"Do not move, or I shall fire." There was no emotion in the security robot's voice.
Its sleek, arm-mounted disruptor was already locked on target.
Kyle froze. He met the android with a fierce glare, though he knew such expressions meant nothing to the machine. It wasn't even the robot making the threat. Every piece of hardware in the building was nothing but an appendage. An appendage of STAT, the central computer.
Kyle reminded himself that violence would only have a negative effect on STAT's judgement routines. His only chance was to reason with it. His sweating fingers squeezed about the memory module in his labcoat pocket as he closed his eyes and took a slow breath.
He ignored the robot and addressed the puppetmaster directly. "STAT, you're forgetting the importance of the Delta-7 project. It's not going to fly if you don't have what's in here." Kyle pointed at the side of his head with his free hand. "If you kill me--"
"There is now a 12.7% probability the lacking data can be reproduced without your participation," replied the robot's voicebox.
"You know as well as I you can't rely on that kind of longshot! Look, I'm stepping outside. If you're willing to sacrifice Delta-7, shoot me."
Kyle's heartbeat pounded in his ears, crushing the silence.
STAT would soon have an answer.
"It worked for me this time," said Kyle over the sterile metal table. "But it won't work again. Had STAT known how close I was, it would never have let me out. As it is, there's no way I can leave the city."
Kyle watched outside the café's curved plastiglass window. Every vehicle, every transfer station, every security checkpoint was orchestrated by STAT. The computer itself rose skyward from a plot of ground just a few blocks away. From the outside, it looked like a mirrored office building, but the inside was packed with memory banks, data processors and service tunnels the size of hallways.
"This is all I could get. . .and it'll have to be all." Kyle pulled the black memory module from his pocket. "If I enter the structure again, I won't be coming out."
The large-boned man across the table rubbed his plump chin thoughtfully, soaking through the situation. "When was the unification performed?"
"Sometime between last night and this morning. It was a very subtle job. I would've never noticed, if I hadn't been synchronizing with a detached repository." Kyle stared into the eyes of his large lunch partner, who idly fingered a coffee-filled beverage jetter. "Do you understand what this means? The computer's checks and balances have been bypassed, and the emergency overrides have been deactivated. All the city's security--the robotic police force, the surveillance systems, the defense arrays--has been placed under one thumb."
Senson, nephew of the STAT Corp. founder, slowly began again. "So you feel someone is deliberately trying to take over the city?"
"Someone who knows what he's doing. Someone with very high security clearance."
"Perhaps one of the programmers or technicians?"
"A few were involved. None of this could have been accomplished otherwise. But there's someone else behind it, someone higher up the ladder. The man we're dealing with knew the whole system architecture, knew what had to be changed and how to change it without approval."
Senson raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I could count on the fingers of one hand the people who fit your description."
Kyle sat fixed as a statue, staring past Senson. "Precisely."
"If we're going to take your story that far, why not say that I did it?"
Kyle's eyes moved to meet Senson's. "Yes, why not?"
"I've humored you this far, Kyle, but I won't stand for baseless accusations."
"Baseless?" Kyle waved the memory module under his nose. "Not with a changelist imprint."
Senson's eyes followed the module as it moved from side to side. "You're lying. Hacking the back-end repository doesn't generate changelists."
"Who told you the back-end repository was hacked? I never told you that."
"I..." Senson paused, looked Kyle in the eye. "The executive team brought it up this morning. We decided to keep it under wraps."
Kyle nodded once. "Then I'm sure the executive team is willing to confirm that."
Senson thumped the coffee jetter onto the table. His lips spread into a bitter smile. "Yes, I'm sure they are."
"Let's go then--"
"And do what? Tell them your side of the conversation? You think they'll take your word over mine?"
Kyle picked up the coffee jetter. "No, I think they'll take the word of this over yours." He unscrewed the base, revealing an active recording device.
Senson's wide eyes narrowed into vile slits. His voice hissed with venom. "You're clever, but there's one detail you forgot to consider."
"What's that?"
"If I control every machine in this city, what makes you think you'll walk away from this meeting alive?" Senson pulled a slim touchpanel from his sleeve and tapped a quick pattern.
There was silence. A silence the city hadn't heard for decades. Outside the window, every moving thing had come to a halt. People were stepping out of cars, wandering the streets, asking questions.
Senson's mouth hung open, the look on his face morphing from confusion to panic.
Kyle stepped over to Senson's side, a snub-nosed blaster already drawn. "Gathering data isn't all I was doing in the STAT computer. You actually made my task a lot easier."
Senson lowered his head, but glared up from the corner of his eye. "What...task?"
"A unified system is much easier to shut down. It only takes one switch."