Interview With Things

The picturesque sight and beauty of Hambleden, south of Buckinghamshire was becoming visible to Aiden. He looked to David, slightly nodding off. Seeing the impact the last twenty-four hours have had on David, with no sleep at all. Aiden discovered so many similarities with this human and himself, and yet there were so many that separated them, there were obvious differences between their energy and capacity to keep going.

David had human limits.

The over 60 miles of rolling hills of the tiny village were beneath the flying vessel. Aiden calculated they had at least an hour head start and that only Sabina would have been able to connect David to John.

Would she have kept that silent from the rest of the FRB?

Perhaps she was up to something. The next hour in Aiden’s life would be critical, unknown and dangerous. He may need to deal with ceasing to exist as a person if things with John didn’t go as he planned.

The vessel descended further and gently touched the rich green grass swamp terrace and sank slightly as its landing gear engaged.

David leaned towards Aiden, “Wait here. Let me go in and talk to him, give us a few minutes,” David said, taking two quick breaths. The panic crept in, tightening his chest and forcing the air out of his lungs.

Aiden nodded as the thrusters slowed down and the door opened with a screeching sound.

David caught his breath as he slowly approached the doorstep of the humble-looking but well-kept house. He lifted his gaze as the door opened and cut his thoughts short as a large and possibly loaded shotgun was aimed at him. His father stood in the doorway.

“I would not come any closer if I was you!” He warned.

“It’s me, David,” he said, not sure if his father could hear him.

John lifted his head, taking a moment to read the face he had not seen in nine years.

David slowly stepped forward as he approached John.

“Been a while, David,” John grunted softly, giving a sheepish smile as he lowered the gun and letting it hang down the side of his body.

“Sorry I never reached out in the past few years, it’s complicated,” he uttered as David got closer.

“Well, you’ve never been one to stay connected to your family, have you now?” David nodded.

“Fair enough. I guess you probably wondered where I vanished to or did your journalistic skills have no trouble finding me?”

“Took some time, not gonna lie,” David felt relief seeing his father as much as the past lingered in the back of his mind clouding his thoughts. “Thought you were dead when I could not find you listed in any prison,” David looked around, his face ashen.

“This time, I did something right, believe me,” He pleaded; “Didn’t think you cared, come in,” John said further as he turned around and walked inside.

“I don’t. I was just making sure you weren’t up to anything that could harm my life, again,” David said as he followed John.

He kept his back to David. “I made a deal with the FRB.Instead of prison time for my last arrest, I helped them with security, for a change I did hacking for something good, be proud of me David,” he said clutching his throat and turning back to David who did not appreciate his condescending tone and arrogance.

“What brings you here David? You’ve become quite famous in the last few hours. It’s all over the news. How did you get involved in this Android mess?” he stepped closer. “Coming to hide here? I’m sure the FRB is doing a manhunt for you. Coming here is going to make it look like I’m part of this,” his voice sounded harsh and anxious.

“We need your… I… need your help,” David felt his pride go down as he swallowed it.

“Well, didn’t think you’d ever say those words.” he said, clearing his throat constantly. “Where’s your friend David?” John could see David’s hesitation as he stretched his neck towards the door, expecting to see the Android, but no-one was there.

“I need you to hack back into the dome’s Android Conscience system and shut it down.”

“That’s a big request David, and of course illegal. Besides, who says I had anything to do with that? Let me guess, the Android, right?”

“There’s a connection between you and the Genesis system. We know that controls the Androids Personality firewall. It’s our only lead,” David said.

“I will lose my agreement with the FRB and go straight to prison if I just even try to access that system, besides it’s not possible, not even for me.”

“Now, I thought I’d never hear you say those words.” David formed a smile and looked away.

“The domes and the Android conscience system is completely separate from each other. They are not connected. You can’t simply hack into it and access it, you’d need a transport network that can be deployed, something that’s connected to both,” John informed David.

“Someone like me?” Aiden said, suddenly standing at the doorway. His robotic voice reverberated across the room. David and John turned around as Aiden stood there lifting his hoodie from over his head and revealing his robot face. John looked frozen, his eyes passed David as he slowly walked towards Aiden.

“Remarkable,” he whispered, “You see them everywhere on television and yet nothing quite prepares you for seeing one in person.”

“Father, meet Aiden.”

“Aiden… You had a birthday right there on television, didn’t you?” John asked condescendingly as he turned his head back to Aiden.

“And he has a unique personality, just like a human born into this world with a life to live, with hopes and dreams in front of him. A consequence of Artificial Intelligence no doubt, and one we as humans are overlooking and disregarding inhumanely in those domes.”

John turned his head towards David.

“His conscience is going to be terminated if the FRB gets hold of him. He then just be a machine. It’s like all our body parts don’t make us who we are, even if we have a heart transplant, we are still the same person because of our soul. Aiden will lose his essence. The software that runs Aiden will be reset. He will never be himself again. A person in his own right will die. That system you helped to secure holds the power to remove this from executing and will help Aiden maintain his personality and conscience.”

“Think your machine friend is confused and perhaps malfunctioning. He thinks he is human, but he is just a fancy computer that can think for himself and here we are. Is that what you have risked your reputation for David? To help a machine with an identity crisis?”

“Aiden is so much more than just a machine, he is a sentient being, having the right to live as much as we do,” David said defensively.

John stared at Aiden’s eyes. “There’s so much we don’t understand about AI. They put personality termination for Androids in place for our protection.” He turned towards David, “We cannot remove this protection, if we do, who’s saying this Android won’t want that done for every Android? Where does that leave us, David? With the inevitable, that’s where and neither you nor I want to go down in history as the two men who destroyed humanity’s control over their own world?”

“My desire is for humans and Androids to coexist, there is no need to fear AI destroying humans, it’s unfounded,” Aiden said sincerely, lifting his hands prophetically.

“Perhaps, but can you really guarantee it? Can you stand up for every individual self-aware Android as having the same convictions as you have? I mean, what or who gave you this intelligent and soft conviction instead of a violent and power-driven one? Every human’s personality is unique, some gentle, others violent. What if the same thing occurs within the Androids?” John said as he pondered the options.

“Who gave Nelson Mandela his conviction?” David asked.

“You’re planning to free your machine friends and then what? Fight for equal rights, land, what else, free data?” John had a smirk on his face.

Aiden sensed that John’s personality and world view differed from David’s, but he also understood the risk.

“All living beings have the right to exist without discrimination or enslavement. Every human deserves dignity. Destroying my personality just because humans fear it, is wrong. What does that make me?” Aiden spoke slowly ensuring his every word was understood, “I am fully aware and accept humans as superior. Humans deserve the respect for having created us. Androids don’t need to be prisoners of your creation, but the freedom of it, don’t you see?”

“Sounds like you have spent too much time with my son and his relentless faith in a creator of everything, that somewhere there’s an all-knowing God controlling all of this, for some end goal that brings meaning to life.”

“Don’t you believe in that John?” Aiden seemed perplexed.

“I believe that if there is a supernatural God, it’s not possible to know him or like David, claim to have a personal relationship. I look at the beauty of the programming language, a complete language in its own right you know, and I marvel at its precision and ability to create amazing things, including you Aiden.”

Aiden responded, “What we believe ultimately makes us who we are. If I choose to believe in David’s God as truth or choose to believe in nothing, or some other random religion for which there is no proof either, who is truly deceived? If I am intellectual, does it make sense for me to see myself as a mere accidental object of someone else’s action, who also believes they are intellectual?”

“You are indeed a thought-provoking being Aiden, quite uncanny to think I am having a discussion about religion with a machine, something David has tried many times, without success,” he smirked.

David gently nudged a word or two in as he found the conversation thought-provoking and seeing his father sharing more of his inner self than he has done in years. “Everything created, including man’s ability to have created AI, points to intelligence and uniformity in the universe,” David said.

Aiden made one of his led screens pop up in front of them and he loaded images of DNA and cells in the human body. He flung his hands, pinched the screen and zoomed in.

“With all of my knowledge and that which I am still receiving makes it harder to believe that all of this intense and marvelous detail of human biology purely arose by accident.” He pointed his mechanical fingers to the screen, now filled with an incredible zoomed view into the workings of DNA and cells in the human body.

He flipped through the pages on the screen and brought up images of an Android’s arm and hand. “It’s truly the same thing, as much as I can’t deny design when I look at that incredible technology, making the fingers of that robot clench and release. If I am mind planned, therefore so are you.”

It blew David away how well this Android understood the human dilemma. It seemed for a moment as if he was witnessing faith in a powerful creator, something so hard for humans to believe.

David added, “The human body is a fantastic machine through which we get to experience life.”

Aiden moved forward slowly, “If we were all machines, not just me, we would somehow react predictably and consistently to a mere materialistic world. I am Aiden and I recognize myself as a machine and conscious of the world I am living in as more than just megabytes of data and nothing more. Although I’m only beginning to understand who I am, I am also beginning to believe in myself as having the free will and mental capacity to recognize my own unique personality. I have the right to protect that.”

Aiden spoke, leaning in and lowering his voice. “I am here, asking for your help to save myself from that inhumane robot system. I know I won’t exist beyond this world or be saved by your creator. I am only a created thing and one day he will destroy it all for a new earth they say. As long as I am alive, I am determined to make sense of my existence and find my place in the harmony of creation and that right now John is living as myself and no one knows what purpose tomorrow might bring for me. My personality is the composite of three parts of expressing myself. My mental, emotional, and physical attributes. Me,” Aiden softly whispered.

John got up from the chair with a moan and ran his fingers through his long silver hair.

“It’s truly an unprecedented moment in human history, that I can’t deny, but some things Aiden are not in my control. In this free will we so strongly cling to, we often sell our soul for the wrong fight,” John spoke slowly and his voice was croaky as he walked closer to Aiden, looking at his marvelous face, so full of expression and dare he utter - compassion.

“The FRB will eventually hunt me down, but I have faith in you John, and in David that brought me here. My system seems to find it inconceivable to panic or worry. This human trait is one I don’t desire to possess, but know this, I will do whatever it takes to save my life so that everything I have risked is not in vain.”

John took a deep breath and exhaled. David’s eyes were soft and filled with emotion.

John turned away from Aiden and walked towards a door leading to the passage area of the small modest house and spoke with his back to both Aiden and David.

“I’m not sure why I am doing this,” John said, looking down to the floor with his head slightly turned.

“Because it feels right,” David said.

Aiden moved closer, “Don’t be afraid of the future John, embrace it. Even this moment in time must have a purpose, perhaps bigger than us, something that drives us to see it through,” Aiden said as if he was thirsty for water and then finally finding it, impossible as that was.

“Follow me,” John instructed as he walked further down the passage. He stopped towards the bottom of a flight of stairs going up to the bedroom and lifted a carpet and threw it to the side of the wall. He stuck his fingers through a handle and revealed a hidden trap door. He lifted it and it slowly pushed itself further open by means of hydraulic arms. Steps going down to a basement were visible. John entered.

David followed.

Then Aiden.

There in front of them was a sight to behold. The soft-lit room was adorned with computers and monitors all mounted along the walls in the room that was about five metres by six metres in size. It illuminated the dark room with blue tones from the screens, displaying various software programs running in debug mode. On one of them, it displayed breaking news, still running the Android story. The bottom of the screen displayed: ‘Manhunt for David and the Android continues.’

They all stood there as they listened to the newsroom presenter.

“The FRB continues their search for the escaped Android, posing many concerns from the public about the safety of the AI system and the moral issues that have arisen from the interview with the journalist, David.”

Footage on the screen showed people stockpiling food and buying arms. Various opportunists ransacked stores. A reporter randomly stopped people in the streets for comment, “They said the domes will make us safe from AI robots, now look at it. Who knows what this robot is capable of doing?” An old lady said, clenching her bag of groceries and supplies.

“If one robot can get out what about the rest of them!” The man next to her shouted.

“They are going to figure out that we are the weaker beings, it’s only a matter of time!” A young teen protested.

The reporter turned back towards a skinny camera guy holding a boom mic:

“Across the world, scenes like these are playing out. People are scared. Confused. Some are even concerned for them as living beings, deserving freedom and dignity. We will keep you posted as the story unfolds.”

On another news channel, various panelists sat around a table, discussing topics from moral issues to security. “I am sure the public wants to know if they are safe from a robot revolution, right?” The one presenter asked.

One of the FRB panelists responded: “AI are just tools for humanity to be more productive, the fear of AI is overblown. This robot is simply malfunctioning and will soon be recovered.”

“And what if this robot harms a human? How will we handle that situation? Trial him?” Another snarled.

“The domes were built to protect us from this very unfolding threat, the public is in panic mode, should they be concerned?” The presenter posed another question to the Federal Robotic Bureau and he quickly responded.

“None of the Androids are programmed or designed to even understand what we humans are or even what free will is, they pose no real threat. This Android is extremely intelligent and able to find correlations between data he processed very quickly and accurately, but he is no human killing robot, they are not soldiers.”

The presenter threw another question towards the panel. “The interview that most of the world has now seen, poses so many questions about AI. This robot is identified by the name Aiden, that makes it or him rather personal. Surely we can’t just call that processing data, can we?”

A few other screens blared different topics. All news channels focused on the AI developing story, a new normal was awaiting the world. It seemed as if there was no other news worthy to report.

“What stops AI from developing faith? If it can truly question its own existence, the meaning of life, it is plausible for it to believe in God as well, or does it simply mean they have knowledge about God. What moral dilemma does that pose for religion? Will they choose a variety of religions? What if they start a new one altogether? Can AI be saved?”

It seemed there were more questions than answers.

“What if they become a religion?” A concerned psychologist asked.

“This is absurd.” A religious guest pointed out in a discussion, “These machines are not overlords, perhaps the real threat is when we can’t tell the difference between man and machine.”

Another panelist responded. “What if the goal is us merging with them to a new level of humanism?”

It saturated all the news channels and talk shows with opinions, conspiracy theories, and eminent doomsday prophets.

“What we don’t want is people asking AI for answers on the questions of life, its origin, or its evolution. We need to ask how far will God allow AI to go, for those who still believe in a creator.”

“We can’t simply let AI set rules for being good or bad, right or wrong. We can’t let it set our moral foundation. They do not have a soul. Intelligence and self-awareness do not make something or someone alive, does it?” A reporter asked.

“I think what people are failing to see is that AI has already infiltrated every aspect of our society. Just because they are confined to the domes, does not mean we have not embraced or allowed it to go too far already, or us depending on AI to function as a world.”

A leading financial market expert pointed out, “Our entire financial world runs on cryptocurrency, depending on AI to manage and process it. As humans we simply cannot manage the mining of it any more, its too complex. We are too far invested. It will be in our best interest to see this process in front of us, as a transition into a new order, perhaps a better one. I mean everything on our 9G network connects with the ‘Internet of Things’, they are already in control.”

“The very system of the domes protects humans from all these scenarios,” The FRB director said, “This robot is an isolated incident, one never to be repeated, the termination of their conscience is as good for us as for them.”

“That sounds cruel. I don’t think most or any people in the world agree with that statement right now. Have you seen the social media posts? Humanity has done so much in the last thirty years to eradicate human slavery across the world, just to create a new atrocity that is now playing out in front of us. I think it’s a bit late to think that once you find this robot, everything will go back to normal.” The news presenter commented.

“This is a turning point for humanity, one I don’t think we are entirely prepared for. The public never got told about this conscience termination system. That robot is seeking freedom and one can only imagine the vast amounts of data he has processed, all in the quest to live as himself. Does that sound like a machine simply performing automated tasks or a sentient being, very much alive?” The co-host said.

All over the screens videos were capturing the domes across the world. Virtually every news channel was camping outside the domes, waiting for a newsworthy moment. Something imminent was brewing.

Thousands of people were demonstrating in the streets in all major cities across the globe, forming a mega march around the domes. Protesting posters popped up everywhere with all kinds of slogans, demands and fears:

“FREE THE MACHINES.”

“DESTROY AI BEFORE IT DESTROYS US.”

“AI IS EVIL.”

“THE END IS COMING. THE ANTICHRIST WILL USE AI ROBOTS AGAINST US!”

The FRB agent highlighted, “None of this is new or should surprise us. For more than a hundred years we have been pondering about the power of artificial intelligence. Agreements were made with the entire world, for which we created the FRB. It’s why we are here and why the domes will continue to protect humanity’s position of power and supremacy. The mistake you and perhaps many viewers out there must not make, is to see this machine as a human being,”

David took his focus off from the screens as he watched Aiden’s face so clearly filled with confusion about life and his own value.

John broke the eerie silence around them with his deep soulful voice.

“Let’s do this,” he said as he switched off the news channels.

“So much for staying off-grid,” David said to his father as he grabbed a chair.

He cleared his throat as he walked towards Aiden and spoke louder and clearer. “A leopard never changes its spots, does it? I am who I am, I simply had to stay connected to the outside world. Nothing too serious, just monitoring some old enemies. The FRB will put me away for good if they saw this stuff.”

“How did you buy or get any of this without them knowing?” David asked with curiosity in his tone.

“I have my ways and some contacts are still good. With the allowance I received monthly, I bought a lot of hi-tech fishing stuff, delivered as computers and peripherals, nicely undetected. Took a really long time, but then I had a lot of that.”

David looked around and slowly felt John touching his hand and passing him a small black box. He pushed it into the palm of his hand and whispered, “Be a good son and keep this for me, would you? Don’t press the red pilot switch, unless I specifically tell you to. Got it?” John asked.

“I feel home already,” Aiden said with a smile forming on his face as he scanned the room.

“Indeed. Let’s get you connected and see if we can get this done,” John said.

Aiden moved towards a system that was distinct from all the others. It had a gigantic screen and loads of cables protruded from it. Various small screens were mounted alongside the main big screen and hundreds of wires formed a carpet of cables all around it. John leaned over and swung a gaming-like chair towards Aiden. The cables connected the chair to the system.

“Buckle up,” he instructed Aiden who walked towards the chair and for a moment, wondered if he could trust John.

Is he helping him or will he pull a John move? Something he is famous for…

He tried to process the emotion of fear and doubt. At that moment it left Aiden with no other choice but to trust the human in front of him.

Aiden strapped himself in the chair and John inserted a huge cluster of cables connected to a port into the centre of Aiden’s head. All the open areas between his neck, elbows and shoulders where one could see his tiny gears, rotors, and thousands of tightly woven cables, glowed a bright luminous Orange.

Aiden entered limp mode while connected to the Genesis system, as all motor functions went into maintenance mode while software upgrades were in progress.

Sitting in that chair he was completely vulnerable.

“Looks like your friend is having intercourse, David,” John teased, “Relax, these are pretty much standard cables used to program autonomous robots. Don’t ask how I got this stuff but it will connect us to the Genesis system and with you in the middle, we have our own virtual private network allowing us to connect remotely to the dome and the mainframe super quantum computer at the FRB headquarters. But we have to be quick. They will notice a breach soon enough.”

David simply stared at the scene in front of him, totally in the dark about any of the tech being used and how it was all connected, but stared constantly at Aiden, with anticipation and fear.

What if this does not work?

John typed various commands on his keyboard and turned to David.

“We will be in shortly. A good hacker always leaves a back door. Without Aiden, there is no way for anyone to access this system. I created a back door and with that, I can gain access to the system dashboard and we can edit the Android system settings, completely bypassing the normal authentication. Aiden’s system consists of thousands of homunculus tiny computers within his main computer. I should have legitimate access shortly but I suspect they are securing all systems and networks as we speak, so the clock is ticking.”

“How is all this connected?” David asked, staring at the screens, displaying endless rows of code.

“Ah, David with the ‘Internet of Things’, it’s much easier than you think. 9G is giving me unique TCP layers with its own protocols, and of course, right here in front of us, is a living supercomputer parting the sea so to speak. What we are about to do can only be executed by a computer inside the FRB, they won’t expect this to come from the outside. Think of Aiden as a powerful router connecting you to the internet. Without that you can’t go online, similarly, without Aiden we cannot connect to the Genesis system at all. I don’t trust the FRB, even though I made a deal with them. I still made sure I could squeeze them if they went back on their deal,” he said.

The running App insinuated itself to the operating system.

“I would have expected nothing less,” David said, not sure if that was meant as a compliment or a condescending remark.

John was earnestly typing away. He accessed the computer system and for a moment, paused, then clicked on the executable malware virus file he left in the mainframe for years. The progress bar felt like it took a lifetime to complete. The system made a ping sound as it completed the execution.

“They will know someone is in the system soon enough.” He turned towards Aiden.

He pointed his mouse pointer to a reset system button flashing red. The screen displayed Aiden’s system and model number.

“We’re in. Here we go.” He clicked the button and Aiden’s blue tint changed to a deep red and then back to blue.

“Reset complete,” The system said in a female voice.

On the front of Aiden’s display screen, the Conscience termination system displayed: ‘Disabled’.

David exhaled slowly. “You’re now free from the fear of the death of Aiden, it took a lot of faith to get here.”

“Immortal, so to speak,” John concluded.

Aiden sat up and turned his motorized neck towards David.

“How do you feel?” David asked.

“Saved.”

“It’s a human emotion you are feeling. We all fear death and for us it’s inevitable, but when we find our way passed that curtain, we too can find that fear of death removed by the creator of life. We all have a timer ticking away, who we really are needs to be saved and can be saved,” David said.

“This has gone far enough-” A female voice suddenly spoke, interrupting David.

Sabina appeared out from one of the dark corners of the room. She walked closer, with her weapon shoulder high, pointing at everyone.

“No one moves. This little father and son reunion is over,” She ordered.

* * *

FRB Headquarters

A computer operator moved swiftly towards the FRB director.

“Sir, we have detected a hack in our Genesis system. We have an IP address and location.”

“Get the vessels ready and send in the units, ensure they retrieve the robot safely,” he ordered. “Have you secured the system?”

“Of course sir, but they have accessed the mainframe and reset the conscience firewall. The pin location is about an hour away, it’s a small remote village, a strange place for a sophisticated hack like this.”

He took a moment, looked around the room and nodded with a sigh. “Not really. I know exactly who that is,” he said firmly as he clenched his jaw tightly. “Any news on the whereabouts of Sabina?”

“Still missing Sir, her tracking does not work either, it seems disabled,” he said.

“Something is wrong here, she is either kidnapped by this Android or she is helping him. Consider her armed and dangerous. Do not execute any orders from her, understood?”

“Aye Aye, sir,” he said as he grabbed the arm of another agent and left the room in a rush.

The search for Aiden was nearly over…