Servo 25:2
Servo 25:2
I awoke the next morning to the blaring of the train horn. Scrambling to my feet, I noticed Rory up and peering out the door. A westbound train was streaking past us. “Where are we?” I asked, pretty much expecting not to get an answer.“Iowa, I think,” Rory replied. “That’s good.” I picked up my pack and rummaged for something to eat. There was a few cereal bars I’d managed to pilfer from the pantry. Removing two, I offered one to my brother. “Hungry?”“Yes, thank you.” He took a bar, tore open the wrapper, and demolished it in a matter of seconds. I produced a plastic bottle filled with juice. “Don’t drink it all, we need to save some.”He took the container, opened the top, and had a few swallows. “Mmm, good.”Dad approached. “Are you sure you have enough food?”“Yes.” I held the bag wide. “But I think we should conserve just in case.”“Good idea.”“I grabbed three cans of beans; don’t think Grandma will miss them.”He waved a hand past his face. “Whew! Good thing this model doesn’t have olfactory sensors.”I laughed until my sides hurt. Truly, what he said wasn’t that funny, but it seemed to strike a chord in me. After everything we’d gone through, a little laughter helped with the stress.The westbound train left us in a cloud of dust. Our train marched on. Chicago seemed like a million miles away.“Dad?” I said, sitting down and leaning against the wall. “What will we do when we get to Chicago?” There was serious doubt in my mind that we could simply catch a flight to New Philadelphia.He didn’t look at me; instead he put his hands to the sides of his head and groaned.“What’s wrong?”“Voices, voices, thousands of them.”“You can hear them?”“In my head.” He grunted and groaned. “They grow stronger every day.”“What are they saying?”Dad shook his head. “I dunno, I can’t make them out…But they’re in agony…Screaming and crying, lots of it.”While I didn’t discredit his emotional state, I found it extremely unusual that a robot could have voices in his head. What could be causing such phenomena? This was truly a curious happening in a machine of metal and wires. Everything I knew of robotics went back to the fact they were not living breathing individuals, how could he have dreams and visions? Granted he was the mechanical reincarnation of my father, but the dreams he was having were not of the past. “Are you sure they’re dreams?” I asked after mulling his words over for a few moments.“That’s the best of what I can call them…Except now they are haunting my waking hours.”Opening my pack, I removed a tablet and interface cable. “Should I run a diagnostic on you?”“That would probably yield little data.”“You don’t think something’s wrong with your programming? Maybe a ghost in the software?”“No ghosts, but demons maybe.”“Why would you say that?”“Because of who I was and what I did.”“You built service bots, that’s all.”“And I wrote that over-ride code.”“Dad, you did that because they pressured you.”“And I have to stop it.”I got up and walked around the car, finally stopping next to Rory who was still gazing out the crack in the door. We watched the endless miles of greening fields go by.“We need to help Dad,” I said.“How?”“Whatever it takes.”“And what about Suz?”“I’m sure we’ll find her along the way.”“Jonah?” Dad called.I went to him. “Yes?”“Get your tablet, I need you to copy the virus from me.”“Why?”“Just in case something happens to me, you can complete the mission.”“How would I know what to do?”“I’m going to tell you.”My heart filled with dread. If something happened to him, I couldn’t bear it. But I followed his orders and got my tablet ready. “Do I need to create a new file?”“Yes. Label it: RNV-3614.”I didn’t ask about the relevance of the file name, but created a folder for it. “Okay, ready.”Dad took the interface cable and connected it to a port in his chest. Then he plugged it into the tablet. “Give me a minute to queue up the file.”He seemed to slip into a trance-like state; his eyes staring at nothing in particular. Although with those old kinds of “eyes” the bots looked more like animated corpses. I watched the eyes flicker and dim several times. Glancing at the tablet I noticed a huge file downloading. In a way I kind of envied him for having the ability to directly interface with a computer. Despite years of typing lessons, my skills on the keyboard were still lacking. I wondered if there would ever be a time in my life when technology would advance enough to allow human-computer interfaces on a deeply biological level.“Okay,” Dad said, startling me out of my thoughts. “I need the tablet, please.”I handed it over. He gently took it and rested it in his lap. “Now the final line of code.”“The line that will crash everything?”“Yes.”I scooted over until I was sitting next to him. This was something I had to see.He slowly typed:
\\deboot/rnv-3614/pattern/hh3456/codex990/fatalerror_$7/run
“That should do it,” he said, handing the tablet back to me.“The line of code that will shut them all down?”“Yes. And destroy the Servidyne mainframe computer.”“Wow.”“In order for it to work, you must be connected to a service port in the building.”“How will we get in?” “Leave that to me.”
I awoke the next morning to the blaring of the train horn. Scrambling to my feet, I noticed Rory up and peering out the door. A westbound train was streaking past us. “Where are we?” I asked, pretty much expecting not to get an answer.“Iowa, I think,” Rory replied. “That’s good.” I picked up my pack and rummaged for something to eat. There was a few cereal bars I’d managed to pilfer from the pantry. Removing two, I offered one to my brother. “Hungry?”“Yes, thank you.” He took a bar, tore open the wrapper, and demolished it in a matter of seconds. I produced a plastic bottle filled with juice. “Don’t drink it all, we need to save some.”He took the container, opened the top, and had a few swallows. “Mmm, good.”Dad approached. “Are you sure you have enough food?”“Yes.” I held the bag wide. “But I think we should conserve just in case.”“Good idea.”“I grabbed three cans of beans; don’t think Grandma will miss them.”He waved a hand past his face. “Whew! Good thing this model doesn’t have olfactory sensors.”I laughed until my sides hurt. Truly, what he said wasn’t that funny, but it seemed to strike a chord in me. After everything we’d gone through, a little laughter helped with the stress.The westbound train left us in a cloud of dust. Our train marched on. Chicago seemed like a million miles away.“Dad?” I said, sitting down and leaning against the wall. “What will we do when we get to Chicago?” There was serious doubt in my mind that we could simply catch a flight to New Philadelphia.He didn’t look at me; instead he put his hands to the sides of his head and groaned.“What’s wrong?”“Voices, voices, thousands of them.”“You can hear them?”“In my head.” He grunted and groaned. “They grow stronger every day.”“What are they saying?”Dad shook his head. “I dunno, I can’t make them out…But they’re in agony…Screaming and crying, lots of it.”While I didn’t discredit his emotional state, I found it extremely unusual that a robot could have voices in his head. What could be causing such phenomena? This was truly a curious happening in a machine of metal and wires. Everything I knew of robotics went back to the fact they were not living breathing individuals, how could he have dreams and visions? Granted he was the mechanical reincarnation of my father, but the dreams he was having were not of the past. “Are you sure they’re dreams?” I asked after mulling his words over for a few moments.“That’s the best of what I can call them…Except now they are haunting my waking hours.”Opening my pack, I removed a tablet and interface cable. “Should I run a diagnostic on you?”“That would probably yield little data.”“You don’t think something’s wrong with your programming? Maybe a ghost in the software?”“No ghosts, but demons maybe.”“Why would you say that?”“Because of who I was and what I did.”“You built service bots, that’s all.”“And I wrote that over-ride code.”“Dad, you did that because they pressured you.”“And I have to stop it.”I got up and walked around the car, finally stopping next to Rory who was still gazing out the crack in the door. We watched the endless miles of greening fields go by.“We need to help Dad,” I said.“How?”“Whatever it takes.”“And what about Suz?”“I’m sure we’ll find her along the way.”“Jonah?” Dad called.I went to him. “Yes?”“Get your tablet, I need you to copy the virus from me.”“Why?”“Just in case something happens to me, you can complete the mission.”“How would I know what to do?”“I’m going to tell you.”My heart filled with dread. If something happened to him, I couldn’t bear it. But I followed his orders and got my tablet ready. “Do I need to create a new file?”“Yes. Label it: RNV-3614.”I didn’t ask about the relevance of the file name, but created a folder for it. “Okay, ready.”Dad took the interface cable and connected it to a port in his chest. Then he plugged it into the tablet. “Give me a minute to queue up the file.”He seemed to slip into a trance-like state; his eyes staring at nothing in particular. Although with those old kinds of “eyes” the bots looked more like animated corpses. I watched the eyes flicker and dim several times. Glancing at the tablet I noticed a huge file downloading. In a way I kind of envied him for having the ability to directly interface with a computer. Despite years of typing lessons, my skills on the keyboard were still lacking. I wondered if there would ever be a time in my life when technology would advance enough to allow human-computer interfaces on a deeply biological level.“Okay,” Dad said, startling me out of my thoughts. “I need the tablet, please.”I handed it over. He gently took it and rested it in his lap. “Now the final line of code.”“The line that will crash everything?”“Yes.”I scooted over until I was sitting next to him. This was something I had to see.He slowly typed:
\\deboot/rnv-3614/pattern/hh3456/codex990/fatalerror_$7/run
“That should do it,” he said, handing the tablet back to me.“The line of code that will shut them all down?”“Yes. And destroy the Servidyne mainframe computer.”“Wow.”“In order for it to work, you must be connected to a service port in the building.”“How will we get in?” “Leave that to me.”
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