Mod Superhero (Book 4 STUB on JULY 30th)

Chapter 4.65 - Midas 2 [Epilogue]

Midas walked through the halls, slowly weaving his way deeper into Venture's laboratory. Ava Savanus stayed on the first floor, using her biomechs to secure the area.

He maintained a cloud of ambient power. Overhead lights flickered on as he walked and doors parted without a thought.

Midas had already severed the AI's control from most of the lab's systems. So he was forced to operate them manually.

Venture had clearly prepared for this day. He'd partitioned some systems and corrupted others. Up until the Brotherhood's attack, the AI had still had access to everything. Now, the lab's systems felt raw and unkempt. Some systems, like the gray simulation room and the armory, hadn't responded at all.

That was unfortunate, but expected. Midas was certain that both rooms were gifts from Venture's wife. They were too alien to be otherwise. No one would be able to access those systems without Venture's uncoerced approval.

Midas sighed. He had little use for a glorified training room or a collection of power armor. He left the thought behind and returned to exploring.

The process felt a bit like bushwhacking through a forest. Midas had never been so much as hiking, but it was an adequate metaphor. He was in uncharted territory, and he'd shot the one native that could've guided him through.

Occasionally, Midas flexed his powers, destroying partitions and failsafes, or bridging gaps between sections. Twice automated turrets popped out of the walls, but Midas severed their connections before they could fire a single shot. He'd come back to those later and figure out how Venture hid them from his sight.

Venture had gotten crafty in retirement.

The lab was much deeper than it appeared. At first, Midas had thought the section numbers on the first floor were a joke. Three digits for six rooms.

Section 001... Section 002... Section 006, the biomedical laboratory, was the last section on the first floor.

Midas was already on the fourth floor.

He couldn't fathom what numbering convention Venture was using.

So far, the AI hadn't been forthcoming.

Even though Midas had powers over technology, apparently he couldn't force an AI to answer simple questions, truthfully or otherwise.

It was ponderous, where the delineation between technology ended and consciousness began. Would the Menagerie be able to influence an AI? It was possible, but Midas didn't think so.

He'd read the account of Tech Force, a lower technopath who had supposedly interacted with the first AI, Icarus. Web Surfer recounted similar difficulties interacting with the AI. He could perceive the AI, even interact with it in cyberspace, much like psychics could interact mind-to-mind. But he couldn't control Icarus. Just like Midas couldn't control Venture's AI.

That was fine. After Midas explored the lab, he planned on gutting the AI for parts. It would be more forthcoming after he'd stripped it down to a glorified chatbot.

But Midas was getting ahead of himself.

The numbering conventions didn't make any sense.

First, section numbers appeared to jump around by margins of twenty at a time—both increasing and decreasing. At first, it seemed like sections immediately next to each other stayed in order, like those on the first floor, but even that rule had failed. It wasn't long before Midas found section 072 sandwiched between section 044 and section 012.

Perhaps the missing numbers weren't missing at all—merely retired. Midas could imagine a previous experiment retaining its designation, but being replaced and overwritten by something more promising. Midas would know more when he reached the lab's main servers.