AI Era: Agent AI

"My son," said Ming with a completely innocent look on her face.

"Your son."

Ming pointed to a painting over the mantle, a simple painting of a small shack on the prairie. "Well, Roberta's son lives there."

It was merely a shack with a small, covered porch, one door, one window, no more than 300 square feet, sitting on a baren prairie. "I could have sworn it was daylight in that painting a while ago."

"That's not a painting," said Ming. She picked up a remote and hit a button and the picture cleared, the filter that put brush strokes on the image was removed and Alicia saw a sharp image of a shack at dusk. "Inside the cabin is a small computer named Edwardo that I can text or call and it replies. Occasionally it texts me."

"A computer texts you? What does it say?"

Ming shrugged, "Hola momma, how are you? Or how is work? Sometimes Edwardo asks Roberta how that crazy Ming lady is getting on. Nothing to raise suspicion, but it tells me that the system is up and ready."

"Why do you have such a thing?" asked Alicia.

"Say there's someone looking for me and I would like them to stop breathing... forever. I send Edwardo a text letting him know I'm coming for a visit. Edwardo isn't the social type so if someone shows up it means that they traced the call back to this location. If anyone arrives within 48 hours and doesn't send Edwardo a second text that says "I'm here," Edwardo shows them what a claymore mine can do."

"Holy shit," muttered Alicia.

"I got trust issues too," said Ming as she sipped her wine. "Was there anything else?"

"Um, yeah. It's my AI that likes to draw..." just in case Ming thought that the stippling drawings were hers.

"Mine likes to cook," said Ming into her wine glass.

"Interesting. Anyhow, Sid and I were pulled off of R&R because, as we were briefed, Canada pulled out of NATO and destabilized the entire western world."

"I'm pretty sure that didn't happen," said Ming. The look on her face said that it was a pretty fantastic story.

"I'm pretty sure you're right, at least now I am. Back then, we were isolated from the world for nearly a month. Anyhow, we snuck across the Canadian border, we went to our meetup point, this little dirtbag motel, Sid and I thought we'd be able to get a second honeymoon started while we waited for our contact to arrive. This sweet little old lady let us in, then she hits us both with a taser and the next thing I know I'm getting kicked around like a soccer ball." She shuddered at the memory of the torture, the rapes, the beatings.

Ming frowned, "Rough way to spend a second honeymoon."

Alicia nodded. "A few days ago, my AI wants to get creative and she's tired of drawing my bedpan..."

"Your bedpan..." laughed Ming with a whoop. "She did a good job."

Alicia reached into her backpack and pulled out "Bedpan in Shadow and Light," part of her AI's opus on medical equipment and handed it to Ming while continuing. "I wouldn't let her draw me or my tits," Alicia hefted her breasts, "and I hid much of her work from you. So, she started pulling images out of my memory to draw and she did a really good job on that little old lady..."

> I could do it again...

"No thank you. Anyhow Q was in my room this morning and he sees the picture and says, "that's my mom!" and I realized that it was his mom, I've seen her in the past, but I was so goo-goo eyed over Sid that I didn't notice her at the motel."

"That's when your AI told me that we had to go," said Ming.

"My AI told you?"

> You weren't listening...

"I guess you weren't listening. You were standing there freaking out," said Ming. "But not like the freakout you had on highway 285."

"Oh god," groaned Alicia, "I had AI pull up the mission briefing, and it wasn't the mission briefing Sid and I received. We were briefed that mission 230615 Charlie 121 was for the Agency to cross into Canada and investigate what caused Canada to drop out of NATO, when I looked it up this morning, I found that it now reads that the Agency was to cross into Canada and stop Sid and I before we overthrew the Canadian government."

Just then the "painting" suddenly changed, the lights came on in the cabin and voices from inside the shack could be heard shouting, "Who's out there?" Ming grabbed the remote and pressed a button and the scene changed to infrared and a lot of figures could be seen crouched low and advancing on the cabin. Suddenly flashes of light could be seen at each person, Alicia realized that the people had opened fire on the cabin. The sound of gunfire boomed from the speakers as the lights inside the cabin winked out.

Finally, the gunfire stopped and all the figures slowly advanced on the cabin. Alicia cringed, waiting for the claymore mines to go off but nothing happened. Two figures moved inside the cabin and a flashlight could be seen inside the cabin looking around. "That really pisses me off," said Ming.

"Well yeah, the claymores didn't go off," started Alicia.

"No," said Ming. "All of those people were there to kill us, to kill you and me. Look at them, there's got to be ten, maybe fifteen mercs. We didn't do anything to deserve that."

"There's got to be another dozen behind the cabin that we can't see," agreed Alicia.

Ming frowned and nodded. "This is why I have trust issues." The figures started to relax and light cigarettes, you could see their faces in the short-lived glare of their lighters. "Assholes," said Ming. Suddenly there was a series of flashes that caused the screen to go white followed by a roar and Alicia and for a full minute nothing could be seen.

Slowly the image returned, and the smoke and dust lifted, and the walls of the cabin were gone, only the studs remained, and they were all chewed up. One by one the studs failed, and the roof sagged slowly to the ground as the supporting studs snapped. The claymore mines were set in a ring around the cabin, pointed inward toward the cabin, and outward into the desert. They weren't set to keep intruders away, they were set to allow intruders into the cabin, then execute them. Their near simultaneous detonation caused the cabin to disintegrate, along with the 20 or so mercenaries that tried to kill Ming Long and Alicia Ingersoll and their getaway vehicles and drivers. Ming left the "painting" on infra-red, and the warmth of the mercenaries' bodies could be seen glowing around the remains of the cabin, but their bodily warmth was fading as the New Mexico desert claimed them.

'AI: give me the final mission report on Agency mission number 230615 Charlie 121'

> Mission 230615C121, investigation into the rogue actions of Agents Alicia Ingersoll and Sidney Irving. Status Closed. Results as follows:

Alicia reviewed the text of the mission, and a name came up near the end of the report that she hadn't heard before because she got angry and cut off the playing of the report previously, US Senator Amos Nourse was listed as having been briefed on the "disappearance" of his niece. "I need to make a call..." she said to Ming as she had her AI make special notes from the mission report.

Ten minutes later Alicia was sitting in an office chair waiting for the call to go through. Finally, a familiar face came on the screen, and he looked incredibly surprised to see Alicia on his screen. He was incredibly stunned but said "You look familiar to me, what's your name?" which meant 'Tell me your real name or you will have 100 secret service agents crawling up your ass with shotguns.'

"David," replied Alicia with a straight face. The man on the screen looked shocked that she would say that. He reached for his keyboard and typed something but before he could disconnect, Alicia cried, "Uncle Amos wait, don't hang up. Make sure you can send guys you can trust."

"Why should I trust you?" asked the senator.

"My name is Abilene Irons, I was born and raised in Fort Erie Ontario, I received my US citizenship on..."

"Abilene?" mouthed Ming as she stifled a laugh.

"Good god Abbie, what is going on? Who is that with you? What are you doing in Las Vegas New Mexico?"

Ming leaned into the picture and smiled, "Hi senator."

"Miss Long!" Senator Nourse was at a loss for words. Doesn't Long know that his niece was the one that killed her father? "I am surprised to see you with Abbie."

Ming decided to end the game before it started. "If you're avoiding talking about the fact that she did the world a favor and killed The General, she did me a favor too," and she gave Alicia a kiss on the cheek.

"The General... yeah. What's going on in," he glanced at his laptop screen, "Las Vegas New Mexico?"

"Our call is routed through a cabin owned by Edwardo Rodriguez. It was attacked fifteen minutes ago by people we believe were employed by Hans Stavros Baumgartner, if you can get some trustworthy fellows to the scene, we would like to hear what you dig up."

"Baumgartner," groaned Senator Nourse. "Gawd I'm tired of hearing that name. What's he done now?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," said Alicia. "What I really called for is to find out when you were briefed about me. I'm getting a very nasty feeling about this whole thing..."

Senator Amos was flipping though an old appointment book when he found it, "Here it is," said Amos, "It was fairly late... the messenger had me called out of a senate hearing... yep, here it is, right here, June fifteenth, about 9:30 PM. Here's the teletype he gave me." He held the document up to the screen

DEEP COVER AGENT ALICA INGERSOLL DISAPPEARED ON [CLASSIFIED] WHEN SHE AND HER PARTNER [NAME REDACTED] ENETERED CANADA FOR THE PURPOSE OF AN INTELLIGENCE GATHERING EXERCISE. THEIR CONTACT/EVALUATOR [NAME REDACTED] ARRIVED AT THE PRE-ARRANGED MEETING POINT AND THE AGENTS NEVER ARRIVED. THE AGENCY IS DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO ESTABLISH THEIR WHEREABOUTS.

If she registered shock, Alicia didn't show it. "Are you sure it was the fifteenth?" Alicia demanded.

"Yeah, the fifteenth," said the Senator, "It's right here in my book, same day as the Nigerian reception at the Kennedy Center. I had to be called out of that meeting to be read into this message."

"I crossed into Canada at 2:30 AM on June sixteenth." Alicia's face registered only anger. "Nine thirty PM on the fifteenth means you were told five hours before I entered Canada."

Amos shrugged, "That fellow of yours gave me the message himself."

"What fellow of mine?" asked Alicia. Ming was getting ready to start dinner but this was suddenly getting good, so she stayed to listen.

"That guy you used to have hanging around you... you know..." fumbled the senator, trying to come up with the name. He had just written Messenger in his appointment book knowing that he would remember the name.

"Boothroyd?"

"The guy you call Q? No, it wasn't him. It was the other one."

"I can't think of another one," said Alicia, completely flustered.

"Oh shit, what was his name," said the senator, completely flustered that he couldn't remember the name. "Damn it, your ex."

Alicia went ice cold. "Sid?" she asked, her mouth was dry with horror.

"Yeah, him."

"You're sure it wasn't Daniel Boothroyd."

"Positive," said the senator proudly. "Boothroyd was standing by the door the whole time saying, "Come on Sid, you have a plane to catch."

*~~~~*~~~~⁰~~~~*~~~~*

AI: have you finished the query?

> I have checked the visitor logs of the Dirksen Senate Office Building for the month of June for the year in question, Agent Sidney Irving and agent assistant Daniel Boothroyd signed into the building together on June 15 at 2029 hours, their purpose was to brief Senator Nourse. They signed out at 2145 hours. When leaving they told the guard that they were headed to Joint Base Andrews...

'AI: Thank you. No more for now.'

Alicia sank even deeper in the water, the steaming water reached up to her chin. Ming had built a hot tub in a room that had a glass wall that allowed bathers to look through the glass wall into the mine beyond. Lighting in the mine highlighted the old wooden timbers, the mine cart tracks, the old elevator to lift and lower the cars, wooden handrails, guards, etc. "Imagine working in this environment, but all you had for light was a single candle. This mine is better illuminated now than it ever has been in the past. Watch this," said Ming.

One by one the lights went off, first the lights in the tub room, then the lights out in the mine and suddenly Alicia was bathed in a darkness deeper than anything she had ever seen. Ming's ploy worked, it took Alicia's mind off of her betrayal by the men she loved. She's been drowning in anger and sorrow for over two weeks at this point, but now plunged in perfect darkness her mind was working on a new visual input: no visual input. "Wow," she gasped, "I can't tell if my eyes are opened or closed." The little travelogue and being plunged into darkness had the desired effect of getting Alicia's mind off of Sid's betrayal... for a moment.

"Now watch this," said Ming. Out in the mine black lights came on and suddenly the walls of the cave were illuminated by thousands of tiny brightly shining, vividly colored spots. It was like viewing a multi-colored universe full of stars that glowed brightly in a multitude of colors. "This mountain is made up of fluorescent minerals that glow for us if we stimulate them right, fluorite, calcite, aragonite, opal, apatite, chalcedony, even ruby and sapphire..." Ming realized that Alicia was a thousand miles away even though she's right here in the hot tub. Ming moved over to the saddened spy and whispered, "I'm right here if you want..."

"If I want to what? Spill my guts of how stupid I was?" Alicia turned around and sat as Ming brought up the lights slowly. "I wanted to have his child; I really did. It's all I thought about all the while we were in Saskatchewan driving to the motel." Alicia's inner turmoil was clearly written on her face, she even bit her thumb as she fought with her inner demon. "I'm even sitting here making excuses for him, I was thinking 'maybe he was forced to do it, maybe Baumgartner held his family hostage...' How pathetic is that?" She started to gnaw on her fist and didn't notice that Ming had floated up next to her.

"Come on Abbie, you're having a bad day. We are both having a bad year." Ming coaxed Alicia out of the hot tub then into a warm shower to cool down and clean off the spa chemicals. Ming had read the report of what was done to Alicia and from the scars crisscrossing her body, the reports were not exaggerations. Ming was too concerned about Alicia to notice that this is the first time she's ever showered with a woman.

Coaxing Alicia to the guest bedroom, the agent suddenly stopped, her eyes and mouth wide open in shock. Ming tried to get her to move but Alicia was not moving. "Abbie? Abbie what's wrong?" but using the senator's pet name for Alicia didn't seem to reach her this time.

'AI: Can you reach Agent Ingersoll's AI?'

>> Trying... I am in contact with the agent's AI... she appears to be overwhelmed with a memory

'AI: Do I have the energy reserves to carry her to the bedroom?'

>> No. You haven't eaten in two days...

Ming didn't have the energy to carry Alicia to the room she had set up for Alicia, but she was able to carry her to her own room where she unceremoniously dumped Alicia on the bed then slumped to the ground...

The past began to emerge from the swirling mists of denial and self illusion. When Alicia and Sid were captured, they weren't questioned for a long time, and when they were, the questions weren't of anything truly important. A week of beatings, rapes, and near drownings being held underwater in a bathtub culminating in Alicia and Sid being tied in chairs facing each other about ten feet apart with electrodes attached to various parts of their bodies. They would be asked a question, if the answer was too slow, they would be shocked, the voltage made them dance in the chair to the amusement of their captors. Alicia could barely see Sid; her face was so swollen from the beatings that her eyes were almost closed.

Then someone held a pistol next to Alicia's head and said, "I need target practice, don't move, or I'll hit something vital."

"Wha...?" Alicia didn't even have time to think about the question before the gun went off, right next to her ear destroying her ear drum. The bullet tore into Sid's shoulder, but before the gun was held next to Alicia's other ear Alicia could hear Sid's angry shouts, "What are you doing? We had a deal! You get the woman and I get..." then the gun went off, destroying Sid's right shoulder and the remainder of Alicia's hearing. Alicia didn't need to hear anymore; his words were now emerging from the agony of the past and echoing in Alicia's mind:

"We had a deal!"

"What? What deal?" asked Ming as she held Alicia tight. "What's wrong Abbie?"

As Alicia found her way back into the here and now she realized she was sitting up in a large, comfortable bed with Ming holding her close, trying to soothe her terror. "I... I... remember something... where am I?" She looked around the room, it was a combination bedroom and reading room. One wall was covered in books, there was a pair of very comfortable looking recliners, the room was feminine, but not overly so, there was a nice breakfast nook in front of a bay window. The room was bright and sunny, it was hard to believe they had a mile of mountain on top of them.

The next thing she realized was that she was naked, and so was Ming, and Ming was holding her, comforting her. It's been so long since someone touched Alicia with genuine affection, the sensation was threatening to overwhelm her. She could feel the warmth of Ming, her small breasts pressing against her back... Alicia isn't a lesbian, she's not even bi, but she's not a stranger to making love to a woman... did Ming just kiss her shoulder? "This is my room," said Ming softly. "It's where I come to escape... and think."

"It's nice," said Alicia. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

Just then a door opened, and a young man with Asian features walked in, he was neatly dressed in khaki trousers, and a navy-blue polo shirt with the Long Air Service logo that features a scarlet and gold dragon coiled around an airplane. His hair was cut short and neat, and he carried a tray with a tea pot, cup and saucer and an assortment of scones. "Good morning, Cliff," said Ming cheerfully as she hid behind Alicia.

Cliff suddenly noticed that there were two women in the bed and was clearly startled, but he recovered nicely, "Good morning, ma'am," he said as he set the tray on the table in the breakfast nook. "I'll be back with another cup."

"Cliff, this is Alicia Ingersoll, she's the one we've been programming the nanobots for." Then she snaked an arm around Alicia and said, "Abbie, this is Cliff Staunton, he's my aide-de-camp, my lead programmer, occasional lover, and NOT my butler. Why are you bringing me morning tea Cliff?"

Cliff stumbled for a reply, but Alicia jumped in. "Look at him Ming, he's jealous, he wants to be in bed with you. I think he loves you." Alicia was taunting Cliff trying to embarrass him even more, but she wasn't prepared for his reply.

"Yes ma'am. Miss Alicia is right."

Ming laughed a bright and cheery laugh; the first joyful laugh Alicia had heard in a long time. "I forgot to tell you, Cliff is a really bad liar, so he doesn't do it anymore. Cliff, give us a few minutes to get dressed then bring two cups when you come back and bring your notepad, I think we need to reprogram Agent Ingersoll."