The jane colt trilogy, p.34
The Jane Colt Trilogy, page 34
Devin’s slate beeped.
Corsair: Check out the Collective’s forums.
He followed the links. A firestorm brewed on the Net. Riley had recorded everything Jim X had said about the Pandora Project. In the two days it took to reach Yim Radel, half the Networld had seen the video. Pandora tried to block its dissemination, but Citizen Zero had become more resourceful at spreading information that others didn’t want seen.
Although many met the revelation with skepticism, the most influential members of the Collective had decided the notion of No Name being a sentient program made too much sense to ignore. They’d found the connection between artificial intelligence and the murdered programmers from ten years ago.
Corsair: As soon as I released the video, other demons shared their own evidence of Pandora’s existence. It’s not exactly proof, but it’s close enough for most. The Collective’s furious that Kron used them and that their friends died because of what he did. They’re teaming up with other Netcrews and brainstorming ways to wipe her out.
Archangel: Good.
Corsair: They’re also working with the Seer to track her activities. They may be able to prove she’s responsible for the attacks on Revelin Kron and Victor Colt.
Archangel: I hope so.
Corsair: Here’s the best bit: They’ve made so much noise about Pandora, the IC Tech Council ordered an investigation. It’d be awfully embarrassing if someone defied the regulations so completely without some sort of crackdown. I’ll let you know when I have more info.
Devin folded the slate and dropped it in his pocket.
Although he and Riley had considered exposing the presence of the AIs along with the truth about No Name, finding out about Adam had done away with that notion. After all the hell Pandora caused, the secret of her AIs would be kept, and she’d get what she’d wanted in the first place.
“But don’t people have a right to know?” Riley had asked Devin via video transmission the day before. “We could leave Uh-Dame out.”
“It’s a bad idea,” Devin had replied. “Telling the Networld anyone could be synthetic would cause mass paranoia.”
“But isn’t it kinda unfair? I mean… Uh… Other law students don’t stand a chance because of that Jonathan King dude. He was built to beat them.”
Jane gave Riley an artificially sweet smile. “Riley, keep this AI business to yourself or I will kill you.”
“It’s gonna come out eventually!” Riley protested. “You can’t keep something like this hidden forever.”
“Maybe, but ‘eventually’ had better not be because of you. And if I find out it is, I’ll hunt you down and kick your scrawny ass!”
“Okay! I’ll keep a lid on it! Man, you’re violent!”
Adam had watched the exchange in silence. Devin had noticed a flicker of a smile at Jane’s exaggerated threats.
In the meadow on Yim Radel, Devin looked over at his sister, who sat surrounded by luminous purple flowers, marveling at the sky. Beside her, Adam regarded the heavens with the same silent awe. Devin wondered if Pandora even understood the life she’d created.
Jane looked over at him. “Hey, Devin! Were you messaging Riley?”
“Yeah. The Collective and some other Netcrews are trying to figure out how to stop Pandora.”
“Excellent. I hope they destroy every shred of it.”
Adam’s hand drifted to his injured shoulder. “Maybe I can help? After all, I’m also… an artificial intelligence. They could… look at my… programming… if I could… get onto the Net—”
“Forget it,” Jane snapped. “That’s just… Forget it!”
“I’m probably the only one who knows what I am. I might as well try and use it. She’s killed so many people already, and I want to stop her.”
“Ugh, I still don’t get why you guys keep referring to that programmed monstrosity as if it’s a person.”
A pained look crossed Adam’s face.
“You’re different!” Jane said hurriedly. “Hell, you’re more human than most humans! I mean it, Adam. You’re the one good thing to come out of this mess, and I don’t want you doing anything that’ll put you in danger.”
“All I want is to interface with the Net,” Adam said. “It’s nothing, really. Riley does it all the time.”
Devin thought the kid’s idea courageous but unfeasible. “Virtual reality requires a lot of equipment that reads brainwaves and the like. We don’t have any of that, and even if we did, it wouldn’t be the same with you.”
Adam thought for a moment. “Maybe Riley will have some ideas?”
Archangel: I have a question.
Corsair: Careful. She could be watching. Keep things vague or hide them in codes.
Damn. Codes aren’t exactly my expertise.
Archangel: Is it possible for a gamer like Adam to enter the Kingdom?
Hope that worked. Klash of Kingdoms was Riley’s favorite virtu-game. He probably understood the reference to the Networld. Adam was such a common name—it could refer to anyone.
Devin waited for a response. He could almost see Riley fidgeting, flipping through his brilliant little brain for ideas.
Corsair: She sent commands and updates through the Net, so it should be possible. I’ll contact the junk dealer. He seems to know a lot about all this.
The next two days were spent lying low, living off the ship’s well-stocked pantry of imperishable space food and watching as events unfolded on the Net. Riley told Devin, using an odd form of code, that Commander Vega bent some rules and re-investigated the cases against him. The best thing for him to do was remain disappeared.
Devin sat in the meadow, along with Jane and Adam, several yards from the ship. He watched a hologram of Sarah telling an interviewer why she loved her art, using the same words and tones as when she’d once told Devin. Even though he knew she was no more real than an animated character, he couldn’t help projecting a kind of humanity onto her. She was designed to be indistinguishable from humans. He wanted to forget she existed, but the version of her he knew had become a part of him. He wondered how he could find it in himself to accept that she was gone forever.
A message window appeared on the slate.
Corsair: I have more instructions from the Seer.
“Adam, it’s for you.” Devin tossed Adam the slate.
The Seer had responded to Riley’s attempts to contact him two days before and, using Riley as an intermediary, sent Adam several cryptic suggestions. To hide his intentions from Pandora, the Seer had encoded his instructions in a manner so abstract, the few times Devin had tried interpreting them resulted only in headaches.
Adam read the Seer’s message. “This doesn’t make any sense. I think he’s saying it’s like meditation, but I also have to… I don’t understand.”
Jane rested her chin on her knee. “I think he’s telling you to knock it off already. You’re not a freaking computer. You can’t data transfer your consciousness.”
“I must’ve been transferred to begin with. The AI workshop on Viate-5 was full of incomplete androids, so she must’ve developed the minds and bodies separately. I just need to figure out how to… get out of my head. Maybe once I do, they won’t need a virus to defeat her. I can engage her in an eternal cyber battle like the warring immortals in the Book of Via.”
Jane lifted her head. “Adam, c’mon. You should forget the whole thing.”
Something moved in the forest. Devin got up and went nearer for a better look. An open-air transport full of armed people flew toward him.
He ran back. “Jane! Adam! Get inside!”
Jane grabbed Adam by the wrist and ran toward the ship. Devin followed a few steps behind, keeping an eye on the transport. Its passengers raised their weapons and fired in the air.
A second transport swung around from the other side of the ship, blocking Jane as she approached the ramp.
A man with a thick beard jumped out and aimed a rifle at Devin. “Don’t move!”
Devin raised his hands. “Easy. We don’t want any trouble.”
A woman with a red tattoo across her face landed in front of Jane and aimed two handguns at her. “Who’re you?”
“Just another bunch of lost refugees.” Devin chose his words carefully to avoid anything that could be mistaken for a threat. “I thought this area was deserted.”
A large, muscular man with spiked hair and a square face pointed a massive gun at Adam. “The boss decided the whole continent belongs to him and sent us out looking for trespassers.”
“I didn’t know we were trespassing. We’ll leave.” Devin looked around. They were surrounded. Any attempt to run would be suicide.
Meanwhile, a few thugs entered the ship. He hoped they wouldn’t notice its cannon. The other transport arrived. Several more thugs approached.
A woman with a black braid sauntered toward Jane. “What have we here?”
The tattooed woman sneered. “More entertainment for the Ringmaster.”
The square-faced man jabbed Adam’s injured shoulder with the barrel of his gun. “Hey, what the fuck is this?”
Shit. “A prosthetic.” Devin gave the first lie that came to mind. “He lost his arm in an accident.”
The man shoved his gun into Adam’s chest. “Freak! You’re a fuckin’ insult to life!”
Jane’s eyes radiated fury. “Leave him alone! Get away from—”
The black-haired woman backhanded Jane hard across the face. Jane fell to the ground.
“Jane!” Adam cried.
Devin started toward her, only to be shoved back by the barrel of a rifle.
The bearded man snarled. “I said don’t move.”
With a glare, Jane balled up her fists.
Devin recognized the mad glint in her eyes. “Jane, no!”
She sprang up and threw a punch at the black-haired woman’s stomach.
Dammit, Jane!
The woman stumbled. “Little cunt!” She reached for her gun.
The tattooed woman grabbed her arm. “Don’t! The Ringmaster will like her.”
The first woman scowled as she let go of her weapon. Devin released a breath and relaxed the hand that had been milliseconds away from seizing the rifle digging into his chest.
Jane glanced at her still-clenched fists, mouth open as though surprised at herself.
A thug exited the ship. “It’s empty! Should we strip it?”
“Just grab any weapons or valuables,” the tattooed woman said. “We’ll send out a prawn to tow the whole thing back later. Let’s bring ’em in.”
The square-faced man glowered at Adam. “Except this one. What the fuck are you?”
Adam looked terrified. “Please. I—”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Jane screamed.
“Bastard!” Devin felt a hard blow against his head.
When he opened his eyes, he was on the ground. Must’ve lost consciousness. He couldn’t have been out for more than a minute or so, since the scene had barely changed. He was still in the meadow, surrounded by thugs. Adam lay on the ground, his chest gaping with wounds.
Jane knelt beside Adam. She took him in her arms, her words barely intelligible through her sobbing as she begged him to stay with her. Adam moved his lips as though trying to speak.
Devin could sense the kid’s life draining away. Gripped by rage, he started to get up. The scorching shock of a stunner flared through his back. He fell.
The tattooed woman grabbed Jane, who screamed in anguish.
The other thugs shouted in disbelief at the sight of Adam’s mechanical body.
“What the fuck is this? It’s a fuckin’ machine!” The square-faced man stood over Adam and shot him in the head.
But it wasn’t necessary. The kid was already gone.
Chapter 22
Keep Sane, Entertain
Jane screamed tearfully, hardly aware of her own words, as the thugs dragged her from Adam’s side and forced her onto one of their transports. She flailed her arms in their grasps until it felt as if she would tear them off. A man shoved her against the wall beside her brother.
As soon as the man let go, she launched herself at the group of thugs. Devin caught her and held her back. Unable to shake him, she continued screaming.
“Shut up!” The woman with the black braid raised her fist.
The tattooed woman caught the fist before the strike could land. “Don’t damage the goods.”
Goods. Jane mentally spat the word. They saw her as just another pretty young thing their boss might find entertaining.
Her wrath gave way to unspeakable sorrow. She collapsed against her brother’s shoulder, crying harder than she’d imagined possible. After what felt like hours, the tears subsided. But the grief remained, a violent wave that struck her repeatedly and threatened to drive her from sanity. She could still see Adam’s lifeless body even though the thugs had left it miles behind; she still felt as though she looked into his vacant eyes, pleading for him to come back. He’d been nothing and no one to the thugs, so they’d cruelly prodded him with fascinated disgust, as if he were an interesting piece of garbage.
“I’m sorry, Jane,” Devin whispered. “I know how much he meant to you.”
Jane wiped her eyes. “He can’t be gone. He can’t… He—”
“Shut up!” The black-haired woman scowled. “It’s a fucking machine!”
“He’s more than you’ll ever be, you bitch!” Jane wanted to rip the woman’s eyeballs out. The tattooed woman once again stopped the black-haired woman from striking her.
Devin’s arm tightened around her. “Jane, stop it. Adam wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, so quiet down before they run out of patience.”
Jane closed her eyes and breathed deeply, willing herself to calm down. “He had a life. He had a—a soul, and they act like he was just—just—” She couldn’t finish.
“They didn’t know him,” Devin said. “All they see are synthetic skin and machinery.”
Jane opened her eyes. “Is that what you see?”
Devin looked past her. “No.”
She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. The image of Adam’s body ravaged her mind—his lifeless eyes, his cold hands. The faint smile frozen on his lips, as though he’d been trying to tell her not to grieve with his last breath.
Breath?
Yes, breath. To hell with science. In Adam, Pandora had somehow created the breath of life. All Jane saw when she thought of him was a light that once shone, gone.
“What’s going to happen to Adam now? He believed in the Absolute so much, so… he’s gotta be… he can’t just be…” She broke down into another spell of uncontrollable crying, unable to understand the power of her own agony.
Jane glanced around the cavernous palace with immeasurable disgust. The woman with the red tattoo gripped her tightly and pressed a gun into her back. Devin stood beside her in icy silence, held at gunpoint by the square-faced thug who’d murdered Adam.
The Ringmaster, an obese man with a red beard and beady eyes, sprawled in a gaudy throne, guffawing as he fondled a petite blonde on his lap. The girl had a mournful, resigned look, one mirrored on the faces of several other girls who stood by the throne in barely-there clothing. Jane tried not to think about having to join them. She looked up at the guns on the walls and wished the Pandora program would use its favorite modus operandi to off the bastard and his soulless followers.
Thick columns supported the high ceiling. An opulent chandelier illuminated the place with a sickly yellow glow. The circular area before the throne, outlined by a low wall with breaks in the side, displayed holograms of mythical winged women and several live female dancers. They moved to music emitting from a thin set of speakers. The Ringmaster’s thugs hooted and jeered at the show.
Large screens lined the walls, showing various views of a band led by a skinny man. Looking closer, Jane noticed the same man standing motionless in the ring. He had on what looked like a metal blindfold—he produced the music. The virtu-world he occupied projected the sounds in his head for the physical world to hear.
The Ringmaster threw the blond girl off his lap and stood. “I’m sick of this shit! Get me a new musician!”
The girl ran to the skinny man and pressed the buttons on his VR visor. When nothing happened, panic crossed her face. She scrambled to do it again.
The Ringmaster bellowed, “Hurry up!”
“He’s—he’s not leaving!” the girl cried.
A thug strode into the ring. “Ah, just yank ’im!”
The girl shook her head and pressed the buttons again. The thug threw her down, grabbed the visor, and jerked it off. The music cut out. The skinny man fell backward, staring up with empty eyes.
The thug pulled out a gun and shot him through the head. He put a foot on the dead man’s stomach. “Now you can play for the angels. They’ll kick you to hell when they hear your fuckin’ bullshit!”
The Ringmaster roared with laughter. “I am entertained!”
I’ll kill them all. Jane wanted to grab a weapon and go on a murderous rampage, not caring if the thugs killed her, as long as she took as many of them with her as possible. She held still. Devin was right about Adam not wanting anything to happen to her. Besides, if she did it, he’d go down by her side.
The Ringmaster roared at the dancers, “Did I tell you to stop?” He strode toward Jane. “What have we here?”
“Pair of trespassers.” The tattooed woman shoved Jane forward. “We thought this one would amuse you, boss.”
