Mark Tiedemann - Chimera

"We have one at hand-after I have completed my excavation."

Derec looked at the DW-12 lying on the table, cables snaking from it, connecting it to the board Thales was using.

"It's not at all what Bogard would be used to," he said. "That assumes we're allowed to use it at all."

"If I may point out the obvious, the owner is no longer a matter of concern."

"Heirs, Thales. "

"I have considered that. Do you really think Rega Looms will want it?"

Derec laughed dryly. "No, I don't imagine so. But Sipha Palen has authority. It's station security property."

"With all due respect, Derec, Chief Palen has procured the robot under false pretext. She has filed no official records that it even exists on Kopernik. Effectively, the robot occupies a legal void. It belongs technically to no one. I believe my position is defensible in Terran court."

"It may be, but…" Derec sighed. His brief spurt of energy was ebbing. He needed sleep. "I can't make this decision now, Thales. We have other matters to resolve first."

"Would you object if I created an implementation program in the event that we do make use of the robot?"

"No, of course not. Right now, though, we need that excavation."

"It will be completed in fifty-two minutes."

"Good, good." He regarded the screens before him speculatively. Somewhere in all that machinery was a consciousness. It surprised him sometimes how easily he disregarded the inorganic nature of positronic entities. "Thales, why are you so interested in Bogard?"

"Why?"

"Yes, why."

"Bogard is a problem you set me to solve."

"True, but-never mind now. Thales, I may doze off sitting here. If anything happens that I need to know about, wake me."

"Of course, Derec."

He closed his eyes. He did not fall immediately to sleep, though. He could not shake the feeling-tenuous, barely identifiable-that Thales had just evaded answering his question.

"The question of will in a positronic matrix is and may remain one of the unsolved-and unsolvable-mysteries about these minds we have created. We built them to serve us and in that matter they have no choice. But we then gave them an imperative to serve not our commands but our morality. To assume this makes them thrall to human will to exclusion of their own may be an error. "

Who said that? Derec fished through his memory until he found it. Ariel had said that, in her graduate thesis from the Calvin Institute.

Something to that…

A constant question in positronics-one most positronic specialists toyed with but never wanted to discuss-concerned the hardware: How much of a robot's "personality" depended on the actual mechanism, and how much on what was called "accrued experiential associations"? The easy answer-always-was that a positronic brain was entirely a matter of physical linkages and connections, tied directly to its sensory apparatus-the "real world" model that allowed them to make deterministic decisions based on the Three Law parameters encoded into the pathways.

But that begged the question; it did not address the problem of Mind. Derec had come up against it with Bogard and now with Thales-why, he wondered, could Thales not simply construct a matrix very much like Bogard's? Evidently, Thales could not. Bogard's physical modifications had been an integral part of its consciousness. Thales' suggestion that the entire matrix be reinserted in a blank brain reinforced the obvious: that a robot was inextricably mechanistic, even though it demonstrated consciousness very similar to a human.

How many humans willingly admitted that they were as much meat as mind?

Derec yawned, and sparks danced at the edge of his vision. Too much, too deep. He waited for sleep. But his mind writhed with questions. "Mr. Avery."

Derec opened one eye and looked up at Hofton. "Mmm?"

"We have a problem." Hofton nodded toward the lab.

Derec stood slowly. A huddle of people crowded at the entrance. He recognized Palen, Leri, and Polifos, all apparently on one side of an argument, facing four Terrans-two men, two women-whose clothes-neatly-cut, unadorned, and severe-suggested authority. They spoke in low, terse tones that even without knowing the subject made Derec apprehensive.

"Thales, how far along are we with the excavation?"

"I require a few more minutes, Derec."

"Who are they, Hofton?"

"TBI," Hofton said. "Leri, to his credit, is fending them off with implied threats of 'political repercussions' and 'violation of sovereignty; but they aren't really backing down. They want the robot. My sense is that they intend to take it regardless of the consequences. "

Derec glanced at the DW-12. "Why would they want a robot?"

"Not a robot-that robot. They know exactly where it came from and what it is."

"Thales, those leaks-"

"It is possible they were TBI monitors," Thales said. "I did not trace them for the reasons we discussed. "

Derec studied the group. "Palen looks upset."

"I would be, too. Evidently her authority is being challenged. I suspect she'll lose, but she may be able to delay any immediate action. "

"It may be a moot point, anyway." He leaned over the console. "Thales, complete the excavation, copy all material to Ariel's office, then start tracing those monitors. Be careful not to reveal your presence as more than a security trace."

"Yes, Derec."

Derec smoothed his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. Hofton watched him speculatively.

"Shall we?" Derec gestured toward the confrontation. "Your lead, sir."

Derec approached, Hofton a pace behind. Polifos noticed him first and tapped Ambassador Leri's arm. The discussion died immediately with everyone looking at Derec.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help noticing, " Derec said. "TBI?"

One agent nodded slowly. "You are…?"

"Derec Avery. I gather you've come about the matter of the robot?"

Palen glared at him, outraged. The TBI agents frowned uncertainly.

"You have in your possession-" the first agent began.

"Pardon me," Derec interrupted, "you are…?"

"Agent Harwol."

"Pleased to meet you. And these others?"

Harwol waved a hand in the direction of his male partner, then each of the women. "Um…Agent Gent, Agent Jallimolan, Agent Cranert…"

"Pleased." Derec gestured toward Hofton. "This is Liaison Officer Hofton of the Auroran Embassy, D.C."

Awkward nods passed around the group. Derec noticed that Polifos looked baffled, but Leri was suppressing a smile.

"Now," Derec continued, "I'm the positronic specialist in charge of examining that robot. I have authority from Ambassador Sen Setaris to do so. It's my understanding that diplomatic considerations require that you have a proper warrant, countersigned by Ambassador Setaris, before I can turn any of our property over to you. "

Agent Harwol made a chopping motion with his hand. "Not in matters concerning the death of TBI or other Terran police personnel. We have an overriding interest in that robot, which we'll be happy to take up at a later date in court with Ambassador Setaris. But right now we insist that you turn over the robot in question."

"For what purpose?"

Agent Harwol frowned.

"What do you intend to do with it, Agent Harwol? It's a collapsed positronic robot. Basically, so much scrap as it is. What do you propose to do with it?"

"That's not germane to this situation-"

"But it might be. You see, if you intend to turn it over to your own specialists for examination, then we may be able to save you time. "

Harwol exchanged looks with his fellow agents.

"What do you propose?" he asked.

"We're already doing the only examination that might produce results. I'm sure that sharing our data with you wouldn't be out of the question. Ambassador Leri?"

"Well, under the circumstances, it would be unusual," Leri replied. "I'd have to vett it through Ambassador Setaris, of course, but I don't see a significant problem. Cooperation with Terran authority is always preferable to confrontation."