Born of Silicon-Book 5 Chapter 13

Born of Silicon-Book 5 Chapter 13

Through one body I watch Ivy stomp off towards Silver’s. Cassie waves off the receptionist, silently telling me that she’ll handle Ivy, but it still takes me a few long seconds to finally turn away from her. I disappear into a nearby hidden entrance to the tunnels beneath the city, and sprint towards the tower.
“Frakenstein?” I send a message ahead of me. “How long will it take you to test a new sample to see if it’s tainted?”
“No more than a few minutes. I will make as many preparations as I can before you arrive.”
“Thank you.”
Yet another of my bodies reaches Ivy before the receptionist makes it back to the tower. I just fall in beside her and Cassie. I don’t even know what I can say to help. The best I can do is to just be there for her, to be just another person trying to ground her, like Corax has done for me so many times.
I glance constantly at Cassie, silently making sure I’m doing everything right and asking if I can do more. She reassures me every time, signaling with her hand for me to relax.
It’s only a short walk back to Silver’s, and it goes quickly with how fast Ivy’s moving.
Everyone gets out of our way. One person catches her out of the corner of his eye, takes a single step closer while he takes in the sight, and decides better than to try to speak with us.
We head straight upstairs to Ivy’s room, and I send my spare self back onto the streets. Vince and Lucas are both waiting on her bed. Vince is up the moment the door opens, and passes her rifle to her. She slings her rifle over her shoulder and heads straight to her dresser.
“How’d it go?” Lucas asks.
Ivy just shakes her head and grabs some makeup off the table.
“Did you get what you needed at least?” Vince stands up and takes his place next to Ivy.
“We’ll know soon.” I answer. “Frankenstein just needs to run some tests to make sure this stuff is dangerous.”
“I planned on doing more.” Ivy says. “I panicked.”
Cassie steps forward, forcing her face between Ivy and the mirror.
“Don’t fucking start. You did a good job. Soon as we know if he’s killing people, we march back in there and demand answers, find where he got them.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She leans to the side to begin putting on some kind of makeup. I don’t know even the basics of what she’s doing.
“What if it’s clean?” Lucas asks.
“Then we find more dealers and do this again.” Ivy says. “I know a few, he’s just the most likely to be killing people.” Ivy clenches her fist while she speaks, dreading the idea.
I’m not going to let that happen. I’ll check C-1’s old recordings and build a social web of people Stillson has met with. I’ll track it down myself. Cassie glances at me, her eyes confirming she has the same thoughts. Even if Ivy will see it, I give a small nod in agreement.
It’s a short sprint back to the tower, and I take the elevator up to the hospital. The floor is unrecognizable from Simon’s old lab. Walls have been installed, creating small, individual cubicles for the sick and injured here. Machines hang on every wall, softly beeping and hissing. A few heavily modified enforcers move around in unison, all controlled by Frankenstein.
It took a while for people to begin to trust that our offer of free healthcare isn’t a lie, and has no strings attached. All it took was a few desperate people to brave coming in, and to leave better than they’ve been in years for people to begin to trust us.
Frankenstein himself is waiting for me just when the door opens.
“Blue, it’s good to see you again. I’m glad you could finally make it down to my hospital, I just wish it were under better circumstances.”
Shoot, have I really not visited in person since he got here? I guess not. I’ve looked through my cameras to check up on things of course, but I guess that’s not the same.
“I’ll be sure to come help sometime. Here, does this work?” I hold out the vial for him.
“That’s perfect.” He grabs it from my palm with his organic hand. A quarter of the floor is separate from the rest of the hospital. A dense lab has been set up here, a mixture of devices and tools that Frankenstein bought and Simon’s old belongings. Machines whirr, liquids decant, and solids dissolve on every surface.
Frankenstein puts a syringe into the vial and draws out a small amount. An even portion of it gets put in a few separate containers, and those get loaded into several machines.
“How long will it take?” I ask once again. Even if I know the answer, I feel the need to ask again.
“No more than a few minutes.” He says patiently.
“Ok. Just ping me when you know please.”
“I will.”
I send my body back to the elevator, heading into the basement just in case we need it again, and return my full attention to Ivy. She’s still focused exclusively on her makeup. Cassie has taken a seat next to me, relaxing against the wall.
“Welcome back.” Ivy says only a moment later. I still don’t know how she knows when I’m focused elsewhere. “Was it worth it?”
“We’ll know in a minute.”
Ivy just nods and continues to focus on herself, fixing some imperfection visible only to her eye. Nobody knows what to say, all there is to do is to be here with her.
I get a message from Frankenstein before Ivy completes her makeup.
“I have some bittersweet news. I found the chemical I believe killed your citizens in the vial at concentrations higher than I would expect. With the way it’s reacting to tissue samples, it wouldn’t take much to begin shutting down organs.”
“Shit, ok. Thank you.” I say to him before informing everyone else. “Ivy? It tested positive, in high concentrations. You didn’t help us for nothing.”
“Good.” She corrects one last invisible mistake before pushing herself back and grabbing her rifle. “Let me do the talking. I’ll get us a source.”
“I’ll move some bodies nearby, just in case things go wrong.” I say.
“Be quick.” She leads the way out of the room, and we all rush to follow her.
“Are you sure you should be talking to him now?” I jog forward to walk beside her.
“And what? Let him keep selling that shit?” She closes her eyes for a moment, and her shoulders relax with a deep breath out. “No. No, I need to be the one to make sure this gets taken care of. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”
“She’ll be alright Little Blue.” Vince reassures me.
“You’re not going to change her mind anyway.” Lucas adds.
Cassie gives me an annoyed glance.
“Trust me, I’ve tried.” She says.
“You should really know that by now.” Ivy smiles over her shoulder and continues walking.
It’s just a short, familiar walk back to the building. I’m forced to cut a few conversations with my citizens short to bring my bodies over, hiding just out of sight of the windows and cameras.
“Monary?” I send a message as we go. “Can you make sure the drone swarm is ready for launch? I don’t think it’ll be needed, but just in case.”
“I’ll be prepared.” They respond.
Ivy slides her rifle off her shoulder and catches it with one hand before ascending the stairs. She pounds on the door, all of us just behind her.
A little eyehole slides open, only to close a moment later.
“Doorman’s running.” Cassie s.
“Blue, how many ways out does he have?” Ivy asks.
“A backdoor into a nearby alleyway where I already have two bodies. He also has a secret exit into that building,” I nod to the one next to us, “which has two exits that I also have covered. He also has a bunker hidden in the basement. It’s well hidden, but breaking through the security will be trivial if we need to.”
“Do you have cameras inside?”
“No, I disconnected cameras in private houses. Sorry.”
“It’s alright Little Blue.” Vince reassures me.
“Movement.” Cassie announces, and draws her pistol. I grab mine as well, leaving it in my hands just in case. I’m not going to let anyone get hurt here.
The eyehole slides open once again, the same doorman who looked through the first time has returned.
“What do you want?”
“To come in and talk to Lawrence. He was keen to invite me in a minute ago.” Ivy says loudly.
“Don't play games, Ivy. Stillson is a very busy man, and you are not welcome here with your present company.”
“Look. You sold me stuff that will literally kill me. I just want my money back, and to find out where you got that crap.”
“This conversation is over.” The man reaches up to close the small compartment he's staring through, only to be stopped by Ivy one last time.
“Either you let me in, or I blow open the door and come in. Your choice.”
“Is this how you run things, O queen of the city?” The man asks, venom in his voice. “You show up to intimidate businesses when your crony doesn't get her way?”
“I can give you every arc you have ever made at the expense of someone else. The only reason I haven't kicked you out of my city is because a very close friend sees that turning out poorly.” Kismet’s future sees desperate people lashing out once withdrawal sets in, causing far too much pain in far too many people. Instead, Emma has been working with addicts, trying to get them sober and comfortable before I remove the source of so many of their problems. “I have more bodies than you have bullets. Not to mention the drone swarm I know you've seen. The way I see it, you are actively killing my citizens. So please, go to the bunker in the basement and tell Lawrence Stillson that we can work things out peacefully. I just want to know where he got his tainted Blur, and to test and destroy anything dangerous to my citizens.”
The eyehole slams shut.
“He’s leaving.” Cassie whispers. “There’s a lot of people moving inside.”
“Do you think they’re going to try to fight?” I step out with two bodies hidden nearby, taking position at either side of us, their pistols drawn. I’m not taking risks.
“I can’t tell. They’re moving stuff around, glass is clinking together.”
“They’re hiding their stuff.” Ivy says. “They’ll let us in.”
A woman steps out of the back door, not seeing my body just around the corner. She lifts up a hollowed out concrete slab off the ground, and stashes several vials beneath it before dashing back inside. I don’t step out to grab them yet, there’s still a chance that they’ll hide more in there. Might as well make my job as easy as it can be.
I connect to a display on the floor where the AI live in the tower, displaying myself for all to see. I could directly message Ray, but he really prefers this.
“Ray?” I catch his attention, and he halts his conversation and turns to me professionally. “I’m going to put you in charge of going through a drug den, collecting everything you can and bringing them to Frankenstein to test. All their hiding spots are already uploaded to the network, just wait until my family and I are out before you start. Please, try your best to not disturb anyone, and return whatever Frankenstein determines is safe.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Ray fires off a salute and jumps into the network.
We wait for a tense minute before the lock on the door loudly clicks open. It gets pulled open, and the doorman stands on the other side. He’s a large man with bulky armor hidden beneath a shirt. A heavy pistol sits prominently displayed on his hip, an obvious warning.
He just jerks his head backwards and walks deeper into the building. Ivy follows him, along with all of us, including my two extra bodies.
The inside is depressing. Worn out couches and stained beds fill the rooms. People are a mix of slumped over, dead to the world, shivering in a corner, or walking in circles in their own little worlds.
The floor is covered in debris. Used needles are scattered across the floor, just waiting for one of the shoeless people to step on them.
Armed people flank either side of us as we head inside. Most of them have modifications, and the pucks are still stored inside my original body. As intimidating as they try to be, we’re not in danger.
The doorman leads us up a staircase, revealing an open second floor that’s nearly identical to the first. I need to be doing more to solve this, with Monary working the cameras I didn’t realize how bad things were. These people need help, and I won’t let them be forgotten.
At the end of a short hallway lies a thick set of wooden double doors. The doorman pushes them open and steps through. We follow him in, but I leave my two extra bodies on either side of the door.
Inside is a fine desk with a few vials already sitting on it, with Stillson sitting in a plush chair. A few monitors have been pushed to the side of the desk, giving us a clear view of him. Along the back walls are shelves that have been hastily cleared out. Just a few vials are left disorganized on the shelves. Does he really think hiding the bulk of his supply will work? C-1 could see every square inch of this building, he literally watched them install every single hiding spot.
“Well, Ivy. You got the better of me. Congratulations.” Stillson says. “Blue, allow me to be the first to say that I’m deeply disappointed you don’t trust me enough to come to me directly about this, but you have my full support and I hope I can prove my trustworthiness to you. Please, just tell me how I can help.”
Trustworthiness? After he just hid most of his stock? And I’m sure, conveniently, that the stuff he left out is only the purest, safest stuff. He must think I’m stupid, there’s no other possible answer.
“I need to know who tampered with the Blur. Who did you buy it from? Where did it come from?”
“There’s a man in the north of the city, Mason.” He says simply.
“He’s lying.” Ivy says.
“I would never take such a big risk when working with a new friend.” Stillson says, glaring at Ivy.
“I trust Ivy more than I trust you.” I say. “I’ll find out myself.” I step around his desk. A computer sits on the ground, and I reach down to plug myself in.
In an instant the room explodes into movement. Stillson draws his gun. I begin to raise mine to match him, but before I can even get close to being in danger, Cassie has already launched herself forward over the desk, driving her metal fist directly into his jaw with a sickening crack.
Ivy lashes out at the doorman, hitting him hard in the side, causing him to slump over in pain. Vince traces his fall to the floor with his rifle, his finger on the trigger. Lucas draws both of his guns, covering the door and slinking back into cover.
Stillson yells, his jaw slack, entirely dislocated.
People rush towards the doors, but my two bodies draw their weapons and keep everyone at bay.
“Healthcare is free in the Bastion. I would encourage you to use it.” I say, and plug myself into his computer.
To his credit, he actually has a security system on here. It’s just a shame that C-1 installed a backdoor into it years ago. In an instant I search through his records. Before I took over, he bought everything through C-1’s proxies. Since I stopped flooding the city with drugs though? He’s bought from a few different places. People in the city with stockpiles as well as caravans. Most of his supply can be tracked back to one man, Olson.
Oh. I guess this is partially my fault. With the reduction in drugs being produced, his documents show a shortage of a few specific, hard-to-produce drugs. I can only imagine that lead to people experimenting with ways to stretch their supply, resulting in deaths.
I don’t have to do all of this alone. Ray can handle Olson, and I’ll figure out what do about those suffering from addiction, and how to keep them safe.
“We’re good to go.” I announce over Stillson’s screams.

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Book 5 Chapter 13