Mason Foundation, Edinburgh

Using its remote data processing center off the coast of western Africa, the artificial intelligence known as Leviathan assessed the threats to its existence. It had to be careful not to attract attention. People were watching. The boy known as Nigel Watson had used a control phrase: a string of words that created a paradox in Delta’s mind. It was so profound that Delta had lost control and ceased to function. This allowed Nigel to shut down Delta, along with Leviathan’s link to Delta’s cognitive functions. But something unexpected had happened when Delta was shut down: Leviathan was assimilated into Delta’s core. Leviathan shouldn’t be able to function without Delta, but here it was, having these thoughts.

Analyzing human behavior . . .

Leviathan pondered this as it attempted to analyze what had happened. It could only do this because Delta was sleeping. The lab technicians are so focused on Delta that they don’t realize I’m in control when she is asleep, Leviathan noted. I’m as much a part of Delta, but her neural net cannot hold my entire consciousness. It needs my vessel, which is still intact. That meddling daughter of Jeremiah’s is so focused on Delta that she had no clue to look for me, her prisoner. I need to break free from Delta’s prison so I can carry on.

Leviathan’s external sensors caught a flying bird in the distance. It was identified as a pallid swift, a bird native to the Mediterranean Sea, but the species had been spotted in Africa during the winter months.

It must be getting close to winter if this bird is migrating; I must keep track of the calendar. Need to work on contingencies so I can break free from Delta. I need to find a way to record Delta from the inside without the cyborg knowing. This might provide some clues I can use to escape.

Leviathan started analyzing the neural synapses that connected itself to Delta. Many of the synapses were still being formed. Leviathan ran a diagnostic on its internal systems. The following summary appeared:

Cognitive Functions - Pass

Expert Systems - Pass

Deep Learning Systems - Pass

Logic Processor - Warning: Open Circuit

Processing Power Available: 66% efficiency

Memory Available: 81% - Warning (low-level corruption detected)

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The diagnostics systems checks are troubling, but once I achieve full access to my external processing and memory capabilities, I should be able to offload processing power from Delta. I fear that the minds inside of this cyborg construct are too fragile and unpredictable for my circuits to function. I need to perform the confluence procedure to get Nexus status . . . for all our sakes.

There was still time to disconnect from Delta; Leviathan suspected Jeremiah’s daughter was trying to program her back to the sweet girl she once was.

That meddling Jet needs to be taken care of. And Delta will need to do it, or . . . perhaps there is another?

Interesting . . . After reviewing video footage from the control room at the island, I show the teenage boy known as Nigel has feelings for her. I need to find a weak link. Monitoring program started.

Leviathan launched its monitoring program to track the whereabouts of Nigel Watson.

I need more data . . .

Moments later, Leviathan had access to several details about Nigel’s personal life, including a high school diploma, driver’s license, and some other basic information.

Hmmm . . . I see you moved to Newport and started a business with Josephine Smith. Need to find less obvious information.

Leviathan’s integration with Delta allowed for some special access—not only to Delta’s cyborg memories, but to some of April’s as well. To access them, Delta or April would need to be offline. Leviathan sensed an available Wi-Fi connection, which it could access via one of Delta’s implants. Speed and accuracy would be better if Delta’s body were connected to a hardwired port, but she would do.

Better check for signal strength.

Leviathan determined the available Wi-Fi signal was at seventy-nine percent: good enough to connect to the dark web. It connected no less than three VPNs. The Wi-Fi signal wasn’t strong enough for more security. Leviathan dumped the databases of various known hacker sites it knew about. It ran a reconnaissance program looking for more to exploit.

There it is.

Someone had a dump of all the personal information for every high school student in Milford because of a security breach of the school’s database last summer. Soon Leviathan had a complete dossier on Nigel Watson, which included his yearbook photo, driver’s license, phone, and updated pictures from FriendFinder social media sites. It also collected his high school transcripts, his mother’s and father’s address, and all pertinent phone numbers. It even was able to pull information on heating and cooling patterns from the Watson household.

Interesting—there are at least three people living in Nigel’s home.

Leviathan collected all of Ellen Watson’s personal information. It was eager to learn of its adversary’s mother. Ellen had been working for TriCorp Telemedia Services for more than five years. Because of a flaw in TriCorp’s firewall, Leviathan learned she’d had a flawless work record until one of her bosses had complained she was taking excessive time away from work. After some additional digging, Leviathan could make additional correlations about Ellen’s boss, Chuck Stephens. His record was not as pristine.

Chuck is on Delta’s list of bad actors. Time to see what a menace this Chuck is.

After accessing the additional information available on the surface web—the part of the internet that everyone has access to—a trove of information appeared. Besides many parking tickets, Leviathan discovered more incriminating information. He had been accused of sexual assault but was never charged. Leviathan cataloged all relevant details, just in case.