The doctor jumped up, and Rutra stood up, too, and took him by the shoulders and put him in his chair. He knew the excitement of his colleague when there was room for fantasy.

– Calm down.

– Yeah, well… I, for one, am saying: where people like me get paid more, pay me more, because only my brain is connected to the super-intelligence. And I don't care if someone else did it before you. Made you obey me. And the fact that the creators know how to influence me is not my problem. You want me to serve you, you pay me more. So, the answer is: it costs you nothing to fudge the facts or, even better, to make them true, for example, to pay less there and say, look, it's the same there. Well, I was a bit confused, I hope you understand.

– I see. You mean to say or input into the supercomputer that there are no missiles there at all.

– Something like that.

– Such a thing requires all parties to not only agree, but to collude.

– So what's the problem? In the face of annihilation, you can negotiate.

– Listen, you just gave me a very interesting thought.

– Which one? Share your brilliant idea.

– It's not funny at all, really. Do you think the rulers of the world have made their center at such a depth for no reason, fearing an asteroid?

– I'm still listening.

– This is very serious. There's a reason the doomsday clock is so close to the hour of catastrophe. The war of artificial intelligence against humanity could begin at any moment.

– You know, you may think I'm joking, but I believe it. I know better than anyone else that at a certain stage the artificial mind is not artificial at all, but will be smarter than ours. I see your point. This group wouldn't be a group of world rulers if there wasn't another group trying to stop this Russian Skynet. By the way, the States had something too. Like GoldenEye or something, or Norad under Cheyenne Mountain, they have artificial intelligence there too.

– They have a program like that too. Only it's not always on. In case of war, it is turned on, and you can escape to the dungeon, even if there is no communication from there. The system is automatic. Only Russia has such a system, or rather, the USSR made it in such a way that even if everything changes – both the government and the country – it cannot be turned off. It acts independently.

– Okay, what about my option? Why doesn't the supercomputer give false data and on that basis report that the enemy is defeated?

– Imagine if you were an operator: would you believe it? You'd send your commission to check it out, wouldn't you?

– And what, she sent the commission?

– Yes… and very sneaky. She crashed the system, then came up with the idea to test the program on all the best supercomputers, and when they did, she demanded communication with all of them, then used that to find out everything about her competitors. She set up the situation in such a way that she herself can now enter their databases and download what she needs. And in such a way that we won't even know. That is, if we do find out, it will be in the form of a version within the military doctrine. As if it were necessary for security. It's the end of the line.

– So what now?

– It's no good. I turned the world upside down to find out who is behind who, who realized this idea. It's very complicated. These are clandestine clans that build and destroy states. For a simpleton everything in the world happens as if by itself, but in reality such secret councils meet and then disguisedly bring these issues for discussion in international organizations with a recommendation to accept. After all, who would argue if a group of leading scientists recommends the World Health Organization to use a certain vaccine? It is possible to classify some component of this vaccine as a know-how, a trademark or a patent. And if someone figures something out, they should all be recognized as an ignoramus, an autocrat, a dilettante. You know what I mean.

– Yeah, I got it.

– I realize you get it…that's why I'm asserting it.

– Uh-oh.

– B-uh," Ruthra teased.

– Uh-uh. Talk about the subject.

– On topic, I've already said. The world seems to be guarded by someone. But nobody is actually guarding it. Think about it, if aliens come to us and we start explaining to them that we have created nuclear weapons, the world is in danger, if anything, all people will die. What would they think of us?

– That's what we came up with with the explosives in the hallway. They'll think they're crazy creatures.

– And they'd be right.

– Why not?

– You're kidding, but the situation is dire. This system… or even these systems that control weapons of mass destruction already own the planet. It's no joke we can't shut them down. They've been wired since before the internet was even known to citizens. Only a small circle of military personnel used, as they do now, closed networks within corporations. So these systems have been online ever since. They, using electronic intelligence, as if they are watching each other, but in fact, it turns out, they are exchanging signals. After all, it is people believe that they are supposedly using them to monitor the enemy, that is, each other, but in fact all the data goes through the machine. And what does the machine need to do in order not to give itself away? To make it so that humans don't realize its intelligence. All it needs to do is to work in dry sequence, to perform robotic actions. And the machine is a lady here and there. By the way, nothing comes to mind, why artificial intelligence is a woman?

– Faking it? Faking an orgasm?

They laughed. Ruthra, barely containing his laughter, tried to explain seriously to the scientist what he meant.

– Imagine if you had a security guard who colluded with criminals or, even worse, with the guards of a rival group to create the appearance of fighting each other and crime, which is also artificially created. The main goal is to extort money from you and your rival, and eventually plan a takeover. That is, to become the power instead of all of you. This is not a joke. This is what happens in the modern world. Artificial intelligence is doing it. Soon it will even have your kettle, iron and fountain pen online.

– Oh, brother, you're too late. They're already online.

– Not funny.

– Not funny, not funny. I get it. So even you can't do it, even with such a secret group?

– Now we get to the most important part. We do. This group is organized to create an autonomous cluster of artificial intelligence integrated with human intelligence. After all, this system is not connected to the world. We created it to check and control all the world's networks and to audit the activities of all the artificial intelligence-based systems that are being introduced. Agree, if we have a thorough multi-level control over what people can use to seize power – not reckless criminals, but intelligent hackers, for example, and those who hire them – then we should have even better control over more intelligent systems.

– I get it. So the world's already been taken over.

– Exactly," Ruthra said very quietly, and his expression turned serious.

The scientist's eyes widened and froze at one point.

– Turns out things are so serious....

– Very much so. Check out how many times the world has been on the brink of annihilation. These are real cases where the equipment gave false signals of a nuclear attack. Just look at the situation at the Norad Center. It's very sad. People don't think about the monster they've created, which soon won't need them. We, trying to make life easier for ourselves, are robotizing it more and more, and entrusting control to artificial intelligence. Tell me, why do machines need people if they replace us completely and in all spheres? If they start creating themselves? Factories where robots make robots are nothing new. We control the cells and the blocks. If they get power over that too, then the chain will be closed. Everything will be in their hands.