Chapter 20
The little coffee bar was packed.
As soon as someone recognized him, they literally pushed a few newcomers out the door to make room for Chan to enter. The place was warm so Chan removed his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair next to him. A couple of the girls hooted at his physique, a build quite rare in such social circles. He waited for the chatter and laughter to die down.
The lessons from Darvesh came flooding back. When working a social occasion, Chan had to be The Man. First, he asked if there were any questions about the devices. The consensus was a demand to know when they would become generally available. He replied that it really wasn’t up to him. They all knew how the government did things, but if they started asking around, it might prompt someone to get production going sooner. He apologized and noted the materials weren’t free, but he was glad to let them borrow the ones he had.
Then he elicited questions about the books themselves. While the stories weren’t any kind of runaway hits, they were interesting enough that the folks were willing to read more by this new author, AI’s Minion. He answered a few questions about the philosophical content but asked them to hold off any in-depth debate just yet. In the back of his mind, he realized whatever truth was hidden in the books would appeal to whoever was ready for it, but merely entertain others. After it became apparent the moral value system was getting across, Chan reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the stack of new books.
With the help of AI, Chan was able to identify the original group from the previous week. Explaining how the new ones were different, he passed them out and told them to give the old ones to someone whom they felt would enjoy them. He admitted he was particularly interested in building a market among the underground fiction crowd. He thanked them all and said he was through talking. Grabbing his jacket, he turned to push his way back out the door through the tight crush of bodies.
Naturally he was delayed by numerous questions from people on his way out, and he decided to risk a bit of banter on the sidewalk outside. Normally that much noise and loitering was discouraged, but it would take a while before the cops came to break it up. As he slowly worked his way from the door and down the sidewalk, the crowd of hangers-on thinned quickly. As he turned the corner at the end of the block, he almost ran over the young lady still following him.
He started to apologize politely and she stammered something similar at the same time. He decided to see if she would talk first, so he closed his mouth and looked directly into her eyes. She hesitated, then blurted out her name and asked his.
She was pretty enough. While her appearance was unremarkable, Chan had learned that was easily the least important consideration. What really mattered to him was whether she was ready, or could be made ready, to join The Brotherhood. He knew the chances of getting it right on the first encounter were quite slim, but decided her persistence was a good indicator. Betraying almost nothing of himself, he allowed her to divulge a great deal about her personality. Not that she was such a chatterbox, just too nervous to stay quiet. He remained calm and got her reactions to one of his stories. She launched into an intelligent analysis contrasting it with previous books she had read. Chan recognized most of them.
She was trying to impress him and it worked.
He pulled out one of his new communication devices and made a show of noting her name and address. Her eyes widened at the sight of something she considered a luxury. Naturally she would not have had a telephone; few people did. She was lucky to afford a shared apartment with other gals from her workplace.
For Chan the problem was his plastic tag, now worn simply out of habit, was useless for purchasing anything, since his identity was officially gone. The pretense of being somewhat wealthier than her would be difficult to maintain and he regarded it a temporary tactic. He definitely did not want to consume any of the food or drinks available in the city, but decided he had to see her at least a couple more times to discern if she was made of the right stuff. So he proposed a picnic on Saturday, which was a couple of days away. She agreed as if it were some heavenly privilege.
She insisted on walking him to the train station, and then stood on the platform watching until he was out of sight.
It was there that he found her waiting for him again that next Saturday. “Weren’t you standing in this same spot when I saw you last? Did you ever go home?” He grinned and she covered her face, laughing.
He asked if she had a favorite park in the area. When she shook her head, face still aglow from embarrassment, he suggested one he had seen on the way. She quickly agreed and they took off walking. She grabbed his hand, offering the excuse that the foot traffic was so heavy and she didn’t want to be separated from him in the crowd.
They found a spot in the little park that wasn’t too heavily occupied and sat facing each other on the grass. Chan pulled out the food he had brought, which he had repacked to look like it was from home. He decided to test how quickly she adapted. Tapping into AI’s network through his earplug, he played a game. As she ate, he looked out across the park and said, “Let’s see now if I get this right.” He rattled off her age, named her parents and where she worked. Glancing at her from the corner of his eyes, he saw her wearing a cynical frown. “Do I win?”
In mild disappointment, she asked, “Do you work for the government or something?”
“No,” he shook his head. “But I do have friends.”
Beginning to recover a bit, she chewed and swallowed what was in her mouth. “What kind of friends?” Nothing hinting at peevish, she was just wondering honestly.
He looked at her. “Those books I brought – what do you associate with the author’s name?”
She raised her eyebrows. “AI’s Minion? Someone who serves a computer?”
He nodded. “It’s just a metaphor. In the universe described in those books, AI could never develop a free will, nor rule anything at all. But people who make much use of super computers would sometimes appear to serve them, when it’s more literally the other way around.”
She ate some more. “Yeah, I got that. Are you suggesting some of it’s real? That you are AI’s Minion in that sense?”
She was delightfully quick, Chan decided. He took out one of his devices. Handing it to her, he suggested she look at the screen. It greeted her by name. “Ask it a question.”
She grinned, thought for a second, than asked, “Who is this man next to me?”
Officially nobody. His name is Chandler.
“Nobody” she echoed, obviously puzzled.
“It could have said ‘officially dead,’ too.” He smiled mysteriously.
She looked back down at the display. Chandler is listed as missing, presumed dead.
Looking up, she asked, “How did you accomplish that? And why would you want to?”
“I promise to explain another day. You should probably ask it something I can’t fake with pre-programmed answers” He suggested.
She took another bite, chewed, and then drank from a bottle of tea. She smiled, and looked at the device again. “Where did this food come from?”
Brotherhood life support.
“What’s Brotherhood?” Her question was calm and direct.
Clandestine benevolent society dedicated to maintaining human awareness of ultimate reality.
She looked up. “So you belong to a secret society that makes great food and gives you these hi-tech toys. And your nickname is AI’s Minion and you write cool books.” She looked back down at the device. “Do they let girls join?”
Chan had seen several women in his tour of the Brotherhood facilities. “Sure.”
She gazed directly into his eyes. “Are you just a recruiter for this Brotherhood? I was kind of hoping there might actually be some romance here.”
Chan smiled. “How could it be one without the other?”
She handed it back to him, her hand shaking just a bit. “I don’t even have dreams this good. Until I read your books I didn??
?t know guys like you existed. If you’re serious…” She got up on her hands and knees and crawled up beside him. “I’m not one of your toys or projects, but I’ll follow you anywhere.” Then she kissed him quickly on the lips and returned to her seat.
Chan admired her while he took a bite of food. After swallowing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the other device, looking at it for a moment. “You’re my kind of girl and I don’t have room in my world for more than one, but I definitely can’t keep working alone. I need to make some arrangements, but I’m dead serious.” He handed her the other device. “We’ll need to keep in touch until then. Just tell AI you want to talk to me, and if I can answer it will be just like face-to-face. Let AI know when it’s not safe for you to answer my calls so you don’t betray to anyone that you have such a device. It’s a full blown computer with connections to a networking system just like in the books.”
She grinned, looking back and forth at him and then the device.
Epilogue
Membership in The Brotherhood exploded during that next year.
Not just scientists, physicians and professors, but a large number of younger people willing to work. They also gained a few government bureaucrats with access to resources and ways of keeping the Brotherhood out of trouble.
No one really expected global government to lose its grip, and it didn’t. Rather, the serious fighting was within the diverse secretive cabal that ultimately ruled everything. Those who could not be convinced by saner heads to accept the changing reality ended up getting themselves killed by the others. Meanwhile, some elements of government took on a more human face for a time.
During the next few decades, a greater portion of economic production trickled down to the population. More and more areas of life were loosened just a bit. Eventually some elements of The Brotherhood came out of hiding. In particular, the clinics were permitted to operate more or less in the open, even receiving support. At the same time, their previous efforts on technology were spun off because it was no longer necessary to hide their research.
All of this came under the guidance of a man who rose quickly in the ranks of The Brotherhood, with a very light touch on the reins of leadership, some nobody popularly referred to as AI’s Minion.
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