A voice hissed in Lucas's ear like the Eden snake trying to lure him to sin. "Did you speak to her?" it asked.

Lucas was already regretting turning the chip back on -- he could almost feel man's spit in his ear. "Yeah, sort of did." He kept his voice low even though the street was gray and dead. This was not a part of town he liked -- not that there was any part he liked much. But here, on either side of the road, a sky-scraping steel and concrete megastructure leaned in, blocking what little light made it through the perma-gray cloud above, keeping a deep bone-chill in the air.

"Sort of did?"

"My communication should have gotten through to her. Her synopses were firing as if she heard me. So yeah, I spoke to her."

There were no other people on the street, only service-droids scuttering down the tarmac, transporting materials to the megastructures and their occupants.

"Then what do you mean by 'sort of'?" the voice asked.

"You see, I spoke to her. She just... didn't respond."

"Well, fuck."

Lucas had never met the man at the other end but had gotten to know him quite well over the years they'd been planning. He'd even created an image in his head of an obese bald man with a vein on his forehead that came out and throbbed like a worm in the rain whenever he was angry. That worm was wiggling to the surface right now.

The voice continued, "She doesn't remember who she is?"

"Doesn't seem so. She's just like anyone else in there right now."

A long sigh. "That's a billion-dollar asset we've lost. It's only a matter of time before it's noticed."

"They're running upgrades again on Friday, boss," Lucas said. "We'll be able to exploit the firewall for another half-minute or so, as long as I can get back in range."

"Shit. We can't do it twice. They're not stupid -- they'll already know there's been an attempt to access the network. They'll be prepared for it next time. They'll trace you and they'll fucking track all of us."

"I got no plans to talk to them if it came to it." He sounded easy and sure, but the truth was that getting caught wasn't something he'd ever let his imagination play with. If the thought tried to come in, even knocked on the door, he'd shoot that fucker right down dead.

The voice in his ear sounded exasperated. "If they find we've broken the rules... God fucking help us all."

Lucas looked up at the roiling gray forever-sky. It was only now, years after the fact, that any light was getting through it at all. If it were all to happen again... God fucking help us sounded about right. "What do you want me to do then, boss?"

A long pause, then it answered, "One more try."