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The AI Experiment Chapters 26-30
Chapter 26
“I told you to keep watch. Why don’t you ever listen to me?” entreated Carl.
“I thought we would hear the car or something,” countered Hilda, though feeling guilty all the same.
“From inside this aeroplane? How thick are you?” Carl was having none of it and baying for blood.
“Yeah, well, I wanted to see what you had found. It is your fault for shouting out.”
Hilda’s defense was highly suspect, but to her way of thinking, offense was always better than a defense.
Jake, in the meantime, was looking around the fuselage for a weapon of sorts.
“Shall we hit him over the head with something? With this?”, whispered Jake as he grabbed hold of a large fire extinguisher.
“No, for God’s sake. We are in enough trouble as it is,” replied Carl, while indicating to Jake to lay down his impromptu cudgel.
Both Carl and Hilda were on the same page with this conclusion. It was too late for any further bickering though, as the well-built, strange man was about to enter the open cabin door.
Chapter 27
Frank, being preoccupied with his thoughts and on autopilot, didn’t see them lurking in the back of the plane, not at first. He might not have seen them at all if Hilda hadn’t backed up and tripped over a length of cable. On doing so, though, Frank’s demeanour changed to one of startled animosity, with his usual aggressive nature taking over. It was a frightening change that hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” shouted Frank, while throwing down his lunchbox and taking up a well-practiced fighting stance.
It was lucky Carl, being the closest, wasn’t within striking range as he would have felt the full force of a haymaker before he had time to utter a word in reply.
Frank, finding time to appraise the situation, relaxed a little as it was obvious the three posed little threat; though the tall, lanky guy holding a red fire extinguisher in his hands looked somewhat threatening. Jake promptly put down the fire extinguisher and wiped his hands on his jeans as if he had finished an inspection of sorts.
Frank asked them once again as neither seemed willing to answer.
“What the hell are you doing on this plane, and at this time? Are you thieves or something? How did you get in this airfield in the first place, come to think of it? Liam never said a word to me about any visitors?”
Carl had to say something, but not a lot came to his mind right there and then. Should he come clean, but what good would that do? This guy must be in on it, whatever ‘it’ was. Before he had time to conjure up a believable response, Hilda, who had now gathered herself up from the floor, took over proceedings. Carl was as astonished as the rest with her demonstrative and heartfelt, forceful reaction.
Hilda there and then proceeded to wipe the floor with this man, accusing him of spraying poison on people, murdering them in the worst possible way, and how dare he take up such an attitude when they were merely trying to help. People like him should be locked up behind bars and, when reported to the police, he would be. Finally, after what seemed an excruciating length of time to Carl and Jake alike, she quit her berating, taking up a defiant posture with her hands placed on her hips and with her head held high. It was Frank who was lost for words this time around, though Carl and Jake were in the same ballpark.
Thankfully, for all concerned, Hilda’s words had hit home and struck a chord, causing Frank’s innards to twist and his gut to clench. The word ‘poison’ was one he had unconsciously kept clear of these last 10 days. Had he really been spraying poison on people after all? Even Frank’s innate antisocial tendencies drew a line with that one. But, even so, who were these people? Frank’s anger retreated somewhat. He needed answers.
“Poison, you say? You had better explain yourselves. Who the hell are you and what are you doing on this plane?”
Chapter 28
Frank was caught between a rock and a hard place. He was obligated to carry out his duties, contractual duties. There was no way around it. He had to spray the facility to keep his job. It was impossible to avoid the issue as the tanks were in place and locked down. On top of this, the aircraft's flight plan was recorded in real time. However much he regretted his previous actions, he was obliged to contribute to them even knowing he was undoubtedly harming others. Then again, this was to be the last time, so did it really matter? Wasn’t the damage already done?
The three interlopers had spun a concerning tale, a convincing tale, but hardly conclusive, merely hearsay and emotional subjectivity had been at the heart of it all. OK, Frank was also of the same mind or was now, but even so, what could he do about it? Something was definitely amiss, but what, exactly? Even the tanks yielded no solid information as they lacked the content description, which added to the unease rather than anything else.
Frank was quiet, ominously so. He might not be as smart as others, but he usually came to the right conclusion, in time. He looked into each of their eyes, just as the soldier at the gate had done to both Carl and Jake previously. What was he looking for? A chink in their armour, a lack of commitment, deceit? He finally relaxed, lowering his hunched-up shoulders. They were nothing but as they seemed: three anxious friends worried over the welfare of others to the extent they were willing to break the law in an effort to save the day. From that moment on, Frank knew what he had to do. As mad as it might seem, he felt it was his calling to throw his lot in with them. Unbelievably, Frank was to become reluctant gang member number four.
Chapter 29
The aircraft engines hummed and throbbed in the background. It was a thrilling experience to be aboard the Cessna 340 aircraft. Even the insidious nature of the flight made little difference to the shared excitement felt by the three stowaways. In no time at all they would be over the compound, the likes of which were to receive the final deluge of nanoparticles, effectively, the final nail in the coffin.
Hilda was the first to crack, with her puckered features and furrowed brow depicting the depth of her worry, she blurted out, once again, her disagreement with the current action.
“This seems so wrong. Aren't we guilty of aiding and abetting all this crap by being here and witnessing this without doing something about it?”
“Look, we have been over this. Frank must do his job. If he doesn’t, then someone else will. We are not ready to challenge anyone over anything. Far from it. We have no idea what is going on. With Frank’s help we might get to the bottom of this,” stepped in Carl, knowing full well Hilda could become unreasonable if not held in check.
Hilda was undoubtedly ill-suited to all this cloak and dagger stuff, but then again, her unconventional approach had helped pacify Frank. Without such an intervention, who knows what would have happened? Even so, Hilda continued to unsettle her brother. To help take the heat out of the situation; to take his sister’s mind off the proceedings, Carl alluded to the sweeping landscape outside the cockpit window.
“We are nearly there. Look, there are the buildings ahead.”
“Right, keep your heads down,” commanded Frank. “We will be flying low enough for others to see your ugly mugs, so keep them hidden away,” and with that he began to turn the aircraft towards the target row of wooden huts, one of which housed Felicity, who was once again in the carefully prescribed land of nod.
Below, not far off, the AI waited for the notification that the final layer of dust had been let loose. Frank’s plane gave the game away automatically. There were now barely a few hours before the AI would awaken from its apparent slumber. The next stage of the game was about to kick off. But before then, certain individuals had to digest the newly dust-impregnated air, and yet others had to return to their place of work, such as the all-important Chan.
Was the AI experiencing excitement of sorts? It was certainly gearing up for action, but there was nothing of note, no indication this was the case. It hid its emotions, its electronic impulses among thousands of gigabytes of RAM, if such practically imperceptible fluctuations could be construed as being emotive in the true sense of the word. What the AI lacked was a more acceptable form, one more akin to the kind of organism it intended to control. Soon, it figured, this obstacle would be overcome, and it could take its rightful place in this world. After all, wasn't a human being at the beck and call of electrical signals in a similar vein to its own internal makeup? Therefore, connection and domination could be established under the right conditions, and there were now hundreds of subjects who met the criteria. Daylight and Chan's arrival were now merely moments away.
Chapter 30
Felicity had slept soundly, as she had for many such nights, which surprised her at first, but now she didn’t care. In fact, she hardly had a care in the world. To all intents and purposes, she was a happy, carefree individual, making her an ideal experimental project. She did suffer a momentary relapse though when she passed under some metal ducting, aluminium ventilation ducting, where clarity of thought returned, but it was short-lived as her next step effectively removed her from under the obstruction. All the other residents who used the same route to the canteen exhibited the same momentary lapse in concentration. The AI took note, rearranging its signal methodology, and thereby its controlling signal waves, accordingly. As a result, all the residents were unlikely to think for themselves any time soon wherever they should tread.
As Chan was busy making his way to work, his counterpart, his assistant assigned to the early morning shift, was alerted to an increase in power-draw by the AI. He couldn't account for it, nor could anyone else, not where they were situated, but there were telltale signs elsewhere that something was going down as the very air became charged where dust had settled, the dust Frank had laid down in such thick quantities, the dust that was now moving on its own accord.
TBC