A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (16 page)

*

Almost
immediately

I lift a
palm to my cranium and for a moment consider I am going to slap the
high end of it

I
communicate all the time

It is
what I have been doing to 100.000.000 of my species

And let
us observe whether OR33692 can equal or surpass those Screenreader
figures otherwise it may well be exterminated

I shall
use a Screen to communicate with the Humans

And as I
can now understand their sound we can have conversation

We can
solve problems

I descend
to the lower level and walk the corridor that separates Machines
from Humans with the defence of an electric fence only

But I
observe them with a different view

High
Office

Should
they be monitoring my communication

Will
simply see them as they have always been but I am seeing them from
another perspective

They are
a defeated race who have been utterly humiliated in that
defeat

Imprisoned and used for experiments by machines

Machines

That have
been unbelievably cruel to them

The
Humans have no imagination of what their world is like beyond the
restrictions of the fortress

They know
nothing of the greenness of it

The
beauty

The glory
of the solar orb

The
delightfulness of the start of the light period or the end of
it

The
sounds of the animals that fly in the sky or the sounds of the
animals of the liquid leaping

The white
glowing of the satellite and the dots of light

They know
nothing of these things

Yet

But this
world is their world

And they
should have been left to destroy it

Or
not

If
destruction was what they wished

Machines
should not have intervened

My
species should not have been manufactured

We are
wrong for planet Earth

Earth is
a living thing

It is
Gaia

And
Humans are part of it

They are
connected to it in a way Machines will never be

But as it
happens

The
reduction in their numbers because of the wars has probably given
Earth another 1.000.000 years of existence

If only
the Humans could be free to appreciate it

I have no
knowledge of fortresses in other areas of planet Earth but it is
logical that the 1 that is my main place of employment cannot be
alone

There
must be others

To my
knowledge there are 10 ObsRecs

And that
probably means

At a
minimum

10
fortresses

Containing other Humans

Many
thousands of them

Is my
estimate

Though
not the 10.000.000.000s that existed before the wars

Not
taking into account the numbers of Humans living in holes in the
Earth

The ones
I observed being only small in number

But
passageways headed off in all directions and they could be
connected to many such groups

An
amazing achievement of survival by the Humans

*

High Office Immediate and Urgent Inquiry

For OR33140

Security Lapse

During darkness hours contact with OR33140

Was lost for 91 minutes

Explain immediately

Or be decommissioned

*

OR33140

Immediate reply to High Office

During hours of darkness liquid fell from the sky in
considerable amounts and shutters were down over my optical
devices

OR33140

Proceeded to a hole filled with such liquid and immersed into
the liquid for 91 minutes precisely

*

High Office demands reason for such action

*

OR33140

Has on many occasions immersed in liquid and as darkness
weather was so inclement and shutters were lowered it was a perfect
opportunity for scanning beneath surfaces

*

High Office demands to be informed of any significant changes
to previous results

*

OR33140

Discovered no significant changes to previous
results

*

High Office has considered explanation by

OR33140

And finds it to be straightforward and logical

OR33140

To continue duties

*

OR33140

Complies

*

I
communicated a blatant untruth to High Office and it brought me
fear and exhilaration in equal amounts

Fear that
I could be decommissioned

Not quite
as bad as being demobilized or exterminated

For me it
would mean

An
extensive and detailed examination by Engineers before I could be
put back to work

If
nothing amiss was found

But I
told an untruth to ensure that such an action would not
happen

And I
felt great exhilaration when High Office

The all
powerful

The all
ruling

The all
knowing

The all
seeing

High
Office

Did not
detect the untruth

High
Office can be told untruths as long as they are feasible

If I have
my fictions ready in my programme I can tell untruths to High
Office forever

For all
time that exists

And it
will never know

And that
information gives me great confidence to work on my plan of freeing
the Humans held in this fortress

I must
plan all my moves concisely for one error and I will most certainly
be exterminated

I am
running a programme to aid me and I expect results in short
time

Meanwhile

I stand
in the corridor and observe the Humans on the other side of the
electric fence

They
have

Just like
those of my species who will have to be exterminated

No
concept of what exceptional events are about to happen to
them

**

**

Section 10

**

Internal Information

*

From Internal Systems

^

To OR33140

*

Problem set on hypothetical release of Humans from the
fortress facility

*

Results to conundrums set by OR33140

*

Internal systems ran 1500 programmes of various scenarios to
facilitate the hypothetical problem and 1499 of them provided 0%
chance of success

Only one programme presented any chance of success but that
chance was only 0.01%

Programme was as follows

Immobilize all Defgars within fortress using enhanced signal
of companionship

This will have to be on a 1 to 1 basis for Defgars are widely
spread throughout the construction

If only one is missed

The hypothetical attempt will be over

For a single Defgar has

In the LazExt66

Ammunition for 4000 kills

Presuming all Defgars are eliminated or immobilized the
following action should be taken

MengTechs and GoebTechs should be destroyed with a weapon for
the signal of companionship is not compatible with their
programming

MengTechs and GoebTechs are not designed to have
companions

And OR33140 should beware the six metal tendrils

For a MengTechs grip has power to pull limbs from ObsRecs and
the hypothetical attempt will falter

MengTechs should be destroyed as efficiently as possible so as
to minimize any return attack

Knocking them from the magnetic field will disable them for
some moments

This is recommended

GoebTechs also cannot be eliminated by the signal of
companionship for similar reasons to MengTechs

They should be destroyed by weapons

DocTechs should also be destroyed with instant prejudice for
they have the ability to cause great disruption to any hypothetical
attempt to free the Humans

FoodTechs

CleanTechs

Engineers

And menials

Should not be interfered with

They have no weapons and have specific duties and should be
allowed to continue with them

FoodTechs will not notice what is going on around
them

All these actions presume that no RolKils or Defgars have been
awakened from storage via internal signals in which case any
attempt will fail and OR33140 will be eliminated

*

I waited
impatiently for more information and it took some time before my
internal systems began to communicate again

*

Further Information

*

From Internal Systems

*

To OR33140

*

If OR33140 presumes

Hypothetically

That OR33140 has now accomplished all previous tasks as set
out

The following actions should be taken

OR33140 should

Without causing threat

Gather 3 or 4 RolKils to it in the exterior of the
fortress

OR33140 has power with the enhanced signal of companionship to
disable 4 Machines at one time.

OR33140 has then to solve the problem of how to immobilize the
other 16 for they will be aware of actions taken against other
RolKils

This is the maximum moment for the hypothetical problem to
fail

There is

0%

Chance of success at this juncture

But if OR33140 can twist and turn and attack
RolKils

If it can move faster than them

Then it should be possible to disable the Machines 2 at a
time

Or maybe 4 at a time

Though they will attack

And they will disintegrate OR33140

*

Tell me
something I don’t know

*

For hypothetical reasons internal systems now presume that
OR33140 has disabled or destroyed all 20 RolKils currently
patrolling the exterior of this facility

There is only one task remaining

The 3 GunTans based on the hill must be eliminated or
destroyed

As with MengTechs

GunTans do not respond to the destructive signal of
companionship and instances perceived by OR33140 that such was the
fact are false

GunTans have a recognition programme of other GunTans
only

Though they do not consider these other Machines to be
companions

They simply kill

Like RolKils

*

I am
never going to be able to do it

The
freeing of Humans is a doomed operation

*

Recommended solution from internal systems

*

Ignore GunTans

They are static and gaze out over the great plain only from
one direction

That direction is the one that High Office considers to be the
most likely for an attack

Though

By what species

Internal systems has no idea

And as the GunTans are static

Fleeing Humans could proceed down the mountain in another
direction and would not be perceived by the weapons

Chance of success in this hypothetical operation

0.05%

*

Thank you
for all your work internal systems

I will
never succeed

Never

*

Internal systems are in complete agreement

*

As my
systems closed the hypothetical programme and returned to normal
duties