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something she had absolutely no intention of doing. Ever. “What I’m saying is we almost had what you want in Rex. Now Rex and all the notes and files are gone. To replicate what we had would take another six or seven years.”
     
      “And what I’m saying, Doctor,” Jason stated flatly, the lover gone, “is that you’ve done it once, and you can not only do it again, but this time make it bigger and better. My God, you got accolades for the mobile robot they’re using in Afghanistan to remotely explore caves and remove bombs. People said it couldn’t be done. But you did it. A machine that does reconnaissance and bomb retrieval. An amazing and brilliant feat.”
     
      The problem, Eden thought, was that she was damn proud of her accomplishments. Damn proud. The government had requested a versatile payload carrier. She’d added reconnaissance payloads with a pan/tilt head and night vision. Chem/gas/radiation payloads, and bomb disposal. That bot was doing good.
     
      Jason stepped into her space, forcing Eden to take a step back. “Doing this would save countless field medics from endangering themselves. An AI doctor, if you will,” he told her, sounding reasonable as he dangled the challenge like a carrot. “Think about it, Eden. This is exactly what you’ve been working toward for years. ”
     
      “We’ve had this conversation ad nauseam,” Eden told him flatly. She’d already done what he was asking. With Rex. And fresh, exciting new ideas and solutions kept her awake at night.
     
      But in light of Theo’s murder, she was going to forget everything she knew, everything she’d learned. She had to.
     
      She’d known that proceeding, giving in to the curiosity, was going to get her into trouble. Hell, forging ahead had most likely gotten Theo killed. Damn, she just hadn’t expected anyone, least of all Theo, to pay the price for her intellectual curiosity.
     
      Artificial intelligence needed three things. Intelligence. Reasoning. And strategy. Strategy was the only element that had been missing. Eden was pretty damn sure she now had that one nailed as well.
     
      She gave Jason a level look. “As tempting as the idea is, I can’t do it. We just haven’t reached that level yet.” This was one lie she hated telling. But she was determined to tell it well, and often.
     
      She was going to an AI symposium in Berlin the following week as their featured speaker. According to statistics and her peers, she was now the leading expert in the field of AI.
     
      She was going to stand up there and flat out lie.
     
      Once machines became more intelligent than a human there would be no way to control them. So no matter how much she wanted to lead the AI revolution, she refused to cross that line. At least publicly.
     
      If an AI somehow gained consciousness, it could very well start making its own decisions. In theory, it could turn on its creators and the danger in that was too horrible to contemplate.
     
      “You won’t do it.”
     
      “Same thing,” she said flatly. “You can always fire me and get someone else to try.”
     
      His mouth tightened, and his pale eyes hardened. “There is no one else. You’re the top of your field.”
     
      “True.” And that burden was giving her a hell of a headache.
     
      He sighed. “I’m sorry I annoyed you.” He touched her cheek with two fingers, his eyes softening. “Forgive me?” He removed an envelope from his inside pocket with beautifully manicured hands. “We’ll shelve this conversation for now. This should please you.” He handed it to her. “I’ve made a list of things already ordered to proceed with the robot. If there’s anything, anything at all, that you want or need, let me know.”
     
      Whatever else he was, Jason had charm in abundance. It had taken him more than a year to chip away at Eden’s firm resolve not to date the boss. He’d surprised her with his persistence. But what Eden, like