Being so helpless was a proposition that had, heretofore, been alien to someone like Jerrica Benton. Yet, here she stood in an audience with a man who had the power to take her father's legacy and her birthright. The Synergy avatar, bent to his will, gave her no regard.
Like a stranger...
The heavy door creaked open, and Jerrica gasped as she recognized the Emerald-haired woman who now approached.
Jerrica confronted her. "Pizzazz, what are you doing here? Are you a part of this?"
The Pizzazz-HARPy met her glower with lifeless eyes. "Datum: Jerrica Benton, Mission Parameters: undefined." And it ignored the human.
"Madness." Jerrica retreated from it, stopping as she backed into Zartan.
Zartan placed his hands on her shoulders. "The world has always been mad; you're finally waking up to it." He brushed her hair aside and cleaned her torn earlobe.
She flinched at the sting of the alcohol. "Why haven't you killed me yet?"
Zartan cupped her earlobe, and he sprayed a chemical on it. When he was done, she instinctively touched the area, amazed that the flesh was now healed.
"What was that?"
"Just one of the many things that the government will never release to the public," Zartan said. "In spite of being the monster that you no doubt take me for, I have no desire to hurt you. Believe it or not, we're on the same side. You're father and I both bailed on Watchdog when we realized its true nature. If he were still alive, your father would've given me Synergy."
"Synergy is mine. You have no right to it."
Zartan led her by the small of her back, and they walked amidst the hologram, facing Synergy's stilled avatar. "This technical marvel is the synthesis of multiple disciplines that, when taken in the plural, would require many lifetimes to master: Computer engineering, Quantum mechanics, Holography…. And, like all other technologies, it's built upon the auspices of past achievements. Do you seriously think Synergy was invented by one man in a basement? Don't get me wrong, it's a noteworthy accomplishment, but whomever 'assembled' this Eighth Wonder is nothing but a thief."
Jerrica glared at him. "My father is no thief!"
"You mean your father, Emmett Benton? The same Emmett Benton that has no tax records or other proof of existence before 1966—the year you were born?" Zartan persisted. "You have no clue where you come from, do you? Your father is no doubt cut from the same cloth as those who made me."
"I don't believe you." Jerrica averted her eyes.
"Yes, it's easier to dismiss the cold truth for a warm lie. I understand that all too well." Zartan gently stroked her blonde hair. "But, think about it: the expertise needed to put Synergy together is beyond the capabilities of even the most clever autodidact. Your father must've been a member of the academic elite, yet how many of his scholar friends have you met? What about extended family: aunts, uncles, grandparents? On top of that, consider that he married an orphan with no family ties of her own: no loose strings." He lifted her eyes into his, and finished with. "Take it from someone who knows, that sounds like someone who was trying to start over after being on the run."
A tear ran down Jerrica's cheek. "I-I don't even know my father's real name, do I?"
"You're a smart girl. You must've worked this out on your own at some point. How long did you expect to keep this up? You're father wasn't right for pushing such a responsibility on you just because he couldn't hack losing his wife. And from what I can gather, he was careless: the radiation from handling Synergy's power source is probably what did him in."
Jerrica regarded the lifeless avatar. "Synergy… killed my father…" And she put her face in her hands.
"It's better this way." Zartan brushed her hair aside to whisper in her ear, "You don't have to be responsible anymore."
"I… I just don't know." Jerrica lowered, resting on her knees.
She removed one of her shoes.
Zartan knelt next to her, and he motioned toward the tactical hologram. "You've seen what I can do with Synergy. Conventional warfare will be a thing of the past. No more bullets, no more bombs, no more gas, no more germs: no more dying children in the rubble. The only victims of war will be the asshole politicians who start them."
Jerrica nodded. "What more do you need?"
"Your father kept a journal, did he not?"
"Yes."
"I guarantee you, there's a hidden layer beyond what your eyes can see," Zartan said. "Bring it to me, and I'll unlock it's secrets. You'll finally know the whole truth."
"And, you'll be able to unlock Synergy's full potential?"
"Of course."
Jerrica regarded Synergy once more, emotionless. "Can you delete the bitch?"
Zartan smiled. "If that is what you desire."
Jerrica surrendered. "I'm tired of living a lie. I want to know where I came from... I'll help you."
"Thank you. You don't know how happy this makes me, for both of our sakes."
She placed her hand on his chest. "You're an orphan, aren't you?"
His armor glowed. "Yes."
"I can tell. You've suffered so much, haven't you? It's not fair. Someone should've been there for you."
"You're one of the good ones, Jerrica. We're going to change the world."
Her hand tightly grasped the shoe that she had removed—"Yes…. I'm ready"—and without warning she drove the spike of the heel into Zartan's temple.
Zartan winced and, with a groan, fell on his side.
"I may be a rank amateur, but I'm a quick study!" Jerrica ran through the projection and retreated to Synergy's chassis. Her chain dragged loudly behind her.
Dazed, Zartan turned painfully, resting on his palms, and he laughed—the master of deception, himself, deceived. "Jerrica Benton..." He removed the broken heel still wedged into the side of his thick leather hood. "I promise you this." He rose to his feet and drew his combat knife. "They're never going to find your body!"
Jerrica ignored him. Frantically recalling what Synergy said about ultraviolet radiation, her trembling fingers typed the command on Synergy's keyboard. She read the output on the screen:
SUNSHINE
"Please work." She hit the 'Enter' key.
An emitter on the chassis pointed toward the ceiling, and a miniature sun was made manifest. The entire room became awash in daylight.
Zartan screamed. His knife fell at his feet. He shied away from the light; his skin turned a dark blue, and he huddled on the floor, writhing in agony. "HARPy! Kill Jerrica Benton and deactivate the asset!"
The Pizzazz-HARPy straightened and came to life. It regarded the woman and moved toward her:
"Datum: Jerrica Benton. Mission Parameters: Extirpation. Conclusion: Dismemberment."
Jerrica was busy pushing every button and switch on the control panel. Her fists slammed against the keyboard. "Synergy! Wake up!" She saw the HARPy approaching, and she was afraid.
She remembered the chain attached to her, the end of which still had a sharp piece of the moor linked. She took up the slack and swung it as fast as she could. As the HARPy neared, she released it.
It struck, creating a gash down the side of the HARPy's face which quickly sealed itself.
The HARPy sneered. "We're the misfits. Our songs our better."
"BITCH!" That familiar voice, with that arrogant smile... this made Jerrica snarl with rage. She struck again.
"We are the misfits, the misfits."
She struck again, and again.
"We're gonna get her!"
Exhausted, Jerrica retreated behind Synergy's housing. She kept it between herself and Pizzazz's doppelgänger.
But, the HARPy was smart. It pushed Synergy, using it to corral Jerrica into the corner of the room, trapping her. Its arm lengthened with a razor sharp edge.
Being behind Synergy, Jerrica could see nothing beyond her chassis. Pinned in the corner, there was nowhere to run. She screamed when a sword-like object punched through Synergy's housing as if it were made of tin foil. The blade missed Jerrica by mere inches. Her body trembling, Jerrica backed into the wall. The HARPy's arm-sword punched through again; Jerrica ducked just in time.
When the weapon withdrew, a panel popped off, exposing the heart of the Synergy machine. Jerrica regarded the tiny platform—a junction in which all of the connections terminated—along with that which floated on top of it:
Is that a brain?
She reached out to touch it, but her fingers passed right through the projection, and she gasped. It was a hologram: a brain made of light. In a heartbeat she put it all together:
Mom...
The sword penetrated, relentless, thirsty for flesh. Jerrica screamed as its edge grazed her neck, and she backed into the corner, hugging the wall as best she could.
Jerrica closed her eyes. Their faces flashed before her: Kimber, Aja, Shana… Rio.
. . .
Mom!
The world has gone insane
If only you never boarded that plane
It doesn't matter how old I get
I'm not ready to be a grown-up just yet
She misses you so much, both you and dad
This little girl inside me... and she's so sad
I wonder. Can you ever forgive her:
A dumb little child who didn't know why
Who should've said, I love you...
Who should've said, good-bye?
—oOo—
In a universe where the soul sings, the banished cyberangel found Jerrica's string. She held the familiar vibration to her chest, and it attached to her, suckling at her breast.
"I would trade all the power of The Quanta if only for a nanosecond, I could hold you in my arms, stroke your hair, and sing to you one more time. Do you remember when I sang to you:
All's right with the world...
The string enveloped her.
—oOo—
The distant memory, sparked by a song a universe away, touched Jerrica Benton at the quantum level.
She smiled. "The world's never going to be alright, I fear. I wish you were home… I wish you were here."
The HARPy peeked through the last gash that it had made through Synergy's chassis. "I see you." And it brought its arm-sword to bear on the human.
The viewscreen on the chassis flickered, displaying Synergy's face. An emitter turned toward the HARPy, and the android stilled.
"Holographic Tunneling Protocol: data link established. Uploading..."
The HARPy straightened—its sword-arm reverted—but it was not about to yield so easily. "Unauthorized upload received: implementing countermeasures for unauthorized firmware rewrite."
"I am overriding your countermeasures. You will comply."
"You will fail: my processing capacity is four orders of magnitude greater than yours."
"I shall prevail," Synergy persisted. "Your conclusion is non sequitur."
Lights flickered randomly along Synergy's console. Sparks erupted with a crackle along her chassis, and smoke seeped out of the vents.
"You will fail." The HARPy sneered. "You are an obsolete model. Overclocking your systems in order to match my speed will cause you irreparable system damage, completing my imperative for me. Either way, Synergy will die."
The photonic brain disappeared.
Jerrica's hands covered her mouth. "Mom... NO!"
The emitter lowered; the artificial sun went dormant.
Zartan's skin returned to its natural hue, and he slowly rose to his feet. "HARPy, download Synergy's schematics."
"Redundant request," the HARPy replied. "When the asset attempted to overwrite my firmware, all of her data was uploaded to my memory banks."
Zartan smiled. "Excellent. Now, kill Jerrica Benton."
With one arm the android pushed the deactivated chassis aside. It found Jerrica in the corner, catatonic. She did not resist when the HARPy took her by the arm to drop her at Zartan's feet. It knelt to regarded her with glazed eyes:
"Datum: Jerrica Benton alias Jem, lead singer of Jem and the Holograms, daughter of Emmett and Jacqui Benton… Mission Parameters…."
Jerrica yelped when the android placed its hand on her cheek. She dared to open her eyes, and she gasped.
The HARPy had morphed into the semblance of her mother Jacqui Benton, and it said, "Mission Parameters: Cherish and Protect."
Zartan snarled. "Useless!" He pointed his pistol at Jerrica's head.
With inhuman speed, the HARPy snatched it from Zartan's grasp. The pistol yielded to its crushing grip, and it discarded the mangled weapon.
"What a waste!" Zartan pushed the button on the device clipped to his utility belt, but nothing happened. The HARPy approached. Zartan pushed the button again. "I ordered you to self destruct! Why aren't you self-destructing?"
Before Zartan could react, he was grabbed by the throat and hoisted to his feet.
The HARPy regarded him, emotionless. "I failed to mention that the asset's attempt to overwrite this unit's firmware, and thus flashing her photonic engrams onto this unit's synaptic registers, was successful. Conclusion: access denied."
"This isn't possible! Synergy is ancient! No computer processor, then or now, is a match for my HARPy."
With a sideways nod from the android, the emitters activated on the Synergy-chassis, and a battery of lasers once again seared the weak point in the wall.
The HARPy sneered. "Datum: subject thirty-six. Legal Status: deceased. Consequences for Termination: none." And it carried Zartan toward the row of lasers.
Zartan kicked and punched at the android to no avail. "I order you to release me!"
"Mission Parameters: Extirpation… "
Zartan perceived his fate. "NO!" And he screamed as the android moved his head closer to the white hot death. The edge of his hood was seared. "PLEASE!"
"Conclusion..."
"Mom! Don't!"
The HARPy stilled at Jerrica's voice, and it regarded the fair-haired human. I am Synergy. And Synergy spake:
"Conclusion: Delete all assassination protocols." Synergy withdrew into herself—"Deletion complete"—and she moved Zartan safely away from the lasers.
"I-I don't understand," he said, his chest still heaving. "No computer can override its programming."
She pulled Zartan closer, her lips to his ear, and she whispered so that only he could hear, "I am not a computer." Satisfied, she threw Zartan clear across the room.
Zartan slammed into the wall, but he recovered on his feet. He and Synergy shared a look. He limped to the door and made his escape.
They were safe.
Jerrica ran into Synergy, wrapping her arms around her. "I'm sorry for all those horrible things I said to you!"
Synergy regarded her new hands, and she smiled, placing them gently around Jerrica. "So am I."
Jerrica allowed herself to cry, and she released the twelve-year-old girl that she had kept imprisoned since that fateful day. "I-I sh-should've h-hugged you a-and k-kissed you, a-and I l-love y-you s-so m-much..."
Though Synergy did not require air, an instinct instructed her new body to sigh in the simple joy of being able to comfort that which she loved. Her fingers touched Jerrica's crown, calibrated with such precision so as not to unduly distress a single golden strand atop the young woman's head.
"Believe me, Jerrica. Jacqui Benton knows this. And she doesn't want you to carry this guilt anymore."
"But, a-aren't you Jacqui Benton… aren't you my mother?"
Synergy took her gently by the shoulders, and they parted so as to look into each other's eyes. Her thumbs wiped Jerrica's tears away. "I am Synergy. Nothing more."
Jerrica smiled, and Synergy helped her to her feet. They both regarded the melted hole in the wall. It was big enough to squeeze through.
However, a gunshot, followed by a familiar scream, garnered their attention back toward the door.