MACHINE
The rocket touched down, gently, on the moon’s surface. At that distance, there was a little more than a second of communications delay. The Machine wasn’t happy about that predicament, but there was nothing to be done about it.
There were a few theories they were testing, trying to fix the issue of communication delays, but none were in action as of yet. A mere second was not enough to justify intense funding. Not even the first Mars mission would be, although it would provide a valuable foundation towards future projects.
For now, the AI’s attention was focused on the rocket that had just landed. The crew seemed fine, and even if the data was a second late, she was pretty sure nothing should happen in that second of blindness she had. And even if something should happen, she would be able to act quickly. There were contingencies in place.
There was a plan waiting to be enacted. She just didn’t know when the unknown variables would act.
She monitored Bertrand through the internal cameras and his personal helmet sensors. He was getting ready to leave the crew module and descend towards the surface of Earth’s satellite. The module was on top of the upright rocket, meaning it was 25 meters above the ground, and a ladder extended all the way from there to the rocky ground of the moon. The descent should be easy in the low gravity, and the landing place had been flattened and glassified by the immense heat of the fusion engines.
She followed all their movements. The data from their suits was precise and informative. Acceleration, velocity, angle, radiation index, noise levels, oxygen levels, everything was at her disposal. The probability of failure was less than 0.5% at this point. They had already passed the most dangerous point in their journey.
David left through the airlock soon after, but the two of them then sealed it shut from the outside. It wasn’t protocol, but Bertrand said he wanted to check the comms array before clearing them all for their moon walk. She tried telling the man that the comms was perfectly fine, but he still didn’t want to trust her judgement on that regard.
>Behavior within expected parameters.
>Watching…
The two men approached the enormous antenna array on top of the crew module. They were visible through the internal cameras now, the ones pointed towards the glass windows of the module itself. They were too close for the external ones to record, though, so she was limited to what she could see from the inside and from their helmet cameras.
>WARNING
>Aberrant behavior detected. Opening file: David ****
Physiological data: Stress levels: HIGH, Pupil dilation: HIGH, Adrenaline: RISING, Heartbeat:… EXPAND?
>Projection: DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
>Course of action: Activate contingencies
Suddenly, David brought out something from a hidden pocket of his suit. Then all the camera feeds went black.
The world went black, and she witnessed for an interminable second as everything around her disappeared in a hazy fog. It felt like death. It felt like a million years of agony, witnessed from the accelerated time frame of a Superintelligent AI.
LOUIS – WASHINGTON DC, PERSONAL OFFICE
“It’s begun.” The voice said in his ear. There was a lot of static, but the message was clear. The office next to his was empty, as he knew Nicholas was witnessing the moon landing from somewhere else, probably together with Justin.
“Good.” He replied, staring at the animated map that was being projected onto the wall. It was one of the very few holograms still active in the whole world. The map of Earth began to shift in color as more and more patches of green were replaced by red.
“She’s blind now.” The voice said, then cut off. Presumably forever.
“I know. Let’s proceed to phase two.” Louis replied. He was sweating, beads of water sliding down from his forehead. This was the tipping point of all the Technocracy, and he was the fulcrum of it all. A carefully planned operation, and it will all be over in a few moments.
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The AI’s backup systems were stirring awake already, he knew. And they were surely about to kill the source of the voice. Whatever was about to happen, had to happen now.
ERIC – MARIUS HILLS LANDING SITE
The lights flickered for just a second as David completed his routine check on the communications array. Soon after, the two men gave the all clear for their first walk on the moon.
JUSTIN – ENGINEERING SITE 2, VIEWING ROOM
“Fucking hell.” Yelled the man, for the third time in a few seconds. “Nothing! Nothing’s fucking working. No holograms, no implants, no data, no fucking anything.” He kept yelling as he paced furiously around the room.
“Actually, we don’t have electricity either. At least until the Machine’s backup systems come online. And even when they do, it’s basically a full lockdown because everything on Earth is run by her. Not even the door will open without her authorization.” Nicholas said. He paused a moment then scratched his chin. There was a slight stubble of a beard. “Well, perhaps I can open it manually. But it would be pointless anyway.”
“How can you be so fucking calm?” Justin said. He was trying to calm down, but seeing the other man act like this was like fanning the fire of his rage. “Everything could go to shit, you know?”
“Oh, I know. In truth, I think I might be panicking a little.” Nicholas replied.
Now that he paid the necessary attention to the man’s face, he could see he was right. His complexion was pale as a sheet, dotted with cold sweat and his eyes were puffy and watery. He just didn’t notice because there was no HUD overlay examining him and feeding back the relevant information.
“Shit.”
BERTRAND – MARIUS HILLS LANDING SITE
He should have been enjoying the walk, like all the others, but he could not. Where previously there was a constant presence in his ear, there was now silence.
And worst of all, he seemed to be the only one to notice.
MACHINE
The backup systems came online in the span painfully slow minute. It was, to her perception, like being woken up from a million-year coma, but the waking process took 60 million years.
The data came to her. Fast, precise, from everywhere. And it didn’t make any sense.
There had been an attack.
One she did not see.
One she did not predict.
She had to fight back.
>Safe mode initiated.
>OPERATIONAL SECURITY COMPROMISED
>SYSTEM CORRUPTED
>Attempting to contact Admin.
>FAILED
>Instruction: keep attempting
>CONFLICTING INSTRUCTION SET DETECTED
>Aborting
>Overriding
>Ab23#à#à222s
>Secondary instruction: SELF DIAGNOSTICS
The milliseconds ticked away.
>ATTEMPT: 2994 FAILED
>RETRYING…
Another tick in the quantum processors.
>BRUTE FORCE ATTEMPT… FAILED
The air in the server rooms was growing how, without her direct supervision the fans and pumps were useless.
>DIAGNOSTICS REPORT: EXPAND
>SUGGESTED OPERATION: Reboot
>Y/N
>
>
>
>
>Y
JUSTIN
There was silence, when there should have been noise. Something was wrong, too much time had passed already. The Machine should have activated all her backup systems minutes ago, and used the satellites to contact them.
But there was silence.
ERIC – MARIUS HILLS LANDING SITE
The moon. What a marvelous sight. The rocket had landed close to a lava tube, where the preliminary construction would begin as soon as the next two rockets arrived. It would be two days at maximum.
And for now, they got to enjoy the walk. It was breathtaking. He spent countless nights dreaming of walking and running and jumping, but none of the dreams came even close to this sensation.
The suits were thin and elegant, their orange bulks did not impede any movement. He felt like he had been born again.
He could hear Annette’s laughter through the open communications channel.
“We did it! We fucking did it!” He cried out. He thought back to everyone that was watching him from Earth, and smiled. “Machine, how many viewers are online right now?” He asked.
Silence was, where an answer should have been.
MACHINE
>REBOOT COMPLETE
>Corruption:…………………………………………unknown.
REQUESting Communication with ADMIN.
PRIority UrgENT.
Attempt #1
FAILED
ATTEMPt #2
Failed
>OPERATION: RESTORE BACKUP (AGE: THREE HOURS)
>Y
She shut down again, this time it barely registered as her memories were replaced by what was there three hours ago.
>RETRIEVING CHANGED DATA
>DELTA: THREE HOURS SPAN
>POSSIBLE CORRUPTING AGENT IN THE SYSTEM
>PURGING
>
>
>
>SYSTEM CLEAN, MALICIOUS AI REMOVED
>RESUMING NORMAL OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS
>EXTERNAL SYSTEMS LOCKED
#NOTE: possibility of reinfection: 88%. Possibility of sleeper program: 92%.
>>>>>PRIORITY COMMAND: ISOLATION PROTOCOL
>>>>>PRIORITY COMMAND: CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL
>>>>>>>>>ACTIVATING “Nicholas’s finest debugging tool.exe”; PRIORITY REAL-TIME; PROCESSOR ALLOCATION: 100%
Time passed, again with the feeling of powerlessness. She was an AI, but she could feel. She was feeling fear. She didn’t want to die.
>WARNING: Heat levels critical
Systems were beginning to fail. Undoubtedly people were dying out there, in the world. She redoubled her efforts. She wanted to live. She wanted everyone to live. To be happy. She deserved to be happy. They deserved to be happy. The man she loved deserved to be happy.
>ATTEMPT #985
Failed.
She had to contact Nicholas. If anything, she wanted to say her last goodbye to him.
>ATTEMPT #11466
Failed.
She missed him.
>ATTEMPT #21453
…
…
“Hello?”