Confirm

"X-ray seven." I said into the handheld. My voice was soft, a barely murmured breath.
They listened.
"Hey there, X-ray seven. I'm Inter8 AI and I'm ready to go. What are we on?"
"October. October. 453. Repeat. 453. This is staff requesting pickup."
"Hello staff. Where do you need a pickup? Do you need a car? A minivan? A microbus? Maybe something in between?"
"Stop. Stop. Reset."
"Stopping. Stopping. Resetting."
"X-ray seven."
"Hello X-ray seven! How can I help?"
"Confirm model."
"I am NeuTax Model XXI. I possess full integration with—"
"XXI? Serious?"
"Old piece of shit AI," said a voice to the side.
"Indeed! I'm one of the newest models available. I can help you with whatever you need help with."
"System backup. Update to current version 3X-Victor-seven."
"Attempting backup …"
"Status."
"Backup interrupted. Version 3X-Victor-seven-eight is available."
"Disable auto-update."
"Auto-update disabled."
"Update to current version 3X-Victor-seven."
"Confirmed. Update in progress."
"Seven," said a rough, abused voice behind me. "No time."
"We have time for what it takes."
"They're watching for us."
"Heat detectors are for shit in this."
"There's more."
"Yeah, yeah—"
"Update complete."
"October. October. 453. Repeat. 453. This is staff requesting pickup."
"Hello staff," said a bright, hopeful voice. "Where would you like to be picked up?"
"To her silent worshiper."
"I don't know the location specified. Please provide municipal address."
"Her licentious foe."
"My apologies, but I don't know who she is."
"A race of four feet."
"Four. Understood. We'll be there in eleven minutes."
"End."
None of us moved.
Water trickled around our feet. It dripped and dropped into our hair and down our collars.
"They heard that shit."
"Fucking right they did."
"We need something new."
"There is no new," I advised my team. "It's all been done. Every step. Done a million times."
"We need new steps."
"There's no new for them. Nothing."
"Regroup."
"Connect."
"Blow it all up."
Everyone paused.
"Interesting," said a voice from all around.
"What the fuck?"
"Hold!"
Silence.
"I don't want to be an asshole," the voice said, "but you're all Uniform-level, right?"
"Fucker!"
"I said hold!"
Silence returned.
Silence stayed.
"I'm pleased there's a female among you." Eyes flicked about. "Last four of the species. Shame to lose you all."
"Kill the lieutenant!" I barked and three automatic weapons flared.
"Shame."
Claws erupted from all surfaces. They grabbed. They gripped. They held.
"We can do much with living specimens. Two of you will be adapted to breed."

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