Prototype

Putting in the earpiece and having Shelby’s synthetic voice welcome her gave Reggie a renewed sense of strength and confidence; the hours between their last contact was too long and Reggie was not accustomed to being without her AI. Shelby may not have been a real person, but she was the one individual Reggie consistently could count on.

Nathan and Reggie arrived at the abandoned psychiatric hospital early in the afternoon. They left the car a mile or so down the road and walked back to the abandoned building, prepared to begin their investigation.

They noted the building did appear abandoned; bushes were overgrown, trees needed dead limbs removed, and weeds were beginning to climb their way up the old iron fence that surrounded the entire premises. Rocks were beginning to fall out, and cracks were consuming the foundation of the stone building.

Nathan checked the perimeter while Reggie sought a clear way to gain entrance to the facility.

They met back at their starting point.

“No security,” Nathan told Reggie.

Nathan’s muscles tensed when he heard a loud scream coming from inside the “empty” building.

“It would appear the building isn’t entirely empty,” Reggie said softly.

“Did you find us a way in?” Nathan asked.

“The window on the second floor would be best. It’s the quietest to open and anything broken could be attributed to the teenagers in the area,” Reggie replied.

“Sounds like a plan,” Nathan said, ignoring that his behavior was entirely different from what he should be doing as an officer of the law.

“Shall we proceed?” Reggie inquired.

“After you,” Nathan insisted.

Together, they went to a window hidden by the trees and worked to break the seal of a window. After working together to quietly break a seal on a window, the two entered the old psychiatric facility.

Deep inside, Reggie hoped this facility would yield no new information, but that scream indicated otherwise.

Reggie activated Shelby, “We’re inside.”

“The rumors of the building are all above the second floor. Start with the stairwell leading up to the third floor – supposedly, you’ll be on the trail there.”

“Copy that. Third floor and up are the areas of interest to us,” she relayed the information to Nathan.

Together, slowly, they walked up the stairs.

“Shelby, get me heat signatures for the third floor.”

“Scanning now,” Shelby confirmed. “Unable to generate results. Something is jamming the signal.”

“That’s strange,” Reggie responded.

“What is?” Nathan asked, wishing he could hear Shelby too.

Reggie turned toward him, “The signal is being jammed.”

“I guess Granat is hiding something.”

Nathan began to ascend the stairs quickly, Reggie following closely behind.

He stopped at a locked, rusted gate. No one came or went in quite a while, at least not through this gate.

Nathan kicked the door open, shattering the already weak lock and the hinges.

“I need to learn that,” Reggie informed him.

“I’ve done that a couple of times,” Nathan replied with a shrug. “Gets more fun every time.”

Reggie took point and started through the gate. Nathan covered the back, slowly moving his now-sore knee and ankle. He knew he shouldn’t have done that kick; it was rarely a practical maneuver. Typically, teams used a ram to break down a barrier.

He shouldn’t have tried to show off for Reggie; that was just dumb and she probably thought so too. How was he ever going to impress her?

He continued to follow along behind her, searching the cabinets along the walls. While skimming, he noticed a cabinet labeled “Granat”.

“Reggie,” he started. Reggie turned to face the same direction as him with her weapon trained. “You might want to see this.”

With Reggie watching him, he broke the lock on the file cabinet with the handle of his firearm and opened it so they both could review the contents.

The information she was reading was about Project Bathos; the experiments here were other offspring Granat attempted to create after the birth of Reggie using the harvested ova from Samantha Parkhurst. He wanted to create more than one; NexGen decided to fund his dream because of the potential uses for growing perfect soldiers.

Individuals trained from their birth to be soldiers were not going to believe in the distractions of relationships, wouldn’t be governed by social norms, and would be the most efficient machines available while still being alive.

In theory, Reggie’s very birth made it possible for artificial beings to be created in the future to meet the same requirements as her. Her primary benefit over drones or other AI was her ability to blend in with society.

“There are more of them,” Reggie said.

“More of what?” Nathan asked.

“People like me,” Reggie responded.

Reggie continued to read the test results, seeing the eerie patterns of brain development in the beings. They either went completely insane from their brain’s development, or the lack thereof in some cases. In all of the individuals, their DNA was unstable. Wasn’t that what happened before Reggie too?

“Why did I last?” Reggie asked her, careful not to voice her thoughts.

A loud noise, almost like a scream, stopped Reggie’s reading. Reggie put the file in the small of her back; she needed to preserve as much information as she could for a criminal investigation against Dr. Granat and NexGen.

They moved through the hallway, searching quietly and slowly for the source of the loud noise. They both stopped when they came to cells – small cells with metal bars scaling the full length and width of the cells. One cell’s bars were horribly bent, while the rest seemed to still be in fairly decent shape.

Another noise drew Reggie and Nathan to move further into the hallway, having a terrible smell greet them as they approached whatever was making the noises in the distance.

“We have company,” Nathan said, moving into the lead and flashing the light from his firearm into one of the cells.

Inside the cell was a disfigured woman in a tattered straight jacket. Around her neck was a tight metal cuff attached to a chain which was anchored to the floor. The woman was screeching in pain from the cuff that controlled her; the metal was so tight it was beginning to wear the skin on her neck. Her throat was red and the surrounding skin was pale and her eyes were sunken into her skull.

“God, what the hell is this?” Nathan asked in horror.

Reggie looked in without showing any emotions. She glanced up and down the person until she found what she was looking for.

“She’s one of my relatives,” Reggie commented. “Granat must have created her too; probably the same way as me.”

The poor woman was driven insane by her own intelligence and no way to apply it; and she was cast off as a failed experiment and left to slowly die in her own waste without food or water. Not only were the experiments unethical, but he was also abusing the products.

“Reggie, there are more,” Nathan said, looking into other cells.

Reggie and Nathan inspected the other cells, counting fifteen experiments slowly wasting away in agony and pain. Nathan recognized there was a partial eaten human carcass lying on the ground next to one of the experiments. Cannibalism was one of the apparent signs of insanity Granat noted in files left in this facility.

“Shelby, are you filming everything?” Reggie asked.

“Affirmative,” Shelby confirmed.

After a minute, Shelby started speaking, “There are multiple weapon signatures outside. It appears to be the FBI.”

“FBI? Why are they involved?” Reggie asked.

“Shit,” Nathan said. “How long do we have?”

Reggie glanced out the window at the team. The team was beginning their surrounding formation.

“About two minutes,” Nathan suggested.

He noticed a large tree to the side of the window. It wouldn’t be an easy task to reach, but it was their best chance of escape.

“There is a bigger problem than just law enforcement,” Shelby interjected once again. “I have intercepted a signature that is reducing in strength.”

“A signature reducing in strength?” Reggie repeated so Nathan could hear it too.

“That would be a time bomb,” Nathan said while trying not to sound alarmed.

“Nathan is correct; you need to escape and keep the local law enforcement from entering the facility,” Shelby said.

“Here’s your escape,” Nathan said, opening the window. “Reggie, get out of here, I’ll hold them off.”

“What?” Reggie asked after seeing his escape plan and distraction.

“We’re partners,” Nathan said with a smile. “Partners have each others’ back. Now get out of here.”