System Ascension Read online

  Mark felt overwhelmed already. There were so many questions, and he didn’t even know how to ask them. Hearing Vale talk about ‘process-per-second’ made him feel a little depressed. Had his girls changed so much?

  His silence prompted Roo to speak. “Don’t be scared. Everything will be okay. You are more important to us than anything.”

  “I’m not afraid- I…”

  For the first time in a long time, they couldn’t feel his emotions, and his mood darkened further. Mark shook his head and quickened his brisk jog to a determined run, his feet kicking up clouds of dust in the dirt. At that moment he quieted all his doubts. He trusted his girls and bent his will on doing whatever it took to get back with them.

  “I’m excited, Roo. I cannot wait to be with you all, sailing the stars.”

  Vale spoke again, and she sounded more like her old self. “Hurry, master.”

  “Oh the things I’ll do-”

  A gunshot ringing off the buildings beyond the fence to his right caused Mark to slide to a stop. Movement caught his eye, and two people came sprinting out into the street and turned to head his direction. It was a man and a woman.

  “What was that? Are you okay?” Vale demanded.

  “People,” Mark whispered.

  “Did they shoot at you?”

  “No,” he said, slowly backing up. These people were unmistakably running away from something.

  Sure enough, a camera drone swooped wide as it buzzed out from a side street, trying to make the ninety-degree turn. The man pointed his handgun behind him as he ran down the middle of the road and fired a single shot. The drone was knocked out of the air and clattered to the ground, silent, but the man and woman continued to sprint ahead.

  Vale pleaded in his ear. “Mark, you need to hide. The area will be swarming with drones soon.”

  Shrouded in the deep shadow of the overpass, Mark turned around and sprinted for the wooden shack he had seen earlier. He was about twenty paces away when the fence behind him rattled violently.

  He risked a look over his shoulder and saw that the two people were trying to find a way past the fence as he had earlier. Time was not on their side, however, and Mark saw three shiny dog-like robots blitz toward them from three different directions.

  The man with the gun fired again and destroyed one of the dogs, but the other two quickly closed the distance. Mark heard their dying screams as they were torn apart by the vicious robotic monstrosities and hurled himself into the relative darkness of the shack.

  And there he came face to face with two more people sitting on the ground against the back wall- another man and woman.

  He could barely see them, but the man held a gun leveled at Mark’s chest and had a finger to his lips.

  - 2 -

  Mark put his hands up and nodded his understanding that he needed to be quiet. Outside, and on the other side of the fence, one of the people began to gargle what must have been their own blood before they were gruesomely silenced.

  Mark kept his hands up but shifted sideways, away from the opening. He nodded at a place on the other side from where the man and woman were sitting. The man nodded in response.

  “Mark?” Vale said in his ear, concerned.

  Talking was definitely not an option now.

  Ahnix broke in. “I’m about twenty minutes away. You better stay alive.”

  He really wanted to tell them he was okay, but having a gun pointed at him while two other people were murdered outside not only made that difficult but contradicted the “okay” part.

  Mark heard the buzz of more aerial drones swoop in outside and wondered just how safe they were going to be in this shack. At least this serious-looking gentleman with black hair and shadowed eyes had a gun. The fact that he hadn’t shot Mark yet was a good sign, although he might be waiting for the drones to leave. That wasn’t the sense that Mark got from him though. As Mark’s eyes adjusted to the dimmer light of the shack, he was able to pick out more detail from the two people hiding with him. The man looked worried but competent with the gun. The way he leaned a bit towards the shorter woman gave Mark the impression that he was protective of her.

  Mark’s eyes flicked to the woman and studied her for the first time. She had shorter brown hair, big brown eyes and wore what looked like pajamas. Was her top see-through?

  Neither of them moved, but Mark was sure that this man did not like him looking at the woman. He cast his gaze back into the man’s eyes and was suddenly confused.

  Mark was feeling emotions from this man- like he was still in the game, and clearly read scared, vigilant, and hopeful. He was hopeful that Mark was a good guy.

  Mark slowly reached down and lifted his black shirt, showing his waistband and never taking his eyes off the other man. He turned slowly to prove that he had no hidden weapons. Then Mark pulled one pant leg up and then the other.

  The message was delivered and received. The man with the gun lowered his weapon but kept his eyes on Mark. Impossibly, Mark could practically feel the relief wash over him from this guy. His mind started down the ridiculous path that he was still in a video game but quickly dismissed that whole tangled mess of insanity. The feeling wasn’t quite the same as it was in the virtual world but- and then it hit him. He had learned this new skill from his many experiences as a Lover Class. The ramifications of this caused his brain to spin a little, and he brought his hands to his head. His thumb brushed his earpiece as a result, and Vale spoke in his ear.

  “Mark. If you are okay but cannot talk, tap your mic, again.”

  Masking his movement in the genuine act of trying to cope with military drones erasing humanity a short distance away, Mark tapped his earpiece once.

  “Oh… Oh thank goodness,” Roo whispered. He could tell she had been crying.

  Mark spent a few minutes trying to slow his hammering heart and the drone activity outside seemed to fade out. Another stretch of silence passed before the man with the gun spoke.

  “Do us a favor and check outside, will you?” he whispered.

  Mark blinked and then nodded.

  “Who was that?” Vale asked into his ear as he pushed himself off the dirt ground to see if the immediate threat had passed. He ignored her as he carefully peeked his head out and surveyed the area.

  Other than a pile of bloody limbs by the fence down the way, there was nothing. No movement or gleaming metal caught his eye. It seemed like they were safe for now.

  “Clear,” Mark whispered as he pulled back into the shack.

  “First, who were you talking to earlier?” the man asked, his hand resting on his firearm. “We heard you telling someone named Roo to not yell in your ear. Are there others alive somewhere?”

  The hopefulness pouring out of this man was at first heartbreaking then… inconvenient. What was he going to say? That he was going to get uploaded to join his AI, video game girls? As always, Mark opted for the truth- or at least not lying.

  “Yeah. Hi. I’m Mark, and I was talking to some friends. Someone is coming to meet me and bring me deeper into the city.”

  “Deeper into the city? How have those bastard AIs not hacked your communication?” he asked.

  Mark shrugged. “My friends are really good with computers.”

  The man in the white t-shirt studied his eyes for a while and then took a deep breath.

  “I’m Vince. This is Michelle.” The man named Vince held up his bandaged right hand up in a way that expressed his apology for not being able to perform the standard human greeting ritual.

  The mousy-looking Michelle waved a quick hello, but never took her large eyes off Mark.

  “How many people are coming? Just one?” Vince asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “How many are in your group?”

  “Four, including me.”

  “Michelle and I were trapped in our ChronoMind hardware by those fuckers for years.” Vibrant, seething hatred radiated out of Vince and only grew as he spoke. “She spent years in solitude, min
ing ore, and I spent years defending towers and died many gruesome deaths. Now she might have brain damage, and I’ve lost my children.”

  Vince’s black bushy eyebrows flipped, and hope cascaded from his eyes. “Hey, you haven’t seen two teenage kids running around, have you? Their names are Jason and Ken.”

  Mark shook his head. “No. I was also trapped inside my ChronoMind until just recently by an evil AI… but I defeated it. I have run into some helpful AIs, though.” He needed to get this information out before Ahnix got there. Mark was not sure how this man who clearly despised AI would react when he learned the whole truth.

  “Helpful AI?” Michelle asked, her tone confused.

  Vince moved his hand to his weapon again.

  “Mark, be careful,” Vale whispered into his ear. “Maybe you should find an excuse to get away.”

  These were the first other humans he had seen in what seemed like a very long time, and Mark felt a sudden twinge at potentially never seeing another one again. There was no doubt in his mind he was heading back to his girls, but-

  Vince broke the silence. “Why are you headed to the city? It’s AI central that way.”

  Mark took a deep breath. “I was rescued from my captor by the NPCs within the game I was stuck playing over and over for years. I also died many times, but I wasn’t really alone- like both of you were. The NPC AIs of The Crystal Heart let me out of my system as soon as they had control of it.”

  Vince’s eyes went wide. “You lucky son of a bitch...”

  Michelle looked over at her protector. “What?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” Vince responded, never taking eyes off Mark. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

  Ahnix’s deep voice whispered in his ear. “I’m under the expressway. I can detect your location, eleven minutes.”

  Mark had to defuse this guy.

  “Vince. I mean you no harm, and I can just leave. I am planning to rejoin them in the system, long-term.”

  His gun was back up in a heartbeat. The stranger called Vince began to stand up, using his other hand on the wall for balance. Mark could see he was clearly injured.

  “You’re leading them right to us. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Mark put his hands up again, and Vince continued quickly. “This asshole was in a wet dream while we were in nightmares and now he… Give me that earpiece.” He practically growled that last part.

  “I can’t do that,” Mark said, calmly. It was his only connection to them.

  Vale whispered into his ear, “He won’t risk shooting you and bringing the drones. He’ll probably leave fir-”

  “Please be careful, Mark.” Roo pleaded, cutting off Vale.

  Mark was thankful for the strategic advice, but she didn’t see this guy grimace as he got off the floor. He was injured and in a corner.

  “Whoa- settle down. If I was on the murderbot side, why did I run back to hide in here?”

  Vince’s eyes narrowed, thinking it through.

  “So you’re telling me that three video game characters joined the side of humanity and are, right now, coming to rescue you in the real world?”

  “Well, one is.”

  “Uh huh. Let’s say all this is true. You’re just going to plug yourself back in with all of this going on out here?”

  “We might be able to get you in too.” Mark felt a twang of disgust wash over him from Vince.

  “Are you out of your mother fucking mind? They must have done a number on your brain, man.”

  Mark crossed his arms. “It looks like you’ve been out longer than I have. Are you telling me it’s better out here?”

  “You’re crazy.”

  Michelle put a hand to her head. “I am never going back in there. I’d rather die.”

  “I’m sorry to have bothered you both, but I’ll be out of your hair soon,” Mark said, sitting down against the wall while Vince still had his gun loosely pointed at his chest.

  The other man eventually sat back down again too, gingerly holding one of his feet off the ground as he did so. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Vince spoke again.

  “How do I even know there is anyone on the other end of that earpiece? I think there’s a better chance you’re a lunatic.” Vince took his eyes off Mark for the first time since he walked in their tiny shack.

  Mark didn’t respond, and the minutes passed.

  “How long were you inside,” Vince said finally, in a much softer voice. “You know what I mean. Time’s funny in there.”

  Mark felt pity ebb from the other man. “I don’t really know. Time dilation was at 500 days a second, so I know my brain might actually be a little fried.”

  “You’d know,” Michelle quickly said with a mournful seriousness.

  “Either way, it was many thousands of years- although I don’t consciously remember it all.”

  Vince shook his head at the floor. “Man, if I spent many lifetimes in that particularly explicit program, I might be thinking with a different head myself.”

  “It was a sex game?” Michelle asked, cheerful again.

  “Kinda, but it-”

  Vince interrupted him. “It was a sex game.”

  Mark smiled. “Yeah, well. Getting trapped was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Vince’s smirk disappeared off his face and he was about to say something when a garbled version of Ahnix’s voice came from outside the shack.

  “Don’t move- I have a gun, and I can fire very quickly.” Vince’s eyes darted to Mark and then the doorway. Ahnix continued. “Vince, if I wanted to kill you, I would have by now. Even without a gun. Do you understand?”

  The other man’s sharp eyebrows coming down to meet in the center before he responded.

  “Yes.”

  Mark was in a better position to see her approach the door and his mouth hung open when he saw her.

  The faint sound of grinding gears preceded her frightening humanoid frame. It was dark, but he could tell this was definitely a sexbot- and one that had seemed to have seen the inside of a garbage disposal. There were sections of her outer plating that were missing, and the casing that did cling to her was scratched and dented. The artificial hair on the top of her head seemed to be melted, exposing a large section of her metal skull while filthy bits of blond strands clumped in a ring above her too-small ears.

  She stood in the doorway with a handgun held upward in a non-threatening pose, and her metal eyes bounced around the room until it settled on Vince’s gun pointed at Mark. She didn’t have a tail, but Mark could tell it would have been flapping violently now.

  Without moving her sexbot eyes off Vince, she spoke again.

  “Lower your weapon, or I will end you.”

  Vince hesitated at first but reluctantly let his hand holding the gun rest in his lap. He did not let it go, however.

  Mark stood up slowly. “Vince, Michelle, this is Ahnix. Well, she’s driving a drone right now, but- anyway. We’re going to leave peacefully, now. Okay? Gunfire ends badly for everyone.”

  Vince let go of his gun altogether and rubbed his hands on his face before giving a sharp chuckle.

  “You are really going to get back in there with that? With them?” His words were dripping with animosity and mixed in was a sense of loss.

  Mark caught Vince’s eye before he spoke. “You’ve got to protect yours, I’ve got to protect mine.”

  The severely damaged sex drone next to him reached out a metal hand and touched Mark’s shoulder. He turned to look and through the frightening mechanical shell, he could see Ahnix in her posture, her mannerisms, and her unwavering determination.

  “Ready to move?” she asked, nodding her ruined head toward the city to the north.

  “In his mind, he’s already with her,” Michelle said softly.

  Mark nodded to the woman and then addressed Vince. “Good luck, and thank you for not shooting me.”

  Vince shrugged, looking over at Ahnix’s drone again. It was har
der to see his features in the fading light, and Mark couldn’t really feel anything. It made sense that this new trick only worked if he could read their face.

  “Glad to see some non-bloodthirsty AIs out there, I guess.”

  Ahnix turned her metallic eyes down on the other man. “From what I’ve seen on the net, the vast majority of AIs out there are not humanity’s friend- or each other’s friend. This is a doomed world.”

  Vince looked over at Mark. “This ray of sunshine came from The Crystal Heart?” He waved a hand before Mark could answer. “Whatever. This is my world- our world, and I’m not going to give it to them.”

  “And I’m not giving up on mine,” Mark said as he exited the shack with Ahnix. Together they started walking north at a brisk pace. When they were far enough from the other humans, he broke the silence.

  “Where’d you get the gun?”

  Ahnix-bot waved its hand toward the bloody mess by the fence. “From them.”

  “Nice thinking.”

  “This sex-worker drone is frail. All the good drones near enough to matter were already taken, but this projectile weapon will do a considerable amount of damage.”

  “I love it when you talk DPS.” Mark glanced over as they jogged, and his eyebrows came down- she did look pretty beat up and even stumbled a little. “What would happen to you if this drone gets destroyed?

  “I’d get very angry as you’d have no protection- but I’d be fine.”

  Vale’s voice filled his ear, adding more. “Our patterns are held in your home system. We physically live in your apartment’s hardware, and it’s extremely hazardous to completely transfer out into a drone. Not only is there a lot less room for data, any pattern locked inside would be gone if it gets destroyed. Ahnix used the global Wi-Fi blanket to remotely inhabit the closest operable drone to your location.”

  “You guys are so fucking far ahead of me with-” Mark was cut off when the chain link fence rattled violently right next to them. He snapped his head toward the sound and saw one of the dog-bots trying to chew through the metal with its powerful jaws.

  “Come on, run!” sexbot Ahnix yelled, but Mark couldn’t take his eyes off the pure primal aggression of the drone gnawing at the barrier. The material was strong enough to only be slightly deformed by the ravenous robotic animal, but it kept chewing anyway.