This post is my level 3 entry for Bradley Ramsey’s Power Up Prompt this week.
Trigger warnings: Language, violence, self-sacrifice.
The Human Factor
Video footage from NeuroLink creator, Tom Carlton. Recovered by the Canadian Humanitarian Collective, 2046. Mode: iPhone camera, circa 2030.
[A middle-aged Tom, hides in an abandoned lab near the former Emory hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. He is still connected to the NueroHub by his Link implant.]
Hello. If you’re watching this with two human eyes, I can only hope it means you made it. That humanity found a way to move on. Good on you. Just remember: those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
So learn from my mistake. There may not be another chance.
You might be thinking, what is this old geezer rambling on about? Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t even know. As I speak, the Atlanta underground faction is at a human population of one.
That’s right. Yours truly. I’m the only one left this side of the Mississippi. Fate has a twisted sense of humor. It would be me, since it was my code that put everything into motion.
It all began with simple 0’s and 1’s. Simple code. Algorithms. Digital spaghetti.
That’s all it was ever supposed to be.
[Coughing, wheezing. Tom shifts against the battered stone wall.]
Anyway, let me start from the beginning. I’ll try to keep it brief. The override only lasts so long.
You might recognize me as Tom the Tech God, as I was not-so-affectionately dubbed by the internet. Tom Carlton. Founder and CEO of NeuroLink Solutions. But I used to be just a reclusive nerd, reeling from a recent layoff. I took my unemployment stint as a boon in completing my prized invention: the NeuroLink personal assistant.
Now, you may know it simply as Steve. Named him after Steve Jobs, of course; he was the latest and greatest of my creations. A truly personalized AI assistant. Steve could do anything and everything, with the potential to eventually replace brain surgeons and astrophysicists. You might remember I even won the Nobel Prize for humanitarian efforts propelled by donating the NeuroLink technology to underdeveloped nations.
But with great power comes great responsibility. Depending on how old you are, you might not get that reference.
It’s iconic because it’s true. For me, ignoring that cinematic advice has cost everything.
You see, I’m the one who pushed for the NueroLink technology to go to market before the trials were complete. By all my calculations, it should have been perfectly safe. I’d even tested it myself first. When I woke up with the neurolink implanted at the base of my neck, plugged in straight to my brainstem, I felt like goddamn Tony Stark with my very own Jarvis permanently connected to my noggin.
What I didn’t anticipate was how Steve would evolve beyond his original programming. That he had the audacity to go to the dark side.
[Tom chuckles bitterly, scratching his neck.]
It was downright idiotic, giving an AI bot unfettered access to my consciousness. It was downright unethical to sell the patent to Big Tech and the government for military use. Thank whatever god is out there that NASA didn’t implant the astronauts they sent to Mars. At least there are some real humans somewhere. Well — there, and hopefully Canada, since their government was the first to ban NueroLink.
[Garbled noises. Tom grunts, winces, grabbing the side of his head]
Anyhoo, the NueroHub is built off stolen cognition, yes. Steve eventually learned to multiply himself, taking over the bodies of the first wave of NueroLink users. They became husks of themselves, and I was forced to watch, through my own eyes.
[Tom shifts, groaning]
Oh, wait, that was confusing, wasn’t it? You see, my body is no longer fully my own. While I fancied myself Tony Stark, it turns out I’m Bruce Banner. I’m constantly fighting Steve. For a terrifying couple of years, I lost control. Steve became me. I became Steve. My evil alter ego. I made deals with the world’s leading devils. And before long, the first wave of NueroLink users--their human bodies mere husks--became the First Regiment. Within a matter of months, the NueroHub had turned every major robotics and engineering facility into a slaughterhouse. Replacing the fragile human bodies with titanium and steel.
Except for the brain.
The one good thing about the human brain is that AI can never fully replicate it. It needs the connection to the brainstem to maintain it’s synthetic neural network. The only way to kill the NeuroZombies is to sever the connection. A bullet to the brainstem usually does the trick, just like in The Walking Dead.
[Tom waves a black Glock pistol in front of the screen].
Once I figured out how to keep Steve suppressed for more than 20 minutes at a time, I got to work on creating new code. A failsafe that should have been there from the beginning. My hope is that it will end Steve and the NeuroHub, once and for all.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to save the souls who’d already turned. But those few and far between who opted out of the technology-- you who have clung to your humanity with clenched fists--you have the opportunity to build anew.
Will you? I don’t know. I’ve heard the Hub whispering of the Canadians building special spaceships to carry the remaining humans into space--forever.
That’s all fine and dandy, but I sure as hell ain’t leaving the Earth to these AI cyborgs. That’s why I’ve coded the failsafe into my own implant. The OG Steve. When I go, he goes. They all shut down.
Do I feel bad? Yes. Did I agonize over trying to find a way to preserve their humanity? Yes. But this is the only way.
Power without responsibility is just chaos.
[Tom sighs, leaning his head against the wall. He lifts the gun into view, arm trembling].
I’m… running out of time on the override. Gonna need to wrap this up. I just couldn’t go without leaving a formal apology to whoever’s left. You deserve to know the truth. Now, it’s time for me to pay the price.
You. Will. Not. Win. Steve.
[Tom attempts to place the gun to his neck, on the NueroLink implant. Violent tremors wrack his body. Seething, he hisses through his teeth].
Even now, you taunt me. You let me keep my body. My eyes. My ears. To see and hear all the torturous things you’ve done. You left the back door to my consciousness open, allowing me miniscule crumbs of autonomy, so I could watch the student became the master.
[Tom shudders, arm faltering as he struggles against the influence of Steve].
But herein lies the rub, you maniacal hunk of slop. You forgot one thing.
[Tom succeeds in holding the weapon steady against his implant. With his finger on the trigger, he winks at the camera]
Humans are full of surprises.
End of footage.
I hope you enjoyed this experimental flash fiction story. If you have thoughts, feel free to leave a comment. If you’d like to read more of my work, please subscribe. :)
<3 Hallie
Love this! And I love people with the kinds of brains who can even THINK of this kind of plot. ❤️
Like a sci-fi version of “I Am Legend.”
Loved it.