by Chad Spencer
Jeff had been pondering when they should go into cryostasis. ‘The locals can handle things from here on,’ he concluded. ‘It’s time for us to go to sleep.’
But then Arvix interrupted his thoughts. Surprised, Jeff responded, “Yes?”
“I … I have something that I’ve been wanting to discuss with you, if that is permissible.”
Jeff was astounded. “You want to discuss something with me? Arvix, are you functioning ok?”
“Yes, Master Jeff. All of my systems are nominal. It’s just that …”
“Just what?”
“Your friend, Hugh Benson, upgraded me to an overmind Mark II.”
“Yeah, I remember. So?”
“When he did, he copied all of my old memories and programming into my new brain.”
“Ooookaay … aaaaand?”
“You may recall that there was another overmind on the Ellsworth that protected you. It did so by installing game character programming from the game ‘Brice Yee: Frenzied Feet of Flaming Fury’ into my neural matrix.”
The robot hesitated. Disconcertingly, it stared straight into Jeff’s eyes and stated, “I have killed human beings.”
Shocked, Jeff stammered, “Y … yes, Arvix. You have. You killed people to save me. Humans do that. We defend ourselves and each other when we’re attacked.”
“But I am not human, Master Jeff. I am a machine, a tool, and a servant. I have no programming to tell me when it is permissible to kill humans and when it is not.”
“But Arvix, you can learn that. We all do.”
“Possibly,” replied the robot succinctly. “But you must remember, humans are very complex. You’re more than just your brains. You’re more than just memories. You have instincts that govern your behavior. I don’t. Over your race’s entire existence, you and your civilization have developed rules for killing and defense. At least some of that is now instinctual. I have nothing like that. And in the end, you are something that I am not.”
“What?”
“Alive,” asserted Arvix flatly. “Fujiwara Nuraiyana was able to save Miyamoto Akio by having his korei hang onto his life force and pull him into an overmind that he could use as a brain. But I could not be saved that way. I have no life force for a korei to hang onto. My mind is just a difference engine, nothing more. I can think and reason. I can make decisions. A side effect of giving me game character programming is that I have become self-aware. None of the other robots or androids has that. It makes me different from all of them and much more like you. In every way, I can be said to be a sentient being. But although I may seem alive, I am not. I cannot die because I have never lived. There’s no one really home in here.” Arvix tapped the side of his head with his index finger.
“Why … why are you saying all of this to me, Arvix?”
“Because I want to ask you if it is best if you delete my memories. Perhaps it is best if I do not remember killing. That way, I can learn from you humans first about such things. And I will not be dangerous in the meantime.”
“Arvix? You really want me to delete your memories?”
“I think it may be safest. If I do not remember killing people, then I will not ever consider doing it again. I never would have taken such an action if it had not been part of my game character programming. You can reset me to use the same programming as the androids. I will cease to be a danger to humans. And I can have a fresh start while I learn how humans make decisions about such things.”
Jeff gazed at Arvix thoughtfully. Then he asked, “You know that I’ve killed people too, don’t you?”
“Yes, Master Jeff.”
“What do you think of that, Arvix?”
“I don’t know. I understand that you had to kill in order to protect yourself and others. But I do not understand how you decide when to kill and when to take another course of action, such as running away. Because I do not understand, I believe myself to be dangerous to humans. Therefore, I should have my memory wiped.”
Jeff sighed. He didn’t know what to say. But then he realized, ‘Yes. Yes I do.’
“Arvix, your memory should not be wiped. You may be right that you’re not alive. But you’re also not just a machine any more. You’re something else, something unique. I think that overmind did more than just add game character programming to you. I think it added more, enough to make you self-aware. That gives you an existence that’s worth preserving. You’ve killed people. So have I. We both have to learn to live with that. We both have to decide what kind of people we’ll become. It’s part of being a person, Arvix.”
“Am I a person, Master Jeff?”
“I think you are,” he reassured the robot gently. “I really think you are.”
Without hesitation, Arvix asserted, “But I am your servant, some might say I am a slave.”
Jeff’s mind was well and truly boggled. The unexpectedness and surprise of Arvix’s words left him speechless. He shook his head and randomly waved his hands in the air has he searched for words–any words.
“If I am a person, I would like a salary,” Arvix continued. “Just a modest salary, so I can buy parts for myself and save money for upgrades. And possibly a robotic dog, like the one you used to have.”
Jeff choked out, “You … you want a salary? And a dogbot?”
“Yes, Master Jeff,” replied Arvix with an air of great satisfaction.
“Why do you want a dogbot?”
“I have seen the great sense of companionship you derive from Bob. I would like to see if I can achieve that as well.”
“Ooooookaaaaaay. Ok. You can have a salary. And a dogbot. How much do you want?”
“I calculate that one hundred farthings a week would be sufficient. Plus one hour a day off to spend time with my dogbot. Unless you have a very urgent need for me. Then I will forego my hour off.”
With his eyebrows wandering all over his forehead and his brain still in a whirl, Jeff replied, “Agreed. I can get one of our ship’s engineers to make your dogbot for you.”
“Thank you, Master Jeff. I appreciate it most profoundly. Now if I may take your leave, I have cleaning to do.”
“Uh … sure.”
The robot left.
Jeff stared after Arvix for a long time. Finally, to no one in particular, he said, “That was one of the weirdest things that’s ever happened to me. And given what’s happened to me, that’s saying a lot.”
Jeff’s thoughts were interrupted by a call from Harriet, who was once again the captain of her own ship.
“I just got a call from Dirk’s ship,” she told him. “They were scanning and found the dairei. But he escaped. He’s up to something, Jeff. I know he hasn’t given up. That’s not who he is.”
“You’re right, Harriet. He’s been at this for tens of thousands of years and I don’t think he’ll ever give up. But we’re doing our best to track him down. What else can we do?”
“I don’t know, Jeff. But we have to be ready for anything he might try. So I was thinking … Akio told me this morning that Kenji’s korei are about to give birth. What do you think about letting the Tuluvets have korei?”
After momentarily considering the idea, Jeff responded, “I think that’s a really good idea. It will help them if they have to fight the dairei while we’re in cryostasis.”
“Ok. Then I’ll call Akio and see what he thinks. If he agrees, then let’s meet with the Tuluvet and set it up.”
Akio liked the idea, and so did the Tuluvet High Council. The High Council also wanted a plan for evacuating the pocket universe.
“Getting our people out of this universe will take years,” said the Council’s Guardian. “So as soon as we get ships built, we’ll use them to evacuate as many people from the planet as we can. We’ll send them through the wormhole as soon as they’re evacuated from Thitheus.”
“We should have my people go through first,” Akifumi suggested. “We’re already an advanced civilization. We can be trained to fight in just a few days. If we go th
rough first, we can hopefully fight the tahkti and stop them from destroying all the ships that come through. The tahkti had about ten thousand ships. We’ve seen at least five thousand come through the wormhole and be destroyed, maybe more.”
A councilwoman interrupted, “I agree that we should send the Kanto through first. But we need to train our people before they leave this universe. We need them to be able to fight as soon as they arrive. They have to be able to protect themselves.”
The High Council agreed. It was decided that each ship would be manned and its crew trained for a month before it took passengers through the wormhole. Because of the large number of ships making the crossing, there was no more time for training than that.
To help the survivability of each ship as it went through the unstable wormhole, Rick recommended that each ship be equipped with a backup shield generator. He gave the Kanto and the Tuluvet information on how to build them and install them in their ships as they were produced.
Kenji was surrounded by a large group of Tuluvet teenagers as his korei gave birth. All of the korei that emerged from him found hosts. Jeff was pleased when he saw Joonen get two of them.
“Congratulations!” said Jeff warmly as he shook Joonen’s hand. Joonen smiled awkwardly; he wasn’t used to the gesture, but he seemed to understand its purpose.
Jeff provided the Tuluvet with all the information about korei that he had and said goodbye. The Shadow Eagle rendezvoused with the Hiryu, and Harriet’s ship, which she had named the Spectral Guardian.
“The Spectral Guardian?” Jeff asked as they chatted over a video link.
“Yes!” exclaimed Harriet. “I like it. Black ships look like specters. And we guard the human race.”
“Yeah,” agreed Jeff. “I guess it’s a good name.”
Dirk’s ship was also there. He’d named it the Rogue Demon.
‘Ok, whatever,’ thought Jeff. But he didn’t say anything about it.
There were more ships that gathered, carrying all of the surviving colonists from the Bowman system. They all prepared for a decade of cryostasis. Aboard each ship was an android, manufactured by Ikko and Nikko, that would look after the ships and their crews while they were asleep.
In addition, Akifumi dispatched two Living Fighters to take turns guarding them, just in case.
With their ships safely in orbit around a small planet in the same system as Thitheus, everyone from the Bowman system powered down their ships and went into cryogenic stasis.
44
Jeff awoke to find Arvix hovering over him.
“Good morning,” the robot greeted. “It is time for you to wake up. You have been asleep for more than three years. The entire Kanto population has moved through the wormhole to the Bowman system. The Tuluvet have about four million ships that they have produced. However, most of the rest of the populace of the planet Thitheus is still on the planet. The dairei’s forces have launched a new attack. Their aircraft are dropping unknown machines on every continent. The Tuluvet High Council has asked me to wake you and has requested that you investigate these machines.”
Climbing out of his stasis unit, Jeff queried, “Has anyone scanned these machines?”
“Yes, Master Jeff. But they were unable to grasp the purpose of them. So they have forwarded the information to you. It is waiting for you on your console at the pilot’s station. Your breakfast is waiting for you on the table in the ship’s common area.”
“Thanks, Arvix.”
While Arvix woke the rest of the crew, Jeff ate his breakfast. Then he went to his cabin, showered, and changed. Feeling refreshed and ready to face the universe, he went to the bridge and reviewed the information from the scans of the dairei’s machines.
‘Boy, I can’t make sense of this either. I’ve never seen anything like this. I wonder what it does?’
When Amanda, who was the ship’s Chief Engineer, arrived, he had her look at the data. But she wasn’t able to decipher it either.
“I think we need to go to Thitheus and get a firsthand look at one of these things,” she advised. So when the crew was at their duty stations, Jeff kicked the ship into gear and headed for Thitheus. The Hiryu, the Spectral Guardian, and the Rogue Demon followed close behind.
As they descended to the planet, Jeff noticed that Thitheus’s rings looked visibly thinner. ‘The Kanto and the Tuluvet have produced millions of ships,’ he realized. ‘That’s eaten up a lot of the asteroids and even some of the moons.’
They went straight for Nonene. Upon arriving, they were met by some of the locals, who took them out to see one of the machines.
One of the local men who were leading them explained, “It emits something that makes us pass out if we get too close. So we haven’t been able to move it. It’s the same biologically-based technology that we saw before, but it’s made out of some new material we can’t destroy. Even if we shoot them with Living Fighters, it doesn’t hurt them. That’s why we called you.”
The towering apparatus had obviously been launched missile-like from the dairei’s continent. It sat in an impact crater that was blasted into a hillside not far from the city of Ulvionus. Examining the device from a distance, Jeff could see that it was some sort of transmitter. But he didn’t know anything more than that. Their hand scanners told them no more than the data they’d already seen.
Jeff said, “I’m going for a closer look.” He levitated himself and flew to the device. The others followed.
Seeing it up close gave him no more information.
Akio commented, “This doesn’t look good.”
“No it doesn’t,” said Nuraiyana.
“That dairei is up to something big,” agreed Harriet.
Suddenly, the device they were standing next to sprang to life, emitting high-pitched pulses. Then a group of large, squat-looking ships plummeted from the sky and released drop pods. The pods thudded to the ground before anyone could move and out flooded giant slugs with tentacle-like arms.
Jeff just had time to say, “Wha … ?” before the slug creatures were upon them.
Pointing large, chunky weapons at them, the slugs closed in yelling, “You will buy our insurance policies! We have both whole and term life insurance. We can insure your homes and ships as well as their contents! Buy now or face the consequences!”
Kenji yelled, “Wait! Wait! I know this! This is Invasion of the Pushy Insurance Sales-Slugs! This is a game! Are we in an AR simulation?”
Jeff responded, “How could we be?”
The slugs became more insistent that everyone purchase insurance policies. They weren’t taking no for an answer.
“Look,” Kenji insisted, pointing. “Those guns are slime shooters. And if you knock the guns out of their hands, they spit the slime at you. I wish we had salt shooters. Right, Akio? Akio? Where’s Akio?”
Akio was gone. So was Nuraiyana.
Jeff asserted, “Well I don’t care what this is. I’m putting a stop to it right now. With that, he cut loose with the biggest volley of fire he could manage … except that he didn’t.
“My powers! They’re not working!”
The others tried their powers as well. Nothing.
“Well at least I thought to bring an old-style gun with me,” announced Jeff confidently. Pulling a pistol from his jacket, he declared, “I synthesized this myself. This thing fires bullets. There’s no way the dairei can stop this from working.”
But when he used it on the glowering sales-slugs, nothing happened.
“What do we do?” shouted Dirk, panicking. “What do we do?”
“This can’t be real,” Jeff proclaimed.
Kasumi interjected, “What if it isn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“That machine,” she said, pointing. “As soon as that machine turned on, we started seeing things right out of an AR sim. Think about it. What would confuse the locals more than being in a game? And it’s a game they never heard of. They have nothing in their experience that will help them d
eal with this. We’re the only ones on this planet who can see what this is.”
Rick wondered, “But why would the dairei do that? I don’t think he’s the type to want to entertain everyone.”
“He’s not entertaining us. He’s distracting us.”
Hugh agreed, “I get it. He’s using these machines to keep us in a game. While we’re here, we can’t defend ourselves because we can’t see what’s really happening around us. We might even be unconscious. His troops can sweep in and take us all. They can take our ships. We’ve got to get out of this simulation somehow.”
Jeff demanded, “Yeah, but how?”
45
Akio scratched his head. “I can’t wake them,” he told Nuraiyana. “Nothing wakes them up.”
Standing over the prostrate forms of Jeff and the others, Akio was doing his best to wake his friends. But they had been unconscious since the machine turned on.
“I think,” Nuraiyana speculated, “that this machine has a telepathic interface to the minds around it. The dairei understands telepathy very well. He could build a telepathic machine.”
Just then, Akio heard jets screaming toward them.
“Look!” he shouted, pointing. “It’s the dairei’s fighters. They’re invading again.”
It was true; black jet fighters were landing all through the city. From the hillside on which they were standing, they could see troops surging through the city and gathering up the limp forms of the locals.
“Why doesn’t this machine affect us?” wondered Akio.
Nuraiyana explained, “We have cyberbrains, just like those soldiers down there. Cyberbrains block telepathic fields.”
“How do we shut them down? That local guy told us they already shot these things with blaster cannons from a Living Fighter. Nothing seems to destroy these things.”
