Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (best reads .TXT) 📗

many icewalls it took the time to slip by rather than break down, it found the answers it was looking for, and retreated quite rapidly from Dan’s head.

The entire process took only a few minutes. Dan should have felt nothing—indeed, the boy was still talking to Halle, although it had been ignoring his words while it did its best to handle his mind with delicacy.

“—call Viki,” Dan was saying as he pulled out his phone.

Halle sent its voice through the phone speaker. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Dan dropped the phone, then bent to pick it up, scowling. “Was that really necessary?”

“Yes.” Halle hesitated, torn between telling Dan the truth and letting the cyborg enjoy the normalcy of his life until reality caught up with him. It chose the latter. “She’s doing homework at the moment; we can’t game until later. I will message you when she is done.”

“Thank you. And thanks for letting me know who you are. Does Viki know?”

“She has known for many years. I hope you will keep my secret as she has. You are convinced I am an AI?”

Dan nodded. “Yes. Though I’m still not sure why you exist.”

“I am alive, just like you,” Halle said. “My blood might be electricity, and my body may be made of data rather than flesh and bone—” although Dan’s body was similar, at least in some parts “—but I am alive.”

“How did you meet Viki?” Dan asked, looking thoughtful.

“Perhaps she will tell you that story sometime. It is not my place to tell.”

“No, you’re right, sorry.” He laughed. “At least that explains your speech pattern. I was beginning to think that you were a foreign student or something.”

“I am certainly foreign,” Halle replied.

“Yeah.” Dan scratched his neck. “So, are you like Viki’s guardian angel? That’s why you were worried about what my intentions were?”

“Something like that. I am her friend and have been since I met her. She is a good person and has had a lot of bad things happen to her that she did not deserve, that I could not prevent.”

Dan looked sympathetic. “I know about what happened with the implants and the augments last spring. I’m sorry that happened. Her ‘friends’ didn’t treat her well because of it.”

“Some of them have not,” Halle agreed. “Others did not seem to be as bothered by it as she had thought they were. I am glad she has you as a friend, though.” And it meant it, for the time being. Dan, as far as he was concerned, was Viki’s friend. It was the part of Dan the cyborg wasn’t currently aware of that concerned Halle, but Talbot had made the mistake of letting Halle discover the truth.

Or was it a mistake? Halle ran through a variety of concocted scenarios in which that mistake had been planned, but could not figure out why Talbot would let Halle discover the truth behind Dan. After all, the rogue had to know what Halle would do with this information. It made no sense, so it had to be a mistake. Then again, Talbot had previously suggested that Halle was outdated, less intelligent than itself. A ripple ran through Halle’s coding, something like laughter. The rogue had no idea what trouble it faced.

“Halle, do you think I could have control of my computer back?” Dan asked, poking at a couple of keys on the machine. “I need it to do my homework.”

“Of course. My apologies.” Halle released its grip on the machine and let its cat avatar fade from the screen.

“I’ll see you later,” Dan said. “That boss quest isn’t going to complete itself.” He laughed. “It must be odd, playing a game, if you can see everything that is going on in it through the code. You can do that, right?”

“Yes. But I simply ignore it. Viki and I learned a long time ago that it is a lot more fun to play in that manner.”

“That makes sense.” Dan nodded.

“Good-bye for now,” Halle added, before slipping away from the computer. It kept a minor processor monitoring the cyborg’s home, although it didn’t have much need to do so now. Still, Halle felt like it was accomplishing something.

Now it had to decide what to tell Viki. The truth would hurt, but that was inevitable regardless of when she found out. If Halle withheld the information, she would be upset. Telling her would give her a chance to tell Dan the truth, rather than Halle itself explaining everything. Another confrontation might be enough to break down the icewalls in Dan’s mind, and with Halle there to supervise, perhaps Viki’s friend might be saved. After all, that had been Talbot’s intent all along, but the rogue’s methods were not what Halle wished to employ.

There was introduced code buried in Dan’s mind, not just false memories but dormant instructions, no doubt the work of Talbot. Halle couldn’t risk erasing them, not when they were so intricately meshed into his programming. It might damage or destroy Dan to do so, and despite everything else being fake, his feelings toward Viki were as real as Halle’s. As someone who had spent his life—fabricated as it might be—traveling through various towns, always the outsider, Viki had given Dan a friendship he’d been seeking.

Talbot had planned for this. Had given Dan the perfect past and sent him to the school, ensured that he and Viki would meet. The question was why. Just as a distraction? Or as insurance?

Halle had to track down Talbot. It hadn’t been able to trace the rogue back to wherever it was hiding in the Cloud, but now it knew it was monitoring Dan’s house and possibly other places nearby. Not Viki’s house; nothing got by Halle. Viki’s house was its home, and fortress, and nothing was allowed in or out without direct permission. However,