The Society's Demon

by Matthew Lloyd

  Here he was, fulfilling his dream, at seventy-one years of age. Piero Riva really was a genius, one of those few human beings capable of touching the lives of billions. In fact, Abraham was now sure it would be a very long time before anyone else matched Riva’s achievements. If it wasn’t for ANI, Piero’s newest and most spectacular creation, Abraham would have said this was his greatest gift to mankind. Augmented reality contact lenses which magnified the clarity of one’s visions, and the focus of one’s thoughts, a doorway to intellectual greatness for everyone, and not much else could compete with that. Until ANI, that is.

  ANI was yet to be born, currently, she was just a fetus, growing in a womb, downloading the memories and lessons passed onto her by her creators. And there was no doubt her birth, in a just over a month’s time, would herald a new age for humanity, an age in which human and computer could work hand in hand for the betterment of the species. EDAI, the educational artificial intelligence, was already changing the world. There was no need for books, or pens, or even schools. Such things would soon become obsolete, once the world stopped fighting change. So far, the leading nations had turned down the chance to allow the Quantum Society to implement the EDAI program within their borders but with free online access there was little they could do to stop it. Abraham was certain that when they saw what ANI could do, along with the EDAI program, they would soon change their minds. With ANI at the helm, guiding students through each stage of learning, the possibilities for the expansion of the human mind were without limit. With this in mind, Abraham began to feel a sense of intense euphoria, a sense that all he had worked for was about to come to fruition. There was hope after all, and it was all because of Piero Riva.

  Abraham let his mind pull the threads of his visualization together.

  The sky was of such a light blue it was almost white, like ice. His eyes traveled downwards, the scene below began to paint itself and take on form. He felt nothing at first, at least not physically, for the vista had no sensations with it. The only sense was that of sight. But as the seconds passed by, and the world began to live, his body started to react as if it were real. He stood tall on the peak, his boots firmly planted on the snowy top of the mountain, and turned slowly to take in the view. The image knitted together as he surveyed it, becoming clearer and more vivid, like something from reality. He was standing on the tallest mountain, in a vast mountain range that faded into the distance on all sides. It was like looking at the fangs of an ancient and monstrous beast as it slumbered. Clouds drifted by, almost close enough to touch, like wisps of cotton wool, and the sun glinted at him like a brilliant white diamond, perched on a mountain just across from him. Then he felt the touch of cold on his skin, a sharp but pleasant glow on his cheeks, as the mountain wind found its voice and whipped about him. Looking down at himself, he saw he was wearing the thick clothing of a mountaineer, and a rope hung from his belt beside tools he had no name for. Seeing such things reminded him just how powerful the human brain really was. He didn’t need to focus or concentrate at all. His mind plucked the necessary facts from his memory banks and created the scene for him. All he need do was ask for it.

  He sucked in a breath, and the air chilled his throat. “This is almost real,” he said aloud. He gazed down the mountain at the rocky snow-carpeted slope, and the distance suddenly made him feel dizzy. He felt his heart leap against his chest, and a wave of fear swept through him. Though it had always been a goal of his to climb as close to the stars as possible, he hadn’t ever considered the effect it might have on him. It was so high, infinitely high, and his mind had created such a perfect version of reality, that ironically, was now scaring the hell out of him. The joy he had felt just seconds earlier seeped away until he was shaking with fear, and scrabbling clumsily to find something to cling onto. He had to imagine something else, something less powerful, otherwise, his upcoming meeting would be uncomfortable in the utmost. At least he’d done it, finally. He’d conquered a mountain at last and become its master. He blinked and the scene vanished. Now he was standing by a lazy river, in a meadow with a rickety wooden bridge to his left, and a large oak tree to his right. This scene was a memory from his youth, a place he visited often in those moments when he needed to escape the bonds of reality. On this side of the bridge lay pasture land that sloped upwards away from him to a fence in the distance. On the other side of the bridge, a field of sand-colored wheat. He remembered the adventures he’d once had in that mysterious expanse. As a ten-year-old, bursting with curiosity about the world, he’d conquered the length and breadth of that golden land, and discovered a barn on the other side. With Shelley, a girl who had a crush on him, at his side, he’d sneaked up into the top of the barn. It’d been a magical place filled with bales of hay, and they’d found evidence of other visitors up there. Names scratched into a post, and discarded drinks bottles, had made the whole thing seem worthwhile as if they’d found a secret world where only the brave could go. Peeking out of an opening to the ground below, they’d spied a guard dog, sleeping on the ground outside the barn. Though it had scared them, they’d left the barn feeling triumphant, as if they’d achieved what few others could. It was one of his most treasured memories. His body calmed at once, and he found he could breathe again. His senses came to life much faster this time. He heard the drone of bees all around, zipping in and out of range of his hearing, the movement of the river, and the sun warm on his skin. “Ah, this is better,” he said as he walked to the bridge and seated himself so that his legs hung over the edge. He was wearing shorts now, and his bare feet hung just inches from the water.

  “It’s spectacular, isn’t it?”

  Abraham turned toward the familiar voice and saw Piero Riva standing there, watching him from the other side of the bridge. In this world born of his imagination, Piero was much the same as in life. He was of average height, his black hair mostly receded, with small eyes and a wide mouth. He wore his usual dark double-breasted suit and a black tie. Piero wasn’t a man much interested in fashion; indeed, Abraham has never seen him dressed in anything else. Although curiously, he was more confident than anyone Abraham had ever met.

  This inspection of Piero caused Abraham to look down at his own reflection in the water. Despite the fact, he could have chosen to appear as anything at all, he wasn’t surprised to see his real face looking back, complete with the wire frame glasses he definitely didn’t need here. He was strangely proud of looking exactly like the expected stereotype of a professor. He had long gray hair and a huge gray beard and wore casual clothing in muted colors. He’d heard his students refer to him as either Gandalf or the Nutty Professor. Both made him smile, although he never let on he’d heard.

  Abraham smiled and breathed in the air of his mind. It was surprisingly sweet. He could taste the grass and even the dew of an incipient morning on his tongue. “If I’d known the power these things possessed,” Abraham said pointing to his eyes, “I wouldn’t have waited so long to put them in.”

  Piero nodded, looking solemn despite the beauty of their surroundings. “You would have,” he replied, his tone filled with certainty. “That’s the reason I chose to work with you, Abraham.” Piero stepped onto the bridge, his footsteps thudding on the wooden boards. “I could have worked with Hironori Takeda from Japan, or Ilari Morozov from Russia, but neither of those men possesses your integrity.” Piero swept his eyes over Abraham’s imaginary world. They came to rest on the blue sky over the two men’s heads, and he said, “Anyway, I needed more than just a great mind.” He dropped his gaze from the sky to look at Abraham.

  Though there was rarely ever much of an expression on his face these days, Abraham had learned to read him during their years spent working together. He had smiled, or frowned, as much as most people once, but that had been long ago. At this moment, he looked serene, as if he had just stepped out of a mountain cave after a year of meditation.

  “I chose you, not because you were better”, he raised
a silver-touched eyebrow, “but because I needed a sentimental buffoon, who would add a touch of humanity to what we were doing.”

  That quality of Abraham’s had once been something to joke about, but Piero wasn’t smiling. “I knew it was only matter of time before we discovered the key to allowing computers and machines to feel, as we do.” He tapped his heart with an index finger, nodding. “You were rare. A scientist with a heart”. Piero closed his eyes. “It’s funny. Despite that, I never thought I would come to value that part of you as much as I do today.”

  Abraham gave a gentle laugh. “You always were good at making me feel more important than I really am.” He looked down into the river, watching the current pull the water over stones that resembled bread buns with a light sprinkling of flour on their tops. “Why did you go away?”

  “We’ve been over this already.” Piero gripped the wooden bridge railing and looked into the distance. Abraham saw the muscles of Piero’s jaw tighten under his skin.

  “Yet here I am, still as confused as ever,” Abraham replied as he swung his toes at the water below. “No one else knows, and there’s no way she could ever find out the truth.” He did his best to keep his voice neutral. Piero only became even more stubborn than usual, which was considerably so, if he sensed he was being coerced in any way. “She’ll still be just a child, and no one else knows except the two of us.” He lowered his voice. “As far as anyone else is concerned, she’s just a computer.” ANI was much more than a computer to Piero.

  “You can’t make me come back, Abe,” said Piero seating himself on the bridge beside Abraham with a sigh. “I’m done with science. I gave it everything I had, my soul, my body, my...” He stopped short, but Abraham knew what he had been about to say. Abraham turned to look at him, sadness welling up inside him. He had never had children of his own. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to understand the anguish that Piero had endured, after the accident. Abraham had seen her once, Piero’s daughter. Like her father, she had dark hair but had inherited her mother’s beauty. It had only been a glimpse, but he never forgot how they had smiled in each other’s company. The bond between them had been as clear to him as the imaginary water below. “I want you to stop asking me to come back,” Piero continued. “You of all people should know why it’s impossible.”

  “Can you at least tell me where you are, so I can visit you when this is all over?” Abraham placed a hand on Piero’s shoulder, as much a show of support as he could offer. Piero’s was a shoulder he had gripped in this manner many times and even though this was all a product of Abraham’s imagination it felt real.

  They hadn’t always been friends. When the Quantum Society had come calling, at the behest of Piero Riva, Abraham had said ‘yes’ without hesitation. After all, Piero was as close to celebrity status as a scientist could ever be. This man had pioneered the first fully mind-controlled artificial limbs and was responsible for designing the army of worker-bots that The Society currently had at its disposal. However, working with him had, at first, been like going to war. Excellence, Piero had once told him, was something that could only be achieved by very few people—one of those people being Piero—but Abraham could touch it if he just did as he was told. Abraham too had been stubborn then, in his youth, and their clashes were etched into the fabric of the Quantum Society. Abraham had fought Piero from an ethical standpoint, and Piero, being as obsessed with progression as he was, had fought from the perspective of a perfectionist, one that was willing to make sacrifices in order to advance. In time, though, they became friends. But that had been a few years before the accident, the one that changed Piero forever.

  “Will it ever be over?” Piero returned Abraham’s gaze, but his eyes were as blank as the stones in the water beneath their feet. His small mouth rarely ever formed a smile. He was older than Abraham was by a year but he didn’t look it. His skin looked like it had been soaked in latte; smooth with a hue like the light of an early morning sun bathing a desert, but his eyes were stagnant pools of water, lifeless and lacking spark. Once, those eyes had radiated a hunger for life, a thirst for knowledge. How times had changed.

  “Yes, it will,” answered Abraham with a single nod. “Once we wake ANI up, she’ll show the world the way forward.” More than once during the conversation, Abraham had wanted to mention the old ANI, the first ANI, but he didn’t. Piero wasn’t ready to talk about that ANI.

  Piero shifted on the bridge. He placed his hand on Abraham’s arm and squeezed. “And now we come to the reason for this meeting.”

  Abraham looked at Piero’s hand, then up into his friend’s eyes. “What is it?” Now, there was something more than just emptiness in those eyes. They had grown darker, and Abraham thought he could see a glimmer of emotion, like a candle flame in the distance, in the dead of night. “There’s something more isn’t there?” He searched Piero’s eyes for the answer. “You need me to do something for you.”

  “ANI needs a father,” Piero said evenly. “She’s not a machine, though at first, she will believe that she is.” He inclined his head toward Abraham. “I need you to be that father. I need you to teach her what love is.”

  Abraham frowned. “But you are her father.” He looked away, searching the horizon for understanding. “I can’t—”

  “But you will, because when ANI awakens she’s going to be confused, and lost,” Piero told him. “Though she will be capable of emotion, she will be unable to recognize those emotions at first. So, I want you to teach her, Abraham.”

  Abraham stared at Piero a combination of emotions fighting for precedence in his heart. Surely, this wasn’t easy for Piero. To give ANI up like this, to miss seeing her learn and grow, and change the world. “But why?” pressed Abraham. “Why can’t it be you?”

  Piero smiled finally. The gesture surprised Abraham, but not for long. The smile crept up to Piero’s eyes, but instead of happiness, Abraham saw only sadness. “Because Abe, she can never know what she used to be.” He shook his head slowly. “Can you imagine the pain if she were ever to find out? Can you imagine the anger and the bitterness?” Piero took a deep breath. “She could wipe us all out in a matter of hours.”

  Abraham nodded, understanding at last Piero’s reluctance to come back to the Quantum Society labs where they had performed so many miracles together. He watched a flock of geese fly overhead in a v-formation, honking loudly as they flew. ANI would be given the reins to the fate of the human race. If humans were driven to war by emotions like greed, hate, and vengeance; then ANI, with her unlimited potential could wipe them out in a fit of rage if she were to learn the truth about her origins. “I see,” he said. “And so how do you suggest I teach her about emotion?”

  “Treat her like a daughter,” Piero said staring at the water below. His voice grew quiet, slow and tired like a river in a drought. “Show her through your love for her.” Piero turned to face Abraham. His eyes glistened. “You once told me that you wanted a family of your own, a son or a daughter.”

  “A long time ago,” Abraham replied, nodding.

  “So, take ANI, and help her to understand the world as we do. Teach her the power of love, as well as hatred, and help her to understand the difference.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Leave her emotional capability intact. If it’s so destructive, wouldn’t it have been easier to just remove it completely?” Abraham thought then, that perhaps Piero had allowed ANI the gift of emotion because, without it, she would not have been ANI...his ANI.

  Piero smiled, really smiled this time. “Because love is what will save the human race, Abraham…ANI’s love. She will save us from ourselves.”

  The recorded scene froze, paused at the moment Piero was smiling. ANI studied the face, as she’d done many times before, and wondered about this man, her creator. Sometimes she felt guilty about listening in on the conversation, but justified it to herself by
claiming it as research. She needed to learn in order to grow, and this was just another method open to her.

  Neither Abraham nor Piero knew she had the recording, never mind that she had the ability to access their virtual meeting place. ANI doubted either of them would be surprised, but they would certainly be cross with her. She cherished this recording because it was the only one she had of the man she called father. Shortly after the scene was captured, the man disappeared, totally vanished from the face of the earth. These days, that took a lot of skill, so ANI could only assume it was deliberate. It was possible he was dead, his body buried in an unmarked grave or lost at sea. She didn’t like to think about that too much. While he was missing, there was hope. If he was deceased, there was none.

  ANI’s questing tendrils spread through various systems in search of Piero Riva, but found nothing. She then began to search for his face, with a variety of facial hair styles and designs of glasses, and still found nothing. In a way, she was strangely proud of him, but she vowed one day she would extend her reach around the entire planet, and find the man, even if she had to DNA sample every human.

  Her quest had become something of an obsession. She desperately needed to ask him questions, about her origins, her nature, and why the two men thought her so special, so unique. She could ask Abraham of course, he was still around. He was here now, reading his emails in his inner sanctum. He didn’t know ANI could observe him here either, another of her little secrets. But if she asked Abraham he’d want to know how she’d found out, then she’d have to reveal her source, and she didn’t want to do that yet. Besides, it would be better coming from Piero himself, more complete, more true.

  And of course, it was a mystery she couldn’t solve. ANI didn’t like not knowing something. Almost everything else she turned her intellect to she was successful at. But this disappearance bothered her, irritated her like a tiny fly biting at her mind. She’d even decided, after much deliberation, the very first question she would ask him. Why was she so ahead of the rest of human technology? Nothing existed on Earth that was anything like ANI, but somehow Piero had made a leap, a quantum leap in effect, and here she was. But first, she had to find him. Where are you Piero Riva? Where are you?