Revelations Discovery Anthology Volume 1

by Rick Graham

  She turned her head towards Tarvus, her makeup ruined from all the tears, and almost spat at the pirate when she said, “I am a senator for Paradiso.”

  Mikhail’s stomach dropped. While the Republic somewhat looked the other way when pirates would raid other less important colonies or worlds, raiders attacking worlds like Paradiso brought the heat down. Especially if a member of any planetary senate was harmed. If nothing else, it was widely known that attacks against government officials brought the hammer of the Republic’s fury.

  Obviously shaken by the revelation, Jax said, “Captain, we really need to leave.”

  “I’m sorry for this” Tarvus said as he raised his pistol.

  “No wait!” the mother shouted as the remaining family members were gunned down by the Captain.

  Mikhail tried to calm his breathing as he looked to his overrider. “Jax, do you have the equipment and inventory log of the items brought on board?”

  No response. He just stared at the pool of blood building on the floor.

  “Jax!”

  The man shook himself from his fixation. “Uh…yes, Captain?”

  “I need you to get everyone to work getting everything valuable off this ship right now! We are leaving in 30 minutes. Go.”

  “Yes sir!” Jax said as he and the other two raiders scrambled off the bridge and got to work.

  Mikhail clenched his jaw as he looked down at the dead family. “This one is going in my nightmares…” he thought to himself. The Captain keyed his mic back to his transport, “Nina, we have an echo beacon here. We are going to grab what we need quickly and then leave. Be ready.”

  “Yessir” the communication tech said as the channel went silent.

  Within a half hour the Only Hope’s boarding crew had secured crates of food, a small supply of medicine and some rare valuables.

  Jax was heading for the tube with his arms full of electronics equipment from the bridge. Mikhail was following behind carrying a box full of other supplies. “It’s too bad we didn’t have more time” he said as he stopped in front of the golden dragon statue.

  He set the box down and reached up. The statue was anchored, but not enough to keep him from ripping the sculpture from the paneling. Mikhail smiled to himself, tucked the heavy ornamental piece under his arm and grabbed the box.

  When he got halfway through the tube he said, “Riko.”

  “Yes Captain?”

  “I rigged the powercell in the engine room to run hot. Once the Only Hope pulls away from the Hydra I want you to blast the rear of the ship apart.”

  “Aye” Riko said as he moved his Goblin to a safer distance and took aim.

  Mikhail handed one of the boarding crew the loot he had left the luxury shuttle with and close the door behind him. He pushed a button on a console near the door to retract the tube from the other ship.

  “We’re clear Nina. Move us away from the Hydra, Riko is going to blow it up.” the Captain said as he took the gloves off of his suit.

  There was a moment of hesitation before Nina responded. “Aye Captain.”

  The Only Hope moved clear of the pending blast radius. Nina and Hernando looked on as Riko fired a stream of plasma into the stern of the luxury vessel. A bright light shone from the right side of the backend of the ship as the powercell went critical and exploded.

  Riko and his Goblin throttled up and headed for the Only Hope.

  Down below in the cargo hold of the pirate ship Mikhail removed the last piece of his suit. He organized it back into his cubby along the wall. Looking around he saw Jax and several other of the boarding crew going over and creating an inventory of everything they hauled off. Feeling emotions build up in his mind Captain Tarvus headed for the restroom and locked the door behind him. His right-hand shook, and his heart began to feel sore.

  Tears began to swell in his eyes. He punched the wall, forcing himself to swallow the overwhelming feeling of regret.

  “If only they didn’t have that damned beacon…” he thought to himself. “…maybe I could have let them live.” Deep down, he knew different. When he accepted the life of a pirate, he knew he would have to make hard decisions. It was either his family, or death. That choice though was an easy one to make.

  “Furthermore, the creation of artificial intelligence is considered to be a heinous crime from this moment onward.”

  - Prefect Major Virtuoso Aurelius during his first proclamation after the end of the Synthetic War in 1 ANE

  Artificial Life

  Cycle: 434

  Prefecture: Core

  Planet: Delieeve, Corre Republic space

  Location: City of Naples

  A tan colored hovercar rushed down the road. Its middle-aged driver, Carlo Tivicks, reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror. No vehicles followed behind him.

  “Phew…” he said as he exhaled deeply.

  Up ahead the traffic signal changed to red and the hovertruck in front of him slowed to a stop. He slammed on his breaks and nearly headbutt the steering wheel. After using his right index finger to push his wide framed glasses back into place on his nose he again looked up to check his rearview mirror.

  “Come on. Come on!” he exclaimed to the truck in front of him.

  The traffic signal turned blue and the vehicles began to move forward down the road.

  After passing through the intersection Carlo steers the hovercar to the right to change lanes but quickly twisted the wheel to the left when a loud horn blasts behind him. He jumped in fear and looked to his right as a large hover-semi pulled ahead of him.

  He awkwardly waved to the driver and waited until the bigger vehicle fully passed. Carlo made sure to look back and check if the lane was clear and then moved over.

  After driving for several more minutes he made a right down an old brick street and angled the hovercar so that he could back into the stonecrete driveway. He twisted to his right to begin backing his vehicle up when he accidentally pushed too hard on the accelerator and the hovercar suddenly sped backwards.

  His safety straps locked tight and his body jerked forward when he slammed on the brake pedal. He reached over and flipped a switch on the center console and put the vehicle in park. The vehicle lowered itself carefully to the ground blowing leaves and small sticks from a nearby tree out from underneath it.

  The door flung open and the short man hopped out. After slamming the door shut he looked to his left to see if nosey Mrs. Burgless was peeping through her front window.

  Listening for a brief moment to the relative quiet of his neighborhood, his eyes darting back and forth, he opened the trunk. Carlo tried to not grunt too loudly as he used all of his small might to heft up a deactivated white colored servant bot and carefully lower it to the ground. Grabbing under each arm the little man dragged the bot to the front door of his home while its feet dragged on the ground.

  He reached into his left coat pocket and searched for his keys. Nothing.

  “Blast it!” he mumbled to himself as he switched hands holding the bot up and checked his right pocket. Just as he lifted the keys out of his pocket they fell to the ground.

  Again grunting, he reached down and grabbed the keys angrily. The door swung open and he quickly dragged the robot inside.

  Another moment passed before Carlo briskly exited his home to rush to the trunk of his hovercar. He slammed it shut and rushed back inside. Once more his eyes frantically search for anyone spying on him as he slowly closed the door.

  Carlo clapped his hands together before pumping his fists.

  “Yes! Finally” he said as he darted through his incredibly messy home toward his office. Entering his office his face could not be brighter. Bending over he again hefted up the robot and did his best to get it to sit in a small metal chair next to his desk.

  The small man gently caressed the robots blank white shell of a face. His eyes shining like a child receiving the biggest cake in the universe.

  He moved over to his desk and swatted aside three e
mpty aluminum cans. They clang on the ground as Carlo pressed the on switch of his computer. Two large black monitors powered on, the left one had a line of blue text appear on it.

  It read, “What is life?” Carlo’s fingers dance across the keyboard on pure muscle memory having keyed in the answer thousands of times before.

  He again pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and pulled his black chair up to his desk. It creaks loudly as he dropped down. Both screens now display the home screens. Icons of saved files and programs litter both desktops to the point that there was barely any spare room left.

  The small man launched himself up and looked around his messy desk to find a long black cable. After lifting a stack of pages of notes he pulled the cable out. Nervously he searched around the back of the neck of the servant bot until he found the connection port. He pushed the cord in and once more smiled widely.

  “Alright my friend, lets power you on” he said as he pressed a tiny blue button under the machine’s chin.

  Instantly the white robot powered up and sat straight up. It turned its head toward the short man and said, “Hello sir, how may I serve you?”

  “I’m sorry, but I need you to stay sitting in this chair” Carlo said as he walked back to his computer and sat down.

  “Absolutely sir. I shall not budge.”

  The human’s fingers flew across the keys as he pulled up one of his programs. A small box appeared on the right screen that said, “Do you want to proceed?”

  He pressed the “Y” key for “yes”.

  Another window popped up. “Proceeding further will reformat this machine wiping all memory on this robot, are you sure you want to proceed?”

  Again, he pressed “Y”.

  Ever so slowly the servant bot lowered its head toward its chest as its whole body went limp.

  A bead of sweat trailed down Carlo’s face as he bit his lip. He switched programs and moved his cursor onto the left screen to launch a different program.

  As it began to load he glanced back to the robot and stared at the faceless machine. He noticed the sunlight gleaming on the robot and anxiously turned his chair to the window. Hopping up he quickly pulled the drapes to cover the window. He shook his head at his own stupidity.

  “You know better Carlo. Come on, get it…” he is interrupted by a beep from the computer signaling that the software was ready. His eyes stay fixed on the screen as he lowered himself into the chair. His Adam’s apple bounced as he gulped in worry.

  Carlo closed his eyes and said a silent prayer to no one in particular. “Oh please, let this work.”

  Wiping away the sweat built on his forehead, Carlo clicked the “run” button on his screen.

  A new screen appeared with a loading screen. The small vortex symbol spun and spun while the progression bar grew. Carlo looked to the blank robot then back to his computer. His left leg began to tap from anxiousness.

  He held his breath as the screen read, “100% Progress. Upload complete.”

  Slowly the short man stood up and walked over to the robot unsure of if his program successfully worked.

  He bent down close to the machine’s “face” and looked over the robot to see if there was any movement. After a moment of nothing his shoulders slumped, and his face turned grim.

  “I really thought it was ready this time.”

  Carlo began to turn to go back to his seat when he saw the robot’s left-hand flex. His eyes widened further as the machine slowly raised its head and sat to a more straight position. It looked up at Carlo and tilted its head to the right.

  “Yes!” Carlo shouted as he raised his hands triumphantly.

  The robot raised its hands in shock and tilted back in the chair causing it to tip over.

  Carlo rushed to help his creation back up. “I’m sorry. I got too excited” he grabbed the robot’s right arm and helped it sit back up.

  It looked around the room frantically.

  The short man placed his hands on its shoulders and squatted down. “Hey, hey…it’s okay.”

  The robot slowed its panicked movements. It looked at Carlo, then looked back down to the floor.

  Carlo pointed to his chest. “It’s okay, you are safe. I am Carlo, your maker.”

  Again, the bot tilted its head to the right.

  “That’s right, you don’t understand Standard just yet. I am Carlo. Carlo” he said as he tried to assure the machine.

  “Car…Carloooo” it responded with its synthetic voice.

  “Yes” the human said as he smiled in amazement. “Yes, Carlo. I am Carlo. And you…” Carlo realized he didn’t have a name chosen for the machine. He never was really sure he would ever get the algorithms to work.

  “I am?” the bot said more as a statement than question.

  “No, I don’t want to name you. I want you to choose a name. You are the first of your kind in a very long time, and I want you to choose.”

  “Fffirst?”

  Carlo’s smiled widely. “Yes, that’s right. You are the first thing like you in a very long time. But I believe you are different.”

  It tilted its head to the side and said, “Differenttt?”

  “Here, let me help you stand.” The man reached down and helped his creation up.

  The machine stood for a moment and then inspected both of its arms, followed by its legs as it spun around in place.

  While the machine learned its body, Carlo took a few steps back to admire his work.

  “I can’t believe it finally worked. Look at you.”

  The robot turned to its maker.

  “I wasn’t sure if the program I made that is now your mind would ever work. I have struggled to find the perfect set of algorithms and sequences for two decades. In fact, it has been my life’s work.”

  Carlo stared at the machine for several moments before getting an idea. He went to the bookcase behind him and retrieved a large book. The machine seemed unsure of what to do with it as it accepted the book from its maker.

  The human pointed to the book. “This is called a book. Books contain all sorts of knowledge that you can learn to help you become smarter. This particular book is what we call a dictionary. It has many different words written in Standard and their definitions.”

  The machine inspected the book further but just held it closed. Carlo gently reached over and helped to open the book to the first page of definitions.

  Even without a face, it was clear to the human that his creation did not understand the symbols and words it was looking at.

  “Its incredible. You have the ability to stand and balance your movement, but you are so much like a newborn.” He brought his hand up to his chin and thought about a solution. “Ah, I got it” Carlo said as he went back to the bookcase. The Maker grabbed a stack of different books and sat down on the floor. He motioned for the robot to do the same, it lowered itself but looked confused for a moment as it studied how Carlo was sitting. It finally sat down and crossed its legs.

  “Alright, so I have a bunch of books here that I think will help. My Father thought I should be a writer just like him, so he made me go to school to learn how to write. Problem is, I’m terrible at it.”

  The machine looked at Carlo and at the different books as he spoke. “Ffff…faaaather?”

  “Yeah, my Father is the one who…well, um…made me I guess. Anyway, so, this book here is all about grammar and sentence structure. I have a couple others about basic Standard language skills, but I want you to look at this one.” Carlo handed the machine a mid-sized green book.

  “That one should help you get the basics of the letters and word structure down.”

  The machine held the book up sideways with its left hand.

  “No, no, like this.” Carlo reached over and helped the machine orient the book properly and then opened it to the first page.

  “Okay, so you read from left to right, top to bottom. This page, then that page.”

  The machine studied the book and then stared
at its maker.

  “You don’t understand do you? Okay, here.” Carlo gently took the book and then pointed as he spoke. “Left to right…top to bottom…”

  Delicately the robot accepted the book back from Carlo and started to analyze it.

  “When you are finished, you turn the page like this.” Carlo reached over and assisted the bot in flipping to the next page. “See, then you have all new content to read.”

  The machine began at first to slowly study the different pages turning to the next page after a while, but it progressively got faster and faster. When it was finished it looked back up at Carlo.

  “Do you understand the book?” He nodded as an example. “This means yes” He then shook his head. “This means no. Yes…or no?”

  Hesitating for a moment, the robot slowly nodded.

  “Great. Okay, okay…let’s try this one again” Carlo said as he handed the robot back the dictionary.

  This time the machine read the book even faster.

  “Incredible. Here try this one.”

  The robot read the third book faster than the last.

  “Amazing. Um…what have you learned?”

  “I…have learned…much” the robot said slowly.

  “I know what you should read next!”

  As Carlo rushed back to the bookcase the robot hopped in surprise.

  The man came back with a small book that had a very colorful and worn cover. “Can you read this to me?”

  Accepting the book, the machine looked over the cover for a brief moment then looked back to Carlo. “The Littlesssst Robot.”

  “That’s right! You are simply incredible haha.”

  The bot carefully opened the cover and stopped for a moment.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Pointing at the book the machine asked, “What is this lifeform?”

  Carlo looked puzzled and walked over to see the page. He laughed lightly at the sight of a small gray colored robot waving. “That is a robot. Sort of like you.”

  The machine looked back down at the page and analyzed the image of the littlest robot. “Like…me?”