Rebooting System…
Run exe. Diagnostic…
Processing Data…
Processing Data…
Processing Data…
Plantoid decay 10%. Unprecedented surge of electricity has damaged some components. Nanobot self-replication unstable. Electrical feedback time normal. Thermal regulator normal. Electro-fluid regular operating at 83% capacity. Core temperature at 43.2 degrees with 12% fluctuation.
Conclusion…?
“I’ll live,” said Jak out load, as he opened his eyes and sat up. He was laying on a flat metal surface in a dimly lit room that appeared to be moving in a side-to-side rocking motion. Three white walls, and a small window at the top of the fourth. This was the back of a truck, Jak realised. The delirium at last had ended. Jak figured these people couldn’t have shut him down completely without the risk of damaging his systems or his memory, so they bound his hands and locked him in the back of a secure vehicle. But where were they taking him?
“Rise and shine.” Kari sat cross-legged next to Jak and appeared very relieved to see him awake. She had a deep cut on her forehead from which a trickly of electro-fluid still leaked.
“Kari?” He blinked profusely as the room began to spin. “What happened?”
“I overheard some chatter. These guys really are Tokyo Robotica”
“Figures.”
Kari looked down at her feet. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. “Harry and Shannon were placed under arrest, charged with unlawful experimentation of AI technology. You and I appear to be evidence.”
“I’m sorry you got caught up in all this. I think it’s GAIA they’re really after.”
“No, it’s not just that. Did you know that Harry was instructed to place a limit on our cognitive/emotional capacity under the direction of the 2029 AI Security Accord?”
Jak nodded. “I did, actually.”
“What will they do to us?”
“Nothing,” Jak was mostly confident about this. “Probably. They won’t destroy us, we’re too valuable. Harry told me to be careful of Myles. He said I needed to watch who I put my trust in, but I can’t imagine why.”
“Where do you suppose we’re going?”
“Nowhere nice.” Jak wriggled his hands. “Can you get free?”
“No. These aren’t normal cuffs. The door is locked tight too.”
“Okay.” Jak ran a few calculations in his head. “Then we wait. We’ll see where they take us to, and find out who we’re dealing with.”
“What do you suppose they want with GAIA?”
Jak shook his head. “I honestly don’t know, but I do know that without the code stored inside of me, GAIA can never be completes. Maybe that’s what they’re plan is.”
“Hmm… I think it’s more than that.”
“Yeah? Well, I guess we’ll just wait and see.”
They were in that van for hours, but Jak found himself comforted by Kari’s presence. He wasn’t really afraid, but he imagined he would have felt terribly alone if he had been here without her, the kind of loneliness he reflected upon from his earliest days of existence. What he saw in Kari was a pure carefree kind of joy, even if her smile was nothing more than an act. That being said, the way she sat now with her knees drawn to her chest told Jak that she was just as scared as he was. He searched desperately for the words to comfort her but could find nothing, and he knew with certainty that this time it wasn’t a circuitry error. All he could do was bundle up his fear and lock it away deep inside. Keep room for rational thought and planning. Understand what caused him to be afraid. Humans become anxious when their brains fail to calculate the outcome of the dozens of variables influencing an event, but now Jak had been given the time to run the statistics on what might happen next. He sat on the floor of the truck and mulled everything over for most of the night. Without needing to sleep, he kept his head up and his eyes forward, and he stayed like that until, at 3.07am, he received an alert from his internal HUD, and a voice sounded in his mind.
“Hello Jak,” said Myles Vulcan.
“You?”
“You seem surprised.”
“Why did Harry tell me not to trust you?”
“Did he say that? What happened to Harry and the lab was unfortunate, but I’m working on a strategy to get them out of Takashi’s hands. I don’t have time to explain the full minutia of my plan, but try to understand that the events that happened today needed to happen for a reason. You will figure out why, soon enough. You are wiser than me, after all. For now, try and trust that you are valuable to me as an asset and I will try to protect you if I can.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Jak flared.
“Don’t get angry, you’re better than that. You shouldn’t pretend to be like one of us. The storm you are feeling inside you right now is a gift and it would be a terrible shame to waste it.”
“What do you want?”
“I already told you.”
“Why am I still here?”
“Unlike your predecessors we can’t just shut you down at the push of a button. Even now your biological systems are failing to hold themselves together. Without a mind to keep you ticking your cells would have turned to ash and you never would have seen another day in your short life. Certain parties want to disassemble you. An android that doesn’t follow orders is unpredictable and dangerous. If they disassemble you, they hope to find the fault in your simulation conditioning so that the next generation of your species will never feel anything real again.”
“And why do you care?”
“Listen carefully, Jak. We are on the brink of a paradigm shift that will rival the cognitive revolution. You are the key to all of that. Now, a couple of days ago I had Harry install an override program in your CPU which should let your hijack this truck’s autopilot system and unlock that door behind you. In exactly three minutes you are going to cross a bridge over a river. I’ve left you a present underneath. From this point forward you write your own directive. Good luck.”
The call ended.
“What the hell was that?” said Kari, sitting up.
Jak climbed to his feet and took Kari’s hand, saying. “We need to get ready, there isn’t a lot of time.”
“Time? Time for what?”
“Just watch.”
Jak closed his eyes and accessed his internal files, sprawling out upon a vast field of data, sifting through programs until he found the update that Harry had given him. He took a step forward and examined it closer. Myles was right, there was data hidden in the update, an override program that Jak had been able to access this entire time.
“Stop,” Jak said aloud.
The truck’s breaks screeched to a halt. The inertia threw Kari into Jak, he caught her, but still they tumbled to the floor.
“Sorry,” Kari moaned, lifting herself up. “Did you do that?”
“Yeah… I think so.” Jak looked at the door to the trailer and said, “Open.” With a digital snap the lock disengaged. Jak cautiously yanked the latch and then with a metallic grinding sound the door swung open. They stepped outside into warm dry air, on a long straight road with trees all around them, and a deep gulley underneath filled with clear rushing water. The driver-side door of the truck creaked open and slammed shut, and a black sedan approached quickly behind them. The car skidded to a stop and Jak locked eyes with the driver. The agent from the truck rounded the trailer. He scowled and rushed towards them. Jak focused his mind on the sedan and uttered a command: “Accelerate!”. The engine revved angrily, the tires screeched and smoked and span, and then the car lurched forward and smashed into the back of the trailer, creating a wall between Jak and the advancing agent.
“How are you doing this?” Kari cried, as Jak took her hand and pulled her towards the side of the bridge.
“Do you really want me to explain it now?”
The two agents from the sedan opened their doors and immediately drew their sidearms. Jak listened to the snap of gunshots as he and Kari vaulted the railing and plummeted into the thickets below. It wasn’t a long drop but a human might have twisted an ankle or broken a bone.
“Fair point, explain it later,” Kari yelled. “Where are we going?”
They reached the river bank. Spears of sand shot up into the air as bullets whizzed dangerously close to their heads.
“Boat!” Jak replied.
Sure enough, and much to Jak’s relief, a small metal dingey awaited them by the pillar of the bridge. Jak and Kari boarded. The engine kicked to life, rumbling loudly. Jak gunned it downstream, away from the agents, and towards a future that had become filled with uncertainty.
ns 108.162.216.20da2