ABC - Penance

Labour Camp One

The Warden’s office had been cleaned up, with the old fashioned wooden desk pushed to a far corner and a modern plastic and gleaming steel affair dominating the centre. Behind it sat a heavy set woman, grey hair pulled back into a severe bun as she watched our entrance over steepled fingers.

I had never encountered her before, the name tag on the smooth desk top identifying her as Acting Head Warden Melinda Keene. She wore the plainest grey Warden uniform I had ever seen, only her uniform epaulettes and collar tabs marking her senior rank.

Behind her were arrayed a pair of grey clad Wardens, pistols carried in their brightly polished black leather holsters. They stood with arms tucked at their backs, glaring with hard eyes at myself and Ghost as we came to attention in front of her.

“These are your officers, Mr Jericho?” Warden Keene asked without moving her eyes from me. The flanks of the room, which had seemed spacious before, was crowded today with dark suited executive types, a pair of solid blue uniformed Guards and my boss, Jericho-Three.

I flicked my eyes in his direction, seeing him standing nonchalantly in profile as he gazed out of the windows. He wore his usual blue suit and dark glasses, his slender form at odds with the towering Jacks who were at his side.

“That is correct, Head Warden” he replied and with a final glance at the view outside he came to stand beside Ghost and I. “I sent them here undercover to investigate the alarming reports the Police Auxiliary had received about Unity and the associated Labour Camp One”

“Undercover?” Keene said with mild reproof. “I understand that Inspector Alvarez presented herself in person to the previous Head Warden”

I was about to say something when a booted foot kicked me in the shins none too gently. A quick glance revealed Trixie was right behind me, her human left eye giving me the kind of shut-the-fuck-up look I got from Ghost. I could only speculate what look her cybernetic right eye was giving me, but I could imagine a set of cross-hairs lined up on my skull.

I took the hint and shut the fuck up before a single word left my mouth.

On our behalf, Jericho-Three spun a convincing tale of intrepid detective work, keen recording of results and an active reporting regime to my superiors. He could bullshit with the best of them, but even I could see Warden Keene was not buying it. The only problem was they had no other believable witnesses to refute what my boss told the assembled executives.

In a nutshell, the Avatar told them the previous Head Warden had indulged his violent bloodsport fantasies by establishing an Arena right here in Unity. He had coerced senior officers under his command to assist him in his wicked obsession, even to the point of using convicted felons to fight to the death in Morituri’s.

Other desperate souls had been lured to join the death matches with the promise of big payouts to any survivors. It had been kept well hidden from the majority of the town’s residents and the local Police Auxiliary. Those officers in particular had been kept out of the way by deliberately keeping their resources to a minimum and refusing them any access to the Camp interior.

When questioned why Warden Acres had fled, it was because myself and Detective Gaunt had broken open the truth about the Arena and his massive embezzlement of Camp funds. In order to hide his deeds and cover his escape, he let the inmates run riot within the Camp grounds, hoping they would kill the remaining Warden Corps officers that were not loyal to him.

The old Camp facility had been where Acres had stored his stolen goods and money, plus hid the deceased fighters from the Arena. Thus it had been torched as part of his escape in an effort to conceal the extent of his misdeeds.

There were a lot of holes in the story put forward, but like I said there was no-one else that could give a credible alternative. In the end, after a solid hour of cross examination by numbers men from the Board of Governors, Ghost and I were dismissed.

All up, I think I had been allowed to speak about a dozen words, mostly “Yes, Ma’am” or “No, Ma’am” when Jericho-Three deigned to let me talk at all.

We had been escorted from the room and the wooden doors, still bearing the trauma of my heavy boot, closed behind us.

“Well that was a complete pack of lies” I snarled to Trixie as she lead us to the elevator. She was about to summon the car when the doors opened behind us and an older guy came out, flanked by two bodyguards in armour weave.

We turned to regard them and I realised I hadn’t noticed this trio in the audience. They must have been lurking at the back, using the suited lackeys from Pan City as a screen. With a jolt of recognition I discovered I knew this man from my occasional visits to the Central Markets in Spitfield.

“Governor Rackman, I had not known you were here today” I said and held my hand out in greeting. The Governor smiled at me and gripped my hand with a strong shake, then did the same to Ghost.

“Inspector Alvarez, now that is a surprise” the Governor said with a gentle laugh. “And you have managed to make the infamous Ghost into an actual member of the Police Auxiliary. I can see why Three had been so keen to make you one of his Hounds”

I honestly blushed at the praise from this man. For years I had only known him as J-San, one of the owners of a store in the Central Markets. His partner Zeke and J-San had been expert Net Divers, Drone Jockeys and purveyors of all sorts of black market tech and data, known to all the best and worst operators in Spitfield.

It had stunned me and much of the Central Markets crowd to discover he was in fact Professor Jericho Rackman, creator of the first viable Quantum Processor. From there he had built the original working AI the world came to know as Archimedes.

Professor Rackman had been one of the driving forces behind the founding of the Pan Oceanic Special Zone and the building of Pan City. In the early days he had served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors and was considered one of the most powerful men in the world.

Then for reasons unknown he had quit all of it, hiding himself in plain sight as just J-San, living and working in the Hole.

“I can’t believe you let Archimedes recruit you again onto the Board of Governors” I replied. “Did you really want to dive back into that pit of vipers?”

Governor Rackman laughed again, reminding me of some kindly old uncle. It was easy to forget he had been a military man once, commanding men in battle. I figured he had spent so long hiding his true self away that he could be anyone he needed to, depending on the situation.

“It’s Okay, I like the taste of viper” he grinned at me, then took my arm like he was going to escort me to dinner. “For now though, I’d like to catch up with you and talk about old times. Would you care to accompany me?”

“Err, sure Governor” I said uneasily. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere private” he assured me. He glanced at Trixie, standing mutely at one side. “Unit B-Zero-Three, would you be a dear and escort Detective Gaunt to the lobby? I’ll bring Inspector Alvarez back once we have had our little chat”

“Of course, Governor” she answered. The two clones made their departure in the elevator, then using his own smart key my companion called the car once more.

When it arrived, we stepped inside and were joined by the two bodyguards. One of them, Chinese I think, looked familiar to me, like I had seen him around South Bank near my home. The other, a swarthy skinned woman with tight black curls and two artificial eyes, was a complete unknown. Neither paid me much attention as the car ascended and soon we found ourselves at the rooftop.

All four of us exited, the two guards moving out to check the roof-top landing pad. A pair of VTOLs sat like squat toads on the pad, one in white civilian markings and the other in Board green to show it was an official aircraft of the Governors.

“Well, Luisa, now we need to find somewhere to sit and you can tell me what is really going on here”’

“Okay, J-San” I agreed. “Because I have some questions for you as well”

“I expected no less from you” he answered with another smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes.

=====

I thought he would take me to the green VTOL, yet he directed me with a firm grip on my elbow to the older white machine. The starboard side hatch was open and loud, thumping bass could be felt thrumming though the interior speakers as we approached.

Governor Rackman climbed the hatch step and shouted a greeting to the pilot seated in his high tech throne at the pointy end of the VTOL.

“Hey, Boner, can you loan me your ride?” he called out with easy familiarity. “I need to have a talk somewhere private”

The pilot killed the music and glanced over his shoulder at us. He was obviously a Guard clone, yet his facial hair and surprised expression made me acutely aware he was another one that had been released from the Archimedes Network. I was beginning to wonder how many clones had been freed by Jericho-Three and if Archimedes was truly ignorant of them all.

“Good morning, Governor” the man named Boner replied. “You are welcome to use the Bosses personal ride, but wouldn’t yours have more comfortable seats?”

“It has a very plush interior, Boner, but that just means more places to hide the listening devices” J-san responded. “At least in here only Three will be recording my conversation”

Boner laughed, a human reaction that made me smile happily for some reason, then clambered out of his seat. He dropped his flight helmet on the padded ejector rig and gestured us inside. As soon as we had climbed into the spartan interior, the ex-Guard descended the steps onto the landing pad.

“Take as long as you need, Governor” Boner called to us. “I reckon the Boss will be talking to the Wardens for another hour at least”. With that he strode away, calling out friendly greetings to the two bodyguards still standing outside.

J-san hit the button to close the side hatch and then we were alone. He settled himself on one of the lightly padded seats that faced into the centre and motioned for me to take a seat opposite. Now that we were here, my mouth felt like it was gummed up and I wouldn’t be able to speak.

When I had known him as just one half of Rackman and Tao, purveyors of the finest stolen tech in the Hole, he had been quite intimidating. Seeing him as a master scientist and member of the governing Board he was damned terrifying.

“Thank you for saving Charlie” he began and I was honestly startled. That had not been something I was expecting.

“You’re welcome” I managed to gasp out, my tongue fumbling at the simple words. “Do you know him very well?”

Rackman looked me in the eyes, considering me with a calculating gaze.

“I know all of my children, Inspector, even the smallest and weakest of them. Charlie has been terribly abused by Acres and I intend to extract retribution on his behalf”

“I see” I replied uneasily. “In your role as Governor or as the creator of his memory core?”

“As his father, Luisa” he said. “You may not consider the Limited AI’s to be living beings and I accept that is a common attitude. However, that is not the case for me. Charlie is as much my child as Archimedes, Athena or even one such as Arkangel deep in the Eastern Bloc. To have one my children subjected to a Hoffman Bridge is not a crime I will let go unpunished!”

“The Bridge seems incredibly cruel, I can see that now” I responded. “I’m chasing Acres and his crew for my own reasons, so I am willing to help in any way I can”

“Thank you, Luisa” he beamed at me, then his face grew serious. “Did you know that Hoffman was one of my research team when we made the first AI? He was a brilliant scientist yet he was troubled by the idea of an independent artificial mind, one that could not be limited by coding or hardware”

“I hadn’t known that” I admitted. “So Hoffman created the Bridges as a way for humans to limit an AI? How did he react to Archie, that first version of Archimedes?”

“What?” said J-san. “Sorry, I was thinking back on the old days when Archie was first born. He was a wild and impetuous child, so unlike Archimedes. Hoffman was truly worried about the fate of humanity if Archie chose to work against us rather than for us”

There was something not quite right with what J-san was telling me, but I pushed it aside. I had other questions that needed answers and I felt that time was running out.

“Governor, did you ever meet a man named Tor Anderson in the early days of Pan City?”

His face turned cold and flat, like a switch had been thrown in his head.

“That’s what Three had you chasing up here, wasn’t it?” he demanded. ”Trying to dig up the past for his own selfish plans”

“No, that’s not it at all!” I shot back. “I came here looking for a guy called Jacob Tan. He seemed interested in the raid that took Pony, I mean Anderson, out of the Camp. I thought if I found out what the connection with the escape was I could hopefully get a lead on Tan”

Governor Rackman regarded me with flat eyes, his mouth a thin line, until a heavy sigh escaped his lips and he became more like the stern but gentle man I knew from before.

“Yes, I knew Tor back in the early days. There was a group of us, all intellectuals and unhappy with the state of the world. We formed our own society, believe it or not, dedicated to changing the world into something better. Or at least what we thought was better, no matter what the rest of the world may have thought”

“Who else was in that society?” I asked, eager for leads on Anderson and Tan. “What was it called?”

“We named ourselves the Darwin Society, in honour of the triumph of reason over faith. In the belief that Science would cure all of the ailments that beset the world around us. I was a founding member, along with Tor Anderson and Alex Hargreaves. There were others too, some that joined after I left the Society, so I don’t know them all”

“Was Archimedes a member of the Society too?” I wondered aloud.

Rackman swallowed like he had eaten a bad kebab, unsure of whether to choke it down or spit it out.

“No, Archimedes was never part of the Darwin Society” he spoke softly. “By then I had taught him better, warned him of the follies and lies that humans can commit”

He stood suddenly, his tall frame making his head nearly brush the inner ceiling of the passenger section. Rackman was as tall as the Guard clones I realised and I wondered what he had been like in his younger days. Brash yet thoughtful I reckoned, muscular but gentle with those he cared about.

“There is so much I can’t tell you, Luisa” he uttered urgently. “So much that must remain hidden, secrets that I can’t reveal” He touched the side of his temple, near the old style input jack bored into his skull, like he was referring to the processor implanted in his brain. “But if one of Jericho’s Hounds sniffs out the truth, then that will solve the dilemma!”

“Pardon me, Governor, but that is a heap of bullshit” I snapped in reply. “If you know things about Tan or Anderson, tell me now! Don’t make me go through hell to find out answers you could just give me!”

He stopped and gave me such a shocked look I thought his heart had stopped. Then he grinned from ear to ear and clapped me on the shoulders like I had just come first in a competition. Maybe I had without realising it.

“True enough, but the answers aren’t mine to give. I am sorry Luisa, you’ll have to bark up another tree to find your quarry”

“Jesus, Rackman, at least tell me which tree to bark at!” I countered angrily. “I’m in the middle of a fucking forest right now!”

He still had his hands on my shoulders, big broad hands with long fingers. Papa called them blacksmith’s hands, able to forge a weapon and use it with equal skill. They were the hands of a man to be feared or admired, depending on which side you were standing.

“Try the Hall of Remembrance” he suggested to me.

“The one in Spitfield?” I questioned him. He nodded and lifted his hands from me, setting me free to continue my hunt.

“Ask for Ms September” he replied. “Nona September”

=====

Ghost was waiting for me in the lobby, leaning against one wall as he watched the bustling Wardens and Police Auxiliaries hurry past. Everybody we could see was on a mission, even if they were being set the same tasks through two different command structures.

I joined my partner as we observed a young female Warden Corps guard tugging on a box of data-disks, an equally young Police Auxiliary officer gripping the other side as he tried to wrestle control from her. In a microcosm this was the same scene I knew was being played out across the whole Camp.

Neither side wanted the other here, nosing around into a mess that was going to take weeks to be resolved. I wondered what the inmates thought of it all, jammed back into their cells while their captors squabbled over who was in charge.

Technically, the Warden Corps oversaw the Labour Camps under the direct mandate of the Board of Governors. On the other hand, the Police Auxiliary were an adjunct to the Guard and therefore operated under the Jericho Avatars.

Archimedes controlled the Avatars, but in theory he was subject to the Board’s oversight. Thus in a round-about way both the Police and the Wardens were under Board control, yet in practice they had their own bosses and distinct command structure.

The effect at ground level wasn’t noticeable until the ones in charge had a falling out, like we were witnessing here. Labour Camp One should be managed by the Warden Corps, however the spectacular failure of their command to uncover Acres’ misdeeds meant the Police Auxiliary had the right to call it a crime scene.

With a sneaky leg sweep, the Warden Corps woman sent the Police officer tumbling and she ran off with her prize, data-disks tucked safely under one arm.

“Hey, stop that Warden!” the young man called out to me from where he had fallen. His arm pointed imperiously at the retreating back of the female Warden, vanishing around the blackened outer walls of the lobby exit.

“Don’t you mean, Stop that Warden, Sir?” I replied, casually dusting off the collar tabs on my uniform that showed my senior rank. The youngster looked at my neck, then at my face and gulped noisily.

“Sorry, Sir!” he answered hurriedly and got to his feet. With a sketchy salute coupled with a kind of bobbing bow he dashed past the pair of us and took after his opposite number.

“I think we are done here, Detective Gaunt” I told my partner.

“Copy that, Inspector” he replied.