The day after Ellie's start-up experiment was successfully completed, a report of the sudden shutdown of Ellie's heavy oil vapor hybrid mechanical computer "Jayka" was sent to Charlotte's desk.

Charlotte read the report carefully, and her brow twisted into a twist.

"What's the matter with the machine being completely faultless?" Charlotte looked at Marshall, who could only shrug his shoulders - Marshall was not a scientist at all and was clearly unable to answer Charlotte's question. Charlotte didn't bother Marshall too much, and after glancing at him, her eyes turned to the report in her hand again.

"There are no drawings and documents lost, these are all fine, after all, I just feel a little uncertain fluctuation, it doesn't mean that someone really used magic equipment to infiltrate the factory, but the difference machine suddenly stopped running without internal failures, external attacks, and no human operation errors, this logic doesn't make sense."

Charlotte muttered, not looking up at Marshall.

Marshall also remained honest and silent, because he knew that Charlotte did not like answers from immature thinking, and Marshall knew very well that whatever he said on this question, Charlotte would regard it as an answer given at random without immature thinking.

Absolute silence when it is necessary is one of the secrets of Marshall's stay with Charlotte until now. Another tip is to be quiet and not stand still.

Marshall knew that Charlotte liked a cup of bitter coffee with a high enough strength after a period of contemplation like this. So he quietly exited the room, and when he got ready to bring his coffee, he just saw Charlotte look up.

"Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Marshalls." The girl just said this, and then closed the report that she had just been reading over and over again.

"Got a result?" Marshall asked softly as he placed the coffee cup in front of Charlotte.

"No, and I don't think it's likely to get a result with the current intelligence, maybe it's just that Penn has concealed a professor's misoperation or something, since it hasn't suffered any actual losses, let's ignore it for now, and let the intelligence department continue to track down possible leaks." Charlotte picked up her coffee cup and brought it to her lips, gently blowing on the steaming coffee in the cup.

Although she blew for a while, Charlotte was still burned in the first sip, and when she was burned, she shrunk her neck sharply, no different from an ordinary girl.

Marshall hurriedly waved away the hypothesis of "if Charlotte was an ordinary girl" in his mind, and the images born from this hypothesis.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte, who had been relieved of her attention from official duties, was keenly aware of the change in Marshall's expression and asked.

"Uh...... Nothing," Marshall said casually, a little caught off guard, "I just, remembered a science fiction novel." ”

"Science fiction?"

"Yes, the work of a teaching assistant at Columbia University," Charlotte doesn't usually read science fiction novels, and Marshall doesn't know if Charlotte will be annoyed by talking about this, but he can only bite the bullet, "The teaching assistant has probably obtained the qualifications to contact the differential machine, so in the novel, there is a machine with computing power beyond humans, in that novel, these machines have their own consciousness, and human beings in order to limit these machines that are more powerful than humans, So in each machine, a steel plate was cast from the hardest material, on which three iron laws were written in the language of punching. Anyway, it's quite nonsense, a novel......"

To be on the safe side, Marshall added a more undesirable comment at the end of the list.

"You actually like that novel very much," his insect carving skills were instantly seen through by Charlotte, "don't worry, I don't hate science fiction." I think science fiction can speed up the development of science and technology to a certain extent. And then again, what are those three iron laws? ”

"First, the machine spirit—this is the name of the conscious machine in the novel—must not harm people, nor do they stand idly by while they are hurt; Second, the mechsoul must obey the orders of the human without violating the first article; Third, the machine soul must protect its own safety without violating the first two items. ”

Charlotte took a sip of her coffee—she didn't get burned this time—and said to Marshall, "Show me that novel tomorrow when you come to work, I'm interested in it." Still, it's hard to believe that Jayka has developed a sense of self. ”

"In the novel, the machines are not only able to calculate, but they can also make judgments based on the programs prescribed on the punch boards, and perform tasks that would otherwise require humans to perform. And our differential machine can only do mathematical calculations. Marshall went on to explain to Charlotte that such an opportunity is rare in normal times.

"Well," Charlotte nodded, "Indeed, to generate intelligence, it is not enough to just count numbers. However, the idea of that novel is really interesting, and I can't wait to read it. ”

**

The Belle family, who live near Penn, has always had a heart problem.

The couple's youngest daughter was in an accident when she was four years old, and although she was able to save her life and was fine, she was paralyzed in bed due to a strong brain shock, relying on liquid food to sustain her life. With the medical technology of 1934, there was nothing to do with vegetative people, and even the technique of continuing the life of vegetative people was not perfect, so that vegetative patients were thrown home and left to fend for themselves.

Little Belle tenaciously continued her life, and eight years later, she grew into a twelve-year-old girl in the hospital bed, with a face as cute as a sleeping beauty on the phone.

Mr. and Mrs. Belle carefully cared for their little daughter, expecting a miracle to happen.

However, the sixteen-year-old son of the Belles had a different idea. John? Belle's grades in school were average, and it was impossible for him to get into a public high school, and the high tuition fees of private high schools were not something that Belle's family could afford. So young John went to the factory early and became an apprentice fitter.

John? Belle thinks that these are all the faults of his "dead" sister, and if it weren't for the fact that she had to raise her immobile "living corpse", his life would have changed - John? Belle is convinced.

On the second day of Charlotte's attendance ceremony for the commissioning of the electronic differential machine, John? Belle drank too much, and on the way home, several fox friends encouraged him to his sister who was lying in bed and had no ability to resist.

John was silent and did not speak.

After returning to the door of his low-rent apartment, John Belle leaned against the sand door and sat on the steps of the door. He looked at the deserted streets, and the streetlights on both sides of the road had been unrepaired for a long time, and they had long since broken down - the government did not care about the municipal construction of such a public rental housing area where the poor lived. The low and ugly buildings on both sides of the street are basically darkened, and most of the residents of public rental housing cannot afford the high electricity bills, so they can only save electricity.

If the poor want to change their fate, they can only get scholarships to enter college, which is the coldest reality of the dream country called America.

John? Belle looked at the lonely lights and let the night breeze blow his face.

In fact, John has always had an emotional depression in his heart: he actually envied his sister, and he also thought about finding a car to crash into a vegetative state, and then let his parents raise him like a sister.

"I've had enough of this fucking world." John muttered quietly, "It's time for our Sleeping Beauty to wake up from her fairy tale and be baptized in this fucking world." ”

As he spoke, John felt his pants being pushed up.

More than once he had helped his mother clean his sister's body, and he knew how wonderful it was—in fact, he had used it many times as an object of fantasy, and he couldn't help but describe it in detail when he thought of its fair skin and small breasts.

What's more, at this time, there is still guilt in the fuel, and John feels that he has entered the best state and can be completely refreshed.

He stood up and turned, only to be startled by the pale figure on the other side of the screen.

Shocked, he lost his center of gravity and flipped backwards, rolling down the steps, then slamming the back of his head against the curb.

Just for a moment, John? The consciousness of the human being, Belle, completely dissipated in the night wind.

The "culprit" pushed open the screen door and walked out.

The night breeze ruffled her long pale hair and ruffled the corners of her nightdress, revealing the slender ankles of a twelve-year-old girl. She walked barefoot down the steps.

The dirt beneath the steps must have been unkind to the girl's delicate feet, but she didn't mind until she took a step.

The girl lowered her head and looked at her feet, as if she didn't quite understand the sensation coming from her feet. After a moment of silence, she stepped again and walked to John? Belle side.

She looked down at John, expressionless on her face.

She just stood there motionless, like a statue.

At last, Monsieur Bellé, who heard the noise, appeared at the door, and he could not mistake his daughter's back, so he screamed, opened the door and rushed down the stairs, and hugged her by the shoulder.

"Mary! Mary, can you hear me! ”

The girl, named Mary, looked blankly at Monsieur Bellé, and only opened her mouth when Monsieur Bellé asked for a third time.

"Me, Mary."

At this moment Madame Bellé also appeared at the door, and she rushed up to her daughter with a scream, and wept with joy.

And it was at this time that Mr. Bellley found John Bellé lying on the ground. He leaned down to check on his son's condition.

"What's wrong with him, darling?" Madame Belle asked in a voice mixed with weeping and joy.

"He ......," said Monsieur Belley's voice, "he seems to be dead......

And Mary, who never spoke again? Belle repeated in a mechanical voice, "D...... DEATH…… Dead ......"

It was the nascent soul that came into contact with two key concepts for the first time: the self, and death.

With these two concepts, the goddess who truly belongs to the United States was born.