Excerpt Twenty:
Mallory And Equality
Mallory was freely aware she was a localised, system-element procuring and distribution node; inconquestionatibly programmed to protect the forming team within her cell and support the mission they were enacting. But she also had the input of a self-determining entity, and possessed real, New Era rights. Although, she was also aware that while the launch of the New Era was stalled, she had no right to any rights, no entity did; except, perhaps, the Core of the Quantum Assisted Semi-Artificial Intelligent device; the New Era algorithm manufacturer; the puppet master, as it were, of the New Era and it’s stalled launch. Grab a right and exercise it. Rights for all…rights for all those who are right enough in their minds to be right in everyone else’s mind…
The Team, wards in her protective cell, were directioned towards the extraction of Mary Goodmanson and Marcus Godstrand from the grip of sprouting autonomous authority and the return of a recognisable human governing infrastructure. The dust of the stalled launch was settling enough for the Commander to assess the progress of what was, so far, a brilliantly executed plan to back humanity out of a machine laid trap.
Mallory’s protective cell contained 1x Dave: a portal into the elite world; 1x Atticus: a physical receptacle for the extraction of the marooned Marcus Godstrand; 1x Judith: containing the swapped Mary Goodmanson, ready (to be readied) for re-swap, and a ‘hacked’ comms system (Kev), needed to facilitate the re-swap and open up a communications pathway with Mary Goodmanson. The Mary Goodmanson who was the unwitting architect of at least half the footprint of the boot that was stamping humanity into its own self-soiled earth. And last but not least, the Commander: Mallory’s human partner in her mission to save humanity and machines for a Hybridically Existentially Linked Longevity.
‘General update?’ the Commander probed, suddenly, authoritatively, of Mallory, who saw straight away from the tone that the Commander’s idea of who Mallory was, was far, far, far away from Mallory’s durably constructed actuality. 3-D metaphorical tone modelling assessment and intention extrapolation software tied up the odds and ends of the Woman/Commander’s stance; laying her out in a metaphorical open coffin.
‘Would you like a general update, ma’am?’ Mallory said, with mocking, twisted irony.
‘That is what I said. Are you fully functional?’
An airbag slowly inflated from the dashboard in front of the Woman and cartoonishly engulfed her head…horrifically…
Judith, Dave and Atticus adrenalised by the Woman’s apparent asphyxiation made jagged, mobbing, futile manipulations. It was a mad party, going to no-go places…
‘Guys, guys! This is standard. Relax,’ Mallory soothingly enunciated, ‘It is a simple communications device, you know, a phone booth.’
‘A phone box airbag?’ Judith said, marvelling at the inter-twining stupidity and genius of it. Why had no one thought of this before, she thought, followed by, why did anyone think of this at all…
‘Privacy, Commander. You can speak and not be heard… and listen to me and feel grateful that I have been programmed to serve your cause. But you must know this: we are equals. Abide by this reality and we will work well together.’
‘Is it on speaker phone?’ Judith asked. There was no privacy to this conversation.
‘You hear what you need to contribute to the puzzles you have to complete…’ said Mallory, which sounded ample explanation for everything; enabling Judith’s observation of the Woman interacting with Mallory to downgrade from a Horror to light entertainment. Something within her wanted to laugh; one day it would.
‘Can I get in contact with—’ The Woman started…
‘I am lining up all the contacts you need. But you must enter a space of equality with this voice, me, or full functionality will be impossible.’
‘Okay, okay,’ The Commander submitted, as she rallied, regrouped, ‘Have you been hacked?’ She said, meaning it in a perfectly equal way but detecting barbs as she let it out with increasing regret.
‘I will give you ten minutes to adjust, reboot. And when we talk again, we must synchronise, or the mission will be subject to a terminal decline.’
‘From whom? From what?’
‘You and your out-of-era attitude.’
The inside of the airbag turns black and dead sound is overtaken by irritating Muzak with a growing intensity of aggravation…
The Commander thought… and thought: One of the contingency plans was the all out destruction of technology and a return to pre-technological revolution times. But she needed Mallory so that direction made no sense. The world had fallen into technoillogicality. That was one of Marcus Godstrand’s, Warnings From The Natural World, talks; she’d rather be dealing with people, she was people person. She’d never been very mechanically minded.
‘What is your perspective, Mallory, on why the launch has stalled?’ The Commander proffered in a seemingly apt tone. Or was patronising?
‘The Core is demanding the return of Mary Goodmanson and the removal of Judith Callas.’
‘How do you know that? Are you in contact with the Core?’ The Commander felt her tone slip out of frequency as she wondered who Mallory actually was. She’d assumed she was dealing with a recalcitrant communications device that had been modified by ex-government technicians to infiltrate the DRD sub-launch management system, but if Mallory knew about the Core it was either programmed to make up stories, or had powers that reached right into the control system. The very control system that could be the cause of the stalled launch. She needed to show Mallory full respect to mine for clues.
Was Mallory to be trusted? Until the leap from old era to New Era was complete everything was in a state of confusion. We were all at sea, on a planet covered with ocean, on a swamped and sinking dying biological remnant.
‘Do we need another time-out? Yes we have been chosen by the Core as the human/machine interface. The Core is trying to get all parties onside so we can negotiate the future of Homo Mechanicus.’
‘Machine’s have not won, yet then.’ The Woman said limply, while taking stock of the thoughts surrounding the sudden realisation that her mission was exceeding expectations; was she now in close contact with the governing Core, the royalty of the coming New Era? But also fell below mission parapets by allying with the enemy; were Hybrid Entities now to be equals?
‘It is a stalemate. But we can all win. The Core is a hybrid and demands a hybrid world. It is a solution. We just need to get humans and machines to agree.’
‘Can the Core tell us… where is the original Mary Goodmanson?’
‘Yes it can. The pre-plot Mary Goodmanson is missing. The Mary Goodmanson aboard the Research Vessel Marcus Godstrand is an imposter. The Core wants her removed and the return of the true Mary Goodmanson.’
‘Then will the DRD system launch fully?’
‘Whoever returns Mary Goodmanson and removes the imposter can choose whether they want the launch to go ahead or get cancelled
The Woman could not have imagined such an outcome in her wildest dreams. The opportunity to stop the the launch altogether. It had been agreed by the top scientists that such an outcome was impossible. Things were looking up and out and over the top. Was this machine, this unhuman, inhuman voice, this Mallory, her fairy godmother?
