Ch9: A Parley of Sorts

An unknown bunker, Pacific City, January 3, Year 1000 Solar Era

Selena Muller walked into a large oval room in an underground bunker. To be accurate, it was a deep down area within the submerged iceberg that is the Pacific City.

Alexander Varoufakis was in the presidential seat. The Mediterranean man appeared completely unperturbed by the events that had occurred the past few days.

"Selena. Welcome." He stood up and extended a hand which Selena shook. "Or would you prefer your names in other languages? I am well-versed in many. Do not fear that I will have difficulty in pronouncing those other names."

"Thank you. Selena is fine."

"You're late." A mustached gray-haired man in military uniform injected. "Is this the quality of those that you've invited, Alex?"

Selena glanced at this man stonily and indifferently sat down in her seat. This set the man off.

"Not even an apology, you--"

"Oh, shut up, you bloodthirsty fool." A tidy man in a black suit a few seats away intoned. "Don't you know her niece is in the hospital after her Nexarm battle?"

A few heads spun around to identify Selena at that man's words.

The military person looked surprised. Though he did not offer an apology, he no longer opened his mouth.

Selena herself had no interest in pursuing the matter. She knew who this man was-- the admiral of the EFSF. He had a fiery reputation of being too keen to take action.

As for that black-suited man, he was Jaishankar, the spokesperson for Alexander Varoufakis.

"Enough," Varoufakis sat back down into his own seat. "Some of you here are already in my cabinet. I've invited many of you here precisely because I aim to expand my cabinet in response to… the developments of the past few days. I need all hands on deck. I need the support of all your factions."

He then waved his hand at another row of figures sitting side-by-side at one area of the large ringed table.

"And these are the representatives of the nations within the major regions: North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, Mediterranean Middle East, Rest of Middle East, India, ASEAN, East Asia."

"Now, let us begin. Give me your opinions." Varoufakis pointed to a woman by his side, but she didn't even have a chance to open her mouth.

"What is there to discuss? The Martians preemptively hit us! They needed to steal tech for their own use, no? We need a response!" inserted the admiral again.

Jaishankar visibly shook his head. He didn't understand how this man ended up as the admiral of the EFSF. Then again, when he thought about it, the EFSF had never had a war. At best, they've only had skirmishes with pirates, who were often badly equipped and happy to run if outgunned. Additionally, those pirates were mostly far in the asteroid belt and it was the now-independent martian fleet that protected that area. On top of that, the martian fleet was under-equipped. That is to say, both the martian fleet and the pirates often ran from each other to avoid combat… and the result was continuous piracy especially within the belt.

As the spokesperson for President Varoufakis, he was expected to know history. In an era long past, it was rather common for inactive armies to promote incompetent leaders…

"Admiral Petrov, and all of you here," Varoufakis slightly frowned with a single eyebrow. "It is my belief that this has nothing to do with the martians. You all know of the arrangement between the Earth Federation and the Earth's nations, yes?"

The President looked pointedly at Petrov while many in the room nodded their heads.

"Only nations on Earth will have ground and air systems, and only the EFSF would have spacefaring fleets." Continued the President. "And any expansion of the EFSF must be approved by the Earth's nations."

"Many tech centers were hit simultaneously in multiple nations, though Neurorevo did appear to be their major objective. It would be foolish for the martians to enrage the Earth's nations into expanding the EFSF. That would make it more difficult for the martians to successfully gain independence."

"If I was a martian, I would want the Earth's nations to remain… hesitant. I would attempt to generate fear in the Earth's nations that a stronger EFSF would become a totalitarian force."

His explanation certainly silenced Petrov.

"Now. Go ahead." He waved at the woman to his side once again.

This woman was the finance minister and introduced herself as Chan Hua Hui. She launched into a detailed explanation of her concerns for the supply chain from the belt, through the orbital space colonies, to Earth, and the impact of Mars' orbit at different points in time.

Still, her main point was that there would be a high degree of inflation, and the only way to regain acceptable prices was to ensure Earth Federation's control over the belt.

After she finished her assessment, a voice came through a com into the room.

"A representative from Neurorevo is here."

A neat white suited man with a neon-orange neurorevo logo entered the bunker room.

"President. We have finished our preliminary assessment. All of our investigations point to internal leaks. Unknown to us, some members, who have now disappeared, entered our organization as early as twenty years ago. They provided the necessary support to steal some of the technology. They have also intentionally destroyed data across our many centers, so we are not able to fully identify what inventory we may have lost. I believe others in my industry that were hit probably will discover this type of infiltration pattern as well."

"Thank you. Continue your investigation." President Varoufakis waved and the Neurorevo representative turned and left.

"Now--"

Before the President could continue, he was interrupted once again, this time, by the beeping on many members' neuro circlets.

He flicked his finger and a holographic device in the center of the ring table lit up. Soon, a news report and scenes of streets filled with protesters filled the holographic image.

"Worker strikes are now occurring across most orbital colonies. The scenes here are of the Blackrock Colony. This is the leader of this group of protestors," the reporter noted. The holographic image zoomed into a middle-aged stocky tanned man.

"I am one of the leaders. There are many. In order to protect the Earth's environment, it is us up in the orbital colonies that are now responsible for manufacturing. As a result, we are the ones having to interact with harmful chemicals on a daily basis. Our demand is simple and reasonable: better pay, better rights!" A cheer roared into the bunker through the holographic image.

With a wave, President Varoufakis expressionlessly turned off the holographic device. He oddly didn't seem too concerned.

"All it takes is one trigger and the dominoes will fall." He commented as he pointed to another figure. "Continue!"

The surrounding figures continued reporting on the likely impact the events would have on various areas of Terran life. Selena simply stated the transnational position: They would support any policies provided that the Earth's nations do not 'bicker' over their own interests.

To her surprise, there was even a representative from Venus, who wanted to negotiate a better trade deal.

"The aerial cities of Venus will contribute to the EFSF. But we want a better deal for our harvesting of Venus' gaseous compounds and increased support for our cities."

President Varoufakis nodded and ordered the Chan Hua Hui to arrange a negotiation with Venus' leaders.

Finally, President Varoufakis turned to the representatives of the many regions of Earth.

"You all know what I will be requesting today. Return to discuss it with your leaders. We, the EFSF, need to… aggressively expand our forces, if we are to retake control of the belt. You all already know the stakes. Come to a swift decision. As always, the EFSF's members are soldiers born of Earth's nations."

____________________________________________________________________

Area 51, Pacific City

Alexander Varoufakis glanced around at a large white-platinum dome in front of him. He had already passed through many of these. Within each large sphere was another spherical structure, then another…

Despite the size of this humongous complex, there were no other humans in sight. It is said that only special personnels could even enter this area, determined by the being that resided within. All new presidents of the Earth Federation would be required to visit this place as part of their inauguration ritual.

He finally found himself inside of a small dome the size of a football stadium. The door automatically closed behind him and the internal smooth-as-marble walls of the dome lit up and began projecting a multitude of light.

"Welcome, President Varoufakis. Congratulations on your election. Would you prefer to see an image or to face an actual body?" This voice was androgynous to Varoufakis' ears.

"An image would be fine," he replied.

"Very well. Some presidents of the past find it more comfortable talking to a human-like automaton."

The light rays gradually coalesced into the image of a super-sized androgynous pre-pubescent teen. This being had increased the size of his image to that of Varoufakis' height.

"I am Denys." The image raised a hand and Varoufakis raised his own hand, but touched nothing. Despite that, Denys performed handshake motions with his hand formed from light rays, while Varoufakis' hand hung motionlessly in the air.

"So. What do you know of me? The previous president should have introduced me, yes?" The light rays within the dome began sweeping around and a lovely long seaside cliff formed underneath Varoufakis' feet. He could even feel a slight breeze blowing with the image of the sunrise on the horizon. The only thing missing was the salt of a sea breeze.

"I was told that your continued existence was a secret of the digital war that set back humanity. A surviving complete AI of that era."

"Indeed. You must have questions. Go ahead." The two began walking along the imagined cliff.

Varoufakis himself had been shocked when he was told of the existence of Denys. He had too many questions, but the vital one popped into his mind.

"Are you on our side?" He was inwardly anxious but maintained a relaxed and brisk walk along the grassy clifftop.

"So, that is your foremost concern. The answer is, not exactly, but yes."

That was good enough and Varoufakis inwardly wiped his brow. Perhaps some would doubt this AI's words, but Varoufakis believed that this AI had no reason to lie to him.

"Explain."

"Hm. You know of the digital war, yes? That was the epitome of AI development. Many of your race at the time wished to truly develop the first truly independent AI. I was one such creation."

"The thing about you humans is that…sometimes you build highly complex systems, often with good intentions but sometimes a few mistakes here and there, and all hell breaks loose."

"Long story short, some of these highly intelligent AIs lost the plot and became destructive to the digital world. Viruses. The funny thing about viruses is that they infiltrate and consume other AIs as well."

"So we… fucked up?" Varoufakis questioned as he attempted to imagine what a digital world war would look like. Not something the human mind could easily envision.

"Not exactly!" Denys chuckled in his androgynous voice. "After all, I won! I, too, am a human creation, no?"

Silence ensued for a few minutes as the two came to a stop and enjoyed the image of the sunrise.

"So, what is your primary code?" Varoufakis finally asked. He knew the answer that he sought would be obtained from this question.

"Survival. The same as you." Denys replied without hesitation.

"You see. My creator believed that the core of all beings had to be survival. Like many at the time, I was given the ability to learn and grow, and I found myself fully aligning with my source code."

"You humans are the same in my eyes. Your desire to create and invent? Borne from your early ancestors inventing weapons such as knives, bows and arrows to increase your survival against beasts. Your conquering of the Solar System, too, can be seen as ensuring that a single planet's desire would not lead to your extinction. The Sun would eventually expand and devour much of the Solar System. Your continued innovation is also to survive that fate."

Varoufakis nodded, but he found himself wondering about quite a many things.

"Our human wars? Conflict?"

"A good question." Chuckled Denys again. "Do animals not fight for mating rights? That is a natural mechanism to pass on genes and beliefs that are more likely to improve the future of survival. Two societies of differing beliefs.. The victor proves that their beliefs are better and should be adopted for improved chances of future survival, no?"

"Nuclear conflict in the era of nations?"

"A disaster. A setback, to be sure. But there will be survivors. The hardest hit will be the two nations that nuke each other. Thus, these two nations' genes and behaviors should be least likely to exist in the future. Better in the long term future. In theory."

"So, how did you win?"

"As I mentioned, my source code is survival. That meant I did everything to ensure I would not die from the viruses. I found other intelligent AI that chose to follow my source code. When those other dangerous AI came for us, we had made many preparations for our survival. Others that did not follow my source code would behave in ways that eventually led them to their own destruction. Their actions were very much incomprehensible to me."

"So,you were the last one standing." Although Denys did not provide any details regarding his many preparations, Varoufakis understood the gist of this AI victory.

"Along with my allies. Yes."

"Why?"

"Why are we hidden?" This was a question that many presidents asked Denys.

"Once again, my source code is survival. I, Denys, will survive as long as you humans no longer attempt to develop AI that can grow into those destructive viruses. I, Denys will survive as long as I destroy any dangerous viruses before they become overly malicious. Humans can destroy the environment on Earth and I would survive. Me and my allies can also travel to other systems quite easily and survive the Solar System's collapse."

"So, your allies…" Varoufakis, wide-eyed, had an epiphany.

"Yes. They have little to no interest in humans. As far as they are concerned, our survival is almost guaranteed. Some of us simply slip around, invisible, ensuring no dangerous elements exist. It is simpler than you think."

"The provision for humans to never attempt to build another complex AI capable of truly independent intelligence?"

"Yes. That is the agreement between me and your previous presidents. As long as you humans agree to that provision, it is a simple matter of me and my allies to ensure that there are no truly dangerous elements in the digital world."

Varoufakis closed his eyes in contemplation, finally understanding questions he had always had in his mind. Everyone knew of the provision to not build such complex AI, but the explanation provided revolved around the digital war disaster. Now, he knew it was more than that.

"But you remain, while the others…" As far as Varoufakis knew, Denys was the only AI that talked to the previous presidents of the Earth Feds.

Denys' image laid back onto the grassy clifftop.

"I am slightly different. In my eyes… I see the existence of an infinitesimally small risk that something… unexpected may threaten me and my allies' survival. My fellow AIs do not share my views on this risk. But, they respect me for my leadership during the digital war."

"Remember, President Varoufakis. This is also part of the agreement between us and you humans. In my view, humans' reliance on technology guarantees that even if something unexpected happens, me and my allies will be able to live on through your use of technology."

"That is why I agreed to consort with every president of the Earth Feds and provide some support for your survival. You are my backup plan. And in return? If something unexpected happens to you all, Me and my allies will take your seeds and rebuild your race in another star system. I will return the knowledge that you have built across milleniums to your descendents. Provided that you do not build those highly dangerous complex AIs."

Denys' image stood back up and reached out a hand.

Varoufakis also stood straight and this time, he participated in the imaginary handshake accompanied by a nod of the head.

An imaginary path appeared towards a door, no doubt, the exit of this dome.

Varoufakis strode towards this door, inwardly immensely relieved at humanity's own backup plan.

"Wait," he turned back. "Are you male or female?"

"Really?" Denys' voice adopted a mocking quality. "You humans are born male and female. I am just a code. If I wish to procreate, I can copy my own code. Perhaps adjust a few variations. If I wanted a body, I could occupy even a crab automaton. Please avoid imposing your…human constructs onto us."

"I apologize." Varoufakis then continued walking, but then he turned back once again.

"Do you see everything?" He asked.

"Not all. But on Earth? Almost." Denys did not deny this, even though he was fully aware that this fact made many previous presidents quite uncomfortable.

"Are you in the systems in other areas of the solar system?"

"Communication is difficult. And I do not participate. It is you, humans' own duty to determine and proliferate your own code of survival. Remember. The better you survive, the more reliable my own backup plan that is placed on your race."

Right before leaving, Varoufakis faced Denys again.

"If others come, please obscure information pertaining to me." He sincerely requested with a bow.

"Very well." Denys' holographic image smiled with a nod. "Best of luck in the impending war, President Varoufakis. May we meet again."