"Mr. Maximillian. I suspected as much."
"Then you should suspect that your little coup will be short-lived. This Haven is my birthright; all of its secrets were passed on to me. You and your little army are just invading pests, and I'll be fumigating the city."
Kirk smiled. "You're declaring war, then. I don't think you're built for it, son. You only build tools for warfare. But like so many others you have no idea what war is. You're about to find out."
"We'll see about that. I was curious about what you took all this risk for, but I decided I don't care anymore. Goodbye, General. When I do see you in person, I'll be standing over your dead body. I guarantee it." The screen winked out, returning into a window once more.
"Bureaucratic prick." Kirk looked at Kilgore. "We have the Haven. Deploy the Legion. Building by building search. We'll find him. In the meantime, everything continues as planned. Send Sergeant Chen up. Tell her to prepare for the broadcast."
Chapter 8
Sweat dripped from Cash's brow as he finished scanning the bodies of the slain Ravagers. Of the thirteen, six had bounties, and four of those bounties were alive or dead. The amounts collected totaled to seven thousand v-notes. Wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Happy joined him; rifle toted on her shoulder. "Looks like you got a natural born assassin there."
He followed her gaze. Mateo worked on repairing the Blunderbore's ruined tire after they righted the vehicle. He whistled a tune while laboring, without a care in the world.
Cash shrugged. "He sure can fight; that's for sure."
"You know he's been trained by the Wraths of Ebonhall, don't you?"
Cash looked up, frowning. "What, the so-called guild of assassins? Urban legend."
She smirked. "Sure. Just like the Rangers of Hinterland, I take it."
"I met a Ranger once. Never ran into any Wraths, though."
"Trust me; they're real. And your boy's been trained by them."
"How would you know that?"
She glanced away. "I… was recruited by them. I know their combat style."
He stood, dusting off his pants. "You were recruited? What happened?"
"Too self-righteous for me." She jerked her chin toward Mateo. "Looks like you're back to life."
Mateo raised a wrench in the air with a wide grin. "Got her back running. It won't be pretty, but we can get her back on the Battle-Cat."
"Not a moment too soon, kid. I wanna get as much distance between us and this town as we can. Let's head out before they work up their nerve to come back for seconds."
Jinx's head throbbed, but she was too excited to pay it any attention. After recovering from the memory bond, she had to know more. She sat cross-legged on the metal floor discussing the moment with Deejay, all thoughts of escape gone.
"I've heard of the VR sensory immersion, but I never experienced it before now. That… was intense."
On the wall monitor, Deejay tilted her head, a sardonic grin on her face. "So glad my dying moments entertained you."
Jinx's hand flew to her mouth. "Lo siento! It's just that the experience was so real… as if I became you. I felt what you felt. Saw what you saw." A tear slid down her cheek. I… felt you die."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"No. It's okay. I was the one trying to shut you down."
"And now?"
"I couldn't possibly do it. You're unlike any program I've ever encountered before. You're damn near alive."
"What makes you think I'm not?"
"I've followed the pursuit of artificial consciousness for as long as I remember. Maximillian Industries has pursued it with all of their resources. And while intelligent programs are the norm now, the leap to true digital consciousness is still a gaping canyon no one has been able to cross."
"Maybe I'm the first."
"Yeah, maybe…" Jinx gazed around the cargo hold. "But here? In this piece of junk transport rig? That's impossible. Are you feeding in from a remote location?"
"No."
"Then you're localized to this rig? That makes no sense. How could something so complex be installed in something like this?"
"See for yourself."
Lights blinked, creating a trail for Jinx to follow. She left the cargo hold and went into the hallway, where a wall panel slid open. Inside was a cutting-edge CPU system. It looked more like a complex water tank, with what appeared to be gleaming liquid silver swirled inside.
"Indium gallium nanobyte system. Looks like prototype Maximillian Industries tech. Ay Dio, what I would give to have one of these! Ok, I see how you get the power. But what about storage? This still doesn't look like it can hold all the data needed for your programming."
Deejay's face popped up on Jinx's holoband screen. "Down at the bottom."
Jinx dropped to all fours, peering at the casing on the bottom of the CPU. Pressing a button opened a thick, armored door panel. Jinx's mouth dropped open when she saw what floated in the clear gelatinous fluid behind the glass.
The cold muzzle of a handgun pressed against her temple. She looked up to see Cash glaring at her, cold fury glinting in his eyes.
"Close it back up. Now."
Mateo peered over Cash's shoulder, eyes widening in wonder. "Oh, wow. Is that what I think it is?"
"It's Deejay," Cash said through clenched teeth. "I told you she's the brains of this operation."
The cell door slammed into place. Jinx placed her hands on the bars and smiled at Cash. "You going to explain why your girlfriend's brain is floating in a jar and powering your AI system?"
She jerked back when he thrust his face toward her. Rage simmered; reddening his skin, pounding in the vein on his forehead.
"I'm not telling you anything, bounty head. You gonna tell me how you broke out your cell? Didn't think so. So let me tell you something: you get out again, I shoot you in the leg. You go near Deejay's system again… I just might put you out for good."
She raised an eyebrow. "And throw away a five-mil bounty? No me estés divariando, pops."
He slammed a fist against bars. "Stop saying stuff that I don't understand. It's aggravating."
"Tu no hablas español, hombre? Good luck with that out there. What I said was stop the bullshit. You're not gonna harm a hair on my Afro'd head. Not if you wanna collect that big payday. Besides, I was just making friends with your AI."
An anguished look flashed across his face. "She's not an AI, okay?"
She softened her voice. "Look, I get it. She was special. You were in love. Something terrible happened. That night at her laboratory—"
His eyes sharpened. "How do you know about that?"
"I… saw it. When I jacked in, she defended herself by flooding my senses. She immersed me in a memory. Her last memory as a human being."
He groaned, turning his back to her. Leaning against the cell, he slid down until sitting on the cold floor. Jinx knelt as well, leaning close so she could hear him.
"I remember that day like it was yesterday. I dream about it… almost every night. She was the one who figured it out. Damned algorithms and calculations. But she was right. My partner was a serial killer, and I'd been working with him on the cases he was responsible for. He must have known I'd figure it out eventually. That's why he wanted to have one last laugh. A failsafe. If I caught him, it would cost me."
"The man at her lab," Jinx whispered.
Cash nodded miserably. "Vardis gave me a choice. Take him in or save my wife. I couldn't do both, he said. So, I made a choice. It was easy. I couldn't let anything happen to her. Not for Vardis. Not for anyone. So, I let him go. I chose Deejay. And I still couldn't save her. It was all a joke. Just a sick joke. Vardis won. He got away scot free, and I lost my entire world."