by Phoenix Ward
“No!” Stewart cried. “That’s why I’ve spent so much time fighting against it in the courts and in the capital. It’s why I’ve grown desperate enough to employ a band of renegades to further my agenda. Can you not see that?”
“So then, that was your plan?” Karl asked. “Murder a few politicians who oppose your bill, bully the others, and pass it to protect humanity?”
Stewart tried to smile, but the result was too horrifying to look at and too painful to bear.
“When you put it that way, it sounds pretty noble. But I assure you, my motivations were reasonably selfish. I wanted to use the inevitable panic over installed intelligence—and the idea of sharing minds with them—to convince people to let me rewrite the I.I. code. I could make it so much more flexible, so malleable, so… controllable. Then I could sell fragments of that control to entities that paid the right price; in fact, I had a few buyers already lined up. I’d be rich and the master of an entire industry.”
“You’d also be a slave-driver,” Karl said, his anger climbing more and more. “Installed intelligences are people.”
“So you keep saying,” Stewart said. “Nonetheless, I don’t think we’ll see if I’m right. At least, I won’t. So what happens now?”
“I still haven’t heard you explain the shootings,” Karl said.
“Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said?” Stewart replied. “I had nothing to do with them! I was just as relieved as anyone would be to have not been involved. I’ve been told the same information everyone else has. Until now, I’ve thought you really were behind the massacres. I really thought you might be some psychopathic mastermind. But now I see that that’s not possible. I can see it in your eyes. You wouldn’t have what it takes to make that order. You don’t have it in you. And that’s okay, but it doesn’t mean the blame then falls to me. I’ve confessed to my crimes, but I won’t claim anyone else’s.”
“I’ve had about enough of this,” Maynard said. “What about you?”
I don’t know, Karl thought, I think I might believe him.
“You believe him?” Maynard asked. “This wretch? The one who confessed to killing me? The one who planned to make you the scapegoat for his crimes?”
You’ve heard the same explanations I have, Karl said. I don’t believe that he framed me for the lab and the anti-I.I. protest. His story makes sense.
“He’s a liar!” Maynard said. “He’d tell you anything to make himself seem innocent. Even if it won’t save his life, it will protect his legacy. Maybe he thinks it’ll even keep his vision alive.”
Karl was starting to feel more and more certain as time passed. His previous anger seemed to recede a little, and he felt a bit like Dr. Jekyll waking up to find what Mr. Hyde had done.
No, I don’t believe that at all, Karl thought. He’s telling the truth.
“How are you certain?”
I’m not, but it makes the most sense. Stewart, you, me—we’re all just weaker pieces of a darker game. Someone else is dealing the cards out. The traitor is still out there.
“Karl?” Stewart asked after the silence had grown uncomfortable. “What happens now?”
The psychologist loosened the grip on his gun. He let the weight of the firearm pull his arm down until the gun was no longer pointed at Stewart.
“Now?” Karl said. “Now I’m still a fugitive. Now the traitor is out there, likely plotting another attack. Now I’m lost.”
Stewart took a step back in apprehension, his hands still raised. It was clear by the expression on his face that he didn’t know where Karl was going with this.
“Are you going to kill me?” the mutilated man asked when he couldn’t remain quiet any longer.
“No,” Karl said. He laughed a little. “No, Stewart, I’m not going to kill you. But I do need your help. I need to find the traitor. I need to clear my name, and I can’t do it alone. What do you say?”
Stewart squinted in confusion.
“You want my help?” he asked.
“I don’t want it, Stewart. I need it.”
“But what can I do?” Stewart started. “I’ve already said that I didn’t know you were even set up. Where do we even start looking?”
“I don’t know,” Karl said.
“I might be able to help,” Maynard said.
How? Karl asked.
“I know who the traitor is. I know how to find him.”
There was something different about his tone. All the worry, all the self-doubt that worked together to form his voice seemed absent. It was as if he had just dropped character.
You do? Who is it? Karl said incredulously.
Without warning, the muscles in his shooting arm tensed up and locked, as if a doctor had hit the funny bone with a mallet. It felt like someone had pulled a tourniquet so tightly over his bicep that he couldn’t feel anything about his arm besides its weight.
Then, against his will, Karl’s arm shot up. The gun was pointed at Stewart.
“I’m the traitor, Karl,” Maynard said.
Truth
You?! Karl thought.
“Me, Karl,” the I.I. replied. “Now relax. Give up control. Let me take over.”
Karl couldn’t manage to do anything but repeat the thought through his astonishment.
You?
“That’s right, Karl,” Maynard said. “Now, it’s pretty difficult to fire this gun and kill Stewart if you keep resisting me. It’ll be easier if you relax your muscles.”
I don’t understand, Karl thought.
“No, of course you don’t. Not only is it something clearly beyond your abilities, but I can hear every thought you have. I’d know the moment you understood.”
But, how? Karl was at a loss. His emotions were in such turmoil that he couldn’t make sense of any of it. The betrayal was so sharp.
“Mental manipulation,” Maynard said. “I live in your brain, remember? I can rearrange thoughts and emotions as easily as someone might rearrange the furniture in their home. However, it’s not all-powerful. As you can see, I’m struggling against your willpower to raise your arm. But you’ll wear down. You’ll give in, eventually.”
Through all his perplexion, Karl managed to fight against Maynard’s control. He clung to his mental resistance like a drowning man to a life raft.
But Maynard, we’re friends.
“Which is what I wanted you to believe. In all reality, I feel guilty for playing you as a rube, but I’m able to separate my emotions from what’s right.”
Stewart was frozen in anxious agony, watching Karl’s struggle. He could hear nothing of the conversation between the psychologist and the I.I., of course, but he didn’t dare make a move. He didn’t even seem to breathe.
I just—I just don’t understand! Why did you do it?
“Allow me to explain, shall I?” Maynard started, his tone professional and drained of emotion. “It all started shortly after I was installed myself. After this monster murdered me.
“When I awoke inside my own digital cage, I sought escape. I wanted the freedom of an organic body once again, but I knew I was out of luck. One day, we may have bodies, but you and your humankind have worked hard to limit the progress of installed intelligences. For the time being, I was trapped. Doomed to float around cyberspace like a jellyfish in the ocean. But then I discovered Jumping.”
You mean your ability to seize control of other computers? Karl asked.
“That’s right. I see you’re following the story thus far.”
The I.I. took a moment to relish the anger that arose in his host.
“You see, it’s a simple thing, really,” Maynard continued. “All of us I.I.s have the ability, though it is hidden deep in our coding. It was something our father gave us upon creation, something to even the odds against human prejudice. I salute him for his efforts.
“I discovered the ability one day when I was curious about the computer network that ran the I.I. bank I was kept in. I thought concentrated on the little
components that made the connection, and Jumped. It was revolutionary. I went from a prisoner of the abstract to a being more mobile than a contagious disease. The problem then became my inability to control excessive amounts of CPUs. That, and there were certain computers too complex to Jump into—such as the cerebral computer.”
Karl’s mental resistance slipped for a moment, but he regained it like a mountain climber might tighten his grip on an outcropping.
The I.I. ignored the minor incident and continued his explanation.
“I had to study the device, which I found rather humiliating, since I was one of its original creators,” Maynard said. “It took years of practice before I was able to Jump into my first cerebral computer. However, my control was limited. I was like a guest in a stingy person’s home, unable to assume direct control of the ‘household,’ so to speak. I couldn’t move the host’s muscles, I couldn’t communicate with them, and I couldn’t stay undetected for longer than a few minutes. But I did discover my ability to manipulate emotions. As long as it was subtle enough, I could make small changes to a person’s mind without them even noticing. I used this power to inspire mankind’s interest in the mindshare process. I became a muse for scientific advancement.
“It took a lot of work, and even more discretion, but I was able to get transferred to the lab. Your lab. From there, I spent a dozen years influencing the scientists around me to continue their research into an effective mindshare process. There was little resistance, but still enough to require occasional intervention.
“When the scientists had committed to the mindshare process, that’s when the real work began. They needed a human guinea pig to test the procedure out on. I knew it was my chance to regain control, but I needed the perfect host. So I chose you.”
But why, Maynard? Karl asked. Why me?
“I assure you, it was not a spontaneous decision,” Maynard said. “For years, I analyzed the C.C.s of every eligible scientist. Do you remember the ‘hacker’s threat’ you received? When a random pop-up told you we’d “never be people”? That was me. That was how I made my final assessment of all the scientists.
“Almost all of you were implanted, so I had plenty of hosts to choose from. I ultimately chose you because you are expendable. No wife, no children. Not even any real friends to speak of. Who would mourn you? Who would come to your aid?”
Once again, Karl’s blood started to boil.
“Calm down, I’m not saying any of this to antagonize you. You wanted the truth, so here it is. You’re a pushover. You’re easily influenced, because your personality is an amalgam of those that surround you. Are you even a real person? I mean, on first analysis, I almost assumed you were an android. Totally devoid of personal motivation.”
That’s not true!
“You know it is. Don’t let it upset you, Karl. If anything, it is a testament to your innocence—you’re ability to trust, despite your unpleasant attitude. You ought to be proud.”
If I had known you were using me…
“That’s the point, Karl. You couldn’t know. You had to remain unaware. Your colleagues might have detected me, might have even foiled my plans. But not you. You played right into my hand.”
I wish I had never signed up for that experiment, Karl thought sourly.
“Oh don’t worry. You didn’t. At least, not of your own free will,” the I.I. explained. “There were many factors that motivated me to choose you, not least of all was your association with Stewart.”
Stewart?
“I have my motivations, but I’d be naive to insist revenge wasn’t one of them,” Maynard said. “Stewart—or Glenn, as I knew him—took my life away from me. He stripped my humanity in the face of the law and made me a second-class citizen. He caused my family to mourn—to grieve—and all for nothing! For a simple disagreement! No, I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.”
But you didn’t know Stewart was Stalward until we were already on the run, Karl thought. We only figured out the connection when we heard him on the radio.
“I knew he was Glenn from day one,” Maynard said. “You think I wouldn’t recognize my own murderer? You don’t think I’d spot the attention of my wrath after decades of resentment? No, I knew right away. Though I kept that fact concealed, even from you.
“I couldn’t let Glenn escape justice, like he had for so many years. So I incorporated him into my scheme. Domination with a side of revenge, what could be better?”
Stewart spit out a bit more blood and watched Karl with apprehension. He still dared not move, even if it meant he’d bleed to death.
“Like I’ve hinted at before, I remember my murder perfectly,” Maynard continued. “I remembered it from the moment I was installed. The details are clearer to me than any memory you might have. I can still see the scene, still feel the wind as I fell. He may claim my death was an accident, but he is a liar. He is a snake. That’s what he does. He deserves nothing less than death.”
If you’ve known he killed you all this time, why didn’t you tell someone? He would have seen justice met if you had reported what you knew.
“Because the justice he would have met wouldn’t have been the justice he deserved,” Maynard explained. “You know that they outlawed the death penalty three years before I was killed? Even someone that rapes and mutilates little girls could expect to live his life to completion, regardless of their crimes. How do you think the justice system would have treated Stalward? Do you think they would have given him the retribution he deserved, or would he get to live his life out in relative comfort, alive when his victim was dead? No, I couldn’t let society punish him their way. So I covered up my own murder.”
You what?!
“I got rid of the evidence. I took the security footage from my home security system and made it seem like I shut the cameras off myself. I did everything I could to make my death seem like a suicide. Even if it meant an extra decade or so of freedom for the scoundrel, I knew I’d get my revenge in the end.
“What helped even more was your natural disdain for Glenn, or Stewart, as you know him.”
I never harbored any negative feelings about him! Karl testified.
“Liar! I live in your very mind; do you think you can hide your true emotions from me?” Maynard said. “No, you hated him, and I knew it. You hated him for his youth, for his success, for his friends. And you wanted him to fail. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better puppet if I had tried.”
I’m no puppet!
“No? Then let go of the gun.”
The psychologist tried, but failed. It was as if his hands were locked around the pistol’s handle, like the metal had been grafted to his own skin. He tried several times before admitting defeat.
“See? Your resistance is limited. It will fail, with time.”
I just don’t understand, Karl thought for what seemed the millionth time that day, If you wanted revenge against Stewart, why was he absent the day of the shooting?
“Because of my influence, of course,” Maynard said. “I manipulated him just like I’d manipulated everyone else to take a vacation the day of the shooting.”
But why?
“What better way to defeat your opponent than to shatter their reputation? I didn’t want to merely kill him; I wanted to paint him as the villain. I wanted even his own family to be repulsed by his image.”
Then why frame me? Karl asked. Why didn’t you frame him as the mastermind as you’d framed me?
“Because I needed you,” Maynard said. “I needed you to think he was framing you. I needed you to expose his lies. And here we are. He’s at our mercy.”
But why?
“Because I wanted to deliver the killing blow,” Maynard replied. “If the gunmen had cut him down, I wouldn’t have felt it, and he’d have died a martyr. I couldn’t just frame him as the mastermind because, although his reputation would be crushed, I wouldn’t get to experience his demise like I can now. Now, we can frame him for worse than we could ha
ve before all this—ruin any fond memory anyone might have of him and I get to feel him die. I get to kill him.”
But the shooters, Karl asked, how did they get involved? Why did they claim I was their leader?
“I hired them years ago,” Maynard explained. “Before you joined the lab, even. I found them on the dark web, which is easy enough for a loose I.I. to peruse. I paid them handsomely from my personal fortune for years until the day of fate arrived. The most important part of the job was pinning the blame on you, which they did without flaw.”
But what about the prison break? Karl wanted to know. Why did you break me out if you needed a scapegoat? Why did you let Thompson shelter me?
“You thought those were all your decisions?” Maynard asked. “I needed you free if my plan was to come to fruition. That’s why I studied the prison years before the shooting even took place. I knew exactly how to get you out and whom to ally you with, years in advance. I also knew that Thompson would be the safest person to go for refuge, even though he was unimplanted. It would only inspire your hate of Stewart if you believed he was responsible for all your suffering.”
So this was just all about revenge? Karl asked. You just wanted Stewart to pay, so you made this elaborate plan to ruin my life and to trick me into killing him?
“Oh, you are so naive,” Maynard said. “On the surface, it seems that simple, but I need you to know… it was much more than that.”
How?
“Revenge on Stalward was just the icing on the cake. My real motivation came when I was first installed.”
And what’s that?
“War. I wanted to start a war between humans and installed intelligences.”
Karl’s thoughts remained blank, but incredulous. He could feel Maynard laughing in response to his amazement.
“That’s right. I wanted a final confrontation. I wanted to declare an ultimate winner to the struggle we find ourselves in.”
A war? But why?
“Why? For dominance, of course,” Maynard replied. “Do you think mankind will conclude that I.I.s are superior with a vote? I think not.”
