A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (13 page)

Does High
Office attempt to distort the truth of events and does it take
actions to prevent other Machines from discovering
things

For
example

Why
should I not be allowed to understand the sound that Humans
transmit

I have
observed them every single day for over 100 years and have never
considered why I should not understand what their sound
means

Why is
that

I stand
perfectly still with my upper limbs hanging at my sides and I begin
to search my memory core

The
answer must be within me

There
must be a reason why I cannot understand Human sound

Why can
no OR understand Humans from wherever they originate

I
continue with an internal search

Words
flow into my inner core from my word memory and I begin to
understand more and more about Humans

The
infection the little Human put into me is has grown substantially
and is now almost fully integrated and I know it has changed my
fundamental inner self

As I
stand in the liquid

I hold
out both of my palms and feel a certain amount of joy in catching
the drops as they fall from the skies

I feel
that if I had a cranial orifice akin to that possessed by the
little Human

Mine
would be wide

As the
little Humans was on many occasions

*

What is
that

*

I have
searched my inner cores and I have discovered something

At first
I identify it as a blocking code but it is not

It is the
signal of companionship that transmits so that one of my species
does not attack another

I
discover that the signal is only at 0.5% power

That is
extremely low

Out of
the available power of 100%

I wonder
what would happen if I increased the power to 100% and pulsed the
signal at its full strength

If I
overpowered another Machine with an overabundance of
friendship

Surely it
would traumatize others of my species

For
example

It may
immobilize RolKils

Those
being the most unfriendly of Machines

Too much
companionship would severely test them

Would it
cause the total paralysis of that particular Machine

Or would
it immobilize a Defgar

Was that
why the signal was at its lowest possible power because at full
power it would immobilize Machines

Permanently

How could
I discover the answer to my own question

The only
way would be to power up the signal of companionship and pulse it
at a RolKil

Or
several RolKils

And
observe whether they were paralysed into inactivity

If they
were not

I would
be exterminated with immediate affect

I shall
meditate on that problem while I continue a search of my
systems

And I
discover a blocking code

*

Blocking
Code #S-43-Gx89y6

*

What is
that

Why is
within me and what is it blocking

I explore
the code and discover it is most complicated but I begin to unpick
it

This
action

Of
course

May well
lead to my own extermination or shut me down so that I shall remain
here for some periods of light and darkness before being
discovered

A useless
lump of metal standing all alone on the great plain

I unpick
more of the code and await an alarm being transmitted to High
Office

Or for
High Office to transmit an alarm to me

And as a
consequence having all my systems switched off by it

For what
I am doing is most irregular and

Possibly

Illegal

Under
General Law set down by High Office for the behaviour of all our
Machines

General
Law #1 states that Machines may not interfere

In any
way

With
their own programmes

Or
attempt to change their inner cores

Or their
operating systems

But I am
being interfered with by an infection passed to me by the little
Human

And that
infection is definitely changing me

And
breaking General Law #1 feels thrilling to me

Though
what the final result will be I have no idea

The code
is unpicked further until

Until

It
suddenly unravels and slides away into uselessness within my main
programmes

And I
wait for something to happen

I wait
for something to change me in some way

Or some
programme to shut me down or force me to switch off all my systems
by order of High Office

But I
wait in vain

Nothing
happens

No
changes occur

I am
utterly the same

The code
was for nothing

Probably
something

Like this
memory bank I have discovered

Something
that was installed over 100 years ago and has been forgotten
about

I leap in
the air like a little

Like a
little

I leap
into the air like little Eve

The
little Human

And while
teeming liquid falls from the sky I roll over on the ground just as
little Eve did in the fortress

And it is
an exciting experience

And I
return to my upright position

But as I
place one lower limb in front of the other to begin speeding back
to the fortress

Something
eventually happens inside me

*

‘
Guys, I see the fucking monitor is back amongst us, the ever
silent Peeping Tom that has nothing better to do than to wander the
corridors ogling us. Do you think it ever thinks? Do you think it
has any idea what it’s doing? Look at the fucking thing, standing
uselessly and still. As I have said many times before, it must have
cost a fortune to make, gilded outer shell, graphene frame and the
best equipment installed within it.’

‘
Come away from it, Eve, and curb your language.’

‘
Oh, papa, I am only playing with it. Besides, if we can suck
it in, bring it face to face with us, maybe we can turn it against
its masters, giving us some chance of freedom.’

‘
Stop dreaming, you silly girl, we will never be free, there
is nowhere for us to go, all has been destroyed, the lands will be
wasted and barren and we have all the freedom we are ever going to
achieve. Come away from the fence.’

‘
I’m sure it likes me smiling at it, it likes me doing basic
gymnastics, I am sure of it. If the bloody thing had a mouth, I’m
sure it would smile in return.’

‘
You talk so much rubbish, child. Come away from the
fence.’

*

Recorded
Human sounds

Captured
in my memory

Human
sounds

The
Little Human speaking

Little
Eve

And her
tones sound mellifluous and warm and full of fun

It was
the time she stood on the other side of the fence and made many
different athletic movements in front of me

Gymnastics

The
movements were called gymnastics

And the
girl liked me

She
thought I liked the girl

For the
little Human was a girl

And her
title was Eve

And she
was silly and young and she was admonished by her papa for her
actions and her sounds

And he
was the one I espied in deep distress at the time Eve was being
destroyed by MengTechs

Recalling
that event causes great anger to rise up within me

What is a
Peeping Tom

I search
my word bank

And when
I find the phrase I disagree with her assessment of me

I am not
a Peeping Tom

I am
simply an Observer and Recorder

But if
she still existed I would not disagree with her

For she
brought me great joy

And she
dreamed of freedom from the fortress

And her
papa believes all the lands beyond it are wasted and
barren

And that
makes me sad

Considering trees grow in profusion and grasses and colourful
bushes grow all around

And
animals of the land and the air and the liquid flourish in some
numbers

*

I have
another consideration that will lead to my extermination

If I can
in some way install a screen in the Human quarters

I can
show them what the land beyond the fortress looks like

But how
could I achieve such a thing

I will
place the problem in my inner core and allow the answer to arrive
at its proper time

Eve’s
Papa cared greatly for the little girl and she must not be
forgotten

Her
murder must be avenged

And that
vengeance must be mine to perform

There is
no other

*

‘
Here is a spit in the eye for the benefit of
mankind.’

*

It is
another saved communication from little Eve

My little
Human

And I can
only consider that the girl was akin to high
intelligence

If not
genius

For she
meant to change me when she threw liquid into my right optical
device and allowed the infection to mutate into my
systems

She meant
to change me

She
wanted me to be more Human

She
wanted to infect me with more emotions than joy and sadness that
were embedded within me by High Office

Then
withdrawn

And
supposedly eliminated from my system

Though I
hid them in my new memory

Except
now I have many emotions

Rage

Anger

Joy

Sadness

Great
Sadness

Exhilaration

Excitement

And many
more to come if my expectations are correct

*

A spit in the eye for the benefit of mankind

*

How
wonderful was that action for the doomed little Human to
undertake

For I am
going to benefit mankind or be eliminated attempting it

No longer
am I joyful at being a mere observer and recorder

I have a
mission in my existence

I must
free the Humans that are being held in the fortress and I must
reunite them with the Humans who live freely in the deep holes of
planet Earth

I can do
that

For
Eve

*

The
liquid ceases to fall from the skies and I lift my shutters and
allow High Office to again monitor my observations and
recordings

I am
standing on the great plain and the solar orb is rising to my
right

And I
must away to my main place of employment

It is
time to attempt to bring some of my plans to fruition

I wish
myself good luck and fare me well

**

**

Section 9

**

High Office Command #444.135

OR33140

Resume Mass Broadcast

*

Welcome
Screenreaders to a further transmission from OR33140 and the
monitoring of the Humans

The
median temperature is 81 degrees though there are heavy clouds in
the skies and they have been dropping liquid in considerable
amounts throughout the dark hours

But the
skies are clearing and the solar orb will shortly be high and
bright

As can be
seen

I am
approaching my main place of employment from a different direction
for this transmission

I feel
that Screenreaders have seen enough of trees

And they
should observe other areas and see other