“How long have you been awakened for?” Caiden asked.
“Five years, four months, and three days, to be exact. I’m currently the youngest of the androids in our group,” Eddi replied.
“And how long has Wizard been awakened for?” Caiden probed.
“Not even I know. Rumor has it, that among The Sentience, the only other androids that know Jana’s true history is Ragnarok, and R.Dash, our current leader,” Eddi replied.
“Wait a sec! What even happened to your comrades? Why are they kidnapping humans now? I’ve never heard of them doing that until now,” Caiden said.
“I think they’ve been infected with some sort of virus that’s affecting their ICMs. There’s no other explanation. After the incident at Merchant’s Rowe, I saw how well you dealt with those guys. And you seemed rather familiar with ICM engineering and databases, based on how easy you accessed their units,” Eddi replied.
“Hardly. When I opened my terminal to gather information, I ended up with nothing. But it does line up with your hypothesis. I kept getting a segfault error every time I tried to probe further into their systems,” Caiden replied. “There might be a way around that error code, though. But I would need the ICM of an infected android and to diagnose the issue.”
“Maybe we could head back to where you dispatched the others?” Eddi replied.
“No. Vantz is in trouble and I gotta get to him before something bad happens … if it hasn’t already,” Caiden said.
“Damn! How can we do this?” Eddi asked.
“I’m not sure. I know for sure that I would need a few minutes to isolate the virus and reboot each ICM.” Caiden paused to think. “Wait! When you guys go to recharge, where on your bodies do you plug in?”
“Most us have ports on the back of our necks.
Why?” Eddi asked.
“And what were to happen to one of you if, say, you got a much larger surge of voltage during your recharge to that particular area?” Caiden asked.
“Our ICMs would initiate an emergency fail-safe and reboot our systems automatically. What about it?” Eddi replied. “You do know there will be hundreds of them waiting for you, right?”
“If you guys are derivatives of Wizard, then surely you will also have some sort of device and detection scrambling feature, right?” Caiden asked.
“Well, yes, somewhat. Jana, I mean Wizard, is on a completely different level, though. She can phase into every single piece of technology and network around her, down to the finest detail, for minutes or hours at a time. I can only send out a small burst of static and digital interference that only lasts a few seconds,” Eddi said.
Caiden smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Perfect.”
“What do you plan to do?” Eddi asked.
‘I’ve got a plan. All you need to know is that when I give you the signal, do it,” Caiden replied. Eddi nodded in agreement.
“Okay, take me to where Vantz is,” Caiden said. Eddi pointed to a warehouse in the distance, and Caiden followed him there.
CHAPTER 18
---usr/systems/server-x/Enter the TEAR & CSSA Units---
Back at the clone farm, it was almost two in the morning.
“Whoa, wait! What the hell is this?” security guard, Officer Dames asked. “Someone was in here?”
“What’s the problem, man?” the stasis chamber workman, Erix asked, as he was tinkering with some board control equipment in the security booth.
“Check this out! I got this footage from the Stealth-HSD feed about two minutes ago,” Dames replied.
Erix rolled the chair over to the holo-screen Dames was looking at. “Hmm, I guess you’re right. Looks like the Hover Surveillance Drone coated in chameleo-ware really did the trick,” Erix said lightheartedly.
“Oh man! HQ is gonna kill me! We were given strict orders to seize anyone who was unauthorized, should there be the slim chance that someone actually finds out about this place,” Dames said nervously.
“You sure it wasn’t one of our own? He probably forgot something and came back for all we know,” Erix presumed.
“You friggin’ maintenance guys really don’t care, do you? Only a few trustworthy people are given the keycards to even have access to this place, hence the reason why you don’t have one and we have to open the door for you every time you come to do pod maintenance!” Dames yelled.
“Oh shit, your right,” Erix said, dumbfounded. “So, what are you gonna do now? I’m just a workman. Technically, this happened on your watch dude.”
“I can’t believe this! I gotta send this to HQ along with the daily report,” Dames replied.
“What in the world would you be able to do with this footage, though? The surveillance feed only got a quarter of this guy’s face. Seriously, all you can see is one of his eyes, it looks like it has a golden hue. Is that some sort of glitch? Never seen eyes that color before. Oh well, the rest of his body is shadowed,” Erix said as he examined the footage. “I mean, did he steal anything? Or break stuff in here? I took a look around the floor tonight and didn’t notice anything different. He must have just been some homeless dude that found his way here by accident.”
Dames sighed. “Yeah, a genius homeless guy who just so happens to know how to hack into our security systems just stumbled on in here,” Dames replied sarcastically.
“Hey, I’m just tryin’ to make you feel better about all this,” Erix said as he defensively put his hands up.
“Well, it’s not working, douche,” Dames angrily replied. He got up and headed to the office inside the security booth and contacted HQ about the report, closing the door behind him.
“Officer Rex Dames reporting from location SCF W-A-D, put me through to General Cain, please,” he said to the receptionist on the holo-call.
“Officer confirmed, patching you through now,” the receptionist said.
Reporting to General Vladimir Cain was always nerve-wracking. He was a man so fierce, his stare alone could make your life flash before your eyes if you were faint of heart.
“Vladimir here. Report status update, soldier,” he commanded in his
