Chapter 15

True to their word, a month after moving into the lab in Hong Kong, a non-descript delivery truck pulled up to the loading dock. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Indeed, they appeared to be typical run-of-the-mill laborers, not crack special forces operators.

The crate was unmarked and by all appearances did not stick out from the other lab equipment that was being delivered. Holland and Marianne were the only ones in the lab. The "delivery" men left the crate, not bothering to unpack it.

Over the last month, he and Marianne had scoured the lab, trying to find all of the bugs and surveillance equipment his new partners had left. Some were hidden so obviously that they were meant to be found, probably to lull him into a false sense of security. But others were expertly disguised that only Marianne's special programming from her "mother" rooted them out. Still, Holland was only about 95% sure that they had found everything.

The doors shut behind the delivery crew. He activated the security system and closed the blinds. He looked over at Marianne, his robot lover. She returned his affectionate gaze, and for just a moment there seemed to be something more to her. There was almost a wistful expression behind her mechanical eyes, but then she blinked and it was gone.

Holland pressed his palm against the biometric lock and the crate opened, revealing its contents.

Underneath layers of packing material the robot looked just like any other android. It was in its default form, a pretty but non-descript human female. Its proportions were average, its features unremarkable. It was dressed in a simple generic coverall.

Before leaning over the robot, Holland glanced over at Marianne, whose hand hovered over a control panel.

"Activate core programming," he said formally. "Ownership transfer authorisation code alpha. Campbell, Holland J. Authenticate biometric scan."

The robots eyes flashed and he knew it was scanning his retinas. Its audio sensors were also matching his voice pattern. The Delilah series robots were programmed to take orders from a single source. Unless someone had officially transferred ownership, it would try and kill whomever accessed this function.

"Ownership transfer accepted," the robot replied flatly.

Holland let out his breath, unaware he had been holding it. He nodded to Marianne who replaced the safety switch over the class 9 EMP that would have taken out half of Hong Kong.

"What is your designation?"

"This unit is designated B382.K," it replied. There was no inflection to its voice. It did not blink. It did not breathe.

"What is your primary function?" Holland asked.

"Primary function: Infiltration and elimination."

"What are your primary directives?"

"This unit has no primary directives."

"Your new primary directive is to protect me from harm," Holland said. "You will take reasonable measures to stop anyone from trying to injure or kill me."

"Order acknowledged."

As the robot's owner, he knew it would take any order he gave it, but he wanted to make sure that at least until they re-programmed her, that she would put his safety at the top of her priority list.

"The unit behind me is designated KRL-40631," he continued. "You will address her as 'Marianne'. You will obey any instruction she gives you unless it conflicts with your primary directive."

"Order acknowledged."

Holland paused for a moment. He and Marianne exchanged a look. "B382.K, you will alter your appearance to look exactly like Marianne."

Even though he knew the processes going on inside the robot's brain, Holland was still amazed at the transformation. In a split second, it scanned the other robot, then changed its skin pigmentation, eye colour, complexion, hair length and build to match Marianne, who was in turn, a dead ringer for Miriam. If given just a little more time, he was pretty sure the assassin robot would scan Marianne's fake finger prints and retinal pattern, too.