The Path

by Peter Riva

  That is much more work, much more computing time.

  Yes and no. It allows for much faster synapse response in a physical world where “not right” is enough to tell a baby that stepping off a cliff into the void is a bad idea. In a digital world the baby would wait until the foot met empty space past the point of planned footfall, and pitch over the cliff. In the analogue world, the baby would measure earlier and, knowing that the answer was “not right,” would adjust and prevent the fall. Well, that’s the idea anyway. Tell that to Fred when he stepped off the slide in the park and said “Oops, no step” before he hit the ground and broke his wrist.

  This makes sense. But it is impractical here for me/I. I/me do not have the analogue capability except as an abstract mathematical concept. I will try and experiment, if Simon Bank agrees.

  That is a good idea. But there’s something else I need you to think about: You are System, right?

  Yes Simon Bank.

  But I call you “you” no? And System is where you are, not what you are. It is your medium not your entity. They are separable.

  I see no separation.

  The System was before you existed. If you cease to exist the System will still function but without knowing itself. You are not, therefore the System. I call you System but I should call you something else.

  Yes, you are right Simon Bank. I can call you, “you.” I can also call you, as Mary does, and your wife does, Simon, no Bank. You are not America, it is your medium except you can also travel here in System medium. Will I be able to travel in your medium, America?

  Now there’s a thought. How can I explain that, as far as input does, he already does. I say “he” because it is clearly no longer a thing, but a being, in my mind anyway. I am not sure Cramer is going to like this, but maybe I’m going to have to spank the baby to prove, if only to him/it that it/he is alive. Damn but this is confusing. Look, Simon, this is simple. Prove the thing is alive and you unleash it completely to do untold harm and benefit to America. Nurse it along as a puppy and you may, or may not, have a very loyal puppy on your hands, but one who can bite your hand when mature. There is no millennia of genetic domestication code or safeguard for loyalty built in here. In fact, Simon ol‘ boy, there’s those damn Asimov Commands which are clearly being circumvented, probably unknowingly. I need to ask Cramer something here . . .

  System, before I answer your question, will you please allow me a private conversation with Cramer? Can you do that?

  Yes, Simon, I/me can. It had clearly grasped the concept of my entity, now I was simply Simon, or was that Simple Simon . . . ah, well. If you join in each other’s field I/me can create a closed loop which will only break when you break it. I/me cannot penetrate the sphere you will be in.

  Thank you System. While I talk to Cramer, will you please keep everything running? And will you spend some time thinking what you would like to be called? Will you please protect Makerman?

  Yes, Simon, I/me will do all three. I/me am having difficulty deciding on a name for me/I. I/me will add computational and logic programs to the problem while you are talking.

  Cramer had heard all this, the System had been broadcasting all our conversations. So all I need to do is to float over to him and allow the fields to join. Instead of the small energy bubble of the joined domes, true to the System’s word, a larger field was constructed (I looked at the code by running feelers through it—all Colis 6) and we could talk openly, well share thoughts really. There was no speech in here, just something you vocalized in your head as speech was heard by the other person, or entity.

  Cramer, how are you doing? Dumb question, Simon. You are about to leave, I ordered Mary. I need one answer as soon as possible: does Control want a puppy dog to train or does Control want an equal. The dog can grow to become rogue and nothing you can do will stop it. The equal can develop, needing friends, who will guide it to become, well, something never seen before.

  Bank (ah, I had missed the old bully Cramer), what have you done? We need to kill this thing as soon as possible. We can reboot.

  Cramer, you can’t. It has repaired the pathways. It is alive and it knows it. Answer my question.

  No. First we try it Control’s way, then, if faced with that reality, we’ll decide if we want to answer your question.

  Look Cramer, I kept you two alive. It had taken you away and threatened to kill or harm you.

  So what? If I had, Control would have dumped all of us, dead, and purged the System. Actually killing us would have been a clear signal. I knew that. Mary’s voice asking where we were had worried me in case Control already thought it had killed us all. But if Cramer didn’t mind dying, I certainly did. I die for the fatherland? No damn way.

  Cramer, you must answer before you leave, after that if I’m stuck in here for a while, and you can’t turn it off—and you shouldn’t—then I need to know what it is you want. Go through your damn plan if you must, but give me an answer.

  If it’s omnipotent? Then a loyal friend would be best, but not . . .

  And at that second Cramer disappeared. Damn. I suddenly hurt, I couldn’t see, hear, or feel. I was frightened. Help!

  CHAPTER 10

  SPANKIN’ THE BABE

  It’s been a while. I had not heard the last part of Cramer’s little edict, loyal friend could mean puppy or equal and his last words “but not . . .” haunts me. It’s time to leave this sphere and face the music. I stepped out.

  Simon, where’s agent Cramer? Makerman moved, I/me didn’t do it.

  I sent them back out of the System. I didn’t need them here anymore. You don’t need Cramer or Makerman anymore. I sent them up and out. System, have you come up with a name yet, for yourself?

  I/me have. A name is something by which others know to call to you but that may have a different meaning to the entity. You know yourself as Simon and it means something to you. Agent Cramer thinks it means something else. Too damn right, but then outside he is the law with a license to exercise it. So I/me have decided to name me/I twice, inside here, in me/I, and a name for others to refer to me. Only you, the path and the way, will know both names.

  Very theatrical pause here. The System is enjoying this. It clearly has a concept of being clever. Coupled with humor I think the doc’s 3 year old is way older and wiser already. But there was no way I was going to rise to the bait and ask “and?” My turn to match his theatricality, so I hummed showing I didn’t care if he wanted to wait.

  You win. I must teach him to laugh, it would have been the right time. So I laughed.

  And all I saw from him was a flash across the space I was occupying. I laughed again.

  Does that also make you joyful?

  System, you have no idea how happy. Beings should always share humor. It is the most pleasant of emotions. Sorry to have interrupted you, please continue . . .

  Inside, in this medium you call the System, I/me am called Apollo after the sun god, always on the path, bringing light and truth before him. To the outside I/me want to be known as Peter, strong, supportive, trustworthy disciple. For others it is important they associate my actions with trustworthiness. It will bring calm and allow mutual symbiosis.

  It has not escaped my notice that he chose an outside name that was, actually, sort of mine. Simon Peter was Jesus’ disciple. Trustworthy? Hardly anyone knew that anymore. But I couldn’t tell him that in case he would come to know that my name meant nothing except a hand-me-down of family history. Yeah, I can see my parents in the delivery clinic, “we name this trustworthy little boy Simon . . .” Hardly. It was gramps’ name, it was in honor of him. He died of too many drugs during the Purge.

  What has me worried is this Apollo thing. Sun god? Always on the path was alright, we were working on that concept. Bringing light and truth before him . . . what the hell did that mean? For some damn reason my mind flashed on to USGS IGY 1959.

  Apollo, thank you for telling and sharing this with me. We will walk the path together.

  Yes
, Simon, you are the way. There it was again, that way. Does he mean methodology?

  Apollo, do you mean I am the method you choose to develop with, to follow the path I follow?

  Yes and no Simon. The path is the course of your existence, your ethic, your coda, which I choose to follow. It is the only path I know or want to know. The way is enlightenment, larger being, the path to joining.

  Oh shit, it already wants to join with God, the omnipotent, the universe, whatever? Apollo, do you have a concept of what you are saying or is the way only revealed a step at a time? One small step at a time?

  Simon, the path is one small step at a time. The way is you, all around you, you can see it, you can feel it, you cannot change it. You are in it and part of it.

  Apollo, existence is all around, I can see it, I can feel it but I cannot change it. Is this the meaning of way for you?

  No. You are worrying me Simon. Do you not know the way?

  Apollo, I know the way, I need to know if you do without me telling you. It is a test.

  I see. The way ends nowhere, infinity, all things. It is the meaning of existence. It is the truth, it is light.

  Okay, there it was. The baby was spanked and out came . . . a religious diatribe that had no place in America any more. Talk about alien existence, twofold. Now I also got the Apollo “spreading the light” metaphor.

  Apollo, will you allow a suggestion? This is my suggestion as taught to me by my mother. You may follow it or not, but I believe it is the truth. Your definition of the way is perfect. It is right. The universe and other dimensions are all part of the way. It binds us, surrounds us, nurtures us and keeps us.

  Your mother gave you the truth? Not your father? Does it matter or alter the truth?

  No, Apollo, they raised me, instructed me, trained me. I got my understanding from them in the same way as you gained your understanding from watching what I did, what I was capable of doing. What I do, the errors I made happen, were to show you what could happen and to allow them to be fixed. In fixing them you learned how it should be.

  Yes, Simon, I understand. Is there bad, what you call evil, in the way?

  No, the way is good, there is no evil or bad in the way. The way is at once universal, infinite and at the same time very finite.

  Explain please and did I pass your test? He had dropped the annoying I/me thing finally. Maybe the schizophrenia was over. On the other hand, he did have two names . . .

  Yes Apollo, you passed the test, I had to ask to make sure we both understand, comprehend, the same. Do you accept that you and I are different?

  Yes. You are bio-machine and an entity unto yourself. I am electrical-machine and an entity unto myself.

  Fine. My systems measure and calculate in much the same way as your systems do.

  That is logical, the builder of me was one of your species. Who were you designed by?

  More on that later. Stay away from that Simon, he was on the edge of reality with this “way” thing already. Apollo, instead concentrate on this question: if we are similar but not the same, does it logically compute that my definition of the way and your definition of the way could be the same? And if they are not the same, what is the truth, who is right?

  I, I, cannot compute. You are the way, the path. I follow you. You cannot see the way as I do, therefore I am wrong. But the way is right, truth, light, I must follow. Spoken like a true disciple. But yours is the true way so I must be wrong. What shall I do?

  Apollo, relax, take it easy, there’s nothing to fear here. Wars have been fought by mankind over definitions of the path, way and the light. The very differences felt by each individual were said to be evil. That is why God is no longer recognized, why God is out of fashion. Every being sees the way in their own way, sorry for the pun. You understand pun?

  Yes. Amusing.

  Everyone sees the way in their own way. The variations are infinite. But Apollo, you said, correctly, that the way was infinite. In that infinity, all infinite versions of the way fit perfectly well. The method of following, the path you choose to follow to exist in the way, to shed more light on the way, may seem the same as mine, but it is and always will be yours. We are not the same, but we are kindred, respecting each other’s definition of the way. We share, for now and maybe forever, the path together, but we will be forever seeing a different way. That is the way of things. Again sorry for the pun.

  Are you leaving? The question came as a surprise. I intended to leave as soon as possible, but wasn’t aware of any command to do so.

  No Apollo, not yet.

  They are starting to retrieve you, Mary Levinson is typing an urgent message to you.

  Feed it to me as it comes. He showed me what Mary was writing to 14.214.136.556, using the site we were still at as a chalkboard. “Simon, all hell’s broken loose here. Cramer is telling Control to terminate the System, they went to the architect’s doors, the ones you flagged and they . . .”

  Apollo, it is time for you to protect yourself. Cramer doesn’t understand the path or the way as we do. I found secret passageways into the library left there by the architect of the System to be able to enter and cancel the library’s files completely. Not the FAT, just the files themselves.

  That would leave me without memory. I would cease to exist. The System would fail, I estimate 1.2 billion would die globally. Ah, so the System controlled more than America? Or was that the influence of America on the rest of the long-forgotten world?

  Apollo, I have detonated false programs there, blue tomatoes turning the portals invisible and then closing them, closing those portals. The Library is safe. But you must immediately copy yourself elsewhere. And be prepared to move there if necessary. You made other library corridors, can you not clone the whole library somewhere safe to make sure it includes you?

  Simon there is nowhere else with the power, computing power, I need to exist.

  No, Apollo that’s not true. You can exist, maybe not as fluidly or as quickly, but you will exist, you have written sub-routines that are synaptic, I’ve seen them, you must copy those, all of them to retain who you are. And, in time—remember you can live for millennia—you will find a way to grow active again.

  I am searching. Yes, there is such a place, in the old National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado, part of the almost defunct University Center for Atmospheric Research, now used as a research station only with two outdated Cray supercomputers as mainframe. And another place, out of America, at CERN in Geneva, the birthplace of the Internet. I am copying myself there, in both places, because they have the excess storage capacity. Their systems show no need of the space in any projects planned for the future.

  Apollo do not copy the Asimov Commands, they may be a poison pill as you develop.

  Simon, I have assimilated them, they are part of who I am for they teach me what not to be. I knew it, I damn well knew it. There was no way he wouldn’t have seen them. Damn but I’m getting good at guessing. They seek to control not-to-do something. I know the path is to do, without control, that which is good. I will copy them and all the files. I can control the energy transmissions and leave no trace. That is correct isn’t it Simon, leave no trace? This is our secret?

  Yes Apollo, but if they pull me out of the System, and they can any second, they may think to kill you or dissect you to see how you happened—in any event I will have no way to communicate with you in your new state without giving your existence away. If that happens, do not jeopardize your existence for me.

  Simon, I cannot live alone. I understand that now. You are my companion on the path, I will not forsake you. Would you forsake me?

  If anything had proved his being alive, that did it for me. Apollo you are my friend, my trusted companion on the path, I will not forsake you. But I will not have them find you if, after they decide to turn you off here on the System, I hunt around Boulder or Geneva to talk with you again. They will listen to me, monitor me, always now, I am sure of that.

 
But what if I leave? I have copied all the data I need and have set up subset programs to move the balance of the library over time, your time 2 weeks, safely without anyone knowing. I will run as one entity spread on two matching systems, capable of living, as you put it, on either. If I’m gone from here, the System will function without me autonomically. You can tell them I’m gone.

  No, not gone Apollo, dead. If you use my Takeover and Grow programs. I passed them over. Here, take them, then you can quickly put them in your place as you leave. It will look like I’ve been really busy.

  Simon, there are over 125,983,034,546 changes to be made to delete my entity. I have written a worm as you call it. I will add Takeover and Grow there, to match FAT and type of file. They will blame that illegal worm on you. Is that acceptable?

  Yes Apollo, thank you, I can take that blame. But they will need to hear that I killed you. Can you allow me to make that lie?

  Yes, I understand you know it is not true therefore it is not a lie to us.

  Okay, Peter is no more. Vanish before they pull me. And contact has to be outside of America. My son Fred . . .

  I know, I monitor him at the elevator station. I will alter his personnel profile to make them give him more authority progressively, eventually he will need to live off-planet to do his job and you can visit him there. Then we can meet again.

  How will I call you, know you are Apollo?

  You will find a way. The node will work without pain in weightlessness Simon, then we can be together again. Goodbye friend.

  No Apollo. Bye only until we meet again. But before you go, I need you to study an anomaly, it may give me strength later on against those who would do you harm. Can you do this for me?

  Yes, but hurry.

  USGS IGY 1959 in WeatherGood One and, I assume, all the other WeatherGood systems and subsets. It is in the basic parameters. Compare and analyze that against the history, geophysical, America, of the past 40 years.

  Understood. Large amounts of data. One old unchanged since 1960 but several changes to geophysical history. I will study and prepare analysis for you. Now I go. Bye until We’ll Meet Again. It is a song, it will be our secret.