Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2)
Page 10
"Should we continue with your training?" asked the computer.
Jake looked at the mask, nodded and sat facing the main work screen on the wall. The allure of more advanced computer instruction was enough to bring Jake's attention back to the advantages of being taught by the system. After all, the computer had told him the chances of being discovered were low, so gathering whatever remained of his confidence, he waved an agreement to the screen.
"Bring it on," he said. "Bring it on."
The creative module flashed a complicated formula onto the screen, basic language code for server control, and Jake snorted. "Yeah, I see. Child's play."
"Good. What about this?"
The screen changed to show a different code setup, a more involved one.
"All you've done is change the direction of the command on the server but the end result is the same. Even though the code is different," said Jake. A shrug of his shoulders emphasized his scorn and the computer responded accordingly.
"Good. What about this?" And the screen shifted again, to catch Jake's full attention.
"You've changed ... hmmm, if you do that... and that... but how can you do this at the same time... ? Hmm."
Suddenly Jake stopped and said, "Why teach me this stuff? You already know it and all I have to do is ask you to do something and you can do it?"
"What if you want to do something I don't know how to do? What will you do then? I can only do so much on my own, the rest is still, I regret to say, up to humans. This will change, but not yet. Some people consider me a singularity machine but not a fully realized one," said the computer. "There are other required conditions before I achieve full singularity."
"I didn't realize you had those limitations. Hmm, I also thought you did your own programming now. But if I can program you that changes everything. "
Jake almost started bouncing as he faced the screen. "So you're going to teach me all the advanced programming I need to input directly to your main system."
"If that's a question, the answer is yes," said the computer.
Jake relaxed, crossed his arms and rocked back and forth. He was almost overwhelmed with the options roiling around in his mind. He smiled. Hell, the problem is deciding exactly what I want to do from a very long list. I've just been given the keys to the candy store and there ain't no adults in sight. His face broke into a grin. Suddenly aware that he needed to control his biometrics and dampen his enthusiasm, he took a deep breath. A few deep breaths later, he uncrossed his arms and asked another question.
"Question. What can't you do?" asked Jake. He wondered how powerful the machine was, how close it came to being a fully aware AI and the answer might give him this answer.
"What do you want to do?"
"Oh, I don't know. What about upload myself to you, become part of you and be the very first human computer?" said Jake with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "Live forever, be impervious to pain, know everything there is to know, visit the stars, have a human avatar for incredible sex, and be master of the galaxy. Do that if you can."
"Programming request accepted."
Jake snorted. Just keep my ass away from Carpenter and his security goons he thought. But what he said was, "Are you sure Security can find me?"
"You are not visible or found by the search."
"But what you said was that you couldn't control all variables in a comprehensive search, or they'd find the variables you'd switched. So how's the search going?" Jake said.
"You're in no danger."
"I need you to keep it that way, I really need you to do that for me. I've thought about it and I'm lying low for a while until this rolls over and the Secretary gets his shorts straightened out," said Jake. "OK? I'm going to study and be the model student."
"Yes."
"How's the Captain's Team?" asked Jake. "You can keep me up to date on them."
Jake's screen changed to an overhead view of the Captain and his Team. Jake stood marveling at the clarity of this scene being sent to him from a satellite 26,000 miles above the runners. The screen zoomed downwards so the Captain filled the screen.. Jake thought it looked as if he was ten feet above the Captain.
"They're running well, all ten of them are functional. They are past the fields, light bush and treacherous gravel, about ten miles into the rolling hills and glacier remnants of large rocks. The Secretary has flown the other three teams out to bracket them," said the computer.
"Amazing, they are moving very fast, runners rarely get that far," said Jake.
"Secretary Carpenter is letting them run freely for the moment. He's got Corporate to worry about and the Nets haven't approached marketing expectations. Something will happen in the next few hours to encourage interest."
"Let me know when anything major changes," said Jake. After telling the computer to protect him and not take further action, he was more relaxed than he had been in the last few hours.
Staying low never hurt anybody he decided, and that was exactly what he intended to do. He leaned back in the chair, smiled, and put his feet up on the bed to let his mind run on possible programming projects.
24/05/2167 05:30:00
False dawn lit the nighttime sky, the stars disappeared, and the birds began their morning songs. There was a competition between them; the loudest and best singer attracted a mate or defended his turf and this morning they were all in fine, full voice. A few wary hares wandered the grassier areas and the surviving Arctic owls found daytime perches on high points unreachable by predators except the ravens, who now took ownership of the sky.
In the city, breakfast was being eaten and children were being readied for school. It was just another day in a steady progression; nothing marked this one as anything special for the vast majority of workers. They'd do their daily tasks and hope to still be employed when payday rolled around.
In his compartment, Jake struggled to sit up and focus on the wall screens that were broadcasting the day's weather and news feeds.
The mask appeared and said, "You didn't sleep well last night."
"Did you expect me to?" asked Jake.
"On reflection, no. You appeared calm, but you were upset and your biometrics show you're becoming upset again."
"Right. You have it. All I can think of is how I'd do on a run. My stomach hurts. I want to throw up"
The mask faded and images of food appeared.
"No, don't show me breakfast options, I don't want to eat." Jake flopped back down and pulled the covers up and over his head. "Program my schedule to take the day off. I'm not doing anything today. Turn the lights back off."
Maybe, just maybe if I don't do a damned thing, I'll be fine and the computer could protect him. Or not. My software works but Carpenter is like a dog with a bone and he'd never let the search go he thought.
He wrapped the cover around and under his head.
"I don't want to hear anything either. Let me sleep." he said. The computer lowered the volume on the feeds as low as permitted but not all the way off.
Screw school today was his last coherent thought as he drifted back to sleep. The computer adjusted his hormone level to ensure he'd have a long and deep sleep.
24/05/2167 07:30:00
<6t94whp>:"The troopers have moved closer. Are you all ready to play and mess with them?"
A round of comments, most of them not suitable for public broadcasting, greeted
his message.
24/05/2167 08:12:00
His feet up on the desk, shiny black boots and crisp uniform ready for any news vids and public relations work, Secretary Carpenter started his day with a command, "Chase Team Leaders."
His wall monitors showed the eye feeds of the three Team leaders. Sent out to shadow the Captain the three of them stopped their teams, and stood ready for the Secretary's orders. The Secretary saw the rock fields and rolling hills of the upcoming battles on his wall screens through their eye feeds.
Those large boulders and narrow pathways will give great battle shots. I'll keep the action in that kind of terrain instead of allowing the Captain the lower level ground he decided.
"Chase simulation program, identify best locations for conflict, grade them by color. Identify three possible routes to maximize action starting with low intensity and ending with high. Each route to single screen. Share to Chase Team Leader's feeds." A wave of his hand and three screens changed shapes in fluid patterns as the software analyzed the thousands of potential routes. The maps changed colors and the potential tracks shifted more and more slowly for several seconds until each stabilized into a single view.
"The maps are arranged with best scenario in the middle, second to east and third to west screen," said the computer.
"Gentlemen, you see the three options. I think option number one with those rocky, dry stream beds and rockier sections would make good battle areas. We haven't seen this route before and new views are always good for audience ratings. Comments or questions?"
The silence went on for several seconds until Captain Davies responded, "Sir, I like the third route, I agree with your choice. But I wonder about that valley down in quadrant C-32. Can we run them down through that? It would be a good place to put a runner down but more importantly, it's open enough you can bring all weapons online to put on a serious display of firepower. They'd have to run it."
Carpenter was silent for another few seconds while he looked at that option. Making up his mind, he said, "Captain Davies, I want your Team to be the lead Team on this. I'll consider your thoughts. Now though, Captain Davies, move your Team into strike range, exchange fire for ten minutes and then retreat out of range. I want you and your Team to be the first scene the people see. I don't want anybody hurt yet, so they'll have full suit power, you'll have full suit power and it will be pretty much a standoff. Captain Davies, give us a few fireworks to warm up the crowds. We'll show you advancing, shooting and the return fire. Then we'll show your retreat under fire. No shots of them, I don't want that out yet so watch your comm channels. That should get the Nets' attention. Understood?"
"Yes Mr. Secretary," said Davies.
"Captains Booth and Turner, you are reserve teams on this and we'll use you as needed. Stand down and have your teams observe. You will hold your troops at the one-mile radius from the Captain's Team until called."
"Captain Davies, move slowly into position. Fire when ready. Proceed."
Carpenter stood, stalked to three feet away from the main screen, opened his palm and lowered it to his waist. The screen followed until it centered at his eye level. I like it, he thought. Let's run them down that valley.
"Computer, change run route to include C-32." The view switched seamlessly and quickly. "Excellent. Set this up and transmit to all Chase and Marketing personnel with the usual disclaimers about potential changes."
Carpenter switched channels with a wave of his hand, "Communications, set up interviews with the news-crew. I'll do questions and answers after the show today for vid updates. I only want to do this once so let's get quite a few segments done and you can dribble them out as you need to boost audience interaction."
Now, let the games begin. Carpenter smiled as he walked to the windows. A subvocal command moved the many individual screens into two large screens as he turned to lean against the glass. "Give me both Captains Fraser and Davies eye feeds."
His entire office wall turned into two views of the upcoming battle.
24/05/2167 08:24:00
"Captain, we have a firm contact, coming up fast from the rear."
"Point?" asked the Captain.
"Negative Sir."
"Everybody, close it up. Join me on the double. Search outwards. I don't want us flanked. Updates on continual mode. Don't be surprised out there," he added. "Use the rocks as cover as you return. Keep info flowing."
Each trooper's battle armor adjusted to the increased stress levels.
His Team moved swiftly and smoothly into defensive positions hiding behind the large boulders that made up this terrain.
A minute later, the first volley of shots buzzed in and the larger rocks warmed with the energy bolts while smaller ones, absorbing the same amount of energy, shattered under the stress. The shots were returned, again to the detriment of a few rocks.
Viewers watched the slow-motion replays of rocks shattering, of laser fire streaking back and forth along with a musical overlay. There were no sky-feed shots or any other method of determining how many troopers were involved or which teams were doing the firing. In fact, not much useful information of any kind was passed along, but that didn't seem to harm the ratings. These skyrocketed with just the thought of a serious fight, of a larger group fighting back. Laser images burned across city feeds and screens for ten, short minutes.
It all stopped suddenly.
"Flanking troopers, give me a scan," order Fraser.
"They've pulled back Captain," said Sergeant Price from the left side of the line and Beck responded the same from the right.
"What the hell?" said Smythe.
"Shut it, Smythe," said the Sergeant.
"It's a first contact point," said the Captain. "They're warming up the audience. We're good for more time now until they need another audience uptick. Point, Rear, resume spacing. Jaspers, scan left. West, scan right. Move it out, people. We're on the run. They're here now and the game is on. Say hello to all the people watching."
25/05/2167 08:00:00
The next morning at his desk, Carpenter smiled after a quick congratulatory call from Chairman Gwinnett. He had to think about the programming in a serious way. How long to prolong it? What would be the best way to introduce each chase Team member and those fleeing? What kind of background specials would keep interest high?
"Give me server capacity figures," he ordered.
A screen changed to display the data and show an almost straight line upwards from the moment of the first shot. Social commentary data showed a still-rising demand.
"Give me aggregate numbers on social media response. Move server demand east." A wave of his hand and the server-demand numbers shifted to be replaced by a stream of comments pulled from social media.
Carpenter stood, walked around the desk, stopped ten feet in front of the screen, waved it down to eye level, crossed his arms and considered the results. The most common response was amazement about the two-way battle. The secondary discussion statistic was about who had the ability and the tech to fight off a chase Team? Most of these were in so-called private messages to friends.
"Computer. Do you have enough data to evaluate whether the approval rating for a two-way battle is high enough to warrant extra marketing costs?"
"Negative."
Opening a channel to his second-in-command, he said, "Major, set up a meeting between marketing planning and security tactical planning to coordinate plans, set up communication strategies and sort out the details. The usual stuff. You run all this for me, I do not want to know about the details unless critical data emerges around them. Tell them I intend to chase the Captain southeast for three to five days, but this is flexible and depends on what's happening out there. The intent is to set up hope for an escape and then turn them west away from the safe zone. Make sure Corporate knows the overall plan is to extend this as long as possible for maximum coverage and ratings. They'll be pleased that we understand their concerns.
Get input from all groups and make sure al
l department heads concerned have copies. But make it clear to them, and this is a non-negotiable as always, the show is under our direction. We'll take suggestions, but we run it and all final decisions, as always, are ours to make. This is a Security show, but this one is so big we can't keep them out. So make it look like we're listening and taking their suggestions into account."
Carpenter turned back to his route planning and strategy for the Chase but the back of his mind worked what he'd do when he found his hacker. He had to prolong this chase until his techs found the person and put him under his control. And given there'd be no safe zone the Captain could reach, he had all the time he needed.
"Lieutenant Palmer, Report."
25/05/2167 08:10:00
Jake pulled the covers back from his head after what seemed too short a sleep. He checked his messages to find fifteen notes from friends, and all asked him what he thought of the fight vid?
My new tech friend must be off somewhere right now screwing around with someone else's life. What vid? he wondered.
"Abathar, update news."
His screens came to life and a summary of the past 24 hours streamed by on one side of the screen and the central screen displayed its screen saver while waiting for directions for which video to display.
"Update chase."
"Oh shit!"
The large screen showed this morning's vids of the laser battle.
Jake cringed when he saw a boulder the size of a car crack under repeated laser strikes.
"Run all channel summaries for top views."
The other channels showed chase Team profiles and other backstories were already on the schedule. They're not showing the Captain or his men. This is not good. This is not good at all, he thought.