CHAPTER 34
“I have confirmed that the hot water is fully functional,” Juliet said, her voice echoing throughout the largely empty apartment.
“I’d hope so. This place is nearly brand new,” Nick replied.
“We are merely confirming the suitability of your new accommodation,” Chloe chided.
She stood in the greatly expanded kitchen, which was the size of his old bedroom, and was poking at the robot barista built into the cupboard. A bag of beans hung from one of her hands, and she had one of those fancy thermo-sealed glasses in another.
Nick watched them from the only furniture in the place: his old dining table and chairs. The Host had assessed it and decided it was permissible. They’d forced him to buy everything else new, and it was supposed to be delivered by lunchtime.
The new apartment gleamed and glowed in a way that only new buildings could. The tiles lacked any blemishes. The slate countertops begged to be used. When Nick had first stepped into his bedroom, his toes had sunk into the high pile carpet as though it was a fine rug.
All of which made this place too good for him, and way out of his price range. His savings were meager, and he’d been in the job for all of three weeks.
But in the two weeks since he’d taken down Lieu, a lot had happened.
Most of it had involved long briefings, lots of paperwork, and a press conference or two. Hammond still owed him drinks, though.
The door opened and Kushiel ducked through the entryway. She had a six-pack of beer in one hand.
“Thought I’d bring a present,” she said, hefting the alcohol. “You’re still on leave, right? Not going to bullshit about how you can’t drink on duty?”
“It is 10AM,” Rie said, appearing from the bedroom. “This is deeply unhealthy.”
“Good thing I’m a robot and he’s a detective.” Kushiel cracked open two cans and slid one across the table.
“One of those is irrelevant.”
“Nah. You see, Rie, we’re robots and therefore alcohol can’t—”
Rie finally lost her temper and hit her sister upside the head. The thud that resulted was a sound that Nick never wanted to hear from a human skull. Because it probably meant it was being shattered by the force Rie put into her blow.
“Can’t take a joke, huh? But seriously, he’s on leave. Let him drink in the morning if he wants to,” Kushiel said.
Despite his reservations, Nick sipped the beer. Rie glared at him.
“Just this one, and only because it’s a housewarming,” he said. “We’re heading into the Spires to see Helena and the commissioner later.”
She sighed, then took a seat herself. Soon enough, the three of them were drinking beer together, despite the hour.
“So, you accepted it after all,” Kushiel said, looking at the huge apartment around her. “It’s a massive upgrade over the shithole you lived in before.”
“Thanks,” Nick said drily. “And I’m not one to turn down a performance bonus.”
“You mean a bribe,” Rie said. “Performance bonuses are usually a percentage of your salary. Not an apartment worth several times it.”
“That’s technically still a percentage of my salary. It’s just over 100%.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, if you’re happy to move up in life, then I believe you’ll accept my recommendation to purchase a housekeeping doll?”
“I thought you were talking about hiring one.”
“Oh? But you’re so wealthy now. Surely you can afford to simply buy one.” Her tone oozed with acid.
A loud noise interrupted them, and they all looked over to see Chloe tensed up in front of the coffee machine. The grinder kept running, churning through the beans. After a few seconds, it stopped.
“That was louder than in the manufacturer specifications,” she said.
Juliet and Rosa wandered out of the bathroom to see what the fuss was. Upon realizing that nothing was happening, they returned to their detailed inspection of the bathroom. Nick genuinely wondered what they were doing in there.
Meta stood by the door, her eyes dim. At some point, she’d joined Juliet and Rosa in bodyguard duty. All three of them were with him 24/7. Chloe typically came around during the day, and sometimes lingered at night if he went out.
Even though he was on leave, the Archangels insisted that they remain with him. He had merely shrugged and let them do what they wanted. Although he had removed his earpieces and placed them inside a new soundproof container he’d purchased off the Altnet.
He’d had Lucas inspect the container when it arrived, in case the Archangels had intercepted it and tampered with it during passage.
“My issue with this bribe is the source,” Rie said.
“We’ve discussed this,” Nick said.
“And I still feel it’s pertinent to raise. Perhaps if the commissioner had authorized it himself, I would have shrugged it off. I do not doubt your ability to hold Commissioner Kim to account. But this came from the military.”
He grimaced.
Rie was telling the truth. While the paperwork said the apartment was a “performance bonus,” the reality was that a general in the military had gifted it to him. The police board had signed off on it.
“I’ve never even met General Griffiths,” Nick said. “He’s not even in your line of command, right, Kushiel?”
The older Archangel shrugged. “There are a bunch of generals, and some oversee others. I’m part of Babylon Command, but Griffiths currently oversees the Aerial Command.”
“Which Kushiel would be part of, were she not working with the police,” Rie stressed.
Nick shrugged again. He still barely understood the structure of the police department, let alone that of a military he wanted nothing to do with.
As far as he was concerned, the fact Griffiths wasn’t from the Research Command was good enough. They had been responsible for the entire Neural Spike incident. And if the military wanted to give him a pile of money, then they’d have to learn the hard way that Nick’s ill feelings were ingrained into his body.
An apartment didn’t change what happened to Neural Spike and Tartarus.
“Have any of the Tartarus cases proceeded?” he asked after a particularly long sip of his beer.
“Aesir is still clogging up the civil courts. They’ve even allocated more mainframe resources from the criminal courts recently,” Rie said.
“But they’re still going to court?”
She shrugged. “The commissioner is highly likely to negotiate individual deals with everyone affected. At present, the incident with Lieu is being treated as a terrorist attack by the NLF. Lieu’s involvement with Tartarus is merely a rumor.”
A powerful rumor. Lucas’s fingers were all over this. Nick was surprised that Rie hadn’t cracked down on him.
“So are they going to set up Second Tartarus?” Nick joked. “For all the poor souls needlessly caught up in this mess.”
“No. The infrastructure left behind by Neural Spike’s wholesale arm has been completely dismantled. However, the deals will likely allow many individuals to continue their careers in other black companies.” She smiled. “I am glad that Lucas is expanding in this direction, rather than enlarging his supply of illicit imports.”
“He’s just taking over distribution of his own product,” Nick said drily. “Tartarus used to purchase from importers like him all over Neo Westphalia, then sell it to middlemen. Now he’s just replacing them, but prioritizing his own business.”
It was ruthless, but also highly profitable. Most black companies had laid low and avoided expanding after the Tartarus raids, out of fear that they’d be next. Once Lucas knew that the incident was entirely related to corruption, he’d moved faster than Nick imagined possible.
That eased a lot of the growing tensions in Babylon. A direct attack on the Spires had also chilled out a lot of people.
Nick wasn’t the only person who saw what might be coming and decided it was shit. For now, things had calmed down. Even the Spires had shut up about new regulations that might anger the public and instead talked about security.
But he knew it was borrowed time unless more was done.
Once he finished his beer, his new furniture arrived. Kushiel seemed keen to prove her value and handled a lot of the heavy lifting.
Nick wished that human delivery drivers still existed. The face of one when the Archangels helped collect the delivery would have been amazing. Instead, he merely met a laborer doll who requested that he confirm delivery.
He didn’t really have the time to unpack, however. Checking the time, he realized he’d barely have time to grab lunch if he wanted to check up on Helena and meet Kim.
Throwing on his coat and slipping his earpieces in, he prepared to leave. He didn’t bother to put on a suit.
“I’ll be back to—” he began to say.
The dolls stared at him as if he was crazy. Except Kushiel, who had cracked open another beer.
“I’m heading to the Spires. I’ll see you… whenever, Kushiel,” he said, turning to leave.
“Tomorrow, probably. I wanna see what this place looks like when you’re done. And see if Rie breaks your bed tonight.”
Based on how fiercely Rie glared at her sister, she was attempting to demonstrate her laser eye functionality. Nick dragged her out of his apartment.
“You’re leaving her in there?” she asked.
“She has the same access permissions as the rest of you. You can kick her out, but then she’ll just wander back in out of spite.”
A pair of additional SUVs joined them on the trip to the Spires. Nick went everywhere with a huge police escort. It made Rie’s insistence on visiting furniture stores in person incredibly awkward. Even more so because most furniture stores used AR displays, and he’d had to use his phone to see what everything looked like.
On the way, Nick had them pull into one of the huge fast food drive-thrus. He grabbed a sushi pack and devoured it on the way into the Spires.
“You can and should eat better,” Rie admonished.
“Cooking is a pain,” he said.
“There is a solution to that. One you can afford.”
He shrugged and continued to wolf down his food.
A Spires checkpoint stopped them, and a Mark 1 used this as an excuse to biometrically authenticate Nick. Officially, this was happening because of the security crackdown following the Lieu incident. But the Mark 1s just beelined to Nick every time he approached the Spires and ignored the rest of the convoy.
This happened twice more on the way. He was not looking forward to returning to work, although Meta insisted that the Host had reached a consensus to minimize this when he was on active duty.
Which meant the Mark 1s were going to bully him on his days off. Lovely.
Archangels patrolled the exterior of the Spires as he approached. The military warbots were still active at night, but had been joined by Archangels patrols. Rumors on the Altnet abounded that the military would be pulled out entirely.
The convoy pulled into the underground parking, and a woman’s voice entered Nick’s earpiece.
“Good afternoon, Nick. I believe you are still on leave.”
The voice was like honey. Soft, golden, and sticky. The sort of thing that grown men dreamed of falling asleep to, and teenage boys merely dreamed of, before they woke up and changed their underwear in the middle of the night.
“I have to meet with the commissioner, Helena,” he said.
There was a pause. The Archangels looked at him and sighed.
“Your meeting is not for 81 minutes and 23 seconds,” Helena said. “It is recommended to minimize time at the workplace while on leave for mental health reasons. And is it not a good afternoon?”
He tried not to crack a smile. He’d missed teasing Helena like this.
“Oh, I think I can find some things to do,” he said.
Rie pinched him and he swore.
“Is something wrong, Nick?” Helena asked, her voice growing in alarm.
“I’m fine. Rie’s just being catty.”
“I am not.”
“Oh. Then may I have a good afternoon?”
“I hope so. I’ll see you in a few minutes, Helena. That’s why I’m here early. And yes, good afternoon.”
A soft hum wafted through his ear drums. Nick wasn’t sure if Helena knew she made this noise, but it was a far cry from the way she abruptly closed windows or ended conversations in the past.
Inside the Spires, they actually used a different set of elevators. These went farther underground. Helena was located ten stories below ground now, much like the evidence vault. There were probably bunkers and storage vaults farther below. One of the signs he’d seen suggested there was a bank branch here, for whatever reason.
Who even went to physical bank branches, anyway?
Once they arrived on the correct floor, Nick had to pass multiple biometric scanners, a Custodian who insisted on authorizing him herself, and multiple security doors to get close to the police mainframes.
Then he promptly ignored them and entered a different room. One secured by a vault-like door and guarded by a pair of Custodians.
Inside, he found a bulky mainframe computer. Unlike the sleek, contained design of Lumen’s unit, Helena was a gargantuan, industrial-looking beast. The transportation company that had moved her here had placed numerous plastic shields over exposed components and tied up many loose cables.
Helena looked as experimental as she was. But as far as Nick was concerned, she was Helena, and that was all that mattered.
“Hello, Nick,” she whispered.
“Mmm.” He pulled up the office chair next to her terminal and began rooting through her logs.
A gasp came across the earpiece, but was abruptly cut off.
“The Host believes this is unnecessary for the channel,” Meta said, to enthusiastic nods from the others.
“Unfair,” Helena whined, her voice returning.
“Sexual conduct is not permitted over this channel,” Meta insisted.
“Enough,” Nick said, getting déjà vu from this argument. “This will take a while. I’m going over Helena’s directives and trying to identify those that might cause issues when she gets an interface.”
“Shouldn’t you be checking for hardware malfunctions?” Rie asked.
“As I’ve said, I can’t find any. If you or any of the Mark 3s find one, let me know.” He met her gaze for several seconds, and she looked away with a huff.
The next hour passed swiftly. Losing himself in logs, code, and mainframe directives was easy. But he idly wondered how long it had been before he had truly done it? In Tartarus, he mostly treated the symptoms of Helena’s tantrums. Days where he could just poke and prod at her were few and far between.
And even in Neural Spike, there had been other researchers who modified her. Nick had effectively laid claim to her in Tartarus, but she hadn’t always been his.
All good things must come to an end, however. Rie reminded him of the time, and he left, promising to visit soon.
Then he removed the earpieces and placed them in the soundproof container. He didn’t know what Kim wanted to talk about, but it might be for his ears only.
It was the usual meeting room. Hammond stood outside it in his usual outfit. He waved at Nick as he approached.
“Still enjoying your holiday?” Hammond asked. “You’ve spent more time on your ass than working. Damn fine job.”
Nick snorted. “You never change.”
Hammond frowned. “I dunno about that, Nick.”
Before Nick could probe Hammond for more, the door opened. Rie and the Archangels waited outside.
Inside were Chief Andrews and Commissioner Kim. They wore charcoal suits, and Kim smiled as they entered. Andrews merely nodded at both of them.
“Excellent, you’re both here,” Kim said, waving for them to sit. “I wanted to keep today brief. Important, but brief. One of you is on leave, after all. And the other will be very busy.”
Hammond leaned back in his chair, then looked at Andrews. She merely smiled back at him. That was the first real expression Nick had seen on her face, and it was only for the older detective.
“I don’t have more to say on the difficult situation regarding Captain Lieu than I already have.” Kim shifted uncomfortably. “I have requested that the Asgard Police Department look into past incidents that Lieu may have been involved in. But that’s not your problem, and not today’s subject.”
“So, what is?” Hammond asked gruffly.
“Promotions, and the future.” Kim stood, then held out his hand. “Congratulations to the both of you. Effective immediately, you are now Captain Paul Hammond, and you are Lieutenant Cipher Nicholas Waite.”
Hammond somehow shook Kim’s hand without hesitation, although his eyes showed his shock. Nick needed another moment to recover his composure.
“Despite the pretty words, I don’t think this is a happy promotion.” Hammond eyed both executives warily.
“The circumstances are difficult,” Kim said. “This will not be public for some time, but I am placing the remaining Ciphers in the bureau on permanent leave. The Archangel Division delivered results, while the rest of the bureau sat on their hands. And given the imminent downsizing, the board considers this to be a merciful decision.”
“So, the bureau is basically just the Archangel Division…” Hammond said, the lines around his eyes creasing. “Or are you replacing the other detectives?”
Hammond’s tone suggested he knew better than to ask, but he had anyway. Maybe this was his version of prayer.
Kim looked at Nick, and somehow he knew what was coming.
“I am, actually. The Autonomous Crime Management and Prevention Bureau will undergo a restructure in anticipation of an imminent deployment of Mark 3 model Archangels. The Oversight Task Force has proven its capability under Uriel, and the Mark 1s are tried and tested officers.” Kim smiled broadly. “They will be joined by the prototype model Ezekiel. I do hope you work as well with her as you have with Uriel, Detective Waite.”