Code Breakers: Alpha (10 page)

As he followed Gabe through the crowd to yet another lookalike building, he tripped. Something touched his ankle.

A bleeding hand, sporting a red welt, gripped his leg.

“Help—me—please…”

Cheska grimaced as she pulled herself across the ground like an injured snake.

“Gabe, hold up.”

Gerry bent down to the woman. She already looked like a ghost. Must be the blood loss. “Petal. Help me get her up.”

Gerry wrapped Cheska’s arm around his shoulder and encouraged Petal to do the same. They lifted her and dragged her across the ground. Her useless flapping feet left a dark trail like train tracks as they moved forward.

Gabe stopped, looking back. “What ya doing? Leave her. We need to get going.”

“She’s dying, Gabe. I ain’t leaving her behind. Have a heart.”

“Having a heart gets ya killed, boy.”

“Don’t boy me, old man. You might be dead inside, but I can’t just leave her to perish in a puddle of her own filth. You go ahead without me if you want.”

Gabe shook his head and looked to Petal, who looked away.

“So it’s like that, is it? Everything I done for ya both.”

“Enough with the sob story, Gabe. Just get us to this Enna’s place, and Cheska here can go her own way. You’ve made your point. Be the bigger man.”

“He’s right, Gabe,” Petal said. “Besides, she could be useful to us. A little faith won’t hurt, right?”

“For God’s sake. Fine. Just follow me, then, but if she tries anything, I’m killing her.”

Gabe spat in the dust before turning away and leading them through the maelstrom of panicking civilians.

“Thank… you,” Cheska said. “I owe you.”

“You might not survive, darling. Better not make any promises. Just hold on, yeah?” Petal said.

“Thanks. You know, for backing me up. I don’t want to make things difficult between you and Gabe,” Gerry said to Petal.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s a complicated old git. You’ll understand eventually.”

Gabe stopped and pointed across the square.

“Ya see that building across there with a blue circle painted on the door? Well, that’s Enna’s place. I just need to do something first. Petal, you take Gerry and Cheska, and speak with Enna.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just do as I say, girl.”

With that, Gabe sprinted into the darkness and darted behind the building.

“There’s something up with him,” Petal said.

“You only just noticed that now?” Gerry replied.

Cheska began to cough and choke. “I’m dying. Bloody typical. I waited years to lead our group, and I’m done for on the first day.”

Gerry and Petal lifted her from the ground and ran across to Enna’s building.

They reached the door. It was unlocked and swaying.

Inside, there was only darkness. Silence permeated the place like a heavy curtain. Just the usual hum of computers and cooling fans could be heard. It was coming from beneath them.

“Enna? You here?” Petal called.

Gerry thought he could hear something sliding—or was it shuffling—towards them? Drawing closer, it sounded like something breathing, as if its lungs and throat were full of gravel. It moaned. Gerry wanted to back away, but Cheska’s weight held him in place. The shuffle was just a few metres away.

Petal clicked her lighter on, creating an orb of orange light ahead of them. A twisted, mutated face shot out of the darkness. A pair of pale grey hands thrust out and squeezed Gerry’s neck.

Chapter 12

C
heska fell to the floor as Gerry reached up to grip the wrists of the hands around his neck. The thumbs pushed against his Adam’s apple. He gagged against the force. He tried breathing through his nose, but his airways were blocked. Swatches of colour and stars appeared in his vision and danced around the image of that grimacing, hate-filled face.

The flickering light from Petal’s lighter deepened the crags in the thing’s face. Its skin appeared as if made from chalk and dirt. Fingertip-sized flakes of skin peeled off and hung like dead confetti.

As the thing moved in closer, its body brushed against Gerry’s gun. Gerry let go of its wrists and pulled his gun from the holster. Pushing the barrel up into its neck, Gerry twisted his head as far away as possible before pulling the trigger.

The sudden crack shattered the silence. A high-pitched whistle drowned out everything. He opened his eyes. The thing’s face and most of its skull had erupted, leaving a clear view into its cranium. Amongst the brain matter and shattered pieces of skull, a black box with wires coming from it was connected to its spinal column and presumably parts of the brain.

Eventually, the ringing in Gerry’s ears dissipated enough for him to hear voices.

“Don’t shoot that in here.”

The lights came on, blinding Gerry so that all he could see were the fine blood vessels backlit in his eyelids. A soft, feminine hand carefully surrounded his and moved his wrist so that the gun pointed to the floor. Softer now, the voice spoke in his ear. “Be calm and quiet. I’m Enna. Follow me.”

Gerry slowly opened his eyes again. Her porcelain skin was entirely without blemish. Her dark, auburn hair flowed in wide ringlets to her shoulders, contrasting starkly with her skin. Emerald green eyes with a mesmerising quality widened with a smile. “Hi,” she said.

“Hello, erm, hi…”

Petal jabbed an elbow into his ribs.

“Hey!”

“Stop staring, and get moving,” Petal said, rolling her eyes.

Enna held a hand out to Petal and helped her further into the room.

“Hello, my darling. You’re looking a little run down,” Enna said to Petal as they walked.

“They’re getting harder to contain. The AIs are evolving. There’s another one… trying to get in…” Petal took a deep breath, unable to finish her sentence.

A sheen of sweat covered her face, and she stumbled over her feet as she was led past a number of chrome-topped workbenches. The room resembled a lab or a medical theatre: various tube networks and tanks with dark shapes floating in yellow liquid lined the walls.

“Wait, I need help with Cheska,” Gerry said.

“Leave her. She’s dead. For now.” Enna spoke with not a hint of sympathy.

Before he could remonstrate, she added, “Don’t worry about her. She’s one of mine. She’ll be fine. I’ll fix her into another vehicle later.”

“Vehicle?”

“That meat bag you’re walking around in.”

She pointed a finger at the tanks, and he understood. Somehow she was transferring personalities into bodies.

Enna took Petal into an elevator and waved him in urgently.

The small metal box, just big enough for the three of them, descended into the ground for what felt like ten minutes. It got to the point where he wondered if it were moving at all. During the journey, Petal’s eyes closed, and a rising panic threatened to overwhelm him.

“Where are you taking us?” Gerry asked.

“My lab. Petal needs urgent medical attention. I see you shot her with ’Stem. What happened?”

“That was Gabe. I was with her while she was downloading into Old Grey. She collapsed. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t understand any of this.”

“Gerry, listen to me carefully. I want you to take care of Petal from now on. I fear Gabriel’s code has mutated. He’s acting entirely out of his parameters.”

“What do you mean? You’re talking as if he’s a robot or something.”

“Or something,” she replied. “These two work for me, and I do a certain degree of monitoring to ensure their safety—and the safety of others. They are highly specialised transcendents, and I can’t afford for one of them to go rogue.”

Gerry sighed with frustration. It seemed every question only deepened his misunderstanding. “What’s a transcendent? And more importantly, what the hell was that thing that attacked me?”

“First line of security. I’ve got a lot of valuable things here. I can’t just allow anyone to break in. It was also a transcendent, like Cheska.”

“You mean you’re making artificial humans?”

“Sort of. I build vehicles mostly and transpose altered personalities into their control centres. They don’t even know they’re ’dents. They know themselves as real people with real motivations.”

“So are these personalities artificial intelligences?”

“Yes, of a sort, within certain parameters. You won’t understand, and really, I don’t have time to explain fully. All you need to know is that Petal isn’t like anything else, and I need to keep her alive.”

The elevator jolted to a stop, and the doors opened.

The temperature was much lower down here, and goosebumps broke out on Gerry’s skin, despite his heavy coat.

The room itself resembled the one where Gerry had encountered Old Grey. Even down to the smoky atmosphere. Beyond the smoke, a pair of chromed tables dominated the centre of the room.

“Help me with her,” Enna said as she carried Petal to one of the tables.

Together they lifted her up and laid her on her back. Her eyes remained closed, and Gerry had to squint to ensure her chest was still rising and falling.

Enna strapped her down and, like a touch from a mother to her child, wiped Petal’s forehead and tucked a lock of her pink hair behind her ear. Enna took her goggles and placed them carefully on a worktop that lined the side of the room. Above the worktop was a series of cabinets. Various bottles and pieces of hardware lined the shelves.

“Did you create Petal?”

Enna shook her head. “No, I found her with Gabriel. Realised they were something different and took them under my wing.”

“For what reason? Just who are you, and what do you do here?”

“You ask too many questions. Not to mention the wrong ones. All you need to know is that Petal has an innate ability to consume—and hold—for a time, malicious code. Each time she does this, it weakens her. But, we need her: Seca’s getting too bold. Sending too many AIs into the Meshwork. Without her and Gabriel, we’d be at war with City Earth, and our ongoing survival just doesn’t call for that.”

Taking a flask from a cabinet, Enna poured the contents into a syringe before injecting it into Petal’s neck. “Don’t worry. It’s a painkiller and antibiotic mixture. She’ll be fine in a few hours. She just needs to rest. Let’s look at you, and then we can discuss a proposal.”

“Do you have a node here I can use? I want to check on the rogue AI.”

“Yes. I can help you with that. But we have matters to discuss first.”

Enna led Gerry to a room just big enough for a pair of sofas. Between them a table held an old-fashioned teapot and china cups—and a plate of chocolate cake. Just like his mother used to make. Enna poured him a cup and handed it to him.

“I noticed your interest pick up when I mentioned Seca. You know of him?” Enna said before taking a sip of her own tea.

Gerry breathed in the steam. It had a mint essence to it, and something else. He didn’t trust it and placed the cup casually back on the table while slicing a hefty wedge of cake.

“I don’t know you. How can I trust you?”

“Given I’ve just injected your best friend, I think it’s a little late to worry about trust.”

She made a fair point. Gerry relaxed into the soft cushion of the sofa and said, “His name came up while we were accessing Old Grey. He’d put in some kind of security to prevent Petal from downloading her various demon AIs.”

“You bypassed it, though.” It was a statement, not a question.

“You spied on us?”

“Not really,” Enna said. “That bartender is one of mine and reports back to me any access to Old Grey. I used to deal directly with Bilanko, but she won’t talk with me anymore. Afraid I was going to steal Old Grey from her.”

“So anyway, about Seca. He put in the security, which I bypassed. And he left me a video. Someone has infiltrated Cemprom.” He didn’t mention his betrayal by his wife. It still stung.

“Who’s this infiltrator?” Enna asked.

“He calls himself Jasper. I knew there was something up with him the moment he joined. It seems it was he that helped the demon AI bypass Cemprom’s security into my boss—with the help of my wife, no less.”

“That’s cold.”

“Yeah. It got into Mike’s AIA and managed to manipulate the lottery algorithm—until we exorcised and contained it. It’s in Old Grey if you want to know more about it.”

“This other AI that you’re tracking—”

“The one aiming for Kuznetski?”

“Yes. It’s not doing that. City Earth would have wiped it out way before it got as far as it has. This tells me two things: Seca’s AIs are getting stronger, and its program is for something else. How safe is the D-Lottery mechanism now?”

“I don’t know. I had to disconnect my AIA, and since I’m not there now, I have no access to Cemprom. I wouldn’t be able to get through anyway. They think I’m a dead man. With Mike out of the way, the place will be on lockdown.”

“But Jasper’s still there.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not sure,” Enna said, now sitting further forward on her sofa. “Ask yourself this: What would Seca gain from having direct access and control over the D-Lottery? And let’s forget the whole Kuznetski thing, because even if he was taken out, so what? City Earth would just cover it up and install another figurehead. He’s just there for the population to think it’s got a proper government.”

“He could essentially kill anyone still on the network.”

“What if there was no network? What if the Family took control and shut it down?”

“Then the place would have zero security anywhere. That’s the whole point of City Earth. Everything is interconnected.”

“So Seca, and anyone associated with him, could just walk right in and take over?”

“I suppose so, but why? There’re still ways of getting in and out. I’m proof of that.”

“Yes, but only on the fringes. If and when you return, it’s not like you’ll have your regular life back. You still can’t be a dad to your daughters. You’ll still be arrested and executed.”

“So it seems we need to figure out what Seca wants with an entire city.”

He tried not to think too hard about his daughters. It hadn’t been a day, and already he missed them so much. Throughout everything that had happened since he left the City, he’d compartmentalised the grief and anguish. He closed his eyes and in his mind tried to put the pain to one side. Tried to reassure himself they were safe and he’d see them again.

“I’ll do you a deal, Gerry. I’ll give you access to my data stores, because I know you’ve got a bunch of questions you want answering, even if you don’t know what they are yet, and I’ll help you locate Seca so you can find out the reason behind this attack and put a stop to it. In return I want those chips you’re carrying in your pocket.”

“How did you—”

Enna tapped the side of her temple and smiled. “Let’s just say I have intel sources.”

“What’s on these chips that’s so valuable? And this doesn’t feel like a great deal. I give you these chips, risk my life finding and stopping Seca, in return for some information—how do I even know that would be useful? What else can you offer me?”

“You’re forgetting something I’ve already given you.”

“What’s that?”

“Partnering up with Petal. Trust me. She’s as great a gift as anyone in this world could give you. She’s special, Gerry. Real special. Besides, with my help, you’ll likely survive and get to see your kids again.”

She did it. She hit the one thing he couldn’t bargain against. And whether he trusted her or not, it wasn’t a risk he was willing to take in turning down her offer—if it meant seeing his girls again. Still, he played it cool.

“You didn’t answer me. What’s so important about these chips?”

“What does it matter to you? You can’t use them. Look. Do you want to know about your real family? About your childhood? Who and what you really are? I can get all that information. It’s what I do. You thought Bilanko was a dealer of info? She’s an amateur compared to me. All I want is those chips.”

“Humour me. I’m intrigued.”

“They’re from the hacker, right?”

“Yes. I took them from a badly made transdermal implant.”

She nodded. “Yup, that sounds like one of Seca’s. He’s in too much of a hurry to do anything properly. He’s sending out AIs and hackers before they’re ready, before they’re capable. Which for us, right now, is a good thing. But the latest AIs have nearly taken down the Meshwork, and well, you’ve seen the damage one can do if it can get inside one of your people’s AIAs.”

“Seca’s just a coder?”

“Just? No. He’s more of a system designer. He employs coders to build his viruses and AIs. That’s why I want the chips, to study his processes, find out more about what he’s doing. I want to know how he made the chips. I want to help you, Gerry.”

Mulling it over, he didn’t really see what his options were. The chips were useless to him, and both Gabe and Petal trusted this woman, and if there was a chance she could help and that he could reunite with his family, it made sense. Gerry took the chips from his pocket and handed them over. “Here. You’ve got a deal.”

“That’s my boy.”

“Now can I have access to your node? Or would you rather I begged?”

Enna gave him a quick smile. “Follow me.”

She led Gerry through a door behind her sofa into a similar sized, and styled, room. This one, however, featured a number of terminals that to Gerry seemed like the ones installed in Gabriel and Petal’s room. Though she didn’t have the same elaborate chairs—eschewing them for more comfortable armchairs—there were patch cables hooked up to the flat terminal screens. Two were already switched on, and streams of code flowed in an ever downward scrolling pattern.