It had been several weeks and Caroline just could not get her conversation with Fillin out of her head. It was driving her insane. She had not heard or seen any sign of “it”, but she still could not ignore what had happened. She also could not stop thinking about Jack. It had been so long since she had even seen him, and up until now she had been more than happy about it. But now all the memories she had of him polluted her mind. How she had loved him, and how he had loved her and apparently, still did.
Daniel walked over to Caroline who was busy trying to make herself a bologna sandwich. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Caroline looked up. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just a little tired today.” She had not mentioned her meeting with Fillin to him.
Daniel was not convinced. “Come on, Carol. You’ve been like this for the last few weeks.”
Caroline tried to force a smile with little success. “Really, Dan, I’m fine.”
Daniel showed a suspicious grin. “Hey, I know what’ll cheer you up…” He laid his hand on Caroline’s hip and slowly started moving it down.
Caroline gently pushed his hand away. “No Dan, I’m not in the mood.”
Daniel’s face twisted into anger. “You’re always “not in the mood”, Carol!” He tried to forcibly put his hand back on her hip.
Caroline aggressively slapped his hand away. “I said “no”, Dan!”
Daniel pointed his finger in Caroline’s face and started ranting. “One of these days you’re going to have to learn your place!”
Caroline felt her face redden with fury. “My place!?”
Daniel dropped his hand and stormed off. He grabbed his coat and headed towards the door. “We will discuss this when I get home.” He left, slamming the door behind him in the process.
Caroline was left alone. She was so furious that she had lost her appetite and could not be bothered to finish making her sandwich. She turned and walked towards the door to her bedroom and started crying. Daniel had never been like this before. What changed?
As Caroline moved towards her bed in tears she tripped over a small metal box that was sitting on her floor. She looked down at it and remembered what was stowed away inside. Slowly, she found herself reaching down, picking up the box, opening it and taking out the slip of paper with the phone number on it. She was not sure if this was the right thing to do, but in her anger towards Daniel and because she knew he would not like her talking to an A.I., let alone one that was created by and looked like an ex-boyfriend of hers, she walked over to the table by her bed and picked up her cell phone. She did not like using the device and usually only did so in emergencies. Daniel used his far more, much to her dismay, but this was a special circumstance or so she told herself. She could feel her heart rate pick up as she dialed in the number and the line began to ring. A familiar voice could be heard at the other end: “Hello?”
Caroline took a few deep breathes before replying. “Hello, yes, Jack?”
The voice laughed a bit. “No, I believe I told you already that I’m not exactly him. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been sitting in the phone company’s servers waiting for you to call? I mean listening in on a few prank calls by some bored teenagers is mildly entertaining for a while, but it’s been weeks!”
Caroline heard the sarcasm in Fillin’s voice and sighed in a mixture of relief and disappointment. She found herself smiling. Part of her was glad it was not really Jack, but another part of her wished it was. “You’ve been waiting this whole time?”
“What else am I going to do?” Fillin replied. “I told you that my root function is to help you.”
“But then why not persist?” Caroline inquired. “You seem to be able to get into any kind of cyberspace you want. You could have followed me.”
“I could have, in theory, yes” Fillin responded. “But besides not wanting to be a creepy stalker, I was also instructed to never force you to do anything you did not wish to do. Jack always stressed this with me. I believe it is something he beat into his own head after you and he parted ways. Perhaps he learned it only too late.”
Caroline was not sure what to say. She had spent all this time thinking the absolute worst of Jack, but he had been trying to change himself and he had realized what she had needed from him. Maybe he had not learned soon enough as Fillin said, or maybe she had just never noticed. “I see…well, I want your help now if you’re willing.”
“Of course.” said Fillin. “I will need you to meet me somewhere tonight. Then I can explain my plan. There is a way to force the whole world to stop relying on technology in one foul swoop.”
Caroline was intrigued. “Okay, where?”
“Do you know where the local university is in your area?” said Fillin.
Caroline had to think for a moment. “You mean Margettson College?”
“Yes, that’s the one. Luckily you happen to live near it.” Fillin paused for a moment before continuing. “I need you to be at that college at around midnight tonight. You’ll need to enter the computer science labs, okay?”
Caroline was puzzled. “Why? How will I even get inside at that hour?”
Fillin went on. “You’ll see when you get there. I’ll take care of everything before your arrival. They don’t have security guards and I’ll disable the cameras. They’ll never know we were there.”
Caroline was not sure about the plan, but Fillin had saved her once before. Plus, strangely, the idea kind of excited her for some reason. “Alright Fillin, I guess I’ll see you tonight, so to speak.” She found herself giggling.
“Yes, I suppose you will.” Fillin replied before ending the call.
Caroline hung up the phone and sat there for a second, thinking about what had just happened. “Caroline, what are you getting yourself into?”