“We check with Dr. Snaresbrook. See when you will be fit enough to be completely discharged from this hospital.”
“What happens then? We’ve had some pretty gruesome evidence that the nasties are still gunning for me.”
Benicoff stood and began to pace the length of the room. “We know now for sure that they are still waiting out there. They know that you lived through the two earlier attacks — or they would not have tried again. We live in a free society and secrets are hard to keep. If they really want to work at it, they are going to find your whereabouts, no matter where you go. So we must see to it that wherever you are, wherever you are working, you will be as inaccessible as possible. There has been a lot of hard thought about this one, believe me.”
“Build me a laboratory in Fort Knox, down among the gold bars?”
“Don’t laugh — that was one of the possibilities that was actually considered. Before all this happened you were just one more guy working away on a research project. I checked the records at Megalobe and believe it or not there was little or no commercial or development interest in your work. All that is changed now. The fact that party or parties unknown went to all that trouble to lay their paws on your invention has drawn the attention of every government department. Everyone wants to get into the act and they are all rushing through planning programs on how they can use AI in their departments. Which cheers Megalobe very much — and should cheer you as well. All the research funds are there for the grabbing. So grab.”
“I would dearly like to. But where will all this grabbing take place?”
Benicoff rubbed his hands together and smiled wickedly. “Promise not to laugh when I tell you. As soon as you are up to it you are going back to your old Megalobe lab in Ocotillo Wells.”
“After what happened there I should think it would be the last place to go!”
“Not really, not when it is barn-door-locking time. The security there was top class except for one small thing.”
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?”
“Exactly right. Who is going to watch the watchmen? One or more of the watchmen betrayed their trust. The attack and robbery was a well-planned inside job. That won’t happen again. We’ve got some new watchmen, professionals.”
“Don’t keep it a secret!”
“The United States Army, that’s who. They have a one-sixth share in Megalobe and they are not pleased at what happened. The Marines also volunteered for the job. Felt they had a stake in the operation after guarding you here. There was even some talk of letting the Army and the Marines alternate months and see who did the better job — that plan was quickly abandoned, as you might imagine. Right now barracks are being put up in the parking lots. Which won’t be needed, since there will be very limited access for vehicles in the future. I think that you will be able to finish your work this time.”
“I don’t like it. The constant threat doesn’t make for easy concentration. But I can’t think of anything better. I imagine you are still looking for these criminals?”
“After yesterday the case is back on the front burner.”
Brian thought about this, then reached under his pillow and took out the duplicate GRAM. “Here, you better hold on to this. It’s the backup of all my notes. Just in case.”
“I’ll never need it.” Ben tried to sound sincere, didn’t quite make it. “But as you say — just in case.”
19
January 28, 2024
“Today is knowledge base day,” Dr. Snaresbrook said, checking the controls to be sure that the connection between Brian’s brain and the machine was complete. “Might I suggest that we begin with the latest edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica? The nineteenth is really a doozy. Almost all the illustrations involve animations and all the text is hypertext.”
“Too general for me. I want specifics.” He punched up a data-base menu and pointed to the screen. “Here is the sort of thing I mean. Technical handbooks. I want everything on this list from material science to geology and astrophysics. Hard facts. That is if my implant has the RAM for it?”
“More than enough. Just download the ones you want me to work with.”
It took a long time and Brian almost dozed off in the comfortable chair. Did close his eyes and started when Snaresbrook spoke.
“More than enough for today,” she said.
“If you say so. Can we see now things went?”
“Run a benchmark, you mean? Why not? Wait a moment while I load one of the texts at random into my machine, then I’ll hit it with a random page number. Everything here looks medical—”
“Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, forty-fifth edition.”
“That’s it. Have you ever heard of parendomyces?”
“That’s a genus of yeastlike fungi species of which some have been isolated from various lesions of man.”
“And kikekunemalo?”
“An easy one. It’s a resin, like copal.”
“You have it, Brian. Everything we downloaded, it’s all there. And you can tap into it at will.”
“Just as if they were real memories.”
“They are real memories as far as you are concerned. Just filed away in a different manner. Now — I’m sorry, but we’ll have to break off here. I have an appointment that I must keep.”
When he got back to his room there was a message from Benicoff waiting for Brian; he dialed the number at once.
“I got your call…”
“Got a moment to speak with me, Brian?”
“Of course. You want to come up to my room?”
“I would prefer the tenth-floor hanging garden.”
“Fine by me. I’m on my way now.”
Brian arrived first, was halfway through his beer, a Pilsner Urquell, when Ben arrived, dropped heavily into a chair.
“You look beat,” Brian said. “Want one of these?”
“Thanks, but I’ll take a rain check. Now the news. You’ll be pleased to hear that a company of the Eighty-second Airborne has moved into the Megalobe barracks. Their commanding officer, Major Wood, is a combat veteran who takes a very dim view of research scientists being shot. He doesn’t want you to get there until he has his security arrangements and rosters set — and has run a few tests. After that the choice of a move is yours. And Dr. Snaresbrook’s of course.”
“Has everything been ordered that I asked for?”
“Ordered and shipped and in the lab. Which leads us to the next item. Your assistant.”
“I’ve never had one.”
“In this brave new world you will. Make your work that much easier.”
Brian finished his beer and put it down, looking closely at Ben’s expressionless face.
“I know that look. It means that there is more — but I should be able to figure it out for myself. And I can. They have made three attempts to kill me. I might not live through the fourth. So everyone would be very much happier if there was at least one other person who knew what was going on with the AI research.”
“Security — you figured it out. The tricky part mat comes next is getting someone who can do the work — but who can be trusted as well. Industrial espionage is a graduate course in most universities now, a major growth industry as well. Something like AI can be very tempting — as you have unhappily found out. I have narrowed my short list down to an even shorter list — two. I am off in the morning for a meet with a very promising lead, a graduate student at MTT. But until I get to see him I won’t know. So let us run with the other possibility. How do you feel about the military?”