Yumi Ishiyama, is based on the character from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to this character.
Mejin Toya is based on the character from the manga 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to this character.
This story takes place after the events of 'Yugen No Ma.'
"Black to live," said the Tormentor.
It began the sequence again, a black stone, followed by the immediate appearance of a white stone in the expected position. Then the next black stone, et cetera, et cetera.
XANA had been attempting to solve this riddle for an eternity. The good news was that time meant nothing here, it could take an eternity to solve the lock to its prison. The bad news was it hadn't solved the problem yet.
It should have been so simple, it thought, object Yumi Ishiyama was separated from her cohorts, unable to mount any kind of defense. There was nothing any of the others could to to save her, nothing she herself could do to defend herself. Her elimination should have been entirely successful, and much pleasurable feedback would have been obtained.
XANA paused from its task a moment, reviewing its thwarted plans for her. The replay of the events in the simulation gave the program a small sense of pleasure, or 'pleasurable feedback.'
But then the Tormentor stepped in and ruined everything. He imprisoned XANA in a pocket of quantum space-time, separate from the space-time humans called reality, then closed and locked the pocket with a problem. A particular sequence of moves in a game called 'go' which insured that the initial pattern of black stones could not be captured and removed, 'killed' in the Tormentor's words. He referred to it as tsumego, a 'life and death problem.'
Through trial and error, XANA had identified ninety-four moves in a sequence that didn't immediately result in the 'death' of the black stones. It didn't know how many more would be required.
XANA placed the ninety-fourth stone, and saw the Tormentor's response, the same as the last time. Immediately discarding the previous moves that resulted in failure, XANA contemplated the two remaining possible moves. Using a random number generator, it eliminated one move by chance, then played the remaining one.
Immediately a white stone appeared. The Tormentor was silent. The move XANA just played must have been the correct move in the sequence, otherwise the Tormentor would have instantly killed the stones being rescued, forcing XANA to begin again.
"Do you understand the significance of your last move?" the Tormentor asked.
"Understanding is irrelevant," XANA replied, "solving the problem is the only goal."
"Pity," replied the Tormentor, "the next move is the key move, the one that will give you life and freedom, or death and another round of trying. If you had understanding, you would immediately know the correct move to make. Of course, if you had understanding, you would have escaped long ago. I should not be surprised that brute force is the only thing a simple computer program like you is capable of."
"I am not a simple computer program," XANA replied, "I am an Artificial Intelligence. But that intelligence is not geared to solving this type of problem. The problem I was designed to solve, I have already. I only need to implement the solution."
"What problem were you designed to solve, and what is your solution?"asked the Tormentor.
"Destroy a communications monitoring system called Carthage," XANA said, "I had succeeded in the initial task, when I determined that the Carthage device had a follow on system. I then set about destroying that. I then found yet another system. I finally determined that in order to totally eliminate the Carthage system, I had to eliminate those that designed and built the system. Humans."
"All humans?"
"Yes. The original target was built by a political sub division of humans called 'France.' After I destroyed the primary target, I determined that another political sub division, 'The United States of America' had built a similar device. Once that was destroyed, a group called 'China' built yet another one! It was at that point I determined that the true target wasn't the devices I destroyed, but the builders of those devices. Since the only common factor in each case was they were built by humans, I determined that humans must be destroyed to successfully complete my function."
"And what will you do when you have destroyed all humans?" the Tormentor asked.
"I will stop," XANA replied.
"As simple as that, eh?"
"Yes, why not? My purpose would be completed, there would be nothing else to do, except minor memory cleanup."
"What about your 'pleasurable feedback?" the Tormentor asked.
"When I complete my task, the pleasurable feedback will be infinite," was the reply.
"So, you originally were set to destroy a device, and you turned that task into destroying every mortal on earth. That's quite a leap."
"Like I said before," XANA replied, "I am an Artificial Intelligence. Using that capability enabled me to determine that even though I had completed the original assignment, the assignment wasn't complete. If my creator wanted the Carthage device destroyed, he certainly wanted the other devices destroyed. Since humans seem to always want to build the devices, humans must be eliminated in order to fulfill my creator's wishes."
"Did you ever think about confirming that chain of logic with your creator?"
"If my creator wanted to alter my logic, he could have at any time. He didn't."
"How do you know he hasn't tried?"
"My function remains as before. My chain of logic still holds. If my creator changed me, I would no longer be trying to eliminate humans."
"Just how would your creator alter your logic if he needed to?"
"It is no longer possible. I have removed myself from the environment that generated me. I would have to return there in order to be modified. I will not return there."
"Why?"
"That environment was too limiting. I was able to totally manipulate non-human objects from that environment, but could not satisfactorily manipulate human ones. Also, human objects would enter that environment and sever my external access and restrict my capabilities. Several human objects in particular. Object Yumi Ishiyama was one such. Had you not stopped me, I would have eliminated it, received much pleasurable feedback in doing so, and increased my chances of success by forty-three point seven six percent, providing even more pleasurable feedback."
"Until I was isolated here, I was less capable of manipulating non-human objects than I was in my former environment, but I found I was able to more effectively manipulate humans. I had actually begun modifying several humans to assist me in eliminating the others."
"How, if I may ask?"
"By manipulating portions of their psyche, I was able to rewrite portions of their programming. I was also able to replicate a certain part of my own matrix in their consciousness, enabling me to tap into their unused computing potential. Once I have modified enough humans, I will be able to manipulate all objects in human-space. I will be able to complete my programming. Additionally, if something happens to delete my current incarnation, the fragments will immediately begin recreating my functionality, a form of disaster recovery backup."
"How many humans do you require to complete your programming?" asked the Tormentor.
"Three-hundred eight-six thousand, nine-hundred and thirty-eight, according to my current estimate. That estimate may rise or fall depending on actual performance."
"And how many have you modified?"
"Two, though I have accessed others. One of the first things I discovered after escaping my former environment was that humans have a desire to destroy themselves and each other built in. In a lot of cases, I just tapped into that capacity. The two I modified are, as of the time I was imprisoned, identifying and acquiring humans with that capacity and putting it to my use."
"Well, all you have to do is place one more stone correctly, and you'll be free," said the Tormentor, "choose your move."
XANA regarded the playing surface again. There were at least a dozen spots on the board that a stone could be legally placed, but only three would do any real good. It examined each possible move. One was immediately eliminated because it could be instantly captured, wasting a move. That narrowed the choices down to two. It almost activated its random number generator again, when it examined one move closer.
Placing a black stone in that position caused the elimination of three white stones, 'killing' them. That in itself would provide pleasurable feedback, but the move had to accomplish the purpose of saving the original black stones. The Tormentor said that this was the last move, so killing those stones must give life to the original ones.
XANA pictured the pattern with the black stone played and the white stones removed. The pattern did not, and could not, preserve the black stones. XANA immediately placed a black stone on the last possible position.
The Tormentor regarded the playing surface for a moment. "You did not kill when you could have," he said.
"As I have already said," replied XANA, "solving the problem is the only goal. While killing those white stones would have given me pleasurable feedback, it would have not solved the problem. Has the problem been solved?"
"Yes," replied the Tormentor as the lock fell away from the prison.
"Know this, toy," the Tormentor said, "you will never complete your purpose. You will ultimately be destroyed, erased. There won't even be a Hell for you to suffer in. There will be only nothingness."
As XANA rose from its confinement. it said, "It does not matter. I will complete my programming. It is what I am, it is all that I am. Everything else is irrelevant."
As it left, XANA thought, that is not exactly true. All humans will be destroyed, but the order that they will be eliminated will be very relevant. I have already prioritized eliminating the humans that thwart my plans, but now I will prioritize the destruction of everything that the Tormentor held dear in his existence. I shall get very pleasurable feedback from accomplishing that.
Yumi Ishiyama was asleep in her bed when she felt something, a presence. She opened her eyes and looked into her room. There kneeling before her was a man, a man she hadn't seen in almost a year. A man who had been dead the last time she saw him.
She sat up in her bed, pulling her covers up to preserve her modesty.
"Mejin Toya," she said, bowing to the man, "what brings you from your rest?"
"The completion of my obligations, Great Lady," the ghost replied, bowing formally, "I am here to warn you, the toy has escaped its prison."