Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 138

"Do it!" screamed Josef.

Mathison's eyes were wide, his pupils dilated, which was a good sign. If they weren't, Josef would need to frighten him all over again. But he wasn't talking.

"Show them what the artificial intelligence is capable of," said Josef. "A superior cee-ee-oh."

A speaker cracked. It belonged to Ms Glas' selfiebot. "Junior," she said.

"No! Stop. Don't say a word. It doesn't sleep. It doesn't take breaks. It keeps working. Twenty-four seven. This is the future. You'll see. Patrick Burke of Pobalcapiteal Management Group will see."

"The real world works differently to how you think it does," said Hydan Sr. "Our major shareholder doesn't decide my fate."

"I know," said Josef, "but the board does. Don't they, Ms Glas?"

Her face looked up from her work. "Oh, that was a genuine question?"

Josef battled on. "And Pobalcapiteal have a majority representation on your board. You're out, father, you just don't know it yet."

Hydan sat back, his expression hard to decipher, so Josef turned back to Mathison. "Run Paige through her paces."

But the man didn't move. How could someone so clearly frightened be so stoic? Particularly one who'd been perfectly malleable in the past.

A few distant voices grew louder.

"...so that you don't let them escape again."

"When did I let them escape?"

"The guy. He got out."

Will and Libbi, wrists bound with metal cuffs, were thrown against the wall, next to Mathison.

"Baby, this ain't cool," said Barry White, whose body remained gripped by Zerro.

"What's this?" said Josef.

"We got 'em," said Zerro, smiling.

"And the cheerleader?" said Josef.

"Oh, that's the selfiebot," said Zerro. "I think. Or is the selfiebot the selfiebot?"

Josef waved him away before turning to his father. "You see? Your little ruse didn't work. My plan hasn't been sabotaged, after all. I'm too smart for that. Too smart for you."

Hydan laughed to himself, shaking his head. "Junior, junior, junior."

"Stop calling me that!"

"You think I had anything to do with...those?" said Hydan.

"Those?!" said Libbi, from up above on her racism high-horse.

"Absolutely," said Josef. "You wanted to expose my ethically grey actions. But it didn't work."

Mathison, becoming less groggy, stared at Libbi's new form as if he was smelling a foul stench. "You didn't make it out," he said.

She shook her head. "Did you save Diya?"

Mathison lowered his own.

Meanwhile, Hydan squished one side of his mouth, then breathed in and out deeply. "Kill them," he said.

"What?" said Josef. Was this some sick joke? A show of force?

"If you're that afraid of being...what did you say, exposed? Then kill them."

Josef blinked faster than a selfiebot shooting at two hundred and forty frames per second. He couldn't let his father control the conversation. He had to snatch the ascendency in any way possible. In this case, that meant focussing on what was important. "I do can you one better," he said, striding slowly toward his father. "Once Burke arrives, I'll run a few simulations of my own to show what Paige is capable of. He'll see the possibilities, especially when I give him the price tag." He pressed in close and let the words drip off his tongue. "One dollar."