Leaders (Dystopia, Part 3)
What happened so far:
One day, Tristan, who lives in a small community that hides in the desert, came home to find his home overrun by androids who claimed to have overthrown the government. They offered Tristan and his people a choice: Help them overthrow the other government that’s left or die. Trying to protect his sick sister Joy, Tristan chose to sign up as one of the soldiers in a war he didn’t believe in.
A gun wasn’t something Tristan thought people should use. In a world where humanity is already dying, nobody should accelerate that process. And yet, he was standing there, aiming at a bottle about a hundred meters away.
”I can’t do this”, he told the android standing next to him. It wasn’t Erin, the leader, but one of the other models without a truly free will. That didn’t change anything about the situation though.
”You’re physically capable of firing this weapon”, the android replied with a slight confusion in its voice. ”Please tell me, why aren’t you able to shoot the target?” Tristan sighed.
”Ah, forget it.” He put the gun down, ignoring the android’s protest.
It was already noon and the relentless sun was burning down on him. He had expected the city to be cooler than the empty desert but that had been wrong. It felt almost hotter. Maybe it was the asphalt on the streets, maybe the lack of trees. Or maybe just the overall situation that made him more sensitive. @suesa
Whatever it was, Tristan didn’t like it. He wanted to go home.
”Hey, where are you going?” A different android had suddenly appeared in front of Tristan and now blocked his way. ”According to the schedule, you should be at gun training right now. Who’s your designated AIOA?”
”Uhm … I think it called itself Challenger.”
”I guess I need to have a talk with Chall to be stricter with the new recruits. Please accompany me back to your station.” The android turned around, obviously expecting Tristan to follow. He didn’t move a centimeter.
”No.”
The android stopped.
”No? What do you mean, no? You volunteered for this mission, now you have to follow through with it.”
”I didn’t volunteer, I was volunteered. I didn’t really have a choice. I don’t believe in your cause and I don’t understand why we need to topple a government half a world away. The government on this continent is gone, can’t you just celebrate that? Why kill more people? Why endanger all those innocents?”
”Come with me. I’ll bring you to Erin.” This time, the android grabbed Tristan’s wrist to make sure he didn’t refuse again. The strong grip threatened to break his wrist, so Tristan followed with a frown. He felt like a little child, being dragged along by his annoyed mother.
”Erin, I think this one has leadership potential”, the android said when they reached Erin. Tristan was confused. Leadership potential? What?
Erin turned around to face them and a small smile flickered across their face when they recognized Tristan.
”Doesn’t surprise me. So, he asked the hard questions?”
”Even refused gun training.”
”I see. Thank you, you can leave us now.” Finally, the android released Tristan from its grip, nodded towards Erin and left them alone.
”Sit”, Erin said moved a little to the side on the bench they were sitting on. Tristan hesitated for a moment but then followed the invitation.
”You’re probably wondering why the refusal to fire a gun brought you here”, Erin said. ”To understand this, you need to know a bit more about me. Do you know what an AIOA is supposed to be?”
”They’re soldiers. They’re supposed to control the masses”, Tristan replied but already knew it wasn’t the truth. Sure, it was what he had been told but … it wasn’t how Erin behaved.
Erin smiled.
”That’s what I expected. And yes, that was one purpose. A sad one. But the original creator of the androids, my mother Caroline, she had a different vision when she created me. I was the first, you know? The first actual artificial intelligence. Able to think for myself.”
The first AI? Erin had to be really old!
”Caroline wanted to create something better than humans and she thought she succeeded when she created me. I’m not sure if she did. She sent me away, so others wouldn’t be able to implement free will into androids. Because with free will comes the ability to kill and she didn’t want that.”
”Wait a moment. You’re not able to kill?” Erin shook their head. ”But everybody thinks you can!”
”Well, what good is an army of androids if everyone knows they can’t be killed by them? Of course, the government wanted you to believe you could be killed by them any moment now. Fear is a great tool to control the masses. But there was never a real threat.”
”So you’re the only android that can kill. That’s why you need humans to fight your war?”
”Exactly.”
”But how did you get rid of the government here?”
Erin didn’t answer immediately but instead stared down at their empty hands. Tristan thought he could see shame and pain in the android’s eyes.
”I was the one who got rid of the government. By myself. And then I collected the AIOAs to follow me and recruit humans to help us. The other humans don’t know that they can’t be harmed by the androids. You’re the only one.”
”Why? Why are you telling me all this?”
”Because I believe that you want the best for humanity too. You don’t like reckless killing, but you understand that protecting those you love is the most important thing. I want you to be the leader of the humans.”
”I can’t. I don’t think we should invade a different country and replace the government there. They’re no threat to us!”
”Oh Tristan. They are a threat to us. The moment word gets out that the government over here has been overthrown, they will try to invade. They too need room to grow, want to expand their power. It’s in their program.”
”Their program? I don’t think I understand. As far as I know, they don’t have any androids.”
”No androids, no. But they’re ruled by an AI. In a way, it’s exactly the opposite of what had happened here. Instead of the government using artificial intelligence as a tool to serve humans, the government is an AI that relies on humans as a resource.”
Tristan still didn’t understand, but a deep feeling of fear had begun to spread through his whole body. A cold darkness of what the future might bring.
”And now you want to destroy that AI, did I understand that right?”
”Yes.”
”And then?”
”We will work on a society where humans and androids can live together in peace. It won’t be easy but I want it to work.”
Slowly, Tristan nodded.
"I’ll be your human leader. As long as I can justify what we’re doing at least.”
Picture taken from pixabay.com
Today’s Suesa’s favorite is: @gaelle.spaas
You crave beautiful photography? @gaelle.spaas can provide it! Check out the beautiful portraits of Sara Scarlet and Elizabeth Shuhlin. Or would you prefer a lady in red? Or rather something darker? Let your soul enjoy some beauty.
Got a scientific topic which you want to see as a story? Leave me a comment!
You want to support scientists on Steemit? You are a scientist on Steemit? Join the #steemSTEM channel on steemit.chat and connect with us!
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
thats some great writing you have @suesa.
Wow, in a world like this there is still a Challenger.... a name also historically derived from soldiers for the king... still doing something similar. I'm loving this story. Thanks to you, for the welcome distraction from real life.
Thanks. Interesting story, though I can't help thinking that getting an AI to restrain from killing is by far the more difficult task. Any machine can target and shoot, it takes real intelligence to value something and give it a sacred meaning. @OriginalWorks.
Resteemed, followed. Nick
Absolutely. But this story is a follow up to "AIOA". In there, it was established that an android who doesn't have to follow the laws of robotics always went on a rampage and killed everyone - except for Erin. Erin has free will and doesn't follow the laws of robotics because their creator, Caroline, was the most skilled scientist in the field before she died.
But thanks for pointing out plot holes 😁 I usually try to fix them in the upcoming parts, but this one has already been fixed :)
Good old Asimov, he was really on to something with his three laws of robotics. Obviously I need to read the previous parts.
Part one of this story has an explanation how everything is connected and contains links to everything. It's a bit messy because I really need to do a new master post with an overview. If you really want to get into the story, I recommend reading the previous stories in the following order:
Lost-AIOA-Numb-Awake-Dystopia
And when dystopia is done, "Mars" plays in the same universe and is also finished.
Me adelanto. Voy a traducir desde el Inicio para entender tu texto. Lo poco que he leído a despertado mi atención.
I advance. I will translate from the Start to understand your text. The little I have read has awakened my attention
Very beautiful
I've been so busy that I've fallen behind with your awesome fiction! My apologies for not reading sooner as now we're fast approaching the end of the edit window and there were two very minor typos above.
gone should be gun
Very last line of dialog is missing the beginning quote.
Funny enough, the "gone/gun" thing was corrected in the version I saved on my computer but I somehow failed to correct it here.. Thanks, just in time!
(claps) that's one question answered. I can't wait to see more.
Hello. Did you think about Daneel Olivaw when you created Erin character ?
I have another question : my english is a little poor but i noticed you wrote in part one: "The Android extended 'their' hand towards Tristan." And now, i am again confused because you wrote : "a small smile flickered across 'their' face when 'they' recognized Tristan." I think they are mistakes, but can you confirm? Or maybe Erin is a double head Android ? A kind of zaphod beeblebrox...
Most probably i haven't understood anything...
Nevertheless, i like the way you write, and you remind me novels that i read long time ago. 😁
Hey, thanks for your comment! As I don't know who Daneel Olivaw is, Erin has no connection.
And you're technically correct, "they" and "them" is used for multiple people in English - Except for when its used as a "neutral" pronoun, when you don't know if someone is male or female.
For example: I don't know if you're a man or a woman. To avoid getting it wrong, I would say "They left me a nice comment".
Erin is neither male or female, as they are an android that is able to shapeshift (explained in "AIOA", a story that came before). Thus I chose to adress them not as "he" or "she" but as "them".
I hope that clears it up! :)
All right ! Yes that clears it up. I was completely wrong... Thanks to you, i can improve my English.
Daneel Olivaw is a character created by Isaac Asimov in his Fondation series. They are (😎) a robot about 20000 years old... That's why i thought of them when you wrote "Erin had to be very old !".
In fact, in Fondation, daneel is clearly identified as a male, so we can say "he".
And finally, i am also a male. I should write my "introduceyourself"...
Thanks a lot for your explanations :-)
Oh poor androids how they will be wiped out by humans in the end.
Wait no.. maybe they actually can kill humans. It would just be a great trick to see if the humans want to harm androids. "Oops sorry, I lied. EAT LASER BEAMS!! PEW PEW"
thats a great and absolutely super fiction..i appreciate to your fiction..i like your writing my friend..please carry on your activity...i will wait for your new content.. best of luck...
Great post! I love the way you made it down to earth, the characters seem alive and right in front of me. Upvoted and Resteemed. You can check out this story i wrote Shining Axe - THE BATTLE OF THE GODS!!!