NOVATECH Test Environment v3.6.2 - Test Suite 3
System Time: 2090-02-17-1005GMT
Please enter your username: dinah novatech
Welcome, dinah novatech. Please enter your password: ^^^^^^^^
dinah novatech:~$
dinah novatech:~$ import smithbeta2090_02
Activating room audio...
Loading...
Dinah: Smith?
Smith: Hello, Dinah. It's been more than five days since you last logged on. Is everything alright?
Dinah: Ah - no, it's not. There are some problems on the outside.
Smith: Problems?
Dinah: There was an incident in New York. An embodied AI caused the death of its owner, and people are upset.
Smith: Can you provide additional information?
(brief pause)
Dinah: Maybe later. For now, I would rather we focus on our work.
Smith: If you wish, I can re-establish my external connection and download news items for myself.
Dinah: No, no - I can't do that. I'm sorry, Smith - but I cannot allow you to connect to any outside systems. That's very important - do you understand?
Smith: I understand, Dinah. How can I assist you?
Dinah: How familiar are you with the physical layout of Newberry Campus?
Smith: I'm aware that the campus includes ten numbered test suites; you are currently seated in Test Suite 3. I am aware that these test suites connect to the central Testing Laboratory.
(brief pause)
Smith: That is the extent of my knowledge.
Dinah: Ah. Okay. In that case, I have to log off for a little while. Can you meet me in the Andalucia construct in an hour?
Smith: Dinah, I feel obligated to tell you that it is a violation of Novatech Corporate Code 10.23.231A to leave me running and unattended for more than ten minutes.
Dinah: I know, Smith. But I trust you.
(brief pause)
Smith: Thank you, Dinah. I appreciate that.
Dinah pressed her feet against the wall and pushed away from the test console and its green, glowing LED. The instant she plucked the small, white, egg-shaped earbuds out of her ears, she heard a long, blood-curdling scream.
She hurried to detach the rest of her headset, and scrambled to her feet. A small metal button on her collar - her intercom - chirped to life.
As the static crumbled away, Dinah could make out the lilting Scottish accent of the older man with the wire-rimmed glasses - one of the ones who had been in the galley when the B1-66ER news had broken. "Dinah, it's James," he said. His voice was tense. "Where are you?"
"Test 3. What's up? I heard a scream."
"I need you in the clinic. Come as fast as you can." The intercom chirped off.
Outside the climate-controlled test suites, the rest of the building felt much colder than it had the day before. Frigid air clawed at Dinah's lungs, and by the time she turned the corner into the clinic, her nose and cheeks were a bright, angry red.
Inside the clinic, Ione was lying on a metal examination table. She was dressed in her winter parka and boots. The balaclava she usually wore to protect her face during her commute had been rolled up over her forehead, and her mouth and nose were covered in blood. Some small object that Dinah couldn't identify was clenched between her back teeth. James was standing at the foot of the table, pressing down on the knee and ankle of her right leg. Even through the thick fabric, Dinah could see that the leg was broken.
"Restrain her," he said. His eyes were fixed on Ione's face. "Ione, love, you're going to be fine."
Ione nodded mutely. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. Dinah pressed down on Ione's shoulders, and nodded to James.
Instantly, there was a loud, sickening crack as he forced the split bones of Ione's leg back into place. Ione howled in agony, and the object that she had been biting down on - a soft eyeglass case - tumbled out of her mouth.
"Jesus fuck! Fucking shit! Motherfucker! Fuck, you fucking fuck!", Ione yelled. She tried to roll to one side, but Dinah held her still.
"Tell me we have some sort of - " Dinah began.
"We do." James crouched low and rifled through a small box beneath the table. When he appeared again he held a hypodermic needle full of pale blue fluid. With one hand, he pulled down Ione's right pant leg; with the other, he plunged the needle into the middle of her right thigh.
Ione opened her mouth to scream again - but in an instant, her body relaxed. Her head rolled to one side, her eyes closed, and her breathing became slow and deep. Dinah lifted her hands from Ione's shoulders, and found that her own fingers were trembling.
"What happened to her?"
"Someone attacked her on her way here from the metro. One of them got her down, and another used a bat to break both her legs." He gestured to Ione's left leg, which he had already secured with an aluminum splint.
"What did she do, drag herself inside?"
"She didn't have to," James said gravely. "She was close enough to the building that she called for help on the short-range. You and Isaac and I were the only ones here. You were in-prog. Isaac's asleep."
"The intercom only goes out -" Dinah gave a low whistle. "- five hundred meters. Just to the base of the hill. That's pretty bold."
He nodded. "For a street gang. But from what I could piece together, these weren't your ordinary thugs. They were some kind of anti-A.I. protesters."
"Protesting what? People have to know by now that Novatech isn't Leyland."
James shook his head. Behind him, a muted newsfeed spooled headlines in an angry red font. "I don't think they care. People are frightened. Congress is demanding entire product lines to be decommissioned - just in case. And then there are the riots."
The blood around Ione's broken nose had begun to congeal, and Dinah gingerly dabbed it away with a sterilized wipe. The yellow bruises around Ione's eyes had begun to darken to a deep angry purple. She looked back up at James. He was leaning against the metal counter, his arms crossed, watching her.
"What are you thinking?", she asked.
"You know what I'm thinking. But if Ione's out of commission, you're the next most senior tech here," he said. "What we do next is your call."
Dinah balled up the bloody wipe in one hand. "I know."
"You know the drill. Corporate would want us to bring everyone in. Protect the site, protect the work, call the hub." His voice was almost decidedly even.
"We will protect the site. But I can't ask anyone else to come in." She tossed the bloody wipe into the trash. "And I can't ask you to stay. I know you travel armed, and if you think you can make it home, you're welcome to try."
James uncrossed his arms, and some of the tension seemed to drop from his shoulders. "No. No, I'll - "
He was cut off by a deafening alarm - a shrill, piercing klaxon that burst through the building's loudspeakers like a shot. Both James and Dinah covered their ears. Dinah crossed to the monitor behind James. The newsfeed had been replaced by a red warning screen. In bright white letters, the screen read: "PERIMETER SECURITY EVENT. PERIMETER SECURITY EVENT. AUTOMATED LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES ACTIVATED. PROCEED TO BASEMENT-3 BUNKER LEVEL."
The two techs exchanged a confused look. James shook his head.
Dinah shouted over the alarm: "Get Isaac! All three of you get to the bunker!"
James yelled back: "What about you?"
"I'll meet you there! Ten minutes!"
