Code of Pride

by Ryan Kirk

  Her monitor view shifted quickly, snapping her out of her reverie. She focused her attention as the last assailant swung at Br00-S with what looked to be a stun gun. Her partner’s reaction, though, surprised her immensely. He was acting as though the weapon were a real threat.

  He threw it in the air and it exploded, making Nat jump back in her seat a little. How had a stun gun exploded?

  She didn’t know the answer, but she suspected. More homemade modifications.

  The casual citizen, flipping through their mainstream bullshit newsfeed, would never hear about the work that Br00-S was doing. That they were doing.

  But Br00-S was earning a reputation on the streets. Several times now he had been attacked with weapons substantially more powerful than they legally should have been. Some of them, like the deadly stun gun, seemed to be homemade projects from online plans. Others were more professional.

  Nat worried about the trend. She suspected there was information being passed back and forth between groups of Sapiens First wannabes about Br00-S, but she hadn’t been able to find any of it. Whoever was spreading the information was keeping it well contained, or keeping it offline.

  But, ultimately, it didn’t much matter. Br00-S couldn’t be beat. He was faster, stronger, smarter, the whole package.

  She yawned again. Thanks to the work they had done, the underground cave they lived in was surprisingly warm, even in the winter. The entrance had already been airtight, and with a little work done under the cover of night, they had managed to sneak enough goods in to make the cave livable.

  Nat, of course, had most of her computer setup. Her main rig was still in the van she had once lived in, but she purchased new equipment after the Sapiens First ordeal and moved it down here. Br00-S had nothing other than two cables, one for power and one for data. Saying he lived a minimalist lifestyle didn’t seem to go quite far enough. He didn’t own anything.

  Beyond that, they had brought down a small fridge and freezer, a heating plate, and enough padding to make Nat a comfortable bed.

  All the joys of home, she thought.

  She didn’t mind. Even as a young girl, she had never desired the house in the suburbs with the picket fence and the annoying kids. She’d wanted a life of adventure, a life of doing something that made a difference.

  She had never wanted this, though. No eight-year-old girl dreamed of her future and thought, When I grow up, I’m going to live off-grid in a cave with a vigilante robot. With her skills, the world was her oyster, but here she sat, watching a robot fight punks. She really wasn’t needed here.

  Her thoughts turned back to her partner, watching with only a mild interest as he helped the mod up to his feet. It looked like the man had some ear work done. Fucking dumb thing to get beat up over, she figured.

  They were doing good here. Yes, there was still an enormous amount of problems, but every time they patrolled the streets, someone was helped, and those criminals thought twice about their actions now. The modified weapons were proof enough of that.

  She missed Felix, in a way. The thought made her stop and shake her head at her own foolishness, but she couldn’t deny how she felt. The entire experience had been frightening as hell, but it had pushed her, pushed her hard. Also, it had given them a very clear purpose. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  Notifications popped up on her screen and she glanced over. The alarm had been sounded. Pretty impressive that the cops actually decided to show up. Probably not because of the beating, but because they suspected Br00-S was there. It wasn’t just the criminals who knew something was happening on the streets while no one watched.

  She warned Br00-S, yawning again after she closed the channel. She wasn’t even tired, so why the hell was she yawning so much? Walking outside sounded perfect right about now.

  Once Br00-S escaped the tightening net of the authorities, she would go for a walk.

  There wasn’t much reason to wait. From her hack into the police systems, she saw it was only three cars closing in on the location, and they were still minutes away. Their chance of finding Br00-S was as close to zero as it came.

  Nodding to no one but herself, she stood up and searched for her jacket. She really needed that fresh air.

  Outside, the air was cold and brisk. Nat exited the cave, a procedure that took several minutes. Br00-S had an excellent hideout downtown once, but nothing good lasts forever, and eventually their place had been found by Sapiens First. Both swore to do a better job protecting this place, since it was perfect for their needs.

  They were as good as their word. Nat had hacked into every city system she could think of to ensure that all trace of the location disappeared from records. Her partner had focused on more physical obstructions, building doors that no one would think were passable.

  The only downside was that a rapid egress wasn’t possible. They had an emergency exit, of course, a tunnel that connected to a new sewer line. Using it would be an unpleasant experience at best, so Nat was forced to work her way through a maze of obstacles to get to the exit, a small hole covered by a manhole cover that let out into a local park near the Mississippi River.

  The challenge was worth it, though. Snow covered everything. It wasn’t more than an inch or two, but at least it was something. The world was still a little too warm for the snowstorms of old, and it would be a while before the climate fully recovered. But there was enough for Nat to enjoy. A short storm must have come through recently, as there was a fresh dusting of powdery snow over the compacted tracks in the area.

  The snow was soft and light, and the woods that surrounded the entrance to their cave were quiet. It was the middle of the night on a cold evening, so Nat wasn’t surprised. The park closed at sunset, which at this time of year was early in the afternoon.

  She shivered as she watched her breath steam out of her mouth. Better to be moving than standing still in weather like this. She picked a direction at random, enjoying how the snow swallowed the sounds of her footsteps.

  Her mind wandered with her feet. This always happened. She left with the intent to focus on a problem, but once she was out in the woods, her mind simply moseyed from topic to topic as she walked. Yet somehow, whenever she finished her walk, she almost always had some insight into the problem she had left with.

  The soft sounds of her breath and her clothes scraping against the low-hanging branches of trees were almost all she could hear. Even the animals that called this park their home were silent. If not for the occasional sound of cars and the light rail off in the distance, Nat almost could have convinced herself she was alone in the world. Every time one of the sounds of civilization reached her ears, she felt a pang of regret, knowing she wasn’t as isolated as she believed.

  Eventually her wanderings brought her back to the hole in the ground she was calling her home now. She sighed in resignation and climbed down and started working her way through the barriers to their cave.

  She was surprised to see Br00-S already back. As always when home, he was plugged into both power and data. But he had plenty of processing power to spare, and looked up at her as she came in. Nat didn’t say anything to him at first. Her thoughts were still returning to normal after her meandering walk.

  It was unusual for him to be back so early.

  “How was the victim?”

  “He’ll be fine. He got roughed up a little, but that was the extent of the harm.”

  Nat had suspected as much. The question had been more to fill up the silence than to satisfy any real curiosity.

  There were a handful of problems that came with having a robot as one’s primary companion. One was the lack of conversation. The two of them spoke often enough, but Br00-S didn’t feel the same need to fill silent space with pointless words like most humans did. At first, Nat had found the trait appealing, but now she wished he would talk more, even if the talk itself was meaningless. Their small cave, even with both of them inside, felt empty to her most nights.

  “Nat, what’s bothe
ring you?”

  She grimaced slightly before controlling her reaction. She hated when he did that. He had been built with an enormous number of sensors, and with his increased intelligence, he was getting better at picking up on her moods and concerns. Although there hadn’t been any need so far, she was concerned that even if she wanted to lie to him she wouldn’t be able to. He noticed everything if he focused.

  Still, he was the only one around, and she wasn’t getting any closer to solving her problems on her own. “B, what are we doing here, really?”

  “We’re helping people.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not an answer. Sure, you saved a guy from getting beat up today. But so what? Everywhere you look, there’s more and more graffiti. It’s not always on the news, but the situation is getting worse. How are we changing things?”

  Br00-S didn’t answer immediately. “Change happens one person at a time. Each action ripples outward, creating an unstoppable wave.”

  “But while you’re out there saving one person at a time, four more people have become convinced technology is going to destroy the world. You’re taking one step forward, only to be shoved backward off a cliff.”

  Again, Br00-S didn’t have an immediate response, which always caught Nat a little off guard. She had become used to him thinking faster than her and responding almost before she could finish her sentences.

  “I have often been thinking the same, but I know no better way. What do you propose?”

  The admission, given by a robot not prone to them, caught Nat off balance again. She was at a momentary loss for words.

  “I don’t know, either,” she confessed. “As much as I think about it, I don’t know what we could do to solve the problems we’re facing. Every idea I have is just a variation on what we’re already doing.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “You know Diamond Carter?”

  “The activist?”

  “Yeah. That’s someone I aspire to be like. She’s doing what we’re talking about. She’s not trying to save the world one person at a time. Instead, she’s attacking the system head on.”

  “Most people seem to believe she has very little chance of succeeding.”

  “Perhaps, but that’s not the point.”

  The robot was silent, clearly waiting for her to get to the actual point.

  Nat struggled for a few seconds to find the right words.

  “Look, I know we’re making a very real difference in the lives of a few people at a time, and Diamond’s risking a lot. She may or may not succeed, but the point is, she’s trying to make a big difference. She’s trying to change the lives of not just one or two people at a time, but a whole lot of people, all at once. I would like for us to be more like her. I want to think about how we can make a much bigger change than just what we’re doing.”

  Br00-S was looking at her in that way that made her feel uncomfortable, that made her feel like she was a specimen under a microscope. He could read her heart rate, perspiration, body temperature, and more with just a glance. What was her body telling him about her now?

  “Have you ever considered asking her?”

  Nat frowned, not understanding what the robot was getting at.

  “It is clear to me that you didn’t just bring up Diamond on a whim. She’s a person you’ve been thinking a lot about lately. She’s important to you.”

  Nat sighed. There were advantages and disadvantages to having a robot as a talk therapist. One distinct downside was that B seemed to be able to read humans like open books. Biology just gave too much away.

  The truth was that Nat had been thinking a lot about Diamond the past few weeks. She had been suffering from this feeling of ineptitude for a while now, and the feeling coincided with Diamond’s public rise. The activist had been working for a few years now, underground and in small circles, but her popularity was such that she was starting to come out and engage in more public forms of discourse. The governor’s race was coming up in about a year, and there were already rumors that Diamond was considering a run.

  If she ran, it could be a tremendous leap forward, in Nat’s opinion. They needed legal solutions to AI, solutions that guided them into the future. Some federal bills had been introduced, but with the divide between the various parties, nothing had gotten done, same as always. The real power had been with states for years now, and with the number of high-tech companies in Minnesota, laws made here would have a real effect in the world.

  Diamond’s primary belief was that humans and AI had to chart a new future together. For too long they had been at odds with one another, and many people—Sapiens First among them—preached that there would come a day when the two forces would be drawn into open conflict. The rhetoric had gotten so strong that the 50th anniversary edition of the Terminator movies had been rereleased to the box office decades after the original film’s release, holding the number one spot for months.

  Many felt that people and AI couldn’t coexist, that the upcoming war was inevitable.

  Diamond felt differently. She argued that humans hadn’t put enough thought into the problem yet. There was a way forward that served both humans and AI. Her comments had been polarizing, but her message was finding an audience. People wanted hope, and Diamond was selling.

  “You’re right. She makes me think that perhaps this world will still somehow turn out okay,” Nat said.

  “If she means that much to you, why don’t you simply go and talk to her?”

  “I still don’t know what you mean, B.”

  “You want us to make a larger difference, but aren’t sure how, right? Why don’t you go ask her?”

  Nat looked at the robot with disbelief. “You want me to give away your secret? You want me to go right up to one of the most vocal, well-known people in the city and tell her that I know a robot more than willing to harm some humans in order to protect others? What if she disagrees? What if she goes public?”

  Br00-S shrugged. “I trust you and your instincts, Nat. Maybe you don’t give her the entire truth all at once. I’m not sure what to do, but if she means as much to you as she seems to, I think you should try and find a way to talk to her. It might answer some of the questions you have.”

  Nat turned the idea over and over in her mind. There was a certain appeal there. Even if she didn’t talk about Br00-S, she still had plenty to offer. She was great when it came to computers, and Diamond could make use of her skills, both legally and illegally, if she so desired.

  The advantage of having a robot as your companion was that sometimes they could see straight to the heart of a matter. Br00-S approached problems differently than she did.

  As quickly as that, her decision was made. She would visit Diamond to see if there was a new way forward.

  Chapter Three

  He didn’t wake up to an alarm clock. Long ago he had trained his body to wake up at the same time every morning, and at precisely six he opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings with a single sweeping glance. His studio apartment was pure white. Not cream or beige or some shade of off-white. Those disgusted his sense of aesthetics. White.

  The walls were barren of all artwork except for a single print, a handmade piece of calligraphy he had purchased while visiting Japan many years ago. He didn’t attach much meaning to the art, as he considered such attachment a waste of energy and thought. However, if his apartment were to burn down tomorrow, that would be the only possession he would miss.

  Not a single object in the apartment was out of place. The hardwood floors were clean and polished. A visitor walking into the apartment would have been forgiven for thinking that the room was a model room to show potential buyers.

  Even that wasn’t quite right, though. No potential buyer would look into his room and think it was the sort of home they wanted to live in. Spartan was an accurate description, but didn’t quite hit the mark. Monastic might be closer to the truth.

  In short, the apartment was just the way Drake liked it. There was nothing extraneous here, ex
cept for the calligraphy. Everything else had a function and a specific place.

  He rolled out of bed smoothly, pulling the sheet from his naked body and stepping onto the cold hardwood floor within seconds of waking up. He didn’t bother with clothes, not to begin the day. For his morning routine, he enjoyed the feeling of the cool air on his skin, the feeling that there was nothing between him and the world.

  Drake began the morning as he did all mornings when he had control over his time. He sat cross-legged on a small round meditation cushion. He sat up straight but relaxed and took just a few moments to notice his surroundings. He heard the soft sounds of traffic outside his window, an unfortunate consequence of this studio being close to the downtown commercial areas. He heard the almost-silent hum of his refrigerator as it cycled on, and he heard the heavy sounds of footfalls outside his door as his neighbors went to whatever they called their work.

  Slowly, Drake ceased giving his attention to the external world, moving his focus only to his internal state. He focused on his nose and the silent passage of air as he breathed in slowly, held the breath, then exhaled slowly. He focused on his lungs and chest as they filled to the brim with air, then completely deflated.

  Drake had meditated daily for years, so the force of habit was powerful. But he was still human, an imperfect being striving for perfection. Every few breaths, a stray thought would creep into his mind. He would think about the tasks he had to complete for the day, or a thought he had reflected on the night before.

  Such deviations didn’t frustrate him. They were like old and unwanted friends. He acknowledged them and, without anger or malice, let them go from his mind as he brought his awareness back to his breath.

  In time, the boundaries that separated him from the world dissolved away. His mind floated on streams of consciousness, and he was filled with a powerful and overwhelming sense that everything in the world was connected through a vast and intricate web of cause and effect that might someday be understood.