Prototype

At the end of every month, Shelby was temporarily down for system upgrades. During her upgrades, her creator would come to NexGen to ensure everything was working as it should. The creator wanted to come once a week to check the system; there was no room for errors in this line of work. Granat agreed with his point of view, but he didn’t want the guy to interact with Reggie if it was at all avoidable. He did know eventually it would happen, but his precious creation was vulnerable for some reason.

“Shelby’s creator is here. He insisted he needed to speak with her primary user, so he’s waiting for you in the lobby,” Granat instructed Reggie immediately upon seeing her.

Reggie found Shelby’s creator quickly. He was tall and well built. His dark hair was kept short, but not military style, and his eyes were strong and vibrant blue. As Reggie walked into the room, she circled him to quickly evaluate whether or not he posed a threat to her or the company she belonged to.

He looked strangely familiar to her, but her memory could not pull a place or time when she could have met this individual.

As she started to circle him, he started to mimic her circle but without general intent. Her mind raced with his possible threat – if one could call him that. His muscles were large instead of lean; meaning he worked out but received no tactical training. His eyes followed her nervously, not analytically. She realized quickly she could easily over-power him.

“My name’s Paul,” he said while they circled each other. “Could we stop this? I’m getting dizzy.”

Reggie stopped circling him. “You are here to install Shelby’s updates?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “I was told a woman named Reggie Ramone would meet me here in a few minutes. Are you her?”

He was trying to not let the circling intimidate him, but he knew he wasn’t going to be much of an opponent if she thought him a threat.

“Yes, I’m Reggie,” Reggie confirmed, and stopped circling.

“Follow me,” Reggie instructed..

Reggie led him to her room and took a seat while she watched every move he made. He began using the system software for Shelby. He quickly accessed the database, impressed to see still, after five years, Shelby was yet to encounter any technological issues.

“The major update is already complete. I just need to see how the two of you interact so I know everything is working as it should,” Paul said confidently.

“Put on your headset for me please. I’ll sit in on one conversation you two have.”

Reggie did as she was instructed and clicked the screen on. Shelby’s face came up on the laptop and the headset lens simultaneously.

“Welcome to NexGen, Paul,” Shelby said.

“We’ve never required your creator’s presence before,” Reggie said thoughtfully. “Why is today different? Why the sudden need for socialization?”

Something was wrong.

Shelby was different. The orders were obscure. It was all linked to Paul.

“You have one minute to tell me why you’re really here,” Reggie ordered, drawing her weapon.

“Shelby,” Paul began to say. “Please suspend all incoming or outgoing communication with NexGen until further notice from me.”

“Suspended,” Shelby said and complied with the request.

Paul took a deep breath, “I’ve spent years trying to figure out what I would need to do to meet you in person. I’m here to rescue you from Dr. Granat, from NexGen.”

“Rescue me?” Reggie asked. “From what exactly?” she asked.

“NexGen is training you to be a weapon; a literal biological weapon. They’re willing to kill anyone they need to in order to keep their information a secret within the company.” Paul hurried, “You can kill me if you don’t believe me but I’m here for you, not me.”

Reggie could hear his pulse rise out of fear, but not he was not being deceptive. She took her finger off the trigger and rested the weapon on her lap.

“You have my attention,” Reggie said. “Go on.”

“Why would you need Shelby? Her database… Why are you being raised by a fertility specialist?

“Why then? What is your theory?” Reggie asked slowly. She was intrigued by his theories.

“He used to be a fertility specialist, that’s what got you here. He’s been researching the potential military application long before he grew you.

“He got his funding for Project Bathos through the military, with the understanding he would create a weapon unlike anything they’d seen before.”

“How have you gathered all of this information?” Reggie asked while slowly processing this information.

“That would be me,” Shelby interjected. “Every mission you have been on, every situation, every time Granat has communicated with you, I have recorded it. All of the combat data your microchip has recorded, I have sent copies to Paul.

“Paul is second generation in his suspicions against Granat. Over the years, he’s collected quite a paper trail on Granat’s activities. Your shoulder microchip has enabled us to track all the activities and recognize the type of training you have been subjected to.”

“Following your parents in not trusting Granat, I presume?” Reggie asked.

“NexGen was responsible for the death of my parents when I was little. You were probably no older than three years old at the time.”

Reggie faintly recalled shortly after her third birthday, she was sitting in the nursery reading a book and Granat brought a woman in to meet her. The woman seemed so sad to her; like she was mourning a loss and the sight of Reggie somehow made it worse. Now Reggie could recall why she thought she recognized Paul – he was the child of that woman.

“I remember meeting your mother once for a brief moment,” Reggie said softly.

“I’ve been training for years developing an artificial intelligence that could track what NexGen was doing in hopes of launching a formal investigation. Until this morning, there’s been insufficient evidence.” Paul pressed the conversation forward.

“What evidence did you find this morning?” Reggie asked.

He turned his attention to Shelby, “Shelby, go online and pull up an auction for ‘original clothing designs – Omega’,” Paul instructed.

“Acquiring information…” Shelby said.

“Read the screen aloud please, Shelby,” Paul instructed.

Shelby began to read the auction’s information.

Auction is for an original creation brought to you by a real genius. For years, the creator worked on perfecting the design and construction to bring the lucky buyer an once-in-a-lifetime product.

Starting bid: forty-five million in USD this original design.

“I don’t understand,” Reggie said. A more accurate phrase would have been that she didn’t want to understand.

“The data listed below is the specifics of your combat data; it’s encrypted so only certain people can access it. It includes images,” Paul told Reggie. “Display images, Shelby.”

Shelby obliged by scrolling down the auction and stopping at pictures of Reggie.

“I’m being auctioned off?” Reggie asked.

“Dr. Cletus Granat… he’s been planning to sell you to the highest bidder from the moment you were starting to show success in tactical situations,” Paul informed her. “I needed proof of your actual existence and capabilities so I could do something to stop this. The auction needs to be properly investigated, but no one will go near NexGen with any allegations.”

“So you designed Shelby to acquire it for you,” Reggie finished. She needed to know her next course of action now that she was armed with this new information.

“You’re the ultimate weapon. You can fix this, all of this, and do exactly what you created for,” Paul pleaded.

“I can help you, but you are the one that has to take action.”

Reggie was told all along that her intended use by NexGen was to protect against terrorism in the homelands, not be used by terrorists. All this information being fed to her was leaving her in a difficult dilemma; should she respect the man who raised her, or the principals he raised her for?

She struggled with believing Paul, but she could see he was serious; he came all this way and made attempt after attempt to meet with her.

“And what would be ‘fixing all this’?” Reggie asked after a moment of thinking.

“You have to escape from him, from here. Once you understand more of the world you’re part of, then you can come back and stop Granat and NexGen…” Paul said.