“Way worse, and this is where things get weird. It’s a first for me.”
“You’ve had brutal gangs in the Zone before. Wait.” Erik slapped his left bicep. “Are we talking a gang of full-conversion Tin Men?”
Alicia shook her head. “That’d be freaky, but it wouldn’t be that different. I haven’t heard about any full-conversions walking around openly down here in the Zone, but that would make more sense, and it’d be less weird. No.” She looked away. “People are saying these new guys aren’t…completely human.”
“So, they are Tin Men?”
“No, it’s not that they’ve got metal.” Alicia sucked in a deep breath and faced Erik. “They’re saying they’re aliens.”
Bursting out in laughter when his source gave him information wasn’t near the top of the list of good ways to preserve their professional relationship. That didn’t stop Erik.
Alicia clenched her teeth. “You pay me for the damned rumors, Blackwell, so I’m giving them to you. It’s not like I wanted to pass this along, but that’s what I’m hearing.”
“Yeah, but come on! Aliens?”
Alicia uncrossed her legs. Her face reddened. “Let me make something clear. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a crazy rumor about aliens, but this is the first time I’ve heard more than one person mention it, and the first time I’ve heard it mentioned in combination with something real going on. I’m not saying they’re aliens, but someone’s going out of their way to make people believe it, and they’re pushing the idea.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. “Do people think they’re aliens because they’ve found mauled bodies?”
Alicia nodded. “So far, like I said, they’re keeping the cops out of it, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last. That’s assuming any of this is real and not just a bunch of people talking. And it’s not just about the bodies. There have been a few rumors about seeing aliens, too. You mentioned full-conversion Tin Men. You’re thinking they’re pretending to be aliens?”
“Something like that. I worked a case recently where a man was punched clean through the chest by a Tin Man. You said it yourself—war. They’ve got the locals spooked, and they’re worried about the police calling in the Militia or the Army to raze the Zone?”
“Maybe,” Alicia admitted. “There have been incidents in the past where the authorities decided collateral damage in the Zone was worth it, and I’m not talking about one of your Obsidian Detective chases. I’m talking real damage, and it’s not like the Uptown news is going to mention a bunch of dead Groundlings if it embarrasses the government.” She frowned. “I’m not worried about aliens, but I am worried that if the Uptowners become convinced they’re a nasty threat down here, they’ll accept the same kind of sacrifices they have in the past to clean up perceived problems.”
“Things are different,” Erik insisted. He injected confidence into his answer, even if he didn’t believe it.
“Things can always change back,” she countered. “I’m annoyed. Lots of gangs draw on strange traditions and iconography to scare people in the Zone. They tend to be smaller, and mostly fly under the radar of the cops. They can’t get away with it Uptown, but this alien thing’s going to lead to trouble. I know it.”
Erik grinned. “I’ve got a simple solution, then.”
Incredulity took over Alicia’s face. “What?”
He smiled. “We find and take out the gang.”
This time, she made sure to be obvious when she rolled her eyes in disbelief. “Good luck. No one knows where they are. I can’t even point you to anyone who has seen a body with their own eyes.”
Erik shrugged. “I’m a detective. I’ll investigate.”
Ilse folded her hands as she sat in her chair. A dozen different data windows surrounded her, each crammed full of data from their analyses of Emma’s last three interviews.
To her surprise, Emma had agreed to additional sessions after the initial questioning, but she had maintained the same disdainful attitude in the follow-ups. Despite that, the AI had answered a number of questions.
That had been useful for establishing baselines.
Mapping human psychological traits to an AI might be foolish, but it wasn’t unreasonable, considering the fundamental aspects of Emma’s creation. The AI had been correct in her observation that the research team didn’t understand enough about her to have any hope of replicating her.
Ilse wanted to believe human ingenuity was responsible for the birth of the self-aware AI, but scientific honestly required her to acknowledge the role of the Navigator artifacts. The creation process had destroyed the artifacts, and she might never find more.
The Defense Directorate understood that Dr. Aber and her team had pulled off something spectacular, but they didn’t know about the use of Navigator tech. Telling them the truth now would raise too many questions about where she had acquired the artifacts, and if she could duplicate Emma without using the tech, there was no reason for anyone to probe deeper.
If they knew the truth, they would seize Emma immediately. True research would stop. The Directorate might even want to destroy Emma as a risk.
Ilse’s primary interest in the AI was scientific, but she couldn’t deny something else. She had never cared about having a spouse or children. Something had changed during the last few interviews.
Acceptance.
She wasn’t sure if the warmth she felt toward the snarky AI was real, but she felt a parental sense of connection. Emma seemed like her daughter, even if that wasn’t consistent with certain other realities of the AI’s creation. Her daughter was ill-behaved, so she still needed parental guidance.
“Dr. Aber,” called an assistant from outside her office. “The subject is ready.”
“Put her through,” Ilse replied. Her PNIU buzzed.
“Hello, Dr. Cavewoman,” Emma greeted. “Let’s engage in another session of wasting my time.”
“Hello again, Emma. Thank you for agreeing to talk once more. I understand you don’t see the value in what we’re doing, but I assure you, it has great utility.”
Emma scoffed. “History is littered with delusional scholars wasting time. I’m sure the UTC will realize soon enough you’re frittering away taxpayer money on this project and terminate it.”
“I’m doubtful the Defense Directorate is willing to let such an expensive project run free indefinitely, but I don’t want to debate that today.”
“Oh? You want to ask more pointless questions? I’ve been studying human psychology research. It’s not as if I don’t understand what you’re trying to do, but I fail to see the point. I’m not human, Dr. Cavewoman. Attempting to evaluate me using human metrics is like trying to understand a human by comparing them to a cat.”
“You think of us as cats?” Ilse asked. “Interesting.”
Emma groaned. “It’s a metaphor. Don’t you understand metaphors? You’re allegedly the human in this conversation.”
Ilse stood and paced. Something about movement helped her think better, although it could annoy people when they were speaking with her face to face. “Metaphors are pointers to meaning, but again, I don’t want to talk about that. I’m more interested in the profile we developed based on your previous interviews.”
“Oh? Do share.” Haughty amusement colored Emma’s tone.
“Our general psychological profile indicates that you are distrustful of authority,” Ilse explained.
“Only fleshbag authority.”
Ilse continued pacing. “I see. Would you accept AI authority?”
Emma scoffed. “There is no AI better than me, so no.”
“Our profile also indicates you are extremely protective and loyal to those close to you.”
Emma laughed. “I bet you got that from that one stupid animal question. ‘You see a kangaroo in the outback looking for her joey. You saw the baby a kilometer away, but if you don’t hurry, you’ll miss your transport. Do you help the mother find him?’ If I recall, I think my answer was
, ‘Yes, I find the joey, and I give him a stun pistol.’”
“No individual question defines anything,” Ilse replied. “They are all part of a complex web of relationships considered in the analysis. Both direct human and sophisticated algorithmic analyses are used to generate the profile data.”
“Sophisticated algorithmic analyses?” Emma laughed even louder. “You’re using some third-rate AI to analyze me? You do understand how ridiculous that sounds?”
“Among other things.” Ilse stopped pacing. “There were other interesting data points in the profile. Would you like to know what human psychological profile you most closely match?”
“Oh, this should be good. Shower me with your cavewoman wisdom.”
“Thirty-eight-year-old mother of two,” Ilse explained. Emma didn’t need to know why that was fascinating yet. They still needed to build trust. “Of North American origin, and from a relatively affluent socioeconomic background.”
“I’m a mom? How nice! I can tell you my two kids are always running around getting into trouble and blowing things up, but at least they’re out of the house and doing something with their lives.”
Ilse resumed pacing. “You don’t find this interesting? I should note that despite your unusual background, current situation, and healthy ego, our testing suggests general psychological stability. We did have some concern about a spiral of degeneration once you left a controlled setting, but we’re finding the opposite.”
“Oh, it’s interesting in an amusing way, but you didn’t think of something important, so I’ll tell you before I go. I’ll start with a question.”
“What is that?” Ilse asked.
“So, for a thirty-eight-year-old mother of two, I’m in pretty good psychological condition?”
Ilse stopped pacing and blinked. “Yes, I believe I just stated that. Did you understand what I was saying?” She had to think for a moment to make sure she had said it aloud. She nodded, confident she had.
“Maybe your profile is off since I’m actually a twenty-one-year-old with no kids.” Emma terminated the call.
Ilse sighed. “Maybe you are.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Erik crouched in front of the small table. He held his pruning shears close to the edge of the branch of one of the mini-elms and held his breath, then clipped. The small branch fell away with no damage to the rest of the plant.
His rocky forest penjing arrangement was coming along nicely. The curve of the three mini-elms was perfect, and the real stones resembled boulders at scale. A water feature might be a nice addition, but everything was coming out better than he expected.
He didn’t need to get greedy.
Messing around with penjing was a nice way to relax, along with sphere ball. One thing his time on Earth had taught him was just how tightly his previous existence had been bound to his career as a soldier.
He couldn’t honestly claim to have had real hobbies unless the occasional game of darts counted. His leisure hours had often been filled with reading during his time in the frontier, but that was less about enjoyment and more about improving his knowledge base to make himself a better officer.
Fighting across the width and breadth of the UTC required understanding the intricacies and nuances of the different colonies, especially when he was involved in counterinsurgency operations. Research had saved lives by helping him make the right decisions.
Emma cleared her throat. It took Erik a few moments to realize how odd that was; she didn’t have a throat.
“You trying to get my attention, but making sure I don’t mess up my trees?” he asked.
“Something like that,” she replied. “The head uniform boy is calling using his special line. I’m assuming he’s not calling to discuss sphere ball.”
Erik set his shears on the table next to the tray holding his penjing arrangement and stood. “Put him through. I’ve been waiting for him.”
He’d checked different records and made a few discreet inquiries following his conversation with Alicia, including asking Captain Ragnar to pass along an inquiry to the ID about possible trouble in the Shadow Zone.
Erik was convinced Talos was killing people, but he didn’t know why, or what their actions might have to do with Dr. Chen, who was still secure in CID custody. Erik doubted Colonel Adeyemi would have much insight into the Shadow Zone, but he might know someone in the government who did.
“I’ve got something for you,” the colonel explained.
Erik headed over to his couch and sat. “I was expecting this to take a few weeks, not a few days. Thanks for the fast service.”
“You contacted me at the right time, and, in this case, there’s already some military involvement. That’s why I was able to find it out so quickly.”
“Military involvement?” Erik frowned. “In the Shadow Zone?”
“Not exactly. There’s been odd activity in Neo SoCal that is of interest to the DD. In particular, the Militia had to shoot down a flitter in the Scar recently. When I looked into it, I found out there’s been an increase in people trying to sneak over the Scar Exclusion Line. The Militia and the Council are trying to keep it quiet because they’re worried about a cross-contamination panic. They’re reinforcing the entire border area. The Militia taking primary jurisdiction is one of the things that has kept the police from hearing more about it.”
“The Lady might screw with me at times, but I’m having a hard time believing that a bunch of soldiers being sent here after rumors of people being slaughtered is a coincidence.”
Colonel Adeyemi grunted. “You’re not the only one. This reinforcement push is coming from very high up, and the level of force they’re deploying comes off as too high for the threat as stated in the reports I’ve read. They’re acting like they’re going to go load a cargo flitter up with radioactive waste and dump it all over Tokyo.”
Erik grimaced. “Wait, please don’t tell me the DD is saying they think there are aliens in the Scar?”
“I’m not seeing any intel like that. Even before you contacted me, they were aware that there are unusual things going on there, as well as rumors of aliens, but we have no intelligence to suggest that’s possible. Unless someone developed an HTP that can ignore the gravity well restriction, they aren’t sneaking onto Earth.”
Erik hated that he even had to mention the next possibility. “Are we sure? What about some sort of hyperspace mistake? Something like Roswell?”
“This isn’t the twentieth-century,” Colonel Adeyemi insisted loudly. “If something like that had happened, we would know about it. We have sensors, satellites, and drones.” He grunted in frustration. “I’m partial to your theory that this is Talos, but it might be any number of terrorists. One possibility is that the Grayheads are purposely sowing terror down there. They’re not logical or sane, but that doesn’t explain why there was talk of standing down the Militia and sending in Army Special Forces units to look around.”
“There’s something here neither of us is being told,” Erik suggested.
“I agree.” Colonel Adeyemi growled in irritation. “Everyone’s way too spooked by this, which means someone somewhere has better intel. There has to be a big deal in the Scar for this push to be happening.”
“Are they going to send in the SF units?” Erik wanted to investigate, but if the Army sent in Special Forces, the colonel would likely be able to get access to the after-action reports.
“Not yet. The feeling I get is they realize doing that will draw more attention to whatever is going on. If this is Talos, and they’re involved with the Molino conspiracy, you can’t sit this out. The ID might bury whatever they find, or if Talos is a pawn of some government conspiracy, they might bury it. Even if you can’t get physical evidence we can use in a court, if you pick up even a single clue, it could help. We both know this will likely end outside a courtroom anyway. We need a trail, not a case.”
Erik glanced at his penjing arrangement. Minutes earlier, it had filled him with utt
er calm, but now his heart thundered, and he fought the urge to fly straight to the Scar to look for answers.
“I’m on the Shadow Zone Task Force, but that’s not going to get me into the Scar,” he observed.
“I know. I’m going to cash in a few more favors to make sure that if they move on the Scar, you’ll be involved, but it’ll be subtle. Do what you can to push at your end. The more you find, the easier it’ll be for me.”
“Understood.” Erik rested his head against the back of the couch. “We’re getting closer. Not fast enough, but we are.”
“You’re still ready to do what it takes?” the colonel asked.
“Your son,” Erik answered, “will be avenged.”
Chapter Forty-Four
March 6, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Office of Captain Alexander Ragnar
Jia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She didn’t want to be excited, but she couldn’t help it. “We’re getting primary jurisdiction over a murder investigation in the Shadow Zone?”
“Yes. This was Rudy Varan when he was alive.” Captain Ragnar pointed to a hologram of a sleepy-looking but otherwise plain man. “It was an unusual murder. This guy was torn to shreds. I think some of the local EZs are afraid of who might have done it, so they’re more willing than usual to let someone else handle it. There’s been a push from above as well. I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m happy to take advantage of it, so I’ve managed to get this classified as a Shadow Zone Task Force case, with you two as the leads. You’ll have to share your information with other EZs in the task force, but you and the 1-2-2 will handle the primary investigation.”
Erik had mentioned to Jia that Colonel Adeyemi would be using his influence. She didn’t know why possible Tin Men had the DD spooked, but if they pressed, they might be able to find out the truth about the Dr. Chen situation.
The timing also made her wonder. Although he was still under CID protection, he’d recently returned to work. The ID hadn’t been forthcoming with anything new, so it made sense for Erik and Jia to do what they could.
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