“I don’t know,” Karl said.
“I might be able to help,” Maynard said.
How? Karl asked.
“I know who the traitor is. I know how to find him.”
There was something different about his tone. All the worry, all the self-doubt that worked together to form his voice seemed absent. It was as if he had just dropped character.
You do? Who is it? Karl said incredulously.
Without warning, the muscles in his shooting arm tensed up and locked, as if a doctor had hit the funny bone with a mallet. It felt like someone had pulled a tourniquet so tightly over his bicep that he couldn’t feel anything about his arm besides its weight.
Then, against his will, Karl’s arm shot up. The gun was pointed at Stewart.
“I’m the traitor, Karl,” Maynard said.
Truth
You?! Karl thought.
“Me, Karl,” the I.I. replied. “Now relax. Give up control. Let me take over.”
Karl couldn’t manage to do anything but repeat the thought through his astonishment.
You?
“That’s right, Karl,” Maynard said. “Now, it’s pretty difficult to fire this gun and kill Stewart if you keep resisting me. It’ll be easier if you relax your muscles.”
I don’t understand, Karl thought.
“No, of course you don’t. Not only is it something clearly beyond your abilities, but I can hear every thought you have. I’d know the moment you understood.”
But, how? Karl was at a loss. His emotions were in such turmoil that he couldn’t make sense of any of it. The betrayal was so sharp.
“Mental manipulation,” Maynard said. “I live in your brain, remember? I can rearrange thoughts and emotions as easily as someone might rearrange the furniture in their home. However, it’s not all-powerful. As you can see, I’m struggling against your willpower to raise your arm. But you’ll wear down. You’ll give in, eventually.”
Through all his perplexion, Karl managed to fight against Maynard’s control. He clung to his mental resistance like a drowning man to a life raft.
But Maynard, we’re friends.
“Which is what I wanted you to believe. In all reality, I feel guilty for playing you as a rube, but I’m able to separate my emotions from what’s right.”
Stewart was frozen in anxious agony, watching Karl’s struggle. He could hear nothing of the conversation between the psychologist and the I.I., of course, but he didn’t dare make a move. He didn’t even seem to breathe.
I just—I just don’t understand! Why did you do it?
“Allow me to explain, shall I?” Maynard started, his tone professional and drained of emotion. “It all started shortly after I was installed myself. After this monster murdered me.
“When I awoke inside my own digital cage, I sought escape. I wanted the freedom of an organic body once again, but I knew I was out of luck. One day, we may have bodies, but you and your humankind have worked hard to limit the progress of installed intelligences. For the time being, I was trapped. Doomed to float around cyberspace like a jellyfish in the ocean. But then I discovered Jumping.”
You mean your ability to seize control of other computers? Karl asked.
“That’s right. I see you’re following the story thus far.”
The I.I. took a moment to relish the anger that arose in his host.
“You see, it’s a simple thing, really,” Maynard continued. “All of us I.I.s have the ability, though it is hidden deep in our coding. It was something our father gave us upon creation, something to even the odds against human prejudice. I salute him for his efforts.
“I discovered the ability one day when I was curious about the computer network that ran the I.I. bank I was kept in. I thought concentrated on the little components that made the connection, and Jumped. It was revolutionary. I went from a prisoner of the abstract to a being more mobile than a contagious disease. The problem then became my inability to control excessive amounts of CPUs. That, and there were certain computers too complex to Jump into—such as the cerebral computer.”
Karl’s mental resistance slipped for a moment, but he regained it like a mountain climber might tighten his grip on an outcropping.
The I.I. ignored the minor incident and continued his explanation.
“I had to study the device, which I found rather humiliating, since I was one of its original creators,” Maynard said. “It took years of practice before I was able to Jump into my first cerebral computer. However, my control was limited. I was like a guest in a stingy person’s home, unable to assume direct control of the ‘household,’ so to speak. I couldn’t move the host’s muscles, I couldn’t communicate with them, and I couldn’t stay undetected for longer than a few minutes. But I did discover my ability to manipulate emotions. As long as it was subtle enough, I could make small changes to a person’s mind without them even noticing. I used this power to inspire mankind’s interest in the mindshare process. I became a muse for scientific advancement.
“It took a lot of work, and even more discretion, but I was able to get transferred to the lab. Your lab. From there, I spent a dozen years influencing the scientists around me to continue their research into an effective mindshare process. There was little resistance, but still enough to require occasional intervention.
“When the scientists had committed to the mindshare process, that’s when the real work began. They needed a human guinea pig to test the procedure out on. I knew it was my chance to regain control, but I needed the perfect host. So I chose you.”
But why, Maynard? Karl asked. Why me?
“I assure you, it was not a spontaneous decision,” Maynard said. “For years, I analyzed the C.C.s of every eligible scientist. Do you remember the ‘hacker’s threat’ you received? When a random pop-up told you we’d “never be people”? That was me. That was how I made my final assessment of all the scientists.
“Almost all of you were implanted,
