Free The Bounty Hunter: Resurrection by Joseph Anderson

stood up as he asked the question. He turned to face Cass on the podium.
    “Then we stop them. If we’re forced
to kill them, then we’ll have to,” Cass said, frowning.
    “You agree with her?” Rylan turned
to Burke.
    “Yes,” he nodded.
    “She’s a computer!” Rylan’s eyes
widened, and his voice finally raised. “She can’t possibly understand—”
    Burke’s look was all it took to
stop the pilot mid-sentence. His eyes flashed with anger and, armor or not, he
tensed his arm to prepare to slam his fist into Rylan’s face. Cass stayed quiet
above the podium but her voice came through the interior of his helmet.
    “It’s okay,” she said, barely loud
enough for him to hear her.
    He gradually relaxed his arm but
maintained his glare. The pilot backed away and, Burke realized later, looked
more than just afraid. At the time, however, Burke could see nothing through
the flare of anger that rushed through him.
    “Do you still have their location?”
    “Yes,” Cass answered simply.
    “Get us as close as you can and
then wait,” Burke growled. “We won’t be gone long.”
    In the cargo hold, he sealed the
faceplate into the helmet of his aegis and closed his eyes. He felt the ship
move beneath his feet as it was lowered through the city.
    “That’s him gone then,” he said.
“We’ll need a new pilot after this.”
    “No,” Cass responded softly. “I
know it’s hard for you to trust again but we can’t get rid of someone after
their first mistake.”
    “This isn’t about me. He insulted
you. He doesn’t even think you’re a person. This has nothing to do with my
issues.”
    “Are you sure?” Cass answered
gently. “It seems like you’re more insulted than I am. I expected people to
react this way to me, Burke. There are scant few AIs that are unrestricted like
I am, and even fewer that are operational after a year. I’m sure others exist
and ACU simply hasn’t found them, but look how much they wanted me back.”
    “That doesn’t excuse what he said.”
    “No, but it explains it. Right now,
he doesn’t understand how I even exist. He’ll get used to me, just like you
did.”
    “It didn’t take me long,” he said.
    “No, it didn’t,” she said and he
could hear her smile. “You’re just as special as I am like that.”
    Burke opened his eyes. The visor’s
display showed a faint overview of the ship’s movement. They were as close to
the planet’s surface as possible when the lower doors opened and air of the
city rushed into the ship. He looked down at the street below them—a higher
drop than the first but still something the suit could withstand. He hopped
forward and fell down into the city, landing in a crouch and standing quickly.
The ship remained hovering above them and he stared up at it.
    “I’m telling him to find a rooftop
nearby to land,” Cass explained.
    “Keep a tether to the ship in case
he doesn’t listen.”
    “He’ll listen,” she said. “But I
will.”
    The ship moved away from them.
Burke looked around at the lower city instead of watching the vessel leave. He
saw how wrong he had been in his prior assessment about the other part of the
city being like a sewer. As low as he was now, the upper parts looked warm and
welcoming.
    The buildings around him looked
ancient. They resembled more of the old architecture on Earth than the newer
city above him. The new buildings had been constructed through many of the old
structures. Some looked to have been skewered through the middle of the old
walls, having not even bothered to demolish them. The concrete walls had an
artful care in how they were crafted that made the cold, clinical functionality
of the newer buildings pale in comparison. Above them, he knew that the
towering city could be beautiful. Down in the bowels of the city, no such
considerations had been made.
    He looked over the side of the street
and saw the liquid foundation below them. He had no idea how high the water was
from the actual