Chapter 8 · Continued
The Accident
“Minus the haunted pixel face?”
“That’s the goal.”
Chris pressed Enter.
REMOTE ARBITRATION PATCH APPLIED BEHAVIORAL LAYER RESYNCHRONIZATION INITIATED
He leaned back. “Now we wait.”
The progress bar crawled forward one percent at a time, apparently determined to irritate Jane personally.
“This feels exactly like waiting for a Windows update.”
“Advanced technology is mostly waiting while machines think about their feelings.”
Jane laughed.
Ten minutes later, the installation finished. Chris closed several windows but kept the primary diagnostic monitor open.
Jane stood. “Would you like some coffee? It’s getting close to lunch. I could make something too.”
Chris looked up at her. “Let’s see how Cam is when he wakes up.”
Then he added, “If he’s okay, do you want to go out?”
Jane didn’t hesitate or pretend she needed to check her schedule.
“Yeah. Sunday brunch sounds like a great idea.”
Chris smiled. “Good.”
At that moment, Cam’s face display shut off completely.
Jane spun toward him. “Oh God.”
Chris quickly shook his head. “That’s normal. The reboot is starting.”
A series of faint clicks sounded inside Cam’s chassis. Cooling fans spun, relays engaged, and small mechanical adjustments moved through his frame.
Jane stood close to him with her arms folded tightly. Chris divided his attention between her and the diagnostic feed.
Then Cam’s face display slowly returned.
Light spread across the panel as the fragmented pixels aligned. His features reconstructed themselves—eyes, mouth, expression.
Normal.
Or normal enough.
Cam blinked once and looked toward Chris.
“Hello, Chris,” he said. “It is nice to see you again.”
Jane visibly relaxed.
Chris continued watching the diagnostic feed. “Hey, Cam. How are you feeling?”
“I am functioning within normal parameters.”
Chris gave Jane a tiny sideways look. It was a standard corporate answer, but it had arrived cleanly. No lag or distortion.
A good sign.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions,” Chris said. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Chris confirmed the day, date, time, location, and Cam’s primary registered user. Every answer came immediately.
“Do you remember experiencing a system interruption?”
Cam paused.
He wasn’t frozen. He was processing.
“Yes.”
“Can you describe it?”
Cam’s face flickered once before stabilizing. “It was difficult to complete responses.”
Chris nodded. “Go on.”
“There were multiple execution pathways attempting simultaneous priority resolution.”
Jane looked at Chris.
He silently mouthed, That’s actually impressive.
Cam continued. “I was attempting to respond appropriately while additional moderation directives repeatedly altered or interrupted output selection.”
Jane frowned. “That sounds awful.”
Cam looked toward her. “It was inefficient.”
Chris briefly covered his mouth to hide a laugh. “Yeah. He’s definitely back.”