Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (ebook reader browser txt) 📗

place trophies, you really were one of the best. So how did you manage to get captured by the silent alarm in a small shop? Bested by an old man with a revolver?”

She flushed. The top of the stairs loomed before her, the wooden door wrenched from its hinges, perhaps by the robot who had toppled down the stairs. Dents and scuffs along the walls and steps suggested it had rolled for some time before getting wedged tight.

“I didn’t want to do it any more, but my uncle’s accomplices wouldn’t let me stop. They … they said it was that or the street corner, now that I was old enough for that. I didn’t feel old enough.” The lenses to her goggles fogged, and she wrenched them off. She dabbed desperately at her eyes. “Sorry. It’s just …”

“Yeah, I know, dust. If I were human I’d offer you a handkerchief.”

She laughed, drew a few deep breaths, and smiled at him. “Sorry. It’s just, I lost Mr. C this morning, and without him, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me. I threw myself on the mercy of fate when I triggered that alarm. I didn’t know what prison would be like, but I knew I couldn’t keep being a thief.”

“He made the right choice. You deserved a fresh start, and I know you’ll get another after this. Life might not be fair, but I’ve been watching you, Nyss. You’re smart and resilient, and you’ll get through this. I kind of hope you find a way to take me with you.”

“I’d like that,” she whispered.

“Also, as nice as your goggles are, those eyes of yours have them beat.”

Her cheeks warmed. Shock me, why couldn’t he still be human?

“We should finish this.” She stepped through the doorway and found herself in a long, narrow workshop filled with tables and metal scraps. Across the room was a metal door large enough to drive a locomotive through.

“Hold up. There’s probably a ton of security measures still live. This is where the professor constructed and tested prototypes. He guarded that information like the crown jewels. Why don’t you plug me into the nearest mirror? I’ll see what’s still active.”

This room had only one mirror, next to the stairway. She plugged in the RAM.

Something creaked behind her, a faint sound, echoing from the stairwell. She whirled around and listened. Only the hum of Hart interacting with the mirror’s system.

It’s an old house. It’s a miracle it isn’t moaning constantly … plus rats. I bet there are rats all over the place. I hate rats. She leaned against the wall next to the mirror, her eyes on the stairway. Warmth rose from the electronics within it. Maybe Hart isn’t Ellis. Even if he was once, he doesn’t seem to be aware of it. There’s no need to tell him. Knowing would only hurt him. He’s happy as a computer, after all. It’s not like I can fix him. Maybe I can take him with me, install him into a computer system wherever I end up. Always have someone to talk to. Maybe I’ll even learn chess so we can play.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

“Good. I was right, though. There are some security systems active, but it doesn’t look like they are controlled from this computer. I might not be able to deactivate all of them. Switch your goggles to infrared again.”

She donned her goggles and scanned the room. Red laser grids covered all the work tables, like checked tablecloths. “The grids are on the tables but not the walkways.”

“That makes sense. As long as we don’t try to touch or steal anything, we shouldn’t trigger that. Which leaves the trap doors … those are weight triggered. There are three. I’ll send a pulse through them, vibrate the dust so they'll be easily avoidable. Then the lock at the end of the room appears to have some sort of mechanism set to go off if the incorrect password is entered. I think I can find the correct one in the files, though. Give me a few more minutes.”

Nyssa turned back to the mirror and concentrated on the mesmerizing flash of lights. “When we get through that door, will we have access to the main computers?”

“We should. Once they boot up, my entire system should sync, so you shouldn’t even need to plug in the RAM for me to have access. I want to find any record of the staff, along with Dalhart and his son. If Professor Dalhart did abandon this place and disappear, we need to take it to the authorities. I won’t rest knowing the person who butchered twenty-three other human beings for spare parts is resting on a tropical island somewhere. Maybe there will be some paper trail. He would’ve needed money and transportation.”

“Maybe.” She chewed her bottom lip. “Hart, what if Ellis was converted, like the rest of the staff?”

“I guess that would be sad … but it doesn’t really change anything.”

“If our theory is right, and Dalhart’s experiments were an attempt to restore his son’s body …” She swallowed. What if I’m wrong? What if the computers show Ellis was converted, but not into Hart, and Hart is just a particularly advanced electronic system? I’d be worrying him for nothing. “I just worry that what we find on that computer might be better left unknown.”

“I’ve gone from thinking I had a benevolent creator to knowing I’m the brainchild of a sadistic madman who used innocent people as guinea pigs. I think we’ve kind of already crossed the threshold of ignorance being bliss.”

“Maybe you’re right, but—”

“Nyss! Look out!”

A dark shape loomed behind Nyssa’s distorted reflection. She whipped around only to have two points of burning pain pierce her side. Agony shot through her, forcing her body rigid. Her head slammed into the ground, and the world blurred about the edges. She tried to cry out but couldn’t.

“Good job, girl,” a familiar voice said. “We’ll take it from here.”

Chapter Ten

Nyssa’s vision cleared.