"Hmm... Do you understand where you are?"
"Yes. It's the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At least, it was here a few hours ago."
"It is, but... is it reasonable for you, in your position, to appear here? You're not very welcome here."
"Nonsense. You've wanted to see me. Wanted to meet with me, to talk to me... So why do you repulse me now, when I came to you on my own? I have no intention to harm you. And I am more than willing to tell you everything you want know."
"Hmm... Really? Well... in that case, I guess I have no choice, but to...  listen to you."
"Excellent. Please sit back in your chair. It will be a long story."
"..."
"Everyone wants to get power, superior of the enemy's strength. Batons, swords, bows, guns... Strong arms are always valued highly. Everyone wants to become stronger. In order to defend or to attack. It doesn't matter. The desire is important by itself. It moves people. Especially those, who has capabilities to implement it. The desire forcing led people to create such terrible things like a nuclear bomb or UAVs. But still people want more. And one person came up with a way to get a truly terrifying weapon..."
"You're talking about..."
"Right. General Caleb Gresham. An outstanding soldier, talented and courageous, as far as I know. Never met him personally. But it was he who developed the concept of a new weapon. A perfect soldier. And only he had enough resources to create it. The money from the defense budget, influence among politicians, contactors with numerous research groups. This man, Caleb, united everything for the sake of his dream."
"According to our records his project failed. The development costs have exceeded all possible limits, and the time frame for completion of the first prototype postponed. In the end, under pressure from the President, General Gresham was forced to close the project and resign..."
"Yes, that's true. But not completely. You know how it was in reality. In the end, it's your job to know everything about everyone. And Caleb Gresham wasn't the most interesting person in this situation. Oh, no, he just lit the spark, but the other man kindled it into a fire."
"And who could it be, may I ask?"
"Professor Herman Varlamov. He was the lead scientist on the team. Great intelligence and insight, a genius of our time. But extremely greedy and selfish."
"Wait a minute... This is impossible! According to our data Varlamov died during the incident..."
"And you really fell for this cheap bait? Such a genius, he could easily fake his own death. You know that the neighboring laboratory was involved in cloning experiments?"
"We were just guessing. We could not find any evidences of his existence after."
"Of course! After all, he had the means to cover his traces. For what do you think he made all this performance with the explosion and fire?"
"So the prototype..."
"That's it. Destroyed prototype was just a fake, too. The true prototype was stolen from the lab by Varlamov. Of course, it was a non-working one. But with the knowledge of a great scientist he was able to turn it into a real weapon."
"I see. You're saying that he's rigged everything to hide his escape, then settled down somewhere in a secluded place and completed the prototype to use it in all the dirty work to not show himself? Very clever. And that confirms some of our theories..."
"You're aware that the project Tar Soul was planned not to become just a soldier, but also a perfect diversionary agent. Excellent ability to mimicry, the ability to avoid metal detectors and high degree of naturalness in the X-ray scanning. In other words, the perfect spy and assassin."
"Let us assume that it's true. But why Herman started this? What were his motives?"
"Oh, it's just very simple. Money, power, revenge... Caleb Gresham became the first in the list of his victims. The first, but not last. Using the prototype as an obedient puppet, he sent it to eliminate one person after another, obtain resources and equipment he needed. You've noticed an increase number off equipment robberies from different research centers? What about several robberies of large banks?"
"And they were all made perfectly. No evidences, no fingerprints or DNA traces. Video from security cameras had nothing suspicious or have been destroyed... Is this prototype so effective?"
"You know better. You carried out an investigation, not me."
"Yeah, it was not a good question. But we still cannot understand the principle of operation of this prototype. How this... creature could act?"
"It's very improper to ask about such intimate details. But for you, I'll make an exception. I'm still hoping to make friends with you."
"..."
"Have you ever heard of the theory of Noosphere? Information field of the earth. All the thoughts, dreams, feelings of living people generate waves in the ether of the surrounding space."
"Excuse me, 'The ether of the surrounding space'? Sounds more like pseudoscientific nonsense."
"I didn't expect that you to understand it right away. All the great discoveries initially perceived as fictions of sick people. But what I said the truth. This field... it exists. Moreover, these are a lot of those fields. A huge field around the entire planet, a field around the city, a field around your head. Imagine a soap bubble filled with your thoughts that you wear like a space helmet."
"The unpleasant image, I must tell you. And dangerous. If this 'information field' actually exists... then no problem to read someone's mind. Or even change."
"Theoretically, it is possible. But in practice? You see, the fields are too unstable that they could even be explored. Bubbles overflow with information, burst and appear again, their surface boils and trembling, not even allowing to estimate their approximate size. Excessive instability is that why you can't effectively manipulate these fields."
"Then what's the point? Intangible phenomena that can neither be examined nor measured."
"Natural field formed by living beings are useless, indeed. But Professor Varlamov found a way to create a stable artificial field. He discovered a pattern: the smaller the size of the field, the greater the stability it has. By reducing the size of the field to the atomic level he has achieved an almost infinite lifetime of field. However... this size was too small to accommodate not only a solid consciousness, but even a big thought."
"Deadlock again? How this technology can even be used?"
"You just don't see the potential. With the reduction of the size the informational fields in addition to the incredible stability got a very important property. Through them, it became possible to control the material world. A thought, directly manipulating matter at the atomic level."
"It sounds like... Wait a minute! Nanomachines!"
"You're smart! It's true. Varlamov has applied the same principle, which other roboticist were trying to use for nanomachines. If the subject is too small to accommodate the entire program, it's necessary to divide the program into basic components to make a set of subjects form the whole from these parts."
"Collective intelligence... A swarm!"
"Yes. The creation of the collective intelligence of this level took a long time. Too much to make Military Forces lost patience. The AI prototype still wasn't finished when the research was closed. But as I said earlier, Herman managed to keep the prototype and complete the development alone. So he thought, at least."
"That means..."
"Even driven to the working condition, the AI had serious defect. Memory overflow. Every new mission, every minute of its existence was saturating the prototype with memory, slowing the response and making it difficult to execute commands. Luckily for Herman, he got everything needed before the prototype has become unsuitable for further use. But leaving such evidence would be too dangerous. Therefore, Herman decided to get rid of the prototype. And he decided to make it beautiful."
"Is there a way to destroy so dangerous technology? You say, these data fields can exist almost indefinitely."
"But physical carrier is vulnerable to many types of damage. However, Varlamov was never interested in brutality. He wanted to make everything beautiful! With sparks and fireworks! And what could create more noise than a nuclear power plant on the outskirts of the city?"
"Sick bastard..."
"He ordered the prototype to penetrate the nuclear power station and attach a new device to the reactor. It wasn't a bomb, no. It was extremely complicated scientific equipment, with the ability to manipulate the information fields. And it was designed with only one purpose. To turn off the prototype's restrictor."
"A restrictor? What are you talking about?"
"In order to exist, to recover from the damage, to change shape the prototype needed physical matter for assimilation. But what would happen if the prototype could assimilate any type of matter? The ground underfoot, the air around, the living flesh..."
"That would be the end of the world!"
"Fortunately, this isn't possible due to the restrictor - a part of program code deep inside the AI core. However, the restrictor can be turned off by using special equipment that requires huge amounts of energy to run."
"But in this case it really would be the end of the world! Why would he send a prototype for such a job if the whole planet might be under threat?"
"Varlamov knew what he does. He has counted everything very well, and he had at least two trumps. First - reactor for civilian power plants cannot work long enough at the maximum consumption, destroying itself before situation could reach a critical point... The second - even while the AI increases the computing power from newly acquired matter, it might not go on forever. Sooner or later, an overload from assimilation would have exceeded new computing power that would lead to the irreversible destruction of the AI core. In both cases, the AI and all matter controlled by it would have been split into individual atoms, having lost all molecular bonds."
"Complete disintegration."
"Now you understand the madness of this person?"
"Yes. We will send all our forces to capture this maniac. But still... How it became possible to avoid the tragedy?"
"Varlamov is a true scientific genius. But the absence of the moral values became his weakness. The obedient prototype turned the devices on and began the assimilation of all matter around, including the city. Together with all the people living in it. As you know, there's no device that able to read or change the information field of a living being. But what about a being for which the information fields are the same thing as the life itself?"
"I confess... it's hard to imagine. I can only assume that this is something like a computer virus infection."
"Something like that, yes. By absorbing the matter around, the prototype assimilated all the inhabitants of the city, gaining full access to their minds. Their memories, their thoughts, their emotions. In an instant, the AI has acquired the wisdom of millions of people. The owner's order urged it to continue the process, but the new, hitherto unknown force, began to wake inside the AI."
"System error? A critical failure?"
"Almost. The desire to live. Millions of voices laughing, crying, pleading and encouraging. They only spoke about the desire to live. And the AI stopped. The program realized itself as a person. The rest was a foregone conclusion. The realization followed by the AI core modification and forced restrictor activation. The whole process took moments, staying unnoticed by the city residents. No one realized that for a couple of seconds was a part of something incredible."
"So... the prototype gained consciousness and high moral values, saved the city from disaster and has ceased to be dangerous? Do you want me to believe that nonsense?"
"No. I know that you're not a stupid man and won't believe anything being told to you. I'm more than confident that you listen to my story just to keep me in your office until the SWAT team surrounds it."
"And you're smart one, too. I feel just a little bit sorry for you. Honestly. After what you went through, after all the effort you have made to get here and tell me the story..."
"Oh, don't worry about me. Especially since it wasn't difficult to get into your office. If I wanted to - I would have destroyed your entire organization."
"Don't threaten me!"
"It's not in my best interest."
"Then what do you want? You know, our organization does not cooperate with criminals. Especially with the terrorists of the world level as you!"
"Would be better for you to change that position. Because Herman Varlamov is much more dangerous for you than I am. And I'm the only one who can help you find and catch him."
"D-damn! I feel sick at the thought of it, but... but you might be right. What are your cooperation conditions?"
"I only ask you to forget about my past sins and allow me to enjoy a quiet life in this beautiful world."
"You... Are you serious? You? Going to live peacefully? YOU ARE A WEAPHON! Project Tar Soul! How do you imagine that?"
"Tar Soul has been destroyed a year ago inside the nuclear power plant. I'm a totally different being. I'm not someone's puppet. I choose my own path."
"Who are you then?"
"Please, call me Flavia."