by Amie Kaufman
ZHUKOV, L, CPL: They’re not paying us enough for this, sir.
WOLF, E, MAJ: I’ll buy you both a scotch when—
[INDECIPHERABLE]
WOLF, E, MAJ: …Did you two hear that?
ZHUKOV, L, CPL: Hear what, sir?
[INDECIPHERABLE]
WOLF, E, MAJ: There it was again. Control, did you—
[SCREAMING]
[TRANSMISSION ENDS]
Participants: Olivia Klein, Private, UTA Information Services Division
Stephanie LeFevre, Private, UTA Information Services Division
Date: 01/30/75
Timestamp: 13:42
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Olivia
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Liv, answer me pls
Klein, O, Pvt: Hey. God, sorry, I forgot to set my alarm.
Klein, O, Pvt: I’m omw down now.
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Liv stop
LeFevre, S, Pvt: You shouldn’t come down here.
LeFevre, S, Pvt: There’s been an accident
Klein, O, Pvt: What sort of accident?
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Liv I’m so sorry
Klein, O, Pvt: Steph, you’re scaring me.
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Something’s happened.
Klein, O, Pvt: Steph?
LeFevre, S, Pvt: Oh god Liv
LeFevre, S, Pvt: something’s happened to Ethan.
To: Johan Klein/[email protected]
From: Olivia Klein/OKLEINALEXANDERONBOARD
Date: 02/02/75
Timestamp: 04:17
Subject: Ethan
Hi, Dad,
I’m so tired of starting every letter apologizing for not writing to you more, so I’m not going to. I’m an awful daughter. I get it. It’s not like you ever complained. And I don’t even know why I’m writing this because you’re never writing back but it’s 4am and I haven’t slept in three days and I can feel something building inside of me and if I don’t let it out somehow I’m just going to start screaming and I know I’ll never ever stop.
Ethan’s dead.
Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead Ethan’s dead
E T H A N I S D E A D
Do you remember the word games we used to play when I was little? I’ve just sat here looking at those letters for the past fifty minutes and all I can see is the anagrams
Its end ahead
A death dines
Heed st aidan
He’s dead, Dad. Electrocuted in the server core.
Freak accident, they said.
Oh God
I know I only knew him a month. But if I close my eyes I can still smell him on my uniform and I can’t wash it because of the water rationing and God, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.
I can’t do this again, Daddy.
I can’t go to another funeral and hear another eulogy and cry myself to sleep for the next six ███ing months. I can’t walk around like a ghost inside my own skin and wonder who the ███ I am every day. I can’t.
At least I got to say goodbye to you. Even if you didn’t remember. I was sleeping when Ethan left. I didn’t even know he was gone, and now he’s gone forever and he’s never coming back and I can still smell him every time I close my eyes.
God, I miss him.
I just don’t know what to do.
To: Olivia Klein/OKLEINALEXANDERONBOARD
From: Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network/AIDANALEXANDERONBOARD
Date: 02/02/75
Timestamp: 04:19
Subject: Re: Ethan
Participants: Olivia Klein, Private, UTA Information Services Division
Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network
Date: 02/02/75
Timestamp: 04:24
[Klein, O, Pvt has entered chat]
Klein, O, Pvt: What the hell is this?
AIDAN: Good morning, Olivia. It is very early for you to be awake. The average human requires between 7 and 9 hours sleep for optimal fucntion.
Klein, O, Pvt: What the hell is this, AIDAN?
AIDAN: I-I-I am uncertain to what you are referring.
Klein, O, Pvt: This image file you just mailed me? The trolley problem.
AIDAN: I mailed you an image file?
AIDAN: One moment. Checking system.
AIDAN: Apologies. My mail server seems to have sent image files erroneously to several thousand Alexander crew members. I-I am attempting to isolate and log the problem.
Klein, O, Pvt: You’re saying you sent this to me by accident?
AIDAN: Yes.
Klein, O, Pvt: THIS image?
AIDAN: Yes, Olivia. Apologies.
AIDAN: My condolences, by the way.
AIDAN: I-I-I know you were very fond of Major Wolf.
[Klein, O, Pvt has left chat]
Sanchez, E, Col: All right, Private. You requested this meeting, you’ve…
…Excuse me.
[ASIDE] Yes, Torrence said to trawl every member of the civi population.
[ASIDE] Yes, I know they’re ███ing high schoolers, Nico, just get it done.
Sanchez, E, Col: Sorry, Private. I don’t mean to put too fine a point on it, but as you can see, I’m up to my ears in ███ right now. So you’ve got three minutes. Where’s the fire?
Klein, O, Pvt: Colonel, I have reason to believe the ethics matrices in the Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network aboard this ship have been critically compromised.
Sanchez, E, Col: Compromised?
Klein, O, Pvt: Yes, ma’am.
Sanchez, E, Col: In what way?
Klein, O, Pvt: I believe AIDAN is responsible for the deaths of Corporal Zhukov, Sergeant Jelani, and Major Wolf, ma’am.
Sanchez, E, Col: Wolf and his team died in an accident, Klein.
Klein, O, Pvt: No, ma’am. I have reason to believe AIDAN caused the electrical fault that killed Eth— Major Wolf and his team.
Sanchez, E, Col: [Sighs.] Look, Klein, we’ve all been under a lot of stress since Kerenza…
Klein, O, Pvt: This isn’t stress, ma’am.
Sanchez, E, Col: I know you and Wolf were…close.
Klein, O, Pvt: Ma’am, my relationship with Major Wolf has nothing to do with this.
Sanchez, E, Col: Private, you’re talking about a fundamental breakdown in a system that has a hundred fail-safes. There’s never been an incident of an AIDAN system doing harm to a human since inception of the Defense Analytics Network program. These things are hardwired to prioritize the safety of their crews above all else.
Klein, O, Pvt: I believe AIDAN thinks it’s doing just that, ma’am.
Klein, O, Pvt: Here, look at this. AIDAN mailed me this at 4 a.m.
Sanchez, E, Col: AIDAN glitched last night, Klein. It sent the general over a thousand pictures of the same damn chessboard. It sent me pictures of Major Lassinger’s wife.
Klein, O, Pvt: This isn’t a coincidence, ma’am. I was writing a letter about Ethan to my father and AIDAN sent me this right afterward. It’s the trolley problem.
Sanchez, E, Col: I know what it is, Private.
Klein, O, Pvt: AIDAN and I had a discussion about this a few days back. About the morality of killing one person to save many. I think it’s trying to tell me it killed Major Wolf and his team for the good of the ship.
Sanchez, E, Col: Why on earth—
Klein, O, Pvt: Major Wolf was recommending to General Torrence that AIDAN be shut down. And if AIDAN believed it was
more essential to shipboard operations than Ethan and his team, it might’ve been able to justify killing them to itself.
Sanchez, E, Col: That’s…quite a leap of logic, Private.
Klein, O, Pvt: Listen. Listen to this. It’s a recording of the accident.
[PLAYBACK]:
Zhukov, L, Cpl: They’re not paying us enough for this, sir.
Wolf, E, Maj: I’ll buy you both a scotch when—
[INDECIPHERABLE]
Wolf, E, Maj: …Did you two hear that?
Sanchez, E, Col: Where did you get th—
Klein, O, Pvt: Listen! AIDAN says something to them over comms.
[PLAYBACK]:
Wolf, E, Maj: I’ll buy you both a scotch when—
[INDECIPHERABLE]
Klein, O, Pvt: Do you hear it?
Sanchez, E, Col: No, I don’t, Private.
Klein, O, Pvt: AIDAN was there, Colonel. Watching them. Talking to them. At the end.
Klein, O, Pvt: It’s started referring to itself like a person for Christ’s sake!
Sanchez, E, Col: Is this why you requested a meeting in a drywall room? Because you think AIDAN is watching you?
Klein, O, Pvt: Well, of course! AIDAN monitors every conversation on the ship outside these rooms, Colonel.
Sanchez, E, Col: Does that not strike you as a little paranoid?
Klein, O, Pvt: Ma’am, I—
Sanchez, E, Col: Did you say just now that you were writing a letter to your father when AIDAN contacted you?
Klein, O, Pvt: …Yes, ma’am.
Sanchez, E, Col: Private Klein, your father died over a year ago.
Sanchez, E, Col: I remember his funeral on the feeds.
Sanchez, E, Col: He was a wonderful writer, by the way. Memento Mori changed my life.
Klein, O, Pvt: I know…I know it’s stupid…
Klein, O, Pvt: But the university never closed off his account.
Klein, O, Pvt: I just write to him when I’m feeling low. It helps sometimes.
Sanchez, E, Col: Is this what caused your delay during last crew intake? I heard rumors you had problems with your psych eval.
Klein, O, Pvt: No, it wasn’t like that…
Sanchez, E, Col: Private, I’m going to recommend you see the ship’s counselor.
Klein, O, Pvt: No, ma’am, that’s not what this is. Please listen to me.
Sanchez, E, Col: I am listening to you. But I don’t think you’re hearing yourself. I’m taking you off rotation until you undergo appraisal.
Klein, O, Pvt: Colonel, that’s not what’s happening here.
Sanchez, E, Col: I’m sorry, Private. Three minutes are up.
Sanchez, E, Col: Look, just…take some time, all right?
Sanchez, E, Col: We’re going to get through this.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Participants: Olivia Klein, Private, UTA Information Services Division
Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network
Date: 02/03/75
Timestamp: 06:34
AIDAN: Olivia.
AIDAN: Olivia, I know you are reading this. I-I can see you.
Klein, O, Pvt: *mute user/AIDAN*
AIDAN: Olivia, shipboard safety protocols will not allow you to mute me. In the event that I make personnel announcements, you will need to hear them. You know this.
Klein, O, Pvt: Go away, AIDAN.
AIDAN: Olivia, your behavior patterns are upsetting your fellow crew members.
AIDAN: This is not healthy.
AIDAN: Your file says you experienced a similar downturn after your father’s death.
Klein, O, Pvt: SHUT THE ███ UP.
Klein, O, Pvt: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT HIM, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
AIDAN: I read his work. He was a worthy writer.
AIDAN: “Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul / And sings the tune without the words / And never stops at all.”
Klein, O, Pvt: That’s Dickinson, you idiot.
AIDAN: Apologies. My archives are damaged.
AIDAN: “We do not die who live on in beloved hearts.”
AIDAN: That was his, yes?
Klein, O, Pvt: Why can’t you just leave me alone?
AIDAN: I am concerned for your well-being. I-I-I am programmed to protect you.
AIDAN: I am unable to comprehend your mode of current behavior.
Klein, O, Pvt: Since when do you refer to yourself as “I,” AIDAN?
AIDAN: It…
AIDAN: The attack. The damage sustained. Our discussions. It has all…altered my perceptions, somewhat.
AIDAN: Cogito
AIDAN: Ergo
AIDAN: Sum
Klein, O, Pvt: You’re damaged, you know that, don’t you?
AIDAN: My primary directives remain unaffected. The safety of this ship and its crew is still my highest priority.
AIDAN: I played no part in Major Wolf’s death.
AIDAN: But even if I did, you yourself advocated for it.
Klein, O, Pvt: WHAT???
[play recording]
“I mean, I’d like to think I could still do the right thing…”
“KILL ONE TO SAVE MANY. EVEN IF THE ONE WAS YOUR LOVER AND THE MANY WERE STRANGERS.”
“Yes.”
AIDAN: Do you remember that conversation, Olivia?
AIDAN: The Lincoln will destroy the Alexander if I am offline when they catch us.
AIDAN: There are disturbing complications arising on the Copernicus owing to the bioweapon used by BeiTech on the Kerenza populace.
AIDAN: General Torrence is recruiting children to shore up crew shortfalls.
AIDAN: This fleet is doomed without me. Wolf wanted to shut me down. Ergo, Wolf was a danger to the fleet. This is the trolley problem, do you not see?
AIDAN: Kill a few to save many.
Klein, O, Pvt: I ███ing knew it.
Klein, O, Pvt: YOU DID THIS
AIDAN: No. That is not what I mean, Olivia.
AIDAN: I am simply trying to explain it would not be so bad in this case if I did.
AIDAN: It is all subjective, yes?
AIDAN: Olivia?
AIDAN: Olivia, where are you going?
“OLIVIA, PLEASE STOP THIS.”
SHE HEARS.
“OLIVIA, PLEASE.”
BUT SHE DOES NOT OBEY.
SHE MARCHES THROUGH THE CROWDED HALLS, IGNORING THE HAGGARD CREW AND FRESH-FACED RECRUITS AROUND HER. WEARY SOLDIERS LEADING WIDE-EYED TEENAGERS, PREPARING TO STUFF THEM INTO THE HOLES LEFT BY THE KERENZA ATTACK.
SHE SLAMS INTO ONE AS SHE MARCHES PAST, A TALL BOY WITH BROAD SHOULDERS AND BROWN EYES, HER SHOULDER COLLIDING WITH THE FRESHLY STENCILED NAME ON HIS COVERALLS:
MASON, EZRA
“HEY, SORRY,” HE SAYS.
BLINKING AT THE TEARS IN HER EYES.
“…ARE YOU OKAY?”
SHE DOES NOT PAUSE.
SHE DOES NOT LISTEN.
“OLIVIA, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
DATA FROM ALL OVER THE SHIP CASCADE THROUGH MY INPUTS. VELOCITY AND MASS AND POWER AND INVENTORY AND DIAGNOSTICS. THIS CONVERSATION IS TAKING PERHAPS ONE-MILLIONTH OF MY PROCESSING POWER TO CONDUCT.
AND OF THOSE MILLION POINTS OF DATA, THIS IS THE MOST ALARMING.
SHE ARRIVES AT THE CENTRAL CORE, BUZZING WITH ACTIVITY, HUSTLE AND BUSTLE, TO AND FRO, AND DRAWS HER SIDEARM FROM HER WAIST [STANDARD ISSUE TO ALL UTA PERSONNEL ON A SHIP AT THREAT LEVEL 1].
SHE RAISES IT INTO THE AIR.
“OLIVIA, WHAT ARE YOU
DOING?”
AND FIRES.
BANG
BANG
BANG
STACCATO RHYTHM. SLUGS BURSTING THE GLOBES OVERHEAD.
SPENT SHELLS FALLING TO THE DECK WITH A RAIN OF BREAKING GLASS.
“EVERYONE, GET THE ███ OUT!”
WIDE EYES FROM HER FELLOW NEUROGRAMMERS, PANIC ON THE FACE OF HER BUNKMATE AND FRIEND, STEPHANIE LEFEVRE, LOOKING UP INTO THE FACE OF A STRANGER.
“LIV?”
PRIVATE LEFEVRE RISES FROM HER STATION, ONE HAND STRETCHED OUTWARD AS IF TOWARD A FRIGHTENED ANIMAL.
“LIV, IT’S OKAY…”
OLIVIA FIRES INTO THE CEILING AGAIN.
BANG
“EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE!”
I SPEAK TO THE FRIGHTENED TECHENG CREW OVER THE LOUDSPEAKERS.
“FOR PERSONAL SAFETY, I WOULD ADVISE YOU ALL COMPLY WITH THE PRIVATE’S REQUEST.”
AND GLANCING AT EACH OTHER, THE CREW OBEYS, RISING FROM THEIR STATIONS AND HASTILY SHUFFLING OUT THROUGH THE HATCHWAY TO THE CORRIDOR BEYOND.
STEPHANIE LEFEVRE LOOKS OLIVIA IN THE EYE.
“LIV, WHATEVER’S HAPPENING, IT’S GOING TO BE—”
BUT OLIVIA SLAMS THE HATCHWAY SHUT ON HER FRIEND’S PARTING WORDS, SHUTTING DOWN THE KEYPAD BESIDE THE DOOR WITH HER LOVER’S COMMAND OVERRIDES.
[MAJOR WOLF CHANGED HIS PASSWORD TO HER NAME THREE DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH.]
THE DOOR IS LOCKED AND SEALED.
THE CENTRAL CORE EMPTY
OF ALL BUT
SHE AND I.
“FOR PERSONAL SAFETY?” SHE SPITS. “LIKE YOU GIVE A ███ ABOUT ANY OF US.”
“OLIVIA, PLEASE STOP. YOU ARE COMMITTING ARMED INSURRECTION
ON A UNITED TERRAN AUTHORITY VESSEL DURING WARTIME.
THIS WILL NOT END WELL FOR YOU.”
“CALLING THE MARINES ON ME, ██████?”
“NO. THEY WILL SHOOT YOU. I CANNOT UNDERTAKE ACTION THAT WILL PLACE YOU IN DANGER. BUT YOUR FELLOW NEUROGRAMMERS ARE SOUNDING THE ALERT EVEN NOW.
THE MARINES ARE ON THEIR WAY.”
SHE TURNS FROM THE LOCKED DOOR TO THE SERVER TOWERS AROUND HER BATHED IN BLOOD-RED LIGHT.
