((Chapter heading comes from a song of the same name by Deine Lakaien.))
Chapter 6
Fighting the Green
Frank slammed the door to his bedroom. The angry shout from downstairs came almost at once. He went down, two steps at the time. 'What, sis?' he asked. His tone and posture were a challenge. He was wired, it wasn't her fault, but it needed out.
'Oh, Lord. What happened?'
He'd expected her to fight back, but all she did was walk towards him and cup his cheek. He wanted to get angry at her and failed completely. 'Damn you. You'll always be four years old and I'll never be able to yell at you.'
She snorted. 'Good that I don't have qualms yelling at you if you start bitching at me.'
'Yeah. Unfair.' He shook his head. 'I can't really talk about it, Abi. It's just …'
'Adam. He left for something you asked him to do, I gathered that much. And you're worried now. Did you lose contact?'
'No. If I lost contact that would very likely mean he's dead.' He swallowed. He really didn't want to think about that.
'Tell me, Frank. Do you hate him or love him? It has to be one of the two.'
'What? I don't hate Jensen.' He watched her lips twitch and frowned. 'I don't love him either.'
'Too little, too late. When's he coming back?'
'Couple of minutes. And don't you dare.'
'I wouldn't. You're an adult.' She looked away. 'Fabian called.'
Frank pushed Jensen and everything else firmly from his mind and schooled his expression into indifferent interest. The few times he'd seen Fabian, he'd liked him fine enough, but right now, he wanted to rip him to shreds. He'd told Abi nothing of the sort, of course. 'And?' he asked.
'Well. He's on his way here from Aberdeen as we speak.' She swallowed. 'He wants to … talk. I have no idea what this is going to be. I haven't any idea how I feel at this point. So … Frank, could you please … ah.'
'Leave the house to you? Sure. I'll go to Millicent's Deals.'
'You can drive there. You know where the key is.'
'Thanks.'
The door opened and Adam Jensen came in with a blast of cold air.
'You can turn right around,' Frank told him. 'We're leaving.'
'What?'
Frank looked at Abigail, Abigail nodded once, and he looked back at his ex-colleague. 'I'll tell you on the way.'
Ϡ
When Frank had finished relating Abigail's troubles to Jensen – or a concise version of it – the other man was unusually quiet. 'So now we have the questionable pleasure to spend the afternoon together,' Frank said at last. 'I'm going to a car dealer. I need a bike.'
'You're a freak.'
'Fine.'
'That's all?'
Frank spared him a brief glance. 'I'm not in to mood, Jensen. I want to kill that man. I want to scream at him that he had his chance and that he had time enough, and that he can't just ignore that. But of course, I'm not going to do that, because it's not my business and because I'm the last person who should give advice about that sort of thing at all.' Frank waited for some wisecrack but it never came.
'I don't know, Pritchard.' Jensen sighed. Jensen never sighed except with annoyance. 'Just how would you feel if someone gives you an ultimatum? I know … or I think I might not follow it. Even if I wanted to. I wouldn't put myself in a position to be pushed around. And if I come a day after the ultimatum is over and am refused, then it wouldn't have worked anyway.'
Frank let that stew until they reached the car dealer. 'That's ridiculous, Jensen,' he said finally. 'Hell, I don't even know what I want. For him to be there when we come back or not … I have no idea.'
The cold rain was gluing the loose strands of hair to his face. They stepped into the shop. A young woman with pink hair approached. She had an augmented hand with some tools on them. 'Can I help you?'
'Yes. I need a bike.'
'And I need a car,' Jensen added.
She grinned at them both. 'Well, let's take a look, then. Not shy of the water, strangers, are you?'
Ϡ
The thing Francis had picked had no right to be called a bike. He knew that the man was a tinkerer, but this monster looked like a lost cause. Well, he'd see in time. He himself had fallen head over feet for a dark green SUV. In Detroit he'd never seen the point, but somehow he had a feeling that he might leave the good roads eventually, and then a lowered sports-car wouldn't do him any favours. The pink haired lady was delighted with Pritchard's pick and told him she had everything he'd need to get the thing up and working. The loaded the rust heap into the SUV and were off again. 'I suggest we go and grab a bite somewhere in Aberdeen. Preferably near to the police archives so I can get a look at the area.' Frank stole a glance behind himself and Adam snorted. 'No-one's stealing that, Pritchard.'
'Probably not. Let's just put it in the garage to be sure. I won't need a minute.'
He was indeed fast. When he came back, he'd tugged of his hairband, wet strands tucked behind his ears. 'Well, let's go,' he said. They found a Chinese restaurant within sight of the archive. Adam took a cursory glance before they headed inside. The archive didn't look special, but that didn't have to mean anything.
'Question, Pritchard. Why did the MANES say, 'Welcome home,' to me earlier?'
'Ah. You noticed that.' Francis shrugged. 'Abi told it you're a resident rather than a guest. That means you can come and go as you please until someone changes that setting. Someone being Abi.'
'Just what can a person be to that AI?'
'An intruder, tolerated, a guest, or a resident. It opens up wide to fire-fighters if there's a fire and recognises the police. It can make calls to verify that they're meant to be there and that their warrants are valid. It can also call assistance if they are corrupt and try to enter without a warrant.'
'Impressive. In how many countries does this work?'
'Oh God. I don't even know. I've started with the States and the European Union, added the UK later, then Switzerland. I've got … let me think … Egypt, China, and Japan. Yes. That's it.' He shrugged. 'If someone from, say, Sudan wanted to buy it, I'd have to check with their laws if an AI security is even allowed. Because some nations ban them. I'd add that too, so that someone from there who manages to get his hands on it wouldn't be able to use it. It would be dead. Otherwise, I'd add all the data it needs. That isn't hard to find, usually, and for those countries where it is difficult, I'd just need to put word out that Nucl3arSnake needs some legal info and wait a bit.'
'You are good at what you're doing, aren't you? Why do you think this thing will sell?'
'Because nothing like it exists.' He leaned forwards. 'There's a few security AIs around. You met one in the Palisade Blade, I believe, but that one didn't talk. For private people, these things are simply not affordable. This one will be. And the talking back can be turned off, but it's just something that no-one's done before. A security AI you can chat with. I'll teach it to play chess and some other things, too. That's not hard.'
'For you maybe.' Adam shook his head. 'So. If I buy this thing and install it, can I lock you out?'
'Ah! Important question.' Francis actually smiled. 'The answer is yes, you definitely can. What you can't do is access the code itself, like, to lock out police permanently. If you do manage, the system wipes itself completely. At this point, I think even I couldn't crack it. So if Abi decides to kick me out, there's no way I can get back in.'
Their food came, taking up much of the space on their table. Adam generally tried not to notice the CASIE aug when he didn't need it, but he had a hard time. Pritchard was nervous. Very much so, and somehow Adam doubted that had anything to do with his brother-in-law. He ignored it for now, but when the hacker nearly knocked his glass over, he decided he needed to say something. 'Are you on the run?' he tried a shot in the dark.
'On the … what? No. Don't be ridiculous.'
Adam put his cutlery down. 'Look. I'm not trying to pry, in fact, am actively trying not to, but something's eating you.'
'Damn CASIE. Jensen, I …' He put his chopsticks down, too. 'I don't know how to say this, but … when I was ill, my thoughts kept circling and circling and … Oh God.'
'You were ill?' He looked at the man again. He'd noticed that he was pale and gaunt, but he'd put that simply to the fact that he'd had a very hard time in Detroit. Now he found that he was concerned. 'Are you … Pritchard, are you all right now?'
Francis watched him with a strange expression. Apparently he was an open book right now. 'Never been healthier. Got myself checked out for everything that's out there, while I was at it. But … it was a close call.' He looked at his hands. 'Being my reasonable self, I waited until I was very feverish and had to crawl to a hospital on all fours. Literally. I don't even remember getting in. When I woke up I was so weak I couldn't even lift a hand. I had that Spanish flu and it was almost too late. I could have died. And all I could think of while I lay there, hoping that I wasn't going to, was how you cut me off when we last talked, how you obviously hate me so much you couldn't wait to be rid of me.'
Adam opened his mouth and closed it. 'I … Oh.'
'Don't get all high and mighty, Jensen. As I said, I was feverish.'
'Of course.' He licked his lips. 'Still. Thanks for being honest. And I cut you off because I don't know how to handle farewells.' The next words didn't come easy, but he felt an overwhelming need to say them. 'I'm sorry, Pritchard.'
'Ad… Jensen. I want to go back. I need to see if Abi is okay.'
Adam hadn't missed Pritchard's slip-up, but he'd ignore it. 'Sure. Let's see if everything's all right.' He smiled. 'Do you want me to hold your brother-in-law so you can beat him, or do you want me to hold you so you can't?'
Francis's grave expression left him. 'Huh. You know, I'm not going back to jail. So just in case, hold me.'
Adam left the credits for his food on the table and slipped his still wet cloak back on. 'I'd like to do that,' he said in an undertone. He saw Pritchard hesitate, but then he walked on as if he hadn't heard. Well. He'd let him chew, for now.
