by Skyler Grant
When the Annas were lounging about it was an easy mistake to make imagining differences in them that didn’t exist. Here, paraded like this, they were impossible to tell apart.
Crystal gave the line a look and nodded to herself. "When Emma opens the rear door you will follow the signs to District Seven. There you will report to Overseer Warren, obey his instructions as you would mine."
The first time Crystal had used that instruction, it startled me. There was potential to subvert her control. You never gave others root access to a system of which you needed to retain full control. It would have made far more sense for her to say some variation of, "second only to mine."
I had yet to determine if it was trap. It may be with her power she always maintained absolute control and the wording was simply a trick to lull her enemies into thinking they had more control over the Annas than they actually did.
"I like that you keep them weak," Crystal said, stepping forward and grasping the chin of one of the Annas.
"Seeing yourself in them?" I asked.
"The musculature. It is not as strong as it is in Sylax's pet. I doubt she'll have noticed, but I do. Call it a professional's eye," Crystal said.
Crystal had seen that, being the original version of Anna, these were less developed. I had my reasons for it. I figured the less powerful the weapons I provided to Sylax and Crystal, the better. There was also something to be said for making them underestimate the real Anna.
"You haven't told her?" I asked.
Crystal released the chin and motioned the Anna away. I opened the rear door of the holding chamber and let them out.
The air outside was chill. I hadn't bothered to create them clothing, but under a Command crystal they never hesitated, stepping out in a uniform line.
Zora was responsible for equipping them and, as I understood it, she'd been failing to do it properly. Zora was another District Lord. She and the original Anna hadn't gotten along, and I wondered if that hostility might be part of her slowness now. If so, it was foolish. Anything that made her look weak to Sylax was going to be risky.
"If I haven't convinced you of it, yet there is more than one side to every situation," Crystal said.
"You tore the world apart looking for her. It might have been simple carelessness, but you're not the type," I said.
Crystal said, "You may not be far enough along yet to understand this, but she is my first work and my greatest work. I have put more resources into her than any of the others."
I could understand that even if I didn't quite share the sentimentality. Still, humans always ascribe a great deal of love to the first of their children. My first real creation had been a killer mole who currently shuffled about guarding the manufacturing facilities.
"She is a ruthless sociopath to her allies and shows an unsettling loyalty to her one-time superiors," I said.
"If you think she is a sociopath to her friends, you should see what she does to her enemies. But then, I suppose that you are," Crystal said.
"Enough to convince me that it would be reckless to do more to earn her ire. At least, not in exchange for nothing but friendly words and empty promises," I said.
Crystal closed her eyes for a moment and I received a data connection from her district.
I opened the feed. It was surveillance.
I'd been observing the other districts and recognized most of them at once.
Hot Stuff was in some sort of cell, the wolf head on the wall outside meant she was a captive of James Wolf. Mechos was toiling away in a workshop in a ruined building—only one district had that style of architecture and it was ruled by Jade. Ratticus was on a laboratory table in a high technology lab that was distinctly Zora. Batarius was working in a lab that looked far more dated, it might almost have been one of my own. That district was run by a gentleman named the Professor. Tara, the one-time Righteous captain, flickered in and out of existence, which meant she was held by another District Lord named Flicker.
"My crew are alive and captives," I said.
"They are. The question being, are you going to do anything about that? Perhaps you are stronger alone with nothing to hold you back?" Crystal asked.
I didn't know.
103
Sylax did not approve of me showing up for council meetings in a human host and only allowed my presence through a drone. It was a sign of her weakness that she thought a mechanical me was a lesser me, she would learn otherwise.
We were gathered around a large table. James Wolf, wearing heavy battle armor and the only one armed, was seated to Sylax's right while a sulky-looking Crystal was seated at her left.
These meetings were in theory so we could report on our progress and coordinate with each other. In truth they were Sylax's opportunity to chastise us.
"Emma, your clone production continues to lag behind targets. Is it incompetence or bitterness?" Sylax asked. She looked none the worse for wear for my one time efforts to kill her, and the form-clinging black and red body armor showed that she still didn't trust those in this room. At her feet was Anna, the real one, dressed in only a ragged and dirty shift with a collar around her neck. Anna was suffering many bruises and cuts. With her accelerated healing they either had to have been inflicted recently or Sylax had some way of dampening her abilities.
I replied, "It is the incompetence of a supervisor who can't set proper targets. I gave you a timetable of when my production facilities would be online. It was not some fictional document."
Sylax didn't like that, people rarely liked the truth. Sylax lashed out with her foot and caught Anna in the midsection, sending her tumbling across the floor. Human ears wouldn't have detected the fracturing of a rib, my sensors did.
"Do better or I'll find a way to kick you as well. Wolf, I weary of you holding back your forces," Sylax said.
I had little desire or need to watch Wolf being berated and instead focused my attention on Anna, working to pull up her stats. I was normally able to keep track of all my agents and allies from anywhere, but since waking up here I'd been unable to do so. Being in the same room gave me the opportunity.
Anna
Age: 23
Height: 127.7 cm
Weight: 64.6 kg
Physical Stats
Values out of 10
5 is the Human Average
Allure: 8
Endurance:7
Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Health
Subject shows signs of recent torture and severe malnutrition
Upgrades
Accelerated Healing
Temperature Resistant Matrix
Bio-armor
Teleportation
Subject is upgradeable
You have 12 upgrade points available
Physical stats can be upgraded at a cost of 1 upgrade point per statistic point up to 10
You also have the following options based on research
Fire Matrix 5 points
Pack Authority 5 points
Energy Control 5 points
Enhanced Senses 5 points
I could use the research points I'd been stockpiling from Mad Science to upgrade her. I had to choose carefully. Any physical changes might be noticed by Sylax, if she decided to look more closely at her beaten pet. Both the Fire Matrix and Enhanced Senses had some serious drawbacks in addition to the abilities they granted. The Fire Matrix rendered almost all weapons, armor, and clothing useless as it would burn these off the body. Batarius, who possessed the Enhanced Senses, had to wear specialized goggles because of the sensory overload it brought.
Still, I couldn't be as subtle here as I'd like. I didn't know when I'd see Anna again, and if I wanted to keep her alive I had to give her every edge I could. Otherwise, I had little doubt Sylax would eventually kill her. I upped each of her stats to ten and then gave her Pack Authority and Energy Control. The results were immediate, Anna's muscle tone shaping and sculpting as she went from average to ripped.
Wh
atever Sylax had done to her it hadn't broken her mind. Her eyes caught my drone's sensor and she nodded imperceptibly before curling herself into a ball and beginning to sob.
It concealed the bulk of the changes and if it drew glances, it was only for a moment before people looked away from an uncomfortable sight.
"Unacceptable," Sylax said, as she had continued to berate her way around the table. Currently the focus of her ire was Crash. Crash was a heavy-set man in garish-colored shorts and a tee shirt, a tablet computer always at his side. I gathered he had a Command core that granted him some sort of specialized control over complex systems.
"My control is growing exponentially. Weak now, big later, you'll have all the city systems eventually," Crash said.
"Promises," Sylax said.
"Math," Crash said.
"If you miss your deadline I'll start subtracting body parts. Zora, I still don't have my crystals," Sylax said.
I still hadn't put together how Zora managed to hook up with Sylax after we'd abandoned her, expecting her to take the blame for the killing of a coworker. Anna declined to buy her services, but Zora hadn't let that stop her from finding a new opportunity. I admired her persistence and ruthlessness, and it was a shame I was certain she was an enemy.
"If you weren't devoting all our resources to this idiotic war, we'd have them. You only just took this city and we've had no opportunity to establish ourself," Zora said.
I respected her honesty as well, especially when it angered Sylax.
Sylax snapped her fingers, gestured sharply with one hand, and Zora went flying across the room to smash into a wall. This time it required no specialized sensors to detect the snap of bones breaking. It was obvious when it happened to so many at once.
"Ophelia, save her. Professor, I still don't have my shields," Sylax said.
Ophelia rose from her chair and went to kneel beside Zora, resting a hand on her body. Ophelia possessed accelerated healing and anyone in her immediate vicinity gained some semblance of those same abilities.
The Professor said, "This city had sat for a very long time before we claimed it and its energy reserves are empty. Get me crystals and I can get you your shields." He was a dapper-looking man in a tweed suit. Doctor Batarius sat at his side, silent.
Zora screamed and twitched as bones began to snap back into place. The sound brought a smile to Sylax's lips, I'd noticed that suffering usually did.
"We're preparing for the siege on Kartikus soon. The next time we meet I'd better hear some good news," Sylax said.
The meeting dissolved quickly after she got to her feet. Nobody wanted to linger. Time away from our districts was always dangerous, although less so for me than the others because I could be in two places at once.
104
It was a risk to build up too many defenses. Sylax might see it as a challenge and I really didn't want her to see it that way. I also wanted to be prepared in case she or any of the others tried violence. I did have my defense drones, but they were still in limited numbers, and my stolen Biomatter only went so far.
The question was what to build. We were a city at war, but I felt that my greatest threat would come from those who were supposed to be my allies.
Sylax's war was between Scholar factions. That was unfortunate as it meant we might be facing almost anything. Scholars quested far and wide in search of power crystals and therefore, with the many cores they gathered, represented a diverse threat.
The local threats were more specific.
Jade had a history of stupidly rebelling against Sylax. If anyone was going to brave a first strike on another District Lord, it was likely to be here.
From what I knew of her powers, Jade was a powerful telekinetic capable of projecting waves of kinetic force as well as erecting kinetic shields. Energy weapons would be the key if she attacked. I needed to make sure I always had a stockpile. I'd studied the Righteous designs well enough to duplicate them, and while materials were in short supply I could make do with my growth vats. I also thought that I might be able to do something similar in plant form. They already effectively stored energy from light in chemical form and, with a bit of tweaking, I believed I could make that process work in reverse.
I'd have to assign one of my research teams to seeing what could be done there. I rather liked the idea of fields of sunbeam flowers planted in public areas. They could be useful against more than just Jade, for all that they were tailored for her weakness.
Zora was the next obvious threat and, unfortunately, she remained one of the biggest mysteries. Like Anna, she was a crystal hunter, responsible for acquiring crystals that her superiors could use. I suspected that to seize a district at all she must have bonded with a power set, but I had no idea what that might be. I didn't like that ignorance.
Ophelia had once been a member of my crew. After bonding with a source orb and fusing with an alternate—if overly friendly—version of my own personality she stole the Graven and claimed a district for herself. Sylax trusted her about as much as she trusted me, which didn't mean that Ophelia and I were allies.
Ophelia had accelerated healing, and the source orb inside of her seemed to have only magnified that effect. In addition, as being Amy, my alternate aspect, she had a tactical and scientific genius at her disposal.
The best option to neutralize Ophelia was to get her inside a grinder and deal damage so quickly to her body that she couldn't put it back together in time to respond. She could be suspended in that state indefinitely—I'd done it before, harvesting building supplies from her body. I'd need to specially construct a grinder now and have it empty at all times, just in case.
Flicker was a woman barely in touch with our reality at all, mostly resident in some entirely different place with only brief visual indicators when she was here. It made her nearly impossible to harm, although it also meant her ability to interact with items here was nearly nonexistent.
I wouldn't worry about her at all, except for the fact that she had claimed a district proved her abilities to interact here were at least somewhat under her control and could be intensified. I didn't have a good solution to deal with Flicker. I thought it possible that with teleportation I might be able to lock on to her and force her to appear somewhere. It was all just theoretical without a chance to run tests, or a research lab to do more. I would simply need to remember and be prepared.
Crash and his ability to subvert systems and programs was a serious problem—given I was a computer. I had no particular immunity to mind-control, and might be subjected to his control more than most. My best option there would be the autonomy of some of my units. I would normally assume direct control, but they could also act on their own. For all that I created them, my humans were still—well, humans.
It would be wise then for me to give one of them full control of themselves and the tools needed to neutralize a threat. I'd assign that to Bernard. I'd given him the teleportation ability and as a scout he would be well-prepared for observation.
Ideally I would also have a supply of Righteous. Whenever Righteous were killed they returned after twenty-four hours, but during the period they were dead their bodies turned into a sort of goop that neutralized powers. I'd used it before to insulate my core from mind-control.
Sadly, the only Righteous in the city was Tara. Rescuing her would have to become a priority, more important than any effort to reunite the crew.
Crystal, I was prepared to cautiously call an ally now. Still, as threats went she was perhaps the largest. Another upgrader, she was capable of nearly anything.
The Professor was supposed to have a core that allowed him to understand and speak any language instantly. It was of little direct threat, although I would need to be careful not to let him have a look at my code. His scientific genius stood apart from his crystal-granted abilities, and his emphasis seemed to be on mechanics and physics. My biological systems were hopefully something more mysterious to him.
James Wolf was strong, brave, and t
he devoted leader of a pack of soldiers capable of working together with extraordinary skill. In any fray they would be his weakness. I should kill or threaten his men to control the commander.
Sylax, of course, was the greatest threat of all, and I'd already thrown everything I had at her and she just kept going. I needed to learn more about her.
For now I'd have to settle on armoring my buildings. I placed explosive charges within the structure while doing so. With my organic nature and gained abilities, my facilities could heal damage including anything self-inflicted. Most of my foes were not as regenerative.
I was still concerned about the air vent vulnerability. Some sort of insect was likely the solution, another matter to turn over to my research teams.
105
I didn't have long to wait to put my defenses to the test. Two days later an attack came and, just as I expected, it was Jade making the first move. A powerful telekinetic even before becoming a District Lord, her powers—like mine—had been amplified by taking control of a portion of this city.
Jade hovered with a nimbus of green light around her body as, flanked by her lieutenants, she entered my district. They all seemed a bit fond of black leather and a truly unnecessary number of spikes, taking the whole playing-rebel thing seriously.
The research team working on beam weapon flowers had made quick progress. A modification of sparkseeds, they stored power in biochemical cells for specialized release through a focusing flower. It was the flower which was the problem. Focusing that much energy was complex and the team thought the flowers might incinerate themselves. Still, several fields had been planted for testing.
Jade was already splitting up her force into three parts and it looked like one of them might be heading in that direction.
Jade was on her own and heading towards my central core, after dispatching one team to my manufacturing and the other to my research wings. The woman really was foolish. Even if she were to avoid consequences for hurting me, harming the manufacturing efforts would be certain to irritate Sylax. The same went for if I survived, but lost them.