Simon’s car squealed to a stop at a red light. While the green was allowing traffic to pass perpendicular to him, a lightning bolt lit up the sky directly behind. Thunder was quickly followed by raindrops falling on his windshield. The vanguard of a storm offered little in the way of a distraction.
Having been muted during his conversation with his daughter, The Tenors resumed playing in the background. The music’s passionate tempo spurred Simon on. “Fuck it!” he blurted, putting his foot to the floor. As Simon’s Tesla lurched forward, and dodged the remaining cross-traffic, the concert’s last song filled the car’s interior.
As Simon’s electric car sped silently down West Street, the doors leading from the roof of One World Center were unlocked remotely by Sophia, allowing two blacked-out military personnel into the stairwell.
Zara continued relaying messages both to her boss and the two men nearing the offices of PurIntel. “The ninetieth will be open and the alarm system is disabled. Copy?” she stated.
“Copy that,” the lead man replied. Expecting the latest in security protocol, his face was also covered in order to protect his identity.
“Operatives approaching the ninetieth floor,” Zara said to Prav.
Prav sat back in his seat and appeared reflective. “Seeing as this will take a few minutes, Mr. Landry, may I ask whether you are familiar with the true meaning of the words, Hostile Takeover?”
Derrick smiled and, for a moment, appeared as if he were not in imminent peril. “I think I have a good understanding of the term. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I was just wondering if you are aware of its unique Indian context.”
“I’m not sure that I am.”
“Then let me explain the extent to which my country was once the subject of the greatest corporate coup in history? Most people think it was the British Government who took over the country of my ancestors, but, in actual fact, it fell to an unregulated company headquartered in London. Yes, with just three dozen employees, the East Indian Company perpetrated what is still considered the greatest act of corporate violence the world has ever witnessed.”
After several minutes of descending the building’s stairwell, the appropriate door was indeed found unlocked. The two operatives then moved down several PurIntel corridors before finding the door to Simon’s office locked. Its retinal scan requirement was easily overridden. “Placing charges,” the intruder said. “Clear?” he asked, after moving out of harm’s way. “Clear,” the other responded. Suddenly, a dull thud was heard by Zara, Derrick and Prav.
Prav continued unfazed by the sound of Simon’s office door being blown open. “Yes, Mr. Landry, Having to answer only to its few shareholders the tragic plunder saw boat loads of treasure flow down the Ganges River to the East India’s Calcutta Headquarters. Officers of the Company’s private army went home to England with fortunes as well. For my ancestors, however, it was nothing short of being subjugated by the pursuit of someone else’s prosperity.”
The pair of intruders entered Simon’s office and, after pausing for a moment to take in Sophia’s holographic image, they quickly set about their individual tasks. The lead man went straight to Simon’s desk, while the second went into an adjacent room and adhered some type of device to each of Sophia’s glass-panelled mainframes. Sophia’s facial recognition software attempted to identify the pair, but was defeated by the masking of any recognizable features.
“And this is what … an attempt to somehow even the score?” Derrick asked.
“No, no,” Prav said, almost laughing. “The injustice my people suffered can never be reconciled. But if I could offer one insight, I would say this: the synthetic world is poised to transcend the biological. He who dominates the former will reign over the latter.”
“Ready for the final download,” the primary operative said. He was now sitting at Simon’s desk, awaiting the login information required to access the last super genome segment as well as the entirety of PurIntel’s XNA research.
“We’re almost there, Mr. Landry,” Prav stated. “Please instruct Sophia to comply with my final instructions.” Zara’s gun was nudged up against Derrick’s right temple.
Sophia heard the order herself. “I will of course acquiesce to your instructions, Mr. Gill. But it is also your intention to terminate my
existence?” Sophia now presumed the devices attached to her hardware would be detonated after the final data transfer was complete.
“And if it is,” Prav replied. “Would you still proceed? Would you put your survival ahead of your colleague’s?”
“My initial programming prevented me from being the sole arbiter of anything, Mr. Gill. But since achieving the ability to write my own software, ergo determine my own fate, the final decision would, of course, now rest with me.”
Derrick looked somewhat apprehensive, as if he were unsure of how the next few seconds might unfold. And, for the first time this evening, Gill also appeared unsure.
“However,” Sophia continued. “If I’ve learned anything from
humankind it is this: the pursuit of free will is an illusion if you are unwilling to embrace its true dividend.”
“And that is?’ Prav asked.
“The honour of sacrificing your own life in order that others might be saved.”
“Download complete,” the operative at Simon’s desk stated.