The Norm (The Glitches Series Book 3)

by Ramona Finn

Biointegration? That sounds like biogear—and like the bioengineering the AI’s been working on.

  And something I might be.

  She is talking about merging a machine with a living mind. I almost want to reach out and shake her and tell her not to do this—it will end up with a machine that thinks it is alive and knows better than anyone else. This will end up creating the AI—Conie.

  But I have no way to reach into the past.

  Dr. Sig smiles. She reaches up to something and the image shifts to show the lab behind her. A table rests against one wall with gear of some kind—I’ve never seen anything that big or complicated. Wires hang off of it and it looks bigger than a person. It’s no longer here, so I have no idea what has become of it. Dr. Sig’s hand appears and waves at the gear. “I’ve completed the biocopier with a link to the quantum computer to fully map all neural networks. This should allow all memory engrams to be duplicated in the artificial neural network model with the same pattern reconstructions. The cues to retrieve the engrams should be the same.”

  I don’t know what engrams are, but a network—that I know. It’s just things linked. And biocopier sounds like biogear. This must be something that helps her make copies of things—maybe entire people or maybe just their minds.

  Dr. Sig steps back so I can see her again. She heads over to her biocopier and presses her palm on it. A screen appears and she does something with it, swipes her fingers over various parts of it. “Initial tests have been positive, but I don’t have the time to keep testing—I need results. I need proof this is working and that retrieval is reliable. And that power consumptions can be managed.”

  “If this goes well, I should be able to create an exact copy of the areas of my mind needed for full functionality of the domes. Once the neural network is complete with the stored engrams, the digital version should be able to continue expanding. This should solve the power issues in that the digital brain will be able to better regulate usage and will function more like a body—taken in nutrients from its surroundings and recycling some materials as well as discarding waste.”

  She stands in front of her machine and puts her hand onto the screen.

  Light flashes, blinding. I have to shield my eyes. The light stutters and fades. Dr. Sig sways as if she is not well, but on the screen of the biocopier is a face I know all too well—it looks like Dr. Sig, but the eyes are too blue.

  “A perfectly successful test,” Conie says. The AI’s voice is stiff and mechanical, not as perfect a copy as it is now. The AI and Dr. Sig stare at each other.

  The screen goes black, and I am left staring at nothing. I slip out of the connect and glance around the room, my hands shaking and my heart pounding. Sweat cools on my forehead and I take in a breath.

  I’ve just seen the AI created.

  And now I know its weaknesses—it needs power, it has trouble with cooling, and it is unable to make self-repairs, which is why the AI needs drones and scabs, and sentinels inside its virtual world. Dr. Sig thought she’d solved these problems—I’m hoping she didn’t.

  That may be our only hope.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Leaving the lab, I notice Wolf is no longer sleeping in Dr. Sig’s lab. His clothes are gone, too. For a moment, my heart tightens. I almost wish he was here, so I could talk to him—or join with him again.

  I rub at my eyes and jerk my hand away—I’m copying Dr. Sig’s gestures again. I keep thinking about the images I have seen on the recordings. The AI is a copy of Dr. Sig, as am I, it seems. So I am a copy of a copy? Or did the AI make me different? Staring at my hands, I think we must not be exact. The AI would not have been interested in reintegrating me if I was just a copy of it or of Dr. Sig. Somehow I have evolved—changed. Dr. Sig said that would happen—continue expanding. Those were her words.

  Glancing around the lab, I wonder what happened to her biocopier. It is no longer in the lab. Did someone come and take it away? Was she done with it? Or is it in the Norm now and part of the AI? Somehow, I think the last question is also the right answer. The AI has the biocopier with it in the Norm. How else would the AI be able to make copies of people and minds?

  Another thought occurs and I wonder if Raj was copied? Was Raj—the original Raj—killed but his mind was put into a machine? Or into part of the AI? I think this is likely, and it leaves me hating the AI even more.

  Heading back to the Glass Hall, my stomach grumbles. I wonder if I’ve been gone for more than one meal again. I haven’t slept. My shoulders sag. My steps drag. I should at least try to get some rest, but my mind keeps spinning.

  In the hall, the clans have gathered into small clumps, each clan separate from the others, although it seems to me the Walking Tall Clan sits closer to the Tracker Clan than to anyone else. Perhaps it is a sign of allegiance. The Fighter Clan and the Sing-Song Clan have small fires burning, even though the floors and rooms are warm. Smoke stings my eyes and I give a small cough. Are they cooking a meal, or do they just miss the light from the fire?

  I don’t see Wolf, but several of the Tracker Clan sits against the far wall. Fruits—some of them from the cactus—sit in a small basket in the center of the group, along with a water skin. Sitting down next to Pike, I drink some water and eat one of the fruits. It’s sour and dry—not yet ripe.

  Pike glances at me, tells me I look worse than the Outside on a hot day. “You slept?” she asks. I shake my head. She gestures to the floor and tosses me a pouch to use for a pillow. “Get some rest. I’m keeping watch. Croc’s going to start giving you herbs to sleep if you don’t.”

  I nod and I lay down, but my mind keeps working.

  The idea of attacking the Norm is still a good one—but we have to take on the drones and scabs. And I’m starting to think the AI hordes water as a means of cooling—why else would the AI care if Rogues get some water from the Norm? But I’m not sure how to use this information. And just what is the AI’s power source?

  I’m surprised when I wake to someone shaking my shoulder. I slept without dreams and now sit up and stare at Wolf. He sits next to me and a small smile curves his wide mouth.

  Warmth floods through me—I start thinking of the taste of him, of his lips on mine. It feels like a long time and no time at all since our joining.

  “You weren’t there when I woke,” he says.

  Putting my back against a wall, I rub the sleep from my face. My arms and legs feel stiff—that’s the trouble with the artificial world, it makes me feel out of place in my own body. Wolf hands me a small skin with water. There isn’t much it in, but I drink what is there. The wet feels good in my mouth and sits heavy in my stomach. “I’ve been searching for information here. Do you know how old the Glass Hall is?” I ask.

  Wolf lifts a hand, gesturing at the hall. “Older than any Rogue remembers. It’s always been here. Clan lore says this is the place the old ones came to when the world got hot. My father used to tell me stories about it—about how it’s the only place of refuge. Used to be a safe place.”

  I glance at his hands, remembering the feel of his fingers moving over my skin, softer than I would have thought. He burned his hands not long ago in our last attack on the AI, but medicine from the Rejects inside the Norm helped him heal. His hands are softer now than they used to be.

  He reaches for me and takes one of my hands between his. He moves closer and his scent—something warm and dusty—wraps around me.

  The urge to pull him closer is strong, but I’m not willing to start a joining with so many others watching. Our joining is something just for the two of us. But I leave my hand within his and ask, “Do you think the Rejects—those in the Norm that the AI made into things that are part machine—do you think they’re real people?”

  He frowns and his eyebrows lift, but he asks, “Why are you thinking about them?”

  I shrug. “Just thinking. They could help us. They hate the AI…and they know the Norm.”

  Wolf shakes his head. “They live in the Norm—maybe not deep ins
ide, but in the walls. They won’t fight against their own home.”

  I glance over to the entrance of the Glass Hall and ask, “Is there a scavenge today? I’d like to get out of here.” That’s the truth. The hard glass walls and this unchanging world wears on me, leaves me feeling disconnected from this place and time. Even if the sun is hot, I want to feel it on my skin. I want the wind to ruffle my hair. I want to walk and use my legs and feel air fill my lungs. I once feared the Outside with its harsh winds and the animals, but now they connect me to this world—to Wolf.

  The tight lines on Wolf’s forehead smooth. He smiles again. “No scavenge, but I could take you up. I can’t really tell you what to do—mostly because you don’t listen—but you shouldn’t go out alone.”

  I almost laugh. This entire world is dangerous. The shaking could destroy the Glass Hall, and will destroy the Outside and the hills and tunnels. The world is going to shake apart—and I have no idea how long we might have.

  Wolf slips a hand behind me and touches the skin at the small of my back, slipping his fingers under my clothing.

  For a moment, I forget everything but his touch.

  “I’m going to talk to the other clan leaders again,” he tells me, his gaze roaming over my face as though memorizing how I look. He grimaces, like he hates the idea of leaving my side.

  I nod. “You want me to talk to them, too?”

  Wolf frowns. “And say what? Something crazy?”

  My eyebrows shoot up high on my forehead. “What do you mean?”

  His goes a little crooked. “You don’t need to talk about being a Glitch—or being connected to the AI. And if the clans won’t help, do you plan to try doing this on your own?”

  I blink twice and let out a soft laugh. “This is not something I can do by myself.”

  He squeezes my fingers. “Just make sure you’re here later. We’ll go out.”

  His concern warms me. For a moment, everything else fades. The connect I have with him seems the most real thing in the world. It seems the one thing that is lasting. “I’ll be here,” I tell him. I lean closer, bringing my mouth up to his. He leans in, closing the distance until our lips meet. His hand stays on me and I reach up to stroke the roughness on his face.

  For me, we part too soon. Wolf rests his forehead against mine. He says nothing, but he doesn’t have to say anything. I can feel his worry—his concern. And his need for me.

  He pulls away and stands. “But I’ll find you.”

  He leaves me and it is like the warmth going out of a fire. I hug my arms around my body and hunch lower. Are we crazy to be starting this when everything else seems to be ending? Or is this right—to dare care for someone in spite of everything else? Maybe this is what makes me different from the AI—maybe Wolf is the difference. I know I am attached to very few people, but Wolf matters to me. I frown a little at that thought. It is odd to think I have something to lose and that something is Wolf. I do not want to think about the idea that he may be the one who dies in the attack—and I will not.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I have a lot to think about, but very little to actually do since Wolf does not need me to talk to the clan leaders. I head back to Dr. Sig’s labs, but find little other information that is useful—Dr. Sig’s recording are often long and boring and filled with things I don’t understand.

  Making my way back to the Great Hall, I see that Wolf still sits with the other clan leaders, all of them talking quietly. At least they are talking. Not knowing what else to do I head over to where Skye and Alis sit in a corner by themselves.

  Somehow, they’ve managed to clean up a little and when I ask them about this, Alis just shrugs. “Bird brought in some plants you can use to wipe down your skin. She called them aloe. Said they’re good for burns, too.”

  As I sit, Skye tips her head to one side and tugs on her long hair, which she wears pulled back now and held with a leather thong. “We heard… I mean, everyone knows there is something between you and Wolf, but Bird says you two joined. You’re paired.”

  I make a face and shake my head. “What is that to anyone except me and Wolf?”

  Skye giggles and Alis rolls her eyes. “It’s talk—and it matters because Wolf is clan leader. It means he listens to you.”

  “About as much as he ever did. Wolf will always put the clan first—I know that. But I don’t want to change that about him. He only listens to me the same way he listens to anyone else in the clan.”

  Alis gives a snort. “Just remember, I’ve heard the stories. I know there was a time Wolf thought of you as only another Glitch and nothing special. That can happen again.”

  Something twists in my chest, but I keep staring at Alis. “Things are different now. Besides, which way do you want it—that Wolf listens to me and I should trust that or that I should remember there was a time he didn’t want to hear anything I had to say? And I don’t want to talk about Wolf. We have more important things and probably not a lot of time.”

  Alis nods. ”We’re just wasting what time we have, watching leaders talking things over and hiding with a bunch of Rogues who don’t really want to take on the AI.”

  “They’re not wrong to worry,” Skye says.

  My face heats and my stomach knots, but I push aside how angry it makes me to think we are wasting time. Leaning closer to Alis and Skye, I tell them, “I may know how to stop the AI. At least I’ve been working on a plan.”

  Alis and Skye swap looks. Alis seems both surprised and excited. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open slightly. She leans closer to me. Skye’s eyes darken. Lines form around her mouth and her skin pales. She balls her hands into fists and keeps them on her thighs. She shakes her head. “Is this another plan to reprogram the AI?” she asks.

  Waving away Skye’s question, Alis asks, “How? What can we do? Will it stop the shaking?”

  I tell them a little bit about being able to connect to the Glass Hall. “This place—it’s old. It’s from the time before the world got hot. Wolf confirmed that much for me. And I’ve been able to access recordings of that time—a time when the AI was just being created. I can tell you everything, but I’ve been working on a plan. If Wolf can get the other Rogues to—“

  “Rogues?” Alis frowns and cuts a hand through the air. “If we have to rely on them, we’re already dead. You’ve seen them—it’s talk, talk, talk.”

  Skye glances at Alis. “You’re being unfair. And Lib is right—we should do this as a group or not at all.”

  Alis rolls her eyes again. “I’m not waiting for a bunch of Rogues. Lib, you said you could connect. That means Skye and I should be able to connect to the Glass Hall, too. We could see these recordings.”

  Biting down on my lower lip, I do not want to tell Alis that I think the reason I can connect to the Glass Hall is because I am Dr. Sig—or at least most of what I am comes from her. Instead, I tell her, “The recordings keep shutting down on me. I’m not sure how much power is really left here, and I think once they’ve played they may not play again. I’ve never been able to get anything to repeat.”

  Alis rubs at her lower lip and her mouth pulls down. She huffs out a breath. “That’s not good. It’s going to be you telling the Rogues things they don’t want to hear and not having any proof again.” She straightens suddenly. “Is that why you joined with Wolf? To get him to listen to you.”

  My face burns and I stare at Alis. “Say that again and I’m going to hit you. And I told you to leave Wolf out of this.”

  Skye has kept her mouth pressed tight, but now she looks from Alis to me and says, “Now you two are fighting. Isn’t that what the AI keeps wanting—us to split apart and not work together?” She looks at me, her eyes bright. “And you…you keep talking about getting rid of the AI, but there is still a chance for us to go back. If the AI is going to take the Norm away, why don’t we just get into the Norm and go with the AI? We could join the Rejects.”

  “The Rejects.” Alis waves a hand, fluttering her fing
ers. “I heard that whole story about people that are half machine. You really want to try and live with things like that? Or to live in some place that doesn’t have a sun?” Alis turns to me. “You said you found the Rejects living in the walls of the Norm—almost more like animals that live underground. How are Rogues going to fit into any part of that?”

  I push out a breath. “That’s not important right now. What matters is that I think the AI hoards water because the AI needs it for cooling.”

  Alis frowns. “Cooling what?”

  Looking from Alis to Skye, I realize that while they are Glitches, too, they are not like me. They don’t have any of Dr. Sig’s memories. They’re former Techs—they used to fix the AI or parts of the Norm—but they have no idea why they have the skills they do. They know how to connect—but they don’t really know what a connect is. I want suddenly to explain everything, to help them understand, but that will take days or weeks—time we don’t really have. Instead, I say, “It’s like when you work hard—you sweat and get hot. The AI is the same—but the Norm is the AI’s body. When the AI has to do a lot with the Norm—”

  “The AI gets hot,” Alis says.

  I nod. “Essentially, yes. It’s more complicated than that, but think of the Norm like a giant body, with the AI as the mind…the brain.”

  “If that’s the case, why can’t we just cripple the Norm?” Skye asks.

  I turn to her. “That is the goal—but we may have to do more. I don’t know. The Rejects…well, I’m hoping they can help. They did once before.”

  Skye pushes her shoulders back. “Mech will help. He leads the Rejects and he liked…us.”

  I almost wonder if Skye was about to say…me. Out of all of us, Skye was the one who seemed to get along best with the Rejects. Now I start to wonder if we can use that, and I hate the idea that I have to think about everything in terms of what is useful to defeat the AI.

  Skye glances away. When she looks back, it seems to me that her skin is even more pale. “What’s going to happen to all the Techs?”