“What are you yammering on about?”
“Tarov isn’t an installed intelligence at all,” Simon explained. “He’s an A.I. in disguise. A super-intelligent computer program pretending to be an I.I. And he plans to enslave us all.”
Warning
Beth had only stepped away from being immersed in her C.C. to get a glass of water and use the bathroom. She didn’t want to delay in getting the information Simon had given her to Marcus and the others at the department. Even though it would create an avalanche of paperwork, sleepless hours, and countless migraines, it had to be done. Besides, she didn’t want to leave Simon alone in her cerebral computer for long, even if he was restrained.
She returned to her bedroom, locked the door, downed her glass of water, and immersed herself again.
She found herself in the usual pre-Cloud lobby, a sort of personalized environment she alone can access between sessions online. Simon wasn’t here, of course, because she kept him in hibernation mode in storage. She didn’t want to babysit the fugitive while she communicated with her partner.
Pulling up her phone tool, Beth frowned. It didn’t have the usual green interface she was used to. Instead, it was grayed out and informed her that her connection was unstable.
She pulled up her contacts, selected Marcus, and tried to give him a ring either way. To no surprise, it was unable to connect. A robot woman’s voice explained that she should try again and make sure her firewalls weren’t interfering. Even though she knew they were in their proper places, she double checked her security measures. Nothing she found seemed to be the cause of the interference.
Then she noticed a presence in the lobby with her.
She spun around in the digital parlor and saw Master General Blake Tarov of the Liberators seated on her couch.
“Hello, Beth,” the militia leader greeted her.
Beth couldn’t speak for a moment. No one was supposed to be able to access her lobby, especially if her connection wasn’t working. Her brow was wrinkled with confusion and her body tight with anticipation as she stared at her uninvited guest.
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you,” Tarov said. “It seems you’ve been too busy to answer my calls.”
“Just following up on the lead you gave me,” the detective replied. She was frozen to the spot like a statue. Every muscle was bracing for a possible attack.
“You seem tense, detective,” Tarov observed. “Why don’t you come have a seat with me?”
“I’m fine where I am, thank you,” Beth replied.
Tarov smiled and nodded, as if just catching a hidden reference.
“How did you get in here?” the detective asked.
“I have my ways, of course,” Tarov answered. “Don’t expect a magician to reveal his tricks, Beth.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to ask if you’ve seen our friend Simon,” the master general said. “I want to know if you were able to get in touch with him. It’s very important to me.”
There was something so sinister about the politeness the digital man used in his inflection. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Beth’s neck.
“As a matter of fact, I have,” she said, taking a deep breath. “We were able to talk.”
“Excellent,” Tarov said, a warm smile forming over his almost gargantuan face. “And I assume you have him in your custody now?”
“That’s right.”
“Perfect,” the digital man replied. “Now what would you say about me taking him off your hands? No paperwork, no headaches. Just gone and done with.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“What do you care?”
Beth thought for a moment.
“It’s tempting.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Tarov said.
“He told me about you,” Beth replied. “He told me what you are.”
Tarov seemed amused by the comment.
“Is that so? And what am I, exactly?” he asked.
“An A.I.,” Beth answered. “You’re not really an installed intelligence after all.”
Tarov leaned his head back and let loose a loud, belly-shaking laugh.
“That’s a new one!” he cried out between chuckles. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my time, Beth. I’ve been accused of trafficking children, I’ve been accused of beating my wives, but never once have I been accused of being artificial. Phony, perhaps, but at least human.”
“You aren’t human, though.”
“That hurts, Beth,” the master general replied. “You know, it’s that kind of ignorant thinking that’s still driving a wedge between your people and mine. This dehumanization — as if it’s so important to classify things.”
“Simon seems pretty convinced that you’re an A.I.”
“And you believe him?” The large man rose from the couch so he could tower a full head over Beth. He stared down at her, a scowl forming on his lips. “You believe someone who would murder his own parents? The people who raised him?”
“He says he’s innocent,” Beth said. Her voice remained calm and unwavering, despite the panic working within her.
Tarov scoffed hard enough to blow a straw house over. “Oh, he says he’s innocent. How convenient. I suppose you’d give me the same consideration if I claimed I was innocent of my accusations? Do you think they’d forgive the bombings, Beth? The ones Simon helped me carry out?”
Beth didn’t say anything. She just stared up at the man’s large head, her jaw clenched and her eyes unblinking. She scanned his digital features and she saw through the lies. Even though he was the leader of a powerful militia, capable of apparently hacking into someone’s private implant session, he couldn’t lie well. He was a fraud.
Still, she let him speak.
“Do you know what Simon used to do?” Tarov continued. “When we would go out on raids together — killing a few dozen humans we were able to trap — he’d like to give them a bunch of little cuts. He really liked the combat bodyshells, you know? With the sharp edges and weapon extensions?
