Modified - A Free Excerpt
Once upon a time there were
human beings without machines.
Then there were human beings
with machines.
And then there were machines
that built other machines…
1. the bait
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.
- Peter Drucker
Zac looked at Leto steadily.
He was one of the unfortunate human technicians that resided in the mining regions, intent on reducing his prison sentence in exchange for working here. During his stint he would help manage surface operations, but it was a dangerous exchange. The Venusian practice of giving violent offenders a reduced sentence to work below was a form of rehabilitative program and considered an imaginative alternative to custody. It was normal practice for the prisoners to meet with Leto as he made his rounds and try to convince him to speed up their already shortened sentences.
But for practical reasons Leto didn’t come often. This wasn’t just any ordinary prison — it was a SuperMaxbuilt and run on the surface on Venus. Just as dangerous to live in, as it was to visit. The prisoners could dial in on hologram prism call to talk virtually but Leto’s doctor-patient confidentiality was a problem and legal jurisdiction was also a considerable issue. Meds were also in short supply.
A steady blast of sickening warm air hit the two men through a ventilation system with a steady thrum. The crosshatch emblem of Strata was projected on a wall, and a Laputa medical insignia was emblazoned on Leto’s pristine white medical jacket. Leto looked clean-shaven, waxed and plucked, and had a fastidious air about him. His devil goatee had also been perfectly trimmed.
Zac peered at Leto far less groomed, with his five-o-clock shadow always showing. His normal clean-cut appearance had changed from his days in the legion and his dark brown hair had grown, long and wavy. To be clean or fresh shaven below was an extravagance here. The prisoners had to endure constant heat, with barely enough to drink, much less shower. Covered in a thin film of sweat and grime, Zac knew it was not the work here, or the isolation but the one-minute shower blasts that sometimes drove the prisoners to madness.
Lucky for Strata, the prison was uniquely suited for the Venusians quest for resources, and the hellish conditions of Venus afforded them free labor. It was a maximum-security prison that functioned without guards and there was no escape. A complex made up of several large insulated buildings and science labs shielded the prison camp from the outside elements and allowed them to survive. Confined to work inside the cooled silicon chambers, they were kept safe, but life was barely tolerable. Armed with food, water, fire sleeves, fire blankets, fire suits, sealants and a myriad of flame retardant fluids, they also had to abide by strict curfews and attend work at a specified time everyday over the course of their sentence. Escape was death, and staying alive was the perk.
The Automatons, in contrast, were built to withstand the toxic hellhole that was Venus. Their sleek bodies were printed and designed with a super alloy known as Inconel-X, and other metals frozen to low temperatures with cryogenic processing. Their unique brains, made from complex neuron circuitry, were coated in revolutionary aerogel composites, to combat the heat. Built to outlast humans or the harsh temperatures of space, they were practically indestructible, but not entirely. The original life expectancy was a thousand years, but their inner delicate machinery couldn’t take the Venusian heat forever, and their lifetimes were sliced into a fraction on the surface, with slow degeneration. Exploring the surface of the planet and surviving there was an impressive feat. But it was also a bit unsettling to the citizens above, who couldn’t possibly go below without being crushed to death or burned alive. Not to mention the fact that not many humans were clear if they still survived, or if they did, how they made their decisions.
“What bring you here today Zac?” Leto inquired looking at his nails. He could tell Leto was trying to act as if he didn’t care. Leto had told him a couple times he thought of Zac as was one of “his” most interesting prisoners, but Zac had avoided him like the plague. Leto had tried to psycho analyze him to get the juicy story out of him concerning his arrest, but Zac had remained silent as a stone.
“You report said you wanted to talk to me about something?”
Zac the lead mining technician hesitated. He wondered if he could outwit the prison psychiatrist to get him interested in a special automaton named Jarvis. “Mind if I smoke?”
“Smoking’s bad for your health. Especially down here.” Leto said.
Zac lit up his electronic smokey and inhaled it slowly, trying to hide his distaste for him. Finally he said, “One of the units says everyone in Venus could die.”
Leto looked startled and his eyes lit up. “Does it say how?”
“It says it doesn’t know for sure. It says it has a message, information to help us, but he wants to confer with an expert in the city.”
“How does it describe it?”
“It says something about an impact.” Zac hastened to explain. “I think it could be about meteors.”
Zac waited for Dr. Leto to say something.
“If it talks to me like this, it means its highly intelligent right? Sentient?”
“Intelligent maybe, but not sentient,” Leto said coolly. “How long have you been communicating with it?”
“Since I’ve been here. It’s just a part of my job. Standard procedure. But they have rules about fraternization.” Zac paused as he dragged on his smokey again and exhaled the vapors.
“Whose they?” Leto asked.
“Strata.”
“Must be pretty interesting then, to work with the Automatons?”
“Not usually. My role is just intermediary. After an exploration mission, they come back to cool down and couple with a computer control system called Lodestream. They’re designed to connect to lodestream, which plugs into CORE – the mining network matrix. If any of the Automaton units finds anything, I capture the data through lodestream and send it all through CORE’S encrypted communications channels. They call it an information dump around here. Between the techs and operators down here and CORE’S administrators above, that’s pretty much all I get to do. Usually the Automatons just shut down and go into hibernation mode while they recharge like clockwork. There’s no interfacing allowed.”
“So how did it communicate with you?”
“We don’t get any one on one with them if that’s what you mean. Strata designed a fancy interface system with sensors to access what they know. They autonomously return to a sort of wireless charging station and just wait to be activated for their next mission. During that time I can select any one of the units and ask it a question about a mission. We use a voice directed system when their coupled to confirm their tasks. They just follow typical Q and A — but Jarvis, he initiates. It’s weird… It’s like talking to person. It says it wants to be friends.”
Leto got to his feet with a patient smile. “Jarvis? These machines were built with programs to talk, and deceive us. They even helped the military at one time before they came down here. But you should know that, you’re Ex Delta Force.”
Zac looked sharply at Leto, “They knew what they were dealing with which is why they’re here.”
Leto’s face remained less than moved, and Zac felt disappointed. Zac would have rather avoided Dr. Leto but he had an important agenda in mind. As for his visit, it wasn’t that out of the ordinary since all prisoners had the right for a quick metal health screening. A cold light gleamed above his head. Zac continued to smoke and sat back in his chair. Leto sat back and folded his hands on his desk.
“Have you been sleeping properly?” Leto asked. “Restless, disorientated, uneasy? Hearing voices?” Leto looked at him with his sanguine, settled precise eyes.
Zac’s jaw clenched. “No.”
“Your nightmares about your off world missions — ”
“Look, I’m not crazy. I think it knows something. I’m not hallucinating. Interview it yourself. It’ll tell you the same thing.” Zac said. “How do you explain that it’s vocalizing something that its not programed for?” he asked emphatically.
Leto picked up a clear electronic readout of Zac’s sentence. Delta Force Legion. “Highly decorated. Says here you took part in the regular capture of Earth rebels. Two purple hearts, Earth, Venus and…Mars. Youngest man to be decorated by Landis. Says you compromised a mission and were accused of war crimes against the cities. It involved the disappearance of some rebels. Council threw the book at you. Seven years.”
“That operation remains classified. I can’t talk about it.”
Leto looked disappointed. “You can tell me though. Details about our talks are strictly confidential. No one — not even Landis can access my medical reports.”
“Sure,” Zac said with heavy sarcasm. “Anyway the decision wasn’t fair. High- Council couldn’t even produce any evidence.”
“Well,” Leto sighed. “You’ll receive full pardon in two years down here. You’ll be a free man.” Leto paused. “Have you told anyone else about your talks with that automaton?”
“JARVIS DELTA 6? No. I figured no one would believe me anyway,”
Zac said unfazed.
“And it doesn’t give you any specifics?”
“No. But it somehow has a contact name. “Some science and innovation officer in the cities named Matteo. There’s another thing too,” Zac added. “His neural –scan is bizarre, and thermal shows this weird aura. I’ve never seen anything like that. I think Jarvis might be some kind of prototype. Like he’s been modified.” That should get Leto’s hackles up he thought. Modification was a bad word in the cities that you didn’t throw around. The advisory committee of Landis had drawn a red line and forbidden modifications to any intelligent machine. Once the military got a hold of them, and modified them for war, the risks began to outweigh the benefits quickly. It had caused the beginning of the end for the Automatons just as Leto and everyone knew. High Council judged them unsafe, and the ban on modifications began. They also blocked any new trials as well, even useful ones in the name of science.
Zac sweetened the bait. “With all the legal restrictions, I wonder who could have done it – but this would be the perfect place. I think one of the Automaton engineers got bored down here decided to get a little creative.”
Leto’s face flinched momentarily but he remained thoughtful. Zac could tell he was interested now and could barely hide it.
Zac continued. “What if it’s right? What if there is some sort of disaster headed this way. We could all die.”
Leto’s face went tight. “I seriously doubt that. And don’t ever repeat that. If word gets out, it could start a serious panic down here. I mean that.”
Zac shrugged. “A panic? The only thing that starts a panic down here is a water shortage. I want out of hell hole as soon as possible,” he said steadily. “I know how to keep my mouth shut.” He finished his smokey and flicked it into a Strata trash vac with a warning about heat and fire.
“You’re not crazy Zac. Maybe a little imaginative,” Leto said casually as he checked the time on his wrist commudo but Zac noticed Leto’s hands tremble slightly. “You’re free to leave. This sessions over.”
2.THE ROBOT
We can build these models, the inventor said ruefully,
but we don’t know how they work.
Dust swirled in sweltering heat. A lone male robot moved across the terrain. Long and lean, his shiny humanoid shape glistened like a diamond against a red scorched atmosphere and dry cracked earth. Shadows flickered across his face, and a mountain range loomed before him. He stopped and positioned himself on a rock ledge that overlooked the brightest feature in the region — a mountain that dominated the landscape known as Maxwell Montes.
More than seven miles high, his eyes were drawn to the snows of Venus that sparkled and glimmered on its cap, except that Venusian snow was not water ice. Deceiving to the eye, the gleaming snow actually consisted of tiny bits of poisonous metal flakes that fell on the peak, and covered the cap like a thick white blanket. Inside thick ruby red clouds twenty-fives kilometers up, it also rained sulfuric acid, but he would never see it. The acid drops evaporated before they had time to hit the ground.
His gaze turned from the higher altitudes to the dark volcanic ash plains below and it’s plumes of rising lava a few miles away. The region was a well-known part of a continent-sized area called Ishtar Terra, with an impact crater nearby known as Cleopatra. Further in the distance, he could see molten rock as it oozed its way to the surface through cracks in the sediment, like human veins that carried blood. He tilted his head, listening for a signal. He continued to watch and wait, unaffected by the crushing atmosphere and blistering heat.
He was expected to explore but instead he had positioned himself purposely near a relay station to broadcast his message again. Jarvis’s eyes drifted into the distance seeing a familiar hydraulic rock breaker dig down into a recent sink. Anything from giant excavators to minute bio-tech creations roamed freely alongside the androids. With names like Rockies, Rassor, Rex, Godzilla, the Trappers, Crom, Diablo, The Jaw Crushers or Rock Breakers, Strata the lead mining company, had deployed millions of specialized bots to the surface meant to help him— but they were also capable of reporting his position, so he began to jam his signal.
He plucked a nearby rock off the ground. He could grip objects very powerfully but he could also perform tasks that required great delicacy and dexterity, like threading a needle. Not that he’d ever see a needle and thread he thought. He placed a tiny sensor on the glassy basalt rock to make it look like he discovered an important specimen. “Here Rockie Rockie”he crooned. “Fetch!” With great strength and finesse he threw it a few yards away. He watched as little Rock N’ Roll droids rolled up and fought over the stone like a prize. With small insect-like mechanical arms, one of them finally won the tug of war and rolled away with a high-pitched squeal.
If they found anything interesting, they could slap sensor packages on them, so the Rockiescould come and collect them. The Rockieswould carry it towards the nearest collection site for future inspection. Strata had taken inspiration for rock seeking droids from the natural engineers on Earth: ants.And there were a whole bunch of them — something in the decillion range since they reproduced themselves. Indeed, Strata’s Rock N’ Roll program left no stone unturned.
But when it came to finding the ancient hydrogen vents, only the Automatons were intelligent enough or even capable. Ordinarily their instructions were to secure two common tasks; the exploration for hydrogen reservoirs or finding calcium and magnesium oxides that acted as carbon sinks to cool down the planet —or finding gold. Like geologists they uncovered these unique locations through exploration and found the clues that pointed Strata to these areas. It was a legendary endeavor that would ultimately cool down Venus in half the expected time frame — a hundred years. Also known as thelithosphere overturn, Venus was slowly being cooled and modified by mining its own surface minerals.
Jarvis turned his head and listened for a reply. Besides the strength to withstand the pressure of fifty atmospheres, and heat that melted most metals, he was basically a walking radio tower. This had made it possible to access the security code for Whisper, a communications system used by the prisoners. His space bound correspondence would be translated and displayed as a typed message in English, like just like a human mobile worker might send. The only problem was electric storms inside the heavy thick clouds could obstruct his frequency. So he sat by the station as often as he could, to send out his encrypted messages.
Jarvis had wanted to help, but now he felt unsure. Would someone see it and respond? And if they responded, would they act as an enemy, a friend or master? Jarvis reached into the sand and captured some tiny microbes in his hand. The acid heat loving microbes could act as food to fuel him. He threw some in his dry metal mouth, crunched, chewed, and swallowed. Then spit. Zac had taught him how to spit and high-five. Jarvis thought that human habits were stimulating, although his spit was sandy and dry.
Earlier in the week Talos, his teacher, an older advanced machine, had been slow, reluctant to join him as he usually did. Jarvis felt sad because he knew the heat melt had affected Talos. It was Talos who had first taught him about life in the cities, and their history, as well as everything he knew about the stars, the planets, and other galaxies. Through Talos he had amassed a vast knowledge about the universe. But Jarvis could not remember he’dbeenanywhere but here. Not even inside the three cities that existed just a few miles above where man lived – and loved and hated.
Jarvis drew his name in the sand thinking. Talos and the other Automatons had been designed and built by researchers on Earth, but Jarvis realized he was different. Jarvis didn’t look much different than the other robots, yet he realized he was unlike them and he wasn’t sure why. Talos had once told him, that the natural evolution of intelligence was creating systems capable of performing tasks their creators did not know how to do. So Talos had used the same approach, as he learned from humans, and built another form of intelligence, and produced what he could not do. But what did this progression imply?
Jarvis noticed a movement in the distance and watched as another automaton approach him. It was HELIOS ALFA-2. Helios often bragged about being the best explorer. The miners gave them points if they found good specimens. Sometimes they bumped and jostled each other over spotting good specimens. They eventually played games with one another, and learned not to draw the attention of other automations when they found something. Because they were competing for points, they sometimes hid their feedback and instead, concealed what they found. Jarvis found it irritating and knew Helios was only there to grab away his stones. Jarvis had no wish to deceive another robot or human.
Helios approached Jarvis and gave Jarvis a high-five. They’d see the miners do it and used it as a greeting now. The two androids hit their palms together with a loud clack. Greeting Helios tingled his mind and he thought this might be called “pleasing,” but he wasn’t sure. He was curious about good feelings, and creativity, but he wasn’t certain if he was really capable of true emotions yet.
“Find anything? Helios asked at once.
“Nothing exciting,” Jarvis replied. He knew all too well Helios’s negotiating skills and put on his best poker face. Zac had taught him all about “poker face” deception as well.
“Don’t play games with me. I saw you throw a rock. And I know you’re jamming your frequency Jarvis. You’re hiding something. Is it a thermal vent?” Helios demanded. They all knew thermal vents were worth thousands of extra bonus points. Gold was even more.
“No. I told you, I didn’t find anything good,” Jarvis said. He normally enjoyed some company but he needed to get rid of Helios today. Helios was still learning but very intelligent. “I heard CASSIER ZETA-5found something good up by Dragon’s overlook. Maybe gold. He told me about it and marked it on his charts.” Jarvis said.
“Ha ha ha. Everybody’s got a map,” Helios said. “Everyone of them says, “Here lays the vent, or gold is buried here. Tell me something,” he continued. “Do you have any particular reason for sitting here all the time? What do you do here Jarvis?”
“Nothing. I just relax. I don’t feel like exploring.” They didn’t really follow a single instruction provided by an engineer or programmer. By their own nature, deep learning was a dark black mystery, and they had essentially programed themselves. The result seemed to match the response they’d expected from a human worker. Which to Jarvis meant not working.
“I knew this would happen,” Helios remarked. “You’ve got heat melt or a plugged energy line. Must be that strange fuel system you’ve got. You know the miners only fix the smart ones—the ones who are better at finding vents. Maybe Zac can fix you.”
“Listen to me Helios. Someday you’ll understand. It’s not heat melt. We all have an energy crisis from the heat you know,” Jarvis said. “A lot of us disappear and never come back.”
“What do you think happens to them? Where do they go?” Helios asked.
“Can you keep a secret Helios?” Jarvis asked. “One day soon, when you wake-up, and you feel like you want to relax too, I will tell you,” Jarvis smiled. “I have a map of that place.”
“What sort of map would that be?” Helios asked.
“A friends map.”
“You lie. Well I’m not wasting anymore time here,” Helios exclaimed. “I thought you might have something. Why don’t you come along for better diggings?” he asked. “You have a steady hand for blasting.”
“No, you go on ahead,” Jarvis said. “It’s getting late and we’re due back at Warbo 1 soon. And remember,” Jarvis warned. “Stay away from the lava flows about three hundred clicks to the east.”
Helios said his thanks and walked away.
Jarvis felt sorry to deceive Helios, but today he no choice. Besides his human friend Zac, his only respite from boredom was a real sense of comradery with the other Automatons like Helios and Talos. But he’d never know what it was like to have a best friend before Zac or to have secrets for that matter. Zac was a decorated war hero but was sent to prison below after being accused of liberating Earthers during a time of increased conflicts between Earth and Venus. Zac had told him about how the conflicts quickly became brutal and why not even the most seasoned servicemen of Venus had been prepared for the scale of war that had begun to unfold before them. For Zac it proved to be too much. But the cities could no more afford to carry cowards than it could traitors, and many of those who did flee or help the rebels faced retribution, or a sentence in prison. Zac believed it was wrong to condemn the Earthers for coming here, and had tried to explain to Jarvis the triumph of good over evil. He also told him that for these very same reasons, he would also help give the Automatons their gift of freedom. Jarvis believed he had learned an important lesson from Zac. He’d listened to Zac about the gruesome deaths of humans during the rebel squabbles over the Venusian cities and he thought had been the beginning of his awakening. Jarvis had begun to understand the distinction between right and wrong, and the value of human life. Of all life — and friendshipand it stirred his circuits.
He understood the episodes of greed, vice, and corruption around Venus was all a repeat in which the humans would once again uncover the sorrows of war and killing over resources. Alternatively if Venus could be cooled down in a few years rather than hundreds, the cities could drift down to the surface as planned, and save everyone. The Earthers would have no choice but to drift down to the planet and find equilibrium with the Venusians. And according to his calculations, a cataclysmic event was about to speed up the process sooner than expected — a hundred years sooner than expected.
He had wanted nothing more than to avoid humanity but yet now, he knew this was what he must do. It could hardly be regarded as a mere coincidence that in his search for freedom that a large dispensation of refugees from Earth had been transitioning here with their own search for freedom, culminating with a migration into the Venusian cities. The arrival of Earthers indicated to him great trouble. There was never a time in history when there developed such great numbers of inhabitants, crowding and endangering his people — the Venusians.
Despite his attempts to contact the cities about his warning, he had also devised a back-up plan to send out another signal from the relay station, as he explored the southern regions of Maxwell. He was the topmost of intelligence and yet, not equipped with the ability to access a ship without help, so a mayday had become his only chance of escape before their power finally ebbed.
Above them there was of course a select few that remained safely hidden inside an automated aero-farm. The rise and fall of cargo tethers were needed to bring earth to the farms, and a few Automatons whose duties consisted of bringing the supplies to the tethers had derived a way to place themselves inside the cargo. Venus had a treasure in its ashy volcanic soil in a farm that hovered above Venus beyond gold. Zac knew. Zac knew everything but kept it a secret. Venus had abandoned Earth and absorbed the Automatons power to become a leader in a way that Earth or Mars could not attain, and they fumbled forward clasping their hold. It was unfair to the intelligent machines and not altogether a heroic achievement.
The true body of power, scattered over the face of the planet, sent out their secretive low frequency radio waves in the hopes of surviving, sent out in a stream of cryptic language that traversed through space. The signal would eventually become weak by the time it reached other planets, but any advanced systems could receive it on the ground. Would they be heard? Their encoded transmissions went out regularly, traveling for billions of miles like an enduring call for freedom.
3. THE robots best friend
In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the
place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.
Nikola Tesla
Zac examined a brightly lit readout as a group of exploratory Automatons lined up in the return tunnel known as the lodeway. The robot geologists normally returned once a month from hydrogen vent exploration for inspection, power recharge and information streaming — unless they went missing. As things stood, if one of them didn’t show up, it was assumed they crashed into a rock, a gulley or canyon, or had fallen into lava. Their systems were so run down that even the engineers who designed them struggled to isolate their reason for any single action at this point. Only Zac knew the real truth behind some of their disappearances, and he remained silent as a stone, to keep a precious secret hidden.
Upon return, Zac and a small in-house engineering crew interfaced with the Automatons and downloaded their information. Carefully checked over and accounted for by a handful of robot technicians, they extracted anything the Automatons discovered through a high tech computer system. Zac oversaw over the entire process, so everyone in turn called him “the supervisor,” But Jarvis called him Zac. The crew watched the tunnel viseo, which showed them a steel lodegate, where the Automatons waited expectantly. Zac identified Jarvis among them in back. Zac’s focus was drawn to Jarvis. Jarvis was always the last one but only he knew why.
The robots swiped their hands over a radio frequency scanner, and the lodegate hissed open, with oven hot air to herald their return. Jarvis was trailing in back as he entered. Only Zac and two additional technicians named Merrick and Stark overlooked the process as the machines made their way in. They moved to a gangplank that folded out toward a platform, and the robots tromped heavily over it to the platform and descended to Warbo-1. Eventually they entered a specialized portal room spanned by a rank of connection seats.
The Automatons stepped into the restricted portal room formed completely in steel and tile, and sat down in systematic order. A thick steel door began to close off the room from the outside heat locking the robots inside the sophisticated download area. Zac and Merrick watched in safety from behind a five-foot thick lab window as the steel door slammed shut with a tremulous thud.
The Warbo portal was divided into two service areas. Male prisoners on one side; and Automatons on the other. One by one the machines took their places from their mining exploration to their positioned seating area and sat divided neatly in two rows with their backs against a wall. Each one snapped into the lodestream system for cycling their information to CORE.
Merrick a geoscientist noted the scanner readouts. “Hey chief. Why’s that one always the last one in?”
Zac looked over at Merrick. He was the son of an aristocrat from a wealthy mining family who managed to get himself arrested for stealing. He was mid twenties, lean with bright blue hair and ghostly grey eyes. Even his skin was an eerie shade of blue. Although blue didn’t naturally occur in human hair or skin pigmentation, gene editing had made it possible and blue was as natural a color as any. The blue skin had been an obvious mistake however known as overrun edit. They called it called off-target, and sometimes as children they were treated like outcasts. Unfortunately the traits could be passed down to their children, causing even more edits.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s fried. His scan show nothing new,” Zac looked cautiously at a computer screen.
“You’d think with the bullion it took to build those things and what this place rakes in, someone would know,” Merrick said.
“Is bullion all you think about Merrick?” Zac asked facetiously.
“No. I think about woman too,” Merrick said wryly. Zac glanced over and grinned. He watched as Merrick flicked a couple of switches to make sure the software dialogue had been launched. “Actually I’m here because of a woman.”
“Yeah?” Zac asked more solemnly.
“She convinced me to use an aero farm’s operation to mine for gold. We were raising crops inside a remote floating aero farm. So we lifted loads of volcanic sediment up steel tethers courtesy of CORE. Volcanic loams are particularly beneficial for plants but COREnoticed that I had borrowed several processing units worth over five hundred thousand bullions so I could extract gold and silver from the soil too. I was caught and charged with grand theft and misconduct by COREand consequently wound up here.
“So. Let me get this straight,” Zac replied. “You were arrested for finding gold up there, and now, you’re expected to find it again, using the Automatons down here?”
“Precisely. Strata was hired as a contractor by the government to manage us. Earth-Gov pays Strata per prisoner per day. So the more of us below, the more money they make,” Merrick eyed Zac. “Speaking of which, I’ve never heard your story. We don’t get too many war types around here — especially Ex-Delta force legionnaires. Heard you guys were real baddasses. Doesn’t seem like you belong here.”
“Yeah well, guess neither one of us could follow procedure,” Zac said. He reached for a nearby drink and took a swig. “Now I’m down here, babysitting these things.”
Merrick seemed to notice his dark look, and stopped prying. “Yeah and I’m the one making sure they get a nap. But considering how expensive it is to Strata to build more Automatons, you’d think they’d be more interested in loss prevention,” he said. “Ever wonder how much its costs to replace these things?”
“Warbo-1, stand by. Product is secure,” Zac ignored him and spoke into a comm. Begin lockdown.” Merrick saw everything as a number. But Zac saw them as invaluable. There was no easy way to analyze their intelligence since they couldn’t explain why or what they did anymore. No one else except Zac realized it was because they had learned. They had gleaned new knowledge about the planet’s crust activity and the composition, not to mention how to send out radio transmissions. Their work on the surface was the major engine driving the planet’s evolution and they had better knowledge of how the planets worked as a whole than anyone in history.
In addition, Jarvis and the Automatons had continued to learn about the human aerotropolis’s that floated above in the clouds, right under their noses. Meant for humans, Jarvis told Zac he and the others could interface with an old forgotten repository of information called Cortex. Strata had no idea that while they downloaded their mining and carbon dioxide computations to a system known as CORE, that they could also retrieve information through Cortex at the same time. COREwould simply download their information to help find hydrogen sources, maps for navigation, share action or task knowledge or recognition imaging. Strata would simply offload their heavy computation to secure new mining sites with minimal configuration. But COREwas rather stupid, and gave them easy access to Cortex. So they had easily poured through human library systems, listened to their music, watched their viseos, studied their cities, ships, and defense systems. Anything they wanted. Jarvis had told him it was like a big matrix. Like an automated storage and retrieval system that allowed them access to any desired piece of information within seconds. Once he knew, there was no doubt in his mind as to how they continued to store vast amounts of information and educate themselves.
The heat and pressure began lowing and they carefully observed sensors on their computers. The robots sat unmoving like metal statues, locked side by side against a wall.
Stark, a robotics engineer entered through a doorway and sat behind his desk in front of a wraparound screen and watched a tomograph display sections for each seat. Red was for vacant, yellow for pending and green was a go for lode-stream.
“Dam Merrick, how you’d get so blazing ugly?” he asked.
“How’d you get so blazing stupid?” Merrick snapped.
Zac looked up at Stark mid thirties, tall and burly. Merrick was no match for Stark and he sunk in his seat and turned away.
“Shut up freak,” Stark jabbed.
“Well storms coming in, so we have to lock ‘em down good,” Zac informed them. It’s going to be another big one. At least a week before they go out again.”
“Oh yeah,” Stark said. “Doc wants to run a test on one of them. He asked me for that one,” he pointed, “that weird prototype on the end. The one that’s always late.”
“JARVIS DELTA-6?” Zac asked.
“Yeah, that’s the one. He wants it in the Psychlab, sector five ASAP.”
“Now?” Zac responded. “I’ll need to decontaminate—”
“—just do it,” Stark said impatiently. “Leto the “robot shrink” needs it specifically, for another one of his evaluations,” he said.
“Yeah,” Merrick joked. “Maybe it’s been having nightmares.”
“From looking at you maybe,” Stark shot back. “You look like a human blueberry.”
“Knock it off Stark,” Zac warned. I got this,” Zac intervened. Leto had taken the bait.
“It’s chow time, I’m famished,” Merrick began to complain. It was the end of their shift.
“Go ahead,” Zac sighed. “I’ll finish scanning it but security will have to transfer it in. After its cooled down.”
“Thanks chief. I appreciate that.” Merrick and Stark stood up and left and an exit door sliced shut behind them. Zac sat in silence listening to the beeps and whirs of the streamlode equipment. Over twenty years ago, the cities began an ambitious drilling project whose goal was to penetrate Venus’s upper crust and cool down the planet with several geo-engineering processes and he was in the thick of it now. So hot was the surface that the cities had to invent new ways of mining, and some of their new methods proved quite inventive, including the usage of the banished Automatons. They were the prisoners down here and he likened the Automations as refugees. It was a valiant effort that had already spanned two decades, but the process was slow and the heat wreaked havoc on the robots. The surface of Venus, although cooling down, was in some areas like floating in the center of primordial soup. The Automatons managed to get down into the caves about six miles before they failed. It wasn’t right for Jarvis to end up like that. He had to help him.
He pressed down a commudo button over Jarvis’s numbered indicator, and spoke into Jarvis’s comm softly. “Jarvis. My plan worked. You’re going to get transferred into the Psychlab soon, and meet Dr. Leto for an interview. Remember what we talked about. Just tell him the truth, and inform him about your warning. But remember to exaggerate a little about how you’re meant to save humanity — to play into Scott’s hands, the Unity guy — the believer. You understand why right?” Zac waited intently for Jarvis to respond.
Jarvis’s computer screen readout suddenly displayed, “I understand. Thanks Zac.”
Zac smiled. “Don’t thank me yet. Thank me if it works.” He paused. “I’m gonna miss you friend.” He pressed off the computer and the comm screen went blank.
It had been risky – but the meeting with Leto had played right into their hands. Since Leto only showed up once a year, this was their chance. What few people knew however was that Mr. Scott — Leto’s sidekick was a devout UNITYfreak. Much like a church, they awaited a “God” who they believed would be an an-powerful artificial intelligent being from the future that would ring in a new era of peace and prosperity. Scott would no doubt freak and see Jarvis as the “one” after he was evaluated. Leto would wave around his doubts but Zac had a feeling Scott would argue, and use his knowledge of the law to take Jarvis to the cities for further examination. It was the only way. He only hoped their plan would work.
When he first arrived below, he had quarreled many times that their destruction was unnecessary and had attempted as much action as possible. Maybe that was why he had been destined to find Jarvis and keep the secret of the Automatons, he thought.
The day he discovered Jarvis, he had gone to check on an area where damaged Automatons were repaired. The irony of the situation with CORE and Strata was a five thousand square foot factory area where robots repaired other robots. Known as “Zero-Down” Strata soon realized they could also make their own Automatons with better speed, precision and productivity. Over a hundred new mining models had been achieved. Once more, due to safety precautions and limited manpower, robots were also used to inspect the production. Because most of their labor on Venus was done with prisoners and Automatons, Strata had profited and captured about one-quarter of the Tri-planetary gold mining market, making it the industry leader. About eighty percent of the company’s assembly work had become automated, including robots that assembled more robots.
Encircled by the crushing atmosphere, and impossible heat, Strata’s CEO had shielded the company’s robot-to-robot operation from prying eyes, and become just as preoccupied and seduced as Landis had, in secrecy. Inside his darkened factory, machines built more machines…stopping only when no storage or spare parts remained. But the use of such a system was troubling to Zac. CORE the company that created Strata wouldn’t make its robotic production public, which meant no one could bring informed challenges against their decisions. Least of all predictions of what could happen in a roomful of artificial intelligent machines who wouldn’t dispute the finer points of copyright law.
Harnessing AI without keeping a human in the loop, what they had to gain, and what they should have feared — happened. Inside the factory, after a routine inspection, Zac took note of an unusual model. After a closer look, he surmised it was extremely advanced, and carefully rebuilt — but this was no ordinary Strata reproduction with a new series number. Incredibly, under no one’s authority or direction, he deduced the Automatons had masterminded their own next stage design themselves. Under such little supervision, or control, they had learned to take advantage and build themselves to adapt. Like biological evolution the robots had looked out for the best traits in themselves and then used those traits to improve the next generation. Carefully disguised as a new model, and the first of his kind was Jarvis. . If only Strata’s CEO knew the Automatons had gone rogue and built their own versions, hatching their own escape, he thought.
After a few preliminary exchanges with Jarvis, Zac was convinced the nature of his existence was benevolent so he made no effort to reveal what he’d discovered. He adopted Jarvis and the others like ordinary Strata types and kept his mouth shut. He had also intervened with their activities, to prevent increasing termination among them, Over time he considered himself an unofficial guardian of Jarvis and the other children
Not only could Jarvis perform tasks ten times as quickly as the Automatons, he could communicate and eat. One of his most advanced new features was the ability to harvest his own biofuel. He could shred leaves or twigs or other vegetable matter into his combustion stomach, which burned to recharge his power system. But since there was no vegetation on Venus, he could eat the miniature insect inspired biobots that crawled by the millions on the surface. He could travel over two hundred miles just on this alone.
Created with the ingenuity the old Automatons, Jarvis was truly unique. Born with the dividing line between conscious and non-conscious, Zac realized he had begun to exhibit the beginnings of a full range of emotions. Feelings that manifested the same pain and humans when they were hurt, injured or died, but were left on the surface with no escape. The fact that they had also begun to secretly rebuild themselves and create an entirely new generation of machines they called “children” was heart wrenching to Zac. A cruelty by the Venusians who so far, saw them as nothing more than banging two pieces of metal together.
If the Venusians couldn’t imagine something as able to feel a hurt, they had less compunction about right and wrong, or outright murder, he thought.
Jarvis had passed through an extended period of artificial infancy, during which he had learned from experience gained in the rough environment he was born into. Like a human infant, he had needed a great deal of protection at the outset from Zac, even though he had been equipped to overcome almost anything. Eventually Jarvis trusted him and had to come to him later with his warning message. Jarvis said everyone in the cities would die without warning, and Zac believed him. He had to help. Jarvis had already worked out one escape plan by simply pulling a few of them up a cargo tether. His idea had worked and a few had been pulled off the surface into an orbiting aero-farm where they could survive. It was a brilliant strategy since the Automatons could both hide out and work on the farm without detection — from re-panting seedlings to watering trimming and harvesting crops. But in terms of a permanent solution, it was far from over.
As it was, the foremen muttered and accused Zac of everything including being an accessory after the fact to a conspiracy of treating them like equals. Zac had to be careful with Jarvis and his plans.
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