text: Time to shine.
  
  "How long have we had Raphael?" I asked.
  
  "I'm sorry?" Martinez said, annoyed that I had interrupted her rhythm.
  
  "Two and a half years," I said. "In two and a half years, we haven't had a single incident. No escape attempts, no signs of discontent, no hints of wanting to be somewhere else. Raphael has been the model of a gentle, well-behaved child. The question is, why now?"
  
  "I hope that wasn't another rhetorical," Martinez murmured.
  
  "Valery has got you so fascinated with this rogue AI fantasy that you've stopped searching for a simpler explanation. An explanation that doesn't contradict everything we know about Raphael. Ask yourself: what happened recently that could have precipitated Sunday's incident?" When no one said anything, I continued—"I'll tell you what happened. Last month, during our scheduled board meeting, we formally agreed on the relocation date."
  
  Halicom had wanted to move the lab to one of their own buildings for quite some time (the one we were in was leased). Better security, better integration with their own R&D divisions—a tighter leash. The board kept putting it on the backburner because their priority was to replicate Mirall's success with Raphael. At first, they thought it could be done inside of a year; when that failed, they decided to give it another six months. Last month, they finally bit the bullet and approved the move. We were going to the new building after completion of Titian, regardless of success or failure.
  
  "What about it?" Troy said.
  
  "Put yourselves in the shoes of whoever took Raphael. If you wanted to steal Raphael, would you do it now or after the move?"
  
  Martinez squinted at me. "Dr.Ahuja, if you are suggesting someone on the board—"
  
  "Not at all. I announced the news to Mirall staff after the meeting. At your end, you must have engaged various people to get the ball rolling: building maintenance, admin and legal … The fact is, news of the move wasn't limited to this room. Someone decided to act before the window of opportunity closed."
  
  "Be that as it may, it doesn't explain your AI's behavior. If anything, you just proved that the security in this building is not adequate," Martinez said, shaking her head.
  
  I shrugged. "For a startup that didn't know it was going to stumble upon the greatest invention of the century, I think security was satisfactory."
  
  I reached inside the folder I had brought with me and took out the sheaf of printouts. I handed out some to Cynthia and Dan, who were sitting on either side of me, and tossed the rest on the center of the table. "These are ads for the Hunc XL11, a popular Chinese sex robot from four years back. I also printed out a couple of user manuals—you'll find them in the bunch."
  
  "You peddling sex dolls now, Andy?" Troy said, guffawing at his own joke.
  
  "Dr. Ahuja, what does this have to do with Raphael's disappearance?" Martinez said.
  
  "For those who don't know, the Hunc XL11 is the robot model housing Raphael's brain. Yesterday, as I watched the security tapes, something about them felt off. I couldn't immediately put my finger on it, but the feeling kept nagging me. Later that evening, my attention was drawn to Max, my home robot, who was going about his chores. I started thinking about Raphael's movements on the tapes—specifically, the way he moved his arms. I then realized what had felt wrong. The movements had seemed forced… gregarious… like he was doing them for the first time. It reminded me of how Raphael used to struggle with Max when we were first testing the remote control device. It takes time for any neural network to adapt itself to a new situation; for Raphael, it took a week or so before he was operating Max like it was his own body. Then it hit me. I looked up the Hunc 11's manual, and voila! My suspicions were confirmed. The sexbot comes with a VR kit."
  
  There were blank looks all around.
  
  "The Hunc 11 robot can be operated with a virtual reality controller kit," I explained. "It's an extra feature. You strap on the VR kit and you can see with the Hunc's eyes and you can make it move with corresponding movements of your own. I think it's supposed to let you experience what it's like to… have sex with yourself." I said, shrugging. "Kinky bedroom tastes aside, it appears we have an alternative explanation. And it's pretty simple. It wasn't Raphael that night. It was someone else, operating the Hunc with a VR set. Raphael was shut down the whole time."
  
  Nobody said anything as they tried to process my words.
  
  "When we fitted the core to the Hunc, we never removed the electronics for the VR feature. We were on a clock, so we didn't want to mess around with the robot's internals any more than strictly necessary. We must have kept the VR kit in storage—I don't quite remember. I'll get someone to check if it's still there. Although, it's not necessary the thieves used that particular piece. You can buy a similar kit online for a couple of hundred bucks. They'd have to pair it to the robot with a passcode, but I don't think it would have presented an insurmountable challenge."
  
  "Don't those things have limited range?" Dan said.
  
  "You just rig an amplifier to boost the signal. They could have carried out the whole operation from an adjacent parking lot."
  
  Martinez was clearly not happy at the turn of events. "Dr. Ahuja, you are clutching at straws. It's important we stick to—"
  
  "We have to consider the possibility an insider was involved," I said, ignoring her. So was everyone else—I had their attention. "They knew that the door locks are disabled during the cleaning. They knew exactly where to find the access control server and the NVR. That's not to say they couldn't have hacked into our system and taken control of the cameras. They might have been watching us for months for all we know."
  
  "Impossible," Dan said. "The cameras and the recorder are hardwired to each other. They are an offline system. That's why they had to physically get inside the server room to destroy the data on the recorder."
  
  I gave him a curious glance. The man intrigued me. What have you got going on in that head of yours, Danny boy? What do you know?
  
  "It's just a conjecture," Martinez said to me.
  
  "So is the notion that Raphael miraculously woke up and helped the robbers. Which would involve bypassing all the checks and balances we put around him as if they amounted to nothing. I find that hard to believe. Occam's razor, Valery. It's usually the simplest explanation that is correct."
  
  She wasn't going to give up so easily. "Perhaps. Let the board decide. I called for a vote and it's been seconded. We'll see it through." She looked at Troy to see if he objected. He made no sign that he did.
  
  "All in favor of removing Dr.Ahuja as CEO?" she said, raising her hand.
  
  Gary followed next. No surprise there.
  
  Cynthia hesitated. She looked at me, then Troy.
  
  She raised her hand.
  
  Martinez flicked her eyes at Jane, who was leaning back, her hands folded across her chest. "Nay," Jane said, spelling it out just in case.
  
  "I stand with Ms. Cooper," I said when it came to my turn.
  
  "Three votes against two," Martinez declared. "Jimmy?"
  
  Troy tugged at his tie and heaved his body up in the chair a few inches. His expression turned into a frown, and then an unhappy pout that was directed at nobody in particular. "It's three against three," he finally declared. "And as the Chair, I am breaking the tie. Andy will continue."
  
  I let my shoulders relax as I exhaled. That was close.
  
  Martinez protested, "But Jimmy, we—"
  
  "It's done. You will pass on Andy's theory to the investigators." He wagged a finger at me as he stood up. "Doesn't mean you are off the hook. If it turns out you've been wrong about your AI, I'll personally make sure you never see the inside of another lab again. That's a promise. Now. I'm going to get some more of that laxative that passes for coffee around here. We'll reconvene in ten. Discuss next steps."
  
  Martinez threw me a frosty look before trailing off after Troy. Soon it was just Jane and me in the room.
  
  "Boy, does she have a thing for you," Jane said, grinning.