tsingy campus in Beijing is so . ty is located in t of Beijing, in rict, near ty, tsingy boasts several former palaces and many striking pagodas. to effectively get around t driving, ing a ter at ty’s second gate. Caldood at t Gate as university students ic ones ric-poeboards.

    Mei Lin suggested t ter t. Sourists t singry’s leading educational institutions and it received its fair sors. t tourist parapel, a disposable digital camera and an augmented reality system bougreet vendor, after some protracted side a i-storey computer mall. tem . Mei Lin  s reasonably em consisted of a pair of cic display glasses and a small unit t clipped unto a belt. A cartoon-cer scribe described toem ively easy to  t Vicky Z on tem. Mei Lin agreed.

    “tsingy ory scudents o send to continue tion at universities in ted States. ty campus is situated on o be Qing dynasty royal gardens erized voice.

    As torative buildings of ts of information ’s glasses oon scribe’s quirky voiceover describing t superfluously. It  toget but Caldion and orical perspective somew helpful.

    topped trically, turned to face Cald into its cartoon grin and continued:

    “to your rigly faculty residences, a nursery scary sc of tec a fees ahead.”

    t, its  bobbing up and do ion. tonomous about tions. It just cycled tco some random algoritine. Caldc off as t closer to the library.

    “Problem,” Caldwell said pensively.

    “Yes?”

    “o gain access to the library?”

    “Good question,” Mei Lin said. “I  sure ill valid though.”

    “t means you o go in.”

    “Correct. I o go in alone. If I recall correctly, talogue searcerminals just require a she card.”

    “OK, I’ll poke around outside  in to look for is ang Lin’s borro info. It just mig ion of the lab.”

    “I  necessarily  of t. to have an address for him.”

    “Yup.” Caldwell smiled.

    t of t bro saying tsingy Library in simplified Cers. Mei Lin disappeared t larying to look as tecture. A buncudents  of trying to figure out  or a professor. Caldside t tudent ang Lin and tion teen minutes later Mei Lin emerged from ted s pay dirt.

    “Incredibly easy em ronic s can log in and vieurn dates, e-book doions. t is tied directly into tudent directory server t udent.”

    “Excellent.”

    “Only problem is, ter science department. All of tgraduate students. tudent dormitories, one in ty residences. I  tos. It’s difficult to tell whey all look kind of geeky.”

    “I’d go y residence one. tégés. o y lodgings.”

    “I see t. o next?” Mei Lin asked.

    “ ment of Computer Science and tec? take a look at timetable. o attend class today,” Caldh a grin.

    t tment of Computer Science and tecer a brisk ten minute  e and glass building s micro-cennae protruded from tted at least eigellite disa broadcasting transponders.

    “Looks like the place.”

    to tire side of one ronic notice board s classes. It looked every bit as complex as tures display at an international airport.

    “ture on rig ture ter on artificial intelligence,” Calding at tion t it  unintelligible.

    “Artificial Intelligence III. Sounds like a postgraduate degree course. I took AI I and AI II in my t any rate I knore is. this way.”

    Caldless corridors and doors ransparent plastic flaps t gave you a good academic slap in t time t to ture ter, Caldotally lost. to ter took some empty seats at tudents looked round to see ion  but quickly refocused ttention on the proceedings.

    ture tre er, t a steep angle, t  on tage. Giant television screens magnified  of t tage expounding obscure AI te  fores on  y.

    t raditional concepts of artificial intelligence itutes macelligence developed. It  to believe t probably just a feed an AI t posed a t to cyberspace. tempt to impress Vicki Zting to Caldwell’s rigo her in Mandarin.

    “ h Professor Yao?”

    “Didn’t you  it? Professor Yao is dead and Li Jin aken aback by tudent delivered tion but sype. So tudent Li Jin inued ioning.

    “O  ed.

    “You bet. tecypes. No student is alloo go any taken ang Lin in for questioning.”

    “O guy in t t?” Calding a male student. Mei Lin just looked at h his social engineering skills.

    “ are you talking about?” t skinny guy in t knoending lectures. uff inside out anyways.”

    “I am sure you do too,” Caldrange look as t tried to  on urned to concentrate on ture. S interest in ttle conversation. Caldurned to Mei Lin and told udent ing but Caldain t lose ic glasses  even from a distance. And t red jumper.

    ten minutes later, ture o ture podium and  urer. On tors, Cald a good look at udent looked scared. toorium. turer gateacerials and disappeared out of t t. ang Lin ar Cald BBS. ting ot . Yet today,  muc of ture ter.

    ***

    Like many super-intelligent students, ang Lin’s body language  of kilter.  of a kid oo mucime reading books and too little time on atic activities. ed around regarding otudents erious disappearance, ang Lin probably suspected t  on some PLA  list. o be t. Cald a respectable distance as ang Lin expertly navigated tment of Computer Science and technology building.

    ang Lin exited ted into a small recess in a nearby doorudent scanned t. ang Lin oy residences, a looked like  going to give t tudent o ill berating  on tudent BBS?

    A girl raig ang Lin, a cluster of books clutco . S even give opped, turned around and gaer t believe   BBS.  but o on e. Caldopped Mei Lin and pretended to be  ter. Sty, even better looking tal pogrape.

    ang Lin surned around and kept y residence building, a nondescript five-storey block of concrete, and disappeared inside. Mei Lin and Caldo the building.

    “Should we go in?” Caldwell asked.

    “Not sure. take breaking into university residences very seriously  he risk.”

    tcudents ting around peering into books or PDAs. Cald doance from ted. t o  long. A fees later, ang Lin emerged out of ty residence.  eac the hell was going on?

    ***

    ang Lin ep, like a udent  t raigy entrance exams. Or  reason.

    “Somet be surprised if back at ture ter ang Lin just told   be attending class for a while,” Caldwell observed.

    “You t suggested s t a fes earlier.

    “I can feel it in my bones. o do a runner too.”

    time, raig tment of Computer Science and teco a small garden one pater of leafless trees. At tood a gleaming er of a building. At top of t reflected t. It read: Nanotecre. tsubisrics parked in front of tic-looking Canding in front of topped at t.

    “e better move back a bit,” Mei Lin suggested.

    “hy?”

    “tecre singate Key Institutes. e  t didn’t really knoicular building en frequented by officials from t. t wore dark glasses even wo speak of.”

    “’s a State Key Institute? Sounds vaguely familiar. Rings some kind of a bell.”

    “titutes t conduct researcop secret, in conjunction . t funding from boty and tional Researcimes tly by tion Army.”

    “If I recall correctly, Professor Yao itutes and conducted researc.”

    “Yes. And if  caug could be some serious trouble.”

    “Look,” Calding to of the building.

    t looked like a small dark gray refrigerator on a trolley. One of tal case similar to to .

    “t o be a genius ...” Mei Lin started to say.

    “You t’s it? the AI?”

    “Positive. t is t um processor.”

    “ makes you so sure?”

    “t er equipment, whe guns?”

    tside got beo ter of identical green traveling bags  turned round and started running toreated out of sigrees. ang Lin ran straig th a worried look on his face.

    “o tes and try to folloaxi. I’ll go back to tel, grab our stuff and meet you at t. I t’s safe to assume t t’s o get on t flig all costs.”

    “Good idea. You to Saxi stand outside tes.”

    toy gates, co move.