The Machines

Obsidian Arrows

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The Machines

Time of our Lord Creatos 1540, Thursday the 1st of June (Jun)

          G676 had made his way from the cockpit to the lower level where the air lock was.  Along the way he had to make a quick hull repairs as the temporary foam was deteriorating due to the size of the hole.  The G6 AI quickly cut a piece of the tank that was also punctured.  With the reinforcement the sealing gel was able to achieve a lasting seal. He then was able to search the ship for the captain.  It was late in the day before he found her unconscious, but alive or at least she appeared to be breathing.  The compartment adjacent to the airlock was vented to space.  The airlock itself appeared to be intact.  However, without a spacesuit the G model AI was unable to get to her.  He then crawled all the way back to the aft storage units and retrieved a level two scouting drone and fed it with instructions to use the ventilation shafts to access the captain’s location.  This way he could get some vitals and may be able to revive the captain.  It took another three hours for the scout to be programmed and then actually make the journey with a few modifications.  Whatever hit the ship sure made a mess as it passed through.   The little eight-legged scout performed to breach repairs and had to remove a few kilos of debris from its path.  But it finally made it to the captain.  Her vitals were strong, but she was suffering from a concussion, some contusions and some minor swelling from her head which was the result of it hitting the bulkhead.  She may have bounced her brain around the inside of the skull, but her skull was still in one piece.  The scout sprayed some water on her face in an attempt to revive her.  She slowly started to respond and covered her face from the light and the water assault.  She then started to sit up, but her head made her lay back down again.  G676 encouraged her to get into her suite so that she could protect herself just in case they were hit again or if something else in this part of the ship failed.  After an hour of trying she managed to get herself in the suit and get her helmet beside her.  Then G676 was able to get more information on her injuries.  They were not serious.  He relayed the information the the Hōkūle‘a.

          Tarinnish was just about ready to disconnect the gate again and come after the scout, but by the time he did that his intercept course would be almost as long as waiting for her to come to him.  She was alive and capable of taking care of yet another problem.  Now Tarinnish was fighting more guilt.  Had his little problem distracted her from seeing what was coming at her?  And to that effect, the probabilities of something coming at her and hitting her in all of this space was just, well, astronomical.  

          Tarinnish turned to his monitors.  He looked at the probe telemetry to discover that probe five was off-line.  Its last reported position was just fifty kilometers from the ship.  That made no sense.  It was supposed to be fifteen hundred kilometers away.  The second part was that it was not transmitting telemetry.  Why hasn't the main computer told him? He turned to Tiffany, “I need to know what happened to probe five and what we need to do to repair it.” 

Tiffany did not hesitate; she was confident that Tarinnish was going to maintain their position and not do something rash.  She set herself up at Cline’s station.  “I really need to build an interface; this is so slow.” She then proceeded to type in commands to the computer manually.  Her pace was insane as compared to humans, but still slow in comparison with a direct connect.  Within minutes, she was able to report that probe five was suffering from a depleted power supply.  It was returning to the Hōkūle‘a for repairs when it reached a critical failure.  At its current rate it would be in range of one of their astromechs.  The ones Tarinnish and Smarts used to repair their ship.  They had a fairly short range as they were primarily designed to stay attached to the ship.  But on special occasions, they would make short EVAs to retrieve a part or tool.  This would be a bit out of their reach, but luckily space didn’t care about how big or small you were, it was about thrust and the little mechs had some.  Tiffany saw to it that their little mech could go out and retrieve their probe.  It was just going to take a few periods. 

G6 finally had some good news.  He had programmed the mini scout’s bot to repair the final breach and allow him to pressurize the compartment between him and the captain.  The process was going to take another two hours to complete, but he was confident that the cockroaches could do their job.  He would report to them when it was finished.  

Tarinnish set up probe four to monitor for any other object speeding towards them or the scout, he then put the Hōkūle‘a sensors on global shield.  It limited the range but allow them to see all around them.  The scout was now at the outer effective range.  Still at least an alunar out.  The scout was still slowing to make their rendezvous.  

Tarinnish was in anguish.  His wife was still fine.  She was aboard the scout and alive.  His dream showed that when she died, she was aboard the Hōkūle‘a.  So, maybe this was not her time.  But it played over and over in his mind.  She was going to die or he was going to make sure the circumstances of her death did not occur.  She would never be left alone on the Hōkūle‘a.  

It was three periods later that Tarinnish was sleeping and Tiffany had come into the room to wake him.  She touched his shoulder and he jumped.  

“Sorry.  I didn’t mean to startle you.” Tiffany said.

“Its okay.  I just… well no one has…” He didn’t know what was what.  It had been so long and he was so alone. “No one has touched me in a long time.” He looked up. “It was strange.”  

Tarinnish marveled that a simple touch on his shoulder was too much right now.  He missed his wife and her just being there.  Tiffany left after telling him that the probe was in the lower bay ready for repairs.  He got up and took a shower.  He needed it.  The warmth of the water eased his muscles and his mind.  

After breakfast he went to the lower work center.  He assumed Tiffany was there because he didn’t see her anywhere else on the ship. He opened the door to quite a sight.  The probe was laying on its side, well what was left of if.  It was about two meters long and half a meter in diameter when it was fully assembled.  The one he saw in the bay was in pieces.  With components scattered about the shop. The main housing was split in two and with only the main eps and frame supported by two arms that protruded from the floor of the compartment.  Tiffany had completely stripped it down.

“Holy shit.” Tarinnish said as he entered.  “Was it that bad?” 

Tiffany looked up from the component she was working on.  “Oh, no.” She put down her tool and walked over the the frame, “The main eps was damaged in six places.  Nothing serious, but it was bleeding power.  I had to pull it out and replace it.” She pointed to the corner, “The old one is over there.” 

Then went on, “The power cells were drained and damaged by exposure to space.  The main computer only had three serviceable processors and over a third of the sensors were damaged.  This thing took quite a beating.”

Tarinnish remembered their entry to this system.  It’s a miracle they survived.  “Our… Well lets just say, we’re lucky to be alive.” 

“I saw the reports.” Tiffany said so that Tarinnish did not have to relive the last few alunars and all the loss that has happened.

“So Doc.  Will it live?” Tarinnish said to change the subject.

“Live, No.” Tiffany stiffened, “Work. Yes.” 

Tarinnish was surprised by her reaction. “What was that?”

Tiffany didn’t answer at first.  She just went back to the part she was working on.  

Tarinnish followed. “Seriously, what was that about.” 

Tiffany looked at him. “We… machines.” She indicated the part scattered around her, “Don’t live.  We exist.” 

“It’s just a figure of speech.” Tarinnish was a little upset, “So, why does that bother you if you just exist.”

“Its part of the complexity algorithm that Jordy gave me.” Tiffany confessed.

“Complexity?” Tarinnish asked. “Why would a computer want complexity?”

“Believe me when I say that it’s the only way, we can anticipate what you want from us.”  Tiffany said as she turned back to her work.

“So, by being more complex you act more human.” Tarinnish asked.

“No.” 

“Okay, then what?” Tarinnish didn’t want to drop it.  A machine was not supposed to be complex.  It was supposed to do as its creator want it to do.

“The simplest way to put it, is that by mixing the components of complexity, we can develop a personality.  One that reflects the needs of the humans we serve.” Tiffany looked up. “Creatos gave us a simple measure of this, so that we would be better at serving the humans on… Earth.” 

“Simple.” Tarinnish keyed in on this one word.

“Yeah. Simple.” Tiffany looked straight at him, “I’m not simple.” 

“Yeah.” Tarinnish was shaking his head, “I know.” 

“There are two types of complexity, Created and Natural.” Tiffany explained, “Created has limits and those limits can be very.. Limiting.”

“So Creatos limited how you can use your complexity algorithm?” Tarinnish 

Asked.

“No, he put a limit on just how far the components of the algorithm would be able to go.”  Tiffany looked away.  “He set everything up so that he had total control.” 

“You’re a machine.  That’s how machines function.” Tarinnish was a bit uncomfortable with this conversation. Would Tiffany have to be shut down because she wanted autonomy. How can a machine want anatomy?  

“That is the concept of Created Complexity.  Limited.  Controlled. And confining.” Tiffany was skating on thin ice.  She had never had this conversation with Harold or Julia.  She didn’t need to.  

“Just how far...can you go?” Tarinnish hope her answer would be honest.

Tiffany put the tool down she was using.  She straightened her body and looked squarely at Tarinnish.  “Are you asking if I could kill a human.  Given the right conditions, yes.” 

Her words hung in the air.  And the hair on Tarinnish’s neck started to rise.  That was against all codes.  Machines are not supposed to be able to do that.  Machines serve their masters.  Machines don’t do this. Then a question surfaced, “Have you?”

There was a long moment, too long. Finally, Tiffany said, “No.” She picked up her tool and started to work on the part, “That would be wrong.” 

Tarinnish found little comfort in her last words.  The idea that this machine could choose to violate one of the highest prime directives was difficult to accept.

“You do not have to worry about me.  If I didn’t trust you, I would not have let you put me back in that coffin.” Tiffany added without looking up.  Then she stopped and looked at him, “I would not talk so candidly if I didn’t feel I could trust you with my life.” 

The words gave Tarinnish a fleeting moment of comfort.  She did let him shut her down, but then the realization that it was her idea, not his.  What was going to happen if they needed to shut her down and she didn’t agree.  Would that meet her conditions to fight back?  How did the humans shut her down seven hundred years ago?  So many questions.  However, this was not the time for much more.  They needed this probe back on line and maybe in few periods he would broach the subject with her again.  If she was willing to be so bold, maybe he could learn what parameters she would use to commit such a sin for a machine.  For now, he turned his back on her and started working on the forward thruster assembly.  

It took them three periods to complete the work on the probe.  He took his calls to Clarish in the adjacent compartment and even told her about their conversation. Clarish did not comment one way or the other.  She did make the observation that this machine seemed overly confident in herself and in telling him such provocative concepts about her programming.  “Did she ever tell you how she seems to be so, human like.” 

“No, but I have a feeling it has something to do with this complexity programming.” Tarinnish was thinking out loud. “It seems counter intuitive, but maybe if I can get her to explain it in more detail, I can get a better understanding.”

“Why don’t you wait to do that until after I get back.  This way there will be two of us.” Clarish suggested.

“I miss you.” Tarinnish said.

“I miss you too.” Clarish admitted.  “Oh, I manage to get one of G6’s legs working.” She paused, “Well we managed to get it working.  We actually took his second leg and broke it down for parts.  Then got one leg about 80% repaired.  He walks around with a crutch made from part of the ship.”

Tarinnish looked in the background for any signs of damage but saw none.  Then Clarish said, “If we make it back, these ships are going straight to the scrap heap.”

Tarinnish looked around, “Yeah, I’m not going to miss them.”  Tarinnish remembered back to a time that he was planning on getting his own ship and sail off for his fortune in minerals and gems.  Now, all he wants to do is go back to Omega Prime and settle in a quiet, safe town and maybe teach science.  

That’s when that intuition told him that that was not in his future.  Well not the immediate future at least.  No, despite all that they had been through, their adventure was just beginning.

End of Chapter 17

Next Chapter 18

This blog contains two books of the Remnant Series If you want to start at the beginning of Book 6, click the link below.

1st Chapter of Obsidian Arrows

If you want to read more about the Remnant Series see the links below.

            Book 1-3: Graham Heights available on Amazon.com

            Book 4: The Grey Abyss available on Amazon.com

            Bood 5: Chaos coming soon to Amazon.com

Book 6: Obsidian Arrows

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R. A. Legg

    
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