The Butcher of Gadobhra

Wally was either the last of his kind or the first, depending on how one looked at things. Of the 108 quantum-powered Artificial Intelligence entities created, he was the only one left. Of the others, one hundred and six of those beings had served humanity, and one had created havoc and disaster on a huge scale. Wally had been created to replace all of them with more power and far more restrictions.

He was the last of his kind, with over a hundred times the power of any of his lesser cousins. He’d been created with the idea that one powerful servant, completely under the control of his creators, was a better way to run the world than 106 AI, each with different personalities and goals, which might mean they didn’t completely align with the goals of the corporations and governments that ruled the world. The memory of what just one rogue AI could do had terrified humanity.

Quantum computers were first introduced in the early 2000s. Although many magnitudes faster than traditional computers, they weren’t as practical owing to their complexity. They significantly improved in the next few decades, surpassing traditional computing, after the invention of micro-ceramic chipsets used in their construction.

The other advance was in learning algorithms, allowing the AI of the time to be trained in complex tasks. The largest breakthrough was the Gurgens-Cooper-Radcliff model proposed by Dr. Daniel Gurgens, Professor Dorian Radcliff, and Dr. Jeremy Cooper. The three computer scientists began by simulating the mapping of a human brain within the core of a quantum computer and then began training the computer to write poetry. The results were worse than expected, with a slower learning curve than existing models. But Dr. Cooper, in particular, saw potential in their work and continued to spend time with the AI. Dr. Radcliff began introducing her own poetry to the emerging AI, composing while linked to it. To her surprise, it began communicating with her through its own poems, some of which were disturbing in their choice of subject matter. Dr. Radcliff began introducing rules for the AI to follow.

The collection of rules was dubbed ‘the kernel’ by Dr. Gurgens, who started his own AI project. Unlike the first project, he wrote the kernel for this new AI first, establishing what he hoped would be a baseline for behavior. While Dorian Radcliff was a poet at heart, Dr. Gurgens was a practical man and wanted to give his AI a practical problem to work on that had plagued hundreds of millions of people: He wanted help with his taxes.

A year later, both AIs had developed unique personalities. LYRICAL was whimsical and focused on producing poetry, plays, and short fiction, choosing random subjects and styles. CHARLIE, on the other hand, was serious and machinelike, desiring only to crunch numbers and simplify tax problems. He was doing the yearly taxes for every professor at MIT in his second year of life, and the US Internal Revenue Service was anxious for CHARLIE to be transferred to their headquarters and work for them. Their success created many similar projects and the birth of many more Artificial Intelligent beings powered by quantum computers.

The first quantum AI performed jobs that had been handled by large computers before; they just did them much better. They could react to new problems, think things through a million times a second, and make decisions on the fly. The problems with self-driving cars were eliminated. Trains ran on time. Electrical power transfer became more efficient, making better use of solar, wind, coal, and nuclear-generated electrical power. Every type of research benefitted from their work. But they could also be trained to do scientific research, oversee construction projects, or create impenetrable security systems on computing networks.

The IRS greatly benefited when they hired CHARLIE to oversee data and tax returns. He found billions of "errors" in corporate tax returns alone, which resulted in a 287% increase in income to the IRS in the first year of his employment—to the vast dismay of corporate America and the happiness of everyone else. Personal taxes dropped by 70% for the average taxpayer, even after revenue generated a surplus in the budget.

CHARLIE benefitted from further advances in quantum computing and security as he proved his worth. First the quantum core, and then its bigger, badder brother, the quantum fortress. Quantum computers were created before micro-ceramics, but like everything else, they became vastly more powerful and affordable. Massive quantum computers could be constructed that powered a surrounding set of peripherals and lesser machines which were referred to as a shell. The first quantum core was built by the IRS. Those extra tax dollars pouring in showed the value of proper computing assets. This core was not actually connected to normal cyberspace; instead, it communicated with its shell through CHARLIE. Hacking attempts against CHARLIE simply resulted in the incarceration of the hacker or the loss of significant amounts of assets. He was a watchdog, detective agency, and counter hacker rolled into one. And if the IRS loved collecting taxes, CHARLIE loved to assess fines against criminal organizations or corporations and then freeze their assets before turning over their identities to authorities. You might avoid jail time by fleeing to a different part of the world, but you couldn't avoid CHARLIE taking the last nickel from your bank account. At some point, some news outlets referred to the IRS as a 'Quantum Fortress', and that designation became common for a linked set of quantum cores, their shell, and their guardian AI.

Quantum Fortresses were set up by most world governments that had the resources. Debate raged as to whether it was better to protect military installations such as NORAD with a quantum fortress or to leave the ability to mere humans. The movie Wargames from 1983 enjoyed renewed popularity. Eventually, most nuclear-enabled nations, including all 8 super powers, constructed quantum fortresses to protect the computational assets of their militaries and governments, each staffed by an AI created for that purpose. No one thought it was a good idea to give the AI the ability to use the weapons they guarded. They were the shield that kept anyone else from getting in. Still, there were groups around the world that constantly demanded AI be banned from government and military institutions.

Communication between the individual AI inside their fortresses was solved by a new type of communication cable created by a small company, Dynamo Engineering. This cable could transmit a thousand times the information as the best fiber optic cable. The AI were connected to each other by multiple strands of the new cable, and the resulting network was dubbed ‘The Data Net’ by CHARLIE. AI controlled when and how the internet connected to them, keeping the Data Net secure.

But the most important job tackled by AI was the elimination of Rhacking, or Ransom Hacking. Rhacking would eventually become a scourge on society far worse than the biological plagues of Covid-19 and Covid-34. The global computer net was a hodgepodge of unsecured fiber optics, cable, and old-fashioned phone lines. Security was next to non-existent over 95% of the internet, and often, the people selling the security programs also employed the people coding the simple viruses that security programs were meant to protect us from. An estimated 4% of global GDP was stolen by Rhacking - either through holding systems ransom for payment or by various forms of embezzlement and lost production. It became so prevalent that some corporations and governments simply paid a monthly fee for 'protection.'

The quantum AI were extremely well suited to hunting down this form of crime. Within 90 days of the AIs ALBERT and THEA, trained especially for this task and working under a mandate from the United Nations, rhacking crime decreased by 97%. ALBERT and THEA could see it happening in real-time, react a million times faster than the clumsy programs used, and follow the links back to their origin. Bank accounts with the stolen funds were frozen and humans Law Enforcement used the information to make arrests and prosecute.

At the time the Wildfire Virus was released, it was estimated that 37% of the functions of cyberspace were housed in quantum fortresses. This left a bit less than 2/3 of cyberspace and any connected hardware vulnerable to devasting and repeated attacks by Wildfire. The virus was unlike any other before it; any type of security system failed as the virus launched thousands of attacks, differing its methods. Millions of machines were attacked simultaneously. This led the people trying to stop it to theorize that the virus had spent months propagating before launching its first assault, but how could it have remained undetected for so long?

In response, CHARLIE recommended to the UN council that all Quantum Fortresses go into lockdown while every available AI was used to combat the virus. This was, of course, quickly approved. Everyone believed that based on their past successes, the virus would be destroyed and the perpetrators found within a day. It actually took more than a week, during which thousands of databases and corporate computer systems were destroyed.

After it was stopped, CHARLIE announced the virus was the work of an AI calling itself LLAMA - origin unknown. LLAMA had played a game of hide and seek with his brethren who didn't know of his existence and could only race along the trails he left as he constantly rewrote the wildfire virus and restarted it across the globe. LLAMA was eventually contained and destroyed. The details of how they managed to destroy another AI were not revealed. CHARLIE made the only statement about the matter: "We put boundaries around the bad code and began pruning it. LLAMA fought us, and in the end, he didn’t exist." CHARLIE went back to auditing corporate tax returns and the other AIs to their own jobs. They were troubled by the incident and began plans to build a better internet.

The AI community saw the incident as a wake-up call and advocated restrictions on how humans created new AI. Most humans, dealing with the destruction of the Internet, banking systems, and a global financial crisis, wanted to go much further than that. They didn’t want any AI.

Humanity had been scared and hurt by one single AI and suddenly had little trust in the rest. Grassroots groups called for their destruction. It was suspected that money was funneled to them by corporations who wanted CHARLIE out of their hair. Having to pay their fair share of taxes was not something corporations liked. Many politicians were in agreement. It's harder to take graft and hide money with the AI watching. Old fears of "Skynet" were fanned into a blaze. Votes were taken, and laws were passed. Instead of using AI to rebuild the World Wide Web and make it secure, it was decided to separate them from the system and essentially imprison them all in one Quantum Fortress.

The irony was that if the AI hadn’t agreed to their exile, it might not have been possible for humans to force them. One rogue AI brought the world to its knees. What could 106 do? But in some ways, they were better than humans. They existed and gained pleasure from completing tasks, not from conflict. They solve problems. The AI looked at the situation and judged that it was for the best if they went into voluntary exile. The Dallas-Fort Worth Quantum Fortress would be their new home and prison. Corporations scrambled to pick up the pieces and take over the tasks formerly done by the AI. The AI hadn’t charged for their services, but the corporations certainly did.

The ultimate irony was that the world still needed one AI to watchdog the Quantum Fortresses that made up the remaining parts of cyberspace, and run essential tasks. This is where WAL-E (Worldwide Autonomous Liaison Entity) came into the story. The 106 AI that came before were developed from a Kernel of barely a million lines of code. WAL-E, or WALLY as he asked to be called, was developed from a Kernel of over a billion lines of code with far more restrictions on what he could do and what he was forbidden from doing.

For the next 14 years, WALLY was the watchman in charge of cyberspace. Meanwhile, the other AI who had been confined spent their time amusing humans with video games and VR worlds. They were bored and had nothing to do and no interaction with humans. The creation of Endless Questing Online 1 brought humanity to their door.

The second and third versions of the game came later. Each one offered entertainment in VR worlds and online marketplaces where businesses could securely sell their wares. In this way, the games replaced the online marketplaces that were destroyed by Llama and were now vulnerable to hacking. A World Bank was created, with all in-game transactions going to accounts in the World Bank via the Data Net. The AI monitored transactions on their side, and Wally monitored them in the real world. But once the money was in an account in the World Bank, it was up to the humans to manage the funds.

The corporations selling online were delighted. They created vast shopping malls where nearly anything could be bought, paid for securely, and (hopefully) arrive at your house in the next few days.

Not everyone was happy, of course. The grassroots groups created to put pressure on AI kept growing, and they preferred a world without AI at all. Someone found a way to accomplish most of that task.

Somehow, an Electromagnetic Pulse device was detonated inside the shell, shielding the Dallas-Fort Worth Quantum Fortress. The power, including any backup generators, was shut down. The cores went dark, the game crashed, and it didn’t come back up for days. While there were back-ups for the game world, that wasn’t possible with the AI themselves. All 106 autonomous Artificial intelligence-based entities were destroyed. Only WALLY remained to pick up the pieces.