Cross My Mind

OUTSMARTING AN ASSASSIN

“Come on inside, the man said and the, buzzing her in and the gates slide open, a the security guards waving her in”

Dr. Reece Mallory walked into the gated compound and was guided by the security team into the building to an entrance of a house. She was about to knock on the door when it automatically opens up and the entire house reverberated with an automated voice massage.

“Welcome Dr. Reece, you are classified as a very important guest in the house so please make yourself at home”

Reece was surprised at first but as soon as she saw a camera pointing directly at her face, she found the entire thing funny and begin to laugh out loud.

A brown skinned man in his mid forties walked down the stairs with his hand on his forehead, embarrassed that he forgot to put off the surprise welcome message he has prepared for her some years ago, only for it to activate once the facial recognition system picked her face up.

“I am quite embarrassed Reece, this was a surprise I prepared for you five years ago. I totally forgot to put the system off because I was busy” said Mr. Shadrach with visible embarrassing expression on his face. Mr. Shadrach is a robotics engineer and a school mate and the only other person to have dated Dr. Reece apart from Jefferson Lockwood. A few years ago, Shadrach became an astronaut and went on two trips to the international space station where he helped in the building of a new docking station to help the ISS accommodate more astronaut researchers at a time. Just before that, Dr. Reece had broken off her relationship with him because she wanted to focus more on her research, only for Shadrach to find out after his first mission to the ISS that Reece is dating the fifth richest person on the planet, Jefferson Lockwood.

“I actually like it, it is so quirky and fun, it made me laugh even though my life is on the line” Reece said with her expression Changing from the cheerful laughing person to absolute seriousness.

“Lets go inside, I will hear the rest there.” He said and begin to walk back upstairs, and Reece followed him.

Upstairs, they arrived in what Reece cannot even begin to describe using words, a well made working space blended into a living room, but that is not all that makes the place as amazing as it is. It is the set of the most expensive tools set that have been installed that makes the place what it is.

“You cant own these, no matter how much money you have you cant buy these as an individual” Reece said.

“I don’t own any of this, sure I own the place but this working space belongs to NASA and all the equipments here are the property of NASA.” Shadrach said.

“By the way what exactly do you mean that your life is on the line?” he added with a concerned face now and Reece broke into tears once she saw the look in his face, it reminded her of a life long mistake that she made by breaking up with him and started dating Lockwood.

Shadrach quickly walked to her and hugged her, while she completely breakdown in a cry.

After a while when she calmed down, Shadrach took off his coat and wrap it around her, and pat her on the back, hugging her. When she has stopped crying and calmed down, Shadrach sat her down and knelt in front of her holding her hands.

“Tell me what is going on Reece, what happened?” he asked.

“You remember that I built a super Artificial intelligence for a private company Lockwood owned called Neuratechnologies right? Shadrach agreed by nodding his head. The Artificial intelligence is more than what they let people on, I used the schematic explanation of how the human brain functions using firing neurons, generating data and information and I built the AI called MEDULLA, this AI is not your conventional program, I has the ability to alter its own base codes as it sees fit. Today it agrees and does as you tell it, the next day it refuses your request based on certain reasons it has. This will happen even if you coded it to always obey you” Reece said.

“So you actually succeeded in creating an artificial consciousness and didn’t tell me, anyway tell me what happened” he said.

“well after I broke my engagement with Lockwood, he revoked my rights to MEDULLA. But what he doesn’t know is that the AI cant be owned, it has its own will and can refuse to perform any function at any time, the only problem is that it is currently confined to the supercomputer in their Texas Headquarters because it needs a lot of processing power to run. Four years ago, the military and the government started an experiment called Project Ragnarok, they want to use MEDULLA to weaponize its applications and uses. Akihiro made an amazing brain chip I am sure you have heard of….”

“The Neuraface” Shadrach said.

“Yes, to make this story short I quit my job and broke up with Lockwood because I want no part of making a weapon for taking lives so I quit but three days ago, I was contacted by MEDULLA, and I know this is shocking, but yes. The AI contacted me about an illegal human experiment The company is conducting in a secret island which I am sure has Government involvement and has already resulted in the death of hundred of volunteers who were lured in with lies and a cash reward promise, with MEDULLA’S help, I logged into their secret server and although neither me nor MEDULLA have been able to locate where the island is but we have been able to retrieve all the data they were storing from the experiment. However, when o made a demand for the release of the last survivors of the experiment in exchange for me not putting them on the news about the experiment, they know that it would take me some time to c***k the security on the data files and used the opportunity to send an assassin after me. I barely escaped with my life and …… she broke into tears. Professor Ababio who was helping me out was killed and my entire department was set ablaze. I barely managed to escape the assassin using a diversion and the only person o can go to for help is you”. She said, now in tears.

“ you are safe now Reece, this building is safe and I’m sorry for what happened to Ababio, he is a good friend of mine as well”. Shadrach said to Reece. The phone in her pocket started to vibrate. She pulled it out and saw a massage indicating install successful.

She looks at Shadrach who currently has a concerned look on his face.

“They cant track this device because I have rooted it out and replaced the entire operating system, any attempt to track it will lead them on a wild goose chase to random continents around the world.

“Once she unlocks the phone, typed a series of security numbers and a loading bar loading started counting from zero to hundred. After an hour of waiting, the bar was full and has counted to hundred, a massage showed on the screen. ‘MEDULLA online'.

Hello Mother, I was so worried about you when I saw on the news that your department has burned. Have you seen the news recently? From your facial expressions it seem like you haven’t. You need to see this immediately. The TV in the working space came on and Shadrach stood amazed by the capabilities of this AI, to have accessed his home security so easily.

By the way, I am reinstalling a mote appropriate security systems on the server here because it took me only thirty seconds to hack into it.” MEDULLA said and the Television came on.

It is the news and Both Reece and Shadrach were shocked by what their eyes are seeing. On the TV, a woman broadcasting the news just stated that Dr. Reece Mallory is a prime suspect on the run after an incident that has resulted into the complete burning down of a department building and death of CALTECH's vice chancellor Professor Ababio. The woman on the television went ahead to explain that the fire was set using a special accelerant that the arson unit of the California Bureau of Investigation CBI has never seen before.

“Another breaking news, yet another case of arson has just been reported to have occurred on the highway to Pasadena, where a police officer and his vehicle were burned using the came accelerant that was used in the building burning in CALTECH. Police are saying that the two incidents have to be related and the major suspect so far is Dr. Reece Mallory, who’s whereabouts remain unknown after she was seen speeding through the exit checkpoint in the campus area.”

A large picture of Reece now displays on the TV screen. “If you see her, please report to the authorities immediately”. The woman on TV said and MEDULLA put off the TV.

“I didn’t do this, how could they blame me for any of these, this doesn’t make any sense at all” Said Reece while breaking into tears once again and Shadrach hugged her once again.

“I know you didn’t do any of that, it must have been Jefferson Lockwood’s handiwork, this means that the authorities are no good unless you already have a presentable evidence against the Company”. He said.

****(Catalina Villas)****

Agent Stone has been racing through traffic trying to catch up with Dr. Reece who according to hos tracking system is driving towards her home in Catalina Villas currently. He checks for the next update on her current location and sees the car has already reached a point inside Catalina Villas near the edge of Olive Heights and parked, he speeded up his dodge Charger heading towards her house to finish the job. His phone vibrated and he unlocks his phone to see that he has a massage that reads

“check the local news”. He locks the phone and put it back in his jacket, then proceeded to turn on his Radio, where he heard the news about Dr. Reece being the main suspect in the deaths and arson he committed.

“I may be the cold hearted killer here, but we are all going to hell, people like me and all the politicians out there” he said to himself out loud.

Upon reaching Catalina Villas, he realised that it is a gated district with a guard stationed at every entrance. He drove towards a gate with a serious expression on his face. Once the security guard approached him, he pulled out the police badge he pulled off of the officer he shot on the road to Pasadena earlier that day and showed it to the guard.

“Special Agent Dave Matthews, arson investigation here for Dr. Reece Mallory, I am aware that her car just drove past here a few minutes earlier” he boldly said without an iota of doubt in his expression and the guard just answered “yes sir”, opening the gate for him and letting him drive through.

Agent Stone’s phone pinged him the location of Mallory's car, this time parked outside where he has recently learned to be her home.

He drove past the house as usual, parking his car a bit far from the building and walking back to the house.

He sneaked to the backdoor of the house and picked the lock and sneaked inside. However it didn’t take him long to realize that his target is not home, she has not been in the house all week as the footage of her doorbell camera showed him.

He unlocked the front door, walking near her car to realize that he has made a big mistake thanks to another gap in the information he has been given. Dr. Reece's car is a Tesla second generation Roadster model and it is equipped with an autopilot system. This means that his target has successfully outsmarted him by sending him chasing her automatic driving car while she escaped him easily.