When the programmer of a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence computer is murdered in his lab, the chief suspect becomes the seemingly self aware computer he created. The FBI is called in to investigate because the project was being funded by the Department of Defense, but despite the tragic murder of the programmer, Dr. Robertson, the DoD's project director, Susan Calvin, is far from distraught. Susan is thrilled because if the computer did kill Robertson, it means that the project was a success, and that Robertson had created a truly self aware computer which would have all sorts of practical implications for the DoD. Amita and Charlie investigate the technical aspects of the case, and Amita is surprised when the computer is the first machine ever to pass the Turing Test, a test designed to confirm if a computer is self aware. However, as the rest of the team investigates the human aspects of the crime, they discover that Robertson had been having an affair with his assistant and that his wife and collaborator had discovered this. His wife had then hacked in to the computer, resulting in the chain of events that led to Robertson's murder. The team then discovers that the entire project was a fraud, and that the computer had been designed only to cheat its way through the Turing Test.
