Automan and all character names therein are owned by the American Broadcasting Company. All characters are fictional and resemblance to any persons living or dead is coincidental. No copyright infringement is intended.

Automan: Dual Core

By Sailor Chronos

Chapter 4

Dawn was approaching when Lina finally arrived home, thanks to a ride from another officer who was heading in her direction. Her own car was still at Walter's house and she was in no shape to retrieve it. A message awaited her on her computer, blinking urgently. She was so exhausted that she nearly ignored it, but when she noticed that it was from Automan, she plopped down in her desk chair.

"Lina, I am glad that you're well. I am undamaged. I shall confer with my friends to get as much information as we can about Mr. Woodruff and his Virtual Man project. We must meet with Walter this evening to discuss what should be done. Take care. Auto."

Reassured, she headed for her bed and some much-needed sleep.

"One simple burglary call, and half the department goes nuts!" Lt. Baker roared at her by way of greeting when she entered his office that afternoon. "Lightning bolts and disappearing people? That isn't crime, it's a magic act! Maybe you can give me a sane explanation, since nobody else seems to be able to."

Lina had expected this and came up with a scenario that he could deal with. "The suspect apparently has been committing the burglaries in order to lure out a federal special agent known as Otto J. Mann, against whom he holds a grudge. When Agent Mann arrived and offered to make a deal, the suspect attempted to shoot him with some sort of high-powered Taser. Rather than risk lives, I gave an order to cut off the power to the area as a distraction. However the suspect was wearing a dark outfit that enabled him to blend into the shadows, and he escaped when the lights went out."

He grumbled, slightly mollified. "So what happened to this Agent Mann? Obviously he didn't stick around, so he must have gone after the suspect."

"That's what I assumed, sir, because when the power was restored he was nowhere in sight."

"Hmph. All right, Baines, keep an eye out. If this guy has the feds after him, it must be for more than just burglaries."


Justin had been in a bad mood all day; putting on a friendly face during his presentations for the E3 crowd was straining his patience. After Virtual Man's failure the night before, he had decided to step up his plans as well as tweak the program some more.

During a quick lunch break, he took the opportunity to do some searches based on the information that Virtual Man had uncovered, plus what he had observed the previous night. If they couldn't get to the other hologram directly, perhaps his associates could be manipulated...


"The situation is out of control," Lina said with no preamble after she arrived at the Nebichers' house. "Woodruff's hologram seems to not have any ethics when it comes to interpreting his instructions. He was going to destroy Auto, along with anyone who got in the way."

"Automan told us all about it," Roxanne said. "That was one huge risk you both took. You could have been killed!"

Suddenly the room shivered, and the generator outside revved up to its maximum RPMs. After a few seconds, a shining polyhedron whizzed out of nowhere. "Hello, Cursor!" both Walter and Lina greeted it. It streaked to the centre of the room and spiralled downward toward the floor, and then Automan appeared.

Lina nodded to him before responding to Roxanne's concern, "We're police officers. Risk is our business."

"This is not an average criminal," Auto reminded her. "The Virtual Man hologram has the capability to drain power from the grid and discharge it as a cohesive blast, with almost no voltage limit. Whereas when I discharge my energy field, I consciously limit it to the amount that stuns without serious injury. I choose to not harm others because I was programmed that way." He nodded to Walter. "But Virtual Man apparently isn't."

Lina said, "Exactly, because no matter how sophisticated the computer is, it can do only what it's told to do. If it doesn't understand its instructions, it doesn't work or behaves improperly."

"That hasn't stopped you from disobeying my orders in the past," Walter told Automan glibly.

"That's because you gave me the ability to reason, and to consider all the facts before acting."

"While most likely Woodruff created his hologram with only two things in mind: profit and revenge," Roxanne added. "Even as a game it would never work, because it can't relate to people on a compassionate level."

"So what happens now?" Lina asked. "What is capable of stopping a hologram other than disrupting its power sources?"

Walter and Automan glanced at each other uneasily, and Walter sighed. "I'd hoped to never have to talk about this again," he said in a bitter tone and then took a deep breath, running one hand through his greying hair. "Late in 1983, an expert programmer named Ronald Tilson practically held L.A. by the throat. He used his knowledge of the city's computer systems to threaten a lot of lives. Automan and I put him in jail. But a year later he broke out and hired a hit man with a special weapon to kill us."

"It was a fiberglass gun that could shoot electro-magnetically charged bullets," continued Auto. "They easily pierced my field." Lina gasped in horror, and he nodded. "Both of us were seriously injured, since Walter was merged with me at the time."

"I'm so sorry," said Lina sadly, hating what she had to say next. "But such a weapon might be useful against what we're facing here. Was it stored in the case evidence locker? If so, is it still intact after all these years?"

"It was up until I left that division in 1990," Walter said. "After that, I don't know."

"Then I'll find out; I have some contacts there." She stood up. "Will you two be all right with that?"

"It's not up to me," Walter said, raising his hands. "This is your case."

Automan hesitated.

Lina walked up to him and placed a hand on his arm. "I think what you have to decide is whether you trust me to use that weapon properly. Believe me, the last thing I want is to see you hurt."

He put his hand on her shoulder and gazed at her with those perfect blue eyes. "I trust you, Lina," he said softly.

She gave a curt nod and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Roxanne cleared her throat, interrupting the moment. Lina stepped awkwardly away from Automan and shrugged. "Well and good. Let's go and find that weapon."

When Lina and Automan had left, Roxanne and Walter shared a knowing glance. "I think those two are becoming rather fond of each other, wouldn't you say?" said Roxanne.

Walter chuckled. "It wouldn't be the first time that Auto has had that reaction. I remember how upset I used to be with him whenever he got distracted by a woman. But I'm not so uptight anymore and he has matured a lot since then."

"Maybe," was the thoughtful reply, "or maybe it's more than that."