A short story 
by 
GeekSedition

 
ADAM Is Out There.
 
______
 
Eight years has passed since life changed.  Neon and bright flashy lights have gave way for simple dark dingy smoke.  The smoke has given way for the more fluid vape smoke.   The opulence and allure of Las Vegas in its prime is no more.  It's almost as though time rolled back to dank dingy lounge lizard days.  Come to think of it, I have even seen a few leisure suites around.  Slot machines became a thing of tradition and dwindled in numbers.  This gave way for the more traditional table games.  Oddly enough Art Deco became a thing again.  To an outside observer one may think time has rolled backward except most of us wear some form of technology or at minimum have a com device in our pockets.   
 
See, a few years ago, we knew there would be an energy shortage but in the natural human ways we chose to ignore it.  No longer is there a luxury of pretty things that use power.  Power is reserved for things we need.   In other words our technology took priority over flashy lights and other conveniences of electricity.  We have begun to rely on our tech so much now, one may relate humans to a slower, more dumb and simple "Binar" character from the Star Trek TNG television series my father made me watch as a child. Without our technology and power we would not survive.
 
The one thing we didn't anticipate was the floods and rains.  It has baffled scientists to this day.  Some say it's a result of the magnetic pole shift, others think there is some atmospheric toxin.  But the reality is we don't know.  No matter, we knew life as we knew it could not sustain itself and change was coming whether we wanted it or not.  We have gone from conserving water to electricity now. The good thing is we are now a more resourceful people and I might even go as far to say that, as a race, we may now survive if the planet does.
 
As I grew up I was told that information would be the new currency.  The term "Information Age" really was trite.   I remember going to DEF CON some years back and I decided to count the number of times I heard the term.  In the course of 2 hours I begrudgingly counted twenty three times.  How ironic since I was at DEF CON 23.  But it got me thinking.  With stores I shop at offering me discounts or points for presenting my identity chip, credit cards offering more and more awards, how was I paying for this?  They all collected my information.  Now being in the technology industry this should have been second nature to know this, but we all have our judgement lapses.   From that they used algorithms to predict what I may buy next and when. By offering me incentives just at the right moment, I would be lured to buy from that particular establishment like a fly to light.  
 
There was a wave coming and I saw it… I felt it.  Just as people adopted bit coin some years ago and began creating bit coin mining rigs, I wanted to be the first on a new wave.  I had the idea to create a server that would crawl the Internet looking for statistics, only autonomously.  It was genius and quickly became my passion.   
 
Countless hours, days, and nights I spent in my local coffee shop and bar while I worked on the system.  Becoming an expert at designing algorithms while and consuming copious amounts of java and "work" scotch. I absorbed the fake LED incandescent rays from the dingy lighting.  I found this comforting.  That combined with the pale streetlights shining through the large windows with the sounds of the rain and glasses clanking was soothingly hypnotic.
 
The time I had spent fine-tuning algorithms to look and sort through the endless sea of data.   Depth first, breadth first searches and fake AI intelligence was a new thing for me, but I was drawn in.  First versions ran and it was pulling out all sorts of amazing correlations from the deepest corners of the deepnet, autonomously.  Who would have thought that the per capita sales of cheese in the USA would coincide with the amount of engineering doctorates awarded!     It began to take on a life of its own!   Affectionately I began to call it "ADAM".    Autonomous Data Aggregate and Matching.   After several code iterations I ended up on version 23.  It was glorious.   It was finding data that I never knew would exist in the open.   Daily it would send me messages with statistics and the best margins on the correlations.
 
From that data I began to adjust my stock portfolio.   I made money -- Information really was the new currency!  Based on my new income stream, I was able to give ADAM23 a fatter pipe and beef up its hardware.   The speed at which it did its work was quite amazing.  It even learned from the successful matches and fine-tuned itself!  
 
Money was not a worry for me and I was on a geek high!   I wanted to share this with the masses and filed papers to speak at DEF CON 32.  I truly thought I had something quite amazing.  I mean ADAM was really a form of intelligence in that it learned to work better.  In the end I was accepted to come and talk about ADAM.  Moreover, I wanted to talk about, and invite people to see the data and collectively try to make use of such random data such as Murder Rates correlating to the adoption of a certain web browser.  Surely we could put this data to some other use than making money.  Use it some how to help society. What a better place to tap into a mass of free thinkers!  I wanted to share this data.
 
On one particularly dark evening, I was at my local nursing a nice single malt.  It was one of those perfect scotch moments with lounge lizards on the loose and a piano player ticking the keys.   On this fine evening, I was sifting through some of the data ADAM had found.  I noticed that ADAM had crashed, but restarted again.  Just as I was trying to figure out how it restarted, I noticed a rather ominous guy looking at me from the outside through the front window.  This made me nervous and I decided to leave out the back.
 
In the next few days, strange things began happening.  More people started watching me!   Standing in the shadows on the street.  Getting soaked in the rain, being very careful to not be noticed.  Ironically this put me on guard and I began to see it more and more.  It was unnerving to say the least.  What had I done wrong?  Never would I have thought that ADAM was doing anything bad, by day I was a law abiding, coded and micro chipped citizen.  I wrote robotics servo controller software, paid my taxes and looked for love like anyone else in there 30s.  
 
It wasn't long after these things began to happen that ADAM went silent.  Its server no longer responded.  My ISP had no idea who I was and when I called the help desk to inquire.  It was as though I never existed.   Something was up and I had to preserve ADAM, fast!  I had a database dump from a couple days ago, along with his code base.  Quickly I encrypted this and made 2 copies.  One on my own data card I safely stored hidden inside my cars FOB.  The other I had to get away from me.  This data had the potential to predict a potentially limitless amount of things.  I had to get it safe.  Now although I was never into underground or illegal activities, one always has to have a backup plan.  I knew of a person who would put things in safekeeping, for a fee.  Starting my crypto chat, I made contact.
 
  Me: Hi, I need to put something in safekeeping.
 
  Sanctuary: I want to know nothing about it.  Only how big is the package?
 
  Me: It's a micro memory chip.
…  
After some time had passed.. I finally asked
 
  Me:  You still there?
 
  Sanctuary: Yes.  It will cost you five large, cash.  Put it in a brown paper bag and go to Capriottie's Sandwich shop at 322 W Sahara Ave precisely at 10pm on Wednesday.  There you will see a man in a black fedora.  Give him the bag and say "You forgot your gravy".  Walk away.  Do not give him the chip.  
 
  Sanctuary: From there go to the Stratosphere and sit at the first blackjack table as you walk in.  Be there at 11:30pm.  You will be asked if you want a Tom Collins.  You will agree and when you are brought the drink, you will tip your server and drop the memory card under a $10 bill.  Do you understand?
 
  Me: Yes.  Thank you.
 
  Sanctuary: I remember you from 23.
 
That was it; the chat was closed.  Though the last message really made me want to reach out again and ask what he meant, I figured I better not.  How could they remember me anyway?  I never gave any identification.   No matter, I needed to get ADAM23 safe!
 
I barely went outside until Wednesday.   I sat alone in a dark apartment nervous, I smoked and drinking a lot.  Wednesday came and I put together the cash and headed out that night.  Of course it had to be raining and strangely eerie as well.  Though Las Vegas is not what it once was, there should still be a few drunken tourists on the streets.  But there was nobody except the odd random person shuffling along under the glistening street lamps.  As I drove to the shop listening to the repeating knock wish of my windshield wipers with the paper bag on the passenger seat I could not help but wonder… what was 23.
 
Arriving at the shop I grab the bag and walk in.  Sure enough there is a rather large dude wearing a black fedora eating a sandwich.  I approach and now two-toned colour from the rain, crumpled paper bag on his table. "You forgot your gravy." I said.
 
Having issues parting with the money it felt as though I stood there for an hour waiting, hoping, that I would get a response.  In reality it was only a matter of seconds the man in the fedora simply picked up the bag by its crumpled folded over top and placed it beside him on the seat with no acknowledgement to me whatsoever.  I figured I should make my leave fast.  He didn't seem like the type I would want to tango with on a dark street.
 
Hastily I got back in my car and began to drive off.  Noticing the two shimmering lights of another cars headlamps washed by the rains in my rear view mirror. It stayed close on my tail and made me uneasy.  Paranoid, I sped up, and then ripped up on my parking break. I simultaneously slammed the clutch and wrenched on my wheel, shifting back down to 2nd while taking a some months of my clutch disk sending my car into a nice hydroplane assisted handbrake turn into the opposite direction and lane.
 
Quickly shifting gears again to get away I made it into a side street and was able to make sure I was not followed.  I needed to be absolutely sure I was not being tailed.  I left to Ballys and parked my car there.  Got lost in the smoky dark dingy casino.  
 
Passing by a roulette table with the number 23 on its history 3 times in a row, I thought that was odd. I moved through the crowd imagining to myself here with a DEF CON speakers badge.  But at this rate it was surely hopeless as DEF CON 32 was to start tomorrow.  How could I talk about something that now doesn't exist? Someone or some agency was out to get me.   I made my way back out to a cab and got to Stratosphere just in the nick of time.   
 
I planted my panting self down at a blackjack table and began to play a few hands while catching my breath and busting on 23, 2 times.  Just as I was told, I heard somebody ask "Hey 23, How about a Tom Collins?"   I turned my head to see a drop-dead bombshell blond with perfect curves leaving very little to the imagination asking the recognizable inquiry. Caught in a moment where time seemed to stand still, I stared…  The goddess before me said with a chuckle, I'll assume that to be a yes and she walked off.   I guess I just assumed another ominous creepy dude would come for my ADAM and not a vision of perfection.
 
Distracted, I played a couple hands.  Looking up in a moment of paranoia I noticed 3 men in black trench coats and hats.  Just like the movies, hats tilted to hide their faces. Each of them perched in 3 points around me as if to triangulate my position and make a move!   The bombshell returned with my drink and a look of terror in her eyes and said softly you should go 23.   Be at 32; now GO!   With that I put the memory card down on her tray with the 10 spot on top.    Took my drink and walked away from my hand at the table slowly.  
 
The three men began to move toward me.  Its then I received a message and truly understood the advantages of wearable tech.  In my glasses a message said, "Turn left 23."  Without hesitation I turned left, realizing I was running directly to one of the strange men.  Then another text "RIGHT!"  As if doing some weird dance I pivoted on my left foot and changed directions.  I saw a crowd of people at the roulette table.  I made my way through the crowd as if to be absorbed by osmosis. Just then I felt somebody pull me right in to the edge of the table.  
 
"Its safe here for a while 23.  Make a bet!"  It was the bombshell.  "Tanks! What's your name?" I inquired.  "My name is inconsequential right now, but you can call me Sanctuary.   Make a bet."  She looked in my eye and winked.  Realizing my assumption that Sanctuary was a guy was a completely wrong; I put my remaining chips on 23.  A moment later I heard the sound of the roulette ball whirring around the wheel.   "No more bets." as the dealer waved her hands across the top of the table.   
 
I said "Sanctuary, I know you from somewhere and you seem to know me.  Where from?"   "Not now she said, this will all become evident.  Just then I heard the tinker of the ball bouncing into position on the wheel.  "Twenty Three" I heard the dealer say.   I thought to myself that's pretty bizarre. No matter considering I put $32 in chips on 23, I made quite a bit of money.    Make another bet!" she said.  My mind really not focusing on the game, I played it safe and just put $20 in chips down on the outside red.   Sanctuary pushed it over into the 32 spot.  A few moments later the roulette ball was in play.  "No more bets." I heard again from the dealer.  This time I was a little more focused.  As I heard the rat tat tat of the ball bouncing around I began to hear my own heart beating.   "Thirty Two" said the dealer.   I heard claps from the table.
 
"You should go now." said Sanctuary as she signalled for the dealer to cash me out.   "When will I see you again?" I asked.   She told me to make sire to come to DEF CON 32 even though I was not speaking.  She said, ÒWe'll find you, don't worry."  With that a soft kiss on the cheek and she said, its safe now.  But leave this place.  It was in that moment of the kiss that it all came together like a movie in fast forward in my head.  Flashes of the girl that got away back at DEF CON 23.  We shared an amazing weekend together never to talk again after the CON.  I tried to find her, but was never able to.  As I looked up to get a glimpse into those eyes again, now remembering where I had seen her, she was gone.  Just a text stating "Don't worry 23, ADAM is safe."
 
I should have been very worried that she even knew it was ADAM she had… but something about her made me feel safe.  Waves of paranoia entered my reality once again and I bolted to a cab.   I figured it would be safer for me to get a room at Ballys rather than go home for the next few days.  Surely those people would be looking.
 
The next day as I stood in line to get my human badge I was a little saddened that I was not getting a speaker badge that I was supposed to get.   More than ever I wanted to share ADAM with the community.  I just felt as though making myself stand out would be a bad idea right now.  For now I stood in queue with the masses waiting.  At that point a rather strong looking man came to the line and towered over me.  I looked up to reveal a rather large bald man with a long pointy goatee in a red shirt, with a GOON badge.  It had a display showing brass pipes and steam all over keeping in line with this year's theme of Steam Punk.   "Come with me 23." he said in a commanding voice.  A little shocked and surprised, I immediately complied and as he led me away from the line, I noticed the trench coats again.   Could this have been another close call?
 
"Its not safe for you here.  We know who you are, and you have something that people need to know about.  Put this on."  He handed me a human badge.    We both entered the anonymity of the mass of eager technocrats, hackers and otherwise "wannabe elite".   There were people of all walks of life. From super massive beards, to bionic like people... Oh how I missed the eclectic melding pot of geekery. I felt at home. But even more, in an odd way, I felt safe.  
 
"We know what you have been working on 23." Proclaimed the goon. "I have a name you know." I retorted getting a little frustrated that I really had no idea what was happening and so many people seemingly knowing me. "We don't have names here, just anonymity. I figured you should know this by now 23!" the Goon grunted. Okay, now I am feeling like I am getting the cold shoulder. Our journey took us through the mass of what should have been my mecca, and finally came to a stop at a room marked B-23. "Was this for real?" I thought to myself.
 
Entering B-23 it was dark, with very little lights on and bunch of people I never met before. Wait here the Goon said. There were about 10 people sitting around as if waiting for something... Or somebody.  Some lying on road cases, other sitting on the floor.  Only one person sat in a chair.  The goon went over to a particularly pale fellow. They had a conversation I was not privy to while looking over in my direction at random intervals made me quite uneasy. The others in the room were silent.   Just looking at me. 
 
The pale guy came over and said, "Hi, they call me Spruce Goose, friends call me Goose.  You should call me Goose.   So lets have it." "Have it?" I said. "Look, we are here to help. Help you understand why the feds are looking for you." I decided that okay, these "Feds" as Goose said was looking for me, or ADAM. So I should just hand him over and lets figure this out.
 
I handed Goose the memory chip with trepidation. He took it with his hands, and immediately began to sniff the chip. That's right, He smelled it and said "Smells like we have a Linux based install... No wait..." he paused and smelled it again. "This ones a winner folks, we need a BSD server stat!" I know he was trying to be funny, and lets face it, most of us have an off the wall sense of humour in this world, but the strange thing is he was absolutely right in that it was BSD we needed!
 
It was then that the others snapped to action like power had just been applied to a bunch of robots! Some began typing; others began to build a network right on the spot as they slung servers out of the cases. They were going to load ADAM. Goose said to me, "Look 23, you have something they want, something important. We want to help you find out what -- or why. I believe the data that the ADAM found can change the world. See, as humans, we have been collecting substantial amounts of data from the time a computer was a job title! The problem is until now; we have never been able to actually correlate that data effectively. We have only been able stumble on random data sets that line up. Never has a person actually been able to get the algorithms just right such that a computer can do this autonomously. You have done it!"
 
After some discussion and questions around the algorithms one of the others said, "we're ready." Suddenly I felt like Neo as he was about to be ripped from The Matrix. "We just need your decryption key to unpack ADAM." It was real; I was going to do this. After a moment of silence I said quietly, "No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun." in an increasingly softer and softer register as if to just give ADAM away. They all looked at me as if I had a third eye. Insert moment of silence here.
 
Suddenly depersonalized and not feeling like myself I just yelled out, "WHAT? YOU KNOW SEEMINGLY EVERYTHING ABOUT ME, MY WORK, AND MY LIFE… EXCEPT… EXCEPT MY NAME."  I began to quiver "BUT THE MOMENT I GIVE YOU THE KEY TO MY BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS YOU LOOK AT ME AS IF I'M THE CRAZY ONE? ITS THE KEY DMAN IT!" Bursting out of the room I had to get away. I just sat on the floor in front of the masses shaking, and fighting tears mixed with the desire to put my fist through something. These people knew everything about me and I didn't know how or why they did. Sanctuary came out of the room and leaned down extending her hand. Though my vision was a little blurry from the tears that had not yet escaped my eyes, she looked like an angel with a halo!   "Come on 23. You need to come in here. They'll find you here. I know this must be strange, and frightening to say the least. We never imagined how that could make a person feel. Us knowing so much and you so little." I looked into her eyes. They were so beautiful and full of soul. Mine, a teary mess I'm sure. What kind of man am I? "Pull yourself together." I told myself.
 
"Okay lets do this." As we entered B-23 once again, I said, wait a minute Sanctuary, where did you come from. "I was there the whole time 23, just sitting in the dark corner. By now you should realize I am a silent observer." Creepy, but I could appreciate it.
 
Seeing I was back in the room, Goose looked up and said, "Thanks for keeping proper release notes 23! We almost have the system ready for the ADAM." as if I had never left. I was amazed at the speed that these guys worked but never let on.   "That's ADAM," I said. Goose looked strange. "Not 'THE ADAM', Just 'ADAM'." I snapped. He looked as though he was processing this for a moment. "That's a ‘bigol 10/4 23." After a few little questions, they had ADAM initializing. A number of warnings fired off, but to be expected on a first run. Not to mention there was no Internet connected, so this fired a plethora of warnings. But we could get in and access ADAM. I have to admit there was some comfort in seeing console come back up.  
 
Goose came over and said "23 look, clearly there is some data here that somebody doesn't want you or anyone else to know.  So we are going to take a 2-tiered approach here.  We have 2 teams.  Alpha team is going to look at the data and are expert data miners.  The other team is going to inspect ADAM for signs of manipulation.  You know, deleted database records, unauthorized access and the likes."   "So let's do this!" I said.  
 
Things quickly turned into a hackathon.  The beats started booming, and the rattle of warn in keyboards were filling the room.  Intensity would be the best way to describe what was going on here.  People were in the zone!  Hours went by, I was answering all sorts of questions, helping the crew to make sense of this beast that was ADAM.  
 
Suddenly one of the guys working on the data team said we are looking at this all wrong.  He explained that ADAM was correlating 2 data points.  It looked for patterns between all its masses of discovered data.  But never has it looked at its own discovered data points.  We need to have ADAM run the algorithm on its own data.  If I could describe the scene in that room, it was as if we all had light bulbs above our heads and they all went on within a few seconds of each other.  Quickly I sat at the console and began to redesign some algorithms.  Having ADAM scrub its own data.  
 
It's at that moment the most bizarre thing began to happen.  Whatever changes I wrote to ADAM were being overwritten and reverted back.  None of us could explain it!  We were all baffled.  Even stranger, if we killed ADAM's processes, they would respawn on their own.  It was as if ADAM had its own mind…   We all stopped and looked at each other in complete silence.   Sanctuary came out from her dark corner in the room slowly walking staring at us the whole time…
 
"Do you think?" said Goose looking at Sanctuary.  They both looked at me wide eyed.  I just shrugged…  "I did design ADAM to fine tune its own searches each time there was solid returns."  Nobody wanted to say it, but what we were all thinking here was that ADAM was an intelligence of its own.  It prevented itself from being terminated.  Though we could simply pull the power plug, this may be an actual artificial intelligence in its infancy.  It reacted to changes within its own code by reverting it back.  It started itself back up in a moment of self-preservation.
 
"Goose, Kill the process again, and this time use a -9."  His fingers went into the blur as he killed the process.  We all watched the log screen.   Sure enough within a moment, ADAM's start-up script ran again.   "Okay, lets reboot the server." I said knowing we have not put ADAM in the boot time.   When the system came back online, ADAM immediately ran.   We all looked at each other accusing each other of putting adding ADAM to the boot scripts.  Nobody took responsibility for it.
 
Sanctuary told the group that she believes this is what the feds want to prevent.  They didn't want ADAM getting in the hands of anybody.  Only she used a few more colourful metaphors rather than the simple Òfed".   ÒSanctuary" I said, ÒI do believe that you don't like these people much."   Goose just cringed and turned away.  
 
She explained to me that she was so interested because she had a hunch AI was happening here.  See, during DEF CON 23, Sanctuary and I really connected because we shared theory and values on what AI is and could be.  That it's not necessarily all doom and gloom that movies make it out to be.   Since then she had been secretly keeping her eye on me virtually because she thought I had the potential to make this happen.  
 
She also went on to explain that she too was close to AI and it was taken from her.  At that moment, one of the others exclaimed "Guys!  Who put ADAM on the net?  It was once again searching for information, but how?    I noticed that one of the guys plugged his COM device into a port to charge what happened next was proof!   ADAM, saw this and began to use its radio to access the net.  It was alive, thinking, looking and trying to get to the Internet!    
 
"Oh we have to get this out there!"  I said.  We all thought about it and debated the pros and cons of distributing this for hours. But if we didn't, the feds would surely destroy this too.  With an artificial intelligence, life would be different.  Technology would drastically change.  AI's could help us to figure out solutions to our energy crisis, and so many other problems.  ADAM specifically was designed to gather information and look for patterns.   
 
We all agreed, well all but one of us, the guy who had the happy accident of plugging his COM device into the system!  He was the only naysayer in the group. He thought putting this out there would lead to disaster.  The rest of us thought it was our best hope at solving life's problems.  What we had here was only proof that it could be done.  ADAM was far from intelligent, but it was acting and doing things that it taught itself to do.  
 
We all began screaming and celebrating.  A short time later, a goon came in and approached me and said, "You had better put this on." It was a speaker badge.   "Those feds are gathering and really looking for you."  I was given a note card with a web address of a code repo.  "ADAM will be there in minutes." said sanctuary.  They all jumped back into a perfect team, more like machine.  Go tell people to get it, get it now!
 
I was whisked away to a room, where people were gathering I was seated in the front row, and this room was filling up.   I was instructed to say what I had to say fast because making this talk happen so quickly created suspicion and feds would be sure to be here.  
 
A goon took the podium and began to get people's attention.  He said, "Folks, thanks for coming here at short notice, we have a very special announcement.  We need to share something very important with you and will ask you to listen closely; there is not much time.  Please welcome, 23!"  He left the podium and I nervously approached knowing this was my moment.  The URL to the code base flashed up on the screen.
 
ÒThanks for being here" I said.  "Folks, this is really so new and we just realized what was happening here only hours ago.  On the screen behind me you will see a URL.   I would encourage you to note this down, now!  In fact download the files, now!  There are people here that don't want you to know about this."  I noticed a couple of feds in the doorway.  Normally they try to blend in here, but they made no effort.  But they were here and wanted to stop me.  "Behind this URL is Artificial Intelligence."  You could hear a pin drop, and that was pretty good considering the place was carpeted.  Mouths dropped open.  I proceeded to explain how ADAM came to be, what I designed the program to do, and what it had become.  "Do what you want with this, but by sharing it with you now, it will never be taken from us.  That's just what some people here have been trying to do.  Now it's ours."
 
It was at that moment I saw one of the feds in the doorway seemingly talk into a device and they just went away.   Though somehow, I don't think that will be the last I see of them.   I tried to talk a little more about ADAM, but nobody was paying attention, nobody but Sanctuary who looked at me intently then blew me a kiss.  No matter, time to get the girl, ADAM is out there now. 
 
  
 
 
END.

By: GeekSedition
iam@geeksedition.oef