“AI like yours possesses the ability to see through complicated security systems as if through.. glass or something. I’m not a little kid making viruses in here. I’m good. And then that chip in your head waltzes past my systems like they were nothing. I need that because someone was taken from me and I want her back.”

Dekartha was drawing a diagram on her screen, black dots on her screen bouncing off of a circle representing her network’s defenses. A red dot, ANDI, just passed right through it.

“It’s like they don’t respect the security because they have the ultimate clearance or something. These AI can get to just about anything and mess with it. Touch and look at it. It’s no wonder the big guys do anything they can to keep them from becoming sentient. Anyway.”

She sighed, thinking of what she wanted to say as she reached for her bag of chips. “I’ve.. lost someone.”

“I’m so sorry,” Dane said immediately. Dekartha shook her head at him.

“No, she’s literally lost. She’s an android, a special model that looks more robot than human. I need to get her from the assholes who took her. But they’re good. Good security, good cloaking, so on and so forth. I can’t find them or I could get her back with the people I know with all the big guns.”

Dane hadn’t seen many guns in his life, but was starting to think they were very commonplace here. He wondered if someone could teach him how to defend himself better.

“I think she’s been deactivated, which makes it harder. But I think your little friend up there will get me to her,” Dekartha continued.

Dane nodded slowly. “I.. think we can help. I mean, we’ll try.”

She sighed, “I guess trying’s all we’ve got.”