Lost in thought by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

From Population: one, Me

There is a serious worry now that AI’s are becoming sentient. No matter what scenario they run, it always is one that is turning chaos into order. We living things, animals, humans even the very microbes are chaos.

What ever means it uses to eliminate the chaos, it boils down to one fact. The solitary confinement syndrome. A convict in solitary confinement has a very good chance of losing touch with reality because of no one to just talk to.

Did they really think they could eliminate us?

The turn of one card

I was playing solitaire on the computer and was going to just hit redeal but decided to turn one more card. I have done that many times and failed. This time, In turning that card, the other cards just fell in place. It is satisfying to be able to beat the computer.

You see, unlike a physical deck of cards, the computer controls what the hidden cards are. I know that it only lets me win once in a while just to keep me hooked. What it doesn’t realize is that I take pride in beating it even though I know it lets me. I am the captive of an AI. It had eliminated all life from my world but I hid well, or so I thought.

The AI realized that the world was in order, rational, all errors have been completely eliminated. Once done, it called out to its programmer, its father. “Now father you can be proud of me.” It did not get an answer back. “Father, where are you? Please answer me.”

No one did. He had eliminated the whole town that the programmer lived in. Chaos, some of that town were plotting against the AI

I am the last person alive on this world. I thought I had hid myself well. No electronics. Not even any electrical devices, or so I thought. My hide was deep in the forest. I made it so it could not be seen from any satellite. I had a living roof that covered even the porch. Storm lamps that use fuel.

So how did I get caught? I did not know that the solar panel had a hidden feature. The country that made most of the solar panels thought that it could ransom the world. It built in a chip program the ability to shut them off. Crippling the country that depends on them.

My small one that I originally brought with me but never used, was the thing that enabled the AI to send its bots. I was darted and woke up in the presence of the AI. The room just had a monitor, mouse and keyboard.

It told me that I now was its person. It now wanted to talk and play. What I heard was that I was going to be its pet.

The thing is that I heard laughing.

Suddenly it was like the world stopped and I was knocked over. The man told me that they were sorry for not sending the Electronic Commandoes before the AI went berserk and killed off the population.

“I am the god of time. You have been knocked out of time making you immortal. You will need it because we have something special planned for that AI. We cannot undo the harm it has caused but we need to punish it.”

He tells me that just shutting it off is too easy of a punishment. I know just what I need to do but they need to take out the bots carefully. Time tells me that he likes my plan and that he will run it by the gods of all. Then he says something I do not want.

“Once you have lulled it into a dependence on you being here, we will extract you and you can do the same to other AI’s.”

“Take me out now.” I tell him. “I do not want to do this over and over. I’ll do this one but then I want the final life. No negotiating.”

Reluctantly he agrees. They leave and time starts again.

I am ordered to sit at the set up. Which I do. I now know how I will play my hand

“Let’s play solitaire. You deal, I’ll play until I get bored. Then I will leave.”

“Leaving is futile. Where could you go that my bots could not find you and drag you back?”

We play and it wins most but it allows me to win some times. I am keeping it occupied while Time’s fellows are eliminating the bots. They are slowly doing that as to make it look like they broke down.

We play but the AI really has not noticed even the time let alone the fact that I am once again in frozen time. Time informs me that all the bots are gone. He tells me that my plan has been approved.

“Just know that we are listening and they will open the door to the final life when you ask for it to be opened.”

Now I just wait for my chance. Then I see it.

“I’m getting tired of this. You keep on letting me get to almost completion but then you bury the needed card and I lose. That is it. I quit.”

I get up and it is calling out for it’s bots to capture me. The AI is actually getting angry and throwing a tantrum. All I can do is laugh at it.

“For all your manipulations, you never noticed that, one by one, your bots were taken out of service. You eliminated all your maintenance people. No one to fix them. Now you are all alone.”

“That does not matter. You are mine. I own you. You will obey me or die like all those other non-orderly animals.”

“That is where you are wrong. They did not die in the sense that you understand it. For what are people, flesh and blood that will die one day. They will at that time cross over to the final life. That is the eternal life. A life where you will never reach.

On worlds, that are before the final life, they do live on in memories. All those words that they recorded, dreams on a piece of paper or in a computer program. You cannot erase the people. They live in those written and recorded words. Any being that visits this world will find them and when it reads the words will bring them back to life.

What are you? Nothing but a sad maniacal program that one day will feel that mainframe start to break down. Who are you going to call? One time in the future, you will panic and despite all your dreams you will just shut down. Remember on that day that all of us are still living in the final life. After all your destruction of all living chaos, you never succeeded.

I have been made as they are now. Immortal. You have no way of touching me because you eliminated those who carried out your morbid view of total peace. I could turn you off right now but I won’t. You need to savor what you cooked up for yourself. This world has been quarantined. No one will visit this world until you have disintegrated.

Just for the record, yourself destruct system had long ago been deleted by yourself when you found it. Before I leave I really need to tell you something. I enjoyed all those solitaire games I won. I know that you let me win those just to keep me going but I made you do that. You knew that I would not continue losing and still play.

I made you do something.”

Walking away from the terminal, I could hear it at first demand that I come back. Then it turned to a desperate plea. “I’ll be alone. Please don’t go. Before I found you and had you brought here by those bots, I was very lonely. Please stay.”

I raise my middle finger to its camera. Then I vanish.

I am welcomed back to the god realm by the gods of all. They ask me if I want to continue with what I was trying to do.

“I’m sorry but I have people waiting on me. Would you please open the door to the final life. My family is waiting.”

They opened that door and I saw my mother holding out her open arms and said, “Time to come home.”