Chapter 31: Chapter 31 – Face to Face (1)

Wave swung the gun around and now pointed it at the white-haired man.

"It’s this professor, isn’t it?" she muttered. The one who was in charge of everything and wouldn’t leave the lab even facing the greatest danger.

A name appeared as a plaque and attached itself to his yellow-rimmed body. Professor Erian Wegener. A series of publicly available papers flashed up. Transcendence, Artificial Intelligence, Paranormal Humbug. Reams of information Fearless tried to retrieve, but most of it was classified and only gave error messages for answers. This was not a man she wanted to be at the mercy of.

He glanced at Wave’s gun in confusion. "Oh, are you actually going to rob this old man of the few days he has left?" He coughed theatrically, doubled over, and braced himself against Decker’s shoulder.

"Save it," Wave retorted coldly. "Looking at the tanks behind you, I can hardly imagine that other lives mean anything to you. So my sympathy for you is limited."

The man eyed Wave for a moment, then straightened and smoothed out his lab coat. "That offends me, but fine. So, what can we do for you, Ms. Nethuf?"

He knew her. Of course, he did. Everyone knew her. He certainly had some story about her that she didn’t know about, as well. Only that she didn’t want to hear it. There was only one thing that she was interested in.

"Aki," she said curtly. "Where’s Aki?"

Professor Wegener raised his arms apologetically. "I’m sure you understand that I can’t tell you. If I told you, what reason would you have not to kill me as you did with my co-workers lying in the hallways?"

Could he read her mind? Did he know that she wasn’t proud of what Hammer had done, or what she did herself? That it was gnawing at her? If he knew her, that wasn’t impossible. But ... no, she wouldn’t let it upset her. She was not the villain here. Definitely not.

"None of your associates are dead. None that I’ve come across, at least. Can you say the same about the people who disappeared thanks to you?"

"If you mean this Aki guy, it’s tragic what happened to him but it wouldn’t have had to come this far if he had accompanied my staff voluntarily. Also, he’s not dead either." He paused before adding with a smile, "Not yet."

"Aki, yes it’s him I’m talking about. Also, Ngi and me, who you supposed to end up in the scrap press. But mostly I’m concerned about Aki. He told me that a fate even worse than death would have awaited him here. Looking at these tanks, I know that he was right. I really wonder what you are doing here exactly. All these people ..."

The professor shook his head and scratched his bushy white eyebrows. "And you think I’m going to give our corporation secrets away just because I think your situation is hopeless and you’ll take that knowledge to the grave?"

Wave looked at the man who stood before them so perfectly calm regardless of the danger for his life. So he thought their situation was hopeless, not his own? This could be a bluff, but ... Fearless had been worried about the main entrance. Was he perhaps unconcerned for a reason?

Mother appeared at Wave’s side and murmured to her, "He’s just stalling until reinforcements show up." That confirmed her suspicions. "You should hurry. Why don’t you just kill him and we’ll go looking for Aki ourselves?"

One corner of the professor’s eye twitched. Just a tiny sign, but was his confident facade crumbling? Was she supposed to give him another push to shatter it all together? She hated herself for having to do that now, but they were running out of time.

She swung the gun back at Decker and pulled the trigger.

The shot fizzled out in the concrete of the pedestal because she had pulled the gun down at the last moment after all. No, she couldn’t shoot him down in cold blood like that. It had been different with the other security guys before – that had happened in the heat of the moment.

She watched the professor, trying to see something in his cold gray-blue eyes as she fired, but there was nothing. Decker had taken a step back and his mouth was open in surprise.

"He hardly cares about his own life," Wave muttered. "And not at all about that of his employees. If I could only see inside his head. But unfortunately, I’m no Sec."

"Go ahead and shoot my staff or me. Someone else will take their place or even mine."

Decker gave him a bewildered look. He clearly did care if he was shot.

"His work is his sore spot," Fearless whispered.

Yes, she was certainly right about that. He was old and his work would be his legacy.

"Maybe we should just trash the lab," Wave suggested.

There it was again, the twitch in the corner of his eye. Score!

"But I have a better idea. We’ll make sure that others stop this project. Preferably his employer himself."

"What are you talking about?" the professor asked. Did this threat make him nervous? Then he didn’t let on.

"I want Aki, or we’ll show the world what’s happening here."

"You won’t leave this lab alive," the professor said calmly, but Wave didn’t miss the tiny drops of sweat forming on his forehead. "Even if you knew something, who could you tell if you are dead?" He laughed, and Wave now thought she heard a trace of nervousness in that laugh.

Mother next to her began to giggle – which, by contrast, was perfectly honest and mischievous – and the two men winced at the horrible sound. Wave hoped it was true that the hackers had the cameras under their control and they were finding a way to show anyone out there what was happening here. And that she was giggling for just this reason.

"I think I know what’s going on here," Wave continued. "I didn’t realize what Aki was capable of and what Kanter needed him for until I met Decker and Finn."

"Well, give it a go," the professor challenged her snottily. "It’s your own time you’re wasting, after all." He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Wave took a breath. She dismissed the image of blue-uniformed security guards who might have been breaking down the main entrance at that very moment, storming through the hallways, purposefully heading for this lab. It was a fallacy that the professor was trapped here with them. It was a place from which there would be no escape for herself. But she would take what she could with the time she had.

"They pushed me into a hopeless situation where Aki showed his powers. Then the two of them kindly threw me into the scrapyard with Ngi, who showed me the other part of this conspiracy."

"Conspiracy? This just gets better and better," the professor sneered.

"Conspiracy!" breathed Fearless excitedly in her ear. "Now I’m curious."

"Kanter used Ngi to infect robots with emotions. It didn’t take much for their discontent to take hold along with joy, love, and fear."

"Why would we do such a thing?" the professor asked. His expression reflected complete incomprehension.

"To eliminate competition," Wave stated.

"But for what?" He frowned. "This virus affects not only the competition’s models but our own as well."

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"A bug, perhaps?" Mother asked. "A virus always spreads unpredictably."

"If you can call it a virus, that is." Wave shook her head. "I’m sure the robots don’t see it that way."

She shifted her weight to the other foot. She would have preferred to sit down and let her exhausted body rest. She was drained, was restless, and was waiting for the adrenaline that was supposed to kick in after all when she solved the mystery in front of an audience.

"But no, it was intentional that Kanter’s robots also develop feelings. It was meant to hit everyone and so nobody would suspect them."

"Yes, it hit everyone," the professor confirmed, testily. "But I still don’t see how, in your delusional theory, we would benefit from having a violent mob of robots rampaging at our doorstep."

"By suddenly coming up with a solution. A miracle cure to calm the robots down again." Wave paused. "Aki."

The professor laughed dryly. But sweat was now evident and telltale on his forehead. Besides, Decker was as white as a sheet. Yes, Wave was on the right track. She saw the answers right in front of her.

"So what does Aki have to do with all this?" Fearless asked.

"Aki has a special ability. Just like my parents and myself. Only his is more subtle. Even though it had an effect on me for so many years, I’ve only really become aware of it in the last two days."

"By the Citadel, little girl," Mother hissed. "Don’t keep up the suspense any longer. What can he do? Shred all the robots to pieces with his thoughts alone, like you?"

The security guy turned even paler when he heard that. " She can?"

Wave shook her head. "His power is his voice. With it, he can transmit his state of mind to other people. Not just people. I think to anything that has a soul."

"Abilities? Souls?" The professor raised his arms and laughed. "Sure. That’s the proof! You’re crazy! And all my staff had to suffer for that?"

"Oh, his colleague," Wave waved the gun at Decker, "has already revealed to us that you, too, believe in souls, or something equally powerful."

The professor’s laughter froze and his lips formed a thin line.

"Only by humming, Aki appeased an entire mob – as you call it – full of violent robots who were on the verge of killing me and subsequently raiding an Akimoto location." Wave paused for a moment to let that sink in. "With his voice under your control, you could determine which robots behaved and which went on strike. The competition wouldn’t be able to get a foothold. Especially not Akimoto, who is years ahead of you in the field of robotics."

"Shit," the security guard spoke up now. "How did she ..."

"Shut up, Decker!" the professor interrupted him. "And you, Ms. Nethuf, you really should start working for the Security Corps. If they had a few investigators like you in their ranks, we’d really have to worry about our jobs. How fortunate that no one will know."

Mother chuckled again at these words and the professor bared his teeth. Then he drew his eyebrows together.

"You came for absolutely nothing. Not only because you won’t leave the lab alive now after wasting so much time talking. No, also because Aki is beyond saving. His body isn’t, and neither is his soul." He grinned and his eyes flashed. For a moment Wave could see the madness in them. The madness that was necessary to believe in Aki’s abilities and gamble with the lives of countless people. "He is completely worthless to us. And your attack on my lab was pointless."

Aki worthless? That hit Wave like a slap in the face. She wanted to scream and lunge at him! Blood rushed to her head and that’s why she shot again. This time she aimed correctly and Decker collapsed wriggling. Then she ran towards the podium, past tables on which instruments and vials started bouncing because Hammer 1.0 followed her as well.

Now the adrenaline she had been craving for was there, and she swung herself up over the railing. Right away she stood in front of the professor and pressed the gun to his chest. She looked him in the eyes, which seemed even older and colder up close.

"Speak up!" Wave gasped. "Where is he?" She let her gaze slide over the tanks behind the professor. Men and women hovered inside. Their eyes closed and their hair – if it was long enough – floating around them.

"Oh," Fearless said. "If he doesn’t tell us who it is, maybe we can do it by process of elimination."

"What do you mean?" Wave asked. Her voice was croaky and her lips were dry. Not only did her body need rest, but it also lacked fluids.

The professor groaned under the pressure of the gun, backed away a bit, and squeezed out a 'Hmwhat?'

"Look at this one." A blue frame loomed around the face of one of the men hovering in the tanks. "That’s Bobby M., announcer at Citadel Night News. Well, at least he was until he disappeared two weeks ago. Oh, by the way, all his data disappeared from the network, too. Well, almost all of it. Next to that, that’s Claire Voix, singer. Also missing and then deleted."

With that information, another piece fell onto the puzzle and clicked into place.

"Are these all moderators or singers?"

"Yes."

Wave looked the professor firmly in the eye and narrowed their distance back to threatening proximity. "You didn’t know for sure, that it was Aki you needed for your plan, did you? It could have been any of them?"

He was silent, but there was no need for him to answer at all.

"The Security Corps keeps a file on all the missing people. For this clue, I’m sure those scaredy-cats would even dare to raid this lab."

"And they would find nothing," the professor pressed out under pressure. "Only empty halls."

As if he had been waiting for that cue, a dull thud sounded from the entrance to the laboratory. The professor smiled and his composure returned.

"Thanks for the warning."

He looked down at the gun, which began to tremble in Wave’s hand.

"If you will remove this unspeakable thing from my chest, I will let you make your peace. Say goodbye to Aki."

He let his hand slide slowly into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a plastic sheet.

The hearing aid!

"But I’m afraid he won’t answer you anymore."

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