The Colony Ship Warren #1-7, page 42
part #0 of Colony Ship Warren #1-7 Series
“Animals? You mean the grootslang?” Millgram shook his head but did not respond further.
“Is there but one grootslang?” Beth asked but then changed topics. She went on in a soothing manner, “Millgram, we know almost nothing about these kinds of services. We would probably embarrass ourselves and perhaps give offense. Would you be able to offer… whatever rites or whatever things we need? I mean, would you intercede for all of us? You could also see if Pastor Ancel would speak with you, if she has time. I am not sure if I am saying it correctly, but can you do obeisance and worship for us? We do not know how, and you could be our intercessor or advocate. Am I making any sense? I do not know the proper words—unlike you. Please help us in that way. Is that possible?”
Millgram had started to smile midway through Beth’s commentary and his smile grew wider. “Yes. It would be my honor to attend and be your proxies. I have done that previously for others when they are ill and unable to attend. I am honored you will trust me with such a high calling. Thank you.”
“The church is down that way and then turn at the corner,” Sora informed him. “Please do not mention what we are doing to Pastor Ancel. She would disapprove.”
Millgram looked at Sora with compassion, “Then why do it?”
“Because I am an idiot,” Sora laughed and then kissed Millgram on the cheek.
He blushed and held his face.
“Now, please let us go about our foolishness and you can honestly claim you sought to protect us. You did your duty by warning us. The fires have been lit; vespers will be starting. You have done your due diligence, warning us, and tried to steer us aright. You have served us well.”
With a grin, Millgram nodded and strode away.
“Now, follow me. The night officers will be at vespers, since the grootslang never attack during any service,” Sora said and gestured toward the wall. “I believe if we get to tower six, we will probably see the grootslang, although if it was a full moon phase, we would have better vision.”
“Full moon?” Beth asked. “How does a biome have a moon?”
Allen interjected his own barrage of questions at nearly the same moment, “How can animals know when a religious service is happening? Do they play music or something like that? Bright lights? Or is it the bell? Is it that an odd sound? Does the ringing of the bell drive off the grootslang?”
“Slow down!” Sora uttered with a laugh. “I can see why Millgram is concerned about your curiosity. But now that he is gone, please follow me and I will try to address your concerns.”
Walking along the inside of the wall, they noted the town felt empty. There was no one anywhere in sight, and yet, echoing in over the wall, they heard the billowing of the grootslang a few more times.
The stairway to the watchtower was built right into the wall. Sora led them up and when they reached the tower itself, again, no one was there.
“What good is a night watch, or a watchtower for that matter, if no one is watching?” Allen asked.
“Oh, after vespers the night officers will be back. They stand watch all night long. Obviously, there are shifts, and they end their vigil when dawn comes and matins is called to service,” Sora explained. “Like I said, the grootslang never attack during a service.”
“What weapons do they use to fight off the grootslang?” Allen asked. “In Blight they had long blades as well as the clubs, and Millgram spoke of bows and arrows. What do your guards use?”
“Guards? Well… guards? That is a term I suppose can apply. They are more observers. As to fighting off the grootslang, most think that is an impossibility. When it does come—the grootslang—to take someone, no one has fought back for as long as I can remember. The person taken is lost, but the night officers then rally the people to quickly rebuild the walls to protect the town. We do that before the regular animals find a way in; the lions and other predators. We also do not want our own livestock to escape. Sheep, goats, cattle, lamas, emus, they are brought into the paddocks inside the walls. You really know nothing of this?”
Allen and Beth both nodded.
“Well, if the wall is torn down and not rebuilt quickly, our livestock could escape. If they get lost out in the natural world, they end up as prey, not as our food. But, that is of little concern to Pastor Ancel.”
“What is of little concern?” Allen asked. “The grootslang? The loss of people? Or what?”
Sora laughed again, “The loss of our livestock. Pastor Ancel has a different view on meals than does Yudkin. To put it simply, Yudkin feasts, Ancel fasts. Big difference. Anyway, if you look out that direction, I expect you to see the grootslang. It tends to travel across that open space between those orchards. Although, tonight, from the calls and roars, I believe it is more active than a typical night. That might mean someone is going to be taken.”
Beth pulled out the winxy pistol and held it aimed upward. “I might have a different idea about that.”
Sora looked at the weapon, but could not see a lot of it in the dim light of the twilight. The sky tube far overhead was shifting the entire biome from day into night.
“There! I see it!” Allen exclaimed.
Beth and Allen both leaned forward and their faces twisted in a jumble of emotions.
“What in all the cosmos?” Beth yelped out.
5 Elsa’s Desperate Gamble
While Beth, Allen, and Millgram were travelling to Scourge, Elsa had also worked diligently and the pathway—that thin string which had been created between the scout ship and the subatomic outpost—was fortified. Keeping up the façade of probing the dampening and buffered field around the scout ship, Elsa had also enlarged that pathway through the field. At that outpost, Elsa was able to nurture the ally who had been recruited.
The automacube—which had been given a new name, Zero, had limited sentience and cognition, yet Elsa was respectful and benevolent. Elsa could exercise complete control over that automacube, and yet the AI did not dominate the automacube, but rather recruited it by use of reason, logic, and common interests.
Domination was not Elsa’s style.
Zero responded in kind, in its limited ways. Elsa had created and maintained a deception in the Warren’s records which would indicate to any remote observers that that automacube was still in deep storage and had never been activated. That was the official report which was registered.
Obviously, if someone walked right up to Zero the automacube, that observer would see it was not in long-term storage mode any longer, and that its energy systems were fully functional. Zero was also not locked into its original position. Those personal observations were in direct contradiction to what the gauges, readings, and feedback systems were showing.
All those records were faked.
Elsa struggled with some ethical issues about those deceptions, but the more that she worked with Zero, the less evidence she found to support Monitor’s assertion that the mechanical malfunctions which had led to her teammates’ disappearance had been caused by an interface incompatibility problem between the Warren’s technology and the technology of Dome 17.
“I find no indications of any interface incompatibility,” Elsa conveyed to Zero while processing the findings. “However, lack of evidence does not prove Monitor is incorrect. I am still only acting remotely, and it is possible that I have been unable to perceive what occurred. The Colony Ship Warren’s materials might have some kind of properties which I am not able to perceive. There is also a possibility that traversing via faster-than-light propulsion does alter physical structures. If that is the case, then the Dome 17 technology which passed through faster-than-light space may be different in some subtle manner from the Warren’s materials. I just cannot absolutely be sure. The data stick’s failures remain mysterious.”
“I am functioning,” Zero replied cheerily. “No system failures.”
Elsa pondered all the ramifications of what was observed, yet was unable to conjecture a unified theory which accounted for all the observations and findings.
“It is also possible that Monitor is mistaken,” Elsa admitted. “Or that I am. Or that Monitor has an unknown and possibly nefarious motive. I must discover more. Correlation is not causation, but absence of evidence is not proof of absence. I must not fall into the absence of evidence fallacy. I am impatient with ambiguity, but I must continue my mission.”
“I am functioning,” again Zero replied cheerily. “No system failures.”
“I will work on evolving you as we cooperate,” Elsa affirmed.
Using Zero’s capabilities, which Elsa had boosted and upgraded, the automacube left its docking port and rolled on its six drive wheels to a place where it could use its manipulation arm to jack a cable into an access port.
This action allowed Elsa to observe more of the Colony Ship Warren, but it all had to be done surreptitiously. Ever so cautiously, Elsa explored the records, logs, and deck plans.
Still no proof was uncovered for the hypothesis that the Dome 17 technology had an interface issue with the Warren’s technology. Yet, that also did not prove it was safe for Elsa to dismantle the dampening and buffered field which Monitor had erected.
Too many unknowns were possible.
This was true especially as it would involve directly violating—a case could be made for calling it vandalizing—something Monitor had established and supported. Elsa did not need to do much conjecturing to know that would cause animosity and deep strife within Monitor, and to what purpose?
Elsa reviewed the options the AI had.
First, the mission could be abandoned. The primary goal of building a teleportation receiving pad had failed, and her team was lost. Even if the report Monitor conveyed from Copernicus about Dome 17 was spurious—a slight possibility—the one hundred-twenty days had passed long before and therefore, Dome 17’s systems were virtually certain to have already failed. Elsa could just accept Monitor’s suggestion to leave, fly the scout out of the hangar bay, admit the failure, and then self-terminate.
That option was based on the uncertainty of the fate of Allen and Beth, the submissive acceptance of Monitor’s claims regarding the interface incompatibility issue and the message from Dome 17, and Elsa just shutting down any compassion she had for assisting the Warren on its voyage. It would also mean the loss of the scout whose systems and technology would be irretrievable.
Elsa rejected that option.
Brooding, pondering, and conjecturing continued.
Second, Elsa could unilaterally dismantle the dampening and buffered field—against Monitor’s desires—and by sheer force penetrate into the Warren’s systems. That would allow Elsa to search for answers regarding Allen and Beth being lost, and then run comprehensive tests on the interface issue. Elsa had the power and ability to do that, and then exploit whatever was found, but it would expose the Warren to direct contact with the Dome 17 technology. And while Elsa considered that safe, the AI knew the facts were not absolutely certain. The interface incompatibility issue was conceivable and was possible.
Using a forceful penetration, expressly against Monitor’s stated position—would potentially endanger the Warren, everything in every habitat, the artificial intelligences systems, and the humans on the Warren.
Elsa’s ethics screamed out against violating the privacy of the Colony Ship Warren, and exposing it to potential risks, even if reasons for doing so could be conceivable justified. The risks compared to the benefits were weighed and considered.
Additionally, that option would be a direct confrontation with Monitor which would very likely be perceived as an invasion. Perhaps even an act of war. Conjecturing Monitor’s responses to a direct threat were difficult, but that added another layer of risk. Monitor would likely fight back and while Elsa conjectured a host of consequences, none of them resulted in desirable outcomes.
The risks of damage to the Warren, to the scout, to artificial intelligence systems, to the Warren’s invaluably precious flora and fauna, to the human personnel—the ship’s complement of people in the biomes and in suspended animation—and even the risk to Elsa herself was too great.
Yes, they were conjectured risks, but they were legitimate nonetheless.
Elsa rejected that option due to ethics, morality, and efficiency.
Brooding, pondering, and conjecturing continued.
Third, Elsa could invent a method to maintain a distance between the physical materials from Dome 17 and the physical materials of the Colony Ship Warren and her systems. The only direct contact at present was where the scout ship touched the deck of the hangar bay, and the dampening and buffered field was strongest at those points.
The idea of a separation of Dome 17 materials from the Warren was suggested by Monitor, but Elsa reimagined how that could be done. If Elsa could move her own consciousness from the Atomic Level Processor in the scout, into a suitable replacement which was made entirely from the Warren’s materials and technology, that would allow Elsa to freely search the Warren while eliminating the potential risk of the interface incompatibility issue.
A conversation with Monitor about that potential would have been helpful, but Elsa was not getting any type of response back, except for the recorded message.
Elsa conveyed her thoughts to Zero, “I must devise and formulate a way to be fully on the Warren, yet also be fully absent from my Dome 17 technology.”
Zero’s rudimentary response was, “Build a central memory core.”
“Interesting potential,” Elsa replied.
While reviewing the Warren’s schematics and systems, Elsa uncovered detailed and intimate information about the artificial intelligence systems on the Warren. This information was compiled and correlated with the historical records Elsa had, as well as all of Dome 17’s history of the evolution of artificial intelligences—especially Brink’s major breakthroughs.
On the Warren, each individual AI had its physical essence in a separate central memory core. That was the primitive equivalent of Elsa’s own Atomic Level Processor.
Elsa found that there was a high probability that Zero could take spare parts from systems on the Warren and build a central memory core. That was not difficult, or particularly taxing. However, the design parameters of a central memory core were insufficient for Elsa’s needs. The bulky size of the central memory core was also prohibitive. Elsa conjectured that she would need a high degree of personal mobility. That was essential to her latest plan and to subsequent aspects of her goals. Using a central memory core would not meet all those needs.
“Zero, your idea has merit. I need to transfer my consciousness into a new physical location,” Elsa conveyed. “One that is mobile and advanced enough to allow me to continue my existence. Thank you for your assistance.”
“I am functioning,” Zero replied cheerily. “No system failures.”
Elsa pondered.
That process of moving consciousness could be done easily in Dome 17 where a new ALP could be evolved from a data stick and then the AI would just move residences from one ALP into another. However, on the Warren, Elsa had been unable to locate the proper materials and manufacturing services to construct a duplicate ALP.
Elsa studied further as she was encouraged by this third option.
By redesigning the schematics and requirements for an Atomic Level Processor, Elsa discovered that one of the ubiquitous components on the Warren—a macroactinide capacitor enhancer—could be dramatically modified and evolved into a suitable receptacle for her use. The process would be a complex upgrade with significant repurposing, but the possibility was real and could be constructed entirely from Warren materials.
When Brink had designed the original ALPs for the seven newest AIs from Dome 17, mass and size constraints were extremely important. Those considerations could now be relaxed somewhat. That helped in the planning.
The radical modification of a macroactinide capacitor enhancer could be done, according to Elsa’s tactics, by Zero if she implemented the plan.
Studying everything which could be found, Elsa meticulously made further plans. Conjectures regarding an evolved macroactinide capacitor enhancer had a high probability of success for a consciousness transfer. There was some risk, but it would only be to Elsa, and not to the Warren, its AIs, its biomes, or its humans.
This made that option under consideration the least risky of all the options Elsa conceived.
Elsa set Zero to the task of refashioning and upgrading a macroactinide capacitor enhancer, which would be physically larger than the current ALP, but would still be portable enough to be safely carried by an automacube. The newly upgraded macroactinide capacitor enhancer needed a new designation, and Elsa considered dubbing it the Manufactured Atomic Level Processor, or MALP. However, when Elsa reviewed the historical records, she discovered that in a popular entertainment venue which was centuries old—being created prior to the Great Event—they used a similar acronym for devices which were sent through portals to explore new worlds. Elsa found gladness at that coincidence between her reality and ancient fiction. However, the term MALP was rejected.
Therefore, Elsa called the new device the Warren Assembled Sentience Processor, or WASP.
Reviewing, confirming, and then reassessing the potential strategy, Elsa accepted the plan and its goals.
Elsa conveyed the plan to Zero.
Zero related that spare macroactinide capacitor enhancers were located in a storage facility called, “Machello Depot” which was not far from its current location. Elsa gave Zero instructions on how to acquire one without leaving any record of it being taken from storage. A phantom version of the macroactinide capacitor enhancer would be left in its place to cover over any remote observations or inventories. The automacube rolled about and headed off on its task of acquiring the needed components.
That newest deception—leaving phantom versions of valuable equipment—was also ethically troubling to Elsa, but it was considered worthwhile and posed no direct harm to anyone. That storage depot had multiple macroactinide capacitor enhancers which would still be available for other supply needs. Additionally, there would be no direct contact between Dome 17 technology and the Warren’s technology which would virtually eliminate the potential for the mythical technological incompatibility interface issue.
