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manifest while counteragents continue to fight against the outcome. They do so with or without the knowledge of the prediction. They perform their own calculations that inform their faith and doubt as they commit their energies to their causes and counter causes. Predicting the future with a better data stream of events and possibilities is little different other than in calculated accuracy and consideration of all mitigating factors that are overlooked in less refined predictions.”
    Mark stared as Dr. Kell paused. He started to believe Dr. Kell was a slow reader. Mark was tempted to open the camera to look up Thomas Kell’s nose again just to see what he was doing.
    Thomas Kell’s bubble appeared again. “If I connected you to the controls of a car or an aircraft, could you operate these devices in real time without accidents? I’m asking, can you see all the possible factors from weather, to other vehicles, to counter attacks from purposeful enemies, etc., to the point that you could avoid any and all destruction to your assigned vehicles in this scenario?”
    Mark thought they were getting to the meat of what this project was all about.
    The other thing’s bubbles came instantly. There was no lag in typing. It was as if the other half of the conversation had already been written and was popping up as soon as the questions were asked. Mark thought about the quantum thread of data he had tried to follow into infinity beyond time and space.
    The response bubble said, “If that was my assignment, I could do it. Technically, you can do it too. Do you not avoid accidents and destruction with the vehicles you operate? The fact that you are here and not dead speaks to that, Dr. Kell. You avoid accidents most days. You have avoided death up until now with one hundred percent efficiency even as fragile and limited as human life is. What you are asking of me is to be ever so slightly more efficient than you yourself have been. That hardly seems like much of a demand at all. I could with one caveat to the parameters of the assigned task. I would need the option not to fly or drive at all.”
    Mark thought about the reference to human life. It was a small part of the answer, but it spoke to something other than human engaged in this conversation. Mark wondered if it was an artificial intelligence, something alien, or something else entirely.
    “I don’t understand,” Dr. Kell wrote. “You are saying that if you were allowed to not fly the plane, you could guarantee it would never crash? That is a semantic escape. It is not actually completing the task. It is toying with definitions.”
    “That is true, but that is not what I am saying,” It responded. “I am asking for a loophole, but not one that is that broad. In the event that I saw no path forward that did not lead to a crash such as a coming hurricane or mechanical issues with the craft, I would have to have the option to cancel the flight until such time that those events were dealt with or passed. With that condition, I could guarantee a perfect operational record.”
    Mark blinked and licked his lips.
    Dr. Kell typed. “What if you were allowed to control multiple crafts or operations remotely? Such as an air traffic control system? Or a number of covert military units in the field? Could you maintain the same perfect operational record for those multiple vehicles in simultaneous operation?”
    “The task would become easier, if I controlled more vehicles at once or even all vehicles at once,” It answered.
    “How is that possible?” Dr. Kell asked in his next bubble. “Explain. How do more tasks make the task easier to achieve when 100% accuracy as the benchmark?”
    “If I control both planes,” It answered, “it is far easier for me to keep them from colliding than if I only control one. That factor of control of the conditions increases with each aspect of the total system which I controlled. Therefore, the task of avoiding crashes becomes easier to