The door to the Dean of Sciences opened. It was a moment that Professor Turning had been dreading ever since Test Twelve of the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project ended in dismal failure.

"Professor Eugene Turing?"

Dean Mandy Dayne always said his full name whenever she called him into her office for a budgetary meeting. It was as if she didn't know he was sitting right there, waiting for her door to open.

"Hello Mandy," Turing said with hopeful cheer. "It looks like it's time again for me to come to you with my hat in my hand."

Dean Dayne smiled, for she rather liked the Professor. But he was right about having to have his hat in his hand again. For another year, he had yet to make significant progress on the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project.

Still, Mandy continued smiling. "We'll see, Eugene. Please come in."

Seated at a round table in her office were the members of the Science Department's Budget Appropriations Committee, of which Dean Dayne was Chairperson. Professor Turing often thought of it as the Round Table of Death.

"Gentleman," Turing said to the men, as he took his place at the table opposite from Dean Dayne.

She shuffled through some papers as she spoke. "Professor Eugene Turing. It's time for us to go over your portion of the Science Department's budget for the upcoming school year. As you are well aware, you get the lion's share of the funds, as we have great hope for the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project."

It was a good sign when Dean Dayne used praise to start one of these meetings. Professor Turing went right into his spiel.

"Yes, Dean Dayne. I'm aware of it, and as always, I thank you for it as well. The Computer Activated, Response Orientated, Linear Integrated Network known as the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project proves time and time again that supercomputers can write source code for themselves in a dynamic environment. This ability allows robotic devices to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. It provides valid solutions to complex problems in a real time way. Our last few tests have shown that the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project can generate the kind of responses it needs to find a solution for any complicated situation it might encounter in the real world

He continued speaking while handing out copies of Test Twelve's results. "In fact, you'll see in this report that the Project spontaneously wrote valid and functional code for itself on two separate occasions, each time responding to an unforeseen situation."

After a pause to let the committee read a bit of what he had given them, Turing pressed on with his pitch. "I've added the exact code the Project wrote in response to these events in the Details Section of this report. Past success that C.A.R.O.L.I.N. had at writing code is also outlined. You can see from reviewing this section that the code the supercomputer writes is precise. It recognizes a problem quickly and solves it with perfect accuracy, all while in real time. Oftentimes, it solves the problem faster than a human would when faced with the same situation."

Professor Turing laughed for effect, in the hope of alleviating the dour looks his report was receiving. He carried on a bit as the Budget Appropriations Committee scanned the back pages of his handout.

"The code the Project writes for itself is remarkable, I think, as well as quite efficient. It's the most innovative source code I have ever seen. Better than code written by anyone else, including myself and my team."

Dean Dayne looked Professor Turing in the eye. "Yes, Professor Turing. Your Project writes impressive code."

Turing pointed out another accomplishment. "It has created yet another asynchronous language of its own, allowing for a greater number of multiple ouputs at once."

"It's not the Project that concerns us." Dean Dayne said. She paused while Turing blinked to show concern. "It's your team. Many of our recent grad students aren't eager to work with you on the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project, and I can't blame them for feeling that way. The Project, as it stands, oftentimes behaves erratically. When code is written for it in advance, things progress on a smooth track." She looked at her notes for a particular person's name. "Geoffrey Taylor has written volumes of… what do you call them? Arrows?"

"A.R.O.'s," Turing replied, pronouncing the letters distinctly. "I've also given you an addendum, detailing the code Geoffrey has written."

Dean Dayne again shuffled her papers, and then frowned at them. "Hmm. Yes. I see. I also see that the code Geoffrey has written is—I'm just guessing here—ten to twenty times greater in volume than the code the Project has written for itself."

When Turing blinked this time, he showed greater concern. "The code C.A.R.O.L.I.N. writes is highly efficient," he said.

The Dean ignored his response. "Why is that, Professor Turing? Why is a grad student writing more code for the Project than the Project writes for itself? It's my understanding that the end goal of the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project is for it to write code on its own."

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Turing deadpanned his usual response to such a question, which was being asked far too often. "The supercomputer's Linear Integrated Network first has to impress on itself the need to do well. It needs to feel responsible for the order it seeks in the world, and appreciate the achievement it makes."

"I see. And were these responsibilities met? Were its achievements… as you call them… were they appreciated?"

"Yes. Of course they were. Those were occasions when the Project wrote its own Activated Response. Computer Activated Response Orientations are…"

Dean Dayne interrupted. "Please tell the committee in your own words, Professor, what happened when the highest test level you've been able to achieve was reached. Test Level Ten, I believe it is called."

This question, in some form or another, was also being asked far too often. Turing was running out of ways to answer it creatively.

"The C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project can write code for itself on any type of network it's given. It adapts to its environment. It can write code in any language, and creates languages of it own, including hybrids of known ones. It uses these hybrids to write the C.A.R.O.'s it enacts."

"And do these C.A.R.O.'s always work?"

"Yes. Well, most do, actually."

"And what of the C.A.R.O.'s that fail?"

Professor Turing rolled his eyes the slightest bit. This question was also getting hard to creatively answer. Today, he chose a direct approach.

"We shut down the network before it locks up, or does damage to itself."

Dean Dayne no longer shuffled her papers. She folded her hands upon them and looked thoughtfully at her friend.

Then she smiled. "Eugene, as I have said, it's not the Project that concerns us. It shows great potential. If, of course, you could get the darn thing to work every once in a while."

Eugene let a wan smile cross his lips. It was a good thing when Mandy used his first name. Perhaps their meeting would end pleasantly.

"But Mr. Taylor has told me that he doesn't wish to spend his days writing reams of code for you, only to watch the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project go into conniptions upon reaching their end. What is he supposed to write his dissertation on?" Mandy imitated reading the synopsis of Geoffrey's supposed dissertation. "This semester ended exactly like the last, with nothing about the Project seeming to work right. C.A.R.O.L.I.N. locked up again—and again and again and again—just like it always does."

Eugene sighed. Perhaps this meeting wasn't going to be pleasant after all. He pressed home some points he knew he and the Dean agreed on.

"It's always been hard to get a computer to write code for itself. C.A.R.O.L.I.N. not only writes its own code, but has created languages for it to do so. I wouldn't call that nothing."

"And I wouldn't either, Professor. But Mr. Taylor wants to say that he's accomplished something when he graduates. And it doesn't look like the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project is taking him down that path."

Eugene frowned. "I see," he said.

"And Julius Lucas, his undergaduate, wants to continue working with Mr. Taylor. If Taylor goes, so will he."

"Well, I can see about other grad students coming on board with me."

"And I cannot, Professor. I won't let other students suffer the same sorts of failures that Mr. Taylor and Mr. Lucas are having now."

Turing spoke very fast. "We have shown that the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project integrates itself quickly into any network, no matter how large, nor how dense. The linear network the Project creates is the best configuration that can be achieved, out of however many there could be. This sort of maximum throughput requires no external code to occur. Its hybrid source code language continues to become more sophisticated, innovative and self-sufficient. It's to the point where it could write code for any computer network in the world."

Dean Dayne held up her hand to quiet Professor Turing, and to scold him next. "Yes. And still it has to be shut down before it does damage." She then softened her words. "But again, and as I've stated, it's not the Project that concerns us. It's the people. Geoffrey wants to work on a different project next year. And if he goes, Julius will go with him. And if there are no grad students working on the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project, then we have no choice but to cut your funds."

Turing opened his mouth to speak, but Dan Dayne again raised her hand. "Money is just too tight these days. We don't have the benefactors we once had. And projects with no grad students on them are going to get mothballed. You'll keep your tenure and your lab, and everything in it, including C.A.R.O.L.I.N.'s original program. But without any grad students working with you, there will be little to no further funding."

Turing worked to keep panic from his voice. "What if some grad students do show an interest? Different students, on their own?"

"Then perhaps, Eugene, we'll have another meeting of the Appropriations Committee. But Professor, I want you to consider the alternatives—ones that will allow research on the Project to continue unabated."

Turing knew what the Dean meant by stating there were alternatives. Such was often the case when an unknown person sat with them at the roundtable.

"This is the new Program Manager for Artificial Intelligence at DARPA," Dean Dayne said, gesturing towards the person. "Rob Haskins," she furthered.

The stranger at the table held out his hand. Resigning himself to the inevitable, Turing took it and shook it. Doing so somehow caused the man to start speaking.

"Professor Turing, it's an honor to meet you," he said with genuine warmth. "I've always shown great interest in your work with the C.A.R.O.L.I.N. Project. It has many real world applications."

"Yes, it does." Turing said in agreement, politely interrupting. "C.A.R.O.L.I.N. can be used to operate multiple robotic devices in hazardous work environments. It can think on its own in a remote location, including off world and in deep space. It ensures us that we will always have the most innovative solution possible to any problem that may arise, remaining stable under any circumstance, performing tasks without human intervention."

Turing turned his body to purposefully ignore the man from DARPA, and to address Dean Dayne directly. "How come we never get a representative from the Environmental Protection Agency to sit with us at one of these meetings? Or someone from NASA?"

"Because they don't have the kind of budget we need to do research on the Project. Your research, Professor Turing."

While Dean Dayne talked, Haskins handed out some paperwork of his own. Turing begrudgingly accepted his copy. It was a budgetary analysis from DARPA. His copy also came with a personal cover letter. He stopped listening long enough in order to speed read through it.