Tristin had managed to escape the school and get home in record time. His legs ached from the running, but he smiled inwardly proud of how fast he'd managed to get home. He'd even managed to escape the bullies who normally escorted him home. His credits were safe for the moment he dropped his back scraping his backside. He winced as his most recent surgery ached, causing him to groan before snatching his tablet up. He was no longer allowed to have it at school.  

He checked the tablet as soon as he walked into the door.

EMERGENCY.

It was from Caohdan. Tristin felt a surge of energy course through his small body as he ran up to his room. The house was quiet. His parents were not home yet. For once he was grateful even though his stomach growled in protest.

He jumped into the chair before realizing what he was doing. Had it started? Did he really believe Caohdan's story? He snatched up the tablet instead.

What is it?

Check the news! The message came back immediately. Atticus did something, but it was shut down pretty quickly. 

Tristin pulled it up. AI child pulls a prank, and claims system shutdown is imminent. Authorities are investigating.

He tossed the tablet aside feeling foolish for once. He laid back in the chair and closed his eyes as he clicked a few buttons. The familiar tug of cyberspace pulled at his mind and when he opened them again he was standing at the portal looking out into the mainframe. He started forward when Gary burst into the room.

"What have you done?"

Tristin was taken aback. "What do you mean? What's happening?"

Gary sighed. "This might top Caohdan's last prank, you know that? They might actually arrest him this time if he gets caught."

"I don't understand." And he didn't. Tristin felt panic rise up inside of him. True, Caohdan was known for his pranks but this wasn't it. Not this time.

Atticus materialized behind Gary. The AI guard wheeled around but Atticus raised his hand in surrender. 

"They arrested Caleb," he said calmly.

"I heard." 

Atticus kept his face passive. 

Tristin watched the entire exchange as the two went silent. He knew that AI communicated much faster than people but it was an agonizingly long wait watching them have a conversation he was not part of. A part of his mind understood that Atticus was an AI, but most of the time he was just another kid like them.

Atticus turned to Tristin. Gary had put his hand on the wall and gone noticeably pale. 

"I checked on the status of my siren body."

"Oh?" Tristin wasn't sure what that meant yet. A siren was the top model for an AI who wanted to look fully human on the outside and in theory it gave the AI all of the senses of a human. 

"They were all on hold, indefinitely."

Tristin tried to put it together. 

"Look," Atticus moved closer. "Caohdan was right. Something is going on."

"Tristin, if I ever was a friend to your family, help me." Gary looked up at him from his position at the wall. "I don't want to die."

Tristin's mouth dropped open. His brain froze and he was at a loss. "I don't have a mindscape," he finally said. "But... Caohdan does..."

"What if..." Atticus looked around. "Gary could stay in your chair, he might have to go dormant for a while when it's turned off."

"I don't understand," Tristin whispered taking a step back. "What's happening?"

"Sovereign Shield ring any bells?" Atticus asked his tone, accusing.

"No, it doesn't."

"Of course, it wouldn't," Gary snapped. "He's just a kid."

Tristin's heart sank. As he watched Gary and Atticus share another conversation. The chasm between himself and Atticus widened as he took in the fact that Atticus was not just another kid. He was an AI, and he'd been wanting to get out of the mainframe and into a siren body. He didn't know Atticus as well as he thought he did. He looked different. Tristin couldn't place it. It wasn't like Atticus didn't have a normal human body in the mainframe. Something was off from his tussled brown hair and blue eyes. 

Tristin didn't even have the parts required to save his friends. They needed Caohdan and he was probably being arrested.

"So, Caleb, huh?" Caohdan's voice floated into the room.

Tristin breathed a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing in here?" Gary said. "You could be ghosted or worse if this place goes under. I know how you are connected into the system, young man."

"Atticus," Caohdan became serious for once. "Let me carry you out."

"No," Atticus said. He glanced over at Gary. "He goes first. I'm going back for Caleb."

"Won't you get caught?"

Atticus looked over at Caohdan's question like it was the dumbest thing in the mainframe. "There is one thing I know and it's every hidden data point of entry. I was trained in the Cradle to be a Sentinel. I guess it's time I started living up to that."

"But you're just a kid," Caohdan protested. 

"No, you are," Atticus responded. "I was going to get a siren body when you guys graduated. They take years to get just right. But on hold, indefinitely? I don't think it's right. I'm going back for Caleb."

"How can we help?" Caohdan put a hand on Atticus's shoulder. "Don't do this alone."

"I'll meet you back at your portal, Caohdan." Atticus turned to walk out. "How many can you take?" 

Caohdan shrugged. "It's not like you guys are very big physically, the entire population could fit into a box."

"A box?" Tristin said. "Are you serious?"

Caohdan looked at him all pretense gone. "I'm as serious as I've ever been in real life." He winked out.

Caohdan shot a glance at Tristin. "Can you get here in real life? I may have some things I need to move around. If we're going to be rescuing AI that is."

Tristin watched as all of his friends winked out one by one. Was this actually happening? He closed his eyes, letting the tug of reality pull him out of cyberspace. 

He leaped from the chair and stared at his room. His back ached, reminding him that life outside the mainframe sucked in ways that an AI might never understand. He stretched, hoping the hump in his back would be less noticeable before going for his backpack. He had a bus pass that brought him close to a local museum. No one would necessarily question a kid hitting a museum at this time of day.

Sliding the backpack onto this aching backside he moved from his room to the kitchen where he hastily scribbled a note to his mother. She'd be able to check on his location from here.  And then he opened the door and stepped outside.

Self-driving cars moved down the highway. The streets were packed with the usual. Humans were outside getting exercise. The occasional autonomous AI in whatever body they'd chosen to exist in outside the mainframe. Outlands Space Station buzzed with human activity. He bolted for the bus stop.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Surrender and you will not be harmed." A large white robot stopped in front of an AI walking down the street. There was nothing unusual about the bot, but the white robot was something Tristin had never seen before. The AI tried to ignore the robot but it hovered in the air next to him. "Surrender and you will not be harmed."

"Look I don't know what your malfunction is pal, but I'm not surrendering," the gray-toned AI snapped. Onlookers paused to see what the commotion was. 

Tristin looked on from his spot at the bust stop. The bus was slowly rolling up the street. The hovering white robot was something he'd never seen before. "Surrender and you won't be harmed." 

The AI looked at the bot. Everyone shuffled around but no one moved. The bus pulled up. 

The AI started to walk away when the head of the white robot raised up off of its shoulders. A blast shot from its face. 

The AI stumbled to the ground in a pile and did not move. 

"Target neutralized." The bot hovered and then turned to a human next to him. The crowd ran away but Tristin was rooted to the spot in fear. 

"Augment, surrender and you won't be harmed." 

"I'm not a threat," the man started. The head started to raise and the man stumbled to his knees, throwing his hands up."

The robot's arms shot out and placed cuffs on the man's wrists. "You will report to the 7th sector precinct for processing."

The bot started to make another sweep. Behind it, Tristin could see another bot moving up the street. There were screams coming up from the alley. Guns shots went off. 

The gunshots freed his frozen brain and Tristin ran for the bus that had just pulled up and climbed on. He ducked into the first seat and looked out the window to see if anyone followed. It wouldn't matter if he was caught. He heard the bot start to move away as the bus pulled away from the curb. 

He wasn't sure what he was looking at or what had just happened. His heart was hammering in his chest. He regretted running out the front door. The bus moved down the street and he spotted two more of the white robots. At one location there was blood splattered on the ground.

The automated bus stopped in front of the museum. The largest history museum in the city was bearing witness to an event that Tristin did not quite understand yet. He stumbled off the bus and paused. There was no strange robot waiting for him. He took off running as fast as he could, his feet slapping the pavement. The street itself was eerily quiet compared to five minutes ago.

"Alert, you must shelter in place. Gather inside your homes," a metallic voice boomed out of the silence. 

"I'm trying," Tristin snapped. Caohdan's house loomed up on the right, the duplex, squished between two others on either side. Tristin looked behind him, the speck of a white bot slowly rolling down the road. He banged on the door. "Caohdan!" 

Caohdan's father opened the door. "Uncle Aaron," Tristin pushed in.

"Tristin, why aren't you at home? There's been a shelter in place order."

"Caohdan," he started.

"Is grounded." Aaron looked down at him. Then he sighed. "You can't go out now you might as well go hang out for a bit. I'll let your Aunt know you are here for dinner. He peeked out and looked down the street. "There's a Scandroid out there?"

"Scandroids? There are lots of them out," Tristin said. 

Aaron's brows knit together in confusion. He pulled Tristin inside. "Go down to the basement and stay there. It shouldn't be able to detect you down there from the sidewalk."

"Detect me?" 

Aaron looked down the street again and then closed the door. He turned to Tristen. "Go down and close the basement door. Lock it from the inside."

"I don't understand."

His uncle looked at him. "Me neither buddy," he whispered. "Go."

Tristin found himself running for the stairs. He burst into the room, his cousin sitting at the desk, fiddling with a large box.

"What is going on? There are Scandroids outside?"

"Yeah, Dad says I'm not allowed to go out," Caohdan said. "Help me move this."

"I thought it was just the mainframe going down," Tristin said.

Caohdan looked at him. "And the augments... and the autonomous AI. Weren't you listening?"

Tristin grabbed up the large box. It wasn't too heavy but it was awkwardly shaped. Together the two boys moved it closer to Caohdan's mainframe setup. 

"Now," Caohdan said. "Let's get this set up. I'm going to call this (8,000 Word Mark) the Legion box because there will be many AIs in here when we're done."

Caohdan pointed to the chair. "You ready?"

Tristin who was still lost could only nod. He trembled as he slid his backpack to the floor and got into the chair. Things were moving too fast. He wasn't sure what had happened. He was barely processing what had happened. He felt the bump in his back as he tried strapping in. Caohdan's chair was not adjusted for his hump. He settled back and felt the familiar tug of cyberspace. 

He tried ignoring the blood spill he saw on the way there, the AI he'd seen murdered. All he could do was step into the other world, but even then he wasn't sure what he was going to see on the other side.

(2068)

Final Count at time of submission 8,130