Perion Synthetics (52 page)

“Here it comes,” said Anela.

“That’s why I’m an aggregator; my only job
is to document what I experience. And yeah, sometimes I’m told to ride out to a
cloistered city in the desert and report on the lies and backstabbings of one
of the biggest companies in the country, but that’s the nature of the game. Am
I happy my boss sold me out to that piece of shit James Perion? Of course not.
Am I going to make Donato Banks pay for what he’s done? You can bet your pretty
ass on it. And after it’s all said and done, I’ll find someone else to sign my
paychecks and do the whole thing over again.”

Aggregators; they had no loyalty to any
cause, large or small. They were bottom feeders, picking up the discarded
morsels of news from the real players of the world, living vicariously through
people and companies who used their power and raw determination to make things
happen.

Sava sighed and tried to feign further
interest in Cam.

“So then you have no love for Perion
Synthetics, despite them being poised to take on Vinestead?”

“No,” replied Cam. “I have no love for a
company that brainwashes trespassers into thinking they gave birth to a
synthetic baby. From what I’ve seen in the last twenty-four hours, Perion
doesn’t give a shit about his people, let alone the rest of the world. And
nothing I’ve seen from Joe Perion convinces me anything is
ever
going to
change. Like father, like son; they say that shit for a reason.”

“It wasn’t always this way,” said Sava.
“That’s what drew me to Perion City in the first place. Big J was just so…
genuine. I’ve never met someone who cared so much and had that much power.”

“He was going to have me killed so he could
gain a sympathetic voice on the feed. If I could put that giant toaster out of
commission, I would. Shit, I still might. With everything I’ve logged in the
last week, I could bring the entire company down and drop it at Vinestead’s
feet.”

“Snap his neck,” whispered Anela. “Do it
now.”

Sava felt her hand twitch, but nothing more.
If Cam didn’t spill the story, then someone else would. There was no guarantee
Cyn would keep her mouth shut or that Gil wouldn’t expose his synthetic
condition to the world just to get back at the woman who had ordered his death.

It didn’t matter either way; Perion
Synthetics was no longer hers to protect.

Down the hall, the elevator dinged. Two
Scorpios stepped out and approached.

“Sava Kessler?” asked the guard on the
right.

“That’s me,” she replied, standing up.

The AG handed her a slip of paper.

“What does it say?” asked Cam.

“My employment with Perion Synthetics has
been terminated as of seven hundred hours this morning. These toasters are
going to escort me home to collect my things and then take me to Perion
Terminus.” She recited the key points in legalese cadence. “Can’t return to my
office, my last paycheck will blah blah blah.”

Sava re-read the note, crumpled the piece of
paper in her fist, and tossed it at the AG’s chest.

Escort her home… as if there were anything
there worth taking with her—Chuck included.

“I’ll go when I’m damn well ready,” she
replied.

“We are authorized to use force if
necessary,” said the toaster on the left.

“You lay a finger on me and I’ll slag you
and everyone like you. I’ll dance on your liquefied entrails, motherfucker.”

She took a step forward, causing both AGs to
reach for their holsters.

“Alright, alright,” said Cam, jumping
between them. He faced the synthetics. “Please excuse my friend; she’s just
been fired from her job. I’m sure you gentlemen can relate.”

The guards took a moment to process the
request before removing their hands from their weapons.

Sava narrowed her eyes. “What’s your deal,
Gray? When you got here, you wasted no opportunity to make my life a living
hell. You stole a prototype, you went over my head, and then for the donkey
punch, you aided two aggregators in corporate espionage. I should be beating
the shit out of you right now.”

“It would be a start,” said Anela.

Sava clenched her jaw; sometimes she wished
her sister would shut up.

“But you’re not,” replied Cam, grinning like
a fool, “and it’s because you and I both know it’s all a game, a series of
random events with no personal motivations involved. Banks could have sent some
intern instead of me and then all of your anger would have been directed at
him. It’s not Cameron Gray—famed conversationalist and sexual marauder—who you
have a problem with. You’d be pissed at anyone who came into your house and
started breaking shit. Likewise, how can I be mad at you for doing your job?”

“So it all boils down to
no hard feelings
?
I find that hard to believe, the way you talk about your boss.”

“That’s different. Donato Banks was my
friend. He betrayed my trust. Whereas with you, I never trusted you in the
first place.”

Anela started to respond, but her mouth
closed with an audible click and she drifted off to an unlit corner of the
construct.

“God, you’re retarded, Gray.” Sava pushed
past him and headed for the elevators.

The AGs followed at a respectful distance.

As she stepped into the elevator, she put
one hand on the door to hold it open.

“Are you coming or not?” she asked.

Cam smoothed out the front of his jacket and
patted the sides of his head. He cupped his hand in front of his mouth,
breathed into it, and then made a face as he inhaled.

“Coming,” he said.

Sava almost smiled.

In the construct, the demon roared.

“As a new day dawns in Perion City, change is in the air.
Joseph Michael Perion, son of the late James Perion, has assumed control of the
company and promises to carry out the dream and plans his father so
meticulously set down. A young man of just twenty-seven years, it remains to be
seen whether he has the ambition and the competency to lead a multi-billion
dollar corporation into the next decade and beyond. One thing we already know:
Joe Perion is a man of action. Mere moments after assuming control, he relieved
Sava Kessler of her responsibilities as head of public relations. With Ms.
Kessler stepping down, the world waits in anticipation to find out who will
replace her as the new face of Perion Synthetics. But what of Ms. Kessler?
Where does a woman with her extensive list of accolades go after this? What
company in the world could rival the prestige of the great and honorable Perion
Synthetics?”

Cam paused and tapped his sliver. He looked
over at Sava.

“You like that?” he asked.

Sava reached out and pressed the button for
the lobby despite it already being lit.

“Then again, just who is Sava Kessler? Why
was
she
the first employee on the chopping block? What does Joe Perion
know that the rest of us don’t? Care to comment, Ms. Kessler?”

“Care to walk out of this building under
your own power, Mr. Gray?”

Cam held up his wrist. “Wasn’t recording
that bit,” he said, smiling. He tapped his sliver and resumed his rambling.

“The relationship between Ms. Kessler and
the Perions will forever be a closely guarded corporate secret; even this
aggregator could not glean the slightest detail about their history. Only over
the last week, through my interactions with Ms. Kessler and the company, have I
been able to form a foggy impression of how things might have been. The simple
truth is this: Sava Kessler is a professional and was well-respected by James
Perion. She was part of his inner circle and was trusted with more secrets than
there are skeletons in Donato Banks’ closet. Ms. Kessler stood behind her
superiors and her company to the bitter end. If she is guilty of anything,
perhaps it is that she cares too much.”

Sava raised an eyebrow.

“I doubt this will be the last personnel
change of Joe Perion’s rule. Not that it matters; James Perion has already
spoken through Sava Kessler, sharing a message of innovation, sacrifice, and
cooperation—ideals that will live on so long as there are people who remember
the man who set it all in motion. However it came to pass, however many
mistakes were made, an era has ended at Perion Synthetics, and the previous
generation is stepping aside to make way for the next. Ms. Kessler rides
towards the sunrise with her head held high, carried by the satisfaction of a
job well done and the legacy of James Kirkland Perion forever etched into the
hearts and minds of people all over the world.”

The elevator stopped, but Sava put an arm in
front of Cam as the doors opened.

“Do you believe anything you just said?” she
asked.

“Do you?”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, does it?
You feed that shit to millions of people and they’ll swallow it without a
second thought. You think you’re reporting on reality, but you’re just making
it up as you go along.”

“You’ll thank me in the end,” said Cam,
straightening his jacket. “I have enough dirt on this company to give James
Perion a proper burial, but you can walk out of this without so much as a smudge.”

Sava dropped her arm and stepped out into
the lobby. It took every bit of self-control to keep from telling Cam she
didn’t want his help. He wanted to paint a pretty picture of her, maybe help
her get another job somewhere else, but there was no point staying in the
corporate world. The only course of action now was to resume her skirmishes
with Vinestead, to come up with something bigger and more damaging to keep
their focus away from Perion Synthetics while Joe learned the ropes. She’d be a
diversion, one Vinestead International wouldn’t be able to ignore.

Just the idea of a face-to-face fight with
Vinestead made Sava smile.

The return of synthetics to the Spire had
not resulted in a similar return of humans. The lobby was mostly empty; no line
of employees snaked between the security station and the front doors, nor was
there a crowd of weary office runners milling around the coffee bar tapping
their feet as they waited for their morning fix. The cleaning crew was still
hard at work, but they had gravitated to the outer edges of the lobby, sweeping
the last of the debris into piles against the walls. The center of the lobby
was spotless and two synthetics stood ready with floor buffers to return the
marble to its previous sheen.

They were stymied by the presence of a small
crowd—both synthetic and human—gathered around the lobby’s centerpiece, the
giant hand of the puppeteer reaching to the heavens. Seated on the circular
bench surrounding Perion’s hand was Gilbert Reyes. In his lap, he held Roberta’s
head; the rest of her body stretched out on the bench next to him.

Sava watched for a moment as Gil attempted
to smooth out the damage on Roberta’s face. He tugged at skin that had begun to
curl, wiped the life-giving oil from her cheeks, and attempted to push broken
bits of carbon fiber and frayed wires back into her eye socket. Sava hadn’t
really taken the time to survey Roberta’s damage the night before, but dawn
allowed her the clarity to see the quality of Gantz’ marksmanship.

“I can’t just leave her,” said Gil, as Sava
approached.

“She’s not Jackie,” said Sava. “She’s a
synny.”

“So am I.”

Murmurs began to rumble through the crowd.

“Don’t you people have jobs to do?” asked
Cam. “If not, I’m looking for someone to make an official statement regarding
the mistreatment of synthetic beings in Perion City.”

At that, the onlookers scattered. Cam chased
after the dawdlers, rattling off his credentials for the thousandth time and
begging for just one sound bite to put on the feed.

One of the AGs tapped Sava on the side of
her shoulder.

“Give me one damn minute,” she snapped,
punching the synthetic in the chest.

“I was thinking,” said Gil. “It wouldn’t be
so bad, living like this, if Jackie were there with me. I was going to make it
a term of my employment that you’d have to help me get her out of the city. So
I came down here to wait and then I saw two synnies carrying her out like she
was a broken copier. They were just going to throw her away.”

“It will be hard to repair her on the
outside,” said Sava. “Most of her parts are sourced right here in the Spire.
The chances of getting our hands on substitutes are very slim or prohibitively
expensive.”

Gil nodded. “I don’t expect you to pay for
the parts, but I do want your help in locating them. And in exchange, I’ll be
your personal bodyguard. I’ll protect you and your… secret.”

“It will take time, Gil. Six months, maybe a
year or more. You have to know that going in. And even if we get her
operational again, there’s no guarantee her matrix is still intact.”

“It is,” said Gil. “The bullets didn’t get
through the inner casing.”

“She could be another bodyguard,” said
Anela. “Augments would be no match for fully synthetic muscle.”

Sava leaned closer to Gil. “You know they’re
not just going to let us leave with her right? If you want to do this, it has
to be now. And you better be ready for a fight.”

“I know,” said Gil. He shifted to the side
and guided Roberta’s head to the bench. Then, with hardly a grunt, he hefted
the lifeless synthetic onto his shoulder and started towards the Spire’s south
entrance.

“Any day, Cam!” called Sava.

The aggregator hurried to join them.

As they walked around the elevators, Cam
tugged on Sava’s elbow to get her to slow down.

“Who’s the muscle?”

Sava kept looking straight ahead. “Gilbert
Reyes. He’s an aggregator like you.”

“I met a Gilbert Reyes last week,” said Cam.

“Same guy.” Sava wondered if that were true.

“Naw, he looks nothing like him. Look, I
have a picture.”

Sava stopped and put her hand on top of Cam’s
outstretched phone. “He’s the synny version. We did to him what we did to you.
He got the short end of the synthetic stick.”