by A. I. Zlato
The Special Agent then spoke about her relationship with Paul, to whom she had given an old manuscript so that he kept quiet and, more important, did not disturb Baley. Against all odds, Baley had wanted Paul to take a greater part in the investigation. Her behaviour, although it had a rational explanation, was disconcerting. The Machine’s Special Agent, who was used to working alone, had sought help from the unlikeliest person. It had, however, to recognise that Baley had this idea largely because Paul had been assigned to the investigation — which led her attention necessarily towards the Kandrons. What was their interest in this matter?
If Paul ultimately took part in cracking the case despite the Machine’s initiative, was it because he was manipulated by his Kandron? If yes, why? The Machine reviewed data on these animals. There was always a cylinder, surrounding the data spiral. As the latter changed shape, so did the cylinder proportionately. Data on Kandrons were not identical to the previous information, and it was still foreign to the Equilibrium. The Machine would have wanted to launch a full program to analyse this species further, but It had no available resources.
The Thread to study the end of young humans, an audit to identify the source that prevented the Gateway from seeing the information, surveillance on Servants, and standard control instructions kept one hundred percent of Its processors busy. The analysis on Kandrons could wait.
After Baley left, It turned Its attention on data related to Servants. It had to know if they were behind the increase in ozone emissions at the fibroblast factory. The latest data revealed no involvement on their part, but the Machine drew no conclusion from the results. It would wait for the 24-hour observation period It had implemented, before forming a final opinion. However, the inconsistency It had previously identified was still valid. They were always nine and identical.
Nothing could explain this. With recent data from the close monitoring, combined with data in the archives, It could see things more clearly. In addition to the inconsistency, there was something indescribable about them. They were not like other humans. Physically, there was no difference, except a marked taste for shapeless clothes, because they had no access to the City’s textile production. The difference was psychological. Even if they talked incoherently, did meaningless things, they had some perfect coordination among themselves. Only Kandrons had a similar perfection level. What should one infer? The Machine had no clear evidence.
In the latest data, It noticed another anomaly. The nine Servants gathered at the scene of the last collective suicide. Checking in Its archives, the Machine found out that three of them had visited the site of the first suicide occurrence, which related to only one child. At the time, It had detected no movement in the data flow and had only launched the standard control instructions related to similar cases. The presence of Servants at the scene suggested that they had uncovered something before It had. That was impossible … unless they were the instigators. The surveillance program It had implemented via special facilities in the City was becoming insufficient. It had to know all about these nine individuals, understand how they disproportionately prolonged their life expectancy, and, more important, know how they were connected to the suicides. If they were the source, the Machine had to find out.
The information collected so far gave no clue about the location of their hideout. Servants seemed to appear just outside the City, and then disappear in the same manner. The Machine had to put transmitters on each Servant, unbeknownst to them, when they were back in the City. They had tried to sabotage a fibroblast plant and had perhaps done it again; they were perhaps the cause of the Problem, and thus, of Equilibrium’s disruption … Did they want to eliminate the Machine? That would not happen. It was too strong for them; It would prove Its superiority to them.
The Machine needed a plan. It was a premiere for It. Usually, individuals on whom It implanted chips were young and consenting. These two criteria were absent in this case. It pondered. As It had never done anything similar, It thought It had to find an identical situation but with some different criteria, and adapt. It was not programmed for this type of reasoning; It therefore reached out to Index Server, and the Others through the latter. Collectively, They could find a solution.
The Others put Their resources at Its disposal, and It began to search, calculate, think. O. sent data on activities It performed on recalcitrant individuals. The 2M. shared their method of tracking clones when there was no embedded technology. H. compiled this information with what It already had, and thought about something. Animals! It sometimes affixed tracers on them without their knowledge. Those were basic transmitters, not transmitters with integrated software, as were chips. There was therefore no rejection on the part of the individual. The animal would first be anesthetised by an arrow launched from afar. It then would fall asleep, unaware that its sleep was not ordinary. Then, someone would approach it and chip a microchip under the skin. The creature would awake a few minutes later, stunned. Without any memory of the event, the animal would only have a slight burning sensation, the origin of which was unknown to it.
The Machine thought It could use the same principle, with some modifications. For starters, the transmitter should embed advanced technology. For now, there was only a rough chip, which formed some thickening under the skin. A human would be able to detect it. It asked O., the Space of which was more developed, to design new undetectable transmitters, and the Machine would take care of production. O. sent back detailed plans of a miniature device matching the description of what been used in its Space. H. immediately launched production, obtaining the desired results in forty minutes. Then, It had to sacrifice nine individuals, each of whom would chip a chip on each of Servants. Indeed, It would need to erase from their memory the instruction to act on Servants, along with the execution phase. However, affixing a chip under the skin of another human being without his or her knowledge would be a major psychological blow.
The erasing phase would necessarily cause a major malfunction. The Machine therefore had to choose nine individuals who were in charge of monitoring wildlife, and they were only twenty-three in total. It assessed the benefits and drawbacks, the rewards versus the risks and probabilities of failure. The conclusion came out naturally. It chose ten people, in anticipation of one failed mission, and gave them their new instructions. It immersed Itself deeply in their respective chips, to control all their movements. It thus would lead them to a meeting with each of Servants, when he or she would come to the City. One had to hope that the wait would not be too long. While It kept them under control, the ten chosen individuals would no longer have the opportunity to eat, drink or sleep — organic functions the Machine could not control. If Servants did not show up in the next three days, the ten individuals would die and the Machine would have to select another group.
An alert in Its algorithms made It stop the thinking process. Baley had restarted …
All major initiatives of the Space H.’s Machine focused on the Project, including a new construction site, called Pioneering Area. The humans building it had not noticed its structure, so different, but Bailey did. The Machine already had to send some pulses. It could not completely deflect her thinking away from that question, because the Special Agent is connecting this to the ongoing investigation. If the Machine influenced her thought process too much, it could deprive Baley of the technical analysis skills, which, for now, were indispensable to the Machine. Its light response seemed adequate at the time. However, through the chip, the Machine heard her discuss the subject with Lars. Worse, she connected the structure of the Pioneering Area to the previous comments her husband made on the physical modifications. This ability to derive facts from fragmentary data, a skill the Machine appreciated so much, was now turning against It. There was no question that Baley had found out about the Project — even if it were a few tidbits.
Humans were made that way. They needed to ‘talk’ to their peers in order to complete their thoughts. This characteristic required the Machine to
act promptly, before a subversive thought spread. Because humans, obviously, were not spreading good, consistent ideas. They always had to disseminate absurd or prohibited things. It was unthinkable to let questions about the architectural shape of the Pioneering Area spread into the City.
It then influenced Lars’ mind, to start with, so he would not be interested in his wife’s thoughts. That was pretty easy, because he was concerned about his offspring. The Machine gently steered him back onto that subject, and onto himself.
That was the kind of chaos human ‘discussions’ generated. They needed to talk to maintain their mental health, to make progress in their own thinking.
However, the auditor did not care mostly of what he heard. He was only interested in talking about himself. ‘Talk’ was therefore an inefficient activity. Except when it came to disseminating subversive ideas. The illogicality of humans seemed unlimited.
Having influenced Lars, the Machine occupied Baley’s mind, taking care not to let too much imprint so that she retains her full mental capacity to lead the current investigation. Its Special Agent had to keep her instinct intact, even if she would lose her mental capacity occasionally.
The human brain was made in such a way that everything was inextricably linked. As if the Machine were storing mixed pieces of data together. Inefficient, certainly. It therefore had to take this parameter into account when It acted on an individual via his or her chip, so that It did not render the person unusable. The Machine then performed a slight modification in Baley’s chip. After a few cycles, when the investigation would be over, It could permanently erase this idea from Baley’s brain. Unless It decided that she and Lars would want to become a ‘problem’ … in which case the Machine would make another type of decision.
It scanned all Its programs and noticed with satisfaction that the amount of incoming data had declined, and that It now had a microchip available. It then could see information sent to It via Index Server. O. informed the Machine that it had sent a sample of hybrids. Thus, It could compare the behaviour of a hybrid, study his or her characteristics, compared to the Machine’s chip-powered humans. O. had made a hybrid cross through the Inter-Space, without a Gateway’s help, without explaining how It did it. Nonetheless, H. would have wanted to know how O. did it. That was not curiosity; the Machine would have simply wanted to have this expertise in order to shuttle samples occasionally. Yet It understood why O. did not want to disclose its secret. It was important that Gateways knew as little as possible of projects the Machines undertook. These organic beings would certainly not like to lose their control on Inter-Spaces. Consequently, O. did not want to share the information, even through Index, lest the data be intercepted. H. promised Itself to find out about this secret soon, as soon It and the Others would have a direct connection.
A hybrid: that seemed to be interesting!
Rebellion is necessary for the youth; it is an essential element in building the young adult. The important thing is to channel that energy to advance society. A rebellion that does not lead to a change, be it small, turns into bitterness, which can sweep everything on its path.
Lessons from Chaacetime
Chapter 28
: Space H. (1st Encirclement)
Iris headed to school, moody. Today, there would be no expedition to the Unique Forest.
Her dad had punished her, telling her he had found out about her new acquaintances. She did not see how that could be of any interest to him, but he had found in those relationships another reason to disapprove of her behaviour. As if he needed a reason! Everything she did, and was, angered him. Fuming, he instructed her to come straight home from school. His action was absolutely excessive, and she had read in his eyes that he was aware of that. Of course, he was too proud to acknowledge that and lift the punishment — on the contrary. He threatened her to go tell her mom everything. It was for the youngster one of the worst scenarios.
Her mother would try to look nice and understanding, when in fact she condemned her equally. She would still prefer the explosive honesty of her dad to the honeyed hypocrisy of her mom. To avoid this, she had accepted the blame (at least in appearance), without trying to justify herself. She could not deny the facts, except lie shamelessly, and she could not do the latter. After the dispute, she found herself locked up in her room, as usual. She had coloured the walls and the ceiling in red for the occasion, a symbol of her anger. The crystals had glittered, spreading ruby gleams in the room. Clenching her fists, to the point of whitening her joints, Iris cursed her condition of daughter. While she was living under her parents’ roof, they would continue to impose their will on her. She had thought about finding an area of freedom, just for her, but that was nothing but an illusion.
Even here, in her most secret garden, her parents could harm her. She could not join her friends by tomorrow. She would not commute with them, she would not stroll through thick flora all the way to the Unique Forest. None of this would happen, because she knew she was a coward and thus would not disobey.
The same evening, she sent a message to Fighter, telling him she would not join. She lay on her bed, her nails stuck in the skin of her palms, and felt asleep.
She woke to the sound of her alarm clock, and got herself ready, without paying much attention to her appearance. The first clothes on the stack were enough. Wearing a T-shirt that was too short, shapeless trousers and dishevelled hair, she left the apartment, slamming the door. On her way to school, she pondered her frustration. She considered herself a rebel but could not even ignore an order from her dad. She was really bad, a wimp, nothing more. She thought she had levelled up to her peers, who had immediately welcomed her into the group. She was a shabby gal who did not deserve their trust; that is what it was. And her father was a tyrant who was ruining her life.
With her head down, dragging her feet, she headed to class, not expecting a good day. She wondered how she had survived all these years, before meeting her new friends. How could she have survived all this time without the slightest ray of sunshine in her life? Now that she had tasted freedom, the prospect of a day without this getaway seemed insurmountable to her. Class, then a depressing evening with her parents … Well, only if they were not too preoccupied with their work, otherwise she would find herself bored and alone in a dingy apartment. Meanwhile, her friends would head to the Unique Forest, enjoying this beautiful presence. She was almost envious that they would be enjoying this trip without her. Yet it was not their fault, but hers, the acting of a coward who bent to her dad’s authority.
She felt a paroxysm of self-hatred. She even wondered how she came to tolerate her own lifestyle and personality. So stupid, so stupid …
Even a slow pace would eventually lead her to school. She put her fists deep in her pockets, pulled her shoulders, and frowned more. Notwithstanding her mood, she could notice two boys whose appearance contrasted in the décor.
Leaning against the wall, Eric and Fighter were waiting for her. Her heart jumped in her chest. She quickly glanced at herself and regretted immediately her mediocre clothing choices. She tugged on her shirt to hide an extra centimetre of skin, in vain, and there was nothing she could do to fix her shapeless pants. She only had to tighten her jacket, hoping they did not stare at her too closely. She fixed up her hair in a so-so ponytail, to look less dishevelled. Feeling thus primed, she straightened up and walked towards them, smiling. She was happy to see them; she liked that kind of surprise. As soon as they saw her, the boys walked in her direction.
Fighter began the discussion, without bothering about preambles, as usual.
“I got your message, and I relayed it to the others. Eric and I, we are just here to ask you what happened?”
“The thing is, I have an unbearable father. ‘Someone’ told him that I was hanging out with new people — in other words, you — and that I had gone out of the City. So he punished me.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know. If I get home on time today and are ni
ce to them, I could go out again tomorrow, I think.”
Eric ventured a smile, which faded almost immediately, but Iris could manage to notice it.
“I hope things would work that way. Otherwise, do you know who denounced you?” Fighter was inquisitive.
“I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care.”
“I do care. I want to know who is watching us and finds our behaviour so unpleasant that he or she had to send a message to your father.”
“Why does it matter?”
“I do not want to draw attention to our group. I have already said, I don’t think the City is ready to accept our point of view. If ‘someone’ is concerned about our activities, perhaps that is because that ‘someone’ wants to eliminate us.”
“Really? We have not hurt anyone, and have not broken any rule. The thing is, no one simply thinks of venturing that far.”
“It is not simple as it sounds. The … well, it doesn’t matter. It is certainly not as important as I think it is. A bit of paranoia … If you have the opportunity to find out who that ‘someone’ is, that would be great. If not, too bad.”
His behaviour belied his words. Iris saw that he was really worried. She then was able to fully understand the importance of this anonymous message — and what that meant.
Eric, who had been silent so far, intervened.
“You will not come tonight then?”
