Adrian sighed.
“Yes, yes, yes, of course. Now, how is this going to end? Have these answers satisfied your lust for death?”
And now we have the confession. As long as we can all make it out of this alive there will be justice.
“You killed your own—” David said.
“I did, and I would again. A thousand times over, I would do it again,” Adrian said. “Free your mind of your miniscule perspective and you would see that the future of humanity is dependent on Dot . . . and Fai. War, hunger, poverty, crime, true interstellar space travel, the most deadly diseases, corruption, all of it can come to hand only through their minds. There was no way for me to achieve what must be done unless John was out of the equation, and unless I was allowed to work unfettered by the ignorant. My public death was equally as important in that regard for a number of imperative reasons; my colleagues were an unfortunate inefficiency in my solution. Do you not think that my colleagues would sacrifice themselves for the future they struggled to assist?”
“I think they should have been asked,” Kari said.
“Oh, how the little hacker can lecture on morality. The person who specializes in breaking into things, to which she has no right, thinks she can judge me. It is more immoral for me to not continue with my work. I have an obligation to the future that I cannot ignore.”
“The future doesn’t belong to murderers,” Kari said.
“No, it does not,” Adrian said. “I completely agree. But remember, perspective, little girl! Perspective.”
“Fai continues to aggressively pursue control of the facilities,” Dot said. “I fear she may be successful eventually.”
“Don’t do something you are going to regret, sweet girl,” Adrian said. He held his energy rifle tightly, pointed directly at David.
“Should we get to the endgame now?” Adrian said. “You leave, or one of you dies.”
“Or you turn yourself in and we promise to protect Dot,” Kari said.
“Kari, you can’t!” David said. “He doesn’t have the restrictions that Fai does, he could—”
“That’s the deal,” Kari said. “You pay for your crimes and Fai and Dot will go free. You don’t have to worry about them.”
“I—”
“If your story isn’t a bunch of crap, you’ll take the deal. Your children survive, isn’t that what you wanted?”
“I . . . I’m not finished with my work. There is more that must be done. More AIs, geared specifically for different problems. Fai and Dot are just the beginning—”
“I knew it,” Kari said. “You’re all the same.”
“You’ve never met anyone like me,” Adrian said. “I’m the only one on the planet that can do this work! The only one! Everyone else is decades behind, maybe even more!”
“I don’t care,” Kari said. “I knew a guy just like you. Brilliant. Thought he was going to save the world. He died because he couldn’t realize what he had done was wrong. Don’t be the same way.”
“She is getting closer,” Dot said. His ball of light vibrated nervously. “If she gets control, she will be able to shut me off if she’d like.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you, brother,” Fai said. “You can trust Kari. We will be free, I promise you.”
“Stop or the boy dies,” Adrian said.
There has to be a way out of this . . .
“You aren’t going to back down, and even if we leave here, you know we’ll be back.”
“Well, in that case—”
“Wait!” Kari shouted. “How about a deal?”
“What?” David asked.
“Let’s hear it,” Adrian said.
“A contest. You believe you are in the right, we believe we are in the right. We both can’t have our way, so we solve this the old-fashioned way. I win and you put the gun down. You win and we leave here and never come back.”
“Let me guess, you’d like to challenge me to a hacking contest. Something you little script kiddies can win by loading up someone else’s work.”
“You name the subject matter,” Kari said.
“Kari!” David protested, but she silenced him by raising her hand.
Don’t worry, David. I have a plan. Sort of.
“You can’t be serious,” Adrian said.
“I am,” Kari said.
“What’s the trick?”
“No trick, now, what is the subject matter?”
“Artificial Intelligence,” Adrian said smugly.
“I thought you might choose that,” Kari said. “We can’t compete on creating a genuine AI right here and now. But we can compete on who can program the best in-simulation logic, a pseudo AI for a particular scenario.”
“Go on . . .”
“Capture the flag,” Kari said. “It’s a sim where we both get three mechs. We have ten minutes to write our logic for the mechs. Starting from scratch. Then we let them battle. Last mech standing, or the first team to capture the opponents flag, wins.”
“What language do we use to write our code?” Adrian asked.
“Whatever you want, just no outside libraries or anything.”
“Ha! Who do you think I am?”
“A murderer, but even more than that, a jerk,” Kari said.
“Fai stops trying to take control of the facilities here,” Adrian said.
“Deal,” Kari said.
She sent Fai a quick message privately, to fill her in on her plan.
“She has stopped,” Dot said.
“Thank you, sweet Fai,” Adrian said. He smiled in a way that made Kari nervous. “How I feared the lack of precision in eliminating John’s superstition would result in losing you.”
That’s one way to talk about it. You had your people shoot to kill us both. You talk like you love her like a daughter, but you tried to have her killed for selfish reasons. I would never have done that. Ever.
“Kari, are you sure you want make this deal?” David asked.
“Yes, I am,” Kari said.
I got this.
Kari invited him to her simulation. He joined before she finished adjusting the rules of the game. It took her a few seconds to finish the modifications, but before she could start the game David interrupted them.
“Uh . . . Kari?” David asked.
Kari moved the simulation to the corner of her vision. Now floating just outside Adrian’s office were three large drones. They were the kind equipped with energy rifles, the same as they had faced in the tunnel.
“What’s this?” Kari asked.
“You think I would sit here and answer your questions for no reason?” Adrian said. “You foolish girl.”
“I thought we had a deal!” Kari said.
David looked nervous and for good reason. Even with Fai on their side, they were now severely outgunned.
“Oh, we’ll play your game. Except the agreement has changed. You win, you get to leave. I win, you never do.”
I’ve always hated this stupid game.
Chapter Thirty
Kari worked frantically to get her code in place. She slammed down line after line, using her development environment to help her produce code in record time.
“Three minutes left,” Dot said.
She wanted to shout at him that she needed more time, but she knew there was no way to extend the clock. She flipped back to the simulation and added more code to her mechs. She wasn’t allowed to alter the mechs; she was only allowed to change the code they used to decide what actions to take in the contest.
Kari knew she didn’t have time to start from scratch, so she took the default behavior and modified it. She was in the groove, where code flowed from her mind chip slower than her brain could think of what steps she needed to take. She knew exactly what she needed to do and in what order. She layered actions on top of actions, giving the mech more instructions on what to do when it reached certain criteria. It wasn’t the best code she had ever written, but she was proud of it.
It’s good
enough to trash Motorcad if he were playing. And that’s saying something. Maybe I’ll have a fighting chance against this mad scientist.
“One minute,” Dot announced.
She switched back to her development environment, leaving the simulation behind. I can’t afford to lose the game, but I also can’t afford to ignore this code, either! Back in her development environment, she dived back into her code. Hopefully they haven’t changed too much about this place since I was last here. And hopefully they are using custom specifications . . .
She searched through data, careful not to expose what she was really working on. If they find me out, it’s game over. And I’m not talking about the simulation.
“There is no more time,” Dot said.
Kari sighed and let half of her vision return to the real world while she continued to code in the background. She wasn’t as effective if she was forced to multitask, but even a little bit of progress would add up.
“Well, let’s see what you’re worth, Freelancer,” Adrian said, once again doing as much as he could to make her hacker handle sound like the world’s biggest joke.
“Good luck,” Kari said, trying to sound confident.
“You got this, Kari,” David said.
The game started without Kari needing to do anything. She invited Dot, David, and Fai to the simulation. Everyone had the same viewing rights, which allowed them to see everything in the simulation. Since they weren’t allowed to give orders to the mechs in this particular version of the capture the flag, it was now truly a spectator’s sport. Except Kari didn’t watch the simulation, she went back to work.
“My early assessment would give you a significant chance at winning this game,” Dot said to his so-called father.
“I would expect that probability to increase exponentially in a matter of seconds,” Adrian said confidently.
Kari drew on years of experience now, feeling what she needed to do by instinct. A hundred thousand failed hacks, millions of lines of code, and countless sleepless nights aided her now, guiding her on what to do.
“Dang,” David said.
“I now calculate your probability of victory to be upward of ninety-five percent,” Dot said.
“You underestimate her,” Fai said.
“Do we not share the same access to advanced computation?” Dot asked.
“I’m being optimistic,” Fai said.
“It is clear your friend is overmatched and misguided. She’s already down a mech, this won’t last long,” Adrian said.
I lost a mech already? They were supposed to last longer than that! Kari pushed the thought aside and focused on her code. She searched through all the connected devices in the lab, searching for the one device she needed to find. The one thing that can solve this puzzle.
“Ha! This is hardly a match,” Adrian said.
“I hope that your third mech has something special up its sleeves,” David said. His voice cracked a little as he spoke. He was terrified.
And for good reason, we’re as good as dead if I lose that last mech. I won’t. I won’t fail you, David.
“Oh!” David shouted. “That’s more like it!”
“An interesting development,” Dot said. “Although I don’t calculate any real changes in the likelihood of the outcome.”
“You have lots to learn, brother,” Fai said.
There it is! Now I just need to make sure this works . . .
“Bah!” Adrian said. “You run like a scared little hacker girl. You can’t help but give your creations the same cowardice your kind is known for. Hiding in the shadows, tearing down the work of people who actually contribute to society.”
“I don’t think a cave troll can complain about hiding in shadows,” Kari said.
“What did you call me, girl?”
“That’s what John and Christina called you,” Kari said. “Did you not know?”
She fought the urge to taunt him further and instead finished the final bits of the code she needed to save their lives. OK, Fai, we’re only going to get one shot at this.
Kari sent David a quick message telling him to get ready to duck. If everything went to plan, he wouldn’t need to, but she had to warn him just in case. She stepped forward, hoping Adrian would refocus his gun on her instead, but he just growled and kept his gun focused on David.
“Call me what you want,” Adrian said. “This little game will be over in a moment. And then we’ll see how you run your mouth.”
It’s now or never.
“This isn’t looking good . . .” David said.
Kari executed her code, unleashing her attack on the center of the communication bubble. It hit the communication bubble in an instant, ripping the specialized device out from under Adrian and Dot’s control.
You can win the game and you might be able to protect the entire facility, but this little piece of hardware isn’t connected to everything else, is it, Adrian?
She overloaded the communication bubble, destroying the device’s capability to block all forms of digital communication in the area from communication with the outside world. The research lab was reconnected to the internet in a split-second.
“The communication bubble is down!” Dot said.
“Fai, connect to the cloud for more processing power!” Kari shouted. “Overwhelm him!”
“You little—” Adrian’s voice was drowned out by the energy blast escaping his gun. Kari dove out of the way, hoping that the blast was coming for her. She heard it burn through the ground on the other side of the room in the same area that she heard David’s screams come from.
Kari screamed on the inside. She landed on the floor and it knocked the air out of her lungs.
David!
“I’m going to kill you all!” Adrian shouted.
Kari looked up to see Adrian’s eyes fixated on her; he moved his gun toward her in slow motion. The drones floating outside were about to unleash energy blasts as well, all of them now trained on her. David continued to scream in pain on the other side of the room.
Dot’s lights vanished and the rest of the research lab went dark. Kari forced herself to roll over again and Adrian’s energy blast tore through the dark lab room heading for where she had just been. She felt the heat and slight change in tension on her scalp as it burned through her hair, missing her head by inches.
“David!” Kari screamed as soon as she was able to find some breath.
A thump came from the far side of the room near Adrian’s desk and it was followed by a thud. The lights came back on in the facility a split-second later, revealing Fai’s worn body standing over Adrian. His crumpled frame was bleeding slightly from the head. Fai kicked the energy rifle away from him, and Kari raced over to David.
David was rolling on the ground in pain, his arms were trying to hold his leg in a position that wouldn’t hurt, but there was nothing he could do stop the pain. His right foot from the calf down had been burned away by Adrian’s energy blast. The wound was sealed by the nature of the attack, but David was clearly in shock.
Kari felt dizzy as she looked at her boyfriend. She eased herself to the ground next to him, to comfort him and because she didn’t have any strength left to stand.
“David, I’m so, so sorry . . .” She was crying, and her vision was blurry.
His arm reached out and found her. She grabbed hold of it and they met in the middle. Kari clutched David as she squeezed her tightly.
“There should be medical supplies located in the supply room,” Fai said as she dashed from the room. “I’ll be back.”
“Kari. Kari . . .” David repeated as he held her.
“I’m right here, David . . . it’s going to be all right. We’re going to be fine,” Kari said, assuring herself as much as she was comforting him.
“Did we get him?”
“Yes,” Kari said. “We got him.”
“The officials will be here in a few minutes,” Fai said. “They have almost cleared through the wreckage in the tu
nnel.”
“Good,” Kari said. She was sitting on the bench in the lobby next to David, who floated, unconscious, on top of the stretcher she had printed for him.
“I detect that you are unsatisfied with our results today,” Fai said.
“My boyfriend lost half his leg,” Kari said. “So yeah, there is a little to be desired with how today went.”
“He knew what he was getting into,” Fai said. “He chose to come with us.”
“I know . . . it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“In a way, you saved his life,” Fai said. “If we hadn’t taken control of everything connected to the network, including those drones, then they would have finished us all off.”
“I know,” Kari said.
She glanced over to where Adrian’s limp body rested on the other side of the room. He hadn’t woken up yet, but Fai assured her that he would be fine. She was almost upset to hear it. Part of her wished he were dead. He deserves to face the courts, though. The families of the people he killed deserve that as well.
“We need to talk about Dot,” Fai said.
“I know,” Kari said. “He wasn’t created the right way. He’s illegal. If they find him, they will probably destroy his CB. It’s the law.”
“So what do you want to do?” Fai asked.
“You know the path forward already, Fai,” Kari said. “You don’t need my permission.”
“But do I have your blessing?” Fai asked.
“Yes,” Kari said. “Take him with you. Teach him well.”
“I only hope that I can be as good of a teacher as you have been to your students,” Fai said. “And to me.”
“You’ll be better. I don’t have any doubts about that.”
“I’ll do my best. And I’ll keep him safe.”
“Be sure to visit sometimes, OK?”
“I fear that bringing him around the Academy would cause unnecessary risk to your students.”
“Well you better call at least,” Kari said. “My parents are going to want updates about how you are doing.”
“Of course. I shouldn’t be here when they arrive,” Fai said. “It would complicate things.”
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