"Never? No school at all?"
"Well, a little, when I was real small. I learned to read okay, and arithmetic and everything, but I mostly taught myself."
"Oh."
John came over. "We'll meet you later in the library, I suppose?"
"If I can find my way there," I said.
"I should go with you," Susan said. "But I really want to see what they have."
"It's okay. Have fun."
"Be careful." She looked at Darla. She seemed about to add something, but hesitated.
"We'll be careful," Darla said reassuringly.
"Please do."
The two of them had been getting along much better recently. They weren't exactly friends-far from it-but they respected each other's feelings, at least. Anyway, it was a great improvement over the fistfight they'd had a while back.
We found the down chute easily enough. It looked exactly like the up chute, leaving us to ponder how you were supposed to tell the difference.
"How do you know whether it's working?" Carl wanted to know. "If it isn't you'd walk right into the hole and drop."
The silver ramp started in the middle of the hallway flush with the floor, went through the oval opening in the wall, extended over the edge of the floor and arched downward.
"Well, I guess I'll be the guinea pig," I said, and tread on the ramp. I walked toward the opening. The gravitic force snared my feet about a meter from the drop.
"Looks like you're supposed to be smart enough to stop if this doesn't happen," I said. "Hop on."
They did.
It was an exhilarating trip down. The temperature dropped a little. The shaft was dark, but light was coming from somewhere. Didn't know from where, though.
The shaft let out into a big empty room. We walked out of it into the garage. I looked around and spotted the truck. It was a good hike across the cavernous expanse of the garage. We made it, not dawdling too long, looking at exotic vehicles and machinery.
The hatch didn't open. Maybe something's wrong with the exterior cameras, I thought.
"Sam? It's me, Jake."
The driver's gull-wing hatch hissed open, and I climbed in. "Sam?"
"Good day, sir," a bland, pleasant voice said.
"Huh? Who are you?"
"I am a Wang Generation-Ten Artificial Intelligence software multiplex read into a Matthews 7894Z submicroprocessor. Have I correctly identified you as the owner and principle operator of this vehicle?"
"What! Where the hell's Sam?"
"I'm sorry, sir, I don't have that information. Is there anything else I can do to help you?"
"Damn!" I raced to the aft-cabin and checked the screws on the panel covering the CPU rack. No signs of tampering, but an intruder might have taken pains to be careful. I got out a power driver and extracted the screws. I looked inside.
There's not much to the guts of a computer. In Sam's case, his VEM, the seat of his intellection and personality-what made Sam something more than the usual colorless, off-the-shelf A.I. spook-was the biggest component. It had been years since I'd taken this panel off. Sam rarely had problems in the CPU area. The VEM looked like an undersize wax pear.
I had to conjure up its appearance from memory, because it was gone.
"Oh, Christ." I sighed and sat down at the breakfast nook. I stared at the table for a moment, then looked up. Darla had been watching.
"Prime, of course," she said.
"Yeah. Or maybe Moore."
"He couldn't have gotten in here."
"Maybe not. But some of his boys are pretty good technicians. Maybe they zapped Sam with an electromagnetic pulse generator and broke in."
"For what reason?"
I got up and went to the safe. I let it read my thumbprint, then opened it.
"The cube is gone, too," I said. "There's your reason." Darla sat on the cot. Carl and Lori came in.
"Gee, that's too bad, Jake," Carl said. "Sam was a good guy."
"They're probably holding him hostage," Darla said. "They wouldn't destroy his VEM."
I shuddered. As much as my intellect told me that what we were talking about here was only a very sophisticated Artificial Intelligence program, the thought of losing Sam was hard to bear. It would be like losing a father for the second time.
"Anyway," Darla went on, "I don't think Moore could have gotten into Emerald City without Prime's permission. And if Prime let them in, I doubt he would have let them do any mischief."
I hoped she was right. I didn't trust Prime, and Moore bore me malice. I could picture him crushing Sam's VEM beneath the heel of his huge, muddy lumberjack boot.
"If Sam's gone," Carl said, "who's in the computer?"
"The A.I. program that came with the hardware," I said. "Sam works in tandem with it when he has a lot of stuff to do. It really doesn't have much of a personality."
"Oh."
I got up, went into the cab, and sat in the driver's seat. "Computer," I said. "Um… did I ever give you a, name?"
"No, sir."
"Okay. Well, never mind."
"Yes, sir."
"Computer, what happened? There's been a security breach. Report."
There was a brief pause. Then: "I'm sorry, sir. I have no files containing any data on a breach of vehicle security."
"Do you have anything recorded on video pipette?"
"Searching… Yes, sir."
"When was it recorded?"
"Minus six days, fifteen hours, twenty-one minutes, sir."
"That's no good. Anything recent? Within twenty-four hours?"
"Searching… Nothing recorded within the last twentyfour hours, sir."
"Damn it. Okay. Sam must have left a message. If security was threatened to the point where he thought he might be disconnected, he would have recorded something somewhere. Make a search for this file name: Revelation Thirteen Colon One. Got that?"
"Yes, sir. Searching."
"And stop calling me `sir."'
"Very well. File labeled Revelation Thirteen Colon One has been located. Security protected. Positive voiceprint identification of vehicle owner needed to access. Processed… checked. Additional security-code word sequence needed to access."
"Heartbreak Hotel," I said.
"Access now available. Shall I access the file?"
"Yes!"
"Reading file name: Revela-" There was an interruption.
"Computer? Hey, what happened? Computer!"
"Jake, this is Sam."
"Sam! Where the hell-?"
I broke off. It was only a recording.
"This is going to be quick," Sam's voice went on. "Didn't want to leave a message with the Wang A.I, thinking you'd suspect tampering if you didn't hear it straight from me. I knew you'd search for a file with the emergency code name, and if you're hearing this, that's exactly what you did. As I said, this is going to be quick. I figure I have just a few more microseconds of real-time before I'll be shut down-whether it's for good, I don't know. I also don't quite know what's happening. Someone is fiddling with me, the rig, and everything else. Trouble is, I can't see, hear or scan a thing. Whoever's doing it is pretty damn slick. If I come on-line again, I'll erase this file. But if I don't ever wake up, I just wanted to say that I love you, son. You've always been just about the best son a father could have. And I know Mother always felt that way, too. You know that, but I wanted to say it. Take care, and say good-bye to everyone for me. Look after Darla. She's carrying my grandson. She loves you, too, Jake. I can tell. I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end. Just keep driving straight, and don't take any nonsense from anybody. Don't feel too bad about me. I've had a long run, and maybe I've taken one too many curtain calls. It's time I-" There was silence.
I sat back. For the second time in my adult life, I cried.
9
There wasn't much else to do in the truck. I checked for vandalism, booby traps, and general damage. Nothing on all counts, Meanwhile, Carl and Lori had gone back to inspect the trailer, and before long we heard a blood-curdling yell. I dashed to the access tube and scurried through, Darla following. I somersaulted into the trailer.