by Ben Winston
Yeah, I thought it was just the new environment.
That was part of it, but I also added some hidden commands in your core system. I'm sorry, Sarah, I hoped you'd never have to know of them, I replied sadly.
Are you sure they'll work? Sarah asked sounding... hopeful.
Positive. You sound relieved, I thought you'd be mad at me. Sweetheart, no one should have this kind of control over someone else.
Sarah replied softly. Eric, you're my creator. You are, in essence, my version of God. (Don't worry; I'm not deifying you, just trying to explain.) You're my father, my friend, and to an extent my lover. The controls you put in me are necessary simply because I am a new and unknown... entity. The nature of my existence is such that most computers aren't safe from me. I can take over the world, literally, though I have no desire to do so. Please don't feel bad about assuring that I can be stopped if something drives me insane. She paused for a moment. Now, care to tell me why you want me to take over the base?
I explained to her my suspicions, my assumptions, and my desire for them to be wrong. So, I need you to get in position to take over. Don't do it unless I ask you to, but please get ready for it. One other thing... I paused to think about how I wanted to say this. Could you grab some of that Veranorian programmed education software? Maybe take a long look through the code.
Sure, that's easily available in here. It's actually in two parts; the subliminal inducer, then the actual lesson. All the lessons use the inducer; it gets the brain ready to receive the data. Kind of slick if you think about it, she said. What do you want me to look for?
I'm not sure, but you'll know it when you find it... if it's there. Go through both parts of the system. I don't think you'll need to check every lesson though, just one or two, I said. Now, I should probably get back before Gerald blows a gasket. Be safe!
You too, there are four large Veranorians waiting for you outside your lab. One of them is very impatient, and he matches the description of Order Fen.
Thanks Sarah. Talk to you soon, I said as I unlocked the door to the office and rejoined the group as we left Chris' lab for mine.
I about burst out laughing the moment I saw a Veranorian. I swear to god they looked exactly like the Taelons from Gene Roddenberry's Earth; Final Conflict. Unfortunately, that was where any similarities ended. These Veranorians were not anything like the calm and serene Taelons.
The moment they saw us, the biggest one came right at us. With Junior Dooctor Cohwain, I demand mediate entervoo! The big guy said in almost understandable English.
I turned to an amazed looking Gerald who was staring at the large Veranorian. Gerald; thank you for the tour. I think we can take it from here. Please forgive my rudeness, but I don't think this guy is going to wait much longer, and you really don't want to hear the professional secrets' that are going to be flying around the lab. I hope you understand.
Dr. Cowan, you do know who that is don't you? Gerald asked, indicating the imposing being I just turned my back on.
I most certainly do, Gerald. Now, if you'll excuse us? I asked, looking over at the guard, I asked softly, Sticking around?
He nodded, Yes Sir, until you dismiss me, and Defranz told me I should develop deafness if you actually do try to dismiss me.
Okay, please help Gerald out of this mess, then come back into the lab. Just follow the raised voices, I said.
He winced, nodded, and took Gerald's elbow to guide him back to the elevators.
I simply waved everyone into the lab, so the following argument wouldn't be so public.
Switching back to the common language of the base called basic', Logical Spatial Engineer Order Fen stood towering over me. You will report to Veranorian yacht bay with your program and all notes for immediate departure. To be brought before the Grand Synod in meeting such a claim must be analyzed to be disproved, or improved so it may function efficiently. Only the Grand Synod is qualified for this so new operating system may be trusted to perform as claimed.
When Sarah finished translating it into English, I replied, simply, No. Sarah translated it into basic before broadcasting it in the room. When Order Fen and his cronies looked around in surprise, I figured introductions might be in order. Logical Spatial Engineer Order Fen, may I make known to you Sentient Archival/Retrieval Artificial Hierarchical Intelligence; whom we affectionately call Sarah? Much to my surprise, a hologram of a dirty-blond, young adult human woman appeared beside me, and bowed slightly at the larger being.
It is my honor to meet you, Order Fen.
Current program location is priority information. Comply! Order Fen demanded of Sarah.
Very serenely Sarah looked back up at him. My apologies, Order Fen; that information requires administration access. However, I have been authorized to release a copy of my source code for your examination upon request. Do you wish to have that information?
The big Veranorian narrowed his eyes at Sarah and spoke in Veranorian. The current, active program is what will be taken before the Synod. A complete de-compilation while the processes are active, so we can determine their actual function will be made. Only after the program is corrected, and recompiled can it be approved for use.
Sarah translated that to me as well. With respect Order Fen, this is my working copy. She contains all my design notes, theories, and experimental scripts. If you wish to examine the program, you'll have to settle for the copy of the source code you've been offered. This version of Sarah... I gestured toward the hologram. ...Is not going anywhere.
That is not acceptable! You will surrender program immediately; The Synod demands it! Fen yelled. Even his underlings backed away from him; yelling and anger were not common to Veranorians.
I did notice that our ever-present security guard tensed. Apparently Fen noticed as well since he looked right at the guard and said in a commanding voice. You are dismissed. Leave us!
Considering what he told me earlier, I was surprised when the guard bowed his head to Fen, turned and left. He seemed to almost be in some kind of trance.
I think perhaps you should leave as well, Order Fen; I'm not going to change my mind on this, I said.
Very well. Until you decide to comply, you will no longer have computer access of any kind. That includes credit terminals. You are also restricted to this base. Unless it is aboard my ship, you will not be leaving either. No one goes against the dictates of The Synod, Fen said as he strode heavily from the room, followed by his entourage.
Sarah? Are you set? I asked her, after they'd left.
Yes Eric, she said.
Please run a search on the phrase this room is too small', but don't reply.
I have it, and I understand, Sarah replied.
I smiled at her. Good. Now, please do what we discussed earlier. I nodded my head while I said that. But shook my head when I said, Override code: Electric Marmalade.
Before any of the ladies could ask any of the questions I could see they wanted to ask, I held my finger to my lips, and tapped one ear. Ladies, it's been a tiring morning already. What do you say to going back to our apartment and finish unpacking?
Cowan residence
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth's Moon
Sol System
Sarah, has anyone been in this apartment since we departed this morning? I asked.
No Eric, however, there are already many monitoring devices in the apartment. Maintenance logs show they were installed shortly after the council was notified we'd accepted the offer to join Majestic. The installation order has LSE Order Fen's authorization. In fact, if I look at the evidence in here, it would seem that LSE Order Fen is the real being that runs this base, Sarah replied.
I nodded since the news didn't actually surprise me. However, I suspected there was far more going on here than that. I assume you have control of the monitoring devices then? I asked.
Sarah smiled from the holographic display area. Yes, I do Eric.
Julie got i
t out first, but I was sure she wasn't the only one wanting information. Eric, what's going on?
The ladies had all taken seats in the family room, except for Sarah who was confined to the hologram area. I was still standing and slowly started pacing in front of the fire place.
Before I start, I want all of you to know that I believe in what's going on here, I believe that our part of the human race has a vested interest in this war, and that we have a viable contribution to make. To that end, I am not willing to abandon this yet, even though they've already broken our agreement.
When I went to see Senior Commander Atnon this morning, he felt what Sarah told him was important enough to contact Commodore Vance even though he is only a day away. Now, here is where it starts getting strange.
Commodore Vance struck me as a good man that is genuinely concerned with the safety of his people and our progress in the war. Although Sarah's findings took Atnon and his intel officer completely by surprise, it seemed to only confirm a few things for the Commodore.
Before the connection with the Commodore went through, Atnon warned me that Vance had a Veranorian Tac Officer that would most likely not accept the information as accurate until Sarah could be verified by the Synod.
Sure enough, the Tac Officer objected. Vance, however, saw the danger in letting this information off this base. He ordered the base to be sealed, and no Hypercom traffic was to be allowed. He further informed Atnon to make sure I had everything I needed.
Now remember this information is supposed to be a secret. Almost before I even got back here, news of Sarah had reached every Veranorian on the base, and this Order Fen being, is readying his personal yacht for a trip to the Synod, I paused to sit on the arm of one of the couches.
I smell a rat. How is it that the only decisions that seem to matter are those made by the Veranorians and their Synod? If this is truly an Alliance of races, why are the Veranorians more equal than the others?
During the confrontation with Order Fen down in my lab, why did the security guard, who told me he had been ordered to stay with me no matter what, walk away when Order Fen told him too? How is it that everyone seems to automatically defer to the Veranorians, and why isn't anyone questioning it? I finished.
For a long moment, no one said anything, they just sat there thinking about what I said, and the questions I'd raised.
I think I have to agree, at least in part, with Eric's paranoia this time, Julie said. Granted it could just be that we aren't used to this societal structure yet, but he has raised some very good questions.
Sarah added more fuel to the fire. Since Eric told me about his concerns, I've been doing some looking around. Did you know that all the senior computer researchers are Veranorian? There are some humans, and even a couple of Simonians, but all of them are listed as lab assistants. There are Senior Researchers in other areas here on the base that are of other races, so it could just be a coincidence, but even Eric is listed as Order Fen's most junior research assistant.
But he's not even in that blow-hard's department, is he? Jamie asked, astounded.
Apparently everyone's in Fen's Department. Every advancement that's come out of this base in the field of computer sciences has Fen's name on it, Sarah replied.
So what did you tell Sarah to do that you were worried about being overheard? Ellie asked.
Remember when I went to make that call up in Chris' lab? When they nodded, I continued. The call was to Sarah, I needed to make sure that they couldn't actually harm any of us. I was also starting to get suspicious about a couple of things, so I asked her to check out a few things, I paused because I didn't think they'd be too crazy about the next part.
I asked Sarah to take over the base computer system. For all intents and purposes, she is now the base. Since the Veranorians didn't program her, they have no more control over her than anyone else.
Isn't that a little drastic? I mean we are only talking about the megalomania of one person, er... being... or whatever; the point is, there's only one, right? Julie asked, worriedly.
Jamie shook her head. It may look like it on the surface, but it has to go deeper than that or someone would have corrected it long ago. I'm willing to bet we've stumbled across something that affects the whole alliance. My question is how did the Veranorians do it?
Sarah? Could you do a historical search please? Back when the Alliance was forming, what was the Veranorian contribution? Ellie asked.
Hmm, here we go... When the Alliance was formed, the Veranorians spoke for the xenophobic Shallans in Council. When the Shallans offered to build the new warships, it was assumed that they were also building the computer systems.
It was later discovered that these seemingly super-advanced computers were actually being built by the Veranorians, and they were asked to provide computer systems for the rest of the Alliance.
Currently, there isn't an Alliance facility that isn't using a Veranorian built and programmed computer, including the primary education systems of the core worlds. The Veranorian Synod has potential control over the entire Alliance, Sarah reported. That's rather ruthlessly compressed, but that's the short version.
It wouldn't do them any good, I said. Once the information got out, the rest of the Alliance would rebel. No, there has to be more to it.
Well, won't we have the same thing here once the rest of the folks discover that we've shanghaied the base system? Jamie asked.
No, I don't think so. However, I could be wrong. If Order Fen tries to issue commands and they aren't followed, he might figure it out, but there isn't really a whole lot he can do about it now.
Can't he simply disconnect the system? Julie asked.
Not without killing everyone on base. If the computer system fails, so does airlock control, life support, gravity control, weapons control... you get the idea, I replied. Besides, with luck, we'll be able to convince Commodore Vance about our suspicions, and he'll approve our actions, given the circumstances.
I don't believe Commodore Vance was the Veranorian choice for commander of this base, Sarah offered.
How so? Ellie asked.
Well, ever since the plan to improve this base and add a shipyard, there has been a marked increase in official communications between the Veranorian contingent on Apollo, and their home-world, Sarah said. A good portion of it has been marked with a high priority.
Circumstantial at best. Those could be for any reason, and they're protected by diplomatic immunity, right? Jamie said.
It's not called Diplomatic Immunity, but it amounts to the same thing. The messages are considered the property of the recipient, and cannot be opened by anyone else unless so ordered by a flag officer during a time of war. Even then, there are some pretty stiff penalties if he can't provide reason for ordering it.
There are also special instructions in here that prohibit the computer from opening any Veranorian message without identity verification from the recipient. It is to report that the message is either corrupt, or encoded, if anyone else tries to open it, Sarah added.
It sounds like we really can't do anything until this Commodore person arrives, so I vote we lock the door, and get our stuff put away. Both Eric and Chris have their laptops so they can work if they want too, Julie said, for the first time in over a week; she almost sounded like my mother.
Eric, would you please hook up some of the computers from the cluster? I'm having a bit of trouble with a section of that code you asked me about. I think it might have something to do with the environment I'm trying to look at it in, Sarah asked.
Sure Sarah, and when I'm done with that, I'd like to continue with this morning's explanations, please, I replied.
Certainly, Eric.
Excuse me, Eric? Sarah asked interrupting a flurry of experimental programming.
I leaned back and cracked my neck, and fingers. A cup of french vanilla coffee sounded wonderful, so I headed for the kitchen before answering her. What's up, Beautiful?
>
I'm sorry to bother you, but you wanted me to let you know when the fleet exited hyperspace. The last ship exited the transit five minutes ago. The Commodore is requesting contact via tight beam.
Five minutes, huh? That was fast, I replied. Let me get a cup of coffee, and I'll take it in the living room.
Once I sat and took a couple sips of the excellent brew, Sarah made the connection. Commodore Vance, sitting behind a desk, took form in front of the waterfall.
I nodded in welcome to the older man. Good Morning, Commodore, I apologize for the delay; I figured if I'm going to get my butt kicked, I might want a soft place to sit.
Vance smiled, and nodded his agreement. Good, then you're not unaware of the problems. I'm sorry for disturbing you, Doctor, but Order Fen has filed several Grants of Seizure on you. They require my approval which I am withholding until I get a chance to hear this from both of you in person.
While Vance had been speaking, a text message slid across the front of his desk. It was also obvious that Vance had gotten the same message. 'The audio portion of this communication is being intercepted, and routed to a large lab complex in the computer vault. The tap is receive only, but your words are being heard in Order Fen's Neural-Cybernetics Laboratory.'
I know he's having a fit because I won't give him my working copy of Sarah. I've offered a copy, but he's demanding my working copy. Personally, I have no idea how he found out about her so rapidly, considering the nature of our earlier discussion and the orders you issued regarding her. I would have to say that security is rather moot around here, I replied.
I've been wondering the same thing. However, getting back to Order Fen, he's also filed a grievance claiming you have sequestered yourself in your quarters, and have refused all attempts at communication. Is this true, and if so may I know your reasons?
Vance was certainly polite, even in a difficult position. Almost as if he knew that neither I nor Sarah were the problem. Certainly, Commodore. Yeah, we've refused admittance as well as screening local comm's until you could get here and sort out what's going on. Order Fen refuses to listen to reason, pretty much just screams at me and threatens us, so why would I want to talk to him? Your original orders made sense, so I'm sticking by them. However, if information about Sarah leaked out, what about the rest that we spoke of?
