It’s Not Easy Making Money In The Apocalypse

I jumped up off of Zara, making sure to avoid the hallway with the machine-gun welding robot, while also remaining close enough that if things turned south, I could run down the hallway with the robot. If it came between Zara trying to kill me and the hail fire of bullets, I was thinking I’d have better luck with the bullets. Defying my expectations, she didn’t attack me. Instead, she slowly moved up to her feet and look away.

“Are you done? We should go.” She responded, her cheeks slightly red.

When she had fallen back, her hood had fallen back. For the first time, I got a good look at her pale face. I had already had a good impression of what she looked like, but seeing it all together was a different feeling. Although she had these long needle teeth, she seemed to need to do something to bring them forward, and normally her mouth looked normal. She had grey hair, pale skin, and red eyes. It gave her an intense but beautiful look. When she noticed me staring at her, she pulled her hood back up over her head. I snapped out of it.

“You’re an idiot,” Cecelia spoke in a low volume in my ear.

Cecelia couldn’t have seen exactly what I did, but she probably guessed. Along with the earpiece in my ear, I had also gotten a wireless camera which I pinned on my lapel. It had given her the ability to both see and hear the environment around her to an extent. When we were near the base surrounded by robots and turrets, she could always hack into them to get an idea of what was going on, but since we were taking this journey, I wanted her to have some awareness of the environment around us so that she could help me when the need arrived. It wouldn’t do well if I had to explain or type everything happening.

“Yup,” I responded, not making it clear which one of the two I was responding to. “Let’s keep moving.”

I walked past Zara, and this time she stayed behind me. As I moved, there was a sudden spike in radiation as we passed a door. I could tell the door was getting power because there was a red light over it. The door also had a terminal next to it with a place for my Perco’s connector. That likely meant that it was a locked door that I could override. Before I took another step, I looked back at Zara.

“Are you sure you don’t need some Rad R?”

“Revenants are highly resistant to radiation.” She responded. “All mutants are.”

“Okay.” I pulled out the dongle and then plugged it into the door.

I uploaded the Master code, and a moment later the red light turned to green. I heard a surprised noise from behind me as I turned the door handle and stepped into the room. The room was dark, but I was glad to see the rads didn’t continue to increase.

“Are you a hacker?” She asked.

“The AI.” I lifted the Perco, using the same excuse that I used with everyone else.

“Oh… can your AI find a light switch then?”

“I thought you had good night vision.”

“I do when it’s dark. You turned on the lights, so now I’m blind.” She gave me an incredulous look.

I winced slightly. No matter how good someone’s night vision was, if you blinded them with a light, they would need time to adapt again. It wasn’t like revenants had some magic ability. Well, they didn’t have any magic ability I was aware of. I felt around the wall, and a moment later the room flickered on with lights.

“Just an office?”

Given the increase in radiation, I had been banking on this being some secret lab. Here I was expecting to see test tubes and creepy bodies, but it was a rather normal-looking office.

“The radiation is coming from that leak in the corner.” Zara declared, pointing to an area where the roof had collapsed slightly and mysterious liquid was dripping out in a puddle on the floor. “You might want to avoid it.”

I nodded, stepping to the side and working my way over to one of the terminals. I was looking for another control panel with another connector port. Zara walked up next to me and hit a power button, causing it to start up. Yeah, I’d probably need to start it up before I could do anything with it. I blushed as I considered it.

After a few moments, a computer screen popped up. It resembled the screen on the Perco, which was to say that it was rather old looking, like an old 80s computer. Since they culturally made it to the 90s, it would have been nice if they came out with Windows. It still boggled my mind that they could develop laser guns, robots, and artificial intelligence, but not a proper GUI.

“Although it looks rough compared to the slick designs of your world, we focused more on a utilitarian use. Most of our technology was created in response to war.” Cecelia started speaking. “Your technology is… inefficient. Moving through your internet feels like… molasses.” This world is far more efficient in coding and can handle much more complicated processes while utilizing far less energy. I’m much more comfortable with this technology.”

“I see… is there a way to bridge the gap between the two? Merge efficiency and design?” I asked eagerly.

Wasn’t form versus function the number one challenge of any engineer?

“I’m only an interface! If you want to develop software, find a software developer!” Cecelia snapped angrily.

She had many to patch so many things for me, I had hoped for a second that I might be able to use her in that way. It seemed like I still needed to find a slave to help me with that idea.

“Alright, fine, you’re an interface, can you interface with this facility? I’m looking for another way out, although I would also take any military data. Spells, recipes, that kind of thing…”

“Is that why you came here?” Zara looked my way.

“Do you think I can just hack into any computer magically? It needs to have an Allco port. This one doesn’t have one, so it doesn’t interface with a Perco.”

I made an irritated noise and pulled up one of the chairs that looks like it could still be sat in. “Can you at least tell me what to type to progress on this dinosaur?”

“Hmph… fine… type the following.”

She gave me a couple of commands, and I started typing them. I was finally taken to a menu where I could select files. I clicked on the first file, which seemed to be the oldest date.

Entry 2/7/1994

The MGV virus has been evolving at far faster a speed than anyone ever thought possible. Its ability to evolve is only exceeded by its virality. Attempts to create a vaccine or cure have failed. The government is getting desperate. Well, they’d have to be since they contacted me. It was only three years ago when a science committee declared my research unnecessary and inhumane. I was debarred from medicine and laboratory research. How quickly they change their tune now that they need my help. Well, it wasn’t like they didn’t use my research in the creation of the MGV. If they had just contacted me in the first place, then this entire disaster might have never happened. After I fix this mess of theirs, they better damn well give me a noble prize. And tenure… tenure would be nice.

Doctor A.

“Do you know who this is?” I asked.

“Why would I know that?” Cecelia shot back.

“Because you know a lot more than me.”

“That’s not difficult!”

I was about to argue with her more, but then I heard a slight giggle. I turned to Xara who was standing nearby looking over my shoulder. She had covered her mouth, her eyes holding some mirth.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing.” She responded. “Just, you have an interesting relationship with your technology. You treat her like she is human.”

“Hmm? Why would I treat her differently?” I asked.

Her eyes widened for a second, but then looked away without answering. When I was sure she wasn’t going to say anything more, I decided to click on the text message from the unnamed doctor.

Entry 3/12/1994

They told me they’d provide me with everything that I needed. They weren’t kidding. Yesterday, I complained that I didn’t have a mass spec to analyze any samples, and today I walked into the lab to see a brand-new mass spec set up and ready to use. I’m thinking about making a couple more requests. There are things that I’ve always wanted but never had the funding to get. Well, I probably should produce something first. Produce what? A cure? As if! They made it very clear to me. They want a weapon. It’s not surprising given human nature. If we cure this virus, stopping the spread, restoring the crop yields, and stopping the ferals, then they’ll only be in control of a broken and dying country which they would have to spend their lives rebuilding. I understand the truth though. They want to burn it all down. They want to burn it down and rise from the ashes. It seems they don’t simply want to be a superpower, but once this crisis is past… they want to be the only power. It’s better to be the king of ashes than a survivor of the flame. Let the research begin.

Doctor A.