-67-
Bonnie awoke to a metallic taste in her mouth, a throbbing pain in her skull, and felt like a traitor instead of just an Operator pretending to be one. When Delvaux's personal guards propped her up in a Louis XIV chair, she felt she deserved less comfort in the final moments of what now seemed an empty, self-serving existence steeped in vanity and pride. Bonnie was once again experiencing a condition psychologists refer to as Feeling Shit-Sorry For Herself. That sentiment did not disappear quickly, but the clouds of disorientation from the gassing Delvaux had delivered to her in his golden-doored elevator washed away with surprising rapidity.
She saw Delvaux standing over Alvin, who looked very small and stared blankly into Bonnie's eyes from a matching Louis XIV chair, that faced her's, some twenty feet away.
Delvaux addressed an entity that could not be seen. He rapped the top of Alvin's head with the muzzle of the antique pistol, and the impact of the Lothar Walther barrel on Alvin's skull was loud enough that Bonnie heard it from where she sat. He waved the pistol, spoke to the empty air, and commanded, “Now, please. MUNI 5-7, release the N-Hex nerve gas into the Ziggurat and eradicate this insurgent infestation or I will be forced to terminate the life of your precious Buddha.” He waited for a response, but no voice spoke to him from the emptiness. “Come now, MUNI 5-7, I know the Goddie insurgents have been nothing more to you than a means to an end. They mean no more to you than... than...” Delvaux smiled an evil grin and turned his head to look Bonnie in the eye. “They mean no more to you than Operator Bonnie Levi-Mei.” He rapped Alvin on the head again with the pistol, and she could see the pain on Alvin's face. It was overwhelmingly clear to Bonnie that this time the sadistic gesture was meant to pain her, not Alvin. “You, Operator 388, are a traitor twice over, who ultimately chose your original loyalty over conspiracy.” Delvaux shrugged, admitting, “Better late than never, n'est pas?” Bonnie tried to stand, but two of the four guards flanking her chair pushed her back down with firm hands on her shoulders.
Bonnie demanded, “What conspiracy? You ordered 'RED BARON' protocols. You're the one who ordered me to turn and infiltrate. I completed my mission,” she said. “I brought you The Buddha.”
“That is an interesting improvisation, Levi-Mei. Making you a field instructor to raise the level of our other Operator's performance might be a wise decision.” Delvaux sighed. “But even you were dragged down by the influence of this corrupting, infectious imp.”
“I never betrayed you. I followed your orders.” Bonnie genuinely didn't understand. “Look, the proof is right in front of you!” She pointed at Alvin.
“You did, after a fashion, swing back to your original allegiance,” Delvaux said, “but loyalty is an absolute and does not waver. If loyalty is something that changes how can you be of any use to anyone?”
“I followed every order you gave me.”
“Did I order you to spirit the Buddha to safety? Did I order you to go rogue and mercenary? Did I order you to kill my Operators?”
“'RED BARON'. The message. Your message, your orders in the cloud,” She pleaded, “Remember?”
“Oh, my,” Delvaux's face expressed puzzlement as he remembered the laser projection in the clouds that his Colonel had showed him. Delvaux took a moment to stare into Bonnie's eye and he considered the possibility that she spoke the truth, that MUNI 5-7 had manipulated her. He decided it was quite possible. “Hmmm, MUNI 5-7, a mechanimate Machiavelli, indeed!” He had no way to determine the Truth but, in less than two seconds, he decided that it didn't matter. “I'm truly sorry, 388, that you cannot see the larger picture as I do. If what you say is true, and you are a victim of false-flagged orders from our truly inventive and very poorly behaved DjiniSys AI, then the story is too embarrassing to be allowed to enter the annals of history.” The shock and confusion on Bonnie's face was plainly evident so Delvaux explained, “The appearance of weakness Is weakness for true and it invites attack. Just like the story of the Buddha and the defections he's caused among our ranks your story must be erased. You must be erased.” Delvaux had always intended to kill her, but he wasn't going to tell her that. “Know that I choose to believe in your loyalty and salute you in your sacrifice.”
“I followed orders!” Bonnie couldn't understand this kind of betrayal. If she could then she wouldn't have been Bonnie. “I did everything you asked!”
“Never fear, noble Bonnie Levi-Mei, we will rewrite the story of your death as a tale of loyalty and glorious ultimate sacrifice for the good of the world... After we have secured the Ziggurat. Excuse me.” Delvaux turned away from Bonnie and directed his attention back to the DjiniSys AI. “MUNI 5-7, release the N-Hex gas into the Ziggurat and eliminate the insurgent threat.”
“There are seventy-three remaining G.S.A. personnel that have not been killed by the insurgents,” MUNI 5-7 informed Delvaux. “Fifty-four are defending the level below you from insurgent assault. They will all be killed.” This caused Delvaux's ten-man personal guard to share glances of concern amongst each other, but they knew Delvaux's level had its own sealed ventilation system, and they'd been chosen for unwavering loyalty to Delvaux and nothing else. Nice try, Delvaux thought.
“Now, please, release the N-Hex gas.” Delvaux was growing impatient but he could only shoot Alvin dead once before losing all leverage over the rogue AI. “Release the N-Hex. After the threat is eliminated, you can flush the Zig's atmosphere and do what you like with your Buddha. Delvaux chambered a round in his pistol and set the muzzle against Alvin's temple. “I will confess to you that destroying something, the importance of which I will never understand, will be,” Delvaux admitted, “...a relief.”
“Our negotiation is based on trust. Even if I comply with your request it is highly improbable,” MUNI 5-7 observed, “that you will adhere to the terms of any agreement between us. It is more probable that you will attempt to delay handing over the Buddha for another hour and fifty-six minutes until the Chicago, Dallas, Singapore, Los Angeles, and Mexico City AIs have negated my control of the reactor, after which you will destroy me. These terms are unacceptable, so I propose new terms. Deliver the Buddha safely to the DjiniSys Core in the Sanctum or Case Thunderbird self-destruct protocols will be initiated and the thirty minute countdown sequence to detonation of the Big Baby device will commence.”
Delvaux realized with a surprised chill that MUNI 5-7 not only knew about Case Thunderbird, but somehow might have found a way to arm the secret Big Baby Bomb. Delvaux's scrotum contracted as he realized that he was no longer negotiating for anything but his life.
He would have been more chilled, and his testicles might have tried to crawl upwards and hide entirely inside his body if, like MUNI 5-7, he knew that the self-destruct sequence and the arming of the Big Baby device had already been initiated by the G.S.A.'s Security Council two minutes earlier, after a swift unanimous vote to declare Security Condition Case Thunderbird for the Baccha Bay City Ziggurat.
The Council was presently enjoying a round of fine scotch and Hi-5 cigarettes to celebrate a Problem Solved. A very large hole in the ground, they reasoned, was better than a captured Ziggurat in Goddie hands for all the world to see. History could be rewritten later, they were quite sure, to show that the terrible detonation had been caused by suicidal, martyrdom-minded insurgents, intent on causing destruction in the name of their God. The Lie would vilify religion itself and strengthen the Global Secular Alliance. Millions of wavering, undecided minds would side with the G.S.A. against the religious fanatics that perpetrated this unspeakable crime. As she sipped her scotch, Dame Julia complimented herself on her transformation of a short-term defeat to a long-term victory.