ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Three: The Myth and the Legend

"Privacy is a myth..." his face grew serious as he sat down in his chair at the centre. Serena turned on the TV screen in the back as her father continued:

"Since the dawn of civilization, we have been building walls and doors to keep our lives to ourselves ... and in this age of space exploration, we have let our private information to be handled by machines ... but no matter which age we live in there's a fair chance that someone might be eve's dropping on us...well I think there's a greater possibility of that happening in this age and time... after all who do you think that runs those machines! "

Mr. Devonshire now took off his glasses and his dark hollow eyes peered into the distance. He continued :

"People are careless... they're stupid and careless ...most people do not know what they're sharing online -in their social media for instance and how some very skilled professionals can sell off these information to willing buyers…but I guess this information is nothing new for you guys..."

He put back his glasses and turned to the screen behind him. Serena projected a picture onto it through her laptop.

"It was ten years ago that I launched my biggest project ever- ORCA. " , said Mr. Devonshire pointing towards the screen. An image of an 2D-Orca whale splashing out from the waters appeared on the screen.

"I remember that... read about it everywhere, but it was shut down.. I guess", said Hex not trying to offend the man.

"Unfortunately yes ... because the people who funded this were questioned by the media...Well we will come to that in a minute..."

"ORCA or Objective Recon and information Controller Application… I created it to spy on people...plainly speaking…I was the chief scientist. But I did so because I was asked to by the higher authorities...they said it was matter of national security... about digging up the bad guys and ruining their plans ..."

Another picture appeared now, this time a map of the entire city with hundreds of black and a few red dots .

"The black dots you see are low level petty criminals but the few red dots you see are the real bad people...people who want to watch the world burn...."said Mr. Devonshire slowly walking up to the end of the table.

"Okay... but what's this got to do with us..." asked Megan curiously.

"Perspective ...my dear ... Perspective...", replied Devonshire with a smile.

"You see ORCA burst their bubble...the people who thought that their private lives were sacred and protected- those government guys who made me create my own 'Frankenstein' .In the end the same people had me shut it down...and then the fire accident – which completely destroyed the project and left me bed ridden for years."

"ORCA could peek into every camera and satellite in the country and spy on anyone without discretion...People who rant on about internet privacy are a joke! How can you protect the country if you aren't allowed to tear down some walls, peek through some windows and every now and then peep through some cameras? I gave them the most powerful piece of tech that they could ever have and they SHUT ME DOWN!!" - Devonshire clenched his fist and punched the table angrily which startled everyone.

There was an awkward silence in the room, Megan looked at Hex, he was staring at his phone. Timothy and Andre were whispering to each other. Megan wondered if she made a mistake by accepting the invitation, she could make out some past trauma was still haunting this controversial old scientist.

"I apologise....I tend to get emotional when I talk about this... huh..." , Devonshire said trying to calm himself. Serena handed him a glass of water.

"No.. no...it's quite all right dear, thank you..." said Devonshire as he sat back at his chair.

"I am an old man now and I've buried my past- some people can't be taught...So I had to let it go and the fire accident has cost me my ability to walk ..." he continued

"Sorry to hear that Sir- but I'm just curious , do you still possess the tech?", asked Hex.

"Ah no ... no... pfft! ...it all went down in the fire...besides last time it took a team of ten young coders and my sharpness- which I think is growing dull every day... so no...all the storage drives were lost..." , replied Devonshire trying to avoid anymore questions.

"You're still very smart father ..." said Serena holding his hand. Devonshire smiled at her and said –

"Well .. enough of the past.. let's talk about why I brought you here..."

“Yeah… you said you want us to built some software?”- asked Timothy.

“Coming to that Mr. Bjork…just a minute”- replied Devonshire.

“I wish to get back in the software business because frankly speaking the last ten years has been a waste owing to my medical condition and our competitors are developing much better products…we need to up our game if we want to survive in this market”- he continued.

“I want to build a product that appeals to the masses, now all those years that I was bed-ridden, I’ve questioned my own existence had nervous breakdowns, went into depression and saw my whole world crashing around me…if it hadn’t for my daughter’s love and care I would have given up…” he looked at Serena with grateful eyes, she smiled.

“It was my daughter’s idea to start this project … a mobile application that can help people through their tough times, like she did during my tough period…she said that the only way to help yourself is to help others. I still don’t get what it means, sorry dear… but as long as I get to create something new, I don’t mind…” – said Devonshire with a smile.

“Excuse me, but why do you need me in a software development project?”- asked Megan.

“Oh you’re the backbone of the whole operation dear…We need a psychologist to evaluate the workings of the human mind so that we can improve the software to better suit our users”- replied Devonshire as he signalled Serena to bring up the next image on the screen. She started to click on her laptop and pictures of the four of them appeared on the screen with their names and occupation at the bottom.

“You’ll lead this project Miss Megan”, Devonshire continued. ”I have taken the liberty to choose your team for you, that’s Mr. Richard Brook sitting beside you, also known as ‘Hex’- he’s an experienced computer programmer and he will help us in building the framework of our application. And to the front of you are Timothy and Andre – genius coders and fascinating human beings- they’re here to give the software its final shape…and guys this is Megan Rutherford- brilliant psychologist, award winning author and a charming young lady…” Megan looked at Devonshire for further explanation.

“Right…now that you all know each other, let’s talk about the product that you’re going to help us create…” Devonshire turned towards the screen and said, “ladies and gentlemen I give you the vaccine for all human problems-“O.R.P.H.E.U.S.” 

An abstract image of the earth floating in space appeared, covered with some kind of glowing protective shield and the name Orpheus written below. The four new recruits looked at the screen in amazement, a strange sense of power and calmness engulfed Megan. She felt something dark and hollow inside of her.