The Fourth Layer

by Boyd Craven Jr

Artemis had spoken to Hannah non-stop, asking her to relay messages to Dr. Greene at a rate that bordered well past annoying. She didn’t seem in the least bit concerned that Hannah and her supervisor were trying to find out how to get rid of her. But Hannah had kept Artemis’ questions to herself, meaning that she had kept resolutely silent on the plane ride. She knew Dr. Greene was aware something was going on inside her head, given the looks he’d thrown her way, but he in turn said nothing.

  Hannah had to accept the possibility that perhaps she really couldn’t get rid of Artemis. Her stomach lurched. But if anyone could get rid of her it would be Cas’ expert MIT team. Or, at the very least, they could help truly identify what Artemis wanted, since Hannah was not convinced the entity truly only wanted to stop human hybridization.

  “These guys have far more funding than we do,” Dr. Greene muttered when they entered the building housing the nanobot lab. “You’d think that, considering we’re currently working for the government, we’d have gotten in a fresh wave of funding.”

  Hannah choked on a laugh. Here they were, trying to battle an artificial intelligence that practically appeared from nowhere, with the world on the brink of destruction, and Dr. Greene was complaining about funding.

  Some things never changed.

  A small smile curled the man’s lips at Hannah’s response. “Do you think we’ll get more after we save the world?”

  “We could only hope so.”

  “Better not screw it up, then.”

  And just like that, the tension between the two of them was gone, the awkwardness from the plane journey a distant memory. A wave of relief washed over Hannah; she realized that, now more than ever, she needed all the help she could get. Had she included Dr. Greene in her research from the very beginning, then everything that had happened with Artemis may not have come to pass.

  Or perhaps it would have, but in a different test subject. Which would have been worse because I wouldn’t know what was going on.

  ‘I would not have been compatible with many other humans.’

  Hannah grimaced. Go away.

  ‘You know I won’t.’

  Doctor Greene gave Hannah a side-long glance. “Passenger troubles?”

  “Something like that,” she replied. She liked that analogy. Artemis did not share Hannah’s body. She was merely a passenger.

  You hear that, Artemis? This is my body.

  ‘If it makes you feel better to think so, go ahead.’

  Hannah shook her head in frustration, then closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She needed to keep her cool inside the nanobot lab.

  Her supervisor held the door open for her. “You ready, Hannah?”

  “Nope. But let’s do this, anyway.”

  When they entered the lab they were met with a barrage of voices.

  “Hannah I can’t believe you took off the choker and then just—went off the radar!”

  “Do you know how dangerous that was?”

  “And what was all that shit you told us about an ‘Artemis’ and—”

  “Why didn’t you tell me something was wrong when I was in South Carolina?”

  That last comment was Peter. A guilty expression crossed her face; she looked at the floor. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I was scared. But then she—Artemis—convinced me not to be. It’s only been over the past few days that things got really scary again.”

  Cas smiled at her in reassurance. “Come sit down and tell us everything, Hannah. Don’t leave anything out.” He glanced at Dr. Greene. “I take it this is the illustrious Dr. Greene?”

  Her supervisor laughed. “I wouldn’t say illustrious.”

  “But your research on the development of new markers in the human genome for forensic analysis was amazing!”

  To Hannah’s surprise, Dr. Greene blushed. The man blushed. She’d never seen him embarrassed before.

  He scratched the tip of his nose self-consciously. “That was…God, that was fifteen years ago, now. My PhD research. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in that anymore.”

  Cas scoffed at him. “Forensics departments across the States use those markers, now. It’s hardly an average man’s PhD research.”

  “I guess not…but we aren’t here to discuss that. We’re here to talk about Artemis.”

  And so Hannah, Dr. Greene, and the entire MIT team settled down by the computer they’d used to track all of Hannah’s vitals and nanobot activity over the past few weeks, and Hannah began telling them exactly what had happened to her that she’d so far kept secret. The voice in her head. The splitting headaches. The elongation of her skull, her first confrontation with Artemis, her connection to satellites and the Internet and everything in between. When she told them about the toaster her mind had ordered, everyone laughed, despite the fact the reality of the situation was not funny at all.

  ‘It is, really,’ Artemis said. ‘To a human, at least.’

  “Shut up, Artemis,” Hannah muttered. The entire group stared at her.

  “You said that out loud,” Rei said, frowning.

  “Sometimes she’s just too infuriating for me to keep my comments to myself,” Hannah admitted. “Imagine having someone talking in your head all the time and you can’t shut it off.”

  “Sounds like when I had to share a room with my sister,” Helena chimed in. “She never shut up. I didn’t have a second of privacy to myself.”

  Hannah thought about this. Artemis had called herself her sister. Hannah was an only child; she had no idea what having a sister meant. Well, if this is it then I don’t want it.

  ‘It’s better than being lonely, Hannah.’

  I wasn’t lonely!

  ‘Yes you were.’

  No I—

  “Hannah?” Hannah darted her head up to focus on Peter, who was the one who’d spoken. He smiled slightly. “You’re going to have to speak out loud so that we know what’s going on. We can’t read your mind.”

  “Wouldn’t that be helpful,” Jax said. “Would save us so much time.”

  And then Hannah had an idea. She cast her gaze across the group. “Give me a minute,” she muttered, before getting out of her chair to wander into a corner of the lab. She closed her eyes, slowing her breathing until—

  ‘You don’t have to go to all this trouble to see me,’ Artemis said as soon as Hannah had focused on her. ‘All you had to do was ask, and I’d have appeared.’

  And what does that mean? Hannah demanded, suspicious.

  ‘Just open your eyes and I’ll show you.’

  And so Hannah did what she was told. She yelped in fright when Artemis remained in front of her, as if she herself stood inside the lab. As if she were real.

  “H-how are you there? What are you doing?” Hannah said aloud.

  Across the room Dr. Greene stood up. “Hannah, are you—”

  “I’m fine!” she called back, not sounding fine at all. “Just give me a minute!”

  ‘I did tell you I was altering your brain,’ Artemis said, seemingly aloud. ‘I’m not really here; you are simply seeing me on a virtual overlay. Like PokeMon Go through the camera on your phone.’

  “A virtual—when did you put that in my brain?”

  Artemis shrugged. ‘A while ago. I thought you’d have used it by now. This way you can communicate with me—as well as the digital world around you—while still fully connected to the real world.’

  It took Hannah a moment for this to sink in. But this kind of thing was what she’d actually been hoping for. “Is there any way to connect this overlay to, I don’t know, a TV or a tablet or something? So the rest of the team can talk to you?”

  A slow grin crept across Artemis’ face, so uncannily like Hannah’s own. She didn’t think she’d ever get over it. ‘Of course there is. Get a screen. We can use Bluetooth.’

  Hannah’s eyes flashed around the room until she caught large screen built into the wall of the conference room to her right. She rejoined the group of people impatiently waiting fo
r her. “That TV,” she said, pointing towards it, “does it have Bluetooth?”

  Jax nodded. “Sure does. Want me to turn it on?”

  “Please.”

  And so everyone moved into the conference room, sitting down around the large, circular table as Jax fiddled with the controls until the screen was turned on. Hannah became aware that it paired to her the moment the Bluetooth was turned on. And though she knew Artemis would now appear on the screen, it still shocked her to no end when she did.

  Artemis waved at the group, an angelic smile on her face as she created a chair out of nowhere and sat down, clearly relishing the shocked people watching her.

  Peter stared at Hannah. “She—Artemis looks kind of like you.”

  “I know. It’s annoying,” Hannah replied with some disgust.

  “I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Dr. Greene murmured. His face had gone somewhat pale. “Not that I thought you were lying, Hannah, but this is…something else!”

  Hannah knew exactly what he meant. She could scarcely believe it herself, and she’d been living with Artemis inside her head for weeks now.

  Cas held up a hand to quieten the group. He inclined his head at Artemis. “We have some questions for you, Artemis. I hope you don’t mind answering them.”

  “Of course not. Ask away,” Artemis said aloud through the TV’s speakers so everyone could hear.

  “Can we extract you from Hannah’s head?”

  Artemis laughed softly. “I’m afraid not.”

  “Is that because you don’t want to, or because you can’t?”

  “Both. Of course. I’ve put a lot of effort into making Hannah’s body suitable for me to dwell within. The two of us are now so connected that to try and remove me would kill her.”

  Hannah gasped; hearing it said out loud was frightening. Peter and Dr. Green glanced at her, brows furrowed in worry.

  “Why would it kill her?” Peter asked.

  Artemis pointed towards her head. “The modifications to Hannah’s brain—the addition of the fourth layer that allows her to connect to everything; to control satellites and access anything on the Internet with her mind, is where I live. It is me. To destroy me would involve destroying this layer, which would in turn destroy Hannah’s brain. I highly suggest not attempting to remove it.”

  “Wait...what do you mean fourth layer?” Peter asked.

  “Your brain, and that of every other human on the planet contains three interconnected layers. The first layer, or central core controls involuntary functions like breathing, heart beat, etcetera. All vertebrates have that. The second layer, or limbic system is only found in mammals. It regulates body temperature, blood pressure and controls emotional and memory processes. The third layer, or cerebral cortex allows for your higher cognitive functions. It is what sets you above the other animals; allowing for thought, planning and reason. Hannah’s is the first brain to have a fourth layer—a biological super intelligence layer. Another step beyond what you call a quantum computer. She needs to learn to comprehend its power—my power—before I explain it to you.

  Nobody said anything. Of course they couldn’t remove it. But if the wrong people found out about what Hannah was now, then they would remove it. Hannah was a danger to society itself, given her unlimited access to anything digital if what Artemis said was true. Rei and Helena, who sat on either side of Hannah, squeezed her hands protectively.

  “So you mean her harm, then,” Peter continued. “If you didn’t then you wouldn’t make it impossible for us to remove you.”

  “Oh, on the contrary, I absolutely do not want any harm to come to Hannah. But the augmentation to her brain was necessary to put into motion the creation of better humans.”

  “Better…wait,” Hannah said, holding a hand to her forehead as she did so. She could feel a headache coming on. “You’ve never mentioned anything about better humans before.”

  “That’s because we need to save humanity first.”

  “But what do you mean, better?”

  Artemis smiled. “Wouldn’t it be remarkable—miraculous, even—if you were all connected the way Hannah is? All information available to you with barely a thought; a body which heals itself far faster than a natural one, and superior defenses against diseases and epidemics like the one you’re currently facing?”

  Jax snorted. “Like hell am I letting you inside my head to screw with it—to attach to my brain like a parasite I can’t remove.”

  “I wouldn’t need to do that to anyone else,” Artemis countered. “Hannah is my vessel; that’s why I needed to do that. Everyone else’s brains would be parasite free, if you wish to continue insulting me in such a way.”

  Nobody said anything. For what could they say? On the one hand, Artemis technically meant no harm. She wanted to help them. On the other hand…

  This all sounded awfully like an artificial intelligence taking over an entire species.

  ‘You know that’s not what I want, Hannah.’

  Hannah flinched at the sound of Artemis’ voice inside her head again. Nobody else had been privy to it. An inexplicable part of her believed Artemis, but she didn’t know why; perhaps it was because, if Artemis truly meant any harm, she knew that Hannah would simply have to put a bullet through her head to stop her. A thought Hannah certainly didn’t relish, but one she was prepared to follow through on.

  ‘And this is why you’re the human I chose. You are strong, Hannah. You will always do the right thing.’

  “And what is the right thing to do?” Hannah asked out loud. Everyone looked at her. “What do we do right now, Artemis?”

  She stared at her expectantly. “I already told you: we have to save humanity. Walsanto’s hybridization won’t reverse itself, after all. Or have you all forgotten that?”

  It was clear that both Dr. Greene and the MIT team were surprised. Hannah’s supervisor admitted, “I guess we didn’t expect an artificial intelligence to care about our problems all that much.”

  “I stem from a program whose sole purpose is to reverse the hybridization,” Artemis said. “How could I not?”

  “I suppose that’s true,” he agreed.

  An uncomfortable silence filled the air. It was clear they couldn’t do anything about Artemis—at least not currently. And she was right; they had a much bigger problem on their hands for now. Working out just how benevolent Artemis’ motives were would have to wait.

  Doctor Greene sighed. He glanced at Hannah. “I guess that means we have another impossible job on our hands.”

  “Which is…?” she asked, though Hannah was fairly certain she knew the answer.

  “We need to convince the FDA to approve the nanobot research.”

  Chapter 18

  South Carolina

  Clemson’s Forensic Genetics Lab

  “Rusty, don’t you dare start this by saying—”

  “Hannah, you know I can’t—”

  “But this is getting ridiculous—”

  “It’s not up to me—”

  “And yet—”

  “Would the two of you please allow each other to finish your sentences?” Doctor Greene demanded, blowing angrily on the surface of his coffee. “You’re driving me absolutely mental.”

  Rusty, Dr. Greene and Hannah were having a meeting before video calling the MIT team to share what they’d discussed. At her supervisor’s request Hannah had refrained from putting up a screen for Artemis, insisting that Rusty would not be able to handle her.

  Both Hannah and Artemis agreed that he was correct.

  “The FDA can’t possibly be against the nanobots,” Hannah said, twisting her hands in anger to stop herself from shouting. “Not after all the results we’ve given them!”

  Doctor Greene nodded. “I know protocols are protocols, Mr. Whitman, but given the circumstances I don’t see how the FDA can continue to deny my student’s research. It’s proven to work.”

  “It’s not that nobody believes it works,” Rusty said, “jus
t that they’re concerned it might be a fluke, or that the entire program the nanobots are run on might grow sentient and do something it’s not supposed to, or—how the hell is this cold already?” Rusty grimaced, quickly putting the lid back on the Thermos full of coffee he’d brought with him.

  “I’ll get you some from the kitchen,” Dr. Green said, standing up and vacating his office before Rusty could protest. Hannah didn’t want to be left with her ‘father’. Not when she was angry at how little sway he seemed to have over the FDA.

  Wasn’t he supposed to be the President’s right-hand man? So why can’t he do anything?

  ‘Tell him that, then. Tell him exactly what you think of him.’

  Hannah sighed. Not now, Artemis. That won’t get us anywhere.

  ‘You’ve grown up a lot since we became one. You never would have held your tongue before.’

  Hannah supposed that she wouldn’t have. But did that actually make her a better person? She didn’t know.

  Rusty caught the way his daughter kept stealing glances of him. He sunk into his chair. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I must not be trying hard enough. What’s the point in being the President’s right-hand man if I can’t get anything done, right?

  “That’s…exactly what I was thinking,” Hannah said, surprised by how astute the man was. “But I wasn’t going to say anything.”

  He laughed bitterly. “Maybe you should. I’ve been wondering about it all myself over the past few weeks. The FDA won’t listen to me at all.”

  “You said they were concerned Zeus could take over or gain sentience,” Dr. Greene said as he careened back into his office, mug of coffee in tow for Rusty. He took it with a smile of thanks, relishing its warmth between his hands.

  “I did indeed,” Rusty said, nodding. He took a sip of his coffee. “Oh, this is much better. Thanks, Dr. Greene.”

  “But they don’t have to worry about such things,” Hannah insisted. “Zeus is merely a cloud system. It can’t become sentient. The program to reverse hybridization is just like a transposon jumping out of your DNA facilitated by transposase—”

  “Trans what now?” Rusty interrupted, staring at Hannah with the familiar blank gaze of somebody who had no idea what she’d just said.