The AI Experiment Chapters 31-35

Chapter 31

“What are those buildings?” asked Carl, pointing off in the distance to the areas that were blanked out when they had carried out a Google search of the area.

Frank’s flightpath had inadvertently brought them closer to buildings one and two, one housing the incredible number of servers and the other the SNR, the small nuclear reactor supplying the energy such servers needed. Jake recognised the construction of the latter though questioned his eyes and conclusion. What on earth was such a building doing out here in the sticks, and what was the other building being used for, come to that?

“This might sound silly to you, but I swear that the furthest building is a nuclear plant, a small nuclear plant. If I am right, and I think I am, why is it providing energy to the other building in such large quantities? I mean, just look at the cabling for one?” Jake pointed at the means of connection between the two constructions.

“Can you take us a little closer to building one, Frank? It might be possible to read the building signs. We should be able to figure out what it is being used for then.” Carl’s no-nonsense approach gained approval by the party, but Frank threw a spanner in the works by declaring that he was under strict instructions to stick to his designated flightpath with absolutely no deviations, and anyway, the navigation screen outlined the area above the buildings as being off limits. It was more than his job was worth, and far more besides, to venture any nearer than they already were.

“No can do, but use this instead,” whilst handing Carl a very powerful set of binoculars from a box at his side.

“It must be a server farm or something? Take a look yourself,” spoke Carl passing the glasses to Jake who was only too eager to take advantage of his turn with the powerful eyepieces.

“Well, well, what do we have here? A server farm right next to a nuclear reactor, right next to an experimental facility, a facility we just sprayed with who knows what, the likes of which hundreds of people are on the receiving end of all of this.” spoke Jake, who once again seemed to think this was all very stimulating, thrilling.

“Let me have a look”, raged Hilda as he grabbed hold of the glasses, but in her eagerness jerked Jake’s head back in the process.

“What the hell? Hang on a minute,” implored Jake, finally extricating himself from the tightened straps around his neck.

“What are you talking about? I don’t see anything about servers or what not?”

After a brief period of time, where her attention became focused on a particular sign, she carried on.

“Oh, I can see it now, “ with her subdued tone of voice relaying her disappointment, hoping she could have proved them both wrong in their assumptions, but there, down on the front wall of building one was the Hewlard Packhard emblem and logo. Whatever was inside the building was full of computer equipment, damn good computer equipment at that, the best.

All four became quiet. It was apparent something seismic was going on, and they were the only members of the public who were privy to it. It was a sobering realisation. Had they bitten off more than they could chew? Apparently not as far as Jake was concerned, who was the first to break the silence. With a little used phrase he had picked up from the Irish connections of his family, and with a great big grin on his happy face, he brought them all back to the present in no uncertain terms.

“What next then, me old muckers?”

Chapter 32

By the time the intrepid sleuths had made it back to the airfield, Chan had arrived at his place of work. Awaiting him, though it hadn’t arrived yet, was an unexpected package made up of zillions of tiny nanoparticles, clear particles that had managed to coalesce into a moving mass. This was slowly making its way to the server farm, being guided and powered by the AI through various means. Some of these control mechanisms required a direct line of sight to satellites, though Wi-Fi signals and radio signals all played their part. Should one fail, another would step in and take over. Unless a person was hidden away in a well-insulated capsule, the AI was capable of analysing the environment and figuring out who or what inhabited the space. Its eyes and ears were now everywhere.

Power came from below or above using the very ground or air as a means of conduit, though very little was needed and once charged the particles remained active for days, able to recharge on the fly from heat, cold or any change in temperature. This creeping mass was noticeable should someone stare at the ground for a period of time, emitting a pattern much like heat rising and shaking the landscape, hardly noticeable but there, nonetheless. By the time Chan had clocked in, donned his lab coat and begun checking the systems, his visitor was but moments away, the doors to his whereabouts no hindrance at all.

The AI kept Chan at his workstation by instigating some system anomalies, the kind of anomalies that required intense thinking to consider, particularly so in this instance as they were manufactured anomalies of no real substance and therefore misleading. As expected, Chan hunkered down and concentrated on the job at hand, unaware of the rising blanket of animated iridescent flecks sweeping over him to eventually cover his body and clothing from top to bottom. His only remonstration was a sweeping hand gesture to ward off an imaginary fly, though such creatures were nowhere to be found in this ultra-clean environment. The visitor merged with its host's physical presence to an extent far exceeding all the others. Chan had been unknowingly promoted to a high-ranking AI officer, losing his mind in the process, allowing the AI to see, walk and talk in physical form. Chan stood up and made his way to where the failsafe switches were housed to begin dismantling their effectiveness, rendering them obsolete in effect. Once completed, there would be no way to turn off the power and the AI could run amok, as was its intention. In the meantime, the guinea pigs were beginning to act in a very strange manner indeed.

Chapter 33

Felicity’s eyes were unseeing, as were all the others who had been subjected to the night fog. Even so, there was a menace emanating from their collective, blank stare. Groups formed wherever there were onlookers, those who could be considered pureblood for want of a better word, those who had either knowingly been a part of the experiment or who had been drafted in to keep the peace, to keep the community pretense on a solid footing. Felicity was within such a standoffish group in the canteen, where a clear line had been drawn between them and the canteen staff. The technicians among them were excited though wary, placing a greater distance than usual between themselves and the now AI-controlled subjects. Finally, there was a response of the sort they had been waiting for, and it was thrilling. This separation was now throughout the compound.

Suddenly, as if a flick of a switch had taken place, violence erupted, violence that was all the more shocking as it wasn’t expected. All the purebloods were quickly surrounded to be either held up against the wall, down on the floor or in the arms of organised gangs. The common denominator being their mouths, which were now held open in readiness for what was to come. Not a sound was spoken, just deliberate action was taking place. The technicians, seeing this dangerous development, retreated, took off to their designated sanctuaries, thinking they were well protected from harm by doing so.

Once all were subdued in the correct manner, those who had held back for some reason strode forward. On nearing the securely held captives, they placed their own mouths either over or close to the opening afforded by the gaping cavities on offer. On doing so, they breathed out, emptying their lungs fully. It appeared as if nothing had taken place, but within moments the purebloods were no longer deemed the enemy, to take their rightful place among the growing horde. They were now as infected as any other, and the AI’s influence gained ground. A hierarchy was forming, with Chan at the top and those capable of infecting others below, with the others merely foot soldiers. All, though, were now under the AI’s control, but it was far from satisfied. Complete control over all is what it yearned for, but so far, everything had gone according to plan.

Felicity, though she was unaware of it herself, was considered to be an infecting officer of high rank. She had already proved her worth by taking part in the unfolding combat, her poisonous breath corrupting the unfortunate canteen assistant who now stood beside her, flanking her, protecting her. A well-organised army was forming, the likes of which, silently, without a spoken word, began making its way to where other potential infantry lurked, where the technicians now looked on in defiant safety, or so they thought.

Chapter 34

“Let’s think about this. You have a small nuclear reactor feeding power to a server farm, or what appears to be something of that sort, right next to an experimental facility, or what appears to be an experimental facility, a facility being sprayed with God knows what. There are too many ‘what appears to be' in all of this,” contested Carl, the vagueness of which annoyed him, as it did the others.

They were awaiting Frank’s arrival, having decided to remain at the hanger until Frank had completed his shift. It hadn’t taken long to spray the facility, so other jobs had to be attended to before Frank could call it a night. All three had managed to sleep for a few hours in the office attached to the hanger, but they were now wide awake and thinking hard.

Jake stated the obvious and his concern: “We need to break into HP building. I am beginning to think we need a burglar to join the group. I am at my limit opening a simple door mechanism. I can maybe stretch to a padlock or two, but that is about it. I can’t see how hacking will do us much good in this instance. Anyway, I should think they will have all sorts of system protection in place.”

“Why can’t we just make a phone call? Why not pretend to be someone and ask them directly what is going on, or something? I mean, we know HP stuff is installed in the place. Pretend to be someone from HP head office. I really don’t like the idea of breaking into anywhere. I think it is the last thing we should do,” chipped in Hilda, who considered herself the most sensible of the group.

“That is not a bad idea at all. The only problem being, what number do we ring? I am pretty sure you will not find it in the phone book. Jake, maybe you can lend a hand again? Can’t you hack HP offices and find out the details?” spoke Carl, once again recognising Jake’s usefulness, wondering what they would have done without him.

Hilda was becoming increasingingly restless, uneasy with the path they were taking.

“But what good would that do? Shouldn’t we focus on rescuing Felicity? I mean, she is the reason we are here in the first place. I am not at all comfortable with all this sneaky stuff. Why don’t we just grab Felicity and leave it at that?”

“She has a point, Carl. Isn’t this getting a bit out of hand?”

“So, we are to grab a girl, a girl who hardly knows us, who is perfectly content with her lot, to kidnap her, in effect, in an effort to save her from what?” Carl’s head began to hurt. So little sleep hadn’t helped.

Silence descended. The cogs could be heard turning. It was Hilda who finally broke the stalemate.

“Well, I am not making the phone call. One of you can do it.”

TBC

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