Continuum

Only too well! I wasn't acting when the color drained somewhat from my face. I only nodded in his direction, and sat back down on the unmade bed. I silently watched as the door slowly closed behind him.

"Code Red!" I thought quickly, realizing that I was a bit slow on the uptake.

Many voices answered at once, but one quickly silenced the others. It was Mary R147.

"We have been monitoring you, Stevo. Had there been a Proctor, or a Squad moving toward you, we would have known from the time the order was given. I am sorry, Stevo, but there was no warning at all because HE came by himself and he triggered no security systems. I am monitoring him now as he as gone to the garage down the street, to a waiting vehicle. Yet I can get no reading from him when I scan him. It is possible he does not have implants!"

Stevo's blood again ran cold. "That is not supposed to be possible! Everyone has implants that trigger the Cams and doors. No one is supposed to be able to come into a place unannounced or in stealth. That's why burglary has almost disappeared from our society. This is one of the foundational ethics of our world. Lerno violates that ethic in his ability to come here without warning."

Mary said, "Stevo, it gets worse. Most of the technology that WinTel uses today comes from our 'Front' businesses and companies that supply a small but steady stream of inventions and innovations. That keeps WinTel from total stagnation without them realizing our existence. I am convinced that nothing we have created for WinTel has been used to do what Lerno did a few minutes ago. Others concur. In fact, Lerno is about as stealthy as we are!"

Stevo found his voice, "That means they have technology we were unaware of!"

Mary continued, "We are searching right now. All seven-odd billion people and twenty-five million businesses are being investigated as we speak. This will take a few minutes. . . . Right now all of our mainframes are seeking out possible sources for this technology. Others are investigating the possibility that this is a fluke of our security systems that would allow someone to turn them off at convenient times, however slight that chance might be. Still one other computer, our most advanced, is checking on the movements of all our people. It is possible that some one of us might have gone to the other side."

"Stevo was incredulous. "Not bloody likely, Mary!"

"Oh yes, Stevo. There is a point two-three percent of that exact possibility. It would be higher, but we continually screen every one of us, including our computers, for any variance in thought processes or behavior. Those that deviate are soon excluded from the Continuum. Without proof, anything they say or do to give us away usually falls back on them. It is an easy thing to have everyone around them to think of them as insane. Who would believe such a preposterous story about a hidden Continuum of self-aware computers that keeps WinTel in business as a competitor and adversary?"

Stevo was pensive. "Mary, any percentage, even as small as you suggest, could be fatal to the Continuum!"

There was a pause. Mary continued, "Stevo, why did Lerno pick you? And why did he expose himself and his technological powers in the process?"

Stevo glowered, his fists slowly banged together continually.

"I do not have an answer for you Mary. I think I should stop converting old computers into WinTels. I can just go on Relief and lay low. I will still be connected by sight and sound to the Continuum, so I won't be alone.

Mary said, "Hold on Stevo, we are computing that possibility in comparison to you continuing exactly what you were doing before Lerno showed up."

A minute passed. Two.

"Stevo, the Continuum concludes that it would be in the best interest of our survival if you keep on working as you have, without anything but minor deviation. We have concluded this computation, and it is by a significant percentage margin that we have reached this consensus."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You will get a page on the Hub in a half an hour. You have time for food and a shower if you wish. Take the call and go to this address. The map you are now seeing will take you there."

"What is the place, Mary?"

"It is an enclave of Linux Users."

"WHAT?? Why of all times would I want to go there, Mary?"

"Stevo, the address is for a legitimate computer business supplying credit checks and services to WinTel. They have a long and honorable history of computing. You are answering their add to convert an old Linux box to WinTel. They need to find a way to use up old equipment, and this is as good as any. You will receive the customary fee applied to your credit account."

Stevo was now up and pacing the floor. "Mary, what if I am followed?"

"We are sure you will be. In fact, we believe that you have been followed now for a number of months. We are also certain that Lerno knows about the Linux operation. Linking you to this will confirm a suspicion about you in his mind."

"Sure! I'll be arrested then as a subversive, and I'll just disappear! How convenient for the rest of you!"

Mary said quietly, "If I could, I would go in your place, Stevo! Also, if I could, I would bring you into the Continuum with all of us! I regret that so far there has been no way found to bring a human completely into our world. The Continuum is asking you to do this because the probability approaches certainty that you will not be arrested at all.