“Yup, that’s him.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“What happens next?”
“The doc comes, we pump him dry, and break for lunch.”
“Just like that.”
“You got a better idea?”
“No.”
“Then shut the hell up and align this equipment. One glitch, one error, and everyone pays.”
There was more of the same, but I lost interest and drifted away. That’s where I was when I heard someone shout, heard the steady thump, thump, thump of an automatic flechette gun, and felt something heavy land on my chest. It smelled of soap.
Then I heard someone call my name, struggled to respond, and discovered that I couldn’t. I heard more thumping as someone fired back. A man yelled, “Hit the switch! Start the transfer!” and data rose around me like a suffocating tide. Words, images, and numbers filled my throat, mouth, nose, and ears. And then, just when I seemed certain to drown in a flood of information, something powerful started to suck the data away, pulling me along with it. I fought the sensation for a while, determined to save what remained of my personhood, but the effort was pointless. The suction was too powerful for me to resist. I let go and was removed from my body.
19
“Unauthorized use of this equipment can result in permanent brain damage.”
A warning sticker posted on the control panel in Lab 16
Someone flicked a switch, and I came into existence. I opened my eyes. Nothing. I moved an arm. Nothing. I attempted to speak. Nothing. Words arrived from somewhere and echoed slowly through my brain. “Hi-i-i-i-i boss- s-s-s-s! Order-r-r-r-r the-e-e-e-e computer-r-r-r-r to-o-o-o-o provide-d-d-d-d an-n-n-n-n interface-s-s-s-s.”
The voice was gender-neutral and could have belonged to anyone, except for one thing: Joy was the only person in the solar system that called me “boss.” I had formed the words in my mind and was about to speak them through a nonexistent mouth when the computer obeyed. A fuzzy-looking picture appeared. It was shaped like a rectangle. I thought the word “focus,” and the view became crystal clear. I was looking down from the corner of a large room. I saw an autosurgeon, an operating table, and a body. My body, or what had been my body, until the techies sucked it dry. Wires ran into and around it like worms feeding on a corpse.
I screamed. The computer took the thought and turned it into a high-pitched squeal. There were ten or fifteen people in the room. They winced and covered their ears.
A feeling of warmth and happiness flooded around me. A giggle came out of nowhere and rippled through my mind. “Joy?”
Her voice seemed closer now, and the echo had disappeared. “Hi, boss. Sorry about that…it took a moment to find you. This computer has an incredible amount of memory. They stashed you in a file called “‘Project Freedom.’”
I was happy, confused, and worried all at the same time. “I’m in a computer file? Then where are you?”
Joy giggled. “Pan right and you can see my body. I left my operating system out there…but most of my personality program is here with you.”
I thought the words “pan right,” and the picture moved accordingly. A camera! I was looking through one of the many security cameras placed throughout the habitat. Joy appeared. It seemed as if she was too far away. The camera zoomed in. I ordered it to stop and saw that she was naked again. Pieces of duct tape still clung to her arms and legs. Always dramatic, the diminutive android had struck a pose prior to sticking her finger into an interface socket. “There you are…showing off as usual. Thanks for riding to the rescue. But why would a Protech computer obey my commands?”
Joy laughed. The sound had a wonderful bubbly quality that made me want to smile. “Because I told it to… that’s why.”
I was still marveling at the gift Wamba had given me when a voice came from what seemed like a thousand miles away. “Max-x-x-x-x? Can-n-n-n-n you-u-u-u-u hear-r-r-r-r me-e-e-e-e?”
I wished the echo away and wondered if there were other cameras besides the one I was looking through. The thought was still in the process of being born when my vision was routed through three additional lenses in the lab, out into the hall, and into spaces I hadn’t seen before. I ordered the computer to return my vision to the lab. It took conscious effort to ignore my own circumstances and focus on the outside world.
Crewcut and two of her subordinates lay sprawled on the deck. Sanchez lay draped over my body, and Linda, impeccable as always, stood with a gun in her hand. It was gold-chromed and matched her earrings.
Trask was there, as was Bey, and a woman I had never seen before. She was dressed in Protech overalls, which suggested a spy of some sort. All three had their weapons aimed at a group of terrified technicians. You had to give the greenies credit. Subsequent to spotting me on the observation deck, Bey had wasted little time finding reinforcements and tracking me down. I realized Linda had spoken, and thought my reply. It boomed through the PA system. “Yes, I can hear you.”
Linda frowned and looked around the room. I panned a tiny bit. A motor whirred, and she looked into the proper camera. Judging from her expression, she either cared about me or was one hell of an actress. I suspected some of both. “You’ve seen what Dr. Casad is like. She wants to destroy you. Joy can bring you back. Order her to do so.”
I laughed. The electronic translation had a maniacal quality. “Get serious. You tried to kill me. Why would I place myself in your hands?”
“Because we represent the lesser of two evils,” Linda said calmly. “Because you have my word that we will protect you.”
I had just started to consider Linda’s offer when the door burst open. An assistant entered, followed by Dr. Casad and Sasha. The scientist took a quick look around, understood the situation, and shoved the technician towards Linda. He stumbled, collided with Linda, and jerked as she fired two darts into his abdomen. He fell, Linda tried to catch him, and Casad turned. She took two steps and stopped when she found herself staring down the business end of her daughter’s gun.
The older woman was furious. “Sasha! What are you doing?”
Sasha’s face was pale and drawn. “You can’t do this. It isn’t right.”
I switched to another camera and watched the scientist marshal her considerable will and focus it on her daughter. Lightning flashed in Marsha Casad’s eyes, and her hands were clenched at her sides. “How dare you interfere with my work! Don’t you understand? Life isn’t easy. Sacrifices have to be made. I worked for it. The knowledge belongs to me. Now put that gun away, or better yet, shoot the greenies.”
The people in question didn’t like that idea and aimed their weapons at Sasha. She didn’t even look in their direction. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “No! The decision belongs to Max. The knowledge is stored in his brain, and it belongs to him.”
Her mother’s eyes bulged with emotion. “Have you lost your mind? The man’s an idiot! You traveled with him…you know how limited his capabilities are. I worked ten long years to gather and analyze the information stored in his head. The data is mine. Think about it, Sasha…Project Freedom could put billions of unemployed people to work. It could launch a thousand ships to distant star systems and save the human race from slow suffocation!”
The words had a rehearsed sound, as if they had been said countless times before and long since reduced to a catechism. I watched Linda take the information in, process it, and come up with a greenie-style response. “She’s lying. A star drive won’t solve humanity’s problems. Androids will build the ships, Earth will be stripped of the few resources she has left, and the corpies will leave us to die.”
Marsha Casad walked towards her daughter with outstretched hand. Her voice was calm and soothing. “Give me the gun. Everything will be fine. Protech has wonderful doctors. They can replace your missing eye. How ‘bout one of Maxon’s? The tissues will match. You know why? Because Maxon is your biological father, that’s why. I
