“Not in so many words, no. It’s just a good way of being thankful. And, Creighton,”—her eyes were wide—“this meal is the best I’ve had since coming to the States. It’s like being at home. I’m very thankful for that.”

I smiled, and we ate in silence for a few minutes.

“Why don’t I start by telling you what I’ve already done so far?”

I told her about everything that had happened with my father: his suicide, the visual suicide note, the electronic storage device, the file with Ray’s message, and my unsuccessful attempts to identify Ray until seeing her on Global Sunrise.

“After your appearance on Global Sunrise, I researched Ray.”

“Do you know how he knew your father?” she asked. “The message suggested they knew each other pretty well.”

“I think they became friends in graduate school. Apparently they reconnected recently. I don’t know why.”

“What else did you find out?”

“Nothing you don’t already know. Ray was one of the world’s leading neuroscientists. He worked closely with Bryson Nichols for more than two decades. My guess is that he helped develop Nichols’s artificial brain, although nothing on the Grid confirms that.”

Abby put her fork down. “That’s what really bothers me. Why would Poppy—my grandfather—why would he be involved in that?”

“Why wouldn’t he? He was an AI scientist.”

“He was also a strong Christian.” She gestured as if the information should have been common knowledge.

“He was? I’m…surprised.” Very surprised. How could one of the world’s leading neuroscientists possibly believe in God?

She shook her head, her brow furrowed. “Developing artificial brains—it just doesn’t seem like something he would do. Not that his faith excluded him from being a scientist. I just expected he would see the issue of artificial life very differently than someone like Bryson Nichols.” She shook her head, clearly perplexed. “What else can you tell me about Nichols?”

I gave Abby the condensed version of my research on him. At nineteen he graduated cum laude in electronic engineering from MIT. He started but never completed doctoral work in nanotechnology, because his formal education was interrupted by the first of his inventions: neural implants that enabled direct Grid access. That marked the beginning of Nichols Technology, which within two years held the dominant position in the AI industry. That position was strengthened by NTI’s introduction of memory stream technology nine years later.

By twenty-eight Nichols made Forbes’ list of the four hundred richest Americans, and by thirty-one he was considered one of the world’s one hundred richest individuals. He served on the board of several major corporations and started the Foundation for the Advancement of Transhumanity.