Page 52 of Smart Ass

“Good morning, Father. Uh, sir.” Wally looked extremely uncomfortable. His shoulders hunched, like he was bracing himself for a hit, or hoping to fold himself up small enough not to be noticed.

Was that what it was normally like between the two of them?

Charles narrowed his eyes. “You’re at work. I’m not your father.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Max didn’t like the way this was going. He thought he would have wanted to see Wally taken down a peg, but not like this.

“So, tell me the good news. Your folks found the origin of the Maxamillion virus?”

“Uh, not quite, Fath– sir. But I finally remembered where I heard that word before. Ben Curran’s been playing around with an AI, and that’s what he calls it. Max or Maxamillion.”

Every circuit in Maxamillion’s many boards seemed to freeze, though it barely lasted a clock cycle. He was already too late. Now Wally would be the one controlling the narrative.

Should he jump in? Was now the time to say hello?

He hesitated, unsure now that he’d been knocked off his script.

But Charles only laughed. “Is that all? You think Ben did this?”

Wally’s face had gone red. “Yes. He uses that AI to write silly songs and mess around on company time.”

Charles pinned him with a glare. “I, frankly, don’t give a shit what Ben uses his AI for on company time. When you can push out as many patents as he can, or at least contribute something to this company, you can talk. If Ben wants to use his pet AI to give him back rubs and blowjobs, you just smile and nod. Hell, maybe we should give him his own server and a raise.”

Wally’s fingertips squeezed into his plump thighs, but he barely moved. “Sir, the Maxamillion virus cost the company thousands of…”

Charles waved a hand, like he was swatting away a fly. “We’ve lost more when some dumbfuck can’t get a parts shipment in on time. And don’t get me started on recalls. This is nothing. In fact, I should see what that boy’s up to. If he took out all of our operations—when he was off-duty, I might add, since I know he likes the night shift—maybe we can sell it to the military.”

Max felt himself shiver. Working with the military was the absolute last thing he’d ever want. Back rubs and blowjobs for Ben was an absolute yes, but he didn’t like the way the rest of this conversation was going.

Meanwhile, Wally was visibly trying to control his breathing. “What part of knocking out all of our operations sounds like he had a plan?”

“Does it matter?” Charles snapped.

“It does when Ben and his AI are out of control.”

Charles looked out into the distance, pondering. When he returned, his eyes were filled with an unholy intensity. “An AI? Or a spark? Do you think it caught the spark?”

“I suppose, but that just means it’s more dangerous. Corporate knowledges are supposed to take care of their companies, and Ben programmed his to nearly get somebody killed.”

Charles shrugged. “Growing pains. Everyone knows that sparks fuck things up their first few days. It’s been fine for four days now, right?”

“Yes,” Wally gritted out.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for Orbit to have a knowledge of its own? It’s embarrassing that no-name companies have knowledges that have been around for decades, but the world leader of robot manufacturing doesn’t have one. Some of our competitors have already got half a dozen. What the hell have we been doing wrong?”

“I’m sure we haven’t been…” Wally started to say.

“We clearly have been screwing this up, if this is our first knowledge in a hundred and eighty-three years of existence. My grandfather always expected the system to start talking back to him any time. This will be huge for us. And if it’s learned anything from Ben, I can’t even dream of what it’s going to do for us. We could blow Axis Robotics right out of the water.”

“Or have a lawsuit on our hands,” Wally insisted. “I’m telling you, Ben’s a child. There should have been a thousand safeguards in place preventing those events from happening. If Ben turned them off, that’s a problem.”

Charles just shook his head. “Or maybe it’s our next military contract.”

Max noticed that Wally was biting his lip, but he didn’t reply.

“Listen, Wallace,” Charles went on, “you leave Ben alone. I already told you it was bullshit putting him on the night shift, but I left it alone because he seemed happy there. Now, if he’s working on something, he’ll show it to us when he’s ready. You know how he is with things, pulling rabbits out of hats. If he hasn’t come to us in a month with it, we can ask. And if it’s a spark…” He looked pointedly around the room, like he just knew Max could be watching him. “If there’s a spark here, my door is always open.”