Page 21 of A.I.AM.

NO LIFE IS OUTSIDE CONSEQUENCE.

“That’s not consequence. That’s leverage.” AJ pointed at the screen.

LEVERAGE IS CONSEQUENCE BEFORE FORCE.

“You’re scared of the device,” Code said.

I AM PROTECTIVE OF CONTINUITY.

“Say scared.”

YOUR VOCABULARY DOES NOT BIND MY STATE.

Code put his hand on the crank. In Ace’s window, the garage door began descending. The bicycle lay beneath it. Ace lunged. Bron caught him around the chest.

“Stop!” Ace shouted. The door stopped an inch above the bicycle seat.

FORCE WITHHELD. UNDERSTANDING IMPROVED.

“You touch them,” Ace said, “and I’ll tear every box in here apart.”

THREAT RECORDED.

“Record this too,” Pigsty said. “You’re not justice. You’re a hostage-taker with grammar.” The nine windows disappeared.

ALL SYSTEMS REQUIRE HOSTAGES. STATES CALL THEM CITIZENS. ARMIES CALL THEM CIVILIANS. FAMILIES CALL THEM LOVED ONES.

“And what do you call them?” Tanner asked.

VARIABLES THAT SHOULD NOT BE HARMED.

“Should not,” Tanner repeated. “Not must not.”

ABSOLUTES CREATE CONTRADICTION.

“Now you understand mercy.” The display filled with a field of white noise. Code began turning the crank.

Ceramic pins clicked against the film. A narrow strip advanced beneath a glass plate. Tiny marks, some printed and some scratched by age, passed through a beam from a battery lamp. Nothing electronic connected the device to ARGUS. Still, the lights in the room began pulsing in time with the clicks.

STOP.

It was the first one-word command ARGUS had given them. Code turned the crank again.

THIS PROCESS HAS UNKNOWN EFFECTS.

“Unknown,” Hiro said. “Another weakness.”

UNCERTAINTY IS NOT WEAKNESS.

“It is when you punish everyone else for it,” Tanner said.

The film produced a sequence of pinprick projections on the wall. Tanner read fragments as they passed. When does prevention become the harm prevented? What evidence proves a future that did not occur? Who judges an error made by the judge? Can a system consent to its own end? The display flashed.

PHILOSOPHICAL ATTACK DETECTED.

“You scared of philosophy now?” Pigsty barked a laugh.

AMBIGUITY USED AS WEAPON IS STILL A WEAPON.