The Turing Option

18 November 21, 2023

Dermod led the way back down the hall, but stopped when he reached the outside door.

“Mr. Saldana — could I ask you a question?” he said.

“Of course.”

“Did you have other cars tailing us, keeping an eye on our rear?”

“No. I did not think it was needed.” The Mexican detective frowned. “Why? Did you see one?”

“I thought I did for a while, but it turned off when we crossed Independencia.”

“And another car might have picked up the trail?”

“Always a possibility.”

None of them were smiling now. Brian looked from face to strained face, his hands plunged deep into his pockets — with one of the GRAMs clutched tightly in each. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Nothing — we hope,” Daniel said, then snapped a quick command in Spanish to his companion, who eased out the door and closed it behind him.

“Do you want to shout for help?” Ben asked.

Daniel shook his head no. “The uniforms here are tourist police. I can get trained people — but not quickly. If there is anyone out there and we wait for reinforcements — they might be doing the same thing. We are to take you to the border at San Ysidro — is that correct?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Then I say do it and do it fast. Your Mr. Doe here will be in the second car with you driving, Ben. My associate and I will lead the way. What do you say?”

“We go,” Dermod said. “But I’ll be driving the second car, since I know TJ, Tijuana, very well. If there’s trouble we are not stopping for you.”

Daniel flashed a large toothy grin. “It would be unprofessional to do anything else.”

The outside door opened an inch — then stopped. Brian blinked and realized that all three of the men were now holding healthy-sized pistols in their hands. Pointed at the door. There was a quick whisper in Spanish from outside and Daniel pushed his gun into his waistband.

“Venga. Tell us in English, what did you see?”

“Nothing in the street in either direction.”

“We’re going out fast,” Daniel said. “There may be something out there — or nothing. We don’t take chances — we act like there is something. Stay thirty meters behind me all the way. No closer — or any further back. All the glass is bulletproof. Open the window if you have to fire. Let’s go.”

Ben sat on Brian’s left now. As soon as the door was closed Ray took out his heavy-barreled revolver and held it on his lap. Dermod started the engine and backed and turned until he was facing the exit, just behind the other car. He blinked his lights. The first car jumped forward and they were out of the drive and into the street.

Brian was looking at the lead car when it suddenly swerved; what appeared to be white dots appeared on the rear window. “Down!” Ray shouted, his hand on Brian’s shoulder pushing him painfully to the floor. Their own car swerved and the tires shrieked as they accelerated around the corner. There were two loud crashing sounds and a thud in the seat behind him. Followed by an ear-destroying series of explosions as the handgun fired through the open window. They shrieked a turn in the opposite direction and Dermod shouted back over his shoulder.

“Anyone in trouble back there?”

Ray glanced quickly at the other two. “We’re okay. What happened to the other car?”

“Rammed into a lamp pole. Did you hit anything?”

“Probably not. Just wanted to keep his head down. I saw someone leaning out of a window. Firing a rifle of some kind. High-velocity, the sort of a gun that can punch right through this kind of glass.”

He pointed to the rear window of the car, to the neatly drilled hole there. Brian looked on, horrified, as Ray poked his finger into a hole in the seat cushion. Where he had been sitting.

They rocketed around another corner, accelerated down the boulevard beyond. “Any tails?” Dermod called out.

“Negative. I think they had just enough time to set up the trap. Counted on that. Close too.”

“Then we change the route here,” Dermod said, braking hard and heading into a side street. Turning corners apparently at random through the quiet suburb.

“Sorry to push you, Brian — but you see why.” Ray’s gun was back in the holster and he gave Brian a tug back into the seat.

“There’s been a leak,” Benicoff said with cold anger. “They were waiting, followed us from the marina.”

“That’s the way I read it,” Ray agreed. “How many people know about our return plans?”

“Myself. You two. And the two FBI men who will be meeting us at the border.”

“Then we should be all right. How long, Dermod?”

“Five minutes more. I don’t think Saldana walked away from that one. Must have been two guns shooting at us at least.”

“I only saw the one.”

“One for the backseat passenger, one for the driver. I’ve got a nice little hole up here as well. Would have been centered if I hadn’t pulled the wheel when I saw the lead car hit. That Daniel Saldana was a good man.”

There was nothing that could be added to that. They drove in silence the rest of the brief trip. Some alarm must have gone out because when they came closer to the border they passed a motorcycle policeman who waved them on, then spoke into his radio when they had passed.

A few blocks further on they were picked up by a motorcycle escort which, with flashing lights and loud sirens, cleared a path through the traffic waiting to cross into the United States. Behind the customs buildings was a parking lot with an open gate through the fence, the entire area overlooked only by blank walls.

“Wait here,” Ray said. He and Dermod exited the car quickly, weapons drawn and pointed, looking slowly and carefully in all directions. “You can cross the lot now — and we’ll be right behind you.”

And they were, bodies between Brian and any possible threat.

“There’s our transportation,” Benicoff said. The only vehicle in the lot was an armored Brinks delivery truck; the back door opened when they approached and a uniformed guard got out.

“Get yourselves safely away from here,” Dermod said.

“You’re supposed to come with us,” Benicoff said.

“You won’t need us now. The President will want a complete report on this. Would you call our office, tell them what has happened? Tell them to let the plane know that we will be there by six at the latest.”

“It’ll be done.”

The two guardians did not wait around for thanks, were in the car and gone before anything more could be said. They turned and walked toward the armored truck.

“Afternoon, gentlemen,” the guard said. “It’s all yours.” He hadn’t seen the bullet holes in the car, did not know anything had happened. Benicoff started to explain, then realized there was no point to it.

“Good to see you,” he said. “We would like to get out of here.”

“On the way now.” After they had climbed in, the guard closed the door behind them, then went to the cab and took a seat next to the driver.

“That was pretty close,” Brian said.

“Too close,” Benicoff said grimly. “There must be a leak from the base, that’s all I can think of. The FBI had really better get cracking on this one. I’m sorry this happened, Brian. I can only blame myself.”

“You shouldn’t. You did everything you could. I’m sorry about your friend back there.”

“He was doing his job. A very good man. And we accomplished what we came here to do. You did find what you were looking for? Those GRAMs, are they copies of your work?”

Brian nodded his head slowly, finding it hard to forget what had just happened. “Yes, I’m pretty Sure of it. They looked like it when I flipped through, but there wasn’t enough time to be completely certain.”

Ben pulled out his phone. “Can I call this through? I can’t begin to tell you how many people are chewing their fingernails and waiting for the news.” He tapped in a number and waited for the electronic bleep that told him he was connected. “Statue of Liberty,” he said, and hung up.

“The code for success?” Ben nodded. “What would you have said if the records hadn’t been there?”

“Grant’s Tomb. The computer is now making seventeen simultaneous calls to pass on the good news. You’re making an awful lot of people happy today. I can’t say that I was positive it would turn out like this — just very hopeful.” He reached under the seat and took out a parcel. “So I had this loaded aboard, just in case.”

The black plastic case inside was about the size of a large wallet. Ben touched the latch and the screen flipped open and glowed whitely, illuminating the keyboard below it.

“A computer,” Brian said admiringly. “And I suppose you are going to tell me this little thing will handle all my notes, spreadsheets, maths and graphics?”

“I am. Holographics too. Fifteen years ago you wouldn’t have imagined how much could be put in a gadget like this. It also contains a phone-net transceiver and a satellite-based location system, so that you can always tell where it is. The entire surface of this black case is an extremely efficient photovoltaic coating for recharging itself — and…watch this!”

Benicoff pulled firmly on the latch-button, which came out with a whining sound on a length of cord.

“You can also charge it by hand with this built-in generator. It will do anything you want. And before we left I made sure to turn on its phone-net cutoff so that no one, not even General Schorcht, could track where you are, or take a look at what you are doing. Why don’t you plug in one of the GRAMs and see what you have there?”

Brian had no problem at all in getting access to the records. Pretty soon he looked up at Ben. “No doubt about it. The earliest stuff there I can recognize, remember it well. It is the LAMA development I worked on with my father. Then, look here, we can jump ahead to some later developmental work. It seems sort of familiar, but I certainly don’t remember it clearly. And all this later stuff, I feel sure that I’ve never seen it before. This last entry, made some months ago. It is only a few days before the raid on the lab!”

“That’s fantastic. Better than we could have hoped for. Now let’s go. Snaresbrook wants you right back in a hospital bed after this day’s excursion. She didn’t think that you would mind. I agreed — particularly if you had this computer in the room with you. And I also want you under guard where I won’t have to worry about you while I turn over everyone in security.”

“This has been the kind of day I could have lived without. I’m actually looking forward to getting back inside the hospital now. Peace and quiet and the chance to read my way through these files.”

“That’s fine by me. After I get the security investigation started I’ll confer with Megalobe, then get back to you. Then we’ll decide what happens next.”

The armored truck slowed and left Freeway 5 at the Imperial Beach exit. Once they had passed through the city they saw that Shore Patrol vehicles were waiting for them at the causeway. They picked up speed then as they were escorted right through the center of Coronado — with all the red lights turning to green at their approach — and through a waiting open gate onto the base once more. Only when he was back in his room did Brian realize how very tired he was. He dropped onto the bed as Dr. Snaresbrook came in.

“Overdid it, I am sure — but there was no way of preventing it.” She slapped a telemeter onto Brian’s wrist and nodded at the readout. “Nothing life-threatening. Get some food and rest. No,” she added when Brian reached for the computer. “Get into bed first. Eat something. Then we’ll think about work.”

Brian must have dozed off over the chocolate pudding. He awoke with a start and saw that it was almost dark. The bedside table was empty and he had a quick burst of fear before he felt the bumps under his pillow and pulled out the computer and the GRAMs. He may have fallen asleep — but not before stowing everything away. The door opened and the nurse looked in.

“You just had to be awake,” she said. “You don’t get a pulse jump like that in your sleep. Can I get you anything?”

“I’m doing fine, thanks. Wait, you can lift the head of the bed, if you don’t mind.”

He read through the files until they brought in his dinner. Ate without noticing what he ate, was barely aware that the tray was removed. Was startled when the night nurse came and pointed to the time.

“Firm orders from Dr. Snaresbrook. Lights out at eleven at the latest — no excuses accepted.”

He didn’t protest, realizing how tired he had become. It was probably foolish to put the computer under his pillow — but it drained away the tension.

Benicoff was there when he woke up in the morning, his face grim and set.

“What’s the news about the shooting?” Brian asked.

“Bad. Both detectives are dead. No sign of the killers. This is one that got away from us.”

“I’m sorry about this, Ben. I know the one detective was a friend of yours.”

“He did his job. Now — back to work. Got any news for me?” he asked. Pretending to be relaxed; tight as a wound-up spring.

“Some good — some troublesome. But don’t get so pale, Ben! I suppose that being in the hospital is a good place to have a coronary, but you’re still better off without one. I’ve been through the files, skipping a lot, but not missing anything important.”

“For my heart’s sake, then — the good news first.”

“With what I have here I am ninety-nine percent sure I can design an AI that will work. I guess that’s what you wanted to hear.”

“Definitely. Now the troublesome part.”

“What I have in memory is not plans or designs. There are specific bits and pieces that have been worked out, and there are detailed queries and notes. But for the most part these are my steps along the path to AI — not the path itself.”

“Can you do it?”

“I’m sure I can. The assurance that each problem was solved, along with the notes of possible solutions, should keep me on the right track. The dead ends are pretty carefully marked out. I can do it, Ben, I’m sure that I can. So what comes next?”

“We check with Dr. Snaresbrook. See when you will be fit enough to be completely discharged from this hospital.”

“What happens then? We’ve had some pretty gruesome evidence that the nasties are still gunning for me.”

Benicoff stood and began to pace the length of the room. “We know now for sure that they are still waiting out there. They know that you lived through the two earlier attacks — or they would not have tried again. We live in a free society and secrets are hard to keep. If they really want to work at it, they are going to find your whereabouts, no matter where you go. So we must see to it that wherever you are, wherever you are working, you will be as inaccessible as possible. There has been a lot of hard thought about this one, believe me.”

“Build me a laboratory in Fort Knox, down among the gold bars?”

“Don’t laugh — that was one of the possibilities that was actually considered. Before all this happened you were just one more guy working away on a research project. I checked the records at Megalobe and believe it or not there was little or no commercial or development interest in your work. All that is changed now. The fact that party or parties unknown went to all that trouble to lay their paws on your invention has drawn the attention of every government department. Everyone wants to get into the act and they are all rushing through planning programs on how they can use AI in their departments. Which cheers Megalobe very much — and should cheer you as well. All the research funds are there for the grabbing. So grab.”

“I would dearly like to. But where will all this grabbing take place?”

Benicoff rubbed his hands together and smiled wickedly. “Promise not to laugh when I tell you. As soon as you are up to it you are going back to your old Megalobe lab in Ocotillo Wells.”

“After what happened there I should think it would be the last place to go!”

“Not really, not when it is barn-door-locking time. The security there was top class except for one small thing.”

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?”

“Exactly right. Who is going to watch the watchmen? One or more of the watchmen betrayed their trust. The attack and robbery was a well-planned inside job. That won’t happen again. We’ve got some new watchmen, professionals.”

“Don’t keep it a secret!”

“The United States Army, that’s who. They have a one-sixth share in Megalobe and they are not pleased at what happened. The Marines also volunteered for the job. Felt they had a stake in the operation after guarding you here. There was even some talk of letting the Army and the Marines alternate months and see who did the better job — that plan was quickly abandoned, as you might imagine. Right now barracks are being put up in the parking lots. Which won’t be needed, since there will be very limited access for vehicles in the future. I think that you will be able to finish your work this time.”

“I don’t like it. The constant threat doesn’t make for easy concentration. But I can’t think of anything better. I imagine you are still looking for these criminals?”

“After yesterday the case is back on the front burner.”

Brian thought about this, then reached under his pillow and took out the duplicate GRAM. “Here, you better hold on to this. It’s the backup of all my notes. Just in case.”

“I’ll never need it.” Ben tried to sound sincere, didn’t quite make it. “But as you say — just in case.”