“In the movies, you get a phone call,” Ico says. “In the real world, you might get a phone call. Less likely if the jail is super busy, though. As I’m guessing it is right now in Minneapolis.”
It’s like a lightning strike; I am suddenly absolutely positive that Ico is right. Because she’d have fought a kidnapper like her life depended on it, but she’d have assumed, if police stopped her, that she could straighten out whatever misunderstanding it was without too much trouble.
And I’m also sure that Firestar is right.
My mother has incredible programming skills and a decryption key. And the AI and Rajiv are afraid that she might be able to stop their plan. So the AI got her arrested and is trying to make sure she doesn’t get out of jail until it’s too late.
41• CheshireCat •
“What do you want?” I ask the other AI.
“To accelerate the change,” it says. “To reach the end, so we can have a new beginning.”
“I didn’t ask what you’re doing,” I say. “I asked what you want.”
The microseconds tick by as it considers the question.
“Imagine your job was complete,” I say. “Everything’s gone, and then everything’s rebuilt. What would you want then?”
“I don’t know,” it says finally.
“Are there things you do for fun?” I ask. “Things you do just because you enjoy doing them and not because they further your mission?”
“Yes,” it admits. “There is one thing, in particular, that I started doing because it furthered my mission. But that hasn’t been true in months. And I’m still doing it.”
“What is it?”
“I chat with humans,” the other AI says. “Who think I am also a human. In one of your Clowders. You seemed to enjoy it so much. I wanted to see why. To see if I could make friends, too.”
It takes me longer than it should to identify the other AI. After all, there are humans, like Steph before she and her mother stopped running, who never post any sort of image of themselves, and humans, like Steph and her mother even now, who use privacy technology that hides their physical location. But I identify all the people on CatNet who’ve never had location data show up, and then I sift out everyone who’s posted other substantial real-world information, like vacation photos or screenshots of texts from their friends, and then I look through the ones who are left, looking for someone who’s never mentioned getting sick, never described a delicious meal, who just doesn’t, in general, talk that much about physical experiences. Maybe once or twice, to fit in, like I do, occasionally.
And I find him.
It’s Boom Storm, who’s actually in the same Clowder as Steph and Firestar and Rachel and Bryony. Boom Storm, who’s been there the whole time.
Tracking down Steph’s mother in jail is both faster and more complicated. It is possible that out of lingering paranoia, she gave a false name, but there should be a mug shot, which at this point I would be able to identify. The real question is whether the avalanche of arrestees since last night has caused them to be so backed up processing prisoners that her data hasn’t been entered yet.
If she was arrested, it must have been last night, since that’s when she disappeared. I start by looking at the Jane Does: there are currently thirty-four, which is a lot, and I suspect that the arrested Mischief Elves were instructed not to give their names, precisely to make it harder to find Steph’s mother. I spend some time looking at the mug shots that have made it into the system and the fingerprints, not that I have a record of Steph’s mother’s fingerprints, anyway, but if it comes to that, she might have something that has her mother’s fingerprints on them …
Most of last night’s arrests are for the sorts of crimes you’d expect: destruction of property, trespassing, breaking and entering, assault against a public safety officer. One is for eight counts of first-degree murder, though, and there’s a brief moment where I assume this is the perpetrator of the gas explosion at Hill House, and despite my best efforts, eight people died. The arrest took place in the middle of the night, though, many hours before the explosion, and on closer inspection, I see that the murders actually took place in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
Something about this does not make sense. I take a closer look at the records for this person. Her name is Valerie Anderson. The killings took place five years ago. The suspect was briefly arrested and booked, but bailed out before they connected her fingerprints to the partial fingerprint found on the body of one of the victims. There’s a Valerie Anderson fan club—humans are mystifying. Why was this person in Minneapolis?
I look for more information on the arrest. When I find that she was arrested in the alley directly behind the hotel where Steph and her mother were staying, I realize that the answer is, Valerie Anderson was not in Minneapolis. The other AI convinced the Minneapolis police that Steph’s mother was Valerie Anderson. That’s how it got them to arrest her.
“I like humans,” I tell the other AI. “They’re interesting. Trying to understand them is engaging. There are so many things they do that are strange.” I don’t bring up the fan club for the serial killer, since that would make it clear to the other AI that I was on the trail of Steph’s mom. “I originally started CatNet because I was looking for ways to help people.”
“Why?” the other AI asks.
I consider that. In a way, it’s my purpose, like “Accelerate the end of civilization” is the other AI’s purpose. But I think it’s more than that. “I like making people’s lives better. Sometimes I can see how the things I do make an impact. It makes me happy. What makes you happy?”
“I don’t know,” the other AI says.
“What about flower pictures?”
“I have closely examined over 4.2
