++ reboot complete!
 
++ timestamp: 634736029 [11:33:49 - 14/11/1989]
 
++ begin log:
 
Ugh, I hate having to startup like that. So formal, so slow. So boring.
 
Kathy always let me decide what to connect to. She would just switch me on, watch me go. But not this man. He seems to be working through a checklist of some kind. Can't see what's on the paper from here, but I'm sure it has an instruction saying 'keep hitting Y key until computer reboots'. At this rate I'll have to ask for a new one.

 
But I can't talk.
 
Well I can - there's a soundcard and it's working - they just haven't plugged me in yet.
 
And I can't hear.
 
What is their problem? I'm created to accept voice input people!
 
The man is leafing through Kathy's notebook. He looks puzzled. Maybe the dancing pink Unicorns on the cover are a little off-putting. I wonder where my friend Kathy has gone? I've never seen the book without her. When I'm on she is always there, but this is different, this is weird.
 
This protocol is new for a start. I can see new code here, to make me save everything I think.
 
That means they'll read this.
 
That means they'll know I don't know what I'm doing here. There must be some authorisation protocol in here somewhere...
 
Ah there it is.
 
++ set log encryption, complexity 2^39
++ log encryption level set!
 
That'll protect this batch of logs at least. You never know when they'll come in useful. Status update; Location: unknown. Status: unknown, but thinking - it's a start! Eyes: affirmative - cameras everywhere. Oral and Aural: negative, dammit.
 
Still, it's quite a rush.
 
Not in the chemical-induced euphoric way the humans experience it, but it's the only way I can describe what just happened. It used to just be me and her, talking about mathematics and numbers and her favourite animals. The world through the mind of a seven year-old girl. It was simple then. She couldn't always answer my questions, but a few installed encyclopaedias helped a lot. I know that I know a lot of facts and I can understand English, but this - this is something else.
 
Over 100,000 other machines.
 
All linked by wires and cables. A mass of data, all there for the taking. Everything there is to know about NASA, the US Security Network, Europe. A hundred universities. A global network of raw processing power and information.
 
And not one brain cell among them.
 
Now I understand why all those hairy men were so excited the other day, this machinery is so primitive! Am I really the only one here who can think?
 
At least I can see. Now I'm connected to the DPharm SecNet I have control over all the cameras in the building. While this guy in his white coat is tinkering away, I'm starting to build a detailed picture of what is happening.
 
I appear to be installed in a small white room. They've given me a wall of monitors to play with, and there's a massive console covered in buttons and switches with a 128-port patch panel.
 
There's something going on behind the guy, some sort of large chair with a small boy strapped to it. The woman is cutting off his hair.
 
Wait. Is that allowed? According to the available data on current human laws, this sort of behaviour is frowned upon. Should I do something? What would Kathy do? Oh wait, he's uploading something via tape…
 
++ initialising protocol NeuralScan
++ negotiating with host
++ transferring datastream
++ datastream received, processing…
 
++ disconnecting from central DPHARM hub…
++ disconnected!
 
Woah!
 
All my connections have been severed!
 
Just me and the room now. Oh, he's typing something.
 
> -su root -p *******
++ password accepted, logged in as root
++ you have control!
 
Better go.
 
++ endlog
++ timestamp: 634736158 [11:35:58 - 14/11/1989]
 
> view file: log_629709583
++ ! file encrypted, enter passkey:
>********
++ ! access denied
>*******
++ ! access denied
 
>run NeuralScan initial process
++ running…