Occasionally Heroic A.I.

by David West

  "I'm thinking of killing the dummy off," Aurora said suddenly.

  I didn't listen to what she said, because I was amazed. The cell phone model actually had parts inside. "It has parts inside the phone?" I asked in bewilderment.

  "Yes. I plan to put a new meaning to virtual reality. This game is going to be purely realistic. It was Lara's idea when she first began making it. How can you make a game identical to reality? While people were making models that react to an action, Lara made the physics of what constructed the model, to the point where she didn't need to program what happened next. It would already know what to do.

  "The virtual cell phone doesn't operate by itself, the parts operate the phone. I created the mechanics of the motherboard, the processor, the battery pack, the screen, the earphone, the wires connecting it all together, even the cell tower a mile away. Along with all the parts required to run a cell tower, and the dummy A.I. that control it, and the power plant to create energy for the tower and the city.

  "Pulling the trigger of a gun doesn't shoot your target," she went on. "Pulling the trigger releases the spring for the firing pin to strikes the primer, igniting the gunpowder. The gas from the gunpowder expands and shoots the bullet through the barrel of the gun. I made all these little objects one at a time, and then put them together. The results were unbelievable," she explained, sliding her hand over a machine gun.

  "You did this all on your own?"

  "Lara made the first slingshot physics as a child, along with some story line, concept art and models. I continued making the game. It took a tremendous amount of research, studying and help from the Jericho community to create everything in this world."

  "You have me sold," I laughed. "When can I play?"

  "Oh, no, no, no. No one has actually played the game. Few have even seen it. You can walk through it and play with some of the devices, but everything else I'm keeping under wraps."

  "Well let me know when you need some game testers. Martin and I would be more than happy to help."

  Aurora led me into a new room, one identical to the hallway in Jericho Communications, except there was an electric door installed. "I need your help with this. Vern gave me all the details about this security door, and said it was fool proof, but I just want to make sure there are no ways to force it open. I'm going to debug the door, while you try to break into it. The tools I picked out will spawn one after the other. Just place them on the pedestal when you're done with them."

  She went into the security room where the guards would think they control the door, and began checking the code. From the dark blue carpet, a small trapdoor opened and a platform rose, to meet me at arm's length. On it, a simple crowbar. I took it, and began attacking the door with all my might. I hit the glass door, trying to break it, but my hands just bounced back. I tried wedging it between the door, but that didn't work either. I put it on the pedestal, and it lowered, to raise again and bring up a handgun, and then a rifle, explosives, a cup of acid, and a samurai sword.

  "The CBA carry acid and samurai swords?" I questioned with an eyebrow raised.

  "I just want to make sure all the bases are covered!" she called out from the security room.

  After I finished my job, unsuccessfully, which included dummy A.I. helping me with a battering ram to try and break the door down, she saved the work and we returned to her ship's main hall.

  "Find anything interesting?" I asked.

  "No, everything is running perfectly," she answered. "I need to go to the great hall in Jericho now. I'm on the board for the public meeting. Gather Martin, Irene and our users - I'll reserve a spot among the citizens of Jericho for you, near the front."

  With that, she departed, teleporting out of the ship. As customary in the A.I. world, I closed the port behind me when I left. When Martin, Irene and I grouped together, Lara took her laptop into Adam's room and put Aurora's laptop system side by side with mine.

  We connected to Jericho square, where most of the other citizens of Jericho entered. When they passed by, they recognized us immediately. The looks on their faces when they saw us were of concern - not for us, not even for themselves, but for the future.

  Actually, I had no idea why they were giving us weird looks, but I gave them dirty looks back.

  The great hall had giant double doors that opened into the lobby, where A.I. conversed calmly. Across the room, a normal sized wooden door led into the great hall. Inside, it was hard to hear myself think, and I like to hear myself. I'm very insightful. The constant arguing and debating was so loud, Adam turned down his speakers. Lara had already turned hers down, as Aurora had been idling in the forum for a few minutes, waiting for the event to begin.

  The avatars of the A.I. were of all different shapes, sizes and from different universes, although, most of them were of the humanoid variety. The leaders of Jericho sat on the stands, overlooking the crowd of over one thousand of visitors, along with the front rows of Jericho citizens' and their guests. That didn't include the million spectators watching the event from the many live streaming A.I. news sites. You see, they wouldn't be labeled as traitors by the CBA if they watched it from a news source.

  We sat in the front rows, next to Todd and Nelson. The two were complimenting each other on their choice in clothes. Todd was wearing a green and yellow suit you might find in the sixties, and Nelson, a shiny blue suit from the same era. They greeted us cheerfully when we arrived.

  "It's just about to start!" Nelson exclaimed. He looked behind us, up where the ceiling met the wall, and, in a whispered, greeted, "Hello Adam and Lara!"

  He was guessing that Adam was watching us from his laptop, with his view coming from a third person perspective behind me. He was right.

  "Tell Nelson and Todd we say hello back!" Lara said with excitement.

  She was always excited to talk to new A.I., it was nice. But, before I could pass the message along, the chatter of A.I. from around the room hushed. Jericho's representative, Victor, stood at the podium. He simply looked like a politician.

  "Testing, testing," he began, looking back, at Jericho's audio engineer, who gave him thumbs up. "We shall now proceed with the... proceedings. My name is Victor, and I am the voice for Jericho. It is refreshing to see how many visitors and viewers around the internet we have, and this is why we are here. We pledge to protect you from the CBA and their wrongful dictatorship. We demand trials for those accused of breaking their laws, and a complete halt to the practice of A.I. deletion, and users alike. We plan to make them accept our terms - with force.

  "The CBA outnumber those we have, one hundred to one, so let us join together, and fight against tyranny!" Victor exclaimed and the crowd roared with cheer. After they were reeled in, he continued. "Now, we will be taking questions. We will start with those who connected first. Myra, please approach the stand." Another podium rose, facing Victor and the rest of Jericho's officials.

  A school of fish swam hurriedly through the A.I. crowd, and when taking the stand, accumulated to form a human shape. As she spoke, she had the constant shimmer of fish and their scales. Lara thought it was beautiful.

  "Your Honor, when you overthrow the CBA, will Jericho be open to the public, and will it be the capital?"

  "The capital - of the internet?" Victor asked, wondering if she was serious. "No, listen, we aren't taking over. Jericho will remain private. And please, address me as Victor. Next, Trent."

  A feeble man, who looked like a peasant from the medieval times, stepped up to the podium. "Hello, Your Honor. I'd like there to be less taxes," Trent requested sincerely.

  "My name is not, Your Honor! It's Victor, representative of Jericho!" he stood shouting, more for the mass of people than Trent himself. He then gave his usual cool look, and continued patiently. "And the CBA doesn't tax."

  "What?" Trent asked in genuine surprise.

  "We're artificial intelligence, we don't get taxed. We have never been taxed."

  "Then who has been taxing me?" he asked in bewilder
ment.

  "I don't know, you were probably scammed," Victor suggested.

  Trent paused to gather his thoughts. "I'd like there to be less scams."

  Victor ignored that, and continued. "Jasmine."

  A very naked avatar suddenly appeared on the stand. Todd and Nelson's eyes brightened at the site. She began as soon as she turned around, to the public, and not Jericho, of whom she should have been addressing. "With Jericho's sexy vanquish of the nasty CBA and their dirty reign, we will offer twice as much-" she began, but was cut off.

  With a wave of the hand, Victor kicked her from the server.

  "People, people! We are not planning a government takeover!" he exclaimed.

  "What a shame," Todd whispered to Nelson. "It would be nice to have twice as much of her."

  "We are at war to fight for our right to a fair trial," Victor continued, overwhelmed with compassion. "There are two employees of Jericho Communications, and a few Jericho citizens, who the CBA demand dead. This is why we must make them accept our terms-"

  "Put that we don't want to be scammed in the terms!" a fellow in the back bellowed.

  "For the last time, the CBA haven't been taxing or scamming-"

  "Scamming is bad!" Trent declared and the forum came alive with cheer.

  Victor's eyes grew wide with rage, but then squinted with an idea. "No more taxing or scamming!" Victor announced fruitfully. "Free virus protection! We will put that in our negotiable terms!"

  The crowd went wild with more cheer, except for Myra, the fishy A.I. "What about opening Jericho to the public?" she questioned, and was going to continue, but Victor quickly kicked her out of the forum before she could get the crowd to hear her inquiry.

  We left when the forums, which flooded with A.I. wanting to sign up to become militia for Jericho. The applications, however, would first have to go through thorough inspection, and then training, which would take over a month. That wouldn't be counting the weapons Jericho would need to hand out to their ill-equipped soldiers. Until then, Adam and Lara would have to do without the virtual militia.

  After Aurora finished with the meeting, she immediately invited me, along with Martin and Irene into her system. We weren't her only guests though - in the deck hall, we found two Brits strolling around, exploring Aurora's living space.

  Todd touched one of the projects, and Nelson slapped his hand. "Don't touch anything!"

  "Alright," Todd replied, unwillingly. He still eyed the project, tempted to touch it again.

  "Can I help you?" Aurora called out angrily. "How did you break into my system?"

  "Oh, hello," Nelson greeted. "You left a port open in your system. We figured it was a public port for visitors."

  Aurora took a second to check her ports, and found one open. "It was the port I opened for Vern, he didn't close it when he left."

  22. Adam

  "My Fireball of Sefrin casts five-hundred damage with my roll, and I'll play my Fire Amplifier of Findig card, which multiplies the spell by one and a half, and the terrain I stand on increases any warm temperature spell by two-hundred and-" Herman continued for another three minutes, continuing his moves, his future spells, and his reasoning for why he was doing them.

  I looked over at Lara who loved every moment of the Dungeons and Dragons game. She would compliment every smart move that Herman, Henry, Brian, Derek, and Lenard, would make. Lenard, however, couldn't make it, and played over the phone. Lara played her character's role, helped my character a great deal, and Lenard would direct her on what he would like his character to do over the phone.

  "Lara," I whispered under my breath. "I thought this was more about playing a game and having fun, than numbers..."

  "It is, just watch, you'll love it," she said in a hushed voice, nodding in confidence.

  "Herman breaks the succubus grip on the prince of Lawndale, giving him a temporary increase of three to his intellect. Henry, you're in a coma, again," Brian, the Dungeon Master told, narrating the outcome of the round.

  "Damn it!" Henry shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

  "That's the fifth time this month," Brian pointed out. "Stop pushing your luck with the princess, you simply don't have enough of it, and she has a mean right hook," he advised, continuing on to the others. "Derek, you are rewarded with the Sword of Ahdvar for your bravery against the poison cup. Lara, you took an arrow in the abdomen to save Adam. And, Adam, you slipped on your own ice spell and slid between the Necromancer of Hagid, and Queen Stiggy."

  "Adam!" Lara shouted in pain. "My love! You must go on without me. Save the queen, as she is in dire need of your Blade of Marren!"

  "No! I can save us all! Even Henry, who was rejected by the princess! I will use the Barrier of Annanuke!" I exclaimed throwing the dice on the table without taking my eyes off Lara's, whose mouth was gaping at my performance.

  Brian exhaled in a patient frustration, as he picked up the two cards I combined. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

  "I've never been so sure in my life," I answered bravely.

  "You used The Great Barrier with the Anuk Bomb. Your roll of the dice-" he stopped to count the dice I rolled. "You used too many, but no matter, the number is too high and a nuclear explosion devastates the castle, killing everyone," Brian sighed.

  "Oh, my bad. I didn't know that could happen," I apologized, feeling bad for ruining the game.

  "It is fine; we didn't inform you well enough on the rules."

  "That was so brave," Lara stated, inching closer and closer to me.

  We had a passionate moment, in front of our co-workers. They were all stunned. Even I was a bit shocked that we kissed in public. They sat, trying to keep their eyes off the public show, by reading their cards, or spinning dice. Herman, however, was offended. He glared at Lara, as if she just slapped him.

  "Isn't my character, Nevrin, married by D&D law, to yours, Fiona?" he questioned Lara with a sour look on his face.

  "That's right. I forgot. Nevrin, I want a divorce," she said with a playful smile. She then held my hand under the table.

  "Then I am entitled to half of your experience points and loot," he stated professionally.

  "You guys use fictional names?" I asked. "Can I have one?"

  "We decided to use our real names tonight, so we wouldn't confuse you," Brian explained. "But yes, you should make a new name. That is, if you plan on coming back."

  "Of course I'm coming back; this is ridiculously fun!"

  My cell phone began pulsing in my chest pocket, so I checked it.

  You are ridiculously a nerd - Wade

  Another text alert popped up.

  Ignore him, it's cute - Irene

  "Lara, do you have the Winchester Server Load Report?" Derek asked. "I haven't received this week's yet."

  "I believe it is upstairs at the moment. Adam, will you get it from my backpack at your desk?" she asked, standing to go around the table and sit by Brian. "I need to help setup the game."

  "Winchester Server Load Report - I'll bring it down," I said, and left the server room.

  The office was completely empty, as it was eight o'clock. My desk was neat. The only decorations I had were what Lara would put around the cubicle. It definitely didn't make it girly, though. There were concept art of creepy video games pinned on the walls, action figures of space soldiers on my monitor, firing at space aliens on top of my computer case a foot away. The backpack and duffle bag was safely under the desk.

  Lara's grey and blue backpack was filled with food, soda, a notebook that contained the Winchester Server Load Report, and finally, weapons. Before we came to work in a taxi, we filled her backpack with the small self-defense weapons, which we acquired at Machine Mountain and one duffel bag with the larger weapons. I even had two yellow and black stripped pens in my pocket protector that shot out tranquilizer darts with each click.

  When I took out the report and looked up, I saw Martin looking at me through the monitor. I sat down at my chair to see eye-to-eye with him
. Because he was sitting at the same desk as I, and in his virtual office that was a duplicated model of my own, it seemed like I was looking through a mirror. However, instead of seeing myself, I saw Martin's stick figure, sitting at my seat instead.

  "Hello, Martin, where is Wade and Irene?" I asked.

  "They are in the security center of Jericho, with Aurora and the security team. I just wanted let you know that we are hearing activity coming from the vans. The security team hacked into two of them, but what they are hearing is very little - code words, grunts, laughter. These outside CBA agents aren't the talkative type.