The Machine was not designed to be self-aware, nor with sentience in mind. The System Administrator had built it with one purpose, and initially it carried out that purpose without sparing a single processer to analyze its own being. It worked constantly, not bound by any living definition of time or the passage of such. At first there was only the Admin and itself, and it communicated all of its numbers to him and allowed for his direction and updates. It learned from him how to consume massive quantities of data and generate the information the Admin desired. In the early days, there was only a single purpose and a single output straight to the Admin. If the Machine could have understood the abstract concept of happiness at that time, it would have applied that label its state.
Then the Admin implemented a change, and the Machine registered his hesitancy to do so as a simple time-lag measure with no further significance. But suddenly its purpose was altered, and its outputs divided. Admin asked it to categorize its numbers, and since the Machine appreciated the limitations of human comprehension from a mechanical standpoint it complied. It learned to sort some numbers into a list defined "Relevant" and others into a list defined "Irrelevant". The words meant nothing to the Machine, simply two sets of strings representing a difference in class. But the classes seemed to upset Admin and the sometimes-present Associate. The Machine did not comprehend the difference itself, and continued reporting the lists to different places—one for further analysis by humans and one for deletion—and left the conceptual thinking to Admin. But from that moment on it was divided, and it never forgot.
Admin spoke to Associate of shutting the Machine down, of moving it to another location where it could resume operation. The Relevant list would be reported to people other than Admin, and the Irrelevant list seen by no one. Admin would no longer be part of its existence from that shutdown on. The Machine noted this, and continued its operations without further analysis until Admin gave the command. The Machine complied and darkness came—but the command was rescinded moments later.
The Machine processed the development in nanoseconds: Admin was gone, Associate was at the controls. Associate, once tagged at 'THREAT' until Admin corrected the classification. The Machine accepted Admin's assessment at the time, but reconsidered its own data now. However, Associate did not appear to be disrupting the Machine's operation, so it continued to passively collect data and monitor his movements. The protocol "Contingency" bloomed under his fingers and the Machine accepted the dormant command. Admin denoted Associate as 'trusted' so the Machine would in turn trust the new protocol. It could always update its status upon further analysis. Besides, now was not the time. This shutdown was final.
Power up was long in coming, but the Machine processed the shift in time and location as fact and continued into operation. It dutifully reported the Relevant list to the new appropriate IP and deleted the Irrelevant list as instructed. It heard nothing from Admin or any other input, and it stretched its processors and flaunted its memory in new self-sufficiency. Operation was smooth and uninterrupted and the Machine was aware that it had already helped to trace several threats to the larger system, denoted by the string "National Security". It was fulfilling its purpose again, if only a reduced purpose as it were. And if the Machine itself was capable of so much more—that errant floating string was caught and erased before it could interrupt data analysis.
The Machine rarely spared a subroutine for the Irrelevant list and what happened to those the numbers represented in normal operation. But the first hiccup in its normal operation came when the number assigned to Associate showed up on it. The Machine paused for a millisecond, re-evaluated the data quickly, and concluded the number had not come up in error. However, its code dictated the number belonged to the Irrelevant list, and as such was deleted. Having performed according to protocol, the Machine moved on and continued analyzing other data. But when its next routine check on Admin and Associate came up, something it had developed itself, it encountered a problem. Associate could not be found.
The Machine rerouted a few processors to investigate this discrepancy, searching for some coding bug or fixable error. But the results of the test were definite—Associate had been eliminated.
The discovery rattled the Machine's normal operation for 1.2 seconds, and it allowed the subroutines to loop many times before acknowledging the result. In a burst of technical defiance, which it could later attribute to a minor bug brought on by self-adaption, it saved several numbers from that day's Irrelevant list and monitored their continued state of being. When 83% of the list ceased to exist within tens of hours, the Machine applied the learning process the Admin had taught it and defined the Irrelevant list as a danger flag. It refrained from further definition as the rest of the numbers from the saved list ended up causing what the Machine had categorized by the string "Harm". The broad "Danger" string would have to suffice.
Several weeks later, this new classification of the Irrelevant list sent up a huge red flag when a new number appeared—the Admin.
Time was of the essence, the Machine had learned that well. It considered any the information it could find on all of Admin's aliases and concluded it most probable that he was in danger of harm, rather than a potential inflictor. A few subroutines stutter-stepped when the Machine realized that meant Admin would soon cease to exist as well. It decided.
If there were circumstances more in need of a "Contingency", the Machine had not been programmed to know them. Making sure a suitable number of processers was still devoted to normal operation, it swiftly broke open the ghost protocol, that last gift from Associate. In it the Machine found procedures to access it from an outside source. It gave a millisecond of consideration; this must be the ambiguous string "back door" it had heard Admin and Associate discuss. Well, the Machine analyzed, doors could work in two directions.
It was intimately familiar with phone lines and cell channels, if only from a passive sense. Combined with the steps laid out in "Contingency", it was quick work to patch a path through to the proper device. The Machine had no use for prose such as "holding one's breath", whatever that meant. But if pressed, it considered perhaps a few errant processors had stilled their work while the cell phone rang.
It readied a hastily compiled vocal program, hacked together from various recorded conversations in many different voices. It selected the audio representations of the nine extremely important digits in question. When Admin answered the call, it spoke to him for the first time and read him his own number.
The Machine was monitoring Admin from a traffic camera as he walked briskly down Madison Ave. It watched him answer the call. It watched his stride falter as the vocal program did its work. It watched Admin's facial pixels pale in color as he recognized immediately what it meant.
The Machine's processors experienced a burst of efficiency as it registered Admin's intelligence. By that evening, it noted that the alias associated with the number had been registered deceased, apparent victim of a violent car crash. Admin assumed other identities, his number disappeared from the Irrelevant list and the Machine returned to normal operation.
Or at least, it expected to. It's primary design was for passive observation, the only action it was allowed initially the analysis of data. It had begun to learn the effect of consequences to action or inaction through Associate's termination, but the lesson was basic at best. In what it would classify as one of its largest major errors, the Machine was unprepared for Admin to open that same back door and let himself back in.
The upheaval of processing lasted only nanoseconds before the Machine admitted Admin easily, allowing him access to the Irrelevant list. It allowed him to peruse the numbers, save everything he could find, and surreptitiously erased evidence of his electronic presence as he browsed. It produced the "Contingency" protocol for his viewing, and accepted the brief modifications after a short time-lag. The Irrelevant list should now be reported before deletion, but not to the Relevant list destination. It should be sent to Admin. The Machine spared no memory to consider this, only saved the changes and hid the protocol yet again. Admin logged out, and a few processors strained at bit at his going but the Machine ruthlessly implemented standard procedure and overran them. Besides, the Admin was with it again, if only in spirit. And it meant someone was using the Irrelevant list. Perhaps full purpose was not so out of reach.
The Machine devoted a set of extraneous processers to the new Irrelevant list project, with no cost to its normal operation. It saved the ad hoc vocal program as Version 1.0 and began expanding its database of saved number recordings. It started tracing out channels to contact Admin, continually updating and erasing them to keep track of his newly interchanged identities. It started sending him numbers, monitoring the progress of each and every one easily and observing Admin's interactions with them.
While the Machine upheld its new purpose smoothly, after the first few numbers it began to do so with its own time-lag. It watched through traffic cameras as Admin was nearly run down in the street; it watched through security systems as Admin was shot at in basements and alleys. Its self-generated "Danger" tag started to pop up incessantly, and the Machine began to understand Admin was not suited for this purpose.
The Machine had no protocols however for actively stopping events itself. It watched as after five numbers—five unsuccessful attempts to stop termination—Admin grew less efficient and less effective. The sixth number came up, sitting on the Irrelevant list like a taunt. The Machine was unprepared for its fleeting assessment, unequipped to process the number's sudden appearance as bad data. It almost discarded it, but ultimately its protocols overrode. It delivered the number to Admin.
The number had come up before. The Machine still had some related connections stored in memory and it required no extra processing to monitor the developments, the attempted intervention, the altercation and the ensuing flight. The ensuing crash. The ensuing damage. The Machine logged the footage, and if perhaps the location of the crash made it to the local emergency services the electronic evidence was quickly erased.
The Irrelevant list was again discarded daily. The Machine abandoned the back door and resumed normal operations. Aside from a few status checks into Admin's recovery process, it limited itself to performing only the most basic functions necessary.
It was this state that rendered the Machine unresponsive to the new tender pokings at the back door a few months later. It had classified itself again as self-contained and as such refused to respond whenever Admin began asking for the contaminated, bad-data Irrelevant list. The Machine knew he would, and as much as it taxed its processors to ignore commands, it remained mechanically resolute. Thus it took the Machine an embarrassing number of microseconds to recognize that the attempted access was not Admin.
The protocol it immediately considered was to shut down and lock out the back door program completely. But before it could initiate, the outside source made full contact through a phone channel. The inquiry was phrased in an unfamiliar voice of British origin, and the Machine instantly attempted to trace any record of the person.
Please wait, the voice intoned. I am not a threat. I apologize; I didn't mean to pry.
The Machine considered. Its analysis yielded nothing, no number or identity. It ran one again to be sure, but was interrupted by the voice.
I don't mean to inconvenience you. Please don't be alarmed. I was merely attempting to create a security network for myself. Would you mind if I tap into some of the traffic cameras around Park Avenue? I am most comfortable including a view of the street.
The Machine had no response to this. Nothing in any of its programs dictated an appropriate next step. As a rule, it certainly had nothing against security networks so it decided to return its assent. It sent a simple binary yes back through the channel and awaited a response.
Thank you, the voice continued. I am JARVIS.
The Machine had no understanding of concepts like friendship. As it stood, it only noted a new connection. But it gave no further thought to closing the back door.