Dear colleagues,

With the new M now firmly in place, it is back to business as usual here at Q Branch. Many of you will have noticed the arrival this week of half a dozen assorted robots, varying from vaguely humanoid in form to distinctly canine. Creative naming is already underway with early offerings including Mrs Thatcher, Bono and Lassie. Our unusual guests are, of course, part of a new programme of testing, to determine the threat level posed by the advent of so-called ‘social robots’. 

Social robots are already active in many theatres. Tens of thousands have been deployed in school settings, in care homes and in military environments. Increasingly, humankind is moving past its fear of a ‘Terminator Armageddon’, the idea that we might all be slaughtered in our beds by robots that resemble Austrian bodybuilders in stolen leather jackets and bad haircuts.

But the truth is that there is much to fear. Robots are, essentially, a mass of circuitry powered by artificial intelligence. They can be hacked. They can be re-tasked to perform nefarious acts. And then there is the ultimate horror scenario. The word robot comes from the Czech word robata meaning forced servitude. How long will intelligent robots decide they’ve had enough of serving their ‘meat-sack’ human masters, inferior in almost every respect? And what will we do about it when the time comes? A question that it is now ourjob to answer. After all, as 007 pointed out to me just yesterday, you cannot incapacitate a robot by ‘kicking it in the bollocks’. 

Finally, congratulations to ANDREW W. for correctly ascertaining the answer to the puzzle in my previous memo, and for being fortunate enough to be picked at random from all the correct entries. The answer, of course, was BERNARD LEE. Below you will find this edition’s puzzle. Good luck!  

Sincerely,

Major Boothroyd

Head of Q Branch

P.S. Here is this edition’s puzzle. One ‘winner’ shall be picked at random from all correct entries and will be mentioned in my following memo. MI6 Archives shall rustle up a book to send to you* Pot luck, I’m afraid! Fill in this form to enter . . . This month’s puzzle is as follows: 

In the 1951 science fiction film, The Day The Earth Stood Still, an alien visitor named Klaatu has a robot companion. What was its name?

*UK entrants only, alas!

NOTE FROM VASEEM KHAN

This ‘memorandum’ is one of a series of 12 that we will be publishing, celebrating the launch of Quantum of Menace, the first mystery featuring Major Boothroyd, Head of Q Branch (aka Q) from the James Bond universe. Pre-orders are very important to a new series, so we would be immensely grateful if you considered pre-ordering the novel. Buy from bookshops big and small and online.  Click here for some options.

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