Fortitude, p.7
Fortitude, page 7
A tear began to roll down Constance’s cheek. “We… I… the machine man will get us. Kevin Riley drew him and I with blue eyes. He didn’t want me to—”
“Holy shit… yes…”
Alexis turned, shocked at Travis’s out of character outburst. “You okay over there?”
Denise beat him to his explanation. “That’s why the AI wants this location!” she said, walking further into the room. “I presumed it was because it was one of the last command centers left, but it was never completely about that! It was about the human beings that it cannot control…”
Brad helped Alexis back to the bed. She noticed Travis was deep in thought. “The AI wants Constance…” She corrected herself before uttering what she thought. “The AI wants to stop her?”
“That’s why the AI attacked the ship…” said Brad, his face laden with the weight of what he saw just twenty-four hours earlier.
“It wanted all of the ASD people dead. Out of the way,” said Denise.
Travis shook his head. “No, no no… it has to be more than that.” Alexis started to relay what he had said, when he held his hand up. “This form of communication is too inefficient. I can help those in this room see me. You just need to touch them.”
Denise noticed Alexis’ head nodding to the conversation only the agent could hear, then saw her recoil. “What is it? What is Travis saying?”
Alexis looked at her. “He says he can do something to help you and Brad see him, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Shit. At this point, I’m game for anything,” said Brad.
Alexis snorted a laugh but she could see the scientist had fear in her eyes. “He said, he will need to give you a few of his nanites, the ones that are already flowing through me. It won’t allow the AI to control you, but it will allow you to see him. He said it’s a small thing but might make a big difference…”
Denise’s internal protest was brief. “Fine.” She walked forward, standing next to Brad and Alexis lifted her hand slowly, dragging it across Brad’s then Denise’s arm.
“I don’t feel…” Brad’s mouth fell open on seeing the young man who was a clone of Mike but twenty years younger. “Well… Hi…”
Travis nodded with a smile, then looked at the woman next to the tall man who was looking at him intensely. “The AI doesn’t want to get rid of the ASD’s because he can’t control them. He wants to get rid of them, because they can control him! I can’t believe I missed it until now!”
“How is that even—”
Constance slumped to the ground, her head between her knees, hands over her jet black hair, rocking. “I don’t want… I don’t want… I don’t want…”
This time it was the virtual being that walked and kneeled in front of her. “Constance… it’s okay to be scared. I’m scared…”
Constance slowly looked up with large, glossy eyes. She wasn’t the only one in the small space the was surprised by the announcement. “How are you scared? You’re like the other machine man.”
“I’m not like him. I remember what it was to be human. He never was. He was born an artificial being, and he only see’s the world and people through that lens. He will never understand people like I do, or you, or anyone in this room. That’s why I need you to help me…”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The atmosphere inside the motorhome was as icy as what had built up on the windows. But not because of the temperature. Mike rubbed his sleeve on the glass, removing some of the condensation but the landscape beyond was still cloaked in an absolute darkness.
He sat back on his seat. Those around him appeared asleep. Paige and her brother were sleeping in the rear room while Dale was half on, half off the padded seat opposite Mike, the young man’s eyes closed, his mouth open with a thin slither of dribble, threatening to fall. He couldn’t see if Casey was asleep in the passenger’s seat up front, but he doubted she was. After the incident with the ranch laborer or whatever it was Bryce did for Gregg, she had become oddly quiet. Even more so than she usually was, and that made Mike anxious. He had brief encounters with those that ran criminal enterprises over the years, and from the scant detail she had told him about her husband, Bert appeared to fit the profile perfectly, but she, with her fading prom queen beauty, was an enigma, which is probably why law enforcement on both sides of the border had missed her. They assumed the Grant family business died with him, when instead it simply continued under the matriarch.
It hadn’t taken Mike long to respect the woman seated in the high-back leather seat, next to the driver, but he also knew her intelligence came with a ruthlessness which she must have inherited from her late husband. He wasn’t about to trust her. But for now the Grant clan was helping him get to where he needed to be, and that was enough.
At least he took out the AI’s agent, without anyone shooting him. There was that. But he also knew the AI was still out there. He looked at the window again, trying to see beyond the ice particles to the void outside.
How are you, Alexis?
The vehicle started to slow, making him sit up in his seat. They were soon parked and Jared lumbered through the drape, standing expectant at Mike’s side. “The boss says you gotta drive.”
Mike nodded, getting up, while the younger man took his spot near the window, quickly pushing a pillow behind his head and closing his eyes. Mike walked to the front and peered through the curtain. Casey was looking away, into the night behind the headlights. Without talking, Mike sat in the driver’s seat and eased down on the gas.
*****
Alexis thought she had gotten used to rifles being pointed at her, but even for her this was a bit extreme. She stood at one end of a long room with a low roof, with walls covered in a clear cabling that pulsed with light. Travis had already informed her that the cables were some form of new communication network that even he hadn’t been able to make sense of. Evidently humans were evolving just as the AI had.
Seven marines were pointing their M4s at her. No doubt, news of what she did on the boat had made its way to more senior officers and nobody was taking a chance again. Still though, it was good to see the woman in charge, in person.
President Hendricks stood towards the opposite end, some twenty feet away, equally surrounded by stout looking, armored individuals. There was probably another squad waiting just outside one of the two entrances, ready to storm the room if things went sideways.
“So I thought it would be good for us to meet face to face,” said Hendricks. “Considering we might just well be the two most important people on this continent right now…”
“He agrees.” Travis was standing near the left wall, roughly halfway between each group. He was wearing a gray suit which Alexis thought was amusing, considering the president couldn’t even see him.
“Good. Please sit.” Hendricks sat in one of the plastic looking chairs, with Alexis doing the same. “The message I received said that you have some positive news?”
Travis tightened his brow. “It would be so much easier if I could just give her some more—”
She’s not going to do that, thought Alexis, then nodded in reply to the president. “Yes. The drawing that Kevin Riley drew, freaked out Constance, but has given us an opportunity.”
“I thought you already had your plan? The… Travis will increase his processing power within your body, by absorbing more nanites, and that will allow him to create the necessary virus to implant within the AI?”
“And that is still the plan, but—”
The president had raised a hand, her finger pointing towards Alexis. “You have…”
Alexis realized what was being pointed at. A marine leaned forward handing her a rag, which she used to wipe the blood which had been seeping from her nose. “Sorry about that. Yes, as I was saying. Travis is working on the virus. He says the original he created is still within the AI’s network. It’s actually been slowing the AI down, otherwise… well, it’s helped us survive this long. The new virus will integrate with that one and remove the AI’s ability to communicate through neutrinos. Locking all of the nanites in our world, in place. Well, unless they accidentally bump into each other. But it would appear the AI’s greatest threat is not even from Travis, but from Constance and Kevin…” She sighed. “And any others like them, if they are still alive out there.”
“We already know they are impervious to the AI’s intrusion into their minds.”
“It goes further than that…”
“Go on…”
“Travis tells me they have the potential ability to control the AI, or at least control localized parts of it. Their minds act as a command function to any nanites. That’s why the centralized AI couldn’t take their minds. Or at least that’s the theory. But… They would need more nanites in their system to fully realize their potential, and they’re are not too happy about that…”
“And if they are injected with more nanites, what does that do for us? How can it help us against the AI?”
Travis answered the question despite knowing the President couldn’t hear him. “They can be used as a distraction to allow me to reintegrate into the AI’s network without being detected!”
She can’t hear you…
Alexis repeated what he had just said then continued. “Travis says it has improved our chances of success by three-point-four percent. But you must still resist the onslaught which is on its way with everything you have, otherwise…”
“I see… well, that’s something… How… are you feeling?”
Alexis forced another smile. “Drained, but… strangely hopeful… I just wish… it doesn’t matter.”
“What? If there is anything we can do to—”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m sure once this is all said and done, a statue will be erected in your honor… Probably not much solace…”
“Just don’t give me one of those placid expressions that you see on them. I want mine to be at least smiling.”
Hendricks smiled, nodding. A soldier, older than the others around her, leaned forward and whispered something into her ear.
“Tell her yes,” said Travis. “I will give them my opinion.”
“Uh?” said Alexis to him. She realized she had replied to someone no one else could see.
“Just say, yes,” said Travis.
Alexis looked at the president. “He… says, that he will give you his opinion.”
The older soldier frowned, while Hendricks briefly smiled. “Bring it in,” she said to the soldier, who walked to the door, opened it, then stood back as a large flat screen monitor was wheeled in, placed near the right wall and turned on.
Travis walked towards it, transfixed, like most others in the room by what was playing out on the screen.
Beige and greens, fields, streets then buildings slid by, thousands of feet below the camera. It was daytime but the air was filled with the occasional wisp of brown smoke and the hum of propellers. As the gray of a cityscape increased, so did the light. Alexis knew what was about to appear on the screen, even though she had no direct memory of it. Travis though had seen it before.
“Minds…” he said, almost to himself.
Minds?
On the forty-two inches of liquid display, the pixels struggled to control the brightness moving onto the screen. It was as if the old plane was flying above a newly formed star and around it, just visible was a structure, seemingly a pyramid in design but with walls that appeared non-reflective as if the light existed within a hole.
“What is that?” The question from Alexis was for Travis, but it was the president who answered.
“We were hoping you could tell us. I mean… Travis could.”
He glanced at Alexis. “Ask them if there are anymore sites like this, in other cities occupied by the AI.” Alexis did.
“This is the only one we are aware of.”
“We… I mean, he saw something similar in Denver, but he say’s this one is far brighter and he doesn’t recognize the structure around it. Whatever this is, is much more powerful though. You can’t see them on the screen, but he tells me there must be a few hundred thousand…” Alexis struggled to relay what Travis has just told her, the idea being almost too horrific to express with spoken words.
“Go on…” said the President.
“Minds… Somewhere down there the AI is using human brains. To the AI, humans are just another part of its own neural net…” She felt a chill flow across the room and was almost relieved when the door opened again.
Meyer walked in, looking worse than usual. He coughed into a rag.
“But to what ends?” said the president. “It’s already supremely intelligent. Why does it need to increase its processing power?”
Alexis looked at the young man, who had moved even closer to the screen. He shook his head. “I don’t…” Suddenly he stiffened, having the same effect on Alexis.
“What is it?” she said to him, not caring that she was talking to thin air.
He turned to her. “We don’t have much time.”
“Yeah, I know. You told me already. Forty-eight hours and I’m…” Travis’s face reflected something worse than her own fate.
“What he… I did to people before. Right back at the start of all of this. If we don’t stop him. Soon he’s going to be able to do that to all the remaining human beings on this planet, wherever they are… Even down here, within this mountain…” He looked back to the screen. “What’s he’s constructing will absorb all of humanity’s consciousness….”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mike glanced at the woman to his right, who appeared to be sleeping. The two lane highway dipped and swerved through a wall of pine trees, with a setting of darker shadows beyond, suggesting mountains. He had no idea exactly where they were, but they were heading north, that’s all that mattered.
The AI had to know where he was, had to be watching, but nothing outside the cylindrical beams of light from the front of the motorhome, suggested any danger. Perhaps this part of the Yukon was too remote, even for the AI.
But he didn’t really believe that. He had spent the last few hours contemplating whether to ditch the plan of getting to Anchorage. Perhaps what he originally thought, that the AI was banking on him making it there, making it all the way to the woman he had feelings for, was the true scheme of the mechanized mind. It had used Alexis to do the same to gain access to the mountain complex. A Trojan horse that everyone missed until it was too late… It had used her… like she was already one of its drones…
Anger welled within him. He steadied his thoughts.
Was he the Trojan horse now? He had been scouring his memories for any moment where he had come close to Bryce. Close enough for the farmhand to touch him. Passing some nanites into his skin. But he was sure he had always been at least a few feet from Bryce at all times. Still, going all the way to the largest city in Alaska was a risk.
He let out a sigh, his breath briefly imparting some mist on the inside of the windshield. It was an impossible choice but one that he had already made, and wasn’t going to change his mind on.
The road widened then sloped down and soon he saw why, for the waters of a wide river glistened under the bright moon above. Flickers of icy flakes also littered the sky, melting as soon as they landed.
The motorhome bumped slightly as it moved onto the concrete bridge, and Casey smacked her lips, moaning something under her breath, but continued to sleep. As the small convoy moved across, Mike noticed some buildings buried between trees on the bank. The vehicles rejoined the highway and they approached a sign with mentions for accommodation and fuel. He looked down at the dimly lit dashboard. The needle in the fuel gauge was just above the red zone. This was as good a place as any to stop and see if they could fill up. He slowed then drove onto the gravel of a wide entrance, passing a wooden shack, with a large sign talking about historical monuments, and fishing boats for hire, and continued towards the gas pumps which sat outside a single-story wooden, lodge styled building.
“Why we stopping?” said Casey, her eyes only half open.
“We need fuel.” Mike drove past the first pump then stopped at the second.
“We here already?” said Dale from the main compartment.
“Getting fuel,” said Casey, sitting up while blinking away the sleep from her eyes.
Mike looked in the side mirror. In the truck behind, Shayne was nodding his head to something playing through his headphones, while Gregg was already outside, trying the nozzle on the first pump which appeared to be working. Mike pushed his door open as snowflakes fell through the gap and Casey unfolded a map, then he jumped down closing the door behind. The world outside the illumination from the motorhome’s headlights was rich with possibility and the only sound came from his own heartbeat and the other imposters into this faraway place. To his left and ahead was only forest while to the right, behind the pumps stood the motel. Ignoring the need for gas he continued on, across the mud strewn gravel, and up the steps onto a deck, which stretched around the entire building. Pulling a flashlight from his pocket, he lit the entrance door. A piece of paper was nailed to it with the ink on the message ‘Closed for the winter’ smudged. He pulled it off and tried the handle, which turned…
Dusty air escaped from the interior, but the only noise came from the vehicles behind him, which people were getting out of. He pushed the door wider and swung the light around a small foyer with a desk against a wall some ten feet away. On only hearing silence, he stepped over the—
A humming sound permeated the night, freezing his foot mid-air. He placed it down on the wooden boards. Was the ground shaking? The noise wasn’t coming from the building. He turned around. Dale, Gregg and Jared were all standing near the motorhome, switching their view from the forest to the sky and back again.
“Where’s it coming from?” said Dale to anyone with a good answer.
Mike didn’t know what the source of the sound was, he just knew it was coming for him. Evidently the AI had realized that he might never go to Anchorage, that the FBI agent was smart enough, not to be used. Instead it was better he was gotten rid of. Removed from the game-board entirely.
