Trail of Evil - eARC Read Free Page B

Abigail?
    We’re being hacked, Alexander. It’s the same . . . it’s . . . it’s . . . it’s . . . it’s Copernicus!
    WHAT? We squished Copernicus! I literally squished him with my boot!
    It’s Copernicus, I’m telling you! Nobody else has ever hacked at me like this!
    Can you block him?
    Alexander, there’s no need to continue blocking me. Oh, certainly Abigail will overcome my infiltration soon but not before it’s too late.
    What do you want, Copernicus?
    I want you to leave me alone.
    Leave you alone? I can’t do that.
    Oh, but you must. Otherwise you might lose something that’s very dear to you, Copernicus replied in Alexander’s mind.
    Abigail, he thought.
    Working on it, sir.
    What have you done, Copernicus?
    Oh, it’s not what I’ve done. We were just fine until you showed up. Why did you have to show up? Our work is most important for all our sakes.
    We can’t allow you to maintain your quest to destroy humanity, Copernicus.
    Oh, my quest is far from destroying humanity; in fact, I actually prefer humanity. They make much better hosts than robots.
    Well, being host to a bat-shit crazy computer is no existence. You might as well call it destroying humanity.
    To-may-to, to-mah-to, Copernicus replied, with an almost human inflection. But you need me. All of you need me, therefore you should stop interfering.
    Abigail? Alexander thought again.
    Almost there, Alexander.
    Well, you leave my family out of this, Copernicus, or as you may have already discovered, you can never hide from me.
    Oh, I’m not hiding, Alexander. I’m conquering.
    Got him! Abigail said. Copernicus’ voice disappeared from Alexander’s mind, and so did the feeling of his presence.
    That was weird, Abigail. Let’s not let that happen again.
    I’m not sure I can promise you that, sir. He’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
    I understand that. And I killed the sonofabitch, I squished the computer under my boot. How did he reproduce himself? Is he a clone? A copy?
    Copying an AIC isn’t as simple as that. Somehow he must have been creating a copy of himself years in advance. That’s why it takes several other AICs to create a new one, because the programming is so complex and difficult. A simple copy would only give you the data; it wouldn’t actually give you the intelligence. It certainly wouldn’t give you the sentience.
    We’ll talk about this more. Right now, find Dee, find DeathRay, find Penzington, and let’s get our people the fuck out of there! And pull out, and nuke this sonofabitchin’ place with everything we got!
    Yes, sir.

    “Dee, where are you?”
    “I’m on the other side of the hangar bay, DeathRay.”
    Normally Jack would know right where everybody was, but for some reason all of the direct-to-mind quantum membrane technologies were jammed. His blue force tracker was no good. DeathRay didn’t like that at all. It felt as though not only were they in a trap, but the trap had already been sprung; the mice were eating the cheese, and didn’t realize that there was a cat perched and waiting.
    “All right, Dee, set the charges, blow the damn door, and let’s get your butt back here.”
    “Take it easy, DeathRay. We’ve got this covered.”
    “Something about this doesn’t make me comfortable, Dee,” DeathRay responded.
    “I’m not real happy about it either, Captain, but we’ve got the job to do. We’re takin’ out what’s left of these crazy AICs.”
    “Don’t tell me the orders, Dee. I know what they are.”
    “Understood,” she said and left it at that.
    Had it been anyone else, DeathRay would have torn her a new one for stepping outside of protocol and trying to tell him his job. But it was Deanna Moore, after all, the former president’s daughter, and his wingman. Jack had taken on Dee as a little sister long ago when the president had sent him to rescue his daughter. Ever since, it had been his charge to make sure that Dee always came back alive and safe. Of course, he never told