Mparntwe

by Peter Wood

  Jarra sat up and excitedly grasped Alira’s arm.

  ‘It’s really happening? They’re not changing anything so the AI isn’t independent?’

  ‘Not likely. We’d have to find a completely different team if we wanted that.’

  ‘Will I be able to find out how it’s going?’

  ‘Of course. Darri will arrange for you to visit whenever you like. We don’t want you to talk about it on the InterWeb though. Not till it becomes generally known.’

  ‘Like a secret?’

  ‘Yes. It won’t stay that way because as soon as your team of scientists leave their current positions their moves will be closely watched but … Here comes Mirri. Are you going to have a swim like you planned?’

  Jarra shook his head.

  ‘No, I think it would be too much.’

  The next few minutes involved Mirri recounting everything that had happened, and after that a guided tour of his rock house—really a natural cavity in the nearby rock wall—which was a special discovery not to be missed.

  ‘It’s time to climb to the lookout, Mirri. If you get tired you’ll let me help, won’t you?’

  ‘I am strong for Jarra.’

  ‘Yes you are, but I can help too.’

  Mirri didn’t say anything and Jarra shook his head with a little smile to let Alira know she wouldn’t be doing any carrying. Mirri had decided it was his job.

  There were two stops—one about halfway up and another after half the remaining distance—but they were both instigated by Alira who was taking in Mirri’s dogged progress with the same amazement as Jarra. The trained muscles which let Mirri race like the wind didn’t even falter with the challenge of carrying his friend from valley to height, and Jarra was so taken by the achievement that as soon as he was on his own feet he couldn’t help giving Mirri a huge thank-you hug.

  ***

  Jarra was brimming with excitement and anticipation for the two-week trip to the Community Centre for First Australians being established at Carnarvon on the west coast of Australia. Alira was going in her ambassador role and she’d decided it would be a good experience for Mirri and Jarra. That meant taking Karmai as well to look after them whenever there were meetings or other business, and that meant even more excitement when Karmai organised a trip to a nearby Marine Research station which he was really interested in because of its involvement with dolphins. Alira said it was a late birthday present for them both, which was funny because Jarra’s fourteenth birthday was five weeks ago and Mirri’s sixteenth nearly two months before that. Jarra was just grateful. Apart from the trips to Alkere he’d never been away from Alice Springs in all his life and this big plane carrying them on the 2000 kilometre journey was quite amazing. Mirri’s eyes had gone wide with wonder at the size of it and he’d been glued to the view from his window seat ever since takeoff.

  ‘When do we see the big water?’

  Mirri had fixated on the big water when Jarra had shown him pictures and explained that the ocean was bigger than the land. Karmai checked the flight progress screen.

  ‘Soon, Mirri. Another 20 minutes and we’ll be landing.’

  Jarra watched as closely as Mirri. Viewing something on the InterWeb was nothing like seeing it for real and his mind was already boggled at the vastness of the country they’d been flying over. There was a sudden change in the feel of the aircraft.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘It’s good, Mirri. We’ve started to descend. Watch the ground get closer and look for the river with lots of trees.’

  ‘More water?’

  ‘Yes, it flows into the ocean at Carnarvon and Karmai will take you to see it tomorrow.’

  They did see the river, but it was forgotten when the aircraft banked slightly and the expanse of ocean came into view.

  ‘It is big. Where does it all come from?’

  Jarra agreed with Mirri and watched spellbound till the change of direction for their landing brought a new rush of excitement.

  ***

  Jarra stared in wonder at the hundreds of pelicans lined up on the sandy shore of the little island as their electric boat slid silently and slowly by.

  ***

  Jarra stared in amazement through the glass bottom of their special boat at the Ningaloo Reef where Mirri and Karmai drifted underwater while a gigantic whale shark sailed slowly past.

  ***

  Jarra couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This was the third day of their Carnarvon stay and instead of the planned electric boat trip from the mouth of the Gascoyne River and inland, which they’d all been looking forward to, they were standing on a reef watching a hole. At the moment the interest was the hissing sound of air being expelled under huge pressure from a wave hitting the reef. Whoo! Jarra jolted, then yelled his excitement as a 20 metre geyser of water erupted skyward. They’d been watching this blowhole for nearly a quarter of an hour and this was the most spectacular display yet. Word had come through to Karmai that the heaviest swells for several years were pounding against the cliffs at the nearby Quobba Beach and he’d quickly rearranged their day. Mirri and Jarra weren’t pleased because they’d been looking forward to seeing pelicans, but at the sight of the giant waves everything else was forgotten.

  ‘Come on you two. We’re going farther along to see the really big ones.’

  He pointed in the distance to where a headland was, at the moment, almost engulfed by a great wall of white.

  Chapter 7

  Darri laughed as he talked with Alira.

  ‘Don’t you dare take him anywhere for at least another six months. I’ve been run off my feet trying to keep up with all his new interests.’

  ‘Six months? You picked that well. I have a trip to Cape York in roughly that timeframe and since they loved Carnarvon so much I’m planning to take them again. Karmai can guide them to see how the Great Barrier Reef is regenerating.’

  ‘And that will probably bring on a study about the life cycle of coral reefs. At least it won’t be as difficult as energy transference through ocean wave motion or understanding dolphin intelligence. We don’t have anyone at our universities who knows much about either and I’ve had to make long-distance links to find knowledgeable people.’

  ‘The dolphin interest is from Karmai and their three days at Monkey Mia, and the waves must be from their visit to Quobba Beach. I missed that because of meetings.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have, Alira. He showed me his InfoPad recordings and the wave-breaks are quite astonishing.’

  ‘Have these new interests taken over?’

  ‘Yes and no. He’s still as absorbed and dedicated as ever, but he’s started prioritising his time a lot more carefully. Two days at least go to the Artificial Intelligence study and one to getting ahead with coursework from his older age groups.’

  ‘What about his special projects, Darri? Is he working on one at the moment?’

  ‘Yes, but you won’t believe it. He’s building his own nanobot.’

  ‘… You’re right. I don’t believe it. Is that possible?’

  ‘I didn’t think it was, but seeing how far he’s come with that 3D printer I’m starting to think it might be.’

  ‘Nanobots? Where did that come from?’

  ‘He has an infusion of health bots every second day and he sometimes watches his doctor design new ones.’

  ‘Of course. Silly question. They’re part of his life … How is the work with the older age group going? He sounds happy enough when he talks about it.’

  ‘In another six months I recommend direct University involvement.’

  ‘Involvement? You mean enrol him?’

  ‘Ordinary enrolment wouldn’t work, Alira. It would hold him back too much. He’s better at research than most final year students, while at the same time there are large gaps in his knowledge. He would need a course specially designed for his particular interests and needs.’

  ‘That’s not a problem. We’ve got an expert just for that purpose.’

 
‘We have?’

  ‘Of course we have. Darri, Jarra wouldn’t be where he is without you, and you know it. No-one understands his intellectual abilities and needs better than you, and I’ll make sure the universities listen to every word you say. Design a course as you see fit, working with his ideas too, and we’ll make it happen.’

  ‘He’ll be very excited.’

  ‘Do you think he’ll find it daunting? He’s just turned fourteen.’

  ‘Not unduly. He adapted to working with the older age group faster than we expected and I think we’d see that again.’

  Alira nodded her agreement.

  ‘Just one more thing. What’s happening with his involvement at Alkere? I know he’s visiting regularly and is very enthusiastic about everything.’

  ‘He gets on well with Durrebar, who’s given him an open invitation, and he’s been to two of their most important planning meetings. It’s quite extraordinary to see the leading scientists treat him as if he’s part of their team.’

  ‘Well, he is.’

  ‘Not with regard to expertise. They’re nearly all leaders in their particular areas.’

  ‘How long will it take before the AI is functioning? They’ve been working for over six months now and Durrebar’s most recent report to the Council was decidedly vague.’

  ‘That’s because they really don’t know, Alira. The backing you’ve given them has allowed them to be far more ambitious than the terms of the original proposal. The current consensus seems to be another six or eight months.’

  ***

  ‘Jarra, it’s temporary. It’s exactly what we expected and you just have to manage it with your routines.’

  Jarra knew the doctor was right but he was very concerned because his energy levels were going haywire and playing havoc with all his study and activities. He did understand it was caused by the hormonal changes in his adolescent body and he had been expecting it to happen, but coping was hard.

  ‘We only walked for 10 minutes yesterday and Mirri carried me back to the lifts, and then Darri waited for 2 hours while I was asleep and when I did wake up I didn’t want to do anything.’

  ‘And two days from now you’ll feel the best you can ever remember.’

  That was exactly what had already happened a number of times.

  ‘Jarra, I’m as certain as I can be that it’s simply a matter of being patient while your body adapts. In six months I expect your energy levels will be back on track and you’ll be feeling even better.’

  ‘Better? I thought my levels are as good as they’ll ever be?’

  ‘They are, but growing will give you more body mass and resources to draw on and your perception will be that you’re stronger.’

  ‘Do you think I’ll grow very tall? Mirri is much bigger than I am.’

  ‘How old is he?’

  ‘Sixteen. He has his birthday two months before mine.’

  ‘Well, he should be bigger. Does your size difference worry you?’

  ‘Not really. It’s just that it would be good to be the same size as he is.’

  ‘In two years when you’re sixteen you might even be taller.’

  The doctor laughed.

  ‘I know. I’m telling you to be patient again.’

  ‘If I’m feeling good can I do extra to make up for the times when I’m not?’

  ‘You can, but monitor yourself as carefully as you always do, and you’ll quickly work out your limits. Do you have any trouble sleeping?’

  ‘No. I have trouble waking up.’

  ‘Good. That’s normal. I recommend you try for at least an extra half hour of night sleep till your hormones balance.’

  ***

  It took longer for Jarra to stabilise than expected and his university enrolment was postponed till not long before his fifteenth birthday. His school and other activities suffered, too, and many times he became despondent when his plans went awry. Several times he had to cancel visits to Alkere, and his nanobot project took twice as long to finish as he’d first expected. Mirri was a wonder, somehow knowing whether ‘quiet’ Jarra was reacting to his condition or just feeling low about it and either making him rest or cheering him up with his company.

  ***

  ‘Two more months? What went wrong?’

  Jarra and Darri were talking with Durrebar in the big laboratory where the huge banks of special processors were being tested.

  ‘We’ve been having consistent failures with the more complex processors and since all our diagnostics said there was nothing wrong we couldn’t understand where the faults were creeping in. It’s taken nearly five weeks to track down the problem and the extra two months is what it will take to ensure it doesn’t reoccur.’

  ‘Were the processors a bad design?’

  ‘No, they were perfect. The problems were all caused by electronic sabotage and we’re reworking our security systems which were badly compromised.’

  Jarra was shocked.

  ‘Someone damaged the processors on purpose?’

  ‘Yes, we don’t know exactly who, but the sophistication of the intrusions was quite extraordinary, and if the Mparntwe Council hadn’t backed us with extra resources we wouldn’t have been able to proceed.’

  ‘How did you find out it was sabotage and not a real fault?’

  ‘We didn’t, Jarra. An advisor to the Council thought our trouble might be linked to all the external pressures being brought against the project and they provided a special troubleshooter to look into it. It was a shock to us all when he discovered the security breaches.’

  ‘You said “all” the external pressures. I didn’t know they’d even started.’

  A look passed between Durrebar and Darri.

  ‘Yes, the pressures have been very direct and the Council has had to stand strong against them.’

  Darri took over.

  ‘It’s been happening for months, Jarra, ever since the leading team took up residence really. The Council has been dealing with it quietly but the more we advance the more it escalates, and recently the InterWeb has been producing some very strong condemnations of Artificial Intelligence. When our AI comes online Alira expects things will get even worse.’

  ‘Months? And I haven’t even heard about it?’

  Another look passed between the two adults.

  ‘You’ve been having a hard time for a while now and we didn’t want you taking on another worry. Talk to Alira if you feel you must. She’s been dealing with it all.’

  ***

  ‘We’ve all been concerned for you, Jarra, so we insulated you from the efforts being directed against our AI project. Your doctor said you needed to be as stress free as possible for a while so we arranged with everyone to only show you the positives. He says you’re pretty much stabilised now, though, and since you’ve been getting more active on the InterWeb in the last week Darri decided it was time to talk to you about it.’

  Jarra wondered why his use of the InterWeb was a reason for telling him.

  ‘Darri only told me about the sabotage, Alira. He said there were other things but you knew more and I should talk to you.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve been directly involved because of my position on the Council. I suppose I have to tell you everything?’

  Jarra nodded. Of course she did.

  ‘The pressures we worried about right from the start became active as soon as our scientific team gathered at Alkere, with diplomatic communications demanding we abandon the project because we were breaking all sorts of international laws and treaties. We were ready for that and our legal people showed that we weren’t. The next threat was a form of economic blackmail which completely backfired and ended up gaining us support across all of Northern Australia.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Eighty per cent of our energy production is exported to countries all round the world and we were told those countries would source their needs elsewhere if we didn’t comply. It’s our economic lifeblood and they thought that necessity would leave
us no choice.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘They didn’t understand our links with all the other North Australian Communities and their associated energy producers, and when they shifted their contracts to the Carnarvon and Normanton Communities the world shortage meant our energy was just redirected through those outlets.’

  ‘Carnarvon and Normanton have to use our energy?’

  ‘They would anyway because of our agreements but their own supplies are already completely committed so they have no choice.’

  ‘What if the contracts got shifted to Africa? They’ve got nearly as much energy collection as Australia.’

  ‘They won’t, Jarra. Africa’s supplies are just as committed as ours and the extra demand would still have to come from us. With all the redirection and supply agreements involved it would be a costly change for them.’

  ‘So changing their contracts was a waste of time. How did it give us more support?’

  ‘I took your proposal to our Communities at Darwin, Carnarvon and Normanton.’

  Alira smiled at Jarra’s reaction.

  ‘We’re very closely linked, Jarra, and if the project works as well as we expect the other centres will all start their own, with the benefits of any advancements we make here.’

  ‘Three more AI centres? Will they all be independent like ours?’

  ‘Most certainly. Durrebar and his team have us completely convinced in that regard.’

  ‘Does Darri know?’

  ‘Not that part, but you can tell him as long as you keep it between you. Word spreading about three more independent AIs would most likely cause an overwhelming level of pressure.’

  Jarra quickly picked up on that.

  ‘There are other parts?’

  ‘Yes, pressure through misinformation on the InterWeb to make us appear irresponsible and callous about human life. It’s involved very clever disinformation and some nasty personal character assassination.’

  ‘Darri told me that, but he didn’t say it was personal. Is it against Durrebar and the scientists?’

  ‘He wouldn’t tell you, Jarra, because some of it was against you, and until now your doctor has insisted we keep you insulated.’