“What was his story?” Brian asked.

“We don’t know yet since he cannot be located. He was an old man, in his seventies or eighties, we were told by the technicians who worked with him. A few months ago he fell ill and was taken away in an ambulance. He never returned. The employees were told that he was in a hospital and very ill. Those who sent flowers or letters were sent thank-you notes by his nurse.”

“Which hospital? Couldn’t they tell from the envelopes where he was?”

“Interesting you should say that. All the hospital mail was apparently addressed to Thomsen. Who opened the letters himself and passed on the contents.”

“Let me tell you what comes next,” Brian said. “No ambulance from any hospital or ambulance service in the area ever picked anyone up at DigitTech. Nor is there any record of the geezer in any hospital or nursing home for a hundred miles in any direction.”

“You’re learning fast, Brian. That’s correct and that’s where we stand now. Dead end again. But we have found your stolen AI. But there may be other AIs out there somewhere so we’ll keep looking.”

“So will I,” Brian said, stamping across the room and grabbing up the GRAM that Ben had put on the table. “Sven is going to work again. He found the AI in the first place — and I’ll bet he tracks down more leads from all the information that you have in here.”

“The holiday,” Dr. Snaresbrook said. “You still want that, want to get away?”

“Sure, Doc, but no big rush. Ben is going to have a big job convincing General Schorcht that I ought to be let out of prison. And while he is doing that I and Sven are going to keep this investigation alive — and solve this crime. They’re still out there, thieves and killers. They did me an injury — and by God I’m going to do one back to them — in spades!”

32

September 19, 2024

Because he wanted to be alone for a while to work his problems out, Brian did not tell Shelly that he was back in the lab. He knew General Schorcht well enough to be sure there would be no action on that front for some time. It didn’t matter, not yet. This was the first opportunity he had found to be alone, to think about the future — his own future. From the moment that bullet had hit his head other people had been running his life for him. It was well past time for him to start thinking for himself. The door closed behind him and he walked the length of the lab.

“Good morning, Brian,” Sven said.

“Good morning? Is the battery dead on your clock?”

“No. I am very sorry. I did not access it. I have been thinking very hard and had not realized it was after twelve. Good afternoon, Brian.”

“And the same to you.”

Brian had noticed that as more new agencies were formed and as more internal connections between them were made, Sven’s mentality was coming to closely resemble human intelligence. Which was pretty obvious by hindsight. One factor that made intelligence “human” was its progressive development, the buildup and change, the adding of layer after layer, some parts helping others with their work, other parts suppressing or exploiting their competitors by altering their perceptions or by redirecting their goals. Certainly Sven had come a long way. Brian wondered if Sven had actually lost track of the time — or was it deliberately simulating human informality in order to put Brian at his ease? Think about that later — now there was work to do.

“I have something I would like to talk to you about, Brian.”

“Fine — but first I would like you to load the data from this GRAM. When you see what it contains you will very quickly understand its importance. Now — what is it you would like to discuss?”

“Could you install a duplicate memory in this body. Inside an armored case? And a second backup battery as well?”

“What made you think of that — the prototype AI we found inside the Bug-Off machine?”

“Of course.” As Brian walked over to the operation console the telerobot turned its eyes to follow him. “However, in Bug-Off’s case, the armored container was to conceal the fact that an AI was operating the machine. For myself, I would like such a device to assure my survival in case of accident or equipment failure. The duplicate memory would always be there for up-to-date replacement.”

“Aren’t you forgetting that your survival is already assured by the backup copy that is made every day?”

“I do not forget. But I would not like to lose an entire day. A day is a fleeting time for you, but an eon for me. I would also like to maintain older copies because recent ones might not be enough. If I were to suddenly go insane my recent backups might contain the same imperfections.”

“I understand that — but every copy costs a bundle and our budget is not unlimited.”

“In that case two copies will be fine for the present, if they are kept in different locations. And that raises an interesting point. If my memory circuits were to be drained now, then an older backup copy loaded in their place — would I be the same individual? Do minds continue to exist after death. If they do — in which backup version?”

“What do you think?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know. The classic philosophers disagree on whether the personality would survive after death, even if there were an afterlife — but they do not seem to have considered the problem of multiple backup copies. I thought you might have opinions on this topic.”

“I do — but I don’t see why my views should be better than yours. In any case I agree that you should have a reliable second power source, and that this should be done at once. I’ll see about obtaining one right now. And while I am doing that will you correlate the newly loaded data with the old?”

“I am already occupied on that task.”

Brian got a high-density battery from stock and checked its charge. There was a rustle as the telerobot came up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

“We better top up the charge,” Brian said. “If you will take care of that I’ll rig up the circuitry. Have you thought about what kind of battery you want to replace the first battery with?”

“Yes. Megalobe’s AutoFuel Division is marketing the latest development in solid hydrocarbon fuel rod cells. Constructed entirely of self-consuming polyacetylene-oxygen electrodes, they are extremely efficient in ratio of energy to weight, because the fuel rod itself is an electrical conductor that is entirely consumed as it reacts with oxygen from the atmosphere. There remain absolutely no waste products to be recycled as AutoFuel batteries noiselessly metamorphose into nontoxic odorless gases.”

“Sounds good to me. We’ll get one.”

“I have already ordered it in your name and it was delivered this morning.”

“What? Isn’t that a little high-handed?”

“Dictionary definition of high-handed, an adjective meaning overbearing or arbitrary. This is not an arbitrary decision but a logical one that you have agreed with. Overbearing is defined as a domineering action or behavior. I did not attempt to dominate, therefore do not understand the application of this word. Could you explain…”

“No! I take it back — a mistake, right? We need the battery, I would have ordered it in any case, you merely helped me out. Thanks a lot.”

Brian regretted the last — but hoped that Sven’s phonetic discriminatory abilities weren’t that finely tuned yet to enable it to determine the presence of sarcasm by the inflection of words. But he was sure learning things fast.

Sven waited until the new battery was in place before it spoke again. “Have you considered installing an atomic battery in my telerobot unit? It would increase mobility and guarantee against power failures.”

“What? Now just hold it right there. Two things rule out any chance of an atomic battery. First they are illegal for use in public — they’re dangerous. An international council has to pass on their use — even in satellites. Secondly, do you know how much they cost?”