As Aaron and Sadie left Misfits Music, a dejected hologram in tow,
someone
called Aaron's name. Turning, the young technician recognised his
Diablo
friend, and he raised a smile as she came to join them.
Stefana shot Cynthia a wary look, which made the hologram visibly
flinch,
then turned her attention to Aaron himself.
"We need to talk about her." She said bluntly, jabbing a finger in
Cynthia's direction. "Someone decided it'd be fun to try and
impersonate
me at the Tribune. Thankfully Darren isn't your average braindead
tabloid
journo, and he was suspicious that it was a put up job. But I have a
major
bone to pick."
"Cyn?" Aaron cast Cynthia a questioning look. Slowly Cynthia shook
her head.
"I have no memory..." she faltered, then fell silent. Sadie sighed.
"Stef, I want to apologise." She said softly. "I shouldn't have
dismissed
what you said to me out of hand. You were right. Whatever it is that's
going on - it's closer to home than we thought."
"I'm glad you realise it." Stefana pursed her lips. "I was scared out
of my skull when Darren told me someone had come in pretending to be
me.
I've had time to reflect on it, though, and aside from being damn mad,
I realised that I have an advantage."
She glared at Cynthia.
"I know where you are. And dammit, if it happens again, you'll find
yourself shipped off in a box to the Federal Lab before you can say
illusion.
So take that on board before you drag me into your warped delusions
again,
all right? I came this close already to betraying you to the
Tribune,
and next time it happens, you won't see me for dust."
"Stef, enough." Sadie held up her hands. "Listen. Cyn might be doing
those things, but she's not aware of them. She's been suffering from
blackouts...we
think that either someone is remotely controlling her, or some part of
her program is operating without her knowing about it. Either way,
attacking
her isn't the answer. We're heading back to the Starlight and Aaron's
going
to take a look, see if he can work out what's going on and how."
"If I have done you injury, Stefana, I am sorry." Cynthia's voice
shook.
"I do not remember visiting the Tribune. But then nor do I remember
speaking
to Sadie this morning, and she is certain that I did."
She chewed on her bottom lip.
"You have done much to protect my secret." She added. "I did not mean
to repay you this way."
"Stef, I need to ask you something." Sadie put in. "When you
encountered
Sylva at the restaurant - or the girl who looked like her - did you
notice
anything strange about her? Anything with...well, initials on?"
"You mean like JB?" Stefana asked acidly. Aaron frowned.
"Then you did." He said flatly, and Cynthia dropped her gaze, shame
and confusion in her eyes.
"She had a necklace and she kept playing with it." Stefana nodded.
"Why exactly?"
"Well, we think that it's some kind of digital signature." Sadie
responded.
"The hologram that spoke to me this morning had a bracelet. The girl
who
was so hostile in the club, she had it on her hat."
"And Darren said the girl who impersonated me at the Tribune office
was wearing a ring she kept playing with...like a wedding ring."
Stefana
added. "He could only see part of it, but he said one of the letters
was
a J. It was probably the same deal."
She grimaced at the hologram.
"Looking pretty conclusive so far. Sadie, did you remember to tell
Aaron that 'Sylva' was also wearing you-know-who's very
distinctive
digital watch?"
"None of the other illusions were wearing a watch, as far as I could
see." Sadie responded. "But the bracelet the girl I spoke to had on -
that
would have covered where the watch would be. I...I suppose."
"Could you blame me, then, for wanting this whole stupid business out
in the open? She threatened me!"
"Stef, the last thing we want is people finding out about Synergy."
Aaron shook his head. "She might have problems, but we're going to try
and fix them. You know that the same risks are still in place. That
people
might try and duplicate her technology...and use it for nefarious
ends."
"Right now it's being used for altruistic ones?" Stefana raised an
eyebrow. Then her eyes widened.
"Oh crap. That's what she meant!"
"I beg your pardon?" Sadie stared.
"I have to go." Stefana shook her head. "It's worth more than my life
if I tell you anything before I know exactly what's going on for
myself."
She shot Cynthia another wary look.
"And I don't trust you to keep any secrets right at the
moment."
She added. "So forgive me for not wanting to spill my guts just yet."
"Stef, do you know something about what's happening to Cynthia that
might help?" Aaron asked softly. "Some kind of solution?"
Stefana shook her head.
"Aside from taking a mallet to her mainframe, no. I've no idea." She
responded. "And right now I'm not in the mood to talk about it. Like I
said, I need to know more."
Before they could react she was gone across the parking lot, and Aaron
and Sadie exchanged looks of confusion.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Sadie asked. Aaron shrugged.
"No idea, but if it's important, no doubt she'll tell us when she feels
like it." He added. He glanced at Cynthia, then, "And right now,
putting
a stopper on this rogue behaviour of yours is higher on my priority
list."
"Mine, too." Cynthia looked troubled. "Aaron, I want you to make me
a promise."
"Mm?"
"If you cannot fix whatever is wrong inside of me, I want you to shut
me down." Cynthia said simply. Aaron paused in unlocking his car,
sending
her a startled look.
"Shut you down?"
"Yes. In such a way that I cannot reboot myself without human
intervention."
"Cyn, that's kinda extreme." Sadie looked horrified. "And Aaron can
probably fix whatever it is. I mean, if you just moved a bad wire or
something,
looping those emotions..."
"It could be simple, or it could be serious." Cynthia said gravely.
"And I understand the threat I pose whilst I am not entirely in control
of my functions. That being the case, I want Aaron's word that, if I
cannot
be fixed, he will ensure I cannot bring harm to anyone else."
Aaron was silent for a moment. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"You have it." He said solemnly.
"Aaron!" Sadie protested. Aaron shrugged.
"Cynthia is right." He said, pulling open the door of his car. "She's
dangerous like this. Hopefully it'll be a last resort, but if she can
threaten
a man's life...it wouldn't be fair to Hollie or to anyone living at the
Starlight Mansion. You included."
"I'd be willing to take the risk." Sadie said stubbornly. "I've lived
around worse."
"Maybe, but I will not allow it." Cynthia said firmly. "Either I am
fixed or I am shut down. If nothing else, I dislike this half-existance
anyway."
"And if nothing else proved that it's not our Cynthia doing these
things,
that sacrifice would." Aaron added. "Sadie, get in. You can come get
your
car later...I'd be happier if we travelled in numbers."
"Whilst Cynthia is active, Aaron, I will do noone any harm." Cynthia
said softly.
"Possibly, and I trust you, but I still feel it's better we stick
together."
Aaron indicated for his friends to get in the car. "Besides, you need
more
than a technician. And, well, Sadie's better at giving hugs to
disconsolate
holograms than I am."
"He might be right there." Sadie slipped into the back of the car
behind
her holographic friend, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "I'm sorry I
broke my promise and told Aaron what had happened, but I kinda felt I
had
to."
"No, you were right." Cynthia sighed. "I would probably have come to
it myself, in the end. I just did not want to admit that I was unwell."
"Can you remember anything else? Anything that might have happened
since Jerrica died and since you rewired your emotions?" Sadie asked,
as
Aaron got into the driver's seat, putting the car in gear. "Like, well,
the bits of you the FBI had. Is it at all possible you, well...took
those?"
"I don't know." Cynthia admitted. "But in truth, Sadie, I think it
unlikely that I did."
"How do you mean? If you can't remember...they did say that there was
no genetic evidence at the scene."
"I mean that the parts have not turned up in my possession." Cynthia
responded. "And had I taken them, I or one of you would have stumbled
across
them. If I had brought them to the basement of the Starlight, I would
have
seen them as soon as I was once more myself."
She sighed.
"Besides, I have memory of that night. Almost total recall." She added.
"Thankfully."
"I'm sorry to ask you." Sadie looked guilty. "I know what it's like
to have accusations flung at you and stuff...to the point even you
don't
know what you did and didn't actually do. I've had my fair share of
blackouts
and I've done things under the influence of heroin or the withdrawal
that
make me cringe. But we kinda need to fill in those blanks. And work out
exactly what's going on here."
"You need not apologise." Cynthia assured her. "I would rather fill
them also. It is not good for a computer to have gaps in her memory
banks...regardless
of how ugly the facts are."
She looked troubled.
"I have fragments of memory." She admitted. "Little bits and pieces,
which begin to make more sense as I see the bigger picture of what has
been happening to me. Most of it is beyond my retrieval at
present...but
Sadie, I'm sure you already realise that, even if I did not steal from
the FBI, there are other crimes I have committed. Grave crimes...and
against
friends."
"Such as?"
Cynthia's expression became ashamed.
"Sylva's car." She murmured.
"That was you?" Sadie stared. Cynthia hesitated.
"I have not conclusive memory to say yes or no." She replied. "But
my inclination is that it was. I have memory of that night, but in fits
and patches. I know the car was found wrecked, but there was no sign of
a driver. I know a call was made to police, but it was a voice that
noone
has been able to trace. I know the message, Sadie. Word for word, I can
hear it playing through my system. But I have not spoken to the police
or heard the recording they have of the suspect's voice."
She glanced down.
"I have a snippet of memory also of speeding through the darkness,
but it is vague and not clear." She added. "I feel that, considering
the
bits I do have, it was probably me who took Sylva's car. Therefore I
stole
from a friend and allowed her to hold suspicion for others who were
innocent."
"No, Cyn. You didn't." Sadie slid a comforting arm around her friend's
shoulders. "Something inside of you might have, but Cynthia didn't.
She's just paying the price for it, that's all."
"It is the same thing." Cynthia said bitterly. "It came from within
me, therefore it is my crime. Perhaps I am schizophrenic, or losing my
mind. But it doesn't change the facts."
"With a human being, mental illness is often reason for leniency."
Aaron put in from the front seat at that juncture. "Cyn, in a computer
system, it's not even mental illness. It's a program glitch and I've
worked
on lesser computer systems that run six or seven independant memory
drives.
Sadie's right when she says that it's not Cynthia doing these things.
Maybe
it's Synergy, or a part of Synergy. But it's not you specifically. And
if what you just said about Syl's car is true, she won't hold it
against
you. It's like I said - you weren't yourself. None of these things have
involved you being Cynthia. That's the stability inside your
programming
and that's what we've got to focus on. Whatever's going on is linked to
the damaged program that Emmet originally gave you and it's damage was
not your fault. Cynthia is your own creation...and she is not culpable
for the things that have happened."
"I was Cynthia when I confronted Rio." Cynthia objected.
"Cynthia tried to throw him out of the window?"
"No...actually, Synergy did." Cynthia pursed her lips. "I appear to
have done much changing of appearance lately, haven't I?"
"It's starting to look that way." Sadie agreed.
"But it's also looking like more than rogue emotions after Jerrica's
death...more like life has been breathed into the old program." Aaron
added.
"That being so, it should be a case of isolating the right bit of
circuitboard
and removing it. Since you've spent this long running without it, Cyn,
it should be possible for you to continue. It just depends how much we
have to remove."
"And all these things that have been done? How will fixing me take
those back?"
"There are things you can't take back." Sadie said soberly. "That's
one of the things I had to come to terms with when I put my life back
together.
I might have been better...but the things that happened before I was,
well,
they still happened. I still stole from people and took drugs and
concealed
the fact a murder had taken place. You can't change them. You just have
to learn from them and move on."
"So if you attacked Rio in a state of pure rage..." Aaron said
thoughtfully,
as he took the turning for the Starlight Mansion. "To the point where
you
lost control of Cynthia and Cynthia's rationality...who were you when
you
took the car?"
"Good question." Cynthia shrugged her shoulders. She frowned.
"Though it might not be too much of a jump to think perhaps I was
blond."
"Blond?" Sadie frowned. "Like the girl in the club...?"
"Yes." Cynthia agreed. "Though I have no likeness for her in my
databases,
and do not know what she appeared like to you. But I know there was
film
footage of a blond leaving Misfits Music when it was ransacked. That
something
had distorted the video...or something beneath the camera had been
distorted
- something like a hologram. You did not think of that possibility, but
there was no evidence at the scene. And whoever it was used my pass
key.
I said I missed it at the show, and I did. But that does not mean it
was
not in my possession."
Sadie swore softly under her breath.
"Is this supposition or are you remembering it?" Aaron asked.
"Supposition, mostly." Cynthia admitted. "But I do remember
something...bits
and pieces, in no particular order. Fragments of memory, but enough to
tell me that I've been a particularly bad hologram of late."
She sighed, closing her eyes briefly.
"And I'm so tired." She added. "I just want this to be over."
"So do we." Sadie said decidedly, as Aaron pulled onto the front
forecourt
of the Starlight Mansion. "And the sooner we do it, the better."
There was noone else home as they entered the building and, casting
her friend a sidelong glance, Sadie could tell that Cynthia was
relieved.
Impulsively she reached across to squeeze the hologram's hand.
"They will understand." She murmured. "And we will have to tell them,
either way."
"I know." Cynthia acknowledged, her tone weary. "But I would rather
face them when I have an explanation. At present, I don't have that.
All
I have is a fleeting conviction that I am responsible for the loss of
Syl's
car."
"Well, stop dwelling on things that you can't change, and let's find
something that we can." Aaron said briskly, slipping his key into the
front
door of the big white building and leading the way inside. "Cynthia, is
there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all? Like, when was
the
first time you noticed a memory blackout or a discrepancy in your
readings?"
"It's hard to pinpoint." Cynthia responded sadly. "Other than knowing
I haven't been the same machine since Jerrica died, I cannot think of
one
specific incident that may have been the first warning."
"Looks like I'm going to have a long night then, huh?" Aaron pursed his
lips. pushing open the door to the basement. "Sadie, are you coming
too?"
"Yes. Like you said, Cynthia needs moral support as well as a
mechanic."
Sadie nodded. "And I understand better than most about mental
blackouts."
"I appreciate your company, Sadie." Cynthia said quietly. "It helps
to have someone who comprehends, even if it is just a little."
At that moment they stepped into the basement proper, and Aaron stopped
dead, staring at the computer's big lavender monitor in surprise.
"You could have told me you'd already begun digging through files."
He said, casting Cynthia a glance. Cynthia looked stricken, and she
shook
her head.
"I am not." She whispered.
"Then where are the pictures coming from?" Sadie moved towards the
mainframe, laying a gentle hand on the keyboard. There was no response.
"Cyn, have you no control over this at all?"
"It comes and goes." Cynthia shrugged helplessly. "Then they overload
my
senses and paralyse me. I think that memory black-outs occur not long
after
such an episode. It's as if something is jamming my signals so that
they
can prevent Cynthia from operating."
"Outside interference or internal corruption?" Aaron asked. "Which do
we
think, Cyn?"
There was a long silence, then,
"Internal corruption." Cynthia admitted. "I have tried in vain to
detect
any external signal that might compromise my performance. Whatever it
is,
Aaron, I am certain it is inside me."
"Then we'll get it out." Aaron took a step towards the computer, but
Cynthia put a hand out to stop him.
"Not until I have full control of my circuits returned to me." She
warned. "I cannot cut power to the specific sections you need to
examine
without having a complete grasp on my mechanics. I do not want you
hurt."
"Then what can we do?"
"You? For now, nothing." Cynthia's expression became dark. "Me...I'm
going
to reboot my servers and hope for the best."
"Hey, hang on a minute!" Sadie let out an exclamation, pointing at
the monitor. "Cyn, don't do anything for a moment...look!"
"What are we looking at?" Aaron stared at the monitor and then back at
the blond girl, confused. "Sadie, it's a bunch of random pictures."
"No, it isn't." Sadie shook her head, excitement in her tones. "Look!
There...Cynthia,
who is that?"
Cynthia's brow creased in confusion.
"Jacqui Benton." She responded. "Why?"
"Doesn't look like any picture of Jacqui Benton I've ever seen." Aaron
pursed his lips.
"I believe that was how she looked when Emmet first met her." Cynthia
looked pensive. "He put a lot of pictography into my system...many old
photos, as if using them to help heal his wounds. Losing her broke his
heart, after all. But that is the earliest photograph I have of Jacqui
Benton. She must have been...maybe nineteen or twenty then."
"So?" Aaron frowned. "Sadie, what's your deal with this picture? We
know that Cyn's had problems lately with images and files freaking out
all over the place. What's so significant about this one?"
"Nothing about the picture, exactly." Sadie shook her head. "I've just
seen her before. Recently, in fact."
"Not possible." Aaron shook his head. "Unless..."
He cast Cynthia a sidelong glance, and the hologram spread her hands.
"I am unable to answer that question, Aaron, so do not ask it." She
said sadly.
"Jacqui sure looked different as a girl." Aaron turned his attention
back to the screen. "But I still don't quite understand what the
significance
is. If you've been changing your holograms a lot lately, then it seems
logical to me that you'd use blueprints that were already programmed
into
you. Remember, we spent a lot of time and energy creating Cynthia's
appearance.
You didn't just magic it out of thin air."
"You're both missing the point." Sadie looked impatient. "The girl
from the club - the one with the hat. That's her!"
JACQUI'S LEGACY: PART
TWO
DISCLAIMER:
PLEASE NOTE
The copyright for the original Jem characters
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The Teenangel Outsiders, Jesta, Flame, Ryan
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All events in the stories on this site are
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