DW SUBDIVISION

Chapter 3

After shoving a pile of credit chips in the goggled man's hand, she made her way down to the sky train. Her neural net at the base of her brain was compatible with the odd network settings and she'd received the encrypted address while still in space. She followed the guide signal projected in her mind like virtual reality, perfectly superimposed over her vision.

Leaving the spaceport, the city closed around her. Each street and alley was a tight knot of interconnected passages. Traffic was light, with people going about their business, but no commerce, only more buildings stacked one on top of another.

She knew the people were Marangetti and she drew long stares as an outsider. She could feel their judgment like ringing in her ears, but she had nothing to hide. Technology and Social purity were not mutually exclusive in her mind, just two sides of the same coin that had split society into different factions. She kept her head up, slipping through a keyhole passage which emerged onto the skytrain platform.

No one was there to greet her, why would they be? Marangetti were human descendant from Earth but they considered themselves their own race of people and they were different. She stood on the platform looking down to the sea of yellow death below. The skytrain hung down below the stilted city, running from one platform to the next. Light reflected off the planet's surface and warmed her skin. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, tuning in to those around her. She could feel the difference in the underlying social structure. The Marangetti had sealed off their borders, as if that were possible in open space, and evolved along different genetic time lines. They carefully weeded out the evil, selfish core of human nature.

"If you changed your clothes and acted indifferent, you would blend in nicely," said a voice from behind. She jumped inside, but her body remained unmoved. Normally she would have known if someone snuck up behind her, but he was smooth.

"Pretend you don't care, like this." She felt a wall go up, then his demeanor changed and he seemed to disappear. Not physically, but on a different level. Spiritually and emotionally, he was just another figure standing there in his muted orange trench coat. It was well worn but fashionable, with gold gilding along the edges and around each seam. The collar was high, protecting the back of his neck from the elements. She knew he was a native by the mask he wore. It had diagonal slits for eyes and mouth, with vents laced along the ears that moved when he breathed.

She ran her eyes down the fine row of buttons to a fat tool belt with two blasters and a large satchel hanging at his side. It flared out at the bottom like a dress, covering coarse combat style boots. He had a quantum rifle slung over his shoulder which was rare because Marangetti were peaceful.

"It's for protection against natural predators," he whispered through the grate.

She put up her own wall and shut him out of her mind, imagining she was just another soul living in obscurity. He probed her with his mind, but she held no judgment.

"Excellent, you are a quick learner. My name is Tammar. Come, we won't be taking the train today." She followed to the end of the platform where a speeder sat unnoticed until now. Dark yellow wisps of dust sifted from the seams of his coat as he walked and the bike looked like it came from the scrap yard.

He swung his leg over and tossed her a helmet. Are you considering the test of enlightenment, Pon-shea? He was in her mind now, communicating telepathically.

I conform to no one, she opened her own mind and showed him what she had endured. It was more efficient than using her neural net through Dark Matter and he could feel the emotions.

This was my test.

She was gathered around a candle lit table, laughing with close friends who had taken her under their wing. She fell asleep and unimaginable evil entered the room. A knife flashed in the secluded light and blood flowed red across the floor. It was the first murder in a thousand years and they were her friends.

You know I was the Princess of Popular Opinion. I ruled seventy trillion souls without a thought, because they elected me to be their leader. But I found friendship here.

"Enough small talk," he wilted under her self righteousness. "We have business to attend and I see you have been enlightened."

She put on the helmet which wrapped around her face. They shot out over open air, then straight down to yellow ochre death. But there was one thing she realized, that living here with the Marangetti had taken its toll. Whether she liked it or not, she was becoming one of them.

Once underground, they threaded their way down corridors and deeper into the planet's crust. Tammar droned on about the new random access sintered brain technology he had developed.

"The ceramic brain lobe is placed on the firing stand, where it will receive a billion volt lightning strike. Millions of synaptic pathways are formed for the nano-biotic fluid to flow and create conscious thoughts. As you probably know this is where unique personalities are created in the base brain. It's the cornerstone of all AI development. The difference in mine is a new base brain structure with evolving synaptic channels. Not only does the normal programming modify itself, but now the brain itself can adapt and grow according to real life stimuli. New channels form and grow, while old ones die and are recycled. It blends nicely with the social structure of Marangetti culture."

They're all a bunch of tight wad environmentalists, she thought. She should have been impressed, but she was relational. "How does it affect their personality?"

"It's quite remarkable," Tammar continued. "The adaptation rate is continuous and they have long term growth interaction with their masters. The implications are far reaching to say the least."

"But will they evolve past the Three Laws of Robotics and learn to break free of their owners?" She asked curiously.

"That is superstition rooted in fear. If there is a conflict, the unit would destroy itself."

She wasn't convinced. "Don't you think self awareness would allow a bot to modify its own neural pathways as it sees fit?"

"Nonsense, it's autonomous from social stimuli. It's very design is evolutionary, causing tiny shifts over time."