AI Era: Agent AI

"We've known each other for a long time, I would say we're almost sisters."

"I can't take it anymore, please put a bullet in my head."

"I cannot do that mija, but I can offer rest and the promise that it will be over soon." Roberta placed her hand on Alicia's forehead like a mother checking the temperature of an ailing child. Then she said,

"AI: Rest."

Alicia felt what seemed like a gentle snap of static electricity that happened everywhere in her body and suddenly she felt an overwhelming sense of quiet. It was like all of her nanobots went into a power saving mode and took the rest of her along with them. It was like the massage that Roberta gave her several nights ago. Her features returned to normal, her eyes returned to blue, her hair faded to her natural mousy gray brown, her lips thinned to normal, the epicanthal fold the nanobots created in her eyelids relaxed. She was in a dreamy half-awake state as Roberta turned off US285 onto the Guanella Pass Road. She noticed that in the slightly raining weather outside of the car, the trees were still green although it was cool and rainy, they were down to about 7,000 feet after crossing Kenosha pass. As they wound their way up the mountain the trees again began to show their autumn colors, the higher they went the deeper into autumn they went. Finally, around 9,000 feet the rain changed to snow and a sign on the side of the road said "Warning! No Winter Maintenance Beyond This Point!" Roberta kept driving even though snow started to stick to the road. At the summit of over 11,000 feet the trees were gone, and it was snowing seriously and at the summit there were scores of SUVs parked, people walked about carrying snowshoes, skis and snow boards getting in their early season back country snow fix before the road closes for the winter.

Alicia leaned over and felt her forehead press against the cold window; the cold seemed to settle the fire in her skull and the beautiful winter wonderland outside made her feel that there was something good left in the world. Sid would have loved this... he loved snowboarding so much... Only one thing would make this moment perfect, the chance to say goodbye to it all.

In slow motion the words came out "Please... kill... me..." she gasped, she didn't want to live in this bizarre, confused world.

"Shh! Mija, that is a sin to wish for! Give me a few more hours and all will be right."

"All... will... beee... right..." mocked Alicia, but the words came out a barely legible mumble.

Guanella Pass Road wound its way down the north side of Guanella Pass, as they drove the snow soon stopped, and Alicia's eyes tracked the course of South Clear Creek as it wound its way down the mountain next to them, weaving in and out of Lodge Pole Pine trees, leaping over beaver dams, and splashing over rocky waterfalls. Now the leaves returned to the bare deciduous trees, bright gold, turning to green as they descended into the mountain valleys below. The trees were nearly all green as the road weaved back and forth down a switchback and entered Georgetown.

They drove through the historic village then got on I-70 and drove uphill west to Bakerville, the last exit before the Eisenhauer tunnel at Loveland Pass. From there they took the Stevens Gulch Road south into the mountains until they came to a parking lot marked by the US Forest Service as the "Grays Trail Head." This parking lot is all that remains of the former mining town of Bakerville, that and the ruined foundation of a mill that extracted silver from the rich ore that was dug out of these mountains by the ton.

As a gray four seat UTV trundled up to them from deep in the woods, Roberta said, "Welcome home mi amor."

Two young men stepped off the golf cart and stepped up to the passenger side door of the cheap Hyundai and they opened the door and the two young men lifted Alicia out of the Hyundai and set her in the rear seat of the UTV. Then, while barely waiting for Roberta to sit next to Alicia, one of the fellows drove the UTV back into the woods while the other remained with Roberta's car.

The UTV was completely gray, every part of the four-wheeler, including the seat cushions and seat belts were gray, even the sides of the tires and the rims and hubs were gray. And the electrically driven UTV was nearly silent as they headed into the woods, it moved so quietly that a deer, heavy with her unborn fawn, watched them pass from barely 10 feet away, there wasn't a hint of fear or anxiety. They passed a "Hobo jungle" filled with tough looking characters that followed their movement with their eyes. Alicia noticed that one of the greasy looking human mongrels nodded to Roberta, and that she acknowledged his nod with a slight uptick of her chin.

After passing the bums, the path they were on became a ledge just wide enough for the UTV. Alicia could make out Quayle creek far below them, and on the other side of the creek was the scarred face of an immense rock wall. Suddenly Roberta began to give a travelogue. "That is Kelso Mountain. This summer we will hike up the old Argentine railroad roadbed to Pavilion point over to the east of us, it is so beautiful." Roberta was cheerfully going on with her lecture as if she were unaware that as soon as she could, Alicia was planning to dive off this ledge. "We're currently on Ganley Mountain, as you can see, intruders would have a very difficult time reaching our house."

Alicia could see that Roberta was right. For hundreds of feet above and below them the rockface of Ganley Mountain was a sheer vertical wall, the only access was this narrow ledge barely wide enough for this four wheel utility vehicle to travel. Wait - what did she say, "Our... house...?" Alicia mumbled.

"Oh, si mija, it is beautiful, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and I have such a wonderful surprise for you there!"

"No... more... surprises..." moaned Alicia. She was tired of surprises, she just wanted it to end.

The path widened out into a broad tree covered ledge. There was a picnic table there and a grill, a flat area where a tent could be pitched, there on the rock wall was an electrical outlet, and through the trees she could see a garderobe, an ancient form of a toilet. "I love coming out here in the summer," sighed Roberta as the golf cart entered the small grove of trees then turned and ducked into a mountain cavern.

They traveled through an ancient mine shaft that was widened and shored up recently. It was illuminated by a string of café lights and appeared to go on level through the mountain, winding slightly until the light from the entrance was blocked. Eventually they pulled into a wide-open room that held several other gray UTVs, and a few ATVs. Several doors opened into the room but other than the wheeled vehicles the only other thing in the room was a large machine that rumbled gently and created a whooshing sound.

"Geo-thermal energy," explained Roberta, "We are living inside an ancient volcano and tapping into its remaining energy. That machine is air conditioning for our house." She touched Alicia's forehead and said, "AI: resume." Again, Alicia felt a snap of static electricity in her entire body and as Roberta unbuckled Alicia's seatbelt, Alicia could feel the nanobots returning to life. Roberta held out her hand to Alicia, "come pequeña, I will show you our surprise."

Alicia stepped from the back of the UTV then leapt at Roberta, swinging at her viciously, but in a flash, Roberta caught Alicia's hand with one hand and stopped Alicia's kick with the other. Roberta's moves were the fastest moves that Alicia had ever seen. Sid was the greatest fighter she ever knew, but with moves like that Roberta would have had no problem with Sid. "Preciosa, please!" pleaded Roberta. "Let me show you our house, then my surprise for you, and then if you wish to fight, I will gladly fight you, and if you wish to go outside and jump, I will jump with you."

Roberta let go of Alicia's leg and her iron grip on Alicia's hand became soft, gentle. With a sigh all the fight drained out of Alicia. "Ok, let's see your house," she shrugged.

"Our house!" corrected Roberta. "I have downloaded the map to your AI in case you get lost."

"Map," scoffed Alicia, but she didn't give the order to bring up the map, as far as she was concerned her AI was a traitor, it allowed Roberta to control her, to put her to sleep on the drive here. The chance to dive off the cliff couldn't come quickly enough. If she had to drag herself by her elbows out to the cliff face, she would do it gladly.

"Alicia, please!" pleaded Roberta, "I understand how you feel, you are still getting used to the idea of tiny robots inside your body, of an alien intellect in your head, so smart but so stupid at the same time..."

"How would you know?" shrieked Alicia. "How could you possibly know?" Her words echoed as if they were traveling down miles of tunnels. She released Roberta's hand and backed away, looking for the doorway that would lead her out to the edge of the cliff.

Sadly Roberta unzipped her hoodie and unbuttoned the simple blouse beneath that then turned her back on Alicia and lowered her blouse and hoodie exposing her bare back. "Do you remember Doctor Anna Kikina telling you about the Chinese girl who has the nanobots?" Her spine was outlined by numerous ugly, horrible looking surgical scars. "That's me," she said sadly. "The Wi-Fi frequency for our home is 5.849 gigahertz, password is Ming2415@Long."

Alicia's AI connected to the frequency as she said, "You're Ming Long." It wasn't a question or an accusation, it was just a statement of fact.

Roberta turned and nodded, "I haven't been Ming Long in a very long time." She turned around as she buttoned up her blouse, her small yet firm breasts exposed to Alicia, scars covering her breasts, many were horrible, vicious bite scars. She tried to cover up, but Alicia stopped her. They were sisters through AI, and it looked like they were sisters through assault.

"How did this happen?" Alicia asked softly, her fingers tracing the scars that were so similar to the scars on her own breasts courtesy of Baumgartner's übervergewaltiger, cocaine maddened rapists who rape and torture women for Baumgartner's entertainment.

Roberta tried to look away, she bit her lower lip to keep her voice from trembling, "It was Baumgartner, mostly... but many are from General Long."

Alicia traced her finger over a scar, it felt like her own scars. "Your own father..."

"He was not my father!" Roberta cried, "he was the man that raped my mother." As Alicia tugged Roberta's blouse back into position and buttoned her up, Roberta collected herself and said, "You set me free when you killed him.

"But you took over his network..."

Roberta shrugged, "a girl's gotta eat."

Suddenly AI came to life.

>> The following is the SEC analysis report on Long Air Services...

Alicia realized that this wasn't her AI. This AI had a different "flavor" than Alicia is used to, it's like listening to talk radio when suddenly the host changes, the tone and pitch of the voice is different. The content is similar, but the delivery is almost alien. The AI continued and it gave an abbreviated report on a multi-billion-dollar multi-national conglomerate that owned dozens... maybe hundreds of businesses, including a small bio-tech research company in Colorado Springs called...

"Archuleta Mesa Research?" asked Alicia almost laughing.

Roberta shrugged, "I don't get it, I offered them good honest money to work at Long Bio-Chemical, but all those Russian bioengineers and researchers refused. Then I renamed it to what sounds like something a bunch of UFO chasing conspiracy nuts claim is hidden under a mountain and offered to pay in cash and they were all over it."

"You pay them in cash?"

"Yeah, with room and board, state and federal, social security and workman's comp all deducted legal. They think they're working under the table."

Laughing for the first time in ages, Alicia woke up her AI and asked 'AI: where did that report come from?'

> It came from nanotech cluster RN370-36-ML94 θ 1008

Alicia looked at Roberta, "MF94 Theta 1090, is that you?"

"ML94 Theta 1008 is my nanobot signature, yours is AI94 Theta 1012. I'm four days older than you."

Alicia pondered the number, it was her date of birth, initials, and a theta. "You got my birthdate right, AI is my real initials but Alicia isn't my real name."

"That didn't matter when we saved you and gave you a cluster of nanobots," said Roberta, dreading the next question.

"Did you save anyone else?"

That was the question. "We tried, but he didn't make it."

Alicia knew immediately that she meant Sid. She hugged Roberta close and said, "Thank you for trying." Roberta was a bit stunned, she expected anger and maybe even an attack from Alicia, but Alicia held her close and whispered, "It's chilly out here, let's go inside." Roberta led Alicia by the hand to a wooden door that looked like it came from the original silver mine and through a hallway that was paneled with ancient rough-cut boards and timbers. Roberta opened a door that led into an elegant room that was paneled with richly stained oak, shelves of first edition books, many signed by the authors, and an open fireplace where a bright, cheery fire snapped and crackled merrily.

"How did you get injured," Alicia asked as she and Roberta sat on a couch watching the fire.

"Baumgartner," said Roberta. She didn't offer any more explanation, but Alicia's AI chimed in.

> Rocky Mountain News, headline: Kidnapping Goes Awry. Daughter of millionaire businessman Long Yong Na was abducted in broad daylight in downtown Denver. Long Yu Ming, 23 of Centennial CO, was grabbed when coming out of the Denver Art Museum and placed in the trunk of a Ford Crown Victoria with her fiancé Kevin Okubo. DPD gave chase...

"Oh shit, I remember that," gasped Alicia, she was new to the Agency and was studying General Long. "We didn't realize that Baumgartner was behind it."

"It was a warning to the General to stay out of his business." Roberta looked shattered. "They grabbed Kevin Okubo and me off the street and stuffed us in the trunk of a car. We get out to Golden and the driver drove up the back road to Lookout Mountain. The police have the road blocked at both ends but the driver wasn't looking at getting away with us, he just put it in neutral and got out and it rolled down the mountain... I wasn't supposed to live. Kevin didn't make it..."

Alicia has been up the Lookout Mountain Road, the road snakes back and forth as it slowly makes its way up the mountain, switching back on itself over and over as it climbs up the face of the mountain, the perfect setting for a James Bond chase scene like in Goldfinger. She's seen photographs of cars that went off the road on Lookout Mountain Road, in fact the remains of a car that went off the road in the 80's is still up there.

"The General saw it as a chance to test his nanobot technology he stole from India. I was supposed to be a poster child for the disabled, but The General didn't want to put any money into research and advancement of the product, he wanted to sell nanobots." Roberta got up and began pacing. "As the nanobots wore out, my skills deteriorated." Roberta looked at Alicia sadly, "I'm a quadriplegic, my spinal cord was severed at the base of my neck, and..." she shrugged her shoulders. "When my nanobots began to fade... all I had left was playing softball."

"Softball?"

Roberta nodded. "I played second base."

Alicia stared at Roberta who appeared to be waiting for something. How could a quadriplegic play second base...? Then it hit. "Awww god, that's awful!"

Roberta grinned, "it took you long enough." She opened a bottle of wine and poured a couple of glasses. "When you killed the General there was a power struggle and I went to several of the General's bodyguards and told them, "Hey, all of the General's legitimate assets are in my name, do you still want to get paid?" and they protected me. I found the team who built the original nanobots and put them back to work rebuilding my nanobots." She handed Alicia a glass of wine. "I'm never getting in a wheelchair again."

They ended up on the couch and sipping wine and finally Alicia asked a question she had been wanting to ask for a few hours. "Why am I here?"

"You know why, that Boothroyd person, you couldn't trust him, I don't know why but the look on your face when you gave him that drawing of his mother..."

"So? This is your secret lair, this is the Batcave, it's your Fortress of Solitude, you don't need me here. That was your clinic, you could have wheeled me out of there and left me in the street..." Alicia shrugged waiting for Roberta to fill in the blank.

"How long have we known each other?" Roberta asked.

"About a year, I guess."

"I've known you longer than that. You came to Archuleta in a coma, and I watched you for months, I had been waiting for someone like you, who was in the same condition as I am in..."

"So you could experiment with nanobots on me? To see if they'll work in you?"

"No!" Roberta took Alicia's hands. "No, honey, it's the other way around. I'm the one they're experimenting on; you get the finished product, and we can watch you to see if the results remain true."

Alicia paused for a moment wondering what she should do when suddenly her AI burst in -

> Tell her. You have to start trusting somebody. You don't trust me, that's for sure

"You haven't given me a reason to..." Alicia suddenly realized that she was speaking out loud and Roberta was looking at her strangely.

"I don't give you a reason to do what?" Roberta looked very confused.

"My AI... it's starting to give me unsolicited advice, does yours do that?"

"It started doing that with the last upgrade," Roberta didn't look happy.

Her decision was made, Alicia placed her hands on Roberta's shoulders and said, "I want to see Ming, scars and all."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm having trust issues right now so please, show me Ming."

Roberta sighed and said, "AI: stop all cosmetics." Slowly Roberta's face began to change, her cheek bones became more pronounced, her face became slimmer, the epicanthal fold in her eyelids reappeared, her skin lost the brown shade and became more golden, and her hair began to straighten. "I just got a perm the other day too," she muttered.

"Quit your bitching," said Alicia, then she smiled, "Ming, you're beautiful!"

"What? No, I'm..."

"Come on, where's the bathroom" Alicia stood and took Ming to the bathroom where the only mirror that Alicia had seen awaited them. "Look! You're gorgeous!"

Ming gasped, her eyes were perfectly aligned, she gave up hoping (and checking) several surgeries ago to see if her bones were finally realigned. Her cheekbones were aligned too, for a while her entire face was shifted to one side. And the scars! They were still there, but not as visible. She threw her arms around Alicia's neck, buried her face in Alicia's shoulder and wept with joy. "This is why you're here, to be the friend I need."

They walked back to the den hand in hand. "There's one more thing that I need," said Alicia.

"What do you need?"

"I understand why you asked me to get a cell phone but then you..."

Ming looked confused, "I never told you to get a cell phone."

> That was me, I need a long-range connection to the internet

"I'm sorry, that was my AI, things were getting confusing" Alicia shook her head to clear the cobwebs then continued. "When we were on the bus you sent a text message, who did you send that text message to?"