‘Bob?’ said Maddy, ‘you OK?’
The clone nodded awkwardly. ‘Affirmative.’ The voice was a deep growl, almost as deep as Bob’s old voice had been.
‘Jay-zus!’ Liam lurched. ‘That’s… weird.’
Sal pulled a face. ‘Ewww… jahulla! That’s just so-o-o wrong!’
‘I will adjust the vocal register,’ Bob’s barrel-deep voice rumbled. The support unit cocked its head then spoke again. ‘Is this better?’ The voice now the smooth upper-register of a teenage girl’s.
Maddy nodded. ‘Much better. I think we can safely say you’re not an it… you’re a she now.’
Liam shook his head as he studied it… him… her… Bob. ‘I feel very strange about this,’ he finally muttered. ‘Very strange indeed.’
CHAPTER 14
2001, New York
‘Now, she’s had all the biographical information about Edward Chan and details of the layout of the Texas Advanced Energy Research Institute uploaded. Isn’t that right?’
The support unit nodded as she lowered herself into the water beside Liam, wearing underwear that Maddy had self-consciously pulled out from beneath the sheets of her bunk and donated.
‘Affirmative. I have all the data required for this mission,’ the support unit replied sweetly.
Liam shook his head. ‘This is so weird. I mean… it’s great to have you back an’ all, Bob, but you’re a… you’re a…’ His glance flickered involuntarily for a moment towards the clone’s chest. He clasped his eyes shut. ‘Oh Jeez… you’re a girl, so you are!’
‘Recommendation: suggest this copy of my AI be given an appropriate unique identifier.’
Maddy, sitting on the top step and looking down at them in the water, nodded. ‘That’s right. You can’t go round calling her Bob.’
‘Additional information: although the AI in my computer is a direct duplication, I am now interfaced with a different organic brain, and during the operational lifespan of this organic support frame, different data will result in a different emergent AI.’
Liam looked up at Maddy. ‘What did she… it… Bob just say?’
‘That you should think of this support unit as someone brand new. As a different team member… because she’s going to develop a different personality. That’s right, isn’t it?’
The support unit nodded. ‘Affirmative. Consequently this AI should have its own identifying label.’
‘She needs a new name to avoid confusion with Bob,’ added Maddy, nodding towards the bank of monitors and computers on the desk. ‘Remember, Bob’s still in there.’ She grinned. ‘You’re best thinking of this support unit as… I dunno… his sister.’
Liam looked at the clone treading water beside him. She tried one of Bob’s reassuring horse smiles — just as clumsy and ill-fitting as her… brother. But, somehow, more appealing on her slim face.
‘Liam,’ she said softly, ‘please give me a name.’
‘Go on,’ said Maddy. ‘It’s your turn.’
He shook his head. ‘I… don’t know.’
‘OK, you think about it.’ She called across the archway to Sal. ‘What’s the countdown?’
‘Fifty seconds!’
She handed them a couple of sealed plastic bags. ‘Clothes for you in there. And a wig for her. Now, you’ll arrive at the institute just as a class of thirty children are being given a tour of the place. I’ve checked the floor plans and picked out what looks like an equipment storage room near to the institute’s main experimental chamber. That’s where we’ll send you. You can dry off and change in there, then join the school party.’
Liam nodded.
‘You’ll be there to observe how Edward Chan is assassinated, OK? Not to stop it… just watch. Then we’ll bring you back, you can tell us what happened, then we can work on what we need to do to prevent it happening. That’s the plan. Got it?’
‘Aye. And the return window?’
‘Is set for ten minutes after Edward Chan’s time of death. The usual failed-return protocols apply — if you miss that first window, we’ll open again an hour later… you know how it goes.’
‘An hour later, a day later, a week later.’
‘That’s it.’
‘Thirty seconds!’ called out Sal.
‘You OK, Liam?’ said Maddy softly.
He nodded, his teeth beginning to chatter with the cold.
‘Come back safely,’ she said affectionately, patting his hand holding the side of the tube. She got to her feet and clanked down the steps beside the tube.
‘Ten seconds!’
Liam turned to look at the support unit treading water beside him. ‘Hey… I’ve got a name for you.’
‘Insufficient time, Liam,’ she replied. ‘We have to go under the water now.’
Reluctantly he nodded, sucked in a big lungful of air, let go of the side and held his nose. The support unit gently rested a hand on top of his head and shoved him under with surprising force, then ducked beneath the water herself.
CHAPTER 15
2015, Texas
He watched Edward Chan walking ahead of him with the other kids. He looked so small among the other high-school-age kids, so small and so vulnerable with his high-school rucksack on his back and a yellow T-shirt two sizes too big for him.
Yes. Yes, he does… but don’t forget who this boy is. Just how dangerous he is.
Howard Goodall gritted his teeth with renewed determination. Ahead of him, just a dozen yards away, was the legendary Edward Chan, grandfather of time-travel technology. His mind reiterated an inescapable mantra.
The boy has to die. The boy has to die.
Too many of his colleagues had been arrested to get him to this place, this time, close enough to kill Chan. He could feel the weight in his own rucksack — a red one with High School Musical 4 stencilled in cheerful pink across it. He could feel the weight of responsibility in there and the miniature carbon-fibre projectile weapon hidden inside an innocent-looking camping flask, the cheap plastic kind you can pick up from Wal-Mart for five dollars.
The institute’s guide eased his way through the shuffling trail of students to the front where he stopped, turned round and raised his hands to get everyone’s attention.
‘OK, now that you guys have all had some refreshments and you’ve had a little introduction to the theory behind zero-point energy, we’re going to be heading into the business part of this facility: the experimental reactor building. Before we go inside there’s one more security check — ’
Thirty students moaned in unison.
‘Sorry, kids,’ he laughed. ‘I’m afraid it’s procedure, so if you’d all just open your rucksacks and school bags one last time for our security guards to get a quick look-see inside, then we can proceed.’
Third time. Howard did his best to look just as casual and irritated at the hassle as all the other kids. He unzipped his rucksack and held it open for a cursory glance. If the guard bothered to unscrew the drinking cap of the camping flask, he’d find the small weapon, which was roughly the size and shape of a whiteboard marker.
Howard watched the guard work his way down the line of impatient children.
But he won’t unscrew it… because, Howard, you’re going to look just as bored as all these other kids. Bored and impatient to get on with the tour. And not nervous. Not scared.
