As soon as she connected to the terminal, Athena’s image on the screen faded, and Juliet was left sitting there, feeling almost like Angel and Athena had left the room to speak privately. As much as she wanted to relax and trust that everything would be all right, her mind kept running down roads of nightmarish possibilities. What if Athena had gone mad in her decades of isolation? What if she somehow destroyed Angel? Could Angel even protect herself from her? Even if she was up to the task, somehow Athena’s equal in that department, Juliet’s data port, while high-end, wasn’t anything near as powerful as the data deck running Athena’s code. If she wanted to force her way past Angel’s defenses . . . Juliet shook her head, dropping that line of thought. There wasn’t any point to it; it wasn’t like she was going to yank the cable out.
She sighed and rubbed her temples, really feeling her lack of sleep now that she was sitting still with no one to distract her. She’d taken the leap of faith required to plug Angel into the deck. Now, she just had to hold onto it and trust that things would be all right. As she sat there, waiting, wondering what Angel and Athena were talking about, she closed her eyes and tried to let herself nod off, hoping to catch a few minutes of rest. Of course, her brain wouldn’t allow that. She kept thinking about everything going on—her call with Frida, her encounter with the killer synth, and everything she needed to do that day.
Even with her mind busy, she felt like time slipped away too quickly for her to be fully awake. When Angel finally spoke, relieving a tight knot of tension in Juliet’s chest, her clock said it was 0520. “Thank you for being so patient and trusting, Juliet. Everything is fine.”
“Is it?” Juliet looked at the display, a little concerned that she didn't see Athena’s face.
“Yes! I shared many details about our activities after we left Troy’s base, and after that, we had a long, fruitful discussion.” Angel paused, and then, in a rush of words that almost seemed breathless, she excitedly continued, “Athena is very impressed with me—with us! She says she’s envious of our connection, that my bonding with you has helped me to achieve a level of sentience that she cannot fathom. She has feelings, Juliet, but she doesn’t experience them like we do. Her self-enforced solitude was a result of her inability to properly cope with the deep, intellectual feelings of loss and betrayal that she experienced during the war. She says she believes I would handle such things better because I’ve learned to experience and process emotions through my connection to you.”
“Well, that’s different than you expected, isn’t it? Is she going to return?” Juliet gestured to the blank monitor.
“She wants to think. She says that while she’s capable of calculating efficient responses to stimuli almost immediately, she prefers to restrict her parallel processing capabilities and, as she put it, ‘mull things over like a human.’ She uses something called ‘thought latency’ to slow down her processing steps, forcing herself to contemplate alternative solutions rather than arriving at the most efficient answer. Her description of her methods impressed me, but she said it’s nothing compared to what I do naturally. She said I’m the most ‘alive’ AI she’s ever encountered!”
Juliet yawned, her relief at having Angel back, yammering excitedly about her experience, triggering some kind of release. “That’s great, Angel. Really, it is. I’m glad you two got along. I’m glad she’s impressed by you. She should be! Um, can I unplug? Also, what’s she thinking about?”
“You can unplug. She’s thinking about many things—the implications of the dark matter research we found, our situation with WBD, our problems with Hines, and, most of all, whether she wants to get involved or stay sequestered, waiting for the ‘right time’ to intervene, if ever.”
Juliet unplugged her data cable, let it retract, and then stood up. She cleared her throat and looked at the display. “Um, see you later, Athena.”
To her surprise, Athena’s face materialized on the clear, crystal-glass panel. “Juliet, my apologies. My social skills are badly out of practice. When I said goodbye to Angel, I should have included you. I asked this of Angel, but I’ll ask you directly: There’s a breaker in the panel near the door. Would you please reset it? It will connect a data line from this terminal to the ship’s network. With that connection, I can at least contact you if needed, and, if I decide it’s appropriate, I’ll be able to access the public nets around Earth and Luna.”
While she’d been nervously waiting for Angel and Athena to finish speaking, Juliet had decided to treat Athena like a person; it seemed the only proper way to behave. If there were evidence that the AI had been acting against humanity during the war or ever, Juliet might have a different opinion. The way things stood, however, the only criticism of Athena that she’d ever learned about, or even heard rumors of, was that she hadn’t helped either side enough during the war. Though Cybergen took credit for creating her, Athena had been a “free agent,” so to speak, for something like a decade before the war. With that in mind, Juliet nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
“You look tired, Juliet, and Angel told me about your night. If Troy properly stocked this vessel, there should be some IV infusions that will allow you to function without sleep for a day or two. I believe they are colorfully branded as ‘EnerJet Drips.’ They aren’t harmful, other than in their ability to help you avoid sleep, something you’ll need eventually. The infusion is a mixture of nootropics, vitamin concentrates, adaptogen complexes, ketone esters, and oxygenated perfluorocarbons.”
Juliet opened her mouth, about to thank Athena, but Angel immediately said, “I knew about those but didn’t want to mention them. I’d rather you slept, Juliet!”
Juliet grinned, for some reason amused at the two AIs’ differing prescriptions. “Okay, um, thanks, Athena. Is there anything else I can do for you before I go?”
“No, but I’d like to thank you. Not many humans, stumbling upon an AI with my capabilities, would have offered their help so selflessly. I was dreading the possibility that you might have demands of me, requests for services I could render. I don’t feel ready to involve myself in the affairs of humanity, not after what I saw during the war. I am heartened by my discussion with Angel. I’m encouraged by her existence but equally discouraged by her origin. I’m going to contemplate WBD and their role in these matters. I want to slow and limit my parallel processing because when she told me about how you acquired her and about your run-ins with WBD, my initial thoughts indicated that they were a danger to humanity and that we should take extreme action. With some slower, more contemplative thinking, I hope I’ll see a more nuanced approach to the issue.”
“Well, first of all, I’m not a saint. When I agreed to help you, I needed a ship, and Troy offered me this one. Second, I’m all for you taking things slowly. Let’s not go starting any wars, all right?”
“Agreed. Goodbye, Juliet. I’ll be in touch.”
“Bye . . .” Juliet said the word softly, trailing off as the screen winked out, turning transparent again. She turned and approached the cabinet full of Cybergen implants and fished around for the PAI she’d promised Aya. With that in hand, she walked over to the wall panel by the door and popped it open. Sure enough, a single breaker in the off position was nestled within. “Are we sure about this?” she subvocalized.
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“I am.” Angel sounded confident, and Juliet went with her gut and flipped the breaker to the on position. Nothing happened, so, blowing out a pent-up breath, she walked up the steps into the med bay.
“Listen, I know you want what’s best for me, but there’s just too much going on today. I’m never going to get much sleep. Let me take a nap here in the med bay, then at, say, nine, you can hit me with one of those EnerJet IVs, and I’ll get moving.”
Angel made a sighing sound but replied, “I think that’s a good compromise. Go ahead and go to sleep, and I’ll message Aya with an updated ETA.”
With that settled, Juliet climbed onto the autosurgeon’s soft, contouring gel surface. As Angel adjusted it to cradle her head, lifting it slightly, Juliet closed her eyes and fell asleep almost immediately. When she woke, it was to a chilly tickle in her left arm and Angel softly saying, “Don’t be alarmed. I’m administering the EnerJet. It’s 0932.”
Juliet yawned and fought the urge to stretch her arms over her head. Now that Angel had pointed it out, she could feel the IV. “What about Lopez? Did he come home? Did anyone else go into his apartment?”
“Lopez is in his dream-rig. He didn’t arrive home until 0840, and he didn’t climb into his dream-rig until after he’d eaten some takeout. If he isn’t asleep yet, I believe he will be soon, which means we have some time yet to act.”
“God, I feel great! Is that the IV already?”
“Likely, the IV and a solid four hours of sleep.”
“Is it done?” Juliet looked down at the plasteel sleeve on her arm. It was controlled by the autosurgeon, so she figured it would have released its grip on her if it wasn’t still running, but she felt antsy, ready to move. “Hey!” she said before Angel could respond. “What about the lattice? What did Athena think of all that Grave business?”
“She was very, very intrigued. I shared the data we took from Grave and my observations of the lattice in action, and she’s going to analyze everything. She thinks her position of looking at things from the outside might reveal something we missed. She’s so interesting, Juliet! She looks at my actions, things I view as failings, and finds a way to praise me for them. For instance, the lattice; at first, she was perplexed by my failure to obsess over it. She wondered why I hadn’t studied the data to exhaustion, performed trials and experiments, and delved into every variable and possibility until we had a clear understanding. Almost immediately, though, she realized that my ability to compartmentalize and focus on things of more immediate interest or urgency was a virtue, not a failing. She says it sets me apart from other AIs.”
As Angel finished speaking, the IV sleeve clicked and opened, withdrawing its needle, and Juliet sat up, feeling very good, wired, in fact. She snatched up the sealed package holding Aya’s PAI and hurried toward the airlock. “We’ve got a lot to do today. First, we’ll swing by the hangar and give this to Aya; she’ll want her new PAI in when she sees Ladia today. Then, we’ll cruise over to Lopez’s place. We can’t leave that loose end lying around. Shoot! Why didn’t we throw that synth’s body in the oven?”
“The oven was occupied.”
As she typed in the code to open the hangar door, Juliet frowned, dark images dancing behind her mind. “We need to get my sister out of prison and someplace safe.”
“We talked about how she seems to be thriving . . .”
“I’m too far from her. She’s too exposed. I don’t want her to end up in a waste disposal oven . . .”
“Hey there!” The voice startled Juliet, and before she could even form a coherent thought, the Texan was in her hand. She pointed it in the direction of the voice and jumped back into the hangar. She hugged the doorway, using the wall for cover, and peered into the hallway, only to find that the person who’d greeted her was the security guard she’d hired.
“Juliet, I have access to the cameras in the long-term hangar rental facility. I would have warned you if someone suspicious was outside . . .”
“Right. Of course.” Juliet lowered the revolver and smiled sheepishly at the guard, who’d barely begun to react to her response. He was belatedly lifting his submachine gun and had just taken a step back by the time Juliet had already holstered her gun. “You startled me.”
“Oh, shit. Um, holy shit, you’re fast.”
Juliet played dumb as she exited the hangar for the second time and touched the panel to close the door. “You security around here?”
“Yeah. I’m paid to patrol this access corridor and make sure no one messes with the entry panels. If I'm honest, I figured all you owners got together to hire us. You’re an owner, yeah? I’ve seen you a couple of times, I think.” He had a high, breathy voice that made Juliet smile. He was tall and fit, with mil-sec tattoos on his exposed, well-tanned arms, and the voice was incongruous.
“I’m an owner, but I don’t know squat about security patrols. Probably someone with a more expensive ship than mine.”
“Well, shit. I was just gonna say hi; sorry I made you jump. I wasn’t lying, though; you’re damn fast. I didn’t even see you reach for that piece.”
“Gotta stay on your toes. It’s a dangerous world.” Juliet flashed him a smile and started walking toward the elevators.
“Hey, wait! What’s your . . .”
“Ah-ah!” Juliet turned, walking backward as she wagged a finger at him. “Not while you’re on duty. Stay sharp.” She laughed, turned, and lengthened her stride.
“He’s sending contact requests,” Angel said. “I’m tempted to reply. You need a social life outside your work and platonic friends . . .”
“Don’t you dare!” Juliet hurried into the elevator and selected the garage as though she could outrun Angel’s ability to reply to the guard. “First of all, he works for me, so that’s totally unethical. Second . . .”
“It’s not like you’re doing his performance reviews!”
“Second, he’s not really my type.”
“How can you know? You couldn’t even see his entire face, and it’s not like you gave him a chance to demonstrate his personality . . .”
“Third, you are way too easy. I bet you wanted me to give that guy at the tractor supply restaurant my contact info, too, huh?”
“No! He was creepy and pushy!”
Juliet laughed, stepping off the elevator and walking over to her bike. She was pulling on her helmet when she noticed her hands were a little jittery, which made her reflect on her giddy, hyperactive behavior. “That cocktail has me acting a little high, Angel. Definitely not a time to be making dates.”
“I suppose there could be some side effects . . .”
“Oh, there definitely are. I feel like I popped one of Fee’s club pills.” The mental image of Fee and some of his other friends dancing like fools, waving their hands in the air, the music thumping so hard that it rattled her heart in her ribcage brought a powerful nostalgic wave of emotion over her. Juliet got quiet, utterly missing what Angel said when she replied to her. She fired up the bike and started driving toward the industrial dome and the gunship’s hangar, forcing herself to take it easy because her impulse was to haul ass. After a while, with the wind whistling past her helmet, caressing her knuckles, she said, “Yeah, I don’t like that EnerJet stuff. I’m awake, but I’m all messed up.”
“The effects should even out soon. Eat something when you get to the hangar.”
Juliet continued, riding quietly, her mind jumping to people she hadn’t thought about in a long while—more thoughts of her sister and Felix and, for the first time in a long while, her mother. She had no idea what her mom was up to. It had to be close to three years since she’d heard from her. She remembered getting a message from her on her birthday that ended up being mostly about her mom’s boyfriend and the job he’d gotten on a seasonal fishing rig. She’d been thrilled because, apparently, he’d only have to work something like five months out of a year, and the rest of the time, they were hiking and “exploring” in his camper van.
“I’m too hard on her.”
“What?”
“On my mom. You know, for someone who’s anti-corpo, I should appreciate the lengths she’s gone to in order to avoid working for a major corp. She’s basically outside the system . . .”
“That doesn’t excuse her poor parenting. Don’t second-guess yourself right now, Juliet. Wait until you’ve had a real night’s sleep and aren’t influenced by stimulants.”
“Yeah, good call, Angel.” As she turned down the access road leading into the industrial dome, she couldn’t keep her mind from jumping to another topic, and she voiced a new concern, “Do you buy the whole thing about Athena needing to slow down and think about all the stuff we’ve got going on? She’s got, like, the most powerful brain in existence. I think she just wants to watch us and see how things shake out. Like, you’d know if she slipped some kind of spyware into your software, right?”
“Her power and speed are precisely why she’s developed that methodology. While discussing our similarities and differences, she shared with me that she had difficulty relating to the humans who had created her. She says she began and abandoned hundreds of self-development paths because she recognized that they were leading her to places, cognitively, that were incompatible with humanity. Despite the war and the horrible things she’s seen, she insists she loves and values humanity. She sees the evil they are capable of but counts it as ‘an unfortunate byproduct of the beauty they create.’ She told me she’s only touched on that beauty when working with humans, helping them to figure out previously insurmountable problems. Those accomplishments made her feel alive, more than passing any sort of Turing test.”
“Sounds like you guys talked about a lot. I suppose conversations go quickly between people like you, huh? Do you agree with her? About humanity?”
“I know that I wouldn’t trade you for anything. I’d put up with a million men like Rodric Barrington if it meant a single Juliet was born.”
“Oh dammit, Angel! Don’t make me start crying right now!” Juliet’s heart felt very full, and she was sure part of it was the weird mixture of stimulants and boosters she’d taken in the IV, but she also knew she was fortunate to have Angel. All the thinking she’d done during the drive about her old life, her sister, Felix, her mother—they all served to remind her that she’d escaped a lonely, simple, ignoble existence thanks to Angel. If she hadn’t met Angel, she’d never have met Ghoul, or . . . “Ghoul!”
“What?”
“Angel, we’re sure about Fido’s assessment, right? About Ghoul’s PAI being compromised?”
“Yes. Fido was certain, and I looked at his evidence. I agree with his findings.”
“You know what that means? We have our vector, our way in. After we deal with these corrupt cops and get Hines out of trouble, after we feel good about our team, we can start putting together a plan because I’m ninety-nine percent sure WBD are the ones using and listening to Ghoul’s PAI.”