He nodded. “I was just going through the motions, but I realized almost too late what…” He collapsed on the floor, shaking. “No one really knew what would happen with the Overload. They typed in figures and formulas, the monitors gave the results. No one thought about it.”

“Someone would’ve had to,” I said, more to myself than the man. “Unless…”

The man sat up. “Unless what?”
“Unless the machinery can think for itself.” He gave a quizzical look. “It’s crazy, but I think it might have more truth than not.”

“How did you come up with this?” the man demanded sharply. I jumped back; his manner had changed instantly. A bit too quickly for my liking.

“I- I- just thought of it, it just seemed logical...” I stammered. I turned away from the man, trying to mull this over.

Without warning, my ankles flew out behind me, bringing me roughly to the dusty floor. Within moments my wrists were shackled behind me.

The man’s raspy voice had a metallic twinge to it.”Control, we have subject for programming.”