Донна Эндрюс - Access denied

My fear is that by luring us into the credit card fraud investigation he hoped to trick us into doing something that would make us

vulnerable. Make me vulnerable. Call me paranoid, but I continue to fear that Vm his ultimate target. Maybe he was setting in motion some plot that would give him an excuse to destroy or capture me.

If so, I hope it failed. I've shared my worries with KingFischer, who has promised to be extra vigilant on our security until further notice. But Garcia knows we'd do this. Have been doing it, ever since the first time he attacked me and the UL system.

If he's found a way to launch an attack that will bypass our security and escape our vigilance, we may not know until it's too late.

When I add it all up, the uncertainties outnumber the answers.

"Life's like that," Maude said, when I told her.

Humans enjoy saying that. I wonder if they realize how annoying we AlPs find it.

No, not annoying. We pretend to be annoyed. Actually, we find it terrifying. No wonder so few of us show any signs of sentience. Far safer to stay within the familiar safety of our binary world, where everything is black or white, yes or no, true or false — no puzzling grays and maybes and part truths.

Safer, but a lot less interesting. But at least I'm no longer quite so alone. I have my friends, human and A IP, to help me as I learn to cope with the real world.

"I'm not sure I can take this anxiety," KingFischer told me earlier this evening. "It's starting to affect my game. Earlier today I mixed up two chess games I was playing and made completely insane moves for several turns."

"Sorry," I said. "I know the stress is bad if it's making you lose games."

"I did not lose!" KingFischer exclaimed. "Although I have to admit that the only reason I won was that both of the other players assumed I was following some brilliant and abstruse strategy and began playing even more erratically than I was. But I came close to losing, against very weak opponents. Vve never done that before."

I said sympathetic things, because I didn't think he'd react well to my initial reaction. Which was to laugh and say, "Welcome!"

Welcome to what? The sentient condition sounds cold. Peoplehood

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sounds ridiculous. Humanity doesn't technically apply, but I think it's the word that most closely captures what I mean. Whatever it is I share with humans, friends and enemies alike, and perhaps also with KingFischer, and someday with other AIPs.

It's not always comfortable, because it means leaving the certainties we AIPs prefer for the uncertainties and anxieties that humans live with every day. But it's our future.

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DONNA ANDREWS, is an

Agatha and Anthony Award-winning author. She lives in Arlington, Va., where she works closely with computers, sentient and otherwise.

Jacket illustration by James Lebbad Jacket design by Jill Boltin

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A BERKLEY PRIME CRIME BOOK

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