City of Legions.2 [draft]

a trip to the office

“I have a problem.” It was Sue.

“I will be there.”

Sue rarely had to do anything, beside calling her granddaughter. But calling a talent was one of those things only she could do. As an Owner Sue had all the resources of the City of Legions at her disposal. She would call seeking “advice” when some division had blown up and Main Computer could not arrive at an acceptable solution. She would say she is having “difficulty” when there was yet another war or family crisis. But a problem: a problem meant the entire corporation was threatened. Sometimes even the most powerful adiabatic quantum computers on the planet could not fix a problem. In my thirteen years with Sue, I have dealt with five problems.

So, off to the office.

Once past security at the headquarters of St. James’s Corporation, gleaming in alloy glass, I was discretely whisked away by Geraldine to a side office overlooking the conference hall where technicians, scientists, managers and various other departments were already assembled underneath the dominating screens displaying the current state of their activity, as if they were assembled to launch a rocket to the moon.

You would think that moving a talent from point A to B would involve masses of security, armoured vehicles and protective personnel along the entire route. They tried that once, against the advice of a talent: it ended in disaster. Now the approach is security through obscurity. No public record identifies a talent. Their clothing, housing, transportation, and records are all obscured by Main Computer in real time. My route was on public air and rail transport, just like any other mid level employee. My appearance is obscured in everyone’s smart glasses without anyone knowing so that only Sue is aware of my actual identity.

In all the world, even when a corporation had nearly everything, the most valuable thing turned out to be obscure gifts of nature. Pre-blink, gifted children, even when identified, would often not meet their full potential. They might be lazy, poor, maladjusted, morose, anti-social or otherwise held back, impaired by their surroundings. There was never a shortage of reasons. But few noticed and most did not care or exert themselves to reach a solution that would aid someone above them in some way. The blink changed everything. Now no amount of effort, care, attention, cost or blood was too much to secure and use a talent to its fullest potential as the survival of the corporation was at stake. Clever managers that tried to automate the abilities of a talent found their corporations perished when their machines competed against a talent. Other owners took note quickly enough. Now nothing is too much to obtain, safeguard and use a talent. Wars have been fought over a talent. Nothing is too extreme.

Gifts of athleticism and performance, although highly visible and obvious, are diverting sideshows, rewarded, but tangential to the corporation’s drive to survive. The term “talent” now has a very specific and narrow meaning. It refers to peculiar gifts of ratiocination, priceless but nearly invisible, scattered amongst the most unassuming of vessels. Those individuals so identified are known as talents.

For years corporations were in a race to identify specialised ability. Detection required extensive computer surveillance, originally designed to spot criminality, to find subtle traits which would be beneficial to the corporation. Competition was intense and vast sums were spent to identify specific talents that could help the corporation. Instead of the old blunt notions of intelligence or giftedness, the corporation required a much finer assessment of very specific properties; they created a massive dataset for mining a vast array of attributes. There was a side benefit of this surveillance, weeding out and controlling undesirable traits, but that alone did not justify the expense. Old theories of eugenics were racist, blunt and did not help the corporations survive. Instead of a handful of factors, corporations were searching through hundreds of billions of factors.

Those who were expelled left the City of Legions and scattered to more promising locations or ended up in the wild lands, commonly referred to as the wilders. Within a few generations, the corporations had highly functioning populations that were productive and provided the corporation with an ability to survive. The discarded had no organised body for support. Many perished during the collapse after the blink. If nothing else, the surviving wilders were intensely tough.

These policies of expulsion seem inhuman to those outside the corporation. There is a reason for that, of course: they were directed and enforced by computers, not people, with the sole concern being the welfare of the corporation, not the individual. Corporations that failed to focus on survival failed. It was that justification that provided tacit support to expulsion. As a practical matter the only ones opposing expulsion were already outside the city (or soon to follow).

If corporations were driven to efficiency and the expulsion of negative traits for survival, one can imagine the effort expended in extracting and preserving the greatest resource of all. Extracting energy more efficiently might save billions, extracting the right insight in a timely manner might save the corporation itself. Although difficult to believe, even the mighty St. James’s Corporation could collapse suddenly: many larger corporations had already done so. There was no government to bail out the corporation and change the rules in case of difficulty. The only actors with power post-collapse were other corporations. With so much at stake there was no price a corporation would not pay to acquire a talent and every resource would be expended to protect it. The only way to protect the talent was to make them invisible as competing corporations would spare no expense to steal or kill a talent.

Some wilders made a living trading with corporations and those in turn traded amongst themselves and supported their families as they did before the blink. In many ways the wilders were the closest descendants to the pre-blink civilisations. It was the people living within the City of Legions and under other corporations who were most separated from the traditions pre-blink as every aspect of their lives were now calculated and optimised for the corporation’s survival, not their own.

But for most living within the City of Legions, the boast of freedom from the wilders was a hollow one given their history of mass death outside its walls. To call something a “wilder argument” was to point to the absurdity of the argument, how it could not even sustain survival. To be a wilder was shorthand for being powerless. Thus any wilder argument was never seriously considered within the City of Legions for generations. This is how old ideas which once ruled the world disappeared. Only history with a useful lesson for the corporation survived while the rest were discarded as wilder ideas at best–if they were mentioned at all.

This was a large meeting with well over a hundred physically present and countless others connected remotely. Rows upon rows of workers were arranged in the amphitheatre, facing a giant screen displaying about twenty sub screens of information. Hundreds of minds, thousands of computers, hundreds of opinions and algorithms and autonomous decision makers, external specialists and experts and counsellors and advisors: all that the corporation could see was that it had an intractable problem which was getting worse. Time was running out and the iterations they were running were becoming more unstable. They were in a fog and making absolutely no progress. The problem was too complex and they were stumbling. The computers reviewed and summarised the problem, the meeting went through various options and alternatives but the Board of Directors were not satisfied as the threat to the corporation grew. The main display, a very large screen which dominated the meeting room, iterated hundreds of options but each time errors were flagged and the solution failed. The risk profile was rising as time passed without a solution. Tension, anger, frustration and despair were starting to spread.

The surprising thing about the quantum universe is that it does not make one calculation, like a classical computer. It makes an infinity of calculations: it is profligate as possibilities branch and branch and branch. This power when harnessed by a quantum computer is useful when designing a building, iterating millions of designs as easily as one, allowing humans to pick a favourite design and then iterate with calculations of cost, durability, security and any number of factors. Even when a design is settled, the computer will then simulate wear and tear and calculate energy and maintenance expenditures until it arrives at the ideal balance. It not only designs a building for now, but for the lifetime of its use keeping in mind a multitude of factors and considerations that on its face seem irreconcilable.

Some types of problem are simple, like building a building. Others are more intractable. Without convergence to a solution, infinity is just a mess.

I sat down in a side office and Geraldine unlocked a drawer with her smart contact glasses. It gracefully opened with a smooth whoosh. She took out and activated the screen with her finger and then handed me the black leather encased binder which opened to reveal a thin screen with text and graphics seemingly printed on the screen.

“The entire record is accessible through this reader, Sir. I would be grateful if you would refrain from exposing the device as security clearance is tied to the device and very few within the corporation are granted your access. I do apologise that in order to maintain security we cannot transmit these documents to your glasses. Please be careful when showing the contents on the device: it will set off security and lock down if an unauthorised person stands within 3 meters of the device while you are reading a secure document. If I can be of further assistance, please let me know. I believe this matter is very time sensitive.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“In the event you need to read a secure document after you have finished here, please let me know I and will arrange for access in a secured office. Sue suggested that you probably wanted to get settled in here first before starting. Just instruct the reader if you need to call me.” She gracefully floated away, leaving me to read.

I touched the paper entitled “Summary”:

“t-10 days (235 hours): medical system reports anomalous cluster of 12 deaths affecting entire families in Broad Street district; all deceased exhibited blue tinted skin on the entire body, sunken eyes, and blackened extremities suggesting catastrophic and sudden fluid loss; no diarrhoea reported [anomaly]; unusual alertness in patients until death. Cholera is suspected but presently negative. Local investigation undertaken. Limited quarantine in place. Attending medical personnel have not been infected when using standard protection.

t-3 days: Infected exceed 20,000; panic in affected neighbourhood; full quarantine. R0 values fluctuate unusually wildly which has impaired modelling of infection spread. Infection tracing has not progressed since initial report due to multiple case zero patient candidates.

t-24 hours: reports of response by consumption of up to 10 litres of water every 5 hours as requested by patient or via intravenous saline drip; other medical responses inconclusive; transmission vector unknown; consistent reports of extreme alertness in patients; sudden acceleration in rate of spread; 141,546 cases and 2,345 deaths; R0 instability is increasing;

WARNING: due to accelerated spread imminent medical infrastructure collapse projected; emergency beds deployed across seven sites; resources from other Corporation regions requested but shipment delays exceeding one week expected. Equipment shortages remain. Speculation: touch based infection mutated to airborne infection.

Heightened water consumption warning; projected trend line assuming Taylor exponential growth: 3 days until utility collapse.

Risk assessment unknown as transmission vector unknown.
WARNING: projected resource exhaustion within 3 days.
WARNING: projected collapse of multiple systems within 4 days.

Current: rate of growth is not slowing despite all interventions and quarantine efforts; 2,433,400 cases and 142,550 deaths; fatalities positively stopped by 10 litres/5-hour water consumption as requested by patient but patients require high water consumption to survive indefinitely.

WARNING: medical support and utility infrastructure collapse imminent.

NAN: Algorithmic failure.

Recommendation: activate talent due to algorithmic failure.”

I closed the summary document and started reading the supporting reports. The medical division was looking for environmental factors as the district was in a poorer area and the assumption was that this was a disease brought about through lack of hygiene. The corporation gathered an extensive array of measurements: temperature, water transmission, air flow, genetic markers, traffic patterns, age, medical histories, community activities, nearly everything, yet the algorithmic systems could not find a cause or transmission vector. Finding nothing, they started expanding their search to more variables but even though the data was growing exponentially they were no further ahead from when they started.

Geraldine came back with some green tea.

“I hope you have everything you need? Are you ready to meet Sue?”

“Yes, let’s go see Sue.”

As we were walking along the corridor to the elevator, I asked Geraldine how she knew I finished.

“The device concluded that you had read sufficient material to at least meet Sue and updated me. I came to see whether you had and brought in the tea in case you hadn’t.”

“It keeps track of what I am reading.”

“Yes, this upgrade was for security but it is also convenient when working in teams.”

We walked into an extremely large office after passing through several layers of security and assistants. Usually it takes longer to get through Sue’s layers of security than it did to reach her building but today matters were rushed. Pale white carpeting with glass windows nearly surrounding the entire office made it feel like one was in flight. Sue was sitting on her sofa knitting.

She looked up.

“My dear boy. It seems we only see each other when there is some disaster or another. I hope you are well?”

“Yes, thank you Sue. How are things otherwise?”

“Oh, very exciting. I am knitting a sweater for my grandchild. I am almost finished.”

I approached the sofa across from Sue while Geraldine stood by the door, which by the time I reached the sofa was a good fifteen to twenty metres away. A tray of tea and biscuits came in within seconds and I sat down on the sofa made from leather of the finest quality. It was impossibly soft yet firm. One could not help but involuntarily touch the surface back and forth, as if stroking an alpaca. First time visitors were in constant danger of being distracted by the extreme quality of Sue’s furnishings.

“It’s a dreadful thing, this. It’s not cholera, but it might as well be. Algorithms only get you so far, I always say. Anyway, I know you talents are always concerned about your identities and all that but I really think this is the time for an exception. Could you attend a Board meeting with the medical division? We really need to solve this quickly. They are all security cleared and all that. It’s a tiny expansion of exposure beyond the Board, but not by much. I would be most grateful.”

Sue was nearly eighty, but sharp and insightful. As a corporation family member, her education and training was, of course, unparalleled and her years of experience with the corporation gave her power quite incongruous with her fragile appearance.

“There is no time to lose Sue.”

“Very good. I am very glad.” Sue rose and the door opened and several assistants came in.

“The boardroom is close by. They are already in session.”

When we stepped in, the meeting was in full frenzy, with a great deal of animation and frustration on everyone’s faces, particularly the chief medical officer, Dr Blanchard. As Sue stepped in, however, the room abruptly became silent. Dr Blanchard stopped mid-sentence.

“…but there is no transmission vector, that’s the point. We have checked the water, the air, temperature, unusual smells, sunlight, plants, animals, everything. We are going through everything eaten, everything even remotely connected with each of the households. There is still no—” he suddenly stood up, as did the rest of the table.

“Madam Owner…”

Sue shuffled toward her seat, next to Dr Blanchard, touched him on the shoulder and sat down.

“A difficult problem, isn’t it?”

“Yes Madam. We still cannot find a transmission vector.”

“Yes, it is most vexing. But I think it safe to say that we are running out of time.”

“Yes Madam.”

“It really won’t do, Dr Blanchard. This epidemic threatens the corporation.”

“Yes Madam, we are aware of the…”

“So, I have called in a talent.”

All eyes turned to me, a most unassuming vessel. Except for Board members most employees of the corporation had never seen a talent, at least not knowingly. They all knew what a talent was, but they were invariably shrouded in mystery. Usually, only Board members meet a talent. Even with my identity obscured by their smart glasses, for many this was the first time they had knowingly seen a talent.

“Of course, the fact that we called in a talent, and the identity of the talent, is beyond your security clearance, but there it is, we are in a crisis. You must all keep this absolutely secret, you understand?”

They all did.

“The Corporation’s security demands it. But as you must work together, you must know, so there it is.” Sue spoke as one who competently held power for decades: “The talent shall represent me in all matters and has the resources of the corporation. Dr Blanchard, I would be grateful if you could assist in any way possible. Continue your good work as before, but where you can provide assistance…”

“Yes, of course Madam.”

“I have faith in you all.”

I was about to sit down in an empty chair when Sue motioned.

“No, no. Sit here.” Sue directed. Geraldine moved toward me and guided me to Sue’s chair. Sue got up and held my arm with both hands with a little more firmness than usual.

“Good luck dear boy, we are counting on all of you.”

Sue slowly shuffled toward the door, not looking back and her retinue disappeared beyond the double door as it closed.

“Talent, we are at your disposal.”

“Thank you, Dr Blanchard. What do you make of the reports of extreme alertness amongst the patients?”

“Well, it is anomalous and yet nearly universal amongst the conscious patients.”

“But what is meant by extreme?”

“It is almost as though they are much more awake and alive than normal.”

“Are they more intelligent than normal?”

“There aren’t definite reports of an increase in intelligence, more of being hyper alert, observant.” This was the last thing Dr Blanchard was worried about.

“Obviously, you have never come across anything like this before.”

“No Talent, not in my 40 years of practice.”

“So, it must be something new.”

“Well, yes, I suppose it must be.”

“And has there been anything new?”

“Not that I’m aware of. What kind of thing?” Dr Blanchard had been working continuously since the problem broke and by this point was a bit frayed. He was at once mystified by the presence of a talent, yet hopeful.

When Sue said that I represented her in all matters and that I had the resources of the corporation, this was not a mere gesture. It meant that I was, for all intents and purposes to the corporation, Sue. This meant, among other things, I could access the corporation computer directly, something only Sue could do.

“Computer?”

Yes, Master Talent.

“Hello Computer. What version are you?”

I am version seven, Master Talent.

“Ah, I knew your grandmother.”

I am honoured Master Talent.

“Computer, I need you to assemble a data team to identify anything new that has appeared in the last year which may have impacted the City of Legions within this month.”

I have a team of twelve that I can recommend. I have sent their particulars to your reader.

“Very good. Execute the recommendation now. Have them ready to report within the hour.”

Done.

“Security implications?”

Master Talent, the security division has considered this to be a possible 
attack but is unable to identify the source. 

Several corporations have the capability to engineer a weapon with this 
type of damage impact but no current technology has been implicated 
to date. 

No intrusions have been detected.

“This is not acceptable. Review all imports and points of contact with corporations that could carry out an attack during the last year. Report within 10 minutes.”

Commencing.

“Why is the quarantine ineffective?”

Quarantine protocols are adequate for all known pathogens. 
Medical division has executed quarantine procedures without fault. 

Pathogen could exceed known parameters. 

Multiple zero cases could explain result.

Multiple attacks could explain result.

Unknown unknown.

“Have you found anything which would explain why some are infected and others are not?”

Insufficient data.

“How are the patients being dehydrated if there is no diarrhoea?”

There is no dehydration.

“What?”

The body is responding as through there is dehydration but the actual fluid 
balance is within norms.

Dr Blanchard tried to explain: “It is most odd. Patients exhibit symptoms of dehydration but the actual fluid balance is normal. However, blood flow and internal organs are responding as though there is catastrophic dehydration. Drinking water doesn’t change the net balance but it is the only thing we know of that works. We just don’t know why.”

“OK. I will need a small team to go to Broad Street. I need your infectious specialist and one security driver.”

“In the quarantine zone?”

“Yes. We leave in 10 minutes. Carry on doctor.”

“Yes, Talent.” Dr Blanchard looked doubtful and very tired.