“Would it have killed you to have stuck around to address the problem?”

“Monique was in charge. I had another calling.”

“Right. You needed to create a bio-chip that enabled its users to virtually masturbate twenty-four/seven.”

My fists balled, my blood pressure spiked, and it took all of ABE’s rapid bio-adjustments to keep me from tossing a chair across the table at our nation’s second-in-command. “Listen, Lee, don’t blame me or the computer if your helium-3 calculations turned out to be wrong. As for my biological chip, it’s far more important to humanity’s future than fusion energy.”

“How do you figure that?”

I exhaled, suddenly feeling euphoric. “Sorry. What did you ask? Oh, right, ABE. Lee, I didn’t create ABE to compute calculus or learn Latin or to overstimulate the brain’s pleasure centers, I designed the bio-chip to prevent our minds from acting upon our most primordial, ego-based instincts. When the chip-bearer exhibits the physiological symptoms associated with emotions like anger, hatred, and jealousy, ABE causes the brain to release serotonin, a neurotransmitter that creates a happy feeling. Think about it: No more crime, no more self-induced extinctions. I left Omega because I was more interested in affecting the evolution of man, not machine.”

“That’s very commendable,” my uncle said, “but the vice president and I need to know if a closed-logic loop in GOLEM’s matrix could be responsible for the computer acting on its own when it ceased all lunar mining operations.”

“It’s possible. But again, the process that brought GOLEM to determine that course of action would have to be based on its interpretation of its prime directive. The only way ceasing mining operations protects humanity is if the moon’s supply of helium-3 is, in fact, ineffective.”

“Could the computer be programmed to falsify its helium-3 results if it interpreted fusion to be a danger to the propagation of our species?”

“Yes, but only if that conclusion originated from within its solution matrix.”

“Who do you know that might be capable of pulling that off?”

“Besides me? Dr. DeFriend could do it, along with any one of a dozen level-four computer engineers. Having worked with most of them, I seriously doubt they would want to derail the project.”

“You haven’t worked with these people for years,” the vice president shot back. “Fusion energy has its detractors and competitors. The remnants of Big Oil have formed an energy coalition with the coal and tar sands industry. Don’t think for a minute Monique DeFriend or key members of her staff are immune to accepting a bribe.”

“Okay, so you wait until your team returns from the moon with their results. I don’t see a problem here.”