The Case of the AI Suicide

By Shantnu Tiwari

A space ship is found wandering in a war zone, its crew vanished. But strangest of all, the Artificial Intelligences running the ship seemed to have deleted themselves, or in other words, committed suicide.

Or have they?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shantnu Tiwari
• Release date: Feb 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386895909

Book preview

1

It was the most baffling case I had ever been given .

Truth be told, it was the only case I had been given, ever since my death sentence.

Why had I been given the case? Because I am the most dangerous hacker on the planet. I’m not trying to boast. That’s what they had called me at my closed trial, where I had not been given a lawyer. What was the use, since my case had been pre-decided? They still needed a show trial, for reasons I didn’t understand. It’s not like the journalists were invited, so who were they trying to scare?

For five years, I had been helping myself to a few pennies here and there from the big banks. They had so much money, I figured they wouldn’t miss a penny here or there. And I was right. As long as I wasn’t too greedy, the fat pigs never caught me. Sure, I had to make a few changes to my lifestyle, like living in an abandoned hotel and never flaunting my wealth, but other than that, life was good.

Life had been good.

’Till I had made a big mistake.

Five years of stealing from banks, no one cared.

One time, and I mean exactly one time, I post a pro-democracy message on a forum. It was for a friend, a hippie friend who still lived for the good old days when Earth was still a democracy, where you could speak your mind without getting shot.

I thought he was a liar. Earth had never been free. Never in the thirty years I’d been alive, and the hippie wasn’t that older than me. He must have read too many history books.

Anyway, I posted exactly one message, in support of organising a peaceful protest. One message.

Fifteen minutes later, armed police wearing all black burst in. Hippie friend is lined against the wall and shot dead. I’m arrested, given a show trial, and sentenced to death, just two days later.

It was only a week later I find out why they didn’t kill me.

I had been standing with the hangman’s noose around my neck (constant wars meant there was a shortage of power, so hanging had come back in fashion). The doctor was there, to check I died properly. The guards were standing there, bored, like they had other more important stuff to do. I suppose my hanging was just one more boring routine for them. A big deal for me, not for them.

So there I was, noose around my neck, feeling very uncomfortable, sweating like a pig, my whole body shivering with fear and cold (but mainly fear) when they turned up. Two sleazy lawyers. I knew they were lawyers the moment they walked in. Greasy hair, crooked smiles, an attitude like they owned the planet. Hey, I got nothing against lawyers. My father was one. But like most defence lawyers, he had been one of the first to be executed after the Rebellion of 2150. Being a lawyer nowadays meant working for the government.

So these two lawyers had thrust a contract under my nose, while I was still stuck in the noose, my hands tied behind me.

Sign it now, no questions allowed, and we’ll let you live. Refuse, and the wild dogs outside the prison yard will enjoy your corpse for a week.

Great negotiating skills. How did one say no to that?

I had signed and was taken straight to the space station. I was dumped on this thing, a thing I hesitate to call a spaceship. Flying bucket would be a better term. Illegal child labour smuggled from Asia had better comforts than this pile of crap.

The seat was made of hard steel, no cushion or anything. The seatbelt was, I kid you not, a thick iron chain, the sort you would use to lock your hoverbike. The pilot tied me to the seat, assuring me it was for my own safety.

The spaceship took off with all the grace of a hungry lion ripping the intestines of a deer. It went from zero to ten Gs in a few seconds, and I screamed in pain as my eardrums burst. I had never experienced this much gravity, and I’m sure ships carrying passengers like me weren’t allowed to accelerate that fast. But ever since we had been losing the Outer Wars, the standards had fallen. The government had become more and more authoritarian, and people did the bare minimum they did to not get fired. Literally, as people were shot for small mistakes.

By the time I woke, we were almost near the battle station. Not that it mattered much, seeing as I had no outside view in the space bucket.

First I knew we were there was when they started opening my chains.

You know what your mission is?

No, I said. By that stage, I had no idea.

Good. Here is a handheld computer that contains all the details you need. It will also allow you to pass through the security fields on the station. Don’t lose it, or the automated systems will shoot you dead.

I was dragged to the back of the ship, where a door opened. I saw the spaceship was hovering a few metres above what looked like the battle station. I don’t know; I had never seen the station, and besides, I could only see a small part that looked like a docking station.

"We have orders not to