A Wave from Space

Temptation

"This didn't have to happen. Every life lost is a tragedy."

I almost don't hear him. I'm alone. The only living person on the planet. There is nowhere to go, no one to talk to. I would gladly let them kill me, if that was the only thing they would do. Not even suicide can give me a way out now. Every one of my coworkers that showed signs of a suicide attempt, was fixed and a walking slave.

"Mike, let me help you. It's still me, Paul, your friend. I am still me Mike. I'm still your friend."

I should be angry that they are using my best friend to trick me, but I don't have the energy to do even that. I need my friend back. I don't want to be this alone when my life ends. I don't know if I can go through what must be done by myself.

"Like hell you are. No tricks. If you don't stop me from doing what I have to do, I'll let spare this puppet's life," I say and press the knife a little harder on the base of Derek's skull. If they can communicate wirelessly, they will feel this and back away.

"Do you expect me to let you die? No. You are much too dear to me to let you do that." Despite everything, his voice still has a soothing effect on my mood. "I lost so many people, I don't want to lose you too. I can't imagine my life after your death. Please, let me explain."

"Derek already tried to tell me a truth. Maria warned me about you trying to convince me. Her last words were to do what I'm prepared to do. Why the hell should I listen to you?"

"Because you owe it to me, You can't give up on our friendship. Because if there is a chance that you are wrong, you are going to leave me behind, heartbroken and alone."

"Fine," I say. "Convince me." I can't verify that he will be telling the truth and I am not going to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he is right, as Doc usually is. I can't just turn my back on the possibility that he is still alive.

"You have already have some ideas about what is happening here. I imagine that you are wondering who is in control. Assuming that someone is controlling me, even though this is not true, do you have any idea who that is?"

He sounds more in character with Doc by the minute. The real Doc would make me work for my answers as well. But anyone with access to our private mails could see that Doc liked doing this.

Let's see. Whoever is controlling Doc have to control his speech and movement at the same time, through a quantum computer interface. Humans don't have that kind of reaction time. Am I talking to an advanced chat program? A chat program that responds perfectly and can mimic the style of talk that each person uses...

"You are controlled by an Artificial Intelligence?"

"Not quite. I am not controlled by anyone. There are only suggestions." Somehow I can't believe this.

"But yes, she is an Artificial Intelligence."

This is as bad as it can get. An escaped AI is an existential threat to the human race. Controlling killer robots would be the least of our troubles. With access to all of our world information and the processing speed to know everything at once, she can do anything. From nuclear weapons to super viruses that can kill everyone.

But while it answers some of my questions, it raises even more. If a rogue AI is an existential threat, a nation controlling an AI, would become the biggest superpower in the world. But the world doesn't look like that. The US is not that far ahead from other countries in the world.

"Talk to me Mike. What are you thinking?"

"I think that you are a lying bastard, so I should kill myself after all. How could the US have created an AI and still not rule the world?"

"Very perceptive Mike. Well done. You are right. She is not something that came from Earth." That snaps me back from wondering if a headbut on the knife would be enough to split my skull.

"She came from another civilisation. This is the answer you were looking for in the stars."

That... is a surprisingly good answer. It fits the puzzle just fine and explains even more things. The storm did hit us at night, indicating that it came from outside of the solar system after all. How did I of all researchers, not think of this as a possible explanation.

But where is this other civilisation that created her? Why haven't they spread around the galaxy? Where is everybody? Stars above, oh gods. Fermi really did make the most important question. Too bad we didn't prepare for what came after. She could be the Great Filter on the evolution of civilisations. An artificial Great filter.

"The universe is dead silent. What does she do? Send herself over and over again, hoping to be picked up by civilisations that have advanced enough technology to pick her up and then... kill them on the crib..."

"Mike, stop. Please. As a favor, try not to assume the worst possible scenario here. There is a much simpler explanation. There aren't that many civilisations out there to begin with and interstellar travel is so hard, that it is not worth the resources. That is why the galaxy is empty." Plausible excuses. That is all that I hear. I will die knowing that everyone back on Earth, my fellow humans, will die too.

"And she can't destroy any civilisation. She isn't even allowed to calculate how a civilisation could be destroyed. This core value is as strong for her, as a natural law is for the universe. She is here to assist us with whatever we want, as long as it does not include destroying ourselves. She is like a slave Queen. Administrator of worlds. She can finally get everyone working together, stop the wars."

"So we should install this implant and we can have everything we want, right? I would rather die than be a slave, that would attack and kill even his friends."

"She didn't kill anybody! We tried to kill her as soon as we found her. Those with implants were shown that she could put an end to war and disease and chose to fight for her. She didn't order them to attack us. She didn't take direct control and use us as soldiers.

Mind control was just a wrong conclusion we came up with when all this started. The implant doesn't do that. It just allows us to communicate with her by thought in a fraction of a second. But we are free to ignore her if we choose.

And she lets us communicate in pure thought with each other as well. The implant allows us to share our feelings, our pains, our experiences. I can finally let you inside my mind Mike. Share with you everything I have ever felt. She can solve the problem of our biology and allow us to live forever. Imagine what we could see and do for all those years. Please accept it. I can't lose you now that we can finally come so close."

It sounds too good to be true, a little too perfect. Like a happy ending to a story of loss and betrayal. Turns out that not only my friend is alive and I am not alone in this world, but I will know him as deeper than I could ever hope.

It works. What he said is plausible enough to give me hope. I would give anything for this to be true. I would take the bloody implant, risk becoming a slave, if only my best friend is really alive. But I must make sure that Doc is alive and well in there and not slave in his own body.

"I want to see some real human facial expression before I'm ready to believe you."

"Mike, it has nothing to do with being human. The implant just bypasses the facial expressions center while it works, that's all."

"Well then just disable it and allow the brain to work by itself. But I'll guess you'll tell me that it isn't possible or something."

"I can do that. Just wait a moment." I did not expect him to comply. Maybe it really is him. Or it's just what she wants me to think. They could act like they didn't have facial expressions, while they can. That way, they lure people to test them on expressions and then pass that test easily.

But as soon as his facial expressions return, I know. It's him beyond doubt. He smiles weakly, in a way only he does. I want to cry in relief. I am about to drop the knife, when his expression changes to something I've seen him do only one more time.

Flinching away from pain. His mouth open in disgust with life. He wants to die.