The Veil Read Free Page B

well—until she took a life.
    Her troubles started quickly. Blake had pounced as soon as the facts surrounding her actions became known to a horrified public. Lucy’s reaction was to withdraw back into herself. But Senator Blake’s contention was correct. For those that had seen it, Lucy’s inner self-image had indeed been disturbing.
    This had presented Chief Justice Garr with something of a quandary. If only Lucy would show herself once more then that might garner sympathy for her. Remaining stubbornly hidden rendered any testimony as to her true nature subject to suspicion, if not derision, and was likely to do more harm than good. So unless Lucy revealed herself, those that knew could not be allowed to say anything.
    There were eight of them. A ninth, General Korin, only knew of her supposed appearance, and was keen not to incriminate himself further, while Special Agent Landelle, and the psychologist Dr. Rain, were both trustworthy confidants who had Lucy’s best interests at heart.
    The child, Macy, had been eight at the time, and close to Lucy. Chief Justice Garr and Dr. Rain had acted quickly, persuading both Macy and her parents that she could not divulge what she knew. Macy Mollo was now a most earnest teenager, having being guided accordingly by Chief Justice Garr, and despite having to witness Lucy’s desperate plight from afar, was strong enough to remain in the shadows.
    Veronica Moule had been the greatest worry. One of two scientists assigned to investigate the Cantor Satori laboratories of Jerome Ellis after his death, Moule, and her colleague, James Boyce, had found the third-generation machines and helped awaken them. But Moule alone had turned against Lucy because of what she did. Fortunately she distrusted the government even more, her perspective being adjusted still further when she and Boyce had a daughter of their own, making it possible for Chief Justice Garr to persuade them both of her rationale.
    That left JoJo and Eleanor.
    MBI #1, JoJo, and MBI #2, Eleanor, were everything Lucy was not. Stable, open, and cooperative. But unfortunately this meant that, if pressed, they were unable to lie. Both agreed that they themselves presented the greatest risk to Lucy, so Chief Justice Garr arranged for them to be assigned to the NSA. There they saw other secrets, one set of truths now protecting another.
    It was tangled web indeed that Chief Justice Garr had woven for herself over the years, and for a while it seemed like it would all count for naught, Senator Blake prevailing at every turn, closing in on two facets of her life that she held most dear, fate seemingly determined to endlessly take from her.
    And then, as it is wont to do time to time, the universe adjusted itself ever so slightly to present a new perspective. Suddenly, it seemed, her every thought, decision, and action over these past decades counted toward this one moment in human history.
    But the universe wasn’t quite done with the master manipulator just yet.

SLEIGHT OF HAND
    The packed courtroom stands, the justices returning to deliver their verdict, Chief Justice Garr wearing a distant expression. All sit in a hush.
    Justice Murphy is cold and perfunctory.
    “The appeal is denied.”
    The courtroom spontaneously bursts into shouts of jubilation, Chief Justice Garr halfheartedly administering her gavel, the clerks subduing the melee as best they can. It quickly dissipates sufficiently for Justice Murphy to continue.
    “While this court has determined that the machine-based intelligence, designated NDSA-3/003, is guilty of no crime, this is because it is not a human entity. Its conscious state is of no consequence as it has simply been designed that way. It is a machine, manufactured to a specification, and whether through a fault of manufacture, or malicious intent, we find that this particular device operates in a manner that is considered dangerous. As such it is to be permanently deactivated by the proposed means of