From the Ruins of Nosis

by Vanessa

Chapter 3: Mission Complete

"Zee, what are you doing! Come on, we have to get out of here!"

Zeta didn't move.

Zee. Bennet had called him Zee. Not once during their two-year chase had the agent called him by this nickname, his human name, the name he had come to accept as his own. To the NSA, he was the synthoid, the IU, Zeta. Never Zee. And Ro was Rosalie, or Miss Rowen, the runaway juvenile delinquent, the accomplice. Something was very wrong, and Zeta's curiosity demanded to know what it was before he took another step.

Bennet's gaze swept over the dissipating crowd of spectators, before finally stopping on them. They were the only couple not moving, the only ones staring at him so intently, as if they knew who he was and why he was there. Slowly, he took a step forward, raising his arms over his head to prove he wasn't armed.

"Zeta?"

The synthoid said nothing, neither confirming nor denying his identity. Bennet took a step closer. "Don't run, Zeta. I'm just here to talk to you. That's what you wanted, right? To talk to me?"

"Zee!" Ro hissed. "He knows who we are! We have to run, now!"

"He just wants to talk..."

"Remember how your last 'talk' with Bennet went! He almost erased your brain! Reprogrammed you! How is this time any different!"

"It is different. Somehow, Bennet is different."

She frowned. Bennet was coming closer, and escape now seemed unlikely. "I hope you're right about this, Zee..."

Cautiously, Bennet stepped in front of them. "I don't want to reprogram you," he began softly, not wanting to alert the civilians to the presence of a "killer robot." Clearly, he had also anticipated Ro's suspicion. "That's not why I'm here. Not this time. I just want to talk to you– to both of you."

This, too, was unusual. In the past, the NSA had taken measures to keep the two fugitives separate, to prevent them from helping one another. And now he wanted both of them, together? The whole situation felt like a trap, Ro thought, glaring at Bennet and wishing she could read the true intentions behind his stoic expression.

"...But not here," the man continued. "Too many civilians around."

Ro was convinced that she had him figured out now. This was obviously a trap! Anyone could see that! He would lead them back to the NSA's hovervan, where all the weaponry and agents were waiting. They would have Zee right where they wanted him, and then–

"What about over there?" Zee gestured to a Ground Wire across the street. Ro turned her glare on him as if to ask what in the world he thought he was doing. Under normal circumstances, he would never willingly follow Bennet. But she knew that the agent had appealed to something stronger than Zeta's sense of self-preservation– his sense of curiosity. She had to admit, she also wanted the full story behind the strange behavior of their would-be captor, and she felt better when Bennet allowed Zee to choose the location.

Zeta was not as reckless as Ro imagined. He stepped into the brightly-colored building fully expecting an ambush, ready to scan the area for the familiar faces of Bennet's team. He might have felt less uneasy had there actually been agents waiting for them; the Ground Wire was almost completely deserted.

They took their seats in a back corner of the cyber café. Only when they were far away from the other customers did Zeta feel it was safe to speak again. "Agent Bennet," he began, his voice low, "you took a great risk, coming here to capture me without assistance. Where is the rest of your team?"

"I am the team," Bennet answered without hesitation. "And I meant it when I said that I only came here to speak to you. Please, listen to me, Zeta. After you hear what I have to say... then we can move on to the next stage of this mission."

"Mission?" Ro asked skeptically.

Bennet nodded. "I'll admit, the original orders for my team were 'to retrieve the synthoid, IU Zeta, in functioning condition, and deliver it to the nearest NSA facility for reprogramming and reassignment.' In other words, to capture you, erase your memory, and put you back to work as our weapon."

"Which you almost succeeded in doing," Zeta added.

"So you think this new plan of yours is going to work?" Ro sneered. "Zee got away from your guys once. He can do it again!" Still, the question plagued her: why would the NSA want Bennet to tell them about the new mission?

Bennet cast an exasperated look at the girl, then wisely chose to tune her out. "Yes, we almost succeeded, and in the end, we failed miserably. We didn't know anything about you at that time. We were trying to repair technology that we couldn't even begin to understand."

"You can't repair what isn't broken," Ro muttered, annoyed at being ignored.

"But then, the NSA made a discovery that changed everything." Bennet's voice dropped lower. "We have proof that you were on the submarine with Brothers' Day, disguised as your own creator."

Zeta looked horrified. Since Selig's death, this very conversation had become his worst nightmare. He was being accused of killing Selig. Of murdering the man he considered his father. And he could provide no proof that would clear his name. It was his word against the NSA's evidence. "I... I didn't..."

But Bennet went on without listening. "We also know that, while Brothers' Day faked the submarine's destruction, the two of you went ahead to Nosis. But why? To lower the lab's defenses? To find Selig and eliminate him on your own? To us, these were the most logical possibilities." He paused. "But Titus Sweete denied every possibility we could name. Until we questioned him about your involvement, he had never even heard of you."

"That's what we've been trying to tell you all along!" Ro leapt out of her seat, not even trying to keep a low profile anymore. After attracting startled and confused glances from the other customers, she lowered her voice again. "Zee's not working for the terrorists. He was just-"

"Trying to find Selig. Yes, I know that now." Bennet sighed, leaning back in his seat at the computer. "We have one more piece of evidence in your favor, Zeta. You see... I was also on the Nosis, looking for you. And when you found Selig... I found you. I heard everything. I know everything about you now. About why you ran. The NSA knows it, too. That's why they cancelled the former mission, to capture and reprogram you."

Ro gasped, and Zeta's eyes widened. The agent's solemn expression finally broke into a slight smile at their reaction. "You don't have to take my word for it," he said, leaning towards the computer and accessing the NSA's database. "See for yourself."

Seconds later, the new orders appeared on the screen, issued by someone named "Lomak." The robot and the girl peered over his shoulder, reading the objective of the team's sole member, Agent James Bennet:

"Retrieve Infiltration Unit Zeta and accomplice Rosalie Rowen and deliver them unharmed to NSA HQ for debriefing."

Zeta could only stare blankly at the screen.

"Debriefing," Ro whispered. "That means..."

"It means that the government wants Zeta to return to headquarters, where after a brief hearing, he will be relieved of his duties as an Infiltration Unit. In other words-"

"My freedom," Zeta whispered in awe. "I've finally won my freedom."

Next: Chapter Four, "Too Good to be True"

See my profile for the link to my new site, TZP: Nosis.