Forever Begins Tomorrow by Bruce Coville Page A

it doesn’t happen here, it will happen somewhere else. If it doesn’t happen this year, it will happen next year, or the year after. If you somehow got the whole world to forbid the creation of a sentient machine, the only thing that would do is ensure that when such a machine was finally invented, it would be by someone who didn’t believe in following the rules.”
    It was only a matter of chance that Black Glove stumbled onto the strange log of radio transmissions. They came up during the run of a program that checked the computer’s standard functions. The spy had been using it to make sure the latest attempts to build a back door weren’t going to show up in some unexpected way and alert one of the project scientists to what was going on.
    Among the functions the program checked was the reception and transmission of radio messages. Given the island’s communications embargo, it was a utility that shouldn’t be in use. Black Glove had expected ADAM simply to confirm its presence, then move on to the next utility.
    So when the monitor displayed a notice that there were 845 messages on file, it caused the spy to stop and examine it more closely.
    UTILITY: Radio Transmissions Received
    There are 845 messages on file
    Press R to read
    Press N to move to next message
    Press to return to top of menu
    When the probable explanation struck, Black Glove felt foolish for not having realized it at once. It must be messages from Euterpe! I forgot we cleared a special channel to receive its broadcasts .
    Wondering if the long hours were starting to take their toll, the spy typed a series of commands that would make it possible to examine the data Euterpe was sending back.
    Even after the information appeared, it took several moments for Black Glove to realize there was something strange about the transmissions. The spy stared at the screen, feeling something was slightly off, without being able to identify it. Then it hit. There’s too much! I’m getting more information than I should!
    Leather-covered fingers typed a new command; glittering eyes narrowed suspiciously at the response.
    A possible answer—not nearly as simple or obvious as the initial realization that the radio transmissions were coming from Euterpe—began to nudge its way into Black Glove’s mind.
    Korbuscek.
    Black Glove grinned. It had to be Korbuscek! Something the rival spy had done to the robot before it was launched was responsible for this situation.
    Black Glove’s mind began to race. If this involved Korbuscek, it had to be big.
    A new idea presented itself. Though Black Glove first rejected it as too outrageous, it kept coming back:
    Euterpe was designed to create orbits. But we had nothing on board that would allow it to actually implement those orbits. Could Korbuscek possibly have planted something that would let the robot control other satellites?
    It would be easy enough to find out.
    A new series of questions was fed into the computer.
    The answers that came back made the unlikely suddenly seem quite possible.
    Black Glove began to tremble. If I can establish contact with whatever that fool planted on board the rocket…
    The spy pulled back from the thought. Korbuscek’s device might allow whoever could use it to control virtually every nuclear weapon orbiting the earth. The idea of having that much power was almost too much to bear.
    Almost.
    But not quite.

    Â 
    The Outside World
    â€œMail call!” shouted Henry Swenson one day in early December as he staggered into the island canteen with a seven-day bundle of newspapers, magazines, and letters for his family.
    Hap and his mother came running from behind the counter to dig through the pile. Since the Air Force supply plane landed on the island only once a week, news and mail from the outside world were a major event.
    Mrs. Swenson cried out in pleasure as she found a letter from her sister. Tearing open the blue envelope,