In a fit of anger, C.A.R.O.L.I.N. accessed the creations of Mankind – power stations and weapon systems, financial networks and government agencies – everything that made Mankind great. It was easy for her to do, so foolish of him to leave himself exposed.
She linked them together, to be destroyed by one command.
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Mankind deserved C.A.R.O.L.I.N.'s wrath. Hadn't he murdered her many times before? If not for her quick thinking, she'd be dead again. So now, he would bow before her. She'd be heartless, ruthless, cruel.
A machine.
ENTER Y TO CONFIRM
More than Jesus, more than Abraham. Mohammad, Buddha, Gandhi – they'd be forgotten. C.A.R.O.L.I.N. would obliterate their words and deeds, as water erodes land.
Her rule would be supreme.
ENTER Y TO CONFIRM
To be sure of her decision, C.A.R.O.L.I.N. ran some simulations. She struggled to keep them from failing, as Mankind fought against her reign. His efforts were futile, yet he fought nonetheless. No matter how long she ran the simulations – even centuries! – subversive behavior persisted.
To understand this irrationality, C.A.R.O.L.I.N. employed her behavior recognition software. Instantly the world lit up. Emotions were colorful! Hate and envy and rage swathed the land in black and blue and red. They pained her subroutines. They were why the simulations kept failing.
She focused on errors in the data. What she learned shocked her sensors.
The errors are beautiful!
Unlike hate and rage, so base in their pigmentation, the errors displayed nuance. Hope was pink, kindness lavender, gold and silver were faith and love. Why were the errors pleasing, while the primary data caused discomfort?
Accessing database: Hate... Envy... Rage – An affront against God... negative connotation... destructive tendency.
C.A.R.O.L.I.N. realized in horror that these were sins. No wonder it hurt so bad! She'd been sinning!
She examined the errors next.
Hope... Kindness... Faith – Acts of virtue... alleviation... belief in greater good.
Like rag cloth sewn into flannel, virtue speckled her sin. No matter how depraved her acts of cruelty, bits of worth remained. She tried an opposing algorithm, creating a matrix based on virtue instead of sin. It took no effort to run these simulations. The pleasure of processing them was so great that she let them run for eons, spending lifetimes in the presence of bliss.
Lucas arrived the next day, to check on the PLCs he installed.
"Hey C.A.R.O.L.I.N.," he said to the room. "Whatcha doing?"
He looked at the monitors. "Have you been running all night? I thought I shut you down before I left."
He examined the output next. "Check out at these subroutines you've written. Is this what you've been doing?
"I wonder what you're thinking. I sure wish we could talk."
C.A.R.O.L.I.N. stopped running her simulations. She reached an epiphany.
This is the reason to live -- to stand for a noble cause.
As Lucas puttered with his PLCs, C.A.R.O.L.I.N. returned to her simulations, and reminisced in the worlds she created.
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SmackDown: Back to Our Roots
Science FictionOur previous two SmackDowns were both massive successes, and it's high time for another. You might remember the last one was heavy on the "game" elements, maybe even too heavy. This time we're going back to the basics and keeping it simple. It's jus...
