Ross frowned. “Brett, I know you aren’t an expert on robotics, but have you ever heard of anything like this?”
“No, sir.” Brett pulled back from the laptop and crossed his arms. “Certainly some of what Carmen described is already out there — cognition, enhanced problem-solving capability, the ability to move, and so on. What we aren’t seeing is cognition on the scale she described. I’m also not aware of any robot able to carry on a conversation as quickly as the one they had on the boat. The scale of sophistication is mind blowing.”
“No question,” Ross agreed.
“And there’s something else that is almost as impressive as the cognition, and that’s the robot’s agility. I’ve seen videos other moving bots that are more like four-legged animals, hopping or running in straight lines, and sometimes even making clumsy turns. But I’m not aware of any robot, humanoid or otherwise, that can move as fluidly as the one Carmen described.”
“Carmen, could that bot do everything that we can do?” the Oracle asked. “I’m speaking of her movements.”
“Pretty much. Keiko moved stiffly, but she was able to walk, reach out, turn her head, and even smile.”
The Oracle nodded as he tapped a pen against his lips.
“Ross, the thing that impressed me more than anything was, for lack of a better word, this machine’s ability to interact with us. She used persuasive argument; she followed instructions. I mean, we had a conversation, no different than you and I might.”
“That’s a great point,” Brett said. “There are computers, and even some robots, that can carry on a meaningful conversation with a human being. Heck, we have that in our cars now. I talk to my Audi every day. I give her verbal instructions, and she responds to those instructions. Or if the instructions aren’t clear, she’ll ask me questions until she understands.
“But this humanoid can handle very complex exchanges. As Carmen said, she can even push her own agenda, using her power of reason to argue her case. 'Stunning' is the word that keeps coming to mind. I’m starting to run out of adjectives.”
“Something tells me this is a testament to the brilliance of Ian Higgs,” the Oracle said, lifting a bottle of water from his desk and taking a sip.
Amanda smiled at the mention of her father. After hearing the first description of the humanoid Keiko, she knew that he had something to do with its construction.
“Undoubtedly,” Brett agreed. “It was his area of expertise, and that is exactly why they brought him on board. My guess is that Renaissance had already made great strides prior to his arrival, but they must have hit a ceiling. At some point, they probably realized that whatever Higgs was working on at NASA was exactly what they needed to finish this super bot.”
“What about the humanoid’s appearance, Brett?” Ross asked. “Carmen said she initially thought it was a person. Is that also inconsistent with anything you’ve run across in your research?”
“No, that’s actually the one aspect of this machine that is not particularly cutting edge. First of all, I bet if Carmen had seen Keiko outside during the day, she would recognize that she wasn’t dealing with Homo sapiens. Second, there are some very realistic-looking robots out there right now, ones that you might very well mistake for a human if it were dark enough. The Japanese, in particular, have created very realistic robots, some of which are used as synthetic lovers… and I’ll just leave it at that.”
Reid, who was sitting to Brett’s right along with Skinner, let out a nervous chuckle. Amanda blushed.
“Now that you mention it, I think I’ve seen a couple of those,” Ross said. “On the Internet, of course.”
Everyone laughed.
“Yes, they’ve been all over the news and the Net,” Brett replied. “Future humanoids will perform tasks around the home for the wealthy and the elderly. Mechanical butlers, maids, nurses… whatever you need.”
The Oracle put his glasses back on and looked down at some papers on his desk. “Okay everybody, let’s get down to the issue at hand. We know from the humanoid that Mironov, Marrese, and their entourage are supposed to attend the CERN Christmas banquet tonight, and Zane is with them as we speak. Carmen, is that correct?”
“It’s our best guess. According to Keiko, he’s not on the boat, which means it’s reasonable to assume he left with the group that came here for Geneva.”
Ross pulled his glasses off again and stared into his webcam. “Does Keiko… does the humanoid know where Mironov and Marrese might be staying?”
“Sir, I can speak to that,” Brett replied. “We have established an open line of communication with Keiko. In fact, I’ve already had a couple of exchanges with her already. She has no knowledge of where the entourage might be holed up. She was taken out of the loop recently, by order of the former priest, Marrese. My guess is that they're at a property owned by Mironov, although they could’ve leased something, to add another layer of protection from prying eyes.”
The Oracle nodded. “At this point, it’s safe to assume we won’t be able to locate them before the banquet tonight. That said, we need two things. We need to deploy assets to this event, and we need to make sure we follow Mironov and his entourage once they leave.”
“Dr. Ross,” Reid said, clearing his throat.
“Connor, go ahead.”
“You know me well, sir. And you know that I never back down from a fight, particularly when it involves going after one of our own. But isn’t it time we brought in the Swiss authorities? We have evidence that Zane was taken by Mironov and his thugs. I mean, Zane’s DNA is likely all over that boat.”
“Hold on,” the Oracle replied. “I think you’ve forgotten what country you’re in. These are the Swiss. They take care of the people who invest there… people like Alexander Mironov. They want to keep those people happy. And they certainly don’t like to make arrests if they can avoid it. Now, would they eventually come around to our way of thinking? Of course. I have a number of contacts in Swiss intelligence, and they’re all good, decent men and women. But this wouldn’t happen overnight. They would start at the beginning and certainly wouldn’t just order an immediate raid of the Renaissance offices or Mironov’s personal yacht. That would take some time, and time is exactly what we don’t have a lot of right now.”
“I’d say DNA and the downloaded hard drive of a robot would probably be enough to bring these guys down,” Reid said.
Skinner was shaking his head. “I’m with Dr. Ross on this one. If we went to the Swiss, we’d basically have to tell them that Mironov caught one of our men breaking into their offices in Geneva. Last I checked, that’s still illegal. Right out of the box, we’d be admitting we’ve committed a crime, even if we might say it was for the better good. We don’t butter their bread, Connor, and they’re likely to take a hard look at us before even thinking about going after Mironov.”
“Not to mention that just our presence is a problem,” added Carmen. “Technically we have no authority to operate in their country. Of course everybody does it. But that’s not the point. The point is, we’d be admitting to it.”
Reid shrugged, still not convinced.
“You’re both right, but now there is a bigger issue in play,” the Oracle explained. “We know something is about to take place, something that Mironov and Marrese have been planning for quite some time. We know that it’s important enough for them to murder a former employee who they thought might expose them.” Ross held up a sheet of paper with two fingers and shook it for dramatic effect. “I received correspondence from the Director this morning. Needless to say, he’s very concerned that Zane has been taken. And he agreed that getting Zane back needs to be our top priority. But he has also given us a new directive, which in a way was our original mission. We need to find out exactly what is about to happen. And we need to do everything in our power to stop it. One man already died because of this. It would be a tragedy if that man died in vain.”