“Evening, Alexa.”
“Hi, Alexa.”
She nodded to them as she moved past, her sharp eyes on the lookout for someone in particular. When she saw him through a diamond wall that shielded the security systems section, she changed course and came up alongside him beyond the barrier.
Alexa rapped on the clear plane of diamond with her ringed hand. Senior Security Systems Analyst Hiro Pinsa looked up from his conversation with a coworker—and then a broad grin swept across his face. Pinsa was a fair-complected, diminutive Asian man of about forty. A brilliant computer scientist, he was in middle management with BTC info security. She’d worked with him before on internal projects for Hedrick.
Pinsa nodded to the man he was speaking to, then rushed out to meet her. The security doors slid open as he emerged.
“Alexa. What brings you down into the depths?”
She felt bad for doing it—but given the situation, she had little choice. Alexa put on her most disarming, sheepish smile as she walked up to him.
He sucked in a breath as she stood over him, inches away—a full head taller.
“Hiro, can you help me with a problem?”
Hiro was sweating as he led her to a closed section of supercomputing terminals. These were sealed booths for confidential review of surveillance data. “I really shouldn’t be doing this, Alexa.”
“I know, but who else can I trust, Hiro?”
He glanced back at her as if she’d made his dearest dreams come true. “I’m glad you feel that way. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“But there’ll be a record, won’t there?” She glanced up at the ceiling, knowing that surveillance dust—cameras and microphones the size of dust particles—were sprayed over every surface.
He turned back, smiling as he stopped at a closed workstation door. “That’s why I chose the new wing. The surveillance grid isn’t up yet.”
She smiled at him. “You’re so clever.” She poked his chest.
Pinsa laughed as he touched the door. It unlocked to his genetic code, and then he spread his hand to show the workstation with its broad holographic display surface. “This one has access to the Hibernity surveillance framework.” He turned to her. “If you don’t mind my asking, Alexa, why do you need to go through their security logs? And why the secrecy?”
“There may have been some violations of BTC procedures with regard to the treatment of prisoners.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“If it’s true, I don’t want anyone to know I’m reviewing archives. So please keep that confidential, Hiro.” She wrapped her arm around his. “I can trust you, right?”
He gazed up into her eyes, and she could see the sheen of perspiration on his skin.
He nodded vigorously. “You know you can always trust me, Alexa. Always. I would do anything for you.”
She squeezed his arm again and smiled. “Log on for me, would you?”
He stopped short. “Me? I thought you were going to use your own credentials.”
“I really need this to be very hush-hush, Hiro.” She gave him her best feminine guile, biting her lip.
He was in the chair and activating the interface in seconds. “Computer. Security Operator Hiro Pinsa. Access Hibernity Grid.”
“Yes, Operator Pinsa. Good evening. Grid ready.”
Alexa closed and locked the door, sealing them both in. He glanced at her furtively—apparently noticing they were alone. In privacy for the first time. She wondered if Pinsa had dreamed of this precise situation a million times.
He turned to her, smiling. “What do you want me to search for?”
“I need to see archive surveillance for inmate Grady, Jon.”
Pinsa nodded and spoke to the air. “I need to see archive surveillance on subject Grady, Jon.”
“What date range would you like to see, Operator Pinsa?”
Alexa whispered, “Everything.”
“Complete record.”
“Yes.” There was a pause. “Managing Construct Varuna wishes to speak with you, Operator Pinsa.”
Pinsa’s face went pale.
The voice of Varuna filled the review booth. “Hiro Pinsa, please exit the booth and return to your duties.”
“Uh… yes.” Pinsa got up quickly and turned a pained expression on Alexa. “What did we do?”
“I’ll explain, Hiro.”
“Leave immediately, Mr. Pinsa.”
“Yes! I’m going.” Pinsa exited, and the door closed automatically behind him, locking.
Alexa approached the chair and sat.
“Why are you searching Hibernity surveillance logs, Alexa?”
“Because I’m trying to…” Alexa’s voice trailed off, and she looked up at the ceiling.
“I believe you were in the middle of lying to me.”
“I thought the sensors were off-line down here.”
“Once installed, sensors are never off-line. Midlevel managers are informed otherwise for this very reason. You were searching for prison interrogation records on Mr. Grady. What purpose would this serve in attempting to locate him?”
“I wasn’t trying to locate him.”
“But that is what Director Hedrick has ordered you to do. And you are not authorized to view surveillance archives for Hibernity. Yet you actively sought a means around that restriction. Why?”
“Why am I not allowed to see Hibernity archives?”
“You would need to ask Director Hedrick, Alexa.”
“What do they do to prisoners at Hibernity, Varuna?”
Strangely, there was silence for several moments. Alexa wondered at that. It would take a truly colossal logic problem to make Varuna pause for even a millisecond. Either that or it was deliberately toying with her.
“Are you going to arrest me?”
“Why would I arrest you, Alexa?”
“For trying to circumvent access restrictions. Please don’t punish Hiro. I manipulated him.”
“Why are you interested in Hibernity surveillance archives?”
Alexa grimaced. “Because I have reason to believe Mr. Grady was physically and mentally abused at Hibernity. And that he’s not the only one. I need to know what goes on there.”
“Hibernity was designed to quarantine dangerous ideas in a humane environment.”
Alexa stared at the ceiling. “Show me.”
This time there were several seconds of silence.
Finally Varuna’s voice returned. “Does it trouble you to think that Mr. Grady might have been mistreated?”
“Of course it troubles me. The mission of the BTC is to minimize suffering and maximize the potential of all humanity.”
“Humanity.”
Alexa looked with concern at the ceiling.
“But what is humanity, Alexa?”
Alexa was unsure how to respond.
“Is it the seat of consciousness? Is it sensorium itself?”
In the decades she’d known her, Alexa had never heard Varuna talk like this.
“What if Hibernity was actually built for a different purpose?”
Alexa’s eyes narrowed. “What purpose?”
There was another pause of several seconds.
“Hibernity’s purpose is to study high-functioning human intelligence, with the goal to develop a biological quantum computer capable of great intuitive leaps—on a scale equivalent to Galileo, da Vinci, and Einstein—and yet devoid of free will.”
Alexa was confused. “Varuna, why are you telling me this? You know I’m not allowed access to the information.”