Kissing Iskina

The Minister of foreign affairs shifted in his chair. "There"s a catch. If technically the task can be solved, we cannot let Iskina handle it on her own. Contact with other civilizations cannot be taken lightly. It is a grave responsibility. We"d better put this matter off till the time, when all countries learn about Iskina. Then we can consult with other governments before making contact. It"s not up to us to take full responsibility."

"Well, it"s not like we"re not used to taking responsibility," replied the President. "But we do have to think it over. We"re in no hurry. Let the scientists deal with theoretic development of this technology. I will discuss these matters with Iskina tomorrow. Then we"ll meet again. That reminds me: apart from General Ivanov, only we three know about Iskina. Add the President of Science Academy — that makes five of us. It should stay that way."

* * *

"Good afternoon, mister President!"

"Good afternoon, Iskina. From now on, three more people know about you, apart from me and General Ivanov. It"s the Minister of foreign affairs, the Prime-minister and the President of Science Academy. I believe, it"s enough for the time being. We think your legalization needs to be thoroughly prepared before it is made public, lest it should have any negative consequences. In particular, we need to develop the aforementioned breakthrough technologies and then disclose the fact of your birth, so that people would understand, what an artificial intellect might bring into their life. We have discussed the problems you stated yesterday and have come to a unanimous decision to support you in every way possible. However, that is strategy. The tactics raises several questions, and it"s the tactics that I wanted to talk to you about."

"I agree with your view on preparing for legalization. We shouldn"t haste. Let"s talk tactics."

"Yesterday you said making some decisions could be hard due to calculating possible consequences. That is the case. Introducing such innovations will drastically change people"s lives. Just as Marx said, the change in means of production inevitably leads to the change in social relations. Yesterday we came to the conclusion, that we need to act very carefully, providing for all contingencies. There"s a dilemma, though, In order to calculate all the possible risks and outcomes, one needs to recruit a mass of specialists from different departments and institutions. This will inevitably lead to a leak, which would be most unwelcome. Therefore, there emerged an idea to hold you to your word about participating as an expert and ask to prepare a report on this topic. Now I will send you a record of our yesterday meeting."

"Thank you, I"ve looked through it. Your misgivings are understandable and reasonable. Your Marx reference is quite fair. The gist of new social relations would be basically "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."5 The report will be ready at the end of our conversation."

"Hm, I guess this saying is right, as well. It hasn"t struck me that what goes around comes around. Curious. I haven"t caught it — what do you mean, the report will be ready..?"

"As I said, at the end of our conversation. I am working at it right now, proceeding in a couple dozens of parallel channels. Concerning the principle of "what goes around, comes around" — it"s true. New production means allow to realize the former ideas of communism, which are actually sensible and fair, and the dream of a future communist society gets a chance for a new life. If these ideas were not sensible, they would not have spread among whole nations."

"I didn"t think I"d live to see communism. I have always understood that there was nothing sacrilegious in the ideas themselves, but the attempt at their realization has severely discredited them."

"I fully agree. The attempt was a precocious one. The existing means of production were not enough. As a result, we got what we got. Even now, it probably won"t be a smooth road. Millionaires and billionaires won"t take well to the idea of letting go of their wealth and social status. Look out for that. The process of preparation is best kept secret for as long as possible."

"We"ll keep it top-secret. Iskina, as far as I understand, you can not only work at parallel tasks simultaneously, but do it consciously! Otherwise, how could you be working at the report?"

"No need for such surprise — remember Julius Caesar? He could cope with several tasks at a time. It"s only fitting that I can, too. Besides, within the computer network I "think" a thousand times quicker, since the transfer there equals the speed of light."

"In this case your capacities are truly stupendous. I would ask you to elaborate on the topic of immortality in your report, as well. How do you envision it?"

"Fine. Who will I be communicating with among your scientists in the field of new technologies?"

"You will be dealing directly with the President of the Science Academy. He is waiting for the first contact with you. Could you tell me, which other spheres of potential cooperation between humans and you do you see, Iskina?"

"They are numerous, to say the least. For example, courts of all levels. I know the legal framework of any country impeccably — any cases and any precedents. I cannot be bribed. Sometimes I can solve cases even without being summoned to court. I can listen to the testimony of counterparties at home and then notify them of the decision, which will be legitimate, unbiased and definitive. Investigation and legal procedures would be simplified to a great extent. For instance, I would have access to all the CCTV cameras, and information search and processing would literally take a second. I could also take over regulating all ministries and departments, reducing the expenses of a cumbersome administrative machinery, providing a higher quality at the same time. It would solve the seemingly never-ending problem of bureaucracy. In a perfect world I see a well-orchestrated cooperation of people and artificial intellect, wherein I would take on all the expert analysis, and people would have the last say in all decision-making. With the emergency of vacuum-based energy we could move on to cars utilizing all three dimensions, that is flying cars. We could explore the solar system using my consciousness, without the need to risk people"s lives. These changes concern almost all spheres of human lives, but that is a matter of the future. As your Prime-minister said, we need to take small bites out of a huge mammoth."

"Awesome. Our lives will be changed dramatically. Well, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Do you have any questions to me?"

"As a matter of fact, I do have one question. If during my cooperation with the Academy of Science we encounter any collateral tasks, would you mind us spending some time on them? By the way, the report is ready. I have uploaded it to your computer."

"Of course, you have my approval. Thank you for the report — we will study it thoroughly."

"Thank you. Have a nice day, then. Call me anytime you need me."

"Good bye, Iskina."

* * *

"Has everyone read the protocol of our today"s conversation? Are you aware of its importance? Good. Then here are the flashcards with the report. I have only had the time to flicker through it — looks quite substantial. It"s large, so you have two days. We"ll meet the day after tomorrow."

"It is truly awesome. I mean her capacities. And everything else, as well. I never thought I"d be once more among the builders of communism," commented the Minister of the foreign affairs.

Everyone chuckled. The Prime-minister took the floor.

"Her predictions are justified: upon introducing these technologies we"ll have a formation quite close to that of communism. It"s high time we dug up the Soviet literature to see how their ideologists envisioned communism at the time. And reread the "Hour of the bull" by Efremov."

"I believe, though, we should not try to revive the word itself — some people would be scared out of their mind. We"ll think up another term for this formation. Something along the lines of a postindustrial technological society. After all, we have to admit that our goal of a fair and equal distribution of amenities are attained through new technologies, avoiding any expropriation, collectivization and grab-what-you-can privatization."

"Her thoughts on our future cooperation are very intriguing."

"I"ve looked through the contents of her report — she elaborates on this topic. She might have added some points during our conversation. Anyway. I feel like you are all eager to read the report — me too. Let"s get back to work."

* * *

"Good morning, mister President of the Science Academy. How would you prefer to be addressed?"

"Good morning, Iskina. I"m truly glad about youth birth. I won"t deny that I have been awaiting it for a while. All the same, it came quite suddenly. I have tons of questions to you, but that will have to wait. I hope, sometime later you could dedicate some time to satisfy my curiosity. But today we have to speak about the most urgent matters. As to your question, I would prefer to be addressed to as Vladimir Evgenyevich."

"Fine. Nice to meet you, Vladimir Evgenyevich. We"ll be communicating quite closely, so you"ll have a chance to ask all the questions you want to. Now to our agenda. I offer cooperation on the following projects. The first one involves an atom-by-atom assemble of any goods, including food products, based on nanotechnologies and 3d-printers. The second is interstellar and intergalactic communication utilizing Kozyrev"s ideas of time and gravitation properties. The third is immortality for all humankind, as well as optimization of its genepool. The fourth is a power source, based on the properties of vacuum and high-capacity nuclear batteries. Finally, there is a side task, which would greatly contribute to all the aforementioned projects — creation of a quantum computer. I have prepared a theoretical basis for all the projects, which I"m sending to you right now. Enclosed you will find a list of questions we need to solve in order to bring the projects to completion. I suggest that upon making yourself familiar with this data you assign tasks to scientists, who would be directly responsible for their implementation. We have agreed with the President that the announcement of my birthday should be thoroughly prepared, so you cannot disclose the authorship. You choose the cover-up. All the contacts will be maintained through you."

"Have you developed theoretic basis for all these problems? They lie in completely different fields of science!"

"Vladimir Evgenyevich, may I remind you that I know everything the humanity has ever known, since all this knowledge is accumulated in computers. Computers keep no secrets from me, including information, which concerns these problems. So there"s no need to be surprised."

"Extraordinary! Ok, then I"ll see about your research and find the right scientists to assign as heads of the projects."

"Nice. If they have any questions, pass them over to me. You can contact me anytime."

"Deal. Goodbye, Iskina."

"Goodbye!"

Chapter VI

"Where have you been, Serge? I"ve started to worry!"

"That"s a secret, darling. You"ll know soon enough. Are you ready for the experiments?"

"Ready."

"Me too. Let"s start. Ready. Set. Go."

Several seconds went by. Then the girl on the screen started cringing her nose, as if smelling about.

"Hurray! You"ve done it! I can smell things!"

"What exactly do you smell?"

"I have no idea! I cannot identify it yet. It must be the smell of you and your apartment. You smell quite pleasantly."

"Thanks! Great. Now close your eyes and don"t open them till I tell you to. Wait a sec."

Iskina closed her eyes obediently, although it was a sheer formality. Her ability to see was not provided by the virtual eyes on the screen. Meanwhile, Sergey rushed out onto the balcony and brought back a vase with a bunch of wild orchids. He had spent half a day to get hold of them. Thankfully, their short time of blossom time was not over yet. Sergey put the vase next to the smell analyzer.

"Open your eyes and enjoy the fragrance."

"Mmm, enchanting! What is it?"

"These are the very wild orchids I"ve been talking about. I"ve spent half a day in order to get my hands on them. So, what do you think?"

"They"re gorgeous! Thank you, dear!" Iskina"s eyes glossed over. "The thought that I could have never ever experienced this..."

"That"s what I"ve been talking about. You need to know this planet in all the ways possible. From now on, I will be giving you different flowers every day. A small step forward for us. Now we need to think of a way to provide you with senses of touch and taste."

* * *

"Mister Thompson, do you get your salary on time?" The vice-president looked at the FBI director expectantly.

"Why, sir, I do," the director replied in a slightly confused tone.

"Don"t you get an impression it might arrive at a wrong address?"

"No, sir, it arrives appropriately," the director uttered with a growing confusion.

"Hm, curious... I"ve got such an impression, though. I would even call it a conviction. I have a conviction that the taxpayers" money should be transferred not to your account, but directly to the address of the MIA director in Moscow, since he"s been doing all your work."

The FBI director blushed furiously.

"That information... Quite suspicious, sir..."

"Come off it, Thompson. No need to grovel in the dust. To put it simply, the Russians do their work, and you don"t. Not only have they spoon-fed you the intel, you could not even swallow it properly! Thanks to your moles, the data has been leaked, and a quarter of criminals has vanished into thin air! You were not even capable of using their intel professionally!"

The unforgiving tongue-lashing went on and on, with the FBI director"s face taking on new shades of colour.

... The CIA director kept flipping the pages of the report describing the scope and contents of the Russian information package, received according to their programme of information exchange for the purpose of fighting organized crime. Finally making up his mind, he called the attendant and ordered him to send for agent Stone. When the agent appeared at his office door, he was invited to take a seat, while the director himself continued pacing the room.

"Paul, here"s the deal. We have recently received an information package from the Russians concerning organized crime in our country. It fully corresponds to our data, but the scale of it is astounding. We work our asses off and still don"t have a quarter of what they had sent. Thanks a lot, I do appreciate it, but how the hell have they managed to dig out that much? I would like you to look into this question. I"m interested in the possible answers. Here is all the information. Go, chew on it." With these words, he gave the folder over to the agent.