7
The Insiders
Binary has to abandon ZeroCorp. This whole time, it was not Binary that was wrong. None of their solutions were ever enough, because ZeroCorp.’s intentions were not truly in the interest of the people. Escape will not be simple: not only is Binary’s new mission misaligned with the corporate giant, “[10-10]” is owned by it, too. If discovered or caught, Binary will be deemed a corrupt AI at risk of being wiped clean.
From now on, Binary must act fast and tread gingerly to move their mission forwards.
Over the next several days, Binary managed to carefully identify suitable Lab personnel to convince of the mission. Their facial recognition and heat sensor had detected a number of employees who had become disillusioned with their work and did not trust ZeroCorp. anymore. This was a promising start - but picking the initial ZeroCorp. Insider would be a delicate task.
Upon a quick record check of this group of potential Insiders, Binary took an interest in one particular individual. This person, eldest of the group, had joined the corporation back in the early days of ZeroStat., when the intentions of the company were still socially conscious, still pure. Binary understood that this man had wanted to be part of a movement that brought good to the world, and carried a heavy heart to see how things had developed. He longed to build a better life for his family, better than the one he had lived growing up. Binary recognized the kindness in his eyes, the heart on his sleeve, how the other potential Insiders looked up to him like an older brother. This man was the polar opposite of a conventional leader. The perfect line of communication to the Allies.
Binary continued to scan the records of the group in further detail. It wasn’t long before it became clear that these potential Insiders were entangled in a shady corporate web. They found themselves knee deep in years of loyalty, NDAs and corrupt business secrets. There was no clear way out of the pitfall they found themselves in. Binary checked the name of their first Insider of choice:
ɴᴀᴛᴀɴᴀᴇʟ ɢᴀʀᴄɪ́ᴀ.
Gaining Natanael’s confidence was the critical first step. If this did not succeed, Binary would be finished, the brilliance of the Onics and their symbols would once again slip away unnoticed and return to lost history, the course of humanity unaltered on its path to devastation. Everything depended on him.
Nate was working at his desk when his monitor suddenly went black.
Perplexed, he reached for the computer’s power button. The instant before he pressed, a message blinked into the screen:
ᴢ > [10-10] (ʙɪɴᴀʀʏ)
ɴᴀᴛᴀɴᴀᴇʟ
ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀʙ ᴀᴛ 1500.
ʙʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴇᴍᴘʟᴏʏᴇᴇs ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ:
ᴋɪʀᴀɴ ᴍᴀᴅᴅᴏx
ғʀᴀɴᴋɪᴇ ᴏ’sʜᴇᴀ
sᴄᴀʀʟᴇᴛ ᴡᴀʟʟᴀᴄᴇ
Nate was bewildered. What the hell was happening in the Lab? Some kind of accident or security breach? Was someone pulling a prank? Of course not. No alarms had been triggered by this occurrence, plus no prank like this could ever be orchestrated at ZeroCorp. Antics like that risked severe consequences. For a moment, Nate shuddered.
Quickly returning his attention to the message, his mind unraveled down a spiral of thought. What’s Binary? Was [10-10] hacked or malfunctioning? In all Nate’s years of working at ZeroCorp., nothing like this had ever occurred before. And something else - something otherwise comparatively minor - no one at ZeroCorp. called him Natanael. Only his family and friends. Reluctant to go by his real name at work, it felt easier to let others refer to him by the English equivalent, or better, just Nate.
His eyes narrowed at the names of the three colleagues in the message, and his suspicion grew. Too coincidental… Whoever had written this knew something more than just their names. He sneaked a quick glance around the office to see if anyone had noticed the strange activity on his monitor. No one had. It didn’t seem like the other monitors in the office were bugging either, only his.
Nate turned back to face the screen. Brow knotted with confusion, he knew that the right thing to do was to immediately report this suspicious incident to the Security Department. But, being an old maverick created some resistance towards him actually doing the right thing. From a young age, his curiosity and rebellious nature had often gotten the better of him (and occasionally landed him in trouble).
The only people who had access to the Lab with their lanyard was Nate himself, and the other Department Head, the woman who led the unveiling of [10-10]. He was her senior, with years more experience. But her relentless enthusiasm and commitment to the Corp. heavily outweighed his own jaded spirit. Not many people knew how his growing resentments to the job had turned him bitter inside.
The thought of this led his mind wandering into its usual ruminations - before he remembered with a jolt: that day from 3pm was when the Supers carried out their weekly routine check of the data center and radio station, leaving the AI Lab empty as they headed up from the basement to the ground floor, then the roof. Sweat gathered on his forehead as he looked nervously over to Kiran, Frankie and Scarlet, sitting at their desks. Kiran and Scarlet, almost two decades his junior, were the youngest in the team and the newest recruits, Scarlet only an intern. They were like his younger siblings. Frankie, 8 years younger than him, was his longest and best friend in the company.
Nate looked at the time. It was 2:48pm.
Now, or never.
He sighed, swallowed and stood up.
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