Promethean Files 2: The Prometheus Gambit

by Andrew Dobell

  ‘Brenna told me what you did. How could you do that?’

  ‘Zhou, it’s not as simple as you think,’ Xenox tried to explain.

  ‘Seems like it to me. You planned your escape as a pair, and then you left her behind, left her to face the wrath of the Corporation. That’s pretty bad. I always thought you were a bit selfish, but I ignored it, thought it wasn’t that bad. It was how you rose to the position you had, you don’t get anywhere in a Corporation without being a little self-centered, but this? I’m warning you, Xenox, keep away from the virus. I don’t want you ruining this, too.’

  ‘What? It was my idea!’ Xenox protested.

  ‘Exactly, which makes me wonder why.”

  ‘Zhou, if it makes you happy, I will assign Dion to watch the progress of this virus from now on, okay?’ Frankie said.

  Zhou frowned. ‘Sure,’ he said, backing off and then turning away and walking back towards the lift.

  ‘You’re not making friends around here,’ Frankie said.

  ‘Like I said, skeletons. I’ll be in my lab if you need me,’ he said.

  ‘Sure thing,’ Frankie muttered and watched Xenox walk off.

  Frankie stepped down the ramp and wandered over to William.

  ‘Another successful mission,’ he said. ‘You’re getting good at this.’

  ‘We were lucky, in most respects,’ she said haltingly.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Aaah, I thought they might have told you,’ she muttered, suddenly gaining a new level of respect for her teammates and their respect for her privacy. ‘I ran into my parents on the train, had a little… discussion with them.’

  ‘You’re estranged from your parents, though, right?’

  ‘I ran away from them, yes, but they live in London, so I wasn’t expecting to see them in Germany. But, the plan still went well,’ she said.

  ‘They won’t be a threat to us, to this?’

  ‘I don’t see how. I think the plan can proceed as discussed. Speaking of which, how’s it all going?’

  ‘Well, now we have all the programmers, I thought we’d go and check in with them, see how’s it’s all going. Want to come with me?

  ‘Sure,’ Frankie said, and walked with William over to the bank of elevators and summoned one to them. A few minutes later, they were on the main working level of the base and walking through the door to the lab where Janus was coordinating the coding of the virus.

  The room was filled with five for six terminals, all humming away and making the room one of the warmest in the complex. They had just walked in behind Cole, Gibson, and Veronica, who had brought Angela into the room, still cuffed and looking very unhappy about it.

  Kalypso and Janus walked over to her while Brenna and Zhou sat nearby at terminals with Dion off to one side at another.

  ‘So, you’re Angela. Do you know why you’re here?’ Janus asked.

  ‘Like I care?’ Angela said.

  ‘Look, it’s easier if you just cooperate with us. We’ll be hacking into your cyber brain anyway, but all we need is your expertise in the Nano Technic, nanobots. We want access to them; we need to bypass their security. So, you can either cooperate, or we’ll go straight for the deep dive into your mind. Either way, we’re getting what we want. Your choice,’ Janus said.

  ‘Not much of a choice, is it?’ Angela said.

  ‘Life’s a bitch, and then you die. Get over it,’ Kalypso said.

  ‘Well, I suppose I’ll cooperate, but don’t think for one moment that I won’t sabotage this whole thing if I get even half a chance, because I will,’ Angela spat.

  ‘I’d expect nothing less from a Corporate lackey like you,’ Janus said.

  ‘And it’s for that very reason that we have a doll here to guard you twenty-four hours a day,’ Kalypso said, smiling as a doll, its matt black casing blending into the shadows, stepped over to her side. William had ordered that all the dolls in the A.C.T. have their shiny white casings switched out for much more stealthy matt black ones. Frankie liked the new look, it was very much in keeping with their status as a covert organisation.

  The doll raised one hand, which then transformed into a gun: its fingers and palm peeling back to reveal the barrel.

  Angela looked at it with disgust.

  ‘Say hello to your new best friend. He’ll stand by your bed while you sleep and watch you take a piss. He will never leave your side while you are here. Understand?’ Kalypso said.

  ‘Wonderful, all my dreams have come true,’ Angela answered back, deadpan.

  ‘Right, let’s get you set up and working,’ Janus said. Dion stepped forward and directed her to where she should be, the doll never more than a few feet from her.

  ‘Good work, guys,’ William said to Frankie and her team. ‘I think we’re on the home stretch, and the Corps seem oblivious to us for the most part, which is excellent.’

  ‘Everything okay, Director?’ Janus said, walking over with Kalypso by his side.

  ‘How’s the virus coming along?’ he asked.

  ‘Amazingly well. Zhou and Brenna have been invaluable. With them, and the data from the hack of Rin, we’re nearly there. I just need to add in the access to Nano Technic and make sure it doesn’t throw anything else out, and we’re about there. Maybe another day or two’s work.’ Janus said.

  ‘Excellent, I can’t wait to see if this actually works,’ William answered.

  ‘Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll get back to work. I have a long few days ahead to get this done,’ Janus said, excusing himself.

  ‘Of course, don’t let me hold you up,’ William said.

  Frankie said goodbye too, and they all left Janus and his team to it, apart from Kalypso, who stayed in there.

  A short while later, Frankie was wandering back to her quarters alone while thinking about her parents. It had been a long time since she had seen them. In fact, it was getting on for a year without any contact. She thought she had seen a less happy, more tired side to her mother, while her father didn’t look much different. He was still the handsome man he’d always been, but that cold, indifferent side to him was also still there.

  She wondered what they would be thinking, having seen her assault the train and shoot a security guard with her team. They would be having a crazy evening, wondering what on earth had happened to their daughter. It actually made her smile, thinking of the confusion she had no doubt just generated for them.

  Maybe she should surprise them one day? Drop in and say hi?

  But why? Why do that when the whole reason she left was because she felt she couldn’t be around them anymore? She found their blind indifference or ignorance, whichever it was, just utterly disgusting.

  They’d seen her now. They knew she was alive and well, and even though part of her relished proving to her parents that she could be someone, she knew that contacting them would be a mistake.

  She’d be doing it for purely selfish reasons: to show off her new found skills and her new body. Her parents had always banned her from getting cybernetics. Apart from the nano machines she got from her mother, they had always denied her requests for a neural net and other upgrades, always without really explaining why. By the time she had started University and found some independence, she just didn’t see the need to get the upgrades. Why bother? She had never needed them and never missed them, so she continued on without them, finding that her Data Pad did everything she might need to do in the online world.

  Doctor Xenox had changed all that. Now she was state of the art. A high spec custom cyborg with military, special forces data packages and top of the line hacking software all in a body made from cutting edge materials and quantum circuitry that was stronger, faster, and tougher than any biological body.

  She couldn’t deny it: she really wanted to show that off to her parents, to rub it in their faces and to show them she could make it in this harsh digital world.

  She sighed. It was a fun idea, but utterly foolish and ridiculous, really. She would
be jeopardising everything, maybe she already had? Her parents seeing her like that on the train, part way through a mission, was not part of the plan, and who knew what her parents might do now they had seen their daughter alive and well?

  But there was nothing she could do about that now; the damage was done.

  Time would tell, she supposed.

  Ω

  Frankie knocked on the door to William’s office. He had just called her down from her quarters and asked her to come to his office. He’d mentioned a visitor, but little else.

  ‘Come in,’ William called from the other side of the door.

  Frankie opened it and wandered inside to see William sitting behind his desk, with Isaac, Clare, and also the Prime Minister of England, Susan Weaver, sitting opposite him. A heavily cyberized bodyguard stood to the side, just behind the PM.

  ‘Mrs Weaver, I don’t believe you have had the pleasure of meeting the leader of our strike team in person, yet. This is Frankie Gene, Frankie, Prime Minister Susan Weaver,’ he said, introducing them.

  ‘Frankie, I’ve heard so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. You’re doing great work for us,’ Susan said.

  ‘Thank you, ma’am,’ Frankie answered her, recognising Susan from the many images and videos she’d seen of her on the news and in the contact that the A.C.T. had with her.

  ‘Please, call me Susan. Ma’am was how we referred to the Queens and Princesses of the royal family before they were killed in World War Three,’ she smiled. ‘I hear we’re close to completing this mission, is that right?’

  ‘Susan, of course,’ Frankie smiled back. ‘Well, yes, it’s going well. We have all the programmers here at the base now, putting the finishing touches to the virus,’ Frankie said.

  ‘That's great news. Can we go and see how things are progressing? And then maybe we can retire back here and you can run me through the missions?’ Susan said.

  ‘Absolutely,’ William agreed and stood. ‘Frankie, if you’d like to lead the way?’

  Frankie nodded and led them all out of the office and down the corridor towards the lab.

  ‘So, I am aware of your recent change of body, which was kind of unexpected? Is that right?’ Susan asked.

  ‘That is correct, yes. I was shot down in a Jacker Gang attack in the Undercity and found by Doctor Xenox. Luckily, he saved my life by transplanting my brain into this body. It was somewhat unexpected, not quite what I had in mind, but, had he not done it, I would not be here today, that’s for sure.’

  ‘And now you’re helping us. I understand you have a dislike for the Corporations that are running amok on this earth,’ Susan said.

  ‘Ever since my University days, when I discovered the truth of the Corporations and their oppression of us, of our society, of humanity as a whole, ever since then, I have wanted to make a difference.’

  ‘Hearing you say that, that’s exactly what the A.C.T. is all about. I feel honoured to have you as part of our team here,’ she said.

  ‘The pleasure is all mine. You’re allowing me to make more of a difference than I had ever hoped… Aaah, here we are if you’d just like to come through.’ Frankie asked, and led the PM through into the lab.

  Janus, Brenna, Zhou, Dion, and Kalypso were in here, sitting at their terminals and talking about their work.

  ‘Good evening, everyone,’ William said, getting the attention of everyone in the room. They all looked up.

  Brenna stood suddenly on seeing them. ‘Prime Minister Weaver, we had no idea…’ she said.

  ‘But of course, no one does. This unit doesn’t exist, and this visit has never happened,’ she said.

  Brenna nodded, thinking about it, and then smiled.

  ‘So, you’re Janus?’ Susan said.

  Janus crossed his arms over his dark sweater. ‘Mmm-hmm,’ he said.

  ‘I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done. You have no idea how much this means to us,’ she said.

  Janus nodded, he looked very uncomfortable. His entire body language spoke volumes about how he felt about Susan being here. He’d expressed his dislike of working for the government already, and being in the presence of the Prime Minister was clearly not something he relished.

  ‘How’s it going?’ Frankie asked, wanting to distract him.

  ‘Hmm, what?’ Janus answered, not really hearing her.

  ‘The virus, is it ready?’

  ‘Just about, yes. We’re just running final checks, but, yes, it’s ready,’ Janus answered her.

  ‘How long will it take the virus to spread through the whole system, through the whole world?’ Isaac asked.

  ‘It should be very quick, and there will be no warning and no message to say it’s happened. We don’t want to alert the Corporations to what we’re doing before its run its course,’ Janus answered him.

  ‘Where’s Angela?’ William asked.

  ‘We sent her to the room you prepared for her, she was becoming… Um, difficult,’ Janus explained.

  ‘I understand,’ William said.

  ‘Angela?’ Susan asked.

  ‘The third programmer we brought here. Unfortunately, she has a very Corporate mindset and only helped us under duress. We have a doll guarding her for now. She’s in a room we prepared for her, I believe. We’ll walk past it on our way back to the office,’ William said.

  ‘Very good. Shall we move on,’ Susan asked.

  ‘Of course. I take it you’re on the clock here?’ William asked.

  Susan nodded.

  ‘Okay, thank you, guys,’ he said to the hackers while Frankie led Susan out of the lab and back along the corridors, pointing out Angela’s room down a side passage as they went. Susan said no to William’s offer of letting her meet Angela, much to Frankie’s relief. She didn’t much like the idea of letting Angela know how high up this conspiracy went.

  ‘You seemed relieved when I refused to see this Angela woman,’ Susan said to her as they walked back to William’s office.

  ‘I just don’t think it’s a good idea to let someone like her know how high up this conspiracy goes,’ Frankie answered her. ‘We are meant to be a covert organisation, after all.’

  ‘I totally agree. She does not need to know I am here. So, we also haven’t met this Doctor Xenox, unless I am very much mistaken,’ Susan said, switching lines of conversation.

  ‘That’s right. He’s keeping a low profile currently, mainly due to his poor relationship with one of the programmers we brought in. But, I’m sure you will meet him at some point.’

  ‘Okay, here we are,’ William said, outside his office door. ‘Do you have time to go through the missions, as you mentioned, or do you need to…?’

  ‘Oh, I have time,’ Susan said. ‘I very much want to know what you have been putting yourself through these past few days. Shall we head inside?’’ Susan said.

  ‘Is, err, Clare okay to come in for this?’ Frankie asked, remembering what she had said about security clearance the other day.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Clare said. ‘I was going to excuse myself, anyway. Are the bathrooms back this way?’ she asked, pointing back up the corridor.

  ‘They are,’ Frankie said, and turned back to William and the Prime Minister.

  ‘Then come in,’ William said.

  Susan turned to her bodyguard. ‘You need to stay out here as well,’ she said to him. He nodded and stood beside the door while William led Isaac, Susan, and Frankie into his office and shut the door.

  They all took their seats.

  ‘Can I offer anyone a drink?’ William asked.

  Before long, Frankie was talking through the events of the past few days, going through the missions from the first assignment in the Americas for Janus, through to the hunt for the programmers around the world.

  ‘The mission was going well until I unexpectedly ran into my parents on the train. They made themselves known to me, and we had a somewhat heated talk while the team extracted Angela,’ Frankie said.

&n
bsp; ‘Your parents? Do they work for Nano Technic?’ Susan asked.

  ‘In Neo-London, usually, yes. I’ve not really had much to do with them of late after discovering that they are at least aware of the excesses of the Corporation they work for, and either they’re ignorant of the extent of it or they just don’t care. I’m unsure which, but, either way, I’ve had little to do with them since,’ she said.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Susan said.

  ‘Thank you, but it’s fine. I just hope that meeting doesn’t cause any trouble for this mission or the A.C.T. as a whole going forward,’ Frankie said.

  ‘If it does, I’m sure we’ll deal with it. We all have family, and many of them won’t understand what you’re doing or its importance. That’s only to be expected. We won’t hold you responsible,’ Susan reassured her.

  Frankie smiled, but the smile dropped from her face when a muffled explosion rang through the building.

  It was a deep resounding boom, but Frankie heard it rather than felt it, so although it was loud, it probably wasn’t that strong.

  ‘What the hell?’ William said.

  ‘That was an explosion,’ Frankie said, jumping to her feet.

  The door slammed open, and Susan’s bodyguard stood there. ‘Mrs Weaver, are you okay?’ he said.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she answered.

  ‘I think it’s time to leave,’ the guard said.

  Susan looked back at William, checking it was okay.

  ‘Go, get out of here. We’ll deal with this. Frankie, find out what the hell just happened,’ he barked at her.

  Frankie nodded and bolted from the office.

  2.21

  Frankie tore down the corridor at a sprint, running for the lab with the virus. It was the most logical place to go first as it had the most sensitive data in there and was the focus of their current missions. Rounding the corner that led to the room, she could see black smoke leaking from around the edges of the door frame. Frankie drew her sidearm and burst through the doorway with her gun up to find the room in a mess. The main workstation terminal that they had been creating the virus on had been destroyed and was now little more than a mess of twisted black metal. Nearby, slumped over another terminal, Zhou lay still, leaking blood over the desk and onto the floor. Frankie’s cyber brain scanned him for vital signs, but found none. He was dead.