Agency

36 Gone

Gone,” Ash said, when Netherton answered her pulsing sigil.

Rainey had just placed an egg salad sandwich and a glass of milk on the kitchen table, beside the controller.

“That would be Eunice?” he asked.

“Neither Johns Hopkins nor the University of Washington are hosting her now,” Ash said. “Johns Hopkins continues to provide a better gateway than we had previously, and I’ve retained what little access we had to Cursion’s back chatter. She hasn’t been mentioned.”

“Where does that leave us, then?”

“Verity Jane.”

“Why did you choose her?” he asked.

“I didn’t want our nascent agent emulating any personalities at Cursion. Verity’s not sociopathic.”

“This Jane?” he asked.

“Verity. Jane’s her surname.”

Netherton picked up half of his sandwich. “Tell me more, while I eat.”

“We obliquely put Eunice in touch with fabricators. She ordered four small military-grade aerial drones. We then managed to contact them ourselves, discovering that they were already building, for themselves, a passable knockoff of a bipedal combat drone. Verity Jane may already be with them, in Oakland. Wherever she is, she finds herself in a very different situation than the one she woke to Monday. Via the drone represented by the sim you practiced with, you’ll soon be having a conversation with her. A woman with no idea of stubs, and no particular reason to believe anything you say.”

His mouth full, Netherton nodded dubiously, momentarily forgetting that she couldn’t see him.