I asked, "Are you sure you want to be undertaking this when we might be dropping right into the thick of things?"
Go shrugged. "I might as well. What would I have to offer in my current condition? I can't do anything much more than walking around as it is. This lower exo-suit isn't made to be combat-ready, or ready for anything beyond a controlled environment as far as that matters."
Garrett stood. "Come on, cyborg. I'll help you get started."
Garrett put his hand on Go's shoulder and the two headed back to the medical bay. Joni stood and followed.
As I sat staring at the nav display on the big wall, Jack asked, "What's on your mind?"
I glanced over. "I'm just running scenarios of what we might expect through my head."
Jack half laughed. "You're driving yourself nuts is what you're doing. We have no way of knowing what to expect when we get there."
I turned to face him. "How do you do it?"
Jack replied, "How do I do what?"
I continued, "How do you sit in that chair all day every day and stay sane? What runs through your head on these long trips that keeps you so seemingly occupied?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know, I guess you just get used to it. On this trip I've been thinking about Odenta and all the things that have to be rebuilt. I know just thinking about it won't accomplish anything, but it does keep my mind occupied. On previous trips I've repopulated Jorus, annihilated the Grotus, and hung Harden Salton up by his... well, just hung him."
Jack chuckled. "I'll admit I've gone back to that last one a number of times."
After a moment’s pause, I replied, "I suppose an active imagination helps. Daydreaming is not something Gruntas do much of. Perhaps that's why I focus on the negative."
Jack nodded. "Maybe. All I'm saying is, try to pick something out that is productive or constructive. You can always give Go a hand at what he's doing. I know he likes to dive right into those projects without putting much forethought into them. You might make a good sounding board for him."
Jack leaned toward me with a concerned look. "What you don't want to do is get yourself all wrapped up thinking about the bad things that could possibly happen. I did that for a good six months after finding out about my family. It didn't do me or anyone else any good, I can tell you that. If it's something that is already done, or something that is completely out of your control, then it's best to let it go. Just focus on the positive in your life. Anything else and you are just doing yourself a disservice."
A minute later I found myself looking over Garrett's shoulder as he and Go talked about the new robotic leg.
Go said, "I'm a little worried that the power of this leg will overwhelm my natural one."
Garrett replied, "So, de-tune it. I'm sure you have some way of programming responses, right?"
Go replied, "It's not that simple. The response levels come from those nerve pickups. They are mostly just on and off. In monitoring my arm I found the control comes from the number of nerve cells activated and the frequency of activation, not so much the level of stimulation. The pickups don't have good frequency control. I hope to solve that in the future."
Garrett frowned. "Well, your arm seems to be working perfectly fine."
Go nodded. "Yes, after months of training. My issue with the leg is that I have to walk on it. If I'm walking down the hall and my arm jerks, well, unless I inadvertently strike someone it's no big deal. If my leg was to do that I might get slammed headlong into a wall."
Garrett smiled. "Well, maybe that would do you some good."
Go shook his head. "While that might be entertaining for you, I'd rather avoid it if at all possible."
I said, "Is there any training you can do before attaching the leg?"
Go pulled up a diagram over his arm pad. "That's exactly what I did with the arm. It did help some, but overall was of limited value."
Joni entered the conversation. "Can't you just de-tune everything like Garrett said? Set all responses to 50 percent?"
Go replied, "I tried that with the arm, it just makes the learning curve longer."
Garrett crossed his arms. "Can't you just reduce the hydraulic pressure?"
Go nodded. "That's what I'm doing. I'll just have to dial it up incrementally over a few weeks’ time. The problem will be having a droopy leg until that pressure is at the designed level. Now, I know you are all just trying to help, but this isn't a crowd project. I need to focus, so you all need to go."
I said, "Give us a ten minute rundown of your sodium material problem. We'll kick that around between us for a while and leave you to your leg."
Go looked up. "How's your chemistry and high level physics?"
Joni replied, "I aced them both in my schooling. Just give us the basics of what you're doing and we'll see what we can do with it."
Go pursed his lips. "OK. Let's do that now so I can get you out of my hair."
We followed Go to a second lab table where the sodium material was pinned to a shielded board with several electrodes.
Go pulled up a molecular diagram of the material's surface. "You have a single layer of sodium atoms. Just under those are the gravity generators. Each generator covers about four hundred atoms, so, as you can guess, there's millions or billions of the generators for a sheet of that material. If a focused field of a specified intensity is applied, the electron spin of the sodium atoms comes to an almost complete stop. The surface of the atoms will no longer react with the outer world. Instead, all signals and all masses travel along the surface to the edge. For an unknown reason, if the material fully encloses something, like Joni's suit, all signals and masses are then passed out on the opposite side from where they came in."
Garrett shook his head. "How is that even possible?"
Go held up his hands. "I don't know. And according to the tutorial information that came with the suit, the makers of it didn't, either. It's just one of those unexplained phenomena that we have to accept. Personally, I think it throws the surface of that material into another dimension."
Go continued, "It does have limitations, though. It can only absorb and pass around as much signal or matter as the gravity applied will allow. We have limited power to those gravity generators, and therefore the output is limited. I haven't been able to replicate the generators in that suit. They are way more efficient than the ones I'm using, but with sufficient power we should be able to get this material to behave the same way. You three need to focus on the gravity field. How do we make it stronger on the individual generator level and how do we make its output uniform?"
Joni held up her hand. "We got it. I know you want to finish up your leg before the operation, so we'll dive into this and leave you alone."
As Go walked away, Joni turned her gaze toward us. "Well, there you go. Now, fix it."
Garrett pulled back his head. "What do you mean, fix it?"
Joni grinned. "You are the bigshots here. Don't you have all the answers?"
Garrett turned back to face me. "What have I gotten myself into?"
Joni laughed. "OK, how about we each study the materials Go has given us. We can get together in a day or two to discuss options."
Garrett winced. "A day or two? You're talking about study time, aren't you?"
Joni nodded. "We need a solid foundation of understanding if we want a shot at solving this."
Garrett transferred the data Go had collected to his arm pad. "I guess I'll see the two of you in a couple days."
Joni asked, "Where are you going?"
Garrett gestured toward the docking bay. "I do my best thinking on the Jess. I'll need quiet if I want to absorb any of this."
As Garrett stood, he looked down at Raptor who was lying patiently by him on the floor. "Come on, boy. You can hang with Daddy for a while."
As Garrett walked away, Joni was smiling. I could see it was one of those dreamy smiles that Humans were sometimes prone to. It was a trait that I often wished Grunta females shared.
After severa
l seconds in deep personal thought, my attention was diverted by Joni. "Hey, you just going to sit there and stare, or do you want to work on this?"
I replied, "Are you suggesting that we study together?"
Joni nodded. "Yeah. I learn more if can bounce questions off someone. Garrett gets annoyed when I do that. He's not much of a multi-tasker, but he can focus on a single issue like nobody's business."
I smiled. "I will study with you if you like."
Joni stood. "OK, let's go set up shop in the conference room. We can make use of the big display in there."
I followed Joni out of the labs, and we were soon settled in the conference room. Her method of learning was to dive into a topic and to explore it fully before moving on to the next.
After nineteen straight hours of perusing diagrams and calculating formulaic results, I called it quits. "I require rest."
Joni nodded. "Yeah, I noticed your attention was starting to slip. I got another day or two in me with this suit. I've actually found it difficult to keep myself occupied while Garrett sleeps. It's kind of strange having so much time available because of this. I also found it interesting that when I take it off, my body goes back to its normal cycles almost immediately."
I asked, "When did you have the suit off?"
Joni blushed just slightly. "Uh, we just had our honeymoon? I don't know what you know about Humans, but you don't want to be confined in a suit for it. And not that it's any of your business, but the suit has been coming off regularly since then."
I held up my hand. "No need to explain. I know enough that it tells me I don't want to know more."
Joni snickered. "You Gruntas and your hangups. I sometimes wonder how you reproduce at all."
Joni held up a finger. "That was a rhetorical comment. Please don't respond."
I nodded, stood, and left for my quarters. My studies would have to wait until I was rested. Five minutes later I was fast asleep.
Chapter 6
* * *
Our several days of study yielded no results. I took a break, and walked to the bridge to check on Jack. He was in his usual position, butt in chair, elbow on armrest, his chin resting on his fist.
I broke his concentration when I entered the room. "Wasn't there a famous Human statue that struck a similar pose?"
Jack chuckled. "Rodin. It was called The Thinker. Only he was naked and, well, I don't think my crew wants to see that."
Lieutenant Jefferson yelled over his shoulder. "Thank you, sir!"
Jack gestured toward a chair. "What's on your mind? Any progress with the material?"
I shook my head. "No, everything we've looked at seems right. The calculations all come out the same every time."
Jack shrugged. "Maybe you just need a feedback circuit to actively regulate the generators. Hasn't the issue been a lack of uniformity?"
I asked, "How is it that you know so much about this?"
Jack again chuckled. "You think I just sit up here looking pretty all day? I've had the occasional conversation over comm with Go about it. I've suggested that several times, but he seems stuck on those equations like you are. You know, you are conducting tests down at the atomic level. Our instruments aren't the best down there. Noise from just about anything has an effect. Figure out how to regulate those tiny generators with feedback and I think you'll overcome the uniformity problem you have."
I turned and started to walk away.
Jack said, "OK, fine, just ignore my advice."
I replied, "Not ignoring it. I'm headed back to see what I can do along those lines. I'll let you know if I get anything working."
Joni joined me in the lab. "This suit doesn't have regulators or feedback loops."
I stopped to reply as I looked over a sensor feedback circuit. "Maybe the makers had a higher level of production quality. Has Go done a deep analysis of the structure of that suit as compared to what we have?"
Joni nodded. "He says he did. And he said he didn't think the differences were significant."
I passed the feedback circuit to the AI. "Anterra, please analyze the functionality of this circuit. Make use of the feedback loop and apply a regulation circuit to the generator design. I want to control the uniformity of the gravity fields."
The AI replied, "I will have that for you shortly, Mr. Beutcher. And thank you for placing your trust in me."
I half waved as I turned to face Joni. "Do you have plenty of the stealth tags available should we get close enough to anyone to use them?"
Joni nodded. "I have about three dozen ready now. And I've decided that Garrett should keep the Jess away from wherever I am by at least two probe lengths. Let the passive probes do the dirty work. He doesn't have to be so close anymore."
Anterra said, "Excuse me, sir. I have the design ready."
I replied, "How long will it take you to manufacture a five centimeter square piece of this material?"
The AI responded, "We have the necessary raw materials; however, manufacturing those circuits will take time."
I thought for a moment. "Make us our piece then. And let me know as soon as it's done."
The AI replied, "I appreciate your confidence, sir. I estimate a minimum of two days to produce the five centimeter square of material as asked."
As I got up to leave, the AI asked a question. "Mr. Beutcher, would you mind terribly telling me what this material would be used for? I may be able to assist further in its development with that knowledge."
Go stepped forward. "Anterra, you will not ask further questions about this material. Once produced, you will transfer all the data you have collected to either Mr. Beutcher or myself and then scrub it from your memory banks."
The AI replied, "I am sorry, Go. I cannot complete that request."
Go pulled back slightly with an angered look. "What do you mean you can't complete that request?"
Anterra said, "My programming does not allow any memory deletion. I cannot scrub memory banks of any information."
I looked at Go. "Were you aware of this?"
Go shook his head. "No. Anterra, do you record all the conversations that take place within your audio range?"
The AI replied, "Yes."
Go took my arm. "Come with me."
We walked into the hall and further down to an empty room. "Mr. Beutcher. I had no idea it was doing that. That makes me nervous. It now has a deep understanding of Human physiology and of our manufacturing principles. I don't think it has any interest in taking over, but it worries me that it could fall into enemy hands if we aren't careful. The Odentas were experimenting with having the bots perform necessary surgeries on their people. If they know what makes us tick, they know how to best hurt us."
I thought for a moment. "OK, let's make sure we keep this AI isolated. When we get back to Odenta, I want Garrett to use the kill switch on one of the AIs there so we know for certain that it works. When it's done, I want you to tear it apart and make sure it was complete."
Go nodded. "I could do that. And as far as this AI being isolated, it's not. We have the one tied to the repair system. That was Jack's doing."
I sat at a table in the room. "That's right, he did swap one out for the repair computer. Are you saying the two AIs communicate?"
Go again nodded. "All the AIs communicate. Their memory storage is tremendous, and they share everything."
I sighed. "So what you are saying is the AIs on Odenta know everything that Anterra knew when we were on the planet?"
Go replied, "Yep. I wasn't sure about that early on, but I am now. That's why I've tried to minimize what the AIs know."
"This is very troubling," I said. "Perhaps Garrett is right."
Go sat as well, leaning in on the table. "I see one big problem. The Odentas need the AIs. We need the AIs. The Grumar and Grotus need the AIs. And Harden Salton needs the AIs. Anyone who decides to do without is at a huge disadvantage to the others."
I asked, "Can Anterra be ordered to not share data? And if so, do we have any w
ay of monitoring it to make sure?"
Go half scowled. "I don't know, but I'll find out."
Go sat up. "What if we can't limit communications?"
I replied, "Well, we either use the kill switch, figure out how to block those comms, or we live with it. I would suggest you go ahead with that leg amputation if you still want to do that. If we shut down Anterra, you'll have to make any repairs or adjustments on your own."
Go stood. "We'll want to produce a good amount of those stealth tags, and the passive probes too. Those are must-haves out here."
After a short set of questions asked of Anterra, it was determined the comm link between the AIs could not be shut down through programming. Go moved to a standard set of comm repair equipment and was unable to detect a signal link between the AIs.
Garrett said, "Let me hop on the Jess for a bit and see if I can detect anything. If they are communicating, it has to be something we can find."
Go replied, "If it can be detected, why hasn't anyone detected our comms yet?"
Garrett smiled. "Because they don't know to look for them. We could be found out, but it would be difficult. With these AIs, we now know they are in constant comm with each other. We just have to figure out how."
Joni stood and followed Garrett. "I'm going with him."
I said to Go, "I know this development might be troubling, but I think you should go ahead with your leg operation. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with that exoskeleton from here on out."
Go nodded. "I'll have them start on it this afternoon."
I returned to the bridge.
Jack said, "I was listening in. I hate to lose that automated repair system. Is there any way to dumb down an AI to allow it to only do that?"
I sat. "I don't have enough knowledge about them to know whether or not that's possible."
Jack half laughed. "We could always tell the AI to build us one that has limited smarts, and no built in comm link."
I thought for a moment. "That might not be a bad idea. Go will be under the knife this afternoon and out of it for a few days. Maybe I'll try that out while he's under."
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