Chapter 13 Part 3

Once this mode was entered, his auxiliary interface would be activated. This auxiliary interface did not run in the normal sense. It didn't even display. In fact, it was totally cut-off from the rest of his system, as it existed only as a virtual interface. This virtual interface would then begin. Within this interface was an AI that Sal had nicknamed Belvedere. Belvedere's job was somewhat like that of a butler. He was to watch whatever Sal was doing completely silently, and make some inferences in conjunction with what Sal appeared to be doing in his actual terminal. So, for instance, if it looked like he was trying to create a deception with a cup of water and failing, Belvedere would know the intent. Once this was established, Belvedere would clandestinely try different lines of attack to accomplish whatever it was that Sal was attempting to get done.

Sal waited a good hour before making the mistake that invoked Belvedere. The first thing Belvedere did on springing to life was to take a picture of the state of the holonosphere in the immediate area. This picture was a frozen moment in time which Belvedere could then run attacks against for as long as it needed to get the job done. If the job in question had a limited time duration, Belvedere did not have to worry about changing conditions as a result of the time expiring. He could just keep cracking at whatever the task was, and when Sal got done doing whatever he was doing, he could join Belvedere if it proved necessary. Belvedere had his snapshot and began working silently in the background.

Sal had additional problems of his own. He had to make it LOOK like he was actually trying to crack the problem. He tried exceedingly simply solutions at first that he assumed would not prove to be successful. He was very glad that none of them succeeded. As time elapsed, he tried more complex varieties that he felt would be equally unsuccessful. Nothing seemed to be budging it, but event he responses he got from the environment from trying what he knew would not work were telling him something about what would work. Belvedere made note of these things to narrow its own search scopes. It was almost like being in a chemistry lab where you simply kept throwing chemicals together in an effort to make rubber. What you learned by noticing what didn't work moved you toward what might.

After about six hours, of apparent non-success, Felicia returned. 

"I see you are still working so hard, Mr. Grimone. Ready to call it quits?"

Sal wondered whether Belvedere had had enough time to work his magic. He had programmed Belvedere to signal him should he achive success. Again, Sal wanted ot be sure that by signaling he did not give away the covert interface, and he had to think quite a lot about what might be a good signal that no one would notice. He finally concluded that a visual subtle signal would be best, and the thing that made the most sense to him was for his cursor to blink rapidly twice. He had arranged some other sequences should Belvedere need to communicate something else, but a rapid double flash of his cursor once would tell him Belvedere had cracked the problem. He had not yet seen such a signal.