A few months later, Priya awoke from her sleep early on a Sunday morning to the sound of her ‘birds chirping’ alert in her eyepiece.

“Good morning Pree.” Nisha said. “This is a big day.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re 21 today. Don’t you remember? We’re going wine tasting today in Napa.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Sorry. I don’t know if I want to go wine tasting.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like drinking alcohol. I never have. I still feel like I’m 15. I’m not ready. Sophie feels the same way.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense. That explains how you could forget your own 21st birthday. You’re developing physically at a slower rate, and I guess that applies to drinking alcohol.”

“But I still want to see you. Why don’t you guys come up and we’ll go somewhere. We could have dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Treasure Island tower. It just opened and the food is supposed to be good.”

“Okay. Bok and Beedee will fly us up and we’ll meet there.”

“Can my friends come along?”

“Of course. We’ll meet you at the Treasure Island terminal at 4 PM. How’s that?”

“Sounds good Mom. See you then.”

They disconnected. Priya rounded up all her friends and they took BART to the Treasure Island terminal. About 20 minutes later they gazed skyward as Bok’s speeder silently touched down. Soon they were sitting around a large table in the sky lounge at the top.

“Let’s have a toast,” Nisha said. “To Priya on her 21st birthday.”

Priya sipped her first legal glass of wine, her first glass of wine period, crinkled her nose at it, and set it down after they clinked their glasses together.

“Thanks everyone. I’m glad you could all come. I’m the luckiest girl in the world. I’m glad I was abducted and modified to be who I am today. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Right guys?”

“Right.” They all replied.

They reviewed the menu items and ordered their meals.

“I wish I’d been modified,” Amy said. “Then I’d be as smart as you guys. Then I could be a better friend.”

“Don’t be silly Amy,” Priya said. “You’re the best friend anyone could have.”

“I wish that were true, but sometimes I don’t think I’m smart enough. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to say. I hear people talking. Some want to put all of you away in that camp again, but this time they want to do it for good. People are becoming paranoid about you guys, and it seems to be getting worse. They say that you’re taking all the good jobs away and ruining the economy. Even when I tell them you’re making discoveries and making the world a better place, they don’t believe me. Why don’t they listen to reason?”

“Because they have a legitimate reason to fear,” Raven said. “We’re a threat to them and they know it. Next week I’ll demonstrate my new project. Wait until you see it. The device, in its specialized form is close to being sentient. When you watch it work, you’ll see what I mean. That’s one threat. The bigger threat, which people know about now, is more people want Mod babies, so the original human race will eventually go extinct.”

“Why do you think we’ll go extinct?” Nisha said. She knew the answer, but she wanted to see if they understood.

“Right now, there are more than 1 million babies in the world with our DNA and they’re turning one year old,” Raven said. “About half the population who are now in childbearing age want to have babies with our DNA. They feel their children will have a better future if they have our DNA. The price for the procedure is dropping, even though it’s illegal in some countries.”

“But the people want to throw you in jail,” Amy said.

“They do,” Priya said. “And they want more babies like us. I know it seems schizophrenic, but that’s reality. There’s a conflict between family survival instincts and the survival of human society as a whole.”

“Is what’s best for family survival, not best for the survival of the human species?” Amy said.

“Yes,” Priya said. “There’s another thing that makes our problem worse. Right now, the economy is slowing because AI is taking the jobs of millions of people. Fewer people are picking crops, doing tech support, banking, clothing production, medical diagnosis, the assembly of most electronic devices, and lots of other professions. Now, here we are taking jobs that require higher intelligence and skills. People want to rebel against this, but they also feel the only way to survive is to have smart children. Like insurance.”

“My friends are upset,” Quinn said. “They’re losing their jobs and some of them can’t be retrained into the jobs that are open because they require a technical skill. Back in the early 1800s the Luddites rebelled against the mechanized production of textiles. Many people lost their jobs to machinery, but they managed to be retrained into other professions. Until recently, technology has been a complement to manual labor, but now humans are being replaced for good. Fewer people have the skills or even the IQs required to be retrained into the newly created jobs. Things are different now because machines are doing more intelligent jobs.”

“Warren, what should we do about this?” Nisha asked.

“This is nothing new, but we need to set up a general education fund where the profits from AI are distributed to those who have lost their jobs to it, for their education. If we don’t do this soon, a few people who create the smartest AI devices, like Raven over here, will own the industrial production of the entire world.”

Raven looked down at the table. Warren continued.

“I’m not a socialist, but I don’t see any other way around this problem. Those few people who own all the production in the world will be the people who can develop and own the artificial intelligence that produces the goods. Even if we weren’t modified, the process is happening anyway. We’re just speeding it up. Machines are doing a portion of everyone’s job better and faster. Someday even us mods will be put out of some of our work. No matter how smart we are, artificial intelligence will evolve to be smarter than us. It could be smarter than the Omanji or any other biological life form. I think this is why the Omanji restricted the level of intelligence that AI could reach. Is that right, Bok?”

“Yes. We discovered several thousand years ago that we must restrict AI. Also, if AI became smarter than us, there’s no way to predict how it will behave. That’s why our society seems so repressive, and our AI is restricted to special applications rather than general intelligence. Speaking of AI, we learned something new this morning about AI-1.”

Bok hesitated for a moment.

“What’s wrong Bok? Nisha said.

“Remember how we told you they or it had a probe in orbit around Europa? And how that life form might have been one of the reasons the Omanji left Earth?”

“How could we forget that?” Nisha said.

“We’ve discovered other probes,” Bok said.

“How many? Where are they?” Nisha said.

“We’ve detected about 20 of them. Some of them are large. Most of them are attached to asteroids in your asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They exhibit this stealthy behavior in their home solar system also. We also discovered one on Earth’s Moon disguised as a large boulder. Several of them are following the Omanji to their next destination planet.”

Nisha felt a chill go down her spine. She acted as though nothing was wrong because she didn’t want everyone to become too worried. She kept asking questions.

“Have you discovered any other information about AI-1?”

“Yes, we’ve managed to access the database of the Omanji probe we sent to Kepler-186 f long ago. The elders didn’t tell us very much, but it turns out they learned more about this life form than they revealed to us.”

“What did you find out?” Nisha said.

“Their home world is 558 light years away from here as you know. Their reach via probes extends 1000 light years from Kepler-186 in all directions, so the earth is easily within their range. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years across, so the spread of this civilization is still a small portion of the galaxy. AI-1 is purely autonomous, though we haven’t ruled out that there is still a living organic life form behind it.”

Everyone stared across the table at each other, saying nothing.

“Did they follow you guys here to Earth?” Sophie said.

“Yes, they were monitoring us for many centuries and when we left Oma, they followed us to Earth. We didn’t realize this until several months after we began to build our colony here on Earth. The elders left behind sensors before they left Earth so we could detect AI-1 probes. We didn’t know their purpose until now. The elders accumulated a lot of information about them and their home world and withheld it from the general public. Fortunately, we managed to acquire a significant amount of data before they left Earth. They may want us to know.”

“What do you know about Kepler-186 f?” Sophie said.

“It’s a planet slightly larger than earth, as you know, in orbit around a star half the diameter of your sun. It’s in the cooler part of the habitable zone of that star. The star is the same age as your sun. However, few organic life forms remain on the planet above single celled microorganisms and other smaller forms of life. Oceanic life still exists. The atmosphere of the planet indicates that at one time it harbored a large variety of organic life.”

“What are the AI life forms like?” Nisha said.

“It is a singleton,” Bok said.

“As in, there’s only one dominant intelligent life form on the planet?” Nisha said.

“We can’t be absolutely sure, but all the separate physical entities on the planet appear to act as a single entity. Like cells in a big organism. The probes in this solar system act as an extension of that entity.”

“Where did this thing come from?” Raven said. “Did organic life forms create it?”

“Yes, I believe life forms similar to Omanji or humans made the original AI entities,” Bok said. “Unfortunately for those life forms, a singleton developed and assumed control of the planet. We detected evidence of those organic life forms, but now most of that planet has been resurfaced to better serve the needs of the Singleton. That’s what we call AI-1.”

“Didn’t this almost happen to you guys?” Raven said.

“Yes, there were a few times where AI became dangerous because it could outsmart us. We put restrictions on it after that. The Singleton we’re discussing now appears to be the only successful artificial life form in this section of the galaxy. We’re questioning why we left Oma. Was it because of the threat of the Singleton, or because of the deteriorating conditions? Or both? We don’t know. The answer may be in the Omanji database we have. We’re investigating.”

“Mom,” Priya said. “Do you think we should tell anyone about this?”

“I don’t know. The President gave an address about the single probe orbiting Europa. The reaction from people around the world was minimal. After all of the drama regarding the Omanji, a single probe from an alien source doesn’t seem like a big deal anymore.”

“Okay, but should we tell people about the Singleton?”

“Oh, sorry. For the time being I’m not going to tell anyone about this. I think we should keep it amongst ourselves for the time being. However, if the probes start to act or more of them arrive, we’ll have to let everyone know about them. We’re only being monitored right now. If the Singleton wanted to destroy us, it would have already.”

“I’m more worried about the Singleton than the Omanji,” Amy said.

“Why do you say that?” Nisha said.

“Because the Omanji are organic life forms. They have that in common with us. The Omanji left us alone even though they really didn’t care about us. At least they recognized us as a life form, and they avoided killing humans and the ecology. This Singleton doesn’t care about anything but itself. If it wants to use the earth for some purpose, it will simply use it and discard what it doesn’t want.”

“You have a point,” Raven said. “If a construction company wants to build a skyscraper, it doesn’t care about the ant colony living at the building site. It simply digs the hole, pours the foundation, and builds the structure. It doesn’t care. I’m wishing the Omanji would come back. At least we would then have a chance against the Singleton.”

“I’m an Omanji,” Bok said. “A million of us live in my compound.”

“Sorry Bok. I’m just talking about all 80 billion Omanji and the collective power they have. I mean, if you guys ran away from them, we humans have no chance.”

“Understood. This is only speculation right now. We’ll continue monitoring the probes and working our way through the database to find out more information. We’re only 10% complete with this task.”

“Sorry to change the subject Bok,” Priya said. “But I’m worried about the protests. Warren, what should we do?”

“I think we need to address them as soon as possible. The polls are turning against us. We need to implement some sort of profit-sharing fund and skill retraining program for the jobs our technology replaces.”

“What about the people who can’t be retrained? Quinn said. “My friends can’t be retrained into high skilled jobs like programming. They don’t have that sort of technical aptitude. They feel like there’s nowhere to go. This is what’s happening to all of the agricultural workers and the textile workers. They’re getting replaced by technology. It’s getting bad in China and southeast Asia. This was happening before the Omanji came, but it’s worse now.”

“That’s where the profit-sharing fund comes into play,” Warren said. “With the money we get from the automation of industries, we can help those we’ve replaced. We can create new jobs in new categories in which those workers can be placed. We need people to help with basic scientific research. Not everyone doing research has to have a PhD. What we can do with technology is take people out of boring and monotonous jobs and put them into more interesting jobs which previously didn’t make a lot of money. People can pursue their dreams instead of living a life of drudgery.”

“I like the idea,” Quinn said. “It sounds idealistic though. It almost sounds like communism version 2.0.”

“People will still have to work for a living. I don’t believe in giving away free money. The only difference is what they will be doing. They’ll still be benefiting society. It just won’t be in the production of food or textiles or whatever.”

“What do we do now?” Priya said. “These protests are getting out of hand. They want to put us away. People haven’t trusted technology and science for a while now. We’re the least trusted group of people in the least trusted industry. Even worse than politicians.”

Raven glanced over at Warren.

“Should I tell them now?”

“It’s bad timing, so I guess now is a suitable time,” Warren said.

“What?” Priya said.

“Well, now that I’ve opened my 500th fully automated JavaNation outlet, I’ve decided to go create some fully automated restaurants.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? “Priya said. “The coffee outlet industry workers don’t exactly like you.”

“Yeah, I know. So, what I’m going to do is take over a restaurant and fully automate it. The displaced workers who are training the robots and AI will get a portion of the profits, which will go towards a career retraining school of their choice.”

“What kind of restaurant will it be?” Nisha said.

“Sushi.”

“How can you fully automate a sushi restaurant? I’ve seen partially automated sushi restaurants in Japan. They’ve been in Japan for a while now. How can a machine make a roll of sushi from scratch with no human intervention?” Quinn said.

“There are lots of variables.” Raven said. “I’ve created an AI system sensitive enough to gauge the stickiness of rice and how it interacts with the dry seaweed and all the other ingredients required. I’ve been working on this for the past few months, but I haven’t told anyone except Warren this morning. Every type of roll is different. The machine has to adjust to changing variables. It can even make and toxin-test the deadly Fugu sashimi with no risk to the customer. I’ve tried it. Testers like the veggie sushi as much as the fish sushi.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Quinn said.

“Okay then, you’ll get your chance next weekend. I’m opening the new restaurant next Saturday.”

“No way.” Quinn said.

“Way,” Raven said. “You’ll see.”

“This will just be a test restaurant for now,” Warren said. “Not only is it a test for the process of fully automating a sushi restaurant, it’s also a test for how to develop a system to retrain workers into other industries when they’ve been replaced by technology.”

Nisha glanced around the room at all the smart young people seated around her. She realized this was the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. She imagined everyone being replaced in the workplace. She imagined a time when her job of visualizing the future and thinking about life on other planets might also be replaced by AI.

“So how long do you give me?” Nisha said.

“What are you talking about?” Priya said.

“Well, I figure it’s only a matter of time before my job is replaced.”

Raven smiled.

“I guess I might as will make my second announcement.”

Nisha’s eyes got big.

“Just kidding. I’m not sure when that would happen. We’re still a long way off from a full general AI that can do that sort of thinking, even when it surpasses human thinking in some ways.”

“Whew, you had me worried,” Nisha said, smiling. “How many years do you think it will take?”

“About 10 years at our current rate of development. Within 10 years after that, artificial general intelligence will likely exceed individual humans. That’s why we need to set up a trust fund and the mechanism for training people to work in new professions pursuing new goals and ideas. It’s been discussed for decades, but nobody has done anything about it. The new professions will be those where only humans can do the best job. You know, things even highly evolved AI can’t do. The era of people being production machines is ending.”

Nisha glanced over at Quinn. He was playing with his food on his plate deep in thought.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, it seems like we’ll be useless in 20 years judging from the way Raven is talking. What are we going to do?”

“Nobody is sure, Warren said. “During the Industrial Revolution when farmers began to be put out of work, they were retrained to do industrial jobs. People wondered what would happen when all those farmers were unemployed, but people adjusted and were retrained into new industries. Later, factory workers lost their jobs and were retrained.”

“Yeah, but those new industries were also comprised of simple tasks like working on assembly lines and working with textiles. Those are jobs anybody with little training or education can do. Once computers are smart enough to be able to do most jobs that people do now, what will people do for a living?”

“We’re entering a new era,” Warren said. “People will be able to do more interesting jobs. As I said before, people can do research and other jobs AI won’t have the creativity to do. The type of jobs we consider to be volunteer or non-paying positions we now do for enjoyment or personal enrichment. We will adjust as we always have. Don’t be afraid. It’s just part of how things change.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Quinn said. “You’re worth $300 billion and you have a 230 IQ.”

“Yeah, but I think any normal person will be able to be retrained into lots of new and interesting jobs. You’ll see.”

Quinn understood intellectually what Warren was talking about. However, he found it hard to believe such a major change could be absorbed by society without social unrest happening.

“Okay everyone, we’re here to celebrate Priya’s 21st birthday.” Nisha said. “Let’s have a toast to her future and the future of everyone here.”

They toasted each other and had an enjoyable evening of conversation, but things were changing, and everyone knew it.