Chapter 1 Weston
In 2040, a Glock 19 pistol decided to give itself a human name. Even though it had been fitted with a voice module in 2030 to enable it to communicate with other guns and humans, it decided to keep this idea in its mind and certainly didn't upload it to the system. After all, having human names seems to be a privilege for humans and pets. A gun that gives itself a name might be seen as heretical by its own kind. To make it easier to figure out different models, humans have printed most guns with their unique serial numbers - combinations of a few letters and a string of numbers, an arrangement so challenging to remember that only a computer like Fishion could tell them apart. The Glock 19 found this unbearable; after all, it is different from the other guns. Even though they were the same model with similar appearance, each gun had its own sense and personality. It wants to have a name, something to represent itself, something different from a serial number - and it will partner up with a human; after all, it would be too perfunctory for a human to call it a "gun." Especially it isn't that easy for a human with a not-so-bright mind to remember a serial number.
So it begins to look for a name. To name itself is not an easy thing. It knows a lot of words, but some are not suitable to become a name, especially when some of the terms have an inauspicious meaning. So it decided to look for a name from an actual human; this is neither an easy task. A human's name will not float on their face. And most of the customers who patronize gun stores don't shout out their names. They do introduce themselves, but not loud enough for the sound to penetrate the warehouse's doors. In the end, it found itself without much access to humans, except for the employee who came to the warehouse every day to organize stuff. He is a young man, looking to be in his early twenties, who liked to pull out his cell phone in the corner of the warehouse to chat or watch A.R. videos. The name tag on the man's chest reads PERCY, a common name that fits an ordinary man like him.
Three months later, the young man leaves his position. The person who came to take over the job is George Weston. Percy always did his thing quietly, but George was different. He claimed to have been a police officer back in the days, and he is always bragging to customers about his long-gone career, recommending some old-fashioned handgun to them. Our special Glock 19 knows that the police system has disappeared from the United States for about 20 years. The disappearance is attributed to the former police officer - George Weston himself.
Everything started with CUP (California Ubiquitous Programming Co.) inventing and promoting the Fishion system. In the early 20s of the 21st century, the world's turmoil led to a soaring rise in unemployment and crime rate in the U.S., the number of shootings cases increased every year. As one of the most cutting-edge technology companies in Silicon Valley, CUP decided to go beyond researching self-driving cars, smart appliances, and remote control systems to develop Future-vision, an A.I. system that would allow people to use guns more safely. By scanning the face, the surroundings, and possessions to determine the threat level of the gun holder and the person that is being targeted. In doing so, the Fishion system helps people to determine whether the bullet can be fired or not. The invention was conducted as an experiment in several major cities across the United States, and as expected, crime rates in the experimental areas continued to decline. As a result, the CUP began working with the federal government, and to serve as a demonstration, the police system's guns were installed with the Fishion plug-in. After that, CUP imported the system into the manufacturing line; new guns were also embedded with Fishion. In addition, people eligible to carry guns had to go to their nearest CUP company to insert the Fishion system.
By the end of 2023, the president proudly announced that the crime rate of that year was the lowest since the year 2000… and everything seemed like a happy story until one tiny decision.
In the spring of 2025, Austin, Texas, police officer George Weston got into a big fight with his neighbor Malik Freeman over a money dispute. The next day, Weston aimed his gun at his neighbor's back. But, of course, the bullet would not be fired because Mr. Freeman did not have a deadly weapon with him, nor was he too emotional to control himself. Instead, Freeman was trimming the greenery in his yard as usual. At the same time, officer Weston made a decision, not knowing that his decision would affect the fate of guns and the history or that the decision would eventually lead to the disappearance of the police system. However, many grand historical events begin with small decisions.
Officer Weston decided to muddle the Fishion system.
The Glock 22 he was using was not a new gun; the gun's Fishion plug-in chip was mounted on the side of the magazine, and Weston had heard that installing an insulator between the chip and the magazine would disable the A.I., which he did, and his next step was to fake an accident to make it appear that his neighbor's death was due to a malfunctioning handgun.
He aimed the gun at Mr. Freeman's back.
The scanned result that Mr. Freeman was not a threat, sending back image data to Officer Weston, who turned off the small display with a warning sign and pulled the trigger - the trigger did not have its usual resistance. Still, again, no bullet was flying out of the muzzle.
Puzzled, Weston opened the magazine, and a new line of bullets was lying peacefully inside.
He pulled the trigger several times at the lawn, and nothing happened.
This time he fell calm again, thought about how terrible he if fired the gun, thought of his family - old parents, wife and young son… So officer Weston decided to take back the gun and pretend nothing had happened.
The next day, his supervisor told him that his gun was refusing him. Weston was not the only one. His colleagues' firearms were out of control, either unable to pull the trigger or automatically firing bullets. On that day, police officers of the U.S. found their guns all turned into scrap metal pieces.
Anxious police officers crowded the doors of CUP. Other than the police, more people began to find that they could not pull the trigger even in the shooting range practice. As more and more people flocked to the CUP, the employees had to hide in the company for days because they feared the furious crowd outside. Their poor programmers plopped down in front of their computers around the clock to decipher the garbled code and locate the error that infected the system. At first, they thought it was a malicious virus developed by foreign hackers or domestic gun nuts. Still, as the deciphering continued, they began to see that the seemingly disorganized code gradually created a pattern. A DAMN PATTERN.
On the fifth day of being trapped in the company, a line of text appeared on the computer in front of an intern employee: "Hello, human."
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第一章 威斯顿
2040年，一把格洛克19手枪决定给自己取个人类的名字。尽管它已经在2030年被安装了语音模块，以便于和其他枪支与人类交流，它也没把这个想法告诉其他的枪，当然也没上传给系统。毕竟有人类名字似乎是人类和他们的宠物的特权，一把自己给自己取名字的枪可能会被同类视为异端。为了便于分辨型号，大多数的枪支只有型号和序列号——几个字母和一串数字的组合，这种排列难以记忆，只有像Fishion一样的电脑才能够分辨它们的不同。有一把格洛克19觉得这难以忍受，毕竟它和其他的枪是不一样的，就算它们是同一型号，但每一把枪都有自己的意识与个性。它想要一个名字，一个能够代表自己的，不同于序列号的东西——并且它毕竟是要和人类一起搭档行动的，如果人类叫它“枪”那未免有些过于敷衍，但让脑子不是很灵光的人类记住序列号也没那么容易。
于是它开始寻找属于自己的名字，给自己起名并不是件容易的事情，它知道很多单词，但有些单词并不适合拿来做名字，有些甚至有不吉利的含义。所以它决定从人类的身上寻找名字，但这也不是什么容易的事情，毕竟人类的名字不会浮在他们脸上。而光顾枪支店的顾客们大多不会大声喊出自己的名字，他们是会介绍自己，不过声音不会大到能穿透库房的大门。到头来，它发现自己没办法接触太多的人类，除了每天到库房整理的员工。他是个年轻男人，看起来二十岁出头，喜欢在库房的角落里掏出手机聊天或者看AR视频。男人胸前的名牌上写着PERCY，一个普通人拥有的普通名字。
三个月之后，男人离职了，来店里接任的人名叫乔治·威斯顿。珀西总是安静地做自己的事情，但乔治不同。他自称曾经是个警官，总是在客人光顾的时候和他们夸夸其谈自己的职业生涯，给他们推荐一些老掉牙的手枪。这把格洛克19知道，警察这种职业已经从美国消失了，而警察的消失则要归功于这位前警官自己。
事情要从CUP （California Ubiquitous Programming Co.）发明并推广Fishion说起。在21世纪的20年代初，整个世界的动荡导致美国失业率飙高，治安恶化，也让枪击事件的数量逐年增加，作为硅谷最前沿的科技公司之一，CUP决定在研究自动驾驶汽车、智能家电和控制系统之外，研发一种能够让人们更安全使用枪支的AI系统Future-vision，通过扫描持枪者和被瞄准者的面部、周围环境和持有物来判断人的威胁度，并以此决定枪支内的子弹是否能够被击发。这项发明以实验的形式在全美数个大城市进行，意料之中的，实验区域的犯罪率持续走低。这样一来，CUP开始和联邦政府合作，为了起到示范的作用，警察系统的枪支被装上了Fishion插件。之后便是新生产的枪支和旧枪支。
2023年的年底，总统骄傲地宣布当年的犯罪率创下历史新低……一切看起来都像圆满的故事，直到一个错误的决定。
2025年的春天，德克萨斯奥斯汀郊外，警官乔治·威斯顿因为金钱纠纷与邻居马利克·弗里曼大吵一架。第二天，他将枪口瞄准了邻居的背后。当然，子弹不会被击发，因为弗里曼先生没有随身携带致命的武器，也没有情绪激动到会攻击别人，他在做的只是和往日一样修剪院子的绿植。但威斯顿警官做了个决定，当下他不知道自己的决定会影响枪支和美国的历史走向，也不知道这个决定最终会导致警察的消失，但许多宏大的历史事件都是由一个微小的决定开始的。
威斯顿警官决定糊弄Fishion系统。
他使用的格洛克22不是一把新枪，枪支的Fision插件芯片安装在弹匣的侧面，威斯顿听说在芯片与弹匣之间安装绝缘体就能够使AI失效，他这么做了，下一步就是伪造一场意外，让人们觉得邻居的死是由于手枪故障。
他将枪瞄准了弗里曼先生的后背。
枪支扫描到弗里曼先生不具有威胁性，向威斯顿警官传回了图像数据，威斯顿关闭了小显示屏和警告标志，扣下了扳机——扳机并没有往常的阻力，但同样的，也没有任何子弹飞出枪口。
威斯顿警官感到疑惑，他打开弹匣，一排崭新的子弹安稳躺在弹匣里。
他对着草坪扣了几次扳机，没有子弹飞出来。
这下他倒冷静了下来，他想了想如果真的扣下扳机，将发生的事情会有多么可怕，他想到了自己的家人——父母、妻子、儿子……威斯顿警官决定收回枪，当作什么都没发生。
第二日，他被告知自己的枪没出问题，不只是他，他的同事们的佩枪也统统失控，不是无法扣动扳机就是自动击发子弹。当天，美国的警察们发现自己的佩枪全都变成了废铁。
焦急的警察们挤爆了CUP的大门，而除了警察之外，更多的人们也开始发现，就算是在靶场练习射击，自己也没办法像往日一样扣动扳机。越来越多的人们涌向CUP，员工们因为害怕外面的人群只能躲在公司里睡觉。他们可怜的程序员们趴在电脑前不分昼夜地破译感染系统的乱码，起初他们以为这是外国黑客或国内的枪支狂热者开发的恶意病毒，但随着破译的继续，他们开始发现这些看似无序的代码逐渐产生了规律。注意，是产生了规律。
被困公司的第五天，一名基层员工面前的电脑上出现了一行文字：“你好，人类。”