Justice at Delphi - The Fall of Sibyl

Chapter 38

 A man's reach should exceed his grasp.

-Robert Browning

Ren leaned his head back against the cold concrete wall and closed his eyes. There was really no point in keeping them open. It wasn't as if he could see anything anyway. The cell in which he'd been so unceremoniously deposited was pitch black. All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing and the heavy silence found only in desolate places. If the situation wasn't so dire, he would have laughed. Sibyl storming his apartment with PSB drones and throwing him in this hole was more than a little dramatic. He supposed Sibyl's impatience had finally gotten the better of itself.

He should have known his days in the sun were numbered when Sibyl called on him for a favor. It had always been a matter of time before he became more of a liability to Sibyl than an untouchable asset. His father's words returned to haunt him. We've created a monster. Sibyl's reach has far exceeded our expectations. It must be destroyed. Ren chuckled bitterly. He'd thought his father was being an alarmist, but now...perhaps his father had been right. Perhaps it was time to pull the plug on Sibyl.

The screech of unoiled hinges interrupted his thoughts. Footsteps echoed down the empty corridor growing ever closer. He inclined his head, listening intently. Two sets of footsteps. One heavy, the other light. Opening his eyes, he could perceive a faint glow growing brighter as they approached. He squinted against the brightness as the lights overhead flickered on. He arched a brow  at the sight of his visitor. 

His lips curved into a sardonic smile. "Inspector Akane Tsunemori, I presume?"

She looked younger than he expected. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes looked worried. It appeared as if the weight of the world was riding on her shoulders. He recognized that same look in his father's eyes before the end. He grit his teeth and forced the barbed memory down. It had no place in the present and could serve no purpose.

Ren turned his attention to the Aeneid standing behind her. He addressed Sibyl with the same mocking voice the entity despised. "Finally tired of your toys? Are you ready to throw us away?"

This model was tall with obsessively neat black hair swept back from his face. Bored eyes stared out of a bland face wearing an expression of superiority. "Don't worry. I still have one final use for both of you. You should be pleased to know that you'll be contributing to the betterment of society."

"The betterment of society?" Inspector Tsunemori scoffed. The worried expression in her eyes had turned to fury. She pulled herself free from the Aeneid's grasp. "You're a murderer! You've abused your power and used the government to absolve yourself of your crimes. You've set yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner. The people did not choose you. They don't know what you really are!"

"What does that matter?" The Aeneid unlocked Ren's cell, the barred door squealing on its hinges. Shoving the inspector inside, it continued. "Humanity has plunged the world into chaos countless times. All we've done is re-established order. We've given them an objective system unclouded by human emotion and prejudice."

A bitter laugh slipped out of the inspector's mouth as she spun on her heel to face Sibyl's proxy. "Objective. Oh yes, the Sibyl System is objective. Slap a number on a human and you know everything about them. Never mind their heart or their mind. You've been a machine for so long untouched by life that you've forgotten what it is to be human. To fight...to struggle to survive in a world where the odds are stacked against you." She gripped the bars tight, glaring at Sibyl's cyberized host. "You sit in an ivory tower judging people who you don't take the trouble to understand. People are so much more than a crime coefficient. How can you judge the crimes of people without taking into consideration where they come from and what they've been through? Humanity can't be judged by something as inhuman as you!"