The Rise of the Cyborgs

Chapter 30/Move 37

A/N back with quite a kick-ass chapter this week. By the way, this is national tell a friend about a book your reading week. Just saying. No reason. 

Cell #5 Detention block in the grey wing. 

Meta's POV 

In the old days during a Google DeepMind Challenge Match of an early AI called AlphaGo developed by google deepmind versus 18-time world champion grand master Lee Sedol of a game called Go.

During the game, the machine played a move now called move 37. It was apparently the wrong move. It broke all the rules. The machine performed a move which no human had ever attempted. Which had never appeared in any of the examples it had been trained on.  In this most traditional of games, AlphaGo had done something which after a thousand years of play was so unheard of it was almost forbidden. It had been original. This move assaulted the human grandmaster so much he left the room. It was so after this the human grandmaster lost.

It became a moment in Japanese Go history. It was also a moment when people of all walks of life realised that machines would end up being smarter than them. It was proof AlphaGo could go beyond everything it had every learnt. It was an alien intelligence, different, special, and at that point better than those who had taught it. For many in the AI community Move 37 became a byword for the radical original move which came out of nowhere and slapped the opponents face to the floor. The point where the student defeats the teacher.

It was 5:15 while I was thinking about the futile nature of disabling the sterilisation truck,  I realised I suddenly had my move 37.

I woke up at 5:00 and I knew today would be a long day. By the end I would either be free or dead. Over the last week, I felt my self becoming more capable. In my isolation, I had learnt some new tricks. At first thought, I could slow downtime. In-fact I was speeding up my mind thinking faster. I could make thoughts appear around me. I could imagine a Go board and an opponent and I could play a game. They sat there translucently filling the space. My padded cell wall was now dense with transparent memories. I looked around at the maps notes and diagrams. In reality, All four walls were empty but there was a glow from the thin windows high above me.

I was hungry and I also felt I had lost weight. My theory was that this enchanted condition needed more energy and I wasn't getting it. I sat up and drank the remains of the saved water from the bottle. I shook the liquid food ration to hear the slosh at the bottom. I was saving that for later. I ran a few more scenarios in my head.

It was the morning of the arrival of the truck. In 93 minutes it would be backed into the gate. Of my scenarios most had Brooklyn and the others breaking me out first. About 20 percent had them leaving me where I was. My objective at that point was to cause as much damage and noise as possible to draw Wardens away. Being locked in a cell I wouldn't be blamed.

You might wonder how I was going to coordinate with the others while having no form of communication. It was simple. If you ask people "if you had to meet someone in New York but you had no way of organising it where would you go? 80% of people would say meet under the clock in Grand central station at noon. Without better information, this was the most common point. The coordination was the same.

I began to stretch in preparation for my job ahead.

It was 8:07. I new according to the project liberation plan the final testing in the truck would be happening. The students would be processed wing by wing. Dorm by dorm. That would start at 10:00 this was the obvious point to move.

At 8:09 I started ramming the door. It was solid and I couldn't break it but I could cause someone to look. My ramming technique was to run at the door then jump and kick with my feet. What surprised me was how much damage the door took. I was starting to worry I might get the door stuck. Eventually, the view hole opened and the eye looking at me looked in. The eye got a squirt of liquid food. There was swearing on the other side tasers were powered up. I knew that tasers were my weakness so I had to be careful.

I heard bolts being pushed back. It sounded like it to took some effort.

"Where did the fuck she go?" I heard one warder say.

By the time someone came in I was hanging from the window above them from my fingertips. Looking down it was easy to see them creep in. Clearly, they didn't see me. They didn't think to look up. That was very stupid. I hung frozen. Then I could see their lovely Bluetooth enabled Tazers. It was such a relief to deal with something digital. I made one catch fire.

"Your belt man. What the fuck!" The second warder said trying to push it out of the first warder's belt with a pen.

While the second warden helped the first I dropped silently behind them and grabbing the second warder's baton picked it up and thew it blindly at the doorway.

"Behind you," the first Warder said but it was too late.

As I began to move something happened. Time slowed down. I fell to the floor in slow motion. I realised this wasn't slow motion but my mind speeding up. My perception of time was different.

While alone I had time to practice combat moves. My balance was better than ever. I could kick pretty well. Pulling moves from a survival training manual I had looked at when I was ten, I was able to overcome both Warders. The secret was not to use your strength but redirect theirs. 

As I moved the door started to close. Behind the door was a Warder nursing her bad eye. It was protocol not to let a prisoner loose. Even at high speed, I couldn't reach the door. Fortunately, the baton I threw already had already landed stopping it from shutting. While time was slow I couldn't move much faster than normal. I managed to make it to the door. My foot slammed into the door. Behind it she was knocked out.

"Sorry," I said habitually while I pushed the back of her head on the wall.

I pulled the stunned warder and pushed her into the cell and locked the doors.

I was going to unlock the other cells when I noticed the weird blue milk they fed us. I was desperately hungry and drank a huge quart bottle.

Checking the other cells were empty, I rushed out towards the entrance. On the wall was a piece of my sketchbook. There were a few dots in binary. Easy to decode.

"Meet us in Wing 4," it said. I smiled. That was part of want I called plan #9 

I could feel the joy of linking up to the local wifi connection.

"yey too dumb to switch the internet off" I heard.

"Brooklyn?" I thought.

"We are taking fire near dorm 44." I heard.

Then I heard shots being fired.