Michael sat across from Nikita and Echo, studying them. They held hands, leaned into each other, whispered to each other, and Nikita seemed to enjoy how uncomfortable they were making Birkoff, while Echo didn't appear to be aware. Michael knew she noticed though. A twinge at the corner of her eye every time Birkoff squirmed told Michael that she knew, and only continued because Nikita seemed to be having so much fun. Just under the surface of Nikita's happiness was a tension. The same tension likely heightened Echo's edginess.
"You two need to understand that if you try to escape, they'll kill one of you. If one of you escapes, they'll torture the other for months before letting them one that escaped or if you escape together they'll wipe you and leave you wherever you land the first second they can." He gestured for Birkoff to show them what that meant.
They didn't seem affected at the sight of themselves wearing yoga pants and tank tops working out in the Section Gym. The footfalls on the treadmills thumping, and the weight machines clanking with every completed rep soothed rather than upset either of them. Until they started to see other things. They saw that they did everything they were told to do, their voices and demeanors as innocent as happy toddlers. When they saw that they were ordered to eat refuse and did so without question, that they continued to eat the sewage until they both threw up their meals, crying and hunched down, they reacted like he needed them to, fear and tears. When Birkoff shut off the panel his relief sighed through the entire van.
"Don't worry, we wouldn't have allowed you to ingest anything harmful, but outside you won't have such protections." Michael opened his mouth and it took a second before he spoke again as if making sure that no one would try to interrupt. "While the tech in your bodies and the effort to get you to an appropriate Section has cost a small fortune, it's inconsequential to the unlimited funds at Section's disposal."
"It's more like we don't pay for anything," Birkoff muttered as he put the tablet back in his bag, but his comment went overlooked by both women.
Echo recovered first. "You expect us to do be what for you? Assassins? Prostitutes? Spies? Detectives?"
"We expect you to be all of those and more. You'll learn that we do what we have to to ensure the public's safety. All of us live with sacrifice as a part of daily life. Section owns every last Doll and administrator."
As Nikita cringed in the midst of stymied hysteria, Birkoff tried to comfort them. "Compared to some of the other Houses, we can pay attention to the 'irrelevant' list. In places like the Middle East and Korea, they don't have the time or resources to even look at that list. Which is how it got titled irrelevant in the first place."
"And what are you? A Doll or an administrator?" Echo's voice reached new levels of animosity she'd never knew were hidden in her as she glared at Michael.
"Both."
Nikita sniffed, composed herself somewhat and caught Birkoff's gaze in a trap. "And what are you?"
"I'm a specific type of Doll. I'm a Technician Doll." His defensiveness created a small sneer that could be heard as he talked. "My dual primary functions are to take the lead on anything relating to computers and making sure that you have every skill you need for any situation. My secondary function is to serve as an emergency backup."
"Birkoff has the same architecture we do." Michael said as what felt like an afterthought.
"Great. Now I have to spend the entire flight explaining what you meant by architecture." Birkoff shook his head as he opened the van door.
The van had dropped them at an airport Nikita had never heard of. Given the circumstances of late she assumed it belonged to Section. The ominous meaning of getting on that plane made Nikita's legs both weak and stiff. Talking helped keep her moving. "Architecture. I'm guessing that's the way they reworked our neurons. The new pathways allow for optimum use of every memory and skill." She grabbed Echo's hand as if it could save her.
"That's what I figured." Echo said as she winced under Nikita's iron grip. The irony was not lost on Echo. She was the one afraid of flying and even more afraid of flying over bodies of water, but here she was comforting Nikita who'd never had any fear of anything really. "When did you get a head for science?"
"She had a natural aptitude for it, so we just boosted the signal so to speak." Birkoff loaded two cases onto the plane, as did Michael before Caroline and Nikita boarded. "Just so you know, this is the last time I carry your bags."
"Got it kid."
"I'm not a kid," Birkoff said off hand, a comment he needed to use a lot. "Since I don't have to explain anything to either of you, I'd like to get to work now. We'll be in Belfast in two hours tops and I have a lot of information to gather."
Michael took up the pilot's seat just as Echo and Nikita took their seats. A crew appeared out of nowhere to deal with all the outside necessities for the plane to take off. And in no time they were in the air, and Birkoff had headphones on as he concentrated on finding anything and everything that he could on the Langton/Belfast connection. That the straggling IRA members didn't have any resources or connections these days, and that Langton would never be so stupid as to hope for something like that, told Birkoff that he needed to look for something small or just a particular breed of science geek. Section tracked anyone with any true scientific skills, so Birkoff ran a brief search of that list. His foot tapping to the throbbing techno beat flowing through and energizing him.
While the trope of having to type fast to hack annoyed the hell out of him, Birkoff knew why it existed. Typing faster meant results faster and if you could type like he could, and never have a flaw in your program like him, then typing fast made a lot of sense. Though for him it usually stemmed from impatience more than anything. So the hour and half flight ended with him having the best leads on where to start looking for Langton.
"Echo?" Michael asked as they disembarked. "You have a history with Boyd Langton."
"So? All I know is that he's looney tunes and likes to hear his own propaganda spouted by every person he can convert. How the technology that I now understand really was stolen from him, would save the world. Cure all diseases both physical and mental everything from Aids to Alzheimer's. My question is could it really do all that?"
"Yes and no." Michael handed Echo a case, then Nikita. Birkoff already had his.
"What he means is that it could, if we wanted what Topher ludicrously calls the thought-pocalypse. That's me warning you about how childish he is no matter what his architecture or imprints. But if the tech got out into the world even doing great things like curing cancer would quickly get turned into weapons that would control the minds of billions, if not everyone in the world. It'd already be happening if Topher and Bennett didn't work for us. Hillanger's been neutralized too. Making the world safe as houses if we can keep a lid on anyone that might be as smart or smarter than us."
"Well then Boyd must be looking for brain power or funding here." Nikita said as she put the case in the back of a more common van than the all black no windows monstrosity from before. "The file said all his accounts were frozen. So any ideas which one we're looking at?"
Michael started the van as the others got their seats. Birkoff sitting to his left felt strange, since he usually sat in the back to continue working rather than get distracted by the scenery.
"We're going to be looking for brains over financing. There's a college drop out that's been on our radar for years. We've never bothered him due to his sincere and complete lack of ambition. That is up till a week ago when he started what I'm going to just assume are conversations with our target. We're looking for Ashley Macal...san. Crap."
"What's wrong?" Echo asked.
"It's the name of an irrelevant." Michael didn't flinch but an uncomfortable air filled the vehicle anyway.
"How did the all powerful secret government organization that kidnapped us miss that Ashley was already being watched by them?"
"I'm still rebuilding the programs." Birkoff seemed pissed. "I've spent too much time as an Operative lately to get the job done. The old computer admin thought it would be too dangerous to have the systems understand each other too much. So he designed the watch list to be run by facial recognition, when the Machine works via numbers. This one fell through my temporary patch because there aren't any pictures of the guy. For any ID he claims religious beliefs as to why he can't be photographed."
"Who's working on the Macalsan engagement?" Michael asked.
"Jurgen's team." Brikoff's sigh worried the women. More worrisome was that Michael didn't respond.
"I'd say yay for fireworks, but I don't think these will be the good kind." Echo said.
With a nod Nikita replied, "Sounds more like a fuze that'll lead to explosions at the worst moment possible."