“And for Christ’s sake, stop calling me that! Flattery isn’t going to help you!”
“Yes, Mr. Beck, I’m sorry.”
Dennis Twigg couldn’t believe how easy this was going to be. He strode down the hall to the command center, biting back a tell-tale smirk. As if on cue, Hal opened the door. Dennis entered and scanned the room for some sort of interface for the small device he had tucked between his fingers. With only seconds to spare before Howard walked through the door, he found a small port and plugged in the device.
Dennis was terrified that Hal would immediately detect the intrusion and alert Howard, but the artificial intelligence remained silent. When he looked at the holographic displays and readouts and saw that nothing had changed, Dennis began to panic. It was too late to do anything else; he just had to hope the program would run its course.
“Mr. Twigg! What in the hell was that all about? Start talking!”
“Permission to speak freely?”
“That’s the general idea here, Mr. Twigg. You better convince me not to throw your ass topside because that’s the only thing on my mind right now.”
“Well, Mr. Beck, you of all people should appreciate what I did. Butler is far too calm and collected, given the circumstances. He has to be up to something. I just thought he could use a little attitude adjustment. I’m sorry.”
“What disturbs me most is that as the acting director of security, you deliberately disobeyed a direct order. You were fully aware that the cell door was to remain closed unless General Dupree or I was present. Are you capable of remaining in your current job? Can you follow orders or not?”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Beck, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Get out.”
After Dennis left, Howard sat down and took a deep breath. His blood pressure was so high it was giving him a pounding headache. “Hal, I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you worry when my blood pressure gets high. Any updates on Max?
Silence.
“Hal, what’s the word on Max? When can we bring him home?”
Silence.
“Hal? Stop with the silent treatment. I said I was sorry.”
Again, nothing.
“Old Man, you’re scaring me. Say something.”
An eerie hush settled over the room.
“Okay, my friend, what’s going on? Let’s run a diagnostic.” Howard interfaced with the holographic display and began to check on his digital friend.
“This isn’t funny, Hal. If this is your idea of a joke, you need to stop.
Nothing.
Howard checked Hal’s program closely, screen after screen, and was convinced it was a hardware issue with the speakers in the command center. Upon arriving at his quarters, he pulled up the holographic display at his desk and found the same readouts as before—the Castle was operating at peak performance, and Hal’s program looked fine.
A knock at the door indicating that someone was waiting to enter, but Howard’s voice command to do so produced no results. He had no choice but to walk to the door and physically open it to find Richard Dupree standing there.
“Do you have Hal offline for some reason? I can’t get him to answer me.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on. His program appears to be running smoothly, but he’s not speaking. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m headed down to the maintenance level to interface directly with his mainframe, see if I can figure it out.”
Unbeknownst to Howard, the Chinese had spent a decade compiling the program that would disable Hal. The first stage of the program was to deactivate Hal’s voice interface and give false readouts concerning Hal’s programming. The second allowed Hal to continue to operate the programs that ran the basic functions of the Castle. Before Howard could figure out what had happened, the world’s first artificial intelligence would be under the control of the Chinese.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“Hal, what are you doing? We need to get the hell out of here!” Elizabeth Harris stared at the motionless robot. Hal had taken two steps into the room and said, “Sir, I believe this…” and froze like a statue.
Elizabeth shook the robot’s arm, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. “Hal! Let’s get moving! We can’t let the Chinese take my husband!”
“Maybe he’s running a diagnostic or his link to the Castle is weak,” Max said. “He’ll come back in a minute, just wait.”
Elizabeth peeked out the window. “He better hurry! They’re standing at the front entrance!”
“We have time. We’re on the tenth floor. If they go floor-by-floor we’ll have at least thirty minutes before they reach us. We just need to wait a few minutes for Hal to finish whatever he’s doing.”
“Maxwell, when has Hal ever gone offline? He chooses to do so now when our lives are in danger? I don’t think so; something is wrong with him. We’re on our own.”
Max knew his wife was right. “They’re watching all the exits. We can’t just stroll out of here. Besides, I can’t even walk… thank you, morphine.”
“Well, we have to hide you somehow. What would they overlook during a search?”
“A corpse.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking. Put me under and wrap my face in bandages or something.”
“That’s just stupid.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
“Your husband is right. I can help.”
Max and Elizabeth were startled by a nurse standing in the doorway.
“Mr. Harris, I know who you are. I know you’re from the PSA and the Chinese want to detain you.”
Max was far too cautious. “Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about. My name is Everett Gordon.”
“Use whatever fake name you like, but I know you’re Maxwell Harris, director of security for the Pacific States of America and one of President Beck’s top advisors.”
Elizabeth turned on the charm. “Ma’am, I’m really sorry, but we’re both loyal UAE citizens; we don’t have anything to do with the PSA.”
“Seriously? You have a freakin’ robot standing in the room, the same one that carried you into the ER. You were with the failed invasion force.”
“Look, Miss…?”
“Jacklen, Misty Jacklen.”
“Look, I’m not a soldier; I’m a civilian. My wife and I were on the beach watching the invasion force come in and a car veered off the road during the chaos and hit me. Next thing I know, I’m waking up after surgery and my wife is telling me about a robot saving my life. That’s the truth, I swear.”
Misty Jacklen sat at Max’s bedside. “Mr. Harris, I understand your caution. I would have escaped to the PSA long ago but my stubborn old parents refuse to leave. All the other robots that helped bring in wounded soldiers are gone except the one in this room. You must be important to the PSA if they left one of these things behind to protect you. When I heard the Chinese were searching hospitals for some VIP from the PSA, I put the pieces together.”
Max and Elizabeth exchanged a wary glance.
“Mr. Harris, please think about it. I would have brought the Chinese with me if I had any intention of turning you in. One elevator ride to the lobby and I could have brought them all up here. Please trust me; I’m here to help.”
Elizabeth remained on guard. “Any suggestions for getting Max out of here?”
“Your husband’s plan is a good one. If we wrap his face thoroughly, it will take them a few minutes to remove the bandages.”
Max turned, enduring the pain to get a better view of the woman who would either be his salvation or enable his capture. “What about my vital signs? They check my pulse and it’s all over.”
“That’s the dangerous part. We give you a paralytic called Rocuronium. It’s strong enough to bring your vitals down to practically nothing. When we’re out of sight, we can use an AMBU… I’m sorry, an air mask bag unit, to help you breathe. The drug will wear off pretty quickly, but using the AMBU continually is the key to keeping you breathing…and alive. The only side effect is that your entire body will be incredibly sore. Please trust me. It doesn’t look like your robot friend here is going to be much help.”