Technomancer 34: Hidden Cost

“The robots are dead, and it’s his fault,” Captain Aldrin shouted, pointing at Leron. His short dark buzz cut appeared severe as it curved around his head. Patches of grease marred the dark green of his uniform.

Major Andrews looked up from the green case of his tough-book laptop and arched a blonde brow. “How? He doesn’t look like he’s capable.”

Leron was strung between two soldiers, standing before the small, metallic, fold-up desk inside Major Andrew's mobile office. Under normal circumstances, they would have bound his arms, but this time, they were supporting him because of the bullet wound in his leg. His good leg was beginning to weaken from the strain of standing, and without his brace, his frail arm slipped from one of the shoulders of the soldiers beside him. Wavering on his foot, he grasped for it and tightened his grip on the shoulders of the soldier's fatigues, when the man rushed to catch him. In the struggle, one of his dark dreads came free from its tie and hung across his face. He shook his head, trying to shake it out of the way.

Thrusting his palm down onto the desk, Captain Aldrin turned toward Leron and glared. “I don’t know, but I know it was him. It had to be. He’s been out to get me ever since I killed that girl for insubordination.”

The memory of Willow's death invaded Leron's mind as she decided that her freedom and values were more important than conforming to the military's standards. She had run for her life, only to be gunned down by Captain Aldrin. It still sickened him to think what the man had done, and while he would have loved to get even, the only reason he destroyed the robot dogs was to save the members of the drone corps.

“What do you say to this accusation, Captain Richards?” Major Andrews leaned back in his leather chair and folded his arms across the shirt of his military fatigues.

Leron chuckled. It would be so easy to lie. Major Andrews would assume Captain Aldrin had lost his mind and would be none the wiser. Before he could respond, a myriad of voices invaded his mind at the news of his being taken from the infirmary. The members of the drone corps were angry. He had kept their ability to speak mind to mind a secret for so long, but it would eventually come out. He wasn’t sure about Aldrin’s programming skills, but all he would have to do was trace the movements of programs within the temporary base servers to learn that the chip had been sending information through them. It would only be a matter of time before their secret was discovered. In his mind, he heard the words rebel, and riot from the drone corps members. If he weren't in so much pain, he would have dealt with them, but it was taking everything he could muster to pay attention to the two men before him.

“I destroyed them,” he admitted and groaned. The men holding him up adjust beneath his arms and move him back into position.

“How?” Major Andrews demanded, his eyes darkening.

Leron swallowed, feeling the beads of sweat drip down his forehead. Leron 2.0 had given the kill program, and he had accessed Agatha's chip, sending the virus into the other chips on base through her. "With my mind. All the drone corps members can speak and move through the internet with their minds.”

Both men in the room fell silent.

Leron watched their faces turn from scepticism to shock to anger. He continued, “The chips in the robot dogs contained some portion of the madness of the previous owners. The madness was beginning to spread to the members of the drone corps. We were about to lose Dusty and Sadie. If I hadn’t done something, they would be dead, and I might have been dragged in, too.”

“You need to fix this,” Major Andrew said.

“I can’t. What’s done is done. You should never have brought those chips anywhere near us.” Them and us. When did I begin to think of myself as different from the other humans around me? Did he think he was better? No, of course not. They were all human, but they were the ones who made and rejected us. They decided we were freaks.

Standing to his feet, Major Andrews rounded the desk, pushing Aldrin aside as he paced. “Here is my problem. You’ve ruined our main strategy for crossing that bridge. You had better find another way to get the drones out to that boat to wipe out our enemy. Can you access the chips of Chinese robots directly and do the same thing?”

“No. I've tried. They speak an entirely different programming language."

"That will be why we couldn't use their chips," Captain Aldrin cut in. "You should have come to me with this."

"Why would I trust you with anything?" Leron spat.

"Stop it! Both of you! It doesn't matter now. Captain Richards is about to find a solution to cross that bridge," Major Andrews said, pushing his finger into Leron’s chest. “If you don’t, I will have you court-martialled and take half of the remaining drone corps members, remove their chips and have them replace the dogs.”

From the corner of his eye, Leron saw Aldrin snicker. He thought of Matthew, Ben, Sadie and the others. Major Andrews knew they were the closest to him, and he would ensure they were the first. He didn’t want anyone to die. And what did he know about forming battle plans?

Outside the window behind Major Andrew’s desk came the sound of voices chanting. From the haze threatening to cause him to pass out, he could make out an occasional yell of his name.

Major Andrews spun away from Leron, peering out the window and swore. “Tell them to stop.” The voices unified into a chant demanding his freedom. Leron smiled and struggled not to laugh. He was proud of the drone corps for standing beside him, but they were putting themselves in danger. A rock came through the window of the trailer, narrowly missing the major's head. “Now! Or I’ll have all of them shot and the chips salvaged.”

Leron breathed deeply, calming his mind and locking his leg in place. He blocked out the pain and accessed the chip in his mind, ordering the drone corps to back off.

Everything outside went silent.

Major Andrews turned, his brows furrowed. “You really can speak with them, can’t you? Can all of them do this?”

Leron hung free, struggling to stay conscious.

The major took hold of his chin and pulled him up to face him. “Why did you keep this hidden?” the major demanded. “We could have used this to our advantage.”

“We had our reasons,” he muttered, turning his glare on Aldrin.

“This has great possibilities." Major Andrews smiled. "You have until you’ve recovered to find a way past that bridge. Aldrin returned him to the infirmary.”

The soldiers dragged him from the room and down out of the trailer that was the Major’s temporary office. He remained silent, trying to stay conscious from the pain.

“As soon as this is over, I’ll make sure I rip that chip out of your brain myself. All of you monsters should be shot for what you did. You shouldn’t exist,” Aldrin said once they were well away from Major Andrews' office.

“Who is the real monster?” Leron chuckled in a daze. “I saved the lives of the soldiers in the drone corps. You shot an unarmed girl.”