The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (16 page)

“
Stop this bickering,” ordered Zaccai. This
matter is open to discussion regarding EC6L163O7074, not your
personal feelings on self-termination Melchior.”

Elymas responded, “Do we think if we allow
EC6L163O7074 to go through another cycle on Earth this would make
any difference? Can we just put him through the Established
Attribute Ratings and if he scores high enough, we will insert the
Trojan, and schedule him for merger. Does it matter if he does not
want to stay on this planet? It is not as if he is able to control
his fate.”

“
We cannot merge a field program
into a Tureissians' body with other field programs if it is
rebelling. Doing so could jeopardize the solid field programs,
resulting in unknown compatibility issues. If this happens, we will
waste a number of high-leveled field programs. I am not willing to
take this chance,” explained Izri.

“
I agree. It is too risky. If we
cannot correct the anomaly then the only alternative is to return
EC6L163O7074 to Earth. At least if he has a meltdown on Earth we
can activate the Trojan safely and wipe his entire program,”
advised Oshea.

“
The only other alternative is to keep
EC6L163O7074 in stasis until Prime 2 is able to explain this
better,” said Kyria.

Corinth called out, “That is
ridiculous, we are not going to waste the time and space by putting
him into storage. If we do we might as well wipe his program and
start over now. I am pretty confidant Prime 2 will not figure out
this so called anomaly."

Shiphra pointed out, “That would
be a shame, wiping out his program. EC6L163O7074 is estimated to
score very high on his Established Attribute Ratings, possibly one
of the highest ever.”

“
Then I cannot see any other choice I move to
vote on Zaccai’s request,” voiced Abner.

“
I second that,” stated Mileva.

“
I move to vote as well,” called out
Izri.

“
Three members have initially
agreed, please link in your vote on the matter of returning
EC6L163O7074 back to Earth and placing a memory wipe Trojan into
his field program,” stated the Admin. A few moments later it was
announced, “The count is Nine to Four on this matter. EC6L163O7074
will be scheduled for re-merger to his home planet as a new human
being, and a Trojan virus will be placed into his program.
Activation of this Trojan will commence on a majority vote by the
council and only if this council deems it necessary.”

“
Excellent, I am glad to see the members have
not completely lost their good judgment, although this last vote
should have been a unanimous one. I call this gathering to an end,”
ordered Zaccai.

As soon as Zaccai finished
speaking, Prime 2 powered its displays down and removed itself from
the chambers. Zaccai slowly rose up on the platform that descended
earlier, as it turned back into a circular sphere, and disappeared
into the peak of the great chamber. The twelve members silently
stood up, in sync. Once the sphere faded from their view, they
quietly exited through the three rectangular doors without
words.

Reality
Bites

Jade’s bedroom might as well have
been a computer lab. Most of her furniture was black with metallic
handles. The walls were a light gray, the ceiling a darker gray,
and the molding dark maroon. There was one green and bluish accent
wall with the stereotypical binary code of ones and zeros. A metal
desk sat nearby and housed four holoscreens, which were connected
to a series of computer blades. There were vintage computer posters
with metal frames scattered across the walls. One showed Earth
having a keyboard wrapped around it and another showed “Tux” the
Linux penguin.

As Jade laid in her full size bed underneath the
covers she heard Reece yell, “Come on you need to get out of bed!
Wake up!”

“
Go away, I’m still sleeping!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to be late for school,” mumbled
Jade.

“
You’re right you’re not, because
you have the day off. I’m heading to the lab remember? You asked me
to wake you up because you wanted to come along. On the other hand,
if you’d rather stay in bed that’s fine with me. I can always tell
Adam you said, ‘hi’ and you were too lazy to get up.”

Once Jade finished calculating
what Reece had said she threw the covers off, jumped out of bed,
and yelled, “No, no I’m getting up, just give me a few
minutes.”

“
You have exactly thirty.”

Jade snapped, “Fine!”

While Jade exited her bed a
variety of lights started turning on, as well as a famous punk band
called
Too Hot To
Stop
. While the music was piped in
through the sound system, it grew louder, which in return
invigorated Jade in her morning preparation.

“
Turn down that garbage,” Reece
screamed.

“
Yes, sir,” replied HICAMS.

Jade screamed back, “See, if you
just let me get those ear implants you wouldn’t have to listen to
my music.”

Reece was tired of the yelling,
so he decided to use the in house communicators. “It’s not that I
mind listening to what you think is music, it’s just my music
sounds a lot better. Here listen to a real band, like
SteelTech
,
it’s currently one of the leading heavy metal bands.”

Reece ordered HICAMS to
cancel
Too Hot To Stop
and started playing
SteelTech
and just to add
that extra annoyance factor, Reece made sure the level was twice as
loud.

As the walls to Jade’s room shook, she soon realized
what Reece was trying to accomplish, so she smiled and thought,
“You’ve got to be kidding me. He really thinks this is music?”

“
HICAMS!” screamed Jade.

The music automatically lowered itself just enough
so Jade could hear.

“
Yes, Ms. Jade how can I be of
service.”

“
Can you please turn this off?”

“
Sorry, Ms. Jade, but Reece has encrypted the
verbal command file that controls the sound system.”

“
Has he now? Fine, two can play
at this game. HICAMS please bring up a maintenance panel on
holoscreen 3.”

“
All access to the maintenance panels has been
restricted.”

“
So, it’s like that is it?”

“
Sorry, Ms. Jade I did not understand your
last command.”

“
What, oh, I was just talking to myself. I’m
assuming he encrypted the control commands to the panel as
well?”

“
That would be correct.”

“
What level of encryption did he
use?”

“
Reece has advised me to inform you that you
will not be able to break this encryption before you are scheduled
to leave in less then thirty minutes.”

Jade and Reece have had these
music battles in the past; however, this was the first time Reece
had upped the ante by increasing the cyber security.

Jade stared at a holophoto of the
1969 moon landing, which she received from her father. She reminded
herself a challenge is only difficult if one believes it cannot be
accomplished. Once inspired Jade started thinking of certain
encryptions Reece could have used and ways she could go about
breaking them. This went on for a few minutes until she broke eye
contact with the holophoto and quickly realized what time it was.
Jade had already spent ten minutes battling with Reece, so she
walked over to her dresser, opened the drawer, and started to
rummage for her earplugs. After she located them, she placed them
in and grabbed a bluish white faded shirt, a pair of flare cut
jeans, and some underwear. She then retreated to her personal
bathroom; called out “shower 99 degrees,” disrobed, grabbed her
toothbrush, and hopped in.

“
HICAMS please describe the
security measures, which have been put into place,” requested Jade
with a mouthful of toothpaste.

“
Yes, Ms. Jade. The
advanced encryption standard cipher that Reece has used is 512 bit
block size RSA key.
”

Jade realized even with her level
of mathematical and technical skills there was no way she could
possibly break this type of encryption in twenty minutes.
Therefore, she told HICAMS to create a direct link with the main in
house server and ordered a brute force attack against it, by using
specific configurations of passwords she believed Reece might have
used. Jade clearly directed these attacks on the encrypted
commands, which in her mind would give her total access to the
security panel. She was aware it was a slim chance of successfully
hacking the main server, but she needed to start doing something.
Jade knew for certain Reece was not fond of change and hoped this
held true when it came to his home related passwords. Jade decided
she would allow Reece to win the battle and knew that once she
gained complete access to the main server she would win the war.
After Jade finished her shower she dried her hair, got dressed, and
ran down to the kitchen where she saw Reece eating
breakfast.

Reece looked up, smiled, and
ordered HICAMS to stop the music. “Morning, I guess you
liked
SteelTech
? You didn’t turn it
off.”

“
It was alright, I figured the least I could
do is let you listen to what you wanted since you’re taking me to
see Adam today,” fibbed Jade.

“
Really, why thank you,” said Reece as he
chuckled to himself knowing that was not the case.

“
Do you know I have, like, no clothes? Did the
house cleaner do the laundry this week?” asked Jade.

“
Oh, I forgot to tell you, our
new house cleaner called and said he wasn’t going to be coming in
this week.”

“
Well I hope he shows up next week, I’m
starting to run out of things to wear.”

“
I don’t think that’s possible,”
commented Reece.

“
You want to bet.”

“
No, but you need to grab some breakfast and I
need to place a quick call, then we will head out.”

“
Ok,” replied Jade as she was already walking
over to the refrigerator to grab her bagel and cream
cheese.

Reece headed into his office, closed the door, and
placed a call to Jade’s psychiatrist.

“
Dr. Gwen Kazlouskas,” said Reece.

“
Hello, Reece,” as a 3-D image
appeared on a nearby holoscreen, of a female wearing a pinned
striped business suit and glasses.

“
Hello, Dr. Kazlouskas sorry to bother
you.”

“
No worries. How many times have I told you?
You can call me anytime.”

Dr. Kazlouskas is not only one of
the most sought after psychologists on the East coast, she is also
on the forefront of psychotherapy, and a close friend of the Cade
family. After Jade’s mother was committed, Dr. Kazlouskas helped
keep the family together. She played a big role in helping Spencer
raise Jade and also prevented Jade from running away after his
death by explaining to her how important she was to Reece. Jade
soon bonded with Dr. Kazlouskas due to her dramatic
personality and sense of humor.

“
So how are things going with
Jade?”

“
She seems to be doing well,
we’re going to visit Adam today, I just wanted to know if we should
make an appointment for the one year anniversary of Spencer’s
death?”

“
I don’t think that would be necessary, Jade
has made considerable progress in the last three months. I would
recommend you take her to visit Spencer’s remains at the lake, and
then do something she may enjoy. Bringing her to my office wouldn’t
be the best way to allow her to grieve. Has she showed any other
further signs of wanting to injure herself?”

“
No, not since that one time, eleven months
ago.”

Reece was referring to the time
when Jade had come to the realization that her father’s death was
undoubtedly her fault because she had drank the last of the milk,
forcing her father to go to the health market resulting in his
death. Jade was able to somehow secure a handheld laser cutter from
Reece’s lab and ended up carving “reality bites” into her left
wrist and forearm followed by “death is the only outlet.” The laser
only nicked a vein not an artery. Luckily, for Jade, she did this
in a bathroom at school and was later found passed out by a
teacher. This obviously raised quite a concern leading to numerous
visits with Dr. Kazlouskas. Most of the scarring was removed except
for the word “reality.” Jade felt she needed to leave a reminder of
what she did so she would not do it again. It was after this
incident Reece conjured up the idea that maybe it would be helpful
for Jade if he introduced her to Adam. Dr. Kazlouskas was willing
to entertain the idea only if she was able to meet Adam first and
get a better understanding of what type of impact this may have on
Jade. Of course Reece had to get approval and easily convinced the
director of the program, who felt it would be a wonderful
experience for Adam to interact with a much younger human than what
he was used to.