Born of Silicon-Book 5 Chapter 14

Born of Silicon-Book 5 Chapter 14

Everyone stacks up by the door, their weapons drawn.
I move one of the bodies I left behind down to the entrance and unlock the front door, not caring about the many guns pointed at my head. I move the bodies I have stored around and step inside. The small crowd heads back upstairs and takes position around the door.
I yell out with one of the bodies.
“We’re going to walk out of here. Anyone who fires will die, I can promise you that. Stillson is fine, although injured due to attacking us. Please, nobody else has to get hurt.”
The people who lower their weapons are few and far between. It’ll have to be enough.
“It should be safe outside, but there are a lot of armed people. I have many bodies to protect us with on standby.”
“Thanks Little Blue.” Vince says, and glances between everyone else. “Let’s get this over with.”
Cassie pushes the door open and is the first out. My bodies surround us as we walk down the stairs and out of the door. It’s just a few tense seconds to move to safety, directly staring down each and every person with their gun drawn.
We all rush out of the front door, and don’t hesitate to keep heading back towards Silver’s. I get work done as we walk.
“Ray? You’re good to start taking everything back to get it tested. And after you’re done, head over to Olson’s building and do the same thing. Everything you need to know is already uploaded to the network.”
“Yes Ma’am.” All of our bodies break off and re-enter the building.
Ivy doesn’t wait to get back home before breaking the silence.
“Where are we heading next?” She asks.
“Just home.” I answer quickly. “Ray is dealing with the rest.”
Cassie slips her hand into mine and squeezes tight. I squeeze back with just as much force, thankful she used her metal arm.
“You sound stressed.” Lucas points out.
“I- yeah. I just need to figure out what to do.” I answer.
I oversee Ray’s work while I walk. He’s quick and efficient, doing his best to follow my orders and not disturb anyone. His bodies work in pairs, one collecting vials, pills, and patches, and the other with their weapons drawn offering cover.
We make it back home before Ray finishes, and find ourselves back in our living room. Ivy takes her spot on the couch, but keeps her rifle on her. Vince sits next to her, being her rock. Cassie, Lucas and I take our seats as well.
“Ivy?” I break the silence. “Are you feeling alright enough to give me advice?”
“Sure.” She nods casually.
“This whole thing is partially my fault. Most drugs were manufactured by C-1 directly, and I put an end to that. I thought I was helping people, but…”
“But all you did was reduce the amount of pure stuff out there.” She finishes my thought.
“Yeah. What should I do? How do I help people?”
“First, what are you already doing?” She asks.
“Emma is working with as many people as she can, talking to them both alone, and creating support groups. We’re also trying to help with the source of their addictions, healing or mitigating chronic injuries they’re trying to self-medicate for, and helping with mental illnesses when we can.”
“That’s good, but what are you doing for the people who don’t want to get better?”
I don’t have a response for that. I never considered the possibility.
“You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.” Ivy says, sharing a glance with Vince. “It’s painful, but it’s true. You can’t force people to get better, you can’t force people to be happy, you can’t force people to do what’s best for them.”
“Then what can I do?”
“Make sure they stay alive and hope they come back to reality.” She answers. “You’re not going to like it, but start producing again. Make it as safe as you can, and get Frankenstein to administer as close to a safe dose as possible. Offer to test drugs, replace anything that’s been cut. Replace people’s needles, you don’t want to know all the crap you can get from sharing used ones.” She slightly winces from some old memory. “Keep doing what you’re doing of course, but all that in addition? It’ll be a good start.”
It feels like a failure, admitting that I can’t just make all of their problems go away. It has to be better than doing nothing though. Ivy certainly knows more than I do about this, I can trust that she has people's best interests at heart.
“I’ll ask if Sprout and Frankenstein are willing to help with that.”
“If they’re not, tell me. I’ll talk to them.”
I reach into my server and gently poke Frankenstein and Sprout. Both of them turn their attention to me, while still doing their jobs. I pass them Ivy’s argument along with everything I’ve done today, letting it speak for itself.
Sprout is the first to respond. I’m not actually sure what kind of AI they are, but they churn through all the data almost instantly.
“I came here to grow food, not produce anything that will harm people.” They say.
“I’ll grow it if you’re not comfortable with it.” I say.
“No, you’ll just end up wasting nutrients and water. I’ll do it if Frankenstein thinks it’s a good idea, but I’m not happy about it.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but it does put me in an awkward position.” Frankenstein says. He stays quiet for a few long seconds, although his processors stay ramped up. “I’ll need close cooperation from both Emma and you, Blue. I want to ensure we are only helping addicts, not enabling the creation of more. I want every person vetted and approved by me personally, and for the ability to cancel this project if I believe it is detrimental to the health of the city.” He goes quiet, but his processors make it clear he’s not done yet. “As for drug testing and the needle exchange, I am much more comfortable with those, and in fact was considering suggesting the latter. Cutting down on bloodborne diseases would help make my life easier. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
“Thank you, both of you. You’ll have whatever you need, Frankenstein. I promise.” I give him access to the drives hosting information about every person who lives in the city. He’ll be able to access the history of every known drug user, to make informed decisions.
“I do want Ray involved in this, however. I do not want people to water down what I create and exchange it for more. Abuse is a distinct possibility that we need to be aware of, and do everything we can to avoid it.”
“Use him and Monary however you think is best. Just keep me aware of whatever you do please.”
“Of course.” He promises. “And thank you for putting your trust in me.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Thank you for being here and helping. How long will it be for you to produce your first batch?”
“I can grow the precursors for Blur in four days.” Sprout says.
“And then it is a seventeen hour production chain to get it to a final form. In the meantime, purity tests can begin immediately.”
“So five days, thank you. I’ll make an announcement here soon.” I disconnect from the two of them, leaving them to contact Ray and Monary and work out the details amongst themselves. All that’s left to do is to pass designs for new needles to S-21, an AI who fell in love with our manufacturing plant, and I can give my attention and the good news to Ivy. “Your ideas will be partially implemented today, and fully in place in five days. Sorry it’ll take so long.”
Ivy just rolls her eyes at me and smiles.
“What?” I ask.
“Five days is fast.” She says. “It’s just crazy being able to say something and have it happen almost instantly, to actually fix this place.”
“Do you think there’s anything else that needs to change?” I ask.
“Plenty, but one thing at a time.”
“Ok, we’ll talk about it soon. I need to make an announcement first.” I sit back and let my eyes slide shut. I ping Ray, asking if he’s prepared for me to make an announcement. We’ve done this enough times that I don’t even have to give him the specifics.
“Yes Ma’am.” He responds back with his standard response.
“You want to run it past us this time?” Cassie asks, pulling my attention back to my room.
“No.” I answer. “No, I don’t want to plan out a speech.”
“Make sure it’s not a big bullet this time.” She reaches out, placing a comforting hand on mine.
“It’s not.” I take control of the screens spread throughout the city. They become a part of me, and their speakers become my mouth. I inhabit the entire city once again. “Hello everyone, I have some unfortunate news. Three people have died, and I feel partially responsible for their deaths. I should have been aware of it, but missed the fact that tainted drugs have begun circulating that have been cut with a dangerous substance. The three deaths were due to only Blur, but I’m certain that whoever is responsible won’t hesitate to use the substance to stretch other drugs as well. I hope I’ve earned your trust at this point that you will believe what I say. At the Bastion, free testing will be available to ensure whatever you are taking is safe, legal or not. We won’t take anything, we won’t confiscate anything, and you will not be in trouble. I just want you to be safe, all of you. In a week, after we start producing materials that are guaranteed to be pure, we will be offering to replace anything you bring to us, once again, legal or not. Please, everyone, stay safe.” I leave the city and leave the rest to Ray, focusing only on answering people’s questions, and my family.
“Do you need to take care of stuff?” Vince asks.
“Just questions. If you want to continue your story, I’d love to listen.”
“Alright, just let me know when you need to do something.”

Book 5 Chapter 14