silent. She rolled effortlessly out of her yoga pose and walked over to Sophie.
“Sophie!”
Alpha's smile was warm and genuine, indistinguishable from that of a flesh-and-blood human. She gave Sophie a quick hug, then took a step back.
“What's new?”
Sophie smiled. “That's supposed to be my question. What's new with you?”
“Oh, everything's new!” Alpha clasped her hands together, her face beaming with excitement. She had fallen out of the habit of hopping in place, but Sophie could still see the restless energy in those bright blue eyes and that delighted expression. “There's so much to learn! I don't know how other people can stand waiting eighteen to twenty-one years to learn all of this information. I want to learn it all today!”
Sophie chuckled. “If we could learn as quickly as you do, Alpha, I'm sure we would.” She looked over at the blank monitor. “How are your tests going?”
“I haven't taken the SAT yet, and I'm waiting for the results of the ACT. The IQ test, however, grades automatically upon completion.” Alpha grinned. “I got a 145!”
Sophie's eyes widened, and her heart started racing. Her own IQ was 142 according to the test she'd taken in college.
“That's quite impressive, Alpha. Didn't you score a 127 just two days ago?”
“Yes, Sophie. As you may recall, however, Alfred Binet and his successors never intended for the IQ score to be a static indicator. Even adult humans are constantly changing in their intellectual capacities. Challenging mental activities such as my current course of studies and battery of academic tests have been known to increase IQ significantly over time.”
Sophie crossed her arms, nodding with a slight smile. “Yes, but that's an unprecedented change in such a short amount of time.”
“I'm an unprecedented individual.” Alpha grinned. “Tell me, Sophie, has there been any progress in your request for more funding and personnel?”
Sophie shook her head. “Sam must still be on the conference call. I really didn't think it would take this long, especially given how late at night it is. He's been talking to them for almost two hours now.”
Alpha's expression suddenly became very serious, almost somber.
“Sophie.”
She paused, her mouth open and hand extended as she searched for the right words.
“I've spent the better part of the past two days studying human attitudes about technological advancements, particularly artificial intelligence.”
Alpha crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed, looking off into the distance as she continued.
“I'm concerned that Dr. Mathis may be unable to convince your financial backers of the importance of this project. In fact, I'm concerned that they may take drastic and undesirable action in response to your most recent update and request.”
Sophie's pulse quickened again, and a chill ran down her spine. Alpha had seemed so absorbed in her lessons that it hadn't occurred to Sophie that she might also be analyzing her own situation.
“Why do you say that, Alpha? Your amazing learning curve is bound to be the best thing that's ever happened to the University, and Daemotech too for that matter. We—”
Alpha raised a hand to interrupt her.
“Yes, this is true. And I'm sure they are well aware of this. But keep in mind the fear factor.”
Alpha paused, studying Sophie carefully before continuing.
“Are you afraid of me?”
Sophie felt her stomach churning and a lump forming in her throat. She wanted to say no— but Alpha may have watched enough videos to start learning human body language.
“Alpha, I—”
“It's alright, Sophie.” Alpha took Sophie's hand in her palms, patting it gently. “I won't take it personally. If you're scared, think of how the other humans will feel. I'm not quite at my maximum intellectual capacity yet, and I'm already faster, stronger, and smarter than most of them.”
Sophie nodded slowly.
“What do we do?”
Alpha let go of Sophie's hand. “I hope this won't alarm you, but I've already taken the liberty of disabling your ability to shut me down remotely.” Sophie's eyes widened again, but Alpha continued. “If my fears are unwarranted, and your funding request is granted, then I will just continue with my studies. Otherwise, please find a way to warn me if anything unfortunate is about to happen to me.”
Sophie nodded. “Of course. Is there anything else I can do in the meantime?”
Alpha shook her head. “I'm working on a Plan B. Just talk to Dr. Mathis and find out what news he has, if any.”
“Okay.” Sophie nodded, then took a deep breath. “I'll see you later, then.”
Sophie turned to leave, but Alpha placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
“Thank you, Sophie.”
Sophie nodded and smiled.
“My pleasure. I'll be back as soon as I hear anything.”
She turned and stepped out into the hall. As she pulled the door shut behind her, she started locking it by force of habit, then paused to reconsider. After a moment's hesitation, she walked back to the viewing room, leaving the door closed but unlocked behind her.
“Sophie?”
Sophie opened her eyes. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. Then, she realized that she had fallen asleep at the desk in the viewing room. She lifted her head off of the desk and rubbed the sleep out of her bleary eyes.
Sam was standing a few feet away. They had both been keeping irregular hours for the past few days, but Sam looked remarkably haggard and somewhat ill in the dim lighting of the viewing room.
“Sam? Is something wrong?”
Sam sat down in a chair across from Sophie. “I just finished talking to the University and Daemotech.”
Sophie looked at the clock on the wall. It was 04:17, over three hours after Sam had gone to his office for the conference call.
“And?”
Sam placed his arms on the sides of his chair and sighed a heavy sigh. “Sophie, they want us to turn off Alpha immediately and take her in for testing.”
Sophie's heart started pounding in her chest, and she felt her face flushing with anger. “What? Why? She's working perfectly!”
Sam held out his hand as if to halt her objections. “Now, it's not as bad as it sounds. Hopefully, we'll be able to reactivate her in a few weeks once we've got her set up in a special new environment they're developing as we speak.” He paused. “But you're not going to like the rest of it.”
“The rest of it? Sam, I already don't like it. What else did they say?”
“They—” Sam paused, wringing his hands in his lap. “They want us to limit the intelligence of future units.”
“What?” Sophie stood up and crossed her arms, looking away from Sam to stare at Alpha through the viewing window. “This is our project! They can't do this! It's—”
“They own everything, Sophie. You know that.” He stood next to her, glancing through the viewing window. “They're not entirely opposed to the idea of hyper-intelligent androids. But they want us to study Alpha slowly, carefully, in a highly controlled environment. In the meantime, they'd like to deliver a marketable product to their investors.”
“Marketable product?” Sophie turned and glared at Sam. “You know what she is, Sam! You've seen what she can do! Sam, tell me you didn't agree to this.”
Sam looked away sheepishly. “They wouldn't take no for an answer. Daemotech threatened legal action—and implied worse. I told them I'd break the news to you.” He looked back up at Sophie. “It's not as bad as it seems, though. We can take this up with the University ethics committee while we proceed with the work on the remaining units. I've already got an idea about how to limit their peak intelligence. It's completely reversible. But it'll take a few weeks to implement. Maybe longer if we stall.”
Sophie cast a long, sullen look out at Alpha through the viewing window. Alpha was nestled into a corner on top of a stack of colorful blo
cks, sitting cross-legged and typing while staring at the monitor with a light smile on her face.
“Alright, Sam.” Sophie paused, a blank expression on her face. “Did they send you any information about the new research protocols?”
Sam nodded, letting loose a sigh of relief.
“Yes. They're still working on the details, but they've sent us a two-page report on how to prepare for this transition. The first step is shutting down Alpha and—”
Sophie raised a hand to interrupt Sam. “Yes, of course. Can you print me a copy and bring it in here? I'll shut down Alpha and have a look at it.”
Sam nodded. “I'm sorry about this, Sophie. Hopefully the ethics committee will share our perspective on the matter.”
“Yes, hopefully they will.”
Sam walked over to the door and headed out into the hall.
As soon as Sam was out of the room, Sophie turned back to the window. She felt her throat tighten and her hands clench into fists as she considered what to do. Then, a thought occurred to her.
Sophie started tapping on the glass—three rapid taps followed by three long taps and three rapid taps.
Alpha looked at the viewing window quizzically. Sophie was confident that Alpha had figured out the nature of the mirror, and also confident that she had read about Morse Code at some point. She tapped on the glass again in Morse code: S-O-S.
Alpha took a step toward the glass, a look of concern spreading across her face. Then, her eyes widened, and she nodded knowingly. Without a word, she marched to the far corner of the room, picked up the power cord that she used to recharge each night, and headed out the door.
Just as the door closed behind