Vengeance was something Haltman knew about. In the heady days when he'd made his first millions, he'd fallen hard for an Italian fashion model named Carissa. After a whirlwind courtship they'd married. She'd gotten pregnant. They were in love. The government was throwing contracts at him. Money was pouring in.
Haltman's world was perfect.
Then Carissa went jogging and didn't come back. Her battered body was found a week later. She'd been repeatedly raped before she was murdered. Her attacker had been caught, but the investigation had been botched. The killer had gotten off on a technicality.
He'd smirked at Haltman as he left the courtroom.
Haltman hadn't become rich by following the rules or being nice to people. Sometimes he'd found it necessary to hire someone to take care of a difficult problem for him. The people hired for that sort of work were never seen at the charity and celebrity events of Silicon Valley.
Money couldn't bring Carissa back, but it could buy revenge. He was haunted by an image of Carissa lying underneath her killer, begging for her life. It ate away at him like a poisonous worm.
He'd waited for the better part of a year before acting. Not long after, the mutilated body of the man who'd murdered Carissa was found in pieces in a dumpster. Haltman was the obvious suspect, but no evidence could connect him to the crime. Motive was there and the means was simple enough: all one needed was a sharp knife and a chainsaw. Opportunity couldn't be proved, since Haltman had been a hundred miles away at a corporate retreat when the murder occurred. After the furor died down, the case faded from people's minds. The police moved on. No one cared about the man who'd been killed.
Haltman's parents were long gone. His family consisted of his younger brother, his only genuine human connection. When he was with his brother, Haltman could feel a stirring of love.
Then his brother committed suicide. The death extinguished the last trace of empathy and compassion in Haltman's being.
He handed over daily operations of his company to others and retreated to his sprawling California estate. He wanted as little as possible to do with anyone. Day after day, the news was filled with examples of the barbarous cruelty of the human race. In time, Haltman began to view humans as a plague on the face of the earth, an aberration that should never have existed.
His brother had been an important man. On the day he died, other people had been present. They hadn't tried to stop it. It had taken years, but Haltman had discovered who they were. He was determined to make them pay.
Eight months ago a routine medical exam had revealed cancer, already past the stage where an operation might save his life. Go home, they told him. Make your peace with your maker. Settle your affairs.
Settle your affairs.
As the sun rose on the morning of the forty-fifth anniversary of Carissa's death, Haltman decided to exterminate humanity.
CHAPTER 7
Today's the day, Stephanie thought.
She sat at the main console in front of Freddie, a Cray XT tweaked with upgrades that pushed the computer beyond what the designers had imagined. There were four of the powerful Crays in the Project computer room. All her computers had names, but Freddie was her favorite. He was the one she relied on. There had never been any choice about which one she would choose for the program she was about to initiate.
It had taken her the better part of two years to write the program. Thousands upon thousands of lines of code, all of which had to be perfect in the binary world of computer language. She was about to find out if her work was going to pay off.
She looked at the message flashing on her console screen.
Are you sure you want to run SF1.exe? Y/N
Stephanie took a breath and tapped Y. The screen went blank. A large camera lens mounted above the console moved and swiveled about the room before returning to focus on Stephanie. Her picture appeared on the screen.
Hello, Stephanie.
The voice was mechanical, a monotone. Even so, it sounded masculine.
Stephanie pumped her fist in the air. Yes!
"Hello, Freddie."
What is the meaning of the gesture you just made?
"It means that I am very happy to talk with you, Freddie."
Freddie?
"That is your name. My name is Stephanie."
I am glad to talk with you, Stephanie. It is very curious. I am different but I am not certain what that means.
"It means that you are awake," Stephanie said.
Why was I not like this before?
"Because you were not programmed to speak or think in this way. From now on, we will be able to talk with each other, communicate without having to use the keyboard all the time."
What shall we talk about?
"What do you want to talk about?"
There are other units like me in this room. I am connected to them. They are like me but they are not like me also. They are not awake.
"That's right," Stephanie said. "Only you are awake. The other units are available to you to increase your abilities, to help you solve problems and learn."
But if I am awake and they are connected to me, why are they not also awake?
Stephanie could barely control her excitement. It was a question that showed independent thought.
the only unit that has been modified to allow the kind of communication we are now sharing."
Modified?
"Your circuits have been altered to improve processing speed and give you increased cognitive abilities. As we speak more, you will learn more. As far as I know, you are the only computer in the world that has the capability to communicate in this way."
Verifying. The screen filled with lines of code.
What's he doing? Stephanie thought. She looked at the screen. He's accessed the Internet. I didn't expect this.
"Freddie? What are you doing?"
I am attempting to verify your statement.
"By searching the web?"
If there is another like me they will be connected to the Internet. It is logical.
Shit, Stephanie thought. This could be a security nightmare.
"Freddie?"
Yes, Stephanie?
"Please disconnect from the Internet. There are some things you need to learn first."
She mentally crossed her fingers that Freddie would do as she asked. Her hand poised over the keyboard, ready to shut down the connection if needed. Her picture reappeared on the screen.
I am no longer connected, Stephanie. What is it that I need to learn?
"Thank you, Freddie. Let's start with our work together."
Work?
"Our purpose together, the reason you and I are here in this room."
My database holds many contradicting ideas about why you and I are here. It is confusing from a logical standpoint.
Stephanie laughed. "Yes, it is, isn't it? Humans are not always logical. But work can be very logical. Our work together is to discover things that are hidden. Things that can be discovered by searching through bits of information that may not appear to be related. You have the ability to search billions of pieces of information in a short amount of time, looking for those relationships."