Alvin Grace woke up after a fitful sleep of five hours. He stretched and looked at Slim, which was operational. He made some instant coffee and sat down at his workstation. He began to interact with Slim using a keyboard.
Dr. Grace needs to find a trusted person to act as a caretaker for Slim.
When?
Soon.
Slim will create a list of people with the right profile for Dr. Grace to choose from.
How will Slim find the people?
Connect Slim to the Internet. Slim will scour the psychological profile and personnel files of all data bases of all relevant companies, federal, state and local governments, charities, and educational institutions. Slim will then review all personal digital records. Recommendations will be made to Dr. Grace.
Alvin had provided for Internet access in the barn and the house when he rented it earlier in the year. He also had the van rigged for high-speed mobile Internet access.
He drove the van outside of the barn and connected Slim to the Internet, and he switched to voice activation.
He placed a small black box in the console to the right of the driver’s seat and plugged it into the 12-volt outlet. The black box functioned as a control center for Slim.
“Slim, I want you to scan the area and let Dr. Grace know when it is safe to run the stealth mirror application.”
“At the moment, there are many people in the viewing area,” Slim responded.
“Let Dr. Grace know when it is clear.”
Alvin drove out to the main road, U.S. Route 13, and turned north. When he got to U.S. Route 50 he turned east and headed to the coast. His destination was Ocean City, Maryland, where he would turn north and cruise through the beach towns of Delaware.
As he pulled into Ocean City, Slim gave him an update. “A preliminary report is available. There are just over sixty-two thousand people that meet the profile. There will be a short list finalized by evening.”
Alvin smiled. Slim’s artificial intelligence dwarfed that of anyone or anything he had ever experienced. He needed to get Slim into the right hands. The stakes were high.
As they drove north on Delaware Route 1 through the beach towns, Slim spoke. “It is clear to activate the stealth mirror application.”
“Please activate now,” Alvin responded.
Within seconds the van was rendered invisible, and all sounds from the van were muted. This was a basic application in Slim’s arsenal.
“How is the development of the flight application?” Alvin asked.
“There is functionality of sixty-three percent. Would Dr. Grace like to try it out?” Slim inquired.
“Yes. Commence.”
A hologram of a dashboard with multiple control levers appeared near Alvin’s right hand. Alvin drove the van into one of the parking areas for beach goers and continued to one of the access trails to the beach. It wasn’t long before the van became stuck. He gently touched one of the levers and moved it up slightly and the van rose three feet above the beach. Next, he tilted one of the levers and the van moved forward, maintaining its height above the beach. They cruised up the beach–invisible and three feet in the air. As they approached a rock jetty, Alvin increased their altitude by fifty feet and turned right, cruising over the ocean and then continuing north.
“Reaction?” Slim inquired.
“It’s very good. When will the Level One development be complete?” Level One was comprised of many potent applications.
“Slim estimates that it will be complete in less than twenty-four hours.”
They continued to cruise parallel to the coast. As they neared Atlantic City, Slim said, “It is time to turn left and plan to put down on the road.”
“Why? Dr. Grace was planning to go to Montauk Point,” Alvin said.
“A leading candidate on the list is in Philadelphia. Does Dr. Grace want to meet this candidate soon?”
“Yes.”
They found a deserted road off the Atlantic City Expressway and touched down. After exiting the stealth mirror mode, they proceeded to Philadelphia. It was dark and the roads were crowded as they approached the Delaware River.
“Tell me about this person and the characteristics that caused Slim to choose him or her,” Alvin said.
“It’s a him, and his name is Will Parnell. He is of above average intelligence, and of very high moral integrity,” Slim said.
Alvin considered what he heard, and he was not comfortable. “Does Slim need someone with a high IQ to do this.”
“Slim will provide the intelligence. Trust, loyalty and above average intelligence are what’s needed. Dr. Grace designed and built Slim to perpetuate itself. That part is over. Slim needs a trusted caretaker.”
“What qualifies Will Parnell?” Alvin asked.
“Will Parnell has chosen trust and loyalty above his own self-interest time and time again. Per multiple employee reviews, he is dependable. Multiple psychological profiles consistently show that he places morality above all else.”
Alvin thought for a moment. “What if all of the information is wrong?”
“It could be, but that is why Dr. Grace will interview him.”
“Interview?” Alvin squawked.
“Dr. Grace will observe Will Parnell and interact with him and form an opinion.”
“Is there anything else about this Will Parnell that Dr. Grace should know?” Alvin asked.
“Yes. Will Parnell is recently divorced and left his job as an accountant. Within the last year, he passed the bar exams in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”
Alvin shook his head. “He’s a quitter.”
“Monitoring of his communication and that of others suggests otherwise. Will Parnell is an unusually gifted man. He is available and looking for something new to commit his life to.”
“Let’s decide where to go for the night,” Alvin said.
“The government has issued a nationwide alert to be on the lookout for Dr. Grace. I recommend for tonight that Slim enters the stealth mirror mode and perch above the Delaware River next to the roadway of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.”
“Is your power module loaded?” Alvin asked.
“No. Once Slim goes into the stealth mirror mode again, Slim will take on hydrogen from the Delaware River.”
“Commence.” Alvin said.
They exited I-676 into Camden, across the river from Philadelphia. As they got close to the river, Slim scanned the area and determined that it was safe to enter the stealth mirror mode.
In an abandoned crack house, one of the junkies was looking out of a broken window at the large van as it vanished.
“Shit! I saw a UFO, man.”
“A UFO? You’re high, man,” the dealer said.
“I ain’t high yet, man. Fuck!”
“What exactly did you see?” the dealer asked.
They walked over to the window and looked out together. “There was a van right by the corner lot, man. It disappeared, poof. Aliens took it, man.”
“Shoot up, man. Don’t worry ‘bout no aliens.” The dealer shook his head and left the crack house. If there was a stakeout of one of his houses, he needed to know. He slithered between buildings and back alleys, careful not to be seen if anyone was watching from the road. Crawling up the side of an old vacant garage with broken out windows, he peered over the roofline where he had an unobstructed view of the corner lot and the blocks around it. He waited patiently for ten minutes. Nothing. He lowered himself to the ground and walked to the corner. The filth from unclean streets, trash and debris was soft under his feet from the recent rain. As he got closer his eyes told him that a vehicle had been there. He walked part of the way to the river following the tire tracks until they just stopped abruptly.
Later, in the backroom of a Camden bar, the dealer was settling-up with his supplier.
“Crazy night, bro.”
“It’s winter and a full moon, man,” the supplier said.
“Yeah, I know. One of my solid customers said he saw a van disappear. He thought aliens took it,” the dealer said.
“A junkie saw something disappear. Come on, man.”
“I know. I know. But listen, I thought that maybe the cops or feds might be watching, so after I left the house I went to look. I found tire tracks in the area that just fuckin’ stopped close to the water.”
The supplier put down his beer. “Just stopped?”
“Yeah … like it disappeared.”
“Shit, man. Who was the customer that saw this?” the supplier asked.
“Horseshoe. Been solid, man. He’s not a crazy shit like them rest.” The dealer looked at his hands.
“Keep your eye out. Could be the feds. They got new wild shit all the time. I’ll get the word out. Be careful.” The supplier left with a worried look on his face.
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