We can’t allow electronic messages of any kind. I’ve ordered Colonel Peterson to deliver this memo to you personally. If you wish to reply, you must write the message by hand or by typewriter (as I’m doing now) and give it to Peterson, who will carry it back to Colorado. Let me explain the reason for these rules. From the start we’ve assumed that any hostile AI will be able to access all of the U.S. government’s computer networks, no matter how high their security levels. When we selected the site for Pioneer Base we created a cover story to hide the true purpose of the facility. In the Department of Defense’s classified records, our base is identified as Camp Vigilance, a secret maximum-security prison for terrorists. During the construction phase we built several aboveground barracks and guardhouses to mask the presence of the underground complex and make the site look like a prison camp. If Sigma gains access to satellite photos of southwestern Colorado—as we assume it will, now that the AI controls its own surveillance satellites—our hope is that the AI will notice these structures and believe our cover story.
