Nicky gave a weak smile and Paulie caught a glimpse of the pretty young woman behind the near-death experience. "Sure. I'm used to it. As long as you promise to tell me the full story of how you got the insulin."
"How'd you know it was me who got it?"
Friedman tilted her head with a derision Luna would have been proud of, so Paulie shrugged her shoulders and went down to the kitchen.
Friedman's progress that day was remarkable. By mid-afternoon, she was sitting up in bed and even capable of using the bucket in the corner without assistance, although Paulie still had to empty it. No longer worried about whether she'd recover, Paulie's thoughts turned to how quickly they could get away. When they'd first arrived here, they'd found a station wagon in the garage. Marvin had jump-started it and revved all the gunk out of the engine until it was purring. It was still in the garage so that anyone approaching the house wouldn't be attracted by it, but they could be ready to go with ten minutes' notice once Nicky was fit enough.
The day after tomorrow. That seemed reasonable. Friedman wouldn't be in A1 condition, but she should be capable of walking to the car and, if they left in two days, they might just make it to the rendezvous in Spokane.
Paulie was in the living room at the front of the house killing some time by rummaging through the possessions of the former owners when Dany began growling.
"What can you hear, girl? It's a bit early for coyotes.” The dog had, so far, been a mixed blessing. She was decent company, but she was jumpy as hell. Paulie guessed she'd been an urban dog for most of her life and the sheer variety and quantity of animal noises out here in the middle of nowhere freaked her out.
She didn't stop growling but went to the front door and stood beside it, mixing in some half-barks as if getting into practice. Paulie tensed and then ran upstairs and into one of the bedrooms. She got on the floor and peeked through the net curtains at the lane that led to the house. Dany, who'd followed her, sat quietly, confident that her mistress had finally gotten the message.
Paulie's blood froze as she saw movement on the road. A small car—a Fiat, perhaps—was approaching. Clouds were reflecting off the windshield so she couldn't see inside, but the driver's window was down, and she could see smoke escaping. Then a hand flicked the cigarette butt out and she saw a flash of olive green.
She ran into Nicky's bedroom, found Friedman's sidearm and thrust it into her hands. "Just in case," she said. "Chances are, they're just reconnoitering, and they'll see it's a dead end and head back down the lane. But stay here; don't move."
Paulie ran back downstairs and sneaked a look around the drapes in the front room. The Fiat approached the house and she could see now that there were two uniformed men in the car. They laughed as they talked, cigarettes dancing, emitting clouds of smoke out of the window. Maybe they were enjoying a little freedom from military discipline now they were out from under the eyes of their superiors. For a moment, she felt a connection with these strangers as she prayed that they would simply turn around and go back the way they came.
The car stopped. The driver climbed out and fiddled with the zipper of his pants. Damn. He wanted to take a comfort break. As the man approached the house, Dany let out a growl. Paulie pulled her jaws together but it was too late. The driver ran back to the car and pulled a rifle from the back seat as the other man joined him. Suddenly, their relaxed attitude had vanished, and they were transformed from fellow human beings to enemies.
There was no way to attack them both from the ground floor without getting pinned down, so Paulie flew up the stairs and took her position on the landing looking over the front door.
It opened a crack and she saw the rifle enter first. Where was the other man? She couldn't worry about that at the moment. She drew her sidearm and aimed it at the widening gap in the door. Suddenly, it flew open and the driver stepped inside, his rifle sweeping first downstairs and then up at where Paulie crouched.
"Put your weap—"
The railing she was hiding behind exploded into fragments as, falling sideways, she squeezed the trigger. There was a cry from below. She'd hit him in the leg, so she leaped down the stairs and landed on top of him, kicking at the rifle in his hand.
He swung his weapon around, knocking Paulie from her feet as, with a roar of rage and pain, he dropped the rifle, pulled the bayonet attachment from his belt and swept it down at her.
Crack, crack.
Something fell down the stairs and that distraction was enough for her attacker's stroke to go wide. Paulie rolled away, grabbed her Glock, brought it around and fired.
At the foot of the stairs lay the body of the other soldier, two patches of scarlet on his back merging together.
Nicky Friedman stood, gripping the remaining railing as her legs shook, her face white. Paulie was just in time to catch her before she fell.
Chapter 7
Alison's cylinder sat beneath the makeshift shield in the basement of the Millhouse. The rumble of Skulls' voice could be heard through the floor from the kitchen above, punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter at complete odds with his true mood.
Bella, Al and Scott were already sitting around the rough wooden bench when Solly had arrived with Ross and Alison. He hadn't let the AI out of his sight since she had been repaired: the mystery of why she'd been disabled, and by whom, hadn't yet been resolved. Scott Lee denied all knowledge, but Solly was as sure as he could be that Alison's creator had been responsible. However, now was not the time to go down that particular rabbit hole.
Booted feet came down the wooden steps as Solly took his seat and he looked up to see Sergeant Kuchinsky.
"Hello, Joe," Solly said. "What's the latest news?"
Kuchinsky drew up the last chair and sat down, shoulders sagging. As he relaxed, the black rings around his red eyes and the bags under his eyes became more obvious in the yellow glow of the gaslight. "We've checked the nearest two transmitters," he said. "No sign of any damage, so it looks as though whoever's responsible is closer to Wright-Patt than to us."
"Makes sense," Scott said. "The Lees attacked the base, didn't they? So, they know it’s likely a center of resistance. It's probably been under observation ever since."
Kuchinsky nodded. "Sure, but that don't explain how they managed to crack the encryption."
"We don't know for certain that they did," Solly said. "They might have noticed the activity and decided to interrupt it without knowing what we were saying."
Scott grunted. "Maybe, but it's best to assume they have found a way to listen in. Have you had any other news from the colonel?"
Extracting a sheet of paper from his pocket, Kuchinsky pulled out a pair of eyeglasses and perched them on his nose, giving a shy glance left and right as he did it. "Dark in here," he muttered. "Colonel McBride sent this message via courier. Most of it was asking me about our disposition here, so I sent the rider back with my answers."
"Did you receive new orders?" Solly asked. He could tell from Kuchinsky's reaction that he had, and that he didn't like what he'd been told.
"Yeah. The colonel is sending reinforcements to DC. I'm ordered to join them with my section when they pass Hagerstown."
"You're leaving the farmhouse undefended?"
Kuchinsky nodded. "I'm sorry. Those are my orders. Maybe you don't need us, anyway. We've hardly fired a shot in anger since we got here."
"Has it occurred to you that we've been left alone because we have you here?"
"Yeah, of course. But I can't do anythin' about it. We'll leave some equipment and I'll give some training to your folks if you like, but that's the best I can do."
Scott sighed. "Is the colonel leading the force that's going to DC?"
"No, I reckon he knows Wright-Patterson is likely to come under attack as soon as the contingent leaves. He's got a coupla thousand civvies to protect and he's only keeping a small force back."
"Those civilians are more important than these?" Solly said, waving his hands around as if to encompass t
he entire community.
Shrugging, Kuchinsky said, "Look, what can I say? He thinks it's all over if the Federal Government falls, so he's rollin' the dice and hoping for a double six because that's the only chance he sees."
"Well, perhaps we need to talk about evening up the odds a little," Solly said. He turned to the cylinder that sat on the table like a discarded can of deodorant and twisted the lid before withdrawing a tube covered in electronics from within. Solly pressed a contact and, after a few moments, a cyan eye scrolled into view on the black display panel.
The eye roved back and forth before settling on Solly. "Father, you are here. Creator is also here. Where am I? I do not recognize this location and my sensors cannot penetrate beyond the room."
Solly noticed how Scott had tightened when Alison differentiated between "Father" and "Creator". Lee had intended to be both, but Solly had opened the cylinder first and, as with a duck imprinting on the first face it sees, Alison had considered him her father ever since. Solly liked to think that his conduct since then had earned him that title, at least a little, but it was likely just something that was hard baked into the AI's code. Scott had never imagined anyone but him would be present at her “birth”.
"Hello, Alison," Solly said. "Yes, Creator and I are both here. Ross is also here—"
"Hello, Ross," Alison said.
"—and my…friend…Bella and her father Al are here. He was the one who fixed you."
"Hello, Bella. Thank you, Al. I am sorry that I put you at risk. I also detect the presence of Sergeant Kuchinsky. Hello, Joe."
Scott, who, Solly noticed, was shaking as if barely keeping his emotions under control, slapped his palms on the table top. "Look, this reunion is very sweet, but I don't think we're here to have a little catch-up, are we? You said you had an idea." He looked directly at Solly, who could taste the hostility in the air.
"I do," he responded. "But first, I want to know why you created Alison in the first place. What was her purpose?"
Scott's eyes flicked to the cylinder, but Solly spoke again before he could say anything. "Yes, Alison should be awake to hear this," he said. "We're sitting here on the edge of utter disaster. The time for secrecy is over. Cards on the table."
Lee deflated a little and, with a sigh, rubbed his eyes and face with the palms of his hands; buying time while he thought about what he was going to say.
"Do I need a reason to father a child?" he said, gazing around the table as if daring anyone to suggest that Alison wasn't a child.
"Most people do think about it," Bella said. "Sometimes things happen by accident, of course. Jake was planned, but Maddie was a happy accident." She looked over at Solly, who felt his cheeks warm. "But I can't see how creating an AI could be seen as accidental, so you had to have a reason."
On the table, Alison's eye was now focused entirely on Scott. How much depended on what he said next? Perhaps everything.
"It was because of her mother," Lee said.
"I have a mother?" Alison said, her normally calm voice distorted by simulated emotion. "Oh. Is her name Annabel?"
Lee's jaw dropped. "How did you know?"
"I met her in Seattle, just before I had my first go in a helicopter. That was fun!"
"Of course," Lee said. "Did she recognize you?"
"I do not know," Alison said. "You were going to kill me, Creator."
Lee rolled his eyes. "I didn't want you to come into contact with her. I thought she might turn you against us."
"You did not trust me. Father did. And that was my mother? She had dark thoughts. She is like me?"
Scott Lee, who was becoming increasingly tense and frustrated, slammed his fist on the table. "I created her, and I created you, do you understand? I fathered you both!"
Bella put her hand on his arm. He jerked it away but turned to her when she spoke. "Scott, we're not here to blame anyone, we just want to understand what we're facing."
This momentary human contact seemed to act like an escape valve and his tension departed again. "Alison, your mother was human, but she knew her existence was coming to an end, so she asked me to create a digital version of her so she could endure. I made the best possible version of Annabel Lee, but that wasn't what she wanted. She ordered me to build the worst of her into the AI, as well as the best."
He sighed for a moment, then reached out and took the cylinder in his hands, cradling it. "I didn't want that AI to be my digital legacy, and I knew that Annabel and I would never have human children, so I took the best of her and melded it with the best of me to create you. You are the perfect version of us both."
Solly watched Lee sitting there, holding Alison like a baby, as the icy tendrils of fear and loathing wrapped themselves around his heart. He now knew, beyond a doubt, that Scott Lee was as unhinged as his genocidal dead wife. But he was also their only hope.
"Khaled told me that Alison is our only hope to fight back against the Lee Corporation," he said. "Was he telling the truth, or was it another of his lies?"
Lee looked up reluctantly. "Yes, she is the key. She can do anything the Annabel Lee AIs can."
"Annabel Lee AIs?" Al said. "Are you saying there's more than one copy?"
Lee glanced across at Al, and Solly noticed his expression soften. "There are two—one in each of the Lee buildings in Seattle and New York. There may also be one in the Shenzhen building. The employees there think the AIs help operate the buildings, but the Annabels have complete control. When they want to exert it, there will be nothing the humans can do to stop them."
"What are they waiting for?"
"I can't be sure," Lee said, directing his attention entirely at the old man. "But my guess is that they're waiting to begin the second phase. When they have enough Reapers, they will begin killing the weak and enslaving the useful. At least that's what the Lee Corporation believes."
Al spread his hands wide in puzzlement. "You'll have to explain it in words an old man will understand," he said with mock humility.
"The Annabels will allow the Reapers to do their work and, once it’s complete, rather than allowing the Lee Corporation and their allies to have control over the population, she will kill everyone. Every last human being who's been upgraded. Then the Reapers will be sent across the land to hunt out those who survive the second sweep. By the time she's finished, the Lee Corporation will join their enemies and allies in the ashes."
"So, in a weird sort of a way," Al said, "the Lee Corporation and us are on the same side."
"Only up to a point, Al," Solly responded. "The Lees want everyone to be under their boot, don't forget. We can't count on turning them into allies."
Scott shook his head. "No. My hope was to get Alison into the building in Seattle at the critical moment, and then have her overpower Annabel. I built some—well, I suppose you could call it digital weaponry—into her code that would give her an advantage, assuming Annabel hasn't upgraded herself. That's why I went to Arbroath and helped keep their community together."
"You intended to use them to help you get inside the Seattle building? Nice," Solly said.
"Oh, grow up!" Scott snapped, his anger back in a flash. "The stakes are too high to worry about individuals. If I'd succeeded, we wouldn't be worrying about the Reapers, we'd be welcoming them."
"What I don't understand is how this Annabel AI would control the Reapers," Al said.
It was like watching Gollum and Smeagol as Lee's expression again relaxed. "She doesn't need to control them directly. The Lee Corporation has a cellular communications network," he said, his voice level again. "This makes it practically invulnerable to attack. Each message travels through one cell at a time, finding another route if the most direct is blocked. This means that a message sent from one location can reach every corner of the country. Once the Reapers have done their job, Annabel will send the termination code causing every upgraded implant to kill its host, whether they're a civilian, a Lee Corporation employee or a Chinese soldier. She wants everyone dead, s
o she can be the last entity alive on the planet."
"But if we can't control the Reapers," Al persisted, "how do we stop this? I mean, from what you've said, they'll kill as many as they make slaves. That could be millions."
Scott gave a weak smile. "Annabel doesn't control the Reapers because they already contain a cut-down version of her personality. Alison discovered this when she took over the prototype that killed Bobby."
"That was mother?" Alison said in her metallic voice. "I did not know."
Scott looked down at her, still cradled in one arm. "But I did, my dear. You told me enough to be absolutely certain."
Solly went to open his mouth, but Bella lifted her hand slightly in a gesture he recognized only too well. Don't say a word, it signified.
"Scott," she said, again touching his arm. "How can Alison help us? If you'd succeeded in Seattle, what would have happened next?"
Again, he looked up somewhat reluctantly. "She could have used the cellular network to send a patch to the Reapers, overriding Annabel with an approximation of her. Turning them from enemies into allies."
"What, you mean the Reapers would attack the Lees and the Chinese?" Ross said, his face suddenly alight.
Scott nodded. "Yes, though I didn't know that the drones were anywhere near ready for production. I knew Annabel would want control over whatever weaponry the Lee Corporation developed and, as I said, if Annabel could do it, so could Alison. It's all irrelevant now, though," he said, his face darkening as he fixed his attention on the cylinder. "We can't get close enough to Annabel—Seattle and New York are out of reach."
"You said the network is cellular," Solly said.
Scott didn't look up, but grunted assent.
"Doesn't that mean that a message, or code, injected into the network at any location could spread to all the others, eventually?"
That got his attention. "Yes, I suppose so. But you'd have to know where one of their node transmitters is, and then break through their encryption."
"Is Alison capable of hacking in?"
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