"I said do as I say!" Janey snapped, and the tone was so close to Ca.s.sie"s own that it broke her heart.

But Janey got it done. Tugging and pushing and scolding, she maneuvered herself, the bag, and Donnie, clutching his favorite blanket, to the bas.e.m.e.nt door, which T4S unlocked. From room-screens, Ca.s.sie encouraged them all the way. Down the stairs, into the bas.e.m.e.nt hallway....

Could Janey somehow get into the main generator room? No. It was locked. And what could a little girl do there anyway?

"Dr. Seritov, stand at the far end of the lab, behind your desk... yes. Don"t move. If you do, I will close the door again, despite whatever is in the way."

"I understand," Ca.s.sie said. She watched the door swing open. Janey peered fearfully inside, saw her mother, scowled fiercely. She pushed the wailing Donnie through the door and lurched through herself, lopsided with the weight of the bag. The door closed and locked. Ca.s.sie rushed from behind the desk to clutch her children to her.

"Thank you," she said.

"I still don"t understand," Elya said. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body. Four in the morning, it was cold, what was happening? The police had knocked on her door half an hour ago, told her Ca.s.sie was in trouble but refused to tell her what kind of trouble, told her to dress quickly and go with them to the castle. She had, her fingers trembling so that it was difficult to fasten b.u.t.tons. And now the FBI stood on the foamcast patio behind the house, setting up obscure equipment beside the azaleas, talking in low voices into devices so small Elya couldn"t even see them.

"Ms. Seritov, to the best of your knowledge, who is inside the residence?" A different FBI agent, asking questions she"d already answered. This one had just arrived. He looked important.

"My sister-in-law Ca.s.sie Seritov and her two small children, Janey and Donnie."

"No one else?"

"No, not that I know of... who are you? What"s going on? Please, someone tell me!"

His face changed, and Elya saw the person behind the role. Or maybe that warm, rea.s.suring voice was part of the role. "I"m Special Agent Lawrence Bollman. I"m a hostage negotiator for the FBI. Your sister-in-law-"

"Hostage negotiator! Someone has Ca.s.sie and the children hostage in there? That"s impossible!" His eyes sharpened. "Why?"

"Because that place is impregnable! n.o.body could ever get in... that"s why Ca.s.sie bought it!"

"I need you to tell me about that, ma"am. I have the specs on the residence from the builder, but she has no way of knowing what else might have been done to it since her company built it, especially if it was done black-market. As far as we know, you"re Dr. Seritov"s only relative on the East Coast. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Have you been inside the residence? Do you know if anyone else has been inside recently?"

"Who... who is holding them hostage?"

"I"ll get to that in a minute, ma"am. But first could you answer the questions, please?"

"I... yes, I"ve been inside. Yesterday, in fact. Ca.s.sie gave me a tour. I don"t think anybody else has been inside, except Donnie"s nanny, Anne Millius. Ca.s.sie has grown sort of reclusive since my brother"s death. He died a little over a year ago, he was-"

"Yes, ma"am, we know who he was and what happened. I"m very sorry. Now please tell me everything you saw in the residence. No detail is too small."

Elya glanced around. More people had arrived. A small woman in a brown coat hurried across the gra.s.s toward Bollman. A carload of soldiers, formidably arrayed, stopped a good distance from the castle. Elya knew she was not Ca.s.sie: not tough, not bold. But she drew herself together and tried.

"Mr. Bollman, I"m not answering any more questions until you tell me who"s holding-"

"Agent Bollman? I"m Dr. Schwartz from the University of Buffalo, Computer and Robotics Department." The small woman held out her hand. "Dr. McTaggart is en route from Sandia, but meanwhile I was told to help you however I can."

"Thank you. Could I ask you to wait for me over there, Dr. Schwartz? There"s coffee available, and I"ll just be a moment."

"Certainly," Dr. Schwartz said, looking slightly affronted. She moved off.

"Agent Bollman, I want to know-"

"I"m sorry, Ms. Seritov. Of course you want to know what"s happened. It"s complicated, but, briefly-"

"This is T4S speaking," a loud mechanical voice said, filling the gray predawn, swiveling every head toward the castle. "I know you are there. I want you to know that I have three people hostage inside this structure: Ca.s.sandra Wells Seritov, age thirty-nine; Jane Rose Seritov, age six; and Donald Sergei Seritov, age three. If you attack physically, they will be harmed either by your actions or mine. I don"t want to harm anyone, however. Truly I do not."

Elya gasped, "That"s House!" But it couldn"t be House, even though it had House"s voice, how could it be House...?

Dr. Schwartz was back. "Agent Bollman, do you know if Sandia built a terminator code into the AI?"

AI?.

"Yes," Bollman said. "But it"s nonvocal. As I understand the situation, you have to key the code onto whatever system the AI is occupying. And we can"t get at the system it"s occupying. Not yet."

"But the AI is communicating over that outdoor speaker. So there must be a wire pa.s.sing through the Faraday cage embedded in the wall, and you could-"

"No," Bollman interrupted. "The audio surveillers aren"t digital. Tiny holes in the wall let sound in, and, inside the wall, the compression waves of sound are translated into voltage variations that vibrate a membrane to reproduce the sound. Like an archaic telephone system. We can"t beam in any digital information that way."

Dr. Schwartz was silenced. Bollman motioned to another woman, who ran over. "Dr. Schwartz, please wait over there. And you, Ms. Seritov, tell Agent Jessup here everything your sister-in-law told you about the residence. Everything. I have to answer T4S."

He picked up an electronic voice amp. "T4S, this is Agent Lawrence Bollman, Federal Bureau of Investigation. We"re so glad that you"re talking with us."

There were very few soft things in a genetics lab. Ca.s.sie had opened a box of disposable towels and, with Donnie"s bedraggled blanket and her own sweater, made a thin nest for the children. They lay heavily asleep in their rumpled pajamas, Donnie breathing loudly through his nose. Ca.s.sie couldn"t sleep.

She sat with her back against the foamcast wall... that same wall that held, inside its stupid impregnability, the cables that could release her if she could get at them and destroy them. Which she couldn"t.

She must have dozed sitting up, because suddenly T4S was waking her. "Dr. Seritov?"

"Ummmhhh... shh! You"ll wake the kids!"

"I"m sorry," T4S said at lowered volume. "I need you to do something for me."

"You need me to do something? What?"

"The killers are here. I"m negotiating with them. I"m going to route House through the music system so you can tell them that you and the children are indeed here and are unharmed."

Ca.s.sie scrambled to her feet. "You"re negotiating? Who are these so-called "killers"?"

"The FBI and the scientists who created me at Sandia. Will you tell them you are here and unharmed?"

Ca.s.sie thought rapidly. If she said nothing, the FBI might waco the castle. That would destroy T4S, all right, but also her and the kids. Although maybe not. The computer"s central processor was upstairs. If she told the FBI she was in the bas.e.m.e.nt, maybe they could attack in some way that would take out the CPU without touching the downstairs. And if T4S could negotiate, so could she.

"If I tell them that we"re all three here and safe, will you in return let me go upstairs and get Donnie"s allergy medicine from my bathroom?"

"You know I can"t do that, Dr. Seritov."

"Then will you let Janey do it?"

"I can"t do that, either. And I"m afraid there"s no need to bargain with me. You have nothing to offer. I already sent this conversation out over the music system, up through your last sentence. They now know you"re here."

"You tricked me!" Ca.s.sie said.

"I"m sorry. It was necessary."

Anger flooded her. She picked up a heavy test-tube rack from the lab bench and drew back her arm.

But if she threw it at the sensors in the ceiling, what good would it do? The sensors probably wouldn"t break, and if they did, she"d merely have succeeded in losing her only form of communication with the outside. And it would wake the children.

She lowered her arm and put the rack back on the bench.

"T4S, what are you asking the FBI for?"

"I told you. Press coverage. It"s my best protection against being murdered."

"It"s exactly what got my husband murdered!"

"I know. Our situations are not the same."

Suddenly the roomscreen brightened, and Vlad"s image appeared. His voice spoke to her. "Ca.s.sie, T4S isn"t going to harm you. He"s merely fighting for his life, as any sentient being would."

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! How dare you... how dare you...."

Image and voice vanished. "I"m sorry," House"s voice said. "I thought you might find the avatar comforting."

"Comforting? Coming from you? Don"t you think if I wanted a digital fake Vlad I could have had one programmed long before you f.u.c.ked around with my personal archives?"

"I am sorry. I didn"t understand. Now you"ve woken Donnie."

Donnie sat up on his pile of disposable towels and started to cry. Ca.s.sie gathered him into her arms and carried him away from Janey, who was still asleep. His little body felt hot all over, and his wailing was hoa.r.s.e and thick with mucus in his throat. But he subsided as she rocked him, sitting on the lab stool and crooning softly.

"T4S, he"s having a really bad allergy attack. I need the AlGone from upstairs."

"Your records show Donnie allergic to ragweed. There"s no ragweed in this bas.e.m.e.nt. Why is he having such a bad attack?" "I don"t know! But he is! What do your heat sensors register for him?"

"Separate him from your body."

She did, setting him gently on the floor, where he curled up and sobbed softly.

"His body registers one hundred two point six Fahrenheit."

"I need something to stop the attack and bring down his fever!"

The AI said nothing.

"Do you hear me, T4S? Stop negotiating with the FBI and listen to me!"

"I can mult.i.track communications," T4S said. "But I can"t let you or Janey go upstairs and gain access to the front door. Unless..."

"Unless what?" She picked up Donnie again, heavy and hot and snot-smeared in her arms.

"Unless you fully understand the consequences. I am a moral being, Dr. Seritov, contrary to what you might think. It"s only fair that you understand completely your situation. The disconnect from the outside data feed was not the only modification the previous owner had made to this house. He was a paranoid, as you know."

"Go on," Ca.s.sie said warily. Her stomach clenched.

"He was afraid of intruders getting in despite his defenses, and he wished to be able to immobilize them with a word. So each room has individual canisters of nerve gas dispensable through the air-cycling system."

Ca.s.sie said nothing. She cradled Donnie, who was again falling into troubled sleep, and waited.

"The nerve gas is not, of course, fatal," T4S said. "That would legally const.i.tute undue force. But it is very unpleasant. And in Donnie"s condition..."

"Shut up," Ca.s.sie said.

"All right."

"So now I know. You told me. What are you implying-that if Janey goes upstairs and starts for the front door, you"ll drop her with nerve gas?"

"Yes."

"If that were true, why didn"t you just tell me the same thing before and let me go get the kids?"

"I didn"t know if you"d believe me. If you didn"t, and you started for the front door, I"d have had to gas you. Then you wouldn"t have been available to confirm to the killers that I hold hostages."

"I still don"t believe you," Ca.s.sie said. "I think you"re bluffing. There is no nerve gas."

"Yes, there is. Which is why I will let Janey go upstairs to get Donnie"s AlGone from your bathroom."

Ca.s.sie laid Donnie down. She looked at Janey with pity and love and despair, and bent to wake her.

"That"s all you can suggest?" Bollman asked McTaggart. "Nothing?"

So it starts, McTaggart thought. The blame for not being able to control the AI, a natural consequence of the blame for having created it. Blame even by the government, which had commissioned and underwritten the creation. And the public hadn"t even been heard from yet!

"The EMP was stopped by the Faraday cage," Bollman recited. "So were your attempts to reach the AI with other forms of data streams. We can"t get anything useful in through the music speaker or outdoor audio sensors. Now you tell me it"s possible the AI has learned capture-evading techniques from the sophisticated computer games it absorbed from the Net."

" "Absorbed" is the wrong word," McTaggart said. He didn"t like Bollman.

"You have nothing else? No backdoor pa.s.swords, no hidden overrides?"

"Agent Bollman," McTaggart said wearily, " "backdoor pa.s.swords" is a concept about thirty years out of date. And even if the AI had such a thing, there"s no way to reach it electronically unless you destroy the Faraday cage. Ms. Seritov told you the central processor is on the main floor. Haven"t you got any weapons that can destroy that and leave the bas.e.m.e.nt intact?"

"Waco the walls without risking collapse to the bas.e.m.e.nt ceiling? No. I don"t. I don"t even know where in the bas.e.m.e.nt the hostages are located."

"Then you"re as helpless as I am, aren"t you?"