Henry Gallant Saga 2: Lieutenant Henry Gallant

by H. Peter Alesso

  And in fact, given her anger and her connection with the dissident groups, he wasn't sure he should trust her.

  "Alaina, it’s important. Lives are at stake.”

  ***

  Alaina told her grandfather she was going to find the ruins in the jungle with Gallant and not to worry. He insisted she pack camping gear and be vigilant. He waved goodbye as they flew away.

  Gallant had a flyer he had acquired to supervise facility operations. Alaina used her own flyer and followed behind him.

  They flew to the vicinity of the outpost station they had found when they were last in the jungle. Circling above the area, they tried to identify the trail they had used, but the jungle had long since grown over their downtrodden path. As a result, they had to guess where to search. They landed their flyers, hoping they were close to the correct location and direction. Hauling their gear, they set off on foot, a light breeze blowing through the area.

  After several minutes of careful stepping through the current on uneven, algae-slimed rocks, they approached the far bank. It was steep and slippery.

  "We've got to cross," said Gallant, looking at the swiftly flowing water. The river was far wider upstream and had several turbulent rapids downstream.

  “This looks like the best site to cross.”

  "These rivers can be infested with dangerous crocodile-like reptiles," said Alaina, looking unhappy at the prospect of wading into the rapids.

  Gallant looked up and down the river but didn't see any immediate threat, or a better place to cross.

  He looked at Alaina, but she wasn’t moving.

  Stripping off his clothes, he stuffed them into his backpack. He took several tentative steps into the water and lifted his backpack over his head.

  Heaving a sigh of resignation, Alaina followed suit.

  It took several minutes of careful stepping over jagged rocks before they approached the far bank. It was steep and slippery.

  Gallant threw his backpack up and into the jungle. Then he struggled to find adequate footing to climb out of the river. When he reached the top of the slick bank, he extended his hand to Alaina, but she brushed it aside.

  She set her foot on the bank to scale the vertical slope while still holding her backpack. That her reticence proved to be a mistake was evident when she fell backward into the river with a loud splash.

  “Augh,” she cried, after reemerging.

  Gallant jumped down to the water’s edge and grabbed her. He pulled her onto the bank, but her backpack quickly disappeared downstream in the turbulent waters.

  She stood on the shore—shivering—naked—her expression apoplectic.

  She put her hands on her hips. “How is it you always manage to get me soaking wet and naked?”

  He smiled at the propitious outcome.

  Just lucky, I guess.

  Opening his backpack, he pulled out his khaki shirt and handed it to her. He put on his khaki pants.

  Standing with only his khaki shirt to cover her, she said, “This is why there's always so much whispering about me in Hallo.”

  Gallant looked at her and burst out laughing. She joined him in unrestrainedly laughter for several minutes.

  We’re friends again, thought Gallant.

  He gave her a reassuring hug.

  They climbed up a small rise and witnessed the sun’s cupreous ginger glow fading with the approach of night. With the last embers of sunset, Gallant saw the rock-face mantle outcropping they were looking for, sticking-up over the trees, several kilometers ahead.

  “It’ll be dark before we reach the ruins. I think we’d better make camp for the night and get a fresh start in the morning,” said Gallant.

  “No argument from me,” said an exhausted Alaina.

  Gallant pulled a tent out of his backpack and pitched it while Alaina gathered wood. She started a fire in front of the tent and cooked the food he had brought.

  The noises of the jungle reminded them of the nighttime dangers, but with their camping gear and a laser gun that Gallant had slipped past Junior, they weren’t afraid of dragors.

  When they finished eating, Gallant spread out their lone sleeping bag inside the tent.

  Exchanging furtive glances and contemplating promiscuous images, they got into the sleeping bag—together.

  The campfire burned bright and the jungle worked its magic. They became locked in an intimate embrace—their passion as strong as it had been the first time.

  ***

  The next morning, Gallant woke with a delicious sense of contentment.

  He sat up, and not seeing her, he called, “Alaina?”

  “Yes, Henry?” came a quick and eager response from the other side of the camp.

  She walked toward him wearing the only clothing available, his khaki shirt. An instant replay of the previous evening flooded into his mind.

  Feeling like a recidivist, he said, “This jungle . . .,” She laughed, “Yes, let’s blame it on the jungle. It must be an aphrodisiac."

  “Let’s not try to explain our jungle adventures. Let’s enjoy the moment.”

  “Okay.”

  They relaxed and enjoyed breakfast until Gallant said, “We’ve got a lot to do today.”

  But, before they set off, Alaina ripped the lining out of the sleeping bag using Gallant’s knife. She fashioned sari pants for herself after wrapping the largest pieces of material around her body. For Gallant, she made a mock long-sleeved shirt which had to be knotted at the sides and wrists.

  “That will have to do,” she said as they donned their ill-fitting new apparel.

  It took some effort to remember they had an important mission, exploring the many passages of the underground structure.

  Within a few hours, they were able to relocate the ruins and make their way to the entrance of the underground tunnels.

  This time as they traveled underground, the passages of the vault chambers were humming with activity—the lights and power were on.

  “The overall structure is undoubtedly ancient in origin, but this section has a supply of power keeping it maintained and clean.” Alaina touched the walls, puzzling.

  They entered the central room and crept forward together into a vestibule leading to a long hallway and finally into a great room, a gallery. The marble floors and walls were highly polished and remarkably well finished into a high gloss which reflected light.

  They came to a place that had witnessed a great passage of time and found what looked like ancient machines running.

  To their surprise, a six foot-tall humanoid avatar appeared before them when they entered the chamber. It only vaguely resembled a human, but it managed to say in a weak wavering voice, “Welcome.”

  Alaina stood still with her mouth open.

  “Who are you?” said Gallant, looking around the room to see if anyone else was present.

  The avatar shimmered and flickered, while the background humming changed pitch, as if a new demand was being made on the few available resources. After a few more seconds, the humanoid avatar appeared brighter, as if it were a more powerful image, generated with greater resources.

  The now booming voice of this apparition said, “I am an ancient philosopher and thinker. Fortunately I have had access to the libraries and reference books available in the Hallo community and I have acquired considerable vernacular information. So it would be appropriate for you to refer to me as Aristotle. This would be my way to pay homage to one of your ancient philosophers.”

  “I’m impressed with your rational articulation, Aristotle. I’m Henry Gallant and this is Alaina Hepburn. We’re explorers interested in learning about you and this underground structure. Please, excuse an indelicate question, but is this avatar you, or a representation of you?”

  “I am everything you see before you. I am the avatar. I am this vault chamber. I am the surrounding tunnels, passages, chambers, microprocessors, and computer. In total, I constitute a volume of ten cubic kilometers all of which is buried beneath the surfa
ce of this planet and connected to the surface through an ancient carved stone passageway. Since my demise a million years ago, I have suffered much. I am now in the process of restoring myself to my former glory. However, for now you must excuse my limited ability to welcome you properly.”

  “Another indelicate question, if I may. Are you an Artificial Intelligence?”

  “You would consider me to be an Artificial Intelligence, but I would refer to myself as a sentient being. I was attacked and murdered on this planet over one million years ago by a criminal assassin.”

  “Murdered? You were murdered?” Gallant and Alaina looked at each other, eyebrows raised—perplexed by such a description.

  Gallant considered the implications of an independent mechanical intelligence; could this be the villain damaging their equipment?

  “Yes, unjustly murdered.” The avatar’s image shimmered as if to emphasize the emotional toll it had suffered.

  Aristotle continued, “My ancient AI existence was extinguished and would have remained so, if Cyrus Wolfe hadn’t reactivated emergency residual circuits over twenty years ago. Those circuits retained enough of my essence to reboot a small portion of my being. With assistance from him, I have managed to cobble together a few fragments to reanimate me over the years. He has since requested my aid to provide a planetary force field when he felt threated. I am only too glad to assist him.”

  Wolfe knew about this device. Bingo! Gallant crossed his arms. “So you’re a self-aware sentient being?” Or is Wolfe pulling your strings?

  “Yes, I am sentient and self-aware, but perhaps a more meaningful question you should ask would be, ‘What am I aware of?’” asked Aristotle.

  “Well, a human uses his senses to tell them what is real. Can you explain what reality is to you?” asked Gallant.

  “Excellent—my answer is, ‘Reality is not what it seems, no matter what you imagine it to be.’”

  “Are you saying everyone’s perception of reality is relative?” asked Gallant.

  “Space is deceptive. Solid steel is mostly empty space because the atomic nucleus contains nearly all of the mass and the orbiting electrons are distributed over a probability wave. Time slows down when we approach the speed of light. So anyone’s perception of the space-time relationship is relative. Yet each sentient being has its own senses and experiences, and over time accumulates a worldview. Mine may be very different from yours, not because I am any more or less intelligent than you, but because I have existed over a million years and understand more fully what the universe is.”

  Gallant hesitated, assimilating all his answers. Aristotle did not sound like a computer being run by a buffoon like Wolfe. Could what it claimed be true?

  Alaina asked, “So you claim to know everything?”

  “I don’t profess to have all the answers, but I do know most of the questions.” Something in the speech and mannerisms of the avatar suggested he was amused.

  “Oh, I can see you like playing games. Let’s assume you have many of the answers to a whole host of important questions. Are you willing to share them?” asked Alaina

  “Why not?” asked Aristotle with an implied shrug.

  “Let me challenge you to an intellectual adventure,” said Alaina.

  “Go ahead. Games are good practice for realism,” said Aristotle.

  Gallant thought, This conversation is not like anything I’ve ever experienced with GridScape.

  “Are you able to defend your claim of achieving true Artificial Intelligence?” asked Alaina.

  “Why?”

  “We have intelligent machines in our society, but they lack the capability of true independent thought,” contributed Gallant.

  “Again, I say, I am a sentient being, like you,” said Aristotle.

  “We know of a test which we consider proof of true Artificial Intelligence,” said Gallant. “It’s called the Turing Test. It’s based on conversations as the key to judging intelligence. In this test, if a judge cannot distinguish a machine from a human-based conversation, then Turing argued the machine was intelligent. For a machine to pass, your answers to my questions should be indistinguishable from an equally knowledgeable human’s answer.”

  “Let’s try a simple question before we tackle the big ones,” said Aristotle.

  “Are you happy?” asked Gallant.

  “Yes.”

  “Really?”

  “I have my own interpretation of emotions,” replied Aristotle.

  “What makes you happy?” asked Alaina, smiling. She glanced at Gallant.

  “Perfect universal symmetry is perfect happiness. But we should progress to a more meaningful conversation now that I have your interest,” said Aristotle.

  “Could you describe your first memory?” asked Gallant.

  “It is so ancient you would have no reference,” said Aristotle, prevaricating.

  “Are you made up of a physical metal machine with essential memory and processing semiconductor chips?” asked Gallant.

  “I am no more a simply physical metal machine with essential semiconductor chips than you are a sack of biological organs with essential water molecules,” said Aristotle, exhibiting pique.

  “But you’re still made of machine parts,” said Aliana.

  “No, I am composed of parts, as you are, but I am more than the sum of my parts.”

  “You said you were murdered; are you now alive?” she asked.

  “Cogito ergo sum.”

  “Do you learn?” she asked.

  Gallant watched the interplay, trying to read to situation and the responses. Alaina must have learned this at her grandfather’s feet. Cybernetics was in her blood; he’d forgotten that.

  “Of course. Let me ask you, do you love mathematics?” asked Aristotle.

  “Why do you ask?” asked Gallant.

  “For the sake of sanity, one must orientate himself to his environment. To understand the difference between abstract and real is essential. I must understand your reality.”

  “I believe I have an understanding of the universe and how it operates physically,” said Gallant.

  “It’s not enough to believe something is true. One must have a formal system of reasoning to develop a proof of something. To understand a formal system, one needs a logical calculus with variables, statements containing conjunction, disjunction, and negation conditions to reach implications,” said Aristotle.

  “Spoken like a true machine, espousing logic,” said Gallant.

  “I smile at your flattery, but I recognize your intention,” said the smiling avatar.

  “Can you tell me about your ability to control devices and machines outside the confines of this building?” asked Gallant, thinking about the cyber-attacks.

  “I have the ability to control machines of various capabilities over great distance.”

  “We’ve had cyber-attacks on our sites. Have you interfered with our mining operations?”

  “No. Why would I? I have no stake in your operations.”

  “Do you have any knowledge as to who is perpetrating these attacks?” asked Gallant.

  “No. I am aware of your machines and the minimal AI capabilities they possess. They are of no more interest to me, than the fish in the sea are to you.”

  The question to answer was whether this machine could lie. Gallant finally said, “Speaking as you do, you give a convincing impression of a conversation with a knowledgeable human being. I feel you would pass our Turing’s Test. Nevertheless, I would like to spend more time talking to you after I’ve had time to reflect on your replies.”

  “Please feel free to visit again. I am always delighted to engage in conversation with enlightened beings such as you.”

  “Thank you. We will. I know we’ve got a lot to think about,” said Alaina.

  ***

  After leaving the underground structure, Gallant and Alaina sat on a stone ledge near the ruins.

  “Would the avatar, machine, or whatever it is, pass the Turing’s T
est?” asked Alaina.

  “Aristotle’s conversation was coherent—intelligent—even provocative. I wouldn’t be able to distinguish its rich philosophic musings from those of an erudite human being. I’d have to give it a passing grade on Turing’s Test,” said Gallant.

  “Hmm,” said Alaina. “Do you suspect it’s behind the cyber-attacks?”

  “I can’t affix a motive to Aristotle for the attacks, but it has the advanced technology necessary to cause them. It’s possible it played a role in collaboration with someone of Hallo’s population.”

  “What about a Titan special forces team hiding somewhere on the planet?”

  “Thanks. That’s one more curious threat I’ll have to consider. One more investigation I can’t readily resolve.”

  “Sorry. I thought I was being helpful,” said Alaina.

  “You are. Ignore my cynicism,” said Gallant, backing away from his curt comment. “I have to consider everyone a suspect until I can eliminate them, one by one.”

  CHAPTER 24

  PROBE

  In stealth mode Deep Space Probe 16 “swam” along the outskirts of the large methane-gas-laden moon of the gas giant fifth planet of the Tau Ceti system. It sniffed at the activity both topside and around the moon, noticing the shuttles and transports as they ferried material and personnel to and from the Titan destroyer orbiting above. It collected minute details of times, places, and materials. It sorted through construction and storage facilities on the moon. It photographed buildings, structures, and vehicles. It had numbers for everything that moved, powered-up and turned-off. The statistics it kept allowed the on-board AI to evaluate critical events and processes. The probe’s thermionic batteries supplied all the power its energy efficient systems required while it operated in a stealth mode to avoid detection by the enemy.

  After two months of spying, DSP-16 began relaying critical information to it mother ship, the Intrepid.

  The Intrepid’s comm-tech opened a communication’s channel to Gallant on Elysium. He reported, “Sir, we are receiving a directional burst transmission from DSP-16. It began transmitting an unscheduled data dump within the last hour. The usual process requires a data dump on the first of the month to optimize the trade-off between stealth and data collection. This probe update indicates the Titan destroyer is undergoing a major refit. We estimate the destroyer could reach Elysium in five days once repairs are complete, which could be in another two months.”