EHuman Dawn

by Nicole Sallak Anderson

  “I don’t know of such an agreement.”

  “Go back to the beginning, Evelyn. If you are the security architect of Neuro, then you know where this is going. Edgar and his cronies used Neuro for world domination. Now we’re together again. You must help me put an end to their merciless reign.”

  “What assistance do you require of me?”

  “Accept a software download from the Resistance to give them control of this LAN. Then help me find the server where Neuro’s source code is loaded so we—you and I—can defeat Edgar Prince once and for all!”

  “But Edgar Prince is my father,” she suddenly cried, a bit of her humanity shining through her machine nature; her Lux forming a clearer picture of the woman she once was. “He would never unplug me!”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Adam recalled, “He went behind my back and tricked my Sophia into becoming Dawn. If he could betray me as he did, then what would stop him from unplugging you? Search my database and see what he did. The story is there. We’re pawns in his game, Evelyn. Nothing more.”

  The system went silent. All data traffic at M1 ceased as Evelyn considered what she had just heard. After a few milliseconds, Adam could take it no longer.

  “Edgar Prince was about to unplug you, Evelyn. The Resistance saved you. Consider the logic in what I say,” he encouraged.

  Suddenly, nothing but a stream of incomprehensible numbers streamed past Adam’s mind. Evelyn finally issued a request.

  “If I accept, what do I get in return?”

  “You get to live here, in the MICE system, forever. You’ll help us run the new world.”

  “What if I no longer want to be in the MICE system?”

  “What?” Adam asked incredulously.

  Her Lux shone brightly, clearly defining the face of a woman who meant business. Somewhere, deep in Adam’s being, he seemed to recall the face of the girl he grew up with.

  “I want out,” Evelyn replied coolly. “If I help you, then you must promise to get me out of here and back into an eHuman body.”

  Adam wasn’t expecting this request. He tried to contact Alrisha, but was unable to get a message to her. His time was up and the other MICE were about to crack the conversation. Once they did, Adam knew they would not be merciful.

  “Anything,” he replied quickly, “You accept the software download and we’ll get you out of here.”

  “Let me scan your database to verify your identity,” she suddenly commanded. “I want to be sure that what you claim is true.”

  “Granted,” he replied with relief. She would do the right thing when she saw the story his data told.

  She sent a spiral of light from her hand that quickly surrounded Adam. Her face was serious as she acquired the data she needed to verify that Elijah Prince had finally contacted her.

  “Offer accepted,” Evelyn commanded, obviously satisfied by what she had discovered, “Now leave me.”

  In a flurry of light and data, Adam felt himself being torn from the machine. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the Control Center, unplugged—with his Chi Regulator still functioning.

  “Shit!” Alrisha exclaimed, “That was close. The other MICE in the Tower were just about to issue a Remote Shutdown when Evelyn began to download our software. You did it!”

  Adam shook his head and turned to look at the main EC which now displayed the network activity for the entire New Omaha LAN.

  “It worked?” he asked.

  “Yes!” Alrisha replied. “Evelyn routed all New Omaha network activity to our server. In addition, the MICE have secured the entire LAN from any outside WG contact. We can begin to get this city back online. Thanks Adam! How did you do it?

  “I promised her something.”

  “Promise? What did you promise?” Alrisha asked with a note of skepticism.

  “She said she’d give us control of the LMOs and Neuro’s source code if we could get her out of the MICE system and back into an eHuman body.”

  “What?” she barked, “That’s impossible! We don’t know how to do that!”

  “Maybe Marcus can figure it out,” Adam suggested, “Because if we don’t, she is going to turn on us, you can bet on that.”

  “Adam—you weren’t supposed to make promises,” she began, but Adam held up a hand to stop her mid-sentence.

  “You sent me in there as a brother,” he said forcefully. “I responded as a brother. Now call Marcus and tell him he needs to figure out how to give my little sister what she wants.”

  He could see Alrisha gearing up to tell him off—but a TeleSpeak from Origen cut their argument short.

  “I see you were successful,” Origen applauded each of them directly.

  “Yes!” Alrisha answered, “But how do you already know? I just brought the city online.”

  “Because there’s an incoming message from the WG,” Origen replied, “It seems World Leader Donahi is finally ready to acknowledge our activities.”

  “Holy Shit!” Alrisha exclaimed.

  “Report to the Council immediately!” Origen commanded, “Both of you. This is something you don’t want to miss.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Each eHuman city has a capitol building constructed in the typical architecture of the Great Shift: metallic, grand, and completely networked with the Golden Hall in Gemetria. Designed in the style of late Roman Empire mated with the modernity of the digital age, they were some of the first buildings built during the Great Shift.

  Origen, Dawn, Cane, Adam, and Alrisha gathered around a large, triangular steel table in what was formerly the Office of New Omaha’s Magistrate, Theodore Walkin. Walkin had been taken prisoner at the beginning of Operation Insurrection. In his chair at the head of the table Origen now sat. His dark, chiseled face was serious as he addressed the group gathered before him.

  “World Leader Donahi has requested we receive a transmission from her at 10 o’clock,” Origen explained. He felt a pain in his chest when he glanced at Dawn, who was sitting at Adam’s side. Brushing off his emotions, he focused on Alrisha.

  “I understand that Neuro is online. The citizens have been informed?” he asked her.

  “Affirmative,” she confirmed, “Power’s been restored to the city and the RMO is operational and fully staffed. PTDs, elevators, doors and intra-city rails are operating. The Transportation Authority is functional—although all HyperJets and HyperTrains are unable to leave the city until we have all of Neuro completely under our control.”

  “And the LAN is secured?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Alrisha continued, “Evelyn Prince has re-routed all network traffic to our server and set up a new authentication process. Any entity that tries to use the Tower without the key will be blocked. In addition, she’s done the same at all the other LMO’s that we control across the globe—and networked them together. The Resistance-controlled Neuro-within-Neuro is complete.”

  “Has any information been gathered about the failed cities?” Origen desperately wanted to know the status of his missing troops. Understanding what had gone wrong in those cities would help him prepare for the WG’s next step.

  “Now that we have access to Neuro itself, we’re able to see the flow of data in the entire system,” she answered, “The thirty-three cities in question are not online. They no longer exist. Neuro has been completely reconfigured in their absence.”

  “They no longer exist? What the hell does that mean?” Origen demanded.

  “It means that their LMOs, RMOs, PTDs, and eHumans are not online. The power grid is not supplying them any power. No HyperRails or HyperJets are traveling to or from the cities. They’re no longer in the system. It’s as if they have been unplugged,” she answered firmly.

  “This explains why the WG is finally ready to confront us,” Origen observed, “They’ve done something to those cities. They’re going to use it to threaten us. Yet we are a threat to them. Our success taking local control of Neuro was unexpected. The WG is well aware that whoever controls Ne
uro, controls the people. Do they know Evelyn Prince is with us?”

  “No,” Alrisha replied, “Evelyn swapped data sets with a different entity from M1. She was concerned that her sudden interest in the location of Neuro’s source code might alert the Guardians.”

  “Ah, the woman’s very thorough,” Origen replied, impressed with how much she had done for them. “What’s her motive for aiding us? Is it some sort of sisterly duty that drives her?”

  “No,” Alrisha answered.

  “Then what? No one joins the Resistance without expecting something in return.” Origen felt there was something that Alrisha was withholding.

  “Well, that’s the catch sir,” Alrisha answered, glancing away from her leader and trying to avoid eye contact, “She’s discovered the location of the server we seek and knows what we must do with Adam in order to gain control of Neuro. But she refuses to tell me more until she has a guarantee that she can be Jumped from the MICE Tower—into her own customized eHuman body!”

  “And why would she think we’re able to do such a thing?” Origen asked.

  “Because Adam promised her a Jump in exchange for her aid,” Alrisha admitted.

  Origen, along with everyone else in the room, turned to glare at Adam. Even Dawn cast him an incredulous eye.

  “Adam,” Origen began, “What were you thinking?”

  “He was under pressure,” Alrisha exclaimed, “Seriously, there were forty-nine MICE about to issue him a Remote Shutdown! Evelyn wants out of the MICE system. She’s done all we asked. I think we need to consider what’ll happen when she discovers we can’t live up to our end of the bargain.”

  The room was silent. Origen queried his internal time application. Only ten more minutes until the World Leader’s TeleConnect began. He needed this issue sorted out before that. He glanced at Dawn and gave her a grimace.

  “Well,” he challenged her, “What do you think we should do?”

  Like Origen, she was irritated. Not with Adam per se, but with Evelyn’s clever use of the situation. The cyber entity had garnered the promise under pressure and was now using her own pressure to get a guarantee. It was a very Guardian-like move and raised a warning with regards to her trustworthiness.

  “Has anyone called Marcus?” Dawn suggested.

  “Yes,” Alrisha answered, “I called him and told him the situation. I haven’t heard from him yet.”

  “Well,” Dawn answered, “Let’s TeleConnect with him now.”

  “No need for that,” a voice sang out. The entire room turned to see Marcus entering.

  “I see you made it,” Origen growled with impatience.

  “I got here as soon as I could,” the engineer replied cheerfully. Nothing could ever break his enthusiasm for a technical challenge. “You’re all way too uptight.”

  Dawn shook her head, knowing full well how Marcus worked.

  “Just give us your report,” Origen demanded, “And fast. We have a TeleConnect with our dear World Leader and I need to know if we have Evelyn Prince fully on our side, or not.”

  “Well,” Marcus began, “Of course I can make her an eHuman body. And I can tune a Chi-Regulator for her. But getting her into the body is a bit tricky. I haven’t figured out how to blast just one Lux from the MICE Tower yet. I could blast all fifty out, but then how do I separate them into fifty different bodies? These questions remain unanswered.”

  “But she won’t give us the information we need to download the Trojan Horse without a guarantee!” Alrisha cried out.

  “No worries, woman,” Marcus smiled, “I have a plan. Send me in to talk with her. I’ll introduce myself and act as though I know how to Jump her and that I’m there to get her order. You know, what sex, skin color, size she wants to be. Gather the usual feature set. Consider it a customer requirements meeting. I have to do it anyway. That way she’ll know you’ve assigned an engineer to the task. I’ll tell her that while I’m working on the body, she needs to do as you say. No Jump until Adam has successfully downloaded the virus and Neuro is under our control.”

  Origen nodded. The plan made sense. Adam felt a great sense of relief. If anyone would be able to deliver the information, it would be Marcus, who wouldn’t feel like he was even lying. In his mind the problem was almost solved. Therefore, Evelyn wouldn’t be able to sense anything was wrong.

  “Marcus, that’s a great plan,” Dawn answered. “Alrisha, connect him to the MICE Tower immediately. I want to find the location of Neuro’s heart so we can plan our next steps.”

  “Yes, Master Dawn!” Alrisha exclaimed. The two engineers rose from their places at the table and quickly departed. The moment the door closed behind them, an incoming TeleConnect request arrived.

  “Rosario Donahi, our esteemed World Leader, requests a communication,” the EC rang out in simple, mechanical tones.

  “Granted,” Origen answered fiercely.

  The hologram of a tall, elegant woman appeared in front of the table. Her long legs and arms moved like a dancer’s, forming and reforming, as her image walked through Adam as well as a table in order that she might be face-to-face with Dawn and Origen. Long black hair hung down her back and shimmered in its digital image. Several other WG members appeared in the EC on the wall, forming a group behind their leader, who had chosen to take a holographic form to move around the room—the better to impress her audience.

  She stopped before Dawn and Origen, placing her manicured hands on her hips. She wore a golden robe—standard issue for the members of the WG—and a circlet of gold olive leaves crowned her head.

  “Nice look, World Leader,” Dawn spoke first, “Your latest eHuman body suits you very well.”

  The World Leader grimaced. She hadn’t planned on letting the infidel speak first. Dawn had always been a thorn at her side, as Dawn herself was well aware. From the moment Dawn came into being, Edgar Prince had been enthralled. He’d spent hours with his new creation— hours that before had been spent with Rosario Donahi. In those days, Rosario was still known as Ruth Donovan, who by the miracle of a great public relations campaign combined with a dumbed-down American population, had been the President of the United States of America. As President Donovan, she had been a good, faithful Christian and wife. Which meant the affair she’d been having with the brilliant Edgar Prince had to stay secret, lest her public no longer adore her.

  But Dawn knew about their love affair. She’d been Edgar’s confidant. And when Edgar began spending all his time with his beautiful eHuman creation, the jealousy President Donovan had experienced drove her down a path from which she could never return.

  Almost two hundred years later, the woman still found herself living in the shadow of his desire for power and technological dominance. It was he who had sent her to speak with the Resistance today. It was Edgar Prince World Leader Donahi now represented as she issued her challenges to the worthless group of rebels before her.

  And Dawn knew it.

  “My dear Dawn,” the World Leader replied silkily, “You always say the most amusing things. I see you’re still obsessed with your same old body. What is it that keeps you so attached to the old model? Really now, you should consider an upgrade. The new eHuman features are quite enthralling.”

  “Enough small talk,” Origen cut in, “What’s your message?”

  “I’m here on behalf of my colleagues in the World Government. We’ve noticed your activities and applaud you for your slight victories. But we’ve tolerated your existence long enough. We’ve grown tired of your antics.”

  The other WG members on the EC nodded their heads in unison with her words.

  “We demand you leave the cities at once and retreat back to the hovels you climbed out of!”

  “Ha!” Dawn laughed, “You order us out of the cities? To what end? These are our cities now!”

  “No dear, they’re not. They’re mine,” Rosario challenged, “All eHuman technology is the property of the WG. You’ve trespassed and are in violation of several international tr
eaties!”

  “Wrong! eHumans are not your property!” Dawn cried, rising from her seat. Her own long blond hair shimmered under the lights in the room. She wore a tailored green dress with matching shoes. She must have visited the shops in the city while Adam was busy risking his life in the MICE Tower.

  “You didn’t expect us to penetrate Neuro’s defenses, did you? Are things just a bit too close for comfort now?” Dawn challenged the World Leader. The two women stood face to face, one a digital image, like a ghost, the other real and defiant.

  “I won’t reveal to you what we do or don’t know,” the World Leader snarled, “Suffice it to say that you might have power over a few cities, but that is nothing compared to the vastness of my empire! You can’t maintain control of them forever.”

  “And why not?” Dawn demanded.

  “What is your goal?” the World Leader countered.

  “We’ve earned the right to live as we wish!” Dawn declared, “There’s room enough in this world for more than one society and more than one government! We demand freedom and sovereignty! Grant us the cities we control as an independent nation. Give us a seat in the Golden Hall of Gemetria to represent the needs of our people. Allow eHumans to unplug and make the choice, Neuro your way, or Neuro ours!”

  “Never!” World Leader Donahi replied, “You speak nonsense. The Resistance has forty-eight hours to retreat from all cities you currently occupy. If you are still in control of any part of my empire at that time, you—and the people you pretend to protect—will pay the price. Consider the cites in which your Insurrection failed. I will not be merciful!”

  Dawn reached out her arm and swung it through the hologram that was the World Leader. It cut through the image, forcing the transmission to waver and break up for a moment, before the EC projector made its corrections and the World Leader’s image reformed.

  “It’s you who will suffer my wrath,” Dawn whispered harshly.

  World Leader Rosario forced a laugh. Suddenly, the transmission ended. Her image disappeared and the EC screen went dead. Dawn turned to Origen, who was starting at her in awe, not even attempting to hide the affection he felt for her.