Chapter 29
Another damn upgrade. Byte didn’t even give me a chance to recuperate before initiating it. Ten minutes after we arrived at Andra’s, I got the dreaded ping. Byte promised the forced downtime wouldn’t hinder my recuperation.
I’d been using a wheelchair in Andra’s place ever since the data center operation.
With Byte upgrading, I realized just how much it’d been dampening my pain.
Because I felt every bruise now… and my body was one giant bruise.
But Andra had some bionanites and gave me a single injection.
I was healing fast but could’ve used a second injection.
At least I wasn’t in as rough of shape as Talon.
Andra had said he would’ve died if she didn’t have a very expensive emergency kit on hand.
Some of his injuries were pretty bad, including a ruptured spleen (I didn’t even know what a spleen was), but his most serious injury was losing Kynan…
losing his heart. He was on Andra’s guest bed, refusing to talk to anyone—he wouldn’t even let me in the room.
He let Andra in because she had to change his bandages and IVs; otherwise, he wouldn’t have let her in either.
He was on his fifth injection of bionanites.
I couldn’t blame him for avoiding everyone.
I was feeling like we’d been smashed against rock bottom.
Softbiotics had taken everyone from me all because I had something they wanted.
I used to blame my trouble on Byte, but if I did that, I also had to give it credit for meeting Lyra…
and Softbiotics took any chance we might’ve had.
Andra tapped one of sixteen different video feeds displaying on one of her twelve large screens. All were from drone feeds she’d hacked. “See that?”
“See what?” I asked groggily.
“They’re hitting this same apartment building again. As of this morning, they’ve started to increase the number of raids. I think it’s because they know the resistance is out of the picture with Kynan gone.” Her eye twinged, and she went quiet.
People were disappearing, and there wasn’t a damned thing we could do about it.
Hell, everything we did seemed to just speed up Softbiotics plans to provide human workers—and soldiers who didn’t need to be paid could be made to do anything, and were completely expendable.
I wondered how many other corporations were trying something similar.
Softbiotics had never been the first to do anything, but it had perfected mass production of cruelty.
The news feeds showed low-towners rioting as the reason for the raids, but the opposite was true.
Ninety-nine percent of the population continued to work every day and then hid at home.
We were convinced the small group of rioters the news drones filmed were hijacked high-towners.
There hadn’t been any riots since the data center.
Either the kill switch worked, or the enforcers didn’t need an excuse anymore.
My energy came back at the same time my pain dialed back to almost nothing. I sucked in a breath of relief.
Andra eyed me with concern. “Are you okay?”
“Byte’s back.”
“Good,” she said. “It can help me sift through all this data I’m downloading.” She stood, grabbed her empty glass, and then exited her cage and headed to the kitchen.
Biological organisms are surprisingly complex.
“Compared to drones? Sure, I guess,” I said.
I upgraded the pain management protocols. However, I couldn’t design anything to dampen your emotional pain without impacting your ability to function.
“I could’ve told you that. If there was an easy, healthy way to take away the hurt, humans would’ve figured it out a long time ago.”
I decided to develop a theory for emotional support and attachment instead.
“And what’s that?”
Suddenly, Lyra stood before me, leaning against the Faraday cage. She looked real in every way, with a hint of an aura around her. My heart panged upon seeing her again. I stood and took a step toward her. Then she spoke. What do you think?
I stopped cold. It was her voice with Byte’s too-perfect inflection. “How’re you doing this?”
The avatar is created much like the heads-up display in your eyes, and her voice is simply a different sound sequence.
I developed the ability to display an avatar so that you may anthropomorphize me rather than consider me simply as the voice in your head.
Do you approve of this avatar? I detect elevated heart rate.
I can try something else if you’d like. Lyra morphed into Nolan.
I cringed. “No, God, no. Stop.” Even though this was a healthy Nolan—how he used to look—all I could see was the Nolan from the lab.
The avatar became Lyra again. Do you prefer this avatar? I can also make a generic one. She became a pretty woman with long, dark hair. I can be whatever you want. The woman’s voice was overly sensual.
I cringed. “Geez, Byte, I don’t want a sex bot skulking around inside my head.
That’s creepy.” Even though Lyra had died in my arms, this avatar didn’t remind me of that moment.
Instead, it brought back the other times, times I didn’t want to forget.
Byte wasn’t replacing Lyra, not by any means.
The avatar before me lacked her spirit, her essence.
While it looked and sounded like her, it was obvious she was an imitation.
But seeing her did bring an odd comfort.
It reminded me of how Grandmother used to stare at the picture of her husband.
I sat back down. “I’m okay with you looking like Lyra. ”
Lyra stood before me. Okay, Cal. I’m glad that I can help ease your pain, and I believe this form will aid in our communications. Using an avatar requires minimal additional energy—you won’t notice any impact on your required caloric intake.
“That’s good to hear.”
“What’s good to hear?” Andra asked, coming back into the room with a tray containing a stack of four sandwiches and two glasses of water.
“Byte’s latest upgrade isn’t going to add to my daily hunger.” My stomach growled when I smelled the smoked tuna.
“Good, because I can’t afford to keep feeding you.” She set the tray on my lap, and took a single sandwich and drink for herself. She took a bite and, while chewing, said, “Byte, how do you feel about processing some data?”
The speakers in Andra’s computer cage said in Lyra’s voice, “I’d be happy to help.” I could still see Lyra’s avatar as she spoke.
Andra’s brows shot up. “That voice is new.”
“You know Byte. She’s always upgrading,” I said, digging into my three sandwiches.
Andra headed into her cage. “All right, Byte. Let’s get to work. First up, we want to figure out why the enforcers have been rounding up so many people. Next up, I want to know exactly where those people are being taken and how we can get them back. That ought to keep us busy for a while.”
“I’ve finished processing the first terabyte of data, and I can address your first query,” Byte said.
“The people are needed as inputs as part of a business expansion plan for Softbiotics to rent amped armies for corporate wars. Softbiotics is expanding its amplification technology product line to include ‘leashed’ soldiers with military-grade amps. This is in addition to adding amps to ships and weaponry to link all systems to operators based out of a Softbiotics control center. The ‘security personnel’ would be permanently under the control of their operators. Whereas amps are implanted at the base of the skull with wire threads winding through a newborn’s brain, these soldiers would have their amps permanently hardwired throughout their motor cortex.
Installed at adulthood, they would essentially be brain-dead.
And, since most residents of Dreswick are not listed in the corporate registry, they legally don’t exist and thus, most anti-cruelty laws don’t apply. ”
“My gods,” Andra said. “They’d be like the high-towners who were used like soldiers in Dreswick.”
“Much like that, but those high-towners had their amps hijacked via a control module. These soldiers’ amps would be purely an interface for an operator to control each soldier,” Byte said.
“I always knew the corporations were heartless, but this is… evil,” I said.
“Yes,” Byte agreed. “It seems that Softbiotics is quite serious about merging amplification technology with the human services industry. And I’m not talking about services for humans; I’m talking about a new form of slavery.
They bumped up their acquisition phase when they discovered the resistance had Dr. Katz’s prototype amp that could be implanted in an adult without damaging the brain.
They want the design to implant because they would prefer their slaves to not be brain-dead from a purely convenience standpoint.
For example, if a company didn’t pay their bill, Softbiotics could release their soldiers and let humans do what humans do best: cause chaos. ”
I heard movement from the hallway and glanced over to see Talon limp out. His arm was still in a sling, and bruises covered most of his skin. But the swelling had gone down.
Andra scrutinized him. “You need another injection.”
“Save it for someone who will really need it,” Talon said.
“Good to see you out of bed.” I stood and gestured to my wheelchair, and he took a seat, relief evident in his features.
I spoke softly to Talon then. “Listen, the past day was rough on us. I lost a good friend, and I know how important Kynan was to you.”
His features were tight and he looked up at me, eyes narrowing. “You’ve still got some plastic tar on your face. Acetone should take it off. I’ve used it in sticky bombs before, and that tar’s the same stuff.”
“Okay.” He wanted that conversation buried. Couldn’t say I blamed him. Even thinking about my buddy right now was damn near crippling.
“I heard what the computer was saying,” Talon said.
“Byte. My amp’s plugged into Andra’s machines,” I clarified.
“I heard what Byte said,” Talon said. “We need to round up the resistance and keep Softbiotics from winning the Evil Corporation of the Century award.”
Andra guffawed. “Resistance? What resistance? It’s the three of us, and that’s it. Without Kynan at the helm, people are in hiding. The factions—those that haven’t been wiped out by enforcers—have collapsed. There’s no one left.”
“No one?” Talon asked.
“Well, hardly anyone,” she said.
I thought for a moment before saying, “Hardly anyone is better than no one. And I’m with Talon. Even if it’s just the three of us, we have to free all those people that were taken, and we need to make sure Softbiotics can’t do this again, at least not here.”
“You guys are nuts,” Andra said. “We’d been planning the takedown for years, and that was going to use all the factions working together. The three of us can’t do shit against a corporation the size of Softbiotics.”
“We can at least try. I can’t live with myself if I don’t try to keep anyone else from ending up like Nolan.” Or Grandmother… or Lyra.
“We hit them. It’s what Kynan would’ve wanted,” Talon said.
“I can assist in tracking down resistance members,” Byte said through the computer speakers.
Andra considered us and then shrugged. “Yeah, okay, but what can we do?”
I thought about what Byte had managed to do already, and I rubbed my hands together as the barest threads of a plan began to weave together. “If we can get to their primary computer room in Softbiotics Tower, I can take them down.”
Andra spun in her desk chair to face us. “Eleven. That’s the army we’ve got for you.”
“Eleven?’ I asked. “Is that including the three of us?”
She laughed. “Does it matter? And no, it doesn’t.”
“Fourteen. That’s more than I thought we’d have,” Talon said, seeming genuinely surprised.
Byte spoke through the speakers with her avatar of Lyra standing, her hand resting on the back of Andra’s chair.
“There are more confirmed resistance members available, but these eleven are ones we can trust. This operation is already so high-risk, if it’s discovered by Viktor Garris, our probability of success drops to essentially zero percent. ”
“And what’s the probability if we aren’t discovered?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Byte said.
“We know what we’ve got to work with at least,” Talon said.
“I’m currently running scenarios against five plan variations. The plan we’re developing builds upon Kynan Kade’s original plan, which is no longer viable due to lack of resources. We should have the variations narrowed down within the hour,” Byte said.
The computer beeped loudly, and Andra spun back in her chair. “It’s time.”
She switched all screens to larger video feeds.
She pointed at the screens. They were all of the market.
It was lunch time, but the market was only half full.
“This is the one spot in Dreswick where we know there are still zombies—people with hijacked amps. Nullzilla activates in five… four… three… two… one.”
Simultaneously, about one out of every twenty people shuddered. Then they continued on with their business.
Andra hit her keyboard. “Crap!” Glumly, she turned back to us. “It appears Nullzilla should be called Dullzilla because it didn’t do anything.” She sighed. “Back to the drawing board.” She cursed again.
Byte then said, “The mission parameters are based on the assumption that the kill switch was successful. That lowers our chance for success. It will take me several more hours to rerun mission scenarios.”
“I’ll be happy if you can get us something that gives us a fifty-fifty chance,” Talon said.
Byte actually laughed for the first time. “Talon, we’ll never have that high of a chance. The best-case scenarios I’ve run so far give us a thirty-four percent chance of success.”
I shrugged. “I’ve handled worse odds.”
“That success rate included Nullzilla’s successful deployment. The best-case scenario is now seventeen percent.”
I wrinkled my nose. Seventeen percent was lousy even by my standards.
“Seeing that Andra’s Nullzilla program had some impact, I have an idea. I am analyzing the code now. Please be patient,” Byte said.
We sat there, glancing randomly at one another, though I watched Byte mostly. She was sitting on the edge of the desk, typing away on her own imaginary keyboard.
At least a minute passed before Byte looked up at me and smiled. “I believe the kill switch required only a few changes. Andra, I’ve sent the code for you to review. I believe we should test the changes prior to leaving on the mission.”
Andra leaned closer to the screen as she started scrolling through the code. “How do we even test Nullzilla 2.0? It’s too dangerous to attempt to hit another data center.”
“I can wirelessly transmit it if I am within range—say, ten feet—of a hijacked amp,” Byte said.
I cracked my knuckles. “Good thing we know exactly where to find one.”