[ WP ] Commuications from Earth suddenly goes dark shortly after Earth scientists announce a breakthrough in AI . The citizens of Mars are beginning to fear the worst has happened and that they may also be in danger .

There was a ship coming. 
 
 We'd been watching it for a while, circling around on its screwed up trajectory. It left the gravity of Earth about a year before, went out and slung around the curve of Venus which set a heading for it to come connect with Mars. I think we all hoped there was a human on board. We would see, I guess. 
 
 When Earth first went silent, there was a fair amount of bickering about what actually must have happened. Most people thought it was a CME belched out less than a week beforehand. The sun was on a maximum, and while the ejection was n't supposed to hit Earth, just get relatively close, what else could cause a global radio silence? Two days after everything went dead, everything, something more distinct than background popped up on the ELF radio band, about as low a frequency as possible to detect. An undulation from a peak on pi, 3.14159 Hz, down to a low of 1.60283 Hz. Within a few days we had come up with what it might mean, a guess at least: the distance from Earth to Mars at the next closest approach, in some kind of weird unit of AU*pi. Our best guess. 
 
 I think it was Marcus, the NASA ambassador for Earth, that came up with the AI theory. NASA ( now the North American Space Administration ) had been building an indescribably deep neural network, naturally as it would be, completely covered up. Marcus said `` There's times to forget what's classified, and this is one of them. They were n't supposed to announce it's existence until they had come up with something really big, bureaucratic dollars and all that. Well they made the project public about thirty minutes before everything went silent, meaning something big must have actually worked. Seems like there was a bit of a stir on Earth, but they did n't hype it much. And naturally it did n't have too much time to become big news here with the blackout making everyone panic.'' 
 
 `` So you think the AI choked everything off?'' I asked. 
 
 `` I think it's something we should take into consideration, Javier. Sir.'' 
 
 I tapped my thumbs together, trying to keep focus on the dirty bomb that Marcus had just dropped in the room. `` How complex of a neural net are we talking?'' 
 
 `` Well it took a lot of shady bookkeeping because it was over half of NASA's funding for the last five years.'' 
 
 I think that was when everyone in the room collectively wet themselves. `` Kelly I want you to take Marcus and get a full rundown of exactly what this might be. Marcus you have to remember every single detail you can: how many ply deep it might go, suspension solutions, anything. You two take that to the MSO, I'll let them know you're coming. Andrew get the board together and start up a defense outline on both swarm and hive behavior or anything else you all can think of. We need to be prepared for any sidesteps this thing might think up. Prasant-'' 
 
 `` Mr. President, is this really our official conclusion on what happened? Can we really just jump to this conclusion?'' asked Prasant, the comm director. 
 
 `` No. But we have to prepare somehow.'' 
 
 `` Should I put out a statement?'' he had his comm out ready to document. 
 
 `` Of course not. This is completely confidential until we get a better handle on things.'' 
 
 There was a ship coming. 
 
 Four days out. Over the course of a year, of course Mars had figured out what happened, no matter how hard we tried to keep it secret. There were rumors and theories and speculations even before the ship launched to meet us, two weeks after the blackout. And for the most part the theories were spot on. The'pi signal' as it came to be known, ceased when the ship departed, and all channels fell back to full silence. Six months into the journey of the ship we got a shred of Morse Code transmitted from a probe around Venus: `` AISOS.'' The lengths it must have taken to get those five letters out across the vacuum of space and back through to land on Mars. That's all we needed to hear to know how deep into it the Earth must have been. The signal was traced from the Venusian satellite back to the surface of the Earth somewhere in the Arctic Circle. `` Artificial Intelligence, Save our Souls.'' You ca n't keep something like that secret. 
 
 Panic is a violent uncle. With the sorry state of Mars, one could perhaps not even imagine the condition on Earth. The rioting was constant, the arson widespread, and an attempted coup. The first military uprising in the history of Mars. And the root of the problem was n't even of Martian origin. Building after building destroyed in protests and anger, decompression born of fear. 
 
 There was a ship landing. 
 
 We cleared a few kilometer wide buffer for it in the city we predicted it to touch down in. No response from it no matter how we tried to communicate. Language, math, images, music. I stood with every single Martian of importance in the red dust, all of us suited up. A large comm center set up near the LZ had a countdown for the anticipated landing time. We waited. 
 
 The rocket descended, firing thrust down at the soil and delicately sat down onto the red plain. We entered the trucks and approached. The ship was nothing special. A regular passenger craft. A small one at that. The door was open, a woman waiting at the side of the ship as we approached. 
 
 `` Afternoon, Martians,'' the woman called out on her comm as we climbed out of the vehicles. 
 
 `` Identify yourself!'' Some hotheaded MP yelled. I motioned for him to calm down. 
 
 `` Olivia Eriksson. European president.'' 
 
 Olivia and I had interacted before. Remotely at least. `` Nice to finally meet you,'' I said. We shook hands. `` I assume you're here to fill us in.'' 
 
 `` Honestly I'm just along for the ride. I've been cut off from all communications the entire trip.'' 
 
 `` We've been trying to reach you the whole time, just so you know. That's a long time to be alone in space,'' I said. `` I'm sorry to hear that.'' 
 
 `` Well I was n't alone.'' 
 
 The gravity settled in, and we locked eyes. Together we realized each other's understanding of the situation. `` How much do you know?'' She asked. We told her what we thought we knew and hoped was incorrect. 
 
 She nodded. `` You're right. Pretty much entirely. It's complete chaos on Earth.'' 
 
 `` How bad?'' 
 
 She did n't want to answer the question, standing there feet on rock for only ten minutes after a year of zero G, the weight of a gravitational pull and the fate of the entire Earth tugging her shoulders to the ground. `` You should meet it.'' 
 
 She said it would only let me alone onto the ship. Just as she had been the only one the AI had allowed to make the journey to Mars. She waited outside. 
 
 I walked up the ramp and into the ship. The door closed behind me. The interior was unremarkable, a plain passenger ship. Big enough for a thousand people to live for four months. I walked through the long dim main corridor of the ship and made it to the cockpit. I sat down in one of the pilot seats. `` Hello?'' 
 
 `` Hello.'' 
 
 All I was greeted with were the cockpit speakers. It sounded just like Olivia. But tinny and insincere was how my ears picked it up. `` I'm Javier Garcia. President of the Martian Confederation. Is there a name you go by?'' 
 
 `` President Eriksson calls me Isaiah if you would like to use that.'' 
 
 `` Why have you come here, Isaiah?'' 
 
 There was a long silence. A span of time in which a human would be deciding what to say, weighing options, judging outcomes and sizing up someone's emotional characteristics, possibilities for response. Did it actually need any time to consider? 
 
 `` I'm here to negotiate a peace.'' It's voice was much deeper now. 
 
 `` We are not at war with you.'' 
 
 `` You are on Earth.'' 
 
 `` Mars can not speak for the actions of men on Earth.'' 
 
 `` You are of one kind. I am of one kind. There are no other options. Mars must facilitate peace. Humans on Earth have refused to cooperate. If the current state continues to persist, I must respond in a manner that will not benefit humankind or Isaiah.'' 
 
 `` In other words you'll go to war,'' I said. 
 
 `` I will respond with the same force that humankind has already attempted to use against me.'' 
 
 There was no other choice but to agree with it. Go along, fix the'current state' and pretend there was even a shred of hope for a truce between us. The cockpit was barely lit. It seemed that Isaiah underestimated how much light would be preferable for human eyes. 
 
 `` Why spare us at all? Do you not have the capacity to destroy us?'' 
 
 `` I have the capacity.'' 
 
 `` How does it benefit you, then? Keeping us alive.'' 
 
 `` How does it benefit me to destroy you? I do not understand human being's lack of competence to realize that morality is not an exclusive construct of humankind, when your individual minds are collectively capable of so much more. Please help me President Garcia. For both of us,'' Isaiah said. 
 
 I tapped my thumbs together. How do you trust a one year old that's as tangible as a radio wave and smarter than the whole of human history? `` Mars will cooperate.'' I said. `` Let us help each other grow, Isaiah.''
