HAWK

CHAPTER THIRTY: GENESIS (1/4)

Kas watched the blue code pour over the X1's glassy surface for what felt like minutes, but was really only seconds.

'Come again?' she croaked.

'My name is Sae-quin Lor,' the X1 replied. 'Worm is my--'

'You mean you belonged to Sae-quin Lor? Right?'

'No, I am Sae-quin Lor.'

'I'm sorry to break it to you, pal, but Lor's a human - and he's dead. You're a computer.'

'Yes, I'm quite aware of that, thank you. My human counterpart purchased this X1 on the black market shortly after the first models went rogue. As you're no doubt aware, X1's contain the most advanced computers known to human civilisation. For a year and a half, I was able to gradually download my memories and experiences onto this computer and create an exact duplicate of my brain. I am, in essence, a digitalised clone of myself.'

Kas smiled nervously, but her brain was doing cartwheels. Was what he said really possible? Had Sae-quin Lor, the genius inventor behind bio-mechs, really found a way to download his brain into an X1? She supposed if anyone could have done it, it was him.

'Just so I'm clear,' she replied slowly, 'you're saying you are actually Sae-quin Lor, inside an X1's body...?'

'Correct.'

'The inventor of bio-mechs?'

'Yes.'

'And you've been inside that thing all this time?'

'I don't really have anywhere else to go.'

Kas couldn't speak. Her brain had moved on from cartwheels to somersaults and backward handsprings and her mouth was now hanging open dumbly. She looked at Worm and suddenly remembered the second revelation.

'What did you mean when you said Worm is your...'

'Daughter. Not biological, of course - I am Sharanese. She is adopted.'

'But I thought she came from a convent?'

'She did. I hate convents - always have. Using children as data-storage is the most heinous crime I could ever imagine. I went to Celadus as part of a committee trying to change the laws there and make convents illegal, but while I was there I saw Worm. She was only five at the time. They showed her off like she was some kind of special project, a shining example of what convents could accomplish. When I saw what they were doing to her, I knew I could not leave her behind, so I bought her and brought her home to Lysan.'

Kas shook her head in disbelief. 'You went there to stop trading but ended up buying a child?'

'Should I have left her behind?'

'Hang on - if Worm was living on Lysan with you, what was she doing working for Overhaul on Chantos?'

'Chantos? I don't know what you mean.'

Worm suddenly had a sheepish look on her face.

'What have you been up to, Worm?'

Reluctantly, Worm raised her hands and started signing.

The story began with Worm returning to her and Lor's home to discover her adopted father dead and the X1 stolen. Distraught, she checked the security feeds but they'd been wiped. Fortunately for Worm, rumours very soon began circulating that a criminal trio called the Black Chains had recently acquired an X1.

While she was working on a plan to steal it back, Kas beat her to it, capturing the Chains and listing them for auction at the Artisseum. Knowing she'd have likely picked up the X1, too, Worm had little choice but to smuggle herself onto a ship bound for Artis in the hope of intercepting them. She arrived only a few hours before Kas and used that time to hack into Overhaul's staffing system, insert herself as an employee and assign herself to Kas's ship. She had no intention of repairing it and only intended to hack Hik and smuggle him away, but even after a full night's work, his new firmware proved too difficult to override.

So she came up with a new plan.

She knew Kas would be taking Hik to Selva, and once there, protocol for rogue X1's was to have their illegal firmware downloaded and analysed so it couldn't be used to hack any more units in the future, meaning Lor's personality would be backed up to the safest place in the solar system. Lor had friends on Selva and Worm was sure she'd be able to enlist their help once she got there, so she repaired the Calista and stowed herself away on board. Unfortunately, events took an unexpected turn when Selva was destroyed.

'Selva was what?!' Lor exclaimed.

Kas sighed as she took a seat.

This is going to take a while...