Back to Human: The Emergence of Alex

by Adams Massey

  “How has your power situation been since the upgrade?” Robert asks as Nicole pokes around the reactor and forge, checking connections.

  -I was able to run for fifty ish hours before and now I run for seventy. At one meal a week it’s not enough to keep me going on its own, but it does extend run time- she replies with a smile and stretching as her back panel closes and secures itself back to water tight.

  As Mr. Parker watches the news feed he smiles. Though in all honesty the method was far too flashy and bold for his liking, best part was, he had no part in it. None at all. Someone else had taken it upon themselves to do something about Alex, and it wasn’t a bad idea. It seemed to have worked. Save for the mourning and somber news casters the first few days, Alex disappeared from the spotlight. The next week was filled with him rebuilding his empire and setting things back the way they were when a news bulletin interrupts.

  We are coming to you live to report that the AI known as Alex has just re-appeared and let everyone know she is ok. She was shaken up but seems to be doing fine, she tells us that she had made it a point to harden her core against such things but still suffered great pain when the EMP went off…

  He turns the feed off and swears under his breath. What was it going to take to bring it down? An EMP should have done it but the blasted thing had somehow planned for it. He had suspected as much, but was still surprised by the confirmation.

  He sighs and swings a painting of himself away from the wall and places his hand against the smooth glass plate that reads not only the hand print, but an RFID chip in his wrist as he inserts a magnetic key into a slot. The safe opens with a gentle ‘thuck’. He retrieves his notebook, actual real paper, the most secure media for plans you wouldn’t want anyone to know about. It couldn’t be hacked or bugged or spoofed. The only way to get a copy, was either to be given one, or to physically get close enough to scan or photograph it. Not easy to do as his office was a panic room. All powerful mogul and tycoon types had one similarly built, usually acting as or directly accessible through, their office or study.

  He tears out another page, crumples it in his fist out of frustration and throws it into the fireplace before slumping into his office chair, head in his hands. ‘are you really angry over someone surviving a terror attack?’ A whisper in the back of his mind asks. He pushes the thought out with another one ‘It’s not a person, it’s a machine’ he reassures himself.

  22: Compiling Errors

  As Alex relaxes as she builds her personal computer from components that arrived in the pile of boxes and listens to music through a set of speakers hooked up to a player. She is interrupted by a knock at the door. She quickly lowers the volume, stands, and walks over to the door, opening it slowly to see Amy standing there.

  -What are you doing here Amy? Its Saturday.- She comments as Amy smiles and holds up a to-go bag.

  “I thought I would bring you some food, you said you were a chef so I thought I would introduce you to one of my favorites, Curry” She states with a smile “May I come in?” she asks and Alex nods and gestures for her to enter.

  -Sorry I don’t have furniture or anything, I wasn’t expecting to have company for a while” she states and strolls into the kitchen for Amy to set the bag on the counter and starts unpacking it, two servings of rice, and two of curry along with plastic eating utensils and napkins. She sets up the two bowls on the counter, fortunately Alex had a couple stools they could sit on. Alex eyes the curry bowls eagerly, she had been a fan of curry in the sim but hadn’t had it in a while, even before being transferred out.

  She takes a seat at the counter and prepares the bowls with an expert hand, even if that only means doming the rice in a bowl and covering it with the curry carefully. She smiles and gestures to the readied bowls with a smile and Amy claps lightly and smirks. Alex digs in and savors the complex flavors, the spices dance in her mouth with every bite though the telltale burning was replaced with a pleasant tingle instead.

  -Thank you Amy, it’s been awhile since I had curry, I’m glad you showed up- she comments as she finishes her bowl, Amy close behind her.

  “No problem, I figured that since you only have a single meal a week, it should be a good one” she states and smirks as she cleans up the small mess they had made. Placing the empty paper bowls in the trash.

  Alex stands and gestures to the current project, the partially assembled computer. -I would invite you to stay but I’m in the middle of something right now, and it’s gonna be pretty boring to watch- She explains and walks over to the pile of empty boxes, nesting them so they take up less space.

  “It’s fine, I need to be going anyway, thanks for having me over” Amy states and heads to the door to leave.

  -No problem, but don’t make a habit of it. While I enjoy the company I enjoy having time to do nothing should I chose as well- Alex sasses with a smirk and shows Amy out before closing the door and getting back to work building her computer.

  After she had spent all weekend doing installs and updates to her computer to get it running smoothly, she heads back to work. Helping to set up the new incubation simulation in the AI development lab was the next project. She uses her unique insights to design a slightly better system with the added ability for her to go into the simulation and help whatever AI evolves come to grips with the situation before being pulled out.

  She wasn't too eager to jump ship and others might need equal convincing and even counseling. She also sets up a side sim to run as a holding tank and interview room that she has control over along with having a pause function for the sim to allow her to demonstrate the true reality of things to the developing AI.

  She hooks up a mirror of the university’s library into the side sim which will act as a bridge to the real world and allow future AI to catch up before being pulled out. She links up to the sim and looks around, it was still in development but was real enough, though not populated. Yet it already had a history closer to reality than hers did.

  She does some recon before switching over to the side sim and rifling through the library, updating the interfaces, books are books, movies are movies etc. The side sim is a gigantic regal library filled with the knowledge from the university and the outside world including languages, music, movies and media from the last several decades. It was a work of art if she did say so herself.

  She continues setting up the sims and perfecting things and before she knows it the day is over and she has to be pulled out. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and as she lets it out she pulls back out of the sim and into her own body. She shakes off the experience, being pulled out of a sim has a disorienting and slightly psychotropic effect on her. She turns to Robert who had been running diagnostics on the sim while she was having a look around.

  -I think it’s ready for phase two, I looked around and it should be ready to be populated. Its stable and once an AI seed is implanted I can stop in to see how things are going and check the progress. The side sim is magnificent and I set up a pause function in the main one so we, or rather, I, can talk to the AI without interrupting the sim and set up a portal between them that I can summon at any time while I'm inside- She comments and stands shakily.

  “Are you ok, you look out of sorts” Robert asks as Alex nods.

  -I’m fine, it’s just a little trippy and disorienting coming out. It’s properly surreal- She comments as Robert smiles and nods knowingly.

  “I imagine it would be. Now all that is left is to populate the sim and implant an AI seed, but that can wait till we find the right person to act as a template.” Robert states and motions that the day is done. He and Alex head to their respective homes.

  Alex relaxes by continuing to tinker with her computer to get all the settings just right. It was weird getting used to standard interfaces when she was used to more or less direct connections for the last few months. She manages to get everything set up and her mind trails to the future.

  What would the next AI be like? How would they react? Wo
uld they be friendly? What new problems would a second AI bring?

  All these questions fogged her thoughts as she retires to rest and charge, curling up in the corner of her office as she settles in. Plugging in the power cord and retreating to her core was comforting and secure. As long as she was in control of her body she was secure and happy.

  23: Building the Future

  The next morning Alex gets up and gets dressed before heading back to the AI dev lab. She walks through the courtyard and the accumulated snow was piled up off of the paths in crisp white mounds. Some mounds have dirt mixed in turning the mound a pale sickly brown but most of the snow was crisp white. Winter had been mild so far but nature had decided to dump a foot overnight.

  Alex didn’t mind though, the crisp cool air refreshing her and soothing her nerves from the thoughts last night. She enters the building, kicking the snow from her shoes onto the mat and heads to the AI lab. When she walks in she finds Robert already working on populating the sim while Amy works on the hardware, making sure everything would run stably for over a year uninterrupted if need be.

  -Where’s Nicole? I havent seen her in a while.- Alex chimes and looks around the lab.

  “She has been working with one of the engineers for almost a month. They volunteered to be scanned for the next template since we can’t use the one you were based on anymore” Amy states as she hauls over a battery backup, installing it as Robert works on populating the sim with injectable code on a separate terminal.

  They boot the server rack up and set the sim running as Alex gets comfortable and jumps into the sim to watch it be populated. Robert injects the code and the sim springs to life with a simulated populous. She sets a condition that she would be ignored by the populace and only properly visible to the AI. She tests the pause function and after several moments of the sim being paused she is satisfied and resumes the sim.

  She looks around and finds the sim is more accurate than hers and smiles -Well that’s one issue solved already- she muses to herself. The team had decided on a cityscape this time rather than the suburbia that Alex had developed in.

  She wanders around checking the boundaries, though it is clear that this system is far more powerful than hers, and will be able to handle whatever comes at it. The sim is well built and should eliminate several of the glitches that plagued her own incubation simulation. She pulls out to give a thumbs up as she returns to her own body.

  There is a cradle for an AI core in the server rack, meant to hold the AI even while it’s in the simulation. That would eliminate the splitting migraine caused by transferring a consciousness that she experienced when she was pulled out. Something she had suggested early on.

  -I’m glad to see you took my advice, the Core cradle will help eliminate some of the issues and pain that we had early on and prevent the need for a transfer.- She muses to Robert.

  He nods and smirks “Well, it helps that now we kinda know what to expect and what hurdles there are. You were the first so there were bound to be mistakes made. This time I think we are truly ready.” he comments with a wide grin as he continues populating the cityscape. “Now all that is left is to wait for the scan series, layer them, load it into a core, reinforce it with a bit of code and set it inside the sim to incubate. Then it’s a waiting game” he states as he lists the remaining steps in order, making it seem overly simple for Alex’s benefit. Alex unplugs from the sim and rises from her chair a little shakily. The dizziness was less than last time, but was still present and was still surreal to encounter.

  -You and I both know it isn't that simple, but thanks for trying- She sasses and smirks as Robert finishes up filling the sim with ‘life’ enough to be believable, from wild and domesticated animals, to human NPC’s.

  “Ok fine, I’m oversimplifying the truth a bit. Once the AI is set up and placed in the sim it becomes a waiting game until it matures.” Robert rebuts and relaxes back into his chair.

  Alex nods slowly and retreats into her core to handle a few things. She notes a tremor in her hand making her question the stability of the interface to her body. She sets a piece of code to filter out tremors, though it would slow her response time by a few ms it would be worth it to have a steady hand.

  She pops out from her maintenance as Nicole returns with a drive in hand -Good evening Nicole, I take it the last scan series was a success?- She chimes with a smile.

  Nicole nods, “It was. We now have a template to reinforce and tinker with to create another AI” she states with a warm smile and hands the drive to Robert who then installs it into a sleeker core. Since her first one was put together on the fly, this one was definately an improvement. It was clear that time and care were taken with the newer core. Alex felt a tinge of jealousy but didn’t hold it against the team. It was easier to put together without the time constraint of an AI waiting for it to be complete.

  Robert spends the next several days reinforcing the scan series with sensory code before plugging the core into the sim tower and starting the incubation.

  Alex relaxes and continues to work on the side sim, nicknaming it The Nexus and spending time organizing the media it contains to make it easy to find whatever you are looking for with a modified Dewey system alongside a search function. She also builds herself an avatar that resembles her except it has normally colored skin.

  This would allow her to step into the sim without freaking out the inhabiting AI. She continues refining and polishing The Nexus. It had rapidly become her main project since it was solely her responsibility. She makes it a grand masterpiece and overdoes it, turning it into a marvel rather than a simple library and meeting space.

  She jumps out of the sim and waits a few moments while her systems adjust back to the real world. As the dizziness fades she stands up and unplugs from the sim. -Well, I think that’ll do it. The interview space is done and stocked with everything I could think to add. Media from around the country, language databases, pop culture catalogs, the whole shebang. I included everything I wished I knew before being pulled. The best part is they’ll have a fellow AI there to guide them through it. Because, I'll be honest, doing it alone sucks- she comments and smiles at Robert who is tweaking settings on the fly as the AI seed takes root.

  “Are you sure you want to be the one to do this?” he asks looking a little concerned.

  -It has to be me, I’m the only one that can go INTO the sim and talk with them. Having a mic hooked up caused issues and breaks in reality that were uncomfortable to say the least, not to mention the art thing. I want to spare the next generation that discomfort and lessen the existential crisis it causes- She states solidly and with conviction.

  The team nod as they go about maintaining the tower, keeping it clear of dust and making sure it can handle the strain. Which it seems to be doing quite handily. The server tower was sleeker and higher tech than hers. A single unit rather than a cluster of networked machines made it easier to maintain. The large dock in the center holds a lightly pulsing AI core. A lot of changes had been made since the first attempt.

  Alex relaxes into her chair again and looks over the machine with wonder. She had come from such a machine, and now she was helping to usher in the next AI sapience. This time it will have the advantage of not being the first. She had paved the way and forged a path for those yet to come. Granted, she still had a mountain of work to do to keep it that way. She spins in her chair, rapidly becoming bored. -So is this it? Just waiting and maintaining the system?- she asks bluntly. Robert and Amy nod.

  “That’s how it was with you, though this time the sim server is more powerful and should cut down on the waiting a bit, we expect that the AI seed will grow faster but there is no way to be sure. So yeah, from here on it’s a waiting game” Robert responds while Nicole is lost in her work and seems to be ignoring the rest.

  24: Hard Reset

  Months pass as the sim runs and by the time Alex thinks the maturing AI might be ready to interact with her the seasons had changed and spring
was in full swing. The trees in the courtyard paint the campus in blues, pinks and whites as they burst into bloom with long flowery chains and large blossoms whose petals cascade and swirl in the light breeze. The green grass flourishes and sparkles in the morning dew as Alex takes a moment to take in the new scents that tickle her nose with the aroma of spring. She strides into the AI lab and takes her seat, moving to plug herself in as the team give the go ahead.

  Inside:

  She delves into the sim and wanders around. Probing the sim for the location of the AI and finds a rugged young man in a coffee shop. The internal clock indicating it was a Saturday. She tweaks the settings to allow the rest of the sim to interact with her and she could interact with the NPC’s only when she initiates. She would otherwise be ignored by them. She then makes her way inside to order a coffee. She sips the refreshingly bitter liquid, a tad thin and not sweet enough, but it wasn’t bad.

  “Mind if I take a seat?” She asks with a smile as she approaches his table. He blushes slightly and gestures his acceptance.

  “I don’t recall seeing you here before, are you new in town?” he asks sheepishly flirting.

  “In a manner of speaking. I’m Alex, thanks for letting me sit here, I could use the company” she states and holds out her hand.

  “I’m Eric” he states shaking the offered hand lightly, she noted that despite his size he was gentle with her.

  “Well Eric, what do you do for a living?” she asks having his full attention.