Two hours later
Jeremiah and Dr. Ash prepared the chamber that would give birth to Jeremiah’s finest weapon— Delta.
“How long until Delta is online?” Jeremiah said.
“She should be operational in a matter of hours. I still need to run several diagnostics,” Ash said.
“I need to get some sleep. Wake me before she is operational. I want to be the first person she sees.”
Jeremiah left Ash to her work.
Ash was sure that April had suffered no permanent brain damage, although the courier cut the delivery close—too close, in fact. Ash adjusted the cerebellar cortex pathway, plugged in the diagnostic interface, and ran the requisite tests.
Neural Net - Pass
Human DNA Processor - Pass
Expert Systems - Pass
Deep Learning Systems - Pass
Logic Processor - Warning (see exceptions)
Empathy Receptors - Warning (see exceptions)
Cybernetic Brain - Pass
ALL SYSTEMS OFFLINE
Dr. Ash pulled up the logic processor report first. Several fuzzy logic receptors were not firing, April’s brain was not accepting the connection; the timing appeared to be off.
This . . . complicates things, Ash thought.
After more adjustments, the logic processor errors ceased, but the empathy receptors were still giving her some trouble. She reloaded the emotional profile that she had developed, and all systems came online with a “pass.” She was just about to go and wake Jeremiah when the empathy receptors again turned into a “fail” state.
No matter what Ash tried, the empathy receptors still gave her trouble.
Was it the host? Ash frowned in concentration. No—it shouldn’t make any difference. Perhaps the genetic cell material had degraded.
“I’m not able to sleep,” Jeremiah said as he walked in the door. “Any news?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Still having trouble with the empathy receptors.”
“Can we bring Delta online without them?”
Ash gave Jeremiah a sharp look.
“I wouldn’t recommend that.”
Jeremiah gave Ash a pleading look.
“She may act erratically. She’s still human, and she is still your granddaughter.”
“I will give you until the end of the day. Make it happen. News has already spread about the Pretzelverse raid, and we need to invoke phase two of the plan.”
A series of beeps emitted from Delta, and then Delta’s body started convulsing.
“What’s wrong?” Jeremiah asked, alarmed.
“April’s brain is rejecting the host. Leave us.”
Ash pushed Jeremiah out of the way. He backed off and just watched her as she entered commands.
“Starting a full system re-initialization,” Ash said.
Ash lifted Delta’s head and reached behind her head to eject the power core when Delta’s eyes opened. She turned and bit Ash on her right hand.
“Aargh, restrain her!” Ash cried.
Jeremiah froze, and then held Delta as Ash ejected the power source.
“Bloody hell,” Ash grunted. “She shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
Jeremiah retrieved a first aid kit from one of the back shelves. He cleaned Ash’s wound and started wrapping it.
“That was most unexpected. The empathy receptors are malfunctioning.”
Jeremiah looked concerned. “How do we make repairs?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I think we need more information about the genetic material. In theory, the biological material should have worked. I had no trouble integrating the neural net and other systems.”
“What can I do? Do you need more doctors, researchers?”
“No—I mean yes, but what I mean to say is that I need the man responsible for creating the genetic materials.”
“Ron Allison. You need Ron!” Jeremiah said.
“Yes—can you bring him here within twenty-four hours?”
Jeremiah tapped his visor. “Leviathan, what is the status of Ron Allison?”
“Delta team, led by Commander Norris, is holding him at an off-site facility,” Leviathan said.
“We have less than twenty-four hours before April dies forever. We need Ron, now.”
Jeremiah called Norris.
“Can I help you with something?” Norris said.
“Bring Ron to Dr. Ash’s lab, posthaste.”
Jeremiah heard Norris call out something unintelligible to one of his men.
“He’s out, not sure for how long.”
“Are you sure? Call me the minute he wakes up,” Jeremiah said.
Dr. Ash gave Jeremiah a curious look as he hung up.
“That was the man responsible for transporting Ron. He is still out.”
“What did they give him?” Ash said.
“I can’t be certain, but Nitro 1500 is my guess.”
“Powerful drug,” Ash said.
“Is there anything we can give to counteract it?”
“We can try pumping adrenaline into his heart, but I’d advise against that. Men Ron’s age are delicate,” Ash said.
“While we wait for Ron to wake, I suggest that we start the process,” Jeremiah said.
“I think it’s too soon for the advanced learning protocols,” Ash said.
“I doubt we will have a better opportunity. Start the process,” Jeremiah said.
Ash looked at the results of the diagnostic reports: 89.3 percent was the last reading she took before powering off Delta to prevent additional damage to her cerebral cortex. Dr. Ash tapped her visor, a three-dimensional representation of a woman appeared.
“Dr. Ash, how may I help you?” Leviathan said.
“Need to perform a level-three diagnostic on Delta.”
“A level-three diagnostic in Delta’s current condition will take six hours, eight minutes. Do you want to proceed?”
“Affirmative!”
“Locking Delta’s cerebral state. Starting diagnostic in T-minus five minutes. You have T-minus thirty seconds to abort.”
Ash watched as they applied restraints to Delta’s arms, legs, and head. The room’s lighting changed from a light blue to a dark red. A timer was projected onto the circular walls of the room. Ash transferred control to her visor before she left the room. No one else could stop or interrupt the diagnostic while in progress. Not even Jeremiah!