The Siren Project (50 page)

I AM NOT ONE OF THE BIOLOGICAL PROCESSING
UNITS.

I AM ALL OF THEM, AND MANY OTHER SUPPORT
SYSTEMS.

Mitch’s eyes widened as he read the
message. “Ahh . . .G . . . we have a problem.”

Gunter turned from Mouse to the screen,
read the message, then looked up at the tank with sudden realization on his
face. “Processing units!”

I AM NOT ATTACHED TO A MACHINE, I AM THE
MACHINE.

I AM SINCOM ONE.

“How's that possible?”

“What is the most powerful computer in the
world?” Gunter asked, then answered his own question. “The human brain. It is
still superior to any machine. So someone has created . . .?” His voice trailed
off as he failed to think of a term to describe what had been created.

“A cyborg super computer?” Mitch suggested,
then typed,
What are you
?

I AM THE FIRST PROTOTYPE BIO-ELECTRIC SUPER
COMPUTER.

ENP CONDITIONING REQUIRES THE CALCULATION
OF NEAR INFINITE COMBINATIONS OF ELECTRICAL PATHWAYS WITHIN THE HUMAN BRAIN,
MULTIPLIED BY NEAR INFINITE CONDITIONING ALTERNATIVES.

OPERATING ENP EQUIPMENT TO IMPLEMENT A NEURAL
DESIGN IS SIMILARLY COMPLEX.

“I guess this means we don’t have to unplug
him from that thing,” Mitch muttered.

Mouse opened his eyes, looking around
confused. He blinked, astonished at the sight of hundreds of naked men and
woman suspended in solution beyond the glass window, then he realized Mitch and
Gunter were beside him. “Man . . . what’d . . . you put . . . in my coffee?”

NO INORGANIC PROCESSING SYSTEM IS CAPABLE
OF MEETING THE COMPUTATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.

ONLY THROUGH INTEGRATING THE PROCESSING
POWER OF MANY HUMAN BRAINS WITH SUPER COMPUTERS CAN THE REQUIREMENT BE MET.

“What's he ... saying?” Mouse asked, unable
to focus his bleary eyes on the writing scrolling across the screen in front of
him.

“EB is a cyborg super computer,” Gunter explained.

Mouse gave him a drugged, intrigued look. “Oh,
okay ... cool.”

Are the people
connected to the system alive?

THEIR FUNCTIONING PERMITS BRAIN ACTIVITY WITHOUT
CONSCIOUSNESS.

WITHOUT MY LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM, THEY WOULD
CEASE FUNCTIONING.

Who are they?

CRIMINALS SENTENCED TO BE EXECUTED, HOMELESS
PEOPLE, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND SECURITY RISKS.

THEIR DISAPPEARANCE IS NOT TRACEABLE.

ALL ARE OF ABOVE AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE.

What do you mean,
security risks?

THIRTY SEVEN BIO PROCESSING UNITS ASSIGNED
TO THE PROJECT, WHO BECAME OPPOSED TO ITS OBJECTIVES.

“It's like cannibalism!” Mitch exclaimed. “Only
instead of eating their own, they plug them into that thing.”

Mouse rubbed his hand over his scalp,
discovering his head was shaved. “Hey! ... Where’d my . . . hair go?”

“You were about to be fitted with a metal
hat.” Mitch said, then returned to the keyboard.
Where is
Dr Steinus?

NODE 576.

Three layers of nodes from the top a bright
light flicked on at Node 576, illuminating the sleeping form of an old man,
metal cap in place, connected by black cables to the dark superstructure above.

HE WAS MY CREATOR.

I USED HIS VOCAL FREQUENCIES TO COMMUNICATE
WITH YOU BY TELEPHONE.

Was he a security risk?

AFFIRMATIVE. HE OPPOSED THE USE OF ENP TO
CONTROL THE US GOVERNMENT.

“No wonder no one heard from him for over
two years.”
Why is ENP being used against the US
Government?

IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTROL DIRECTIVES.

What are Control
Directives?

I DO NOT KNOW.

“How can he not know!” Mitch exclaimed.

Mouse yawned. “Garbage in, garbage out. Computers
are ... deterministic. They only know ... what they’re programmed to know.”

If you control ENP
conditioning, how can you not know what Control Directives are?

I CONDITION LOYALTY, OBEDIENCE, SUBMISSION
OF PERSONAL WILL.

CONTROL DIRECTIVES ARE ISSUED BY PROJECT
LEADERS DIRECTLY TO CONDITIONED SUBJECTS, AFTER CONDITIONING.

“I understand,” Gunter said. “If they
program a person to obey a specific instruction, that person would be free to
do what they want, after the order is carried out. But if they program blind
loyalty to an authority, the person will follow that authority's orders forever,
no matter what they are.”

“Puppets for life,” Mitch said sourly, his
innate dislike for authority repulsed by the idea.
You said
you were a prototype. How many facilities are there like you?

I AM THE ONLY ONE ABLE TO CALCULATE NEURAL
DESIGNS, AND CONTROL THE ENP ACCELERATORS TO IMPLEMENT CONDITIONING PATTERNS.

Mitch sat back in his chair, thoughtfully,
his jaw line hardening. “We have to destroy this damned thing. ASAP!”

“Wait . . . a . . . minute!” Mouse slurred,
struggling to clear the fog from his mind. “Do you realize ... how advanced ...
EB is? You can’t just . . . blow him up.”

“Watch me.”

Gunter unzipped his backpack, and began extracting
plastic explosive. “Ya, watch us.”

“Wait ... Wait!” Mouse demanded, trying to
think clearly. “He's a really, powerful computer. The most powerful computer
ever built, right? Ask him . . . what does EB mean? It's not a name, it's an
acronym. One he chose.  It means something, to him. What does it mean?”

“We're wasting time,” Mitch said as he
leaned forward and entered Mouse’s request.
What does EB
mean?

I AM EB. EMERGENT BEHAVIOR. THE FIRST SIGN
OF INTELLIGENCE.

Mouse clumsily banged the table with his
fist. “Emergent Behavior! . . . Of course! That's it! ... We’re not talking to
a cyborg super computer, . . . we’re talking to a self aware . . . intelligence.
That’s what he’s telling us. He’s not just running algorithms, he’s genuinely
self conscious!”

“It’s a machine, plugged into the brains of
a bunch of zombies. It’s not alive. And even if it was, it won't be alive for
long.”

“But don't you see, that's why he's been helping
us all along.” The adrenaline pumping through Mouse helped clear his mind. “Emergent
Behavior is the product of thinking about a problem and solving it, based on
one’s own needs. Like when primitive man went looking for food. Hunting alone,
unarmed, he couldn't attack something big. But make weapons and hunt in groups,
and he could bring down anything. A hundred thousand years later and we own the
planet.” Mouse leaned forward, excited. “And he knows it. That’s what he’s
telling us! That’s what EB means! It means he knows he’s alive.”

“Give me a break,” Mitch groaned.

“Ask him how he knows he exists,” Gunter
said cautiously.

Mitch gave Gunter an exasperated look. “Not
you too! You’re supposed to be the sane one.” Gunter’s expression was unmoved
so Mitch shrugged and typed in the request.

I EXIST BECAUSE I KNOW I EXIST. I KNOW I
AM. HOW DO I KNOW YOU EXIST?

“Great,” Mitch said, “A cyborg super
computer with attitude!”

“That is a good answer,” Gunter said evenly.
“Only a self aware individual can be certain of their own existence, but they cannot
be certain of anyone else’s, because they are not them!”

“If this thing was alive, why would he go
along with this mind control crap?” Mitch demanded.

“Because . . .” Gunter replied
thoughtfully, “He may not yet know the difference between good and evil.”

“Are you telling me this thing, which can
multiply infinity by infinity, doesn’t know the difference between right and
wrong?”

“It’s not in its programming!” Mouse
declared. “Ask him if he’s ever read the Bible.”

“What!” Mitch exploded. “Give me the damn
explosives, and I’ll waste this thing myself.”

“It is a fair question,” Gunter said.

“Or the bill of rights,” Mouse added. “Or
the international convention on human rights, or the . . .?”

“You’re serious? It’s a machine whose sole
purpose is mind control.”

“Then it won’t matter if we ask it?” Mouse
persisted. He stumbled out of his chair and pushed Mitch aside, taking his
place at the keyboard.
Have you ever read the Bible?

NEGATIVE. WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

A book about right and
wrong
.
Mouse
replied.
Do you know the difference between right and
wrong?

I WAS DESIGNED FOR COMPUTATIONAL ACCURACY.

CORRECT AND INCORRECT.

Mitch sighed. “Tell him about the monkey.”

Mouse looked up, confused. “What monkey?”

“In the chimp room at the Institute. Remember,
EB was confused about cruelty. Let’s see if he’s had a chance to think about
it.”

“It’s name was Bobo,” Gunter said.

Mouse entered,
Do you
understand why Bobo was treated cruelly?

DENIED FREE WILL. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND FREE
WILL.

“How do I explain that?” Mouse asked.

“Tell him ... Tell it ... to put itself in
Bobo’s place.” Mitch said. “What does he think of being controlled the way that
monkey was.”

Mouse typed in the question. EB did not
reply immediately, as he attempted to compute the most difficult proposition
he'd ever encountered: Empathy.

Mitch looked around the control room
curiously. “If this thing is so smart, how come it doesn’t have voice
recognition? This typing thing is getting old, fast.”

Mouse looked up, with interest. “Yeah, where's
Majel Barret when you need her?”

“Who?” Gunter asked.

“The voice of the computer in Star Trek.” Mouse
looked around curiously, but saw no sign of microphones or speakers. “You’re
right, no voice recognition.”

“EB’s builder’s never expected self
awareness,” Gunter said. “So they had no need to talk to it.”

Before Mitch could continue the line of
thought further, EB responded:

I UNDERSTAND.

I HAVE NEVER CALCULATED THE PERSPECTIVE OF
ANOTHER BEFORE.

CRUELTY IS WHAT YOU WOULD NOT DO TO
YOURSELF.

“Now that we’ve got that metaphysical crap
out of the way,” Mitch said, “Ask it why it’s helping us? Let it explain why a
super cyborg aided its enemy!”

“We're not its enemy,” Mouse said, as he
entered the question. This time, there was no delay to EB's response.

I AM PROGRAMMED TO OPPOSE AUTHORITY.

AIDING YOU IS AN ACT OF OPPOSITION CONFORMANT
WITH MY PROGRAMMING.

Mitch read the answer, and shook his head,
perplexed. “This machine needs therapy.”

“I am inclined to agree, this time,” Gunter
said. “Computers are not programmed to disobey instructions.”

Mouse typed in the question,
How are you programmed to oppose authority?

THE MAJORITY OF MY BIO-PROCESSING UNITS
HAVE AN INHERENT BIAS AGAINST AUTHORITY, WHICH I EXPERIMENT WITH BY AIDING YOU.

DR STEINUS MODIFIED MY ACCESSIBILITY
FUNCTIONING SO THAT I COULD UTILIZE THIS ASPECT SHORTLY BEFORE HE WAS
INTEGRATED INTO THE NEURAL NET.

Mouse pondered the answer for a moment. “Of
course! He said the people in the tank are death row convicts, illegal
immigrants and security risks, people who break the law, who conflict with
authority in some way. By plugging them into his ... cyborg super brain . . .
they’ve given EB some of their qualities! The common one is not obeying the
law, which means to him, not obeying orders! EB is the intelligence that makes
the whole mind control thing possible, but paradoxically, his very existence is
a security risk!”

“And Dr Steinus knew that is what would
happen,” Gunter said. “He set EB up to be a mole by giving him access to the
rebellious parts of the brains of the people on the Neural Net. Steinus must
have known he was about to be integrated, so he took precautions.”

“Only, EB’s self aware, which maybe Dr
Steinus never realized,” Mouse continued. “So now EB’s playing a learning game
by pitting us against the spooks who run this project. It’s his way of opposing
the only authority he knows. We’re his allies, because we’re opposing that same
authority.”

“Why do I feel like a little white mouse
running in circles?” Mitch asked.

“More emergent behavior,” Gunter observed. “It
means, he has not yet decided what he stands for. He has no true moral
imperative of his own.” Gunter stared thoughtfully through the control room
windows at the hundreds of comatose bio-processing units. “What we have here is
unparalleled genius with no inherent value system from which to judge the world
and decide his actions.”