Page 2 of Tapeworld Induction

His heart beat faster.

“Listen,” he whispered back. “There’s someone else here. Were you expecting anyone?”

He knelt down behind one of the server racks, a parade of reflected blue lights playing on the ceiling.

“Astrid?” he prompted, when she didn’t respond. Worry gnawed at his gut. He moved his hand to touch the see-through plastic stuck to the side of his head. His fingers trembled.

“Get through that door!” Astrid repeated. “I need that data.”

He took a deep breath and moved his fingers away from his temple.

This wasn’t part of the plan. He was a strider, not a soldier.

“You’ve got all you need, Isaak.” Astrid’s voice was gentler now, and came into his ears as if she was kneeling there right next to him. “I’ve given you the tools you need.”

He didn’t know what she meant. His mind was racing but kept coming up empty. Faintly, he heard the roar of a crowd… He shut his eyes and a tear rolled down his face.

He was about to make for the door again when it swung open.

In the frame stood a man clad in black-and-blue plastic armour over a grey uniform. Belts and straps encircled his arms and legs. A weapon drawn in his hands: a handgun, see-through. There was no visible bullet chamber or ammo.

Isaak, caught by surprise, stood directly in the man’s line of sight.

Time seemed to slow down. The man shouted an incomprehensible vocalisation; it didn’t sound like any language Isaak recognised.

Isaak dug into his pocket. To his surprise, his fist wrapped around the cold metal of a gun. This is what she meant. The strider produced his own sleek weapon, all black.

Across from him, the man in black and blue barked again, another noise that was more digital rain than language.

Visions of everything that might happen next flashed through Isaak’s mind. Be shot. Shoot. Give yourself in. Be shot. Shoot. Be shot. Shoot.

Shoot.

Shoot.

Time froze.

Isaak fired his revolver. The gunshot echoed through the server farm and all the lights blinked in unison. The bullet, bright as gold, lit up the corridor until it reached the man, hitting him square in the head. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The man collapsed to the floor.

“Fuck.”

He hadn’t wanted to pull the trigger, but had been left with no choice. The man in black and blue would have shot him. Isaak tossed the revolver away on impulse.

There was no blood on the body. Relief flooded through him. It was a bot.

And yet something about it didn’t feel right.

He looked away, shaken.

The man in black and blue had looked and behaved like a human. Bots, AI, artificial beings were advanced, but usually you could tell. Cold language. Overtly indulgent. Sycophantic. Talk to enough bots and you’d start catching the signs.

This felt too real. His heart ached and he coughed, his throat dry.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” He almost swung his hand at a wall, but stopped himself. “Astrid… What the fuck did you just make me do? This place was supposed to be empty!”

There was no response. Astrid didn’t seem to be there anymore.