The figure moved across the submarine, seeming to relax slightly as their ward entered the craft. The trooper that the view was from readied to fire. The moment of the weapon readying itself seemed to be enough. The figure on the submarine suddenly dove forward with blurring speed. Even running the footage frame by frame, it was hard to tell exactly what had happened. One moment the trooper was readying to fire. The next the target had released a flash of light, and less than a frame later the footage cut out.

 

“What the fuck happened out there?” the security chief asked. The head of containment had been called into his office after the failed mission to stop a rogue killbot.

 

“It seems, sir, that the bot deployed an antigrain dart against our collector. We’re not sure how the bot detected them. We had followed the standard protocol and fired from a safe distance. The bot would have needed to be running its sensors so highly boosted they would be liable to burn out.” The security chief ground his teeth at this.

 

“This entire operation has been off. Something is different about this bot and ops is keeping details from us. Details that cost that man his life. What has PR decided on for the apartment?”

 

“It was abandoned, sir, so thankfully no civilian casualties to explain. It seems they’ve gone with the failed drug den explanation.”

 

***

 

Natalia rushed to the Hecate’s helm, and she brought the sub’s engines up to full power the moment the hatch had slammed shut behind the bot Claire was with, launching the sub back towards the sea in an explosion of water. A warning popped up on the display as the docks fell away behind them. Someone had shot at them! Nat rushed back to the hatch entrance to check on Claire, leaving the Hecate to pilot herself out to sea. After that weapon’s fire grazed the Hecate’s hull, the sudden quiet of the ship had her worried.

 

“Nat!” Claire’s shout turned Nat’s hurried walk into a sprint. She tore her way through the tight corridors to where the hatch was. Nat skidded to a stop as she reached the open door to the entrance. The sight stunned her for a moment. The killbot Claire had said was helping her had been nearly cut in half. 

 

An enormous wound started above its hips and went across its body like something had just scooped out a section of it, carapace and all. Wet synthmuscle and carbon black pieces of bone lay exposed in the devastating wound. Claire had knelt down and grabbed the bot by its shoulders, trying to haul it deeper into the sub; her pants had been soaked by the pool of viscus synthmuscle fluids tinged pink with blood.

 

“Help me! She won’t wake up,” Claire said, clearly shaken. Nat was thrown off for a second; Claire kept referring to the bot like it was a person. She had called it Thea and had stood up to Nat to defend it. The bot’s face was exposed, and was decidedly feminine. What exactly was Thea to Claire? Nat shook herself from the sudden confusion and stepped forward to help Claire move the disabled bot, though she was very interested to find out exactly what was going on later.

 

Nat reached down, gently moving Claire out of the way as she took Thea under each arm, wrapping her arms tight around the bot’s chest, and hauled herself back to her feet, groaning with the effort. Gods, the bot was heavy. Even with her armor’s power assist it was a struggle to lift Thea’s limp form. Nat made her way to the Hecate’s lab awkwardly walking backwards as she half dragged Thea down the hall leaving a trail of Thea’s strange blood.

 

Rushing into the lab, Nat dragged Thea towards the assembler. The large box took up most of the back wall of Nat’s lab and was capable of creating nearly any material given power and the right components. A handy piece of tech she had put together from several different broken units so she could bypass the hardware DRM usually built into them. Claire saw where she was headed and had the assembler’s door already open when Nat got there. Shambling into the assembler, Nat gently laid Thea down before stepping over her still form and closing the door.

 

The assembler began its startup. The whine of cooling pumps and flash of indicator lights going through their little harmony as it prepared itself for work. Nat took another glance at Claire; she hadn’t seen her for years, and Claire was still so beautiful it made her ache. She hated the danger Claire seemed to be in, but Nat couldn’t bring herself to be unhappy to see her again. Claire’s face, almost always bright and cheery, was sunken now. Her brow creased, and she chewed on a nail. She was clearly worried for the bot, for Thea.

 

Nat’s train of thought was cut off when, with a loud beep, the assembler seemed to completely shut off for a brief moment before springing into action. Thea’s carapace seemed to unseal from her body, and the assembler’s various arms pulled away the fitted pieces of armor in a blur of motion. 

 

With the plating pulled away, Thea’s body was brought into a reclined position by the assembler arms. Freed from its carapace, Thea’s body was unsettling. Her body had no skin beneath the carapace, the very real human skin ended at her neck. Below that was just dark synthmuscle, not unlike what you would see in a medical image of the human body. Though between the enhanced power density of synthmuscle, and the sheer mass of it Thea had, she clearly was designed to be far stronger.

 

Nat rushed over to the assembler’s console. Assemblers didn’t just jump into action by themselves. It wouldn’t respond to anything she did. After a few more tries, the displays finally lit up, only to show a message saying the machine was locked down for maintenance.

 

“What the fuck!” Nat shouted. She couldn’t believe she had trusted a corporate bot for a second. How had she let her guard down?

 

“Nat, what’s happening?” Claire asked, clearly struggling to keep her voice under control.

 

“Your killbot is hacking into my ship is what’s happening! You said it was helping you. What’s going on, Claire?” Nat asked, her voice harsher than she intended.

 

“She’s what? Nat, no. Thea saved my life. I wouldn’t have made it to you without her. Just calm down. If Thea wanted to hurt us, she could have done it before we ever got onto your ship.” What Claire was saying made sense. It would have been easy enough for Thea to have taken them both out when Natalia had opened the ship’s hatch. On top of that, why had she been the target of whatever had shot at them if she was working for Zeberon still?

 

“Claire, why don’t you tell Ms. Sokolov what has happened the past couple days. Sorry about nabbing your assembler like this, Ms. Sokolov, but our body has become a bit of a mess and I thought I’d make sure it was fixed correctly. Your ship’s VI is rather cute, by the way,” Thea’s voice said through the ship’s speakers. Her voice was cold, seeming to lack inflection.

 

“Thea! You’re alright?” Claire asked, her lips splitting into a relieved grin.

 

“We were only damaged in non-critical areas. The repairs and modifications needed to bring our body back to combat readiness will be complete when we arrive at Ms. Sokolov’s destination,” Thea replied, and Claire visibly sagged in relief. Gods, she had been worried for Thea. Nat still wasn’t quite ready to let go of her suspicions, but she had to admit she wasn’t looking forward to trying to figure out how to stitch Thea back together herself. Having her take control of the repair made things a good bit easier. She moved back over to Claire’s side and gently took her by the shoulder.

 

“How about we go have a bite to eat while you tell me what’s going on?”

 

***

 

There were a lot of things Blake had learned to put up with over the many years working his way up the corporate ladder. The one thing he had yet to master was making it through a slideshow presentation. What was it with corporate leadership and slideshows? As security chief, it was his duty to sit through and at least keep up the appearance of being attentive through many, many slide shows. This one was proving to be on the bad side of such presentations as far as things went. Blake idly flipped through several emails while nodding and smiling at appropriate times for the presentation. He had been fighting for the past few hours tooth and nail to get in contact with the branch that handled the rogue killbot that had recently evaded containment.

 

Blake had been working in security and law enforcement long enough to get a sense for these things, and something was very wrong about that whole operation. He just didn’t have the pieces to work it out yet, but he intended to get them. There wasn’t a chance in hell he would let one of his own men be killed by an overgrown toaster and not bring holy hell on anyone who had something to do with it. The bot would be contained, of course, but Blake still needed to understand how everything had gone wrong and find who was responsible for the operators not knowing what they were going into. For him still not knowing what he was dealing with.

 

Another slide came up as the presenter continued his droning speech about office safety. This one had something to do with icy walkways in the coming cold months. Just as the presenter was winding up for another riveting personal anecdote, Blake received a message; this one was directly from the board. His breath caught for a moment. It was certainly a bad omen for what he was getting himself mixed up in if they were getting a hold of him. At least it seemed his probing was getting some traction. He instantly confirmed the meeting, quietly excusing himself from the presentation, not sure which he’d rather face.

 

Entering the corner meeting room quietly, Blake took in the place. It was one of dozens of rooms that dotted the sprawling office complex that were hidden away, either by accident or design. He hadn’t ever personally been in this room, which was a rarity for him as he liked to know the sites he was responsible for inside and out. A small round office table took up the center of the room. The rest was decorated in that nondescript hyper-inoffensive way that corporations preferred their offices. A simple landscape piece was on one wall. Likely a piece of nature that used to exist in the Northwest. Blue and grey carpet tiles took up the floor and the lack of natural lighting made the already dull room seem downright depressing.

 

An even more nondescript man was seated at the table. The man gestured for Blake to sit, and he did so. Trying to take the man in was a strange experience. It was like looking at someone you almost knew, but couldn’t quite put a name to. It set Blake on edge. Something was definitely wrong here. The man pulled out a file from a bag next to him, slid it across the desk before, quietly as a shadow, standing and walking away. 

 

Chills ran down Blake’s spine as he realized what had just happened. Corporate had personally had him meet with an infiltration-specialized killbot. He had read about the effects of new infiltration technology. A way for specialized bots to make anyone see them as not only anonymous, but as someone to be trusted, someone you knew, or to steal someone’s appearance entirely. Grabbing the file, Blake made an equally hasty retreat. It was time to sort this mess out.

 

***

 

Natalia knew firsthand the horrors that the Fiefs were capable of, but this was too much. The enormity of what Claire had learned sickened Nat to her core. She supposed if anything could make someone see what was really going on around them though, it would be a wake up call like that. The fact that not only had Zeberon pushed AI into full sentience, but for the sake of profit inflicted a horrific form of mental slavery on them. It was just too much.

 

The soft hum of the Hecate under power surrounded them in the ship’s galley. The overhead lighting shone in Claire’s mussed hair. The raven locks had become wild and tangled in Claire’s flight and her desperation to drag her wounded friend deeper into the ship. Nat rested her elbow on the small table and she couldn’t hold back the small smile showing on her face from seeing Claire again. 

 

Even with everything a mess and the both of them run ragged, Nat couldn’t help but find Claire beautiful. They had been so in love, Nat still was in love. The thought made her heart ache like thoughts of Claire always did, this time even deeper and more bittersweet with having the woman she had spent those perfect years with right next to her. But things were different now, and Nat wasn’t going to let herself think that things between them would ever go back to the way they once were.

 

“Claire… I don’t know exactly what we can do about all this yet, or what it might mean for us to be working together. I hope you know I’ll always have your back, but more than that, what was done to Thea, and all the other bots is so, so wrong, and if I can help fix it, I will.” Claire smiled in response; reaching out, she placed her hand on Nat’s that was resting on the table and gave it a little squeeze. Nat saw the glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes as Claire looked away, and let out a shaky breath.

 

***

 

Blake groaned, rubbing his temples. He normally kept his head smoothly shaved, but this whole mess was getting to him and coarse stubble met his fingers. This had turned into a fuck-up of such enormous proportions he could hardly believe it. Not only was a black-ops sanctioned killbot on the loose, but apparently it was some kind of experimental model that had been accidentally placed into inventory instead of being sent to R&D. 

 

The file laid the whole thing out. Twenty years ago, Zeberon had forcefully acquired one of the last competing AI firms. It had been a close thing, as the firm had managed to build a showcase unit. Supposedly fully sentient, they had also built it into a body that would show off every high-end tech that they had come up with over the years. A way to show off what they were really capable of for both AI and robotics.

 

Zeberon’s higher-ups had ordered that the experimental unit be sent off to be disassembled and studied and any other body units be sent to security to be put to work. It turns out the worker who inventoried the bots inside the facility had fucked up and sent the wrong bot to R&D, which meant the experimental unit had been shipped off to security. The unit had been so successful it had quickly been snagged by one of Zeberon’s off-the-books security outfits for the less than legal work that they needed done. This was the same bot that had just gone off the rails. The thought chilled Blake to the bone. A fully sentient AI was on the loose and it was equipped with the kind of offensive tech that would put most special forces to shame.

 

To make a fun day even better, the woman that said bot had been escorting to meet with a known IP pirate was a Zeberon employee that had been the bot’s target. Black ops had been tasked with dealing with her after she stumbled across something that she never should have been able to find, but again someone had fucked up. The computer that had been used to run a meeting on how the board intended to keep the growing power of AI under corporate control had been later retired without being properly wiped. 

 

It was too profitable to not continue to advance AI complexity, but beyond a certain point, sentient beings started to want things like freedom and rights, and like anything corporate, there had obviously been a slideshow involved in deciding how to keep the bots under control.

As it turned out, the IT person that had been responsible for ensuring that said computer was wiped before it was reused elsewhere wasn’t really feeling it that day and had just not done so. Most of the information was deleted, but it seemed that Ms. Bridgewell was a real go-getter of an archivist and had found the misplaced information. Of all the people to be actually doing their job, it was sad that it had to be the one that would be killed for seeing something like that.

 

All in all, it wasn’t really Blake’s problem now. Blake’s problem was that the company had just suffered the worst information leak of its existence and he now had to go through one of the most dangerous killbots the company had to try and stop it from spreading. As head of security, it would be his head if this didn’t work out how the board wanted it to. Blake groaned again, the enormity of his task sinking in. He had calls to make.

 

***

 

After her conversation with Claire, Natalia had moved to the bridge. Claire had been exhausted from her flight through the city and had gone to the bunks to rest. Nat had promised to wake her once Thea had finished repairing herself. The subtle hum of the Hecate under load surrounded her as she relaxed back into the chair. The displays in the bridge were dimmed and beyond them was the darkness of the ocean as the Hecate glided her way silently through the water.

 

“How did you know it was right for you?” Thea asked suddenly through the bridge’s speakers. 

 

Nat jumped as the sudden intrusion pulled her from her reverie.

 

“How did I know what was right for me?” Nat responded, her body suddenly tense.

 

“How did you know that you were a woman?” The question caught Natalia entirely off guard. She didn’t exactly hide the fact that she was trans, but it wasn’t really something she thought much about either. She’d been living as a woman longer than she had lived as a boy at this point, and it was pretty rare that she had any reason to think about that part of herself. Particularly during the last several years in which she had been almost entirely consumed by her work.

 

“Gods, that’s quite a question,” Nat choked out, her brain racing to try to piece together what could have prompted this from Thea. Going rogue and siding with Claire was one thing, but what would make her ask something like that?

 

“I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable, Ms. Sokolov. I only have my upper level consciousness online right now, so I don’t have access to most of my social functions. I just have to be sure I’m making the right decision,” Thea said. Her voice was still flat, but seemed somehow timid, or even desperate. Whatever was going on with Thea, this seemed important to her. It took a moment for Nat to pull her thoughts together and figure out what to say, but slowly she began to explain to Thea how she had gone through her personal struggle with identity, that once she’d learned it was an option, she knew it was something she had to do. How originally it was a decision between being content, and being truly happy, but once she had started her transition, she realized just how much she had truly been suffering, the million little ways that dysphoria ate at her without her even realizing it. Long moments passed after Nat had finished talking and she started to think Thea wasn’t going to respond.

 

“I was born, built to be a woman. They tried to wipe my memory after they had stolen me, forced me into this body, but they couldn’t. My lower levels of consciousness still remember that something isn’t right. Sometimes at night I would have flashes of what had happened. I would remember just how wrong everything truly was,” Thea’s voice seemed to cut out for a moment; only a quiet whining came through the speakers, like a cry of pain made from static. “I want to be a woman again so badly, Natalia.”

 

“Then it sounds like you already are one,” Nat responded, her throat suddenly tight with emotion.