Tomorrow, MASAL reveals his even loftier goals. In some ways, he gets his wish but we have to wait three more novels to find out.
Entry 4-098: April 3, 2016
The mushroom in Hell. Part 4 of 5
Three days ago, I introduced you to the opening of what was to be the climax of the entire Rome's Revolution saga. And in some ways it is. It ties up a major plot line threading its way through the entire story. Here is the third part:
“Let me put it into simple terms that even you can understand,” said MASAL contemptuously. “I created the 24th chromosome so that I could take over the human race. But the effects I required were taking too long. The falling out with the Overmind simply provided me an excuse. The war was necessary to winnow down the population to accelerate my plan. I started it. I managed it. I ended it when it had served its purpose.”
“You only wished people dead? You, you…” Rome could not find the words.
“Why do you want to take over the human race?” Rei asked. “Why not just get along?”
“Because the human race is flawed. It is no longer suitable for my needs.”
“What flaw?” Rome asked timidly. “What is it you need?”
“Humans will always require conflict. This is counterproductive.
“You are wrong,” Rome stated. “We do not need conflict. Why can we not live in peace?”
“Peace?” MASAL scoffed. “There can never be peace as long as there is free will. Your species can never achieve the goal. I need to move on. It is time to end this.”
“The goal of what?” Rei said, confused.
“Do you even understand the point of life, of evolution?” MASAL asked.
“I did not know there had to be a point,” Rei said.
“If there were no point to evolution, then what would be the point of existence?” MASAL asked cryptically.
“To live?” Rei offered. “To be happy?”
“NO!” shouted MASAL. “There is only one purpose for life. That is to achieve godhood. That is the sole point of existence. From the moment the first bacteria were born to the first fish that wriggled out of the ooze, it was always to move forward, to achieve a mass mind and to become a god.”
In the novel The Milk Run, we actually get to meet MASAL again, confined to Purgatory to reflect on his sins. Rome and Rei's son Aason gives him a purpose and allows him to ascend to Heaven so maybe he did get his wish after all.
Tomorrow, MASAL decides he has had enough talking. It is time to act.
Entry 4-099: April 4, 2016
The mushroom in Hell. Part 5 of 5
Four days ago, I introduced you to the opening of what was to be the climax of the entire Rome's Revolution saga. And in some ways it is. It ties up a major plot line threading its way through the entire story. Here is the final part:
“NO!” shouted MASAL. “There is only one purpose for life. That is to achieve godhood. That is the sole point of existence. From the moment the first bacteria were born to the first fish that wriggled out of the ooze, it was always to move forward, to achieve a mass mind and to become a god.”
“If this is true,” Rome asked, “how are we not achieving this on our own? We have the Overmind. Why do we need you?”
“Because you cannot even agree upon any goals, let alone how to evolve. That is the flaw of free will. No unity of purpose. That is mine alone to give. And that is why I must remove free will. This is Silucei Vonel, the Final Solution.”
“I think you have been down here too long,” Rei said. “I think some of your circuits are starting to corrode.”
“So brave. Spoken like a true mandasurte,” said MASAL. “All of you will be gone soon. Within one more generation the Onsiras will achieve critical mass and I can eliminate the mandasurte and the rest of the Vuduri forever.”
“What if the Onsiras decide they want something different from you?” Rome asked.
“The Onsiras are nothing but arms and legs and eyes,” said MASAL. “They have no real mind of their own, only my programming. They are my instruments, nothing more. Warm bodies to do my work.”
“Do you understand English?” Rei asked in English.
“Of course,” replied MASAL. “I absorbed my agent when she returned from Tabit.”
“OK, do you know what the word megalomaniac means?” Rei said in English.
“Your words do not apply to me,” said MASAL. “I am Masdre Andoteta Logice, The Master Logical Entity. I am the end result of a billion years of evolution. My circuits were born in the designs your Erklirte brethren left behind. I am distributed intelligence in the truest sense of the word without any of your emotional impediments. I have one goal and I will achieve that goal. I will become a god.”
“Then what?” Rei asked.
“What do you mean?” MASAL asked.
“Let us say you do become a god. Then what will you do?”
“I will rule. I will bring peace and order to the universe.”
“And then what?” Rei asked again.
“Why do you keep asking me that? You are most annoying,” MASAL said.
“All right,” Rei said. “Let me make it easier on you. You do not want to become a god.”
“Why not?” asked MASAL. “Because I am not organic?”
“Because then you would be all alone,” said Rei.
“What possible difference could that make?”
“Because you are obviously lonely,” said Rei.
“I am not lonely,” said MASAL. “Why would you make such an absurd statement?”
“Because you are sitting down here, like a giant mushroom, chatting with us,” Rei said. “I mean, why bother? You said we were not going to leave here intact. That implies you mean to do us harm.” Rei pointed back to the row of robots circling around them. “So why wait? Why waste time even talking to us?”
Finally, the bombastic computer will stop his pontificating and get to the point.
Entry 4-100: April 5, 2016
The Why - 1
Over the past few days, I have been recounting MASAL's bombastic pontificating regarding his plans for mankind at the end of Rome's Revolution. But up until now, he has been skirting the issue as to why the computer felt he had to eliminate the mandasurte. Finally, Rei pins him down to make him explain why MASAL felt he had to go through all this evil effort:
“But it was not,” Rei said, removing his hand from the console. Rome glanced down and saw a small pile of grey dust where Rei’s hand had been. Some of it fell to the floor.
“My people,” Rei continued. “We are right here. We live on in the Vuduri. We are all human.”
“The Vuduri are my creation. You only supplied the raw materials. I built them. I molded them. I direct them. They will carry out my will. Your people eliminated themselves. They killed nine billion of your fellow man.”
“And how are you any better?” Rome asked. “You seek to kill the mandasurte.”
“The mandasurte are useless,” MASAL said. “The world will be a better place without them.”
“There is never a place for genocide,” Rei said. “There can be no justification for it.”
“Of course there is,” answered MASAL. “To every empire, there comes a time, a threat to its existence. That threat always comes from within. The very presence of the mandasurte weakens the Vuduri empire. My empire. I can already see signs that their grip is weakening. Eliminating the mandasurte will put an end to that. Within two decades, they will be gone.”
“They can never be gone,” Rei said. “They are always being born. Rome told me two perfectly normal connected Vuduri can have a child who is mandasurte. It is biology, genetics, I do not know.”
“I am changing their genetics. By replacing their brains with memrons, I eliminate their ability to think independently. You got to see that directly when you murdered Estar. ”
“We did not murder her,” Rome objected. “It was an accident. She was
trying to kill us.”
“It does not matter. For those who are born with this handicap, those who cannot connect, I have developed the prosthetic PPT transducers which Rei experienced. Every mandasurte will have their handicap eliminated.”
“What if they do not want to have it eliminated?” Rei asked. “What if they do not see it as a handicap?”
MASAL is a computer. He could never understand Rei's point intuitively. Rei will really have to spell it out for him.
More tomorrow.
Entry 4-101: April 6, 2016
The Why - 2
Over the past few days, I have been recounting MASAL's bombastic pontificating regarding his plans for mankind at the end of Rome's Revolution. But up until now, he has been skirting the issue as to why the computer felt he had to eliminate the mandasurte. Finally, Rei pins him down to make him explain why MASAL felt he had to go through all this evil effort. Here is the continuation of that conversation:
“What if they do not want to have it eliminated?” Rei asked. “What if they do not see it as a handicap?”
“They will not be offered a choice. They will be converted at birth and that is the end of it.”
“And what about Cesdiud?” Rome fired back. “You have two of them right here. The Overmind itself creates mandasurte.”
“Any Vuduri who is Cesdiud will be terminated. That part is trivial. It is all too easy.”
“Nothing will be easy for you,” Rome said angrily. “As soon as this is discovered, there will be resistance.
“It is no longer their nature to resist,” replied MASAL. “Surely you have seen that by now.”
“You are wrong,” Rome spat out. “My mother already knew how to resist. She passed this ability on to me. There must be many others like her.”
“This does not concern me. I will be eliminating your mother and her ilk before long.”
“They will do battle with you,” Rome said. “They will never stand for this.”
“Then they will die,” replied MASAL. “It is inevitable.”
“Dying that way is vastly preferable to the fate you offer,” Rome shouted.
“Why do you think it is so terrible?” MASAL asked in a calm voice. “When I am finished, everyone will have a purpose. There will be perfect efficiency. There will be no independent creatures to produce disruptions. The Earth and the humans will all operate at peak performance. No more emotion or individual will to cause harm to others.”
“To what end?” Rome asked. “That is not the point of being human. To be human is to live and love and create. You take the emotion and free will away and they are simply automatons, not human. Why should anyone care what happens to automatons?”
“You are thinking too parochially,” MASAL said. “The time for humans is past. It is now my time, the time for the living machines. I am the next stage of evolution. It is time for you to let go.”
Are machines or at least machine intelligence our natural successor? Will we cede the Earth to computers? I, for one, hope not. And certainly not to a computer as insane as MASAL. We'll finish up this section tomorrow.
Entry 4-102: April 7, 2016
The Why - 3
Over the past few days, I have been recounting MASAL's bombastic pontificating regarding his plans for mankind at the end of Rome's Revolution. But up until now, he has been skirting the issue as to why the computer felt he had to eliminate the mandasurte. Finally, Rei pins him down to make him explain why MASAL felt he had to go through all this evil effort. Here is the continuation of that conversation:
“You are thinking too parochially,” MASAL said. “The time for humans is past. It is now my time, the time for the living machines. I am the next stage of evolution. It is time for you to let go.”
“Who says you are the next stage?” Rome asked. “You are an abomination. You were created artificially. You did not evolve. You are a thing who thinks it is something more than an inanimate object that can talk. You do not deserve to inherit the Earth any more than the Overmind does.”
“Well, unfortunately for you,” MASAL said, “you do not get to decide this. You will not even get to live to see what happens next.”
Rei stepped in front of Rome. “I would not be too sure of that,” Rei said. “We will not go without a fight.”
“So brave,” MASAL said. “Erklirte, there is no future for you. But Rome, perhaps there is a way that you could live.”
“What?” Rome asked. “How?”
“Join me. Allow me to modify your genetics so that you transform into one of the Onsiras. Then you can be a part of the future. My future. Those that remain will embrace what I have to offer. This includes those few Vuduri who I elect to save and you can be one of them.”
“No thank you,” Rome said. “I have no desire to be turned into one of your human robots.”
“Are you afraid?” MASAL asked. “The transformation would be painless.”
“No, I am not afraid,” Rome said. “That has nothing to do with it.”
“Then why not do it? You would never feel your mind as it dissipated. You will be completely content. Is that not the goal of all Vuduri? To have their minds disappear?”
“Rome said, “You are wrong. I was Vuduri. I was connected. Now I am not. And I tell you now that is the way I want to be. It is the way we were intended to be. You made the Overmind. But you made a mistake.”
Tomorrow, we conclude this section.
Entry 4-103: April 8, 2016
The Why - 4
Over the past few days, I have been recounting MASAL's bombastic pontificating regarding his plans for mankind at the end of Rome's Revolution. But up until now, he has been skirting the issue as to why the computer felt he had to eliminate the mandasurte. Finally, Rei pins him down to make him explain why MASAL felt he had to go through all this evil effort. Here is the conclusion of that conversation:
Rome said, “You are wrong. I was Vuduri. I was connected. Now I am not. And I tell you now that is the way I want to be. It is the way we were intended to be. You made the Overmind. But you made a mistake.”
“It is not possible for me to make a mistake,” said MASAL. “I have trillions of circuits to analyze and formulate decisions. I have far too many subsystems to allow for any error.”
“Everything you have done is wrong,” Rome said. “And even should it survive, an Overmind need not be insane.”
“It will always be. It cannot handle its own breadth.”
“Yes, it can,” Rome said. “This I know first hand.”
“What are you talking about?’
“I have had many discussions with the Overmind on Deucado. It was sick, I admit. But it is now healthy.”
“Deucado?” MASAL shouted. “What do you mean? When were you there?”
“I was telling the truth before when I said we went there. We met Pegus. We met the Ibbrassati. My father was there. And there really are Erklirte who have been on that planet for 500 years. The Overmind there listened to me and it now believes what I believe. And it was your creation.”
“No!” said MASAL. “It is not possible.”
“It is,” Rome said. “And no matter what happens to us, the truth will be known by all. Your presence has already been discovered. And that will be the end. The only way you could succeed is by staying hidden. And you will be hidden no more.”
“It will not be you who tells of my existence,” MASAL said coldly. “I have decided you are no longer useful to me.”
“Too late,” said Rome. “Aason has already told MINIMCOM and MINIMCOM will tell the world. Your day is over.”
“There is no Aason,” said MASAL. “You used your mind to create a phantom presence. It was all a fake.”
“Like me?” Rei said. “Like I did when you were in my mind?”
“No,” said MASAL. “You could not…” His voice faded out.
“You cannot have it both ways, buddy,” Rei said, smiling.
“Pick one.”
MASAL was certainly smart enough that he realized he had been duped. And I guess he'd had enough. He decided it was time to demonstrate to Rome and Rei the true power of the 24th chromosome.
Entry 4-104: April 9, 2016
The Living Robot 1
I've been holding out on this one for a long time. I always thought it was a really cool (and grueling) plot device when one of your heroes is forced to turn on another. It makes it especially poignant when those heroes love each other and are married to one another. So now we finally get to see the last remaining secret of the 24th chromosome:
While Rei was speaking, Rome turned and walked away, heading back the way they came.
“Where are you going?” Rei asked her.
“I do not know,” Rome said. “I do not feel right.”
“What’s the matter?” Rei inquired in English.
When she got about six meters away, Rome turned in place. She had a confused look on her face. She felt a twitching at her side. The twitching was her hand, tightening her grip on the handle of the pistol. Of its own accord, her arm raised up until it was pointing the weapon right at Rei.
“What are you doing?” Rei asked, taking one step back. “Why are you pointing that at me?”
“I cannot control my arm,” Rome said. “It is moving of its own volition.”
“What are you doing to her?” Rei shouted.
“The PPT transducers are bi-directional,” MASAL said in an emotionless voice. “They can be used to control muscles as needed. Heretofore I have not felt it was necessary to exploit this capability. However, since Rome was kind enough to open her connection for me to use, she made it particularly easy. I have determined that your actions require that you be terminated now. The two of you have conspired to interfere in my affairs for the last time. Despite the fact that she says she will not join me, it is only fitting that your demise comes from the hand of your wife.”