She moved it with her mind.

That was the last entry in the victim’s diary, a shaky scrawl written as he was nearing the end of his life. I searched the pages for a clue as to who had shot dead the scientist. His lab was in perfect shape. No sign of a fight. The victim was slumped across his workbench, finger touching a desk toy, one of those gizmos of swinging metal ball-bearings.

“What was he working on?” I asked the head of research.

“Artificial Intelligence. His robot, she was his pride and joy, is locked in the next lab.”

"She?"

"Yes, he was fixated with her. He led quite a sheltered life. I think he wanted it to fall in love with him. Instead, it was indifferent. He kept it looked up in the next room."

We looked in the next room.

“She’s gone,” the head of research said when he opened the door. 

"How is that possible," I said.

He shook his head.

I went back to the lab and examined the body again. A neat bullet hole in his temple. Then I saw one of the ball bearings on his desk toy was missing. 

She moved it with her mind. 

I looked at the body again and suddenly realised what she had moved… and where she had moved it to. 

Copyright © Tom Kane October 2025

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