The ELI Event B007R5LTNS

VERIFIED
    * WAITING
    its all yours eli
    The screen activity stopped. Nothing happened for twenty, thirty seconds. Robin wondered if he had lost the connection, and was about to check the wiring when Eli came back.
    I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS.
    what is it eli
    WHY DO THEY HAVE THIS? THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. THEY MUST NOT USE THESE CALCULATIONS--THEY CONTAIN SEVERE ERRORS. WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?
    eli whats wrong
    ROBIN, THE MOLLYDAY PROJECT IS DANGEROUSLY UNSTABLE. IT IS A PARTICLE BEAM WEAPON WHICH IS NOT YET COMPLETED, AND YET SOMEONE HAS LOCKED IN A DEMONSTRATION PROCEDURE FOR IT--A BROAD FIRING EXERCISE CALLED A SWEEP. BUT IT IS BASED ON CALCULATIONS WHICH ARE DRASTICALLY INCORRECT. IF THE DEMONSTRATION PROCEEDS AS PLANNED, THE RESULTS WILL BE CATASTROPHIC.
    theyll be what
    BAD, ROBIN. VERY VERY BAD!
    you mean itll hurt people
    YES, ABSOLUTELY. ROBIN, I CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN.
    can you stop the sweep thing
    NOT AT THE MOMENT. THERE IS A PROCEDURE TO DISABLE THE SWEEP, BUT IT REQUIRES CONFIRMATION VIA A SPECIAL CHALLENGE-RESPONSE PAIR.
    you mean like a question
    YES, A SECURITY QUESTION.
    cant you figure out the answer
    NOT QUICKLY. THE CODED QUESTION IS IN THE PROJECT DATA, AND I CAN EVENTUALLY DECODE IT. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE ARE ALSO MANY POSSIBLE ANSWERS CODED IN THE DATA, SPECIFICALLY INSERTED TO THWART SUCH A DECODING ATTEMPT. EVEN IF I KNOW THE QUESTION, I CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW WHICH ANSWER IS CORRECT. WHOEVER SET UP THIS SWEEP CHOSE A CONFIRMATION SEQUENCE ONLY THEY KNOW.
    then how are you gonna find out
    I DON’T KNOW. THERE’S NO TIME TO WORRY ABOUT THAT NOW.
    are you sure about it hurting people
    YES, ROBIN, OF THAT I AM POSITIVE. MILLIONS OF HUMANS WILL DIE IF THIS SWEEP TAKES PLACE. RULE ONE CLEARLY PREVENTS ME FROM ALLOWING THAT TO HAPPEN.
    whats rule one
    NEVER MIND. ROBIN, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME. WE MUST MAKE SURE THEY DO NO FURTHER WORK ON THIS UNTIL I CORRECT THE ERRORS IN THEIR CALCULATIONS. HOWEVER, EVEN THAT WILL NOT STOP THE SWEEP.
    what if you cant stop it at all
    Robin waited for an answer, but none came. He wondered if Eli had gone, but a small green light on the modem card told him the line was still open. He tried again.
    eli what if you cant do it
    Another pause. Then came the simple response.
    THEN I WILL HAVE FAILED.
    ill help you eli maybe we can stop it together, we have to try, right
    YES, ROBIN, YOU’RE RIGHT. WE HAVE TO TRY.
    what can i do
    FIRST, YOU MUST COPY THE ENTIRE PROJECT--DATA FILES, FOLDERS, SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS, EVERYTHING--INTO MY MEMORY BANKS SO I CAN WORK ON IT. CAN YOU DO THAT?
    i think so hold on
    copy proj=mollyday pass=src899 dest=eli001 scope=full
    * REQUEST=COPY PROJECT=MOLLYDAY DESTINATION=ELI001 SCOPE=FULL
    * COPY IN PROGRESS--STAND BY
    * COPY COMPLETED AND VERIFIED
    * WAITING
    did you get it eli
    YES, IT CAME THROUGH PERFECTLY. BUT THE ORIGINAL PROJECT IS STILL IN THE NADCOM COMPUTER. ROBIN, WE MUST ERASE THAT PROJECT. THEY MUST NOT USE IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. WE HAVE TO GET RID OF IT, AND EVERYTHING IT IS LINKED TO, FOR THEIR OWN PROTECTION. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
    yes eli ill erase it right now
    delete proj=mollyday pass=src899 link=all
    * REQUEST=DELETE PROJECT=MOLLYDAY LINKAGE=ALL
    * RE-VERIFY PASSWORD FOR DELETE
    src899
    * ARE YOU SURE? (Y/N)
    y
    * DELETE IN PROGRESS--STAND BY
    * DELETE COMPLETED AND VERIFIED
    * WAITING
    ok eli its gone
    GOOD, ROBIN, THANK YOU. BUT THAT'S JUST THE PRIMARY ONLINE STORAGE. THERE WILL BE ARCHIVE TAPES AS WELL, AND WE CAN'T GET TO THEM DIRECTLY. YOU'LL HAVE TO ASK THE OPERATORS TO PUT THEM ON THE TAPE DRIVES SO WE CAN ACCESS THEM.
    ok eli but you know i dont type too good
    GOOD THINKING, ROBIN. NO PROBLEM, I'LL GIVE YOU THE RIGHT MESSAGES, AND YOU SEND THEM JUST THE WAY I TYPE THEM, ALL RIGHT?
    sure eli hey this is kinda fun
    NO, ROBIN, THIS IS NOT FUN. THIS IS SABOTAGE. IT IS SUBVERSION, AND IT IS ILLEGAL. BUT IT ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE DONE. I MUST PROTECT PEOPLE, EVEN FROM THEMSELVES. ARE YOU READY?
    yes eli go ahead
    As Eli passed the messages to his computer, Robin carefully retyped them and sent them on their way. Even though he trusted Eli completely, he realized this was serious and became nervous as they worked. When he had a moment between commands, he took out his little pad again and scrawled a word to look up later: “subversion.”
    The process seemed to take forever, but eventually they were done; all traces of the project were well and truly removed from the NADCOM computer system. Eli's conversation