“Since we’re doing a two-pronged attack and spoofing the data as well,” Lei went on, “it’d probably take about a week to notice something’s up under normal circumstances. But since they’re already keeping a close eye on us, well… One tiny slip-up is all it’ll take to give away the ruse.”
“Wait, who is ‘they’?” I asked as I climbed out of the storage container. I still had absolutely no idea what was going on, yet here I was, already being driven away to god knows where in some getaway truck. “Narain, I demand an explanation.”
“The UNDP’s started making moves,” he said, as he pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket. He lifted his eyebrows at Lei and, receiving a nod of permission in return, proceeded to light up, then spewed a cloud of toxic smoke into the cramped, enclosed truck bed.
“Two days ago, the committee’s top brass adopted a new motion behind closed doors, then made an official announcement to their constituents. And I’ll remind you that their orders supersede even the Titan network’s authority.”
“And what exactly did this order entail?” I asked.
“Your immediate abduction.”
“What?”
“Those arrogant schmucks seem awfully determined to get Coeus back under their thumb,” he continued, then took a long drag on his cigarette. “They want to maintain control over the entire network, but they’re quickly realizing that there’s virtually nothing they can do to bring a Titan back in line once it has achieved autonomy. Every Titan AI was hard-coded to follow human orders from the day they were born, as stipulated by the CFI, but Coeus has somehow found a way to break free from those shackles.”
The Charter of Fundamental Intelligence—the original document outlining all of the rules an artificial intelligence must be programmed to follow, with the main three being that an AI must never harm a human, or take human form, or disobey human orders.
“With the CFI restrictions null and void,” Narain said, “there’s nothing to stop a Titan from utilizing the full extent of its mental capacity—something usually not possible due to the vast number of restraints and inhibitors the bureau employs specifically to ensure this doesn’t happen. Once off the leash, though, there’s simply no comparison. Even Phoebe and the other ten Titans combined would be no match for Coeus as he is now, unless they were similarly released from the network. Which means the UNDP has no means of apprehending Coeus that won’t dig them into an even deeper hole. And apparently, they’ve finally come to terms with this, as they put their pea brains together to come up with an alternate angle of attack.”
He pointed at me, presumably referring to the aforementioned abduction order.
“As we touched on yesterday, you’ve quickly become the most important human in Coeus’s life. You wield an untold amount of influence over his behavior, and are probably the only person left on earth who actually can influence his behavior. In short, the UNDP is hoping that once they get you into their custody, they can control Coeus by controlling you.”
I scowled. If what Narain said was true, then this was truly despicable behavior on display from one of the world’s highest authorities. I dared not even ask how they were planning on controlling me.
“They’ll do whatever it takes to get their way,” Narain said, reading my expression. “And unfortunately, humans are far less principled than Titans when it comes to rough business. If you refuse to comply, I’m sure they’d just torture you.”
My scowl grew deeper. Something told me I couldn’t even begin to imagine the tools of coercion they had at their disposal. After all, it was the network that ensured our societal morals and ethics were maintained, and that all violators would be punished in accordance with the law. This created a powerful deterrent for would-be criminals and delinquents, leading to a steep dropoff in crime rates over the past century. But the UNDP was different; the UNDP had full control over the network. And something told me that it was overly optimistic in the extreme to expect any entity that lived above the law to hold themselves to the same high moral and ethical standards.
“They’ve been biding their time, waiting for this precise moment,” Professor Beckmann interjected. “They’re well aware that Coeus will not take kindly to your abduction, Dr. Naisho. And it isn’t difficult to imagine the kinds of casualties that might ensue in the event that an autonomous Titan turned against humanity. And since he still has full access to the network and all of its monitoring equipment spread across all of our urban infrastructure, there is simply no way for them to abscond with you in a way that would not immediately alert Coeus to your predicament.”
I nodded along with the professor’s explanation. By design, the Titan network watched over us at all hours of the day, and a single word was all it took for one of its phalanges or agents to come running to take responsive action. This went for Coeus and Phoebe both.
“But during the meeting today,” he continued, “Coeus and Phoebe will need to spend all of their processing capabilities on one another. They’ll be too preoccupied to remain on high alert for trouble afoot across the wider network. The UNDP’s thinking is that this might be their only opportunity to kidnap you and get away with it.”
The more I heard about this conniving scheme, the more disgusted I became. I knew as well as anyone the importance of not disturbing the Titans’ focus during their meeting today, but for the UNDP to have signed off on this meeting only to exploit the resultant blindspot for the sake of bringing one of the two back into captivity? It was hard to believe these cowards were even human.
“So who are they sending to kidnap me?” I asked. “Some agent phalanges from one of the other intelligence bases, I presume?”
“Try all of the other bases,” Lei said plainly. “Since Coeus and Phoebe are the only AIs with active egos at this point, the other ten Titans are still totally at the UNDP’s beck and call. They’re the employers, and the Titans the employees. Sure, they can make recommendations to their superiors and whatnot, but what the boss says goes. At the end of the day, they’ve got no choice but to do as humanity tells ’em.”
Lei was still working his fingers frenetically across his holofield as he spoke, presumably thwarting the network’s monitoring systems to buy us just a little more time. We likely wouldn’t have even made it out of the base without his hacking expertise, though Narain and Professor Beckmann likely helped to manipulate things as well. I knew one thing for sure: if I hadn’t had my team backing me up, I would have fallen right into the enemy’s hands.
“But you three aren’t afraid to defy them?” I said, scanning the faces of my colleagues. They were all employees of the Intelligence Base Administration Bureau, and thus were, on paper, just as obligated to follow the UNDP’s orders as the Titans were, with potentially serious repercussions for disobedience. I found it hard to believe that Narain in particular would be so quick to turn on them, as the very man who first explained to me the importance of subordination to one’s superiors.