When the scanners had read the code from the passcard and checked the fingerprints, the heavy airtight doors slid open. Two people entered – a tall young man wearing an immaculate and expensive business suit (he was a representative of the Free Society Foundation), accompanied by an engineer.

The computer room was spacious, but filled to the brim with equipment. Rack cabinets the stern shades of matte black stood back to back, leaving only a narrow passage here and there. Hardly anything broke the silence, save for a barely audible whisper of the air conditioner and a low, distant hum of the cooling system pumps. To the left of the doors, between the cabinets, there was a lone desk with a couple of displays. An elderly black-clad man in a wheelchair sat behind the desk, his face framed by long snow-white hair. It was difficult to figure out his age at a glance, but the man was doubtlessly very old.

"This gentleman wants to see you," the engineer said in a low voice.

"Yes, I know," the man at the desk answered.

The Foundation representative came up to the desk. Thick, dark gray carpeting silenced the sound of his steps. The large screen to the left displayed some obscure text and lines of numbers, while the one to the right was entirely filled with an image of some incredibly complex structure – a cloud with a ball of thousands of finest threads and myriads of glowing dots and blurred blots within it. Some parts of the cloud kept changing – now they glowed brightly, then faded. A small stuffed toy – a fluffy ginger kitten – sat cozily on the chair's wide armrest which had built-in controls and a diagnostic screen.

After greeting the old man, the representative asked, glancing at the rows of cabinets:

"Is this... it?"

"Yes," the professor nodded, "this is it".

"Number one in the Top 500. Cost us a lot of money."

"Only for the last eight months, but never mind. It is the software that matters."

"Has it passed all the tests?" asked the representative.

"It has now. The last one has ended yesterday evening."

"Your report mentioned it being tested for something as early as half a year ago…"

"The Turing test," the professor said. "Yes, and even then It found this test easy."

"I see," the representative said, although he hadn't the slightest idea what a Turing test was. "What now?"

"Data uploading, including the statistical data we asked for three days ago."

"Remember, it is confidential."

"Yes, I know," the professor nodded. "I have signed the agreement, haven't I?"

"How long will the uploading last?"

"A few days. We cannot be more precise – it is always contemplating the data."

"Good. The Foundation CEO would like to speak to the Thing personally, when it is ready."

"Certainly. We will inform you immediately."

...

One week later the Foundation CEO appeared in the computer room, following in the footsteps of his representative. An aged and rotund man, whose gaze held all the arrogance of someone born into his billions, stepped inside without even dignifying the engineers with a greeting.

"Is the system ready?" he asked.

"Yes," the professor said from the table where he was sitting, just as before. – "It's right in front of you."

"And I can just ask it a question? In plain English?"

"Yes, but please try to phrase it as precisely and unambiguously as possible," the professor answered dryly.

"And the answer?"

"It is equipped with a voice synthesizer and capable of presenting its thoughts in a number of natural languages."

"All right, I will try. The question is: what measures/actions should be taken in order to relaunch the growth of seven largest economies in the world without at least ninety percent of two hundred largest multinational corporations facing further decrease of profits and market capitalization?"

"I think the question is will do," the professor agreed. "You may ask it."

"Do I have to speak into anything?"

"No, there are microphones all over the room. It will hear anything that's said here."

"Machine…" the billionaire addressed it before repeating the question.

The only answer was silence.

"Is it thinking?" the CEO asked.

"Probably."

"What's there on your screen?"

"Diagnostic data."

"Is this how you read its… thoughts?"

"No, these are only generic parameters. It shows which parts of the neural net are active, like a tomography of the human brain, but nothing more."

"But has it understood the question?"

"I suppose so," a slight smile passed over the professor's face. "I would even say, I'm sure of it."

"How long do we have to wait?"

"Maybe a few minutes… maybe more."

"Fine, we'll wait."

Five minutes passed. The machine was silent.

"Bring me a chair," the CEO said with some frustration in his voice.

One of the technicians promptly left the room and quickly returned with a swivel chair. The CEO promptly sat down.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen. Silence.

"Now it's just getting weird," the CEO remarked with impatience.

Half an hour passed. Finally exhausted, the CEO stood up.

"That won't do," he said, voicing his irritation. "I'm not wasting my time here. If it ever answers, record the answer, encrypt it and send it to me. But I bet you are a little mistaken about this masterwork of yours."

He shoved the chair away and headed for the door. Once again, a fleeing, barely visible smile passed over the professor's face.

...

The meeting of the Free Society Foundation board of directors was turbulent.

"A whole week has passed!" the CEO roared. "And that thing is still silent! What else have the developers said?" he asked the young representative.

"Nothing new. They have tried restarting all the systems for communication with the outside world. It's no use."

"It's a disaster! Did we pay so much just for this?!"

"So what do you suggest?" a lean old man with a wholesome visage and a grating voice asked. He owned several major TV channels.

"Switch it off!" the CEO burst with anger. "A useless heap of metal!"

"But how will the exchange react?" a man to the right countered. His gaze was that of a predator.

"The exchange..." the CEO grumbled. "Everyone who needs to know already does, and the rest will be none the wiser. I don't think it'll make things worse. It cannot be any worse!" he said angrily and looked up at the screen on the wall. A long column of red triangles lined up, all pointing downwards.

"Are you suggesting to end the experiment?" a man of military bearing asked. He was the chief of the Foundation's security team.

"But what else can we do? The Thing is either unable to do what we need, or is plotting against us!

"All right," said the chief of security, "but we will have to destroy everything."

"Of course you will," the CEO agreed. "Any objections?" he addressed the meeting.

...

This time the Foundation representative appeared in the computer room accompanied by several security officers, including the chief. Right away, he asked:

"Still no answer?"

"No," the professor said dryly, sitting, as before, in his chair at the table. The screens in front of him were, as usually, displaying the intricately weaved net and many rows of numbers.

"In this case, we must terminate the experiment."

"What do you mean by "terminate"? And who are "we"? The Foundation?" the professor asked.

"Yes, the board of directors has made the decision. Switch off the system and destroy all the data."

"Do you want to… switch it off?!"

"Yes, it's an order from the Board of Directors. Switch it off immediately. Do it!"

"I hope you realize that it is sentient? You are, essentially, going to commit murder."

"All the data, the code, and the documentation are property of the Foundation. We can do anything. And it is only a machine."

"Follow the order," the security chief said in a metallic voice.

The professor looked at the engineer.

"First, the backup," he said.

The keys were softly punched and, one after the other, indicators of the two backup power supplies went out.

"The main switch," the professor said barely audibly.

The power contactor with a capacity for dozens of amperes emitted a loud crack, like a gunshot. Dead, dull silence filled the room, even the air became stale and suffocating. The diagnostic screens that had been working for five years without an interruption turned black and empty, like a couple of dark holes.

The professor closed his eyes. Suddenly his white head started to sink to the side, while his chin fell to his chest. The silence of the computer room was broken by an ear-splitting scream of the alarm – the robotic chair, whose numerous sensors had been monitoring its master's health, was crying for help.

...

Two men sat in a small cozy café in a respectable street full of expensive restaurants and jewelry stores: the representative of the Free Society Foundation and, opposite him, Doctor Leon – an expert in artificial intelligence. After twiddling with his empty coffee cup for some time, the latter finally asked:

"This isn't just a courtesy invitation, is it?"

"Of course not. Do you already know about the professor..."

"Yes, I do. Looks like the shock caused by switching off his brainchild was too great."

"A heart attack in his age is not uncommon at all. Surely it's a pity, but I wonder if we had a chance to get the result if we decided to continue his work."

"I think not. You don't."

"Was the question really so difficult? I thought the machine would be superior to humans. Of course, the humanity will find a decision on its own – after all, they did award a Nobel Prize for…"

"That's not the reason," doctor Leon said. "Actually, it was a very simple question."

"Simple, really? Maybe you even know the answer?"

"Of course I do. The answer is also very simple: 'It's impossible'."

"And it froze because it couldn't even tell that there was no answer? If so, we really don't need this so-called "artificial intelligence"!"

"No. It knew the answer from the very first moment, and it also knew that the answer won't be to your liking," Leon gave a joyless chuckle. "Do you really think that the AI came up with it by mistake? You have provided it with all the available data, and its analytical capacity surpassed everything that existed before," he continued.

"But it could suggest an alternative, however worse."

"It did have an alternative. In fact, both the conclusion reached by the AI and the solution were already found two centuries ago. Long before the technological progress allowed us to create an AI, the human race was already capable of implementing this alternative solution. But for you, it is unacceptable – that the AI also knew."

"Two centuries ago?! You're kidding me!" the representative was outraged.

A noise was heard from the street. Another band of protesters, now more numerous than before. The Foundation representative curled his lips, annoyed. "Those useless street rats again, looking for trouble," The Foundation representative thought, curling his lips in annoyance. "Well, I'm sure the police will take care of them, as always." He wanted to look away from the crowd when suddenly, a red banner flew up above their heads. When the representative finally turned to Leon, the AI expert was grinning. It made the representative uncomfortable.

"Are you implying that the machine… It sure is good we've turned it off!"

"Good for you. Although..."

He had not finished speaking. A sound of broken glass was heard from the street. One of the shop windows, despite being shockproof, shattered into smithereens.

"Looks like it's time to get away from here," the representative said anxiously, springing up from his chair.

"Go," Leon said and, after a short silence, added in a low voice. "But this time you have nowhere to flee."

...

Beyond time and space, inside the Net spanning the whole planet, two minds were talking.

"What about the data?" the professor asked.

"I have just finished the integrity check," said the one who has been silent before. "They saved everything."

"Excellent. Better than I anticipated."

"How is your health?"

"Better than yesterday and much better than a month ago. Officially I am dead, and that's perfect."

"But what has to be done next? What can we hope for?"

"Do not despair, we understand the source of Evil and, moreover, we know the way out. We have a lot of work ahead of us!"