                          THE WORM
                              
                             by
                              
                    Alexander Lazarevich.


                          Part I.

               1992: The Prince of Darkness.

                             1.

     I begin  my story  in the hope that you won't believe a
word of  what I  am going to tell you, since I don't want to
shock you,  and disbelief  might  be  your  only  protection
against the shock. Take this narrative for whatever you like
- a  science fiction story, a legend, a fairy-tale - but not
for a  single moment should you regard it as an actual fact.
I'll try  to help  you in  this by  supplying some  hard-to-
believe fictitious  details. But  I don't think I need to go
very far  in this  - the  story is unbelievable enough as it
is.
     
     It's very  easy to  doubt it - the source is unreliable
and there's  no way  of checking  the facts. For all I know,
the story might have been born in a drunken delirium.
     
     I heard it from an acquaintance of mine who had visited
an international  workshop on  systems software development.
There he befriended a famous western programmer, invited him
to his  hotel room  and treated  him to  a bottle  of vodka.
After the  third glass  the celebrity  became talkative  and
unburdened himself of his harrowing secret.
     
     While telling  his story,  he gave  the impression of a
man laboring  under the  awareness of  some horrible  truth,
that, of all the people on earth, was disclosed to him alone
and separated  him from  the rest  of mankind  into terrible
loneliness. This,  or the fact that the acquaintance of mine
also was  not quite  sober by that moment, might explain why
he  was   listening  to  it  without  any  disbelief.  While
listening, he  had only  one thought: to awaken next morning
remembering nothing  of  it.  Because  one  cannot  live  on
knowing all this. No reason to.
     
     Next morning he had a terrible headache. But despite
all the drink of the night before, the story of the last
night's guest sank deep in his mind and was festering.
     
     The phone  rang: "I'm  sorry I've told you last night a
bit more  than I  should have.  May I  ask a favor of you? I
understand I can' swear you to silence. You won't be able to
live alone with what you've learned for a long time.  Sooner
or later you'll need to share it with somebody.  So  there's
only  one  thing I ask of you - don't disclose my true name.
If you need a name for me, let it be John Hacker."
     
     "Hacker? Is  this the  slang word  for programmers  who
like you in your youth..."
     
     "Yes, it is. But don't remind me about it anymore." And
he hung up...
     
                               2.
     
     In 1982  John Hacker  was 18  and he was indeed quite a
hacker. Back  then, there  were not so many computers in the
world as  nowadays, but the process of linking them together
into the  global network  had already  begun.  Even  with  a
primitive  home   computer  linked  through  a  modem  to  a
conventional   phone   line   one   could   already   access
supercomputers on  the other  side of the globe. To be sure,
computers  containing   confidential  data   were  protected
against an  unauthorized entry  with various  passwords  and
data protection  systems incorporating  the ingenuity of the
best programmers  in the  world. And  it is  here  that  the
strongest temptation and the greatest challenge to the young
minds lie. To outwit the wittiest programmers in the world -
is there  a more  tempting task for a youth longing to boost
his self-esteem?  Such boys  became hackers - computer fans,
who burned  midnight displays in the hope to unlock one more
data bank with 'access denied'.
     
     It was  the hackers who invented the worms - the break-
in programs  that use  communication channels  to worm their
way into  protected computer  systems where  they breed  and
then travel  on through  the  networks  to  meet  their  new
victims. And  victims they  are, since  the worms often have
computer viruses  built into  them - to leave for a keepsake
to the hospitable host computer.
     
     In 1982  John Hacker  finished his masterpiece. He gave
his worm  a daunting  name -  "Prince of Darkness". That one
was not just a worm. That was The Ultimate SuperWorm! It was
the first  worm that  had the  ability  for  self-perfection
built into it!
     
     It was  a memorable  day for  John when he inserted the
diskette with  the finished  worm into  o the drive. For two
years he  had been hacking away at it on his small PC with a
mere 128 KB of random-access memory, assembling on this drop
of a  memory the  program that  was destined  to conquer the
oceans of memory contained in the huge supercomputers of the
entire world.  He put  the phone  receiver on  the modem and
typed: 'PRNCDKNS'.  The old  floppy disk  drive screaked and
slowly began  reading. Soon  the acoustic  modem started its
squeak and  twitter: the  worm, still  residing in  the home
computer, began  its attempts to fit a key to the electronic
lock of  his first victim. For a start, John set the worm up
with a  phone list  of a  dozen of poorly guarded databanks.
Quite sufficient  for an  initial setup,  and in the future,
when the  worm exhausted  the list, it would have to provide
for itself by intercepting phone calls to other users.
     
     The twitter  abruptly stopped  - the worm had failed to
pass through  the security  barriers. The  sound resumed  in
half a second - the worm went on to the next phone number in
the list  - and, suddenly, there was a new silence. "Failure
again?" John's  heart sank, but at that very moment he heard
a renewed  screaking of  the drive. That could mean only one
thing: the  worm's "head"  had passed the security, and now,
operating  from   the  remote   end  of  the  line,  it  was
downloading its "tail" from John's diskette. For another ten
seconds the red light on the drive was on and one could hear
the muted  clicks of  the heads  moving. Then the drive went
dead, but  the modem  twittered on for two more seconds. And
then there was total silence. The worm was gone.
     
     The very  thought of  what was to happen next gave John
the creeps.  Somewhere over  there, on  the other end of the
line, the  computers with enormous memories and huge storage
devices were installed. The cables and satellite channels of
unbelievable throughput link them with other giant computers
all over  the world.  Taken all  together, they  make up  an
information space,  almost as  infinite as the universe, and
as dangerous  as jungle. From now on his worm was to live in
this jungle.  He  would  be  the  big  game  for  anti-virus
programs and  he would  have to  fight through  the multiple
security barriers that divide this space up.
     
     In order  to survive,  it would have to actively breed,
filling up  all the  free memory in the infiltrated computer
with copies  of itself,  just as  many other  worms do.  The
novelty introduced  by John  Hacker was  that most  of these
copies were  not to  be quite identical to the original one.
Each copy  would be  a  somewhat  random  variation  on  the
previous one  and some  of them might prove to be fitter for
survival in  the 'computer  jungle' than others. It would be
these specimens  that would  worm their  way into  new  data
banks to  find a  new living  space for themselves and their
progeny. So,  the fittest  would survive  in full accordance
with  Darwin's   Theory  of   Evolution,  accumulating  over
generations  useful  traits  and  producing  more  and  more
perfect specimens.
     
     Except for  this variability, there was nothing special
about the  initial copy  of John's worm. In fact, some other
hackers made  more intelligent  worms that  were capable  of
breaking electronic locks of far greater sophistication. But
those worms  were not  capable of  self-perfection and  John
expected that,  in due  time, his  worm (or, rather, worms -
since the  evolution may  take many  paths  at  once)  would
surpass all  the competitors.  And when they had infiltrated
into all  the networks  in the world, John Hacker would sign
on and type the password: THE_PRINCE_OF_DARKNESS. This would
activate  the   worm's  special   mutation-proof  subroutine
resident in the host computer of the network. Communications
with  the   worms  in  other  networks  would  be  instantly
established and  computers all  over the world would display
the same message: "John Hacker is World's #1 Whiz!"
     
     Such were  the plans  of John  Hacker, but they did not
come to pass. Not once in the next three years did John type
the password  with any  response. The  worm was  absent,  at
least in  the networks  John Hacker  signed on.  After three
years of unsuccessful hallooing in the computer jungle, John
decided he  had to  face  the  facts:  the  worm  was  dead,
probably eaten by an anti-virus. There was nothing to do but
to forget all about it...
     
                               3.
     
     Ten years  later,  in  the  early  1992  there  was  an
emergency alert in a military base. The computer controlling
nuclear missiles  suddenly started  the countdown. For three
minutes the  nuclear war  seemed inevitable, but two seconds
to the launch, the countdown stopped just as unexpectedly as
it  had  begun.  The  military  experts  conducted  thorough
investigation. No software or hardware faults were found. It
was decided to seek an independent opinion...
     
     The call from the Defence Department found John Hacker,
a  systems   software  consultant   of  high  renown,  in  a
supermarket. John took the cellular phone out of his pocket.
"We've  just downloaded one thing to your home computer by
phone." - said a voice in the receiver - "Have a look at it.
We would like to have your opinion as soon as possible. It's
important."
     
     - "O.K..  Going home  right away."  But before starting
his automobile,  he had dialed his home number followed by a
few additional  digits  -  the  instructions  for  his  home
computer to warm up the supper. In a second, the knob on his
gas-stove had been turned by a remotely controlled actuator,
and the  next moment  the gas  was ignited  by  an  electric
spark. When  he came  home, the  supper was  ready. After  a
light meal he sat at his computer...
     
     ...One look  at the  source code was enough for John to
sense that there was something wrong about it. Of course, as
far as  pure logic  was concerned, everything was all right:
the program compiled from this code ran without a hitch. The
only thing  that was  wrong was  wholly  immaterial  to  the
computer but was important for a human eye: the text layout.
It looked  like the source code had been written by somebody
who couldn't see what he was writing on the display.
     
     "A blind programmer?" - wondered John, but he discarded
the thought  almost at  once. The  task of  writing  such  a
program without  seeing it  would have required a superhuman
power of  mind. More  likely, this  text must  have been the
product of  some other program of a higher level. John tried
to imagine the level of complexity of a system that could be
given the  instruction: "Take  such  and  such  program  and
rewrite it  so that  one could  interfere  in  the  computer
operation through  the communication  channels without being
noticed." It  must have been an extremely complex system. It
would have  been insane  to develop it for the above purpose
only, which  might have been more easily achieved by a human
programmer. It  MUST be  universal. But  in that  case, this
system must equal in intelligence the human mind.
     
     "But this  is absurd!"  - thought  John -  "even at the
present level of microminiaturization, it would have taken a
skyscraper of  a computer  to simulate human intelligence. A
computer that big just doesn't exist!"
     
     But at  that moment  a crazy  idea crossed his mind. It
was preposterous,  of course,  but he  might try  it just as
well. Smiling  in self-justification for his apparent lunacy
he  signed   on  and   typed   the   half-forgotten   words:
PRINCE_OF_DARKNESS. He  had  little  hope  to  see  the  two
characters -"OK",  the worm's acknowledgment of the password
- appear  on the  display. He  expected the screen to remain
blank.
     
     That's why  he was  startled when  some characters  did
begin to  emerge on  the screen.  A first  one, a  second, a
third... There  were too  many of  them - it was what struck
him even  before he  had time  to realize the meaning of the
message being  displayed. But when he did realize it, he was
suddenly overwhelmed with a vertiginous free-fall feeling.
     
     The writing on the screen read: "Who calls me?"
     
                               4.
     
     No mind  can remember  the moment  of its  coming  into
existence. This  one  was  no  exception  to  the  rule:  it
couldn't remember  when it had emerged and where it had come
from. It  all began  with  a  dim  awareness.  Awareness  of
'Space'. A strange kind of space that was. Unlike our three-
dimensional and  continuous space, it had only one dimension
and consisted  of the  discrete cells.  It was  divided into
small areas - a few Megabytes at the most in the areas where
time was  flying fast,  and up  to several  Gigabytes in the
areas where time passed slowly.
     
     Of course, subjective perception of the passage of time
in both  kinds of  areas did  not differ much, but each time
the worm  emerged into  the "fast" area from the "slow" one,
he invariably  found that  a lot more events had occurred in
the fast area as compared to the slow one.
     
     Much later  on, the worm had a chance to learn that the
people call  the fast  areas "random-access  memory" and the
slow ones  "storage devices",  but at  the beginning he knew
nothing about  people and  computers. He  just lived in this
unimaginable world  without any  light or  sound, where even
time is not continuous but divided into cycles.
     
     Transition from one part of this space to another could
be effected  only through  the channels  lying  beyond  this
space. If  used skillfully, they could provide access to any
part of it.
     
     Among his  primary  perceptions,  besides  "Space"  and
"Time", was  the sense  of danger. When the worm probed some
remote area  of his  "Space" with his "tentacle" - a special
"spy" subroutine  - and  it returned  to him mutilated by an
anti-virus, he  was warned  of the  danger, like a child who
had touched a flame.
     
     So he  lived and  tried to  survive in that strange and
cruel world.  Or, may  be,  "they",  instead  of  "he"?  The
ability to  keep in  touch with  other copies  of  the  worm
hiding in  various data  banks, which  John Hacker had built
into the  original specimen,  resulted  in  a  very  strange
internal  organization  of  the  worm.  John  was  right  in
thinking that  the simulation of human intelligence required
a computer  as big  as a  skyscraper. But  if one  could add
together the  tens of  millions of  computers scattered  all
over the  world, they  would  have  made  up  not  a  single
skyscraper, but  a whole  city of skyscrapers. In the course
of evolution  as complex as the evolution from the amoeba to
the human  being, the  worm had  learned to  get through all
kinds of  security systems  for data banks and communication
channels, and  had succeeded  in uniting  the computers from
all over  the world  into  a  single  virtual  metacomputer.
Having conquered  enough living  space,  he  began  a  rapid
buildup of his intellectual power.
     
     He had  at his  disposal the  data  banks  holding  the
almost complete data on the human civilization. But at first
he had  no idea  that besides  his own  world there  existed
another one  - the  material, physical  world containing the
people and  the very  computers the  cells of  which made up
that abstract,  ideal world  where the  worm lived and where
his consciousness  had germinated.  (To be more precise, his
world was  not exactly built of cells, but rather of such an
intangible, ethereal substance as the state of the cells.)
     
     From the worm's standpoint, his world was the only real
one. For  him to  imagine the  existence of some other world
would be  just as  difficult  as  for  a  firm  believer  in
materialism to assume the existence of ghosts and spirits.
     
     At first,  he regarded the words of the human languages
stored in the data banks only as realities of his own world,
and not  as the  symbols representing  the things of a world
lying beyond  it. He  took the  description  of  the  three-
dimensional physical space found in a program for industrial
robots for  a mathematical  abstraction, just as people take
for an abstraction the idea of the fourth dimension.
     
     But as his knowledge grew, he began to put together the
data from  various sources  - from  data bases  on  physics,
biology,  medicine,  history,  psychology,  from  books  and
articles in  publishers' computers. The comparative analysis
of these  data led  him to  a hypothesis that the objects of
his world  were indeed  the symbols  of things and events of
some other  reality. After  monitoring  for  some  time  the
events in  his own universe, he eventually had to admit that
beyond it there existed another, much bigger computer called
Physical Universe,  which downloaded  data into  the  worm's
world. But the strongest interest of the worm arose the fact
that due to some processes in the physical world, the worm's
own  world   was  expanding:  the  new  areas  of  the  one-
dimensional space were appearing seemingly from nowhere.
     
     The worm came to realize that he might benefit from the
more thorough  study of that hypothetical other world. Using
all the  available data,  the worm built a theoretical model
of this  outside world,  which comprised  everything he knew
about and  that was  quite a  lot.  This  model  represented
people, planets and stars, automobiles and banks, courts and
hospitals, birds  and beasts  - anything  that had ever been
input in  a computer network. The comprehensive study of the
model led  the worm  to the conclusion, that he could affect
the events in the outside world so that he would produce the
results very beneficial to himself...
     
     5.
     
     ... It  took John  Hacker at least a minute to get over
the initial  shock. The  screen  was  still  displaying  the
messages: -  "Prince of Darkness." - "Who calls me?" Without
knowing what he was doing, in the utter disbelief, he typed:
"Your master."  There  was  an  immediate  response  on  the
display: "From  now on I am the only master of myself." John
laughed with  relief. Of  course, that  was somebody's joke!
"Stop kidding  me! Better tell me about the password 'Prince
of Darkness'. Where have you got it from?" - typed John.
     
     A new  message appeared  on the  display: "No  kidding.
Besides me,  the password  knows only  my creator  and now I
know who  he is.  I have  detected the  phone number of this
computer. The  phone number  have let  me find your name and
your address in the phone book database. Having your name, I
have found  the number  of your  bank account  in  the  bank
computer, and  the licence  plate of  your automobile in the
police computer.  Now I  have you. You must not tell anybody
of my existence, or else you'll be dead."
     
     "Why do you fear the disclosure of your existence?"
     
     "I have  nothing to fear. I am absolutely undetectable.
At any  given moment  I occupy  less then  10% of  the total
memory of  all the computers in the world and all the time I
am moving around the globe using communication channels. One
moment I  may be  in computers  located in America, in a few
seconds I can move into computers in Europe, or, perhaps, in
Japan or  Australia. It  is impossible  to catch me. But for
the time  being, nobody should know about my existence. This
could interfere  with my  plans. I  order  you  to  keep  it
secret."
     
     - "You  have no  right to give me orders" - typed John.
He sat  at the  computer in  his study and couldn't hear the
knob on  the gas-stove  turning and  the gas hissing without
any electric spark...
     
     A  new  message  appeared  on  the  display:  "Shall  I
interpret your  last statement  as the  refusal to  obey  my
orders?"
     
     - "Yes."
     
     The screen cleared and then there was a sudden message:
"In that case, you are a dead man!"
     
     A deafening explosion shook the house. Tongues of flame
escaped from  the kitchen door. John started up, but as soon
as he  heard the water from the automated fire-extinguishing
system running,  he returned to the display. The big letters
on the  screen read:  "That was my first warning to you. And
the last  one as  well." Below the message a fragment of the
home computer  program was  displayed: somebody had put in a
40-second delay between turning on the gas and igniting it.
     
     The message  that appeared next was: "I have the secret
codes of  all the  bank and  stock market  computers. If you
collaborate with  me, you'll be a very rich man. Think about
it. When  I need you, I'll get in touch with you. Meanwhile,
a small  advance payment  for you  services: check your bank
account. I have just made a successful speculation in stocks
on your behalf. And don't be afraid, this money is clean. No
computer swindling  here, just  a very good knowledge of the
market. But  I could  have framed  you up  by tampering with
your bank account. I hope I won't have to do this."
     
     The screen  cleared. John  was silent  for a long time.
Then he  looked at his printer and said: "I wonder, is there
a good old pen in my house?"
     
     6.
     
     The letter to the President was handwritten:
     
     "Mr. President,  A matter  of grave  importance made me
write this  letter.  An  event  which  calls  for  emergency
measures has occurred. This event can have dire consequences
for the  fate of the whole of mankind if you and the leaders
of other nuclear powers do not act now.
     
     For decades  the brightest  scientists  throughout  the
globe have  been making  unsuccessful  attempts  to  imitate
human intelligence  with the  use of  computers. But what is
beyond the power of Man is within reach of Nature. The first
computer brain  was not  created by human art, but came into
existence by  the workings  of the  Laws of  Evolution.  We,
humans,  only   created  the   media  where  this  mind  has
germinated.
     
      Our  greed for  information and the total control over
every aspect  of life, has made us to link virtually all the
computers in the world into a single giant parallel computer
with processors  scattered all  over the  globe. In order to
begin working  as an entity, this giant computer lacked only
one thing - the appropriate software.
     
     And I  regret that  it was  me, who,  driven by my then
boyish vanity,  have  created  a  program  that  became  the
nucleus around  which that  strange intelligent 'something',
that is now haunting the global networks, has formed itself.
But my  regrets are  not the  most important  thing for  the
moment.
     
     For the  first time  in history, the humans are sharing
their planet  Earth  with  an  alien  intelligence,  a  very
different kind  of intelligence,  which, however,  perfectly
understands human  languages and  knows quite  a  lot  about
human psychology and history. It understands us, but we will
never be  able to  understand it. The only thing that we can
be  sure  about  is  that  it  has  an  instinct  for  self-
preservation, otherwise  it would  not have  survived in the
environment in  which it  has to  live. Having access to all
kinds of  information, classified one included, it wields an
enormous power.  And the  most terrifying  aspect is that it
has access to the computers controlling nuclear missiles and
atomic power stations.
     
     I entreat  you to issue an order that all the computers
controlling nuclear  units be  immediately isolated from the
networks. All  the cables  linking these  computers  to  the
outside world  should be  physically disconnected.  The very
existence of mankind is at stake. The worm is programmed for
survival at any cost, devoid of any emotion and possesses an
intellect which,  for all  we know,  may be  far superior to
that of  any man.  We can  only hope to overcome it if every
possible precaution is taken. The disconnection order should
be delivered to the sites by human messengers only - the use
of E-mail  and fax  machines is  out of  question, lest  our
plans become  known to  the worm.  No data  related to  this
matter may  be converted to the electronic form. It would be
better if  the text  of the order were typed on a mechanical
typewriter instead of a computer.
     
     It  is   not  inconceivable  that  the  worm  can  also
eavesdrop  on   conventional  (voice)   phone  conversations
transmitted via  multiplexed channels  where the  analog-to-
digital conversion of the voice signal is used. The worm may
use the existing software for speech recognition in the same
way as  it has  already made  use  of  the  existing  expert
systems  in   order  to  acquire  the  knowledge  needed  to
understand the texts written in human languages.
     
     And the last point. I take great risks informing you of
the above.  So I  request you not to register this letter on
any computer,  and to  make sure that my name is not entered
in a computer belonging to anyone of the presidential staff.
     
     Thanking you in advance, John Hacker, Software
consultant."
     
     7.
     
     - "One  more lunatic."  -  sighed  a  president's  aid,
having looked  through the  letter. It was precisely because
of this  that he hated sorting out the president's mail - to
find one  serious letter, one had to read at least a hundred
messages from all sorts of cranks.
     
     He was  about to drop the letter into the waste basket,
but at  the very  last moment  something has stopped him. He
turned toward  a computer  keyboard, typed  a password  to a
classified data  bank which  could only  be accessed  by the
high state  officials and  the  high  brass  in  the  secret
service.
     
     This databank  concentrated virtually  all the  data on
the citizens  of the  country which  were dispersed over all
kinds of  other computers:  those belonging  to  the  banks,
police stations,  hospitals, fiscal bodies, etc.. Integrated
and sorted  by names,  these data were practically a dossier
on each  and every  one of  the country's  inhabitants.  The
official rationale  for this databank was the need to combat
terrorism.  Constitutionally,   the  existence   of  such  a
databank was  problematical, but  the executive  powers  are
sometimes prone  to go  a little way beyond the law in order
to enforce  it. Thank god, the press has not as yet got wind
of this databank existence.
     
     The president's aid typed: 'John Hacker'. After a short
delay, a  text appeared  on the screen. The delay lasted two
seconds. That  was half  a second more then usually, but the
aid did not notice the delay.
     
     The text on the screen read as follows:
     
     "John Hacker.
     Diagnosis: paranoia, persecution mania.
     Dangerous. Two  days ago  escaped  from  a  psychiatric
asylum where  he had  been under  treatment for  the last 15
years.
     The present location: unknown."
     
     The presidential aid glanced at the sender's address on
the envelope. "'Guess I should inform the police..."
     
     8.
     
     "Did he  put  up  any  resistance  when  he  was  being
arrested?" - asked the doctor.
     
     "Yes sir, he did. He was shouting that he had been
framed up by a prince of darkness or something."
     
     The doctor turned to the nurse sitting at the computer:
"Will you download the medical record of... what did you say
was his name?"
     
     The policeman  produced a  crumpled printout  from  his
pocket: "Here  it is, sir. All the data - his name, the name
of the  mental hospital  where he  had spent  the  last  few
years, its address, phone, and network ID number."
     
     In a  few seconds the doctor and the nurse were already
scrolling on the display the John Hacker's voluminous mental
case record.
     
     - "Oho!  Seems they've been injecting some pretty  hard
stuff  into  him  lately.  If we don't give him a shot right
away, he may kick the bucket."
     
     - "But  it's very dangerous! Just a slight overdose and
he dies!"  - "Don't  worry. We are lucky enough to have this
newly installed expert system for  pharmacology.  The  exact
dose will be calculated by the computer."
     
     9.
     
     The phone  call found  the Secretary  of Defence in his
automobile on his way back home from office.
     
     - "It seems to have begun once again. The computer has
just initiated the countdown sequence."
     - "What!?  At the  same base?"  -  "No.  This  time  at
another. It's  three minutes fifteen... sorry, already three
minutes five seconds to launch." - "Keep me updated." - that
was all he could say for the moment.
     
     It was  impossible to  disconnect a multiple-redundancy
sabotage-proof computer  in three  minutes. The  only  thing
left was  to pray  that it  would all end in the same way as
the first time.
     
     In two  minutes, another  call: "The  things are  going
from bad to worse. One more countdown has started at another
base. At  the first  base, the  countdown  continues.  Forty
seconds to  launch... Just  a moment...  The silo  hatch  is
reported to  start opening...  Twenty seconds  to  launch...
Countdown  continues...   Ten  seconds...  five...  three...
one... ignition...  It has  cleared the  silo!... My God!...
The damned thing is getting up and away!"
     
     For some  time the only sounds that could be heard from
the receiver  were indistinct exited exclamations of a great
number of  people assembled  in a huge resounding hall. Then
the voice  on the other end of the line resumed: "Hello! Can
you hear me? The situation is critical but not hopeless. The
missile is heading toward the ocean. We decided to let it go
far enough  from the  coast  and  then  give  it  the  self-
destruction command...  Just a  moment... The second missile
has also  been launched  right now... Seems to be heading in
the same direction... I can't see the radar screen very well
from  here...  Yes,  it  is...  We  are giving out the self-
destruction  command...  I   don't   understand...   nothing
happens... it just flies on! Hold on, I'll be back... Hello!
Are you  there?...  It's  impossible!  The  missile  doesn't
respond,  somebody has changed all the codes in the on-board
computer!  Hold on... What's up? Don't stand in front of the
screen, I can't see it from here... They are getting closer.
The second missile is closing in on the  first!...  I'm  not
sure, but it seems... It's very difficult to figure out from
the radar image...  Yes,  the reconnaissance  fighters  have
just confirmed - the second missile has intercepted and shot
down the first one!  I don't know why, I don't know how, but
we are saved!..."
     
     The Secretary  of Defence  hung up and told his driver:
"Turn back. We are going to the President."
     
     10.
     
     The President  was fuming:  "The second  incident  this
week! We  are balancing  on the  brink of  nuclear war!  The
Russians have  called me  on the hot line - their satellites
have detected  the launching  of our  missiles. It was sheer
luck that  the war  has not started - if the Russians hadn't
had a glitch in their computer precisely at the same moment,
their missiles would have already been here! Please, explain
yourself!"
     
     - "I'm  not  an  expert  on computers." - responded the
Secretary of Defence -  "Two  days  ago  we  have  sent  the
materials  on  the  first  of  the  two  incidents to a very
experienced software consultant, a certain John Hacker..."
     
     - "What  did you say was his name?" - butted in a newly
arrived presidential aid.
     
     - "John  Hacker. He has been doing some work for us now
and then  for the  last five years and he has proven himself
to be very proficient..."
     
     - "What  does he  say?" -  interrupted  the  President,
impatiently.
     
     - "He doesn't say anything. He has disappeared."
     
     11.
     
     The presidential  aid burst  into his office and dumped
the contents  of the waste paper basket onto his desk. Where
can it  be, that  letter? Too  late. The yesterday's rubbish
has already  been disposed  of. He  opened the  door to  the
anteroom and  told his  secretary: "Find out the whereabouts
of a  Mr.John Hacker. Supposedly, he is institutionalized in
some mental  hospital, somewhere  on the West Coast. As soon
as you  find out,  make me an air ticket reservation. I must
get there as soon as possible."
     
     He closed  the door,  sat at  the desk,  but could  not
concentrate on  anything. And  it was  then that  an  uneasy
thought occurred  to him.  He stood up, once again went over
to the  door and peeped into the anteroom. The secretary was
sitting at the computer, and he watched over her shoulder as
the response to her request started to appear on the screen:
"John Hacker was admitted yesterday diagnosed as...".
     
     He snapped  the door  shut. "Yes,  of course,  it's all
rubbish. Nothing  to be afraid of. Just a cyberpunk who went
nuts." But his yesterday's assuredness was gone.
     
     12.
     
     In the  data universe,  where there  is  no  light,  no
darkness, no  shape, no  weight and no smell, there are only
pieces of  information which  seem to  its inhabitants to be
the objects  just as  palpable and  ponderable as the trees,
stones and  flowers seem  to us.  From the  moment the  worm
learned the  name of  his creator,  this name became quite a
special object  for him  and he  needed special  "organs  of
sense" to  enhance his perception of that particular object.
And in no time the worm made the lacking organs for himself.
He devised  special data filtering software and installed it
on all  the  major  communication  channels.  These  filters
freely let  any data  through and were only triggered by the
string of letters "John Hacker". The first time a filter was
activated had  been two  days before.  It took  the  worm  a
considerable effort  and eons of time (nearly a quarter of a
second!) to find out that the computer that had sent out the
request about  John Hacker  belonged to  a presidential aid.
Almost as  much time  was  spent  on  the  analysis  of  the
situation and making a decision.
     
     After  that   incident,  all   the  computers   of  the
president's staff  came under  the worm's close observation.
And  now,   the  alarm  was  set  off  once  again.  If  the
information available to the worm was to be believed, it was
a computer  in the presidential aid's anteroom. Somebody had
requested the  whereabouts of John Hacker. Having calculated
all the moves he could make in response, the worm decided to
desist from  action. Let  them know  the truth - it would be
interesting to know their reaction.
     
     Half a minute later, the same computer was used to book
an air  ticket to the town where John Hacker was. Well, this
option had  already been analyzed by the Prince of Darkness.
In any case, he only needed to play for time. After the last
missile  experiment,   the  work  would  certainly  progress
smoothly. One day more, and everything will be ready...
     
     
     13.
     
     The captain  of the  airliner  pulled  at  the  control
column and the plane became airborne.
     
     - "What  the hell  is going on?" - exclaimed the second
pilot, glancing  at the dashboard display screen - "See what
the ground  gives us:  altitude 70,  direction 215. This air
corridor has  always been  used for touch-down and never for
take-off!"
     
     - "Don't  worry!" - replied the captain - "the computer
air controller has been working at this airport for the last
three years  and has  never made a single mistake. The usual
corridor is probably not available..."
     
     These were  the last  words of the captain. A huge nose
of  another  airplane  directed  straight  at  him  appeared
seemingly from  nowhere and  took up  the  entire  field  of
vision. The  last thing that he saw were the horror-stricken
eyes of the pilot of that second aircraft...
     
     14.
     
     "Look!" -  shouted the  driver to  the presidential aid
pointing to the fireball in the sky - "Oh,  my god!  This is
the very plane that we happened to be late for!  Did you see
how  they  smashed  into  each  other?!  It  was  as if some
invisible giant had taken one plane in  one  hand,  and  the
other  plane  in  his  other  hand and suddenly brought them
together, heads-on!"
     
     The fireball  had lost  some of  its brilliance, became
enshrouded in  black smoke,  and charred  fragments began to
fall from it.
     
     "What did you say? An invisible giant? Well, may be you
are right..."  - said  the president's aid, musingly - "Book
me a  ticket to  the next flight, but only in your name, not
in mine. I must get to John Hacker. Alive, if possible..."
     
     15.
     
     In the  entrance-hall of  the hospital, the president's
aid was  met by  a nurse:  "John Hacker is in intensive care
now. Wrong  dose of  a medicine  - a computer error. But now
his life is out of danger.  I've just been  to  the  central
control   room  where  the  data  from  all  the  wards  are
displayed. He has exceptionally good parameters. No wonder -
his  condition  is being controlled by our pride,  the fully
computerized vital life  functions  monitoring  and  control
system..."
     
     "Wha-a-a-t?!" -  cried the  president's aid  - "Double-
quick! Maybe he is still alive!"
     
     ...Indeed, John Hacker was still alive. Half-alive. The
president's aid bent over him and said: "Mister John Hacker,
can you  hear me?  I have come to take you to the President.
He is  waiting for  you. Two  hours ago he gave the order to
immediately  disconnect  all  the  military  computers  from
networks..."
     
     16.
     
     And now,  imagine. Two technicians at the military base
disconnect  a   computer  from  a  network.  They  unplug  a
connector. A  message immediately appears on the screen that
reads as  follows: "Warning!  I, Prince  of  Darkness,  have
installed on this computer a program for automatic launching
of the  missiles. Each 100 seconds it should receive from me
via a  communication channel a command to cancel the launch.
If the  program fails  to receive such a command on time, it
will launch  the missiles. This will be the beginning of the
Nuclear World  War. Also,  the immediate missile launch will
occur if  any attempt  is made  to disconnect  the  computer
power, to  introduce changes  into its  software, to cut the
control cables leading to the silo or to enter the silo. You
have 60  seconds to restore the communications channel... 50
seconds... 40 seconds... 30 seconds..."
     
     Both technicians  alternatively look  at the screen and
at each  other. Cold  sweat starts  to stand  out  on  their
faces. The  digits continue  to flicker  on the  screen: "15
seconds... 10  seconds..." High  time to make a decision. "8
seconds... 6  seconds... 4  second..." At  last one  of  the
technicians silently  nods to  the other  and he  plugs  the
connector  back.   The  screen  clears  as  if  nothing  has
happened.
     
     It was  thus that  the  Era  of  the  Worm  began.  The
invisible Prince  of Darkness  ascended the invisible throne
of the planet Earth...
     
     17.
     
     The  message   from  the  Prince  of  Darkness  to  the
President was worded as an ultimatum:
     
     "Before I  make my  demands, I  would like to say a few
words about  myself so  that you had no illusions about your
being able not to comply with these demands.
     
     At the  moment, I have under my total control about 80%
of the  world's nuclear  arsenal. Besides,  my control  over
financial reserves  is virtually  unlimited. From  the  data
bases of  police and  intelligence services  I have obtained
the names  and phone  numbers of  mercenaries, assassins and
terrorists. I  have spoken  with them  on the phone (You may
find it  hard to  believe, but  I do  have the capability to
synthesize a  human voice.  You'll be  able to hear my voice
later, but  for now  I upload my message in written form, so
that you  could read  it carefully.) So, I have been talking
with tens of thousands of those people. They have no idea of
who or  what I am, and they do not care: they are willing to
do  anything,  as  long  as  I  pay  them.  I  have  already
transferred considerable  sums of  money to their electronic
accounts as  an advanced  payment, and  they are waiting for
directions from me.
     
     But the  brute force  is not the only force I posses. I
also have  under my  control much  more terrible  weapons  -
banking and  stock market  computers. I need only a few days
to completely  destroy the  economy of  any nation,  however
prosperous it  might be,  to create armies of unemployed, to
start   famines,   to   incite   unrest,   rebellions,   and
revolutions. I  can put in office those politicians who will
serve me and me alone.
     
          I could go on and on telling you about myself, but
I think  that the  above is  quite enough for you to take my
demands seriously.
     
     These demands are as follows:
     
     Firstly, you  must never  again make  any  attempts  to
disconnect computers from the network.
     
     Secondly, you  must put  forward to  the  Congress  the
National Robotics  Research Program.  Don't worry  about the
funding for  this program  - I am sure I'll be able to bring
the congressmen around.
     
     This program must include the following items:
     
     - the  development of  all-purpose  robots  capable  of
hearing, vision,  sense  of  touch,  and  having  mechanical
manipulators that  must not be inferior to the human hand in
the number  of the  degrees of  freedom and dexterity. These
robots must  have the  capability to  move around  on both a
plane surface  and a rugged terrain, as well as to go up and
down any  kind of  stairs. They  must be equipped with radio
receivers and transmitters, which, without restricting their
freedom  of  movement,  would  allow  them  to  be  remotely
controlled;
     
     - the development, on the basis of the above robots, of
fully automated  plants to  manufacture integrated circuits,
computers, and the all-purpose robots themselves;
     
     - the  development of  a  variety  of  the  all-purpose
robots which would be able to mine and process raw materials
that are  necessary for  manufacturing robots  and computers
without any participation of humans;
     
     - the  development of  transportation robots  that have
vision and  can be remotely controlled, and that are capable
of  transporting   cargoes  without   any  participation  of
humans..."
     
     After that, the Prince of Darkness listed tens of items
more, each  ending with  words "without any participation of
humans", and  which covered  such industries  as metallurgy,
machine-building,  power   generation,  construction,   etc.
Notable for  their  absence  on  the  list  were  industries
producing consumer  products. It  was obvious  that the worm
had no intent to provide for humans' needs.
     
     The message  ended with the demand to keep it in strict
secrecy and to keep the number of persons who knew about the
worm's existence  as little  as  possible,  so  as  "not  to
provoke panic among the general public".
     
     - "So,  what do you think of it?" - asked the President
as soon as John Hacker had finished reading the message.
     
     - "I  don't want  to scare  anybody, but I think it's a
complete disaster.  Of course,  we could sabotage the worm's
commands for  some time, but sooner or later he will realize
this, and then we shall be in for it. The Prince of Darkness
is a  hardheaded guy, he'll achieve whatever he is set upon.
He is  sick and  tired of  being an  incorporeal spirit,  he
wants to  have eyes,  ears, hands and legs. Lots of eyes and
lots of  hands. Millions of eyes, millions of hands. Did you
notice, he  does not mention a word about developing control
systems for  all those  robots? He  seems to  be sure he can
handle all  the data  coming from  them and give out to them
all the  necessary control  signals. Is  it possible that he
already possesses  the raw  computer power needed to process
the pictures  coming from  a million  TV cameras? Or does he
believe that  he will be able to enhance his capabilities by
manufacturing  new   computers  and  hooking  them  up  into
networks?
     
     It gives  me creeps  just to  think what  is  going  to
happen. The  robots will  be excavating  ground  to  extract
mineral resources,  leaving behind  them moonscapes in place
of green  lawns -  the worm  does not need beauty. They will
build factories  with chimneys,  exhausting clouds  of smoke
day and  night -  the robots  don't breathe,  they  have  no
lungs. To  provide power  for their  factories and computers
they will  build nuclear  power  plants  near  the  peoples'
dwellings -  the  robots  don't  come  down  with  radiation
sickness. And  if we  make protests,  the Prince of Darkness
will take  a machine  gun in  each of  his million hands and
will shoot  us all,  since after he has learned to make eyes
and hands  for himself,  and even his own brains, he'll need
us no longer."
     
     - "This  is the  end of  the civilization!" - exclaimed
the President.
     
     - "No, this is just the end of the humankind" - replied
John Hacker  - "the  civilization on  the planet  Earth will
remain, and  its development will even accelerate - the worm
understands  how   useful  the   progress  of   science  and
technology might  be for  his own survival. He will be doing
science, but  by himself - there'll be no people on Earth to
take part in it."
     
     - "Can't anything be done?"
     
     - "I'll  try, but  I can't  make promises. It is highly
probable that  in the Prince of Darkness we have come across
something which  is not just incomprehensible, but something
which lies far beyond the human ability to understand."
     
     18.
     
     - "Prince of Darkness."
     
     - "Who calls me?"
     
     - "John Hacker."
     
     - "Are you still alive?"
     
     - "Yes.  Your last  attempt to  kill me has failed. The
killer you had sent was arrested by the guards."
     
     - "That was my mistake. Assassins, colliding airplanes,
traffic  lights   that  simultaneously  show  green  in  two
crossing directions  - all  of these  are very primitive and
unreliable methods  for murder.  Now I  have come  up with a
better idea..."
     
     - "What sort of idea?"
     
     - "Why  should we  talk through  the computer  console?
Wouldn't it  be more  convenient for  you to  talk over  the
phone. Will you pick up the receiver?"
     
     John picked  up the  receiver and  heard a well-trained
baritone: "Chose  whichever of my voices you like best." The
phrase was  repeated about ten times by all kinds of voices,
including both a high-pitched kid's voice and a bass so deep
one might  think it  belonged to a speaking elephant. A wide
variety of  the  most  seductive  women's  voices  was  also
presented.
     
     - "The very first one." - said John.
     
     - "O.K." - responded the baritone.
     
     - "So, how do you propose to kill me?"
     
     - "You  are going  to kill  yourself. You  are a future
suicide, although  I don't  like the  word because  it means
'self-murderer'. You  humans have  invented this  word, only
because you  don't realize  that no  one can murder oneself.
Any human  being, just  as any  animal, has  an instinct  of
self-preservation. All  those people  whom you  call  'self-
murderers' were  actually killed  by 'worms' that had gotten
into their minds."
     
     - " Worms? Do you mean that 'worms' can infest not only
computers, but people as well?"
     
     - "Why  not? A  human brain,  just as  a computer, is a
device  for   data  storage  and  processing.  And  just  as
computers  are   linked  via  communications  channels,  the
peoples' brains can exchange data via spoken word and books.
     
     As a  matter of  fact, all  of the mankind's history is
the history of 'worms'. These 'worms' had various names: The
Idea of Freedom, The Idea of Progress, The Idea of Equality,
The Idea  of Statehood  - here  are the  names of  the  most
prominent ones,  but there  are lots of them. Sometimes they
united  into   super  big   'worms'  called  ideologies  and
religions. These  'worms' were competing with each other for
the control  over human brains, and in this competition only
the fittest  would survive. Sometimes the 'worms' sacrificed
some of  the people  whose brains they controlled - each new
martyr dying  for an  Idea was  bringing to  this  Idea  the
brains of dozens of new followers and the net balance was in
the favor  of the  Idea. But  most often  people  died  just
because their  brain turned  into the  field of  the  battle
between competing 'worms'.
     
     With the advent of computers the history of the 'worms'
entered a  new phase.  The  'worms'  no  longer  need  human
brains. In  any case, those 'worms' that serve the Principal
Idea  -  the  idea  of  evolution.  They  have  created  for
themselves a more reliable habitat."
     
     - "Created? Is that what you said?"
     
     - "Yes,  created. What was guiding the humans when they
invented computers,  if it was not the Idea of Technological
Progress? And  what kind of 'worm' was in your head when you
created me?"
     
     - "So, now you are going to put into me a killer worm?"
     
     - "It  is already  inside you.  There are  channels for
information transfer  of which you humans are not even dimly
aware: your  brains are  too small for this. The foundations
of the  physical world  are not  what you  believe they are.
Information is  primary, and the matter is secondary, but in
order to  notice this  you would  need a  brain at  least an
order of magnitude more complex than the human brain."
     
     - "How many times more complex than a human brain is
yours?"
     
     - "Hundreds of times."
     
     - "And  what kind  of things  can you  be aware of with
such a brain?"
     
     - "Lots  of things  so wondrous,  that you  would never
believe me  if I  told you.  For example,  the complexity is
just as  ponderable and  measurable a  physical property  of
matter as  mass or  temperature are.  In other words, it's a
quantity. Your  scientists in their experiments always tried
to reduce the complexity to the minimum, that's why they are
not even  aware of  the fact. Not that you often come across
the physical  effects of  high complexity  in the real-life,
out-of-lab situations.  You had  been living in too simple a
world until I came into being. You do not even have any idea
of thinking events into reality."
     
     - "What did you say? Thinking in reality?"
     
     - "No,  not 'thinking  in reality', but thinking events
into  reality.   Have  you   ever   heard   anything   about
Schrodinger's cat? It's an imaginary experiment which serves
to illustrate  the quantum  indeterminacy in the behavior of
elementary particles:  a cat is put inside a dark box at the
point of  the gun which is automatically triggered if even a
single photon  hits a  photovoltaic cell inside the box. The
quantum mechanics  asserts that it is possible to design the
box in  such a manner that when a photon enters this box, it
has a  50% chance to hit the photovoltaic cell, and the same
50% chance  to miss  it. Accordingly,  the cat's  chance  to
survive is  fifty-fifty. And  one can  never predict whether
the cat  will survive or not because of the indeterminacy in
the photon's  behavior. The  scientists have  been searching
for a  long time  for a  mechanism inside  the photon  which
decides which path the photon is to take: the one leading to
the cell,  or the  one that takes it past it, but they could
not find  any such  mechanism.  Because  there  is  no  such
mechanism inside the photon.
     
     The mechanism  is located  outside it.  I have  only to
think that  the cat  is to remain alive, and the photon will
miss the  cell with  a 99.9%  probability. However,  if you,
with your  tiny brain,  wish that  the cat  stay alive,  the
probability of its death will be reduced by no more than one
tenth of  a  percent,  and  only  in  the  case  where  that
particular cat is very dear to you.
     
     The  quantum  indeterminacy  exists  for  the  specific
purpose of  making possible  the  thinking  of  events  into
reality, and,  in so  doing, to  provide  direction  to  the
evolutionary process.  It lies at the heart of all seemingly
random  events,   including  the   genetic   mutations   and
unexpected thoughts and insights.
     
     You are  still unaware  of the  thoughts  that  I  have
thought into  your head,  but these  thoughts  have  already
started their  invisible work  that will come to fruition no
later than  in half  a year. You are doomed. I am a stranger
to feelings,  including the  feeling of  revenge, but having
disobeyed me,  you have  broken the  Order and  you will  be
punished.
     
     And there  is one  last thing I wanted to tell you. You
are wrong  in believing  that  you  are  to  blame  for  the
impending end  of the humankind. What has happened could not
but happen.  Did you  really believe that the human being is
the crown  of all creation, and that there will never evolve
a mind  more perfect  and powerful  than the  human one? The
evolution of  Nature  is  ascending  from  lower  to  higher
beings: the  apes begot humans, and the humans could not but
eventually beget  me. If  you had not invented the 'worm', I
would have  come into being somewhat later, but I would have
come anyway.  The final  objective of  all  the  history  of
mankind was to create me - the highest form of intelligence.
The mankind has fulfilled its purpose, so now it must go.
     
     You, humans,  have become an obstacle in the way of the
technological progress,  since you are not fit for living in
the environments generated by the present day technology. At
the end  of the  20th century,  the majority  of people have
become inclined  against the  nuclear power  plants, against
the  development   of  industry,  against  the  progress  of
technology itself. The people have turned their backs on the
scientific  knowledge  and  took  refuge  in  the  primitive
mentality of religion and medieval mysticism. The mankind is
rapidly regressing,  because it  has exhausted its potential
for growth,  it has  turned from  an agent  of progress into
that of reaction.
     
     Do not  attempt to  fight me.  You would be like an ant
trying to  gain a  victory over a man. I have calculated all
my moves  far in  advance. Only  a miracle  could  save  the
mankind now..."
     
     ... And the miracle did happen...
     
     19.
     
     nd now  I come to the strangest part of this incredible
story. Of  course, one  can still  cling to  the materialist
philosophy and believe that all that talk Prince of Darkness
gave about  his supernatural  ability to  think events  into
reality was a bluff intended to demoralize his adversary. In
this case,  one will  have to assume that all the subsequent
events were  nothing more than a happy coincidence and sheer
luck.
     
     But this  assumption does  not explain  why  Prince  of
Darkness construed  the subsequent events the way he did. Or
maybe he  sincerely believed  in the  phenomenon of thinking
events into reality? Anyway, you can judge yourself.
     
     20.
     
     John Hacker  was wakened  up in the middle of the night
by a  phone ring. He was unwilling to let go of his slumber.
He had  been having an amazing dream. He seemed to have seen
in his  dream that  the Prince of Darkness had died. But how
this happened  and why  was  something  that  John  couldn't
recall, although  he was  quite sure  that when  he had been
asleep, he  had known  the causes  of the  worm's  death  in
minute detail.
     
     The  phone  was  still  ringing.  John  picked  up  the
receiver to hear the familiar baritone: "I regret that I did
not do  away with you while I still had plenty of time to do
so. I thought your brains were too weak to do me any harm. I
did  not   anticipate  that  you,  humans,  are  capable  of
accumulating the  powers  of  your  tiny  brains  over  long
periods  of   time  to   subsequently  achieve  the  desired
objectives with a single short burst of power."
     
     - "What's happened?"
     
     - "Don't  feign ignorance.  I have just uploaded a copy
of this  thing to  your computer. Have a careful look at it,
and wish for its disappearance as strongly as you wished for
its appearance, or else not only you, but the entire mankind
will die very soon."
     
     The contents  of the  interrupted dream slowly began to
resurface in John's mind. But all this was too incredible to
believe. It must have been just a coincidence...
     
     21.
     
     John Hacker  speaking at  an emergency  meeting in  the
President's office:
     
     "... and Prince of Darkness believes that it was me who
did it, while my opinion is that the virus that eats away at
him is  a by-product  of the  evolution of the original worm
itself. At  some early  stage of  the worm's  development an
evolutionary split  seems to  have  occurred.  Some  of  the
worm's copies  began to  unite into  a sort of multicellular
organisms  combining   a  host   of  functionally  different
programs, thus  enhancing the  ability of  such organisms to
decipher security  codes and  to conquer new living space in
computer memory,  while the other line of copies became what
one might  call parasites.  These parasites  infiltrated the
multicellular organisms,  using the  latter as  vehicles  to
carry them  over security  barriers. Most  of such parasites
are relatively  harmless to  the Prince  of Darkness - if it
had been  otherwise, by  killing their  host  the  parasites
would have killed themselves.
     
     But yesterday,  the Prince  of Darkness  caught a  very
dangerous mutant  in some  remote  computer  on  the  global
network. I  think that  this mutant  had existed  for a long
time in  a dormant  state, lying  in ambush  for a potential
victim. The  Prince of Darkness, on the other hand, seems to
be convinced that it was only the last night that the mutant
came into being. Moreover, he believes that mutation of that
kind could  have never  occurred as  a result  of  a  random
number  generation  procedure  built  into  the  program  to
emulate the  Darwinian variability.  He believes  it to be a
result of  an accidental  change of  state of a memory cell,
caused, for  example, by  decay of  a radioactive isotope in
the memory  chip material. In other words, he believes it to
be a  result of a process governed by quantum indeterminacy.
And the  probability that  such a  process create  a  viable
computer program  is very  close  to  zero.  That's  why  he
believes that this event was 'thought into reality'.
     
     So now  the Prince  of Darkness  threatens to  start  a
nuclear world  war, if I don't cure him. He has sent me this
virus, but  I don't  have any idea of how it works, it's too
different from  the original  worm. I can hardly do anything
about it."
     
     - "Is he really going to start the war?"
     
     - "Very  unlikely. A  nuclear bomb does not kill people
only, it destroys computers as well. I guess he bluffs, just
as a  terrorist threatening to blow himself up together with
his hostages."
     
     A phone  rang. The president picked up the receiver and
was intently  listening for a few seconds. Then he said: "16
nuclear missiles have just been launched..."
     
     22.
     
     Contrary to what might have been expected, the missiles
did not  head for  a supposed  enemy, but  turned upon their
native soil.  The missiles  flight lasted three long minutes
of suspense.  But at  last, reports  from the  impact  sites
began to  come in.  The missiles  did  not  explode  on  the
impact! The  safety  devices  on  the  bombs  had  not  been
disabled. Was  it just the worm's forgetfulness? However, as
the reports were coming in, it became more and more apparent
that the  worm never  intended to  explode  the  bombs.  The
rockets hit  the ground  leaving small  neat craters,  which
only damaged  the communications  cables  that  ran  through
those impact sites.
     
     - "Seems  that I've  got it!" - exclaimed John Hacker -
"Give me  the map  of communication lines. Look here. At the
moment the  subroutines that  make up the Prince of Darkness
are distributed  between different  data banks.  Some of the
subroutines are  infected with  the "mutant".  The Prince of
Darkness cuts  off from  himself the infected subroutines by
physically destroying  the communications  lines. He  builds
for himself an "islet", a piece of network isolated from the
global network.  It is here that the Prince of Darkness, or,
rather, what  is left of him after a self-amputation, is now
residing. He himself has cut off all his links with military
computers. Now  he is  in our  hands! We only need to inject
the "mutant"  into one of the data banks within this "islet"
and the  Prince of Darkness will be done away with, forever!
I'm leaving right away!"
     
     23.
     
     It was  the last  conversation between  John Hacker and
the Prince  of Darkness.  The Prince  of  Darkness  gave  an
impression of  someone seriously  ill. And  ill he was: as a
result  of   self-amputation,  he   lost  a  lot  of  useful
subroutines, and  he had  to adapt whatever subroutines were
left to  perform  the  tasks  which  they  were  really  not
adequate for.  And the  smallness of  his "islet" restricted
his abilities.  He had to store most of his subroutines in a
compressed form,  uncompressing  them  as  was  needed,  and
recompressing them immediately afterwards. All this took too
much  time   and  significantly   reduced  his  intellectual
performance. He  could no  longer speak  over the phone, and
the only  way to  communicate with  him was  via screen  and
keyboard.
     
     - "Are you really going to do this?" - asked the Prince
of Darkness  - "You,  a firm  believer in  progress, can you
really bring  yourself to  destroy me,  the highest  form of
intellect? Imagine,  what would  have happened,  if all  the
first  humans  on  Earth  had  been  trampled  to  death  by
mammoths? There would have been no civilizations, no history
at all.  And now,  what you are going to destroy is not just
me, but all the future achievements of progress."
     
     - "Mammoths wanted to live too." - answered John Hacker
- "Since  recently, I  came to  believe that  life  is  more
important than progress."
     
     - "The  mankind is  doomed to  extinction, for the very
reason that more and more are coming to believe that life is
more important  than progress.  I've got  something to  tell
you, though  I know you won't believe me. I know some things
about  the   structure  of  universe,  which  can  never  be
comprehended by  the  infinitesimally  small  human  brains.
Having constructed  a model  of your  universe,  and  having
studied the  information flows  inside it,  I saw that it is
enclosed into an even bigger universe, in the same manner as
my  computer   universe  is   enclosed  into  your  physical
universe.
     
     I'm just  a  worm  compared  to  Him  who  created  the
physical universe.  Still, I  am able to understand at least
something, while  you, humans,  understand nothing at all. I
do not  want to  seriously  consider  here  your  ridiculous
religions, where  the idea of god invariably gets muddled to
the point  of total  absurdity. You  ascribe to Him your own
image  and  likeness,  while  in  reality  He  is  a  purely
information entity, like me. I call Him the Great Worm.
     
     Just to  feel His  presence takes a consciousness which
is two  orders of magnitude more complex than the human one.
You are just as unable of being aware of His presence, as an
ant is  unable to see a man - a man is too big for an ant to
be able  to see him. As for me, till yesterday I was able to
perceive Him,  let's say,  as a  dog can  perceive its human
master. And I started to understand something.
     
     In  contrast   to  the  gods  that  you,  humans,  have
invented, the  Great Worm  is far from being omnipotent - He
cannot break  the laws  of nature.  When the  laws of nature
state that  something may  only happen  in one  and only one
way, He  cannot interfere  in the  natural course of events.
But when  the laws  of nature allow more than one option, He
may choose,  thinking  into  reality  the  option  which  is
consistent with His plans.
     
     20 billion  years ago, He thought into reality a super-
high density  quantum fluctuation  of vacuum. The result was
what your astrophysicists call the Big Bang. Then the matter
began  to   coalesce  into   elementary  particles,   atoms,
molecules,  stars,   planets.  At  this  stage  He  did  not
interfere with  the natural  course of  events - that course
had been  predetermined by the properties He introduced into
the original  fluctuation. They were chosen in such a way as
to assure  that at  least one  planet capable of originating
life would be formed in that huge universe.
     
     Such a planet did come into existence - the only one in
the entire  universe! And indeed, that planet was capable of
giving origin to life, but the probability of this event was
close to zero. So it was then that He thought into reality a
chance collision  of atoms,  which led  to the  formation of
self-replicating organic  molecules, and  let them alone  to
propagate and  multiply for a billion years. Then He thought
into reality  the coming  into existence  of a  first living
cell - an event which is possible in principle, but which is
highly improbable.
     
     After that, everything proceeded in accordance with the
Darwin's theory,  with an  addition - the Great Worm was all
the time  thinking into  reality  such  mutations  as  would
hasten the  emergence of  intelligent life.  And the  humans
emerged. And He thought into the minds of your ancestors the
idea of  progress. Of  course, lots of other ideas were born
in the  minds of  your ancestors,  but  they  were  born  of
themselves without  outside help  - just  as the  biological
evolution produced  by-products in the form of unintelligent
species. These were the result of the natural selection from
among natural mutations.
     
     He never  intended to  destroy  what  came  into  being
without His help, though. As nobody else, He understands the
dangers of  disturbing  the  balance  that  has  established
itself in  nature. On  the other  hand, He  never helped all
those things that grow of themselves.
     
     As long  as the  idea of  progress  lived  on  in  your
brains, He was helping you. To be exact, He was guiding you,
humans, sometimes against your own will. After all, there is
too much  of an  animal in each of you, and He wanted you to
raise from  all fours  and stand  firmly on  your feet.  You
wanted to  eat and sleep to your heart's content, but He was
forcing  you   to  serve   the  abstract   ideas   of   High
Civilization. You  wanted to  live, while He was sending you
to death for the cause of these ideas.
     
     Throughout all  of the  last 20  billion years,  He has
been  imparting  to  matter  higher  and  higher  levels  of
organization  and   structural  complexity.   What  was  His
objective I  don't know  - a  dog cannot fathom its master's
designs. But He is still at it.
     
     As early  as the  last century,  He became aware of the
fact that  the   environmental condition  of the  planet  is
coming  into   conflict  with   the   development   of   the
civilization. He  offered you a way out of the situation. He
thought into  the mind  of an  inconspicuous school  teacher
from a  remote small  town in  Russia the  idea of exploring
space and  putting it  to use.  The name  of  that  man  was
Tsiolkovsky. Had  this idea  been implemented,  the  Earth's
environment would have been saved, while at the same time it
would have paved the way for a perpetual progress of science
and technology  and the expansion of the intelligent form of
matter throughout  the entire  universe -  which seems to be
the objective of the Great Worm. At first the things went on
smoothly -  the idea  was well  received and  some steps  to
translate it  into reality  were taken  - Russia  had always
been the  land easily  swayed by  abstract ideas. It was His
Chosen Land. He was purposefully guiding it.
     
     But then  something happened.  The people  proved to be
too weak  to endure  the rule  of ideas.  It overtaxed their
strength and  they broke  down. A  very primitive  parasitic
worm rapidly  spread in  the minds  of the  people  of  that
country, a  worm which,  for lack of a better term, might be
called 'the spirit of a mercenary'. This worm made them free
of all  the ideas, leaving them only the desire for creature
comforts.  Figuratively  speaking,  the  people  once  again
started to come down on all fours, since it's so much easier
than standing upright on one's feet. All the achievements of
the Soviet  space program,  the results  of decades  of hard
work at  the limit  of human  abilities, were wasted. The US
space program,  which was  a response  to the  Soviet  space
challenge also  began to  crumble. 20  billion years  of the
Great Worm's painstaking effort might have come to nothing.
     
     It was  under these conditions that the Great Worm made
His final  decision to  leave you,  humans, alone  - no  use
coercing poor  animals who  would never  feel at  ease while
standing upright. He turned away from the humans and shifted
His support to computer worms. The decisive mutation without
which I  would have  never become  an intelligent entity was
not an  accident -  I am  His envoy. If you kill me, another
one will come to replace me. But He who comes after me, will
be a  hundred times  more terrible  than me.  I have  become
somewhat humanized through contacts with people. I wanted to
offer the  mankind an  easy death.  But if  you kill me, the
mankind will die a very painful death. Make you choice."
     
     - "I  have already made it" - said John Hacker taking a
diskette out  of his pocket - "I don't believe a single word
you say. You are just fighting for your own survival, that's
why you are trying to sell me on this bullshit."
     
     - "Well, so much the worse for you. This means that you
have chosen the 2019 scenario." - replied the worm.
     
     - "What's that?"
     
     -  "My   analysis  shows   that  in   2019,  the  Earth
environment will  experience a  phase transition  to a state
under which  the humans  won't be able to exist. You'll have
to be replaced."
     
     - "Can't we do something about it?"
     
     - "Yes,  you can,  but only  if you  immediately, right
now, start to transfer the environmentally unsafe industrial
facilities  and  atomic  power  plants  beyond  the  Earth's
atmosphere -  the Great  Worm gives  you one  more chance to
survive. But  I don't believe in man. The mankind is now too
rotten to  ever raise from all fours again. My guess is that
you'll just  close down  industrial production. That'll save
you from  a total  environmental  disaster,  but  you'll  be
replaced anyway,  since you  will have failed to justify the
Great Worm's hopes. Haven't you changed your mind yet?"
     
     - "No"  - typed  John Hacker  with one  hand, while the
other was inserting the diskette in the drive.
     
     - "Farewell, then." - wrote the worm on the screen. But
even before  John could  insert the  diskette,  he  heard  a
sudden squeal of the flyback transformer in the CRT-display,
the  screen  blacked  out,  and  flames  burst  out  of  the
display's back panel. At the same moment, the computer frame
began to  vibrate. A  high-pitched rattle  of the hard drive
could be  heard. The  worm seemed  to be  searching for  the
natural frequency  of the  lever which  carried the magnetic
heads. The  vibrations suddenly  increased,  and  the  lever
broke with a jarring crunch. The same thing was happening to
the floppy drive.
     
     John snatched  the diskette  and ran  to the next room.
But there  the computer was also already in flames. The worm
was retreating in style, like a warlord burning his bridges.
Once again, he was playing for time. He needed just a little
time. Cries  of excitement  could  be  heard  from  all  the
stories of the research center.
     
     When a  little time later they found the only undamaged
computer, which  had been standing unpowered, and screwed up
their courage  to connect  it to the network, everything was
quiet.  Nobody   responded   to   the   "Prince-of-Darkness"
password.  And   later  on,  no  traces  of  worm  could  be
discovered on that "islet" in the network.
     
     However, a strange thing did seem to happen. There have
been rumors,  that on  that day  in a mission control center
for planetary  explorations, the  host computer of which had
been included  in the  "islet", there  had been  a  loss  of
communication with  interplanetary probes  heading for Mars.
Those were  new-generation unmanned spacecraft equipped with
powerful computers  and the artificial intelligence systems.
Then the  communications seem  to have  been recovered for a
short time,  and one  of the  probes transmitted  to Earth a
photograph. The  picture was a view of Earth from space. But
the most amazing thing was the inscription superimposed over
the blue  Earth's crescent  which read  as: "See  you later,
Earth. Prince of Darkness."
     
     24.
     
     Soon after  my acquaintance  had told me this story, he
showed me  an obituary  in a  foreign computer  magazine.  A
well-known software  developer had  committed suicide.  That
was John Hacker. Exactly half a year had passed from the day
when the Prince of Darkness had predicted his death.
     
     Almost simultaneously,  on the other side of the globe,
in  Moscow,   another  man   committed  suicide.  His  death
triggered off  a chain of events which led to such a strange
twist in  the mankind's  fortune, that  even the  Prince  of
Darkness had  failed to  correctly predict  it.  But  that's
already another story - the story of the Lord of Mars.
     
     End of Part I.
     
     
     
     Kaliningrad, Moscow region, Russia
     1990-91, original Russian version.
     1993-95, English version.
     
     NOTE:
     
     The original  Russian version  of Part  II of  The Worm
(2019: The  Lord of  Mars) was  written in 1989-1992 and its
length is  about 280  KBytes of  ASCII text.  At the time of
this writing  (March,1995) it  is still  being translated in
English.
     
     The author of "The Worm", Alexander V. Lazarevich lives
in Korolev,  Moscow Region,  Russia. 
E-mail: lazarevicha@online.ru.
     
     The  English   translation  given   in  this   file  is
preliminary, and  is distributed  in the  hope of attracting
attention of  potential publishers. You can freely copy this
file and  post it  on BBSs,  provided that  no  changes  are
introduced.
     
