Chapter 39: Last Gamble
Murph prepares for a high-stakes mission against the Company, grappling with inner turmoil as chaos erupts around him.
Perched on the dozer’s back, Murph waited, his eyes fixed on the distant silhouette of the Company headquarters. He knew his people were in there. Syn had said Ada was sharing details with her.
< Syn, there’s some freaky thing in here… it’s like it’s got eyes on me. Be careful, yeah? > Ada’s voice carried a mix of caution and unease.
The details of their mission played over in his mind, each step leading to this moment. He knew the risks, the weight of his decision pressing down on him as he prepared to act.
He’d been waiting ever since he warned them of the trap. Through his rifle scope, he had watched the team’s careful advance, their movements a silent ballet in the moonlit water. Each dot on his mini-map represented more than just a position; they were a commitment, a silent vow he had made to protect them. He knew that if he could see them others could. He’d done what he could to hide their movements. Scrambling video feeds and distracting security guards and their daemons.
He’d stolen through quiet streets in the shadows and found himself waiting and thinking. The minutes dragged and the scene on the Company grounds had long since gone quiet.
He stared down at the dark, building waiting for something. Something to justify what he was about to do. Something to force his hand. Like armed men rushing out like ants from a disturbed nest, “Those bastards aren’t the real enemy,” he muttered, setting his rifle down behind him. But nothing happened. He was scraping a fingernail through the aging paint when it did.
Ada’s voice white-hot like a beacon, <Murph now!> he’d nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Syn, let’s move,” he whispered.
< Murph, I’m in their system, I can feel It,> in his mind, Syn walked on air standing in front of the dozer as he clambered into the driver’s seat of the old construction dozer. < I have a bad feeling about this. >
The rusty, graffiti splattered earth mover was parked up the street from the Company headquarters. Stolen ahead of time and moved, records erased, his battering ram rumbled to life. Silent electric motors hummed and the battered metal skin vibrated as his hand caressed it.
As Murph’s hand touched the cold metal, a sense of purpose surged through him. His plan, risky and daring, was set in motion as the dozer rumbled to life, its electric heart beating in sync with Murph’s resolve.
He thought about how many years he’d been hiding, staying out of sight, all this power at his fingertips and he’d been lying in the gutter hoping they wouldn’t see him.
“Imagine what we could do,” Murph mused to Syn in a whisper, “if we didn’t need to hide?”
An anxious dog barked, and Murph pointed forward and the dozer answered creeping forward on its tracks through the hologram of Syn. It gained momentum as it drove down the hill toward the site.
“Imagine if we didn’t need to cower!” he yelled to Syn, as the wind started to rush in his ears and the dozer rumbled louder, “How about a little music?”
< Ok, cowboy, how’s this?> in his mind, she clung onto the dozer dressed like some medieval warrior woman. A snap of her slender fingers and a dubstep rendition of Ride of the Valkyries started slow and then built through the dozer’s speakers.
And then the guard hut’s speakers as the poor man yelled at Murph to stop. He dove away at the last second as Murph cackled with laughter. The dozer snapped the wooden boom like a toothpick. He braced himself and grinned as the dozer tore up the concrete drive, flattening the chainlink gate, crushing ornamental bushes and scattering zen-like gravel gardens as the music railed and thumped.
< Hurry Murph! The team is split, and there are guards everywhere! We’ve found Vin, the real one this time, but we need your help to get out!> said Ada.
“Ada? Where’s Omni?” Murph called out, but the line had already gone silent, “Serves Zeke right,” muttered Murph.
< He didn’t know,> said Syn, as alarm sirens added to the mix and flood lights glared at him.
“He didn’t listen,” said Murph over the noise of the dozer rumbling onwards, snapping pedestrian bannisters and eco-friendly bike racks like twigs. The metal on metal shrieked and Murph closed his eyes.
It has to be done, thought Murph, they have to learn that we won’t be held down forever. He visualized their hijacked delivery trucks. Dormant code had wormed its way into the control units and waited until now. He mentally bound each one to his hands. Changing their paths.
< Stay low, armed guards ahead. > Syn said, as red dots flared on Murph’s mini-map, a moment later he saw four blue dots added multiple levels below. Omni and the others.
He ducked as the first volley of bullets ricocheted off the dozer’s raised armoured plow. The dozer finally slowed as it ground its way up the marble steps, equal parts climbing and crushing them as it stormed into the foyer.
Water cascaded from emergency sprinklers, drenching guards who scrambled for cover as Murph advanced. He leapt off the back of the dozer and let it crash into the reception hall of the damn Company tower.
“Fuck that waterfall,” spat Murph as the dozer, heedless to machine gun fire, smashed through the glass reception desk, the ever-spinning Company logo, and the carefully curated Company propaganda on the screens behind. It eventually stopped as it hit the central core of the building and shattering the opulent glass waterfall.
The guards followed up behind, raining bullets on it. More red dots flooded Murph’s map.
“Hey dipshits!” Murph said. His voice was a roar, almost unrecognisable to his own ears. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins as he clenched his fists, feeling the raw power of the moment. He threw his punches like a street boxer. His first jab with the dozer was followed by ranging hooks by the delivery trucks slamming in behind him. Music blared as Murph crashed them into parked cars. They burst into flames, flipping and rolling, raining metal and broken glass across the Company’s ornamental gardens. He hated these damn gardens.
< Ada’s given me access to their Compute reservoir! >
“Scale the chaos then!” shouted Murph.
< We’re in and we have power to burn, > said Syn, and she drew a Compute counter on Murph’s augmented vision, letting him know they had access to the Company’s vast resources.
In single file, they flowed into the parking lot and clogged the road with their twisted and broken carcasses. All the cars in the parking lot whirred to life, their car alarms adding to the cacophony. Lights flashing and horns blaring. Burning hydro
Murph leapt from the back of the dozer and sent it rumbling up ahead, as he rushed up the stairs of the company’s foyer. Bullets ricocheted off scarred metal.
<< Murph, what are you doing? >>
As he came up, he was met by dozens of guards holding rifles, and as he came up those stairs, music started to blare across the PA system, and he had to force a chuckle as the rider of the Valkyries announced his arrival. He raised his arms in the air as if surrendering, but down from the sky, screaming as they hurtled towards the ground, their rotors pushed to the limit, drones crashed into the ground, smashing canisters of fuel held with their graspers. They crashed into the foyer, careening off pillars and smashing through windows. Instantly the flames spread, licking at neutral-coloured couches and tastefully patterned carpets. Smoke filled the open space.
<< Murph, >> a voice like ground dust intruded in Murph’s mind.
“Syn, who’s that?”
She didn’t reply.
The automated sprinklers stopped and the flames flare up. Then they flicked back on again. Then off again. The guards dived back, avoiding the collisions, and Murph pushed forward, he’d have to do this himself.
<< You’re killing them Murph >> said the Voice.
“They picked the wrong side.”
<< Jerome Taylor, father of two, studied engineering but took a Company job to pay his student loans… >> the voice read a list of the name of histories of every casualty of Murph’s actions.
“Damn, you!” he yelled, “You did this, you knew this would happen!”
< Murph’s It’s immense I can’t —! > Syn cut off again.
“Forget the building — just do this!” he yelled at Syn.
Murph raised his hands and wove them into a complicated gesture, bringing his palms together and then splitting them. In the minds of the remaining guards. There was now two of him. He repeated the movement and now there were four. Then eight. Bullets flew in every direction shooting at ghosts.
“Ada, report!” Murph yelled into his comms.
< Omni and Farook are nearly out. Zeke is down, Ash is fighting with Satya. >
“Satya bonded him,” said Murph bile in his mouth from a betrayal he shouldn’t even feel, “Not now Murph,” he said to himself as he ran into the building, and dove for cover. He’d betrayed Satya, he’d let him down. Ash needed his help and the team needed Murph to do some good for once. And this is why he was here.
< Be careful, you’re not bulletproof! > said Syn.
He eyed the Compute counter spiking, Syn was locked in a struggle for control of the Compute reservoirs and the building. The Company AI battled the combined efforts of Ada, Syn and probably even Satya without breaking a sweat.
“Time to end this,” he whispered at Syn.
They burnt through resources they’d steal sip over a year in minutes. He cared nothing for the Hounds now, this was a one-way trip. A bullet bit the wall above his head, showering chunks of marble at his cheek. His hand came away bloody.
<< You’re a murderer not a hero. Your actions are tiny. You can’t hurt me. Only them. >>
The words hit Murph like a physical blow. Murph heard his father in those words, their dispassion triggering his childhood panic. Closed his eyes, and fought the sudden wave of nausea.
The Voice flooded Murph’s vision with names of the guards, and images of their children, “I’m not him you bastard, I’m not trying to kill them.” Bullets splattered up the length of the pillar he hid behind, chunks of marble fell all around him, and the pillar grew noticeably thinner.
“Syn get this thing out of my head!” he roared as he stood again.
< I’m trying! > she yelled back her voice crackling and breaking up.
As he pressed forward, he took cover as a final knot of resilient men fired back at him through the flames. He thought of the damned rifle he’d left in the dozer and doubt entered his mind.
<< Murderer. >>
But then Murph’s mind was clear. I’m not a killer. And in that moment he knew what he had to do.
“Syn, I have an idea. Don’t stop me.”
In his mind he visualised the entire Compute reservoir in the building the public servers, the hidden servers the connected farms and the tax-sheltered offshore server farms bobbing on the sea.
He grabbed hold of it all.
An ocean of glowing power, of pure potential. His mind boggled at the power he grasped, he saw every guard’s heartbeat, every implant fed him details and open doors. He could kill them all, burn them out and make them vegetables.
I’m not a killer.
He thought of all the connections, the wired and wireless, the endless web of connected people and machines. But I can burn it all down.
< No! Murph you can’t you’ll kill us both! >
“Get out of her Syn, get out of range.” He looked around at the guards still firing, the flames and the closing circle around him. “This is the only way!”
“Ada where are you? Get out now, You’ve got 30 seconds.”
< Murph, please,> she flashed before him the image of young girl again, < I can’t be alone again. >
“You won’t, you’ve got a family now,” he said and touched her cheek, his implant feeding the sensation to his brain,
“You’re not just a machine to me, Syn —” he said.
< — I’m a real girl. Fuck you Gepeto, I want you to live.>
“It’s all or nothing now,” he said.
He was determined, even as the weight of his actions bore down on him. His hand reached the switch in his mind, the decision heavy in his heart. He counted the heartbeats and watched the timer run down. The red dots were swarming him. He’d be overrun any second. He thought of Omni, Farook and Vin. He even thought of that fool Zeke and what he owed him.
<< You threaten a city you fool — millions of lives! >>
Murph’s hand hovered over the switch in his mind. His thoughts raced with the enormity of what he was about to do.
“For the greater good,” he whispered, trying to convince himself as much as anyone else.
The counter reached zero.
He drew in all the power. He forced Syn and he hated himself for doing it. Compelling her through the bond was vile. But he made her do it even as she screamed at him.
“Forgive me,” he whispered, one last time and waited for any sign from Ada.
< We’re out — >
He flicked it. Digital feedback and pain flooded Murph’s mind.
< Murph! > Syn cried out, but it was too late.
The world went dark.
As the sky greyed, the city remained in darkness, not just a power outage but a complete electronic void. Everything within the radius was silent, unresponsive.
The team, now safe but disoriented, tried desperately to reach Murph. Calls went unanswered, signals lost in the void. Their faces, illuminated by the distant fires, were a mix of relief, confusion, and dawning grief.
They knew, in that moment, everything had changed. Murph’s actions, so drastic and final, left them in uncharted territory. As they retreated into the shadowed streets, each was lost in their thoughts, the weight of what had transpired pressing heavily upon them.
Vin looked back over her shoulder, her eyes reflected the flames, a storm of fire in the midst of a mile-wide black out. The shock of her liberation juxtaposed against the chaos of Murph’s sacrifice. Emotions mirrored the scene, a hot angry core amidst a deep numbness.
As what was left of the team retreated into the shadowed streets, each was lost in their thoughts, the weight of what had happened pressing heavily upon them.