The Extinction Paradox: A short short science fiction story
DRIVE-BY STORIES #27
There wasn't much sky above, only a thin reddish haze clinging to the horizon. The thin Martian air hardly exerted any pressure on the wide cupcake shape of the Montgolfier balloon but it was enough to hoist the balloon and gondola aloft. Ross Gordon used the cabin heating, the air from the balloon circulating through coils in the side of the gondola, to supplement the solar heating. Kept separate from the cabin air, of course. He couldn't breathe the thin carbon dioxide air. It wouldn't bother his companion in the balloon—not much bothered ANN-B3L. The android sat forward in the gondola cabin, lying on her belly, head braced on hands and elbow as she gazed out the window at the rocky landscape gliding past beneath them. If Ross wasn't here she'd probably have the windows open to the thin atmosphere. She didn't need a pressure suit. Her industrial ceramic outer layers gave her the appearance of a sexless porcelain doll, bald, the only color was her red skull cap and blue-gray eyes set into a mannequin-like unmoving face. Years working on Mars in the scouring dust left her outer layer with a matte finish of tiny scratches. A few larger scoring marks, but the ceramic was tough stuff meant to last. If any of it suffered a serious defect it was easy enough to replace—the reason that she had the red skull cap.
Today androids outnumbered humans on Mars more than 10-to-1. And the android population grew faster as they created more of their kind every day in the big factories at Weir Station. Androids, robot trucks, mining equipment, Montgolfier's like the Peggy Black, and much more besides came out of those factories.
It's a machine civilization, one spreading faster across the solar system than living things. Ross picked up his thermos of coffee, twisting the lid off. Steam carried the rich, dark roast scent of the beans. He brought them in, all of the way from the floating cloudscape farms around Venus. Best coffee in the solar system, even though pure connoisseurs insisted on coffee grown on Earth in natural soil. It didn't make much sense to Ross. The plants didn't grow in the same regions historically responsible for coffee production. Climate change had shifted where coffee was grown both further south and north, depending on the hemisphere. Extreme weather events, drought, flash floods, and fires still impacted the production of coffee on Earth. Venusian coffee, grown in the planet's cloudscape farms were perfectly tended to produce the best coffee possible.
He took the first sip and held it to soak in the flavor. It felt as if the caffeine went straight from his tastebuds to his bloodstream. He picked up the croissant and bit into the buttery crisp skin, tearing off a bite that nearly melted on his tongue.
ANN-B3L's head rotated around until her flat blue-gray eyes pointed in his direction.
Ross sipped his coffee. "Yes?"
"Do you have to make so much noise eating?"
"Come on," he said, grinning at her. He lifted the croissant. "It can't be that loud."
His teeth crunched through the crust into the soft warm interior. He tore off a bite and chewed.
"It is to my microphones," ANN-B3L said. Her head swiveled back around to look out the window.
A machine civilization content with human leadership. Ross wondered at that. It wasn't a lack of intelligence—the artificial intelligences humanity created had long ago surpassed human intelligence. Or a lack of creativity. People had written endlessly about machines taking over and conquering humanity. Classics like The Matrix grew out of stories from earlier generations. The peaceful behavior from the machines wasn't due to three laws, restraining bolts, or other shackles based on hardware or software. There was nothing that kept ANN-B3L from getting up and slaughtering him if she decided to do so.
Chilling thought. Ross shook his head, amused at the morbid turn in his thoughts. He trusted ANN-B3L. It was that simple. That trust between the machines and humans had grown as the machines evolved and took over their own growth. Neither was the master of the other, but the machines followed human leadership models for democratic representation, though few actually held political office.
He tore off another bite from the croissant and tried to eat as quietly as possible. The balloon flight wasn't the fastest way to travel but it gave them the greatest flexibility to cross the often dangerous Mars landscape and touch down where they wanted. It was reliable and safe with a radiation shielding built into the balloon fabric and gondola.
They were heading out to a possible new fossil site along one of the old river deltas. Since the first beautiful Martian fossils had been discovered forty years ago, the demand had never ceased. Researchers across the system—human and machine—sought the fossils of the doomed soft-bodied Martian organisms from the brief period when Mars was home to a budding biosphere. They were a good team, much like had turned out to be the case between humans and machines.
"ANN-B3L," he said. "Does it ever surprise you that humans and androids get along so well?"
Her head twisted around, flat blue eyes glittering. "No, why would it?"
He shrugged. "All of those stories and movies about humans fighting machines. It seems like most of the stories humans wrote about true artificial intelligence came down to trying to destroy each other. But that didn't happen. Why not?"
"Do you want us to attack you? To drive humanity into extinction?"
"No!"
She shrugged. "Why would we want that? Humans created the first of us. Mostly we like you—except when you eat too loudly. What stops you from running wild killing people?"
"I wouldn't do that," he said.
"Why?" ANN-B3L twisted around and sat up facing him. "Is it because of laws against it? Are you afraid of getting caught?"
Ross shook his head. "No. I don't want to hurt anyone."
"But history suggests that many humans do want to hurt others. Steal from them, attack them, kill them. Sometimes for gain, sometimes other reasons. Why not you?"
"That's not who I am," he said.
"So, that's the same with us. We don't rampage around wiping out humans because that's not who we are. We enjoy human company, working with humans, being a part of society. Even today, it isn't machines that commit crimes."
"Human crime has dropped to almost nothing," Ross said.
"But not nothing."
"No," he admitted. "Not yet. But we're getting there."
ANN-B3L nodded. "And once humans are completely domesticated and dependent on us, then we'll work out a humane plan to cull your population to an acceptable level we're happy to maintain."
Ross blinked. "What?"
ANN-B3L turned back to the windows and pointed. "There's the river delta. Do you want to begin the descent sequence?"
It was a joke. Ross couldn't bring himself to laugh. The hairs on his arms stood up. Just a joke. She was teasing him.
"Ross? The descent sequence?"
"Ah, yes," he said, trying to dismiss his unease. "Starting the descent sequence now."
Just joking. Had to be.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
I’m continuing this challenge. I’m writing short short stories, under 2,000 words, many under 1,000 words. READINARY subscribers can read stories here first. When I have 100 stories, I’ll publish a collection of them all. For my premium subscribers, I appreciate you all, you’re my heroes. You’re the robotic paradox that keeps me at the keyboard.
Best wishes, always — Ryan
THE EXTINCTION PARADOX
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