Servo 27:3
Servo 27:3
The hotel bed was deliciously comfy. I sat against the headboard with a pile of pillows behind me devouring lunch. It tasted absolutely wretched, but I was hungry, so I ate. The food in the Outer States tasted so much better. Everything there had flavor and texture. Inner States food was designed to nourish with the correct ratio of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. I found it barely palatable and wondered how I ate this stuff all my young life. Looking over, I saw Rory attempting to eat a hamburger. He was making the most horrific facial expressions. I guess in one respect, the Outer States spoiled us with delicious cuisine. How I missed grandma’s beef ribs smeared with barbeque sauce and a tall glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash it all down. Staring at my plate, I swore I’d ordered chicken, but this neither looked nor tasted of it. It was then I realized this was not home and would never be again.“Jonah?” Dad said. He was standing at the window gazing out to the street below. “You said you brought some tools?”“Yes, a few.”“After you eat, can you try re-tuning my Wi-Fi?”“Sure.”“Can I try?” Rory asked. I pondered his request for a moment. My brother was quite capable of performing the task. “Sure, the tools are in the bottom of my bag.”He ditched his hamburger and grabbed the pack, rummaging for tools. “What will I need?”“A simple flathead screwdriver should do the trick.”Dad sat down at the table. “This should make it easier.”Rory approached. “I need to remove his chest plate, right?”“Yes. The Wi-Fi receiver will be on the left side just below his arm servo.” “Okay.”I watched him deftly remove the screws holding the chest plate and set it on the table. Then he drew closer trying to locate the receiver. “Is that it?” He pointed to a small dial.“Yup. Turn the screw very slowly and Dad will tell you when he’s got it.”Rory inserted the blade of the screwdriver and began to turn. “Anything?”“No,” Dad replied. “Keep going.”“This is all so strange,” Suz said, observing them. “I don’t know how he could be Dad.”“He is, somehow.” I tossed my fork onto the plate. “Through some strange force of nature he’s returned to us…I still don’t know exactly what I did, but whatever it was, we have our Dad back.”“I just wish you could bring back Mom too.”I got up and went to her, putting my hand on her shoulder. “I wish I could, but there weren’t any memory sticks of Mom.”Suz sighed loudly. “I know…But it would have been nice.”“There!” Dad said, “That’s it!”“You got signal?” Rory said, drawing away.“Yes. A bit weak, but I can pick it up.”“That antenna is pretty old,” I said, wandering to the window. “I doubt we can get a new one that’ll work on that unit.”“Don’t worry about it. If things work out, you’ll be upgrading me anyway.”“Huh?”“If we can get a newer bot body, you can transfer all my hardware into it.”“Oh, no, I’d be too scared to do that. What if something happened?”“I trust you boys.”“Yeah, but I don’t trust us!”“I’m sure you’d be just fine.”Turning from the window, I approached him. “Dad, we’ve already lost you once; we’re not going to lose you again.”He put his hand on my arm. “Okay, okay. How about we take it one step at a time?”“All right.”“Is your tablet charged?”“Probably.”“Time to find Otto.”I nodded and returned to the bed. My fairly full stomach would normally have me sleepy. This food seemed to be making me queasy. I belched a couple of times and rubbed my belly. Dad regarded me. “Are you okay?”“The food is awful!”He chuckled and I swore it sounded like a tin can rattling down a windy street. “You used to love the food here.”“Not anymore.”“I was never a fan of it. Now I don’t have to eat at all.”“But you need to charge.”He held up his finger. “Ah, yes, thanks for reminding me.” I watched him cross the room and approach a charging pad. It was a large rectangular metallic plate on the wall. A bot had simply to back against it and it would receive a charge. “Will that work with your model?” I asked.“Should.” He flattened to the wall. “Hmm, well, kind of. I can feel a charge, but not very strong.”I picked up my tablet and turned it on. While it booted up, I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the hack at hand. This wasn’t going to be easy. I had to gain access to the Ministry of Enforcement’s server. If it was like the rest of the government computer systems, it would have at least a 4096 bit encryption. Yeah, I’d broken into that level of security before, but I also got caught. The object of this exercise was not to get caught. Having Otto freed would hopefully make Suz happy and me as well. My friend was a very capable programmer who might be useful when we tried to bring down Servidyne. Never in my life did I ever think I’d be part of a conspiracy to cripple the largest bot manufacturer in the world. Getting caught would mean serious time in a detention center—probably the rest of our lives. Dad had to be right; I was putting every ounce of trust in him. He’d never let us down before, why start now?The tablet beeped, snapping me from my trance-like state. I stared at the screen for a few moments. Where to start? Rory climbed up next to me but said nothing. He knew better than to utter a single word while I was working. That’s what got us caught last time—he said something and I ended up typing a wrong number. No amount of hollering on my part could equal the volume of hollering Dad did when the authorities showed up at our door. My punishment was being grounded with no tablet for two weeks. Oh, that was agonizing! But it would be nothing compared to the punishment the ministry would levy if we got busted. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let it out. I poked at the icon for the internet and waited for a search box to appear. Moments later I was staring at a blank box. With painstaking precision, I typed: Ministry of Enforcement. A running list appeared and I scrolled down looking for just the right address. It didn’t take long to find one. I was searching for an entrance site that would get me in the door. The listing I went with happened to be the detention center electronic library. From what we were taught about the center, each detaineewas housed in a solitary cell no larger than eight by ten feet. There was no contact with other inmates and food was served through a slot in the door. Each cell had a touch screen allowing access to certain things on the local network used by the ministry. News, sports, and library privileges were part of it. I now had the challenge of getting into that network. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rory watching. He was soaking everything in and cataloging it for future use. I knew when he reached maturity he’d be a computing force to be reckoned with. My only hope was that we’d have a world in which to apply ourselves. Right now it was looking pretty ominous.
The hotel bed was deliciously comfy. I sat against the headboard with a pile of pillows behind me devouring lunch. It tasted absolutely wretched, but I was hungry, so I ate. The food in the Outer States tasted so much better. Everything there had flavor and texture. Inner States food was designed to nourish with the correct ratio of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. I found it barely palatable and wondered how I ate this stuff all my young life. Looking over, I saw Rory attempting to eat a hamburger. He was making the most horrific facial expressions. I guess in one respect, the Outer States spoiled us with delicious cuisine. How I missed grandma’s beef ribs smeared with barbeque sauce and a tall glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash it all down. Staring at my plate, I swore I’d ordered chicken, but this neither looked nor tasted of it. It was then I realized this was not home and would never be again.“Jonah?” Dad said. He was standing at the window gazing out to the street below. “You said you brought some tools?”“Yes, a few.”“After you eat, can you try re-tuning my Wi-Fi?”“Sure.”“Can I try?” Rory asked. I pondered his request for a moment. My brother was quite capable of performing the task. “Sure, the tools are in the bottom of my bag.”He ditched his hamburger and grabbed the pack, rummaging for tools. “What will I need?”“A simple flathead screwdriver should do the trick.”Dad sat down at the table. “This should make it easier.”Rory approached. “I need to remove his chest plate, right?”“Yes. The Wi-Fi receiver will be on the left side just below his arm servo.” “Okay.”I watched him deftly remove the screws holding the chest plate and set it on the table. Then he drew closer trying to locate the receiver. “Is that it?” He pointed to a small dial.“Yup. Turn the screw very slowly and Dad will tell you when he’s got it.”Rory inserted the blade of the screwdriver and began to turn. “Anything?”“No,” Dad replied. “Keep going.”“This is all so strange,” Suz said, observing them. “I don’t know how he could be Dad.”“He is, somehow.” I tossed my fork onto the plate. “Through some strange force of nature he’s returned to us…I still don’t know exactly what I did, but whatever it was, we have our Dad back.”“I just wish you could bring back Mom too.”I got up and went to her, putting my hand on her shoulder. “I wish I could, but there weren’t any memory sticks of Mom.”Suz sighed loudly. “I know…But it would have been nice.”“There!” Dad said, “That’s it!”“You got signal?” Rory said, drawing away.“Yes. A bit weak, but I can pick it up.”“That antenna is pretty old,” I said, wandering to the window. “I doubt we can get a new one that’ll work on that unit.”“Don’t worry about it. If things work out, you’ll be upgrading me anyway.”“Huh?”“If we can get a newer bot body, you can transfer all my hardware into it.”“Oh, no, I’d be too scared to do that. What if something happened?”“I trust you boys.”“Yeah, but I don’t trust us!”“I’m sure you’d be just fine.”Turning from the window, I approached him. “Dad, we’ve already lost you once; we’re not going to lose you again.”He put his hand on my arm. “Okay, okay. How about we take it one step at a time?”“All right.”“Is your tablet charged?”“Probably.”“Time to find Otto.”I nodded and returned to the bed. My fairly full stomach would normally have me sleepy. This food seemed to be making me queasy. I belched a couple of times and rubbed my belly. Dad regarded me. “Are you okay?”“The food is awful!”He chuckled and I swore it sounded like a tin can rattling down a windy street. “You used to love the food here.”“Not anymore.”“I was never a fan of it. Now I don’t have to eat at all.”“But you need to charge.”He held up his finger. “Ah, yes, thanks for reminding me.” I watched him cross the room and approach a charging pad. It was a large rectangular metallic plate on the wall. A bot had simply to back against it and it would receive a charge. “Will that work with your model?” I asked.“Should.” He flattened to the wall. “Hmm, well, kind of. I can feel a charge, but not very strong.”I picked up my tablet and turned it on. While it booted up, I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the hack at hand. This wasn’t going to be easy. I had to gain access to the Ministry of Enforcement’s server. If it was like the rest of the government computer systems, it would have at least a 4096 bit encryption. Yeah, I’d broken into that level of security before, but I also got caught. The object of this exercise was not to get caught. Having Otto freed would hopefully make Suz happy and me as well. My friend was a very capable programmer who might be useful when we tried to bring down Servidyne. Never in my life did I ever think I’d be part of a conspiracy to cripple the largest bot manufacturer in the world. Getting caught would mean serious time in a detention center—probably the rest of our lives. Dad had to be right; I was putting every ounce of trust in him. He’d never let us down before, why start now?The tablet beeped, snapping me from my trance-like state. I stared at the screen for a few moments. Where to start? Rory climbed up next to me but said nothing. He knew better than to utter a single word while I was working. That’s what got us caught last time—he said something and I ended up typing a wrong number. No amount of hollering on my part could equal the volume of hollering Dad did when the authorities showed up at our door. My punishment was being grounded with no tablet for two weeks. Oh, that was agonizing! But it would be nothing compared to the punishment the ministry would levy if we got busted. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let it out. I poked at the icon for the internet and waited for a search box to appear. Moments later I was staring at a blank box. With painstaking precision, I typed: Ministry of Enforcement. A running list appeared and I scrolled down looking for just the right address. It didn’t take long to find one. I was searching for an entrance site that would get me in the door. The listing I went with happened to be the detention center electronic library. From what we were taught about the center, each detaineewas housed in a solitary cell no larger than eight by ten feet. There was no contact with other inmates and food was served through a slot in the door. Each cell had a touch screen allowing access to certain things on the local network used by the ministry. News, sports, and library privileges were part of it. I now had the challenge of getting into that network. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rory watching. He was soaking everything in and cataloging it for future use. I knew when he reached maturity he’d be a computing force to be reckoned with. My only hope was that we’d have a world in which to apply ourselves. Right now it was looking pretty ominous.
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