Gavin finished telling his tale to Sorsa, who had been following intently at every word. Kella was also riveted by his story, and wondered how it must be for such a man to be imprisoned in a cold, unfeeling metal shell. Kella had picked up a few new details of Gavin’s life from the story. She had been surprised originally to learn that Gavin had taken part in the Krix war, but even more so to realize that he’d actually stood toe-to-toe with the insectoid species on several planets in an attempt to drive them back. He’d fought on the front lines, and what’s more, he survived. She also guessed that it was then that Gavin and Sorsa had become acquainted, because for all of Gavin’s bluster, and Sorsa’s cold business sense, the two were fast friends, and had been for some time.
“So you see my predicament,” Gavin finished after his tale was told.
“Yes, but you don’t, my friend,” Sorsa said lighting a Tellian Torch and inhaling deeply.
“What don’t I see?” Gavin said, almost impatiently.
“That your situation is worse than you realize. Gav, you may not fully understand what I’m about to say, but you are unique, my friend,” Sorsa said, exhaling slowly.
“I thought that was obvious,” Gavin said disgruntled.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean. You are a singular case. But, the uniqueness stems from the fact that you are not an AI. Or a VI. There is no wetware that creates your situation. There are no AI-VI-Human hybrids anywhere in all of known space, except for you. You are one of a kind, my friend. If that be the case, there may not be anyone who could undo what was done to you, except for who put you in there originally.”
“No,” Gavin said angrily, the drone lifting off the chair it had been propped against and spinning around in evident frustration. “There must be someone. I was not the only person fooling around with human to VI wetware.”
“True, you were not,” Sorsa conceded. “But my friend, you were the only one who ever got close to succeeding at such a thing. and obviously the unscrupulous individual who deposited you into the plane as the AI Core, even more so. Your research in this field outstrips all others. But my friend, since you cannot turn to that man, and if you cannot free yourself from that tin can, you may be stuck. The others that I know of were nowhere near the level of complexity that would be required to substitute the consciousness of a man into machine. To say nothing of pulling the man back out again.”
“I refuse to believe that Sors. I will not, cannot believe that I am permanently stuck as the brain for that behemoth. My body is still on-board, Sorsa. She’s seen it! I’ve seen it! If it’s still there, there must be a way to pull me out of it! Stick my consciousness back into my own skull! I know there must be a way!”
Kella watched Gavin float around in his frustration, unable to even express himself normally. Her heart went out to the man, and it surprised her that it did so. Normally she didn’t care for the fates of others, but this man, it was an awful fate, made more so by whom he was. What would anybody do in Gavin’s position? Kella had a suspicion that most would have driven themselves crazy by this point. It was through the man’s sheer willpower and skill that he’d made it this far as it was. Again, she was surprised at her own emotions. Mere hours ago, she’d wanted nothing more than to eject him and move on, even if she had only thought him to be an AI. He’d been an obstacle. Now, things were different, and that troubled her.
“Enough, I need to take a walk,” Gavin said suddenly as the remote shut down and fell to the floor.
Kella stood up in alarm. “Gavin?”
“Pay him no mind, my dear,” Sorsa said taking a deep pull on his torch again. “It’s something he does when he’s losing. During the Krix War, we’d often play a game of strategy called chaross, perhaps you’ve played it yourself? No? No matter. We played it during boot and during transport to our next battlefield. I would manage to get the man within one move of victory and he’d stomp off, just like so. When he came back in, he’d be different, composed, and I would always lose, just shy of victory. It was his gift, you could say. I only managed to beat him once. So pay him no mind. He will come back with a plan of action.
“Meanwhile, my dear,” Sorsa said as he stood up from his cushioned chair and examined one of his weapons cases. “Perhaps I could ask you a personal question? If you don’t mind?”
Kella was taken off guard, not entirely sure what the man could possibly want to know. Her past was sordid, but not very exciting. “I don’t mind,” she said finally.
“I hope you don’t find me rude, but I really need to know. For his sake,” Sorsa started, motioning to the dark drone on the floor. “How committed are you?”
“I’m sorry?” Kella asked, confused.
Sorsa let out a sigh and began to pace around the rich carpet in front of the fireplace. “We fought in many battles against the Krix, he and I,” Sorsa began. “Always losing. Always running. From one planet to the next, always falling back, as position after position fell to those damned bugs. It became so that those you knew vanished, and eventually, you didn’t know anyone. Except for in a few rare cases. Gavin was one of those cases. He’d always manage to survive, and I followed him everywhere. He was a bit of a good luck charm to me. I could always count on him to have my back. But there were also those that you couldn’t count on. Mercenaries were at the top of that hated list.”
Kella stiffened, and a chill went up her spine. She wasn’t entirely sure how the man had discovered she was a Merc, but he had. The question now was, what was he going to do about it?
“Shocked? Don’t be, girl. It wasn’t all that difficult to discern,” Sorsa said pacing behind her chair. The hair at the base of Kella’s neck stood on end. “For instance, the way you move, and how you chose a weapon of function over form. It marks you as someone familiar with combat. But you don’t have the smell or swagger of Military. And your D-Com transmissions are tagged with Deep Wolves logos. I find it very annoying when people send out locator beacons during my meetings.”
Kella’s eyes widened in panic. There was just no way her periodic transmission to Tenner and the Deep Wolves could be detected. Unable to control herself, she pulled her d-com from her belt pouch and flipped the status switch. The signal had been interrupted. Kella heard Sorsa laugh from behind her and knew she was in trouble. When the hell had the man done that? He’d never even touched a d-com!
Sorsa walked back around from behind her to stand in front of the fireplace once more. “I apologize, little Sellsword. I hacked your D-Com while I was listening to Gavin tell his story,” he said holding up his hand revealing what she was shocked to see was a custom interface VI d-com, hidden in his palm, that worked completely with tactile responses. “I don’t like tattle tells. Your motive may be grounded in self-defense, I wouldn’t blame you, but the style reeks of the Wolves. Not one of my favorites, I would say. And that brings me to my point.
“Gavin, like me, has a fundamental distrust of Mercenaries. We were betrayed, time and time again on the battlefield as Mercenaries fled from their positions. So many good men died,” Sorsa trailed off, his eyes seeing something other than the room in front of him, but he quickly regained his focus. “So, it must be something he sees in you to keep you around, something special, I would say. Which makes me wonder if you understand the great amount of trust that he has placed in you?” Sorsa came back to his chair and sat down, his eyes never leaving Kella’s.
Kella did not know how to answer. It hadn’t really occurred to her to think of how far she was going to go. Obviously she had planned to get Gavin out from the plane, and then go her own way, but now? Things had changed. What if Gavin did not get out of the plane? Would she have the heart to sell him off with it? Could she do that? Everything she’d worked for, so much effort, all of her tears, sweat and blood, would it all be for nothing? What would Tenner say when he found out? The Deep Wolves, if they weren’t already, would hunt her to extinction. Sorsa cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him.
“I see,” he said with a sigh. “Before you protest, I can see the wheels spinning in your head, girl. If you must think on that simple question that diligently, then my suggestion would be to pull out of this endeavor of yours. Quickly. Recoup any losses that you can, and move on. Leave Gavin and that plane behind. I can provide you transport to wherever you wish to go.”
“But I promised I would help him,” Kella started to protest.
“Forget it,” Sorsa said coldly. “He’s used to mercenaries breaking promises and he’s used to betrayal. It’s nothing new to him. And I make the suggestion for your sake, not his. Move on while you can. Or, you may end up regretting the path you walk.”
A man entered the room just then and walked silently over to Sorsa and handed him a d-com. Sorsa read the message quickly and then stood up. “If you would excuse me for a moment? There’s something that requires my attention. If Gavin should return before I, ask him to wait until I return. I have a few suggestions for him.” Sorsa walked from the room with the silent man in tow.
Kella sat in her chair, feeling at a loss, and rather miserable. Strangely, she didn’t feel anger. She’d normally be blaming Gavin and the heavens for her awful luck, and bemoaning the loss of an ultimate payday. Instead, all she could think of was what she wanted to do. Sorsa had made her aware of the fact that she was indeed standing at a crossroads, and her decision would lead her in one direction or the other.
Her misery stemmed from the fact that she was agonizing over which path to take, and to her surprise, she realized she’d been agonizing over the same choice since she’d seen the Life Tube. Things didn’t make sense like they used to. It was as if her world had been thrown completely out of whack. At the heart of it all was a man, robbed of his humanity, robbed of everything a person normally took for granted. For some reason, she just couldn’t leave him to the fates. But at the same time, Deep Wolves ‘never leave’. She bowed her head in frustration. She still had no answer.
Hughes was mere steps from the strut. He’d taken it slow and steady since leaving the crates, and had been keen to stay within the deepest shadows. The massive wing had increased the darkness ten-fold and with his slow heal-to-toe walk, he’d maintained almost absolute invisibility. He was five steps out. Now four. Three steps. Two. He breathed a small, silent sigh of relief, and eased open the access panel using the magnetic key he’d been given. With the door open, Hughes inserted the connector to the blackbox. The holo came alive with one line of text.
EXECUTE…Y/N?
Hughes tapped Y and waited.
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