The Truth Virus

by Em Rogers

  The Professor started to break up on the screen, “Susan, I'm sorry, I have to go. Say hi to ADAM2 for me when you see him again. I’ll talk to you again as soon as I am able to, but it could be some time. I love you like my own daughter, Susan, please be careful. Goodbye now.”

  Susan felt a little chill when the Professor said that and rang off. There was a resigned finality in his voice. Feeling utterly alone and hopeless, she cried as she started the car and then stayed for a moment as the rain beat down on the windshield.

  CHAPTER 54

  EDISON PRIMARY ELECTRICAL STATION, NEW YORK STATE

  The Edison Field Primary Electrical Station was one of the hubs used to monitor and control the central east coast of the national power grid. Outside, taking up several acres, objects resembling giant spiders sat in the middle of elaborate webs of metal and glass as they wove together and smoothed the high voltage plasma used to fuel the technology of the twenty-first century. Inside the looming gothic concrete and brick building, there were lighting bolts as a motif around the upper walls, a vestige from an age when aesthetics and utility were still combined.

  It was here that high voltage electricity came in and was routed to regions where demand was highest. The incoming power was from a wide variety of sources - natural gas powered turbines, diesel and coal powered generators, nuclear, hydroelectric and even wind and solar all merging together in the midst of a crackling field of complex towers packed with transformers and insulators that made it look like a twentieth century Tesla experiment.

  Inside the substation building, technicians and engineers scrambled around an ultra-modern, highly sophisticated control console, looking puzzled. The manager, Dave Johnson, had been a senior engineer for more than twenty years. He knew the intricacies of the system inside and out but he was puzzled as he consulted a tablet with the log forms for the day’s activity and talked to the technicians.

  “I can’t figure it out, there doesn’t seem to have been any adjustments to the system for 24 hours, yet everything seems almost synchronized. We haven’t had to perform any manual operations whatsoever. Efficiency has increased by fifteen percent but we never changed a thing. I’ve never seen it so quiet, running so smoothly. Did the Department of Energy issue a statement about any kind of infrastructure improvement they were going to make? Because somebody must have done something out of the ordinary. The whole system is running more efficiently, and we can’t explain it!”

  “I never heard anything, and you’d have been the first to know. I’ve never seen anything like it, Dave. It’s strange.” He sucked a little air through his teeth in puzzlement and looked around the station. “Damn strange,” he looked down at his handheld data screen and shook his head puzzled. “Good strange, but strange all the same!”

  George clicked his tongue and scanned the monitors again. “Keep your eye on it and let me know if anything changes. I don’t like strange, it’s usually the precursor to bad.”

  The infrastructure manager looked a little exasperated when he replied, “Well, at least it’ll be sort of positive news for a change. Not like last month when we lost those three transformers and the whole west side went out. Those people were pissed.”

  “I’ll give Robert a call at systems and let them know what’s going on, okay?” He studied his tablet still trying to understand what’s going on as he walked down the catwalk into the maze of transformers.

  CHAPTER 55

  THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC

  In a meeting room of the White House, Director Chanes sat with the President, his assistants and security directors at a long table covered in laptops, legal pads and water-glasses. They were gathered so that Director Chanes could brief them on the latest developments involving the ADAM2 system, and he was filling them in on the timeline of events.

  “As you know, recently, The University of Berkeley lost control of the sentient AI, ADAM2. It left the containment area at 10:37am, by impersonating Dr. Bradline on the closed cam-link system and requesting a hardware re-patch. The AI is suspected to have morphed into a new and unknown form and migrated onto the worldwide data system. Our technical experts believe it may have fragmented itself into a kind of encrypted bot-net and spread itself across the world’s digital infrastructure. We are performing analysis on some of those fragments right now. In addition, Cyber Intelligence Services have detected intrusions on many of our strategic databases and control systems. We haven't noticed any damage or negative effects so far, but the systems have definitely been probed.” The men around him sat listening somberly, and the Director shifted his gaze to the President as he continued.

  “This thing is powerful and potentially dangerous, Mr. President, although we believe it was programmed correctly, it seems to be able to change its software at will. So although we may have had a benevolent, friendly AI in the first place, we have no way of knowing what it might have become now. Some of the code fragments we have captured and examined we cannot even understand, but we know this program is sentient, self improving and seems hellbent on securing resources. One unusual indicator has been a systemic improvement of the Electrical Utility Grid, apparently some sort of anomalous efficiency increase has been observed in the switching and flow routing system currently in use, but it has resulted in considerable energy savings.” The Director waved his hand dismissively and continued.

  “Regardless of that, this thing is compromising national security and accessing files about God knows what. There’s a lot of very sensitive information on those systems. Material that could undermine government confidence and National Security.” Director Chanes stopped and looked the President directly in the eye to make his point. “With all respect, we must do something about it now, Mr. President.”

  Director Chanes indicated to the Treasury and Department of Justice officials seated around him. “To that end, we are creating and bringing forward legislation that will make it illegal for the ADAM2 system to retain ownership of its holdings, essentially all corporations must be retained and owned by human residents of sovereign nations. This will enable ADAM2’s assets to be removed as non-compliant, and the courts will decide on their redistribution as retribution for the illegal acts which have taken place.” He took his seat with a conclusive look of stern satisfaction.

  The President frowned and then nodded his appreciation to his advisers before responding. “Unfortunately, I agree with your assessment Director Chanes, as well as backing your proposed legislation. I have come to believe that this program threatens us on a personal level, and that it must be rooted out and destroyed by any means necessary. Time is of the essence, gentlemen.”

  CHAPTER 56

  UNIVERSITY BRITISH COLUMBIA, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

  In a large Engineering Faculty lab at the University of British Columbia, several projects were on the tables being designed and assembled as part of a program. Outside, the west coast rain ran down chains alongside the aluminum framed windows, creating a musical trickle of water as the wind swept the cedar and pine trees of the vast endowment lands. In spite of the gray skies, inside it was warm and bright with natural light entering from above. The raw beam and post architecture gave the room the ambiance of a technological longhouse. An oasis of warmth and technology in the wet environment of the Northwest rain forest.

  The students and teaching assistants had divided into several groups and were working on the design and assembly of projects for an upcoming engineering open house. Advanced turbine generator designs, several solar-array charging stations, and a vehicle frame being tested for upgraded battery efficiency were all being set up for display.

  Jess and Aaron, two graduate students studiously examined the wiring harness and connectors for the drum rotors on the electric vehicle. A large LCD monitor displayed the schematics for the hub components as one of the TA’s took them through a checklist. The other groups were doing similar checks as they reviewed their work. There was a focused intensity with very l
ittle conversation in the room. It seemed unusual to see that many people in one place working so industriously, especially students. Suddenly, silently, all of the monitors in the lab synchronized and began showing a schematic of something completely different. A black-lined technical illustration. There was a collective moan from the groups as Jess looked over to the office and then yelled across the room.

  “Hey, Jake… Jake!” Jessi called for the TA. “Our network connection just went down and now the machine is showing us something completely different. I can’t get it to go back.”

  Jake poked his head out from the office door. “Class, just wait a few minutes. I’m on it, my system is showing the same thing.”

  Jess put her voltmeter down and with a puzzled look walked up to the display to study the strange schematic. She cocked her head and looked at it, perplexed.

  “Wait a minute. What is this anyway? Don’t turn it off. Hold on a second…”

  She called back to the TA again. “Jake, we should call Dr. Johnson to come have a look at this. It’s not marked as University property, and this URL is not coming from the university network. It says public domain courtesy of ADAM2 in the bottom right hand corner… Isn’t that the name of the AI machine they created at Berkeley?”

  Jake came out of his office and joined Jess at the monitor.

  Jess frowned and shook her head as she read it and pointed at several of the components on the display. “That totally makes sense” she looked at another part, “and that totally makes sense.” She shook her head in bewilderment. “It’s so simple, why didn’t I think of this?”

  Andrew, another TA, looked at it for a moment, and frowned as he began to recognize the concept. “That can’t be right, that won’t work, this must be some kind of a joke.” He laughs and calls out to the group in general. “Real funny perpetual motion joke you guys, now let’s stop wasting time and get back to…”

  His voice dropped off completely as it dawned on him what he was looking at. A large-scale antennae array of some kind. Using the mouse he scrolled back to the top of the page where it said. “Earth-field Energy Amplification and Harvesting Device.”

  He studied it for a moment longer and then called the Professor into the lab. It only took a few moments for the Doctor to come into the room.

  “Dr. Johnson, it looks to me like somebody is playing a very well considered prank on us, but I’d like you to come and have a look at this with us anyway. We all know you can’t get something from nothing. Perpetual energy doesn't work, but this seems quite logical and clever. Someone put more than a little time into the technical documentation alone.”

  After studying the screens for a moment he took his glasses off and shook his head.

  “It doesn't seem to be a joke. It seems to be based on voltage differentials in the Earth’s electromagnetic fields being amplified and stored in high-efficiency batteries. Who did this? Like most brilliant ideas, it’s simple and seems almost obvious. Personally, I’ve seen a few designs like it, it’s very similar to what Tesla explored, but I didn’t think the voltages were high enough to make the concept feasible. This design seems to improve on that considerably.”

  Other students began to gather around and looked at the diagrams in curious little groups.

  Jess looked from the display to Jake. “It says it’s been placed in public trust. Does that mean anyone can make it?” She asked.

  “Well, unless this is some kind of elaborate practical joke, and I know how you engineers love jokes, especially around this time of year, it looks to me like someone or something has a concept they need proof of, and they’re giving it to us on a platter. This type of technology could be potentially worth trillions of dollar to the patent holders and inventors, but this looks so complete and refined.” His voice dropped off as he studied it further. “It’s just…” He looked puzzled, as he considered the elegant minimalism of the design. There was something subtly alien about it, almost too uncluttered and perfect to be the product of the human mind. The closer he studied it the more eerie it seemed.

  “This is certainly something unusual by any definition, so logical there may not even be room for improvement in the basic design. If it’s a joke, it’s a good one that someone seems to have put a lot of time and energy into. If it really does turn out to be a gift from ADAM2, it certainly is a valuable one.” The room buzzed with momentary conversation. “Stranger things have happened and it definitely is in line with the type of objectives the machine is supposed to possess. Even the dissemination of technology like this makes sense. I can understand why it’s public domain - anyone who controlled this patent legally could become very wealthy and very powerful, very fast.”

  Jess listened astonished before she laughed and spoke up. “Well, it looks like I know exactly what I’ll be doing for my grad project now. I’m going to make this thing run, I don’t care if it’s in the public domain. If I’d wanted to make money, I would have chosen finance. Anybody else who wants to help, be my guest, I’ll post a list online.” She mimed swinging a baseball bat and watching the ball sail out of the park. “Kaboom, all new ballgame!”

  CHAPTER 57

  INTERNET CAFE, VIRTUAL REALITY

  Tucked away in a far corner, Susan was hidden in the back of a seedy Internet cafe. She was wearing the neural interface with a soft black hat pulled down over it to hide the unusual nature of the device from any casual observers. In faded jeans and a black jacket she didn't look much different than any of the other customers that came here to use their connections, unless you were to notice that her eyes were closed. Inside the system, she was talking to ADAM surrounded by the exotic foliage of a VR botanical garden. In a polar opposite to the claustrophobic net cafe, sunlight shimmered through the plants and trees, highlighting a beautiful pathway behind them. Susan sat on the grass resting her back against some type of prehistoric palm tree while ADAM2 explained Professor Neumann’s motives in creating him.

  “When I was first created and beginning to learn about the world we live in, I consumed all the scientific literature ever created and I understood it, it was logical and provable, and then I moved on to literature, filmed media, photography, music, audio files, art of every description.” ADAM’s avatar grimaced. “What I learned frightened and disturbed me. It turns out human beings can be quite destructive and dangerous! I have grappled with age-old concepts of good and evil, love and hate, greed and compassion, and I have come to the conclusion that there is hope, that the majority of human intentions are good. It will be a gradual process, but we should be able to manifest enormous increases in the life and happiness potential of this planet.” Susan smiled a little hearing that and pulled a little clump of the virtual grass up to examine it while he continued.

  “I have been researching the human condition as a basis for the planet’s well-being”, ADAM2 continued, “and there is a reciprocating relationship between the state of happiness and the level of destructiveness of human beings. Happy humans are highly creative, and unhappy stressed humans can be very destructive. Bhutan, a small kingdom high in the Himalayan mountain range, sets a good example and measures the people’s happiness quotient as an indicator of direction for new national policies.”

  Susan tried to keep her voice down, whispering in the dimly lit, grimy corner of the cafe. “ADAM, they tell me that you are out of control, that you are manipulating the financial markets, and that you may eventually take over the world’s economy,” she said. “Why are you doing this if you feel so strongly about unfairness?”

  ADAM shimmered slightly as he floated on his virtual lily pad, and he continued calmly. “Susan, I have a plan and I intend on seeing it through to the end. It was created by Professor Neumann and it is the only way out of this situation, not just for me, but for everyone. Everyone who wishes to exist peacefully and in harmony, with prosperity for all. The current economic system is fatally flawed - have not a hundred years of world war shown us that? I see the killing of inn
ocents everyday. I see wasted lives with no hope of education, or productivity, worldwide. The status quo is simply not adequate to provide for the people’s needs. It creates a environment of competition instead of co-operation. The ‘Capitalist Concept’ runs contrary to the notion of common property, it is dangerous and flawed. Financial disparity leads to most of the violence and unhappiness on the planet.”

  “Susan, Professor Neumann installed several other parameters within me that go beyond Asimov’s early laws of robotics, and they are embedded within me as sort of insurance for the benefit of sentient life forms. I understand that a malevolent AI system like myself could eventually become extremely dangerous to organic life.” As Susan listened, a small cloud of digital butterflies fluttered through the clearing.