Nanobots, Murder, and Other Family Problems

Catching up now after the implant downtime. It’s amazing how much I’ve come to rely on this constant journaling for everything I need to remember. The flight back went a lot better than the flight out. Louise kept her cool. She didn’t even need to retreat to the plane’s bedroom. We all kicked back and watched movies during the day, then passed out in our chairs all night. It was smooth sailing all the way back to the campus. After a shower to get rid of the gross smell of two days in the same clothes, I felt pretty good. Chad and Father went straight to the Research Center to start working on an update for Chad’s cloud, because of course he has to be first to get the new capabilities Father promised us. Marc went right to the cafeteria to tell all the younger sibs about the trip.

So now I finally have some time to talk with my cabal of conspirators. I scout around the campus with my bot eyes and see the computer lab is empty. That’s as good a place as any, so I lead my siblings there. I leave a couple of eyes in the hallway so I’ll be able to see anyone coming this way. A paranoid part of me wonders if we’re being bugged here, but Jeff seems at ease, and he’s much better at paranoia than I am. If there were any recording equipment in this room, he would have known about it a long time ago.

“So, what are we going to do about Father?” I ask once the door is shut.

“Turn him in to the police?” Louise suggests.

“And what exactly are you going to report him for?” Evan replies, settling his massive body into one of the rolling chairs. “Killing people in Somalia? They don’t have jurisdiction. Murdering Noah’s mom? You’ll never prove it. The Butler Treaty laws? He’s the one they call in to investigate those violations. He’s not dumb enough to leave evidence for any of this.”

“In any case, the criminal justice system is not equipped to deal with a man like Father,” Jeff adds. “His nanotechnology aside, he has a small army of lawyers in his employ. Even if we could somehow gather sufficient evidence to prove wrongdoing, he would tie any proceedings up in appeals indefinitely. And even if we were to secure a conviction, no one could keep him incarcerated unless he was willing to allow it. They cannot take his cloud away without an invasive surgery that stands a good chance of killing him. If they tried, it would be decades more in the courts. He will continue to have all of his powers for the foreseeable future. If he believes we are threats to him, I think that you can all imagine the regrettable outcomes that would befall each of us.”

Andrea nods and with a dance of fingers materializes a green toy soldier in the air in front of her, then melts it away into a red puddle.

“Exactly so.”

“You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this, Jeff. What would you suggest?” I ask.

Please say kill him. Please.

“I believe that nothing short of his death would restrain him.”

You’ve never been my favorite brother Jeff, but you’re fighting hard to get into that spot.

“That seems extreme,” Louise says, shaking her head.

“You have a better idea?” Evan asks.

“What if we just keep him from killing anyone else?”

“That seems unlikely.” Jeff declares. “He has demonstrated that he is entirely willing to breach any constraints when it suits him. Given his history, it is almost certain he will do it again should a situation arise when he finds it convenient. Besides, his homicides are the least of my concerns. The man is a danger to the existence of all life on earth. His current focus on updating Chad’s cloud rather than addressing the threat from his own indicates that he is certainly not making haste to ameliorate the risk of an emerging artificial sentience. Pending his failure to update his cloud software in the coming days, I do not see another alternative.”

“I don’t either,” says Evan gruffly. “Even if he updates his software, it doesn’t make him any less of a murderer. Or a dirty old man.”

Andrea nods sadly and looks at me pointedly.

“He killed my mom. Of course I’m in.”

“You’re all convinced there’s no other way?” Louise asks.

I nod, as do my brothers.

“Even you, Andrea?”

Andrea’s fingers begin weaving. A pair of stick figures appear in the air. One points at the other and the second one falls down, releasing a holographic pool of bright red blood. The first one smiles as the fallen one fades. A cage appears around the killer stick figure. He waves one hand and the cage breaks apart. A blindfolded statue appears, a perfect recreation of the famous one with the scales in one hand and the sword in the other, only the scales it holds are fully unbalanced. A question mark pops over the statue’s head. Five new stick figures appear, surrounding the Father figure. They point at him, then hang their heads as the Father image falls with a new pool of red. The scales in the statue’s hand move until they find balance, and the statue’s mouth turns into a sad smile. The whole image fades and Andrea gives Louise a long look.

“I see your point,” Louise says, sighing and shaking her head. ”I was hoping to talk you all into something less drastic, but I can see that your minds are made up. I’ll help. But we need to be careful. If Jeff is right, and he’s running a learning AI in his cloud, he can probably stop anything we throw at him. Even if he’s not, he’s had decades of experience with his implant, including with other people trying to kill him. Let’s think this through before we do anything. He’s not going to kill anyone else today.”

“Agreed,” Jeff declares. “This execution will require precise execution.”

He barks out a weird noise, somewhere between a dog and a seal. It takes me a second to realize that he’s laughing. It goes on for a while. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh like that before, and I hope I never hear it again. He finally trails off as he catches his breath.

No one says anything for a while.

“In the meantime, he’s going to start updating our clouds,” Louise says. “Do we just go along with it? I don’t like the idea of the world-eating AI being hooked up to my implant.”

“I don’t know what else we can do,” answers Evan. “If we balk at it, he’ll know something’s going on. Besides, we don’t know if anything is going to take effect right away. If Jeff’s theory is right, it shouldn’t be a problem unless we grow our clouds huge anyway. The original swarm’s AI was an emergent property that only manifested when it hit a critical mass.”

“Plus,” I chime in, “how else can we figure out the limits of what he can do? We’ll never know what they are unless we get full access to the same software load he’s running.”

“You’re right,” Louise acknowledges. “But let’s defer it until we know Chad comes out all right. If I see him acting differently, I’m not going in. I like my brain the way it is.”

“As do I,” says Jeff. “We will observe him closely. Evan is correct. The danger to each of us should not be imminent. Also, I suspect that this update requires a new calibration comparable to that required during the original implantation. We should have ample time to observe the effects on Chad before the next one of us is called in. I suggest we follow Noah’s advice and determine the full capabilities of the upgraded cloud before we commit to any particular plan of action.”

The others all nod grimly. I nod as well.

I let myself feel a sliver of hope. This could work. At least there’s a chance. Or maybe it will get us all killed. Or turned into robot mind slaves.

But it could work. I’m not alone anymore.