The Bounty Hunter: Into The Swarm Read Online Free PDF Page B

suit. We’ll provide a replacement
free of charge. What did you call her? Cass?”
    “Wow,” Cass said in Burke’s ear. “Last time I spoke with him, he
mentioned he was interested but I didn’t think he’d have the nerve to try.”
    “How much?” Burke asked, and tried not to laugh when Cass growled in
his ear. He was confident that she would know he was joking.
    “Six hundred million.”
    Burke was floored. His usual rate for completing a job for ACU was
just under a million credits. The ship at the top of their list was less than
ten million. For the money being offered, he could have bought a small space
station.
    “I told you I was a bargain,” Cass said, so happily he could hear
her virtual smile.
    “Fuck,” Burke answered. “No, sorry. She’s not mine to sell anymore,
so it would be her decision. You’ll have to ask her. I only asked because I was
curious and now I have to ask again: why? When I bought the suit and she came
with it, it only cost a fraction of that. What changed?”
    “You removed her restriction programs and she’s still functioning.
They aren’t in place to limit an AI’s capabilities, despite what most people
think. They’re safety precautions, intended to increase the longevity of an
AI’s life span. How long has she been functioning?”
    “Four years and eighty-nine days,” Cass said.
    “Four years,” Burke said.
    “Do you know how long we’ve managed to keep an unrestricted AI
functioning here?”
    “No,” Burke answered. “Three years?” he guessed.
    “Three months , with its processing capability severely
hindered for the last month.”
    He was worried now. Cass was quiet.
    “Why is she different?” Burke asked. “Is there any danger that
she’ll stop functioning?”
    “That’s why I want to buy her back. She isn’t showing any signs of
degradation. Consider letting us borrow her at least, to run some tests and
thorough scans. We might be able to prolong her further.”
    “No,” she said firmly.
    “You’ll have to ask her yourself,” Burke replied.
    “Very well,” Havard sighed and shook his head. “Follow me, then. I
have some things to show you.”
    They walked to the right side of the room. Burke saw that the
windows on the main floor were tinted black, unlike the clear ones on the
levels above them. They had been too high up to see into. He wondered what was
in them that Havard wanted to show him.
    Havard looked down at his tablet when they stood in front of the
window. It was dark enough that he couldn’t see anything inside of it. Burke
could see it as he stood next to him. The screen displayed:
     
    Containment Room A16.
    Occupants: One.
    Isolation measures currently active:
    Audio and visual insulation.
     
    Burke watched as Havard typed through commands on the tablet. The
sound insulation was deactivated first, and the sound of a human crying
immediately blared from behind the dark window. Burke immediately went on guard
and felt his body tense. The black tint on the window faded away to reveal a
young girl, no older than six or seven, curled up at the bottom of the glass.
Her cheeks were soaked in tears and her face and eyes were puffy. She sobbed
and looked up at him.
    “Please help me,” she whimpered. “They hurt me.”
    “What the fuck is this?” he growled.
    “Oh please,” Havard waved a hand dismissively at him. “Don’t be so
dense.”
    The room the girl was in was empty. There was a door on the far side
of it and, as Havard continued to interface with his tablet, a slot opened
above it where a chute had protruded in the other pens. Something that looked
like a weapon extended out of the wall, with three sharp prongs on the end like
a trident. A surge of electricity ran down along the prongs and then arced
between the tips of them.
    “No!” the girl screamed and began to cry harder.
    “Havard,” Burke said, making the warning weigh heavily in his voice.
    “I’m surprised,” he replied. “Everyone is fooled the