2000 Years Later The rear wheels of a metallic silver Porsche drifted along the curve and accelerated so fast that the effort made the car to perform a cartwheel before it landed top down on the road. The front door of the car was thrown ajar and a tall man with long blond hair staggered out of it. He was shivering violently. He leaned onto his car, took out a small device from his pocket and dialed a number. 800 km’s away a phone rang with all its might. A beefy man came running and took the receiver. ‘Hello…’ before he could say another word the caller was shouting at him. ‘It is triggered!! The war is triggered!!’ ‘Where are you?’ ‘Exactly somewhere, in the middle of nowhere!!’ shouted the caller again. ‘I don’t know where the hell I am. All I can tell you is that I have just escaped a battalion of robots.’ ‘Stay where you are Sawyer.’ demanded the beefy man. ‘Your GPS will be enabled immediately. At precisely 12:36 AM, April 26, 4005 AD a portal will appear in front of you. Enter into the portal and you will be transported directly into our headquarters.’ ‘Thank you Mr. Kenneth.’ Sawyer clicked his phone dead and on the same instant a portal appeared at his side. He was seeing a ‘portal transporter’ for the first time in his life. He just walked through it to find himself directly in front of the office door of Mr. Johannes Kenneth. Mr. Kenneth was the head of the ‘Protection against terrestrial and extra terrestrial attacks’ and had a large number of people to assist him in his work. Unfortunately Mr. Sawyer Carbotte was one among them and that was how he had to set out for this dangerous mission to check out the activities of the robots at St. Colovette. Taking a deep breath he twisted the knob and pushed the door to find himself face to face with his Bose. ‘I’ve got a job for you.’ blurted his Bose. ‘But before I explain to you the danger contained in this job, I’ve to exactly know what happened to you today.’ This was not exactly what he thought his Boss would tell to him the moment he set foot back on the headquarters after such a devastating mission. But still he trotted glumly onto the chair opposite Mr. Kenneth, dragged it with a long heave and sat on it. ‘All right!!’ Sawyer started to speak. ‘It starts and ends with you Mr. Kenneth.’ Johannes Kenneth adjusted his spectacles and sat erect on his chair. ‘I want to know exactly what happened to you AFTER you rode my Porsche into St. Colovette.’ said Kenneth. Sawyer started to speak again. ‘I rode your Porsche into St. Colovette. I hid your car in an empty alley and stroked stealthily nearer to a building ahead. I didn’t know what to do. So I took out my vacuum climbing set and climbed the building. I peeped in through a vent in the fourth floor and….and...Then...I…’ Sawyer started to stutter. ‘What happened then?’ Kenneth urged him to continue. ‘I saw a battalion, a regiment!!’ spluttered Sawyer. ‘The hall was full of robots. They were working on prejudicial machines and lethal weapons that could even destroy the entire planet in one blow. And they had humans as hostages. It is for the first time in the history of mankind that a robot is known to keep humans as captive. I climbed in through the vent and was about to take a photograph using my camera when a robot turned towards me. I ducked very fast but the robots were already alerted. I believe that the senses of robots might have detected the sudden change in dimension. The next thing I knew was that the robots were on me. Some of the robots started to climb the building to reach the vent on which I was standing. Apparently bewildered I made a flying leap out of the vent and experienced a 40 meter fall before landing smoothly on the ground using my GRD (Gravity Reducing Device). Dodging the incorrigible incursion of the machines I trod onto the Porsche hidden in the alleyway. I turned the gas on and sped as swiftly as I could through a misty labyrinth. The robots were attacking me from every side. I was followed for about an hour. Then somehow, miraculously they lost me!!’ Sawyer stopped with an uncertain expression on his face. ‘Very amusing’ said Kenneth. ‘Besides I also want to point out that my Porsche was found over wheeled at Madison Square. A car equipped with such high stability control is not supposed to get upturned.’ ‘I don’t know why.’ replied Sawyer truthfully. ‘The stability control might have got damaged due to the attack.’ ‘The problem is, the stability control of my car was intact according to my technicians. But the cause, I believe was quite different.’ Said Kenneth. Sawyer raised his eyebrows. ‘I didn’t get you.’ he said. Kenneth cleared his throat and returned to his speech. ‘Every stability control works by aligning the car with the magnetic force of the earth. The emergence of a large number of metallic robots at the same time created an instability in the equilibrium and this caused the repulsive force to reside over the attractive force thus making the car to eject upward.’ ‘All right.’ sighed Sawyer. ‘You will pay your max attention to me from now on.’ said Kenneth. ‘What I’m going tell you right now is something that is concerned with your mission. Actually this is going to be the base of your mission.’ Sawyer adjusted his eyebrows back into square one and strained his ear so that he won’t miss anything. Kenneth leaned on to his table balanced his chair on its front legs and started to speak. The way he spoke now was very different from the way in which he used to speak. He pronounced every single syllable with utmost clarity that made it very clear that he was longing to tell this to someone for many days. ‘I’ve to make it very clear that there is no use by making the world aware about the cause and consequences of what you witnessed today.’ he paused for a moment and continued. ‘It’s with great regret that I’m telling to you that the cause of this upheaval is nobody but the humans themselves.’ ‘What?’ Sawyer cried out. ‘I didn’t get you Kenneth.’ "I know it’s quite difficult to understand this, but you, of all the people should believe me. This war was actually the result of a certain Ms. Conogaug who was living on the 22nd century.’ ‘Ms. Galena Conogaug, the creator of the actual ‘AI’ system.’ ‘Yes, Galena is well known for her great achievements in the base of artificial intelligence. She devised such a strong program for her robots that it still persists today in the inner chip of every single artificially intelligent machine’s. Galena thought that this development would be a great merit for the future of earth. Even a mastermind like her didn’t know anything about the consequence of her action, nor did the world know that she would be the architect of the destruction of her own species. ‘I still didn’t get the point.’ blurted Sawyer. ‘The development of the artificial intelligence was not quite rapid after the death of Galena. Nearly 19 centuries passed ever since without much change in the ‘AI’ system. The robots only got technically better, but not intelligently. So it’s quite natural that the mind of the robots started to change, or in technical terms ‘evolve’. They started to understand their position in the world. They started to loath them being called as machines. With the passage of time the robots started to get more and more agitated due to the concept of considering them as just an imitation of human life.’ Kenneth paused and spoke again. ‘As Galena didn’t find this tacky coincidence as a possibility, she didn’t make her programs very solid, nor did the people who lived after. The frustration that resided in a corner of their subconscious mind started to overwrite the existing programs written in their microchips. Soon the new programs ruled over the primitive and so the war was triggered. The robots you so today were the robots whose minds were completely transformed. Soon the other robots will also join them. I suppose you can guess the situation if all the ‘one by third’ majority of robots start to attack us.’ ‘Then the matter will get out of our hands.’ said Sawyer. ‘The matter is already out of our hands.’ ‘But there have to be a remedy. Can’t we fight the robots? Or can’t we escape to Planet Helion and come back with a legion of spinataloids?’ Sawyer suggested. ‘Bringing the Spinataloids means triggering an extra terrestrial war. Robots are some of the mightiest creatures in our galaxy. We don’t have to annihilate an entire chronic species just for our own selfish needs. We are also not supposed to escape to our neighboring planets which also contain robots programmed by Galena. We will have to restrain all those virtual ideas and resort to something more possible.’ Kenneth retorted. ‘But we still have an option to fight them. We are the one who invented the robots. So we also have the right to annihilate the entire robotic empire.’ Sawyer shouted back. ‘You’re not suggesting about fighting some feeble ambling weaklings. You are bluffing about fighting an inferno of violent machines equipped with strong nuclear weapons and duralumin chassis. They’re almost invulnerable. They could easily be repaired back into square one. All we humans can do is resuscitate. The robots can even resurrect.’ ‘What is the point of telling this to me then.’ said Sawyer. Kenneth looked directly into the bright green eyes of Sawyer and said almost in a whisper. Sawyer had to strain to hear the barely audible sound. ‘This is where your mission lies.’ paused Kenneth and with a reluctant heave he started to speak again. ‘We cannot risk the homo sapiens to get annihilated by their own creation. The only way that I could find to protect ourselves is by warping time.’ ‘You want me to go to the past or something?’ ‘Exactly’ replied Kenneth. ‘I want you to go to 10 Nov 2137 AD. Your time machine will take you to a remote island in South Pacific Ocean where Galena resides. You will have to go to the island, meet Galena, and then persuade her to stop creating the ‘AI’ system. That will create a varied future where the robots will remain as slaves to the human race.’ ‘But isn’t it dangerous to make changes in the timeline? Without the ‘AI’ system do you think that the humans will reach such a progression? By deleting the ‘AI’ codes there will be a serious blow in the timeline. The consequence may be more hazardous than the present situation.’ ‘Nothing is more hazardous than the present situation. Use your intelligence Carbotte, give it a try. If you succeed you will be honored beyond your imagination.’ said Kenneth. ‘But what will I do if Galena doesn’t budge, kill her?’ added Sawyer with a reluctant laugh. ‘Never hesitate’ replied Kenneth. ‘What?!!’ ‘Petrified?’ ‘Nope’ ‘So are you ready?’ ‘Am I supposed to go now?’ ‘Exactly, a time machine is waiting for you outside.’ They stood from their position and started to move outside. The rain was pouring from the misty skies above. Sawyer heard Kenneth mumbling something about ‘cats and dogs’. They turned a corner and sawyer saw, for the first time in his life, a time machine. ‘Time machines are protected by international laws and orders. I’m making a terrible blow in their laws by giving you a time machine.’ said Kenneth. The time machine was completely white in colour to reduce the influence of high temperature. It was made of element chromatinium which was the strongest element ever found. It also didn’t have any tires and worked by repelling the earth’s magnetic field to reduce friction. ‘As there are no tires the rain won’t be a big problem. Your weight will increase to a great extend when you travel (Relativity theory). So your time machine will start to land on the ground. By the time it hits the earth you will travel 600 rounds around the globe. The speed limiter, wheels and parachutes will be triggered to halt the time machine before final landing. When you stop you will find yourself back in time.’ ‘I’ve a doubt.’ said Sawyer. ‘I’m supposed to go at a speed greater than the speed of light (Relativity theory) to warp time. So is there a chance of me going out of the earth’s space curvature as my speed is highly greater than the escape velocity.’ ‘Don’t worry.’ replied Kenneth. ‘The time machine will always keep itself hooked to the earth’s gravitational force. The ‘1712s road’ through which you will be traveling runs all around the globe and was completed in 2116 AD. So you don’t have to worry about the road disappearing. Now, hop on, it’s time to go.’ ‘Wait!!!’ said Sawyer again. ‘When should I come back?’ ‘I’ll wait for about five minutes. Come back exactly on 2:05 PM April 26 4005AD. I hope you succeed your mission.’ Sawyer entered into the time machine as the countdown started. ‘9…8…7…’ He barely opened his eyes and waited reluctantly for the time travel experience. ‘...3…2…1…RELEASE’ The time machine started to speed up. Sawyer started to feel the ‘General Relativity’ effect of everything around him slowing down and then coming back to speed one. After a few seconds the time machine started to slow down. Just before it came to a halt it went in a curve and flew to the remote island in the centre of South Pacific Ocean. He got out of the time machine to see himself in front of a gate which was open for him to amble in. He walked through the gate to see a spectacular mansion. He walked nearer to its front door, swung his hand and banged three times. A girl opened the door. ‘Are you Ms. Conogaug.’ asked Sawyer. ‘No’ I’m her secretary. She wants you to meet her’ said the girl. Then she gestured to follow her, and he followed her through a door, vestibule, staircase and into a new room. There in the centre of the room stood a tall woman who was typing something on her computer. The secretary asked Sawyer to get inside and then she closed the door. The tall woman turned towards Sawyer and introduced herself. ‘Galena Conogaug, computer programmer.’ ‘Sawyer Carbotte, I work for the ‘Protection Against Attacks’ and I’m from the future.’ Galena raised her eyebrows suspiciously at Sawyer. ‘I’ll explain.’ he said. Sawyer sat on the nearest chair and told Galena everything that Kenneth told him. Hours passed like seconds and still she listened carefully to Sawyer. After Sawyer finished explaining everything she asked him. ‘How can I believe you?’ ‘I’ll show you my time machine, my pictures of the future robots, and I can even take you to the future.’ ‘Not that!!’ said Galena.’ How can I guess that you are not lying to me? I dedicated my life for developing the ‘AI’ system. I cannot stop all that in a jiffy. Why can’t I guess that you want to take my fame of being the creator of ‘AI’ system.’ she paused. ‘I’ll give you a challenge. If you pass the challenge you can do whatever you want to the ‘AI’ codes, but if you fail you may die.’ ‘What is that for?’ Sawyer retorted. ‘To check whether your heart is pure!!’ With a slight grin she led Sawyer to a portal. She waved good luck to him and closed the door. Suddenly the place was lightened and Sawyer blinked several times to see whatever was in front of him. The sight made his heart churn. He realized that he was inside an enormous clock tower. The place was filled with dials which turned producing deafening sounds. He turned around frantically a card board piece on the floor. On the card board piece was written 7 words. ‘GET THE LETTER ON THE HOUR HAND’ Sawyer pocketed the piece and ran to the nearest door. It was locked. He took out his hand gun, fired on the door and it was blasted open. He walked forward to find himself in a balcony. A peep down the balcony informed him that he was standing almost 90 meter above the ground. He turned around to see an enormous clock. He took out the paper and read it again. The minute hand was very long compared to the hour hand. Currently the time was 8.30 and it was easy for him to hold on to the minute hand as it was hanging down. He clambered himself to it and waited. At 8:40 the hour hand and the minute hand coincided, but he was not able to jump onto it because of the distance between the sides of the hands. After 5 minutes (8:45) he was ‘sitting’ on the minute hand. He was not able to jump on to the hour hand as he cannot risk falling. After 15 more minutes (9:00) he was hanging upside down on the minute hand. After 15 more minutes (9:15) the two hands reached an average rectilinear position parallel to the base and Sawyer walked forward to the tip of the hour hand. A letter was fixed onto it and he pocketed it. He walked back through the hour hand and clung onto the minute hand. After 15 more minutes (9:30) Sawyer let go of the minute hand and landed himself safely on the balcony. He walked back inside through the door and read the paper in his pocket: _____________________________________________________________ TO MR CARBOTTE, SAWYER ‘WHAT YOU DID NOW WAS A LIFE THREATENING STUNT. I APPRICIATE YOUR BOLDNESS. NOW I KNOW THAT YOUR HEART IS PURE. NO MAN WILL SACRIFICE HIS LIFE FOR A SET OF ‘AI’ CODES. BUT IF YOU WANT TO DELETE THE ‘AI’ CODE YOU WILL HAVE TO CRACK THIS CODE: _____________________________________________________________ Sawyer reread the letter many times but was in vain. Time was ambling fast and it was already 10:00 on the clock. That was when it struck him. All the codes appeared to be a part of the table given above. He started to wonder what ‘<’ would be. He checked out the table and found that it was ‘T’ found in the slab . Similarly was ‘H’ in the slab .On the same way he cracked all the codes and the letter was revealed: THE / CODE / IS / IN / THE / CARD / BOARD / PIECE / THAT / U / RECEIVED Sawyer took out the cardboard piece in his pocket and examined it carefully. Then he loaded his laser pen knife and tore a corner of the card board. Then he inclined the opening slightly and a chip dropped onto his hand. He quickly took out his ‘Digital Program Cracker’ from his pocket and inserted the chip into it. A very complicated code written in binary language started to appear on the display of the DPC. He was about to delete the codes when the danger of his action popped into his mind. A lot of hospitals, hotels, and other places are working in the future with the help of robots that are artificially intelligent. Destruction of this code would mean that all this robots will stop functioning thus creating an endless tremor to the future days. The entire future will be different without the robots. Maybe there won’t be any Kenneth when he returns. Sawyer started to think harder. He examined the codes carefully. His mom had always advised him never to meddle with the timeline. He read the whole code carefully and that was when it struck him. There was a line in the codes that ensured the independence of the robots. The lines contained codes for their ‘independence’, ‘free thinking’, ‘human emotions’, ‘safety measures. etc. He added a new code into it that will trigger the deletion of new codes, the moment it is generated due to evolution. The new codes, he believed, will stop the evolution of robotic mind as the codes in their micro chips are made permanent. He went to the door through which he entered, opened it, and got out of the clock tower. Galena was sitting there and when she saw Sawyer her eyebrows widened. ‘What took you?’ she said. ‘I thought you were dead.’ ‘Nope.’ said Sawyer. ‘I got your chip.’ he informed her. Galena readjusted her eyebrows, left a slow sigh, leaned forward and took the chip from his hand. She started her personal computer and inserted the chip into the chip drive and started to examine the codes. After a few minute s of wandering she exclaimed. ‘Marvelous!! You didn’t delete the ‘AI’ codes; instead you changed the codes so as to protect the human race. An excellent alternative. How do you know the binary language?’ ‘I studied the binary codes for four years after my GCSE examination.’ replied Sawyer. She shut downed her computer and turned towards Sawyer. ‘Wouldja opt for a drink?’ ‘Nope. Err…no time you know. I don’t want to waste time and meddle with the timeline.’ said Sawyer on seeing the expression on her face. ‘You can take this though!!’ Sawyer took out his GRD (Gravity Reducing Device) and presented it to Galena. ‘Now you can experience a free fall whenever you want!!’ Within an hour Sawyer Carbotte was back in his time machine which took him to the ‘1712s road’. He changed the dials of the time machine into ‘2:05 PM, APRIL 26, 4005 AD’ and started the time machine. As the time machine started to gain speed he experienced everything around him slowing down. Everything around him started to shrink as he looked through his telescope and after sometime stopped moving. Then he experienced everything speeding up like a video forwarded at high speed. Then all became a blur and all he could now see was the sudden blinking that was the set and rise of sun (Relativity effect proclaimed by Einstein). Then the time machine started to decent and after some seconds, screeched to a halt right next to a bunch of people. He clambered out of the time machine and was instantly greeted by Kenneth. ‘You are 3 seconds late. I was worried. Anyway, did you succeed?’ Sawyer grinned, raised his hand and gestured ‘thumps up’ to Kenneth. Sawyer was about to get himself embarrassed by Kenneth when a man came running towards him and changed the entire situation. ‘War!’ he shouted. ‘War in Madison square.’ ‘What!!’ exclaimed Kenneth. ‘What kind of war?’ ‘The robots…’ he said before he fainted onto the lawn. ‘I thought you were not lying Sawyer.’ said Kenneth turning towards Sawyer. ‘I can’t’ said Sawyer wondering what was wrong with his programming. Kenneth ran towards him in rage and pushed him hard onto the road. Then he turned around and ran back to his headquarters. Sawyer started to stand up, stumbled a bit, and followed Kenneth towards the headquarters. He saw Kenneth riding his new Nissan towards the busy street outside. He swiftly entered into an ancient jalopy parked in a corner of the pay and park area, screeched the engine into neutral and then into gear 11. He sped behind the Nissan into the busy street and drifted to a halt when he saw the Nissan parked outside. Mr. Kenneth was leaning on his car and gestured Sawyer to come towards him. Sawyer reluctantly followed his order and walked nearer to the Nissan. Kenneth held his shoulder and pointed to the eternal sky above. The misty sky was bright red in colour and he saw something flying out of view. ‘What are they?’ asked Sawyer looking at the sky. ‘Spinataloids, our nearest extraterrestrial neighborhood. They came here to conquer us and do you no what made them retreat?’ ‘No.’ ‘The robots!! The robots retaliated the moment the Spinataloids started to attack us and they chased the aliens back out of our gravitational field.’ explained Kenneth. ‘But you told me that you didn’t destroy the codes.’ ‘I didn’t, I just…changed it.’ After about an hour Sawyer could be seen carrying a goblet, with Kenneth sitting opposite him. They both raised their goblets and grumbled together. ‘To the robots!!’ and drank a mouthful. Then they raised their goblets again and grumbled, this time much more slowly. ‘To Galena, the creator of the Artificial Intelligence.’ The world didn’t know anything about the robotic wrath, so Sawyer was not considered as a super hero of any sort for preventing the extinction of human race. The sky was not misty. It was as white as milk and the robots were seen below ambling on the street, playing with the kids and working for the humans. Their eyes were calm and didn’t show the slightest shade of disapproval to the human race. They were perfectly……back to ‘normal’.
Copyright © 2004 N R Adam |