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  Punching the elevator button, I avoided looking down the long empty corridors on either side of me. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but that dream had rattled my nerves. Everyone knew that IDE fashioned their creations after living people. It was controversial to some, unethical even – but most people eventually found a logical reason to justify it. This typically occurred after they indulged a fantasy, soothed a broken heart, or simply gave in to the social normality of it all. There was good money in prototype modeling too. I mean, if you wanted a simp to look like someone you knew, or someone famous, that was easily accomplished, but models were used to create mass versions for mainstream distribution. They were also used to build databanks of facial expressions, hand gestures, and overall human interaction. Of course, all models consented to digital re-animation, but it was rumored that anyone who ever used online social media could be replicated.

  Personally, I didn’t want to think about it now. I didn’t want to think about assassin versions of people I knew. The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside, pressing the ‘close door’ button repeatedly before mashing the bright ‘lobby’ button. On the way down, I confirmed that my switchblade was in my front pocket and yanked my slingshot out of the side pouch of my backpack. I’d need to grab some ammo, just in case I needed it, as soon as I got outside. I recalled a raised flowerbed out front with white rock bedding. That would be my first stop. I hadn’t really made up my mind beyond that, but feeling fresh air was a necessity for my nerves.

  Chapter 3

  The lobby was lined with chairs and strategically placed televisions hung from the ceiling — all of them blasting static. I guess no one had figured out how to turn the volume down. Or maybe at some prior point in time, they afforded a frantic public with some sense of normality. My eyes darted around in search of any danger, but it seemed I was alone and safe for the moment. I walked swiftly to the automatic glass doors and felt a rush of relief when they opened. The warm night air smelled amazing, and a nice breeze rustled the palm trees. The doors closed behind me and I instinctively turned to make sure I was still alone. I headed to the flowerbed and scooped up a handful of decent sized rocks. I shoved those into my pack and then loaded another batch into my front pocket. Content with my security measures, I took a seat on the edge of the stone guardrail facing the street. It would do me good right now to kill a simp I thought to myself. I needed to burn some nervous energy and clear my head. I wished I had a cigarette. I didn’t smoke regularly, but having one every once in a while helped to calm my nerves. I made a mental note to search for a pack the next time I hunted for supplies. There was a standing ashtray just outside the sliding doors, but I wasn’t about to scrounge a butt. I didn’t want one that badly.

  I noticed a shadow in the distance and immediately abandoned my thoughts of a smoke. I reached into my pocket, unfolded the wrist brace, and pinched a rock between my fingers and the leather strap. Drawing back the elastic band, I focused on the shadowy figure and released.

  “Son of a bitch!” A male voice shouted. I grabbed another rock and fired again. My aim was true and the voice shouted in pain and frustration. “You break my laptop and I’ll fucking kill you, you asshole. If you’re a simp, you’d better be afraid, because I will use said laptop to write some code that makes you kiss my ass!”

  I lowered my arm. “Fish?” I called out.

  “Yeah, who the hell are you?” He shouted back, his voice echoing across the parking lot as he continued toward me.

  “Don’t shoot, I’m only a programmer,” he said with a nervous laugh.

  “I’m not going to shoot, I didn’t know you were human.”

  “How do you know who I am?” He was still yelling across the distance, but drawing closer.

  “I’m with Gizzard – Giz. He’s inside. Stop yelling dude, you’re going to draw attention.”

  He obliged and remained quiet until he reached me. Under the lights of the parking structure, I could tell that he was tall. I’m five foot nine and I figured he had to be at least six feet two. When he finally reached me, I couldn’t help smiling. His laptop was tucked under his right arm, and a backpack was flung over his left shoulder. His smile, even in the dark, was unmistakable. Micah “Mic” Keenan had been on the cover of enough magazines, and covered in enough television shows, to make him a familiar face to the world. Everyone knew his face. I stifled a laugh and extended my hand.

  “Nice to finally meet you, Fish.”

  “And you are?”

  “My name’s Hailey. I am friends with Gizzard. He’s worried sick about you because you haven’t responded to him online.”

  “Well that’s because I booked it over here and couldn’t connect.”

  “Did you tell him you were coming?”

  “No, of course not. I told him we’d rendezvous at the place where wounds are cured as soon as possible.”

  “Clever,” I said raising an eyebrow. This was the most brilliant mind of the new century, and he used the word “rendezvous” like a nerd. It was hard not to bitch-slap the idiot that had brought down the free world as we knew it. I decided not to let on that I knew who he really was. I didn’t want to stroke his ego, and I really didn’t give a shit that he was the all-powerful Mic Keenan — even if he was extremely easy on the eyes.

  “C’mon, follow me, I’ll take you to Giz. He’ll be glad to see you.” I started to turn back toward the building but he reached out and placed his arm on my shoulder to stop me.

  “Wait a minute, will you? I’d like to have a smoke first.”

  He reached into a pocket in his t-shirt and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

  “Can you spare one?”

  “No problem.” He handed me a smoke and lit it like a gentleman. I inhaled deeply and allowed the buzzing sensation in my brain to take hold. It felt wonderful, and a small portion of the stress I’d been carrying floated away with the exhaled smoke. We stood in silence, the only sound coming from the palm trees blowing in the summer breeze. I sat on the side of the flowerbed and Fish took a seat beside me.

  “So how’d you meet my buddy Giz?”

  “I found him in a collapsed section of freeway about five miles from here.”

  “Ah, he was trying to get to me.”

  “And where were you?” I asked.

  “In a locked down segment of IDE.”

  “IDE?” I asked, waiting to see if he’d reveal his identity.

  “Yeah. I – I worked there.” He said.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Don’t be. It was a good place before things went to shit.”

  “Don’t you ever question the accountability of the organization?”

  “Every single day,” he said, blowing smoke in a deliberate huff.

  “Yeah, see I just don’t have a whole lot of respect for a company that basically took down the free world. As far as I’m concerned that guy Mic Keenan is an ass.”

  He laughed, and stomped his cigarette out on the concrete.

  “I’d have to agree with you.”

  “Really?” I drew another puff from my smoke.

  “Really,” he said with a sigh. “Although I do believe that the intentions were good.”

  “Ha!” I said, unable to help myself.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

  “I mean, how can you claim the intentions were good when they were so focused on profits that they turned their backs on ethics?”

  “I wouldn’t say they turned their backs on ethics exactly.”

  “They what would you call it?” I took the last hit off my cigarette and then flicked it toward the parking lot.

  “I’d call it shareholder strong-arming.”

  I didn’t get the chance to respond to that remark because a shadowy figure caught my attention in the distance.

  “Marko!” I shouted.

  “What?”

  “I’m not talking to you,” I spat.

  “Okay, then Polo anyway,” he said lau
ghing.

  “Don’t move Mic,” I said forcefully.

  “Polo!” replied the voice from a distance.

  I drew my slingshot back and closed my left eye to focus.

  “Is it human?” Mic whispered.

  “I don’t think so,” I replied as I drew back.

  The figure in the distance continued forward. I noticed that Fish was opening his laptop, but I didn’t stop to question why.

  “Is there Wi-Fi in there?” He asked urgently.

  “Is there what? How the fuck would I know?” I didn’t look at him. Instead, I focused on my target and steadied my breathing.

  “Is there Wi-Fi?”

  “Dude, I have no idea. All I know is that your buddy Giz sits in the cafeteria all day so that he can connect.”

  “That’s all I need to know,” he said.

  “I drew back and missed my target because I was too focused on his response.

  “Shit!” I snapped, and dug another rock from my front pocket.

  “Don’t bother, I’ve got this,” he said somewhat casually.

  I was about to aim again when the shadowy figure slumped to the ground.

  “What the fuck? Did you do that?”

  “So, you know who I am?” He said, ignoring my question.

  “Yeah. I know exactly who you are. Who wouldn’t?”

  “Okay, fair enough. Can you take me to Giz now?”

  I glanced at the body in the parking lot and then turned to him. “Yeah, I’ll take you to him. What the hell did you just do?”

  “I shut down his central processor.”

  “How?”

  I found his IP address and then I used a code I’ve written. It’s something Giz and I have been working on together for a while.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. Sorry to disappoint you with my unethical bullshit.”

  “Whatever. C’mon.”

  “I’m right behind you, slingshot girl.”

  “Great, geek boy, let’s go.”

  He laughed and followed as I walked back to the sliding double doors. We rode the elevator in silence, although I’m sure he was checking me out beneath the florescent lights as much as I was checking on him. His light brown hair looked impressively orderly and there wasn’t a trace of stubble on his chin. His white t-shirt was ridiculously clean and free of wrinkles…Christ, he even smelled good. I silently wondered how bad I looked. I mean, I’d had a shower but makeup wasn’t something I kept in my backpack. The days of trying to impress a man were long behind me. So why did I feel so on edge? I focused on the tiled ceiling of the elevator in order to keep my eyes off him.

  The doors opened to the level with the cafeteria, and I exhaled a deep breath. “This way MicFish.”

  “Cute,” he said sarcastically.

  The door to the cafeteria had a glass pane in it, so I could see that Giz was hunched over his keyboard. His back was to us. Mic pushed around me and opened the door. “So what kind of progress have you made?” he asked.

  Giz whipped his neck and almost knocked his chair over in his attempt to reach his friend. “Mic! Man, I thought something happened to you!” They embraced in that awkward guy hug that is more like the chest slam followed by the double pat on the back. I crossed my arms and leaned against the far wall. This was bound to be boring as hell. They immediately started sharing updates with each other and it sounded like they were speaking another language. I rolled my eyes and got myself a cup of coffee and a bag of miniature chocolate doughnuts from the vending machine, then I pulled out a chair and sat down across from the two men.

  I bit the package open with my teeth and popped one of the small doughnuts in my mouth. Mic, without asking, reached across the table and helped himself to one. I would have said something, but I figured it was a fair trade for the cigarette he’d given me, and if I wanted another it wouldn’t pay to be petty.

  “May I?” Asked Giz. I slid the package across the table to him.

  “You can finish them. They taste like waxed crap.”

  “Appetizing description, Hailey,” Mic said. Giz shot me a sideways glance as he stuffed the last two in his mouth. He chewed them down and talked at the same time. Seeing his half-chewed food was disgusting, and I had to look away. “So, like I said, my last attempt to breech the gateway was unsuccessful, but I did make some progress because it was a solid thirty seconds before I was locked out.”

  “Wait, you mean you made it in?” I asked, not really understanding what that meant.

  “Well, yes but it wasn’t long enough to do anything.”

  “What would you do if you got in longer?” I asked, glancing back and forth between the men for an answer.

  “Remember when we met, Hailey? I told you that if I can re-route the servers, I could set in a new data path with my own code and force a simp update that would wipe Yen’s virus.”

  “I remember you said something like that, but honestly at the time I just thought you were delusional.”

  “I’m not delusional. It would have been done six months ago, but…”

  “It’s okay Giz, don’t go there,” Mic said, cutting him off.

  Eager to change the subject, I turned my attention to Mic. “Well, what about that fancy code you pulled off out there in the parking lot?”

  “What’s she talking about, Fish?” Giz had an expression on his face like I’d just announced we’d all won the lottery. His wide eyes, teamed with that wild hair made me laugh.

  “That’s why you hadn’t heard from me. I finally finished writing the code that I was telling you about and I decided to try it out. You have to understand, I’ve been locked away in my private suite since this all started, and I was getting pretty desperate for a way out.”

  “You mean you haven’t been out of the IDE building in two years?”

  “That’s what I mean.”

  I whistled low and shook my head. “Man, have you missed the party out here!” I knew I was being a smart-ass, but it was hard to be civil with the guy who’d cost me my friends and family.

  “Look, I get the hostility, but you know that’s kind of like blaming the rain for getting things wet.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “What kind of bullshit is that? That doesn’t even make any sense!”

  “All I mean is that nature will take its course. I didn’t make this nightmare happen. Truthfully, if you want to blame someone, blame Sam Yen.”

  “You’re deflecting, and you’re not taking responsibility,” I snarled.

  “No, I’m not deflecting. Do you think that I’m not remorseful?”

  “Sure doesn’t sound like it.”

  “Well believe me, I am. I’ve lost everyone I care about, and so has Giz. Why do you think we’re working so hard to fix this mess?”

  “Don’t try to make yourself out to be so righteous. You are the one who made the mess!” I stood up and pushed my chair back. “That’s like shitting on the floor and then blaming it on the person who fed you!” I said.

  “Okay, okay, let’s all just calm down,” Giz said gently. I walked to the trashcan and tossed my paper cup. The coffee wasn’t cutting it. I needed something stronger. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything to be had. No upstanding patient or doctor kept liquor on hand in a hospital, and I wasn’t the pill-taking kind of woman. I sighed and pushed up to sit on a table closer to the doors. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration and exhaled loudly. The men stopped talking. Both were watching me with intense curiosity.

  “Are you always this tense?” Mic asked.

  “No.”

  “Yes,” said Giz at the same time. I made a “tsk” sound and crossed my arms. “I’m not a people person. I need a drink,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “I’ve got a pint of Jack in my backpack,” said Mic.

  “Can I have some, and another smoke?” I asked.

  “Can I have some and another smoke?” Giz repeated in a whiney voice. “So now you like me again, huh?” Mic
said.

  “I never said I didn’t like you.” I hopped down from the table and crossed the room to them. I did my best impression of a nice-girl smile.

  “Too late for apologies,” he said, reaching to unzip his pack.

  “Who said I was apologizing?”

  “Oh for Christ’ sake, knock it off you two!” joked Giz.

  Mic took a long pull from the bottle and then passed it to me. The amber liquid burned my throat, and warmed my insides as it went down. I passed it back and watched him as he took another swig. He pushed the bottle back in front of me. “Don’t you want to offer some to your friend?” I asked with a grin.

  “I don’t drink. Fish knows I don’t drink. You can have my share,” he said, waving his hand at the bottle dismissively.

  “Your loss,” I said teasingly, and took another sip.

  “So tell me about the code, Fish.” Giz pushed back from his laptop and took a gulp from a can of orange soda.

  “Well, it’s something I’d been playing with on the side. You know how we’ve been so focused on pushing out a mass update through the gateway? I started thinking, what if we had some way of doing the same thing, only on a much smaller scale.”

  “Right, right that makes perfect sense,” muttered Giz.

  “It took me a little over a month to figure out what system held the simp master maps.” He turned to me. “Those are basically schematics that identify all of the sensors and the ports for each neurotronic cerebral mechanism.” I nodded, although nothing he said made much sense. He smiled at me and continued, “Once I finally found them, I started tracing evolution patterns and then, working backwards, identified each parameter. Over time, I began to see a pattern that I could build off of, so I spent some time writing out some code that would shut down an individual simp at the cortex level. Granted, the simp population works through distributed systems, but at an ideal nanotechnological level, manipulating the NIP should work, right?”