Their guide opened a door leading into the house and waved them forward. Down a hallway into a large, book-lined room. A thin, white-haired man closed the book he was reading and climbed slowly to his feet.
“Mr. Delaney, welcome, welcome.”
“You are Dr. Bociort?”
“Yes, of course…” He was looking at Sven’s muffled figure with great attention. “And this — dare I say gentleman? — is the friend who uncovered my message?”
“Not quite. It was another associate of the same kind.”
“You say it? A machine, then?”
“Machine intelligence.”
“How wonderful. Do help yourself to some wine. I believe your associate’s name is Sven?”
“That is my name. This knowledge reveals the fact that it is your video camera in the hotel room.”
“I must be cautious at all times.”
“Dr. Bociort,” Brian broke in, “I have come a long way to meet you — and I have a number of urgent questions that need answering.”
“Patience, young man. When you reach my age you learn to do things slowly. Take your wine, make yourself comfortable — and I will tell you what you want to know. I can understand your haste. Dreadful things have happened to you—”
“Do you know who was responsible?”
“I am afraid that I don’t. Let me begin at the beginning. Sometime ago I was contacted by a man who called himself Smith. Later I discovered that his real name was J. J. Beckworth. Now, before you ask any more questions, let me tell you everything that I know. I was teaching at the university in Bucuresti when Mr. Smith made an appointment to see me. He knew of my research in artificial intelligence and wished to employ me to do some work in that field. He told me that a research scientist had succeeded in constructing an AI but had died rather suddenly. Someone was needed to carry on his work. I was offered a great deal of money, which I was happy to accept. I was of course quite suspicious, since it was obvious to me from the very beginning that there was something very illegal about the entire matter. There are many scientists in the West, a number of them far more qualified than me, who would have been eager to do the work. This did not deter me. If you know the history of my sad little country you will know that I must have compromised more than once to reach the fullness of my years.”
He coughed and pointed to a carafe on the sideboard near the wine. “A glass of water, if you please. Thank you.” He drank some of the water, put the glass down on the table at his elbow.
“What happened next you undoubtedly know. I went to the state of Texas, where your files were made available to me. My instructions were clear — to develop a commercial product that could utilize your AI. You know that I succeeded in this because your AI found my coded message.”
“Why did you leave the message?” Brian said.
“I thought that was obvious. You have been done a great wrong. Beckworth thought at first mat you were dead, indeed he bragged about the crime, told me that many had been killed and that I was involved. He did that to ensure my silence. He said that no one would believe I hadn’t been part of the conspiracy from the beginning — which is undoubtedly true. Then something went wrong, Beckworth was very upset. Thomsen was managing the plant by then and I was finishing with the development of the AI. I knew that Beckworth would be leaving soon so I forced him to arrange for my disappearance as well.”
“Forced him? I don’t understand.”
There was no warmth in Bociort’s smile. “You would understand, young man, if you had lived through the Ceausescu years in my motherland. Since I was convinced from the very beginning that what I was doing was illegal I took certain steps to guarantee my own safety. I left a program running in the university’s computer. A virus really. If I did not have a code telephoned to it once a month it was programmed to relay a coded message to Interpol. Beckworth was not pleased when I gave him a copy of the message and described the arrangement. Of course without revealing where the computer was. In the end he reluctantly understood that alive I was no threat to them. When I discovered that he was leaving I insisted that he make arrangements for my dropping from sight as well. I now live quietly, taken care of by my cousins who are happy to also live in Swiss luxury. Only the great wrong that had been done you disturbed me: therefore my message. I wanted to meet you — and your AI of course.”
“MI,” Sven said. “Machine intelligence is not artificial.”
“I stand corrected and do apologize. As for you, Brian, I want to give you the little information I have about the conspiracy.”
“You know who was behind all this?”
“Alas, no. I have but a single clue of any importance. I listened to all of Beckworth’s telephone calls. That was the first task your AI undertook, tapping every phone that Beckworth might use. He was very circumspect and only once did he slip up and use his phone to speak with his coconspirators. This was when he discovered that you were still alive, that an attempt on your life had failed. You were still a threat that had to be removed. The telephone number he called was disconnected next day, so all I can tell you is that it was located in Canada. But the man Beckworth spoke with was not a Canadian.”
“How do you know?”
“My dear sir! I know in the same way that I knew it was you calling me at this number. Your voice gave you away, a native of southern Ireland who grew up in the United States. Every word that you spoke was clear identification. I was led into AI research through my work in linguistics. My magister in philology was gained in the University of Copenhagen, where I followed in the footsteps of the great Otto Jespersen. Therefore you must believe me that the man was no Canadian. I have listened to the recording many times and am absolutely sure.”
Bociort paused for dramatic effect, touched the water to his lips but did not drink. Put the glass down again before speaking.
“The individual in question had a very marked Oxbridge accent, signifying that he had been a student at either Oxford or Cambridge University. There is a possibility that he went to Eton as well. He had worked very hard during his school years to lose his regional accent — but the traces were clear to me. Yorkshire, possibly Leeds, that’s where he came from.”
“You are sure of this?”
“Positive. Now that I have answered all of your questions fully and truthfully please have your MI remove its clothing. How I look forward to seeing what you have accomplished. I was most unhappy when I discovered that your stolen AI was, how should I say, a brontosaurus.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was not obvious at first, but as I worked through your notes and the stages of development I was forced to the reluctant conclusion that your work was not proceeding along the correct branch of the evolution of intelligence. Your AI was a good dinosaur, but it could never develop the true intelligence that you were seeking. It was an excellent brontosaurus indeed. But somewhere you had taken a wrong turning. No matter how much the brontosaurus was improved — it would still be a dinosaur. Never a human. I could never discover where you went wrong, and of course never told my employers of my discovery. I sincerely hope that you found your error.”
“I have — and corrected it. My MI is now functional and complete. Strip down, Sven, and have a chat with the doctor. After what he has done for me he deserves a complete Turing test.”
“Which hopefully I will pass,” Bociort said, smiling.
42
December 31, 2024
Brian enjoyed his week’s stay in St. Moritz. It was the first time that he had really been alone since the attack in the laboratory. Since then it had been hospital, recovery, work and people. Now he didn’t even have Sven around to talk to: he relished the solitude and anonymity. Nor was anyone in a hurry. Dr. Bociort was understandably grateful for these days of interfacing with the MI.