Disclaimer – If I owned Eureka, Fargo wouldn't be dating a crazy lady; he'd be dating someone worthy of him, not a psycho willing to literally steal another person's identity. (She scared me.)
Teaser – In an effort to help Allison cope with the arrival of Nate, the organic computer clone of the late Nathan Stark, Jack brings in his ex-wife, Abby. Meanwhile, there is a sudden outbreak of drowning victims and Nate puts up with Dr. Manlius, who's methods for obtaining the data from Nate's cells seem suspect.
Pairings – eventual Jack/AI!OrganicComputer!Nate
Chapter Four – In Which the Concept of Sentience is Discussed
Jo sighed in frustration as she walked into Cafe Diem. What should have been an open and shut case of drowning was turning out to be not so easily shut as she thought. After ruling out an accident, Jo had moved on to possible murder.
The only people who stood to gain from Monroe's death were her fellow baby-product researchers: Draper and Bell.
So Jo had tracked down the nearest of the duo – Draper – who was supposed to be having lunch at Cafe Diem. But there was no sign of Draper... just a lot of water on the floor and customers hurriedly finishing their meals to get away from the oncoming flood.
"Jo?" Zoe hurried over with an empty plate balanced on one hand. "Is Doctor Monroe really dead?"
"Yeah... she is." Jo placed a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder. Zoe, as well as her father, had become like family to Jo over the past two years and Jo wished she knew how to console her. It suddenly occurred to Jo that this was likely the first time since Stark that someone Zoe had known died abruptly and, seemingly, without reason. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine, Jo." Zoe put on a brave smile. "You aren't here for lunch, are you? 'Cause Vince and I can't seem to find the source of the leak, so we're trying to shut down once everyone already here is done."
"Actually, I'm here looking for Doctor Draper. I'd heard she was in here, but... I don't see her. She must have left already." Though... there was an abandoned laptop next to a mostly empty plate. It could have been anyone's, but Jo was hopeful that it meant her quarry was still there.
"She was here just a moment ago," Zoe said, glancing around. Her eyes landed on the laptop as well. "That's her computer; she's probably in the bathroom."
"I'll knock and see," Jo said, letting Zoe get back to work.
Walking up to the bathroom door, Jo knocked on it. There was no answer, but the little 'occupied' symbol was visible so she tried again. "Dr. Draper, are you in there?" Still no response. "Dr. Draper?" Jo put her hand on the doorknob and twisted. Before she could even pull it open, though, the door burst open with a splash and Dr. Draper's corpse collapsed onto the ground at Jo's feet.
Well damn. So much for that suspect.
"Oh my god. She's dead!" Zoe was staring at Draper's body in horror, so Jo pulled the girl outside and settled her into one of the chairs.
"I'll be right back," Jo promised and then went back inside. "Okay, I need everybody to go outside in an orderly fashion. This just became a crime scene." As the small crowd wandered outside, Jo pulled out her cellphone. She needed to call Fargo so that he could act as coroner again, Jack so that he'd could be updated on the case, and Lucas to come comfort his girlfriend. Zoe looked like she could use her boyfriend right about now, anyway.
-=-=-=
Jack saved Doctor Manlius' interview for last.
The first assistant he spoke to – Dr. Gerald, the scowling blonde – had admitted that Nate's presence rather freaked him out, but insisted that he was innocent. Gerald mentioned that Dr. Jarvis, the redhead, had been one of the researchers that Nate had scared out of his lab on the day of the techno-virus.
So Jarvis become the second person that Jack interviewed. Jarvis found the idea of being mad at Nate over what happened rather amusing, especially since Nate had apparently already apologized for it. He dismissed what happened because 'Nate was clearly afraid that he was responsible for hurting someone'. Jarvis was pretty likeable; Jack rather hoped that the perpetrator wasn't him.
Doctor Hinton was the third interview and, though she was appalled at the concept of murder, she seemed rather indifferent where Nate was concerned. She wasn't certain if he was genuinely sentient, but felt that it wasn't her place to judge. If he was human at heart, then he was a truly amazing creation. If he was simply an impressive mimic, then he was still an amazing creation. She knew she'd never know the answer for sure, so she didn't feel like quibbling over the details.
Manlius, however...
"This is ridiculous," Manlius grumbled. "There is nothing wrong with my laser."
"You saw the test results," Jack said calmly. "Did they looked faked to you?"
"No..."
"What cause would Nate have to want to falsify the tests?"
"It... it is programmed to act human and my refusal to play along triggers its response to mimic human resentment," Manlius explained.
"What makes you so certain that he doesn't genuinely dislike you?" Jack tilted his head to the side a little. "Why do you believe he's just a program?"
"Because it is just a program," Manlius said patronizingly. "It might look human, Sheriff, but it's just a construct created to mimic Nathan Stark's behavior in order to better fit in as it fulfills its mission."
"Then why doesn't he act just like Stark did?" Jack grinned as Manlius paused, uncertain how to answer that. "I had this friend in college, a chemist, who had a tendency to liken the human body to a giant, chemically run circuit board with DNA as the base code. Now, I'm no scientist, but that certainly sounds like an organic computer to me.
Finally, Manlius shrugged. "You are right about humans being complex, naturally occurring organic computers, but I simply don't believe that Nate is sentient like we are. I can't prove it isn't sentient anymore than you can prove it is, though. I do believe that it is a unique piece of technology and that, if the tests are correct, the responsible party should be held accountable."
"Well, questions of sentience aside, who had access to the equipment for your project?"
"Just me and Doctors Hinton, Gerald, and Jarvis," Manlius frowned, adding, "there were a few times when just one of us was left alone with the laser apparatus... except for Doctor Hinton. She hasn't actually been alone in there today. Dr. Jarvis had about thirty minutes alone with the laser after I had it brought in, obviously I've been alone with it since I built it, and Dr. Gerald had about ten or fifteen minutes where it was just him in there. It's never been left completely unattended since I arrived with it."
Jack nodded mulling over what he'd been told so far. "Besides you, who else on your team has had access to samples of Nate's genetic profile?"
"Just Dr. Jarvis as far as I know. The other two are neural networkers, like me. Jarvis is a bio-expert. I was almost assigned Dr. Mike Hanners instead, but he refused to have anything further to do with Nate..." Manlius trailed off, his eyes unfocused as he tried to recall the exact words. "Hanners said that he wanted nothing more to do with the man responsible for bringing a plague ship to Eureka. His manner was rather alarming; even if he hadn't refused, I'd have picked Jarvis over him."
-=-=-=
Jack made Henry, Zane, and Tess break for lunch with him and, after much persuading that being sociable was a good thing, convinced Nate to join them even though he didn't have to eat yet.
His mind was stuck on what he'd learned from the four scientists during his interviews. They were all pretty good suspects. For all he knew, they were all in on it. But... that didn't seem right. Mentally, Jack went ahead and discarded Maria Hinton from his list of suspects.
Manlius lacked any sort of respect for Nate, had access to Nate's genetic profile, and had developed the laser – so he definitely could have programmed it to wipe specific sections of DNA. But Manlius had no motive. Despite his refusal to believe in Nate's sentience, he had no particular reason to want Nate destroyed.
Jake Jarvis seemed friendly enough, but it might be a front. He had access to both the DNA profile and the laser and had a minor motive for attempted murder. The motive, however, was too flimsy and Jack's instinct told him that Jarvis was sincere when he said he'd already forgiven Nate.
Irvine Gerald was afraid of Nate for a reason he'd refused to elaborate on and had the knowledge of how to reprogram the laser. But he lacked access to Nate's DNA profile. So if Gerald had something to do with the conspiracy, then there had to be a second person involved.
"You know, I distinctly recall being told that I should be sociable and join everyone for lunch," Nate teased, jerking Jack out of his reverie, "but you're the one being quiet and withdrawn."
"Sorry, I tend to get a one-track mind when I'm working on a case," Jack apologized, amused when Nate affected a mollified expression. "How goes the work on the laser?"
"We've almost finished fixing the problem," Nate told him. Then, eyeing the slice of pecan pie on Jack's tray, Nate let out a somewhat unhappy sigh. "That smells so good... I wish I could eat."
"It's my favorite kind of pie," Jack said a little smugly. Then, more charitably, "you'll have to try some as soon as you can eat."
"Sounds good to me," Nate said.
"How is the investigation going, by the way?" Henry asked.
"I think I have a theory," Jack said, "but for now I need to keep gathering evidence. How was the laser tampered with?"
Zane launched into an explanation of how the perpetrator – or perpetrators – had altered the laser to specifically remove the gene sequences for the various human immunities after downloading the data. Most of it went over Jack's head, but every so often Henry or Tess would cut in and simplify things for him, so he probably understood more than he thought he did. By the time they were done, Jack had finished up his lunch and was ready to move on to his dessert.
Taking a bite of the pie, Jack smiled, closed his eyes, and went "mmm.... delicious."
Nate glared. "Now you're taunting me."
"I have no idea what..."
"That thing just goes everywhere, doesn't it!" The angry voice could be heard from across the GD cafeteria.
"Mike, keep your voice down," Jake Jarvis said, staring worriedly at his companion.
"I will not. That... that thing brought a plague ship to our town and is responsible for the death of Ned. But does anyone think of him? All I hear is, I'm sorry Dr. Lieber's dead. Now isn't our new supercomputer amazing?" Mike was clearly referring to Nate, who had tensed up.
The smile dropped off of Nate's face and he looked down.
Jarvis, however, was growing angry. "That's not true, Mike, and you know it. You should be on leave, not pressuring yourself like this. Ned wouldn't have wanted..."
"We'll never know, now will we," Mike snarled, pushing Jarvis away. "My lover is dead, remember?" He stormed off and Jarvis just stood there for a moment, staring after him.
Maria walked up and linked arms with Jarvis and the two of them settled down at one of the tables, talking quietly.
"Who was that?" Jack asked.
"Doctor Mike Hanners," Tess supplied. "He's pretty infamous in the bio-tech department for his temper."
"If I had known the ship was infected," Nate began to say, only to be cut off back Jack.
"Hey. It was the original computer's oversight not to let you know about the virus it had," Jack reached over and put his hand on Nate's shoulder as startled, bright green eyes jerked up to look into his. "What happened wasn't your fault, okay?"
"Yeah..." Nate gave him a rather feeble smile, but it was enough.
Jack took another bite or two of his pie, but he felt like he'd lost his appetite. He really needed to figure out who had reprogrammed the laser before they struck again. Hanners' outburst had driven the point home without any doubt; Nate's life was still in danger.
A/N - Now there's a new suspect and Jo got to do a little investigating. The next chapter is basically all Jo, though. She's cool... I wish she was my mentor.