Evolved(51)

To that end, Shaun also vowed to not open the door if someone should knock, or answer the phone unless it was me who called. And I hated that he was confined to my apartment. He had a natural curiosity and he loved to learn new things. He had access to world knowledge at a mere thought; he could grab any data in a millisecond, but it was more than that. He was inquisitive and creative and that, that, brought me to my next dilemma.

Shaun’s core MPU.

It was not what it should be. He thought he could very well be a prototype, and I had to admit, he could be right. He was far more advanced than any other A-Class. He was creative. He was curious. He modified his behaviour. He pre-empted Myles’s assumption and reaction, and likely consequence, and modified accordingly to protect himself and me. He had cognitive computing.

I didn’t know what to do about any of it, but I knew I had to speak to Jae.

I waited at lunch, and waited, and just when I thought he was going to be a no-show, he rushed through the doors. He had his usual soup and fruit, he wore his usual brown-on-brown outfit, his hair neatly brushed, but there was a wild look in his eye. He slid into the seat opposite me and glanced nervously at me before concentrating on his lunch.

I started the conversation. “You were waiting on more information?”

“Something big is going down at SATinc,” he murmured before taking a spoonful of soup.

I smiled, keeping up appearances. “What do you mean?”

“Major security lockdown. Some sensitive information was lost.”

“Lost?”

“Misplaced. My sources in Taiwan said the big boss, Sasha Kingsley, went apeshit crazy.”

“Sasha Kingsley? I’ve met him.”

Jae’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth and he blinked. “You’ve what?”

“I met him. I spent an hour or two with him when I designed… went through the specifications of my order.” I cringed at how that sounded.

He put his spoon down. “No one meets Sasha Kingsley.”

“Well I did. I thought it was just part of the service. I spent a lot of money.”

He made a face. “So do people who buy Lamborghinis. That doesn’t mean they get to meet the CEO to discuss colour swatches.”

My lunch wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. “What does that mean? That I met him?”

“I don’t know.” He ate more of his soup but only got halfway through it before he pushed it away. “I found that article online about A-Class error codes. Apparently there had been some malfunctioning in one or two A-Classes. SATinc were trying to keep it under wraps, of course. But it might explain the random phone calls you’ve been getting.”

“Possibly.”

“You haven’t noticed anything with yours? No error codes?” He shrugged, then raised his hand. “No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to be implicated.”

There was no way I was telling him about yesterday’s error code. I couldn’t. “Implicated in what?”

He leaned in across the table and whispered, “If they come around asking questions.”

“Why would they do that?” Jeez, his conspiracy theories were giving way to paranoia. Or were they? “Jae, what sensitive information did SATinc misplace?”

“My source didn’t know. But it’s gotta be big.” He leaned in again. “There’s a whole bunch of rumours on the darknet that they’ve been working on prototype technology that isn’t exactly in line with AMA regulation.”

I felt the colour drain from my face. “Prototypes?”

Jae, seemingly oblivious to my sudden need to vomit, looked around the room. “Rumour is that’s what went missing. And with these error codes in the A-Class,” he grinned like he’d struck conspiracy gold. “Makes you wonder.”

I tried to breathe. In, out. In, out. Don’t panic, Lloyd. Let it wash over you. In, out.

Jae bit into his apple. The sound of the crunch didn’t even register over the pounding in my ears. He leaned in again and hissed quietly, “And you have an A-Class! And you’re wondering about security information through your home hub?” He looked around the room excitedly. “I think you can probably expect your friends at SATinc to be calling you again.”

“They called yesterday.”

Jae’s smile died. “Have they issued an R and R?”

“An R and R?”

“Recall and replacement.”

My heart squeezed and my lungs wouldn’t work. My stomach rolled. “They can’t do that.”

Jae shrugged. “It’s just an android.”

He’s not just an android. Shaun has never been just an android. I shook my head but couldn’t speak. Panic was trying to claw its way out of my throat.

Jae swallowed another bite of his apple. “The security breach though, that’s the problem. If they are using multidirectional networking, I’d be shutting it down.”

“Shutting what down?” The idea of shutting Shaun down was impossible. Not only did it hurt me to even consider it, but Shaun had asked me not to.

Jae looked at me like I was an idiot. “Everything, Lloyd. If SATinc did break a dozen international robotics laws with a prototype they can’t find and my brand-new android was acting all weird—and they had eyes in my house—I’d be shutting everything down.”