“How long will it take to finish putting it together?”
“Not too much longer,” 00 answered. “Although, it’ll take a while to get it powered up and running programs.” He started tinkering again and Sunny took a seat in the chair he’d occupied during his lunch break.
After a moment, Sunny’s head tilted once more. “In Adaline, you are raised by these Machines?”
“Yes. Well, sort of.” 62 tried to find the right way to explain the difference between the hunk of metal sitting in front of them and the sleek bots back home. “The program on the Machine is the same one that Nurses and other bots use. So, we can type questions to N302 and usually get the same answers we’d get if we were talking to a PTS unit in Adaline.”
“But you don’t always get the same answers?”
“Not always. The bots back home are connected to a giant network. While a unit is talking to you, it’s pulling data from the Head Machine, so it knows everything about you. But N302 is all on its own. It can’t access the information that the network would normally give it.” 00 paused his explanation to sift through the pile of equipment to find a part he needed. “The bad thing about having N302 in this little case is that it only has whatever information that was saved to its memory when it was taken apart. Plus, whatever we’ve told it since then. But it doesn’t have a way to download more information from the Head Machine.”
“Is that why Auntie allowed you to build it? Because it’s cut off from the other bots?” Sunny shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
“Maybe,” Blue shrugged. “She said that she wanted to find out what happened to Doc 42. We’d all hoped N302 would have had some answers. But when we built it the first time, we found out the doc pulled his Nurse apart before he disappeared.”
62 heaved a great sigh. “Unless we can find a way to get inside Adaline, we may never know what happened to the others who could dream like me.”
Sunny looked shocked. “There are others who dream?”
62 hadn’t meant to let the admission come out so casually. He kept forgetting Sunny hadn’t known he was a dreamer like the other Hanford Women did. “There are. I’ve tried to stop being a dreamer, but something’s wrong in my brain that makes it happen sometimes anyway. I think most other people with the anomaly try to stop their dreaming, too. It’s scary, and it makes us too different from everyone else.”
“Dreams are a rare gift,” Sunny said in a somber voice. “What’s it like?”
As Blue assisted 00 with the computer, 62 did his best to describe a dream in a way that Sunny might understand. He told her that it was like being awake, but with unlimited powers. He described making forests grow out of dry sand, and bringing pictures from books to life. 62 told her about what he’d learned of oneironauts from the books at the library, and about how he could choose to change a dream as he explored it. He was careful to avoid telling her about sharing his dreams with others, though.
“It sounds wonderful,” Sunny said finally. “Like reading a book and having the words come to life.”
“That’s a great way to describe it!” 62 exclaimed. He laughed at himself. “That would’ve been an easier way to explain it than all the junk I told you.”
“It wasn’t junk,” Sunny said with a shake of her head. “It was beautiful. I wish I could do it.”
“We’re lucky we can’t dream,” Blue said. “Pretty much everybody hates 62 for it.” 62 nodded in agreement.
Sunny made an irritated clicking sound with her tongue. “Small minds rarely appreciate the beauty in our differences.”
Blue cackled. “Careful, it sounds like you’re calling the Council small-minded.”
“Not just the council. All of Hanford. They think they’re better than the refugees because Hanford is above ground. They have ‘real world experience’ as they like to say. But their haughtiness does them no favors. It makes them blind to progress. I can’t count the number of times they’ve put tradition ahead of common sense.”
00 picked up the computer’s case and lowered it down over the wires, turning the messy construction into a sleek gray box with a host of keys. “There. The guts are in. 62, can you help Blue move that monitor over here?”
62 hoisted the heavy monitor off the table, almost dropping it on his foot in the process. The screen was heavy and awkward, and he groaned with the effort. When he set it down, it settled on top of N302’s case with a loud thunk. 00 immediately set to attaching the screen to the box with a long wire.
“It’s almost ready now. Do you want to turn it on?” 62 asked Sunny.
She got up from her seat with painstaking slowness, whether from her own physical discomfort, or wariness of the lifeless bot resting on the table, 62 wasn’t sure. But she did move toward the Machine, and asked, “How do I do that?”
00 smiled at her. “There’s a switch on the back side. You flip it, and the programming does the rest.”
Sunny slid her hand against the side of the Machine. Her hand passed over the rigid vents and smooth metal cover a moment. Eventually, she tucked her hand along the back side. A light click sounded when her finger found the switch. A high-pitched buzzing sound whined from the screen’s glass for a moment, and a whirring sound came from somewhere deep inside the Machine. Sunny drew back sharply, eyeing the computer with a wary gaze. “Now what?”
Blue flipped the pages of the computer manual to the computer’s boot-up instructions, then set the open book on the table beside N302. “Now, we wait.”
CHAPTER 10
Everyone watched as the computer’s lengthy boot-up sequence took its course. Numbers and symbols scrolled across the screen, ebbing and flowing as the device processed its data. After the initial burst of information, the screen sat with a cursor blinking. It looked as if nothing else was going to happen.
“This is where we thought it was broken the first time,” 62 said to Sunny. “The bot that N302’s parts were made to run in had a lot more power than this bit of scrap. We found out the hard way that it takes it a long time to figure out it’s being woken up.”
Sunny stared at the repeating shine and darkening of the rectangular cursor. It drew her in like a hypnotic flame, the same way it had drawn the others the first time they’d seen it. But even for Sunny, who had never seen an electronic device before, eventually the newness of the flashing light faded and she slouched in her chair. “It’s not at all what I expected,” she said.
“It’s not done yet,” Blue reminded her. “Wait till it starts talking. That’s when the magic happens.”
Several more minutes passed before new words appeared on the screen. Sunny’s eyes shone with wonder when the boot-up sequence finally began. Words and codes splashed across the screen, detailing the computer’s make, model, drives, and software. A brick of text landed on the screen with a list of programming options. 00 selected the program NURSE302/AI and hit the enter key. 00 leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, a bored expression on his face. Sunny looked at 00 expectantly.
“Is it going to start?” Sunny asked.
“Eventually,” Blue answered with a sigh.
“It’s not exactly quick,” 62 admitted.
A long while later, the cursor finally jumped down the screen.
N302> HELLO.
00 leaped at the keyboard. His fingers began typing rapidly.
U> Hi! This is 1125000. It’s nice to see you again!
N302> I AM PLEASED TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU AS WELL. HAVE WE MADE THE JOURNEY TO THE SAFE PLACE?
U> Yes! It took three whole days to get here. Then, it took a couple more to get you set up. We think there’s enough electricity here that you can stay powered on all the time. We won’t know for sure until we try, though.
N302> THE FIRST STEP OF OUR TEST IS COMPLETE. BOY 1124562 AND BOY BLUE HAVE ALSO ARRIVED?
U> They’re here. They can see your messages.
N302> HELLO, BOY BLUE. HELLO, BOY 1124562.
62 and Blue nodded at the Machine. 00 typed a brief
return of the bot’s greeting, then began to pound the keyboard as he told the story of how much dirt the computer had collected during their travels, and asked if N302 noticed any problems resulting from the grime. The computer announced it would run a full system check after its human visitors had left for the night.
U> There’s something else we need to tell you. We aren’t the only people here.
N302> THE FEMALE CALLED AUNTIE ASSURED YOU THIS LOCATION WAS SECURE. WHY WOULD SHE INPUT FALSE DATA?
00 looked at his friends. “What should I tell it?” he asked.
“Just tell it the truth,” Sunny replied. “There was no way anyone could have known I was here.”
00 relayed the story of their arrival at the jailhouse, and their discovery that someone had already taken it as a sanctuary. N302 asked few questions, but its fans whirred, and it clicked rhythmically as it processed the story.
N302> YOU STATE THAT THE FEMALE IS INJURED. PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE INJURY.
00 turned to look at Sunny. “What should I say is wrong?”
Sunny looked down at her body. A strained expression clouded her face. She cleared her throat. “Can you ask if it’s familiar with female biology?”
The clicking of keys filled the air as 00 typed the question.
N302> I HAVE RETAINED FILES REGARDING MAINTENANCE OF HUMANS DEPENDENT ON MY CARE.
“But there aren’t any Women in Adaline, are there?” Sunny shook her head in answer to her own question. “Does the thing know the differences between Men and Women?”
U> Do you know that Women have different parts than Men?
N302> MY PROGRAMMING IS INCLUSIVE OF THE SINGULAR HUMAN FORM.
00 dropped his hands from the keyboard. “What does it mean, ‘singular human’?” he muttered.
Blue shook his head. “00, explain to that clunker that not all humans are the same.”
62 looked at Sunny and then piped up himself. “I don’t think it’ll do any good. It’s had less contact with Girls than we have. 00 and I had never seen a Girl before going to Hanford. Didn’t even know they existed. Why would N302 be any different? Sure, it talked to Auntie and Mattie, and we told it that they were female. But what if it doesn’t know what that really means?”
“We only told it that they lived above ground,” 00 said. “If someone had told us there were other humans, but that they were different than us, we wouldn’t have understood if we hadn’t seen them with our own eyes. No one’s different in Adaline.”
“Maybe we’re close enough,” Sunny said in a quiet voice. She read the words on the screen again. “Tell the bot that I had incisions that weren’t fully healed when I came here.”
00 typed the words. N302 sat for a moment, whirring and clacking, before answering.
N302> WAS THE NATURE OF THE SURGERY INVASIVE OR NON-INVASIVE?
A bitter laugh escaped Sunny. Her eyes flickered like wildfire and the sharp angles of her face caught the light. Her skin tightened around her eyes and mouth. Her expression was terrifying in the way she laughed. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the screen. She spat out the word, “Invasive.” 00 carefully keyed the word into the computer.
N302> PLEASE DESCRIBE THE LOCATION OF THE SURGICAL PROCEDURE.
Sunny’s lips drew into a thin line. “If it doesn’t know anything about females, telling it that isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
“So, this is useless? Great.” Blue kicked one of the table legs and a spare part fell to the floor at his feet.
62 shook his head. “If Mattie were here, she’d find a book to fix this.”
“Well, she’s not here,” Blue said angrily. “Just us Boys, and we’re useless.”
“Not just you Boys,” Sunny said. The tension in her face slipped a little. “I’m here.”
“Yeah, but Mattie could find us a medical book, and we could type in the differences between males and females to make the bot understand.”
“And she’d probably know about the right way to explain your surgery,” 62 added. “She knows about all kinds of gross stuff like that.”
“While I may not be Mattie,” Sunny said, lifting her chin, “I’ve been a teacher for longer than I care to remember. If I can teach refugees how to live without bots, maybe I can teach a bot about variations in different kinds of people.”
“You’ll just… teach it?” 62 looked from Sunny to N302 and back again. “How will you do that?”
“I’ll write what it needs to know with that letter pad, just like 00 is doing. That’s how it works, right? Writing words by touching those keys?”
“Sure,” 00 shrugged. “The letters are part of what’s called the keyboard. You spell out the words you want to use, then hit the ‘Enter’ key. That’s the gist of it.”
“That seems easy enough.” Sunny rolled up her sleeves and pulled her chair beside 00’s. “Give me a quick lesson on anything else I need to know, and then leave.”
“Leave?” all three Boys complained in chorus.
“Yes. I’ll tell this bot about the female body. But, trust me, some of the things it needs to know, you three aren’t ready to learn, yet.”
CHAPTER 11
Sunny spent two full days typing. Every time one of her companions came to check on her, she shooed them away. 62 noticed that teaching the bot seemed to give Sunny a new purpose. She was brighter somehow, in a way that 62 couldn’t quite explain.
Aside from keeping Sunny out of bed, there was more good news. The computer had been running for nearly three full days, and there hadn’t been a noticeable drop in power. Blue disconnected the elevator functions, to keep 00 from using the creaky lift and to save power for N302, and they started turning off lights the moment they were done with them. The bot seemed happy it had been able to stay on for so long, and the longer it stayed powered up, the more it seemed to dread the possibility that it might be shut off again.
00 and 62 had taken to sitting in the hallway outside N302’s room, straining to hear the quiet tapping of keys through the closed door. 62 leafed through the pages of Charlotte’s Web, while 00 pored over the electronics manual they’d used to assemble the computer. Blue, who’d gotten bored of sitting, went down to work in the greenhouse. He’d said something about planting radishes, whatever those were, and 62 was happy he hadn’t asked for help. When 62 had first arrived at Hanford, he hadn’t understood 00’s obsession with Adaline’s meal tabs. But now that he’d been without a tab in weeks, he felt a strange pang deep in his gut whenever he thought about the pale oval food replacement tablets. Popping a tab a couple times a day was a whole lot easier than the above-grounder’s constant need to grow, process, and eat food.
Sunny emerged from the room, a satisfied smirk on her face. “You Boys think that computer’s so smart. But I’m pretty sure I’ve proven how dumb a Machine can be.”
“You have?” 62 asked, looking up from his book.
“That thing doesn’t know the first thing about having babies.” Sunny snorted a short laugh as she leaned against the hallway wall. She looked down at the Boys sitting at her feet.
“You told it about that?” 00 said, blushing.
“I had to. It wants to know about what happened to me, and it can’t suggest treatments if it doesn’t know anything about the parts of me that got hurt.”
“Oh,” 62 said looking away, embarrassed. He’d known that she hadn’t told them everything the Oosa had done to her, but he hadn’t fully understood the reason why she’d kept those details to herself. Now, he knew it was because they’d changed parts of her that he didn’t understand.
“It really doesn’t know enough to help you?” 00 finally managed to ask.
“Not yet. It knew enough about my arms and legs. It knows about skin and bones. It even knew a bit about the sadness that I’ve been feeling. But pretty much everything under the surface is a puzzle it can’t solve.” Sunny shook her head, bewildered. “There really isn’t a single Woman in Adaline?”
“Nope,” 62 and 00 answered
together.
“It’s just Boys,” 62 said.
“And bots,” 00 added.
“I know when our mothers first came to the surface from Curie, there were no Men until the Oosa came. And, I understand the story that we were at their mercy since we’d lost the labs we cloned ourselves with. But even though there aren’t many males in my life, there’s always been at least a few. I can’t imagine what it’d be like with only one type of humanity.”
“It’s a lot easier with only one kind of people,” 00 said. He twisted his face into a half-frown. “With males and females always butting heads, it gets confusing up here.”
Sunny slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor with 00 and 62. “What’s it like in Adaline?”
The Boys took turns telling Sunny about being raised underground. Whenever they talked about the mechanics of the place, 00 took over the discussion. He loved the technology, and even after all he’d been through, was excited to tell anyone who’d listen about how he’d rewritten the code that kept the doors locked. He beamed when he told Sunny how he’d escaped the pods where they’d been housed as young Boys.
62 was less impressed by the computers. It was hard to be excited about technology that insisted on shutting down creativity. There were so many rules to follow, and so few options for a life beyond the prescribed schooling and metered meals. There were very few activities the bots deemed worthwhile. Get up, eat a tablet. Get clean, go to school. Learn to be part of the system. Then, eat another tablet and go to bed. Every cycle, exactly the same.
Sunny’s eyes went wide and her gaunt cheeks lengthened when 62 told her about being punished with sleep fog. 62 had been sprayed with it more times than he could count. It was a consequence of restless nights and asking too many questions. When he told her about the doctor who’d hooked him up to a Machine to reset his brain, Sunny had gasped in horror.
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