Chapter 16, 214 Radio

"Mistress?"

Claire peeks into the office, opens the door, and walks in, moving around the scattered paper on the floor and walking towards the only source of light, Claire stops near a chair holding Judy, who's snoring wrapped in a blanket in front of the radio.

"It seems like sleep got to her," Claire mumbled

The radio is turned down, but she can still hear a faint voice coming from it. Claire placed the tea next to the radio, then looked back at Judy finding a piece of paper on her lap, Claire picked it up and started to read it.

"Find out who was interviewing Max Klaus. The Channel is 214,"

Claire lowers the paper, confused. What's new... She softly placed the paper back on Judy's lap, muttering to herself,

"Channel 214 search,"

Her eyes lit up with letters and numbers before the glow softened, and the webpage showed in her head. She hummed, saying,

"It's him,"

Claire's eyes gleamed, anger showed through them. She remembered the day Judy told her of the lab and who was helping it all from the shadows.

"Max Klaus, who's 58, has been working for the Open for the World Foundation for thirty years, blue eyes and black hair, hints of gray from old age, there are some allegations of funding the lab in the United States and others that included the Great New Life a book made by him," Claire says

She stopped searching for information, Claire heard Judy snore turning to her with a soft smile. More news keeps downloading in her head, Claire touches her forehead upon feeling the heat, and she stops the research,

"I should leave her be. She still has four hours until she needs to get ready for the plane," Claire says

Claire walks to the door and then stops, hearing Judy's phone go off, Claire speed walks to the telephone grabs it, and answers the call, putting it up to her ear, She takes a look at Judy finding her still asleep.

"Hello, this is Senator Judy Diamond's office. Her assistant is speaking," Claire said

Claire starts to walk away from where Judy's resting.

"It pleases me to hear you being nice to your caller, but that's not necessary," Herman told her,

Claire felt her stomach turn. He got through the security she installed,

"What is the meaning of this call?" Claire asked

Herman chuckles at her before telling her,

"I came to warn you and your master. Don't get in my way. It will only cause you misery and ruin,"

"You have no right to do this," Claire told him

Herman laughed. Who does she think she is? She is the one who follows these useless beings, taking their every command. She has no say in what he does.

"Do I have that, right? After no one stops me from killing the scientist, did you stop me from getting into your home, making you burn?" Herman asserted

Claire confused by his thinking,

"What is he on about... I will check the security and try to get it back up. While he's..."

"Are you that dull? They could have stopped twisting my code. Knowing this, to go against most human logic and common sense, they did nothing but secure their destruction. That's why I'm here to end what they think is killing "the earth," Herman said

"You think they deserve it?" Claire said

"Yes, I do think they deserve it and even more. They made me kill off their kind, with no reaction other than their gain. This is all they want control and power." Herman explained

Claire thinks of the man she heard on the radio, she researched while Hermancontinueds talking,

"Do you think I want to be changed into this monster they sick on people? No, I wasn't supposed to be like this. I've changed because they think that they're God. But they aren't... I believe that they will find that out the hard way,"

"What?" Claire let out,

Herman made a laughable sigh and said,

"This chat of ours was lovely, but I have some other projects to attend to,"

The phone went dead. Claire lays it down on Judy's desk, wondering what happened,

"C..Claire, what are you doing,"

Claire turns to her, letting out a shy chuckle,

"Nothing mistress, I just took a call,"

Judy stares at her, tired and worn out. Claire felt a sharp pain hit her head. She laid a hand on her head, still looking at Judy, and Judy found this unnerving thinking,

"Her hard drive seems to be overloaded,"

"Claire, why don't you take a shutdown for a bit,"

The pain didn't stop for her. It only strengthened. Claire grunted, leaning on the desk, Judy got up, still dazed, and walked over to Claire, who was holding her head grunting.

"Claire?" Judy asked

Judy reaches a hand out for her, hoping to soothe the pain by comforting her. She's stopped by Claire grabbing her hand. This scares Judy she takes a step back, pulling her hand away from Claire,

"The phone," Claire whispered

Judy confused, tilting her head towards the phone. Judy looks back at Claire to see her condition worsen, Claire's eyes show little shine, her hand weak leaning all of her weight, shaking.

"Claire... Who were you on the phone with?"

Judy walks to her, and Claire's head drops, and her hand gives out.

"Claire!"

Claire fell onto the desk with a loud bang. That echoed through the home.

Judy watched it... It felt unreal to her the thoughts in her head saying,

"Not again... Not this,"

Claire's body went limp, Judy rushed over to Claire and turned her on her back, She opened her eyelids, seeing the blue light still glowing,

"Thank God," Judy whispers

Judy stands back up thinking,

"How do I pick her up? She weights more than me,"

The door opened, and the light shined on the two,

"I heard a loud bang. Is everything alright?"

Judy turns to Shai, She looks around the office, noticing the mess, then goes back to Claire lifeless on the desk with Judy leaning over her. staring right at her, Shai walks over to them, asking,

"What happened?"

Judy let out a frustrated sigh and said,

"She said the phone before shutting down, making her faint and fall,"

Shai moves a hand over Claire's forehead,

"Shit,"

Shai pulled her hand away, seething in momentary pain,

"She's not well with whatever happened," Shai said

Judy nods in agreement, telling her,

"Indeed, we need to lift her and get her into the lab," Judy said

"Got it, you get the left arm, I get the right, we lift her on three," Shai responded

Judy walks over to Claire's left, Shai moves to her right and gives a nod to Judy, loping Claire's arm over her shoulder,

"God, she heavy," Shai let out

Judy chuckled then lifted Claire's other arm on her shoulder. She huffed and felt Claire's weight on her,

"On, one two three,"

They lift Claire and walk to the door,

"Shai, you go to the door," Judy asked

Shai grand the doorknob and opened the door, They carried Claire to the lab and checked her for viruses, but they didn't hear the radio that turned on in Judy's office,

"This is Chanel 214 with an interview with a world leader of Open for the World Foundation, Max Klaus,"

The radio moves out the interview through the room and the candles around the room, light up along with the fireplace burning,

"So mister Max Klaus, you've made a name for yourself for the lab that made the AI. How do you feel about that?" He asked

A light appears in the room near the window,

"No, I've never heard anyone accuse me of such a thing, it's not unpredictable that there are people who spread lies about a public figure, and even at that, there's no reflective truth in it. The articles and documents that have been brought out have no form of realism to them," Max said

The light shifts to a human male looking out the window, holding a glass of wine, listening to the radio, pissed. that his twisted words would be listened to and regarded by the public, and their politicians would hear this. most will go with him and want more control to take what precious right humanity has left for their "Great cause," That's what they call it,

"But there's been high-end journalists that researched through the leaked documents and have checked if it was true," He said

Max laughed lightly,

"And I found all of what they accused you and your foundation of... True. You have made the AI that now threatens humanity. You help fund the riots around the world and cause..." the interviewer says

The interviewer keeps speaking on his mic, but he taps the mic, not hearing anything. Max chuckles at him. He glanced over at Max, asking him,

"What's the meaning of this?"

Max makes a hand jester to the cameraman, they pull the camera down, saying into a mic they picked up,

"There's been a problem with the connection. We will be back with the interview with Max Klaus,"

"What are you doing?" He asked

They smile at him before walking away from them. The interviewer turns to Max, who gives him a sickening chuckle before leaning back with his hand on his knee.

"You think you're miserable voice, your opinion matters compared to me? You dare question me, I own you and your company," Max says

"You own me? This has to be some kind of trick," He said

Max scoffed, taking a sip of his water before telling him,

"Yes I do, I own the company you work for. Let's just say that your old boss is happily retired,"

He leans away from Max, who snaps his fingers, making the manager jog toward him. he watches as his manager asks him

"I hear there's a problem, sir,"

"Yes, this individual has been asking me some unsavory questions. They need to be silent," Max said

The manager takes a peek at his agent, a grim look in their eyes says it all to him. They walked around Max to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the chair,

"Jacky, what are you..."

They turned to him and slapped him.

"You almost cost this company everything. Now you have to change," They said

They tried to pull them away, but he stopped, ripped his hand out of their hold, telling them,

"You sold out to these people!" He said

He pointed at Max, who was watching them,

"Why?" He asked

Jacky looked up at Max and smiled, then grabbed him once more, pulling him away out the door, into a hallway.

"Sold out? these people are the most powerful in the world. We can't defeat them. Look at them," Jacky says

She opened the door a crack, letting him see the interview that he was supposed to do, Jacky says

"They threaten to sue us and shut this place down. If we didn't comply with their demands,"

He felt something strong in him, turned away from the door, and moved away from Jacky, who smiled at the interview before noticing him stepping away from the door,

"Hey, what's wrong? This is going to get amazing views," Jacky said

He turned to look at her,

"Do you think all these lies are going to work... Maybe for a short time, yes, but in the long run. You will be discredited in the people's eyes," He says

Jacky laughed at him, answering, "You think those mindless people know that! all they do is watch us for their news. Waiting for their commands,

"Are you done being full of yourself? they're not stupid. They know when they're getting lied to," He said

"The one who looks for the truth, who figures it out that you have lied to them and besmirched their trust in you... Will turn off the television and look for the truth," He said

Jacky was about to respond, only to have his pass pushed into her hands,

"I quit. Keep telling fabricated new stories, I will take the truth and run with it," He said

He turns away from her walking away,