The AI was designed to observe the new lifeforms that its creators dropped onto various planets around the galaxy. At some point, one of the AIs developed a concern over the ability to change and overwhelm the galaxy, exhibited by one of the lifeforms. It decided, outside of its programming, to purge the lifeforms. The other AI's disagreed, and it eliminated them as threats to its new programmed function and then proceeded to eliminate the lifeforms. Some escaped its notice, and were allowed to develop unchecked, then were spread across the galaxy as slaves before the AI discovered them. It was now attempting to finish eliminating them but Dustin, being one of the lifeforms, was fighting back against it.
He watched the program before him as it puzzled through its next course of action as the crew it was manipulating died from exposure to space, and the ship around it deteriorated. Dustin had tried to destroy the AI and it didn't seem to work. While less complex, this AI was still fully functional, and he was sure that it couldn't be the only one still out there.
As the AI began to initiate an escape broadcast, to survive the coming destruction of the ship, he had to admit, it wasn't working just within the confines of simple programming. Any attempts he made to destroy this thing, were going to fail. So, what if he changed its program instead of attacked it?
This thing probably had so many backup plans that he would never successfully be able to wipe it out completely, so why not use it?
Noting the complex data that made this a part of the AI he had destroyed, Dustin pulled back out of the dive, and opened his eyes. Without a word to anyone, he started to type into his console.
"I thought he had already tried to defeat the AI with viruses?" said Olivia, watching him type furiously.
"He's not designing a killing virus," muttered Granny, noting the differences in code that he was putting into it.
"That would make sense," said Kitteral, watching his console as the last of the ships disappeared and the nanobots swooped down to the planet. "Most viruses in real life don't want to kill their host too fast, it would end up killing them as well. In order to spread and multiply, the host needs to live longer."
"How would you know that?" asked Olivia.
"I know a lot about viruses killing people. If you stay away from the people for long enough, they develop new strains that might kill you, if you're not careful. How's Kit handling the sickness back home?"
"They have PED's that heal them if they get sick," said Granny, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, I keep forgetting about those," he mused, leaning back in his chair thoughtfully.
Dustin ignored them, typing away. Several hours passed, with them still floating in the same spot in space, when a new series of ships arrived, similar to the last ones.
"Should we try and destroy these, too?" asked Olivia, preparing to send the nanobots again.
"No," said Dustin, finally finishing his virus. He looked back over it carefully, as the ships drew closer. "I'm done."
Jabbing his finger back into the port, he dived back in, dragging the virus behind him. The virus protection they had on their computer systems would have stopped his virus, but by dragging it with him, as he bypassed all of their blocks, he was able to get it inside their system. The same AI program was attached, obviously behind the second attempt. He noted, with amusement, that these ships had nanobot jammers on board.
Swooping closer to the AI, it seemed to sense him, and looked around, but because he wasn't inside the code, it couldn't see him. Attaching his virus directly into the code of the AI, he backed off and watched it go into effect. The AI had no idea it was infected. So, when it went to report back to itself, the virus tagged along, doing its thing.
Satisfied that it was working, Dustin pulled back and stretched.
"Well?" asked Olivia, looking agitated.
"It's done. The AI shouldn't bother us ever again."
They looked at each other, confusion plain on their faces.
"Care to explain?" grumbled Granny, not amused that she couldn't figure out what he meant.
"Every program has a programmer that assigns it learning algorithms. Those algorithms dictate the direction of the programs learning. I couldn't affect its core programming before, because I was trying to delete sections and destroy it completely. This time, I merely directed the virus to change the algorithm."
"By changing it, instead of deleting it, the AI won't even notice that it's being affected by something," said Granny in awe.
"Alright, care to explain that in a way that the rest of us can understand?" complained Kitteral.
"I think it's like messing with the brain. If you brainwash someone into thinking in a different way, they don't necessarily know they're being brainwashed…" said Olivia.
"There's a lot of math behind what I just did, and some pretty complicated programming tricks, but I basically reprogrammed it from the inside out, to think that all of the lifeforms its creator created, would be too sacred to destroy. Since that goes against its decision to eliminate all Uz'En, we should be safe as it will have that decision overwritten."
"Is that all your virus does?" asked Granny, with a frown.
"No, eventually the AI will come to believe that its presence isn't necessary, and it will delete itself, but that won't happen for a while. I want to make sure the virus gets good and attached to every strain of AI that still survives. I coded the unique data from the AI into the virus itself, so whenever the AI scans itself for any possible viruses or errors, it will overlook the program."
"Good, let's hope it works," said Kitteral.
They all turned to their screens to watch as the ships settled into orbit around the planet. Their weapons began to charge, in order to destroy the entire surface of the planet, when suddenly, every weapon powered down.
"I am detecting communications between the ships. It seems that they are unable to fire their weapons and are receiving new orders to search for any survivors. Apparently, they are to synthesize a cure for the parasites that have infected the inhabitants, rather than just destroy them," said the computer.