Every programming student’s first project is to send the word “hello” to the computer screen or the printer. I typed HELLO and sent it into one of the input wires. In clear text, the output from the robot’s head read, Greeting Protocol Acknowledged. Initiate Content.
Leroy came flying into the office. “Hey, man, you gotta get outta here, day shift is gonna be here in twenty minutes.” I was so absorbed in what the robot’s head was doing, I had lost track of the time.
CHAPTER 3
My mind was racing as I sat waiting for breakfast in Manny’s Delicatessen, a half mile from the Clark Street Storage facility. Was the robot’s head really trying to communicate with me? And how was that even possible? Computers run programs; they don’t think for themselves. There were so many questions and not a damned thing I could do about getting any answers until at least lunchtime.
The waitress brought my steak, eggs and hash browns and refilled my coffee. Waiting was the hard part, but at least I had some time to reconsider my questions and what had just happened, or at least what had appeared to have happened. Not only did the robot’s head recognize my HELLO as a greeting, but it also expected some kind of content or information to follow. Exactly what that might be remained a complete mystery to me.
I swiped back into the front door of the Clark Street facility just before nine, greeted Mike and went into the warehouse, trying to pretend I was bored with the whole setup. While processing the next set of ICN’s, I gradually formed a plan about what to try with the robot’s head. At noon I returned my attention to the robot’s head and turned everything on.
I typed, Who or what are you? and sent it to the robot’s head. I didn’t have to wait long for a response.
I am an AXTO Series 7 communications android, came the reply. Electrical power is at the low end of my operating range. Please increase power by 18 % for optimal performance.
I sat back in the chair and stared at the screen. Never in my life have I had a computer ask me anything regarding power supplied to it, and I’ve worked with a lot of computers. I adjusted the power setting to the requested level. Immediately the screen updated, Thank you. NETCOMM is down. Why?
NETCOMM? Did it mean the Internet? I typed in What is NETCOMM?
Communication network for androids, came the response. No signal.
I typed in, We have the Internet, and supplied the computer port number for access. I set the computer and the box with the robot’s head down on the floor behind my desk with the power still on and went back to logging in ICN’s. I checked the computer screen from time to time during the afternoon, but nothing had updated. After Mike had made his final appearance of the day and I had sent my five o’clock e-mail to Woolser, I went back to work on the robot’s head.
In my days at MIT I was involved in an Artificial Intelligence project, or AI. We tried to create programs that would enable a computer to think. With my strong programming skills, I came close, but the robot’s head went far beyond the ability to think; it was self-aware. The technology to be able to do that was centuries ahead of where we are now, maybe even millennia ahead. I felt inadequate and stupid at the same time as I compared myself to a 10,000 year old piece of hardware that somehow ended up on the moon.
Leroy walked in the office door and stopped. He looked at the expression on my face and said, “It’s working, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I replied slowly.
“So who made it? Was it from space aliens?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” I said. “We can ask it.”
“You mean it’s answering questions?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
Leroy moved around the back of the desk so he could see the computer screen. I typed in, Where were you made? expecting the name of some unrecognizable star system in response.
Geography is strangely different, but my place of origin is what you identify as Northern India, appeared on the screen.
I sat bolt upright in my chair. “Here?” I shouted. “It’s from Earth?”
My mind was reeling so fast I felt dizzy as I slumped back into my chair. How could this be? How could something this advanced and yet so old be from here? It just didn’t make sense. And if it was from here, how did it learn English, a relatively recent language? And more importantly, how did it get on the moon?
I typed, How did you learn my language?
I interface with 1,218 different computer-based systems and communicate in 138 different languages. Your computer is similar in structure with 18 other computer systems known to me and your language in different files on this computer is similar in structure to 3 languages, also known to me. What I don’t know is why the information available on your Internet is so different. My motor systems and other sensors are also unresponsive. Can you explain? appeared on the computer screen.
“Oh man,” Leroy said, “how ya goin’ to tell it it was dead?”
This wasn’t going to be easy. Even though the robot’s head was just a piece of hardware, it was beginning to feel like a real person. There was no other way than to spell it out.
I typed, The only thing we have is your head. Nothing else is attached to it except this computer.
Acknowledged appeared on the computer screen. Why is everything so different?
I typed, We recovered your head from the moon. You are back on Earth. You have been without power for at least 10,000 years.
This time there was no immediate response.
I typed, What was the last thing you remember before being connected to this computer?
The meteor storm appeared on the screen.
I typed, What happened?
I was assigned to mining operations on the moon. We were extracting titanium, iron, silicon and boron for transport back to earth. The Earth passed through a section of the galaxy that contained a large cloud of small pieces of debris. We didn’t detect it until it was too late. The meteors started to impact the Earth and the moon. We were unprepared for the devastation that was raining down from the sky. Only the settlement on Mars was functioning. Did it survive? appeared on the screen.
They had a settlement on Mars? How advanced were they? They obviously were capable of interplanetary travel and colonization. What else could they do? Being directly involved in the Mars Rover and Observer programs, I knew there were ancient ruins and huge stone structures on the surface, but it was half covered in sand and dust. Nothing had been cleaned or maintained in thousands of years.
I typed, The settlement on Mars is no longer functioning.
Then everything was lost appeared on the screen.
I began thinking about our own history, how we believe we started out living in caves, using stone instruments to hunt and gather food. What if we didn’t start out there? What if that was where a remnant of humanity survived the meteor storm?
I typed, How long ago was this?
Unable to determine appeared on the screen.