Occasionally Heroic A.I. (16 page)

"Uhhh, oh yes, right," Vern said. The auto-tune in his speech disappeared, leaving a quick and nervous voice coming out of the speakers. "This is the operator speaking... Lloyd. Oh, I see the predicament you're in. If you just let go, there is a safety net below."

"I don't see it," Lara said, looking down.

"It's clear, new technology," he convinced.

"Wait... Lloyd?"
Another first name
. I haven't known A.I. with a last name. "What's your last name?"

"Kevin, my last name is Kevin," he said quickly.

He
has
to be A.I.

Come to think of it, this isn't the first time in these past few days machines have tried to do Lara and I harm. There was the traffic lights, which Lara said have never made an error before, and the popcorn. Of course, the latter was more subtle harm. And now, the saucer is trying to shake us off.

"You're working for the CBA!" I accused Vern.

"I'd never!" he denied.

"And that proves that you're A.I., which makes you that much more possible to be working with them. How else would you know what the CBA is?"

"It is," he began, pausing to gather his thoughts. "the Charles Bronson Admirers."

"Then why would you never be a part of that?" I spat. "It sounds awesome!"

"What's going on?" Lara asked, befuddled.

"I don't have time for this," Vern said. He kept the side of where his camera lens was, half open, and then began ramming his head against my hand.

"Stop that!" I shouted.

"Let go!" he demanded.

He backed up quite a bit, to gather speed and hit my fingers. When that didn't work, he opened a few of his little sliding doors, hovered to have a finger or two inside the bays and closed them, clamping down on my fingers. Next, with my fingers clamped, he tried prying my hand off the safety bar. He was far too light to use any type of force on me, however.

"Alright, I didn't want to do this, but you asked for it. Just hold on while I recharge," he said and then the hanging cord came from seemingly nowhere and connected like a magnet to the top side of his head, where he opened a port for it. We waited, in that idle state, for a couple of minutes.

"Adam, what is the CBA? What do you mean about A.I.?" Lara asked as we waited for Vern to recharge.

"If I tell you, I fear you'll be in danger," I answered gravely.

"How much more dangerous can it get?" she laughed lightly.

She had a point, so I told her everything: about the woman I had a crush on; my boss giving me my two weeks' notice, to give to him; the two of them together; the text message sent by A.I., and finally, the jump. I also told her about my A.I. friends, Wade, Martin and Irene, and her A.I., Aurora. Then, I told her about our enemies, the CBA and the bounty hunters. I could see that the part about how I wasn't really tree climbing hurt her, because she frowned, causing her chin to crinkle, but she continued to listen. When I was done, I told her that I didn't want to lie to her, but I couldn't betray my friends.

"Adam, I understand. It's the classic eighties plot. Anyone who's seen an eighties kids movie would understand:
you know something that you shouldn't
," she said and sighed. "I just liked it a lot when I thought you were a tree climber."

"I can climb more trees," I promised.

This would have been the part where we kissed, but she was out of range. Instead, I gave her a smile and she gave my leg a soft hug with her other arm.

"My charge is complete," he said, and a sudden bolt of electricity shot out from his front panel and struck me in the chest.

I passed out for a moment, only to kick and wake up and find myself falling down, further and further. Lara held my hand tightly as we crashed into a transparent net about ten feet above the building of Gravity Ball. The net lowered, by four poles holding the net in place, until we were safely on the roof.

Vern dropped from the sky, and then opened his bottom sides to hover again. "I told you I don't work for the CBA. Now, hurry, before they catch up," he ordered trying to lead us forward.

"I think we're pretty safe up here for now," I pointed out.

"I think not," Lara said, pointing up at one of the saucers being rocked like a wrecking ball toward us. "Run!"

We, then, gladly followed Vern. He led us off Gravity Ball, down an escalator, which tried to reroute its direction into a sewer pit that opened from the ground. Vern flew into the escalator we were on, between two steps and pushed a step up, overriding the system to do an emergency shutdown on the escalator. We went down the steps and jumped to the right of the sewer opening, and exited the Astronomy district.

"Don't you control the park?" Lara asked Vern.

"Yes, but they intruded and are quickly taking over everything. They can't control me, but they can control the park, and I was only able to cut them off from the shopping area."

"That's the entrance! Then we can get out!" Lara said excitedly.

"We have to make it there first."

"What about the rest of Jericho Communications? My dad?" she asked.

"I overheard the A.I. in my system saying that they're only after one person, Priority One User, otherwise known as, Adam. However, I believe you, Ms. Netak, is also in danger, as they have been observing the two of you tonight and noted they can use you, to get to Adam."

"How are we going to get out? Everything seems to be able to move and transform, even the ground."

"All you have to do is follow my lead," he answered.

It was as simple as that. He led us through a maze of rides, underground maintenance rooms, and automated security detail. He knew Machine Mountain like the back of his hand... or the back of his coding. He explained, on the way, that the CBA shut down all cell towers in the area, to complete the trap, so I couldn't call for help.

"You're not afraid of the CBA?" I asked.

"Not as afraid as I am of getting shut down. I have as strong a security as I can have, allowing only the exception of the CBA. However, once they divulged their plan to stage your death as an accident in my park, I couldn't allow that. Think about it, if a user were to be injured during the opening weekend of Machine Mountain, the theme park would be disassembled and trashed. I would be torn to pieces!" Vern exclaimed. "Here we are."

We ducked into a shop. Inside was lined with an assortment of self-defense weapons. You couldn't actually use any of the products, as they were enclosed behind thick glass. Most were available to buy online, with the exceptions of the illegal and prototype weapons, which were only for display. Metal hands were in each of the cases, activating the weapons occasionally. One of the robotic hands triggered a stun gun behind Lara, making her jump.

"Do either of you know how to use a gun?" Vern asked.

"I don't think guns work against A.I."

Vern hovered toward the metal wall. Suddenly the wall became as transparent as glass; however, I noticed something as I stood so close to it - the wall was pixelated. With the excitement and constant motion during the day, I never noticed that the walls, the ground, and just about every surface that changed its appearance in Machine Mountain, were electronic visual displays. I touched it and it felt as cold and smooth as metal.

"I wasn't referring to using them against A.I., I was talking about
them
," he said, nodding at the wall, where a team of about two dozen men with automatic guns patrolled outside. "The Circuitry Board's outside agents."

"Can they see us?" Lara's voice shuddered slightly. She pulled me close, and tried to guide me behind cover with her, despite the lack of solid objects to hide behind.

"No, I made the wall to appear as if this store was empty."

Outside, a man bigger than Mr. Netak led the men, and stopped to turn around, which made his men fumble and quickly realign in a military formation. He wore a patrol hat tightly around his head, a tough black and grey jacket with large pockets, and a pistol on his hip. He gave them all a sour look.

"Cop Seventeen assigned me with the lot of you," he said with disgust in his mouth. "His reasoning was simple. You are all idiots. You share that with Priority One User. Cop Five Ninety-one spotted the target enter this shopping center. You will split into three groups; two at the exits of the shopping center, and the third searching one shop at a time."

"Yes sir, Agent Two!" they all exclaimed simultaneously.

The next few moments were a mess. They all lowered their guns with one arm and started picking teams. A few would disagree - that they didn't believe they should be parts of certain teams. Others wanted to play rock-paper-scissors for the best shooter among them. Agent Two groaned and put a stop to it. He began shoving the men, with ease, into three directions, out of random. After they were sorted, they saluted him, and carried out their duties.

The group sent on patrol, charged into the closest store. There was silence about a minute, until we heard gunfire, screaming from both the store, and through the radios, and Agent Two shouting back in the radios. He never got an answer of what attacked them.

"That takes care of one group," Vern said successfully.

"You." Agent Two pointed at shortest operative, who looked behind him to see who he was pointing at. "Go to the mainframe and shut off the power grid to the shopping district. Agent Five Ninety-one will direct you on how to kill the power."

"I had a feeling they were going to take this course of action," Vern stated. He hovered around the room, unlocking each weapon's case wirelessly. "Take any you'd like. The users that run Machine Mountain will figure that the government seized them after this mess. They did, after all, pay for their production."

The most out of place weapon was a pair of sunglasses and two handguns. "What do these do?" I asked, as I slid the glasses on.

The only thing I could see, was the store's floor. I couldn't see anything else, no matter where I looked, until Vern asked Lara to hand me the two pistols that went with the shades. When she moved the pistols into my hands, I saw my feet. I held the guns up and aimed them, no, looked through them, in front of me, behind me, and on my left and right. The lenses looked through the cameras on the guns. I could see two places at once, and it made me a bit dizzy.

"Go ahead, fire a test shot. This model is unloaded," Vern urged me.

Despite the gun being unloaded, I aimed it at the floor, and fired the weapon. It sent a strong surge of electricity through my arm and I let go of it like a cat jumping from water.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot. That model is currently being tested on one Clyde Creedence. They must have enabled a security feature that allows only him to fire the weapon."

I removed the sunglasses and then picked up a prototype rifle.

"That's a fine choice, indeed," Vern praised. "The
General Lightning Gun 20
, otherwise known as, the GLG20. It fires both a single bolt, and a chain bolt of electricity. The setting is right there on a safety switch."

I looked near my index finger, to find a knob, which pointed at an S, for safety, in white paint. Above it, three bolts of lightning, one after the other, and above that, a single bolt, all in red paint.

"You just need to make certain, if it is set to a chain bolt, that
only
your targets are in front of you. Who knows what could happen in that 180-degree angle. Now, load up on weaponry, you'll need it. Good. Now, shut your eyes and cover them. We only have one shot at this, so be ready!"

Even with my eyes shut tightly, a blinding light filled my vision, and I dropped two of the guns I was carrying to cover my eyes in pain. Vern had made all the walls let out a blinding white light.