He thought she understood, as she hadn’t brought it up since that night, but he stil felt faintly uneasy about it. What if she was already with child? He wasn’t sure how he would handle that outcome.
One problem at a time, he told himself.
In the distance, he could see a change on the horizon, a long blue streak that probably signaled their approach to the ocean. They had almost crossed the island, and if Karen was correct, they would need to head north along the coast to find the River Orwel, which led where her aunt lived.
A silent message from Karen interrupted his thoughts, You don’t seem to be having as many problems as you did the first time you were in my world.
I was using aythar faster than I could replace it before, he told her. This time I have Desacus close by.
Are dragons the source of aythar? she asked.
No, he replied. They actually don’t even produce aythar like a normal living creature does, but my father stored a vast amount of aythar in them. I can draw upon it when needed.
Like a battery, she commented.
The concept was a perfect analogy. Exactly, he agreed. What is your aunt like?
Karen shrugged, I don’t know her very well. She visited us a few times when I was younger and she always sends me birthday cards. I
think she’s probably a sweet lady, and no matter what else, she’s family.
The underlying subtext of her thoughts registered clearly; she wouldn’t betray them.
***
Director Aiseman sighed as a beep signaled the impending arrival of Dr. Miler. Seconds later she appeared, sitting across from him on the
other side of his desk.
“It’s clear that the targets did indeed escape before the strike in Colorado,” she began without preamble.
He leaned his elbows on the desktop and put his hands together in front of his chin, “Our men damaged a lot of military hardware making
certain they couldn’t leave before the munitions arrived.”
“And now she’s in southern England,” stated Dr. Miler, pressing her red lips together in a firm line. “I almost made contact with her. Any idea where she is now?”
“Our drones were destroyed right after we cut off the terminal she was using…,” began the director.
Tanya Miler leaned forward, her smooth features twisting in anger, “The terminal your agency shut down before I could get through to speak with her. Idiots!”
Aiseman leaned back, controling his temper, “I deemed it too great a risk. She was passing information and instructions to a third party AGI.
There’s no teling what that thing might do. We have to isolate her if we are going to capture her.”
“Your chances would be a lot better if I had had the opportunity to speak with her, Director. The girl trusts me. I am her mother, after al. Next time you will wait for my order before making a move like that.”
Director Aiseman could feel the blood vessel on one side of his face begin to twitch, “As I said before, Dr. Miler, there was an unknown AGI involved…”
Dr. Miler cut him off once again, “It was probably that hideous effigy of himself that Gary made. It’s harmless. What you did was pointless, the equivalent of taking a dol away from a child, but now you’ve made her even more paranoid.”
“Your pardon, Dr. Miler, but your husband was one of the top scientists involved in the ANSIS project, and a highly respected researcher.
We have no idea what that piece of code he left behind might be capable of.”
Tanya leaned forward, “From this point forward, Director , you would do better to worry about what I am capable of, if you like your post, that is. Am I understood?”
Her words struck him like a slap, but he kept his composure, “Perfectly, Doctor.”
“Good. Now, what do we know about their current location?”
“Satelite image analysis shows them somewhere close to Rochester. They don’t show up on every shot, and it’s difficult even for the image ASI to pick them out but we’re confident that they’re heading northward. You have family in Ipswich,” reported Aiseman.
“Gary’s sister, Roberta,” said Tanya. “She was always backward, unwiling to adapt. She was one of the last to get implants.”
Director Aiseman looked worried, “If they make contact with her, we’l have their position, but Ipswich is densely populated. We can’t risk a major use of force there.”
“If the situation requires it, we wil do whatever is necessary, Director. Australia was no accident. This isn’t a game.” Tanya Miler leaned back in her chair. “For now, the risk seems smaler than I initialy thought since we found no evidence of infection in Colorado. You can tap into Roberta’s implants, correct?”
Aiseman nodded.
“Then we’l observe for now. We may learn something. If we discover reason for concern, we wil move with decisive force in Ipswich, if not, we can wait until they leave the city. I’m starting to think it might be useful to bring Karen in alive, if possible.”
“That should be a relief for you, then,” commented Aiseman.
Tanya frowned, “Why?”
“She is your daughter, after al.”
Dr. Miler’s lip curled, “She’s a failed experiment, Director, nothing more.” She paused and then added, “Or perhaps not, it may be that she has begun to develop.”
Donald Aiseman suppressed a faint shudder at the coldness in her tone. Whatever Karen Miler was, he felt sorry for her. No one should have such a monster for a mother.
Tanya ignored his discomfort, “Inform me when they make contact, or if the situation changes, until then keep the drones away. We’l rely on more passive means of surveilance to avoid tipping our hand.”
***
“That’s Ipswich ahead,” said Karen.
“Are you sure?” asked Matt.
She nodded, “There aren’t any other populated areas left in this region. Can you make Desacus invisible?”
He wasn’t familiar with several of the words she used, Explain.
Can you hide the dragon, make him invisible? she asked mentaly, repeating her question.
Matthew shook his head, No, only the Prathions have that gift.
I guess it was too much to hope for. We will have to leave him here then, to avoid creating a panic.
I can disguise him, suggested Matthew, make him look like something else.
Camouflage?
An illusion, he told her, agreeing with the basic idea. I just need an image of something close to his size that people would find normal.
He nodded, A drone would be too small.
A pert, she told him. We use them to move around and carry things. It’s like a flying car.
Matthew could see an image in her thoughts, but it was indistinct. Mental images were usualy like that, especialy in the minds of people who weren’t mages. Wizards were taught to sharpen their mental images, and long practice made it easier, but most people had no need for such
exercises.
“Think of it,” he told her. “I’l create a visual and try to improve it until you think it looks right.”
Folowing what he could see in her thoughts he started with a grey rectangle that tapered on either end. The corners and edges were rounded, and various lines marked the places where separate pieces connected, denoting doors and windows. It had four circular protuberances at each corner, and gradualy he came to understand that those were fans of some sort.
Karen watched what he was doing with interest, and she was able to refine her mental picture as she looked at it. His ilusion improved with each passing moment, reflecting her revisions. “It’s better,” she told him, “but it stil doesn’t look quite right.”
She continued adjusting her mental picture, but it was like trying to sculpt a car from wet clay. She realized she had never realy examined her pert that closely before. She could point to any given part and tel it wasn’t quite right, but some of her changes only made it worse.
It look
ed like a child’s painting of a pert.
Abruptly the image stopped changing, and its lines sharpened. The surface smoothed and became more realistic, though it stil wasn’t right.
“That wasn’t me,” Karen stated.
“I know,” said Matthew, his lips forming a faint smirk. “It wasn’t getting any better so I decided to fix it.”
His patronizing tone irritated her, “It stil isn’t correct.”
“At least it looks solid,” he remarked, and then climbed up on Desacus’s back. Leaning over he held out a hand to help her up. “If we see one when we fly over I can improve it.”
Grudgingly she puled herself up with the aid of his proffered arm. She refrained from responding to his comment. The clumsy image of the pert moved sideways and settled around Desacus. It was partialy transparent from within, so they could see out with their normal vision. It didn’t impair magesight at al, but magesight didn’t have the necessary range one would desire while flying, especialy in her world.
“My tail and wings are sticking out,” observed the dragon.
Matthew nodded, and the ilusion expanded until it was large enough to cover him completely. “Noted.”
“Now it’s too large,” said Karen.
In the air distances are subject to observer bias, explained Matthew. As long as we are not too close, the viewer will account for the size by thinking we are closer than we actually are.
Once in the air, Desacus flew at a much higher altitude than what they had been traveling at, though it was stil far from what he considered high.
They were only around two thousand feet up. Karen assured him it was the proper height for a pert over the city, though.
There wasn’t much traffic over Ipswich, but as soon as they spotted another pert Matthew directed his dragon to fly toward it. The ilusion around Desacus improved steadily as they approached, and by the time they passed the other vehicle, at a distance of several hundred feet, Karen could tel their ilusion was close to perfect. It didn’t waver afterward either, Matthew’s mental reproduction of what he had seen was rock solid.
How do you make it so perfect? she asked him.
The Prathions are generally the most skilled with illusions, he told her, but I do have the advantage of an infallible memory.
That didn’t reconcile wel with what she had been taught concerning the brain. True photographic memory is a myth, she replied. No one has perfect recall.
I do, he answered. You would too, if you had a seedmind like the children of the She’Har.
Is that how you do it? she asked.
No, I am not of the She’Har. I just inherited one of their gifts, and their knowledge, he explained. My memory seems to be a side effect of that.
They passed one or two more perts as they made their way to the central portion of Ipswich and descended into a strange open area with
rectangular lines drawn across a smooth stone-like surface.
“Land inside one of the parking spots,” Karen advised him.
He assumed she meant one of the rectangles. As they dropped lower he decreased the size of his ilusion gradualy. Inevitably there were a few moments where Desacus’s wings and tail extended beyond the boundary, but once they were on the ground he folded them and curled up to fit
within the ilusion. Matthew doubted anyone had noticed the brief discrepancy.
“Where are al the people?” he asked Karen. There were several other perts parked in the lot, but the streets and buildings seemed empty.
Occasionaly a pert or drone would fly by, however.
She shrugged, “At home, people don’t get out much anymore. Ooh, there’s someone.” She pointed down the smooth blacktopped road where
a figure had rounded the corner.
Matthew raised his staff defensively and created a shield when he saw the mechanical creature, assuming it was one of the strange soldiers he had fought before, but Karen put a hand on his shoulder.
“Slow down, cowboy. It’s just a regular person,” she whispered in his ear. They were stil standing beside Desacus, enclosed within the ilusion of the pert, so there was no danger the machine had spotted them.
Matt gave her an odd stare, “That is not a person.”
“It’s an android,” she stated. When that didn’t help she switched to mental communication, An android, a robot that looks like a person.
As I said, he responded, it isn’t a person.
She shook her head, Yes, it is. People who have been uploaded occasionally use them to interact in the physical world. It might even be an organic who just doesn’t want to leave the house. Either way, it’s a person. I’m going to go talk to her.
How do you know it’s a her?
It’s wearing a summer dress, so it’s either a woman or someone who prefers to be identified as such. After being uploaded gender is
sort of a moot point anyway, she replied.
There was an awkward moment as she squeezed around the dragon to slip out of the ilusion on the opposite side. Matthew had never seen a
pert’s doors opening and closing before so it was better to exit on the side the android couldn’t observe. Before she stepped out he touched her shoulder and sent a fine thread of aythar outward as he mouthed a strange word. Her skin changed color, hiding her unusual blue tone.
“Stay here,” she told him, then she walked around the dragon and headed for the android.
As she had pointed out it was wearing a lovely floral print dress. She could tel the android was one of the newer models, for while it was stil obviously a machine it moved fluidly and its surface was covered with an almost lifelike surface in a natural beige tone.
Matt watched and listened carefuly. Karen approached the man-shaped thing almost thirty yards distant, but his dragon enhanced hearing was more than adequate to pick up what they were saying.
“Helo,” began Karen.
The machine had focused on her as she approached, and it smiled at her greeting, “Helo.”
“I need directions, if you don’t mind?”
The android’s face developed a look of faint concern that was close to a normal human expression, but the subtle differences only succeeded in making Matt’s skin crawl. Its voice was feminine as it replied, “Are your implants malfunctioning? There’s a medical facility not far from here, if you need assistance…”
Karen waved her offer away, “No, I don’t have implants. It’s a medical condition. I have to use a PM, but I lost it. I need to find the office of a friend here in the city.”
The female android’s mouth opened in an ‘o’ of surprise, and her features showed something like pity, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize. I didn’t mean any offense. Which office are you looking for, I’l be glad to look it up.”
Karen looked embarrassed, “I don’t know the name of the office, but I’m looking for Roberta Plant, an estate agent who works in Ipswich.”
The android paused for only a second before responding, “She works for Nicholas Estates. Their branch office is in the Building Society
building on Hening .” The machine added an address that meant little to Matthew.
“I’m not familiar with the city,” said Karen. “Which way should we head?”
“East. The A14 is just south of here, folow it across the Orwel Bridge and then look for Nacton road. Go left from that intersection and you’re almost there,” answered the android. After a second it stuck out its hand, “I’m April, by the way.”
“Karen,” she said and took its hand. “Sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. Thank you for your help.”
Matthew gave her an odd look when she returned, “Is your aunt like that too?”
She laughed, “Oh no, I doubt it. Aunt Roberta isn’t convinced that uploading is a good thing, yet. She did finaly get implants, but I’d be very surprised if she ever uses telepresence.”
“Telepresence?”
Karen tried to explain mentaly, Androids like that can be used by those who are
uploaded, to operate in the physical world, but some
organics with implants also use them when they would rather not leave the house. The person I was talking to could be a normal person
at home, or it could be a fully digital person.
Matthew was even more confused, What’s the difference?
Someone who is uploaded would likely be using the android directly, transferring their core into the machine, whereas someone with
implants would be using it remotely. She struggled to find a good analogy. It’s like the difference between riding a horse and becoming a horse when you need to go somewhere.
“Oh,” said Matthew at last. The concept was foreign, but he thought he understood the gist of it—maybe.
Chapter 17
When they finaly stepped into the office, they were greeted by another android, though this one was dressed in clothes that Karen assured him were masculine in nature. The machine had a helpful nametag on his chest that said ‘Andrew’.
“Can I help you?” asked the android, giving them both an up and down look as he appraised their strange clothing.
“I’m here to see Roberta Plant. Is she in?” asked Karen.
Matthew was busy studying the plethora of strange objects that adorned the interior of the building. The floor was covered in a strange rug that seemed to stretch from wal to wal. He wondered how they managed to clean it since it was almost immaculate, and yet there was no obvious way that he could see for the inhabitants to remove it for cleaning.
The furniture in the room was equaly bizarre. Some of it was constructed from wood, but other pieces were made of metal or smooth glass-
like materials. Al of it was exceedingly plain. Everything was constructed with perfect lines, smooth and unmarred by wear and tear, but it also lacked much in the way of carving or other decoration.
The wals were a stark white with no sign of any blemish or imperfection. Beneath the surface he could detect some sort of oddly uniform
blocks made of a stony material, but they were covered with a material that reminded him somewhat of plaster, although it was clearly different.