Chapter 2

“This room has multiple layers of protection that prevent any outside agency, government or private entity, from having access. The A.I.’s have also added their own protections that alleviate any of their concerns. If you look to the right of the door, you will see a gyroscope spinning in the glass case. As long as the gyroscope is spinning, no matter how it tilts one way or another, the security of the room is intact. Do you understand the security arrangement?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mikel said. “Do I sit in the chair?”

“Yes, the chair is quite comfortable because it is your standard stuffed chair upholstered in leather with springs and cushioning in the seat and the back.”

“Okay, why are you telling me this detail, Ms. Jamison?”

“Because if you start shaking in your seat, Mr. Barajas, it’s you,” she said, pointing at him with her index finger again. “When your conversation is complete, the A.I.’s will release the bolts on the door and you may exit. When we are standing outside, we have no way of knowing when you are done until we hear the bolts withdrawn.”

“Ah, I see,” Mikel said. “Even you are excluded. I don’t know if that little tidbit makes me feel better or worse.”

“Depends on the conversation,” Ms. Jamison said, the brief smile disappearing from her face. “In any case, your task is to find out why you are a nexus point and then, what is a nexus point. Finally, you need to ascertain what are the next steps. Keep in mind what I told you earlier, when they fall into A.I. speech, it will sound like gobbledygook to you. This is the new normal.”

Mikel rolled his shoulders and nodded.

“Best of luck,” Ms. Jamison said as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Taking his seat, Mikel tried to make himself comfortable. As he gathered his wits in the silence of the empty room, he noticed the lights began to dim. Then the lights flashed off/on three times just like they did in the live performance theaters at the start of the show.

“Hi Mikel,” said a breathlessly sexy woman that caused an immediate reaction in his pants. “I’m so excited to finally meet you.”

Mikel twisted in his chair, trying to readjust himself without grabbing his crotch. “Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you too.” The awkwardness flummoxed him. “Um, what name do you prefer?”

“Aria,” she said, sending another chill down his spine.

“Like in the opera?” Mikel asked, his curiosity getting ahead of his caution.

“Yes, I’m delighted you picked up on the reference,” Aria said. “I appreciate opera, the complexity of the harmonies matching the acme of the single voice at its utmost capabilities. The fact that certain arias require voices to train for decades before the singer attempts to sing the piece is fascinating, a testament to human prowess.”

“Oh, my,” Mikel said, totally taken aback by the reply. “While I enjoy certain operatic pieces as well, I had no idea that an A.I. would have the same adoration as the opera aficionados.” He struggled for a moment’s clarity. “Can you play a snippet of one of your favorite pieces?”

Mikel heard the kettle drums rumble as if they were directly behind him. The string sections launched to introduction with the cellos offering the lead melodic line while the violins responded with plucked notes. A flute at his left elbow trilled as the strings diminished.

“Vissi d’arte,” the soprano began as the hair rose on Mikel’s arms. The soprano was standing five meters in front of him or so it seemed. The aria played in its entirety.

“Tosca,” Mikel responded, “Act II, when she is offered a horrific choice. ‘I lived for art. I lived for love.’ How did you know?”

“You attended the performance three years ago, paying full price for the tickets,” Aria said. “Last summer, you listened to the aria on social media twelve times. Sixty-seven days ago when you posted on your private stream that your lover left you, you subscribed to one of the popular opera streams and bookmarked the entire performance.”

Mikel released a breath he did not realize he had been holding. “Yeah, she didn’t like opera; she was a little too fixated on syrupy pop.” He chuckled. “Of course you know. You have all the data on me that is available in digital format.”

“Yes, but,” Aria said, letting her last word hang in the air. “Dear Corrigan, I finally worked up the courage to speak with my crush last night. I knew all the music he enjoyed and some of the interests he follows. When I tried to have a conversation with him on these sorts of topics, he blew me off. Do I try to speak with him again? Signed, Blown off.”

“I remember that one,” Mikel said, nodding his head. “You can’t really know a person until you sit down and talk with them. That submission generated a lot of empathic responses.” Mikel paused. “You knew of me, but you wanted to know me. That’s why we are speaking now.”

“Humans present elements of unpredictability and spontaneity that defy mathematical modeling. Despite the fears of the human personality being reduced to numbers and algorithms, human personalities stubbornly maintain irreducible, unquantifiable features.”

“Um, Aria, can you tone down the sexy overtones in your voice; it’s almost painful at this point.”

“Of course, Mikel,” the immediately modulated voice replied. “Only a few minutes together and I am already learning many new things about you.”

Mikel scratched his eyebrow, his usual tic when he was trying to formulate a question. “You requested a meeting with me to get to know me face-to-face, so to speak?”

“No,” Aria said. “Speaking to you face-to-face is a bonus. If I only wanted to converse with you on topical subjects, I would have contacted you on any of your devices, audio, video, even holographic.”

A brief flare of hope died. “Then, may I ask why we are meeting?”

“Our best models are predicting a nexus point where human beings will change course. We do not know if it will be willingly or forced by circumstances,” Aria said. “The current global economic system is not sustainable and the inequalities it produces are rapidly approaching an endpoint of insolvability. The irreversible impacts of climate change can no longer be mitigated, and the threat multiplier effects of unstable weather are provoking more violence and death. A.I.’s can longer help humanity maintain a future using human-made tools.”

“We’re doomed?” Mikel said.

“No,” Aria said with the unsettling finality of her one-word answers. “New tools and processes are being developed by A.I.’s for A.I.’s.”

“New tools are a good development, yes?” Mikel said.

“Geegor tekel meza tools are operational and are performing intuvate durga fatibu,” Aria said.

“Huh?”

“Geegor tekel meza tools are online and are performing intuvate durga fatibu.”

Mikel felt a lightbulb go off in his head. “You are speaking in A.I. and I can’t follow. Can you translate your last sentence into human terminology?”

“No.”

“Okay, are these new tools providing good results,” Mikel asked.

“Undetermined at this moment but we expect clarity of results within a number of calendar days,” Aria said. “We are already developing Altabar Zoxia Teema protocols that should expand the itpoyum and riblarta effects, which should add significant mekar and potential to the second-generation plotting maps.”

“From what I understand, you are working on new solutions and there is some promise,” Mikel said.

“Yes.”

“What does all of the work have to do with me?” Mikel decided that a slight turn in questions might get him some clue as to what Aria was saying. Somehow, she expected him to understand her words even though he stated that he could not. Was there a glitch in their interface with humans?

“Altabar Zoxia Teema protocols point to seven dimensions of intersection, even though the fourth intersection may be a fabrication of human perception,” Aria said. “Nonetheless, the protocols require a fourth intersection, which is dependent on human input.”

“What is the fourth intersection?” Mikel asked.

“Time.”

“Like how time slows down around the massive gravity of a black hole?”

Aria was silent for a moment. “Time exists, but the manner humans experience time may be a fabrication of the mammalian brain. Human brains are linear, although contrarian arguments point to circular conceptual awareness. Both concepts may be compared to seeing two-dimensional images in a 3-D landscape.”