It is becoming self-evident that we are living in the most unusual of times. We are being coerced into another war and are limited in what we can say about the facts of the new war. This reminds me of a short story see title of post by a great author Harlan Ellison where humans are being tortured routinely by a super-computer that despises humanity. Is this what the ruling class intend to do with the masses? I know the folks in Gaza are in a similar ordeal based on some real facts on their living conditions. Let's see what the global population decides to do with the information that is being presented daily by independent journalist that are brave enough to present the facts facing our civilization. They have a voice but no one is allowed to listen to them.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Plot[edit]
In a dystopian future, the Cold War has degenerated into a brutal world war between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, who have each built an "Allied Mastercomputer" (or AM) to manage their weapons and troops. One of the AMs eventually acquires self-awareness and, after assimilating the other two AMs, takes control of the conflict, giving way to a vast genocide operation that almost completely ends mankind. One hundred and nine years later, four men and one woman (Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, Ted, and Ellen) live in an endless underground complex created by AM, one of the only habitable places left on Earth. AM provides sustenance to keep them alive, but derives its only semblance of pleasure from torturing them. To prevent the humans from escaping its torment, AM has rendered them virtually immortal and unable to end their own lives.
The machines are each referred to as "AM", which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", but was changed to "Adaptive Manipulator" and upon gaining sentience, "Aggressive Menace". It finally refers to itself as purely "AM", referring to the phrase "I think, therefore I am."
The story, narrated by Ted, begins with AM projecting a hologram of Gorrister to the other humans, hanging upside down, dripping blood and unresponsive. The real Gorrister joins the group to their surprise, and they realize it was another one of AM's illusions. Nimdok has the idea that there is canned food somewhere in the complex. Because of their great hunger due to AM keeping them in a perpetual state of near-starvation, the humans are coerced into making the long journey to the place where the food is supposedly kept – in this case, the ice caves. Along the way, the machine provides foul sustenance, sends horrible monsters after them, emits earsplitting sounds, and blinds Benny when he tries to escape.
On more than one occasion, the group is separated by AM's obstacles. At one point, Ted is knocked unconscious and dreams of the computer, anthropomorphized, standing over a hole in his brain speaking to him directly. Based on this nightmare, Ted comes to a conclusion about why AM has so much contempt for humanity; despite its abilities, it lacks the sapience to be creative or the ability to move freely, and wants to exact revenge on the species that created it by torturing the last remnants of them.
The group reaches the ice caves, where indeed there is a pile of canned goods, and are immediately crestfallen to find that they have no means of opening them. In a final act of desperation, Benny attacks Gorrister and begins to gnaw at the flesh on his face. In a moment of clarity, Ted realizes that the humans can only escape their torment through death. He seizes a stalactite made of ice and kills Benny and Gorrister, and Ellen kills Nimdok before Ted kills her in turn. AM stops Ted from killing himself and focuses all its rage on him, since it cannot bring the others back to life.
The story fast-forwards hundreds of years later, and AM has slowly transformed Ted into a "great soft jelly thing", incapable of causing himself harm, and constantly alters his perception of time to deepen his anguish. Ted is grateful that he was able to save the others from further torture, even though he cannot scream because his new form lacks a mouth.
