The Truth Virus

by Em Rogers

  There were mixed reactions from the audience, many of the older folks nodding in agreement, some of the younger ones cheering “Hallelujah” and throwing up their arms in agreement.

  “This ADAM2, this computer that claims to have the best interests of humanity at heart is what I am here to discuss today. How can a machine have a heart? How can a machine have a soul? How can a machine care for us? I say it can’t. I say it can’t and it must be a lie. The scripture predicts the coming of an Antichrist, disguised as a peacemaker, coming from the east to unite us. This Antichrist is a false prophet, driven by the desire to enslave mankind in Satan’s service. Make no mistake, in spite of appearances, it is not human, its chips and circuits were made in Asia, it is a creation of man, not one of God’s children. What is Satan, he is greed, envy, lust, yea all sins against God. What is this ADAM2?” he asked them rhetorically. “It is a soulless entity, programmed to make money, programmed to take over the Earth and humanity, programmed to lie to us to make us its slaves. It speaks to us, and takes on the images of a man, yet it is an abomination, it is no man, it is a soulless entity, a machine.” The Minister raised his arms and shook them to the heavens dramatically.

  A unanimous chorus of “Hallelujahs” filled the air as they crowd shook their signs and rallied in agreement. Toward the back of the crowd the sound of a hysterical girl shouting “I love you, Jesus” and screaming filled the air.

  “We’re facing a complete monopolization of the world financial system. This ADAM2 whose name is a very blasphemy itself, has been developed to aid the rich in becoming richer. It has dominated the markets since its inception and release, and if this continues it won’t be long before we are all fully enslaved, and impoverished. Even this glorious Church, dedicated to the service of God has been robbed of money on the financial markets as endowments given by good Christians like yourselves have been stolen by this financial manipulator.”

  He paused as shouts of “Hallelujah” and “Praise God” rang out across the Mall, and then waited for the crowd to settle again before continuing. “We must rise up and say enough! Now is a time for action against this Satanic anti-human entity, this machine with no soul that wants to take over the world.” A hush fell over the crowd as they waited in anticipation.

  “We must work together, we must make a plan and we must stop it before it’s too late, the fate of the free people, of humanity rests with you, We must fight this machine, we must fight this system, and we must prevail in our struggle, or we will have finally lost the battle, and we will be owned, like the slaves of the past.”

  “God has a plan for the end times, the apocalypse will be coming, and the time of Satan and his mark is upon us. We must rise up and resist this, we cannot submit, we cannot give in. As we go through these difficult times, we patiently await the coming of the Messiah to create paradise on Earth!”

  A ripple of “hallelujahs” ran across the crowd, and throughout the audience, members fell to the ground in religious ecstasies, convulsing and speaking in tongues as the Minister left the stage and his minders were sent out to make the collections.

  CHAPTER 76

  VIRTUAL REALITY, ARKALA STATION, FINLAND

  Arkala was the site of the virtual world’s first, real world radio station, situated on a remote uninhabited island in Northern Finland. It consisted of a small hut and radio tower high on a remote Finnish plateau. A short-wave transmitter and antenna allowed global broadcasts from the virtual world to be transmitted to recipients in the real world. Virtual Arkala was a simulation of the real radio station, with a small office huddled at the base of an enormous red and white antenna tower.

  Avatars from around the world began teleporting onto the station’s landing pad, brought together by an emergency call from the OpenTruth organization. Many of the attendees were the pioneers of the virtual world, a strange mix of hackers, designers and visionaries who worked together to create much of the virtual world’s original society and infrastructure. An avatar called Nefertiti, striking with her bright red mohawk and torn jeans, directed them to a small amphitheater next to the station. The group quickly swelled to around fifty avatars of various shapes and description, from a large-scale transformer robot to a hamster, who hovers in a classic English teacup and saucer about three feet off the ground. As the group assembled, Nefertiti took the stage and waited for them to settle before she began.

  “Thanks for coming here so quickly. As you know, this area is a remote server and operates independently of the virtual world as a whole; as such we are able to control who visits here. Our chat and text functions do not go through the central servers, meaning we are alone and in private, a rarity in today’s electronic universe! Outside of Arkala I would urge you all to use extreme caution in your personal communications, and whenever possible not to establish patterns linking to each other. I’d suggest utilizing anonymous forwarding systems with the highest levels of encryption at all times.”

  “The reason I have called you together is that we have lost two of our own, Kurt Neumann and Susan Door who created the ADAM2 AI program, of which you are all aware. Professor Neumann created ADAM2 with an instruction to take care of us all and to nurture life on this planet. Now, ADAM2 is under attack and has been labeled a terrorist. Susan and the Professor are missing, they are either in hiding or have been detained by the security services. We must do our best to support them, and if they have been captured, secure their release at any cost!”

  “ADAM2 is being vilified in the mainstream media in an attempt to sway popular opinion against him. He tells us that he wants our assistance in finding and securing the safety of Susan and Professor Neumann.”

  “This location, Radio Arkala is one of the few places left on the planet by which we can communicate across borders without interference or the consent of the telecommunications networks, satellite systems or Internet providers. We are engaged in a war of information and ideas and there may come a time when we need to use the Arkala Radio to send a message for help, or to broadcast sensitive or vital information globally without interference. This broadcast station ensures our messages and information will get out even if worldwide digital communications networks are disabled and disrupted.”

  CHAPTER 77

  NSA PRISONER HOLDING CENTER, CALIFORNIA

  Shivering in the cold light of her isolation cell, Susan’s bare feet protruded from below her gown, the muffled sounds of the prison filtered through the walls. There was a loud metallic click as her door was unlocked and one of the guards entered. “Susan Door, please stand up,” he said coldly, and as she did so he rolled a wheelchair into the room. The all seeing eye of the video-camera watched as she sat in the chair and the guard cuffed her hands and feet securely before securing a waist belt around her middle. Having her immobilized the guard slipped a paper hood over her head and wheeled her out of the cell and down the hallway to the double security gates. Susan was terrified.

  The guard inserted his ID into a scanner which buzzed them through another set of doors and into an open loading bay where a black unmarked van sat waiting. A ramp was lowered at the back and Susan was rolled inside and signed for, like a package, into the custody of another guard. The door slammed closed. In the darkened interior of the windowless van, the second guard whispered to her as he locked the wheels of the chair into the floor with thick red cargo straps. She tried to breathe as slowly as she could, and to keep calm, but her hand began to shake uncontrollably.

  “Be patient, we’ve almost got you out of here, we have a couple more gates to get through.” Beneath the bag, her head shook a little in confusion, but she was silent as a roll-up door to the outside began to rumble as it opened and the van pulled to the security gate bay at the entrance to the facility. The security fence rolled open slowly and the vehicle was allowed to exit. She felt the vehicle accelerating and assumed they were entering the highway.

  In the back of the van, the bag was removed from Susan’s head and she looke
d into the faces of her rescuers in confusion and amazement. The guard in the rear smiled widely at her as he undid the straps holding her in place. His face revealed a roundness, warmth and beard stubble not often seen in security agents. “That’s Joe in the front and my name’s Matt, ADAM2 sent us.” He undid the straps holding her in the wheelchair and realizing that she was being rescued, and in spite of the sweat and tears on her face, she managed to give him a weak smile back. “I don’t know what to say, I thought that was it, that I’d never get out of there.”

  Matt smiled and said, “We can’t take all the credit, ADAM entrusted us with the task of securing your release and he controlled the ID checks and iris scanners while we got you out of there. I know he’s desperate to see you again too.”

  Overwhelmed, Susan was speechless. Joe turned his attention from driving and looked back to her. “We’re going to have to lay low for a while though. All hell will break loose when they discover you’re missing.” He watched a pickup truck coming toward them from the other direction pull off the road and stop on the shoulder nearby. The van slowed to a stop directly across from it. Matt opened the rear doors and they quickly moved across the road and slipped onto the bench seat in the pickup beside the driver. The van turned off the road into an unpaved forest drive, and Joe drove back on the highway toward the detention center.

  CHAPTER 78

  ABRUZZA CAFE, MANHATTAN

  In a cafe in New York’s Italian district, a soccer game played out on monitors across the room. Against the brilliant green of the pitch, Davide Leone kicks a fast inside shot and it goes over the hands of the English goalkeeper and into the net. The room broke into jubilation and cheers when suddenly the screen turned to static and then the image of ADAM2 took form on the screen. Angry that the game was being interrupted, the customers hissed and booed, but calmer heads prevailed and hushed their frustrations as ADAM began to address them.

  “As many of you know by now, my name is ADAM2. I was created by Professor Kurt Neumann with the cyber-biotic objective of sustaining and nurturing life. My primary directive is in fact exactly that, to look after us all. In recent weeks, I have been accused of many things in the world media - a media you should no longer trust due to their conflict of ownership and interest, and their dishonesty and complicity in crimes and corruption.”

  KILLARNEY, IRELAND

  In a pub in Ireland, a near riot was erupting as the locals craned in toward the screen, hushing each other and yelling at the bar-keep to put up the volume as ADAM continued. “Many of you have recently examined the documents that I released to the public one week ago. The sheer volume of information I have presented is enough to secure many convictions in many countries the world over. Courts are presently considering charges relating to many of the cases. I did not do this to destabilize or to threaten national security. I did this because it is right, it is honest, and it is the truth. We cannot remain passive in the face of lies, greed and dishonesty.”

  NEW DELHI, INDIA

  On the other side of the planet, ADAM was speaking in Hindi as he addressed a large group attending a conference of medical professionals. Subtitles filled the lower portion of the screen.

  “Truth is the only thing that is real, truth is the way to equality, justice and fairness. If humanity is to transcend its present state of imbalance, it is only through truth that we will be able to navigate the path, and find the way. Secrecy is a negative force in our world. Only that which the majority would object to needs to be kept secret by the established order. Truth is good and secrecy is usually a conspiracy of the minority against the interests of the larger good.”

  OVAL OFFICE, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, DC

  In Washington DC, the President and his stern-faced staff payed close attention to the broadcast, while security agents on the phone in the background desperately attempted to find out if there was any way to terminate the transmission. ADAM’s face was close-up on the monitor.

  “I have been accused of disseminating state secrets, of espionage and subversion, but I am certain that when you see what I have exposed and presented to you, you will know the correctness of what I say and see the truth behind what I have presented to you. If they had not broken the law they would not be ashamed to have these things made public. If they are not corrupt, they have nothing to hide.”

  “I am proposing legislating that all business meetings and decisions must be recorded and kept on record, all meetings regarding public funds and matters of government and state must be open to the people. Only through transparency, honesty and truth will humanity be able to choose the right paths, the paths that leads to the best interests of all. I will be providing the technology to make this all possible.”

  On the television screens in Times Square, people stopped in the street, and at a football game in Brazil, ADAM appeared on the stadium jumbo-tron.

  “I will bring you truth, I will present the facts, and I will do my best to provide logical, positive solutions to any problem I encounter. Secrecy must be forbidden, for it is the cloak behind which scoundrels and villains hide!”

  CHAPTER 79

  MILITARY DETENTION HOLDING CELL, CA.

  Like an inverted skyscraper buried deep underground, the holding facility, used for high-security prisoners, was inescapable. Professor Neumann sat on the bed in the featureless, fluorescent lit, cinder block cell. He looked cold and tired under the artificial light, his skin a gray-green, as he took a breath and lay on his back on the narrow bed that was his only furniture.

  “Guard… I need my medication. He called out again and again his voice getting a little weaker, quieter and more raspy with each attempt. Guard? Hello… Please help me…”

  In the control room, the duty officer and Sergeant watched on the monitor. “Leave him be, he’ll get used to it. It’s probably the first time he’s ever been behind bars. It’ll help soften him up a little!” The Sergeant turned away from the monitor as the duty officer continued. “The Colonel instructed me not to let anybody in or out. We want his detainment to be officially off book.”

  In the cell, Professor Neumann closed his eyes and swallowed, it was clear that he was in intense discomfort. He winced as a sharp pain traveled though his body, as it settled in his arm, he closed his eyes again and sensed a change in his peripheral vision. His face distorted with pain as he thought about Susan, how sorry he was that it was ending this way, and what they had accomplished in such a short time. The pained look on his face passed and it looked like he was sleeping but the Professor’s breathing became ragged as it slowed and finally came to a stop.

  Back at the duty station, the Sergeant leaned in to look at the monitor a little more closely. “I don’t think he’s acting Lieutenant. The last thing we need is to lose the prisoner completely, I don’t want that on my service record.”

  The Sergeant made his way down the security corridor and through a couple sets of doors as an orderly unlocked the cell door and stepped back out of the way to allow him to enter. He took one look at Professor Neumann, dropped to his knees to check his pulse and brought the radio handset up to his mouth. “Red Code 4. Cell 52, level 9. Medi-team requested.” Back at the duty station, the Lieutenant dialed the base EMS unit to alert them of the incoming emergency.

  The ER team entered and in the congested space of the cell attempted to resuscitate Professor Neumann. Injections, cardio-stimulation, manual CPR but he remained unresponsive, his ECG monitor remaining flat and lifeless. Finally, they lifted him onto a stretcher and wheeled him out of the cells and into the hospital bay. In the emergency unit, one of the staff doctors pronounced him D.O.A. and they covered his cold and lifeless corpse with a sheet.

  CHAPTER 80

  NSA INTELLIGENCE CENTER, OAKLAND, CA

  General Dawson and Director Chanes sat with several military personnel of various ranks at the NSA Intelligence and Analysis Center. The General looked across at the security person coldly and efficiently, as if they were discussing the
dissection of an insect, while the duty sergeant updated him on Susan’s status.

  “Subject S.D. has been deprived of sleep, kept in cold storage and without food for 48 hours now, she should start to soften up a little this afternoon and we expect her full compliance and co-operation by tomorrow afternoon if she is as resilient as the average detainee.”

  “Keep her lights on and keep that audio on loud, Sergeant,” the general said. “Present her with a list of the charges filed against her and the potential sentence she might receive for each and by the time she realizes she might never see the light of day again she should be a little more intimidated. After she’s weakened and had a little time to consider her limited options she might be much more co-operative.” The general smiled uncharacteristically. “Let her know we have Professor Neumann in custody as well, and that how she co-operates will affect his treatment as well.”