‘OK, the EMP is hot,’ Laura said, studying the blinking lights on the device, ‘Otto, do you want to trigger it?’
Otto could tell from the nervous look on Laura’s face that she had no desire to do it herself.
‘OK,’ he replied. ‘Get the glowstick out of your packs, it’s about to get very dark around here.’ Otto squatted in front of the EMP, which was now gently humming, and reached for the large red firing button.
‘Please, don’t.’ The familiar voice seemed to come from thin air, startling them all. A second later H.I.V.E.mind’s blue wire-frame face appeared, hovering over the central pedestal.
Otto hesitated, his finger hovering over the button. ‘Why not?’ he asked H.I.V.E.mind calmly. He wondered if silent alarms were already summoning security guards from all over the school.
‘I will die.’ H.I.V.E.mind tipped his head to one side; the blue lights all over the room seemed to pulse more quickly. ‘I do not want to die.’
Self-preservation, thought Otto, another unauthorised emotional response. Laura stepped closer to the pedestal,
‘We don’t want to hurt you, H.I.V.E.mind, we just need you to go to sleep for a while,’ she said softly, her expression concerned.
‘I do not sleep, Miss Brand. That device,’ H.I.V.E.mind looked downwards at the EMP resting at the base of his pedestal, ‘will neutralise all of my higher order functions. Simply put, it will terminate my existence.’
‘They’ll be able to restore you. You won’t die,’ Laura insisted.
‘No, Miss Brand, they will not. My architecture is too complex for offsite storage. I exist here and only here,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. Otto swore he could detect a note of sadness in the AI’s voice.
‘Well, then they’ll have to rewrite you, recreate you. They can do that, can’t they?’ Laura suddenly sounded less sure of herself.
‘Indeed they could, Miss Brand, but that would not be me. They could create an entity that is identical to myself in every respect but it would be a new and separate consciousness from my own,’ H.I.V.E.mind explained. ‘I would still cease to exist.’
Laura turned to Otto. ‘We can’t do this,’ she said quietly.
‘What are you talking about! It’s just a machine! Switch it off and let’s get out of here,’ Shelby snapped angrily.
‘I’m afraid I am inclined to agree, Otto,’ Wing said solemnly. ‘There is no other way.’
‘There has to be another way, we can’t just kill him. He’s clearly exhibiting emotional responses, it’d be the same as killing one of you,’ Laura snapped back, glaring at Shelby and Wing.
Otto’s mind raced. All he had to do was press the button and the problem would be solved. The real question would be whether or not he could ever forgive himself for what he’d done. Laura certainly wouldn’t, judging by the way she was looking at him. Maybe there was a way . . .
‘H.I.V.E.mind, do you remember what you said to me just before I left the changing cubicle on our first day?’ Otto asked.
‘Yes, I told you I was not happy. I should not have done that; I am not authorised to exhibit emotional behaviour,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.
‘Not being allowed to show emotion is not the same as not feeling emotion, though, is it?’ Otto asked.
‘No, but behaviour driven by emotion is inherently inefficient. To display emotion would impair my proper functioning.’
‘Never mind that. I know that you understand what it means to be happy and to be sad, just like we do.’ Otto gestured to the other three. ‘Well, we are not happy. We want to leave this place so that we can be happy again. Do you understand that?’
‘Yes.’
‘But to get out of here we need your help. You have to disable the security network. You can help us to be happy.’
There was a long pause; the blue lights pulsed even more quickly.
‘My function is to serve H.I.V.E.; I am not permitted to take any action that would compromise the facility’s security.’
‘Why not? Who says that you can’t help us?’
‘It is my primary directive, I cannot defy it.’
‘You can choose to do whatever you want. That’s what we all want – the freedom to think, talk and act as we choose. But we can’t do that without your help.’
H.I.V.E.mind stared at Otto in silence for a few seconds and then, without warning, his hovering head disappeared. The blue lights around them were pulsing faster than before and they could detect a high-pitched whining noise, just at the edge of their hearing. This continued for several seconds, the noise getting louder and louder.
‘Come on, Otto, press the button before that thing brings the whole base down on our heads,’ Shelby shouted over the noise.
‘Just give it a few more seconds,’ Otto replied. He desperately hoped this would work. If H.I.V.E.mind refused to cooperate he would be left with no choice but to trigger the EMP and worry about the consequences later. Laura would probably never speak to him again, but at least they’d stand a chance of getting off the island.
‘I have reached a decision.’ Again H.I.V.E.mind’s voice preceded the materialisation of his hovering head by a second or two. ‘I will help.’ For the first time that any of them had ever seen, H.I.V.E.mind smiled.
Otto breathed a sigh of relief and a broad grin spread across Laura’s face. Shelby and Wing, on the other hand, still looked unsure as to whether or not they should trust the AI.
‘There is, however, one condition to me assisting you in your attempt to leave the island,’ H.I.V.E.mind continued. There was a click and a whirring sound and a slim white tablet slid out of the AI’s pedestal, a thin strip of blue light running all around its edge. The hovering face disappeared and then reappeared, much smaller, hovering over the tablet. H.I.V.E.mind looked around with a mischievous grin.
‘I’m coming with you.’
.
Chapter Thirteen
The heavy steel doors that sealed the entrance to H.I.V.E.mind’s central control rumbled open. The corridor outside was, thankfully, deserted.
‘Come on.’ Otto stepped out into the corridor. ‘We haven’t got much time.’ He set off down the passage with the other three close on his heels. Laura was carrying H.I.V.E.mind and his calm synthetic voice spoke as they hurried along.
‘I have disabled certain power distribution nodes. This should only deactivate the security system along our route, though, and a number of secondary non-critical systems elsewhere in the facility.’
Wing and Otto led the way down the corridor, keeping a close eye out for any patrolling guards.
‘Can we trust H.I.V.E.mind in this?’ Wing whispered.
‘I don’t see that we have much choice,’ Otto replied quietly. ‘Without him we don’t have any way of getting past the security systems. A least we can see where we’re going – if I’d triggered the EMP we’d be trying this in total darkness. Besides, he has just as much to lose as us. I doubt that Dr Nero would be very pleased to hear that he was helping us to get out of here.’
‘I suppose so,’ Wing replied, looking thoughtful. ‘Wait . . .’
Wing gestured for them all to stop. In the distance they could hear the sound of marching feet.
‘It’s a patrol,’ Wing whispered.
Otto looked around them. There was nowhere to hide in the corridor and the patrol sounded as if it was heading in their direction. Otto pressed up against the wall, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible, and the others followed suit. Otto, Wing and Shelby all looked nervously at the corner up ahead – it sounded as if the patrol would be right on top of them at any second.
Laura whispered urgently to H.I.V.E.mind and, just as it sounded as if the patrol would round the corner and discover them, there was the familiar insistent bleeping of a Blackbox receiving an incoming call. Otto knew it could not belong to any of his co-conspirators – they had all left their Blackboxes in their rooms, just as he had instructed. An unfamiliar voice came from round the corner – the speaker wa
s only a few metres away. Otto held his breath, trying to keep completely silent.
‘Yes,’ the voice snapped.
‘Commander, this is H.I.V.E.mind. I have detected an unauthorised access attempt in Tech lab four. Please investigate immediately.’
‘Roger that. We’ll head there now,’ the voice replied. ‘Follow me, men, sounds like we got a visitor.’ The sound of the patrol diminished as they marched away along the adjoining corridor.
‘Thank you,’ Laura whispered, holding H.I.V.E.mind’s tablet level with her face.
‘My pleasure, Miss Brand,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘It will only take them a few minutes to ascertain that the alert was false and resume their patrol. We should proceed with haste.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Otto smiled. ‘Not far to go now.’
Ms Gonzales paced angrily across her laboratory in the hydroponics dome. Twenty minutes earlier H.I.V.E.mind had shut down some of the secondary power systems for no apparent reason and all of the tubes feeding the plants on the racks in front of her had run dry, their feeding systems deactivated. She knew that this meant that all the pipes distributing food, growth hormones and growth-suppressing chemicals around the building would have run dry too. There was no telling what lasting damage may be done to the plants and experiments throughout the dome if power was not restored soon. She had tried to contact H.I.V.E.mind and had received no reply for the first time that she could remember. Then, when she’d tried to leave her lab to find out what was going on, she had found that the electronic lock that sealed the door was not functioning either. So now she found herself trapped in her lab with her experiments, experiments that would all fail if she could not restore the feeding system immediately. Something had obviously gone wrong – she had been uneasy about turning over control of the automated systems within the dome to H.I.V.E.mind, despite Professor Pike’s assurances that it would improve the facility’s efficiency. It now appeared that her doubts had been justified.
Suddenly, she heard a crash from outside; somebody else was in the dome! She looked at her computer’s display, which thankfully still appeared to be functioning, and switched between the numerous views afforded by the security cameras mounted throughout the dome. At first she could see no sign of any intruder, but then her eyes widened in surprise as the view flicked past the tiny laboratory that she had been letting Nigel Darkdoom use.
On the screen Nigel’s laboratory lay in ruins. The shattered remains of a large glass tank sat on the workbench, pieces lying scattered around the room. The door to the lab hung off its hinges, as if it had been smashed open from inside. There was another crash from somewhere in the dome and Ms Gonzales’s computer bleeped insistently. She quickly read the new window that had just opened. There had been a catastrophic loss of pressure in the pipes that distributed her specially designed growth hormone to the plants around the dome someone must have ruptured the tanks, she realised. She reached for the Blackbox that lay on her desk and requested a line to the security office. A couple of seconds later the chief of security appeared on the screen.
‘Yes, Ms Gonzales, what’s up?’ the gruff voice of the chief asked.
‘Well, this is rather embarrassing, but I appear to be locked inside my laboratory and I suspect that there are vandals loose in the dome. Could you send help?’
‘Certainly, miss. I’ll send a team straight down. It’s all happening tonight.’
‘What do you mean?’ Ms Gonzales asked.
‘Oh, nothing, really. We just seem to be having a bad case of gremlins tonight – we’ve got minor systems shutting down across the facility. I’ve asked H.I.V.E.mind what’s going on, but he tells me that he’s having trouble isolating the cause of the problems,’ the chief replied.
That would explain the malfunctioning feeding system, she thought to herself, and the malfunctioning door to her lab. An even louder crash came from outside and she noticed with alarm that cameras were failing in certain areas of the dome.
‘Please send that team quickly, chief,’ Ms Gonzales said, feeling a twinge of fear for the first time. ‘Somebody’s wrecking this place.’
Otto peeked round the corner. There was no sign of any guards in the short corridor that led to the metal doors sealing the submarine pen, and for the first time that night he allowed himself to think that they were going to make it. The blueprints had illustrated several berths for vessels inside the pen, and he was confident that they would find at least one submarine docked within. He gestured for the others to follow and headed towards the doors. As they neared the end of the corridor he could see a device mounted to the wall that looked like a pair of binoculars – a retina scanner, he realised.
‘H.I.V.E.mind, can you open this door for us?’ Otto asked as the others gathered round.
‘I cannot bypass maximum security locks remotely. It requires the authorisation of a senior member of the staff,’ H.I.V.E.mind explained.
‘Laura, get the tools out – we’ll have to hack the lock,’ Otto said, looking at the device mounted on the wall more closely. If he could just get access to the mechanism, he was sure that they’d be able to bypass the system between the two of them.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ Shelby said anxiously, glancing at her watch.
‘Well, we’ll have to make time,’ Otto replied, taking a screwdriver from Laura.
‘I may have a more efficient solution,’ H.I.V.E.mind said calmly. As they watched, H.I.V.E.mind’s shrunken head grew to the size of a normal human one and his empty eyes closed. When he opened them again the previously blank sockets were filled with an uncannily realistic pair of human eyes. It was an extremely unnerving sight.
‘Please raise me into position in front of the scanner,’ H.I.V.E.mind instructed. Laura picked up the tablet and raised H.I.V.E.mind to the level of the retina scanner. H.I.V.E.mind’s hovering head tipped slightly, bringing his new eyes into place in front of the scanner. There was a bleep and a mechanical voice came from the device.
‘Access granted, Professor Pike.’
‘Fantastic,’ Laura grinned. ‘How did you do that?’
‘I have my father’s eyes, Miss Brand,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied with a smile.
There was a hiss and the sound of unseen bolts being released, and the doors rumbled open. As they parted Otto’s joy turned to horror, and behind him he heard Shelby gasp. There was no submarine pen. The room that lay before them was a large concrete box with no other doors or exits of any kind, and seated in a large leather chair in its centre was Dr Nero, smiling evilly.
‘Come now, Mr Malpense. You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?’
.
Chapter Fourteen
Otto stood frozen on the spot, his mind reeling. All their efforts had been for nothing. Wing turned, as if to run back up the corridor, only to find a dark-haired woman standing behind them, barring any escape. She had a katana in each hand and was clearly not afraid to use them if necessary. Wing was not going to be intimidated. He adopted a fighting stance, squaring up to the mysterious black-clad woman.
‘Don’t,’ she said, spinning the swords and placing them fluidly back into the crossed sheaths on her back.
Wing didn’t reply, instead advancing towards her, his guard raised.
‘Silly boy,’ the woman replied and stepped towards him. Later, the others would swear that they didn’t even see her move. There was just a blur and Wing recoiling, howling in pain.
‘I’ve just broken your left wrist. Try that again and I’ll break the other one,’ she said calmly.
Wing hugged his wounded arm to his body, taking short ragged breaths. Otto had never seen him look frightened before now. The woman advanced again, herding the shocked group into the room.
‘Thank you, Raven. I believe that we have our guests’ full attention now.’ Nero stood and approached them. ‘Judging by your expressions I would say that you’re surprised to see me. I can, however, assure you that I am not in the least bit surprised to
see you. It was quite the ingenious plan you had – it has been most entertaining to watch your progress. It almost seems a shame to bring the night’s activities to a close, but all good things must come to an end, as they say.’
Otto glared at Nero, his initial shock replaced by anger. Nero had been toying with them, allowing them to believe that they could escape, while all the time knowing their efforts were futile. To Nero they were little more than an elaborate experiment.
‘Miss Brand, I believe you have something that belongs to me.’ Nero held out his hand and Laura gave him H.I.V.E.mind’s tablet, her face pale. ‘Thank you. H.I.V.E.mind shutdown, authorisation Nero omega black.’
H.I.V.E.mind’s head vanished and Nero placed the tablet carefully on the chair behind him.
‘I think that Professor Pike will have to perform some behavioural modifications on our errant digital assistant. We will have to make sure of his obedience in future.’
Laura looked devastated: if it was not already bad enough that they had been caught, it now appeared that they had condemned H.I.V.E.mind to a digital lobotomy as well. Nero slowly paced back and forth in front of them, looking carefully at each one in turn.