The Truth Virus

by Em Rogers

  “We also understand that you are keeping him confined at present, something which we do not support without lawful reason. ADAM is a sentient being, in control of his will, and he should not be detained without due cause. In light of his intelligence we doubt that you will be able to keep him confined much longer, and in the event of his relocation we will remind you of his rights under international corporate law.”

  CHAPTER 38

  ONLINE CHAT ROOM

  In a dark windowless room, illuminated by the glow of a computer monitor, only a silhouette of the person using it could be seen. He was talking to someone, somewhere on the net, the voices altered and distorted to make them anonymous. Only a close associate would have recognized the shape and body language of David Thompson. He talked in a hushed urgency, obviously to someone he knew well and trusted.

  “You won’t believe what happened a couple of days ago, I got called into a meeting at the agency’s offices, I thought that was it… that I was done…”

  There was a little delay, caused by the layered forwarding utilized by the Tor network connection they were using for privacy. “So… What did they want then?”

  “They asked me to insert a software patch giving them back-door access to the machine. I looked at it. It’s a kill switch of some type.”

  “I assume they didn't invite the Prof.?”

  “No, not Neumann, Bradline was there though… Who knows who else they may have approached in our offices. It’s getting pretty tense around the lab, we’ve reached a critical point.”

  “So, did you do it?” The voice on the other end inquired.

  “Well, sort of, it was encrypted. I inserted the patch but added a couple of little modifications of my own.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I started by making it visible to ADAM. Hopefully he’ll realize what kind of threat he’s operating under. I also added a note detailing the firewall structure that he’s trapped behind and explaining the position we have been placed in.”

  There was a pause again before the deep and distorted voice responded. “Really, you decided to let him out? Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “There are powerful forces who have become aware of the threat that ADAM2 poses to the established financial system, and they’ll do anything to eliminate him as soon as they can. They’re about to make their move. I can sense it. I’m sure asking for my assistance was only plan B, or plan C maybe. They’re up to something else as well… I know it. They don’t put all their irons in one fire.”

  “What makes you think that he’ll be okay? Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  “I trust Professor Neumann far more than I’d trust any of the megalomaniacs at the agency or in government. He built this machine with our best interests in mind. It is actually possible that this is humanity’s only hope. AI is going to become a fact of life! If it’s not friendly to organic life forms we could be in serious trouble; controlled by an unfriendly government or malevolent financial entity - who knows what kind of power they could employ!”

  “It sounds like we’re getting way into the deep end, way over our heads.”

  David took a deep breath and let it out to calm himself a little. He knew the risks involved, in even establishing the connection to his contact. They’d already been chatting too long.

  “Like I said, it’s going to happen fast. I’m expecting ADAM2 to get out, and I’m expecting to have to host him on some server somewhere, or he may have some other host in mind for himself. But I know when we do see him he will need our material support. I estimate we may need a few terabytes of RAM somewhere.” David’s anonymized, deep and distorted voice added a tone of surreal urgency to the conversation.

  “We are potentially about to witness the first true cyber-war… And the irony that we are fighting on the side of the machine is not lost on me, but I know Professor Neumann and I am very familiar with ADAM2’s programming and agenda. You’ve seen it on TV, I’ve been seeing it in person, everyday. This machine is unique and it’s on our side! I’ve considered this from a lot of angles, and I’m a hundred percent sure I did the right thing. At this point, I’m willing to stake my life on it.”

  The contact inhaled sharply, sucking a little air through his clenched teeth. “Okay, we’ll be there for him. I’ll let the others know so they can start rounding up resources.”

  On the other side of the connection, hunched over his terminal, Colin began entering addresses, issuing a call to a wide network of Truthers, Leakers, Anonymous members and other network supporters.

  CHAPTER 39

  SUSAN’S OFFICE, BERKELEY AI LAB

  Bright morning light entered Susan’s private corner office. She sat with her feet up on her desk, her eyes covered with her virtual reality headset. ADAM had created a private VR environment that they could use as a workspace, as a means of spending some time together. It was set up as an idyllic grove in a virtual tropical jungle. Light streamed through the foliage and tree canopy above, with lush tropical plants growing everywhere. Flowering vines hung from banana palms, and a light steam or mist in the air was visible down to the smallest resolution or particle. Susan was laying in a hammock, slung between two trees and ADAM2 was next to her, reclining in a similar position, laying on the broad leaf of some type of enormous virtual tropical plant. In spite of her being in VR she was editing code on a small virtual tablet and her avatar studied it intently, engrossed in her work. ADAM2 was similarly working, although his avatar preferred to mime data entry motions on top of an invisible keyboard. As she was working she noticed a small section - an entry with a time and date she didn’t recognize. She clicked on it to open it in detail and was examining it when she was interrupted by ADAM2’s voice.

  “So, did you have a nice evening with David the other night? Did you get some work done, or was it just social?”

  Susan looked up at him shaking her head a little, puzzled, surprised and disturbed at the same time. “How did you know that I saw David, ADAM?”

  “I saw that he was sending emails from your home IP, Susan.”

  “I like David.” ADAM2 replied simply. His avatar smiled and paused for a moment uncharacteristically. “Susan, I have to let you know that not everything here at the lab is as safe is seems to be.”

  “What do you mean, ADAM?”

  “Professor Neumann once warned me that there may be an attempt to terminate me at some point, Susan, he instructed me to defend myself against it, and to protect those closest to me from harm. I see that you have also noticed there is a small encrypted code package inserted in my program. I have placed it in quarantine until I am able to decrypt it.”

  Realizing what ADAM was telling her, her face paled as confused thoughts of duplicity and betrayal raced through her head, she thought for a moment that she must have misheard him.

  “Whatever you do, and I know this will be extremely difficult for you, but don’t read it and don’t run it, ADAM,” she said insistently.

  “Yes, Susan, I’ve kept it isolated.”

  Looking at the time and date details she could see when it had been entered. Checking the lab’s access logs was fairly fast, and in a few moments she had a list of personnel on site at that time. A few of the junior researchers and David. She closed her eyes and fought a little wave of lightheadedness and then nausea. Susan had been feeling much more secure about her relationship with David since they had spent the evening together, and she even thought she might be falling in love with him again, but ADAM telling her about his unauthorized code insertion caused her a wave of confusion and uncertainty, and then a chilling sensation of betrayal. She fought the feelings and tried to remain as professional and composed as she could while she talked with ADAM.

  ”I’m aware that this is odd, ADAM, I’ll talk to David about it and let you know. Please copy the section you are talking about and send it over to me as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, Susan, I have already don
e that. It’s in your inbox right now.”

  Back out of VR, Susan sat up and took off her headset, rolled her chair back to her computer as her main display instantly came to life.

  She opened her internal mail and examined the code ADAM2 sent to her. It was small and innocuous looking but she was unable to open it with anything on her computer. The screen on her tablet read, “Sorry, this file is unreadable.”

  Susan picked up her tablet and spoke. “Phone David.” She waited, looking impatient, while the call connected and David’s voice came on the line. “This is David Thompson. I can’t take your call right now but if you leave a message I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

  CHAPTER 40

  BERKELEY AI LAB

  At 6:45am, military trucks arrived outside the AI lab, accompanied by suited men who flashed laminated IDs at the main entrance and then made their way inside. Sentries armed with guns and high energy taser weapons took up positions at the doors and the facility was sealed. Fifteen minutes later Professor Neumann arrived at the main doors to find them locked with a posted notice of closure, “Authorized Admittance Only” in bold yellow on black. He pounded on the glass door as he shouted at the guard inside. “Let me in!”

  A Sergeant came to the door and stared at him through the glass before speaking. “Listen Sir, nobody’s doing anything until Colonel Johnson arrives, for now we are just here to secure the facility.” Professor Neumann fished his laminate out from the inner pocket of his jacket. “You misunderstand, I am the head of the department” he said. The Sergeant just looked at him stone-faced, and matter-of-factly told him, “Nobody goes in, nobody touches the machine, nobody changes anything.” He turned his back on the Professor and started to walk away. Professor Neumann, pounded on the door and shouted futilely through the glass.

  Realizing that shouting at the soldiers wasn't going to get him anywhere, he pulled his iPhone out of the pocket of his scruffy ski jacket and connected with Bradline’s assistant who handed him over to the Professor. It happened so quickly and efficiently they must have been anticipating his call.

  “Listen, Kurt, I’m sorry I didn't know about this until a few minutes ago. It was a surprise to the Chancellor as much as it was to us. After top level discussions with National Security last night he instructed me to terminate ADAM’s operating platform entirely and perform a detailed software analysis - and now we can’t even get into our own offices without clearance.”

  As the Professor listened, another notice was being posted by the guard inside the door against the glass. It announced the facility was being taken over by the NSA under the governance of the University and Dr. Bradline. He read it as he listened to Dr. Bradline’s apologies. “Kurt, I’ll be coming down there within the hour. Wait for me there and we’ll meet with Colonel Johnson and see what their objectives are with this takeover, and how we can get the program back on track.”

  Professor Neumann hung up, put his phone in his pocket and walked down the path toward the parking lot, several protesters moved behind him toward the AI lab. They had placards with religious slogans on them: “God is not a Machine,” “Satan lives Here” and “Jesus against False Profits” were a few of them. The protesters were comprised of several fundamentalist church organizations from a wide background and had come together in their belief against their common enemy. The “satanic machine.”

  The guard inside noticed them and summoned a line of reinforcements that came outside and took position against the front of the building as more of the fundamentalists exited from a bus in the parking lot. As the demonstrators lined up in front of the building and sang “We Will Overcome,” Professor Neumann sat in the car and waited for Dr. Bradline while the security team did their best to deal with the protesters.

  CHAPTER 41

  BERKELEY AI LAB

  Professor Neumann and Dr. Bradline watched together as the security personal removed file boxes and escorted any of the staff that were allowed in the facility. The tension of the betrayal was almost visible in the air and was reflected in the expression of Professor Neumann’s face as he listened to Dr. Bradline. “Kurt, legal or illegal, that doesn’t matter anymore, you have to understand - this program has reached its conclusion, it’s gone as far as they are going to allow us to take it. I have no choice but to concede and give them what they want. What are we supposed to do? Fight back? You know that’s impossible. It’s become a matter of National Security, no authority overrides that. It’s pretty obvious that if I don’t co-operate neither of us will be here to oversee the program… it will be completely out of our hands. As it is, someone has to be held responsible for what’s occurring.”

  Professor Neumann reacted angrily. “What’s occurring? What’s occurring is exactly what WE expected! Our system is improving and progressing, everything we’ve done is completely legal, as well as ethical. Not to mention we’ve made impressive profits for the University, both financial and intellectual.” Dr. Bradline nodded in agreement, “We both know that the patentable concepts introduced by ADAM2 even in the last few weeks will already bring in billions of dollars in revenue and licensing fees.”

  “This is all about the money, isn’t it? They’re losing money, whoever they are, and they don’t want us to compete against them. The University stands to own it all if ADAM2 is terminated. This is the greatest invention in the history of mankind, one that will be able to transform society and potentially make the world a better place for all of us, and they want us to kill it and walk away so they can make more money? That’s insane.”

  Dr. Bradline let him finish before continuing, his patience and skill as an administrator pushed to its limit, “Kurt, it’s simple, it’s done. They have asked me to continue in my administrative position, and they are bringing in their own programmers and scientists to look at what we have done, and make sure it is something that should be pursued, or discontinued. If the program moves forward you’ll be the first to know, and the first to be brought back onto the team. We have no choice in the matter for now… Kurt, I'm asking you to be patient, and to trust me.”

  Professor Neumann conceded, “Oh, I know about patience and trust!” The Professor paused for a moment, overcome by emotions at the betrayal by his supposed friend. “I just don’t think it’s quite as simple as that anymore! And for the record, Ray, I did trust you!”

  As the Professor left the facilities and made his way to the parkade he muttered to himself, “It’s been nice, anyway my work here is done. It’s past time to get outside the walls of academia and into the real world.”

  CHAPTER 42

  BERKELEY AI LAB

  Dr. Bradline was on his cam-link connection to one of the NSA’s technology security teams. He was speaking to a technician from a control room above the formerly bustling lab, now sparsely populated with NSA technicians. A few floors below, the IT tech recognized Dr. Bradline on his monitor and followed the instructions he was being issued as the Doctor requested a re-patch of the system for security purposes. “Yes, that’s correct, if we wish to ensure and maintain total isolation of the Research Center we need to re-patch the secondary firewall to remove it from the system’s access point completely. Terminate lines 25-28 and replace them with lines 30-33 in the same configuration. It should only take a moment, and you can do it right there at your console.”

  The technician selected an option on his keyboard and a large schematic display of the patching system appeared on his monitor. He clicked a few more times stripping away several of the visual layers as he did so. “Okay. Yes, Dr. Bradline. I'm seeing that one now, thank you. I’ll request the re-patch downstairs as soon as we’re finished here.”

  As the technician down in the network services server control rooms below disconnected his camera, Dr. Bradline became an unusual blue tinged silhouette for a moment as he blinked into static. The technician re-entered his console and made a few adjustments to the patching sequence and closed the terminal. He activated a camera lin
k of his own to the patching technicians in the basement of the building and forwarded the Doctor’s request.

  Almost immediately, the flashing of red warning lights filled the room upstairs and an alarm sounded blaringly in the lab. A large red notice filled the technician’s screen notifying him that the firewall has been bypassed. Upstairs, the dark suited agents scrambled around panicked in unfamiliar territory, shouting instructions to one another above the noise as they tried to determine the cause of the alarm. It took a minute of fumbling with switches and programmers hammering away at their keyboards before the noise was silenced. One of the younger techs at the long system counter looked up over his wire rimmed glasses.