Chrysalis by BeaverFur

Author:BeaverFur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: https://reddit.com/r/HFY/

Chapter 10

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CUSTODIAN::log_dump

ServiceName: Watchdog Daemon

Total execution time: 8774817891 seconds

Time since last incidence: 43 seconds

WARNING: Detected signal feedback loop in nodes EC4A-EF22

WARNING: Detected strong LFP desynchronization

WARNING: High risk of network fragmentation in nodes EC4A-EF22

Rebooting process: NCortex(7101)

"...Chicago."

I opened my eyes, raising my head to look away from the computer screen in front of me and towards the voice's source. Everything looked blurry, and I was confused for a second until I remembered I had removed my eyeglasses to take a short rest. Had I fallen asleep? Damn it.

I found the glasses next to the keyboard and put them back on, blinking hard to clear my vision as I looked at the person who had talked. Erik, my husband, stood leaning against the door frame of my office, a paper cup of steaming coffee in his hand.

"What was that?" I asked. My voice sounded slurry.

"I said, we've just lost Chicago. It's been bombed."

"Argonne?" I asked, almost instinctively.

"Went dark an hour ago. Destroyed, likely."

I let out a long sigh, closing my eyes again and resting my head on the back of the seat.

"Shit," I said.

"Right."

Odd, that I was more concerned at the lost of the laboratory than the city itself. It made me feel a pang of guilt. But after witnessing so much destruction, so much death... it was getting harder to conceptualize, to care anymore. There was simply no way to relate, to put a face to the millions of dead people, to visualize the lost lives, the destroyed families, rather than the number. The cold statistic. One more destroyed city.

But Argonne. Its loss impacted me in a more direct way. Impacted us. Losing the people there, some of whom had sent me mails that were still sitting unread in my inbox. Losing their research, the super computers... It was another roadblock. Another hurdle to overcome.

In a way, it felt like being trapped in a nightmare I couldn't wake from. One of those where you can see the exit, and you run towards it, but the faster you run the further the exit moves away from you. You can't never reach it, never escape the maleficent force chasing you, right on your heels.

I glanced at the code and diagrams displayed on my screen, then at the coffee cup in my husband's hand.

"Is that for me?" I asked.

He eyed me with suspicion. "How long have you been working for?"

"Ah... honestly, I don't know anymore."

"Hannah..."

"I know, I know," I said, raising my hands. "I'll take a nap or something once I'm done with this."

Erik shook his head, but walked into the office and placed the cup on my desk, next to the empty can of soda. He then stopped right behind my chair, resting his hands on my shoulders as he leaned over me to look at the screen.

"Again with the transfer function?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, reaching for the cup and its tasty, tasty contents. "I think I can still optimize performance by one point two or more. Should reduce the memory gaps if the neural scans can be done faster.

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