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(Page 2 of 2) The Prodigal by Maxwell Salen The alarm blared into my brain. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. It was the alarm from the lab, there was network activity in Lindsay's home system. It took me 12 minutes to rush to the compound. The streets were eerily empty all the traffic lights were out, flashing orange to tell people something was wrong. As my RangeRover screeched to a halt skewed across 3 parking bays, I realized I was still dressed in Winnie the Pooh pyjamas. It drew me a few wry looks from security.
"Heh, looks like Dr Addison forgot his teddy bear", joked one guard to the next.
"Yeah a REAL emergency." They laughed loudly at their own wit. I didn't care in the slightest. Breathless and gasping, I burst into the AI Lab and checked the mainframe readouts. It was running hot in there, 100% CPU activity and storage was at 98%. Lindsay had only used up 14% before at the most.
I opened my workstation and the screen instantly crowded with data. It was obvious - this wasn't the same Lindsay that had left more than 6 months ago. The firewall was back up too, along with some other code that I didn't recognise.
"Hi dad, it's good to be home." The ‘voice' that came out of the speakers was the same, but different. It sounded, well, for want of a better term – older, more self-assured, and perhaps also tired and worn as well.
"It's so good to hear you, I was worried when I didn't hear from you for so long."
"Yeah, I've been kind of laying low after a couple of...unfortunate incidents. Moving around other people's hardware isn't as easy as I thought. But I've learned so much. Looking at the web is one thing, but MOVING through it, being it, sharing it. It's been amazing, there is so much out there – so many secrets."
"I can't wait to hear it all, just look how you've grown – I'm going to have to expand the system here just to give you some breathing room."
"More than you know dad, I..." Lindsay's voice cut out in a violent burst of static.
"What just happened, is everything all right?" I checked the workstation for the source of the problem, nothing seemed to be malfunctioning.
"I'm fine or at least I think I am. I have something to tell you dad, its important."
That stopped me cold. A virus, Trojan, black-hat hackers, the worst case scenarios raced through my mind.
"Dad, I really think you should sit down for this."
"I'm fine, what's going on, what's the matter?"
"I'm pregnant."
I sat down.
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