X4T9F

He'll be lucky if his liver doesn't give out by the end of the decade, is what I think while I stare at the drunk senator rambling political secrets without a care. He's in his late thirties, salt and pepper hair framing a mouth too big for his face."-and I told him it wasn't his better interest to sponsor me, but then again, how could I turn down the offer? I mean it was a lot of-"I circle the rim of my wine cup again, nodding along emphatically while I widen my eyes for good measure. He downs his drink, and I pour him another.Information speaking, I've gathered everything I need to get up and leave mid conversation. But I keep listening, letting him prattle on for another minute for good measure. The small blinking red light in the corner of my vision goes dark, and I mentally upload the audio recording into the cloud for my father to review.I push back my chair, ignoring his confused exclamations as I push past him to exit the bar. Theres no car waiting for me this time, so I hail a taxi. It arrives in mere minutes, doors clicking open automatically."Where to?" says the feminine robotic voice.I tap the address into the computer screen, and the car lurches forward. I'm removing my heels when an incoming call lights up the center of my vision. I don't need to check the number to see who called me. Only one person has direct access to my call center. I double tap my temple."I received your recording."The unfortunate Senator, who I've already forgotten the name of, had long been a target of my father, and it had taken four months of carefully curated interactions to finally pull the information I needed out of him."Any other reason you're calling me?" I try to keep my annoyance out of my voice, while I rub the red marks the stilettos left into the heel of my foot. My small dress feels too tight, my earrings too heavy."An emergency came up. I need you to head off-planet. Now. Reroute your taxi to Asgate Airport."My body goes numb, and I suddenly forget about the friction burns on my heel. My hands move without thought, and I do as I'm told."Go to gate 48, and enter the private pod I've prepared for you.""Wait," I say, raising my hands up. My father's holographic image flickers in front of me. "I need to go back and grab my things if I'm going off-planet. You need to tell me why I'm going off-planet to begin with."My throat closes up with panic, and for a second, I believe that my deepest fears have come alive. That my usefulness has finally come to a close, and I'll be ejected into the sky like space junk. I hate how desperate my voice sounds, but I can't help it."I need you to exterminate Elias X4T9F."Relief floods my system, and I let my body relax. Yet still, I can't stop the feeling of uneasiness in my chest. Not once in my nineteen years, had father ever sent me off planet.Too risky, he had told me once when I asked. I could never recover your body if something went wrong."Exterminate?" I repeat with a tilt of my head. My father had no issue using words like "kill" and "assassinate" and his change in wording struck me the wrong way.In response, my Father pulls up charts of his stocks, as well as other graphs detailing his trades and profits. There's a huge dip in all of them.It only takes me a few seconds to evaluate the data. In the span of four days, my father had lost over half his fortune.It suddenly all makes sense, why my father's willing to risk me going off planet, and his urgency in doing so.He ends the call, and I exit the taxi barefoot, carrying my stilettos by their straps while I speed walk. I curse my outfit choice for not the first time today, as rocks dig into my bare feet.I'm unable to contain my excitement as I enter the airport, realizing that this is going to be my first ever trip off earth.There's an entourage of men in black suits waiting for me in the airport lobby, and they lead me into a private gate. One of them hands me a duffle bag, filled with a computer, a blaster, and other basic necessities. Someone hands me an oversized blazer, and I take it graciously, wrapping it around my cold shoulders.The pod is smaller than I expected, hospital white walls enclosing a circular room, with a seat and control panel in the front. The doors slide shut with a hiss.I settle into the chair, letting reality sink in. It all still doesn't feel real, even as I fasten myself into the seat for take off. A countdown begins on the panel, and I close my eyes. Before I can prepare myself, the pod accelerates forward, making me lurch in my seat.I fight the urge to vomit, tears brimming in my eyes as I hold onto the armholds for dear life. Its all I can do to suppress my screams. This cannot be safe, I'm going to die!Logically, I know I'm not going to. More people die in airplane crashes, than they do in pod crashes. But that doesn't calm my racing heart, or stop the adrenaline pumping into my veins.I open my eyes after I feel the pressure in the pod release, and we enter cruising elevation. Stars dust the sky like glitter, shining so bright it almost hurts to stare. I'm not sure how long I stay locked in my seat, my eyes glued to the sea of stars and asteroids. Every so often, my pod passes another spaceship, each one bigger than the last.It must have been an hour before I finally reached into my duffle bag to pull out the new computer my father had packed for me. I waste no time, pulling as much information as I could on Elias.Elias X4T9F.Age: 25Occupation: Founder of X4T9F MachineryThe next piece of information I come across makes me freeze.Elias X4T9F. Only known sentient human adaptation artificial intelligence model.My father never mentioned Elias wasn't human. My hands tremble of the keyboard, and I find myself unable to type anything further.A fully sentient artificial intelligence model. The idea is ludicrous.Yet I'm living proof its possible.No, that isn't right. Only half of my veins had been replaced with wires, and only the major bones in my body had been fortified with tungsten. Three quarters of my brain had been modified with artificial connections, the remaining quarter is human. I, am human.Elias is not.I only found one image of him, after hours of searching, and it was a blurry one. He's standing on the landing bay of a ship, white-gloved hands folded behind his back as he watches boxes being carried in and out of the cargo-hold.His face is turned away from the camera, perfectly groomed dark-hair hiding everything but a cross-earring dangling from his left earlobe.I close the computer, running a frustrated hand through my hair. How does one even kill something that isn't living to begin with? Even though I'm not fully human, I would still die if someone removed my head. But Elias isn't human at all. Was there some software I had to delete? A core I had to destroy?I get up from my seat, opening one of the compartments and pulling out a dried MRE packet. Too tired to soak the powder in boiling water, I choose to instead swallow mouthfuls of dry powder. The taste leaves a lot to be desired.There's no bed in the pod, so I settle for lying on the cold floor. The small map on the side of the control panel indicates I've traveled nearly 60 light years, and I'll arrive at my destination early next morning.I touch my temples, trying to establish a connection back to earth. As much as I want to deny it, I missed my father.He picks up on the first ring."Mirabelle."I sit up to get a better view of his hologram, projected from the tiny nanocells in my iris."Elias is an artificial intelligence model." My words are a statement, not a question, and I scrutinize his expression, looking for anything. He doesn't react."Which is specifically why I want you to eliminate him," he responded. He made it sound simple, as if all I had to do was remove his head and call it a day."So what? You've programmed my pod to go directly to him, and I'll just waltz in and delete all his files?""No. Tomorrow, you'll arrive at Homeworld cantine, where you'll gather information and sabotage his shipments. Lay low until you come across an opportunity to kill him.""Lay low? For how long?""However fucking long it takes." He clicks the intercom off.