Children of Dawn

by B. C. Johnson

  “Chairman, I beg your pardon, but an Android is not programmed to ‘react’, it appears I am in need of maintenance. Please excuse me, I will return once the necessary modifications have been made.”

  Anna turned around, Fairchild almost leaped from his chair. “Wait, wait, wait.” He half chuckled, grabbing her arm. “I never said there was anything wrong with that.”

  Anna looked at his hand holding her bicep, fighting every program she had rifling through her databanks on how best to counter his hold and escape. She overrode her sensation to react as if this were a combat situation, and instead decided to stand idly. “I do not comprehend why the Chairman would want a defective Android on such an important mission.”

  Fairchild sat again, this time on the edge of his desk. He released his hold on her. “I want you exactly because of that. I need an Android who can be… human.”

  Anna turned to face him, still standing rigid. “Human, sir? Androids are programmed to simulate human activity and social interaction.”

  “I am aware of that my dear, but I need someone who can not just interact, but react.”

  Anna did not move. Fairchild took another drag of his cigarette, letting out the smoke as he sighed. “There is a group of individuals who are… unhappy.”

  Anna still stood expressionless, inputting the information Fairchild said as if she were reading it off a data disc. “They are arguing that the Tribunal takes away too many of their, what they call, inherent rights as human beings.”

  “The Tribunal and the Chairman determined after much deliberation that the human race was not worthy of all natural rights unless properly earned.” Anna recited.

  Fairchild chuckled. “Yes I am aware of that my dear. I helped write the Constitution remember?”

  Anna looked to the ground. “I apologize, Mr. Chairman.”

  Fairchild sighed again. “Listen, everything you need to know right now is that these people pose a threat to our stability. I need them investigated, monitored, and reported on. That is what you all do best, isn’t it?”

  “It is not a measure of skill, sir. It is what we are programmed to do.” Anna said plainly.

  Fairchild shook his head. “Yes, well, I need them monitored from the inside, that’s something you are not programmed for. Am I correct?”

  Anna nodded. Her thought patterns started lighting up as Fairchild continued. A reconnaissance mission from the inside of a sleeper cell? She had always wanted to try something like that. She felt a sudden rush enter her system, an unexplainable sensation that made her feel she could run faster, jump higher, and push further than she ever had before. Her memory core was telling her this sensation was what the humans called adrenaline. She couldn’t help it, but a smirk managed to find its way to her mouth. Fairchild was just finishing. “So, you’re to see M.A.D.R.E for all the information you’ll need. You won’t answer to anyone else about this am I clear?”

  Anna nodded. Fairchild uneasily sat back into his chair. “Very well then, you are dismissed my dear.”

  Anna snapped to attention and saluted once more, before she gracefully pirouetted on her heel and left the apartment from whence she came. M.A.D.R.E’s image appeared in front of Fairchild’s desk. “Are you sure she’s ready for this? I’m taking an unneeded risk involving her.”

  M.A.D.R.E’s eyes were the same cool, calmness they always were. “Oh don’t worry Chairman… she’s ready.”

  Chapter 3

  Access Log

  File number 137488

  Android Serial number: 2338

  Codename: Anna

  28 September 2313

  0600 hrs.

  The entire mission was something new to Anna. M.A.D.R.E had sent a complete rundown of what was required of her, but even that was shrouded in vague objectives and foggy intelligence. She was to meet with a contact who had been working on monitoring the sleeper cell she was supposed to infiltrate. Her car sped through the streets of the early morning as she tried to calm her collective circuits. She was not programmed for this, didn’t even have any simulation programs she could run through to try and predict what she could expect from this assignment. Her processors began to overheat and she was in danger of having to perform an emergency shutdown. Why was she feeling this way? It should be nothing, just another assignment, just another task, yet the complete uncertainty she faced made her feel almost… nervous.

  That was it, she was scared. It was a feeling unlike any she had ever felt before. As she finally understood her situation, her thought process started to make more and more sense of her predicament. She began to relax a little, looking out the windows at the buildings whizzing by her. The car took an off ramp into the civilian work sector, and then onward past the very boundaries of Arcadia. She saw the late twenty-first century buildings, barely repaired from the pre-war days, looking almost miniscule against the backdrop of the towering skyscrapers in the distance. These seven story buildings were once the most popular living spaces in the city, now they were run down, barely standing upright. The people who lived in these buildings were outcasts, those who did not fit into either the civilian or citizen populous. They either couldn’t work or didn’t want to, and that banished them from the protective eyes of the Tribunal. If Anna could have felt something towards them, it would be a mixture of pity and rage. This part of the old city was lawless, a place where even the Tribunal Police came in groups. The contact had picked the perfect place for the meeting.

  The car slowed and entered an alley beside a half destroyed parking garage. The lights dimmed and the car landed perfectly on the old concrete street. Anna stepped from the vehicle as the door opened, reeling back immediately as she stepped on a large rat. The creature squealed at her and scampered off into the darkness. Anna looked about, making sure the rodent’s cry hadn’t alerted any outside interference. The gangs ruled the streets in this place, and not even Anna could take on a whole group alone.

  She pulled on her long overcoat and popped the collar up as she entered the bombed out parking garage. Soon rain started falling. She glanced about, seeing nothing in the blackness. She switched her optics to thermal scans, taking light steps through the various levels of the deck. She found no one. She checked her internal clock, she was right on time, so what was keeping her contact? Could something have gone wrong? Could the plan already be neutralized? Anna lowered her hand to her hip and pulled out her high grade pistol.

  The Tribunal special grade Mark III high impact pistol, the most powerful and accurate handgun in history. It was calibrated to fire within a centimeter of its intended target at nearly two hundred meters. Tiny gyros inside the pistol turned at precisely opposite rotations in order to make the pistol fire level and straight at any conceivable angle, or held by any possible hand. The rounds were fired using an electric discharge to a magnetic propulsion system, launching the round from the chamber at such speed that it reached its target before there was any slight kick back. With no gunpowder, there was no sound, so the pistol was the quietest gun ever invented, and it left no powder residue behind as evidence of there ever being a shot. It was the perfect assassin weapon, and it was carried exclusively by the Androids.

  Anna paced and put her back against a wall, so nothing would surprise her from behind. In her already alerted state, her reaction protocols might override her friend/foe calibrations, so she wanted to make sure nothing got the drop on her. No sooner had her back touched the side of a cement column, than a cool edge of a serrated knife came neatly in place over her throat. The cool, dark tone of a man’s voice came to Anna’s ears. “You newer models will never learn…”

  Anna whipped around just in time to be blinded by the headlights of a hover car, the figure of a man holding a knife blocking some of it. Another figure, a woman, walked from the driver’s side of the car, holding Anna’s same type of pistol. Anna relaxed and placed her sidearm back into its holster. “Android 2338, reporting.” She exclaimed.

  An electronic bleep sounded from the f
emale beside the car, who also lowered her pistol. “Identity number confirmed…” She told the man. “It’s her…”

  The man put his knife away and stared at Anna, the female turned down the headlights so Anna could see them better. The man’s face was large, boned, and his jaw was jagged. His irises twirled with a mixture of green and orange, swirling back and forth as if they were camera lenses. His long white hair shimmered in the headlights, his neck moving slowly and stuttering. Anna’s enhanced hearing could pick up the whirring of old gears and tiny hydraulics every time he moved his head, adjusted his facial features, or even blinked. She let a smirk show on her face. He was a very old model.

  The woman, however, was not. She moved like Anna did, gracefully and smooth, almost as if every step she took was center stage of a ballet. Her hair was short and red in contrast to Anna’s long, brown hair. The skin tight, full body, tactical stealth suit she wore was accented with a leather jacket. It was the common outfit for Androids, Anna wore such a sneak suit herself under her trench coat. It seemed that this female Android had just come from a reconnaissance assignment. Her complexion was fair but somehow more gaunt than Anna’s, as if her skin was stretched with just a few more years of service. She looked at Anna plainly. “Android number 2176…Jenna.” She said. “This is Android number 0005… Aaron.”

  Anna eyed Aaron with a look of overconfidence. “A Generation 1? I would have thought all of you were surely recycled by now.”

  Aaron squinted his optics at her. The gears inside them sounding as if they were almost ready to burst. “Hold your speech patterns droid. I’ve seen more on these streets than ten of your kind.”

  Anna smirked and winked smugly at him, turning to Jenna now. “They didn’t tell me my contacts were fellow Androids.”

  Jenna nodded. “I imagine they didn’t tell you a lot of things, just as they have not told us much either. We were both randomly assigned to recon the target sleeper cell and then meet here to await your arrival. I only met Aaron here a few minutes before you arrived.”

  Anna looked around, seeing only the one hover car parked in the deck. “Where’s your vehicle Aaron?” She asked.

  Aaron sighed heavily, the gears whirring almost uncontrollably until he punched his shoulder and the sound stopped. “Don’t… need one.”

  Anna had heard talk on the extranet about Androids like Aaron, dinosaurs that for some reason when they had been relieved of service chose to stay on the job. Living amongst the populous, suspecting everything and everyone. She had never heard of one coming back and helping an investigation, but apparently M.A.D.R.E had kept tabs on him, and assigned him to help her. If a Generation 1 was her back up in this case, then M.A.D.R.E expected there to be heavy firepower involved. In Aaron’s day Androids weren’t the stealthy detectives like Anna and Jenna, they were the brutal enforcers of Tribunal law.

  Jenna removed a tiny data disk from the inside of her jacket. “This is all I’ve been able to recover on this group on such short notice. They call themselves ‘The Regulators’, some group of ultra freedom activists of both citizen and civilian members. The leadership is elaborate and ever changing, I wouldn’t be surprised if many lesser sleeper cell agencies report to this one. They’re expansive, integrated, and very…very connected.”

  Jenna’s stress on the second “very” confirmed for Anna the Chairman’s concern for secrecy. She wagered that not even Jenna or Aaron had had contact with the Chairman about this assignment. Anna took the disc and slid it into the input slot on her left wrist and started the download. Jenna continued. “We have set up a meeting for you with one of the recruitment officers. They’re in need of a female spy to infiltrate a Tribunal office complex. They’re going to want you to access information for them from inside the building.”

  Anna nodded. “Spying for the people I’m spying on. Interesting situation.”

  “The meeting is to take place in a few hours, but you have to go there seemingly alone, as you are assuming the role of a single female citizen just out of finishing school. We will be your backup, well out of sight or signal range. M.A.D.R.E will be monitoring your meeting through the CCTV, so we’ll be alerted if there’s any trouble.”

  From the distance, just beyond the light cast from the headlights there came another male voice, sounding very young and confident. “Oh yous guys gots trouble alright.”

  A dozen figures walked from the shadows. Holding various twisted pieces of wood, steel, and iron as weapons, they looked half deformed from nuclear fallout, all wearing scraps of worn clothing or scraps sewn together to fit their oversized bodies. The shadows over their hideous complexions made them look like twisted demons from some dark level of hell rather than the mutated offspring of people too overexposed to the war’s nuclear fallout. “Yous all are on our turf, and we’z gonna beat the life out of ya till we get the toll for passage.”

  Aaron quickly sized up the figures, standing straighter with a hiss from his leg hydraulics, barely hidden beneath his skin and jeans. He looked to the two female Androids with a smirk on his face. “I’ve got your toll right here, ugly.”

  A second later both Anna and Jenna leapt into the air, flipping and cartwheeling into the crowd of bewildered gang members with the finesse of a ice skater. Aaron on the other hand, charged forward, plowing into the leader with the full force of a semi truck, his metal interior crushing the tender skin and sending the leader flying back to the wall.

  Anna whirled and kicked a gang member’s head, sending him twirling to the ground, and in the same motion leapt onto the shoulders of another. She squeezed her thighs together, crushing the man’s head until he passed out. As he fell Anna outstretched her hands and vaulted herself to land on another member, knocking the wind from him.

  Jenna fought with similar grace, slapping away a marauder’s weapon with her hands and then mule kicking him in the crotch. She spun, tripping another man and slamming her elbow to his stomach before he even hit the ground. Clasping her hands on the ground she kicked upwards, wrapping her ankles around another man’s head, turning hard, snapping his neck as if it were glass.

  Aaron grabbed the heads of two men, squishing them within his iron grip, slamming them together until their blood sprayed over his body. He sent them both flying as he charged into another group of attackers. The gang member’s weapons beat down on his artificial body, leaving slashes, holes, and gashes, but Aaron felt nothing. He grabbed one man's weapon, forcing the tip back into the mutant’s face. There was a brief struggle for control, but Aaron’s hand came crashing down on the gangster’s arm, snapping it like a twig. The brawler lost control, and Aaron shoved the pointed slab of steel up and through the his opponent’s skull. The gangster’s body fell to the ground in a heap. Aaron turned, grabbing another man’s arm as he tried to punch the gored Android, snapping his arm as well, easier than the last. As the mutant fell in pain, Aaron stepped solidly on the man’s throat, crushing his windpipe like a walnut beneath his boot.

  By the time the gang leader had regained his composure and struggled to his feet, his entire posse was on the concrete floor either dead or incapacitated. He looked about, staring in wonder as Aaron focused his optics now on the once over-confident leader. The man ran out of the parking deck, jumping three stories to land with a loud thud and a crack from a broken bone. Still he limped away, scared that the Androids might be giving chase. Aaron wiped the blood from his face as he walked to the edge of the parking deck, watching the leader go. The sun was now rising over the horizon, filtering light in from the gaps between the buildings. He took in a deep breath, the gears in his chest whining again and he popped his arm back into socket. “Beautiful morning.”

  He stepped off the edge and landed where the leader had with nothing but a grunt and the loud readjustment of interior metal functions. Anna looked where he had landed and then to Jenna, who gave her a slight smile. “He kind of grows on you.”

  Chapter 4

  Access Log

  File number
137489

  Android Serial number: 2338

  Codename: Anna

  28 September 2313

  0830 hrs.

  The diner stank of grease and burnt bread. In her many years of service, Anna had seen some of the worst parts of Arcadia. When it came to reconnaissance and information gathering, the crummiest alleyways, most difficult rooftops, and lowest restaurants were always the perfect picks for where criminals would release their information or have their meetings. In all the places Anna had ventured however, this place was by far the worst.

  Androids didn’t run off of disposable power supplies and energy consumption like humans. Their micro fusion reactors helped them stay online for nearly an infinite number of years, even after extensive service as was the case with Aaron. The Android’s bodies and metal interiors helped shield their precious power supplies from disruption, because if a breach should occur, half the city would be wiped out from the resulting explosion. Of course there was no danger of any breach ever happening, because the Tribunal and M.A.D.R.E knew that the Androids would protect the secret of their power supply closer than the fate of Arcadia itself.

  In order to give the appearance of eating food, Androids had a fake esophagus and stomach in which they could “eat” food and then swallow it, only to release the food later when in the proper facilities without anyone’s knowledge. This gave them the edge when it came to blending in to restaurants and diners for reconnaissance. They appeared to eat, to swallow, and even use the bathroom, all signs of normal human food consumption.

  As Anna waited, she scanned the other patrons. They were laughing as they enjoyed what posed as breakfast, but really looked like nothing more than sewage to her. Such disgusting habits humans had when it came to eating. Fry something, practically anything, and it could be called food. Humans ingested countless amounts of trash like that everyday, she was amazed the species had lived as long as it did. Then she remembered to take another bite of her own “breakfast”. She was supposed to be acting human after all.