Chapter 2
Watchers on the Wall
The large house right by the river was locked. It took Frank all of twenty seconds to crack the security. Soundlessly, he stepped inside. As the door closed behind him, he allowed himself to relax. It was cold, wet, and forsaken here. But the air was clean, and for once, he didn't feel that he had to expect being whacked over the head at any given moment.
From a room down the hall, he heard someone clattering. Probably making breakfast. He left his shoes at the door and walked to the source of the sound in his socks.
The woman in the kitchen looked as if she had been born here, but he knew better. She was short and stocky, wild red curls giving her the look of a girl from an old Disney film. He leaned against the doorframe as if he owned the place and folded his arms. He did his best to imitate the local speech pattern for his sentence. 'Your security needs fixed.'
The answer was a highly satisfying scream. The woman turned, knife ready to throw, and froze in mid movement.
'And I'd thank you for not murdering me.'
For a couple of seconds she stared at him. Then she dropped the knife and ran towards him, pulling him into a crazily tight hug. He reciprocated a little awkwardly.
The woman withdrew and clutched his face. 'Is that really you, Frank? Did you just get here? And why the hell didn't you just ring the damn doorbell? You look like shit, do you know that?'
'Those are a lot of questions, Abi.'
'I didn't think I'd ever see you again. Why did you come? I mean … God. Why didn't you come sooner? Or answer one of my fucking messages?' She took a step away from him and glared. 'You thought I'm trying to spy on you for our parents, didn't you?'
'Well … yes. Sort of.'
'You've always been crazy.' She shook her head, but her expression softened again. 'What brings you here?'
'I had the flu. Which is probably why I look as if I'd been pulled from the bottom of a lake.'
'What flu, Frank? The Spanish flu that almost wiped everyone out?'
'That's the one. Don't worry, I'm not contagious. As you see, I'm not dead either, but I was in hospital and I was sick enough for long enough to … think about a couple of things.'
'You alone, Frank? You know I said you can bring a significant other.'
'Have you met me, Abi?'
'Regrettably, yes.'
'So. How's Fabian? Does he know you're inviting people to stay at your house?'
'Good question. Next question.'
'Uh.' Frank shrugged. 'Where do I bring my stuff?'
'Upstairs. Follow me.'
Ϡ
Adam reached the designated address in the middle of nowhere around noon. He had read a newspaper on the bus here, and there had indeed been something about abductions. It didn't seem as if the police were unable to handle it, however. There was no indication why someone from the Juggernaut collective would send him here. On the other hand, the abducted people had all been natches. Had been being the emphasised word. They had come back with their memories gone and random augments. Some cranial, a couple of hands, and some that people weren't even sure what they were meant to do. The shut-down of all the L.I.M.B. clinics was coming back to bite the world.
He took a careful round around the house. It was pretty idyllic. White picket fence, a small river nearby, pretty much at the edge of the village. The suspicious part was that the house was a bunker. Not by the way it was built, but by the security. There had to be a central switch of some sort, but to reach that, he had to get inside first. Not only the front- and backdoor were locked, even the windows. There were cameras, too. God only knew what they did, but they followed Adam's every moment and when he got too close glared at him in the angry yellow that told him he was about to trigger an alarm. His infolink was silent as the grave. He had to keep his attention on his surroundings. This might well be an ambush.
Adam took some time to learn the cameras' moments when they weren't already tailing him. At first they seemed rather random, but there was actually a pattern. The one over the front door zoomed left, then right, stayed for five seconds, went to the gate, slowly down the path to the door, left, lingered, back to the gate, fast back to the door, and started over. It was both ridiculous and brilliant.
'Who the hell are you?' he muttered.
'Wouldn't you like to know?'
Adam froze. He wasn't easy to scare, but disembodied voiced seemed to do the trick. 'Who's there?' he asked, spinning, trying to find the tell-tale shift in the light that gave away someone with a cloaking aug.
'I am the MANES.' The voice was odd. Like several voices, male and female, speaking together, not exactly in sync but close enough to be easily understandable.
'Manes?'
'Multi-layered and naturelike electronic security.'
'Oh God.'
'I am not a deity, even though my name is derived from spirits.'
'You're an AI, aren't you?'
'Very observant. I am uncertain if you are an intruder.'
'If you're the resident AI, maybe you know me. I'm Adam Jensen. I was invited here.'
'Please retract your eye-shields and move closer to the camera for a retinal scan.'
'Ah. No. Sorry.'
'No Adam Jensen is expected on this day. If you do not comply, I have to assume that you are an impostor and act accordingly. Please leave the premises or approach the camera in a non-offensive manner.'
Adam glared at the camera. Not that he thought it would have any effect. 'Very well. Hurt me and I'll blind you.'
'Your crude threats are quite unnecessary.'
Shaking his head and still wary, Adam did as he was told. This time, the white light dimmed to something gentler as he approached but didn't change colour. But what with an AI running things here, that might not mean much. 'Who wrote you?'
'I shall not take the name of my Creator in vain.'
'Oh, for crying out loud.'
'I cannot cry it out loud, either.'
'Didn't they teach you idioms?'
'I chose not to acknowledge it. Retinal scan complete. You are still 23 hours and 42 minutes early. I am not scheduled to let you in at this time.'
Slowly but surely, Adam was losing patience. 'Listen MANES. You know I am supposed to be here. You know who I am. I had a chance to take an earlier flight, so I did. Does it really matter?'
'At this point, the owner of the house is not here.'
'Did anyone claim I'm a thief?'
'No-one claimed you're not a thief.'
'What did they say about me, I wonder? Can you tell me that?'
'Adam Jensen. Ex SWAT. List of Augmentations: Retinal, Cranial, …'
'I know those. Skip that.'
'With pleasure. Current employer unknown. Until recently Interpol. Occasional work for Juggernaut collective. Preference for carton décor. Lover of old clocks. Lacks sense of humour. Preferred food item: Cereal. Alignment: chaotic good.'
'What? That's quite enough.' Some of these things were plain ridiculous. Some of them were very private. None were completely wrong. Whoever had written this AI knew a lot about him. The likelihood that this was the Juggernaut's doing had increased. God only knew what they had managed to find out about him. 'So. MANES. What is it to be?'
'Will you walk into my parlour?' The door swung open. Adam hesitated. 'Scared?'
He glared at the camera again. 'No. Just weirded out.' Still cautious, he stepped inside.
The door closed behind Adam with a snap. He turned and tried to open it, but it had locked again. Inside, he couldn't see any cameras, but they could well be hidden. There had to be a control panel somewhere. A traitorous patch was on the wall right next to the door. It was closed.
The moment he approached it, a diode on it glowed yellow. 'MANES?'
'Yes, Adam?'
He sighed. 'You're watching me?'
'Of course.'
'How? I don't see any cameras.'
'No, you don't.' There was a distinct note of pride in the voice. Whoever had programmed the AI had an odd sense of humour.
'Look. Tell me where I can and can't go. I don't want to trigger any defences here.'
'You can move freely in the house, but any attempt to hack the security will be seen as an act of aggression. Some rooms may be locked. I advise you to keep them that way.'
'Speaking of locked doors,' Adam said, 'would you mind opening the front door? I don't like being locked in.'
'I'm afraid I can't do that, Adam.'
'Oh God. Your … ah, Creator is a nerd.'
'And what does it make you if you know so from one sentence?'
Adam opened his mouth and closed it. 'What have I got myself into?' He raised a hand. 'If you answer that by blabbing the address of this house now I'll trash something.'
'That course of action is inadvisable.'
'Yeah.'
'If you need a bathroom, there is one right down the hall, last door on the left. If that is why you fear being trapped.'
'Would you watch me, there, too?'
'A mystery for the ages, Adam.'
((Oh God, that AI got out of hand. What have I done? For reference, I'd like it pronounced MAH-nes. Not mains.
And references? Don't get me started. Chapter heading – Song of Ice and Fire; alignment: DnD; the AI quotes the third commandment (take the name in vain), The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt (Will you walk into my parlour?), HAL 9000 from Space Odyssey (I'm afraid I can't do that), and a Tranquil from Dragon Age: Origins (That course of action …). The name comes from Roman mythology, a collective of spirits of the dead.
The term 'natches' for non-augmented people is something I have taken from the Black Light novel, I don't remember it being used in the games.))
