Two Months Later

Josephine Smith awoke in a sparsely furnished bedroom with a view of the mountains. Fresh snow fell. It was so quiet.

Where am I? This is not Milford, or anything like it!

An IV was feeding medicine into her left arm. Numbness and pain were all she had known since waking. Everything was a blur—getting stabbed, waking in an animal hospital while an unskilled surgeon closed her wounds.

I can see all of their deaths! The look on that doctor’s face will haunt me for the rest of my life. I tried to stop her from killing them but couldn’t. Is this a dream?

An older man with white curly hair and round glasses entered the room.

“You’re awake—good. You will need your strength for the trials to come,” the old man said in a thick European accent.

“Wait, where am I? And who are you?”

“I’m Dr. Gruber, and you’re my patient.”

The old man looked sad and tired. It was like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“What do you mean, doctor? What trials?” Jet said in a confused tone.

Dr. Gruber looked at Jet and said nothing for a long moment.

“The world as you knew it has changed,” he said. “It’s been twenty-three days since you were brought to my estate. You are safe here. My men have secured the perimeter, and we have enough food for at least a year—more if we relocate to the bunker below the house. I think we have food that will sustain five people for ten years, perhaps more if we ration.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She doesn’t know, dear,” an older woman said as she entered. “You get so wrapped up in the moment that you can’t see what is in front of you.”

The old woman had long white hair pulled back and tied up. She looked like an old woman from a fairy-tale.

“Who are you people?” Jet demanded.

“Shhh, you will wake the little one,” the old woman admonished.

Jet followed the older woman’s gaze. April was resting on a bed across the room.

“Hans didn’t know how to operate on the machine girl, so we left her. I’m Gretta, and this is my husband, Hans. He saved your life.”

“How did I get here?”

“An ally of Nigel Watson,” Gretta said.

“Nigel? Where is he? Here?”

“No, dear, he is with the Black Heart. They went into the city to rescue his father—”

“That’s when it happened,” Dr. Gruber said.

“What happened?” Jet asked. She gave the older couple an impatient glance.

“It started with a massive cyberattack that crippled most of world’s critical infrastructure,” Dr. Gruber began. “As soon as new computers were brought online, they would get infected. According to the news channels, the best defenders and hackers couldn’t stop the multiple waves of attacks. An expert said something about an unprecedented amount of zero-days were unleashed on the world, which infected hospital equipment, crashed financial systems, and virtually stopped all commerce.”

“How did this happen?”

“First, a secret government building was attacked. Commandos and hackers invaded and infected the facility. Every machine burned. The virus was launched there. Days later, a nuclear facility in the Ohio Valley melted down to its core. By the time cleanup crews were dispatched, it was too late. An area of at least thirty miles will be uninhabitable for hundreds of years. Teams are still trying to clean up the mess.”

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“Didn’t anyone try to stop this madness?”

“Teams of people are still trying, but a war broke out on American soil, if you can believe it. Large cities have turned into battlegrounds. The national guard has been deployed, and the riots have slowed. It got scary for a long time. You’re lucky you missed most of that.”

Jet tried sitting upright; she ached everywhere, but her lower back hurt the most. It was like someone had taken a club to her back and pounded.

“I . . . can’t feel my legs,” Jet said.

The older woman gave her a pained look and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry—I did the best I could,” Dr. Gruber said as he rubbed his eyes.

Jet flung the covers off of her. She was thrashing about, trying to make her legs obey her commands. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Tell me this is temporary?” she cried.

“I don’t have the equipment to confirm, but I believe you have permanent spinal damage resulting from a knife wound,” Dr. Gruber explained sadly. The blade was serrated, which causes additional tissue damage. I wish I could take you to the hospital, but it is not safe.”

“Why isn’t it safe? What are you not telling me?”

“I used to work at the local hospital—I have friends there. When my many calls for an ambulance failed, I called one of them. The computer virus infected all the local hospital’s computers. Machines like the MRI scanners—which are needed to properly diagnose your condition—work, but the computers required to operate them have been infected.”

The light in the room went out, and her IV machine started beeping.

“That dammed generator,” Doctor Gruber said as he walked toward the door.

“Don’t go out there. Have one of the men check the gasoline levels,” Gretta said.

Hans waved a hand over his head as he walked out of the room.

“I’m good with computers. I bet I could fix that hospital’s computer,” Jet said.

“I bet you could, dear, but you are in no condition to do that.”

“Can you contact Nigel for me?”

“Cell phone communications have been spotty these past few days. The emergency instructions on the radio said we shouldn’t use it. The phone company has set up portable cell towers for families to reach loved ones. We can only use them once a day, but now is not the time.”

“Jet?” April asked in a sleepy voice.

“April, come here!” Jet yelled.

The young cyborg ran past the old woman and gave Jet a hug.

“What have you been doing since I’ve been resting here?” Jet said.

“I’ve been so tired since I woke up. I don’t remember much,” April said.

Suddenly, gunshots rang throughout the estate.

“Nooo! They are trying again,” Gretta said.

“Trying what?” Jet asked with panic.

“Get down, and don’t move.”

April froze. “No—she’s coming, Jet, I’m scared.”

“There’s no reason to be—”

Before Jet could finish her sentence, a robot crouched its head as it ducked under the archway leading into the bedroom. The bedroom had low ceilings, and the robot barely fit. Light from the fading light of the late afternoon reflected off its shiny metal frame.

“Hello, Jet,” the robot said.

The old woman was crouched on the floor with her hands over her head. Jet noticed April did the same.

“Gretta, how many times have I told you? I mean you no harm. Especially since you have looked after my friends these past weeks,” the robot said.

This is too creepy—why does the robot think it knows me? But there’s something about this robot that is familiar.

“Who are you—err, who programmed you?” Jet said.

I feel dumb questioning a robot.

Jet couldn’t tell for sure, since it didn’t have a human face, but the robot seemed to be gloating.

“I’m hurt you don’t know who I am. Do you really not know me after all we have been through?”

Jet shook her head.

“I’m the one who put you in that bed. I’m Nozomi, and all bots will obey me. At least until I get my body back. Oh, I so miss my body, and all its . . . desires.”

Holy shit, what really happened? What don’t I know?

“Why are you in this metal body?” Jet asked.

“It’s me, or rather a backup of my consciousness. Dr. Ash restored me into this construct. Apparently she was uploading my experiences to her mainframe without me knowing anything about it. So in a way, there are two of me out there.”

“This is crazy, I did not know this was possible. Why did you come back here?”

“I don’t know, but I needed to find Delta-51.”

April grabbed Jet’s hand. “Don’t let her hurt me again, Gretta,” April cried.

“What did you do to her?” Jet demanded.

“Dr. Ash gave this construct new abilities. In short, I was able to upload the AI contained within the Delta-51 construct and merge its programming with mine. Now we are one,” the robot said.

Jet was stunned. She didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what has happened to Delta and her sister,” robot Nozomi said.

“You were absorbed? Is April with you now?”

“No, her bond to you was too strong—and besides, I don’t need to merge with any immature code. Now that I’ve merged with the most powerful AI in history, I can move on. I still would like to find my human body, but that is not the priority.”

“What’s the priority?”

“I need to take control while there’s still time.”

“Control of what?”

“For someone so smart, you seem to ask a lot of dumb questions. The backbone of the internet is still mostly intact. I can control what remains once I get to a central hub, but I had to merge with Delta first. Don’t you see? I have unleashed hell on all the bad actors. These people are being hunted in the streets. I’ve distracted the meddlers and others that intended to stop me, but I’ve done all I can from here. I need to get to central processing, or the windowless building, where everything was set into motion.”