Chapter 149: A good question
"And the machines collect it, master?"
"Machines collect everything. The medical scanners, the cleaning systems, and the automatic gates that sterilize their own handles all take samples to protect the public from disease."
"Then they throw the results into a log that nobody ever reads." His grin widened. "Nobody reads it except me!"
"That is a considerable invasion of privacy, master."
"It is a considerable public service."
"Logged as an invasion of privacy, master."
"Log it as a public service."
"Both entries have been saved."
Batnac laughed and began to pace in front of the screens.
"This is also why the Association’s records are useless to them. Half the transports in this country do not even check identification, so their paperwork cannot follow him anywhere. But I do not need paperwork. I only need him."
A soft chime sounded from the tall robot’s body, and the hum inside it faded away.
"Sequencing complete, master. Confidence level is ninety-eight percent."
"Show me."
The dome on Unit Twenty-One’s head lit up, and a rotating double helix rose out of it and floated above the table.
Thousands of tiny white points ran along the twisting strands, and a few of them pulsed in a darker color, as if someone had marked them.
Batnac walked around the hologram slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, studying it from every side like a collector admiring a painting.
"So this is what you look like on the inside, Leon Allistar," he murmured. "You are not so special after all."
"Master, the Association has replied to your message," the service unit said.
"Oh?" He did not look away from the helix. "Read it to me."
"It says, ’Please stop printing the word PATIENCE on our machines. Six hundred printers have run out of paper. Several departments have also run out of patience.’"
Batnac threw his head back and laughed so hard that his metal shoulders shook.
"They have a sense of humor after all! Send it again."
"Master, that would use more paper."
"Exactly."
"Sent, master. Six hundred and three printers."
"Wonderful." He wiped the corner of his eye with a metal knuckle. "Now let us finish this before they send another complaint, because I will not be able to resist replying to that one as well."
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
He raised his left wrist, and a small holographic display opened above his forearm. He reached out and touched the floating helix with one finger.
The strands shrank down into a glowing white icon that slid across the air and settled onto the display, where a line of text appeared beside it.
[Target: Leon Allistar]
"Signature recorded," Batnac said. "Service unit, the map."
"Yes, master."
The dark screens along the far wall flickered to life one after another until they joined together into a single enormous map of the Western Continent.
Cities glowed on it as tiny points of light, and a small red dot marked the spot where his house stood.
"Shall I begin with the entire continent, master?"
"No, that would be wasteful. We begin close to home and widen the circle each time." He walked toward the map with his hands behind his back.
"The cities nearest to us will only be a formality, because nobody is foolish enough to hide next door to the great master of technology, Batnac."
"But I like to do things in the proper order, so we will rule them out first and then move outward until we reach the places where a man would really hide."
"A formality, master."
"Yes. After that, the real work begins."
A chair slid across the floor and stopped behind him, and he sat down and cracked his neck from side to side. Then he lifted both hands in front of him like a conductor standing before an orchestra.
Along the walls, every robot straightened at the same time. Their lenses glowed in unison, and the low hum in the room grew louder until the metal floor trembled under it.
"Unit Twenty-One, send the signature to the network."
"Uploading, master."
"Service unit, prepare the map."
"Ready, master."
Batnac smiled, and the smile stretched wider than it ever had that morning.
"Begin the scan."
The red dot flashed once. A ring of pale light spread out from it across the map, passing over the nearest cities one by one while lines of text scrolled down the side of the screen.
[Scanning...]
Batnac leaned back in his chair and began to laugh.
"Run wherever you like, Leon Allistar!" he shouted at the glowing map. "You can never escape my eyes!"
The first ring of light reached the edge of the map, and the lines of text on the side of the screen stopped scrolling.
"First ring complete, master," the service unit said. "Four cities scanned. No matches found."
"Of course there were no matches." Batnac waved a hand lazily. "I told you the nearest cities were only a formality."
"Shall I begin the second ring, master?"
"Begin it."
A second ring of pale light rose from the red dot and spread across the map. It moved more slowly this time because it had a much larger area to cover, and the names of towns and districts flickered past on the screen too quickly to read.
Batnac leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. For the next minute he watched the map with a patient smile, and the only sounds in the room were the low hum of the machines and the tapping of one metal finger against the armrest.
Then the tapping stopped.
He glanced sideways at the service unit, but its red lens stayed fixed on the map. He cleared his throat. The lens did not move.
He cleared it again, louder this time, and then looked up at the ceiling as though he had been admiring the cables the whole time.
"Master," the service unit said at last. "A question has occurred to me."
"Oh?" Batnac sat up a little straighter, and he tried very hard to sound as though he had not been waiting for it. "Go ahead."
"The Association normally pays you triple for a case of this size, master. For this case, you have not sent them an invoice at all. May I ask why?"
Batnac’s smile stretched until it nearly reached his ears. "Now that is a good question."