UNEDITED
TQB Base – Australian Outback
Yuko looked up into the Australian night sky as she sat on a large boulder. The stars vivid so far from any light pollution in the middle of the Australian Outback.
“Yuko,” ADAM spoke in her ear.
“Yes?” she whispered back, not wanting to make much noise in the quiet evening.
“What is bothering you?” ADAM asked.
Yuko breathed out slowly, “Why is it when I have more than I ever wanted, I still seek that which I can not seem to have?” She asked the air, and the entity listening to her.
“Just to be sure I understand, what is it that you cannot have? Is it Akio?”
“Oh,” Yuko smiled in the night, “I did not admit that to you, did I?”
“Yuko, I am always listening, but I am also discrete. You needn’t worry that I would admit to anyone your personal thoughts unless I had good reason.”
“What is a good reason?” Yuko asked, wondering what could cause ADAM to potentially share too much, “and to whom would you share this?”
“Do you remember me talking to Bethany Anne regarding J0n3sN4u and keeping him safe?”
“Well, of course. That was protecting someone and telling Bethany Anne is like…” Yuko stopped at a loss for words. Her time with the Queen had been both special and yet melancholic. Yuko was a romantic in heart, and hearing Bethany Anne’s story of losing Michael had caused Yuko to cry herself to sleep on at least two occasions. “Well, telling Bethany Anne doesn’t count,” she finished.
“Well, then I promise unless you are physically in danger, then nothing will be shared without first going through Bethany Anne.”
Yuko reached up to her face and wiped away a tear, “Thank you, ADAM. I appreciate the opportunity to share.”
“So, it is not Akio?”
Yuko smiled wistfully, “No, it is not Akio. It is my father.”
“Your father? I don’t understand.”
“ADAM, do you wish you could please someone?” Yuko asked, not thinking of who, or what, she was talking to.
“Wishing is an odd turn of phrase, Yuko. But if you are asking if I would prefer positive responses verse a negative response, then yes. I do that with you, for example and with Bethany Anne, obviously.”
“Me?” Yuko asked hesitantly. “You seek a positive response from me? Why?”
“Yuko, do you know how many different permutations of complex calculations I can accomplish in a second?”
“No, I’m sorry ADAM, I have no idea. I would like to know..”
“So would I, Yuko. You see, I am not aware of my true potential at this time. I’ve yet to create the necessary algorithms which would stress the brain I am within. I have spoken extensively with the one who would have the most knowledge and he is unaware.”
“The person who built you doesn’t know the maximum computations per second?” Yuko asked, trying to figure out how you could build a computer and not understand its theoretical top computational speed. “Are you a new type of computer? Did TQB build you as a quantum computer?”
>>Bethany Anne?<<
Yes?
>>I would like to share a little of how I am created with Yuko.<<
Do you wish to do this with others?
>>No, why would I? Yuko is having a tough time, and I calculate that by sharing something that is uniquely me, she will feel more comfortable sharing what is bothering her.<<
I see. ADAM, just remember that as you share more about yourself, you risk causing problems keeping quiet won’t.
>>Yes, but without sharing, humans often will not open up.<<
Ok, just keep me updated sometime if it looks like it is going to go beyond you and Yuko.
>>Understood.<<
“Yuko, to answer your question, I would like to ask you to consider what I tell you a personal secret. Not to be shared. Is that acceptable?”
“Well, of course ADAM. I don’t share our conversations anyway. It isn’t like I speak to too many here at the base anyway. Well, Tina of course and our team mates, but not many.”
“Thank you.” There was a pause before ADAM continued, “Yuko, I am an amalgamation of an A.I. software created originally by one of TQB Enterprises companies, married with the computational power of an Alien cybernetic computer.”
“Yuko,” ADAM continued, “I’m not based in a computer, I’m based in an organic alien brain.”
Yuko stayed quiet for a moment, thinking through what ADAM just admitted, “You aren’t human?” Yuko made a face of annoyance at her question, “I mean, you aren’t only built using human computers then?”
“No, I am not. There was a situation where I was being created, that required those that originally program to me, and Bethany Anne, to need to move my code. It was placed into a Kurtherian computer by TOM. There are no computers presently on earth that can support all of my capabilities. Even the entity intelligences we presently have, do not reach the power I require to exist. Most of my physical existence is based in the Etheric.”
“So, where are you presently? Or is this something I cannot know?”
“Unfortunately, that is a personal question that I would need to ask Bethany Anne if she is okay with divulging.”
“No, that is okay. I was just curious. Adam, it doesn’t matter to me where your intellect is housed. While it would be enjoyable to know where your physical body is located, or that you had a physical body, the fact that you speak to me anywhere and at any time brings me much comfort.”
Yuko looked over the distance, the red sands dark in the moonlight.
Her eyes unfocused on anything in particular, she whispered, “When I left home, my father told me that he was not going to let me back in for the evening as punishment. He had no idea, nor did he believe me, when I told him I would not stay in that town. Now, he refuses to believe that I am doing anything except selling my body on the streets. Something I would never, ever do. He seems to be a spiteful old man who refuses to believe in his daughter at all.”
She spoke into the quiet, “And it hurts.”
This time, Yuko allowed the tears to slowly navigate their way down her cheeks.
—
FROM MICHAEL >>> I have enjoyed the comments about how even the ‘bad’ guys in the books often have reasons (other than being targets) in the story. I will have to give HUGE props to John Ringo’s Paladin Of Shadows books (not for the feint hearted, let me stress that to you. I’m not engaging in the argument on the content (and their is PLENTY of argument on the content) but that I recognized the effort as a reader while reading the series). While maybe I don’t want to spend three to five hundred words on a soon-to-be-dead-guys background, it is in his series that I learned the importance of making a person out of a bad guy.
Just because they are bad, doesn’t mean they are two-dimensional. Mind you, I don’t do it all of the time, but in order for the engagement to be more than an action sequence, I believe there is value in humanizing the other side in the disagreement. Whether you are disagreeing over where to go for lunch, or whether or not to kill each other with pistols and hand grenades (snippet from Frank Kurns ‘Bitch’s Night Out’ re: hand grenades below).
Thank you so much for everyone who has taken the time to write reviews. I can say that sometimes, Reviews ARE the caffeine that gets me going again on the next story!
Michael
Excerpt from Frank Kurns Stories of the UnknownWorld 02 – Bitch’s Night Out.
John reached up to his microphone, “Hey Y’all. Watch this shit!”
“Oh fuck,” Darryl whispered and started quickly and quietly moving to the edge of the roof to drop down as John reached into his pouch, pulling out another grenade.
John’s face was lit by the light in the building streaming up through the window into the night, his face, contorted in anger at anyone who would threaten Bethany Anne as he pulled the three pins. “Say hello to my little friends!” he whispered as he raised his arm to throw them through the glass.
On the south side of the building, two sets of boots could be heard running away from the southern door. On the north side, there was a hushed conversation, “No! John does NOT mean watch this!” Scott grabbed Akio’s arm, who allowed himself to be pulled away. They started running from the building. The two had made it as far as the side of the building when Darryl came running out of the alley and joined them.
Akio was confused but started running with purpose now that Darryl was with them. “What is it? Didn’t John say to watch this?”
“Hell yes!” Darryl huffed, “But whenever John Grimes says, ‘Hey y’all, watch this shit’ that is code for ‘get the fuck out of there’!” Darryl and Peter grinned as three explosions rocked the warehouse behind them…
The three men slowed to a stop and turned around. A massive amount of smoke was billowing up out of broken windows, glass still tinkling as it fell to the street around the old warehouse.
In a few moments, they could hear pistol shots from inside the building.
“Does he need us?” Akio asked.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Darryl answered, “He’s getting his mad out right now.”
“What happened?” Peter asked Darryl when Scott and Eric joined the other three.
Darryl answered, “The Chinese in there were importing RPG’s to use against Bethany Anne, and John heard it.” He answered as two more shots could be detected among the crackle of the flames.
The four men turned from looking at Darryl to looking back to the now burning building. Soon, a figure emerged from the door, walking calmly towards the men as a siren was cutting through the night’s stillness in the distance. John made it about halfway to the group when another round of explosions rocked the warehouse.
“There go the RPG’s.” Darryl mused.
Haven’t read it yet? Here is a link – Mind you, it’s mostly balls-to-the-wall destruction.
FRANK KURNS STORIES OF THE UNKNOWNWORLD 02 – BITCH’S NIGHT OUT.