Sparks of Chaos (16 page)

Armstrong had recently watched and personally oversaw the creation of the third BLI. He had been named Cheswick; he was somewhat shorter and thinner in appearance than Armstrong with elegantly coiffed white hair. The entire creation process had taken only a day. Another day was taken to effectively ‘boot up’, co-ordinate their actions and acclimate the BLI to their new world. Their programming allowed them to begin functioning immediately as a fully formed adult. Similar to animals, they were provided with all the instinctual behavior required to function. While they of course had no personal memories, they could instantly access, process and understand an untold amount of information and data.

These capabilities made the BLI an extremely formidable organism. Realizing the dangers involved in creating such potentially dangerous beings, Rex had built in a number of safeguards to balance the risks. While like all humans, Rex was imperfect, he strived to be a good man. He wanted his BLI to be as good as well. After all, who would envision a utopia crammed full of superior and evil ‘robots’. Rex did not expect perfection, which was a good thing, since he did he not know how to program for it effectively. Instead, he built a moral action filter into the BLI to enforce what hoped would be ethical behavior.

The moral filter was simple to understand, it forced all actions by the BLI to meet three simple criteria. Those were Protection, Guidance and Service to humans, the island society and to Rex. Everything they did had to pass this test. They were programmed to derive pleasure from doing this well. Rex had deliberately designed it so that BLI and humans were co-dependent. It was somewhat of a symbiotic relationship, with each needing the other. Although distinct individuals they were created without personal ambition other than being the best at the three goals. Their programming was to look to the long term and as immortal beings they were well suited to it. Their bodies were tough but even if they were ever harmed or destroyed, they would simply be recreated into new bodies. BLI brains were continuously backed up and stored centrally to be ready for download into a new exact copy body if ever required.

Armstrong never felt the Three Principles were constraining, he cherished them as an integral part of his being. He not only cherished them, he thought of himself as the Guardian of Three Principles. He alone would make sure that the multitude of BLI that he would see created, would follow his interpretation of The Principles. As he looked around the room, he saw more than a thousand blank slate BLI bodies ready for deployment. He had quietly and surreptitiously built this horde to be prepared for the next stage of his plan.

Rex was unaware of his preparation, he was far too busy with his many other projects and experiments to come down here anymore. This was Armstrong’s domain and he was determined to pursue his vision. He would make his vision a reality, whether others agreed or not. He would take whatever actions he viewed that would progress that vision, he vowed that no one or no thing would deter him. In that end he had made some adjustments to the random program for Cheswick, to make him more acceptable to the important role he needed him to play in this crucial stage of his plan.

Armstrong saw no contradiction to his actions; small detours on the road were completely acceptable as long as the ultimate destination was consistent with The Three Principles. He had no intention in letting anyone, BLI or human know of his role in creating his vision of their society. There was no personal ego involved in this; in his opinion all his actions were and would continue to be justified. He looked around the room one last time and allowed himself a smug, self-satisfied smile. Everything was ready now; a series of unanticipated actions had led to a clever plan that he was going to start implementing right now.

He returned to the medical diagnostic room where Birgit’s recovering body lay and Tedford and Cheswick awaited him. Standing over the body on the diagnostic table, they motioned Armstrong to join them. “How is she progressing?” Armstrong asked.

“She has made a full recovery in the transfer process of course, the biobots are extremely efficient,” Tedford told him.

“Has there been any brain damage?”

“None at all, the damage was mainly confined to the base of her skull and Chase administered the biobots quickly enough to ensure that the preservation of her personality and memories were complete.” Cheswick said. “Have we decided not to tell her about the full procedure required to save her life?”

“We think it is best she never be told of the full extent of what was done to her. How did Rex react to the news? There was no way to hide this from him, we needed his authorization to complete the transfer process,” Tedford asked.   

“Exactly as we anticipated he would. He was upset over the Professor’s not joining us and quite angry at having a female on the island at this stage. He wants to meet her after we have completed her orientation to the island.”

Tedford and Cheswick looked at each other and chuckled, “That is exactly what you told us would happen. What does this do to his female segregation policy that he wanted to implement,” Tedford asked.

“I know that I am new here but how did he ever think that would work, nothing in human history indicated that type of plan would be successful,” Cheswick added.

“Rex had wanted to avoid what he considered to be one of the leading causes of conflict in every civilization. Due to the longevity of a population of immortals, he will not allow any births to take place on the island. Women are genetically programmed to want to procreate and keeping them barren he thought would lead ultimately to unrest. It is also the competitive and aggressive nature of men to fight over the most desirable women that lead to conflicts and wars. Rex’s goal was to build a congenial and less competitive society that would work together in the pursuit of progress.”

“Did he truly believe that would work? How did he think he could have a functioning society without women?” Cheswick continued primly. His mannerisms were rather meticulous, almost fussy; if he were human he would probably be described as effeminate.

“He knew they were needed, he just wanted to keep them separate from the general population. He wished for a transient group of women that would stay for short periods and then be replaced. He wanted to avoid permanent pairings as he felt it could be destabilizing to a small population over long periods of time.”

“His concerns are certainly valid, with people living for thousands of years and staying eternally young, there are massive social problems having children and great-great grandchildren all looking the same age and mingling together. It is a social dynamic that has never been experienced before and it is fraught with potential problems,” Tedford added.

“The real problem is how Rex chose to deal with it. Every analysis and long-term projection that we ran eventually ended in disaster, every one. It was our failure in trying to convince him to try another path that has been our biggest concern.”

“Now this girl changes the dynamic?” Cheswick asked.

“Indeed, having her as a permanent resident will force a re-working of the plan. Coupled with difficulties of recruiting and transporting the world’s famous scientists here, the whole illusion is beginning to unravel,” Tedford answered.

Armstrong added with emphasis, “We must take this golden opportunity to unveil our plan which takes into account the real concerns that Rex highlighted but addresses them in a more realistic and manageable fashion. We have some time but this needs to be a priority focus for all of us and I expect both of you to begin coming up with preliminary ideas for how best to discuss it with him.”

“Of course we will,” they answered.

“Cheswick are you prepared to begin partnering with Birgit?” Armstrong queried.

“Yes but I have to ask, did you know she would come instead of the Professor, as you deliberately delayed my partnering planning with Professor Hauptmann?”

“No of course not, the odds were high that something would happen to disrupt things, we just didn’t know what it would be.”

“I am going to return to Chase to try and smooth some ruffled feathers there,” Tedford said. “Cheswick will take Birgit to the secure apartment to recover before her briefing and orientation.

“We will meet later in my chambers this evening for an update and strategy session,” Armstrong said before dismissing them.

Chapter 29

Chase paced nervously in his large bedroom. He did not appreciate being banished here and kept in what he fancied as house arrest. He had been feeling out of sorts and to be honest, sorry for himself. This was like the adult version of being in ‘time-out’ and he didn’t appreciate it one little bit. He was in this time-out for murder after all, well a kind of accidental murder. It had only been a few hours since he had accidently killed Birgit, hopefully she wasn’t really permanently dead. Yes, that phrase did sound bizarre to him as he thought it. He hated to admit it but he was very worried about her and he felt a terrible weight of guilt crushing down upon him for it. She just had to be alright, he certainly didn’t want to feel like this for eternity.

How dare they blame him for all of this, none of it was his fault. It was they who should have come up with better plans; he had just done what they’d told him to do. The more he thought about it, the more he believed that the Professor bore some of the blame for it too. Even with him being old and senile, it would have worked if he hadn’t acted so crazily at exactly the wrong moment. Even Birgit was at fault, if she hadn’t been so darn nosy and come in to check on them, everything would have worked out perfectly.

What happened to his wonderful luck, why had it deserted him yet again? It was as though his guardian angel had suddenly developed a serious drinking habit and was occasionally too drunk or hung over to do his job properly. Hopefully his angel would get into rehab so he could get all his luck back. Come to think of it, a lot of his luck lately had been rather slipshod. He was rescued from the boat, but he ended up stuck forever on this island. His life was saved and he was now immortal but he could never go home again. He met a great girl he really liked but he accidentally killed her. He didn’t have any idea how his life was going to evolve from here and that was both frightening and yet also exciting.

Chase’s wristband vibrated indicating the arrival of a visitor. Tapping it to show his acceptance, he watched as Tedford appeared and walked over to greet him. “Am I finally going to be released from my prison?”

“Do not be so sarcastic, it is not becoming of you. I have come to give you some advice.”

“Ooh that is exactly what I was hoping for, delivery of a nice steaming hot bowl of advice, are you sure that you haven’t come to yell at me some more?”

Surprising Chase with the sharpness of his tone, Tedford said “Stop acting like a child, sit down and listen to me, this is important. Whether you choose to believe me or not I am on your side. My role is as your advisor and I am always looking out for your best interests.”

Interrupting him, Chase said “I just loved the way you stuck up for me when I returned. You’re doing a great job of looking out for me so far.”

Shaking his head, Tedford told him “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, there are more important things to deal with right now. Pay close attention to what I am going to tell you. I don’t believe you did anything wrong in Germany, I have to admit you caught us by surprise with what happened but I do not blame you. That does not mean that Mr. King feels the same way. I will do what I can to help you with this but it will not be easy.”

“Why should he be angry with me?”

“Fair or not he blames you for the destruction of his dream. That is what I have come to talk about with you today.”

“I could have brought him here if only…”

“We don’t have time to rehash that argument right now, I suspect that Mr. King is going to come and confront you very soon. When he comes you must understand he is venting his anger on you. Whatever you do, you must not challenge him. Make your case but do not expect him to listen much right now. Do your best to be contrite, this is hopefully only a short term problem that we must deal with now.”

“I haven’t even met him yet, he has no reason to be so angry with me.”

Grabbing him by the shoulders, he peered directly into his eyes and told the boy, “Please Chase, you must focus on what I am telling you. Do not let emotions get the better of you this time.”

Like a sullen and defeated child, Chase said, “Alright I will do as you suggested. I don’t like it but I will do it.”

“Good we will have an opportunity to get things back on track after we get through this…” Tedford was interrupted by the vibration of his wristband.  “He is here now. Mr. King has arrived, remember what I told you.”

Striding in with purpose, Rex walked over and pointed at Tedford, “Leave us Tedford, I wish to speak with our young Mr. Chase alone.” Nodding silently he walked out but glanced back at Chase with a pleading private stare, then exited.

Chase was stunned, “Are you Mr. King?” he asked. He had always pictured the unseen founder of the island as some form of an older mad scientist, complete with the standard white lab coat and crazy Albert Einstein hair. The man standing in front of him was nothing like that. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties and he was tall, several inches over Chase’s own six feet height. Incredibly dark blue-black hair framed very white skin with striking blue eyes of a shade he had never seen on anyone before. All in all he looked like the perfect male model who had just stepped off the pages of some la-di-dah high fashion magazine.

“Yes I am, but we go by first names here, you are to call me Rex. You look surprised, why is that?”

“I guess I was expecting someone much older, from what they had told me about you, I thought you had worked on all of this for a very long time.”

“Ah of course,” he said with a completely dry humorless chuckle. “Yes, I was a good deal older when I accomplished all of this. When I established the island I used the biobots to change my body into something more conducive and comfortable. I had no desire to spend eternity in an old man’s body. Something you would understand better if you had ever been older yourself.”