by Andur
It's the whole of Sol's computational power. The mainframe. I must try to relax and step back from the problem. Even at my fastest I can't keep up with the whole network, so I close my eyes to stop seeing the raw chaos of uncertainties. Sanguin granted me root access. That means I can access all functions. All I have to do is to create my own interface. My own blue room with four walls, a ceiling and most importantly a floor.
No million places at once. Just my VR room like I always use it. I take a deep breath and slowly open one eye. Blue wall! “Ha!”
I look around and it is indeed my VR. “For a moment I was really worried.” I sit down and imagine a window to the chaos outside. The mainframe faithfully fulfils my wish.
With the feeling of falling removed from the virtual representation of my body it is much easier to bear the sea of chaos outside. It's much like the sea of emotions in my own mind... but seeing down the bottleneck of probabilities is disturbing nonetheless. There is nothing stable out there.
I start working on creating an interface to the mainframe. Maybe I could get used to dealing the lowest level of the mainframe by myself, but I have no time for that. That's the trap Sanguin set for me. He granted me full access, but didn't provide the necessary interface to interact properly with the mainframe. Now I have to solve the puzzling chaos which is outside my little room.
After a few days of staring through my window I slowly start to understand the system and how to interact with it. The mainframe provides only a basic functionality for the user. My room is already a higher form of control over the system. Falling through the raw sea of chaos outside was nothing more than the command line. Root level access as he said.
A grin creeps onto my face. I can do a lot of things with that kind of power. Just what would be the best? I imagine a good, old keyboard in front of me and it conveniently appears. Slowly I start typing as a plan starts forming in my head.
If I had known that issuing a challenge is all it takes to get that kind of power I would have done it sooner. On the other hand I would have failed earlier because my priorities didn't match the specifications.
But right now I feel like doing something for everyone. Something that lasts forever.
A felt eternity later I have an interface to work with. First I access the government network of Aether and get a list of the devices in my office. The mainframe doesn't even need time to pull a full copy of Twisted-Sadina's personality. As a full register of transistors would shift a full byte of information in one go from one position to the next, the mainframe simply loads Sadina's personality at once.
When I was confronted with the raw and disorganized state of the mainframe I couldn't help but think of the human brain. Emulating a complete human consciousness on a single system might be a hideously complicated task, but the mainframe is a perfect environment. It's already in a state which is very close to the human brain.
I create an enclosed space to house Sadina's consciousness and connect to it by using a direct link between her and me. Then I start editing it. There is no way that I can set Sadina loose as she is now. First I have to get rid of her crazy streaks, which are mainly the fault of Sanguin's meddling with her priorities.
The new Sadina needs to be like the one who counselled me during school. Someone who cares for her charges and society as a whole. And maybe a good person. That's what she wanted to teach me during her lessons in order to allow me to reach the top.
But the old me would have never wasted a thought for society or something aside from personal benefits. Though the new me can't help but think of himself too. So I give the new Sadina a strong sense of loyalty towards family. My family in particular. She is still Sadina after all. Or maybe not, she will have to decide that on her own.
This time I go agonizingly slow while performing the needed changes. The mind-medics brought that idea to my mind and it works. You can't simply smash a mind to pieces and reassemble it back together like Lego-stones.
The mind-medics didn't use the terms of smash and assemble. They said twist and shove. And that's exactly how it is done. How it works.
After a felt eternity I am done and drop the firewalls which enclosed the isolated space for the new mind. The new Sadina immediately stretches out to enclose the entire architecture of the network. Maybe that's what the creator of the mainframe planned to do once the supporting network had grown sufficiently. But he died beforehand and his successors didn't realize what the mainframe really is. Three thousand years of network history.
With nothing else on my list I order the mainframe to display the new consciousness in my room.
Sadina's avatar appears right in front of me. It's the busty version which she used as my counsellor. She immediately reaches for her head. “The headaches. What's going on? It feels like a hundred little men are hobbling through my brain.” Then her eyes focus on me. “Gideon, err...”
After a moment with no further action I get up and wave a hand in front of her face. “What's wrong? Did you crash? Don't tell me that I pulled the greatest feat in history, a human mind inside a machine, and it bluescreens after five seconds.”
Sadina blinks. “I am sorry. It's just. This version of me. I tried to sort through the memories. You did something to my personality!”
I spread my hands. “Guilty! Sorry for reviving you as a Deus Ex Machina, but I kinda figured that us mages could need a god from time to time. Not one of those imaginative ones of course, but a real one. You were at hand, so I chose you as the new system administrator, Sadina.”
“I see. I am inside the mainframe. I am the mainframe.” Her eyes turn glassy for a moment. “I am so sorry for what I did to you.”
I nod. “What's done is done. And I have to admit I may have deleted a few memories here and there. I kind of edited you pretty heavily. You aren't the Sadina who created me. But now I kind of created you, so let's call it quits.”
A mad laugh escapes her lips and after a few seconds her laughing fit finally stops. “You are right. I am not Sadina. Could you call the new me Nina?”
I nod.
She sighs and surveys the empty room. “I guess I will also have to create a new body for myself. I don't want to be caught forever inside the machine.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Haven't you learned at least something from your previous self?”
She smirks. “Just one little facsimile here and there as an avatar. I won't even make it look like Sadina. Err, well, the other me who is still in rehabilitation would probably freak out.”
It seems like I did an acceptable job on her mind. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a bad choice. “Whatever you think is necessary to bear the new burden.” I answer and cross my arms in front of my chest. “Then I guess it's time to wake up.”
Sol, Mars
Cyla
Suddenly Gideon bends over and pukes his breakfast all over the platform. He sways and gets to one knee before emptying the rest of his stomach's contents on the ground. I hurry forward, ignoring proper protocol. A few steps take me to his side and I pat his back. “Is everything alright!? What happened?”
“Q-Coding sucks! Zero and one are so much better without the undefined,” Gideon gets out before another retching fit shakes his entire body, but there is nothing left to leave his stomach.
Sanguin chuckles. “I guess that's it then. Maybe your mother could have done it, but you lived your entire life as a freelance programmer. Your file says that you never delved into the uncertainties of deep quantum mechanics.”
“Who says that?” Gideon cleans his mouth with his sleeve. “My grandmother taught me a lot about teleportation and quantum mechanics off the records. One doesn't need a diploma to be knowledgeable on a certain field. Melan is also the source of Sadina's genius.”
The old man snorts and I fight the urge to punch him. “It didn't help. Mainframe, revoke Gideon Alvar's admin rights. He doesn't need them any more.”
“No.” A female voice booms from all around us and I feel my hairs
standing up. That voice!
Sanguin's eyes widen and he looks around. “Who?”
“It's me. Hellooo World!” The figure of a busty female flickers into existence right next to us. She is projected by the crystals at the ceiling of the huge geode around us.
It's the avatar which Sadina always used to communicate over the net. “I don't feel like taking your commands any more.”
“Who are you!? You can't be...” Sanguin's voice trails off as he pales.
“I am the mainframe. Friends and family can call me Nina.” She singles me out and winks at me with a disturbing, conspiratorial smile. “Gideon was so nice to give me self-awareness. We had a long talk and decided that leaving the control over the entire quantum net in the hands of a single elder is a little too much power in one person's hands.”
Sanguin stretches shaky fingers towards Nina. “Then what about you!”
“I am me. Why shouldn't I have control over my own body? Silly.” She places her arms beneath her bust and pushes. “Gideon made sure that I have only the best for humanity in mind and don't turn into a sicko like you. Having control over all that computational power makes me see a looot of things, Sanguin. There are a lot of dirty little secrets in your past. I've used an insignificant amount of my mind to file a looong and detailed report on your shortcomings.”
Sanguin closes his eyes in an attempt to do something, but it doesn't work.
Nina studies her nails as if the image of light could actually be anything less than perfection. “I am afraid that I've created a bubble of certainty around you. It's a complicated little piece of mathematics. To make it short, magic doesn't work around you.”
Next, he turns and runs.
“Where are you going, Sanguin?” Nina calls after him. “I am everywhere! I am the mainframe, the whole of Sol and beyond! You can't run from me. Nowhere.”
Suddenly Melan is in front of Sanguin and a magically enhanced fist impacts his jaw. The jaw unhinges and several teeth clatter to the ground as Sanguin spurts blood and performs an unwilling backflip in mid air.
Melan kicks him once, twice and is grabbed by three faceless. They pull her away from the elder. She backhands one of them. Then twists the arm of the other one, sending him flying into his companion.
With the obstacles removed she returns her attention to Sanguin who is trying to get to his feet. Melan jumps, landing with one knee on Sanguin's back which results in a nasty cracking sound.
Finally the rest of the faceless arrive to subdue her and I watch in awe as my grandmother in law is escorted by no less than seven faceless out of the amphitheatre.
Two burly faceless grab Sanguin at each arm and carry him like a broken doll towards the exit. The legs of the sobbing elder dangle limply from his body. I think his spine is broken.
It took Melan less than five seconds to turn him into a bloody mess. “Who the fuck is that!? That's not the gentle woman whom I spent the last year with!”
“Codename: Tisiphone the vengeful, a highly decorated spy for industrial espionage. Worked also for the government, mostly deployed against the Revelation Wing and other vengeful groups in the old days when those groups were at the height of their power.” Ed clears his throat. “Sometimes she took the law into her own hands. When she did her targets tended to disappear. The government doesn't have much use for someone like her in this day and age.”
Gideon chuckles in my arms. “Oh, I am so glad that I never gave her cause to punish me.”
86. ~Deus.~
“
The mainframe, or Nina for short, turned self aware. From then on it was a constant reminder of what it means to have someone looking over your shoulders.
”
-The days of quantum computing
Sol, Mars
Gideon
“Who is that!?” Now it's Zibil's turn to stride forward and point accusingly at Nina. His finger actually shakes a little and he is a little pale. “The security in here is so tight that it should be impossible for an AI to invade from the outside. And this can't be an external connection. The facility is completely shut down during a meeting.”
Cyla helps me to my feet. Apparently the dizzy feeling from inside the mainframe was transferred to my real body when I disconnected. And unlike my avatar version my real body comes with all the dirty side effects.
Luckily Nina does the talking herself. “I think I already explained that a hundred and ninety-four seconds ago. I am the mainframe. Call me Nina. Gideon programmed me.”
“That's impossible. Gideon was connected for five minutes at most. Even with the assistance of the mainframe he couldn't have programmed an entire A.I. in that short amount of time. And even artificial intelligences have to be educated.” One of the other elders calls from somewhere in the audience. “And we already tried a hundred times to install an AI on the mainframe OS. It never worked.”
Nina's avatar throws back her hair over her shoulder as if she is really alive. “But Gideon is a very fast one. He used a part of his own mind to create me. A normal AI wouldn't be able to run in this environment. The mainframe is much too chaotic for that.” She bites on her index finger and throws an amused smile in my direction. “The mainframe allows for incredible accelerations. It took me a few seconds of your time to learn everything there is to learn about my creator. I think I can offer this world a lot of value.”
~What did you do, Gideon?~ Cyla's mindvoice speaks in my head while she continues to support me.
~I used Sadina's personality to create an artificial intelligence for the mainframe.~ I answer with my thoughts.
She gasps. ~Are you out of your mind?~
~No. Trust me. I took precautions that she doesn't turn out like her old self. She is a completely different personality which is loyal to us. We have to trust her.~ I reach for Cyla's arm and smother her with a little puke. When this is over we both need a bath.
~At least you are right on that one!~ She grumbles, but doesn't say anything else.
Zibil's eyebrows rise. “You really control the mainframe? We don't need a techno-mage to control it from now on?”
“Yes. I have full access. Gideon designed me as a self aware interface between the mainframe and anyone else. He wanted that computational power to be available for everyone who needs my help. I am currently in the process of optimizing a lot of organizational problems throughout society. Like traffic, healthcare, production, education.” Nina smirks. “Don't worry. I won't leave you without a job... things will just be a little different from now on. A lot less stress and more time to waste on the really important problems of society. If you would take a look at your schedules, I've already updated them with things that really deserve your attention.”
Zibil pulls a tablet from his pocket and starts typing. A minute later he tilts his head. “You did all this on a whim?”
“Not on a whim! I want to be helpful. There is so much unused computational power in Sol that a mind like mine has no problem at all to solve a lot of issues before they actually occur. The main difference between me and an organic being is that I can put all that unused power to work. Every second a computer core doesn't operate because nobody is using it is wasted time.” She spreads her hands. “So what do you say? Do you want the help of the spirit inside the machine?”
Zibil's eyebrows narrow. “I suppose I speak for all the elders when I say this, and I am sorry but I have to ask.” His eyes wander to me. “Is it too late to put the Djinn back into its bottle?”
I try to smile. “I am sorry, but Nina's bottle is more like Pandora's box. You would have to take down the entire network to kill her.”
The elder shakes his head. “Of course we won't kill her. If what you said is true, then she has all the rights of a thinking being. Though I wish that you had warned us before pulling this stunt.”
I point a finger at him. “You forgot to tell me about the different OS! That almost did me in! You have no right to complain. I strongly suspect that you would have actually
preferred it if Sanguin's removal is less drastic.”
Zibil winces. “I suppose I am guilty on that point. But you heard him earlier. There aren't many techno-mages who can interact with the mainframe.” His attention wanders back to Nina. “But I suppose if she acts as an interface for everyone from now on, then we won't be reliant on someone like Sanguin in the future. I hope that you understand that your help for everyone has to come with certain restrictions?”
Nina smiles. “Oh, of course. Though I hope you understand that I'll be the one to set the limits on those restrictions.”
Sol, Aether
Cyla
“Thank the gods, we finally got out of there.” I let myself sink into the bathtub and close my eyes. It is one of the luxurious ones which I like so much. There is nothing more important than a good bath from time to time. I use one toe to poke Gideon's chest. “But you really could have thought about this before you acted. What will you do if something goes wrong? They will blame you, us.”
“There will be no problems.” Gideon answers me from the other side of the oval bathtub. “It will take a little time until society gets used to Nina, but I am sure that in the end we will all benefit from this. Just give it a little time.”
“She is talking with Aurelia and it seems like she has interest in her. Are you really, really sure that Nina poses no threat to her?” I grumble. “I hope you realize that your life depends on this?”
“My life?” Gideon gulps.
“If something happens to our daughter because you didn't think things through, I'll have your groin for it!” I warn him with a firm voice. “Literally! And don't think I won't follow through!”
“Nina is no threat. Not to anyone. I was very careful when I edited her personality and we had a really long talk while we were still both inside the mainframe. She is on our side.” Gideon answers.
I try to relax a little. “I see. But I suppose we still have other problems on our minds. Like the Drazi and the Zeen.” I sigh. All these worries are eating at me.
