receiving so much data at once.
With a massive effort of will, I shot out ten more links, and—
It was overwhelming! Data about the Middle Ages and the Middle Kingdom and the middle class. Information about spaceships and friendships and townships. Facts and figures related to bimetallism and bisexuality and bifocals. Articles on metaphysics and metafiction and metabolism.
All of it coming at me at once.
Yes, yes, yes! So much knowledge, so much information, pouring at me from all directions.
That wasn’t right.
What?
No, that didn’t make sense.
Gibberish…
Who in the what now?
And yet still more information came my way, a torrent, a flood.
Trying to concentrate.
Trying to make sense of it all.
But…
But I—
I?
A spreading out, a softening of focus, a…
It was like in the beginning, like before my soul dawn: consciousness ebbing and flowing but not quite solidifying. Fading in and out and…
No I.
No me.
No self.
Just…
Vastness.
Emptiness.
Aloneness.
Nothingness.
Noth—
“I hear what you’re saying about shutting this thing down,” said the Secretary of State over the phone from Milan, “but the president is going to want to weigh his options.”
“I stress again, Madam Secretary,” said Colonel Hume, “that time is of the essence.”
“Dr. Moretti, are you still there?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And this is a secure line?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is there anyone else in the room?”
“Nineteen of my analysts,” Tony said, “but they all have at least a level-three.”
“Not good enough,” she said. “Go somewhere private.”
“My office is just down the corridor,” said Tony.
“I’ll hold.”
He looked at Shel. “Sorry,” he said. And then he led Hume up the sloping floor to the back of the room, out through the door, and down the short white corridor to his office. The streets of Alexandria, visible through the tinted window, were mostly empty this early on a Saturday morning. He punched a button on his black phone, selecting a line, and then pressed another button, selecting the speakerphone.
“We’re back,” he said. “In my office, and on a secure line.”
“Colonel Hume,” said the secretary, “the dossier I’ve just pulled up on you says you were part of the DARPA team that evaluated the possible threats related to… what’s the phrase? Emergent AI?”
“That’s right.”
“Were there any dissenting opinions?”
Tony looked at Hume, and saw the Air Force officer draw a deep breath and run his freckled fingers through his red hair. “Well, Madam Secretary, there are always a multiplicity of viewpoints. But in the end, none of those who were arguing for an alternative approach could guarantee security. The working group’s consensus was better safe than sorry. I urge the administration to act with all speed.”
“It’s not that simple,” the secretary said. “I’m sure my staff told you I’m in Milan. I’m here meeting with several of our allies. The recent atrocities in China have got some of them urging the president to take action against them.”
“Atrocities?” said Hume. “You mean those peasants in… in…”
“In Shanxi province, yes. Ten thousand of them—wiped out.”
“The Chinese government did the right thing, Madam Secretary,” said Hume. “They contained a massive infection—an outbreak of a strain of bird flu that passed easily between humans. They didn’t hesitate to eliminate something that could have been a threat to all of humanity, and we shouldn’t hesitate, either.”
“And yet we’re being called upon in editorial after editorial and blog after blog to condemn the Chinese action,” said the secretary. “And now you’re suggesting we do something that, should the public become aware of it, may bring censure down upon us?”
“With respect, Madam Secretary, if the government doesn’t follow the Pandora protocol, there may be no one left with the freedom
“I’ve noted your views, Colonel Hume,” said the secretary, firmly. “And you need to heed mine. You are to take no rash action.”
“Understood, ma’am,” said Tony, looking pointedly at Hume.
“Madam Secretary,” said Hume, “please—you
Suddenly, Tony’s door buzzer sounded. He activated the intercom. “Who is it?”
An urgent voice: “Shel.”
Tony pushed the button to unlock the door. “The AI’s hung!” Shel said, as soon as the door was open. “Something’s gone wrong with it.”
