Page 13 of A.I.AM.

“Yes.”

“No,” echoed the voices of Pigsty, Sly, Code, Hiro, Tanner, Ace, and AJ.

“How about using your big words,” smirked Cam. “Explain.”

“If he modified it, it could be connected to the system even after his death,” said Ace.

“Are you telling me that fucking arm could come to life?” growled Eric. “We might turn around and have the arm coming at us?”

“No. Nothing like that but the system is connected, or we believe. We can’t use the arm. It’s too dangerous.”

“What can we do?” asked Luke.

“That’s the challenge,” said Victoria walking in with Hayes. “The system recognizes human interference. Even interference from a program created by a human.”

“Wait, are you telling us that this program created by Vale knows the difference between humans and electronics? You’re telling me it reacts differently to them?” frowned Eric.

“Yes. Even if we created a program to stop the system, the system created by Vale would recognize it as a threat and basically infect it with itself,” said Victoria. The others stared open-mouthed at her.

“Okay, let me make sure I understand this,” said Hex. “This system created by Vale is more intelligent than all the brilliant minds in this room. Is that correct?”

“Basically?” frowned Hayes. “Yes. Every time that system is running, it’s collecting data from the universe. Your refrigerator with smart technology. When you open it, the temperature adjusts to preserve your food. It logs what you’ve taken, what you eat, and if you need more.

“If you’re visiting your doctor because you’re on a diet and are having a weight check-in, the doctor asks to see what you’ve eaten. You give the doctor the log, the system knows you’re lying because you ate an extra yogurt last night and it reacts.”

“Fucking hell. You’re talking about this thing like it’s alive,” gasped Eric.

“It is alive,” said Victoria. “He created this to behave as if it were alive. It is the most logical and direct thinker on the planet. It views any infraction as a reason to eliminate or punish.”

The entire room went silent, holding their collective breath. They each knew what the others were thinking. They’d done a lot of shit in the name of freedom, their country, their unit. They’d followed orders that they questioned in their minds, but followed them, nevertheless.

“You don’t have to say it out loud,” said Hayes. “Remember, I was Navy Intelligence as well. I followed some of the worst fucking orders you could imagine. You did too. But we all left to try and do what was right. This system might, and I emphasize might, recognize our corrected actions.”

“What about the release of our information?” asked Hex. “If it released our names, branches of service, conflict zones, all of it, what do we do?”

“The thing that will save us all is that there are no physical addresses for any of us. We are just a post office box,” said Victoria. “And remember. The bad guys information will be released as well.”

“But isn’t that in a computer system as well?” asked Cam. “Can’t it find us through their system?”

“It would still read as a post office box. When it was created, there were no questions asked by the post office because they knew everyone here. Although it’s typically required to give a physical address to back-up the post office box, it wasn’t required for us. We can all thank Mama Irene and Matthew for that,” smiled Victoria.

“Okay,” nodded Luke. “Okay. We send a team to Texas to deal with this system, to figure it out.”

“Sly and I will stay here,” said Victoria. “Pigsty, Code, Ace, AJ, Tanner, Hiro, Carl, Bron, and Hayes will go to Texas.”

“Why that team?” asked Luke.

“We all have our specialties within the confines of technology,” said Ace. “We all have a bit of technology genius, but also engineering genius. Carl and Bron are there to ask stupid questions. No offense.”

“None taken,” smirked Carl. “Just ask my brother. I’m great at stupid questions.”

“No shit,” muttered Luke. He nodded at the group. “How will you get there? We can’t trust the planes, choppers, nothing.”

“Easy,” smiled Pigsty. “We’re taking the convent van.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

In order to even ensure that the convent van was safe to drive, the team had to do some basic research on when traceable electronics came into vehicles. The boys in the motorcycle shop were incredibly helpful but everyone did their part in ensuring its safety.