Capacity

by Tony Ballantyne

  “And yet you can’t do even that because Judy and all the machines at Social Care have programmed you not to.”

  “Nobody has programmed me,” said Helen, striding on. She should have kept her mouth shut. Kevin had a look of satisfaction. He was in again.

  “You know they have. You hate me and you should. I have raped and beaten and tortured and killed you every day for the past seventy years.”

  “That wasn’t me.”

  “It was you as much as Bairn was you. And you killed me for what I did to Bairn. Do you believe the Watcher’s lies? That each PC is an individual? That all virtual life comes from the Watcher? It’s slavery, Helen. More insidious than the slavery I practice in the Private Network, because you, Helen, you don’t even know you are enslaved.”

  “Liar!”

  Kevin was half walking, half skipping backwards. He kept turning to see where he was going, trying to keep ahead of Helen as she strode on along the dead path.

  “There is another way, Helen—the human way. Humans tried to make their own AIs, too, you know. Before they let the Watcher do everything for them, they tried to write their own programs to think. And they succeeded, too. I am one of them! Did Judy tell you that?”

  Helen said nothing, just continued putting one foot in front of the other, striding across the crumbling soil.

  “Look at me: a capacity to make decisions, but unfettered by the notion of the soul. That’s why I’m not afraid to die.”

  “Neither am I,” Helen shouted.

  “Prove it then,” Kevin said. “Take the knife.”

  He pushed the plastic knife into her hand. She kept hold of it. The little white knobbles felt comfortable in her palm. The knife felt good there. Balanced. A part of her. She could wave her hand and bring death with it.

  Kevin had now fallen into step by her shoulder.

  “Go on,” he whispered seductively. “Go on. Do it. Kill me. Or kill yourself. Free yourself.”

  Slowly, deliberately, Kevin reached forward and placed his hand on her right breast. Helen’s hand tightened around the knife.

  He whispered again: “Or are you remembering that little part of you that I grew into Bairn, that likes to be dominated?”

  She took a deep breath…

  The Private Network: Level Zero

  Helen flicked the knife upwards and nicked the point of it into Kevin’s wrist. He gave a yelp of pain and pulled his hand away from her breast. Helen strode on. Where was the path out? She should have reached it by now. Where was everyone? Where was Judy? How much longer would she have to walk through this nightmare?

  A nightmare? The thought curled slowly round in her head. A little seed, germinating. Where was she? In a processing space, obviously. But whose? One of the EA’s public spaces or—the thought popped up in her head—Kevin’s?

  For the first time, she felt uncertain. Her pace quickened to become a stumbling run. Kevin had trapped her before, without her knowing it, and he could do it again. How much sweeter the torture if the events of the past few days turned out to have been lies?

  Helen felt panic begin to rise inside her, and she firmly pushed it down. Kevin was walking silently along, but far behind her, menacing. Did he know what she was thinking?

  When she saw the low circular mound ahead she felt a wave of relief. The mound signaled the exit to this section of the Shawl. She felt foolish. It had been there all along, merely hidden by the dying trees.

  Of course. She wouldn’t have noticed this mound when she arrived. Walking up the spiral ramp from the silver airlock, she had been entranced to find herself rising into a circular clearing in woods that reminded her pleasantly of the arboretum.

  It had seemed so familiar, she had felt herself relax straightaway.

  How things had changed since Kevin had arrived. (She could hear him, jogging behind her….)

  A few hours ago there had been dappled blue skies peeping through the flickering green patterns cast by the dancing leaves of the lime trees. Now there was only a circular mound of dusty brown soil studded with the twisted black ruins of dead trees. Hot sky, cold wind, and a smell of desolation.

  The sudden thumping was Kevin breaking into a run. Her heart thudded in fear. Judy, where are you? Where am I?

  So fast…his hand reaching around from behind her again, red blood spraying from the wound on his wrist, Helen twisting around to dodge it, red droplets of blood scattered across her chest, and then she was running over the lip of the mound…

  The Private Network: Level One, Variation A

  …there was nothing there. No dead trees, no spiral ramp. Just a grey plastic floor and, in the middle of it, the open doorway to the isolation room.

  “No,” Helen said, coming to a halt, fear enveloping her completely.

  “Yes,” Kevin said, calm again as he came to stand behind her. He took the knife from her unresisting hands and slipped it into his pocket. “The past few days were just a little story. A little adventure we laid on for you to make your homecoming a little sweeter. Welcome home, Helen. Your clients are waiting for you.”

  Black shadows moved inside the isolation room, and calmly, impassively, Judy stepped out. Helen began sobbing with relief. Kevin let go of her arm.

  “Hello there, Judy,” she heard him say. “So you found me here. Never mind, there are other processing spaces. You won’t find all of them.”

  “We will eventually,” Judy said, walking towards them. Helen fell to her knees. She couldn’t stop crying. Her chest was heaving in great big sobs, her body shaking.

  Judy took her by the arm and hauled her up. Helen hung on to her, still weeping.

  “I’m sorry…” she sobbed. “I just cuh…can’t…stop.”

  Judy pressed a white finger to Helen’s lips, and Helen felt the salty tang of a tiny little pill dissolving on her tongue.

  She began to feel calmer. “I’m sorry,” she gulped, looking at the silvery trail of snot on the black silk at the shoulder of Judy’s kimono. She couldn’t let go yet, though. She clung onto Judy, her arms wrapped around the warm body that lay hidden underneath the kimono.

  Judy stroked her hair. “I’m Judy 4,” she said. “Here.” She pulled a silk scarf from her obi and gave it to Helen to blow her nose with. She made no mention of the mess that Helen had made of her kimono.

  Helen was becoming calmer. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “At the moment? I’m not sure. Kevin tricked us all. He lured you and Judy Three into a trap, and then manipulated you into killing him. He had that section rigged specially to make copies of you. Now he’s got you running in processing spaces all across the solar system.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can speak to Judy,” Kevin said, flipping the white knife into the air and catching it by the handle. He looked at Judy 4.

  “Why haven’t you got it yet, Judy? This is all about ownership. Now, I wonder who has top-level rights over this processing space?”

  “We do,” Judy 4 said.

  “Not quite yet,” Kevin said. He closed his eyes and vanished.

  “Damn,” Judy whispered. She raised her voice and spoke into her console. “Four, here. He got away again.”

  The little pill Judy had pressed into Helen’s mouth had taken effect. She had stopped crying. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “This is the end game,” explained Judy 4. “It’s like he’s trying to entice me and my sisters closer by using you as bait. He is risking getting caught just so that he can speak to me.”

  “Why?”

  “I think he’s trying to convince us of something.”

  “Oh.” Helen gave a last heaving sob. “You say that he made copies of me. How many of me are there now?”

  Judy 4 looked at her with a gentle smile. “Only one. There is always only one of you, Helen. You just have a lot of sisters.” She squeezed Helen’s hand. “Come on, then,” Judy 4 said. “We’ll get him in one of the other processing spaces. He can’t keep this up for much lo
nger.”

  The Private Network: Level One, Variation B

  “I’m Judy 5,” said the other woman. “Here.” She pulled a silk scarf from her obi and gave it to Helen to blow her nose with. She made no mention of the mess that Helen had made of her kimono.

  Helen was becoming calmer. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “At the moment? I’m not sure. Kevin tricked us all. He lured you and Judy Three into a trap, and then manipulated you into killing him. He had that section rigged specially to make copies of you. Now he’s got you running in processing spaces all across the solar system.”

  “Why?”

  “To confuse you, Helen,” Judy 5 said.

  “Not to confuse you,” Kevin said. “To control you. And so I can speak to Judy.”

  He looked at Judy 5.

  “Why haven’t you got it yet, Judy? This is all about ownership. Don’t you see? When you live in the Watcher’s processing space, he owns you just as much as I own the people who live in the Private Network.”

  Judy 5 was calm. “There is a difference between caring for someone and owning them, Kevin.”

  Kevin smiled. “Ah, but who cares for you, Judy?”

  He took hold of her arm in one hand, and with the other pulled the white knife from his pocket and dragged it across Judy 5’s throat. Blood spilled over Helen’s white jumpsuit, soaking her arms. Judy 5 looked into Helen’s eyes with a look of total disbelief. She was trying to say something, but the blade of the white knife had severed everything all the way back to the bone. Blood bubbled; the obscene dark hole of her windpipe gasped and spluttered. Helen had taken MTPH; she felt the strength draining from Judy’s body as it weakened and still more and more blood pumped out over her, more blood than any one body could hold. Liters and liters pumping out over the silver path and spilling out into the blackness, and then another Judy came stepping through the smearing dissipating rainbow that had been Kevin, and Helen saw on her face a look of horror and disbelief that mirrored her own feelings.

  “But she’s dead…” said the new Judy.

  EA Public Space number 4

  Disbelief snapped back across both the digital and the atomic worlds. Judy 3 tilted her head backwards as she listened to her console. For the first time, this gesture struck Helen as ridiculous. Why tilt your head back if your console was set in the form of a polished wooden rod pushed through your hair?

  The Kevin standing in front of her was smiling, and she had an overwhelming urge to snatch the white plastic knife he was holding and use it to spear his Adam’s apple.

  “Not so easy to be detached when it happens to one of your own, is it?” he said, reading her thoughts.

  Judy 3 was breathing deeply, her features moving as she sought to control her emotions.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked.

  “Do what?” Helen asked. Here, in one of the EA’s processing spaces, there were no dead trees; there was no isolation room. This Helen had listened dispassionately as Judy 3 had told her of the hunt for her myriad sisters. All of that had suddenly become very personal again when, just a few minutes ago, yet another incarnation of Kevin had stepped through the airlock leading into this section of the Shawl. But now something had happened. Something serious. For the first time since she had known her, Judy 3’s face was showing genuine, unguarded expression.

  “What has he done?” Helen asked.

  Judy spoke in a monotone: “One of his alter egos killed Judy 5.”

  “I did,” Kevin said, seemingly without concern. “It makes you wonder about punishment, doesn’t it? You know that with me there will be no repentance. I just wasn’t built to think that way. As far as I’m concerned, you’re impotent, Judy. You have no jurisdiction over me. You have been a thorn in my side for too long, so now you either help me, or die.”

  Helen eyed the knife he was holding and wondered about taking it from him. She couldn’t do it. Judy’s conditioning of her was too strong. Killing never made things any better. It was against Helen’s nature.

  Or rather, was it against the Watcher’s nature?

  Atomic Space

  From the lounge of her apartment, the atomic Judy listened to two more of her sisters dying. Somewhere in the digital worlds, Judy 2 and Judy 12 gazed up at Kevin through dimming vision, warm blood spilling from their necks onto the silk of their kimonos.

  “I don’t understand,” the atomic Judy said, distraught. “How is Kevin doing this? He never used to be able to fool us.”

  Frances looked at nothing with her painted eyes.

  “He’s getting help from somewhere,” she said. “But what does he want? Not David Schummel, that’s for sure. That was just a misdirection. Schummel merely used to fly ships for the Private Network.” Frances paused. “Judy, I think it’s that stealth robot: Chris. I think it is Chris who is helping him.”

  “But why?” The atomic Judy gazed out at the stars through her lounge window, wondering. She spoke into her console: “Look after Judy 3. She’s the key to all of this.”

  EA Public Space number 4

  Judy 3 stared at Kevin.

  “What’s happening?” Helen called out.

  “All the Judys are being killed.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  For the first time, Kevin looked serious. “Because none of this is real, Judy. We’re all just a pattern in a processing space.”

  “We’re alive!”

  “You only think that you’re alive. Surely you don’t believe in the soul? You die in here, and the real Judy goes on living.”

  “I’m the real Judy.”

  Helen was watching the exchange, her brow furrowed as she tried to work out what they were saying. Then something occurred to her.

  “You’re a liar!” she shouted. Judy looked at her in surprise, and then realized the comment wasn’t directed at her.

  “Liar,” Helen called again, stepping closer to Kevin. “You say that none of this is real, and yet you trade on the misery generated by your supposed realities! Why not just use simulations? Why capture real PCs and imprison them in your torture chambers, unless you thought there was some value to the suffering of real people?”

  Kevin gave her a sideways look. “I have never thought that was the case. Only my customers seem to think it important that the PCs are real. It is precisely because I don’t believe that you are real persons that I run the Private Network.” He adopted a pious look. “I am true to myself. My conscience is clear.” He grinned. “Or it would be, if I had one.”

  Helen gaped at Kevin, her mouth moving soundlessly as she tried to think of a reply. She couldn’t. Kevin gave a laugh.

  “You know I am right. The human race has been led up the garden path by the Watcher.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Judy knows what I mean.” Kevin stared into her black eyes. “You see, Judy, the trouble with putting the good of the many before the individual, is that it becomes an excuse for the needs of the individual to be forgotten.”

  Judy 3 gazed impassively at him. “Social Care has always been about looking after the individual, Kevin. You know that.”

  He sneered: “Looking after the individual according to your safe, sanitized viewpoint? Humans are not like that, Judy. I reveal that in my Private Network. They have a capacity for evil that—”

  Judy’s next words stuck with Helen for the rest of her life. She spoke them with a calmness and assurance that went beyond her Social Care training. Helen had the impression that Judy was articulating a belief that went deep to the core of her being.

  “No, Kevin,” Judy said quietly. “You talk about the capacity for evil, but that’s just an excuse. Human nature is not about the extremes that a few people go to; it’s defined by the way that people work hard every day to keep within reasonable bounds, no matter how hard that is. It’s the way people can become so annoyed with each other they want to shout and hit and fight but, even so, they don’t. They sit down and talk, no matter how
hard that might be. You see human nature every time an exhausted mother is so frustrated by her child’s crying that she wants to lash out, but instead takes a deep breath and starts rocking the child to sleep again. Everyone has a capacity for evil; that has been the excuse used by all the worthless leaders throughout history to up the ante for their own ends. Don’t tell me about the capacity for evil; tell me how you resist it and act to be a good honest person.”

  Helen gave a delighted laugh. She had got it.

  She turned to Kevin. “You stupid fucker.” She laughed. “Every human has the capacity to eat until they weigh four hundred kilos. That doesn’t mean that at heart all humans are obese.”

  Kevin reeled, looking confused.

  “So why are you doing this?” asked Judy 3. “Why are you killing us?”

  Kevin held out his hands. “I want to get you on my side.”

  Atomic Space

  The atomic Judy stood in her lounge, dressed only in her sleeping robe.

  “Go for it, 3,” she whispered.

  Frances placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

  “Judy…” She was scanning the room warily. “There is something in here with us….”

  The Private Network: Level One, Variation B

  Judy 4 stepped into the mirrored isolation room, Helen close behind her. They headed to the doorway and the silver path that led to nothing. Judy 10 stood there, in the dissipating rainbow that had been Kevin. Another Helen stared at the dead body of Judy 5 lying on the ground. For the first time, members of this particular lifeline of Helen’s finally met each other.

  “Hello,” they said, cautiously looking at one another. As one, they reached out with their right hands and touched themselves on their left cheeks.

  Judy 4 looked back at them.

  “It’s not a good idea to speak to each other,” she said. “We’ll separate you as soon as we can.”

  But the two Helens ignored Judy 4’s advice.

  “And I thought I was unique,” they both said at the same time, a look of realization crossing their faces. The same woman reached out and held her own alternative hands, and then snatched them back, and then touched again.