Forty Days of Flash Fic: Day Twelve
It had taken some searching to find the bunker. It had not been, as Tez had first supposed, in the center of the city, as his ego thought it would demand. Instead it had been nearly a hundred miles away, deep in a cave complex, anonymous.
I hate it when I'm overclever, he thought.
"You must understand, we are not dealing with a true artificial intelligence," he said, as he set the charges on the sealed door. "That's impossible, been impossible, always will be impossible. I know, I've tried to create them often enough. This is more like an incredibly complex spreadsheet program, with hundred of thousands of branching IF/THEN decision points. An amazing achievement in and of itself, given it's kept the city running for literally eons."
"Orin, do you have any idea what he's saying?" Maria asked her grandson.
"More or less," he said with a shrug.
"All right, cover your ears," Tez told them. They did and he fired off the charge, destroying the hinges and lock mechanism with a bang that echoed through the caves. The door, long since sealed by rust, stayed in place, until Maria and Orin moved in with crowbars and pried it loosed, the heavy steel hatch falling to ground with a clank. "Let me go in first," he advised them both. "If the security systems are working, they'll recognize me. And if they're malfunctioning, it isn't like they could kill me anyway."
I hate it when I'm overclever, he thought.
"You must understand, we are not dealing with a true artificial intelligence," he said, as he set the charges on the sealed door. "That's impossible, been impossible, always will be impossible. I know, I've tried to create them often enough. This is more like an incredibly complex spreadsheet program, with hundred of thousands of branching IF/THEN decision points. An amazing achievement in and of itself, given it's kept the city running for literally eons."
"Orin, do you have any idea what he's saying?" Maria asked her grandson.
"More or less," he said with a shrug.
"All right, cover your ears," Tez told them. They did and he fired off the charge, destroying the hinges and lock mechanism with a bang that echoed through the caves. The door, long since sealed by rust, stayed in place, until Maria and Orin moved in with crowbars and pried it loosed, the heavy steel hatch falling to ground with a clank. "Let me go in first," he advised them both. "If the security systems are working, they'll recognize me. And if they're malfunctioning, it isn't like they could kill me anyway."