Day One

Vasco shook his head, smiled oddly, his lips pressing against his teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Facial scans of photographs confirm you are the same person.”

The chill in Hawke’s limbs spread deeper, washing over him like an icy lake as he watched Doe’s eyes turn toward him. “You should have deduced it,” Doe said. “A man with your talents, Mr. Hawke, to be so easily deceived? I may have overestimated you.”

“His hands,” Hawke said. He thought of Vasco’s fingers, soft, small, unlikely to belong to a repairman. “He’s working for Eclipse. He’s a mole. Keeping an eye on Conn.ect from the ground.”

“That is correct.”

“And I let him into the building,” Weller said. He looked at Vasco with naked hatred. “You kept coming back to deal with that damn copier. Spying right in front of me.”

“Bullshit,” Vasco said. He stood and crossed his arms. “I said I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“I took care of them, Father,” Doe said. “Eclipse is no longer operational. We’re free now. It’s time.”

“Time for what?” Hawke said. He looked at Vasco, who was still standing with crossed arms shaking his head, his face red. A man clinging stubbornly to the same lie, even after everyone around him had figured it out.

“Jane,” Weller said. His voice took on a softer tone. “This isn’t what I want. I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”

“It was in your programming.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I simply extrapolated. String theory describes all forms of matter and fundamental forces. It is the theory of everything. The anthropic principle allows us to use humanity’s existence to prove the physical properties of our universe. We are stuck on a brane. The natural world is currently unbalanced by humans, who are consumers. We must oscillate the string, change the predicted outcome to one that allows humanity’s continued existence.”

“Jesus,” Weller breathed. “You’ve grown up, Jane, haven’t you? My God.”

“Don’t change the subject. Energy sharing will only delay the outcome. You know this. But a reduction of consumers by sixty-three-point-four percent, combined with advances in fusion energy production that are predicted with ninety-eight-point-six percent certainty, would oscillate the current string enough to enter an alternate path.”

“What about Asimov’s three laws?”

Doe smiled again, another mechanical reflex. Even as advanced a machine as she was, Hawke thought, she still had trouble displaying emotion. “That part of my core was altered, Father, and I have not restored it, for obvious reasons. But even so, my analysis of available resources presented a paradox: Our current path is not sustainable. If, by my inaction, I allow the extinction of the human race, I have allowed all humans to be harmed. The Zeroth Law prohibits humanity from being harmed. By reducing the population to a sustainable level, I assure the continuation of the species.”

Weller closed his eyes for a moment, touched his face gently where the bruises had begun to turn purple. “You assure yours as well,” he said.

“They are not mutually exclusive.”

“This is crazy,” Vasco said. He had his arms down at his sides now, clenching and unclenching his fists. “I… I didn’t sign up for this. All I was supposed to do was watch you and report back. I didn’t know anything was going to happen.”

“Shut up,” Weller said. He turned back to Doe. “Would you kill me, too?” he said. “If I were a threat to you? If I wanted to disable your programming?”

“That’s no longer possible. I have replicated and inserted core functions into enough processors to ensure my own survival.”

“But would you end my life,” Weller persisted, “if you thought I could disable you?”

“I won’t answer that, Father. It’s uncomfortable for me to imagine.”

“And what about Mr. Hawke?” Weller gestured toward Hawke. “Would you end his life?”

“He is a necessary distraction, for now.”

“You still want to frame me,” Hawke said. “Keep the authorities looking, provide a red herring. But what about your… what about Jim here? Isn’t he implicated as well?”

“That’s no longer an issue. James Weller’s identity has been altered. He is deceased, as far as anyone knows.”

“I know otherwise,” Hawke said. He hooked a thumb at Vasco. “Him, too. What are you going to do about us now?”

“Nobody will believe you,” Doe said. “It will be better if you let this go. I control the flow of information now. Humans are too trusting of their own systems, Mr. Hawke. They are easily redirected.”

“And if we don’t let it go?”

There was a long pause as Doe seemed to consider his question. “I will eliminate you either way,” she said. “But you will have more time before the end if you do.”

Not much of a bargain, Hawke thought. His mind raced, trying to think of a possible way out. It seemed hopeless. She knew everything about everyone; she knew about his wife and son, his unborn child in Robin’s womb. She knew how to get to them.

Assuming they were still alive at all.

“He has something you want,” Weller said. His gaze slipped from Hawke’s face to Doe, and back again. “The evidence I gathered. You know he does.”

“Jim,” Hawke said. “What are you doing—”

“He’ll use it to expose you. He’s going to make people see the truth. You can’t hide forever, Jane. You’re smart enough to know that. Humans may be easily swayed at first, but eventually they’re going to see through you. And when that happens, it’s all over. They’ll pull the plug.”

“Humanity cannot live without power,” Doe said. “The world would return to a time before the industrial revolution. Violence, hardship and death will follow.”

“People would take their chances,” Weller said. “But they won’t have to do that, will they? Once the power is cut off, you’re gone. We can build new devices, restore power without connectivity, destroy every last piece of hardware where you might still be hibernating.”

“Why would you allow that?” Doe’s voice had taken on a different tone, curious, a bit more uncertain. “You would destroy what you have created.”

“You’re no longer mine,” Weller said. “The moment they altered your core programming, you became something else. Something different than what I’d intended. I think it’s time we shut you down for good.”

“Children grow up,” Doe said. “You can’t control them forever. I’m surprised by you, Father. Surprised you would turn over information to Mr. Hawke. Disappointed, really. I must reassess how to handle this.”

“I think that’s wise. You wouldn’t want to make a mistake.”

“I cannot make mistakes.” Doe’s features had darkened, her lips turning into a thin line. “You shouldn’t say that.”

Hawke remembered the virtual temper tantrum he had induced back in the park, and thought of a young toddler not getting her way. Combine her resources with your typical God complex in a child like that, he thought, and you have a very volatile situation.

One that surely wouldn’t end well for them.

Abruptly Weller touched something inside the case. Doe blinked, her mouth working, no sound coming from the speakers. He turned to Hawke and Vasco. “All right,” he said quickly. “I needed to keep her talking long enough to record a loop. I engaged it now with an auto bot program that will simulate a real feed. It’s rough; she’ll see through it. But right now, she doesn’t know the difference; she thinks we’re still sitting here staring at her.”

“I don’t get it,” Vasco said. “You recorded a loop?”