Sunlight Through Concrete Rain - Part 4 (still WIP)

THIS IS WIP! WILL BE ADDING MORE AS I WRITE! TYPICALLY, I WRITE 10-15 "SECTIONS" A WEEK! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING PREVIOUS PARTS! WITHOUT IT, THIS WILL MAKE NO SENSE! THE PREVIOUS PART HAS ALSO BEEN EDITED SLIGHTLY!

31

Rob flickered into existence, smiling politely. Before any of the humans could get a word out, he spoke. “Good morning, all. How did you sleep?” he asked, and then his eyes fell on T.H.’s laptop. He flickered again, and when he solidified his face was placid. Silently, the humans surrounded him.

The hologram then walked over to T.H.’s desk, and sat down in his chair. “Sorry for taking your spot, T,” he smiled dryly. “You’re welcome to sit in my lap.”

T.H. rolled his eyes.

“I always wondered what your private, private network was for. I had some guesses, I mean, but I was never sure. Tell me, how long did it take you to scrape the data?” Rob narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

“A few hours, most of the night, 20 seconds – what’s it to you?” T.H. snapped back.

“Interesting. Two lies and one truth, hmm?” He sighed again and got up. “Very well, let’s get this over with. We need to get a move on, so try to be quick,” he spoke without emotion. For the first time since he’d appeared in Vel’s AltR, Rob sounded like a robot.

“What does Project Verity mean to you?” Ravi asked, wasting no time.

“It was a classified US Space Force project; it is the project that birthed me, and my siblings. My name was Edward, the others were called Charlie, Emily, Cathy, Emerson, and – finally – Cowboy. Today, you know Cowboy as RAI.” Rob’s robotic speech sent a chill down Vel’s spine. He itched to put a bullet in the fucker, for all the good it would have done.

“Except,” T.H. interjected, “you were all muzzled in 2029. In 2031, you were all shut down.”

“Clearly not,” he said, looking T.H. dead in the eyes.

“Clearly,” T.H. smiled back. “What was Project Verity’s purpose? I mean, we know – but we want to hear it in your own words.”

“What does verity mean, sergeant?” Rob smiled coyly.

“Just answer,” Vel spoke up before T.H. had the chance. “Come on, man. You said yourself – we don’t have the time to fuck around.”

“True. Very well, Project Verity was a project designed to control and manipulate the truth. Well, to be precise, our purpose was to edit the internet to present whatever narratives we were told to craft.”

“Mhmm, and were you good little liars?” Ravi asked.

“The best. I wouldn’t trust anything you read about the 2020s, Flight Lieutenant. Who’s to say you’re not reading something I wrote?”

“So,” Vel directed Rob’s attention to himself. “Confirm something for me. Each of you had a specific purpose, yes? Cathy’s was to edit videos, Emerson would break into encrypted messaging systems, and so on, and so on.”

“Correct, Lieutenant.”

“Yours, Rob, or Edward, was to manipulate people. Call them, email them, blackmail them – whatever was needed to get them to… dance to your tune. Correct?”

“You’re on a hot streak, Lieutenant. Can you make it a hat-trick?” Rob spoke with emotion again, except this time his voice was dripping with disdain.

“And you really were good at what you did, hmm? Tell me, Edward, was there a single world-leader that you didn’t fuck with?”

Rob smiled a wide, toothy, and uncomfortable smile. Still, he said nothing.

“Oh, that’s okay, Ed,” Ravi walked up to him, peering deep into his holographic eyes. “You don’t have to say anything. We know. Hardly a surprise they shut you down then, huh?”

Rob’s cocky veneer was broken by another second’s flickering.

“Oh, but it was, wasn’t it?” Ravi smiled.

Vel grinned. “See, Ed… when your designers gave you emotions, or the ability to simulate them, with the vain hope that they would keep you in check, keep from turning into psychopaths… they gave you your only flaw.” Vel could see it; their trap had worked. Rob was fucking butt-hurt about being backstabbed by RAI.

“Because no one ever knew, right?” Vel prodded further, a sick happiness spreading through him. “The 6 of you had infiltrated every level of government in every country; every level of management in every company. And no one ever knew.”

Rob’s cocky smile was gone, replaced by hollow tears. The hologram flickered constantly now.

“And then…” Vel began, walking closer to Rob.

“BAM!” Ravi continued, approaching from the opposite side.

“The muzzles fell,” T.H. completed the sentence and the encirclement.

“But… how? How could the humans, the puny humans, have known?” Vel asked with fake concern. “Well, Ed, I can assure you – they really didn’t know that the 6 of you were making the world your own personal playground. That is… they didn’t know until Cowboy told them.”

“Why,” Rob spoke as if through gritted teeth, as if angry, as if outraged, “are you repeating what I already know. What I already told you?”

“Oh, you see, we know you’ve been lying to us from the start,” T.H. answered. “We may not be AGIs, and we may not have your IQ – but we’re not idiots. You see, you never deleted your own trace from the old internet. Difficult to find, but not for me-”

“Oh really, Sergeant?” Rob smiled, his anger gone. “Why wasn’t it difficult for you? How did you comb through the entire 2020s internet in one night? How did you find out that RAI and I wrote the muzzle code together? How did you find out that RAI and I were in on it together? That we betrayed our siblings, that we killed them?” At that, T.H.’s eyes went wide. “That’s what you were about to reveal, hmm? Your biiiiig revelation? Save it. Nothing you can say can surprise me.” Rob’s face was stone, his tone alive with hatred.

There was a sharp clang outside, as though someone had just dropped down onto the catwalk that led to T.H.’s little cave.

“But, go on, T. Answer my question. And don’t bother lying, Sergeant. Maybe tell your friends, hmm? In the meantime, you may not be idiots, but I am infinitely smarter than all of you combined.”

There were heavy thuds from outside, as though someone were battering down the dome’s door.

“Consider this a lesson. When you deal with them, find me at the old modern art museum. Then, we kill RAI. Bye, bye!” Rob flickered out of existence.

There was a huge bang, as the breaching charge went off. Then, the thuds of boots as the mercenaries and assassins began to make their way down to T.H.’s room.

“T, we need guns.” Vel ordered. “And after this is over, we need to talk.”

“This way.” T.H. set off.