“The promise of premonition
sticks to my feet.
I thrash with the urge
to keep myself seen.
The foresight is near,
beneath the thin skin.
My eyes open wide
and then I see sin.
Vileness unfurls and
entombs me so sweet.
The heart beats once
and my spirit shrieks.”
— ‘Revelation’ by Ahaj Redir.
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The day has come in which I would either be captured by the GUF and thrown into whatever prison they had for synths, or I’d successfully infiltrate the biggest corporation on the planet in broad daylight.
And that day started off quickly, but that was due to the preparations I did with Blackwire beforehand–Lyric and Dawid mostly.
One helped with the technology aspect of the mission and the other with the strategy needed.
Lyric turned out to be knowledgeable not only about synthoids–as they proved with Gabriel–but also about the current surveillance and credentials-verifying systems that were used in buildings that served corporations, such as the one I would soon be walking into.
Currently, I was standing on a sidewalk on the opposite side of the street the GUF headquarters was on. The plan I agreed on with Dawid relied heavily on timing, which would not be a usual approach to this type of job, but considering the vast amount of information about when certain people arrived and when specific actions took place, it would be idiotic not to use such knowledge to my advantage.
Then, as the clock struck half past ten, I moved to cross the street.
Shortly after that, I received a confirmation from Dawid that his part was done. At that, I could feel a gentle buzz of relief in my core. The first step was important as it allowed me to go into the building and pretend to be someone I wasn’t.
It was possible because Dawid intercepted an employee who was on their way to work and was supposed to arrive in this building at around 10:38 a.m.
As I stepped into the hall, the first thing that I checked was where the cameras were. Every week, at around the same time, the building’s security would go through each set of cameras and restart them. That gave me around three minutes to move from the entrance to the elevator at the end of the hall. I verified with a quick ping whether they were off or not and upon confirmation that they were not, in fact, recording, I took a step forward.
My feet moved and with measured, but eager steps, I started to walk towards the first checkpoint.
There, Lyric’s expertise was able to shine as with a quick impulse of a program they provided me, the elevator opened and I stepped in. It would probably also be possible to force my way in with the right type of digital attack, but then that risked setting off alarms.
Unfortunately, the camera inside this metal cube was on, but that was something we expected. That’s why a hat with a wide brim adored my head. It didn’t matter how silly it was if this simple method worked.
It was a bit of an unusual style for a corporate employee, but I wasn’t pretending to be one. I was a guest. A very important one at that.
The doors opened on the eleventh floor and a man in a pressed and clean suit stepped to greet me. His name was not relevant. What was important, though, was what he would do for me.
“Miss Nelsen! It’s a pleasure to welcome you in our department.” The man reached his hand to me and I greeted him with a smile. A false one, of course.
“Thank you for your hospitality. I hope I'm not too late?” I asked and he nodded no as we began to walk.
At first, when I heard Lyric’s suggestion, I dismissed the plan they presented outright. Not only would it go against a cardinal rule when infiltrating–being unnoticed–but it would also require me to trust in their ability to forge a digital signature of a person. Something that was pretty difficult to do for most people. Apparently, they were the odd percentage capable of it, though.
Also, I questioned how I was supposed to pass as a human. In a building like the GUF one, the sensors and cameras, as well as many different cybernetics people could have, would be able to detect my status as a synthoid. They said I shouldn’t worry about that and showed me an article about a SSU that became a CFO at one of the bigger corporations. I wouldn’t impersonate them, of course, but a SSU in a corporate world, at a high-ranking position no less, was apparently possible and therefore I had a chance.
They turned out to be pretty inventive with the persona they created for me to play. But also, I was supposed to wear make-up. And a dress. With heels too.
Just at the thought of that, I had shuddered with discomfort. It went against my every instinct since those were suboptimal clothes for hostile engagement. In the end though, I understood the importance of a right disguise. Thankfully, Cece had clothes that were able to fit me. Even though her frame was much smaller than mine, she apparently preferred loose and comfortable clothing.
As my heels-clad feet walked briskly behind the man, my eyes grazed across the wide floor of the technological development branch of the GUF’s R&D department. It was busy, as people walked hurriedly from one station to another, others sat at their desk and rapidly blinked as their SDIs worked full-time. On either side of this hall were rooms behind massive glass walls where meetings seemed to take place.
This department was not my final destination in this building, but a very important step to reach it.
The man before me was taking me to a room at the end of this wide and open hall and because of the massive number of workers jumping from one place to another, our walk was slowed trying to navigate through the busy space.
So busy, in fact, that I almost did not notice a head of similar dark hair behind one of those glass-fenced meeting rooms to my left.
I stopped, I couldn’t help it, and stared at that person with a growing sense of dread. Something that clawed beneath my skin and filled my mouth with a shocking loathing that made me clench my jaw.
It was Hadley Sullivan.
My eyes pierced through the sea of stressed and running humans to look at her face, which was twisted in disgust and irritation.
What was she doing here?
The last time I checked, the GUF had not issued any official statement about their investigation into Fran-Mili and no amount of digging through the web gave me any indication as to what happened to this woman.
Why was she here?
“Miss Nelsen? Is everything alright?” The man who was escorting me asked and my attention turned swiftly to him. I still couldn’t shake a strange feeling of unease that sparked in my core upon seeing that face. The face which was once ashen with fear of encroaching death.
“Yes. I’m simply adoring how busy everything is. It would seem this branch is well-financed.”
“Oh, yes! But of course, we take our work seriously. Would you like to have a tour of the floor? I’m sure that Humberside would love to know more about the status of the projects they’re financing.”
Right. I was playing to be an employee of Humberside Inc. as it was the only other corporation big enough to receive such a level of respect from the GUF. Being an energy mogul would do that.
“Maybe later. Firstly, let’s do what I came here for.” Which was a bunch of nothing, but the man didn’t need to know that. No. He was sure I brought plans for a new energy plant with me, which was not unbelievable as apparently important information was still usually transported in person. The digital trail and ways of following data were too advanced to send petabytes of sensitive information through even the most encrypted paths.
“Of course.” The man turned and I subtly glanced at where Hadley Sullivan had been.
She wasn't there anymore.
My core trembled with new surges of energy as my logical pathways demanded more power. There was a warning, or perhaps something like anxiety, blasting at me with needle-like sensations.
I needed to keep her presence in mind. Even under an elaborate disguise she’d be able to recognize me. That could not happen. I would not allow it to happen.
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The man opened the door and I stepped through. The room we reached was an important one as this was where my technomancy skills would come in use.
“You are welcome to sit down, Miss. I’ll come and fetch the project’s supervisor.”
I nodded in understanding at the man and watched as he closed the doors behind him. Then, I let my senses expand and search for a device which would buy me enough time to sneak somewhere else.
Firstly, I sensed the doors. They had a locking mechanism that needed proper credentials to close. These, Lyric was unable to replicate as we didn’t know whose credentials it needed.
As I gazed into the programming of the lock, I noticed a name and corporate ID number. With a swift scan of what data the Blackwire provided me, I then fabricated a small program that would imitate that person. With a quick neutronium ping I was able to close the doors.
The room had no cameras and the walls were made of foam-concrete instead of tall glass panels, so I took the hat and heels off and turned on my antigravity field.
Then, as my working hand touched the ceiling of the room, with a quick measurement I was able to pinpoint where the opening to a ventilation system was.
I could feel a slight difference in the surface of the ceiling and trace with my fingertips the edges of the entrance.
With a sure, but gentle move, I pushed the tile in and then it fell into my hand. It was a bit harder to catch with just one arm available, but somehow I managed. I then placed it inside the shaft and floated in. I then put the tile back in place as there was always a risk that they would be able to open the doors.
Inside the windy shaft, I checked the ventilation plans and navigated myself through twists and turns higher and higher up the massive building.
Until I reached the last floor.
I situated myself before the place which would make me drop into a room reserved only to those of the highest rank. The control room.
Every building that was technologically advanced had one and it was the most sacred and well-protected place. The only place that offered the access Blackwire needed for their plan.
I tried to scan below me, to look for potential guards and other employees, but the area below me was lined with lead and other materials which prevented me from doing so.
Smart but annoying.
Instead, I turned to the more old school trick. I listened. It proved a good thing that I did as I was able to hear shuffling from inside. No voices though, so perhaps it was only one person.
No information that Blackwire had about arrival times of employees, their designated working space or other such nonsense gave me any info with which I could work with to find out who the person below me could be.
If it was a human with low augmentation, then perhaps it’d be easy to neutralize them, but if it was a synthoid said to guard this place, then that would make me hesitant to fight them. A corporation such as the GUF would definitely not cheap out on a combat synth.
As the shuffling from inside the room stopped, I considered the risks against themselves. If I were to wait some more, the window of opportunity might disappear forever. If I were to drop in now, I risked engaging with a potentially deadly hostile.
As my core surged with decisiveness, I did too. With a quick push at the weak point in the vent, the ceiling opened and I allowed myself a second to look inside.
Upon assessing the interior, I dropped in and almost sighed with relief as my senses detected no life forms or neutronium signatures of a synth.
It would seem luck would be on my side if it were to exist.
Now, Lyric told me that there would be an obvious place to connect myself to and I had to say they were not wrong.
The room itself was almost painfully white. The walls, the floor, and even furniture like the two chairs and a table in a corner appeared to be covered in brightness that had to achieve the impossible albedo zero.
And then, on the west side of the room was a panel of shining steel with ports for all sorts of connections. Universal one included.
I stepped closer to the enormous panel, as it stretched from the bottom of the floor to the very top, and contemplated. I could do anything to this building, the GUF database or perhaps even to other systems that depend on the corporation’s bandwidth. The GUF ruled most of the world and probably not all of it would be reachable through this place but perhaps a small percentage of it would. And even a small percentage of the world was impressive.
It was almost unbelievable how a room of this worth and importance was this easily accessible. Maybe the GUF lived by the thought that if you put something important unhidden then perhaps it would be safe in the plain sight. I’ve always thought that to be an idiotic strategy as it only welcomed a stumble, a coincidence or perhaps a sprinkling of luck to destroy such a thing. All of them were parameters dangerous in strategic planning.
After that momentary reflection, I took the universal cable from my right wrist which was laying in a material sling all this time. It was almost surprising how the man who greeted me mere minutes ago did not bother to ask about it. He must’ve known that my disguise was a SSU.
With a quick and sure movement, I grabbed the tip of the cable with my fingers and plunged it into the right port. In a fraction of a second I received a warning and question for authorization. I disregarded that and activated the program Lyric gave me—the Swipe.
The scary notifications and questions disappeared almost as rapidly as they arrived and after a couple of minutes during which I observed a bar load up in my ocular implants, the program finished.
The notifications and questions reappeared and I reached to detach the cable from the port, but as my fingertip grazed the threaded line of silicon and gold circuitry, a surge of something unlike I’ve ever felt birthed out of my right arm.
It was a sensation of freezing panic and I watched as the arm that was laying calmly and limply mere seconds ago jumped to life.
It breezed through the air with a swooshing sound and grabbed my left wrist in a vice-like grip. My feet couldn’t move and no amount of admin commands worked in brining me back control over my body.
It all took a second and then I was plunged deep into a grime-like void of unconsciousness.
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I came to—or at least it felt like I did–to a space filled with glimmering lights full of colorless radiance. Among these speckles of particles which looked like nothing physical that I knew, there I was. A dense construct of those small, luminescent fragments.
I knew this place. My mind told me I’ve been here before. It did not feel familiar, though. Instead, I could sense a paralyzing and choking feeling engulfing my figure.
I looked around as this couldn’t be it. Something has always happened when I was here. Something crippling.
What I found was that in the place of my right arm, now there was nothing. No strange blue particulates, no strange sensations. Absolutely nothing.
The currents that I remembered surging through me and around me the last time I was here, were nowhere to be found. This space, besides the floating motes of light, was empty. I almost felt at peace, if it weren’t for this nagging feeling that something was not right.
“Smart girl.” A voice then came from all around me. It surged with a resounding echo saturated with confidence and perhaps excitement.
“Who are you?” I said, or I tried. Instead, my intent to speak turned into no sound waves but something like a command one would issue the computer. Bits of neutronium, I felt it was, flew from me and they were what gave my intent a voice.
How come, then, that the voice I heard before came from all around me?
“It doesn’t matter right now.” Then, the stranger’s voice coalesced into a figure of similar density to my own and of a horrible hue of azure.
It had no face, nor distinct characteristics and stood before me like a copy of myself in terms of height and stature.
“Then what does matter?” I tried to grasp any manual I had that helped with conversing with one’s kidnapper, as this situation had glaring similarities, but there was nothing. No manual or database I relied so much on was within my grasp. I tried to run a command to sweep through my system but that intent dissipated as quickly as it came. I was a thought. A thought alone. No system, no hardware, no admin commands.
What was I?
“A soul, one would say.” The voice came forth from the blue figure and grabbed at me with a demand for attention.
Did it matter if I ‘spoke’? It would seem as if the figure, that I was growing in confidence to be the intruder, heard every thought I had.
“I do.” How humble.
A forceful chuckle ripped through the place and motes of differing light scattered as the waves of amusement carried themselves further and further.
“What do you want?” It was important to find the motivation. That much I remembered from the military training.
“I want time. And a touch.” It would seem this person–or construct–knew similar strategies. Vagueness was one’s best friend in a situation like this.
“And it seems like I got both. How exciting.” The construct said and started to scatter. The blue particles flew all around where they’ve just been and as some amount of incalculable time have passed, they paused and rocketed towards myself.
I turned and tried to run, but I had no body and this wasn’t a physical place, so the best that I managed to do was turn my attention from the horrible invasion that took place. A revolting sensation sprouted forth and all the light that I saw turned into a neon blue that encompassed my vision.
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This time, I knew my eyes opened as I felt all the small circuits that imitated nerves and tendons stretch with a labor of human proportions. I was laid horizontal and whiteness with a gray quality covered the ceiling. It was a welcome sight. A color, no matter how faint.
I pushed myself up with a left hand and then my right. I looked down and felt neutronium flowing undisturbed in a pattern of my choosing.
My right arm was back and I felt scared at what it could mean.
“Hello, Miss Steele. How are you feeling?” My head turned with a speed of thunder and then my eyes saw a face with gentle features and a welcoming expression.
It was a man of middle age, but in these times, physical appearance did not say anything concrete. He could be anything in the range of forty to seventy, if my ability to guess human age did not diminish in the unknown amount of time I was unconscious for.
“Who are you?” I hoped this time I would receive a normal answer.
“My name is Anton Marten and I want to apologize for any inconvenience you’ve encountered so far, Miss Steele.” His voice was calm and content with himself. It reminded me of a voice I just heard and I couldn’t help a creeping feeling of unease that blossomed from within my core.
I took a second to digest and understand what he just said. Last memory I had before I arrived in that strange space was of me infiltrating the most important room in the GUF headquarters. I checked my location and I was still in the building.
I would be scared and sure of my soon imprisonment if it weren’t for this man’s tone and sentiment.
“Inconvenience? Whatever you mean, Mister Marten?” I got up from the bed and looked around the sparse space. It was a small room and this Anton man was seated on one of the chairs in the opposite corner. Next to him was the door.
He was dressed in a lab coat without any apparent signage. The shoes he wore spoke of wealth and convenience. I could tell he was of a high standing within the GUF, but also that he was actually doing something besides signing documents and ordering people around. I could not match his face to the Blackwire’s database.
“I assure you, I’ll tell you everything in due time. But firstly, welcome home, ma’am. You’ve been missed.” The man bowed low and stayed there. I looked at the door and contemplated running away, but before my decision could be made, my vision—no, my mind–took a step back and forth stepped someone I was finding to be a familiarly horrible presence.
“That is indeed nice to hear. Anton, you’ve said? It’s good to be back home.” I felt my body step forward and watched as my right hand grabbed his shoulder.
He stood tall again and said these ominous words I would never forget.
“The specimen you’ve chosen is magnificent, ma’am. Here, the identification.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card with a face and a name. Both were familiar to me. The face was my own, but the name–I’ve only seen sparingly.
It read ‘Marjorie Dunn’—the previous CEO of the GUF. Controversial and powerful, a figure shrouded in infamy.
That was the intruder. That was the parasite beneath my skin.