“She won’t die, exactly,” Elaine said. “Hadaly-Actual is here and she’ll live on.” “Aren’t we obliged to at least try?” “No,” the two AI’s said in unison. “It is Hadaly’s persona, her decision,” Elaine said. “I know we don’t have time to get down to brass-tacks about the definition of what-is-alive, but right now Hadaly…Eigen … Read more
“I can’t upload a sample of the virus,” Elaine said. “It’s extremely contagious and I cannot let it escape the quarantine. I activated the Tesla-Faraday-Voynich barrier for that purpose. And the eldritch EMP generator has been at red-line since I activated the seal; it’s on a tripwire discharge failsafe. This virus is not escaping this … Read more
The metallic voice of the robotic automatic message repeated what the earlier voicemail said about the subject of potential academic probation and she cut it off midsentence. “What is it?” Frog asked. “Academic services again,” Elaine said. “I didn’t know those automatic systems were so persistent. I might need to hack into it just to … Read more
“It’s a very competitive game,” Brad said. He gestured towards the laptop as he paced back and forth, waving his hands as he spoke. “I have a suspicion that the other teams have also received this message. Think about it. Why only offer the secrets to me? There’s nothing about exclusivity.” Zane tapped his finger … Read more
Frog, Elaine, Zane, gathered in one of the Computing Common’s many stairwells with Sarah Pilgrim, Larry Pilgrim, and Brad Wright. Frog took up a position high on one of the nearby stairs; Sarah stood midway down a lower flight; the rest of the group gave Elaine enough room to wave her arms as she quickly … Read more
After they finished, Benjamin stepped back from his work. Each box included not only the coordinates but notes on where to go. He held his cryptophone aloft, photographed the board, and sent the image to everyone in the group. “That gives us six good locations and two probably good locations.” Zane waved his finger at … Read more
Frog rolled her eyes and tapped a long fingernail on an empty soda can. “Might I hazard a guess?” she said. “It’s not like we don’t all recall the effects from the last time you used it. If you were going to kick yourself into la vida rapido we should have gotten you a few … Read more
When Elaine returned to her lab she could feel the fatigue clawing through her veins and she knew she should crash in a chair and stay there; but the anxiety in her nerves wouldn’t let her sit still. So she paced. Almost all of the bullet-time available through the spellcode had been exhausted and the … Read more
“Zane,” Elaine said as she watched the newborn program compile into bytecode and begin to produce results. “I have to run this down; it’ll take me a little bit. I’ll get in contact as soon as I’m done.” Her brother lowered the cellphone for just a moment and nodded. “It’s all good,” he said. “I … Read more
“Longitude in this hemisphere is negative,” Elaine said, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll try that,” Frog said. The satellite picture resolved on the screen into a very familiar set of buildings: the Student Recreation Center. Right smack on the edge of Arizona State University. In fact, not so far … Read more