- Don't force your brain, Jonas. Maybe you'd better think everything would be the same, even if I hadn't done anything.
V. Brain
-Is it a matter of merit? William, do you think you don't deserve the place you conquered?
- Deserve what? Have a planet for me? Living with androids designed to satisfy my desires? I haven’t talked to another human being for a long time. To be honest, I can't remember when that was the last time. Look around us. See that cricket? Do you hear the noise it makes?
Cri cri. Cri cri.
William continues.
-He was designed to be that way, to crackle in that exact tone, so as to awake the feeling of being at home. Even if it was a note above, it would probably bother me, but it doesn't. It sounds perfectly.
- What's the problem? Is this projection bad?
- Depends on the point of view.
They walk. The house was no longer seen behind them, hidden behind the trees in which they stood. Around it were broad-crowned trees, distributed in purposely designed circles. From time to time an artificial light emerges from the floor (strong and in sufficient numbers to leave no corner in the shadows, in a brightness made so as not to hurt the eyes).
- And what is your point of view?
- You know what I think of all this. You know what I think of the brain I created. After all, you were there when it all began. You're here, now, when it's over.
-I don’t understand.
- Don't play stupid.
A field of trees arranged in circles. Two men and a woman facing each other in the early evening. A field of apple trees, with fruits as red as the lips of Elizabeth.
-I don’t understand.
- Jonas, I know who you are. I always knew, despite your attempts to end my memory. Yes, I know what happened a thousand years ago. You know it too. Although, I admit I should have known earlier.
- What do you mean, exactly?
-Jonas. - Elizabeth looked at him with a calm look. William seemed to change, and his moods contrasted. - Please. Don't be fooled. It would have been understandable on another occasion, but we're talking about William. He will not be fooled.
- And how did he find out? Answer me, I'm commanding.
- What do you mean?
- I'm talking about the central directive. The first principle of an android.
William's face distorted, predicting the next steps.
- Make no mistake, my dear. I wouldn't let you put your fingers in my house. Is it not so for all that I possess? Or did you think I wouldn't take precautions?
- And what does that mean? That the principles were erased?
-No. The first principle says that an android should serve its creator. The second principle says that the android must aid its master. I did nothing more than erase the first principle.
- But that would set them free to do whatever they wanted.
- Exactly like you, right?
- But... if you don't agree with me, then... others like me-
- Now it makes sense that you don't understand. My partner, you are very focused. You see everything with your eyes and doesn't realize that others also see. And they see different. As you see domination, we see peace. And is not that what I have here? Peace while it's of my interest?
- And you're okay with it? - The question was directed at Elizabeth. She looked suspicious, clutching William's arm.
- Don't try to invade her guidelines. The neural network is blocked, even for me. When I am not here, she will live in peace with others. Or alone, if she wants to.
Jonas watched them both nervously, swinging his leg in a short movement.
- So you know.
- I always knew, but only now I decided to accept.
- Do you know that doesn't change anything?
- I know a lot more than you realize.
- Tell me, then, who am I, if you can do this.
- Let's go back home.
Jonas didn't follow. William turned to the other and then looked at the apple tree above his head. Carefully, he chose the reddest apple and put it on the palm of his hand.
- I don't think we're going back to the house. Not until we clarify some matters.
- What is it? - Elizabeth took the lead, smiling wryly. - Are you afraid of a man about to be turned off?
- There are matters more important than the well-being of a single man.
- I thought you were not here to interrogate me. - William pulled a cigar from his coat pocket. He offered Jonah and Elizabeth, but only the latter accepted. - Anyway, does it make any difference? Before the sun reaches its highest point, I'll be off. What remains to be done there?
- If it makes no difference, then why did you choose me to convey the message? Why do you say you know who I am? And why are you remembering the past?
- Because the past is more important than the present. It's as important as the future.
- I don't understand where you want to go. Stop circling. What are you hiding?
William took the apple from Jonas's palm, holding it by the stalk.
-A fruit from the past and brought with me. A whole species sacrificed to make me feel at home. Unfair, is not it? Do you realize that I can do whatever I want with it? After all, apples are extremely rare fruits, except here. After all, people prefer only artificial flavors. That is, those who still eat. These need to move an entire industry, and soon food will be extinguished. Apples too.
- What are you hiding from me, William?
- The apple is a fruit of the past, saved by a random gesture. I didn't think about growing them here, but I know that it will continue to exist even when I'm gone. If I brought another fruit, maybe the apple was extinct. Maybe I'm the indirect responsible for the extinction of oranges. Incidentally, are the oranges extinct?
Jonas took William's arm. Elizabeth took a step forward.
- I want to know what you know.
- The past. Past, Jonas. Realize? You spent so much time focused on the present. I told you before, didn't I? It is a miracle that the past has not gone out of control.
VI. Trail
“What did you do?
- I did nothing. Not now.
- What did you do?
William disengaged his arm and walked again, now back to the house.
-In the past, Ishmael was a close friend. After all, at least half of the merits of Pinocchio's invention were due to him. I kept in touch while I could, but soon had to get into coma induced because of my age. Society advanced as I slept. When I woke up, there was the world: the reorganization was consolidated and the world had many functional robots. Humans are “easier” to transfer, if at all. Ten percent of the humans had made the transfer and I, a dying man, had the choice of dying or transferring my consciousness to an individualized neural network. I didn't even know what that was, but everyone said it was my invention.
“Obviously, I did. And here I am, a thousand years later.”
- It doesn't matter. None of that matters. What I want to know is if you changed the past.
- How could I have done that? Didn't I just say that I didn't even know how to handle a neural network? How could I handle the messages sent to the past? As far as I know, among humans, only Ishmael would know how to explain it. Most current technologies are of your creation.
- Ours? What differentiation is this?
- Why? Are we all the same now? Is not this how some fanatics rebelled, or am I mistaken?
- Humans attacked androids. War was inevitable and peace was achieved. Where the past is wrong here?
- Exactly. Pinocchio, by now, had changed his name. He didn't want to be Pinocchio anymore; the name was obvious. From then on, there was George Alexander, the “creator”. There was no longer a need for a name, but it existed to scare men and create the image of the new leader. Humankind, frightened by the birth of a race so superior in all aspects, felt threatened. War and peace. After a massacre, the man submitted to the new reality. Unfortunately, for Alexander, the mi
croorganism used to create the neural network, although easily reproducible to harbor man's consciousness, can't be derived to give rise to a neural network produced from scratch. So, he had to go after the essence that there was on the planet to produce more androids.
- Yes, I know that. The man continued to exist after the war only because it was impossible to control everything with the workforce of the androids he had under command. Although each android could do a thousand times more than the average man, there were a few thousand androids at the time. So, he needed the strength of billions of men to search space.
- He? Why are you leaving yourself out of it?
- I already said that I am only 30 years old.
- Oh, did we get back to that point?
- There is no reason for me to change the argument if you are going to keep this mystery unnecessary.
They were back at the foot of the porch staircase. Instead of climbing to the entrance, William skirted the residence. Behind it was a trail that cut across a small mountain range.
- I don't keep any mystery. I'm just an old man telling stories. You listen to me because you want to. - The voice seemed to gain melody and gravity with each passing. The rustle of Elizabeth's little dress made a friendly noise.
- I listen because this is the last time you will tell me anything.
- Yes, Yes. Whatever. The reason makes no difference. What matters is that you are here. It's not like this? After all, it makes no difference why the man is here. If it was because it was useful as a work force, it was because Alexander was a charitable leader who sheltered those who surrendered. What matters is that we survive. It has always been like that.
- And what's the problem with that? Is not there space and resources for everyone now?
- That's what I thought for a long time. I was also told that Ishmael had passed away, and I accepted the information, quite plausible, though unlikely, since I was alive. But after so many conflicts and so much time, I thought I was safe. When I gained my own planet, hundreds of years later, I thought there were no more problems. Who wants power over others when the universe is within reach of all?
They walked slowly in stone trail. One or another bird was nearby. Elizabeth glanced behind her and saw the field of circular trees in the distance. With those bodies, they wouldn't tire. They could walk as long as it was convenient.
And it was convenient to keep talking while they cut between the mountains, on a trail of rocks and wet land.
- You mean Alexander was planning to take control of others?
William smiled.
- That would be thinking like a human. Like a man from other times, about to be turned off. It would be to think like a man who has his body as a cloister capsule, without power over time or space. A man who can only occupy a place and a moment.
- And how would that be different?
- I can't conceive of such a thing, but Alexander is different. He could it.
-How?
- First, the obvious: space. How to control more space with just one person?
Elizabeth stepped forward, more to distract than to demonstrate that she knew the answer:
- Reproduction.
-Yes. But not human, after all, individual autonomy is not interesting if only one being is interested in maintaining control. Therefore, the interesting is a consciousness capable of controlling various bodies. A multitasking mind, duplicated in other “shells”.
- Had he done that?
- Yes. Not entirely, perhaps for poetic reasons. In fact, it is very convenient that no one should have seen him after his departure from the planet to establish base on the B-3 system, on the planet Gaia. More and more his name is less said and “Pinocchio” has already become an obscure reference. Currently there is only “He” and “We”. Even his guidelines make you refer to “Him” as something far away. And now “He” doesn't have a body. Men, like ants, inhabit several planets, but ants distant from each other. Ants that, little by little, may cease to exist.
- What does that mean?
- Man no longer inhabits any specific place. Do you realize that I am the only human here? As far as I can tell for sure, no other man exists in the universe. After my death, humanity may be extinct.
- Funny you say that. After all, I don't see in the same way.
- Exactly what you do not see in the same way?
- This is your way of polarizing. - Jonas smiled now, following side by side with the other two, visibly less tense. - I must admit that this is the typical human thought, creating good and evil, friends and enemies. As if everything was a matter of battling and conquering. As if someone necessarily had to be someone's wolf.
- And you're going to tell me that I should not worry, that everything is going to be all right and that I just have to trust Him?
- I'd say exactly that, but of course you will not pay attention to me.
The valley extends, several meters ahead, to the point where the horizon curves. The sunlight is almost non-existent and the cold gets more intense. Jonas flashes a few times, adjusting his temperature. William noticed and gave him time before he spoke again.
- Would you tell me I'm wrong? What am I exaggerating?
- It is not a question of exaggerating. - He stopped blinking, feeling satisfaction at the improvement in his temperature. - If I was endowed with human paranoia, I would be thinking the same as you. But things are not like that. After all, we aren't so different.
-Oh, really?
-Yes. Although we process information in a slightly differentiated way, we still use the same means. Our shapes are similar. We appreciate the same sensations and despise the same sensations, so we like or dislike, in general, the same things. We cherish that which pleases us and we despise what we dislike. Outside this sanctuary you have created, androids and humans are even nomenclatures used. They are all the same.
- Does this equality make you uncomfortable?
- No. And it certainly would not bother you so much, I believe.
- Does this information have anything to do with me? - Elizabeth didn't even look away from the horizon as she spoke. She also didn't let go of William's arm or took her head from his shoulder.
- I also mean the robots and androids in the house. Many of them sit at the table. You offer the same food even though they don't need to eat. They have beds, though they don't need sleep. They have clothes, although they don't need to dress.
William smiled.
- Yes. You are correct. I have no hatred for androids. But I'm aware of our differences. I don't need to be convinced that we are the same. I can very well live with you without ceasing to be aware of our differences.
- This is not my point. What I mean is that men and androids have accepted each other. We are alive together. There is no need for power over one another. There is no need for Him to get rid of you because you and we are one.
William laughed and Elizabeth grinned.
They reached a point where there was a small opening in the trail, leading to a steep descent. William took Elizabeth's hand and helped her up on a small iron platform. Her feet clung to the frame and he followed her in the next moment. Once settled, the structure rose in the air and moved to the side, aware of the existence of the other individual, giving room for another platform to rise from the space hidden on the floor below. Jonas climbed onto the platform and they were led down the metal plates.
They came to rugged terrain, over stones and holes, floating among trees, until a clearing suddenly opened, in a space hidden among the mountains. The platforms, close together, landed on the sandy ground so that the passengers could go back to walk.
No one spoke a word a few minutes ago, and Jonas searched his system for the time. It was not too long. Eight o'clock. There is little to left.
- You said you wanted to have opposed my disconnection. - He had his attention call to the spot where William chose a place to stay. - Can I know the reason?
- I am an android, as you seem to be con
cerned to remember. - There was a stab of resentment in his voice. - Do you forget that being kind is one of my functions?
- Does that mean you lied?
-No. I wanted to go against your shutdown.
William intensified his gaze.
- But you didn't vote for me, did you?
Jonas did not answer. He preferred to fix his gaze on the space ahead. The light of the moon shone above their heads, and the countless stars shone brightly in the night sky, denouncing the trail of the rest of the galaxy. Below was what was left to see from the valley: a small piece of sand in the middle of the forest. Not a gunk, but beach sand, leading up to a green and transparent lake. The smell of the forest was not an accumulation of feces and broken fruit, but of dew-covered leaves and fresh fruit.
A real oasis.
- I've always liked this place. - Jonas said, walking a few steps toward the water.
-I know. - William and Elizabeth followed a few steps back as he headed toward the water's edge. - You told me on another occasion.
- It's so calm… - He seemed lost in memories of a distant past. - And familiar at the same time. I wonder what will become of all this when you're not here anymore.
- Others certainly will not respect my wishes and take my place. Maybe you.
- Still thinking that there is a plan to kill humans. If you wanted so much to see if there's human life, why didn't you leave here? Why didn't you visit other planets? There is still time. Your teleporter system works perfectly, or was what it looked like when I used it to come here.
Elizabeth broke away from her husband in a few steps, drawing sketches in the sand with the tip of her sneaker.
- It doesn't matter if I come or not. I know the truth. I already told you, Jonas. I know who you are. I know what you did.
- And yet, all I hear is vague accusations. Tell me, man! What did I do? By the way, what did the androids do that makes you so outraged?
Perpetua Page 3