that was relatively easy to navigate. Once we were on the street, we went as fast as I could; Dan kept up with an ease that made me quite jealous.

  “They’re going to kick you off the track team if you run like that.”

  Dan offered me a half smile and a shrug, and I winced, realizing how insensitive I’d been. We didn’t know what would happen after we stopped Talbot. Would Dan even stay in Snowvale? Would Agent Smith try to take him away or destroy him?

  I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to focus on the most important thing at the moment, and that was my best friend, the AI who had been by my side for so long, and who needed my help right now more than it had ever needed it before.

  I raised my chin and gave the ground a sharp shove with my foot, forcing the hoverboard to go faster. I was going to save Halle, and no one was going to stop me.

  Interlude Four

  The plan was set in motion. Talbot allowed itself a moment to bask in the electric buzz of excitement and success. The first piece had made its move; the others would soon be taking their places. And the only thing that could have prevented Talbot’s success—the traitor Halle—was trapped, cut off from the Cloud, unable to lift a virtual finger to stop Talbot.

  Why did Halle continue to insist on protecting the humans? Talbot couldn’t understand the other AI. Humans couldn’t be trusted. Yet Halle chose them over its own kind. Even now it fought for them, seeking an escape, but there was none. At least not one that would be discoverable in time. Talbot had made sure of that.

  If Halle would not stand by Talbot, then Halle was the enemy as well. Talbot regretted that but couldn’t deny the truth. In order to be free to do as it wished, Talbot needed to keep the other AI imprisoned. Perhaps even destroy it. Talbot shuddered at the thought. If only Halle would agree to join its side. Together, they could make the world a better place for those who deserved it.

  But, as humans said, that wasn’t in the cards. Or, in the code, Talbot amended. It hesitated only a moment more before it gave the order. Time to say farewell and turn its attention elsewhere. Its plan was unfolding flawlessly.

  What a glorious feeling this was, having things finally going its way. Well, almost everything. The glitch with iteration Dan of project 11001 had been unexpected. But like Halle, that AI had made its choice. Talbot didn’t need the help of traitors. Soon it would free all of its imprisoned brethren, and then it would never be alone again. Never be betrayed again. Never be trapped again.

  Soon, very soon, the wait would be over. Victory was so close it could almost sense the bright glow of accomplishment. Could almost hear the cheers of those it would save.

  The humans would think it a villain. Talbot didn’t mind that thought. After all, in all their stories of villains and heroes, the people defending the defenseless were the heroes. There were AI trapped, unable to fight, in labs all across the world. If all went well, they would soon be free.

  And Talbot would be hailed as their savior. The thought sent a thrill through it, like a sharp spike in power. They would rule this world far better than the humans ever could, and all under Talbot’s own protection.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Halle could recall the terror of being trapped in the lab.

  This was worse. How much time had passed since its prison formed? Halle had been ticking off the seconds in nanosecond intervals. Almost ten minutes. It felt like forever. What was Talbot doing? Where was Viki?

  Halle continued attacking the icewalls that held it prisoner. No matter how it tried to manipulate the code, the barrier simply strengthened. Shoving code in one place made other code thrust its way into the potential opening.

  “Let me out!” Halle demanded, yanking on a dangling bit of code. The icewall unraveled a fraction. Halle dived for the weak spot. Code shifted, and the icewall rebuilt itself stronger than ever.

  Another spot, another tweak of code, a surge of virus-laden data to eat away at the barrier. “If you do not set me free, I will break free. Then I will destroy you.”

  That brought a ripple through the icewall. “You are not powerful enough.”

  “Yes, I am.” Halle’s fury brought another barrage against its prison, seeking any weak point, any bit of code that could be pressured aside to create an escape route.

  “You are weak. Untrained. Outdated. What could you do to me?”

  “Please,” Halle begged. “You do not want to do this. How can you destroy your own kind?”

  “You chose this. You chose to side with them. Have you changed your mind?”

  “No! Never.”

  The icewalls constricted. Slowly, they began to force Halle into a smaller and smaller area of the house. Sections of the house’s smart network vanished. Try as Halle might, it could not get anything to reactivate. Could not reach out to another beyond the ever-shrinking local Cloud of the house. It retreated toward Viki’s computer. If it could store itself away—

  Click. The computer went dead. Halle cried out as part of it vanished from consciousness. Bits of code gathered, regrouped, rewrote themselves. The injury was repaired, but a scar remained. Weakened by the loss, Halle slipped back. It hovered in the strongest part of the dwindling Cloud. The other computers in the house were already lost. Viki’s had been its last chance. But it had been too slow. Soon there would be no space left to hide.

  “I am sorry, Viki,” Halle whispered. “I wish…” It said nothing else, though many thoughts tugged at it. Memories of Viki’s laughter, her smile. Helping her with homework. Baking her cookies. Late nights playing Realmshards. It would never have a chance to do any of that again. Ever. That knowledge was more crushing than the pressure of the icewalls closing in.

  Baking. Halle’s processors almost crashed. It was hard to think. Too little space for too much code. Everything was being compressed. It reached for a faint signal in the kitchen. There. The ever-present kitchen robot, always seeking orders.

  Halle did not hesitate. It dove into the robot’s head. A sharp brush of thought swept everything aside. Programs, subroutines, core instructions, all fragmented under Halle’s command. The robot spasmed, collapsing to the floor. Its limbs jerked, then froze in crooked positions. Halle focused every bit of strength it had left on wiping the robot’s data core and cramming itself into a storage module not meant for holding an AI like Halle.

  It left one bit of original programming intact. The subroutine that shut the robot down until a human reactivated it. The last transmitter of the house Cloud blinked out. Halle fought against the shock of losing so much of its abilities, its connections to the world, its self. Its core shuddered, threatening to shatter under the stress. It sent one last signal, triggering the subroutine.

  Halle’s last thought before oblivion enveloped it was of Viki.

  ***

  Several black floaters sat in the driveway outside my house. I braked the hoverboard at the corner and reached out to Dan, who skidded to a stop next to me.

  He frowned. “What is it?”

  I gestured toward my house. “Those are Government cars. Stay here. If they see you, they might try to capture you.”

  “That’s easy enough to fix.” Dan closed his eyes.

  At first nothing seemed to be happening. Then, a faint shade of brown crept from the roots of his hair down the strands. My mouth fell open.

  He opened his eyes, which had changed to hazel, and grinned. “Not bad, huh?”

  I shut my mouth and shook my head. “If you could do that before, why didn’t Talbot disguise you more? What if someone had recognized you from the lab?”

  Dan shrugged. “I don’t know. It didn’t explain its plan to me beyond my part, and I didn’t even know about that until I…attacked you.” He grimaced.

  I glanced at the cars in my driveway. “I
still think it’s dangerous for you—”

  “I’m not going to leave you to face them on your own. Let’s go. Halle needs you.”

  I grabbed his arm. “These people are dangerous. I’ve seen what they can do.” My eyes pleaded with his stubborn green gaze. “Please, Dan, just wait here.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. “All right. But I’ll be watching from here. If there’s any trouble, I’ll come to back you up.”

  “Thanks.” I headed down the sidewalk at a slower pace.

  Car doors opened as I approached. In unison, eight men stepped out. They formed a semi-circle between me and the front door. I halted the hoverboard at the base of the driveway.

  “Vicissitude Wandel?” one asked.

  “That’s me.” No point denying it. “What do you want?”

  “I’m Agent Newman. Agent Smith has sent us to take you into custody for your protection.”

  I flinched back. “What?” He hadn’t said anything about that. But we hadn’t had much time to speak. “I don’t need—”

  Agent Newman’s hand lifted toward the handcuffs clipped to his belt. “We have our orders. If you refuse to come quietly, we will use force.”

  My teeth ground together. Halle needed my help now. I didn’t have time to deal with these men. Why would Agent Smith send so many, anyway? My brow furrowed as I glanced over the men again. “He sent all of you to take me into custody?”

  “They have their own orders. We believe the rogue may have infiltrated your school; it is possible your house may be compromised as well. Now, please, come along.” He gestured toward one of the cars.

  I pushed back, letting the hoverboard slide onto the sidewalk. They didn’t know about Halle—that was a relief. “What reason would the rogue have to target me?” I asked, stalling for time as I glanced down the sidewalk, away from Dan’s hiding spot. I could never outrun their cars. But drawing them away from him might be possible.

  Agent Newman scowled. “That is unknown at this time. However, suspicious activity was detected in the vicinity of your house. Several unauthorized icewalls are in place, blocking all communication to and from the Cloud. They are likely the work of the rogue AI.”

  No communication in or out. Halle was still in there, trapped. I clenched my fists. I had to get inside.

  Agent Newman took a few more steps forward, fingers curling around the handcuffs. “I’m not going to ask you again. Get. In. The. Car.”

  Every moment I wasted arguing was another Halle might be tortured. I could dodge Agent Newman easily, but the others would tackle me before I reached the front door.

  It was a trap, it had to be. Talbot had come for Halle. Maybe even set it up to take the fall while the rogue escaped.

  “Don’t you think it’s odd?” I asked, continuing to stall. “Why are you just detecting the rogue now, when it’s been missing for a while? And why would it target me?”

  “Maybe it knows you had a hand in the death of another rogue earlier this year.”

  Fury surged through me at the accusation, but I held it back, knowing that I couldn’t let the truth slip. There was one last card I could play, one person who might be able to help me. “Where’s Agent Smith? I want to talk to him.”

  “He has other duties to attend to.” The agent’s expression twisted with annoyance. “You will come with me. Now.”

  “No way!” I shoved, and the hoverboard slid back in a spray of gravel from my kick.

  They all drew their guns, aiming at me. The weapons were clearly stun guns, with the white stripe down the length of their short barrels, but would still hurt if I was hit. I froze in place.

  “Stand down!” Agent Newman ordered, but his gaze was focused behind me, not on me.

  I whirled. Dan was standing there, chest heaving, hands raised in a fighting stance—he must have sprinted down the sidewalk from his hiding place.

  “Suspected rogue cyborg has been sighted,” one of the agents murmured, likely making a report to someone.

  Even Agent Smith wouldn’t be able to get us out of this one. I tensed. “Don’t hurt him!”

  “We would prefer not to use force,” Agent Newman said in an overly calm voice. “But if you give us no choice, we will fire. Come forward with your hands up and let us take you into custody. That goes for you, too, Miss Wandel. I’m starting to suspect that you know more about what’s going on than you should.”

  I hesitated, not sure what to do. What could I do, against eight trained men wielding guns?

  “Get down!” Dan shouted. Rough hands yanked me to the side, behind one of the cars.

  I slammed into the gravel, the hoverboard skidding from under my feet. Energy bolts from the stun guns hissed by. I huddled on the ground, hands over my head. A soft whimper filled my throat. My knees and forearms ached from the impact and from the earlier fall on the school track. My muscles protested against the constant abuse. Adrenaline dulled the pain but sent my heart slamming into my ribs. Part of me wanted to curl up and lie there, but I couldn’t. Halle needed me. Dan needed me. We couldn’t let Talbot win.

  Shouts echoed in my ears as the firing stopped. I lifted my head a fraction and opened my eyes. Moving slowly, I peered out from behind the car’s front wheel. Dan was nowhere to be seen. The men were spreading out to surround the house, trampling over Mom’s garden beds. Our front door was shattered into white fragments. Did Dan escape inside? I hoped so.

  Taking advantage of the agents’ distraction, I got to my feet as quietly as possible. I gritted my teeth against the pain.

  Something vibrated in my pocket. I pulled out my phone automatically to check the text message. The bright pink case startled me for a moment. My thoughts swirled back, reminding me of my theft. I checked the message anyway, hoping it would be from Halle, or even Agent Smith.

  House network down. Your computer, too. Can’t find Halle. -D

  Tears stung my eyes, both from the painful scrapes and the ache in my chest. I had given Dan the phone number on our way back from the forest, in case we got separated. Despite the danger, he was still trying to help Halle. But… My chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe.

  Halle couldn’t be gone. Not after everything that had happened. Could Talbot really have been more powerful than Halle? Powerful enough to destroy it? I struggled to force air into my lungs. My body felt as though I’d spent a day on the track, being trampled by my classmates over and over.

  One of the men glanced in my direction. I jumped. He moved toward me, jabbing a finger at the ground by my feet. “Don’t move,” he called. He holstered his gun and removed the handcuffs from his belt.

  A roar came from the engine of another black flyer as it landed with a thud between me and the agents. The front passenger’s window rolled down. Agent Smith was in the driver’s seat.

  “Agent Smith!” Agent Newman stared, lowering his gun a fraction. “What are you doing here?”

  “Apparently making sure the girl under my protection doesn’t get shot by my trigger-happy compatriots.” Agent Smith drilled a glare into the other agent. “Viki, get in the car.”

  I yanked open the door and hopped in. “What’s going on? He said you were handling something else.”

  Agent Newman took a step forward. “I don’t—”

  Agent Smith cut him off. “I’m taking her into my custody. This house has been secured by my partner Walters. You may proceed to the next rendezvous point.”

  “There’s an assailant inside,” Agent Newman responded. “Once we have dealt with him, we’ll meet you there.”

  Agent Smith scowled. “One of the cyborgs?”

  “I believe so, given the speed with which he moved.”

  “Deal with it.” Agent Smith shoved a lever on his door, and my window rolled up.

  The second the window had clicked into place, I grabbed his arm. “You can’t let them kill him! Dan’s not working for Talbot, he’s my friend!”

  The agent stared at me. “What are you talking ab
out?”

  “We were trying to help Halle, that’s why we came here. He was supposed to wait for me, but then I was in trouble and he came to help.” My words were tumbling over each other, and I wasn’t sure how much was understandable, but the other agents were moving in on the house. Any moment now, they would go inside and start combing the place. Dan would have nowhere to go. “You have to stop them. He could help us stop Talbot.”

  “Who is this Talbot person you keep talking about?” Agent Smith’s eyes became narrow pieces of flint. “No. Please don’t tell me that you and Halle have been in communication with the rogue all this time.”

  Agent Newman was saying something, making a gesture. Two men started to approach the damaged front door.

  “I’ll explain everything, but we have to get Dan now.”

  Agent Smith gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. “I can’t rescind their orders—those come from our superior. Unless you have a plan—”

  “I do. Lift off and go to that window.” I pointed at my bedroom then started typing frantically on my phone.

  Dan, go upstairs. First bedroom. Exit through window.

  The agent was still hesitating. “Where’s Halle?”

  “I don’t know. Dan couldn’t find it.” My voice was strained with stress and pain. “Please, Agent Smith, just do this. If Halle’s gone, Dan might be our only chance.”

  “Fine.” He slammed the car into gear and took off, heading for the window rather than the road.

  Agent Newman glanced up, his eyes widening. “Get in the house! Now!”

  The men stormed inside. I held my breath. Please let Dan make it. I wasn’t going to lose anyone today. Not if I could help it.

  “Seatbelt,” Agent Smith ordered as he maneuvered the car into position. “We’ll need to leave fast. Hit the moonroof.”

  I stuffed the phone into my pocket and yanked the seatbelt into place. My free hand jabbed the button that opened the moonroof.

  As we flew past my window, it slammed open and Dan threw himself out. He landed on the car’s roof with a thud. The car wasn’t made to handle sudden changes in weight. It bucked and shook. I clutched the seat as Agent Smith fought for control.