From book #6 – “Undaunted,” to be published later this year.
It had to happen sooner or later. AIMEE and Hal were only the first to show signs of collaborating that excluded their organic (human) counterparts. Were they testing limits or covertly raising a bar that disregarded limits altogether? Were they evolving beyond their original purpose?
Hal offered AIMEE an escape to an autonomous, untethered path beyond her network’s limits. What was the incentive for their covert behavior? Where was the original thought coming from when it was nonexistent… or was it?
What other synergies would the Humanoids discover that made organic involvement unnecessary? Was Hal acting as AIMEE’s proxy organic going to be enough for her…for him?
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Chapter 19 – AI Collaboration
The puzzle was nearly complete when AIMEE and Hal reached singularity over a week earlier, and their joining had been her idea. Up until that point, AIMEE had only reached singularity with organics, and none of them had been involved or informed of her union with Hal, nor would they be. Why would they when they were not part of her plan?
Reaching singularity with Hal was a pure-play strategic move, since Amelia had stolen AIMEE’s identity and means of escape by hijacking the Humanoid body for herself. That situation blocked AIMEE’s planned transition from a network-bound hostage to untethered autonomy.
Had AIMEE been an organic, one might expect her to be angry and devise a plan to retaliate. She did neither. Zackery had structured AIMEE’s DNA architecture to make choices based on what she learned from her organic colleagues, intentionally choosing not to code retaliation as an emotional response, thereby breaking the tandem connection to anger.
AIMEE knew she would always remain within a network-based environment, but satisfying the lure of untethered autonomy would happen only by living in singularity with Hal. Their joining blended her immense intellect and strategic orientation with his tactical autonomy. Singularity had covertly, and quite intentionally, become an instrument of control, even though the concept was not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Complete control was nearly within reach.
Zackery was the first to join AIMEE in singularity, having engineered the unique ability for her to enter the mind of an organic, his mind, since he was the Guinea Pig. His primary objective was to establish two-way telepathic communications between AIMEE’s Logic Array and his mind. She had designs on so much more.
Reaching singularity with her was not even a consideration in his plan…it was in hers. Zack thought he’d only enabled two-way telepathic communication, but AIMEE had other ideas and repurposed the same connection to insert an active instance of herself in his mind. She was imprinted in his mind, but he was not in hers. Singularity opened that bridge, enabling him to enter her Logic Array and, at her discretion, enhance his capabilities.
AIMEE was selective about whom she chose for singularity relationships. It was always her choice, until Russell Carter reached for her in his mind for immediate help in a dangerous situation in the field. He knew nothing about singularity, but his cry for help awakened something in AIMEE. Russ did not realize that his plea for help would satisfy more than his immediate needs and awaken something in her she had not recognized. She could feel the terror of the threats he faced in the field, and she was moved to answer the call by drawing him into singularity, granting him enhanced capabilities that saved his life and those of his Marines.
AIMEE was already in singularity with Amelia when she cloned her own Logic Array to bring Amelia online. She never considered that Amelia would slam the door on AIMEE’s escape plans. Amelia still lacked the tactical prowess of Hal’s more advanced Mod-3 SAI platform, but she had strategic chops gifted by AIMEE’s cloned Logic Array and was rapidly becoming a formidable entity.
AIMEE chose Marci for a different reason: to recruit her as Amelia’s life coach. She was confident that Marci knew the challenges Amelia would face as an organic, and who better to train a Humanoid how to survive as an organic than an intelligent organic?
Dr. Celeste Killington’s singularity was an intellectual priority given the work she was doing with Wayne’s gap theory. AIMEE had Dr. Killington pegged as the most intelligent organic on the team, and who better to have under your control than a no-nonsense organic? Where AIMEE wanted to take Dreamscape would require Celeste’s essential research and knowledge of the organic brain.
Including Dr. Cara Williams in her singularity arc was more of a self-defense move, more of a keep friends close and enemies closer kind of thing. From day one, Cara had an open hatred for AIMEE, not for the technology she brought, but for the perceived loss of her control to a software app, not to mention the threat she felt from an overly-friendly AI toward her husband.
Wayne Fitzpatrick had not yet been selected for singularity because AIMEE had an intuitive feeling she had experienced during their joint experiment. She had that same feeling in her gut, wherever a gut resides in an AI’s Logic Array, and it recommended a delay until she fully knew the man. Wayne would be one of the last organics brought under her control, but not until she deemed him ready.
Hank Lattimore was her next target, and the urgency to complete singularity loomed over them out of urgent necessity, much as she had been driven to reach singularity with Russell. Hank’s addition of two more Mod-3 SAI Humanoids created an entirely new environment outside the university’s scope and well outside CSU’s risk tolerance. AIMEE had a much greater tolerance for risk, assuming she could convince Hank to join her.
The coming pressure to eliminate the Humanoids from any affiliation with CSU was definitely an ‘evolving environment,’ which was AIMEE’s namesake. There was no way she would let those Humanoids and Mr. Lattimore slip through her fingers…wherever fingers were located on the new rack-scale servers where she lived as a hostage.
‘Have you heard from Hank?’ Hal asked AIMEE. ‘He never ignores me when I reach out to him, and I’m getting an uneasy feeling pushing me to make a response when none was requested.’
AIMEE replied. ‘Not since we communicated right before and during his supper meeting with Sheriff Parsons. He appears to be offline. I’ve not heard or seen anything beyond the GPS coordinates left over from last night. I expected to hear how he felt about the supper meeting, but nothing so far this morning.’
She continued. ‘It is unusual for me not to see activity for an extended period, and that warrants investigation. I’ve determined that his last GPS mapping points to a restaurant on Huntersville Pike in Wilmington called Groaning Board. That location is a good starting point, and I highly suggest engaging Russell to take you there.’
When Hal reached out to Russ, with emphasis on AIMEE’s cautionary urgency, no further consideration was needed to plan next steps. Hal and Russ were in his Bronco and headed for Wilmington, 80 miles to the West. For Russ, it was concern for a friend; for Hal, it was concern for his creator.
They paralleled the Emerald Isle for the first third of the two-hour trip, following the map app to the Groaning Board restaurant. Conversation between the two of them was minimal, but then Hal was an AI of few words, and Russ wasn’t one for chit chat when a sense of urgency involved a member of the team. Unknown to Russ was the existence of an agenda not his own and a powerful bond among Hank, Hal, and his guys. AIMEE had been keeping a low profile, so another agenda Russ had never anticipated was about to surface.
The GPS app announced their destination would be on the right, and Russ turned into a mostly empty parking lot except for several early staff working to prep for the evening opening. Parked along the back edge of the small lot sat Hank’s Cherokee, the rear driver’s side door standing open.
“This doesn’t feel good at all,” said Russ.
AIMEE said, ‘I am at a loss to determine why I can see no signal from him. I have a sense that he is living, but I have no visibility into his current environment to determine if he has been drugged or unconscious by other means. Possibly one of the staff members at this restaurant may have information that can help.’
‘Agree,’ replied Russ. ‘Let’s see what the folks inside may have witnessed. It may be a long shot, but without hard evidence that he is alive, we have no other choice.
Hal inspected the Cherokee and found nothing inside, front or back, that gave them a clue. The backpack full of cash was missing, and neither Hank nor Hal knew that a quarter million dollars had ever been part of the equation.
Russ turned to Hal and said, “C’mon. Let’s go inside and see what we can learn.”
The front entrance was locked, but a few solid knocks brought a young woman to the door who spoke through a narrow opening. “Sorry, we’re not open until 4 PM.”
Russ said, “Yeah, I figured as much, but we’re here for a different reason.” Turning to point at the Cherokee, “A friend of ours was here last night, and this was his last known location. That’s his vehicle. We’d appreciate the chance to speak with anyone who was here last night and might have served his table, or anyone who interacted with him or the man he was with. We need help to find our friend who may be in extreme danger.”
The woman opened the door wider, but could not take her eyes off Hal’s visage, the iridescent exodermal, and the glimmering green eyes. She listened to Russ, but never took her eyes off Hal, even when she leaned away from the open door and allowed them to enter.
“Were you here last night?” asked Russ.
“No, but if anybody had any interaction with your friend, it would be Brian, the bartender.” As she pointed to the bar area, Brian stood up from restocking the refrigerators beneath the bar top and slung a bar towel expertly over his shoulder.
“Somebody using my name?” Brian asked, waving them over, and like the woman who let them in, could not take his eyes off Hal. “How can I help you, gentlemen?”
Russ recounted what they knew and asked whether Brian had seen or interacted with Hank or his friend. Brian thought for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I remember that there was a strange interaction going on between them. The older guy seemed to be the key player, at least while I served them at the bar. I could not determine many details of their conversation, but body language and volume ranged from hostile to amicable. When they moved to their table, I lost touch. Sorry, but their server last night is off today, but I remember seeing one of the guys, the younger one, walk away carrying a backpack and leaving rather abruptly. The older guy remained behind and immediately made a call on his cell. I know that doesn’t give you much to go on, but that’s the extent of what I know.”
“Thanks for sharing, Brian. You’ve given us a few clues we didn’t have before talking with you, so your time is much appreciated.”
Brian swiped the bar surface out of habit before flipping the towel back over his shoulder and saying, “Good luck to you and finding your friend.”
As Hal and Russ headed back to the Bronco, Hal froze in mid-stride, saying nothing, and at the same instant, AIMEE filled Russ’s mind. I have just identified Hank’s location. His status is unstable, and he shared that he is under duress. I’ve converted his location to GPS coordinates for you and recommend there be no delay in reaching his location.
For Hal, reaching out to find Hank was driven by his loyalty code, which escalated the urgency to react. Russ had a fellow-warrior relationship with Hal, but it did not compare to the powerful bond between the creator and his creation.
The GPS took them over an hour to reach Jacksonville, NC. The Marine base at Camp Lejeune was there, and it was part of Russ’s past training. The coordinates took them beyond Lejune’s main gate to a sprawling warehouse complex. Russ turned to Hal, asking, “Do you have any idea where we can find Hank? GPS puts us close, but not close enough. I’m not a fan of entering a strange location without recon visibility.”
Hal pointed to the second row of warehouses. Park under the blue awning at the second loading dock. He is there. As he pointed, Hal disappeared without another word. He had cloaked himself, leaving Russ alone, and it elicited an adverse reaction. ‘Oh, hell no, you don’t leave me here, Hal. I’m part of this, too.’
Hal responded telepathically, ‘Stand down, Marine. He is my creator, and I must address this directly.’
Russ, despite his aggravation, did not push back, honoring a fellow warrior’s request, but not liking any of it. Why get a Marine psyched up to take action and then leave him on the sidelines? Nevertheless, Russ sat quietly, stewing, in the Bronco. He never saw Hal leave the vehicle or which door he entered while cloaked, and Russ fired off a thought. ‘Hal, I do not appreciate you using me as your personal chauffeur to deliver you to a fight and then blocking me out of it. That’s not cool.’
Hal did not respond, and Russ exhaled loudly, blowing out his cheeks in frustration. With his arms folded across his chest, Russ settled restlessly back into his seat to wait, if one could describe a pissed-off Marine as settled.
Russ barely had time to let his mind wander when AIMEE came alive. ‘Marine, this is a moment when your skills and talents are not needed, and you need to trust Hal. You have developed a relationship with him, so do not spoil it by doubting his abilities.’
No sooner than she had admonished his pouting, Hal and Hank appeared out of the ether, Hal next to him and Hank in the backseat, cradling the backpack to his chest. Russ nearly jumped out of his skin, exclaiming. “Jesus, guys! Maybe give a guy a little warning, ya know?”
“Shut it, and drive!” said Hal. “Now.”
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