Juliet sipped at her latte while Lemur drove the van through the picturesque farmlands, forests, and hills of the Xanadu Dome. Traffic had been light because the protests and marches were still taking place in the Atlas Dome, and many people had opted to stay home from work—pretty much anyone who could commute digitally. According to net chatter, deliveries and tours of the park-like dome were at an all-time low, and Juliet rather enjoyed the feeling that they were cruising through a deserted paradise.

“Hopefully, the protests will help our cause rather than hinder it when it comes time to . . . make our egress.” Lemur spoke calmly, and, just as he had the first time she’d met him, he avoided mentioning the details of their “cause” or anything about what they were really doing. This was the first time, in fact, that he’d brought up something unrelated to the job their cover identities were supposedly on their way to do.

“Hope so.” Juliet wasn’t feeling very conversational. Her mind was busy thinking about Angel, about the implications of what she’d said. Obviously, she’d suspected it before, even said as much to Angel, but the realization that she’d been right, that Angel wasn’t just a limited AI, but some kind of true AI, dependent on her and her neural structure for her continued existence, was a little alarming. She trusted Angel and believed she was good, but it was hard to put aside the years and years of conditioning she’d received in school and from the media about how dangerous AIs were. Sitting there in the van, driving toward a risky job, it was hard to ignore the idea that she’d been purposefully avoiding thinking about this topic and avoiding speaking about it with Angel.

“Quiet today, hmm? Nervous? Don’t be! At worst, we’ll have to change out a couple of servers. Maybe fix a camera or two. I’m sure I’ll be able to give you a solid performance review.”

“Yeah.” Juliet took another sip of her hot beverage. “I need this paycheck, Mr. Baskins. I’m hoping to pay for my sister’s wedding.” Her false ID, Rose Uribe, lived with her sister in the General Power Corp Arcology. Juliet thought their roleplaying was a little annoying but decided to go with it; it helped pass the time and might keep her from spiraling into a panic about Angel and myriad other concerns on her mind.

“Just Tyler is fine,” Lemur said, grinning like an idiot. “We’ll be there in no time.”

“I wish I could have brought my deck.” Juliet touched her chest, rubbing the tips of her synthetic finger pads over the fabric of her comfortable blue overalls, as though she could feel the device she’d left back on the Kowashi.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, it has all my schematics and texts on it.” She knew Lemur understood she wanted it for jamming purposes, but Rose wouldn’t say that.

“Never fear, Rose. I know all the details of the hardware and software we carry at STO Security.”

“Is he speaking in character because he feels we’re being listened to?” Angel asked.

“Nah,” Juliet subvocalized. “I think he just likes to practice and really get into it. It might make it easier for him when we’re speaking to the personnel at the site.”

She and Lemur continued to chat about nonsense for the next twenty minutes, but he got quiet as they turned down a narrow, smoothly paved road that passed through a dense stand of tall, narrow-trunked trees with very broad, bright green leaves. “Almost there,” he said. They’d already passed through the jungle-like forest Juliet had experienced earlier, the place she’d run through when she’d heard the hunters pursuing their game. This forest was very different, very manicured, almost engineered.

“What kind of trees are these?”

“Not sure,” Lemur said. “I believe the owner of the residence had them planted. I think he owns all this land, something like a hundred acres.” Juliet knew he was still playing a character; Lemur knew for certain that Levkin owned the land, and he probably knew the exact species of the trees. Before she could comment, saying something Rose might think, they pulled out of the engineered forest and into an enormous, grassy meadow. The paved drive continued through the green grass toward a sprawling white, Mediterranean-style villa. A high wall surrounded the estate, so only the second floor, with its red-tiled roof, was visible. Lemur slowed the van and, at ten kilometers per hour, approached the guard station near the gate.

A man wearing a nondescript plain gray uniform stepped out, holding a heavy-looking black machine gun. The weapon had a massive canister for ammunition and was mounted on a flexible, many-jointed metallic arm hooked to a harness he wore over both shoulders. He leveled the gun at the van and motioned for Lemur to stop. “Holy shit,” Juliet said, eyeing the bore size of the machine gun. “Don’t piss him off.”

“That’s a Polk and Chang eleven-millimeter LMG—they advertise it as a ‘vehicle killer,’ and it seems to be a limited production model.” Angel was quick with her description and had just finished speaking as Lemur put down his window and held his open palm out, waving at the guard.

“We have an appointment.”

The guard didn’t move. He stood, face shielded by the mirrored visor on his helmet, and kept his gun trained on the van. Meanwhile, another guard, identically dressed but with only a pistol on his hip, stepped out of the guardhouse and approached Lemur. “Name?”

“Tyler Baskins. We’re here to fix the issues with the security system.”

“Issues?”

“Oh, boy.” Lemur sighed heavily, hamming it up. “Please check your registry or whatever. I’ve had this appointment for a week.”

“Yeah, I’ve got you. Didn’t know it was a security issue.”

“Just some bad writes on one of the servers. We think there’s some corrupt data coming from one of the cameras. Gonna take some troubleshooting.”

“Well, look into my scanner and ping me with your ID info.” The guard held up an oval data deck with a wide lens, pointing it toward Lemur’s face. It beeped, and then the guard pointed it at Juliet. She stared at it and waited, knowing Angel would send her false ID. When it beeped, the guard slipped the device into a little mesh holster on his belt and said, “Okay, stand outside the van, in front of the bumper, while we check the vehicle.”

“All right.” Lemur got out of the van, and Juliet did likewise, moving with him to stand in front of the low, sloped hood, inside the arc of that big, menacing machine gun.

The gun-toting guard stood still, staring at them from behind his visor, his gun trained on them while the other guard moved around the van, sweeping another scanner over the exterior. Juliet frowned at the man with the LMG and said, “Do you have to point that right at us? It’s freaking me out.”

“Stand still.” His mouth hardly moved as he spoke, and he certainly didn’t smile.

“Don’t antagonize the man, Rose.”

”I’m not trying to, but what if it went off? I heard that about guns—they go off all the time.”

“That’s bullshit,” the guard said, and Juliet almost smiled, knowing she’d touched a nerve.

“Is it?”

“Yeah. Unless I squeeze this trigger, you’re perfectly safe. I could drop this gun out of an airplane, and it won’t go off.”

“That gun’s so big. Doesn’t it hurt your ears?” She didn’t know why she was messing with the man, except that she’d decided it was what Rose would do. She’d decided Rose was outspoken and didn’t like guns or security guards, for that matter.

“Quiet now,” he grumbled, not biting.

Lemur gave her a nudge with his elbow. “Rose, the man’s a professional. I’m sure he wears ear protection.”

Juliet sighed and paced around on the pavement, keeping her movement to a tight circle, well inside the limits of the van’s bumper so as not to get shot. She decided to stop antagonizing the security personnel; she was no expert and didn’t want to push her roleplaying too far. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do if he took it upon himself to deny their entry, blowing the whole op. The minutes dragged on as the other security officer began going through the van’s contents, popping open the tool cases, running his scanner over the inside of the vehicle, and even pressing a short, beeping metallic rod into the seats.

After nearly half an hour, he clambered out of the van, sweat drenching his face, and said, “Damn. Next time remind me to ask them to leave the vehicle running. This dome is too humid.”

The machine gun guard barked a short laugh, lifted his barrel, and stepped back toward the guardhouse. “They’re good?”

“Yeah, all good.”

Lemur looked from one man to the other and asked, “So? Can we proceed?”

“Yeah. Head to the front doors, and someone will show you where to set up.”

Juliet and Lemur got back in the van and, after the heavy metal gate trundled open, drove up the driveway, around a well-manicured circle with a big fountain in the center, and parked before the villa’s front portico. “Nice and smooth, Rose. Nice and smooth.”

“Of course, Tyler. Let’s get this job done; I have to babysit tonight.”

“Your niece?”

“Yeah, my sister’s kid from her first marriage.”

“Ah, yes. I think you mentioned her. Well, not to worry, I have a shift at my night job I can’t miss, so we better get this knocked out, eh?” He didn’t wait for an answer, popped his door open, and slipped out. His constant roleplay was starting to freak Juliet out a little; what if he really was Tyler? What if he thought she was Rose? What if something happened to Lemur? The idea seemed ridiculous, but she couldn’t help her imagination running away with it. She found herself staring at Lemur as he unloaded two of the big, rolling tool cases, trying to find something about him that was uniquely him, but her memory of his face was vague. He was vague.

“That’s Lemur, right, Angel?” she finally subvocalized.

“Yes. He’s projecting Tyler’s ID, but I recognize him from our first meeting, don’t worry.”

“Of course.” Juliet tsked, shaking her head as she pushed one of the cases over the flagstones toward the ramp that ran alongside the steps, up to the big double doors of the villa. Another man in a plain gray uniform stood by the doors, he had no obvious cybernetic augmentation, but he looked very severe. His hair was cut stubble short, and his face was smooth-shaven. He watched her with pale eyes. “I’ll lead you to the security office.”

“Can I leave the van here?” Lemur asked.

“Yes. We’ll alert you if it needs to be moved. How long do you anticipate your business will take?”

“Oh, no more than a few hours. We have some troubleshooting to do, so it could be quick or slow, to be honest.”

“Follow me.” The man opened the door and stepped through. Juliet followed, noting how easily the extra-wide tool case fit through—the doors had to be twice the size of any front door she’d ever had. The furnishings in the home were high-end but spartan. Lots of bare walls greeted her eye, and the floors were universally tiled in a pale pinkish-tan ceramic. She didn’t see any rugs, very few paintings, and the bare minimum when it came to chairs and tables. The biggest clue that a normal family didn’t live there was the lack of nick-nacks or photos. No electronic devices sat on tables or counters, but a camera sat in almost every corner near the ceiling.

“New house?” Juliet asked, looking around.

“Yes,” the guard replied. Juliet looked at Lemur, and he shrugged, stubbornly playing the Tyler Baskins role. They proceeded through empty hallways, past a couple of brightly-lit parlors, and then the security officer stopped in front of a heavy, metal door. He touched his hand to the data terminal near the latch, and it beeped, followed by the sound of a magnetic bolt sliding into its housing. He pulled the door open and motioned for Juliet and Lemur to roll their carts inside. Lemur waited, looking at Juliet, so she pushed hers in first, a sudden panic clenching her heart; was she being double-crossed? Was this a prison cell?

The fear only lasted a second; she could see inside, see the long counter on the far wall stacked with data terminals, see the two security personnel sitting in high-end desk chairs, eyes glued to their displays, no doubt seeing a great deal more on their augmented UIs. Juliet pushed her cart through, turned left, and found a suitably-sized empty spot on the industrial carpet to park it. Lemur and the other security officer followed her in. Their escort cleared his throat loudly, getting the attention of the men sitting at the long counter.

He gestured to Lemur. “This is the contractor scheduled to work on the system today. Contact me if you need anything.” He didn’t wait for a response, stepping out the open door and closing it behind himself.

“Uh, hey,” one of the men said. “We good to keep working? Need us to log out?”

“No, no.” Lemur smiled effusively. “We’re going to need to do some troubleshooting for a while. I’ll let you know.”

“There’s water and coffee over there.” The man pointed to another counter on the far wall.

“Thanks,” Juliet offered as he turned back to his data terminal, and his eyes glazed over again. Both men seemed oblivious to them, and Juliet looked at Lemur, a different kind of panic causing a cold sweat to break out on her flesh-and-blood palm. Was she going to have to kill these men? She’d envisioned a fight, a struggle, a life or death need to cut down the “security officers” Lemur had mentioned. She hadn’t thought they’d be sitting passively, completely inattentive to her. She hadn’t thought they’d offer her coffee.

She was surprised when Lemur opened one of the tool cases and pulled out a bulky data deck. He held it up and winked at Juliet. Then he moved over to the largest stack of servers. “Hey, boys, don’t mind us if you see something pop up on your terminals. We need to run a lot of diagnostics.”

“No worries,” the guy who’d offered them coffee said, waving a hand, eyes still trained on something Juliet couldn’t see, probably a bunch of video feeds, considering how many cameras were in the house.

Lemur plugged his deck into an empty port and pointed to another port, raising an eyebrow and pointing at Juliet’s left arm. She nodded and rolled up her sleeve. She pulled out her data cable and plugged it into the port, and then Lemur spoke again, startling her, which made her realize how tense she was. As she listened to his words, she tried to calm her breathing, tried to stop thinking about what she might have to do about the two security officers. “Gentlemen, my administrator password isn’t working. Was it changed since we did the installation?”

“Uh, probably. We have to reset our passwords every seven days.”

“Can you log me in? I don’t need to know the password, but I need access to the root directory to fix this file structure problem.”

“Guest access won’t work?” The second man spoke for the first time. He scooted his chair back and turned to look at Lemur and Juliet, his dark brown eyes narrowed.

“Come on, man. A guest can’t modify the file system. I get it if you can’t use your password, but in that case, I’ll need to do a reformat and set up the whole system from scratch. Makes a couple of hours of work into a full day. I get paid by the hour, so no worries.” Lemur shrugged and started to pull the big server deck away from the wall, craning his neck toward the back, fiddling with the wires.

“Hold on, hold on. If I get you in as an admin, will we have any downtime?”

“Maybe about five minutes’ worth when I initialize the new build.”

While Lemur was working his magic with the officer, Juliet saw windows flashing open and closing on her AUI and knew Angel was doing something to the system. She subvocalized, “Are you in?”

“Not entirely. I have access to parts of the network, but some directories are heavily encrypted. I’m working on gaining access to the cameras. It shouldn’t take me long.”

“Rose, would you please get that extra battery for my deck there, the one at the bottom of the main cabinet in my tool case?” Lemur pointed to the open case and offered her a sly wink.

“Just a minute,” she said, indicating her cable with a pointed glance.

“Ah, just so.” He nodded and winked again, then went to the case and picked up the slim, rectangular battery pack, four green LEDs brightly shining from the side. Suddenly Juliet’s AUI populated with several windows, each showing a different image.

“I have access to most of the cameras. I’m searching for other occupants of the villa.”

Juliet started subvocalizing a response, but the security officer spoke again, distracting her, “Okay, bud. I made you a temp password. It’ll be good for four hours. Sending it your way. You’re Tyler, right? My PAI can see your port.”

“Perfect, thanks, pal. If I can get done here before midafternoon, it might keep me out of the doghouse at home.” Juliet barely heard him as she watched the images flicker on her AUI. Angel displayed camera feed after camera feed, pausing each time she identified a person. So far, everyone she’d seen had been wearing the same gray security uniform. The villa seemed to be empty, and Juliet was beginning to think Lemur’s intel had been wrong.

As her nerves grew more frayed, and she felt cold sweat gathering in her armpits, something new appeared in the window. It was a long, white corridor with white tile flooring. It looked more like something you’d see in a hospital than a villa. The following image showed the exterior of several stainless security doors. The next camera feed showed a woman wearing white pants and a white shirt, lying on a cot in a completely bare, white-walled room. It looked like a prison cell or something you’d find in a psych ward. Juliet didn’t recognize the woman—middle-aged with long, dirty blonde hair, but the image flickered, and she sucked in her breath.

Another white-walled room came onto the screen, this one a little larger with two cots. Honey, unmistakable with her curly black hair and golden-brown eyes, lay on the left-hand cot, one leg crossed over the other, her hands behind her head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling, her left foot twitching to some hidden beat. On the other cot, a young girl sat. Her back was rigidly straight, and she stared straight ahead, her blue eyes focused on something Juliet couldn’t see. She had short black hair cut in a kind of page boy style, and her face was unmistakable in its resemblance to Voronov.

“I’m detecting a jamming field—my wireless activity was just blocked,” Angel said, interrupting Juliet’s racing thoughts.

“Probably Lemur’s deck.” Juliet eyed the black cube on the counter beside her. She turned to get Lemur’s attention, intent on telling him she’d found their quarry, but as she did so, she noticed a weird smell in the air, something like copper and the unmistakable odor of diarrhea. Weird thoughts ran through her mind; she wondered if someone had gotten sick or if there was an adjoining bathroom she’d failed to notice.

Juliet remembered Lemur going for the battery, and as she turned toward the cart, a weird clenching in her gut and a tickle on her spine told her something was very wrong. She saw red splashes on the long counter where the security displays sat. She saw the slowly spinning chair where the coffee-offering officer sat, his head thrown back, his neck opened like a gaping, monstrous maw, all the way to the spine. Juliet gasped, and her eyes jerked away toward the other guard and found Lemur standing behind him, her vibroblade plunged to the hilt in the side of his head.

“Excuse the mess.” Lemur jerked the knife out, trailing a stream of blood that splashed onto the pale brown carpeting.