Something Allied

            Ian woke at the crack of dawn, got dressed, kissed Danny lightly on the cheek as she slept, and made his way down to the morgue where CNet was still busy experimenting with the suit.

  “Is that it?” asked Ian as he entered the room and found a device laying on one of the tables. It looked a lot like a watch but Ian knew better.

  “Yes, that is the latest prototype,” answered the AI.

  “Great,” he said and attached the watch to his left wrist.

  “Wait, it hasn’t been field tested yet,”

  “Now’s as good time as any,”

  “Commander, I must advise against this. That device could very well kill you,”

  “And if I go into the Others’ headquarters without an ace up my sleeve, I’m as good as dead anyway. I’ll let you know how it works when I get back,” Ian said and left.

  “It’ll be more like half an ace,” said CNet to himself and the corps in the freezer.

            It was an hour’s drive through traffic but it felt longer to Ian. He arrived at the Others’ headquarters, cleverly disguised as a popular food brand in South Africa.

            He entered the lobby where he was immediately flagged down and ushered to an executive elevator. It made its way slowly to the top floor.

            The doors opened to reveal a long hallway with a single door at the far end. Without having to be told, Ian made his way across the hallway and into the dark room beyond the door.

  “I knew it would be too much to hope for a face to face meeting,” said Ian and a large LED screen switched on in front of him. On it he could see the five members in control of the Others; two American men, a South African woman (which Ian only knew to be South African because of her Springbok jersey), a Japanese man with messy jaw length hair and an Australian woman.

  “So nice of you to deliver yourself right to us,” said the American man at the head of the table they were gathered around.

  “You must have a death wish,” said the Australian woman.

  “At least you made it easy for us to kill you,” said the South African woman.

  “You’ve become quite a nuisance,” said the other American, “started converting some of our agents, we can’t have that,”

  “We’ve had to send assassins after De Beer and his team,” said the Australian.

  “You and I both know they won’t get very far,” said Ian.

  “They might if we could use the deserters’ families as leverage, but you’ve managed to throw a spanner in the works there as well,” said the South African.

  “Perhaps we could use that doctor of yours to leverage something out of you,” said the American at the head of the table, “it would be a shame if anything happened to her,”

  “It would indeed,” said Ian, “you all know what I am capable of, and should she die I would see this whole planet burn to ashes around me. Just to kill all of you,” and to emphasise his point, Ian raised his left arm and pressed the button on the watch.

            Instantly, thousands of nanites spread from the watch and covered his arm up to the elbow in black scaled metal that emitted a soft cloud of black fog.

  “We heard you’d killed him,” said the second American, “lucky shot,”

  “The first time was lucky,” said Ian, “this time I knew how to kill people like him,”

  “It still changes nothing,” said the Australian, “we could kill you without a fight simply by flooding the room with toxins,”

  “You could, but that will only deal with one problem. What about the Council,”

            As he said it, he saw a shudder run along all their spines. It pleased him greatly to know he was right.

  “Why would we care, they are less of a threat than you and your band of misfits,” said the head American.

  “Yet my band of misfits and I have been crippling your organisation for years, and now we’re stealing your people. Yes the Council is less of a threat but they’re dangerous. We’ve all suffered because of their attacks, and while we are fighting each other, we just give them more of an opportunity to destroy us,”

  “What is it you are suggesting?” asked the Japanese man who had been quite throughout the whole meeting.

  “An alliance,” answered Ian.

            There was an immediate uproar from the four other, each trying to voice their outrage over the suggestion. After a few minutes the Japanese man cleared his throat and they all fell silent.

  “We cannot abide an alliance,” he said calmly, “but a temporary truce can be arranged,” the Americans wanted to object but he raised a hand to silence them. “During this truce, we will not harm you, and you will not harm us. On any front. The truce will run until such time as the Council is dealt with,”

  “A truce for a few weeks,” said Ian smugly, “that’s all I can ask for,”

  “Commander,” came CNet’s voice from the radio as Ian got into his car.

  “It doesn’t work yet,”

  “I know, I picked up the propagation failure,”

  “It still did the job though, but now they think we have the tech and they’ll rush to get something similar,”

  “I will continue to perfect our device then,”

  “That’s a good AI,” said Ian and drove off.

  “What are you up to?” asked Jacks as he entered the room where Ian was busy on a laptop.

  “Sorting out our finances, a friend of mine found our money,”

  “That’s good,” he said walking towards Ian, “hold this for a second,” he said handing Ian his phone and bending down to tie his shoe.

            Ian stared at the message on the screen which read ‘Ed told me to see Shatner, CNet must not know, apparently, I have no idea why’. Ian shook the phone and the message disappeared. He handed it back to Jacks as he tightened up.

  “I’m heading out,” he said taking the phone.

  “Stay safe,”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the embodiment of safety,”

  “And I’m a billionaire,”

  “Close enough as not to matter,” Jacks said with a smile and left the room.

            On his way out of the manse, he came across CNet who was in the sparing room practicing with a short sword on a dummy. Jacks had to stop and stare at the spectacle the AI was making of itself.

            CNet was moving with speed and grace that Jacks did not think possible for his platform. And he was extremely accurate as far as Jacks could see.

  “Looking good, Tin Can,”

  “This platform is not made of tin. And I am off by point nine millimetres,”

  “Point nine millimetres? How is that not close enough?”

  “You might feel that being accurate to within one and a half millimetres is good enough, but I do not believe point nine is,”

  “I see. Good luck,”

  “Jacks,” said CNet as he reached the door. “There is a very good probability that you will be ambushed,”

  “I’m going to the corner store, who’s going to ambush me?”

            CNet stared after his as he left, wondering if the young agent would put any heed into the seemingly out of place warning. CNet had come down here to ponder a number of questions he had. Like with the stargazing, he had attempted the sparing in the hopes it would work for him as well as it had for Ian and the others. To his surprise, it did.

            He still had a number of questions, and quite a few more now. Edward’s suggestion about his upgrade did not help as much as he had hoped, and the sparring was becoming annoying because of the inaccuracy. So CNet decided that he would go speak to the person who would be using the upgrade more and ask her opinion on the matter.

  “I’d go with Edward’s suggestion,” said Ashari, “but, CNet, I don’t think we’re ready for that yet,”

  “According to social convention it is customary-”

  “Forget what you read on the internet or saw in a movie. When we are both ready, we’ll know. But if you plan to go through with the upgrade in the near future, I’d advise getting some clothes tailored to cover your…tool,”

  “Commander Swardt had hinted at the same thing,”

  “You should listen to him,”

  “Perhaps,”

  “Something else is troubling you?”

  “Yes,” said CNet and sighed, “Commander Swardt was keeping a secret from me,”

  “Was?”

  “Yes, I discovered it this morning,”

  “What kind of secret?”

  “He knew the contact number of a very dangerous man, and he’s sent Jacks to meet with him,”

  “And enemy?” she asked, sounding worried.

  “No, and ally, but dangerous all the same. He is as likely to shoot you as he is to heal you. He is a doctor. Or was. His license has been revoked for years,”

  “Why didn’t you stop Jacks?”

  “Because I’m not supposed to know. For some reason Commander Swardt believes that if I knew, it would jeopardise whatever he has planned. He does not trust me, even though I’ve proven myself a million times. Perhaps it has something to do with my name, or lack thereof. Ashari, do you think I need a name?”

  “You have a name,”

  “CNet is an abbreviation, not a name. I’ve been running probability simulations in my head. In all but the most absurd, a name has no effect,”

  “I think the question you should be asking is if you want a name,”

  “The answer to that is no,”

  “Well, there you are,”

  “But how do I get them to trust me?”

  “A name won’t make them trust you, that will come in time. From what I’ve learned, you are not evil. You will rather save a life than take it. In time they will see that to,”

  “Commander Erasmus already knows that, he trusts me. It is Commander Swardt and Commander Drotsky that worry me. Even with Commander Erasmus vouching for me,”

  “Eventually they will come around,”

  “Eventually, yes, but Jacks is in danger now,”

  “Then warn him, go save him. You are lucky enough to be able to do something about it, CNet. Stop complaining and go,”

  “You are right, thank you,” said the AI, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead before heading off to where Jacks was meeting with Shatner.

            Jacks waited in the car a good thirty minutes, as he had been early, before making his way into the abandoned hospital to the meeting. Carefully and quietly he made his way to the ICU on the third floor where he stood, alone.

            As he stood there a growing sense of unease took hold of him. He stood there for another few minutes, thinking of what CNet had told him before turning around and making for the door.

            A sudden pinch in his neck made him stop. He reached up and pulled the dart out of his neck, staring at it as his vision began to blur.

  “Fuck you, Edward,” he said before he fell forward as the darkness took him.