So I went to the closest shop of SkyCom, my telecommunications company, to see what they had on offer.
The glass sliding door did not open automatically when I approached it. Apparently, she hadn’t read my RFID chip correctly. I held my left forearm a little closer to the wall next to the door, and finally it slid to the side. Three other customers were in the store looking at the displays. Besides smartphones, there were wireless chargers, docking stations, signal amplifiers built into the clothes, for example baseball caps, and lots of animated advertising for SkyCom’s various data plans.
When I stepped through the hidden X-ray scanner behind the entrance, an alarm went off immediately. The scanner had detected my pistol under my jacket. There was only a faint beeping and a flashing LED in the wall behind the door. But immediately afterwards a compartment in the wall opened and a seven feet tall steel robot guardian stepped out of the hidden niche. It had two arms and two legs, but apart from that its manufacturer had made no effort to make it appear human. Its torso was not covered and you could see all the mechanics of its steel skeleton. Threatening it stood before me. The appearance of the robot had attracted the attention of the other customers. Curious, they looked over in my direction. Apparently they hoped to witness a spectacular arrest. I didn’t do them this favor and lifted my smartphone to the robot guardian. He slipped it into a reader in his chest, confirmed that I had a Class III security clearance and was therefore authorized to carry firearms in security zones. Then he returned the smartphone to me and said, »Thank you, sir. Welcome to SkyCom.« Finally, he stepped backwards into the alcove and the wall closed again. The other customers in the store lost interest and turned back to the products on offer.
In theory the Second Amendment to the American Constitution, which guaranteed the right to carry and possess firearms, was still in effect. However, it was now restricted by so many local regulations and weapon-free zones that you were probably only allowed to walk around with a gun somewhere in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains unless you had the necessary security clearance, as I did.
In a showcase I saw different smartphone models lined up. On the glass surfaces, on which the devices stood, the technical specifications and the price were displayed. All glass surfaces of the showcase were transparent screens.
When I stood in front of the showcase for about three seconds, the avatar that served as a vendor was activated. On the screen of the display case, the figure of a young woman in the chic light blue uniform of SkyCom was displayed.
»Good day, sir. What can I do for you?« she asked politely and smiled at me. She didn’t have a physical body, but otherwise she functioned just like an android. Hidden cameras and microphones served her as eyes and ears. And a computer with almost the same mental capabilities as a human controlled her virtual movements. Most stores here in Washington had virtual salesmen like this.
»I’d like a new smartphone, if possible, a cheap one,« I said.
»Are you already a SkyCom customer?«
»Yes,« I confirmed.
»Then please insert your PDA into the slot to your right.«
I discovered the slit in the wall to the right of the display case and did what she asked.
It’s kind of crazy that we think of such an avatar as a her just because it is represented by a female computer animation. Of course, in reality it was a sexless computer that controlled the animation. And depending on the statistically determined preferences, it determined the gender in which it appeared. If I had been an older lady or if my appearance had made me known as a Mohammedan or Orthodox Jew, the avatar would probably have been male. The statistics said that these groups of people preferred male sales staff. However, since I was a normal-looking young man, the computer assumed that I preferred a young woman as my sales assistant, rightly so, of course. And although I knew all this, my subconscious mind told me that I was talking to a pretty girl and not to an emotionless computer. Accordingly, my behavior adjusted to this without the logical part of my brain being able to do anything about it. I became more friendly, smiled back and became more receptive to the computer’s sales strategy. It’s really amazing how we can be manipulated with simple psychological tricks.
»Mr. Dexter, I see you have 2115 points in our loyalty program,« said the female avatar.
By the time I introduced my smartphone, she already knew everything about me: my name, my job, my credit rating, all the electronic hardware I had at home, where I had been for the past year, what stores I had visited and what personal calls I had made recently. However, data protection regulations required that most personal data collected by a private company be deleted after one year. Unfortunately this didn’t include my credit rating.
»Would you like a second device or would you like to exchange your old device for a new model? I can redeem your loyalty points on the purchase of the new device,« the virtual saleswoman continued.
»I’d like one with an UDXC interface,« I said. That was pretty important to me. After all, I wanted to root the thing and modify the firmware for my own purposes.
The saleswoman pointed to three different models. »This one costs sixty-nine thousand dollars and has...«
»No, I can’t afford that,« I interrupted her. »What about the one next to it?«
»The S219? That’s three thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. Very inexpensive. It even has a fully customizable avatar. Of course, it has an UDXC interface, and also...«
»How much will it cost me if I trade it for my old one and put my loyalty points towards it?«
»There remains a difference of eighty-five dollars.« That meant I got the device practically without paying anything and could use the money O’Neil gave me for something else.
»Okay, I like that. I’ll take it.«
»Should I transfer all the data from your old PDA to the new one?« asked the virtual saleswoman.
»Yes, of course.«
»Fine. Just a moment please.« The woman produced on the glass surface pretended to be working something while a metal grip grabbed the smartphone and put it into a pedestal in the display case. There it was fed with the new data and programmed for me.
»We have several basic avatar profiles to choose from. Among them are well-known personalities from the music and film industry or famous athletes. Do you have any special requests in this regard?«
I was thinking. »Hmm... movie stars too, you say?« I had a certain idea. »Maybe Betty Boobs?«
»Betty what?« asked the salesgirl, confused.
»Betty Boobs. This is a... um... actress from these... uh... films, you know?« This was kind of embarrassing! It was a stupid idea of mine to mention a porn star. Of course, SkyCom only had the profiles of serious actors to choose from. I could have probably downloaded the profile of Betty Boobs somewhere on the Internet later on instead of getting myself into this embarrassing situation.
»No, a basic profile with this name is unfortunately not in our selection,« confirmed the saleswoman. »You can choose from a selection of all available basic profiles in this menu here.«
A menu with the faces of the available avatar profiles appeared on the glass pane of the showcase, on which she herself was also projected. I selected one of the standard female profiles. I would personalize her myself later anyway.
I then had to authorize payment of the difference from my account. Then the programming of my new smartphone was finished. The gripper pulled it out of the socket and placed it on a glass tray in the display case. An opening in the display case appeared, the glass tray slid out and I was able to take my new smartphone. I checked that my data had been transferred correctly and also checked my account balance just to be sure. Everything was in order. The new device had really only cost me eighty-five dollars.
»Is there anything else I can do for you?« the salesgirl’s avatar asked me.
»No, thanks. That’s all.«
»Then on behalf of SkyCom, I wish you a pleasant evening. I hope you will visit
us again soon.«
I hoped not. Because that would only be, if I had something to complain about with my new smartphone.
»Hello Cliff!« a female voice suddenly came from my smartphone. I looked around in confusion before I realized where the voice had come from. »I am your new personal assistant. Would you like to give me a name?«
»What the fuck...?« I snapped. »Who...? I didn’t turn you on at all.«
»I am your personal assistant. I’m always here for you,« it replied from the smartphone in my hand.
The saleswoman on the glass pane of the showcase smiled amusedly. Then she switched off and disappeared. The showcase was completely transparent again and looked like normal glass.
»So what name do you have for me?« insisted the avatar on my smartphone. The face of the woman I had chosen from the menu was on the front.
»Um... I’m gonna call you Betty,« I said without having it given much thought.
»Thanks, Cliff. I’m Betty from now on.«
The personality of this new smartphone was already beginning to annoy me, yet it was hardly switched on for half a minute. In fact, I would urgently need to do some major reprogramming as soon as I got home.
»Okay, Betty, can you please shut up for a while? I have stuff to do.« I tried to keep the volume of my voice down. Another customer was already watching me. I must have looked pretty stupid talking with that little plastic thing in my hand.
»But of course, Cliff. Just as you wish.«
»Yes, please,« I repeated once again and wanted to leave the shop as quickly as possible before everyone here stared at me talking to this thing.
Even before I reached the door, a loud bang suddenly came from outside, which made the glass panes of the entrance shake. The niche in the wall opened and the security robot stepped out again.
»What the fuck was that?« I wondered. The other customers had also run to the glass door and looked out.
»That sounded like an explosion, Cliff,« my smartphone replied.
»I didn’t ask you.«
In the meantime the door had opened and the robot had stepped outside to check the situation. I heard vehicles honking and two people ran along the street. An alarm siren sounded. I had also stepped into the street in the meantime. I checked that my gun was safely under my jacket. It gave me a reassuring feeling. I looked around. There was smoke coming from a shop about hundred and fifty feet away. A group of passers-by gathered around it at a safe distance. Two flying surveillance drones descended from the sky. They had a diameter of about eight inches and consisted of a thick plastic ring in which two rotors were rotating, one above the other. They functioned like a small helicopter, had cameras and directional microphones built in and were controlled by a small computer. They were in direct contact with the central office of the municipal police.
My smartphone warned me: »We should better get away from here. Staying in the immediate vicinity of the site of a terrorist attack poses a considerable risk to health and life. There is nothing you can do here, Cliff. The proper authorities will take care of everything.«
»Hey, can’t you just shut up?« I yelled at the smartphone and looked for a button to switch it off.
»Just as you wish, Cliff,« the thing replied. I put it in my pocket and carefully approached the obvious location of the explosion.
Glass splinters and debris were lying in the street in front of the shop. It appeared to be a branch of an electronics store. Apart from the slowly dissipating smoke and the splinters in the street, nothing was visible. I could not see anyone injured. The improvised explosive device didn’t seem to have been too big. I estimated a maximum of two hundred grams. I saw no shrapnel traces. So the attack had not been aimed at human targets, but had been intended to cause foremost material damage. In the meantime, a police siren could be heard at some distance. The alarm system of the damaged store was still sounding shrill. The traffic on the street had come to a standstill. The drivers had reduced the speed of their autopilots to a minimum to be able to take a curious look at the explosion site. Others had stopped at some distance. I continued to go closer until I came across the first row of onlookers. They were engaged in eager debates.
»I’m sure this was those Neo-Luddites again. It’s obvious«, said an overweight middle-aged man. »Put them all up against the wall!«
»I heard there was an attack at MagLev station last week,« said the elderly woman next to him.
»I told you so,« continued her companion. »They’re worse than the bloody Mussies used to be.«
»The President is also a Muslim,« the woman said.
»Exactly. That’s why you can’t trust that damn al-Rahman. I never thought it would come to this. A Mussie as President of the United States.« The man shook his head. »His campaign was funded by the SAU. And everyone knows that he sympathizes with the Neo-Luddites. Those Mussie Brothers are all Neo-Luddites anyway...«
I interrupted the man’s political talk and asked: »What happened here?«
»Apparently a bomb attack,« he replied.
»I heard it from over there,« the woman added. »Wow, that was a bang! I said straight to my neighbor: This must have been a bomb...«
»Were there any casualties?« I asked.
»I don’t know. I just got here myself,« the man replied.
In the meantime, a police van had reached the scene of the incident. Several uniformed police robots got out. Their faces were shiny metallic and they wore dark sunglasses that covered their artificial eyes. A human police officer was also among them, who directed the robots. He wore a kind of headset with a transparent augmented reality visor in front of his eyes and a microphone. With a tablet in his hand and various remote control and communication devices in the pockets of his body armor, he gave commands to his squad and stayed in touch with the headquarter.
I tried to take a look inside the shop through the destroyed glasswindow. From my position and with all the smoke inside I couldn’t see any injured people.
The police robots began to cordon off the area around the store. I noticed a few pieces of paper lying on the floor between the glass splinters. At first I thought they were advertising leaflets that came from the shop, but they were too amateurish and unprofessional for that. They seemed to be leaflets. I picked one up and read it: Eco-Anarchist Earth Liberation Front - Down with the techno-industrial system! I couldn’t read any further, because the human police officer came up to me and took the paper out of my hand.
»Please move away! It’s for your own safety. There’s nothing to see here. Everything is under control«, he said and pushed the group of onlookers back, among whom I was standing, too.
My smartphone shouted approvingly from my pocket: »The officer is right, Cliff. You should leave here. Some terrorists may use secondary explosives to hit onlookers and helpers who rush to the scene after the first explosion. It is not safe here.«
I retreated, as did the other bystanders. My little talking nag was probably right. Besides, there wasn’t much interesting to see here anymore.
Another police transport had arrived. More robots swarmed out and pushed the bystanders away. The police officer remotely ordered the autopilots of passing vehicles to accelerate, so that the traffic jam was cleared and traffic could continue to flow normally.
I went home.
At the gate to my apartment block I talked for a while with the security guard Jake, who made some stupid remark about where my new car was. I was trying to find out more about my neighbor, the blonde Natasha. But Jake didn’t know much, except that she hadn’t lived here for long. Actually, I had expected Jake to show a little more interest in such a pretty tenant. But he was married, and claimed that he’d become too old for such things.
I went to my apartment and immediately faced a nasty surprise when I entered. Once again we had no electricity. The hallway lights and the advertising screens were working. But that was because the building management had an inverter to bridge power outages for a
couple of hours with battery power. Unfortunately, this didn’t include the inside of my apartment. I had a small inverter myself, but the batteries were so old that they didn’t last long. I was hoping to take a closer look at my new smartphone and do some customization right away, but if the blackout lasted longer, I wouldn’t get very far with that little battery power.
Since my apartment had no windows, I cautiously groped my way through the dark to the plastic table under which my inverter was standing. It started up with a low hum as I flipped the switch. Now I could turn on the screen behind my bed. I activated the TV menu and searched for a sports channel to get yesterday’s results. The light from the screen brightened up the room a little so I could find my way around in my apartment.
I got a can of beer from the small fridge. It was lukewarm. Apparently the blackout had already lasted for a while, which gave me some hope that it would soon be over. I put the beer back. I’d better leave the house later and drink something cold somewhere else. After all, I still had some money left.
I plugged my new smartphone into the designated docking station under the screen and switched to computer display. With my hacking software I connected to the smartphone. A few minutes later I had root access. Then I started with the customization. I just hoped I didn’t brick the new device right away. After about an hour I managed to replace the camera input with a digital avatar of myself. With this little trick, no one who was having a conversation with me could see where I actually was. This was important when the Old Man was bothering me on the phone again. I also successfully replaced the standard avatar of the smartphone with the profile of Betty Boobs, which I found on the Internet. Now the annoyances of this device would hopefully come to an end.
But that’s as far as I got. My batteries ran out and the screen went dark. I cursed. I had no choice but to leave the apartment. No one could say how long the blackout would last, and the ventilation in my apartment didn’t work either during this time. The air was already quite stuffy. I lit a candle, showered and shaved in the semi-darkness. Then I left the apartment. Down in the street it was also dark. The only lighting came from the windows, where some people had inverters running.
Crusade Against the Machines Page 8
