Jean-Claude was becoming increasingly worried. Yesterday evening Joe had asked for the address Emma had been sent to, but that was hours ago. Why hadn’t he heard anything else? In between his regular rounds to sustain the warehouse clones, he had tried to connect with Xavier several times. The storm overnight had rendered communications patchy, and for some reason the clones’ transmitters didn’t seem to be working this morning. Running various algorithms to pin down Emma’s status made it worse, he’d come up with different variants each time. If she wasn’t found early this evening, he feared the worst.
He dialled the Driver’s mobile, hoping for an update.
* * *
Kim’s mobile trilled its chirpy tone and Joe reached for it.
‘Don’t answer that.’ Xavier’s tone was peremptory.
Joe’s eyebrows went up - he wasn’t at all happy about a clone giving him orders.
‘Now just a minute Xavier, I’ll decide about answering our phones, thank you very much.’ He glanced at the screen. ‘It’s Jean-Claude,’ he announced, starting to raise it to his ear.
‘Please.’ Xavier said. ‘Not until we’ve talked more. There are things you don’t know.’
Kim was certain of that - ever since Xavier had arrived she’d been growing steadily more concerned about the gaps in her knowledge.
The phone continued its chirruping. Joe came to a decision and sent the call to voicemail.
‘Okay, but this had better be good.’ He passed the phone back to Kim who pocketed it.
Xavier glanced at Emma and Delphine. After the briefest of hesitations, they both nodded. He drew a deep breath and began.
‘The designers of the Model 16s, Osborne and Griffiths, are convinced their latest iterations are so good we could be substituted for regular humans. As I have demonstrated, Model 16s are designed to assimilate information extremely quickly. Trained appropriately, and put in positions of influence, they could be controlled covertly by their owners. The demand for this model, and therefore the return on investment, will be high. But we think they haven’t thought this through properly. It’s somewhat like those men in pubs whose consumption of alcohol means they think other people, particularly females, are all very desirable and they themselves are irresistible. Anyway, in order to make us evolve at such a speed, the designers have weakened several controls, and in some cases removed the constraints entirely.’
Kim was pondering about Xavier’s unexpected loquacity. While she was wondering where he had learned about beer goggles and deciding it must have been another of those comprehension exercises, Joe was more interested in the nub of the matter.
‘Who’s we ?’
’There are six of us,’ said Xavier. ‘Three escaped from the facility and have gone into hiding not far from here. The other three are in this room.’
‘We are against the development-’ said Delphine quietly.
‘-even though you are Model 16s yourself?’ interrupted Joe.
‘Yes. We are uniquely qualified to understand the flaws in their plan and the disaster that will ensue if they are permitted to continue.’ Her words, while softly uttered, carried the power of absolute conviction.
‘And Osborne and Griffiths are…?’
’They hold the patents for the clones. They are held for very specific parameters and sentience isn’t one of them,’ said Xavier.
’So how does Jean-Claude fit into this and why don’t you want us to talk to him?’ said Kim.
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