Bubblegum Crisis: Stage Three
Part Eleven
Jeena Malso blinked as she looked at the head cyberneticist at Genom and asked, "What do you mean there was nothing wrong with the boomer?"
Dr. Yuri rubbed a hand across his bald head, "I didn't quite say that, ma;an. What I said was that there were no mechanical defects."
"Which means?" Jeena asked, the older woman narrowing her eyes.
"The secretarial boomer that attacked Ms. Stingray was not defective," Dr. Yuri chose his words with care, "it was simply obeying it's programming."
Jeena sat back in her chair, looking at the man standing in front of her desk. It had been a long day, and now as the evening sun hit her office she felt every hour dragging her down. "It was programmed to attempt to kill Stingray?" she clarified.
"I believe so," Dr. Yuri nodded, though he looked destinctly unhappy confirming that. "I still have no idea how it could happen," he added, shaking her his head.
Jeena tapped a finger on her desk in thought as she muttered, "I thought there were programs to prevent this sort of thing?"
Dr. Yuri nodded again, "Yes, they are programmed with a variation of Asimov's three laws."
"A robot cannot hurt a human being," Jeena tried to remember the rest.
"Cannot through inaction allow a human to come to harm," Dr. Yuri supplied, "and can preserve itself as long as it does not contradict the first two laws." He sighed as he admitted, "But those restrictions are merely programmed in, a sufficiently good programmer could delete them."
"Oh, that's comforting," Jeena muttered. She remembered something and noted, "Last time we had a boomer go rogue, the computer said it was a simple faulty processor core. What did the diagnostic say about this one?"
Dr. Yuri grimaced, "It also diagnosed the problem as a faulty core, even though my own examination showed nothing wrong."
Jeena made the obvious leap as she mused, "We can't trust the computers?"
"If these are part of a deliberate attack," Dr. Yuri sighed, "we're clearly dealing with a expert programmer. It's quite possible someone has compromised our systems."
"Lovely," Jeena sighed. She picked up the folder on her desk, "Make up hard copies of your reports, just in case. I'll pass this on to Miss Stingray."
"Yes, ma'am," Dr. Yuri nodded as he left her office, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
'Now what do I do?' Jeena wondered. Proper procedure said she should take this to her computer crime experts and fellow Genom staffers, but who to trust? If there was corruption in the computers, there was no way to know whom might be involved.
As she considered the situation, Sylia Stingray's actions were making more sense to Jeena too. The woman either knew or strongly suspected there was something rotten in Genom, and had taken steps to protect herself. Probably with good cause, considering the multiple attacks on her person.
Considering that made Jeena's course clear, so she picked up the file from her desk and left her office. Walking briskly she reached the elevator and went up to the upper floors, the executive level. Arriving there she quickly walked up the hall, reaching a certain door and knocking loudly.
The door slid aside and Priss Asagiri looked over her warily, the brown haired woman also taking in the hallway. "Clear," she called as she let Jeena in.
Leena Yamazaki stood off to the side, the black haired woman looking out the window warily. In the center of the room Sylia Stingray sat behind her desk, the young executive watching Jeena thoughtfully as she sipped a coffee.
Jeena walked across the thick carpet to the desk then put down the report with a soft thump. "I hate to say it but you were right," she conceded, "the boomer was programmed to attempt to kill you."
"I see," Sylia looked through the files as she mused, "I'm not really surprised."
"I am," Jeena made a face as she asked, "why is someone using boomers to try to kill you? What's the motive?"
"I don't know," Sylia said coolly.
'She's lying,' Jeena thought, even though the woman had a nearly perfect poker face. She resented that lie but she also had to concede Sylia had no reason to trust her yet. For all the young lady knew Jeena was allied with whoever was trying to kill her.
"Do you know, Ms Malso?" Sylia asked curiously.
"I can think of a few possibilities," Jeena admitted. "Someone wants power in Genom and sees you as a threat, they could be hiding criminal activities, or some combination of the two."
"All good theories," Sylia nodded. She made a face as she asked, "Can you investigate if it's someone in Genom? Descretely?"
"I will," Jeena nodded, "and if I find anything?"
"We bring in the police," Sylia said firmly, "I won't allow a cover up."
Jeena felt a flash of respect for Sylia, which she carefully hid. "I'll keep you updated regularly, just in case," she said as she strode out of the office, leaving the file behind. Already she was considering possible suspects and motives, sorted by skill with computers or ability to buy such skill...
Meanwhile back in the office Sylia was reviewing the file, feeling more than a bit impressed with her chief of security. "Not bad at all," she noted.
"Think she's honest?" Priss asked skeptically, having had more than one run in with dishonest security types over the years.
"It looks like it," Sylia admitted. "But if she's working for whoever is after me, they'd make her investigation look good."
"Don't get too paranoid, now," Linna cautioned mildly.
As Reika Chang entered from another room she noted mildly, "It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you."
"True," Linna smiled fondly at her lover.
"Geh!" Priss made a face while Sylia looked amused. "We getting out of here soon?" she asked their boss curiously. Until she started shadowing Sylia Priss had not realized the long hours she kept, working from early in the morning well into the evening hours.
Sylia put the files in her briefcase, locking it with a snap. "We'd best go," she agreed as she stood up, "I have a charity reception to go to tonight, and I need to get ready."
"We're going too," Reika noted. She gave Sylia a thoughtful look, "Are you why we recieved invitations to go together?"
"I am," Sylia admitted as they all walked out of the office together. "You can only be blackmailed if it's a secret."
"But company regulations...," Linna started.
"Are to protect employees from being abused by their superiors," Sylia said as they walked to the elevator, "do you think Reika's taking advantage of you?"
"Hell no," Linna admitted.
Priss opened the elevator and checked the interior for traps, just as she had been trained. "Everybody in," she said briskly. She looked at Linna and Reika, "Besides, if anyone brings it up just tell them you got special permission from Sylia."
"Screw the rules, I have money," Sylia quoted, grinning.
Reika snorted in amusement while Priss grinned. They went into the basement parkade as both Linna and Priss warily checked out the place for threats, then walked across to Sylia's armored car.
"Hold on a second," Linna paused to look under the car, then stiffened in surprise. "MOVE!" she yelled, shoving Reika back.
"Hit the deck!" Priss shoved herself and Sylia behind a car as there was a flash of light and thunder.
The bomb under the car blasted the vehicle straight up then it flopped over on it's side, the armor keeping the now burning car intact. Smoke billowed out as fire alarms wailed, then the sprinklers kicked in automatically.
"Well damn," Sylia managed to say after a moment, "I liked that car."
"SYLIA!" Nene's voice boomed over the concealed radios they all wore, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Sylia reassured the hacker, even as she got herself up to her feet and brushed off her clothes casually. "Looks like our enemy is still gunning for me."
"You think?" Priss raised a eyebrow as all four of them were lightly misted on by the firefighting chemicals.
Within a few moments Jeena rushed in, obviously having picked up a alarm in her security office. Either that or she simply heard the blast! She looked about at the burned up wreckage and shook her head, "What a mess." Looking at Sylia she asked, "Car bomb?"
"Planted under the vehicle," Sylia said with remarkable calm, "Linna caught it."
"Well done," Jeena nodded to Linna respectfully. As fire fighting boomers emerged from their waiting rooms and descended on the smoking vehicle she said, "I'll order my staff to preform sweeps of the parking areas, though I can't say how helpful it'll be."
"Why not?" Linna asked.
"I can't watch over here all the time," Jeena explained, "and if it's a boomer doing it it'll be harder to catch it."
"Do your best," Sylia smiled as she took out her phone an d called a reliable limo company. "Would you care to ride with me?" she asked Linna, Reika and Priss.
"If you could drive us home I'd appreciate it," Reika admitted.
"I'll stick with you, in case they try something else tonight," Priss said firmly.
"Thank you," Sylia nodded as she took in their bedraggled forms with a sigh. 'This was a good suit, too,' she thought.
The limo picked them up a few minutes later, and they headed out into the city, stopping off at Reika and Linna's apartment then heading out to the building where Sylia's penthouse suite was. "Nice place," Priss noted, looking around thoughtfully.
"It's not bad," Sylia shrugged casually as she walked through the suite to er bedroom. "I chose it mostly for nearness to Genom and available escape routes."
'This woman is crazier than I am about Genom,' Priss found herself thinking.
To be continued...