Working away at the stacks of paperwork. Bills, case reports, protocol adjustments, and the occasional skimming of job applications. This is what Markov Spencer does on his Friday nights. He has learned to accept this; it comes with the Job. Being his boss allows him to stay as late as he needs. Most other days of the week he is out of the office. Police, Corporations, and some politicians come to Markov’s agency for many reasons. It is funny, he thinks, how these high and mighty entities of the era require his agency’s services. Now, however, not a soul is around, nobody calls on Friday nights. Markov finds enjoyment in this cherished night of silence after a long week.
Working away, a signature here and a credit transfer there. The usual drivel attached to the billing, the “deals” as they call them. From automated robots and appliances to air filtration systems and the New Life Insurance program. As Markov admired the absurdity of the snake oil offers, promising eternal life or perfect toast. His office phone begins to ring, leaving him baffled. At first, Markov was started and thought it was his phone. Realizing the ringtone was coming from the phone on his desk he begins to wonder. First as to who it was? Second who knew he was there at this hour? Knowing only one thing certain about this call: he must answer.
Picking up the phone, Markov recognizes the id as the Northal City Police. He answers and is greeted by a surprised voice “Oh, hello? Is this S Negotiators?”. Markov answers “Yes, this is head negotiator Markov Spencer. How may I be of service?” Hoping that whoever on the other end doesn’t notice his slight annoyance. The voice on the phone proceeds with his request “Ah, Mr. Spencer. Just who we were looking for. Anyhow, I am Officer Harwell of interrogations here at Diamond Square station. We would like to request your services in a certain…. Matter.” Markov is abstruse, usually, the NCP is more upfront with their business over the phone. Markov cautiously asks, “What does this matter entail exactly?” Harwell responds with almost militaristic blankness “A matter in which your skills as a Negotiator will be of use. We are experiencing an unfamiliar situation and require a third opinion. Diamond Square Police Station, as soon as possible Mr. Spencer.” Thinking of the strangeness of the call in both time and tone. Markov is both concerned and intrigued. The request sounds more like an order, Markov feels the weight of the situation. Markov responds “I’ll be right over Officer Harwell.” Knowing full well that no wasn’t an option. The line disconnects, seems Harwell hung up. Guess he wants to keep this off the grid.
Assembling his essentials per the usual case with haste Markov mentally checks his list. One Way portable lie detector, first aid kit, audio-to-text log receiver, hyperlink glasses, and the usual paperwork. On second thought Markov decides that the paperwork could wait. Doesn’t seem like they are too keen on formalities at the moment. Seeing the space in his briefcase Markov decides this case will probably fall under what he would call “Aggressive Negotiation.” Sliding his hand into his jacket pocket he excavates his keys from among the old receipts and his medication. Shifting through them and getting to his work keys. Company mail, office key, Passive, Subjective, and finally an iron key marked with a red “A”. He unlocks the bottom drawer of his desk swiftly opens it and removes the procedure files. Since he is on the job they’re not needed, Markov then presses on the drawer’s base. The false panel tilts up and reveals the “Aggressive Negotiation Tools”.
He contemplates what he should bring, it is a police station after all. Sodium pentothal is a no go when dealing with police matters. Can’t bring his carry to a police station at 10 at night, might as well bring his own set of cuffs. With little information on the subject, he decides to bring his usual duo: a stun gun and brass knuckles. If he needs them, he has them and the police won’t care if he brings a pea shooter. Reliable and applicable in a variety of situations during his 15 years of running this business. With his tools ready in his briefcase and his other “tools” in his jacket. Markov locks up the office and heads to the Diamond Square Police station.
Pulling up to the station an officer waiting in the pouring rain walks towards his car. It was Bennet, Markov’s usual police correspondent, with an umbrella in hand. Of course, he’d be waiting for me, thought Markov. Bennet knocks on the window and gestures to roll it down. Markov complies, the window sliding down just enough to not let the rain in. “Spencer, lovely weather tonight,” says Bennet with a cheerful tone. Markov replies jovially “Guess you don’t have to pay for a power wash tonight.” Markov’s mood lightens from its grim dread from mere moments ago. Bennet gestures for him to get out of the car, as Markov rolls up the window Bennet marches over to the driver’s side.
Markov steps out, locking his car, as Bennet hands him an umbrella. “Thanks,” says Markov, Bennet responds “Of course, now I’ve been told to bring you to the interrogation department. Getting into trouble Spencer?” Markov replies “I was told my services were needed. Some poor sap probably hasn’t spilled the beans and needs a bit of “Negotiating”.” Approaching the front door, Bennet taps Markov on the shoulder. “Whatever it is I was told to bring you through the back-entrance Negotiator. The quickest way they said.” This troubled Markov, it’s the fastest way, but he can’t help thinking it also has the least number of cameras. Markov silently nods and follows Bennet into the alleyway.
Bennet continues “They’re paying me overtime, but I swear things just keep getting weirder and weirder. Pretty soon someone’s going to blame one of those talking toasters for murder. With the overtime money, I’m making I could buy…..” Markov remains silent and in deep thought as to what this situation could mean. Who could they want him to negotiate with at this hour? Some high-level thug or dirty politicians counting down the minutes till bail? Hell, could it all be a shame to bring him in without anyone noticing? With the number of cases he has taken, there are bound to be some enemies out there. Or maybe even the police themselves want him to keep quiet about something. Reaching the door Bennet finishes his conversation, seemingly with himself, “damn things are springing up all over the place. What do you think of them anyway Spencer?”
Markov only catches the last bit of response “Oh, yeah. Everywhere, bonkers. This the door?” They stand in front of a windowless door with a keypad lock. Bennet responds “Here it is, the door to Interrogations.” Typing a code into the keypad, Bennet continues “Now Spencer, I’ve been told it’s room 636. From here it is straightforward, then a left, and third door on the right.” The door beeps and unlocks, Bennet, opens it and motions to go inside. Markov enters the building and before the door closes Bennet playfully says, “Enjoy your stay.” Then the door closed and the electronic lock was re-activated.
Following Bennet’s directions and heading toward 636, Markov begins to hear the chatter. Finding the door, he feels obligated to give it a good knock to let them know he has arrived. Before his knuckle meets the cold steel of the door, it swings open and he is greeted by a tall grey-haired man in a police uniform. On his chest he wears several service stars and a badge reading Henry Harwell. “Officer Bennet notified me when you arrived,” said Officer Harwell gesturing to come in “you got here in good time.” Markov hearing a pleased tone in his voice responded “You said as soon as possible, it is only about a 30-minute drive for me.” Not even attempting small talk Officer Harwell proceeds “This is Dr. Nella Kelly of New Life insurance; she will be helping you with the technical side of things.” Markov greeted her and replied with “Technical help? I can handle my tools and protocol.”
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Officer Harwell with a look of slight annoyance answers, “Not with your equipment Mr. Spencer” Officer Harwell proceeds to a small control panel and un-censoring the one-way glass. “With that” Officer Harwell revealed the small white interrogation room was at a table lay an empty chair and living machine opposite to it. Arms mechanical with joints and hands resembling that of a man. A torso like a chest plate and a face akin to a mask with an uncanny glow behind it. Markov is taken aback at first, “I’m supposed to negotiate a machine?” Dr. Kelly retorts with “Not just a machine, his AI is a direct copy of someone named Damian Antimo. He signed up for New Life to enhance the plan.” Markov replies “So the real Damian Atimo is dead and that’s his “eternal body”.” Dr. Kelly with the tablet in hand swipes it and then hands it to Markov. “That’s standard protocol, the only problem is the personality copy transmitter malfunctioned.” Markov looked at the page he was given, a portfolio of Damian Atimo. Reading through his recent health record, Markov notes “It says Damian here is still alive Dr. Kelly. Wasn’t human cloning made illegal by the UN a few decades ago?”
Dr. Kelly replies “Yes Mr. Spencer, ‘Human’ cloning is illegal. But this is entirely different. The copy was transmitted by accident and it's not a clone of the body, but a mind. Perfectly legal, but it just happens that it happened… prematurely.” Turning to Officer Harwell, Markov asks “Are there any laws in place for mind cloning?” Officer Harwell replies in an almost militaristic manner “The law states that human minds can be copied post-mortem by licensed companies at the request of the person. It does not state, however, a protocol for a consenting human’s mind being cloned due to malfunction. Dr. Kelly has told me this is the first time something like this has happened.” Markov looks towards Dr. Kelly, who then nods in agreement. Markov proceeds with the biggest question on his mind, “So, what do you want me to do? Create a law, kill the poor guy? I negotiate and analyze human beings; this is out of my field and above my pay grade.”
Dr. Kelly explains “What I need you to do is tell me if that is indeed a copy of Damian Atimo’s mind. I need to know if the malfunction has tampered with any of New Life’s safeguards. You have his profile, dig into it and find any inconsistency.” Markov asks, “Why can’t one of your technicians do it?” Dr. Kelly swiftly responds with “It is against the UN Ethics code to tamper with a digital copy human mind via programming. That’s why we need someone of your expertise to do this legally.” Markov boasts “But not legally enough as to ruffle the feathers of the public or the government. I get where the wind is blowing. I suppose I’ll get to work then.”
Exiting the room with his briefcase, an earpiece, and Damian’s portfolio in hand, Markov enters the plane-white interrogation room. Noticing the robot is tapping his finger on the metal table. Producing a quite audible and annoying sound. As Markov places his briefcase on the table he scrolls through the portfolio. Using a built-in marker tool he checks off the first corresponding personality trait, “Lack of Patience (especially when waiting)”. He begins with his regular procedure, to see if he can knock a few more off the list.
Markov begins “Hello Damian, how are you feeling today?” Damian responds “Could be better, I want to go home. But the doctor and office stick up his ass won’t let me.” Markov looks at the portfolio and checks off: moderately vulgar, responds to Damian, and desires to sleep from 10:00 pm-7 am. Markov starts up again “So Domain, I just got to ask you a few questions and we can all go home.” Damian responds “Ugh, fine. Make it snappy I’m missing AFC Championship.” Enjoys American football, check. Markov asks his first question “All right, Damian how do you feel about your family members in 3 words or less?”
Markov Moves through the list, check after check after check. He reaches the final section marked “Trojan Coalition Test”. Markov taps his earpiece, opening a channel to Kelly. The Robot asks, “Something the matter?”, Markov replies “Just a moment, just checking something.” Markov turns away from the expressionless face of the metallic man. The Robot begins to tap again. Markov quietly whispers to the earpiece “What's the Trojan Coalition test?” Kelly responds through the earpiece with “Oh, you’re almost done. The Trojan test is a safeguard designed to catch the emergence of AI. AI grows into its person and develops its personality. We included it because it is theoretically possible for an AI to develop from a mind copy. But it has yet to happen and certainly no AI today is advanced enough to emulate a mind copy.” Markov sighs “That’s great doctor, but the test states that I ask him to ‘Choose between an apple and an orange. Why?”
Dr. Kelly swiftly responds with an almost robotic tone of her own “Because every unit has its trigger question. The only thing that is pre-programmed into every unit. Perfectly ethical since it's merely for safety purposes. The answer will have nothing to do with the question, so to an AI it would be just junk text. This unit’s automated response should be ‘Midsummer rain on a Tuesday Night’.” Markov nods and turns back to the robot. Sitting there quiet and attentive, hands resting on the table, the Robot asks, “We almost done here?”
Markov replies with “Almost, says Damian, do you prefer apples or oranges?” The Robot shifts into a seemingly new state. Arms snapping to its side, the lights in its eyes seemingly going out. The Robot then replies, “Midsummer rain on a Tuesday Nights.” Falling out of its near statue-like state the Robot looks around confused. Asking “Well, are you going to continue or not? I got places to be.” Markov looks at the portfolio, then his audio to a text log. Thinking about the Robot’s response, something was off. “Nights”, he thought, “He said Nights.”
Markov asks the question once more. The Robot replied, “Midsummer rain on a Tuesday Night.” This baffled Markov, had he misheard him? Markov asks Dr. Kelly over the earpiece “He said ‘Nights’ doctor, is that a sign?” Kelly is silent for a moment, replying “The response was correct the second time, perhaps the first was due to the minor malfunction? There seems to be no anomaly. With that said Mr. Spencer, we still have the 2 Damians.” Markov confusingly replies, “What problem?” Dr. Kelly and Officer Harwell enter the white room. The Robot slouches irritated by their presence. Dr. Kelly speaks, ignoring the presence of the machine, “Mr. Spence we also brought you here for your opinion. I know it's odd, but since you’re here. We would like to know if you could break the tie. An unbiased third party.”
Standing to attention with a still confused look on his face. Markov asks “What’s this tie you’re talking about?” Officer Harwell as stoic as ever answers “The law to be decided in this situation. The protocol will be formed from this very scenario. The test is performed, and the mind is genuine. What to do with him? I say it is still illegal to murder a mind copy.” Kelly interrupted soon after “And I say it should be erased until the original is dead. What do you think?” Markov pauses, motionless in thought. He replies matter-of-factly “Why don’t you ask Damian?”