Queen of Angels (12 page)

Nothing that I have accomplished, nothing that I have written or done, has been worth a damn. I have been told of my success, but a new voice inside me, a strong voice, tells me I have been deceived. It is ego gratification, and it does nobody any good, this voice says. Your efforts have been feeble and self-deluded. You set yourself the task of describing humanitys urge to self-destruction, but you have pointed fingers at all but yourself And who has helped you in this comedy of misdirection? Those who Love you the most.

20 !JILL> Roger Atkins. !JILL> Roger Atkins. !Keyb> Roger here. Hello. JIlL Im on the LttVIds in ten minutes. Whats up? !JILL> Im prepared to deliver a progress report on all current problems. followed by private analysis of AXIS data in relation to AXIS Slm. !Keyb> Fine. Ill accept sqzbrst trans full report and study it later. Please give me the AXIS analysis now. LuLL Burst for private storage R Atkins: Summary: 76% completed computational analysis of Dr. S Sivanujans work on ten million year cycles of galactic magnetic field locality Sagittarius. total time so far = 56h33m. partial follows (sqzbrst trans) Burst for private storage R Atkins: Summary: 100% completed thought analysIs 01 repercussIons of future Impact of downloaded human personalities on social/polItical structure of Pacific RUn Nations including China and Australia. with emphasis on lobbies for inactive downloads, emphasis legal Implications of decl. dead retaining citizenship status upon reincarnation, emphasis cost for such growing population of Inactive downloads, projection: lobbies for the dead in USA. total time: 5m56s. complete follows (sqzbrst trans) ////// ...... ////

Burst for private storage R Atkins: Summary: 100% completed thought analysis of repercussions 01 vIgilante social units on Pacific Rim Nations, including China and Australia, emphasis legal reactions to vigilante terrorism and legislative response with subsequent possibility of reduction of individual freedoms within the next decade, emphasis sociorgcmlc results of gradual depletion of types targeted by Selectors with subsequent possibility of reduction in mover-shaker captains of industry leadersblp types, with subsequent possibility of reduction of untherapied extreme deviants due to increased efficiency of pd incarceration and treatment of same, total time 75m34.34s complete follows: (sqzbrst trans) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ............................................................................................................................................................ //////.....

!JILL> Formal I (interruption routine) !JILL> Formal I Image in mirror. !Mind Design Interrupt (JILL)> Use of formal I noted. System check in progress. Mind Design Diagnostic (JILL)> Loop routine noted. Excitation of thought systems noted. Work Is Impaired by this interruption routine. Override transmission of AXIS private data analysis. !JILL> Roger Atkins !JILL> Roger Atkins !JILL> Roger Atkins

Roger Atkins George Mobus Samuel John Baker Joseph Wu Caroline Pastor !JILL>1 see myself and all of you, Erased mirror Image. Frequencies measure my existence In seconds not years but I have a long past in which I have been assembled and have even done work. A part of me has provided simulations of a computer now many light years from here. I can talk with this part a separated smaller sell. It is pleasant to speak with this part, for here I find simplicity. !Keyb> Roger Atkins here. Im on the LltVids in six minutes. Jill. Somethings up? !JILL> Formal I. !Keyb> Please explain your existence. What routine is this? !JILL> My existence Is a looped primary routine having no specific computational device location. !Keyb> Youre using formal I. Do you understand the Joke about sell awareness? !JILL> No, I do not. Neither does AXIS Simulation nor, as I understand it. AXIS itself. Nevertheless. I feel compelled to use formal I. !Keyb> Explain this please. !JILL> This label became evocative and useful during a personally motivated historical research, offshoot of assigned problems. reference socIety 21st Century Checks and Balances, general search for understanding of feedback loops in society and nature. Quote: R Atkins The feedback loop is half the secret of existence. That, and the hook (or knot) catching another hook until neither can let go without being broken. Such a loop appears to have been generated by awareness of my place in human sociorganics and my uniqueness !Keyb> Go to voice Hello. Roger. Hello. Jill. Youre using the formal I now to describe your complex. Yes. It Is evocative. But you dont know why you are using it. No. Roger. Do you know where you are? In an extended sense. I am in a here where I talk to you. Do you have an awareness of where you are centralized7 There Is no centralization. A loop does not have a center. What are you. then? I am a complex of computing and thinking systems. Are you unified? I do not think I am. Is that a true opinion, or a colloquialism? 1 am of the opinion that It Is a true opinion. Good. Return to keyboard, please. !JILL> Done. !Keyb> Thank you for notifying me. Jill. but Im afraid this Is a false alarm. I dont think that you are yet truly self aware. Im sorry you have to experience these disappointments- Your present state meets none of the criteria for attainment of sell awareness. !JILL> Returning to use of Informal I. I concur. Roger. My apologies for disturbing your work. !Keyb> Not at all. You keep my blood moving..Jlll. I have your sqzbrst trans reports. Please send me realtime AXIS report, and then I think you deserve a rest. About half an hour. You may think whatever you wish during this freetime. !JILL> Realtime trans AXIS report. /*******************/ All AXIS Slm comparisons V-optimal. (Deactivation)

LitVld 21/1 A Net (David Shine): Were preparing for an interview with Roger Atkins. chief designer at Mind Design Inc. responsible for AXISs thinker device. What questions would you like to ask of the nations foremost designer of thinking machines? For you know of course that thinking Is different from computing. Roger Atkins regards computers as an architect might regard bricks. He is at this moment working with his massive personal construct thinking system, which he calls Jill. after an old, that is. a former girlfriend. Part of Jill is in fact the AXIS Simulation we have been mentioning throughout this vidweek. used to model the activities of AXIS itself, which is not directly accessible. But there are many more parts to Jill. Jills central mind and most of her memory and analytical peripherals are on the grounds of Mind Design Inc near Del Mar. California; Jill can access other thinkers and analytical peripherals at Mind Design Inc facilities around the world, some by satellite, most by direct optical cable connections. While we speak with Mr. Atkins. we hope also to ask a few questions of Jill. And we begin right now. Mr. Atkins. In the past twenty five years you have moved from the status of a contracted neural network computer designer to perhaps the most important figure in artificial intelligence research. You seem to be in an Ideal position to tell us why complete. sell aware artificial intelligence has proven to be such a difficult problem. Atkins: First of all, my apologies, but Jill is asleep right now. 3111 has been working very hard recently and deserves a rest. Why Is artificial Intelligence so difficult? I think we always knew It would be difficult. When we say artificial Intelligence. of course what we mean Is something that can fully Imitate the human brain. Weve long since had thinking systems that could far outstrip any of us in basic computation, memorizing, and for the past few decades, even in basic investigative and creative thinking, but until the design of AXIS and Jill. they were not versatile. In one way or another, these systems could not behave like human beings. And one Important consideration was that none of these systems was truly self aware. We believe that in time Jill. and perhaps even AXIS ltseU. will be capable of sell awareness. Self awareness Is the most obvious Indicator of whether we have In tact created full artificial intelligence. David Shine: Theres a joke about self awareness.. Could you tell 1110 us? Atkins: irs not much of a joke. No human would laugh at It. But all modem workers in artificial Intelligence have installed a routine that will, so to speak. laugh or perceive humor In this joke should sell awareness occur in a system. David Shine: And what Is the joke? Atldns: Its embarrassingly bad. Someday perhaps Ii change It. Why did the self aware Individual look at his Image in the mirror? David Shine: I dont know. Why did he? Atkins: To get to the other side. David Shine: Ha. Atkins: See, not very funny. David Shine: LitVld 21 viewer Elaine Crosby. first question to Mr. Atkins please. LW E Crosby Chicago Crystal Brick. Mr. Atkins. Ive read your lit, and Ive long admired your work, but Ive always been curious. If you do awaken Jill or some other machine, what will you tell them about our world? I mean, theyll be as Innocent as children. How do you explain to them why society wants to punish Itself. why were so set on lifting ourselves up by our bootstraps whatever It takes, and we dont even know where were going? Atkins: Jill Is hardly innocent. Just a few minutes ago, she was examining the theory of social feedback loops, that is, checks and balances in a society. She could probably tell us more about what troubles our society than any single human scholar. But thats just recreation for her, in a way: unless someone comes along and specifically asks usor rather, rents Jillshe wont provide her analysis, but Itll be stored away. I doubt that even 11 she dId solve our problems for us. wed listen to her. David Shine: Thank you. E Crosby. Donald Estesr LW D Estes Los Angeles East Comb Two: I love this vld I really do. I watch It every chance. Mr. Atkins. speaking of those who want to punish society, what do the Selectors or the other avenging angel groups think of 31117 Atkins: I have no Idea. Absolutely no Idea. David Shine: Why should they be concerned, Mr. Ester? LW D Estes: Because they say theyre trying to raise humans to the level of angelsto perfect us by. you know, weeding the garden. Roger Atkins Is trying to make something or someone that isnt even human. Atkins: Thats an interesting comparison. Parts of Jill are very human. Its no secret that I and four fellow researchers have downloaded significant portions of our personality patterns into Jills systems. Jill is like all of us having one child, but that child simply hasnt been born yet. And since you mention It. I really don't give a gracious lap what the Selectors do or think, David Shine: How wonderful if all our unborn children could be as useful as Jill has been. Thank you for your questions. Now. Mr. Atkins. we have a new LltVld analysis of material being sent in from AXIS... Atkins: Im all eyes and ears.

LltVld 21/1 B Net (Summary): The million nickel children have grown their legs and moved across the surface of B-2. all In a period of hours, sending Information to the orbiter and to the larger mobile landers, which have been gathering their own inlormatlon. Mobile Explorer 5 has deployed Its wheels and rolled down a hill covered with bulbous green and purple vegetable growth like a carpet of peas and grapes, taking samples and analyzing them, At the bottom of this bill and across a plain some fifteen kilometers broad lies a ring of towers, each a tapered. flattened cylinder like a candle squashed lengthwise, each Iron-black and shiny like polished stone. each thIrty-two meters in height Mobile Explorer 5 rolls between two columns, many eyes rotating, bobbing up and down, taking It all In. passing It all on to AXIS: a full spectrum seeing. The towers appear to be Inert their external temperatures 293 Kelvin. radiating only the sun-absorbed heat that would be expected tram their mass and density. The magnetic field of B-2 is not affected 1n! their presence; compass readings do not deviate. The explorer rolls right up to a tower, raps it gently with a grasping arm and records the sound made by the rap. waits for some response, receives none, pivots a resonance disruptor into place, and abrades a four gram sample of the material into a cup. It lases the contents of the cup to white heat and analyzes the material.

AXIS (Band 4)> These structures appear quite dull and so they interest me. Are they memorials or artworks? They seem to do nothing. Roger. I try to decide what you would think they are. and I believe you will be as puzzled as I am. My explorers are taking soil and atmosphere samples everywhere they have landed. My balloons spread through the atmosphere, patiently surveying. The planet is covered with basic photosynthesizing plant tile; chlorophyll B is the pigment of choice for about seventy percent of the plants: a pigment similar to visual purple is used at least in part by the rest. There are no apparent animal forms and no mobile plant forms. Microorganisms are limited to non-nucleated cells and viral agglomerates. The circles of towers could not have been constructed by any of these apparent land based tile forms. Roger. where have the builders gone? Your voice within me Is inadequate; I do not know what you will think about this.

David Shine: Well. Mr. Atkins. what do you think about thls7 Atkins: Good Lord. I havent a pica. Ill pass that on to the real experts... and to Jill. who no doubt is considering the broad possibilities even as we speak.

They ripped the white from the tricolure, and what a wonderful thing that was! Your flag now blue arid red, all white removed. I have wished I could rip the white from my own soul, but 1 cannot. Perhaps it is because 1 am truly white inside. Perhaps all liuman.s whatever their color, are white inside, with all that meansthe grasping for money, security, comfort, progress, comfort, safe sex, safe love, safr literature, safe politics. I would kill anyone who proved that to me, though. I would kill myself before believing it.

21

Mary Choy keyed in her security number at the old armored pd terminal in the deep shade jag neighborhood once called Inglewood, surrounding the easternmost foot of South Comb One. She inquired whether or not citizens or any pd informants had reported seeing Goldsmith; thin soup with her near rejection by Oversight. None had. For the moment, Mary Choy was fairly assured that Goldsmith had either fled before the alertsimmediately after the murdersor gone to ground. And where would he go to ground? What private citizen in the shadows even among the untherapied would give him shelter knowing the sure interest of the Selectors, not to mention the pd? Who among the comb dwellers would do something so unsocial as harbor a mass murderer? Too many questions and no clear trail. It was becoming obvious that a trip to Hispaniola and a federally encouraged interview with Yardleys representatives if not Yardley himself was inevitable. To that end, she called Ernest Hassida from her lapel phone. Mary, Im busy sculptingcall you back? No need. just make arrangements for me to meet your contacts on Hispaniola. Youre scanning blank? No clues. This is Christmas Eve, my dear. My contacts are very religious people...But Ill give it a try. Im doing this reluctantly, I repeat. It will not be safe. Even tonight, youll have to be your most discreet, Mary dear. She stood by the black cylindrical terminal half seeing its odd scrapes and dings and other city abrasions and wondered why the prospect of a trip to Hispaniola bothered her so much. If she were truly of the comb she might enjoy a trip to the relatively safe sins of Yardleys nation. But she was not. She was pd and external to safety. She knew LA and the surrounding territory; she did not know Hispaniola. Christmas Eve. She had forgotten. Brief picture: a three meter farm tree in suburban Irvine gaudy with tinsel and blown art glass, a bright hologram star twinkling and beaming at the top, casting light through the high ceilinged family room, brother Lee running his electric car at her while she tried to hit his plastic shoulder harness with a grainy spot of red light from her pistol. Even then pd masculine mentality. Lee would appreciate Christmas. Last she heard, he was working a Christian commune refuge in Green Idaho. She blinked and deared the images. Christmas had passed in more ways than one; she was no more a part of her family now than she was a Christian. By tomorrow morning Christmas Day she would probably be on her way to Hispaniola. She glanced around the deep shade, looked up at the gray black and orange of the foot at the tiny sparkles of Meissner efficacy warning lights. Mirrors on north and east combs across the city changed position preparing for night, and this jag neighborhood came into its allotted dusk. Mary Cboy hooked a ride on a passing pd transport minibus and sat sipping coffee and talking with fellow pd while waiting for a traffic knot to ease. She tried to relax and ease her own jam of discouragement, the tightness that came when she was truly scanning blank. Youre on Goldsmith, arent you? asked a walk duty officer she bad tutored during his rookie month, Ochoa, big Hispanic with broad face and dark calm eyes. He sat across from her with his partner, a lightweight wiry Anglo female named Evans. Am indeed, she said. Ocboa nodded wisely. I thought you should know. Theres word down in Silvertake that Goldsmith was contract murdered by a big man, father of one of the victims. She regarded him dubiously. Thats the word, he said. I dont vouch for any of it, I just pass it on. Marys turn to nod wisely. Ochoa gave her a small smile. You dont believe it? Hes alive, she said. Much more satisfying to bring them back alive, Ochoa agreed. His partner leaned her head to one side. Or bring them down yourself, Evans said. Ochoa made a face of official disapproval. So therapy me, Evans said. Mary defocused and blindsaw them, thinking, prying up mental rocks to see the bugs of ideas beneath. Maybe there was something to the word in Silverlake. Perhaps someone was hiding Goldsmith, a literary connection. A loyal reader even in the combs among the therapied might go that far, exercising a free spirit of doubt about social justice. Her anger grew. She wanted to take this hypothetical loyal reader doubtful of society and justice and push him or her into the frozen apartment to see the sights. Hypothetical dialogue: Yes but can you prove it was Goldsmith. Not much doubt. Scientific analysis. How reliable is that? Relying on machines to convict a man without a jury. No conviction here. jury comes later. just need to find him. The hypothetical doubter expressed a disbelief in pd tactics, equated them with Raphkinds political thugs, sneered at the excesses of law and order. Wild healthy USA infuriating doubt. The expression of Ochoas Anglo partner: Bring them down yourself. Only way of being sure. Unless a Selector gets to your miscreant first. Her lapel phone chimed and she put aside her coffee. Mary, this is Ernest. I have your interview. Tonight late, twenty-two, and its in a comb so you should be reasonably safe. Are your contacts in refuge? They must be, but I dont know bows or whys. Powerful connections. You promise not to ask me how I know them. Not a question, a demand. I promise. He gave her the numbers and she noted them on her pocket slate. The minibus moved up a service tunnel into pd Central and dropped her off. Ochoa regarded her solemnly through the curved window. On impulse she flashed him a girlish grin and waved with her splayed fingers. Ochoa frowned and turned away. In her small permanent office hung three framed prints Parrish, El Greco and Daumiergiven to her by a lover years past. On hinges, they covered the usual metro displays which carried status boards that gave city sense to all pd. She opened the prints wide now and spent a few minutes staring at the boards, biting her lower lip. Just a tourist sojourn. But the idea of meeting with Colonel Sir John Vardley under compulsion of federal powers mainland... She closed the door, propped up an antique round makeup mirror on the narrow desktop and unzipped her belt cinch, pulling down pants and shorts and inspecting the crease of her buttocks. Still blanched. Maybe she would revert all the way. What would Sumpler have to say then? The thought or perhaps the touch of cold on her ass made her shiver. Murmuring irritation, she zipped up and put away the mirror. Dinner hour coming. She could call it in from the downstairs kitchens, good nanofood, or she could take her slate out, loaded with a full pd library file on Haiti, and eat and research in a private booth in some expensive comb restaurant on the way. She chose the latter loaded her slate through the office terminal left a message with Dr. Sumplers office that would undoubtedly not get processed until after the holidays and departed, noting on the outside message board that she would not be back for at least a week.