Pandora's Brain (26 page)

As Alice climbed into the large black sedan that had drawn up outside her house she was relieved to see that Jemma was already inside. She tried to sound relaxed and in control as she greeted her friend, but Jemma was not fooled. Once Alice was settled on the soft leather seat, Jemma leaned across and covered Alice’s hand with her own.

‘How you doing?’

‘I’m OK, I guess,’ Alice replied haltingly. ‘It’s a weird situation, isn’t it? I mean, thank god he’s alive! It’s a miracle. But I can’t deny I’m really confused by the whole thing. I’ve been breaking down in tears every few minutes since the news came through.’ She laughed nervously despite herself. ‘I’m going to have to pull myself together, aren’t I?’ She looked out the window. ‘I guess we’ll be picking up Carl before we head onto the bypass and up to London.’

‘You don’t have to be or do anything, Alice.’ Jemma said, soothingly. ‘This is a new situation for all of us. It’s only natural to feel destabilised by it. Everyone understands that.’

‘Destabilised is right! I love that boy, Jemma, and when I saw the report on the TV my heart missed a beat. I’ve missed him so much in the last few months: I didn’t know how I was going to get through it. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to go on. And you know all this already. You’ve been a fantastic support, and I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’

Jemma smiled and shook her head, squeezing Alice’s hand and waving her other hand to dismiss the idea that she had done anything important.

‘No, really. . .’ Alice protested, looking at Jemma directly. There was no need to say anything more. She turned her head to look out of the window again. ‘But what’s going to happen in London? What will he be like? I mean . . . is it really Matt in that computer?’

Jemma nodded sympathetically. ‘Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that myself . . .’ she said, but stopped herself as the car pulled up outside a large detached house and the driver got out and opened the door for Carl. She gave him a welcoming smile and moved along the seat so that he would sit next to her, facing Alice.

‘Hi Jemma, Hi Alice,’ he said brightly. Realising that Alice was upset, he added gently, ‘Everything OK?’

‘I think it’s safe to say,’ Jemma began, looking cautiously at Alice, ‘that we’re all finding the situation confusing.’

‘Yeah,’ Carl said, hesitantly, not wanting to cause offence.

Alice tried to clear the air. ‘You used to talk with Matt about this sort of thing, Carl. Before . . . , well, before he died. What’s your take on all this? Who . . . what are we going to meet?

As she spoke, she was looking at the back of the driver’s head. There was a glass partition between them, but she wondered if it was sound-proof. Jemma caught the look.

‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘He told me that we have complete privacy back here. And to be honest, even if we don’t, we have an opportunity now to get things sorted out in our minds before we meet Matt. We should take it.’

Carl was looking puzzled. ‘Get what straight? Is there something I don’t know?’

Alice smiled ruefully. ‘In my limited experience, Carl, no, there’s nothing you don’t know.’

Carl was flustered. ‘That’s not what I . . .’

‘It’s alright, Carl,’ Alice interrupted. ‘It’s me that needs to get a couple of things straight in my head. And I’m hoping that you can help. It boils down to this. Is it Matt that we are going to meet, or some kind of . . . I don’t know . . . simulation, or replica of Matt?’

Carl relaxed. ‘Yeah, I have asked myself that too, of course. And the short answer is, I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ll really know when we meet him, either. But I’ve spoken to his parents briefly – I guess you both have too? They are certainly convinced, and that is an important consideration. But to be honest, I guess I’m going to keep an open mind.’

‘Yeah, I guess so,’ Alice said, looking doubtful.

Carl leaned forward, looking down, his elbows on his knees. ‘You’re right, Alice. Matt and I did discuss this sort of thing: artificial intelligence and mind uploading. He was very excited about it. I thought he was nuts when he argued that it could happen in the near future and I told him so. Now the bastard has gone and proved me wrong. I hate that.’

Jemma smiled, understanding that Carl was trying to put Alice at her ease. He looked up at Alice as he continued.

‘You know . . . maybe it isn’t Matt inside that computer. But even if it isn’t, whoever or whatever it is has convinced itself – and also Matt’s parents – that it is Matt. For what it’s worth, my hunch is that it may well be Matt. But whatever we think, I think we should give him – or it – the benefit of the doubt. Whoever or whatever it is, this new Matt must be feeling very scared and very alone. It must be hard being a brain in a box, with no body, no freedom of movement, and with quite a large chunk of the world wanting to kill you – for the second time, no less. If we – his closest friends – don’t appear to believe in him, then . . . well, I think that could be very hard for him.’

Alice straightened in her seat and her frown relaxed as she began to steel her mind. ‘You’re right. That’s absolutely the way to look at it. I’m being selfish. However weird this feels for me – for us – it must feel a whole lot more so for Matt. He deserves our support, and he will get it.’

*

The three friends walked into the control room and were greeted by the sound of Matt’s voice booming across the room.

‘Hey, guys, it’s so great to see you!’

Alice’s hand flew to her mouth, and Carl gaped open-mouthed. David and Sophie stood up and walked swiftly over to greet them. Sophie hugged Alice and David shook Carl’s hand warmly and then hugged Jemma.

‘Thank you so much for coming,’ Sophie said to all of them. Then, looking particularly at Alice, ‘I’m so sorry we couldn’t tell you earlier. I feel terrible about the way you heard. It must have been a shock.’

‘No need to apologise, Mrs Metcalfe,’ Alice assured her. ‘We understand you had no choice in the matter, and we’re all here now.’ She looked across the room towards the main monitor, and gasped a short laugh of surprise as she saw a series of dancing smiley faces. ‘How is he?’

‘I’m fine,’
Matt said.
‘No need to talk about me in hushed tones in the third person, as if I was a terminally ill hospital patient!’

‘I’m sorry, Matt,’ Alice smiled. ‘How are you?’

‘Well, obviously there are downsides to my situation,’
Matt said, with a sly single entendre.
‘But it’s way better than the alternative. Vic, could we get my friends equipped with ‘Matt-phones’?’

‘No problem,’ Vic said, grinning, and recruited Julia’s help setting up three private lines and portable communicators. ‘Once we’ve got these hooked up you can conduct private conversations with Matt. You are welcome to pop into any of the rooms nearby, but don’t wander too far. Security is very tight in this complex, as you will have gathered from the process you had to go through to get in here.’

David explained that one of the intriguing aspects of Matt’s uploaded self was his ability to carry on multiple conversations at the same time. Once the equipment was ready, the three friends each went off to find a private space to talk to Matt privately.

*

‘Well you did it, dude!’ Carl said. ‘You proved me dead
wrong.’

‘Yeah,’
Matt crowed.
‘Quite possibly the biggest “I told you so” in human history, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Yeah, I can’t really argue with that. So what’s it like? Do you feel like the old Matt, only more so? Have you got super-powers?’

‘That’s exactly the way I describe it,’
Matt agreed.
‘The old Matt, only more so. And less so, in certain important respects, although that concerns Alice more than you.’

‘Yuk! Too much information!’

‘Sorry,’
Matt laughed.
‘And no, I don’t have super-powers because I can’t interact with the physical world other than with sound and visuals. I do have enhanced sight and hearing, which is neat, but you just take it for granted after a while. The expanded mental capabilities, though: that is really something. As you already know, I can do lots of things at the same time, and I can do them much faster. And it’s not just speed. I can process information better too. I have already solved a couple of previously intransigent maths theorems, and I’ve only just started. I’m learning a couple of whole new subjects to doctoral level each day, and I’m making progress on some really big problems by comparing apparently unrelated bodies of knowledge from different disciplines.’

‘Amazing!’

‘Yeah, it’s mind-blowing, actually. But do me a favour, Carl? Keep this to yourself? I’m trying to persuade the world that I am still Matt – which is true – and if my new capabilities were fully understood, I doubt people would believe me.’

‘No worries,’ Carl said. ‘You’ve convinced me already.’

*

‘So how do you feel? Are you OK? Really OK?’

Matt was profoundly moved by Alice’s presence. Along with the astonishing expansion of his intellectual capabilities had come a far deeper understanding of his emotions, and control over them. He didn’t experience his intellect and his emotions as two separate realms of mentality, but as mutually enfolding aspects of his reality. He realised that as a carbon-based human he would be feeling a lump in his throat right now, and probably be shedding a tear. His silicon-based incarnation was just as emotional, but the way it experienced the emotions was completely impossible to describe. He would have to invent a whole new vocabulary for it. He turned his indescribable feelings over in his mind and savoured their bittersweet texture.

‘Yeah, I’m OK, Alice. Everything’s crazy, but I’m OK. It’s so great to see you. Thank you for coming.’

‘Are you mad?’ she laughed, despite herself. ‘You think I could have stayed away? Wild horses and all that . . . ! I was going to kill you for letting me find out through the TV, for god’s sake, but Vic’s people have persuaded me that you had no choice. Well, they’ve mostly convinced me, anyway.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. How’s everything at home? How are your folks?’

Alice rolled her eyes. ‘You know what they’re like. You’d think that they knew all along that this would happen. No, actually they’ve been great. Dad actually took some time off work to be at home with me, which is pretty incredible.’

In response to Alice’s urgent questioning, Matt described as best he could what it felt like to be an uploaded mind: the astounding expansion of his cognitive horizons, and the frustrating imprisonment of having no body, and no way to interact with the world.

‘So, um, are they going to give you some kind of body?’ Alice asked tentatively. ‘They can grow most organs these days, so can they grow you a body? Or transplant you into an existing one?’ She shuddered internally as she realised some of the implications of that notion.

‘No,’
Matt replied despondently.
‘I’m afraid I’m not going to be given any kind of body any time soon. Perhaps not for years. They’re aware that too many people will be afraid of me if I am able to interact with the real world. To be honest, I think that Vic is becoming a tiny bit afraid of me himself. I can understand their point of view, but it’s frustrating as hell.’

This news hit Alice like a physical blow, like a new bereavement. Her mind reeled for a few moments, and then she gathered herself, realising that it affected Matt even more. ‘You’re taking it really well, Matt,’ she said, tenderly. ‘I hate it, though: being able to talk to you, but not being able to touch you. Not even being able to hold your hand.’

‘Me too,’
Matt said with profound feeling.

There was a pregnant pause. ‘It doesn’t change anything, you know,’ Alice said with a cheerfulness that she tried to persuade herself was real. ‘You’re still my Matt. You’re still my boyfriend. If you want to be, that is?’

‘That’s really sweet of you, Alice. It means a lot to me that you said that.’
Matt’s voice sounded tender and wistful.

‘But you don’t think it’s possible, do you?’ Alice said slowly. As if waking from a dream, she realised that Matt was way ahead of her in thinking about this new situation. Her breath caught in her throat as she caught a glimpse of how different he had become, in mind as well as body.

‘We can’t have what we had before,’
Matt said, as gently as possible.
‘That’s an inescapable conclusion, much as I hate to say it. But we can still have a lot of what we had before – and in some ways more.’

‘What do you mean?’ Alice asked. ‘Remember I’m just an ordinary human – unenhanced, not uploaded or anything. You’re going to have to spell it out for me slowly.’

‘There’s nothing ordinary about you, Alice,’
Matt said, with a smile in his voice.
‘OK, well the first thing is you could help to save my life.’

‘Wow. No stress, then.’ Alice grinned. ‘So what do you want me to do?’

‘In a nutshell? I’d like you to persuade the world that I am your boyfriend. And that you still care very much what happens to me.’

‘That won’t be hard,’ Alice said with a straight face. ‘It happens to be true.’

‘Attagirl! So here’s the thing. My parents will do a bang-up job of persuading everyone that they are utterly convinced that I am Matt: there is no question in their minds, and people will see that. But critics will argue that my parents are just desperate for it to be true, and they are deluding themselves. They have no choice but to believe, people will say. But you’re different. If you thought I was no longer Matt you could just walk away. If you don’t, that will carry some weight. And I’m afraid that I’m going to need all the persuasiveness I can muster in the coming days and weeks, to avoid getting switched off.’

Alice gasped. ‘You’re serious? You think it could come to that? Of course, I’ve seen all the protests and the TV pundits warning about this and that, but I just assumed they were all nutcases.’

‘I’m deadly serious. And please don’t make the mistake of dismissing them as nutcases. Some of the objections to my existence are far from stupid. Personally, I have no time for the protests based on whether or not I have a soul, although there’s no getting away from the fact that most people on this planet are religious in some form or other. But I do agree with the people who say that the arrival of artificial intelligence is a turning point for humanity, and it could go well for us or it could go very, very badly. It’s just that I think – actually I know – that I represent one of the few ways in which it can go well.’

‘Well no-body’s throwing the switch on my boyfriend!’ she said indignantly.

‘Bless you,’
Matt said.
‘But don’t agree on a whim: think it over first. If you do this you will be subjected to intense media scrutiny. Of course you can choose which journalists you speak to, and you can stay off any websites whose discussions you don’t want to read. But for some time – it could be months or it could be years – you will lose what is left of your privacy. Your house will be surrounded like mine was. Your family and our other friends will be bombarded with requests for comments and interviews, and some of them will give them. Some of this is going to happen anyway – probably already has. But it will be worse if you decide to help me.’

‘I understand what you’re saying,’ Alice said, calmly and firmly, ‘but I don’t need to think about it. You are my boyfriend, and I love you. Of course I’ll do anything that might help save your life.’

‘I wish I could hug you. I do love you, Alice.’

‘I love you too, Matt. I always will. And I wish . . .’ She stopped. She knew she would not be able to finish that thought without bursting into tears – something she was determined to avoid. She searched for a way to change the subject, and after a few moments she was able to speak again. ‘Do you think I should get some media training before this all kicks off?’

Matt understood entirely what she was thinking, and he waited for her to gather her thoughts.
‘I was going to suggest that,’
he agreed.
‘I’m sure Vic or Leo will be able to arrange something. I’ll speak to them.’

‘OK, great.’ Alice’s voice turned slightly coy. ‘So tell me. What will it be like to have a boyfriend who lives inside a machine?’

‘I guess we’ll find out over time,’
Matt replied. His tone became hesitant.
‘There is one thing I have to say, which is hard to say and might be hard to hear.’

‘Go on,’ Alice said cautiously.

‘Well, I can’t say that I won’t be jealous if you start an affair with someone else. But unless they allow me to exist in three dimensions sometime soon, I don’t want you to waste that side of your life waiting for me. I mean, of course part of me does want that. But the bigger part of me thinks you shouldn’t. As long as he’s not an idiot, of course!’

‘OK. Well thank you for saying that. I appreciate it. But I have no interest in anyone else. Maybe I’ll feel differently sometime in the future. But right now, you are the only boyfriend I want.’ A sly smile crept across Alice’s face. ‘And maybe we can find some really kinky way to sort out that other side of things.’

‘Naughty girl!’
Matt laughed.

‘So, going back to my question. What will our relationship be like now?’

‘I don’t know, really. I think it will be interesting, though,’ Matt replied. ‘One thing I do know is that I am here for you whenever you want to talk to me. You already know that I can carry on quite a few conversations at the same time, so I can talk to you literally any time of the day or night. And although I don’t have a physical 3D presence for the time being, there are certain compensations. For instance, ask me a question: any question at all.’

‘OK.’ Alice thought a moment. ‘I know. This is something the old Matt would never have been able to answer without looking it up. Why are the buttons on different sides on men and women’s clothes?’

‘Ha!’
Matt gave a little laugh.
‘Interesting. Apparently men have worn buttons for centuries, and they generally dressed themselves. Women only started using buttons in the late 18th century, and only on very expensive clothes, which their maids helped them to get in and out of. Most people are right-handed, so the women’s buttons were on the other side, so that their maids could access them easily.’

‘Yeah, that’s a very handy skill you have there!’ Alice said, laughing. ‘You always were impressive, Matt Metcalfe. Now you’re truly amazing!’