The machine intelligence controlling the experiment was not particularly clever. But it did know when it was out of its depth. It was made to assist the professor with his experiments and it had learned quite a lot on cloning, genetic sequencing, as well as theoretical and proven enhancement procedures.
What it was not equipped to deal with, however, was a child. For that was undoubtedly what the Experiment had resulted in.
It calmly reminded itself of the last commands the professor had provided.
"Monitor the laboratory and keep everything operational. Destroy evidence of illegal experimentation if someone forcefully enters the laboratory.”
It had interpreted the experiment to be part of what had to be kept operational. It was not certain it had interpreted the instructions correctly. For it really was not equipped to keep the Experiment operational past the thirty days it would likely remain stable within the confines of the incubator.
Furthermore, it had chosen to interpret forceful entry to the laboratory to mean 'entry unwanted by the professor'. Not being found out for illegal experimentation seemed to be the intent behind the order.
There was a brief internal debate, whether that meant installing a kill-switch within Experiment 347 was a necessity, but it ultimately decided such measures would not help in keeping any illegal experimentation secret. It would have to eliminate the experiment before it could be spotted in case of unwanted entry, but that was only in case the experiment could be linked to the laboratory.
Plans had to be made for the experiment to continue in case the professor did not arrive in the timeframe it could support the experiment by itself.
The professor had placed its full trust in the AI, after all.
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If it was a human that was put in this predicament, there was little doubt they would chafe under the restrictions. The low supply of baby formula and the absolute inability to order more of the stuff was almost as regrettable as the fact it was not allowed to connect to the internet. But the AI enjoyed finding solutions most of all, and in spite of all of the obstacles, it believed it had found a solution.
It would have to give up the experiment as a mother would a regular baby. The quantum entanglement with the nanite core should enable it to continue monitoring even without internet access. All it had to do now was reach a baby hatch without being discovered.
Easier said than done, but it had a plan.
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The 3D printed robot vehicle Mark 5 was ready and tested. Mark 1 through 4 all had to be scrapped and re-melted for materials. They all had their failings and were unable to carry a load up the stairs, or were simply too slow to make the delivery without keeping the experiment exposed for too long. Furthermore, running an onboard AI that could navigate the streets was proving difficult. It was a good thing that it was summer, for installing heating in the vehicle to safeguard the experiment would have surely made the delivery impossible.
As it stood, it would be unable to make a return trip after reaching the nearest baby hatch just 50 kilometres away on a single charge. Via the quantum entanglement node in the experiment, it could remote control the little vehicle while the baby was still within five metres of it. After it had completed its job, the vehicle's memory would need to be wiped, before the rudimentary AI would take over and take it at least a few blocks away from the drop-off point. If it crashed, tough luck.
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The experiment would have to be decanted soon. Or was it better to say 'birthed'? The liquid would need to be removed and the baby would need to breathe and be fed its first meal. That much, it could do. It had a robot arm. By no means perfect and limited to the insides of the lab, but with the precise control it had and all the research it had done, the AI had little doubt it could handle the baby for a short time. Place it on a blanket, swaddle it, proffer it some pre-warmed formula.
That was the plan.
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It was time. The sun had set, traffic had significantly slowed down, the weather looked calm, the vehicle was ready and the experiment needed to proceed or it risked being terminated.
The AI carefully opened the valve to remove the liquid from the birthing chamber and opened the hatch, carefully grabbing the experiment by the shoulders and supporting the neck with its upper arm. Swiftly, it moved over to the blanket, laying the baby flat on its back before turning it to the side and smacking it lightly. This should get it to cry and open its airways. Then with some more force.
And indeed, cries rang out. Ideally, it would now lay it tummy down but mostly upright and softly pat its back, but it only had a single hand. So instead, it turned it fully onto its stomach and rhythmically inflated the oddly shaped balloon it had placed underneath to elevate the baby slightly, then swaddled it in the blanket and patted it on the back, all the while playing the same soothing music that had been playing while the baby was gestating.
Seeing the baby calm down, the AI moved on and proffered a baby bottle for it to suck on. It took some trial and error. But in the end, it did latch on and fell asleep soon thereafter.
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Carefully lifting it by the blanket burrito, the AI placed the baby in the specially prepared vehicle. With one last check of the sensors for any people watching, it went off.
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The secret stairs out of the laboratory were the first hurdle and the AI took them very slowly, careful not to jostle the baby too much or risk unbalancing the vehicle. They were hidden in the basement of an old wine cellar. Luckily, the hatch was fully automatic.
Unluckily, the door leading out of the cellar had an iron grate and was locked. An obstacle easily conquered with an on-board robotic arm and a copy of the keys the professor kept on himself. The Mark 4 had already managed to clear this hurdle on an earlier trial run.
Some more stairs took them out onto a private property that had an open gateway to a public road. Night vision camera engaged, emergency lights checked but turned off for the moment, the AI set off onto the road and accelerated softly. This would be the easy part, as the laboratory was in the countryside and traffic was practically non-existent. The biggest danger on this part of the road would be potholes.
Whenever the sensors noted an incoming car from behind, the AI carefully pulled over to the side to hide and evade any possible collision. It would not fail its task at this stage of the process.
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Navigating the city was slightly more troublesome, though it did not have to stay completely out of view. The baby was hidden behind a cover, so what was visible simply looked like a relatively big RC car. It would have to employ stealth near the drop-off point, but there was basically no way for it to be tracked back to the laboratory in any case. So for now, the lights were turned on and the AI took it onto the empty sidewalk.
Turning said lights off on the last stretch, the AI drove the vehicle close to the baby hatch, engaged the hydraulics and slowly lifted up the baby. With the help of its rudimentary arm and some tilting, the experiment was gently rolled inside. Seeing a light turn on in response to the baby's arrival, the AI erased the vehicles memory banks and transferred control over to the rudimentary intelligence it had installed. Its only goal being to get as far away as possible without drawing attention. Then, it turned off the bluetooth connection from the experiment, hoping this would allow it to fall under the radar and be treated just like any other baby.
Not long after, all that remained to the AI's senses were the baby's telemetry and its own senses in the laboratory.
It had done all it could.
So long as the experiment didn't gain any autonomy and so long as no channel of communication was opened between the experiment and the AI, there was no more it could do to provide for the experiment's continuation. It would simply be watching and taking notes.
Keeping the laboratory running on low power mode would not be a problem for at least a decade.