The taste of the coffee was stale and strong, quite normal for the part of the city she was visiting. A business area, it's clients and employees all having artificial taste buds or similar, running their standard programs and routines all day long.
She had never figured out why they tolerated it. It was so obviously fake, all the objects and consumables around them being made of fake material and artificial substances. Nothing seemed natural or true, as far as she could see. Everything felt disgusting and false.
“Sorry about that,” her colleague, who had brought the coffee, said when he noticed her disgusted grimace. “It was all I could find around these parts. Not exactly the best place for natural products.”
“Don’t worry about it, Eringham. I wasn’t expecting anything more when I heard where we were going. Western Frankfurt is not known for its coffee.”
“You've got a point, although I did think that such a gigantic financial city would have freshly made coffee and not this kind of artificial crap. They get foreign visitors too but some of them don't have artificial parts... I wonder how they handle it. Poor sods, they can only smile and nod while they get ripped off by the salesmen.”
“Well, just be happy you don’t have to stay here for long.” She threw the plastic mug into a trashcan and shuddered. The cold November wind blowing among the tall buildings made her black hair fly wildly and only added to the discomfort. “We observe the target, report and get out. You can complain to the Colonel when we get back.”
“Complain? Me? No way, Anja. I don’t remember signing any discharge contracts,” Eringham said and continued to watch the entrance of Solice Enterprises. They had been watching it for about two hours, standing out in the cold making sure they didn't miss their target when he arrived.
“Suit yourself then," Anja said and peered up into the sky. Grey clouds drifted at a relaxed pace above the tall skyscrapers obstructing the view from below. They were mostly made out of pure hardened glass, which made them more futuristic-looking than one would first imagine, reflecting each other in a weird mix of reality and a mirror world
A black SUV pulled up in front of Solice Enterprises, escorted by two smaller sedans, and a man with authority radiating from his figure stepped out of it. He wore an expensive looking suit, one that only a handful of people could afford. Usually they were reserved for CEOs or people high up the food-chain.
"Think that's our guy?" Eringham asked.
Anja magnified her internal macro view and zoomed in on the man they were observing. Another program initiated itself and scanned the man's face features with pinpoint laser. Her artificial eyes and the implants they were connected to were the only thing she had allowed herself to modify on her own body. She didn’t want to go hardcore like certain others
"Yep, that's him," she said when the program finished with the scanning. "Identification reference checks out."
“He's a fat bastard then,” Eringham said while grinning. As Anja had noted on several occasions, Eringham took pleasure in insulting higher authorities or corporate managers. She had not yet figured out whether it came with his ideology, if he held a personal grudge, or both.
“That’s what you become when you run a large corporation such as Solice. He probably eats half a cow every morning.”
Anja noticed one of the fat man’s guards whispering something in his ear. The guard's face remained void of emotion, as expected when dealing with professionals. Suddenly, the director's eyes widened. He said something to the guard with a look of panic on his face. Anja's heart flipped. The lead guard signaled the others, causing several of them to scatter and disappear amongst the parked cars on the street.
“What's happening? Where did they go?“ Eringham asked and switched through several vision modes with an audible digital ping on his mini-binoculars. “I can’t see them on infrared anymore.”
“I don’t know. You don’t think they are on to us, do you?” Anja said with doubt lingering in her voice. We couldn't possibly have been compromised this soon. Only a few select people knew of the operation.
“Nah, it's not possible.”
Anja nodded slowly, wanting to believe it, and focused on the director. She flinched immediately when he came into view, staring directly at her with a wide grin on his face. The guards suddenly appeared only a few meters away from them. They carried custom armor and anti-movement weapons. Without any doubt, they were coming for them.
“Shit! Abort the mission, retreat!”
Eringham and Anja split up as the protocol directed. If both of them were captured, it increased the chances of the enemy getting information. Splitting up increased their chance of escape. It had been pounded into their heads several times, and was the most important thing they remembered from training. Capture meant they ran the risk of compromising the entire resistance network. The ISG had their ways to force information out of their prisoners.
She earned herself a glance backwards before she took the first corner into the backalleys. Two of the guards were coming after her while the other three raced after Eringham, who had already disappeared in-between the buildings.
Apart from their custom armor, a black and plated light-weight external suit, Anja also noticed the guards wore artificial vision enhancers and boosted muscle structures, perfect for bodyguard duties. Images of previous escapes popped into her head and experience told her they would never catch up. The external suits made them too heavy and clumsy to navigate efficiently. They were only efficient in close combat and Anja had no intentions to engage them in that.
She ran through the alley labyrinth covering the streets of western Frankfurt. It was extremely clean compared to other places, but a few people still roamed in front of her. Most of these people were former employees or homeless people who didn’t know where to go. The ISG were certainly going to clean them up before the end of the week; having people strolling about without a purpose shamed the image of the successful metropolis that Frankfurt was.
The guards following her were losing speed as they ran into a few of the strollers, throwing the people in their path up against walls or just running into them without any intention to dodge or even earning them a glance back. She knew well of the pain of getting ribs broken and she felt bad for those caught in her escape. Innocent people thrown out of the system had no rights in this world.
She rounded another corner and entered Westmanch Street, where the car they planned to escape with was parked. They had coordinated their escape routes with outmost precision and Eringham had planned to arrive at the same time she did.
The car stood fifty meters to her right, a white Audi with a few extra gadgets thanks to her supervisors, but she didn’t see Eringham coming from the other direction. She had already hesitated for long enough and began to run towards it, hoping he would arrive within a few seconds. He had never gotten caught before and she was sure he would not be caught on this occasion.
The Audi’s doors opened automatically when she was twenty meters away from it. Its engine roared of satisfaction from being started, feeling Anja’s presence to get ready. At the same time, Eringham came into view in front of her, coat flapping in the wind draft and the three guards only a few meters behind him. All three of the guards showed signs of tiredness and running out of stamina. The suits they wore were heavy and it brought them down further. Eringham, in contrast, looked like he was taking an afternoon jog.
She reached the car well before he did, her followers just coming out of the alley they had chased her through, and jumped in on the left side that was facing the street. The door shut automatically, but the door on the right side remained open, expecting Eringham’s arrival as the programming predicted. She could see him through the front window clearly, only ten meters away. Their escape plan had worked flawlessly so far.
Her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest, adrenalin still pumping through her as if it was on fire. They were almost there now. The mission had failed but they still had their lives. They had avoided capture; that would have been a complete failure, but now they could just try again later.
Drawing early conclusions was not Anja's specialty, but when an heavily armored truck suddenly smashed into the car with high speed, her world was thrown into turmoil. She took the brunt of the impact in the side facing the door. Pain fired up her back, while the car continued its ride into the adjacent wall where it stayed, pressed against it by the truck's sheer mass. The sudden halt made her flop back to her original position, but her mind was enclosed in dizziness and confusion. The metallic taste of blood entered her mouth and she felt something flowing down her head and circulating around her ear. The car's interior was a complete mess of broken metal and entangled wires sticking out from the crushed dashboard.
She tried to move her right arm but couldn’t, no matter how much she pulled. The pain had spread into her neck, rippling down the entirety of her spine in spasm. She couldn’t tilt her head enough to see what was blocking her hand. Her vision was getting darker and blurrier but she forced herself to stay awake. The implants inside her head made their best attempts to circumnavigate her brain’s orders to shut down, keeping her conscious despite the pain and bloodloss. It was a dangerous thing to do; if she manipulated the nerve signals too much she ran the risk of killing herself instead due to the pressure on her brain. She had only done it twice before and considered it only as a last resort.
Despite the implants' hard work, the voices being shouted outside the vehicle were getting fainter and less audible. It wasn’t Eringham or anyone else she knew. They had the tone of unified strength and authority, and she felt some recognition in it. She had heard such voices before, but her mind was slipping away too far, her memories being suppressed by pain.
A few seconds later, she faded into unconsciousness.
*
The neural cables connected to Anja's brain produced an itchy sensation right under the back of her neck. The physicist conducting the installment of the A.I had told her it was routine and that it wasn't unusual for certain patients to experience discomfort, but it didn't help her nervousness. It was enough having something stuck to her brain but even worse when someone interacted with it.
"I've read about this in our database, but I really don't see the necessity of it," she commented while the physicist made sure her restraints was secure. The mere existence of restraints made her paranoid and it caused her heart to beat faster.
"Well, besides boosting your implants and visual enhancers, it will also function as a partner and scout. It can detect enemies within a twenty meter radius, deliver status reports and communicate with HQ directly," he said and turned to face her. "It's a real honor to be selected for one of these. They are really expensive and rare to get a hold of."
Anja grimaced without an attempt to hide her annoyance and sighed. "Even so, I'm against putting artificial constructs capable of thinking in my head. The implants I can at least control."
"Ah, might that be a fear of lack of control I'm hearing? Don't worry about that, they have fail-safe protocols and emergency shutdowns."
"If you need fail-safes and a panic button, it doesn't sound good to my ears."
The physicist laughed and shook his head. "You have a strong stand against it, but there is no need to worry. I assure you that it is perfectly safe. This A.I is connected through a vital link in your brain. If you die, it dies with you. It cannot connect to anything outside you unless you tell it to. All information it absorbs is stored in a database located at HQ, so none of the information gathered by the AI will be lost if the host dies."
"So I'm just a throw-away soldier now? Running to my death to gather information for the cause?"
"It does sound a little suspicious doesn't it?" the physicist said as he made a few calibrations on his console. He left the comment hanging in the air, which didn't help Anja calm down at all.
"When you say partner," she asked after a moment's pause, "do you mean it can talk and such? Can it make its own decisions and help in other areas as well?"
"Yes. It's very similar to a human in that regard, except its virtual body is projected from your retinas. It's your personal partner; you will be able to choose a name, voice and other characteristics after the install is complete. No one else has control of it, besides HQ's ability to destroy it of course, and only you can see it or communicate with it."
"That's very nice for infiltration purpose, isn't it?"
He nodded and placed his hands behind the console where Anja couldn't see properly. "It is. However, any proficient scanner can pick the signals up with ease so it isn't preferable.
I think it's time for the primary installment. Relax your mind and close your eyes. This will be over in a few minutes."
The chair Anja was sitting in reclined itself backwards on the physicist's command and let her relax more easily. She closed her eyes, letting the darkness take her in. It felt welcoming this time, almost comforting.
"Starting the process now."
Colors bright as the sun attacked her mind and she flinched out of surprise. The restraints on the chair impeded her sudden movement, but instead a strong feeling of paralysis came in a solid wave over her body. It felt as some outside force took control of her body and it scared her despite knowing she was perfectly fine.
The colors split into a thousand rainbows against the black background and began to amass into an unintelligible form, all the while switching colors in a flood of gradients. She had never experienced anything like it; only 3D gaming applications of the newest generation had come anything close to what she was seeing or visualizing. She wasn't sure what it was out of the two. Maybe it was a pure hallucination created by the install process and she had imagined it all.
The physicist's voice was heard again, but it was too muffled and distorted for her to hear. The process seemed to wreck havoc with her other senses, blocking her hearing and smell. Nothing from the outside could penetrate her shell as it was now. She was a closed entity separating itself from the physical world.
The shape in front, or inside her, began to shape up into something resembling a human after the light had stopped moving around in an endless ocean of mixed colors. Anja could make out limbs extending themselves from the rainbow colored orb with slowness and precision, a surreal and bizarre performance. Fingers erupted from some of the limbs, that changed themselves into hands. Legs and feet became visible the further they stretched.
"Third process complete. Initializing final phase."
She heard the physicist's voice loud and clear this time and she figured her hearing was back, the physical world interacting with her again. The feeling of limbo had only lasted for a few seconds, but it left her shaken deep inside. It was a sensation unlike anything she had felt. The feeling of paralysis remained and the light show continued.
The orb had now dissolved itself into a human shape, still full of colors and gradients. It was almost impossible for Anja to make out any features but the light it gave off began to dim as soon as she started thinking about it.
White hair and intense blue eyes were the first thing she focused on as the light escaped further. The thing, as Anja couldn't determine what it really was yet, looked straight at her with an intense focus but with an empty life. A construct just born without a real purpose.
Supervense Application Install Successfull. Enabling personal settings database, the thing said with its lips moved in sync with the voice. It was very soft. Anja decided it was distinctively female, to make it easier on herself.
A little of the light remained, making the A.I's theoretical skin glow. She was still looking straight at Anja, immobile and without reaction.
"You can open your eyes now," a male voice interrupted. She felt her chair rise to its original position and she blinked her eyes out of their lockdown. She felt drained in both mind and body, but the girl remained, now in front of her. The restraints holding her in place in the chair flicked open and released her from their grip.
"It's very... mechanical," was all she managed to say while stretching her neck and arms, still with the girl in her focus. Her muscles strained and her limbs cracked as if she had been doing a workout. The installment had a very strange effect on her body.
"It still hasn't started up properly. That's up to you from now on though. I'll leave you for an hour so you two can get to know each other better."
Before Anja's tired mind could form a response, he had already left the room. The door slid shut after him without a sound and the red lamp above it signaled it was locked.
Inquiring ID request; choose a name for this application, the floating girl said in the same tone as before. The feeling of emptiness still floated around her.
"Name?" Anja pondered about it for a moment, trying to come up with a fitting name for such a strange application.
She couldn't imagine naming it, even less talking to it like a human. Another product of a technological society, erasing the boundaries between man and technology. Her past experiences with less advanced A.Is hadn't exactly been the best, further spurring on her abhorrent opinion about them.
Still, she figured that if she could come up with a good name, they were at least off to a good start. Having an additional voice and mental image in her head annoying her would be unbearable in the long run, and she didn't want to risk it. A naive thought, as if a name would make everything better, but it was the only thing she could think of at the moment.
She put her personal grudge aside and decided upon a name for the digital girl.
Confirm ID; Aurora, she responded in her thoughts. She knew she could speak out loud but it seemed thoughts also interacted with the A.I. It wouldn't make sense any other way regarding what the physicist had said.
ID Confirmed. Settings saved. Activate?
Anja made a mental nod and let out a deep breath. She was nervous, and she found it strange. It wasn't the unnerving foreboding of a coming observation mission or an assassination. It was something else she couldn't point her finger on. Unknown territory.
Confirm activation.
The light still remaining around Aurora flared for a fraction of a second as on command and she closed her eyes once before opening them again. Life-energy and a spiking curiosity radiating from her face caught Anja by surprise. She was not prepared for such a big change to occur.
It was as if a new object or person had materialized in front of her, this Aurora having a human aura of emotion and life. The other virtual A.Is Anja had interacted with had been as Aurora before her activation; dead and acting like a machine. She had never seen anything like this.
Anja Nikkola, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Aurora said and made a curtsy, intense light flowing around her to visualize a skirt for emphasis. She had a tiny smile on her lips and stared right at Anja. A playful expression played over Aurora's face.
Pleased to meet you too, Anja managed to think after getting herself together. There was something pushing in the back of her mind, a weird headache rising. Anja made a guess that she wasn't accustomed to Aurora's processor matrix. She hoped time would make it better.
That is correct, Aurora said without warning.
From the initial reports I'm collecting now, this is the first time you are connected to an A.I.
You can hear everything I think even if I'm not directing it at you?
Aurora giggled and smiled at her, a playful and treacherous smile fitting her persona.
Of course I can. I'm connected to your brain and therefore your thought processes. I can see everything.
"Oh brilliant," Anja muttered to herself, not caring if Aurora heard it. Not only did she have another intelligent being in her head, now nothing was private anymore. HQ could listen in to her at anytime and record it if Aurora let them. No secrets and no doubts. She was a prisoner again.
And while we are still on that subject, I see a lot of interesting memories under the surface.
Memories too? Jeez, nothing goes unnoticed to you does it?
Unless you specifically tell me to, of course. I have to obey you after a-
Aurora's voice and image froze for a few seconds and cut off the sentence. The sudden silence send a cold, icy draft over Anja's back. Had Aurora suffered a malfunction this early on?
The facility has been compromised, Aurora said in a very different voice from before after returning from her frozen state. It had less emotion and a bad feeling of seriousness.
ISG agents are coming down here as we speak. Judging from the camera feeds they are carrying heavy weaponry.
Worry or fear, Anja wasn't certain, rippled across Aurora's image. The light flowing around her fluctuated slightly as her subroutines took another turn inside Anja's head. Anja's headache increased slightly, a silent throbbing in her left part of the brain.
I'm advising we escape the facility. The blueprints are uploading as we speak and I'll make an escape route for you.
Good girl, Anja thought on impulse and flew out of her chair. The one thing on her mind was to get out and not get caught. How the ISG had managed to find the location of the facility was beyond her but she didn't have time to think about it now. All she cared about was not to get into their hands again; reliving that nightmare would be too much for her to handle.
The International Security Guard are very resourceful, Aurora said.
Finding this facility was probably not an easy task.
I hear you, but can you please focus on that escape route of yours?
Aurora glared at Anja as if she had been gravely insulted.
I can multitask you know; doing this and talking to you at the same time barely affects my performance.
Well, it does affect me. Unless you have any objections, I'm heading out of this door.
Acknowledged. The route beyond that door is currently unobstructed. The ISG agents are on the upper floor in the west wing at the moment.
Anja grabbed her coat from a table next to the door she was aiming for and slid it over her shoulders. The green and soft fabric was more pleasant than the ordinary garment soldiers of the Encircle usually had out in the field, and it was much more flexible.
After she had checked that the Null knife was still attached to her inner right sleeve - Anja didn't like ballistic weapons for various reasons - she opened the door and looked into a storage room on the other side.
Still no presence. The next door is located straight ahead.
Trusting in Aurora's connection to the facility's sensors, Anja moved ahead in the dark room. Piles of boxes were lined up along the walls, with designation numbers written on the sides. She hadn't seen them before so she had no idea what they contained. She felt she didn't want to know though. Considering the purpose of the building was A.I installation, process and manufacturing, there was bound to be bizarre things everywhere.
What's the situation in the rest of the facility?
Aurora hesitated before answering, a compassionate expression showing on her face.
Fifty percent of those working here have been captured. Another twenty percent has been killed trying to fight back. I don't know about the rest.
Morons, they can't fight the ISG in a place like this. They are only scientists for crying out loud.
Did you know any of them?
No. I've only heard of this place once before and that physicist, whatever his name was, is the only one I really got to talk to, Anja relayed. It's a shame though. As far as I know, this was an important support installation for the Encircle.
The lights inside the storage room had been flicked off and Anja let them be, just in case. She sneaked through the darkness, navigating between the boxes, until she came upon the next door.
Wait! I sense something.
Anja stopped just before opening it, her hand hanging just beside the door knob, and waited for Aurora. She couldn't make any mistakes, not now. The knife in her sleeve received another gentle press from her hand.
It disappeared, Aurora said. She looked confused and disoriented.
I think they cut me off from the surveillance net. I can still sense them if they get near but I can't depend on the camera feeds anymore.
Then we do this the old way, Anja relayed and opened the door a few centimeters. She peeked outside carefully, checking for movements and noise, but when no life appeared she opened it fully.
A corridor beckoned in front of her, the lights flickering in the ceiling and casting strange shadows along the walls. It was a different kind of flicker compared to a power failure or a broken light bulb. This was more periodic, almost like it was meant to do it.
Still no sign of anyone nearby? Anja asked and walked slowly forward, careful not to make any noise. She held her arms above her waist, prepared in case something would jump out from the intersections. So far she could only hear her own agitated breathing and the thumping heart in her chest.
I can't feel anything, but- ah!
Aurora suddenly went down on her knees on the 'floor' inside Anja's head, holding her head in her hands. Her face contorted into pain and a repressed groan came from her throat.
Aurora! What's wrong? Anja stopped in her tracks, arms and hands still held high and at the ready. The periodic flicker of the lights had increased by a tiny fraction she noticed.
I don't... know, Aurora managed to say in-between the waves of discomfort. It seemed to come in pulses as she convulsed every time it hit, crinching her small body further. Anja could almost feel it just by looking at her, before she realized Aurora couldn't possibly feel pain. It had to be one of her processor routines that malfunctioned, simulating what virtual intelligences would call pain.
Pull yourself together! I need you. You can't fail now.
I'm not failing; it's some kind of electronic warfare from outside. They are close, be careful!
"Hold it right there and put your hands in the air!" a muffled deep voice shouted in front of Anja. She froze in place and stared at the source.
A Spiker rifle appeared from one of the intersections, its boosted tracking sights and strengthened barrel held steady by a pair of armored gauntlets. With the light continuing to flicker Anja had trouble seeing exactly what walked out into the corridor, as the weak light and strange shadows twisted its appearance, but she made a guess anyway.
"Agent of the Encircle," the soldier announced as he approached her with careful steps, the Spiker still trained on her head. "The ISG is ordering you to stand down and hand over your weapons. Cooperation to do so will be viewed upon with compassion and will help you in the court of law. If you resist I have the right to use force."
When he got closer, Anja could make out some of his features. The ISG soldier had the latest exoskeleton armor equipped on his drug-infused body. He towered above Anja, almost twice her height, and she was sure he tripled, if not quadrupled, her in weight too. All that mass of raw muscle and bullet protection made her nervous, even if she knew what to do. She had encountered them a few times before and they had weaknesses. Everything had a weakness.
"You always do as you want. Cooperation or not, the ISG always lies. Just as the rest of your kin," Anja sneered with a force that even surprised herself. The hate she felt for them seemed to have increased the weeks prior.
"Maybe. I don't care either way. I got my orders to kill or capture anyone in this facility. It's your choice," the soldier said and began his approach again. Anja stood planted at the same spot, hands in the air while staring at him.
Anja, what are you doing? Run! Aurora managed to say between the cringing of her body.
Not yet. Even if I tried, that Spiker would pierce me as soon as I make sudden move. Haven't you noticed? He's wearing enhanced tracking gear and reflex boosters. That electronic warfare thing is also coming from him.
The soldier was now five meters away and still closing in, the Spiker heating up the closer he got. He was ready to unleash a barrage just in case. This close it wasn't possible to dodge even with reflex boosters.
Let them get close and then strike. Taunt them and force them to take you by force. That's the only thing that works with these brutes.
When the soldier was one meter away he dropped his arm holding the Spiker rifle beside his waist and took a grip of Anja's throat with his other, lifting her half a meter above the floor.
"Seems like I have to carry you then," he said and applied more pressure to emphasize his point. His fingers pressed into Anja's throat and made her choke. The air refused to get past his lock and into her lungs.
At that time Anja found herself in an ideal position and strengthened her leg muscles. She moved her right leg in a swift movement the ISG soldier couldn't dodge so close and she hit him in the gut. Despite the heavy protection and armor, the soldier couldn't stand against the natural movement of bending his upper body forward a bit when Anja's foot connected. He made an awkward grunt, more out of surprise than pain, and involuntarily brought Anja closer to him by a few centimeters.
Now!
A flick of her wrist made the knife in her sleeve slid out of its hold, straight into her hand. With the adrenalin pumping, knowing the defining moment had come and that he was within reach, she grabbed it, flipped it and rammed the Null knife's sharp blade straight into the the side of the man's neck. It was the weakest area on the entire exoskeleton, where the rest of the suit connected with the helmet.
The SIG soldier halted his movement for a second before releasing his hold on Anja and backing away, a hand held over the area where a greenish fluid pumped out with force. Anja fell hard on the floor, the knife clattering on the floor beside her, and drew a series of well-earned breaths, rejoicing at the air reaching her lungs again. The soldier meanwhile gurgled and rammed into the walls in a disoriented manner, trying to stop the flow of fluid escaping out of his exoskeleton's system.
What did you hit? Aurora asked, a faint hint of confusion seething inside the question.
You are an A.I, Anja relayed, perplexed.
Surely you have access to a database with that information, right?
No, I don't. Not with this particular technique you just used.
Huh. Well, I hit his suit's control system that's connected to his body. It's hard to hit at long range with a weapon but in close combat it's less of an issue. I think it was a major design error in connecting it to his body functions though.
The soldier continued to scrounge away in the small corridor, trying to take control of his suit. His backup system where coming online as Anja noticed his balance began to recover. All the while his head was fixed on her, staring with glowing goggles.
She got to her feet, still feeling the ache in her neck from the rough handling, and picked up her Null knife together with the Spiker the soldier had dropped when he lost control. She checked the settings and made a satisfactory nod.
What next?
I'll kill him before he gets full control. I might be a lousy shot but I can hit this close. Reinforcements is probably on their way too. I don't doubt he reported it in as soon as he saw me.
She walked up to the malfunctioning exoskeleton, still trashing about trying to stabilize itself. She could almost see the expression of horror on his face inside that dark helmet when she pointed the Spiker right at his head. Being on the receiving end of a supercharged railgun would make anyone nervous.
"You'll regret resisting. You can't escape this building alive if you do it," the ISG soldier said. He was stuttering and talking incoherently. The lack of control and the shock was still causing him to break down.
"I think I can escape. You, on the other hand, will not," Anja said and released the trigger on the Spiker.
The electronic charge that had been building up for several seconds propelled the depleted uranium bullet forward with extreme speed, leaving the barrel with a noise similar to a car speeding by. The bullet entered the soldier's helmet, penetrated his skull and burrowed itself into the wall behind him, sending a fine powder of concrete shooting out of the impact point.
The exoskeleton and massive body underneath it collapsed into a heap on the floor just a moment afterwards, blood and brain matter seeping out of the five centimeter wide hole in the back of his head. Anja gave the body a sad glance before shouldering the Spiker and taking large steps down the corridor. Her hands was shaking slightly as the adrenaline rush began to reside and her heartbeat remained at its peak.
Are you OK? You seem flustered, Aurora asked with a soft, almost compassionate voice.
Yeah, I'm fine. I just killed an ISG soldier. Again. I hate these fuckers so much, but I can't get used to it, Aurora. I can't get used to killing them. I'm an Encircle agent for crying out loud.
Just because you are part of the Encircle doesn't mean you can't be human. That's the deep source of your hatred as I discovered in your memories, seeing these people get less human for each day passing in a corporate society. But you can at least keep that in mind, that you are still human and your regret of killing them shows it.
Anja stopped at the next intersection to calm herself down and have a look around. Aurora's words flowed around in her head, reminding her of what other people had said to her about the exact same thing. She was also surprised at the speed the two of them had begun to interact in a natural way, with no hesitation on either side.
She spotted two more ISG soldiers heading towards her in the corridor to her left, holding a Tvezad rifle each, aimed at her position. They knew she was there but the faint light from the ceiling lamps made it hard to see anything. She got enough of a glimpse to see that they didn't have the same exoskeleton the other soldier had. They only wore a standard military outfit. Newbies in other words.
Aurora, I have a request.
What is it?
Could you erase yourself from my vision? It's slightly unnerving seeing a girl dancing around in this situation.
Oh, of course. I'm sorry, Aurora said. Her image began to fade until it disappeared completely.
Another thing.
Yes? Aurora's voice was unchanged, audible through Anja's head with no apparent location or change.
Thank you.
With the Spiker at its highest charge and her mind calmed she leaned out from cover and engaged in fighting again.
They are not human. I am human.