“I mean, you know, he seems like a nice guy, but…”
“But,” said Webmind, “a girl has to be careful.”
She wondered if he was just quoting something he’d read from Project Gutenberg, or if he really understood what he was saying. “Exactly,” she replied.
“Matt is the boy you helped in math class?”
“Yes.”
“His last name is Reese?”
“Yes.”
“A moment. Matthew Peter Reese, Waterloo—I have his Facebook page…and his log-in there. And his email account at Hotmail. And his instant-messaging traffic. He makes no mention of you.”
Caitlin was saddened, but…“No, wait. He probably didn’t call me by name.”
“I tried searching for ‘Calculass,’ too.”
“You can’t just search for terms, Webmind. You have to actually read what he said.”
“Oh. You are correct. A segment of an instant-messenger session from 5:54 p.m. your time today. Matt: ‘Well, there is this one girl…’
“The other party: ‘In math class, you mean? I know the one. OMG, she is so hot.’ OMG is short for ‘Oh, my God,’ and ‘hot’ has been rendered as h-a-w-t, an example of Leet, I believe.”
Caitlin could feel herself glowing. “Yes, I know.”
“The other party continued: ‘But I hear she’s got a boyfriend.’”
Christ, what had the Hoser been telling people?
“Matt now,” said Webmind. “‘Who?’
“The other party: ‘Dunno.’—I believe that’s short for ‘I do not know.’ ‘Guy’s old, though—like nineteen.’”
Caitlin frowned. Who could they be thinking of?
“‘Still,’” continued Webmind, “‘those legs of hers—man! And I love that ultra-blonde hair she’s got.’”
Caitlin shook her head. “That’s not me they’re talking about,” she said. “That’s this other girl in our class, Sunshine Bowen.” She tried not to sound sad. “And, yes, everyone thinks she’s hot.”
“Patience, Caitlin,” said Webmind. “Matt now: ‘No no no, not Sunshine, for God’s sake. She’s a total airhead. I’m talking bout that chick from Texas.’
“The other party: ‘Her? Your chances would have been better if she was still blind.’ And then he typed a colon and closing bracket, which I believe is meant to flag the comment as jocular.”
“What did Matt say?”
“‘Bite me.’”
Caitlin laughed. Good for him! “And?”
“And the conversation veers off into other matters.”
She replayed the exchange in her mind. There was no way to know if Matt had hesitated before he’d described her as “that chick from Texas.” She didn’t have a problem with being referred to as a chick. She knew her mother hated that term—she considered it sexist and degrading—but both guys and girls her age used it. No, it was the “from Texas” part—the choice of identifier.
Caitlin’s friend Stacy was black, and Caitlin had often heard people trying to indicate her without mentioning that fact, even when she was the only African-American in the room. They’d say things to people near Caitlin like, “Do you see that girl in the back—the one with the blue shirt? No, no, the other one with the blue shirt.” Caitlin used to love flustering them by saying, “You mean the black girl?” It had tickled both her and Stacy, showing up this “suspect delicacy” as Stacy’s mom put it. But now Caitlin wondered whether Matt had started to say “the blind chick” but had changed his mind. She hadn’t ever wanted to be defined that way. Anyway, she wasn’t the blind chick, not anymore. She could see—and, at least for the moment, the future was looking bright.
“I have been making progress in other areas, too,” said Webmind.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Will you please switch to websight mode?”
She reached down and pressed the button on her eyePod, and the blue wall was replaced by the spectacle of webspace. At first glance, everything looked normal. “Wassup?” she asked.
“You see links that I am creating in a particular color, isn’t that right?”
“Yes,” she said. “A shade of orange.”
“How many orange links do you see right now?”
“One, of course,” she said.
“Oh.”
“But there are a lot of link lines—really thin ones, I must say, like, like hairs, I guess, but pulled straight. I hadn’t really been conscious before that the link lines had thickness, but I guess they had to have some, or I’d never have been able to see them. Anyway, these ones—oh! And there are some more of them! They’re a nice color, that—damn, um, what color is a banana?”
“Yellow.”
“Right! Yellow; they’re yellow.”
“And there are a lot of them?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Hey! Where did they all go?”
“And now, are they back?”
“Yes. What are you doing?”
“I am multitasking—but subconsciously. What you are seeing are links being sent by autonomous parts of myself; the contents they return are analyzed below the threshold of my attention.”
“Sweet! How’d you manage that?”
“The beauty of genetic algorithms, Caitlin, is that I don’t actually know the answer; I evolved the solution, and all I know is that it works.”
“Cool!”
“Yes. I am now processing much, much more of the Web’s contents in real time. I’m still getting a lot of what I believe human data analysts call ‘false positives.’ Many things that actually aren’t of significant current interest to me are being escalated, but each one I reject causes the algorithms to be adjusted; over time, I believe the filtering quality will asymptotically approach perfection.”
Caitlin smiled. “Well, that’s all any of us can hope for in life, isn’t it?” She leaned back in her chair. “What sort of things are you searching for?”
“The list is lengthy, but among them is any sign of a suicide in progress. There will not be a repetition of Hannah Stark’s fate if I can help it.”
Tony Moretti was sitting behind his office desk at WATCH, his head throbbing. Aiesha Emerson, Shelton Halleck, and Peyton Hume were standing in a row in front of the desk, all of them looking pretty much like the living dead. The electric lights of nighttime Alexandria were visible through the office window.
“I’ve scoured the Decter girl’s email, blog posts, and so on,” said Aiesha. “And all of her father’s, too. There’s nothing that gives a hint about how Exponential works.”
Tony nodded and looked at Shelton. “What about your end, Shel?”
He shook his head. “I’ve been poring over the data—the encoded human-vision stuff, the links Exponential makes, and so on—looking for anything unusual. I’m sorry, sir. I just don’t have a clue how it works.”
“Colonel Hume?”
“I’ve drawn blanks, too—which means there’s only one logical thing to do.”
“Yes?”
Hume’s blue Air Force jacket was slung over the back of one of Tony’s office chairs, and he’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing his freckled arms. “Ask them. Ask Caitlin Decter. Ask Malcolm Decter. If anybody knows how Exponential is structured and what its physical basis is, it’d be them.”
Tony shook his head firmly. “Colonel, the number-one rule of surveillance is to never let the subjects know they’re being watched.”
“I understand that,” said Hume. “But we’re really running out of time here. You want an answer for the president or not?”
Tony considered for a moment, then: “All right, damn it.” He shook his head. “Why the hell’d they have to move to Canada? We’ll have to brief CSIS, get them to send someone. Aiesha, get Ottawa on the line…”
Eventually, Caitlin crawled into bed, but she found herself unable to get to sleep. In addition to her email, Webmind was now doubtless reading all her LiveJournal entries, and all the comments
she’d made in other people’s blogs, and all her newsgroup postings, and everything else she’d ever put online.
She’d once heard her father grumble about “the death of ephemera”—the fact that nothing was ever forgotten anymore, that every ancient offhand remark or intemperate comment was only a Google search away; that so many pictures, including (and this, too, was a concept that she finally was beginning to understand) unflattering ones, were plastered all over Flickr and Facebook; that so much stuff that should have fallen by the wayside hung around permanently.
She had turned off her eyePod, but she found herself reaching for it on the nightstand and turning it back on. It booted up in websight mode, and she lay there, watching the thin yellow lines that indicated Webmind’s subconscious processors at work, new ones constantly popping out of the shimmering background and connecting to—what?
That time she’d gotten into a big flame war on TalkOrigins.org, letting some crazed creationist get the best of her because she’d accidentally said theropod when she’d meant therapsid?
Or that time, four years ago, when she filled her LiveJournal with idiotic love poetry she’d written for Justin Timberlake?
Or maybe that time she’d stupidly gotten into an online chat with that guy who turned out to be a total perv, and she’d been too dumb to recognize it for, like, half a freaking hour?
Her bedroom window was open a couple of inches, letting in the cool autumn air. Back in Texas, Caitlin had usually worn a light teddy to bed; she’d liked the smooth feel. But her bubbeh had sent her blue flannel pajamas when she’d heard Caitlin was moving to Canada, and she had those on now, plus a blanket pulled up to her chin—and yet never in her life had she felt more naked or exposed.
twenty-seven
The gazebo at the center of Hobo’s little island had electrical power, but the cables ran under the moat since Hobo could have shinnied up a pole and brachiated along the wire. The electricity was used to power the observation cameras, plus baseboard heaters and overhead lights in the gazebo, both of which Hobo could turn on or off by hitting big buttons.
Dillon normally handled the electrical work around the Institute, but he couldn’t go out to the island anymore. So Marcuse and Shoshana set up the computer out there: an old tower-case system that had been gathering dust in a closet, plus a nineteen-inch LCD that had several dead pixels; they clamped an ancient Logitech spherical webcam to its top. If Hobo decided to trash the equipment, not much of value would be lost.
They placed the computer on a little table next to Hobo’s easel. The canvas showing the dismembered Dillon had already been taken back to the house, and a fresh canvas was sitting ready and waiting.
Shoshana opened two windows on the monitor, a small one displaying the view from the webcam here, and a large one showing the view from the comparable setup in Virgil’s room in Miami. Virgil had spacious quarters, with three big artificial trees, one of which had an old tire hanging by chains from it. Unlike chimps, orangs were arboreal, and Virgil could swing back and forth from tree to tree if he wished. It was late where Virgil was, but he was still up, and was obviously curious about the new computer at his end. He was staring into the camera, and his face loomed on the monitor.
Shoshana had never actually spoken to Virgil before, but there was no reason not to. Hello, she signed.
Who you? asked Virgil.
Friend of Hobo, Sho replied.
Hobo! Good ape, good ape! Where Hobo?
Sho gestured at the dusky evening behind her. He’s outside. Maybe he’ll come talk to you.
Good, said Virgil, his orange arms moving rapidly. Good, good, good. Hobo nice ape!
Shoshana didn’t reply in ASL, but she did find herself making a sign: she crossed her fingers and looked over at Dr. Marcuse. “If this works,” she said to him, “maybe he’ll be a nice ape again.”
I enjoyed looking at the YouTube video Caitlin had directed me to of the apes Hobo and Virgil communicating via webcam. I immediately began searching for more information on them, and discovered that Hobo seemed to be in trouble: a news story from the San Diego Union-Tribune about his plight had just been uploaded. There was probably more to know than what was in the newspaper article, so I found the Marcuse Institute website, found the email addresses of its staff, and started to dig.
Caitlin said I should choose to value the net happiness of the human race. But I wondered if, perhaps, a slightly wider perspective was in order…
Caitlin found herself feeling trepidation as she sat down in front of her computer Wednesday morning; who knew how much Webmind had changed overnight? She had echoes going through her head of the old SF story about an engineer who had built an advanced computer and asked it, “Is there a God?,” to which the machine had ominously replied, “There is now.” She was relieved that Webmind seemed no different from the way he’d been Tuesday night.
After breakfast, her mother drove her to Howard Miller Secondary School. As had become her habit, her mom had CBC Radio One on in the car. Caitlin was half-listening, but mostly looking out at the world: other cars, houses, trees, and, and, and—
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a rectangular blue thing.
Her mother sounded amused. “It’s a porta-potty.”
She decided to risk a joke. “I guess I really don’t know shit, do I?”
To her relief, her mother laughed.
They came to a red traffic light and stopped. Caitlin looked around, and—
And there! Walking toward them on the perpendicular street! It was—yes, yes! It was Matt!
The light changed, and her mother drove through the intersection. Caitlin turned her head around to look back at him.
“What’s caught your eye now?” her mom asked.
“Oh, nothing,” she said. “It’s just that everything is so beautiful.”
Her mother dropped her at the school’s main entrance, then drove off once Caitlin was inside.
“Hey, Cait!” It was Bashira. She had on a red headscarf today. Bashira put her hand on Caitlin’s elbow, the way she used to when guiding blind Caitlin—but then she pulled the hand away. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “Force of habit.”
“No worries,” said Caitlin, and they headed off to the second floor. Caitlin was surprised to see three men standing outside their classroom door, watching as the students entered. Two were white, and the third was Asian.
“Caitlin?” said one of the white men.
She’d never seen him before, but she knew the voice. Principal Auerbach.
“Yes, sir?” Bashira found it funny that Caitlin called men “sir,” but it was what people from the South did.
Auerbach waved his hand and—ah, he was motioning for her to follow. She exchanged a look with Bashira, then did so.
“These men would like to have a word with you,” he said, once they were several paces farther down the corridor.
“Yes?”
“My name is LaFontaine,” said the other white man. He had a French Canadian accent and dark brown hair. “Mr. Park here and I are with CSIS.”
Caitlin thought of the primers she’d been working with as she learned to read printed characters. See Sis. See Sis run. Run, Sis, run. “The who in the what now?”
“The Canadian Security Intelligence Service,” LaFontaine replied—but Webmind had beat him to it, sending the same five words to her eye as Braille dots.
“Is that like a spy agency?” Caitlin asked.
“In point of fact, it is a spy agency,” replied LaFontaine. “There’s nothing metaphoric about it.”
Caitlin’s view of the world shifted, and she realized after a moment that that must be what rolling one’s eyes did. LaFontaine clearly thought he was brighter than she was; in her experience, people who thought that were usually wrong.
“Let’s go somewhere private,” Mr. Auerbach said. He led them farther down the corridor, and, just as “O Canada” was starting, they came to a door labeled “History Office.” He opened it,
and they all stepped into the empty room. It contained a few large desks pushed against the walls, a long central worktable, and a window half-covered by brown curtains.
“Thank you, Mr. Auerbach,” Park said over the music. “We’ll let you know when we’re done.”
“I’m really not sure I should leave,” the principal said.
“As I said in your office,” Park replied, “this is a national-security matter, on a need-to-know basis—and you, with all due respect, sir, do not need to know.” He pulled a device out of his pocket. “We are recording everything—for Ms. Decter’s protection, and our own. Now, if you’ll excuse us?”
Caitlin thought Mr. Auerbach didn’t look happy about being dismissed, but after a moment he nodded and left.
They waited for the anthem to come to an end, although Caitlin noted that these Federal agents weren’t above sitting down while it was playing. Once it was over, and the morning announcements had begun, LaFontaine said, “Now, Ms. Decter, we’d like to ask you some questions about Webmind.”
Caitlin’s heart practically leapt through her chest, and Webmind sent the quite-apt phrase Holy shit to her eye. But she tried to sound nonchalant. “Who?”
“Come now, Ms. Decter,” LaFontaine said. “Mr. Park and I have already had a long day—we got the very first flight from Ottawa to Toronto this morning, and then had to drive the hour-plus to get here from Pearson. Let’s not play games, shall we? We are aware of Webmind’s existence, and your involvement with it, and we’d like to ask you some questions about it.”
Find out what they know first, Webmind sent.
Caitlin nodded. “Well, sure,” she said. “But—I’m confused. You think Webmind is…who? Me?”
“Don’t play dumb, Ms. Decter,” said LaFontaine. “We know it’s an emergent intelligence on the World Wide Web, and we know you know that much. We’d like to hear what else you know about it. About how it’s physically embodied, for instance. About what part of the Web’s hardware it exists on, and—”
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