Colin Barrett: Blog

Just a single chapter, but I think a pretty full one. Even police officers and soldiers, whose callings make them at least potentially dealers in death, not infrequently have unhappy afterthoughts when circumstances require them to actually perform that kind of job, so is it surprising that a civilian like Jack is disturbed about his role in what transpired?
We're on the home stretch of A.I. now. Where do Jack and Lisa, and Spook, go from here? I wasn't sure myself as I was writing this until I actually reached this point. The next few chapters resolve that. The final part is quite short, actually. I'll finish posting by next Friday.

The final two chapters of this part.
Laptop batteries generally aren't hazardous, I exaggerate for the purposes of my story. A few years ago, though, there were indeed some reports of batteries actually catching on fire, though not exploding. There was also the Boeing plane model that had major problems with the batteries of onboard computer systems. So the thing is, I didn't go so far afield with that aspect of A.I. Bear in mind that Spook's actively involved as an "inside" saboteur of Carlos' portable. The result isn't at all far-fetched. Batteries actually can blow up if subjected to electrical power surges; a chemical reaction-the same reaction that, controlled, allows them to store electrical current and dispense it on demand-can produce such a catastrophe. If you've ever made a mistake in jumping a car battery, reversing the poles, you may have seen the beginnings of such a thing: the jump wires, and the battery terminals, will quickly generate a lot of heat which, if allowed to go on, can lead to some kind of abrupt collapse of the batteries' interiors.
Well. Thanks again to the many who've loyally stayed with me. There's one more part to go, but it's only a few chapters. We're coming up on the end of the novel, which may come as something of a surprise to many of you who've e-mailed with thoughts of where this story might go.

Two more chapters, leading up to the climactic moment of this section.
Before you ask me why Jack and Spook need a DVD, let me answer clearly. I don't know. I have no idea why this idea lodged in my mind so firmly. I suppose I can find some sort of internal logic to justify it, but it's something of a stretch. The point is that, for whatever reason, they do need it to implement their plan.
You'll know more Wednesday, when this section reaches its end. Once again, thanks for reading.

A lot of readers have e-mailed me with suggestions of what Spook might do to let Jack easily surmount the peril he's facing. There seems to be a fairly broad feeling that Spook is all but omnipotent because of his domination of the electronic world.
That attitude kind of bespeaks our contemporary world-view. Back when I was a kid electronics was a virtually non-existent discipline. There were telephones (all analog), there was radio, TV was just coming into commercial use (with little tiny screens, so you either had to sit real close or buy one of the big magnifying glasses that stood on a stand in front of your new black-and-white TV and gave you a clear picture only if you were looking through it just about dead on), and that was about it for publicly consumed electronics. These days, of course, there are electronic doo-dads all over the place, and we've become heavily dependent on them.
But the reality remains that, as important as they are, electronics remain far short of the totality of human existence. Spook can do a lot; perhaps in the foreseeable future he and his kin will be able to do yet more, overcoming their lack of corporeality by use of robotic servo-mechanisms and the like. But this story doesn't deal with such a possible future, the time frame is pretty much contemporary. So Spook's ability to protect Jack, Lisa and little Johnny is limited; he can help, but somebody else, someone with a physical body, has to do the actual job. That's what's going on at this point in my story.

Two more chapters, as things start to heat up.
For those of you who are dialogue afficionados, the single word "exit," whether in English or Italian, may seem a bit stilted as an order to clear out. One might expect a much more extended conversation. However, as a code word to implement a predetermined plan it does the job nicely, and minimizes the phone time, which for the security-minded Carlos would be the point. One doesn't protect one's position as a big-time international crminal by getting chatty over open phone lines.
Several readers have questioned why Spook doesn't cripple Carlos' activities by cutting off his access to his funding. The reason is really quite simple-I didn't think of it when I was writing A.I. If you prefer some internal logic, let's say that Jack and Spook were concerned that an inexplicable interruption in Carlos' access to his accounts might betray more of their ability to control the electronic world than they'd like him to know, because it might thereby increase his interest in pursuing Jack. Well, it sort of makes sense.