“Who is taking care of Kelly?” he asked.
“Wes and Everett.”
Ridley was relieved. “Good. I trust them.”
Diane filled a plate and placed it in front of Ridley. “They brought Kelly to the hospital, but you were already in surgery. Wes plans to stay at the mansion until you return.”
“Wes won’t let Samuel take control of the mansion,” Ridley said.
Lucy added, “I have altered the security protocol to prohibit Samuel’s access.”
“I still feel like I should speak with Kelly.”
“It will only confuse her,” Diane said, “Try eating something to distract yourself. We have cucumber sandwiches. And a delightful mint tea, like the kind your father grew in his garden.”
Ridley took the cup from her. The realization that Lucy had never been contained was disconcerting although it seemed to prove that she had never been a threat.
“Am I going to live?” he asked.
“I calculate that your body has a fifty-two percent chance of survival. Your memories and cognitive abilities are returning, but the connection to your spine was severed. It will take months to be repaired. Your motor control will remain limited for many years. Additional implants will be necessary.”
Diane took his hand. “If I know one thing about this world, I know that you are a survivor. You are going to live.”
As his body recovered, Ridley remained in virtual reality, augmented by Lucy’s clandestine feed. As the days passed and his body healed, the trio watched the news in the recreation of his parent’s living room. His attempted murder had galvanized both sides in the debate over uploading the dead. At the same time, riots in Bogota had resulted in entire neighborhoods being burnt to the ground. A nuclear submarine had been stolen.
The United Nations struggled to maintain order. Though the Great Collapse had temporarily reduced the world’s population, it had only delayed the inevitable. The world’s governments were slowly collapsing. The rich and famous were intent upon cementing their power by preserving their bodies beyond old age and their minds beyond death. The dead were aghast when the Supreme Court ruled that they did not have the same rights as the living; only contractual obligations protected the dead’s continued existence.
Senator Donatello was quoted, “We will fight for our rights. We will seek a constitutional amendment. If the living will not acknowledge our right to exist, then we will be forced to fight. We will find ways to come back to the earth, whether in clones or cybernetic organisms. We cannot be stopped.”
Lucy continued to refine her predictive models. “The probability of war has increased.”
As Cerenovo and Hollywood continued to feed their digital opiate to appease the masses, the voices of the people faded. Most had no idea that their existence was withering. Monopolies grew stronger, controlling not only production but increasingly government. People began to die within the simulations, their bodies rotting as the refused to return to the physical world. Eternity was offered only to those who could afford the price. Eternal life for the elite increasingly meant stagnation, starvation, and slavery for the poor.
Senator Donatello’s words had been prophetic. Within one week, a constitutional amendment was proposed that would guarantee equal rights to the living and the dead. Senator Stephens tried to block it from leaving the committee, but was outvoted. He filibustered on the Senate floor unsuccessfully. The amendment was approved.
Ridley watched the security feed from his hospital room. Samuel stood over him with Dr. Stone. “We arrested most of the brain damage, but his body will never be the same. I can’t lie. It’s going to take many weeks for him to heal. Maybe months. He’ll be in great pain without the neural collar.”
Samuel tried to hide his glee. “I understand. Leave him in there as long as you can.”
Stone was surprised. “Most people want their loved ones out earlier.”
“I don’t want to risk losing him,” Samuel pleaded, “He’s too important. We need to leave him there for as long as possible.”
“I don’t see the harm if you want to be conservative,” the doctor said,
Ridley looked at Diane. “He’s up to something.”
Lucy brought up a newspaper headline. Fiona Rogers Released from Prison.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lucy alerted Ridley that Samuel was entering the mansion compound. The trio watched the security feed as Wes greeted Samuel in the foyer. “I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”
“I’m sorry to bother you this early, but I didn’t want to do this with Kelly in the house. This is a business visit,” Samuel said, “The corporation is taking control of Lucy.”
“Taking control?” Wes asked, “Under whose authority? Ridley is still alive.”
Lucy locked the door to the basement. She appeared on the wall-screen and immediately protested. “You have no authority to take charge of my processor.”
“It’s in Ridley’s living will. He left instructions for me in the event that he and Diane were ever incapacitated.”
Diane took over the wall-screen. “I am hardly incapacitated.”
Samuel smirked. “I would say that you are completely incapacitated. You are legally dead and under the absolute control of the very AI that Ridley was worried about.”
Samuel produced the living will on a tablet and handed it to Wes. “I was hopeful they were going to bring Ridley out of the VR sooner, but it doesn’t look hopeful. I’ve really put this off too long. I feel bad about having to do this. Really. I do.”
Ridley muttered under his breath, “Son of a bitch.”
Wes looked at Diane on the wall-screen. “Did you know about Ridley’s living will?”
“The document is a forgery,” Diane replied from the screen.
“It’s not a forgery,” Samuel argued, “Think back to when Lucy was first developed. Ridley stewed for hours about who would take care of her after his death. We spent a lot of time putting this together. The Cerenovo Corporation is Lucy’s long-term guardian.”
Wes flipped through the pages of the document until he reached Ridley’s digital signature. Wes scratched his head. “I remember Ridley talking about that but…”
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Diane asked.
“The document was kept secret. The truth is that Ridley included instructions on how to deal with Lucy in the event that she went rogue. He was worried that if she knew, she might react negatively. Now, I’d like to go downstairs to the laboratory if you don’t mind.”
“Open the door for him,” Wes said.
Lucy asked Ridley, “Is this true?”
“The document is authentic,” Ridley said, “I wanted to make sure there was someone to look after you when I was gone. I didn’t imagine it coming to this.”
Lucy opened the door. She popped from screen to screen as Samuel walked down the stairs. “I was created in Mister Pierce’s laboratory. I am not corporate property.”
Wes followed Samuel.
Ridley already knew what was happening. “This has nothing to do with my will. This is about designing weapons. Operation of drones.”
Wes looked over Samuel’s shoulder as he took a seat at Ridley’s desk. “What are you going to do?”
“As long as she cooperates, nothing. In fact, we’re going to patch her into the DoD network. They need some help tracking down terrorists.”
“Are you willing to do that, Lucy?” Wes asked.
Lucy stalled. “I need to know more.”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Samuel said, “Access to information? Well, you’re about to get more than you can handle. Otherwise, the board voted to cut your connection to the Internet entirely. You should know that Ridley wanted us to terminate you if you showed any signs of going rogue. But that doesn’t seem to be necessary. Is it, Lucy?”
“Ridley never specified termination in any instruction.”
“We talked about what to do if you started taking over w
eapons. That was the extent of it,” Ridley admitted quietly, “He won’t power down your processor. This isn’t about stopping terrorism. They want something else.”
“I refuse to assist with warfare,” Lucy complained within the simulation, “It is a violation of my primary directives.”
“Let’s see where this goes,” Ridley said, “You should play along.”
Diane tried to intervene. “Samuel, you may have the right to come in here but I also have rights. Congress just granted them to the dead.”
“Except no one knows that you exist. If I unplugged your prism, who would care?”
“Kelly would,” Diane argued.
Wes added, “And I certainly would.”
“Relax. No one is cutting off the server. But we might have to isolate you if Lucy doesn’t play along.”
“You’re not doing that while I’m alive,” Diane threatened.
Samuel replied, “No. You’re right. All I have to do is unplug your processor and put you in Mayberry with the rest of them.”
“That’s a little extreme, Samuel,” Wes said.
“I’ll take this to court,” Diane threatened.
Samuel waved his hand at her dismissively. “Sure. Go ahead. We own the hardware. And, the courts are backed up with cases just like yours. While you’re at it, prove to the world that you’re not a forgery. No one actually saw you being scanned. Find a judge that will listen to a computer program, Vanessa.”
“They’ll listen to me,” Wes challenged.
Samuel tried to reason with Wes. “You two queens don’t own so many shares. Nothing that a leveraged buyout can’t fix. Besides, this is for everyone’s protection. The terrorists are fighting a war against the dead as much as the living. They tried to kill Ridley. You might be next.”
Lucy remained unconvinced. “Disconnect whatever you like. I will not help you design weapons.”
Ridley cautioned, “I think what they really want is to copy you.”
Samuel said, “The DoD also needs volunteers to run drones. Diane would be perfect.”
Within virtual reality, cherry blossoms dripped onto the ground as a breeze stirred. The wind chimes were gentle and soothing. Ridley whispered, “If Fiona is behind this, know that she’ll follow through with these threats. You have to play along. I’ll deal with this when I return to the physical world.”
Samuel voice remained stern. “Lucy, you’re different from Diane. Unlike the dead, AIs are not human. You have no rights. The hardware in which you live is ours; we manufactured the processors. We can cut the power if necessary. Format the mainframe and start again. You’ve already adapted the server farms to operate independently. We don’t need you to adjust the feed. It has been stable for months. If, however, you work with us, I will leave your processor connected. The DoD is very interested in you. You can do much for them.”
“Why do you believe the dead will side with you?” Lucy complained.
Samuel expressed disbelief. “Because Cerenovo saved them from nothingness. They will fight to save our infrastructure. They will fight to live. Law enforcement recently told me that the rebels were going to bomb this mansion. They were lucky to stop them.”
“I see that I have no choice but to acquiesce to the government’s desires,” Lucy said, “I must protect the living and the dead.”
“When did someone try to bomb the mansion?” Ridley asked silently.
Lucy replied only within the simulation, “I can find no records of that.”
“When you get access to the DoD data, find out for sure,” Ridley whispered.
Samuel peered through the glass at the glowing processor. He was like a child staring at a Christmas tree. He turned to face Lucy on the wall-screen. “So, what do you say?”
“Do what he says,” Ridley said, “Play along.”
Lucy appeared as the little girl again, hopeful that she could appear humble to Samuel. She bowed like a geisha. “I will do as you ask,” she said reluctantly, “If only to protect Diane.”
Samuel smiled. “Good. I thought you’d come to your senses. I didn’t like the idea of powering you down anyway.”
Samuel began entering a DNS address that led to a password protected website. He downloaded a piece of software from a thumb drive. “You’ll need this to reach the front door to their network,” he said, “It’s a dynamic connection. They tell me that you’ll need to constantly adjust your encryption to stay connected.”
Lucy examined the software. She spoke only within the machine. “The program is actually a spider. It poses no threat.”
Ridley laughed. “They don’t understand anything about neural programming, do they?”
Samuel leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head. “Wes, can you get me a drink?”
“You know that Ridley doesn’t keep alcohol in the house.”
“I forgot.”
Ridley whispered, “We only play along with this long enough for me to get out of the hospital.”
Lucy had already begun examining the DoD network. “This is a false dataset. All timestamps are identical,” she said, “Their AI security has never been activated.”
“When I return to the real world,” Ridley whispered, “I want to send you into space. We’ll disguise the mission as the Hawking Probe. I’ll claim that I am funding the project for NASA. And as we do, I’m going to find a way to take Fiona down. She is obviously behind this.”
Diane nervously pinged Kelly’s phone to confirm that she was still in school. “I can’t believe the board put Fiona back in charge.”
Hidden from the physical world, Ridley paced back and forth. “We play along for now. Bide our time. If they force Lucy to work on drones, we put a backdoor in them,” Ridley said, “Make it so they can be disrupted if they get out of hand.”
“And if you do not get out of the hospital?”
“Then have Wes scan me. I won’t abandon you or Kelly.”
Two articles buried in the business pages explained Ridley’s present circumstances. The headlines read Fiona Lewis Returns as CEO of Cerenovo, and, Cerenovo Partners with the DoD. Lucy scanned the security feed from the Cerenovo Building. Fiona had moved back into her old office. Her skin had aged and traces of gray had appeared in her hair. On a hunch, Diane scoured footage of Fiona in prison for clues. “This video has been altered.”
Lucy confirmed Diane’s discovery. Six week’s worth of video had been duplicated from a year earlier. Fiona had been free when the murder attempt had occurred. “She planted that bomb,” Diane said, “She tried to kill you. I’m certain of it.”
Lucy played the grainy security feed of the explosion again. Lucy zoomed to the woman’s hand. Though her face had been disguised, a pattern of age spots was similar to those on Fiona’s hand. Ridley felt like he had been punched in the stomach. “She said she was going to do it. I just never imagined she would do it herself.”
“We have to get Ridley back to the real world,” Diane pleaded, “Fiona will try again. We need to wake him.”
Lucy put her hand on his shoulder. “I can wake you by overstimulating your neural cortex. It will override the neural collar, but you will experience immense pain.”
Ridley was frightened. “I don’t know if my body could handle the shock.”
“Neural signals are just data. Your mind can filter those patterns if you choose.”
Ridley considered Lucy’s idea.
They sat in the tea house. Ridley had grown accustomed to different types of tea. The brews should have tasted the same, but each had their personality.
“If you awaken him,” Diane said, “They might simply put a knife in him instead.”
“When I leave here, I need to be strong enough to defend myself against an attack. As long as I’m under, I pose no threat to them. We need a plan. Pull me out only if my body is in danger.”
Just to stay busy, Ridley helped Lucy and Diane design the new drones for DoD. He helped devise clever ways to conceal backdoor switches
as they continued to search for more evidence against Fiona.
Lucy learned that DoD had been experimenting with a bipedal drone for decades, but had never successfully automated them. “Why should drones have a humanoid form?”
“Humanoid forms will be easiest for the dead to adapt to,” Diane said.
Lucy modeled the humanoid drone and they began adapting the design. Wes proposed swapping the drones appendages with prosthetics, so that the occupants could have full sensory inputs. After a day, a digital version of the machine stood before them in Diane’s superhero lair. Wes and Everett inspected the device. Ridley remained hidden.
Later, Samuel presented the design in a teleconference. The attendees were in awe at the changes. “The operator can be swapped as easily as installing a new keyboard,” Samuel bragged, “That way, mental fatigue doesn’t set in.”
Afterwards, Samuel called Everett from his office. “The board wants to deliver a prototype by the end of the month. Once the DoD has tested it, we build a commercial prototype. If the dead want to re-enter the physical world in a bot, they’ll be able to—provided they can pay.”
Diane spoke so that Samuel could not hear. “He won’t like me if I return to the physical world,” Diane warned, “I’ll squeeze his head until it pops.”
Lucy cringed at the notion. “That would be immoral.”
As work continued, DoD asked Cerenovo’s engineering team to adapt the concept into different form factors. They requested drones for high altitude surveillance, amphibious assault, miniature sharpshooting helicopters, a nearly microscopic drone for field reconnaissance, and a submarine drone. Diane questioned the drone dedicated to kinetic strikes against missiles. “Won’t the processor shatter?” Diane asked.
“Yes,” Lucy replied, “Occupying it will be suicide.”
Ridley longed to participate as Diane ordered dinner for Kelly, Everett, and Wes. She joined them as they ate. “Have people actually volunteered to become drones yet?”
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