Twenty's Mission Log
Chapter 5

September 5th, V26

I woke up.

My internal clock told me it was 3am in the morning of the following day. I tried to sit up and realised a heavy weight was holding me down. A spiky blonde haired head looked up at me drowsily from where she was seated beside the bed, half sprawled over me. Millie of course.

“Twenty” she said and rubbed her eyes. She looked tired and had been crying it seemed. I reached out and tousled her hair. She gave me a tight smile and nuzzled my hand.

I looked around the room we were in. It was a room in a medical suite I thought, based on the hospital style bed I was on and the equipment arrayed beside us. Some monitor on my temple pinged and a moment later a middle-aged woman in a medical coat entered the room.

“Glad to see you are awake” she said briskly and checked my vitals on a screen set to one side of the bed. “You are the first Guard clone I have ever had to treat” she continued with some enthusiasm. “The recovery rate is remarkable” She smiled at Millie and I and after some more fussing went back outside the room.

“Where are we Millie?” I asked her.

“We are in a private medical centre not far from where the Russians first met us” she answered.

She explained that after the Golem had been disabled, Gregor was going to shoot us both. Mr AK-47 (whose name apparently is Rico) intervened and demanded he call in Uncle Yuri. Turns out Rico has been watching over Gregor for his Uncle and reporting on what he gets up to.

So some vans arrived and us, our scooter, the bodies of the fallen and everybody else was carted off. They only made it in time because Rico had called it in even before the gun fight started. The Guard were swarming over the place minutes after we got clear.

“So what happens now?” I asked Millie.

“Now we give thanks that my nephew and you ladies are alive” said Yuri as he walked into the room. His smile faded as he looked at me, but I nodded my thanks to him.

“I am very sorry for my nephew Gregor’s behaviour in this matter” he continued. “He has acted without thought and attacked you twice. Yet both times you have endeavoured to avoid casualties despite the provocation. My family is in your debt”

“So we can forget about chasing Tan?” asked Millie hopefully.

Uncle Yuri was about to reply when I said a simple “No”. They both looked at me in surprise.

“Tan has gotten mixed up in something big. By pure bad luck I think, but he is part of solving this. If we track him down we may replace the answers to the bigger questions”

“Like what?” Millie asked me.

“That Golem was deliberately left as a trap for whomever went to the factory. If they just wanted to kill us they could have set explosives or used a remote drone. But they used a front line military weapon controlled by an onboard AI” I said. “To be able to get that kind of equipment and to use it here in the Spit means they have some serious clout. And they wanted it to send a message to the Governors”

“What message would that be?” asked Yuri.

“The Guard are compromised. Their vaunted Archimedes Network can be negated. Pan City absolutely depends on their AI and the Guard to stay safe. That safety is no longer guaranteed”. Millie and Yuri looked at me in stunned disbelief.

“Give it up for my girl Twenty” applauded Millie after a moment. “There is a new detective in this town!”

“So what is your next move?” asked Yuri. He was unhappy about how things were turning out.

“We need to get some experts to examine the AI core from that Golem. Do we still have it?” I asked.

“Of course” said Millie. “You would not let go of it all the way here. We had to prise it out of your hand so the doc could treat you”.

I turned to Millie. “We’ll have to get J and Zeke to run tests on it. I don’t know anyone better to do that kind of work”. She nodded her agreement. It seemed like we had to involve them in this case after all.

“But right now you need to get some sleep” Millie stated in no uncertain terms. “It’s the middle of the night and those guys won’t be awake til at least ten in the morning”

“OK” I accepted and lay back down on the bed. Yuri said his goodbyes and promised to check up on us in the morning.

After he left, Millie asked if I was in any pain. I told her I was feeling a lot better and should be fully operational by dawn. She laughed at that and then gave me a serious look.

“Is it OK if I sleep here with you tonight?” she asked softly. I nodded my head.

She clambered up onto the bed, careful of my left leg, and settled herself alongside. Her head was up against mine on the soft hospital pillow. She laid her arm across my chest and gently squeezed.

“I was so terrified that I was going to lose you today” she whispered in my ear.

“It will take more than a Golem to kill me” I responded with bravado.

“No” she said “When you went into the Network. I don’t want you to ever do that again”.

I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. Did Millie know what happened in there?

“I promise, Millie” I said to her. That seemed to satisfy her. She sighed and was soon asleep.

I turned off the room lights with the remote and lay there. It was some time before I joined her in slumber.

=====

As usual it was me that had to wake Millie up in the morning. Left to her own devices I knew she would happily sleep until noon.

I was getting dressed in my black uniform and light weight vest when the doctor came in. We introduced ourselves properly since I was a bit out of it last night. Her name was Dr Liza Chappel and she ran this centre. From what she said she did a lot of “off the books” treatment for the local gangs.

She was amazed I was up and about so quickly. I assured her I was not in any great pain and that my leg would continue to heal. In the end I had to promise her I would come back another day and talk to her about how the clone bodies functioned compared to a regular human one. It could actually work out well for me to have a medical person who knew I was a Guard clone. So far I was the oldest clone I had heard of, being over four years old now I told Dr Chappel.

Millie, who had been slowly getting up and putting on her boots and jacket, shot me a sudden look of panic.

“Twenty, when did you turn four?” she asked. I could see her counting off months in her head.

“It was just over three months ago” I replied.

“I missed your birthday!” she wailed. “I am such a bad friend. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I no longer count that time” I responded evenly. “The only time that matters to me is from the day I met you. That is my birthday. It even says so on my Ident card”

“Oh” was all she could say in response. Dr Chappel excused herself and left the room smiling.

“Do you know when my birthday is?” Millie suddenly asked me.

“Of course I do. You never shut up about it. It is in just over a week’s time” I said.

“Great. So you know I am going to be 18 this year?” Millie pressed on. “That is a special year for anyone. Have you got something planned for me?” Like so many of our conversations they all came back to what Millie wanted.

“Well, according to your Bounty Hunters Licence, won’t you be turning 22 this year?” I asked. “I don’t think that is a special year for anyone”.

I swear her lip started to tremble. I had been knocked out, injured, ended up in a medical centre, but all that mattered was Millie’s birthday. Yet I could not help but love her.

“Di and I are planning something special. All of your friends will be there too. So it will just be the four of us”.

Millie squealed in frustration and threw the hospital pillow at me. I would have dodged it easily except my left leg was still a bit stiff.

=====

We were on the road not long after 9am, heading across the city to the Hole.

Uncle Yuri had come to talk before we left and we agreed to contact him once we had some more leads. He apologised again for his nephew and gave us a wonderful gift.

Our scooter had been cleaned, serviced and the damaged left wing mirror was replaced. He said he had his mechanic work on it all night to make sure it was ready. I was grateful for his consideration and shook his hand. Millie just nodded her thanks and jumped on the back of the scooter, impatient to be off.

I threaded our way through the dusty roads and alleys of the Hole to the Central market. J and Zeke ran an electronics shop on the top floor. In reality their main business was illegal net diving and running an illicit surveillance network. They had helped us a few times in the past and we had visited them socially once.

They had a caravan parked on the roof of the markets, along with portable cabins and even an RV that were homes to other market operators. I had wondered how they got them all up on top of the upper level but Zeke assured me it was a secret they could not reveal.

We parked our scooter next to the markets in a space overseen by a young boy about ten years old. He guaranteed to look after our scooter while we shopped for only two Pandas. I locked it up securely anyway and paid the boy his money upfront.

Millie gave him dire warnings about what would happen if our beloved ride got even a scratch on it. He patted a large machete strapped to his hip and said if anyone molested our scooter, he promised to give us their hands and our two Pandas back. He looked like he meant it so we left him to it. Everyone needs a way to earn their Pandas.

On the way to the central stairwell, I made sure we stopped and bought hot donuts from the same stall we always did. Millie smiled every time we did this, although today we only bought six. Two for me, two for Millie and one each for J and Zeke.

We went up the stairs a bit more slowly than usual. Millie still managed to stomp as loudly as ever, but she did check on me at every landing to make sure I was still up to the climb.

“Maybe we should have taken the service elevator?” she said as we got to the last set of stairs.

I stopped and gave her a look. The one that said “Why did you not say there was an elevator?” Millie looked back.

“Did you want to use the elevator?” she asked. “It is over at the back there.” She pointed vaguely to one side of the markets.

“Maybe on the way down” I conceded through gritted teeth and resumed the climb to the fourth level.

Once we got to the top of the stairs, Millie took my arm and led me past the arms dealers. We both looked appreciatively at the armaments for sale, me at the guns and Millie at the swords and knives.

“Dammit!” she exclaimed. I went over and stood next to her.

“That Tanto I wanted has been sold” she pouted. “I knew I should have come and bought it with the Pandas from the Otaki bounty”

“Yes, you should have” I agreed. “Too late now.” I dragged her away to Rackman and Tao, our friends shop.

“We’re here! And we brought donuts” yelled Millie happily as we entered the store. As ever, J was digging around in some piece of hardware while Zeke was just flitting about, whisking a duster over the items on display.

“Millie and Twenty!” squealed Zeke, who rushed over to hug us both. Millie nimbly ducked under his arms, leaving me to endure the full force of his embrace. At least he smelled nice, some perfume I did not recognise but was very flowery. It suited him.

“You are so wonderfully tall and strong, Twenty” he said to me, still holding me close. “How about a big old hug for Zeke-san”.

I reached around him with my arms and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“No, you can go much harder than that” he insisted. So I applied about half my strength and he laughed happily.

“For a girl like you I think I could turn” he announced.

“Turn into what, Zeke-san?” I asked him. That brought forth more laughter.

“Would you please let my girlfriend go?” said Millie.

Zeke released me suddenly and looked keenly at Millie. “Did you say girlfriend?”

“Yeah, what of it?” Millie tried to brazen it out, but Zeke gave another happy squeal and rushed at Millie, arms held wide.

“I am so happy for you Millie. J, our little girl has become a woman at last!” Millie bolted and Zeke chased her around the store for three complete laps. J and I just watched them, both content to see our loved ones at play.

Eventually Zeke tired of running and sat down puffing on a stool near the counter. Millie came and stood beside me, red faced and breathing hard.

“I told you that running every day would come in handy” I said to her. She nodded her agreement.

Now that the greetings were over, we explained to J and Zeke why we needed their help. We took the AI core from the Golem out of Millie’s backpack and laid it on the counter. It was a solid unit about the size and thickness of a man’s hand. They both leaned in eagerly to examine it.

“I think it has been subverted by an external source. It may have been deliberately locked out of the quantum network to prevent it being reverted” I said to the two men.

“If any of the AIs were involved, we should be able to detect it. We are unlikely to be able to say which one it was though. It could have been subverted by Archimedes itself” said J. He told us it would take some hours to set up a virtual space to test the AI core in.

“That sounds fine” Millie said. “We have some other errands to run. Can we call you later on today?” J and Zeke agreed. We did not discuss a price for their help, but I hoped the damage to our Panda population would not be too severe.

Business done, we ate our donuts together. They were good as ever.

Before we left, I said to Millie I needed to talk to J about something in private.

“Like what?” she asked.

“Maybe something to do with a certain party for a certain someone in the near future?” I replied.

“Oh” was all she could manage. “I’ll wait over here then” she announced and clomped back to the arms dealers to drool in the window some more.

I walked back to J. He met my eyes and frowned. “This has nothing to do with Millie’s birthday party, does it?” he stated.

“J-san, have you detected any other AIs currently in the net here?” I began. I meant of course the net that most of humanity interfaced with, not the quantum network. As far as I knew that was not accessible by anyone without the dedicated processor such as in my head.

“Well, there are always signs that the big AIs such as Abraham and Arkangel are working in the net. There are a lot of security protocols that each bloc uses to stop other AIs messing about with their data, but none of it is foolproof. Any AI, even some of the limited AIs, can break into any system given time. What is on your mind, Twenty?” he finished.

“I think I met an AI yesterday while I was searching for some data” I said. J looked alarmed. “It did not say who it was, but it indicated it was not Archimedes. It sounded like a woman”

“You don’t want to draw the attention of the AI’s” warned J.”They have no soul and no care for anything other than their own desires. But, for some reason they do seem to acquire a gender and try to act like humans” He paused and thought for a moment. “The Russian Bloc Arkangel is generally considered asexual, and the European Athena presents as female. It could have been one of those”

“I see. That is what I thought” I answered.

“Or it could just be another AI trying to disguise itself. They can appear and sound however they like in the net” J said. “They are slippery little devils”.

“Thanks J. And don’t forget about Millie’s party. She will kill me if you guys don’t come along”.

“Copy that” said J.

I went and found Millie outside the arms dealer, looking at shuriken.

“They are on sale Twenty!” she said enthusiastically.

“I am not buying you throwing stars” I said firmly and took her by the arm towards the stairs.

“The elevator is back this way” Millie said, pointing in the other direction, so we went that way instead.