New Therian City: Citizen Hill, #2

By Simon Sayz

Hell knows no fury like a scorched and scorned Syth-L.

With his message now out, Bless fans the flames of a revolution, seeking to free the people from the federation's stronghold. He'll stop at nothing to atone for the wrongs of his past and of those still in power.

Citizen yearns to become as human as possible and discovers more about her parents. Still "enemies" on paper, Bless a rebel and Citizen a Fed agent, must find some common ground to stand on without cracking in the process.

Her call to duty and his need to rectify grave wrongs lends them on an unknown path full of conflict and destruction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DLG Publishing Partners
• Release date: Jul 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201877217

Book preview

1

Citizen Hill

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‘Diagnostic complete’ read across Citizen’s GUI vision. ‘Neruoreceptors 92%.’ Citizen stood and rotated her head on her neck, stretching her stiff muscles. It had been two full days since they had survived the battle in the city, thanks to Nev Meechum.

How are you feeling? Nev walked up and held out a bottle of water.

Just fine. Citizen grabbed the bottle and took a long drink. Any news from up top?

The riots are still going. The Feds don’t know what to do. A lot of people have been talking about Elysium. We expect the numbers to grow in the underground.

That’s good news.

The lines are saying the Federation Troops have finally quit staffing Sector 8 and have pulled back creating a perimeter. Most of the civilians are out now.

So, the Trolls are still attacking?

Yes, they apparently offered a bigger fight than the troops had anticipated.

Yeah, they are a lot smarter than the old ones. Citizen finished the water bottle.

And we’ve captured a working drone finally. Athan has it up in the garage. We’d like Bless to take a look at it when he can. If he can break the code on it, that would be a great help.

I can do that. Julian Bless walked into the room How is that new emotion chip treating you? Bless sat on the bench and took out his cleaning kit, unfolded the oil cloth, and then began wiping the blade of his katana. The Damascus steel gleamed under the light.

Citizen’s adaptive programs of her learning CPU had fully internalized the XY Beta Chip, but she still didn’t know exactly how they worked. The emotions are available for me to draw upon, however, it seems like I can’t pull them up like any other program.

Bless nodded. Yes, probably because that’s how emotions work.

What do you mean?

I mean, for all of us, the emotions are there. He set the oil cloth down and picked up the dry stopper. But rarely are emotions something we bring up initially. We usually respond to a certain stimulus with the emotion.

She was still learning how to fully understand these human feelings. Whatever she knew of human thinking before, was extraordinarily little to what she was being exposed to know. It was amazing how just access to these new emotions made her process things differently. But how do you know which emotion to choose in your response?

Bless smiled, his eyes never leaving his blade. That’s the point. You don’t select an emotion like you would choose a combat program. You just respond naturally. You allow the emotion to express itself. Once the dry stopper had covered the blade in its appropriate places, be put the bottle down and began massaging the oil into the blade with the oil cloth.

So, I do not have control over my emotions? This thought did little for her. The notation of having no control over one’s self didn’t compute.

No, no. That’s not entirely accurate. In a sense, yes you don’t have much control when a certain emotion comes out. You do, however, have control over how you choose to react to said emotion.

The words he was saying, made sense, but she still needed more context. He looked at her and must have been able to read it in her face.

For instance. He finished with the oil cloth and began packing away the cleaning kit. Let’s say, you walk around the corner and someone punches you in the face.

Okay. Kind of a strange example, but fine.

Now, what emotion would you likely feel when that happened?

Surprise or anger, I suppose.

Not to mention, a fight mode simulation would activate, initiating combat mode.

Good, yes. That would work. Maybe even contempt or fear. In fact, you may have a rush of all four of those different emotions.

So, you can have more than one emotion at a time?

Of course. Bless held his sword in front of him and looked up and down its spine. That is fairly common, actually. Satisfied with his work, he began to re-sheath the sword. For simplicity, let’s say it is just anger that comes out. No one is there to hurt you or kill you, they are just trying to get your attention.

That does not seem like a very successful method of getting my attention.

You’re right. But just for the sake of the point I’m trying to make, let’s say you feel anger.

Okay.

Now, that you feel the emotion, you can decide to react to it or respond to it. He looked into her eyes as he sat down.

React or respond?

Yep. That’s what I said.

Those two phrases had similar, almost interchange definitions, but there was some other point Bless was trying to make with these words. But that point remained in the shadows of her processing unit.

What is the difference?

Re-acting is when you don’t think, and you simply respond to the anger and punch the person in the face. Responding is when you think about it, realize that no violence is needed, and you choose to not respond in anger but to do something else instead.

So, you’re saying when I have an emotion, I can still choose how I respond to that emotion?

Correct.

So, responding is always better than re-acting?

Not necessarily. Many times, yes, but sometimes, you won’t have time to think about it, especially in combat. Or there might be times when reacting naturally is perfectly fine. Reacting is not necessarily bad, it’s simply good to know the difference between the two.

She scrunched her eyebrows. So, how do I know when to react or respond?

Bless leaned in and pointed his finger at her. "That is one of the hardest things to figure out. And that is one of the things that makes us human. There is no clear-cut answer all the time. Sometimes we have to, well, feel, instead of just think. It is a substantial portion of our humanity."

Another layer of humanity. This was all so strange. It seemed like as soon as she learned one thing, two more concepts popped up. It was like she was unwrapping a ball made of nano-cord. No matter how many strands she pulled apart, it would separate into two more strings.

Will the process of understanding humans be never ending? It was confusing enough to make the circuits in her brain whirl.

It is puzzling still, isn’t it?

Citizen nodded. Yes. But it is not something that discourages me from learning more about you. I understand it. I just think I need more experience—more data input to analyze.

Bless chuckled. The sound annoyed her, which, in the greater scheme of things, was yet another emotion she had not mastered.

Are you guys ready? Nev was standing in the doorway with her Federation jacket on.

Yes. Bless got up and Citizen followed.

I have to report to the station in one hour. Nev led the way to the ladder.

Dak, you ready? Bless called to their massively large teammate.

Yes, Sir. Dak was twice the size of Bless and almost as strong as Citizen, or so it seemed.

Sid jumped to his paws, and his gears whirled and creaked as the bot walked. His metal claws clicked off the metal floor.

I will leave you at the garage. Nev pulled her hair back into a ponytail and placed the gray Federation cap on. I will have to be at the station until 1400 hours. We won’t meet up back here. I will find where you are staying, once I can check with Athan. She rested one hand on the ladder rung.

Okay. Bless nodded. We’ll trust Athan and go where he tells us.

Nev turned and began ascending the ladder. Bless went next.

Citizen felt compelled to go immediately after him because even though they were in a safe house, she could not let anything happen to him. She looked down.

Dak grabbed Sid by the shoulder handle and lifted the bot with him, and then climbed the ladder with one hand.

2

Julian Bless

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For the next two days, we’ll stay in one of the underground transit tunnels. Nev led them down a hall. We have learned that if the leadership remains in one physical location for over two days, we eventually get raided. So, we try to stay on the move.

So, you do not have one central location for Elysium leadership to meet? Citizen kept pace next to Bless.

Not necessarily. Nev opened a door and looked both ways down a T intersection before continuing. It is too dangerous to stay in one location for too long. The leadership of the network is loose but effective. It is the only way for the network to continue if someone’s captured. And even if they’re tortured by the Feds, they won’t know enough about the networks as a whole to reveal enough information that could kill it completely.

The challenge with this type of network is alignment of goals. Bless adjusted his katana, so the tip didn’t bang on the stainless-steel doorframe.

Yes, said Nev. Exactly.

I understand there is no other way to grow a movement like this underground. But my experience with Elysium on the outside, out in the autonomous zone, taught me that the number one enemy was not the Federation on the outside, but it was miscommunication from within.

A lesson learned the hard way, I imagine. Nev kept walking.

"With a loose network like this, there is always a high possibility that two different factions may end up with competing