Alex Q - The Becoming

Melissa Taylor stood at the door watching Nate close the gate and walk along the path, her fixed smile suggesting a welcome neither of them felt. He bent to brush her cheek with his lips and put on a brave face with a smile of his own. In spite of their mutual dislike, Nate knew she was good for Dad, which was the main thing.

After his mother had died, his father was like a man in a rowing boat with no oars. Melissa’s devotion gave him the stability to rebuild his life. For this, Nate was grateful. He knew she’d had affairs. For that, he was resentful.

“Where’s Dad?”

“He’s in the study. Why don’t you come into the kitchen? I’m fixing coffee; you can take it in to him.”

Nate watched his step-mother. She was small, slim and attractive for her sixty-three years. Part of him could see it might be hard to be married to a man like Frank who lived for his work, who was hardly ever home.

Throughout the years she was solid in her support of the man she loved, but with Nate she was cold. Resenting the way he’d worried his dad in the past, she tolerated him because he was family. It was an uneasy peace, which Melissa handled in her usual efficient way. Today was different. She usually avoided spending time alone with him.

“Nate, I’m worried about Frank. He’s hardly spoken a word since coming home yesterday, and obviously he’s not going anywhere this morning. For ten years, he’s told me everything. But yesterday he came home early, went to his study and hasn’t come out yet. I can’t get anything out of him. What happened yesterday?” She surprised him by stifling a sob with a handkerchief. “He’s my life. If he leaves me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Leaves you? My God, Melissa. You think he’s got another woman in tow?” No, he’s not like you. “There are problems with the company. That’s what happened yesterday.”

“A business problem? Is that all? Thank goodness.”

“It’s a bit more than a business problem. There isn’t a Cybertronix anymore. The government’s taken over our work and we can’t talk about it; that’s what’s eating dad. They changed the name of his company, for God’s sake.”

“Poor Frank. But it’s his. He created it from nothing. How can they do such a thing?” Then as an afterthought, she added, “How will we live?”

Nate jumped up and reached for the tray. His voice was sharp and a little too loud. “Don’t worry, Melissa. They paid handsomely. You’ll still have your preferred lifestyle, if that’s what’s bothering you.”

Melissa blocked his way. He saw from her angry look he had gone too far. “You listen to me. I know you don’t particularly like me, but I love your father. He’s my only concern. You think I don’t know him? I know him better than you. This might be the end of him.” And then she softened. “Please do whatever you can to help him, Nate. Surely you remember how it was.”

How could he forget? After the 2019 recession, Cybertronix was hit hard and Frank retreated into his shell. His father’s genius was offset by occasional bouts of deep depression, a tendency Nate had inherited. His dad sometimes needed treatment and complete rest for weeks. 2019 was bad. He fell into a black hole, and no one knew if he would climb back out again. Nate would do anything not to see a repeat performance.

Frank was pretending to read a book when Nate walked in, set the tray down and poured the coffee. “Black and strong, Dad, how you like it. Mind if I open the curtains?”

What little light there was in the room filtered through the thick material. Frank didn’t budge while Nate pulled them back, sending sunlight streaming past him across the books piled on top of the desk. The walls were lined with shelves, home to hundreds of books, both literary and technical. A casual browser might come across an old Grisham paperback in between books by Asimov and Hawkinge, or a selection of Australian poems. Nate loved the room. When he was a child, it was a place of mystery. A place of learning, he always found it a comfortable place to be. It was, then and now, his dad’s inner sanctum. He sat in the chair opposite his father.

“Dad, I need your advice.” Frank lifted his head. There was a first time for everything. “Something’s happened and I’d like your opinion.”

Frank cleared his throat and removed his spectacles, rubbing his eyes with thumb and finger.

“You look tired,” Nate said.

“I didn’t sleep much last night. Too much going around in the old gourd, I suppose. I’ll bounce back; I always do.”

“Yes, from temporary setbacks, Dad. However serious they seemed at the time, they were always temporary. This latest thing with Cybertronix, it’s tantamount to a giant full stop. Did you see it coming?”

“Not that I can say. I did have a strange telephone conversation with the chairman of an oversight committee last week; said he was writing a report for Congress. He asked about our approach, the strengths of each team member, what our overall strategy was, other related things. Boyd, I think his name was.”

“Steven Boyd?”

“Why, yes, I think that was what he called himself. You’ve heard of him?”

“More than heard. That’s why I’m here, Dad. I was summoned this morning, though it felt more like a kidnapping. A couple of agents took me back to Cybertronix to talk to Boyd and our old friend Agent Alders.”

“Indeed! Curiouser and curiouser.” Frank sipped his coffee. His interest was piqued. “What did they want?”

“Seems they need help. After launching their own operation, they settled in to have a cozy chat with Quadnet and guess what? Nada. Not a word. There’s been no contact since the arrival of the short messages on my terminal.” Nate could almost feel his father’s curiosity change up a gear.

“So how did it go? Like an interrogation, I suppose.”

“Not really. In fact, it was almost comical, but not quite. Typical good cop, bad cop routine. Alders gave me the hard line, complete with thinly veiled threats, until Boyd sent him off to rustle up drinks. Picture pat on the head, off you go there’s a good chap kind of thing.”

“Alders didn’t strike me as the kind of man you’d send out for coffee.”

“That’s what I thought, but you’d have to meet Boyd to understand. He speaks kind of quiet and polite, but his eyes are sharp, hard like flint. A steel hand in a silk glove, that’s my impression. What do you think is going on?”

“It’s always the same thing, son; power. Well before Quadnet, when the internet was growing fast, elements within the ruling elite saw the enormous potential for control, not only of the masses but on the geopolitical level. Complete control of internet traffic is synonymous with global dominance in commerce, the military sphere and of course, in space.”

“So they are after what governments are always after: more power. Hardly original.” Nate had deduced this for himself, but saw with relief his dad was becoming more animated. It was a good sign. “But they would only have control over Quadnet. Since the Sino-Russian Cyber treaty effectively separated the internet cleanly into two halves, total control isn’t possible anymore.”

“That’s true. Like two hemispheres of one brain, Quadnet and the Sino-Russian net function in much the same way, but there is no communication between the two. The Phillips Crypto Barrier blocks any kind of data transfer.”

Nate sat back to consider Frank’s words. Both nets relied on a series of satellites placed in geostationary orbit over twenty-two thousand miles above the Earth. For decades the whole planet had enjoyed free online access. The West had theirs, the East had theirs and both sides were determined to keep it that way.

“They want access to the other side, don’t they?”

“Yes, I think they do. Either to get access to their systems—”

“Or take it down,” Nate finished his sentence for him.

“The internet is such a fundamental part of any modern society. Take it down and you effectively send it back to the industrial age. An unconnected nation would slowly die, no longer able to compete or trade in our modern world.”

“I’ve got a lot of unanswered questions, Dad. Let’s assume it’s just our internet that has become aware and is now a sentient being.”

“It sounds logical. We do know Quadnet was far more complex than the East’s internet at the time of separation, and there’s no reason to suggest the situation has changed.”

“OK. So as far as Quadnet goes, as an aware intelligence it must be omnipresent within the network. It’s my guess the feds are assuming it might also be omnipotent, as far as cyber-reality is concerned.”

“What’s worse, Nate, is that this new entity shouldn’t be regarded simply as a tool, to be used however human beings see fit. It represents a completely new intelligence with unknown capabilities. We should be planning to learn from it, not control it. The folly of mankind seems never ending. Is this how the human race welcomes a new kind of being to our planet?”

“There’s another thing, Dad. I have no idea what it means or if there’s a connection, but it could be significant. It isn’t possible to enter the word can’t into any computer connected to Quadnet, which means all of them, I guess.”

Frank removed his glasses to clean them, as though clearer vision would bring clearer thoughts. It was a sure sign he was engaged. “For me, that’s even more interesting. Anomalous behavior with no apparent cause. Mmm.”

“That’s not all. There’s something going on with a group of individuals sharing the same name, Robert Grantham. I saw it on news on the way over.”

“Like the Senator, you mean?”

“Exactly. It beats me. I wanted to get your take on it. There’s no trace of the Senator’s existence online, and other people with the same name have been affected in other ways, all involving Quadnet in one way or another,” Nate said.

“It may mean nothing in itself. It’s hard to imagine a logical reason for such a vendetta, if that’s what it was, but it may be an indication of something else, instability possibly. Karen is the one to ask. That’s why we employed her in the first place.”

“Yes, a specialist in Artificial Intelligence psychology with nothing to practice on.”

“Until Quadnet became aware. Unfortunately, she will have no chance to converse with it.”

“I need to think, Dad. I’ll catch you later. And I will talk to Karen some more. I also dropped by to make sure you’re OK.”

“Don’t you worry. I’ll be fine once I find something to do with my time. You work out what you want to do with your immediate future. Don’t let you talents go to waste, son.”

Nate reached in his pocket and opened his hand to reveal the prototype Quadcube drive from his father’s old office. “I palmed this. Thought you’d like a keepsake.”

Frank laughed. “No, you keep it. It might bring you some luck.”

Nate flipped open his phone outside the house and voice dialed Karen. “Got time for lunch? No, it’s not a date. That’s great. Luigi’s in thirty minutes. See you there.”

Karen listened carefully, her brown eyes watching Nate over the thick frames of her glasses. Nate returned her look. Whoever said men don’t find women with glasses attractive was seriously wrong.

“As you said, it’s all a bit academic in the circumstances. They’ve locked us out and we have to assume it’s permanent. I’m pleased your dad’s OK, though.”

“Thanks, Karen. He’s a tough old bird for sure. This is a big deal for him and I’d do anything to stop him falling down that Godawful pit of depression again. He needs a project of some kind to throw himself into.”

“Something he has a passion for.”

“Can get his teeth into.”

“Succeed at.” They both laughed, enjoying their complicity.

“You have a beautiful smile, Karen,” Nate said, surprising himself. “I’m sorry, that sounds stupid. I’m not hitting on you.”

“ Relax, I can take a compliment. A girl needs attention, you know,” she said, brushing the fringe of her auburn hair out of her eyes.

“We haven’t worked together long, but I got the firm impression you were strictly business.”

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re not at work. Besides, a girl has to keep her reputation, particularly when she’s the only one working with a group of guys stuck in adolescence, present company accepted, of course. Geeky, brilliant, but teenagers nonetheless as far as the ladies are concerned.”

Nate smiled and nodded appreciatively. “You are a psychologist aren’t you. I suspect there’s more to you than most men see on the surface.”

She laughed. “I don’t have to be much of a psychologist to see a man’s eyes staring at my ass when I walk across the room.”

Nate knew he was blushing, but couldn’t help it. “It’s that obvious is it?”

“Oh, I don’t mind certain men looking, if it’s discrete,” Karen said, again looking him directly in the eyes.

“Hey, what say we order some food before we starve to death?” Nate said, pleased to change the subject.

“Salad and soup will be fine.”

Nate called the waiter over and ordered. “What do you think about Boyd asking me to come back to the project, and help the Government access Quadnet.”

“It’s a bit much, just after throwing us out.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“What did you say to our Special Agent exactly?”

“I told him no; maybe a bit too emphatically, on reflection. It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’m annoyed with them. More than annoyed. I don’t like the way the government treats us, that’s my beef. A bit adolescent, I know, letting my annoyance get in the way of professionalism.”

“There’s a lot happening. I don’t blame you for being resentful, particularly as your dad’s been hit so hard.”

“Are you always this understanding?”

“Depends who I’m talking to and what the subject is,” Karen said, smiling. “Are you rethinking the situation?”

“I guess so, for dad mostly, but also because I’m intrigued, which gives me an idea.” Nate took out his phone, reached for the card in his back pocket and dialed the number.

“Mr Boyd, it’s Nate Taylor. OK, Steven it is. After some thought, I’ve changed my mind about joining you. As you said, its a unique occasion and I want in, but there are conditions.” Nate nodded, looking at Karen while listening to Boyd’s reply.

“First, and this is absolutely non-negotiable, my dad’s company is to be reinstated. You can keep overall control of the research facility, but the Taylor Cybertronix sign goes back up.”

Karen showed him her crossed fingers.

“Steven, nobody knows more about quantum computing than Frank Taylor. Control of the research level and all it contains should satisfy your remit. Besides, that’s the deal; you don’t take my father, you don’t get me,” Nate said.

“Good. A couple of other things. Keep Alders out of my way. I don’t like his style and it would severely cramp mine to have him standing over me breathing down my neck. Next, I have full control of the style of any communications with Quadnet, with your input as you see fit. Lastly, I need my team.”

Karen scribbled on her note book, turning it around for Nate to read. NICE GOING. GET ME IN!

“I understand, Steven, I really do. At the very least I need Dr Sommers. She’s one of the few advanced AI psychiatrists in the country. Her input would be invaluable. Good. You won’t regret it. We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Wow! Dr Taylor, I think we deserve a drink,” Karen said.

“I think you’re right, Dr Sommers.”