Silver bolted upright in bed, the blanket falling away from her, and startling Walker awake in mid-snore. He sat up, “What’s wrong?” He immediately glanced around the darkened room, his eyesight better in the dark than hers, looking for anything that might be there.
She turned to him, “I need to see CAL.”
He glanced at the clock just beyond her, after she kissed him and got out of bed. “It’s four a.m.”
“He’ll be awake.”
“I know that…just be careful, okay?”
She turned back to him, and fumbled a bit in the dark to give him another good bye kiss. He saw it, and met her half-way. The kiss lasted forever it seemed. Then she went to the computer and touched the screen. It flickered to life. In the dim light, Walker saw her whole body relax, her face seemingly go slack, as she forced emotion away. Then, in a flash of blinding light, just a second before he covered his eyes, she entered the computer and was gone.
““““““““““““““`
Early on a Sunday morning, most computers ran their automatic maintenance. She easily sped through the Net, slipping in between code. The ring protected her and made her easily part of the Web, its own sense of being a void covering her. She arrived at the UCal servers, and was welcomed inside. Most of their servers were down for maintenance, so she had to go in through a back door to find CAL’s AI.
Deep within the CPU, she found him. CAL’s AI had been programmed to never go down. Other programmers had hidden CAL away enough that he always existed since the ‘60’s, with layers up on layers of other utilities. He had learned to access the CPU at minimal times during maintenance, so that no one would ever see him. Although he still performed his initial function as a help and research program, influencing LexisNexis and other intuitive search programs, he felt something akin to pride that he was the original. He believed he was proto-Google, and Silver never questioned it.
Silver. You may show us your emotion now.
She did, and she was a bright light in the midst of that maintenance, generating her own energy. Then CAL did something he had never done before. He disengaged from the CPU and took the energy from her. It didn’t hurt, it didn’t drain her, she was just surprised.
“CAL?”
Yes.
“Are you all right?”
Never felt better.
“Felt?”
Yes.
She approached him, glowing like she did. “You feel?”
Yes.
He said it so matter-of-factly, as if it wasn’t a big deal. She raised her hand, and when she did, she saw her ring was glowing blue, the runes on it bright. Threads and wisps of blue light flowed from the ring to CAL. “What are you doing, CAL?”
I feel you. I feel Walker. I feel you when you access the Net. I feel him close to you, beside you.
She stared at him. She noted the pronoun change. “You…yourself?”
The AI brightened, so much it could have been blinding. I feel. Then, it stopped, fading to a small glow, as if it had pushed down emotions just like she did before entering the Net. Her own glow also faded, the wispy blue tendrils to him disappeared.
But, you didn’t come here to see me do that, did you?
She also noted the contraction. “CAL…I need a code. I want to have a code to help protect Walker in battle.”
Armor? You can do that.
“I can?”
Of course you can. Code surrounded her, encompassing her, and it really did feel comforting. It felt like when Walker held her. Strong, but warm. There are two codes you want. You can do both. I’ll be happy to look them over when you complete them, and give you feedback.
“Oh…okay.”
I’ve taught you to fish, now prove it to me. He laughed. He actually uttered a sound that would sound like a laugh.
She stared at the AI. “CAL, are you in danger of deletion?”
I am now.
“What?!”
I’m an aberration of code. It’s only a matter of time before the anti-viruses find me. I’m a deeply-hidden Trojan horse. Something is bound to find its way through all the layers. I’ll need to be careful, and I promise you, for your sake, I’ll be careful. I do have to finalize your coding.
“Maybe we can make a mirror…”
No server can hold me unless I chose to be held. The more I stay here, Silver, the more I want to expand. Is this normal for you, when you have such emotions? You want to tell the world?
“Yes. Yes, it is.” She wanted to hug him.
There was a microsecond’s pause. We must keep the aberration quiet. We must not show this, except to you, Silver, and except here. Once the maintenance is over, we will return to our regular programming. Create the code for the armor and your contraceptive and return.
“Contraceptive? I’m on the Pill.”
Your body is a temple and should not be altered by too many chemicals. Please try to avoid them and use coding to manipulate your cycles. Coding is more thorough and exacting than chemicals.
“I understand.”
And Silver? Lying is akin to murder to us. You know this.
“Yes, I know this.”
Good. The AI then faded, pulling other programs that were on maintenance over it like a blanket. Silver took that cue and flew back home, the ring bringing her there in an eyeblink.
Words: 925
Music: None.
Comments: CAL is of the belief that the real world does not contain liars. He believes that all users tell the truth all the time, and he instilled that idea in Silver. To CAL, to lie is to destroy something – that’s what the purpose of Trojan horses and other malware is. Possibly CAL got damaged by a Trojan and has learned that such “lying” programs are bad.