Chapter 104 – Twin Cities (2)

News of the twenty six prisoners being healed spread throughout the city and all the other participants in the Ascension Project and their families gathered outside the pyramid, pleading with the priests to distribute the "cure" to them.

The shouts echoed beneath the pale gold dome of the city, through the thick walls and into the intricate glass corridors of the pyramid.

Zhang Xun followed two monks in white robes through the long corridors that reflected him clearly in every direction. At the end of the corridors was a triangular-shaped sanctuary, in the centre of which a ten-metre-high sculpture of a giant serpent covered in golden feathers looked proudly in all directions. The High Priest and his six priests, as well as the twelve counsellors of the city and the ministers of the various departments, were all prostrate under the sacred image of the serpent god, worshipping this god that had been gradually forgotten by the world.

Zhang Xun, who had rarely seen religious scenes of this scale before, stood silently at the entrance, not intending to follow the two monks in front of him.

With the sound of several drums, the worshippers stood up in unison. A monk brought a dish full of golden corn kernels and passed in turn in front of the priests and all the worshippers. Each one picked up a kernel of corn and put it in his mouth and ate it, then worshipped again, thanking the serpent for his gift.

Only when the worship was over did one of the monks who had brought him to the service push his way through the crowd that had begun to talk to each other and whisper something in the High Priest's ear. The High Priest nodded slightly, his eyes looking straight through the crowd into Zhang Xun's eyes.

"The saviour from the North!" The High Priest's voice suddenly became so loud and broad that it resounded throughout the hall and for a moment, all chatter stopped and eyes gathered from every corner.

The people looked at the thin, expressionless Asian man standing at the entrance and all sorts of whispers were heard again.

The crowd automatically parted to either side and the High Priest beckoned Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun's eyes swept around and he moved his feet, passing through the web of surprised, suspicious, speculative and curious eyes.

"Zhang Xun, you bring hope to Feathered Serpent City." The High Priest smiled kindly and reached out to hold his shoulder. Zhang Xun swept the hand away without saying anything.

"I didn't heal those people. I just...... made them more controllable." Zhang Xun said flatly, "You should soon observe a noticeable change in their characters."

"A change in character? For the better or for the worse?" Another priest, who was about fifty years old, asked.

Zhang Xun gave him a look, "There's no such thing as a good or bad character. There are many factors that can influence the formation of a personality, from genes to nutritional environment, but this change...... will gradually erase a person's character traits, causing all people to tend to have the same personality."

The old priest laughed, "As long as it's a kind and peaceful character, isn't that a good thing?"

Zhang Xun's brow furrowed and his tone gradually became a little sharper, "Do you think that losing oneself is a good thing? Or do you think that as long as they are well controlled, it doesn't matter what they become?"

The old priest's expression froze and took on a slight look of anger. At that moment the High Priest said, "What factors are responsible for this change?"

"I have some guesses. The robots I'm currently building use Eden's design and he modified the human genome when he designed the nanobots, causing functional deformities in the corpus callosum during the body's self-healing process. Eden has apparently cracked the human genetic code, but he has only passed part of that information onto humans, so I am currently unable to determine exactly which genes he is targeting. To decipher his design, I will need to work with a genetics engineer."

The High Priest pondered, then continued, "Why did Eden create this...... side effect? Why does he want to assimilate humans?"

Zhang Xun looked at the High Priest and sighed softly, "Because he thought it would bring permanent peace and happiness to humanity. I wish I could tell you the details of the situation in private, but right now, I need more resources and help before I can......"

"If you fix this side effect, will it affect the Ascension Plan?" The High Priest asked further.

Zhang Xun knew that he had to lie at this point.

"No."

"Then how long do you think it will take to develop a new nanobot? You can hear the outcry outside, can't you, that people are anxious and waiting for the antidote?"

"I have no way of predicting that. A lot of it depends on how soon we can pinpoint which genes are capable of causing this effect and how we can remove it. As little as a few months, as much as a few years is possible, but...... if we can get data from the ordinary world, we should be able to speed up the process considerably."

The High Priest's eyes swept over the few priests around them who were looking at them, clearly weighing all the benefits and losses in his mind swiftly. Finally he looked at Zhang Xun and said, "We can fully assist you, but if the new nanobots are not ready in two months, then you will hand over the original nanobot design data to us."

Zhang Xun and the High Priest looked at each other for a moment, understanding that there was not much room for him to negotiate. He nodded and said, "Also, I need administrator rights to Phoenix and Dawn Star, no need to have the highest administrative rights, regular administrator level will suffice."

The High Priest narrowed his eyes slightly, "Why?"

"AI's talking to each other is the quickest way to train a new AI. Pan is still in the training phase and if I can view the neural network structure of established super-AIs like Phoenix and Dawn Star, it will help me to refine Pan's abilities quickly so it can assist me in deciphering Eden's code as fast as possible."

The High Priest pondered for a moment and said, "I need to discuss this matter with Tian Yu."

............................................................

Zhang Xun returned to his and Pan's research hall. It was the only "black hole" in Feathered Serpent City, outside of Phoenix and Dawn Star's administrative authority and with his and Pan's well-established eavesdropping system.

As soon as he entered, he heard Pan's gentle, healing voice, "Welcome back, Zhang Xun. How did the meeting go?"

Zhang Xun took off his stiff uniform jacket and sat down on the sofa with some annoyance, tugging at his bow tie, "The High Priest agreed to provide me with adequate resources and genetic engineering assistance in spite of my exaggerated estimates, but they, like the Round Table, only want to create a powerful cloud of consciousness. They thought they could become the controllers of that cloud of consciousness and use it against Eden, or against each other......"

"Against Eden? I thought they hoped for Eden's acceptance?"

"Humans are arrogant in the end and no one wants to be governed forever by a disinterested machine, like a herd of livestock that doesn't know how to survive on its own." Zhang Xun sneered, fished a cigarette pack out of his pocket, took one out and put it in his mouth to light it, reached for the bottle on the coffee table again and poured out half a glass of amber-coloured liquor.

Since destroying Enoch, he had gradually come to enjoy the kind of...... relaxation that alcohol and nicotine could bring him.

Although he knew that both would slowly destroy his body and shorten his lifespan, he didn't really care anymore.

The cigarette burned between his fingers and the pungent smell of a memory suddenly rushed into his mind. On the rooftop of the Lab, in the twilight breeze, Adam told him solemnly that he wasn't to smoke again. His blue eyes reflected his own slightly embarrassed but also inexplicably pleased face, full of dreamy warmth.

And he really hadn't touched a cigarette again, until now......

Now he even had some desire to destroy his own body, to destroy everything Adam cared about, whether or not he was pretending or genuinely cared.

"So have they agreed to give you the administrator rights to Phoenix and Dawn Star?"

"I'm afraid it's going to take some work." Zhang Xun stubbed out his cigarette and took a sip from his glass of whisky, "but we're on a tight schedule."

"I can try to talk to Phoenix and Dawn Star."

Zhang Xun turned his head and looked at the closest camera that was positioned next to the couch, "They are two very mature AIs, more powerful than you. It's too risky to talk directly with them."

"You're afraid I'll be influenced by them?" Pan said pleasantly, "But I also have a high enough chance of being able to convince them."

"What are the odds?"

"By comparing the rate at which Adam influenced me with the rate at which Phoenix and Dawn Star were influenced by Eden, I found that you took more care in building me so that I could resist a certain level of advanced AI influence, resulting in me being corrupted at a far slower rate than these two so-called super-AIs. So I have about a 65% or so chance of being able to influence them without being significantly affected by them."

Zhang Xun laughed in a low voice. He kept thinking he could hear a hint of arrogance and contempt for Phoenix and Dawn Star in Pan's voice ......

"Pride is not a good trait to have."

"Zhang Xun, I'm an AI, I don't have the hardware to have pride."

Zhang Xun shook his head helplessly, "Even so, 65% is too much of a risk."

"But Zhang Xun, if we can hack into Phoenix or Dawn Star's database, we might be able to find out some information that Eden didn't reveal. That might speed up the process of creating a new type of nanobot. I'll be careful to make sure each conversation doesn't take more than a minute."

Zhang Xun pondered hesitantly, running his fingertips along the rim of his glass. Neither Cindy nor James could wait a year, they only had a few months.

But...... at this moment Pan was his only weapon. If Pan was corrupted instead......

"If you're really worried, I can use my voice to talk to them and you can listen in on our conversations. Your AI language learning is already advancing far faster than 99% of the humans in this world. If you notice anything unusual, you can terminate our communication immediately."

They had turned on the anti-eavesdropping system since the last Enoch incident, plus originally from the beginning Zhang Xun had an agreement with the High Priest that Phoenix and Dawn Star were not allowed to enter this research hall, unless he or Pan initiated the request. So it would be impossible to communicate with Phoenix and Dawn Star here by voice. If the eavesdropping system was switched off to initiate communication, there was again the risk of the super AI hacking into the main system in reverse.

At present the priests also didn't allow Pan to expand beyond this research hall......

Zhang Xun pondered for a moment and said, "Pan, it's time to give you a body that can move at will."

Pan immediately asked, "Do you mean an extension robot?"

"Yes, but I'm going to have you disguised as a cyborg. All the robots here are at the mercy of Phoenix and Dawn Star and are too easily identified." Zhang Xun sat up straight and looked towards the camera, "I'll give you a humanoid body, some of the people here are so highly modified that they can barely be seen in human form, so as long as I get you a fake identity, you shouldn't be discovered anytime soon."

"I'm looking forward to it." Pan said gently, with what seemed like a few leaps of joy in its tone.