Etemenanki – Chapter 2

They reached the end of the horizontal line and transferred to one of the many verticle tubes that lined the outer wall. Things shifted slightly as the pod went from speeding ahead to driving upwards, taking them ever upwards towards ICE’s offices in the upper-mid section of the city.

Every time they passed a shunt in the line, a wall of air seemed to break against the pod. That was Rainlin’s theory as to why they kept hearing a thumping noise whenever they passed one. It had become a rhythm, steady as his heartbeat, providing a certain cadence to their journey.

And given that there was no music or on board entertainment system, he was pleased for the noise. It ensured that in the absence of conversation, they had something to prevent an awkward silence. Despite his agreeing to come, he was absolutely committed to avoiding any inane chit chat with his former superior. Then again, he realized, if he did go back to being an Iceman, Calvin would be his superior once more.

That thought joined a slew of others in condemning him for his recent actions. Once again, every instinct he had told him he was making a mistake, the same instincts that told him not to get in when the pod reached them on the terminus platform. And yet he did, pushed or pulled by the undeniable force that made him ask what was so important he had to be called on to come back in the first place.

“So what does your job entail?” Calvin said after a few minutes. Rainlin groaned inwardly that the silence had been so short.

 He shrugged before answering.

“You pretty much covered it back in the arbor.”

“Really?” he said incredulously. “It’s as easy as watching people’s homes and monitoring their accounts for unwanted activity?”

Rainlin sighed. Apparently, they were going to be conversing about what he had been doing since leaving the service. “Not so simple as all that. It’s mainly the job of a consultant to advise Spire folk about potential risks and apprise them of their options.”

“So… you help them shop around for systems and security people?”

Rainlin nodded. “Yes, that’s about it. And to answer your next question; yes, they do pay me for that privilege.”

Calvin hummed thoughtfully again. It was generally what he did before preparing to make a sarcastic remark, or ask something that would inevitably lead to sarcasm.

“So how does living up there compare to life in the Commons?”

Rainlin was forced to consider that. People rarely asked, they just assumed. There was plenty of public domain info to go by for those who never made the trip, and the Babel vids certainly made it look opulent. It seemed that every week, some visionary or another was producing a vid about life in some corner of the estates, as entertainment for those who only knew of it by reputation. What could he say that a little private research or endless hours of footage could not?

“It’s bright,” he said. “Just about every surface is transparent or bright white.”

“Really?” said Calvin, though he didn’t look surprised. “I had heard as much.”

That was the last of his questions. For the remainder of the ride, neither of them said a thing. When they reached the desired level, the car shifted again, taking them back towards the center of the city and to ICE’s private dock. They shifted only once to a side-line, avoiding a series of larger public cars that were taking assorted personnel away from the other offices that resided in the upper-middle section. Rainlin heard a loud pop outside the car as they whooshed from the crowded main tunnel to the private alternate one.

And then, they began to slow. The sound of air and their own motors coming to a gentle, whining halt. The door opened, admitting the outside air and filling the cabin with the stink of fear, anger and officiousness. The true smell of a public sector building.

“We’re here,” said Calvin, standing by the door. Rainlin still needed a moment to bring himself to leave the podcar. Once he stepped out, he knew he’d be in Calvin’s custody for the next few hours. Such a decision could not be made lightly.

“I’m coming,” he said with a sigh. He paused in the doorway one last time, and then stepped onto the platform.

“There, that wasn’t so hard. And trust me, you’ll be most interested to see what I’ve seen in just the last few hours.”

“Oh yeah?” said Rainlin, hoping to get a preview. “Like what?”

“Like a central AI that does not report anomalous entries in the Census data. Like Intruders that seem to know there way around ENIS and other internal systems. Like the failure of our own technical services, and outsiders with technical qualifications.”

Rainlin’s eyebrow arched involuntarily. Yes, he had to admit, that was interesting.

They came to the front doors of the ICE building and stepped into a small foyer. The virtual interface appeared in front of them, presenting the company logo and creating a small box of multicolored light directly in front of their chests. A computerized voice came on to give instructions in a discernably female contralto.

“Identification please.”

Calving held out his hand. The holographic nexus beeped, chimed and turned green. The voice came on again, sounding remarkably chipper.

“Assistant Director Calvin Borga.”

He looked over at Rainlin and nodded. “Go ahead, I arranged for temporary clearance.”

Rainlin placed his hand, palm out into the box. It turned green and the voice returned, this time sounding more neutral.

“Michael Rainlin. Guest pass confirmed. Note that your privileges are limited to omega-level access and will be revoked if any violations occur.”

“Pleasant girl,” he said with a nod.

“She gets a bit antsy around people she doesn’t know.”

Great, Rainlin thought. A security system with the temperament of a guard dog.

*                     *                    *

The door slid open, admitting them to the heart of ICE’s Monitoring section. Around a central hub, a single person sat and worked away at a series of virtual terminals and interfacing with a projection screen. Calvin stepped in and promptly introduced Rainlin to the man’s back.

“Rain, I want you to meet the man who proved to be one step ahead of the machinery. Meet Edward Danziginaire.”

“Charmed, I’m sure.”

They approached the man at his terminal, but no reaction was forthcoming. As they neared, Rainlin noticed the wetwire implants around his skull which ran directly into the machinery and nodded. Of course he wasn’t paying them any attention, being jacked into the system as he was. Whatever questions Rainlin had would have to be directed at Calvin for the time being.

“How long as he worked here?”

“Just under two years. Transfer from the Commons MMI research team.”

Rainlin smrked. “Yeah, the test subject maybe.”

Calvin cleared his throat and leaned in close. “Actually, he was a team leader. And he can hear you, despite all appearances.”

This was one of the many reasons he had chosen not to follow in the footsteps of the venerated Octavio, which was the sheer fanaticism some of their ilk showed towards their craft. To hear them speak of it, they were extremely dedicated, but borderline obsessive was the choice of words Rainlin would use. But at least they were not hypocrites, always using the fruits of their own labors instead of just passing them onto others.

“So how exactly did he best the machinery?”

Calvin snapped his fingers. “I think I’ll let him explain that.” They walked to the Commoner’s side, who promptly stopped typing on the interface as soon as they flanked him. “How is it, Danzig?”

The man’s head twitched sideways, the cables joined to his skull jiggling slighty. “Turing has been most forthcoming. She has provided me with all the details of her oversight, ID’s on all the known Intruders and their last known locations.”

“Has she explained her failure?”

“No, sir. But I didn’t ask.”

“Why not?”

“I thought you might like to. And since she’s not suffering from any overt technical glitches, I thought it ought to prove entertaining.”

Calvin smiled and looked to Rainlin. He couldn’t have asked for a better set of circumstances. Rainlin smiled too, suspecting that this was all arranged for the sake of providing him with a better show.

Reaching over to the terminal, Calvin hit a series of keys. The image of a digital face, quite cybernetic in appearance, resolved in front of them. It might have been Rainlin’s imagination, but it appeared to be somewhat nervous.

“Good morning, Turing. How have you and Danzig been getting along?”

“Quite well,” the computerized voice said. “I’ve been relaying all the information that I can, hoping to assist in the endeavor of correcting for this latest intrusion into our fair city. Shall I provide you with a full profile of the individuals in question, as constructed from their activities and outward behavioral characteristics?”

“Not yet, Turing,” Calvin replied, pressing his hands together. “For the moment, let us focus on how you came to know of these people in the first instance.”

The image blinked, a clear indication that it was processing, and replied. “It was a simple matter of noticing that their IDents did not accord to any known entries in my Census Archive. For weeks, they had using these IDents to procure information and basic supplies from ENIS and the dispensaries on the Base level. They appeared to be legitimate, but my system began to note the discrepancy before long.”

Calvin hummed affirmatively a few times. “And now let’s discuss why you didn’t report these individuals when you had the chance.”

The image blinked again. This time, it appeared to be the mark of hesitation, the result of the program’s limited emotional construct which made it behavior ever so slightly… human.

“I was… concerned,” it said. “The incongruity could only mean that one or more systems were malfunctioning in the lower level. Either that, or the malfunction was on my end, within my census information. I endeavored to look more closely before making a report.”

“And what did you find?”

“I determined their was no error within my Census data, not unless it was a cascading error which had removed not only the ID’s in question, but any and all records of their existence. However, the more likely scenario was that the malfunction was in the Base level, specifically with it’s IDent recognition and response systems.”

“Could this have been the result of tampering with the local IRR?”

The image blinked for the third time. “Yes, however, that was a tertiary consideration on my part.”

Calvin nodded. “I see, I see. So… why didn’t you report this after making that determination?”

“Simply put, I was… concerned that the revelation of this news might lead to extreme measures being taken. AI’s that commit such errors have a way of being scoured. I was relieved to learn that the I was not responsible for the error, but did  not want my counterpart in IRR to suffer the same fate. You could say, I endeavored to correct it myself.”

“So basically, you covered your ass because you were afraid you’d get a colleague in trouble.” Calvin shook his head, even chuckled a little. “You see what we’ve come to deal with here? They did warn us that an emotional matrix might become slightly buggy after a few years time. I guess we all just always assumed we’d notice right away.”

“You know what they say about assumptions,” replied Rainlin.

Calvin laughed and slapped Danzig on the shoulder. “And it was our friend here who, during a regular maintenance sweep, detected the errors and traced them back to their source. Were it not for him, we would have never been aware of your failure, Turing.”

“Wow,” added Rainlin. “Score one for human oversight.”

The image darkened a little, its facial features forming the basic outline of a frown. In its limited way, it must have known it was being mocked, and didn’t appear to appreciate it too much.

“And do you know what the greatest irony in this is, Turing? By hoping to avoid a scouring, you’ve made one seem all the more necessary.”

“Sir, I have cooperated fully. I can be of greater assistance, and can assure you that no such errors will ever happen again.”

“Thank you, Turing. But I think we can handle things from here. We’ll see you again once you’ve been wiped and thoroughly cleaned.”

“Sir, I-” the programs desperate please were cut off as Calvin made a chopping gesture at his neck, prompting Danzig to terminate the interface. The face disappeared with what was surely a look of terror in its blank white eyes.

“Good job, Danzig. Begin running diagnostics and make sure no traces of that conversation remain in his memory banks. We have enough to deal with right now without worrying about an AI with hurt feelings.”

“Right sir.” Danzig went back to tapping away at the virtual terminal. Calvin turned to Rainlin and smiled curtly.

“So… multiple intrusions on the Base level, people who have successfully been hiding for months, and a system that let them get away with it up until now…” The smile grew. “Interested yet?”

Rainlin cleared his throat. He tried his best to maintain the veneer of indifference, as futile as it was at this point. “You said something about them trying to get more people in place. How do you know that?”

Calvin smiled again. It was fast becoming an annoying habit of his, always suggesting that he knew more than he was letting on. “How do you think?”

Rainlin frowned. “Well, the only way you could know what they were planning was if you heard it from their mouths. Either you’ve got a mole amongst them already or…” he paused, the full weight of the second likelihood hitting him full on. “…you had access to communications passing between them and…”

Calvin was beaming now. “Go on, say it.”

“Their network… you said they had a large one. Is it operating outside the city?”

Calvin brought his hands together several times, making a loud, patronizing clapping noise. “The prodigal agent returns. Yes indeed, we did get wind of their plans from some external communiques. And I have the records… if you want to hear them?”

Rainlin looked in the direction of the door. He sensed where they might be headed next.

“Your office?”

Calvin gestured formally to the door. “Indeed. Care for one last ride?”

Rainlin grumbled. “Why not? I came this far.”