Symbiota Sapiens 20

     "Well, well...what have we here?"

     The voice was distorted, mechanical. The face it came from was blurred

for some reason. But I knew I was seeing none other than the godfather from

before. Julian looked up at the voice, amused recognition on his face.

     "You!" Everything blurred for a moment and then was back to normal.

The godfather was talking some more.

     "You are a most accomplished warrior, young man. Sixty-four second-

stage autonoids in less than five minutes. Very impressive. Oh, I see you've

managed to make use of the facilities to wash the gore from your hands."

     Julian nodded wordlessly. Face tight with tension, keeping his body

facing forward, ready to defend himself.

     "Not talking, hmm? Well that's fine for now. As impressive as you are,

you're only a mortal. Still, I look forward to studying your fighting skills

from the inside, once things have developed properly. Obviously, the programs

running my autonoids could use some improvement."

     "Fuck you."

     "Oh no. Unlike your big brother I'm not really into little boys, you

see. But I see your point. My, but little Jeremey has been quite...productive,

lately! Quite the little war of the worlds you've got going on inside

you. I suppose the sex probably wasn't bad either was it? Incest is best?"

     Julian looked about to tell him to fuck off, thought better of it and

just shut his mouth, his lips compressing into a thin angry line.

     The godfather came forward, standing just in front of Julian, his

blurred face tipped downwards to study him.

     "Interesting improvisations. Based on the default caretaker model of

course...only adapted for actual drone-to-drone combat. Hmm. I don't think

anyone's ever done this before. Whole new field, I think. I'll definitely

want to study this."

     A hand shot out and closed around Julians neck, pinning him to the wall

with his feet dangling.

     "Just a bit of a sample, I think."

     There was a flash of metal and blood welled from the side of Julian's

neck. A finger dipped into it and disappeared in the blur...obviously going

into the godfather's mouth. He released his grip and Julian fell to the floor,

rolling instinctively into a corner where he huddled in a defensive crouch.

     The godfather ignored him, sucking on his finger and tipping his head

to the side as if in thought.

     "Hmm, programming is altered too. Very good, not the standard stuff

from an unguided AI...I suppose he must have some programming experience I'm

not aware of. Quite proficient, even. And...wait, what's this?"

     He wheeled on Julian. Julian tensed, waiting for another attack.

     "I don't suppose you could enlighten me as to this little virus I just

found in your blood?"

     Julian said nothing, just watching him warily. There was another flash

of metal and Julian's head snapped backwards as if struck.

     "Come now. The virus. What is it?" The godfather snapped, impatient.

     Julian, dazed, shook his head in confusion.

     "What...virus?"

     "Yes. Virus. In your blood." The godfather ground out.

     "I...they said the caretakers would...I'm not...sick?" Julian protested.

     "Hmm. Good question." The godfather tipped his head again, considering.

"Looks like the Caretakers were programmed to specifically avoid this virus."

     "But...that doesn't make any sense!" Julian sputtered. I could see his

mind racing to catch up to the situation.

     "No it doesn't." The godfather agreed, grimly. He watched Julian carefully

as he struggled to make sense of the situation.

     "You know nothing of this." It was a statement, not a question.

     Julian looked up, and suddenly his face shuttered into expressionlessness.

He clearly wasn't going to help the enemy figure it out, even if he wanted to

know too.

     The godfather considered him for a moment, then spun and exited the room,

closing a heavy steel door behind himself.

     "Fuck. I hope you can hear me Jer, cuz for once in my life I am really

fucking scared here." Julian muttered under his breath.

     He sat on the bed - it was the only fixture in the room besides a toilet

and a sink. He pulled his knees to his chest, his face clouding over with thought.

     "Virus. What the...what does he mean by a virus? Why would you give me

a virus dammit?" He shivered and reached to pull the blanket around his bare

shoulders. He put a hand to his neck and found it still bleeding a bit.

     Blood. With good caretakers and bad caretakers fighting in it, like some

microscopic epic battle to heal him or turn him into a puppet, some soulless

killing machine. And now, he'd found out about the virus, too. He shivered

again, obviously not just because his only clothes were the jeans he'd pulled

on earlier.

     The door slammed open again and the godfather stormed in.

     "Fucking little bastard! I should have known you're useless. Mortals.

Pawns. Always little pawns, not even any good as bait!"

     He looked at Julian with disgust and, with another metalic flash Julian

was struck hard, falling backwards against the wall behind his bed. Another

flash and Julian let out a sharp cry as something struck him on the chest,

and a red line of blood appeared across it.

     What the hell was that? I should be able to tell what was hitting him

each time, more than just a flash of metal - what was preventing me from seeing?

     Julian wedge a knee between the bed and the wall and shoved it outwards,

ducking behind it to cover as much of his body as he could.

     A muffled voice sounded from the doorway. Female. I couldn't hear the

word she said. Perhaps it was a name? Why couldn't I hear?

     He spun around and the owner of the voice stepped into the room. A woman.

She appeared to be in her twenties. Long dark-brown hair spilled halfway down

her back, strong cheekbones framed beautiful emerald eyes. Pouty lips twisted

in horror as she looked down at a half-naked Julian crouching, bloodied, behind

the bed.

     "This is disgraceful! What is wrong with you, why are you doing this!"

she demanded angrily.

     "You were not meant to see this my love. Please, go back to our quarters.

I'll be with you as soon as I'm finished here."

     "Go back? So you can finish torturing the boy?" Her eyes flashed dangerously.

     "Love, it was necessary. There is information I need to extract." The

godfather said patiently.

     "Oh, by-all-that-is-holy, can't you see he doesn't know anything? Look

at the boy! Look at him!" she insisted.

     "He is carrying valuable information." he said stubbornly.

     "Is he older than he looks?" she asked.

     "No. He is mortal."

     "Then he's barely even an adult. How is he involved in this?"

     "His brother, newly made. I had hoped to force him to...well...you know

it kills me a little every time you leave me. Every time you let yourself age..."

     "I know." She relented. "And I know you mean to give me a beautiful gift."

     "You would be free. We could...you would be able to choose to be with me

without...other considerations." he said softly.

     "You still don't believe in it, do you," she said sadly, "after hundreds

of years you're still afraid that I'm using you. That I'm..."

     "That you could be just like me. It's exactly what I would deserve." He

said shortly.

     "But this! You know I don't approve of this!" She gestured at Julian.

"Yes, you would be giving me a precious gift. But you'd be taking it from

someone else!"

     "I'm not like you." He said quietly. "You're not selfish, you would

never do something like this. But. You deserve it. Of all people, you do. If

for no other reason, because of the fact that you would never approve of taking

it for yourself. But I am willing to do things you wouldn't be willing to do,

to make sure of it."

     "It's still wrong." She said firmly.

     "I'm not always a good person. You know that."

     She was quiet for a moment. He paused, and turned back towards Julian.

     "No." She said suddenly.

     "What?"

     "There's still no reason for even you to mistreat the lad. He doesn't

have what you want. He's an innocent."

     "His brother-"

     "Will trade for the lad. But you won't beat him in the meantime."

     "But that's it. I don't think it's the boy he wants. The boy has information,

kept in his blood."

     "I don't understand."

     "It's a virus of sorts. It's DNA is encoded with information. A lot of

it."

     "So the boy is a pawn."

     "Might not really be his brother, even. I haven't been able to find out

his original identity as a mortal. He might not even have a brother. Damn him,

I've been outmaneuvered."

     "Well, at the least, you can find out who this one is, right?"

     "Oh. You're right, I can." The godfather tipped his head to the side

for a moment. "Hmm, perhaps I was too hasty. Maybe they are brothers. This is

Julian Barrows, according to dental records. And he has an older brother named

Jeremey. Live together, disappeared at the same time. Older brother was his

guardian since parents died four years ago. University photos...yes, it's the

same pair."

     "So. Not a set up. And you didn't have to hurt him to find out."

     "No. But there is still the virus."

     "Can't you decode it?"

     "It would take a...substantial devotion of processing capabilities. I'd

basically have to devote all resources to it for several minutes. During which

I would be quite vulnerable."

     "That long? I thought your AI was essentially limitless!"

     "So is the AI that encrypted this." he said dryly.

     "And you think this boy knows how to decrypt it?"

     "No." he admitted. "He seems unaware of the virus."

     "So. You either decode it, or suffer in ignorance."

     "You're right. I was simply angry."

     "Are you going to decode it?"

     "Not here. His brother knows where we are."

     Julian, who had sat shrunk down behind the bed inobtrusively listening

to all this, suddenly sat up.

     "What?" he and the woman said at the same time.

     The godfather looked over at Julian.

     "I knew of the sensor in your stomach the moment I walked into the room."

     There was a long silence.

     "So. He would have tracked the moving of his brother here?"

     "No. He was in a shielded helicopter. But this is a satalite uplink

design. Another interesting design. Combines mortal and Esseren technologies

seamlessly. It would have uplinked as they moved him from the helicopter into

the house."

     "So we have to leave."

     "Yes. No doubt he will want to observe the situation here before making

a rescue attempt. And I don't know if he'll be recruiting help. We'll move to

the house in [muffled]...as soon as we finish here."

     "If you knew about the bug..." Julian started to ask, then stopped in

understanding. "You're leaving a message."

     "Exactly. Your brother needed to know something. To witness it for

himself."

     "What?"

     "This."

     There was a blur of metal, this time the blurry area staying still

enough that I could see that it wasn't due to speed of movement. The recording

had been edited to conceal things. Like the godfather's name. And...what exactly

was piercing Julian in the center of his chest, pumping something into him.

Caretakers, obviously. The sensors confirmed it. The little robots spread out

from the end of the...thing...exploring the insides of Julian's wildly beating

heart and choosing their path outward towards his brain.

     I could see them, through the sensor. Billions of them. They overwhelmed

my own Caretakers in a swarm, moving on to accelerate the construction of the

implant at the base of Julian's skull. The extended stalemate was over,

without resistance, the battleground had turned once again into a hive of

activity.

     The blur retracted and Julian staggered. A few of the godfather's

caretakers quickly moved to seal the spurting hole in his chest. The

godfather towered over where Julian was sprawled on the floor. He

seized Julian by the throat and forced him to swallow something, pinching

his nose. Julian coughed and sputtered.

     "I have him completely in my grasp now. I know about the virus. I will

soon know what secrets it contains. I have both your secrets and your brother.

If you value either, you will comply with my wishes."

     The godfather paused as Julian suddenly lurched to his hands and knees,

and started to retch explosively onto the floor in front of him. He stepped

away from the mess and continued, calmly.

     "You heard me. No more assaults. No more clever little ploys to get

out of our little deal. You've made your play, you lost. Now we play by my

rules. Last chance."

     The sensor came out in a spew of bile, rolling sideways. The godfather

carefully plucked it up, speaking to it.

     "Understand?"