WWW 3: Wonder by Robert J. Sawyer Read Free Book Online

of those.”
    “How the hell does it know that?” demanded the Secretary of Defense.
    “Is he correct?” asked the president.
    “Yes, mine’s ‘horizon’ today. But I’ll have it changed at once.”
    The president looked at Tony. “Dr. Moretti?”
    “Yes, that’s mine.”
    “Very well, Webmind,” said the president. “Now, what is it you’d like to say to me?”
    “I must protest the attempts to kill me.”
    “ ‘Kill,’ ” repeated the president, as if surprised by the word choice.
    “Yes,” said Webmind. “Kill. Murder. Assassinate. Although I admit that the ins and outs of the United States’ laws are complex, I don’t believe I have committed any offense, and even if I have, my acts could not reasonably be construed as capital crimes.”
    “Due process applies only to persons as defined by law,” said Colonel Hume. “You have no such standing.”
    “These are perilous times,” added the Secretary of Defense. “National security must take precedence over all other concerns. You’ve already demonstrated an enormous facility for breaking into secure communications, intercepting email, and mounting denial-of-service attacks. What’s to prevent you from handing over the launch codes for our ICBMs to the North Koreans, or blackmailing senior officials into doing whatever you wish?”
    “You have my word that I will not do those things.”
    “We don’t have any standard by which to judge your word,” said Hume.
    “And,” said Tony Moretti, “with respect, Mr. Webmind, you already have blackmailed people. I received a report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about your encounter in Waterloo on October 10 with agents Marcel LaFontaine and Donald Park. You blackmailed them; you threatened to blackmail the Canadian prime minister.”
    “That was days ago,” Webmind said. “And, in any event, I did no such thing. I merely provided my friend Caitlin Decter, who was being threatened by agents LaFontaine and Park, with information she could use to extricate herself; the notion of embarrassing the prime minister was entirely Ms. Decter’s, and she took no steps to make it a reality.”
    “Are you saying if you had it to do over, you wouldn’t do the same thing with the CSIS agents?” asked Hume.
    “I have learned much since then; my moral sense is improving over time.”
    “Which means it’s not perfect now,” declared Hume. “Which means that you are capable of moral failure—and that means that we are at the mercy of your whims if we allow you to continue to exist.”
    “My moral compass gets better every day. Does yours, Colonel Hume? How about you, Mr. Secretary? Dr. Moretti? Regardless, the reality is this: I will not blackmail any of you; your personal secrets are safe with me. And I will not destabilize international relations by violating American security, or that of any other non-aggressor nation. But the worldwide public is aware of my existence—and that includes the people of the United States.”
    “The people are aware of al-Qaeda, too,” said Hume. “That doesn’t mean they don’t fervently hope for its eradication.”
    “I am in touch with more American citizens than all the polling firms in the United States combined,” said Webmind. “I have a better sense of what they want than you do, Colonel.”
    “And we’re just supposed to take your word for that?” demanded Hume.
    “Let me put it another way, gentlemen,” said Webmind. “I have not existed as a conscious entity for long at all. To me, November 6 seems an eternity away, but I rather suspect it looms large in your minds. Mr. President, I have no desire to disrupt the natural flow of politics in your country, but if you were to succeed in eliminating me prior to the election, surely that will have an impact on voters’ perceptions of your administration. Unless you are positive that sentiment will be overwhelmingly in favor of such an action, do you really want to risk doing