He paused on a small, square device, its entire top surface a screen. When he turned it over, he saw a series of frequencies printed in the plastic.
“Oh, that,” Lucius called out from the end of the rack, shrugging as he caught sight of Bruce analyzing the item. “It’s just a repair device. You might want that for your system at home. Its frequencies will reset your electronics if they’re on the fritz.”
Bruce nodded casually back at Lucius, but when the man returned to talking with the researchers, Bruce popped open the back cover of the device. Madeleine’s words now came back to him, as did the memory of her staring up at her ceiling. If he could redo some of the settings on this device, he could fool it into temporarily scrambling the security cams at Arkham. With this, he could at least get to Madeleine if there was an emergency or if the Nightwalkers attacked again and he needed more information from her.
Bruce deactivated the device’s alarm so that he could take it out of the room. Then he slipped it into his pocket and headed back to join Lucius, who was standing in front of a display.
“What’s this?” Bruce asked.
Lucius grinned. “Something you’ll find impressive, I think.”
The display showcased an opaque black helmet and a black armored body suit made of latticed fabric. It gleamed under the light as if entirely made of metal, but its texture made it clear that it was as foldable and bendable as silk, armor that seemed capable of molding to fit its wearer. Bruce leaned down to study its surface closely, admiring the light reflecting off it.
“We’ve been working on protective gear,” Lucius went on. “This is our latest experiment in wearable, bulletproof fabric, with reinforced links like microscopic chain mail, strong as steel, comfortable enough for the wearer to make full leaps and twists. Still in beta testing, of course, and not ready for prime time yet. But it can double the strength of a human. The navy commissioned it two years ago. It’s been quite a lucrative contract for us.”
Bruce nodded along. This suit would have come in handy when he headed into the tunnel below the Bellingham building.
They walked down several more rows before Lucius stopped them. An open row yawned to either side, dividing the lab in half, and on the other side, Bruce saw a series of cyborg-like machines, each of their metallic legs and arms as thick as his waist. Double rotors attached to their backs seemed to give them flight capabilities, and two thin lines of blue-gray light shone on their heads like a pair of narrowed eyes.
Lucius stopped beside one of the machines and held out a hand in its direction. “Now, this! This is what you’ve been waiting to see.”
Bruce stared up at the machine’s eyelike lights. These are the drones. It appeared to stare back at him, as if it were eerily aware of him. If Lucius was going for intimidation, he succeeded. “How do they work?” he asked, trying to tear his eyes away from the piercing gaze.
“Well,” Lucius said, “let’s bring one out and demonstrate.”
The drone nearest to them stirred to life, and its eyes began to glow a steady blue. Immediately, it seemed to detect them standing in front of it.
“Ada,” Lucius said, nodding at the bot. No sooner than he said this name, the robot’s head swiveled in his direction.
“Mr. Fox,” it replied.
“Now,” Lucius went on, turning back to Bruce, “Ada—or our Advanced Defense Armament—has already decided, based on our heart rates, the electric signals our bodies give off, and the body language that we are all using, that you and I are friends. It has also swept the Internet to gather information about us both. Hand me your phone.”
Bruce did as he asked. Lucius took it, held it up to his own so that the two devices were touching, and installed something on Bruce’s phone. Bruce watched carefully. Lucius returned the phone a moment later. On its screen, Bruce saw an app displaying blue-and-white silhouettes of himself and Lucius, color-coding them both into a FRIENDSHIP category.
“Now, if it were to detect someone as hostile,” Lucius went on, “it would immediately react in an appropriate manner.”
“And how does it know if someone’s hostile?”
“Body language. An aggressive stance. It can also understand what the person is saying, and certain words will trigger its hostility detector.” Lucius hunched his shoulders forward at the bot, then narrowed his eyes and held up his fists. “Allow me to demonstrate,” he called to Bruce without shifting his eyes away from the machine.
Ada’s stance instantly became rigid, and the limbs unfurled, revealing two embedded sets of weapons attached to each side. It straightened, towering momentarily over Lucius. “Stand down, or you will face arrest.” At the same time, a metallic shield unfurled from one of its arms and stretched out before Bruce and the others, so fast that he barely had time to see it happen. Bruce instantly sprang back, his hands going up in defense. When Lucius put his arms up as if surrendering, the bot detected the movement and spoke again.
“Thank you for cooperating, Mr. Fox,” the drone said. Even in Bruce’s excitement, the words sent a chill down his spine.
“What does it do if you don’t cooperate?” he asked.
Lucius tapped the button on his phone again, and the drone immediately went back into a passive stance. “Ada’s number one objective is to protect the officers under its charge. It will be in defensive mode at all times, and will reserve offensive modes as a last resort, when it can sense that a dangerous perpetrator is about to attack.” As Lucius delved further into the detailed inner workings, Bruce stepped forward to inspect the drone’s joints. Lucius popped open a panel on the drone’s side, pointing out a series of circuits. “Had I run away or struggled, for instance, Ada would reach out and restrain me calmly. It’s also programmed not to attack its fellow drones. They won’t open fire on each other.”
“Impressive,” Bruce said, watching intently as Lucius showed off the wiring behind a second panel on the drone.
“We are proposing that one of these drones accompany each police squad, and several join each SWAT team in the city. They can offer an image of assurance, boost the morale and confidence of their human counterparts, as well as act as a lightning-fast defense, protecting the lives of our city’s officers on even the most dangerous streets.”
Bruce kept his eyes fixed on the drone’s. He had never seen AI this responsive before. His mind whirled, trying to piece together how Lucius had accomplished this. There had been an earlier drone, he remembered, a flying one that Lucius had conceptualized and scrapped years ago. Bruce thought back through the code and hardware he’d seen working in that. Had Lucius expanded on it into this?
Madeleine would like this.