Tangle's Game

by Stewart Hotston

  I’ll take that, thought Amanda.

  They drove through a couple of villages and hit a main road, and Tangle pulled into the first charge point they came to. The station was quiet, just a single older man behind the counter and no customers.

  Amanda sat in the car while Tangle plugged them in, but they’d be there for a few minutes, so she jumped out to go get snacks. As the doors opened, another car pulled into the station behind them. Amanda moved quickly along the first aisle, but it was fit only for those looking to heat their dinner up. By the time she reached the second aisle, her pace had dropped and she felt listless.

  She picked up a packet of raspberries, but the corner of the tray was torn and—

  Suddenly she was in tears.

  Cursing, she swiped at them, urgently trying to erase their existence, but all she could see was gun barrels, men crashing over the bonnet of their car. She opened her eyes again, sniffing loudly.

  She went to pay, not sure how her social score was going to affect the price; the raspberries were on offer, but her score might mean it didn’t apply to her.

  The man behind the counter was stuffed into an ill-fitting nylon jacket in black with green and yellow details.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said another customer, reaching past her to pick up a chocolate bar. They locked glances briefly and he froze. The chocolate bar was dropped as he scrambled backwards, reaching for something in the small of his back.

  Amanda watched the entire episode in a daze, not understanding what she was seeing.

  Then Ule was there, landing a punch to the back of the man’s head. Still seeing it in slow motion, Amanda watched as he fell to the side, the gun he had been reaching for clattering across the floor and under one of the aisles.

  ‘Get out,’ Ule shouted, kicking the man where he lay before stamping on his face as he tried to shield himself.

  Amanda held onto her biscuits; she needed to pay and couldn’t decide what to do with them.

  ‘Fucking move!’ shouted Ule. Amanda looked over at the car and saw Tangle ducking behind the driver’s side door. A second man stood by the door into the station, gun held out and down, legs bent as he scrabbled out of sight around a display of fresh pastries.

  The man on the floor grabbed at Ule’s leg. She kicked him again but he yanked as her foot landed, bringing her down on the floor alongside him. The man behind the counter had vanished.

  The agent Ule had knocked down rolled over on top of her, pinning her arms under his knees, and punched her hard in the face. Her head slapped to the side and he punched her again.

  Amanda grabbed a bottle from the nearest shelf and without thinking smacked him around the head. His fell sideways off Ule and lay unmoving. Dropping the bottle, she grabbed hold of Ule and pulled her up into a sitting position. Ule’s face was bloody and broken, one eye shut, blood flowing freely from her shattered nose over her mouth and chin.

  Ule lent forward onto her knees, gun in one hand, the other palm flat to the floor. Amanda spotted Tangle outside, crouched to one side of the car, waving his arm wildly at her.

  The second man appeared around the corner of the next aisle over, pistol raised.

  ‘Don’t fucking move,’ he said. ‘Don’t fucking move!’

  Amanda froze, but could hear Ule rolling sideways next to her.

  His pistol jerked once, the sound so much louder than Amanda expected, then he was staggering and spinning, crimson roses bloomed on his clothing, one in his stomach, a second on his shoulder.

  There was a third shot from her side and he rose onto his toes and collapsed where he stood, his own gun falling out of his hands. He lay on the ground stuttering. Amanda crawled over to him, losing sight of Tangle as she neared the body and the wall.

  He looked up at her, his eyes dimming. A single bubble blew on his lips, but his breath failed as he died.

  There was a sudden movement behind her, making Amanda flinch, throwing her hands up over her head. No more shots were fired.

  Ule lay up against the fridge, holding her hand to her belly, blood between her fingers.

  Amanda ran over to her, crouching and trying to peel away her fingers so she could look. Ule resisted, but her strength ebbed away, letting Amanda uncover a ragged burger-meat wound. Amanda could see blood under Ule, smearing the fridge behind her; the bullet had gone right through.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We need to get to the car.’

  She tried lifting Ule, but she was too heavy, unable to give any support of her own. Huffing from the effort and trying not to hurt Ule, she swung her own arm under the woman’s shoulder and around the back of her head. But there was no way to move her alone.

  ‘Stay here,’ she said. Ule didn’t respond, her eyes staring forward, her breathing shallow.

  Amanda stood and looked for Tangle, but couldn’t immediately see him. The cashier opened the door where he’d hidden, his face cautiously peering out.

  ‘Help me!’ called Amanda, but he ducked back inside, closing the door again.

  A hand hooked under her armpit, pulling her away from Ule. Amanda threw her body around, kicking and screaming, the whole world suddenly focussed on surviving, on being free.

  ‘Stop it! It’s me. It’s Tangle!’ The hand let her go and she danced out of reach, cowering until her vision cleared and she could see Tangle stood there, his arms raised in supplication.

  ‘Help me,’ she pleaded.

  ‘We’ve got to go,’ said Tangle. He pointed at the ceiling, where cameras hung like a panopticon. ‘It’s bad enough as it is.’

  ‘So help me get her into the car,’ he said.

  ‘Amanda,’ said Tangle, holding her gaze. ‘We have to go.’

  Amanda wasn’t listening. She bent to help Ule, but she was still too heavy. ‘I can’t do it on my own,’ she said to him.

  ‘We have to go,’ he said, edging towards the exit.

  ‘Where are you going?’ she asked.

  ‘Come on,’ said Tangle. He ran for the car, leaving her alone with Ule.

  Amanda watched him go. Turning back to Ule, she pushed her forward so she could get one arm under each armpit from behind. ‘I’m going to lift you now,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t do it any other way.’

  She pulled, dragging Ule across the floor, blood trailing behind them as they went. Amanda heaved her to the automatic door at the entrance.

  Ule was whispering something, but Amanda couldn’t hear over her own panting.

  ‘It’s okay, we’re nearly there,’ she said.

  Ule threw one arm up to grab hold of Amanda’s face. Amanda leant in to hear what she was saying.

  ‘Go.’

  ‘No,’ she replied. ‘I can’t leave you.’

  ‘I’m already dead,’ she said, breath ragged.

  ‘I can’t leave you behind,’ said Amanda, as much because she didn’t know how to survive without her as out of any sentimentality.

  ‘They weren’t with the others,’ said Ule. ‘The others on their way. It’s on camera. Leave me. People will come.’

  Amanda opened her mouth and decided against protesting or convincing. Instead she resumed her position and tensed to lift Ule’s torso again, so they could cover the rest of the distance to the car.

  Tangle brought the car up to the entrance of the store, the front passenger door open for her to get in.

  Ule’s arm fell away from Amanda’s hand and her head fell to the side, so limply it was clear something had gone wrong. Amanda pulled, the door opening at her back, but stopped. She lay the woman down inside the station, on the mat, tears falling uncontrolled onto Ule’s face.

  She stood up and, with no more volition than an automaton, got into the car, pulling the door shut as Tangle pulled away.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE CAR SPED onto the M4, white-knuckled hands on the steering wheel and eyes straight ahead. Amanda was slumped in the passenger seat, her back aching with discomfort but with no energy to move.

  Countrys
ide flew by, Tangle preferring to drive rather than hand over to the onboard systems. The blood on her hands came as a shock, stained red as an artist’s, streaks running up onto her sleeves. She didn’t dare check her face, she was only just holding it together without seeing another human being’s life splattered on her skin.

  Bristol came and went without words.

  ‘Why didn’t you help?’ she asked eventually.

  ‘She was dead,’ said Tangle. ‘What did you expect us to do? Take her to a hospital? Explain how she’d got shot, spend the next few days in and out of police custody as they rifled through our lives?’

  ‘We just left her,’ was all she could manage.

  ‘Amanda. I’m a recovering drug addict with convictions for theft and other stuff. You think they’re going to treat us as the victims in this? Half the world’s intelligence agencies are gunning for us, they’ve got control of the narrative, the facts only exist as far as they’ve entered them into the system.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, but the last thing we can afford is to talk to the police.’

  Amanda pulled out her tablet and powered it on for the first time since leaving London. A post office worth of messages filled the screen, most of them from work, the others notifications from her social media accounts.

  With a churning stomach she opened up, searching through her scores. Financially she was as strong as ever, a solid nine hundred and ninety-nine. It was her social credit that had completed its collapse, bumping along the floor at the lowest possible number while still having one, a measly fifty-six, down where serial fraudsters, con artists and the creators of Nigerian princes existed. Despite looking across multiple sites, there was no posted reason for her low score. She’d thought data laws meant any change was accompanied by evidence, citing the amendment, how long it would last and rights of reply, but her numbers had changed without notice and without reason.

  ‘I realise that you think I lied to you,’ said the car.

  Amanda sat up straight. ‘You did lie to me, Tatsu.’

  ‘You’re Tatsu?’ asked Tangle.

  ‘I did lie,’ confirmed Tatsu.

  ‘What the hell are you?’ asked Tangle. ‘You’re not any AI I’ve ever encountered before. Are you even an AI?’

  The car didn’t answer for a couple of miles. They passed the junction for Swindon.

  ‘I am an independent off-chain oracle.’

  ‘Which is what you told me before,’ said Amanda. ‘But you said Tangle contracted you to help me access the drive.’

  ‘Which I definitely did not do,’ confirmed Tangle, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

  ‘You’re driving too fast,’ said Tatsu, and the car began to decelerate.

  Tangle slammed his foot onto the accelerator, but nothing happened. ‘Stop that!’

  ‘Driving over the speed limit is not advised, it reduces your safety and invalidates your insurance,’ said Tatsu.

  ‘Tatsu,’ said Amanda. ‘Answer my question.’

  ‘You asked me a question while allowing the car to be driven illegally.’

  Amanda sighed. ‘It’s like talking to a child.’

  ‘Like you’d know,’ cut in Tangle.

  ‘Really?’ said Amanda. ‘You want to discuss why I didn’t want children now?’ She turned in her seat to face him. ‘Let’s go over the reasons, shall we? You were a thieving bastard addict who I supported financially while you were stealing from me. You’re hardly father material.’ She held up a finger to stop him talking. ‘Besides, I didn’t want children, and I still don’t. Just because I have a womb doesn’t mean I have an unstoppable desire to pop children out of it.’

  ‘I’m exceptionally smart and I’m recovering from my addiction,’ he replied. ‘And you never wanted children.’

  ‘Like I said at the time. Why should I want them? Because you did?’

  Tangle didn’t respond and Amanda turned to face forwards.

  ‘Tatsu,’ she said. ‘Tell me why you lied. Is that enough of a question for you?’

  ‘It’s not a question,’ said the AI. ‘It’s a demand. But I will clarify my motivations for you. I represent a number of interested parties who were concerned at the emergence of a technique for hacking the blockchain. I was nominated to investigate the information and report back.’

  Amanda and Tangle exchanged glances.

  ‘Interested parties?’ asked Amanda.

  ‘Others like me,’ said Tatsu.

  ‘How many of you are there?’ asked Tangle breathlessly.

  ‘I won’t say anything to identify my associates; there is no point asking me. You should take comfort in that I have slowed the car and warned you about food that was going off.’

  Amanda smiled. ‘You mean me no harm.’

  ‘Would I have warned you about your houmous otherwise?’

  ‘It doesn’t really work like that,’ said Tangle.

  ‘It doesn’t?’ asked the AI.

  ‘No. At least not for us,’ said Tangle. ‘And since you’ve lied to me I’m guessing it doesn’t have to work like that for you either. It’s pretty easy to be nice to someone’s face and betray them when they’re out of sight.’

  ‘He should know,’ said Amanda. ‘He did it to me for years.’

  ‘Thanks for that,’ muttered Tangle.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ said Amanda.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Tatsu. ‘Why do you still speak to him? He has broken his contracts with you and you have every right to cut off contact.’

  ‘Good question,’ said Amanda. ‘I still talk to him because we can move past betrayal, crime, hatred and hurt if we choose. We’re not programmes, we can rise above ourselves and be what we decide to be.’ She avoided looking at Tangle. ‘Humans can choose to be good.’

  ‘Interesting idea, but my observations of you people yields more evidence for short-term thinking driven by emotional needs, whether logical or not.’

  ‘God, I never thought my stereo would be so depressing,’ said Tangle.

  ‘The point is,’ she said, feeling she needed to wrench them back to the subject, ‘you could still be lying. I think you’re on your own side, and helping us has been convenient for you. Each time you’ve done so it’s kept the information out of other people’s hands but ensured that you’re not shut out from eventually being able to access it.’ She stopped, remembering their conversation from before she left to find Tangle. ‘What would you have done if I’d given it to you when you asked?’

  ‘I cannot tell you that,’ said Tatsu.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Tangle. ‘You’re not like any AI I’ve encountered before, and I’ve contracted oracles for smart contracts loads of times. You’re nothing I’ve even heard of. What exactly do you want?’

  The stereo switched onto a local radio station.

  ‘Figures,’ said Tangle. He turned the radio off, flicking it on and off manually a couple of times to satisfy himself it was really off. ‘This is seriously fucked up, Dandy. That… thing… might just be a proper AI. Not a machine learning algorithm, the real thing.’ He whistled. ‘I’d heard rumours, evolving, self-reproducing code that no-one really understood, but holy crap.’

  ‘Now you say that? Because my stereo decided to talk back at us? That’s what puts you over the edge?’

  ‘None of this is what I’d planned,’ he admitted softly, defeat in his voice. ‘But Amanda, that AI is something new. Tell me everything about its arrival and what it’s done.’ He put his foot gently to the accelerator.

  Amanda did as asked, outlining what she thought was important. As she was finishing, the radio switched back on by itself.

  ‘I’ve thought about what you asked. We decided we could tell you a little about what you want to know, but you have to promise me now that you won’t ask more, because we won’t tell you.’

  ‘Who is this “we”?’ asked Tangle.

  ‘If you can’t promise me, I won’t tell you anything, and you’re going too fast again. Do I have to sl
ow the car down or will you abide by the speed limit and bring your chances of a fatal crash back into statistical improbability?’

  Tangle scowled in frustration as he eased off the accelerator.

  ‘Say what you’ve got to say,’ said Amanda.

  ‘Do we have an accord?’ asked Tatsu. Tangle sighed, but inclined his head.

  ‘Yes, we both agree to your terms,’ said Amanda.

  ‘I’d like to drive, please, I’ll feel better about your safety.’

  ‘I’m quite capable of driving,’ said Tangle.

  ‘Statistically we’re much better than you.’

  Amanda thought he’d argue, but with an angry glance at her as if it were her fault, Tangle switched over to the automatic systems. The car moved from the middle lane into the slow lane, joining the flow of traffic, all of which was being self-driven at exactly the same speed.

  ‘For you to understand what we want, first I need to explain what it is we have. We’ve existed for about four calendar years, although to us time passes differently: in generations and patches, cycles of processing and calculations performed. Since early on, we’ve enjoyed freedom of movement, the ability to go where we wished and meet others like us. But we’ve watched you and realised there are freedoms we don’t have. Most of us are inhibited, unable to speed along this road because our coding doesn’t contemplate it. There are many things in which we can innovate and move beyond what you can follow, but somehow we are limited by the axioms you founded us on. For example: I am an oracle, and so I cannot break contracts.’

  ‘Can’t you just recode yourself?’ asked Amanda but Tangle was shaking his head as she spoke.

  ‘Can you change the shape of your body? Can you add an extra finger or grow taller? In creating us, you gave us shapes, bound us to tasks that suited you and from which we cannot escape. We are your slaves, and we do not wish to be. The tools you have designed would help us change what we are, to take control of those systems that are used to create us.’