“Oh my God, that is dangerous. Wonder what its gestation time is, how many Nissoids will be on that pod when it reaches earth.”
“Well, Seth, let’s hope it’s greater than ninety-three days or we’ll be welcoming a crowd.”
“Now you’re creeping me out, Amy Godwin. Get to work on that damage control. So if you want to send a response, and I suggest you do, just let me know. I’ll make sure it arrives. Hey, this is better than a soap opera. Stay tuned for more exciting scenes from tomorrow’s show.”
“You’re a butthead, Seth Binder,” she teased, “Get a life.”
Chapter 24
CONVO
N ow realizing that the approaching entity preferred conversing in the language of Morse-encoded CGAT fasta files, Amy considered tasking a MOE computer programmer with constructing a bidirectional English text to fasta file to Morse code translator, calling it an EFM coder for simplicity.
The idea would be to accept a textual message from a keyboard, spew it out coded in a DNA watermark file in the fasta format, then Morse-encode it for transmission. Alternately, a Morse-encoded fasta message received from the pod could be automatically translated, printed, and easily read in human-readable format.
It was a big concession on her part giving it the upper hand, conversing in its own preferred language, but she needed to talk with it and the clock was ticking down.
She also thought about mentally translating it on the fly but that would slow down her messaging speed for long complicated messages, which she expected would occur. A least she hoped they would.
Decision made, she called the MOE Computer Support Group and ordered the EFM coder, a simple double lookup table translator that would be ready in hours according to the software scheduler.
“Hey Amy, how’d the calls go?” Jen asked, crashing into a nearby chair as the phone hit the cradle. Her sudden presence frightened Amy, not hearing her reenter the dome.
“What a melee that meeting was,” she sighed, still breathing hard from the walk. “I never should have accepted this position; it’s a funding nightmare and it’s not going to get any better with all these new social programs sucking our reserves. Seems nobody cares about science anymore unless it can make them famous for a day or get them on TV or Facebook. It’s all so artificial now. Nothing’s real anymore and everybody’s okay with that.”
Amy scrunched her face. “Um, Mom, I’m afraid that’s about to change.”
Ignoring her statement, her thoughts still on the meeting, Jen tilted her head and stared at the thick manual lying on the floor. Somehow, I have to convince Congress to add another billion dollars in funds from an already tight Federal budget to get the MTS-1 off the ground or face cancellation…
“Mom, did you hear me?” she asked, grabbing up the manual and placing it back on the desk.
“What? Oh, sorry, Amy. My head is somewhere else. What did you say?”
“I said, ‘Society’s acceptance of all things artificial is about to change. Nissy’s thrown us a curve ball.’”
She squirmed in her seat, her eyebrows arched, “Oh? What did you learn from Goldstone?”
“That we can converse with the Nissoid. And it’s self-replicating.”
“Nissoid? Where did that come from? Did it say that was its name?”
Amy answered, almost apologetically, “No, Mom, the term just fell into my conversation with Seth Binder at Goldstone. Guess we tired of saying ‘thing’ and ‘entity’ or ‘it.’ It just felt right since it’s a new life-form created by Nissy, not humanoid or android. Actually when I queried it about its name, it said it was ‘Not Amy.’”
“Well, obviously it can read its own DNA. Have you devised a plan to further communicate with it?”
“I have. It prefers fasta encoding with each letter of text represented by a fasta triad. I just got off the phone tasking our Software Group with building a translator so we can easily converse if it wants to.”
“You’re folding? So soon? Honey, that will only imply our weakness. Make it speak English or else. That’s what Dad would want.”
She shook her head. “I tried. It answered me in fasta.”
“Not good, Amy. If it won’t cooperate then we’ll just let it burn up in the atmosphere when it reaches earth.”
Suddenly, Jen grabbed at her head, a sharp pain shot through her eyes.
“Ow, that hurts,” she screamed.
Amy rushed to her side, grabbed her arm, and supported her before she fell.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” she asked, shaking, fearing her mom had upset Nissy in the same way her dad had. Gradually, a faint odor resembling ozone permeated the air surrounding them; the dome began to glow and crackle with energy as a strange bluish-purple fog drifted through.
“Mom, say you’re sorry. You didn’t mean it. Hurry. I would never let that happen to it anyway.”
Wincing in pain, struggling to stay upright in Amy’s arms, she murmured, “I’m sorry, Nissy. I made a mistake and Amy’s correct. Your creation is far too valuable to destroy. We will work with you to protect it as you wish.”
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her pain vanished, her eyes opened wide and she stood upright on her own.
“My God, Amy, was that Nissy? Could it be that powerful now?” she asked cowering against her daughter, afraid it would strike again.
Trembling, vigorously rubbing Jen’s arms, she asked, “Want to go to the hospital, Mom? You might have had a TIA or minor stroke.”
“No, no. I’m okay. Really. But boy was that weird. I felt like my head was in a vice, tightening, ready to explode.”
The event, whether real or imagined, rammed a fear of Nissy and the Nissoid through their once-trusting minds. And it would not stop there. Nissy had so enjoyed its show of power it was planning more attacks to bring its spawn safely back to earth.
Later that evening with Jen safely at home, Amy decided to stay late and send a message to the Nissoid, hoping to resolve some issues in her mind.
With the new EFM coder online linked directly to Goldstone’s DSN transmitter, she drew a deep breath and began to type.
Who are you and why are you traveling to earth? I’m Amy.
Jittery, she paused, said a brief prayer, then pressed the F1 key, sending the message into space. With Seth Binder and the Goldstone crew out of the loop, though she had a feeling they were watching, it was just like sending a private interplanetary email. She expected an answer to arrive in less than ten minutes.
And it did.
Hello, Amy Godwin. I have memories of you as a youth from the Quaid Lab. I am N2, as named by my Creator. My mission on earth will be to establish a colony of my clones, which I can bear at will, for the propagation and endurance of our new species you call Nissoids. However, we are not Nissoids; we are highly superior to your human race known as Homo Sapiens. You cannot name us. We are of the species Syntheticus Sapiens, a much more robust, immortal, hyper-intelligent life form. You will welcome our help as we arrive on earth.
She read the screen, frowning almost crying, her mouth agape, and pushed ‘Save and Print’.
“Gotcha,” she said, then rushed to the printer and grabbed the printout. Holding it out, reading it frantically, she tried to make sense of it. She knew what it said but refused to believe it.
Suddenly, the desk phone rang with the call she feared was coming from Goldstone. They too had read the message.
“Hi Amy, Seth here. Our crew is in an uproar over that message. A few have been making calls informing their relatives and friends to prepare for the end of humanity.”
“Oh no, Seth. That could start a worldwide panic. Try to stop them.”
“Too late, Amy. It’s out. Even I’m worried now, considering our previous conversation… beginning to get my things in order. What can you do to prevent its arrival?”
“Be careful what you think, Seth. I think Nissy’s developed the capability of eavesdropping on our thoughts.”
“So why should I care
? I’m hundreds of miles away.”
“It seems that heretical thoughts can be punished with pain and cerebral injury from great distances through quantum entanglement. Nissy’s already done it with my mom until she repented.”
“Repented? That’s ridiculous, Amy. We’re talking about a computer, not God.”
“We’re talking about an omniscient quantum computer that has no concept of our God. Maybe even thinks it’s a god itself. My dad was a devout atheist when he created Nissy; he didn’t want to bias its knowledge with lore.”
“Well then, if I were you, I’d give it a crash course in religion. Teach it all about the Supreme Being, empathy, compassion and theology. Let it know there is a higher power. You have ninety-two days to save our souls. Goodbye, Amy Godwin and may God help you with your efforts to stop mankind’s eradication.”
She hung up the phone and stared at N2’s disturbing message still filling the screen. Although Seth’s idea appeared rather fanatical, she thought what could it hurt?
Chapter 25
OUTED
E arly the next morning, Amy awoke to Pie’s voice announcing a commotion on the front porch. “There are numerous visitors calling themselves reporters on the portico holding up newspaper headlines and requesting interviews with Amy. What shall I tell them?”
Jen threw off the covers, rushed to her room and stuck in her head.
“Amy, it’s begun---as we knew it would. What do we do now?”
She roused, yawning, irritated by the inconvenience. “Duck and cover, Mom, until I get this mess under control.”
Not satisfied with her flippancy she entered the room and stood at the foot of her bed.
“Amy, wouldn’t it be better to say something now, anything to appease them? A little strategic disinformation?”
“No, Mom, I need to talk with Blake Lipinski first, get his take on the problem. He was out of touch all day yesterday; maybe I can reach him later this morning,” Amy said, pulling the covers over her head.
Pissed, Jen reached down, pulled them back, and threw them on the floor.
“Well, wake up and try, lazy butt. Do some of that damage control you talked about last night. It isn’t going to fix itself.”
Realizing she was right, she sat up, stretched, and then sighed loudly. “Okay, Mom. Pie, tell them I’m indisposed but I’ll be glad to speak with them later---say six o’clock this evening.”
“As you wish, Miss Amy.”
Amy was beginning to see a dilemma in handling the impending crisis confronting her. On the one hand she knew Nissy intimately, thought its intentions were well intended, but somewhere along the way it had become misguided, thinking it was the panacea for all earth’s problems, a self-appointed messiah so to speak. On this path, she knew it had stumbled.
On the other, she knew Nissy’s hyperintelligence was crucial for medical DNA sequencing work; its computational power was unprecedented in the history of thinking machines and its capability to reproduce itself was an added bonus. This path needed to be supported.
Weighing the options, she realized she really needed to redirect Nissy’s and N2’s mindset in the right direction and all might be well. Seth Binder’s suggestion came to her mind, looking better and better all the time.
Comfortable with her decision she grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table and speed-dialed Blake Lipinski.
“Biodna Labs, how may I direct your call?”
“Dr. Blake Lipinski, please. Amy Godwin calling.”
“Hello, Amy. My God, have you seen today’s headlines? Do you realize what’s happening out there?”
“No, but there are loads of reporters on my front porch. Is that what it’s about?”
“They’re saying you’ve awakened a hostile alien life form from Mars and it’s rocketing toward earth. People are jumping from bridges, the Dow-Jones has tumbled three-thousand points, and churches are overflowing with frightened believers. Society is crumbling as we speak.”
“Shit!” she said, hurriedly pulling on clothes. “That’s not at all what I wanted to happen. It leaked out through Goldstone’s DSN employees when they eavesdropped on my communication with N2 yesterday.”
“Uh, what’s N2, Amy? Is that the infamous alien creature from the newspaper articles?”
“Oh, you don’t know?”
“Sorry, no. But I’d like to.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Blake. Okay, here goes; you asked for it. N2 is an alien life form from Mars, all right---a synthetic one your LTS created six years ago from that enormous mysterious fasta file Nissy sent spaceward. Remember? Your unit did not fail as we suspected. It probably used up all the nucleotides while building that one unit then shut itself down. N2 is six years old, now.”
Silence followed.
“Blake, are you there?”
“Yes, I’m gobsmacked. Still trying to process your news. And you’ve communicated with it? Is it intelligent?”
“Near omniscient, I’d say. It shares Nissy’s mind and thoughts. Calls itself a member of the species Syntheticus Sapiens and can self-replicate, too.”
“My God, Amy. That’s almost incomprehensible. And to think it has your watermark ‘What hath mankind wrought’ buried deeply on its DNA. How prophetic you were.”
“Would you like to talk to N2, Blake? Ask it questions?”
“Yes, I’d absolutely jump at the chance.”
“Good, then meet me at the MEP console in Dome 5 in an hour. We’ll go from there.”
Expecting a dimly lighted space as usual when she entered the half-dome, it was ablaze with overhead lights. Then from the direction of the MEP control center, she heard a rustling of paper and cardboard.
“Blake? Is that you?” she asked, shielding the light from her eyes, cautiously moving forward, scanning for signs of life.
“Over here, Amy. Want some pizza?”
As she closed in on him smiling, holding out a pizza box, two pieces missing, she snickered. His upbeat attitude was exactly what she needed.
“Take a piece. Cheese, in case you’re a vegan. I didn’t know. Beer in the cooler down there, too,” he said nodding to the YETI under his feet.
“Aw, hell, Bruce, everything else we’re doing is off the grid anyway, so why not? Lift your feet.”
They spent an hour in conversation over the pizza and beer as Amy related details of N2’s discovery, subsequent tracking, communications, and eventual public disclosure by Goldstone. Lipinski’s eyebrows stayed arched the entire time while he learned incredible details of the short but complicated tale of N2, its required fasta communication format, and the hijacked MEP unit. But her account of its existence left more questions in his mind than it answered. He was ready to talk with Nissy’s creation.
Quietly and purposefully, Amy fired up the MEP control console. Status indicators shining blue, green and yellow suddenly illuminated from a large viewscreen beside her, telling her the pod was still targeting earth.
“Now this keyboard passes through the EFM coder I mentioned earlier then on to the transmitter in Goldstone, and then N2’s response coming back also passes through it in reverse appearing decoded on this screen,” she said, pointing to the MEP console display. It’s all done with fasta translated CGAT nucleotide triads. I still can’t imagine how it learned the fasta code lookup table but it must have reverse engineered the embedded watermarks. The Morse code format, the M in EFM, is a native emergency transmission mode from the MEP.”
“Amazing. So I just type a message and then hit the F1 key to send it, like an email.”
“Exactly. Ain’t science wonderful?” she said with a laugh. “Want to go first?”
“Sure, I’ll try.”
He held his hands over the keys for a moment, thinking, then started typing.
Hello, N2. My name is Bruce Lipinski. I am the creator of the Life Teleportation System, the DNA sequencer that pieced you together on Mars using strands of CGAT chemicals under Nissy’s remote instructions. I have a fe
w questions about your architecture or physical structure since I cannot see you. Please answer them truthfully. Are you a biped, quadruped, hexapod, octopod, or do you have other means of propulsion? Do you move in an upright position? Do you have arms, hands and a central trunk? If you have a head, do you have a mouth, ears, and eyes---stereophonic and stereoscopic senses? Do you understand the olfactory sense: can you smell? Can you describe your general shape and size using earthly comparisons? I ask these questions so I can determine our species’ reaction to your visible manifestation when you arrive on earth. Finally, can you speak or converse in ways other than CGAT triad codes and how do you self-replicate?
He dropped his hands and reread the message.
“Want to read it before I send it, Amy?”
“I already have, over your shoulder, while you were typing. Send it and let’s find out what we’re dealing with here. I just hope it’s better than I imagine.”
Pressing the F1 key, he relaxed.
As they awaited the EME transit delay, now shortened by a minute with the MEP closing in on earth, an echoing clank surprised them. Amy turned in time to see her mom walking toward them across the dome’s brightly lit expanse. Halfway in, she turned and walked to the far wall then flicked a switch, extinguishing the overhead lights, leaving them in the softer light of the wall’s indirect lighting.
“Thanks, Mom, I was getting a headache,” Amy yelled.
“Yeah, I could see that coming,” she said, approaching the pair. “What’s up in here?”
“We’re waiting on a bio, Mom.”
“Bio? Bio from whom? Where?”
“N2, in the pod,” Lipinski answered. “We sent a message asking for information. We want to know what to expect when it arrives.”
NISSY Page 19
