Sonja Fennelweigh was an oddity in the business world. She was the unofficial face of Friedman's Inc., Personal Assistant to Mr. Friedman himself, rumored to be in line for the VP, and came with a handy bag of unnumbered skills to boot. For instance, she'd been a coder since she could type.
Some would call Ms. Fennelweigh without scruples, others, ingenious. To wit, she played by a different set of rules. When an unauthorized user accessed her official Seal Of Approval, a series of programs were initiated, each of which were overseen by a slightly illegal AI. First, a beacon was set up at the local of the unauthorized user, while simultaneously a search for the authorized user began. Once this info was received, the AI attempted contact with the allowed user, and contacted Ms. Fennelweigh. If the user answered, the program would connect its programmer with the user. If not, it would search out the unauthorized user, and make a judgment call on how to achieve its goal. That goal being, retribution.
* * * * *
In the outer alcove of Mr. Friedman's office was Ms. Fennelweigh's physical domain. On her desk she had an apparently ancient computer, complete with keyboard, mouse, and monitor. This provided her with the air of the professional 'old school' secretary. It also provided a hard wired, official account of her professional actions.
A faint sound chimed in Sonja's left inner ear receiver. Quickly she set the phone lines to voicemail, then pressed a stud earring on that same ear.
"The user is not responding." A light male voice intoned. "I will now apprehend the unauthorized user that initiated the SOA."Task accomplished, the AI closed the line. Sonja Picked up the phone from its cradle and dialed. The line rang twice and was picked up
"Goldberg's." Answered an aging male voice.
"I need a favor."
* * * * *
When Carl tapped the file marked SOA, all his nannites flickered red then returned back to green.
"That was weird." he said, while scratching his head.
"Wut?"
"My nannites went on high alert just a second ago."
"Eretin' ok?"
"Well, yeah, their back to normal now. But this file didn't open."
"V'rus?"
"Don't think so. I mean, it's supposed to be a Seal Of Approval. It'd be used to verify the order for a new netlink. It should be just a simple .doc, with a snippet of code attached." Carl topped scratching his head and tapped the file again.
This time the sub menu popped open, and Carl clicked display. A third holopad opened to the left of the original. It was a simple document stating,
The holder of the SOA is authorized in the name of Sonja Fennelweigh, Personal Assistant to Mr. Friedman, Head of Friedman Inc. As such this person is acting in the wishes of Mr. Friedman himself, and is to be treated with the proper respect. Any slight to the authorized holder will receive dire consequences.
As soon as Carl read the document he stopped walking forward.
"B, Bruce." He loudly gulped, as Bruce turned around to look at him. "Uh, We gotta leave her here. We gotta leave her stuff. An' we gotta scat." The words rushed out of his mouth with spraying spittle.
"We canna leev her here. Dis our hood. She kno our names. Et cud be beeg twuble."
"It will be worse if we're still..." His words we cut off by a flare of light coming from his fisted hand.
The light grew then floated to a place between the two modrpunks. The oval shaped light quickly began changing its form. It grew humanoid arms, legs, and a head. From its back, three pairs of bird wings began to form. Two long blades began developing from either hand. Finally, eyes began covering the entire surface.
By this time Bruce had set Tara down gently, then he and Carl began backing away slowly. When the eyes began blinking, they stumbled to the ground as they tried to run away.
"Unauthorized!" The voice boomed out of the very air around them. "You have been denied! The consequences of your actions will be just." Sirens sounding in the distance caught the attentions of the two huddling on the floor. Shouting coming from even closer spurred them back into action.
"Carl RUN!" Bellowed Bruce as he pounded away, with Carl following quickly. As they retreated, the apparition began trailing them uttering "Unauthorized tagged. Search ID chip. Search relations and known affiliates. 4 results found. Run beacon transponder. Execute Avenge." As it finished it monologue it shifted from white to green and shrank to an almost unperceivable mist. The would be thieves disappeared into the abandoned buildings.
Near the spot where Tara lay a small group consisting of two men and one woman rapidly approached. The first man wore the uniform of city paramedic; dingy scrubs, netlink, and a small Diagnostic Device in hand. Once the paramedic had gotten close enough, he tossed the DD at the girl on the floor and brought up his holopad.
He called to the others trailing him, "Her basic stats are good. I'll start checking for more serious injuries."
The woman, possibly in her early thirties, wearing jeans and a buttoned up top came to the girls side and kneeled down. She began gathering all the pieces of jewelry laying on the ground. "Some of these pieces are part of a netlink set, but some are not. Father," She turned to face the third man, "did you bring the specs your friend gave you?"
"Of course I did! How else are we going to verify if anything has been stolen from this young woman." He tossed his hand in the air, and a holopad appeared in front of the woman. "I hope those thugs got nothing! Addicts! Gonifs! If I ever get my hands on them, I'll think of something nasty to do." He finally reached the girl's side and knelt down next to his daughter. He spoke softly, "Tara, if you can hear me, we're friends and we are going to take care of you."
"She does not have a concussion, thankfully. But appears to be suffering from a loss of energy. Based on that tip you received, I'd say someone tried to get her nannites." Just then the hover ambulance pulled up. "We'll give her a shot and some liquids. She should come around soon, won't even need to admit her."
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