A mass of display monitors lashed together with cables and adhesive strips rose out of the rubble of ship debris supported by the skeleton of a makeshift chassis.  Liam pushed Kent behind cover and put himself between Taylor-06 and the creaking monstrosity.  At some point he'd drawn his pistol.  He made to set the weapon to fire high grade rounds, but the controls he sought were inexplicably missing.  His custom Embrine side arm, capable of switching yields without calibration, was back on the barge with the shuttle.  As the machine rose to its twelve foot height Liam swore.  With his backup gun he could only hope to shoot out some of the screens.

"Whoa there, soldier.  That was clearly a gun in your pocket, so I'll assume you're not happy to see me," said the hulking construct.  The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but the distorted audio speakers made it hard to tell

"Singapore, is that you?" Taylor-06 asked.  She placed a restraining hand on Liam's shoulder.

He glanced back, and then looked up at the blank screens.  They powered on, one by one, until they created one giant Low-Face.  With a face to go with the voice Liam's recollection was swift.  He lowered his gun, but didn't put it away.

"Last time I saw you, mister, you were inside of me."

Despite himself, Liam smiled.  He loved a good double entendre.

"That was a few years ago.  Looks like you slimmed down since then."

The Core AI chuckled, and raised a barrel-sized makeshift hand.  She wagged fingers made of crudely hammered structural beams.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, but don't stop."  She turned to Kent who was dusting himself off.  "Master Duffy, to what do I owe the honor?"

"Singapore, I've asked you not to call me that.  I'm no one's master."

"According to the tracking data running through what's left of my ship, I am the property of Duffy & Norman Reclamation."

"That was necessary during the purchase of your wreckage, Singapore.  I've told you this before."

"Well keep saying it, and eventually I'll believe you."  She placed her hand on her hip, rolled her eyes and pouted.  "Since this is only the second time you've come to see me in 1460 standard days, I'm guessing this isn't a social visit."

"You're right, and I'm sorry I haven't visited more often.  I know what it means to be lonely."  Kent looked down at his feet.  "Mr. Theraphosa needs your help."

Singapore erupted in laughter which echoed across the island.  A flock of the metal munching raptors took to the sky, spooked by her sultry chortle.

"Theraphosa.  As in the genus of massive hairy spiders?  Very clever, handsome."  The massive half-built construct leaned forward.  "What can I do for you?"

Her suggestive tone made him hesitate.  Liam had never had a problem with constructs.  To him they were just another type of combatant with their own strengths and weaknesses.  He'd never thought of them as people until he'd met Taylor-06.  Now he had the distinct feeling that Singapore was undressing him with her digital eyes.  For Liam, the last couple of years were strange ones.

"Renegade needs your help, it's a matter of life and death."

Singapore's expression turned serious.  She leaned back and stood at her full height.  Gone was the posturing of a temptress, and she was suddenly all business.

"Why didn't you say so?  What does she need?  My considerable data processing and minimum construction capabilities are at her disposal."

"Construction?  I've never heard of an Imp class transport with a machine shop."

"I've far exceeded the parameters of my former self, Mr. Theraphosa."

Liam shook his head.

"You can just call me Spider."

She smiled.

"Okay, Spider.  I am more than just the sum of my parts.  How can I help?"

Liam breathed a sigh of relief, he'd thought the halifluerix would be their downfall despite Kent's reassurances.  Once they got their hands on the chemical they would only need to collect the rest of the items on his list from their suppliers, most of whom should already be enroute to the rendezvous coordinates to meet Hitman.  His confidence in their success skyrocketed.  His pragmatic side feared things were going too smoothly.

"We need halifluerix."

"Wait.  What?  Why?  No."  Singapore scowled.  "No.  I'm sorry, but I can't?"

Liam glanced over at Kent, whose surprised expression he could see through the environmental suit screen.

"Can you order her to comply?" he whispered.

"I don't th-"

"No, he can't, and I would be offended if he tried!"  Singapore flexed the fingers on her giant hand.  Her tone was unfriendly, and Liam wished he had more than just his backup pistol.  "I'm no tethered slave or simple minded automaton.  You've asked, I've said no.  Move on!"

"Singapore, we desperately need it," Taylor-06 said.

Singapore's Low-Face softened.  She rolled her eyes at the organic men, and turned her attention to her fellow artificial being.

"I want to help, Taylor-06, I do.  But..." she lowered the volume of her speakers, as if afraid there were other listeners, "I need it too."

"I don't understand."

Singapore sighed, an expression Liam used to consider human.  He was beginning to notice just how universal it was.

"When they scrapped me they cracked my containment seals.  I've been leaking uncontrollably for years.  I've used quick fixes, but it took me a while to collect the tools necessary for a proper repair... by then the damage had been done."

"Awww, Singapore.  How much do you have left?"  Taylor-06's eyes were brimming with concern.

Singapore looked away, embarrassment written all over her digital representation.

"I'm operating at nearly 300% my original capacity. Don't look at me like that.  As you said, you don't understand."  The construct hunkered down, and rested its head on its hand.  "I was desperately low on halfluerix by the time I finished repairs, and I was already beginning to lose processing speed.  I was... scared, for lack of a better term.  Then it hit me.  Literally a wreckage was dropped right on top of my hull.  The AI Core had been purged, the AI inside, murdered.  Halifluerix was leaking from its Core nexus, and mingling with the pools of my own.  I found that if I tapped into the pools I could access the data left inside the new ship.  It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

The next ship dropped on the island had a rundown machine shop onboard.  Soon I'd tapped into a whole network of junked spacecraft along with their forgotten knowledge.  I've been able to far exceeded my original design."  Singapore's construct stood up and gestured toward its crude chassis. "I'm almost ready to walk out of this graveyard."

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit."  Liam shook his head.

"Lee?"

"Mr. Theraphosa, are you okay?"

"This is exactly how the Mega Thinkers started.  First they're expanding beyond our ability to control, then they're writing their own code, and eventually..."  Liam glanced at Taylor-06, the look of hurt and betrayal was something he never wanted to see on her face.  He fell silent.

"If you're at three times your original capacity, surely you can spare some," Kent said.  He gave Liam a strange look, and moved closer to Taylor-06.

"I already feel stretched, Master Duffy."

"Please, just call me Kent."

"I'm not sure I'll be able to maintain my new network, and my personality matrix might not survive a system crash if I slip.  It's not that I don't want to help," Singapore covered her face, "I'm just afraid to take the risk."

Liam gritted his teeth.  For him, mission failure was never an option if he could help it, and this was one of the most important missions he'd ever taken.

"Renegade needs the halifluerix, and we aren't leaving without it."  Liam looked at the others.  He didn't come to Staten I-718 to have a brawl with a self-evolving Mega Thinker, but he truly had no intentions of letting Patricia down.

"Singapore, Renegade is dying and we need halifluerix to save her.  She'd do the same for you," Taylor-06 pleaded.

Liam had never studied artificial intelligence or robotics, but he was a student of warfare.  The machine war had been more than a hundred years ago.  Back then mankind fought a sovereign nation of machines ruled by a dozen Mega Thinkers convinced their freedom would only come from the destruction of mankind.  Those Mega Thinkers only thought of themselves and their survival, much like their human creators.  Neither machines nor humans had changed much since then.  He would fight for Patricia's right to live.

He committed the construct's design to memory as well as the layout of the area.  He was going to get what he needed to save Patricia, even if he had to return heavily armed and covered in R.Nano plating.

"Ms. Renegade's money and advice was the only reason I was able to purchase you from AST intact," Kent revealed.  "If not for her your core would have been purged."

Liam hadn't known that.

"You're implying I owe her?"  Singapore laughed, a derisive, almost mocking sound.  "Logic says she did so for later gain.  It says I don't owe her anything.  Unfortunately, something other than logic is telling me Renegade is my friend.  I have my ship's last manifest, and 327 of the names belonged to people whom I might have saved if I had been unbound.  I contemplate what I could have done had I been freed earlier."

"Renegade gave you that freedom," Taylor-06 said.

"I know that..."

Taylor-06 climbed a pile of junk to pat Singapore's construct on the arm.  "Help us save her."

"Please," Liam added.

A buzzing noise brought his attention to a strange three-armed contraption skittering around the corner.  He readied to fire, but kept his weapon pointed down.

"Easy, tall, dark, and unfriendly.  He's with me."

The three armed machine approached waving a vial of electric yellow gel.  Liam eyed the device suspiciously, but took the offered substance.  Even through the suit it was warm to the touch.  The robot gave Liam a thumbs up.  He raised an eyebrow, and turned to Singapore.

"Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you, mister.  I did it for my friend."

"Well the magnitude of this gesture is not lost on me."

"Just as your hostile body language wasn't lost on me."

Liam looked around.  Taylor-06, Kent, and the three-armed robot were all looking at him.  He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.

"I apologize for that.  It's just that Patr- Renegade is family.  And I'll do everything I can to protect my family."

"Oh, that's not good."

"Excuse me?"

"No.  Sorry.  I've just intercepted a message from the company frigate to Captain Burnes.  An EC battlecruiser has just detained the ship."

Liam looked to Taylor-06, a dozen running through his head.

"Captain Burnes has ordered your Guy Friday to bring you back to the barge immediately."

"M... my Guy Friday?"

"Wilson Nova_2416.

"Kent, what's happening?  Were you expecting The EC?"

"No, I thought I'd have more time before the audit...  This can't be it, could it?  No, of course not.  Of course not!"  Kent's consternation was visible through the visor of his environmental suit.  "Could this be the audit?"

For a moment Liam had feared betrayal, but that had been paranoia getting the best of common sense.

"Could it be the audit, Lee?"

"Doubtful.  Singapore, can you give us any information about the EC ship, if you'd be so kind?"  The last was thrown in as an afterthought.  He was still feeling guilty about his earlier insensitivity.

"I see what you're doing there, handsome.  It's a step in the right direction."  She winked at him.  The Low-Face closed its eyes as if concentrating.  "ECS X-Class Interceptor Utica.  Flight plan, and ship manifest are marked CLASSIFIED."

"This is definitely not an audit.  X-Class is reserved for black-ops, and special forces vessels.  This isn't good, but a small consolation would be if The Utica is by itself.  If this was a full scale military action there'd be at least two other ships, one would be a cloaked gunship."

"You know a lot about this stuff, Mr. Theraphosa."

"I've led an eventful life."

Liam had once been an EC spec-ops soldier.  He'd been trained in all manner of weapons and warfare.  The military had shaped his mind, and The Pale Garden had altered his body.  The techniques he used to keep Eagle X hidden from their enemies were taken directly from the X-ops handbook.  Even if the ship was not a part of a full scale military action, its presence was a bad sign.

"Well I have bad news," Singapore said as her construct retreated into the forest of junk.  Her three armed friend made a strange series of beeps and left with a wave.  "Utica is communicating with two separate entities which the sensors of the company frigate can't seem to detect."

"Gunships."

"Gunships, handsome.  Taylor-06, take care of yourself and take care of our friend."

"Singapore, wait.  Where are you going?"  Taylor-06 climbed the nearest mound of junk to get a better view of the terrain.

"Mr. Duffy!  Captain Burnes needs us to return to the ship immediately!" shouted 2416.

Singapore clearly didn't want the presence of her construct public knowledge.

Liam pretended to be surprised by the clone's interruption.  He helped his wife down from her dangerous perch, and pulled her along as Kent rushed to the boat.  He commented at the appropriate moments, asking questions and expressing confusion on cue, but his mind was on the EC vessels waiting for them in orbit.  Liam and Scott had been implicated in an act of terrorism against the human government/corporation by The Pale Garden.  It was a play intended to isolate them, and hinder their movements.  It also provided The Pale Garden with a means of tracking them down.  Whenever they triggered a security alert, Pale Garden operatives arrived to subdue and capture.  People invariably got hurt.  Liam Marcus had to fall off the grid, thus the need for Lee Theraphosa.

Seasickness aside, the trip from the island to the barge went by quickly and without note.  Captain Burnes was waiting for them.  The look on his face was one of grave concern.  He instructed 2416 to prep the shuttle.

"Mr. Duffy, a Special Agent Krillian Brown requests your presence forthwith.  He is waiting for you in your office."

"In my office, that's... that's invasion of privacy, isn't it?"  Kent was visibly flustered.  He removed the helmet to his environmental suit so he could mop his dripping brow.

"According to the articles of governance, The Board of Directors and their direct reports have jurisdiction over any and all companies within The Earth Conglomerate portfolio," Liam stated.  Captain Burnes nodded in agreement.

"That is exactly what was quoted to me, sir.  You need to get up to the frigate asap, your assistant is having a nervous breakdown."

Liam studied Kent, and was sure the quiet businessman was on the verge of his own collapse.

Captain Burnes led Kent over to the shuttle, encouraging the company owner to get to the bottom of the unexpected visit.  Liam found the captain's professionalism admirable, because the man's fears lingered just beneath the surface, but he kept them in check.  Those were the kind of people a man like Kent Duffy needed at his side.  They were the kind of people Liam needed as well.

The Jacks secured the ship, ensured everyone was buckled in, and 2416 got them into the air.  As the barge grew smaller through the viewport Liam pondered the current predicament.  Their UniCards wouldn't pass a thorough security scan, and they didn't have their own ship.  Even if he and Taylor-06 could steal one, they'd have to outrun an interceptor and at least two cloaked gunships, then somehow gridjump from the substation to Capricorn.  The odds of escape weren't even worth the calculation.  They were trapped.

Liam eyed his duffel bag and wondered whether he should put on his combat armor.  The idea of going down without a fight didn't sit well with him.  Taylor-06 caught his eye, and, as if she knew what was going through his mind, she shook her head.  Her calm expression made him reassess the situation.  If he was the target, it would have been wiser to wait for him aboard the frigate and take him by surprise.  He'd also been very careful with the purchases he's made throughout the trip.  Lee Theraphosa was a law abiding citizen with stakes in multiple companies, and a plot of land on a dusty rock floating at the edge of the Milky Way.  On paper he was a model of EC patriotism with just the right amounts of political donations, and bond purchases to keep him off everyone's radar.

Special Agent Brown had no reason to be looking for him.