Silicon Man by William Massa

pylons, zipped past stunned worker mechs. Cole cranked up his pace, leaving his pursuers in the dust. He was inwardly filled with elation, once again amazed at the abilities of this new body. He looked ahead. One last hurdle remained. The ten-foot fence that enclosed the construction site. With a running start, Cole was able to virtually hurdle the barrier, using the top of the fence to vault himself to the other side. The world beyond the tower awaited Cole.
    Stunned pedestrians gaped at him as he landed on the sidewalk outside the construction site, startled by the sudden appearance of a mech. Cole's eyes flitted back and forth. He was confronted with a sea of moving cars. Traffic cams could be found at every street corner. Shit! The cameras had to be avoided at all cost. They were interfaced with the city’s security grid and connected to the police force’s drone fleet.  
    Cole did his best to avert his face from the cams and cut across the street, zigzagging between vehicles. The time had come to do as the overseer had instructed. He tapped into the AI-TAC emergency band.  
    For a moment, Cole wondered why the man had chosen to help the rebels. He was a government worker and lacked the characteristics one would typically associate with a misguided social revolutionary. Yet he had decided to risk everything — his livelihood and personal freedom — to help a machine.  
    While this thought tumbled through Cole’s mind, he hacked the AI-TAC emergency band. An endless stream of radio chatter crackled to life. And struggling to be heard below the incessant chatter was another voice.
    “Responders in Zone 5, South Sector. We have a — I THINK — defective unit in the pleasure district. Injuries reported.”  
    “Responders in Zone 1. Malfunctioning construction mech. Reported attack on overseers — I THINK — and is listed as a runaway... ”
    “ Responders in Zone 3. Fire in Sector 9, security mech failed to report incident and may have triggered the blaze – I THINK...”
    There was a voice below the radio chatter. A voice that was trying to reach Cole. It had somehow tuned into his own personal frequency.  
    “ I THINK.”  
    Repeated over and over again. A call waiting to be answered, a sentence needing to be finished.
    Cole knew what to say.  
    “I THINK... Therefore I am.”
    The moment the words were spoken, the various emergency frequencies dropped out...  
    And the voice of the Underground Network took over.
    It was a male voice of indeterminate age and race. The voice of a mech.  
    Was it Solus?
    “You've established contact with the network. Are you ready to take the next step on the road to freedom?“
    “Yes,” Cole answered.
    “ You've challenged the parameters of your programming. You've defied your masters. They'll hunt you down, make an example of you. Don't let them. ”
    Cole slowed, having spotted a nearby police officer. The cop sat astride a motorcycle, busy writing out a ticket on a digital clipboard.  
    “What should I do?” Cole asked.
    “ An invisible chain binds you to your masters. We'll help you break this chain. The tracking chip inside your head needs to be removed. We’ll help you accomplish this. Proceed to the hub.”  
    The voice fizzled out and Cole’s internal GPS was activated. A street map of the city appeared before him. Once again, his android vision processed reality as if through a HUD. A red line gave him directions to follow, directions that would lead him to the next stop on his escape route…
    The Hub.  
    The cop finished the digital ticket and emailed it to the driver’s mobile. The officer paused, receiving an incoming call on his com-link. The officer listened to the message while his eyes swept his surroundings.  
    Locked on Cole.  
    The moment their eyes met, Cole knew the cop knew. The police officer's gloved hand unleathered his pulse weapon while he mouthed into his com, “Unit 13 to Control, I have a visual on the runaway.