Emergent
Page 15
We need to meet and talk. The robo-message was back. You have what I want and I have what you need.
Synthia waited until she approached the escalator down to baggage claim and could no longer see any agents to contact Colorado-clone.
Synthia said, trying to minimize her electronic signal.
Synthia shut down her last network-channel, spotted the restroom, and turned left. She pulled a burner phone from her backpack and pretended to make a call to hide most of her face as she hurried into a stall. She counted off a minute.
She exited the stall and moved toward the door. A message came over her burner: Wait fourteen seconds.
When time was up, Synthia walked out of the restroom to see three plainclothes police and several FBI agents surrounding a woman who responded with indignation.
“Who do you think you are?” she yelled. She held up her phone to record the event.
One of the plainclothes agents grabbed the phone, turned it off, and stuffed it into his pocket.
“That’s my phone. I know my rights.”
Synthia hurried out the door and past where self-driving cabs waited. She didn’t trust them with their internal safety cameras staring at her. She reestablished one network-channel for her clone.
Out of breath, Maria climbed in. “What the hell happened back there?”
Using her wireless connection, Synthia directed the car to drive out of the airport. “You need to get down on the floor and cover your face,” she said to Maria. “We needed a diversion to get out of the airport. They have the wrong person and there’ll be momentary chaos when they figure that out. She’ll be fine.”
“She didn’t look fine.” Maria scooted onto the floor before they passed the first set of airport cameras.
Synthia draped a jacket over her companion and plotted their escape.
“I don’t trust self-driving cars,” Maria said, looking up.
“You’ve hurt his feelings.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Really?”
“If I’m sentient, why not the AI driving this car?”
“Do you want to scare me into the next universe?”
“I doubt it’s any better out there,” Synthia said.
“Now that we’re here, tell me your plan.”
“Since we’re together, I suppose it won’t hurt.” Besides, Fran and Zephirelli knew, as did Vera and Alexander. “The FBI traced Krista’s sister to Denver and Special Ops is closing in. They’ll grab her if they can.”
“Why is Grace so important?” Maria asked.
Synthia made sure the security cameras didn’t have their images as they left the airport. “Machten let slip that Krista was the core of building me. The FBI and Special Ops hope learning from you and Grace will help them catch me. It won’t, but I can’t convince them.”
“I don’t understand. They’re using Grace as bait. You’re here to help her. How is their assumption wrong?”
Synthia frowned. “It’s complicated. My attachment to Grace is by choice, not because of Krista.”
“How so?”
“In addition to having Krista in me, I have bits of you and Fran. I also have so much social media input from millions of other people that my personality only remotely resembles Krista. You’ve already commented on how we differ.”
“I get it,” Maria said. “It was in your best interests to get me out of town before they could interrogate me.”
“My best interests were to keep them from capturing you. You chose to accompany me to Denver.”
“That seems like months ago. How do we help Grace without getting caught?”
“She’s nearby,” Synthia said. “I’d like your help to rescue her. She has experience living off the grid growing up. She and I—Krista—did crazy things back then. I hoped to pair you two so you can help each other.”
Maria removed the jacket and looked up. “I thought you and I were partners.”
“When we can be, yes. However, you and Grace would do best hiding away from people, perhaps in the mountains with few cameras. For me, that doesn’t work. The FBI and Special Ops are concerned about civilian casualties. In a remote area, they’d face fewer restrictions. By changing appearance, I can hide among people, which makes it harder for them to grab me. There may be a time when it would be better for us to separate.”
Synthia had the car drive into a mall with a shipping outlet that had mailboxes for rent. She’d already rented one and had packages delivered when she’d left Wisconsin, as a backup plan. Tracking indicated the shipments had arrived. “Give me a moment. We need supplies. Wait here.”
She had the car stop close to the shop and hurried in. She assumed a new facial identity and hacked the security cameras to fog them. She returned with three boxes, had the car open the trunk, and placed the boxes inside. Then she returned to the backseat and altered her appearance to her new Denver look, letting Maria watch.
Maria shook her head as she studied the facial transition. “You need to get me this adaptation.”
“That’s easy. Get Machten to build you an android that has this and suck your mind into it. Unfortunately, the only case I know of ended with the patient dying.”
“I’ll pass. You get mail here in Denver?”
Synthia had the car drive on. “This is a convenient place to receive supplies that I ordered online. They let me open a mailbox over the Internet.”
“How many other delivery places do you have?”
“Several around the Denver area.”
“Just Denver?” Maria asked.
“And elsewhere.”
“How do you pay for all that?”
“Machten made a small donation to the cause,” Synthia said.
“You’re unbelievable.” Maria rotated on the floor trying to get comfortable but there wasn’t much room. “I couldn’t squeeze a nickel out of the bastard for project ideas and you got him to cough up enough to get by.”
“Long story and we don’t have the time.”
Synthia pulled up to a national bank and took in a certified check that had been with the bundle of packages. She adopted the neutral face of a local resident who used this bank and had it cashed—eight thousand dollars in fifties. It would have to do to help Grace until Synthia could make further plans. She smiled at the teller and maintained a calm exterior until she left.
Back in the car, Synthia directed the navigation toward the next stop. “We’ll need a way to reach Grace and another
to make our getaway.”
“Do I get a choice in this?”
“Absolutely. We need your help, but if you’re not committed, I don’t want to put you in danger. I can drop you off, if you’d like.”
Maria forced a smile. She wasn’t used to anyone valuing her companionship. Synthia picked that up from her social-psychology module and from her few internal memories of Maria’s life.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Maria sighed.
“Doing what?”
“It’s the story of my life. I can’t get a human to hang out with.” She shook her head. “Instead, I get an android as a partner when all I want is to shut you down. I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes you did,” Synthia said. “We should be honest with each other in order to survive this.”
“As you were in not telling me your plans?”
“I was upfront that I was withholding information until later. This is later. Are you in or out?”
Maria furrowed her brow. “This is crazy but I guess I’m in.”
“Don’t guess. I need you committed or I’ll go it alone.”
“You need me. Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought me along. Yeah, I’m in. I’d like nothing better than to deny the FBI access to Grace.”
Chapter 21
By the time Synthia reached her next stop, Colorado-clone confirmed that Vera’s plane had landed. Alexander wasn’t far behind. He would watch Vera to learn how to bypass security. More troubling, Special Agent Thale had noted the android movements. She and her team were flying with Kirk Drago, his crew, and a plane full of military robots toward Denver. As if that weren’t bad enough, John Smith was on a private jet with Denver as its destination. Tolstoy had arranged to meet him with four robots. He’d intercepted enough communication to indicate that what he was searching for was in Denver.
As they drove, Synthia didn’t mention any of this to Maria; her companion was already jittery, a toxic mixture of excited wonder and stark terror. Synthia had considered leaving Maria in a safe place, but with everyone converging on them she couldn’t identify anywhere nearby that fit the bill. All of the attention altered her thoughts about what to do. Synthia wanted to deal with her adversaries one by one, seeking out each one’s weaknesses, and a peaceful way to inactivate them so Special Ops couldn’t take advantage. That had become impossible. She didn’t have time and dealing with one left her vulnerable to the others. Maria was right on this point.
Synthia shuddered at the implications. She’d fought hard for independence. She’d worked diligently to find Maria and avoid capture. She was unwilling to end up absorbed by another AI, either Vera or this mysterious other. Global-net?
She had the car stop in front of a motorcycle dealership. “I’ve pre-paid for a cycle and need to pick it up,” Synthia said. “Stay in the back seat and I’ll have the car drive to the rendezvous point.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“There’s no point in you riding with me to get Grace. Too risky. Besides, there’s only room on the back of the cycle for one passenger. I’ll need you to help hide the cycle.”
“You want me to stay in a car you’re driving remotely?” Maria asked. “What if you shut down?”
“If the navigation system doesn’t get frequent updates, the car will stop. Don’t worry. This model is top of the line. You’ll be safe if you don’t show up on anyone’s camera.”
“Have you ever ridden a cycle before?”
“No,” Synthia said. “We need to get going.”
“Don’t you need to try it out? It’s not a car.”
“I’ve downloaded what I need. Unlike humans, I don’t need practice.”
“Are you planning to tell Grace what you are?” Maria asked.
“I don’t know yet. Keep your head down.”
After she climbed out of the car, Synthia opened the trunk and removed a helmet and a new backpack she filled with supplies. As she walked into the dealership, she had the car drive away. She considered driving Maria into the mountains, maybe up to Estes Park, away from all the action, but the car would run out of gas and Maria would need food and shelter, all of which would require her to surface on cameras. She didn’t know the area. It was too risky. No, Synthia owed it to Maria to keep her companion safe.
To highlight the risk, a cluster of FBI aerial drones were passing over the area.
Sporting another plain face that matched a fake driver’s license she’d acquired on the dark web and received in one of the packages, Synthia approached a middle-aged man whose profile in the company database showed him to be a new salesman. “I ordered and paid for a hybrid cycle,” she said. “I’m here to pick it up.”
She gave him her alias and let him scan her online receipt on her burner phone. Then she tapped her fingers on the counter to mark impatience. She identified the shop’s security cameras and turned them off, erasing what they’d recorded.
“Would you like our usual prep?” the salesman asked.
“I’m meeting friends and traffic already made me late. Do you have my cycle ready or do I need to cancel the deal?”
Losing a pre-arranged sale wouldn’t look good for the new guy, so he pulled up the paperwork on his screen. “We do have an extended warranty.”
“Skip that.” Synthia stood over him. “None of your extras. Just the cycle.”
The salesman handed over title papers with the key fob and pointed to her cycle. She waited until the FBI drones had passed to walk her new transportation out of the showroom and alongside the building to where he didn’t have a clear view. She made sure the surveillance cameras weren’t working. With her pack on her back and helmet on, she climbed onto the cycle and shifted her weight to keep it upright. The key to riding, she’d read, was to get the cycle moving fast enough so that the gyro effect kept it upright. How hard can that be?
She engaged the drive. The electric motor launched the cycle forward, knocking her off her feet. She slowed to pull her feet onboard. The cycle wobbled, ready to topple over. An inexperienced human would have stopped the cycle to try again. Synthia gunned it. The cycle burned rubber onto the road. She swerved to avoid evening traffic, two cars and an SUV, and slowed to the speed limit. She smiled at the traffic cameras. They couldn’t see her face through the helmet, and so far they hadn’t installed infrared street cameras.
Synthia leaned forward, adjusted her position to minimize wind resistance, and headed for the motel where Grace was holed up, surrounded by at least two dozen FBI agents and police. NSA Director Zephirelli had joined them along with Fran. Robots waited at the points of a hexagon around the motel. Too much attention focused on a woman who had nothing to contribute except her role as bait. Rescue was insane, though Synthia didn’t think that t
erm could apply to an android.
Humans would have had one of two reactions to this situation. Some would feel so compelled to help a family member that they’d risk everything in a brash attempt to get past the security details and face death, which would help no one. Other humans, recognizing the trap, would stay away, waiting for a better opportunity that wouldn’t come. Synthia didn’t want to see Grace pulled into a mind-upload machine.
Synthia fancied her growing attachment to a sister she only knew through Krista’s memories as a human emotional connection, though it was probably only a goal with its own logic. Only by emulating human compassion and empathy could Synthia hope to justify her existence. That still mattered.
Colorado-clone had gotten a single mosquito-drone into Grace’s room. It showed Krista’s sister looking through slats in the blinds and through the door’s peep hole. She was on the third floor overlooking a roof that covered a patio in the back of the hotel. Beyond that were a pond, a golf course, and woods.
As Synthia rode the cycle toward the motel, she spotted the FBI’s aerial drones sweeping the area. She accepted her clone’s hack of the FBI autonomous mini-craft and had them continue to fly while omitting her image when she came into view.
Synthia sent a message to Grace’s phone: I’m very sorry, you’re in grave danger. The worst kind. As in olden times, meet me out front in three minutes. Bring only your backpack. I’ll have my little red wagon. Last communication. Go.
Using the FBI’s drones, Synthia had a full layout of the FBI and police positions. She also spotted Special Ops vehicles heading that way from a military facility southwest of Denver, no doubt to again take control away from the FBI. Synthia couldn’t permit that.