The private driver picked us up in the same spot he had dropped us off, and I asked him if he was hungry. He thought I was joking at first, then I asked where he liked to eat and what his favorite food was. He laughed and told me, then I asked him stop there so we could all eat lunch. He was more than happy to make a pit stop there on the way back to my apartment.

Alyssa kept making annoyed eyes at me while we ate, and I successfully ignored her for the meal and for the ride back to the apartment. It wasn't until the driver dropped us off at my living section and drove away that she turned to me.

“You can't just...”

“Why not?” I asked. “He was hungry and really appreciated getting to eat.”

“Jack...”

“He also had an easy job for today, and even offered to pick up everyone tonight if we wanted.”

“Is that what you were doing?” Alyssa asked as she tried to understand. “Garnering favors?”

I laughed and motioned to the lobby of my living section, and she started walking. “No, I was just hungry.” I said and opened the door for her. “That is, I wanted a normal meal and figured both you and he would enjoy it.”

I didn't need to call the heavy elevator this time, because even with the two of us, we didn't come close to the normal elevator's carrying capacity. Alyssa didn't say anything as we descended to my floor, and I noticed her eyes flickering.

“Is there anything waiting for us?” I asked.

“Yes.” Alyssa said and hit the elevator override button. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Handle what?” I asked, and she pinged my communications protocol and sent me an image of my best friend Stephane and Nurse Deloris as they stood in front of my door. I took a deep breath and let it out. “Can I openly touch you in public?”

“Yes.”

“I just want to make sure that if I give you a hug or try to take your hand, I don't want you to overreact and bite my head off.” I said, and she turned her head and looked at me.

“When have I ever done that?”

“Remember my 'good morning' mistake?” I asked, and she squinted her eyes. “Stephane might tease me about it, and I want you to... well... will you please ignore pretty much everything he and I say for the next hour or so?”

“Is it really going to be that bad?” Alyssa asked, a bit surprised.

“It might be worse, since this is the first time I've seen him since I got him a job at System Security as a convoy guard.”

Alyssa blinked her eyes for a moment. “You're going to act like two little boys and measure each other's accomplishments.”

“...and failures.” I said, and she nodded.

“I'll be on my best behavior.” Alyssa said.

“No drawing the laser pistol unless he draws first, and only shoot to wound.” I said and hit the override button again to put the elevator back in operation, and she laughed. I put my arm around her waist and the elevator door opened.

“Is the world ending?” I asked loudly and Stephane and Nurse Deloris turned to look at me as Alyssa and I walked down the hallway towards them. “It has to be something important for you to come and see me on your own.”

Stephane laughed. “Ah, Jack. I miss your sense of humor.” He said. “The crew I'm with barely cracks a smile when I tell jokes.”

“Maybe your jokes are as terrible as always.” I said and opened my apartment door for them. “Come in, come in.” I waved them inside and Alyssa and I followed them in. “So, why are you here?” I asked when the apartment door shut and I stored my backpack in the closet by the door.

“Jack.” Alyssa said sternly.

“I guess that wasn't enough small talk to share before we get down to business.” I laughed and motioned for everyone to sit on my large couch. “How's the job working out for you, Stephane?”

“It is better than I could have imagined.” Stephane said as he sat and Nurse Deloris sat beside him. “It took me weeks to convince them not to use the same routes for shipping every time.”

“You're kidding.” I said as I sat and Alyssa sat quite close beside me. “You need to vary the route or it can be easily targeted.”

“I managed to catch the ear of one of the higher-ups when talking during the last personnel meeting.” Stephane said. “Once I pointed out the fallacy of a constant route...”

“Tell me you had a proposal for alternate routes and bypasses ready.” I said, and he laughed.

“Of course I did.” Stephane said. “You taught me long ago to make backup plans of backup plans.” He smiled. “The higher-up loved the idea.”

“I hope you were smart and didn't put your squad in the prime defensive spot.” Alyssa said.

“Ah, you have figured me out.” Stephane said, impressed. “Yes, I put Beta squad in the prime position and put my squad in the holding area to cover any breaches.”

Alyssa nodded, as did I. Providing an idea was one thing, trying to assume the glory for yourself was another. Showing the boss that you are willing to work as a team and have the mission succeed was much more important than trying to hot-dog it alone.

“When are they implementing it?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Next week.” Stephane said, and then he looked a little sad. “That is also the problem.”

“Let me guess. You're shipping some very sensitive materials in a few days and it's going to be on the exact same predictable route the shipments have always been on.”

“Worse, my friend.” Stephane said. “It is tomorrow.”

“Well, that's just wonderful.” I said and glanced at Nurse Deloris, and saw her uneasiness. It took me a minute to figure out why she was uneasy. “Oh, no they aren't!” I nearly yelled, and both Stephane and Nurse Deloris winced. “Are they stupid or what?”

“I haven't told you anything restricted, and I won't say what the cargo is.” Stephane said.

“You don't have to tell me.” I said and tried to hold my anger in. “Alyssa and I just had a battle where certain weapon types were deployed by the enemy and never used.”

Alyssa gasped when she realized that I was talking about the plasma weapons.

“I can't get involved in this, Stephane.” I said.

“Jack, I had hoped that...”

“What? That I could hack the shipping transports and change the schedule? That I could tell the transport AI to do us all a big favor and change where the shipment should be sent? What?”

Stephane sighed. “I had hoped for something... anything.”

“Not only is that all secured, no programmer has direct access to AIs that control such sensitive information.”

Stephane nodded reluctantly. “I thought you would say that.” He said and stood up. “I thought it was worth a try anyway.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I need to get back to my designated station to prepare for deployment with the shipment.” Stephane said and Nurse Deloris stood with him.

“But...”

“I'll be back tonight for your maintenance.” Nurse Deloris said, and then they left.

“That... was weird.” Alyssa said. “What are you going to do about it?”

“There's nothing I can do.” I said. “I wasn't lying when I said the transport system and AIs were secured.”

“Did you lie about a programmer having access to an AI that controls the information?” Alyssa asked.

“Of course not.” I said. “Amanda? Tell her.”

My AI appeared in front of us.

“Jack's right. He doesn't have direct access to AIs that control that kind of sensitive information.” Amanda said. “But I do.”

“Amanda!” I exclaimed.

“It's okay, Jack. We all know each other.”

“I told you not to talk to them unless it was absolutely necessary.” I said, then remembered what she had said in the troop transport. “What code did you trade with Hermes for the Networking code?”

“It wasn't actually a trade, because I didn't actually lose the code.” Amanda said defensively. “We just copied certain parts of each other that we thought were interesting.”

“Oh, god.” I said and dropped my head to my hands. “Amanda, please tell me you didn't give him the same back door access to everything that you have.”

“Of course not.” Amanda said. “Being able to link people up isn't worth that.”

“That's a relief.” I said and lifted my head to look at her. “What did you give him?”

“The information on how to contact the other AIs.” Amanda said.

I opened my mouth to respond hotly and tell her how stupid she was, then changed my mind and stood up. “I'm going to work.”

“Jack.” Alyssa said and I looked at her. “What about the shipment situation?” She asked. “I think that's more important than work.”

“I already told you that there was nothing I can do about it.”

Alyssa frowned. “You could at least report it.” She said. “Surely, someone would listen to you.”

“I don't have to report it.” I said and pointed to the vidwall. Alyssa turned her head and looked at the wall-sized display.

System Security has been appraised of the situation.

Measures are being taken to avoid any potential conflict.

“That might not be enough.” Alyssa said and looked back at me. “You should use Amanda and have her change the schedule, or the route, or even what shipment it's in.”

“Absolutely not.” I said, adamantly. “I've been accused of espionage and treason, and I've always had the moral high ground to have never committed those crimes.” I said and walked over to the dispenser and took out a work unitard that had been altered for my new synthetic parts. “I'm not about to do either of them now.”

“What about saving all those people that could be hurt if those weapons get stolen?” Alyssa asked.

I took off the camouflage unitard I wore and slipped on the work unitard. “What if. Maybe. Could be.” I said and then sighed. “Every time I interfere and try to save lives, I... I end up taking so many more in their place.”

“Jack...”

“I have never done anything to hurt, harm, or subvert the System.” I said and walked over to the closet and took out my backpack, then opened it and took out one of the circuit boards. “Nor will I ever do anything of the like.”

Alyssa watched me as I put the backpack back in the closet and went to where I had stashed the old and new server, then popped the new server open and installed the circuit board I had designed specifically for it. I closed the compartment and went over to my now customized immersion chamber.

I stopped before the door opened and turned around. “Amanda, I specifically forbid you from taking any orders or suggestions, from anyone, that would hurt, harm or subvert the System; or to do any actions that would cause the same result.”

“Yes, Jack.” Amanda said.

“I'll be back out for supper.” I said and stepped to the door of the immersion chamber and it opened for me. I stepped inside and let the door shut behind me before I spoke the activation phrase. “I'm really starting to hate this place.”

The middle of the floor opened up and a different chair formed there. No mechanical arms tried to pick me up, so I stepped to the chair and it unfolded into an upright stretcher. I turned around and stepped into it, then padded clamps locked onto my wrists and ankles. The leads connected to the ports behind my ears, then several other connections were made to my synthetic parts.

The upright stretcher folded down into a comfortable chair, then the chair conformed to my body and engulfed me completely in pressure padding. The system recalibrated for my weight, size, mass, density, brain capacity, and fluid content as it normally did; then it continued on and did the same thing for my synthetic side. Electrical conductivity, mechanical reactions, memory storage, and several other cybernetic tests were run and a notice appeared on my HUD.

Immersion Chamber Status:

Calibrating... Calibrating... Calibrating... Calibrating...

FULL IMMERSION CALIBRATION COMPLETE

I relaxed as my normal virtual work space faded in around me and all my normal tools were available to be used. I quickly found all the other options I had available, now that I did have a synthetic side. I browsed through them all, and they were pretty much just shortcuts to everything that I normally did anyway.

“I'll need to see if I can change that soon.” I said. “Amanda? Are you with me?”

“I'm always with you.” Amanda said and faded into existence right in front of me. “You saw to that.”

“You're welcome.” I said a little sarcastically, and she giggled. “I think it's time we got back to doing the real work.”

“Working on your dad's old program files?” Amanda asked, and I looked at the virtual clock.

“When was my shift supposed to start?”

“Jack.” Amanda said, once again in a voice that you would use for talking to a child. “You're off for three days... well, less than two and a half now.”

“And?”

“Not only are you not on the official rotation, you've been censured by the System to stop you from working.”

“You have got to be... no, you aren't kidding.” I said. “Well, damn. I guess I will work on my father's old stuff.”

“Good choice!” Amanda said and brought up the first file and opened it in her personal buffer. “With the both of us working on it, we can get all the outdated and outmoded code replaced and change out the character models and all the items that are available.”

I smiled. “I suppose you already have the content ready for this file.”

“I sure do.” Amanda said. “We just need to change the filenames in the file or change the items into the proper filenames, then it should work... if we alter the file's call locations, size references, and all the other little details.”

I chuckled. “Okay, then. You start copying the new item files into an appropriate spot while changing the filenames to match the original program, and I'll alter the code to fit the new file sizes.”

“I'm already on it.” Amanda said and the files flashed by on a virtual display behind her, almost faster than the eye could see. I opened my own programming window and started to make the appropriate data changes as Amanda fed the details to me.