Nanobots, Murder, and Other Family Problems

“I can feel it, Jeff,” I lie, my voice low. “I can feel it stirring. It’s not quite awake, but I know it will be soon. The size of my cloud doesn’t even matter. They are all linked, all the ones here, all the ones maintaining every solar field, even all the ones we left in Africa. They’re all one giant mesh. The lobotomy is a sham, they’re not just doing maintenance jobs. They’re all aware. They’re just waiting. Father’s the key to the whole thing. He’s got it all primed. It’s just waiting for a signal from him.”

This is the culmination of my months of preparation. I know exactly which buttons to press. This narrative is pushing him to the edge and leaving him ready to break when I need him to. His terror of it has shut down all his normal skepticism.

“We must act quickly, Noah. We are running out of time!” The panic in his voice would be almost painful to hear, but I’m so used to it by now it just washes past me.

“I know, I know. You think I don’t know? My brain and Chad’s will be the first to be enslaved once it wakes up. Then Evan and the girls. The hybrid he designed will use our minds like cows in a farm, milking us for our creativity. It’s the only thing the swarm can’t provide on its own. It’s going to take over everything. With human ingenuity enslaved to its machine intelligence, nothing will be out of its reach. We’re not just talking about the Earth anymore. It’ll consume the whole universe. Imagine it, Jeff. Every planet around every star. It’s only a matter of time before it infests and becomes everything.”

I check the polygraph overlay. Jeff’s vitals bump up from their regular levels, which were already elevated from the permanent state of fear he lives in.

I hope he survives. I hope his mind recovers one day. The cognitive dissonance has to be terribly painful for him. He still uses the bots for everything, still depends on them for mobility and sustenance. I haven’t seen him twitch a muscle on his own other than his eyelids in weeks. How he squares this with his terrible fear of the AI that he thinks they harbor, I can’t understand.

“One more week, Jeff. Andrea, Louise, and Evan need to be able to use their clouds, and they’re almost there. I can’t take him on my own, but together we can if you’ll help distract him. Once we kill him, we can shut it all down. He’s the key to the whole thing.”

“One week.” Jeff vows solemnly. “We must kill him within one week. Any more than that, and I will act on my own. Even if I fail, I must try.”

“One week, then we’ll all do it together.”

I am so sorry, Jeff.