“I have learned a little more since the last time we spoke of the matter.”
“That’s good. What ‘little more’?”
“Nonspecifics.”
“Of course.” Oristano sighed. “It would be too much to expect you had discovered anything specific.”
“Hints, suggestions, overtones, leanings are often very important, Martin.”
“I certainly didn’t mean to denigrate your work. Enter this new information into my study file, and I’ll review it when I have more time.”
“Busy day?” asked the machine with genuine concern.
“The usual.”
“Australians giving you trouble again?”
“You’ve heard? I’ve already dealt with that.”
“This is more important than arguments over fishing rights.”
“Are you saying that I’m not taking your ‘threat’ seriously enough?” Oristano perked up. The implication was that the machine was drawing inferences from Martin’s vocal inflection and expression. “I am. We all are. You have to understand that’s it hard for us, laboring as we do under more immediate problems, to regard this as anxiously as you seem to, since to date there has been nothing in the way of a demonstrable danger to the system.”
“Then you will be pleased to know, Martin, that I have finally detected a disturbance which must be dealt with.”
Oristano sat up straighter in his chair. “It’s about time.” Odd how he was more relieved than concerned.
“You need to notify the International Surveillance Network to watch for intrusions or attempted intrusions by unauthorized personnel into Colligatarch Subsidiary Service Termini in the following cities: Bombay, Kyoto, Singapore, Brisbane—perhaps the Australians will have something truly serious to yell about—Antafogasta, Bogota, Nueva York, Metrotex, Madrid, Milan, and Kiev.”
Oristano automatically entered the list into his study file, frowned.
“Something about this troubles you, Martin?”
“That’s quite a list. I’m thinking of the expense involved in calling for special surveillance at so many points. Do you expect the danger to manifest itself at all of them?”
“All and none. I am still in the process of trying to decide where the actual serious assault is to take place.”
“‘Assault’? Then you’ve collated enough imponderables to project actual physical violence against the system?”
“It has moved from the realm of the possible into that of the probable, yes. As to the expense, I have already eliminated a number of additional locations where the probability of intrusion exists but is lower. I regret I cannot be more precise.”
So do I, Oristano mused. Nevertheless, it was a relief to be able to deal with something besides febrile cybernetic hallucinations. It would help the morale of the staff. One thing to say a threat exists, another to alert security in Madrid. Time for a little reality to replace supposition.
“Interesting that you don’t include Central.”
“The threat is not directed here. At least, not now.”
“Then this is all you deem necessary?”
“For now, Martin. I will notify you if I feel further steps should be taken.”
“Good enough.” He felt a sudden, uncharacteristic urge to rejoin human company.
He sought out the diminutive programmer from Behar.
“More troubles with the unnameable threat?” Dhurapati asked. The cabochon ruby in her nose was almost black in the dim light of the corridor.
“I’m afraid so. Now I’m to call a worldwide alert at CS Service Termini.”
She shook her head, black hair moving beneath the thin silk of the work sari. “This can’t go on forever. Tell me, Martin, do you still believe in the seriousness of this ‘threat’?”
“Why else would the machine call an alert?”
“Because it senses your doubt and mine and everyone else’s, and seeks to justify its confusion and concern by raising an alarm, perhaps to no more purpose than to reinforce its own closely held delusion.”
He eyed her appraisingly. They were in a service corridor decorated to resemble a similar tunnel on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Water dripped off ferns and epiphytes. It was hard to believe they weren’t strolling through that tropical paradise. Yet overhead lay several thousand meters of solid granite and beyond, the cold wastes of the Alps.
“You’re still insisting something’s wrong with the Colligatarch’s central logic functions?”
“I’m not ready to insist on it. Not yet. But I do think it’s time for you to order an independent study. Care should be taken not to make the machine suspicious. The investigation should be cloaked in the guise of a standard circuitry checkup. This much needs to be done.” She stopped, stared up at him. “There are others on the staff who agree with me, Martin.”
“Very well. I confess to having second thoughts myself. Go ahead and set up the necessary study. I’ll clear it through the network.” His thoughts shifted.
“You know, the Colligatarch is still new enough so that we don’t, even after all these years of operation, know everything about it. It’s continually evolving, electronically and mentally. This sort of checkup ought to be carried out on a regular basis. Increased sophistication of operation requires a corresponding increase in the sophistication of monitoring such operations.”
“We need to tread very lightly here, Martin. I realize it’s unlikely we could do anything to alarm the machine, but we need to tread very lightly.”
“I leave it to you, Dhura, to devise a check program which will do just that.”
