Beautiful Intelligence (31 page)

Aritomo laughed. “Certainly not. No, you escaped – and that was well done. I learned much from your techniques.”

Leonora shook her head. “You
must
hate me.”

Again Aritomo looked exasperated. “What aspect of your escape do you suppose the Japanese nexus papers concentrated on the following day?”

Leonora considered this question. “The security implications?”

Aritomo shook his head. “They focussed on the response of the foreign media, which mocked Japan, as always it does. I was shamed by your escape, and insulted. I vowed to learn whatever I could from what you and Manfred did, how you did it, and what you did subsequently. I vowed to do this for the sake of my country.”

Leonora glanced at Hound, then shrugged.

Aritomo looked at them both. “I cannot believe you are so stupid as that! Why do you think I use cats? A cat is an individual, like a Westerner. I do grasp the concept of irony.”

Leonora looked down at the two cats at her feet. One of them appeared to be the cat Tsuneko had played with in the date palm park shed. “They are not real,” she said.

“I am glad we understand one another.”

“Man,” said Hound, “I
get
it now. The module on the cat collar – that was a decoy. The signal came from the cat, which was artificial.”

“Indeed, Mr Awuku, but do not fret over your mistake. Your chances of hiding from me were exceedingly slim.”

“Then you knew about the Zeug signal?”

“No. What I knew of Zeug was the concept behind him, that of making the most complex and powerful computer possible – the quantum computer – in order to mimic the complexity of the human brain. Research at my laboratories favoured that approach, as Leonora has doubtless explained to you. My son Yuri was the expert on such technologies.”

Leonora said nothing. Aritomo must know that Yuri was dead. Probably he knew that Zeug had killed him.

Aritomo continued, “My plan was to cast upon you a net so light even Mr Awuku would not feel it. I began when I spotted the observation trace created in the nexus by Zeug, who was aware of Mr Awuku’s abilities, although the meaning of those abilities was lost to him. Later, I spotted nexus traces created by the low-level functioning of Zeug’s brain. The four members of the AIteam were invisible to me, concealed, as they were, by Mr Awuku, with all his exceptional skill.”

“Did you track the old man’s boat?” asked Hound.

“Yes,” Aritomo replied. “That was the beginning of the end game, for at that point I knew Zeug was no longer with you.”

Hound nodded. “I
knew
that augmentation delay must mean something.”

“And you noticing that delay made it extremely difficult to track you in Bejaïa. But we had to pull a few hints from you, Mr Awuku, since we remained uncertain of your destination, not to mention your reasons for travelling. This was why we took the time to set up the cat decoy, with its fake brand new module.”

“Unformatted!”

“Indeed. I suspected you would ignore the cat once you had examined the module, assuming that the module was the source of the signal.”

“Man... an assumption is a dangerous thing,” Hound murmured.

“It is indeed. The module was not owned by a local crime lord at all. And this brings me to the kernel of our conversation, which is Zeug. You see, Leonora, I have grasped the mistake you made when building Zeug.”

“Mistake?” Leonora said.

“Oh, yes! A mistake I myself made when setting up the conditions for the operation of Ichikawa Laboratories. Like you, I assumed that human consciousness was a consequence of processing power – the trillions of connections extant between the billions of neurons in our brain. Scientists say the human brain is the most complex thing in the universe. Like you, I was seduced by that vision of complexity. I applied the computer metaphor to everything I knew about intelligence. Faster computers, more processing power, more memory. The development of the quantum computer I believed to be a turning point in human history, since, to me, it seemed to lead to the creation of a new artificial conscious species. I even devised a name for that species for use in the outside world. I intended calling them Giri Men.”

“Giri Men?” Leonora queried.

“Giri is why I am here now, speaking with you. I was much entangled in giri – which you call obligation – when you escaped from my laboratories. I received more than a few comments regarding the ending of my life. But I chose a different response. I am valuable to Japan, and I live at its heart. I chose to respond to this giri by recapturing both you and Manfred, and by returning to Japan the knowledge you have both gained since escaping my laboratories.”

“Why didn’t you just ignore this giri?” Leonora asked.

“That is impossible for a Japanese. You, a Westerner, throw gifts around – and receive them – with shameful abandon. It is not the same in Japan. All my life I have sweated beneath a weight of giri, which became heavier because of the great significance of the work done by my laboratories. But a Giri Man, being inhuman yet conscious, would reduce giri to a minimum. That is my dream for Japan.”

Leonora glanced at Hound and Tsuneko. “Then you really are going to set us free?”

“That depends on who you mean by
us.
”

Leonora nodded. She had half expected this. “You will take us back to Japan, with Zeug, and you will force us to work on Zeug.”

Aritomo shook his head. “You and Mr Awuku will be free to leave, since you are worth nothing to me. Indeed, I judge you now to be worth nothing to the world. But Tsuneko June is not like you.”

At this, Tsuneko sat up. Leonora saw fear in her eyes. “What are you going to do with me?” Tsuneko asked.

Aritomo replied, “First, we must drink tea. My mouth is quite dry from talking so much in this arid atmosphere. I am used to the cold snows of my home mountains. This desert environment is anathema to me!”

“Man, you didn’t have to come here yourself,” Hound muttered.

“Oh, but I did, Mr Awuku. Giri made me do that.”

Aritomo clicked his fingers at one of his aides, who stepped forward at once, taking what appeared to be a roll of fabric from his pocket. This roll was in fact a miniature table, which unfurled like a bolt of silk, to shape itself, then harden into the form of furniture. Another of the aides carried a flask of tea and a set of Russian-doll cups, so that in a matter of moments the entire tea set was prepared.

Aritomo allowed four cups to be poured. The second aide handed over a cup each to Leonora, Hound and Tsuneko, with exaggerated care, as if the trio were honoured guests. Aritomo sat back in his chair, enjoying the perfume of the drink.

After a while he said, “Human consciousness is not a consequence of processing power. Zeug is insane – an autistic savant, yet not able to function in society as even the most bizarre human autistic savant is able to. He lacks others like himself. That was your mistake, Leonora.”

“We were talking about Tsuneko,” Leonora replied, feeling her old anger rise up at this insulting description of Zeug.

“Tsuneko June is the young genius who developed biograins,” said Aritomo. “One of my agents spoke with her in Valetta, and even then I knew she would eventually come to Ichikawa Laboratories. Biograins are the way forward in artificial intelligence research, but they are no better than quantum computers if used in isolated creations. And this brings me to the thrust of Manfred’s research.”

“
He’s
the mad man, not Zeug,” said Tsuneko. “I
worked
with him. His ideas are all wrong.”

“Not at all. His ideas are correct, or so I believe. Even now he lives somewhere on the western fringe of America with a small society of intelligences. I will locate those intelligences and take them.”

“But Manfred’s
wrong,
” Tsuneko insisted. “I saw it myself. He cut the bis apart with a pair of scissors.”

“But that was his stroke of genius, do you not see? Until that day they were networked, able to apprehend one another directly. There is even evidence that they worked as a gestalt identity, though, I confess, the evidence is uncertain. The evidence may have been generated by a rogue computer, for example.”

“A
gestalt?
” said Leonora.

“Composed of nine individuals,” Aritomo said. “But human beings do not apprehend one another directly. What I see in my mind’s eye is visible only to me. We apprehend one another
indirectly,
through such means as language and emotion.”

“What is the point of that?” Leonora asked.

“It forces human beings to use themselves as exemplars in the comprehension of the behaviour of other human beings. I grasp that, because I feel pride, loyalty and dignity, so might you also. I comprehend that, if you cry, you are sad, for on occasion I also have felt sad.”

“But that’s just ordinary behaviour,” Leonora said. “Zeug was intended to fly far beyond trivial things.”

“Trivial?” Aritomo said, with a laugh. “You call the comprehension of grief trivial? I see that I was correct to inform you that you are of no worth to the world. It appears you have understood nothing at all.”

“What about
me?
” Tsuneko said, standing up.

The two aides pointed cylindrical weapons at her. Aritomo raised a finger, then gave his aides a significant look. They lowered their weapons.

“Biograins will allow the human brain to grasp the nexus without the need for spex and wristbands,” said Aritomo. “This is the next step in human technological evolution, and once again the Japanese will provide it for the world, as we provided the nexus. Biograins will also be placed in my next generation of artificial intelligences, which I will ensure grasp the world they inhabit indirectly. The days of electronic networking are coming to an end. The time of a symbolic nexus is not far away, in which we are connected by meaning.”

Tsuneko said, “Then... you’re forcing me to go back to Japan with you?”

“Force?” Aritomo said. “You will enjoy a salary fifty times what you earned before. You will reside in luxury apartments. You will be permitted to acquire a Western sexual partner. I will permit you to marry him or her, should that eventuality arise. You will be the golden child of the world, Tsuneko June.”

“Don’t believe him!” Leonora said. “You will be a slave!”

Aritomo looked at her. “Do continue,” he said. “Try to dissuade her.”

Leonora looked again at Tsuneko. Aritomo’s urbane calm unnerved her. “Don’t tell me you’re tempted, Tsuneko?” she said.

Tsuneko also appeared confused by the lack of anxiety shown by Aritomo. She turned to look at Leonora, saying, “You worked with him. You’d know.”

“I did not work
with
him, I worked for him,” Leonora said.

“That is perfectly true,” Aritomo said with a smile. “They were indeed pleasant times.”

“Biograins are mine to develop,” Tsuneko told Aritomo.

“When you work for me, all the patents will be owned by Ichikawa Laboratories.”

Tsuneko nodded. “That’s not good enough.”

“It is the only way. For obvious commercial reasons I cannot allow the development of biograins to slip out into the arms of other corporations, let alone the world at large.”

“That’s not
good
enough for me.”

“But do you want the responsibility of developing biograins yourself?” Aritomo insisted. “Imagine this future. I will take responsibility for all legal and financial consequences of your research. All you will have to do is play with your biograins, in laboratories designed by you, and built by me to your precise specification. You will be free to take this research in the direction you choose, so long as you agree to teach me and my researchers the central tenets of your work. But this is the nature of modern research, is it not? The sharing of knowledge for the benefit of mankind.”

“You mean the benefit of Japan.”

“I meant what I said. Has mankind not benefitted from the nexus?”

Tsuneko pondered this. “I s’pose it has,” she said.

“Don’t do it, Tsuneko!” Leonora gasped.

Tsuneko turned to her and smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said, taking a tiny standalone moby from her pocket. She pressed a button.

“What is that?” Aritomo asked.

“Something I prepared before I joined the AIteam,” Tsuneko replied. “I understand what you mean about the huge responsibility of developing biograins alone. I’d hoped for a different future. But you’ve forced my hand.”

“Forced it? In which direction?”

“Setting my biograin techniques loose on the world. It’s open source, now, and you can’t do a thing about it.”

Aritomo’s face turned pale. Then fury entered his expression. He gestured to his aides and said, “Kill her. Then we depart.”

~

Leonora and Hound sat on a beachfront in Algiers. A cool sea breeze wafted over them. It was early evening, and fast-food hawkers passed them by on bicycles, steaming packages of microwaved fish and couscous in their panniers.

Seven days had passed since leaving Bejaïa. The shock of events there was beginning to depart.

“What now?” Hound asked Leonora.

She glanced at him. “It is just us now.”

He nodded. “Yeah.” He stopped a kid hawker and bought a couple of suppers: fish fragments, veg and apricots in a couscous mush. Not exactly appetising, but it could have been worse.

“What now?” he said again, as they dipped into their food.

“I need to relax,” said Leonora. “My research days are over. It’s been far too long since I got drunk and had a bit of a dance.”

“Me too. Except the dancing. Yes, yes... it’s true – even with you I was thinking about packing security in. Man, it’s a stressful occupation.”

“We’ll watch the news on the nexus,” said Leonora. “We’ll set up flags for Manfred’s name, and Dirk’s. It won’t be long before Aritomo locates them. We’ll watch it all on the news, and not care even a little bit about either of them.”

“You reckon?”

Leonora nodded. “What can save them from Aritomo?”

Hound grasped her hand in his. “There’s just the two of us left now,” he said with a smile. “We don’t want any more misery. We need to chill.”

She smiled back. “Would you consider returning to Malta? I liked it there.”