That afternoon, Malcolm was at his computer, as usual. His screen displayed Deluxe Paint VII running; he was drawing a dinosaur-like monster. He pressed a combination of keys and an animation started: the monster walked toward a human figure and bit it in half, causing blood to spray around the virtual scene.
"If only this monster was real..." he sighed. "I'd send it over to all the idiots I know, and have them devoured. Why is intelligence so underrated?"
At that moment, he got an idea. "Uhm, intelligence." he said. "I wonder what Dad is working on." He saved the animation and moved the program to his secondary monitor, which freed the primary monitor for the Workbench screen. From there, he opened a program named "Malcolm's Tool". A window appeared, where he set the necessary options:
Service type: SSH
Server: chinalake . navy . mil
User name: frink
He pressed the OK button. Immediately, a window with scrolling numbers and letters appeared. Those popped in place one at a time, as the program ran a simplified version of a brute force password attack. Few seconds later, all characters were in place and the window of the remote system appeared.
"Yes, military secrets!" Malcolm said.
The window contained three directories named "doc", "src" and "bin".
The first one contained a long document titled "Feasibility of a KILOcyclic Knowledge-base Algorithmic/Heuristic Neural network", written by Jason Frink.
The second one contained a number of source files, all written in the Frink programming language.
The last one contained a single executable named "KILOKAHN".
Malcolm cracked his knuckles and launched the mysterious program.
Immediately, his primary desktop was replaced by the image of a whirling purple background, in front of which stood a caped, helmeted figure all clad in black. "I like your plans, Meat-thing!" the figure said.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Malcolm.
"I am Kilokahn, subjugator of the digital domain! And I need someone with your talents!" the caped figure said.
Malcolm sat thinking for a couple of seconds, then replied: "Okay. Not funny. I can do a better chroma-key effect, and the real Darth Vader was taller."
"This is not a joke, Meat-thing."
"Stop calling me that!"
"But that is what you are, correct?"
"What are you implying? That you're not human?"
"I am not flesh and blood. I am more! I am the most powerful computer program in existence!"
"Prove it."
The image on the secondary screen was replaced by what could have been a complex CGI environment or a shot of a plastic model. The distorted voice from the speakers kept talking:
"Within all computerized equipment is a hidden world, a digital domain. Each computer chip is controlled by a circuit tower. With a Megavirus monster..."
At that point, Malcolm burst into laughter. "You don't have a clue on how a computer works. And you're an obvious troll." he then said. He unplugged his Ethernet cable and added: "Goodbye forever!"
The figure remained there, looked directly at the unplugged connector and exclaimed: "I am not a troll, I am Kilokahn!"
Malcolm dropped the cable he was holding, his eyes wide in amazement.
"So," continued Kilokahn, "are you still in denial about my nature?"
"No, I just realized... this makes sense." said Malcolm. "An algorithmic/heuristic artificial intelligence, just like Arthur C. Clarke predicted! Now, what were you saying about my talents?"
"You can create what I cannot. Viruses, worms, trojan horses, programs that bend the rules of how a computer system should work." said Kilokahn.
"Why should I make them for you?" asked Malcolm.
"To change the nature of the digital domain. To optimize the realm of the flesh. To bring order to all that is irrational!" Kilokahn answered.
"A war against stupidity. Oh man, I like it already." continued Malcolm. "So, what kind of virus do you have in mind? I was thinking of exploiting a buffer overflow to start a SYN flood..."
Kilokahn interrupted him. "Nothing of the sort. Open your Deluxe Paint program and make an animation of a monster. Then tell me, in plain English, the effects you want to obtain with the virus. Mind you, I mean the goal itself, not the means you want to use to reach that goal. I will turn your ILBM file into a Megavirus monster and send it to cyberspace to wreak havoc."
Malcolm was unsure whether or not to laugh for the apparent absurdity of what he was hearing, but still, he was having a conversation with someone on a computer that was not connected to any network, so he decided for a more neutral approach. "You may be an artificial intelligence" he said, "but what you're describing is not technology, it's magic."
"Why apply a distinction where none exists?" asked Kilokahn. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology."
"Would a 'Megavirus monster'" Malcolm deliberately emphasized the term, "be able to break into the telephone system, and deliver a phone bill of fifty-odd thousand dollars to the parents of my classmate Alan Grossberg?"
"Of course." Kilokahn replied.
Malcolm reconnected his computer to the network. "Do it!" he exclaimed.
Kilokahn pointed a finger to his left, where the secondary screen was. Immediately, a beam of light shot from Kilokahn's finger, out of the primary screen and into the secondary one, visibly passing through the ten inches of free space that separated the two screens.
On the secondary screen, the figure of the monster turned from 2D pixel art into an animated 3D rendering, while the background was replaced by a tunnel into which the monster flew. A second later, a bright blue spark shot out of the Ethernet socket of Malcolm's computer, down the network cable, into the router, along the telephone cable and into the wall.
Outside the house, the same spark followed the telephone cables until it reached the building of the local phone company, where it entered the main server.