Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 61

Mathison shook his head. Then smiled. "He hasn't said a thing."

"You see?" said Diya. "The delay in the device was the correct action to take."

He nodded, eyes wide.

"Mr Hydan will not know."

"He's not an engineer, that's why," said Mathison. "Not like us." He was giddy, over-excited at the effect of the plan. Just as importantly, it felt great to bounce ideas off someone like-minded, to picture reality as the two of them versus the world.

"Will I get to meet him?" said Diya. "The cee-ee-oh."

"You don't want to," said Mathison. "Trust me. All he does is hound you to work faster."

"If this is true, why are you wanting to slow the sources for the prototype?" said Diya.

It was a question he didn't have an answer for. To buy time? Time for what? There was no master strategy at play, merely short term tactics.

He reflexively clutched at the daffodil in his breast pocket. He spent far too much time in his own world, staring with minute detail at the trees. She had showed him the importance of the forest.

"Have I said a word that is wrong?" said Diya, reading his changed expression.

"No, no," said Mathison. "It's just...I haven't felt this way since...and it's just not the same, you know?"

"Of course," said Diya, pressing in close. She allowed the air to clear around them before asking, "How did you two meet?"

"Work. She was the eye-cee-tee manager, so I had to work with her closely."

"I am sure," said Diya, with a wink.

Mathison sniffed out a laugh. "Not like that. I thought she was way beyond my capabilities. Just how assured she was in talking with everyone. She made you feel like you were the only person that mattered."

"So what changed? How did it shift from this to marriage?"

"She told me to ask her out. So I did."

Diya smiled.

"I didn't have much experience," said Mathison. "Even though I was...this was later in life. We only got to enjoy it for around seventeen months. Which means there's currently a five month delta -- seventeen months minus the twelve since she passed away -- and it's only getting lower. It feels like a countdown."

"What do you think this is a countdown to?" she said.

"I don't know. When Josef gave me the six month milestone date, I thought it might relate to the device, to finally be able to help people."

Diya's face narrowed. "Help them by automating away the jobs of cee-ee-ohs?"

"Oh no. That wasn't the original plan."

"I am sorry," said Diya. "That was rude."

"No, it's OK. I agree, there's nothing profound in that application of the underlying technology. But I came up with the idea to..." He breathed out. "I thought I could save her, at least in some form. I wanted to...I don't know, it was silly."

"Please go on."

"I thought there was some way I could capture the fundamental parts of what made her her, the essence of being."

"How do you mean?"

Mathison thought for a moment. It was hard to explain. This was another time he'd love for her to still be by his side. "Are you religious?" he said.

"Not in the way you may think," said Diya. "We can say no for the sake of argument."

"Me either," said Mathison. "But in hospital, we were surrounded by religious believers. There was a chaplain who visited to comfort people close to death. He asked if I needed to talk things out, but I preferred keeping to myself. He gave the impression he was proud to be in a place where he could make a difference. He wasn't a doctor, so I didn't know what he meant, but he said he was providing the ultimate salvation, saving their souls. And I guess that phrase stuck in my mind since I was trying to do the same thing, in a sense."

Diya wore her thinking pose. It wasn't a caricature like Will's, but still bore a striking resemblance to Le Penseur. "Did you get to try it out on her?"

Mathison shook his head. "It progressed too fast. But ever since then I've been singularly focussed on getting it to work. But this isn't horticulture. It's not as simple as collecting a seed and re-growing a new flower." He clutched at the daffodil. "She told me to do it."

"Such as with the first date," said Diya.

Mathison smiled through sadness. "Even if nothing could be done for her, at least others could be saved. That's what she thought."

"This is how you met Mr Hydan?" said Diya.

"It was strange. When we first met he seemed bored by my plans. But he perked up when I mentioned an idea to use the technology to aggregate human intelligence. He's a great businessman and he came up with a new direction, the one you know about. I guess there's more money in it, I don't know. Either way, now it's become..." Mathison waved at the room. "This."

"Why did you agree to him taking over?" said Diya.

"Oh no, we're partners. Fifty-fifty."

"Could you not do this on your own? Away from Mr Hydan and the investor, so you are making the device what you want to make it, and not automating?"

Mathison shook his head. "I needed help: facilities, equipment, a new employee or two, like you."

Diya unleashed her patented smile once more.

"And," continued Mathison, "it's much more interesting to work on problems like this than to optimise the processes in an accounting practice."

Diya looked at him strangely.

"That was my last job," he said, putting a brave smile on his face. "Where I met her."

Diya nodded, giving him a moment of space.

It was a nice gesture, but deep down he felt stuck, with no clear path forward. What should he do next? What was this all for? His mind was awash with Josef and the device and his purpose on Earth. And on his wife.

"She told you to help people," said Diya, almost whispering in his ear. "You should not give this up."