by Paul Dueweke
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A Spare Heart
When Jenner was younger, she worried about people thinking her a recluse. But she’d learned over years of evenings with only a computer for companionship that her evening adventures were anything but solitary. She wondered how many million people were imprisoned in homes all over America, all over the world, claiming to be surrounded by their loved ones, and experiencing bitter, endless solitude in a world of fabricated fraternity. How many people, surrounded by loved ones, took refuge in their nightly TV fortresses or sequestered from those loving families by Web loitering. They interred themselves in crypts to keep their decomposing minds from offending other decomposing minds. These masses of rotting humans were the real hermits.
Jenner’s electronic companions were more faithful, more intellectual, and certainly more truthful than any human. What’s more, it was a risk-free relationship. It was like having a lover for one night in Hong Kong, a lover to whom you could confess any sin or express any doubt and never have to face him again. She could have her lover every night, and every morning the sin would be forgiven and the flaw forgotten.
Jenner had yielded to seductive overtures of digital philanderers before, but her lovers had always been faithful to the immutable standards of computer logic. But this computer was different from any other she’d slept with before. It sparred with her, lied to her, toyed with her emotions. This one showered her with attention, acknowledged her overtures, responded to her closeness. It was not the perfectly aloof lover. That excited her even more. She could no longer be assured that everything she said would be forgotten in the morning. She could devote herself to this one in a way she never could have with others. She might even overlook its faults because it was such an exquisite lover. She was compelled to continue.
Jenner unearthed a decision that COPE had made several months earlier to buy time on five communication satellites in addition to the dozen it already used. The data used to justify this decision had been largely fabricated. The numbers in the decision matrix, which was automatically created by the computer system at the request of an administrative assistant, did not jibe with the data that Jenner had extracted independently from other sources. Everyone trusted the computer data so implicitly that they would never crosscheck its figures against other reports.
Jenner discovered a file containing the documentation for the purchase of some small computers to act as buffers and managers of the networks. Once again, the decision matrix attached to this justification did not match the reports that she pulled up. With these computers to manage the increased satellite-linked networks, the complexity of data-storage options would be unprecedented. Why does the System Manager need such a complicated network? she thought.
Jenner sat back in her chair and stared at the display before her. The words and symbols dissolved as her vision focused beyond the display. “Unless …” she said in a whisper.
