Spencer nodded. “The MPs already did a search and inventory and cleared out his personal effects.”
“We’ll do our own search,” said Brodie.
The captain told them the access code, then indicated the house two over from it—number four—and said, “My DEVCOM subordinate Lieutenant Mike Lehner lives there. I can set up an interview for tomorrow, just let me know the time.”
Brodie replied, “No time like the present, Captain.” He walked toward Lieutenant Lehner’s house, and Taylor followed.
Spencer didn’t seem to like that. “Mr. Brodie, your dinner with the general is in less than an hour.”
“Won’t take long.” He looked around at the houses. “Which one’s ours?”
“Number eight.”
“Please give us a few minutes and we’ll meet you there.”
Brodie and Taylor left Captain Spencer standing on the sidewalk as they approached house four. On a case like this, catching an interview subject unawares sometimes netted more useful Intel.
Brodie knocked on the door and waited. After a moment the door opened to reveal a tall, lanky man in his mid-twenties wearing jeans and a white polo shirt. He was barefoot.
Brodie introduced himself and Taylor, then said, “We have a few questions for you regarding our investigation.”
Lehner, who did not appear particularly surprised to see them, said, “Of course,” then looked beyond them to the road where Captain Spencer was still standing, watching them.
Lehner stepped aside and let them in, then shut the door behind them.
They entered a small living room with laminate wood flooring and the kind of basic furniture you’d find in a mid-budget hotel room. Brodie and Taylor sat on a couch and Lehner settled into a chair across from them. He leaned forward and interlaced his long fingers as he looked between them. “I still can’t believe this happened.”
“No one can,” replied Brodie. Except the guilty party, if there was one. He noticed that Lieutenant Lehner was clean-shaven and had applied gel or pomade to his dark-brown hair, despite being cooped up alone in his house. Brodie asked him, “What are your primary duties at Camp Hayden?”
“As the only robotics engineer on the DEVCOM team, my responsibility is to the mechanical functions of the D-17 units. Running diagnostics, assessing and sometimes repairing physical damage, sharing data with the Synotec engineers as they work on improvements to the units based upon our testing and training.”
Taylor asked, “Before the death of your superior officer, did you notice any anomalies with the units?”
Lehner shook his head. “They were predictable. Frankly, the only aspect of the D-17s that surprised me was their reliability. I thought there would be more performance issues.”
Brodie asked, “What do you think happened to Roger Ames?”
“It is not my place to speculate.”
“It is when a CID agent asks you to.”
Lehner nodded as if conceding the point. This guy was mellow, almost tranquil. Cool as a cucumber? Serene as a psycho? The lieutenant replied, “I suspect the unit simply malfunctioned. A software issue.”
Taylor followed up: “We’ve been told the AI powering these bots is very simple and algorithmic and should not allow for unpredictable behavior.”
Lehner looked at her. “Even the most rudimentary systems are susceptible to chaos.”
Right. Which was a good reason not to build seven-foot-tall autonomous killing machines in the first place. Brodie asked, “Did you notice any change in the behavior of Major Ames in the days or weeks leading to his death?”
“Yes,” replied Lehner without hesitation. “He seemed distracted.”
“By what?”
“I don’t know. But he had been very engaged in the work being done by myself and Captain Spencer. And then at some point, maybe a month or so ago, he kind of… went inward.”
Maybe it was the shrooms. Brodie asked, “Were you aware he was consuming psilocybin mushrooms?”
For the first time, Lehner seemed surprised. “No. Are you sure?”
