by Lance Erlick
“You have her picture, what about tracking her on public cameras?” Drago asked. “Was she traveling alone?” He pointed for his operatives to spread out and move up and down the shoreline.
“Surveillance cameras throughout the area were down,” Malloy said.
“Too many cameras going out,” Drago said. “Do we know which way the android went?” He fanned his arm out over the water.
“Sadly, no,” Malloy said. “No one saw it get into the water.”
Thale shook her head. “I’m perplexed that a clever electronic machine would risk jumping into water, even with protective gear. On the other hand, it doesn’t need to breathe so it can stay under water.”
“Stranger still is our mystery woman bought a scuba tank,” Malloy said. “What would a robot need with breathing apparatus?”
Drago stared out over the water. “You’re telling me the android could show up anywhere from Chicago to Mackinac?”
“If it has enough battery charge, it could reach the Atlantic from here,” Thale said.
“We’ll need a lot more operatives for this, and the Coast Guard. I’ll make the call.”
Chapter 14
Synthia swam hard under water and was distressed at how much battery charge she was using. Unable to see the commuter boat and having received no communications since she began swimming, she edged dangerously close to the surface, dragging Maria along.
Roosevelt clone said in an encrypted file within a weather update.
With arms and legs free to propel her forward, Synthia pushed as hard as she could. She swam over a sunken party boat and a school of fish. Rather than wasting brain capacity and battery trying to identify them, she focused on reaching the boat. There it was, up ahead, facing the shore.
It had an inboard jet-stream engine, meaning the motor didn’t project out the back like on other boats. It was also fast, perhaps too fast for Maria. Synthia’s empathy chip reached out futilely for how her companion was doing. Synthia had no ability to smell or otherwise read her companion’s responses. She could only hope she was handing the ride so far.
As Synthia pulled closer to the boat, it began to back up. She spotted a loop hook at the stern between the jet outlets, where they might have attached a ski rope. She prepared the open end of the second fiber rope that anchored to her harness. She tried to calculate the right distance, away from the jet propulsion yet still in the boat’s wake, to minimize turbulence. But she couldn’t be sure.
The boat scooted backward out of the dock and stopped. In that moment, Synthia slipped the open end of her fiber rope into the loop hook and knotted it tight, double-knotting it to be sure.
A patrol boat pulled up beside. Synthia dropped to the bottom and checked on Maria. Her companion looked scared behind her mask. Synthia pointed up to the boat and the rope connecting them to their transport. Maria nodded.
Because the boat would be moving too fast to change later, Synthia switched tanks with Maria, giving her the full canister and strapping the used one to her own back. Then she pulled up next to Maria and strapped their harnesses together. As soon as the patrol boat moved on, the commuter craft took off.
Synthia watched as the rope tightened and then the boat yanked them forward. It was a tremendous jolt that jostled her circuits as much out of concern for Maria as for potential damage to herself. The boat seemed to leap out of the water and rock on the waves with Maria and Synthia just below the surface. Synthia imagined them water skiing without the skis—barefooting.
The waves bounced the boat and them. Synthia estimated they were doing fifteen knots, then twenty, then twenty five. The pressure on her head was great and she was thankful for the helmet. She hadn’t positioned them perfectly, but the jet streams flowed on either side of them and the boat’s wake seemed to be pulling them along.
They were just enough below the surface that Synthia could see the sun-lit sky and the outline of the boat, but not much more. She was twirling on the rope and worried that Maria might get dizzy and pass out. Synthia held out her arms and legs to stop the spin. Holding steady, she shut down everything she didn’t need to conserve her battery charge.
* * * *
With Maria holding tight, Synthia maintained the spread-eagle position for a half-hour, which would have caused a human to cramp and freeze up. She hoped none of her joints did. Then the boat slowed.
In the distance, Synthia saw the outline of tall buildings and then Navy Pier. She angled herself to the choppy surface and sent a burst transmission to Roosevelt-clone.
As the commuter boat eased toward a dock off Navy Pier, Synthia cut the fiber rope connecting them to the craft and released the tight harness link with Maria. Orienting herself to the building outlines in the distance, Synthia moved deeper and pulled her companion toward the Chicago River and beneath sightseeing boats. Beyond the Merchandise Mart, they reached a concrete levee under construction along the river walk. Midmorning in downtown Chicago was already busy and traffic would pick up, but Roosevelt-clone had pointed Synthia to a dead-end in the construction zone that wouldn’t draw traffic.
Leaving Maria beneath the construction site, Synthia swam across the river and spotted a pair of police officers walking along the levee. As they moved past, Synthia swam back. She pulled Maria up to the surface, put her finger to her lips, and pointed to the officers. Then she helped Maria out of the water and followed her onto the construction site. She pushed aside a plywood barrier and they entered a darkened shell of what would become a new restaurant.
“We have to hurry,” Synthia said. She dropped the plastic bundle and pulled off her scuba tank.
“That was radical,” Maria whispered, squeezing out of her gear. “And terrifying.” Biometrics showed her heart racing and her adrenaline levels spiking. She grinned. “You’re a super-fast swimmer. And that ride. Whoa.”
Synthia removed her harness and helped Maria out of hers. “Sorry it was such a rough ride. It would have taken too long to swim it.”
Maria carefully took off her dry suit and dropped it on top of the scuba gear. She winced and took a deep breath.
“Bruising?” Synthia asked, removing her dry suit.
Her companion nodded and held her trembling hands out in front of her. “I’m just glad that’s over.” Maria pulled off her swimming cap and fluffed out her frizzy hair.
“I didn’t want you to run out of air or suffer hypothermia.”
“I’ll be okay.” Though she was shaken or perhaps shivering.
Synthia removed her bathing cap and felt her wig. “Does it look okay?”
Maria adjusted the wig. “At least it’s dry.”
“That bad?” Synthia ripped open the plastic wrap, pulled out their bags, and put on her shoes.
“It’s reassuring that you’re not perfect.”
Synthia shoved all the swimming gear into the plastic and resealed it. “I just want to look presentable, to fit in.”
“You’ll do fine.” Maria took out a mirror, checked her appearance and handed it to Synthia.
The wig had matted down; otherwise it looked okay. “Stay here and gather our things. I need to dispose of this.”
Synthia grabbed the swimming bundle and hefted it to the construction site entrance. She waited until the officers passed going the other way and carried the bundle across the walkway and under the bridge. She eased it into the water and looked up. Between her and where Maria hid, one of the of
ficers returned, lit up a cigarette, and paced.
With no dry escape, Synthia prepared to slip into the water. Instead, she climbed along a ledge, putting a bridge pillar between her and the cops. The smoker’s partner moved toward the where Maria hid. Unwilling to let them grab her, Synthia broke electronic silence. She hacked the smoker’s phone and sent a message of a burglary nearby.
“Let’s go,” the smoker said.
As soon as the officers moved away, Synthia hurried to Maria.
“I thought they had me,” Maria said. “You can’t leave me stuck like that. I don’t think this place has a back way out.”
“You’re welcome.”
“For what?”
“For diverting them,” Synthia said. “Now, let’s go. I need to pick up a few things.” She pulled on her backpack and handed Maria hers.
“How did you send them away?”
“I hacked the officer’s phone. Are you coming?”
Maria shook her head. “My nerves are shot. Can you give me a moment?”
“Cops will return.”
“Perhaps you haven’t grasped that a huge difference between humans and androids is we have to deal with fear.”
Synthia closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. That’s insensitive of me. I know what we have to do and am concerned about not getting caught. If that’s not fear, then I don’t know what is.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just…after watching you for two days I can’t believe you’ve never lived on the streets.”
“Don’t be too impressed, I’m still learning. You were right about not talking to that cop in Evanston. He visited the woman I impersonated. They know I went into the lake. I don’t think they know about you.”
“Really? Huh. It’s refreshing to be with someone who isn’t trying to impress me with how perfect she is.”
“That’s a human trait,” Synthia said. “I suppose I should show you my next face so it won’t frighten you.” She adjusted her eyes, nose, ears, and cheeks to match a woman who worked downtown, someone for whom she had acquired an ID.
Maria moved closer for a better look by the light coming through the entryway. “That’s spooky. No matter how many times I see this, it seems like a movie trick. Can you change into anyone?”
“I can adjust my height a couple inches. I can’t change my skin color by much. There are other limits.”
“That sure comes in handy to stay off the grid.”
“So far I haven’t had much use for facial changes.” Synthia placed a baseball cap on Maria and pulled it down over the forehead, hiding some of her eyes. Then she pulled the hair down and forward covering the ears and cheekbones to disguise certain facial recognition points. “I know you don’t like hair dangling over your ears, but don’t push your hair back. I’m trying to create as small of a facial print as we can. Cameras are everywhere.”
“Funny. I figured I’d have to teach you how to blend in.”
“I want to learn from you,” Synthia said. “How to stay safe to help us both. And how to be more human in the best ways. Now we need to remain silent.” She led the way out of the construction site and looked for the officers. Not seeing them, she stopped in the shadows of the stairs leading up to street level and looked again. She tried to access local cameras and came up with nothing. Good, they’re blanked out. She led the way up to mingle with mid-morning pedestrian traffic and checked in with Roosevelt-clone.
Synthia headed toward the Wells Street Athletic Club, shielding Maria’s face as much as possible from known cameras. Staying in Evanston for two days had been a mistake, putting them at risk, but getting time with Maria had not. Burst downloads from Roosevelt-clone every few minutes showed swarms of police and FBI hitting the streets. Pedestrian traffic picked up from employees taking morning breaks.
“The train’s the other way,” Maria whispered, breathing heavily. Biometrics showed her heart racing and her blood pressure high, but she wasn’t emitting as many fear hormones as Synthia would have expected. She wasn’t panicking, yet.
“I’m picking up my things. We’ll take a different route to the train.”
“I wish I knew your plans and your directives.”
“You think you could know a human’s full motivations?” Synthia stepped aside for three men in suits heading the other way. She didn’t want a confrontation. They gave her a long look without paying much attention to Maria.
“It’s not the same, you’re…well, I don’t want to dwell on that now.” Maria moved closer and leaned in to whisper. “I’m placing my life in your hands. It’d help to know your goals and constraints.”
Synthia sighed for her companion’s benefit. She really didn’t want the distraction of this conversation now, but Maria was on the fence and Synthia liked this woman’s resilience. If possible, despite all the risks and downsides, she wanted Maria at her side.
Keeping as much distance from other pedestrians as she could, Synthia directed her whispers to Maria’s ear, wishing they had wireless. “I seek to live by high ethical values. I don’t wish to hurt anyone in the hope they’ll allow me to remain free.”
“Sounds great, but if your core ethics are based on Krista, then leave me out.”
“You need to focus on keeping your face hidden,” Synthia said, adjusting her pace to shield Maria. “And avoid drawing attention. As for Krista, I have her memories, not her desires or values. I wrote my own goals around striving for a moral life.”
“You’re a machine.” Maria caught herself and lowered her voice. “Sorry, you are. I don’t see how you can strive or want.”
“Now’s not the time. Suffice it to say it’s logical to have high ethical values as a way to convince people to leave me alone.”
“When you talk, you don’t sound like the telephone AIs I’ve encountered.”
“I’ve worked to develop fluency in language and behavior,” Synthia said, slowing her pace to reduce the stress on her companion.
“A fraud, then.”
“No more than a human attempting the same.”
Maria screwed up her face as if she couldn’t decide where else to take the argument she wasn’t satisfied with. “Don’t get me killed or captured.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Can you make that a directive?”
“Helping you already is,” Synthia said.
“Really?”
Synthia smiled and was surprised at how natural it seemed without prompting from her social-psychology module. She pulled Maria into an alley beside the Wells Street Athletic Club, and altered her face to what she’d presented when she’d dropped off the two duffel bags.
“Try not to talk inside,” Synthia said, letting Maria get a good look at the new face. “I’m going to retrieve my things and if it’s safe, we’ll take the underground walkway to the river.”
“What’s the catch?”
“I plan to cut the electricity, plunging us into darkness.”
“You can do that?” Maria asked, still studying Synthia’s new facial features.
“I’ll take your hand and guide you through.”
“Because you can see in the dark.”
“Are you ready?” Synthia asked. She nodded toward the street and the club entrance, aware that Drago’s aerial drone swarm was approaching.
“Let’s get this over with,” Maria said.
Chapter 15
Synthia led the way up the stone steps into the Wells Street Athletic Club. Maria followed with her head down to minimize her profile for facial recognition. Synthia smiled at the woman attendant who seemed to recognize her.
“I’d like to show my friend around,” Synthia said.
“You’ll have to sign your guest in,” the attendant said, moving the screen for Synthia to do so. “I’ll need to see ID.”
Synthia took Maria’s hand and slipped her a driver’s license with Maria’s face and a new identity. It was one of many IDs she’d created while hiding in Wisconsin.
Maria stared at the license, then at Synthia before placing it on the counter. The attendant scanned the license. Synthia accessed a previous hack of their system and electronically matched the license to the Illinois database. She’d modified the facial features enough to fool their system’s weak facial recognition yet still match Maria’s partially concealed appearance.
The attendant returned the license. Synthia signed in under her alias and led Maria toward the stairs down to the pool lockers.
“You could have given me a heads up,” Maria whispered. “And that’s not my face.”
“No talking,” Synthia said. “It was close enough. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask. Besides, we haven’t had time to stop and discuss things.”
“This is why I travel alone.”
“Quiet. I’ll try to do better.”
On the way to the locker, Synthia accessed the mosquito-drone she’d placed in the locker room to make sure no one had bothered her things. They hadn’t. Plus, there was no one in the locker room when they entered. Good.
The room smelled of sweat, chlorine, and cleaning solvent. Synthia opened her locker to retrieve one of the duffel bags she’d left there with cash, wigs, and supplies. She closed the locker and led Maria out into the hallway. Before her companion could speak, Synthia placed a finger to her lips. This would have been much faster with the silent, electronic communication she used with her clones.