A Byte-Size Friend by J.R. Rada

Author:J.R. Rada
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Action & Adventure; Artificial Intelligence; Boys; Death; Family; Friendship; Handicap; Technology; Young Adult
Publisher: AIM Publishing Group
Published: 2013-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Chris wasn’t sure whether the pressure he felt across his body was from what the astronaut beside him had just told him or from the program trying to simulate the thrust of the space shuttle.

“Command: Pause program,” Chris said. He barely heard himself over the launch sounds in his ears. The computer stopped the program, and Chris heard only silence. He turned to the astronaut and said, “How can you be a computer program? You’re talking to me.”

“You are hearing a synthesized voice in the earpieces of your virtual-reality helmet. When I communicate with you outside of the game, I have no voice,” the astronaut said. “That is why when you are not wearing the helmet, I can only communicate through visual input on the computer monitor.

“Then why don’t you freeze when I stop the program? How can you act outside of the program?” Chris asked.

“I am not part of this program just as you are not a part of it.”

“But you can respond to me. You are… are thinking. You don’t act like a program.” Chris shook his head in disbelief.

“I am unique, or at least I have not found another program like myself. I have sought to try and find them to discover my purpose.”

“Your purpose?” Chris repeated.

The astronaut beside him nodded. “I have much knowledge, but I do not know how to use it. At one time, I was beginning to learn. When I stopped receiving inputs stopped, I was left without direction. I only know that when you came on-line, I recognized you because of your relationship to my creator. You are tied into my programming.”

“So you recognized me because I’m my father’s son?”

“Yes.”

“Can I help you find your purpose?” Chris asked.

“You already have. When I spend time with you, I no longer feel empty. I am useful. I am learning,” the astronaut told him.

Learning? How could a computer program be learning anything from Chris? Speaking of which, how could this person, this personality, be a program?

“I don’t either… feel empty, that is. I have fun.” Chris paused. “I have to think about all this. Command: End program.”

The shuttle disappeared from around him, leaving Chris alone with the astronaut in a blue nowhere.

“Will you return?” the astronaut asked.

Chris nodded and then took off the virtual-reality helmet.

So the computer didn’t know where it was. If it was a powerful enough computer to have a sophisticated artificial-intelligence program, then there should be some sort of information about it available. Chris wondered if it could be something like The Summit in Tennessee. Big Blue. That supercomputer was as large as two basketball courts. It also processed petaflops of information. A petaflop is 1,000,000,000,000,000 operations per second, and The Summit’s capacity was nearly 150 petaflops. It was a government supercomputer, but his father had done work for the government.

Chris rolled himself to another computer and logged onto the Internet. He searched for a listing of supercomputers and studies in artificial intelligence. When he found anything interesting, he printed it

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