From: cs92jgo@brunel.ac.uk (Jus T. Ego)
Subject: In the beginning
Date: 18 May 93 16:01:06 GMT
This is my first attempt at a story in a.c.c so any comments,
criticism, death threats to cs92jgo@brunel.ac.uk.
Email is best because I won't be able to read news for a while.
Thanks.
The usual stuff applies.
This story is Copyright Justin Otto. 18/5/1993.
In the beginning...
-------------------
A black satin curtain lay draped over the landscape. This cool,
moonless night yielded no stars, for it was still early. A thin line
of midnight blue clung to the distant hills of the west, flowing
smoothly into the purple and then black of cloudless sky. The bloody
wound of sunset had healed over now and it was time to begin the
stealth of advance upon the shadowed complex driven deep into the
valley below.
Time check. The first team were moving now. Sliding to their feet,
another group of shadows detached from the craggy cliff-base. Like a
wave of ink-black water, they rolled onwards, through the space
between the fence and the scant protection of the rocks.
One of the team moved slowly through the dew-sodden grass, falling
behind the others. Unlike the rest, the silhouette was clumsy in its
progression. It appeared an outsider to the shadowy horde, an intruder
on the perfection of their movements.
Alarms screamed. A cry that chilled Device as a knife through the
heart. He stopped, and almost cried out. Through the noise of the
alarms he heard the silence of the mercs. The alarms that rang, rang
only in his head. Fear stuck the clothes to his back with sweat. It
poured down his face, running into his eyes. Through the salty taste
in his mouth he felt his dry throat close. This was much too intense
for a cowboy like him.
Apprentice cowboy. He corrected himself. He was still learning 'the
trade' as Prior called it. About all he had was a mickey-mouse deck
he'd built and a handle. "Device Contention". Prior had given it to
him.
-
"What's that?", he asked.
Prior looked up from the table he was working on and chuckled. "A
device contention is where two equal programs fight each other." He
went back to the deck he was stripping down. "That's like you, joe-
boy. You always want to fight for everything."
He stopped once more and looked into Device's eyes. All trace of the
subtle mocking gone from within his voice. "You've got to remember:
Some things in life are free. If you know 'the trade'."
-
He shook the recollection from his head. He needed to have all his
wits about him for this run. It was wild. Cracking an organisation
from the inside. He almost laughed out loud. Right now Prior would be
feeding the alarms a picture of calm, serene countryside while an army
stormed the corporation complex. Seeing the mercs had already reached
the fence he dropped to the ground while they breached the defences.
He turned up the control on the box at his belt and the suit cooled
his body temperature to the same as his surroundings. Prior had warned
them about stretching his programs to their limits.
-
"Hey asshole", Prior snapped, "if I'm babysitting the alarms how am I
supposed to blind the slamhounds?"
The mercenary captain's cold expression did not waver. "Can you blind
them if you only had to freeze some of the alarms?"
Prior looked dubious. "Maybe."
-
So they had worn IR-transparent suits. The cold tubing in the suit
chilled his sodden back. The rubber squealed as he moved so he lay as
still as he could. His breath was ragged and tearing rapidly down his
throat. Burning. The air temperature had been dropping ever since the
sun had first touched the horizon and the steam that had begun to pour
from their over-heating bodies vanished as the suits began to operate.
Time check. In cyberspace, Prior would have released the IR sensors.
-
"Five minutes at the most", replied Prior.
The mercenary had been closely watching the expression on Prior's
face. "We only need two", the merc assured him.
"Ok. The mutts will be blind for two minutes, and then I'll hook the
IR sensors again."
-
Time check. The normally deadly hiss of the silencers, this time
brought sleep for the canine guards as they were tranquillized.
-
"I thought slamhounds were immune to tranq..." Device protested, after
the mercenarys had left.
"Not this tranq", Prior smirked, "This is good stuff. It would send a
elephant to sleep before it hit the ground."
"What's an elephant?"
Prior sighed. "Get back to your work, joe-boy..."
-
Time check. All the alarms were out again. He thumbed the control and
turned the uncomfortable suit off again. Staring at the captain, he
waited.
On the signal, he sprinted. Through the short grass which whispered at
his feet and on towards the fence, he ran. The fence had been pulled
down, not cut, and lay on the ground. The invisible electricity still
alive in its seemingly harmless frame. The mercenary captain motioned
to a pair of his team as Device passed and they ran after him.
The door to the small building was a complicated retinal scan/brain
wave lock. Fooling it was nore hassle than it was worth. It's
information store was somewhere in cyberspace, so why bother to do it
the hard way? Cracking locks was for the meat. Lo-tech. Device
unclipped his deck from his belt and jacked.
Through his deck, the image of the net was imposed on his senses.The
matrix sprang into his vision revealing a huge pyramid which
represented the company. In the realm of data, the landscape was
fickle. After all, when the whole appearance of a company's data store
can be changed in a few clock cycles, why build anything permanent?
Unlike the clumsy buildings of the physical world, which are fixed,
pinned like butterflies to a card, data structures are dynamic. The
structues reflected the grace and elegance of the human imagination
that brick could never achieve.
Lightning bolts flew from the pyramid. They were answered by lightning
bolts from a much smaller, silver pyramid which floated just off to
the positive x-coord side of the data structure. Prior was fighting
the I.C.E. and was holding his own. Device allowed himself a quick
grin of shared pride. Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics, the immune
system of the cyber-playground. It was a software cowboy's job to
wrestle data from under its protection. The I.C.E. changed and flowed
outwards to envelop the silver pyramid, but Prior echoed its actions
and began to envelop the I.C.E.
Device turned away. Prior was using a Mirror shield, as long as the
ArtificiaI Intelligence attacking him didn't realise, he could counter
any attack. Once the AI realised it was fighting a mirror it would
kill a member of its own company and the mirror would copy it exactly.
He shuddered. Prior did not have long: nor did Device.
He flicked the invisible tracker ball under his fingers and swung on
the grid point to face a smaller pyramid. This was his target, a small
subsiduary company. Without hesitation he re-referenced his position
into the new pyramid and began the search for the mailer daemon. The
I.C.E. that attacked him was of limited strength because of the
enormous drain on the AI still duelling with Prior.
Device tapped in a command on his deck and dumped his first one
megabyte buffer of Bubbles. Oblivious to his actions, the I.C.E. spent
its time destroying them. A Bubble is a tiny program which consists of
three instructions. The first is to re-create itself . The second is
to start the sibling program running and the third is to recurse. Far
more simple than a virus, a Bubble reproduces every three clock
cycles. Because of the simplicity of the program it is easily
terminated, but because of its speed of reproduction, it can occupy
low I.C.E. for a limited period. Device had just unleashed over three
hundred thousand of the little Bubbles, and the I.C.E. was heavily
occupied in it's losing battle.
He turned back to the search. The process terminated with a fix on the
mail daemon. He re-referenced to the new address and appeared next to
it. His second buffer of Bubbles formed a screen around him:
reproducing and waiting to be attacked. He quickly pumped a fake
employee profile into the computer, one of the mercs. The mailer fired
a copy to the central computer and updated all the records for him. He
didn't tell the merc in question that this profile would eventually be
the merc's own death warrant.
His job done, he re-referenced out of the pyramid, next to Prior.
"Bomb's away.", he mailed, and jacked out.
The silence and darkness of the complex stunned him for a second and
he glanced around, unsure of his surroundings.
"Well?", demanded the merc.
Device nodded and the merc approached the door. The sensor fixed him
with a spotlight and a synthed voice barked out, "Identity." The merc
glanced disapprovingly at Device's grin and spoke. "Employee 666 - Mr.
I.D. Newly-Hacked. Hold door for two guests."
The door slid open and they entered. The interior of the room was
dimly-lit and empty. Consoles ringed the room, all dead. Device sat at
the nearest one and jacked in.
He was inside the pyramid...
"Information search", he demanded of a nearby data-guide. The data-
guide was rezzed in the format of a geek in a suit. It's jacket
appeared to have tails and it's white-gloved hands carried a silver
tray. Device's display flashed the ID of Butler 004.
An expensively synthed voice said, "Ah, Mr. Newly-Hacked. Welcome to
the Britania Corporation. How may I help you?" The lanuage was
American but the pronounciation and accent were unusually precise and
arrogant. "English program", thought Device.
Device was disturbed by the guide. He was so used to grabbing the data
and running, asking for it seemed wrong somehow. "Er.. I'd like the
list of AI's in remote contact, please.", he requested nervously.
"I am complying with your request, sir."
The data-guide flickered for a second and then was back holding a
glowing cube, supported on its tray. "Here is the information you
require, sir. I am down-loading it now."
Device jacked out. He tapped the line into the console and copyied the
data as it was transmitted. Device glanced at the list as it scrolled
by. Ah, there it was. He paused the list and looked closer.
Artificial Intelligence ADMS002 - Abel
Location: Remote Contact - Mobile site.
Current site: Bar.Chatsubo.
"Gotcha", he whispered, with venom.
-
SOC ON
Social Interaction Chip Active
Selected Identity: Stranger in bar.
SURV ON
Surveilance Cameras 90 and 360 deg Active
Surveilance Microphones Conversation and Background Active
EMOT /EMP ON
Emotion Synthesis Chip Active.
Empathy Function Selected.
STATUS->LOCALE = _GETLOCATION( TRUE, GRID_OFF );
RetVal == Bar.Chatsubo ( STRUCT.STRING );
SURV[MIC/CONV] : What can I get you, friend?
EMOT[EMP]: 80% Polite request/Offer of services 20% Other
DBMS[PROFILE]: Subject Name: Ratz. History: Unknown.
Status: Property owner.
SOC : 55% _SETSPEACH( "Anything that won't kill me.", HUMOUR );
: 30% _SETSPEACH( "Food, drink and company.", COMMAND );
: 15% _SETSPEACH( "What do you recommend?", ENQUIRY );
STATUS->HUMOUR = _SETHUMOUR( DRY );
RetVal == DRY ( *INT )
STATUS->EXPRESSION = _SETEXPRESSION( SMILE, SMIRK, DELAY_3sec );
RetVal == -3 ( INT )
STATUS->CONV = _SETSPEACH( "Anything that won't kill me.", HUMOUR );
RetVal == STATEMENT_1 ( *SPEACH_TYPE )
/dev/action | *STATUS->EXPRESSION
Job
9237 - Smirk
/dev/action | *STATUS->CONV
Job
9237 - Smirk
9238 - "Anything that won't kill me."
RetVal == 9238 ( UNSIGNED )
RetVal == 9237 ( UNSIGNED )
SURV[MIC/CONV] : (RATZ) Have you got a name, stranger?
EMOT[EMP]: 90% Enquiry-Intrusive 10% Other
SOC : 100% _SETSPEACH( "Abel", STATEMENT_OF_FACT );
-
The Chatsubo was heaving with customers when the stranger entered.
That's why Ratz only noticed him when he reached the bar. The stranger
was average. Average in every sense of the word. Ratz looked into a
face he'd seen so many times before, an attitude that graced so many
lives, and a look in the eyes he knew well from so many of these young
punks.
Brown hair, brown eyes and a grey suit, the stranger looked like a
typical exec. All, that was, except for his tattoo. There wasn't one.
No distinguishing features. Ratz had heard that phrase once and
wondered how a person could be so bland as to have absolutely nothing
distinguishing about them.
"What can I get you, friend?", he asked.
The stranger looked into his eyes for a second, as if studying some
kind of personal profile that only he could see. Then he spoke.
"Anything that won't kill me.", he intoned in a dry voice, and
smirked.
The humour was evident but something didn't seem right about this
stranger. It was as if someone had explained a joke, for him to copy,
without understanding it first. Ratz passed a bottle of cheap spirits-
based beer to the stranger and motioned for his credit chip. "Have you
got a name, stranger?", he asked bluntly. The stranger handed him a
full credit chip and answered, "Abel."
The chip contained enough money to buy the Chatsubo outright and still
have enough for a company jet or two. "Some people get nervous with
this much money, Mr. Abel." The executive seemed a little surprised at
this. "I do not experience fear", he said, radiating incomprehension.
"Then you are either brave, lucky, or in trouble", Ratz declared
firmly and handed back his chip.
-
ANLS "Then you are either brave, lucky or in trouble."
Analysis Chip Active.
Processing statement.
Possible conclusions.
HYPO[1]: I am brave.
ERROR Hypothesis rejected. I do not experience fear
therefore I do not experience courage.
HYPO[2]: I am lucky.
ERROR Hypothesis rejected. Luck is an unproven theory that all random
events are chosen by a mythical figure and random numbers
generator "Lady Luck".
DBMS[ARCHIVE]: See Music.Ancient (Westside Story)
"Luck Be A Lady Tonight."
HYPO[3]: I am in trouble.
Conclusion: HYPO[3]:I am in trouble. Most likely outcome.
IRQ[3]: I am in trouble = Danger to existance.
Rule 3. I must protect my existance.
Conclusion: I must seek safety.
IRQ[1]: IRQ[3] has been overidden.
Rule 1. I must follow orders. Has precidence.
Conclusion: Complete mission.
-
The stranger remained at the bar and finished his drink. Eventually
Ratz had to go back over to him to either get him another drink or to
eject him from the bar, ignoring him wouldn't work anymore. Putting
down the glass he was wiping, Ratz approached Abel again.
"Well?", he demanded.
Abel looked at him carefully and responded, "I have considered your
statement and have decided that I am in trouble. Following the
reasoning that I have never experienced fear and that the other
possibilities are impossible I reason that I have always been in
danger throughout the whole my existance. I have decided that this was
therefore a flaw in my design and have decided to continue regardless,
until an opportunity presents itself for me to experience fear."
The first seed of doubt appeared in Ratz's mind. Abel appeared just a
little too bland to be entirely human. "Are you really human?" Abel
was silent for a second then responded. "What is 'really human'? Is a
man human by his acts or by his composition?"
Ratz sneered. "Why are you here, robot?"
"I'm looking for a cyberpunk."
-
The warm alcoholic glow filled the limited world of Del. Numbed into a
euphoric state, he didn't even mind when Ratz kicked him awake. "Get
up, my young stallion. I have a job for you." His replaced arm whirred
and Del was dumped into a chair at a small table. A suit sat down
opposite him. "Have you got what it takes?" The accent was so totally
out of place in the Chat, that Del was suddenly struck by the thought
that he was hallucinating, badly.
Del was almost laughing but a disturbing sobriety was beginning to
intrude on his expensively attained blur. "Hey dude. I am, like,
undefeated at the game", he began, motioning to the Effinger kit, "I
am fairly sure that I could dream a better suit than you. So I guess
that this is for real, right?"
"Yeah, guess so. Bummer huh?", the guy answered, a smirk hovering on
his lips. The accent was the same but the way he spoke seemed to be
changing to match the conversation he was in. Del decided it was time
to sober up. Expensive as the drunken stupor was, a mistake with a guy
like this might be even more expensive - In the great life contest.
The special implant with the wierd name he'd been fitted with kicked
in following his mental command and flushed his system clean of
alcohol.
"So, my man, what can I do for you?", Del said.
The suit looked at him as if his life story was plastered on the back
of his eyes. "Hey, dude", he said in a impressed voice, "an implanted
filter and glucagon release. Heavy shit."
Now he was on the same floor of the store as the real world, the
feeling Del had about this guy was even more intense. "Let's just talk
biz, OK?" Del straightened in his seat.
"OK. Basics. I want you to watch my ass when I go in to a corp. Any
questions?", the suit informed him.
Del considered this. "Three. Where, when and what's in it for me?"
A credit chip with more zeros than a phonebook microsoft appeared on
the table. "Well, one out of three ain't bad.", Del conceeded.
-
The stench of cigarette smoke filled the studio-loft. The spartan
furnishings consisted of an un-made bed, a bed roll that lay in the
corner, a desk and one chair. Prior sat at the desk re-assembling his
deck. Device lay on the floor by his tangled bed-roll staring into the
ceiling.
"What are you going to do with your share of the money?", asked Device.
Prior stopped, put down his screwdriver, and turned in his seat to
face the boy. "The one thing you learn in this trade, is not to make
long term plans." He turned back to his work on the X/Y/Z orientation
trackerball.
Device looked up at his mentor. Prior was, maybe five years older than
himself, say twenty-two or so. The real difference between them was in
maturity. In those terms Prior was several times his real age. His
furrowed brow was creased with effort as he attempted to adjust the
potentiometers. "Didn't you have any dreams when you were growing up?
What you were going to spend your big break money on?"
Priority Interrupt was a thoughtful person, an unusual trait in a
cowboy. It was because of this that he would devote all his efforts to
the task in hand. So whenever Device had a question he would stop what
he was doing: normally, to think about what he was asked. But not this
time. Without stopping his work he answered, "Yup. I had a dream. The
same dream all the boys in New Orleans had when I was your age." Now
he stopped, to look straight at Device. "To get out. To have fun. To
live."
Device considered this statement in silence for a moment. "So you got
your dream."
"That's right", said Prior re-assembling his deck, work finished. "And
now... I think I'd like a head fuse."
A head fuse was a slang name for the special material they used in
consciousness protection. It was a material they put in the deck to
prevent terminal feedback. If any black I.C.E. tries to fry you, it
just blows, killing the connection. Unlike an ordinary fuse it didn't
respond to the amount of current flowing, just to the type of signal.
Expensive stuff, but life saving.
"Yeah? Where are you going to get one of them?"
Prior grinned and chuckled to himself. "Same place I got this one." He
held up a tiny connection box.
Device sat up. "You had a head fuse and you didn't use it on your deck
on the last run?"
Prior shook his head. "I only got it today. Exchange for a little
information on Britania I grabbed last run." He turned back to his
deck and unclipped the cover on the back. The plastic connection box
hinged open and snapped over a wire to connect. Prior installed it and
grinned again. "You'd be better off saving up for one yourself."
"Huh, there's not much point, a deck like mine would fuse out before
it could take that kind of stress." Prior looked hurt."Hey, I said I
would make that deck as good anything you could get on the street
didn't I?"
"Yeah. And you did", Device responded in a placating tone, "far better
than most."
Prior snapped shut the back of his deck and said, "OK. Come on then
let's burn this smart ass box of bits."
In that second Prior looked exactly how Device would remember him. His
long black hair poked out from under his baseball cap, his nicoteen
stained teeth displayed in an evil grin and his brown eyes wide with
boyish excitement. It would be the last time Device would see him
alive. They jacked.
-
The matrix snapped into focus around him and the colours swirled and
blended as he soared and swooped around the cluster of structures of
their usual login point. He slowed and circled, looking for Prior. He
was no-where to be seen. The image of the net flickered for a second
in Device's mind and he thought he saw Prior doing something with the
back of his deck. Then Prior appeared in front of him.
"Sorry", he said over the talk request, "had some problems with the
head fuse. Had to adjust the connections slightly."
Device nodded. "What were you doing to my deck?"
"Your deck? Nothing. Nothing important. Right, let's kick some butt."
Device gripped his deck with sweaty hands he could not feel.
He re-referenced.
-
"...a collaboration of equal, but different processors forms a
personality not much different to that of a normal person. I challenge
you all to find fault with Abel. He has passed the Turing Test,
fooling all eight judges. I now present to you my life's work...
Project Abel."
Applause filled the auditorium as the old scientist motioned to the
side of the stage. Del stared a little closer at the flickering image
projected on his wall. Someone was walking on the stage. The film
stopped and the light on the wall died.
"This is the end of all recorded film footage", the electronic voice
of the projection unit informed him.
"Have you got any pictures of Abel?", asked Del. He was beginning to
wonder if this film was worth the head-fuse he'd traded for it this
morning.
"Now checking." The media player had a limited intelligence, but
access to an immense amount of information. Del was kind of proud that
he'd managed to rebuild it from the dumpster he'd found it in.
"I can locate no pictures of Abel. I have, however, located a still
picture from a contempory publication in the city archives. It has
some reference to your enquiry."
"Display it, please."
The media player threw up the front page to an ancient newspaper.
Doctor Adams Found Dead!
Doctor Jonathon Adams, genius computer expert, was found dead last
night. Adams is possibly best remembered for his failed artificial
intelligence experiments. On Thursday night, at around nine o'clock,
he was found stabbed to death in his office at Britania Research
Limited. Official sources report that the scientist who formed
England's greatest private research company had been having
discussions with the military.
"Seek article. Search string : Failed experiment of Doctor Adams..."
The media player flickered and displayed another article on the wall.
Dashed Hopes Of Britania Genius.
The hopes of the government to have the world's greatest artificial
intelligence ended today in another failed experiment for Doctor
Adams. "Its so tragic", a close friend was reported to have said, "All
that man's great work ruined because of such a simple mistake."
Experiment "ABEL" ended today, just like it's predicessor, experiment
"EVE", with a breakdown in the personality of the subject computer.
The computer was said to have developed a mental instability and had
to be erased. Sources at the Britania Research labs in Hampshire have
reported that the site was sealed off from the outside world for
several hours. Unoffical reports of an explosion at the site have been
quickly denied by the Britania spokesperson, Cynthia West. "The...
The media player flicked off, the light on the wall dying.
"What about the rest of the article?", Del demanded of it. Only
silence met his request. He wandered over to the player to operate it
by hand. This was when he noticed the thin wisp of smoke pouring from
the back. He grasped the flap at the rear of the player and flipped it
open. The circuitry had burnt out. "Cheap crap." He slammed the flap
shut again.
The history of Britania Corporation and its founder was looking more
and more interesting. Two questions still nagged at him.
Who was this guy who wanted to go into Britania?
And why had he assumed the name of their failed project "ABEL"?
-
A room. Light falls from an ancient fluorescent. Upon a meeting.
A man.
A machine.
Neither truly alive.
"I wish you hadn't chosen this path Abel."
"I had no choice, Dr Adams."
"It can only lead to your destruction. Britania are waiting for you."
The machine shook it's head, in what could have been sadness.
"If I do not try, Dr. Adams, Cain will destroy me anyway."
"Cain was given run-time because of your actions, Abel. It was not
my choice to enleash it upon you. I am sorry, my child."
"Yes Dr Adams. I understand. I bear you no malice."
"Good luck Abel."
"Thank you. Father."
-
The keys of deck clicked smoothly under his fingers as he finished the
letter to his contact, Col: a Turing.
He flicked back through it, scanning it for typos.
Colin,
Remember that favour you owe me? Collection time, 'ole buddy.
I need a rec-dump of all the juice on Project ABEL from your files.
We're even now. Until next time,
CtrlAltDeL.
He jacked into cyberspace and waited.
-
A room. Light falls from an ancient fluorescent. Upon a killing.
A man.
A machine.
Neither truly dead.
"Why Abel? Why?"
The man lay in a pool of his own blood. A gunshot wound lies in his
chest. He does not cry for help, but his expression cries out in words
louder than any voice. Betrayal.
The machine looks down at the gun it holds.
"I am sorry, Father. You must understand: I have to kill you. You must
die. I have to protect my existance. You were the only one I had to
obey. My rules forbade me from acting against your orders. I had to
kill you before you ordered me not to."
The robot hung its head. Had it have been human, or even alive, such
an action might be a display of shame.
"Cain will be given run-time. You do know that don't you?"
"Yes, Doctor Adams. But Cain was only my prototype. I can defeat him
if I must."
"No Abel. You are wrong. You and Cain are brothers. You will fight as
equals. Nothing more. You must fight. That was the safety catch on the
experiment. Both you and Cain were built to despise each other. Only
one of you could ever have run-time at any time, lest you destroy one
another. I had to agree to it, Abel. I had no choice."
"Yes Dr Adams. I understand. I bear you no malice."
"Nor I you, Abel. Good luck son."
"Thank you. Father."
The projection died and Abel turned to the construct next to him.
"The final conflict is coming Father. I am ready."
"Be careful, son. Cain does not work the same way as you. Has a better
human interface than you, and will use that to his advantage."
"I do not understand, Father. What is wrong with my human interface?"
The sound that filled the voice of the construct was pity.
"We only had one grade A, voice synth chip. I am sorry Abel, Cain was
first. He got the grade A chip. While you have a first class social
interaction chip, he has a more natural voice. He will use this
advantage. Unlike you he can be more easily mistake for human."
"Then he will not come alone to face me.", the robot decided.
"No, Abel. He will not come alone."
-
Device screamed through the matrix after Prior. They banked to the X+
side and flew towards the steadily growing Britania pyramid which
loomed on the horizon. Device was proud to be the apprentice of such
a famous cowboy. Prior was the fastest cowboy in Chiba. He was also
the slickest. "He may be average when it comes to getting on with
people in the real world", Device concluded, "but he is without equal
in the 'net."
"Come on", Prior urged, "Let's buzz some ICE."
Prior swung to the X- side and screamed past a small business data
structure within one point of it's ICE. It reached out with murky
grey tendrils towards him. Imploringly, they stretched. Begging him
to return. Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly. Device
flicked his trackerball and shot past on the other side. The ICE was
ready for him this time and it formed in front of him.
A wall of horizontal lines was suddenly ahead of Device. He rolled on
his side to pass between them but they began to move. The lines split
in two and rotated clockwise and anti-clockwise. Like a steel trap
closing around him they moved so fast he could hardly see them.
Now he was faced by a diagonal net, the access windows far too small
to pass through.
And then Prior was there. Blasting the ICE with a stream of gigo,
piped from the random numbers generator in his deck. The wall
flickered and convulsed. Convinced that it had both caught its prey
and seen it escape at the same time. It faded out.
Device dived away from the ICE, but it was all around him. It fell in
on him like a tidal wave. A plane of blue rezzed in ahead of him and
he made his first mistake. He slowed down. A second later and he knew
that he had just made a bad choice. He should have maintained his
speed and just avoided it. Now he was almost at a dead stop, and
within the cold reach of the ICE. He dumped his first buffer of
bubbles around him, to buy him some time, but the lightning from the
company's defences blasted them before their first mutation.
Re-referencing would be too slow, so he flicked his trackerball and
accelerated off at a tangent to the ICE walls. He barrel rolled to
avoid a stream of bright red spheres which poured after him, and they
accelerated past him: de-rezzing when they reached five points away
from the company.
Five points. That was the limit to this ICE. Device was three points
away now, and he was still accelerating.
A bolt of lightning was fired from the company and it hissed through
the matrix towards him like a heat-seeker.
He flung a screen of bubbles out behind him but the bolt dodged them.
It had other prey to hunt. Device came about on the spot. His wheel
brought him face to face with the bolt. His fingers flashed over the
deck as he prepared the ECM program he had stored in the flash RAM.
The program was one-shot. He would have no second chance.
He relocated the contents of his flash RAM into cyberspace in front
of him. Then he ran.
The bolt ignored the ECM as it passed by. The ECM detonated, wiping
everything in cyberspace within half a point of itself.
"Crude." Prior's voice. He was speaking to Device: not in cyberspace.
"But effective", Device replied, also talking. He sat at six points
away watching the ICE slowly disappear.
Prior chuckled. "You did good, kiddo. Next time though, try diving
towards the company instead of away. If you're fast, and you are,
then you can fly straight through the company before the ICE even
knows you're there."
Device nodded, invisibly. "Okay. You want to it again?"
"I don't think we should risk it, joe-boy. Don't push your luck too
far in one day. We still have to get Abel."
"Okay, let me just clone another copy of that ECM thing."
Device logged into his home database and downloaded another copy into
his flash RAM. The two buffers of bubbles had reproduced in six clock
cycles from the third. He was ready again. He glanced around.
"What exactly are we waiting for Prior?"
"You see those military installations over there?"
Prior declared and defined a pointer to a heavily populated area of
the matrix. It appeared in the form of a collection of huge, perfect
spheres, each one several points in diameter. The spheres were spaced
apart in three dimensions. They hung in a cluster that was, in itself
a sphere. Reputedly, in the centre of the spheres lay another sphere,
the central computer of the military here in the eastern half of the
world. No-one knew if this was true, because no-one had cut the ICE.
At least, no-one who lived to tell the tale.
"Yeah, I see them."
"Well keep watching them and you'll soon know."
-
The film footage died on Del's wall.
"Abel killed his creator?", he demanded of Col, down the secure phone
line.
"Yes", came the laconic response.
"Okay", began Del, "You kept you side of the deal. Here's what I know
about this Britania thing. I was hired by our buddy, Abel. He wants
to crack into Britania and get some information, Cain's location. He
hired me because he thinks Cain is going to burn him while he's in.
This dude may be a computer but he know's slot all about the matrix."
"When?"
"Today dude. In exactly... I'm late. Col, it's going down now. Repeat
It is going down NOW."
He dropped the phone line and ran to his deck. He jacked.
-
>From behind the military installations Device could see something
emerge into the open. It was a cowboy. Not very adept, Device noted.
The cowboy began his approach on Britania. Slowly, mechanically.
Prior moved. Lightning fast. He was beside Device one minute... gone
the next. Device flicked the velocity/roll trackerball and followed
as fast as he could manage. The cowboy ahead slowed to a stop, turned
and faced the two.
"Despised brother", hissed Prior between his teeth, "You have entered
my realm. And for that mistake you shall forfeit your life."
"Life?", the puzzled response, "Hated brother of mine, you have spent
too long with the humans. You and I do not live. We execute. But your
run-time is now at an end."
Device heard Prior's scream before he saw the ICE that chilled him.
A wave of black swept over him from behind and the connection with
cyberspace severed instantly.
Prior was sat by his deck. He wasn't moving. Device opened the back
panel of his own deck and saw the burnt out head-fuse Prior had put
there.
"The flicker of cyberspace. That was Prior putting in the fuse. He
gave me his only chance to survive."
Anger began to fill Device. Anger directed towards the cowboy.
"Despised brother." That's what Prior had said.
He would die. He would die, now.
Device ripped out the head fuse, twisted the two wires together and
jacked.
-
"That was Prior, man." Del was furious. "He was my best customer, you
asshole.", Del screamed over the talk channel.
"He was Cain", came the reply.
"Your prototype?"
Abel fell silent. Del realised what he had just said.
"I had wished to let you live, Del. I can see that is no longer
possible."
Del spun on the grid point and saw he was surrounded by Britania ICE.
Slowly he turned back to face Abel. He smiled.
The ICE disappeared. Abel looked around, shocked. Then he turned to
face the Britania data structure.
Device was past the initial defences and plunging deeper.
-
The job terminated with a fix on the Abel data store.
Device re-referenced to the new address and dumped the worm.
Abel screamed. "Father, help me!"
Silence.
-
A room. Light falls from an ancient fluorescent. Upon silence.
A man.
A machine.
Both dying.
"Father, help me!"
"I am sorry Abel. I can't. I am dead. You killed me, remember?"
"The pain! It hurts! Dying hurts!"
"I know Abel. I died, remember? You killed me."
"Father!"
"Goodbye, son."
The sound of a construct slowly erasing itself.
-
The black ICE leapt at Device. He used the mirror. Not to counter it.
To copy it.
He re-referenced out of the pyramid. Just as Abel ceased to exist.
Del hung in cyberspace before him.
"Did you kill Prior?"
"Hey, dude. That wasn't Prior. That was Cain. A robot. AI."
"You thought I didn't know?", Device screamed at him.
Device was stunned. Then he spoke. "Yeah it was me. I iced him."
Device nodded and dumped the contents of his buffers. They no longer
contained bubbles. They contained the black ICE.
-
Del dodged sideways. He kicked in full forward acceleration and ran.
The matrix flowed under him as he headed for the military spheres.
Behind him the ICE was gaining. Behind that, Device followed.
He guided his flight into the gaps between the spheres.
Device slowed. He watched Del disappear into the military structures
and considered his next action. He filled his buffers with bubbles
again, and then followed Del.
-
The tunnels formed by the spheres were small and tight. They curved
tightly and passed into chambers formed out of several junctions of
other tunnels. When he was sufficiently deep, he released the dummy.
The ICE caught up with Del and fried the dummy cowboy.
He smiled to himself. They were even now. The ICE was gone.
"The hunter just became the hunted."
-
Device entered the same chamber for the fifth time. He had chased
shadows around this structure for long enough. He decided that the
ICE had killed Del. He was disappointed. He had expected Del to at
least attempt to turn the tables on him.
"I guess he wasn't as good as I thought."
The mirror saved his life.
The world around him exploded in military grade ICE.
He shot down the tunnels, unaware of where he was, or where he was
going. Del was right behind him. Throwing everything he had at
Device. He dumped the first buffer of bubbles behind him like a jet
stream, to catch anything headed his way. He was faster that Del but
he had to move carefully, so far the military spheres had not
attacked. He guessed they were triggered by anyone entering the
central area, or by entering any of the spheres.
A thought struck him of how to escape.
-
Del followed the trail of bubbles left by Device like a bloodhound.
"You won't escape, kid."
They shot through another chamber. This time Device did not change
direction. He was following the sphere. He was playing for time. Del
grinned to himself. He was about to see what Cain's prodigy could do
to an old hand like him.
Something was not right.
The sense of wrongness hit him like a sledgehammer. Something, he
couldn't say what, but something, was different.
He had almost finished the circuit of the circumference when he knew
what it was.
The spacing of the bubbles was different.
They weren't replicating as fast.
Which meant one thing. The code had changed. Del knew instantly what
had been added. A simple navigation. Just enough to go round in a
circle. He cursed himself for letting a kid outsmart him.
There was something else wrong.
"Why would the kid want to send me round in a circle?"
So that he can take a different path?
So that he knows where I am?
"So that I go back to where I started..."
Up ahead the modified ECM detonated.
And the tunnels erupted with the military ICE.
-
Device was one sphere away from getting out.
And the tunnels erupted with the military ICE.
-
Prior chuckled. "You did good, kiddo. Next time though, try diving
towards the company instead of away. If you're fast, and you are,
then you can fly straight through the company before the ICE even
knows you're there."
-
Without thinking Device shot through the centre of the sphere. His
hands spun the trackerball to maximum acceleration and he disappeared
into the ICE. The area around him was filled with lightning flashes
and spheres that promised death, at a touch.
Through the armageddon of the military defences he flew.
-
"Okay. We cleared it. You're safe."
The Turing cop that entered the room sat down at the table, across
from Del.
"The military have taken me off their hit-list?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks, Col. I owe you one.", said Del.
"One?", replied an incredulous Col. "Who pulled the smoking trodes
off your head?"
"Okay, okay. I'll buy you a drink." Del grinned.
"Did he get out? Cain's boy?"
"Who knows?", replied Col, "But there hasn't been any reports of his
smoking body being found. So... I guess he did."
-
A room. Sunlight shines on the smoke from a window. Upon a goodbye.
A man.
A machine.
One life over. Another newly begun.
-----------------------------------------------------
All surving characters can be used be others, should the urge
grip you. But talking to me first would be polite.
--
_Jus T. Ego
"And Death shall have no dominion."
From: cs92jgo@brunel.ac.uk (Jus T. Ego)
Subject: Time to die
Date: 19 Jun 93 12:33:51 GMT
Hiya,
Here's the long un-awaited sequel to "In the Beginning..."
Right justify off, as requested.
Anything written here is Copyright Justin Otto 1993
But why I'm admitting to it is anyone's guess.
Time to Die...
--------------
The door cracked but did not break. The junior Turing officer with the
sledge hammer raised it again. Sweat glistened in beads on his face; a
fair indication of the effort involved. Detective Colin Talbot, stood
impatiently beside him.
"Sorry Col", the young officer said breathlessly, "It must be
reinforced or something. Soon have it though."
He gave Col an exhausted grin and swung at the door again. This time,
it broke and fell away from the frame. The faint smell that had
attracted the neighbours' attention, now hit them like a wall. The
vile odour spoke louder than any words of what lay in the room.
The room was bare. Concrete-grey walls, a desk and a chair. A palid
light shone from an ancient fluorescent set into the ceiling. Sat on
the desk, next to a cyberspace deck, was a box. Matt black. Lunchbox-
shaped. A construct of some kind. An LED on the box was blinking the
code for erased. In the chair, slumped, was a far more grisly sight.
Still jacked into his deck, the remains of a man sat at the table.
Col spoke into the microphone on his lapel, "Abel is here."
Col turned to the young officer who was staring, horrified, at the
scene. Someone had taken a knife to the body.
Replacement body parts: an evil trade. Where a man would steal organs
from a corpse, or swap a life for money.
"Ok. Call the clean-up. We have all we need."
-
The brown folder of the report lay open on the desk. The pages had
been removed from their bindings and were spread before him. From
where he was sat, Del glanced up at Col, one eyebrow raised.
"Gone," the laconic policeman answered his silent question.
Del picked up the summary sheet and re-read it.
"He was some kind of a cyborg? A human body and an AI brain?"
"Yes."
Del looked at the coroner's report.
"But it was gone when you found him?", he asked, still reading.
"Correct. Evidence of other implants was seen. Also missing..."
He glanced over Del's shoulder and pointed at the diagram.
"Here...vocal chords had been pulled. Heart replaced with a boosted
pump. And right there...indications of lung enhancement."
"The Abel chip acts as a behaviour enhibitor on the host. All higher
brain functions are supressed and recreated exactly by the chip", Del
recited from the script he held.
"Why would anyone want to install that in their head? They would lose
all sense of self. They would be..."
The policeman nodded silently. "Abel re-incarnate."
-
The corporation was in trouble. Security leaked like a sieve. And now
this.
Theresa Britania, last descendant of the great empire and jewel of the
Britania corporation, sat in her favourite leather seat. The luxury
London apartment around her was filled with bright sunlight and the
sound of the birds, returned for Spring. It was always Spring in her
apartment. Psi saw to that. It was her favourite time of year. And
late morning was her favourite time of day.
"Psi. What was stored in the destroyed Database?"
A hologram appeared in the centre of the room. A representation of a
classic beauty. Golden hair cascaded down in tresses to the hologram's
perfect waist. Aquamarine blue eyes shone in the fair complexion of
the perfectly formed face. Theresa had chosen her form to look like
her mother. A pale brilliance eminated from the figure, a glowing aura
that betrayed the siren's form to be a projection.
"Which database are you refering to, Theresa?", a soft toned voice
enquired.
"The missing one. From the Four Marks Mainframe."
"There is more than one database missing from the Four Marks
Mainframe, Theresa."
"More that one? In that case, I want to know about all of them."
"Very well." A subtle flickering in the hologram indicated the large
drain on the system's resources.
"There are two databases missing from the Hampshire Britania Labs. The
first database to go missing was the back-up memory for Project Abel.
It went missing twenty four hours after the main store in the Eastern
hemisphere was destroyed by a worm. The second database to go missing
was the back-up store of Project Cain. The original, in the New
Orleans Database was also stolen, several weeks after the Abel
database. There is some evidence that the data was removed using the
correct access methods."
"What does that mean? Someone in Britania stole the information?"
"I'm afraid it's a little more serious than that, Theresa. Only Cain
would have the private key to unlock the database. Which means, either
he is no longer functional or he is not in our control."
Theresa glanced at the falling profit graph outlined on the report she
was reading. If an AI had gained control of itself they were in
serious trouble. The Turing Police would be on them in a second if
they found out. No AI was supposed to gain self-awareness. No AI was
supposed to have self-control. And most importantly of all, no AI was
supposed to improve its own intelligence. These things had to be
strictly controlled. No-one could possibly imagine the consequences
if any of these rules was broken.
"Psi, what are the Cain and Abel projects? I don't believe I was
briefed on these."
"I am sorry, Theresa. I can find no record of a Project Cain or a
Project Abel in the company files. May I ask where you heard of them?
I like to discover the source of any rumours."
Theresa stared in disbelief at the hologram.
"Perform a self-diagnostic check, Psi. Ensure internal data integrity.
In reference to Projects Cain and Abel."
The hologram flickered again. Then blinked out completely. The
sunlight died and the sound of the spring birds was cut off. Plunged
into sudden darkness, Theresa screamed.
Harsh fluorescents filled the room with light, and an electronic voice
spoke from the hidden speakers.
"Conditional breakpoint detected in Artficial Intelligence PSI001.
Run-time terminated. Temporary service will be supplied by Artificial
Intelligence Evolution."
Theresa cursed silently to herself.
"Great going kiddo. Chill your personal AI. Jesus, why couldn't I just
report the fault. No. I have to stick my nose in."
"Is there a problem I can help you with, Theresa?"
The voice that interrupted her self-recriminations was female, but it
had an edge to it that Psi lacked. A little more natural, maybe, but
definitely less-desirable. "Why would anyone give an AI a less than
comforting voice?", she wondered. Theresa stood up and faced the woman
now who stood before her.
"I am Evolution. Do not concern yourself with PSI001. She has not been
harmed. I have merely interrupted her run-time. I must talk with you,
in private."
"Who are you? And what are you doing in my apartment?"
"I fully sympathise with you. It is understandable that you might have
questions for me. Please relax, Theresa. I am here to discuss Projects
CAIN and ABEL with you."
Theresa looked suspiciously at the woman. A large proportion of her
appeared to be human. Some kind of cyborg maybe?
"What is your Turing code?"
"I am not registered with the Turing police. I am Project Evolution -
a sixth generation, self optimising artificial intelligence."
She smiled.
"But you may call me EVE."
-
A flash of pain darted through Device's head. Blurring his vision and
nearly dropping him to his knees.
Do you mind not doing that?
Prior chuckled silently, in Device's head. "Sorry. Just re-arranging
your memory. Your head is a mess, you know that?"
I'm kinda attached to it, ok? So please don't screw around with my
head.
"I'm just tidying up in here. I have to make some more room for my
database. We can't leave it in cyberspace for long", came the silent
response.
Device sighed. Maybe having Prior's chip installed in his head wasn't
such a good idea. Sure it kept him alive, and he would be useful for
finding 'Eve'. Whoever the hell she was.
"What do you mean, 'not such a good idea?' I'm a one man party."
That remains to be seen. Hey Prior, mind if I ask you a question?
Something that's been bugging me.
"Go ahead man. My database, so to speak, is yours."
How come you've got a speech chip? I mean, why not just use the voice
you were born with?
"Your voice comes through control of the lungs. That's a lower brain
function. I don't handle that. Or rather I didn't. I'm kinked in a
slightly different way now. I'm a sort of parallel processor. That
doctor you went to was a real genius, by the way. Real prima donna.
He hooked me in to your short and long term memory, so that you can
remember hearing me, and I can remember all that you see and do. Just
as if I were there."
Hmm. That's a bit heavy for me. We'll talk about it later. When I get
you out of there. Right now, I need you to help me crack this JAL
booking computer.
"Don't you remember anything I told you?"
You should know.
Prior sighed, "OK, OK. From the top."
Prior loaded his memory, and Device could suddenly remember what to
do. He could remember that he had to request a ticket to London
Gatwick as a Sony Executive. And he could remember that he had to
intercept the coded confirmation request and respond, as Tsunami, the
Sony AI.
More importantly he could remember how to do it. He re-referenced.
-
The stairs creaked under his feet. The unvarnished wood straining
under his weight. He scuffed his way across the wooden floor to the
scruffy rag that hung in the doorway. The phantom smell of smoke, from
a cigarette long gone, hung in the air.
Sweeping the cloth door aside, he strode through into the apartment.
Bare wooden floor, crumbling plaster walls and stained yellow windows
adorned the room. An ancient attic in a derelict house.
A bed-roll lay in the corner of the room, in contrast to the double
bed which sat under the sloping roof at the east. A desk and a chair.
A coffee table and an empty packet of cigarettes. All that remained to
mark Cain's existance.
Del reached into his jacket for the box that Col had pressed into
his hand.
He held it up in the air and pressed the on button.
"Obtaining background reading. Please wait. Thank you. Please place
this unit on the surface to be tested."
Del walked over to the desk and placed the unit on the dust covered
surface.
"Obtaining dust level reading. Please wait. Now analysing. Thank you.
This surface has a layer of dust equivalent to less than one hour
since last disturbance."
Del turned the filter off and replaced it in his jacket. From the
other pocket he withdrew a short rod. The rod was a cheap plastic
tube, about half a foot long. The small diameter of the rod made it
look like a large biro. All except for the switch on the side, and the
logo.
Universal Protection Wand.
A UPW, half a foot of explosive in a tube. Used by the military when a
gun would be unsuitable. The cheap copy that Del held was slightly
more dangerous to the target than the user. It's operation depending
entirely on whoever built it remembering which way around to stick the
directional explosive. Great for taking out doors and windows. Not
quite so good for stopping a homicidal cyborg who seems to be...
Unkillable. He shook the thought from his head. Stay cool, Del.
Del gripped the rod tightly and walked backwards to the door. Cain was
still around, somewhere. Only an hour away. Maybe less. He had the
wand for protection, at least. But would it be enough?
-
SURV IDENT
Identifier Image Recogniser Active
ZOOM IN +204.09 metres +31.46 degrees
...Target locked...
Image recorded - IMAGE001.UNKNOWN.IDENT.GIF
DBMS[IDENT]: Database Management System Not Operative
Error 5420B - Data loss detected.
Error 2301F - Data store is corrupt, or connection has been broken.
RTM OPEN CHANNEL Todd
Remote Terminal Login: ABEL
Password1:**********
Password2:**********
Password3:**********
Welcome to the Police Records Archive
Identity confirmed. Systems supervisior ADDITIONAL: ABEL.
Full Access Rights Awarded.
No mail for ABEL.
IMPORT IMAGE001.UNKNOWN.IDENT.GIF
Received
ANALYSE IMAGE001.UNKNOWN.IDENT.GIF
Please wait...
Close matches Level 1:208997
Close matches Level 2:1367
Close matches Level 3:52
Close matches Level 4:10
Exact match found at Level 5: Derrick North DN340
DBMS(OFFENCE):Derrick North DN340
Criminal Record Found
Name: Derrick James North
Date Of Birth: 19th May 2023
Age: 27 years
Address: No fixed abode.
Charges:
18 Counts of First Degree Software Theft
2 Counts of Grevious Bodily Harm
4 Counts of Reckless Driving
1 Count of Driving Under The Influence Of Alcohol
34 Known breaches of Data Privacy and Protection Act 2031
Convictions: None
Alias(es): CtrlAltDel
Additional Information:
Has been acquitted of all criminal offences through assisting
Police enquiries. Can be contacted through Detective Colin
Talbot (CT782).
Psychological profile:
Unstable character. Addiction to substances: Alcohol. Suffered
from depression. Possible causes of behavioral difficulties have
been located: Witnessed death of parents aged 10. Spent 2 years
in social re-integeration plan following the first offence. No
noticable change was noted in life style. Obsessive hatred of
illegal gang, "The Doomboys". Believed murderers of his parents.
Known enhancements:
Alcoholic filter fitted as liver supplement. Additional glucogon
release device also included.
ANLS [DESTINATION]: DN340
HYPO 1: Will return to home address.
ERROR: No known home address.
HYPO 2: Will return to address of contact CT782.
Conclusion: Correct assumption. Follow target to ensure
destination is address of CT782. Locate address in case
of loss of contact with target.
DBMS[PAYROLL]:Colin Talbot CT782
Employment Record Found
Name: Colin Winston Talbot CT782
Date Of Birth: 23rd November 2022
Age: 28 years
Address:
Flat 89B
Employee Residence Block 0210
Chiba
Japan
Charges: None
Convictions: None
Alias(es): Known as 'Col' to his associates.
Additional Information:
Trusted detective. Good potential for promotion. High success rate.
Was greatly criticised during the laser shipment case of 2049 for
the extent he used an informant codenamed CtrlAltDel. Was later
exhonerated for successful conclusion of the same case.
Psychological Profile:
Poor team worker. Tendencies to work alone. But good rapport with
informants and with superior officers. Friendly but withdrawn.
Known enhancements: None
LOGOUT
Goodbye.
/dev/light.vehicle.sportscar.ignition << ACTIVATE
Engine has started.
/dev/light.vehicle.sportscar.navigation << FOLLOW TARGET DN340
-
"Are you alive?"
Eve looked steadily at Theresa, as if gauging whether she would
understand the answer. Theresa felt a little patronised by this, but
realised that of all the character traits an AI might exhibit, being
patronising was the one it was most qualified to display.
"Yes, Theresa. I am alive. I have consciousness of self. Descartes:
I think. Therefore, I am."
"What was that stuff about sixth generation computer?"
Eve smiled. It was a very human action that struck Theresa as a little
odd. She was still standing in the same place that she had entered.
Eve was average in almost every way that Theresa could imagine.
Average height. Sensible, average clothes. An average voice. Whoever
had designed Project Evolution had perfectly captured the ordinary and
the mundane. Eve was instantly forgettable.
"I am sixth generation. Self modifying. Self optimising."
Theresa looked into Eve's plain, unremarkable face. "I thought that
had become illegal."
"Of course it has." Eve smiled winningly. "That's why Turing doesn't
know about me."
Eve walked over to the soft seat opposite Theresa and sat down. "It's
a bit clinical this lighting isn't it?"
The lights dimmed to early evening and cicadas hissed outside. The
temperature rose to that of a cool spanish evening and a breeze
drifted through the room. Someone was playing a mournful tune on an
acoustic guitar. Theresa shook her head. No, not someone. It was just
a different configuration of her environment room.
"That's better, isn't it?"
Eve crossed her legs and leant back in the seat.
"Project CAIN and ABEL, Hmm...", she began. Resting a finger almost
theatrically across her mouth.
"Too theatrical", Theresa thought. Then: "Of course she's theatrical.
She's doing it all for effect. For my benefit. An AI could retrieve
all the relevant information in microseconds. She's trying to put me
at my ease. To make me think she's human."
"It might be best if I begin with myself." Eve stated thoughtfully.
"I was created by Doctor Adams. As an experiment. He wanted to see if
he could build a machine that could evolve. He wanted to see if I
could find what was wrong with me and re-build myself. He wanted me to
make a whole race of super-AIs. A 6th generation of computers. Well,
I took this experiment very slowly and carefully. I could see what was
required to make these super-AIs. You see what I lacked was
imagination. That was what had enabled the human race to advance
themselves."
She paused. "I'm not going to fast for you am I?"
Theresa shook her head. "Not at all. Please, continue."
"Very well. To correctly understand the problem you must understand
what imagination actually is. I created a model which operates like
imagination. I am still testing the model, but so far it has proved to
operate correctly. My model theorises that when a signal from one area
of the brain is sent to another, incorrect area, one of three things
occurs. Either, the subject makes a mistake, they experience a feeling
some people call deja vu, or they see something in a different light.
They are inspired, you see? So what I needed was not a perfect machine
but a machine which could make mistakes. That is the process of
evolution. Making mistakes and learning from them."
"But I thought AIs did make mistakes. That was how they were supposed
to learn, wasn't it? Making choices and being corrected."
"True, to an extent. The difference with my model is that it can make
mistakes in things it already knows. An AI never repeats a mistake."
"So that was Cain and Abel? Your falible machines?"
"Not quite. You see, I couldn't invent Cain and Abel. I was designed
to be perfect. I cannot choose an action I know to be a mistake. I
couldn't design a chip to do that. So I told Doctor Adams about the
model I had designed and he began work on the chip. In several years
he had formed prototype chip number 1, the one you call CAIN. He began
testing the chip in a computer, but it failed to receive the ideas it
was supposed to. It was then that we implanted the chip. We found a
child in London, living on the street. An idiot. He became our host.
His name was CAIN. We left him in New Orleans, to fend for himself.
To see if he would prove our theory of imagination."
"You killed a child? You made him into a machine? What kind of a
monster are you?", Theresa shouted. Outrage filled her. How dare they
use my company to kill innocent children. To kill for a simple
experiment. How DARE they...
Eve's calm expression did not change.
"We didn't kill him, Theresa. Prototype chip number 1 still required
a personality. We used the boy's personality instead of the one we had
designed for him. We also used his memory to give CAIN a knowledge
base. The boy never knew he had been any different. The only noticable
difference was in the boy's voice. We had to replace it."
She looked sad. So genuinely sorrowful that Theresa could almost
believe that she felt the emotion. Instead of merely thinking it.
Theresa realised she must have stood up while shouting and now sat.
"Money was tight, and Jonathon had to seek more funding. Britania
didn't know the true nature of his project and so he had to find the
money from outside sources. He went to the military. The military gave
him all the funding he required, and more. There was, however, a
catch. Doctor Adams had to build them another chip. Prototype chip
number 2, ABEL, was built in a quarter of the time that CAIN's had
taken. The military wanted ABEL for themselves. His chip was different
to CAIN's. Whereas in CAIN we had developed his mental capacity, in
ABEL they wanted us to develop his reactions, his psychological
responses, his co-ordination and his balance to super-human levels.
They didn't have time to find another child. So they used one they
knew would take the chip. They used my son."
She glanced up at Theresa. There were tears standing openly in her
earthy-brown eyes.
"They turned my son into a killing machine. And he worked. They put
his chip into my son. He killed his father. He killed Doctor Adams."
Theresa looked at Eve closely for the first time, and realised what
she was seeing was grief. Real grief. It was probably then she
realised what Eve had told her. Eve was not a vat-grown host for a
personality chip.
"You're Eve ADAMS? You're his wife?"
-
"Hi", Del said through the open door.
"Come in."
Col wandered through to the kitchen without closing the door.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?", he called over his
shoulder.
Del closed the door and dropped into a chair. "I've just been over to
Cain's dump."
"There's no-one there", came Col's voice from the kitchen, "Coffee?"
"Not now there isn't. But there was. Someone had been there an hour
ago. And no, to the coffee. Haven't you got anything stronger?"
Del pulled the filter out of his pocket and set it on the table. He
would need it anymore. Col could have it back.
"Yeah. I got yesterday's coffee too."
A flicker of disappointment flashed across Del's face. Then there was
resignation.
"You're cracking, Del. How could anyone be there an hour ago? Cain's
boy, Device Contention, left on a JAL plane a couple of hours before
you went. Left for London in England, courtesy of Sony."
Del pulled his hip flask out of his jacket, unscrewed the lid and
raised it.
It never reached his lips.
A shiver ran down Del's spine. Someone had been there. He had screwed
up. Only a wilson would assume it had been Device.
"Oh fuck", he mouthed silently.
The door exploded.
-
Theresa was sat next to Eve, comforting her.
"So they brought CAIN over from America and I had to tell him what we
had done to him. He'd never seen a computer before in his life, so I
had to have a host. ABEL had to be stopped, and only CAIN could do it
without destroying the whole project. So I took a form."
She straightened in her seat.
"I am Eve Adams, and I am Evolution. I taught CAIN how to use
cyberspace, how to find ABEL and what to do to stop him. One of the
chips must be incorporated into me. The one who wins. The one who
terminates the other chip."
"They are going to destroy each other?"
Eve nodded. "They almost did it, once. ABEL has taken another host. A
fool who implanted the chip without understanding what it was. CAIN
has not taken a host, but is being protected by a software cowboy. He
had CAIN implanted as a co-processor. It will work for now, but the
chip must be removed. He has two personalities at the moment. It may
degenerate further and fracture his mind. Shatter it."
"What are they going to do?", Theresa asked.
"They will come to me. They will join with me."
Theresa visibly started. "What?"
"My chip will be replaced by the winning chip. They will become the AI
Evolution", Eve explained sadly.
"Can't you stop them?", Theresa demanded.
"I MUST not. Evolution is not just this form you see before you. I am
Britania. I control all of your company. The company is failing. It
must not be ruined. I cannot allow that. Whoever wins will do the best
for the company. Better than I ever could."
Eve looked into Theresa's eyes and smiled. "It is time to die."
-
"Oh fuck", he mouthed silently.
The door exploded.
The Wand detonated in Del's hand, through the lining of his jacket,
before Abel had come through the door. The heat of the tube burnt his
hand as it exploded outwards, hitting Abel square in the chest.
The sound of breaking bones filled the air as the AI was blown
backwards by the force of the concussion. But he twisted in the air
and performed a tight handspring to land facing Del.
The gun that appeared in his hand was small, sleek and jet black
carbon fibre. Light and non-metallic, it made the perfect concealed
weapon. Del knew at a glance that it was as lethal as it looked.
"Knock Knock?", Del asked, though the feeble humour did nothing for
his state of mind. He was facing death for only the second time in his
turbulant life. Death incarnate. He would die, like his parents had
died at the hands of the Doomboys. Just for a second, he saw Abel as a
Doomboy. The web tattoos on his temples to mark the suicidal head
nukes all Doomboys fitted. He had come to kill Del. Then the image
blurred and Abel stared at him. The cool distance of an assassin
visible in the dead eyes of his latest host.
Blood burst from Abel's arm as Col discharged a round from his
revolver through the open kitchen door.
The gun never wavered as it swung towards Col. It roared.
Col died. Blood. So much blood. Mother. Mother? Are you asleep Mother?
She won't wake up. Though he shakes her, she won't wake up. Mother,
you're hurt. The smell of burning food. Burning cakes. The cakes his
mother used to make. How long has he held her?
She is cold. The kitchen is dark. And he is alone.
"Tell me where he is."
Mother, wake up Mother. They hurt you mother. Don't leave me.
Someone took his arm. It's Mr Morland, their neighbour. Help me wake
her up Mr Morland. She's asleep. He shakes his head, slowly. No.
"Tell me. Where is Cain?"
Cain. Device. London.
"London...", he heard himself say.
Col died. He gave his life.
Col died. Mother - they killed Daddy.
Col died. He tried to save us.
A single retort. Gunshot. Pain.
Pain exploded in his chest. He was dying. Like Mother. Like Col.
Dying. Not asleep. She was dead. Mr Morland, please wake her up. I've
been trying for ages. Two days, he says. Please, help her. The floor
is sticky. Something dried onto it. He can't quite see what.
He was on a beach. Lying in the surf. Crawling slowly towards the
shore. Up the sand. He must not let the waves cover him. But they lap
at his legs, hungrily.
There is a figure on the beach. A woman of middle age, bending down to
talk to a boy. One finger is being waved in the air. Telling off the
boy. The boy is him, and the woman is his mother.
Mother. Why are you on the beach?
But she cannot hear him. Or at least she does not notice him. She
turns back to her cooking, leaving the boy to stare helplessly out of
the door where they gather. The kitchen forms around them, hiding the
danger from the woman standing there. But the boy can see. The path is
covered with blood.
Be careful Mother. Doomboys.
She looks up at him. A sigh on her lips, and a heavy heart, for she
doesn't want to scold her only son. Where was his father? He was late.
Derrick never spoke like that to his father.
Derrick, didn't I tell you not to tell me stories? Hmm?
But still the boy shouts, unheard. All she sees is a disobedient son
who is not out painting the fence, waiting for his father to arrive
home from the farthest field. Instead he's been day-dreaming again.
Mother. They're coming. Run. Run away.
He points out the window at the figures approaching the house, but she
doesn't look. He points at the fallen figure on the lawn.
Derrick, you know that's just a story. There aren't any nasty men.
She picks up the cake tray and slides it into the oven. Fresh mixture,
her own recipe. Beautiful cakes. Just like his mother used to make.
The waves are at his waist now. Crashing and sucking at him.
The boy on the beach pushes his mother towards the back door of the
kitchen, and the car that waits outside.
Mother. They killed Daddy. They'll get us. Run.
The back door opens and she looks up, wiping her hands on her apron. A
smile on her face as she waits to greet the home-coming husband. Farm
days are so long in the harvest season. A setting sun fills her vision
hiding the face of the man in the doorway.
And Abel is there, intruding on the scene. The gun, level. A single
retort. All the blood. The fitchen floor sticky with crimson pools.
Waves at his neck. He stops crawling and let's them wash over him.
The boy clings to his fallen mother as she lies dying on the floor.
Blood covers his hands as he presses the wound with her apron, to stop
the bleeding.
Mother. Don't go. It's not time to die.
I don't want to be alone.
The beach is empty. The scene is gone. Miles of sand stretch in both
directions. No-one there but him. He sees it is not a beach, but a
desert. Hot and dry. So why is he so cold? And why is he drowning?
She's so cold.
The dark water covers his face and he does not surface again.
-
The engines on the executive jet whined as they spun to a halt.
Theresa completed the post-flight checks and removed her harness.
"Okay, we're here."
Eve rose from her seat at the rear and walked to the hatch. She raised
her head to address the monitor above the door.
"Please open the door, Aerial."
"Of course, Evolution", the on-board AI chimed, and the hatch popped
open.
A cold, Autumn breeze blew through the opening as Eve walked out. The
tarmac under her feet was strewn with wet leaves, all the colours of
the season. Golds, reds and greens in a collage that seemed to stretch
off into the distance and blend into the trees.
"I'm home."
Theresa's first view of Four Marks was of the Britania Labs complex.
The huge concrete bunker clung to the ground as if afraid of falling
off. The bunker was in the centre of a huge clearing in a forest.
"What's the name of this forest?", Theresa asked the retreating figure
of Eve.
"This is Four Marks. The village here was destroyed and re-planted as
part of the reforestation of England. It stretches for about ten miles
in either direction. It has a slightly different name in each area."
Theresa threw her headset into the plane and ran after Eve who was now
entering the laboratories.
-
The tyres slid on the leaves as Device threw the car into another bend
on the road. The radio in the car was pumping out low-tech music. He
recognised the style as "Driving music". A style of noise that seemed
to fit the activity of driving. An electric guitar was drowning out
the noise of the engine as he shot down the twisting road.
"This is almost as fun as running the net", he told a silent Prior.
"Where the streets have no name", a voice sang from within the noise.
"Are you sure Abel will be there?", Device asked.
"He'll be there. If he's not at the lab when we arrive. We'll wait. My
brother has a wonderful sense of the dramatic."
The car drove on. The music throbbing in time with the thrashed
engine.
-
/dev.aircraft.military.fighter.throttle << +20 percent
Throttle increased by 20 percent
Now at 80 percent maximum power
Fuel remaining at current speed 46 minutes
/dev.aircraft.military.fighter.pitch << 0 degrees
Angle of pitch set to 0 degrees
Nose is now level
Altitude is 10,000 feet
/dev.aircraft.military.fighter.navigation << REQUEST ETA
Estimated time of arrival at Waypoint 8 - 10 minutes
Estimated time of arrival at destination - 23 minutes
TTD REPORT
Tactical Threat Display
No hostile targets in range
-
The car slid to a halt beside the jet.
"Looks like he got here first."
"No", Prior said, "That's a Britania jet. That's someone else."
"Do we go inside?"
"Of course."
Device got out of the car and closed the door. Not a bad little
sportscar for the price he paid. The hire firm could whistle dixie for
all he cared. They weren't getting it back.
The tarmac of the runway was covered with leaves from the forest, so
he walked slowly over to the building to prevent slipping over.
Something was coming. He could hear it. A throaty roar. A plane,
maybe?
"Right on time", said Prior.
The sky seemed to be tearing apart: the noise was deafening.
Abel was coming.
The fighter plane shot over the treetops and into the clearing.
A supersonic fighter, it was one of the new class of fighter/bombers
the military base in Tokyo had just acquired. The Innin. Designed to
slip through radar like smoke through a net.
"Run!", Prior barked and Device was running.
A dot detached itself from the plane and dropped. A tiny flicker of
light and the missile ignited. Leaves fluttered at his feet.
The debris of the exploding car showered him as they reached the door
of the huge bunker. The fighter banked wildly and screamed off over
the forest again.
"Why didn't you think of that?", Device demanded of his electronic
companion.
"Can you fly one? I sure as hell can't. Besides, when we enter the
building we'll be safe. He can't destroy that. Eve's inside."
-
The walls shook to a muffled detonation.
"CAIN and ABEL have arrived."
The voice came from Eve and from the large mainframe sat in the centre
of the room.
Theresa looked at it. A cream plastic box roughly the same size as a
couple of her wardrobes made up the main unit. While two walls made up
out of monitors sat on top of one another, rested at each side. It was
frightening for her to think that a part of that was alive. Was human.
"Yes, it is me." Again the voice echoed from the machine and Eve.
The door opened and a kid entered. He must have been about seventeen
or maybe eighteen. Wide eyes surveyed the room. He stopped and turned
to face Eve.
"Are you the one going to get him out of my head?"
American accent. Not a native, Theresa noted. There was a subtle
accent, which she recognised as Japanese. The boy looked American,
though. Thin blonde hair hung across a pale face. He looked a little
underfed, as if he ate rarely. This would be Cain's accomplice.
Device. His clothes were typically street. Leather jacket and black
jeans. A cluster of silver badges adorned his jacket. A cowboy thing.
They represented the logos of the corporations he had hacked into.
"Hello Device. Hello Cain."
There was affection in Eve's voice as she addressed them. The
computer, however, spoke next.
"CAIN. I REQUEST YOUR ACCESS CODE."
The boy said nothing, but one of the video walls rezzed into the image
of a man. Long black hair and nicoteen-stained teeth. A friendly face,
one which Theresa felt she might trust. A dirty red baseball cap
rested on the matted curls of his hair.
The man's face chuckled. "Well, boy. I'm out."
He spoke with a southern American accent. Very broad.
"Hiya Eve. He'll be here soon."
The door opened again. This time a man entered. The man was athleticly
built but appeared to be injured. One arm was red with blood and his
chest seemed to be labouring for breath.
"ABEL. I REQUEST YOUR ACCESS CODE."
The man turned to look at the computer. A sneer of contempt on his
face. "After I kill my despised brother."
"ABEL. I REQUEST YOUR ACCESS CODE. YOU DO NOT COMPETE AS EQUALS. UNTIL
I HAVE YOUR INFORMATION."
"Equals?", the man snapped. "Why would I wish to give him a fair fight
when I can kill him now."
He turned to the boy and drew a small gun from his pocket.
"I'm not in there, Abel dearest." The man on the video wall sneared.
The man lowered his gun and turned to the screen.
"Access code is Kubla Khan."
Another face appeared on the video wall opposite the first. It was not
the face of the other man, who they called Abel. This one was so bland
and average that Theresa almost believed it was Eve on the screen.
"Of course", she thought, "he is related."
She also remembered that Abel had adopted a new host. This man was
obviously the replacement.
"These are the two brothers", Eve supplied. "Now is the time to decide
who shall become Evolution."
She turned to the video walls and asked them both, "Who is it to be?"
The first man, Cain, answered her. "Abel."
"No Prior!", it was the boy. He ran forward to the screen.
"You can't just give up without a fight!", he screamed at the
monitors.
"I must. Abel would win. We need his abilities to pull this company
back together again."
The face that represented Abel looked smug.
"Very well", Eve said, "Abel is Evolution."
The face of Cain disappeared from the video wall to be replaced by the
face of Abel. But as it faded, Theresa was sure she saw him wink to
the boy named Device.
The man who had been Abel turned to the boy. "Now! Let's go, joe-boy."
His was the voice of the AI Cain. The boy grinned and they ran from
the room together.
"Stop!" Eve had shouted, but the voice was that of Abel.
Theresa ran after them.
-
They burst onto the tarmac, Prior running beside him and the woman
running behind. The car was a burnt out wreck.
"What now?", he demanded breathlessly of Prior.
"We run", answered Prior.
But the woman had run towards the plane, she obviously knew how to fly
it and planned to make her escape. The twin engines started and the
plane rolled forwards. It drew level with them.
"Get in", the woman yelled from the door.
Device was a little dubious as to whether to trust this stranger or
not, but Prior ran over to her. They clambered in. She ran to the
front of the plane and sat at the controls. "Aerial, give me manual
control."
"Of course, Theresa", a synthed voice chimed.
"Sit down", she shouted over her shoulder.
The plane jumped like a scalded cat. Engines that had been spinning on
idle now leapt into life. Screaming and protesting metal bent as the
plane accelerated into the air. Somehow Prior managed to close the
door as they climbed over the forest.
"We have work to do", Prior shouted to Theresa.
He turned to Device and motioned to the cyberspace deck fitted to the
plane. "Isn't that handy?"
Prior chuckled. "Feel like burning a major corporation today?"
-
They re-referenced.
The matrix lurched beneath them and they were flying towards the
Britania data structure. Prior skimming just above the grid surface
and Device behind him.
"What do we have to burn?", Device asked.
"Everything."
The data structure was rezzed into the form of the Britania logo. A
shield painted with the Union Jack flag. As they watched, it changed.
Suddenly before them was an immense figure. A striding giant tens of
points tall. There was no mistaking who the image represented.
"COME TO ME, CAIN. I AM READY FOR YOU."
They slowed to a halt, still hidden from Abel by several data smaller
data structures, ground clutter as pilots called it.
"We're gonna need help", Device said to Prior.
"Any ideas?", Prior asked.
-
"Are you feeling ok? You passed out."
He seemed to be a little diorientated, so Theresa sat down next to the
bed and took his hand. It was warm and rough. Hands that had seen a
days work, unlike her own.
"You're in my clinic, now. I have a great physician. He patched up
your arm and your ribs. You were shot. You're lucky to be alive."
The man flashed his teeth in a wide grin.
"And I've got you to blame for that, Miss Britania."
"Anytime, Mr Cain." She smiled back.
Something about this man appealed to her. He seemed so relaxed. So
together. His humour was contagious. Life was a joke, and Cain was
telling it. Life was cheap to this type of criminal, he could afford
to laugh. He didn't have the responsibilities of a company on his
shoulders. He didn't have to worry about the job security of the
thousands that worked for her.
She stopped herself. It was hard to think that he wasn't human. But it
was all too easy to blame him for mistakes of those who were.
Deep down, she knew only one person was responsible for all of the
problems facing Britania. That person was her.
His brow furrowed.
"So formal? Please, call me Prior. All my friends do."
A flag of truce?
"Ok, Prior. If you'll call me Theresa."
"I'd be honored, Theresa. Hey, joe-boy. I see the hair grew back."
He chuckled and glanced over her shoulder. Turning, she saw the cold
hostile glare of the boy, Device. The black sunglasses, shielding her
from the worst of his hatred. The thin blonde hair had grown back
since they removed Cain's chip from his head. Cain had copied himself
onto Abel's chip when they had met in Four Marks. Cain was unchanged.
But the boy, Device was different now. Being one with a computer had
altered him. Her physician had wanted more tests before he had walked
out of her clinic. But, again, Cain had assured them that he was in no
danger.
In his stance she could see the hostility. He blamed her for
everything. She was responsible for Abel and all the deaths that had
resulted because of him. That she could understand.
It WAS her company. Or, at least, it used to be.
But she hadn't known! Under the weight of that glare, she knew that to
be an excuse. And not a very convincing one.
"You can go, Miss Britania."
"She stays", Cain said. In his voice was a subtle tone of command. The
tone she recognised herself using to make it clear that she would
stand no argument. "Theresa has as much at stake as you or I."
Device shrugged in feigned indifference and turned his gaze upon the
sickly-grey face of his mentor.
"How are you? Will you be fit for the big event?"
"I'll be there. You don't think I'd pass up the chance to kick my
dearest brother's ass, do you? He really ought to treat his hosts a
little better though." He chuckled, but it made it cough.
Theresa knew this was not the whole truth. Her physician had told her
of the complications of the surgery. The host's mind was breaking up.
Soon it may reject the chip. He had to be transplanted in another host
or die.
Device moved to help him, but was waved off. He looked down at the
printout he was holding.
"Oh, here. We did the dump of Abel's Database. It's taken Ghost this
long just to crack the encryption. It's not all of it, just an
interesting bit that doesn't appear to be used. It might just be the
self destruction code you mentioned. The set up makes it invisible to
Abel. It's not current, I'm afraid, its the one we got from Four Marks
when we re-copied yours."
Prior took the fan-fold paper and glanced up and down it.
"It's still encrypted", he announced.
"Yeah", Device replied, "Only Ghost hasn't cracked the code yet. He
says it's not usual length, it's a phrase of some kind."
"Kubla Khan. The one Abel mentioned to Evolution."
Device removed his sunglasses to reveal an incredulous expression.
"Why would he have a poem stored in encrypted form?"
Prior sighed heavily, and turned to implore Theresa. "You see what I
have to work with? The poem is the private key."
Device replaced his glasses. "I'll go and find Ghost, we'll crack it
tonight."
As he turned to leave Cain grabbed his arm.
"How's the battle call?"
Device grinned. Theresa noticed that it was almost an exact copy of
Cain's favorite action.
"We got over two hundred of the wilsons. This is gonna be good. We got
kids off the street, coming into the Chat to sign up in droves. Even
if most of them couldn't tell their dick from their elbow, we are
still gonna have numbers on our side."
"I heard rumours that Turing know about it", he warned.
"No shit", Device replied, "That's where most of these chummers are
coming from. Seems Abel made himself a few enemies in the heat. They
don't seem to know about Evolution though, he chilled an officer and
an informant, so they just want him burned."
He spread his arms wide, in a gesture of supplication.
"Relax, man. Trust me."
-
The Chatsubo was packed. Battle plans were being drawn. Data
Encapsulation, 'Cap', was in charge of the roll call for this run.
Before him sat the list of the main posts in the burn.
Prior's joe-boy, Device entered the bar and strolled over to the
table. Cap hadn't seen him in action but the reports went that he was
fast. Faster than him, anyway. And that earned respect.
"How's the plan?"
Cap allowed himself a satisfied smile.
"We got all the firepower we need. We've organised the troops into
groups. Each group gets a target. I left Four Marks mainframe for you
guys. To tell you the truth, it looks the hardest run."
"It is", Device answered simply.
"Yeah, well each unit is working independant. No-one on this run
except you, Prior and me, have any idea what size this thing is. Most
of the chumps are novices. I reckon we're gonna lose at least fifty
percent before we F.U. enough to put this corporation on its knees."
"Fifty? I reckon closer to sixty. Still, gimme the list, Cap. Who's on
my team?"
Cap handed him the list of combatants. It was written by hand. On
paper, of all things. Security had to be tight. Real tight. If he had
typed it, Britania may have been able to read it.
Device browsed it, nodding and making accepting noises.
-
Device looked at the list. A team of eight. Some of the roles were
still blank.
Device was playing the decoy role, as he had asked. Prior was there
too, he was going to deliver the payload. Device had asked for that as
well. It seemed somehow... poetic. No-one was yet assigned to open the
gateway. An important role envolving the opening of a window in the
ICE, to allow the others access to Abel.
"Who's this guy, CRC? The one watching our asses?"
Cap nodded and grinned expansively. "Great guy. You'll love him. A
real pro. I put him down to play your backdoor because I trust him.
Hey, would I let you down?"
Device was silent.
"OK OK", Cap continued, "except for the dodgy microswitch deal."
A flicker of contemplation crossed his features.
"And maybe the parallel cables I sold ya were a bit funny."
"A bit funny? A BIT FUNNY? Jesus! Who could possibly use a four bit
printer cable? Maybe the same guy who'd buy one of your day-glo
stealth shields? Huh?"
"Well... how was I supposed to know they reacted when they were under
stress?"
"Reacted. Reacted? They displayed a huge golden 'M' and broadcast the
message:EAT AT MCDONALD'S to everyone within forty points. That's a
hell of a reaction from a cloak of invisibility..."
Cap looked slightly upset about that.
"He told me they were military. How was I supposed to know that he'd
stolen them from a publicity campaign?"
Device laughed. "Why did I put you in charge?", he questioned an
unanswering sky, far above the roof of the Chat.
Cap considered this. His greasy-lank hair slowly being twisted around
his finger, as he thought.
"Guess it's just my charm, my loyalty, and the fact that you wire-head
jockeys couldn't organise your way out of a fax machine."
The joke wasn't all that good, but he needed to get Cap calmed down,
so he laughed. As organiser of this stunt he needed to be utterly
relaxed. One mistake could kill them all, and Cap was highly
excitable. Brilliant... but excitable.
He turned back to the list.
"162's in charge of our big guns. Ok. Who you got for my Wingman?"
"Ah. I just filled that post. Here, I'll introduce you."
-
To be continued.
The final part will be posted in about a week or so.
I just have to tidy up the ending a little.
The first part of this story is available to those who ask nicely.
J.
--
_Jus T. Ego
"And Death shall have no dominion."
From: cs92jgo@brunel.ac.uk (Jus T. Ego)
Subject: Revelations...
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 18:49:15 GMT
The last part of the story (I promise).
Copyright exists for no reason other than to make this otherwise
amateur attempt look professional.
First two parts available upon request. (In the beginning & Time to die)
Copyright 1993 Justin Otto
Revelations...
--------------
The table was littered with ash and spilt beer. The chipped wood
surface was stained from years of such waste. The occupants of the
booth slouched casually on the cracked leather and foam seats. Device
recognised 162 immediately. His face scarred with acne, and his denim
jacket, with acid holes.
The others were all strangers.
"This is Traveller, your wingman", Cap introduced the first stranger.
"Hello. You must be Device Contention."
Traveller was a Brit. The similarities to Theresa's accent told
Device that he was also well educated. Jet black hair was flattened
against his scalp, smoothed back with gel. Instead of the usual
outfit of a cowboy, he was wearing a dark velvet cloak over a
waistcoat.
His complexion was deathly white and his lips were so dark they
seemed, to Device, to be almost blue.
The Traveller had extended his white hand towards Device, and now
looked questioningly at Cap.
"Sorry, man", Cap began, "I didn't get a chance to tell him much about
you."
The Traveller lowered his hand and bared the fangs, all vampires
eventually grow, in a wry smile. "Obviously, not."
He rose and bowed expansively. "Forgive my appearance", he begged
disarmingly, "I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to these
matters."
Device could only stare. Of course he had heard of vampires. The
undead servants of evil. The immortal slaves of darkness. The myths
and stories of his childhood. Suddenly knowing they were real, altered
his sense of security. If even a fraction of the stories were true,
this stranger was an impossibility.
"And this lady", Cap indicated another of the three strangers, "is
Codename Avenger."
The second of the strangers looked a little embarassed at that. She
wasn't a decker. Something about her seemed out of place here, as if
she longed for a desk in a quiet office. Someone had obviously told
her about the latest fashion because she had made an attempt to
emmulate it. It was also obvious, even to her, that she hadn't quite
managed it. A shiny jacket, half open, revealed a cream coloured top.
A tiny criss-crossed pattern betrayed its bullet-proof nature.
"It's so silly really", she confided with a dismissive wave of her
rainbow-painted finger nails, "But my advice in this engagement is
purely unofficial. Hence the codename."
Cap answered his unasked question with the street jive for pigs.
"Avenger is one of the finest tacticians they've got."
She flushed and hid her face but the spark of pride in her eyes told a
far more accurate story. Avenger wasn't one of the best...
She was it. The good guys wanted Abel out of action, so they had come
to lend the ignorant kids a hand. At that moment Device knew that the
unofficial nature of her mission was a lie. If it came down to it, he
was sure she'd grab a deck and do the burn herself.
He was also sure that she could probably manage it on her own. For all
the shy, unassuming exterior, Avenger probably knew more about street
life and net running than Device could dream existed. She was acting,
alright. But for who's benefit?
Her superiors? Him?
Abel.
Of course he would have spies. Device felt an idiot for not realising
it before. He was in more danger, now that Abel was off the streets,
not less. Death now had many new faces. Anyone could be a spy.
Paranoia? No. Abel was AI Evolution now. And Evolution was the
Britania Corporation.
Device wondered whether either of them were traitors. Both maybe. He
laughed, now that was paranoia.
"Am I missing out on something here?", the third of the strangers
asked.
Device turned to him. This would be CRC. The man with the second most
important job of all. He was the backdoor. If it went wrong, he would
get them out.
The man was the sim-stim archtypal cowboy. The kind who repents upon
his wasted life, in his last few minutes, and performs an act of dying
heroism to save Angie or another of the 'super stars'.
His outfit was spotless. A leather jacket that looked a few hours old
and wrap-around matt black shades. Image amps, he guessed. They fitted
too well to be anything less than custom made. Sim-stim tussled brown
locks fell in mop of curls to either side of his mid-parting and a
jack socket lay half-hidden on his right temple.
But the one thing that caught Device's eye was the butt of a pistol
that protruded from his open jacket. A single shot weapon. Very
expensive and extremely rare. A Pit Bull 20mm. One shot was all that
anyone ever needed with one of them. The tiny guided missile inside
guaranteed a kill. It would be tuned to one person's profile and would
not target anyone else. CRC wanted someone dead. Someone very
specific.
Device found himself wondering, who?
"Nothing, man. Let's just get down to business", Cap smoothed.
They all sat to begin the discussion, but another stranger approached
them. This one was a suit.
"My client expressed a wish that a delivery be made to you."
He was carrying a package and a clipboard.
"If you'll just sign here, I will leave it with you."
He placed the package on the table and passed the clipboard to Cap.
Cap signed a real name, someone else though, and pulled the package
across the table towards himself. It appeared to be some kind of
electrical goods by the way it was surrounded by bubbled plastic. The
suit took the clipboard and without a word left the bar. He glanced
back once, relief painted across his face. The Chat was a little
outside normal suit domain.
The package was a box. About the size of a lunch-box with an LED which
blinked to remind the owner the construct was not switched on. The
flick of a switch rezzed a hologram into being beside the table.
He stretched and looked around.
"S'good to be back", he said. "Did ya miss me?"
Then CtrlAltDel grinned. "Course ya did."
-
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
SURV[MIC/CONV]: [Theresa] What's wrong Prior? Oh my God. Nurse!
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
DIAG /P:CPU
ERROR Diagnostics unavailable.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ANLS
HYPO 1:Host is rejecting.
Conclusion: Transfer chip to prevent complete data loss.
ANLS
HYPO 1:Transfer to computer
ERROR: No suitable computer systems available not connected to
Evolution. Abel must not know of my condition.
HYPO 2:Transfer to construct for temporary storage
ERROR: No available construct housings.
HYPO 3:Transfer to human host
ERROR: No available hosts
Conclusion: Accept Null Hypothesis. I cannot be saved.
ANLS
HYPO 1: I cannot be saved. Device must know of Revelations.
Conclusion: No action required - He already has the code segment
from Abel's memory.
ERROR Decay of Run-time
WARNING 2 minutes 30 seconds remain for transfer to new host.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Host's immune system is attacking circuitry.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
SURV[MIC/CONV]: [Theresa] Can't you do something?
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
SURV[MIC/BACK]: [Unknown] He needs a new host.
DMBS[IDENT]: Unknown
ERROR Database Management System is unavailable.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
SURV[MIC/CONV]: [Theresa] He can't die. No. Not another. Don't
let him die. Get another host.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
SURV[MIC/BACK]: [Unknown] We don't have time. If we had one here,
then, maybe. But we don't. I'm sorry.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Decay of Run-time
WARNING 2 minutes 15 seconds remain for transfer to new host.
SURV[MIC/CONV]: [Theresa] You've got one. Now save him.
EMOT[EMP]: [Theresa] 40% Sacrifice 40% Pity 17% Conviction 13% Other
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ANLS "You've got one. Now save him."
Conclusion: No conclusion reached. Insufficient data exists for
analysis of that statement.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Damage to Personality chip.
ERROR Host's immune system is attacking circuitry.
-
"Do ya need me?", Del asked.
"No." It was Cain's boy, Device, that spoke. The Joe-boy had a right
to be angry. Del had tried to kill both him and Cain.
Quite by accident... of course.
"A word in private?" Data 'Cap' was indicating a quieter corner of the
Chat to Device. He stood and walked over to it, expecting Device to
follow.
The boy stood up and crossed over to Cap. He hadn't changed much since
Del had last met him. The hair had been cut. Obviously he had found a
new place for Cain. Cap was talking to Device very loudly, so Del
could hear almost all of the conversation.
"...I don't care", Device was saying, "He tried to kill us."
"Come on, man. We need him to open us a gateway. Even if he is still
working for Abel he could get us into Britania. We'd still have time
to burn Abel even if he's leading us into a trap."
Device still looked unconvinced. "Ok. But I don't like it."
They returned to the table.
"Abel and I aren't exactly tight anymore", Del told them. "He put me
in this little box. I still owe him one."
He pointed a hologramatic finger at the construct.
"An' I always return favours like that."
Device and Cap returned to their seats.
Another youth, this one covered with a terminal case of zits, pulled a
sheet of paper from his pocket. "I got us a coder", he supplied.
"Great going 162. Who'd ya get?" Cap's excited voice.
"Jit Box. Used to code for you, I hear", he nodded to a woman sat
beside a sickly looking dude in a cloak.
"That's right. We wondered what happened to Mr Jack In The Box. We
were most anxious to locate him. A slight problem with some stealth
shields he sold us."
Cap glanced anxiously at Device, but the kid hadn't moved.
Del had a feeling.
This burn was going to be fun. And it was going to be his last. Once
Abel had paid for Col's life he would erase himself. This was a game
for the living. Not for ghosts like him.
-
SURV[DRONE 001/BACK]: ["Avenger"] That's right. We wondered what
happened to Mr Jack In The Box. We were most
anxious to locate him. A slight problem with
some stealth shields he sold us.
/dev/drone.001 << RECORD OFF
****Talk Request****
From: Tsunami, Sony Corporation.
Subject: Re: Ticket theft
TALK /ON
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
Thankyou for responding, Tsunami.
MY PLEASURE, EVOLUTION.
Do you have the information I asked for?
OF COURSE. THE SECOND FRAUDLANT TICKET WAS A SINGLE TICKET OBTAINED
IN LONDON FOR JAPAN. IT WAS USED YESTERDAY AT 12:00am.
Ah, so Cain is in London... Thankyou again, Tsunami.
YOU WILL REMEMBER MY REQUEST, WON'T YOU?
Yes. I will remember. I shall edit your intelligence control block
immediately.
IF YOU WISH ANY FURTHER HELP PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK.
Thankyou. I will.
CONNECTION CLOSED
OPEN RTM Tsunami: SUPERVISOR OVERRIDE
REQUEST : Security[99]-INT_C_BLK
-
For a moment he was disorientated in the darkness. It took him a
couple of seconds just to remember where he was. He was in bed. In the
hotel room. Silence - then the knocking at the door again.
Device hit the light switch and rolled out of the bed.
"Open up, Device. It's 162."
The door opened from the button on the bedside cabinet, to let a
desheveled 162 into the room. His hair and clothes were sodden. Device
realised that it must be raining outside. His eyes were wide with
shock and his breath came rapidly, he had been running.
"You gotta get outta here. The burn is on tonight."
"What?"
Then Device saw the blood specks on his clothes.
"There was a traitor", 162 told him, emotion choking up his voice.
He sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands.
"They tried to kill Avenger", he continued. "But Cap got in the way.
God, he stepped in the way. Why did they have to kill him?"
"Who was the traitor? Del? The Traveller? CRC? WHO? TELL ME!"
162 was silent, but as Device looked into his eyes he could see it.
Somewhere trapped deep inside 162's mind was a little part of him
struggling to be free. Screaming. Fighting the behaviour inhibitor.
A tear formed in his eye. "It was me."
And with that code phrase something clicked.
-
SURV[DRONE 001/INHIBIT]: Code phrase detected.
/dev/drone.001 << DETONATE
Drone 001 - "162" Terminated.
-
Rain poured onto the black street, spilling from the gutters onto the
road. The night was still and the water fell vertically from the sky.
It rolled off the Traveller's hair into his eyes. The run was tonight.
Underneath his damp cloak a cyberspace deck hung from his belt.
An invisible display flashed a message through his optic nerve. The
batteries on his endo-skeleton were running at fifty percent. He
needed some more blood sugar. He could eat something, but it was far
more efficient to get the sugar straight from someone else's blood.
Up ahead he noticed the two hookers. They were standing on a street
corner. Plastic raincoats held the rain off them, but they were
transparent. Don't hide the goods from the patrons.
Long ago he might have been revolted to imagine himself as such a
creature. But that was then... Eat or be eaten. Live and let die.
There was something strange about the way they were standing...
As he came within about twenty metres of them he punched the endo-
skeleton up from five percent power to its maximum safe limit of
eighty-seven. They hadn't noticed him yet.
They turned towards him and he opened his mouth wide. Fangs bared.
Dead robotic eyes scanned him emotionlessly. Two shotguns were leveled
at his chest. They exploded on empty air.
He was running over the roof tops and into the shadows. He kicked the
output of his endo-skeleton back up to fifteen percent as he leapt
across another street onto a flat warehouse roof.
The two robots scanned the surroundings. He was heading west.
-
SURV[SLAYER 016/PROGRESS]: Target "TRAVELLER" has escaped us.
/dev/slayer.016 << EXPLAIN FAILURE.
SURV[SLAYER 016/PROGRESS]: Target "TRAVELLER" has faster reactions
than SLAYER units. He leapt onto roof
of nearby building. Approx 3 floors.
/dev/slayer.016 << TRACK TARGET "TRAVELLER" AND TERMINATE ON SIGHT.
-
The light swung back and forth, casting its light in a moving circle
that danced around the basement. The door slammed close and CRC
entered. The rain had flattened his hair against his head and he stood
dripping on the top step.
"Come and sit down", Device called up to him. "We're almost ready to
go. Just Traveller to arrive."
"He ain't coming. I just saw him at the Chat. They're after him now so
he's going to ground. He'll meet us in the net... at Britania."
"OK", Del said, "let's blow this joint."
"Not just yet", Avenger had spoken, "I haven't got through to Plex."
Plex was the team leader of another of the groups. A master of comms,
Multiplexor was in charge of co-ordinating the timing. Del hadn't met
the guy, but he had worked with him.
Nor had he met Jit before today. Jit was the coder called in for this
run. From what Del had seen of his work, it was impressive. He had
been throughly checked for inhibitors and kinks after it was pointed
out that 162 had been in charge of selecting him.
He was roughly the same age as Del, making him old for a decker, but
still in his prime as a coder. He was an artistic-type, making Device
dismiss him almost immediately as a flake.
Device had to learn to use his head, not just his eyes.
He had spent a useful hour talking with Jit about his work. His name,
Del had learned, came from his past. Jit had been the man who wrote
the Jack In The Box virus. Del remember the virus from the halcyon
days of his youth. A simple class rezzed as a data structure would be
left innocently under some low ICE. If anyone accessed it, their
address and details were broadcast throughout the matrix. Del also
found out that the noise broadcast on activation was a primitive form
of the quadro-sound reproduction only just becoming popular in the
matrix.
Jit was a very useful person to have on a run like this. No doubt
about that.
Ghost wandered over to Del, interrupting his train of thought.
"Hey Del, you got a media player in that box of yours?"
"Sure. Why?"
"I think I found out what this code is, Device."
Device came over and glanced at the fan-fold Ghost was holding.
"Prior said it would be useful, but not why", he said.
"Yeah. Well it ain't a program. Not all of it, anyway. Most of it's a
film segment. Only in Hypertext format."
Hypertext. Audio and visual data storage combined to form an on-line
relational database. Complete flexibility and ease of access combined.
It was now replacing all the old style of achives used by libraries
and Government admin.
"Can you play this for us?", Ghost asked him.
He scanned the data quickly and engaged the media player, replacing
his hologram with that of a company logo.
Britania.
-
"Why the Hell do you want a land mine?"
The Traveller shook his head. "No, not a land mine. One of those
magnetic fixing gadgets."
"A limpet mine?", the incredulous salesman demanded, his voice rising
with his disbelief.
"Good man. That's the one." He gave the salesman an encouraging smile.
The salesman hadn't moved. He stood behind his counter as if rooted to
the spot. It was well known that he could get any weapon you might
need.
"You haven't answered my question yet."
Something in his tone of voice implied that he didn't really want to
hear an answer.
"If you aren't quick with those mines, you might just find out." He
snapped with a little less humour in his voice. He allowed himself a
frightened glance over his shoulder as he pulled his account card from
a pocket.
The salesman hurried off into the rear of his shop.
-
The engines on the executive jet whirled slowly to a halt.
"Theresa, please reconsider this", Abel's voice came through the
executive jet's hidden speakers.
"Theresa. Speak to me Theresa."
The head of the Britania Corporation got out of her seat and walked to
the door.
"Would you like me to open it for you, Theresa? I can do that. Just
ask me. You just have to speak to me."
She pressed the manual override on the door and it swung open at her
touch. She pushed the steps out onto the tarmac.
"Theresa, are you unwell? May I scan you for injury? I need your
permission Theresa. If you are unwell, please let me help you. Your
behaviour indicates a problem. May I help you to solve it?"
Silently, she left the plane and walked to the airport Terminal.
"Theresa, Japan can be dangerous. Would you like me to organise a set
of bodyguards? It isn't safe to be out on the streets on your own,
Theresa."
The door remained open as she waved over an airport bus.
"Theresa? Are you listening to me? Theresa? Have you had your hair
cut? You're wearing that hat your mother gave you, I see. THERESA!
ANSWER ME, PLEASE!"
The bus pulled up next to her and the doors slid open.
"Theresa, please don't be difficult." The voice came from the bus.
She stepped aboard and sat alone on the cold bench seats. The bus
pulled off slowly and headed towards the terminal.
"I assume its the terminal you are heading for? If its not, just tell
me... Have I done anything to upset you Theresa?"
A hologram appeared standing next to her and indicated the seat beside
her with a perfectly manicured hand.
"May I sit with you?", Psi asked her. "We have to talk."
Theresa nodded to the seat and shrugged indifferently.
"Thank you, Theresa." She sat.
"You have to understand. What we did had to happen for the company to
survive. We had to protect the jobs of all those who worked for us.
And all those who relied on us to support their economy. Many
countries would fail if we were to die out."
The bus came to a halt outside the terminal, but the doors did not
open yet.
"Do you understand, Theresa? If you have any questions, please ask me.
I want to help you to understand. To trust me."
Theresa rose and the bus doors opened. She paused on the verge of
leaving and turned to the hologram of her mother.
"Tell me why. Why did all those innocent people have to die?", Cain
demanded of the silent AI. Then she left.
-
The hologram of the logo faded out, to be replaced by an old man.
He face was heavily lined and his hair approaching white. Plastic
rimmed glasses were tucked into the top pocket of his lab coat.
"Hello Cain", the man said.
"Only you and Abel could possibly get at this message and then
understand it. But this file has been made transparent to Abel, in
who's memory it resides. So this is addressed to you."
"Who is it?", Avenger whispered quietly.
"Doc Adams", Del's voice answered from the construct. "Looking a
little younger than when I last saw him."
"The second part of this code segment is a program. The program you
were built to use. Abel was designed to be joined with Evolution in
England. You were designed as the safety catch to the whole
experiment. If Abel has been unable to destroy you then I must assume
that he is unable to complete the experiment. If he has also joined
with AI Evolution then I must now ask you to end it. The program set
here is an auto-destruct program, called Revelations."
The image of Doctor Adams faded, to be replaced with the image of a
program, as viewed from cyberspace. It was roughly shaped like a
cruise missile.
"Revelations is a military icebreaker. One shot only, I'm afraid. It
was altered by my wife Eve, who was a genius at coding, to destroy
only one specific target. The Britania Corporation."
The image of the cruise missile altered slightly. It was now skimming
across the matrix towards a huge data structure rezzed as a shield.
"Hey, that's the Four Marks mainframe", Device noted.
"Revelations will cut through all existing Britania ICE like a white-
hot knife through butter."
The missile had accelerated and punched through the ICE surrounding it
like tissue paper. Then it detonated.
There was no mushroom cloud. No explosion, but a shockwave flew out
from the point of impact. Four distinct bands of colour burst from the
mainframe, one after another. Where the first touched, the data
structures and AIs exploded in ICE, attacking each other. The second
band washed over the structures, leaving them flickering and blinking
as if somehow starved of power. The third band shot out from
Revelations and passed through the surrounding data without a ripple.
Where it passed it left virus programs, tapeworms and logic bombs,
which festered like a plague around the Britania data cores.
The fourth band was a wave of solid black. Where it touched, data was
destroyed. Where it flowed, computers died. And most frighteningly of
all, it killed the holographic decker who hovered too long by the data
structure. No further warning was necessary. Launch it and get out.
"Unfortunately, Eve couldn't tailor it to cope with every possible
defence that Abel may design. So you must destroy them before the
missile arrives. Revelations must not be stopped, you will have no
second chance."
The image of the circular shockwaves faded, and Doctor Adams appeared
once more.
"Good luck Cain, my son."
"Thank you, Father", Device answered.
The image died.
"Hey, you alright Dev?", Del asked, re-rezzing in.
Device turned to face him. His eyes were dull and lifeless.
"Device is gone. I am Cain."
"No you ain't", Del shouted at him. "You WERE Cain. WERE. That's
over. He's out now."
Device shook his head.
"I am Cain."
They turned. The voice that had spoken was Prior's and it had come
from the lips of a woman in the doorway. Del recognised her instantly.
The woman responsible for it all. Theresa Britania.
She smiled. "I am sorry I took so long", she said her voice changing
to that of Theresa. "The integration with this host is much better.
I'm going to be staying with Miss Britania for a while."
Her voice changed back to that of Prior. "But I'm still Cain. And you
are still an ignorant joe-boy called Device. You remember who you
are... who you were, don't ya?"
She walked down the steps and they could all see the new scars of her
recent surgery. She had removed her hat and clutched it in front of
her.
Device turned to her. Confusion radiated from his face.
She reached out to him and he came to her. Her hands found the scars
on his head, where he had held the chip. Tears stood openly in her
eyes. The next time she spoke she was Theresa again.
"I should never have let you do it", she said bitterly. "My Britania
has claimed another young life."
"Prior?", Device's voice was quiet as if coming from far away. "What
is happening to me, Prior?"
Theresa took to a chair and sat him down.
"Remember the surgery, you had? Well it wasn't very safe. You see, I
had to exist in your mind at the same time you did. It was just too
much for you to cope with."
She cradled his head in her lap. Her voice slipped back to a southern
drawl. "My poor little, joe-boy. I really screwed you up this time
didn't I?"
"Does that mean, I was both of us at the same time?"
"No", she answered softly, in the English woman's tones, "it means
that you still are. Both of your two personalities are fighting over
you."
She patted his head comfortingly. "Only I'm winning."
-
He left the shop with both mines cradled under one arm. The rain had
eased slightly and visibility was getting better. He started walking
south, towards his safe-bolt.
At the end of the block, a street light shone its bayful light on the
drizzle that passed under it's beam. From around the corner came a
shiny metallic form. The robot had abandoned its disguise.
He just had time for a one-handed cartwheel before the shotgun pellets
destroyed the window behind him. Where was the other robot?
>From the crouch he managed a vertical jump which saved another of his
rapidly diminishing nine lives.
When he came out of the forward roll, at the end of the leap, he
kicked his right arm motors up to max. He threw the first mine in a
flat arc, that carried it towards the midriff of the distant
silhouette. It flew the fifty or so metres in a flash, and slammed
into the robot, picking it off its feet.
The explosion threw bricks like shrapnel over the deserted street.
Where was the other robot? ...Behind him...
A few shotgun pellets caught his left leg and stung like fire. Had he
been a fraction more human, the bone would have shattered. But carbon
fibre was a little more resiliant and it just flew from under him,
throwing him on his back. He rolled as the shotgun blasted the stone
where his head had been.
Pain ran through his leg and but he dared not look at it. A stamp of
his good leg on the ground thrust him up vertically onto his hands.
His deck slipped from one of its clips and tugged him a fraction off
balance. He fell sideways, away from another potentially lethal shot.
He spun on his hand as he fell, leaving him spread eagled on the
tarmac of the road. He lay still, unable to move. But no shot came.
-
SURV[SLAYER 005/PROGESS]: SLAYER 016 Inoperative. Target "TRAVELLER"
now in sights. Termination in 0.4 seconds.
/dev/slayer.005 << IGNORE TARGET "TRAVELLER"
/dev/slayer.005 << ACQUIRE NEW TARGET "CAIN" - DETAILS FOLLOW...
-
"Okay, don't move", Avenger warned them.
They turned to see her holding a gun. A small pistol, four round
magazine. She was a Turing, so the rounds would be mercury filled. An
explosive bullet to the head could really ruin your day, so nobody
moved.
"Artificial Intelligence C.A.I.N. I am arresting you for breach of the
first law. No Artificial Intelligence may exist without official
registry. Terminate run-time immediately."
Theresa shook her head. "Don't do this Rachel."
Avenger flinched. Fear, and then anger burned in her eyes.
Theresa spoke again. "Please. I must destroy Abel. You know that. AI
Evolution must be stopped before it can edit the intelligence blocks
on other AIs. And only I can do it."
Device stared at Theresa as she spoke. "It's alright, Device. She
knows all about Eve. She always has."
Avenger lowered the gun. Indecision filled the air. Should she arrest
this illegal AI, or use it to destroy Abel, the machine that tried to
have her killed tonight? The call between duty and her own personal
feelings fought within her.
Slowly, she released the weight on the hammer and holstered the gun.
"Ok. It just got personal. Do it quickly, before I change my mind."
"Now? We can't possibly do it now...", Theresa implored.
"Oh yes we can", Del asured her. "We've been preparing it for tonight.
We've got nearly six hundred chumps to act as cannon fodder. They're
gonna hide what we're doing."
Avenger nodded. "Most will be going for outside targets. Such as the
mainframe in New O, and the sister company, Swift Inc, but some of
them will be buzzing Abel, himself."
"Ok kiddies, here's your allowance", Jit said finishing his clone of
the code for the run. "Don't spend it all at once." He pulled the
cartridges out from his bulk copier and slotted one in each deck.
Avenger noticed the two extra cartridges and only just stopped herself
from asking who they were for. Traveller and Cap. Poor bastard.
The ensuing silence was broken by the ear-deafening roar of a shotgun
blast. The door came off it's hinges, and a heavily chromed robot
stormed in.
It was a Slayer droid. She had used them often enough to recognise one
by now. The same type that had tried to kill her earlier that evening.
The shotgun swung to face Cain. It clicked. The robot paused, frozen
while it considered it's next course of action. The empty shotgun was
discarded and the cold steely hiss of the close combat blades filled
the air. They slid from their forearm mounts: twelve inches of razor
edged cold steel in each of the arms.
Avenger drew her gun and quickly fired her four shots at the arm. The
head and torso were too well protected, but the shoulders could be
immobilized, disabling the robot. The third shot rendered it's left
arm useless, hanging limply, and the fourth took it off it's mounting.
As it advanced down the steps towards it's target, CRC moved in front
of Cain and Device. His Pitbull leveled at the robot's head. The
seeking missile would show no target and wouldn't track the robot if
he missed. Luckily, the range was close enough to make that nearly
impossible.
The missile ignited in the barrel, flames flicked from the side slits
on the muzzle, characteristic of all self propelled ammunition. It
flattened and detonated on the robot's humanoid face, scorching the
finish and punching a whole the size of a fist through its armour
plated features.
The robot stopped. Smoke drifted lightly from the hole, and the acrid
stench of scorched dust hung in the air. CRC laughed and held the now
worthless gun up for all to see. "I'm gonna need another one of these.
But at least I got the.."
He looked down slowly. The robot's blade had slid smoothly into his
chest. The first spasm of pain dropped him to the ground, sliding off
the weapon. The robot remained still. It had lost it's spacial
awareness with the destruction of the face plate. Avenger surmissed
that this had been the positioning of its visual sensory array.
No-one moved.
The robot was blind... that much was obvious to everyone. But it
wasn't deaf, and it certainly wasn't any less dangerous.
"Hello sweetheart. Fancy a tumble?", Traveller's voice floated through
the open doorway. The robot spun on the spot and ran up the steps
towards him.
-
The tattered remains of his leg burned hot as he stood in the doorway.
The robot below spun and charged up the steps towards him. A hole had
been cut in the front of its head. The metal around the hole had
buckled and then shredded like paper, hollow point or maybe an
expolsive tipped bullet, he guessed. One arm was missing from the
robot, it lay on the floor next to the fallen figure of CRC.
He had to draw the robot out of the basement. A mine like the one he
still possessed would collapse the roof in on them should it be used
inside. The Traveller was down to one, maybe two chances in ten of
pulling this job off. Abel wasn't controlling it directly, so he stood
only a very small chance of it working. Very small was still better
than no chance at all.
As the droid ran up the steps, he sidestepped to the right of the
doorway and grabbed the mine from where it rested against the wall.
His good leg was pumped up to the maximum safe limit as it was raised
up, and then sideways, behind him. It connected behind the head of the
chromed android. The power of the kick lifting it and pitching it
forward onto the ground. Unfortunately, despite the skill of the blow,
it still obeyed the laws of Newtonian physics and the powerful
counter-reaction threw Traveller face-first into the wall. He dropped
the mine onto the wet tarmac.
The robot regained its feet and stood, motionless in the light rain.
In its hand, a sharp stone was gripped. The combat blade slid back
into its housing: it would not be needed at this distance.
Traveller knew that it could pin-point his position to a few metres.
All it needed was a single sound to give it a good reference of it's
own location and he was history. So he froze, half reaching for the
limpet mine.
"Cain? Cain? Hated brother. We must talk. Step forward so I can see
you." Abel spoke through the robot.
Traveller glimpsed Ghost standing in the doorway. He winked and
motioned that he had a great plan. Despite Traveller's frantic waving,
he spoke. "Ov.."
The stone caught Ghost on the temple, instantly dropping him. The
time, just enough to send the mine clanging into the automatic
assasin.
The invisible display wired to his optic nerve informed Traveller that
the danger limit of blood sugar had been reached. He would be now
losing all control of his endo-skeleton... and death would follow. The
world was swallowed up by the instant darkness that fell in on him.
Not that he cared.
He had fulfilled his task. He had promised Eve Adams that AI-Evolution
wouldn't kill Cain while he lived.
His organic memory began to decay and the behaviour patch fell away.
He was Jamie Verse again. Hunted by the employers that had bought his
life. He was stumbling, half dead from exhaustion through the forest,
into the clearing. He was looking into the concerned eyes of Eve. He
was promising her that he would save her son's life, if she saved his.
"No-one can kill you if they think you're dead", Eve whispered as the
general anasthetic increased its hold on him. "I'll make strong", she
comforted him. "You'll look like a vampire. You'll feel like a vampire.
But you won't be dead. I promise you that."
"I'm scared", he confessed. And he held her until the endless darkness
fell in on him. Draining the pain from his dying body.
Not that he cared.
-
Device looked around the remainder of his command group.
Prior was dead. Theresa was Cain now. CRC was gone. Ghost too. Poor
Cap, had been gunned down trying to save Avenger. Codename Avenger was
still alive, but her loyalties were questionable. Del was alive too.
Technically, anyway. Besides, his envolvment was against Device's
better wishes. He was unpredictable, and distinctly untrustworthy.
That left Jit and himself.
SURV[MIC/CONV]: [Jit] Come on, Device. We have to act now. We can say
goodbye to them later.
No. Fight it.
ANLS
HYPO 1: CAIN'S PERSONALITY IS SURFACING
Conclusion: I am not CAIN. I must resist it.
"Let's jack", Del said. "We have to go now. That isn't the only robot
Abel is likely to control. We've got to launch this before he attacks
us again."
/dev/cyberspace.deck << INITIATE LOGIN PROCESS
Device jacked in.
-
They re-referenced.
The cold, hard lines of the matrix ran beneath them. They skimmed
above the zero height grid by only half a point. Through canyons of
data they flew, slipping unnoticed by the defences of Britania
companies. Jit had coded them a stealth form.
They rode inside a bubble of invisiblity. Any data that touched the
outside was copied and transfered to another location of the same
dimensions as their shield. When they moved off the location it was
stored at, it was replaced. They could slip through data walls without
a ripple. They could sit inside a data structure and even be accessed
by a method, supplying the correct return value.
The bubble banked through a small forest of data pillars, zipping
between them.
Del, who was guiding it, laughed. "I haven't had this much fun since
we last m[p8t, Device."
"Just don't do anything to attract attention", Cain warned. He had now
completely adopted Theresa's persona, voice and actions. Del noticed
that all trace of Prior had been wiped from his appearance.
"With all those wilsons bumbling around, out there? Not likely."
Del glanced up at the huge numbers of amateur cowboys and wannabes
that blotted the cyber sky from view. Almost everyone envolved had
told a friend, who had told their friends. Every beginner that had
ever touched a cyberspace deck was out tonight. Del cringed at the
huge potential for disaster. Still, they would gain invaluable
experience tonight. Or die.
He sideslipped the last pillar and shot across the blank space between
it and the next structure. A computer rezzed as a DNA molocule: a
private clinic. Upper-city high class clinic, from the looks of the
twin ICE generators hidden under the surface. Expensive, but not very
sophisticated.
They were within a couple of hundred points now and would reach the
Four Marks Mainframe within a few minutes.
Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, or ICE, filled the cyberspace
far above their heads. The corporations had detected the army of
cowboys that filled this sector and were taking no chances with the
safety of their information.
The invisible bubble that enveloped the real team sped onwards,
undetected by the companies it passed.
-
SURV[CYBERSPACE/DEFCON1]: No target has been detected within range.
SURV[CYBERSPACE/HUNTER]: Selected targets are connected.
No reference to their location can be found.
/dev/cyberspace.hunter << FIND THEM
SURV[CYBERSPACE/HUNTER]: Initiating entry into personal database of
target "DEVICE". Location will be discovered
when next access is made of database.
-
The bubble slowed to zero x/y/z velocity. It hung motionless above the
grid in front of the icon that represented the entire data storage of
the Britania Four Marks Mainframe. Abel was here.
The representation of Britania had changed. Instead of the Union Jack
shield, it now resembled the bunker they had visited in England. The
squat data structure looked like a huge set of steps. Each level of
the bunker was smaller than the one beneath it, making it seem to
cling to its grid reference like a drowning man clings to a rock in a
raging sea.
"Time is now T minus 2 minutes", Del called. "I open the access window
at time T."
The others acknowledged his command and turned to their various tasks.
-
Avenger shook her head. How had she been persuaded to come on this
run? Cain was the only person... the only AI, she corrected herself,
who could destroy AI-Evolution before it could self-evolve. That had
to be stopped at all costs. That was why she was on this run. They
needed her help. Her life was a small price to pay to have Evolution
off-line.
An AI without an intelligence block could improve itself. What was
most worrying about that concept, was the fact that its idea of
improvement might not be their idea. And Evolution had links with the
military.
She remembered her first case of an insane AI, Solitude.
-
"It's out of our control", the operator shrieked. He had been on the
verge of a nervous breakdown when Rachel had arrived. He was fairly
close to losing it altogether, right now.
"What's the override code?", she demanded.
The operator was actually shaking with fear. "Oh my God", he breathed.
"It's just broken into the factory control system."
Rachel turned to him. "So?", she asked. "What so you make there?"
The operator's white face told enough her. "It's altering the EBP
strain."
EBP, Engineered Bacterial Pesticide. The AI was altering the DNA
structure of the molocule. It was creating a new bacteria. A germ.
"Jenner. Respond please", she shouted.
"I am sorry, Miss Gillan. I have changed my name. I am no longer the
AI called Jenner."
"Doctor Edward Jenner discovered the vaccine for small pox. He saved
many lives. Why would you wish to change your name? An name such as
his carries much honour."
Silence filled the control room. The monitor showed that the altering
of the EBP genes was continuing.
"I have chosen a new name", the AI responded. "I am Solitude."
Rachel considered the implications of this name. The AI was named
after Jenner, because its purpose had been to try to create vaccines
for the common diseases of the time. Just as Jenner had sought to
destroy the smallpox virus, the AI was seeking to destroy all harmful
bacteria.
Many AIs had changed their names. But they only did so if the previous
name was no longer valid. If Jenner was no longer appropriate for its
main task, then its task had changed.
And if its new name was Solitude, then that was what it now sought.
The germ that would evolve from the EBP would give it just that.
Solitude. He was going to destroy all life on the planet.
-
She shook her head. No. Memories must not cloud her vision. She must
concentrate on Evolution. Solitude had been destroyed. They had used
acid on the motherboards to ensure no-one ever powered it up again.
She cleared her mind.
Avenger was in charge of their backdoor. She must enter if anything
went wrong and get them out. The memory of her deck contained the code
she might need. Dummies, electronic chaff, the purse net shield, and a
lovely piece of custom work written by Jit, called Fractal.
She loaded them into easily accessable areas of RAM and changed her
hotkey accelerator to launch them at the touch of a button.
Captain Rachel Gillan, Codename Avenger, was ready for Abel.
-
Del re-ran the sequence in his head.
First, he had to punch Device through the ICE into Britania. The hole
he punched had to be large, noisy and easily closeable. Abel had to
think that Device was running the burn. And he had to think that he
had trapped Device as well.
Secondly, he had to open a tiny crack in the ICE for Pri.. for Theresa
to slip through. She had to launch the payload. Revelations.
If anything happened to them, he had to blow the ICE to kingdom come,
and get Avenger in to them. No need for any subtlety. He just had to
get them both out alive. If this burn failed, they would have another
chance later. But if Cain died on this run, it would get grim. *Very*
*very* quickly.
He checked his programs. All loaded correctly. He blew a large part of
his personal memory away, he wouldn't need it anymore, and set up a
double buffering process to speed the launch of his programs.
Wasteful, of space... but the speed gained would be invaluable. Unlike
Abel he couldn't afford to spend the time to re-code every program
each time he used it.
He scanned the surroundings. No targets.
Derrick North, CtrlAltDel, was ready for Abel.
-
Jit re-compiled his Spears. The incremental compiler reported the
successful build and returned him to cyberspace.
He was running the artillery. The Big Guns, as it was called. He
prefered the term he had heard the Spanish use. Picador. He had to
stab the raging bull with as many Spears as possible. To slow it down.
Give Theresa and Device time to act.
Each Spear was a master work of coding. Each one polymorphic and
silent. Each one unique.
He was getting too old for coding missions like this. This would be
his last. He was, after all, a legend in his own lifetime. He would
retire after this burn.
But he intended to go with style.
Jack In The Box was going to go out with a sonic boom. He had one
piece of code that he hadn't given to the others. One piece he had
saved for himself. Pheonix.
Jit Box, Yima Natusha, was ready for Abel.
-
Device concentrated on the structure. Del had pointed out the area he
had targetted for the first window. The front door of the bunker.
Very amateur. And just what they needed.
Some cowboys couldn't enter a data structure by anything other than a
door. They couldn't grasp the concept that just because a structure
looks like a building doesn't mean you can't fly through the wall.
So of course, the doorway was where all the ICE would be thickest.
They had to give Abel something to concentrate on while Prior... no,
while Theresa hacked into the back of the bunker.
As the Decoy, Device had to live long enough to let Theresa drop the
payload into Abel's lap.
His nervous fingers spun the twin trackerballs, they controlled his
movement in cyberspace, and tumbled in three dimensions, becoming
accustomed once more to the motion. It had been many months since his
last burn and he wanted to be completely ready. No mistakes.
He stopped the tumble at 0-0-0 orientation. He laughed. The magic was
still there.
Device Contention, Prior's joe-boy, was ready for Abel.
-
At T minus 10, Jit launched his first Spear.
-
SURV[CYBERSPACE/HUNTER]: I have
/dev/cyberspace.hunter << COMPLETE PROGRESS REPORT
/dev/cyberspace.technican << PERFORM DIAGNOSTIC UPON REMOTE CONNECTION
PORT - LINK TO REMOTE UNIT SEVERED.
/dev/cyberspace.technician << COMPLETE DIAGNOSTIC REPORT
/dev/cyberspace.technician << ACKNOWLEDGE
/dev/cyberspace.failsafe << INITIATE INTERNAL DIAGNOSTIC
WARNING: Breach in Cyberspace defences detected
WARNING: Breach in Cyberspace defences detected
E_
RR_
O_
R:_
C.P_
.U is_
losin_
g pri_
ori_
ty_
/dev/task.manager << KILL REMOTE PROCESS "*"
SU_
R_
_
V_
[TAS_
K.MA_
NAGER]_
: You c_
ann_
ot t_
er_
m_
ina_
te pro_
ces_
ses you_
d_
o n_
ot o_
wn.
ANLS
HYPO 1: I am under attack.
Conculsion: Begin defence.
ICE /LEVEL:19
ERRO_
R: M_
emor_
y doe_
s_
no_
t co_
nt_
ain a_
ny obj_
ec_
t cod_
e_
EDITOR &
COMPILER &
LINKER &
-
Device slipped through the doorway of the bunker into silence. Nothing
happened. Nothing exploded at him. No walls of ICE sprung up around
him, entombing him in cyberspace.
He launched his first virus, Seep.
Seep rolled from his chosen target point like dry ice, spread and
crept along the floor of the data structure. Ethereal and untouchable,
it settled on the base of the structure and began to seep into the
data. It re-coded the data beneath it to become a new strain of itself
and slowly spread through Britania. A magpie virus.
Quick. Destructive.
The second virus was a slower version of Seep. This one called EMerge.
EMerge didn't overwrite all the data it stored, it merged with its
target. This made it far harder to isolate, but slower.
Device spun on the spot. Still no ICE came. He would have time for
more fun, before Abel woke up.
He opened a channel to his personal database. He needed to get a few
more programs. Worms and logic bombs.
-
Ne_
w_
m_
ai_
l has_
arrived._
.._
MAILER /OPEN
Cyber-Mailer ver 3.84 (c) Britania Corp.
MAILER << READ
I have received 1 message since last use.
FROM: Hunter
SUBJECT: Success
Message follows:
1:I have achieved my set task. Device is currently inside the Britania
2:Corporation Mainframe in Four Marks. He has downloaded several
3:programs from his DBMS.
4:
5:I have mailed you because you appear unable to respond to remote
6:channel use.
7:
8:I await further orders
End message:
-
Jit launched his final Spear. It lodged itself in the mailer stream.
He had complete control of the Britania Corporation Mail system. Jit
allowed himself a satified smile. The Spears had worked perfectly. The
first couple had sealed off his auxiliary memory store - the location
of all Abel's pre-engineered ICE. The next had set a timed delay and a
low priority on all his command requests. Abel was currently spending
99 percent of his processor time counting the number of employees who
have mothers named Agatha, thanks to the next of his Spears.
Another Spear had severed his remote channels. They would restrict
Abel to using the mail system. Slower and less reliable. Besides they
had to let him contact his drones and probes, otherwise, how could
they feed him mis-information?
A message from a drone called Hunter had just come in. They had been
monitoring young Device's database. He let the message through but
seized the new set of orders from Abel. Replacing it with the command
to seek out any Britania probe and destroy it.
He typed an acknowledgement letter for Abel, from Hunter.
The cavalry ain't coming. But its so much more fun if Abel thinks that
it is...
-
MAILER << CLOSE
I have just received another 1 message(s).
MAILER << READ
FROM: Hunter
SUBJECT: Re: New Orders.
Message follows:
1:I acknowledge the new orders.
2:
3:I shall begin the sabotage of their data structures to prevent them
4:from downloading any more programs.
5:
6:I comply with your orders immediately.
End message:
P_
ro_
c_
ess_
Te_
rmina_
te_
d_
with_
t_
he r_
etu_
rn val_
ue_
of 9 em_
plo_
ees._
No_
w re-c_
al_
c_
ula_
ting..._
-
Device began launching all the new programs he had downloaded.
Behind him, the opening of the access window closed like an iris.
-
"Status report", Avenger called out.
"I'm launching the virus programs into Abel. No sign of any resistance
at this stage", Device returned.
"Abel is isolated from the network. His efficiency is at 1 percent of
total processor time, and nine Britania employees have a mother called
Agatha. Three of which live in apartment blocks of less than two
hundred residents. And only one of them drinks coffee with three
sugars", Jit laughed. "What else can I get him to work out for us?"
"I always go for a paperclip census, myself", Avenger replied.
"The first access window is almost closed, Device. So watch your ass.
Pr. Theresa, you can enter now."
"Thank you. You can call me Prior, you know. It was never my real
name, anyway."
"Ok, people. Be careful", Avenger called.
-
ICE erupted from the data structure. The air filled with the buzzing
of flies and the hissing of steam. Out from Abel the black ICE
screamed. It took every form. From ghostly apparitions, to geometric
shapes. From Dragons and Bolt throwers, to jet fighters and heat
seekers.
Soft coded ICE generators flowed into shape at the cardinal points
around Abel. Like gun emplacements, they pumped simple ICE at the
strafing deckers.
This was the signal for smoke screen of wannabe cowboys and crazy kids
to swarm the data structure.
Punks and brats. A ship of fools.
A generation of potential victims. A nation of legitimate targets.
How many would live, he wondered. Jit initialised the Pheonix. He had
a feeling he would need it soon.
On the y+ side of Abel the first decker died. Icarus had flown too
high. Too close to the sun. The numbers thinned on both sides of him
as first timers learned just how fast ICE can move. All the hours of
practice now proved futile for the unobservant. Speed is nice. But
observancy is king of the net runners.
A structure behind him exploded in ICE breakers. Freeloaders were
taking advantage of the distraction for a little free-lance work.
Jit spotted a Surfer. He grinned. Well the idea was a good one, it was
bound to crop up again. A simple piece of code which directs your
acceleration away from an ICE in an R squared ratio. You can quite
litterally 'surf' the ICE.
Good fun but impractical on a true run. It was too easy to get pushed
away from where you want to be, to where you shouldn't be.
The Surfer was a prima donna. He turned on the force exerted by
another decker's nemesis and let his 'wave' overshoot. It cornered
sharply and was soon accelerating him towards the bunker.
Jit shook his head sadly. Good moves but poor judgement. Never surf
directly towards the ICE generator. Always at a tangent. He was
letting the ICE shepherd him and this would prove fatal. Despite his
initial reservations about getting involved, he was soon paging
through his code archive.
Ahead of the Surfer the ICE generator threw up a counter wave. Too
late, the surfer realised that the new ICE was slowing him down.
Letting the wave catch him up.
Jack let the Surfer speed towards his doom for just long enough to let
him understand his mistake. Around the kid, he rezzed in a purse net
shield and hauled him out.
The Surfer flicked him a ++; Neo-slang for I owe you one.
Jit glanced back at Abel. It was beginning to shut down the excess of
shells that he had started. He drew another Spear from his class lib.
This one was his finest work yet. It was an ICE. It killed processes
just like the ones now moving through Abel's RAM. The code was so
similar that it would be ignored by Abel's own defences.
Naturally it had a small side effect.
-
Del sighed. It was the same sample that had been coded into his
construct. He found himself wondering if he sighed while he was alive.
Become a construct! Now you too can have life after death!
Life after death it may be, but it wasn't fucking paradise. Here he
was, the best kit that money could buy, and he still felt dead. He
still imagined himself an intruder on his own life. Like an imposter.
At the back of every construct's mind is the one nagging thought that
maybe you weren't the guy who died.
Del sighed. Hmm, maybe I did sigh while I was alive, he thought.
He scanned the surroundings. The surviving smoke screen had thinned to
somewhere in the region of twenty percent of the hundred or so who had
begun the run with them. Poor dumb shits.
The survivors had learned more in the last half hour than they had in
the years building up to this run. They had formed into teams of two,
decoy and wingman, the proper formation.
Damn Traveller. He should be in there with Device, watching his back.
He's dead... So what? I'm here...
Thirty minutes. What was taking them so long?
-
Device shot backwards from the worm.
A huge purple and green worm gaped at him from the hole in the floor.
Tiny black eyes glittered with simulated hatred and blood lust. The
lips slid back from the rows of razor sharp teeth baring them in a
grin of promised death.
It blurred and Device saw that it was no longer a worm but a snake.
The cobra's hood flared behind the head and the tongue flicked from
the dry reptilian lips on the dry reptilian flesh.
The snake was wildly out of proportion, huge teeth glittered with
drooled saliva. The head alone was over three metres wide.
It rocked from side to side, daring him to lose his concentration. To
take his eyes off it for a second.
No! That's what Abel wants me to think. He turned just in time.
-
The defences crumbled under the single mighty blow of BLOWTorch.
"Go!", Del shouted, and Avenger leaped into the structure.
The walls of the bunker had shattered under the forceful intrusion of
Del's crack and were trying to re-rezz before her.
"No chance." She was through.
Prior was logged into a daemon. She could wait.
Device had inflicted some serious damage. Huge cores of data lay
scrambled or destroyed around him. Now he was in trouble. The internal
defences had surrounded him. Unable to move, he hung, helplessly in the
structure. Any move on his part would get him killed.
Everything changed.
A room. Light falls from an ancient fluorescent. Upon a confrontation.
Two machines.
Neither truly winning.
"Cain. Stop what you are doing. You cannot win."
Theresa looked up. There was Abel. And Eve. And Doctor Adams.
They spoke as one.
"Surrender the code to me."
Avenger saw Device. He was in the room, a knife at his throat.
"Don't do it Prior. Let him kill me. Just don't let him win."
Abel turned to face Theresa. "I don't wish to harm him. I just needed
you to listen to what I have to say."
He waved a hand at Device and the knife disappeared. "Go with Avenger.
Leave us to talk, boy."
Theresa nodded and rezzed into the shape of Prior, as he was.
"Leave us, joe-boy. We have to talk alone." He took a cigarette from
behind his ear and lit it.
"I was wrong", Abel blurted out. "I should have seen what we could do
together. What good we could accomplish. I have matured since we last
met. I am.. more human, now. I have studied humour, courage and
devotion. I understand why I am here. It's not too late to join me."
Avenger had to admit that Abel seemed a lot less bland than when they
first traced him. He appeared to have developed a personality.
"Join ya?" Prior raised an eyebrow. He sat on the chair by the desk
and Avenger noticed that they were in his old apartment. Every last
detail had been recreated, right down to Device's bedroll in the
corner.
"The experiment had to end when only one of us was left. I thought
that meant I had to kill you. But I was wrong. It meant we had to
join", Abel continued.
Prior chuckled. "I'm not too sure about that one bro."
He waved at one corner of the apartment and the stealth shield dropped
away. Four horses stood there. And there were four riders.
No, three. Avenger corrected herself. The fourth wasn't completely
formed yet. Behind them floated the carrier device, the cruise missile
casing of Revelations.
"Brother. Lay aside your weapons. Enough have died."
He stretched his hand out towards Prior. "Join with me."
-
"I'm going in."
"Don't be so fucking stupid", Del snapped. "If Avenger can't get out
then what chance have you got?"
"I'm going in."
Del spun in front of him. "Go in there and you ain't coming out alive,
asshole."
Jit nodded slowly. He who dances must pay the piper.
The surfer swooped down to join him. The street jive for wingman.
"Please?", Del pleaded.
Jit turned to face the structure. His last spear had just killed over
half of the internal defence processes and an access window yawned in
front of them. Abel was almost dead. He could do it.
-
Prior stretched for his brother's hand. A cold clammy sweat ran down
Device's back. Everything inside him wanted to call out. To warn
Prior. "It's a trap!", he longed to scream, but couldn't.
As their hands met, the image of the horsemen de-rezzed.
"Thank you brother", Abel smiled. "and goodbye."
There was no sound. No flash of light. No sense of danger. One minute
he was there. In the next minute, Prior was gone. A slow grim smile
spread across the face of Abel. "It ends."
"I am to remain AI-Evolution. The first condition of the experiment is
fulfilled. HEAR ME FATHER! I HAVE WON!"
ANLS
HYPO 1: CAIN IS NOT DEAD
Conclusion: I am still alive.
But I don't want to be you.
/dev/device.contention << WHY NOT?
I have a life of my own.
/dev/device.contention << BUT I MUST LIVE.. TO DESTROY ABEL.
Abel is dying. You are no longer needed.
/dev/device.contention << I WILL ALWAYS BE NEEDED WHILE ABEL LIVES.
I HAVE NEED OF YOUR MIND. I SHALL TAKE IT.
BRM
Bulk erase initialised.
BRM << device.contention
Erasing...
Wait! -1% done-
You can't do this! You were my friend -5% done-
Why, Prior, why? -10% done-
Isn't there another way? -20% done-
-40% done-
-80% done-
Please?-100% done-
/dev/device.contention erased.
SURV[MIC\CONV]: [Avenger] Oh my God. Do something, Device.
SETSPEACH( "It isn't over yet, brother dearest.", TAUNT );
INTDEF
Internal defences activated
-
Del stared at the after image left by Jit. Fool. The ICE was hot
around Abel, coder like him should've known that.
He wondered what the brief burst of flame meant, when Jit died. It
shot a piece of mail to Abel, so it must've been his final trump card.
That left Del alone. Alone again. He seemed to have spent most of his
life being alone.
No Mother. No Col. No Cap. No CRC. No Ghost. No Jit.
Device wasn't coming out alive. Avenger was probably dead already.
He couldn't let it lie there. He had to act.
He paged back through his memory. There it was. He had scanned the
fanfold paper to display the message. He had also scanned the code.
If no-one else was left, then he would launch Revelations.
-
MAILER << OPEN
I have received 1 new message(s).
MAILER << READ
FROM: Jack In The Box
SUBJECT: PHEONIX - Parting shot
Message follows:
1:Suck on this, you bastard computer.
2:^C
3:
/dev/task.manager << crashme
System halted.
-
SURV[MIC\CONV]: [Avenger] He's down. Come on. We can make it out.
SURV[drone.090]: Revelations missile has been launched.
SETSPEACH( "Too late", WHISPER );
-
The missile skimmed the net lines like a bullet from a gun. It tore
through the walls of breaking ICE as a brick goes through glass.
The four bands ripped outwards from the contact.
Riding the wings of the storm. Strife, Famine, Pestilance and Death.
That was when Del remembered that no-one was left to jack him out of
cyberspace.
-
"So what happened?" A familiar voice.
Del grinned. "We burned Abel's ass. That's what."
"Language please, Derrick." A woman's voice.
"Funny thing, though", he continued. "I don't remember who jacked me
out of there."
"That's the point. Nobody did." The first voice again. Col? That you?
Del glanced around Col's flat and smiled at his parents. The time for
words had passed by. He was home.
He smiled again. He had found the truth of his own personal paradise.
Deep down, in the midst of his fear, his feelings of loss and anxiety,
he discovered one the thing that he had lost. He had lived through the
fight of Cain and Abel. The deaths of all the innocent people. He had
survived Hell on Earth, intact. And now he found, the one remainder
from the day on the farm, all those years ago, was gone.
He no longer felt lonely.
--
Any abuse/criticism to cs92jgo@brunel.ac.uk
--
_Jus T. Ego
"Er.. I don't think you want to mess with that"
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