"He is more, Alfred." Günberk's gaze was steady. For all his youth, Braun had the stolid aspect of a turn-of-the-century German. He moved from point to point slowly, inexorably. "In setting up this operation, Rabbit has performed miracles on our behalf. His ability demonstrates that he himself is a threat."
Vaz glanced at the results of Günberk's latest investigation. "But you have discovered critical weaknesses in Rabbit. However much he's tried to disguise it, you've traced all his certificate authority to a single apex." Having a single CA apex was not unusual; that Günberk had managed to discover Rabbit's apex was a triumph. For Alfred — given his own, ah, sensitive relationship with Rabbit — it was miraculously good news.
Günberk nodded. "Credit Suisse. So what?"
"So if Rabbit turns out to be a nightmare, you could pull the plug on Credit Suisse and put him out of business."
"Pull the plug on Credit Suisse CA? Do you have any idea what that would do to the European economy? I'm proud of my people, that they ferreted this secret out — but it's not something we can effectively use."
"We should have dropped Rabbit after that first meeting in Barcelona," said Keiko. "He is too clever."
Vaz raised a hand, "Perhaps, but how could we know?"
"Ja ? Forgive me, Alfred, but we wonder if you know more about Mr. Rabbit than we."
Damn ! "Not at all. Honestly." Alfred leaned back in his chair and took in the nervous postures of his colleagues. "You've been talking behind my back, haven't you?" He gave them a gentle smile. "Do you think Rabbit is really American intelligence? Chinese?" They had spent a lot of time investigating those possibilities. But now Keiko shook her head. "Then what is your theory, my friends?"
"Well," said Günberk, sounding a little embarrassed. "Maybe Mr. Rabbit is not even human. Maybe it's an Artificial Intelligence."
Vaz laughed. He glanced at Keiko Mitsuri. "And you?"
"I think AI is a possibility we should consider. Rabbit's talents are so broad, his work is so effective — and his personality is so juvenile. That last was one of the features the U.S. DARPA thought would be characteristic." She saw the incredulity on Vaz's face. "Not every threat is a cult or conspiracy."
"Of course. But AI monsters? That's a bogeyman out of the twentieth century. Who in the intelligence communities takes that seriously? Ah! That's Pascal Heriot's hobbyhorse, isn't it?" Alfred's tone became low and serious. "Have you been talking to Pascal about this project?"
"Of course not. But AI is a threat that's been totally overlooked in recent years."
"Correct, because nothing ever came of it. Before the Sino-American war, we know DARPA spent billions on the Little Helper Project. It was almost as much a fiasco as their Space Access Denial initiative."
"Space Denial worked ."
Vaz laughed. "It worked against everybody, Keiko, the Americans most of all. But you're right, SAD is not a proper comparison. My point is that some of the smartest people in the world tried to create AI and failed."
"The researchers failed, but surely runnable code survived. The Internet is not the cramped toy it once was. Maybe pieces of DARPA's Little Helper are out there, growing into what it could never be in the low-tech past."
"That is science fiction! There was even a movie — "
"More than one, actually," said Günberk. "Alfred, I don't agree with Keiko that programs from years ago could self-organize just because decent resources are available now. But here at the IB, we have been tracking the possibilities. I think Pascal Heriot has a point. Just because most people have dismissed the possibility doesn't mean that it is not real. We are certainly past the crossover point when it comes to computer hardware. Pascal thinks that when it finally happens, it will arise without institutional precursors. It will be like many research developments, but rather more catastrophic." Just another way humankind might fail to survive the century.
"Whatever the explanation," said Keiko, "Rabbit is simply too competent, too anonymous… I'm sorry, Alfred, we think the operation should be shut down. Let's approach our American friends on this."
"But equipment is in place. Our people are in place."
She shrugged. "With Rabbit managing things? That could leave Rabbit with whatever we discover in San Diego. Even if we agreed with you, our bosses would never go along."
She was serious. Alfred glanced at Braun. He was, too. This was bad. "Keiko, Günberk, please. Just balance the risks."
"We are," said Keiko. "Rabbit loose within this grandiose scheme is a cosmic-sized un safety!" She could be quite full of modern Japanese bluntness.
Vaz said, "But we could arrange things so Rabbit receives operational information just-in-time as the action evolves."
Fortunately, Günberk shot that down immediately: "Ach, no. Such remote micromanagement, it's a guarantee of disaster."
Vaz hesitated a long moment, tried to look as though he were thinking hard, making some hard decision. "Maybe, maybe there's a way we can have everything — the, uh, 'grandiose scheme' and minimal risk from Rabbit. Suppose we don't supply Rabbit with the final details in advance. Suppose we put one of our own people on the ground in Southern California the night of the break-in?"
Mitsuri and Braun stared for a second. "But what about deniability then?" said Keiko. "If we have our own agent breaking in — "
"Think, Keiko. My proposal risks tipping off the Americans, which is something yours guarantees . And we can keep the risk low. We simply put our own agent nearby, in a well-planned position with essentially zero latencies. What the Americans call a Local Honcho."
Günberk brightened. "Like Alice Gong at Ciudad General Ortiz!"
" — Yes. Exactly." He hadn't been thinking of Alice, but Günberk was right. It had been Alice Gong on the ice at Ortiz, almost single-handedly discovering and stopping the Free Water Front. Maybe the Front would have failed anyway. After all, no one had ever tried to scale a Saturday-night special up to three hundred megatons. But if the bomb had successfully detonated, their "statement of principle" would have poisoned the freshwater mining industry off West Antarctica. Gong remained unknown to the outside world, but she was something of a legend within the intelligence communities. She was one of the good guys.
Thank goodness, neither Braun nor Mitsuri seemed to notice Alfred's discomfort at her name.
"Inserting a Honcho now would be difficult," said Keiko. "Are we talking a credible tourist, or cargo-container roulette?" Truly black insertions looked like WMD smuggling; they were hair-raising operations for all concerned. "None of my agents-in-place are rated for this operation. It will take a special person, special talents, special clearance."
"I have some good people in California," said Günberk, "but none of them are at this level."
"It doesn't matter," said Vaz, his voice filled with steely determination. "I'm quite willing to go, myself."
He had surprised them before, but this was a bombshell. Braun sat for a moment, openmouthed. "Alfred!"
"It's that important," Vaz said. He gave them each his most direct and sincere look.
"But you're a desk jockey like us!"
Alfred shook his head. Today he would have to let a little bit of his background story come unglued. Hopefully, it wouldn't all tear apart. Alfred had spent years "fitting in" as a midlevel bureaucrat at the External In-telligence Agency. If he were unmasked, then at best he'd end up like the prime minister, forced back into high-level political hackery. At worst… at worst, Günberk and Keiko might figure out what he was really up to in San Diego.