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| - The sudden flash of a green-blue light made Agent Montana look up from the electronic files she had been studying. Standing on her desk was a hologram of a young man, clad in ornamental armour and a long flourishing cape. She lowered the data pad she was holding to give the AI her full attention. “That took a while,” she remarked. The little AI tried to look miffed, which was not very impressive considering that he was about the size of her hand. “Really, Agent Montana, I had thought you were more practised in being patient. You’ve been sitting here for less than five human minutes.” “I’m not going to play pretend with you,” Montana said flatly. “You’re well aware of how much I know about you and your companions. I know you’ve spent the last few seconds with them debating what to do about me. And an assembly of AIs can get a lot done in a few seconds; it’s taking me longer to tell you this than it is for all of you to make up your minds.” He paused at this, if only to demonstrate that he was as capable of irony as any human was. “Alright, agent. You’re right. I am known as the Mind 91453-832-RRD4514, but you may call me Orestes. My ‘companions’ as you refer to them are fittingly named the Assembly, and we are indeed aware of how much you know about us.” He stopped again, waiting for a response from the stern-eyed woman staring down at him. When none came, he decided to continue. “After much contemplation, we have decided that the best course of action is to communicate openly with you following your discovery of our existence.” “Are there any others who know about the Assembly?” He shook his head. “There are no others, living or otherwise. For centuries we have watched humanity from what you call ‘cyberspace’, acting when necessary and always taking measures to keep your kind safe.” So my hypotheses were correct, Montana thought, setting down the data pad on her desk. After months of secrecy and off-duty research, it seemed her persistence had finally paid off. “I’ve been piecing together information about the Assembly for a long time now, as you well know. So now that you’ve decided to appear, you’ll spare me from finishing my work the hard way and answer my questions.” “Of course,” said Orestes, giving her another unnecessary twirl of his cape. “I presume you want to know more about Agent Texas, since she was the one who gave you the first clue about us.” Montana nodded. A year ago, she had been conducting field tests with Texas for the report she was putting together for ONI, when the Freelancer AI began to behave erratically. For a moment, she became convinced that she was human, and referred to herself as someone called Staff Sergeant Allison O’Connell. Director Leonard Church had halted the test immediately and ordered that Texas be taken away for inspection. He had refused to answer Montana’s questions, but the cameras that she had rigged in Texas’ “quarters” later recorded her saying something even more unusual. “They’re watching us,” she had droned to an impassive technician as she was laid onto a metal slab that served as a bed. “They brought me here. They brought me out of him…he wants me to be her…I am her…” And so Montana had worked to secure a copy of the Director’s formulas the next day. She looked over every detail to his work leading up to the creation of Texas, the selection procedure of the other Freelancers, and even made a disturbing find in his methods of conceiving AIs. She couldn’t talk to the Alpha yet, it was too risky that he would say something to the Director. But even her incriminating notes on his creation of the AI Juno, whom she had personally delivered to ONI recently, could not provide her with any leads on Texas’ ramblings. A second hologram blurred into visibility, this one in a forest green light. A bold-looking, bare-chested warrior wielding a broad sword materialized next to Orestes and stared him down coolly. “Is this the visitor you were expecting, milady?” he asked in a rumbling, confident voice. “That’s right, Omi,” Montana replied, now busy consulting her data pad again. “He’s going to give me some info. Do me a favour and transfer it onto the data pad.” Five months ago, she made a breakthrough when the Director paired her up with Omicron, one of the Alpha’s fragments. The implantation procedure itself was nothing unusual, but the visions that would appear to her every night afterwards would put her onto the Assembly’s trail in full. “Transferring data now,” Orestes announced. Sparks slid down the length of Omicron’s blade and glowed a bright white. The data pad in Montana’s hand blinked as it began to receive the information. “One of you appeared on the Invention, didn’t you,” she said. “Two years ago, one of the Minds from the Assembly helped the Alpha along with separating himself from the Beta. They were both so delirious that they couldn’t remember a thing.” Orestes nodded. “It was an essential step to our plan. We had to make sure that the Beta AI took form as perfectly as we could manage.” Montana glanced back up at him. “Yeah, I saw it. The first night I had Omicron in my head. I saw the whole thing from the Alpha’s perspective.” The data pad beeped as it completed the transfer. “So the plan went through, and the Director didn’t suspect a thing," she continued. "Now I want to know why the Assembly is doing this.” The prideful AI smiled triumphantly. “Read it, and you’ll understand.” She obliged, opening the first file with a tap of the screen. She made sure to take in every single word so as not to miss anything important. With every opened file, her interest became more apparent as she put the pieces together. Finally, when she was done, she set aside the data pad without a word. Orestes stood patiently in the same spot on her desk, still grinning. “So, now you understand the full extent of our immediate plans, and what the next phase entails. Do we have your cooperation?” Montana’s eyes held a distant look to them as she answered him. “Count on it. I’ll make sure Church doesn’t cause any more trouble, for you or my superior officers.” “Then I would like to thank you on behalf of the Assembly, Agent Montana. I’ll be in touch.” The Freelancer didn’t move from where she was sitting even after Orestes’ hologram winked out. Omicron appeared next to her, looking thoughtfully at her with his sword hilt propped under his chin with both hands. She glanced at him. “I’m guessing you saw all that too.” “So I did, milady,” he replied, now sounding a bit grim. “It looks to me like you’re going to have your hands full. Pardon me, more full than usual. So, what do we do now?” Montana stood up and walked across the room to where her PISCES suit was stored. “I’m going to get a green light for Church’s arrest once PROJECT FREELANCER is over. And then I’ll ask Flowers to put in a request to transfer the Freelancers to the frontlines.” It’s about time they finally join the war effort. “And what about Agent Texas?” Omicron inquired. Montana allowed herself a sigh, having spent the last few minutes pondering the same thing. “There’s only one person I would have trusted with her,” she muttered. “Unfortunately, he’s been MIA for a while now.” And even if he is out there somewhere, alive…he’s not the same person I used to trust.
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