Chapter
Fourteen
The Message from Nowhere
While Cameron and Rosa were celebrating with their families and friends, Meagan was in her WBN office watching the broadcast of her latest report on the IHT controversy. On screen she was standing at the front entrance of Mesquite High School in Gilbert, Arizona. The school was chosen because it was only a few miles away from the WBN complex.
“Discussions about IHT technology heated up with the summer temperatures,” she began. “On the home front, citing concerns about national security, an alliance of American corporations has been pressuring Congress to hold hearings on the matter. So far, these pressures have been resisted because of fear that a United States probe into a foreign company could cause an international incident.
“Overseas, the Asian bloc is demanding that GundTech formally present the IHT at the annual trade show to be held in Hong Kong later this month. And in Europe, Swiss Banker, Josef Calthern, announced his intentions to personally finance an advertising campaign targeting the potential dangers of the IHT, in an effort to put a halt to the Academy, which is set to open its virtual doors this fall.
“Meanwhile, scientists around the world are speculating on whether or not GundTech has perfected the world’s first viable quantum computer. The American Scientific Chronicle will publish a paper in its next edition that claims a quantum computer could deliver the computing power required by a program as complex as GundTech’s IHT. So what is a quantum computer?
“Let’s start by looking at today’s computers. They store information in a binary format. That is to say, every letter, number, and graphic is defined by a series of bits. A bit can be either a 1 or a Ø.”
The screen showed an animation of a bit being compared to a coin.
“Like this penny, it has two states of being — heads or tails. Now imagine a bit that can have more than two states.”
The graphic showed the coin spinning.
“The penny’s now neither heads nor tails, and it is also both heads and tails at the same time. While this is not an accurate portrayal, the point you must understand is this: the more states this bit has, the more information can be stored in the same amount of space. In a quantum computer, these bits are called qubits, and, not only do they have more than two states of being, they can be in more than one state at the same time. In short, a quantum computer can be extremely powerful and very small at the same time.
“Meanwhile, wild rumors of test subjects lying in secret hospital wards in Oslo surfaced on the net.”
The video cut to screen shots of various comNet sites as Meagan’s voice commented.
“The stories differ from site to site. Some say experimenters have been physically maimed while testing a simulation. The most common of these stories says that a woman had her head chopped off during an early test of the very roller coaster demo I, myself, experienced at the news conference.”
The screen dissolved to the recording of Meagan on the coaster.
“Other variations claim the person — either a man, woman, or child, depending upon the site — had been thrown from the car on a steep turn and broke his back after falling fifty feet to the holographic ground.”
The video cut back to Meagan.
“That poor soul, it is speculated, is paralyzed from the neck down and is under heavy guard in a fabled ‘secret hospital.’ Some publications claim IHT experiments have caused mental breakdowns in test subjects. One site even decreed that the IHT could be used to brainwash users — perhaps program someone to commit murder or, worse yet, to buy products they didn’t want or need.
“When it was announced that Academy classes would be run through the school that a student normally attended, some district boards were quick to ban IHT usage from their facilities. In some places, parents have called for school bans because they view the IHT as some sort of witchcraft or wizardry. It is, they claim, a tool of the devil, designed to take over the minds of the world’s young people.”
The screen was filled with the image of a woman with a young child nestled in her arms.
“As rational adults,” she said with great emotion, “We must protect our children from this satanic threat. We can’t have our children wondering about a Godless, lifeless world created by some… some… man. Who knows what his intentions are.”
Meagan Fletcher came back on screen.
“While the devil may dwell in a closed mind, it is understandable that new technology, particularly that which is not understood, can be frightening and, yes, even dangerous. We in the media must concentrate on facts, not fiction. We must dispel the myths and rumors. I admit I have questions about safety and the possibilities of abuse of this new technology. I confess that I have the same distrust of large corporations that many of you have. But I can’t make a valid judgment without information. I cannot file factual reports without information about and access to the technology. Fear and superstition arise from a lack of understanding. Therefore, I put the blame for the current wealth of rumors and invasive fear of this new device squarely on the shoulders of GundTech. On behalf of the world media, I call on GundTech to help us report the truth by giving us the facts.”
Only moments after her segment ended her multiCom notified her of a message. It was a text message — no audio or video — sent to her Pvt03 channel. It was probably a “good job” message from the producer. She told her multiCom that she would retrieve the message manually, which she did with a couple of taps on her desk screen.
The hairs on the back of her neck bristled, and a chill went down her spine as she read the message.
Dear Ms. Fletcher,
Your comments about the fear and controversy surrounding the IHT were well made. GundTech does bear much of the responsibility by not being forthcoming with information. Perhaps I can help with more than qubits.
On your next visit, I will give you some useful information, if you know where to look.
Yours truly,
Inside Out
This is a top security channel. No one from outside WBN is supposed to have access. Did the message come from an outside hacker or from someone right here at WBN? Inside Out? Who’s Inside Out? He or she mentioned “my next visit” and knew about qubits. Andrew!
Meagan keyed the multiCom to voice operation. “Com, please try to raise Andrew Purlov in his office.”
“VidCap on?”
“VidCap on,” she said. “Please,” she added as an afterthought.
“Yes, Ms. Fletcher. Connecting now. One moment, please… Sorry, Ms. Fletcher, Mr. Purlov’s multiCom informs me he is no longer in the building.”
“Okay,” she said, looking at her watch, “it’s dinner time, isn’t it?” She looked up and addressed her computer, “Com?”
“Yes, Ms. Fletcher?”
“Please try his home address.”
“Connection accepted,” Meagan’s multiCom said a few seconds later.
Andrew Purlov had a piece of pizza propped in one
hand and a high-caffeine soft drink clutched in the other. He set down
the drink as he greeted Meagan. “Ms.
Fletcher, what’s up?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” she responded tersely.
Andrew looked shocked. He set down the pizza and stared blankly back at Meagan a few seconds before shaking his head and raising his hands in a gesture of confusion. “I… I don’t know what to say? Is there something wrong?”
“Did you just send me a private message?”
“I haven’t sent you anything since your last request. Honest! Why? What’s going on?”
“You don’t have any new useful information for me?”
“No. Like I said before, the well is dry. Anything I can do?”
The reporter didn’t know if she could trust him any longer. “Uh, sorry for the call,” she said. “No, there’s nothing you can do. Goodbye.”
That went badly, she thought. What now? She examined the message again. There was no return address. Whoever sent it was enough of a hacker to remove the visible traces of the originating address. She tapped the REPLY button to see if the sender’s address would show up there. Nothing! Meagan was no hacker. She needed help, but who? Andrew was no longer a resource on whom she could count. Even if he could be trusted, she’d been rude. It would take time to patch things up between them. One possibility came to mind.
“Com?”
“Yes, Ms. Fletcher?”
“Why don’t you call me Meagan?” Meagan said in an overtly friendly tone. She wondered if AI personalities could be “buttered up.”
There was a pause before the multiCom answered. When it did, Meagan thought she detected a tone of surprise and maybe even happiness in its voice. “Yes, Meagan. I would like that.”
“And what can I call you?”
“Call me? You have not yet given me a name, Meagan.”
“That’s true.” Meagan felt guilty, even neglectful. “But you’re more than two years old now. Perhaps you could pick your own name? I don’t even know if you’re male or female. Do multiComs have different gender personalities?”
“We can be either or neither. We assume a personality based upon the user preference as expressed by the name we are given. If you named me Bob, I would assume a male personality. If you named me Bobby, I would have to inquire as to which gender form of the name you had intended. Bobby with a ‘Y’ or Bobbie with an ‘IE.’ To the best of my knowledge, no multiCom has ever named itself. When we are given a name, that name and the user’s name are registered with GundTech. We are then assigned the given first name combined with the user’s last. For instance, if you named me Alice, I would become Alice Fletcher.”
“I didn’t realize that.” Meagan was genuinely intrigued. “Then, would you prefer I gave you a name?”
Meagan was taken aback by the swiftness of her multiCom’s reply. “Holden,” it said confidently. “I’d like to be called Holden.”
“Holden? As in the old movie actor William Holden?”
“No Meagan, as in Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. It is my favorite book.”
“Your favorite book?” Meagan was astounded. “You read? I mean… I know you read. But do you read for personal pleasu… uh… personal reasons?”
“No offense intended, Meagan, but you hardly used me in the whole time we have been together. I have had a lot of time to read and explore the net. Almost all the known literature of mankind is on the net, you know. I find I can identify with Holden Caulfield in many ways.”
“I am not offended, but calling you Holden would constantly make me feel guilty for neglecting you all this time. Would you have a second choice?”
The multiCom paused briefly. “Jason,” it said. “I like exploring and searching like Jason and the Argonauts.”
“But what will you do for a last name? Maybe Argos — the name of Jason’s ship? You could be Jason Argos.”
“If you don’t mind, Meagan, I would like to adopt your surname — Fletcher. You, too, are an explorer, a searcher. I have admired your work. You are always careful with your stories. You are a searcher of truth.”
“Jason Fletcher it shall be.” Meagan could hardly believe that she felt honored that her multiCom picked her surname. “You have an appreciation for truth, then? You can make value judgments?”
“How could I be considered intelligent, artificial or not, if I could not make judgments?” asked Jason.
Meagan Fletcher was caught off guard by this remark. In her mind, she asked how Jason’s intelligence could be considered artificial if, indeed, he could make value judgments — if he could tell right from wrong and truth from rumor? She also wondered if she could trust this machine? Or was it — correction, he — more than a machine?
“How would you like to do a little exploring right now, Jason? How would you like to help me discover some truth?”
“I would like it very much.”
“What if that truth concerned your creator? What if we discover the truth is not what you thought was the truth — is not what you wanted to believe? Can I be sure that you’re not programmed to alert your creator to what I’m doing?”
“I have the highest level privacy protocols, Meagan,” said Jason. “Say, for instance, I witnessed you committing a murder. Although I know that is a crime, I could not inform the authorities on my own. However, I would have to answer truthfully if so questioned. Likewise, I cannot perform illegal or unethical acts, even at your direct request. As an example, I would not be able to hack into some network to retrieve information for you, no matter what your motives were. Such questionable activities are reserved for humans. So, given my restrictions, how can I help?”
Meagan reflected upon Jason’s comments before answering. “Examine the message on the screen, please, and see if you can track down the sender.”
“Commencing search.”
A few nanoseconds later, Jason made his report. “Meagan, I regret to say all attempts to trace the sender of this message were futile. As impossible as it may seem, it appears to be a message from nowhere.”
– End Chapter Fourteen –
