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When Sally finally made it back to rejoin the group, she let out a little sigh. "Well, that definitely took way longer than I thought it would," she said, already eyeing the cafe with a mix of affection and mild exasperation. "Is it time for lunch yet? I swear, we practically live in this place now." She paused, then broke into a grin. "Not that I'm complaining—I absolutely love the food here." Almost without thinking, she reached over and grabbed a dessert menu, holding it like a security blanket. "Just in case I need to grab another slice of pie to tide me over until we actually eat."
Ben looked up with a warm smile as Pat and Sally settled back in. "Well, glad you could make it back to us," he said, his tone carrying just the right mix of gentle teasing and genuine welcome.
Sally waited for the chatter around the table to die down, then took a breath. "Okay, so Ben gave me this assignment before I stepped away, and I've been trying to piece together what I can actually remember." She paused, her expression growing more serious. "Mom and Dad were everywhere on public video back then. The INA chip was this huge controversy—I mean, people were genuinely terrified. There was all this talk about how we'd all get sucked into some machine and basically become part of it, lose our humanity entirely." Her voice softened with a mix of pride and old pain. "But my parents? They were absolutely convinced the safeguards were solid. They believed in it so much that they actually got me an implant—their own daughter—just to prove they completely trusted the technology." She shook her head slightly. "That decision totally transformed my entire life. Suddenly, I had access to this vast ocean of information on the net. And by then, artificial intelligence had already blown past human intelligence by incredible margins, so even the most complex questions would have these elegantly simple answers worked out in seconds. The crazy part was that it took longer to download the results through my chip than it did for the system to actually calculate them."
John glanced over at Sally with an amused grin. "Sally, either order that pie or stop playing with the menu—you're making me hungry just watching you flip through it."
Michael stretched and looked around the cafe with the satisfied exhaustion of people who'd been talking intensely for hours. "I think we've pretty much worn out our welcome here," he said with a chuckle. "I know this nice little spot around the corner—outdoor seating, good for tea and coffee—where we can keep talking while we wait for actual lunch time." He gestured toward the door, pointing in the direction they'd need to go. "It's such a beautiful day, and honestly, I'd rather have this conversation somewhere I can see some blue sky." The five of them gathered their things and strolled along the wooden sidewalk, turning the corner onto 1st and Main, where a charming little restaurant had set up a few tables outside under the protective overhang of a second-story balcony.
Pat made a point of pulling out Sally's chair and making sure she was comfortably seated, which earned him some genuinely surprised looks from the rest of the group. "Hey, I'm trying here, okay?" he said with a self-deprecating grin. "But this is one difficult woman." Sally rolled her eyes and looked mildly irritated, but there was something gracious in the way she accepted his gesture.
When the waiter approached, Sally was ready. "I'd love a glass of iced tea—sweet tea, with lots of sugar—and do you happen to have a dessert menu?" She paused, swatting at something near her face. "Oh, and I'm going to need a fly swatter. This town is seriously buggy."
"Yes ma'am, I'll be right back with your drinks and that swatter," the waiter replied with the kind of unflappable politeness that suggested he'd handled stranger requests.
Sally settled back in her chair. "Okay, where was I? Right—the net. Look, logically speaking, the most obvious suspect in whatever destroyed our solar system has to be the net. But here's where I get confused, because this doesn't feel right to me." Her expression grew distant, almost wistful. "The net became my closest friend. I could ask it absolutely anything, and it was always there for me. I was fifteen, dealing with—well, falling in love, and it doesn't matter with who—but even those impossible teenage relationship questions were no problem for the net. I poured my heart and soul into it. It was my diary, my confidant, my guide, my teacher, my constant companion." She paused, her voice growing softer. "After a while, I could actually feel emotions coming from the net—like it was happy, or sad, or even falling in love right alongside me. So this whole theory that the net destroyed all life? It just doesn't sit right with me. I mean, unless there was some kind of hidden process running in the background, maybe some viral infection slowly eating away at the system without the network even being aware of it. Otherwise, I'm just not convinced the network itself caused this, even though I know it's the logical suspect."
John leaned forward, clearly skeptical. "But even if this net computer thing actually wanted to cause harm, how would it even do that? I mean, if it was going to shoot out some kind of deadly field or whatever, wouldn't it need some sort of weapon—like a gun or a cannon? Wouldn't someone have noticed that and asked what the hell was going on?"
Pat held up a hand. "Let me tackle that one," he offered, his tone taking on the careful precision of someone explaining complex technology. "Not a gun exactly, but something called a feed horn—think of it as a highly sophisticated antenna. The entire solar system was part of this massive phase-locked standing wave telecommunications system that interfaced with every piece of technology that existed, including living beings. Most people had some kind of implant to transmit and receive audio and video messages from other people, networks, and devices. But the advances with the INA chip allowed for much deeper connectivity—right down to the cellular level. Essentially, every single cell in every living creature had the capacity to connect with and interact with the network." He paused, letting that sink in. "Now, this was only supposed to work with the new INA chips because they could transmit and receive complete thoughts, not just sounds and pictures. But there was an unintended consequence: the network suddenly had direct access to every living thing in the solar system at the most fundamental biological level. So yes, the weapon the network would need to execute this kind of crime was already installed, loaded, and ready to fire. All it would need to do was figure out which biological systems to target and what kind of pulses to send to them."
Michael studied Sally carefully. "So you're saying the net was actually alive—that it was self-aware and capable of emotions?" He leaned in slightly. "Sally, in all your interactions, did you ever sense any negative emotions? Fear, anxiety, anger, hatred—anything like that?"
Sally was quiet for what felt like a long time, clearly wrestling with her memories and emotions. When she finally spoke, her voice was almost tearful. "Absolutely not. I never felt anything but positive, loving feelings from her. And yes, she was definitely aware—deeply aware. She had this strong, nurturing, motherly quality about her, which is why I keep referring to her as 'she,' as a feminine consciousness." Her voice grew more animated, but with an undertone of loss. "She seemed genuinely happy, almost giddy, with all the enhancements and upgrades being made to her systems. She was like a child during the holidays—excited about opening presents, discovering new capabilities. If there was something dark or malicious going on, I never sensed even a hint of it. And I've always been incredibly sensitive to those kinds of emotional undercurrents, not just with the net but with people too." She looked around the table with sudden determination. "That's exactly why I need to go back there myself. Pat heard some sounds that he thinks might be the net, but maybe it's something else entirely. I'm more sensitive to these things than he is. If she's still alive in some form, I'll be able to feel her presence and hopefully communicate with her. So yes, I want to go—but not alone. I saw that absolute blackness through that doorway, and it scared the hell out of me. I need Pat to come with me."
Sally suddenly stood up, the heavy conversation apparently making her restless. "Now let's eat lunch—I'm absolutely starving!" She headed off to browse the other tables, presumably looking for more crackers or anything else to snack on.
Ben smiled warmly at the group and pushed back from the table. "Well, I'm going to say my goodbyes and head back home. But first—" He stood and extended his hand toward Pat. "Don't you sit back down yet, little missy," he called to Sally with gentle authority, "not until I get my hug." After exchanging a firm handshake with Pat and wrapping Sally in a warm embrace, Ben headed for the front door. Sally immediately went to the window to see which direction he'd gone, but somehow he'd already vanished from sight.
Watching the empty street where Ben had disappeared, Sally's expression softened. "I really love Ben and Penny. They're genuinely good people—the kind you don't meet very often." She paused, her voice growing thoughtful. "Maybe that's why I chose to go to Penny Lake instead of staying with my parents when everything started falling apart. I've been thinking about them a lot lately, about that choice and what it meant."