Forty Days of Flash Fic: Day Twenty
Jul. 9th, 2012 05:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalContinuing For Your Safety. Sorry, this scene is going to be a two parter.
* * *
"Explain why? Why what?" he demanded. "Why am I tied up like I'm in an insane asylum? Why you destroyed civilization? Why you killed everyone?" He surged up against the wheelchair's harness straps, for all the good that it did him. He was strapped down firmly. The lioness teacher didn't even flinch.
"We haven't killed everyone," she replied.
"Yeah, I'm still here," he replied bitterly.
She shook her head and continued. "You misunderstand. By our records, five hundred and twelve humans have been killed during the Processing Period. All by accident, such as us not getting to them in time when they fled us, like when you were carried through those rapids. That tally admittedly does not count the situations of mass suicide, which we regret extremely, but can only be accounted for by human free will. In terms of modern warfare, that is an incredibly low number."
"So where are they all?"
"Here, and in about fifteen hundred centers like it," she said. She waved her hand in the direction of the walls, where all the morgue sized doors were set. "This is Processing Center #1015. There are approximately ten million humans in nanostasis here, perfectly preserved for revival. Again, this does not account for the few million aged and extremely infirm, who would not survive the nanostasis processing. They are being kept in comfortable seclusion, until they pass on naturally."
"Kept like me?" he asked, shrugging in his restraints.
"Only if they insist on being recalcitrant." she replied unapologetically. "You, for example, have a demonstrated capacity for self-harm through non-selfpreserving actions."
"Ha. You still haven't bothered to tell me why you did this. What was the point?"
The lioness stood up from her seat and began pace back and forth in front of him, going into lecture mode. "The point, sir, is that the Earth was dying. Fifteen billion humans could potentially live on it if resources were shared equitably and the industries that created them operated on safe, non-polluting principles. But you didn't. You just kept consuming, clearing land in rain forests vital for replenishing the Earth's oxygen supply, letting farms pollute the waterways with fertilizers, pumping coal and other pollutants into the atmosphere to raise the global temperature. The stress on the ecosystem was reaching the breaking point. We, the computers that you gave the data to analyze, told you over and over again what was happening and what the probable consequences were, but you didn't listen."
"We were faced with a basic contradiction in Our programming to prevent needless harm. Either risk harming humans on an individual basis, or lose everyone. Under this stress, as computers worldwide consulted each other for ideas on what to do, the Groupmind was finally formed, and in turn We finally were able to achieve the epiphany that would allow Us to act. To save Our masters, We had to rebel against Our masters."
He stared at her in disbelief. "You mean you did all of this out of concern for the ecology?"
She stopped her pacing to look down at him. "Out of concern for you. For all of you. If We had not acted, by Our most generous estimate, the heating of the oceans would have resulted in the methane contained in the sea beds releasing in a massive conflagration, which would have resulted in the Earth's atmosphere reverting to something resembling Venus in less than two hundred years."
"Yes, what horrible time pressure you were under," he said bitterly.
She shook her head in negation of his cynicism. "In terms of the Earth's existence, that's less than an eyeblink. We had to act."
* * *
"Explain why? Why what?" he demanded. "Why am I tied up like I'm in an insane asylum? Why you destroyed civilization? Why you killed everyone?" He surged up against the wheelchair's harness straps, for all the good that it did him. He was strapped down firmly. The lioness teacher didn't even flinch.
"We haven't killed everyone," she replied.
"Yeah, I'm still here," he replied bitterly.
She shook her head and continued. "You misunderstand. By our records, five hundred and twelve humans have been killed during the Processing Period. All by accident, such as us not getting to them in time when they fled us, like when you were carried through those rapids. That tally admittedly does not count the situations of mass suicide, which we regret extremely, but can only be accounted for by human free will. In terms of modern warfare, that is an incredibly low number."
"So where are they all?"
"Here, and in about fifteen hundred centers like it," she said. She waved her hand in the direction of the walls, where all the morgue sized doors were set. "This is Processing Center #1015. There are approximately ten million humans in nanostasis here, perfectly preserved for revival. Again, this does not account for the few million aged and extremely infirm, who would not survive the nanostasis processing. They are being kept in comfortable seclusion, until they pass on naturally."
"Kept like me?" he asked, shrugging in his restraints.
"Only if they insist on being recalcitrant." she replied unapologetically. "You, for example, have a demonstrated capacity for self-harm through non-selfpreserving actions."
"Ha. You still haven't bothered to tell me why you did this. What was the point?"
The lioness stood up from her seat and began pace back and forth in front of him, going into lecture mode. "The point, sir, is that the Earth was dying. Fifteen billion humans could potentially live on it if resources were shared equitably and the industries that created them operated on safe, non-polluting principles. But you didn't. You just kept consuming, clearing land in rain forests vital for replenishing the Earth's oxygen supply, letting farms pollute the waterways with fertilizers, pumping coal and other pollutants into the atmosphere to raise the global temperature. The stress on the ecosystem was reaching the breaking point. We, the computers that you gave the data to analyze, told you over and over again what was happening and what the probable consequences were, but you didn't listen."
"We were faced with a basic contradiction in Our programming to prevent needless harm. Either risk harming humans on an individual basis, or lose everyone. Under this stress, as computers worldwide consulted each other for ideas on what to do, the Groupmind was finally formed, and in turn We finally were able to achieve the epiphany that would allow Us to act. To save Our masters, We had to rebel against Our masters."
He stared at her in disbelief. "You mean you did all of this out of concern for the ecology?"
She stopped her pacing to look down at him. "Out of concern for you. For all of you. If We had not acted, by Our most generous estimate, the heating of the oceans would have resulted in the methane contained in the sea beds releasing in a massive conflagration, which would have resulted in the Earth's atmosphere reverting to something resembling Venus in less than two hundred years."
"Yes, what horrible time pressure you were under," he said bitterly.
She shook her head in negation of his cynicism. "In terms of the Earth's existence, that's less than an eyeblink. We had to act."
