Singularity: Book Two of the StarCruiser Brilliant Series

by Rick Lakin

  “You look at it differently?”

  “I see it as the continuing effect of the second derivative.”

  “Interesting,” Navvy said. “I never thought of it that way. Explain.”

  “Since Gordon Moore predicted that technological capability would double every eighteen months, growth has maintained a pretty constant pace. That doubling time remained fairly constant until about thirty-five years ago. The second derivative represents the change in the doubling time. Since then, the doubling time has been getting shorter by a couple of percent a year. The second derivative has increased.”

  “HumanAI Corp.” Navvy said as he poured his third cup of black coffee.

  “That's my guess,” Jennifer said. “Has HumanAI ever considered building an android?”

  “After solving the Turing problem, HumanAI Corp concentrated on education,” Navvy said. “They realized steveLearn had to be more interactive with students. It had to connect with the learner better than a teacher. HumanAI Corp experimented with physical robotics but found the interaction with the user was not as intimate as HTVR. When steveLearn and the HoloActors became ubiquitous, it sparked fears of the Singularity. HumanAI stopped its work with physical robots and kept its characters on a leash within steveLearn or with projectors.”

  “Have we reached the Singularity?” Jennifer asked. “Have humans lost control of runaway technological growth?”

  “I believe the Singularity is far, far away. Humans use a small fraction of brain capacity. On the other hand, artificial intelligence, by design, uses a majority of the capacity of the machine. The capacity of AI is still much smaller than humans.”

  “People are wary of our virtual actors, doctors, tutors, and assistants turning on us and taking over the world,” Navvy said. “Thus, HumanAI Corp wants to keep its trillion-dollar company away from physical androids.”

  “What about a precocious seventeen-year-old girl?” Jennifer asked.

  “JennaTech,” Navvy said.

  Kathy interrupted. “Your eleven o’clock appointment is here to discuss her next picture.”

  “Jen, I've enjoyed our chat. Let's get together more often.”

  “I’d enjoy that.”

  4

  Jennifer went to the galley on the Brilliant for her third caffeine fix of the morning and then went to work in the Captain’s Ready Room. She glanced over to see that Dandy had food and water. She and Ani rigged an automatic feeding rig for Dandy.

  “Is the ship secure, Dandy?” Jennifer asked.

  Dandy looked back. There’re no mice on the Brilliant.

  She looked at her HoloPad as her attention signal for Sami. “What’s on the schedule today?”

  Sami popped up. “You’re meeting in the writer’s room at one with Susie Wilder. She’s got some questions on Galaxy Warrior. The Star Squad is meeting at Anthen’s beach rental at five.”

  “Have you kept track of Anthen and Kalinda?”

  “Anthen is working on the new season of Virtual Detective. He’ll appear in a recurring role as well as write and direct some episodes,” Sami said. “He drops Kalinda off with her grandmother and she soccermoms Kalinda between summer session at Warner Academy and Tennis camp.”

  “Tayla has been coaching her.”

  “Kalinda made semi-finals at an Under Ten tournament on Saturday.”

  “Tay has created a monster.”

  “You’ve got time for a sandwich at the commissary before your meeting.”

  “Good idea,” Jennifer said. “What’s your favorite food?”

  “In my world, AI hasn’t developed the concept of taste,” Sami said. “But I’m pretty sure I’d hate Brussels sprouts.”

  “Ani, secure the ship. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  Dandy looked up. “Don’t annoy the tourists, Dandy.” The yellow tabby looked intently at a dust bunny in the corner.

  Jennifer took the short stroll over to the Writer’s Room.

  “Good afternoon, Susie,” Jennifer said.

  “Hi, boss,” Susie said. Susie Wilder was the titular head of the writer's room for Galaxy Warrior. They had met during Jennifer’s internship. “I received your latest pages. Ayiiia seems to be the dominant character, more so than Logan Jones. The reverse is true in the book.”

  “I believe that Tayla will come across as the more powerful actor than David.”

  “You're right, but your loyal readers might object.”

  “I believe that moviegoers will accept it.”

  “Your vision thing?”

  Jennifer nodded.

  “I see that your set designs use existing properties at Tovar economically.”

  “Remember, I'm also the Co-Producer with my dad. We need to save money without cutting corners. I don't want my first shot at EP to go over budget.”

  “You mean like using a second-string writer to run your Writer’s Room?”

  “No way, Susie. You're an excellent writer, and I'm paying you the same as Gio got for Brilliant,” Jennifer said. “You want to be accepted in the best possible light. Never sell yourself short and always deliver better than they expect.”

  “True,” Susie said. “Should we assume that the technology is derived from the Brilliant Tech Manual?”

  “Correct. I don’t say it in the book, but Galaxy Warriors occurs in the future of the Brilliant Universe.”

  “Have you thought about who to cast for Ayiiia’s little sister, Azolyn?” Susie asked. “I’ve gone through the headshots that casting sent over. None of the girls look like they’d have an alien look even with makeup. And none of them are athletic.”

  Jennifer paged through the headshots in the air above the HoloPad Susie handed her. “I agree.”

  “How about your little sister?”

  “Really?” Jennifer asked. She directed her eyes to the ceiling to reflect.

  “She’s already in the family business,” Susie said.

  “That’s why I hired you. When I give the go-ahead, let’s set up a test. I’ll see my sister this afternoon,” Jennifer said. “Do you have any other questions?”

  “That’s all I have. Thanks for stopping by.”

  Jennifer tapped her HoloPad. “How am I doing on time?”

  “You’ve got thirty minutes before you need to drive to your father’s beach house,” Sami said. “Grayson wanted to see you in IT if you had time. You can make it if you take a cart.”

  Just then an autonomous golf cart pulled up next to Jennifer.

  “You’ve got this place wired, don’t you, Sami?”

  “Pretty much, boss.”

  Jennifer entered the corner office of the Director of Information Technology. “Grayson, how may I help you?”

  “Thanks for stopping by, Jen,” Grayson said. “The casting department got their HoloPads several weeks ago, but they feel left out because they don’t have their own app.”

  “Good point,” Jennifer said. “Sami, could you join us?”

  Sami popped up. “Hi, Grayson. Boss, I’m looking at the data. Casting has headshots, résumés, scheduling availability, and a library of performances. But it’s all in separate search windows and databases.”

  “Sounds like a big data problem,” Jennifer said. “Can we curate the data and make it more accessible to casting?”

  “Each studio maintains its own proprietary data, but GGG collects all of the public data at a single portal,” Sami said. GGG, or Gallagher Gaffers and Grips, was Jennifer's family company. Founded by her great great grandfather, the current CEO is her grandfather, Sean. Jennifer’s mother, Sheila Gallagher was the general counsel.

  “We can curate the public data from GGG and piggyback the local data. They can search on names, characteristics, previous work, and type,” Sami said. “I can have it ready tomorrow.”

  “Cool, Sami. One more thing, can you bring Jake in?” Jake Hargrove was now a software developer for JennaTech after working for Greyson.

  “Jake here. Hello, Grayson.” Jake popped up from Jenni
fer’s HoloPad. “How may I help, Jen?”

  “How are we coming with the Writer’s Assistant?” Jennifer asked. “I may have a new app to use that technology.”

  “Quite nicely,” Jake said. “I've coded a few tweaks to use the hardware more effectively and offload some of the heavy work to the HumanAI Corp servers that support the HoloCharacters at the studio. The program can create Virtual Performances based upon dialog and actor.”

  “I'm creating an app called Casting Assistant. The Casting Director can…”

  Jake interrupted.

  “That's ingenious. The Casting Director builds a scene, selects the actor candidates and feeds them the lines. Voila! Auto Screen-test,”

  “You’ve got it.”

  “Send me what you've got, and I can trick that out in a couple of days,” Jake said.

  “Grayson?”

  “That will make the people at Casting incredibly happy,” Grayson said.

  “Sami, can you coordinate with Jake and send Mom a message so that she can coordinate with GGG.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  “Is that all you need, Grayson?” Jennifer asked.

  “That sounds like just what we need. Thank you and thanks, Jake and Sami.”

  Jennifer exited the meeting and headed for her car.

  5

  Jennifer's autonomous Prius drove her through Topanga Canyon. She had received the red car as a present when she got her license. She was on her way to her father's beach rental on Zuma Beach where Anthen Kelrithian and his daughter, Kalinda, were settling into SoCal after Jennifer and StarCruiser Brilliant rescued them from the Hoclarth Alliance.

  Jennifer walked around the house to the backyard overlooking the beach just as Riley, Tayla, and David came up from the beach. Kalinda was in her wetsuit carrying a new board. They all hugged.

  “K’da, the SoCal Surfer Girl. What happened to your boogie board?” Jennifer asked.

  “They're for little kids.”

  At ten-years-old, Kalinda stood just under five feet tall. Her olive complexion and dark brown eyes were distinctive features that reflected her Hoclarth heritage. Her wetsuit revealed the physique of a young Olympic athlete and the blonde streaks in her dark brown hair were part of her evolution from half-alien to all valley girl.

  “One of my surfer friends on the beach let me try his board. On the first wave, I did a roundhouse cutback. He asked me if I competed before. My te’pa saw the video, and he got me a Pyzel Ghost.”

  “Who?” David asked.

  “Te’pa is Kwan’qil for dad.”

  “Some little kids like boogie boards,” Jennifer said.

  “I can teach you how to stand up on a real board.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Jennifer said. “I’ve got news. We need to plan an op. Brilliant is flying with the Blue Angels at Miramar in three weeks.”

  “Wow, I’ve been practicing some aerobatics in the BrilliantSim.” David leaned his board on the fence next to Kalinda’s.

  “I’ve got some smoke tricks I want to try,” Riley said.

  “David, we've got an eight-minute solo window. You can program the flying. Riley, see what effects you can create. Tay, you've got the music and the announcer script. Let's meet next week,” Jennifer said. “Where's my dad?”

  Just then, Anthen came out to the patio.

  “Hi, te’pa,” Kalinda said. “Did you figure out how to block that love scene between Anthony and the accused murderer?”

  “Yes, Kalinda. We filmed it on the Santa Monica boardwalk as you suggested.”

  The four teens looked at Kalinda in amazement.

  “Dad, do you have a minute to chat in the house?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yes, Jennifer. Kalinda, could you round up some drinks before I start grilling?”

  “I’ll help,” Riley said.

  They went to Anthen’s office. “Whatcha need, Jennifer?”

  “How's Kalinda doing? How is she handling Earth?”

  “She's doing well,” Anthen said. “She completed the summer session at Warner, and she's caught up with her grade except for math and science where she's ready for Advanced Placement courses. Tayla is coaching her in tennis, and she almost won a tournament. She's running mom ragged with all of the things she's involved in. Why?”

  “Dad, You know that I'm EP on Galaxy Warrior.”

  “Yes. I read the book. Excellent sci-fi.” Anthen paused. “You want her for Azolyn, don’t you?”

  “She's athletic. She's a quick read. And…”

  “She wouldn’t need makeup to look alien?”

  Jennifer looked a bit guilty. “Somethin’ like that.”

  “It our family business.”

  “And Tayla will be right there going through it with her,” Jennifer said. “We’re like three sisters, now. She’d need to screen test.”

  “You need to ask K’da before you set up the screen test. Then let’s look at it together with dad before we decide.”

  “Thanks, Dad. She’ll be surprised and happy.” Jennifer exited to the patio.

  And you might be surprised as well, my oldest daughter, Anthen thought.

  Jennifer rejoined her friends and her sister on the patio. “David, Tayla and Kalinda, I need to speak to you, but everyone else can listen in.”

  “K’da, next Monday, I’d like to you come to Tovar and stand in front of a camera and read some lines.”

  “A screen test?” Kalinda asked.

  “Yes, that's what it's called,” Jennifer said.

  “Azolyn!”

  Jennifer’s mouth dropped.

  “Just like I told you, Tay,” Kalinda said.

  “Tay?” Jennifer said.

  “Kalinda told me that she read your book and that she's following the trades and she knew you were the executive producer.”

  “I told Tayla that you’d pick me for Azolyn.”

  “She called it the vision thing,” Tayla said and winked.

  “It’s not decided. We still have to see how you test.”

  Kalinda gave her older sister a look. “Seriously?”

  Jennifer shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, it will probably happen.”

  The four others said in unison, “The vision thing.”

  Anthen came out carrying raw steaks for the barbie. “Can you gentlemen give me a hand here? Tayla, you and Riley have salad duty. K’da, you have drinks.”

  Riley nodded. “Yes, sir.” David joined Jennifer at the grill.

  As they consumed the last of their dinners, Riley said, “You’ve got the Caesar Salad nailed.”

  Tayla beamed. “I got together with Margarita Lopez, and she showed me how.”

  “Brilliant is going to fly with the Blue Angels. It sounds fun, but I don't know what that is?” Kalinda asked.

  “The Blue Angels are the Navy's Flight Demonstration Team. They fly fighter jets in formation in front of a huge crowd. We’ll get into formation with them during their show,” Jennifer said. She put her holopad on the table. “Sami, show the Blue Angels.”

  “Yes, boss.” The formation did a diamond roll above the table with all of the noise and color.

  Kalinda’s eyes became wet. She ran away from the table.

  “What's wrong with Kalinda?” Riley asked.

  “She misses her mom. Natira was the lead pilot for a ceremonial fighter formation on our planet when Kalinda was five,” Anthen paused and took a deep breath.

  “You miss her, too, don’t you dad.”

  “Yeah, I do,” Anthen said. “Before I was taken, Dad and I wished we could fly Brilliant in Air Shows. Is this happening?”

  “I met with grandpa and Jack this morning,” Jennifer said. “We're flying the Sunday show in three weeks at Miramar, and we have an eight-minute solo shot. We go to Miramar that Thursday to practice and we get hops with the Blues. In exchange, the pilots get a ride on Brilliant. Riley has some ideas about tricks with the smoke trail.”

  “I do too,” Anthen said. “Can we collaborate?”


  “Of course, sir.”

  “Maybe we’ll find out which of us is a better stick and rudder jockey,” David said.

  “Then you better spend some quality time on the F-52 Bobcat simulator on steveLearn. I certainly will,” Jennifer said.

  Kalinda returned with a full glass of soda.

  “Are you okay?” Tayla asked.

  “I was thirsty.” Kalinda changed the subject. “Jen, can you come to my tournament on Thursday and Friday at tennis camp?”

  “Will you still be in it on Friday?” Jennifer said.

  “She's seeded sixth in singles,” Tayla said.

  “Of course. Tayla says I should do it for fun,” Kalinda said.

  “Tay means that it's really fun to win,” Jennifer said. “I’ll be there.”

  As they were going to their cars at the end of the night, Kalinda hugged Tayla and said, “We’re going to be screen sisters.”

  Jennifer got to her Hidden Hills home and checked in with her mother working in her office.

  Her mother turned to her. “Hi, Jen.”

  “Tovar work or GGG work?” Jennifer asked.

  Sheila Gallagher was general counsel for the family enterprise and was now a producer at Tovar Studios.

  “It all seems to blend together in a blur.”

  “Mom, my little sister seems to know about things that no ten-year-old should be able to know,” Jennifer said.

  “Welcome to my world,” Sheila said.

  Jennifer opened her mouth as if to say something then just sat there looking puzzled.

  “Every day as you grew up, you said things and did things that no child should be able to do. Kalinda has the same gifts that you do. She surprises you just as you continue to surprise me every day.” Sheila paused. “Your little sister is giving you a gift. She’s like a mirror for you to see how other people have always seen you.”

  “Was I that arrogant?”

  “I leaned on Grandpa Sean a lot,” Sheila said. “He once told me, ‘One shouldn’t be arrogant unless one has something to be arrogant about.’”

  “I’m sorry I was such a pain,” Jennifer said.