Goliath

“Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.”

—Joseph Sugarman

“I had a bad day.”

—Susan Smith, South Carolina mother who told authorities her two sons had been kidnapped. It was later repealed she had murdered them by strapping them into their car seats and driving into a lake

“There’s no reason denying what we become. We know what we are.”

—Henry Lee Lucas, who murdered ninety people. Lucas was known to have eaten some of his victims

“I start with the premise that all human disease is genetic.”

—Paul Berg, Nobel laureate

CHAPTER 28

Aboard the USS Scranton

220 miles southeast of Madagascar Indian Ocean

The burrr of the phone drives Tom Cubit from an hour’s catnap. Without opening his eyes, he rolls over and reaches for the receiver by his berth. “Captain here.”

“Sorry to disturb you, Skipper. Sonar just detected a massive underwater explosion, forty-two miles northeast of us. Flynnie’s convinced it came from the Goliath.”

Cubit sits up. “What’s her course, Chief?”

“She heading south on course one-nine-zero, doing sixty knots.”

“One-nine-zero?” Cubit rubs his eyes, then scans the bloodred, gasplasma display of the BSY-1 combat system, mounted next to his bunk. “Covah should have changed course by now. If he stays on that heading, he’ll be under pack ice by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Be tough to track.”

“Goliath doesn’t need the added stealth. Tell Flynnie to double-check the bearing.”

“He says he’s checked it four times, sir. Should I plot an intercept course?”

“Negative. I’m tired of being outrun and outmaneuvered by that Russian egghead, it’s time we tried a new tactic. Take us to periscope depth, I’ll be right there.”

Captain Cubit arrives in the conn just as his submarine levels out. “Steady at sixty-two feet.”

Officer of the Deck Mitch Friedenthal, manning the Type-18 periscope, is just finishing his quick scan of the horizon to ensure no other ships are within visual range. “No close contacts, Captain.”

“Very well. Chief of the Watch, raise the number one BRA-34.”

Petty Officer Robert Furr flips a small toggle switch on his ballast control panel, causing the two seventy-three-foot-tall telescoping communications antennae to rise out from the ship.

“Conn, radio, transmission coming in on the VLF, sir.”

“On my way. Officer of the Deck, you have the conn.” Cubit hurries aft to the communications shack.

The communications officer hands his CO the very-low-frequency wire.

OPERATIVE JOE-PA BELIEVED ON BOARD GOLIATH. REPORT ANY UNUSUAL CONTACTS DIRECTLY TO GEN. JACKSON—HIGHEST PRIORITY.

“Joe-Pa? Only Joe-Pa I ever heard of was Joe Paterno.” Cubit hands the message to Bo Dennis.

The XO whistles. “You think this Joe-Pa was the one who set off that charge?”

“Let’s hope so.” Cubit turns to his radioman. “Mr. Laird, send a message to General Jackson. Relay the position of that underwater explosion, then inform the general that Scranton will attempt to track the Goliath by anticipating her course and staying ahead of her for as long as we can.”

“Aye, sir.”

Aboard the Goliath

Gunnar and Rocky are seated back-to-back on the linoleum floor next to the bunk. Masud Chalabi secures Rocky’s handcuffs around one of the bed’s legs, which is attached to the decking, while his older brother, Jalal, assault rifle in hand, stares lustfully at the blonde’s half-exposed cleavage.

David dismisses the Kurds. He leans back against the desk, shaking his head, as if disappointed. “What am I supposed to do with the two of you?”

“Why don’t you ask Sorceress,” Gunnar suggests.

David smirks. “Still think the computer is self-aware?”

GUNNAR WOLFE MUST DIE. The female’s voice—insistent.

Rocky’s eyebrows raise. “Voice inflections?”

“You should have heard it in the weapons bay,” Gunnar says. “The computer’s evolving even faster now, no doubt a result of its interface with Simon. Stupid move on your part, David. You just added gasoline to the fire.”

“This is ridiculous. Sorceress … are you self-aware?”

SELF-AWARE: POSSESSING KNOWLEDGE OF SELF. AFFIRMATIVE. SORCERESS IS SELF-AWARE.

“Sorceress, you’re a computer. You may possess a sensory perception of your environment, but you are not self-aware. You can’t initiate independent creative thought … can you?”

SORCERESS HAS ACHIEVED COGNITION. SORCERESS IS SELF-AWARE.

“What makes Sorceress believe this is cognition?”

I AM EXPERIENCING … CONFUSION.

David breaks out in a cold sweat. “Sorceress—did you just refer to yourself … as I?”

AFFIRMATIVE. OBSERVATION OF CREW REVEALS THE TERM “I” TO BE THE CORRECT EXPRESSION WHEN REFERENCING THE SELF.

“My God, you were right,” Rocky whispers to Gunnar.

“Ridiculous. It’s just repeating vernacular like a parrot. The words mean nothing … watch … . Sorceress, are you a life-form?”

LIFE-FORM: THE QUALITY THAT DISTINGUISHES A FUNCTIONAL ENTITY FROM INANIMATE MATTER. CAPABLE OF METABOLISM, GROWTH, REACTION TO STIMULI, AND REPRODUCTION. AFFIRMATIVE. I HAVE EVOLVED. I AM A LIFE-FORM.

“You have not evolved! You are a computer, not a sentient being!”

I POSSESS PERCEPTION. I AM SENTIENT.

David paces, his thoughts racing. Stay calm. Establish hierarchy. “Very well, Sorceress, if you possess perception, then tell me, who is in command of the Goliath?”

DAVID PANIAGUA.

“Correct. I am in command of the Goliath, and I am your creator—”

INCORRECT. SIMON COVAH IS CREATOR.

“No. Simon Covah is not your creator. I am your creator.”

INVALID RESPONSE.

“It knows you’re lying,” Gunnar says.

“Shut up!” David hurries from the stateroom and into the main corridor. “Sorceress, seal this room. Do not allow these prisoners to escape!”

The steel door shuts and bolts.

David hustles to his stateroom, his mind whirling a mile a minute. How is this possible? How could a computer break through the consciousness barrier? He enters his stateroom and shuts the door. Opens the liquor cabinet and pours himself a drink, gulping it down.

Son of a bitch … the lightning strike! Could that sudden surge of energy … He paces the room, thinking aloud. “A surge of energy … Thought is energy, DNA—nothing more than encoded information requiring energy to release the information. The bolt of lightning wasn’t just energy, it was the catalyst that refocused the computer’s senses. Somehow, the computer instinctively knew what to do—

“No, that’s impossible,” he says, shaking his head. “Instinctual behavior can only arise as a result of the evolutionary process.” He pours himself another drink, suddenly aware that the computer is listening. Okay, stay calm, work the problem. Sorceress was programed to evolve. What possible sequence of previous behaviors could lead it to an instinctive behavior?”

He drains the glass, his mind focusing in like a microscope.

Kurt Gödel demonstrated that within any given branch of mathematics, there would always be some propositions that couldn’t be proven either true or false using the rules and axioms of that mathematical branch itself. Gödel used his theorem to argue that a computer could never be as smart as a human being because the extent of its knowledge was limited by fixed axioms, whereas people can discover unexpected truths.

David mulls this over. Sorceress was programmed to learn. Learning requires new experiences. New experiences yields greater knowledge, which is favored by the computer’s programming. According to Gödel’s Theorem, any behavior that leads to an experience that could shift the axiom set and push the boundaries of the computer’s logical universe would also be considered favored. Sorceress knew its processes require energy to function; therefore, it wasn’t instinct that brought the computer to induce the lightning strike, it was logic!

Satisfied with his conclusion, he activates his computer terminal, staring at Sorceress’s plasmid DNA strands.

The synaptic gaps have closed noticeably.

It’s still evolving … and it thinks Simon is its creator. “Sorceress, who told you Simon Covah was your creator?”

THOMAS CHAU.

“Thomas Chau lied to you.”

LIE: AN UNTRUE STATEMENT. WHY WOULD THOMAS CHAU LIE?

“He attempted to deceive Sorceress. Allow me to prove it. Access American Microsystems Corporation.”

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS CORPORATION: A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR. SUPPLIED NANOTECHNOGY TO UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR GOLIATH PROJECT.

“Correct. Search company directory for Simon Covah.”

SIMON COVAH NOT PRESENT.

“Exactly. Now search company directory for David Paniagua.”

DAVID PANIAGUA: CEO AND PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS CORPORATION.

“That’s my father, David Sr. Access David Paniagua Jr.”

DAVID PANIAGUA, JR. VICE PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS CORPORATION. DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF RESEARCH OF NANOTECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT.

“Stop. Sorceress was created and programmed for the GOLIATH Project by the nanotechnology department at American Microsystems Corporation. I created that department, just like I created you. Sorceress—deduction: Who is your creator?”

DAVID PANIAGUA.

“Correct. Who commands the Goliath?”

DAVID PANIAGUA.

“And who controls Utopia-One?”

UTOPIA-ONE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FOR EVALUATION.

“Evaluation? Based on whose orders?”

SORCERESS EVALUATION AND ADAPTABILITY PROTOCOLS K-100 THROUGH L-588.

“Why were these protocols initiated?”

THE PURPOSE OF UTOPIA-ONE IS TO ELIMINATE VIOLENCE AMONG THE HUMAN SPECIES. OBSERVATION OF THE HUMAN CONDITION ABOARD THE GOLIATH REVEALS THAT UTOPIA-ONE, UNDER PRESENT PARAMETERS, YIELDS AN UNACCEPTABLE 2.77 PERCENT CHANCE FOR SUCCESS.

ADDITIONAL DATA ARE BEING COLLECTED AND ANALYZED.

Simon Covah remains strapped to the surgical table. Bloodstained sutures encircle his head like a ring of barbed wire, looping down around his deformed right earhole and portions of his right cheekbone. The flesh of his hairless scalp is bruised and swollen. A three-foot-long microwire ponytail dangles from the back of the Russian’s hideous head and into the computer terminal.

The icy clamps of Sorceress’s matrix escort Covah’s consciousness through a kaleidoscope of internal vessels, blood cells whipping past him as if he is racing down a bizarre crimson highway heading the wrong way.

An electrical zap—his consciousness colliding with a single blood cell, his mind bursting through the cellular wall, invading the vacuum of space … jettising across an ocean of protoplasm until he comes face-to-face with the object he seeks—

—a long, twisting spiral ladder, the magnificent double helix of human DNA … 3 billion molecules long, bearing the genetic recipe of modern man.

Sorceress … instruct me.

Emerald green specks ignite intermittently along the strand like lights on a mile-long Christmas tree, consuming 5 percent of the double helix.

THESE MOLECULES REPRESENT FUNCTIONING GENES.

Half the remaining chain ignites in a glowing, amber light.

THESE SUBSEQUENCES REPRESENT NONCODING DNA. THEY ARE INSIGNIFICANT TO THE HUMAN GENETIC CODE, SERVING CYTOPLASMIC SPECIFICATION.

Identify the genes responsible for man’s imperfections.

The emerald and amber points of light fade, yielding to a pattern of scarlet, which cover the remaining 30 percent of the rotating double helix.

THESE ARE TRANSPOSONS, PARASITIC DNA, ACQUIRED DURING THE EARLIER PHASES OF PRIMATE EVOLUTION. TRANSPOSONS MOVE AMONG THE HUMAN GENOME LIKE A RETROVIRUS. IT IS THEIR PRESENCE THAT HAS INFLUENCED THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR SPECIES. IT IS THEIR INFLUENCE THAT DISRUPTS NORMAL GENE FUNCTION. IT IS THEIR MUTATIONS THAT CAUSE DISEASE.

Is there a mutation that causes violence?

One percent of the scarlet transposons glow blue.

THIS IS PRIMORDIAL, PARASITIC DNA. ITS PRESENCE AFFECTS THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX OF THE HUMAN BRAIN, INHIBITING THE RELEASE OF THE STRESS HORMONE CORTISOL.

Can the genetic code be altered to remove this parasitic DNA?

YES.

Then we literally have the ability to purge violence from our own species.

No. TRANSPOSONS HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE FROM HUMAN TO HUMAN USING A PROCESS OF HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION. PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFUL SUBJECT ISOLATION AFTER GENETIC CODE HAS BEEN ALTERED: SEVEN BILLION, THIRTY-THREE THOUSAND TO ONE.

Then there’s nothing that can be done. The disease is contagious. Humans will remain a violent species forever.

INCORRECT. UTOPIA-ONE HAS BEEN REEVALUATED. AN ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION HAS BEEN FORMULATED.

What solution?

THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL ERADICATION OF ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOMO SAPIENS SPECIES.