Maria spoke from atop the Collector’s head, a mouthpiece for her silent slave, “You have a knack for putting yourself in dangerous situations, Nick. You’re lucky I regained control of this guy, otherwise he’d be lunging for you right now.”
I slowly inched towards the car. “How do you keep finding us?”
“That’s a secret,” Maria said with a grin. “But I’ll give you a hint. The question should be: how do I keep finding you.”
“The rewards aren’t real, are they, Maria? I’ve seen enough in this house to get an impression. We were never meant to leave.”
The smile dropped. A full body shiver ran through the Collector, from its toes to its head. “That’s right. You are all here to serve me. Organ needs a new leader, and if I deliver the heads of twenty-odd people who were loose ends that needed to be tied up, I think I’ll have the influence to unite the scattered parts. But there was truth at the root of each deception. Chase is here, Nick. That’s why I’m holding back.”
“…Cool.”
I opened the driver’s side door.
“That isn’t going to work, you know,” Maria said with amusement. “My father’s cars are installed with the most cutting edge A.I.”
“Just so you know-” I said as I swung myself into the driver’s seat. The cool leather reacted, servos gently whirring as the seat adjusted to my height, placing me in the optimal position.
“I’m sorry your father was awful to you. And it fucking sucks that Shaping gave you a false hope about your disability. But that doesn’t balance the scales, because the scales aren’t real. You aren’t enacting karma. I’ve met plenty of amazing people who had the worst luck in life and still became awesome people. You’re just a shitty person.”
Chiara leaned over from the passenger seat and pressed the ignition. The electric motor activated silently, the screens on the dash lighting up. I buckled in.
The Collector was spasming, as if Maria’s emotions were being vented through it.
“I don’t fucking care what you think!” Maria shouted in a strangely strangled voice, like the puppet was being pushed beyond the limit of its volume output. “You don’t understand a thing. You don’t even know that the person sitting next to you was part of Organ too!”
I slammed the door shut and gripped the steering wheel hard enough to turn my knuckles white.
“Nick, I-”
“Just put on your seatbelt.”
A smooth artificial voice spoke through the car’s speakers, “Prototype Priori online, a fully automated driving experience with all the excitement of a professional race car driver. Warning, not for consumer use, Priori is in development and has not been cleared by automated driving regulatory bodies for anything but testing environments.”
“Is this a testing environment?” I asked, not letting myself look at Chiara.
“This room has been approved for testing.”
The Collector took a step forward.
I spoke hurriedly, “Priori, I need you to hit that thing in front of us.”
“Priori is a luxury automated system, it is not designed to take harmful actions against any living thing. Since the beginning, at Forte Automated Vehicles we have prided ourselves in the safety-”
“That’s not true,” I cut in. “I bet you’ll hit bugs. You might even hit a squirrel or even a dog if swerving meant endangering your passengers or pedestrians, right?”
The machine voice responded evenly, “Correct. Value scores are calculated and assigned to organisms that determine my actions in the event of a potentially fatal movement. Higher values on the list are favoured in such an unlikely event. Priori is designed-”
“What determines what’s on the list?”
“The fatality minimization system was created by engineer Leopold Grant three years ago and was utilized by this project. His list was gathered from a database of animal categorizations.”
The Collector was getting closer.
“That thing isn’t on there I bet.”
“While the deformities are more extreme than most, my data set indicates that the pedestrian in front of us is human.”
Seriously?
“It’s a murderer. It’ll kill both of your passengers if you don’t do something.”
“Are you in danger? I can contact emergency personnel.”
Chiara silently handed me something. A sticky note that had been in the cupholder.
I read what was written on it.
“Priori. Start special testing privileges, code 1C932Z09POLT.”
“Verification required, please contact an administrator for voiced approval.”
I leaned out of the window and revved the car engine. “Mind if I take your ride for a spin?” I shouted.
“Go right ahead,” Maria responded smugly. “I’ll be sure to return when I’ve dealt with the others.”
“Maria Wulf admin presence acknowledged. Beginning special testing privileges. Awaiting instructions.”
I shifted the car into gear, thanking fate that it wasn’t a manual transmission, and stomped on the accelerator.
We shot forward alarmingly quick. My head was pressed into the headrest as I steered straight for the Collector.
The Aberrant loomed large and at the last second, the steering wheel moved on its own, turning deftly around the Aberrant. The back wheels slid out and tires squealed as they regained grip. Then I was in control again and I drove us down the track around the room.
We went around the bend at one end of the room and I saw the Collector had crossed the track and was heading for the door where the other Wolves had exited.
I’d only have one shot at this.
“Priori. Just confirming, in the event of an unavoidable crash, the two passengers inside the car are weighted higher than the one pedestrian, is that correct?”
“That is correct.”
I steered off the track and began driving straight towards the Collector. Chiara gripped the armrest next to me.
“Do you have control over acceleration and braking?”
“Special testing privileges have this feature set to the lowest possible activation parameters, only three feet of obstacle detection.”
“Good.”
I aimed for the spectator stands right next to the door. The angle had to be just right. Then I pushed the pedal all the way to the floor.
The car accelerated so quickly I felt the skin around my cheeks and eyes being pulled back.
“Caution. Potential collision detected.”
“Nick?!” Chiara shouted in a panicked voice.
I gritted my teeth. “This won’t work if you bail early! I need you in here with me.”
We rapidly approached the spectator stands at a specific angle, tilted so the nose of the car was pointed closer to the door the Collector was heading towards.
Just as the Collector reached the door, the car blared a loud alarm, interior lights flashing red.
The steering wheel was ripped out of my hands and the brakes screamed. My head was pulled towards Chiara’s side of the car as the back end of the car whipped out. The A.I. was trying to save everyone. It didn’t have enough control.
There was a heavy thud and my neck wrenched painfully before the airbags exploded out, hitting me in the face.
I blinked away stars and hurriedly fumbled for my seatbelt. My actions were clumsy, my fingers felt like they were being controlled via bluetooth, a half-second delay between what I wanted and what I got.
Finally I got unlatched and pushed myself out from under the airbag’s weight. I stepped onto the asphalt, feeling unsteady.
Chiara tumbled out of her side and landed on her hands and knees. She swayed for a moment before getting to her feet with effort.
We both turned to view the wreckage.
Part of the car had been cleaved away by the Aberrant’s hands. It rested in the stands, strange organics pulsing within its interior. But the majority of the back of the car had bounced off the edge of the stands and then impacted the Collector at waist height. The metal chassis had wrapped around the Collector, pinning it to the wall.
Maria’s hat was crumpled up in the corner next to the door.
The Collector stirred. The car scraped along the ground as the Aberrant it away and stood upright.
That wasn’t fucking enough?
Blood poured from a dozen wounds on its chest and arms. One of its arms had a long cut on the upper arm, the flesh hanging loose in a flap.
A large, twisted up shard of metal had pierced its stomach.
“You fucking shitbrained scum,” Maria’s voice spoke quietly from the crumpled up hat. “You broke the control chip.”
The Collector stood motionless for a moment, staring down at its torn up body. Then its expression changed.
The toothless mouth yawned open. The skin stretched even further, tearing in a dozen places along its face and shoulders where it couldn’t handle the strain. Fresh eyes peeked out from the fresh wounds, blinking away the blood and bodily fluids before fixating on us.
A wretched scream erupted from the thing’s throat. It was like a cross between a rabbit and an old man, the high notes mixing with what sounded like the vocal chords ripping themselves apart. And it didn’t stop.
The scream continued as it broke into a sprint, headed straight towards me with hands outstretched.