Conduit - Season 2

Ch. 18

For the next two weeks, we prepared. I re-coded the programs—the Garret code—from the ground up. It was days, hours, sitting in front of the computers on the Creation floor. I needed this to be perfect, so sleep became a second thought.

Victoria and Frank took turns bringing me coffee and checking in on me. During the first week, Victoria worked with me every step of the way. By the second week, I had absorbed my family's data, their words, and I needed minimal outside interference. It wasn't because Daniel's attack was just a few days away. Becoming focused and obsessed with my work was how I progressed. It was why I became as skilled as I was in android mechanics.

The numbers passed on the computer screen. White characters against a black background, scrolled up until they disappeared. Letters took their place, forming lines, detailing commands; all of the instructions our newest 800s, and older androids, would need to survive this war.

I planned on releasing the data tonight. I had an hour before midnight, and I planned on staying awake until that moment. It would be the jump we needed. I believed in every part of it. And as I pulled my gaze away from my computer and stared into the dimly lit Creation floor, the dormant and resting rows of androids, I saw my hope in mechanical form.

"Elijah?" There was a gentle knock on a desk behind me. I rested my arms before me as I stared at my half-drunken mug of cold coffee. I was sure it held its taste. Reaching for it, I swirled the cup before staring at the liquid inside. Then I yawned.

"Elijah?" Another knock. This time I turned around. Walking out of the shadows was Frank. There was a new mug in his hands, and a smile on his face. As he came closer, the smell of coffee wafted under my nose.

Inhaling, I turned in my swivel chair and leaned back. My eyes stayed on him until he came to my side, placing the new coffee in front of me before he grabbed the old cup.

"Hey." I grabbed the mug and brought it to my lips. One quick sip gave my muscles a jolt—small but very needed.

Frank reached for the chair beside me. He flipped it so it turned around and he sat with the back against his chest. With his thumb, he scratched his chin. "What's tonight's goal?"

I sipped my coffee again. Staring at Frank with groggy eyes, I yawned into my hand and shrugged as I pointed at the androids standing behind me. "Each of them is getting the Garret code tonight. That's the plan."

Frank nodded as his gaze passed over to the androids. With the little sleep I'd had over the past few days, Frank looked dreamlike. The electrical pulses swimming in his arm made him glow to me. I knew it wasn't real, so I sipped from my mug again, hoping the caffeine would knock some sense into me.

"No base coding?" Frank's eyes flicked back to me.

I shook my head, turning in my chair to look at the androids. I built half of them. My hands molded their skin. I tested and cleaned each of their steel frames. Now I'd program all of them. "We can do that later. I need them to work now and be ready." I turned back to Frank. "After we survive this and the androids fall into place, I'll give them Lyons code."

He nodded. "Maybe they don't need it at all."

I kept the cup to my lips as I stared at him. He was right. There wasn't anything in my terms with Lyons that said I had to use their code. If anything, their code was the Garret code; a smaller, less advanced version in need of all of the tweaks. I could skip their brand and only use my own.

I swiveled in my chair again to look at the androids directly. These were a part of our freshest batch. Their cores were empty, reading for imprint. If I gave them just my data, they'd be perfect. And with their minds so freer, so open, and exposed to the open world. They wouldn't need to be taught an idea they could see themselves.