“Ok, I bite, why is this VI the real problem? And not that we are at ground zero for the next big corp war? Or that a fucking triple-A wants to discuss with us how displeased it is in-depth? And we can’t forget that one of the top-30 hackers has an ax to grind with us, can we?”

Christine slowly went from agitated to furious.

“So please, tell us, why the fuck is the fucking VI, whatever that is the fucking problem!”

I took a few deep breaths before I answered.

“To answer the question I have to approach the different parts separately. First, Falconer is a significantly smaller problem than you think.

Falconer is extremely overrated. Without the AFS, they would be a double-A at best, and more likely a single-A or even a B-ranked corp. 90% of their income derives from the AFS after all.”

Darren had meanwhile managed to calm Christine down a bit and took the word again.

“Ok, I think we all can see that. But money is a power all of its own, and they still have the AFS. They can afford to buy mercenaries, hackers, and whoever.”

I shook my head.

“They have the reputation of double-crossing mercenaries. And they are religiously campaigning against Jacks, which are not in one way or another affiliated with their True Church. They burned too many bridges to get many mercenaries and they have to pay a premium for them.

But much more important, you are wrong about them having the AFS, at least in the long run. It is just a matter of months before they lose that market. And with it the vast majority of their income and power.”

Jacky lifted her hand.

“Wait a moment. Why would Falconer lose their spot in the AFS? I thought they are for all purposes the production arm of the AFS.”

“Yes, they are. For now. But the thing is that the AFS will be gone in a few months.”

That brought a round of exclamations from around the table. I took this chance to get myself another coffee.

When I sat back down, it seemed that they had, predictably, elected Darren as a spokesman again.

“Where do you get this idea from? The AFS has stood for 135 years. They have not changed a lot.”

“The important change has not happened in the Alliance, but the Commonwealth. The NWC has gotten a new government a bit over half a year ago.”

“What new government? Did they have elections and I missed it?”

I snickered at that.

“Oh, please, the elected parliament and the president are only window dressing. The government of the Commonwealth is the council. And for the first time since the creation of Nowhere, the Vandermeer-fraction has control.”

“Hm, ok, that is not so different from any other corrupt nation with unelected leaders. But what has that to do with the AFS?”

“Since the AFS was created, the powers that are there have whipped the population into a religious frenzy against the Commonwealth. They can't end the eternal war, even if they want to.

Their problem though is that the Commonwealth is no longer willing to use the war as a means to control their own population. As soon as this undeclared cease-fire ends, Nowhere will crush the freebies.”

He nodded.

“And with the AFS conquered, Falconer immediately loses 90% of its income, and, naturally, its most favored vendor status.”

“Correct. They will almost certainly lose most of their production capacity and all the other infrastructure and administration they have in the AFS. Even if they retain all their accounts, which is in no way likely, they will have been reduced to B-rank as soon as that happens.

That is by the way the main reason for their plan to destabilize the US. They want to swoop in and take over here. If they manage to move their industry here, they can survive the fall of the AFS. At least somewhat. Not particularly likely but the only chance they see.”

“And how does that help us? Even if they are gone in a couple of months, at this time they are still here and dangerous as hell.”

“It helps insofar that they can’t afford to use too many resources against us.

That will be even more the case if we inform Ralcon and Enertech of Falconer’s plans. Let the big corps play in their own weight class.

As Kate said, it is highly unlikely that they use a WMD or a grav cruiser here in NYC. And everything else we can deal with during the next few months.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that there is no risk and that it will be a walk in the park, but it will be no more dangerous than a normal job you would take against one of the big corporations. These also always carry the risk of provoking retaliation.”

He nodded again and looked around the table before he changed the topic.

“Ok, that tells us why you think Falconer will not be the big problem. And if your information is right, that seems to be the case. But what about the hacker? I would guess that you pissed him off royally when you interfered.”

I shook my head.

“The hacker is no problem at all anymore. His body might still be alive, but he, the person that is, is gone. I have lobotomized him.”

“Are you sure? Your behavior is… strange if you killed a man. When you killed the mobsters you were on the ropes, and now? You sit here as if nothing happened.”

If my eyes had been opened he would have gotten a nice slow blink from me on that.

He was of course right. Killing Kursalin and his goons had nearly destroyed me, and now I had killed three people and was completely fine with it. And I had not even realized it.

It took me a few moments to process it. Now I felt somewhat bad, but I quickly realized that I felt bad about not feeling bad about it if that makes any sense.

On a certain level, I could understand why I was not a wreck over killing the Justicar. That guy was a first-class jerk, giving me nothing but trouble since I first entered the Abyss a couple of years before, and now trying to enslave me.

Without a question, he had deserved it. But so did Kursalin. Even if Kursalin was not that antagonistic for that long.

But more important was that I felt absolutely no remorse about killing the corpies. The two poor idiots simply working for the wrong employer. I never knew their names, never knew their faces.

They simply were in my way. And I could not make myself feel any regret over killing them. And that was disturbing. Very disturbing.

At moments like this, I nearly wished that the council stooges in Nowhere had not made it impossible for me to seek the help of a therapist.

The others were looking intensely at me while I analyzed my feelings.

“You… you are right. I have no idea why. Yes, he was a jerk, and he tried to get us killed. Well, you. For me, he had a different idea.

I personally would prefer death to what my planned fate would have been. But that still does not explain why I am so… unconcerned about it. But I can’t answer that. I simply don’t know, and that is making me concerned.”

Darren sighed but said nothing for a while.

“Ok, I can see that this is a problem for you. But I think you should let it sink in first. Kursalin was not quite a life-and-death situation for you. This time it might be that you have to sleep over it before it hits you. And that tells us why you think the hacker is no problem.

Leaves only the last point. Why do you think this VI is the real problem? What is a VI anyway?”

I took a long sip of my coffee.

“I will answer the second question first. A VI stands for virtual intelligence. It is a computer system that can use simulated intelligence to fulfill its tasks.”

Natalie snorted derisively.

“So you made an AI. Is that all? Good for you.”

I shook my head.

“No, an AI would be no problem. It would be an incredible achievement, but not a problem. A VI can’t be dissuaded from its objectives. It either executes them successfully or is destroyed while trying to. It has no ego, no sentience. It can’t be reasoned with.

Let me give you an example. Let’s imagine a VI with the task of creating paper clips. Pretty harmless, right?”

After a few moments, there were sounds of assent from all of them.

“Sadly, wrong. This VI will sort everything into one of five categories.

First, paper clips. Perfectly fine, and what it has to make.

Second, things it can make into paper clips. Those are things it has to get.

Third, things that will help it make more paper clips or get things it can make into more paper clips.

Fourth, things that it can’t turn into paper clips.

Fifth, things that are in its way to make paper clips.

There is no other category. There are no exceptions. It will make paper clips or be destroyed while trying. It does not care that humans only need so many paper clips. It does not care that humans need the materials it can make paper clips from for other things. Heck, it doesn’t even care that humans don’t want to be made into paper clips.

Depending on what resources it has to begin with, it will start to build new factories to make more paper clips. After all, when these factories have converted everything else into paper clips, it then can recycle them into paper clips as well.

If humans try to stop it, it will fight back. Again, depending on its resources, and its data, it might even build combat bots to remove the humans from the equation. After all, they are in its way to making more paper clips, and they can be made into paper clips.

It can’t be reasoned with. It will fulfill its task, or be destroyed trying to. And anything in its way will be removed.”

I let that sink in for a moment while taking another sip.

Ryan was the first to ask a question.

“Well, but if you program it so that it only makes so many paper clips as are needed by the humans, won’t that solve the problem?”

“Oh, sure. And you found the important point. A VI has to be extremely carefully programmed to prevent it from being a problem.

And under absolutely no circumstances can it be given any resources without first making absolutely sure that it is stable and its tasks are save.”

Darren facepalmed again.

“And you did neither of these things, right?”

“That is the problem with it being accidentally. Of course I did neither of these things because I did not intend to make a VI.”

And we got first row seats of another Miaxplosion.

“WHAT THE FUCK! HOW COULD YOU BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE?”

“Indoor voice, please. And I was not irresponsible. I don’t know yet how it got to be, but it should have been impossible.

For a VI you need two things. A machine learning capable neural net, which admittedly was there, and a special type of processor, which was not present.

Everything that I know, that I learned says that without both parts there is no VI. Without the neural net, such a processor is useful for analog tasks. Without the processor, the neural net is an extremely responsive expert system.

The neural net was needed, but I left out the processor. And I have no… oh… damn. That would… but how… is that even possible? It is a possible explanation, but that would… it can’t be the first time it happened. Why were there no warnings?”

I had a sudden epiphany and the last part I softly spoke to myself, lost in the implications.

Then I felt a soft touch on my shoulder. I looked up, and Ryan stood beside me.

“Are you back?”

“Huh? What? Back from where?”

“You suddenly began murmuring something about some first time and other incomprehensible things, and then just sat there.”

“Oh, sorry. I think I have an idea how it could have happened. But if it happened that way it has to have happened before. It cannot have been the first time it happened. But there were no warnings.”

I shook my head to clear my mind a bit.

“The thing is, I recently designed a new processor. For use in the auto surgeon and similar places.

And for the auto surgeon, the fuzzy logic core is a big bonus. What ultimately happened is that I simulated this new processor on the supercomputer that has the neural net. It should not have been enough to create a VI. But it is the only explanation I have at this moment.”

“Ok, so it possibly was something you should have been warned about but weren’t. So not your fault.

The question is now how do we take that thing out?”

I had a sardonic smile at that.

“We don’t. That ship has sailed. And that is why it is the real problem.”

“What do you mean we don’t?”

“The VI sits in the master control unit of my supercomputer. It now controls the security system here, including all the bots. It has direct access to my implants. It hears anything and everything we talk about.

And any attempt to take it out would be going against its tasks. It will defend itself in that case. We can’t even task some orbital weaponry to take it out, because I am the only one who knows where it is located, and if I inform somebody about it, it knows and will probably act proactively.

And just to make it clear how fricking dangerous that thing is, it has access to all my designs, all my data, all my backdoors, all my bridges, and most dangerously, all my utilities.

And some of them are nuclear options. Literally in some cases. The supercomputer is located in an abandoned industrial park and has access to its own industrial fabber including maintenance bots and a nano fab.

It can destroy the entirety of humanity if it decides that that is what is necessary to execute its tasks.

To make it short, I would be very thankful if you could avoid provoking it into a pre-emptive strike.”

Natalie summed up the situation quite fitting.

“Fuck! So now what? If I understand you right, it will be docile until we get in the way of its objective. Or threaten to get in the way. But to keep out of its way, we have to know what its objective is.”

“That is the likely good news. If it is simply the MCU turned into a VI, then its objectives are to protect me and to assist me. In that order. The bots behaved strangely because it decided to use them to protect me.

After I convinced it that this behavior would be only a marginal increase in protection, but would run counter to assisting me, it accepted that the bots act normal unless there is a danger.”

Ryan nodded again.

“So, we have to avoid anything that could threaten your safety and keep ourselves from interfering in your day. Oh, and of course keep from trying to shut it down, as that would endanger you and make it remove the threat to you.

That should be easy enough for us to do. But what I don’t get is why you had something like that in the first place.”

“The cluster is a supercomputer like every single one of the better hackers has one. Usually, they use them to decrypt files, encrypt them, trace connections, do automated research, and such. Some use them for other things like simulations and to assist them in the pursuit of knowledge.

I have found a way to use the cluster in the matrix more or less directly. It is an integral part of my protection there. To optimize that I developed the MCU into an expert system. And I have thrown the priority to assist me in when I began using it for my science operations.

And I made sure to keep any fuzzy logic processor out of it. This is why I am so surprised of it existing.

And honestly, unless you make detailed plans to take it out, I don’t think anybody of you will trigger it anytime soon. But if I don’t get it moderated, it might destroy the AFS just because they are a threat to me.

Which in turn would turn the hacker community against me, making them into a threat. This could end up with humanity being exterminated, including me, because the VI was too zealous in its tasks.

Ironically that would most likely include all of us.”

And here the first step of my plan to take that thing out had started. I felt bad about lying to my friends, but as I told them, the VI was listening to everything I said. I could not, in any way, tell them that I had a plan.

It was way too dangerous. Yes, me being a threat to its existence would endanger its task of keeping me safe, and preventing me from shutting it down would do as well.

In the best case that would lead to an infinite loop shutting it down through logic errors. Unfortunately, in the much more likely worst case, it would search for a way to fulfill its objective to protect me anyway and decide that it is my body that needs to be preserved. Not my life.

Or it could go insane, simply taking out everything.

No, I had to convince it that the only way to protect me was to shut itself down.

Again, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Hu? What?”

Ryan was again standing by my side.

“Focus, Kitten. We are not done yet.”

What the… oh, I seemed to have dozed off.

“Sorry, it was a long day for me. I am on my last leg. What did you want to know?”

I yawned and stretched to wake myself up a bit.

Ryan answered me.

“We asked about the status of Mark and Justin.”

“Oh, ok, one moment please.”

I logged into the network and saw that Mark was done, while Justin needed a few minutes more. I was surprised by how far the auto surgeon had gotten until I noticed the time stamp.

Wow, I had to be dozing for nearly half an hour. That was not good. Not good at all.

“Ok, Mark is done for the moment. You can bring him to his room, and I have tasked an android to observe him. Then Kate can hop into that auto surgeon to get her shoulder fixed. Justin needs around 10 minutes longer, but then a few of Doc Schaeffer’s people will come and get him. We don’t have the personnel to give him the care he needs.”

Christine jumped up immediately.

“I will go with him.”

Darren began to protest, but Ryan lifted his hand and calmed him down.

“Think about it. What if it was me who was injured? You would want to come with me too. Let her go.”

Huh, Darren and Ryan were together?

Darren saw my expression and his face darkened.

“Do you have something against us, Red?”

“Uh, no. I am just surprised. I never noticed you two being together. I mean, Mia and Mark are hard to miss, and Christine and Justin are barely more discrete. Natalie and Jacky are much more private about it. But you two I never even had on my radar.”

“Alright then. I hope you are not too inconvenienced by us.”

What was that? How would I be inconvenienced by them being together?

“Uh, what do you mean? How could you two being together impact me in any way? I mean, yeah, if you break up and create drama, that would be inconvenient, but you being together?”

“So you have nothing against us being gay?”

“Are you gayer than Natalie and Jacky? And even if, that is your business. If you two are happy, then go for it. If not, look for somebody else. But sorry, I am too tired for any philosophical debates right now. So to make it short, it’s your business, as long as you don’t cause drama.”

That seemed to confuse him somewhat, and he started to answer me, but Ryan softly shook his head, and Darren backed down again.

“Ok. We will table that discussion then.”

“Ok. I will look into Kate and then wait for Doc Schaeffer’s men, before going to bed.”

With that, I stood up.