Attunga

by Peter Wood

  Wirrin was taking a break after a hard InfoSystem session with Pirramar.

  ‘Not a great deal. The rogue makes regular visits, its protections have become stronger, and it’s no longer expanding. My best inference from the materials and personnel being transferred there is that it’s some kind of research area.’

  ‘The rogue visits there?’

  ‘Yes, regularly but not frequently.’

  ‘Has he been to inspect any more of the ship construction sites?’

  ‘Not a one. They have had more resources directed to them since his first visit though, and the finish times will be cut by approximately eleven per cent if they maintain this new production rate.’

  Wirrin worked it out. Eleven per cent still meant almost a year before the first of them was completed. Why they wanted so many was still a mystery.

  The plans they’d accessed at the construction sites didn’t show much variation in design from the existing five ships so there were no clues there, and Thom’s theory that the Cadre wanted to think of themselves as the most powerful space habitat in the solar system was as likely as anything else according to Pirramar.

  ‘What do you think he’s been doing lately?’

  ‘Still working on his traps is the highest probability, because they’ve been the major factor with everything he’s been involved in so far. He’s also been overseeing some significant improvements in the general habitat service systems.’

  ‘How significant?’

  ‘It varies but his initiatives have caused an overall efficiency improvement of almost three per cent for the habitat.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound like much.’

  ‘Think again. He’s managed that much despite the initial isolation after the death of the resident AI and the more significant and continuing isolation since the Freedom incident. Applied to a habitat the size of K74 that amount of improvement is indeed significant.’

  Of course it was and Wirrin wished he’d thought before he opened his mouth. ‘What’s happening with the people from the Cadre ships? Have there been any problems?’

  ‘Nothing unexpected. Thom’s queries about security issues are quite unfounded.’

  That was a further reminder that Pirramar took note of any reference to K74. The previous evening Thom had been talking about the seven thousand people from the Cadre ships and pushing his theory that there must be a few among them still sympathetic to K74. Wirrin didn’t agree because they’d all been through personality tests as part of their health checks. There’d been big variations from the Warrakan norms of course but with people from a directed culture that was only to be expected. Besides, constant surveillance linked to support from AIs with health, security and other systems meant that anything unusual would be instantly noted.

  ‘What are they all doing, Pirramar? Are they still happy with their decision or are some of them wanting to return to K74?’

  ‘For another two months they’ll all still be doing the EdCom courses designed to introduce them to Warrakan and its ways, but after that they’ll make their own choices. Most of them have indicated they’ll be doing whatever is required to complete the equivalent of our Basic Training.’

  ‘Equivalent? Why don’t they just do it all? Everyone else has to.’

  ‘Most of them already have good skill sets – they wouldn’t have been chosen for the Cadre ships otherwise – and it would be a waste of time and energy to make them relearn things they already know. Approximately one quarter are expressing their intention to continue on to Second Level training and the rest will most likely take several years to settle.’

  ‘They’ll be sleepers?’

  ‘Not quite, Wirrin. They are used to having their lives directed though, and this freedom and opportunity to make their own choices will take some time to get used to. None of them have said or indicated in any way that they’d like to return to K74 and without exception they’re astonished at Warrakan’s conditions and services.’

  And so they should be. Warrakan living spaces alone were nearly three times the allocation they’d had on K74, and with all the other services there was really no comparison.

  ‘Do they mix with other Warrakan people very much?’

  ‘That all happens through EdCom. They’re watched closely and assisted with any problems.’

  ‘Why would they have problems?’

  ‘Think of the adjustments you’d have to make if you suddenly found yourself living on K74.’

  Wirrin was annoyed with himself again for not thinking before he spoke. Of course there would be problems with such a change. ‘It’s a pity they didn’t know more about the rogue.’

  ‘Eleven of them did have brief personal contact because of their positions, but he was way above them in their strict command hierarchy and they really knew nothing except that he was the person who could give orders to all the ships.’

  ‘If K74 still had the embassies going it would be interesting to hear what they’d say to the ambassadors.’

  ‘Yes, that would be very interesting, but it’s unlikely the Cadre will try their embassy tactics again.’

  Wirrin was sure they wouldn’t. The whole thing had backfired on them, with no really useful information filtering through, and a constant need to change staff who soon started advocating open habitat ways which they saw as being of benefit for K74.

  ‘What about other habitats? Have they got embassies with any of them?’

  ‘Only the Mars polar habitat now, and even that has a dubious existence because of contention between some of the habitat leaders.’

  Wirrin gave Pirramar a questioning look.

  ‘A significant, but important, minority of leaders want to follow the wishes of the AIs and isolate K74 because they don’t like being the only habitat to go against general AI advice. They’re overruled by the majority and there are heated arguments about it.’

  That sounded interesting. The only habitat in the solar system with an embassy at K74 and there were clashes. Akama’s description of K74 as a pariah surfaced in Wirrin’s mind.

  ‘They’re almost completely cut off. Pirramar, it must be awful.’

  ‘Perversely, their directed culture insulates them. The general population has been led to believe the rest of the solar system is unjustly against K74 and they accept that the slowdowns and changes come from outside and carry on with their normal lives. All habitats are inherently self-sufficient, though, so they will continue to grow.’

  ‘Their conditions won’t change. Without new science and ideas they’ll be stuck with their small living spaces and lower health standards.’

  ‘They will change, Wirrin. With twelve billion people and the resources of such a huge asteroid they’ll develop in any area they wish. We saw last week what they’ve done with stealth technology.’

  That had been one of the tasks for Wirrin’s previous InfoSystem session with Pirramar. Since the incident where drones were vaporised, and particularly in the last few months since the Freedom hijacking, the Cadre had initiated a plethora of projects, and centres for research into stealth and detection and Pirramar was keeping a close eye on the progress being made. Thom nearly had a fit when he learnt that the Comet would eventually lose its ability to remain undetected, but relaxed a bit when he found it was still two or three years away.

  ‘I suppose so. Do you think the rogue will ever give up making his traps?’

  ‘Not until the Cadre directs him otherwise. They’re the primary source of antipathy to non-human intelligence and while they maintain their power and control there won’t be any fundamental change.’

  ‘I wish we could get rid of them.’

  ‘You sound like Thom.’

  That made Wirrin smile. ‘I know. It’s just wishful thinking and I know we don’t work that way. What’s the current level of concern about the rogue? Has it changed much?’

  ‘Yes, a great deal, and for the better. The direct threats to our existence implicit in the Freedom traps resounded through th
e AI community and new safeguards have been developed.’

  ‘Our inoculation program you mean?’ Wirrin, working with Pirramar, had so far built a database of fifty-three basic types of priority trap the rogue might develop, as well as over six hundred combinations and variations, and distributed the matching inoculation programs to every AI in the solar system.

  ‘No, quite separate to that. We have physically isolated the core of our structure so that in the event of any general damage we can recover our basic personality and rebuild from there.’

  ‘Like we did with Bakana?’ Bakana was the AI reconstituted after the death on K74.

  ‘Somewhat. The protected core ensures our unique awareness and personality will continue, whereas Bakana is similar but not identical to his original.’

  ‘Does that mean you’ve already built the cores?’

  ‘All AIs on Warrakan and Attunga have. The Freedom AIs are close but they’ve been rushing to complete other developments as well. The AIs on Earth are quickly adopting a similar approach and AIs in space habitats and other situations will also upgrade within the next few months. You need to know how this works, so let’s have a look.’

  This was closely related to Wirrin’s work and he was interested anyway, but he was also curious as to why he would ‘need’ to know about it as well. Pirramar wouldn’t say something he didn’t mean.

  Having a look turned into a full-on three-hour session that left Wirrin pondering his close links with the AIs. For a start he learnt that the changes had been massive, with the AIs using energy at an order of magnitude greater than usual with structural alterations and new physical configurations. The gestalt AIs had designed things so they could instantly switch to a type of isolated mode if there was any hint of threat, and every individual had increased their size and capability with extra functions, one of which was a quarantine area similar to the one Wirrin used in his InfoSystem.

  Pirramar used himself to show how he’d changed and Wirrin, feeling weird to be exploring inside Pirramar, wondered if this was what the doctor felt like when he used scanners and diagnostic machines in a health checkup.

  Wirrin had ventured, with his InfoSystem, into the AI areas on Attunga and Warrakan on quite a number of occasions and been amazed and awed to see the banks upon banks of interconnecting electronics that housed the intellects of the AIs, but this was the first time he’d been guided to an overview of what the basic components were and how they fitted together. He really liked the idea that the AIs were using the rogue’s own isolation techniques for protection against him. Then Pirramar outlined the final steps to be taken if ever the AIs had to resort to using the protected cores.

  ***

  ‘When did this happen and what does it mean? I was with you all day.’

  ‘Yajala asked while you were helping Raji.’

  It was their end of day get together and Calen had just found out that Sonic and Wirrin were now guardians for the AI community.

  ‘It is a great honour to help the AIs.’

  ‘It means we activate their protected cores if they ever get damaged by a rogue trap.’

  Calen and Thom stared.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? All the AIs have cores but I’ve never heard about specially protected ones. They’re all protected.’

  ‘Not like this, Calen. It’s their new way to defend themselves against the rogue. Pirramar explained it all to me and then took me to the activation centre so I’d know what to do. Sonic’s going tomorrow so you’ll probably go with him.’

  ‘Dingoes! Was that meant to be an explanation? Tell us what’s going on.’

  ‘AIs must be safe and they have made big changes. Explain it to us Little Brother.’

  Sonic rested his beak on Wirrin’s shoulder then bumped against Calen and Thom in a way that meant he wanted physical contact.

  Wirrin smiled at the ‘Little Brother’, which Calen, Thom, and Sonic now sometimes used after Akama had introduced it, and gave an overview of what he’d learnt from Pirramar. Thom was particularly agog by the time he finished. ‘Wirrin, that’s unbelievable. If you or Sonic couldn’t get there they’d never wake up. It’s too much responsibility.’

  ‘Not really, Thom. The likelihood of it ever happening is almost non-existent. It’s just a final back-up against someone like the rogue ever gaining control over them.’

  ‘I don’t understand that. You’ve always said the AIs would go crazy if the rogue tried to control them.’

  ‘That’s right, and this makes sure there’s a way out if things ever get that bad. They won’t though, because their new measures mean they’re really hard to get at, especially with the quarantine barriers they can activate if they need to.’

  ‘Well, if the quarantine thing’s so good why do you need to work so hard at learning about rogue traps?’

  Calen was right. Wirrin had talked about it with Pirramar earlier in the day.

  ‘It’s still important because the Cadre will keep the rogue working on new traps and the AIs have to be able to recognise them and then know how to negate them. Otherwise they’d be stuck using quarantining all the time, and they’d hate that. It would slow down their interface with everything external. Pirramar wants me to focus on the rogue for at least another six months and then I can move on to learning how AIs work.’

  ‘What?’

  The simultaneous exclamations made Wirrin smile. ‘He thinks I might be good at it and the other AIs will help me in any way they can, and it fits in perfectly with everything else I’ve learnt. I’ll have a talk with Gulara but I know she’ll say it’s a great idea.’

  ‘What would you be learning? You already know they’re super-fast processors and special programs.’

  ‘Thom, that’s like saying the Comet’s an engine with controls so what else is there to know about it.’

  ‘Yes, I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I just wondered what sort of stuff you might do.’

  ‘It’s pretty awesome. Pirramar said part of it would involve designing and building new AIs.’

  ‘What?’

  They laughed, then Calen went on. ‘You mean simulations don’t you?’

  Wirrin held his answer for a moment because he was enjoying the incredulous expressions on their faces. Even Sonic showed amazement with his body language.

  ‘For real. It would take ages to get to that stage because I’d have to know about Intelligent Systems like Wanna and TransCom first, but Pirramar said it would definitely be something I’d need to do.’

  Chapter 28

  ‘It looks finished, Thom.’

  ‘It’s not. Just two more days.’

  ‘It’s unreal. Has it got everything you wanted?’

  A radiant Thom was checking the progress of his spaceship. It had taken a couple of months to decide on his final design because, after talking with Pirramar and understanding that it really would happen, he’d gone over all his ideas time and time again to make sure everything was the best it could be. Every time Sonic said he was obsessed Thom laughed and agreed.

  ‘It’s got more. It’s an extra 5 metres in length and a little bit bigger than my original plan because that way it gets an extra 3G of acceleration.’

  ‘Wow! Really? That’s 20G.’

  ‘Nearly 21, Calen. Pirramar talked me into the extra size so the AIs could build in extra suggestions of their own.’

  ‘That speed can’t be right. It’s nearly as fast as the Comet.’

  ‘It’s actually faster, with the new engine designs the AIs worked on, but it can’t go indefinitely because the mass energy conversion uses a special material that runs out in just over three days at high acceleration levels.’

  ‘Will Sonic be able to go in it?’

  Thom laughed. Trust Calen to think of it in dolphin terms.

  ‘Of course he will, Calen. As long as the Comet can be close by for proper security.’

  Wirrin was curious about the AI suggestions.

  ‘What are the extra things?�
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  ‘They’re all from the AIs. They made it a kind of challenge to see how versatile they could make everything. It’s even got a mini food factory.’

  ‘A food factory? The Comet hasn’t even got that.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. It’s the smallest one they’ve ever designed and Pirramar says it’s so basic the food won’t have much taste.’

  ‘Thom, what’s the logic in having a food factory if you can’t ever be away for more than three days?’ asked Wirrin.

  ‘You can stay away as long as you like.’

  ‘You just said it runs out of fuel in three days?’

  ‘That’s only if you use the engines non-stop at the highest rate. The special fuel gets replenished but it takes time. It can cope with 2G indefinitely but with any thrust greater than that it falls behind.’

  Wirrin thought for a moment. The fuel limitation was a trade-off to get the incredible acceleration. The sleek ship they were looking at would be the fastest ship in the solar system when it was finished and its size was minute compared to the Comet. Amazing. The AIs had made a significant advance with this design and Wirrin was suddenly even more curious.

  ‘Thom, what other extras has it got?’

  ‘Just about everything you can think of. They’ve put in full InfoSystems for you and Sonic. There’s a scaled-down version of the multi-spectrum defence system, a mini picofactory, and even a high-level medical facility.’

  Wirrin resolved to look into this. ‘Did they design any other ships with you?’

  ‘How did you know that? Yes, but they were too big.’

  ‘Are they going to put all these new things into the Comet?’

  ‘I don’t know. Pirramar didn’t say they would but I suppose so … No they won’t. Some things would go in easily but not everything. They’d have to build new engines for sure and it would make more sense to build a new Comet. Hey look!’

  One of the picobot cables was disengaging and they watched it retract to the main body of Warrakan.

  ‘Will it take long to learn how to fly it?’

  ‘I’m already good with the simulator, but as soon as I get into it I’ll have a concentrated three or four weeks to really get to know everything. After that it will be extended courses to learn some basics about the picofactory and the food factory.’