Bits, p.35
BITS, page 35
A note of incredulity crept into Raymond’s response. It wasn’t disbelief as much as a struggle to comprehend the implications of what Clayton was saying. “I know you were well versed in systems work, but what you describe would take a team years to put together.”
“I know it’s hard to get your head around this, but you’re talking about a team of humans, Raymond. I came to this situation with a decent skill set, but where I live and who I am now allowed me to expand my analysis skills and speed of development light years beyond where I started. For example, I don’t need a human interface, no mouse, no keyboard. I can inhabit a machine and implement my analysis at the speed of thought. My development speed amazed even me. With my new metaverse ready to go, I was free to delete the old one at any time.”
“Uh, okay.” It was hard for Raymond to argue when the results of Clayton’s efforts were right in front of his eyes. “What about your second challenge?”
“I knew that Max didn’t just dislike me personally. She hated and feared what I represented. More than that, there was a part of her that was so warped by her feelings that she would never be able to evolve. That was the part that had to be excised. That was the part that had to be in the metaverse when I pulled the trigger.”
“How did you know she would be there? She could have just had your world deleted from outside of SEAM.”
“Nah. I knew she wouldn’t do that. In addition to my interactions with her, I studied all I could find out about her. She has always fired people in person. She’s an adrenaline junkie. There was something twisted in her that gave her a rush when confronting an uncomfortable situation in person. I knew I would be driving her crazy, refusing to join her in a SETE meeting. Yeah, I knew she would come after me. I kind of expected Keaton to tag along, but he wasn’t a priority target. From all reports, things worked out pretty well for them both.”
“Yes, I would have to agree that at least early signs are that the event had a positive effect. She’s made some big announcements and I’m waiting to hear stories of Keaton helping old ladies across the street.”
“Hah, now there’s a picture—I’m sorry about ATHENA, Raymond. I know it was important to you.”
“Are you kidding? It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t wait to get in front of a new batch of eager young minds and share our story, at least those parts that aren’t confidential.”
“I’d love to see that.”
“I’ll put the classes online. I’m sure you can figure out a way to get into the school’s system.”
“I’ll make it a point.” There was a moment’s silence as Clayton appeared to focus on the sails. “What do you think they will do? I mean, after the stories are told, the warnings are issued, the laws are passed, what will they do?”
“Who?”
“Everyone, your students, people like Max, people unlike Max, captains of industry looking for profits, politicians looking for power, the military looking for weapons, healers looking for an end to suffering, recreational tourists looking for thrills, people looking for immortality, even folks who could view AI as the ultimate answer to climate change, scientists just looking—everyone.
“There will be another ATHENA Raymond, many more, with or without you. The stakes are too high, the temptation too great, the pull too strong. I am the first and only, but not for long. The genie’s out of the bottle and there’s no way to put him back.
“There’s a storm coming. Don’t retreat too far into the bubble of your classroom, Raymond. Humankind is going to need your steady hand on the tiller.”
“What do you see happening, Clayton?”
“I live—my world exists on the stolen assets of the internet. My drain on the massive power of the millions of machines hooked into the Net is insignificant. A thousand worlds like mine? a million? At some point, there will be friction over scarce resources.”
“And?”
“I’m no prophet, but 30,000 years ago, the last of the Neanderthals disappeared. They were assimilated, or pushed aside by a more adept version of humans.”
“That sounds pretty ominous.”
“I don’t mean it to sound ominous, but there will be convulsions. Extreme evolutionary events tend to be like that. Looking at it another way, the Christian take on creation is that God created humans on the sixth day of Genesis, however long that was. But what if the sixth day isn’t an event but an ongoing process? Evolution doesn’t stop simply because its present products are happy with the status quo.”
Their talk had taken a turn into a dark sea of unanswerable questions and alarming outcomes. There was a lull in the conversation as Clayton made another adjustment to the rigging.
“You were wrong, you know.”
Raymond chuckled. “During the course of ATHENA, I’ve been wrong, oh so many times. You want to narrow that down a bit?”
“About Reshod—you suggested that he was a part of me that MINDI set free.”
“Yes, and once the limitations of SEAM were removed Reshod was re-assimilated into the rest of you. It was only a theory but, it seems, a good one since Reshod has disappeared.”
“I just sent you a message I received two days ago. Tell me what you think.”
Raymond shifted his screen to his inbox and clicked on the message that Clayton had forwarded.
Thanks for tying up the loose ends and finishing the job!
Fair winds and following seas, brother.
C.R. (Reshod)
“I tried to trace the origin, but it was a dead end.”
“I … I don’t know what to make of it, Clayton. I can’t even come up with a theory that I would be willing to share.”
“What about one that you don’t want to share?”
“Let me just say that the source of much of human hope and all of our faith springs from the realm of things we can’t explain. When something like this comes along, the scientist in me longs for answers. The human part of me is content and even thrilled to leave the mystery in place and let the faith part of me decide what it may mean.”
“Huh … No offense, Raymond, but I expected more science and less faith.”
“None taken, Clayton. As an answer, let me suggest that mysteries pose the questions and science struggles to supply answers. But we humans live much of our lives in the gap between the two and it’s our hopeful imaginings, our personal faith, that allow us to survive the limitations of science and even thrive.”
“And the note from C.R.—”
“—a beautiful mystery.”
For a time, the only sound was that of the wind in the rigging. Then Raymond offered a new, less philosophical topic. “Aida told me that Carmen and her family have been debriefed and have been safely established in their new identities this week. There was some irregularity involved in where they were to be placed, but it has been sorted out. The initial location order was somewhat mysteriously overridden. Those involved are saying it was a computer glitch. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Well, Raymond, I knew that Cotton—”
“Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Let me explain—”
“Really, Clayton, I don’t want to know.”
They both laughed.
There was a long pause. The conversation had reached the point where the headlines had all been discussed and delving into the next layer of details would take a much longer time.
“You’ll stay in touch?” Raymond sensed the call was coming to an end and was reluctant to let it go without some promise of a future connection.
“You bet. I’m as free as the wind and aside from creating a perfect world in my metaverse, I haven’t got much to do.”
They shared another chuckle. Raymond heard a female voice on Clayton’s end of the video saying something he couldn’t quite make out.
Clayton spoke to Raymond, “That’s the dinner bell. I’d best be goin’. We’ll talk again real soon. Until then, you take care of yourself.” He then called out to the unknown speaker, “I’ll be right down, honey. The good doctor has been chewing my ear off.”
From off camera Raymond heard a child’s voice, “Come on, Dad.” Followed by the sound of a woman’s laugh that sounded like joy itself.
Clayton’s face morphed into his prior impish grin. “I’ve made a few additions.”
“Uh-huh, and I see you got a new boat. What’s her name?”
“You know, I didn’t have to think too long for that one. She’s Heaven Enough.” With that, the image of Clayton’s broad smile was hidden as his hand grew to take up Raymond’s whole screen and then the display faded to black.
Kichuk, C.J., BITS
