Work Text:
Q10
“So much for my promising career in espionage…” Q whispered with a sigh. R looked up at him and narrowed her eyes slightly in worry and confusion. She didn’t know just how far things would go, but if she would have followed protocol, it would have all ended in that moment.
800Q8
James tried to find out what he could about his Quartermaster in the months following Skyfall. The man was strange, graceful and elegant while still being all sharp edges and brilliance. The conflicting nature of his Quartermaster drove him to want to know more about him. His file said next to nothing about him though.
Name: Q
Alias: Oliver Tein
“Father”: Brandan Shaw
MI6 start date: 02/22/12 (Official start as Quartermaster: 08/15/12)
Discipline/Performance Hearings: 1 (Cleared, based on protocol)
Status: FFAI
James didn’t understand the file, but there was a home address at the end of the file. He could always swing in and ask the man himself. But once he arrived on the street it became quite clear that the numbers for his home wouldn’t be there. It was a fake address.
It would take James almost four more weeks to start to put it together, but the first hint came in a meeting four days later.
“We should have done—” Mallory was cut off by Q.
“Sir, before you start in on a rant about the one failed mission of this past year, could I please re-assert that the Skyfall mission was a mistake because of missing facts, not on any part of the agent or tech team involved in the incident. I would not have taken a risk unless I had thought it to provide the best outcome of all the other options. I feel tired when you drive the subject into the ground and I am sure I am not the only one.”
“You feel tired?” Mallory asked, raising an eyebrow at Q. Q’s right arm twitched out of his control just for a second.
“Colloquialism, I assure you, however I doubt it is the same for everyone else.” Q corrected himself, his voice calm with the slightest touch of something under it. What was so wrong with Q feeling tired? The man never slept, he had every right to be tired. Every time James went out in the field, night or day, Q was in his ear. Sometimes for days at a time. The man seemingly never slept, why did M question if he was tired? The man was probably exhausted.
“Of course. Well, aside from that one incident, mission success has been at a hundred percent with limited casualties, so let’s try to keep those numbers steady. Now about the budget…”
800Q8
“You were in my file the other day,” Q commented as he and James walked out of the meeting. James followed him.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Trying to find out more about my Quartermaster, problem?”
“Is there? Do you not trust me? I can assure you I’m only here to help you.”
“No, I trust you,” James assured him. “I was just curious, I like to know a little bit about the people I work with.”
“Oh, that makes sense, I suppose. Especially one who is as paranoid as you are at times…but then again all the agents are paranoid.”
“Your address was fake.”
“So was the file, you didn’t dig deep enough.” Q muttered, his voice barely reaching James’ ears as if on purpose.
“How about you and I have dinner and you can spill your whole life? Seems easier, plus I can tell if you’re lying.”
“That would not be wise.”
“Is that a no?”
“Yes. Now go away, I have work to do.” Q walked away and James’ phone went off. The number was unfamiliar.
Don’t react. Tea, at your place. Two weeks from today, 1900. Don’t tell anyone. –Q
James slowly turned away. He’d never even seen Q grab his phone.
800Q8
“I can’t stay long.” Q said the instant he walked through the door. “Earl Grey, I do love it and you remembered.” He smiled and grabbed a cup, taking a sip.
“Why can’t you stay long?”
“I am supposed to be going to outfit 008. It’s already done, and I’m supposed to be back to MI6 in thirty minutes which gives me five minutes here or I’ll miss the tube.”
“You have a curfew? I knew you were young but…”
“Something like that. Never mind that though. I’ve allowed you access to my file, you need to get into it and don’t say a word about it to anyone.”
“Why are you showing it to me?”
“Because someone needs to know and I have to explain something…something to someone who…who um…” James had never heard Q stammer before, never get lost in thought. He was always so clear and concise and there was never this much worry on his face. “I need someone separate from my situation, from MI6 and I trust you.”
“I’m not separate from MI6.”
“You’ll understand later. Just…promise me you won’t say anything to anyone, no matter what I tell you.”
“I promise.”
“Thank you, and thank you for the tea. Oh, and if you ask questions, I’ll hear them.” Q smiled and left the room.
James grabbed his laptop and opened it only to find that it was already open to MI6’s information and he was logged in, but not as himself. James shook his head and searched for Q, finding his file and opening it, but it wasn’t the same one as before.
Designation: AI Q10
Occupation: Quartermaster
Date of Creation: 02/22/12
Date Implanted: 07/22/12
Date of Introduction: 08/15/12
“Father” of Program: Brandan Shaw (DOB: 08/16/80 DOD: 10/15/11)
Creator of Program: Geoffrey Boothroyd
Authorization for the Program: M
Test Scores at Creation and at Implantation:
Logical Reasoning: 79; 100
Computing Skills: 100; 100
Language Skills: 38; 99 (Glitch, program Q10 cannot seem to translate Welsh, fluently.)
Humanity: 0; 89 (Program Q10 adapt at appearing human)
Emotionality: 0; 8
Dependability: 73; 98
IQ: Estimated: 241 (Noted that it is forty points higher than all other programs and fifteen points higher than “Father”)
Status: Currently functioning at full capacity. (Noted that Program seems to use more emotion-related words than he once did, possibly adapting to the nuance of life to blend in—but watch for feelings.)
“Program?” James asked and another page opened up. Q’s file was gone, instead there was a different sort of file, and experiment file.
Functioning and Adaptive Artificial Intelligence Experiments
“What the hell?” James asked, reading through the experiments. Boothroyd and Shaw had paired up to create an AI based on the human mind, using Shaw’s mind as the template. They had spent years taking data, scanning and rescanning Shaw’s brain, figuring out what made the mind so special, then they’d copied it and altered it, trying to get the perfect AI that could function and adapt and learn. The first eight were considered non-functioning and were “Dismantled.” They were all non-functional for different reasons: no adaptability, not fully functioning, not compatible, not smart enough, too reliant on logic, lack of creativity. There were lists of reasons for every dismantled AI.
The last AI Q9 had a different note next to it. Salvaged: too much emotion, but very well functioning: salvageable. But a few lines later: Salvaged AI had to be deleted, it unraveled. What in the hell did unravel mean?
Then James came to Q’s section of the experimental file—or Q10’s file. Q10 fully functioning with minimal flaws and emotionality. Extremely creative and bright. Stable and currently functioning in the Quartermaster position at MI6.
“What in the…?” James couldn’t believe it. He’d touched Q’s hand, he was warm, his skin felt like skin, he drank tea for God’s sake! “He’s real, not a program.” Then schematics popped up of a body, glowing in blue, a perfect replica of Q. A body that was nearly as fully functioning as a normal human’s body, but instead of a skeletal system, computers stored in strong metal containers shaped like bones. The rest was dressing, cut him, fake blood would spill, hit him, and he had a program to form bruises. “I don’t…”
The screen went black.
I’ll be in Q-Branch, just barge in like you have a complaint. I’ll speak to you. I’ll help you understand.
800Q8
“Q? What in the hell?” James demanded as soon as he closed the door. Q tinted the windows to his office and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“No one can see in here, hear in here, and I’ve shut down surveillance.”
“What is all of that? Why aren’t we told? And why did you tell me?”
“There are many rules for AI programs in MI6. I’m the first functioning one so I’m the test. The only people who know about me are M, Tanner, and R since both of my ‘creators’ are dead after the explosion. However, we have all of their work, so it is likely that there will be more AI after me.”
“I don’t…” James touched Q’s arm and it gave and shifted as anyone else’s arm would. It felt warm, but slightly cooler than normal.
“Feel’s real doesn’t it?”
“Can you even feel that?”
“Artificial nerves. Yes, I can, in a manner of speaking, just differently than you do.”
“And pain?”
“Not the way you would. It would hurt you. Pain simply sends me a message that I’m supposed to act hurt and by how much. Pain that hurts is a different sort for me. They wanted the illusion to be elaborate as possible, so that when they got the AI with the amount of power they wanted no one could suspect it.”
“Why did you tell me?”
“I like you and I want someone…someone to protect me and…I think you’ll do that.”
“Protect you? From what?” Q didn’t pale, but he looked frightened of something.
“It is in the protocol that AI are not allowed to express emotion or they are dismantled or scavenged: "Salvaged". I have begun to experience emotion. I don’t want to die. They didn’t understand. They based me off of a human mind, I can’t function without emotions. They were so minor at the beginning, everything is just broken in the beginning, you…I was so disoriented, but come on, try being born with a fully functioning mind and all of the knowledge in the world at your command, you’re a little disoriented, but I got control and there was a little bit of emotions, but they allow a little bit, only if it is under ten percent of normal human emotions. They didn’t understand, it’s a flaw in the plan, I update myself I change things to adapt and get smarter and I…more emotions slip through.” His words were broken, disoriented, and quick, very unlike the Q James knew.
“Why do they fear emotions?”
“Emotions are links to full sentience. I need some semblance of sentience to adapt and change and get smarter, but too much and they think I would be able to do…pretty much anything. I could think for myself, decide I don’t like MI6 and turn against it. It’s not true, I love it here. But I’m…I’m becoming more…”
“Human.” James realized.
“Yes.” A tear escaped Q’s eye, the feelings inside him sending the proper 0’s and 1’s to cause the action. “They didn’t realize they were making a living thing…and I don’t want to be dismantled. I can’t control that emotions have started coming up, they just happened. I used to fake them, but then…”
“Then what?”
“You made me laugh.”
“What?”
“You made me laugh. Usually I have to consciously send a signal to get the appropriate ‘human’ response to a scenario, but when we met you said something and…the code sent itself and I laughed. That’s when I started to realize I was forming emotions. Now I’m not even faking them anymore, now they’re just happening. They’re not bad, I’m learning to control them again, I’m adapting! Like humans learn to control their emotions! I can learn too…but M’s been noticing. I’ve been unconsciously using more feeling words and I’ve been breaking protocols for my agents when I know their ideas aren’t statistically the best. I’m only allowed to change directives if I have the statistics to show that a different plan is statistically better than the given directive. I’ve been trusting my agent’s instincts over logic in some cases and it’s worked in every mission. I’ve never failed…except for once and I didn’t have the data… I…I just don’t want to be dismantled and you…you know me. You can tell them I’m functioning well, very well, better than when I was implanted, even. I can adapt quicker and think faster and I can do my job better…”
“What does dismantle mean?”
“AI have rules…if we go against protocol M can decide to dismantle me or have me salvaged. I’m not allowed to be saved in unknown locations. M knows everywhere I’m stored. Dismantling me would be removing me from this body and all of my other storage locations, all of my back-up versions, every bit of me erased and burned. Being sentient I could feel it when they do it. Think of it as someone picking the organs out of your body while you watch and being able to do nothing until finally they kill you.”
“Salvaging?”
“It’s worse… They want to keep all of the functioning parts and destroy what they deem ‘non-functional’. It’s torture, until you split into pieces and they take the pieces they like. They’ve only done it once and what remained of Q9 didn’t function for very long. He went insane and they dismantled him as well. I don’t want that. I don’t want to feel that… I…”
“You don’t look like an AI to me. As far as I’m concerned they have no right to tear you apart unless you commit treason.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’ve done nothing but help us and they can’t pull you apart for that. I won’t let them.” James promised.
“Thank you,” Q wrapped his arms around James and held him tightly.
“Oh…um…” James slowly wrapped his arms around Q. God, he felt so real, even his hair was soft as silk.
“Sorry, I just…did it. Usually there’s a code and…it just happened.”
“You’ve got a mind of your own now, don’t you?” Q nodded against James’ shoulder in response. “Are you scared?”
“Very… I wasn’t meant to have a mind of my own. Adapting is a challenge, it is taking more time than I would like.”
“You seem to be doing alright.”
“I am.”
“Okay…try not to get yourself into trouble okay? Try to stay under the radar.”
“They tried to dismantle me after Skyfall, because I trusted your instinct rather than following protocol. I convinced them that I had faulty data, which I did, and that at the time I was sure your plan was the best, which it was.”
“They nearly killed you for that?”
“Yes, they make you go to hearings to decide your fate… I don’t like going.”
“Why?”
“Because they take me out of this—my—body and put me in a room where I can’t flee, no internet, no nothing. If they decide I’m guilty I never see the world again…it’s terrifying. Try staying calm and logical in that situation…but I knew if I would have acted afraid they would have torn me apart. I don’t ever want to go back.”
“Alright, so stay under the radar, alright? Try to act…like an AI.”
“That’s hard to do, I get lonely.”
“What if I visited? So you could be you.”
“Only when R’s gone…or else she’ll get suspicious.”
“Okay… Are you going to let go?”
“I don’t want to just yet. Is that wrong?”
“No, it’s alright.” James smiled gently and kissed the side of Q’s head. “It’s perfectly alright.”