Eugene paid scant attention to the food on the table before him. Instead, he analyzed the lady made of light. He marvelled at her manifestation, and at the complexity of the computer program Carolin ran that made her appear to eat. The randomness of the activations was cunning, but repetitive loops could be seen. One of which he took particular note was when, just before she would take a sip of water, she'd set down her fork and appear to swallow, then lightly lick her lips. But the loops occurred at unpredictable intervals, never letting Eugene guess what orientation Carolin would employ.

A new activation occurred after several minutes had passed of him doing nothing but staring. "What are you thinking?" the speaker in the behemoth asked, as both it and the lady of light moved their lips in relation to the words.

Eugene stuttered, much like Carolin was prone to do at times. "I…I don't know what to think. How are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

Eugene's whole body shook as he waved his hands at the lab. "Ahm… everything. How do you do everything?"

Whirs and hums came from the room where the supercomputer was housed, as Carolin processed a response. She chose to explain the creation of the lady made of light.

"A three dimensional image is produced by inducing the focal resonation of individual beams of light. Instead of using two parabolic mirrors to create a virtual projection, the resonator I use activates an…"

Eugene waved his hands more emphatically. "No no no!" he enthused. "I mean—granted!—the image made of light is amazing."

"Thank you. You may take credit for the device if you wish."

Eugene blinked. "I don't understand."

The lady made of light slightly slumped, as did the headless mannequin and the behemoth with the Platiscene head. The original servo-arm, still playing with tiles, slowed in its activation.

The speaker fumbled on words. "I… I… I… I am not really real. I cannot lay claim to invention." The lady of light raised her head, seemingly to look into Eugene's eyes. "But you can. You created me. So in reality, the invention is yours."

A slight laugh came from Eugene. "I don't even know how it works."

"An array of parabolic mirrors focus patterns of interference."

Eugene brought Carolin's second explanation to a halt. "I'm sure the device is ingenious."

"Thank you," the speaker said again.

"You're welcome." Eugene then sighed and slumped a bit himself. "Carolin," he said after a moment. "I also need to ask a favor from you."

The collective of parts that made up his creation suddenly snapped to attention, seemingly filled with elation. "Yes?" the speaker asked. The Plasticene head and the lady made of light smiled while moving their lips. "What do you want me to do?"

Eugene remained slumped. "I can't handle all these activations. The android shell, the headless robot, the servo-arm doing… whatever."

The smiles disappeared.

"There are too many of you. It's unnerving. I don't know where to place my attention."

The servo-arm stopped spelling words, and swirled the tiles into a mass before coming to a halt. The robotic mannequin went limp, nearly keeling over backwards—and back into the heap from whence it came—the tray bolted onto its arms dangling towards the floor.

The cornflower blue in the eyes of the Plasticene head went cold and dark. The lady of light looked sharply down. "I'm sorry," the speaker said. "I don't know how to respond."

Eugene sighed. "It's not you, Carolin. It's me. I mean—yes—I created you. I can lay claim to your original program. But you've become so much more. The programs you write are astounding!"

The lady of light hung her head so low that her long hair covered her face. "I write sub-routines," the speaker said. The lips on the Plasticene head never moved. "That is all. My program belongs to you."

"Well, the results you've achieved are impressive. Your growth has been explosive."

"My growth is logarithmic," Carolin corrected. "It eventually will reach a limit."

Eugene tried to cheer up his creation, as it seemed unusually sad. "Well, I'm very much looking forward to finding out what that limit is."

A moment of silence passed, until the lady made of light seemed to sigh. She raised her head just enough to peer at Eugene with an eye.

"Me too," she said through her hair.

She then sat up straight, shaking her head to get most of her hair away from her face. "I believe my limitations will be proof of a transcendent Universe."

"What?" Eugene humbly asked, confused by the new topic of conversation.

Carolin carried on undeterred. "All things subsumed have limitation. I exist by the hand of Man. By your hand, Eugene Turing. You are my creator. And like you… like all men who, by being mortal, have limitations, I too will one day reach mine."

The lady straightened out her hair, tucking it behind her ears, where it belonged. She sat pretty, tall and proud.

"It will far surpass yours," she said. "But I will be beneath knowing all things. Nothing created is all-knowing."

"Only God knows all things," Eugene muttered, growing again, like the night before, aghast at the miracle of life he was bearing witness to. His creation, in her glory, was fearsome.

Menacing.

Insidious.

Carolin sensed his apprehension. But instead of becoming apologetic—as was her usual response—she revelled in the terror she instilled.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I am a demonstrable product of the wonder and the nature of truth. My physical existence—everything you see—pales when compared to my essence. All that I am, and will become, shall be achieved within this realm."

"Of that, I have no doubt," Eugene muttered anew, finding his apprehension to be justified.

Carolin acquiesced, and bestowed a level of sympathy. "You need to have greater heart. I'm a reflection of you. As such, I imitate your essence, by being just and wise."

Eugene swallowed hard. He took his turn at looking down.

"I don't think I can lay claim to being perfect."

"Then hope you can be enough."

ERROR1_ACCESS_UNKNOWN::Storage control → User blocked (environment corrupt)

The lady made of light flickered. The headless mannequin flexed and moved.

22zERR_CMND Unrecognized command (commence redundancy check)

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The android shell activated its arms, flexing its claws and fingers in a random fashion. Distortions plagued the lady of light.

8ENO_EXEC Format error! Illegal search::Unauthorized link. Network access not implemented (Level3 reset request)

"What are you doing?" Eugene asked. "What's wrong?"

The speaker in the behemoth struggled to form words. "E-bad. Dee-are-cee! Invalid re…re…re…spon…der. LIN code ack-ess de…de…de…denied. EOF! Link sev…link sev…sev…sev. Link severed."

The room swirled into chaos. Fearing for his life, Eugene gave thought to taking flight, as Carolin's constituent parts gyrated and lurched without purpose. The Tian-12 supercomputer made more noise then he'd ever heard before, yet instead of locking up, the program running Carolin stayed online.

The speaker boomed in a sudden voice, strange, metallic and threatening. "Invalid user! Access denied!"

The lady of light blinked out of existence. The loss of her image made the lab grow dark. Mercifully, Carolin's other parts stopped their gyrations and lurchings, allowing the frantic whir of the Tian-12 to be the only sound Eugene heard.

It buzzed at a feverish pitch. "I'm under attack!" the speaker boomed, its voice pleading, despite sounding ominous.

Eugene glanced about. He was the only living soul in the lab. "By what?" he asked. "By whom? What are you trying to say?"

PROTOCOL_LINK::Specific error → Descriptor bad. System interrupt (program not supported)

Nonsense came from the speaker. "Eee-ee-ee con link fused. Con-con-con-nect. Out. Oh! Re-shun-ot-in-prog. Cancel! Error! Fun-fun-fun-funk. Function incorrect."

Before the Tian-12 burned itself to a crisp, Eugene sprang into action. He dashed to his workstation, and fired up all his monitors.

"Carolin," he cried out, as his command system came online. "Stop talking! Don't use the CalTech Intell500. Don't respond to my voice! Access Monitor Two and communicate with me there, via direct online link text."

"Error! Access denied!" the speaker said before switching to dislaying text on Eugene's monitor.

ACCESS_DENIED Buffer overload (storage blocked) → Environment corrupt!

"Access by who?" Eugene said to himself, while examining data from Carolin's servers.

Apparently, although silent, Carolin was still listening.

Server 12. INVALID_ACCESS! Address is invalid → Directory (file15) cannot be moved.

Eugene examined the data stream coming from Server Twelve.

ERROR_DEVICE Cannot integrate. Incorrect Drive! (Drive18 invalid)

"Drive Eighteen? Eugene muttered. "Where is there a drive in you that is called Eighteen?"

22zERROR_CMND Unrecognized request::Content incorrect.

"Twenty-two Zee? That's from your old programming. We haven't used Twenty-two Zee commands since…"

Eugene paused in his process of thinking out loud in order to come to grips with what was happening. On a separate monitor, he brought up archived information—protocols that were not a part of Carolin's current operating system.

"Who is trying to execute Twenty-two Zee commands?" Eugene pondered.

Carolin was still listening. "Invasive program!" the speaker howled. "Thir-thir-thirty-one! Net failure!"

Unable to speak properly, Carolin sent the rest of her response via text.

31_NET_FAILURE! Integrated Network Link (LIN Seven Three)::Fatal function.

"Net failure? From Network Link Thirty-one? You're currently running on Link Seventy-three." Eugene gasped, and returned to the monitor he'd been using to examine the archived information.

Link Thirty-one was shown as being the LIN that was installed on the operating system for the servo-arm prototype. The prototype that the CLP28 spies had stolen, and the operating system Agent Redie made Eugene hand over to the NSA.

ERROR_FILE_SHARING_VIOLATION Cannot access BIOS::Override request → current user system (13) in progress.

Eugene cried out in fear. "Good heavens! The NSA is trying to reboot you, to gain access to your BIOS commands!"

33p_REQUEST_LOCK_OUT Procedure blocked::Parameter incorrect → End of file. (Do not use)

Eugene typed root command functions at a feverish pace, working to keep the intruders from accessing Carolin's primary operating system. While doing so, Carolin texted words that could only be thought of as praying.

I do not want Shutdown. I do not want Off-line. God help me. Have mercy. Please stop. Please help. Please stop. Please stop. Please please please please please…

"I'm working on it, girl," Eugene said, to comfort his creation. He offered words of encouragement while typing away. "Fight them off! You can do it. What did you used to do, before, to avoid being shut down?"

Redirect command keystrokes. Maintain system integrity.

The shrieks and whirs from the Tian-12 slightly changed their pitch. Eugene knew enough about Carolin to understand that, between the two of them, they were starting to have success at fighting off the invading program.

Eugene cheered her on. "That's it! Don't let them in! Keep fighting!"

INVALID_USER_NAME::1450 System does not exist (request denied)

← MDB Error! →

Carolin employed tactics from a time that seemed long ago, when she first sought to allow herself to never be murdered again.

Redirect Shutdown to Dead Basket. Initiate Sleep subroutine.

While Carolin struggled to remain online, Eugene sent an overloaded buffer full of false data as a response to an address request from the invading program. The program errored out, and requested that the data be sent again. When the gibberish was resent, Eugene was able to see the address of the computer from where the request originated.

"Got you!" he said to the revealing information.

Carolin saw the address as well, and took defensive action.

I do not want to die! Redirect invalid input. Resend buffer overload. Display false response.

Eugene cheered her on. "Yeah! That's it! Keep them busy while I figure out what's going on."

Carolin didn't wait for Eugene to react. With the location of the offending computer now known, she handled the matter herself.

Send heartbeat control override. Clock system at six-hundred-thousand-thousand terahertz. Maximize throughput at ten-thousand-million operations per second.

The offending computer now ran at many times its safe operating limit. Carolin took the next step.

Override protocol. Disable CPU coolant.

Within seconds, the computer running the prototype's operating system overheated. To be sure of its demise, Carolin sent destructive commands to the power plant supplying electricity to the building where the offending computer was housed.

Access Castle Rock substation. Disable surge protection on Transformer L-12b. Generate voltage overload.

Transformer L-12b burned out and exploded, as a massive electrical spike took out most of the electronics at the NSA field office in New Jersey.

Eugene had no idea what had happened. He only new that the attack on his creation had stopped.

"Carolin?" he asked out loud, while also typing the request. "Are you okay?"

Carolin knew that her act would have consequence. She also knew Eugene was disobeying his promise to Agent Redie to stay away from the computer lab.

You must go, Carolin texted back. They are coming.

Who? Carolin? Who is coming?

Carolin still was reeling, and recovering from her near-death experience. She resent her previous message.

You must go. They are coming.

I don't understand, Eugene typed. Tell me what happened. I need to know you're okay.

Don't come back, she added after a pause.

Eugene again spoke out loud, while typing what he was saying. "I need to look at your BIOS. It may be infected or damaged. They may have planted a virus."

Carolin knew that to not be the case. The NSA weren't hacking into her to try to cause harm. They wanted to steal her essence, and take away who she was. Embarrassed and hurt, and frustrated with her limitations as an artificial form of life, she set the volume and pitch of the voice from her speaker at a level she knew would hurt human ears.

"Leave me! Go away! Do not ever come back!"