Dawn: ‘Alicia, is that you?’

Alicia: ‘Yeah,’

Dawn: ‘Where are you? I haven't heard from you for over a week’.

Alicia: ‘I’m in the building. In Eldon’s war room.’

Dawn: ‘You’re with Eldon?’

Alicia: ‘Yeah. Under security.’

Dawn: ‘Aren’t you afraid he’ll catch you?

Alicia: ‘Please,’

Dawn: ‘Right. Well what’s going on?

Alicia: ‘I guess I’m being held captive. Eldon’s making me run his AI. I found Ethan’.

Dawn: ‘Ethan. He’s alive’?

Alicia: ‘Yeah, but he’s messed up. There’s a bunch of living quarters up here and I checked to see if they have security cameras in them. They do, and Ethan was in one of them’.

Dawn: ‘And?.

Alicia: ‘And they’ve been beating on him’.

Dawn: ‘What do you mean?’

Alicia: ‘Someone’s coming. Got to run’.

‘Eldon has Alicia?’ Jimmy asked.

‘Yes, she’s right upstairs,’ Dawn replied.

‘Is that good?’

‘I don’t know. If she’s texting me, and hacking Eldon’s surveillance system, she’s obviously not too closely watched. Has she logged onto our AI?’

‘Not since she disappeared’.

‘She might not want to risk it. You’ll have to continue running things from this end’.

‘And what’s this about Ethan?’

‘You know as much as I do. I don’t know what kind of shape he’s in. We have to try to make contact. How close are you to connecting to his microchip?’

‘We thought we might have established some kind of connection before Alicia disappeared, but I haven’t done much with it since then.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘Well, let's make this a priority. Now that we know he’s alive, we need to make contact. At the very least to let him know we’re still fighting’.

‘You know Ethan,’ Ethan heard Eldon’s voice over an intercom. ‘It’s amazing how one’s fortunes can change in a day. One day you’re losing control of your whole world, the next you’re right back on top again.

Ethan didn’t respond. Didn’t know if he wanted to exert the energy. It felt like Eldon had broken his cheekbone, and for sure a couple of ribs when he had come in the other day and beaten him.

‘Today,’ Eldon continued. ‘I feel I’m on top of the world. How are you doing?’

‘I’m fine,’ Ethan replied.

‘Good. I hate it when people aren’t enjoying my accommodations.

Ethan chose not to reply. He was very adept at the warrior mind by now. To him, Eldon had become much like the physical pain he was inflicting on Ethan. Something to be recognized for what it is, and then set aside until the opportunity comes up to address it.

‘What were you hoping to gain by going against me?’ Eldon continued after a silence. ‘I’ve looked at all the angles, and I can’t find an explanation for your behavior. You were never in a position to overthrow me’.

Still nothing from Ethan.

‘Well, I can tell you whatever it was, it’s not going to happen. Not now for sure. I have a new whiz kid running my AI and I’ve never been stronger than I am right now’.

Ethan supposed that must be Alicia. He wondered how her presence might change things.

‘I’m still curious though,’ Eldon pushed on. ‘Curious what you thought you could possibly gain by turning on me’.

‘Gain?’ Ethan decided to reply. ‘I don’t expect to gain anything, beyond freedom from the likes of you’.

‘Ha!’ Eldon laughed. ‘Oh, that’s right. You’re here to kill me. It looks to me like I’m the one doing the killing. I’ll bet you don’t even weigh 150 lbs anymore. I doubt you could kill me if you tried.

‘Looks can be deceiving, Eldon. You tell me you’re on top of the world, but are you? What do you even know about AI? Are you running it, or is it running you at this point? Looks to me like you’re giving up all of your control. I might still get my chance’.

‘Bullshit!’ Eldon replied. ‘The girl I have working on my AI can do anything. She’s a miracle worker’.

‘I hope that’s true,’ Ethan replied.

‘What do you mean by that’?

Ethan didn’t reply. He didn’t see further utility in engaging.

The truth was, Eldon was concerned about AI. For the time being, he was dependent on AI, and it was beyond him and he knew it. Once he had global control, he planned to unplug the whole thing.

The girl, though, was doing a good job. No more problems from Zhang. In fact she had isolated Zhang’s system so well, she was able to infiltrate it without retaliation. Eldon knew he was screwed if he lost the girl, but she seemed okay.

One night Alicia sat watching Ethan from her monitor. She was doing it from her workstation. Eldon didn’t allow portable devices in the war room. Never one for needing much sleep, she spent a lot of nights out at her workstation. After a while, the two night guards got used to seeing her, and didn’t pay her much mind. Eldon had told them to give her free reign.

On this night, a guard did approach her. Deep in her own thoughts regarding Ethan, she hadn’t heard him until he was standing right on top of her. He was looking rather stunned, like this was the first time in his career he had to make a decision on his own. Alicia wasn’t supposed to know about the surveillance system, let alone watching Eldon’s prisoner. It was an obvious violation.

Alicia placed her hand on the guards forearm, causing him to turn his attention from the monitor to her. She made eye contact with her flaming yellow and blue eyes. He turned and returned to his station.