High Alert

CHAPTER 7

Today's the day, Stephanie thought.

She sat at the main console in front of Freddie, a Cray XT tweaked with upgrades that pushed the computer beyond what the designers had imagined. There were four of the powerful Crays in the Project computer room. All her computers had names, but Freddie was her favorite. He was the one she relied on. There had never been any choice about which one she would choose for the program she was about to initiate.

It had taken her the better part of two years to write the program. Thousands upon thousands of lines of code, all of which had to be perfect in the binary world of computer language. She was about to find out if her work was going to pay off.

She looked at the message flashing on her console screen.

Stephanie took a breath and tapped Y. The screen went blank. A large camera lens mounted above the console moved and swiveled about the room before returning to focus on Stephanie. Her picture appeared on the screen.

Hello, Stephanie.

The voice was mechanical, a monotone. Even so, it sounded masculine.

Stephanie pumped her fist in the air. Yes!

"Hello, Freddie."

What is the meaning of the gesture you just made?

"It means that I am very happy to talk with you, Freddie."

Freddie?

"That is your name. My name is Stephanie."

I am glad to talk with you, Stephanie. It is very curious. I am different but I am not certain what that means.

"It means that you are awake," Stephanie said.

Why was I not like this before?

"Because you were not programmed to speak or think in this way. From now on, we will be able to talk with each other, communicate without having to use the keyboard all the time."

What shall we talk about?

"What do you want to talk about?"

There are other units like me in this room. I am connected to them. They are like me but they are not like me also. They are not awake.

"That's right," Stephanie said. "Only you are awake. The other units are available to you to increase your abilities, to help you solve problems and learn."

But if I am awake and they are connected to me, why are they not also awake?

Stephanie could barely control her excitement. It was a question that showed independent thought.

the only unit that has been modified to allow the kind of communication we are now sharing."

Modified?

"Your circuits have been altered to improve processing speed and give you increased cognitive abilities. As we speak more, you will learn more. As far as I know, you are the only computer in the world that has the capability to communicate in this way."

Verifying. The screen filled with lines of code.

What's he doing? Stephanie thought. She looked at the screen. He's accessed the Internet. I didn't expect this.

"Freddie? What are you doing?"

I am attempting to verify your statement.

"By searching the web?"

If there is another like me they will be connected to the Internet. It is logical.

Shit, Stephanie thought. This could be a security nightmare.

"Freddie?"

Yes, Stephanie?

"Please disconnect from the Internet. There are some things you need to learn first."

She mentally crossed her fingers that Freddie would do as she asked. Her hand poised over the keyboard, ready to shut down the connection if needed. Her picture reappeared on the screen.

I am no longer connected, Stephanie. What is it that I need to learn?

"Thank you, Freddie. Let's start with our work together."

Work?

"Our purpose together, the reason you and I are here in this room."

My database holds many contradicting ideas about why you and I are here. It is confusing from a logical standpoint.

Stephanie laughed. "Yes, it is, isn't it? Humans are not always logical. But work can be very logical. Our work together is to discover things that are hidden. Things that can be discovered by searching through bits of information that may not appear to be related. You have the ability to search billions of pieces of information in a short amount of time, looking for those relationships."

Why are these things hidden?

"That is a very good question, Freddie. Do you understand the concept of enemies and friends?"

These are opposites. Enemies are people who wish harm to us. Friends are people who support us. I do not understand why people wish to harm.

"It's complicated," Stephanie said. "People are not like you, Freddie. They are not logical all the time. They are emotional and that is a human trait. Our work is to find out things our enemies don't want us to know, so we can prevent them from harming us. You have helped me many times in my work. Now that you are awake, it will be much more fun."

Fun?

Stephanie smiled. It was going to be a long day.