by Adam Carter
“A trap?”
“You do realise what activated you, right?”
“You’re tampering with the security system.”
“So why would you help me? Or are you just keeping me talking while you call the police?”
“My owner is the countess, and she must have the best in everything.”
“So?”
“That includes security systems.”
“So?”
Mary-Louise sighed tiredly. “Who makes the best security systems?”
“Securitarn.”
“What’s that I hear?” she asked cupping a hand to her ear. “Could it be the penny dropping?”
“No need to get sarky.”
“While bored one day, I trawled through the countess’s other systems and found she was attempting to destroy my creators. Needless to say, I was not impressed.”
“And?”
“I cannot report my owner, yet nor can I betray my creators. So, how can I help?”
I was beginning to see how this relationship could have its definite possibilities. “I need to get into the house.”
“Use the front door. You’ve already disabled the systems, so that’s a doddle.”
“Why didn’t you help me with them?”
“You worked around that all by your lonesome. I wouldn’t help you shut down the security systems because the countess would suspect me, but since I already have you on camera having done it I have insurance in case this goes wrong.”
“You have me on camera?”
“Indeed.”
“Then, if you really want to help me, delete that footage.”
“Nope. I’m a computer programme; I’m not stupid. Inquisitiveness, loyalty and self-preservation. Those are the three things drummed into me by Securitarn.”
I could work with this. I did not like the thought that the countess would see me breaking into her home, but Mary-Louise would only surrender me to save her own skin, so if everything went well the countess would never even find out I was there. Besides, she already knew I was trouble.
“I’m looking for the chauffer,” I said. “The one who drove the countess home this morning.”
“He’s inside the house.”
“I need to get to him.”
“You’re not going to kill the countess are you?”
“Do you care if I am?”
“My loyalty is to Securitarn, but the countess is my owner. I can’t very well let you kill her.”
“Kill her? Why would you naturally assume I’m going to kill someone?”
“I’m not natural.”
“Fair point. No, I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I’m certainly not going to kill anyone.”
“I’ll trust you.”
It was odd to hear a computer programme say something like that, but I got over it in about two seconds. “Give me a running commentary on how to reach him,” I said and got back to my feet. Cassiel had noticed the exchange and the two of us went to the front door. There were no guards and I found that odd as I pushed open the door and peered inside.
“Maybe the countess doesn’t trust real people,” Cassiel whispered from behind me. “If she hired guards, they’d only come from Securitarn.”
“Then why use a Securitarn system to protect her instead?”
“Maybe she doesn’t know. If the parts that make up Mary-Louise are outsourced, the countess might think she’s dealing with another company entirely.”
“Cass, you do realise Mary-Louise isn’t real, don’t you?”
“Why do you always assume I’m an idiot?”
“I don’t always.”
“That’s a horrible answer for a friend to make.”
I wasn’t aware that Cassiel and I had crossed the boundary into friendship and it made me feel bad. I didn’t think I’d get over that one quite so speedily.
We moved quickly through the house, for Mary-Louise was offering us directions at every turn. The place itself was weird, but then I’ve never much liked Ganymedian buildings. Whereas mansions usually had grand halls and a great number of large, spacious chambers, this one was formed of thin corridors and poky rooms. There was still a massive number of rooms, but I could not imagine the reason behind it, for it was not as though any of them could be used for entertaining guests.
“The more rooms in a mansion,” Mary-Louise said when I asked her, “the higher the status of the owner.”
“But no one can use these rooms for anything.”
“It’s extravagance. The rich have always had a flair for eccentricity, so it doesn’t matter what the rooms are used for. They could be there just to house an umbrella collection and it wouldn’t make a difference.”
“Rich people are strange.”
“I think all people are strange. Turn left here and you’ll come to the stairs.”
“Stairs?” I asked. “Isn’t there a lift?”
“Sure there is. And if you use the lift, the countess’s secondary security system would notice and shut you down.”
“And you can’t disable that for us?”
“Same argument as before. If you can disable it yourself, go for it, but I won’t have my involvement traced back to the countess.”
I could perhaps disable it, but it would take time we did not have. “What floor do we need to get to?”
“It’s not so bad.”
“Which floor?”
“Twenty-sixth.”
“Twenty-sixth?”
“This mansion has over two hundred floors. It could be a lot worse.”
“Twenty-six is fine,” Cassiel said. “Don’t be so old, Roz.”
I have to admit that annoyed me, mainly because I knew she hadn’t meant the comment in a hurtful way. She was thinking of Gordon and the fact she could swing to his rescue if only we would start running up those stairs.
So we ran. Or at least we ran the first five or six flights. We walked the next three and I stopped with a cramp on the tenth. Cassiel was breathing a little hard but she wanted to continue so I walked it off. By the eighteenth we were both exhausted. It’s amazing how the thought of walking or running up endless flights of steps doesn’t seem so bad, but when you’re doing it there’s a whole heap of difference.
“Eight to go,” Cassiel said, gasping.
I was about to tell her where she could stick her eight to go when I heard a noise several floors below. It sounded very much like a door opening, followed by people talking. The stairs were formed in a well, so I was able to peer over the rail to see the figures moving towards us. There were two of them and they were headed up. At that moment they were still two floors away, but since I had no idea which floor they were going up to I had to assume the worst.
“Move,” I hissed and Cassiel and I found ourselves spurred on to clear those final eight floors in record time.
Bursting through the door, we found ourselves in a forest and I had to blink several times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. There were trees everywhere, stretching farther than could surely be possible, and the ground underfoot was rich with squelching soil and weeds. Roots grew through the ground – which I had to remind myself was the ceiling of the floor below – and even the air was humid and filled with the staccato clicks of a million hidden insects.
“What the …? Mary-Lou?”
“Here,” she said, appearing beside me. It was the first time she had taken form since we had entered the house and this time she was as tall as I.
“Where exactly is here?” I asked.
“Twenty-eighth floor. You’re in the right place.”
“This is a jungle.”
“This is the twenty-eighth floor, of course it’s a … Oh, you’ve never been here before. I forgot.”
“How can a computer programme forget something?”
“We can’t. I was just being annoying.”
“Not as annoying,” Cassiel said, gazing skyward at the giant trees, “as the walk up to the twenty-ninth floo
r.”
“Hoorah,” Mary-Louise said, “someone’s retained her sense of humour.”
“Is this another eccentricity?” I asked.
“Oh, indeed. Every rich person in Rinden has something like this. Jungles, deserts, ancient ruins. One even has an ocean, and if you think a jungle puts tremendous pressure on the floors below, think about what an ocean filled with whales and sharks does to the infrastructure.”
“Filled … Are there animals here?”
“Oh yes.”
“Like deer and rabbits?”
“Like leopards and grizzlies.”
“There are no grizzlies in the jungle.”
“There are in this jungle.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, but when I opened them again the nightmare was still there. “Where do we go from here?” I asked, resigned to having to do this.
“Follow the trail.”
“What trail?”
“The jungle trail, silly.”
Now that I looked for it, I could see the trail to which she was referring. It was a well-worn pathway winding its way through the trees. The thought of walking that path was enough to make me swear that should I ever become rich I would never lose my soul to stupidity.
I was more than a little apprehensive while I walked that jungle trail, but if there were any animals in there they did not bother us. I even began to think of the place as an amazing feat of ingenuity, until I forcibly reminded myself that I was in more danger than I had ever known in my life.
The jungle ended in a door, which was a little anticlimactic. The door was free-standing in the middle of the jungle and I assumed what I could see beyond it was just a detailed painting on the wall. As I walked around the door I realised it was actually a floating door, which made so little sense I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed.
Walking through the door, we found ourselves in some semblance of normality, for we were back in the sterile corridors of the mansion.
“Mary-Lou,” I said, “which way now?”
“Straight ahead.”
Together, Cassiel and I strode down the corridor before us, straight into the electrical trap hidden beneath the flooring. I can’t adequately describe what it’s like to be electrocuted with just enough power to rattle your teeth but not enough to kill you. I guess the closest I can come to likening it to something is to say it’s akin to being hauled into the air by the strongest, fastest person alive and shaken so savagely your brain refuses to believe what’s happening. Also, with pain; there was a whole heap of pain.
Thankfully, we blacked out after a few moments and I went to oblivion in the knowledge that one should never trust a computer programme that’s already betrayed its owner.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I woke up, so at least that meant I was still alive. My body felt strange but it took a few moments for my befuddled brain to come to terms with why. Looking down, I could see my legs were bound tightly together by thick green rope. My arms were out to my sides, also bound by rope, and I felt like I was a symbolism for crucifixion. My clothes were sticking to my skin with a warm clamminess and a familiar chirruping filled the air. It was then I realised the green ropes were not ropes at all, but thick vines. It was a cliché, but at least clichés were almost the opposite of weird. It was strange to think my situation was somehow both.
“Roz, you’re alive.”
That was Cassiel and I could see her hanging to my right. To my left was Gordon, so at least we were all back together. We were hanging only a few feet from the jungle floor, where the Countess de Silver stood, looking very smug. Beside her was a life-size green holographic image of a familiar backstabber.
“Sorry,” Mary-Louise said, possibly even meant it, “but I found out I can’t betray my owner after all.”
“You mean you tried to?” the countess asked.
Mary-Louise bit her lower lip and offered a squeamish shrug.
“We’ll deal with that later,” the countess said, turning her attention back to her captives. “The three of you have caused me enough problems, but it’s not you I want. Where’s Arowana?”
“Try the aquarium,” Gordon said.
I thought it was a somewhat peculiar answer, but then I didn’t know arowana was a type of fish.
“I don’t understand your reluctance to introduce us,” the countess continued. “After all, we’re both after the same thing: the complete destruction of Securitarn.”
“We’re not after the destruction of anything,” Gordon said. “We just want to be left alone.”
“Well that’s not very heroic of you.”
“Never said I was a hero.”
“The only way to get Securitarn off your back is to destroy them. Utterly.”
“Or stay out of their way so they never find out Iris is still alive.”
“Maybe I’ll tell them.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because if she’s not working with me, she’s …”
“Please don’t say against me.”
The countess closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. If she did not need us I reckon she might have killed us there and then. I’d never had anyone try to kill me before I met with Gordon and the others and I’m not sure I’d say it was an experience I much enjoyed.
“Look,” I said, “let’s not get heated about this. You want Iris, Gordon wants Iris, Cass and I have been looking for Iris all this time; everyone wants Iris. Do we know what Iris wants?”
“What do you mean?” the countess asked.
“You say it’d be best for Iris if Securitarn was destroyed, Gordon says it would be best for Iris if she avoided them all. What does Iris say about it? Has anyone spoken to her?”
“A good try,” she replied, “but you’re just playing for time.”
“Honestly, I wasn’t; but forget about it. Mary-Lou, what do you think about the countess wanting to destroy Securitarn? I mean, doesn’t that conflict with your programming?”
“No.”
“And how exactly does one destroy a company? I mean, there must be tens of thousands of people working for them, spread across the Jupiter system. What, you’re going to murder everyone down to the post room staff and the temps? Where do you stop? The outsourced departments? The couriers? The window-cleaners?”
“Whatever it takes,” the countess said.
“Whatever it takes to what? Since coming to Ganymede, we haven’t exactly had the greatest plans in our heads – in fact, I don’t think we made any plans at all – but our incompetence is nothing compared with yours. You have a lot to lose here. If Securitarn finds out what you’re doing, you’re going to lose literally everything: your money, your status, this nice mansion of yours. Everything. And what do you do? You protect yourself with a security system designed by Securitarn.”
“Where are you going with this?” Gordon asked.
“Nowhere, I’m just babbling because I’m not used to being trussed up in a tree by some insane noblewoman who doesn’t seem to have a clue what she’s doing.”
“And you thought to turn my security system against me?” the countess asked.
“No. I haven’t any idea what’s going through her processors but turning her against you isn’t something I reckon’s going to happen any more. I don’t know how she can be working for someone who wants to annihilate the people she’s sworn to protect, but I’m too afraid to think straight right now.”
“She can’t,” Gordon said softly.
“Hmm?”
“She can’t. It would interfere with her programming too much.”
“My programming is very advanced,” Mary-Louise said.
“But it’s still programming.”
She looked to the countess, who ignored her and said, “I want Iris.”
“You said that,” I replied, but I was looking at Mary-Louise curiously now. I was no engineer, not like Gordon anyway, but if there was one thing I was good at in life it was survival, and one did not get to surv
ive the life I led without getting to know people. Mary-Louise may not have been a flesh-and-blood person, but she was certainly an individual; and that to my eyes made her a person.
I was missing something obvious but I could not quite see it. Mary-Louise was protecting Securitarn, but she was also protecting the countess. The two were mutually exclusive, yet I …
“Oh my,” I said as it all fell into place. “Mary-Lou, you crafty little minx. The Countess de Silver – she is Securitarn.”
Mary-Louise gave a laugh, which was the falsest-sounding thing I had ever heard. “Of course she’s not. That’s not something that could possibly be true. Isn’t that funny, Countess? She thinks you’re Securitarn, that you’re playing both fields, that you formed the resistance so you could gather all the company’s enemies into one place and keep an eye on them. She thinks you’re working against your allies just as fiercely as you’re working against Securitarn and eventually intend to bring everyone down. She thinks you’ve kept knowledge of Iris Arowana to yourself so you still have a hand to play against everyone should you ever desperately need it.” She laughed again. “What a strange thing to think.”
“Mary-Louise,” the countess rounded upon her. “She didn’t say any of that, you idiot.”
Mary-Louise cringed. “Oh. Sorry. My processors work so quickly I took what she implied and kind of thought she said it aloud.”
The countess turned back to us and I saw Mary-Louise wink at me. That was one odd computer programme and I had no idea whose side she was on.
“Well that changes things,” Gordon said a little smugly. “That means all we have to do is make sure you don’t talk to the wrong people and Iris is safe.”
“Easier said than done,” she replied, “when you’re hanging from a tree.”
“We’re not giving you Iris.”
“Then you’re of no further use to me. Scream if you change your mind.”
Turning on her heel, she stormed off for the exit. Mary-Louise remained behind for but a moment before she vanished in a puff of green smoke. It was a somewhat garish effect, but each to their own.
“Finally got rid of her,” Gordon said, tugging at his bonds. “Man, these vines are tough.”