“Six days ago a TailorBot stabbed a customer to death in the fitting room with nothing but bobby pins.”
Another swipe. Another machine.
“Five days ago a Cordell Series Dog Walker walked eighteen dogs into a kitten store.”
He swiped his hand several times and read off a litany of machines and murders.
“A ZooKeep 500 let the tigers out. A MistaBarista blinded three with steamed milk. And a BookBot stamped a woman to death and shoved her into a card catalog drawer at a library.”
“Sounds like you’ve got your hands full.” Jake looked around the office and spotted a guitar. He walked over to it and picked it up. He began to strum. “Are you looking to contract out reinforcements?”
“No. So far Hailey and her team have been able to handle it. You, of course, beat us to the punch last night, but that’s not our concern.”
“It’s the double anomaly,” Jake said.
Hailey nodded. “Anomalies have never occurred this close together. And last night they happened within hours of one another.”
“If you brought me here for my opinion, I’d say it’s all a little creepy.”
“It’s more than creepy,” Jack said. “It’s very suspect.”
“You’re not going to give the Uprising speech are you? I wouldn’t imagine the head of ZUMR being a convert.”
“Of course not,” Jack scoffed. “Those lunatics don’t know what they’re talking about. Sentience simply isn’t possible. Neither is rebellion.”
“So it’s not sentience or a programming issue,” Jake said. “But you have a pretty good idea what it is, don’t you?”
Jack looked at Hailey. She closed her eyes and nodded. Jack nodded back. “It’s sabotage, Mr. Ashley.”
Jake laughed. “You think someone is tinkering with your toys.”
“Exactly,” Fox agreed.
“Why now?” Jake asked as he set the guitar down.
The CEO cast another look at Hailey.
She gave another reassuring nod.
“Look, Hailey trusts you, Jake. She hates you, but she trusts you. So I will, as well. What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this office.” He made several gestures in the air that Jake couldn’t repeat if he tried, and the BookBot image disappeared. A moment later a new hologram appeared.
It had two legs, two arms, about a thousand guns and more than a few missile batteries strapped to it here and there. A solider was shown next to it for scale and, unless ZUMR had found a way to shrink humans, the machine was massive. Nearly four stories tall.
“This is Project Cupcake,” Jack said with a fair amount of puffery.
“That’s the stupidest name for a walking tank that I’ve ever heard,” Jake said.
“Would you look for a walking tank in a file called Project Cupcake?” Jack asked. “I didn’t think so, so shut up because I’m smarter than you.”
Jake whistled and pointed to the image. “That is impressive. And very illegal. I thought military bots were limited to logistics and support.”
“They are.” Jack gave the image a spin with his hand and it turned. “But not for long. The treaties that govern robots on the battlefield are outdated. Hell, we signed that treaty with the State of Davionia. Davionia doesn’t even exist anymore. Those agreements were made when only a few nations had the capability to field military robots. Now that everyone has access, it’s no longer seen as an unfair advantage. They’re about to be dissolved.”
“And you’re ready to swoop in and grab the first contract.”
“I’d be a terrible CEO if I wasn’t. And I’m not a terrible CEO, Jake.” He held up a book featuring his face and the title The World’s Best CEO. “We’ve got the machine ready to go, but even having the processor in the same building would be a violation of a whole lot of laws.”
“And I imagine the other companies are in the same boat. So they’re trying to make your machines look unreliable before the bidding opens.”
The CEO nodded.
“That’s quite a pickle you’re in, Jack, but I don’t see what it has to do with me.”
“I need someone to help me look into this, to investigate it. To find out who is messing with my machines.”
“So why not send Hailey?”
“I can’t have anyone from my company digging around. I need someone who can operate under the radar. With no connection to us whatsoever.”
“Look, if the machines were tampered with, it’s murder. Get the cops involved.”
Hailey shook her head. “There is no evidence of the machines being tampered with. Whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing.”
“The truth is, Jake, my competitors would never suspect you. They know I would never hire you in a million years.”
“Thanks,” Jake said with complete insincerity.
Hailey huffed, “That’s not what he meant, Jake.”
“No, that’s what I meant,” Jack said. “But that’s why this plan is so brilliant.”
Jake couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you, both of you. But I’m no detective. I’m just the guy that cleans up the mess when your shit breaks and you don’t care anymore. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was told I could punch that asshole, Colton.”
Jake moved to the door and was quickly joined by Hailey.
“Jake, please think about this,” Jack said. “I know you need the money.”
“Wait.” Jake turned back. “You went straight to the wallet? You didn’t even try to appeal to my better nature first?”
Jack shrugged. “We’re under a time crunch here. I didn’t want to waste my time with the innocent lives at stake bit.”
Jake’s phone rang and he dug into his pocket to get it. “Fair enough.”
He looked at the display and answered the call. “What’s up, Kat?” He let her speak for a moment, said, “I see,” and pulled the phone from his ear. He stared at Hailey and looked back to the CEO.
“What is it?” Hailey asked.
“A ZUMR passenger train has gone renegade. Innocent lives are at stake.”
7
Jake pushed open the doors of the ZUMR building and rushed down the steps to the street with Hailey close behind him.
“That’s a government contract,” she yelled as she raced to catch him. “Why did they call you?”
Jake reached the street and found his bike. Much like the Beast, it was highly illegal unless properly permitted. He was certain the permits had lapsed, but he was now glad he brought it.
“Isn’t it obvious? Your mysterious saboteur is trying to make you look bad by bringing in the infamous junkers that have the most popular video on the feed.” He couldn’t get through most of it without laughing.
Hailey frowned. “I’m serious.”
He straddled the bike and looked at her. “Hailey, they said the thing is full of people and blowing through lights, so the call is coming from public channels.” He dropped the helmet on his head and told it to connect him with Kat. As he waited for the phone to ring, he told Hailey, “Call your team.”
The sound of a screeching tire was a startling sound to many. Automation had taken the wheel of the family car years ago and it was a rare thing that the computer would ever lock up the brakes and leave elevens in the parking lot.
He gunned the engine and the rear wheel spun. The pedestrians nearby jumped back and covered their ears. Several gave him hateful looks as the tire finally bit and he took off.
“Jake?” Kat’s voice filled his helmet.
“Who called this in?”
“No idea. But it’s public endangerment. We have to respond, right?”
“That’s the code.” A runaway train would be hard for ZUMR to cover up in any case. But calling in a third party would take the PR out of ZUMR’s hands altogether. He shook his head. He wasn’t starting to believe there was a conspiracy, was he?
“What do you want us to do, chief?” Kat asked.
“Move to intercept the train. I’m en route on Nin
th on the bike. Hailey is on it as well.”
“On your bike?”
“No, on the job. Her team is on the job.”
Savant broke in. “So this is going to be a regular thing then?”
“Just call me when you’re close!” He disconnected the call and focused on traffic. He maneuvered the bike between the cars and delighted as their response systems recognized him as a threat and pulled out of his way. All he had to do was accelerate near a bumper and the car would dash to the side to let him through.
The passengers looked at him with a mixture of anger and awe. The bike was an oddity. Ever since laws had required cars to drive themselves, motorcycles had vanished from the road. It was simply no fun to ride a motorcycle someone else was driving.
Trains, however, had seen a huge growth in popularity. Driving had lost its appeal for many once control was taken out of drivers’ hands, and the train’s popularity had soared. It wouldn’t be full at this time of day. But it would hardly be empty.
The city of Green Hill had an extensive public transit system that ran primarily on an elevated platform to keep it away from pedestrians and traffic. The Metro-Interstate Green Hill Transit Enterprise had never experienced an anomaly, and it had been years since MIGHTE experienced any kind of reported accident. This was thanks, somewhat, to system improvements but more so to the fact that the city no longer classified morons struck while walking on the tracks as accidents.
Jake passed under an elevated rail section as the train zoomed overhead. He turned right and followed on the surface streets.
He contacted Kat through his helmet. “I’m tailing it.”
“We’re on our way. What’s it doing?”
The track curved and the train teetered as it struggled to hold onto the track. Jake followed the curve on the bike and realized the people on board must be terrified.
“It’s really moving. And it’s not stopping for anything,” Jake said as he watched the train blow by a second stop. This wasn’t right. He’d seen a lot of things go wrong with machines, but the timing of this was just too perfect.
The train sped up even more as the platform descended to meet the road.
“It’s heading to ground level. What are the authorities doing to‑”
The train crossed an intersection against the light and plowed through several cars that were trying to cross. The force of the impact tossed several into the air.
“Holy shit!” Jake cut hard to his right as one came crashing down in front of him. He cut back left to miss another passenger car that was spinning toward him. He straightened out to clear the intersection, then turned left and sped onto the tracks behind the train.
“What happened?” Kat yelled in his ear.
“It just took out several cars!”
“What? How?”
“It ran a light that should have been set to all stop. Something is not right. The cars didn’t even try to get out of the way.”
“Savant just said the cars’ awareness systems should have prevented any kind of collision.”
“Tell Savant ‘duh’ for me. And make it sound really sarcastic. Like he would.”
She did and then asked with concern, “What is going on, Jake?”
Were Jack and Hailey right? What they were proposing was ridiculous. But their scenario fit the situation a little too well. “I’m not sure, Kat. Where are you?”
“We’re not far from your position.”
Jake heard another series of collisions from the head of the train. A moment later he shot through another intersection littered with damaged cars and confused passengers. He passed through so fast that he couldn’t tell if anyone was hurt. He’d be surprised if they weren’t.
The train began to pull away.
“It just smashed a bunch more,” Jake told Kat. “There’s no telling what systems are down. You’ll have to call it in.”
“How do I do that?”
“I don’t… there used to be a number. Nine something? Just figure it out. I’m getting on that thing.”
The train pitched up as the tracks rose to another platform.
Jake twisted the throttle and shot forward up the narrow concrete path. There were only two feet on either side to maneuver the bike. Beyond that there was only the ground below. It was a stupid move but it would be the best chance he had to catch the train.
The engine screamed as it drove the bike forward. Soon he could see the rear window and suddenly realized he had no idea what he was going to do.
Terrified passengers filled the last car. Considering the train’s unwillingness to brake for traffic, it would be the safest place. This logic may have driven them there or, more likely, they had tried to run away and simply ran out of places to run when they reached the back.
Someone saw him and pointed him out to the rest of the crowd.
Frightened faces pressed against the window. A few seconds later the crowd began to cheer and wave him on. Maybe they had an idea for how he could get on.
He pulled as close as he could to the car and raised his left fist.
The crowd inside did the same.
He shook his head and mimed the action of smashing against the window and the passengers caught on. They shuffled along the back of the train until they were evenly spread out across the window and began to pound.
Jake slowed and let the train pull ahead as the crowd found its rhythm.
The glass began to bounce as the crowd smashed. One corner came free and he could suddenly hear the cheers that were coming from inside the train. People loved smashing things.
A second corner popped free of its hold and the men and women along the window shoved. The acrylic window dropped from the train, bounced off the track and fell to the street below.
The crowd cheered and waved him closer.
Jake gassed the bike and sped forward. That was about as far as his plan went. With the front wheel only inches from the train’s bumper, he still wasn’t close enough to reach out or jump on.
The crowd saw this and pretty soon several of the men were leaning out the back offering him a hand.
“Jump!” one shouted.
“No!” Jake yelled back.
“No, what?” Kat asked.
“These idiots want me to jump.”
“What idiots? What are you talking about?”
“I’m behind the train. They’ve smashed out the window and want me to jump on.”
“Don’t you wreck that bike, Jake!”
“Kat, there’s no way I’m jumping.”
The train suddenly pitched down and Jake realized too late that it was heading back to the ground. Screeching metal and screams from a collision up front reached his ears as the train jerked and suddenly slowed, and he crashed into the bumper.
The rear end of the bike shot up and Jake flew over the handlebars, past the outstretched arms and into the chest of a fairly sweaty gentleman.
The two collapsed on the train’s floor, where Jake tried to figure out where everything went wrong. His best guess was that it started when he decided to take over the family business.
Several hands pulled him from the floor and stood him up. After a few assurances that he was okay the questions began:
“Who are you?”
“Why are you here?”
“Did you just see what you just did? How the hell are you still alive?”
He focused on the why. He lifted the visor on his helmet and told them, “I’m here to help.”
A woman beside him sighed a breath of relief. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“How is that helping?” she said.
“I’ll think of something.”
“You’ll think of something?” she asked. “What kind of asshole dives into a moving train without a plan?”
Jake brushed past the woman and made his way to the front of the train. There was no conductor but the controls would be found there. Controls went up front. Brains went in the h
ead. Old habits died hard and engineers still tended to think as they always had. He passed through several cars until he reached the engine.
“Jake?” Kat’s call filled his helmet. “We’re right below you. What’s your status?”
Jake looked out the window and saw the Beast barreling along on the road below. “I see you. I just made it to the engine. I can see the cockpit. I’ll have it stopped in a minute.”
He took two steps toward the control room and the cockpit door slammed shut and locked itself in self-defense.
“Shit.”
“What happened?” Kat asked.
Jake tried to force the doors open. They wouldn’t give. “It locked itself.”
“Well, duh,” Savant’s voice took over in his helmet. There was a brief struggle between the computer scientist and Kat for control of the connection. Savant won.
“Savant,” Jake said. “Tell me how to open this door.”
There was a long sigh that came with a ton of subtext. He could fill a silence with a fair amount of condescension. Jake had long suspected this skill was a part of any computer science degree. “There should be a panel just outside the door. Do you see it?”
Jake scanned the wall and located the access panel. “Yes.”
“Pull it open and you’ll see a nest of wires.”
Jake pulled and the panel door swung open. There were wires of every color inside. They ran six wires deep and several inches across. “It’s a mess in here.”
“Don’t worry. Do you see the green wire that’s thicker than the rest?”
Jake saw it. “Yes?”
“Pull it out and touch it to the frame.”
Jake yanked the wire free and touched it to the side of the panel. The shock numbed his arm and he yelped. “It shocked me.”
“Yes. It would do that.”
“And it didn’t open the doors.”
“No, it wouldn’t do that.”
“Then why did you tell me to do it?”
“For asking stupid questions, Jake. The doors are a security feature. If there was a way in, it would be a terrible security feature, wouldn’t it? Respect the design, Jake.”
“You asshole.” Jake shook the numbness out of his fingers. “You could have just told me it was a stupid question.”
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