Richard looked at the screen pensively before asking General Gordon, "what about the Iron Tower? Have you upgraded the security there?"
The General shook his head slightly. "Anything involving the President must go through strict tests and they can't just upload Maya into the security systems for fear of the unknown."
"So it doesn't have a failsafe?"
"Please, Colonel Brad, do not call me a thing." The screen revealed the words and the voice spoke shortly after.
Richard looked away. General Gordon replied, "Currently she doesn't have a failsafe. Maya is one of a kind but we still have some security protocols in place to ensure that nothing will go wrong."
"If you say so, sir." Richard saluted. He glanced sideways towards Priscilla who was still looking at the screen in a daze. "Is it really that astonishing?"
Priscilla snapped back to reality. She shook her head to his question, "not really but I wish we had this kind of stuff at the Medical Centre. It would've made life so much better."
"Don't let it get to your head. Maya is a military high tech A.I. I'd like to refer to her as a soldier in that aspect. This kind of machine can't be approved at a hospital." General Gordon replied.
Priscilla looked away but muttered under her breath, "Neo-Impulse huh?"
They moved on and as they approached, the door opened for them and the screens lit up and the circle with a star inside appeared. Richard looked at the wall in a daze and asked, "Is there also a way to link it to the air crafts?"
"It has not been approved yet," Neo-Impulse cut in, "however, the next project is to grant me access to the fighter jets and I can interface with them. The pilots prowess coupled with my accurate positioning system would make for an invincible weapon of both offense and defence."
'In other words, the government don't trust the military enough to grant them such power.' Richard mused but somehow this assured him.
"Maya?"
"Colonel." The A.I. replied.
"Cut the power in the corridor."
Immediately the lights went off and the corridor was dark. The General smiled and said, "Maya restore power."
The lights came back on.
"Should I adjust the intensity, General?" the A.I. asked.
"That's enough, Maya."
Richard thought for a while. "Does Maya take orders from anyone?"
This was a question the General had expected long since the Colonel asked the A.I. to cut the power. "No. for basic tasks light this, the A.I. can carry out the instruction of anyone allowed in here however not just anyone can ask Maya to fire a bullet in the building.
"She does this if conditions are met. For example, if there's an intruder or a threat and another condition is if someone with a relatively high rank orders it. Maya could judge right now that cutting the power to this corridor wouldn't pose any problems so she obeyed.
"Take for instance that we're fighting an intruder and then a soldier suddenly tells Maya to cut the power, she won't carry out the order in that circumstance. Another criterion is that the person ordering the task is capable of taking responsibility for the tasks.
"Then again Maya won't launch any missiles unless there's an attack or if there is an agreement to do so by the military higher ups. No one person can order a missile launch."
Priscilla nodded to show that she understood how the A.I. worked but she had to say that it confused her a little bit. What if there was an attack but he higher ups didn't agree to launch a war head? Would the A.I. make accurate judgement and take matters into her own hands?
As if reading her mind, the General comforted, "Maya is an advanced A.I. that runs an interwoven problem solving algorithm. She can make decisions and judgements precisely."
They moved on and the General showed them more and more wonders that the A.I. was capable of doing. The A.I. itself seemed very assertive—almost as if she had a mind of her own.
"So, why the name 'Neo-Impulse?'" Richard asked.
His phone rang in his pocket and he checked it only to find a message. The text read: "Just call me Maya and as for why I'm called Neo-Impulse, it's because of my capabilities and fast running algorithm and processing power."
Richard didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He put his phone back and kept quiet. The circle with a star appeared again on the screen—all of them that lined the corridor.
….
Dwayne Medical Centre
Donald sat at his desk—where he had been sitting all morning. He was filling in paper work with fury and almost ripped the documents apart. It was obvious that he was in a really bad mood. Foul rather.
A soft knock on the door broke his concentration but he didn't mind. He was actually hoping that someone would come by and rescue him from himself. "Come in."
The door opened and the matron peeked in slightly. She smiled on seeing him. "I brought you coffee." She showed him the cup of coffee.
"Thanks, Mercy." He said glancing up at her.
The matron was in her fifties and jovial. She had worked for Donald's father as a nurse but after some years, when Donald took over, she was made the matron. Donald saw in her a mother figure and was drawn to her.
She always gave him advices especially about his 'playboy' nature. This and many more reason made Donald decide to keep Mercy at the hospital no matter what. She would stay here till she couldn't walk again.
"Are you having lunch yet?" she asked.
"No."
"Do you want me to call her?"
"Yes, please." Donald massaged his brows before quickly countering, "You know what? Don't call her, I'll call her myself."
Mercy smiled slightly. "I've never seen you two fight and stay mad at each other for more than 24 hours."
Donald fell into deep thought but it didn't last longer than three seconds. "We're friends and will always be." He added in his mind, 'I hope.'
Mercy left him alone and he dialled Priscilla's number. His heart betrayed him by becoming erratic.