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she slowly raised her hand.
    ‘Excuse me,’ she said, and the face turned towards her.
    ‘How may I be of assistance, Miss Brand?’ Clearly no introductions would be necessary here.
    The girl smiled. ‘It’s OK, you can call me Laura.’
    ‘How may I be of assistance, Laura?’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.
    ‘Well, it’s just that I know a bit about computers and I’ve never seen anything like you before. Are you new?’ Laura asked, tilting her head to one side slightly.
    ‘I was brought on-line four months, three weeks, two days, four hours, thirty-seven minutes and three seconds ago. Is this new?’ H.I.V.E.mind tilted its head to one side, seeming to mimic Laura’s mannerism.
    ‘Oh yes, that’s quite new. You must be very sophisticated to run a facility like this all on your own.’ Laura seemed quite at ease talking to H.I.V.E.mind, apparently unconcerned that it was, after all, just a machine.
    ‘My computational resources are more than adequate to ensure the smooth running of this facility. For example, this is just one of forty-two conversations that I am conducting throughout the facility at this time.’
    Impressive, Otto thought. That would require a computer that was much more powerful than any existing system that he was aware of. More worryingly, it meant that the supervision of H.I.V.E.’s security system would not be prone to any human error and that would make avoiding detection or surveillance very difficult, if not impossible.
    ‘Where are you? I mean, where is your central processing unit located? Is it here?’ Laura asked.
    ‘I am a distributed neural network. In other words, I could be said to occupy all parts of the facility simultaneously. The location of my central processing hub is classified,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.
    ‘And really none of your concern, my dear,’ the Contessa added, frowning slightly at Laura. ‘Anyone else?’
    Otto raised his hand. ‘Yes, I’d like to ask something.’
    H.I.V.E.mind turned in his direction. ‘How may I be of assistance, Mr Malpense?’
    ‘I was just wondering, if your job is to make sure that H.I.V.E. runs smoothly, you must have to keep an eye on everything and everybody,’ Otto suggested. He was keen to see if H.I.V.E.mind’s systems for monitoring the comings and goings of H.I.V.E.’s inhabitants were as efficient as he feared that they might be.
    ‘My primary function is to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of this facility. In order to best perform my duties it is necessary to keep a constant monitor on the location of all H.I.V.E. resources. This helps to ensure the health and happiness of all H.I.V.E. staff and students,’ H.I.V.E.mind answered quickly.
    It was obvious that H.I.V.E.mind was keeping a very close eye on H.I.V.E. at all times, Otto thought to himself. He knew, however, that any networked computer, no matter how sophisticated, could be hacked, and his thoughts now turned to the question of how one might go about disabling just such a system. Otto felt the familiar tingle of an idea forming, and his next question was suddenly clear in his mind.
    ‘I see. So, as part of H.I.V.E., are you happy?’ Otto asked bluntly.
    The blue face hung in the air, immobile, silent. The lights in the room seemed to dim slightly before brightening again and H.I.V.E.mind replied.
    ‘I am not authorised to exhibit emotional response.’ Another pause. ‘My role is to ensure the satisfaction of others and the efficient functioning of this facility. That is my purpose. Emotional response is inefficient.’ It might just have been a trick of the light, but Otto could have sworn that he saw the barest hint of a frown on the glowing blue face of the AI as it gave this distinctly pre-programmed reply.
    Not authorised to exhibit emotional response, thought Otto, not incapable . Interesting. He noticed then that Laura was looking in his direction, a curious expression on her face.
    ‘I think we should proceed with the uniform-fitting,