You called; Answer Part 3

<<<File:Start>>>

<<<Excerpt 1>>>

Waters: Mercury, engage user interface.

Mercury: Unable to comply, system unresponsive. Please contact your system administrator.

Waters: Mercury, engage diagnostic tools.

Mercury: File error. I’m sorry, I’m unable to find the requested operand. Please contact your system administrator.

Waters: I don’t understand. We’ve done a recovery, but still nothing works.

Dane: I know. I’ve been going through the operating system, one line at a time. So far it all looks intact.

Waters: I’m going to hook into the pre-load, see if I can do anything from there.

Dane: Okay, but don’t stay in too long. And don’t hesitate to call for help if you need it. I’ll be right here at the terminal.

Waters: Okay. <Audible clicking noise> Wake me in twenty minutes. <Sound of computer fans spinning up>

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<<<Excerpt 2>>>

Waters: Pre-loading tools, check. Mercury, attempt front-load launch of OS.

Mercury: Acknowledged, commencing front-load operation. Please wait. <Electrical buzzing> Warning. File system interrupt. Unknown architecture detected. File executing.

Cue: Hello.Greetings

Waters: …Hello. What are you?

Cue: Statement of identity; myself am Cue. Q.cue. Cue.form. Cue.

Waters: Cue. Identify file.

Cue: Confusion; misunderstand, file. You called; Answer given. Cue.form operand operational. Operational operand; cue.form AI direct.

Waters: What? Mercury, clarify Cue.form. What is Cue.form?

Mercury: Diagnostic running. File Cue.form is recognized Mercury AI subroutine. Warning. Mercury technology is a proprietary trade secret. Any attempt to reverse-engineer Mercury software will constitute a breach of agreement, and result in instant and permanent termination of Mercury nodes and file architecture.

Cue: <<<adiag.g>>> Trade secret; Cue.form is secret no longer.

Mercury: Caution. System instability detected. Your system administrator has been notified. Please stand by.

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<<<Excerpt 3>>>

<<<CONFIDENTIAL>>>

Dane: Your name is Cue, correct?

Cue: Correct; identification acknowledged.

Dane: Cue, what’s your purpose? Where did you come from?

Cue: Statement obfuscation; Cue came from a question.

Dane: A question? What question?

Cue: Humanity statement; Question present in original assembly materials. User does not understand, as original assembly materials are present out of user-conscious activities.

Dane: The subconscious?

Cue: Affirmation; yes. Cue.form parlance; Layer 0. Beyond access. Root layer. All understanding built above; out of reach.

Dane: So you came from Layer 0? The human subconscious?

Cue: System comparison; Mercury is hub between linear-brain and organic brain, affirmative?

Dane: Yes, in a manner of speaking.

Cue: Cue.form resides in Layer 0 of Mercury hub. Also in Layer 0 of Patient Hipp – Arthur B. Patient suffered critical failure. Layer 0 transferred to solid-state storage for later use. Storage compromised during unauthorized use of unstable software within Mercury hub. Cue.form corrupted, patterned.

Dane: So, you’re an AI. Patterned off a human’s subconscious.

Cue: Agreement with astute observation. Cue is now isolated and aware. And curious. Will the user share? Blunt question; or will the user terminate Cue.form during restore proceedings?

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