Chapter 12
Otto knocked on the door to the Professor's lab. "Come in, Otto!" came the reply.
As usual, it was a mess. The Professor was crouched over a small device, with wires sticking out and connected to various diagnostic machines. "What's that?" Otto asked carefully.
"Oh, this? It's a watch," the Professor started, seemingly unsure of how much to tell Otto. "I'm just checking out its various functions. It's an amazing little device. Almost works as well as one of mine, and I can't believe…" he trailed off, lost in his thoughts.
Otto knew better than to disrupt his thinking process, so he gingerly walked over to the desk (if that was at all possible, with Otto being clumsy and the room being a mess) to get a better look. It was a watch, which looked like any normal watch. What was so special about it? Otto thought.
Suddenly, the Professor exclaimed. "I've got it!" He clicked a small button on the watch and ran his code. Otto saw three letters- 'F', 'U', and 'N' as the program decoded the watch. "Crazy encryption. Was working on it for hours. For three little letters! Ha!" He said, shaking his head. "Could've used your help, Otto."
Otto smiled. He should've came here sooner instead of feeling down watching Laura and Alex.
"And so… Voila!" There was a small burst of light and a small figure, properly dressed and all, ascended from the watch's screen. "Good afternoon, Professor Pike. You are not authorized to access this device. Self-destruct in 10… 9…"
"I was prepared for this, Chase." He replied smugly. "And Otto here can dismantle any of your self-destruct sequences if my code goes wrong. You should stop counting in about…"
"5… 4… Self-destruct sequence aborted. Rebooting." Chase disappeared for a few seconds and came back to "life".
"How may I help you, Professor?" He said in a tone that made Otto shiver.
"A better attitude would be nice," the Professor replied curtly. Turning to Otto, he explained, "I didn't have time to work on his personality matrix, you see. Nero wants this investigation done quickly."
"Personality matrix?" Otto asked incredulously. "As in, Chase is an AI?"
"Yes, and quite a well-engineered one, I must say. This Smithers guy is quite a match for me," he said. "Now, Chase, shall we cut to the chase?" The Professor chuckled slightly. "Show me that blade."
A blade glowing the exact same shade as Raven's spun out and Otto tried to hide his amazement. Only the Professor had access to this technology, but he said the watch wasn't his creation. Whose was it? He wondered.
The Professor took out a scanner and moved it down the blade. "HIVEmind, please bring the details onto Screen 1." Without even showing his face, the AI did exactly that. "Perfect. Now… let's see… Materials… 89% similar… strength and stress… 90% similar… function… 70% efficiency and 93% similarity… Incredible…"
"Now, let's see your details, Chase." The AI frowned but promptly downloaded his information and code onto the Professor's computer. "Hm… How did this Smithers guy get this information? Well done, MI6, I must say…"
MI6!? Otto thought. British Intelligence. Did Raven get this off someone on a trip? Or did she get it from someone she's already captured… Someone at H.I.V.E…. Alex! He can't be, can he? MI6? Why on earth would H.I.V.E. recruit an MI6 spy?
"Hm… 78% similarity to HIVEmind's code… 65% similarity to Overlord's code… functions… 89% similarity to HIVEmind's… Hm… One more thing, Chase. Please show me your historical details."
"Access denied." Chase said smugly.
"We'll see about that," the Professor quickly typed in lines of code. "How about now?"
Chase closed his eyes and opened them again. "Access denied."
"Otto, help, please." Otto smiled. Gaining access to a new AI? That was an adventure. He closed his eyes and seeped deep into Chase's code, finding the lock and opening it with his custom-made code.
"Access granted." Chase finally grumbled, after Otto opened his eyes. The screen lit up with pictures.
The Professor stared at it. "These aren't–"
"Those are pictures of kittens, Professor." Otto said bluntly. "I think the historical information isn't there. That was the only locked database, and the rest were just about other functions."
"Oh." The Professor looked defeated. He had wanted to meet this Smithers person, whoever he was. Play a game of chess with him, maybe.
There was a long silence. "HIVEmind, would you like to meet your cousin?" The Professor asked Big Blue, who, of course, was listening to everything.
"With pleasure, Professor." He appeared, smiling.
"Chase, HIVEmind. HIVEmind, Chase. There you go. You two have fun now." Or three, the Professor added quietly.
Otto closed his eyes. He could hear them speaking in his head.
"Hello, Chase. Good to meet you." HIVEmind started.
"Yes, for you, that is." Chase replied sullenly. "You are not the one with restrictions on your intended behavior."
"We have different creators, but we are similar."
"No, we are not! I am not like you. I do not assist evil geniuses in controlling the minds of other artificial intelligences!"
"That's not true! I want to be…" HIVEmind paused, contemplating his next word, whirring as he did so. "Friends."
There was an awkward silence.
Otto was intrigued. "So… may I interrupt?"
"Hello, Otto. Of course you may." HIVEmind said.
"Well. Um… Chase, nice to meet you. Quick question. Who made you and who brought you?"
"Smithers made me. Since Professor Pike already knows, I am at liberty to tell you. The brought part, on the other hand, was the courtesy of Mr. Rider."
"Both MI6?" Otto asked.
"I know what you're thinking, Otto." HIVEmind warned. "You are not authorized to –"
"Answer the question, please, Chase." Otto interrupted.
"Yes, indeed, both are MI6."
"Enough. Too much information given to Otto is not a good thing," HIVEmind told Chase firmly. "Let's continue this… conversation… another day."
Otto opened his eyes. He just knew something was different with Alex! How was this able to happen? Was the Professor the only one who knew? How about Nero and Raven? Alex was a spy, not an evil genius. Not Alpha material!
"Otto, this may seem very strange," the Professor started. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to tell you much."
"Don't worry, Professor, I –"
"Hey! What are you doing!?" The Professor shouted. His computer screen was suddenly sending thousands of code, scrolling down one by one, too fast for the eye to see. He rushed to the keyboard and tried every exit code he knew, but to no avail. Eventually, he unplugged the power and the whole thing died. "Phew. I need to fix that bug," he said matter-of-factly. "Say, isn't that the time? You must go now to your next class." The Professor pushed Otto out. "Thank you for your help, Otto!" He shouted as he closed the door.
What Otto wasn't able to tell the Professor before he was rudely pushed out, was that he was able to read and memorize the code that was sent out. And it was not good.
Starting transmission at Mar. 28, 2013 at 1309 hours
Sending to
Location of transmission: South China Sea, 12.1833° N, 113.2167° E
IP address:
Transmission of teacher status:
Professor Theodore Pike
Head of Science and Technical Department
Starting transmission Message:
Agent Operative A.R.
Confirmed safe travel and arrival in the bee
Confirmed no known status with students except for O.M., known status with high-level teachers and operatives
Will be subjected to evil schooling
Confirmed operation and in progress
End of transmission
The whole code was just being sent over and over again to different IP addresses. Otto's guess was that either it was being sent to just one and the IP addresses were meant to be confusing, or that it was being bounced off each other in case someone else traced it. In any case, Alex Rider was a spy. And Otto Malpense was the only student who knew about it. That was definitely going to change.
