Chapter 10 · Continued
Back to the Factory
“Yes. I can provide verbal assistance without establishing a direct interface.”
Jane nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We aren’t risking a connection until we understand exactly what RCAM can and can’t detect.”
For a moment, Chris said nothing.
He was considering the same implications.
Cam’s damaged telemetry.
RCAM’s silence about the missing unit.
The possibility that Cam had effectively disappeared from its network.
Or worse…
Or worse, RCAM was already looking.
Chris finally exhaled and slid the screwdriver back into Chester’s open service panel.
“Agreed,” he said. “Let’s get Chester functioning and send him home. Then we’ll deal with Cam.”
Cam retracted the unused service connector into the concealed compartment in his wrist.
A soft click.
The panel sealed.
Jane visibly relaxed when she heard it close.
Chris pointed toward the exposed circuit board inside Chester. “All right. No creepy robot mind-melds today.”
Cam tilted his head. “That description is technically inaccurate.”
“See? That right there is exactly why we’re avoiding it.”
Behind them, Seymour stretched lazily across Chester’s top panel like a furry paperweight.
The little delivery bot emitted a muffled chirp beneath him.
“MOO MART THANKS YOU FOR YOUR CAUTION.”
Chris stared at it. “You know what? That’s fair.”
He disappeared briefly down the hallway and returned with his laptop tucked under one arm and a diagnostic cable draped over his shoulder. He set both on the coffee table and sat on the floor beside Chester.
“I have an isolated diagnostic environment on this machine,” he explained as he opened the screen. “It boots separately from everything else. No network access and no shared connection to my main system.”
Jane leaned over the back of the couch to watch him. “Robot quarantine.”
“Exactly.”
Chris pointed at Seymour. “First, however, we need to remove management.”
Jane scooped up the cat and deposited him on the couch beside her.
Seymour glared at both of them.
“Your objection has been noted,” Chris said.
Before connecting anything, he opened another section of Chester’s housing and located the cellular communications module. He disconnected its power lead, then disabled the wireless hardware on his laptop.
Jane watched each step. “So Chester can’t call Moo Mart, and the laptop can’t call anybody.”
“That’s the idea.”
“And Cam isn’t connected to either one.”
“Correct.”
Jane nodded. “That makes me feel slightly less nervous.”
“Slightly is probably the best we’re going to achieve today.”
The laptop screen flickered as Chris opened the offline diagnostic environment. Then he carefully turned Chester sideways and examined the front camera housing.