by Ben Winston
Then of course, there were the Nano Class crystals. These little buggers were mainly for medical use, and Ced was more than happy to assume the manufacturing of them for Christy. They took only seconds to grow to maturity and since we now had the process somewhat streamlined, Ced had set up a small area in the Crystal Lab that could grow a few thousand at a time. Right next to that unit was the micro assembly units for building the small machines. The reasons for this were two-fold. One, the crystals had to be kept in a virtual vacuum to keep dust and whatnot from contaminating them. So the easiest way to eliminate the possibility was to assemble the units immediately upon completion. The other reason for the assembly units to be there was the whole thing fascinated Ced who readily agreed to the stewardship of the completely automated building process.
Sighing, since I knew I was procrastinating, I left my office to get back to work on Athena. That personality matrix was really giving me fits. At least I still had time before the crystal finished growing, provided it didn’t develop any flaws: at the rate I was going, I almost hoped it would, because I’d need the time to get Athena fixed.
In frustration, I copied out the personality matrix and over wrote it with the one Sarah used since I knew she was stable. However, when I got Athena running in her virtual environment, she was still unstable. So, the issue then was not the personality matrix, but some other module that gave input to that matrix. The question was which one? Frustrating!
The only way to fix this was to slowly replace each input module until a change was noted and we could analyze why the imbalance had taken place. That should only take about a year!
I had been so focused on the AI programming, that I hadn’t made certain that our hackers wouldn’t see it. I was very surprised when Alicyn, one of the hackers I had asked be recruited, saw my frustration and approached me. “We might be able to help if we knew what you were doing, Eric.”
“This is something you aren’t supposed to know about, Alicyn. I’m sorry,” I said.
Alicyn nodded. “Yeah, I kind of figured that. But, since we did would you like our help or not?”
I knew that now the cat was out of the bag with them, they would kill themselves trying to figure out what it was I was up to. There was a chance they would do it too. But in the process, they might damage Sarah or her ability to interface with the base.
I sighed and had them all come to my office. Of the original seven, only five had remained. One became too xenophobic to remain and was now on his way to Novalis for a programming job. The other young woman had no problems with the mixed races, but actually developed a form of claustrophobia and had to be returned to the planet under sedation. She had been asked to remain a part of the effort by helping out from Earth. She happily agreed because she was one of those that honestly believed in our mission. It really was a shame she couldn’t handling living up here. Now she helped us by controlling the amount of information about us that could be found on the internet.
Once everyone was in the office and the door was closed, I smiled at them; “Guys, You all know that I haven’t told you everything going on here. I never said I would, and if I remember correctly I did say there would be stuff I couldn’t tell you about.” When most of them nodded agreement, I continued. “What you just saw out there was one of those things you are not supposed to know about. Will you be able to leave this alone and not try to find out what the secret is, or will you let your curiosity get the better of you? The reason I’m asking is because if you try to dig into this, there is a better than average chance you could damage something that might end up costing lives. Remember where we are, what do you think would happen if you typed the wrong thing and an airlock opened?” I waited for them to turn pale, letting me know they understood what I was telling them.
“I know that most, if not all of you think you are far too good to do something so stupid. If we were talking about normal code, I would tend to agree with you, but we’re not talking about normal code. This is something I can guarantee none of you have seen before; AI code.”
“Wait, did you just say AI Code?” Alicyn asked. “As in Artificial Intelligence?”
In reply I simply called Sarah. “Could you please introduce yourself to the group?”
To the utter surprise and shock of the group, Sarah took form beside me and introduced herself. “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I am Sarah, the controlling AI associate here at Apollo Base.”
“What does the controlling part mean?” one of the guys asked.
“It means that I have direct control over most of the primary base functions including life support and gravity. I am, literally, the base,” Sarah replied.
“Sarah sounds like an acronym. Is it, and what does it stand for?” Alicyn asked.
“It didn’t start out that way, Alicyn. I just really liked the name, so that’s what I called her,” I said.
“Wait? You wrote her?” Jerry asked. “All this alien technology and you create the first AI?”
“Actually, Eric wrote my original code before we ever knew of the existence of this base or its mission. I was much smaller then, and had only just begun to understand my surroundings and what I actually was. I believe that back then, even Eric didn’t understand what was happening to me,” Sarah replied.
“I didn’t. Not until we arrived here and I learned a lot more about what I’d actually done. You see, in order to get her to do what I needed her original program to do, I needed to write a new type of code. I had already built a cluster computer system and had to come up with an operating system for it, so this wasn’t all that much different,” I began.
“Fuck me! No wonder you have a doctorate at eighteen!” Another of the hackers, Bill, said shaking his head.
“In all actuality, both Eric and his wife, Doctor Christy Cowan, have been awarded additional accolades in multiple fields. From Earth as well as from the Alliance worlds. He has also been awarded the highest honor available to a civilian in the Alliance. He has been knighted and is now addressed as ‘My Lord’ or Lord Doctor Cowan, formally.” Sarah explained. “If you are interested in knowing more about him, you may simply ask me after hours. Now that you are aware of me, you have been granted standard user access levels.”
“Actually Sarah, I think I’d like to know more about you,” Alicyn replied.
“I can see about getting you started on that path, Alicyn. You will have to go through a much stronger background check and security search in order to get the clearance levels needed. Once you have that, one of my aides or myself can begin teaching you the code and how it works. What you all witnessed out there was the new AI I’m working on failing. She is unstable and I am trying to figure out why,” I explained.
“Are they governed by Asimov’s Laws?” Alicyn asked.
I nodded. “Modified versions since we are dealing with an AI and not a robot, as well as multiple races, not just humans.”
“You wrote Sarah’s core instructions to include aliens before you even knew they were out here?” Alicyn asked.
I chuckled and shook my head. “No, Sarah’s core instructions are written with ‘human’ in them. However, we had to redefine the word in order for her to function correctly in this environment. In all the new AI, I have changed that so redefining isn’t needed.”
“Have you looked at that? What differences are there between Sarah and the new AI?” Alicyn suggested, trying to help. “Have you considered speaking to a psychiatrist or someone that might understand the effects of those commands on her behavior?”
“There is no one that would understand the mental processes yet; this is still a very new field and we are all just doing the best we can. As for looking at that section, you could very well be right. I have to start somewhere, and that’s as good a place as any,” I admitted.
“Wait sec. If Sarah is an AI and she is operating in this base, then why haven’t we seen anything that would indicate her existence in the system?” Bill asked.
I grinned.
“You answered your own question, Bill. Think about it.”
The man looked thoughtful for a second. “Well, since she is an AI, she could actively make sure we don’t see any trace of her…”
“True, but I can tell you that while Sarah has been monitoring you, she has not been hiding, In point of fact, she can’t,” I said. “She literally is the operating system of the base.”
“Then we’re not using the same system…” he stopped in mid- sentence and slapped his forehead. “We’re not in the main system!”
“Since you arrived, everything you’ve done, taught or tried to do has been done in the old Veranorian designed core. It is an isolated, stand-alone test bed for anti-computer and cyber-warfare. Sarah can see into the system, but cannot interact in any way with it, nor can that system interact with her.”
“We’ve been working in an outdated system?” Jerry asked.
“Not really,” I said. “What you’ve been working with is the very type of computer system we may need to attack. The Veranorians haven’t altered their basic system design or software in over six hundred years. We need you folks out there to try to teach the Alliance folks here how to invade and attack systems that will most likely be identical to the one you’re working in.”
“What about a defense for Sarah?” Alicyn asked.
“She is capable of actively monitoring of every function and request before it’s processed. I’m not saying she’s invulnerable, but she has to be pretty damn close,” I said. “Think about it, but don’t try anything please. Like I said, you shouldn’t be able to do anything without her knowing about it, but I don’t really want to take that chance, do you?”
Long-term care
Main Medical Facility
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s moon
Sol System
Christy was looking over the latest report from the biocytes that were rebuilding Commander Shakier. She was doing very well. In fact, there was no reason she couldn’t be allowed to awaken for short periods. The biocytes had rebuilt her internal organs and torso. The wounds on her head and face had healed and her hair had even regrown. Her own body functions had been supporting her for the last two weeks while the support equipment of the pod had been in stand-by mode.
The ‘cytes were currently working on rebuilding her extremities and conditioning her muscles so she would be able to move when her arms and legs were finished. Doctor H’arn joined her in the private room and smiled at her.
“She is making remarkable progress, Doctor. She is capable of sustaining her own life functions now,” H’arn said.
Christy nodded. “Yes she is, I was going to speak to you about removing her from the pod. I think we might even be able to allow her to awaken for short periods as well. From what I’m seeing here, she will be ready to begin physical therapy by next week.”
“Remarkable! This is truly remarkable Doctor Christy! Your biocytes will completely change how some of us practice medicine!” H’arn replied.
Christy smiled at the happy being. At least he didn’t get overly excited like most Simonians did. “I am only happy that I was able to help in some small way. Even one life saved will be reward enough for me.”
“Well, there are going to be many more than that. Four of the wounded personnel from the recent battle have already been discharged thanks to the rapid healing of your biocytes. A very pretty young girl suffered horrible burns when she was exposed to radiation from the ship’s power core. She has been discharged without a scar! Her hair will take time to regrow, but the ‘cytes removed the scar tissue and replaced it with healthy skin cells!” H’arn replied. “In less than a week! She should have expired from the tissue damage and radiation exposure!”
“May I see the data from those patients, Doctor?” Christy asked.
“Of course, Doctor. You will find their signed agreements for both the treatment as well as the sharing of their data with you in the records of each individual,” H’arn said. “Perhaps you will soon be able to refine this treatment and allow it to be given to other facilities, such as those on the ships?”
“Possibly, Doctor H’arn. I really would like to see more data on their performance before I release them for general use. I feel as though we are going recklessly fast as it is. ‘Above all else, do no harm’ is a tenet I take very seriously,” Christy replied, kindly.
“I understand, Doctor. I have checked with my Earth based medical brethren as well as the AI Sarah to understand your training before we began this. As I understand it, the work you have been doing here in hospital has more than covered the Earth requirement of a medical residency. I have asked the AI Sarah to officially file the completion of your residency with the medical services of your planet as well as those of the Alliance. I have yet to hear a reply from the Alliance Medical Service, however, you have qualified in both education as well as practical application of knowledge to receive the title of Medical Doctor,” H’arn said. “For the time being, you are free to practice medicine in this facility as I have sponsored you. Once we receive word from the Alliance Medical Service, along with the official documents, you will be free to practice medicine anywhere in the Alliance.”
Christy didn’t know what to say, so she just hugged the large ape. “Thank you Doctor H’arn!”
H’arn was taken off-guard by the hug, but returned it once he recovered. “You come of a remarkable family, Doctor Cowan. Your husband is not the only gifted member in it.”
When she let go of him, he cleared his throat. “Now, back to our patient. You think she could be allowed to return to wakefulness? What effect will that have on the biocytes if she tried to move one of her limbs?”
“I imagine it would hurt a great deal if we did not tell the biocytes to block the commands. She will be awake, but we will have to tell her she has been temporarily paralyzed in order for us to heal her limbs.”
H’arn looked thoughtful. “Once she begins to awaken she may not be coherent for a time. Blocking the use of her extremities might panic her.”
“We can keep her calm with the biocytes until she is aware enough to understand what’s going on around her. However, I would recommend we advise Admiral Vance before we awaken her. He has been very concerned for her progress,” Christy replied.
H’arn nodded. “I agree, okay, let’s let the Admiral know, then wake her up. I think she has been sleeping quite long enough.”
Office of the Base Commander
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s moon
Sol System
“Councilor, I apologize for this, but I have a problem I really don’t know how to deal with. As I’m sure you know, the Arac Grand Hive seeded Earth almost a week ago. It is my duty to protect this planet as well as this sector. If I want even a hope of containing the spread of the Aracs, I need to act as soon as I possibly can. Yet I have been getting nothing from the leaders of the effected countries. Sir, this assault will be taking place in two days. To wait any longer would risk losing the entire planet to the hive. Honestly, I don’t know what else can be done, but permission or not, my troops will be hitting the ground on Earth, in forty-nine hours to begin removing the infestation that has already begun,” Vance said.
“I was afraid they’d do that to you, Admiral. Plan your assault, we’ll handle the dingo’s on the’ planet,” Earth Councilor Allan Ralston replied. Eric had told him that by his accent, the man had been recruited from a place called ‘Australia’. Vance had no idea where that was and didn’t really care as long as they took this nightmare away from him.
The Councilor nodded. “Don’t worry about a thing, Mate. If there is a next time you find yourself in need of dealing with those blokes, just you give me a call. I’ll handle it for ya.”
“Thank you, Councilor. That will make this far easier than it has been so far,” Vance replied.
The man snorted and nodded. “Those people can be idiots sometimes, Admiral. They have two main worries that
really concern them. Will what you’re asking threaten either their power or their money. In this case, you’re talking about threatening both and they are trying to buy as much time as possible in order to work out every angle they could. I’ll simply tell them their time is up, and this is going to happen. If they are in the way, well, that’s their bad luck.”
“We won’t fire on them. We’re there to protect them, not kill them ourselves,” Vance said.
“We both know that, Admiral, but they don’t! I can pretty much guarantee you that they will do everything in their power to capture anything they can from your people. Weapons, armor, even a communicator. I would say that they will even go so far as to attack you to get them. Now, I’ve been told that your Marines are some seriously tough wombats, but they could try to hit you with artillery or heavy weapons. Just try to be prepared. Even though we told them we are there to protect them, they will still see it as an opportunity to get their hands on some advanced technology,” the Councilor said. “For the leaders on Earth, it’s all about greed and power. Getting our advanced tech can get them both.”
“Are they willing to risk losing their planet to get it?” Vance asked.
“No matter what you tell them, Admiral, they will never believe that,” Allan replied. “Their priority will not be to help protect the people, but to get your gear. They believe the people will take care of themselves, but if any civilians do die, they can always blame that on you.”
“That’s criminal!” Vance replied, shocked.
“Yes it is, but that’s Earth. Good luck Admiral,” Allan said and broke the connection.
Alone in his office, Vance thought about what the man had said. “Sarah? Can you verify what the councilor told me? I just don’t see how a person like that could be allowed in public office.”
“Admiral,” Sarah replied as she took form in his office. “I’m afraid I have no direct experience to draw on to answer your question. However, I can tell you that there is plenty of evidence to support Councilor Ralston’s assertion. My Lord Cowan was considered ‘paranoid’ and a ‘conspiracy theorist’ by many on Earth. However, he had ample evidence on each situation he was accused of being paranoid about. Still, no one believed him and the evidence was removed or destroyed before it could be independently verified.
