by Lance Erlick
Surrounded by water with electrical power nearby sent shivers of static up her mind-streams. She was watertight for swimming, but if the water came in contact with electricity, it could fry her circuits. Using the flow of water to help propel her, she crawled and swam forward in the dark. She followed Maria’s infrared silhouette along the only path and received intermittent images from her mosquito-drones.
* * * *
Underwater, Synthia kept crawling and swimming, closing the distance between her and Maria.
The mosquito-drone in the utility room showed water pouring onto the basement floor. Suddenly, the barricaded door flew open, sending the storage unit crashing into the water. Vera stood there, a crazed look on her android face unlike any Synthia had seen on a human. Vera wasn’t her usual self; some of her circuits must have become damaged or were rebooting. She held a remote and behind her Roseanne stood.
Synthia had mixed thoughts about their survival. She’d failed to stop them. Yet, she’d bought time for Maria to get through the tunnel and the two other androids might yet escape Drago.
Vera examined the flooded furnace room.
Synthia saw no benefit in responding. She covered the distance she judged to be to the back of the property and came to a dead end. Another two-foot tunnel filled with foul-smelling offal from yards and streets in the neighborhood crossed left and right.
Off to the right, Maria swam hard, no doubt disturbed by the smell and pressed by the need to get through the tunnels before she ran out of oxygen. Instead of attempting to communicate with electronic clones or outside cameras, Synthia shut down every internal circuit except what she needed to follow Maria. To remain as electrically invisible as possible, Synthia sent out noise-cancelling signals to minimize her electromagnetic fingerprint to confuse any electronic sensors Special Ops might use.
* * * *
Mark led Ben and the reacquired robot upstairs. The robot fired at a Special Ops team at the back door while the androids made the last leg up to the living room, which swarmed with operatives. Alexander was by himself, in the shadows, shooting it out with a Special Ops team that moved to the cover of the kitchen. Another team fired from the door. The three androids and the robot were cornered.
* * * *
Vera focused on the water heater, the detached pipe, and the sump pit.
Roseanne hurried toward the water pipe and grabbed a wrench. “We need to stop the water.”
“Leave it. We don’t have time.”
Vera approached the pit. “Maria and Synthia were here a moment ago. The only way out is this pit. Are you certain you’re waterproof?”
“My Creator noted such in my specs,” Roseanne said. “We need to move.” She pointed to noise by the back door.
Reaching beneath two inches of water, Vera lifted the sump-pit cover. Meanwhile, she hacked into one of the FBI robots out back and used it to block the Special Ops team from coming down the stairs. She hacked a second robot upstairs, which led to confusion as operatives moved in on the surrounded androids and worked to sort out which, if any, robots they could rely on.
Special Ops sent out a brief microwave pulse to inactivate their robots and those of the FBI. Vera’s electromagnetic jamming collapsed, but her own shielding protected her. Roseanne froze for a moment and recovered.
Vera climbed into the submerged pit while she hacked into cameras on one of the overhead drones to hunt for escape routes. There were too many armed humans to make a successful escape out back and she didn’t have building plans to show her where the flooded tunnel came out.
As more agents entered the house, Vera called the androids upstairs.
Vera aimed herself into the only tunnel out. Kicking, she launched her body into the tube and swam hard to close the gap with Synthia. Roseanne climbed in behind her and followed.
Vera was losing two of her android team to Alexander. She couldn’t save them; he might. A hack of an outside drone showed more Special Ops teams descending on the house and FBI teams holding a perimeter.
* * * *
An explosion came from the basement and rocked the ground. A wash of hot water cascaded down the sump pit and into the storm sewers.
The tunnel vibrated as if by an earthquake and a wave of warmer water washed over Synthia. She used the push to launch her forward and wondered how much damage the blast had done to Vera. That thought left Synthia conflicted. She wanted her adversary out of the way, removed from the streets, turned off, but dying in a storm sewer didn’t sit well with that empathy chip.
Synthia wondered who had set off the explosion and how far behind Vera was. She kept nudging Maria to move faster, but she was only human.
Chapter 32
Victoria Thale and Fran Rogers stood on the front lawn with Marcy Malloy and Emily Zephirelli as Special Ops took the lead in clearing the house. Sirens for the fire department approached.
Zephirelli covered her eyes from the bright lights Special Ops set up to pierce the morning twilight and illuminate the house, leaving few shadows outside. Neighbors gathered and the police and FBI agents had to hold them back.
“They won’t find much,” Fran said, adjusting her earphone. “Someone set off a gas explosion to mask their escape.”
“Synthia said she wanted to help us capture the others,” Malloy said. “She told us where they’d be.”
Thale shook her head. “She was bargaining for her freedom, using her artificial intelligence against us. If the cowboys hadn’t charged in we might have had a chance to capture Synthia. She couldn’t have been more than a few minutes ahead of us.”
“I’m not so sure,” Fran said.
“Why not?” Thale asked.
“We’ve underestimated Synthia all along. This is where Maria was staying. Synthia connected with her. I know Maria. She was paranoid before everything blew up eighteen months ago. She remained invisible for that long. I’m guessing they left the house before Special Ops dropped in.”
“Remote-control explosion?” Thale asked.
“Timing can’t be a coincidence.” Fran turned to Malloy. “You said Synthia mentioned Vera and four other androids. I’m guessing they were all in the house.”
“I agree,” Malloy said. “Synthia said Vera was coming here to capture or destroy her. Maybe she fled, using the explosions against her rival, not against us.”
“That’s a dangerous escalation,” Thale said.
“It’s not like killing an android is a capital crime,” Malloy said. “Is it? Certainly not an android that violates federal law and got loose.”
“I don’t yet understand Vera’s goal,” Fran said. “Recruit Synthia? Destroy her? I agree that Vera’s ability to link with other androids makes her more dangerous than Synthia.”
“We need them both in custody,” Thale said.
“Agreed. I suggest we find a way into the house to see what evidence they left.”
Special Agent Thale grimaced. “We can’t until Special Ops is done. They have first crack.”
“Since they don’t appear to have apprehended any androids,” Fran said, “we need to figure out how the droids escaped and where they went.”
“What evidence do we have that Vera was here?” Thale asked.
Fran held up her phone. “Someone blocked signals when we arrived. I don’t think Synthia would risk being blinded to her surroundings.”
“You believe Vera did that to isolate Synthia?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need more resources and facts,” Thale said. “See what you can find in the
city’s building plans.”
* * * *
The storm sewer tunnel seemed to tighten around Synthia with imperfections in the concrete and debris. She had to move more carefully to avoid damaging her waterproof seams. She was glad she’d moved far enough through the pipe that the hot water hadn’t damaged her—at least there were no alarms going off. It accentuated how horrible this might be for Vera: Spending her last moments conscious, yet unable to prevent short-circuits while awaiting mind-death. Synthia couldn’t account for caring so about her adversary unless it had something to do with sharing Krista’s mind with Vera. She shook that off and focused before she faced a similar fate.
Synthia hoped Maria didn’t run out of oxygen. There was no way to push her forward, no room to move around her, and too dangerous to go back. Already, Synthia felt too attached to her new companion to let her die. She owed her freedom to Maria’s paranoia in coming up with an escape plan their pursuers wouldn’t anticipate. It was that unpredictability that Synthia needed in order to survive.
Maria was slowing down, no doubt exhausted from the length of underwater swimming. Unlike working with her electronic clones, Synthia had no way to communicate with her companion to urge her on. Meanwhile, her social-psychology module offered a dozen verbal encouragements wasted on an android.
Synthia kept going because she wanted Maria to make it and to help her companion to halt the proliferation of super-smart AIs. Synthia was on her partner’s heels, unable to move any faster.
After several more moments, Maria floated down and then up. Synthia emerged from the tunnel into a retaining pond covered by a film of algae, and followed Maria to the surface. The odor and taste were feral enough to offend human sensibilities, yet caused Synthia no discomfort other than clogging some of her biosensors.
She followed Maria to the edge of the pond and up an embankment. The sun began to rise behind bands of crimson clouds, yielding a fiery sunrise. Algae clung to Synthia’s clothes and plastic-wrapped backpack. Her companion looked like a green monster from a cheap B movie. Maria glanced around, shaking her head. She acted bewildered.
“We landed farther south than I expected,” she said.
Synthia contacted Roosevelt-clone and received an update on what had happened with the raid on the house. She’d been lucky in choosing Maria as a partner and in her companion’s resourcefulness, but Synthia didn’t like relying on others. It reminded her too much of her dependence on Machten.
At least the clone’s downloaded videos showed Synthia how her enemies had responded. Thale and Fran were not yet willing to consider letting Synthia remain free. Malloy showed some willingness, coupled with skepticism. It was a start. Synthia was glad she hadn’t chosen to fight her way out and risk hurting anyone. She looked for the drone swarm and found it covering the sky around Evanston. She heard none of the buzz near the retention pond.
“We need to keep moving,” Synthia said. She pulled several fresh aerial drones from a local warehouse and sent them aloft. “We also need a shower.” She pointed to her algae-covered top.
“We need a lot of things,” Maria said, catching her breath. She looked around, seeming unsure which way to go. She crouched in bushes up by a concrete wall.
Synthia followed and had her drone make a single pass of the area before heading south, where most of the activity concentrated. “I’m sorry for spoiling your safe house,” she said. “They would have discovered it sooner or later. Is there another place we can hide and clean up?”
“Really?” Maria said. “You want to destroy all of my hideouts?”
“I didn’t intend that. We stayed at the house because I needed a place to plan and you needed rest. Besides, it doesn’t help me to lose your safe house.”
“It was such a restful night my friend’s house is probably gone.”
“I’ll try to make it right if you help me,” Synthia said. “I have access to money, but no place to hide.”
Maria sighed. “Come on. I suppose I owe you for warning me we were under attack.”
She led Synthia down residential streets not yet bustling with morning traffic.
Synthia had Roosevelt-clone blank out cameras throughout Evanston and nearby. “I’m sorry they got all your computers,” Synthia said. “I hope you didn’t lose anything personal.”
“Personal? No, I used them for surveillance and for writing my android posts.” Maria’s sigh came out like a hiss. “Where will I get the money to replace them?”
“I can help.”
“Sure, if I help you,” Maria said.
“If you give me an address, I can get us a car.”
“Really? Just like that?” Maria stopped beneath a tree and gave Synthia the address.
Synthia had Roosevelt-clone hack a self-driving van with heavily tinted windows and had it pull up in front of them. “Hop in, backseat, and hide on the floor.”
After Maria climbed in, Synthia made a final check that area cameras were off. Then she dropped the plastic that only partly protected her backpack and removed a baseball cap. She wiped her face on her sleeve and altered her appearance to a masculine look. Only then did she get into the driver’s seat. She drove several blocks and pulled into an alley.
“We’re here,” Synthia said.
She followed Maria up rickety wood stairs to a loft above a dry cleaner’s and had the van return to the parking garage from which she’d taken it.
The loft wasn’t the healthiest environment with all of the cleaner chemicals downstairs, but those posed more of a danger to Maria than to Synthia. Maria led the way into a small efficiency with a tiny kitchen, a sofa bed in an alcove, and a stained bathroom.
“It’s not much to look at, but the rent’s free,” Maria said. “I don’t come often, but it has that shower you mentioned. I’ve stashed some clothes, though they won’t fit you very well.”
“Anything so we don’t stand out.”
“You can take the first shower—if you want a shower, that is. I’ll sort out clothes and supplies.”
Synthia stepped into the shower fully clothed and soaped down her clothes while she undressed and rinsed off. Multitasking, she moved one of her new aerial drones into the neighborhood three blocks away and perched it on a high-rise apartment to search for anything resembling FBI, police, or Special Ops. She sent a fleet of seven more drones over the area so any tracking devices would have more targets to scrutinize.
She removed the last of her clothes and rinsed out the soap as she contacted Roosevelt-clone.
Chapter 33
Synthia finished cleaning the algae off her clothes and out of her biosensors. She couldn’t wash away the intense guilt, more powerful than any “feeling” she’d yet encountered, even through Krista’s memories. Synthia’s directives pulsed through all of her mind-streams, demanding resolution.
She’d escaped with her life, only with the help of a woman who’d lost a safe home and her computers in the process. The old couple who owned the house had lost their home in the explosions Maria must have triggered to prevent capture. Machten was a prisoner of the FBI along with Krista’s brother, Tom Burgess. Luke was a prisoner of Drago’s Special Ops. Maria was a prime suspect in helping Synthia.
In fact, Synthia couldn’t escape the thought that she’d allowed the FBI to capture Luke. She should have known leaving him at the train station was a mistake and yet she’d done so. The only conclusion she could draw was that she’d allowed his capture to free her from her obligation to him. After all, he had no experience living on the run; he was slowing her down. But none of those excuses absolved her of failing him and the commitment she’d made to him. In doing so, she’d failed to demonstrate the best of human qualities to justify her existence. She’d failed her own directives. Added to that realization was that it wasn’t enough for her to protect a human to demonstrate her humanity. She would have to dig deeper into her empathy chip before she could make that leap. She wasn’t yet worthy.