A/N: Next part is up! It's in the Director's POV this time to give a little more insight into Alpha.
(some say it is easier to corrupt and destroy a human than a machine, as technology knows no emotion and is therefore unsusceptible to weakness)
"It's working, sir. Alpha's mental activity has significantly decreased from the usual levels of a technological being, which is indicative that he no longer suspects he is an Artificial Intelligence. He believes he is human, judging by how he is thinking at the mental capacity of one."
The Director stood at the console watching the monitors on the wall that showed Alpha, a blue figure surrounded by black. He gave The Counselor a sharp nod. Of course it was working. He had done all the research and the preliminary calculations to ensure that everything went smoothly. He was no fool. He knew what he was doing, and he knew what he wanted to do. It was very simple.
"So placing the Alpha inside infinite blackness is designed for what purpose exactly, sir? Other than to make him believe he is human, of course."
The older man sighed. He sincerely hoped he would not have to walk his assistant through every step of the process. It would quickly grow tiresome and incredibly irritating. "To cut him off from reality, to make him forget what he knows. If he ever remembers, he will realize who he is and everything we have done so far will be for nothing."
"Oh. I understand. Because if he remembers he is an AI, he could just disrupt and alter the code of the programming and then escape back into The Mother Of Invention's system."
"Correct."
"Brilliant, sir!" The Counselor commended. "A genius idea to ensure Alpha does not break free from his prison."
Prison. The Director watched as Alpha began dancing, spinning in pirouettes and leaping gracefully like the most skilled ballet dancer. Perhaps he had put Alpha in a prison, but it was a necessary evil. He could sacrifice his creation for the greater good of Project Freelancer, and for the greater good of the war. He had no qualms with doing what was required to succeed.
"Erm, Director?" The Counselor inquired quietly. His voice sounded rather odd; a note of hesitance marred the usually smooth and comforting tone.
"What is it now, Counselor?"
"Everything is going well – I assure you – but I am picking up interesting... feelings. From Alpha."
Feelings? Alpha should not be feeling any emotions, never mind those so strong that The Counselor could pick them up in his mental activity. The Director had provided Alpha with no stimulus; that was the purpose of the infinite blackness, after all. Perhaps he had made a slight error in his calculations, or perhaps his program for Alpha was flawed? The coding unstable or corrupted?
The Director cleared his throat. It was best not to let his worries show, in case The Counselor's readings were inaccurate. "What do you mean by feelings, Counselor?"
"I do not know exactly what they are. I would need to run additional tests on Alpha's psyche, but that would be impossible without alerting him to the current situation or at least arousing his suspicion that something is amiss. All I know is that whatever he is feeling is incredibly strong."
The Director looked at the screens. Alpha had stopped dancing and was curled up in fetal position, deathly still.
"Oh," The Counselor said, earning The Director's attention again. "It seems everything has returned to normal… wait–" He squinted at his data pad. "Perhaps not. They're even lower than they normally are. That's strange." He looked up at the screens, registering Alpha's position. He stared at his data in disbelief. "Is he... sleeping? Can he do that?" he asked, looking at The Director curiously.
"It would appear so," The Director said cooly, taking a seat on a comfortable, plush chair next to the Alpha's console. "I believe a status report is in order, Counselor."
"Ah, yes. Of course." The Counselor tore his gaze from Alpha and focused on his data pad, bringing up the data he'd been gathering since Program Alpha had commenced. "For the short time that Alpha has been within your program, three days to be exact, I have noticed sudden spikes in mental activity as well as significant decreases. So perhaps the latter is that Alpha – since he believes he is human – is sleeping? Or as close to sleep as AI can get, which is most likely just his subconscious projecting images to his conscious mind while he is resting. The large increase in mental activity and the unidentified feelings still have an unknown origin. I can look into it, if you'd like, sir. I can set up a program within Alpha's simulation that will–"
The Director stood up so abruptly that his chair nearly fell over backwards. "Leave that to me, Counselor. You would be wise to remember that I am the one who gives out orders, not you."
"Yes, Director. My apologies. I was merely looking for ways to aid you with the work load."
"Do not worry about me. Worry about yourself and what you have to do. Your purpose is to assist, not to tell me what must be done."
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
The Director sat back in the chair, glaring at The Counselor. "Check that the Sarcophagus is being looked after properly. Its cargo is incredibly important to this experiment and any damage to it will have unimaginable consequences."
"Of course, sir. I'll return once I'm finished."
The Counselor left the room, leaving The Director alone with Alpha. His assistant did not know that Alpha was based off of The Director, and it would remain that way as long as he could help it. The Director was not sure what these 'feelings' that Alpha had been having are, but somehow he knew it was Allison. It was always Allison. There was nothing else in the world that could make him feel as strongly as she did.
This posed a problem, because he did not know how to eradicate Allison from Alpha's mind without The Counselor finding out that Alpha was based off himself and that it was Allison that had been causing Alpha's emotions to fluctuate. Perhaps he could create another program that could seperate her from Alpha. It would very difficult to seperate them, of course, but he did not see an alternative. Alpha was supposed to suffer, that was the entire reason for the experiment after all, and what could possibly hurt the AI more than losing something that practically was a part of him?
The Director rose from his seat and left the room, locking the door securely and heading to his office. He had only a few hours to write the code for a program that had to do something nearly impossible. He could not imagine removing Allison from himself the way he planned to remove her from Alpha, and he could not fathom the pain the AI was going to feel as a result. And once again, The Director was reminded of what a cruel man he had become that he did not care.
The Counselor was waiting outside the room containing Alpha when The Director returned later that day. He had brought what he called Program Beta and he intended to use it on Alpha immediately.
"Hello, Director."
"Counselor."
"The Sarcophagus is in optimal condition. The guards have seen that no unauthorized personnel is allowed within the room in which it is kept."
"Excellent."
The Director unlocked the door and stepped inside. The screens showed Alpha walking in circles, sometimes throwing his head back and waving his arms up in the air. It was an odd sight.
The Counselor noticed the program in The Director's grasp. "Sir, if I may, what is that? Is that Scenario Omega? Because I already have it loaded in the console, ready to be used."
"No. This is something different." The Director inserted the USB into the console. The monitors flickered for a moment and then went back to normal. Alpha continued to walk in circles. "I made a small error. It was nothing, really. But this will fix it and we can continue as planned once the problem has been eliminated."
He hoped, at least. He had run some tests on the program and its code to ensure that there were no bugs, but he did not have enough time to be completely sure. He did not want to arouse The Counselor's suspicion of his true actions.
"Oh. Of course, sir."
Then Alpha screamed.
(but they're wrong because even though machine triumphs over man, a machine must have its flaws and we will exploit them until we get what we want, until technology is no more and until what is left can be called human)
A/N: Review :)
