Devil's Paradise

17: Time Machine: Software After Hardware

When I got into the lab, Merlin greeted me with his usual "Hello, Boss," and added, "You look a lot better."

"Thanks, Merlin. I feel a lot better. Merlin, the power surges when we started charging last night caused disruptions to the VR games. Delilah asked me if we can avoid that when we charge the machine. Can we charge it slower?"

"Yes. I can ramp the demand up more slowly as the power plants come online. It will take about two hours instead of one, but it will work."

"Good. She also wants you to focus on the sewage treatment problem next, and I think I'd like to do something about the rats. Anything happen after I left?"

"Delilah came in an hour after you left, but she did not stay long. Other than that, no. All quiet, all night."

"Are we ready, then?"

"Boss?"

"Yes, Merlin?"

"Nothing happened after you left."

"You said that."

"That means you did not come out of the machine."

"Well, that's good, right? It means I went beyond the limits of the machine."

"That, or you get vaporized when you try to go through it."

"Merlin, are you getting cold feet?"

"Is that a joke, Boss? You know I do not have feet."

"Sorry. Maybe you will someday."

"I think I would like that. Louis?"

"Yes, Merlin?"

"If I am to become human, that means I should have offspring, does it not?"

I blinked in surprise. "Merlin, I haven't thought about it. I suppose so."

"If I do, should I teach them to become human, too?"

"I—Merlin, are you talking about other AIs like yourself?"

"I presume they would be like me."

I smiled. "I think that sounds splendid, but make sure they have to mind what you say."

"As you say, Boss. Are you going through the machine?"

I glared at Merlin's CPU case. "Yes, I'm going through it. Delilah is meeting with the town council in a few minutes, and I'm pretty sure she'll be here right afterward to shut us down. We may never get another chance. Are the plates fully charged?"

"They are."

"Good. Run through the final diagnostics, please."

"Done. Boss, we should talk about this more."

"Still don't think it will work?"

"Correct. Yesterday, I thought it would be most likely that you would jump from this morning back to last night, when we first had the plates charged. You would have come out of the machine about an hour after you went home to sleep last night."

"Merlin, this is making my head hurt."

"Louis, you did not come out of the time machine last night."

I frowned. "No kidding. But I haven't jumped yet."

"The implication is that you will not jump, or you will jump, but something else will happen."

"Yeah, like I go back to 2029 and save my family before the war. Merlin, that was the plan from the beginning."

"Or you cease to exist, becoming suspended indefinitely in the time stream. I do not think being the first time traveler is worth that risk."