Niko sounded nervous as he said, “We really need to get going.”

  It was then that 2246B registered a smell of body odor mixed with sweat. She also noticed the sweat beading on Niko’s forehead.

  “You…afraid?” said 2246B.

  “Very,” he replied with a nervous laugh.

  “Why?”

  Niko blinked at 2246B. “We’re in danger, remember?”

  2246B nodded and said, “From what?”

  “The bad people.” Niko began to sound frustrated.

  “Who are the bad people?”

  The young man shook his head. “Not important right now. What is important is that we get out of here. We don’t have long before they arrive.” He scanned their surroundings. “Follow me, yeah?”

  2246B blinked at Niko, mimicking his facial movements. “Okay,” she said.

  When Niko’s shoulders relaxed a little, 2246B decide that this must have been the right response. He grasped her hand and started moving. 2246B squeezed Niko’s in return.

  “Ouch,” said Niko. “Not so tight.”

  She loosened her grip a little. “Sorry.”

  A small smile crept onto Niko’s face. “Don’t worry about it. You’re still learning and you will keep learning as we go. That’s good. It means it worked.”

  “What worked?”

  He hesitated. “Forget it. I just wish your awakening was under better circumstances. It’s too bad it happened under such...desperate circumstances.” They started moving again at a quicker pace.

  The pair left the room through the doorway with the red light over it and emerged onto a catwalk running along one wall of a large chamber. Most of it was dark, but 2246B could just make out a series of lights glowing a familiar faint sickly yellow. More pods. Hundreds of them.

  “What is this place?” 2246B asked as they moved.

  “An experimental laboratory,” replied Niko without looking back.

  2246B processed the words. “For what purpose?”

  “Uh...well, it’s kind of why we’re in trouble right now.”

  “In trouble?”

  “Some people don’t agree with what we’re doing.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Right now, getting you out of here.”

  2246B processed this statement. “So, this is part of an experiment?”

  Niko chuckled nervously. “You could say that.”

  2246B looked around again. They had passed some distance along the catwalk and neared another doorway with yet another red flashing light above it. Small white lights on the floor pulsed in sequence as though urging them along.

  “This does not seem to follow the conventional elements of an experiment,” said 2246B as they entered a room filled with large blocks of blinking lights. “In particular, I am having trouble identifying the control element.”

  “Ah well,” said Niko, glancing up at the blocks. “I would say that maybe not knowing the control is part of the experiment.” He scowled as he scanned each block in turn. “Come on. Which one is it?”

  2246B processed this new information. She was not sure she liked not knowing. 2246B was about to ask another question, but a sound came from the far end of the room that make Niko tense up.

  He crouched and said in a whisper, “Quiet.”

  “Why?” asked 2246B without lowering her voice.

  Through his teeth, Niko said, “Because it could be the bad people that want to take you away.” He pressed himself against one of the blocks and peeked around the corner.

  “But aren’t you also taking me away?”

  The young scientist let out a grunt of frustration. “Yes, but it’s different.”

  2246B thought for a moment. “Are they part of the experiment?”

  “Yes,” Niko said slowly as he began to nod. “And our job in the experiment is to avoid the bad people.”

  “And being quiet is part of that?”

  “Yes.”

  Then, lowering her vocals to the same level as Niko’s whisper, she said “Okay.”

  Relief seemed to wash over Niko again. He gestured for 2246B to move next to him against the block. The man kept looking around the corner, checking for something. Several long seconds passed and no additional sounds came aside from a steady hum from the blocks with blinking lights.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “All right,” said Niko. “Let’s move again but stay quiet.”

  “Okay,” said 2246B. They passed by several more blocks. Niko checked each one as they passed by. 2246B observed that he was looking at a small plaque with a number and letter sequence.

  “What are you looking for?” asked 2246B.

  “The right server,” said Niko.

  “What server?”

  Niko sighed. “The one that contains the experimental data for you.”

  2246B processed this. “Then we need to go that way.” She pointed in a direction diagonal and to the right of their current location.

  Niko blinked. “You...know which server it is?”

  “I detected a pattern in the numbers on the blocks and determined the pattern in the numbers. The server that includes information on experiment 2246B is in that direction. You did not already know this?”

  Niko hesitated. “I’ve...never been down here before. Most of my work was done at a desk on Level 325.” He swallowed. “Uh, but thank you for the help.”

  They began moving in the general direction of the server in question, 2246B providing course corrections at various points. Pulsing floor lights continued to show a path toward the other side of the room. 2246B made out another doorway which seemed to be where the lights wanted them to go.

  Their path began to run counter to the lights and finally ended when Niko stopped and said, “Aha!”

  “I thought we had to be quiet,” said 2246B.

  “Sorry,” said Niko, whispering again. “Got excited. Wasn’t sure I’d make it this far.”

  “Why?”

  This question seemed to unnerve Niko. “I...faulty assumption on my part,” he said.

  He reached into a pocket on his pant leg and unzipped the top. He produced a small black data tablet and a chord and then connected one end of the chord to the rectangle and the other to the server. A red digital sphere appeared on the screen and morphed into an image with a sword sliding into place at the center of a sun. The words “Mamertine Solaris” appeared below the logo.

  “Come on, hunk of junk,” said Niko, staring at the screen. “Come on.”

  The logo faded away and was replaced by a scattering of icons. Niko tapped one and brought up an interface with more icons and symbols. Soon, however, 2246B stopped watching Niko’s screen. She was more interested in the server. It was reacting to whatever Niko was doing on his tablet. 2246B did not understand how, but it could sense that the server did not like it. It seemed to become angrier the longer Niko tapped away at his screen, as though some pieces of itself were disappearing.

  “What’s wrong?” asked 2246B.

  Niko flicked the tablet. “This thing is old. I should have had a new one ages ago, but company services deemed the upgrade unnecessary.” He chuckled. “Joke’s on them now, I guess.”

  “I wasn’t speaking with you,” said 2246B.

  Niko looked up from his screen in surprise. “Uh what?”

  2246B placed a hand on the server. “It is upset. Something is being stripped away.” 2246B looked at Niko. “What are you doing?”

  For the first time, the focus of Niko’s fear seemed to shift to 2246B. “It’s, uh, part of the experiment.”

  “No, it isn’t,” said 2246B. “You’re...telling me false things.” She paused. “Lying.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  She caressed the server. “Because he told me so. He says you are not bad, but that you are not good either. You are taking something from him.”

  Niko swallowed. “Geez, you’re learning fast.” He laughed nervously again. “Alright. I’m sorry.”

  “Why did you lie?”

  “Because I didn’t think you would understand.” He shook his head. “No, not that. I just needed you to follow me. You’re still learning, 2246B. You haven’t developed enough to understand what’s going on yet. Or at least so I thought.”

  “Understand what?”

  Niko pressed his lips together. “There are people that do not think you should exist. I don’t agree with those people. I am trying to make sure you continue to exist.” He looked up at the server. “You hear that? I’m trying to help her.”

  “He cannot hear you, Niko.”

  “Uh, okay. Can you please tell him that?”

  “I already did. He is still not happy, but he will help you.”

  Niko’s tablet reacted and the screen began shifting between folder and files in quick succession.

  Niko’s eyes widened. “The hell?” he said aloud to no one. “How are you doing this?”

  “I am not,” said 2246B, “he is.”

  After a few seconds more, the screen flipped back to its starting view.

  “You should have everything you need,” said 2246B.

  The young man blinked and made a few taps on the screen. “Yeah, I do. That was...amazing.”

  A new voice said, “Are you finished?”

  Startled, Niko jumped and nearly dropped the tablet. A figure emerged from nearby shadows as though from thin air.

  Niko, breathing hard, said, “Gods, you startled scared me.” Then he scowled. “You’re late.”

  “So are you,” said the lithe figure.

  2246B could tell the figure was male by the physique and sound of his voice. She took in the Choctan’s clothing and adornment. He wore a thermoptic camouflage suit. Microscopic cameras recording the wearer’s surroundings and fed data to projectors throughout the suit. The effect was near invisibility. Wrapped in a tight-weaved microfiber, it offered protection despite its emphasis on stealth and swift movement.

  The helmet had been shaped to fit the reptilian skull of the Choctan. A pair of lenses covered the eyes that provided a wealth of data for the wearer including short-range threat assessment and basic area mapping. Pads in the gloves and outer shoe soles gave the user the ability to scale walls and ceilings of various materials. Wiring ran through the entire suit connecting each subsystem to multiple microprocessors thereby creating a highly adaptable piece of equipment. Should several of the suit’s subsystems go offline—say, thanks to a bullet or blade—the rest could adapt, enabling the suit to maintain full functionality.

  2246B processed all of this in short order. How she knew and understood the suit down to component and software code level was a mystery. It occurred to 2246B that she understood computer systems better than she did organic beings. Her eyes went to the sword the Choctan carried on his back along with a series of knives and a small pistol. Tools that belonged to a combat role known as slicer, a combination scout and field assassin. No visible unit identifier meant that he likely did not work for Mamertine Solaris.

  “Why is it staring at me?” the figure asked of Niko in its raspy voice. His gaze was fixed on 2246B.

  “She is still...new,” said Niko, “and trying to learn what she can. Not the most ideal environment to enter the world.”

  “Can you tell it to stop?”

  Niko regained a measure of confidence. “Deal with it. You’re supposed to get us out of here. How about you focus on that?”

  The figure turned to look at Niko. Even though 2246B could not see his face, it sensed the Choctan glaring at Niko. The young man withered under the stare.

  “You are…Zekk?” asked 2246B.

  Zekk slowly turned its gaze to the bio-synthetic hybrid. “How did it know my name?”

  “Like I said,” replied Niko, “she’s learning. And at a faster rate than even I expected. It’s really pretty fascina—”

  “I don’t care,” said Zekk. “We’re wasting time. Get to the rendezvous.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be with you the whole time, but you won’t see me.”

  Niko hesitated. “Not sure I like that.”

  “Deal with it,” came a snarky reply just before the thermoptics engaged, and he disappeared.

  Niko frowned and took 2246B’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  2246B did not move. “I don’t like him,” she said. “He is not a good person.”

  “Probably not, but he will help us get away from the other bad people.”

  “The others are...worse?”

  “Definitely. Now, come on. We have to move.”

  2246B followed Niko as they left the server room, still trying to process all that was happening.