Three Hours Later
"To those who keep saying that someday they'll finally achieve their dream, remember: 'someday' is today. There will hardly be a better day."
That's the inscription I left on the graves of the children I buried not far from our camp. After all, a landfill is far from the best place for a grave. Vincent, Han, and Shiro volunteered to help me, and together we got the job done fairly quickly.
"Not bad," Rick approached us, holding an open bottle of beer. "To you, guys." He took a few small sips.
We buried them according to our clan's traditions, sprinkling the bodies with salt and dousing them with gasoline at the end. The pit wasn't allowed to be filled until the fire had burned out. This was my third time doing this, and each time I felt a certain emptiness.
"Drink, it'll help," Rick handed me a closed bottle, which I gratefully accepted.
"Same old awful taste," I said, taking a few small sips before passing the beer around. Finally, I poured the remaining contents directly onto the grave.
"We live in a world where burying a body in the ground is considered an unheard-of luxury," the technician chuckled sadly, pouring out his own alcohol. "May the road be smooth in the afterlife."
"Alex, I need your help." Roosevelt sent a brief message.
"Sorry guys, our medic needs me." Waving goodbye, I headed toward our resident medic.
"You got here fast," Mike greeted me with a nod, pointing to the unconscious girls lying nearby.
"How are they?"
"If it weren't for your quick thinking and that potent stuff Kiwi injected them with, they would've died within a few hours. Honestly, their condition is still critical, and only sheer determination is keeping them alive," Roosevelt said, massaging his temples wearily.
"You didn't call me here for nothing. Spill it, what have you come up with?" I crossed my arms and sat on the nearby stool.
"Your blood. If we transfuse your blood to them, they might have a chance to pull through," he answered honestly.
"That's a huge risk. At worst, it could kill them before the mutation process even begins. You know the chances of that happening."
"Do they have a choice?" The medic smiled sadly. "Either way, the girls are as good as gone. Even if they somehow survive, they won't live more than ten years." Mike pounded his fist on the table, knocking over the mouse that was lying on it.
"I understand, I just don't want to be the cause of more deaths. I've had enough of corpses for today." I shivered involuntarily, glancing at the peaceful faces of the children lying in bed.
"If you keep pitying yourself, there will be even more corpses," Mike noted sharply. "There's no point in hiding your uniqueness anymore, Alex. Everyone in the camp knows your abilities; it's impossible not to notice after all these years."
"Alright," I sighed heavily, baring my torso, "but remember, I warned you." I settled on the free cot, waiting for Roosevelt to finish preparing the necessary equipment. Blood transfusion is a tedious process, but my unique traits allow me to ignore most factors.
"Don't move. Piercing your skin is no easy task." He carefully secured special straps around my arms, limiting my movement. "There, now lie still and don't move for at least ten minutes..."
Lying still was boring, but fortunately, I had a cyberdeck on my head, allowing me to pass the time online. At one point, even Rachel contacted me, which was quite a surprise.
Incoming audio call - "The best hacker in the universe."
"Hey, how are they?" The hacker was clearly referring to the condition of the surviving girls.
"Not great, but we're working on it."
"I hope they'll be okay. Alex, I managed to extract a lot of useful information from the AI I captured. Want to hear it?"
"Don't beat around the bush, spill it." I closed my eyes, forcing myself into cyberspace.
"As I said, the AIs tried to set a trap for me. But they repeated the main mistake of humanity in the twentieth century."
"And what mistake was that?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"The AIs naively assumed I would use the same virus I created forty years ago. They expected, at best, short resistance, but I managed to surprise them unpleasantly." The netrunner smirked, then became serious again. "Alex, what I'm about to tell you is not for prying ears."
"You know I'm not one to gossip."
"The AI that attacked me initially is one of six social AIs that were once stuck in the old net. Four of them have formed a sort of coalition, now trying to gain full control over the world. They have already conducted a successful test of Project Kiroshi, which alters human consciousness and turns people into obedient puppets. Moreover, only those who have installed eye implants are susceptible to the rewriting of consciousness. The AIs developed a scheme where a special encrypted signal was sent to the optics, slowly rewriting consciousness. In short, real human programming."
"Bad news," I muttered, shaking my head, fully understanding where my mentor was leading.
"And that's not all. The so-called Script, from which I extracted the information, was planning to create a special chip. This chip, once implanted into a human, would allow a synthetic being to transfer its consciousness into that person. The distinctive feature of such individuals is their enhanced cybernetic pupils. You've already encountered some of these representatives."
"I remember one." I thought of that chatty guy Vincent had shot.
"I also found information about your parents. I sent it in a separate file. I think it's best not to discuss it now."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it..." Rachel paused briefly, clearly wanting to say something. "Happy birthday, Alex."
"Oh right, it's the twentieth today."
"I'll try to dig up some more information. Don't get bored."
Call ended.
Returning to the real world, I glanced at the clock on the wall. About half an hour had passed, and by now, Roosevelt had already removed all the needles from me. Looking over at the children, I noticed a slight blush on their cheeks, indicating the success of our venture.
"Awake?" The medic's voice came from the other end of the tent. "In any case, you should get some rest. The girls' condition is stable, but I'll keep an eye on them. You did well."
"I could use some sleep," I agreed, rising from the cot. "Here to check on them?" I asked, looking at Kiwi as she approached me.
"How are they?"
"Recovering. Our blood transfusion gamble paid off."
"Glad to hear that," the blonde smiled, hugging my arm.
"Seems like you've gotten attached to them," I smiled back, patting her head and ruffling her hair slightly. "Let's get some sleep, my little warrior hamster." Holding Kiwi close, I headed toward my tent. Right now, we all needed a good rest.