"I'm glad you could join us on such short notice," the Army Chief of Staff greeted the General, motioning for him to take a seat.
"Well, sir," the General dutifully quipped back, "we both know that when the Pentagon calls, attendance isn't voluntary."
"Indeed. I hope the flight was alright."
"Long and boring. Sir, I hope you don't mind if we...."
"Of course. I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Oliver Ketchum. He's currently the head MIT's AI research."
"We've met," the General informed the Chief.
"Yes," Ketchum agreed as he continued to look over the file on the table in front of him. "Faber and Little beat out my team for funding based on, I believe, the General's recommendation." The balding man snickered a bit as he removed his reading glasses and set them on the file in front of him. "But I see that, despite his earlier opinions, that the Army is indeed in need of my services."
"If we can keep on topic, gentlemen," the Chief headed off the inevitable verbal sparing that was getting ready to take place. "As you know, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have no authoritative role as far as creating or enforcing military policy and procedures; but we are the advisers of the President himself. I have it on good authority that he is more than ready to act on my recommendation. What I need from the two of you are your professional opinions on how to proceed with this situation."
"Deactivation and reformatting of the brain is the safest course of action," the General answered.
Ketchum huffed. "Insanity! What Faber has created, quite accidentally, is a massive step towards true AI. From the reports that I've read, the Legionaire/Faber machine is acting very human. Just as it was supposed to. But it has the added edge of an awareness of it's own existence."
"Which is exactly what we didn't want to begin with," the General interjected. "We need a machine that can do the job that we need done without the cost of human lives. If this machine acts 100% like a human instead of the 10-20% actually needed for the mission, then we'd have to put up with the same problems that plague us with manned missions that lead to poor judgement: fear, anger, confusion, and the need for self preservation. The Army needs mechanical soldiers who can take out battalions quickly and effeciently. Not ones that question the morality of killing on the battlefield as this unit did."
"This unit holds the memories and skills of one of the world's leading scientists. It's accelerating the thought process a hundred fold. Look at the advancements that have already been developed by it in just a few short months. Erasing it all right now would be a travesty. Imagine if Einstein had the capability to think a hundred times quicker than before. Da Vinci. Edison. Our understanding of the universe and ability to harness its great power would be outrageous. It would be..."
".. a terrible threat to national security." Ketchum stopped as the General's booming voice cut in. "A machine that believes itself to be alive and capable of that kind of thinking and creation is a grave threat to this nation and possibly the world. Something that can harness such great power that Dr. Ketchum is speaking of can also wield it against anyone it chooses. Our safest bet is to reprogram the brain and reverse engineer the new model for future production."
"You are getting ready to destroy a giant step forward in human history and possibly even evolution."
"Humanity is not ready for that big of a step. It hasn't even been forty years since we landed on the moon. Are we really ready to face the reality of a machine that acts exactly like a human? One that claims equality with us?"
The Chief nodded. "I'll give this more consideration. The President will be in touch regarding his decision. Until then, Dr. Ketchum is to accompany you back to Alaska. There, he will carry out whatever decision is made."
