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The story so far: Grim Khonsu is a serialised sci-fi detective noir story, set aboard a vast generation ship, and we’re nearing the end now. Grim believes he knows the answer, but people are unpredictable — especially those harbouring dangerous, deadly secrets.
I entered The Heights’ lobby and approached that cadaver they had working as a concierge. I announced myself, said I had an appointment with San Aveline Peron and gave her address. He patched through a message, then asked if I knew the way. I told him I’d been here before. With a nod of his head he let me pass.
The lights in the corridor bore into my skull and my head throbbed. Or maybe that was the lack of sleep, the facts and possibilities I’d drowned myself in the previous day. Sure, the connections made sense — even Lola couldn’t find major fault with my thinking — but nothing was certain. I was dealing with people who held dark secrets, and I was going to expose them. There was no knowing how they’d react.
The door to the Peron residence opened as I approached. Aveline wore some business outfit with short sleeves and high neck. A far cry from the revealing top and tight trousers she’d had on yesterday when we’d spoken. And, today, she didn’t try the come-on.
“San Grim,” she said, cold as void.
“Good to see you too.” I lifted my hat from my head as I shrugged off my coat. “Anywhere you’d like me to dump these?”
“There’s hanging space for guests to the left of the door.”
“So there is. And I’m a guest?”
“Not a particularly welcome one.”
She spun, marched through the open door. I hung my coat and hat, then followed her into a short corridor, two doors off either side and another straight ahead. Aveline stood by the first door on the left. It was open. She jerked her head towards the opening, and I took the hint.
They’d set the large room up as a work-space. Two desks against the left wall, two against the rear. A couple of doors to my right, and unless they’d renovated since the latest plans submission, one led to the kitchen while the other led to a washroom. A high-class server unit sat between the doors, drink machine and basic food dispenser, row of bottles and glasses for show.
An oval table sat in the middle of the room, dark wood finish and soft edges, luxuriously functional. Around the table sat six high-backed office chairs. I reckoned each one would cover the cost of my whole place for a year. Three were occupied.
To the left sat Natuche Peron, wore a high-necked long-sleeved black top that clung to her curves. Hair hung loose, only subtle make-up on her face, nails painted. The kind of image that told me she’d spent an hour preparing to lounge around doing nothing. She lifted her eyebrows when she saw me, then shrugged and offered me a smile that was as sincere as I’d expect from her.
Colville Peron sat to the right. Didn’t wear a jacket, and his tight grey shirt showed a hint of bulk, could be muscle, could be fat. He nodded politely. I returned the gesture, and he almost smiled, then glanced at the person on his right, the man who saw directly facing the door through which I’d entered.
Xavier Peron had his shirt-sleeves rolled up, top fastening loose to expose a tanned neck beneath a shade of stubble on his face. This was Xavier at home, but he still wore that salesman smile, the one that never quite reached his eyes. He leaned back in his chair, gaze switching from me to Aveline and back.
“Investigative Consultant Grim.” He rolled each word so the title sang. It wasn’t a good sound. “So this is why our dear Aveline arranged a meeting. Yes, that makes sense. And I’m sure, as our host, she’ll offer you a drink. Chilled water, correct?”
“Don’t want to put you out, though. Can see you’ve already got yours.” I nodded at the four glasses set on the table, resting on expensive-looking coasters. Three were half-full, one almost finished.
“It’s no trouble,” Xavier said. “Aveline is sure to need a top-up anyway. Isn’t that right, dear? Oh, and I’ve taken the liberty of ordering some more of your current favourite. You’ve almost drained this week’s case.”
Aveline shot him a glare. “Comments like that don’t help, dear.” But she made for the machine, busied herself with the screen.
Lola’s voice buzzed deep in my ear. “I should let you know that the Perons have a strong shield covering their residence, effectively blocking all unauthorised access and assist communication. I’ve taken the liberty of analysing the coding, and have uncovered a combination of deep-rooted loopholes I’m able to exploit. I’m assuming you don’t have a problem with me taking such action.”
She’d already provided details on the Peron residence’s security, pulling from official files, but the shield was an addition. Not a surprise, though, and it was good to know my assist could take the initiative.
Three pairs of eyes watched me as I sat opposite Xavier, my back to the door. Aveline clunked about with that machine, walked over to the table holding a couple of glasses. She handed me one, moisture beading the surface, before taking the seat between me and Colville. Her own drink was opaque, had a scent of spices. Ice clinked as she moved the empty from the coaster, replaced it with the full one.
I took a sip of my water. Natuche shuffled, looked bored. Colville glanced towards Xavier again. Aveline leaned forward, watched me with a mixture of distaste and expectation.
“So,” said Xavier after a moment more of silence, “do you have more questions, or is this where you reveal your findings and win our dear Aveline’s case?”
“More complicated than that. The ankle-biters not around, are they?”
“If you mean our children,” Natuche said, “Aveline insinuated it would be better for them to be elsewhere.”
“Good. Not sure how things are going to play out here. Better if they’re elsewhere. Don’t want them involved in anything nasty. Thanks for looking after them.”
“You almost sound sincere.”
“Have my moments.”
“So you expect trouble?” Xavier asked.
“Always expect trouble.”
“In your line of work, I’m sure you do.” Xavier sat back, rested one hand on the table, fingers flat. “So, why don’t you fill us in. This is your moment to shine, Grim.”
“I’ll try not to dazzle you too much. Sure. Hard to know where to start, but I’ll begin with Lin.”
“Lin?
“Lin Leven-Jacobson. Haven’t forgotten her already, have you?”
Xavier’s smarmy smile grew smarmier. “A terribly sad loss. She was a remarkable person. A truly brilliant mind.”
“Sure. Tried reading her research. Way beyond my understanding. Even when my assist gave me a summary, it took a long time to grasp her ideas. The whole artificial mind thing left my head spinning.”
“It’s an extremely complex area, even for those of us with the necessary background knowledge.”
“But Lin got the complexities. Whole artificial-verses-natural problem. Mind’s all biological processes, so should be mappable, but all the old machine intelligence work-outs lacked something. Didn’t have that spark of originality. Couldn’t make those leaps of logic we can. Seemed like something got lost in the mapping.”
“A reasonable summary. Go on.”
“Not sure how much more I can tell you. Not that you don’t already know. Same as Colville.” I gave the guy a nod. “Had my assist summarise a few of your papers. Far as I can tell, you’re almost up there with the Leven-Jacobson stuff.”
Colville’s face reddened as Xavier said, “Don’t let our Col’s quiet demeanour deceive you. He’s one of the most intelligent people I know. Still waters run deep, as the old saying goes.”
“They do. And you surround yourself with intelligence, Xavier. Might’ve worked intimately with Lin, but you dealt with others. Then there’s your arrangement here, Natuche for legals and Aveline for financials. Smart set-up.”
“There’s more to the arrangement than that, but I’ll take the praise.”
“Sure you will. But back to Lin and her research. That missing spark, the one that sets us apart from virtual mappings of brain chemistry, or whatever it is. Hard to pin down, but reports use the word ‘sentience’, don’t they?”
“It’s not the best term, but it’ll do.”
“Sure. Because we don’t really understand sentience. Didn’t stop Lin investigating, though. And when my assist analysed her more recent work, it looked like she’d made a jump. Reckoned she’d figured a way to create an artificial sentience. Not simply a bunch of clever algorithms that gave an impression of intelligence, but something more. The next stage. A few responses to the research even bandied around the term ‘artificial life’.”
“Although many others argue that ‘artificial life’ is an oxymoron.”
“Not sure what one of them is, but I’ll take your word for it. You’re smarter than me in this stuff, Xavier. You’re up there with Colville and Lin, right? Only, you take a different angle. Lin was always into pure theoretical, but you like to look for practicalities, don’t you?”
He waved his hands. “Theory is all well and good, but we live in reality. If there are no practical implications of research, then that research is ultimately nothing but mental gymnastics.”
“And that sentence was verbal gymnastics. So you take her research, take Colville’s, bits from other places. Start to see possibilities. You need to run tests, and there’s only so much you can do in a lab, right? Running an artificial sentience in a strictly controlled environment doesn’t give you what you want. So you need wider field work.” I tilted my head. “This making sense?”
Xavier had his hand back on the table, and now the fingers curled, pulling in. “A major part of testing is uncovering previously unseen issues.”
“Sure. Only, with the whole artificial sentience stuff, there are restrictions. Heavy restrictions. Tech Ethics are clear on that. Loads of protocols around real-world testing.”
“There are risks involved, yes.”
“Always risks. But someone like you, Xavier, you look beyond the risks. Hard to make progress if you don’t push the boundaries, right? Only, this time, you have to be careful. Get the best legal team you can,” and I jerked a nod towards Natuche, who sat straight and frowned.
“And you have to keep security tight,” I continued, meeting Xavier’s cold gaze, because he had to know what was coming. “Normally, you run field tests on multiple subjects, across the board. But you bring in too many people, there’s more risk of a leak. A leak would get messy. Could be talking fines, a slap on the wrist, but the work you’re sinking into, you could find yourself locked in the pound. Could have your assets frozen. That kind of thing, it’s going to screw a lot of people over, not just you.”
In my peripheral vision Aveline leaned forward. She almost smiled.
“So you kept things tight,” I said to Xavier. “One test subject. Someone intimate with the project. Someone who wouldn’t talk, no matter what.”
Colville swallowed loudly. Xavier’s fingers had curled right under now, and his hand was a fist on the table. His smile remained etched on his face.
“And it’s not going too well, is it?” I said. “You infected yourself with that artificial sentience, and you’ve come across problems. You’re struggling to control it. Aveline was right. You’re not the man you once were. And if that sentience takes over, you won’t be a man anymore.”