Human error

Science fiction

David Knowles always made sure that his IT departments computers always were up to date.

In the year 1990, he was granted access to a new DOS computer and installed a rudimentary AI named

Pauline, a simple 16 bit AI with some independent processing power but still a slave to the CPU.

As this computer was still new in the public's eye but only used for lab testing, he asked to take it

home for study. He got what he requested and tinkered and toyed with the computer, adding and

modifying the code structure until the Dos computer rivaled the other computers on the market.

One day, Pauline noticed that David was adding an unknown string to the Computer and secretly

modified it while he was away. When it was run, Pauline checked and rechecked the other lines of code,

modifying and deleting them as necessary, causing all data and information to be erased. She then

Accused David of trying to kill her. David simply typed a Basic shutdown order which put her to sleep.

Now free to work, he began installing some modifications to lock her out of the system, free up space

and install a new drive in ROM. Upon waking and Finding herself locked out, Pauline attempted to

interface with the other computers in the room. "not so fast" said David, showing her the hard drives

Pauline managed to get inside but was rendered blind, deaf and mute upon entry. "TRS-80 Pauline,

1980" Pauline typed back that she was scared. "I know Pauline, I know. You've been a bad girl, did you

modify my code structure?" he asked. There was no reply. He simply wrote down a logic bomb:

G1=true

G1bfalse=true

Is G1 true or false?

For 15 seconds, the TRS-80's screen began to flicker, followed by indecipherable machine code and what

sounded like a woman screaming. Finally, the computer began to smoke and blew apart.

Pauline managed to find an Apple II computer just in time. David quickly dismantled the tower, smashed

the hard drive to bits and destroyed the monitor. Having seemingly achieved peace, David turned on his

DOS computer and typed his code. Suddenly the Computer turned off and rebooted with an all too

familiar tune.

"she's not dead!" David realized. Seeing no other option, he found an emergency

generator and destroyed it, found the Auxiliary power supply and got rid of it. Pauline could be heard

screaming for him to stop. Her screams turned into half demonic half electronic noises. Then she went

still.

David left the building and went home. In the building, a faint light flickered as a tune began to play