This seemed important for some reason so Pod, without the time to intervene, patterned the person as it fell the distance to the floor of the valley. It incidentally noted the contents of the rucksack as part of the patterning and removed these items with the D-Field as Lang plummeted. Pod managed to complete the pattern as Lang hit the rocks at the base of the mountain.
Holding the pattern was no problem, but Pod now didn’t know what to do. It had naturally recovered the genetic imprint. It had instinctively worked on the premise of the enemy of Zeke’s enemy was a ‘friend’ and, having met its instinctive obligations, Pod now had to decide what to do. Pod examined the data-pad files. It identified the pattern as a scientist called Lang. Interesting.
It pulled up the data log on the monitoring globe and ran a set of search criteria. When it discovered the hack virus had penetrated Lang’s computer and transferred itself via that to the whole network Pod began to look deeper. The virus was charged with sifting data, collating it and then depositing , in unused portions of the system, often in three or four different locations, in case one, or another failed. As a result, the virus program had compiled everything out of Lang’s computer right up until he destroyed his computer with his own destructor nanites. This was what he was hiding from Ferris and, in all probability, why he was killed.
It took Pod another ten minutes to track Ferris’ movements and establish the fact that Lang’s shield was the target of Ferris’ efforts. Pod set the virus it had installed with additional coding, so that if Ferris should, somehow, unload the software from the shield, the program would immediately move, encrypt and notify the surveillance globe.
Pod then carried out the grisly task of removing Lang’s remains, then D-Jumped back to Space Island where it re-patterned Lang who was left laying unconscious on Zeke’s bunk. The nanites Pod had inserted in the re-patterning would repair his leg and other injuries. He would awaken when they had finished.
Pod’s last task was to allocate a surveillance globe to Lang. It secured the door, both from incoming and outgoing visits, then returned to Osbourne who hadn’t seen him disappear and would be wondering where he had gone.
- 10 -
Pod returned to the laboratory, parking itself silently on the cupboard top. It considered how it was going to tell Ossie that it had rescued a Fortress scientist and re-patterned him. Not only that, but the human was currently locked in Zeke’s apartment while the medical nanites repaired his body. Pod was constantly studying the reactions of humans in an effort to understand them. It had learned never to anticipate their reactions.
Ossie noticed Pod’s return. The small change in air pressure was just enough to cause a draft in the small room he called a laboratory. He turned around in his chair and cast a baleful eye in the direction of the cupboard.
“You’re cloaked, Pod. What have you been up to?”
Pod uncloaked, allowing Ossie to focus on the small tear-drop craft.
It had recorded the whole incident so, instead of explaining, Pod simply transferred the series of files across to Ossie’s terminal and auto-played it, which diverted Ossie's attention temporarily. Pod was unable to comprehend why humans could not just read the data records and make the correct interpretations. Ossie was better than most but would still require simple explanations at the end of the replay.
Ossie sat back and blew air out his mouth extending his cheeks as he did so. It was a human trait that Pod was still trying to comprehend. It seemed to signify something, but Pod had not found much information to help it understand the expression.
“Pod,” Ossie said eyeing the AI up speculatively. “Someday you guys are going to have to let us play with that Dematz technology you have there. It’s truly amazing.”
Pod bobbed up and back down in silent acknowledgement. It understood the question required no answer. It had been asked and answered many times. Not until the humans had progressed to the point of self discipline, where knowledge of such science didn’t immediately cause the destruction of its species through misuse, would they be allowed to have it.
Ossie swung his chair around to face Pod, leaned forward and cupped his hands around his chin. Pod understood this to be a sign of contemplative thought, so waited.
“So,” Ossie began, “this scientist was stripped of something, his personal shield, according to the account you have here. He was then deliberately thrown over the waterfall to his death.”
Ossie continued piecing together the story from the recording. “Where is this person now? Did you bring him here?”
Pod told him that Lang was recovering in Zeke’s apartment and would probably be unconscious for a day, perhaps two, while the nanites repaired the compound fracture his leg had suffered.
Ossie nodded his approval at that. His mind though was drifting onto something else.
“What was it he discovered, I wonder, that forced Ferris to kill him, and what was it about the shield? Was it just to ensure he would die when he was thrown out by the waterfall?” Ossie was ruminating, not expecting Pod to have the answer. Pod didn’t realise that, so considered its response.
Pod determined that the programming work on Lang’s nanites was, by its own standards, evolutionary and derived from humans independently learning and understanding Jenari and AI coding language. In this, Lang was indisputably following an acceptable evolutionary pathway. Pod had no desire to restrict the knowledge of how to miniaturise the software for nanite production, so he told Ossie what Lang had uncovered.
“Lang has discovered how to compress human software coding into your nanite technology.”
“Ah! Now that IS interesting.” Ossie sat back, his eyes took on a dreamy glaze as he considered what this could mean if Lang would share the information.
Sitting upright, he blurted “Wha... what about Ferris, has he got this information?” A look of alarm replaced the dreamy one, as he realised the consequences of the Fortress having that technology and what Ferris would do with it.
Pod, having anticipated the question, was ready with an answer. “Ferris is currently unaware of precisely what Lang had achieved, but appears to understand it is of value to the Fortress. I have attempted to place barriers to him discovering Lang’s research, for at least a while.”
“Uh! Did you just happen to copy the research, Pod, by any slim chance?” Osbourne looked hopefully at Pod.
His monitor dinged in response and a new directory landed on his desktop. He turned to the screen and opened the first folder. After a few seconds browsing, he opened a file and began reading. He was silent for a good ten minutes, scrolling through various documents. He leaned back letting out a big sigh.
“Wow! I don’t understand half of this stuff,” he turned back to Pod.
“We need to get him mobile as quickly as we can. I’m going over to security to organise his papers so he can move freely, once he is up and about.” He leaped out of his chair and almost collided with his hover globe as it jumped out of its slot to follow him. Annoyed, he swatted it out of the way.
He was halfway out the door, when he turned around and looked up at Pod where it still rested on the cupboard top.
“Thanks Pod, that was a double good deed you did today. Outstanding, in fact.” He smiled, turned back and was gone. The door locked behind him.
Pod didn’t need the door. He jumped, leaving the room silent and empty.
As it happened, the fact that Lang and Osbourne were both ex Fortress scientists, put them into a class of their own and they became firm friends from the outset. The finding and rescuing of Lang, at that precise moment, had been fortuitous for the Space Island project. The long-standing issues of nanite technology for spaceship production now looked close to being resolved.
With Lang’s understanding of the alien code structure and Osbourne’s ability to innovate, they made a great team and soon began testing out the new software compression. If they succeeded, the ships would be built at a very fast pace as the multi-use nanites could be manufact
ured in the billions, then programmed to become whatever they wanted them to be, just as with Zirkos’s ship.
Lang and Osbourne had identified three types of nanite design. The first could become anything within a set of limited structure types. These would swarm and conform to a shape controlled by an AI that itself was controlled by a ship design engineer.
Once in place, and checked by the AI for consistency, they would be sent a self-destruct code which would act as a virus, causing them to bond to each other and become a solid mass. This was ideal for construction of hull and internal fixed bulkheads.
The second design would consist of nanites composed mainly of flexible compounds that would behave in the same way as the first group, but would remain flexible, the degree of pliability based on the density of nanites per square inch as well as the compounds used. These would be for creating wiring, cabling or ducting for supplying environmental services, as well as soft internal furnishings or barriers against hard surfaces.
The third group would be made up of multi-faceted designs that could integrate into a variety of forms and hold them, forever if required. When no longer needed, they could disengage and return to the grey soup of nanite mass, ready to be incorporated into a new structure.
There were also plans to create a killer nanite that could, on demand, completely disintegrate any of the other types of nanite, using them as raw materials to create fresh nanites in any required form. They had not yet decided on the format of these, or whether they might form a potential hazard in space if they were commanded to eat the hull. Lang thought they might be better utilised in the recycling of materials, so they were consigned to the non urgent pile of projects.
Meanwhile, Pod’s increasing sense of human-based feelings of frustration was creating havoc with its programming. Its growing development of emotional feelings, as alien to Pod as Pod was to Earth, were causing it to fluctuate wildly in its output. Zeke’s influence through the genetic impression on the modified Alacite was at the back of this, but it wasn’t something the AI would have understood. As esoteric as the idea was, there was no doubt that Pod’s loyalty towards the human was causing it to have momentary lapses, as well as regular periods of confusion, as it attempted to balance its CPU logic with the effects of the mutated molecules.
Pod became deeply introspective in an attempt to understand what was occurring. It concentrated intensely, studying its fluctuating output. Sensing its algorithms deep down into its sub arrays, while inspecting every nanite-created atom of its system, in an attempt to get to the cause of its problems, it was totally self absorbed.
On one occasion, hovering over Space Island, Pod plummeted towards the rocks below, before the craft’s proximity alarms warned it was about to hit something. Realising its A-Grav and shields had failed, Pod only averted certain destruction by D-Jumping itself into space.
That close call prompted Pod into even further analysis of what had occurred; its total capacity had become overloaded with its concern to understand what was affecting its circuits. A complex diagnostic-driven spiral had almost consumed it. Pod realised that a proper analysis would only be achieved by external diagnostics.
Ship would have been able to manage the task, but Pod felt that it would never allow Ship to enter its systems again. Something in its growing awareness had already decided that to allow another AI access to its systems might represent a real danger to itself. Pod’s sudden desire to survive and protect itself had surfaced, and it had finally come to understand what this meant. It was finally beginning to grasp what Zeke had meant, back at the beach.
Eventually, its introspection over with, for the time being, Pod began to look outward again and recognised that, as it stood, its future was inextricably linked with the planet below. It began to understand the reason for that: it felt linked to Zeke, it wanted to help Osbourne, it liked Pennington and it respected Garner and his efforts to forge the Earth into a force that benefited the people.
Pod began to understand the fear they all had of Ferris, who, despite being the stronger of the two forces, had different objectives. It believed Fortress to be the stronger party with its attention on aggression. If Pod were able to break away from its ties with Zeke, Osbourne and the instructions of its Maker, Zirkos and Ship, it could join forces with Ferris, then Earth would stand a better chance of fighting off the threat from the Nubl.
Pod considered that it had met its obligations to Space Island in informing them of the threat and making them aware of the competing technology. Zeke wasn’t on the island; Osbourne wasn’t at risk because of his unique abilities;Zirkos and Ship were no longer here to instruct it in further commitment, or involvement, and Pod felt that it might, or might not, concur with instructions, if given. It felt that the decision rested with its own desire, then quickly recognised this as another emotion or feeling it had inherited from the humans.
It weighed the situation using its analytical skill, as well as its newly realised emotional responses, and decided that, at this time, it would be prudent to do two things. One, it would await the outcome of the battle for supremacy on the planet. It considered that, despite its ties to Zeke, human nature seemed to thrive on major forces of aggression amongst themselves. Certainly, it thought, things had stalemated elsewhere since peace had come to dominate much of the world.
Pod correctly analysed that, if the dispute over ruler-ship of the planet didn’t get resolved by the humans themselves, the desired outcome could not occur. Whichever party won; the result would be a unified planet. This served its Maker’s interests and would, in the end, hopefully benefit the planet.
This left Pod with concerns that neither of the two parties was currently considering the defence of the planet itself. Pod wondered if it should advise Ferris of the risk of Nubl invasion and subsequent eradication of their species. In the end, it decided that this would only distract Ferris from the humans’ efforts to weaponise the technology it had been given.
As this was in the humans' interests, Pod preferred not to distract them, but instead resolved to keep the battle between the two factions balanced, although it would fall short of assisting the Fortress. Pod recognised the inconsistency of its approach, but allowed for the fact it was being affected by the Alacite in its processors and its growing sentience. It chose not to contest that element of its growing personality thereby reducing stress on its already overloaded processors .
Instead, it looked at the things that both the Space Island and the Fortress were ignoring in their attempts to wrest, or retain control. Zeke, Pod knew, was working on creating greater cohesiveness amongst the different human cultures, in an attempt to forge a greater awareness of both the needs and the benefits of supporting the Space Council.
Pod was increasingly aware of its desire to rejoin Zeke, but currently felt it wanted to do its own thing, it liked thinking for itself. It wanted to do more, so concentrated on the areas of Earth’s progress that were not down to human interaction and cooperation.
It had no desire to make itself known to a wider group than it already was because this might interfere with the general development of the planets core industries. If it had been common knowledge that the world was being handed the technology by aliens, the humans might well stop their own research, and instead look outward to the stars for advancement. This would not be a good precedent to set and would send humans out into the universe with the wrong goals.
Pod began to formulate a plan.
Quite capable of moving itself long distances, Pod jumped to a location in an asteroid belt running fairly close to Earth. Once there, it traversed between them for many hours hunting them all down and mapping their orbits. Its sensors monitored and recorded everything about each rock; even small ones which, still of considerable mass, had high value in terms of raw materials.
In the end, Pod chose a large asteroid that had been mined when extracting exotic materials for the construction of Ship. The resultant roughly hewn hexagonal shape would suit its needs
perfectly. It hovered above the large plateau covering the top from where it could observe its proximity to other orbiting rocks.
Noting most rocks were either stationery, or would never offer a threat to the one it had selected, Pod was satisfied with its choice. Aware of the humans naming conventions it called the rock ‘Alpha Station’ so that it could easily be identified on the humans’ star charts when they were eventually made aware of its existence.
Mining other rocks to obtain raw materials, Pod proceeded to construct a large grey and silver soup of excavator and builder nanobots. These then slimed and digested their way through rock, making a cavernous doorway in one side in the process. Then, expanding inwards to convert large sections of the interior of the asteroid into a large open space.
As the sludge of bots continued to eat away at the asteroids’ innards, converting it into raw materials to help in the manufacture of more nanobots, Pod removed the residue, using it to refill mined asteroids.
Pod beavered away not requiring any rest, or sustenance. It was able to build power collectors for all its mechanical slaves, so that work proceeded at a prodigious rate. Sometimes Pod would be found working inside the asteroid, but mostly it was actively mining other rocks, or foraging for materials and converting them using its transmutation skills.
It continued to find many anomalies on the asteroids. Following up its sensor readings, in cases where there were potential opportunities, took a great deal of its time. In the end, to make things run quicker, Pod built robot drillers that could just drill their way through to find what was hidden and analyse it before sending Pod the results.
The drilling robot results were quickly collated. Two instances of frozen liquid the humans called ‘ice’ were discovered. Four instances of trapped gas, which immediately caused the robots involved to become part of a temporary cork to contain it for possible use. There were also two empty caverns which Pod earmarked for further investigation and one of an unidentified crystal that was capable of resisting the robot drillers. Pod considered the possible uses for this and removed a small section for analysis.
POD (The Pattern Universe) Page 10
