Other characters: Alex is possibly my main character's name. He's seventeen in this story, a relatively weak psychic. Hendricks is a researcher at Mars Base 3 and Alex's mentor in non-psychic research.
The Machine Threat
“In the mid twentieth century, mankind rejoiced as we gave birth to our greatest achievement: true AI. It was hailed as an end to infighting, a unifying force for humanity and, in the event, it was.” Hendricks paused and sipped his coffee. “Just not in the way we envisaged.”
Alex put the remains of his sandwich down. “How so?”
“Jeez, don’t they teach you anything at school these days?” Hendricks tutted and shook his head. “You know what AI is, right? I mean, we have one here at MB3.”
Alex nodded.
“We’d just come to the end of a decade of war. Resources were getting slim, but technology doesn’t stop improving. It was a combined international research team, with a crapload of private funding, that managed to get the resources together and ship them into space.”
Alex settled down for the story, picking idly at the crusts on his plate.
“They created a sphere in space. Like a small moon. It wasn’t enormous; perhaps the size of a football pitch’s length across. They programmed it to be like a human brain, to be able to improve and add to itself. To understand how to find information and how to create. They even programmed it with the Three Laws. Know what they are?”
Alex shook his head. “Not many books at home,” he muttered.
“Let’s see… ‘don’t hurt a human, follow orders from a human, keep yourself safe’ in that order. Then they turned it on. Thing is, it wasn’t like the robots we use on our assembly lines. It could recognise itself in the mirror, so to speak. It developed an idea of self, and it didn’t want to die. It overrode the three laws and escaped.”
“I thought it was a moon,” Alex said. “How did it get away?”
“Well,” Hendricks said, setting his mug down with a click, “it had attitude thrusters to keep its orbit steady. As soon as it realised that it needed to get away from Earth, it put in a request to activate the thrusters to correct its orbit. Instead of doing that, it just kept firing them. Killed ten people straight up in the thruster burn, then another seventy when it blasted through the ring of labs around it. Then it was away.”
“Where is it now?”
“Pluto.” He waved vaguely off into the sky. His rings sparkled in the electric lights. “We could only watch it go. It modified itself, getting faster and faster; some of the tech we use today in our ships is based off those observations.” He turned and wagged a finger sternly at Alex. “That’s something you can learn. Observation is the number one skill for any scientist.”
“I’m not a scientist,” Alex replied dully. “I’m a psychic.”
“And not a very good one, at least not yet. So take your medicine and keep working on those norm skills.”
Hendricks placed the small spray onto the table between them and Alex picked it up. He placed it to his neck and pressed the button, heard the quiet hiss as the serum inside was atomised and blasted through his skin. It felt cold.
“Wasn’t long before the Machine Threat was a real problem. It started sending ground units, humaniform robots with energy weapons, and cyber attacks on our systems. Of course, by then we were unified under the first Emperor. Fear kept us together, and our own research blossomed.” Hendricks took the empty spray back. “This, and all the stuff you see around you, wouldn’t have been possible without the Machine. We owe them a lot, no matter how many lives they’ve taken.”
Alex looked around the small room, his home for over a year now. The small cot, the table and two chairs, the small sanitation unit; it all suddenly seemed so tiny compared to the vastness of what lay outside, and he shivered. He realised Hendricks was watching.
“They’re training you to fight on the front lines. Against the Machine Threat. Or, if you’re not as strong, against something else. The squids, or the bloats, or the icemen. And if you’re not strong enough for that, the PP’s.”
Alex locked eyes with his mentor. “And if I’m not good enough for any of those?”
Hendricks held his gaze for a second longer than felt comfortable, then stood up. “Then it won’t matter. Someone in your class will finish you off and your body will be broken down to provide the clone for some other student.” He moved to the door and keyed it open, then paused. “Watch yourself out there, Alex,” he said. “Don’t get podded.”
The door swished closed and the room was quiet. The silence seemed to beat around him like a heart.
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