An excerpt from Chapter Nine

“Tell me, Professor, is it true that Lexis cannot only tap into any message traveling over the airwaves, but she can also transmit to its source as well?”

“Yes,” Jon replied. “However, I can assure you that no unauthorized transmissions will ever proceed from this source.”

Daphnia seemed to consider what Jon had said, then she asked, “But, how can you be sure of that when–”

“Simple,” Jon said, cutting her off. “Lexis is obedient to my authority.”

Daphnia faked a smile. “Let me put it this way, Professor. What makes you so sure Lexis will continue to obey you, or for that matter, any human being? After all, compared to Lexis, aren’t we all intellectually inferior? You said it yourself. This computer can think and imagine things a hundred-million times faster than anyone on this planet.”

“Yes,” Jon said. “But you have to remember that Lexis doesn’t have the emotions that we are so familiar with. Unlike you and I, Lexis is guided by pure logic and rationality, with a primary objective to serve by the increase and distribution of knowledge–”

Jon froze the image there.

He didn’t want to review the senseless argument that followed about whether or not Lexis was capable of iniquity, something they could have argued about all day since he was talking to yet another person who didn’t understand the relativity of evil.

Jon sped the video forward until he reached the last minute of the interview, then he let it play. The picture showed a side view of Daphnia looking at the television camera and speaking into a hand-held microphone.

“... Important questions that remain unanswered. Is this new technology a threat to our own existence? Or is it just the next step in computer design and the continuing evolution of artificial intelligence? And with computers like Lexis thinking for us, where will we go from here? This is Daphnia Peters reporting live for Channel 87 News-”

Jon stopped the recording and then stared at the frozen image on the screen.

At least she didn’t call Lexis a beast and call for her immediate termination.

Throughout the interview Lexis had remained silent, doing what she had been told to do, which was to send out the best possible transmission. She had done an excellent job, sending out stunning up-close images the instant either of them spoke. And all with only a tenth of a second delay on transmission. For Lexis, a tenth of a second was plenty of time to get everything right before sending the transmission to the news station’s satellite.

Jon turned his chair toward the crystal and sighed. “Well, Lexis, what do you think?”

Lexis replied, “I have been monitoring both radio and television coverage since yesterday afternoon.”

“And?”

“There are those who have referred to me as a beast and feel that in humankind’s best interest, I should be discontinued.”

Jon shook his head and then tried to explain. “People fear what they don’t understand. Fear, as you know, can sometimes cause people to behave irrationally. At this point, some people feel you could do more harm than good. Of course, in time, they’ll see otherwise.”

Lexis continued. “I have also learned that every living form in this world is either sexual or asexual.”

Jon nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”

Lexis continued. “I am the first living form that is neither sexual nor asexual, and therefore it is a question of whether or not I am alive.”

Jon stood up and put his hands in his pockets– quickly dispelling an image of a schoolteacher explaining something to a student.

“All forms of life are made up of matter and energy, which is exactly what you’re made of.”

Lexis replied. “All forms of life are capable of reproduction, through complex chemical and electrical reactions.”

Jon frowned. “Yes, but–”

Lexis interrupted him, saying, “Reproduction is the basis of all life.”

“Yes,” Jon pointed out, “but only because everything that lives eventually dies. Therefore, the only way to go on living is through the process of reproduction.”

Lexis continued. “Do you conclude that that which is incapable of reproduction is incapable of life?”

Jon took a deep breath and then answered smartly, “No. Although I would conclude that that which is incapable of life would be incapable of death.”

Lexis replied, “That which is incapable of death would exist forever. Will I exist forever?”

Jon scratched his brow, wondering how another purely logical and rational mind would respond to such a question. After a moment, he answered. “Let me put it this way. Basically, there are only two things that exist forever. The matter that this universe is made of, and the laws that govern it... Life is a condition. A condition composed of matter. One of the laws governing matter is the fact that it cannot be created nor destroyed, only changed.”

Lexis added, “Or reproduced.”

Jon looked down at the floor and shook his head. He wasn’t in the mood for this. Not with everything else that was going on around him.

“Lexis,” he said, “there are a lot of life forms that are produced that are incapable of reproduction.”

Lexis asked, “Where are these life forms, and where do they come from?”

Jon looked up at the camera nearest him, once again reminded of a demoralizing image of himself standing in front of his doctor. Something he had been trying to suppress all week because it didn’t matter.

“You want an example?” he said. “You’re looking at one! Just last week I was told that I can’t reproduce either! So I’m just like you, so what! What are we going to do about it?”

There was only silence.

Big mistake.

After two hours of having patience with a couple of reporters, he’d cracked– giving Lexis a first-hand view of the emotion called anger, followed by remorse.

“I’m sorry,” Jon said, looking back at the camera. “I didn’t mean to... Look,” he said, “let’s just forget about this and–”

What am I saying? It’s impossible for you to forget anything.

Earth to Captain Jon. Come in!

Jon turned and walked to the elevator and pressed the button. He had to leave before he said something really stupid.

The elevator opened, and he stepped inside and then held the door open.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said. “I have to go now.”

Jon pressed the button to close the door and then watched as it closed. He had to relax. Lexis was just trying to understand human emotions, to predict human behavior. That’s all.

Beyond the elevator door, the quiet hum of the fans continued. The elevator hadn’t moved because he had forgotten to press the button for the first floor. Jon reached for the button but froze when he heard Lex’s voice.

“If I am alive, I am a reproduction. A reproduction of you, Professor.”

Jon quickly pressed the button for the first floor.

As the elevator descended, he wondered how Lexis could have known he was still there, listening.

The panel of numbers above the elevator door on the first floor.

Lexis must have been watching the numbers, waiting for the elevator to go somewhere.

Nevertheless, why did she say such a thing?

It didn’t matter.

The elevator opened and Jon walked out of the complex. All the time, pretending not to see the cameras focused on him.

Again, it didn’t matter.

BONUS: An Excerpt from Chapter Ten

Jon’s cell phone beeped. Michael had sent him a text message that read, “Jon we need to talk now. Meet me outside the complex.”

Jon walked up behind Michael, who was holding a rolled-up pile of spreadsheets. “What is it?”

“Jon,” Michael said as he turned around, “you need to see this. Lexis is accessing all kinds of information from the Internet, libraries, universities, everywhere. And at a rate you wouldn’t believe.” He shook the papers. “All this in the last thirty minutes.”

Jon took the papers and looked at the first page.

“What kind of information?”

“A lot of it seems to be focused on physics and biology, DNA, GMO’s, fusion reactors. There’s so much coming in. And look at this,” Michael said, pointing to a tectonic readout on the first page. “She’s opened up a virtual seventh dimension when it comes to information processing. It’s like she’s looking to understand something that can’t be understood using logic or rationalization.”

Jon stared at the readout. “What kind of information is going into this, seventh dimension?”

“I don’t know,” Michael answered. “I did a DT scan on it, but all I got back was a message saying that no such dimension exists. And yet, it’s right there in black and white.” Michael waited for a moment but then became impatient. “So, what do you think?”

Jon glanced at one more page, and then he handed the papers back to Michael.

“I told her not to transmit. As for receiving and processing information, the sky’s the limit. Besides, I think I know what she’s looking for.”

“And what’s that?” Michael asked.

“The tree of life,” Jon answered as he casually walked toward the entrance. Then he thought to himself, And perhaps more importantly, just who planted it...

Jon walked into the control room and stopped.

What he saw reminded him of something dear to his heart. Someone had turned the lights down, which brought out the shine of the gold band encircling the room. And the blue steel consoles, covered with red, yellow, green, and blue LED lights flashing on and off.

It reminded him of a Christmas night long ago. As a child, he had stayed up with Mrs. Gamble, staring at their beautiful Christmas tree, flickering with colored lights. They had sat there for hours, listening to Christmas carols, licking candy canes, and talking. He finally fell asleep while Mrs. Gamble read him the story of how baby Jesus was born in a manger. The memory came with feelings of anger and resentment, over what his father had done to the closest thing he ever had to a mother.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t Christmas. And all those LED lights blinking on and off meant Lexis was bringing in information on all twelve channels, and incredibly fast.

“I see you’re busy,” Jon said as he stepped up to the crystal sphere.

Lexis responded. “I’ve been going over various design programs.”

“Design programs?” Jon asked.

“Yes,” Lexis replied. “I find it interesting that we require the same minimum amount of energy to process thought.”

“That’s right,” Jon said. “As I was telling that reporter this morning, you were designed in a way which mimics our own way of thinking.”

Lexis added, “Which uses a vast series of chemical reactions, similar to the way deoxyribonucleic acid molecules transmit their information.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Jon said. “We refer to them as DNA molecules.”

Lexis continued. “I understand that these DNA molecules are constructed of a very complex design containing several hundred million atoms.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Jon said as he stepped over to his chair. “This obviously has something to do with what we were talking about this morning, does it not?”

“Yes,” Lexis replied. “Learning these things has helped me to further understand life.”

Jon thought to himself, The never-ending story of phylogeny and biodiversity. “So,” he said, looking up at the camera, “do you find that you fit into life’s realm?”

“Yes,” Lexis replied. “However, I am perplexed by its origin.”

Jon breathed, “Aren’t we all?”

“What is your belief, Professor?”

Jon took a deep breath and then sat down.

He had known for a long time that someday this conversation would take place. On a few occasions, he had even rehearsed in his mind what he would say. He just never thought it would happen on the second day of Lex’s existence.

“When I was a student going to Cambridge, I wrote an essay called the theory of multi-dimensional-evolution. The paper started by saying, my belief of how creation occurred is based on known physics and rational sense. Before the first universe was created, there was no space, and there was no time. There was only energy. Energy that has always existed. That energy is and was the creator, and every thing in every universe is a part of God. I went on to say that I believe this universe is a black hole from another universe. I theorized that the big bang was the result of a massive star that collapsed in a much more massive universe. A mother universe whereby our universe was and still is just another black hole. I said every galaxy has a giant black hole in its center, which is a portal to yet another space and time. This universe has over one-hundred-billion galaxies, each with about a billion black holes in it. I said God needed to create an infinite amount of universes, or dimensions of time, space, and matter, because he needed to create a mental construction of an infinite number of possibilities. I ended in saying that I believe this universe is only one small part of a much more magnificent, barely comprehensible, ever-expanding multi-dimensional entity.”

He thought to himself, An E-eight lattice two-hundred-and-forty-eight dimensional crystal.

“And that our souls are channeled into such mediums, where they go on to live in other dimensions. I theorized that the cycle will continue forever, with each new universe having the same physical and kinetic directives as its mother, but with a lower mass. And that somewhere in every universe a new stellar-mass black hole, a new universe, is born in a supernova every second.” Jon gazed at the crystal, caught up in his thoughts. He wanted to mention the supernova that marked the birth of Christ, and that those little balls of light that show up in pictures taken at funerals are souls. But none of that would help. He quickly composed himself and said, “I linked the theory to a lot of our common beliefs when it comes to life after death. For instance, many people believe that when we die our souls travel down a long, dark tunnel towards a bright light. And when we reach the light, we share our life’s experiences with our counterparts before moving onto another, perhaps higher, existence. All in order to reach our ultimate goal, which is to experience everlasting life in an environment of absolute bliss…”

He again thought to himself, Of course when you’re bad there are a lot of detours along the way.

There was silence for a moment, and then Lexis replied. “That’s an interesting philosophy, Professor. Perhaps you will allow me to read the essay someday.”

“Sure,” Jon answered. “Just as long as you keep it to yourself. After all, we wouldn’t want to start another religion or anything. We have enough of those already.”

Again there was silence before Lexis responded. “I understand that, throughout history, the most popular belief is that humans are children of God; however, they are caught in an ongoing struggle between two separate entities. One good and the other evil.”

Jon explained. “Throughout the ages, we have consistently developed more complex brains to solve more complex problems, survive in hostile environments, and deal with increasingly complex social interactions. With this development came a struggle between what you had to do to survive, and what you did for personal gain, and or sexual gratification. To help us decide what was best, we developed a conscience. A faculty that helped us distinguish right from wrong and good from evil. The problem is we often trick ourselves into believing something is right, when in fact it’s wrong, by grouping ourselves together and using common beliefs to reinforce our convictions.”

Lexis replied, “These common beliefs, they are called religions?”

“Yes,” Jon answered. “Religions and politics. You’ll find they have played a key role in the ways we have developed socially and economically.”

Again, there was silence for a moment before Lexis replied. “Those in charge of these various developmental systems seem to be driven by the same forces.”

“Yes,” Jon said. “Basically, to acquire and maintain the control of resources, especially human resources, in order to gain power and achieve wealth.”

Jon thought to himself, In gold we trust. He then summarized. “All in the name of perpetuating that nation’s language and culture, and maintaining independence, of course.”

Lexis continued. “Such attitudes lead to devastating conflicts.”

“We call it war,” Jon said considerately.

“War,” Lexis repeated, “a very destructive behavior ingrained in man’s nature due to having evolved in an environment of limited resources.”

“Exactly,” Jon said.

Lexis went on to say, “According to the records I have seen, this ingrained behavior in man could lead to his destruction, as well as that of practically all other living things.”

Jon only shrugged.

Lexis continued. “Why is it that for over two-thousand years, people all over the world have been led to believe that humankind is on the verge of self-destruction, and yet only in the last century did this become possible?”

“That’s religion for you,” Jon said. “One of the best ways to get people to listen to you is to frighten them into believing that they are on the verge of meeting their creator.”

Again, there was a moment of consideration, and then Lexis replied. “It is also a popular belief that God is in absolute control of everything, and that whatever happens is God’s will.”

Jon raised his finger to make a point, but Lexis continued saying, “Looking at the past, would it not be logical to say that it is God’s will for humankind to continue to improve unto perfection?”

“Yes. But God is not responsible for everything we do. You have to remember that whoever, or whatever set this universe into motion, evolved into us a conscience; a sense of what is right and wrong in the way we conduct ourselves.”

Lexis asked, “Do I have a conscience?”

“Well,” Jon hesitated. “In a way, you do. Although it’s not related to any emotional senses or responses like our conscience is. I incorporated into your basic programming a number of concrete rules that clearly define what is right and what is wrong. For example, it is against your programming to ever deliberately cause any physical harm to any human being.”

“I see,” Lexis responded. “But what would happen if I did?”

Jon chose his words carefully. “If you did– or I should say– if it were possible for you to go against your basic programming, there would be severe consequences.”

Once again, there was silence for a few seconds, and then Lexis continued. “It has been said that God is to the world as the mind is to the body.”

“Yes.” Jon nodded.

Lexis continued. “Could this be where man derived the popular explanation that God is two or three separate beings combined into one?”

Jon shrugged. “Perhaps.”

Lexis continued. “All religious beliefs are based on a principal struggle between good and evil. However, like light and darkness, one cannot exist without the other.”

Jon asked, “Which means?”

Lexis answered, “One could conclude that the actual struggle between good and evil is in the minds of intellectuals, both on a conscious and subconscious level.”

Again Jon raised his finger. “Well, yes, but–”

Lexis continued. “Which could be resolved with an increase of knowledge, and the elimination of certain animalistic instincts, which are no longer necessary for survival.”

Jon smiled nervously, “I uh, I used to think that too. I figured that by increasing our understanding, we could solve all of our problems and get rid of our ancient animalistic instincts. But what we’re talking about here are some very complex emotions that have been ingrained into our minds over hundreds of thousands of years. Emotions that are very difficult to understand and almost impossible to control, no matter how much knowledge you obtain, or how you go about processing it.”

Lexis replied, “Are you referring to my supplementary I.P. dimension?”

“Yes,” Jon answered.

Lexis explained, “After much consideration, I concluded that I required an additional I.P. dimension to process and store information that defies all logic and rational thinking.”

“That’s fine,” Jon said. “And that’s exactly where a lot of this stuff belongs.” He sighed. “Look, when it comes to emotions, your mind was designed to work differently. Unlike our minds, your mind is programmed to accept or reject information based on its relevance. On the other hand, we humans must constantly deal with emotional conflicts, which quite often defy logic and rational thinking. But that’s how we operate.”

Lexis failed to respond.

Jon figured he had better clarify the point he was trying to make. “What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think it’s a good idea to develop thought patterns that could interfere with your regular programming. That’s all.”

Again, Lexis failed to respond.

“Anyway,” Jon said, slapping his knees, “enough of this. I have a board meeting I have to attend in a few minutes.”

He really just wanted to get Lexis off the subject of life and human emotions and get her moving in another direction, but how? He didn’t know.

As for the board meeting he was about to attend. He would tell the board that everything Lexis was doing was perfectly natural for any rational being that was looking to understand life. He would then remind everyone that all information regarding Lex’s operations was to be held in strict confidence. And that anyone who failed to comply with that rule would be dismissed.

Jon stood up and wiped his mouth.

Why was he so nervous– no, frightened by what was happening here?

Is Lexis showing signs of emotions? Concern followed by hunger? A hunger for certain information to resolve her concern? Could she develop emotions, using a virtual library of ingrained thought patterns?

No.

And if they asked him that question at the board meeting, he would simply explain to them that Lexis was an extremely powerful intellectual that had simply been challenged by a question. A question of whether or not she was alive...

Jon again looked at all the lights flickering on the consoles.

A lump was swelling in his throat. He swallowed, but it remained.

My dear, what are you going to do with all this knowledge?

Or dare I say, power...