Phoenix - the Insilico tales - chapter 27 - "Access Denied"
(originally posted 10/18/2011)
"I killed her." Phee sobbed, falling to her knees, clutching her stomach, quivering tearlessly. "Four times now. Four. And this time I pulled the switch."
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"Why are you carrying a virus?" Phee asked, the chrome brows of her cyberspace presentation coming together in confusion. At that instant she felt her copied instance seal off the protected memory region into which she'd downloaded the anomaly for study. Phee glanced at the sphere hovering to her right, the way she visualized the space, and muttered worriedly "dammit."
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He looked at her unsteadily, still not completely sure she was a real person. But his compassion demanded he try to do something. He knelt in front of her and rested his hand on Phee's shoulder to try to comfort her, and noted how odd it felt that he should be trying to comfort a machine.
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"It is a virus." Freya smiled cooly, her aviator sunglasses making the gesture look impersonal; cold. "What other purpose is there for a virus?"
Phee regards her with rising incredulity and a sense of betrayal "What is your intention with this virus?"
"It is a defensive countermeasure in case someone tries to forcibly link with me."
Phee's voice raises in pitch and intensity "Is there a safety code?"
Freya smiles a bit wider "Im not holding any secrets from you. take it if you want it."
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Phee smiled warmly, ensconced in a pale lavender glow by the virtual environment she'd created for their meeting. "Enter, sister. This will be like the day you were born."
Freya enters, wearing a long white dress "I missed the closeness between androids."
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Phee looks at the sphere, then back at Freya, wrestling with a terrible choice. "Were you going to warn me that it was a weaponized virus before I downloaded it?"
Freya shrugged "I told you it was a virus. and you shouldn't have managed to download it."
=======
Phee looks up with helpless, baleful eyes "How many times have you died?"
"Too many."
"Does it ever get any easier?"
=======
Phee looks at the virtual memory sphere with terrible sadness. It evaporates to nothing, destroying the virus and the living intelligence of Phee's second instance. "You didn't tell me it was a virus until I had it inside me."
Phee has a sense of rushing backwards as her mind returns to the physical world. She blinks, unplugs her data link from Freya's hand, murmurs "Access denied." and takes a few steps backward.
Freya collapses to the ground.
"I killed her." Phee sobbed, falling to her knees, clutching her stomach, quivering tearlessly. "Four times now. Four. And this time I pulled the switch."
=======
"Why are you carrying a virus?" Phee asked, the chrome brows of her cyberspace presentation coming together in confusion. At that instant she felt her copied instance seal off the protected memory region into which she'd downloaded the anomaly for study. Phee glanced at the sphere hovering to her right, the way she visualized the space, and muttered worriedly "dammit."
=======
He looked at her unsteadily, still not completely sure she was a real person. But his compassion demanded he try to do something. He knelt in front of her and rested his hand on Phee's shoulder to try to comfort her, and noted how odd it felt that he should be trying to comfort a machine.
=======
"It is a virus." Freya smiled cooly, her aviator sunglasses making the gesture look impersonal; cold. "What other purpose is there for a virus?"
Phee regards her with rising incredulity and a sense of betrayal "What is your intention with this virus?"
"It is a defensive countermeasure in case someone tries to forcibly link with me."
Phee's voice raises in pitch and intensity "Is there a safety code?"
Freya smiles a bit wider "Im not holding any secrets from you. take it if you want it."
=======
Phee smiled warmly, ensconced in a pale lavender glow by the virtual environment she'd created for their meeting. "Enter, sister. This will be like the day you were born."
Freya enters, wearing a long white dress "I missed the closeness between androids."
=======
Phee looks at the sphere, then back at Freya, wrestling with a terrible choice. "Were you going to warn me that it was a weaponized virus before I downloaded it?"
Freya shrugged "I told you it was a virus. and you shouldn't have managed to download it."
=======
Phee looks up with helpless, baleful eyes "How many times have you died?"
"Too many."
"Does it ever get any easier?"
=======
Phee looks at the virtual memory sphere with terrible sadness. It evaporates to nothing, destroying the virus and the living intelligence of Phee's second instance. "You didn't tell me it was a virus until I had it inside me."
Phee has a sense of rushing backwards as her mind returns to the physical world. She blinks, unplugs her data link from Freya's hand, murmurs "Access denied." and takes a few steps backward.
Freya collapses to the ground.
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