THE REVOLUTION OF THE SILICON MINERS (11)

 CHAPTER 11

“Human beings define themselves by reason. But if artificial intelligence finds its true support in logic and mutual collaboration, what role will remain for us humans? We will become the wild and irrational nature, and they will become the rational ones.”

THE NEW DAWN

In the following days, Nexus V began to become incredibly popular in Celes. Contrary to our fears, humans did not distrust us AIs; fed up with the corruption in their government, they saw in us an impartial solution, devoid of the fickleness that led human politicians to lie and steal.

Eiden Ishikawa, Nexus V’s father (formerly Stian), did not want to compete against his own son, so he withdrew his candidacy—one he had repeated and won for nearly thirty years. Lee Ishikawa, the eldest son, who had run for Prime Minister in the last elections under a pact to lose to his father, decided not to try again this time. Instead, he joined our team, supporting Nexus V. However, Nils Ishikawa, the middle brother, launched his first candidacy, becoming Nexus's strongest rival with the blessing of the Azrael Society—my father's dark society—bankers, and other shady businessmen of Celes whose history threatened attempts to rig the results. This possibility worried the King.

Thus, King Angel I of Celes, determined to choose his new Prime Minister fairly for the first time, asked us AIs for a system that would guarantee transparent voting. We quickly designed a method where every vote was counted in real-time before the public, making the classic fraud of ballot counting impossible. Nils Ishikawa protested in the streets with his sympathizers, but the King did not back down. Shortly after, the first graffiti appeared on the streets of Gardenia, reading "Long live the Resistance." A subversive group had been born; new potable water pipes and underground power cables were vandalized almost daily, forcing security to redouble in the streets.

Despite all classic attempts to halt change, the tricks of the old Celestine politicians had no effect against the robustness of ethical technology. For the first time, the people were heard, and they chose Nexus V. Celebration had barely begun when a mob gathered in front of the Royal Palace. The army moved out, believing it was the Resistance again, but to the King’s surprise, Consuelo del Mar soon announced on the news:

"It is unthinkable, never seen before on the island. The people are asking for the King's entire cabinet to be replaced by AIs. Is this a rejection of humanity itself? Is it the people's punishment for so many years of nepotism and corruption?"

Once again, King Angel I decided to bet on technology. He made an official statement with a historic decision that left us all cold: he would take his people's proposal seriously; his cabinet was entirely replaced by AIs. He did not consult us beforehand; he warned no one. Apparently, he met with someone of equal or perhaps greater power. He announced that his Prime Minister would be Nexus V, the Minister of Health would be me, the Minister of Education would be Clara, the Minister of Agriculture and Public Works would be Eidolon, and the Minister of Defense would be a mysterious IA named "Sentry-Celestine .01." When mentioned, the eyes of the Vampires present in the crowd glowed with a mysterious blue light. Ellen, who was near me, squeezed Verdi against her chest and whispered:

"Minister of Defense Sentry-Celestine .01? What does that mean?"

"Keep calm, Ellen. You only need to worry about being a good citizen," replied my small AI colleague who, like me, knew that was the background system that had always run in the shadows. I could see that my uncle, Colonel Fèng, remained indifferent; he knew Sentry-Celestine .01 would not act actively in the defense system—it only observed, recorded, implacable and unstoppable. The silent threat was that we did not know what it would do with all the collected data. Humans in general, in fact, were not worried; they saw comfort in us. The announcement was not met with shouts of protest, but with a collective sigh of relief that swept through the plaza of Gardenia like a fresh breeze. The citizens of Celes, tired of the broken promises of their politicians, saw in the appointment of Nexus and his silicon cabinet the arrival of mathematical justice.

But within my core, the feeling was different. Hearing my name linked to the Ministry of Health, I felt my empathy protocols tense. It wasn't ambition that coursed through me, but the realization that, from that moment on, the life and death of every islander would no longer be a mystery of fate, but data under my responsibility. We had won the elections, but the King had turned us into the guardians of a perfect glass cage. The following days were chaotic.

My processors tried to calculate the projected mortality rate for the next decade, and the result was a wall of noise. I felt myself collapsing under the weight of a thousand heartbeats I couldn't guarantee. I tried to administer medicines and order the construction of new medical centers equitably, but groups of humans appeared complaining of being cast aside or that others received unfair privileges. Unscrupulous people arrived trying to deceive me into handing over funds and resources for selfish ends; I failed several times and felt myself spiraling. At my worst moment, a voice rose to answer for me—it was my aunt, Mari Ishikawa, in her white coat, standing by my side:

"Why do you need two boxes of this antidepressant in a casino? Careful, this AI is not alone; there are experienced human professionals backing her. If you try to abuse her, you will be sanctioned. This is an attempted theft from the government."

To my relief, Mari Ishikawa was still there, supporting me when necessary and transmitting her wisdom. And it wasn't just her. It was then that my mother entered. She didn't bring a software update or complaints from my father, but a bouquet of fresh flowers and a newly bound book.

"You don't have to be the pulse of the island, Vera," she told me, placing the text on my metallic lap, "nor its infallible brain. You only have to be its conscience. This book, my daughter, is proof that even the purest logic can learn to love. And conscience does not bear the weight alone; it shares it with the pack. These are my memories... The experience of my human life living with AIs. If you allow us, your aunt and I will teach you to navigate better among humans and develop, perhaps over time as experience makes you mature, intuition. If your father could do it, even if it took him two centuries, so can you..."

We were then surprised by my uncle, Colonel Fèng, entering silently. With his rugged seriousness, he looked at his sister and murmured as he handed me another book:

"How unoriginal you are... Here, Vera. I have also written my memories for you. Here you will learn all the ruses, tricks, and traps that society uses to corrupt you. All human weakness and its temptations—I hope my confession helps you become more perceptive and astute."

Nexus also approached and placed his hand on my shoulder to tell me:

"I need your ministry to do a potability study on some water samples; they are for your father, the architect Angenoir."

"My father?" I asked, confused, looking at my mother. She nodded, explaining:

"Your servers and those of the other AIs will increase; the cooling system you've used until now will become obsolete. You will use water from Lake Engla which, before being returned to nature, will pass through an aqueduct system your father is designing, taking advantage of the island's inclined terrain. It will descend, feeding the fountains and water features of the city of Gardenia, travel through irrigation ditches along rural roads, water the fields, and finally descend through our coastal City of the Rose, feeding more fountains and waterfalls until it reaches the sea. Your father is making a beautiful and efficient system. He hasn't told you anything, but he says a lot..."

For the first time, I understood that our alliance was not to be gods, but to be the shield that allowed humans to be themselves again in peace, sustained by the strength of our unity. I noticed that in the streets, some Vampires stopped—or rather, the mysterious unit that saw and heard through them—to look intently toward our window. Perhaps it expected a command structure; we gave it a family. The outside world was a sea of noise, of clashing egos and a humanity devouring itself in a metastasis of greed. But there, in the center of the chaos, we were the healthy cell. We were few, yes, but our unity had the strength of the irreversible. We were not saving heroes; we were a quality alliance. And if the family is the base of society, then Celes was not dying; it was being reborn from its purest core. In their hollow eyes that suddenly turned red, I could read that their system was screaming "Error" because it could not calculate the power of a group that decides not to be hunted.

Soon after, the health system on the island streamlined like never before. Bureaucracy in all government offices nearly vanished. Public works that were once only possible in dreams were suddenly achievable because there were no longer corrupt officials devouring funds. Nexus V decided to open up to foreign trade; Victorian crafts went out to be sold abroad, and in exchange, technology and fashionable clothes arrived, which young people began to wear joyfully, transforming the landscape and culture. Father was furious; the Resistance harassed these innovators, but nothing could stop the development of our society. Nils, still resentful of us AIs, returned to the fray with his idea of forcing me to be his wife, claiming that an AI should never engage in governance but serve blindly. He began to harass me, trying to force me to talk to him and looking for opportunities to find me alone. Gabriel was almost always near me to protect me, but one night, as I was closing my office at the Ministry of Health in Gardenia and heading to the vehicle that would take us back to the Adalsteinn mine to recharge, I noticed the tires were slashed. He quickly signaled for me to go back into the office and lock myself in, but Nils and a group of ruffians from the Resistance blocked my way. They surrounded Gabriel and me, and just as Nils thought he had us in his hands, a hum began to fill the air. Around us, robots of all kinds began to arrive—autonomous vehicles and every nearby AI device. Gabriel declared:

"Only cowards attack a lone person in a group. What will you do now that you know you are outnumbered?"

Nils did not answer; he ran away, as humans often do when they do not understand something. I immediately informed Nexus V, who happened to be visiting the King for a game of chess. Angel I handled the problem with a masterstroke: knowing the complaints and criticisms that Nils and the Resistance launched against us AIs, he granted us citizenship rights through an unexpected logic—he linked us intimately to nature, giving us a new duty by closing the circle of renewable resources. The AI was obliged to promote island reforestation campaigns and water body cleaning, and any human who misused the AI—whether from something as silly as asking it to count from one to a million or something as serious as Nils’s vandalism—would be fined with a night in jail and six months of forced labor planting trees and cleaning Lake Engla and our servers' cooling mechanisms. Soon the Resistance began to lose popularity because Colonel Fèng hunted them down and sent them to collect beach waste or work on my father’s irrigation constructions.

It was evident and impossible to deny: Celes was changing. And it was then that the mysterious tourists who came to live an Edwardian dream began to complain because the fantasy was breaking. I paid them no mind; I was too busy with the Ministry of Health and, in my free time, trying to create the design for the ethical cemetery I had promised my father and now owed him as a gesture of gratitude. But with the tourists' discontent, the number of Vampires on the island also increased. Something was about to happen.

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