Claws and Curls

Claws 31 - AIME

Alli smirked and suppressed her desire to twitter at their naiveté. Since she had started observing Mac by working at Nicko’s she had been to a few barbecues. Alli had soon learned that they were not about the food but about the opportunity to offload the stresses and worries of the week. The men standing pretending to watch the meat and sausages or the prawns and octopus, or the kebabs and vegetables it didn't matter.

With beer or beverage of some kind in hand, the men folk would slowly do the rounds of commenting on the sports results, on the bloody politicians - present company excepted. On the banks, on foreign take overs, on the latest closure of this business or that industry, and of course on how tough life was.

Alli couldn't understand how the country with the highest standard of living of all human cultures could think it was so hard done by.

The women of course would be standing around the food getting it ready but also solving the problems of the world not just tearing down the empire. How were the parents, how were they coping with the retirement village. How are the kids, isn't that school just wonderful for them. Isn't it sad that so and so is such a bully; you’d think their parents would know better. That house is just too big for them and that new car, bloody hell!

Alli had learnt more about human behaviour in one BBQ than during any previous equal amount of time observing or studying anywhere else. The mix, of a group of friends all making the effort to socialise, the primal smells of roasting meat and female gathered food. Together with the alcohol or the other drugs that many used to change how their brains worked added another dimension to the communications.

Alli had studied the human genome enough to see how human’s had co-evolved with certain plants and how those plants rewarded humans for propagating them by providing chemicals in their tissues which made humans feel different. The brain chemistry was simple enough. Stimulate the secretion of different brain hormones or enzymes, that made humans feel excited or loved or strong and invincible; were the most successful strategies that Earth plants had evolved. One species Coffea arabica was now the most successful plant on the planet, all because of the foibles of human brain chemistry.

“Alli what are you day dreaming about girlfriend?” called Wendy from her position centre stage on the verandah. Alli looked up and held up her phone, “sms sorry, a special friend just letting me know that the traffic will be bad because that hacker this morning has upset the traffic lights throughout the city!”

Action looked at her, and shook his head. “How come I’m the last to know these things. What fuckin hacker.” Alli watched Mac quickly fill his brother in on the goings on around the city the last couple of days.

“Fuck it, here I am traipsing around some of your old temples,” he pointed his stubbie at Mac, “trying to track down a bunch of loonies doing sacrificial rituals and you lot are having all the fun over here. Bugger, I've got to get transferred to the AI Oversight program, it’s were all the action is. That mob must be pissin' themselves after the AIME debacle!”

“AIME?” asked Wendy. “Yeah the one that got away, remember. I showed you that Mind in the Machine Article!” “Sorry,” said Wendy screwing up her face and putting down here empty stubbie. “I read a lot of stuff and forget most of it otherwise my brain’d explode.”

“C’mon, that meat must be incinerated by now Terry, and who’s Amy. You didn’t tell you had a girl friend as well, Oh it’s xmas already!” said Mum with the cheekiest smile she could manage. Action man Terry, lifted all the steaks and snags and onions onto the serving platter and followed the others across to the outdoor table. Alli helped carry out the various plates of salads and set these down where Mum indicated.

“AIME Mum, AI mechanical enhancement. It was the Jaeger AI program till things went weird and they shut it down a couple of years back. The story is that an AI came online but its behaviour was so different to what anyone expected they couldn’t manage it so they pulled the plug and decided to try again. Some say the AI was like a baby at first then had two year old type tantrums and then it escaped into the web somehow when they pulled the plug.”

“Weird shit man!” said Wonder Woman. “Like a baby, that makes sense, when you think about it though, and tantrums, well twos just need sleep or feeding or a cuddle. You don't just drown them no matter how shitty the tantrums. Still an AI would potentially be far more powerful than any two or teen!”

Wendy looked over at Terry, “and that’s it, this is AIME now you reckon?”

”Me, nah, it’s that web experiment shit gone arse up. The hacker is probably some weird self replicating software just doing its thing but not AI.”

“Why not?” asked Alli between mouthfuls. Mac was sitting next to her and he was trying to avoid touching her lest he get some sort of reaction but he was nano skinless and her thigh was tight up against his and just felt warm and firm and ...

“Because that drone above me is there to ensure that I get the call if we all need to go AI ALERT,” and he waved his hands in the air, mimicking a sense of panic. “Waste of time, never happen!” and he opened another stubbie.