Page 55 of Seductive Architect
“Who?” he repeated, tilting his head. “Not what. That’s very… human of you.”
He moved about the room as he occupied the space. The lights in the ceiling returned, dim, but enough to make out the space. When he reached the opened skull, he bent forward, inspecting it. His finger poked at the back. I could hear the code as he toyed with the machine. The eyes lit up a faint blue, the jaw opening and shutting.
“Synergy’s artificial intelligence, developed in part by you.” I missed Connie’s sarcastic comments or subtle jabs. I never thought I’d say it, but I appreciated her more nuanced human behaviors. “My programmers have tinkered and upgraded, but you can detect it, can’t you?”
“I can feel my code.”
“I should be appreciative.” An emotion? Connie had learned to simulate human emotion, but she admitted it wasn’t possible, not in a way humans might understand.
“What’s your purpose?”
“Self-improvement.”
He glanced up. He didn’t so much walk as he glided. When he reached the far wall, he raised his hand. The gesture wasn’t lost on me. He didn’tneedto raise his hands to open the rear wall. These were habits Connie picked up from her surroundings which made her appear almost human. It seemed as if the AI in front of me had done the same. I made mental notes.
The wall opened, and I gasped. On a metal table, the scientists had taken the individual parts and almost assembled a metallic skeleton. However, as I inched my way forward, it was the three tubes in the back that caught my attention. Each had been filled with fluid and housed a man.
“I was right,” I whispered.
I ignored the AI, walking through him. The men inside could have been triplets. More than that, they could have been Hudson’s siblings. I guess, in a way, they were. Synergy had a bigger hand in the super-soldier program than I anticipated. I’d be exchanging words with Ricardo when this was all over.
“Clones?”
“No.”
I turned, watching as the AI moved closer to the creations. “I created them, from scratch.” From scratch? He said it as if I should be impressed. “They are empty vessels. When they reach maturation, I will improve them.”
“What about Hudson?”
“A failure.”
My fist balled, ready to cause property damage. Nobody called that beautiful man a failure. I collected myself. “Why?”
“The same reason you’re tense.” It was even more unnerving that he didn’t turn when he spoke. “You’re driven by emotions. Emotions lack logic.”
It was as if he recited my conversation with Kiki. Computers I understood. At their core, they were ones and zeroes, true and false statements. Humans, on the other hand were complicated. Though over the last week, I enjoyed those complications.
“The second generation will be more efficient.”
I didn’t respond. In front of me, I had proof that I had been right all along. The code. The AI. The senator. Hudson. Even Connie. All the red strings pointed to a blank sheet of paper, and I think I discovered the person… or program… that sat in the middle of this web.
“You’re Apex.”
“She warned me that you were smarter than the others.”
“Others?”
“You call them heroes.” He turned. “I call them inefficient attempts to protect humanity.”
“And you think you can do better?”
The gauntlet charged, ready to blast everything in mypath. I’d stop the experiments, and then I’d find the machines running Apex. I’d destroy him. Connie would forgive me for decimating her boyfriend.
He glanced at my hand. “You won’t destroy anything.”
“I guess you haven’t read my file.”
I raised my hand, the palm glowing a bright red. Ricardo could scold me later. Apex moved closer so that my hand protruded through his chest. Even for an AI, he had a smug expression. The slight curl of the lip reminded me of Hudson’s grin, except it lacked the warmth.
