Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (13 page)

Devin tucked the device into the inside pocket of his jacket. “Like we agreed, I’ll be back in an hour. Who could interpret the results for me?”

“Um, so you need this program… I can tell you where you can download it, if you can get into the boss’s computer…”

Devin pulled out his slate.

Archangel: I got the scanner, but I need a program on the inventor’s computer to interpret the data. Cover your tracks.

Corsair: Don’t I always?

Sarah had been working on her album at Ocean Sky Studios that day. Devin had often talked about dropping by for one of her recording sessions but had always been too busy. The visit provided him the excuse he needed.

He arrived in the middle of a take and watched from behind a soundproof window as Sarah sang, her voice captured by the dozens of slender microphones. A screen behind her displayed detailed analyses of each note in colorful graphs.

Devin knew the song by heart and could almost hear her words through the silence:

“Now they fall, and now they rise.

“Sense breaks down, and silence fails.

“Language dies in rage untold.

“Words may end, but song prevails.”

Then the wordless run. From the way Sarah’s body flowed with the notes, the way her eyes reflected every rise and fall, he sensed her pouring her soul into the song, just as she had before he proposed.

Perhaps nothing had changed with her. Perhaps
he
was the one being mind-controlled by his paranoia.

His slate beeped.

Corsair: The Collective’s forum.
Now.

He saw the Seer’s post.

It concerned artificial intelligence. Not only the programming, but the physical aspects of creating a mechanical being that could look, act, and communicate like a human. The post was shockingly well-informed, detailing potential scientific methods for creating synthetic skin and specific pre-existing computer codes that, if combined, could theoretically mimic human behavior.

Furthermore, the Collective’s pooled knowledge of No Name indicated that the entity seemed particularly concerned with hiding the kind of information the Seer described. And No Name had been quick to remove it.

Corsair: So much for the Tech Council’s restrictions.

Archangel: This is ridiculous. She is
not
an AI.

Devin thought it an insult to Sarah that he would even consider such a thing. She was
real
—he was certain of it.

Corsair: What if she was replaced by a mechanical lookalike? What if the real Sarah is captive somewhere?

He couldn’t fight that one. At the same time, the idea was too unbelievable. False identities and mind control were one thing, but artificial intelligence? Despite the shift in Sarah’s behavior, she’d done nothing
robotic
.

His certainties fell away, leaving a sinking feeling that the fantastical had come true. His fiancée had been replaced by an artificial doppelganger. A part of him desperately wanted to forget the whole thing and trust the woman he loved. However, if something had happened to her, he couldn’t stand aside and leave things as they were.

Archangel: I need to talk to the Seer. Can you help me find him?

Corsair: I’ll try.

Meanwhile, he still had a borrowed—stolen—scanner in his jacket, and Sarah was still on the other side of the soundproof glass, finishing her song.

Strange. Devin hoped that he
would
find an implant. At least that would mean that she was still there. It hadn’t fully hit him yet, that she could be gone, that she might have been taken weeks ago.

Sarah glanced in his direction once during the take. When she finished, she opened the door and approached him. “Baby, what are you doing here?”

Devin forced a smile. “Came to hear you sing. I’ve been promising to visit for ages.”

“Don’t you have work?”

“Quasar won’t collapse without me. Can I join you inside?”

Sarah looked at him blankly. She seemed to do that a lot—freeze in an expressionless state, save for the occasional blink, then come to life a moment later. Was her AI program calculating? Determining the correct reaction?

Stop it.

As it had so many times before, Sarah’s face warmed into a demure smile. “Of course, but you have to be quiet, okay?” She returned to the soundproof room and motioned for him to follow. “Computer, visitors present.”

The computer beeped in acknowledgement, and a row of chairs fell out of the wall. Devin took his place in one of them as Sarah walked to the center of the room.

She smiled shyly. “Last time someone sat in those chairs, I was auditioning, and my whole career depended on my being perfect.”

“It’s only me this time.”
She’s nervous. Can an AI get nervous?

“All right, here goes…” Sarah squared her shoulders. “Computer, commence take seven.”

“Command acknowledged. Commencing take seven.”

Three tangerine lights lit up in front of Sarah, then went dark one by one as they counted down the tempo. Sarah closed her eyes in concentration as the instrumental introduction began.

Devin slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out the scanner.

Just drop it.

But he couldn’t.

“Story older than the skies…”

The scanner whirred softly. For a moment, he thought Sarah must have heard, but she didn’t react.

“Maybe something to be heard…”

Devin had no idea how long the prototype scanner would take. Hopefully, it was comparable to the hospital scanners, which took less than a minute to complete their tasks. But it was designed to be compact and more extensive, and it was experimental at best.

“Who is right, and what is real?”

On the tiny screen, the progress bar filled so slowly. He soon forgot his impatience as Sarah’s rich emerald voice mesmerized him.

“Words may end, but song prevails…”

The song came to its ruminative conclusion. The scan was barely seventy percent complete.

Fuck.

Devin shut the scanner off and swiftly placed it in his jacket pocket. The last lingering notes of the instrumental coda faded.

Sarah turned to him expectantly. “What did you think?”

“It was perfect.”

Devin wasn’t sure when he’d nodded off, but he awoke with a start when a waterlogged towel was flung onto his face. He tore it off. “
What the hell
?”

Jane doubled over laughing. “You didn’t budge when I poked you, and… I couldn’t resist!”

Devin shot her an annoyed look.

She grinned. “I know, I know. ‘Oh, Pony, aren’t you a little old for these games?’”

“Will you ever grow up?”

“Ah, c’mon, you know you don’t want me to.”

Devin marveled at her cheeriness.
You’re right, Pony
.
I hope you never change.

“I didn’t just wake you to be annoying.” She jerked her head at the viewscreen. “It’s time to get off autopilot.”

A message blinked across the top: “The ship is approaching the Viatian system. Please switch to manual piloting.”

After double-checking the coordinates, Devin disengaged autopilot and steered the ship toward Viate-5.

Jane jumped into the copilot’s seat. “Just wondering, what’s your Netname?”

“Archangel. It was Corsair’s idea of a joke.”

She snorted. “You’re so full of it, bro. You
love
it. ’Fess up!”

Devin smiled in response.

“Speaking of Corsair, isn’t it a bad idea to use that thing?” Jane nodded at his slate. “Can’t it be traced?”

“Not with the program I’m using. Corsair wrote it himself. Each communication bounces off so many random signal towers, it’s impossible to find the origin. It’d be difficult to find a relevant message to trace in the first place with all the information flying through hyperspace. The program also forms a wrapper around any Netsites browsed.”

Jane opened her mouth, then shut it and pulled her lips in, as if holding back a tidal wave of questions she wasn’t sure were okay to ask.

Best to get to the point.
“I think a criminal entity called No Name was behind both the attack on Dad and your friend’s kidnapping. I should’ve told you yesterday, but… I guess I just needed the time.” Devin explained what he knew about No Name, how they’d faked the seminary documents and how they were the only entity able to stage a crime so elaborately. “Even Citizen Zero wouldn’t have been able to hack Quasar’s central computer like that. Not to mention the police reports in the ensuing investigation.”

Jane’s brow creased. “So… So this ‘No Name’ took Adam?”

“Yeah… and Sarah.”

“Sarah? What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s… not human.”

Jane laughed. “Of course she’s not. She’s one of those perfect superhumans who make us mere mortals look like failures.”

Devin shook his head. “No, Jane. I mean it literally.”

Her smile fell. “What’re you talking about?”

“Someone took Sarah and replaced her with an android lookalike more than three weeks ago.”

Jane simply blinked with a mixture of bewilderment and inquisitiveness.

“I realized something was wrong the day I proposed.” He described as objectively and concisely as he could what had happened that day and what he had done next: the background check, the lab, the scanner. “It took Corsair several days because the scan was incomplete, but he got the results: Sarah was completely synthetic. The Seer was right. Someone created a lifelike AI, one that could deceive a person. I should’ve figured it out sooner.”

Jane’s look of curiosity became one of sympathy. She hugged one knee to her chest and rested her head on it. “How long have you known?”

“The results came in shortly after Adam was taken. Speaking of which, there’s one more thing I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Jane lifted her chin. “Yeah?”

“Corsair intercepted a transmission to the Barracuda you saw. It was so scrambled he could only make out a few words: ‘Adam Palmer is a special case and is slated for replacement.’” Devin fixed his gaze on the viewscreen. “I don’t know when they took Sarah. Her replacement was so… perfect. She even sang like her. If she hadn’t frozen, I would never even have known the woman I love was replaced by a goddamn robot.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I think I was set up because what I know could blow apart whatever twisted plan is in motion.” He kept his tone matter-of-fact. “Well, I plan to blow it apart anyway. Sarah’s been gone for weeks, and it would be nearly impossible to find her now. Adam was only taken the day before yesterday. I’ll find him, and then I’ll find her.”

“Do you think she’s—” Jane broke off and pressed her mouth shut.

Devin knew what she wanted to ask. “I don’t know if she’s even alive. But when shit happens, you just have to deal with it. I intend to find the bastards behind all this and… deal with them.” He noticed the alarm in his sister’s eyes and said as reassuringly as he could, “By calling the authorities, of course. We’ll find Adam. He’ll be all right.”

“That’s my line,” Jane mumbled. She let go of her knee and leaned toward him. “Devin, I know you’ll always see me as a little girl, but I can handle myself. You don’t have to coddle me.”

Unsure how he should respond, Devin turned his attention to the controls as the ship approached Viate-5. He didn’t know what he hoped to find there or what the Seer could possibly tell him.

Sarah’s voice echoed through his mind with a line from her song:
Faiths adrift in falsehoods found.
There was one thing no discovery, no matter how extraordinary, could change. Whatever he would learn, whatever he would have to do, he would still hold on to one absolute truth:
I love you, Sarah DeHaven. And I swear, I will find you.

Chapter 8

Viate-5

“T
he Seer” was a misnomer.
He did not know why the Collective called him by that name. He had never been associated with any religious establishments or mystical organizations, and he was certainly not capable of seeing the future. Nevertheless, he did not care what he was called as long as he knew he was being referred to. He had abandoned his given name sixteen years and five months before, and he had accepted twenty-eight different monikers since then, “the Seer” being the most recent.

The Seer looked down at his modified slate and regarded a digital image speculating as to his appearance. It depicted him as tall and gaunt. That was accurate, as he was six foot three and a hundred and forty pounds. However, his skin was dark, not pale, and his hair was black, not blond. His broad face and wide nose bore little resemblance to the image’s sharp features. He did not understand why the artist made those assumptions.

The Seer sat cross-legged outside his hut, a dusty structure built from salvaged spacecraft parts, on the cracked brown earth. The day was hot, and the air was better outside. A strong wind rustled his loose brown clothing. Tall, jagged mountains, created by millennia of unstable tectonic activity, surrounded an area of about a square mile around his hut. Pale weeds protruded from fissures in the ground. Because he lived in a remote, unnamed desert sector, the Seer only saw other people when he made supply runs to the settlements.

He preferred it that way.

A large warehouse behind the Seer’s hut contained spare parts, old machines, and used vehicles. Many people referred to it as a junkyard. That word, like his own moniker, was a misnomer.
Junkyard
implied that the items the warehouse contained were junk.
Junk
implied that the items had no value. The Seer’s goods, on the contrary, were very valuable to those who sought them.

The Seer waited for his next customer: a man who went by the Netname “Archangel” and who had sought him since he had revealed a portion of his knowledge concerning artificial intelligence. The Seer had allowed Archangel’s affiliate, who went by the Netname “Corsair,” to trace him after determining Archangel’s true identity. The time had come for someone else to know what he knew. Devin Victor Colt would probably not abuse the knowledge.

The Seer had recently finished communicating with the customer online and had agreed upon an exchange: the information the customer sought and an old, but functional ship of an inferior model in exchange for a damaged Blue Tang. Blue Tangs were scarce in the Fringe systems. They were highly desired for their maneuverability and durability. Once the Seer repaired and armed the ship, he could sell it for a good price.

The Seer swept his left hand across his slate’s touchscreen, looking through the Collective’s forum posts in search of information concerning No Name. The entity had not impeded the efforts of the Netcrews recently. Members of the Collective speculated that the people behind No Name had retired. That theory was incorrect. The entity had a purpose, and it was dangerous. It had been able to defeat the Seer on several occasions, and the Seer had once been considered the best programmer in the galaxy.

A rumble from above disturbed the air. The Seer looked through the binoculars he wore on a cord around his neck. A dark blue spacecraft entered the atmosphere. Its unmarked hull was heavily damaged. It was almost certainly the Blue Tang he waited for.

The Blue Tang landed on the dry ground about three hundred yards in front of the Seer’s hut. The Seer stood and walked toward his dusty brown hovercar. He climbed in, set it to hover two feet above the ground, and drove toward the Blue Tang. He stopped about twenty yards from the ship, got out, and waited for his customer.

The Blue Tang’s rectangular door slid open, and a metal ramp extended to the ground. Two people walked out—a man and a girl, both dark-haired.

The man appeared to be in his late twenties, about six feet and two inches tall and a hundred and ninety pounds. His well-proportioned face would be considered attractive by the standards of most societies. Black pants, black office shirt, a rectangular black bag commonly used by urban dwellers on the left shoulder.

The girl was about five feet and six inches tall and a hundred and twenty pounds. She spoke animatedly as she walked, waving her arms to emphasize her words. Her copious wavy hair extended to approximately five inches below her shoulders. She, too, would be considered attractive. Her white dress with a pattern of abstract purple flora flared at her hips and ended about one inch above her knees.

The girl’s dark eyes were larger than the young man’s, but she had similar bone structure. The Seer determined that the two people shared genetic material. Their outfits were typical of office workers, although the girl’s dress was more colorful than ordinarily accepted.

The girl laughed as the young man listed the advantages of working at a place called “Quasar.” She smacked him on the arm and called him a liar and a “tool.” She placed her hands on her hips—likely indignant. The young man smiled and told her she was right, that he did find the finance industry to be dull. The girl made her hands into fists and quickly raised her arms—triumph.

The familiarity indicated that they were most likely brother and sister.

They were not the desperate refugees or hardened criminals the Seer was accustomed to. Too clean, their gaits too proper, their accents too close to the Interstellar Confederation’s ideal standard for the Set Language. The Interstellar Confederation’s mainstream society would call them “well-bred.”

As the two visitors approached, the Seer’s assessments were confirmed: Devin Victor Colt and his younger sister, Jane Winterreise Colt.

Devin walked briskly toward the Seer and looked directly at his face. “You must be the Seer.”

Unsettled by the eye contact, the Seer averted his gaze. “I am. You must be the one who goes by ‘Archangel.’ Who is your companion?”

Jane shrugged. “Don’t have a Netname, so I guess I’m ‘Anonymous.’” Her pace was as brisk as her brother’s, which was impressive, as she had significantly shorter legs than he did, and the heels of her short black boots were approximately three inches high. “You’re different from what I expected, Seer. Some secretive smart guy lurking around, completely untraceable… I thought you’d be a super-spy or something.”

The Seer did not understand. He had never interacted with Jane Winterreise Colt. She had no basis around which to form expectations about him.

She stopped about one yard from the Seer, apparently unperturbed by the wind blowing her long hair across her face. “It’s
scary
how much you knew. How the hell did you find all that? Why were you even looking? Did you know there was an actual AI out there this entire time? Are there more?”

“Oh, Pony,” Devin said. “How many times do I have to tell you to slow down?”

Jane faced him and put her hands on her hips. “And how many times do
I
have to tell
you
? Don’t call me Pony!”

“I’ll always call you Pony.”

“Jerk.” She rolled her eyes.

The Seer had seen that movement many times but was uncertain as to its particular meaning. He determined that there was no utility in responding to Jane’s questions at present.

“First, I will take you to the ship of which we spoke.” He returned to his hovercar, climbed in, and waited for the Colts to follow.

Jane rushed toward the passenger seat beside the Seer and jumped in. “Beatchya!”

Her brother smiled as he got in back.

The Seer tried to understand why Jane would find it important to sit in the front. If it were to prevent motion sickness, she would not be so gleeful.

People were strange. She was stranger than most people.

The Seer chose to speak of something relevant. “The ship is an Ocean Sky model called a Stargazer. If you wish to elude the authorities of the Interstellar Confederation, I suggest that you avoid all technology manufactured by the Blue Diamond Technology Corporation. The company places tracking devices in everything they manufacture, but it does not inform its customers of this fact. It has probably activated the device in the Blue Tang.”

“Freaking
bastards
!” Jane’s choice of words indicated that the information angered her. “I don’t think there’s one in ours, though. Devin bought that black market junker over a decade ago!”

The Seer chose not to correct her misuse of a form of the word
junk
. “The tracking devices are built into the machines’ hardware. It is impossible to remove or deactivate them.”

He stopped the hovercar next to the warehouse. “Wait here.”

He climbed out, walked to the wide door, and put his hand on the security scanner. The door slid upward. He returned to the hovercar and drove it into the warehouse. “The Stargazer does not have any tracking devices. I have modified it to include veiling technologies that prevent it or any devices on it from being traced. In addition, it includes the basic supplies necessary for survival, such as food and water.”

Jane looked around. “You’re well-prepared.”

“Approximately ninety-four percent of my customers seek fast getaways.”

“Why would they want a Blue Tang, then? Couldn’t they be traced, too?”

“Very few people are aware of the tracking devices. Furthermore, the Blue Diamond Technology Corporation is the only entity capable of tracking their technologies. They are not interested in the activities of petty criminals.”

The Seer stopped the hovercar beside a gray spacecraft that stood on a thick landing tripod. The ship tapered in the front. Two cylindrical engines protruded from the back. The dirty hull was a patchwork of metals from many past repairs. He left the hovercar and approached the ship.

“Is
that
it?” The fluctuations in Jane’s voice indicated that she did not mean the question literally. She knew the ship she stood before was the aforementioned Stargazer.

The Seer was uncertain as to what other emotion she implied.

She continued with similar fluctuations, “And I thought our Blue Tang was a piece of crap. This has gotta be the
ugliest
ship I’ve ever seen!”

“Its appearance does not affect its functionality,” the Seer said. “This ship was customized by numerous individuals before I came to possess it.”

Devin walked around, examining the Stargazer. Jane gazed at the ship and tilted her mouth into an unusual smile.

The Seer tried to analyze what that expression meant but was unable to draw a conclusion. “I assure you, it is fully operational.”

He approached one of the landing tripod’s legs and pulled a lever. The ship’s door creaked open, and a ladder extended to the ground. Jane climbed in. Devin followed.

After approximately four minutes, they climbed out again.

“Is the ship satisfactory?” the Seer asked.

Devin approached. “Good enough. As soon as you tell me what I want to know, the Blue Tang’s yours.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Start with who you really are.”

The Seer looked at the ground as he considered what he wanted to reveal and how much would satisfy the customer. “First, you tell me whom you really are.”

“You know exactly who I am. You wouldn’t have let Corsair find you if you didn’t.”

That was true. “Your real name is Devin Victor Colt, and you were known as ‘Hellion’ seven years ago. This young woman is your sister, and her name is Jane Winterreise Colt.”

Jane turned to her brother. “Hellion?”

“Legion,” Devin said. “I didn’t choose that name either.”

She snickered. “You’ve got the worst luck!”

The Seer did not understand why she found Devin’s answer
amusing.

“So who’re you, Seer?” Jane’s eyes were round—curiosity. “What’s
your
real name?”

“The answer is irrelevant, as that identity no longer exists,” the Seer said. “I was once an employee of the Blue Diamond Technology Corporation. They recruited me when I was a student at the University of Kydera Major, because I was the best programmer in the Interstellar Confederation.”

“Well, you’re modest.” Jane’s tone carried unusual pitch changes.

“How is that modesty?”

“No, I meant… never mind.”

Jane Winterreise Colt was an odd girl. He had stated the facts. Modesty was irrelevant.

She extended her right arm in a sweeping motion. “Please, continue.”

The Seer could not comprehend her gesture. He ignored it and returned to the subject. “I worked for the Blue Diamond Technology Corporation for ten years and four months. I had a good life until the company hired a programmer named Revelin Elroy Kron twenty years and six months ago. He had a doctorate degree. They made him my superior. Dr. Kron was an unusual man. He enjoyed engaging in illicit activities. I never understood why. He had access to any information he wanted. He enjoyed manipulating transmissions between powerful criminals. He called himself ‘Mastermind.’”

“
Kron
was Mastermind?” The emphasis on
Kron
suggested that Jane did not believe the information.

“Yes.” Proof of Mastermind’s identity was not part of the deal, so the Seer had no need to offer any. “I worked with Dr. Kron for three years and seven months. He was very cruel to me, and I decided I did not want to work with him. The company would not let me transfer to another division, and therefore, I left.”

Jane angled her head. “So what’re you doing out here? If you’re so brilliant, why didn’t you switch jobs or start your own company or something?”

“The Networld says that there are no ex-employees of the Blue Diamond Technology Corporation. That is a good approximation. I am the first employee to leave the company in fifty-seven years. The company gives employees many incentives to remain. They were concerned that I would use my talent and knowledge to aid a competitor. They had no legal means to compel me to stay, but some of their methods were not legal. I was concerned for my safety, and I chose to disappear.”

The Seer paused and looked at the ground. “I believe that is enough information about me. I will show you the rest. You will need to take the Stargazer, as the destination is on the other side of the mountains. I will program the ship’s computer to only accept control from the two of you. Since No Name is targeting you, this is a necessary precaution.”

The Seer climbed into the Stargazer. The Colts followed. He entered the cockpit and pointed to a circular scanner beside the control screen. “Place your hand there.”

Jane placed her hand on the scanner first, and then Devin did the same. The Seer gave the computer the commands necessary to lock the system.

“I will take my personal aircraft,” he said. “Once I retract the warehouse roof, wait until you see my vehicle, and then follow me.”

He returned to his hovercar and pressed a button. The warehouse roof retracted. He drove the hovercar to his small brown aircraft, which only held one person, entered the vehicle, and took off.

The flight took approximately thirty-four minutes. The Seer landed his aircraft in front of a wide, rectangular building in the middle of an open area by the mountains. Dust covered the building’s concrete walls, making it appear light brown in color. No one inhabited the sector. Only the Seer had visited it in the last five years.