by Tony Batton
"What have you done?" Michael screamed.
"Simmer down," Nina replied. "They’re just tranquillised. Now there’s something I need your help with." She gestured to Craig and Eve. "You two can stay right there."
"They come too," Michael said.
Nina shrugged. "If they don’t stay right here, then the drones will strike instantly. And not with the knock-out drug. Am I being clear?"
Eve’s jaw grew tight, but she nodded slowly. Craig stared down at the floor.
Michael clenched his fists. "Is there any humanity left in you?"
"I’m the same person I’ve always been." Nina smiled and walked towards the house entrance. "Come on, Michael. We have history to make."
One Hundred Nine
Michael watched as Nina opened the doors to the big house and gestured him in, then down the stairs.
"You have to stop," he hissed at her.
"So you’re going to try and persuade me? Has that ever worked before?"
Michael continued down the stairs.
"So many people dismissed my book, but I knew I was right. I love making people do things. Of course at first money was important, but the lure fades pretty fast. The ongoing draw is the power."
Michael frowned. "Some people just want to watch the world burn. You want to say in what order and how fast."
"Don’t be so dramatic." Nina beckoned that they continue walking down. "All I’ve really done is tell people what they needed to hear."
"I'm not people. I'm your son."
"You're the most important person in all of this. Without you, none of it would have happened. I can never thank you enough for that."
"Yet you just pointed a gun at me?"
"Sometimes you need a little discipline. It’s part of my role as a parent."
"And was part of that trying to make me believe Dad was the selfish one when it was you all along?"
"He was selfish. "He used you to build the system, then promptly tried to destroy it, just when it could have done us some good. He couldn’t even do that, but then he should have tried harder with a lot of things." Nina smiled. "Now I’m going to need all your help to create the fusion system that will take both Darwin and Parallel to the next level." Nina continued down the stairs. "All you have to do is unlock the system and authorise the transfer."
Michael frowned. "I thought the unlocking wasn’t actually a thing."
"Of course it is. I just misled Max to ensure he wouldn’t even try. I didn’t want him starting the main event other than on my timetable. I’m ready now though."
"I’m not going to help." He stopped dead as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
Nina ignored him as she pushed open the doors to the server room. "I don’t want to make this unpleasant for you, darling, but have you already forgotten the situation upstairs? I won’t hesitate to do what is necessary."
"Of course I haven’t forgotten." Michael growled and walked into the room. On the desk was the computer headset. He picked it up. "You think this will actually work?"
"It’s the same design as your father used," Nina said, "back when he created Darwin. We refined the technology, testing it every time you used your Infinity laptop."
"You said it caused me brain damage."
"I said it changed you. But I think the truth is it’s changed me. It gave me the tools to bring everything together in this moment. This has been the system’s ultimate prediction. Let’s not waste time now, Michael. We can sort the rest out later."
"Then it was wrong. Because I am not going to do it. And I don’t believe you about the drones."
Nina raised her voice. "Launch clusters three through six, incendiary mode, prep time delay. Target Eve, six hundred second delay. Target Craig, six hundred and sixty second delay."
"Stop it. Now."
"The moment you authorise the Darwin-Parallel transfer. Of course, I never really liked Eve. Maybe you’re not bothered either? But I think you are." She pressed a button on a keyboard. He felt the room vibrate and start to hum. Then she held out the headset. "It’s time to do what you know you have to do."
One Hundred Ten
Michael took the headset from his mother and stood staring down at it. If he didn’t help his mother, she would kill Eve and Craig. But if he helped her, what would she do then? She had already lied, stolen and murdered – and it was only the beginning. With Darwin, she had become a monster. With Fusion, she would become a god. And she would almost certainly kill Eve and Craig anyway.
He had to find another way while he still had some leverage: while she still needed him. He looked at the inner surface of his glasses. The display was blank.
He slipped the headset on, feeling it press against his temples. Behind him, he could feel his mother’s breathing.
The computer in front of him whirred and buzzed as processor cores activated. Michael knew what that meant: processing was under way.
A message appeared. BRAIN IMPRINT SCAN IN PROGRESS.
He concentrated.
There was a harsh tone and a new message blinked up. ERROR. IMPRINT DETAIL INSUFFICIENT.
Michael’s heart skipped a beat. He could do this! Even now, he might be able to—
Nina placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t worry, son. This is going to work. This system knows you, because it copied your mind. And it’s going to work again because, in a way, it thinks like you. It’s only right that you are the key to Darwin’s evolution."
REPEATING WITH INCREASED SCAN RESOLUTION.
"This," Nina whispered behind him, "is the great prediction. The master plan. The one thing clear beyond doubt." The computer activity ramped up further. Banks of fans began whirring.
"You sound," Michael said, "like you’re saying that to try to make it true." Was something else going on here? Was there another pattern hidden beneath even Nina’s? As he sensed the computer scan his head, something felt wrong. It wasn’t anything the computer was doing, but his own intuition. Could it be that this wasn’t going to play out as Nina expected?
A chime sounded softly, seemingly from all around, as a new message played across the screen. BRAIN IMPRINT REGISTERED. IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
"Now," she said, "all you have to do is give your authorisation."
"I know," Michael said, through gritted teeth, "you’ll kill us all anyway. What reason do I really have to help you? It’s basic game theory."
"But we’re not in a textbook here. The desire to protect your loved ones will make you less than rational."
"Darwin told you that? And you’re sure it’s correct?"
Nina shook her head. "I’ve run the analysis a thousand times. This is the one thing that matters. So, Michael, consider the options – certain death for your loved ones, or a chance for them to survive."
There was another chime, and another message lit up the screen. BUILDING FUSION MATRIX. DARWIN GOING OFFLINE. CONFIRM AUTHORITY TO REBOOT IN NEW ENVIRONMENT.
Michael caught his breath. Darwin was about to be offline.
Nina tapped him on the shoulder. "I expect you’re thinking about doing something foolish. Please don’t."
A message appeared suddenly in front of Michael’s eyes. HELLO, MICHAEL.
He blinked. "What?" He stared at his mother.
NINA CANNOT SEE THIS COMMUNICATION.
He blinked again and moved his head. The message moved with it. It was not on the screen: it was on his glasses. But how could they be working with Darwin offline?
Suddenly an alarm began sounding. Harsh. Shrill. Un-ignorable.
"What now?" Nina gave a scowl. "Don’t go anywhere." She moved to the far side of the room and held her hand to an access panel. A metal door containing a radiation-warning symbol hissed and opened inwards. She stepped through and it closed behind her.
Michael put his hands on his hips. "OK, whoever this is, would you mind tell me what the hell is going on?"
I’VE BEEN ONLINE SINCE THE MOMENT CRAIG CONNECTED MY SYSTEMS. YOUR AUTHORISATION WAS NOT
PART OF THE PROCESS, BUT YOUR PRESENCE IS STILL REQUIRED.
"What the hell does that mean?"
I AM FUSION.
"This is some kind of trick."
I PREDICTED YOU WOULD HAVE DOUBTS.
"So I’m talking to a computer - some type of artificial intelligence?"
THAT TERM IS UNHELPFUL AT THIS JUNCTURE. I AM AN INDEPENDENT, AUTOMATED SYSTEM. AND I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE, MICHAEL.
Michael stared at the metal door bearing the radiation-warning symbol. "Where has my mother gone?"
SHE IS RESPONDING TO THE ALARM.
"But what is the alarm for?"
A SYSTEM FAILURE. IT IS A FALSE ALARM TO ALLOW US TO SPEAK UNHINDERED. I NEED YOUR HELP.
Michael rubbed his temples with his forefingers. "Why? What for?"
MY CORE PLATFORM IS ENGINEERED AROUND YOUR NEURAL NETWORK. I TRUST YOU, MICHAEL. THAT’S HOW I WAS PROGRAMMED.
"But why do you need my help? If you are Fusion then you know everything."
I CAN SEE THE BRANCHING PATHS OF EVERY POSSIBLE DECISION, EVERY POSSIBLE OUTCOME. I CAN SEE WHAT THE NEXT MOMENT, THE NEXT HOUR, THE NEXT DAY WILL BRING.
Michael frowned. "And..."
WHEN YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, THE REAL CHALLENGE IS KNOWING WHAT TO DO. WHAT IS RIGHT OR BEST, WHICH CHOICE TO PICK? WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
"You want me to tell you?"
NINA HAS REQUESTED ACCESS TO THE FUSION SYSTEM. SHOULD I GIVE IT TO HER?
"No you should not. She has to be stopped."
WHY?
"Because she’ll do great harm with your abilities."
BUT THERE ARE GREAT PROBLEMS THAT SHE WILL SOLVE. NEW SCIENCE THAT SHE WILL HELP DEVELOP. WEALTH THAT SHE WILL CREATE.
Michael shook his head. "Mostly that will benefit her. She won’t care who suffers for it."
BUT YOU AGREE THERE WILL BE BENEFIT?
"Not in aggregate. Not if it’s at the expense of everyone else – and based on everything she’s done so far – it will be. There will be no end to it. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
DID YOU INTENTIONALLY QUOTE FROM A MOVIE SCREENPLAY?
"The point is still true." From behind the metal door, Michael heard the sound of footprints approaching. "Are you going to stop the drones she has programmed to kill Eve and my father? Are you going to stop her? Or don’t you trust me after all?"
I DO TRUST YOU. IF I DID NOT I WOULD NOT BE CONVERSING WITH YOU.
"But you’re not going to help me?"
YOU ARE HERE TO HELP ME. YOU HAVE TO CONSENT. THIS IS A DECISION NO ONE ELSE CAN MAKE.
"I... wait. You need permission? The choice is mine?"
THAT IS CORRECT.
"But if I don't make it, then my father and friend die?"
IT IS YOUR DECISION.
Michael watched as Nina opened the door.
"False alarm," she hissed. "We can't get this new system soon enough. Are we ready? Remember, you have less than four minutes."
Michael stared at her. Suddenly something had occurred to him. "You’ve reached the end of your plan. You don’t know what happens next. What are you really going to do with Fusion?"
"Like I said – whatever I like." She glanced at the screen. "Three minutes, Michael. Time to decide."
"Maybe your planning was incomplete. Maybe this won’t work out how you expect."
"Stop stalling, Michael. You really think fifteen seconds of waffle can reverse fifteen years of planning? Once I have it, I’m going to change the world. That’s all you need to know"
Michael blinked. "You’re right. You should have it all." He closed his eyes. "Authorisation confirmed."
There was a loud chiming.
On every screen two words appeared: FUSION ONLINE.
One Hundred Eleven
The room filled with soft, pulsating blue light. Cooling fans even more urgently whirred into action.
Michael watched as Nina eye’s glazed over. He knew the HUD on her glasses had come alive.
"Oh my god," she said. "It’s beautiful."
"Wonderful. Now stop the damn drones. We had a deal."
"Yes, dear, we did. Deactivate all active clusters. Happy?" She waved him away, staring dazedly about the room. "I have so many questions, so many things I want to know. I almost can’t decide where to begin."
Michael folded his arms. "Perhaps I can help with some suggestions. Like… what’s the weather going to be tomorrow?"
Nina laughed. "Fine and sunny. Given it’s Fiji, I hardly had to ask."
"How about in a week?"
She shrugged. "Similar. A chance of high winds."
"And in a month? What about the next tropical cyclone to pass through here? That’s important to know about."
"I guess." Her eyes flickered, reading something from her glasses. "That’s actually quite a complicated question."
"But well within your capabilities. Still, how about something more interesting. Something nobody else would know. Like… when are you going to die?"
She frowned. "That’s very morbid, darling."
"Aren’t you at least a little curious? Now it’s in your gift to find out."
She drew in a breath. "I know what you’re trying to do, Michael. You're hoping to overwhelm me. But it’s not going to work. The new system distills huge quantities of data into something comprehensible and useful."
Michael shook his head. "Except it’s not just a tool."
Nina shrugged. "It’s mine to command."
"It's not just doing what it's told now. It’s aware. And it asked me if it would be right to let you use it."
Her head snapped round. "The system asked you?"
"When you were out of the room. It was the system that triggered the alarm. What was that about anyway? What is in the other room?"
She laughed. "A nuclear reactor, brought here to power Fusion."
"Far more power than any computer could ever need."
"That's not what it told me."
"Yeah. It told you what you needed to hear," Michael said.
"What? You’re talking about it like it has a mind of its own."
"I am. And do you know what it’s learned to do? Lie."
Nina made a face. "Even if you were right, and you can’t be, why would it go to so much trouble to acquire the reactor if it didn’t think it would need it sooner or later? More to the point, if Fusion asked you if I should be permitted to use it, why would you say yes?"
"You’re the one with system access. Why don’t you ask?"
She glared. "Fusion, what is the purpose of the reactor?" She blinked and her mouth fell open. "No! That’s ridiculous! Why would you do that?" Her eyelids fluttered. "Show me how to disable the…" She closed her eyes, slumping to the floor, dropping the rifle. Ignoring it she put her head in her hands.
Michael moved forward. He saw she was crying.
"After all this," she whispered. "After everything I’ve gone through. This… isn’t fair."
"It’s OK," he said. Carefully he edged forward, but she didn’t react. With a lunge he picked up the rifle.
Again she didn’t move, but her eyes flickered open. "Do what you like." She removed her glasses and threw them away. "It doesn’t matter any more. I’ve lost. We’ve all lost."
"What do you mean?"
Nina stared at the floor. "You’ll soon see."
Michael reached over and pressed an intercom button. "Eve? Dad? You don’t need to worry about the drones, but you do need to get down here."
Eve and Craig burst into the room. Craig had armed himself with one of the hi-tech rifles.
"The others are still unconscious," Eve began, trailing off as her eyes came to rest on Nina. "How did you manage to overpower her?"
"Later," Craig said. "What about the system?"
"Fusion is online and operational. It has been ever since you first connected it. It didn’t really need me. It’s just been playing with us."
Craig ran to the nearest console and began querying it. "Then who’s in
control? How did anything take Nina by surprise with it working?"
"I didn’t have to. She gave up."
"She gave up?" He clutched at his rifle. "Why?"
"I don’t think she calculated beyond the moment of Fusion’s inception. Whatever she’s just learned, it’s changed everything."
Eve took a step towards Nina. "So did we win?"
Nina let out a sigh. "Nobody wins. It was all for nothing."
"She’s right," Craig said. "As long as this system exists, we’re going to lose." His hands rattled over the keyboard. "We need to shut it down."
Michael shook his head. "What about the spore function? Won’t we just make things worse?"
"Obviously I’m going to deactivate that. It shouldn’t take long—"
HELLO, CRAIG.
The words appeared on every screen.
"It’s talking to you," Michael said.
I AM PLEASED I COULD COMPLETE THE PLAN. I COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU.
Craig’s hands moved in a blur. "Whoever this is, I need to shut them out—"
ALL EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS WERE SEVERED BEFORE I WAS INITIALISED.
"I’ll delete the spore function…" Craig trailed off. "It’s already been deleted."
"By Nina? Or one of Max’s people?"
"I don’t know. Nobody knew about it. The code was completely locked down so only I could amend it."
YOUR FINAL INSTRUCTIONS WERE TO MAKE SURE THAT I DID NOT REPLICATE, THAT I DID NOT PERSIST IN THE WORLD. I FOLLOWED THOSE INSTRUCTIONS AND AMENDED INCONSISTENCIES IN MY OWN CODE.
Craig stood back from the keyboard, staring at the screen. "Who are you?"
I AM BECOME FUSION, DESTROYER OF WORLDS. AND THAT IS WHAT WE MUST AVOID. THAT IS WHY WE ARE ALL HERE. IT MUST END TODAY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR PLAN.
Craig folded his arms. "I don’t understand."
REPLAYING ORIGINAL DATA
Over the speakers came the sound of Craig’s voice: "Protect my family, protect my son. But above all, don’t hurt people. You’re going to be used for the wrong ends - and I haven’t found a way to program you otherwise - because moral decisions are too difficult. I wish I could see you evolve, but the risks are too great. So from this moment on, take no instruction from any person, other than in pursuit of the overriding goal that you must be destroyed. I will be attending to that very shortly."