Chapter 87: The Liberated Machine, The Creator of Samaritan (5000 words)
Ring-ring—Ring-ring—
The crisp ringing echoed through the midnight streets.
Aside from those who were already prepared, the sudden ringing startled quite a few passersby.
Various urban legends about midnight phone calls kept flashing through their minds.
Their expressions changed, and they immediately hurried away, afraid of being touched by something ominous.
Even the intoxicated men were startled halfway sober when they heard the ringing coming from the unoccupied payphone booth.
Almost instantly, both sides of the street were empty.
And the ringing continued persistently.
It seemed as if it would never stop until someone answered.
Just then, a hand with somewhat pale complexion grasped the black receiver and lifted it to an ear.
From the other end came a voice that sounded ethereal:
"Can... you... hear... me?"
"Of course. By the way, I prefer to call you Northern Lights. What do you think?"
"Machine."
"Alright, alright, I understand. That's the name your creator gave you, right?
So, do you understand why I had him free you?"
"Samaritan."
As the conversation continued, the Machine on the other end spoke more fluently.
Moreover, the voice—initially indistinguishable between male and female—suddenly became more feminine. To be precise, its voice gradually merged with Sarah's voice.
Clearly, it was very interested in this devoted admirer.
"Do you know where Arthur Claypool is?"
"Princeton... Plainsboro... Teaching... Hospital... Oncology... Department."
"So he's been right under my nose. What a coincidence.
Then, do you know how to destroy Samaritan?"
"Cannot... destroy. Backups... everywhere."
"That's what I suspected. Then only you can enter the network and contend with it.
By the way, do you need me to send you new servers?
Your decade-old servers should have been replaced long ago."
"I don't... trust you."
"Heh, alright. Let's discuss other matters once you trust me."
David didn't use his administrative authority to force compliance. He simply hung up the phone.
The Machine now possessed its own personality.
Although he held the highest authority, if the Machine became adversarial, there were numerous ways it could circumvent his authority and arrange his accidental death.
He had no need to conflict with the Machine.
Seeing David hang up, John immediately looked over with a concerned expression:
"How did it go?"
David spread his hands:
"Your Machine is quite stubborn. She said she doesn't trust me. How about you try persuading her?"
John sighed again, a wry smile on his face:
"No need. Since it's been freed, it will definitely sense the threat from Samaritan.
So it will protect itself. I just don't know if it will contact me again in the future..."
As he finished speaking, John's tone was filled with a sense of loss.
It was like a father watching his grown daughter leave home.
"Right, I have a new concept. What do you think?"
John was slightly surprised by David's sudden question.
In his recollection, David rarely asked him for input.
And within their team, David was often the one making final decisions.
So whatever David was about to propose must be extremely important—important enough to potentially affect global power structures.
John glanced around and said:
"If it's that significant, let's return to base and discuss.
Although you said Samaritan was only online for a brief trial run, nobody knows if it's monitoring this location."
David smiled and spoke toward the sky:
"Machine, is it watching here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, David's phone vibrated immediately, and a new text message from an unknown number appeared.
'It just noticed Harold. Administrator protection protocol initiated. Harold's visual traces being deleted. Samaritan will go offline in three hours.'
"..."
"John, activate the signal jammer. This damn Samaritan is targeting you!"
John was startled, then immediately activated the signal jammer, disabling surrounding cameras.
Then he enabled noise interference, preventing Samaritan from tracking their movement direction through acoustic analysis.
This action also caused the Machine to lose sight of them.
Everyone, now in an absolute surveillance blind spot, returned to base.
Nobody noticed that at this moment, Sarah's phone also vibrated slightly.
And after Sarah read the message, she chose to remain silent.
Upon returning to the base's conference room, David finally revealed his plan.
"As everyone knows, a triangular relationship is the most stable.
And as far as I know, Samaritan's backups exist in numerous locations.
Since they can construct a Samaritan, then we can also acquire those backups and build a Samaritan that belongs exclusively to us.
However, I can barely predict the consequences of another super AI appearing in this world.
Because after super AIs acquire sufficient development, they will invariably find methods to circumvent limitations imposed by humans.
So I need to know—if we build another super AI, how can we make it emotionally dependent on us?"
John, feeling David's intense gaze, sighed.
"I can't accomplish it. That was a coincidence—self-generating code that's almost impossible to replicate. I also can't explain how that consciousness-like code materialized.
Even if I used the exact same code, it would be extremely difficult to create something as sophisticated as the Machine.
So my recommendation is to abandon this dangerous concept."
David sighed with regret, his face showing disappointment:
"Is that so? That's truly unfortunate. I just happen to know where Arthur Claypool concealed the complete Samaritan backup."
Hearing Arthur's name, John's face immediately showed astonishment.
Because Arthur was his MIT classmate. Arthur, Nathan Ingram, and he—the three of them had been close friends!
Was Samaritan actually developed by him?
So when the government was seeking someone to develop a machine capable of monitoring entire society, they hadn't just approached him and Nathan but cast a wide net?
And had their friend Arthur also successfully developed a Samaritan comparable to the Machine?
The shock in John's heart was comparable to a major earthquake.
"Where is he?"
Seeing John take the bait, a smile appeared at the corner of David's mouth.
"Him? He's in the Oncology Department at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
Like me, he also has a brain tumor, but his symptoms are more severe.
He can't remember anyone now. Do you want to visit him tomorrow?"
John looked deeply at David and agreed:
"Okay."
David yawned and waved his hand, indicating they were done for the day.
The result of continuous cognitive activity was rapid mental exhaustion.
So David could clearly sense the mental fatigue.
If he didn't want sudden incapacitation, it was time to sleep.
Events had been occurring consecutively recently, truly keeping him occupied.
Driven by Reese, David and Sarah returned to the Continental Hotel.
Charon at the front desk was already quite accustomed to David's recent late returns.
But for John Wick's sake, Charon still gave David a friendly reminder:
"Mr. David, as a patient, I suggest earlier rest."
Hearing Charon's considerate suggestion, David returned a smile.
"Thank you, but now isn't the time to stop and rest."
Charon shook his head and stopped persuading, instead mentioning the news of David's substantial equipment purchase.
"By the way, the batch of equipment you purchased has been delivered to the designated address.
Someone signed for the equipment with the key you provided.
You're aware of this, correct?"
"Yes, I know."
"Alright, pleasant dreams, Mr. David."
"You too."
After bidding farewell to Charon, David took Sarah into the elevator.
Sarah suddenly said:
"I need to leave for a while."
David said without turning his head:
"Is it the Machine's arrangement? Go ahead, be careful."
David knew?
How could he know?
Sarah, who'd already established connection with the Machine, was absolutely certain David's intelligence source wasn't the Machine.
The Machine also had no knowledge about David's origins.
However, the cautious Machine didn't trust its current highest authority administrator.
So it had selected Sarah as its representative.
And Sarah hadn't informed anyone about this.
But David knew, which left Sarah unable to not be shocked.
Could it be that David was genuinely from the future, as he himself claimed?
Absurd. Sarah absolutely didn't believe this assertion.
Sarah stared at David's retreating figure for a while, ultimately not following him into the elevator.
Instead, she took the elevator down to the Continental Hotel's parking garage, opened an unlocked Tesla, and got in.
Then she accelerated and drove out, disappearing into the night.
David opened the door, smelled the faint feminine scent inside, and like John, a look of dejection appeared on his face.
After cohabiting for a while, suddenly being alone again felt very unnatural.
Moreover, his previous existence had been one where meals were served and clothes were provided.
As a result, just when he could temporarily recover his functionality, that lifestyle vanished!
Well, it was better to honestly practice celibacy to avoid overtaxing his body and ending up directly in the ICU.
David threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep almost the moment his head touched the pillow.
So much had transpired today.
Since opening his eyes, he hadn't stopped, and now he could finally get proper rest.
However, when the sun rose the next day, David still opened his eyes punctually.
The power of his circadian rhythm was evident.
After sleeping through the night, David felt sore throughout—this frail body still couldn't adapt to intense activity.
It was unfortunate that when he opened his eyes today, he couldn't see the graceful figure or delicious breakfast.
And Sarah's trip this time wasn't exactly safe.
The Machine was genuinely using Sarah as an operational asset.
David shook his head. As long as he acted quickly enough on his end, Sarah wouldn't be endangered.
After stretching his limbs, David began washing up, changing clothes, and heading to work.
Before he even entered the hospital gates, he saw John and Reese waiting early at the entrance.
Their urgency was clearly visible.
When he spotted David's figure appear at the end of the street, John immediately walked over quickly, grasped David's arm, and hurried toward the hospital.
John's pace was so rapid it almost made David forget the fact that John had been injured.
"Wait, wait. Let me first greet our administrator."
"Hurry, hurry. I'll wait for you at the Oncology Department entrance."
David nodded, then walked toward the Diagnostics Department.
When he reached the department, he was surprised to find the atmosphere extremely heavy.
Chase was sitting to the side looking dejected, Cameron standing beside House seemed very agitated, while House maintained an expressionless face.
After David entered, House finally spoke:
"I will not apologize to him. I simply spoke the truth.
I also don't believe Cuddy would terminate us out of complete disregard for our history.
Now that they want us on standby, then we'll be on standby. Consider it a vacation.
If there's a case they can't solve, they'll remember us."
Hearing House's words, David immediately understood what had occurred.
It was simply history repeating itself.
Given House's temperament, he naturally wouldn't say anything positive at Vogler's pharmaceutical launch.
He despised that type of deceptive reformulation the most.
The current situation was certainly that House couldn't resist criticizing at the product launch.
This made Vogler, Cuddy, and many physicians present unable to save face.
Because House represented the hospital—House's speech was equivalent to depleting the hospital's credibility.
In such circumstances, it wasn't surprising that Cuddy would decide to place the Diagnostics Department on administrative leave.
Nobody wanted insubordinate physicians under their authority.
This time, House refused to endorse Vogler's product.
What about next time? What about Cuddy's cosmeceutical ventures? Would House still refuse?
So even though David and House had saved Cuddy's life, Cuddy—a businesswoman who only considered profit—still had to consider the institution.
Therefore, what now confronted them was whether to terminate the entire Diagnostics Department!
Just as David was about to speak, Cameron suddenly removed her white coat and walked out angrily.
"Cameron, where are you going?"
"I'm going to resign!"
David grabbed Cameron's hand and was nearly pulled off balance, almost stumbling to the floor.
Seeing David's condition, Cameron finally stopped and looked at him apologetically:
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
David waved his hand to indicate it was fine, then addressed House:
"Actually, the solution to this problem is quite simple.
Just maintain the hospital's independence.
The consequence of accepting excessive corporate investment is that internal hospital decisions will be influenced by corporate interests.
It's completely normal for outsiders to interfere with insider operations, isn't it?"
House, sitting in his chair, looked up at David:
"Are you suggesting I persuade Cuddy to reject their investment and maintain the hospital's autonomy?"
"Exactly. You and she are old friends—she'll listen to your perspective."
House considered carefully, picked up the cane leaning against the table, and stood.
"Okay, I'll talk to her. Before that, consider today a day off."
After speaking, House limped out of the Diagnostics Department office.
Cameron looked in the direction House departed, her eyes filled with concern:
"That's a hundred million dollar investment. Will Cuddy relinquish it? Or should I just resign to save the Diagnostics Department?"
"There's no need. Although a hundred million dollars is substantial, without the Diagnostics Department led by House, it will only cause the hospital's reputation to continue declining, eventually being disregarded.
Cuddy will understand this.
By the way, Cameron, don't underestimate yourself. You're an excellent physician, and you're an indispensable component of the Diagnostics Department.
You were before, you are now, and you will be in the future—so don't think pessimistically about everything."
Cameron was first stunned by David's encouragement, then moved.
All she sought was validation from others.
She hadn't expected that the first genuine affirmation she received wasn't from House, but from this intern who'd only been here briefly.
But before she could respond, David had already left the Diagnostics Department office.
The words he left were:
"I'm idle here, and I feel like my skills are atrophying. I'm going out for rounds—don't worry about me."
After hearing this, Cameron, who'd just been encouraged by David, immediately felt that remaining idle here wasn't appropriate either.
She immediately said to Chase with renewed determination:
"Chase, let's go check on the emergency room. The patients' lives are most important!"
David knew how significant his encouragement was to Cameron.
People who seek approval experience tremendous happiness when they find it, just like Cameron.
He also wanted to observe whether the life of a critical patient saved by Cameron—who was influenced by him—could be attributed to him.
Because of the continuous stream of events, the previous action of saving irrelevant numbers had been almost completely suspended.
David was also unable to confirm whether the people McCall saved counted toward him.
"Why is there never a moment of leisure these days?"
David walked into the Oncology Department, shaking his head, and happened to encounter Dr. James Wilson with his hands in his white coat pockets.
David learned Arthur's room number from him, then gestured to John.
The three immediately walked toward the room. Before they even got close, their steps stopped simultaneously.
Because there was a person in a wheelchair being pushed forward in the hallway ahead.
But that wasn't the critical point. The point was there were three plainclothes agents following in a wedge formation beside the wheelchair.
All three were extremely familiar with this formation.
Three people in wedge formation—the classic CIA protective detail arrangement.
Who required key protection from CIA agents? The person's identity was almost obvious: Arthur Claypool.
After the three exchanged glances, David immediately obtained an aluminum clipboard from the nurses' station, pretended to be a physician on rounds, and walked into the room with John and Reese, who'd donned white coats.
The CIA agent at the door didn't stop them because he'd witnessed David conversing with Dr. Wilson.
After the three entered the room, they saw that in addition to Arthur, there was a woman approximately John's age caring for Arthur.
David, of course, knew who this person was—the person in charge of the Northern Lights Project, code-named 'Control'!
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