Kormin's win

Humans themselves have never evolved but, the world they live in has never stopped changing. Astronomers and scientists alike were correct in their assessments, the sun had depleted half of its energy — earth was now changing, the Antarctica and arctic regions had spread, covering at least fifty-percent of the planet in glaciers, hundreds of millions of people were killed in the process. New technologies were being thought upon in ways on how the people of earth could survive, but that very thought had changed the moods of people. Widespread panic and crime had swept across the remaining land. A new world government was formed to try and restore order and control.

The law themselves were struggling to enforce it, new ways of control could only present itself in the form of technology. At childbirth every new baby was implanted with an impulse extrapolator, a device, part machine part organic that would grow with the child, its design is to analyse brainwaves and process them into real-time data that’s uploaded to the neural network, where the algorithm can learn and predict their future motives and notions. As soon as a crime is thought of whether it’s in advance or in the split second before it’s committed, the law is shown.

But people learnt to shroud their thoughts, new ways had to be implemented in the form of updates secretly downloaded to every human being over the 5th generation wireless network. This had proved a success the extrapolator’s could now penetrate to the very centre of the brain’s nucleus.

*

“I can’t explain it sir,” said Michael, the data analyst at the government's human behaviour facility.

“What do you mean you can not explain it? Are you saying that the algorithm can no longer predict such potential behaviours?” Asked the professor and creator of the algorithm for human behaviour facility.

“It seems that way sir, we now have five women murdered and not one prediction in advance to warn us.”

“Am I right to say that the new update has the capability to narrow down the issue to a certain subject that’s not responding?” Asked the professor.

“That’s correct sir, it could be a simple problem where the impulse extrapolator is not communicating back to the algorithm.”

“See that it’s dealt with, we can’t have anymore murders.”

“Yes sir.”

*

Today Kormin Styke was celebrating his twenty-ninth birthday and on this very day his impulse extrapolator had now reached full maturity. Throughout his life up to this point had been predicted accurately by the algorithm. No crimes were against him and as his career had foretold, he’d become the engineer as part of a team that the world relied upon to develop a source to replenish the energy in their planet's dying sun.

“Please stay for another drink Kormin darling,” pleaded his mother.

“I’m going for a run, I won’t be long and then we can have that last drink together.”

“Okay but be careful it’s almost minus-ten out there and will soon drop colder.”

*

Back at the human behaviour analysis facility Michael was viewing the many screens in front of him, that were showing every human consciousnesses in a four-thousand square-mile region on the planet known as the Beta sector. They were all green, but if they turned to amber they would be isolated and viewed on another screen and monitored, if one or many changed to red, the subjects would be apprehended and quarantined for further monitoring. But all were good, green was good.  

“As a precaution Michael, do we have extra patrols just in case the assailant strikes tonight?” Asked the professor.

“I don’t think anyone will be out tonight, that’s what the algorithm predicts, besides the temperature will plummet to minus-thirty. We’d have frozen bodies everywhere.”  

“But people enjoy running in sub-zero temperatures. We must restore some faith in the people.”

“Unless a curfew is implemented, the authorities, that’s the people above you and I, have complete trust in the algorithm. They say it’s just a little glitch.”  

*

The following morning a sixth body had been discovered on the northern border of the beta sector, she was frozen to the core. Michael viewed the results from the algorithm and discovered it had made a new prediction overnight, he had no choice but to make the professor aware that a woman had gone out running last night but according to the data nobody else had gone out.

“Can I make a suggestion Michael?” Asked the professor.

“Please do sir.”

“This recent body is frozen solid, if we thaw it can any brain activity captured in the freeze be transferred to the neural network and see if the algorithm can predict who killed her?”

“That’s an area we can try, I’ll get right on it.”

As soon as the thawing of the body was completed, the impulse extrapolator began uploading the last impulses in her final moments.

Michael was amazed when the algorithm predicted her final motives, notions and thoughts. According to the data she was the only runner out last night but, the algorithm had predicted that another subject had predicted that it had altered the algorithm's biometric calculations.

"Are you trying to say Michael, that the subject in question has somehow learnt to predict what the algo is about too?" Asked the professor.

"Yes."

"And who is this subject?"

"The data is almost processed, we'll be able to see her last images."

From the runner's point of view on the monitor screen, they were looking up at a familiar face.

"What's Kormin doing?" Asked the professor.

"That's strange, his prediction last night stipulates he never went out, yet he's out," replied Michael.

"According to the data, Kormin had predicted what the algorithm had predicted, his death."

"He's been manipulating my creation right to his death," replied the professor.

*

Kormin was standing on the ridge of the beta sector, he never wanted to embark on the mission to the sun, with his own creation a hydrogen fusion cell to impregnate the sun's core. Now supposedly deceased, he's new mission now was to help the populace manipulate the algorithm to gain their freedom from the control of the world government.