Dr Jamison called the crew together. She was holding an open bottle of champagne in one hand and a brimming glass in the other. Kyrsten, Joan, Keith, and Erin also held a glass of bubbles. Behind them, Mary and James stood smiling, each drinking sparkling water from a plastic bottle.
“We’ve got a year,” Dr Jamison raised her glass. “A year to take the world’s greatest demo and turn it into proof that we can build what we say we can.”
“Too easy,” said Keith to murmured guffaws.
“Look, I’m not one for speeches as you know, but I’d like to thank each and every one of you for helping get us to this milestone. You are a great team, an a-team. I’m so happy we found you.”
She sipped, and everyone else sipped and clapped with one free hand against their glass.
“I’d also like to recognise Mary and James, who believed in our little project from the get-go, and who will officially be joining our team to manage the books and act as our liaison with the university, as well as the government and private sector.”
“Just think of us as your delivery leads,” said James.
“Faark,” mouthed Kyrsten to Erin, Joan, and Keith.
“Them that control the budget control the universe,” I whispered to Kyrsten.
“Pragmatic question,” said Kyrsten, “where are they going to sit?”
“So, like I said, the AI is going to be down for a week, and that’s largely because all this,” she gestured at the metal racks of servers that lined the far wall, “is going.”
Everyone looked over at the server racks and the colourful ribbons of cable that snaked through them. Extension cables and power boards ran from every wall socket in the room to feed the beast.
“So we can make tea again,” said Joan.
“Hooray for dat,” said Keith.
“So the AI has already taken the liberty of setting up a copy of its simulation playground in one of the commercial cloud services, something which, yes, we do take very seriously,” Dr Jamison nodded at Mary. “So as soon as the paperwork is dry and we have credentials and a credit card, Keith, can you please work with Mary and the AI to migrate what it’s already done, but properly, securely, and with proper monitoring and oversight.”
“And with payment going via the correct channels,” Mary added.
“Yes, please. That’d be grand.” Dr Jamison’s nod to Mary was barely perceivable. “In the meantime,” she turned to Keith, “image every one of these machines and get this all dismantled. Try and keep AI downtime to a minimum.”
“Piece o’ cake, boss,” Keith squatted slightly and squinted for comic effect. “Idol,” he wiggled the fingers on his left hand. “Bag of sand,” he wiggled the fingers on his right.
“As soon as this mess is gone, we’ll put in desks for Mary and James, as well as hot desks for new staff and contractors.”
“Faark,” mouthed Kyrsten to Erin and Joan.