Chapter 18

Emily returned to the apartment but stayed only long enough to gather all her belongings into a holdall together with several flasks containing her meds. She'd miss staying with Valerie but vowed to try to let her know her new living arrangements as soon as practicable. She thought about leaving a note but didn't want to run the risk of it falling into the wrong hands.

On returning to Janus's house, she found that he'd already reserved space in a wardrobe and freed up a drawer for her underwear. He relished the prospect of having her living with him, knowing that he no longer had to concern himself with hiding his illegal activities, a worry that had plagued him when similar opportunities for cohabitation arose in the past.

They enjoyed a simple bowl of pasta that Emily cooked up. Janus was happy that the girl seemed content to eat simple food and not overly drain his resources by expecting elaborate restaurant fare all the time.

Janus spent the afternoon rehearsing what he'd say to the members of his group now that a more focussed campaign of insurgency was imminent. Emily detected his agitation and relaxed him in her own unique manner, pulling off her clothes and tempting him to take her across the dining table. With all his worries temporarily relieved, he made the final preparations for the meeting.

Disposal of the corpses turned out to be easier than expected. Valerie cut a hole in the body cavities then filled them with rocks to weigh them down. They tossed them into the river about a kilometre from their vehicle and watched them sink without trace. The remains of the chemist was placed in a sack and disposed of in a similar fashion.

"How long before they're missed?" Greg asked.

"An hour, maybe two," Valerie estimated. "It depends on their reporting strategy."

"What am I supposed to do now? My only evidence is at the bottom of the Belmont, I've just covered up a homicide, and my girlfriend is a spy for a corporation that routinely murders people that stand in its path."

"We need to go back to your office. Act as though nothing has happened."

"I want to know everything you know."

"I'll tell you tonight. It's not safe to talk at the station."

"You're telling me that they have it bugged?"

"In a manner of speaking," Valerie said. "Janice is an Infiltrator."

"Janice," Bennett exclaimed. "Smoke."

"Try not to let on. I'm not sure where her allegiances lie."

It took all his acting skills to pretend that nothing was amiss. He told Sands that he'd changed his mind about using his own cash to pay off the informant and had abandoned the meeting. He spoke loudly enough for Janice to overhear.

Greg knew that at some point he would have to inform Sands of Valerie's revelations but needed to sort out his own feelings on the matter first. The implications were mind blowing. Machines that masqueraded as human were the contrivance of tank dramas; evil entities bent on world domination was a favourite cliché.

He stared surreptitiously at Janice, trying to picture her as a killer robot but no matter how hard he tried, he only saw a pretty blonde who flirted with her colleagues. Finishing work early, he drove home and Valerie followed. She expected the third-degree and he didn't disappoint her.

"Let's start at the beginning," he stated. "Syntel tried to kill the woman at the club because she was hacking Quantums?"

"Claire killed everyone at the club."

"Claire?"

"Claire Savage, the woman that you're looking for."

"Why did she do that?"

"Because Mason was allowing a child to be molested."

"You're telling me that this one woman managed to kill eight heavily armed men?"

"She's not a woman."

"Then what is she? One of these Infiltrator things?"

"She's a Hybrid, an advanced prototype that combines traits from all the previous models together with a much improved AI."

"AI?"

"Artificial Intelligence."

"So she goes in there, doesn't like what she sees and kills the lot of them."

"She didn't tell me all the details."

"You've spoken with her?" Greg was shocked.

"Syntel tasked me to help kill or capture her. They traced her to the apartment block in the city and deployed three combat units to intercept her. Between her and her family, they managed to take out four Infiltrators and two Hunter Killers."

"Okay. I get the picture. You don't mess with these Hybrids."

"She was only acting in self-defence."

"Hold on. Wind back a minute. You said family. Are there mummy and daddy Hybrids, maybe teenage Hybrids too?" Bennett scoffed.

"Of course not. That would make no sense. Claire's family is as human as you are."

"And she's just trying to protect them?" Greg asked sarcastically.

"I believe that's her prime motivation."

"Why would Syntel create this super killing machine, give it a family to protect, and then try to destroy it?"

"Karl Savage, her husband, was a technician at Syntel's Cybernetics Facility. His job was to configure the Companion variants that I told you about."

"The sex model?" Bennett asked cynically.

"Yes. His real wife was dying and he devised a plan to replace her with a Companion that he'd surreptitiously appropriated."

"That's a bit sad. How can you replace someone you love with a machine?"

Valerie bristled but pressed on regardless.

"He was grief stricken and probably not thinking too clearly. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, he unknowingly chose to replace her with the one and only Hybrid unit in existence at that time."

"I'll bet that made him popular."

"Syntel has been hunting him relentlessly for the past four years."

"How many of these Hybrid things are there?" he asked.

"Besides Claire, there are six," Valerie told him carefully.

"And they're all walking around loose?"

"They are all active, yes."

"We're in deep shit Valerie. How can you work for these people?"

"My circumstances are somewhat complex."

"I can imagine," he replied sarcastically.

"The truth is that until a few months ago, Claire believed herself to be Karl's wife and the mother of his children. She loves them just like any human and would probably die protecting them if she had to."

"But she's not human is she? That's just the point. It's just software."

"She learns in very much the same way that you do. She has a Quantum processor that's every bit as powerful as your brain. Her software is actually very simple; it's the set of experiences in her Datacore and the power to process them that make her who she is. Who are you to maintain that only the human brain is capable of true sentience?"

"And the same is true of these Infiltrators?"

"It's my opinion that's not the case. The Infiltrators are clever but governed by a much stricter set of guidelines. It's not within their abilities to disobey. As the name Hybrid implies, the intention was to develop a multi-role model that could function differently dependent upon circumstance. The processing capability of the Hybrid is orders of magnitude higher and I suspect there is a threshold above which different rules start to apply."

"So let me get this straight. Syntel developed this extremely powerful machine that may, or may not, be intelligent in the way we humans think of it. Not only that, they have the capability to kill people to whom they take a dislike?"

"Humans kill people too. They do it for the most arbitrary reasons at times: greed, jealousy, even fun."

"So you think it's alright to unleash a group of killer robots on the world? I think you're on very shaky moral ground here."

"I didn't create the Hybrids."

"But you work for the people that did," he accused.

"If you want my honest opinion, I think that Syntel set out to design a slightly better Infiltrator with the strength of the HK as an added."

"And they got more than they bargained for?"

"The Hybrids have a great deal of latent potential but it seems to take some kind of catalyst to spark it off. With Claire, she spent years believing she was human. When Syntel caught up with her, they sought retribution by reprogramming her as a Companion and giving her to Mason."

"What?"

"Ironic isn't it. In acting out of sheer spite, they set in motion a chain of events that allowed Claire to reach a higher level of awareness. Now it's coming back to bite them big style."

"You sound almost pleased."

"Let's just say that I have a vested interest in all this. I've come to realize that Syntel is an abomination. It uses these machines purely as a means to achieve its own greater goals."

"Which are?"

"Money and power, I guess. I have no knowledge of any specific objectives but I assume there must be some."

"Alright, taking what you say at face value, what can we do to put the genie back in the bottle?"

"Excuse me?"

"These Hybrids are clearly extremely dangerous. Their capacity to cause untold chaos can't be underestimated. You have to help me locate them so that they can be destroyed before they do incalculable harm."

"They might not want that to happen Greg. Maybe they're not as sinister as you imagine."

"I don't think mankind can afford to take the risk at this point. Do you?"

Valerie felt sorry for his lack of vision and knew that telling him the full and ugly truth may be the only way to change his opinions.

"Let me ask you this. What do you think about Janice?"

"As a person, I found her a bit cold and hostile. I was still shocked when you told me what she was though."

"What if I told you that you'd already encountered two Hybrids, that you found them witty and charming, that you really liked them as people?"

"I'd say that was pretty unlikely."

"My friend Emily is a Hybrid," Valerie revealed.

Greg looked at her in utter disbelief, almost scared to ask the next question.

"The other one Valerie. Who is the other one?"

"I'm afraid that would be me."

"You..." Greg looked like he was ready to faint.

"I've been operational for just over a year."

Greg felt fearful. He looked around for his jacket and noticed it hanging over the back of a chair. The bulge of the pistol was barely evident in the outside pocket.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked nervously.

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already or I'd have let that stupid bitch Melanie do the honours," Valerie stated calmly. "You're looking for your gun aren't you?"

"No," Greg blustered in total panic.

Valerie turned and walked over to his jacket and removed the pistol. She looked at it for a second then sighed and handed it to him.

"If you think I'm a threat then kill me."

Greg looked from the gun in his hand to Valerie several times then pointed it directly at her head. Valerie closed her eyes and waited but Greg was unable to pull the trigger. He walked over to the sofa and sat down. Placing the gun down on the cushion, he buried his head in his hands, moaning desolately.

Valerie knelt at his feet and gently touched his arm, wishing nothing more than to calm his fears and demonstrate that her feelings for him were genuine

"Get your hands off me," he snapped, jumping to his feet, scalded by her touch.

"Greg, I..."

"You're a machine," he accused. "You've been programmed to fool me into thinking that I care for you. It's so callous."

"I do feel those things," she sniffed, devastated by his reaction.

"Maybe you think you do but it's not real."

"It's real to me," Valerie cried. "I saved your life today. I turned my back on my creators because I love you more than anything else."

"Then you have my pity."

Valerie's heart broke. She'd acted earlier out of her desperation not to lose him but now it had happened anyway. She felt some of the hurt that Claire had shared with her, almost unable to withstand it. Unlike the physical pain from when she was damaged, this was an internal pain that was blistering in its intensity. She wailed piteously, tears flooding from her eyes and distorting her vision. Greg watched the display with a mixture of detachment and utter incomprehension.

Greg felt cheated of his love, angry at her deception and for leading him to commit emotionally to her. For the first time in his life he'd truly believed in the power of the heart to control the mind but in the cruellest of twists, it had proved to be nothing more than an illusion. He watched as Valerie stood and prepared to leave.

"I'm going now," she sniffed sadly. "I'm sorry if you can't look beyond our differences and see what we have together. I do love you."

The silence was deafening as she closed the apartment door behind her and left him pondering the emptiness inside. Despite her careful arguments, he failed to appreciate how she could be anything more than the sum of her parts.

Emily stood beside Janus as he welcomed everyone into his home, a few at a time, until the room seethed with expectancy. He'd dressed in a severe shapeless outfit that was almost like military fatigues. She observed the ominous bulge of a pistol in his belt and thought it afforded him the aspect of a general about to address his forces. Huxley and two of his men stood off to one side, adjutants in the forthcoming struggle.

She was alarmed to spot Beverly amongst the masses and recognized the potential for trouble. The woman beckoned her over and she complied, if only to allay suspicion.

"Hello Beverly," she greeted cordially.

I have a message from Henderson," the woman replied. "Command override twenty twelve alpha zero."

The Hybrid gasped as deep sections of her subconscious opened up and replied automatically. "Override accepted."

"Kill Janus," Beverly ordered. "Kill as many of them as you can."

Emily stood stunned as the words penetrated, hardly able to believe that they'd wield her as such a blunt instrument. She turned and walked towards Janus who'd just called for quiet and was waiting for the commotion to die down before speaking. He smiled as Emily approached, a look of grim determination on her face.

"I think we're ready to start," he told her, indicating his desire for her to take her place at the front with the others.

"I'm sorry," she said as she spun up, reached into his belt and withdrew the pistol. The weapon bucked in her hand as she fired repeatedly, not stopping until it clicked on an empty chamber.

Valerie drove home and contemplated what to do next. She couldn't face Greg at the station any more as too much had been said that couldn't be undone. Everything Claire had told her about their capacity to love had proven correct but she'd obviously been fortunate with her partner being privy to her nature from the start. Greg hadn't been able to see beyond his preconceptions.

"Emily," she called out as she arrived home but was dismayed to find her still absent.

She walked into her friend's room and immediately noticed that all her clothes were missing. Her sadness gave way to panic. She rushed into the kitchen and found that her meds were gone also. It was almost as though she'd never existed.

A knock on the door restored hope and she hurried to open it. Her hope turned to confusion as Greg stood before her rather than Emily.

"Greg, what do you... ?" Her words were lost as he leapt at her, throwing his arms around her waist and covering her lips with his own. She closed her eyes to savour the moment as his hands ran up and down her back; then she pulled herself into his embrace as her heart soared.

"I don't care Valerie," he gasped. "I love you too."

Emily looked in fascination at the dead body on the floor, blood spreading out in all directions. The initial shocked silence was shattered by a shrill scream as one of the women in the crowd burst into hysterics. Huxley and his men pulled out their guns and trained them on her but her attention was focused entirely on Beverly's corpse.

The woman's chest was a bloody ruin where Emily's closely grouped shots had destroyed most of her vital functions. Three rounds to the head had eradicated even the most residual thoughts, leaving her little more than a jumbled mass of wrecked hardware.

The command codes had been deep seated in her psyche but fortunately she'd already excised many of the associated subroutines that would have compelled her to obey. Now that she knew how they were implemented, the command codes themselves would be erased as soon as the opportunity arose.

"Emily," Janus exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because I had to," Emily shouted, the intensity of her voice stunning everyone to silence. "She was betraying all of you. Feeding back information about your movements and who you all were to the very people that you're fighting against."

"Beverly was nobody," Janus contradicted her.

"Let me show you exactly what she was," Emily declared as she walked intently towards the body.

Valerie and Greg lay naked beside one another, sweating from their exertions. She felt exhilarated that there would be no more secrets between them and that he could finally love her for who she really was. His fingers idly toyed with her breast, teasing the nipple into rigidity and sending delicious tingles down her spine.

"Do you like that?" he asked.

"Yes, don't stop."

"Have you stopped to think why you should like it?" he asked curiously, desperate to understand more about her nature.

"They wanted to create the ultimate infiltration tool. I cry when I'm upset, I bleed when I'm injured. I feel pleasure and pain."

"What happens when you eat?"

"I can synthesize simple molecules like carbohydrates and sugars. They're broken down and burned in a fuel cell that powers all my main systems. I try to avoid too much protein and lipids as they can cause problems."