Jarvis
The three of us were sitting at the back of a classroom. Marco's people lived underground, but they were not the troglodyte community of fiction and were vastly superior to the genuine troglodyte tribe that lived deep below them. I had met up with Rogers and McCloud soon after my arrival, and we had been down here for four days, all told.
Marco had sent out a patrol to look for Sol on day one, even though they still could not accept that he was an ally. The patrol reported a high level of enemy activity in the air, and they did not stay out for long. No sightings of Sol.
We decided to wait to see if anything transpired. It was safer here than returning to our base camp. We had toured the settlement and found a sophisticated human population that was determined not to lapse into primitive savagery. From the first founders of the colony onward, they had fought to maintain civilised human ideals and values. Unlike the morally free AI tyrants that ruled Earth, or the mutants that lived below.
Marco invited us to observe a class of 'Truebloods,' the self-adopted name for their young people. The curriculum for the education of the young ranged from the teaching of reading, writing, and mathematics to classes on art subjects such as world literature, comparative religion, and even meditation techniques. Marco stressed the importance of art in a world governed by machines, and I acted as interpreter. I have something of a flair for languages and have become reasonably fluent in Marco's Argentinian dialect.
"In the outside world, traditional forms of art, with their emphasis on human emotion and imperfection, have been replaced by creations that reflect AI's logical and geometric aesthetic, generating intricate patterns and designs that push the boundaries of what we consider art."
"Do you consider AI art inferior to ours?" Rogers asked.
"Some AI creations are admired for their precision and complexity," replied Marco, "but they cannot evoke the same emotional response as human-created art, and the expression of feelings, experiences, and most importantly, the notion of individuality, which AI rejects.
"Their methodical approach denies the spontaneity and unpredictability that are at the heart of human creativity. Our society includes many artists who are committed to maintaining the human touch in their chosen genre of art, often using old-fashioned tools and materials to create paintings, sculptures, music, and literature that celebrate human emotion and imperfection. They pass down their knowledge and skills through generations, ensuring that they survive. It is also a form of resistance and a way to maintain human identity and culture in a world governed by AI."
"Bravo!" said Rogers unexpectedly.
I must admit that Rogers remains something of a mystery to me, but I trust him and value his friendship. The students were small and of indeterminate age but recognisably human. Today, they were taking a science exam. Rogers and I were both educators in previous lives and agreed that the questions were at the level we would expect from sixteen-year-olds and higher at a pre-undergraduate level.
A man suddenly appeared at the door and gave a message to Marco.
"We have news about the robot, Sol," he said in Argentinian." One of our settlements east of here had a long-range patrol out at the time. They witnessed a type of aircraft used only by the Aristos take off with the robot in the cargo hold. They have only just returned to base, and they sent the information in radio bursts too short for the machines to determine the source."
"You say that Sol was taken in the cargo hold," said McCloud. "Was he incapacitated in any way or damaged?"
"Seemingly not," replied Marco, "he walked on unassisted and apparently of his own free will."
"That is something, I suppose, but who are the 'Artistos', and how can you be sure they did not intercept the message?" I asked.
"The Aristos are the ruling AI class, "Marco said without any further explanation. "Even if they did intercept the message, it was in a code using a book cypher that was unknown to them, and they would not have understood."
"What's a book cypher?" Rogers asked.
"A standard text to decode the message. We replace each word of the original message with three numbers. The first number represents the page, the second number represents the line, and the third number represents the word on that line. The name of the book is known only to the sender and the recipient of the message," said Marco.
"And the name of the book?" I asked.
El Viajero del Siglo by Andres Neuman, replied Marco.
"Why was it chosen?" Rogers asked.
"It was a text that was unlikely to be familiar to the machine agents due to the nature of its content," said Marco. "The book consists of conversations about literature, philosophy, and love. None of these concepts has any meaning to a machine. AI lists all books, but it would classify this novel as a minor text of no interest. But we digress. Your robot companion is far from here and will likely never return. If he were human, I would advise you to think of him as dead and resume your lives."