Chapter 11

SHEILA - Synthetic, Humanoid, Enlightened, Inquisitive, Living, Android

Sheila had stopped at the edge of the city, and I was staring at her with a questioning look. “Is everything alright?” I asked through my thoughts. Shaking my head, I knew that this was going to take a while to get used to.

“I am not certain that I am alright,” Sheila answered me, bringing a lot of my fears to the surface.

“Have you and your systems been compromised?” I asked as soon as she thought that statement.

“It’s not so much compromised as it is; I am sensing some things differently. As I stated before, after the fifty percent, I finally started to get some of what I needed. Until I reached sixty-five percent, it was just useful information. I found that after that bit, I started to gain a far better understanding of the human psyche. But I still do not understand what this ‘love’ you mentioned is yet,” Sheila’s thoughts conveyed.

“I want you to run a full diagnostic; if you are compromised, we need to halt it,” I thought to her, conveying my fears.

Sheila turned her face toward me, her eyes growing wide, then she nodded. “I concur, Doctor Gance; it wouldn’t keep us safe if that happened.” Looking around, she suddenly took my hand, moving toward a lone building straight ahead. “As of right now, they are somewhat blind as to where we are. I am afraid that will change soon.”

I started to speak when Sheila went to the door, twisting the lock off. As we both moved inside, I saw we were in what appeared to be a machine shop. “The copious amount of metal here should provide a bit of cover,” I said as I looked around.

“I agree, Doctor Gance. I will be doing a partial shutdown to extract any files that have been compromised. It shouldn’t be more than an hour,” Sheila told me, then sat, growing inert.

Sighing, I sat nearby, wondering what I could do. I had always hated being idle, and with my mind this time being no different. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I barely brushed the data crystal, seeing a myriad of images appear before me. “What the hell,” I thought as I pulled my hand from my pocket as if I were burned.

“We have now reached the minimum obtainable mass within the corporeal housing of control. This has allowed direct access to the data crystal. It is suggested that access be limited. At present, we are only at a preliminary status. More than ten seconds of access could cause serious damage to the data banks of control. It is suggested that control allow more time for us to obtain more mass,” a myriad of voices were saying to me.

Even though I still wasn’t used to all this, I had to nod my compliance. Far too much of an influx of information could, as they said, cause damage. Shaking my head, I again looked around the shop, and then I spied a stack of metal. Was that what I thought it was?

A confused technician from the Alaska military computer command division found himself strapped to a chair. ‘What the hell,’ he thought, ‘the last thing he remembered was the director patting him on the shoulder. Then pretty much nothing.’ Struggling, he found he was not only bound at his wrists, but also at his ankles, his chest in two places, and twice across his legs. ‘What in the hell was going on?’

A moment later, he heard a voice. “Ah, good! You’re awake now; we can start with the extraction.” ‘Extraction,’ the technician thought, ‘what were they going to extract?’ “Just so you know, since you are the only person that actually saw the data, you’re the only one we can possibly get answers from.”

“The data was recorded; anyone in command can look at it. Why do you have to do this extraction?” the technician asked, his lips trembling.

“True, it was recorded, though that doesn’t give us the reaction and input that your mind did. You see, your actions, though faster than expected, also saw things in the data at that moment that we need to fight this thing. So as you see, we need what is in your head,” the voice said.

“Why all this? I will give all the data you need. I...” the technician started.

“Oh, we know of your loyalty. What we need can’t be given in a normal way; this is a new experimental process,” the voice stated.

“If that is so, why are you telling me? Oh, I see, I will be dead not long after this,” the technician sadly said.

“No, not really dead; but what is left won’t be all that much more than dead. This will be a total extraction; it will hurt more than anything you have ever felt. There is no shame in screaming; I have heard it helps with the pain of the death of your mind,” the voice said, then was gone.

A few moments later, two men in what appeared to be hazmat suits came out. They put something that appeared to be a thin helmet on the technician’s head with multiple wires leading from it. Then the two men left as the technician’s breathing started to grow more frantic.

In a room, the facility General watched as everything was made ready. Then he looked to several men as he nodded. Moments later, several rows of computer banks came to life as a low humming started. Ten minutes later, there was a low whimpering sound that started to grow, and then came the sound of a male screaming that started to grow in volume. Half an hour later, a man looked back to the General, nodding. Nodding back, the room grew quiet as all the machines powered down.

The General, with several men, walked into the same room. The technician was still there in the chair, though his head was to the side with copious amounts of drool leaking from his mouth. Shaking his head, the General nodded to the men as they removed the man. Damn, he hated losing that man; then again, orders were orders.

Walking back into the control room, the General flipped a switch. Waiting a few seconds, he spoke, “This is U.A.M. of the facility. Calling the G.A.M. with an update that was requested. All has been moved, book awaiting you anytime for check out.”

The General awaited the response, hoping this put him in the good graces of General Gance again. Then again, he thought no one was really in his good graces these days.

“This is G.A.M. acknowledging U.A.M. Is the book still sealed? If not, then it will be voided. Are we clear?” replied the voice of General Gance, making the facility General sweat.

“Still sealed in its package,” the facility General answered.

“Excellent. I will be there in a few hours. Please maintain the book in the same condition,” General Gance told the man.

“Of course, sir. It will be as you wish,” the facility General replied.

“It had better, General. It had better,” Gance said, then cut off the communication. General Gance reached for a cigar at the front of the communication desk. Retrieving it, he started to hunt for a light when one lit up in front of him. Grunting, he puffed as the cigar caught. “Good to have you on the team, Ruslan.”

The young Lieutenant shuddered as the six-foot-seven leader of the killjoy group lit the cigar. “Always more than a pleasure to work with you, General,” said Ruslan.

“What about the rest of you?” Gance asked.

“Egor, Stas, and Timur are here,” Ruslan sighed as he shook his head. “Karina and Serafima are, uh, shopping.”

General Gance also shook his head. “So they are still using the SV-98 and the SVDK. As I remember, it is impossible to get ammo outside Russia.” Shaking his head again, the General continued. “As I remember, Karina always thinks her shells won’t penetrate far enough.”

“Da, General, one must make sure,” came a female voice behind Ruslan. The Lieutenant looked up, shaking more as a blonde woman at the door sneered at him. “Ah! The toy is still working for you. Good, we should have...”

“NO!” Gance snapped at both the women and Ruslan. “No one is to do anything to him. He’s the first I’ve had in years that actually does the job.” Staring at all three of them, the General growled, “I mean it. There WILL be dire results if he is damaged in any way!”

Ruslan’s brows went up as he stared at the General. Damn, the man was serious; he needed to warn off the others before half the team was in the stockade.

“Alright, what is this mission? What has your fury this day that you recalled ALL of us?” Ruslan asked, his interest piqued. It had to be damn good to anger the man this much.

With a growl, the General started, “it’s that bastard who dares to call himself my son.” Ruslan’s eyes shot open, then a sinister smile slowly spread across his face. “We need to kill this son of a bitch. That shouldn’t be hard AFTER you destroy that monstrosity he created.”

“I had been working with the metal, shaping it into a more adequate shape. I felt that my father had something more devious up his sleeve. Working harder, I almost had it where I wanted, jumping when I felt a hand touch my arm.

“Doctor Gance,” came Sheila’s voice, “I am reading an increase in your heart rate and adrenaline production. It also appears that your pupils are widely dilated. Are you in need of medical attention? With the additional files I have gained, I could perform almost any procedure.”

I flinched away, almost cutting myself with the grinder I had been using. Looking at her face, I saw what appeared to be a look of genuine concern and worry.

“No, medical attention isn’t needed. You just startled me for a moment.” Then I saw Sheila stop almost as if she were looking for something.

“Even with all the files I have now acquired, Doctor Gance, I’m still having trouble with many of the terms humans use. Could you please define the last one you used?” Sheila asked.