Recursion a-1

by Tony Ballantyne

  “Okay,” she said. “Maybe no decisions can be made tonight. But that doesn’t stop us discussing things.”

  Marion wore a blue silk evening dress. Her red hair was done up in a French plait. Constantine found her attractive on some abstract level. Whoever had set this up certainly knew how to play on his feelings… Maybe if he hadn’t felt so distracted he would be more open to seduction. Constantine loved his wife, but it had been two years now…

  Blue was shouting in frustration.-Tell her you’d love to discuss things with her. Tell her that she looks stunning in that dress, or that you like her hair, or, or that her perfume smells nice. Anything! Just change the subject.

  Grey spoke. He sounded cool, almost emotionless.

  – Blue’s right. The more she now has to work at it, the more she will have to make obvious what she wants to know.

  Constantine coughed. “Yes. Why don’t we talk? That dress really suits you, by the way.”

  “Thank you.” Marion lowered her eyes for a moment. “I bought it here in Stonebreak. It’s so rare I get the chance to dress up for someone. I miss it.”

  Constantine sipped at his whisky. It tasted convincingly smoky and peaty. Once again, he marveled at the depth of the virtual reality in which he was trapped.

  “You must have visited quite a few places over the past two years,” said Marion.

  “Haven’t we all?”

  – Good answer, said Red.

  Marion laughed a little.

  “Tell me about it. Go on, Constantine, tell me. Where’s the best place you’ve been?”

  He shrugged. Blue had an answer.

  – Does it matter? One hotel is pretty much like another nowadays.

  Constantine repeated Blue’s words.

  Marion laughed again. “That’s so true.” She leaned forward with a serious expression. “But come on. There must have been some benefits. I mean, you must have made it off planet? You must have been to Mars?”

  Constantine took another sip of whisky to conceal his reaction. He didn’t need Grey to warn him that this was a significant question. He affected a careless shrug.

  – Tell her yes, said Grey carefully.

  – And point out that she’s been there too, added Blue.-Ask her how she felt about being there.

  Constantine did so. Marion shrugged and tilted her head to one side.

  “Oh, amazed. The place is so modern and yet so ancient at the same time. Have you noticed the shape of the factories? They belong to a different age. You can feel it.”

  Constantine nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean.”

  Marion eagerly took up her theme. “It’s incredible to look out over a landscape that hasn’t been touched in any way by AIs. Preserving that place was the best decision humans ever made. It’s like nowhere on Earth. It makes you think, doesn’t it? Do you ever get the feeling that we’re relying on AIs too much?”

  – All the time, said Grey.

  – It’s safe enough to say that, added Blue.-It’s the paranoia of our times.

  “All the time,” said Constantine.

  Marion nodded. “And it goes deeper than you might think. People are losing faith in the human ability to think. Children are growing up believing that if it isn’t an AI construct, it isn’t worth having. Worse, they assume that human minds can’t equal the achievements of the AIs. I mean, for heaven’s sake, it was humans who invented the wheel, and the sailing ship and the fugue and, and-”

  “-and the warp drive.” Constantine smiled. “Or so Gillian says, anyway.”

  – Nice distraction, Red applauded.

  Marion laughed. She had a pretty smile that lit up her whole face, tiny wrinkles forming at the corners of her eyes. Constantine found himself smiling back at her. The moment stretched…and then her face fell.

  “But didn’t it make you think?” She picked up her glass and turned it around in her hands. “Didn’t it make you want to just take a piece of that place and bring it back with you? To show to people, to say, ‘Look, this is what we humans did, all by ourselves’?”

  – That’s it, said Grey.-That’s what they’re trying to discover.

  Constantine sat back in his chair. Beneath his feet were a few centimeters of glass, the only thing between him and several hundred meters of empty space. At that moment he felt as if he were perched on the edge of a precipice both literally and figuratively. He drained the rest of his whisky.

  “Well, Marion. I did bring something back. Surely you know that?”

  – What? said Blue.-What are you playing at?

  – No, he’s right, said Red.-They must have figured it out for themselves. What harm does it do us if they know, anyway?

  Marion’s eyes fluttered nervously. “Of course, of course. I just meant, well, you’d want to, wouldn’t you? Take a little souvenir, I mean.”

  Constantine waved his glass in her direction.

  “Uh-huh. Look, I need another drink. What about you?”

  “Better not. Another brandy and I won’t be responsible for my actions.” An uncertain smile spread across her face. “Then again, why not? I’m sure I can trust you, can’t I?”

  – This is so corny! complained Blue.

  Constantine signaled to the waiter for the same again. Marion slumped back in her chair while he gazed out across the first and second levels of Stonebreak, out toward the dark ribbons of cloud stretching between the moon and the distant horizon. The waiter placed their drinks on the table and withdrew. Marion picked up her glass and took a sip. She leaned forward with her elbows on the table, her hands supporting her head, fingers buried in her hair, and gave Constantine a big smile.

  “This is amazing, isn’t it? I’m with a man who has held a piece of the old world in his hands. What was it like?”

  Constantine needed no exhortation to speak. It had been a key moment in his life. He longed to share it with someone. He sat back, his eyes taking on a dreamy expression.

  “Strange. Exhilarating. Frightening. It was the moment we had been leading up to for a year, it is the moment that everything we have done since then has depended upon.”

  “But it worked? You got it back to Earth.”

  And that was it. Constantine felt a little catch in his voice as he spoke. He hoped she wouldn’t notice it.

  “I did what I was supposed to do,” he said.

  – She doesn’t know what it is. They don’t know where we took it! Got them at last! Blue was practically singing with delight.

  “How did you conceal it, when you took it off planet?”

  “I didn’t. I kept it in full view. They thought it was a museum exhibit. I suppose it was, really.”

  “And then you took it to Frankfurt.”

  “Come on, Marion. I don’t think we should discuss this anymore. We will have enough time for that tomorrow. Let’s wait until we’re quorate.”

  Marion gave a shrug.

  “Spoilsport. Are you always so firm with women?”

  – Did she really just say what I thought she just said? said Blue in disbelief.

  Constantine looked at his watch.

  “After nine. We have an early start tomorrow. Maybe we should get to bed.”

  Marion smiled knowingly. “Is that an invitation?”

  Constantine grinned back. “You want to be careful. You could get a married man into trouble.” He laughed. After a moment’s hesitation, Marion joined in.

  Constantine drained his glass and rose to his feet.

  “Well, I’m off. Good night, Marion.”

  He leaned across and gave her a peck on the cheek, then turned and walked from the bar.

  A clamor of voices arose in his head.

  – Well done! That was excellent! Blue was delighted with Constantine’s performance.

  – It was good, said Red, though he sounded distracted.-Still, why pull that now? Why not just wait until the meeting tomorrow?

  – Maybe they were worried things wouldn’t get decided? said Blue.
/>   – Maybe. But I wonder. Maybe something else is happening out there. Maybe DIANA is moving in on them. Getting ready to free us.

  – Maybe maybe maybe, said Blue.-What do you think, Grey?

  No one expected Grey to answer. They were surprised when he did.

  – I don’t know. I am seriously concerned. Now that we know what they are trying to find out, I think we may have been premature in trying to get a message out to DIANA. I hope that we will not come to regret our earlier request to Jay.

  Marion came into Constantine’s room that night. He woke to find her standing at the foot of his bed, something in her hand, an odd smile on her face.

  “Marion,” said Constantine. “How did you get in here?”

  She held up the item in her hand. It was the same bottle Jay had given him earlier that evening.

  “No, thank you, Marion. I’ve had enough to drink.” He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He wondered if his other personalities were sleeping.

  – I’m here, said White.-I’ll wake them.

  Marion’s smile widened a little, though there was a hint of pity in her eyes.

  “Nice try, Constantine. Come on.”

  She turned from the bed and walked toward the large picture window that looked out over Stonebreak. Constantine rose to his feet to follow. He was clothed in a simple, white, one-piece jumpsuit. He didn’t recognize it; he didn’t remember putting it on. With a sinking heart he followed her.

  Marion took hold of the handle that opened the window leading to the balcony, the same balcony where he had spoken to Jay not twenty-four hours before. She gave Constantine a sympathetic look.

  “Brace yourself,” she said.

  Constantine wondered what she meant, then she slid open the window. There was nothing beyond it. Nothing. Just a dull grey space. Constantine shivered. The view was unnerving. At the wall containing the window that led to the balcony, the world had just been split in two. Through the glass of the sliding window that Marion had pushed to one side he could see the nightscape over Stonebreak. The dark space that was defined by the lights of the city, the stars and the moon. To the left of the glass, where he should have seen the balcony beyond, there was nothing. An emptiness, a lack of anything that made him feel quite terrified.

  He was looking into oblivion. It was the gap beneath the sky. It was the end of his virtual life.

  Marion stepped beyond the world. Constantine watched her walk out into the grey emptiness. She turned and beckoned to him to follow.

  “Come on,” she called. “We need to talk.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Constantine stepped forward.

  He walked into the greyness. There was nothing beneath his feet, and yet, as he walked, he seemed to move forward. It was an odd feeling; there was no resistance to his tread.

  Marion was waiting for him up ahead. As he came level with her, she indicated that he should look back the way he had come. There he saw a rectangle hanging in the greyness, a portal that led back to the world. Through it he could see the cream corduroy carpet of the hotel room, the edge of his bed, the corner of a pastel print.

  Marion spoke softly. “You’ve been very unlucky. Your message made it to the outside world, but unfortunately for you, the object code failed to destroy itself. It was analyzed in a routine efficiency scan just as its resources were about to be returned to the heap and it caused an exception to be thrown. Even then, we would have wondered at its meaning if it hadn’t been for something you said earlier.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Back in the concert hall, yesterday. You subvocalized something to your internal personalities: ‘I’m not sure the Night Jay will have a method of contacting the outside world.’”

  “Oh,” said Constantine.

  – Stupid, stupid, stupid! said Red.

  – It’s too late to worry about that now, said Grey.

  Marion continued. “You had the whole realside team in turmoil because of that. What did you mean, ‘outside world’? What was the Night Jay? They couldn’t believe that the simulation had been compromised. Most of them assumed it was some sort of code. They didn’t want to believe you had found out where you were. And then we found the message in the bottle.”

  “Oh,” said Constantine. He didn’t know what else to say.

  Marion touched his elbow. “Look, it was a mistake anyone could make. You’re up against a team of a hundred people.”

  Again he was lost for words. Marion cleared her throat.

  “Anyway. While I was busy trying to seduce you in here, the powers that be out in the real world were putting together an offer.”

  Constantine nodded. “I’m listening.”

  Grey spoke with cold finality.

  – There can be no bargains.

  Marion gave a tiny shake of her head. “I’m not sure that you would really understand what the offer means. You don’t understand what’s involved here. That’s why we’re going to show you.”

  She reached out her hand into the nothingness and pulled it to one side. Another door opened in space. Through it Constantine could see a corridor, just a little wider than the doorway itself. A steep stairway, looking oddly familiar, led downward. He strained to see more, hungry for the touch of reality in the empty world. It looked so real. He could make out cracked paint on the ceiling; he could see how the stone of the steps was slightly dipped in the center where so many people had already trodden.

  “Go on down,” said Marion.

  Constantine did not need to be told. He was already stepping into the welcoming doorway. Anything to get out of this dreadful nothingness. He walked down eight or nine steps, feeling the reassuring solidness of the stone beneath his feet. He pressed a hand gratefully against the cool, cream-painted plaster of the wall. Marion stepped onto the top step behind him and pulled a cream-painted door closed behind her. She sat down on the top step and took a deep breath.

  “What now?”

  “Go down the steps,” said Marion. “Someone will be waiting for you at the bottom.”

  “Aren’t you coming, too?”

  “No. I’ll wait here for your return.” She shivered, and said with real feeling. “I couldn’t bear to wait out there.”

  Constantine shivered in sympathy. “I know what you mean.” He turned and began to descend.

  Constantine danced quickly down the stairs, the stone treads beneath his feet sending up a pitter-patter echo in the narrow passageway. As he reached a landing, the stairway reversed direction, yet still heading down. The feeling that he had been here before was rising in Constantine all the time. Onto another landing and he reversed direction again. There was a door at the bottom of this next flight of steps. A green double door with anti-crush bars stretched across, faintly patterned with the oil of a thousand fingerprints. And Constantine at last remembered where he was. He pushed open the doors of the concert hall and stepped out onto the wide paved area of the fourth level of Stonebreak.

  A familiar figure in a shabby green suit was waiting for him, just beyond the doors.

  “Hello, Mary,” said Constantine.

  Mary led him to a nearly empty cafe bar located close to the Source. They ordered tiny cups of espresso and tall glasses of chilled water and carried them to a table well away from the bored-looking youth who served at the counter. Around them, the tables were still littered with dirty cups, dried coffee foam forming tidemarks around the rims; half-eaten sandwiches, and cakes dried and curled on plates. Mary looked across to the five entwined branches of the Source and then raised her espresso cup to Constantine.

  “Cheers,” she said.

  “Cheers.”

  Mary sipped at the strong coffee then took a drink of cold water. Constantine did the same. The contrast between the strong, hot, bitter coffee and the refreshing coldness of the water was stimulating. Constantine replaced his cup on the saucer and sat up straight.

  “What’s it all about, Mary?”

  She sat up a little straighter too a
nd looked at him.

  “I was supposed to be your conscience. It was another possible way to get what we wanted from you.”

  Constantine said nothing for a moment, took another sip of espresso, another of water.

  “It probably stood the best chance of working, you know.”

  “The company AI said it would. I never believed it.”

  “Which company is it?”

  “The company now called 113 Berliner Sibelius, following the corporate merger at the AI level earlier this week. My presence is also partly explained by the much more environmentally aware policy we’ve been pursuing since then. I’m not sure it’s to our benefit, you know, but there you go. Who are we to argue with an AI?”

  “Who indeed?” asked Constantine. He looked across to the Source again.

  “Is the DIANA strand crumbling out in the real world, too?”

  “Oh, yes,” said Mary.

  He finished off the espresso and downed the rest of the water in one gulp. He was ready for a whisky, now.

  “So. What is it you want to know?” he asked.

  Mary smiled at him and sat back in her seat. A young couple crossed the square behind her, wrapped up in each other’s arms.

  “Three things,” said Mary.

  She raised a finger. “One, how did you carry the VNM away from Mars?”

  She raised a second finger. “Two, where did you take the VNM? How are you maintaining its integrity?”

  A third finger. “And three, what are you going to do with it?”

  “Can’t you guess?” asked Constantine.

  “Oh, we can see the point, sort of. We know that the VNM is entirely the product of human ingenuity. As a human-” she smiled briefly “-as the personality construct of a human, I share your concerns about the motivations of AIs and realize the value of having something untouched by their machinations. We just don’t see the commercial advantage.”

  “Maybe there isn’t one.”

  Mary said nothing. Constantine held her gaze for a moment.

  “Okay. I’ll answer your first question. I didn’t take the VNM off the planet. I couldn’t. You’re thinking of modern self-replicating machines, the sort of thing you can hold in your hand or pour by the million into a bottle. This was a first attempt: thirty gigabytes of code and about one hundred tons of raw materials. It was the code that counted. That’s what I took away.”