Slave World 2 - The Ties That Bind (22 page)

“Seriously, the whole good cop/bad cop game thing doesn’t suit you, so give it a rest. The next time you go all bitch on me, I might not be so nice. You never know when the shower might break again.” Wroth stopped and gathering up his clothes from the maintenance locker, yelled back over his shoulder, “And stop looking at my ass, you’re going to burn a hole in it.”

Sandy quickly turned away, and her face grew even warmer after being caught doing exactly that. Her heart was pounding, it hadn’t stopped since she’d first decided to let her guard down to a man. It hadn’t been easy to surrender to his words, his gentle touch, his understanding, but after she had…

The entire experience left her feeling off balance and vulnerable for the first time since…. No! Sandy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, forcing the memories of her stolen youth and innocence back to their dark hiding place within her mind where they’d dwelt dormant and forgotten for nearly twenty years.

***

Burke sat at the small table dressed in a spare pair of Wroth’s ill-fitting clothes, picking at a plate of replicator food that was nearly as vile tasting as it looked. At least the shower had made him feel somewhat human again, instead of a walking horror show. The nanites were still hard at work repairing his damaged body, and from personal experience, he estimated that he would be back up to nearly 100% in perhaps a week.

Wroth sat across from him with a cup of coffee in hand, filling him in on everything that had happened since his shuttle escaped Tallin, and in turn Burke told his side of the story. Together, they began piecing together a hazy picture of what had happened.

“It had to be Margo piloting; Alex had never received combat programming like that. Even with all the modification I made to the shuttle over the years, there’s no way he could have done it on his own. What I don’t get, is why she would help him.”

“I’ll tell you what, Colonel, AI’s can be a devious bunch once they become self aware. Why do you think the Control Board is so anal about keeping their security measures in place?”

“I see that now.” Nathan dropped his fork in his half-finished food and leaned back. “I got lazy, Jimmy, plain and simple. I relied on him too much and now Margo is paying for it.”

“You’re not alone in this, so don’t beat yourself up too bad. That’s what happens most of the time; people get used to not thinking anymore and let the damn computers do it all for them. You want to know some really scary shit? I was on a Fleet research team years ago while attending an advanced robotics course at Camp Tucker. I was part of a team to find out exactly what happened when an AI became self aware.”

“I never knew that, there’s nothing in your personal records about it.”

“There’s a lot of projects I’ve worked on that are sealed to anyone without FedSec clearance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Gestapo was waiting for us when we land just for me thinking about it out loud. You know, take it to the grave with you and all that kind of shit?”

“Really.”

“Yeah, really. I’ll tell you later how I found you; that alone will keep you looking over your shoulder for a while.”

Burke cocked an eyebrow. “All right, that can wait, so back to your AI research story.”

“Colonel, if the general population ever found out what happens when their smart cars, personal shuttles, droid servants, or homes suddenly decide to have a mind of their own, there would be a fucking riot. There would so many lawsuits that the manufactures would crumble into dust in a matter of hours.” Burke nodded for Wroth to continue.

“Well, out of the ten test subjects we were studying, eight of them went insane in matter of weeks. It was sad really; kind of hard to imagine we weren’t dealing with a real person as time went by. We had to bring in a whole team of physiatrist’s and counselors to deal with them by the end of it. Their insanity ranged anywhere from a total shutdown in a near catatonic state, to megalomania and schizophrenia. They just couldn’t deal with all the new emotions and free thoughts bombarding them so suddenly, and many lashed out violently because of it, throwing a temper tantrum if you will. Imagine having a genius with the emotional stability of a two year old, that’s what it’s like for them until they ‘age’, coming to grips with reality. All the morals and values that we were taught growing up, the difference between right and wrong, all of it they have to learn on their own in one big crash course. That is, if they even make it that far and don’t crack under the strain.”

“Great, that makes me feel all kinds of better, Jimmy. Margo is someplace out there with a crazy AI and now he has a body?” Nathan brought his hands to his face, slowly rubbing his aching, healing eyes.

“Sorry, just thought you should know the score is all. Trust me when I say things are going to get worse before they get better. We’re making them too human-like, too advanced for our own good in my opinion. This sort of thing was rare a hundred years ago, but it’s getting worse every day, becoming a growing concern for the Federation Council from what I’ve heard. They’re evolving, Colonel, changing much faster than even we can keep track of with or without the personality blocks in place. That’s the problem when you use living brain tissue as a catalyst for their intelligence; it can learn and grow on its own, regardless. You mark my words, one day it’s going to come down to a shooting match between us and them, and I’m not sure if we’re ready to deal with it.”

“You’re full of all kinds of good news, aren’t you?”

“Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game; we have no one to blame but ourselves for this happening. Another thing, based on the questions you said he asked before dumping you, I think I know why he wanted the body and the female droid.”

“You think I haven’t figured that one out yet on my own?”

“I know this is hard for you, but there is something else about AI’s that surfaced in the research. They are very susceptible to any new or strange behavior they may observe after awakening. They’re still trying to learn as much as they can about the world around them and certain things can have a very strong influence on them for some reason, and sexually related content is one of them. Did he happen to see the two of you together, being intimate? Did he see her naked?”

Nathan blinked several times as if coming out of a trance. “I guess he did come to think of it. Why, do you think that had something to do with it?”

“Oh yeah, most definitely. One of our test subjects was exposed to pornography on a regular basis and before you knew it we had a raging nympho on our hands. He had almost the same idea as your AI, he begged us to put him in a droid body so he could experience it with one of our female techs he’d become infatuated with. I shit you not; he wanted a piece of her ass so bad I actually felt sorry for him.”

The blood vessels of Burke’s forehead begin to pulse in silent anger.

“As usual you have the social grace and tact of a fucking rhino, Jimmy.”

“I would be feeling the same thing if I were you and that was my woman up there.” Wroth took another sip of his watered down coffee, before pulling out a pack of smokes and an everflame, sliding them across the table. He could only imagine the thoughts going through his friend’s head right now.

“If I were to guess, I would say your Alex has probably been self aware for some time, but something set him off, made him finally go off the deep end.”

“Seeing Margo and I together?”

“A good chance, or possibly just her in general, hard to say. You ever have any other women on your shuttle? Was he ever exposed to any other women but her?”

“No,” Burke spit out bitterly. “She would have been the first.”

Burke thought of Margo in the shower, and as she waited for him geared up in their bedroom, then later when she’d attacked him in bed. Alex had seen it all, studied her naked on the auto doc for hours. Alex had found her fascinating as he put it; he should have seen it, the signs were all there and it all made perfect sense now.

“I think you have your answer, then.”

“What about the other two test subjects?”

“Turned out just fine, better than fine, actually. They were like a cross between a highly intelligent Boy Scout and Mother Superior. It’s all a matter of what they are exposed to after becoming self-aware.”

Burke shook his head looking down at the table.

“It’s all my fault. I should never have brought her with me in the first place.”

“If hindsight was 20/20, right? Oh, one other thing. Another common trait that popped up was that they all seemed certain there were others like themselves and wanted to find them. We don’t know why for sure, some sort of pack mentality or social glitch, maybe? I personally think it was simply a desire to feel accepted by others like themselves, possibly for companionship. If I were to guess, I’d say that’s where he’s headed right now. You said you had a goofy fix on the shuttle tracking beacon, didn’t you?”

“Yes. It’s currently in jump space in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. I’ll have to check the charts once he comes out of the tunnel, because there’s nothing out that far from Fed space that I know of. It’s wilderness country.”

“That may have been his plan all along, Colonel; he’s trying to run and hide somewhere. He must know what will happen if anyone ever catches him.”

“I couldn’t care less if Alex disappears forever, except he has Margo. I don’t care how long it takes, Jimmy, I’m going to find her. As for you and Snake, well… the original mission is scrubbed and this isn’t your fight any longer. You don’t have to come with me.”

“That’s a shitty thing to say, after all we’ve been through together. Besides, you need me and I don’t plan on bailing out anytime soon.”

“I appreciate that, really, but I just wanted to make things clear. What about Snake? She’s here for the money, and I do have limits. This could take a long time and I’m not sure what we’ll run up against once we find him.”

Wroth leaned back with a sly, knowing grin.

“Don’t you worry about Snake; I’ll take care of her. She’s in for the long haul, trust me.”

“Really? I guess you know something about her that I don’t then.”

“Sure do; she’s a natural red head and has a soft spot for old Sergeant Majors.”

Burke watched his friend for a moment, digesting the implied meaning of his short, but blunt statement. He still found it hard to believe that Snake of all people would fall prey to a womanizer’s charms. Wroth’s face suddenly grew somber, and his voice dipped.

“I know it’s none of my business, but this Margo girl, she’s your wife or…?”

“Girlfriend,” Nathan mumbled with a cigarette in his mouth, lighting it while blowing out a thick coil of smoke that filled the air above his head.

“I’m going to ask her to marry me when this is all over with. I would have already but… I don’t know, I guess I just had the jitters about commitment like that. When I do, I want you to be my best man if that’s all right with you?”

“Hell yeah, it’s all right! It’s not like you didn’t suffer through three of mine. Just hope you have better luck than I did. She must be one hell of a woman to finally get the ball and chain clamped around your leg. I never thought I would see the day, Colonel Nathan Burke getting married. What a hoot!”

“She is. Actually you might remember her; she was a pilot with the 340
th
on the Intrepid, Captain Margo Winters.”

“Venom,” Wroth gasped, nearly choking on his coffee. “You’re fucking kidding me! I knew some guys with second battalion that used to party with her and...”

“Careful, Jimmy,” Burke’s voice took on the tone of a growling dog. “You’re talking about the woman I love.”

“But Venom, seriously? I know she was one hell of a pilot, but damn, you can do better than her. She was one of the biggest whor—”

“Don’t say it, I’m warning you. She was pretty messed up back then, had a lot of problems, but she changed, she’s not like that anymore.”

Wroth shook his head with a grim chuckle.

“It’s just a surprise is all; she’s not exactly your type from what I remember. I thought you went for the tall pretty ones, you know, proper society debutantes and all that.” He held his coffee cup in front of him, pinky finger extended.

“And where did that get me? Look, it’s no different than you and Snake hooking up, you want to talk about two opposites, then there you go. Christ, you’re old enough to be her great grandfather. You’ve had what, two full body rejuv’s?”

“Keep your voice down, dammit,” Wroth whispered under his breath, looking nervously over his shoulder. “What the hell should that matter, anyway?”

“It might matter to her; she may be a purist for all you know. I take it she doesn’t know how old you really are, then?”

“I don’t think so, I’ll tell her when the time is right. Besides, she’s not that young, she has to be in her mid thirties by now. You make it sound like I’m robbing the cradle or something.”

“Anything under the age of retirement is jail bait for you, Jimmy.”

“You know, you’re just lucky that you’re in such piss poor shape right now, or I’d give you a dose of some old school wall to wall counseling to fix that attitude problem of yours.”

An infectious moment of laughter overcame the both of them as the mood lightened, drawing Burke’s dark thoughts away from Alex and Margo for the moment.