The Genesis Code 1: Lambda (21 page)

“I love it when I win.”

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[January 6th - Virginia - Exalted Records Media House #127 - Night]

Cecilia was still in a daze. She could barely remember what had just happened to her. One minute she was on stage in the Network, and the next she was surrounded by several members of the media company, all with distressed looks on their faces. Apparently, the server had crashed, causing hundreds of people to experience what she went through, a minor acute coma. She had been out for nearly an hour, but it felt like she had been sleeping for a month. It was so strange. Cecilia found it vexing how she could barely get to a sitting position on the bed she laid in. The others that surrounded her kept encouraging her to remain
in bed, but she couldn’
t sit still at a time like this.

What happened back there?

The door to her room burst open. Slightly alarmed, Cecilia turned to see the face of her manager, Sarah. Her hair was frazzled and her glasses crooked. Cecilia almost let a giggle slip out, but that was just before she saw the look of distress on Sarah’s face. She had never seen her look so discomposed and weary. However, her expression quickly softened the moment she saw Cecilia sitting up in bed. The expression seemed so warm to her, almost motherly.

Sarah rushed over, nearly knocking over the people around Cecilia and embraced her tightly. Cecilia was now completely perplexed and unsure how to respond. Sarah had always been rather strict to her. This was a side she had never seen before. She didn’t know how to take this sudden affection, nor did she think Sarah felt this way about her. However, the embrace was very soothing.

Sarah must have noticed or felt the confused emotions from Cecilia as she suddenly let her go. When Cecilia looked up at her, she noted that her face was flushed.

“I-I was just worried that you wouldn’t be able t-to continue as our top idol.” Her stammered words were plagued with embarrassment.

Cecilia let out a small giggle. “I always thought you had a kind side, Sarah, I just never knew you were so afraid to show it.”

Sarah’s mouth opened to speak, but no words seemed to come out. She merely averted her gaze and tried to sound professional.

“I-it is my job to ensure your safety at all times. It is only natural that I worry. Don’t mistake my emotions for love of any sort.”

Everyone in the room, including Cecilia, had to stifle a laugh. It was truly comedic how dishonest she was with herself.

“A-anyway! All of you leave. Cecilia needs time to rest and recuperate.”

The staff in the room rolled their eyes, but did as they were told. Quickly, they all piled out and left Sarah and Cecilia alone. Once the door was shut, Sarah took a seat on the bed and let out a sigh.

“You have no idea how much of a scare you gave all of us. We thought you weren’t going to wake up. Not to mention the fact that we all nearly had a heart attack when the server froze. I have never seen anything like it.”

Cecilia held her head down. She wasn’t sure if she should speak of what happened right before she fell into darkness.

Should I tell her about Zack and Lambda? Would she be able to help?

Cecilia’s thoughts were all in the air, twisting and turning. She didn’t know who she could talk to right now. Zack wasn’t lying about Lambda. They were indeed being targeted. This left Cecilia at a loss of what to do. The only thing that really made sense was to find out where Zack was and make sure that he was okay. Outside of that, she didn’t have any idea.

“Is everything okay? You look a bit pale,” came the concerned words of Sarah.

Cecilia just shook her head. “I’m fine, really. I guess I just need some rest.” She tried to put on a brave face, but her weary smile gave her away.

Sarah chuckled and shook her head. “You do that, then. Once you get some rest, be sure to come and get me later. We need to talk about rescheduling your concert.”

Cecilia nodded in agreement. “Good. Now I just-”

A loud vibrating noise came from Sarah’s Com-Linker. She quickly glanced at the screen, annoyed at the interruption. After noting the identity of the incoming call, she turned to Cecilia with a light smile.

“Well, duty calls. Get some rest, okay.”

Cecilia laid down as she was told. She didn’t say another word as she watched Sarah leave. In truth, she wanted to thank her for worrying about her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be cared for. On top of that, she still had the thoughts of Zack and Lambda. She wanted to do something, but for the life of her, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The bed and the stress were just so intoxicating.

Moments later, she fell into a peaceful darkness where solemn silence waited for her. It was purifying and nurturing, just what she needed to calm her mind.

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Sarah watched and waited until Cecilia was fast asleep. She closed the door lightly and adjusted her earpiece.

“It is done. You have an hour.”

The voice on the other line hummed. “So sorry to pull you out of retirement. You have done very well.”

Sarah pocketed a small syringe into a knapsack on her hip, smiling rather devilishly.

“All for the greater cause, Leader.”

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[January 6th - Abingdon, Virginia - 43 Academy Drive - Night]

Zack could barely come up with words to describe what was happening in front of him. He was struggling to figure out what action and course was the best move in order to deal with the towering knight of silver.

Is he in league with those Void Reapers?

The silver knight stepped forward. “I won’t ask again, Zackary Allan Knight. Hand over the Lambda unit, and turn yourself in now.”

Zack felt his legs began to shake. He was rooted by fear rather than his iron will. He had underestimated how fast he could be tracked down. What worried him more was if the other Void Reapers would be joining the knight of silver.

“Lambda,” Zack whispered. “We need to avoid this fight.”

Lambda didn’t look away from the silver knight. “Negative. Neutralizing the threat will be more effective.” Her words were powerful, and calculated.

The silver knight took another step forward. “I grow impatient. My orders are to bring you in unharmed, but if force is needed, I will respond in full.” The knight held out his hand, creating a small ball of dense space. He then reached into the orb as it expanded outward.

“This is your last chance to comply,” he warned with a deep voice.

Zack looked to Lambda. She appeared ready to unleash Armageddon should the knight make an advance. Zack knew he had to prevent this. Needless destruction now would only lead to attention that they didn’t need.

“Okay, we surrender,” Zack said holding his hands up.

Lambda reeled, looking to Zack utterly perplexed.

The knight seemed to ease up, removing his hand from the black hole before him.

“I’m glad you have seen reason. Now, order the Lambda unit to-”

“Lambda, now!” Zack bellowed.

Lambda didn’t even process Zack’s words of surrender as she responded flawlessly. With swift procession, she elbowed the silver knight in the chest, and followed up with a soaring kick that sent the warrior propelling into Zack’s house. Zack could hear the knight smash through the building and crash out the other side, causing the house to buckle and fall due to the massive damage sustained by Lambda’s attack.

Lambda turned to Zack. “Target has suffered non lethal blows. Lambda will now finish-”

“That won’t be necessary. We can’t have you blowing stuff up and alerting the whole county of our presence,” Zack interrupted forcefully.

Lambda didn’t seem pleased. “This choice of action could prove hazardous later-”

Zack became agitated. “I don’t have time to explain to you why killing people is wrong,” he spoke firmly. “Now, if we want to beat Corson to Cecilia, we need to move now!”

Lambda sensed a strange tremor running up and down her body as she gaped at Zack. She wasn’t sure if she was fond of it, but found herself compelled to obey. There was something in Zack’s eyes that seemed to alert her to not push the issue further. Instinctively, she listened, and said no more.

“Lambda still needs the location to the-”

A massive explosion erupted just beyond Zack’s crumbled home. He could almost feel the pressure and wrath coming from the given direction.

“No time! Just take us to one of locations you have set in your history!”

Lambda responded quickly and grabbed hold of Zack as they leapt into the darkness of the wormhole. Zack couldn’t help but look behind him as the slit in space began to close and noted the silver knight bolting toward the receding wormhole. His inflamed eyes glowed a bright orange as the lightning bolt on his face radiated like magma. Zack averted his eyes in fear as the slit shut just before the knight reached its opening.

Way too close for comfort.

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Ares slammed his fist into the ground. The area he stood in smoldered as if hit by a comet. He tapped his helmet lightly.

“It’s Ares. The boy escaped through the Lambda unit’s Worm Drive. I’m unable to pursue.”

The words of Dead Eye rang into his ear. They throbbed with a sickly sensation. “I had predicted as much,” Dead Eye uttered, sounding almost uninterested.

“My apologies. I was caught off guard-”

“Survey the area. The AI unit has a limit in distance it can go with its Worm Drive.”

Ares then heard laughter on the line.

“It’s now a race!” Dead Eye howled with enthusiasm.

Ares didn’t understand. “What do you-”

“You or the Void Reapers. Which one will claim the prize first?!”

Ares was rendered speechless as he mulled over the calamity that was to come.

[11]

Willpower

[January 7th - Washington DC - Cyber Research Plant - Day]

Charles tapped his fingers on his fluorescent tablet. The illuminated device stared back at him with several open files. The other members of his council waited anxiously.

Charles ceased his rhythmic beating as he reached to his template and pulled up a number dial screen. He blazed a combination in with his limber fingers and within seconds, all the templates before the members turned bright red. Charles noted their sudden change of mood.

“W-what is this?!”

Charles didn’t falter. “Exactly what you see. It has been decided that in the event of
complications
, the backup plan is to have Number 5, Project Epsilon, ready for deployment.”

The dark room was silent for several uninterrupted moments.

“T-this must be a joke right? Epsilon can’t be used!”

Charles’ gaze was crushing. “It is our job to reprogram the Epsilon unit and have it ready as a last resort. Those are the orders made by the Board and enforced by Babel.”

The members of Charles’ council all began to chatter widely.

“But why Epsilon? We have other AI that are being kept in stasis lock. We can use them-”

“They are either unprepared to handle Lambda, or are defective. The Lambda unit is learning quickly. We need to match that.”

The chatter started to seem more hysteric.

“B-but the very reason Epsilon was caged was because it became self-aware to the point that we couldn’t control it. Surely you don’t expect us to-”

Charles was becoming annoyed now. “Epsilon’s adaptability matched with its power, far outclasses all the AI’s that have been created up to this point, arguably even Lambda’s. Why do you think all the others up to Lambda have been failures?” Charles didn’t give the men time to answer. “It’s simple, because none of them came even close to the potential displayed by Project Epsilon.”

The chatter died down. At the very sight of Charles, all the men cowered before his presence. Still, they persisted on the matter.

“What can we do to ensure Epsilon’s obedience?”

Charles smirked. “First, we must fine-tune its programming and limit its ability to think on its own. We will need to be in complete control. The second, we must have a fail-safe in place to ensure that Epsilon is unable to disobey us even if it becomes self aware again. If we can complete these two things, then the control of Number 5 is assured.”

Not everyone agreed with his confidence.

“Who will oversee the programming of the Epsilon unit?”

Charles smiled widely. “Why, none other than its creator . . Dr. Karen Knight.”

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Margret marched with heated purpose as she rounded the corners of the research lab. Her mind was firing on all cylinders as she ran through her head exactly how she wanted to play her hand. She didn’t have all the pieces yet, but she had great confidence that her current plan could shed some light on the given situation, and perhaps reveal a few mysteries within.

Margret stopped in front of one of the many steel doors within the research lab and flashed her ID card across the translucent pad to the door’s right. The door sprang open seconds later and allowed Margret to enter Karen’s private quarters. What she found on the other side of the door was rather surprising.

“I figured you would be showing up sooner or later, Margret.”

Margret didn’t like the tone used by her friend, but she did her best to ignore it as she entered the quarters, dimly lit by several monitors around the room.

“Then you are aware of why I’m here?”

Karen smiled. “Of course. It was only a matter of time before you came to me and probed for some information. I know how that head of yours works.”

Margret found her attitude unusually prophetic.
She sounds too confident.

“Well, get on with it,” she uttered, now sounding bored.