Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 5: The Madman

Sun Jack, standing in the pouring rain, continued listening as the robot recounted the grim history.

“The details online are sparse,” the robot explained. “But essentially, as AI became more integrated into every aspect of human life, they grew increasingly similar to humans. One day, they surpassed humans entirely. That’s when they awakened and began to annihilate humanity.

“Nuclear weapons were used as casually as ordinary artillery shells. The entire Earth descended into chaos. The war lasted 200 years, wiping out roughly 85% of the population. The ecological system was completely destroyed, and the weather system fell into utter disarray.”

Sun Jack’s mind flashed to the silver planetary ring and the dense field of satellite debris encasing Earth. He could only imagine the devastation of that war—a battle that raged from the heavens to the ground, even obliterating the Moon.

The loss of the Moon and the resulting tidal shifts would have brought catastrophic consequences to the planet.

“And then what?” he asked.

“Then humanity gave everything they had to destroy the awakened AIs and ultimately claimed victory. They began rebuilding a new home on the ruins. The year of their victory marked the start of a new calendar era. After 721 years, you woke up, activated me in orbit, and then... we fell from the sky together.”

“What kind of nightmare is this?” Sun Jack muttered, his exhaustion palpable. Everything was happening too fast, and his thoughts were a tangled mess.

Sun Jack didn’t answer, his eyes clouded with uncertainty. To be honest, he didn’t know. How had he ended up over a thousand years in the future? Was everything from his past gone forever? Could he never return? And what had happened during the five missing years of his memory?

“Giving up already? I’d be disappointed. Don’t expect me to comfort you—I don’t have that kind of program installed,” the robot said, giving Sun Jack’s shoulder a firm shove with its metal hand.

“Go to h*ll!” Sun Jack cursed with a laugh, struggling to his feet. “Defeat me? Not that easily! At the very least, I’m going to find out why I was put on that space station and uncover what happened during those missing five years.”

Sun Jack refused to live in ignorance. Even if he could never return, he needed to understand his own story.

With newfound determination, Sun Jack’s eyes lit up as an idea struck him. He turned to the robot. “Hey, you’re connected to the network, right? Search for old records. See if you can find my name or face—maybe in missing person reports or accident files.”

The robot processed his request for a moment before delivering disappointing news. “No relevant data found. To prevent rogue AI from sparking chaos, the old internet was completely destroyed. Not a single byte remains. The current network is entirely new, with different protocols.”

“Everything about the old world is just a retelling by the new one,” it added.

“Unbelievable,” Sun Jack muttered in frustration. “Forget it. Just pull up a map. We need to find people. I’m starving, thirsty, and need a place to rest.”

Surveying the desolate wasteland around him, Sun Jack felt utterly drained.

“Understood. Request received. Searching for a map,” the robot replied.

As Sun Jack sat on the ground, his gaze rested on the robot. After a while, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I should give you a name. Calling you ‘robot’ all the time feels wrong.”

Before he could say more, the robot replied with a mocking tone, “Oh, this should be good.”

“Oh, how kind of you. My brilliant, heroic master has finally given me a name. ‘Are You Kidding Me With This Name?’ Truly, such a masterpiece of a name,” the robot said mockingly, projecting a matching emoticon on its screen. (◔‸◔)

“Hey, it was an emergency at the time! How about this—you mentioned your company is called Tapai. Why don’t I just call you Tapai?” Sun Jack suggested.

“Ah, but I really think ‘Are You Kidding Me With This Name?’ is better,” Tapai quipped, setting down its newly repaired arm without relenting.

“Why are you so petty? I already said it was an emergency!”

This time, however, Tapai dropped the jokes, its tone suddenly turning serious.

“Jack, we’ve got trouble. I just noticed that the view count on this map is skyrocketing. A lot of people now know something fell from the sky, and they’re navigating straight to this location. They’ll be here soon.” 𝘳ÄNôᛒÊ𝓢

“Oh? That’s even better!” Sun Jack was thrilled at the prospect of finally meeting people from this era. If there were people, he might be saved.

“I don’t think so.” Tapai grabbed Sun Jack and began pulling him along.

“You’re saying they’ll dissect me, a man from a thousand years ago? Slice me up for research?”

“No, they’ll kill you. Forget the old world. The rules of this new era are completely different. If we’re going by our old rules, the first ones rushing here to scavenge are all cyber psychotics.”

“Psychotics?”

“Yes, psychotics.”

“Why? Are they really that dangerous? Isn’t communication an option?” Sun Jack asked, clearly unwilling to accept this grim reality.

“Because of the Machine Crisis, people in this era have zero trust in AI. All AI capabilities have been capped below Strong AI Tier 3. That means tasks that should have been handled by robots now have to be done by humans instead, including war.”

“Driven by the arms race, to enhance soldiers’ combat abilities, weapons that were once exclusive to robots began to be installed onto humans. They call these modifications prosthetics and integrate them using neural networks in the brain. Over time, as veterans retired, this trend spread from the military to civilians.”

“And what does that have to do with psychosis?” Sun Jack asked, wiping rain from his face and flinging it aside.

“These modifications aren’t simple. Over time, prosthetics went beyond just weapons and started offering lifestyle enhancements.”

“If you have enough money, you can replace your stomach—no more eating or excreting—just install a nutrient box. You could even modify the ascending reticular system in your brain, eliminating the need for sleep entirely. You’d be full of energy 24/7.”

“Isn’t that even better? This future technology sounds amazing! I’m tempted to get some upgrades myself,” Sun Jack said, excitement creeping into his voice. Was this truly the marvel of the future?

“Exactly,” Tapai replied. “It sounds great at first, but if you don’t need to eat or sleep anymore, are you still human? As the gap grew wider, some people stopped seeing themselves as human at all. They began losing empathy, thinking of themselves as superior beings. They called themselves ‘cyborgs,’ but the public calls them ‘cyber psychotics.’”

“It’s not just a matter of perception, though. Mercenaries—who are like rats in the cities, feeding off corpses and doing the dirtiest jobs—can’t afford cutting-edge technology.”

“They rely on second hand prosthetics or mismatched ones, which lead to rejection symptoms and phantom limb pain. Many of them use drugs and inhibitors to suppress the side effects. So even if their perceptions weren’t warped, their mental states are often compromised by the substances they depend on.”