Modifying the Contract (Ch4)

[General]

Mike carefully packed his computer and set it in the trunk of his car. As he slammed the trunk he saw Nikki arrive wearing all of her clothing and weapons. “Can you get the garage door so I can pull out?” She nodded as she walked to the door and easily raised the creaky assembly. She wondered why he asked her if she could open it. She had already proven she was strong enough, and she was forced to follow his orders so she couldn’t choose not to. She watched him quietly pull the car out before she lowered the door. It would be obvious to a through search that the building was disturbed, but an open door would indicate their presence from a good distance away.

Mike shifted into gear as Nikki sat down in the passenger seat beside him. He slowly and carefully drove his car back onto the dark paved road and accelerated away into the night. As he drove through the desolate countryside he tried to plan the next move. “Alright the little gun store I know is about an hour from here. With any luck we should reach it by about 3am, and hopefully be gone well before it gets light and anyone comes by.”

Mike looked over and noticed Nikki wore a strange look on her face. He couldn’t see much with just the reflected glow of the instrument panel, but she’d lost the angry scowl from before. She appeared almost confused, “Nikki are you alright? Something bothering you?”

“I am fully functional Master,” Nikki replied tentatively. “However I am a little puzzled by your behavior.”

“How so?” Mike asked as he divided his attention between the road and the android.

“You have the power to command me to serve your will,” Nikki explained, “as you demonstrated before. Yet you asked me to open the door instead of commanding me. Why?”

“I guess…it just felt like the polite thing to do,” Mike stammered. The more he thought about it, he did feel bad commanding her before. Sure she was only an android, but she seemed so real. He knew there was only sophisticated cameras behind her eyes, but he felt there was something more.

“Why do you care about my feelings or my pleasure? It does not make sense Master,” Nikki emphasized the last word to add contrast to her situation.

Mike’s reaction to her last word was very different from before. While he found it erotic in the garage, its sound was now painful to him. He didn’t believe in slavery (even though it had seen a resurgence in recent years), and the idea of a possibly sentient being calling him Master against her will was a reminder of his hypocrisy. “I don’t know why I care,” Mike mumbled. “I find it very hard to consider you just an android. I’m sorry its complicated.” He paused for a moment, “And you don’t have to call me Master anymore.”

“Alright, Mike,” Nikki replied as her attention was diverted away. She noticed a pair of headlights approaching ahead.

“First car I’ve seen since we’ve been on this road,” Mike chuckled, “I was worried we’d wandered off into the Twilight Zone.”

As the car passed by Nikki got a good look at the man driving it. She focused on his face, and something triggered in the back of her mind. She recognized the face but didn’t know from where. She was about to dismiss it when she heard squealing behind them. Her head snapped around to see the large SUV pull a fast 180 on the narrow country road. She focused her vision into the cabin of the pursuing vehicle and stared at the driver. As he drew a pistol, it suddenly popped in her head. He was another Allied assassin, she had a sudden visual memory of this man, half assembled on a table at what she knew was an Allied cybernetics lab. She didn’t know where this memory came from, but it was suddenly crystal clear. “Speed up quickly!” she shouted to Mike.

“What? Why what’s going…” Mike paused as he noticed the fast approaching SUV in his rear view mirror. “Oh shit! OK I’m going, I’m going.” He slammed his foot down on the gas and the little car sped off down the dark, isolated road. “Is that what I think it is?”

“I am not capable of reading your mind,” Nikki said calmly as she unbuckled her seatbelt and readied her P90. “I am sure that it is another Allied assassin.” She stared out the back window and did some quick calculations. “Can you go any faster?”

“Hey it’s a Ford not a Ferrari!” Mike shouted as he negotiated a slight curve. “It was built for efficiency not speed.”

“It will overtake us in less than 90 seconds,” Nikki said calmly. She turned back to the following car and tried to line up a shot. This part of the road was full of slight rolling hills and it was hard to guarantee a hit. Their pursuer didn’t seem to mind missing though as he leaned one hand out the window and started firing.

“Shit!” Mike shouted as he heard the first gun shot. He swerved a little as if to dodge the fire, but it only made the SUV close faster. Nikki was about to return fire when the car jerked. The attacker fired again and this time a round impacted the back fender with a loud pop. She zoomed her vision and quickly identified its gun during the next muzzle flash. It was a Glock 52; .45 ACP with a 10 round clip and one in the pipe. Its range and accuracy was limited at these speeds and ranges, but it did a lot of damage when it hit. She counted three rounds down and eight more to go before he’d have to reload.

Nikki leaned out the window and fired a quick burst from her machine gun. Of the three rounds fired, only one impacted the SUV, and in doing so knocked out a headlight. She frowned at her poor performance, but with both targets moving at this range it was hard to do any better. The attacker fired two more shots which were targeted at her, one went wide but the last one grazed her shoulder. She grunted slightly, checked that the damage was superficial, and continued fighting. She switched to single fire mode and popped off two more shots that were better aimed. The first impacted the radiator, eliminating the possibility of a long pursuit, and the second hit the windshield. The glass broke into a thousand cracks, obscuring the hunter’s vision. He punched out the broken glass, but it caused the vehicle to swerve and lose some ground. It regained its track and now could fire straight through where the windshield once was. The next two shots land squarely in the trunk of the car.

Mike ducks as the shots hit, and the car swerves back and forth, nearly going off the road. “Keep control!” Nikki shouts as she lines up another shot. This one went straight through the android’s shoulder, causing his hand to spasm and fire off three more shots into the surrounding woods. The SUV accelerated, rapidly closing the distance between it and the car. Nikki turned around and saw a long patch of straight, flat road. The attacker could easily catch them during that stretch. She slipped back inside the car and turned to Mike. “Do you trust me?”

“What?!?” Mike shouts, then sees the rapidly approaching headlight behind him. “Umm, yes, yes I trust you!”

Nikki raises her weapon, switching it back to full auto. She holds it out the window with her right hand, then with her left grabs the hand brake. She turns her head to look back at the approaching SUV. “Pull into the left lane….then turn hard right on my mark,” she paused as Mike shifted the car over. “Now!” She quickly jerked the hand brake up just as Mike turned the wheel.

The light car quickly flipped round in a 180 spin that landed it back in the right lane. As the car rotated and slowed it caused the SUV to overtake them at close range. Nikki used the opportunity and unobstructed line of sight to pump 24 shots into the passing vehicle. Shots 1-4 impacted the right front tire, 5 and 6 skipped off the pavement and hit the front left tire, 7-10 went into the radiator and engine, 11-24 were directed right at the hunting android, striking it all over its body.

The android temporarily lost control and the large vehicle jerked suddenly to one side. The front right rim gripped into the road and sent the SUV in a violent barrel roll. Mike brought his car to a screeching halt and looked back to watch the SUV tumble, throwing debris and glass until it finally came to a stop on its roof.

“Holy shit!” Mike gasped as he tried to still his rapidly beating heart. “Nice move there.”

“Thank you,” Nikki says with a little smile. She knew the other android was a more advanced model, but she still had what it took to eliminate him. “Turn around and shine your headlights on the wreck. I’ll take care of it if there’s anything left.” Mike nodded and slowly spun the car around so his lights washed over the wrecked vehicle.

Nikki calmly got out of the car and walked towards the wreck, her weapon steadily pointed forwards. When she was about ten feet from the overturned SUV Mike noticed movement from inside. Nikki stopped and prepared her weapon as the heavily damaged android dragged itself out of the broken passenger window. Most of the synthetic skin and hair on its head was missing, revealing the metal skull structure underneath. Both legs and one arm appeared to be non-functional as it dragged its sparking body forward with one good arm and hand. It looked up at Nikki and raised its hand towards her. She calmly took one step back, then emptied the rest of her ammo into its chest and head. Sparks flew as the shells penetrated the already damaged chassis. The android’s head split open as circuits and other electronic components spilled out over the concrete. A few lingering sparks arced across the chassis before it finally fell silent.

Now feeling safer, Mike got out of the car and walked towards Nikki. She stared down at the destroyed android, and pondered if he was really that different that she was. If chance had fallen a different way, it might be her guts spilled out over the dark road. She looked up at Mike beside her. “We got lucky this time. They will send more next time.” She turned to the wreck. “We should search and see if there is anything salvageable.”

“Good idea,” Mike nodded as he looked around and found a piece of metal debris that looked fairly sturdy. He wrapped a length of separated seatbelt around it to protect his hands then used it to pry open what was left of the android’s chest.

Meanwhile, Nikki picked through the rest of the SUV. She smiled as she found several large, flat cases in the trunk along with a few metal rectangular boxes. She dragged them out onto the street in the lights of the car. She saw Mike digging around in the android, “Mike what are you doing to it?”

Mike twisted his took and then reached into the droid and yanked up on something. A small silver rectangle a little larger than his fist came out. He turned to Nikki with a wide smile as he tossed the device in his hand. “I was checking if he had the same little surprise you did. Bingo, two pounds of C9 military grade high explosive. I thought it may come in handy if we meet any more of your friends.”

Nikki pursed her lips and nodded. It wasn’t something she would have thought of, “Good thinking. I have also found some things that may help our tactical situation.” She lead Mike to the crates. “This one was packing a lot more firepower than I did. These crates contain a Bofors AK5C assault rifle, an FN FAL battle rifle with their accompanying ammunition and magazines. They will be much more useful against security androids, and will eliminate the need to rob that weapons store.”

“Well I guess something good came out of this,” Mike mumbled as he looked around. “Hey we should get the hell out of here. We’re in the middle of nowhere, but I don’t want to be around when someone finds this mess.”

“Agreed,” Nikki stated as she picked up the weapons crates and carried them to store in Mike’s trunk. He followed her and stopped to lean on the car. He suddenly felt dizzy an tired as the adrenalin washed out of his system.

“Can you drive? I think I need a rest,” Mike mumbled.

“Of course,” Nikki replied as she slipped into the driver’s seat and adjusted the car to fit her. Mike collapsed into the passenger’s seat and buckled up as Nikki quickly sped away from the crash. She made several quick turns on various side streets before picking up a country highway and speeding off.

“How did they find us?” Mike asked, breaking the silence.

“I do not know,” Nikki replied honestly, “but I do have a few theories. Do you have an anti-theft tracking system in your car?”

Mike shook his head, “No I never got around to putting one in.”

Nikki nodded, “Do you have any relatives or property in this area?”

“No, my family is scattered around the country, but none are around here,” Mike replied thoughtfully as he tried to come up with his own theories. “And I don’t have any other properties besides my condo.”

“Where do you store your mobile phone records?” Nikki asked.

“You mean the bills? They’re online and should be pretty secure,” Mike said. He closed his eyes for a second as a thought flew around his mind. There was something important but he couldn’t quite think of it. But then an idea hit him, and he snapped his fingers. “Damnit, I just got my contract renewal notice. I left it on my desk and meant to send it in next week.” He paused to think for a moment, “So you think they’re tracking my cell phone signal? That’s pretty advanced, even for Allied. They’d have to hack into the low levels of the AT&T data network. That’s not exactly an easy thing anymore.”

“With the contract you don’t need anything that complicated,” Nikki explained. “From that piece of paper they got your phone number, account number and the customer service number. They’d just have to call the customer service line and make up some story about losing the phone. The service rep could pull your exact coordinates from the embedded GPS system. If they called when we were stopped they’d have a good fixed position.”

“How do you know they’d do that? It seems like too low tech of a solution for Allied,” Mike mused.

“It’s what I would do,” Nikki replied with a grin. “Never underestimate the power of social engineering. You can confirm it easily. Just call your provider and ask if anyone called for a GPS trace. They normally keep records of all customer interaction. Just tell them to disable the GPS trace ability.”

“I’ll do that,” Mike said as he retrieved his phone and dialed a few numbers. Ten minutes later he closed the call and angrily shoved the phone in his pocket. “You nailed it. Someone called in, with my voice pattern, and claimed I accidently swapped my bag with someone else and I needed to track down not only my phone but an engagement ring that was also in the bag. That’s pretty creative.”

“Yes, the normal response from customer service would be to just deactivate the phone until they could confirm the caller’s identity,” Nikki explained. “But the ring gave a logical reason why you’d need the exact location of the bag right now.”

“Very crafty,” Mike mumbled as he looked out the window. Slowly he turned back to face Nikki; a frown drawn across his face. “If you know this could happen, why didn’t you warn me about it?”

“You didn’t ask,” Nikki said plainly. “You stressed that you were in charge of the mission and I was to obey your orders. You made it very clear with the woman in the garage that I was not to act independently.”

“I just didn’t think you should kill innocent people,” Mike explained. “But I do want your input and for your to exercise some initiative. Just as long as that doesn’t include killing people.” He paused for a second as he considered his next words. “And I’m sorry I have to command you like this. I would remove my override orders but I’m afraid you’d revert to your old program and kill me.”

“That is an accurate assumption. I would be compelled to kill you,” Nikki explained. “but I do appreciate your concern.” The car remained silent for some time before she spoke up again. “Now that we don’t have to rob that gun store, where should we go? If you want my advise, I would recommend some place remote, defensible, and not tied to you through any official or unofficial paperwork.”

“I do want your advise, and I think I have an idea,” Mike said as he leaned forward to manipulate the center console of the car. He brought up the built in navigation system and punched in a location in rural West Virginia. “One of my old buddies from college bought a cabin up in the mountains here. It’s very isolated, with only a few roads or approachable paths. I’ve been out there a few times since we graduated, and it should suit us quite well. My buddy’s out of the country until next year so it’s definitely empty.”

Nikki tapped a few commands into the console, “The default route will put us on easily monitored freeways. I’ve adjusted to use roads that are far less likely to be monitored. ETA is in 16 hours and 32 minutes.”

“That’s a long drive,” Mike groaned.

“Indeed,” Nikki replied. “We should also think about obtaining a different vehicle. It may be tracked and the bullet holes will attract unwanted law enforcement attention.”

“Good point,” Mike nodded as he stifled a yawn. “There aren’t any dealerships open now so I hope you’re not suggesting we steal a car.”

“No, grand theft auto would attract too much attention,” Nikki explained. “We should purchase a car from a secondary or private seller. But you are correct, we will have to wait until morning.” Mike blinked slowly as fatigue started to overtake him. “You should get some rest. Your reaction to another attack will be severely hampered without sufficient sleep.”

“You’re right,” Mike yawned, as he reclined his seat and quickly passed out.

Nikki drove silently for almost an hour before she looked over at her sleeping master/target. She didn’t feel the same powerful hate towards him as before. Mere hours ago, killing him was her whole purpose in existing. She absolutely had to kill him and could hardly think of anything else. She was an addict and his blood was her drug.

Now her feelings had changed. She still felt the need to kill Mike, but it was different; more subdued. His death was no longer a drug, but was closer to cool drink on a hot summer day. She didn’t hate him anymore, she couldn’t even say that she disliked him. After all, he was considerate of her feelings; as far as she could remember he was the only human that ever did that. She’d almost feel bad if somehow she was able to escape his commands and kill him. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the road as the car sped off into the dark night.

[DollSpace]

Another great chapter. I love the interaction between Nikki and Mike, and how her programming is adapting and the lines between programs and reality become more and more blurred. I look forward to reading more of this!

[TW]

VERY good. I'm greatly enjoying this series! Keep it up!