Cyber Thought Police

by Kyle Robertson

  Alikira screamed.

  “I was prepared for a family, not a colony!” Alikira panicked.

  “They don’t bite. They are just an overabundance of them. Control your fear,” Linda said calmly.

  She closed the latch on the depressurizer, so the roaches wouldn’t escape. The roaches made her pulse skyrocket. Her blood pressure rose, and she began to shake.

  “I quit! Get them out!”

  “No, they stay. If they don’t infect you with poison, they’re harmless,” Linda refused.

  “Easy for you to say! These things are all over my arm!” Alikira was distressed.

  “Yes, they are. Look, no bites or any rashes. You’re not in pain, your mind’s synaptic response is,” Linda kept calm. “Breathe. You can beat this.”

  As the roaches scurried about, Alikira began to meditate with deep breaths. It was impossible at first, but she began to overcome her fear by breaking the link to her brother’s death.

  “Okay, get them out. They’re beginning to tickle.”

  “You aren’t afraid of infection from Jenny’s sterilized roaches?”

  “No (snicker), they aren’t dangerous (snicker). They just tickle! Get them out before I start snorting!”

  Linda smiled.

  “So you’re not terrified anymore. They just annoy you like they annoy everyone else.”

  “Alikira burst out laughing.

  “Just get them offa me!”

  Linda saw her fear conquered, and went for the nitro animation stasis button.

  “Okay, Alikira. I’m going to freeze your arm. This will hurt more than the roaches do. Depressurize the seal on your arm, carefully take it out of the tube, and shake it over this paper, so the frozen roaches fall on the paper. I‘ll put them back in their canister, and you can take a shower.” She pressed the button.

  The nitro gas immediately froze the roaches, but Linda was correct. Her titanium bands became a burning cold.

  She slowly took out her arm and shook the bugs so they all fell on the paper.

  Lina scooped them up and put them back into their environment.

  “Are you still frightened of roaches?”

  “I can actually say no. They’re just annoying, so they won’t be invited to our victory party. Thank you, Linda.”

  Linda smiled.

  “Now, all we have to do is practice the infiltration first leg of the course, mirror the course to get out and wait for the Neos to finish the escape routes. Take a shower and come back so we can practice.”

  Alikira had to wash off the roach smell, so she left for the community showers.

  

  In prison, the showers were co-ed. They treated showering as a utility. There was no modesty or privacy in prison. Alikira walked in with a Neo-Khaos squad cleaning up from the escape sim shift.

  As she disrobed, the squad turned to see her. She tensed from previous group dislike.

  It was quiet for a second, but when she expected to ignore, the leader spoke.

  “Make way! Di can’t shower sitting on your shoulders!”

  They all stepped back to let Alikira shower without any discrepancies. She slowly walked in and turned on a nozzle.

  “I heard you had to battle the Program,” one woman said.

  “She didn’t have to battle it, she hacked its files,” another corrected her.

  “I… I just got into the logic core to steal information,” Alikira said. “I just had problems getting out.”

  “Yeah, we heard Chip didn’t know the lock mechanism and got you busted,” Bertram confirmed.

  Alikira was shocked. They knew it wasn’t her fault.

  “So, you all know the real reason we had to move?”

  A girl walked up to her to stroke her titanium bands on her arm.

  “Steve told us he knew you weren’t a borgey. You’re just a bad-ass lady who wants to save us. I’m sorry we treated you so coldly. We were the dumb ones.”

  “Di’s our difference maker, everybody! There’s no way we could’ve hacked the Program that way and not get caught! Chip got her caught, but we won’t!”

  She was feeling strange. Up until now, no one talked to her.

  “What did you take from the logic core?”

  “I Just scanned all the synapse pituitary functioning and the medulla emotion motor manipulation programming information to mesh a human brain with a cybernetic implant seamlessly. I know how it makes borgeys listen to it.”

  Jak was amazed.

  “And we had you to be able to tinker and we thought you were a spy? We prejudged you because of your titanium outfit. We’ll get you back in there. That’s our ‘thank you’ for braving the beast.”

  “Aww, guys. I’m still human. I’m just a radical ‘outfit trendsetter’.” She was feeling good.

  They finished up their showers and went to sleep for six hours. They all wanted to get back to work. Team Kancy, the second shift, wasn’t going to beat them. Alikira went back to the lab to train.

  

  Cole wen to Sledge. Sledge saw his camp working together on his monitors.

  “Status update, Sledge,” Cole surprised him. “Team Radon and Kancy are almost to twelve hundred clean exit scenarios, and Alikira isn’t afraid of roaches anymore, Chip designed a program spike to manipulate the system, so we’ll have the new borgey army. The Program won’t be in control for long.”

  “Sounds like it might work,” Sledge said. “Just never assume victory until all this is finished.”

  “What can go wrong?” Cole asked. “The Program won’t even know Alikira was there, or its borgey commanding will be spiked. When it doesn’t even know there’s a problem, how can it correct that elusive problem?”

  “I think Alikira will get in, silently augment the parameters, and get out cleanly. I’m just expecting a much more secure aftermath later,” Sledge said. “We can change it, but when it finds out. Just remember. The Program is a mainframe computer. We may never get back in again.”

  “A computer isn’t a person. A person made it. It’s too pragmatic to imagine anything. If anything is broken, the Program fixes it, so we’re not gonna break it. Chip is showing everyone how to ‘bend’ really well.”

  “Don’t try to assure me of anything,” Sledge said. “You’re a squad leader. Optimism is mandatory for your success. I lead this entire camp. Skepticism is mandatory for me to keep you all alive.”

  “So, your success is morbidity then,” Cole said.

  “My success is realism. You can be positive. I look at current situations and act accordingly. When I know everyone can be killed, I’ll expect it. My job is to keep them kicking a little longer.”

  Cole understood but knew he could never replace Sledge.

  “Get your squad pumped. Just never tell them my true thoughts. Our success only works with a precision symbiosis. Mess with the order, destroy the symbiosis.”

  “I got it,” Cole said. “You do you, and I’ll do me.”

  

  Alikira was saving Linda’s Sqwiggzeez community from everything. Hurricanes, earthquakes, quantum temporal shifts, singularity absorptions, mutant were-bears, xenomorphs, and especially hordes of giant roaches. She became their virtual guardian, and hopefully the Neo-Khaos real guardian.

  Linda saw her improvement and alerted her from her protecting.

  “Are you ready to run some practice drills?”

  Alikira was ready.

  “Let’s do it.”

  They both jacked into the course and began their multiple runs.

  Chip came in with a new memory block an hour later and saw them both hard at work. He shut down the simulation to insert the new block. The girls abruptly woke from their trance.

  “We were getting our timing down, Chip. Why did you shut it down?” Linda asked.

  “You’ve probably run that course an umpteen amount of times. I just got two thousand new second leg timed escape strategies from Neo-Khaos. Can I get in your head for a minute,
Di? It’ll be ‘plug and play’ fast.”

  Alikira sat up and turned off her receptors.

  “How big is two thousand escape strategies?”

  “About sixty-two terabytes uncompressed. You can house all of them easily. Your question should be how long will it take to master two thousand runs?”

  “We’ll be ready in two hundred hours, not accounting for eating and sleep,” she said.

  “Would it be too presumptuous to expect you to be ready in about a week?”

  “She conquered her roach fear,” Linda said. “We can do it by next week. She might not even need my support in there anymore. I was her roach whisperer she won’t need anymore.”

  “We’ve been through this entire ordeal together. Of course, I need you, Linda. You give me that undetectable inner strength.”

  Chip acknowledged their bonding and accessed her memory block.

  “It would be very boring running two thousand courses twice without any company. Remember, she is definitely a shiny human, but she’s still a human, Linda.”

  Chip finished the install, and Alikira did her REM thing to view all the courses.

  “How’s it working? Were there any fluidity problems?” Chip asked.

  “I know this isn’t your ideal lab,” Alikira said. “But everything is working fine. Stop second guessing yourself. You’re great at what you do.”

  Linda nudged Chip.

  “I don’t think she’s talking about being a mountain guide. That self-confidence thing kinda overflows when you beat your greatest fear.”

  Chip felt better getting a compliment from a lady.

  “Okay, start running courses to get familiar with the escape. Your mind has an internal clock down to the millisecond, so the closest scenario will be fitted and timed perfectly. You don’t have to guess, because your cyber-brain will choose the right one automatically.”

  They began the daunting task of running each escape route. They were all the same, just with split-second differences. She really needed Linda, because running split second similar escape routes got boring quickly. She just had to master the time block.

  “I don’t have to run these courses twice. It’s the same route every time. I just have to verify my time calculations.”

  “And since you have an internal clock that should be automatic.”

  “I still want to virtually verify each time. That should only take me around two and a half days including sleeping and meals.”

  “Don’t tell Chip just yet. When you’re done in two and a half days, he’ll think you’re superhuman.”

  “With my titanium accessories, he already thinks I’m superhuman,” she said.

  “Then don’t spoil his illusion.” Linda smiled. “This is how women stay mysterious.”

  Alikira smiled and got to work.

  

  Chip walked into Steve’s cell. He was adjusting his Magrupt ranging.

  “When are you gonna use that? Our borgeys are taking care of everything.” He put his hand on Steve’s arm. “It’s relaxation time, cool out.”

  “I’m always cool because I’m always prepared,” Steve said. “As secure as you may think it is, I’ll never get caught with my pants down.”

  “Why don’t you ever trust a sure thing? You know Di is always on it.”

  “Di is going back into spike the Program. You have no idea of any changes. If it detects anything even hinting of a glitch, it could digitally scorch that entire area. The borgeys would resume their initial programming, and with an entire company of relentless destroyers right outside with no barrier because they were that barrier, we need to be armed.” Steve kept ranging.

  “We have two thousand escape scenarios Di’s running right now to get familiar with for a clean exit. With my software hack, the Program will have no idea of any glitch. We got this, buddy.”

  “Well, in my line of business, arrogance can get you killed. I’m the defense. Let me do my job.”

  “We’re safe for now. Use all that energy to socialize. Everyone is scared of you.”

  “I know they are. It comes with my job. If I say execute, they do it. They aren’t supposed to like me,” he told Chip. “In war, your defense wins battles. If we can’t win a battle because they ‘like’ me, the war is already a foregone conclusion.”

  Chip realized just then he was still an awkward teen hoping women liked him. He kept thinking that to mask the dissolution surrounding him. Steve knew exactly where he was and instead of avoiding it, he relished in the darkness.

  “You know better than I do. I’m just a tech geek who’d get killed inadvertently because I thought we were handling our situation. Keep ranging, I’m taking a break from all this infiltration crap.”

  “Don’t be worried, Chip. You do your job well. So do I.”

  Chip acknowledged and left for his cell.

  

  “Three days later, Linda went to Chip’s cell.

  “Alikira’s ready to enter the logic core. She really wants to get this over with.”

  “You’re about four days early. How did she complete this in so little time?” he asked.

  “Haven’t you ever seen a woman pack a purse before?” she asked. “Trust me, it’s inherent.”

  “Okay, Linda. Do you think she’s ready?”

  “Let’s get her jacked in. I want to see her world.”

  “I know the course runs were static to make them smoother, but you’re about to witness the Australian Outback. I hope you aren’t afraid of cobras because they’ll be real to you,” Chip warned.

  “I was in Victoria earlier. Cobras don’t scare me. Where’s all this unnecessary caution coming from?” she asked.

  “I saw Steve ranging his Magrupt a few days ago. He instilled in me the ‘more safe than sorry’ method.”

  “Steve’s always paranoid. He does that to stay sharp because he neutralizes immediate threats. He’s impulsive, you’re calculating. Don’t let his reactionary views muddle your critical thinking.”

  Linda was correct. Chip had been planning this for weeks. He knew what they were about to be up against. His critical thinking made twitch reactions inert.

  “Let’s get this done. Thanks, Linda. Everybody’s showing me who I am.”

  They walked to the med lab.

  

  “I heard you know how to pack a purse,” Chip said when he saw Alikira.

  “What ‘purse’ are you talking about?” she asked him.

  “Linda told me you’re ready to take on the Program four days early,” Chip said. “That purse.”

  “I’ll tell you when we get in,” Linda said. “Let’s just say Chip thinks you’re a tesseract queen.”

  “I am going to stop you brain junkies from explaining anything to me. Let’s spike the Program.”

  Chip took out a micro compu-disc.

  “I’m going to insert this into your cerebellum port behind your left ear to access the right hemisphere of your brain. It’ll access your imagery, medulla motor functions, and the pituitary to get you through to breaking into the logic core seamlessly. I have no idea about what kind of lock there is, so do your tech-ripper thing. When you get in, just insert this command. No heroine stuff. Just get in and out, okay?”

  “So, the lock could be anything?” she asked.

  “Within reason,” Chip said. “Just remember, the Program is pragmatic with no imagination. It will just go to the next level of security.”

  “So, don’t worry about a deoxyribose double helix genomic encryption lock.”

  “You were just discovered once. I don’t even know if it’s that advanced to even have an upgrade that refined. Pragmatic, not paranoid, remember?”

  “I can break it. I’ll just expect it. If it doesn’t exist, we’ll be fine,” she said. “Pop in the disc and Linda? Let’s go.”

  Chip inserted the disc and watched them both go into a trance. He hoped all his calculations worked.

  “What was that purse thing abo
ut?” Alikira asked Linda while inside.

  Linda was amazed at how realistic their path looked. She finally told her.

  “Remember what I told you about remaining mysterious? Chip thinks you crammed in seven days of learning into three. Now he’s thinking you can manipulate time.”

  “Don’t tell him I recalculated because I didn’t have the proper information until later then,” she assumed.

  “Mysterious is sexy. You may not like Chip in that way, but he’ll do whatever you want him to. Lustful admiration for an impossible object for a teen is an extremely powerful advantage.”

  “You’re not a Tomboy. You like to play with them too much.”

  Kayleigh’s the lesbian, so she has an automatic ‘boy shield’. I’m single, hetero, and considered fresh meat to them. I don’t like to play with them. When the Tomboy defense thing doesn’t work, I want to control their pubescent idiocy.”

  They came across an enormous roach eating a caribou.

  “Is that what you were trying to avoid?! I’d slap a grizzly instead of running form that. At least I’d have a chance with a grizzly!”

  “Now do you see why I wouldn’t come back here without extensive training? My mania made these things devastating.”

  “That’s not a roach. That’s an angry six-legged killer whale with fangs!”

  “Oh, there’s more, Roach Whisperer,” Alikira said. We’re almost there.”

  As Linda was stunned, they made it through some foliage to the logic core.

  “That’s the next level security?! A chaos theory split-second alternating code? I told you, Chip. It doesn’t want any human to access the core.” She smiled. “As much as I’ve been fighting for my humanity, thanks to the Program, I’m more human than human.”

  She plugged into the lock to anticipate the illogical ponderings two minutes from then and began to control the chaos to have that question picked. Then at the correct nano-second, she answered and popped the lock.

  “It’s been three minutes since we entered. How long will this take?”