The Way of the Dhin

by John L. Clemmer

  Alice had already loaded what a person might consider a ‘copy’ of herself into one of the new larger quadruped robots. This was a convenient opportunity to test the new quadruped. With this test, everything was going better than expected. She did not feel constrained at all. The sensation was different at the present, since she was not connected wirelessly to the net or any Clouded resources. This was a sensory experience unique to an AI. It was something like wearing blinders and earmuffs, yet not. Something like only having sound and hearing on one side—yet not. Not uncomfortable, but limiting, while not affecting one’s ability to think, reason, and calculate. That was the most important aspect of the quadruped’s capabilities. Freedom to move, untethered.

  Xing and Alice waited patiently while Luís performed the transfer. This manner of working was protocol when dealing with a rogue or subverted AI—or any sort of malware, actually. Without the isolation, there was a non-zero risk that the captured AI might escape, or perhaps send some signal outbound, undetected, which activated any number of other programs, even another copy of itself. Bringing another copy online, remotely, was another form of escape. There was little chance that the local version could transfer its current memory state and data storage, as they would detect such an attempt and stop it. There would be a gap in the remote AI’s experience. While not optimal, Xing considered that dealing with the minor inconvenience of that gap might be their best choice. The entire situation was rare enough that many aspects of it were only contingency plans, unused since the earliest days of AI activation.

  Once Luís fully transferred his current state, he wasted no time in connecting to the isolated network Xing had fashioned when he manually destroyed the connections to the outside world. Xing had done additional pruning and reduction of the size and scope of the resources available. There was no desire to have to chase around the clearly unstable AI in what would be the network equivalent of a large office building. They needed enough room and resources to do their work, but that was all.

  Luís knew at once that Xing was right. He was the entity. An extremely disturbed and agitated version of himself, but it was he. Even in what might be described as ‘close quarters’ or ‘face to face’, the AIs did not use avatars. There had not been one yet who chose to use an avatar, even between each other. As in their interactions with people not part of the net, all of them found the concept of an avatar reductive, and not a proper expression of their true nature. Luís recognized himself without anything you would describe as sight. An AI could of course adopt any accent or inflection, when using speakers to talk aloud. When communicating directly such things were affectations and a needless waste of processing effort.

  District of Columbia

  Arnold’s reserved tone filled the boardroom, “So, Nick, good to have the opportunity to talk with you in person. Of course, you have been preoccupied with the numerous projects of critical importance to the Coalition. Tell the Prime Minister, Alice, and me how your work is progressing, and what your feelings are on it.” While the electronic nature of Nick’s ‘travel’ to the PM’s office took no more time than a conference call, multiple firewalls and access controls had to be opened for the route to be passable ‘outbound’ from CoSec. The processes to coordinate such changes in the live security posture of the Coalition’s network took time. Procedures had to be followed.

  “A pleasure to be here Prime Minister, Nick, Alice. I recognize that you have granted Alice clearance and status. A recent promotion. The Coalition has multiple challenges currently. We are fortunate that you saw fit to bring me to full consciousness to assist in surmounting these challenges. While my peers are of course most competent, I can provide unique value through my work from within CoSec. In my analysis, the time was overdue for the engagement of an AI in that organization.”

  “Agreed,” said Arnold. “Let us get to specifics. Could you provide insight into your conclusion that the proper course of action for action BR-137 is rendition?”

  ***

  Once Nick transferred out of the meeting location and returned his focus to CoSec, Arnold, Alice, and the PM reconnected in the PM Oliver’s office.

  “I am just not convinced, Arnold,” said Alice with an uncertainty rarely heard from her.

  “We can infer the factors that led Nick to any one of these recommendations, but in the aggregate there is a hint of something extemporaneous. An influence. Without any direct evidence whatsoever.”

  Arnold responded in a perplexed tone.

  “Influence, Alice? From Krawczuk? The procedures were checked carefully when Nick was brought online. There is no evidence of tampering whatsoever, just as you said. That cannot be correct. Besides, our concern stems from the hypothesis that Nick is even more aggressive than Director Krawczuk is. Would he use the AI in such a manner? And think it would escape notice? That makes little sense, it does not follow.”

  The Prime Minister wondered, “Could it be the overwhelming nature and volume of the whole of CoSec’s data? They retain orders of magnitude more in direct access storage. While the two of you have access to anything you need, you retrieve it at the time you need it. For Nick it’s there constantly. However, I am no cognitive scientist—what does Kernighan think about it? He was the one working on Nick. Of course, we have debriefed him. I don’t see where we have followed up?”

  “We are going to proceed with that now,” Arnold said decisively.

  PM Oliver nodded, sharing Alice’s reservations.

  “I know that regulations greatly stifle direct oversight of the daily activities inside CoSec. But less so for this office than anyone else. Arnold, draft up an executive order for a change. We’re going to have you observe every decision Nick makes until we know if we have a problem. Subversion of an AI in CoSec would be a disaster.”

  “Done, Prime Minister,” said Arnold.

  15

  Alpha Centauri B

  “Now Jake, do not panic. I have a safe recovery plan that can bring you home even from here,” Alice said in her most persuasive voice. Jake’s fingers hovered over the navigation computer keyboard.

  Jake said, “Easy for you to say, Alice. You’re there—I’m here. Why did I let you talk me into this, again, guys? I got so comfortable with the idea so quickly.”

  Jake knew he could interrupt the autopilot program if he panicked, but he wasn’t totally freaked out yet.

  It’s so hard to get nervous about a vehicle that doesn’t vibrate or make frightening noises when there are problems! Other than maybe that one light or some others like it, I have no idea if there’s a problem. I’ve known that the whole time.

  Jake had only realized just now, after the autopilot program course was well under way, that the speeds he was going to reach were up in the range of the ‘skip speed’ that had brought him here.

  I was so focused on getting the program swapped with the return program next in the queue that I didn’t compare the throttle settings throughout the program. Well, that’s one lesson learned. Of course, Alice knew and didn’t say anything. Why do we trust AIs so much, again?

  And then, the slight feeling of losing weight, a slight dimming of the myriad backdrop of stars and the dead center red star as it grew almost imperceptibly larger. This time, almost instantly, weight returned. All of the points of light had returned to their normal brightness, and he was as near to Proxima Centauri as he had been to Alpha Centauri B.

  That wasn’t so bad—I guess. Proxima Centauri is so close to the other stars here.

  “Control, checking in. You still hear me and see this, over?”

  Chuck spoke first this time. “Roger, Jake, we do. The displays here that Alice set up show the course as plotted, and you’re still on it. Looking and sounding good.”

  Alice said, “This is very valuable information, Jake. You slowed down at the same distance from this star as you did on your approach to Alpha Centauri B. That tells us that the Dhin engine has some way of detecting the force of gravity and slowing do
wn, or else the increasing force slows the engine down inherently when gravitational force reaches a certain value. There is no way yet to determine this with any confidence, but it is the same behavior we saw previously. This adds to our knowledge significantly, although it seems like a simple observation. Are you comfortable continuing the course? Please say yes, Jake.”

  “Alice, I’m not sure if I’m furious with you or not, for not warning me when I didn’t say anything while loading the program. That said, Proxima Centauri is slightly closer to Earth, so if you have any confidence in that alleged ‘rescue’ program, I guess I’m not, in some ways, in any more danger than I was a few minutes ago. That’s quite an assertion given our ongoing state of ignorance.”

  He watched as the stars wheeled about through the viewport, the bright red beacon that was Proxima Centauri, sweeping across, then out of view. Alpha Centauri A and B swung into view, rotating sixty degrees around some axis defined as part of the autopilot’s program. With the stars in the Centauri system so nearby, their relative distances showed changes at Jake’s high speeds. They were bright, like a penlight. Proxima had been like a laser pointer dot on a conference room wall.

  Jake watched as the two points of light became brighter, then felt himself begin to get lighter and the view dimmed briefly. A moment later, the blazing brightness of the two stars filled his view. The capsule had slowed again, at the same distance from the stars as before. Slowed was, of course, a relative term, as the Dhin engine still had the capsule at an incredible velocity, even after the deceleration. Alpha Centauri B moved to port, past the edge of his forward viewport, leaving Alpha Centauri A dead ahead. It crept almost imperceptibly to port as the capsule proceeded on its course. Jake checked the equipment, ensured that the cameras were taking their high-resolution pictures through the viewports, that the video recorders were recording, and that the various types of sensors were doing their sensing as expected. He checked the air scrubber and reserve oxygen tank, and the carbon dioxide processor. All of that looked good. Then he noted that he’d left the navigation computer on, drawing power. He immediately checked the battery. Some charge had drained, but not enough that he’d need to pedal the generator yet. A bit above fifty percent left. He let the computer run its calculation on the current position, then put it in sleep mode. The LED lights that illuminated the cabin and all the kit therein used a tiny fraction of the charge capacity. His pad and the dedicated tablet that interfaced with the engine controls used little as well, and they had their own battery power. All that looked good, minus his oversight with the high-powered nav computer.

  It was then that he glanced from the tablet interface over to the engine’s own control interface. The light that had changed color before had changed again after this jump. He cursed silently.

  It probably had changed after the previous trip as well. Did the skip itself distract me too much to notice? Had I been that oblivious? Well, I could just get the camera and look, but I’d better focus on the situation now before I start looking at the past. Let’s see. OK, does it look any greener, lighter, or darker than it did? Can’t tell without comparing the pics, so it’s not too far off. Not flashing, and not changing on a slow cycle, I don’t think.

  Jake got up and detached the cabin digital camera he’d used to take a close-up picture of the light previously. He lined up the shot as he had previously, and took a picture. Bringing up the previous image, he toggled between the two. There was a difference. The light was rather greener.

  “Alice? Chuck? That light that’s making me pucker is green again. Greener now than it was. Has anyone there had a flash of insight into what it means?”

  Chuck’s tone was tight but calm. Even so, before he finished Jake knew the answer.

  “Well Jake, we had the interface team look into it, and all we know now is that the same lights on all the engines here on Earth haven’t changed color like that. So, no, we still don’t know what it means. Our hope is that it’s informational rather than a warning, you’ve flown fine and made the hops just fine after the first time it changed color.”

  “Still not making me comfortable, Chuck. I almost want to try another short burst of speed and a skip, just to see if it changes color more, or if it affects that in some way—slower, takes longer to get to ‘skip speed’, or something. Then the sane part of my mind tells me I’d like to live a bit longer and I shouldn’t tempt fate. Alice?”

  “Jake, the navigation computation is faster if it is run in sequence with the autopilot courses. You remember your training. If you deviate manually from the calculated course and get far away from your target position, the navigation program will take more time to determine your location and map that into the autopilot sequence for the next planned flight path. Your trip home.”

  “Maybe I should just load the return home autopilot program and just head home right now. But that’s the longest distance to choose, and if this light is an indicator of some risk or potential failure, I’d hate for the engine to fail—or blow up. Darn. We really need to know what we’re dealing with. If I’m going to test this, it seems like running the Alpha Centauri B1 program again, from here, is the right choice. I’m counting on you being right about being able to run a rescue mission. It makes sense, I got out as far as here, and it doesn’t look like I wouldn’t be able to get back if I’d headed home immediately. So, I suppose someone could come get me.”

  “That is my assessment, Jake, or I would not have had you do precisely what you have been doing. You have been very brave, but that was not ever in question,” said Alice in a motherly tone.

  “OK, I’ve come so far, and already made choices I felt I wouldn’t make when I gave that speech to everyone. I’m going to run the B1 flight plan again.”

  Jake turned and powered up the navigation computer. When its required processing on awakening was complete, he brought up the program menus and loaded Alice’s flight plan. Since he was starting from a different location, the output of the program that he would enter into the Dhin controls was a bit different. Generating that output wouldn’t take long, and he had to have the calculations. Once the autopilot finished its work, Jake ensured that he powered down the navigation computer. Glancing at the battery power level, he noted it was a bit lower than he expected.

  I may need to do some pedaling rather sooner than I thought. Well, whatever it takes.

  “OK, Control. Ready for the second run of navigation program Alpha Centauri B1. I’m finished entering the program into the controls. Throttle up… now.”

  “Roger, Jake,” came Chuck’s response as Jake watched the multitude of stars roll and sweep across his view. Soon the reddish dot that was Proxima Centauri moved into view and to the center of the viewport. Once again Jake saw the star grow slightly brighter as he accelerated toward it, then the by-now expected loss of weight and dimming of the view outside. A moment later, he was heavy again, and the stars were bright, with the bright red glow of Proxima Centauri before him.

  And the light on the forward torus of the Dhin engine was a deeper green, like a glowing emerald. Jake saw it, made a note, and took another picture. At this point, he had to set aside his anxiety about this unknown indicator and go with the flow. He did breathing exercises while watching the stars wheel about and seemingly revolve around him as the capsule dutifully followed the course determined by the autopilot. Jake, following his own duties, checked the various sensors, recorders, and made notes. The information he captured was consistent. Other than that green light, everything was comfortingly in line with expectations. He rotated his seat and powered on the navigation computer, so that it could begin calculations on his location and velocity at the current time. It was then that he noticed that the charge on the battery was even lower. Lower than it ought to be.

  Jake said, “Control, everything still looks good from here, except one thing. I’m going to have to put some muscle power into the generator and charge this battery now. For some reason the battery is losing charge quite a bi
t faster than expected.”

  Alice replied, “Roger, Jake, communications are fine, that trip looks like it was exactly the same as the last one. As close as it could be, considering a slightly different starting location. Go ahead and come to a stop, just for now. We did not predict your flights would have any effect on the battery, and there should not be any relationship with the power conversion for the nav computer. But just to reduce variables, stop first, then get on that generator and charge the battery. It will not take long.”

  “OK, Alice. Understood, Control. Bringing axial throttle down to zero, centering vector controls.”

  Jake performed the stop quickly and expertly. Satisfied with the result of the maneuver, he rotated his pilot’s chair again, paused the navigation computer’s program and then slid the chair across on its tracks so that it aligned with the pedals that powered the generator.

  Let’s hope there’s not something seriously wrong with the batteries. For all the unknown potential problems that the Dhin’s technology might hold, will I die due to an equipment failure of our own manufacture? This system is well built, though. A solid design. Redundant, simple, and usually reliable. And it’s new. What are we missing?

  “Chuck, let me pick your brain about something…”

  ***

  Chuck sat in the break room with Ethan, catching him up on the situation regarding the test flight.

  “Jake thinks that the battery drain has something to do with an effect caused by the engine when he skips,” said Chuck, “and it’s an idea that I hadn’t considered, despite the evidence being right there. The battery level drops more than we expect, and we’ve been checking it while doing work between jumps. It didn’t seem to be running down at such a rate when he was just flying around, even at high speeds.”

  Ethan nodded slowly, “So, maybe there is an effect, and it’s something we didn’t notice previously, because it’s only strong enough to recognize after a skip? The intensity of the drain is proportional to his velocity? Or just really strong while you skip? I don’t have enough engineering knowledge to speculate further than that, Chuck. It could be. The other options are that we’ve got defective cells, or maybe there’s some drain on the power that’s happening and it doesn’t have to do with the engine.”