Modifying the Contract (Ch1)

[General]

In the near future technology has expanded to allow free and open communication between all the people of the world. National boundaries blur as humanity advances and mix cultures, genetics, and ideas. Large multinational corporations rise up to satisfy the growing global need for goods and services. These companies become more powerful than some nation states and effectively exist above the law. But on the upside they introduce amazing new technologies to the average consumer.

Mike Kugel lived in the one of the outer neighborhoods of New York that was once a lazy beach town on the Jersey Shore but became a large metropolis. He worked as a computer engineer for Oteral Industries, a mid sized corporation with a niche in high end electronics. He was a very productive employee and very close to a breakthrough in personal computing that will make all mainstream processors obsolete overnight. Unfortunately for Mike, Allied Industries, a much larger company and his former employer isn't about to give up their market share to some upstart kid.

On a late Friday night, Mike as usual was working alone in his dark apartment. He was so close to a breakthrough that he could taste it. When he was like this, he found it much more productive to stay home than head into the office. He had peace and quiet and all the equipment he needed to do the job, but no other people to get in the way. His boss was flexible enough to let him do whatever her thought was best, which was a big change from his first job at Allied Industries. While it was a larger company with better pay, it was rigid and uncompromising in its environment. Oteral was a much nicer place to work, and if he could ever get this thing to work the stock options would more than make up for lost base salary.

Mike tapped away on his keys as the glow from his monitor illuminated his face and cast strange shadows about the sparsely furnished but large apartment. Behind the tireless engineer stood an array of large plate glass windows that offered a view of the nearby skyscrapers and the crashing waves on the beach. His fingers stopped their dance for a moment, as he shifted his head. Normally his apartment was dead quiet, what with the excellent sound insulation, but he thought he heard a scraping noise. “Shit. Infinite technology, nearly infinite rental rates, and they still can’t keep mice out.”

Cracking his neck as he stretched his body, Mike rolled his chair back and stood up for the first time in hours. The glowing screen casts light out across his body, illuminating his pale skin, short brown hair and well trimmed goatee. He wore an old black tshirt and jeans with no socks on his bare feet. He kept himself in good shape, not entirely sure why. He had long ago abandoned romance for his career and it wasn’t like toned arms impressed anyone at a staff meeting anyway. At the very least, his exercise routine was a forced mechanism to get him away from the desk for more than five minutes.

Mike grabbed a mug from his desk and walked across the dimly lit apartment to the kitchen. His gaze drifted out a window to the ground thirty stores below as he washed the cold, stale coffee from the mug and laid it in the dishwasher. Even from this height he could see the crowds of partiers and tourists as they drifted from bars to clubs and back. Part of him was jealous for a moment until he remembered how uncomfortable he normally felt when he tried to be part of ‘the scene’. He shook his head a bit and made another quick cup of coffee before returning to his desk.

Unknown to Mike, a figure hung silently from the side of his building just under his bedroom window. The scraping sound he heard earlier was the cutting of glass in a large circle. The figure saw Mike approach and it became completely still until it saw him return to his computer. Ever so slowly it attached an adhesive handle to the scored glass, and with a quick and violent snap of its wrist popped the glass free. The disk of glass was pushed into the apartment and laid silently on the carpet. The figure then followed the disk with the grace of a ballerina as it came to rest inside his bedroom. It smoothly removed the suction cup, climbing devices on its elbows and knees and laid them on the nearby bed along with a small, form fitting backpack. Remaining crouched, it slipped through the open door and into the living room.

Mike immediately returned to his work and only paused to take a sip of the hot coffee. He winced a little at the fowl taste; it wouldn’t win any awards but it would give him the energy to put in another five or six hours of work. He set the mug down when he smelled something besides the aroma of cheap coffee. It took a moment but he soon placed it as a sea breeze, which wasn’t uncommon only a few blocks from the beach. What was uncommon was the smell inside a fully climate controlled apartment with windows that wouldn’t open.

A million thoughts ran through Mike’s mind as he tried to develop a theory for the smell. Did a window break, or maybe his AC was malfunctioning? He closed his eyes for a second and when they opened he caught a shape in the reflection of his monitor. His eyes locked on the form as it ever so slowly moved across his living room. His heart rate spiked as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation. Instantly he remembered a conversation he had with his old boss at Allied a few weeks ago. They got wind of his immanent breakthrough and tried to woo him back into their employ; even offering to double his salary. When he refused his boss told him that “Nobody ever walks away from Allied for long.” He originally thought the old guy was being cocky, but it could have easily been a threat.

Mike knew Allied was shady, which was one of the reasons he left, but he didn’t think they would stoop this far; sending someone into his home to kidnap him, or worse. His eyes darted to the main door, which was only thirty feet or so from his desk. It would take him at least a few seconds to run there, get the door unlocked and escape into the hall. More than enough time for his attacker to pull a gun if it carried one. He needed a distraction if he had any hope of a successful escape.

Mike started rapidly banging away on his computer as he brainstormed ideas. Suddenly he thought to scan for any wireless devices in his apartment that he didn’t recognize. He was sure whomever managed to scale the building and enter his apartment wouldn’t be dumb enough to leave his ringer on, but maybe he could stimulate the phone and make the attacker pull back to answer it. That would provide more than enough time to bug out. He knew it wasn’t a great idea but it was all he could think up as he saw the figure slowly advance towards him.

Mike smiled as his scan turned up an unrecognized device. His first job at Allied was in their wireless communications division so it would be short work to identify the device and hack together a quick message to create a false call. In seconds he had the signal patter up on his screen and frowned deeply. He recognized the pattern, but it wasn’t a phone it was the signal from an android. Specifically a 5970 series wireless adapter. This was good news and bad news for him. On the bad side, it meant the shadow was an android, so its reaction speeds and strengths were way beyond him. He might have a chance overpowering a human, but against a droid he’d be easily defeated. However, the reason he easily recognized the 5970 pattern was because he spent a lot of time on the device while at Allied. It was a flawed card; while very reliable and capable of great range, the encryption algorithm had a major defect. Instead of the normal hundreds of billions of combinations, the encryption co-processor limited the signal to a little more than 4 million possible numbers.

This flaw was significant because by law, every android was required to have a manual motor shutdown code. Unique to each unit, it would allow a user to manually stop all motor functions of a droid in case it started to malfunction. Mike smiled as he realized that maybe he did have hope. If he could broadcast the right combination, he’d stop the attacker cold in its tracks, but it would take time. His hands flew over the keyboard as he drafted a quick brute force attack program. He watched as the shadow slowly and steadily crept towards him. It must think he was still working and unaware or it would have pressed the attack.

In moments, Mike’s program was ready to run, but he realized the android would be aware of the attack as soon as it happened. It might suspect his computer and possibly disable it before the right combination could be hit. Once again his fingers flew over the keyboard as he pushed his program down into almost every wireless device in the house, from his router to the printer, to the damn coffee pot; they’d all start bursting attacks on his command.

Numbers ran though his head of his chances. Even with all the devices hitting at the same time, it would take nearly twelve seconds to try every combination. It was too long, but time was running out and he had no other option ready. He saw the figure stand up behind him, only a few feet away now and not hiding itself any longer.

The android slowly pulled a long knife from a scabbard on its forearm. It could have shot Mike a few minutes ago from across the room, but it had specific instructions to kill the target in a graphic and horrific manner. He was to be an example to anyone else that might leave Allied for greener pastures elsewhere. It calculated its attack and planed to shove the blade into his lower back to sever the spinal cord and prevent escape. It would then slowly slice and pull him apart, leaving parts of him all over the apartment but keeping him alive as long as possible.

Mike took a deep breath and reached with one hand for his coffee mug, and the other hand for the mouse. His quads tensed as he prepared his attack. With one movement he kicked off his program and tossed the cup of steaming coffee over his shoulder. A split second later he launched himself towards the front door with all the strength in his legs. In his mind he saw himself sailing through the air and sliding down the hallway like he was in some John Woo movie, but in reality he flew a few feet before crashing roughly on the carpet with a thud.

The android was about to strike when suddenly its systems detected a massive barrage of network traffic. It was enough to occupy its processors for a split second so it didn’t see the sailing cup of coffee. The mug and its hot contents struck it right in the face; which would normally incapacitate a human. Unfortunately for Mike, the temperature and impact of the mug did nothing but the contents did cloud its optical sensors. The android raised its arm and wiped the liquid from its face. It blinked several times to clear its vision but saw the target had moved. It looked left, then right and smirked as it detected Mike sprawled out on the ground. It took one step forward and flipped the knife in its hand for a powerful downward thrust.

Mike rolled over in time to see the machine turn towards him and ready its blade. He tried to scramble but his feet slipped on the now coffee soaked carpet. He could see its face now, a surprisingly feminine face, as she smiled at him. “Good try meatbag, but not good enough,” she purred as she smiled widely, exposing her perfectly white teeth. She pulled back her arm to strike and suddenly froze.

[Sthurmovik]

Cool general, I look forward to more.

[Bart]

Great start. I smell another General masterpiece. Can't wait!

[DollSpace]

This is very interesting, and very good. I look forward to reading more!