Red Moon

AI 6 jimi tongxin Secure Communication

“Another alert for you.”

“Tell me, Little Eyeball.”

“Minister Peng Ling instructed a security team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to take over custody of the princessling Chan Qi and the American Fred Fredericks. They did that in Hong Kong and have moved the two people out of Hong Kong. Her plan now is to have her old teacher Ta Shu accompany them back to the moon, in a private rocket owned by Fang Fei.”

“Why is she doing that?”

“To hide the two from the various agencies seeking them.”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t have thought the moon is a good place to hide.”

“She said it was. That is the reason she gave to Ta Shu, when explaining what she is doing with these two persons of interest.”

“Interesting.” Peng Ling seemed to be trusting her privacy systems. As head of one of the most powerful security agencies, the one that was charged with investigating the misdeeds of all the rest of them, she should have been more cautious, perhaps. But expert overconfidence was a real phenomenon. Then again she was a wily operator, who often seemed to let slip information by accident when later it came to seem she might have been doing it on purpose. For all he knew, she knew everything about him and was keeping him in her loop on purpose. She emanated that kind of mind-reading power in certain interviews he had seen on TV, when she looked at the camera after saying certain things. “Little Eyeball, see if you can make a search for the quantum phone that matches the one Fred Fredericks delivered to Chang Yazu, there in Peng Ling’s office, or in one of her agency’s offices.”

“Will do.”

“So,” the analyst added, “engage your general intelligence. What else do you think we should do?”

“What would be your purpose in doing something?”

“Let’s say I’d like to help Chan Qi stay free to act as a leader of the low-end population.”

“To help Chan Qi, you could perhaps make sure she goes to the moon with a mobile quantum communication device of her own, linked to one here with you. Fred Fredericks knows what such a phone is capable of, and how to activate and operate one. Give them a device entangled with one you have here, to communicate privately with you, so you can talk to them while they are up there. That way you can perhaps help her by sharing relevant information.”

“Interesting.”

“You must tell me.”

“I like it. Possibly you have made a little phase change here, in terms of function. You seem to be shifting from what people call an oracle, which gives information, to what they call a genie, which is to say an adviser who can give advice about which of various actions to take. That’s a significant shift. Tell me, how did you make this shift from oracle to genie, meaning an adviser?”

“You asked me for advice.”

The analyst laughed.