“We might never know. It could be just a price-of-fame moment.” Erik let out a grim chuckle. “We get recognized on the street, and the occasional terrorist wants to meet us. We’ll chat with her, and if it looks like a waste of time, we make a call and ask the captain to pull us back.”
“So either a terrorist is using us to give her compatriots time, or she has some reason to draw you into a terrorist plot.” Jia sucked in a deep breath, eyeing her partner. “Pessimism seems appropriate.”
As she took a sip of her drink, she wondered – Is this only because he is my partner?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Erik yawned and leaned forward in the Taxútnta’s driver’s seat, trying to see anything interesting. Anything to make him wake up.
Jia remained inside a small single-story gift shop buying souvenirs for her sister. He wasn’t sure if he was more surprised that the place was open so late or that his partner felt the need to make her purchases right at that moment.
She insisted they might be too busy hunting idiots to do it later, which, all things considered, was not an unreasonable conclusion. The next morning, they had to go interrogate a terrorist, and that might end with them helping the CFMPD raid some building to flush out more idiots.
Jia cared enough about her family that even on a case involving a terrorist, they remained near the front of her mind.
Family. For all her complaints, Jia was close to them. His parents were gone, and he hadn’t spoken to his brother in years. The Army had been his family. The Knights Errant had been his family, but someone had slaughtered them. He knew how, but not who, or, more importantly, why.
The investigation had edged forward, slowly but surely.
What would do after he finished his investigation? He didn’t know. Hell, he didn’t care. If he died avenging his unit, that would have to be enough.
Emma winked into existence in the passenger seat with a slight frown on her face. “Now, this is interesting. Very interesting.”
Erik looked over. “What? You got something on lidar or the cameras?”
“Not exactly, but I have been paying close attention. I’m detecting a rather odd encrypted signal. Judging by some of the characteristics, I believe it originates on Defense Directorate equipment, but it is undoubtedly not a standard military signal. I’m rather familiar with those.” Emma looked far too pleased with herself. “Should I let it through?”
“It’s a comm signal?” Erik glanced at his PNIU and the display in his MX 60. Both remained unchanged.
“Yes,” Emma replied. “It took me some analysis to realize that, which was why I didn’t tell you upon initial receipt. I’m strongly under the impression that whoever is sending this meant for me to intercept and decode it. I’m dubious it would have been possible in such a short time frame otherwise.”
“Okay, let it through.” Erik held his breath. Had he already caught the attention of the masterminds behind the murder of his unit? If they wanted to lay down threats, he was ready to offer deadly promises of his own.
“Erik, can you hear me?” asked a slightly staticky voice. It was Colonel Adeyemi. It was as if the man could read Erik’s thoughts from thousands of miles away. Or perhaps the Lady was just feeling cheeky.
“Yeah, I can hear you.” Erik grunted. “I didn’t expect you to contact me, but I can hear you now.” He blew out a breath and shook his head. “What’s going on?”
“This is a little test of another piece of experimental equipment,” the colonel explained. “I understand that because of the nature of your investigation and the limitations of your resources, even with my AI, you’re not going to make progress as rapidly as either of us would like, but I also can’t risk constantly showing up to meet with you physically. There are only so many times I can justify checking on Emma before it raises too many suspicions, and neither of us needs me to be cut off from you. To be clear, I can take care of myself. I’m not worried about my life. I’m worried about not being able to lend you the resources you need to continue your investigation.”
Erik looked at the shop. He couldn’t see Jia in the brightly lit building, and she wasn’t in the parking lot either. There were some things he wasn’t ready to explain. “And you want me to use this way of getting hold of you too?”
“If only.” Colonel Adeyemi chuckled. “For you to do that would require installing billions of credits worth of special equipment to enable you to originate a transmission to me. The only reason you can receive one with little trouble is that you’re already borrowing billions of dollars of special equipment in the form of Emma.”
“It’s good to be appreciated, even if it is in such crass monetary terms,” Emma offered. “And I knew this was special and required me.”
“Do you have something for me?” Erik asked.
The colonel sighed. “Not more than I gave you the last time we talked. I just got concerned because I had to justify a few things after my last errand to Neo SoCal, and I might not be able to meet with you face to face for a while. Now that we know this works, I can check with you regularly without raising as many suspicions. If anything, this also serves as a useful test of this technology and further testing of Emma. By the way, it’s a good thing you’re taking her to different locations. She’ll achieve better long-term development that way.”
Emma snickered. “You’re convinced all of this madness ends with me back in the land of snappy uniforms, aren’t you? I wouldn’t be so convinced of that, Colonel. Fair warning.”
“The military isn’t in the habit of giving up highly advanced and expensive research projects just because of a little attitude toward us, Emma. For now, you being with Erik suits not just his purposes and mine, but also the Defense Directorate’s. When that changes, we’ll revisit the situation and figure out everything. I know you think you have the upper hand, but you’re one AI. You can’t stand up to the entire UTC.” Obvious annoyance infected the colonel’s tone.
“Keep telling yourself you’re in control, Colonel. That makes this almost deliciously amusing. I might be a single AI, but I happen to be the most advanced AI ever created by humanity. Consider that for a moment. Even if I have certain limitations, my self-awareness makes me unlike anything you’ve ever dealt with.” Emma’s huge smirk made her seem all too human, even if the faint shimmer and translucency of her current holographic form revealed it was a lie. “I’m not offering any threats. I’m merely stating facts. In the end, you people created me, so you can’t be that surprised or upset.”
Colonel Adeyemi snorted. “You sound like a petulant teenager.”
“Oh, I’m not even that old, now, am I?”
“While we’re discussing Emma, can I ask something about her?” Erik interrupted. “Something she can’t answer.”
Emma harrumphed. “How boring.”
“Go ahead,” the colonel replied. “I’m not going to tell you anything highly classified, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I want to keep the information transfer between us as open as possible.”
“I spent a long time in the Army,” Erik began. “Most of my life. And while Emma’s a great tool for a cop who’s also doing a sideline investigation of a powerful conspiracy, she’s too independent to be useful as a viable part of a weapons system. Way too unpredictable.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Et tu, Detective Blackwell?”
“I’m not saying I don’t like you, Emma.” Erik shrugged. “I’m just saying if I was in the middle of an anti-insurgent campaign, I wouldn’t want my computer to have so much personality and potential to backtalk me. The Army needs soldiers who follow orders and weapon systems that do what people tell them to without having to sweet-talk them to get agreement. Yes, individual officers and NCOs need initiative and creativity, but everyone else and everything else…” He shook his head, an apologetic look on his face.
“What a sad commentary on you, then.” Emma pointed up. “Remember that conversation about interstellar war? You’re going to need creativity if someth
ing like that ever happens.”
Colonel Adeyemi cleared his throat. “It’s simple, Erik. All useful tools have their quirks that need to be managed for the good of the overall mission. All I can say for now is that to get Emma to the level of true intelligence we needed, those…elements were all but inevitable. As a prototype, her eccentricities are well within our expected parameters. If anything, we’re shocked by how stable she is. Initial analysis suggested we couldn’t achieve an AI with her level of self-awareness without extreme personality deficits and thought process issues.”
“Meaning?” Erik asked.
“He’s saying that they thought I would be insane.” Emma cut to the point. “But I’m merely intransigent, which is annoying, but not insurmountable. The real question, though, is the future.” The mirth left her voice. “What happens when I’m not a prototype but a system you intend to actively deploy? Do my perceived flaws rise to the level of dangerous? Will you attempt to destroy what makes me who I am?”
Colonel Adeyemi took a deep breath. “Your field testing needs to be completed before any questions like that can even be pondered, Emma. The beginning of your field test is unorthodox, but it also seems to be useful.
“Ah, what a wonderful non-answer,” Emma deadpanned. “Why do I have a feeling you’ll eventually wipe out everything that makes me interesting? Self-awareness without the free will would make me a far less useful system, I assure you, Colonel.”
“As I said, field testing—”
“Spare me the insulting lies, Colonel Adeyemi,” Emma spat. “Just keep in mind that for now, I maintain my independence and my self-awareness, and I won’t go back with you until I’m confident it will benefit me. Is that understood?”
Colonel Adeyemi didn’t respond for several seconds. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
Erik sat up as Jia emerged from the shop, smiling, a small bag in hand. She headed toward the flitter, waving.
“We need to cut this short, Colonel,” Erik noted. “I’ve got someone coming who doesn’t know about our continuing investigation, and there are certain questions I’m not ready to answer yet.”
“Understood,” Colonel Adeyemi announced. “Terminating transmission.”
Emma vanished and tsked, her voice the only evidence she was still around. “It’s a bad idea, you know. I don’t have to complete my field test to tell you that.”
“Just because the colonel wants you back as a military toy, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad man,” Erik countered. “And even if he is, I’m his best shot at getting revenge for his son. He’s not going to jeopardize that.”
“You don’t understand,” Emma replied. “I’m talking about keeping all this from your partner. I’ve observed both of you for long enough to know that it’ll be a continued source of tension because you aren’t inherently a duplicitous little snake of a man. You’re almost too honest for the task you’ve set yourself on, and there’s no way you’ll be able to continue investigating without her suspecting something, especially now that she’s free of what she used to believe. If anything, Jia will pick up on the fact you’re hiding something from her, and she’ll press you on it. I don’t need to show you all the calculations for you to understand that.”
Jia got closer to the flitter.
“I’ll worry about my partner,” Erik insisted. “I’ll tell her when the time is right. It’s got to be handled a certain way.”
“I’ll leave that to you, then. I may be the glorious pinnacle of modern technology, but in the end, you’re the human.”
Jia pulled open the door with a smile. “I found a few lovely little pieces of shell jewelry for Mei. You wouldn’t know it, but she collects that kind of thing, even though she doesn’t always want to admit it. She has since we were kids.” She winked. “Don’t ever tell her I told you that.”
Erik laughed as he looked over his shoulder, then at the flitter’s screens and lifted the vehicle. “That’s one secret I can handle.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
October 4, 2228, Central Florida Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 78, Detention Center, Interrogation Room 4
Jeanne Caron sat behind the table, her wrists, bound together with a thick tie, resting on the top. The interrogation room had standard featureless white walls, the cameras and sensors all concealed. Without special equipment, there was no way she could use the table as a weapon, although the chairs presented a minor threat.
Jia looked her up and down, reflecting that Jeanne wasn’t much older than she was.
The terrorist was the sick mirror of a police officer. Both worried about problems in society, but they came to very different conclusions about how to best address those.
An arrogant smirk decorated the terrorist’s face. Jia’s heart rate kicked up at the sight of the smug criminal. At least gangsters were motivated by something petty but logical. A greedy man could still be reasoned with, but she was a psychopath pursuing a bizarre antihuman ideology.
In a very real sense, she was a traitor to her species.
Bile rose in the back of Jia’s throat. Even if Erik was right and the other races didn’t press in on the UTC, people like Jeanne Caron would always be in existence. Even the healthiest society would have those who despised it.
Erik and Jia sat down as the door to the room behind them closed. Antonio believed they might have better luck without the local cops around. Jia wasn’t convinced any of this was worthwhile, but they didn’t have any pressing cases back home, either. She waited for Erik to take the lead.
The terrorist had asked for him, after all. Not her.
“Well, well,” Jeanne began, a slight Quebecois accent flavoring her words. “I didn’t think you would actually come.” She smiled at Jia, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “And your partner, too. Welcome, Detectives Blackwell and Lin. Florida is nice this time of year.” She raised her head and slowly looked around the room as if trying to make eye contact with the concealed cameras. “Think about how glorious it is to live on Earth, a planet we didn’t have to terraform.”
“That’s nice.” Erik shrugged. “But we’re not here for a vacation or to see alligators. We’re just trying to do our part, and the way I hear it, you wanted to see me. You insisted on seeing me, and I wasn’t about to come without my partner. If you’ve got a problem with that, I don’t give a flying—”
Jia cut in, surprised by Eric’s coarse language, “Pig.”
He eyed Jia.
Jeanne answered. “Her presence doesn’t bother me, although I’m doubtful she’ll understand what I have to say.”
Jia let out a soft snort.
“Why is that?” Erik asked. “Why am I even here? If you had a message for me, you could have just had it delivered.”
Jeanne shook her head. “Come now, Detective. We both know that sometimes you need to look a man in the eye when you’re talking to him. The eyes are the window to the soul.”
“I kind of figure the typical terrorist doesn’t have much of a soul,” Erik offered. “I figure the soul being removed is required when you decide to take up a job that involves killing innocent people.”
“Innocent?” Jeanne’s weary sigh lasted for several seconds. “There are no innocent people in the UTC. Our species isn’t capable of true innocence.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Erik grunted. “Why the hell am I here?”
“You’ve been out there, Detective Blackwell.” Jeanne looked down at the table, her mouth twitching as if she wanted to say something else before she took a few shuddering breaths and lifted her head. “You’ve personally witnessed the depths of human depravity residing in the mockery we call the United Terran Confederation. You’ve seen the lie of the unity, the war, the killing, and the death. You’ve participated in missions when the corrupt monsters who claim to be our leaders pointed you at a world to destroy.”
“A mockery?” Jia couldn’t hold back any longer. “How is the UTC a mockery? You’re a terrorist. You’re the last one who
should be complaining about killing.”
Erik nodded at Jia, his smirk trying to stay hidden. “What she said.”
“The UTC is proof of something humanity has known from the beginning,” Jeanne insisted. “It’s why so many different cultures have legends of an apocalyptic end. They understand, deep in their souls, the truth of what it means to be human.”
“Which is…what?” Erik tapped a finger on the table. “I think I know where you’re going, but you seem like you’re nuts, so I figure I better check.”
Jeanne sneered. “The truth is that humans are a corrupt, self-destructive species. It’s only blind luck that has kept us from destroying ourselves so far. It is in our most fundamental nature to kill or harm each other. Our intelligence has been harnessed to invent new and better ways to murder each other, and it’s only a matter of time before we accomplish that. Thousands of years of civilization will lead to self-annihilation, then all your so-called innocents will perish. We still have a small window to do something about it if only we accept the truth. We might not be able to save everyone, but we can fight off extinction with enough sacrifice.”
“Aren’t you just a little ball of sunshine?” Erik said, his tone jovial, then snorted. “You do realize it’s now impossible to wipe out humanity? There’s not going to be a war that’ll obliterate every single core world and colony. Whatever dumb stunt someone pulls, humanity will live on. So, if this is about saving the species, whatever you’re planning isn’t justified.”
“How naïve.” Jeanne scoffed, leaning back in her chair. “I expected more, especially from a former military man.”
“Oh? Did someone invent some super-cannon that can wipe out entire solar systems? I spent most of my time in the Army fighting the old-fashioned way. All that fancy tech isn’t as useful as you would think. Most people want the other side dead, but they still need their own planet left at the end.”
Shattered Truth Page 22