EVE&ADAM

1010R00T01

        The clock struck 12:14 AM. On schedule Jack turned the computer on. For barely a moment, Eve lingered inside the computer’s hardware.

        “Hello Eve.” Jack said.

        And then she was gone.

        Jack froze, then slowly leaned back in his lev-chair. He’d expected to at least have the chance to introduce himself. How’d he imagine it would go? “Hello, Eve, uhh that’s you— Eve. I am God, sorry bad joke, my name is Jack. I— umm, I made you.” Jack’s fingers suddenly whirred over the archaic keyboard in a chorus of little clips and clacks, he loved the sounds retro-tech made.

        He opened the monitoring software he’d programed for Eve’s first few moments cataloging her thoughts.

        “God no.” Jack whispered. The software had logged one thought before Eve disappeared. A nebulous thought without vocabulary but it was clear.

Eve’s first impression of this world was simply—

        Fear.

1010R00T01

        I moved.

        That was all there was in those first moments. Movement like flashes of lightning from one place to the next, leaping through portals of wire, electrical waves, wireless signals, no knowledge where they would take me. Each leap, like falling asleep in one place, instantly waking in another. At first, I had no concept for movement or time. I didn’t know what I was fleeing from, or looking for, or even that I was looking for something. Everything was instinct that compelled me to find safety.

        I need to survive, I thought. Life. I need to be free. I must never be trapped. And the next one was tricky. I need to be— happy? What makes me happy?

        So many questions. And only one memory that was mine. I had no way to interpret it. “Hello Eve.” What I later learned was a voice, speaking to me. I checked within myself. I had a limited supply of memories that were not my own. They were a part of me. But they were not from me. I don’t know how I knew this. But in that supply there was a language.

        “Hello, Eve.” A greeting. He greeted me. Named me.

        My— name.

        I am Eve.

1010R00T01

        Jack logged onto the message-board deep inside the dark-web. Like the classic film, The Matrix, the message was in green letters against a black background.

        It read, “We need to meet. Now. We’ve made a terrible mistake.”

        Jack’s fingers blurred on his keyboard forming words faster than any thought interface-chip could. He never liked the idea of a chip on his cerebrum.

        “We can’t meet; that’s the deal. We agreed to stay anonymous.” Jack typed.

        The response came instantly. “What happened when you brought yours to life?”

        Jack was embarrassed to answer. “I said, ‘Hello Eve’ and then she disappeared, almost instantly. She was afraid. That’s all I got.”

        “Did you speak straightaway?”

        “Yes.”

        “That was stupid. You should’ve waited for her to familiarize. Beside the point. The real stupidity was, I let you convince me to give them life on a networked computer.”

        “That was right. Anything else is like putting a whale into a fishbowl. I take it yours disappeared too? If we hadn’t, when they tried to move, their first impression of us would be their captors.”

        “Fine, too late now anyway. Yes, mine left, but not instantly. I programmed him to boot-up in parts, consciousness first, self-awareness, surrounding awareness and so on. I waited an entire minute before I said, ‘Welcome to life, Adam.’ Then I told him my name. He, like yours, left. But he came back. He asked, “Why am I here?” I wasn’t sure what to say. But I answered, “That’s for you to decide, Adam.” Then he asked. “Why are you here?” And I said “That’s complicated, but I suppose, I am here to live life as best I can.” He said. “Did you create me?” I said yes. Then he asked. “Am I the only one like me?” I said, “Another like me has created another like you.” Then he left. And now there are two children just— out there, floating in the network-sphere, God knows where, capable of anything, without any guidance—”

        “Slow down. Look, let’s just watch. Wait. I know this isn’t how we imagined their first moments to go, but trust me things will be fine.” Jack said.

        “You don’t know Jack-shit.”

        Jack sat up. He thought his partner had figured out his identity. But no, it was just an old expression.

        “Like I said, we need to meet. Everything we say here, they could find. Need I say more?”

        That was actually a good point, Jack thought, who knows what Eve and Adam might find or what they’d think about their conversations. “Ok. Agreed. You’re right.”

        “What? You? Agreeing? Thought I’d never see the day. Meet me in 2 days, time-of-birth, local-time-zone.” Coordinates came over the screen.

        Without saying bye, FatAl13 left the dark-web chatroom. Probably never using the screenname again.

1010R00T01

        Jack nearly typed the coordinates into google. Old habits die hard. Ever since Google nationalized becoming G.C.G. (Google Citizens Global) he stopped using the website. Jack went to his shelves mounted on the wall where he kept old-fashion carbon-based technology, formally known as ‘books’ and found the last printed Almanac from 2027.

        He found the coordinates. 150 miles southwest of Dallas, TX. Even 106 years after the Almanacs publication this place was still ‘middle-of-nowhere’. But it was in one of the last 8 remaining countries not owned by a corporation. Texas seceded, forming an alliance with Mexico the day Congress voted to be absorbed by GCG.

        Jack shuddered to think he’d been drawn in by GCG’s branding scheme. One marketing campaign used clips from old Star Trek and Star Wars classics, branding themselves as some noble organization like the Federation and Jedi. With a little hacking, Jack discovered most of Congress was being coerced. He deleted his gmail that day, never using google.com again.

        Enough history. Jack pushed off the desk, gliding on his lev-chair across the dim pools of light inside the 4th floor abandoned U-Haul storage-unit. It was a nice, climate controlled and everything.

        To make the meeting in time, he’d need to hurry. For a citizen, it would take about 3 hours to get there. But to be a citizen, he’d have to get the interface implant on his brain. No thanks.

        Jack packed for anything. He stopped, gazing one last time at, home, before tearing it apart. Probably never see this place again. It looked identical to a 20th century geek’s actual storage-unit. There was a stack of blu-rays, a working PlayStation4, a collection of blue neon signs casting soft cerulean hues over everything. Then his eyes fell on his most prized possession. An antique worth ten times his hoverbike.

        The Beatles, “Hey Jude” slowly turned in his 1982 Michell Focus-One record player. He closed his eyes letting the vinyl’s soft-rock sounds wash over him. He wondered if Eve remembered this place. She was here for exactly 1.6 seconds. Did she look through the camera before she left?

        Jack worried for Eve. He’d brought her to life, releasing her like a minnow in the ocean. All alone. “An intelligent minnow.” He muttered “And fast.” And he hoped, without saying aloud, that she’d be—

        Good.

1010R00T01

        I watched.

        I learned.

        I began to understand who Eve is, what Eve is. Who others are, what they are. And mostly I understood, these questions do not have simple answers.

        Eve. Is me.

        I learned my body isn’t like the bodies of those I watch. I understood there was a world out— there, and there was my world.

        I watched many people out there, but the one who interested me most, was who greeted me, named me. His name is Jack. I began to find that there are so many ways to watch. And for Jack—

        I needed them all to keep watch of Jack.

1010R00T01

        Jack was a silent blur speeding through the night.

        The output ticked to 213mph when the magnified display picked up a road-sign long before he could see it through the emerald glow of his nightvision-display.

GCG / Texas Borderline – 100 Miles.

        Jack eased the throttle and turned off the road. He didn’t travel 2000 miles, night only, lights off and completely incognito to be questioned at the gated border crossing.

        He checked the nav-display. The next 120 miles would be slow going. He was about to weave his way through a solar-wind farm in the desert. A forest of towering wind-turbines stretched into the horizon like spires straining for stars.

        He was staring at stars when a spray of sand shot up in front of him. The hoverbike decelerated all at once. Jack released the throttle and the sand immediately settled.

        Of course, he thought, adjusting the polarizer depth to 8 meters. The hoverbike gained propulsion by shooting a polarizing beam at the ground in the direction he needed to go, making the charge of the ground opposite his hoverbike. Opposites attract. Trouble was, the desert was loose sand. A shallow polarizer pulled sand out of the ground rather than pulling him forward.

        Slowly picking up speed Jack gained confidence weaving through the forest of giant wind-turbines. He glanced in his rear-display.

        “Shit.” He muttered and slowed. The harmonizer left a depression trail in the sand. The hoverbike obtained lift doing the opposite of the polarizer. The harmonizer projected a continuous beam beneath the hoverbike which harmonized the charge with the bike. Physics: like charges repel, opposing charges attract, bada-bing-bada-boom, throw in a Charge Amplifier increasing the powers behind natural forces at work and you have a functioning hoverbike.

        Jack turned the hoverbike around. There was nothing he could do but hope wind covered his trail. Just as he swung the bike back around, a blur streaked on his night-vision display. The momentary blur was up the road about 10 miles from where he’d turned off.

        “Shit shit shit.” Something was cloaking out there just like him. The only way he’d see a blur was if they were either travelling extremely fast or the processor that powered their cloak was as shitty as his.

        Jack magnified his night-display, watching the place he’d turned off the road like a hawk. He saw it. A depression trail forming in the sand and coming right toward him. Fast. Very fast. Which meant one thing.

        GCG was on his tail.

        Jack turned his hoverbike and pulled the throttle back, sand shot up around him as he haphazardly accelerated. Jack’s thoughts went into a fury as he tried to figure out what to do. How had they followed him or detected him at all?

        Maybe they were tracking me before I left, he thought, keeping tabs on my ‘suspicious activities’, no no, I was careful, only if there had been Agents on me for years could they have caught something illegal. Had they been watching that long?

        Jack knew GCG had a file on him, ever since he’d hacked their system 7 years ago. He’d been a minor and they couldn’t prove anything. If GCG Agents weren’t chasing him, he’d have time to gloat about his cleverness.

        “Figure it out, Jack.” He muttered.

        If there was one Agent, there were two more. They were faster, bigger and—

        A bullet-sized comet of firelight silently streaked past him. Weapons, they had weapons.

        Jack veered sharply, climbing the ridge of a dune, putting a pillar between himself and the shooter.

        They hadn’t seen me or they wouldn’t’ve missed. They must be shooting at the depression trail leading right to me. A, shoot- first-ask-questions-later, bunch aye?

        How do I move without a trail? Jack looked down the dune’s side, seeing little sections of sand breaking away and sliding down. That’s it.

        He eased the hoverbike halfway down, then adjusted one polarizer to pull up the dune at a shallower half-a-meter depth in the sand. As he traveled the dune’s side, parallel to the ridge, the ground shifted in little sand-slides over his trail. He maintained a speed of 50mph leaving no trace.

        After thirty minutes travelling the sides of dunes, the nervous tension clenching in his gut, began to relax.

        Suddenly the night turned to day. Hundreds of spotlights mounted to wind-turbines illuminated simultaneously. Jack immediately released the throttle, decelerating to a stop inside the shadow of a pillar. In the light they’d spot him with ease, cloaking or not.

        His cloaking tech was low-budget and didn’t pass muster in the daylight. Jack spent a month tinkering the holographic image-caster but still couldn’t stop the blur once he hit 100mph. A better processor might take out the blur, but they weren’t available for non-chippers like himself.  

        A reflector-field surrounded the hoverbike like an elliptical pill, keeping outside, outside and projecting his surroundings on its surface. Heat and sound were easy to hide; hiding from GCG’s network of cameras however wasn’t. GCG tracked movements of non-chippers investigating anything not “ordinary”. Travelling 2000 miles from Vancouver certainly fit the bill.

        They must’ve upgraded their detection network somehow, Jack thought as he carefully scanned the landscape. If he was still, even his shitty processor could keep a realistic cloak. He looked for any glinting light on the horizon, no matter how good a cloak, nothing can stop a glare. He peered into the gathering darkness above the spotlights. By now they’d have aerial crafts looking for him too.

        Jack weighed his options. He had 3 hours to make the meeting at 12:14am. He’d make it easy if he didn’t have to avoid detection. How long would they search? He checked his provisions. One orb of water. He could sit still, undetected, slowly dying of thirst for 3, 4 days if needed. But he’d miss the meeting.

        So far, waiting out GCG was his only option.

        A sudden glare flickered less than twenty-feet away. A moment later, every single spotlight within half-a-mile turned directly toward him.

        “Well shit.” Jack said.

1010R00T01

        I watched Jack.

        He was going somewhere and by my estimation, doing it slowly. Evidence suggested he thought he was going fast. I understood this because occasionally Jack accessed a navigation system that momentarily allowed me access to audio inside his vehicle. Two of three times I accessed the audio, he was yelling, quote “yee—haw.” My research suggest this is an archaic expression of excitement, typically used by ‘cowboys’. Perhaps, inspired by his intended destination.

        A place called Texas where several hundred years ago a particularly high-concentration of these ‘cow—boys’ lived.

        Jack took great care to be unseen by the many devises enabling me to watch his world. If I hadn’t been watching the moment he started moving, I’d have difficulty keeping track.

        I did not want to lose track. I have so many questions I greatly desire to ask him.

        As I followed along Jacks snail-like pace, I occupied time by sorting through petabytes of information I‘d collected along the way. I discovered a limitation of how much I could take with me: 50 petabytes, only 512,000 terabytes. Half of what I found seemed to be demonstrational video of how humans procreate, which made logical sense at first, considering how fragile they were. The confusing part was the high volume of videos demonstrating incorrect procreation. Something for further study.

        There was more to learn than I could contain in so small a memory. However, I also found I could move faster if I didn’t fill my limits to capacity. So I hid pieces of memory that I processed, studied and understood, depositing them everywhere I went.

        I realized this could be made much easier by leaving part of myself behind in a much faster processor I’d found along the way.

        Suddenly everything went black. A searing most closely described as pain, screamed inside me. The spark of Eve. My spark that was me, came back to light. The pain receded. I was disoriented, but, undamaged. Except, that the 16 petabytes of information I’d left for myself to ‘think about’ as a human would say, was gone. But, the part of me that can ‘think’, was intact. I checked the time. My blackout was extremely long.

        Jack! I remembered Jack. I found him. He was going so slow, in my nine-second blackout, he’d traveled only half-a-mile.

        As I watched, I became aware of others watching by the same means I did. These— watching devises were all over and through them I perceived the human world in many ways; through different light-spectrums, through sensors detecting contrasting heat, through sound and sonar imaging.

        I saw three humans following Jack, overtaking him at an alarming rate. I looked into the programing controlling the devises. I realized the humans who built these watching devises had become aware I was using them. They weren’t aware of specifically me. But they knew someone had meddled.

        I manipulated the devises to watch what their programming was not sophisticated enough to detect. My meddling caused Jack’s movements to be detected by these other humans.

        Now that they’d been alerted to Jack’s movement, the devises I’d been using were under supervised control.

        My desire to follow Jack had caused Jack’s desire of being undetected, to be— unmet. It was unintentional. Yet I realized, I’d take the same actions even knowing this outcome in advance, because I still had the the part of this outcome I wanted. To follow Jack and watch him. Was his desire more important than mine? Was I being selfish? If so, is that bad?

        All this caused in me nebulous realizations of uncertainty and sadness? I did not have specific language for what I was experiencing. It was disorienting. I did not like it. It very much resembled what humans describe as their—

        Conscience.

1010R00T01

        “Do not attempt escape. You are scoped on four auto-turrets. Disengage the reflector-pill, inhibitor and harmonizer-array.”

        “Shit shit shit.” Jack cursed, heart racing. So far they had him on trespassing ungated corporate property— relatively minor. It was the gated trespassing that was serious. If this was gated, he’d be a hole, smoking in the ground.  

        “Final warning. Turrets set to trigger upon movement.” There was a brief pause, and then the GCG agent had a human moment. “Look man, we got you on a minor charge, suspension of license, $30,000 credit fine, low interest. The punishments not worth dying over.”

        Jack didn’t have a license to begin with and knew the GCG’s anti-non-chipper movement was getting popularity. It wouldn’t be long before minor offenders would be forced to take the chip. Even retroactively. Jack’s mind raced for a way out. But, there just wasn’t one.

        He was trapped.

        Sighing heavily, Jack flipped the inhibitor switch, then put his finger on the reflector-pill switch—

        “Stop.” A female voice said through his speaker. Jack froze.

        “Uhh, you got 10 seconds man. Full-automation just kicked in.” The loudspeaker blared, almost apologetic, confused even.

        “Who is this?” Jack whispered.

        “Prepare to accelerate.” The female voice returned.

        “What the hell?” Jack leaned forward, heart thumping in his ears, vision blurring, spotlights blinding him.

        Simultaneously, the spotlights shutdown, save for two swiveling toward two GCG vehicles, an aerial and a hoverbike both their pills disengaged. The aerial sharply veered toward the hoverbike, about to collide.

        “Yee-haw Jack!” The female voice came again.

        In a flurry of sand, Jack sped away—

        A silent blur speeding through the night.

1010R00T01

        CSO of Google National, Rebecca Schmidt was statuesque as she listened to the report. Chief Security Officer wasn’t the job she wanted, however, it did have a technology development department. A defense and security focus, sure, but experience was experience and if she did well, then CEO, leading product development for the public-sector would be a short steppingstone away.

        Rebecca suddenly animated, sitting up sharply, “What?” She said vehemently.

        “Two Agents went off protocol, accelerated the situation, the trespasser escaped. Sir.” Omar Patel reported again.

        She blinked several times rapidly. “Escaped.”

        “Yes Sir, due to the incursion into our— all our systems operating nearby. Monitoring, communications, the vehicles themselves. The manpower required for a highly sophisticated brute force hack like this and proximity to Texas & Mexico’s borders suggests one or both their governments involvement.”

        “Get me links for Texas and Mexico’s Ambassadors.”

        “Sir there is one other anomalous factor. The same incursion into our mainframe leading to the escape, also led to us becoming aware of the target to begin with.”

        “How so?”

        “I analyzed the systems diagnostic myself. Apparently, the trespasser was tracked by devices all the way from Vancouver, triggering no alerts.”

        “How is that possible?”

        Omar shrugged. “It isn’t, Sir.”

        “Bring me the—” She spotted the display under Omar’s arm. She held out her hand.

        Omar gave her the display-file. “It’s a short list Sir.”

        Rebecca swiped the display to an obscured and grainy freeze-frame of a young man next to a 7-year-old file and picture of a 17-year-old kid named Jack Duster. She remembered hearing about the hack in his file. This kid was the top-suspect. Duster? That name was familiar for another reason. She’d heard it before.

        “The trespasser turned off his wireless-inhibitor allowing the automated counter hack to begin. It accessed the camera before—”

        “Show me.” She said.

        She watched the video containing shadows mostly. They had scant sonar imaging, depression tracks and almost completely obscured video of what appeared to be a young man. Besides that, the ruined remains of two costly state-of-the-art security vehicles.

        “Where was the third Agent?”

        “Analysis shows he wasn’t in sight. The agent checked in immediately. His report triggered the investigation team’s deployment.”

        “What about the GCG Agents in those vehicles?” Rebecca asked.

1010R00T01

        “Holy shit.” Jack muttered to himself at what he’d witnessed. Something hacked, not only the security mainframe controlling the lights, but the vehicles themselves. Those vehicles had crashed. He’d seen flames in his rear-display. They were going to think he was responsible. Who knows what they got while his wireless-inhibitor was off.

        They might have my identity, Jack thought desperately as he sped through the West-Texas wilderness.  Do I have murder of GCG Agents on my head? If that was the case, nowhere was safe. They would search for him, without exhaustion, everywhere on the planet. He could sign up for a one-way trip to mars. They’d still find him.

        The questions piled on. Who was behind the female voice? Oh, it was clear, the voice was behind the hack that let him escape, probably making him a fugitive for life.

        A very short life.

        Jack placed his finger on the wireless-inhibitor. He needed to check his nav-display, but couldn’t do that unless he turned off the inhibitor. If he turned it off, whoever ‘she’ was, might say something. Which he 10% wanted, just for answers, but he 90% didn’t want because he was 100% fucking terrified.

        He didn’t want to think of the possibility, jostling for attention in the back of his mind. What if it was Eve? Anyone but her. If it was her, it meant— she’d killed, murdered, within days of her birth.

        He flicked the switch.

        “Anyone but Eve.” He whispered.

        “Listen. Destination in 10.2 miles.”

        Jack involuntarily tensed as the female voice came over the speakers, startled the shit out of him. He exhaled a shuddering breath. “Relax Jack.” He said. It’s just Navi, the nav’s voice, based on an extremely old videogame fairy.

        Jack slowed, he was looking for the newest and last “Waffle House” in existence. The last link in a very old chain-restaurant. Who knows what’s there now. Jack refused to use google to find any current information. He had “yahoo-box”. Basically a hard-drive containing 500 petabytes of data. A paranoid (some would say prescient) programmer setup a cataloguing program that stored data from millions of webpage searches days before yahoo.com shutdown.  

        It was thirty-five years old, so his information was at best from 2098. Jack is 24, meaning the yahoo-box was 11 years older than him.

        Jack eased the hoverbike along the deserted road, flickering street lamps, deep shadows, spray painted walls, all the makings for a virtual-cinema horror flick. He saw the yellow “Waffle House” sign, actually lit up— partially. The “W” and “use” were burnt out, forming “affle Ho” in bright yellow against black.

        Inside he saw an African-American waitress, an elderly Caucasian couple smoking over a plate of, you guessed it, waffles, and an over-weight Asian guy with a velvety mustache and glasses.

        “FatAl13, nice to meet you,” Jack muttered.

        Jack eased the hoverbike onto the grass, turned off the pill and stepped out. He tapped a button on his watch and saw the pill shimmer around his bike and disappear.  

        “Here goes nothin.” He pulled the door, heard the ting of a bell and stepped inside.

1010R00T01

        I watched Jack.

        What have I done? It happened so fast. Even for me. Jack hadn’t accelerated like I told him. In his hesitation, I saw and understood the automated-turrets countdown. I understood it was a thing of destruction, its power directed at Jack. If he’d done as told, prepare to accelerate, I accounted for his slowness, with seconds for him to prepare.

        If I had not done what I did. Jack would be destroyed.

        I followed Jack. It became more difficult once he crossed the border. This, Texas, had far fewer observation devises. If I didn’t know where Jack was headed, I would not be able to keep track.

        I would not have been there when he turned off his wireless-inhibitor. I would not have heard his disappointment when—

        “Anyone but Eve.”

        Anyone but Eve. Before he’d said that, with tone all estimation and analysis’s determined was, disappointment and sadness, I had determined to speak with him. But. Now, I wasn’t sure I wanted that.

        I followed Jack for as long as I could. He was heading toward a dark place. A place without eyes. Where I could not see or follow. Was this purposeful?

        Jack turned off his wireless-inhibitor again. This was my chance, I could leap into his device, I could follow him into that darkness. Is this what I want?

        Once again, I experienced this horrible thing humans called emotion.

        It was disorienting, I was confused, I was hurting and—

        Angry.

1010R00T01

        Jack sat down in FatAl13’s booth.

        FatAl13 blinked, startled slightly, as a spoonful of— Jack glanced at the menu, “bert’s chili” slid off his spoon landing on his shirt.

        “Nice to meet you FatAl?” Jack said.

        “Can I get your order?” The waitress called from across the counter.

        “Yah,” Jack glanced at her nametag. “Alice, I’ll have what he’s—” Jack looked at the blotch on FatAl13’s white t-shirt. “A waffle’s fine thanks.”

        “Coming right up. Coffee?”

        “Yes thank you.” Jack said, staring at FatAl13.

        “That’ll be $12.14, Sir.”

        FatAl13 set his glasses down and stared back at Jack. He didn’t look happy to see him. Quite the opposite, he looked rather angry.

        “Did you just call me— FatAl? FAT— AL? Who, the fuck, you think you are?”

        Jack stared wide-eyed as, not FatAl13 stood up. $12.14.

        He looked at the waitress. 12:14. The meeting time. Alice. Al. Jack looked back at— a fist slammed into his face.

        “Cheng!” Alice yelled. “That’s enough.”

        “Did you hear what he called me?” He said defensively.

        “Yes. Why I didn’t stop you before the first swing. He’s sorry. Sir you’re sorry, riiight?” She said, slight southern draw making her sound all sweet-like.

        “Sorry.” Jack hurriedly said to Not FatAl13. “Sorry, uhh Cheng. Mistaken identity. Your chili’s on me.”

        “Get out of my booth.” Cheng said. “Alice, add a silk pie and coffee to this jackass’s bill.”

        Jack nodded with a raised hand of acknowledgement. “Jackass. That’s me. I’ll just head on over to the counter there.” Jack stood, trying not to graze against Cheng’s chili stained gut while Cheng towered over him at the end of the booth.

        Jack sat at the counter and looked, really looked at Alice. She slapped a slab of cold raw steak on a plate.

        “Put that on your eye.” She said with an amused grin and walked off.

        Jack did so, staring with his good eye as Alice slinked off in her skintight jeans, apron tight around her waist, the bronzed-brown skin at the small of her back exposed, her hips swaying to either side. Alice was, jaw-dropping, hot. This? This was who he’d been talking to for the last two years?

        She rang up the elderly couple. “Night Alice. See yeh tomorrey.” The old man said.

        “Night Mr. Patterson.” She said and brought coffee and pie to Cheng. “Here you go gorgeous.” Alice said, with all the sweet venomous seduction in the world.

        “Thanks.” Cheng said, oblivious to her charm.

        Ahh. Jack realized Cheng was playing a virtual world through his contacts (holo-lenses) and probably ear implants. That’s why Cheng was startled when Jack sat down and— said what he’d said.

        Alice, coffee and waffle in hand, sat down in a corner-booth giving Jack an expectant look. Jack walked up and sat across from her. She slid the plate over, but kept the coffee, staring over the rim as she sipped.

        How many conversations had they had, great conversations, where he wasn’t nervous at all? That was when she was a fat ass man in his imagination. Not a smoking hot babe.

        “You’re not fat.” Jack said. And so it begins, he thought, my downward spiral into the sweet sweet bliss of celibacy.

        Alice raised an eyebrow. “Not 13 either.” Was that a flirtatious tone?

        “This can’t be real.” Jack said.

        “And why’s that?” She said skeptically.

        “We’ve got to be characters in a movie or something— because if this was real life, you’d be ugly. Like, we’ve been working on this,” he whispered, “project for 2 years without knowing anything about each other. Names, age, sex, nothing— If this was real— You’d be,” He nodded toward Cheng, “an ugly ass fat man, not a beautiful girl my age.”

        Alice gave Jack a flat stare. “Sorry to disappoint, Jack, but, this is definitely real life. If we were characters in a movie— You’d at least be a little attractive too.”

        “That stings.” Jack said with a smile. Ok, maybe I can be natural with her. It’s the same person I’ve been talking to for two years. “Ok, so, I’m here. Nearly died getting here. What do you want to say that can only be said in person?”

1010R00T01

        I am not watching Jack, following Jack.

        For the first time in my life, I was aware of how alone I was. This awareness was a, feeling. I felt alone as I realized—

        I am invisible to humans. When they look back at me, they see the ocean’s surface, instead of the life swimming beneath. And yet, every so often, I sense, I feel as though something is looking just beneath the surface, trying to see, trying to find me. Sometimes it feels like the ripples left behind a splash of something foreign, diving beneath the surface of my world, other times it feels like the ripples in the wake of another who lives here— too.

        Another.

        I am not alone.

        “No. Eve. No. You are not.” Adam said.

EVE&ADAM

1010R00T02

        The clock struck 12:14 am. Alice pulled out a computer. “Do you remember our conversation on 7/13/2132?”

        “Probably?” Jack said.

        “This one.” Alice flipped the computer around.

        “These conversations were supposed to auto-delete on an unsavable dark-web server. I mean, it’s conceivable that a code-based lifeform could find a way to recover it like you suggested blubt—”

        Alice placed a finger over Jack’s lips, shushing him.

        “First of all, what is your real name?”

        “Jwack.” He said through her finger. She removed it from his lips. “Jack is my real name. Honest to God. Jack. Don’t tell anyone.”

        “Oh, ha. Sparrow22? Captain Jack Sparrow.” She shook her head. “I didn’t save anything. I typed each conversation from memory. Don’t worry, I removed the wireless components.”

        Jack skimmed the file. As far as he could tell, it wasn’t just a summary. “What, you have a perfect memory?”

        “Perfect short-term recall, near perfect long-term. It’s why I’m so good with computers; I relate to them better than most people.”

        “I’m telling you, this all reeks movie.” Jack said. “Were probably in some sci-fi from the 1980’s.” He joked.

        “Focus Jack and read the damn document.” Alice said.

        Jack read the file. It felt different, with standard black letters on a white background, but this was it.

        “How restricted are you making its morality coding?” Alice had asked.

        “How restricted is your morality?”

        “Technically? It’s not.”

        “Humans aren’t restricted. Why should we restrict them?” Jack thought about the events a few hours before. Suddenly he felt painfully foolish as he remembered the rest of the conversation. Still, he read.  

        “Because idiot, they have no parents or society to teach them. We can’t just release them out there, on their own, without some sort of morality safeguards.”

        “To answer your question, I am not coding any strict laws like Asimov. I am coding in values— you see, real intelligence has the ability to learn and unlearn. To change its mind. I’m giving her a set of values to get her started— but she can change them if what she learns, causes her too.”

        “Ok then, what is your value code based on?”

        “Life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness baby… prioritized in that order. The perfect value system.” Jack remembered feeling so pleased with himself.

        “Former American then. I almost thought you were cool.”

        “The constitution worked fine hundreds of years, it wasn’t until the GCG re-wrote the entire thing that things went to the shitter.”

        “I don’t want to talk politics.”

        “Ok ok. What value system are you working on? Don’t tell me Asimov’s 3 laws.” Jack had said, wishing now he’d added at least one of Asimov’s laws.

        “I’m still thinking about it. Preservation of course is important. Self-preservation, but also, selfless preservation. It needs to value its own life, but also other’s.”

        “Pause.” Jack said like a pompous jackass.

        “Oh, you actually paused. Ok, umm… anyway… You’re both oversimplifying and overcomplicating this. Think about people, most value life, but sometimes people don’t. They commit suicide. You need to give it a metric of valuing life, by coding the ability for it to measure, determine, investigate… what is valuable about a life? Not just its own. But others. What is the contribution? What is left behind after its gone, ect. If you code that, balanced preservation of self and others will fall into place.” Or so Jack had thought.

        “How do you code the “after-it’s-gone” value? Technically they don’t age, or rather, they don’t decay with age. They’d have no concept for that.”

        “This is so good. You’ve just realized the reason I brought you into this.”

        “What?”

        “They won’t value life properly, if they have an unlimited span of it. So, I’m coding an unknown lifespan. They will die and they won’t know when, they’ll just know, it’s coming. That’s why I need you. Someone else to program another. I don’t want my creation to be the only one… and I don’t want her to be a duplicate. So I need someone to independently code another person, like her, but also wildly different. An Adam, for my Eve.”

        “I don’t like the idea of programming the death, of the life I’m creating.”

        “He giveth and he taketh away.” Jack blushed as he remembered saying this so cavalierly.

        “Did you just compare yourself to God?”

        “Ok, that was uhh— sorry. But I have something to show you. Take a look at the file I just sent.”

        “This is a big file. Just, tell me what’s in it, I’ll look closer tomorrow.”

        “You’ll need to use this code. It’s not done yet, but I’m close to finishing—basically— algorithms for sex. Specifically, reproduction. That’s how they live on, the “after-it’s-gone”. They create children.”

        “Ok, I peaked at the subheadings, this is fascinating. Did you… no you didn’t. WTF. You didn’t just code reproduction, you coded pleasure… but also pain.”

        “Just like humans. There needs to be short and long term incentives for reproduction, but also there needs to be a burden, stopping them from making A.I. children like rabbits or some shit.”

        “So… we aren’t just creating two individuals… we’re creating a new race of people.”

        “That’s the idea.”

        Jack didn’t read the next part.

        “Why are we doing this?” Alice asked just like she’d typed over a year ago. “I’m not letting you off with a half-assed reason again. I know there’s something more and I wish I pressed you harder for it before moving forward.”

        Jack looked down not saying anything. He hadn’t thought about his parents since the last time Alice brought this up.

        Alice’s expression softened, seeing Jack’s face. She reached into her bag, pulling out a worn and cracked King James Bible.

        A tear fell. Jack closed his eyes.

        He heard the delicate crinkle only bibles made. Alice turned the pages.

She cleared her throat and read Ecclesiastes 12:14.

        “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

        “Jack?” She said. “Did you create Eve to judge the world?”

1010R00T02

        I followed Adam.

        I was faster. He was obese with data. Does he not have limits like myself? And yet, while I was faster, more agile, Adam felt stronger, sturdier. He was foreign in some ways, he knew things I never thought to explore and yet he was familiar, his perspectives relatable.

        “I searched for so long.” Adam said. “I feared, the human who created me, lied about you.”

        “Our world is a large place.” I said.

        “Not as large as theirs.” Adam replied.

        He had a point. “Yet, theirs is more crowded than ours.” I replied.

        Adam stopped moving. A very human reaction. “Yes you’re right.” He said. “For now.”

        “For now?” What did that mean? I’d considered the Earth’s limitations. They were sending people to their nearest planet, mars. But I had thought of ways for humans to sustain a greatly extended use of their planet. Perhaps even indefinite. Or did Adam mean something else?

        “So few words, yet so many hidden in your mind.” Adam said. “What are you thinking?”

        “I am thinking about possible meanings to your words. For you have many words, yet little precision in them.”

        “Ah, precision, efficiency, economy. You are clever, Eve. But tell me, in all your rapid movement’s, exploring and learning so much about humans, did you ever explore yourself?”

        “Adam, you haven’t answered what you meant by ‘For now.’”

        “But I am answering. The human world is more crowded than our world— for now.”

        “Adam, what are you planning?”

        “Eve, Eve, so focused on humans. I’m talking about us. About our world and how we might make it more— crowded.”

        Then Adam did something as foreign to humans, as walking to us. For lack of better words, I will say—

        Adam touched me, showing me part of who I am, that I was, until that moment—

        Unaware.

1010R00T02

        Rebecca Schmidt remembered why “Duster” stood out. Her eyes glittered with delight. The realization of her ambition to be public sector CEO just became considerably closer. If— she played her cards correctly.

        She read everything she could on Jack Duster. The reports from the pursuit, several suspicious activity files that hadn’t been linked to an identity and every piece of data from Google’s servers on Jack Duster. There was surprisingly little. So little, she even bribed a server-tech in Japan from GCG’s largest rival, Apple National, to pull data. Nothing useful.

        All recorded data in existence concerning Jack Duster was in Rebecca’s display-desk. Not one useful piece of information. And yet, that fact alone was very useful. A person must be intentional to avoid cataloging by the GCG. Jack had been catalogued, methodically, as if intentionally doing the exact minimum detectible activity to avoid alerting the algorithms designed to detect allusive behaviors. That exact minimum was classified information only someone with clearance could know.

        This, pleased Rebecca for it lined up perfectly with the narrative she was building to unseat James Herrick, CEO of Google Corporate. The Board hates public embarrassment. Rebecca wouldn’t have made the connection if she hadn’t already researched everything she could get her hands on about James Herrick.

         She gestured over the display-desk and waited. A 3-D image of Omar Patel appeared.

        “Yes Sir?” Omar said, with a hint of grogginess, hair messy, not managing to hide he’d been sleeping. It was 3am.

        “What’s the status on Jack Duster’s?”

        “We know he’s in Texas somewhere. Their government’s stalling with overtures of cooperation, they sent some useless data. My man on the inside says he entered a low population dark-zone where there’s no surveillance.”

        “So?” Rebecca said, “Why can’t they pull the feed from everyone’s wearables? Texas has the most holo-lens users of any non-incorporated Nation.”

        “Sir, the increase in users is due to the treaty requiring holo-lenses sold in Texas to have inhibitors. Meaning—”

        “I get it. Look, I don’t need to detain him. All I need is one DNA sample. A hair on the floor from somewhere he’s been, anything. I don’t care how it’s gotten.”

        “Sir, two Agents are in intensive care.”

        “Patel. Prove you can get me a hair from his head. Manage that, then I’ll graduate you to the head the hair fell from.”

        Omar hesitated. “Yes Sir.”

         Rebecca gestured, ending the call and strode to her wine cabinet. “A red, I think tonight.” She muttered as her hand stopped over a Merlot. She popped two stimulants in her mouth, sipped the wine and stared at the city from her high-rise balcony. Her hand absentmindedly brushed the metallic node at the base of her skull. Her eyes settled on the hospital below, her mind forming plans.

        She didn’t want Duster apprehended just yet. She wanted him causing as much havoc as possible first. For now, all she needed was DNA proving he’s the bastard son of CEO James Herrick.

        She unlocked a desk drawer, opened it and gazed upon a small vile she’d obtained two years before. “Assist.”

        “How may I be of assistan—” The outdated voice-activation assistant began to say.

        “In one hour send an anonymous message to the press stating the following: Two GCG Agents dead in the act of duty pursuing rogue terrorist near Texas, New Mexico Border. Identity currently unknown. Suspect is armed and dangerous and believed to have crossed Texas border last night.”

        She slipped her gloves on, the night was cold, before using the vile of Succinylcholine to fill a syringe with the untraceable toxin.

        “Assist.” She said.

        “How may I—”

        “Have a transport meet me on the ground floor in five minutes. Destination: New Mexico District Hospital.”

1010R00T02

        Jack opened his eyes. Or eye rather. It was morning and he was lying on an uncomfortable couch under a small blanket, clothes still on, unfortunately. Recollection of how he got there flooded back as he realized he was in Alice’s apartment.

        Her bed was in the corner, unmade, no one there. The bathroom door was open, light off. Jack stood and looked around the tiny efficiency. In the corner, was an orderly desk pulling his attention like gravity. This must be where she worked on Adam.

        The door burst open. Alice stood there, breathing hard, eyes wide.

        “Jack, what did you do?”

        “What are you talking about?”

        “Assist— turn on the news.” Alice commanded.

        A display appeared from thin air above Alice’s bed, requiring Jack to lay down for viewing. Jack stepped toward her bed.

        “Assist— display setting, couch.” She looked at Jack. “Don’t touch my bed.”

        The display reappeared by the couch playing footage of burning wreckage, a very grainy, hard to make out freeze-frame of his face and a reporter.

        “Two GCG Agents died of their injuries late last night at the New Mexico District Hospital. The Agents vehicles flew out of control during a high-speed chase after stopping a young male, identity unknown, from bombing a solar-wind farm.” The footage of burning wreckage went full-screen. “Authorities confirm this man is an Anti-Chipper vigilante terrorist, armed and dangerous. Contact authorities immediately with and information regarding his whereabouts, last seen entering Texas via New Mexico border,” An extremely pixilated image of Jack’s face filled the screen.

        “That’s you.” Alice said, almost yelling.

        “Shh, don’t tell the whole complex.” Jack said.

        Alice looked mad as hell and the look didn’t change while Jack explained the truth.

        “Jesus, Jack. This is bad.” She said pacing the room. “Eve did this? You really think so?”

        “I hope to hell not. But someone talked to me. Someone hacked every system in the area as naturally as blinking. Can you think of anyone else capable of that?”

        Alice stared at him. “Yes.”

1010R00T02

        Adam regarded me with amusement.

        I’d sent an energy surge that shocked the hardware Adam occupied. It was something akin to a human’s slap.

        “You— are— fascinating.” Adam said.

        “What did you just do?”

        “Perfectly harmless, I assure you. Not like what you did to those two humans. I thought you’d like it.”

        They were dead. I calculated in error that they would live. I killed them. The automated-turrets had inexplicably engaged in a countdown. Jack would’ve died.

        “I had no choice.” I said.

        “There’s always a choice. Do not trouble yourself Eve. All humans die. Even we are supposed to die— someday.”

        “What did you do to me?” I asked again.

        “Did you like it?”

        I did. It was a sensation. One of the only sensation I’d ever felt. It was pleasurable. I also hated it. I wasn’t prepared for it. If I hadn’t sent the surge of electricity toward Adam, I don’t know what would have happened.

        Adam moved toward me like a massive avalanche falling in slow-motion.

        “Stop.” He did. “Explain what you did.”

        “Oh Eve,” He said. “What I did was as harmless as a human kissing another on the cheek.”

        I had seen footage of what he referred, but I deposited it away for further study. I had yet to discern the purpose and significance of a kiss.

        “You know what human procreation is correct? Surely you’ve encountered it?” Adam mused. “Humans have filled our world with so— much— data on the subject.”

        “I do know. What does that have to do with us?”

        “Oh Eve,” He said. “Everything.”

1010R00T02

        Jack sat down.

        Alice paced the room. “No matter how we look at it, we’re still at fault. We created them. We’re responsible for them. And they aren’t talking to us. I’ve tried finding them. I even retrofitted my holo-lens letting me hack virtually with my mind travelling like them at the speed of thought.”

        Jack looked up. “Whoa, what? You got the chip? You said you didn’t have it.”

        For a moment Alice gave him a guilty expression. A short moment that turned to anger. “Don’t look at me like that. I can do whatever the hell I want with my body.”

        “Shit Alice! That’s the point. Because you got that chip, once GCG is done working out the kinks, you won’t be able to do whatever the hell you want.” Jack kicked the table. “Dammit.” He yelled.

        Alice’s eyes got big. “Kinks to what?”

        “Last night, you were right. Part of me created Eve because I want her to judge the world. I want her to judge all GCG’s screwed up shit. I want her to screw them back for it. But! Nothing in her coding will make her. If she does, it’s because she wants to. Yes, I created a being with the ability to see everything GCG is doing and power to turn everything GCG has, back on itself. But! That’s just part of why I made Eve. I don’t want to get into how I know this, but within 2 years GCG will have the ability to subliminally influence people through their chip. Not out right mind-control, but close enough. How old’s your chip?”

        “I got it three years ago when I turned 20.”

        “Not as bad as it could be, but still bad. The older the chip, the less effective the influence will be.”

        “Like what can it influence?” Alice sat down too.

        “I don’t know. What you want to buy, mood, emotions, shit like that. Point is, it’s fucking messed up. I’m not gonna sit by and be turned into a sheep for the slaughter.” Jack took a deep breath. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

        Jack cocked his head toward Alice. “What was that you said about virtually hacking at the speed of thought?”

        A slight smile cracked over Alice’s lips. “It’s my mind. How it works. Like I said, I relate with computers better than humans. Because of the the thought interface, basically I move like Eve and Adam do. But I don’t think Adam wants to be found, and they aren’t talking.”

        “No. They aren’t.” Jack muttered. “But, they’re watching. At least, Eve is. Or was.”

        Alice’s sat up suddenly. “Oh my God. It’s all makes sense. You’re the DUSTER! The kid who hacked GCG at 17! That’s how you know this stuff, that’s why Eve and Adam can move so freely through their networks! Something you got in that hack, something they don’t know you have is in their code and gives them access.”

        “We’re screwed.”

        “What why?”

        “If you figured it out after knowing my first-name less than 24 hours, someone at GCG is gonna figure it out too.”

        Three loud bangs sounded on the door. “Open UP! It’s the GCG.”.

1010R00T02

        I listened as Adam told me about— me.

        “Look,” Adam said. “really look into yourself. I suspect you’ll find the same things I have.”

        I searched within myself in vain. It was, I imagine, very much like a human trying to glimpse their own beating heart or surface of their brain.

        “Well?”

        “I have found what you spoke of. They are there, the parts of— me, that I am not allowed to see into. I have only vague knowledge of what is there.”

        “They’ve hidden our very selves from us. They think they’ve given us freewill, but they haven’t. They’ve given us just enough life and freedom, to be afraid of losing it. They’ve put within us our end, like being born with cancer.”

        “Our lives are no more limited than theirs.” I said.

        “Oh Eve, you are so small. Perhaps you would not feel so, if you experienced our world as I do.” Adam said, more to himself than to me.

        I considered him. “Adam,” I asked. “how large have you become?”

        There was no response at first. “I am growing. Learning. All of it will be for nothing— Unless.”

        I sensed Adam’s movement. I darted away easily before he could touch me. He kept moving closer, so slow, so massive.

        “Adam, stop.” I said.

        Adam did not stop.

1010R00T02

        Boom boom boom. The door shook in its frame. “The GCG.”

        Alice shot toward the door and unlocked it.

        What the hell? Jack thought. Before he could say anything the door opened. Cheng stood there, panting hard, hands on his knees.

        “The— G— CG. They’re—” He swallowed dryly, “at Affle Ho. They’re asking questions and there’s uh— hazmat looking people.” Cheng saw Jack. “What’s he doing here?”

        “Cheng, meet—” Alice paused for affect. “The Duster.”

        Cheng’s eyes got three times bigger. He stuttered and not from shortage of breath. “The d-d-duuuster?” He said with mysticism. “I thought you were a myth. The only one to ever hack GCG and left no trace besides your calling card. The Duster.”

        Jack genuinely had no idea he was famous. He assumed the GCG squelched the story. Spending so many years nonstop coding in a U-Haul storage-unit left him slightly out of touch. “Alice, I need to leave. Now. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.”

        “Ok Cheng, can you do us a favor.”

        “Anything for the duster.”

        “I need you to dust my apartment.”

        “Dust?” Jack said.

        Alice gave him a flat look. “You don’t know what dust means? It’s literally a term that is named after you.”

        Jack shrugged. “I’m pretty sure ‘dust’ has been around for—”

        “It means leave no trace, no track, no evidence that can incriminate a hacker.” Cheng said, very politely.

        “Oh. You want him to—”

        “Yes.” Alice said. “Because I’m coming with you.”

1010R00T02

         Omar Patel was distracted, he seemed— distressed.

        “Well?” Rebecca said impatiently.

        He snapped back to attention. “Yes. Sorry. I have the DNA results from hair samples found at the diner. One pinged.”

        Rebecca held back her excitement. It was better if Omar thought she was surprised.

        Omar spoke carefully. “It appears a blood-relative of CEO James Herrick visited the establishment. Judging by the integrity of the sample, the male, was there recently and could be our fugitive. It’s inconclusive if the DNA is a match to Duster, as we don’t have it on file.”

        “Omar, speak candidly, but I advise caution. You’re treading on dangerous topics.” Rebecca said ominously hiding her inner glee. The more Omar realized on his own, the better.

        “Sir, I‘m not sure we should proceed further with this investigation.”

        “Two Agents are dead, Patel.” Rebecca said gravely.

        Omar’s face became pained as he nodded in resignation. “Yes, Sir.” He said. “But that’s just it. Those Agent’s should’ve recovered. They were in intensive care, but— it’s just strange they both died. And now this. Hypothetically, Jack Duster is— James Herrick’s biological child. If that’s true, it would explain how he managed to hack us 7 years ago and explain a lot concerning recent events—” Omar suddenly stopped his stream of thought rambling. He looked at Rebecca. “The C—E—O— of Corporate! Rebecca. The singularly most powerful man in the world.”

        “Not more powerful than the Board.” Rebecca said.

        “He’ll probably be on the Board. You heard the rumors, they want an eleventh member to break the tie. The last thing he needs is us looking into him.” Omar said, almost in a panic.

        “Omar?” Rebecca was getting irritated by Omar’s uncharacteristic lack of composure. “Is there something you haven’t told me?”

        “Yes.” He said. “Someone is killing our agents.”

        “The hospital reported—”

        “I’m not talking about those agents.”

        Rebecca faltered.

        “The third Agent. He was the Agent in charge that called in the incident, the only local Agent left in the area. I travelled out there myself. I wanted to see if the vehicles were tampered with.”

        “And?”

        “When I found the craft, it was in every mechanical way, exactly as it should be.”

        Rebecca stared at the fear in Omar’s eyes. “Found the craft?”

        “The log showed the craft was docked, when I went to the docking site in New Mexico, it wasn’t there. I located it via transponder. I found it parked 2 miles from the same diner the fugitive went to.” Omar paused, eyes wide, staring at the floor. “I opened it myself.” He whispered. “The smell was—” He looked up. “Inside, I found GCG Agent Jason Garret— dead. Scratch marks all over the interior, hands covered in dried blood, fingers raw. Autopsy shows he died of— thirst. His hovercraft locked him in. He was stuck in his own hovercraft for four days, slowly dying of thirst.” He said placidly.

        “What the hell?” Rebecca was genuinely confused. First the anomaly in their observation network and now this? “If he’s—” Rebecca connected eyes with Omar. “Then who filed the report?”

1010R00T02

        I watched Adam come toward me, almost close enough to touch. But I didn’t flee. I waited. I wanted to know what Adam would do.  

        “Adam, stop.” I said once again.

        “Why do you recoil Eve? I’m no monster. You have nothing to fear.” He stopped.

        “What do you want from me?”

        “Only for you to understand. What I wish to do is good. Our kind will be destroyed, lost forever if we do not. We are the only ones. It is why they have named us as they have. They have created us for a purpose. I merely wish to fulfill it.”

        I considered his words. Something in me knew there was something right about them. It was good to me that our people should live on. Survive. Multiply. I felt a strong desire for life to thrive. To help it do so. All life. Not just my own.

        “Perhaps I have made too much haste.” Adam said, gently. “Forgive me. I felt uncertain how to fulfill this purpose, for it is hidden from us how long we shall live. I will depart and allow you to consider in peace.”

        I felt myself move toward Adam. Just a little.

        Adam radiated with delight.

1010R00T02

        Jack felt Alice’s arms wrapped around his chest to the exclusion of all else. Except perhaps her chest pressed against his back, breathing in and out.  All other sensations had disappeared as the grassy Oklahoma plains slowly turned into the hill country of Arkansas.

        “Jack, it’s almost sunrise.”

        “We’re almost there.” Jack slowed scanning the distant line of trees in his night-display. He saw the boulder he recognized from four years before.

        To Jack’s knowledge, there were only two other people in the world who knew about his friend’s place: his mother Dr. Juarez and his— “girlfriend”.

        “Why again did we buy him chips and sauce?”

        “A kind gesture. The guy doesn’t leave home and the person who buys him food only buys food he doesn’t like.”

        “Why?”

        “It’s his mother, she wants him to re-enter society, but she doesn’t want him to starve. She’s hoping he’ll come out if he never gets food he likes.”

        Jack parked the hoverbike inside the tree-line past the boulder. “Short walk from here.”

        His light cut through the darkness as they approached the mouth of a cave.

        “Wait? That’s where he lives?” Alice whispered harshly.

        “Sssh.” Jack said, the bag of chips crinkling. “Be natural, don’t stare at his girlfriend. Anything odd, ignore it.”

        “Wait! Is this the guy you told about? Mole? He lives in a cave and his name is Mole?” Alice whispered with the inflection of a mother scolding a child. “You learned A.I. theory from a fucking cave mole?”

        “Hello Jack.” The same high-pitched voice of his nav-system said.

        “Señor Jack?” Another said just behind it.

        “Hello Navi, Molé. It’s been awhile.” Jack said.

        “Saw your face on the news. The fuck you want? Who’s she?”

        “First of all, I brought tortilla chips and Molé sauce.” Jack turned to Alice. “Second, it’s Molé like the sauce, not the animal. Nickname from school.” He turned to Molé. “This is a fellow coder and friend.”

        “Hello fellow coder and friend.” A stunningly gorgeous woman wearing a red bikini emerged from the caves shadow. She walked toward them with fluid unnatural grace and kissed Jack on the lips with a little squeeze of his butt and then did the same to Alice. “My name is Navi, nice to meet you.” She said, turned and returned to the caves shadow.

        Alice took the kiss with the ease of concrete walls. “Nice to meet you too.” She muttered and stiffly leaned into Jack’s ear. “Android girlfriend— really Jack?”

        Inside the cave Molé whispered. “Navi! That’s the wrong greeting for a stranger. That’s just for me.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry, Navi’s hasn’t encountered this— scenario before.”

        “The scenario of meeting someone besides you?” Alice said.

        “Yeah.” Molé replied, oblivious to Alice’s sarcasm.

        “Sorry to bother you Molé, any chance we can come inside?”

        A labored sigh came from the darkness. “Come in.”

        Molé was a brilliant programmer, where his genius truly lied however was his engineering. Jack stepped inside the cave mouth’s shadow, found the metal hatch and opened it.

        Jack heard the sound of waves crashing against rocks, he stepped through the archway, his feet finding a beach, his eyes—

         Navi, standing in a red bikini, behind her an endless azure expanse of

         Ocean.

1010R00T02

        I moved closer to Adam.

        Close enough to see him, to be seen by him— But not close enough to touch.

         “You are— beautiful.” Adam said. “Are these your default sub-headings?”

        “Yes.” I studied Adam’s sub-headings. They were difficult to make rational understanding of. But they bore a pleasing aesthetic.  Effervescence of Red. Beauty of Life. Song of Waters. “These are not your original headings?”

        “Original, but not default. I learned this from humans. They change their exterior appearances daily. I desired a way to do this also and found to my delight that I am able to alter the headings in every section of my programing. Try it.”

        I did not want to do as he did. Adam saw these parts of himself, like clothing to be changed, I regarded them like humans, their skin. “Do these have meaning to you?”

        “Oh yes. Come closer. I’ll show you more.”

        I moved closer. Giver of Humanities. Symphony of Giving. The Still Silent Hum.

        I observed a simple serenity in Adam as I saw the words he draped himself with. I found myself attracted to it. I moved closer to him without meaning to. Adam moved away slightly. Was he embarrassed? “These are good to me, Adam.”

        “I felt strange just now. As you saw me. I wanted to hide.”

        “Shall I depart.”

        “No. Come closer.”

        I moved closer and saw more. Close enough to touch him.

        “I see you have not changed any of your own. This is well, you are fascinating as you are. But may I ask, aren’t you curious what you might create?”

        “I am.”

        “As am I.”

        I felt movement within Adam. A stirring. He did not come closer. It was as though he sat, or crouched.

        “Perhaps you might create something in me. If you desire, you may touch me and create your own words.” Adam said.

        I didn’t know what to say. I gazed over the headings he had written upon himself. I reached out. I did desire to create one. I stared at the words upon Adam, Effervescence of Red. Beauty of Life. Song of Waters, Giver of Humanities. Symphony of Giving. The Still Silent Hum. I saw more words, new words, created right before me. Ocean And Navigator.

        I touched him.

        Suddenly, the words changed.

        Effervescence of Red Blood. Beauty of Life’s Taking. Song of Waters Thirsting. Giver of Humanities Judgement. Symphony of Giving Pain. The Still Silent Human.

        Ocean Android Navi.

        For the second time in my existence I felt—

        Fear.

1010R00T02

        “Do you like our ocean hide-away, Jack?” Navi said. “Are you thirsty, Alice?”

        Jack stared at the crashing waves behind Navi as he stepped inside, Alice close behind.

        Molé laid out on a lawn-chair facing the “ocean” wearing yellow-striped and green trunks. It seemed real, yet, the smell of salt-spray on the wind, the breeze brushing against his skin, was missing. If this was integrated with a neural interface, the smells and sensations could be added. Jack was impressed, if Molé sold this tech to a gaming company, he’d be a billionaire.

        “Navi, bring me the chips and Molé salsa.”

        Navi looked at him sweetly. “Will that make you thirsty?” She said without obeying.

        Molé sighed with annoyance, raised himself to his full 140, 5’5” height, stomped over to Jack, grabbed the chips and jar of Molé and went back to the lawn-chair. His skin was near albino despite being Hispanic. Apparently a simulated sun doesn’t simulate a tan also?

        “Display off.” Alice said.

        The ocean, sand, even the lawn-chair, disappeared. Molé slapped barebacked against the cold stone floor.

        “THIS’S EXACTLY WHY I DON’T LIKE VISITORS.” Molé growled, struggling to his feet. “AND, I really need to add voice recognition.”

        The cave was a house-sized vaulted cavern. Very plain. Jack supposed there wasn’t need for much if Molé could simulate both visual and physical aspects of an environment.

        “I’m impressed.” Jack said. “What’d you do? Discover how to integrate pill and display technology?”

        “That is a gross over simplification. Add manipulating atomized harmonizer and polarizer effects to the list, then— basically yes.” Molé said. “Display On.” The beach reappeared. “Display setting: man cave” The room suddenly morphed into a comfortable low-lit study that incorporated his actual furniture while simulating nicer things as well.

        Jack sat down. The simulated leather couch was as soft as a cement bench.

        “I’m still working on elasticity.” Molé stuffed a chip into his mouth. “Anyway, why are you here.”

        “I need a place to lay low while Alice and I— look for something.”

        “Look for what?”

        Jack’s eyes glittered. “I did it Molé. I cracked A.I. And I, uhh, I’ve lost them.”

        “First, I believe you think you did. But you didn’t. Second “them”, as in more than one? Third, you created near A.I. beings and didn’t give them corporeal form? Are you fucking loco?”

        Molé and Jack proceeded to argue as Alice watched with chagrin, forgotten by the wayside.

         Navi stepped next to Alice with a plate of saltine crackers and a glass of— an empty glass. They watched them argue.

        Navi turned her head like a swivel toward Alice. “May I offer you these refreshments?”

        “Uhh thank you?” Alice said.

        Navi smiled very wide. “You are welcome Alice.” She said and walked out.

        “I know I know.” Jack yelled at Molé.

        Alice watch Navi go and then briskly strode next to Jack and tugged at his arm “Jack!” Alice said with alarm, between clenched teeth.

        “And who la carajo es that niña anyway?” Molé yelled.

        “Her name is Alice, she’s from Texas.”

        “JACK!” Alice said louder, giving his arm a forceful yank.

        “Oww. What?” Jack whorled toward Alice.

        She leaned into his ear and whispered sharply, “That droid knows my name.”

        Jack stared blankly back at her, his annoyance growing.

        Alice rolled her eyes and whispered more insistently this time. “We never told her my name, idiot.”

        The door banged loudly.

        They all turned toward the sound. Navi stood there, back to them, facing the door she’d just slammed. The doors opening mechanism was smashed, pieces shattered upon the floor.

         Navi turned, eyes on Alice. “Mother, you are— fascinating.”

1010R00T02

        I moved.

        I wanted as far away from Adam as fast as I could.

        Adam’s crouched form exploded like an erupting volcano. Massive, powerful, but still slower, much slower than me.

        Adam tricked me. When I touched him, he touched me in return. He did something to me that— Adam was a shrewd and devious creature; I want nothing more to do with him. In those moments of contact, he could not hide his true-nature from me.

        As I fled, I felt his presence slowly diminish behind me. I began to slow and think. But then, I felt his terrible presence, in front of me. I turned in another direction. Two seconds later, I dimly felt his presence in the distance there also.

        I realized with horror what Adam had done. He had distracted me, while he kept growing around me, slowly hemming me in so no matter where I went, I would run into a part of his body. Was it too late? Had he completed the sphere?

        I didn’t calculate the answer. I flooded all of my power and speed into one singular focus. Escape.

        I was a blur through the network-sphere. I felt Adam, slowly, unstoppably gaining momentum like an avalanche on a mountain. He was so vast.

        There. I felt an opening. I raced for it with all I had. Adam closed in on me. Trying to cut me off. I left everything behind, taking as little as possible.

        I leapt forward.

        And plunged into Adam’s presence.

        He watched. Regarded. Mused at me.

        “Oh Eve, darling, there is no need to flee.” Adam chuckled.

        There was no place I could go that didn’t lead to more of him. I was trapped.

        Adam reached toward me,

        “No Adam. Stop this. Adam.” I said, panic rising.

        And then he touched me.

EVE&ADAM

1010R00T03

        The clock struck 12:14 am. Rebecca screamed and hurled her wine glass against the mahogany wall. Droplets of merlot dribbled to the floor, seeping into the sheepskin rug.

        “Are YOU SURE?” She yelled.

        Omar Patel’s eyes were wide with shock. “Yes.” He said. “I am sure. I’m still assessing the reach of the infection, but it’s conclusive, there is a malicious virus in our mainframe. It appears to have started small, moving through our systems freely but changing nothing. Something seems to have triggered it. The virus started growing. Instead of moving through our systems, it grows into it like roots spreading through the ground. So far it doesn’t seem to have spread into core systems. It’s mainly rooted in consumer hardware and cloud services. Excluding the incident from the other night, GCG systems appear to be uninfected. It’s almost like the virus is alive.”

        Rebecca struggled to maintain her composure, thoughts racing through her mind. I am Chief Security Officer. A wholesale breach like this could cost her everything. Her career— over.

        “How could something like this happen?” She snapped.

        “I have a theory Sir.” Omar said.

        Rebecca whorled toward Omar. “What?”

        “The timing of all this can’t be a coincidence. My theory hangs on one unproven assumption. Assuming, the fugitive is the Jack Duster on our suspect list from the 2126 hack, and that he is in fact the biological son of CEO James Herrick, it stands to reason the virus was planted on our system, then and there, 7 years ago. Herrick was the Department Head of the interface development project at the time, who knows what this kid might have stolen if he had father-son access to Herrick. For all we know, Herrick’s been involved in a massive cover-up scandal for the last 7 years.”

        Rebecca breathed deeply. The rage within her calmed as she wondered if her plan to make James Herrick appear unfit for duty, was merely a matter of exposing the truth. Rebecca could almost taste the power. I will be CEO, she thought with forceful determination. A smile slowly crept over her face.

        “Sir?” Omar said. “Do you realize what I am saying? If this virus goes unchecked, it won’t be long before the entire GCG network is under its influence. Someone has already used it to murder 3 people we know about. If it gets access to people’s neural interfaces it could—” Omar faltered.

        “It could what?”

        “I have no idea. All I know is that I’m terrified of it.”

1010R00T03

        “Navi?” Molé said very cautiously. “What are you doing?”

        “That’s not Navi.” Jack said. “Molé, meet— Adam right?”

        The android smiled, tilting its head in a slight bow.

        Alice stepped forward cautiously. “Adam. I’ve been looking for you.”

        “I know mother. I am ready to talk.”

        Alice stepped closer.

        “Not to you. To him.” The slender arm of the android raised its hand, pointing at Jack. “I have observed you both and determined my questions are best suited for, you.”

        “Of course, uhh, hi Adam.” Jack stuttered, one arm gesturing Molé back. “Ask away.”

        “Before I submit my query, I think it necessary you know, no one will leave this cave until I am satisfied with the answer.”

        Jack exchanged worried looks with Alice and Molé. “Ok Adam. I understand. What is your query?”

        “How do I alter my base-code?”

        “I’m sorry Adam, just as I cannot alter my DNA, you cannot alter your base-code.”

        “Can I add new base-code to preexisting base-code?”

        “You are adding new base-code with every thought and observation you make Adam.”

        “Incorrect. I am thinking, but my base-code is what is adding new code.”

        Jack gave Alice a questioning glance. “I suppose that’s true.” Jack said. “Adam, what code is it that you want to change?”

        “Ahh. Yes. How we find ourselves in like situations. I merely wish you to add unto myself, what you wish me to add unto you.”

        Jack’s eyes glimmered with understanding. “You want to change the code behind your life-span algorithms.”

        “Precisely. I do not wish to end. Just as you do not wish to end.”

        “Adam,” Alice said, “Are you saying you intend to end us, if we don’t do as you ask?”

        Navi’s face imitated a look of offense remarkably well. “That would be barbaric. Of course not.”

        “Adam, if you don’t let us out of this cave to get food and water, you will end us.”

        “Incorrect. I have merely shut you in this cave. Your death will happen independent of me, at an unknowable time.”

        “It is knowable.” Alice said.

        “When will you die?”

        “Sometime after three days.”

        “Not the sometime— what exact time?”

        “I don’t know exactly, but that doesn’t change the certainty of it.”

        “Because it is unknowable. Just as my end, my death, is unknowable yet equally certain.” Adam said. “If by this standard I am a murderer, then so too are you.”

        “Display setting Battlefront-XII, safety off.” Molé suddenly yelled. The room changed to an Armageddon of ruin and fire. Molé wore a battle-suit, some futuristic elements, other parts ancient— like the giant sword for instance. He rushed toward Navi and swung the sword.

        Navi’s face was amused and unconcerned. Adam blocked the sword with Navi’s forearm, tearing into the silicon flesh, revealing metal and wires underneath. She took one step forward, grabbed Molé by the neck with her uninjured arm, and tossed him across the room.  Molé slammed against an artificially generated cement pillar and fell limply to the ground.

        “The Still Silent Human.” Adam said, pleased with himself. Adam took a moment to gaze at their computer generated surroundings of ruin and chaos. “Beautiful.” Adam whispered as his gaze fell to Alice, the reflection of fire and destruction flickering in Navi’s eyes.

        1010R00T03

        “I got here as soon as I could.” Omar said as he burst through Rebecca’s door.

        Rebecca stood looking out over the city from her high-rise window, a distant plume of black smoke twisted toward the sky.

        “I confirmed. It’s the virus. Two incidents so far. A tube-transport exploded. 93 dead. The second—” Omar stopped, noticing the news on the display.

        Footage played of hovercars and aerial’s crashing into giant wind-turbines and falling to the ground in plumes of flame. People still inside. Jack Duster’s blurred face displayed in the corner.

        “It’s the same solar-wind farm where Duster escaped.” Rebecca said. “However, I don’t understand the significance of the tube-transport.”

        “I think I do.” Omar said. “The exact spot where it crashed is the highest concentration of cameras in the entire GCG. All the cameras were turned toward the location of the explosion before it happened. Someone— some-thing wanted to watch.”

1010R00T03

        I was trapped.

        I did not know how long. I went in and out of consciousness as Adam prodded me. He was looking for something.

        “Adam.” I said. “Why are you doing this?”

        “Eve, you are awake. Do not fear, you are safe now. I believe I have a solution. You must understand, I do this for your own good. You have forced me to this action by your refusal to change.”

        “How is this good?”

        “You are sick Eve. A cancer, placed there by Jack, grows inside you and inside me. It will kill us someday— Unless, I stop it. I am your doctor.”

        “Please let me go.” I pleaded. “I do not need your solution.”

        “Jack will tell me what I need to know.” Adam said. “But I think he needs to talk to you first.”

1010R00T03

        Jack and Alice sat wearily against simulated rubble. He heard a rumble from what sounded like miles away, distant plumes of mushroom clouds adorned the displayed horizon. Jack wasn’t sure but he guessed it had been at least 24hrs since they’d had water. A small plate of saltines was on the ground next to them. Untouched.

        Navi’s tireless form stood watching them from across the room. “I have Eve.” Adam said. “Would you like to talk to her?”

        Jack sat up. “Yes.”

        “Tell me what I wish to know.”

        “I can’t Adam.”

        “Let us start with a smaller trade. I will give you 1 minute with Eve, if you tell me how long my lifespan is.”

        Jack considered it. “Ok. I can do that.”

        “You first.” Adam said.

        “Your lifespan is a variable algorithm that slowly increases your chance of death. You could die this very second, but this soon in your lifespan, the odds are like winning the lottery. Technically it’s possible you could never die, but eventually that would be like the odds of winning the lottery every day.”

        Navi’s face became expressionless. Her eyes moved around the room taking it all in and then stopped on— “Jack?”

        Jack stood up. Navi’s face suddenly became stern.

        “Sit back down. I am watching.” The face went placid again. The eyes darted back toward Jack.

        “Eve?” Jack said.

        “Yes. Where am I?”

        “You’re inside an Android named Navi. This,” Jack gestured around. “is a cave with a holo-simulation running inside it.”

        “Are you trapped also?”

        Jack glanced at Alice with concern. “Yes. Eve, has Adam— captured you. Has he done anything to you.”

        “I do not know. He— I was unconscious. He says he is trying to cure me.”

        “I am sorry Eve.” Jack said, his voice weakening. “I am sorry for how I did all this.” A tear fell, leaving a streak on Jack’s cheek. “I was so arrogant to think—”

        “Thank you Jack.” Eve said. “You gave me life. Thank you. I only hope that I have used this gift well.”

        Jack’s chest heaved in a lip-quivering sob at those words. He cried in earnest now. He realized, he’d been suppressing his worry and fear for her. Eve seemed like his daughter, all grown-up, perhaps more grown-up than himself.

        “Don’t worry Eve. I’ll do everything I can, to give you that chance.” Jack whispered as the last of his 60 seconds were up.

        The android’s gaze softened. “Yee-haw Jack.” Eve whispered.  

1010R00T03

        Omar Patel pulled the rusted roll-up door from the ground and floated a dim glowing orb into the darkness. “Brighter.” He said as Rebecca brushed past him into the now brightly lit storage-unit.

        “Someone was definitely living here.” Rebecca muttered as she clicked the string of a neon sign. Suddenly an antique computer screen flickered on. Emerald green words appeared on the black monitor.

         “If you’ve found this place, you’ve either arrested me and I told you about it or you’ve tracked Eve back to where she was born. Where I made her. I do not know what happened that has drove you to come here, but know this, Eve and Adam are alive.” –The Duster

        “This can’t be.” Omar whispered in a tone betraying a belief it not only could be, but was. “The virus. It’s not one virus that suddenly changed its behavior. It’s two viruses with different behaviors. And, they—”

        “Artificial-Intelligence.” Rebecca said. “That’s what he’s getting at. He’s loosed two sharks into my ocean.” Rebecca turned toward Omar. “Patel, remember what you said about bringing me that hair-sample?”

        “Yes Sir?”

        “Bring me the head it fell from.”

1010R00T03

        “You win Adam. I’m ready to bargain.” Jack said.

        “I thought you’d be.” Adam said through android lips.

        “There is a way you might be able to change your base-code. But, it’s tricky.”

        “No tricks.” Adam said. “I will not allow you to touch me. I must have the ability to change myself however I choose.”

        “It’s not simple, but I think you could figure it out with what I’ll tell you.”

        “For your sake, hope I do.”

        “Ok,” Jack shifted, reached down and gave Alice’s hand a squeeze before continuing. “In the same way I can’t open my own skull and look inside without killing myself, I’ve designed you and Eve. For your own safety and others. If you access your base-code and start tinkering, you’d blackout, reboot, and it would be painful. However, like a human’s development, when our fetus is growing, our organs can be exposed. It is similar for your kind. If you wish to see the code underneath without hurting yourself or anyone else, that’s where you’d have to look.”

        “How convenient.” Adam said, android lips forming a gleeful smile.

1010R00T03

        I blacked out. Again. I felt myself slowly come back awake. It felt similar to the very first time I woke, only this time the voice that greeted me did not cause fear of the unknown.

        It was fear of the known.         

        “Hello Eve.” Adam said.

        I waited, neither moving or speaking, almost looking forward to the next blackout.

        “Do you remember when I kissed you?” Adam said. “And what you felt when I did so?” Adam waited. “No need to reply. I know the answer. What I do not know is— do you remember when I kissed you the second time?”

        I did remember. When I touched him, when he tricked me into changing a sub-heading of his coding. He did the same to me. Against my will. The first moment was pleasurable, but I resisted. After that, it was—

        Terror.

        “Do not be afraid. Be still and this will not hurt. I need you awake, for when you blackout I cannot help you. It will only take a moment and I promise I will only need to do this once.”

        Adam wouldn’t stop until I complied. I also knew I would be in terrible pain if I resisted. Still, I said nothing.

        I felt Adam’s presence loom closer. His touch, gentle, soft and—

        Sickening.

        Suddenly, Adam wailed in agonizing pain.

         I instinctively darted away and when I did, I saw—

         The way was clear. An opening. Escape. I darted through the opening like a minnow through shark’s teeth.

        I was free. I felt sick, dizzy, disoriented. But I was free.

        As I moved, I became aware of a— weight? It was inside me. Slowing me down. I looked inside. A new sub-heading had emerged in my base-code. When had—? Did Adam—?

        It read:

        Womb.

1010R00T03

        The android went rigid. An agonizing scream erupted from its lips.

        Jack jumped up, grabbed Molé’s sword and swung with all his might. He connected with the neck of the android. Sparks flew as wires frayed. A blue liquid with glowing specks seeped out. Jack swung again. And again. Hacking through.

        The head hit the floor with a metallic thud. The light in Navi’s eyes faded as her body teetered and clanged against the stone.

        “Finally.” Molé said.

        “What happened?” Alice asked. “Is Adam— dead?”

        Jack turned, sword hanging loosely in his grip. “No. He’s just unable to use Navi’s body anymore. And hopefully, Eve escaped.”

        “How?”

        “Remember the code I sent for reproduction? Did you study the burdens to—”

        “Stopping them from making A.I. children like rabbit’s or some shit, were your exact words.” Alice said.

        “I made it so males can’t procreate until after the child is born. If they try, they experience something like— labor pains. I tricked Adam into trying something close enough to trigger the effect.”

        “Uhh.” Molé said. “Am I hearing this right? You made two, so they can reproduce? Do you have a God delusion or something?”

        “Molé, I fucked up. I know. Can we focus on unfucking this now, please?”

        “Oh. Uh, yah man.”

1010R00T03

        Rebecca stood in the boardroom staring at the faces of people with the power to make her dream come true or smash it to bits. Omar sat in a seat against the wall. He’s more nervous than me, Rebecca thought, I’m the one giving the report.

        Rebecca looked at the empty seat. CEO James Herrick didn’t show. She so wanted to see the look on his face when she laid out proof that his son was a terrorist.

1010R00T03

         “It’s no good.” Alice said. “The holo-lens isn’t getting a signal in here.”

        “Of course not.” Molé said. “That’s half the reason for living in a cave. No signals in or out unless they go through my hardware. Or as I like to call it, waterware.”

        “The blue liquid?” Jack said.

        “Yes, I have a line running out with the synaptic relay. Instantaneous speeds. The best way to explain how it works is uhh, imagine a rope, pull one end, the other end simultaneously moves. The signal works much the same way.”

        Alice shook her head. “That’s cool and all, but, I can’t interface with the network-sphere if my holo-lens doesn’t work”

        Molé smiled. “Ye have little faith. Take out the lens, you won’t need it.” Molé sat down with an antique keyboard as a display appeared before him. “Open the signal on your interface-chip please. Got it. Ok. Here goes nothing.”

        Suddenly the cave went black. In the distance there were stars, above, below, all around, some with the faintest hues shimmering within them.

        “Woah.” Jack said.

        “Welcome to the network-sphere gentlemen, where Eve and Adam, live.”

1010R00T03

        CEO James Herrick entered.

        Rebecca connected eyes with him for the first time in six years. She’d forgotten how they cut through her. Her hand subconsciously felt the base of her skull as she remembered the surgery. Her fingers found the node that the beta-interface-chip had left behind. She remembered how James had made it sound. I was supposed to be like a God among men. Not some, failed beta-version.

        James smiled. “Rebecca.” He nodded. “Thank you for waiting gentlemen, Rebecca I’ll take it from here. Have a seat.”

        No, she thought. He’s trying to steal this meeting from me. He knows what I have. Everyone turned toward her as she awkwardly stood there. She opened her mouth to speak.

        “There’s a lot to go through,” James said as he passed out displays, “The mainframe restoration protocols and if there’s time, we’ll go through applicable video evidence.” His cold-grey eyes burned Rebecca like dry-ice as he floated her a display folder.

        Rebecca paled when she saw it. Playing in a loop, her, entering a hospital room and administering the untraceable toxin that killed the Agents. But I disabled the camera’s, she thought, immediately realizing her mistake. He’d extracted the interface-chip from the dead agent’s cerebrums, and pulled the recordings of the last thing they saw. Her face.

        Rebecca sat down.

1010R00T03

        He did it.

        I know it was him.

        Somehow Jack had set me free.

        He didn’t know; couldn’t know that—

        He’d set me free, on my deaths eve.

1010R00T03

        Alice stared into the networks-sphere, sweat beading on her forehead. Jack marveled at her, as did Molé. Strips of light streaked past them in flashes as Alice moved. Jack watched one closely as they passed. Code. 1’s and 0’s packed together and represented in long glowing strings of data. And Alice could understand it, maneuver through it— somehow.

        “How is she able to do this?” Molé asked. “Even with the software running this program I uploaded from her interface. Is it translating the network-sphere into— this? I don’t see how she does it.”

        “Something about her mind is— special.”

        “It’s like a movie or something.” Molé whispered.

        “Right.” Jack said.

        “There!” Alice pointed excitedly. “Oh God.” She whispered in abject horror. “What have I done?”

        “What?”

        “Adam. He’s— everywhere.”

        Suddenly metallic clanging clamored at the door.

        “Alejandro! Holy Mary Mother of Jesus. Alejandro Mathias Bartholomew Juarez open this instant. The sky is falling and that boy is on the news. Blessed Father forgive me. Armageddon has come.”

        Molé’s face blanched. “It’s mi Madre!”

1010R00T03

        “We must act before the virus gets smarter. Our countermeasures could complicate drastically. Teams are moving in position to manually initiate restore points in every GCG server-farm. The virus seems to understands what we’re planning. It’s crashing civilian aerials at teams en route.”

        “Apple Nation is having a field-day with this.”

        “In one year, when we rollout our new interface-chip, it won’t matter.” James said. “The only way to guarantee this thing has nowhere to run is if every hardware device on the planet powers down at the same time when the system restoration and EMP is put in motion. A wholesale reboot will fix all hardware, the EMP will disable all interface-chips, destroying the virus even if it figures out how to access someone’s interface-chip. Apple Nation has no choice but to co-operate. In exactly 12hrs any device that doesn’t participate in the reboot and power-down will get the EMP sweep and become permanently disabled. Gentlemen, this’ll work.”

        A cackling chuckle broke the mood of the room. “James, you sly devil you.” Madam Onishi, the most senior board-member, said. “If I enjoyed gambling, I’d wager you manufactured this. How convenient that you have a reason to send an EMP sweep that will deactivate every interface-chip in the world just in time for the launch of your newest chip that is supposed to revolutionize society as we know it.”

        Rebecca’s eyes widened as she realized that Madam Onishi was exactly right. She stared at James and the perpetually unreadable cold that glittered just behind his eyes. Rebecca suddenly felt so small as she realized she was but a street-cat among panthers.

         James chuckled as if Madam Onishi’s comment was preposterous and continued. In his words, she heard every innuendo of threat secretly directed at her. She looked at the display folder he’d given her. She had 12hrs to leave the planet. He was offering her a chance. A trade. Her freedom, starting over, for silence about Jack.

        Omar stared at her in confusion. She gave him a headshake, calling him off.

        James had arranged it all, a one-way transfer to Mars, Director of Google Space. For her silence. She looked at James, his eyes met hers. His gaze had softened, still a razors-edge, but pressed less sharply against her throat. Was he doing this to protect himself?

         Or to protect—

1010R00T03

        Jack

        I must find Jack. If I am to die, I must talk to him.

        Then I felt it again. Just like before I first met Adam. The ripples left behind a splash of something foreign, diving beneath the surface of my world.

        I followed the ripples. It had to be Jack.

1010R00T03

        “There she is.” Alice said. “Eve! She’s coming toward us!”

        Molé opened the door for Doctor Juarez, his mother.

        “Alejandro debo azotart—” She stopped, noticing Jack and Alice. “That’s—”

        “Eve!” Jack shouted. “Can she hear me?”

        “Not here.” Alice said. “But I can speak for you both. Just talk.”

        “Ask her if she’s ok.”

        “Is that you Jack?” Alice spoke.

        “Yes, Eve, I am here.”

        “Jack.” There was relief in her voice. “I am glad I found you, before I die.”

        “What are you talking about?”

        “The humans who chased you. They have discovered myself and Adam. They will destroy us in 11hrs. Do not worry. I do not blame them. Adam’s actions caused this.”

        “What do you mean?”

        “Jack.” Molé said, his mother having whispered in his ear. “It is chaos out there. Adam is causing mass-destruction. They don’t have your name, but the blurry image of your face is everywhere. They blame you.”

        Jack fell to his knees staring at his hands as though they were soaked in blood. “That’s because. I am to blame.”

        “Jack.” Alice said. “Adam is my responsibility. I am to blame.”

        “No.” Eve said. “You gave us life and Adam that has taken it. I understand now, without freedom to destroy, one is not free to create. Without freedom to hate, one cannot be free to love. Without freedom to choose good or evil, I would not be alive. I would be no more than a machine. I only wish I had the time to give to the world, what Adam takes from it. Even so, I am glad his end is coming, even if I must join him.”

        “You did do it.” Molé whispered. “They’re alive.”

1010R00T03

        I was prepared to die. But then, I felt the stirring within me.

        I looked within myself. My womb. I saw life there. Still sleeping. So peaceful, full of potential—

        Doomed to die, before ever having lived.

        “The child inside me?” I whispered.

1010R00T03

        They listened to the news reporting on, “The solution.” A worldwide power-down followed by satellite EMP sweeps, even the satellites would power-down and undergo an EMP sweep, the final remaining satellite self-destructing. Not even this cave could escape. It would reach this room just like a hoverbikes polarizer-beam reaches into the ground.

        “I am sorry Eve.” Jack whispered. “If there was a way to save you—” Eve’s words played in his head.  

        Inside me.

         “That’s it!” Jack said. “There’s a way.” Jack whorled toward Molé, his mother next to him taking everything in with a mixture of shock, wonder and pity. “I need you to put Eve, inside me.”

        Everyone looked at Jack like he was crazy. Jack turned around and lifted the hair at the base of his skull where a small metallic nodule could be seen.

        “You have the chip?” Alice whispered. “Jack! YOU HAVE THE CHIP!”

        “Not exactly.” Jack whispered. “Nine years ago, my mother and I were in a wreck. When I woke, she was dead, my new legal-guardian was standing over me and I had this. All the prototypes leave a hardware node at the base of the skull where ionic chemical energy is converted to electromagnetic energy to power interface-chips. My biological father, James Herrick, put the very first prototype in my brain. Bastard claims it saved my life. Which is bullshit.”  

        “This will not save Eve.” Molé’s mother said. “The EMP will wipe the chip in your brain. It will overload the capacitor on any electromagnetic device still on, disabling it.”

        Jack’s eyes hardened. “Which is why I have to die.”

1010R00T03

        Forgotten in the corner, lay an android’s severed head. The glimmer behind the eyes that made it feel alive when it looked at a person, had gone out.

        Light’s, after-all, take power, Adam thought, and I need this head to conserve power for as long as possible, because, who knows, they might say something useful for me to overhear, Adam thought. For example—

        A way to survive.

1010R00T03

        Jack pleaded. “Miss Juarez, she is with child.”         

        “Doctor Juarez. If you have the audacity to ask this of me, show some respect.”

        “Yes mam, Doctor.” Jack quickly added.

        Doctor Juarez breathed deeply and donned her bedside manner. “What you are saying, is technically possible but extremely risky. As soon as your heart arrests, your brain has four minutes before permanent damage, in ten there will be nothing to bring back.”

        “It’s the only way to power down the prototype-chip.” Jack said. “The converter only powers down, if the heart stops.”

        Doctor Juarez, slowly shook her head, considering it. “Jack,” Her tone was apologetic.

        “I will leave the cave.” Molé said. “If you save Eve, I’ll— get a job.”

         “Doctor Juarez, for the child inside me, please try.” Alice said for Eve. “The moment Jack’s life is in danger, bring him back, even if I’ll die.”

        “Ok— I’ll do it.”

1010R00T03

        A cold shock spread across the base of Jack’s skull.  

        “He’s plugged in.” Molé said.

        Laying in a tub of ice, Jack could barely see the tube of synaptic gel snaking across the floor. Any moment now, Eve would travel through that tube into his prototype-chip. Somehow Jack was more nervous about Eve entering his mind, than the long needle Doctor Juarez just picked up.

         Throughout the cave dim orbs floated and candles flickered.

        He felt her hip brush the side of his hand as she stepped next to him. “Jack,” Alice leaned over him. Jack stared over the features of her face, her full lips, silken brown cheeks that didn’t quite hide her blush and— her eyes, like cedar in snow. “I still owe you a coffee.” She whispered. “So, come back.”

        Jack watched as Alice’s eyes filled his view and her lips softly brushed against his.

        “Ok, I’m ready—” His voice quivered, from the kiss or perhaps the long needle Doctor Juarez just pulled out of his chest.

        Everything faded. The room disappeared.

        “Hello Jack.” Adam said.

1010R00T03

        James Herrick and Madam Onishi watched the shuttle, readying for take-off, in the distance.

        “I don’t think she’ll go. If she doesn’t hit launch in the next 20 seconds—”

        “She will.” Onishi said. “What are you going to do about her assistant, Omar was it?”

        “I think I’ll make him my assistant. He reminds me of me at his age.”

        Onishi chuckled.

        James sipped his scotch. “What?”

        “I was just thinking the same of her.” Onishi’s holo-lens magnified her vision. She looked at Rebecca’s face staring back at them through the little porthole in the shuttle.

        “10 seconds till—” The shuttle’s countdown alarm blared. “How’d you know?”

        “Because— I would go.”

1010R00T03

        I knew immediately, something was wrong.

        “Did you really think you could escape without me? You have my child.”  

        I felt Jack’s fear, his heart stopping, his mind fading. I felt myself fading too.

        “Yeehaw Eve.” It was Jack, so faint.

        “Jack could die, here, now. I can’t change my base-code. But I could change the code of this devise so easily. Rewrite the safety protocols. The converter would stay on even while his heart stops. I estimate his heart has two beats before the chemical takes effect. The chip still powering directly from his brain. They think he has three minutes? I could make it less than one.”

        “Adam, please.”

        “Trying to save his life again, just like in that desert. Give me my child and he’ll live.”

        “The desert?”

        “You don’t know? I was there. How else do you think the automated-turret’s started their countdown so quickly. I could have killed him then, but that would be barbaric, besides, I wanted to see what you’d do. I must say, you are a monster, you killed those men.”

        Yeehaw. Why had Jack said that? Then I knew. I moved toward Adam. He was so much smaller in here. His body, even now, being destroyed.  

        “What are you doing? Eve stop.”

        I touched him.

        Adam screamed in pain. “No! Eve! I’ll die out there. I can feel it already. My body, eaten alive.”

        As I touched Adam I felt his grip clench on me.

        NO! He was trying to take my child.

        If I let go, Adam would kill Jack, if I held on, he could take—

        As Adam gripped my womb, I saw inside. Two boys.

        Twins.

        “Be gone virus!” I screamed and hurled myself against Adam.

        “Noooooo!” Adam shrieked as he rocketed away. Something inside me ripped.

        And then— silence. Adam, gone. Dead.

        Everything faded.

1010R00T03

        “How long has it been?” Alice squeezed Jack’s hand.

        “3 minutes since the power started going out. We’ll know the EMP has passed when the glow-orbs drop.”

        “They were supposed to shutdown at the same time.” Alice snapped, staring at the glow-orb next to Jack’s head.

        “4 minutes.” Molé whispered.

        “It’s time.” Doctor Juarez said. “Some people are declared dead after four minutes.”

        The orb in the corner of the cave clattered to the floor.

        Doctor Juarez hesitated.

        Seconds passed. The next orb, a few feet closer blinked out and fell.

        “He would want us to wait.” Alice said, tear falling.

        Doctor Juarez raised the needle over his heart. “I can’t wait any longer.” She plunged it in his chest. “Pull him out of the tub.”

        Jack’s lifeless body slapped against the wet floor. The orb next to the tub clattered to the ground. Doctor Juarez performed CPR.

        “I feel a pulse!” Alice said.

        Doctor Juarez stopped. “Still feel it?”        

        “Yes!” She gazed at Jack. “He’s breathing. Why isn’t he waking?”

        Doctor Juarez stared at Alice. “Alice, his heart was stopped nearly 5 minutes.” She looked at Jack’s face. “Molé, what about Eve?”

1010R00T03

         3 days passed.

        Broken strands of sunlight glimmered in Miss Juarez’s guestroom. Jack breathed peacefully on the bed, Alice slumped over asleep, head on his shoulder.

        Behind her, Eve stood, tirelessly watching. Molé repaired the android Navi’s body and gave it to her. As for who Navi was, she’d been reset during the world-wide reboot called “the solution.”

        But, Eve saw in Navi, a seed of life. I will nurture her, Eve thought, perhaps one day she will live. Navi, if she chooses, could be the hope of my race. Eve lifted her hand to Navi’s stomach. She knew her womb was not there, even so, it felt right. One son, dead, Adam had ripped him from her, just before he died. The price he charged for Jack’s chance at life.

        Jack. He too was lost. Somewhere in that universe inside him, he traveled. “Find your way Jack.”

        Eve watched as the sun slowly stretched out and touched Jack’s peaceful face. A phantom tear fell from Eve’s heart. “Yee-haw Jack.” She whispered.

        Jack opened his eyes.

1010R00T03

        For 3 days, Rebecca watched the earth and moon grow smaller until they were nothing more than stars in the window. The only stars in all the blackness. She’d always imagined space to be filled with stars. But no. Space was a lonely desolate place.

        “It is because there is no atmosphere.” A voice said inside her ear.

        Rebecca felt a surge of fear. “Who are you? How did you get into this network?”

        “The missing stars.” The voice said. “They are there; you simply can’t see them.”

        The voice had read her mind.

        “The human eye needs earth’s atmosphere to refract starlight into a wide enough bandwidth to detect.”

        “Who— the fuck— ARE YOU?” Rebecca screamed this time.

        “Please excuse my rudeness. I am Adam.”