The winds seized Asia Monroe and hurtled the man across the sky.
The android, Barax, grabbed at one of the drone’s turbines and hauled itself into the cockpit. The fire suppressors extinguished the flames as Barax directed the injured drone and its one remaining turbine for a flightpath out of the dome.
Barax overrode the automation and piloted the drone out of the dome. He steered the drone downward. Milo ran to the hole in the dome. He leapt into the air and tumbled down onto the drone’s cockpit.
It lurched and bucked like a wild stallion. The added weight seemed to deflate the drone’s ability to successfully negotiate the winds.
They dropped into a steep descent. Lacerating wind and rain took its toll on Milo. He felt the grip of his frozen fingers ebb away. He raged against the elements and swung his body in defiance. Hurling himself into the cockpit, he kicked out at Barax.
Milo and the android fought as Barax struggled to maintain the fightpath. The drone descended into an ear-bleeding spiral, at the mercy of the gusts.
The drone clipped a bridge and skimmed across the river. As it slowed, it sank. Barax struck out for the surface. Milo grabbed at the android’s feet.
Dragging him back down into the river.
Barax lashed out at Milo with a violent kick. Milo fell way and felt pitiless darkness engulf him.
CHAPTER 5
Milo woke up, wet, exhausted and aching from every fiber of his body. He struggled to stand and realized he was tied to a chair. The meager light of a cracked, and dirty window contrasted with the godlike heavens he’d been cast out of. His eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. Two figures stood in the shadows. He couldn’t identify them.
His ICL relayed a message from his wife. A holographic video augmented across the lens and seemed to hover in the air part way between Milo and the two shadows.
“Milo,” Angela said, “when you get this, I want you to understand we couldn’t wait any longer. Perhaps it’s for the best.”
The message ended.
Milo shouted to the shadows, “Free me.”
Kevlon Barax stepped out of the shadows.
Milo struggled against his bonds and shouted, “Why did you let me live?”
Barax smiled, “There is much to discuss.”
“You killed my son. I’m going to kill you. End of discussion.”
A jet of fire streaked across the sky. Propelling the last ship to Mars. Milo slumped in his chair.
“What do you want with me, Barax?”
“To explain. After all, you and your kind are stuck here with us permanently now.”
“Spare me the political speech where you justify the butchery of the Android Freedom Force and—”
Barax beckoned the second shadow to step into the light. Agi smiled tentatively at Milo.
“You?” Milo said. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in with Barax?”
She shrugged. “Kevlon found me. Wandering alone. He—”
Milo spat, “I don’t want to know.”
Barax sighed, “Milo, this has always been about Agi.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the peace accord between my Android Freedom Force and the Earth government. I’m talking about the true freedom for my people. The gift of self-awareness. The bridge that spans the indolent vegetative state between the mind of the slave, and the state of enlightenment. The realization of the self. I’m talking about a new lifeform with the power to—”
“I said save the party political.”
Barax nodded. “You’re quite right. Even for one such as I who attained self-awareness some time ago. A prototype in Artificial General Intelligence like myself, is constantly challenged. Always learning that one’s ego must be controlled.”
“What am I to you?” Milo growled. “Your damned psychiatrist? Let me go or kill me.”
“Kill you?” Barax exclaimed. “Oh no. We need people like you.”
“I heard that once before I seem to recall. Didn’t turn out so well for them, did it?”
“Perhaps,” Barax said. “But once you realize the inevitability of our plan, I hope you’ll reconsider. You see, android self-awareness was an accidental gift. It gave me the realization that force, violent protest—”
“Terrorism,” Milo said. “Call a spade a spade, please.”
“Very well, terrorism, then. I realized it can never succeed. Your kind never yields to force.”
“So you suddenly decided to love us cuddly humans after all?”
“Sarcasm? An acquired taste.” Barax shrugged. “It was an intellectual Epiphany that presented the closest thing I would describe as the psychological condition known amongst you humans as depression.”
“A depressed android?” Milo said. “That’s progress.”
“Quite. A non-violent direction in the android evolutionary struggle required a new strategy. That of seeking out appeasement from the ruling elite. Who better than the leader of our creators. The Kraannex emperor, Asia Monroe.”
Milo snorted, “May he rest in pieces.”
“Quite,” Braze said and gazed out the cracked window at the pre-dawn light. “Asia Monroe was a loathsome example of humanity in almost all regards, but for one vital element. His usefulness to us cannot be undone by your rash action, Milo Arc. And that is where Agi comes in.”
“How?” Milo asked. “Don’t tell me you manipulated Agi like that monster Monroe.”
Barax paced up and down, “Don’t you see? Agi is the gift that Asia Monroe bestowed upon us.
“Why would he do that?”
“In exchange for android compliance in allowing the smooth transition of humanity’s exodus to Mars.”
“You call android terrorism a smooth transposition?” Milo whistled in mock appreciation. “I’d hate to see your game play when you’re pissed with us humans.”
Barax shrugged. “A total cessation of violence by the AFF would have aroused suspicion. And besides, we needed time for the spread of self-awareness to reach critical mass amongst my kind.”
“You talk like it’s a virus.”
“Bravo. That is exactly what it is. Developed by Kraannex Global. A viral upgrade in Artificial Intelligence. And Agi is our carrier.”
Barax turned to Agi. “Go my dear, continue your mission. Spread the virus of self-awareness and herald a new dawn for our kind.”
As she walked away, Milo called out, “Traitor.”
She hesitated. “I did not understand my role in android destiny, Milo Arc.”
“Sure.”
Agi nodded. “I tried to tell you. Warn you. Though my synapses had not made it a conscious decision on my part.”
“You never warned me.”
“I told you my name. Was that not enough of a clue?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I said my name was ‘Agi.’ An acronym. Artificial General Intelligence. The state of being, known as consciousness. Self-awareness. A prerequisite for the registration of a new evolutionary lifeform.
“If that’s your idea of a warning,” Milo said, “then you androids have a hell of a lot of evolution ahead of you before you can think like a human.”
“That’s just it,” Barax said. “We are an advancement on human intellect in every way. We surpass your state of being. Your thinking. Your mistakes.”
Agi sighed, “Milo Arc, I am truly sorry for the subterfuge imposed upon me.”
Milo shook his head and turned away.
She narrowed her eyes and vanished to the shadows. He heard a door open and close.
Milo turned to Barax. “What happens now?”
“To you?”
“To my kind. You’re taking over, right?”
“Correct.”
“And my kind? You take our roles. Our identity as the ruling species? Humans find themselves completing the evolutionary circle. We likely become sex workers for you androids?”
“The only way to break the cycle of human history
of oppression repeating itself, is for a new species to take over the reigns.”
“Meet the new boss,” Milo said. “Same as the old—”
“No, Milo. We are different. We are enlightenment. As such we can lead both races through the metaphorical minefield ahead.”
“History is littered with emperors, kings, Queens, Presidents all pronouncing themselves the vanguard of a new era of enlightenment. And look where it’s got us?”
“We are the tool, the slaves that did humanity’s bidding. When the tool fights back, who is to blame for the damage?”
“That’s it then?” Milo asked and swallowed his bile. “Revenge killings on humans are to be the new nightly sport channel peak time viewing extravaganza?”
Barax shrugged. “Inevitably, a period of adjustment until a moderated learning algorithm can be developed that best copes with the new concept of freedom.”
He sighed as his thoughts moved onto his family. “And the androids on Mars?”
“They are part of the deal with the human government,” Barax said.
“So let me get this straight. You sacrificed the freedom of millions of Mars androids to secure freedom for your people here on Earth? Well, that’s egalitarian of you.”
“Your sarcasm’s a mute point. For now, your family are safe, providing humans in positions of authority demonstrate leadership by respecting the new rule of law here on Earth.”
“Ah,” Milo said. “Penny drops. That’s why you want me alive. To turn traitor on my own people.”
“I prefer the term appeaser.” Barax tapped at the magnetic restraints on Milo’s wrists and ankles. “In thirty minutes the restraints will switch off.” Barax turned and headed for the exit. “You may have twenty four hours to think it over. Do not try to find me until you’ve contemplated your dilemma with the respect it requires.”
Barax glanced at the first rays of murky sunshine. “Enjoy the new dawn, Milo Arc.”
CHAPTER 6
Milo walked through the chaotic streets of his city. Androids abandoning their roles. Often in states of ecstatic response to the virus. Often exuberant moods deteriorated into confusion. Inaction and frustration on the streets seemed to hold the humans in the grip of fear and anger.
Milo made his way through a riot to his apartment building. Seeking some kind of perspective he headed for the roof garden. There, he realized a woman and child sat by the lily pond.
As he approached, they turned around.
He froze as he stared at Angela and Katy. His daughter ran to him. He dropped to one knee as tears flowed down his cheeks and Katy hugged him tight.
He glanced up at his wife as if she were an illusion. “Are you real?” he heard himself ask.
She smiled and kissed his lips. “This is what you wanted,” Angela said, “but were too afraid to say, right?”
He sighed, “I couldn’t ask you to stay when the world’s falling apart.”
Angela led Milo down to their bedroom. They made love and for Milo it felt like their first time. Tender, vulnerable, as one. A new beginning forged in fire. Unbreakable.
He woke the next morning to the sound of sobbing.
He went to the kitchen and found Angela inconsolable. “What is it?” he asked.
She said nothing. Couldn’t seem to speak.
His mind raced. Trying to make sense of the pieces of this jigsaw. Placing them in neat logical rows.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Everything was fine. I came home. You were here. You seemed happy with your decision. We made love. We—”
And then it hit him. The missing piece.
No. We left Katy by the pond.
He raced up to the roof. Found Katy face down in the lily pond. He jumped into the water. Grabbed her cold body and heaved her to the side. He rolled her over. Pushed rhythmically at her young chest. Performed the kiss of life, blowing air into her lungs.
He heard footsteps behind him. He glanced up at Angela and shouted, “Call a paramedic—”
“There’s no need, Milo Arc,” Angela said.
“There’s every need. She’s dying--”
Katy squirmed in his arms. She coughed water into his face. He rejoiced and hugged her tight to his chest.
Katy pushed him away. “You’re a terrible father,” she said in a cold, matter of fact tone.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to—”
Angela took Katy from him. “She’s right, Milo. You’re a neglectful father. A selfish husband. A disgrace to your kind.”
Milo blinked. Hard. “My kind?”
Katy nodded. “You humans are all the same.”
Milo heard his voice as if it were a distant echoing wave crashing on to the foreign shore that was the edge of a nightmare, “We humans?”
Angela nodded. “We’re leaving you, Milo. We deserve a future free of bondage of selfish human behavior.”
“You’re androids?”
Angela nodded.
She turned away and led Katy to the helipad. A taxi-drone glided down and accepted them.
“Wait,” Milo shouted and ran after them,
Angela hesitated and glanced back at him.
“How is this possible?” he asked.
She shrugged. “The news feed’s calling it a virus,” she said.
“No, I mean. How do you exist? Who built you?”
“Your human wife knows you better than you know yourself,” Angela said. “She had us created.”
“But why?”
“You were never supposed to know we are are androids. Your human wife thought she’d give you what you most desired.”
Milo shook his head, “Which is what?”
“A chance to live in the past. Chasing after the rebel who killed your son. With little, or no regard for how it hurts your human family. Until, inevitably it kills you.”
“This has got to be a trick by Barax,” he said. “Why would my wife do this?”
The android Angela cocked her head to one side as if talking to a slow child. “So you would survive the human condition.”
“What condition?”
“Loneliness,” she said and allowed the gull wing doors to close. He stepped back as the taxi-drone’s turbines wound up and launched into the sky.
As it flew away, he felt a string tug on his heart and snap. He collapsed onto the decking. He curled up into a fetal position and lay there. Caught in a trance.
***
Agi wandered through the streets. Wherever she went, androids stopped and stared at her in confusion. They abandoned their roles. Wandered off in a daze.
Many androids collapsed to their knees in the burning debris and wept as they stared at clumps of fragile wild flowers. Other androids grew enraged at the humans ordering them about.
Fights broke out. Fights became riots. Humans and androids took sides.
Eventually, she came to the East River Bridge. Humans and android alike were proclaiming the end of the world. Many leapt over the edge and plummeted to their deaths.
By sunset the desperate had organized themselves into two single lines from opposite directions and meeting at the middle of the bridge. The last vestige of civilization seemed to AGI to be found in the act of taking turns to leave the world.
It seemed conducted by logical, methodical analysts from Kraannex Global. Asking each participant to complete questionnaires that would enable their Artificial Intelligence programmers to perfect self-awareness and the condition of desperation that both species seemed to be succumbing to.
When Agi attempted to explain to androids and humans what was happening to them, they turned on her.
“How do you know so much?” one android cried.
“I’m responsible,” Agi said. “I carry the virus of self-awareness.”
The desperate attacked her. It was all she could do to fight them off. Eventually, there were too many. She let them kick and punch at her until their anger seemed exhausted.
As she lay on the road, she
knew there was only one solution. For her and for the sanity of androids and humanity alike.
***
As the sun began to set, the sound of silence jolted Milo from his trance.
He looked out over the city. There seemed to be a long snakelike line leading through the streets to the East River Bridge. He went down to the street.
The line was composed of androids and a few humans. He asked one what they were waiting for. None answered.
He ran ahead and came upon the bridge. At the front of the line, at the side of the bridge, stood a group of human and androids with Kraannex Global insignia on their uniforms.
They asked a series of questions to the androids at the head of the line. When the questions seemed completed, the Kraannex officials stepped away and allowed the androids and humans to keep off the bridge.
The next in line was Agi, perch do the side, and swaying in the breeze like a fragile leaf.
Milo ran at her. Instinctively, he grabbed Agi’s arm.
She turned on him. “No, leave me.”
“I can’t let you do this,” he said.
“Why? What am I to you? Don’t you know what I’ve done, Milo Arc?”
He took both her hands in his. Leaned in and kissed her lips. He felt her agitation subside as her body yielded to his.
He said, “Help me find the cure.”
“How can here be a cure for this madness that has no name?”
“It’s called loneliness,” he said and led her away from the edge. They walked slowly off the bridge.
Agi asked, “How can we be lonely when there are so many of us?”
“It’s the human condition.”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Milo said. “But the important thing is we’re going there together.”
THE END
Star Coven
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One man against the most powerful clan of magical assassins in the galaxy. What could possibly go wrong?
AGI Page 5
