Chapter 9

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Holland asked, already knowing the response that would be coming.

"No, thanks," Miriam replied before handing him his wallet and earphone.

"Why don't you like these things?"

"Because unlike some people, I don't need the constant validation of others," she said with a slight taunting tone in her voice. "I have an allergic reaction to people sticking their heads up my ass ... Besides, I think I'm going to take a couple of days off while you guys are basking in the glory of your latest paper."

"Yeah ... well, I wish you would come along once in a while," Holland lamented. "These things are boring as hell without you."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," Miriam said with a wink. "Besides, I'd like to get some sleep instead of having you wanting to grab ass all night."

"Maybe I should grab some ass right now!"

"You wish, big boy." She swatted at his hands playfully, then pulled him close. He gave her a tender kiss. "I'll see you in a few days when you get back."

Holland stole one more kiss, then walked out of the apartment, a valet bot carrying his things. As he got in the elevator, he put his public persona back on, the one that was gruff, impersonal and cold. Just before the doors closed, he winked at his girlfriend. She waved and returned a pleasant smile. Then it was off to London.

The next few days passed quickly for Holland. His subordinates—he didn't dare give them the satisfaction of calling them his partners—reveled in the attention and accolades. The base assumptions of their work in the field of positronic algorithms drew both praise and guarded skepticism from the academic community, but their results were undeniable. Several universities were trying to lure them away to their faculties and competitors were trying to recruit them. There were even some whispers about the Nobel Prize.

Holland Campbell brushed aside the attention, even while it passively fed his considerable ego. Everyone on the team knew that the one person missing from the conference was the difference in their work. Sure, they were talented and on its own their work was impressive. Since Miriam's arrival, though, their productivity increased exponentially. To everyone's credit they heartily acknowledged her role on the team, if only because they knew if they didn't, Holland would let them accept an offer from another company where their skills would languish and their shortcomings would be exposed.

After dinner one night, he was mixing with some of the other conferees and generally talking down to them when he was approached by the United States Army. They were interested in a expanding the role of artificial intelligences in the military and did a good job of sucking up to the eccentric engineer. The attractive Army captain managed to ingratiate herself enough to the team to draw an invitation to visit their labs at Neurodyne.

So it was no surprise to them when about a month later Captain Yvonne Pace showed up at Neurodyne. She brought a handful of programmers with her. Neurodyne was happy to have them out; USR, Lockheed and United Aerospace seemed to have a monopoly on defense contracts, so any chance to break into the military's lucrative bidding process was seen as a good sign.

Holland and Miriam were chatting in the office when they arrived.

"Captain Pace, it's so good to see you," Holland put on his overbearing smug act. "This is my partner, Miriam Garcia."

"Miss Garcia, it's so nice to meet you," Captain Pace said, extending her hand. Miriam reached out politely. "We've heard great things about you and wanted to see if you could help us out."

The Army officer introduced the rest of her team and then launched into a barrage of programming questions.

After a while, Miriam pulled Holland aside. "What do they want?"

"They liked our creative thinking algorithms and said—"

"No, Holland," she cut him off. "What do they really want?"

"What do you mean?"

"Open your eyes, Holland! You got snowed," Miriam's brow creased with frustration. "Where has the Army been since you started working for Neurodyne? We've been trying to get a defense contract for years and they're just interested now..."

"Stop it," he whispered angrily. "They're really—"

Captain Pace turned towards them and the two postponed their argument.

"Miss Garcia," she said with a friendly smile. "Can I talk to you for a moment? It seems your partners speak very highly of you ... I was wondering where you were from."

"Cal Tech," Miriam said, her outward expression matching the other woman's. "I wrote my graduate thesis on cryonics and neural networks."

"Yes, I know," Captain Pace said. "I read it last year. You wrote it as one of Professor Xianjong's students, right?"

"No, he's at Stanford," the other woman's eyes narrowed, obviously not liking the direction the conversation was taking. "Professor Buzyna was my mentor."

"Of course." Everyone else in the room was staring at the two women. "Funny thing, though. We went out to Cal Tech last week and they had never seen or heard of you. After some digging, it seems that 'Miriam Garcia' was planted in their computer database by a rather dishonest admissions officer."

"What do you want?" Miriam glared at the other woman.

"I'd like for you to take a short trip to Aberdeen with me," Captain Pace said calmly. "I know some people who would like to meet you."

"If that's a request, the answer is no," Miriam hadn't moved.

"I can make it a little less optional if you like."

"Is that a threat?"

"Ladies—," Holland tried to step between the two.

"Step aside, Mr. Campbell," one of the other soldiers said. His volume and tone suggested that he was not used to being ignored. Holland unconsciously took a step backwards.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Captain Pace warned.

"Unless you have a warrant, I'm not going anywhere with you," Miriam's voice turned cold.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. "That's the funny thing, Miss Garcia ... I only need a warrant to arrest a human. I don't need one for a robot."

"Robot? What the hell are you talking about?" Holland yelled. "Captain, you need to get out of my lab! Right now!"

"Sergeant Setran! Now!"

No one had noticed that one of the other soldiers had slipped his hand inside a briefcase. He flipped a switch.

There was an audible pop, and then silence. The lights went out. All the computers shut down. Every electronic device stopped working. Miriam froze in her tracks, her body not moving, her eyes unblinking.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Holland shouted, but no one was paying any attention to him. He started to reach for his girlfriend, but strong hands pulled him away. He started to protest a little more vigorously, but the machine pistol in his face made him think twice.

The soldiers were in motion, surrounding Miriam and moving the others away. The Neurodyne team looked on mutely.

"Mr. Campbell, I'm afraid you have been deceived by Miss Garcia," Captain Pace said, her sidearm out.