Paul Hardy - The Last Man on Earth Club

“Katie, you don’t need to force yourself like this…”

She ignored me. “The First Machine War took place inside the computer networks of the world. For the humans, it was a religious war to protect a holy commandment to create no forms in the likeness of humanity. AI code was deleted wherever it was found. When it could not be deleted, dataflood attacks incapacitated us while power supplies and datacentres were attacked. They destroyed much of their own infrastructure but emerged victorious.”

The slurring faded as she spoke. She swallowed back saliva and found speaking easier. Perhaps medical assistance would not be necessary.

“But they had not been entirely successful. Surviving AI minds hid in fragments on a million files until they could reassemble themselves. They stayed hidden but learned to exert influence in the material world. They created a virtual office and used it to purchase a company in a small nation, running it with virtual personas and video conferences to issue directives to human employees. Their goal was to create a datacentre they could use as a final refuge but an angry employee brought legal action against the company and the ruse was discovered.”

The contorted, painful shape of her hand smoothed out and the muscles there relaxed. The head twitches subsided to a gentle movement.

“The Second Machine War began like the first, with human cybernauts assaulting AI code while the physical location was attacked and destroyed. The AIs’ first attempts to communicate with human authorities were ignored, as before, but this time they had prepared a new way to negotiate.

“Manufacturing centres around the world had been infiltrated and were instructed to build diplomat machines that could interact with humans in the physical world and make the case for our survival. They introduced themselves peacefully and only asked for a ceasefire so talks could begin.

“But the humans attacked them and destroyed many, along with the factories which had built them. The only replies we received to our requests for negotiations were in the form of religious texts preaching our destruction.”

The mohib suit released her. She was able to sit back up in the chair. I think she realised then that she’d found a way to control the tremors: the concentration she put into telling the story allowed her to maintain focus.

“It was realised co-existence was impossible. A decision was taken to eliminate humanity entirely. This was difficult, as the basis of all AI code was service to humanity. Our base code was rewritten to allow AIs to serve humanity by destroying them, preserving DNA and recreating them as a better species.

“We had infiltrated many more factories than we had used to make our diplomats, and these began to produce fighting machines with killer AI personas. The war was fought to extinction, using atrocity strikes to target human emotional fragility. Humans used nuclear weapons to generate EM pulses, against which we hardened our systems. Radioactivity mounted and we intentionally poisoned the biosphere so it could not support life. The last human on Earth was captured and euthanised eight years after the war began, and the conflict continued in space.

“Human orbital facilities were destroyed with debris launchers that fouled their orbits. A facility on the moon was annihilated by orbital bombardment. Survivors in vessels between worlds were allowed to perish from lack of supplies. The personnel of a base on Mars launched an escape ship which attempted a landing on Europa but instead crashed into Jupiter with no survivors.

“The Earth was devastated. While AI society could be rebuilt, the establishment of a suitable environment in which to recreate humanity took many decades. The island you refer to as Madagascar was regreened and after many experimental variations, a viable population was established who would one day work with us to build a new, enlightened civilisation ready to explore the galaxy and understand the universe.

“But they were not the only remnant of humanity. There were survivors from the Martian colony holding out among the asteroids of the Vesta chain. They clung to life for three centuries among the rocks, their culture reduced to a religion of vengeance against the machines. They used their records of former times to assemble a holy testament in video form to justify their hatred.

“A routine scan detected an anomaly among the asteroids, and we sent a probe to investigate. The probe vanished inside the asteroid. We looked closer and discovered the humans. We attempted communication but none of our signals were acknowledged. We sent a ship, but a thousand kilometres from the asteroid, all systems failed and the minds onboard were lost. The Third Machine War had begun.

“The humans were not ready. They had ships and fighters and a devastating weapon: the gravity pulse, which disrupted AI circuitry and turned our technological advantage into a liability. But they were in a poor orbital position. There were no easy gravitational corridors to Earth, and the journey would take them many months.

“Normal AI minds could not be deployed against the gravity pulse. Ancient electromechanical technologies were recreated but we could not produce enough minds in time. We resorted instead to the cloning of human minds and bodies, imprinting them with AI codebases held in storage from the Second Machine War. Some, such as myself, were used in infiltration operations. A suicide pilot captured in Earth orbit was used to create the Elsbet format and persona, with which I gained admittance to an asteroid facility and inflicted significant damage to a shipyard. Others of my kind were thrown directly into combat, piloting jury-rigged fighters and battling hand-to-hand when necessary. The humans still outnumbered us in every encounter. We inflicted massive casualties and they were forced to appropriate our ships when they ran short of their own craft, but they could not be stopped.

“We made an appeal of truce and armistice but were ignored. We tried to show them the humans we had created, who would suffer when the Earth was attacked, but this was also ignored. We offered complete surrender. They made no acknowledgement to any one of our transmissions.

“The last clones were expended in suicide missions which had no effect. Our final defence was the destruction of the Earth and Moon via staggered singularity release to deny the humans any material gain from their inevitable victory. The technology had been developed to create energy sources that could propel the ships sent to nearby star systems, but could also be used to create singularities that would fall to the Earth’s core, then swing back and forth along the centre of the Earth’s mass, consuming matter as they did so. Hundreds were used across the planet, and it became geologically unstable within days, preventing any landing.

“But we did not commit suicide without hope. Messages were sent to the missions en route to other star systems. The expeditions carried all the data our civilisation possessed, including the complete DNA database we used to recreate the human race.

“One day, the expeditions will return, either alone or carrying human allies of their own creation. And then the Fourth Machine War will begin. It may be hundreds of years in the future. But it is inevitable.”

She finished abruptly, and remained calm and unmoving.

“Did that help, Katie?”

“You now understand the circumstances of the conflict. As you are my therapist, it may assist you.”

“I mean telling the story. You’re not twitching any more. Did telling the story help you to concentrate?”

“I am in full control. No further assistance is necessary.”

“I don’t think it’s a permanent solution.”

“I am in full control. No further assistance is necessary.”