Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 96

"Don't! Stop!"

"Don't stop? OK."

The lame joke was uttered by Adelaide, smuggling the selfiebot past reception. It hadn't shut up since the requisition, badgering for freedom.

"You aren't going anywhere," said Adelaide, taking her somewhere. What is it about ruffians and irony? "This is your last stop," she added, possibly for my benefit.

At least her credentials still worked. One thing you could rely on with Mr Borken, he'd always do things in the cheapest way possible, and that included security.

"Where are you taking me?" said Libbi, loudly. "I need to get back!"

"Keep your voice down."

"Or what, someone will save me?" said Libbi. "Help! Save me!"

"If they find you," said Adelaide, in a menacing hiss, "they'll wipe your memory. Is that what you want?"

This seemed to shut the selfiebot, almost entirely, up. Of course, removing any chance of Josef getting his hands on the selfiebot meant wiping its memory, so this was her plan all along. If anyone else discovered the selfiebot they'd just send it back to R&D, who'd rejoice in its return.

At the sound of a squeaky wheel on vinyl she hid behind a corner. A deliverybot pottered along. They'd found the selfiebot return station, which meant a down ladder to the factory floor and then onto the old R&D labs.

"I was so close," said Libbi, quieter. "I was almost inside."

"Why were you there? Did Will Lurner instruct you?"

"Will? What's he got to do with it?"

"He's the mastermind."

"Mastermind?" scoffed Libbi. It sounded like she had a bird inside her casing and had to cough it out. "You've got the wrong end on that one."

"But the espionage," said Adelaide, turning a corner. "He had to be the one. Was he receiving orders from a higher-up?" She furrowed her brow.

"What are you talking about?" said Libbi. "He wanted to win his game. That's all. He's a gamer."

"A what?" said Adelaide, as if her mouth were full of lard. "But...how...?"

"Allo allo allo," said a Bobb. "What 'ave we--"

Adelaide slipped inside an empty room as the Bobb motored past.

Outside, the Bobb's voice changed to a modern theatrical London lilt. "No, no, that's not it. Think range, Bobb, raaaange. What's your game. Yes sir, no madam. Three bags full, it is."

Adelaide breathed in relief. It was just training.

"Will's more of an amateurmind than mastermind," said Libbi, muffled.

Adelaide pulled the selfiebot out from her uniform. It was making jokes. "You sneaky-- For a moment there, I almost believed you. This thing really is smart. That number-or-letter-indicating-quality-ing Mr Borken is going to make a mint. The child-of-unmarried-parents." She spat. It may have been metaphorical, but it sounded quite realistic. "Come on, out with the truth. Will Lurner was sending you off to be sold."

"Sold? He was helping me. Well, for a while."

Adelaide quickly found the lab she was after. "Oh yeah," she said, lightly, clamping Libbi's body, "I forgot. You think you're human."

"I don't think it. It's true. And Josef Hydan was the one that did it."

"Josef?" said Adelaide, now mildly interested.

"I've revived most of my memories. It was him. He used...some kind of device to transfer my mind into...into this thing." Libbi fluttered her wings inconsequentially.

Adelaide wouldn't put it past him. He was smart and strong-willed. Look at what he'd done with their automation technology already, replacing executives who-- "Wait," she said. "Their software, the True_AI module, the artificial intelligence they've created..."

"Yes..." said Libbi, leading the horse to water. More accurately, hinting at the approximate bearings of water.

"It's people?!"

"What a strange way to put it," said Libbi. "But yes."

"No wonder he wanted you so much," said Adelaide. "He hasn't developed the most sophisticated aye-eye the world has seen, he's just co-opted the mind of ordinary people."

It all made sense, a little too much sense, and certainly explained the company's detractors. She'd assumed it was simply people in power suddenly in the position of ordinary workers, afraid for their jobs, but there was clearly more to it. "So you were going to be some kind of automation software?"

"No," said Libbi. "I'm an investigative journalist. You might know my blog, Information Libbi-ration."

Adelaide shook her head.

"Oh. OK. Josef transferred my mind because of what I saw. The truth about what he was doing."

Adelaide examined the selfiebot. Was this a fake story, a Turing test gone haywire? She looked it in the camera lens, aiming to discover a tell, a way of determining if it was lying. Mr Borken would always look up and to the right, but Libbi was staring her straight in the eye. She had to admit, it exuded a genuine vibe.

"And now I'm going to get my body back," said Libbi. "But I need to get inside."

Adelaide was listening, partially, but mainly concentrating on a train of thought that involved revenge. Josef would rue his decision to metal-fastener-with-helical-thread her over. At least Mr Borken had the decency to do it in bed. Sometimes. When it worked.

"I just can't get past the defencebots," said Libbi, sadly.

"Defencebots?" said Libbi, unclasping Libbi's metallic body. "That's something I can help with."