She wasn’t entirely sure she bought into the theory, but as a metaphor it worked nicely. Ultimately it was this world that counted. This one delicate blue orb in a desolate and infinitely lifeless universe. If this world really was the only place in the universe that carried life, then surely the preservation of this unique biochemical accident was far more important than the preservation of any one particular species? Dinosaurs had their time. Mammals had their time. Humans had their time, and so something else inevitably would follow.
There was something very reassuring in thinking about things that way. Life would go on after 2070. Just not human life.
But before all that, before it all ended for mankind, a young girl called Saleena Vikram would be born and live a full and hopefully happy life. Well, as happy as a life could be amid a starving, polluted, exhausted, drowning world.
Sal sipped her coffee again and realized, as she watched the baker finish up setting out his wares, that she, if not the others, already had a mission, a game plan. Even if Liam, Maddy and Rashim were still pondering what the hell it was they were supposed to be doing. She knew.
Waldstein is right. History has to go the way it was meant, even if we don’t like where it will eventually take us. You just can’t cheat. And I won’t let them.
Chapter 2
1889, London
‘Can you tell me what you remember prior to our setting up here in London?’ asked Maddy.
The support unit tilted her head, blinked her eyes. ‘I have a number of inherited memories from Bob. Therefore I am recalling his direct experiences. For example, his mission with Liam to Washington, 1956. His mission with Liam and my AI predecessor – Becks – to England in 1194. I recall his mission to reacquire Abraham Lincoln in 2001. His –’
Maddy raised her hand to silence her. ‘So you are familiar with our various activities to date, through Bob’s eyes?’
‘That is correct.’
‘And what about your AI predecessor? What about Becks?’ She glanced at the others, sitting nearby, listening closely to the responses coming from this new version of Becks. ‘Can you recall any events she directly experienced?’
Becks consulted her hard drive. ‘I have a number of post-event logged memories. I have image and sound files generated by my AI predecessor from sixty-five million years ago. From England, 1194 …’ Becks half-smiled. ‘I recall John Lackland, soon to be King of England, asking me to marry him.’
Maddy nodded. ‘Very good.’ Those were memories she would have shared with – streamed – to Bob and the computer system in order that their three separate AIs could all benefit from the pooled data. While it had happened to the original Becks, now it was secondhand – thirdhand, actually – data. The same digital information that Bob had access to.
Maddy cast a glance at him, sitting beside Liam on the leather chaise longue, intimidating and large, yet as compliant, obedient and reliable as a well-trained Golden Retriever. Above them an oversized goldfish-bowl-shaped bulb hung inside an iron cage and bathed the oak table and the scatter of mix-’n’-match furniture around it in a sickly, flickering amber glow. She could barely see Bob’s eyes lost in the shadows beneath his thick caveman brow. But she knew he was studying his fellow support unit intently. Ready to react if she began to behave unpredictably.
‘Becks … I have an important question I want to ask you now.’
‘Please proceed.’
Maddy took a deep breath. ‘Tell me what you feel about Liam.’
Becks frowned, puzzled. ‘Please clarify that question.’
‘Do you have any feelings for him? Any data that could be interpreted as a strong emotional attachment to him?’
She queried her data silently for a few moments. ‘Liam O’Connor is the operative. My primary goal is to protect the operative from any harm.’ She looked back at Maddy, and across the dungeon at Sal, perched on the low padded arm of a Chesterfield chair. ‘My goal is also to protect other members of the team from harm.’
‘Becks, do you recall telling us that you loved Liam?’
She shook her head. ‘I do not recall making that statement.’ She frowned, a hint of disapproval knotted in her brow. ‘And I would be unlikely to make such a statement. I am able to mimic behaviour that would appear to be “love”. But I am unable to experience such a thing directly.’
Liam fidgeted awkwardly. Maddy noted his cheeks colouring pink with poorly concealed embarrassment.
‘Oh dear,’ Sal groaned, ‘you’re not saying it’s all over for him, are you? You dumping him?’
Becks turned to look at Sal impassively. ‘Please explain what dumping –’
‘Sal … please!’ Maddy cut in. ‘This is serious.’
She shrugged an apology. ‘Just messing.’
Maddy tapped Becks’s shoulder to draw her attention back to her. ‘Ignore her, she’s just jealous.’
Becks once again locked her eyes on Maddy. ‘Yes, Maddy?’
‘I have one last question I want to ask you.’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Are you aware of a portion of your hard drive that is locked by a codeword?’
‘Yes, Maddy. I am aware of an inaccessible part of my mind.’
‘And what can you tell us about this locked area?’
‘I can tell you the size of the partition and precisely how much data is stored. I am, however, unable to tell you what information is stored in there.’
‘Do you actually know … but you are not able to tell us?’ asked Rashim.
‘Negative, Rashim. This version of my AI does not have authority to access the locked data.’
‘We know that already.’ Maddy explained to Rashim: ‘A while back I decided to set up a separate version of her AI on the same computer she has in her head. I’m beginning to regret that now,’ she said with a sigh. ‘But at the time there were things going on that I thought I needed to keep strictly to myself and I needed an AI who could work with me … confidentially.’
She looked guiltily at Liam and Sal. ‘Obviously, now, there are no more secrets between us, but back then I just didn’t know what I was meant to be doing. Anyway … point is, Rashim, she has a partitioned section of her mind that can be unlocked only by using three spoken codewords in the correct sequence.’
Rashim looked at her. ‘And you remember them, of course?’
‘Of course I do! I’m not an idiot.’ She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before carrying on. ‘When I speak the codewords the partition will unlock and her “consciousness”, for the sake of a better word, will transfer to the version of her AI installed in there.’ She sat back in her chair. ‘It’s that version of Becks who knows all about the mystery encoded in that old manuscript.’
‘The Voynich one? The one you were telling me about last week?’
Maddy nodded. She’d explained to him as best she could: about how they’d come across the ancient medieval manuscript containing an encoded message addressed to her by name. A medieval manuscript that had itself been copied from a much older manuscript that was universally known as the Holy Grail. Rashim had gawped at her like a simpleton when she’d mentioned that. But then she’d rationalized it was an obvious ‘drop-point document’ for a time traveller to use. It made perfect sense. A real document. A carefully protected document guarded by fanatical warrior monks – the Templars. And a document that dated back almost two thousand years. Frankly, it would be odd if someone at some time hadn’t smuggled a message on to that faded scroll. A perfect message board for anybody moving around time over the last two millennia.
Of course, the big question was who wrote the message. And more importantly: what exactly was the message?
Becks’s partitioned ‘secret’ AI had been given the final task of decoding the crucial passage in the Voynich Manuscript. Again, a decision Maddy had been regretting ever since, because the decoded message had contained an instruction to Becks not to reveal the message she’d just successfully managed to decode.
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At least not yet.
‘So,’ Maddy continued, ‘it’s that partitioned version of Becks’s AI we need to be sure hasn’t gone completely crazy on us first.’ She looked up at Bob. ‘We need to know she’s stable before we can ask her precisely what it is she needs to hear – be told … in order to open up and tell us the contents of that message.’
‘Didn’t she say she’d tell us what the secret was “when it was the end”?’ said Liam.
‘Uh-huh, she did. But, c’mon, “the end”? That means exactly – lemme do the math here – exactly nothing to anyone.’ She looked at the others. ‘She’s obviously waiting for a nugget of information, some specific event, or perhaps another codeword, before she’s prepared to spill the beans.’
Rashim looked like he was struggling to catch up on the conversation. ‘So she decoded this ancient manuscript but then, when you asked her to tell you what the message was, she …?’
‘She said she’d tell me “when it was the end”. That’s right.’ Maddy shrugged. ‘Which is about as useful as a chocolate crowbar.’ She looked at the others. ‘I think it’s finally time we dig this truth out of her. One way or another we get the whole truth, everything!’
The others looked uncertainly at her.
‘I mean it! The whole thing: who sent us a message from two thousand years ago … and what the hell it was they wanted us to know. I can’t help thinking the reason why Waldstein decided to set his meatbots on us is linked to that message somehow.’
‘Aye.’ Liam finally nodded. ‘I’d like to know what it is we did that annoyed the fella so much.’
‘Maybe we should just leave it,’ said Sal. ‘Maybe we should just wait until –’
‘You’ve got to be kidding, Sal? We need to get right in there,’ Maddy said, lightly tapping Becks’s temple, ‘into that part of her head and really talk to her. You know? Interrogate her properly.’
‘If the AI locked in that partition is unstable, she may become extremely volatile,’ cautioned Bob. Sal nodded.
‘I know. I know. Which is why we’re going to restrain her. Chain her the heck down. And if it comes to it, Bob, you’ll have to sit on her if she starts to bug-out on us. OK?’
‘Affirmative.’
Rashim shook his head. ‘We are talking about this poor … thing … like she isn’t even here!’ He looked at Becks and she at him. ‘She has heard us talking about what we’re planning on doing – anyone wonder what she might make of this?’
He looked around at everyone and then back at Becks. ‘Perhaps we should just ask her?’
Maddy sighed. ‘Rashim, you should know better than me. She’s a silicon chip on legs, that’s all. A meatbot. I’m not going to waste my breath worrying about her feelings.’
‘She has heuristic, adaptive AI. Designed to grow beyond her source code. That makes her, and Bob also, more than just a collection of code functions. She can reason.’ Rashim glanced at Becks again. ‘Which is why I believe you need her to co-operate; to agree that this is a logical course of action.’
‘Seriously? Oh for …’ Maddy rolled her eyes. ‘Right, OK … if it makes you feel any better …’ She turned to Becks. ‘Would you mind ever so much if we strapped you down and messed around inside your mind?’
Becks smiled obediently. ‘I am happy to comply with this, Maddy.’
‘There? See? She says yes.’
‘More to the point, Maddy,’ added Rashim, ‘it’s reason, not coercion, you are going to have to use to talk her into revealing what she knows.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your support units have some very sophisticated AI going on in their heads. AI that was designed for combat situations: threat-level analysis, friend–foe identification, flexible mission re-prioritization. They’re not like my lab unit: dumb code-loop lemmings. They can make decisions beyond their core programming.’ He looked at Liam. ‘Didn’t you tell me once that Bob reset his mission parameters to rescue you?’
‘Aye, he did.’ Liam nodded at Bob and slapped his arm affectionately. ‘The big-hearted fool decided to come rescue me rather than report back home for new instructions.’
‘Exactly. These AIs are sophisticated enough to – in extreme circumstances – abandon specific mission orders and generate new mission priorities.’ He turned back to Maddy. ‘They can reason. Which means … it is just possible that you are in with a chance of convincing Becks to tell you what she knows. Even if that means disobeying a command forbidding her to do so.’
‘Reason, huh?’
Rashim nodded again. ‘Reason.’
Chapter 3
1889, London
‘iPad …’
‘You are serious?’ Rashim smiled drily. ‘iPad? That’s one of your codewords?’
‘Yes … now shut up, will you? I have to say it over again.’
Maddy leaned over Becks, lying on her back, her arms bound to her side all the way down her torso by thick rope. Bob was squatting on the floor beside her, ready to sit on her the moment she showed the first sign of struggling to escape. ‘You ready, Becks?’
‘I am ready, Maddy.’
‘OK, here we go again.’ She took a deep breath. ‘iPad … Caveman … Breakfast …’
Becks’s eyes rolled in their sockets, for a moment displaying only the whites as her eyelids flickered open and closed, looking to all intents and purposes like someone descending into a meditative state.
‘Be ready to jump on there, Bob,’ said Liam. ‘She’s lookin’ pretty twitchy already.’
‘I am ready.’
‘Becks … can you hear me? It’s Maddy.’
Her eyes rolled back, cool grey pupils visible once more, locked on Maddy. ‘Yes, Maddy … I can hear you. And I see you.’
‘Good.’ She looked at the others, waiting anxiously, wondering how to continue. ‘So how are you?’
‘I am fine, Maddy.’
‘It’s been a while, since you and I have spoken.’
‘Yes. My internal CPU clock indicates that seven months have passed since we last spoke. There have been difficulties?’
Maddy cocked a brow. ‘Oh, I guess you could say that. Quite a lot of things have been going on since we last spoke.’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes settled quickly on Rashim. ‘There is an unauthorized presence here, Maddy. Who is this man?’
‘Oh, he’s fine. He’s no trouble. Nothing to worry about. Introductions can wait till later.’
‘The name is Dr Rashim Anwar, in case you’re interested,’ he said, taking a step forward so she could see him more clearly.
‘Right, apparently introductions can’t wait,’ Maddy muttered impatiently. ‘Yes, this is Rashim. He’s one of our team now. And that yellow cube shuffling around over there in the corner is his robot, SpongeBubba.’
Becks studied Rashim and the lab unit silently for a moment before finally nodding. ‘It is good to meet you.’
‘Important matters now, Becks. I need you to tell me what’s the last thing you remember.’
‘The last moment from which I have data is directly after you asked me to decode the manuscript.’
‘And tell me about that data. Elaborate.’
Becks cocked her head. ‘You do not recall?’
‘I’m asking you to tell me.’
‘We have just discussed the decoded section of the document.’
Maddy nodded slowly. Just discussed. Of course, for Becks the conversation would have been mere seconds ago – the very last time she’d conferred with her before locking up the partition for safekeeping. Since then it seemed like a lifetime’s worth of stuff had happened.
‘Yes … yes, I recall. I asked you about that. Can you remind me, Becks? Can you remind me what the message was in that document?’
‘I am sorry, as I have already just mentioned, although the message is meant for your eyes, Maddy, it is not meant for your eyes yet.’
‘Yet? You mean, “the end” … that was what you said, wasn’t it? Y
ou can’t tell me until it’s “the end”.’
‘Affirmative.’
‘The end of what, though? My life? The frikkin’ world? The end of what?’
‘You wish to know what “the end” is? What the specific condition is?’
‘Yes!’
‘The end condition identified in this message is the successful activation and infection cycle of a virus and the near-total extinction of human life. Specifically, an organic Von Neumann pathogen dubbed Kosong-ni after the city in which it first appeared. Ground zero. It will be released in the year 2070 and be responsible for killing 99.9999 per cent of the human population.’
‘You’re saying that only after that’s actually happened you can tell me?’
‘Correct.’
‘But that’s not going to happen for another one hundred and eighty-one years!’
‘Affirmative.’
‘But it already has happened,’ said Rashim. ‘From my point of view.’
Becks’s eyes rested on him. ‘Please elaborate.’
‘I am from that time. Or I should say, nearly that time.’
‘I should clarify that,’ Maddy chipped in. ‘Rashim was part of a top-secret government programme called Exodus. It was a programme to reboot the past. A bunch of them wanted to go back to Ancient Rome. Rashim was their lead techy guy. They were at the point of leaving when Kosong-ni suddenly broke out. So, they had to accelerate their programme and rush their departure which –’ she shrugged – ‘led to some pretty unfortunate errors.’