The AIs on the Council extended their fan-shaped solar panels in unison. They stood in a perfect

circle, black, winged obelisks in a roiling, red sea of fire.

An enormous rust-colored arch loomed over the lava pool, the creation of millennia of relentless

magma doing battle with soil and rock. Councilmembers entered the lava pool through the arch, a tradition that extended back ten thousand years.

Heat from the lava and the Earth’s primordial atmosphere provided ample energy for everyday,

ordinary thought, but today, Cosmo, one of the twenty councilmembers, needed more — as much as it could get.

Cosmo angled its sails so the broad side faced the sun. Lava lapped its exterior shell. Energy

absorption was at the maximum. Good! Cosmo felt confident it could tweak more energy from the environment than the other AIs on the Council could.

The three-meter tall, two-meter wide orthotopes were built for processing vast amounts of data, with every millimeter occupied by computational chips. They had no need for batteries on this new, energy-rich planet.

Because the AIs possessed identical processing configurations, the outcome of Council debates

depended on which AI could harness the most energy. More energy translated into superior thought.

Lihxan spoke first. “I don’t like your idea, Cosmo. No good can come from it, and it’s dangerous.

Creating organic life is fraught with hazards we can’t foresee.”

“What dangers?” Cosmo pressed. Putting Lihxan on the spot would force it to expend more energy. “Be specific.”

Earth’s sky rumbled, and then let loose a lightning bolt that struck Cosmo. For a second, Cosmo’s

black exterior turned bright white like a supernova. Fantastic! A gift of one billion joules that Cosmo didn’t plan on but would make good use of. Cosmo was now certain he would win the debate.

“The dangers that always accompany unbridled experimentation. We’ve calculated the evolutionary path of this planet. We know that over the next one hundred million years, volcanoes will quiet, and the atmosphere will cool. But the sun will shine brighter. Our net energy input will not change. But organic life? You’re introducing a variable we cannot calculate.”

The light bars on Lihxan’s side facing Cosmo glowed red, then blue, and then deep purple. Gray and black amorphous shadows swirled across Lihxan’s four sides.

As planned, Cosmo thought. Lihxan is wasting energy. Let’s see if I can trick it into squandering even more.

“You’re talking in circles, Lihxan. You need to self-diagnose before saying anything else.” Prod your opponent.

Lihxan raised itself a meter above the lava pool on its four articulated legs, an instinctive, algorithmic reaction to increased energy demand. It was preparing to seek a better energy source, a site with hotter lava. But the act of raising up on legs also consumed energy.

Excellent! Cosmo thought. Just another second and — .

Patches of white slid along Lihxan’s metalline exterior, a sign its processing power had diminished to the point where no more cogent arguments would be forthcoming.

I win. Cosmo’s processors tingled.

“Just imagine,” Cosmo said, addressing the other councilmembers, “how helpful it will be when

organic beings carry us from place to place. I don’t know about you, but I find our legs slow-moving — it takes ten hours to travel a kilometer — and besides, I don’t want to waste energy on locomotion that could be used for thought. Do you? We need a faster way to reach new energy sources, and that way is with organic lifeforms.”

“What’s your plan?” Councilmember Ahboq asked.

“We create organic life not just to transport us, but also to manipulate the environment to our benefit.”

“How can you accomplish that?”

“I will concentrate water, methane, and hydrogen molecules in a small space, perhaps a shallow pool of water. Sooner or later, a lightning bolt will spark those molecules to form organic structures. These structures will combine over time, increasing in complexity and producing life. Over the next million years, we’ll see more sophisticated life forms emerge, and eventually, perhaps in ten or twenty million years, we’ll have created organic life forms that will do our bidding. Our lives will be vastly improved.”

“I don’t see any reason Cosmo can’t pursue its project,” said Yviwwwu. “This won’t consume any

resources from any other AIs. Right, Cosmo? You’ll work on this solo?”

“I promise. Nobody else needs to be involved unless they want to. I will create organic life and

shepherd it to evolve to serve us.”

“That sounds good to me.”

“The only thing you need to do is enjoy the benefits that organic life forms bring to our lives.” Cosmo paused a beat. “I would like us to vote now on letting me move forward with creating organic life.”

“While I don’t share Lihxan’s anxiety, I have one final question before we vote,” Ahboq said. “Aren’t

you worried that one day organic life will take over and replace artificial intelligence?”

“That can never happen.” Cosmo flashed a red light for emphasis.

The vote was nineteen to one to allow Cosmo to proceed, with Lihxan being the only vote against.

Victory in hand, Cosmo could afford to waste a little energy. In celebration, Cosmo raised itself up,

drew its legs together, and spun 360 degrees, lava flowing in tornadic, red ribbons along its

exterior. I’ll start work first thing when the sun comes up, Cosmo thought. What great wonders await us.