LifeShield

Turn It Off

'Ready for this, girl,' Fiona asks herself. 'No turning back after you poke the bear.' She twirls a stylus, its gleaming white flowing like a ripple of water through her fingers. The familiar motions sooth her mind. She remembers what she'd told Zach, "All in."

With a deep breath in, she stabs the connect button, "General Stephens, what can I do for you?"

The face glowers, "For starters, you can turn it off."

Not much poking required. "Turn what off."

"Your damned communications system."

She squeezes her fists out of sight of the camera. Here goes nothing.

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

The temptation to take a screenshot almost makes her giggle, and she clenches her jaw to hold it in. His cheeks have morphed from red to a mottled plum. Wash out the color a bit, and he could pass for a cartoon character. She sobers quickly when she remembers the troops and military might under his control. This was an extremely dangerous beast she was playing with.

His next words show how much.

"Let me make one thing very clear", Mrs. Parks. "Breaching operational security during an active conflict is an act of treason. If you do not provide a means to disable this communications system, we'll take any action we deem necessary to do it ourselves. Including landing a troop at your office door to secure control of your operations."

There's no turning back now, so she takes the leap off the cliff edge.

"You had better get someone technical on the line to comprehend this. LifeShield is an artificial intelligence with two directives. Protect humans, and yell really loudly when attacked. This 'communications channel' as you call it, it figured out how to do that all on its own. Even I have no idea how it works, so I couldn't turn it off even if I wanted to."

The entire camera view jumps with the slam on his desk, "Last chance to cooperate, Mrs Parks."

"Can't happen."

"Then I'll make it happen."