Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

‘Just how big is your system?’ he enquired, equal parts impressed and professionally offended.

Eloise ignored him. Her attention to the holo-screen intensified and her fingers flashed faster. And then the holo-screens, all of them, blinked and disappeared, right at the same time as all the lights went off, along with the soft hum of the air flow and other electrics.

‘Dammit,’ Eloise muttered.

Instinctively, Gonzalez consulted his wrist-comp. Its system was totally separate and remained unaffected, allowing him to quickly check the status of the security perimeter. It all flashed a steady green, and he relaxed a bit. They were still protected for now. Though all he could do was see the status. He was cut off from issuing any instructions.

‘Ms Moretti, what—’

Lights flicking back on interrupted him.

‘System restarting,’ a disembodied voice informed him.

‘Time estimate till fully functional?’ Ingram asked, while Gonzalez was busy glaring at Eloise.

‘Unknown,’ the disembodied voice replied, with the artificial calm of a machine that didn’t care about having been abruptly switched off. ‘System back online in emergency mode. Running diagnostics now.’

‘Ms Moretti?’ Gonzalez grated.

The woman swivelled her chair to face him. ‘Your system is so primitive that my system severed the connection.’

‘Why did it crash my system?’ Gonzalez demanded.

‘Because your system is so primitive. Tilly is designed to run probability checks, and she clearly decided that I’d never attempt to work with something this basic. So, she severed the connection in doubt of my identity.’

Ingram twitched. Tilly. I’ve heard that word before.

‘But why did it crash my system?’ Gonzalez articulated every word very carefully.

‘Because it is primitive,’ Eloise said for the third time, in exactly the same conversational voice.

Maybe, Ingram thought, I find her so damn annoying because she is so calm? It’s like when you try to argue with someone but they won’t argue back, and you just feel like strangling them.

Gonzalez rephrased his question. ‘What is the correlation between my system being primitive and it crashing when you are connected to the Chandler N-Suit Research Base?’

Eloise cocked her head, her eyes narrowing.

‘I suppose,’ she began, and Ingram could swear there was just a tiny flicker of amusement in her eyes, ‘it’s the same as when you slam an old-fashioned door in someone’s face. If they are weak, the impact will make them fall on their ass.’

This time Ingram couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

‘Well, I’d hate for my system to get a broken nose and a bruised coccyx in the process, so perhaps we won’t be trying that one again,’ Gonzalez replied, ignoring Ingram’s amusement. ‘What do you propose instead?’

‘Diagnostics finished. Cause unknown. System fully functional,’ the disembodied voice interjected before Eloise could reply. ‘Standing by for further instructions.’

‘I need to go in, in person.’ Eloise shrugged, and Gonzalez sighed.

‘Ms Moretti, we have been through this before. You can’t—’

Eloise rolled her eyes.

‘Go into the system. Not go home,’ she clarified.

***

‘I don’t like this.’ Ingram couldn’t help but express her disapproval yet again.

Gonzalez sighed. ‘Neither do I, Carlotta. Neither do I.’

In fact, not liking it was putting it mildly. What Eloise had proposed was crazy. In fact, until about an hour ago Gonzalez had thought it was impossible. You go into a VRP. A computer system is not a VRP.

Of course, Eloise argued, and correctly so, that a computer program—loosely defined as a set of instructions that performs a specific task—was nothing more than a primitive VRP without the actual VR properties and interface, while the software element of any computer system was a collection of computer programs. So, if one added a VR interface, one could basically turn any computer system into a giant VRP, which could be manipulated from within just as easily as it could be manipulated using a keyboard.

‘In this particular case,’ Eloise had argued, ‘it will be easier to manipulate it via the n-suit’s interface, as it will allow for a much faster transfer of thoughts between my brain and Tilly.’

The fact that Eloise routinely went into her own computer system to work on upgrading and maintaining Tilly did very little to convince Gonzalez that it wasn’t crazy.

In his mind, Tilly was less predictable than a standard computer. Everything that he had seen suggested very advanced AI properties embedded in the programming. So advanced, in fact, that Tilly seemed to have a mind of her own. While Eloise was used to the strange level of independence Tilly displayed, Gonzalez found it… disconcerting. Logically he knew that Tilly couldn’t make a decision that wasn’t programmed into her, but somewhere deep down, an irrational fear remained.

What was not, however, an irrational fear was the risk Eloise was taking. Going into Tilly’s system via an n-suit’s interface would link her mind as directly to a computer as was possible, and Tilly’s apparent hostility towards accepting Eloise’s identity remained unresolved.

‘So, what will happen to Ms Moretti if Tilly decides to slam the door in her face? I mean, we can fix a broken nose and a bruised ass, but…’ Ingram’s voice trailed off.

They had both been in the room when Eloise stripped the safety locks from the n-suit she was going to use. It was somewhat ironic that only a few hours ago she had been genuinely confused as to why anyone would ever want to do such a thing, and there she was, doing just that.

Gonzalez sighed.

‘There is always a degree of unknown when it comes to predicting what sort of damage a machine can do via an n-suit. With the safety locks in place it is fairly standard. More violent VRPs, such as hand-to-hand combat ones, will cause pain equivalent, or as close to it as is safe, to what happens in real life, but actual damage is limited to bruising and tenderness,’ he explained, stating the obvious. ‘Without the safety locks there is just no way of guessing how an n-suit might interpret that slamming door. Worst-case scenario, it could fry her nervous system entirely, I suppose.’

And that was something not even the most advanced nano-medicine could help