“Your pardon, Dr. Miller, but your husband was one of the top scientists involved in the ANSIS project, and a highly respected researcher. We have no idea what that piece of code he left behind might be capable of.”
Tanya leaned forward, “From this point forward, Director, you would do better to worry about what I am capable of, if you like your post, that is. Am I understood?”
Her words struck him like a slap, but he kept his composure, “Perfectly, Doctor.”
“Good. Now, what do we know about their current location?”
“Satellite image analysis shows them somewhere close to Rochester. They don’t show up on every shot, and it’s difficult even for the image ASI to pick them out but we’re confident that they’re heading northward. You have family in Ipswich,” reported Aiseman.
“Gary’s sister, Roberta,” said Tanya. “She was always backward, unwilling to adapt. She was one of the last to get implants.”
Director Aiseman looked worried, “If they make contact with her, we’ll have their position, but Ipswich is densely populated. We can’t risk a major use of force there.”
“If the situation requires it, we will do whatever is necessary, Director. Australia was no accident. This isn’t a game.” Tanya Miller leaned back in her chair. “For now, the risk seems smaller than I initially thought since we found no evidence of infection in Colorado. You can tap into Roberta’s implants, correct?”
Aiseman nodded.
“Then we’ll observe for now. We may learn something. If we discover reason for concern, we will move with decisive force in Ipswich, if not, we can wait until they leave the city. I’m starting to think it might be useful to bring Karen in alive, if possible.”
“That should be a relief for you, then,” commented Aiseman.
Tanya frowned, “Why?”
“She is your daughter, after all.”
Dr. Miller’s lip curled, “She’s a failed experiment, Director, nothing more.” She paused and then added, “Or perhaps not, it may be that she has begun to develop.”
Donald Aiseman suppressed a faint shudder at the coldness in her tone. Whatever Karen Miller was, he felt sorry for her. No one should have such a monster for a mother.
Tanya ignored his discomfort, “Inform me when they make contact, or if the situation changes, until then keep the drones away. We’ll rely on more passive means of surveillance to avoid tipping our hand.”
***
“That’s Ipswich ahead,” said Karen.
“Are you sure?” asked Matt.
She nodded, “There aren’t any other populated areas left in this region. Can you make Desacus invisible?”
He wasn’t familiar with several of the words she used, Explain.
Can you hide the dragon, make him invisible? she asked mentally, repeating her question.
Matthew shook his head, No, only the Prathions have that gift.
I guess it was too much to hope for. We will have to leave him here then, to avoid creating a panic.
I can disguise him, suggested Matthew, make him look like something else.
Camouflage?
An illusion, he told her, agreeing with the basic idea. I just need an image of something close to his size that people would find normal.
He nodded, A drone would be too small.
A pert, she told him. We use them to move around and carry things. It’s like a flying car.
Matthew could see an image in her thoughts, but it was indistinct. Mental images were usually like that, especially in the minds of people who weren’t mages. Wizards were taught to sharpen their mental images, and long practice made it easier, but most people had no need for such exercises.
“Think of it,” he told her. “I’ll create a visual and try to improve it until you think it looks right.”
Following what he could see in her thoughts he started with a grey rectangle that tapered on either end. The corners and edges were rounded, and various lines marked the places where separate pieces connected, denoting doors and windows. It had four circular protuberances at each corner, and gradually he came to understand that those were fans of some sort.
Karen watched what he was doing with interest, and she was able to refine her mental picture as she looked at it. His illusion improved with each passing moment, reflecting her revisions. “It’s better,” she told him, “but it still doesn’t look quite right.”
She continued adjusting her mental picture, but it was like trying to sculpt a car from wet clay. She realized she had never really examined her pert that closely before. She could point to any given part and tell it wasn’t quite right, but some of her changes only made it worse.
It looked like a child’s painting of a pert.
Abruptly the image stopped changing, and its lines sharpened. The surface smoothed and became more realistic, though it still wasn’t right.
“That wasn’t me,” Karen stated.
“I know,” said Matthew, his lips forming a faint smirk. “It wasn’t getting any better so I decided to fix it.”
His patronizing tone irritated her, “It still isn’t correct.”
“At least it looks solid,” he remarked, and then climbed up on Desacus’s back. Leaning over he held out a hand to help her up. “If we see one when we fly over I can improve it.”
Grudgingly she pulled herself up with the aid of his proffered arm. She refrained from responding to his comment. The clumsy image of the pert moved sideways and settled around Desacus. It was partially transparent from within, so they could see out with their normal vision. It didn’t impair magesight at all, but magesight didn’t have the necessary range one would desire while flying, especially in her world.
“My tail and wings are sticking out,” observed the dragon.
Matthew nodded, and the illusion expanded until it was large enough to cover him completely. “Noted.”
“Now it’s too large,” said Karen.
In the air distances are subject to observer bias, explained Matthew. As long as we are not too close, the viewer will account for the size by thinking we are closer than we actually are.
Once in the air, Desacus flew at a much higher altitude than what they had been traveling at, though it was still far from what he considered high. They were only around two thousand feet up. Karen assured him it was the proper height for a pert over the city, though.
There wasn’t much traffic over Ipswich, but as soon as they spotted another pert Matthew directed his dragon to fly toward it. The illusion around Desacus improved steadily as they approached, and by the time they passed the other vehicle, at a distance of several hundred feet, Karen could tell their illusion was close to perfect. It didn’t waver afterward either, Matthew’s mental reproduction of what he had seen was rock solid.
How do you make it so perfect? she asked him.
The Prathions are generally the most skilled with illusions, he told her, but I do have the advantage of an infallible memory.
That didn’t reconcile well with what she had been taught concerning the brain. True photographic memory is a myth, she replied. No one has perfect recall.
I do, he answered. You would too, if you had a seedmind like the children of the She’Har.
Is that how you do it? she asked.
No, I am not of the She’Har. I just inherited one of their gifts, and their knowledge, he explained. My memory seems to be a side effect of that.
They passed one or two more perts as they made their way to the central portion of Ipswich and descended into a strange open area with rectangular lines drawn across a smooth stone-like surface.
“Land inside one of the parking spots,” Karen advised him.
He assumed she meant one of the rectangles. As they dropped lower he decreased the size of his illusion gradually. Inevitably there were a few moments where Desacus’s wings and tail extended beyond the boundary, but once they were on the ground he folded them and curled up to fit within the illusion. Matthew doubted anyone had noticed
the brief discrepancy.
“Where are all the people?” he asked Karen. There were several other perts parked in the lot, but the streets and buildings seemed empty. Occasionally a pert or drone would fly by, however.
She shrugged, “At home, people don’t get out much anymore. Ooh, there’s someone.” She pointed down the smooth blacktopped road where a figure had rounded the corner.
Matthew raised his staff defensively and created a shield when he saw the mechanical creature, assuming it was one of the strange soldiers he had fought before, but Karen put a hand on his shoulder.
“Slow down, cowboy. It’s just a regular person,” she whispered in his ear. They were still standing beside Desacus, enclosed within the illusion of the pert, so there was no danger the machine had spotted them.
Matt gave her an odd stare, “That is not a person.”
“It’s an android,” she stated. When that didn’t help she switched to mental communication, An android, a robot that looks like a person.
As I said, he responded, it isn’t a person.
She shook her head, Yes, it is. People who have been uploaded occasionally use them to interact in the physical world. It might even be an organic who just doesn’t want to leave the house. Either way, it’s a person. I’m going to go talk to her.
How do you know it’s a her?
It’s wearing a summer dress, so it’s either a woman or someone who prefers to be identified as such. After being uploaded gender is sort of a moot point anyway, she replied.
There was an awkward moment as she squeezed around the dragon to slip out of the illusion on the opposite side. Matthew had never seen a pert’s doors opening and closing before so it was better to exit on the side the android couldn’t observe. Before she stepped out he touched her shoulder and sent a fine thread of aythar outward as he mouthed a strange word. Her skin changed color, hiding her unusual blue tone.
“Stay here,” she told him, then she walked around the dragon and headed for the android.
As she had pointed out it was wearing a lovely floral print dress. She could tell the android was one of the newer models, for while it was still obviously a machine it moved fluidly and its surface was covered with an almost lifelike surface in a natural beige tone.
Matt watched and listened carefully. Karen approached the man-shaped thing almost thirty yards distant, but his dragon enhanced hearing was more than adequate to pick up what they were saying.
“Hello,” began Karen.
The machine had focused on her as she approached, and it smiled at her greeting, “Hello.”
“I need directions, if you don’t mind?”
The android’s face developed a look of faint concern that was close to a normal human expression, but the subtle differences only succeeded in making Matt’s skin crawl. Its voice was feminine as it replied, “Are your implants malfunctioning? There’s a medical facility not far from here, if you need assistance…”
Karen waved her offer away, “No, I don’t have implants. It’s a medical condition. I have to use a PM, but I lost it. I need to find the office of a friend here in the city.”
The female android’s mouth opened in an ‘o’ of surprise, and her features showed something like pity, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize. I didn’t mean any offense. Which office are you looking for, I’ll be glad to look it up.”
Karen looked embarrassed, “I don’t know the name of the office, but I’m looking for Roberta Plant, an estate agent who works in Ipswich.”
The android paused for only a second before responding, “She works for Nicholas Estates. Their branch office is in the Building Society building on Hening.” The machine added an address that meant little to Matthew.
“I’m not familiar with the city,” said Karen. “Which way should we head?”
“East. The A14 is just south of here, follow it across the Orwell Bridge and then look for Nacton road. Go left from that intersection and you’re almost there,” answered the android. After a second it stuck out its hand, “I’m April, by the way.”
“Karen,” she said and took its hand. “Sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. Thank you for your help.”
Matthew gave her an odd look when she returned, “Is your aunt like that too?”
She laughed, “Oh no, I doubt it. Aunt Roberta isn’t convinced that uploading is a good thing, yet. She did finally get implants, but I’d be very surprised if she ever uses telepresence.”
“Telepresence?”
Karen tried to explain mentally, Androids like that can be used by those who are uploaded, to operate in the physical world, but some organics with implants also use them when they would rather not leave the house. The person I was talking to could be a normal person at home, or it could be a fully digital person.
Matthew was even more confused, What’s the difference?
Someone who is uploaded would likely be using the android directly, transferring their core into the machine, whereas someone with implants would be using it remotely. She struggled to find a good analogy. It’s like the difference between riding a horse and becoming a horse when you need to go somewhere.
“Oh,” said Matthew at last. The concept was foreign, but he thought he understood the gist of it—maybe.
Chapter 17
When they finally stepped into the office, they were greeted by another android, though this one was dressed in clothes that Karen assured him were masculine in nature. The machine had a helpful nametag on his chest that said ‘Andrew’.
“Can I help you?” asked the android, giving them both an up and down look as he appraised their strange clothing.
“I’m here to see Roberta Plant. Is she in?” asked Karen.
Matthew was busy studying the plethora of strange objects that adorned the interior of the building. The floor was covered in a strange rug that seemed to stretch from wall to wall. He wondered how they managed to clean it since it was almost immaculate, and yet there was no obvious way that he could see for the inhabitants to remove it for cleaning.
The furniture in the room was equally bizarre. Some of it was constructed from wood, but other pieces were made of metal or smooth glass-like materials. All of it was exceedingly plain. Everything was constructed with perfect lines, smooth and unmarred by wear and tear, but it also lacked much in the way of carving or other decoration.
The walls were a stark white with no sign of any blemish or imperfection. Beneath the surface he could detect some sort of oddly uniform blocks made of a stony material, but they were covered with a material that reminded him somewhat of plaster, although it was clearly different.
“Are you a client?” asked the android, watching Matthew with an odd expression. The young man was staring about him in wonder at the room.
Karen started to explain that it was her aunt but at the last second she decided it might be better not to do so. “Possibly, I had some questions for her about a property.”
Andrew seemed suspicious, and his eyes kept returning to Karen’s makeshift wool shirt, “Perhaps if you could tell me which property it is you’re interested in…”
A woman’s voice came from the hallway behind him, “Andrew, is someone here?” A moment later the owner of said voice looked around the edge of the doorway from her office. Twinkling blue eyes looked at them from a round face, “Oh goodness, we do have visitors!”
Andrew turned toward her, “I was just asking about their business.”
“No need, send them in!” ordered the woman.
A moment later Matthew found himself seated in what was possibly the strangest chair he had ever encountered. It had a metal frame that seemed to be all of one piece, supporting the cushioned seat and bending into a rounded rectangle to act as legs. It was upholstered with a strange fabric, and the seat seemed as though it was molded to conform to his posterior. It was so soft he felt immediately uncomfortable.
Roberta and Karen had just finished a long, and to Matthew, overly emotional reunion h
ug. Karen’s aunt had visible tears in her eyes when she sat down across from them. “I can’t believe you’re here!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming, and what on earth are you wearing?”
“It’s a long story,” began Karen, “but I think it might be best to tell you everything this evening. I didn’t really know I was coming until yesterday. I’m in a bit of trouble.”
“Even yesterday, you could have called, or sent me a message,” chided her aunt before changing topics suddenly. “Oh! Where are my manners? You haven’t introduced me to your friend!” She gave Matthew an apologetic look.
Karen started to explain that Matthew didn’t speak their language, but he was already rising from his seat.
Leaning across the desk Matt extended his hand, “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Matthew Illeniel.”
“Roberta Plant,” responded Roberta with a smile that was entirely genuine. “Is that armor? Are you a historical enthusiast?”
Her aunt had always been an extremely sociable woman, and she was certainly not shy about asking questions. Karen’s father had remarked on it numerous times, but this was Karen’s first time experiencing it as an adult herself.
Matthew got the gist of her first question, but the second stumped him, “Armor, yes.” He glanced at Karen for help.
“He only recently learned English, so he doesn’t understand everything you’re saying, Auntie,” cautioned Karen.
Roberta waved her hands, “Nothing the auto-translator can’t handle I’m sure, though it must be a little awkward for you, my dear.” She addressed Matthew, “Where are you from?”
That question was simple enough for him, but he still didn’t know how to answer. He gave Karen a helpless shrug, unsure how she wanted to handle it.
“He doesn’t have implants, Roberta,” Karen informed her. “He’s like me, and I’ve lost my PM, so I have no idea what language he speaks.”
Roberta frowned, “You know how strange all this sounds, Dear. You show up out of the blue, wearing—is that a poncho? You’ve an odd young man with you, and you’re not sure where he’s from—does your mother know about this?”
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