Lenders

by Johnson, John

  “This is it,” he said pausing, looking through the window. He felt faint, but caught himself and palmed the glass with both hands. Planting his forehead against it he couldn’t help but stare timorously for a good twenty seconds at the machines now buzzing diligently to his next set of commands. “What have I done?” He turned away slowly and continued into his apartment not bothering to shut the door.

  His two hand prints faded slowly from the glass as the concerned breath that had made them visible evaporated. And the computers continued, voraciously devouring his last set of commands.

  Morbidly overdue, he desperately needed sleep. Although he had decent rest before heading to the club, more than in months, his body hadn’t yet adjusted. The extended sleep only made things worse sending his internal clock into a frenzy which in turn sent his body into catch-up mode—and he was months behind. Now, he was in complete shut-down mode. Passing the edge of his kitchen counter he mindlessly grabbed a chug of water from an open bottle then let it fall onto the floor. He lumbered on, pushing the door to his room. Reaching into his pocket he removed his phone and flipped it open. He couldn’t quite get a finger on the buttons so activated hologram mode by touching the power button twice. With a clumsy wave of his hand he activated the Insta’s app and deleted all timers and alarms then motioned with a finger. The Insta icon spun round like a whirling tornado turning from blue to green and faded into the phone, disappearing into the app minimizing itself simultaneously. Crash. His head hit the pillow, and he was out before the pad underneath could even initiate.

  His phone fell onto the floor aside his bed, face up. The hologram floated above it, still active. The calendar app formed a cube grid representing the days of the month. Active dates had a spherical shape and rotated like globes. The nearest date that wasn’t empty simply read, Ana.

  18. Hangover

  Knock, knock. “Rab. You in there?” Jon entered peering around. He saw the chair tipped over behind his desk. The glass sliding doors to the lab had been left open and there were hand prints smeared all over them. The door to his living area was also wide open. A shoe lay on the floor in a puddle of water. “Rab,” he said a little quieter picking up the large water bottle that had spilled. “Hey man. You sleeping in late?” I can’t believe it, Jon thought. Rab doesn’t sleep, much less sleep in. “You told me to come around noon. Figured you’d be at it by now.”

  “Yeah, come on in,” Rab said strewn diagonally across his bed. Stretching his arms he looked at the clock which blasted bright blue digits: 11:11 a.m.

  “Had a great time last night. We lost ya. Had some of those awesome foot-long hot dogs, remember those? Jerry ate four of the damn things fully loaded.”

  “Gimme a minute would ya?” Rab planted his feet and straightened his back; which had been bent for a long time due to lack of energy to fully uncurl it. It felt good and cracked as he arched. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen. There’s some stuff we gotta—” Rab started pissing with the bathroom door open, his flow was dark orange, near red; at the sight he paused his words. He continued a bit quieter, as if only to himself. “Time for you to know Jon.”

  “Sure Rab. Take your time,” Jon said raising his head above the open refrigerator door. He cocked it curiously, wondering, time for what, then noticed the clock which diverged his attention. Whoa, he slept in alright. Almost like old times, he thought. But not quite—always straight back to work.

  “Not quite,” Rab said somehow guessing Jon’s exact thoughts. “In the old days you wouldn’t have woken me—and we slept till at least three.”

  “How did you—” Jon said.

  Rab shut the door, staying in the bathroom. He had a stash of Pro-Con in the medicine cabinet. The horse pills were in a large half-gallon container, the little red and white ones in a small pill bottle. He got out one of each and looked at them for a good half-minute, and looked at himself in the mirror. He thought of Ana once again, knowing it was time for change. He hesitated, then went ahead and took them. Swallowing the big one was still just as hard as ever.

  Jon was sitting on one of the bar stools drinking a canned iced tea when Rab finally came into the kitchen heading to the fridge. He grabbed a sports drink from the door and guzzled half of it and blindly put the bottle on the counter behind him. Then he reached in and pulled out a single hexagonal container sliding it from of a stack of many; they filled the fridge from top to bottom, neatly stacked trays. On the flat edge of this one a label read: Turkey and Swiss.

  “We finished it Rab. I had a few of the team come in today to give it a once over. It’s ready.” Jon placed a digital file on the table and pushed it toward Rab as he sat down and opened the length-wise container revealing a hoagie. The file looked like an ordinary business card: black plastic, flexible, with a circuit design and the VlexCom company logo. With one eye on it Rab took a humongous bite.

  “Good work,” he said in food-muffled voice. He chewed like he hadn’t eaten in days. The bags under his eyes had once again abated. He swallowed the bite and took another drink. “Last night I met someone Jon. She—she was amazing. Jon she opened my eyes to the world, and, priorities, what is really important. I think things are gonna change, starting today.” He took another bite and Jon waited patiently and contentedly. “From now on call me by my given name, Herald.”

  “That’s great news—Herald,” Jon said leaning forward placing a hand on Herald’s shoulder. “Haven’t called you that since freshman year, before you—you were always my best friend and I’m happy for you, likely more than you know. Anything you need, I will always be here for you.”

  “We need to talk Jon,” Herald sighed, pulling away slightly. “I’m gonna lay it all out for you and I want everything to stay confidential—between you and I. I know I can trust you.”

  Jon nodded. “Of course. What is it Ra—Herald?”

  “This project is coming to an end. With what you turned in today—well I only need to finish a few more code blocks and tie it all together. Then it’s done. But—I’m not going to activate it. I have a side-project I want you and your team to work on first. There will be no difference in the routine and to everyone it will appear as more code blocks and algorithms.”

  “Okay, but why not activate the project Herald. This is it man,” Jon said getting excited, standing up from the stool. “What we’ve worked for. This is it!” He flayed his arms outward.

  “Jon, you probably wonder why I spilled my guts last night. Well, I need to find some close friends I can trust and I need to be open so our group can understand me and where I’m coming from. I like Jerry. I see an honest and good man when I look into his eyes. And Jodi, I watched you and her last night and I got a warm feeling about the both of you. I know she wouldn’t be with you if she wasn’t a very special person. And with you as second in charge of this project, I know she’s trustworthy—because I know you. So far it’s you three.”

  “Okay, and what about Leti,” Jon said grinning.

  “Come on Jon,” Herald laughed. “She’s not the one, I felt that too.” He took another bite, then a drink, finishing it. “Let me explain Jon. The very moment we release AI unto the world everything will change—and I’m afraid it will not be for the better. As I told you last night, when I focus deep I come to conclusions regarding several scenarios, much in the same way I put this project together. I fear for humanity—” He couldn’t help himself, thinking only of Ana as he said humanity. “—but in the end if we didn’t come out with it first someone else would have. It has always been inevitable.”

  Herald stood and walked to the window looking outward across the city then continued to speak, back facing Jon. His hair was a mess: barefooted, shirt unbuttoned, and he had his hands in his ruffled green cargo shorts. He felt the Pro-Con kick in hard waking him, and as always, he fucking loved it.

  “This is it for me, and I leave the project to you once I complete my contract with VlexCom. Within about two months, I’m moving to the country—Colorado. I’ve be
en thinking—I might even go full-on mountain man.” Herald grinned. “I will turn over all of my notes, everything, to you. I’ll also advise the board that you are the only man for the job.”

  “But, how can I run this?” Jon freaked, his voice elevated. “It will take me years just to learn what you’ve done, much less be able to manage or fix anything if the need arises.”

  “Once the AI is activated it will handle itself. It will learn fast, exponentially. You’ll have—almost—nothing to worry about. You’ll have to decide what to do with the team, how to use them, and if they are even still needed, although with the AI it is doubtful they will continue here.” He rotated to face Jon. “Jon—much will be doubtful after that.”

  “So what’s the downfall? What’s going to happen? What’s your, conclusion? I know how you think, especially after what you told us last night. So just tell me, what do you predict?”

  Herald paused and gazed again to the grey city and sighed. “I see fast changes Jon. I see life as we know it gone.” He waved his hand scooping up an imaginary handful of the metropolis. Just waking minutes earlier he could feel that his sleep cycle was still locking onto the REM state—dreaming. Mixing with the Pro-Con he saw a chunk of the city in his hand, and the destruction taking place below: fire, explosions, screams, and death. “All of this, gone. It will start small at first and build faster. What we have created here will become smarter and more powerful than humans, and eventually, overwhelm us. We won’t be the smartest species on the planet anymore—not by far. But I do see it taking to our way of life, or helping us to support it, at first—using us.”

  He turned, walking back toward Jon. “And you Jon. You’ll have to go where your heart takes you during the transition that I know is coming, I feel it, but—I want to create something special for us. It’s something that might allow us, maybe even humanity, a chance. Hold on.” He went to the lab and came right back. “Here’s the file, take it. You can read up on the details over the weekend and divvy out the assignments to your team. Jon do not—I’m trusting you—let anyone get word that this is anything different than another set of algorithms. I’ve designed it so the plans will appear no different from those on project Archeus. If it gets out it’ll blow the whole damn thing.”

  “Okay then, tell me Herald,” Jon said, his excitement now completely squashed. “What is this other project?” He stood looking at the shimmering green file in his hand. It was not the standard black cards used by VlexCom.

  You’ll see when you read what I’ve sent you. I’m gonna go get cleaned up. Have a good weekend Jon.”

  “Alright Herald. You too, and it was a great night. Like old—” Jon cut himself off only whispering his last words because Herald crossed back into his bedroom leaving him alone. He heard Herald’s bathroom door shut then left Herald’s living quarters. Passing through the LAB he headed to his desk. He could see the others waiting through the one-way glass.

  The six that came in were waiting for Jon at the round table. He approached his usual spot. “Okay, all set. I just wanted to say a big congrats to everyone regarding the hard work you’ve done. I turned in the completed algorithms. We have another set to start, he already gave them to me. The project is coming along well. You all can take off now. Have a nice weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday.” They anxiously left saying their goodbyes, leaving Jon alone in the huge room. He dropped to his chair at the round table and leaning back pulled the file from his pocket and stared at it for a moment while spinning it around in his fingers.

  Jodi didn’t come in. He wished she was there right now. She usually accompanied him when he had to work Saturday but had toilet-hugger syndrome, the worst Jon had ever seen from her, even with hangover pills. Most of the team usually had Saturdays off. Some came when there was a project deadline, like today; they would rotate for the half day.

  Had Herald wanted, he could have a larger team, or a full building full of teams working 24/7, but he didn’t, and the truth was he never had needed them, at least not near as much as they thought he did. But it wouldn’t look right to the board, so things had to be somewhat lavish, un-resourceful, all out.

  Jon went to his desk. He could’ve went straight home to Jodi, but found himself unable to think of anything else at the moment; he wanted to see what it was. He dropped the file Herald had given him onto his reader. His screen lit up: VERIFYING PRESENCE. A little slower and far less powerful than Herald’s machine, but it had the same VlexCom patented SecuraSense process. It opened on his screen, taking longer than most files to do so. He noticed its creation date had been several months earlier. He began to read:

  BLOCKER V1.0 : Device protocols, blueprints and software proposals.

  FUNCTION : AI offset / translate all input / SCRAMBLE.

  This device will in effect scramble all input signals for any machine running project Archeus AI software as well as most other standard sensors: heat, infrared, visual, sonic (for full listing see index).

  MODE 1: Standard power save = 2 meters +/- 1

  MODE 2: High power usage. Stealth area vicinity = 8 meters +/- 2

  MODE 3: SD-Stun (LAST RESORT ONLY)

  Prototype specifications and details are as follows.

  Boggled and eyes wide, Jon scrolled down to see the rest of the complex plans. He realized it must of taken years to create something like this—then he thought of Herald working; he thought of Herald working while he and the rest of the team had been on easy street since the project began. Partying, time off, weekends free, amazing workspace—easy street was an understatement.

  It was a small device no thicker than an old cell phone. The inner structure was complicated unlike anything Jon had seen previously and there were complete blueprints along with software outlines. The entire thing gave him an ominous feeling and he began to grasp fully what Herald was explaining, what he had shrugged aside mostly. It put a gloomy shadow over the entire project—the project he’d been participating in for almost a year—which now, he felt different about. He’s always ten steps ahead of us, Jon thought. He closed his computer, and peered over his desk. The eerie feeling had him somewhat spooked.

  If what Herald thinks is true, things really are going to get crazy. The AI we have been working to create is—not going to be friendly. It’s eventually going to kill humans, exterminate our race? Jon’s thoughts raced, which wasn’t normal for him because he was always such a clear-minded and stable thinker. I trust Herald. I have to stand by him and support whatever he has planned. And with that Jon calmed, and took a breath. A reliance and trust in Herald relieved him; as an optimist it’s just where his thoughts led, had always led. But anyway, Herald’s got it covered, he told himself. Not wanting to risk the file getting compromised he slipped it into the WIPE-SLOT of his notebook. If SecuraSense detected any other presence during power-up or an attempt to remove the file a nanosecond flash would erase it. He lifted his notebook from the VlexCom CHARGELINK Pad and the duo of screens on its right and left read DISCONNECTED then went black. Changing thoughts, and thinking of Jodi who always helped, he headed out for the weekend with a change of mood.

  As he pushed the elevator button he heard it.

  “Shit,” he said before answering—he knew from the ring-tone. “Hello, this is Jon.”

  “Hi Jon, it’s Nancy. I know you turned in quite a bit of work today. We’ve been keeping a close eye on your progress. Anyway we’ve just found out that Korea added an additional ten billion to advance—”

  “I know Nancy I’ve been following that.” His eyes rolled up. Last week she’d mentioned China, making the ten billion dollar budget increase the Koreans added look like chump change.

  “—not to mention Sweden Jon. Well I figured you would already know but I don’t have to tell you the importance of being first to achieve this. If they get the job done before us—Jon it will not end up well for our company. Are you there Jon?”

  “Still here Nancy.”

  “Time is almost up on this contr
act you know.”

  “I know Nancy. We are on schedule,” Jon answered.

  “Anyway, can you draft a report for the board? They’re getting antsy and have doubts. And I must say I’m beginning to wonder myself.” Jon could hear someone else breathing impatiently next to her. He imagined her naked, next to a few men that were getting eager. He heard her take a drag. “I worry if Rab, and your team can really pull it off.” He heard her blow out her smoke. Jon exhaled too. He knew it. Herald had predicted they’d do exactly this. And since he’d strictly told them—using unforgettable words nonetheless—and had it in writing, not to be bugged, they were bugging him, number two. It was the worst part of the job.

  “He dumped the nickname Nancy,” Jon said changing the subject. “He’s going by Herald now.”

  “Ooh,” she said with a high voice. Jon pictured her head jerking back. “Well that’s—”

  “Nancy I’ll be straight with you,” he said with a change in tone: direct, faster, and blunt—like Herald spoke: a quality he wished he could pull off as well. “I’ve seen firsthand what Rab, I mean Herald—I’m still getting used to it myself. I think his gift extends far beyond what we can comprehend. Our entire team can only do so much, but I’ve seen glimpses of his work, and I have to say, it’s almost beyond—”

  Nancy peeped. Jon thought he heard a slap.

  There was an odd pause after the noise then he continued, “Herald outperforms our entire team by 100 fold.” He lied to her. But, he couldn’t—didn’t—tell her the truth. It was more like a thousand fold, or a million, that would be closer to the fact. But that would sound ludicrous. “If anyone can do it—Nancy, we are going to pull this off.”

  “Thanks for the reassurance. I still expect a full report summary of progress on my desk Tuesday morning before our weekly board meeting. I’ll also pass along your optimistic words to the board this weekend so they don’t get any rash ideas. We would like this project completed soon. And I would have asked Rab—Herald, but I wanted a different perspective, and since you are second in ranks for this—” Yeah right, he thought. Herald won’t have you bugging him. I’d actually like to see that again. Jon grinned to himself, about to start laughing out loud, remembering her atomic-red cheeks. Then he heard it again, more clearly, followed by another peep. It was a slap for sure and he could hear at least two others in the background.