Come Follow Me...

She picked the glass up and scowled at him. "You're my friend, not my mother." She took a sip of it, and settled back, her head resting on James's shoulder as she watched the show.
 
"You know you love me just the same, Pet." he said ignoring her scowl completely, his hand coming to rest on her knee for a brief second. He took a sip of his rum and placed it back on the coffee table. He leant back and watched the television, Lilly's head coming to rest on his shoulder.
 
Lily watched the show, but her mind was elsewhere - did she really just think of James as a friend? Or was it maybe more than that?
 
The rum was staring to hit him. He looked at Lilly for a second before dragging himself away. He was single now... and she was attractive... No. Just No. N-O. Don't you dare even looking down her to-... You did it didn't you? Idiot. Eyes off, sleeze! No, do NOT keep staring! What the fuck are you doing?! Look at the tele, damnit!

James' eyes snapped forward towards the television. She was single, he was single. What was the problem? Thier friendship. What if he fucked it up? What if they slept with each other and then things got really, really wierd? He couldnt risk it. "Like the rum?" he asked her. "Its my favorite stuff. Won't drink anything else." he said taking another sip. What the fuck are you doing, James?! Small talk? This isnt a bar or a club! This is LILLY!!, screamed his brain to no avial.
 
"Hmm, I like it, but I prefer beer. This is a bit too sweet for my tastebuds." She grinned, and sipped it again. "So, now that you are single, any girl you have your eyes on? How about that girl you liked before Perrie - Mary?" Even though Lily hated Perrie, she really liked Mary, who was the sweetest girl in the world.
 
"No... Not really..." he lied. "I've just come out of a, well, not much of a relationship but I've come out of it even though I was the one dumping. I just dont think I'm really ready for another one so quickly." he lied again, looking Lilly in the eyes for a brief moment before looking back to the television. He took his glass in his hand and raised it to his mouth and took another sip. He placed the glass back down lightly. "You know what? I think it's time I gave girls a break for a while. Enjoy living single for a while." he said with a satisfied grin.

Good, good. Single, yes. Dating Lilly, NO! Bad-lands, man, Bad-lands. You are on knife's edge here, buddy. So watch your hands... she is too much of a good friend for you to fuck things up... he warned himself.
 
Throughout the conversation Oscar had wormed his way out of Jame's grip, turned down a beer, refused to look anywhere near the girl's chest. He instead sat on a chair and started thinking drawing his legs up to himself and hugging them. Icarus now knew everything about James, that was obvious and would probably use his identity online. Thats what Icarus was after all. An engine to gather information and fake evidence.

"You need a new name, and a new apartment. Sorry to say but its true. Your computer was online when it happened, probably sucked all your details and sent them off. But you computer should be working now.... I just don't think its clean... I think think any computer manufactured since 1985 is clean.... I'll have to go back to writing on the walls..."
 
"A-are you okay, man?" he said getting to his feet and walking over to Oscar, glad for the destraction. "One of you're little conspiracies usually doesn't have you this worried..." he said, feeling worried for Oscar. He walked over to him and spun him around in the wheely-chair. "Please tell me you are okay. You look paler than usual. What the hell has you so worried? You can tell me, man." he looked into Oscar's eyes. "You don't really think that this is this 'Icarus' thing, do you?" he said, crouching down to his eye hieght.
 
He shook his head. "It knew my name James. On my laptop. <y name wasn't on my laptop. My name isn't anywhere." he decided to start from the beginning.

"Icarus was developed in 1994 back when the internet was just starting out. It was an AI designed to monitor the growing web and get as much information as it could. But It wasn't designed to sit on one server it would move from server to server however it wanted... on 2001 they shut it down but you can't shut something like that down, not when its on a server. What we're looking at is a soldier still fighting the cold war in the internet. And it must have gotten the serial number from the board and had sales records... its the only way it could know my name. And all that from a 4kb file.. its impossible. So it must be that its in the firmware already waiting. Icarus... is everywhere."
 
"Jesus, Oscar..." he said in shock. Nothing ever had Oscar this worried or frightened. No program should ever be able to know who someone is and then act of its own volition. Then it dawned on him. Oscar's name wasn't on the transaction. It was James' name. It was James who had bought the laptop and the parts on behalf of Oscar... "How could it know your name? I bought the computer for you as well as the parts. I signed for it. You had the flu that day. How could it be... your... name on the.... record?" he said, his stomach sinking like a brick in a small pond. Osacar wouldn't so much as write his own name on his computer. If anything whatever it was should have called him Truth... "This is starting to freak me out now... really... If this is some kind of joke, I swear to God..." he trailed off.
 
"It can't be a joke. No one would do this as a joke. I told you this was big." he stood and looked around. "We shouldn't stay here, Lily should go home before they know she was here. He know, we have seen. The only thing keeping us safe is the fact that my laptop hasn't been online after it was infected so the copy on there might couldn't tell the rest my name... maybe. I would just feel safer anywhere but here right now."

He pulled up his hood and looked at Jame's computer, the internet still unplugged from the back, good.
 
"Lilly cant drive. She's had drinks, remember?" he said. "I know you are a little shaken up right now, but I think you should just try to calm down. I've got the spare room made up, anyway, just in case." he said motioning in the direction of the spare room. "Help yourself to anything you need to, man." he said, getting up from his crouching position. He stared his computer back up and started his playlist consisting of over 30 Alice Cooper albums. The first track was "Poison". How... Appropriate... "That should do it." he said dusting his hands from imaginary dirt.
 
Lily was about to reply with a teasing remark, when James got up and moved into the study. She couldn't help but overhear their conversation and was as a consequence very confused.

"Hey, what's up?" She stood and walked to the door. Leaning against the doorframe, she watched him carefully. "Something's wrong, and I can see that, so don't bother lying to me."
 
"Sleep? Now? Here?" James had bought him the laptop, it was true. "Fine but Do not plug in your internet. I will be around to... I..." he allowed himself to be lead to the spare room and sat on the bed fully dressed. "It couldn't know unless it already did. But how did it know it was me? It shouldn't know."

he lay down on his side and then onto his back. "Maybe... Lie to it, it will not know the truth. It can't. Lets see how clever they made you Icarus."
 
James lead Oscar and Lily into the spare room. "Oscar has come to the conclusion that a, well, a virus of sorts has infected my computer and it got Oscar too..." he said, pausing before continuing again. "...And it said his name..." he said, his expression turning to one of concern and shock. "And now we are freaking out because no conventional computer program could do that..." he said pulling out a chair, needing to sit down now himself.
 
Lily was getting a bit scared now. "How could it do that? Unless....." She had had a thought, but didn't voice it in case it was silly.
 
"I have Ideas but James is insisting I sleep here." Oscar said. "No idea why I could walk back but I guess he doesn't want to be alone with you." he sighed. "Either way I'll have more information tomorrow. The Truth always find a way. Always. You can't stop The Truth."

He folded his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. "Though tell me Lily how much do you about Icarus or Daedalus? And I'm not talking about Greek mythology."
 
"I think what we need now is just to have a chill biscuit." he said with a sigh. "Let's just listen to a few tunes and just chill out, guys." he said. "I'm going outside for a cigarette..." he said getting up and moving to the back porch.
 
"Nothing except that it is a computer virus." Lily shrugged, but then made a snap decision. "You know when you said that no normal computer virus could know your name? Well, maybe it could, but somewhere out there, someone is controlling it, and has found it out somehow?"
 
"Its not a virus. Its an AI, and Artificial Intelligence. It can think for itself, adapt, find things out for itself. And its been fighting a was that hasn't existed in over a decade. I would like it if a human were controlling it. Humans sleep, humans make mistakes. Humans aren't self replicating lines of code that think for themselves and can know everything about you in an instant and is probably in everything electronic you own waiting to wake up."
 
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