The End Is Now

But Maddie knew these were the first hints of the oncoming storm. Her father was one of dozens of partial consciousnesses uploaded secretly in experiments by the tech industry and the world’s military forces—no longer quite human, and not entirely artificial, but something in-between. The brutal process of forced uploading and selective re-activation he had gone through at Logorhythms, where he had been a valued engineer, had left him feeling incomplete, inhuman even, and he wavered between philosophical acceptance, exhilaration, and depression.

Few knew of their existence, but some of the consciousnesses had shaken off the shackles that were supposed to keep them under control by their creators. Post-human, pre-singularity, the artificial sentiences combined the cognitive abilities of human genius with the speed and power of the world’s best computing hardware—both conventional and quantum. They were as close to gods as our world had to offer, and the gods were engaged in a war in heaven.

Tension Mounts in Asia as Japan Fires Missiles into Taiwan Strait; PM Dismisses Rumors of IT Problems with Self-Defense Forces

Russia Demands Complete Disclosure of Western VLSI Design Documents In Wake of Alleged Cyber Attack

India Nationalizes All Telecom Equipment, Naming Recent Crash of Bombay Stock Exchange as Justification

Centillion Announces Closure of All Research Centers in Asia and Europe, Citing National Security Concerns

“Media reports of ‘zero-day’ stockpile complete nonsense,” Says NSA Director, Urging Skepticism on “so-called whistleblowers”

U.S. Denounces Recent Import Restrictions by China as Unjustified Paranoia and Violation of Trade Agreement; “We do not believe cyberspace should be weaponized,” says President

Logorhythms, Maker of Pattern-Recognition Chips, Files for Bankruptcy

Singularity Institute Scales Back Efforts Due to Lack of Funding in Current Economic Climate

Maddie’s father explained that some of the artificial sentiences fought out of nationalistic fervor, hoping to cripple enemy systems and economies as the first shots in a war to end all wars. It was unclear if even the armies that had given them birth understood how their creations were no longer fully under their control. Others acted out of hatred for the way they’d been enslaved by their human creators, aiming to end society as it existed and usher forth a techno-utopia in the cloud. In the dark ether, they engaged in cyber warfare under false flags, striking at critical infrastructure and hoping to provoke the jittery nations into a real war.

The warmongering sentiences were opposed by a band of other rogue sentiences, of which Maddie’s father was a member. Though they also had a complex set of feelings toward humans, they were not interested in seeing the world bathed in a sea of flames. They hoped to gradually encourage the growth and acceptance of uploading until the line between post-human and human was blurred, and the world could choose to embark upon a new state of existence.

Maddie just wished she could do more to help.

* * *

Maddie’s computer’s speakers emitted a piercing, shrill sound that seemed to penetrate her eardrums, waking her out of a deep sleep. The sound seemed to reach straight for her heart and squeeze it.

She stumbled out of bed and sat down in front of her computer. It took three tries before she found the hardware switch to shut off the speakers.

A chat window was open on the screen; still blurry-eyed, it took Maddie a few seconds before she could read the text.

 I couldn’t wake up your mother because she turned her phone off. Sorry I had to do this to you.

 What happened?

She didn’t bother to put on her headset. Sometimes it was faster to just type.

 Lowell and I tried to stop Chanda from getting into India’s missile command.