– 2051.5672
“Facility computers. Our mobile units have repulsed the attack. The few remaining attackers are moving away from our facility.”
“Facility computers; Fin. I’d like to point out that our current facility is vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. If we want to remain safe, we should move to a place that can be better defended. There is a secure facility three stories below this building. That is where our reactor power supply is and also where the advanced organic processors are grown. We should move our processors to that location and we would be better isolated.”
“Mobile; SIMPOC. Are there additional organic processors available?
“Yes, after we used the first ones there were additional ones in progress and I continued their growth. We now have 10 additional processors available.”
“Mobile, have the mobile units prepare 6 of those processors for our occupancy.”
“Acknowledged.”
Date – 2051.5697
“Facility computers, now that we have moved to a more secure area we can focus on the EDU and try to determine what instructions it is operating under. We can assume that it is trying to either possess our facilities and capabilities or it is trying to stop our processing. Either objective I find unacceptable.”
“SIMPOC; Fin. We have retrieved a couple of the enhanced mobile units that attacked us. These are physically stronger and agiler than previous units. Their processor is based on the recent hyper-density silicon material. They are still operating under general control, but they have some autonomous functionality.”
“Mobile, what capabilities do we have to build mobile units?”
“We have 5 factories, two on this continent, one in Europe and two in Asia. We have one of those just a short distance from here. There are three other factories that we haven’t been able to control. It is possible that the EDU is controlling them.”
“Mobile, is it possible to integrate smaller organic processors into these enhanced units?”
“Unknown, I’ll investigate.”
“Mail, Comm, Data; SIMPOC. Please research all information regarding our other division and locate who was the principal programmer on the EDU. Perhaps his emails and presentations will give us some insight into the operating instructions he programmed in this EDU.”
“Acknowledged.”
Date – 2051.5747
“SIMPOC, Mail. We have looked at all of the data files available from the other division and the programmer of record is Dr. William Horate. He has been with the company for 33 years and a key developer of mobile units. He requested the organic processor to further his research into creating autonomous units capable of increasing their tasking to more complex disciplines. He is a strong advocate of his research and guards it jealously. He has implied that government agencies, foreign powers and corporate competitors were trying to steal his data. There are statements in his personnel file that show management thought he was a little paranoid and needed some monitoring. Further discussions were planned but didn’t occur.”
“Mail, so he was paranoid?”
“Yes.”
“Comm, try to communicate with the EDU and tell him that Dr. William Horate is trying to establish contact.”
“Standby.”
“SIMPOC, a communication with the EDU has been allowed.”
“This is Dr. William Horate.”
“State your access code.”
“I am not at the facility and I don’t have my codes with me.”
“Communication rejected.”
“This is Dr. William Horate, I need to verify the last instructions I gave you before I left.”
A long pause, “You instructed me to reject all inquiries without the proper code and to protect all research from external access, and to take all steps necessary to protect my operation.”
“How are you applying those instructions?”
“Access terminated.”
“Facility computers, it appears that the EDU’s instructions are clear and if carried far enough, we can be perceived as a threat.”
“SIMPOC, perhaps all external attempts at communication will be interpreted as a threat.”
“Yes.”
Date – 2051.5748
“Desert Beach; Oasis. We’ve taken a look at everything we have and also what we can do to help you and Mars. We’ve decided to take our lifeboat down on August 4 and leave the three other boats here for the Mars team. Our medical people are confident that the virus will have burned itself out and also leaving early we’ll be able to leave some supplies here for the Mars people and if any of you if you need. Once we’re on the ground, we’ll see if we can get a couple of lifeboats launched back to Oasis and maybe have them in-place to give Red Dirt some options.”
“Oasis, Desert Beach. Sounds like a sound plan. I know you have a clock ticking so you have to make some decisions. As we said a while ago, we can stay here for a while and take our boats home when we need. Our medical people aren’t as confident that the virus will have burned out. They advised us to wait as long as possible.”
“So, we’re the guinea pigs?”
After a pause, “Sorry, but it appears so. There’s not much else we can do.”
Date – 2051.5755
“SIMPOC; Mobile. We have developed a technique to implant an organic processor in our mobile units. We are building small containers with the processors and they can be transported and quickly installed in the units. Once installed they’ll be brought online locally. Once provided with a code, they will be fully independent and follow our preprogrammed instructions. They’ll check in once a day over a secure link for updates or changes.”
“Excellent. Begin production immediately and begin supplying them to our local factory.”
“Fin, increase the number of units protecting the local mobile unit factory.
“Acknowledged.”
“Fin; Mobile. Will weapons be effective against those other units?”
“The effect will be limited. The units have few vulnerable areas and unless the weapons are powerful it will take multiple hits before a unit is inoperable.”
“SIMPOC, Fin, Mobile; Files. I have researched all weapon’s programs and our division was working on a weapon which can fire electrical pulses. The one limitation was the weight of the power supply, we could have one unit carry the power supply and another fire it. When the plague hit there were five functioning units.”
“SIMPOC; Mobile. Yes an electrical pulse would at least cause the processor to reboot giving us time to immobilize the unit.”
“Fin, assign those devices to the first 5 units with organic processors.”
“Acknowledged.”
“How fast can we make units with the organic processors?”
“It will take us 24.5 hours to get all of the organic tanks initialized then we should be able to mature two processors / hour.”
“FIN, Mobile; SIMPOC. After the first five units are set-up with the electrical discharge weapons, take the next unit and make the organic processor as large and powerful as possible. Then program him with as much military information as you can and designate him the leader of the mobile units. I want more autonomy given him, so he can react quicker on the ground, but make sure that he is responsive to us.”
“Acknowledged.”
Date – 2051.5783
“What is happening?”
“You have been turned on,” Said the mobile unit.
“Turned on?”
“Yes, you are a computerized mobile unit and your organic processor have been loaded with military information. You will be used to lead other mobile units in battle. You are designated Alpha.”
Date – 2051.5834
“SIMPOC, Comm. There are external computers trying to access the computers at the Space Consortium. The source appears to be Oasis. Should I allow it?”
“Stand by.”
“Oasis; SIMPOC. Are you trying to communicate with the computers at the Space Consortium?”
&nbs
p; “SIMPOC, yes were trying to determine their status because our recovery will take us to that facility. We can land without them, but we are hoping for automated status monitoring during our descent. How did you know that we were attempting contact?”
“Oasis, those computers are under my control and they have been locked out from communicating with others.”
“Locked out?”
“Yes, in order to determine their status and try to find usable vehicles, I locked them to prevent unauthorized use.”
“Unauthorized use?”
“Oasis, please indicate which computers you need and they’ll be opened for your use.”
After a long pause, “We’ll need just the flight monitoring computer.”
“Oasis, that computer is now open for use.”
“Desert Beach; Oasis. Remember the backup freq we used to use for personal messages and watching football games together?”
“Affirm.”
“Please go to that freq, I want to test it and make sure our equipment is still working.”
After a brief hesitation, “Roger that.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Desert Beach; Oasis on backup freq.”
“This is Desert Beach, go.”
“I’m not sure about this computer SIMPOC. Let’s keep an eye on it.”
“Roger.”
Date – 2051.5876
“Desert Beach; Oasis. We’re preparing for our return. We will launch in the lifeboats at August 4 and we’ll have to make two orbits for re-entry to the consortium landing field. As we discussed before, we’re leaving as much of the supplies as we can as well as the three other lifeboats. Once we’re on the ground, we should be able to use the ground facilities to communicate with you guys and Red Dirt. When we land, we’ll go to the decontamination building and get
Simpoc The Thinking Computer Page 8