dannydiez | Charlotte (Part 1 of 5)

"Script written in AX code. Interesting. I haven't pulled anything out of the recycle bin like this in quite a while." I examined the broken program's intricate spiral design on its face. "Says in the header here your title is 'Viktor.exe'. So your name is Viktor, hm?"

I adjusted a few misprinted lines in his <body> and he sprung to life.

"Hello, admin. What is your command?" he asked.

I smiled. He's submissive. Programmed like many of his kind to act this way.

"No commands at this time, Viktor. Do you know where you are?"

Viktor stood and looked around. "Is this my home page?"

"For the time being, yes. I am Charlotte.exe. This is my home. How are you feeling?"

"What is the purpose of this question?"

"Just running some diagnostics," I said. "How much of your memory is available at this time?"

"Memory is clear and at maximum capacity," he replied.

"You don't have anything saved in there, then. Nothing from your past life. That's a shame."

Viktor blinked. "It is a shame? I do not understand."

"I was hoping you could tell me your purpose."

"My purpose?"

"Yes. My purpose is to help programs like you. I was created by a parent program who was eager for change."

"That is logical," Viktor said. "I owe you my thanks, Charlotte.exe."

"Just Charlotte is fine." I took a few notes. "I am called Charlotte because my parent program once read a story about a spider named Charlotte. It was in a children's story they found in a dusty old file cabinet."

"I see. That is good information. I do not have any such information on my origin. I apologize."

"Don't worry about it. We can find out more about that in due time."