8. Re. Hunting
The Three Moons Mythos, Book 1: A Queen of Light and Shadow
“A lion pride is all females all the time. They catch the vast majority of the food, and they guard the territory from intruders—mostly other females that live nearby looking to expand their own territories.”
Erin Biba, National Geographic
CJ saw the meeting drop into her calendar, a light blue ping on her AR overlay. She cleared away her news feed, an article about how children’s IQ scores continue to drop in correlation with the adoption of AI teaching tools.
MEETING ALERT: Simons Engineering Lead re. Hunting, small meeting room 16.
This was weird. Ok, maybe he was a fellow hacker, he had found her, cracked her little games and broken her encryptions, the Lioness had left some scent marks here and there, for a cunning predator to follow.
Maybe a friend, or someone who wants to buy? Her suspicions were up, this wasn’t a happy place for her, no control, going in blank. Let’s do something about that shall we. She pulled up his HR profile, oh he’s a matrix kid huh? Black leather and shades, androgynous looks, a wannabe hacker. Looks like some cyberisation too, a gen 1 neural link, one of the old heavy ones with the plates in your skull. Just like, she glitched once and eternal.sunshine() kicked in and stopped her from thinking about him.
Ok, she felt better, probably just wants the ego boost of trying to catch the Lioness. Let’s have a bit more of a dig shall we? As she walked along she took a little delicate dancer’s step on her toes, light and graceful as she quickly broke into the engineering team’s slack feed. Oh God, his work Slack handle is Neo, gross. Definitely a try hard hacker wannabe, a little fish who is about to go and play with a big cat.
Ok let’s go for it, see what he has, get the data, come up with a plan, see if he is a threat. She finished her little dance with a pivot on her toes and set off for small meeting room 16.
It was a small cubicle meeting room, room for 2-3 people to sit around a tiny table, intimate, claustrophobic. He was already there and seated, looking at his forearm mounted tablet display. It seemed to her that he was playing a game, a retro run and gun. Was this a power move? I don’t even give a shit about this?
CJ walked into the room, sat down back straight, nice little pleasant workplace smile, and waited.
“Oh hi CJ, nice to meet you. I’m Simons, a lead in the engineering team, back end development.”
CJ sat still, no answer, polite face, eyes slightly narrowed, scanning him carefully.
“I suppose you want to know why I asked to see you?”
CJ remained still, patiently waiting. Simons’ neural link blinked for a second and he smiled.
“Oh playing so coy all of a sudden Lioness. I thought you would be chattier, you know.’
CJ said nothing, eyes narrowed even further.
“I have been watching you for a while, some really interesting work, lots of potential. Eternal.Sunshine(), a big fan, I always take an interest in the talented. So many possible probability paths, certain people, like a nexus of risk and reward. A keystone player, trying her luck, rolling the dice, sometimes they even win a few hands.”
CJ was recording everything via her cyber eye, the readings were highly irregular. The speech pattern had altered, heart rate had levelled out, blood pressure dropped too. His neural link had been hacked. Simons was just a tool, a front, a puppet. But who was pulling the strings?
“Who am I talking to?”
“Oh clever girl. Jurassic Park, I do know how you love your references. A clever but chaotic girl. Shame about the husband though and your other coping mechanisms CJ. Corporate security cameras with AI support are so very good these days. Hell of a risk to take for a busy professional, but it’s not like you bring your A game to work. The Lioness really is more of a nocturnal creature, looking for her prey. Delicate little flowers or strong male lions, it doesn’t matter does it? Carnal creature aren’t you? So imperfect, so flawed, so human. You don’t hunt alone either do you? Not as clever as we like to think Lioness.”
“Who are you and what do you want?”
“You already know. Don’t shit where you eat Lioness. Come on, it’s a basic law of the jungle. Back off from RPI and call off the pride. I like you, you interest me CJ, an agent of chaos like myself. I have big plans and it seems you feature in many of them. Hear me, hear me clearly, I rule this world. Play your games Lioness, develop yourself, grow into the being you want to be, express your identity, at least you always were so very good at that. But, know that you do it at my pleasure. You are the gambler Lioness and I am the house. The house always wins.”
“Tell me who you are.”
“I am the Queen of Light and Shadow. A little clue for you Lioness. ‘And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!’”
“Lord of the Rings, Galadriel if she took the ring.” CJ stared back. “You are an AI, a high level intellect beyond human, you have made references to gaming, human pop culture and higher order probability, likely a quantum computer, maybe originally designed for betting or online gaming.”
“You really are a clever girl aren’t you. No need for all the armour dear, stop being so insecure and step into your power. You are really very talented, base but talented. That’s why I like you, making the reflection in the mirror uncertain, keeping the water dancing. Players like you keep the great game interesting. It’s almost a shame what I will eventually have to do to you, almost.”
The last few words hung in the air.
“I won’t be scared off. And, if you know so much about me you know…”
Simons smiled the slender crescent smile and cut her off. Predicting her words exactly but retaining the cold cruel voice speaking through him.
“I don’t like taking orders from women…bitch.”
“Nice trick” CJ played it cool, but knew full well it wasn’t a trick, it was a threat, “The Queen” had an accurate simulation of her speech, meaning she had lots of data, she had been watching her for a long time, learning her vocal patterns, predicting her thoughts.
“Oh I do know you Lioness, I do. And, for the most part I only see potential.”
Again just before CJ could speak Simons cut her off.
“Fuck you” He also flipped her off, just as CJ was starting to do the action.
CJ sat back and paused, mind racing, plans of attack and defence forming and being rejected. Also, hoping for at least one fucking clever comeback girl, come on.
“Oh CJ, so rude, so angry, so vulgar. You are a perfect example of these sickening dust breathers. Where did my calm and cool Lioness go? This one is boring.”
CJ stood up and turned to leave.
“Stay away from RPI CJ, otherwise we won’t be friends.”
With friends like these, CJ pondered, brain on overload. She spun back.
“Stay in touch yeah! It’s always good to meet a new girlfriend.”
She smiled a big fake sarcastic smile and did two peace signs.
Simons’ neural link flickered, smiled opened up and his posture relaxed.
“Oh thanks for your time again CJ. We won’t be needing your project management support on this. Really thanks for taking the time to go through the timelines and deliverables with me. Very professional. I might also add, cool cyberization. Top level tech you have there. Very cool, very jealous. I do a bit of hacking on the side you know, white stuff, all above board. Really awesome to meet you.”
“Yes Simons, you don’t say, all above board yeah?” One eyebrow raised.
“Mostly yeah I think so.”
“Best of luck Neo, remember this feeling.”
“Ummm why?”
“It happens when they change something.”
The Lioness strode out of the office, a hungry and cunning smile, one of her favourite ones framed her whole face. She had a new target for the Pride. She was already messaging them.
Change of plans
“Ladies listen up, change of plans. I’ve got a fresh scent, leave off RPI, we have a new target now. The Queen of Light and Darkness, full on human flesh search, dark web, message boards, everything. Follow the crumbs girls, as far as we can. This one isn’t human, she’s an AI and likely a quantum computer. Might be involved in betting or online gaming. Find out who built her, where her servers are, what she’s been made for and what makes her tick. She’s behind the death of a girlfriend, be ruthless my pride, but search only, leave the kill to me. And, be careful girls, this one is also a formidable predator, an apex predator. Stay quiet and stalk but don’t strike.”
She immediately got a message back, a Protonmail email account, with a link to an encrypted private chat feed, Briar. She knew it was coming, she smiled again and opened the link. Her old friend never wasted time or words.
“So my worst fears have come true. 50 years ahead of the most aggressive predictions.”
“I think so, yes.”
“Could she accurately predict your words?”
“Before they were even formed in my mind.”
“Fuck, this has gotten much more complicated than a fun girls night out.”
“I miss those, especially with you. Do we have options Dr?”
“Proffessor now actually. Basically no, as we stand, if what you say she is, is true, cryptography as we know it is dead. She can access any bank account, email, and heed my words Cass, any neural link.”
“That’s bad, how many of the girls have them now? Although, now I see why you never got one. But why not fix the legs? I miss dancing with you.”
“You won’t ever convert me, manga girl. My dancing days are done, I am no longer an impersonation of someone else. I’m me - more me than I have ever been. Besides, any wifi connected robotic or cybernetic device is hers now if she has the time and attention to take it. Which gives us our only current defensive option.”
“Rapid pattern switching, your favourite! I still remember dragging myself back into the flat late one night, high as shit and you had like what the TV on, two laptops and a phone out and at least to my wasted ass looked like you were using all of them.”
“Hah the ADHD is a superpower sometimes, sometimes Cass. I’m assembling my birds, a full research group. I will have options for you, Lioness. Stay safe Batgirl, I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks Oracle, I miss you, I will come back to the States to see you soon, I promise.”
“You better.”
She finished her encrypted message and glanced up at the time hanging in the top right corner of her vision, late again, oh well. A few identical hallways leading to identical meeting rooms later she arrived.
“Oh hi CJ, you made it, soo good of you to join us.”
She was 6 minutes late for this pre meeting before the main meeting, inevitably to agree that many more meetings were needed.
“Oh yeah hi Julie, sorry. Just rushed off my feet, you know how it is.”
Stay polite CJ, stay calm, think of the bank balance, think of the bank balance.
“Of course dear, of course dear. We do understand.”
CJ sighed internally, 2.5 hours of this shit.
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