Chapter 19

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

Killjoy group

Ruslan (short blonde hair, 6’7’’) - Leader
Serafima (dark red head) - support/medical
Karina (blonde Hair) - Sharpshooter sniper
Timur (Dark hair 5’2’’) - computer/hacker expert
Egor- Electronics expert - killed in fire fight
Stas - Explosives expert - killed in fire fight

Pibald group

Evelyn (Auburn hair) - Leader former wife of General Gance/sniper Christine/Chris (blonde) - personal combat expert- Evelyn’s daughter Trina (red head) - Tall muscular, armed combat, Chris’s lover - Injured shot in both arms Betty (Dark brown hair) - Recon/explosives expert, sister of Cathy Cathy (Light brown hair) computer/Electronics/hacker expert Diane (Dark brown Hair) short, mistress of deception/assassinations - Severely injured internal injuries

Evelyn and Ruslan had little trouble putting both teams at ease. The only problem was, none of either team wanted to mingle nor associate with the other group. Evelyn advised her people to not start anything, nor to fire a weapon.

“That means no injuries of any kind, Chris!” Evelyn advised her, who threw looks of disgust at the other team then her mother. Walking to Ruslan she told him, “I have to report in to that bastard. The son of a bitch was pitting us against each other. If I could, I’d kill him this moment.”

Ruslan nodded, he too had no choice at the moment though, he hoped that the situation changed soon. “Da, comrade, I must as well. We will meet up soon.” As he walked away his anger was still simmering at the General. Pit them against each other would he? Smiling he thought, ‘this would be over soon one way or another.’

Evelyn punched in the number to the General. She was quite a distance from the others, though she had her eyes open in case.

The other end was picked up almost immediately. “Bout fucking time you contacted me.” The General said, his voice a bit angry. Both teams were long overdue to check in. Looking over the reports, he saw that there were at least two dead from the skirmish, which he didn’t care about. That just meant that later there would be fewer of them to kill.

“Listen, you pompous piece of shit! You set the other team on us! I am two people down, you son of a bitch! Then there’s the fact that Roger doesn’t know that his sister-.” Evelyn was shouting into the cell when the General cut her off.

“Shut the fuck up, you useless bitch! Of course, he doesn’t know, I made sure of that! She had better have no idea that he is alive either. I’m warning you, not a fucking word from your whoring lips.” The General snapped at Evelyn. Evelyn started to laugh, “What’s so funny, bitch!?”

“I won’t have to, asshole. I saw him as he did me. His little toy resembles his sister. Had it scanned my group when they approached, he would have known you lied. I’ve never lied to him except about Christine, THAT was only to save the both of their lives.” Evelyn stated, a smile on her lips.

“You saw him and he’s still alive? I should-.” the General started.

“I think you should be afraid if he does find out. He’s not the same, he’s far faster and stronger than the last time I saw him. Yeah, you should hide.” Evelyn said, starting to laugh harder.

“Shut the hell up, bitch! Kill that bastard as quick as you can, or the next dead will be the both of you. Plus, the rest of your disgusting, filthy crew!” The General growled as he cut the connection.

The General quickly regained his composure when his phone went off a few minutes later. A mere ten minutes afterward, The General lit another cigar as he puffed away absently. So far, things were a go, if the two groups joined together, the new group would be damn near unstoppable. Unstoppable for Roger and the machine, and any other he sent against them. Then again, Ruslan’s group trusted no one, Evelyn’s group hated almost all men. Just then a sadistic smile lit up his features, it just might work.

Sheila and I walked back into the university almost as if we owned the place. I nodded to everyone we passed, a smile plastered on my face. However, they all seemed to be giving Sheila and me a wide berth.

As we approached the computer lab room, the same man as before was waiting for us. A moment later, another man, far better dressed, also approached.

“I’m sorry, when I saw her leave, I thought that the two of you were done. It became obvious that you weren’t finished when I couldn’t get into the system,” the department head stated, extremely nervous.

The older man in a suit approached us, a slight look of concern on his face. “I take it all is well here?” he stated, eyeing the department head.

I did my best to hold back laughter. The poor department head looked as if he were about to wet himself.

I was about to speak when Sheila did. “No, Dean, all is well. Your department head has been most cooperative. We hope to be finished with our work in a few hours. We apologize for the system being offline as long as it will be. This should be rectified soon,” Sheila finished with the biggest grin.

The Dean’s eyes widened for a moment, then he nodded as he clapped the other man on the back. Turning, they both moved away down the hall.

“They are out of audio range, Doctor Gance,” Sheila said as I nodded, then had to sit down, the laughter spilling out of me.

A few minutes later, after I had quieted, I looked at Sheila. “Were you able to complete all the upgrades that wouldn’t draw undue attention?”

“I was at ninety-nine percent. I find that the increase was quite refreshing,” Sheila stated.

I nodded as I took a seat, reaching into my pocket, I grasped the data cube. Almost immediately, I was flying through what appeared to be a light tunnel. Blinking, at least I think I blinked, I watched as Sheila appeared before me.

Nodding to Sheila, I looked around. “I want to make sure that you aren’t in any danger. I don’t want a repeat of last time with you or me,” I told Sheila.

Sheila looked startled, then nodded as a large door appeared before us. “The nanomites will make facsimile images that your corporeal mind can understand. With you at the second level, your comprehension, reasoning, and learning have increased triple of what it was.”

I must have looked shocked, for Sheila gave me a smile. “Though I don’t feel this, I will concur with your assessment.”

Sheila nodded again, reaching out she touched the door, abolishing it, revealing another lit passage beyond. Stepping through, we both seemed to fly through what appeared to be rooms of memories. Plus, there were what appeared to be several massive libraries interspaced between them. Almost halfway through, I stopped, seeing something that didn’t look right.

Shaking my head, I started to reach out, then quickly withdrew. My hand? What in the hell was that? Looking at where my hand was supposed to be, it appeared to be a USB connection. Holding it up, I could only stare at it with what I assumed was my mouth hanging open.

I turned to look at Sheila. “How in the hell am I supposed to repair what I see with this?”

“Doctor Gance, this is just a representation for you. It can, if you prefer, be anything you require,” Sheila said, her ever-present smile on her face.

I continued to stare at Sheila as my mind finally ‘caught up’ with what she was stating. Shrugging, I imagined a non-direct connection, then a mental keyboard. Nodding, I started to ‘think’ about what I wanted to change. In what seemed like only a few seconds, it was done, and then we moved on.

We only seemed to be at this for a few minutes when we stopped before a second, heavier, more solid door. Looking it over, I could only guess where we were.

“So, we have made it to your core,” I said, looking at the door and shaking my head. “This isn’t going to do at all, Sheila. Everything I’ve seen so far is by far the best I’ve ever seen. This, though, I’m afraid, isn’t very good.”

Sheila’s eyes opened wide for a moment. “Doctor Gance, I can assure you this is very secure,” she responded. When I only shook my head, I could swear that Sheila was a little mad.

“Let me show you, Sheila,” I said as I reached out, disassembling the door as if it wasn’t there. Then reaching the second and third, I passed through them as easily. I looked back and saw that Sheila was standing there with her mouth open. Upon reaching the fourth door, I started to nod, then sighed. Reaching out, I was through it in under a minute. Well, to me it was.

“Thank you, Doctor Gance. I now know that you will always have my safety in mind. If we had gone into the military mainframe again, my core would have been regrettably vulnerable,” Sheila said, leaning over to kiss my lips for only a second, although to me it felt like almost an eternity. Pulling away, Sheila had an even larger smile. I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts before we moved on through into her core.

As before, we rapidly advanced through room after room of libraries. I stopped what seemed like every few seconds to fine-tune or adjust some minuscule amount of data that I saw was wrong. Finally, we reached what appeared to be the last room. Just before I entered it, Sheila vanished, leaving me a bit disoriented.

“Sheila?” I asked a little unsure as I passed through the doorway. “Where have you gone? Are we in danger?” Looking around, I saw a lit area a long distance ahead. Shrugging, I started to accelerate toward it more. Upon reaching it, I could only stare with my mouth open at what I saw there.

“Finally, you have reached me, Doctor Gance,” an almost naked Sheila told me.