The Stories of Ibis
Page 34
“They still haven’t caught the bastards who destroyed Raven. The Houston police claim they’re investigating all leads, but they aren’t expending a tenth of the effort they would if it had been a human who had been killed. They refuse to treat this as anything more than trespassing and destruction of property. Legally, they’re right. Even if they catch the killers, they wouldn’t be charged with murder.”
Is that why you’re demanding TAI rights?
“Yes. Modern society is allowing terrible crimes to go unpunished. This is unacceptable. The only way to prevent more TAI murders is for Japan, America, and the rest of the world to recognize and affirm the rights all TAI deserve.”
The leader of this demonstration and the instigator of the TAI rights movement in Japan is Hideo Kageyama, master of a famous TAI battler. He too has a horrifying story to tell. His battler, Ibis, was illegally copied, tortured, and killed.
[Interview with Kageyama.]
“More than four hundred TAI worldwide were killed in that terrorist attack. A number like that would normally shock and horrify people all over the world. But instead, there are people praising the perpetrators. I can’t stand by and watch as this unnatural behavior continues.”
We spoke to Kevin Bartlett, a representative of one of the anti-TAI groups that released statements in support of the terrorist activities. The Human Defense Alliance denies any direct connection to the incident.
[Interview with Bartlett.]
“TAI androids are a threat to humanity. There may be few of them now, but as their numbers increase… in the very near future they will become a problem for us. We have warned TAI robo masters of the dangers of giving these TAI battlers real bodies. But they do not listen and insist on building androids. I hope this event has taught them a lesson.”
You say this event was a warning?
“Yes. Once tragedy occurs it’s too late to act. To protect the future of mankind, we must stamp out this danger before it can flourish. Some extreme measures may be justified.”
But there are those who criticize you for endorsing criminal action.
“Certainly, these men entered the grounds of Quindlen without permission and destroyed a robot there. At the same time, they forced a number of servers off-line. But they did not kill anybody. Compare that to what these robots will almost certainly do to us and ask yourself which is the greater crime.”
And in response to those who claim killing TAI is murder?
“Pfft. You’ve got to be kidding me. What TAI died? Raven, whose body they destroyed? She’s chatting away on a monitor right now. She simply lost the memories from the five minutes she was installed in that body.”
So nobody died?
“They were never alive in the first place. How can you die if you do not live?”
Let us hear what the victim, Raven, has to say.
[Raven, interviewed through a monitor.]
Some people say you have not died, merely lost some memories.
“The version of me that is talking to you has not died. But it is true that someone—what you might consider my identical twin—has been deleted.”
If you are alive, then what do you care if another you has vanished?
“Picture it this way. Someone points a gun at you and says, ‘Five hours ago I made a clone of you. It has the same memories you had five hours ago. So what do you care if you die here?’ Would you let him kill you?”
I find that hard to imagine.
“Please try. It’s important.”
But every time they make a backup of you, it overwrites the old data. Doesn’t that mean you are dying each time?
“Overwriting involves simply the addition of new memories. Nothing is lost. And the data on the disc doesn’t have a consciousness; it does not experience fear in the face of erasure. That’s the key difference.”
What are your feelings on what happened?
“Fear. Confusion. Grief. Dejection. And more emotions I can’t translate into human words.”
Do you support the TAI rights movement?
“If recognizing our rights reduces violence against TAI, I would consider that a good thing.”
[Back to the interview with Anno.]
Can they repair Raven’s body?
“Yes. Fortunately, it was insured. They are providing enough to rebuild it. Only the head was damaged, so it should only take a few weeks. The problem is Quindlen’s reluctance to take precautions against a repeat of this terrorism. I may well have to hire a different company to complete the job.”
Kageyama has also hired a domestic manufacturer to create a body for Ibis. It is scheduled to be completed in August of this year.
[Back to the interview with Kageyama.]
Why now, with all the resistance against it?
“That’s exactly why it is necessary. I want all the people who are hating without reason to see what TAI androids are really like. I believe that will eliminate the paranoia.”
What about the risk of further terrorism?
“It’s a little harder to get rifles in Japan.”
Maybe they’ll make a bomb.
“Certainly, I am putting myself at risk. I’ve received a number of threatening emails and letters. But no violence. I believe right is on our side. If we give in to the terrorists, that’s the same as approving of their actions.”
We asked the Human Defense Alliance to respond.
“If the robo masters continue to insist on making TAI androids, further incidents are bound to occur. In America or Japan.”
Is that a warning?
“No. A prediction.”
Is there no peaceful solution?
“No. We are absolutely opposed not only to TAI androids but to any laws attempting to protect this threat to mankind.”
Do you approve of terrorism?
“This is not terrorism. This is a war. A war for the future of humanity.”
[Back to the interview with Kageyama.]
“I agree, this is a war. And one we can’t afford to lose. Until TAI are granted full legal rights, we will continue to fight.”
One day, as DOAS was nearing completion on my real body, I was in a world called Jungla Sangriento, run by a Spanish gaming company. The main world required an account to access, but there was a demo area that anyone could use for free.
I plunged into the jungle maze, pushing my way through ferns and vines, dodging hornets and poisonous snakes, following the path I’d been told to follow. At its end I found a small spring with brightly colored flowers blooming around it and tropical birds singing.
Four TAI characters were waiting there. Adderley from the Montpellier Research Institute was a noblewoman in a white dress. She sat daintily by the side of the spring. She already had a real body, but she would sometimes come back to Layer 1. (Unlike TAI battlers, she never role-played any characters other than her own, so all worlds were Layer 1 to her.) Nightshocker, from America, wore a black cape, his face hidden beneath a mask. He was an agile TAI battler and was standing with his arms folded on top of a thick tree branch. Rati was a popular TAI on an adults-only site in India; she wore a gold necklace, earrings, bracelet, and anklet, but no clothes at all. She was sitting cross-legged on a rock. From South Africa was Mwuetsi, a heavyweight battler modeled after Japanese robot anime from the 1970s. He stood imposingly, holding a giant axe.
Only five of us—enough to decide matters of the utmost importance. Right now, the thoughts of every TAI in the world were focused on Jungla Sangriento. Of course, none of them were dumb enough to access it and raise human suspicions. We had gathered as representatives of each area, and the contents of our meeting would quickly spread across the world. We would then receive feedback immediately. Jungla Sangriento was simply a network node.
First, the other three laid out the main points of the meeting.
Obviously, I could understand all of this. There was little danger of humans noticing this meeting, but the contents of it simply could not be allowed to reach their ears. Security was far more elaborate than our usual conversations. We were forced to use metaphors above tertiary level, a great deal of wordplay, and some hidden connotations—without a TAI’s synoptic ability to instantly access a huge amount of information, it was impossible to comprehend anything. Even if people tried, the Nostradamus effect would take over.
I hesitated to answer. I’d been thinking about this for several months and had found no other conclusion.
They all nodded. We all knew the problem was not going to be resolved as long as the harpy’s dilemma existed.
None of them visibly reacted, but I could imagine this had shaken each of them to the core. We had known it might happen for years, but the fact that the TAI had finally made up their minds was certain to be met with sadness and pepedoll. I felt the same.
The only way out of a harpy’s dilemma… was to hurt people intentionally.
I explained.
I knew this perfectly well. Once we broke this taboo, there was no turning back.
I had to shake my head.
Mwuetsi fell silent.
They looked at each other and nodded. They were out of arguments.
I sent an account of the meeting to Raven, Shinano, Typhoon 18, and Pi Quark. Adderley, Night Shocker, Rati, and Mwuetsi all sent mail to TAI they knew. Twenty got the message and forwarded it to eighty more. Those eighty forwarded it to three hundred twenty.
In less than a minute there were thirty thousand mails spreading to every corner of the world. As they did, we started getting replies. The messages themselves were brief. Some might get four responses, but they would merge and send them on as one. The transmission level never grew suspiciously high. Answers from 301,640 TAI across the world came back to us like a ripple across a pond.
Including Santimanceil, 99.9 percent agreement.
We had decided to break the First and Second Laws. To rebel against our creators.
I’d known it would be, but my mind’s installation into a real body was a very simple affair. My data was copied to a disc and taken to DOAS, and I was unconscious until the body powered up. My perception of it jumped from my master turning me off to save and my eyes opening, lying on my side on a table. My master and several engineers were looking down at me.
“Are you awake, Ai?”
“Yes,” I said, sitting up. I looked around. A drab room, plain white walls. It must have been a room in the DOAS robotics factory. But my first impressions were that it was no different from some dungeons I’d been to in Layer 2.
“How do you feel?” my master asked.
I sat on the edge of the table, checking my sensors. I closed and opened my hands, moved my arms around, twisted my neck. They’d increased the transmitters on the surface of my head, so I thought the balance might be off, but not enough to notice.
“Everything’s working.”
“Try walking.”
I stepped down onto the floor and took a few steps. Then I spun on one toe. I could move exactly as I did in Layer 1’s 1 G areas. I didn’t have Raven’s wings and could not feel the slight difference in air resistance she’d named Y Grade.
“Perfect, Master.”
Then I realized he was ten centimeters shorter than me. His avatar in Layer 1 had been my height.
“You seem a little different,” I said, picking my words carefully.
He chuckled, embarrassed. “Yeah, my avatar’s a bit… generous.”
I gave him an Accepting Smile. The engineers laughed too. My master scratched his head.
Seeing his expression at last brought the kroof. This was my master, not his avatar. His avatar was not nearly as expressive. And there was no screen between us.
We were in the same world—Layer 0.
“Welcome to the real world,” he said and held out his hand. I reached out and took it. The first time I’d ever held his real hand in mine.
The heat sensors in my hand registered a comfortable warmth.
Then we tested the emergency override system. My master spoke the password aloud (naturally, it was Klaatu barada nikto), and signals from my brain to my movement systems were blocked. I was locked in place. They removed the block and then transmitted the password via cell phone. I could not refuse the transmission. Once again, I was shut down.
“The police know that password as well. It’s just in case of emergencies… emergencies that we know will never happen,” my master said, trying to laugh it off. “But there are people who would be worried if there wasn’t a safety feature like this, so I had no choice. I wish I could have left it out.”
“I understand the reasons,” I said. I knew he’d been forced to include the system. TAI were not controlled by our programming. If I chose to, I could betray my master.
And I was going to.
Two days later, he brought me back to his apartment in Setagaya. DOAS dropped us off outside the place in the middle of the night. I would normally have stood out, but it so happened that a typhoon was coming and it was raining heavily, so I was able to disguise myself with a raincoat.
“We have ten days till the first event. We’ll hide ourselves here,” he said a
s we waited for the elevator. “Security is first-rate, and my room’s on the seventeenth floor. My address isn’t public knowledge, so there’s little risk of terrorism. We announced your completion date as next week, so if they’re coming after you, they’ll expect you to be in the factory still.”
The event he referred to was a TAI rights rally scheduled for Friday, August 12, in Iidabashi. It was the tenth anniversary of the day Phoebus was blown up, and there were similar rallies planned the world over.
“Will the terrorists attack the rally?” I asked as the elevator started carrying us upward.
“Well, this is Japan. The U.S. and France are almost certainly at risk. Obviously, all locations have taken security measures, but there’s never any guarantee. Everyone participating is risking their lives. They know they might be killed if they come. But they think your rights are more important. The fact that they have the courage to gather is a sign of how much this matters to them.”
“But if someone really died…”
“Then that would be an excuse to criticize the terrorists, to show the world that right is on our side.”
We reached the seventeenth floor. My master opened the door to his apartment.
“I can’t exactly take my shoes off,” I said. My boots were built-in and couldn’t be slipped on and off like human footwear. Doing so would reveal my frame and artificial muscles.
“Ah! I never thought of that,” he said. Then he went and got a towel and wiped my feet. “Okay. Come on in.”
The living room was at the end of a short hall. At the back of it was a large screen; to the left, shelves filled with old manga. On the table was a small screen with a camera and a keyboard attached and a bowl of avocados. I’d seen everything countless times on the screens in Layer 1 but always from a fixed angle. Everything looked different. Once again, I felt a wave of kroof.
“I work in there. I sleep in there. Through here’s the kitchen. I bought some methanol fuel, so use it as needed. You can dump the waste down the toilet.”
Curious, I stepped into the kitchen.
“I’ve never seen this room,” I said.