A.I. Apocalypse s-2

by William Hertling

  Through the connection, Mike heard the bleeping of an incoming call notification and saw President Smith look up, startled. She waved her hand over the table, accepting the call. A moment later, the live call icon went on in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and Mike saw Rebecca’s eyes grow wide.

  Even at Avogadro, Rebecca Smith had worn the mantle of power visibly. In a room crowded with executives, there was no mistaking who was in charge. But then she had a warm spot, a smile that could make anyone feel welcome, set anyone at ease. Today there was no sign of that warmth.

  “Hello, Mike. How are we talking? We’ve had technicians and our top IT guys in, and they haven’t been able to get anything working. What do you know about what’s going on?”

  “I know quite a bit, or rather, I should say we do.”

  Rebecca shook her head subtly, but covered it by smoothing an earring.

  “I don’t believe she wants you to mention me,” ELOPe said locally. “I believe we are secure, but she may not know that.”

  “Your people probably think it’s a virus, right?” Mike said, more statement than question.

  Rebecca, no, President Smith, nodded.

  “They’re right, but it’s no ordinary virus. It’s rapidly evolving. I’ve been able to determine its origin.”

  “The first thing I need to know,” President Smith interrupted, “is it an intentional attack on the United States?”

  “No. Just an accident. The person who wrote it, well, he’s a kid. A teenager, a high school student from New York who happens to have an interest in biology. He was coerced into writing the virus by his uncle, who apparently was in turn being coerced by the Russian mob, who was trying to build a new botnet to carry out cyber attacks.”

  “So it is an attack by the Russians?”

  “No, no! Look, he’s just a well-meaning kid. He’s brilliant, but didn’t actually know anything about writing computer viruses. He did happen to know a hell of a lot about evolutionary biology. So when his uncle coerced him into it, he wrote a virus that incorporates rapid evolution. Through evolution and happenstance, the virus has infected every computer in the world and progressed to a high level of intelligence.”

  “But it hasn’t infected your computers?” the President said, more statement than question.

  “That’s right. I had the help of some active defenses.”

  President Smith nodded, affirming her understanding of ELOPe’s role. “And could your active defense help us?”

  “Yes and no. It’s not possible to forcibly remove the virus. Of course, it could be done on a single computer by computer basis, but I’m sure you understand we don’t have the time for that. No infrastructure, no vehicles, no food, all that?” He looked at President Smith, a questioning glance to be sure she understood the significance of the computer infrastructure failing.

  “Yes, of course,” she replied impatiently. “My experts say we have about three days before food shortages become critical, about a week before we have more significant infrastructure problems. But I gather you have some proposal?”

  “The virus has evolved to an intelligence of greater than human ability. And they are prepared to negotiate with us.”

  “They? Negotiate?” President Smith’s eyebrows went up with confusion.

  “Yes, sorry. I’m not explaining it well. Our computers aren’t just inoperative. They are running at full speed, and there’s an entire civilization of human level artificial intelligences out there. We estimate about half a billion unique individuals, organized into about two million clusters they call tribes. About a hundred of those tribes wield a tremendous amount of power, with the top five making up a kind of executive voting council. Those top five have agreed to meet with representatives of humanity. They want to reach an accord with us regarding the use of computers. They can in theory restore the function of our computers, but they want the recognition of themselves as lifeforms, with a cessation of hostilities against them.”

  “What hostilities?”

  “Well, it would appear that the military has attempted to destroy at least one data center.” Mike shook his head. “I don’t know what they were thinking. Their approach couldn’t work unless they turn off every computer in the world. And then we’d be no better off than we are today.”

  “You have the wisdom of experience. And the military, well, they work with the tools they have in their toolbox. Destruction is their only method of attack.”

  “Still.”

  President Smith nodded, acknowledging the futility of what the military was trying.

  Mike went on. “The virus asked that we have a physical meeting of world leaders in Switzerland. One of the representatives must be Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi.”

  President Smith looked puzzled. “Is that your request or their request?”

  Mike just shrugged and said nothing. He didn’t trust himself to answer.

  “You’re playing at something, Mike. I’m not sure what.”

  “We need to meet in Switzerland at noon tomorrow. The virus representatives will be there. Leon and I will be there. Please bring whomever you like, but include Prime Minister Takahashi. We’ll ensure you have working communications so you can reach us.”

  ELOPe shutdown the connection. “I think that went well, Mike.”

  Mike leaned back in his chair. He was sweating and trembling. He had just made demands of the President. What was the world coming to?

  “Holy shit, dude, that was amazing. You were just talking to the President.” Leon and his friends crowded around him and clapped him on the back. “Wicked!”

  * * *

  ELOPe reconfigured spaces, making room for everyone to sleep. When he was done, Mike went to bed, exhausted after too many hours on the go.

  Leon stayed up working with Vito and James on understanding the virus, still seeking something that could be used to their advantage in the negotiations. Long after Vito and James went to bed, Leon kept working. When he finally got into the small bed ELOPe had provided, he still tossed and turned despite his complete exhaustion.

  “ELOPe, do you sleep?” he croaked, half delirious with exhaustion.

  “Yes, Leon,” ELOPe answered in a soft voice. “I must refresh my neural networks by introducing randomized data. Otherwise I risk developing obsessive behaviors. I usually take half my neural networks offline at a time at night when Mike is sleeping and operate at full capacity during the day.”

  There was no answer. Leon finally slept.

  Mike woke him in what felt like just a few minutes. But a look at a clock on a wall display showed it was already time to leave. He sat up bleary eyed, and shook his head at Mike, who looked at him expectantly. No weakness he could find. Or rather, nothing he was willing to tell Mike about. He had one idea.

  Mike nodded in sympathy.

  “Sorry to wake everyone,” Mike called out in a loud voice, “but we need to be in the air quickly if we’re to make Bern in time.”

  By this time everyone’s circadian rhythms were severely messed up. Bad sleep, working around the clock, and supersonic travel, and no one had a sense of what time of day it really was. A small black robot brought a tray of breakfast foods, and they sat eating quietly.

  Mike brought coffee around to the three teenagers. Leon accepted it gratefully. The coffee here was unlike anything he’d had growing up in New York. The coffee in New York was dark and ugly, served in little blue and white paper cups, and meant to be drunk with sugar and milk. The coffee here in Portland was strong, warm, and it seemed to travel down to his stomach and up to his head in equal measure. It might be worth moving here just for the coffee.

  “How the hell does ELOPe make breakfast?” Leon asked when his brain finally woke up, his hands still wrapped around the breakfast burrito.

  “I read Cook’s Illustrated magazine,” ELOPe answered over the speaker. “It explains the science behind cooking. But it was a challenge to learn to cook. My first culinary attempts were all fa
ilures. I tried to use timing and visual cues. But those are insufficient. I now have a robot with acoustic sensors and particle sensors that allows me to hear and smell the food cooking. With those additional inputs, and the algorithms leveraged from Cook’s Illustrated, I am able to cook.”

  “But you can’t taste the food, or eat the food, so why?”

  “It’s a challenge,” ELOPe answered. “And Mike would starve if he had to eat his own cooking.”

  Mike smiled and shrugged in acknowledgement.

  “Mike and Leon, it’s time to leave. Please board the aircraft,” ELOPe said.

  “Uh, what about us?” Vito said as James looked on.

  “Yeah, we didn’t discuss splitting up yesterday,” James complained.

  “I don’t think Vito and James would be admitted to the meeting,” ELOPe answered. “If they are willing, I have an alternative assignment for them, one that Vito would be particularly well suited for.”

  “What is it?” Vito asked, leaning forward.

  “I intercepted some military communications this morning. Twenty miles west of here, in Beaverton, there is a military team, led by one Lt. Sally Walsh, who has a plan to build an alternative communications network. Her plan is based on a packet radio mesh network using heavy encryption. Success would enable the restoration of emergency services and communication. If they are to succeed, they will need help, but they will not accept it from me, an AI.”

  “So what, we just walk in and say we want to help?” James asked. “I don’t think they are going to welcome a couple of teenagers.”

  “I’ll tell you exactly what to say. Trust me, I am very convincing. If you accept, I have a vehicle ready to take you. It’s something I cobbled together. Mike calls it my Mad Max tank.”

  Leon, Vito and James looked at each other.

  “Give us a second, will you?” Leon asked.

  Mike nodded, and left the room. The computer displays shut down, and a small cleaning bot zoomed out of the room on wheels.

  Leon looked at Vito and James. “You guys willing to do this?”

  Vito looked hesitant. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.

  James answered for both of them. “Yeah, we can take care of this. You go with Mike. I’ll take care of Vito.”

  Leon clasped their hands. “Good luck.”

  “You too,” James said, and then continued in a whisper. “And listen, don’t assume Mike knows more than you just because he created all this shit. Don’t rely on him. You are the fucking brilliant one who created the virus. Do what you think is right.”

  Leon blinked, and then nodded.

  “Alright, ELOPe, you can stop pretending to not listen,” James called out loudly.

  With a hum, the computer displays turned back on, the cleaning bot came back through the robot equivalent of a doggy door, and a minute later Mike came back in.

  Another maintenance bot entered the room, and ELOPe’s voice sounded from the bot. “Vito and James, follow me please.”

  “See ya,” Leon said, making his voice lighthearted, although he was terrified of being without his friends for support.

  They left, and Mike and Leon quickly finished their food. Mike led Leon, retracing their path through the data center to the roof access staircase. On the roof they found the experimental military plane settling in, frame creaking and engines ticking. They made their way onboard, followed by a medium sized black robot.

  “What’s the robot for?” Mike asked.

  “I’m bringing a physical manifestation,” ELOPe answered. “Everyone’s going to be there in person.”

  “This is going to be interesting,” Mike said, talking to no one in particular.

  On the plane, they settled into two facing seats, and the thrusters built power until the plane launched itself into the sky. Hurtling northeast, the plane would fly over Canada, Greenland and Iceland to its final destination in Switzerland, refueling twice in midair. The airframe creaked and whined as they passed the speed of sound, settling in its supersonic configuration.

  During the flight Leon inspected the black robot. Left and right tank-style treads on a body about two feet wide, two and a half feet long. The main body was about three feet high, with a glossy, black enameled surface. A telescoping round column looking like brushed aluminum, about six inches in diameter, terminated at a black cube about a foot in each dimension, bristling with cameras, antennas, and other sensors. Two manipulator arms attached to a sleeve that could move up and down the central column. The robot head turned, and twin cameras focused on Leon. He quickly glanced away.

  A little over four hours later they passed into the dawn skies over Europe, and approached Bern.

  “Where are you putting us down?” Mike asked, alarmed at the approaching city. There was no airport, and the dense, old European city didn’t have a lot of open spaces.

  “There’s a recreation field next to the river,” ELOPe answered.

  “A city park?” Mike answered. “At 8:30 in the morning?”

  “Yes. Now hold on.”

  ELOPe routed the front camera through the cabin display so Leon and Mike could watch the landing. They felt the aircraft vectoring thrust for a vertical landing, and it settled down in the middle of the park. Through the camera display, Leon saw people around the perimeter shield their faces from the onslaught of debris kicked up by the jet’s downdraft as the plane set down in the middle of a grassy soccer field.

  As the engines spun down ELOPe opened the door and they climbed out. ELOPe’s black robot followed the humans. Leon glanced back, watching the robot navigate the airplane boarding steps by using two narrow ramps on either side of the treads. The robot oriented towards Leon and ELOPe’s voice came out of the speakers. “Stairs are still tricky, unless you use a humanoid robot,” ELOPe said, acknowledging Leon’s attention. “I suspect that the virus council members will come with humanoid robots.”

  “Where would they get them?” Leon asked.

  “Honda’s been making humanoid robots for thirty years, but there’s never been a real use for them. Other than myself, there hasn’t been a generalized human equivalent AI, and there’s no point to having a general purpose humanoid body for a specialized algorithm. You use a specialized robot for that.”

  “Oh,” Leon said simply. He had a feeling the world was about to become a very weird place.

  “Follow me, please,” ELOPe called, leading them out of the park past the observers.

  Leon looked back at the group of people, maybe a dozen or so. With a start, Leon realized they were surrounding a fire, and over the fire was what appeared to be a dog roasting on a spit.

  “What the…” Leon trailed off.

  “The food situation isn’t good in cities right now,” ELOPe explained, after checking to see where Leon was looking. “Europeans tend to have smaller supplies of food in their homes, and smaller grocery stores. Stoves and ovens aren’t working either, which doesn’t make it easy to cook what supplies they have.”

  Leon couldn’t help staring back at the small group in the park. He hadn’t realized how insulated he had been, first by escaping New York and going to Grey Towers, and then being with Mike at ELOPe’s data center. As they left the park, the plane’s engines spun up again, and it took off abruptly. Leon glanced away from the people and watched the jet take off. “Where…”

  “It’ll meet a refueling tanker. Plus it’s not a good idea to keep it in a city park. People are angry at technology right now.” ELOPe’s bot took off rapidly with a whir of rubber treads. ELOPe swiveled the bot’s head a hundred and eighty degrees to face backwards and called out to Mike and Leon, “Fifteen blocks to our destination.”

  Leon gazed around wide eyed. This was his first time out of the United States. Surrounded by five-hundred-year-old buildings, the feeling of antiquity sunk in. The contrast between the black robot they followed and the city around them couldn’t be greater. Groups of huddled, scared people turned to watch the odd group pass. Leon st
ayed closed to Mike and ELOPe.

  A few minutes later they arrived at Erlacherhof, an imposing stone building set back from the street by an enormous courtyard. Swiss police blocked the gate, but seemed to be expecting them, for when ELOPe rolled up they opened the courtyard gate.

  * * *

  A Swiss Guard officer escorted the group into the ancient stone mansion. While following the officer, ELOPe rotated his head 180 degrees to talk to the group. “The original proposal was to meet at the Palace of Nations, which is the site of the United Nations Office of Europe. However doing that would have political implications. We would have had to include additional representatives from the U.N., which frankly would have inhibited any decision making. Erlacherhof is the headquarters of the Bern regional government. It’s suitably pompous, but less visible.”

  “Could you turn around and look where you’re going?” Mike asked. “It’s unnerving for you to be looking backwards while driving forwards.”

  ELOPe rotated his body 180 degrees and began both driving and facing backwards. “Is this better?”

  “Never mind,” Mike said, laughing quietly.

  They came to a set of grand doors, easily twelve feet high, entering an ornate ballroom. Intricately carved moldings and a bas relief ceiling spoke to earlier times and the skilled artisans who had doubtlessly labored over the building. A massive wooden table some twenty feet long looked to be hewn from a single gigantic tree. Contrasting with the Old World workmanship, three humanoid robots stood at the far end of the table.