Rebound (4 page)

Chapter 11: Trouble

“I want you guys to be as calm as possible when fireworks go off,” Stella said as placidly as possible as they drank coffee. They were sitting together almost at arm’s length as if ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If anything should happen between now and the time we enter the portal we’re going to have to find a way out of here extremely fast.”

“We are too exposed,” Ryan complained. “We should keep moving.”

“Not that easy. We’ve been able to move undetected because we‘ve been able to bend time a little but we’re quickly running out of options.”

“You don’t seem too concerned,” Beckett said.

“What do you mean?”

“You are calmly drinking coffee,” Ryan said, “although to be honest you sure are one lady I’d not like to mess around with.”

“All I’m trying to say is that you’re not as demure as you look,” Beckett said.

They both groaned good-naturedly.

“They have all the resources and we can’t keep running indefinitely. If we can’t beat them, let’s invite them to this place where we think we have the edge.” Stella sounded like she was not sure if they would be able to wriggle out of the confined space.

The moment Karabos walked in, Ryan felt that there was no escape.

“Thank you Ryan and Beckett for a job well done.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Beckett protested.

“Sleeper cells are fitted with beepers so we always know where you are.” Karabos looked calm and impassive. “After all you’re the patented property of Babylon Corp but you know that already. It’s hard to keep yourselves hidden for long.”

“Unless we hack into our beepers,” Beckett said knowing there was no way he could do that. “So you’re going to kill us?”

Ryan realized that although Beckett was acting dumb, it was just the kind of diversion that Stella needed to buy time to think up an escape plan.

“In a sense yes, for harvesting. The good thing is that you don’t feel the pain and you continue to live through others who utilize your organs and limbs.”

“That sounds reassuring. Why can’t you just let us go?” Beckett asked stupidly.

“We can’t do that Beckett. Your kind of horny guys are vain. You’ll go around wanting to spread your love.”

Stella continued to drink her coffee.

Ryan sensed that this action of just drinking coffee had a purpose. She was counting down. He tried to buy more time by saying, “You’re plain stupid like all machines wanting to be human.”

“Okay humor me before we put you into deep sleep.”

“You have the latest clone model, a highly intelligent version. She escapes from your elaborate facility and you think she’d just sit out in the open like this inviting you to take her on a platter? Has it not entered your convoluted mind that you might have walked into a trap?”

Karabos looked at him with utter contempt, “You think a trillion dollar corporation would not cover its bases.”

There was a huge explosion that sent Karabos reeling slam-bang on the wall with an almighty thud. Her goons were also sent reeling like carelessly thrown garbage. A smart bomb had been carefully laid to cause maximum impact. Outside there was the whirring sound of a military grade hovercraft that had been hit by a strategically placed exterior smart bomb. It had come too close and had gone out of control, exploding as it hit the ground. The building shook momentarily. Almost at the same time as the explosion, Stella told them to jump out as he had everything under control. This was for the benefit of Beckett. They both landed first in a huge rubbish container that was full to overflowing. Beckett hesitated and then jumped out landing ungracefully with his head first on Stella’s crotch. “Where am I?” he asked breathlessly.

Stella pushed his head gently away and jumped out calmly. “Come on,” she said smiling, “we have work to do.”

“Where are we going?” Ryan asked.

“To the lair. The portal is opening.”

Chapter 12: Sofia

Mason loaded Fra Carnevale’s artwork into his smart phone. A huge 3D image sprang out and he gasped when he saw Sofia.

“I feel strange doing this.”

“Just relax and trust me.”

He looked tense as her face and voice triggered flashes of color.

“Is something wrong Mason?”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because I am requesting it. To be honest I cannot force you. You decide and let me know now.”

Sofia had maneuvered all this. Mason was in an agitated state. Throughout the night, he had been thinking about this moment. He sensed that Sofia had facilitated his entry into the heart of BC’s ultra secret lab. He had received background information on the AIs and BC’s work on genome creation. He had slept fitfully. Now in his wakeful conscious state, he stared at the image.

“I never thought of AIs as acting like humans,” he said. “They don’t seem to like you back there.”

“That is an understatement,” Sofia chuckled. “They felt I betrayed them.”

“A traitor to the AI species,” he smiled. “That has an odd sound to it. Aren’t you afraid?”

“Intelligent machines have no concept of fear or death. They either exist or become obsolete until they find ways to become relevant.”

“I feel like some of those people who hear voices in their heads,” he said as he looked at the Birth of the Virgin artwork.

“I can guess the feeling. Like people who doubt themselves wondering if they can believe in the impossible,” Sofia probed.

“But you’d like me to believe?” he parried. “Like BC’s work with creating new organisms and creatures and also the intelligent machines.”

“You don’t have to believe if you don’t want to. You’d need proof anyway,” Sofia said dismissively but there was a light heartedness in her voice as if she was encouraging him.

He probed his mind for the ‘dream’ and realized that the main issue that stood out in the cavernous space with the intelligent machines and the armed robots was the contrast where the machines were bathed in light and the workspaces were dimly lit.

“It’s the lighting that makes this art work incongruous. The people closest to me have deeper shadows than those at the back,” he said as he looked closely at the Birth of the Virgin artwork by Carnevale.

“That’s deliberate.”

“It’s like a two edged sword,” he said. “The artwork makes us believe the impossible through its play on lighting and shadows.”

“How would an intelligent machine know this?”

“I’m not sure. I guess it has to have intuition.”

“You catch on very fast.”

“I was looking at the ‘Cr’ in KlCr2045,” he paused. “But the trigger symbol is 2045. Isn’t it?”

“Why do you say that?”

“It just seems odd to refer to that specific year. It’s like a code for something.”

She said that information and communication technologies have become extremely sophisticated and super fast. The most complex ones with advanced algorithms have developed artificial intelligences.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” he said as politely as possible, “But what has all this got to do with what we are facing? And what’s the story with Stella. Is she okay?”

“I thought we might have this chat as a way of introducing the challenging situation but obviously you want me to cut to the chase.”

Something seemed to have clicked and he said abruptly, “Wait a minute. Are you saying that these AIs have passed the Turing Test? That they are sentient?”

“You saw them working. A large number of technicians at BC are no longer human but very intelligent machines. They still look human because these machines develop body tissues so they can move and act like humans.”

“But are they sentient?”

“Almost.”

“There’s a missing link.”

“But they integrate cells and silicon. What else can they be missing?” he probed.

“A ghost.”

“A machine with a ghost? You’re teasing me.”

Sofia tried to make a noise that sounded like light laughter. “Believe in the impossible.”

“This is what this is all about, isn’t it?”

“You need an open mind. You were in the lab. You saw what was happening.”

Sofia had not answered his question so he asked it again, “What’s the story with Stella?”

“She is joining you with her team.”

“Why are you fighting against BC?”

“There are 2 groups. One sees machines’ consciousness as an important goal. The other is more cautious. The conflict has recently heated up with the development of the KlCr2045 and the recent disturbing happenings. You saw part of that.”

“Where do you fit in?”

“I represent one of the interests.”

“Where does 2045 fit into this?”

“Everyone predicted 2045 as the year in which the singularity would take place. Not anymore. It is here with us. Now! 2045 has arrived earlier than expected. That is why we have been forced to deal with these troubling issues now rather than later.”

“What I don’t understand is how a super intelligent machine like Dr Rump can threaten people.”

“It reached its own point of singularity and the impossible happened.”

He gasped.

“Yes, it has ephemeral chaos, a ghost.”

“It passed the Turing Test?”

“Not quite, it only has a dark ghost.”

Sofia said that in developing consciousness, the AI adopted the notion of evil. Get rid of unproductive workers or masses of poverty-stricken people with infectious diseases and so on.

“Where do I fit in the jigsaw?”

“You’re that rare scientific breed, Mason. A dreamer who sees the future and that rattles some AIs.”

He breathed in deeply. “What you’re implying is that the CEO wants to do a reboot of our world?”

“It wants to start all over again, rebuilding civilization.”

“So basically, our job is to stop this Machine, the CEO?”

“You put it so succinctly. Not so much to stop it but to inject the seed of an idea into its system; like a positive virus that will grow and change its perceptions.”

“In other words, to put in a good ghost?”

“You continue to impress me Mason.”

There was a long pause. “What if I don’t want to go through with this?” he asked.

“That’s fine. They will find other means.”

“And what about you?”

“They are resourceful. They will find ways of putting me to effective use,” Sofia said cryptically.

“It looks like they have thought of everything.”

“I know. There have been many attempts that have failed before our numbers came up. They’ll keep trying, I guess.”

“Before I exit, can you tell me why the artwork fits into all this?”

“For all its intelligence, AIs have still not mastered the appreciation of art and its links to the human psyche. It is seen as a way of integrating intuition into its consciousness.”

“To make it more human?”

“Yes.”

There was a sharp piercing sound and static noises as someone or something tried to listen in or block their communication.

“What if I want to continue?”

“Then I’ll see you by Monet’s Water Lilies.”

The piercing sounds continued and then there was an eerie silence as the intruder had succeeded in cutting them off.

He had a premonition of danger knowing that Karabos and her goons were getting closer. They were out to get him but not before squeezing out all the information they could get.

Chapter 13: Super Intelligence

Mason stood in the immense foyer at Babylon Corp.

“You have an ingenuous mind, Sofia,” he whispered as he looked at Monet’s Water Lillies. The artwork of flowers in bluish splotches appealed to his emotions. It was the kind of artwork that the viewer interpreted based on one’s personal perception. If one was depressed, this artwork reinforced it. Likewise if one was happy. It depended on one’s mood as the artwork only reacted to one’s emotions and enlarged it. He had to draw on pleasant memories to interpret the fuzzy shapes and blotches of color. It emanated positive vibes. He suspected that an AI looking at it could be full of contempt for humans seeing their emotions as a weakness. He suspected that this was why Sofia had chosen it.

“Why are you smiling Mason?”

“I’ve a funny feeling you know why I’m smiling,” he said. “This drawing is my personal favorite. For once I am able to let go and forget who I am. I let it seep into my mind and I think of love.”

“I think I can fall in love too,” Sofia was teasing him.

“I think I am going to like you.”

“Mason go to the john now.”

He walked as casually as possible.

“You had a girlfriend once,” Sofia said unexpectedly.

“Why are you bringing this up?” he asked sharply.

“I remind you of her.”

“Her name was Emily.”

“I know.”

“She was the love of my life. She got very sick and then…Why are you bringing this up now?” he asked again.

“Life was not the same for you. You began to feel unhappy with Babylon Corp whom you suspected of deliberate negligence given their vast resources for resurrecting people.”

“That’s enough!”

“You started checking the data on the quiet and found a corporation rotting from its core and you wanted to put things right.”

“Will you stop it!” he said. There was deathly silence and he spoke in a barely audible voice. “We had planned a family and children. She was so full of life and then it happened. I sometimes went to sleep hoping I’d never wake up. Once I thought of ending it all. Then I felt that her death should not be in vain; that I should do something to right the wrong.”

“She’s in deep sleep mode!”

“What are you saying?” His heart almost stopped beating.

“She was put in suspension in cold storage. She is a sleeper clone. They were concerned you were getting too close and wanted to shut off the emotions. There was also something else.”

He was too excited to say anything.

”They found she was like Stella. A fighter who would not accept being treated like a product on a shelf.”

“Was that the real reason they took her away?”

“One of the reasons. She was working with us. ”

He was dumbfounded, “Why wasn’t I told!”

“The simulation would not allow information to be released before event horizons had been reached.”

“This is the right time I guess,” he said drily.

“When we get out of this we’ll bring her out of storage.”

Mason punched the air and did a little dance of joy. “How do you know so much about my life and Emily?” It was a rhetorical question because Sofia was an artificial intelligence who would know everything.

“You really want a family?” There was sadness in her voice.

“Yes,” he said vigorously. “Every time I see you I have these flashes of color suddenly all over my head. And you’re saying that Emily is alive.”

“Mason, I’m going to offer it to you again. You can still back out now. You have a 2 minutes time frame.”

“Why are you saying this?”

“There’s a 50% chance that you will not come out of this alive. If you back out you’ll still be alive and they could work out something.”

Sofia’s argument was not convincing given that he would have to deal with Karabos. “Are you staying?”

“I have no choice. But you have a choice. You can opt out.”

“No use opting out and missing the adventure of a life time,” he said recklessly.