"I am David Fentris."
"Good to meet you," I said, crossing to where he stood. "I am assisting in an investigation concerning a project with which you were once associated…"
He smiled and nodded, accepted my hand and shook it.
"The Hangman, of course. Glad to know you, Mister Donne."
"Yes, the Hangman," I said. "I am doing a report…"
"…And you want my opinion as to how dangerous it is. Sit down." He gestured toward a chair at the end of his work bench. "Care for a cup of tea?"
"No, thanks."
"I'm having one."
"Well, in that case…"
He crossed to another bench. "No cream. Sorry."
"That's all right…How did you know it involved the Hangman?"
He grinned as he brought me my cup. "Because it's come back," he said, "and it's the only thing I've been connected with that warrants that much concern."
"Do you mind talking about it?"
"Up to a point, no."
"What's the point?"
"If we get near it, I'll let you know."
"Fair enough…How dangerous is it?"
"I would say that it is harmless," he replied, "except to three persons."
"Formerly four?"
"Precisely."
"How come?"
"We were doing something we had no business doing."
"That being…?"
"For one thing, attempting to create an artificial intelligence."
"Why had you no business doing that?"
"A man with a name like yours shouldn't have to ask."
I chuckled.
"If I were a preacher," I said, "I would have to point out that there is no biblical injunction against it, unless you've been worshipping it on the sly."
He shook his head.
"Nothing that simple, that obvious, that explicit. Times have changed since the Good Book was written, and you can't hold with a purely fundamentalist approach in complex times. What I was getting at was something a little more abstract. A form of pride, not unlike the classical hubris, the setting up of oneself on a level with the Creator."
"Did you feel that, pride?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure it wasn't just enthusiasm for an ambitious project that was working well?"
"Oh, there was plenty of that. A manifestation of the same thing."
"I do seem to recall something about man being made in the Creator's image, and something else about trying to live up to that. It would seem to follow that exercising one's capacities along similar lines would be a step in the right direction, an act of conformance with the Divine ideal, if you'd like."
"But I don't like. Man cannot really create. He can only rearrange what is already present. Only God can create."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
He frowned. Then, "No," he said. "Being aware of this and still trying is where the presumption comes in."
"Were you really thinking that way when you did it? Or did all this occur to you after the fact?"
He continued to frown.
"I am no longer certain."
"Then it would seem to me that a merciful God would be inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt."
He gave me a wry smile.
"Not bad, John Donne. But I feel that judgment may already have been entered and that we may have lost four to nothing."
"Then you see the Hangman as an avenging angel?"
"Sometimes. Sort of. I see it as being returned to exact a penalty."
"Just for the record," I suggested, "if the Hangman had had full access to the necessary equipment and was able to construct another unit such as itself, would you consider it guilty of the same thing that is bothering you?"
He shook his head.
"Don't get all cute and Jesuitical with me, Donne. I'm not that far away from fundamentals. Besides, I'm willing to admit I might be wrong and that there may be other forces driving it to the same end."