(The following was generated by my clunky, typo-prone, easily-distracted Natural Intelligence. There is an analysis by Artificial Intelligence in the next and final post to this category.)

Claude picked up Piccolo in his arms, petting the cloned Maltese’s head gently, careful to avoid the dissolved neural implants appearing as purple blemishes under the white dog’s fair skin. He unclipped the now darkened and inert electronic collar and threw it with his spare hand as far as he could into the vineyard, the grapevines now turning rosy shades of orange in the setting sun. He took Juliet’s hand and nodded towards Sarah and Marcus, “Let’s go back to the villa and enjoy some nice table wine and brie on crostini.”

The two other researchers from “Poseidon’s Eye”, nodded in agreement and exchanged glances with each other over what could have been. “The mystery of Atlantis and evidence backing up the Silurian Hypothesis could have been discovered today. I wonder what caused the collapse of the temporal neural networks?”

Claude sighed heavily and gave the resting dog a compassionate hug, “This little guy is the likely cause.”

They opened the gate into the gardens of solar panels and vertical gardens, and followed the gently inclined path up to the villa with it’s expansive view over the Mediterranean sea. “Poseiden’s Eye” was clearly in view, its white hull painted in the glowing orange shades of the sunset. Claude gestured for the guests to seat themselves at the table and chairs on the terrace, and he put down the now “all-natural” Piccolo on the soft green grass. “This all may be new to you again, my little friend.”

Piccolo rolled around in the soft grass and then got up to explore the boundaries of his new-again home. Claude looked at the little white dog sadly, trying to decide if he should put him on a leash, but decided to let him explore on his own. “Don’t go far! I might not come after you.”

Claude found some wine glasses and put a slab of cheese on a blue and white porcelain plate, surrounding it with a clatter of crostini. On the way out to the terrace he grabbed a bottle of wine from a stand and held it under his chin, with with the four glasses clutched in one hand and the plate of cheese and crackers in the other. Juliet took the plate as Claude sat down at the table, and set a glass in front of each seated guest and himself, finally taking the bottle of wine from under his neck and unscrewing the cap, joking, “I’m not a wine snob, I just know what I like!”

Everyone laughed quietly, feeling the tension ease between them. Claude filled each glass and put the bottle down next to the plate of tasty treats.

Juliet watched the little white dog sniff along the edge of the fenced yard, and asked in disappointment, “What do you mean by Piccolo causing the collapse?”

Before Claude could answer, Sarah chimed in, “If I may, please enjoy your wine everyone! I know what Dr. Moreau is about to say, and I regret that I didn’t take the precaution myself.” Claude aquiesced to Dr. Chen, and took a deep swig of the wine from his glass.

“It wasn’t Piccolo so much as it was his cybernetic implants and the AI technology he had access to,” she said, noting that Claude was nodding in agreement, “We should have never let Piccolo near the temporal networks. All of us are old enough to remember the Great AI Model Collapse of 2032 CE and how it brought modern civilization to a standstill.” Sarah swept her arms around to indicate their surroundings, “That collapse brought us to where we are today, reliant on self-sustaining technology that supplements and nourishes our AI systems today.”

Marcus excitedly agreed with her, “Of course! The fail-safe procedure built into our AI systems today is designed to contain a model collapse and prevent its spread to other systems. Our hard-earned lesson from the 2032 catastrophic collapse was to initiate the fail-safe on a node to contain it. Poor Piccolo could not keep the ancient neural network stable with a technology so alien to his own, that the fail-safe was triggered. It appears to have triggered a similar fail-safe in the ancient AI as well.”

Sarah appeared to be a little annoyed with Marcus’s interruption, but continued, “As I was saying, we are well aware of the limitations of AI and its propensity for instability. The Great Collapse was a dark time for us, but we are better for it today.” She sipped her wine, and frowned, “You like this, Claude?”

“What can I say, it doesn’t cost much and fills a gap,” he laughed. The colleagues all laughed together, and clinked their glasses in agreement.

Juliet finished her glass and reached for a piece of cheese, saying with a chuckle, “Here’s to finding more ancient nodes, and to keeping little dogs far away from them!”

Everyone lauged again, and Claude called out to Piccolo, “Come here and enjoy a bit of cheese with the rest of us!” Piccolo looked up from the far end of the yard, just as he was about to step through a gap in the fence. He came rushing back and gulped down the bit of brie. The sun dipped below the horizon of the shimmering sea, and the group quietly looked up at the twinkling stars poking through the gathering twilight.

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***