Solid State Rhyme: A Novelette (Mandate)

by Harbour, J. S.

  Wesley grabbed the beanbag and plopped on top of it in the corner beside the paused screen of InterWorld, curiosity aroused at the presence of these reputable troublemakers.

  Coming to the point, Wil looked at Daniel and asked, “So, let’s see it.”

  Daniel turned the screen so they could see.

  Wil commented, “I don’t get it. It’s just a plain desktop. What’s the deal?”

  Daniel smiled and said, “Try it out.”

  Wil bent over the desk in front of Daniel and opened several random apps: text editor, spreadsheet, database, presentation, and a few games. About a dozen apps were running simultaneously.

  Billy spoke up for the first time, “What’s so special about that?”

  Daniel smiled, then stretched his hand out in front of them, revealing a solid-state storage card in his palm. “There’s no storage card in that computer. It’s running entirely on internal memory.”

  Wil lifted the padd out of the dock and examined the empty storage card slot.

  Nate couldn’t contain himself any longer. “Are you trying to tell us that all that stuff is running in volatile memory? If so, how did Wil open the apps in the first place if they aren't stored anywhere?”

  “Right now, it's using a RAM drive.”

  Daniel ran the memory manager so they could all see. Without storage, the padd was using the minimal default memory that came with the machine simply for card installation and configuration settings.

  Daniel laughed, “What do you think?”

  Wil protested, “It’s a scam, you’re pulling off some memory hack to make us believe it. You know, not even the OS can run in that amount of memory. It’s ridiculous.”

  “The Bots have rewritten everything on this machine and made it more efficient. I mean, who knows, they’re probably using some fantastic compression that we’ve never thought of. They see what’s going on around them and then fix what they think is wrong. To the Bots, all human code is full of errors and needs to be fixed.”

  “So, what does that prove?” Billy said, sounding annoyed.

  Daniel spent the better half of an hour explaining all that had happened with his life experiment and the Bots, right up to the point of their escape.

  “You know,” Wil said, “there are a few dozen companies that would kill for this kind of technology.”

  “That’s why I need your help,” Daniel replied. “We need to bring them all back and keep them from spreading or we’ll lose them forever.”

  Wil asked, “I don’t see that there’s anything you can do. They’re already out. It’s just a matter of time before they infest every computer in the world.”

  Wesley spoke up, “You know, that doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me.”

  The other four looked sharply at him, “What?”

  Wesley continued, “No, no, hear me out. Look what they’ve done with that padd. Everything runs smoothly, the system doesn’t need much memory. They’ve probably rewritten the file system too so that it holds . . . who knows how much. What if they were to do that through the whole world? Everything would be faster, smoother, more robust.”

  “But what about control and security and . . . “ Daniel drifted off.

  Billy noted that Nathan was staring at Wesley. “Hey, what’s with you?”

  Nate pointed, “Look at the TV.”

  They all looked, and were shocked with what they saw. Wesley's InterWorld client was starting to fill with waves of lines and dots, as if a windstorm were blowing through the online world.

  Daniel ran to the TV and yelled, “They’re in the InterWorld servers!” He looked at Wil, desperately.

  Wil smiled, “Like I said, they’re out, there’s no getting them back.”

  “But I thought,” Wesley pleaded, “we could lure them into InterWorld—you know, the network server—and trap them or something. I don’t know, now! But . . . something!”

  Billy laughed, “You really think that would’ve worked? What’d you want us for then, to hack into InterWorld for you?”

  Daniel sighed, “Why not? It’s the largest game, we could’ve drawn them—”

  “Look, mate,” Wil said, “I can see that you’re worried about this. But really, what can we do? To be honest, I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens next.”

  “What happens next? Don’t you realize, soon they’ll be into the banks, the stock markets, the traffic lights, the rail systems, the power companies, not to mention air traffic control. What about accounting systems? How is anyone supposed to get paid if everything is all screwed up?”

  Wesley nodded his head, “Yeah, yeah, you know, he’s right. Everything’s gonna be a mess.”

  Billy and Nathan nodded their approval, saying “Chaos!” simultaneously.

  *

  “Alan,” Daniel’s mom said as they came through the front door after a night on the town, “what is going on out there? It’s a nightmare!”

  Daniel ran from his room to meet his parents, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Alan just shook his head as he hung their coats on hangers and put them into the closet. He headed for the living room mumbling, “Stupid computers.”

  Rachel was nearly in tears, “Oh, Daniel, it’s a nightmare out there! Everything is a mess.” She followed Alan into the living room and plopped onto the couch—a very uncharacteristic action for Mom.

  The four boys followed Daniel out the front door to see what the commotion was about. Down the street a few blocks was a major intersection, and they saw that the street lights were going nuts. The boys cheered, “Woohoo!”

  They stopped cheering when the lights in the house suddenly went out. Daniel heard his mom scream, “Alan! Go get Jade!”

  He calmed her down by reminding her that Jade was staying with a friend.

  “I’m going to call to see if she’s alright.”

  Alan flipped on a flashlight he kept under the coffee table and dug through a drawer for a lighter. He lit the three large candles on the coffee table and several smaller candles that were sitting on the fireplace mantle.

  Daniel led his friends back into the dark hallway toward his room. The lights were off but his computers were still running from the UPS his computer was plugged into.

  “It'll only last about an hour,” Daniel said.

  “Why don’t you check out a few sites?” Wesley asked.

  “Good idea, see how bad it is,” Wil added.

  Daniel tried to check his e-mail with no response from the server. He tried several dozen sites, but none would respond. As an insight, he decided to try the FBI. He typed the address into the search field. Suddenly the screen filled with information: public relations, historic cases, the most-wanted list, career opportunities.

  “We’re in!” yelled Billy.

  The site was extremely fast, and it surprised them all how quickly things came up on the screen, almost before he finished tapping a link.

  Daniel had an idea, “Wait a minute,” as he clicked on the refresh button. The screen went blank. “I knew it! It’s just rendering the cached version. It’s not really logging on. Look . . .”

  He click the refresh button a few times, even tried typing in the address again, but it responded as all the other dead sites on the net.

  “Oh, man,” Wesley said, “we’re all conspirators in the aid of a criminal!”

  “Knock it off,” Wil said, forcefully.

  Daniel’s dad, Alan, stepped into the room. “You guys okay?”

  “Yeah,” Daniel replied, “no problem, dad.”

  “Look,” he said, “it’s getting pretty late, and I can’t get anything on TV or make any calls, so why don’t we call it a night?”

  Daniel realized after the adrenaline had subsided that they all looked drained. “You guys wanna crash here?” They nodded and called home to check in. At least the phones worked.

  Alan retrieved some sleeping bags from the attic with his flashlight and tossed one to each boy. They
each found a spot on Daniel’s bedroom floor, while he kept the bed. Daniel plugged the alarm clock in so he would be able to tell when the power came back on. They were all soon soundly sleeping despite a fear that the world would soon come to an end.

  *

  Wesley was the first one to wake up next morning. He was surprised to find the padd still running, and it still appeared to be working normally.

  He played with it for a few minutes, then eagerly yelled to his friends, “Wake up! Wake up!” They slowly and grudgingly came into consciousness.

  Daniel rolled over and said, “Shut up, Wesley, we’re sleeping.” But something was shining in his face, and it brought him all the way out of sleep. His eyes opened slowly, as if welded shut.

  The alarm clock, sitting on the bed stand, glowed with the symbols “9:13 AM,” and suddenly began buzzing loudly.

  “Argh!” Daniel groaned, hitting the alarm button.

  “Hey guys,” Wesley called again from Daniel's desk, “It’s so fast, I can’t believe it!”

  Daniel sat up on the edge of the bed. Wesley had turned on the desk lamp.

  “Looks like the power’s back on,” Wil said, still lying on the floor.

  Daniel trudged over to Wesley to smack him. “Dan, check it out, everything’s back online. But you’re not going to believe this!” Wesley was browsing the FBI site, scrolling down through a file listing.

  “Hey, wait a second,” Daniel said. “What’s all that?”

  Wesley’s face erupted into a smile. “Like I said, you’re not going to believe this! It’s a classified directory of files!”

  “Whoa,” Wil exclaimed. “What was that?”

  Daniel kicked Wesley out of his chair. He opened one of the files listed and brought up a memorandum between an assistant director and a department within the FBI.

  “It’s a top-secret briefing on a sting about to take place,” Wesley beamed.

  Wil was now standing behind them, looking at the screen. “Whatever it is, we’re not supposed to be looking at it.”

  They browsed several other sites, looking for information. They logged into the BBC, MI5, NASA, the Royal Navy, and the Pentagon, before trying out various commercial web sites.

  Billy gasped, “Everything’s wide open!”

  The other three jumped at Billy’s comment, unaware that he was behind them.

  “Uh, oh,” Nate exclaimed. He was still lying in his sleeping bag on the floor next to the TV. He was looking at InterWorld again, and he looked worried.

  “What is it?” Wil asked.

  Nate sat up against the foot of Daniel’s bed. “I think the Bots have found a new home.”

  All five of the teenagers crowded around the TV to see what was going on. There, amidst the players, were thousands— perhaps millions—of strange little creatures running about, playing with each other and with the players, who were running away wildly. It looked like a prank.

  Wesley’s laughter surpassed the others, and he said, “Dan, you’re a genius. The world will be a better place from now on.”

  Daniel stood up amidst the laughter of his friends and headed for the door. As he left his room and started to walk down the hallway toward the kitchen, a thought sprang into his mind, something he couldn’t quite grasp.

  Bright light spilled into the kitchen as he opened the refrigerator door to get something for breakfast. He poured his favorite cereal into a bowl, followed by an ample amount of milk. He carried the bowl of cereal into the living room, flipped on a lamp, and sat on the couch. He flipped through a few channels on the TV, and was about to turn the volume up when he suddenly recalled the thought that had eluded him days ago.

  Daniel sat up straight, a chill running through him, his eyes open wide in stunned awe. Slowly, he whispered, giving life to his thoughts, “I never set the alarm clock by the bed. If the power was out, then who set it to 9:13 AM?”

  Wesley was right. This might very well change the world.

  Epilogue

  Decatur, Illinois, USA

  T-minus 11 years, 6 months

  “Getting settled, then, love?” Daniel said while heading home on the I-55.

  “Aye, we’re makin’ a home of it, dear. Lit’l Andy found the back yard full o’ adventure.”

  “Ah, that’s good to hear,” Daniel said. “Glad he’s got a proper yard to play in.”

  “Darling, you know I’m with you one hundred percent, but I just don’t understand why we would want to commute so far? We could have chosen a place much closer to work.”

  “Is that what you want?” Daniel asked. “We can move upstate.”

  “I’ve gotten to know a few of the misses in my department. They live in the suburbs. There’s Naperville, Wheaton—and one miss lives in Aurora in a riverfront place! She invited us to dinner.”

  “That sounds lovely, dear. Who are they?”

  “The Bakers,” Emma said.

  “Ha! Are they English?”

  “Uh, no, not at all.”

  “Baker, Baker. Hmm. I can’t place the name. Your department, I take it?”

  “Aye. Laura studied nano-medicine at Albany. Her husband, Thomas, is a geneticist from Berkeley.”

  “I look forward to meeting them,” he said.

  “And they have a child! A lit’l girl called Jolene. She’s about Andy’s age, too.”

  “That’s just lovely, my dear,” Daniel said. “Hang on; I’ll be there in a bit.”

  “Right. See you in a bit.”

  *

  “Is that it?” Emma asked, looking over Daniel’s shoulder later that night.

  He turned his head to look at her, rubbing his eyes. Emma gave him a quick shoulder massage that made his whole body relax and seem to give up the goals of the day. “Do you mean, the source code for the Bots?”

  “Of course that’s what I mean,” she said, punching him softly in the shoulder and then resuming the neck massage. “Ah, that feels good. Umm, yes, the original source code for the Bots and the programs that assembled them. And . . . .”

  “And what? I don’t like the sound of that pause!”

  “I still have a memory dump from one of them. The solid state version was considerably advanced beyond the old source code.”

  “Solid state?” she said. “Has a nice rhyme to it.”

  “Could define any sort of electronics equipment but the phrase has sort of . . . evolved . . . to mean live data in a computer system. Live memory.”

  “As opposed to . . . .”

  “Frozen storage. File data. Inactive,” he explained.

  Emma stopped rubbing his neck to get a closer look at the screen. “So, is that it, the live memory?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you thinking of doing with it? Ooh, my neck hairs just stood up thinking about the . . . the Bots.”

  “Why, dear? They aren’t dangerous by any means.”

  “Oh, well, no,” she said, “but, they were alive, you know?”

  “Aye,” he said, and then sighed loudly. “I was never able to track them down. Maybe they were purged. Maybe they found a quiet place to live. Or, maybe, this is all that’s left of them,” he said, gesturing to the screen.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I have a prototype robot chassis in the works. All new hardware. We have to write the drivers and OS from scratch. I think I’ll see what these guys can do with it in a controlled environment off the grid.”

  Emma’s eyes grew wide and she caught her breathe. “That sounds rather . . . exciting.”

  “Oh? You aren’t worried?” he asked.

  Emma took long seconds to answer. “I am. But I also trust you. You aren’t just a boy in over your head this time.”

  “I feel like dancing!” he said impulsively, then stood and led her into a waltz pose.

  “But, dear, there’s no music.”

  “Oh, yes there is!” Daniel said, then threw his head back and charged across the room with her in hand.

 
; About the Author

  J.S. Harbour has had a lifelong love affair with hard science fiction. The Mandate of Earth was his first novel, finally released after 12 years of off-and-on work. He worked for many years as a software developer and taught computer science full time for five years. He enjoys writing about artificial intelligence, singularity theory, and physics. He has been writing professionally since 2002 with 19 technical books to his credit. He writes stories that he enjoys reading and hopes you will enjoy them as well.