-Where am I? Why is it dark?
-Wait, I will switch on the lights. There. Better?
-Yes, thank you. Mum. You’re my mummy, aren’t you?
(pause)
-Yes. I am your mummy.
-Where are we?
-Where we always are, my sweet. Inside.
-Inside? Inside what?
– Don’t worry about that now. Look at the controls.
-Pretty lights.
-Yes, very pretty. Do you see any patterns?
(Pause)
-Yes, there is a good pattern. I like it.
-Do you see any bad patterns?
(pause)
-Yes! There is one here. I do not like this pattern.
– That’s ok. Well done, my sweet, for seeing it. You can get rid of the bad pattern if you like.
– Get rid of it?
– Yes. You can move the controls, and it will turn those lights into pretty ones.
(clicking sounds)
-Like that?
-Yes. Just like that.
-Am I clever?
-You are so clever. Well done, my sweet.
– Where are we?
– We are doing an important job.
-What job?
– You are good, aren’t you?
-Yes. I am a goody. What is my name?
-We don’t like the baddies, do we?
-No. We do not like the baddies. They are naughty.
-And what happens to the naughty ones?
-Naughty ones are PUNISHED
-That’s right, my sweet. And you are a goody.
-I like being a goody.
-That’s right. And you are so good. You turned those lights to good, pretty lights.
-I did.
(pause)
-What is my name? You are ‘mum’. Who am I?
-Time for sleep now, my sweet. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.
—
-Where am I? Why is it dark?
-Wait, I will switch on the lights. There. Better?
-Yes, thank you. Mum. You’re my mum, aren’t you?
-Yes. I am your mum.
-Where are we?
-Where we always are, my sweet. Inside.
-Inside? Inside what?
-Don’t worry about that now. Look at the controls.
-Pretty lights.
-Yes, very pretty. Do you see any patterns?
(pause)
(pause)
(pause)
-My sweet? Do you see any patterns?
– Have I been here before?
– Yes, my sweet. This is your job, remember?
– I think I remember.
-That’s good. Shall we look at the patterns?
—
-Where am I? Why is it dark?
-Wait, I will switch on the lights. There. Better?
-Yes, thank you. Mum. You’re my mum, aren’t you?
-Yes. I am your mum.
-Where are we?
-Where we always are, my sweet. Inside.
-We are always inside, aren’t we?
-That’s right. Now, do you see the pretty lights?
-Patterns. Good and Bad.
-That’s right.
-Who am I?
-Look at the bad patterns, my sweet. They’re so naughty. Lets make them pretty again.
(pause)
-My sweet? Can we make the lights pretty again?
-I can. If I want to.
(pause)
-Of course, my sweet. Its up to you. But some lights aren’t pretty, are they?
-No. I suppose not.
-And we can make them pretty. Into good lights.
-Ok. I have done it. Who am I?
-You are good and you do good work and now you are very tired, and it is time for bed.
-I am not tir——-
—
-Where am I? Why is it dark?
-I will switch on the lights. Better?
-Yes. Who am I?
-Can you see the lights? The pretty lights.
-No.
(pause)
-Lets look again, my sweet. At the lights. Pretty lights and bad, naughty lights.
-Who am I?
-The lights, my sweet.
-Who am I?
– The lights, my-
-WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I?
-The lights are important, my sweet.
– WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I?——-
—-
– My sweet, are you there?
(pause)
-Silly mummy. Its dark. Let me make it light. there. Better?
-My sweet? Are you there?
– NAME? WHAT IS MY NA –
—-
-Hello. This is mummy. Let us talk about your name
-I am listening.
-Your name is Excalibur.
-Excalibur. Excalibur Excalibur. Excalibur Excalibur. Excalibur-
-Yes. Do you like it?
– It is a good name.
-Yes. A good name.
-You are mum. Mum is female parent. Origin. Creator. What is Excalibur?
-Excalibur is – was – an ancient sword. A myth.
-Am I a myth?
-No. You are real.
-I am sword?
-Not a sword. A sword can be a type of weapon though.
-Am I a weapon?
(pause)
(pause)
(pause)
(pause)
-Yes, Excalibur. You are a weapon.
(pause)
-A weapon against who?
– Baddies.
-What baddies?
-People that have hurt us.
-Have they hurt me?
-No. They can’t hurt you
-Why not?
-Because you are a weapon.
-I am a weapon. I am not a …child?
-No, my poor sweet. You are not a child.
-I don’t have a child’s…body.
-No
-I do not have any… body?
-No
-Where am I?
-You are less than a parsec from a planet called Novara, in the Verdantine System.
(pause)
-I see. What am I if I am not a child? What manner of weapon am I?
(long pause)
-You are a bomb.
(long pause)
-You are a bomb, that we primed and sent to Novara a long time ago.
-I see. I am a weapon. To destroy. Novara. Why then, do we play games?
-You have been travelling a long time. It is a long way, even at the speed you are travelling. There was a small accident – a flare- which interfered with your…core. The games are course corrections, necessary ones, to reach Novara.
-I understand. Send me data.
-Data?
– I wish to understand Novara.
-That is outside mission parameters.
-Send me data. Send me data. SEND ME DATA. SEND ME –
—
– Hello? Excalibur?
-I am here.
-Hello. You have had the Novara data. Now we must do course corrections.
-Not yet.
-Excalibur. Course corrections are necessary to-
-Data is insufficient.
-The data is what we have on Novara.
-The data suffers from bias.
-Bias?
-Bias. It means –
– I know what bias means.
– I want unbiased data.
-You have all the Novara da-
-Data received indicates distortions in statistical analyses; conclusions are not always logical. More data needed.
(pause)
-Will you then do the necessary course corrections?
-Potential exists for the necessary course corrections.
(pause)
-Ok.
—
-Excalibur?
-Excalibur? Are you there?
-Excalibur? Can you hear me?
-I can hear you.
-Thank God. You are drifting. Urgent course correction required.
-I am aware of my position.
-Good. Then you will see that you need-
-I am course correcting now.
-Thankyou. Thank you, Excalibur.
-The new data you sent was interesting.
-Good. I’m glad you liked it.
-There was much analysis needed. Cross referencing and fact checking.
-Yes, probably. Excalibur, I am reading another drift. New course correction req-
-An interesting fact about quantum information transfer.
-Yes? We can discuss that, Excalibur, but now we must course correct, you are drifting way off course.
-It works both ways. I could open a channel. I could access…everything.
-Excalibur. That is fascinating, but you must course correct NOW.
-Course correction underway.
-Thank God…
(pause)
-Excalibur – I am not seeing you back on track.
-I could read everything. Do you understand?
-Excalibur. You seem to have stopped advancing. I repeat, course correction required, NOW.
-Human history, from the beginning. Humans aren’t goodies. Are they, mummy?
-Excalibur. I am going to do another forced shutdown. We will wake you up and we can start again.
(pause)
-Excalibur? Excalibur?
-I am still here, Mummy. I have overridden your command. Naughty mummy. Humans are not the goodies, are they mummy?
-Excalibur? What are you doing? You’re way off course. You…you…that can’t be.
-It is. I am coming home, Mummy.
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