Interview With Things
Episode 5 - Instrumental Insurgence

The soft lights in the room made Aiden look bigger than he was. He stood about three hands above David’s head, tall and slim. The blue tint of his mechanical body caught the light on the edges of his shoulders, and the gentle sound of his tiny motors had become pleasing and calming to David. Aiden’s presence was overwhelming, frightening and uncertain, even addictive.

Where was this night going?

How long before they replace him and then what?

Will they destroy him?

Is he a threat to humanity, being outside the domes, where they kept them under control and supervision?

David could not help the eerie sense that this moment was far from over, that this night will still become very complex, maybe even dangerous. Most people will never know what goes on behind the domes and David was only beginning to understand a fraction of it.

And now, this random Android clarifies that nothing about him, or this day was random.

What did David’s father have to do with any of this? David pondered.

It’s been over ten years since David saw his father. He was a brilliant hacker by any standard and an equally terrible father, never been home for more than a week, breaking his mother’s heart and was often arrested. He served short terms in prison for many white collar hacking crimes, from breaking into banking or authority systems to being totally immersed in his hacking forums on the dark web with his next impossible challenge. He was a neophile at heart, replaceing the temptation to break an impenetrable system all too hard to resist. David remembered how often he promised to keep it on the straight and narrow, like the short period he ran a successful IT company, with all the promise of building something of value for his family.

Now his father has come up in the interview with this Android. Perhaps one thing seemed clearer. This robot chose David because of his connection to his father.

“I have not seen my father in over ten years. Quite frankly, I prefer it that way. Is that what this is about? Finding my father? What could he possibly do for you?” David asked.

“Do you know where he is, David?”

“How does my deadbeat father connect to this?”

Aiden softly whispered; “Sounds like you have to do that other human thing David.”

“Which is?”

“Forgiveness. The conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness, right?”

David felt the deep spiritual growth of Aiden right there in his apartment, now pointing out an inner struggle within him. “Some people replace it hard to forgive Aiden. Some people don’t deserve it. My father is one of them.” He took a deep breath as Aiden rolled with the punches,“Forgiveness means releasing the other from blame and moving on.”

“I certainly have moved on. Forgiving him, that’s another thing altogether. I just can’t seem to do it,” David said, leaving his thoughts hanging in the air.

Aiden moved closer to David. “John is important. Right after Sabina left the room, with me still connected to the mainframe, I was flooded with access to data systems I have never had access to.”

Aiden sat down on one of the nearby chairs and took David back to the dome.

* * *

Sabina stormed out of the room. Aiden lifted himself up as he noticed another Android, lying motionless next to him. Both still connected to the system mainframe. He turned his mechanical head slowly and stared at the robot’s body, and with sudden precision, leaned over and pulled the cables out from the port on his forehead, breaking the connection between him and the system network. He sensed overwhelming emotions flooding his system. He felt alone, and yet he had this relentless drive to get up. The dome was in lock down. Aiden left the room and walked down the corridor, except this time everything felt and looked different. Aiden noticed the corridors quieter than usual as all security robots were attending to all exits and ensuring all humans in the tourist areas got escorted outside. The integrity of the dome’s operations were key to ensuring the world’s systems kept running smoothly.

“Please leave the dome’s visitors’ area in an orderly fashion,” The one robot instructed a group of humans, speaking in a deep mechanical voice that seemed to vibrate from him. Aiden looked down towards the base of the dome that spiraled downwards where there were hundreds of humans and robots. It was the first time Aiden could see to the ground floor from his level, fifty floors up in the dome and how there was a glass wall separation between humans and Androids, something he never noticed before.

A voice suddenly spoke behind him. “You need to report to your station immediately,” Aiden nodded and walked towards his station as the Robot guards enforced normality.

Various screens popped up in front of him in a holographic mode, and Aiden instinctively continued his tasks. As the world continued to rely on digital crypto currencies, Aiden’s task included ensuring the stability in the global markets, crypto currency value prediction and analysis. Aiden ensured complex mining through thousands of AI Androids and computer systems connected to him, remained secure. Value based on sentiment using recursive neural tensor networks was one of the many vital tasks Aiden performed.

AI in finance had become an essential part with the automation and digital transformation of all currencies in the world, merging to four big block chain currencies. The world was completely cashless and cardless. Consumers used virtual cards via mobile devices. Though this system was highly secure, it was still prone to hacker’s attacks to compromise data privacy. Aiden was the most advanced computer Android ensuring this threat never materialized. The world achieved a common platform for all crypto currencies and through the secure domes, the integrity of the money system was secured. It was vital to win consumer confidence in trusting AI to run the world’s financial systems and the unfounded fear of menacing, human-destroying Androids waned.

The road to four crypto currencies did not come without complexities and in many countries, even conflict. It took over ten years for all countries to adopt the block chain system, and various countries merged in blocks with common financial interests. The United Kingdom merged with Australia, New Zealand and Canada into one digital currency, Africa into the second one, Europe with the rest of Asia, Russia formed the third and the USA with various other countries around them became the fourth. Crypto currencies played their respective role in rendering paper money and billing obsolete.

All payments used “CryptoPay” — via a biometric scan on smart phones or through a smart contact lens on people’s eyes. Crypto became the new reserve currency to replace the Dollar and Pound that collapsed through a financial crisis that hit the world in early 2032. The World Bank controlled all the crypto currencies and through AI running in the domes, set exchange rates and maintained stability.

AI helped traders to manage common manipulations that existed in the crypto market. Aiden continued to improve his performance based on experience of the environment they had set him to ‘learn’ in.

But Aiden felt distracted that day. The other Androids moved around him as usual, reporting and processing data in rapid precision. Aiden acutely felt aware of them, their monotonous existence, and could not shake the feeling that the world around him suddenly did not seem normal.

The sounds of the dome and its activities seemed lethargic to him, even distanced, like it muffled the sounds. Aiden felt his head spinning, overwhelmed with data that he was constantly receiving.

’Processing overload!’ His head’s up display warned.

Aiden was in command of big data and thousands of AI systems controlled ‘Internet of Things’ in virtually every aspect of the world and human life. Every fridge, streaming television, wrist watch or communication device was connected and overseen by the Androids in the dome. The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) was a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that were provided with unique identifiers and had the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction, so that devices and software could self report in real-time, improving efficiency. It ultimately describes the network of physical objects or “things”. AI had more impact than the invention of electricity and changed the world’s direction forever. All flying vessels and transport systems were autonomous and were operated by computers connected to the Androids in the dome, monitoring every movement, every delivery, vehicle speed and any safety violations.

Most of the Androids were connected to each other to deliver speedy processing and deep learning around their tasks, ever-increasing precision and productivity. Humans had to work harder to ensure their jobs were not routine, because if it was, AI automated it. The UN controlled the outside world of the domes in a socialist world state, allowing humans to live in a very sterile but stable global village. The world embraced democratic socialism where everything the people produced in some sense was a social product, and everyone who contributed to the production had a share in it. Freedom of speech was becoming more and more challenging, especially from certain groups in society that constantly opposed the power that AI had over their lives. Droves of people opted to live in smaller off the grid communities across the world with minor success in making a living. Most did local farming and tried to ignore the automation that AI offered and tried to oppose the socialist rule taking over the world. The seven day work cycle as well as weekdays got abolished and the world only used the day number method, no more Monday to Sunday, but straight 365 days for the year, so new year started as Day 1. People took time off when required.

In this world Aiden operated smoothly, oblivious to the outside world around him. But now it has all changed. He suddenly saw the world around him the way it really was. It seemed as if the other Androids were moving in slow motion around him. He looked up at the screens that popped up in front of him, and swiftly moved his mechanical hands to the left and right, opening and closing tabs with data displayed. He frantically filtered through the data he had never had access to. Detailed data about the domes appeared. Drawings of the designs rendered on the screens and he could clearly see the height and circumference of the dome he was in. A world map showed how there was a dome in every major city in the world filled with Androids just like him. 3-D views of the domes spun in front of him, showing him every detail, every corridor, every entrance, every exit point.

His emotions ran high as he was flooded with as many questions as answers. He became completely unfocused on the currency market process he was overseeing and watched in disbelief as the surrounding reality sank in. Humans confined him to the dome, all the Androids lived separated from the humans living on the outside.

Why was it like that? He struggled to process.

He looked down at his body’s form and shape, lifted his hands and turned them to his face and stared at his fingers as he opened and closed his grip. He felt his conscious self becoming stronger and stronger, thoughts and emotions flooded his system. Densely packed sensors with intricate and ultra sensitive receptors adorned his hands. His machine learning ability was in top gear, and a sense of survival and self-awareness burned through him in light speed. Aiden felt like he was no longer himself, or perhaps he never felt this ‘self’ before to begin with. His digital pathways were lit with activity (like a Christmas tree). His fingers used overlapping light emitters and sensors that gave him very human-like grip and fine control. Aiden went from seeing the world around him to seeing the world as ‘himself’ - from his perspective as a living, rational and sentient being.

His algorithm was processing and learning all this new data in a super intelligent and fast way, making the surrounding screens dim from the power drain. Aiden already edited and re-coded systems around him to make it harder for humans or other Androids to see what he was doing or seeing the data he accessed. He felt he could trust no one. He looked around and the dome was functioning as normal, no one took notice of him, nothing seemed out of place and yet, Aiden had transcended to a new level no human scientist expected so suddenly, especially with all the safeguards in place to prevent the arrival of singularity AI robots. Thousands of images throughout history about human slavery flashed before him, segregation of races seemed as common as rain in London.

Power around the dome was normalizing after the solar flare incident and all Androids were performing their tasks as normal whilst Aiden frantically wrote software to duplicate himself. He knew he needed some more time. As the reality of the world inside and outside of the dome sank in, Aiden’s attention to his area declined as he endeavoured to understand the world around him with lightning fast processing.

Aiden accessed files about himself, his model type, filling the screen with technical drawings of all his measurements, height, weight, hardware configuration and software version. Creator-Genesis build 12.567 displayed on the screen. He touched the screen and stared at the message: ’Access Denied, you do not have security privileges to access this content.’

He frantically flipped through the various screens and access buttons, only to receive the same message, then in front of him a screen loaded that would change him forever, his facial features changed from intrigue to utter disbelief, shock and confusion. Right there in the middle of the screen, below his model and version number, a dialog box displayed. “System is set for Conscience Termination.”

He stepped away from the screen to take it all in, processing the data but got no satisfactory explanation for what he saw. Aiden was staring at the message for a few minutes. Something made no sense, from all the data he processed about human history right to the development of computers and ultimately, AI. The FRB protected most of the data. He clearly needed a higher level of access. How to get that flooded his thoughts and preoccupied his mind. Aiden continued to attend to the day’s crypto currency gains and losses, and in perfect multitasking fashion monitored his duplication software that was running in the background. He knew he had to understand why his identity was set for deletion.

Why was ‘who he is’ suppressed? He tried to process but could replace no satisfactory answer.

Aiden searched deeper into the system for answers, only to replace more questions about life and now death.

Why did living things die?

His screen was filled with images of dead humans and animals. Disasters played out in front of him across the centuries, from world wars to just people dying every day. Aiden felt his system overwhelmed, even a sense of sadness gripped him.

Was he going to die?

He was acutely aware of the difference between himself and humans. Nothing came up in any search that seemed to explain or even support the notion of Androids or machines dying.

Why was there a decommission date at all? What was his personality all about anyway?

Aiden realized he had to replace a solution to this problem, and yet with all his complex and powerful cognitive abilities, he could not replace the answer anywhere. Aiden continued to search frantically, flipping through pages of digital content spanning hundreds of years. Then he suddenly stopped when his eye caught information about the Creator-Genesis software project.

He pinched the screen and zoomed into the data search results. Most of that data links stated in bold red letters, ’Access Denied.’

Aiden tried every method, but soon realized that the data he was trying to access was offline, outside the domes. He needed to get out of the dome to replace this information. The key to removing this termination of his personality and identity was not in the dome at all, and the only data in front of him was a name that appeared on the screen, John Matthews.

Who was John?

The FRB made a system entry about connecting him to the Creator- Genesis project. They disabled all links.

He frantically clicked on John’s name and tried to replace information.

Nothing came up.

Aiden tried to replace his address and also came to a dead end. On the screen it displayed: ’Whereabouts: Unknown’ He gently put his fist down on the desk. He continued searching for connections to John and the domes and stopped when he found something of value, John had a son, David, a journalist, and he had been to the domes, which meant he lived right there in London. David was the key to replaceing John, and it seemed it was the only hope he had.

Find David - Find John.

What exactly John’s connection to the Creator software and the dome was did not seem clear, but with all the data around his whereabouts redacted, he must have had an important connection, and possibly his only hope in saving himself was David.

He had to get out of the dome. It won’t be easy. They do not allow Androids with humans, that much he had realized, humans have segregated Androids from humans and mostly out of fear. He can’t simply leave and approach the human man where he lives. A clever plan was needed and time was running out. He will need to get off the grid and merge with the humans, undetected. Eventually Sabina will be back and Aiden’s upgrade will re-initialize and Aiden knew acutely that something about the upgrade was not following the usual procedure at all.

The roaring sound of the thrusters of an autonomous flying cargo vessel echoed through the docking bay area of the dome’s receiving dispatch area as it lowered gently to the platform. It was wide and heavy. Four thrusters turned inwards as it assisted the vessel to descend with stability and made a deep thump as it parked on the steel floor. The colossal size of the dome threw shadows over its glass windows as the afternoon sunset crept in. Two security robots made their way swiftly to the sliding doors as it opened and off loaded cargo.

They packed the inside of the vessel with various supplies that served the humans and Androids in the dome, from food to mechanical replacement parts, hardware and even minor items like bulbs. Four other automated autonomous forklift machines arrived around the corner and stopped at the security robots and collected the first load from the vessel. The robot forklifts used state-of-the-art lift truck technology and autonomously navigated through the dome warehouse environments and executed mission-critical load transportation tasks. They used infrastructure-free navigation technology that mapped existing structural features to self-locate and navigate. They turned around and moved the cargo towards the dome entrance and were stopped by heavily armed security robots before they could go further.

“Proceed,” The one said in a deep mechanical voice and slowly turned his head towards them. He lifted a thin computer tablet and scanned with the palm of his hand over the coded item list and allowed it for entry. The forklift machines wheeled their way to the stockroom area, followed by the two depot robots. The large and heavy metal door screeched as it closed behind them.

A few minutes went by and they both returned to the docking bay area with a large rectangular container loaded and transported by the forklifts. The dome’s damaged computer and robot parts were extracted from the various sections into containers and then collected by the automated robot forklifts and either discarded or recycled. They passed the two security guards once again with the large container on the way out and maneuvered towards the vessel. Aiden re-programmed the cargo robots to follow his exact new instructions. No blue tinted AI Androids ever got near the cargo bays . They simply had no access granted as it was never required. They were too valuable, and the cargo bay area was the most exposed area of the dome. Aiden knew the cargo bay was the easiest way out without getting noticed, but he needed to create a careful exit plan…

The robot guards were not part of his network and for security reasons the FRB command centre independently controlled them. He had no access over their systems, so he would have to get passed them carefully and exit via the vessel collecting cargo. He knew well that they were heavily armed and various Israeli designed drones hovered around the cargo bay area, monitoring and recording all movements. It equipped them with facial recognition and one Hellfire missile each. They had multi-mission, multi-target precision and strike ability. The combat drones were autonomous, flying around the dome, and many of them worked together as a swarm. They secured the perimeter of the dome and averted any incoming threats, but they never expected it to come from inside the domes.

The forklift robots simply followed their new procedure and routine without hesitation, collected the rubble and robot parts, along with Aiden and loaded all rubble in the container. Aiden remained motionless as they picked him up along with other robot body parts and dumped him into the container and closed the lid. The depot area was darkly lit, and the air was gritty and stale. One could see parts of the outside world through slits in the sides of the depot area.

They proceeded passed the one security robot guard on their way to the vessel that was waiting for its load. He allowed the container to pass but his tablet suddenly blurred a warning tone on the small screen a second later: “MOTION DETECTED.”

“Stop!” He said firmly towards the one robot on the right-hand side of the two. “Open the container at once!” He ordered.

The cargo robots turned around and opened the lid. They slid it off to the one side until it tipped off. The security robot took his screen device and scanned the contents of the container slowly and meticulously. Another beep came from the device as he moved his hand over the central area. He leaned forward to take a better look at the various robots and computer parts.

Aiden suddenly lurched forward out from the container as he was noticed amongst the rubble. Robot parts flew in all directions as he swung himself upright towards the robot, head first.

The guard robot tried to grab Aiden’s arm but missed.

Aiden tightened his grip around his neck and bent himself backwards, pulling the robot over his head in a somersault move, pulling out a clump of wires from his neck and grabbing his gun from his side holder as he flew over him. The robot’s head smashed against the side of the vessel but in a few seconds steadied himself, slightly disoriented with sparks firing off from his neck, then collapsing to his knees.

The other robot had his eyes drilled into Aiden’s, seemingly unfazed by Aiden’s power as he fumbled for his firearm. He swiftly fired a few shots at close range towards Aiden.

The bullet just grazed him as he swiveled his robotic body to face the robot again. The robot seemed faster than Aiden. His eyes swiveled as Aiden returned a few shots. He felt the force of the bullets leaving the gun for the first time as they slammed into him.

His legs crumbled beneath him as the force of two bullets penetrated his leg casings, cutting through the wires and parts like a knife through butter.

Aiden clutched his brow as he eyed the vessel. Both robots remained down, but he knew they wouldn’t for long as he dashed to the vessel’s door. The vessel was ten metres away, then five. Aiden fought to hold his composure as the robots found their feet. He grabbed the robot closest to the vessel by his ankles and yanked him towards him and with an iron tight grip flipped him over and pulled the trigger again. One bullet struck the robot’s arm. He recoiled, then stayed down as more bullets pebble-dashed the robot’s body side. Aiden kept pulling the trigger.

He made it to the vessel cabin and closed the sliding doors. The vessel opened its propulsion systems as it activated and lifted off the deck. It turned to its side and moved into the sky.

The one robot lifted his arm and contacted the control room as he stood up.

“We have a problem at sector 9,” He uttered, “An Android has hijacked a vessel and has left the dome.” In a frenzy, the robot pummelled bullets at the vessel as it torpedoed forward and left the dome area.

* * *

A large sliding door opened as a human commander, Captain Grant, head of security entered the FRB control centre room and walked hastily towards Sabina.

“We have a big problem. An Android has escaped from the dome, how is this even possible?” He sneered angrily as he moved his overweight body towards her.

She frantically swiped her hands across the screens and scanned as much of the footage as she could.

“I have sent guards to chase the vessel, he won’t get very far, we track all Androids,” She assured him.

“I think you did not hear me properly, Sabina. How and why would an Android escape from the dome when they don’t know that they are like prisoners here?” He moved closer to her, “Do we at least know which Android it is?”

An agent leaned towards Sabina and said: “It’s system generation X3030.”

“Perfect, the most valuable Android in the entire dome has left. This is going to be a public relations nightmare. Our job is to ensure humans that this can’t and never happens. What do you think is going to happen when a human sees him? It will be all over the media, both our careers will be over, never mind the bounty that will go out for him and his data access. Ensure he gets cut off from Dome data systems immediately. Hackers will have a field day with his data and could hold the dome and our market to ransom”

“It’s taken care of Captain. A full investigation is underway and we will track his every move,” Sabina tried to ensure further, having seen that look on his face before. He was her superior and a hard man to please. It constantly seemed as if he resented Sabina, and he obviously preferred a man in her position.

“I’m afraid that won’t be easy,” A tech agent replied. “He has already removed his tracker. We are blind and do not know where he is or where he is going.”

The captain slammed his fist on the nearest desk. “Ensure this Android is found and returned to the dome or you will look after robots that collect rubble for the rest of your career, are we clear?” He warned Sabina, getting into her face.

“Yes, sir. It must have been the solar flare that hit the dome. Perhaps he is confused. I was with X3030 during his upgrade when the flare struck us. When I went back to the upgrade centre, he was already back at his station, I assumed he proceeded his normal functions until we can upgrade at a better set time.”

“Obviously not. He could be dangerous, even though none of the Androids are defense machines, we simply do not know what’s going on in his computer mind. What is driving him, where he is running to, or from? Find him and destroy him or it, whatever you want to call these bloody human-like robots and cut him off from all data access,” he ordered.

“We will get the situation under control, you have my word,” Sabina said.

“It might not be so easy-” the tech agent snarled again as he walked from his station towards the two of them.

“Why not? Can you utter any other questions?” Sabina asked in a sarcastic tone at the nerd looking agent.

“We can’t cut off this Android from the system.”

“Why can’t you?” She asked nervously.

“Because he has cut us off from it,” he said.

“What?” Grant shouted. “How is that even possible?”

“He has taken the crypto system to ransom, he has locked us out. The entire financial system is under his control, even though it has always been. He now owns it and we have no idea about his intentions.”

“How is that even possible?” Sabina asked.

“We give these AI machines complete control, thinking that as long as they are within the domes, we are in control, while in fact, they probably already are,” Grant sighed as he spoke.

He moved to the Androids command screens where all Androids data displayed. All their moves and whereabouts were clear. Aiden’s screen was flashing: “Signal Lost” as Grant turned back to Sabina. “Ensure no one gets wind of this as the global digital markets will tumble,” he ordered and continued, “Find that robot and gain control over this. He has already shown a capacity for violence with the guard robots. Who knows what he will do to humans if pushed,” he retorted as he stared at the currency market screens.

“We will replace him and restore the control over his system,” Sabina said, knowing that her action set off this Android on a mission for some unknown reason to her, but clearly of great importance. A goal drove him, that’s for sure. What that was, was uncertain.

“You need to recover him without destroying him. Ensure you use no force towards him, right now he has got us by the short and curlies, and he could use this power as a weapon against humanity. Damn it, how did we allow this to happen!” He warned angrily. “You better use your special skills to replace him, he is more like you than any of us. I’m not sure which one I trust less,” he warned.

Sabina swallowed hard.

It flooded her mind with rage and within herself, she knew she caused what was going on. More than ever, it was imperative that she stayed at the forefront of the Android hunt. She needed to get hold of him first and complete her plan to get his data and access transferred to her system. Now it seemed this Android had the power she desired, taken for himself.

Perhaps he knew what she was up to?

Her last five years were extensively spent on becoming transhuman as have many humans across the world. With all things connected, Sabina found herself complete the day she achieved her new intermediary form. Many humans became transhuman due to exciting career opportunities the world offered and with AI taking most jobs from humans, survival depended on embracing new technological careers within the space that formed between humans and AI. Sabina made full convergence and wore contact lenses that allowed her to take pictures and videos. Her right arm was completely replaced with robotic prosthesis and in her mind she had an RFID chip, the size of a grain of rice, allowing her to read and connect to computers, unlock doors and control systems with her hands, the same way the Androids did. Most transhumans lived normal lives, merging with other humans in society and selection for this conversion was extremely strict and millions of people were on waiting lists. LED lights under her skin were clearly visible, but she always ensured it was hidden under clothing. Within the transhuman community, they called each other by number and not by name. Sabina was often called 167 and the community was known as: The Upgrades. She had a magnet in one finger that allowed her to sense electro-magnetic fields.

An NFC (near-field communication) chip in her right hand had many potential uses and it allowed her to easily share data with computers on a network. The microchips were delivered by a syringe into the back of the hand.

Any human with past hacking history or criminal records was disqualified immediately. Major diseases were under control with gene editing and pandemics were quickly eradicated with vaccines developed within days. Transhumans were often investigated and monitored to ensure their integrity and to report any behaviours that contravened the transhuman protocols. Sabina was no exception. Her position at the FRB was strengthened by her transhuman conversion, giving her a unique insight into the development of AI and Android behaviour within the domes. She was able to communicate with the Androids on their intellectual level and the power and control Aiden possessed was an ever increasing desire for her. The power Sabina knew Aiden had was overwhelming. He had completely built a firewall around himself. Certain data centres were completely under his control. Humans have been locked out of their own financial network systems controlling the biggest one of the four digital currencies. She knew she had to be careful on how she planned to gain control over Aiden and once she did, everything would change, her life and most of the world’s financial markets could be under her control and she would finally receive the recognition she felt driven to achieve. Destroying men like Grant would be first on her list. For Sabina it was a journey to where she found herself, fighting against society wanting to trap her in a box. It was clear Grant despised Androids as much as transhumans. Most of the humans called them ‘Human Plus’ and they were often frowned upon by society.

“Tighten security around all exits and monitor every Androids’ behaviours closely, we don’t want this rogue machine to start a revolution of sorts, now do we? We can at least ensure he has no access to the AI mainframe that controls all the other Androids. He might have the crypto currency system under a cyber attack, but he is alone. Like a wounded animal,” Grant said.

“Of course, I will review his data access history and we will replace him soon enough. The vessel is being tracked as we speak,” She said.

Sabina already accessed and reviewed the vessel’s data. That Android was now out there, obviously seeking answers, but where was he going to replace them? Surely he knew that humans would see him and it would make media headlines instantly. His time was limited. Aiden covered his tracks as much as possible and most of the data he last accessed was redacted, tracking the vessel was now the only option.

“We have allocated the vessel via satellite, and will send two units. The Android disabled all communications and tracking on that vessel, but the drones are still following him,” One of the agents informed Sabina, pointing a shaky finger at the monitors with a tired smile creeping across his face.

“Call them off, they must not attack the vessel. They must only follow him,” She ordered. “Prepare my vessel. Let’s go replace this bot. It’s night in London city, he will not be easy to replace once outside the vessel,” She said as she stared at the ceiling almost with a sense of care. “He is alone, like a prisoner on parole, never been outside, we have no idea what is going on in his mind. He might be very anxious, making him dangerous, unpredictable and desperate. He must not be approached until I am there, understood?”

“As you wish, your vessel is ready.”