The Genesis Code 1: Lambda (5 page)

What is she? All of this is far too real and . . . familiar.
He didn’t like the thought. It brought back old memories he wished were forgotten.

Lost in thought, Zack didn’t even notice Lambda slowly floating back down to the rooftop. She had retracted her electric whip back into the black void of space it was summoned from and appeared to be assessing the results of her engagement. She then turned to Zack and began to approach him.

“Damage assessment: host body zero percent; terrain damage twenty three percent. Zero Barrier containment: Faulted. Intrusion imminent.”

Zack just stared in a daze. Everything at this point was exhausting him.

Lambda then knelt down and peered into Zack’s eyes. Her visor quickly digitized into fake space to reveal her hypnotic, intensely burning eyes of scarlet.

“Can you stand? Do your legs need maintenance?” Her face was blank. It was almost more cruel in Zack’s eyes, as he knew for a fact that she was being serious. Still, Zack had difficulty looking straight at her.

In a chaotic calm, Zack responded. “What is going on?”

Lambda was silent for a few moments. In that time, both just stared at each other. There was just something so depleting in Lambda’s eyes that Zack couldn’t get riled with the situation unfolding around him. He felt calm, but also noted the hair sticking up on his arms.

Lambda broke eye contact as she rose up. “Lambda’s mission was to locate and meet with Zackary Allan Knight. Male. Eighteen years of age. Student of Horizon Academy of Abingdon, Virginia. Ranked first among the student body in academics. Hobbies and interest include-”

Zack held up his hand again. “Wait a minute. You were sent to find me?” Zack found this piece of information equally troubling and confusing.

Lambda nodded as if it was the most natural thing to do. Her blank expression was starting to get on his nerves.

“Why?” Zack didn’t know what else to ask.

Lambda’s gaze faltered. Zack took this time to stand as well, but was a little unsettled by the sudden silence. When he gazed into Lambda’s eyes once again, he was sure he saw them quiver.

“Lambda . . . doesn’t know.” Her response was filled with uncertainty.

“You don’t know? How can you possibly not know?” Zack asked now getting annoyed.

Lambda seemed to be bothered by Zack’s tone. It looked like she was struggling to search for a logical reason.

Zack was left dumbstruck.
AI programs aren’t supposed to behave like this. There are rules and guild lines all AI programs have. Just what is she exactly?

Zack thought back to when Lambda threw him aside. Had she not done that, Zack would have surely been killed by the other AI unit’s attack. By all rights, Lambda had no business or reason to save him.

Zack no looked to Lambda with a hard expression. “Why did you save me?” Zack was blunt, his tone unwavering.

Lambda quickly jerked her head up to look at Zack. Slightly startled by this sudden act, he moved to a defensive stance as Lambda’s eyes began to glow crimson. Bits of code began blazing across her retina with speed that rivaled the sound barrier. Lambda spoke seconds later.

“Mission Directory not applicable. Action Log showing new entry. Manual Overwrite protocol issued. AI Safety Claus 3, Article 52 in violation. Project Lambda program status: System Reset.”

Zack was still trying to process ‘Manual Overwrite protocol’ by the time she finished. What did stick with him though was the last part.

System Reset?
Zack prided himself in being a gifted programmer, but even this went beyond him. Nothing was adding up, and the more he thought about it, the more he was dreading not running in the opposite direction.

Zack shook his head. “You didn’t really answer my question-”

With a resounding crack, a slit just above the school rooftop opened. The crevice raged with black energy and a torrent of chaos seemed to go on infinitely on the inside as the crevice widened. Both Zack and Lambda stared at this phenomenon dazed by the spectacle.

“Worm Drive detected. Two targets confirmed,” echoed Lambda, now completely reverting to the blank, robotic state that she had possessed when fighting off the AI units earlier.

Zack didn’t get a word in as two shadows emerged from the black chaos moments later. The crevice quickly receded behind them as they touched down on the rooftop of the school with grace and procession. The person on the left had golden hair and was dressed in a similar outfit as Lambda. The other on the right donned a white mask and black coat.

The woman smirked. “I hope we aren’t interrupting anything, are we?”

The masked man chuckled. “Come now, Laura, don’t be rude. We wouldn’t want the boy to get the wrong impression, now do we?” The masked man folded his arms. His eyes had the look of death in them.

Zack’s blood ran cold.
I’m so dead.

*
      
*
      
*

[January 6th - Washington D.C. - Cyber Research Plant - Day]

The Director rubbed his temples. He was having a hard time processing what he had just been told. He understood that the Lambda unit was powerful—he of all people knew this the best. Still,
even
still . . .

“You are saying that Lambda took out
five
Class S God Mods?”

Karen gazed intently at the Director. Her posture didn’t falter. “Correct. It is estimated that the Lambda unit didn’t even use forty percent of its power. We have greatly underestimated it.”

The Director slammed his fist on his desk. Karen jumped ever so slightly from the sudden act of violence.

“Inexcusable! You are the lead technician that has overseen Lambda’s development. You of all people should have known its capabilities and relayed that to Core HQ!” The Director cursed under his breath.

“I’m sorry. I wished to bring Lambda in undamaged. The resulting error in my calculations is-”

“Enough!” The Director rose from his chair. “I had my doubts that Lambda would be easy to apprehend, but still . . .” He clenched his fists with fury. “I had higher hopes then this.”

Karen was left speechless. She had no worlds to defend herself with.

The Director sat back down trying to calm himself. He pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. His temper had calmed slightly, allowing him to take several deep breaths, but his sour expression remained visible.

“What is our course of action?” asked the Director.

Karen didn’t get to answer the question as the door to the Director’s office swung open. Standing outside the door was Richard. His face was agitated.

“I find it unnerving how you two are discussing this matter without me present.” His tone was sharp.

Karen didn’t give him the satisfaction of a retort. Instead, she spoke to the Director once more. Richard took notice to this, only rolling his eyes.

“Director, perhaps it would be best to monitor Lambda for now.”

The Director seemed a little surprised by Karen’s suggestion, but upon seeing her expression, he gave it a little thought.

“To be frank, I don’t like it. We need to get Lambda back before it starts to cause problems and people start asking questions. The longer we wait, the more chances the Lambda unit has to be seen by the public eye, or cause havoc.”

“True, but at the moment we don’t have a better alternative. If Lambda was going to do anything, it would have done so. Its programming won’t allow it to do something without the proper coding.”

Richard interjected. “I’m afraid you are very wrong, my dear.”

Karen shot Richard a sharp look, which didn’t deter him. They may have been husband and wife, but their prides as researchers almost always came first in their relationship.

“I did some digging and I found something interesting.” Richard pulled out a circular device. With a click of his finger, a transparent screen appeared between them and the Director. The image before them appeared to be a large data bank. The massive amount of information and code listed raced upward on the screen as Richard scrolled.

“I mentioned that Lambda never received its final programming.” Richard’s face darkened. “It’s actually a lot worse than that.”

The Director got a cold sweat. “What has been done to the Lambda unit?”

Richard cleared his throat. Even he didn’t want to believe it. “It would appear that Lambda was completely reset. Its Master Operator has been cleared as well, so now it has no higher authority to answer to. All prior programming done to limit the Lambda unit’s functions have been removed.”

The Director almost forgot to breathe. “You mean to tell me that the Lambda unit can imprint and obey just about anyone it comes in contact with?” spoke the Director through clenched teeth. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I’m afraid that is the case, but that isn’t the worst of it. It also seems that normal protocols and limiters have been removed. As of right now, Lambda has the full capacity to learn without restriction.”

The three stood in silence. No AI was given this freedom. All AI were structured and programmed to allow only the most basic of learning parameters. It was only in field combat and other forms of military operations that AI were allowed to even learn at all. In almost every other case, strict limitations were given to the AI to make sure that it never went outside its programming.

The Director’s Com-Linker broke the silence. Still in a bit of a daze, he answered quickly.

“What is it? I’m currently in the middle of something very-”
      
“Sir, you requested to be informed right away when we were able to pick up a visible feed of Lambda’s location. We were able to hack into a school’s security network and have gained control of the-”
      
“Put it on my screen right now!”

Seconds later, another monitor lit up the office on the right wall. All eyes immediately zeroed in on Lambda. It didn’
t take long for them to notice that it was with another person. There were also two other figures who appeared to be on the school rooftop with Lambda.

The Director jolted from his seat and came closer to the screen. As he did, he felt his pulse suddenly rise dramatically. With a look filled with contempt, he spat only one word.

“Stigma!”

*
      
*
      
*

[January 6th - Abingdon, Virginia - Horizon Academy - School Rooftop - Day]

Zack couldn’t move. He just had this terrible feeling that he could not explain. It was something he had never felt before, something cold. Chills went up and down his body as he sensed the pressure around him. The two individuals before him weren’t here by chance. They were here for a reason, and it didn’t look like they took kindly in having their time wasted.
      

Zack’s eyes soon found their way to the woman’s long, blonde hair flowing in the light breeze. That annoying pinch in his head reared its ugly mug once more. This time, he was trying to remember.

“See, look what you have done, Laura. You’ve scared the boy.” The masked man let out a small chuckle. It made Zack’s skin crawl.

The woman shrugged. “It’s a shame that-”

“Appear, Chaos Weapon 59: Extinction Cannon.”

Zack’s head whipped to Lambda in surprise. By the time he had his eyes on her, she had already downed her visor and was materializing a massive halberd cannon from the black void of negative space just above her shoulder. The cannon was huge, at least thirty feet in length. The giant black weapon seemed to pulse with power as steam hissed from several vents around the huge beast. When Zack looked to Lambda, he saw not a single shred of doubt in her stance. She was going to fire this thing.

“Wait, Lambda! You can’t fire-”

A blinding flash of light exploded in front of Zack. He shielded his eyes from the tremendous glare out of fear of going blind. The heat from the light was intense, almost burning the palms of his hands. It was only moments later that the light began to fade and Zack was able to see once more. What he did see wasn’t what he was expecting.

Lambda laid spread-eagle behind him. She was currently a foot into the school roof with fragments of the roof sitting behind her. A long skid mark marked the twenty or so feet that she had traveled. The giant cannon once in her possession was nowhere to be found.

“It’s rather rude to interrupt someone having a conversation, no?” The woman with golden hair spoke in a ruthless tone.

Zack turned to her, his eyes widening as he noticed the large sword the woman was brandishing. The weapon was slick, like chrome. Its mucus-colored center at the base of the hilt glowed and pulsed like a tumor.

Laura noted Zack’s stare. She shifted the blade over her shoulder. The silver weapon reflected the burning sun as the sphere in the center of the hilt began to light up.

“Like what you see? It’s not every day you get to see a one of a kind weapon like the Nullifier,” she boasted. “It certainly does its job well.”

Zack’s eye twitched. He was certain that he had seen this woman before.

All of a sudden, he recalled the name of the weapon. He had read on the net a newspaper article that talked about this “Nullifier” weapon. It had mentioned a certain individual who was convicted of murdering several CEO chairmen from specific Tech companies. They were calling it the “Null Deaths” as the perpetrator used a outlawed military prototype to kill the victims in the Cyber Network. He racked his brain trying to remember the convicted felon and what they looked like.

It then hit him all at once. Not just who the woman’s name was, but where she was from in his forgotten memory, as well as the identity of the man standing next to her. In a mere instant, Zack’s body swelled with newly recalled anguish. It took all he had in him to suppress the overwhelming emotion he thought he had long forgotten. Despite this, Zack was able to keep it together.

He took a breath, trying to calm himself. “You’re Laura Richter, the Null Death killer, aren’t you?”

Laura’s boastful smile quickly vanished and was replaced with a scowl. “Careful, boy. You wouldn’t want to get me mad.” Her tone was fierce.