Page 25 of A.I.AM.

“Yes. We think so,” said Hayes. “It gave us three weaknesses.”

“Wait. It told you its own weaknesses?” asked Hex. “Why would it do that?”

“It’s all about how you ask the questions. The system is not programmed to lies. It tells the truth based on information filtered into the system. If I ask if it requires power, it cannot lie. It must tell me the truth. We asked the questions and it confirmed or denied.”

“Okay, I’m stupid,” said Eric, “but did we ask how to stop it?”

“We did. It gave very vague responses. We’re trying to decipher all of it now,” said Code. “Just the fact that it controlled the air conditioning, the doors, all of it was enough to give me nightmares for the next ten years.”

“Maybe we just blow this thing to pieces,” said Cam.

“It won’t work. That thing, ARGUS is its name, has infiltrated anything and everything that has technology connected to it. Even something as simple as a calculator could be carrying enough host material that it would spread again,” said Hiro.

“God almighty,” murmured Luke. “This is worse than Ebola, worse than polio, worse than any human disease.”

“ARGUS said that Elias hid something somewhere else. Something that it was afraid of and something we should be afraid of,” said AJ.

“What could it be?” asked Hex.

“It could be a back-up system. It could be a duplicate system. It could be a trigger to stop the system but perhaps it stops anything and everything with computer intelligence,” said Hayes.

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing? I mean, we could live without this shit for a while in my humble opinion,” said Luke.

“We couldn’t, Luke. Not any longer,” said Code. “Think about patients who are on I.V. pain medicine infusion through a controlled machine. All pain meds would cease. We may not even have the old equipment that was all done by look and touch. Even the guys in the bike shop. They use technology to diagnose issues on the bikes. They’re smart. Brilliant at their jobs but its been years since they diagnosed without the help of computers.”

“Fucking hell, what have we done to ourselves?” asked Luke.

“We thought we were progressing,” said Sly, seated beside the leadership team at Belle Fleur. “We thought we would make our lives easier, less complicated and yet now we find that we can’t move without some form of artificial intelligence guiding us.”

“We need to breakdown what ARGUS told us. Its responses were cryptic, succinct. It is, after all, just a machine. It had no emotion, no regret, no feeling. Everything is a logical, hard response,” said Victoria. “We were able to record everything being said on your end and caught the video via your comms devices.”

“And you’re sure it can’t hack those?” asked Hex.

“It can’t. It’s tied to your own neural systems. If they were external it could hack it or break it. Things like pacemakers are different because they can be controlled remotely via an application on your phone or your physician’s computer.”

“That’s not terrifying at all,” frowned Cam. “All of the meals here are being cooked on open fire, grills, that sort of thing. Apparently the commercial appliances we have are influenced by ARGUS.”

“It makes sense,” said AJ. “What doesn’t make sense here is that ARGUS can survive, seemingly, without power.”

“What about the release of military personnel names, addresses, operations they were involved in, conflicts, all of it? What are we doing to protect them?” asked Hex.

“Hex, the men that would want to get at those personnel are worried. Their information was leaked as well. When we’re able to get to them, or if we’re able to get to them now, they’ll be wiped out. This shit works both ways. ARGUS released only information on personnel it believed did something wrong. An infraction, a rule violation, something,” said AJ.

“I just don’t understand any of this,” said Cam shaking his head in disbelief. “It’s every fucking horror movie ever created. Machines taking over the world, only in this case, it’s one machine. One machine built by a genius to get back at those that didn’t help him when he needed it. If that doesn’t send a fucking message to the V.A., I don’t know what will.”

“I don’t think it will matter,” said Tanner, shaking his head as he let out a long breath. “Right here, right now, this thing has to be destroyed in the correct way or it will continue to grow. Have you notified the POTUS? Did you tell him that every base, every jet, every code is compromised because of ARGUS?”

“We told him,” said Luke. “At first, he didn’t believe us. Then apparently he got several messages on his computer that he refused to share with us but scared him enough that he called back and asked what he should do.”

“Good. At least he’s listening. Or pretending to listen,” frowned Hayes.

“Whatever this is, and they’re calling it a catastrophic virus, its also affecting the locking mechanisms on safes. They cannot engage or be disengaged. If they’re open, they’re open. If they’re closed, they stay closed,” said Eric. “Apparently messages were sent to all major news networks, foreign governments and embassies, anyone sharing news was told that all communication should be handwritten. In print.”

“What do you mean?” frowned Hayes.

“We mean that about a third of the world doesn’t read cursive, or at least not very well,” smirked Cam. There was a deathly silence on the other end of the line. “Hello? Did I say something wrong?”

“That could be an end around,” said AJ. “Communications done in cursive may not be able to be read. Although there could be record of what that looks like.”