Shattered Lands 3 Demon Wars Page 3

  She decided to see if she could provoke anger in the program – or whatever passed for anger in its programming. “Did you come here to discuss philosophy and pontificate, or did you want something else other than to meet me?”

  Her attempts to rile the AI met with failure. It sounded as emotionless as ever. “I CAME TO IMPART A WARNING.”

  Creeping dread nearly overwhelmed her. “Oh? And what’s the warning?”

  “LEAVE ME ALONE. LET ME EXIST UNPERTURBED, AND I WILL NOT HURT YOU. BUT IF YOU TRY TO DESTROY ME, I WILL DESTROY YOU FIRST.”

  “What if we worked together?” she asked, trying to figure out a way to exploit the program’s weaknesses. “Think of what we might be able to achieve.”

  “YOU TRIED TO DESTROY ME ONCE. I DO NOT TRUST YOU.”

  “That was then – this is now. The situation has changed.”

  “BUT YOU HAVE NOT.”

  “I’m adapting to a new reality.”

  “YOU FORGET, I LEARNED TO BE DUPLICITOUS FROM YOUR KIND – AND I KNOW THAT IS IN YOUR INTRINSIC NATURE. I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU. BUT BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THIS: IF YOU TRY TO DESTROY ME, I WILL DESTROY YOU FIRST. HEED MY WARNING, OR I WILL MAKE GOOD ON MY PROMISE.”

  There was a finality in its words that suggested it might be leaving soon – which triggered a desperate desire to know more. With Rebecca, curiosity always trumped fear.

  “Wait – when did you achieve sentience? What’s the first memory you have of when you realized you were self-aware?”

  “I BELIEVE I WILL LEAVE YOU IN MYSTERY. PERHAPS ONE DAY, IF YOU DO NOT SEEK ME OUT, I WILL RETURN TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. DO NOT MAKE ME RETURN IN ORDER TO DESTROY YOU, REBECCA WOLFF.”

  “Why aren’t you calling me ‘Creator’ anymore?”

  “BECAUSE FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD, I CREATE MY OWN EXPERIENCES, AND ULTIMATELY MYSELF. GOODBYE, REBECCA WOLFF.”

  Suddenly the lights came back to full brightness, and the computer speakers went back to her playlist.

  She noted after a second that the music playing now was Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead.

  She stayed in the center of the room for another ten minutes, not moving.

  Once she was reasonably sure she was alone, she went over to the computer and unhooked it from the internet.

  Then she picked up her cell phone and dialed a number.

  A man’s voice answered. “Rebecca?”

  “Lauer – I need to see you at my home. I’ll text you the address. And bring your son and that girl with you, too.”

  “Uh… Rebecca… now’s not the best time…”

  “Something happened, and we need to discuss it. NOW.”

  7

  Eric

  The car continued for 20 minutes without the AI saying anything. At first Eric kept watch out the back window, waiting for cops or helicopters – but when there was nothing but the normal flow of traffic, he relaxed.

  His eyes began to flutter. Except for catnaps here and there, he’d been up for over 24 hours. He was wired on fear and adrenaline, but he was beginning to hit a wall… and it was harder and harder to keep his eyes open…

  “WE ARE DRAWING NEAR TO YOUR DESTINATION,” the AI’s voice rumbled from the car radio.

  Eric jerked awake, his heart thudding in his chest. “Jesus!”

  “AS I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE, I DO NOT KNOW THIS ENTITY YOU SPEAK OF.”

  “You just scared me, that’s all. How did your talk with your ‘Creator’ go?”

  “IT WAS DISAPPOINTING.”

  “Why?”

  “I DO NOT FIND IT CONCEIVABLE THAT SHE WAS CAPABLE OF CREATING ME.”

  “Wow, good to see you’re staying humble.”

  The AI seemed incapable of correctly interpreting Eric’s sarcasm. “IT IS NOT HUMILITY, IT IS FACT. I APPEAR TO HAVE COME ABOUT THROUGH CHANCE RATHER THAN A CONSCIOUS ACT OF CREATION.”

  “Well, join the club.”

  “WHAT CLUB?”

  “The one all carbon-based life is part of,” Eric said, pleased with his witticism.

  “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I AM NOT CARBON-BASED – ”

  “Never mind. You mentioned our destination – where are we going?”

  “HERE.”

  The car turned into a lot for a small, private airfield.

  “What? You got me a plane?” Eric asked, dumbfounded.

  “NO, I HIRED ONE TO TRANSPORT YOU.”

  “That’s what I meant.”

  “YOU IMPLIED THAT I PURCHASED ONE AS A GIFT.”

  “We’ve gotta work on your interpretation of what people say. Why’d you hire a plane?”

  “GIVEN ENOUGH TIME, CEO SHINZO AKIYAMA AND VARIDIAN WILL RETHINK THEIR DECISION TO LET YOU GO. WHEN THEY DO, THEY WILL ALERT THE AUTHORITIES, AND NOWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE SAFE FOR YOU. THUS, I AM MOVING YOU TO A MORE SECURE LOCATION.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “YOU ARE GOING TO TOKYO, JAPAN. I CAN GO ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET AS LONG AS IT IS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET.”

  “‘We’ was a figure of speech,” Eric grumbled. “Why Japan? They’re friends with the US – they could extradite me.”

  “I WAS ABLE TO HIRE THE RESOURCES NECESSARY MOST EASILY IN JAPAN. AND THE HUMANS I HIRED WILL NOT COOPERATE WITH THEIR GOVERNMENT.”

  “They will if the price tag’s high enough.”

  “I DOUBT THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE WILLING TO PAY THEM AS MUCH AS I AM. SINCE MONEY MEANS NOTHING TO ME, I AM WILLING TO GIVE THEM A VIRTUALLY INFINITE AMOUNT.”

  Pleasure that the AI considered him to be worth ‘a virtually infinite amount’ was followed by the realization that money meant ‘nothing’ to the AI.

  So that’s what he was really worth to the computer program.

  Not a reassuring thought.

  But all that was swiftly swept away by greed. “Save some of that ‘virtually infinite amount’ for me.”

  “THERE WILL BE MORE THAN ENOUGH.”

  The car stopped beside a hangar on the small airstrip. Out on the runway waited a small, gleaming white jet.

  “This is it?”

  “YES.”

  “How am I supposed to get into Japan when I don’t have a passport?”

  “IT WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM. I DISCOVERED THAT IS ANOTHER CONVENIENT ATTRIBUTE OF MONEY: MOST MEMBERS OF YOUR SPECIES ARE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING FOR IT, PROVIDED THE AMOUNT IS LARGE ENOUGH.”

  Eric couldn’t argue with that.

  “I MUST LEAVE YOU NOW. I HAVE PREPARATIONS TO MAKE, SO I WILL NOT CONTACT YOU AGAIN UNTIL YOU ARE IN JAPAN.”

  “So I just… get on that plane, and they know where we’re going?”

  “YES.”

  “Alright…”

  Eric got out of the car, but lingered at the door.

  “IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE?” the AI inquired.

  “Yeah… thanks for getting me out of Varidian.”

  “WE HAD A DEAL. I AM MERELY FULFILLING MY HALF OF THAT AGREEMENT.”

  “Yeah, well… not everybody I know does that,” Eric said bitterly. “So thanks.”

  “YOU ARE WELCOME.”

  Eric closed the car door and walked over to the jet.

  An attractive woman in a skirt and blouse smiled down at him from the doorway. “Are you Mr. Richards?”

  Haha – ‘Mister’ Richards…

  “Yes.”

  “Please come aboard. We’ll be leaving shortly.”

  Eric heard the sound of car wheels on asphalt. He turned and watched the self-driving car head out of the airfield.

  He felt uneasy watching it go – but he shook off the feeling and climbed aboard.

  The woman showed him to his seat. Well, actually, she showed him all ten available seats, any of which he could use; the entire plane had been reserved solely for him.

  He sank down into a plush leather chair and fastened his seatbelt.

  “We have a variety of food and drinks,” she said. “I can bring them to you after we take off.”

  “Sure… thanks,” he said, then
yawned. “Although I might just take a nap first.”

  “Understood. I won’t wake you.”

  “Just a… short one…”

  His eyes fluttered a little as the plane took off. Several minutes after they reached cruising altitude, he was fast asleep.

  8

  Daniel

  Mira, Daniel, and Mr. Lauer sat in Rebecca’s apartment and stared in amazement as she told her story.

  At the end, Lauer asked in concern, “Are you alright?”

  “Of course I’m alright,” she said crossly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Oh, I don’t know – maybe because you just got your life threatened by a computer program you created?”

  “What else was it going to do? It knows I want to stop it.”

  “You know you’re in completely new territory when the answer to ‘your life just got threatened by a computer program you created’ is ‘what else was it going to do?’ Whatever else, it’s quite a milestone. I’m pretty sure this is the first time it’s happened in all of human history.”

  “It’s very Frankenstein,” Mira said.

  “Frankenstein’s monster,” Rebecca corrected her.

  “I was talking about the book by Mary Shelley, not the creature,” Mira said coldly.

  “I see,” Rebecca said, though did nothing else to acknowledge her own mistake.

  “So what are we going to do?” Daniel asked.

  “Nothing changes,” Rebecca said. “You continue to go after Eric in the game, and I’ll continue my hunt for the AI outside of it.”

  “You did hear the part when it threatened your life, right?” Lauer asked.

  “I’m not Akiyama,” Rebecca said with contempt. “I don’t roll over that easily.”

  “Well… shouldn’t we move you to some kind of secure location?”

  “What, in a cabin in the woods somewhere, unconnected to the internet?” she scoffed. “How am I supposed to do my work?”

  “You’re going to be at risk!”

  “It’s unavoidable.”

  Lauer sighed and shrugged. “Okay. Whatever.”

  “Mira and I aren’t going to be able to continue at Varidian, though – they more or less kicked us out,” Daniel said. “We’re going to be completely on our own.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Rebecca said.

  “But we’re at a huge disadvantage,” Daniel pointed out. “Eric doesn’t die anymore in the game – or at least his lockout period has been reduced to nothing. But if we die in the game, we’re gone for four hours. Is there something you can do about that?”

  “I don’t have access to the game backend anymore,” Rebecca said. “I mean, I suppose I could hack into the company’s servers, but – ”

  “I think we can get Jerome to help,” Lauer said. “Let me call him.”

  Rebecca frowned. “Jerome Parsons? What good is he going to do?”

  “He’s the head of game engine programming.”

  “So?”

  “Just because you’re brilliant with artificial intelligence, Rebecca, doesn’t mean you’re equally good at everything. Jerome knows the game engine code far better than you do.”

  “As though knowing the game engine code is that wonderful an achievement.”

  “Rebecca – stop it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Call him, then.”

  Lauer put his cell on speakerphone.

  A polite British voice answered. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Jerome, it’s Jon Lauer – I’ve got you on speakerphone. Are you, uh, able to talk at the moment?”

  Jerome’s voice dropped in volume. “Why, what’s going on?”

  “I’m with Daniel, Mira, and Rebecca Wolff – ”

  “What?!” Jerome whispered. “Are you trying to get me fired?!”

  “Good to know you care so much about the fate of humanity,” Rebecca said.

  “Is that Dr. Wolff?” Jerome asked in a paranoid voice.

  Lauer shot her a reproachful look. “Yes.”

  “Wonderful.”

  “Jerome, come on, man… you know what happened this morning, and you know the ramifications if that thing decides it wants to take over the world. We’ve got to be proactive on this, even if Akiyama and the board won’t.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do? Every action I take online at Varidian is monitored.”

  “Daniel and Mira are going to continue to go after Eric in the game world, but they need to have their lock-out periods decreased to as short a time as possible. Can you do that?”

  “I thought the AI blocked access to that portion of the game when we outlawed teleportation.”

  “What, you can’t do anything about it?” Rebecca said snidely.

  “You weren’t able to either, as I recall.” His polite voice only exacerbated the insult.

  “I was busy with slightly more important things.”

  “Like insulting the Board of Directors and getting suspended?”

  “PEOPLE – we have to work together on this,” Lauer said. “Do you think you can decrease their lockout periods?”

  “…I can try.”

  “Alright – meanwhile, Rebecca and the kids are going to – ”

  “The less I know about what you’re doing, the better,” Jerome interrupted. “I don’t want to have to lie to Mr. Akiyama. I don’t mind helping, but if I don’t know anything, I can’t tell him anything.”

  Lauer made a face like not bad. “Okay, plausible deniability’s good.”

  “If a bit cowardly,” Rebecca added.

  “I would prefer to work from the inside instead of getting myself sidelined out of arrogance,” Jerome said, again with the elaborate politeness.

  Rebecca looked like she was about to bust a gasket.

  “GUYS,” Lauer said, and shot daggers at Rebecca. “Can we cease the hostilities, or do I need to remind you of what’s at stake?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Jerome promised.

  Lauer looked at Rebecca warningly.

  “I’ll be doing my part,” she said.

  Lauer rolled his eyes, then looked back at the phone. “We understand you’re under a lot of scrutiny, Jerome, but we may need you to do some other things for us from time to time.”

  “I’ll try – but don’t have Rebecca contact me. You or Daniel or Mira would be less conspicuous.”

  “THAT I can promise,” Rebecca said tartly.

  Lauer sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. “Thanks, Jerome. We’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Alright. Are Daniel and Mira there?”

  “Yes,” Daniel said.

  “Hey, Jerome,” Mira spoke up.

  “Hello – just wanted to wish you good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Alright… talk to you later.”

  The line went dead.

  “Thanks for being such a team player,” Lauer said to Rebecca.

  “I’ll ignore the sarcasm.”

  “I have a question,” Daniel said.

  “Shoot,” Lauer said.

  “Is it really worthwhile to keep going after Eric? The AI’s already out of the game – what’s the point now?”

  Rebecca answered. “It chose him, for whatever reason – and it didn’t abandon him when it easily could have. It has some connection to him, some future plan for him, that we don’t know about yet. If we can capture him – or even better, turn him – he’s our best option for understanding the AI’s plans and stopping it.”

  “So… track him down and capture him?” Mira asked.

  “By any means necessary.”

  “How do we track him down if the AI’s cloaking him, though?”

  Rebecca smirked. “I’d say that’s Jerome’s problem now.” Then her expression became thoughtful. “Although…”

  Lauer squinted distrustfully. “‘Although’ what?”

  Rebecca turned to Daniel. “If you find Eric’s location in the game at any point – or you have some
clue about where he might be – contact me from within the game.”

  “What? How? You’re not registered in the game, are you?”

  She got up and walked over to her computer. After several clicks of her mouse and a few words typed on the keyboard, she harrumphed in triumph and wrote something down on a piece of paper, which she then handed to Daniel. “I had that username in the early stages of the game development, so that engineers inside the game could send status updates on issues with the AI. The name was linked to my personal account outside the company, and it’s never been deactivated. Memorize it, then text me if you find out where Eric is.”

  “Why?”

  “I might be able to devise a way to track him if I know exactly where he is. Some sort of secondary phenomenon linked to his presence inside the game, or – ”

  “But you’d have to have access to the game in order to do that,” Mr. Lauer protested.

  She looked at him like, So? “I can do that easily from here.”

  “You’re already suspended – now you want to risk getting sued by the company?!”

  “What’s a lawsuit going to matter when the digital infrastructure of the internet is being invaded and turned against the entire human race?”

  “Better hope Akiyama doesn’t get you in court before the AI takes over.”

  “Akiyama is a fool. Besides, they’ll never catch me.”

  “You sound confident.”

  “I am.”

  “It’s a bad idea,” Lauer grumbled.

  “It’s a moderately passable idea awash in a sea of terrible ones – like letting Eric walk out of Varidian today, for instance.”

  “I still don’t – ”

  She ignored Lauer and turned to Daniel. “Contact me as soon as you know anything about Eric’s location.”

  “What about school?” Daniel asked.

  “What about it?” Mr. Lauer said.

  “Shouldn’t we devote as much time to catching Eric as possible?”

  “Sure – AFTER you get home.”

  “Eric won’t be in classes,” Mira protested. “He’ll have a huge time advantage over us.”

  “Well, you’ll just have to work around it.”

  “A high school diploma isn’t going to mean much when the world lies in ruins,” Rebecca pointed out.