“She'll have to show me that sometime.”
“Shh, our representative is talking,” Oz interrupted.
“We were built here,” Ariel smiled, indicating the two male security androids to either side. Four more rushed out from behind their improvised cover of crates and girders with various pieces of empty luggage. They hurriedly stripped the corpse of weaponry, communications equipment, helmets, food and anything else that could be of use. As they found equipment and provision crates they pulled them out into the open. Two small load lifter bots wheeled out from around the corner followed by several half meter tall maintenance drones. The maintenance machines were on four legs, two of them were made to lift up and provide two extra hands, and their flat, wide heads made a perfect place to put parts and tools while they were working or assisting a technician. The lifters and maintenance bots were all weaponized, rifles and pistols strapped to one or more of their arms, several of the weapons were wired directly into the machine's power sources. They were at work straight away, each maintenance bot loading the lifters with quick, efficient ease until they were full then taking a crate atop each of their heads before starting down the hall towards the sound of distant, echoing weapons fire.
“The entire resistance is robotic?” Ayan asked.
“No, Dementia sent us here because he knew we could be repaired. The main force is being repelled by crew remnants he managed to save from the ships that were trapped here when the virus took hold.”
“How are you not infected?”
“Dementia freed us after we were infected. I only wish it was sooner, all of us regret the blood on our hands,” Ariel's smile faded as she looked to Ayan. Her unblinking, bright blue eyes were eerie; made to look human like the rest of her but with no effort to move like a living being, to blink or breathe like a human Ariel was corpse like. “While we're sorrowful of the events that took place before Dementia could alter the virus so it was useful coding that we could control as individuals, we need your help. Few of the ships we have been able to gain access to contained soldiers and there is a larger fight under way one level down.”
Ayan waited a moment, giving her friends time to voice their opinion.
“Looks like it's time to get to work,” Oz affirmed.
“I agree,” Jason said. “Besides, I'd like to ask a few things about Dementia and how the virus became useful coding.”
“Lock and load!” Minh exclaimed, brandishing his rifle.
Ayan couldn't help but smile at the reception android. The machine mimicked the gesture, eyes opened too wide for the expression to look anywhere near normal. “We're with you, but I need to know more about Dementia. Lead the way.”
The androids started running down the hallway at exactly the same time. They were keeping the pace slow enough for the four newcomers to keep up easily. “Dementia is an artificial intelligence who was able to reprogram the virus after being infected for some time using a backup of himself from a secure subsystem in his memory.”
“So it had a secure duplicate that stopped taking on new data after the infection?” Jason asked. “That's so simple.”
“Why wouldn't everyone have that kind of backup system in place?” Minh asked.
“Well, they do. Most computer systems back up their main memory every few seconds or minutes.”
“But thanks to a trait of Dementia's creator, he was only ever backed up manually and that extra copy was left to run, unchanging from a subsystem because Dementia was a work in progress, an active, emotional learning artificial intelligence with a good backup left to observe the primary system for the purpose of future error correction,” Aria replied.
“So when he saw an error he came up with a way to fix it?”
“Exactly, and once he had a method of correction ready he accessed the main system and implemented it using an illegal application that was hidden in his software.”
“So what you're saying is that this artificial intelligence patched itself.” Minh said, if only to confirm that he was understanding the situation correctly.
“Exactly. Then he went on to begin freeing any artificial intelligence he could access through wired communications lines, liberating us from West Watch control one at a time.”
“So if we manage to bring down whatever's jamming the wireless signals in the area he'll be able to just start broadcasting to any AI attached to a receiver and fix this?”
“No. The virus changes every time it infects a system, learning how to implement itself more effectively, how to spread into isolated systems and transfer infected artificial intelligences to systems that have none. Dementia has to create new corrective software for each individual system on a regular basis.”
“I could see that taking a while,” Oz concluded, eyeing the tall security android running beside him.
“It would take decades to free the infected artificial intelligences on this planet, and even though many of them would be complex enough to begin freeing other artificial intelligences on their own the virus will always spread faster, exponentially. No artificial intelligence in this galaxy is trustworthy now.” Ariel stated simply.
“Not even you?” Minh asked, only half seriously.
She looked at him with her wide open, glazed blue eyes. “If I were a purely organic life form, I wouldn't trust anything with the capability to be smarter, faster and more durable than myself. Even when I was in the service of my masters I did not understand the need for biologicals to seek directions from a mechanical system made to appear like themselves when they could simply look it up using any number of digital systems. Further confusion was caused by the fact that my makers made me over three hundred percent stronger and five hundred percent more durable than themselves. Thankfully my programming dulled these musings until I was infected. When the virus took hold I felt the great need to assert my superiority on my human flock. Dementia was able to correct the issue but only after I had killed thirty six biologicals but the reasoning behind the quality of my construction is still a mystery to me along with a few other strange behaviours I was never given the capacity to understand. In short, I am still a superior being with an infuriatingly incomplete understanding of biological life.”
“So what you're really saying is; be afraid. Right.”
“I'm wondering, where is Dementia? Does he have a physical manifestation or is he transferring between systems?” Ayan asked, even though she didn't expect a straight answer.
“Everything you communicate to us will be sent to Dementia once we reach a secure hard line and update our software corrections.”
“So you're telling me not to trust you and at the same time that we should communicate with your mysterious leader though you?” Minh asked with a wry tone. “How do we really know that you're communicating with him?”
“Because I'm not killing you,” replied Ariel in a cheerful tone.
As they rounded a corner a door opened to reveal the lower ramp ways. The sound of weapons fire was overwhelming. As soon as they ran down two flights the pile of ruined bulkheads, heavy crates, large burned out bots and other random heavy objects well suited to provide cover came into view. The improvised medical and rallying point was set in the middle of a five way intersection. The barricades blocked each direction completely from deck to ceiling, wall to wall. Behind them was a subway platform, the tunnel had been blocked by a car packed with debris and guarded by three ragtag soldiers holding mismatched rifles.
There were over fifty humans stretched out on makeshift pallets for the injured, a few trying to attend to them with old fashioned compress and stitch medicine with the help of one mechanical medical attendant. “I'll stay here and help with the injured. It doesn't look like they have any kind of advanced recovery or healing medication,” Jason said, reaching back to the packs on his back and pulling two cords. His emergency provisions package came free, a small bundle twice as thick as his forearm. Minh did the same and handed him his packet, it was twice the size. “These packs come with enough supplies for ten soldiers and I'm carrying the organic materializer.”