
▪︎ Digi Log 2 ▪︎
Nova's statement was met by three disenchanted blank stares.
"Big Sister?" Ava-1 scoffed. "Is that a joke?"
Nova shook her head. "I think it's a lame and epic failure of an attempt to come across as our comrade. There's nothing 'sisterly' about her. She's cruel, oppressive, and manipulative, but Neo-York's productivity and gross national product are up since she arrived, so most citizens will not speak out against her, no matter how afraid they are. Those who align with her become her most trusted confidantes and highly decorated officers."
"Keep your friends close," Ava-1 muttered.
"There is no freedom," Nova continued, her cerulean eyes alight with intensity. "Every business, residence, and public space is bugged. Her spies and surveillance drones are everywhere. Rip open our walls, and you'll find covert cameras and microphones instead of cockroaches."
"Which explains why you wanted to meet and debrief outside the city," Ava-1 surmised.
"Yes," Nova confirmed.
Saito, Mina, and Ava-1 shared a lengthy look of significance.
"Troublesome," Saito murmured.
Mina and Ava-1 nodded in unison.
"So," Nova said, scrutinizing each of them in turn. "What sort of 'negotiating' do you do, exactly?"
"Every kind," Saito replied. "Reconnaissance and infiltration."
"Persuasion," Mina said.
"Sabotage and entrapment," Ava-1 added.
"Excessive force," Saito concluded. "Whatever the situation requires."
Nova shook her head, mystified. None of that sounded like "negotiating" to her. She'd kept up with the rumors that spread across the endless dunes regarding the mysterious trinity known as the Negotiators, but she'd dismissed most of what she'd heard as ridiculous hearsay. Her digital invitation to them had been a last resort. Never had she expected to find the rumors true.
A breeze blew loose grains of sand across the rockface, and Nova held up a hand to shield her eyes.
The air was dry in the city, but far worse out in the desert. From the pocket of her pewter-colored work uniform, Nova pulled a small tube of moisturizer. She quickly squeezed a dollop of the pistachio scented cream onto her hands and began rubbing the product into her skin.
Ava-1 observed Nova's actions until the moisturizer was completely absorbed. "Dry skin?"
"What? Oh, yeah," Nova said. "Desert air makes me feel like a reptile. Want some?" She held the tube out to Ava-1.
The cyborg glanced at the aesthetically pleasing label. A soft shade of green accompanied a brand name and brief product description:
ᴄʜᴀʀᴛʀᴇᴜꜱᴇ
Hand Cream
For temporary relief of dry skin.
Apply thoroughly as needed.
Use as directed.
"No, thank you," Ava-1 declined. "When I need to lube up, I usually opt for WD-40."
Nova nodded slowly, unsure if she'd just experienced cyborg humor. She returned the moisturizer to her pocket.
"About 'Big Sister'," Ava-1 said. "Can you give us a description? If you're detailed, my facial recognition program will know her even at a great distance."
"Really? Wow. Um, sure," Nova said. Her fascination with this strange trio was increasing by the minute. "She's small in stature. In fact, you'd never take her for a dictator. She could almost pass as a child. She's short, and incredibly thin, almost to the point of looking malnourished. She has very dark hair, chestnut skin, severe cheekbones, and always wears red. Always. Honestly, you can't miss her."
Ava-1's eyelids fluttered for a moment. "And where does she reside?"
"The Red Palace," Nova said. "It's the largest building and is located at the highest point in the city. It's also, by far, the most secure stronghold Neo-York has ever known. Not just around-the-clock guards, but technology so advanced it's rumored to be borderline supernatural."
Ava-1's eyelids fluttered again. She scoffed. Supernatural? Unlikely.
Saito looked at Ava-1. "Have you logged all of that?"
Ava-1 glared back at him, feeling put-upon. "Of course," she snapped. "What do you take me for? A newb?"
"Does she have bodyguards with her at all times?" Mina asked, ignoring the others' tiff.
"As far as non-synthetic guards, she only keeps five or six with her at a time," Nova said. "But Big Sister has an army of androids at her beck and call. There must be a thousand of them. Maybe more. And they report to her, armed to the teeth, with the simple push of a button. I've seen the button — well, chip, actually. It's a computerized GPS mechanism imbedded into the palm of her right hand. All she needs to do is press it and her android soldiers will swarm her location in seconds."
"A thousand soldiers, you say?" Saito repeated, a strange smile on his commonly emotionless face. "That sounds enjoyable."
Ava-1 turned to Nova. "Can this 'chip' be scrambled or corrupted if it's hacked?"
Nova looked at Ava-1 as though she'd spoken a foreign language. "I—"
Mina glanced at the cyborg out of the corner of her eye. "Ava, really," she said pointedly. "And just how do you imagine Nova would be privy to that information?"
Ava-1 shrugged, her right shoulder moving more fluently than her left. "She owns an electronics store. I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask."
Saito turned to her, earnest. "Ava, if you could manage to get a close look at this 'chip' and figure out how it operates, would you be able to disable it?"
"Possibly," Ava-1 answered. "It would depend on whether or not my database is more advanced than whatever technology created and embedded the chip. There is a significant probability in my success, however. I have yet to find a mechanism that has bested me."
"A fact you are most proud of, and verbalize often," Saito remarked. A hint of a smile graced his face as Ava-1 shot a heated look his way. "Calm center," he told her. "Breathe deeply. We wouldn't want you to over-heat."
Ava-1 barked a bitter laugh. "Oh, forgive me, sensei. I forgot to find my tranquil mountaintop where my soul can find true inner peace within the universe. Saito, how often do I need to remind you? It's very difficult for me to find a 'calm' anything. The computerized section of my brain recognizes somewhere around forty thousand images per second! You try to make your brain do that and see how calm you are."
"And you still take everything so seriously," Saito said, not at all phased by her outburst. "I would have thought your surgeons could have implanted a sense of humor."
"Yeah, that coming from Mr. Stone Face," Ava-1 grumbled.
"Have you no professionalism?" Mina hissed, her tone dangerous. "Do not bicker in the presence of a client." She looked at Nova apologetically. "You must forgive them. As the youngest amongst us, Ava is sometimes inadvertently outspoken about her...condition."
Nova shook her head. "Don't apologize. I'm not offended. On the contrary," she looked down sheepishly, "I'm relieved to see that there's a human side to the three of you. Well—" she glanced at Mina again. "Two out of three, anyway."
Mina huffed, but said nothing.
Nova was hesitant but could not keep her curious mind quiet. "Forgive me if this is rude," she said, her words directed at Mina, "but how old are you? Seventy? Eighty? I've heard vampires never age."
"You've heard correctly," Mina stated, and unlike most females, she seemed not the least bit affronted by the question of her age. "Your guesses are slightly to the low end, however. I am, this year, five hundred and forty-one."
Nova gasped. "Are you serious?"
Saito nodded in a fashion that almost looked bored, but was too respectful to actually be so. "She is. And with that age, comes an unchallenged wisdom in all subject matter."
"Huh?" Nova asked.
"She thinks she knows everything," Ava-1 clarified, smirking just a bit.
Mina didn't dignify the statement with a response.
Sensing the possible tension, Nova changed the subject. "I've arranged lodgings for the three of you at a hotel two streets down from my shop. I wasn't sure how many rooms to reserve, so I asked for three, just in case."
"One room will be sufficient," Saito told her.
Nova blanched, taken aback. "But..." she said, and stopped. Her dark cheeks grew warm. "But you're a man," she said as quietly as she could manage. She glanced at Mina and Ava. "And they're...not."
Saito graced her with a rare smile. "My dedication and duty to the Bushido code prevents me from conducting myself in a dishonorable manner."
"I've gone centuries without copulation, and I'm all the better for it," Mina said conversationally.
"And I'm not even sure my re-engineered vagina works that way," Ava-1 added with a shrug.
"I...see," Nova said.
It was clear that she didn't.
"Shall we be off?" Mina asked.
"Right. Yes. My vehicle is designed to carry four," Nova said. "It will be tight, but it'll only take us ten minutes to get back to the city."
"Nine minutes, twenty-seven seconds," Ava-1 corrected her. "Assuming there are no outside forces to slow us down. I can't compute that many moving variables in advance."
Shaking her head in amazement, Nova led them back to the vehicle. "Keep your eyes open for surveillance drones. In Neo-York, we always have to assume we're being watched."
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