by Robert Boren
“Good. I’ll go back to my stateroom and get to work. Let me know when you’ve got the Central AI in place.” She got off the bed, walking towards the door, but then stopping, turning around to face me. “What happens when we get to the tipping point?”
“Tipping point?”
She nodded. “The point of no return. When neither of us can hold off anymore.”
“We aren’t close to that yet, are we?” I asked.
“I didn’t think so until just now.”
“What do you want to happen?”
She smiled at me. “I can’t talk about that right now, or I’m lost. See you later.”
She left my stateroom. It took me a few minutes to settle down.
I sighed. “Fine, I like her. Satisfied?”
I laughed.
I splashed some water on my face, and then left the Zephyrus, getting to the New Jersey bridge in less than ten minutes. Skip and Nolan were there, chatting about something.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Skip looked over at me. “Still trying to find out more about Ecason and Simone’s ships. Everything okay?”
“So far, so good. Last estimate said another fifteen hours in the jump.”
“That’s what my estimate is,” Nolan said. “We’re still going to mine the end of our worm hole, correct?”
“Yes. Hopefully jumping onto the natural worm hole will throw them off our real destination.”
“It will,” Nolan said, “but I’m still concerned. Simone might have planted somebody near Boroclize to watch for us.”
“Even though we aren’t heading towards that area?” Skip asked.
Nolan nodded. “If I were Simone, I’d plant somebody at each and every system where clean Boron is available.”
“That’s thousands of systems,” Skip said.
“She knows we don’t have unlimited amounts of fuel, which cuts the number of possible sources she’s likely to watch way down. I’m not including the distant systems. Only the systems that are within a certain range.”
“What number do you get with the range adjustment?” I asked.
“Just under a thousand.”
I chuckled. “This is gonna be the luck of the draw. We’ll have to watch carefully, but the chance that she’ll be at Boroclize is slim, in my opinion.”
Nolan eyed me, a knowing grin on his face.
“Hungry?” Skip asked. “I’m going to grab something at the snack stand.”
I patted my belly. “Tacos. I’m good for a few hours.”
“Nolan?” Skip asked.
“No thanks, Skip. Enjoy. I’ll continue looking at this.”
Skip left the bridge.
“Well, Captain, did you go Central?”
I nodded. “Takes a while to build. Butch is working on it.”
“Mine is in the building process as well. Thanks for the settings.”
“We’ll have to thank Butch for that.”
“He made a comment, didn’t he?” Nolan asked.
“He’s a smart ass.”
Nolan and I laughed, Butch sending a sarcastic snicker into my ear implants.
Skip was back with a basket of French fries and two cups of sauce. “Want some?”
“Pass,” I said. “I’m gaining enough weight on this ship as it is.”
“Yes, I’ll pass too,” Nolan said. “I need to go back to my stateroom for a while.”
“No worries, I’ll hold down the fort,” Skip said. “Sondra will be back here any minute. I saw her eating at one of the tables when I got this. She was almost done.”
“Think I’ll go back to my stateroom too,” I said, getting up. I followed Nolan into the hallway.
“Your build is almost done?” I asked softly.
“More prompts,” he said. “I could do it in there, but it’s too hard to concentrate while Skip is firing questions at me.”
“That’s Skip,” I said.
“Oh, he’s a good man, but we’ve got an awkward situation. Hopefully we’ll come to a time soon when we don’t have to hide the existence of our AIs.”
“That time might not come in the foreseeable future,” I said as we neared the tin can station.
“Captain, we’re going to need every bit of edge we can get. We’ll eventually have to distribute this technology to all of our officers.”
“I doubt Vermillion shares your view on that.”
Nolan chuckled. “He wants to hold off on it as long as possible, and I don’t blame him for that, but if we’re in a fight to the death, we’ll be glad they’re available. Here’s my ride.”
“You can move to the New Jersey if you’d like,” I said.
“I prefer to stay on the Zephyrus for now, if that’s all right, Captain.”
“No pr
oblem. I’ve still got my stateroom there.”
“Talk to you soon. When my AI is ready, I’ll have it contact your AI.”
“Sounds great.” I watched as he got into a tin can headed for the main bay. I decided to walk back to my stateroom. My head was spinning. Nolan was right, we would end up using the full capability of the AI, but it won’t be a decision to be taken lightly. Not by a long shot.
{ 6 }
Dojo
T he settings documentation for the holographic communications system was almost as complex as the AI documentation. Butch sensed my frustration.
My PA beeped. “Uh oh, Vermillion wants to chat. Can he see what we’re doing?”
I laughed. “Wow, that’s quite an image. Thanks a lot.”
“Do your job and behave yourself. No chatter when I’m talking to Vermillion.”
I left my stateroom, heading for Vermillion’s suite. He was waiting in his office.
“Wow, that was fast,” Vermillion said. “I thought you’d be on the Zephyrus.”
“I was there earlier.”
“How are the AI builds coming?”
“Nolan is close. JJ is a few hours behind him.”
“Good. I heard from Tac, and also had good chats with the new plants. Everything is going well so far. No sign of Simone’s people finding us.”
“You could’ve told me about that via the PA. What else is going on?”
Vermillion smiled. “That’s what I like about you, Captain. You always cut to the chase. I had a chat with the developer of the AI system.”
“Good. Any problems?”
“I want you to construct a Central AI and designate yourself as the host.”
I chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Vermillion asked.
“I’ve already started that process. It’s nearing completion now.”
“You did? Why?”
“Nolan. He was digging through the documentation and found the capability.”
“He convinced you, huh? I should’ve guessed. What reason did he use?”
“It’s the only way he saw to prevent somebody else from taking that roll and using it to control everybody in the cell.”
“There’s only three people approved to be in the cell.”
I nodded. “Yeah, the Captain, the Chief Science Officer, and the Chief Technologist. I don’t think we want a third party taking any of those people over.”
Vermillion leaned back in his chair, smiling. “Well said. I approve.”
“What else?”
“Two things. On the Nano question, I’d like you to use that functionality, after your Central AI is working and you’ve had a chance to get used to it. Only you at first, though. We’ll use you to run a series of tests, supervised by the developer.”
“I was hoping you’d be convinced of that eventually. What else? I’m hoping for expansion of this capability to the bridge crews of all three ships, and eventually to all of our command and control assets.”
“We’re on the same wavelength,” Vermillion said. “We’ll eventually do exactly that, and later I’ll want it extended to all personal who have military positions, including infantry, pilots, and support staff.”
“That’s a lot of people. Does the system have enough resources to handle the load?”
“I see there are some aspects of the system that you haven’t yet discovered, although I’m very impressed with what you did uncover so far.”
My heart was in my throat as I watched Vermillion’s expression. It was a mixture of fear and glee.
“What?” I asked.
“This system uses the cell’s host brains. It can pool human data processing resources. The more individuals we add to the cell, the more computing power we have.”
“It doesn’t control our thoughts, though, does it?”
“No,” Vermillion said. “The developer did say that under extreme usage, people who are not actively engaged in a battle might feel some symptoms, such as the urge to sleep, or a slight headache. The more people in the cell, the less impact there is on individual cell members.”
“It was designed to have thousands of cell members, then?”
Vermillion nodded. “Millions, actually. This system will put mankind at a crossroads. It is our responsibility to insure control over this system never gets into the wrong hands.”
“Who decides what the wrong hands are?”
Vermillion eyed me intensely, looking angry for a second, then calm. “I know you have doubts, and I know you don’t trust me completely. We’ll work through that.”
“You can pick somebody else to take command.”
“Not a chance,” Vermillion said. “I chose you for a reason. I want you to continue to carefully consider every idea I express. If you think I’m about to make the wrong choice, I want
to know that. Yes men are not helpful in the current situation. You may see some negative emotion from me at times. Be a man. I can take it. It’s better for us all.”
“My respect for you continues to build, Mr. Chairman.”
Vermillion eyed me. “We’ll have to figure out how to hide the fact that we’re chatting with our AIs a little better.”
“You can see it, can you?”
“It’s like watching the ventriloquist instead of the dummy.”
I smiled at Vermillion. “Butch just told me that my Central AI build is complete.”
“That’s good news. I just have one more thing to tell you.”
“Go ahead, Mr. Chairman.”
“I want you to always know what the focus of our actions are. The focus is different than you will tell your team. I need to know you understand this.”
“Not sure I’m getting it.”
“I haven’t said it yet. Our focus is to insure that the masses of humans in the Central Authority Zone and beyond can live their lives without looking over their shoulders. It’s our job to insure humans do not live in fear of their government, any criminal element, any business organization, or any enemy military power.”
I sat dumbfounded for a moment as that sank in.
“I would give my life for that goal,” I said, feeling my face flush.
“I know. That’s all I have. Let me know how it goes with the Central AI.”
“Will do, sir,” I said, rising.
“Oh, and please share this with JJ and Nolan. Not beyond them. Understand?”
“Understood. Thank you.”
He nodded, then turned back to his screen.
I left his suite.
My PA buzzed. Incoming call from Nolan.
“Hi, Nolan, what’s up?”
“My AI build just finished. I’ll be hanging around my stateroom on the Zephyrus working with it for a few hours. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t need me for anything.”
