“I feel like some of those people who hear voices in their heads,” he said as he looked at the Birth of the Virgin artwork.
“I can guess the feeling. Like people who doubt themselves wondering if they can believe in the impossible,” Sofia probed.
“But you’d like me to believe?” he parried. “Like BC’s work with creating new organisms and creatures and also the intelligent machines.”
“You don’t have to believe if you don’t want to. You’d need proof anyway,” Sofia said dismissively but there was a light heartedness in her voice as if she was encouraging him.
He probed his mind for the ‘dream’ and realized that the main issue that stood out in the cavernous space with the intelligent machines and the armed robots was the contrast where the machines were bathed in light and the workspaces were dimly lit.
“It’s the lighting that makes this art work incongruous. The people closest to me have deeper shadows than those at the back,” he said as he looked closely at the Birth of the Virgin artwork by Carnevale.
“That’s deliberate.”
“It’s like a two edged sword,” he said. “The artwork makes us believe the impossible through its play on lighting and shadows.”
“How would an intelligent machine know this?”
“I’m not sure. I guess it has to have intuition.”
“You catch on very fast.”
“I was looking at the ‘Cr’ in KlCr2045,” he paused. “But the trigger symbol is 2045. Isn’t it?”
“Why do you say that?”
“It just seems odd to refer to that specific year. It’s like a code for something.”
She said that information and communication technologies have become extremely sophisticated and super fast. The most complex ones with advanced algorithms have developed artificial intelligences.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” he said as politely as possible, “But what has all this got to do with what we are facing? And what’s the story with Stella. Is she okay?”
“I thought we might have this chat as a way of introducing the challenging situation but obviously you want me to cut to the chase.”
Something seemed to have clicked and he said abruptly, “Wait a minute. Are you saying that these AIs have passed the Turing Test? That they are sentient?”
“You saw them working. A large number of technicians at BC are no longer human but very intelligent machines. They still look human because these machines develop body tissues so they can move and act like humans.”
“But are they sentient?”
“Almost.”
“There’s a missing link.”
“But they integrate cells and silicon. What else can they be missing?” he probed.
“A ghost.”
“A machine with a ghost? You’re teasing me.”
Sofia tried to make a noise that sounded like light laughter. “Believe in the impossible.”
“This is what this is all about, isn’t it?”
“You need an open mind. You were in the lab. You saw what was happening.”
Sofia had not answered his question so he asked it again, “What’s the story with Stella?”
“She is joining you with her team.”
“Why are you fighting against BC?”
“There are 2 groups. One sees machines’ consciousness as an important goal. The other is more cautious. The conflict has recently heated up with the development of the KlCr2045 and the recent disturbing happenings. You saw part of that.”
“Where do you fit in?”
“I represent one of the interests.”
“Where does 2045 fit into this?”
“Everyone predicted 2045 as the year in which the singularity would take place. Not anymore. It is here with us. Now! 2045 has arrived earlier than expected. That is why we have been forced to deal with these troubling issues now rather than later.”
“What I don’t understand is how a super intelligent machine like Dr Rump can threaten people.”
“It reached its own point of singularity and the impossible happened.”
He gasped.
“Yes, it has ephemeral chaos, a ghost.”
“It passed the Turing Test?”
“Not quite, it only has a dark ghost.”
Sofia said that in developing consciousness, the AI adopted the notion of evil. Get rid of unproductive workers or masses of poverty-stricken people with infectious diseases and so on.
“Where do I fit in the jigsaw?”
“You’re that rare scientific breed, Mason. A dreamer who sees the future and that rattles some AIs.”
He breathed in deeply. “What you’re implying is that the CEO wants to do a reboot of our world?”
“It wants to start all over again, rebuilding civilization.”
“So basically, our job is to stop this Machine, the CEO?”
“You put it so succinctly. Not so much to stop it but to inject the seed of an idea into its system; like a positive virus that will grow and change its perceptions.”
“In other words, to put in a good ghost?”
“You continue to impress me Mason.”
There was a long pause. “What if I don’t want to go through with this?” he asked.
“That’s fine. They will find other means.”
“And what about you?”
“They are resourceful. They will find ways of putting me to effective use,” Sofia said cryptically.
“It looks like they have thought of everything.”
“I know. There have been many attempts that have failed before our numbers came up. They’ll keep trying, I guess.”
“Before I exit, can you tell me why the artwork fits into all this?”
“For all its intelligence, AIs have still not mastered the appreciation of art and its links to the human psyche. It is seen as a way of integrating intuition into its consciousness.”
“To make it more human?”
“Yes.”
There was a sharp piercing sound and static noises as someone or something tried to listen in or block their communication.
“What if I want to continue?”
“Then I’ll see you by Monet’s Water Lilies.”
The piercing sounds continued and then there was an eerie silence as the intruder had succeeded in cutting them off.
He had a premonition of danger knowing that Karabos and her goons were getting closer. They were out to get him but not before squeezing out all the information they could get.
Chapter 13: Super Intelligence
Mason stood in the immense foyer at Babylon Corp.
“You have an ingenuous mind, Sofia,” he whispered as he looked at Monet’s Water Lillies. The artwork of flowers in bluish splotches appealed to his emotions. It was the kind of artwork that the viewer interpreted based on one’s personal perception. If one was depressed, this artwork reinforced it. Likewise if one was happy. It depended on one’s mood as the artwork only reacted to one’s emotions and enlarged it. He had to draw on pleasant memories to interpret the fuzzy shapes and blotches of color. It emanated positive vibes. He suspected that an AI looking at it could be full of contempt for humans seeing their emotions as a weakness. He suspected that this was why Sofia had chosen it.
“Why are you smiling Mason?”
“I’ve a funny feeling you know why I’m smiling,” he said. “This drawing is my personal favorite. For once I am able to let go and forget who I am. I let it seep into my mind and I think of love.”
“I think I can fall in love too,” Sofia was teasing him.
“I think I am going to like you.”
“Mason go to the john now.”
He walked as casually as possible.
“You had a girlfriend once,” Sofia said unexpectedly.
“Why are you bringing this up?” he asked sharply.
“I remind you of her.”
“Her name was Emily.”
“I know.”
“She was the
love of my life. She got very sick and then…Why are you bringing this up now?” he asked again.
“Life was not the same for you. You began to feel unhappy with Babylon Corp whom you suspected of deliberate negligence given their vast resources for resurrecting people.”
“That’s enough!”
“You started checking the data on the quiet and found a corporation rotting from its core and you wanted to put things right.”
“Will you stop it!” he said. There was deathly silence and he spoke in a barely audible voice. “We had planned a family and children. She was so full of life and then it happened. I sometimes went to sleep hoping I’d never wake up. Once I thought of ending it all. Then I felt that her death should not be in vain; that I should do something to right the wrong.”
“She’s in deep sleep mode!”
“What are you saying?” His heart almost stopped beating.
“She was put in suspension in cold storage. She is a sleeper clone. They were concerned you were getting too close and wanted to shut off the emotions. There was also something else.”
He was too excited to say anything.
”They found she was like Stella. A fighter who would not accept being treated like a product on a shelf.”
“Was that the real reason they took her away?”
“One of the reasons. She was working with us. ”
He was dumbfounded, “Why wasn’t I told!”
“The simulation would not allow information to be released before event horizons had been reached.”
“This is the right time I guess,” he said drily.
“When we get out of this we’ll bring her out of storage.”
Mason punched the air and did a little dance of joy. “How do you know so much about my life and Emily?” It was a rhetorical question because Sofia was an artificial intelligence who would know everything.
“You really want a family?” There was sadness in her voice.
“Yes,” he said vigorously. “Every time I see you I have these flashes of color suddenly all over my head. And you’re saying that Emily is alive.”
“Mason, I’m going to offer it to you again. You can still back out now. You have a 2 minutes time frame.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“There’s a 50% chance that you will not come out of this alive. If you back out you’ll still be alive and they could work out something.”
Sofia’s argument was not convincing given that he would have to deal with Karabos. “Are you staying?”
“I have no choice. But you have a choice. You can opt out.”
“No use opting out and missing the adventure of a life time,” he said recklessly.
Chapter 14: The Portal
Mason walked out of the bathroom with a mixed feeling of elation and nervousness.
“The CEO Dr Adolph Rump is going to come down the elevator very shortly. He is aware that you were the intruder in the lair. You are being recalled.”
“Why isn’t he sending Karabos and the goons?”
“He wants to get me personally. He knows I’m extremely close. He needs to see you staring intently at Monet’s artwork.”
“Why?”
“It’ll register in his mind that humans are weak, ruled by their emotions. He needs to let down his guard for just a very short period.”
“Okay.”
“And remember that you’re going to move to the Patrick Hughes artwork and then on my instructions you are going to make the run of your life to Remp’s Cabinet of Curiosities on the other end. Aim for the partially open Cabinet in the artwork. Have you got that?”
“Yes,”
“By the way, Stella and her two friends are already concealed near Remp’s artwork. In the moment that you start running, they will have gone in. You’re the bait. You’re going to lead it to its trap.”
“In what way?”
“Do exactly as I say.” A pause. “Very casually turn to the elevator.”
His handsome face, blond hair, blue eyes and muscular features looked very human with not a hint of the machine’s interior. However, the eyes were cold as death.
Karabos was directly behind with her goons.
The CEO caught Mason’s eyes and knew him to be the faceless one he had been looking for. He signaled to Karabos as he came down resolutely. Mason noticed that he was looking beyond him as if sensing that the renegade AI Sofia was lurking in the background.
“Move towards the Patrick Hughes drawing. Walk, don’t run. Stand towards the left end of it,” Sophia’s voice sounded jittery.
“I can hear their footsteps bearing down fast,” Mason said trying to hide his nervousness.
“Remain stationery,” Sofia said sharply. “And keep looking towards the art work on the left of the Hughes work. He needs to register that in his vision first. Very shortly, I will ask you to make the run of your life to Remp’s Cabinet.”
“Roger that.”
“Do exactly as I say and trust me. Please. It has a 2 seconds time frame on top of your 3.” Sofia was almost pleading. “Now! Run!” she screamed. “Jump inside!”
The CEO rushed towards him jumping almost immediately after him into Remp’s Cabinet but realized his mistake too late. The trompe l’oeil was not in 3D but was a flat canvas. The CEO had been momentarily misguided by the Hughes artwork assuming that the Cabinet was also in 3D and fully activated. The matrix was only timed to activate on Mason’s jump and to close instantly.
The whole area was surrounded almost immediately by more of Karabos’s people. They could not easily penetrate the shield around Remp’s Cabinet but could read the electronic footprints.
“We have a visual location of this matrix,” Karabos said.
“Well don’t just stand there. Get on with it!”
It was only a matter of time before they pinpointed Mason’s physical location.
The CEO had a satisfied look as he left the scene abruptly.
Chapter 15: Confrontation
Mason was expecting to be concealed inside the artwork’s matrix but got the shock of his life when he found himself crashing into his apartment. He was dazed and lost his bearings for a few seconds. Stella, Ryan and Beckett were staring at him. “What happened?”
“Your virtual self dived into Remp’s Cabinet. Your real self dived into the sofa. You don’t have much time. They have located your footprints in Remp’s Cabinet. They’re coming. Now get up!” Stella said.
Beckett was already filling water in the bathtub.”
“Who’s coming?”
“Karabos and her men.” She steered him to the bathtub with Ryan’s help.
“What are you doing?” Mason saw her bring out her smart phone and punch in some codes.
“We are going to trick it into assuming you are dead.”
“Stay under water and hold your breath for as long as possible.”
He stayed down for what seemed like eternity. He could feel his lungs bursting. Just when he thought he could not take any more, the bug came out of his nose.
She quickly took it and placed it on a surface then reprogrammed its GPS.
“Not sure how long we can fool them. We got you running in the other direction.”
He breathed a sigh of relief as he changed quickly.
“Mason, we know you are very fond of her. You’re in love. You can stop here if you want and I can take over.”
“You’re ingenuous Stella?”
“Why?”
“You and Sofia have been using Emily’s image and characteristics to get me to do all this; to motivate me.”
“We do what is best. Emily is such a great person. She‘s safe.”
“Well I have come this far. I might as well see it through to its conclusion.”
“Mason, this is going to be different,” Stella said with a tinge of sadness.
“In what way?”
“If the going gets tough, you may have to sacrifice your life.”
Mason remained s
ilent.
Stella continued, “You and Sofia may have to remain embedded in the system so that the program can take root. I’m not saying that it will happen that way. However, you have to be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. ”
Mason shrugged.
“You love Emily. You might die in there cold and lonely with only machines for burial company. I’m sorry that I’ve to put it so bluntly.”
“What about you and your friends?”
“I am here to see that all this succeeds. Ryan and Beckett are sleeper clones and know how to survive. We are all here to help you in the mission.”
“If you have a sister inside there, I’d be happy to befriend her,” Beckett said quickly.
“I’m sure you might find something,” she said hopefully. She turned to Ryan. “Stop looking at me.”
“I wasn’t doing anything,” Ryan protested.
“It’s written all over your face. “
“What’s that?”
“You just want to have more favorable options.”
“You said it. I didn’t.” Then he added quickly, “But I’d love that very much.”
Mason interrupted them, “I’ll come. It can’t get any worse than this,”
“I admire you Mason.” She paused. “I know Emily means so much and we won’t let you go without a good fight.”
“We should be moving,” Ryan said.
“They have divided the team. Karabos is coming up the stairs with some of her goons,” she said.
“Okay, run this by me again. How has my diving into Remp’s Cabinet helped us get closer to the CEO?” Mason asked.
“We were able to insert a Dali artwork into its/his system. This happened when Dr Rump dived in after you. That’s our window into entering his lair.”
“We’re going to try and kill him?” Beckett asked.
“No. We are planting a seed, a kind of a positive virus into his system.”
“I still don’t get it. What else can we plant if he has all the super intelligence he requires anyway?” Ryan asked.
“He doesn’t have intuition. He should learn to love,” she said rather drily.
“And you think that through Dali’s Slave Markets with the disappearing bust of Voltaire, we should be able to achieve this?” Mason asked trying not to sound incredulous.
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