Chapter Thirty-Six
Echo
took the steps two at a time as I raced toward the Commander's office. Mentally, I kicked myself for not just staying put and waiting for him to return, but I'd needed to see Ryan with my own eyes and make sure he was still alive.
The Commander's secretary, the cute little brunette, was at her desk and waved me in as I approached her.
"The Commander has been waiting for you, Miss Frost," she said. "Please go right in."
I walked through the door and then stopped short.
"Please come in, Miss Frost," Commander Donnelly welcomed me. "Don't be alarmed, we're all here to help."
He quickly introduced me. I shook hands with Vice Admiral Kelly and the Commander before he asked me if I had the hard drive. I nodded, pulled it out of my bag and handed it over.
"If that's all you need," I said standing up and turning toward the door, “then I'll just get back to the hospital."
"Miss Frost," the Vice Admiral began. "Do you know what this hard drive contains?"
"I know that it has Dr. Powell's work on sentient artificial intelligence on it," I admitted. "But I don't really have any idea what that actually means in terms of real world application because I wasn't involved in the research process."
"But you were involved, Miss Frost," the Vice Admiral said. "You just didn't know it."
"I don't understand," I said looking back at Commander Donnelly.
"Miss Frost, Dr. Powell involved you in his research process by having you write code for him, did he not?" he asked.
"Yes, he did, but I wasn't privy to the information he gathered in his lab," I said. "I just wrote programs that he asked for. Things that organized information."
"Actually, your programs were fueling Dr. Powell's research," the Commander said. "He relied on your ability to code in order to continue pushing forward with his project."
"I don't understand," I said again.
"Miss Frost, Dr. Powell was working on developing a sentient artificial intelligence that would allow the military to eliminate the need for human soldiers on the battlefield," the Vice Admiral said and then sat silently as the information sunk in.
"Wait, what?" I replied uncertain that I'd heard what I thought I heard.
"Dr. Powell's research would make it possible to replace human soldiers with machines that contain sentient artificial intelligence," he repeated. "We would never again have to send young men and women into battle to be killed."
"That's unbelievable," I whispered. "That's just in movies and science fiction novels."
"No, actually it's not," the Vice Admiral said. "There's a company in Boston that's created a humanoid capable of moving across rugged terrain and there are three other countries that are in various stages of developing similar technology. Dr. Powell came to us knowing that his project was just a blip on the radar."
"Why would he come to you?" I asked. "Not to be rude, but shouldn't this go through the Pentagon or the CIA or something more secretive?"
"That's just it, Dr. Powell's research wasn't taken seriously," Commander Donnelly said. "He'd tried selling the idea to the Joint Chiefs, but they'd told him he was out of his element. And at the time, he was. His project wasn't well organized nor was it well executed."
"So, why are you taking him seriously now?" I asked.
"Because it seems that your presence and your programs are what turned the project around and made it viable," the Vice Admiral said. "Without you, he never would have made progress nor would he have come as far as he did in the past two years."
"Two years?" I asked. "That's since I graduated."
"Yes, we know, Miss Frost," the Vice Admiral smiled. "Your education was an excellent one, and we'd like to offer you the opportunity to continue it, if you're interested."
"What would I have to do?" I asked suspiciously. "Am I going to have to sell my soul to the devil or something?"
"No, Miss Frost," the Vice Admiral chuckled. "We're not the evil empire. There's no soul selling involved in our business. We would simply like to offer you the opportunity to learn more about the process of coding for SAI and continue Dr. Powell's research."
"But I'm not a biochemist," I said. "I'm a computer programmer. I don't know anything about the biological or chemical processes of Dr. Powell's research."
"That's why we want to pair you with the staff that Dr. Powell worked with and have you continue to write the programs they'll use to continue his research," Commander Donnelly said.
"How will they know what to do?" I asked. "Dr. Powell is dead."
"That's why the hard drive was of vital importance," the Vice Admiral said. "We believe it contains the research methodology and plans that Dr. Powell had laid out for the next three years. We believe that if we can get that map, his lab associates will be able to puzzle out the next steps he was planning to take."
"And you want me to help?" I asked.
"We believe that your programming skills are what will enable the lab researchers to take the next vital steps toward fully developing the SAI that Dr. Powell envisioned," the Vice Admiral said.
"I don't know that I have enough programming knowledge to go that far," I said looking back and forth between the two men.
"That's why we want you to enroll in a graduate program at Cornell and learn what you need to keep programming," Commander Donnelly said. "We will pay all of your expenses, plus you'll earn a salary from TriCorp for running the lab."
"Wait, you're sending me back to TriCorp?" I said. "I don't think Julian Baines will allow that."
"Julian Baines is no longer in charge of TriCorp," the Vice Admiral said in a way that told me it would be unwise to ask questions about why that was so. "There will be a new CEO in a few weeks, and we see no reason why your employment would be problematic."
"I'd just like to say that my father always taught me that if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is," I said warily. "What's the catch?"
"There's really only one catch," Commander Donnelly said handing me a card with two numbers on it. "You are never ever allowed to tell anyone what you are doing. The only people you will be allow to talk with about the project will be a board from the Office of Naval Research, and the Vice Admiral and myself."
"I can't talk to anyone else?" I asked making sure I'd heard him correctly.
"No one," he said solemnly. "Not your friends, your professors or even TriCorp's new CEO, once he steps in."
"So, basically what you're saying is that my work will be conduced in total secrecy," I said.
"That's exactly what we're saying, Miss Frost," the Vice Admiral said.
"Can I think about this?" I asked.
"You have one week to make a decision," Commander Donnelly said. "If you need to talk to someone about it, you may call me or Vice Admiral Kelly, but you are not to discuss this with anyone else."
"Wow, you guys sure know how to woo a girl," I said with a wry grin.
"Miss Frost, I understand that this an enormous responsibility," Commander Donnelly said. "But please understand that Dr. Powell's project has far reaching implications for the Navy and other arms of the military. We take this extremely seriously."
"I'm sorry, I understand," I said as I suddenly felt the weight of responsibility come crashing down on my shoulders. "Just out of curiosity, what happens if I say no?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Vice Admiral Kelly said.
"I see," I nodded. "Then if you gentlemen will excuse me, I've got some thinking to do."
"Very well," Commander Donnelly said as both men stood and shook my hand.
As I walked out of the office, it occurred to me that Vice Admiral Kelly's tone had given me the distinct feeling that they had not planned to cross any bridges they didn't want to cross.