by Ian Williams
Graham sat at a grand circular table in the middle of the room, with others of similar size radiating out from it. On each table sat a portable lamp they had brought from the basement. There were spaces set aside for around twelve people, more than enough to cater for those who were expected to turn up. Above him, and to the rear of the building, was the second floor mezzanine seating area, which looked down upon the ground floor. Positioned there were more of the guards. They were as much for show as for protection, judging by their very obvious presence.
Upstairs, sitting at their own private table, was Phoenix, Rhys and Jack. They had chosen to stay out of the way during the meeting. But they had still come prepared. Laying on their table were the oddly shaped rifles from before. Also, Jack had decided to bring a few of his trinkets along too. He was still puzzled by the devices and their intended purposes.
As for Gregson and Watts, they were nowhere to be seen.
“Right, they should be here any minute now. They were given instructions to enter through the rear of the building. The front is barricaded, so nothing can get in through there. Good, this is good,” Captain Rigs said, while pacing the floor. He checked the position of his men once more. Each time he turned to retrace his steps he was compelled to double check the handheld radio hanging from his belt too. Without the use of his own tech he was having to work with Rhys’ archaic collection instead. It was a black brick with a wired earpiece in comparison to his entirely wireless wrist screen.
“Do you have to do that? You’re making me nervous,” Graham snapped. Again his mind had been full of more voices than he would have liked. Hearing the real people around him making annoying little noises too was more than he could take. The pressure it was all creating inside his skull had shown no sign of lessening either.
“I’m sorry, but we need to get this right first time, otherwise we’re on our own. You have to be ready to step in and explain what you know when I tell you. They only know the name of the enemy; they don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“I can do better than that.” Graham pulled a wrist screen device out of his pocket and set it down on the table. “I can show them. I brought Susan’s recordings. If they don’t believe us, then I can just show them the evidence.”
“Excellent. Keep that hidden for now. I’ll ask you for it when it's needed. And don’t let them see that diamond on your hand either.”
The door to the kitchen area at the rear of the first floor swung in and an armed man entered, his face red from running. “Captain Rigs, they’re here.”
After stopping his pacing to listen, Captain Rigs then walked around to the other side of the table and sat opposite Graham, his back to whoever was to enter from the kitchen. “Show them in.”
Graham watched on behalf of the Captain as three people were shown inside the room through the swinging door. He gave a ‘heads up’ flick to confirm their entrance. Captain Rigs had made it clear this had to go down exactly as he wanted. While the visitors were shown inside he insisted on having his back to them, as a show of dominance. His casual nature toward the meeting sent a message to those attending that he had no nerves or doubt at all. Even if the opposite was in fact true.
His pacing from earlier proved it to be an act.
“Who’s in charge here,” a short, stocky man in a grey Parka said. He appeared to be the leader of this threesome. His two friends were never far from his side and stood with a hand each resting in a pocket of their own coats. No-one doubted the reason for this; they were just as well armed as Graham’s group.
“That would be me.” Captain Rigs stood after a moment of silence, only turning to face them when he was entirely ready. “My name is Captain Rigs.”
“What are you, a soldier or something?”
“SAS, if you must know. Is this all of you?” Captain Rigs asked, after a quick scan of the three of them.
“Yes. So, are we doing this or not?”
“We’re still waiting on the others. While we wait, why don't you tell us a little about your group. Care to sit?”
The lead man took a quick look around to the guards eyeing him right back. “I suppose.” He then walked over to the seat to the left of Graham and pulled it out for himself. His companions stood behind, creating a kind of protective bubble around him. To get to him would be difficult now. The paranoia among them was high, to say the least. “There’s not much to tell really. When it all kicked off and this Isaac fella introduced himself it all went to hell. My job before this all started was as a Firefighter, so I know a thing or two about surviving in bad situations. I took my family to the nearest station to hide out and we’ve been there ever since.”
“Have you seen much of the fighting going on around the city?” Captain Rigs sat down and leant back on his chair.
“We’ve seen our fair share, sure. The station has been hit a few times, mostly during the night. So far they haven’t found us, or the people we’ve taken in.”
“How many of you are there?”
The man stared for a moment at the table as he considered. “Let’s see how this goes first, OK. If I don’t agree then I’m gone, understood?”
“Fair enough.”
“I’m Brian,” the man said, his hand extended out ready to shake.
A whistle interrupted them before they could seal the friendship in any official capacity. Captain Rigs spun around in his chair to see the kitchen door open again and a guard leaning through it. He looked angry at first, but then realised what was going on. “Who is it?” he said.
“Some old lady and a couple of rather large men,” the guard replied.
Graham’s imaginary friends were never far from his mind and arrived to the party exactly as he had come to expect. Thankfully, they were staying invisible to him for now. They were never going to stay silent for long, though. “This should be interesting,” the younger Graham said.
“Petra, I presume,” Captain Rigs called out as he stood and greeted those entering. “Thank you for agreeing to this meeting.”
Brian also stood. He unbuttoned his thick Parka and let it hang loose around him. Graham spotted the pistol sticking out of Brian’s belt instantly.
“We make this quick. I will leave soon.” Petra wandered slowly past Captain Rigs, ignored everyone else in the room entirely, then picked her own place at the table to sit. She placed her walking stick hard against the side of the table, which made a loud smacking noise as it came to rest. The four men with her did their best to help her comfortably into a seat. One pulled it out ready for her, while another lowered her down into it. She did not look at all pleased to be there.
“She’s ug-ly,” the child Graham said with particular emphasis on the ‘ug’.
“OK, someone explain exactly how this old bag could have gotten here without being seen?” one of the other voices in his head said.
Pipe down, Graham thought in reply.
“So,” Petra began. She produced a cigarette from an inside pocket and placed it in her mouth for one of her men to light. Her first puff was loud and crackly as she sucked on the stick. “You have way of making city safe again?”
“Hi, my name’s–”
“I do not care about your name. Get on with it,” Petra insisted, cutting off the Captain.
“We’re not all here yet,” Brian said. “You can wait just like the rest of us.”
“Shut your mouth, Prick.”
Captain Rigs raised his hands in mediation. “Hey, take it easy. I’m sure the last group will be here soon. I gave you all different times to prevent everyone arriving at once. The best way of attracting undue attention to our meeting would be to have you all queuing to get in.”
“Fine,” Brian said.
Petra, on the other hand, simply turned her head to the side.
A short while later and the last of those expected arrived, with their own small entourage too. Everyone already waiting stood to greet the new arrivals – all except for Petra that is, who barely looked toward
the door to acknowledge them.
“Now we can begin.” Captain Rigs approached the latest arrivals to greet them properly this time. He had no doubt noticed how he had lost some ground to Petra; she was threatening to take charge. “Come, take a seat. My name is Captain Rigs, this is Brian, and this lovely lady is Petra Vuković.”
The mention of Petra’s name made one of the new arrivals, an older black gentleman wearing thick brown-rimmed glasses, shoot a look of contempt her way. The man then laughed to himself. Something about the situation he found himself in had him ready to chuckle out loud.
“What is funny here?” Petra shot back with.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” the man said. “Well I remember you well enough. I’ve busted most of your thugs over the last ten years. Why am I not surprised to learn you’ve survived this long?”
“Ah, Conrad…Erm…Oh yes, Conrad Robinson. The policeman.” Petra clicked her fingers at him when the name finally came to her. “Have you not retired yet?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” Conrad turned to a petite Indian girl by his side. “Time to report back, Nessa. Tell Derek we’re in and we’ll be in touch soon.”
Nessa retreated to one of the smaller tables and began to work away on a tablet computer. Evidently they had found power too and could use some of the modern tech to their advantage.
“OK, we’re all here,” Captain Rigs said to prevent anyone else from speaking first. He wanted to keep conversation to a minimum. Time was always a commodity in short supply.
Conrad left the three other men he had arrived with and walked to the table, his eyes surveying the thick set men behind Petra. He was offered the seat where Captain Rigs had been before.
“So,” Captain Rigs started as soon as he reached the other side of the table, where Graham sat watching those across from him. “I assume you are all aware of the enemy relay that was destroyed a few days ago? The people who did that are here with us. Let me introduce one of them, Phoenix can you join us?”
“Sure,” she called from her raised position on the second floor. Everyone waited as she took the steps to the ground floor two at a time. When she reached the bottom she was faced with a blockade of muscular men in her way. She shoved Petra’s men aside to make room for herself.
“Ah, yes. Phoenix, one of my best customers,” Petra said.
Phoenix tried not to make eye contact with her former dealer and instead looked to Graham.
So far Petra’s memory had failed her greatly in reminding her of her and Graham's previous involvement. She remembered Phoenix well enough, but they had met many times before it seemed – whenever Phoenix had needed more D-Stims. In terms of Graham, she had only seen him once, and on that occasion she had been seconds away from shooting him when a message from The Sentient Collector had stopped her.
There was no way Graham was going to jog her memory on that one. Instead he chose to remain silent, in case his voice was enough to change that.
“This is one of the people responsible,” Captain Rigs went on. “She took out the relay with only a few pipe bombs and an EMP.”
“EMP? How the hell did you get your hands on an EMP?” Brian asked, leaning forward in his seat.
“That’s the thing. They made one, more than one in fact. We have instructions on how to make them. With only a few pieces you will be able to make one as well. Hardest to find is the household supplies for the pipe bombs that go inside it. As for the coil you’ll need, and any electronics, all of the old relays contain them inside.” Captain Rigs beamed with pride as he shared this with the others. Unfortunately, one of those sitting at the table had become distracted by something.
“Don’t I know you?” Conrad asked Phoenix.
“Me? I doubt it,” she replied.
“No, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
Brian interjected with an obvious desire to move on. “So what? You’re a cop, you probably arrested her once. Can we get back to it, please?”
“Sorry. It’s just…never mind.” Conrad finally conceded and returned to listening to the Captain.
“Right. As I was saying, we can help you make an EMP too. But I’m here to ask more of you. There is a real chance that we can make a difference, we could turn this fight around, with what I propose here tonight. You see, I need your help. I was sent into the city to do one thing; destroy the relays that hold the shield above our heads. That was the plan anyway. My entrance did not quite go to plan and I lost most of my team of soldiers. Needless to say, things have not gone well so far. If not for the people who took me and my men in, we would be dead by now.
“That is when I found out about the EMPs the group used against the relay. My superiors had no idea an EMP would work, they all assumed Isaac would have protected them against such an attack. Yet here we are. But what’s the point in having this knowledge if we aren’t going to use it effectively. Others want to continue chipping away at the enemy until something gives. I, instead, suggest a more immediate tactic. Isaac won’t expect a joint strike on every one of his new, larger relays at once.”
Brian was the first to speak. He seemed excited by the prospect of fighting back. “And so what, you want us to help you do that?”
“Yes.” Captain Rigs leant on the table and looked to each in turn. “We only need to hit enough of them to weaken the shield. Then, when it is about to fail, my superiors will order their own attack. As soon as we set off each EMP by their target relay the signal will be sent to them, like smoke signals to a distant traveller.”
“OK,” Conrad said. “After we’ve set off these devices, what do we do?”
“The best thing you can do is return to your hiding places and wait it out. You won’t want to be on the streets when it starts, that will be the first place the fighting will happen. I expect Isaac will throw everything he’s got at us. Be out of the way and let me and my people deal with the threat. Isaac has had it easy so far.”
Conrad nodded. “I think we can all agree the fight has been far too one-sided up to this point. But attacking the relays carries a high amount of risk in itself. Are we all sure we can handle such a thing? I mean, there are a lot less of us than there is of the enemy.”
“That’s why I need your help. I need more people than I currently have to pull this off.”
The room fell silent after that. Each party took a moment to think over the proposal. They all knew their own limitations, but had to guess about the others sat across from them. All they had to go on was what Captain Rigs had told them, which was hardly anything at all. The meeting had become about how well one could predict the other, like they played a game of poker. If any one of them took to bluffing, then the entire plan would fail. Only actions that could be backed up we're going to help it succeed.
Petra pressed her cigarette into the table top to extinguish it, breaking the silence. She then spoke. “I agree to this. My men will help you.”
“OK, so that makes one of you,” Captain Rigs said. “What about the rest of you? Are you in?”
With a creak of his chair and a slight grunt, Conrad got up and decided to walk over to his young Indian friend. He replied as he left the table. “Let me check in with the others first. I’ll have an answer for you in a few minutes.”
“Of course.” Captain Rigs then focused on the last member to agree.
“Fine. Give us the EMP plans first and then we’ll talk about more.” Brian slid his chair back and went to stand when Captain Rigs spoke again.
Graham knew what was to follow. He also knew his time to speak would be soon too. Now that the three of them had shown an interest in helping, it was just left to tell them the rest of the plan. Somehow he did not expect this part to go so well.
“There’s one more thing to explain,” the Captain said.
Brian and Petra both looked to him with untrusting eyes, as though they expected bad news of some kind.
“How much do you all know about Isaac?”
; “From the messages he was broadcasting across the city in the first few days of the fight, we know enough.” Brian kept his seat away from the table. “It’s that bloody Simova AI.”
“Yes, I too have heard this,” Petra added.
Conrad spoke up from his table a few metres away. “Hang on a sec, Derek.” He then spoke to the rest of the group. “It’s not just Isaac we have to worry about, though. Before this started, I was a detective in charge of a multiple murder case and I saw exactly what he’s been doing to the people he takes. He’s had help all along too. Some high up people were involved from the very beginning. They’ve allowed him to operate in the shadows of the city.”
“Exactly. So you all understand how crucial it is that he be stopped, at all cost,” Captain Rigs said. “There is a problem with doing that, however. He has access to another world, a virtual world. If he escaped into that world, he would be beyond our reach. Now, this is where it gets really strange. There is a faction of AIs inside this virtual world that are ready to fight with us. If we all do our part well enough, then Isaac could be defeated finally.”
“What? Why even tell us this?” Brian interrupted.
“Because you all need to know exactly what you’re getting yourselves into. You have to understand that if these other AIs fail to keep Isaac engaged then he’ll be much harder for us to fight. We’re placing a lot on this part of the plan succeeding. If he’s distracted and busy fighting two battles at once, we should be able to overwhelm him. That’s when it will truly end, when Isaac is removed from this world and the other together at once.”
“You know the location of Isaac?” Petra said, with a look to one of her men stood behind her chair.
“Not yet, no. But I’m confident we will soon after the shield is down. Before now the military has relied on visual systems alone. A full, unblocked, scan of the city should help weed him out.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” Brian pulled his chair forward, hitting his chest against the table.
Conrad spoke before the Captain could think of the best way to reassure them. “I can help you find him.”