Overrall, Nina enjoyed her job. If she was asked what that job was, usually she would say "human resources" with a smirk. However, it was much more than that, even if the "human resources" gag wasn't a blatant misnomer. She enjoyed her job because she was good at it. The subterfuge, the lying, the cheating, the stealing. The killing. She was good at making plans, and plans within plans. She was good at manipulating people, and she was good at covering her ass when it went sour. That being said, she didn't necessarily enjoy this part of the job.
She flipped the switch again, and electricity surged through the mechanical body of the SAP she was interrogating. It sat in a chair, its arms bound behind it with steel chains. Its feet sat in a bucket of water. Nina didn't know if that helped, considering much of the machine's composition was metallic, and as such, an excellent conductor, but she had seen it in a film once, and had wanted to give it a shot. She made a mental note to ask it, when it was all said and done, if it thought the bucket helped. Its body heaved, the electricity causing it to strain and struggle. After a few seconds, she shut off the current, and the machine sagged. Sometimes, after these electrical sessions, it would move in such a way that made it seem to be breathing hard, like a human would after such a torturous event. Interesting, she thought. She took a sip from her tea.
"I can do this all day," she said with a wry smile, "and while I imagine you can too, I bet it's pretty unpleasant. So, if you just tell me what I want to know, all of this can end." She took another sip from her tea. Chamomile with honey. Real honey, the good shit. It was expensive, but oh so worth it.
"Fuck you," said the machine. It made a motion to the side with its head, and procured a sound reminiscent of spitting, though it had no mouth, let alone salivary glands. Nina frowned. She put her tea down, suddenly sick of this machine's endurance.
"Look, I don't need to even be here. I can turn this on and leave. Come back tomorrow, you know?" She said, her hand on the switch. It was a bluff, as Braxton would have her ass if she used that much electricity on what may not even be a decent lead. The Terrapin was huge, and had plenty of power to go around, but wasting that power was still frowned upon.
The machine stared at her hand, apparently thinking. It was around six feet tall, and decently robust. Its metal frame sported bio-mechanical muscles, mimicking human musculature in a way that Nina found unsettling. It was a unit designed for manual labor, and looked vaguely masculine. Its head was essentially a brick, with no visible eyes, mouth, nose, or other features people normally associated with humans. Nina resisted the urge to shudder. Something about the toasters made her skin crawl. Maybe it was how human they seemed, though they obviously weren't human. They weren't alive, and they didn't have souls.
And most importantly, they had no rights. Nina sighed, lifting her hand from the switch, deciding to play some mind games with the unit before returning to the tried-and-true torture method. She picked up a folder with documents inside, and began reading.
"Unit BH9729, constructed on Mars seven years ago, transferred to Mother Base Sigma for manual labor duties. Arrested two months ago for 'conspiracy.'" She lifted her eyes to see if she had garnered a reaction from the unit yet. Seeing no visible reaction, she returned to her reading. "You were caught sending transmissions to the enemy, although we haven't figured out exactly what you sent. All we know is that it had something to do with the Dolos. This makes it a very important matter to me." She put the folder down, and bent down to look the unit in the "eye."
"If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll just decommission you, vent your worthless scrap heap of a body into space, and ask your accomplice." She straightened back up, looking at the folder again. "BH9381." The unit physically recoiled at this, and Nina smirked. Got it, she thought. She waited for a response, and after a pause, the unit gave it.
"My name is Stephano," it said, "not BH9729." It offered nothing more. Nina sighed. She flipped the switch on again, upping the current this time. The machine tensed again, every circuit and fiber in its worthless body writhing. It let out garbled screams, its voice module partially incapacitated from the electricity. Nina stood with her arms crossed, pissed at the machine. She had heard they were hardy, but this one was tougher than any human she had "interviewed." She shook her head. She hadn't "interviewed" a machine before, and wasn't entirely sure where to turn next.
After a few minutes of musing, the had come up with a plan. The machine likely wouldn't be bothered by her removing body parts, like a human would. If she were dealing with flesh and blood, all it would take is a scissor to a pinky toe, and the person usually talked. If not, there would be nine other toes, and nine other opportunities to talk. And if that didn't work, fingers were always an option... She stood up straighter, resolute in her plan. No, the key here was BH9381, whos name caused BH9279 to wince. She would use that bot to get something out of this one. She smiled. She was good at her job, after all, and she would make it all work out.
A door opened up behind her in the dimly lit maintanence room she used for "interviews," and Ben poked his head in, he glanced at the bot, who continued to heave from the electricity, but he paid it no attention.
"Ma'am, Col. Braxton is here to see you." he said, his usual timid voice even more quiet than usual. Nina cursed internally, and glanced at the power switch. She considered turning it off, but decided to leave it on. She nodded at Ben, and collecting herself, followed him out of the room. Braxton stood in the hallway, hat in hand, and as usual, he was frowning. The door closed behind the two, and the electronic screams were muffled.
"This is getting out of hand, Flores," said Braxton. Fuck, she thought internally, but externally she smiled.
"Good morning, sir, how can I help you?" she said in her best sing-songy tone. Braxton ignored the pleasantries.
"The upper brass have caught wind of this, and it's both of our names that they are using in their discussions. Do you understand?" he said. His face was read, and his brow was furrowed. It was serious. Nina let the pleasantries drop, her face instantly just as stony as her boss's face was.
"Ok, what would you have me do?" she said. She gestured towards the door, and the muffled screams behind it. "I'm already working on a lead. It could lead us straight to the Dolos, but I just need time." Braxton shook his head, his jowls shaking with it.
"Time is one precious commodity we don't have, Flores," Braxton said. "Sullivan is running damage control on this, which means someone is on his ass. And the only people that could possibly be on the Secretary of Defense's ass are not people we want on ours, understand?" he said. Nina gulped, and nodded. No, those kind of people were very much not the kind of people she wanted on her ass.
"Ok, what's the plan, then?" she said. She would follow Braxton's ideas for now, but if it benefitted her, she would toss him under the proverbial tread of those investigating them, and get off as scott-free as possible. It was how Intelligence worked. I'm sure he's got his share of corpses in the closet, she thought. You don't get to be his rank in Intelligence without them. Braxton ran his hand over his head.
"I'm sending you planetside," he said. Nina felt her jaw go slack, which was then followed by a fit of incredulous laughter.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"You're putting me on groundwork?" she said with a chuckle. But the look on Braxton's face sobered her right up. She leaned forward, pointing at his chest. "You can't be serious, Braxton. I've done my stint as an agent, and that's all behind me. I'm an administrator now, with several agents under my finger. I can't just leave, and go planetside." The older officer shook his head, as if disappointed.
"It's what needs to be done, Nina. This fuckup occurred under your watch, which means its your responsibility to fix it. You need to get your hands on this," he said. Nina threw her hands up in the air, gobsmacked.
"And if the fuckup occurred on my watch, then that means it happened on your watch too!" said, her voice raising. "Why aren't you going down there? Huh?" She was getting angry, and she could feel Ben shrink behind her. Braxton grabbed her by her lapels, moving faster than she had ever see him move. His face was uncomfortably close to his.
"Because it did happen on my watch, Flores!" he hissed vehemently. "And if this doesn't get under control, we both will burn for it!" he let go of her collar, and stepped back, composing himself. Nina straightened her collar, and as unpleasant as that interaction had been, she felt a glimmer of respect for the old man. He at least had enough guts to stand up to her, of all people. While she was technically his subordinate, everyone on this level knew Nina Flores was in charge. Braxton was little more than a scapegoat for the upper brass, and he knew it.
"I'm not sending you without help, however," he said, clearing his throat and straightening his tie. "Sullivan is sending someone from his own team to assist you." Nina blinked, shocked.
"Wait, you think that's a good thing?" she asked him, bewildered. Braxton shook his head.
"I didn't say it was a good thing, I said I'm sending someone to help you." Braxton was quiet a moment, before continuing. "Besides, this kind of offer is not one you refuse, lest you get on the Secretary's bad side." Braxton looked into Nina's eyes. His eyes were cold and deadly. Nina felt a shock, from looking at them. She felt there was a story in what he said, but she didn't ask him about it.
"Ok, tell me about the Secretary's agent, then," she said. She missed her tea. It was probably almost cold now. Braxton breathed deeply, as if he would regret what he was about to say.
"His name is Ichabod Crane, and he's going to help you cover this mess up." he said with a straight face. Nina couldn't resist the urge, and laughed at Braxton.
"You're joking!" she guffawed, "Ichabod Crane? The book character? There's no way," she said. Braxton shook his head.
"Oh no, I'm not joking," he said with a frown. "Though I wish I was. I don't know if that's his real name, and honestly, it doesn't matter. Crane is infamous in his circles for being ruthless, cunning, and talented." Braxton leveled a gaze at her. "From what I hear, he's very much your equal, Flores." Nina felt like she should take that as a compliment, but instead of feeling flattered, she simply felt worried. My equal? she thought. He's fucking good, then, she surmised, adopting Braxton's frown.
She knew what this meant. Sullivan, the Secretary of Defense, was very much interested in keeping this whole ordeal under wraps. A tank under her guidance had been killed by the Dolos, and another tank she had her finger on investigated where it shouldn't. And then a fucking nuke went off. She had planted that nuke with her agent aboard the Methuselah when she sent the tank after the Dolos, but she had intended for the Methuselah to kill the enemy tank, and then destroy it by means of atomic fire. Instead, it had all gone absolutely tits-up, and the Methuselah had been destroyed. The nuke had been detonated, but in the wrong place, and the Dolos was still alive, running rampant. She chewed her lip.
So Sullivan was sending someone to make sure he wasn't implicated in this. Someone just as good at their job as Nina was. Which was bad. She shook her head. Most likely, even if she succeeded in keeping this under wraps, Crane would simply stab her in the back to make sure she never spilled about what occurred. Braxton would likely get the kife as well. She shook her head. This complicated things. If Sullivan wanted her dead, it was almost a guarantee. He had resources and people that she could only dream of.
"Ok, " she said, "tell me your full plan, then." Braxton nodded, continuing.
"You and a team of your choice will meet up with Crane on the surface. I've already allocated a runner vehicled for you to use. Your job is to make sure the Dolos is destroyed, along with the Package. Do it by any means you see fit. You're resourceful, so I know you can do it," he said. Nina blinked.
"So let me get this straight," she said, "you want me to destroy a fucking tank, and the Package, with a runner? You're joking, right? They're not even armed!" she said, her voice raising again. Braxton stared at her.
"I can have it lightly armed, if you want," he said quietly, but Nina cut him off.
"The runner wouldn't kill a tank if you heavily armed it, Braxton," she interjected. "The fucking Methuselah, one of our oldest and most powerful tanks, couldn't kill the Dolos, so why the fuck would a runner help!?" she almost yelled it. She was suddenly reminded of the garbled electronic screams coming from behind her. She needed to get back to work. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a migraine coming on.
"Look, a runner is fine. I'll also need more coilguns, a couple of Hrungnir suits, another nuke, and I'll need some guys from other divisions." she looked at Braxton. He was pale, and seemed to be thinking. After a few moments of computing, he nodded slowly.
"Alright, Flores. If that's what it takes, so be it." He looked her in the eye. "But if that nuke goes off, and neither the Dolos nor the Package are destroyed, then Sullivan will turn both of our fucking skulls into wineglasses, understand?" Nina nodded. She understood. She knew what politics was like, and she knew Sullivan wasn't going to fuck around if it meant he got what he wanted. Braxton sighed, and placed his hat back on his head.
"I'll let you get back to it, then" he said, gesturing at the screaming door. He began to walk off, but then stopped and turned. "You leave tomorrow night, so get the list of what you need to my desk ASAP, Flores." With that, he turned and walked away. Nina felt herself pale somewhat. Tomorrow night? she thought. That's not enough time. She stood for a time, chewing on a cuticle, before Ben spoke up behind her.
"Ma'am?" he inquired, "the unit?" Nina snapped out of her musing, and straightened. She turned back to Ben with a smile, her composition returned.
"You're right, we were in the middle of something, weren't we?" she said, opening the door to the maintenance room. The screams were louder than she remembered, and she winced at the volume. She and Ben stepped inside, closing the door behind them. Nina briskly walked over to the power switch, and flipped it off. She needed to finish up with this unit, destroy it, and vent it before she went planetside. She didn't have time for mindgames.
"Tell me what I need to know, BH9279, before I bring BH9381 in here." she said, he tone stiff. The machine sagged, its body weakened by the increased current. Now, more than previously, it sounded like it was breathing heavily. Nina couldn't resist the urge to shudder. Disgusting things, she thought to herself. She hated that someone had to make it so... human. It was a farce, and she hated it. The machine straightened someone, looking at her.
"My name is Stephano," it said boldy, its voice quieter than before, "and her name is Ellie. And I'll die before I tell you anything." Nina shrugged, and flipped the switch on again, sending more current through the machine's body. After a few scream-filled moments, she switched it off.
"Ok, Stephano, tell me about your communications concerning the Dolos, or else I'm going to bring Ellie in here and do worse to it than I've done with you. It will beg for death before I'm done," she said, her mouth souring at using a human-like term like "death" when she referred to machines. Now I'm sounding like a fucking toaster lover, she thought to herself, they can't fucking die, they're not alive to begin with. She put her hand back on the electrical switch. He eyed the switch, before continuing.
"You're fucking awful," he said loudly, "and a poor example of humanity. I could step in shit and it would be a better product of humankind than you are." Nina frowned, and flipped the switch again. The machine screamed, its body straining against the chains. Sparks flew off of its mechanical chassis, and the water at its feet broiled as it struggled. Even during its struggle, it turned its head to look her in the eye.
"If you don't think we're human," it managed to say with difficulty, despite the electricity, "then why do you torture us the same way you would torture humans?" Nina thought about it for a moment, considering. It was true, she could have used a more effective method known to extract information from bots, but she had chosen this method. She shrugged, and smiled at the machine.
"I guess I'm just an egalitarian," she said, turning the voltage up again.
The machine screamed.