by Raya Jones
Angerford shuddered. He had to admire Rinzler, though. If Rinzler hadn’t kept a close watch on site surveillance, they wouldn’t have seen ‘Angerford’ arrive and shoot Jeremiah. Using a handy gadget that he foresightedly took from his box earlier, Rinzler created the interactive façade in five minutes flat, which was quite a feat of skilful programming.
Rinzler could probably talk himself out of OK custody, but Angerford was wanted for killing a Cordova, he pointed out to Rinzler.
‘Slightly more serious than being wanted for killing an Indigo,’ Rinzler granted. ‘But first they’ll figure out that the old women did it, and by the time they discover that these women don’t exist we’ll have an alibi. OK are not your worry. It’s your very own Roke Steiner. Why should he frame you like that? Surely he’s not holding a grudge since school. What did you actually do to him in school?’
Angerford ignored the question. ‘I guess I’m the fall guy.’
‘I guess you’re right. If he knows about Mitzi and Ambrose…’ Rinzler read Angerford’s expression, and concluded, ‘He knows. Then he knows that it could be made to look personal. What have you two been up to in that game demo?’
‘We didn’t do anything.’
‘Maybe not, but that’s too boring and doesn’t explain why you killed him. The good news is that Roke didn’t know you are here, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it look as if you’ve escaped back to town.’
‘Oh good,’ mumbled Angerford, sarcastically. ‘We’re trapped, Rinzler.’
‘Not if I can help it.’
Site surveillance showed Daily androids arrive in the foyer to remove Jeremiah’s body. By now there was no sight of the bodyguards in either terminal. Rinzler figured that Division.53 would be seeking Angerford elsewhere, and keeping only low-key monitoring of traffic to and from the Memorial.
They brought Indigo into the communication space.
‘Fun being with you,’ she said, not amused, ‘but you must send me back to April. I can only hold one line of consciousness at a time, you know, like being dead in the waters of OblivioShindu17.6 with all the…’
‘Cut the gamers’ jargon,’ Rinzler interrupted, adding pleadingly, ‘please!’
‘Fine. But send me back. When I’m in April, it’s like Wow! Being Alive in capital A in the buzz-world of… okay, no gamer speak, but when you keep me out there’s nothing, nothing, sensory deprivation full-blown and…’
Rinzler interrupted, ‘We’re in the middle of a Situation capital-S here.’ He briefly briefed her.
‘Jeremiah’s dead? Sad news,’ she smiled happily. ‘I’ll be quick, then. April shifts away from Angerford anything that’s tagged Pet Project. Funny thing, it’s what I just told her… I can’t believe it was a month ago. It feels like a dream. Dreams come back in fragments of episodes, snatches of conversation, faces, like sprites on the net and shadows of careless runners, or commercials interrupting the background of your workaday movements in cyberspace. You start reconstructing the dream in your unaided brain in the hope that the knowledge will switch back on like a recovered file…’
‘Please get to the point,’ Angerford demanded quietly. ‘We really don’t have time.’
Rinzler was working to secure their safe return to town. He worked at incredible speed, creating a scenario that was coming into his head as if being downloaded directly from Schmidt, while listening to Indigo.
She was saying, ‘It was banter. I was shaken up about the girl, the Gemini, that android, and April came over. You saw it on the playback before it went fuzzy and cut out. I wanted to be left alone, so I told April, “Don’t you have a private life, pets to look after or something?” and April said, “As a matter of fact I do.” I said, “You andro-kind never cease to amaze me.” I half-meant it, saying I’m glad that the Miltonese turned out to be an android. This way nobody’s died. I reckoned I’d meet Gemini again. April started to say that it won’t be the same, the X100s are modular units, and I said, “Tell me all about it later, right now I have my own life to save, go see to your pet project.” And April said, “That’s being taken care of.” That’s my worry, people taking care of my life, taking my life. How dead am I, Rinzler?’
‘Only physically,’ Rinzler said kindly.
It almost made sense. April created the altered-Indigo — a non-person — to have as a human pet. Things went wrong because the pet project has made her existence known to the authentic Indigo. But why should an andronet want a pet?
As if answering his thought, Indigo continued, ‘Any newbie on the green with dewy-eyed B-Grip Graze at the dawn of cyber-time can see why Cyboratics would love to install me full of bugs. The perfect mole, she’d be none the wiser. You say that my double went on with my life as normal for a fortnight until they… was it you?’ she turned to Angerford, who shook his head. ‘Or Roke Steiner got what you wanted and pulled Monday’s trigger to eliminate me, I mean eliminate my double. I bet this is what the altered-me told the dead-me. I bet she told her, “I’m the real unadulterated one because I’m physically so different that my own mother doesn’t recognise me.”’
‘Are you being sarcastic?’ asked Rinzler. He couldn’t tell with her.
‘Maybe,’ she replied, ‘maybe not.’
‘See you later, Indigo, we need to go now.’ Their window of opportunity to get away was very narrow.
‘Hey, don’t leave me in the darkness of sensory deprivation oblivion. Hey, what’s this place? It looks like a cheap imitation of Jeremiah’s office!’
‘It’s my office,’ said Rinzler. Earlier he had advised Angerford to link the site where the Indigo file was stashed to Rinzler Investigations, so that Indigo could be found in case something happened to them. Now he’d given her a virtual presence there.
‘Now I know there are fates worse than death!’ she exclaimed, ungrateful.
They cut the communication and made their getaway.
Nobody stopped them on the way to the train.
They sat silent during the short ride.
Nobody waited for them at the town terminal.
Only when they were back in the Greys, safely out of cameras for the moment, did Angerford finally ask Rinzler what he had done.
‘A diversion that Schmidt would be proud of,’ replied Rinzler, pleased with himself.
‘Who is Schmidt?’ asked Angerford.
‘Someone who’d be proud of the diversion I created.’ Too late, Rinzler recalled that Angerford had tracked down Samurai Sunrise to Harvey Schmidt Investigations.
Angerford gave no indication of making the connection. ‘I’m proud of you too. But what exactly did you do?’
Rinzler had programmed six dozen images of Angerford to appear in quick succession within 10 minutes on public surveillance in 72 separate locations. The train surveillance showed a pair of Daily androids, such as those who had collected Jeremiah’s body. Nobody looks twice at androids.
‘Ingenious,’ said Angerford, meaning it. ‘Where to next?’
‘Middle Earth.’
‘You’re joking. April works there.’
‘That’s why. You’ll tell April that you need peace and quiet to continue monitoring the diagnostics. Middle Earth has backrooms for private hire. OK don’t seem to be in a hurry to make the Jeremiah incident public, so as long as you’re off camera you should be safe.’
Angerford followed him into a dark alley. ‘I appreciate what you’re doing for me.’
‘You’re welcome.’
‘You are being dragged into this.’
‘Don’t mention it.’
‘I should tell you…’ Angerford’s tone of voice made Rinzler stop and listen. Angerford was regretting the gesture already, but felt obliged to let Rinzler know. ‘If I’m captured, I won’t live for long.’
‘They won’t execute you straightaway,’ Rinzler speculated encouragingly.
‘That’s why. They’ll want a trade-off. I’ll make sure that I won’t live long enough.’ He told Rinzler about the suicide ci
rcuit built into his brain enhancement.
They walked on.
Rinzler asked several times, to make sure he was getting it right, whether the trigger was at Angerford’s control. Yes, it was, Angerford kept confirming. Was it something that Cyboratics citizens get at birth? Rinzler inquired. Angerford couldn’t make out whether Rinzler was sarcastic or serious, and started to wish he hadn’t mentioned the suicide detail.
Rinzler contended, ‘There’s always something else to live for.’
‘Not for me, Rinzler. If I were to betray Cyboratics, I couldn’t live with myself.’
‘I don’t believe it. Your loyalty is more important than your own life?’
‘Yes.’
Rinzler speculated optimistically, ‘Wye Stan will get you back.’
‘That’s not how it works.’
‘How does it work? If you crack the problem with April you’ll be a hero, but if you fail you’re on your own?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s why I’m not a corporate citizen.’
They walked up and down tunnel-like unlit alleys and through passages that were barely cracks between walls, and whenever they reached a dead end they teleported elsewhere in the Greys. They zigzagged across town until they reached the cul-de-sac with the gamers’ dungeon. They activated their biosuits’ veils to cover their faces and quickly crossed the area under surveillance.
As soon as they entered, April greeted them with a broad smile. ‘Angerford, you are full of surprises today. How can I be of assistance?’
Angerford requested one of the backrooms.
‘As it happens, we have a room vacant. How will you be paying?’
‘You are paying, April. I’m going to use it to keep monitoring your operations during the diagnostics.’
‘Please follow this unit.’ The android turned to lead the way.
Another April materialised. ‘And you, Rinzler, how may I help you today?’
‘I’m with him.’ He made to follow Angerford.
The leading April turned and blocked his way. ‘I am sorry, Rinzler, you don’t have any role or purpose in my maintenance.’
‘He’s with me,’ stated Angerford.
‘If it’s a bodyguard you need, you only have to ask me,’ April pointed out, ‘her’ melodious voice raised just enough to be audible against the subdued background music, but not loud enough to disturb nearby patrons.
They passed alcoves, recesses and niches, and finally reached a small room furnished with floor cushions. It was designed for gamers who used portable mats. There were no desktop facilities. Angerford ordered April to bring a workstation and two seats.
April contended merrily, ‘Beats me why you don’t use the lab like other analysts. Or, if you want seclusion, I could take you to my androhouse. You haven’t been there yet.’
‘Just do it, don’t argue.’
Rinzler interjected, ‘And please bring us some refreshments. I’ll pay for those.’
‘Certainly, Rinzler. I’ll do that with pleasure.’
Left alone, they sat down on the floor cushions. Rinzler commented that April was behaving oddly with Angerford.
‘Because it argues with me?’
‘No, because she’s more guarded with you. It’s defensive arguing. But perhaps that’s only my imagination. I wouldn’t have this gut-feeling if I didn’t know that April is deliberately concealing a pet project from you. Apologies for anthropomorphising.’
‘No need to apologise. Keep talking. Sometimes you make sense.’
‘Only sometimes?’ laughed Rinzler.
Angerford could accept the April-did-it theory if he could figure out how it was technically possible. He activated his ring and watched the swirls form on the palm of his hand. ‘April is taking its time bringing the workstation. Do you think that’s because it antagonises me?’
‘It could be because it has to buy, borrow, or steal a workstation for you. But that doesn’t explain the delay in bringing our refreshments. That’s antagonising me.’ Rinzler indicated the data swirls, ‘There’s a shadow in its mind.’
Startled, Angerford exclaimed in disbelief, ‘You can see it!’
Rinzler shook his head slightly, not sure what he’d seen. He couldn’t see it anymore. When he was watching the April mind at Angerford’s place he saw a shifting shadow. If he looked at it directly, it transpired as a loose pattern created by random gaps appearing and disappearing in the strings of data. But when he didn’t concentrate on it, from the corner of his eye it looked like a moving human shape. ‘I know, I know, it’s like seeing things in an inkblot. What do you see when you look at these fractals?’
‘The same as you but I also read it.’ His brain enhancements and training made it possible for Angerford to decipher the swirls, like a literate person who simultaneously sees the shape of letters and knows the meaning of the words. He told Rinzler, ‘What you saw, this shadow, is real. A human shape is probably your imagination. But the gaps are created when April shifts things away from me. I didn’t see the blanks for a long time because I was too busy reading what was in sight.’
‘Sometimes it helps to be illiterate.’
‘So it seems.’
Rinzler was not the first one to tell him that April had a shadow. Angerford silently remembered Wye Stan Pan telling him when assigning him to Proxima, ‘It’s as if April Proxima has a shadow-consciousness. Find out who’s doing it to us or at least some concrete evidence of his interference.’ Wye Stan said it as if he already had an idea who it was.
Rinzler mused aloud, ‘It’s as if that shadow has volition of its own, like another mind inside the cyber-mind.’
‘Is Samurai Sunrise doing this to us, Rinzler?’ Angerford heard himself say, speaking tensely.
‘Doing what to us?’
‘Not us, Rinzler. I mean Cyboratics. I told you there are only two people who can infiltrate an andronet so deeply, and one of them wouldn’t do it. He too told me about a shadow. Is your associate doing it?’
Rinzler contemplated it for a split second. ‘I wouldn’t put it past him but I can’t tell you what he’s up to. I’d love to be his associate but I’m not. He doesn’t share those things with me.’
‘What does he share with you, Rinzler?’
‘Legends of a mysterious darkness that moves through cyberspace of its own accord, killing life and consuming data for reasons of its own,’ said Rinzler like a man sighing.
Tales of the Darkness are hackers’ mythology. Angerford was familiar with it. He felt relieved, and yet oddly disappointed, to think that Rinzler had lied about seeing a shadow in April. Rinzler probably made up the story based on those legends. He’s just a small-time detective, thought Angerford — and then realised how craftily Rinzler had manipulated him to disclose what Wye Stan Pan knew, and his suspicions about Rinzler returned.
April came back with a tray with canapés, tiny triangular sandwiches and soft drinks. March followed with a workstation, and then brought in the seats. Soon it was all set up. The androids left. Angerford got his connections going. It was routine, and he wasn’t distracted when Rinzler spoke.
Rinzler recalled the hoax played on Jeremiah through April, reminding, ‘You said it was done as if deliberately for OK to track it down to you. Indigo’s idea that April is out to get you puts that hoax in a new light.’
Angerford hadn’t forgotten that. If Jeremiah kept a record of the incident, it could be used against him in the murder trial. He pointed it out to Rinzler.
‘Then we need to find out what was the content of the hoax,’ said Rinzler, speaking with his mouth full. ‘Do you know what this pink stuff is supposed to be?’
‘I already know. I don’t mean the pâté. He saw Mitzi wave to him in his mirror, and then he received a nonsensical text message saying, “Jan is Pan” like some nursery rhyme.’
‘Aha!’ Rinzler brightened up and reached for another canapé. ‘There’s your hope of salvation. You really don’t have a clue what it means. Th
en you couldn’t have sent it.’
Angerford asked what ‘Jan is Pan’ meant.
‘I’m not sure I should tell you,’ Rinzler said, but told him anyway, concluding, ‘You see, you were the real target all along. April did it to get you in trouble.’
Angerford pondered it, dubious. ‘And April also shot Jeremiah to implicate me?’
‘No, Roke Steiner shot Jeremiah, but it wouldn’t surprise me if April pushed his buttons. Why should Roke Steiner do that — apart from the fact that he’s a homicidal maniac and hates your guts?’
‘He kills out of genuine conviction that it’s necessary for protecting Cyboratics.’
‘He’s been protecting Cyboratics from Jeremiah Cordova for years. Why kill him now?’
Neither of them was in a position to know whether Jeremiah suddenly became an imminent threat, and it wasn’t their immediate concern.
They brought Indigo into the communication space.
‘About time!’ she exclaimed. ‘This is like being stuck in Jeremiah’s office but worse in…’
Rinzler interrupted, ‘But better than being dead in the waters of Oblivio Shindu-something. One quick question, Indigo. Would your mother defect to Cyboratics on account of your grandmother being a Pan?’
There was no quick answer. ‘How do you know about that?’
When he told her about discovering the document in her Reluctant Aliens game, she seemed to pale. Perhaps it was just his imagination. She said, nonplussed, ‘How did you crack my password? Who are you, Rinzler? I have no idea if she knows about her mother, but I know that if she knows she’d be trying to worm her way into Cyboratics. She’s been trying to usurp Jeremiah for years although she doesn’t stand a chance of making it to CEO since she’s not a Cordova. She’d go for a career in Cy military like a shot if she can get clan status with them.’
‘That’s a terrible thing to say about your own mother.’
‘I’d do the same if I were her. We’re just citizens. We can change corporations as we please. Only execs are stuck for life with the corporation they’re born into. Hey, guys, bad news if you are in Middle Earth. April has just sent a message to Division.53 saying you’re there. You are, aren’t you? Jan’s got you trussed up like a turkey and she’s a vicious bitch with an enemy fox when you’re a rabbit in her run…’