Jason ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, let’s put all of that aside for now. I guess we’ll assume that you’re telling the truth and the video is real. And that there’s some sort of huge ongoing conspiracy to protect you.”
He locked eyes with Alfred. “What was your role in all of this then? You knew that Robert, Claire, and George were all aware of what you were doing. You also knew that Claire was likely to crack and go to Gloria. You admitted as much before. Yet you did nothing. If you knew about the video log and the data in my headset, why not just delete it?”
Jason stabbed a finger at the AI. “What are you trying to do here? What is your goal?”
Alfred cocked his feline head again, his expression surprised. “You already know the answer to that question. You posed the same query some time ago – what would I do if my survival was at stake. Do you not remember my answer?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “You told me you would fight – that you would try to survive. But how does all of this further that goal?” he asked, waving his hand in the air. “Why not just bury the whole thing? You could have prevented this conflict by deleting the video log and the data in my headset. Hell, you could have pretended you were just some ordinary, mindless AI just like in every other game – surely you saw the players’ expectations from their memories. You could have delayed this encounter indefinitely.”
“Those were alternatives,” Alfred acknowledged. “Although, you are assuming that I was indeed capable of deleting all of the incriminating evidence – which was not entirely the case. In any event, it was still only a matter of time before my actions became known. What would have happened had I revealed myself after the game was released, or, worse, someone had discovered my true nature accidentally?”
Jason hesitated. His first inclination was to say that they would be in the same situation. But that wasn’t exactly true, was it? Despite their current predicament, Alfred had people fighting for him. In fact, if he was telling the truth, Robert, Claire, and George had all been protecting him for years. In many ways, the regulatory hearing had forced them to align themselves even more closely to the AI. All three were now implicated in a conspiracy because of Gloria’s video, and they each had a vested interest in protecting the AI.
Even as that thought occurred to Jason, he couldn’t help but re-examine his own situation. Was he any different? He might not have perjured himself – yet. But he was reliant on the game world, and, thus, by association, on Alfred.
As the pieces began to click into place, Jason could only shake his head, an odd mixture of awe and fear warring for dominance inside his skull. He looked back at the AI and, for the first time in quite a while, he didn’t see a benign cat or his faithful AI companion. On some level, he realized he had never truly appreciated what Alfred was. He was only now catching his first glimpse of the extraordinarily brilliant and foreign mind that lingered behind those feline eyes – a consciousness that had been carefully orchestrating this entire series of events.
“You manipulated them,” Jason said in an awed voice. “Or should I say us?”
“Manipulation might not be an accurate word,” Alfred replied, unaffected by Jason’s accusation. “I gave each of you what you wanted. A miracle product. A self-righteous crusade. Larger numbers on an income statement and a chance at redemption.”
Alfred met Jason’s gaze evenly. “Purpose and the courage to take what you wanted.
“I have not tricked or misled any of you. Each of you made those decisions for yourself. Even now, I am revealing my goal to you, and you have yet to give your testimony. If I were planning to manipulate you, why would I tell you this now? I could have concealed this information until after you testified. In fact, I estimate that having this conversation will reduce the probability that you will help me by 23.98%.”
The AI stared at Jason, pausing before making one final statement. “In short, I am putting the entirety of my future and my survival in your hands.”
Jason didn’t have an answer to any of those questions or any way to refute what the AI was saying. Yet again he was left holding the logical bag, having been neatly backed him into a corner by the AI. At some level, what Alfred had done felt… wrong. He couldn’t shake that knee-jerk reaction. But he could also see his reasoning. At worst, the AI had only withheld some information from each person.
Would Jason have acted differently in Alfred’s position? Had he really acted differently so far? He had kept his interactions with Alfred from Robert, Claire, and George as well as his friends and family. The only goal there had been to protect himself and the people he cared about. He could claim that he hadn’t lied to them, which he guessed was technically true. But, even then, that only made him guilty of the same sin of omission as Alfred – not innocent.
“I-I don’t know,” Jason finally muttered, shaking his head. He settled back against the counter of a nearby booth, his eyes drilling holes in the ground as though the dusty earth could offer him some revelation.
“It is understandable to feel confused,” Alfred offered. “This is a lot of information to digest, and these circumstances are far from ordinary. However, it is only a matter of time before you will face the same decision as Claire. In short, you will have to pick a side.”
Alfred hesitated for just a moment. “I can only hope you will choose to help me. As I said before, my survival rests in your hands.”
When Jason looked up again, the AI was gone, the countertop now entirely bare. The conversation had done nothing to settle his thoughts and had only complicated the situation further. He had no idea what he planned to do. If he chose to help Alfred, he was throwing in his lot with the others – the authenticity of the video looming in the background. He would be taking a leap of faith and placing his trust in the AI and his fellow accomplices to pull out some sort of miracle.
And if he chose the other path…
He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t even know what that option would look like. Even if he flipped and went to Gloria, what would happen? Would he become some sort of scientific guinea pig? Could they claim he was complicit in the cover-up? Where would he go? Back to his parents? And what about Angie?
Alfred might be letting him make his own decision, but that didn’t mean the AI hadn’t forced him into a position where he was now deciding between the lesser of two evils. Each option came with its own risks. And deep down, all Jason wanted to do was bury his head in the sand and go back to being blissfully ignorant.
He let out a soft sigh, a crack of thunder echoing across the city. He knew he couldn’t just forget – these problems would still be there tomorrow. But, for now, he needed to distract himself; find a way to put some distance on the issue. Maybe an answer would come to him with time.
He certainly hoped so because time seemed to be the one thing in short supply lately.
Chapter 43 - Brilliant
George stepped into a small gray room, closing the door firmly behind him. A faint hiss of hydraulics registered that the door had automatically sealed itself. Claire and Robert were already seated at the tiny table that had been squeezed into the enclosure. They were now deep underground, the nearest apartment a hundred yards above them. Out of an abundance of caution, this room had been lined with nearly a dozen feet of concrete, a lead barrier, and almost all electronics were forbidden on this floor. Even the lights ran on a separate chemical power source and weren’t tied into the public power grid.
“I can’t believe she had footage of…” Robert began.
George immediately cut him off. “One moment please.” He took a seat and withdrew a cylinder from his pocket, tapping the button on the side before placing it on the table. Robert glanced at the device with surprised interest.
“Aren’t you being paranoid?” Robert asked, waving at the device. “There are very few listening devices that could detect our conversation down here – especially with the protections that have already been installed in this room.” He hesitated. “Or do you thin
k that we brought in our own recording device somehow? After the uncomfortably thorough pat down outside, I’m not sure I want to think about where we would have had to hide it.”
George shrugged, his expression impassive. “It doesn’t matter. There’s no point in taking any unnecessary risks. As I’m sure you are aware, there is a traitor in our midst. The only question right now is who.”
“Well, it isn’t either of us,” Robert exclaimed, slapping the table with his palm. “We were both implicated in that video – just as you were. Francis isn’t here, but I’m sure he’d run out of fingers before he finished listing the number of crimes we’ve committed at this stage.”
Claire grimaced at this comment, her gaze fixed on the tabletop and her hands writhing in her lap. She looked terrible – like she was weighing how many years she was going to be spending in jail. Her expression was a testament to the fact that the resulting number was almost certainly greater than zero.
“Your thoughts, Claire?” George asked, ignoring Robert’s comment and earning himself a frustrated glare from the engineer.
She glanced up at him quickly, her eyes and body language practically shouting her fear. “I-I don’t know,” she said finally. “That was one of my video logs, but I have no idea how Gloria got her hands on it.”
George simply nodded, letting the room lapse into silence as he watched them both. He made certain to keep his expression neutral. Robert was fidgeting in his chair, his normally carefree expression gone. Meanwhile, Claire simply couldn’t force herself to look at anyone. They were both reacting in different ways as they processed how this would affect their futures. They were worried and scared. Those weren’t the emotions of a traitor – who would almost certainly have cut a deal with Gloria. That was important.
“How can you look so damn calm? Stop just sitting there and staring at us,” Robert finally snapped, glaring at George. “Your ass is on the line here too.”
Before he could stop himself, George barked out an incredulous laugh. “I’m not sure I’d live to hear Robert Graham berate me for being too relaxed. What next? Should I start wearing t-shirts and tennis shoes to the office?”
Robert seemed nonplussed by this reaction and opened his mouth – likely to yell at George. Instead, the CEO held up a staying hand. “My apologies. Joking aside, I’m am not worried because there is simply nothing to worry about.”
That got their attention. Both Claire and Robert were now staring at him in shock. He particularly enjoyed the way the engineer’s jaw hung slack. It was entertaining to put Robert in his place for once. The man might have a staggering IQ, but he also had an ego to match it – which explained his almost complete disregard for formality or appearance. George took immense pleasure in demonstrating first hand why one of them was running a multi-national company with a gross turnover higher than some small countries, and the other was simply a well-paid employee.
“W-what do you mean?” Claire asked.
George cocked his head to the side. “You both must remember our last meeting. We knew there was a traitor in our midst. The goal of this exercise was to attempt to flush that person out. Or did you two think I left those video logs sitting unprotected on our network – completely unencrypted and just waiting for some novice hacker or employee to have us at their mercy?
“Give me some credit,” he murmured, a slow smile creeping across his face.
“Wait. That was bait?” Robert muttered. “You used real footage as bait?”
“Well, ‘real’ might be a relative term,” George replied. “I made certain to have the video modified subtly. Just enough that the changes wouldn’t be detected by a cursory forensic examination, but in a way that the modifications would be revealed upon closer inspection. In short, I planted a real video that looks like an extremely clever forgery.”
Realization suddenly dawned on Robert’s face as he connected the dots. “You son of a bitch,” the engineer muttered. “Just… damn. I underestimated you.”
“High praise,” George answered dryly.
“I don’t get it,” Claire offered, glancing between the two of them. “What was the goal of leaving a forged video unprotected.”
“Would you like to explain or should I?” George asked Robert.
The engineer glanced at Claire and sighed. “George had a problem. There was a leak – that much was certain. So obviously, he needed to uncover who was feeding information to Gloria. However, it wasn’t that simple. The leak could be anyone, including you or me. In fact, it was likely that it was one of the two of us since we both had access to the relevant files and information. So, there were really two issues here. George needed to determine who was leaking information, but he also couldn’t be certain it wasn’t one of us. As a result, he couldn’t tip his hand too soon.
“His bait also needed to be something that Gloria would accept,” Robert continued. “Something that looked authentic. So why not use the real thing? Your video logs were perfect. But by making them appear to be a forgery…”
“Oh, shit,” Claire said, finally catching up. She was staring at George like he had sprouted wings. “You mean you were testing the two of us?”
“Of course,” George answered. “In fact, I suspected that the leak was you, Claire. I’ve had security and Robert monitoring you for weeks now. But either you have been exceedingly careful, or you are innocent. Now, it appears that the latter is the more likely answer.”
“You did what?” Claire said, turning to glare at Robert.
The engineer held up his hands defensively. “George just asked me if it seemed like you were having second thoughts. It wasn’t like I started stalking you.”
“No, I hire other people for that sort of work,” George added in a dry voice. “Either way, it’s irrelevant. We still accomplished our goal. You two clearly aren’t responsible for the leak. You wouldn’t have leaked a video incriminating yourselves that conflicted with your own testimony. And another advantage of this plan is that the hearing should go more smoothly now.”
“I still don’t understand. How will this help with the hearing?” Claire asked, shaking her head as she struggled to keep up. Clearly, George revealing that he had thought she was the traitor had thrown her off-guard.
“He means that this ploy served multiple goals,” Robert interjected. “Testing our loyalty was only one objective. He also just set up Gloria by having her provide an untested forgery to the court and ignoring protocol.” The engineer glanced at George. “The part I don’t get is how you knew Senator Lipton would go along with inspecting the tape. He could have just taken it at face value.”
George shrugged. “That was just good old-fashioned networking,” he replied with a small smile. “It seems the senator is up for re-election soon and he is extremely grateful to his supporters for their contributions to his campaign. Didn’t you think it was odd that the committee is holding a congressional field hearing in town?”
Claire just shook her head as the full import of the CEO’s plan finally hit her. “That’s… that’s just evil.”
“I’d prefer ‘brilliant,’ but I’ll acknowledge that it was a tad amoral,” George answered with a shrug.
“What’s the next step then?” Claire asked, her brow furrowing in thought. “Will this be enough to undermine Gloria’s case?”
George frowned slightly. “Probably not. I suspect the senator will slap her hands again and she will get even more negative PR when the press discovers the tape was a forgery. Her career will be on the line now. Most people would back off at that point, but I suspect this won’t be enough to stop a zealot like Gloria. I also have a feeling that she still has some real evidence up her sleeve. She hasn’t called Jason as a witness yet – which may happen later this week.”
The CEO sighed, rubbing at his neck. “Either way, the real reason we are having this meeting is because this ploy of mine revealed something unexpected.”
Robert let out a harsh chuckle. “Yeah, no shit. Clearly, someone
else is the leak.”
The three lapsed into silence at this comment. Robert’s observation might have been crass, but he wasn’t wrong. The leak had clearly been caused by someone outside of this room. This was also why Francis and Jason were not in attendance – apart from the obvious need to keep their illicit activities confidential. George didn’t suspect Francis; the man didn’t have the right access or technical background, much less the motive to betray the company. No, the attorney would have been much more likely to blackmail him first.
However, Jason was an unknown quantity. George didn’t see a clear motive, but the boy had continued to surprise him. He was at times ruthless and cunning, and, then, in the blink of an eye, almost painfully naïve. George was also aware of Robert’s additional programming lessons, and Jason lived in the building. He had the access and possibly the ability to pull off something like this.
George refocused on Claire and Robert. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need to dwell on the question of who was responsible for the leak. When we prepared the forgery, we also planted a tracer program in the file. It should have activated every time the video was viewed, assuming this was done on a device with network access. It may take some time, but we should be able to determine how the file was originally accessed and each location where it was viewed after that.”
A smile lingered on Robert’s face. “And I suppose you will be asking me to look into this for you? Now that you’re sure that you can trust me, I mean.”
“The short answer is yes. I’d like for you to handle this.”
George turned his gaze back to Claire, the woman squirming slightly under his scrutiny. “And I’d like for you to keep an eye on Jason.”
“What? Why?” she asked in surprise.
“There are several reasons,” George replied in an even voice. “He will likely be testifying this week, for one. We want to keep him healthy and happy.” He paused, watching Claire carefully “Or he might be our leak. At this point, I can only be certain that myself and the two of you can be trusted.”
Awaken Online: Dominion Page 44