Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) Read online

  “Oh, cool.”

  “Devin wanted to come himself, but Jane wouldn’t let him.” Adam smiled. “They argued for ages, with Jane telling Devin it’s too dangerous because he’s a fugitive, and Devin telling Jane she’s not strong enough to go. I volunteered, but they both turned to me and said ‘no’—the one thing they could agree on.”

  “So… Uh… Why’re you here, then?”

  “I took Devin’s bag and left while they were still arguing. I’m not the only one No Name’s after, and at least I’m not feeling weak or being hunted. They weren’t happy when I messaged them and told them where I was, but it was too late by then.”

  Riley noticed a computer chip in Adam’s hand. “Whatcha got there?”

  Adam gave it to him. “Devin found this on one of the machines that took me. Can you get anything off it?”

  “Uh… Duh?” Riley held the chip up and examined it. Something about its deep blue color and silvery squiggly lines seemed weirdly familiar. “I’d better go back to the ship with you. The freakin’ corporation has eyes everywhere. I blinded them a while ago, but you never know, you know? How’d you get here, anyhow?”

  “Walked out of eyeshot of the ship and then called a taxi. I’m not a fugitive, and there were no internal defenses or robots around for No Name to misuse.”

  Riley threw Adam a you’re-dumb look. “Uh… You know taxis are monitored by a central computer, right? Like the kind No Name likes to mess with?”

  “They are?” Adam looked out the window in alarm.

  Riley tucked the chip into his pocket. “Hey, chill. They don’t know you’re here. I would’ve seen some sign of ’em if they were snoopin’ around the Fragan systems. Lucky for you, space is big. They probably didn’t think to look for you guys in the IC. Either that or the Fragan computers were too hard for them. Not too hard for me, though.”

  Adam’s expression fell into dismay. “I never realized how extensive computer networks are. I’m new to all this.”

  “Yeah, we’re taking my hovercar back.” Riley grabbed his orange backpack and packed some equipment. So far, interacting with another human being hadn’t been so bad. He couldn’t help feeling a little antsy about meeting someone he’d last seen in person seven years ago, someone who…

  It was kind of funny, and it was something Riley would never admit. If anyone ever asked, he’d tell them to go to hell. But since that thing seven years ago, Devin had been Riley’s… man, he hated the word. His hero.

  Everything with Legion had gone to hell after the botched Quasar job. Riley had known for a while that Faceless was the real boss, but he hadn’t realized that they in turn worked for the notorious Voh Nyay Twins, identical twin warlords who ran a large chunk of Djuvai and shamelessly funded terrorist attacks against IC systems, especially Kydera.

  Riley had lost track of Devin after the job went down in flames. One day, he read on the Net that an undercover ISARK mission unveiled the several members of Legion. Wouldn’t be long before he, too, was discovered. No honor among demons.

  It wasn’t the authorities he feared. He would’ve been relieved if the cyberpolice got to him first. What freaked him out was that ISARK made several well-publicized raids on Faceless’ hideouts, and Faceless covered their asses with the warlords by blaming Legion. They planned to use the ISARK info to wipe out the Legion demons.

  As long as he was on Travan Float, he didn’t stand a chance. He snuck out of the Via shelter and hacked a pirate ship into thinking he was a crewmember. It would’ve worked, except he’d never before seen the inside of a starship and got lost.

  “Gotcha!” A muscle-bound woman with blond dreadlocks grabbed him. She held him by the arms so he couldn’t move. “Whatchya doin’ here?”

  Riley squirmed. “I just wanted off the float! I’ll work for free! I can hack anything!”

  The woman snarled. “Ain’t no place for you here.” She turned to the other pirates. “What should we do with this little shit?”

  A man with yellow teeth growled. “I say lock ’im in the storage unit we cleaned out. That’ll give ole Blaze a fun surprise when he go lookin’ for them valuables!”

  The woman stomped her strangely shaped boots as she laughed. “I love it! Fuckin’ hilarious!”

  Riley tried to twist out of her grip. “If you leave me here, I’m dead!”

  “Yeah, kinda the point.” She dragged Riley down to the storage sector. Although he struggled the entire way, he was too small to break free. She shoved him into the empty storage unit and slammed the double doors shut before he could run out.

  Riley banged against the metal. “They’re gonna kill me! If you leave me here, I’m dead!”

  The woman walked away, laughing. After several useless attempts to break open the door, he curled up in a corner and cried.

  An entire day passed. Riley heard several people walk by, but they ignored his pleas. His terror dulled into depressed resignation. His short, sorry life would end soon, and there was nothing he could do to save himself. Thirteen freakin’ years of misery—that was all the universe could spare for his sad existence.

  The dreadlocked blonde’s distinctive footsteps approached. “Hey, little shit. Looks like you were right. Someone’s comin’ for ya. Didn’t think you’d be worth the trouble, but I guess ya must’ve been a real pain-in-the-ass for someone so small.”

  Riley whimpered, “Please let me out.”

  “Nah, already told him you’re here, and I wouldn’t wanna piss him off. You should be honored. They sent Black Knight. He arrived yesterday askin’ ’bout a scrawny little demon with black hair, and I was like, ‘Hey, I know where you can find one.’ Now this is the guy even the bosses are scared of ’cause he won’t just kill ya, he’ll get creative. Dunno whatchya coulda done to deserve to be killed by him.”

  “Please…”

  “Y’know he got in trouble soon’s he stepped on the float? Yeah, some boss he pissed off put a hit on him, and there was this big fat firefight in the square. I saw the whole thing. He lost his helmet, and I’m tellin’ ya, he was handsome! I think everyone got a good look while they could. Ten yearsa scarin’ the fuck outta people, and we finally get to see his face! What a show!”

  She laughed nastily. “Wellp, won’t be long ’fore he’ll be comin’, I guess, soon’s he decides the funnest way to off ya. I best get goin’. Would hate to have him thinkin’ I was helpin’ ya or nothin’.”

  Riley trembled. Black Knight was Faceless’s most feared member, known for toying with his victims. What’ll he do to me?

  Hours passed.

  Then, he heard them: metal-heeled boots clanging against the metal floor.

  They stopped.

  A sharp pole jammed through the bottom of the crack between the two doors, then retracted. It pierced the crack at three places in the center, then at the top.

  Shaking but otherwise paralyzed, Riley watched as gloved hands pried open the doors. The tall, infamous form of Black Knight, clad head to toe in black combat gear, entered. In his signature black helmet, pointed at the front with a red slit over the eyes, he looked more like a monster than a man.

  Riley buried his face into his knees, praying the merc would shoot him in the head and get it over with. More clanging—the footsteps approached. He shook so hard, hugged his knees so tight…

  A gentle hand on his shoulder. “Hey, kid.”

  Riley looked up with a start. Devin knelt beside him, holding Black Knight’s helmet under one arm. “Devin?”

  Riley jumped up and threw his arms around his friend’s neck, not caring if it was a girly thing to do.

  Devin put a hand on Riley’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “I’m getting you out. It’s gonna be okay.”

  “I thought… how did you… why would you…?”

  “I was
n’t about to let them kill you.” Devin stood and pulled Riley up. “C’mon.”

  He unclipped a small bomb from his utility belt and set it down against the back wall. “Get ready to run like hell.”

  He pressed some buttons on the bomb, grabbed Riley by the arm, and ran out the door.

  Boom.

  Riley froze in terror. Devin scooped him up and kept running. A chain of explosions thundered, getting bigger each time.

  Devin put Riley down, grabbed his gun, and shot around the edges of a vent in the ceiling. He helped Riley up and then jumped and pulled himself into the conduit. Riley followed him through the float’s system of conduits and transport shafts until they reached the docking area.

  Devin shoved Riley into a Barracuda and took off like lightning. “They won’t even look for a body. That storage unit you were locked in is right next to an arms dealer’s warehouse. There won’t be much left of the storage sector by the time it’s over.”

  Riley, still shaking, watched Travan Float shrink in the rear view.

  “Hey,” Devin said. “Everything’s gonna be okay. I’m taking you to Ibara, in the Kyderan system. They call it the Orphan Planet because it’s pretty much dedicated to making sure kids like you have a future. I wish I could do more, but I’ve gotta get back to Faceless before they figure out I’m not Black Knight.”

  “I can’t believe you came,” Riley said, finally able to speak.

  Devin smiled. “Told you I cared.”

  “I’m freakin’ amazing!” Riley sat on the cockpit floor with his slate hooked up to some equipment, which was in turn hooked up to the Stargazer’s central computer. It had taken longer than he’d hoped, but he’d managed to decipher the info from the kidnapper machine’s chip.

  Jane rushed in. “What is it?”

  Devin entered behind her. “Did you find something?”

  He’d wanted to stay while Riley did his thing, but Riley had insisted he couldn’t work with someone looking over his shoulder.

  Adam walked in after Devin, and all three looked at Riley expectantly.

  Trying to look chill, Riley rested his back against the wall. “Duh. Wouldn’t be gloatin’ if I hadn’t.”

  He typed some commands into his slate. The Stargazer’s computer displayed the info on the viewscreen. Several names appeared under the heading “Complete List of Actives.” Next to each, a square displayed a close-up picture of the subject against a deep blue background. One of them Riley recognized: Sarah DeHaven.

  Jane’s eyes were round with amazement. “Are those the AIs?”

  No, they’re Nem monkeys. “Uh… Duh?”

  Jane’s expression turned to annoyance. Riley reminded himself to be more polite in the real world.

  He scrolled down the list. “Most of the files are messed up because the chip was damaged and all. Dude, there are tons of them!”

  Adam took a step closer to the viewscreen. “Am I on there?”

  “Nope. Probably because your… uh… counterpart isn’t, you know, active yet. Or maybe because you’re a ‘special case.’”

  Riley typed some more commands. One of the AI files popped up: a guy with amber eyes named Jonathan King. The file occupied a quarter of the screen and detailed, in computer-speak, the moves he’d made, what its purpose had been, and whether the action had been “successful.”

  “Looks like this one’s been around awhile,” Riley said. “It’s basically a list of commands that were sent to him, like ‘apply for this internship’ or ‘cancel that interview.’ It goes back about two years.”

  Jane looked as if she was trying to read the code. “So someone’s controlling them. They’re not… sentient?”

  “I dunno. I guess not every move is detailed. Seems like the programming lets them do a lotta stuff on their own, like, the everyday stuff, but someone tells them when to make the bigger moves. Man, there’s a lotta info here! You guys got lucky!”

  “Riley.”

  Riley heard Devin’s voice and, not accustomed to being referred to by his real name, looked up. He wasn’t sure what to make of Devin’s lack of expression. Did I do something wrong? “Yeah?”

  “Show me Sarah’s file.”

  Riley scrambled to bring it up. Sarah’s face appeared next to Jonathan King’s portrait. Her file was heavily damaged and only contained a partial log of her recent actions. “So, it explains why she froze. There’s an error from when you… uh… surprised her.”

  “And?”

  “It says she was sent a command to… uh… say yes. So you’d be distracted and forget everything, you know, so you wouldn’t figure out she’s… she’s…”

  “She’s a machine,” Devin said flatly. “When was she replaced? Does it have any information as to where she is now?”

  Riley wished he had the answers Devin wanted. He hurriedly nitpicked the commands to see if he’d missed something, mentally bashing himself for not being better.

  Devin knelt down to Riley’s level. “Relax, you’re doing a good job.” He smiled. “You’re a freakin’ genius.”

  Riley gave him an apologetic look. “I can’t find anything else about her. It’s not on the chip or was wiped out from the damage.”

  “Is there anything on there other than the AI files?”

  Riley poked around a bit more. Everyone watched him. He jittered nervously. He considered asking them to leave again, then reminded himself that he was the best and should enjoy the opportunity to show off.

  Several minutes later, he realized why the chip looked so familiar. His jaw dropped. “Ooooh shit.”

  Jane sat in the pilot’s seat and looked down at Riley. “What is it?”

  “So, this thing, and the thing it came from, since it was custom-made for that thing…”

  “Yeah?”

  Riley entered a few more commands. An image of a dark blue gemstone with the words “BLUE DIAMOND TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION” emblazoned across it in white letters appeared beneath Sarah’s file.

  Jane opened her mouth in surprise. “Holy crap. I knew it! I knew it was BD Tech!”

  “I dunno about that,” Riley said skeptically. “Someone probably stole the machines from one of their labs. Or maybe one of the engineer guys went rogue and is helping No Name. I mean, the company’s got a lotta fancy shit, but nothing close to these AIs. Besides, they may be an evil corporation, but they’re not criminal. They wouldn’t go around the Tech Council like that. Trust me, I’ve been through their secret files.”

  Devin stood. “Whoever it is, what do they want?”

  “Maybe they’re trying to take over the galaxy.” Okay, that sounds pretty dumb when said aloud. Riley jerked his head at the portrait of Jonathan King. “I mean, look at this guy. Every move he’s been commanded to make puts him on the path to being the perfect politician. The people getting replaced, they all stand to make it big.”

  “Like Sarah. The perfect singer.”

  “Uh… Yeah. I guess they’re all perfect somethings.”

  Adam tilted his head, expression confused. “Except me. Why me? I’m so… boring.”

  Jane looked up at him. “I’ve been trying to figure that one out for ages. I guess they could program your replacement to act like one of those power-grabber types, but isn’t the whole point to make the switch unnoticeable?”

  Devin’s face hardened. “Seems that way. Nothing on the chip indicates when Sarah was taken?”

  Riley fidgeted. “Uh… No. The earliest thing in the log is the… error. If there’s anything else, it’s not there anymore.”

  “I see.”

  “So… Uh… That’s everything.” Riley tapped his fingers on the back of his slate. “I mean, I can show you more about the other AIs…”

  “No, I’ve seen enough. I appreciate your he
lp.”

  “Anything for an old pal.”

  Riley suddenly remembered why he’d wanted to talk to Devin in person, before he’d been distracted by the chip and stuff.

  He put the slate down. “So I’ve been doing some diggin’ on my own, and what I found, it’s kinda scary. Remember Mastermind? The big bad demon from ten-ish years ago? Remember how a bunch of demons who got involved with him ended up dead? Turns out, they were all working on the same thing.”

  Jane leaned forward. “Let me guess: artificial intelligence.”

  “Yup. I think Mastermind’s behind No Name. I know he disappeared and all, but I think this is him being more discreet. The Seer showed me some things, and I figured out that all the guys who got killed had written some unique part of the code. I’m guessing Mastermind wanted to hog all the good stuff.”

  “Then it is BD Tech. Mastermind works there.”

  “Nah,” Riley scoffed. “I’d know if he did.”

  Devin kept his gaze on Sarah’s file. “His name is Dr. Revelin Kron. The Seer told us, and I think it’s been proven we can trust him.”

  Riley’s jaw dropped again. “What? No, it’s not possible that No Name’s working in the same building as me, and I didn’t catch on. Dude, Kron runs the entire Fragan facility! There’s no way in hell he’s involved in all this criminal shit. Besides, I’ve checked him out several times. If Kron was behind all this, I would’ve known.”

  This is beyond crazy. No Name’s online footprints had been too scattered to trace, but—

  Riley recalled something else the Seer had told him. He snatched up his slate and buzzed through the Stargazer’s central computer, concentrating so intensely he forgot he had people watching him.

  He found them: the files the Seer had put in the ship. One was an old video, but that wasn’t relevant. Riley brought up his findings on the viewscreen, and several orange lines of code replaced the AI files.