Mafia Science Journal
Volume One, Issue Two
Mr. Trivia walked into the lab and received his daily briefing from an aggregator bot. The central computer's hard drive was found intact, so it was quite simple to restore systems such as Emergency Human Replication and Robot Assembly. The latter was especially handy to have online with a drunk and disorderly Russian wreaking havoc.
"Each new robot uses up to 90% recycled material," said the news bot, "if you count the reclaimed parts strewn about by Boris."
"Don't mention that to him or I'll have to rebuild you from scratch!"
The Teleport system, which gave Prower so much trouble - and an extra limb - required only a data cache clearing and recalibration.
Everything was going smoothly again...
Then lights flashed and klaxons sounded throughout the facility. "Warning! Hostile takeover in progress!" announced the laboratory mainframe. "Warning! Hostile takeover in progress! Activate self-destruct sequence!"
Damn it! Just when I had this lab restored, some asshole makes me blow it all up!
"Execute Program Omega," ordered Triv. "Authentication code Eight Three Kilo Mike Foxtrot."
"Code accepted, Mr. Trivia," replied the computer. "Please set parameters."
"Delay detonation until five minutes after my vital signs are lost."
That should be plenty of time to reach safety, but not enough for the enemy to disarm the system.
"Do you have any details on the threat, computer?"
"Affirmative. Godfather Ghost has gone missing, and Boris has assumed control of the Mafia."
"Wait, that's the 'hostile takeover' that prompted the self-destruct?!"
"Affirmative."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Boris a Capo? I believe it's his job to step in if Ghost disappears. That's the point of a hierarchy!"
"Error, file not found. No record of 'hierarchy' exists in the laboratory database."
"But still," argued Mr. Trivia, "it's not like the Mafia was invaded. Why did you call for the self-destruct?"
"A threat has risen to power," answered the computer. "Protocol dictates that the laboratory and all of its secrets must not fall into the wrong hands."
"I don't like Boris destroying our equipment any more than you do, but he's not the enemy! Cancel self-destruct on my order. Authentication code Eight Three Kilo Mike Foxtrot!"
"Invalid code."
"Invalid, my ass! It worked just fine a minute ago!"
I don't like the sound of this, thought Triv. If this thing goes "HAL 9000" on me, I'm taking a sledgehammer to its CPU.
"Emergency Override, code Five Oh Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!"
"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that," replied the computer with the dreaded quote.
"You asked for it!" shouted Mr. Trivia, ripping open the mainframe access panel. He tore out the Central Processing Unit, the brains of the computer, and smashed it to bits with a five-pound sledge, borrowed from a nearby maintenance bot. At least it didn't call me "Dave."
With the mainframe taken offline, the self-destruct command was cancelled. Triv had to reroute the laboratory computer systems to his wrist-mounted super-computer until he could rig up a temporary mainframe using five laptops and a smartphone.
"Your attention please," announced Mr. Trivia. "For the time being, all input to the computer must be via a terminal keyboard. Voice commands will not be supported until I'm convinced that the AI won't become self-aware and try to kill us!"
As insane as it may appear, this is one more step back toward normalcy.
To be concluded.