Project Freelancer, Archives.

Director's Monthly Record

[DATA ERASED]

…The final two AI are soon to be placed into hosts, the final experiments begun. There is nothing to suspect that the new two privates who have so willingly asked to join our ranks will be less than sufficient for the task at hand. The one thing that does worry me, however, is the young age. Eighteen, and twenty. They say they have been friends for ages, and I don't doubt that, which is what makes them ideal for the experiment at hand. The problem is the Eighteen year old. I am afraid her young mind, which is still suffering from adolescence, will not be able to handle the burden of an AI.

Still she assures me that she will be able to handle whatever this AI, Phi, will throw at her…And with her confidence its hard not to believe. Still, she is of age, and who am I to tell her no? Lets just see what happens with an AI in a younger skull.

Her friend is of a more mature age, though she is the definite leader of the two. He worries me as all new volunteers for this program do. He can be jittery, and he seems to like to make sure everything is in tight order. Yet another experiment. These two seem to be the best two we've had yet as far as the experimental venture of this program goes.

The two have also agreed to another experiment beyond just the AI implantation. They have agreed to be two of three Freelancers that are going to be part of the "Time Capsule Project," a mini-project that I have decided to conduct. The three will be placed in specialized Chambers and be put to rest for some time, until I or a new Director decides to wake them. With that in mind, they are going to be supervised by me so long as I am capable of doing so, for under my direction, I hope they will be the best that the project has ever seen before…

CHAPTER ONE: NEITHER BAD NOR GOOD

They had said, once, that humans are a kind selfish, greedy and generally violent animal. She remembered arguing that. She's said that it was true; people were selfish and greedy and sometimes violent. So were Raccoons and Deer and all kinds of animals. Because that was nature itself, that was survival and natural selection. People only thought that because we no longer knew what natural selection was, because back then it was more then just getting picked off on a battle field. The ability to overcome that was what made them human, what made them people, and what allowed them to thrive as a culture. The ability to cooperate and solve problems using more than one person and a simple tool. That was the human race. Neither bad, nor good, just trying to survive.

She walked down the hall, her head still pounding a little and the new voice in her head just shy of annoying. His name was Phi, and he was an Artificial Intelligence. An AI. Like a computer program. All AI's were based off of a human mind, or a human trait. He was the Intuitive AI, and apparently was capable to tell when someone was telling a lie. That didn't mean he had to tell her if they were in the middle of a mission or not, because sometimes lies are necessary. Even Phi knew that, she learned as he told her about himself. He told her he was glad he was finally going to be used as he was intended to be. And then something about the Alpha. Phi seemed to brighten even more in her minds eye as he spoke about the Alpha. To her, Phi was a like a little boy, though he seemed, at the same time, to know exactly what he was talking about. At least, that was how she pictured him. If nothing else, they both where going to accent one another, because she had confidence oozing in her stride, and he could pick out lies from anything, so it was hard to think that the two would not make a suitable pair.

"But… who are you?" Phi asked suddenly, and she stopped short. He had skipped her end of the introduction. She knew he was being polite in asking, if he wanted to he could go through most of her head without a problem.

"I am Freelancer Agent Nebraska." she chimed, slowing to a stop as Phi took form outside of her, a small see-through projection of himself, which glowed like a small, yet not brightly lit, red lamp.

"I meant your name, Nebraska."

She smiled at Phi slightly. "I am Adianna Lee Machiavelli. But Adi is a lot easier to say, Phi." she started walking again. She was slim, not very tall, and was the youngest they had in the program. She was blond, and her hair liked to stick up in various places, like at the front where she had cowlicks and on the top with slight amounts of frizz, even though it was mostly straight. She had confidence in her face, her eyes. Pride in her being and in her footstep. She stood as tall as her body allowed and seemed to flow with the air; pride let her glide like that. Her eyes were so dark against her light skin that they seemed almost black, framed by even darker lashes and light eyebrows. She was fleshed out with the lean muscle that Boot Camp often gave its newcomers. She had on a black turtleneck and black paints, with a freelancer insignia on the shoulder. She had yet to get her new Armor, but she already had the AI Phi, and coming down the hall at her, her best friend.

At first, it looked like he was muttering to himself. He had the AI of Cynicism, Phi told her. Theta and Phi had been the final two implantations in the Freelancer project, which meant that the two of them were the last of the AI carrying Freelancers.

The implantation process, as it was explained to her, seemed fairly simple. AI's could drift from person to person if the need was necessary, and lived off the host's electric current. The original host had a small chip implanted into the brain, like a backup drive, for the AI. This allowed the AI to go with them wherever. Once they had a suit of Armor, and AI could transfer into that, and still be with them but go back to the backup drive if they wanted when the armor was removed. That's how AI's made a jump from one person to the next. They needed a suit of armor they could sustain themselves in. But they also need permission. When the backup drive in the Host's head was gone, stopped working, or the Host died they had to have Armor to be in, and quickly, because they would fade fast without the vital electric current. They could live off the energy reserves in a suit of armor for some time, but eventually that resource would die causing the AI to be lost unless another Freelancer… or anyone with Armor, for that matter, came by to get them from a dead or dying host. So the operation she and her friend had just undergone was getting that backup placed into themselves. That was how it worked, apparently.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Obviously, his head hurt. She could tell by the slight downturn of his normally upturned mouth and the way his brow furrowed as if he was concentrating on something. He was like a brother to her, and she didn't remember a time when the two hadn't been friends. "Agent Nebraska." A new voice said. "Phi. How nice to see you." Projected outside of her friend, Theta appeared. Not nearly as little-boyish as Phi seemed, Theta was an AI that seemed wary of the world, and yet still stood very tall despite this. He seemed gray, like steel.

"You must be Theta," Adianna said and nodded slightly at him. Phi launched into conversation with him immediately after. The two, though different, seemed to be friends.

"Adianna. How are you feeling?" Her friend asked suddenly, his bottle-blue eyes locking with hers. He was a contrast to her. He had blue eyes, dark hair, and was taller and more muscular. He was always smiling a little bit, as though the corners of his mouth where permanently, though only slightly, turned upward. He had fair skin, and his entire being was spotless. No blemishes, no loose strands or Irish Pennants hanging off his clothes. Not a spot, not a stain, not even a wrinkle in his crisply ironed black trousers and black shirt, which bore the same insignia as hers. He had OCD, though he was getting better about not constantly wanting to flatten Agent Nebraska's flyaway hair. "Its Agent Nebraska now."

"And I'm the queen of Scotland." He scoffed. "Seriously, we're best friends, and many of the Freelancers have nicknames for one another, or people just call them by a first name. It doesn't really matter right now. That, and I've known you since you still had a box of Disney Princess Training Pants in your room, and a pink plastic potty to go with."

At this, she laughed. That much was true, "Alright, alright, Asher Corey Adams." She laughed more as he scowled at the use of his middle name, her tone almost mocking. "Fine. Call me what you want, then. And I'm feeling okay… besides the headache."

Asher glanced at the AI's momentarily, then turned back to her. "I know what you mean. Its weird, having to share a brain with someone. Someone who's a computer program and probably smarter then the two of us combined." He tapped his head. "Mine hurts, too. But then, I doubt a little piece of foreign object in the brain tissue can be expected to not give you a headache for awhile."

"Nah, I think its just the AI's. We just haven't gotten used to them yet. Anyway, Asher. We need to get to Supply for our uniforms…and armor. I'm looking forward to seeing what special ability I have in mine.

Asher grinned. "Me too. Like superpowers only for real. We could be like in Star Wars, and have some awesome power that lets us use the force…!"

Adianna cut him off with a slight glare and a wave of the hand, though she was smiling. "Could you get any more geeky?" She chuckled.

"Of course I could. I could play World of Warcraft all day and never come outside, and then I could hack into computer mainframes and destroy anything I wanted to, and THEN I could wear khaki pants with suspenders, and a nice white shirt with a pocket protector and an arsenal of pens. Throwing pens. That I could use my epic super-secret ninja-powers on to kill you, and finish an essay about Antidisestablishmentarianism, and complete a love-letter to the preppy girl I'm actually to afraid to ask out or even give the letter because my poetry sucks and she thinks I'm a dork, and then have time to get some takeout Chinese. Then, I'll get to go curl up on the couch wile watching my favorite reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation and eat some of Mama's homemade cookies. "

Adianna paused, eyebrows raised. "Wouldn't you have to leave the house to get the pens? I doubt you can get Throwing Pens on an online store."

"Well, you see, that's why I was killing you with the pens. I had to go to Office Max. And you saw me. Because secretly, I'm actually your arch enemy that's trying to undermine everything you do and kill your every joy. And with my pocket protector and arsenal of pens, I shall succeed." Asher grinned like a little kid on Christmas, flashing a set of perfectly white, unmarked, braces-straightened teeth.

Adianna made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded almost amused. "Busy day."

"Best ever, more like."

"I knew you hated me."

Asher laughed at this as Adianna grinned. This playful banter had been common between them, for years, and the AI's seemed to pick up on that and listen in on the…slightly confusing, very weird, conversation the two were having. Asher wound an arm around Adianna's shoulders. "You haven't seen anything yet, my dear."

They headed down the hall, Phi and Theta deep in conversation. They really didn't know where they were going, they just were walking, catching up on missed time. The passed another group of Freelancers, who stopped at the sight of them, Asher quickly removing his arm from her shoulders.

"You must be the newbie's." The female said, her helmet tucked under her arm, displaying brown hair and gray eyes. Her armor was purple, almost lavender, and had sea-green accents. Beside her, a small emerald-green person was next to her, floating in midair and slightly-see through. An AI.

On her other side, helmet also tucked under arm, was a man in black armor with yellow accents. It he had an AI, the AI wasn't showing itself.

Asher spoke first. "Yes. I am Agent Montana and this is Agent Nebraska." He said, reaching out and shaking hands with the two. Adianna nodded politely, then shook hands as well, both suddenly snapping into serious politeness.

"I thought you both came from Iowa. What did they do, give you random state names?" The woman asked, her voice and tone almost a scoff.

"No," Adianna shrugged. "We both came from Iowa, true, so we both took the names of the states we were born in."

The man mimicked Adianna's shrug. "Makes since to me, Saph." There was a pause. "I am Agent Washington. My AI is Epsilon. This is Agent South Dakota, her AI is Delta."

"Pleasure." Adianna and Asher chimed in unison.

"My AI is Theta." Asher said, and Adianna followed suit.

"Mine is Phi." He waved as she said his name, resulting in raised eyebrows and a slight hand-twitch from Washington.

Delta looked up suddenly, as though he hadn't been listening. "Are the two of you a team or separate?" He asked, not really saying who it was he was talking to, the AI's or the "Newbies" (As South had just called them. No surprise, though. It was true.)

"A team, so far as we know." Asher said, though his tone was uncertain. He glanced down silently at Adianna, who returned the quick, quiet look. "We haven't been told otherwise, and from the looks of it we're going to the same place, though we still don't know where that is or what we're going to be doing. We were on our way to go get our Armor right now."

"Hmm. Well, good luck to the both of you. The Supply office is at the end of this hallway, we just got ours fixed from a previous mission." South said, tapping her armor to signify that that was what was being talked about.

"And," Washington cut in suddenly, gaining a slight look of annoyance from South Dakota, "First time missions are usually given after Armor, because then you can better assess how to handle the mission and get to know the effects of one's armor and the special ability that comes with Freelancer gear."

"Thank you, Wash." South said, a tad on the sarcastic side. Asher and Adianna's thanks was much more sincere. After a quick, "See you around," The two groups of AI's and people went separate ways down the hall.

"That South chick was kind of creepy. Also, was it just me or was she kind of mean? I mean really," Adianna whispered. "Her eyes were like ice. Seriously."

"Perhaps she's just good at what she does. That, and we're new. She probably thinks that she's better than us. And experience wise, she probably is. Sometimes, if I piss you off enough, you get to be the same way." Asher laughed loudly, flinching back from her automatically as though he was expecting a punch to the arm.

"Phi and Theta, you guys all right? It suddenly got quiet." Adianna asked loudly, as if it was a half observation while she shot a glare at Asher, but did no more. If nothing else, proving his point.

Theta answered first. "Not that it matters much to you, but we're fine yes."

"If it didn't matter, she wouldn't have asked, Theta." Phi pointed out gently.

"You're a pessimist." Asher laughed at Theta, apparently still sort of giddy about getting a rise from Adianna. "Great."

"We just… It was Epsilon." Phi hesitated, sounding almost distracted as he spoke.

"What does that have to do with anything? He didn't even come out to say hello like Delta did."

"Perhaps he's just withdrawn. People get like that, y'know." Adianna suggested. "Shy."

"Epsilon is the AI of memory." Theta said flatly. "He may know things about the Alpha that the rest of us don't."

"The Alpha?" Asher asked curiously

"The Alpha was the main program we all stem from." Phi said simply. "The Alph--" Phi was cut off by Asher opening the Supply door and stepping into the office, regardless of the fact that they were in the middle of a conversation.

A desk sat at the front, and behind it were rows of uniform stuff. Cabinets of helmets, and racks of Trousers for dress uniforms and officer uniforms. Lucky, most of it was straight and neatly folded, keeping Asher from going insane. Some had Armor, others, had relaxed fit jackets. Yet another shelf had the same turtleneck sweater with the Freelancer Insignia on the sleeve. The same one that Adianna and Asher both had on. The man behind the desk had a small plaque on the desk baring his name, "Gunnery Sergeant Bunny." He was a thick man with very little hair and a scowl on his face. Beside him, his assistant, a boy Asher recognized from Boot Camp. Private Mack. Asher gritted his teeth and get ready for the hate-parade that was sure to come from Mack soon enough.

"Good to see you two finally showed up." Bunny said, standing. He had a deep, slightly gravely voice, which almost made the fact that his name was Bunny even better.

"Nice to see you, Adams." The thin little private nodded at Asher, though there was a spark of something else besides politeness in his eyes that Adianna picked up quickly. Anger, perhaps? Theta was sure to have pinpointed whatever it was by now. Asher nodded politely back, and then turned back to Bunny. "Sorry we took so long, Sir. We are suffering mild headaches due to the implants, and we ran into Agents Washington and South Dakota on our way here."

"Excuses." Bunny muttered, lighting a cigarette though he knew, as they all did, that was forbidden inside nowadays. Smoke came up in a lazy wisp from the glowing cherry of burning tobacco at the end. "Get here on time from now on. No more of this late crap, you hear me?" He waggled a thick finger at them like they had taken cookies from a jar on the shelf and they were six, if that.

"Yes sir." Adianna and Asher both said in unison. This only made it seem, to Adianna at least, that it made it more like a parent talking to naughty children.

"Now then. Mack, go get the new uniform and armor sets that just came in. Those are for these two here." Bunny gestured at them with his free hand, a quick, sweeping motion that Mack followed with obvious disdain for whatever had just been told to him.

"Sir," Mack said after a pause, his eyes opening wide. "You said they were replacement parts, not actual Freelancer armor…" He was cut off.

Bunny turned to glare at Mack. "It doesn't matter what I said, Private. What matters is that I need them now. Besides, your such a jealous little rat you'd probably had taken it or did something to it had I told you just what it was. Now go get it, and bring it here. And don't take long or I'm going to assume you did something to it or with it." Bunny said, his tone final. With a slight pout, Mack walked into the back of the Supply.

"Sorry about him. He never really did like the fact you made it in over him, Adams. He thought he was going to be first pick because he had a brother in the program. That, and you and miss… ah, Machiavelli, Is it? That's too long. I'm going to call you Machi. Anyway, he just never got over it, with you both being the last to get AI's and such."

Adianna's face turned the lightest of pinks. "Sir, my name is NOT Machi."

Asher shrugged. "To be frank, Sir, he shouldn't have slacked off in camp, if he wanted it that badly, sir."

"Humph. True enough." Bunny muttered, taking a deep drag off of his cigarette. Mack came back in, steering two boxes on a metal moving dolly to get them into the office.

"Sir, the Armor." He said, somewhat pissed and also sad. He sniffled as he moved back behind the desk.

"Thank you, Mack." Bunny said, exhaling a puff of white-gray smoke as he stood up slowly, jabbing his cigarette into the ash tray, snuffing out the cherry. It gave off a slight wisp of white smoke, and died. "This one here, labeled Female? This is Machi's, obviously." He tore into the box like it was a Christmas present and fished out the helmet, packing peanuts flying into the dusty floor. It was black, and when it caught the light right it flashed different colors, dark reds, deep violet, metallic blue and forest green. Asher whistled slightly and Mack craned his neck to try to get a better look. She took off her thin-rimmed glasses and placed them on the desk, and slid the helmet on with ease. The visor, though nothing was blinking on it due to the lack of power at the moment, had her glasses prescription built into it, so she didn't have to worry about not seeing. She had turned down the laser eye surgery. "Now." Bunny tapped the helmet as she slid it off, after she had allowed them all to ogle at it for a little while. "As you know, each Freelancer Agent like you and Adams here, and South and even Tex and Wyoming, have a special ability in the armor. South can make a shield around herself if she comes under fire. Tex turns invisible. Wyoming has a time loop. You, Agent Nebraska, can teleport small distances."

"Oooo." Adianna grinned as she clutched the helmet. Bunny turned to the next box and opened it, and once again fished around for something, packing peanuts once again piling on the hard-wood floor.

"You, Agent Montana," Bunny said tossing him a dark, dusty orange helmet. "Have the ability to make shields around other people and use that to make the bullets ricochet back at whoever is in the shield. Of course, if someone is shooting from the outside the shot gets absorbed. Inside, it gets shot back at you. You can shield an enemy and let them kill themselves and not have to waste any ammo.

Mack about turned green with blatant jealousy which seethed from him in a deep set glare, which was directed at the seemingly grinning Asher. Who, Adianna could tell, was actually gnashing his teeth together and was trying really hard not to launch himself upon the floor and clean up the packing peanuts and align the boxes. That wasn't to say, though, that he didn't care about the new armor, which he was clutching to his chest like a newborn child. He really liked the color orange, he had seine they had been very little. Asher shook himself a little, trying to fight the OCD spell he was under.

He failed. "Sir, if I may," he muttered and dropped to his hands and knees, passing his armor to Adianna. She had to readjust completely to be able to hold the two sets at once. Asher scooped up the peanuts, and, knowing that it would drive him completely crazy, refused to look into the top of the box as he threw them, all but gently, into the cardboard container. He pretended to stagger slightly, bumping into a box to make it on line with the other. Satisfied, he stepped back. "If I may, someone stepping on the peanuts… they could slip."

Bunny's expression was one that was slightly un-amused. Not that that was different from normal. "Montana, this is the Freelancer Headquarters, not a boy scout camp." Bunny suddenly coughed and looked over at Adianna. She raised her eyebrows as caught his gaze, passing Asher's armor back to him. "or girl scout camp. Whatever."

Adianna rolled her eyes and sighed irritably, a tone that crept into her voice as she spoke. "Really? Seriously?"

Bunny continued like she had never spoke. Mack snickered, covering his mouth with a thin hand as he did so. "General upkeep for these is a little different, because you have more systems that need to be checked, and an AI to look after. All backup drives need to… have to….be in working order in the event anything happens. Same goes for the Beacons that are set in the armor if you guys ever get hurt. Fair warning, Washington will probably be the one coming after you if that happens. Pray that it doesn't. Washington's a good guy, and a good medic, but its better just to stay out of harms way. For him, for the program, for the Director, and mostly yourselves. Seriously. Watch it. When the levels get low, get out." Bunny sighed as though his advice was heavy and meant a lot.

"Sir, Washington is a medic?" Mack asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Bunny yelled at the tiny private, who flinched in automatic response. Bunny's cigarette fell out of his mouth and onto the desk, and his face went red from the yelling. "Well." He checked himself. "No. He has a healing unit in his armor. He picks up bacons when the Freelancers are in mortal danger, and he goes to either save them or get them to someone who can help. That's part of what Washington does." Bunny explained with a shrug. This was part of the reason Asher had become Freelancer over Mack-the-new-supply-officer-in-training.

"Alright, go put your Armor on, then head down to the Chambers. You know what is waiting for you there."

Adianna and Asher nodded grimly. They knew, and neither was really thrilled about it even if they had volunteered. They went into separate dressing rooms, and both got the same result with the armor. It fit like a charm, tailored exactly for them. Not too heavy, and not too flimsy. The internal parts of the armor kicked in, and Adianna watched as small icons flickered to life on the inside of the visor. Phi spoke suddenly, making her jump and gasp. She'd almost forgotten about him.

"So, this is the new Armor? I like the color."

"Jesus Phi! Thanks for scaring me!" She grumbled loudly, enough so that Asher heard him giggle through the speaker in his helmet. "And yes, it is. Glad you like the color."

Phi laughed slightly. "Yes. Well, that said, we should head to the Chambers. We have a long time ahead of us, Nebraska."

She sighed. "I know."

The trek to the chambers was slow, but not quiet. The four of them spoke all the way up the hall, getting used to the new armor.

The chambers was were Adianna and Asher would be joining another Freelancer, one without an AI. They were all being used in a new experiment by the Director of project freelancer. They had volunteered, no one else was going to. Rumor had it that they were going to be placed into chambers that would fill with liquid and then you would be put to sleep. This was all they had heard about.

"Okay. Here we are." Asher smiled reassuringly as he opened the door.

The room had black tile floors, stone walls, and various lights. In its own way, it was pretty. In the center stood three glass cylinders, which were connected to brass pipe work, which twisted up and up to were it was no longer visible.

The Director's voice came from a monitor, a deep southern drawl that Adianna had come accustomed to hearing but never seeing. "Hello, Adianna, Asher and Mark. May I call you by your first names?"

The trio shrugged and let him continue. He was the boss. It didn't really matter to them what he called them. It was what it was.

"You are about to become part of one of my newest experiments, and I can't thank you enough for so willingly volunteering to help out with it. When the time comes, I will come and get you from the chamber myself,. Have no fear that you will get left inside, for that's a not problem. For now, all I need you to worry about Is getting hooked up into those glass cylinders there. If its not too awkward for you all, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your armor."

It wasn't, and they did, stripping down to black shirts and pants with the freelancer insignia displayed carefully on the shoulder.

Adianna stepped inside, and from the speaker came the instructions as to where everything went. After about fifteen minutes, the door closed. Adianna began to panic as the liquid flooded in slowly, it was thick and goopy and cold.

"Shh, Adianna. Its only for a little while." Phi muttered, and then Adianna, Asher, and Mark were out like they had never been awake in the first place.

The darkest dark Adianna had ever experienced. The dark, like the end.