14

When Liam heard the door closing behind Aiden, he stood up from his chair and went into the living room, and stood in front of the ancient photo of Central Park. For the first time since he became lead engineer, his dream for humanity has never felt more alive. Liam understood that convincing the TAC IIs is a just a single step towards his vision of a just society, but it would be a substantial step, and he wanted to see the face of the leaders of the corporate families when they realized that the AI no longer only had their interest in mind.

Liam realized that he was getting ahead of himself. There were still many uncertainties in their plan and many things which could go wrong. First Liam had to make sure that during the night’s meeting, he and Aiden are able to convince Rosa Ristenel to lend them her support if all goes well. Next, they had to make sure that they reach the professor in time, and even if they do that, Liam wasn’t sure if the professor’s complete theories were able to convince the TAC IIs. Even if it could, Liam still had to finalize his plans with Aiden on how they were going to infiltrate the TAC IIs. On the other hand, if the colonel was able to destroy TAC IIs somehow before the decennial plan announcements, then all their plans would have been for nothing.

Liam hoped that by talking with Ristenel, he could convince the woman to not give them her support, but also to call the colonel off her plans. Even if everything planned goes well, it was still highly unlikely that the corporations will just listen to the TAC IIs’ commands. After all, the AI was treated both as a legitimate leader and as an adviser. The fight ahead after that would be a hard one, and if won, would just be in New York. The world was still very big, and Liam suddenly realized that he would probably not see his dreams realized in his own lifetime, but was determined none the less.

He moved back to his room and resumed the paperwork needed to sell all his Bureogis stocks, and to transition his savings into offshore accounts. The move would make any onlooker highly wary, but it was necessary. Liam also hoped that the information would move slowly through the company’s chain of command. When he was done with that, he filed a report suggesting that the company tighten their security around the TAC IIs. Before concluding the message, he took a long thought on if he should mention reasons for extra security other than just the presentation of the TAC IIs’ plans. He knew that by suggesting the possible disloyalty of the security officers he would be betraying his brother’s trust. Liam was conflicted about what he should do but concluded that he was technically keeping his promise if he didn’t mention explicitly that it was Elizabeth that he things might be leading a sabotage. As a compromise between his two inner consciences, Liam simply ended his message with:

“An additional risk factor, although not to be taken too seriously without additional confirmation, is that with the recent firing of the almost the entire officer corps as suggested by The Curator, it is possible that personnel with a history which may tempt them to act against the immediate interests of the Bureogis corporation might now actually do so due to the changes in relationships between them and the company. Again, I find it necessary to state that this conclusion is simply a result of a line of reasoning, and not to be taken too seriously without additional confirmation.”