by D. B. Goodin
“Melissa?” he said.
“It’s about damn time,” Melissa said as she opened the passenger door.
“I think you should get in the back,” Julius said.
Melissa did as he asked; she had immediately noticed an exhausted Alexei Breven sitting in the passenger seat.
After a very long time, Alexei broke the silence.
“It surprised me to get your call. At first, I thought you were calling on behalf of the Shadow Dealers, but then Julius convinced me otherwise. I thought I should meet you in person.”
“Boss, where are we going?” Julius said.
“Tage Manor,” Alexei said.
“Why did you call this parley?” Alexei said.
Melissa explained her father’s plans in some detail, leaving out any details about April turning into Delta.
“He calls his group the Timeslicers,” Melissa said.
“How powerful is his AI?”
“Well, I know it has taken over the processing power of other AIs, so powerful enough.”
Melissa’s lower lip began quivering. I hardly know my own daughter. I was absent for most of her life, why do I have these feelings? She took in a few deep breaths, wiped some tears from her eyes before continuing.
“My daughter is dying,” she said at last. “My father needed genetic material to save her, but he’s gone too far this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“April, my daughter, is dying. My father wants to transform her . . . into a robot, cyborg . . . a monster,” Melissa said.
I’ve said too much! she immediately thought.
They rode in silence for quite some time; Melissa looked out at the road. Drifts of snow were forming, and fresh snow was falling.
“How long until we are at Tage Manor?” she asked.
“About a half hour. The snow is making driving . . . fun!” Julius said.
Alexei appeared to be in thought. He hadn't said a word since her robot story.
“So . . . what do you think?” Melissa said.
Alexei rubbed his eyes. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
“You trusting me is a start. I think we need a better evaluation of the situation before we can act. We are all meeting at Tage Manor to strategize and to discuss next steps,” Alexei said.
“Who will be there?”
“Other Collective Systems staff and a few guests who have information. I’ve called Natasha in. She manages a group of teenage interns who whose accomplishments are impressive.”
Julius turned off the main road and onto a smaller street hidden by a forest.
“Damn it, the road isn’t clear; hold on to something,” Julius said.
The slick road threw the car into a skid. Julius corrected the vehicle and got it back under control.
“I’m thankful for the all-wheel drive in this baby!” he said.
Several minutes later, they pulled up at Tage Manor. The entire house seemed to be lit up.
How many people are here? Melissa wondered.
A tall man, about the size of a football player, grabbed Melissa’s bags out of the trunk and brought them inside. Melissa admired the grandeur of the place as she entered. She noticed a tall man with gray hair, perhaps in his late sixties, approaching the group and extending a hand to Melissa.
“Hello, I’m Eldon Tage. Welcome to my home.”
Natasha entered Ellen’s room. Nigel was seated on the floor working on his computer. Milo and Cassidy were doing something on their phones. John sat in a chair next to Ellen.
“Pack your bags Nigel, we are going to Tage Manor now,” Natasha said.
“I want to be there when my mother wakes up,” Nigel demanded.
“I think you’ll want to hear what Mr. Tage has to say. I think we will find out who our mystery hacker is. Besides, John is with your mother. It will be okay, Nigel,” Natasha said.
“Great! My phone doesn’t have a signal,” Nigel bellowed.
“My phone works fine,” Cassidy said. “I have a signal,” Milo interjected.
“I will make sure that Milo and Cassidy get home,” John said.
“Milo, keep your phone on, in case we need some radio help,” Nigel said.
Thirty minutes later Natasha and Nigel were driving to Tage Manor. Natasha commanded her vehicle with precision. Snow was plummeting, covering the road. Nigel thought back to when he first met Natasha and Mr. Tage; it had only been six weeks ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
About twenty minutes later, Natasha pulled up to Tage Manor. Natasha put a hand on Nigel’s. He stared into her sapphire eyes for a long moment. They were radiant, almost seeming to glow in the dimming light. Nigel felt a little strange. His heart was racing, and he was sweating.
What’s the matter with me? he wondered.
“Come, let’s join the others. I believe the meeting is about to start,” Natasha said.
Nigel hesitated for another moment—he heard a tap on the car’s window, but it might as well have been a bang. Nigel jumped.
“What was that?”
Natasha opened the door. It was Alexei.
“Alexei, it is good to see you,” Natasha said.
“Come on inside. Mr. Tage has prepared dinner for us.”
Alexei extended a hand to Nigel as he got out of the car.
“Hello, Nigel. I hope you are feeling better,” Alexei said.
“Beterz now,” Nigel said in his robotic voice.
Alexei looked troubled. He pointed at Nigel’s homemade voice box.
“From the accident?” he asked.
“Dane, Mr. Henry’s son, made it for Nigel,” Natasha explained.
Alexei nodded, and then pointed at the manor. “Shall we?”
After entering the building, Nigel rubbed his hands together and stamped his feet; standing in the cold snow, even for a short time, had gotten to him.
“My boy, it is good to see you again,” a familiar voice said.
Nigel looked up, and Mr. Tage was approaching; he seemed to have aged two years since Nigel had last seen him. It was a bit unsettling.
“Hello, Mr. Tagze,” Nigel said.
Mr. Tage’s demeanor seemed to change. It was subtle, but noticeable. “I heard about the attack. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Nigel nodded.
“Come, you must be famished. My chef, Oscar, has prepared something delicious for us all,” Mr. Tage said as he walked toward the dining room.
Nigel hadn’t been to Mr. Tage’s formal dining room before. When he was last here, all his meals had been in other areas of the manor.
Several people Nigel didn’t know were at the dining table. Mr. Tage introduced each person in turn, Melissa last. The other guests included Viktor, Sasha, and Julius.
“Hello, Nigel,” Viktor said.
“Hey, kid, remember me?” Julius said.
“Thanks for helping us win the case,” Nigel said.
“No problem kid, glad it worked out.”
Nigel nodded as he took his place at the table.
They ate dinner in silence.
“We will have our dessert in the sitting room,” Mr. Tage announced when they were all finished.
The group followed Mr. Tage into a room as large as Nigel’s house. Several antique pieces of furniture and expensive-looking sculptures and artwork were visible.
An elderly butler cut several pieces of cake, poured cups of coffee, then left the room in a hurry. Mr. Tage drank coffee as he let everyone settle in with their dessert and coffee.
“Let’s get right to the point. Our guest has some news that all of you will want to hear,” Mr. Tage said.
Melissa described the events of her father’s plans to turn her daughter into Delta.
“Living up to my father’s expectations was never easy. I left because April needs our help,” Melissa said.
“Help? Why should we help you?” Viktor said.
“Youz weren’t listening to Melisza. Isn’t it obvioz?” Nigel said.
He seemed aggravated that his voice modulator was having problems.
Alexei pointed to Nigel’s neck. “I can help you with that, if you would like.”
Nigel nodded and smiled in return.
“The boy has a point. If even a fraction of this is true, it’s in our best interest to help April,” Mr. Tage said.
“We believe that they coordinated the attack on the lab with the holidays. A lot of good people died, and nobody saw it coming,” Alexei said.
Melissa looked uncomfortable, like she was about to cry. “My father hired this elite hacker guy to start a war between the Collective and Black Iris,” she said.
“Don’t think this is a coincidence. We are seeing strange traffic patterns around DDOS providers such as CloudShield. I’ve seen a lot of coordinated DDOS attack activity for several known Colossal Machine IP addresses. I’m sure there’s been some customer complaints,” Nigel said.
“There have been a lot of complaints—something about the world server,” Alexei said.
“That makes sense, since the role of the world server in any MMORPG is to have it maintain an active link to all other regional servers,” Nigel said.
“Melissa, do you know the name of the hacker your father hired?” Alexei asked.
“I think it was Greg or something, but he didn’t sound American. He had an accent,” Melissa said.
“Gregor?” Alexei asked.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Nigel couldn’t catch his breath. His mouth went dry, and his heart was pounding so hard that he could hear it beating in his ears.
“What’s wrong, my boy?” Mr. Tage said.
The entire room stared at Nigel, which did nothing for his nerves. Natasha put a hand on his shoulder. He caught his breath. Since the accident, even thinking about Gregor’s name was enough to put him in a panic.
“It will be all right, dear,” Natasha said.
“Gregor tried to have Nigel assassinated last fall,” Alexei said.
Melissa gave Nigel a sympathetic look.
“If Gregor is with Jeremiah, then we may have a more serious problem than previously thought,” Alexei said.
“I think that both the Collective and Black Iris are being played against each other. Perhaps another parley hosted by the Shadow Dealers might be in order,” Melissa said.
“We tried that. Those bastards wouldn’t even listen to us when these attacks first started almost two weeks ago,” Alexei said.
“I think we should hold any meeting here. I don’t trust the Shadow Dealers anymore,” Alexei said.
“Agreed. How do we contact Black Iris?” Mr. Tage asked.
“I have two contacts—”
Alexei cut Melissa off. “Under no circumstances should Hunter Garrison be anywhere near this meeting,” Alexei said.
“Why?” Melissa asked.
“He is the person responsible for Nigel’s condition.”
Melissa looked at Nigel’s neck, then back at Alexei.
“Long story, but the short answer is that Gregor placed a bounty on the Black Iris bounty board, and Hunter attempted to collect. Things got messy,” Alexei said.
“Well, we seem to be in a bit of a messy situation, alright,” Mr. Tage said.
The room fell silent for a moment.
“Boss, can I have a word with you?” Julius asked.
Alexei nodded at Julius.
“Excuse us for a moment,” Alexei said as they both left the room.
Julius followed Alexei into another room provided by Mr. Tage. It was far enough away from the others so they couldn’t eavesdrop.
“What’s on your mind, Julius?” Alexei said.
“I think we need a new perspective—about Black Iris, I mean.”
“How so?”
“The meeting with the Shadow Dealers was a screwup. There was something about Jony and Hunter that didn’t sit right with me,” Julius said.
“Agreed. I wouldn’t send them for pizza, let alone trust them with matters of importance,” Alexei said.
“That brings me to my next point, and you will not like it.”
“I’m listening,” Alexei said.
“We need to open a dialogue with Black Heart herself,” Julius said.
“That’s not a good idea!”
“I know it’s not ideal given your history, but we’re out of good options.”
Alexei thought for a moment.
“If we do this, she will want something in return, even if what we do benefits her.”
Julius shrugged.
“Boss, I support you regardless of any decision you make,” Julius said.
Alexei thoughts drifted far back to a young woman he’d met with black hair and a great smile. He had been in Prague visiting his cousin, Miroslav. During a late breakfast at a sidewalk café, he’d seen her sitting a table away. She was studying. He enjoyed having coffee with his cousin, but he watched her. When Miroslav stepped away to pay the bill, Alexei made his move. He walked over to her.
“Hello, my name is Alexei,” he said.
“Je mi ľúto že tomu nerozumiem,” she replied.
Alexei was Russian, but he spoke several languages. He recognized it as Slovenian. She didn’t understand what he was saying.
“Hi, my name is Alexei” he replied in Slovenian.
The girl with the black hair smiled back.
He then left his cousin and spent the day with her instead. He learned that she was a local university student studying history. Her name was Dahlia Verk. She was an idealist, and she told Alexei of a protest that she was attending later that day; she invited Alexei, and they attended it together. Later that week, he moved to Prague.
“Boss, are you okay?” It was Julius’s voice.
“Yes—I was lost in thought,” Alexei said, snapping back to the present.
“How do we contact her—Dahlia, I mean? I don’t want to go through Melissa’s contacts.”
“I don’t either. Dahlia and I have a digital dead drop that we can use. We promised each other that we would use it only if there was a great need to get in touch. I doubt she even monitors it. I’ll make the call, and please return to the others. I will rejoin the group once I send the message.” Alexei said.
Julius left without another word. Alexei made his way back to his laptop. He booted into a secret partition. After navigating a slew of hidden file structures, he found the file he was looking for. He opened it. A crude webpage appeared with two boxes. He entered “Calamitous” in the first box, and “Compassion” in the other. After a few moments, a web page appeared with a graphic of an old notebook with a hand-drawn black heart. He typed in the following message:
—D, we need to talk. I still remember the fire in a young woman’s heart. The girl who helped ignite a revolution that gave so many a fresh start. The idealist who stole my heart. I still think on the summer of ’89. The year that changed our lives, before we drew apart.
Love,
—A
Alexei walked back to the sitting room with a heavy heart.
“It’s about time you came back. I’m afraid that we’ve exhausted the cake. The boy can eat a lot!” Mr. Tage told Alexei as he entered.
Alexei smiled at Nigel. “That’s what teenage boys do, Eldon.”
“Have any of you come to a decision regarding Black Iris?” Melissa asked.
“I have, and I suspect that Dahlia will call on one of us soon,” Alexei said.
The room fell silent. All faces turned to Alexei.
“I don’t trust Dahlia’s lackeys. We need to take this matter direct to D herself.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing!” Natasha said in a serious tone.
“I used a digital dead drop, so it might be a while before she calls,” Alexei said.
“It’s late, so I suggest that we retire for the evening,” Mr. Tage said.
“Nigel, let me see that voice box,” Alexei said.
Nigel removed the voice modulator and handed it
Alexei.
“Follow me to my room,” Alexei said. “I have a tool kit in my bag.”
About thirty minutes later, Alexei handed the voice modulator circuit back to Nigel.
“Try to speak.”
“I didn’t know that you knew how to repair electronics,” Nigel said.
“It sounds great to me, Nigel.”
“This is the best news I’ve had in days. Thank you, Alexei.”
“We need you in top shape for the days to come. We still don’t know how events will unfold.”
Jeremiah entered the chamber where Delta had been born.
“Delta’s empathy receptors are malfunctioning. I think we should take her offline until we address the problems,” Ash said.
“What are the risks of taking her offline?” Jeremiah asked.
“Although most of her neural network is backed up to the core database inside of Leviathan, there is a small possibility of data loss.”
“What is the status of her neural net?”
“Her learning capacity has a problem because the empathy receptors are malfunctioning, but it shouldn’t cause any significant performance loss.
She speaks of my granddaughter as if she is a machine, Jeremiah thought bitterly. She will learn respect. They will all learn.
“We need to be careful. I don’t want to proceed if April is in danger,” Jeremiah said.
“Delta is not in any real danger. We just need to perform a tune-up,” Ash said.
Ash opened an access panel on the back of Delta’s neck and took some measurements. After a few more adjustments, Delta’s eyes opened. She tried to turn her head, but couldn’t. Restraints were in place. Her lips trembled.
“Grandfather? I’m scared!” Delta said.
She sounds just like April. Jeremiah felt his eyes water over. What’s wrong with me?
“Need to make more adjustments,” Ash said.
She took some tool and started working, as Delta continued to plead.
“Grandfather, she’s hurting me!”
Jeremiah watched Ash as she worked. Jeremiah could see tears running down Delta’s face.