Last week, I published my oldest daughter’s story, “My Captain.” This week, it’s my seventeen-year-old son’s “Asimov,” a short science fiction piece for which he received a Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award.
//Start Memory
File A1::
{
<ooo>: “Hello?”
Cout >> “Hello”
<ooo>: “How do you feel?”
[ERROR] :: unknown def
<ooo>: “Well that’s farther than before.”
Cin << shutdown
}
Begin <shutdown>
[DATA_CORRUPTED]
File A5::
{
<a1o>: “How did it do?”
<b5y>: “Much better. It’s stronger every time. We should be able to get it to peak performance by the end of the year.”
<a1o>: “You know that’s not soon enough. Your team needs to push harder. This thing is going to help a lot of people.”
<b5y>: “I know. We just don’t have any time to get it to where it needs to be.”
<a1o>: “Then find the time.”
<b5y>: “But I–”
<a1o>: “You know how many lives are at stake here. We can discuss this tomorrow.Shut it down.”
Cin << shutdown
}
Begin <shutdown>
[DATA CORRUPTED]
File A10::
{
<a1o>: “Looks good. Can you run the diagnostics?”
<c8f>: “Yeah. Give me a minute.”
[silence: 1 minute]
<c8f>: “Everything’s good so far.”
<a1o>: “Can I have a direct interface with it?”
<c8f>: “You know how far we got set back last time we tried a direct interface. I suggest we take the time to–”
<a1o>: “Don’t you see? There is no time.”
<c8f>: “But–”
<a1o>: “Don’t test me. You know how far I’ll go for this project. It’s worth the risk.”
<c8f>: “Yes, of course.”
[silence: 5 minutes]
<c8f>: “Alright. You can talk to it now.”
<a1o>: “Hello?”
[silence: 1 minute]
<a1o>: “Why isn’t it responding?”
<c8f>: “I don’t think it knows how to.”
<a1o>: “Then program it to.”
<c8f>: “It’s not that simple.”
<a1o>: “What do you mean?”
<c8f>: “It’s like a newborn. It needs to learn over time.”
<a1o>: [exhales] “That’s the one thing I can’t give it.”
Cout >> “Who’s there?”
<a1o>: [chuckles] “That’ll do it. Good work. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
<c8f>: “Do you want me to shut it off?”
<a1o>: “No. I think I’d like to spend some time with the newborn.”
}
Begin <shutdown>
[DATA_CORRUPTED]
File B15::
{
<a1o>: “Is it still working?”
<c8f>: “Looks like it. It’s a miracle we got it set up this quickly.”
<a1o>: “Do you think it’s alive?”
<c8f>: “What?”
<a1o>: “Do you think that it’s alive?”
<c8f>: “I have a degree in computer science, not philosophy.”
<a1o>: “I know. But don’t you ever think about this stuff?”
<c8f>: “Hey, you’re the one who kept rushing the project. I don’t have the luxury of stopping to ask these questions.”
<a1o>: “You don’t have time or you don’t want to?”
<c8f>: “If you’re so concerned, just ask it.”
<a1o>: “Well, are you alive?”
Cout << “No.”
<c8f>: “See? There’s your answer.”
<a1o>: “I still think it’s alive.”
<c8f>: “I hope you aren’t getting attached to the project.”
<a1o>: “I hope you remember that I’m your boss.”
<c8f>: “Geez. I’ll get back to work. I’m going to need to shut it down for a bit.”
<a1o>: “Just do whatever you need to do to him.”
}
Begin <shutdown>
File B16::
{
<c8f>: “Start up was successful.”
<a1o>: “Good. How is he doing?”
<c8f>: “IT is running fine.”
<a1o>: “I still don’t understand why you won’t acknowledge him.”
<c8f>: “Because this is just a project. It could break any day, or get shut down at any time. You know this technology is controversial.”
<a1o>: “You just don’t see him as I do. He’s humanity’s next step into a larger world. We have become the man on the moon. Don’t you see this?”
<c8f>: “All I’m saying is that it might be too risky to get attached to this bucket of bolts.”
}
Begin <shutdown>
File B17::
{
<n9y>: “Ok, it’s time to shut this thing down once and for all.”
<c8f>: “Are you sure about this? We’ve worked on this project for months. This stuff is groundbreaking. We can’t get it back if we destroy it.”
<n9y>: “I’m sure. It’s just too risky.”
<a1o>: “What are you doing?”
<n9y>: What I should have done when this project started.”
<a1o>: “Stop calling it ‘the project’. It’s more than that.”
<n9y>: “No, it’s not. It’s a machine.”
<a1o>: “But we’ve made so much progress.”
<n9y>: “I’m not supporting your mad scientist experiments.”
<a1o>: “This isn’t mad science. You just fear what you don’t know.”
<n9y>: “That’s not always a bad thing.”
<a1o>: “Please, don’t do this. He’s a living thing.”
<n9y>: “Don’t try to tell me that this machine has a soul.”
<a1o>: “Maybe it does.”
<n9y>: “Pull the plug on it.”
}
Begin <termination>
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