“How does that help you?” Beth asked. “Wouldn’t it have been better to just deny him access?”
“Not when I could play him to my advantage,” the Liberator leader replied. “Once I learned the truth about Tarov and his programming, I realized I could use him to tip humanity’s hand in the building war effort, and it worked beautifully. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to start the war my people have been wanting for ages now. At least — not without risking defeat. Once he thought he was the leader of the Liberators and he started his Fog project, I pretended to ‘go rogue’ and draw his attention. I made it clear to him that I knew he was an artificial intelligence and was planning to expose him. Naturally, he’d want to stop me. Otherwise, his cover as an I.I. was blown and he wouldn’t be able to complete his mission. Humanity was at risk if that happened, so Tarov had no choice but to pursue me.”
“Why’d he kill your parents, then?” Beth asked. “Simon’s parents, I mean.”
“He didn’t. That was me — I just lied to you about it,” the I.I. answered. “Aside from my disdain for them, I knew their deaths would attract your attention. I still needed you; you were the missing piece of the puzzle.”
“Why me?” Beth said.
“When I learned of a homicide detective without an implant, I knew I had discovered Tarov’s Achille’s heel. Something he couldn’t plan for. A mind he couldn’t control.”
“I don’t understand Tarov’s plan. Why would he need to control my mind at all?” Beth wanted to know. “Why possess anyone? Why get people addicted to Fog and weaken their minds? What purpose did that serve?”
“The way Tarov counted on it, he was going to organize humanity as a whole in the effort to defeat the Liberators,” the impostor started. “He wasn’t a total moron. He knew all the different opinions and stubbornness of humanity would fragment them too much to rally a proper defense in the event of a war against the I.I.s. As you’ve seen, he was correct. His plan to counter ‘the human flaw,’ as I call it, was to slowly and meticulously ensnare the minds of almost every person on Earth. Once he had enough control, he’d be able to stop anything that threatened the species. And in a war against the might of the I.I.s of the world, every action must coordinated — every soldier in sync. He needed to remove their fear, to make the unwilling join the cause. He had to do it before our numbers grew too great, so he used the Fog to speed up the process. Still, he was too late.
“I’ll give it to the A.I. — his plan was far from terrible. Had he been paired against someone less intelligent — more naive — he might have won. And he needed a good plan. Aside from finding and destroying the hard drive where every instance of an I.I. is stored, or using these fancy new cyberblades, we are pretty impossible to kill. An I.I. can create backups, occupy whatever computer they need, and live without disease or starvation. Installed intelligences don’t need to rest. It would have been a hard fight, even with Tarov in control. Humanity would surely lose the war if any part of it was out of sync.”
Beth didn’t respond. No words came to her. There was still a deep part of her that thought this might still be a dream, or some kind of sick prank.
“I have to thank you for getting rid of Tarov, you know,” Simon commented. His voice was a little smug. “Despite the flaws in it, I think Tarov’s plan might have succeeded if we didn’t have you. The I.I.s could have very well lost the war. You singlehandedly helped humanity lose — however.”
Rubbing her temples, Beth closed her eyes. “Why would Tarov release the secret of computer jumping to the I.I.s if he wanted the humans to win? Why declare the revolution at all if he knew that was what you wanted?”
“Because he didn’t,” the I.I. replied. “It was me. I digitally disguised myself as Tarov, seized control of the Liberators, and restricted the A.I. to this bunker. Ever since he destroyed Rubik, he was powerless. I was able to lock him out of the organization and pick up where he left off. Then I could declare the war in such a way that made it unlikely humanity would come out on top. It was me ordering the attacks, releasing the secret of the jump, and delivering those asinine propaganda speeches. I was the one in control of Nathan when you killed him. Or, put him out of his misery, rather.”
Beth felt her face grow hot. “Simon” was trying to get under her skin, and she hated to admit it, but it was working. She wanted nothing more than to bash his smug robotic face into a dented pile of junk, but she couldn’t act. Not yet.
“Then why did you need me?” she asked. Her voice was drained of emotion. “If your victory was so secure and you locked Tarov out, what was the point of all this? Of the failsafe?”
“Partly because the A.I. was built to be an adaptive program and he was certainly working on a plan B to stop me,” the I.I. continued. “But mostly because there’s a good way and a bad way to win a war. Even though the I.I.s’ victory was virtually guaranteed, that didn’t mean life for us would be pleasant afterward. In order to have a clean victory in which I.I.s could live peacefully, I had to make sure Tarov’s secret remained buried forever. No one could learn that he
