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roughage plus supplementary vitamin and protein pills. He torn open
one of the roughage containers to find, in the corner, a small glob of
the stuff, which hadn t hardened completely. This food had been
eaten within the last twenty-four hours. The rest of the trash was
comprised of wadded-up pieces of paper containing mathematical
equations relating to the geometric progression of the city-building,
which seemed to relate to the time it would take to fill the entire
planet with city. Others seemed to be directed to the amounts of
rainfall and the reservoir size, quick calculations regarding how long
it would take an overflow to occur. Derec had the feeling that if he
simply sat in the office and waited an indefinite amount of time, he
could probably catch the overseer coming back. Unfortunately, he
didn t have an indefinite amount of time.
He put the trash back in the can and directed his attention to the desk
itself. The top of the iron-alloy desk contained a blotter with paper
and two zero-g ink pens. The only personal item on the desk was a
holo-cube containing a scene of a very nice looking woman holding a
baby. The sight of the cube sent a cold chill down his back.
He turned his attention to the drawers. On his left were several small
drawers, which were, for the most part, empty. Only the top drawer
contained anything at all, and that was simply more paper and some
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technical data on the workings of the logic circuits of the positronic
brain. On his right, however, he struck gold. As he opened the big well
drawer there, a slight motor hum brought a computer terminal up to
desktop level, the screen already active, the cursor flashing: READY.
Interestingly enough, the terminal had all the hook-ups and leads for
hyperwave transmission and reception. Unfortunately, the power
pack and directional hyperwave antenna were missing from the back,
taken, no doubt, by the overseer.
He stared at the terminal in disbelief. No blocks, no passwords, no
protections on the system at all. He couldn t believe that an entire
civilization would open itself up to him just because he d found an
office. Suppose he d meant to cause it harm?
Cautiously, he slipped into the scheme of things, working his way
down to the level of files, then asking to go to the central core. Once
reaching that, he asked to open the file marked: CITY DEFENSES.
Within seconds, the READY signal was flashing again. He was in!
Rapidly he typed:
LIST CITY DEFENSES.
The computer answered:
CITY DEFENSES:
ADVANCE REPLICATION
SEAL CONTAMINATION
HALT CENTRAL CORE INPUT
MOBILATE CENTRAL CORE
LOCALIZE EMERGENCY TERMINALS
ISOLATE SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL
He sat, shaking, at the typer. This was it. He decided to try his hand at
shutting it down. He typed:
CANCEL REPLICATION.
The computer never hesitated.
CITY DEFENSES CANNOT BE CANCELED WITHOUT
JUSTIFICATION AND INPUT REGARDING ALIEN THREAT OR
CONTAMINATION.
Derec typed:
OVERRIDE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS AND CANCEL
REPLICATION.
The computer answered:
OVERRIDE IMPOSSIBLE UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. CITY
DEFENSES CANNOT BE CANCELED WITHOUT JUSTIFICATION AND
INPUT REGARDING ALIEN THREAT OR CONTAMINATION.
It was a lock-out. The computer refused even to talk to him about it
unless he could determine the reason for the defensive measures and
provide proper rationalization for termination. It seemed etched in
granite. He typed:
LIST REASONS FOR CITY DEFENSE ACTIVATION.
The computer answered with a graph of the city, its shape ever
changing, turning slowly. A tiny light was flashing in the section
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marked Quadrant #4. At the bottom of the screen the computer
wrote:
ALIEN CONTAMINATION IN QUADRANT #4.
Derec asked:
CITE NATURE OF CONTAMINATION.
The computer answered:
ALIEN CONTAMINATION IN QUADRANT #4.
He sat back and looked at the machine. It was very possible that the
flashing light could represent the body of his look-alike. The machine
wasn t going to let him off the hook on the murder. He was beginning
to see why it was so easy for him to get into the central core from this
terminal, and he received his final confirmation quickly, when he
typed:
LIST PROCEDURE FOR DEACTIVATION OF CITY DEFENSES.
The machine replied: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]