Chartreuse || ONC 2022

▪︎ Digi Log 13 ▪︎

Apple Bytes
Micro-Tokyo, Neo-York
15:27

"...androids are operating as a singular artifical consciousness," Ava-1 was explaining.

"That's why you needed a droid," Whitlock said, snapping the fingers of his organic hand. "You want to exploit the fact that they share a frequency!"

"Exactly," Ava-1 confirmed. "By corrupting their hive mind, I can reassign them to follow our orders instead of Big Sister's. But to accomplish the reprogramming, I needed one of them to hack. Do you think I'm insane yet?"

"Insane?!" Whitlock exclaimed. "You kidding? I think I'm in love with you."

Ava-1 laughed. "And I think I'm a little old for you."

Mina scoffed in impatience. "This is all terribly adorable, but we're fortunate no other androids have come looking for their missing counterpart. We cannot stay holed up in Nova's shop forever. We'll make her a target."

"I made myself a target when I contacted you," Nova said. "I'm part of this, no matter the danger."

"Me, too," Whitlock said. "I'm an honorary Negotiator. And we don't need to worry about other droids coming for this one. They don't keep track of their soldiers like people do. Others would only come if this one had sent out a distress signal. And trust me, all of its functions are offline."

"That is reassuring, I suppose," Saito remarked.

"Regarding the hack," Ava-1 said to Whitlock, "you believe it will work? I value your input. You're a tech genius, after all."

"I know it will work," Whitlock stated. "Because I've done it before."

Ava-1, Saito, Mina, and even Nova startled in disbelief.

"You've done what?" Nova cried.

"Hacked the android hive mind," Whitlock said with a shrug. "It wasn't difficult. They share a server just like countless other machines in Neo-York."

"So, you did it?" Ava-1 asked. "And you were successful?"

"Yep."

"Then what happened?"

Whitlock held up his synthetic hand and wiggled the mechanical fingers in a wave. "This happened. Complements of Big Sis."

Ava-1's eyes narrowed in fury. "So, that wasn't an 'accident.' Big Sister took your hand."

"The accident is that I let myself get caught," Whitlock clarified. "The plan was perfect, and it would have worked, but I didn't cast a deep enough net while pinging false IP addresses. Big Sister was able to find me through the location of the android's GPS. What can I say? I was young and didn't take enough safety precautions."

"You're still young," Mina said. "And what was done to you was monstrous."

"Honestly, Big Sis went easy on me," Whitlock said. "What I did was a vaporizationable offense. Fifty-Shades-of-Gray and Oliver Twisted were salivating at the thought of turning me to dust, but Major Tom convinced Big Sis to be 'leniant,' since I was only fourteen at the time. He told her the citizens of Neo-York may rebel against a warden who executes children."

"And she was not willing to risk that," Saito surmised. "You are a brave young man."

"Pfft, nah!" Whitlock said. His cheeks turned a shade pinker in sheepish pride. "Big Sis thought taking my hand would cause me to 'tinker' with machines less. Guess she didn't realize just how technologically advanced synthetic prosthetics are these days. I 'tinker' even better with my mechanical hand." He grinned.

"You sneaky little glitch!" Nova cried. "I can't believe you never told me any of this!"

"Working at your shop is my first job, Nova," Whitlock said. "I figured you'd be less likely to hire me if you'd known I'd stood trial before Big Sister."

Nova frowned. "That's fair. But I hope you know better now."

"I do." He smiled at his boss.

"Whitlock," Ava-1 said, her computerized mind whirling through multiple scenarios and their potential outcomes. "Would we be able to use your method of hack? Here? Now?"

Whitlock chuckled and tilted his head in amusement. "I thought you'd never ask. You bet. I designed a malware virus and an override program. The data is encoded on my personal Apple, ready to be uploaded at any time."

"Then let's get to work on our friend here," Ava-1 said. She grinned and kicked the lifeless leg of their hostage android where it sat propped against the work table. "I'm anxious to get this droid up and running. You know, we should name it. Since it's going to be our Patient Zero."

"It looked pretty galactic getting volted by my taser," Whitlock said. "How about 'Sparky'?"

"Sparky! I like that!" Ava-1 declared.

"Twill serve," Mina agreed.

"We'll have Sparky making us cocktails in no time," Whitlock said. "Lemme grab my Apple. It's in the back room."

"Just make sure you disguise your location more securely this time," Nova said. "I don't want you to lose the other hand."

"Roger that," Whitlock promised. "Hang on, one nanosec!"

Once Whitlock was out of earshot, Saito shook his head and sighed. "He is not damaged mentally due to his loss. A brave, resilient soul. I respect him. A samurai who loses a hand is no longer a samurai."

"I still can't believe he never told me," Nova said. "You think you know someone... I had no idea the horrors he'd survived."

"Him, and countless others, no doubt," Mina said, her expression grim.

Saito nodded. "We will likely never know how many lives Big Sister has destroyed. This city suffers more by the day. It must end. Now. We will infiltrate the Red Palace tonight — come what may."

"Agreed," Mina said.

"Agreed," Ava-1 repeated. "Between Whitlock and me, reprogramming Sparky should only take a few hours."

"Nova-san," Saito said, turning to their host. "Can you contact your associates at the Chartreuse Factory? Make a case for them to petition whomever they need to cease and desist the manufacturing of Chartreuse products from this point forward. The city needs to be cleansed of this wicked substance."

"I'll call Genesis," Nova offered. "She and the foreman have a mutual respect. He'll listen to her."

"Good," Saito said.

"Speaking of Chartreuse, and its suppressive effects," Nova said, "how is it you three are immune? With the amount of product present in the very air of Neo-York, you've been exposed since the second I drove you across the city line. But you're able to see Big Sister for what she really is. How?"

"I've been thinking about that ever since I saw that miasma through the filter in my eye," Ava-1 said. "The only logical conclusion is that none of us are traditionally alive."

"Traditionally?" Nova repeated. Her neon blue eyebrows shot toward the ceiling. "What do you mean?"

"Alive in the traditional sense. Like you, or Whitlock, or Genesis," Ava-1 clarified. "I'm sixty-five percent cyborg. Hardly human at all. Mina is what paranormal experts would call 'undead,' and due to his spirit being ensconced in a Dogū, Saito is technically a reincarnation."

Nova nodded in realization. "So, not traditionally alive. Got it. Wow."

"Wow, indeed," Mina said. "Big Sister clearly did not take into consideration that she may encounter individuals who are not merely human. And we would not be here if not for you."

Nova flushed, pleasantly surprised by the compliment. "I just want my home to be a safe place," she said. "I'll be right back — I need to vid-call Genesis."

Whitlock ran back into the room, his souped-up Apple cradled in his arms. "Let's give this gig-head an inner makeover!" he cried.

Ava-1 smiled at her comrades. This was the beginning of the end. The night ahead promised to be bloody but pleasurable.

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