Frank woke up earlier than he used to, his mind clearer and more capable than ever before in his life. He was utilizing his mind to its fullest, weaving plans within plans regarding the next few things on his to do list to start to turn his life around, his main objective clear and defined "To amass enough personal power, wealth and influence to ensure easy and pleasant life for his mother." She deserved it, and Frank would be damned if he did not use all that knowledge to make that a reality first and foremost. Then, once his mothers life would be secured, he could then utilize the power, money and position he has gained to slowly better the immediate surroundings of his. Start with the neibourhood, then proceed with the block, then the city, and so on aond so forth. In an ideal scenario he could bring their world to a whole new standart of living, hopefully. Eliminating the powerty, starvation and many other of the worlds sickneses, that plagued the less fortunate.
Though he was not naive to think such an utopian future could come about without a fair share of spilled blood, or something in that dirrection. Too many men in places of power would do their utmost to ensure they could continiue to occupy said positions, enriching themselves at the cost of the little people, not caring an iota about the thousands, if not millions that would suffer due to their greed. On the same note were quite a few of the corporations that were running quite a few of the cities in nearly every country around the world. There too, countless ruthless and shady actions took place daily, once again preying on the less fortunate and able of the society.
No, he most likely would have to get his hands dirty along the way. He was smart enough to understand that, though he was also aware that it was his choice in how he approached and executed each and every one of his future plans. Rutheless and cunning, that was most likely the most efficient way to do things, but he was never that cold blooded. Sure, his analythical mind spared him from developing hero complex, but he had enough empaty to desire to help when it was within his capabilities. And now, he had quitte the collection of knowledge that he could eventually use to do exactly that. Still, he first had to be in a position where the greedy and corrupt could not just strongarm him into doing things their way, once again creating even more pain and suffering, all to line up theirs, or their sponsor coffers.
No, he needed an action plan. Something he had been cooking up for a few days now, even if in a limited capacity. Now however, the plans were commiing along nicely, though there were still countless issues that needed solving before he could even start on actualizing them in reality. So, the first step in this long and arduous list of tasks was actually rather simple- to scout out old Bob's workshop and figure out if it would be apropriate for the first stages of his budding plans. He also had to take a proper stock of the mans character, his mind, now clearer and sharper than ever, had noticed quite a few inconsistencies in the persona the man had displayed whenever he was present over the years. His younger self had never noticed those minimalistic discrepencies, but now, well, his mind examined and crossreferenced each and every action the man had taken and compiled a set of character trraits, as well as a possibility of some hidden ones. And what said inspection came back with was less than pleasant, so he would confirm his suspicions on this visit to Bob's workshop.
With him up and about and quite the time to spare before he has to leave, he moved towards the kitchen, and spent the hour or so to make some rather nice breakfast. Toasts with lightly fried vegetables in breadcrumbs and fried chicken. After having his own meal, he cleaned up after himself, putting aside a breakfast for his mom and then making a cup of tea for himself as he returned to his own room, where he spent another hour or so researching the technology that was open source, as well as read through several cutting edge research papers that were publicized in a couple of rather respectable web news sites. The printed media, with the exceptions of comics and manga had diied out quite a while ago.
This little foray in the world of science did bring out a few quite impressive morsels of knowledge from 'The Book'. That was how he decided to name the knowledge that he had suddenly gained. It never hurted to create a code word for something so dangerous. At the very least it was so for Frank right now. He even had a solid explanation preppeared for old Bob, the same one he had used for for his mom. He would use one of the ideas his old man used to trow around when he was near Frank way back when. An idea, that if polished could have earned a bit of money, should it be deployed in the correct spheres. A small gadget that could improve the efficiency of the automatons that were now utilized in quite few small time shops for restocking their shelves. This enhanced mind of his was already proving just how much more capable Frank had become, the memories long forgotten were now clear as a picture, easily sorted and accessible whenever he wanted to. It was quite the wonderous feeling, he concluded.
Soon he heard some sounds coming from the hallway, his mom finally waking up and moving to kitchen to start prepearing a cofee and something to eat. Looking at the time and noting that it si close to nine AM, he decided that it was a good time to hehad out as well. He grabbed a backpack he had already prepeared and left his room as well. He hugged his mom from a side and gave her a quick kiss on the temples. His mom loved to show just how much she loved him, and Frank in turn did the same, She was everything he had in this world after all and he was smart enough to show that love and apreciation he had for his mother.
"Morning mom. Hope you noticed the breakfast. I am heading out."
"Yea, thanks sweetie. Have a safe trip, I heard some worrying rumors about a new gang emerging in our neighborhood."
"Mhm, I will be carefull. Same to you, if you go out today."
With that he left, his next destination- old Bob's workshop, where the man was probably already waiting for his arrival.
As he left the appartment, he noticed just how much more detailed everything seemed, his mind working overtime and at much faster rate than ever before. Thus, quite a few minor details that would have escaped his notice before were now glaringly obvious. From crooked and badly maintained street signs, to knockoff brand clothes in shop windows that tried to pass them off as the real deal, though in the latter case he was not entirely sure if the shops were trying to rip someone off, or their owners actually thought they were selling the real deal. He also noticed quite a few well hidden cameras, clearly not of government make.
'Well, well, well. It seems some corporation has set its eyes on our block.' Frank though, his facial expression not changing in the slightest, but a frown forming internally. A corporation coming in a neighbourhood was never a good thing. It would result in the price hike of the appartments, that would follow with the rise in communal services. Sure, there would soon be restructuring and rebuilding of quite a few buildings, but it would become too expensive for anyone not working for said corporation to keep liiving in the place. So in the end, the presence of the cameras was yet another problem that Frank might have to deal sooner rather than later.
As he moved further along towards his destination, he noticed a few elements of what he asumed was the new gang his mother mentioned before he left. His improved perception noticing the posture and the body language of the group on the other side of the road out of the corner of his eye. They were clearly up to no good, a couple of them clearly going through the withdrawal of some drugs. That was another thing Frank found to be quite fascinating, as well as disturbing. The desire and willingness of people to not only consume once, but to keep going back for more. In his humble, yet so increddibly fast mind, now more than ever, it was the sign of a weak man to drown and hide in drugs or alchahol, pretending their problems would go away if you ignore them long enough.
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The rest of his twenty minute walk had nothing else of note happening, and so, Frank soon saw his destination before his very eyes. A slightly run down place, clearly in need of some renovations for more than a decade, if his memory was not lying to him. It wasn't. Bars covering the windows of the place, clearly theif and hulligan proofed, the sign over the reinforced metal door simply said "Bobs Trinkets and Repairs."
The reinforced metal door opened easily enough, not one squeek escaping as Frank passed through, as well oiled and maintained as the corpo super cars. Bob paid special attention to the first impressions, Frank had deduced, and the deeper he moved, the more he was sure this deduction of his was correct. Neatly arranged shelfs along both walls, different used, but good looking appliances displayed, with red arrows on the ground acompanied by the text "counter" by their side. Soon enough, Frank stood in front of the counter, opposite him sitting a man in his early fifties. The man was bald, with quite the walrus sized mustache adorning his upper lip, Both eyebrows and said mustache in dark brown color. Small and slightly squinting black eyes looking at Frank. Though there was a light grin on the mans face. He was about meter eighty tall, with quite the beer belly hanging over too tightly strapped belt in light brown pants.
"Hey kiddo. Gloria called, said you got something you want to try and put together? Need to borrow my workshop. You sure its safe? Your old man had one too many crazy ideas I had to shoot down, only for him to do it somewhere else, either wrecking the place or burning it to the ground."
"Should not be possible, though if you want to be present and see the general outliner of the thing, you are welcome to join me."
"Hmm, well its saturday, not a big customer day anyhows. Might as well have a look at what you plan to cook up. Who knows, might have inherited that bright mind of your old man."
Frank just shrugged and followed the man once he moved towards the door in the back, leading him to the workshop. As they moved past some shelves, Frank was using his new sharpened mind to look for anything out of the ordinarry, coming to a few conclusions about the man he was judging right now. He noticed a few stolen parts here and there, the telltale sign on a couple of car parts that had peculiarily specifically damaged certain parts that indicated the unlawfull method of aquiring them. Then there was the suspiciously narrow corridor, as well as the relatively small room that served as a small changing room before the actual workshop, as well as the slight gaps he could barely notice on the floor where it was connected to the walls. There was most likely more stuff on the other side- the other stuff only special individuals could gain access to.
The further into the building Frank followed, the more and more his opinion of the man tanked. And not because of the double life the man was leading. No, that would be hypocritical of Frank. He was, after all, about to start his own duality. Though a neccesity due to the times and the danger that was all around him, should his knowledge become public and was associated with him, Frank was not so blind to understand the implications and the importance of his own decisions in the matter. Due to this reasoning, this was not something he could hold against the old Bob.
No, what was slowly eroding his faith in the man, what little faith he had to begin with, were the small details he noticed every now and then. Some military grade sensors and other security tech, clearly the newest models on the market and exclusively aviable to the millitary or high end corporations. The man had quite the connections with the military still, or rather the corporation providing said security tools. There were a few more such small details, that further enforced this train of thought, untill they entered the workshop itself. There, on a rather large board were a few diagramms pinned down. Upon their entry, and noticing the board out in the open, Bob fished out a remote, with the speed it was hard to belive the guy should be capable of and pressed the button, causing said diagramms to sink into the ground, alongside the board. And while the whole process took just a few seconds, it was long enough for Frank to commit everything see saw to memory, spending no time whatsoever to figure out what he was dealing with, Franks head kept turning around, as if inspecting the workshop, seemingly having missed the quickly dissapearing diagrams, but he had noticed it the moment they entered the room, every single detail commited to his memory.
That was something he had seen before as well. Though just like now, it had been only for a brief moment and in a much earlier itteration. That was a diagram of the last project his old man had ever worked on. The one thing that had brought him to an early grave, as well as leaving his mom and him to fend for themselves, though that burden had fallen on Gloria more than Frank himself. The fact that said plans were displayed here, and not in the hands of some corporation was quite damning for the old Bob. Frank was inclined to believe that the older man was dirrectly connected to the death of his father. Possibly keeping a copy of the last project he had worked on, hoping to attain some sort of inspiration, or better yet to manage to finish its development.
And there, a moment after going over the project he had just witnessed, he got a few files from 'The Book' that finished the puzzle, allowing his sharp mind to figure out the errors in the calculation and theory pertaining said project. Whats more, this knowledge was just barely more ahead of the time, making it all digestable and to be utilized as he saw fit. Now he could finish the project that saw his father killed, and make his first step towards securing both personal might and capital to provide his mother with the life she deserved.
Still, there was the issue of a workshop to solve, old Bob being too compromised and dangerous to stay around. There was no telling just what the man had done to cause the death of his father, as well as the lenghts that he would be willing to go, should Frank start working on the prototype of the item in qquestion. As for why it was not completed right now, what with it being aproximately fourteen years sicne the death of his father, it was quite simple really. The current theories pertaining the subject were rather lackluster. There were no actual working AI's that could be crossreferenced and the theory that was in existance in their world and time had actually moved in the opposite dirrection of what his knowledge regarding the subject indicated.
Most of the theory was sound, but the core principle that the whole programm would operate around was lacking, based on the human understanding of life, the world around us and how we interacted with it. The theory from 'The Book' trew it all out the window, making a program that existed to attain a certain state in any given task, seeking more and more knowledge to attain it, while still having to mind the presence of the humans and not harm them. The two dirrectives were intertwined, ensuring that no AI revolution would happen, in process exterminating most, if not all, of human population.
Frank would have to spend quite some time, that was for sure, in programming the functions that would serve as the heart and brain of the AI, but it was doable, as well as one of the easiest ways to start up his path towards greatness. An AI would be capable of doing a lot of the things he needed in order achieve his goals, human mind and body being too limited and finite for the task. Still, he would first need a rig that was not bugged by the corporation that made it, forcing him to check every single detail he aquired, and then to put it together on his own. Even more, there was no way he could depend on the man in front of him for any of his needs. THe old man was a knife in the shadow, capable of stabbing Frank in the back at any moment. No, he would have to seek alternative paths, all the while pulling Bob by the nose, obscuring his actions. He just could not trust the man, not with all the knowledge he has just come upon.