A.I. Apocalypse Read Free Page B

something wrong. But his father also wouldn’t want anything to happen to his brother. He thought again of Uncle Alex’s visit and his father laughing and smiling. What the hell was he supposed to do? If he told his parents, which his uncle had said not to do, they would be worried sick about it.
    I wanted to keep your name out of this, but they have read my emails to you, and know you could help. They may come to visit you. Be very careful.
    Crap - how could this get any worse? He didn’t want to be any part of this! He almost threw his phone down, but instead pulled the hunk of silicon close and cradled it instead.

CHAPTER TWO
    Beginnings

    Mike Williams pulled into the parking lot, the electric whine of the Jetta’s motor slowing. He parked alongside the building, ignoring the fleet of shiny new Hondas in the main parking lot. The corporation leased the lot to the shipping port so it wouldn’t appear empty. Glancing into the rearview mirror, he did a double-take. When did he get so much gray hair?   Well, nobody said this job was going to be easy. With a sigh, he exited the car.
    Mike walked up to the mammoth building’s small front entrance and nodded to the camera. “Hello, Mike,” he heard over a speaker, and the door clicked as it unlocked. He pulled the tinted glass door open, and passed into the warm interior. Industrial carpeting, neutral paint tones, and bland art helped it look exactly like it was supposed to: just another generic office building in an industrial complex. An empty reception counter stood in front of Mike.
    He shrugged out of his raincoat, and threw it over the top of a passing robot. The robot stuttered to a halt, its optical sensors blinded by the opaque covering. “Very funny,” it said and reversed direction, using its inertial guidance sensors to dead reckon its way back to within a few inches of Mike.
    Mike grabbed the jacket. “I don’t think robots go with the office disguise, ELOPe. Now, will you please unlock the doors?”
    He heard the thunk of magnetic bolt locks opening, and a set of steel double-doors ahead of him swung open, revealing themselves to be even sturdier than they appeared from the outside. Mike passed through into his real office. Ignoring the twenty foot screen that encompassed one wall, he settled into a comfortable black leather chair. “So how are you doing today?”  
    “I’m fine, Mike, and you?”
    “Good, although I hit hellish traffic on the way in, and I really need a cup of coffee.”
    “I noticed the traffic. Would you care to have me route the traffic out of your way in the future? Vehicles in the carpool lane are required to be under automated guidance. I could easily move those vehicles to give you an unimpeded route.”
    A small orange utility bot wheeled up, grasping a mug of coffee in one manipulator arm. Mike took the steaming cup and sipped. Late harvest Peruvian, he guessed. Too bad. Hopefully there would be some better yields at higher elevations. The robot scurried away.
    He turned his attention back to ELOPe. “Don’t you think that would be suspicious? That commuters might notice me passing by, or that a random police car would spot me passing at twice the speed?”
    There was a suspicious pause, usually the indicator of some weighty decision making. Mike started to dread the response.
    “Mike, I neglected to mention this before, but when I discovered that you generally exceed the speed limit, I used my discretion to track your probable route, detect any police cars along that route, and move them off your observable path.”
    “Damn it, ELOPe, you’re not supposed to do stuff like that!” Mike sprang up from his chair and walked over to the big window overlooking the data center. Hundreds of rows of server racks disappeared off into the distance. “We’ve discussed this a hundred times,” he yelled, shaking his fist towards the clusters of high performance servers.
    “If you are referring to the topic of interfering