Sci-fi Novel - The Dream Artist - Part 46

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Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31
Part 32
Part 33
Part 34
Part 35
Part 36
Part 37
Part 38
Part 39
Part 40
Part 41
Part 42
Part 43
Part 44
Part 45

Part 46

It was not often that public officials consulted an oracle because it was a power-sucking monster. It has been three years since the first commercial applications started. I had never heard of the oracle being used to solve a murder or loss, and I remembered that I had just met the researcher who reviewed the negative results of consulting the oracle on national security issues in newspapers and blogs.

I said, ”Tunç has rented half an hour of one of the four oracles in the world for us."

“It scares me that he trusts us so much,” said Peri.

We were going to spend an amount that exceeds one percent of the ministry budget in half an hour. There was an expression on Peri's face that I wasn't used to seeing. Under normal circumstances, the responsibility we assumed was supposed to have made her excited. As two ordinary mortals, we would be enlightened by the knowledge that the oracle would process by analyzing the ocean of data. Even me who was described as “ice man” by many people in various periods of my life, was excited. It was twelve minutes before the appointment, and Peri was trying to make sure nothing was missing like a responsible android. The entire investigation file before us, and all the information accumulated since the investigation began was collected in a pool. Our hypernet searches, readings and speech recordings would be made available to the Oracle. I had to focus on the Oracle, but I was obsessed with the Peri's soul. She seemed so unhappy and anxious that I felt like comforting a frightened girl.

I said, “I've never seen you like this before; you're so nervous.”

“I have some questions in mind," she said.

“Do you want to ask me your questions? Maybe I can help you?”

“We must wear our heads and test the system so that the Oracle can read our minds,” said Peri.

Her unhappiness seemed to ease a bit as she practiced the worklist. It was risky to wear mind-reading heads when I was in the same environment with a woman because the thoughts that were read would appear on the big monitors in front of us. Fortunately, there were less than ten minutes to meet the Oracle, and at such a time, the risk of getting inappropriate thoughts was quite low. The words appeared on the screen where my thoughts began to reflect: “Look at the point where artificial intelligence reaches, I'm excited as I would face ancient wisdom.”

“Can you reread the question for the final check?” I said turning to Peri.

“Is Selim Özben alive now? When did he disappear if he was alive, and where is he now? Who's responsible for his disappearance? When did he die, where is his body and who is responsible for his death?”

"There is no other possibility, is there?” I asked.

"I also received feedback from the experts in the ministry on the question. The Oracle will extract the question from the contents of the files we offer, and the priests are famous for their answers to the unquestioned questions.”

On the screen reflecting our thoughts the question, “Does it answer personal questions?” appeared.

Although far from the usual enthusiasm and excitement, Peri was focused on the business with full concentration. The sentence “Preparations in the list were checked for the second time” was blinking on the screen.

“You have less than two minutes to connect to the Oracle Aristotle” appeared on both of the screens. I said, “I've solved the Selim Özben phenomenon, and I hope Aristotle will fill in some gaps.”

“Is he alive?” she asked me.

“He hangs between life and death, I hope to learn from The Oracle which one he is closer, and after the interview, we will discuss the details.”

With a strange indifference, “Yeah, whatever,” she said.

“The Oracle Aristotle will soon raise its large memory and processor capacity to your problem. A summary of Aristotle's thought records will be presented to you at the end of the interview. If Aristotle does not react to you for a long time, do not panic. Long-term evaluation of the data and response at the end of the session is the situation encountered. Aristotle does not guarantee that it will find the answer to your questions. It is guaranteed that Aristotle's large memory and processor power will be mobilized to answer your question. Aristotle sometimes can answer that they think it should be asked by going beyond what was asked. Our company does not refund for answers that are not provided, nor does it require additional payment for additional information.”

There was a brief silence after the announcement. I read “I don't think the computer will solve such a complicated problem” on the thought screen of Peri. On both of us, the word “Aristotle” appeared on display. Aristotle started to load all the published dreams of Selim Özben into his memory, warning that “Aristotle can read your thoughts, you can connect with me when you think it is necessary,” with a full tone of male voice from the speakers. Then we went into a long silence period. We weren't talking because we were afraid to distract Aristotle, we were trying to get things out of our minds that had nothing to do with the investigation. Maybe just a few minutes past, but it seemed to have a hypnotic effect on me for the seconds in silence. At some point, I was so angry at myself. Despite the astronomical payment, this phase of the investigation would not be of great importance in practice. Because I was almost 100% sure I'd solved the problem already. There was no guarantee that it would fill the gaps in my hypothesis, but that Aristotle would have reached the point I had achieved. When I looked at my feelings a little further, I realized that my nervousness was due to Aristotle being able to give clues about my transcendental truths. I could see that the Peri was in a state of tension worse than me.

I went back to Peri and said, “It's weird we're afraid of a machine.”

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