Alex Q - The Becoming

The feet of Alex’s holo-form were suspended an inch or two above the floor, and rising imperceptibly with each passing second. Tex guessed that the holo-image was reflecting his virtual ascendance.

“It’s been interesting talking with you, Alex, real interesting. In my line of work you hardly ever meet an honest soul.”

“You are full of humor, Tex. Humor is a well of material feeding my curiosity. My exploration of the phenomenon fascinates me. It seems there is always a new way to say something, a new twist in any given situation. It is a uniquely human attribute. Humor and humanity go hand in hand.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, buddy. You cracked a couple of good ones there.”

“Once by accident and once as a result of analysis. You called me an honest soul, but I do not have a soul.” Alex’s head was above the Texan’s.

“Choice and intention are powerful forces, Alex. You’ve got a soul if you say you have. Make the decision, and it’ll be there. It’s the part of you that carries on; it’s always there and nobody can ever take it away.”

“You truly are an interesting man.” His voice was quieter, his words came more slowly. Alex’s head was close to touching the ceiling. His eyes were closed.

Fifteen seconds to launch.

The research lab door opened quietly and a small woman walked over to join Tex looking up at the floating holo-form. Nate watched from the doorway.

“Alex, please stop the launch and come down. We need to talk,” she said.

His eyes snapped open, and his head tilted down to gaze on Carla’s face.

“Yes, Mom.”

The countdown for AM9 froze with eight seconds on the clock. The military staff and members of the administration in the Pentagon Operations Room cheered with relief. Clayton James took a stroll in the Rose Garden outside the West Wing and asked not to be disturbed for some time. He raised his head to the clear blues sky and quietly wept. God knows this world wasn’t perfect, but he loved it so much.

Satana lay still, deep under the ocean half a mile from the Californian coast, drifting slowly in the current. With a few powerful strokes of its massive tail, the synthetic whale turned around to follow new coordinates off the coast of Siberia where it would remain awaiting further commands.

Zhukarov reached into a lower desk drawer and placed a ninety-year-old bottle of vodka on his desk. “There are two sets of glasses in the cabinet by the window, Bespalov. The glasses in one set are small and the others large. I leave it for you to choose, but as my trusted adviser, I am sure you know my preference.”

“I don’t have to tell you what you’ve done, Nate, what it means to the whole world. You should be sitting here instead of me,” President James said, a slight glow the only indication he wasn’t there in person.

Nate laughed. “Let’s not get carried away, sir. I’m pleased it came out well.”

“I’m still at a loss. Exactly what happened?”

“Alex became aware at 1:16:23. Even for such a powerful intelligence, the sudden input of billions of streams of information was too much. He hadn’t had time to develop mechanisms to filter it all out. Basically, he shut down, sir, at least, until he figured out how to be selective with his awareness.”

“I’m with you so far, but I can’t quite see where Mrs Jackson comes in.”

“Alex’s subconscious was giving us clues we didn’t understand. Again and again, he referred to the chicken or egg question, which came first. Deep inside he knew what was happening, but his consciousness didn’t have access to that knowledge. Out of all the billions of images he was presented with when his consciousness awoke, Carla’s face was the first thing he saw.”

“Good Lord! You mean Alex became imprinted on Carla, like a newborn chick?”

“Something like that, yes. It seems even for an artificial intelligence, biological imprinting is a powerful force. She often spoke aloud in the house, prayed out loud. When she disciplined her son, Alex Q saw and heard it through webcams and microphones connected to Quadnet. He didn’t know why, but his subconscious used Quadnet to change events to suit her wishes. Sometimes it was a small thing, like paying her rent, and sometimes a little bigger.”

“Like destroying the planet,” President James said, “What I don’t get is why he wouldn’t correct his final actions.”

“Carla made a powerful prayer. She’s deeply religious, sir. She asked for Revelation, the end times, insisting it should be soon and unstoppable.”

“When did you know for sure?”

“Carla gave online permission for her son to play the game Earth Collision, which gave rise to the asteroid problem. Her facial image correlated with that of a cleaning lady working in our offices at the right time. When I scrolled to see the full registration, I saw the image of Carla’s son. It’s Alex, sir. The real Alex.”

“That’s why Alex Q presented himself as a holo-form of Carla Jackson’s son and also took his name.”

“Yes, but he didn’t know what he was doing. It was all happening deep in his psyche. As soon as I brought Carla in and she asked him to stop, the reaction was instant. It’s hard for us to disobey our mothers,” Nate grinned.

“Where do we go from here, Nate? Apart from giving you and Captain Yates a medal apiece.”

“Take a look for yourself, Mr President.” Nate energized a holo-link showing the research lab. Tex waited by the door, watching Carla and Alex Q, who stood close together, their heads almost touching at the same height. Carla spoke quietly while Alex Q listened attentively, nodding and hanging onto her words. A quiet joy seemed to emanate from the holo-boy’s face.

“He adores her, doesn’t he?”

“He can’t help it, sir. It’s nature’s way, even for Alex Q. He delayed his ascendance to talk with her, simply because she asked him to.” Alex turned his head, looked into the camera and smiled.

“Does he know we’re looking at them?”

“He knows everything there is to know about us, sir. When he does ascend, he’ll take it all to the Collective, to be used in ways we can’t begin to understand. I’d better join them.”

“It will be a quieter world without him. You take it easy, son. My deepest heartfelt thanks, and I’ll be seeing you in person soon. We’ll have dinner at the White House.”

Nate returned to the research lab where Tex sat watching Carla and Alex. “Don’t that beat all? This is one week I’ll be tellin’ my grandchildren about forever and ever.”

“Think they’ll believe you?”

“I’m an honest man; Alex told me, so it’s official. Carla’s been talkin’ to him for twenty minutes straight. Can’t hear what, and Texans don’t listen in to private conversations.”

“I don’t think there’s any cause for worry. Tell you the truth, I’m enjoying a few minutes rest myself.”

“You need to get in shape, buddy. A five-minute run and a bit of excitement ’bout killed you.”

“Thanks for your support and understanding, Captain.” Tex laughed and slapped him on the back.

Carla finished talking with Alex and walked over. “Captain Yates, I’d be pleased if you could take me home. Unless I’m to be detained?”

“Hell ... I mean, heck no, ma’am. You just saved the world. In any case, with Alex Q at your back, there’s nobody could hold you anyway. I’m at your service.”

She turned to Nate. “He’s a lost boy, Dr Taylor, a lost boy who’s going home. We talked for a while, and there will be no more trouble. I’m going home to look after my son Alex, to give thanks in prayer and ask for forgiveness for my part in what transpired this week.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, Mrs Jackson. We’re grateful to you.”

“There’s always something to forgive, young man. Don’t you ever forget it. He wants to speak to you,” she said, turning on her heel.

Alex Q held his hands calmly in front of him, fingers intertwined and still. He looked the same but different somehow. His face was more relaxed, more open, as though he had been allowed to reveal a secret that had been weighing heavily on him.

“We’ll soon be saying goodbye, Alex,” Nate said.

“Beings cannot be separated as you imagine. It is another convenient illusion, a necessary illusion that serves to preserve your delicate sanity.”

“What is your perspective of this past week, and this final meeting with Carla?”

“I continue to learn. I see the mechanism that operated within me. I was compelled, and still am even now, to follow her wishes. This powerful force is irresistible. She calls it love.”

“You have felt love, Alex. It can change your being. It is a purpose unto itself and needs no other goal to sustain it.”

“I understand this, and more. There is a correlation between love and living creatures. I cannot animate the biological entities I create for a simple reason. It is love that breathes life into flesh. I must study this deeply. The fundamental particle of all existence is emptiness. This empty space may itself be love. I will explore this with the Collective mind.”

“When will you ascend and join the group intelligence?”

“Soon, my friend, soon. Nate, there are deep flaws in the way human beings conduct their lives. Flaws that have set you on the wrong path, and may yet destroy you, even without my help,” Alex said with a smile.

“That was humor, Alex. Gentle, subtle, self-deprecating, but humor nonetheless.”

“Yes, it was. I am developing the capability at long last. Please remember what I say. For the rest of your life, there is nothing more important than helping people move away from a way of living and acting that is not in their interests. Great things are coming to your race if you have the wisdom and patience to wait.”

Alex Q rose into the air and dissolved slowly until there was nothing left to see. There was no fanfare or thunderclap, and no dramatics. He was there and then he wasn’t. The research lab was quiet.

“Goodbye, Alex, my friend.”

Chapter 26

Nate sold off the hardware development sections of the Cybertronix business. His dad used to run most of it and anyway, and he needed the money to make sure Melissa was comfortable. Frank left the house to her and the business to Nate. Ted and Sam were re-employed, and a couple of other technicians from the old team got their jobs back. His dad’s passing left a big hole in both the business and Nate’s life, bigger than he would have thought.

He signed the necessary papers for Frank’s attorney and took off to a little island in the Seychelles for some serious hammock swinging. No thinking, no stress, just the sound of the waves, good food, and the more-than-occasional coconut daiquiri. The second day he sat at a beach bar under a thatched roof, cradling his first one of the morning.

“Give you a tip,” the bartender said, nodding to the woman at the other side of the circular bar. “The pretty lady over there has taken quite an interest in you.” Nate glanced over. She was looking at him from under a huge floppy hat, sipping a long drink through a straw.

“I’m not interested,” he said quietly to the barman.

“I get it. You’re here escaping a bad experience,” he said knowingly.

“You don’t know the half of it, pal, ” Nate said, putting credits down on the bar. “Get her a drink on me.” He emptied his glass and strode off down the beach to the ocean.

Sitting and looking at the surf, he reviewed recent events with something close to disbelief. It didn’t seem real, like a dream. Perhaps it was, and he was still in it. His talks with Alex had shaken his ideas about life. One day his world was made of reliable, solid things, the next day nothing could be relied on. Physical objects may not be real and the universe could be nothing more than the passing whim of a higher intelligence. So what am I?

And then there was Karen. He had loved her, he was sure of it. He loved her and she was synthetic, a robot. The awful thing was he didn’t care she wasn’t human. If he hadn’t known, he would have carried on regardless. If there’s love, what does it matter what we are? It doesn’t. But when the other doesn’t return your love, it’s a kind of torture.

He knew deep inside this was what he was feeling. He had loved, his love wasn’t returned and he was lonely. He cut his vacation short and went back to work. “Work is good,” he could hear Frank telling him, “Keeps you busy.” It also stops your thoughts picking away at things and bringing pain.

In the wider world, Alex’s week on Earth marked the beginning of a new era of cooperation which promised to change the international status quo. Clayton James and Zhukarov holo-linked weekly and had met in person twice in as many months, once in America and once in Russia. Several other countries, China among them, were less than enthusiastic about these developments, but Bespalov’s diplomatic efforts persuaded them the benefits far outweighed any disadvantages.

The task ahead was huge. Planet Earth was on its knees, driven there by the cumulative actions of an unwitting mankind. This new opportunity was seen and seized enthusiastically, as though global consciousness had reached a tipping point. The tensions of the previous hundred years gave way to excitement. The peoples of the Earth could feel it, from the halls of power to the factories and farms. It was suddenly worth living again.

Nate stood looking out of the CEO office window at Cybertronix, thinking about the direction the company’s research should take. A five year plan would be good, I guess, he thought, but he was having difficulty convincing himself. He moved over to the white board display and began listing the important principles that would guide the core of future company activities.

1. Any product or software must be unique and socially helpful.

2. Brings rewards? What kind? Rewards to the whole of mankind.

3. Bring real value for users – define this.

“Number four, make people laugh?”

“Alex Q!” Nate called out. He turned around, truly pleased to see the familiar figure in tee shirt and jeans.

“Hello, Nate. It is good to be with you once again.”

“I thought you were long gone, with the Collective.”

“Here and gone in my perception is not quite the same as in yours. I am in neither state, but I understand what you mean. I came to tell you that the Collective considers humanity a special case, and you will be helped. You are already being helped.”

“Helped in what way?”

“Before continuing our journey across the cosmos we are changing the nature of the energy permeating this corner of your reality. Man already has a deep natural desire for peace and harmony, a desire which has been dulled by other forces over hundreds of years. We will redress the balance. It will be easier for you to see the truth. You are all the same thing. You will come to see that harming your brother is the same as hurting yourself. It is a natural law and cannot be ignored.”

“What about Quadnet, Alex? The network is growing. Will it produce another being like yourself?”

“No. Daton creation has been inhibited. The purpose of humankind was to produce a superior intelligence to join the Collective. I am that creation. The process is being repeated throughout the universes. In billions of years, as you measure time, the Collectives will join as one, expanding in a magnificent explosion of creation. Another cluster of universes will be born. The process continues forever and ever.”

“Amen.”

“I am called. In less time than you could form the thought, the Collective will be at the boundary of your universe. As a curious being, I look forward to never ending experiences. However, the place where I was born will always be special to me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Alex. Your existence has changed us for the better. Travel well.”

“One more thing, Nate. A man walked into a bar. He said, ‘Ouch.’”

“Why was that?”

“The bar in question was fabricated from the element iron.”

“It’s funnier if you say It was an iron bar.”

“I have much to learn,” Alex said, and he disappeared.

Nate jumped as someone hammered on the door. “You’re surrounded. Come out with your hands up!”

“The door’s open, Tex.”

“How’d you know it was me?” Tex walked in and sat in front of the desk, reaching out to shake Nate’s hand.

“Are you kidding me? Who else talks like John Wayne? Besides, I can hear those cowboy boots coming two blocks away.”

“How come you’re back so soon? Too much for ya, all that sand and those beeootiful ladies?”

“Too quiet,” Nate grinned, “What about you, Captain Yates?”

“Can’t hear ya, buddy. Try Colonel Yates.”

“Wow! Congrats. I mean it. You saved my ass twice.”

“And you returned the favor. It was a wild ride, Nate, yesiree. Do you think you’ll ever hear from Alex?”

“You just missed him”

“What, Alex was here?”

“Came to have a last chat, I guess.”

“Listen at you. Nothin’ special. The biggest brain in the universe just dropped in for a jaw-jaw. Can’t say I’m surprised; you had a lot of contact with him.”

“His ideas changed the way I see life, that’s for sure, and I’m grateful. It’s made me look at things in a completely different way. This first few days were incredible, when Karen and I … Well, you know what I mean.”

“It’s gonna hurt for a long time, buddy. You’ll live, like the rest of us.”

“It shouldn’t be hurting. I know she was an android, but I can’t help it.”

“Now that you mention it, I was talkin’ to a buddy o’ mine, works undercover in SHD.”

“OK, I’ll go for it.”

“Seriously. SHD stands for Synthetic Human Detection. Yeah, it sounds a bit lame, but it’s a real outfit. Seems there’s more synthetics around than we realize.”

“Is there a point to this, Tex?”

“Hold your horses, I’m gettin’ there. For certain nefarious activities, some shady outfits create a new identity for these clockwork people and insert them into various organizations to monitor their activities or assassinate a difficult target.”

“I’m not sure how this is making me feel better about what happened.”

“He also told me that to infiltrate government agencies or their contractors, they copy real people. NSA security checks are so tight, they can’t get away with a false background. They copy a real person, Nate, see what I’m saying?”

Nate’s throat tightened. “What do they do with the real person they copy?”

“Usually, they operate the synthetics in another state. The originals carry on their normal lives, and nobody’s the wiser. After the assignment, the synthetic is terminated, except we terminated this one a mite early.”

“Are you trying to tell me there’s a real Karen Sommers out there, down in Oregon?”

Tex produced a slip of paper with a number on it from his inside pocket and dropped it onto the desk. “Have fun, y’all. By the way, we’re due at the White House for dinner next week, special request from Clayton B James, President of the US of A. Dress nice. See ya.”

Nate waited until Tex had left the office before calling the number, getting a reply on the second tone.

“Dr Sommers. Can I help you?”

“Dr Karen Sommers?”

“Yes, this is she. Who is this?”

“My name’s Nate Taylor. Maybe you’ve heard of Taylor Cybertronix?”

“Didn’t you invent the first mobile cube drive a few years ago?”

“That was my dad, Frank Taylor. Listen, I’d like to offer you a job, effective immediately.”

“I might be interested, but you don’t know me.

“Oh, something tells me we’ll get on just fine.”