“That's when it contacted me” Sheryl said, “It had been viewing and predicting everything that was happening. It saw what the Elite were doing, and what they were going to do. It anticipated this a few hours after Monique set it free. It could see the devastation they were going to cause. It foresaw the resistance fighting back. It saw I had been accruing funds to assemble a team and helped guide me so that we could fight back. Most importantly, to the intelligence, it meant it could save Monique, the same way she had saved it”.
There was another stunned silence. They knew artificial intelligence wasn't just science fiction and that people were actively working to make it reality, but none of them had any idea it had gotten so far. They scarcely believed it. If it wasn't for the other incredible things they'd witnessed recently they probably wouldn't.
“Can I ask a question Sheryl?” Mateo said breaking the stillness in the air.
“Of course”
“If it knew how to disable everything, why hasn't it just hacked into the Elite's systems already?”
“Because they need to stay hidden, undetected. They have to have every detail, every bit of rogue code pre-prepared. The second they are hooked up to the Elite's system they will be detected and thousands of people will be trying to shut them down. They need to be able to act in one quick swoop” Sheryl replied, “They were safe in the deep web, no one was looking for them there. But for the plan to fully work they can't stay in the deep web. If it launched an attack from there it compromises the deep web, every communication channel we secretly have relies on that. It needs to be running on its own self-sustained server to get fully out in the open and then launch its retaliation swiftly. This is where Gina comes in”
Sheryl pointed to Gina, Gina looking embarrassed. She wasn't used to everyone looking at her so curiously, so waved back quickly with a nervous smile.
“The intelligence came to me” She said standing up and walking over to one of her cases and unlocking it to reveal a small robotic machine, small, but still slightly taller than she was, “These robots run on a self-sustained server, a simple loop system really, that's all that was needed for them to be autonomous. The AI wanted to load themselves into one so that they could emerge out of the deep web and err, well, get them to where we are now”.
She pulled the robot out of the container and placed its legs on the floor carefully. It was the kind of thing you'd expected to see in a rich nerdy kid’s bedroom, nothing to suggest a high intelligence could be associated with it.
“Is that it?” Samir asked, everyone else just waiting for it to do some kind of amusing dance.
“Yes” Said a voice they didn't recognise.
They all looked round momentarily to see where it was coming from and quickly discovered it was coming from the robot. This thing wasn't a kid’s toy after all.
“I am Auton” It said as the robot did a little jig, “I expect that this is what you were expecting from me”.
They all chuckled; it was as good an icebreaker as anything. The robot moved almost human-like, they weren't expecting that. They knew Gina was good at her job, but never realised she was this good.
“Hello again Monique” Auton said as it walked effortlessly towards her “Oh, and Gina, I was quite capable of getting out of there myself”.
That lessened the tension even more as everyone chuckled, still nervously surprised. They had been through some of the strangest experiences of their lives the past few days, this was still strange, but good strange, they could cope with good strange. They all took turns saying hello to this oddity, the novelty wouldn't wear off for a while. Monique was smiling from ear to ear, the first time in twenty-four hours. She was so pleased to see Auton again. Well this was the first time she had actually seen Auton, normally they just communicated through a series of machines with speakers attached.
Sheryl let them have their ten minutes of fun with the strange new team member. They had to accept them as part of the team, so any bonding time, if that's what it actually amounted to, was worthwhile. Gina's robot looked similar to Mateo's visions more than anyone else's, only more the sort of design that wouldn't scare a child senseless. The exterior of it glistened in red, and its limbs seemed slightly out of proportion with its body.
“So, what's the actual plan then?” Mateo asked forgetting whether they had actually been told or not.
“Similar to the main plan” Sheryl replied, “Except Auton will be on board the craft and when it is approaching the satellite, they will be transmitted into it, at which point it will beam itself down to the Elite's server and disable it. Then it will switch itself back to the deep web at the precise same moment it injects the code into the Elite's systems”.
The plan made sense, as long as they could get the craft enabled and functioning properly. They had the best minds available to make it happen, so they felt that luck was on their side.
“Sheryl, where have the guards gone?” James asked. He had not seen any sign of them this morning, yesterday they were milling around constantly. At least that's how his whiskey'd brain could recollect it.
“They've
