Tom was silent for a few moments. Bethany Anne continued walking around the computers.
The two scientists were talking in hushed tones together, observing that the Wi-Fi signal direction seemed to be moving around inside the room.
I don’t believe that the computers in this room are capable of providing a sentient that would understand right from wrong. I suppose that if you provided it means to destroy all of humanity, and then told it to make sure that the world was a safe place, you could end up with humanity as the cockroach that must be destroyed.
So, with no understanding of right or wrong it would just seek out the most logical solution and implement it?
Yes, it would, and it would do it very quickly and very efficiently. Make the wrong request, and you could accidentally destroy the world while you went on a lunch break.
Like that’s not scary or anything.
It has the potential for solving cancer in a matter of a few days if it had the right data. So with great opportunity comes…
Great responsibility?
No, the ability to create bigger and bigger problems, exponentially.
So, you don’t believe that with the computing power that they have in this room that they’re going to attain this potential, this sentience?
No. It looks like the logic has the potential to move into awareness. But it would be some time in the future and require a significantly larger number of machines.
So if we grabbed all of these machines and took them to Dad’s base, and added another five times as many machines. Would that get us pretty close?
Tom was silent for a moment.
Possibly. We would certainly attain computer support beyond what most countries have at their disposal.
Well, that’s what I’m looking for. We need something that can implement our efforts and be so smart as to not leave tracks when it’s doing it. From the perspective of opportunity to accomplish this, do you believe they have succeeded?
I believe that you would need more computer number crunching power. The data input would need to be monitored appropriately, but allow it to pull it much more quickly than they’re doing here. Under those circumstances you should attain the capability you are seeking.
So, they’ve succeeded in what I needed them to do. Now we just need to get ADAM and take them to Colorado with us.
Remind me how you’re going to do that again?
I’m going to be the pimp for alien space ship technology.
11
San Jose, Costa Rica
Giannini was walking down the stairs from her friend’s apartment. She had moved in temporarily with a couple of friends and was sleeping on their couch. She was still a little shook up over the whole escapade a few weeks ago. Jumping off of buildings and flying through the city on a rope ladder wasn’t her idea of an exciting life. It was fine for books, but the reality was too real.
So far, she had not been approached. She hoped that meant she had given the slip to anyone searching for her.
When she turned the corner and looked toward her car, there was a gum smacking girl leaning against it. The girl had a laptop on the hood of her car and a backpack sitting on the ground beside her. Furious at the intrusion, she walked up to the girl and yelled at her in Spanish, “¡Qué grosero! ¿Te estadounidenses siempre actúas de esta manera en su propio país? Simplemente colocando equipos dondequiera que más le convenga?”
Tabitha straightened and turned the laptop towards Giannini. She then pointed to the screen, where she had opened Giannini’s online folder, with the files on Bethany Anne’s team highlighted.
The blood drained from Giannini’s face. Giannini hated hiding, hated being cooped up on the couch. Finally, she had found someone she could yell at to vent the frustration she was feeling. So, she yelled at someone who was aware she knew about the teams. Her life sucked, sometimes.
Giannini was angry, she crossed her arms and asked, “What do you want?”
Tabitha smiled. “Oh? You can speak English just fine, can’t you?”
Giannini’s mouth tightened. “Since you have read my files, you see that I can write English just fine. It doesn’t take a genius to realize I can speak it as well.”
Tabitha shrugged. “Nor does it take a genius to research that the cloud service you’re using to hide these notes uses abysmal encryption. Don’t stick something in the cloud you don’t want read by the government, or your friendly neighborhood hacker.”
“I’ll consider myself chastised. What is it you want? Who do you work for?”
“A woman by the name of Bethany Anne.”
Giannini blurted, “You work for her? Thank god! How do I get ahold of her? Can you tell me? My contact in the police won’t contact her for me. I’ve got to…” Giannini felt a presence beside her and she spun around, almost bumping into Tabitha who reached for her laptop to make sure it didn’t fall off of the hood. When Giannini found an intimidating man in her personal space, she backed up, further squishing Tabitha between herself and the car.
Giannini heard a squeak, and Tabitha’s muffled voice call from behind her. “Michael? Could you lay off the scary-as-fuck guy thing for a second? I’m in dire need of some personal space.”
Giannini started and said, “Excuse me.” She stepped aside, grabbing Tabitha by the shoulders and pushing her between herself and Michael. She felt around inside of her purse with her left hand, coming up with a Taser, and thumbed the charge to its max setting.
Michael smiled down at Tabitha, who rolled her eyes.
Michael looked at Giannini and said in a calm voice, “Giannini.”
That was when she shot him.
Key Biscayne, FL USA
Lance had taken a nap after Bethany Anne dropped him off. He got up, took a shower, and went searching for Patricia whom he found over in the main house, working in one of the small offices.
He called out her name as he walked down the hall, “Patricia?”
“In here, Lance. I’m updating the latest reports for the base project.”
Lance walked into the office, which barely had enough room for a desk, two chairs and a fake potted plant. He sat down in one of the chairs across the desk from Patricia. “Excellent. What have we got?”
Patricia eyed Lance, with her many years of experience around him she could recognize when he was in a different mood. “Did everything go okay in the meeting?”
Lance looked confused. “On the Polaris? Yes, it did. Why do you ask?”
“No reason. Everything okay with Bethany Anne?”
“Yes. Everything’s okay with my daughter. Everything’s okay on the boats, and I understand that everything is okay with the base project?” This time there was a little bit of gruffness in his voice.
Reassured that she had the normal Lance with her, Patricia started giving him an update. The base project update took forty-five minutes. The next hour and a half was spent discussing the major companies that were in review for this quarter. It never ceased to amaze Lance how big the holdings that Michael had deeded over to Bethany Anne were. If there was a commercial venture that was not represented by at least two companies in these holdings, Lance couldn’t think of what it would be. Furthermore, the sheer commercial throughput from all of these companies was more than the GDP of many countries.
“See if we can pass these three company names over to Nathan. He should be able to take a look inside of their financials and find out if there’s a reason to visit them or not. Let him know that we’re willing to go see them if it is necessary. I don’t want another Patriarch Research FUBAR this time.”
Patricia asked, “What happened with Patriarch Research?”
Lance answered, “The way I understand it, we might possibly have created the first artificially intelligent computer. That might be good or might have resulted in a catastrophic uh-oh. Either way, Nathan will understand what I mean.” Lance leaned back in his chair.
Patricia, recognizing his body language as ‘thinking about
something,’ went back to her books. She was busy making notes and jotting down tasks for the next few days. She didn’t feel Lance’s eyes as he returned his attention to her.
Lance was staring, both at her, and in her general direction. He was replaying in his mind his conversation with Bethany Anne. He had been giving what she said some serious thought. At one time he might’ve said he was an old man, and didn’t have anything to offer someone as young as Patricia. With the current conditions he realized that he was going to live a lot longer. Was she the one that he wanted?
That was the question, wasn’t it? At his age, he should have enough wisdom to be able to make a good decision. He wasn’t all testosterone and stupidity anymore. What did he value in a relationship? Someone by his side, someone who would be able to carry on a conversation? All of that and more. He found himself wanting to see her smile, especially from things he did for her. No one could argue that she wasn’t a huge help to him. Ever since she came to Miami his stress levels were considerably down. In addition, he felt that his effectiveness had gone up by a factor of three at least.
They made a good team. He allowed himself to look at her. Truly look at her as a woman. Oh, he had noticed her body before, he wasn’t dead. But this time, he looked at her without the blanket of the Army’s responsibilities and regulations on his shoulders.
So she made him laugh, her smile lit up the evening when they were out together. Before, she had been a comrade, another guy in the group, so to speak. Now, he had to decide whether or not… no, that wasn’t true. The biggest question was what would he feel if the doorbell rang and someone came here to take her out on a date?
He looked down at his hands clasped in his lap, and lost himself in his memories. A couple of minutes later, he heard Patricia call his name a second time to get his attention. “Lance?”
He looked up to see a worried expression on her face. “Are you all right? You’ve been acting funny all afternoon. Do I need to see if you have a temperature?”
Lance said, “No, you wouldn’t find me with an elevated temperature.”
“Another benefit of Bethany Anne’s rejuvenation potion?”
Lance smiled, looking into Patricia’s eyes. “Patricia, may I have the honor of taking you out on a date?”
Patricia was enjoying herself, the whole evening had been wonderful. For the first time in her experience being around Lance, he had treated her like a woman. Oh, he knew her as a female, sure. But she was always one of those girls that just got lumped into the guy’s group. This time, he was opening doors and pulling out chairs.
He had been on his best behavior, treating her like a lady.
He had taken her out for seafood, then they had decided on nightcaps at a bar overlooking the beach. It was beautiful. She was sitting at a tiny table for two. Two chairs with barely enough room on the table for two drinks and a small bowl of nuts. But the view out of the window was fantastic.
She smiled wistfully. She saw him over at the bar, getting their drinks. He now looked younger than she did, by a few years.
She was dating a younger, older man.
He turned away from the bar, carrying their drinks, a smile on his face and a glint in his eye. Was he hoping he was going to get lucky? God, she hoped so!
He sat her drink in front of her, and then sat down next to her. “Cheers!” She picked up her drink and touched his glass, looking into his eyes as they clinked together. Taking a sip, she set it down.
He asked her, “How’s your drink?”
She looked down at it. She didn’t remember tasting it. She picked it up, smiling, and tried it again. “Well, the first one failed to make an impression, the second time it was very nice.” She set it back down. “And yours?”
“Not as nice as the company, but delicious nevertheless.”
She might shoot herself later, but she couldn’t hold in the question that had been on her mind. “Lance, why now?”
She watched as he raised an eyebrow. Not going to work, tonight Mr. Man…
When his eyebrow trick didn’t get a follow-up, he sighed. “I’m going to have to work harder. Patricia, I’m kinda old here, if you hadn’t noticed.” Lance realized that Patricia was checking him out, pursing her lips. “What am I, a T-bone?”
“Maybe a filet, have to see how hard you are.” She smiled but grabbed her drink. She needed to hide her blush.
Lance lost his train of thought for a moment. “Inspect me like that all you want and I’ll sit here forever.” He tried to remember the conversation. “Where was I?”
Patricia got her troublemaking tongue back under control. “You’re old and why are you asking me for a date now.”
Lance jumped on the easy way out. “Because I’m old! You just said it yourself, not too many years left in this… this…” By now, even Lance realized he wasn’t going to sell this excuse. “Ok, the truth is I’ve got a skull as thick as a cement bunker and I’ve been as obtuse as a triangle. Bethany Anne hit me so hard it made my ears ring.”
“Ohhhh! She better not have hit you. I’ll give that girl a piece of my mind. Next time little miss prissy boots…”
Lance stared at the fiery woman, finally interrupting her tirade. “Patricia, she didn’t hit me.”
“I’ll… What?” Patricia eyed Lance.
“I said, she didn’t actually hit me.” Lance’s lip started to curl ever so slightly.
Patricia’s face heated up. “I’m sorry, it’s just that she hits those guards of hers all of the time. I guess I got carried away.”
“That’s just when they’re working out. I don’t remember her hitting her guards any other time.”
“Well, she talks about it enough.”
“They’re joking, Patricia. When have you seen her hit any of her guards, outside of practice, hard enough that it seriously hurt them?”
“Well, I haven’t. But she seems so violent sometimes.”
“Do you mean physically, or verbally?”
“Oh! Don’t get me started on her potty mouth. I blame you for that, completely.”
Lance smiled. “I’ll own up to that. Never suggested that I was able to be both her mom and her dad. So, between the two choices I chose dad.”
Patricia sighed and played with her drink, turning it in a circle. “I’m sorry, Lance. I’m scared to know your answer, so I’m babbling. I love your daughter, even if I think that she needs a little more lace and a little less leather in her life.”
Lance shrugged. “Did what I did. What I do know is that if she hadn’t been ready and tough, Michael wouldn’t have selected her as a candidate. And if that had been the case she would be in the grave right now. So, I’ll take my lumps and I’m proud of her.” Patricia put a hand on Lance’s. He smiled at her. “What I meant, before I set you off, is that Bethany Anne pointed out that I wasn’t aware of the opportunity right in front of my blind eyes. I wasn’t thinking like a civilian. You were still part of my command. We were having fun, but I still lived by the Army code of regulations. So, the two of us had a very polite and gentle conversation where she…”
Patricia interrupted, “Boxed your ears and told you to man up?”
Lance’s sharp laugh caused a couple of heads to turn before the other customers resumed their own conversations. “Yes, pretty much.” Lance took his hand out from under Patricia’s, and then took hers in his.
He continued, “There’s only one decision, and it could be a relationship ending one. Not in the near term, but certainly in a few years.”
Patricia was both excited that Lance was talking ‘relationship’ anything. Then her insecurity kicked in about the few years comment.
“What? What’s the decision?”
Lance sighed. He had been dreading her possible response to this question all night long.
He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes. “Patricia, are you willing to drink Bethany Anne’s blood?”
12
The Queen Bitch’s Ship Ad Aeternitatem
&
nbsp; Captain Wagner entered the compartment holding TOM’s ship and joined Todd.
“Captain I appreciate you coming down here for a little chat.”
He nodded. “Todd, what do you need? I presume, since I’m here next to the ship, you want to talk about this?”
Todd turned to look over his shoulder at Tom’s ship, his team’s responsibility since it had arrived. “Yes, I’m concerned that if all of us are off the Ad Aeternitatem, how are we going to handle security? What are we going to do should David, or anyone else, actually try to come after it?”
Captain Wagner walked towards the spacecraft. “Even though I’ve been down here quite a few times, I still can’t believe we have a craft that’s been in another galaxy sitting in the hold of my ship.” Captain Wagner turned to look back at Todd. “Have you ever stopped to consider the ship has been through untold reaches of space that no human has ever seen?”
Todd joined Captain Wagner in staring at the ship. “Not until you mentioned it, to be honest. I consider the technology enhancements that are inside all the time. Do you realize that the fate of the world sits just ten feet in front of us? Or, if some other power gets ahold of this ship, what they might do with it?”
Captain Wagner started tapping his foot. “No, I can’t say that I’ve considered the military ramifications. I’ve been focused on other things, but you make a very good point. Have you talked to anyone else about your concerns?”
“Only Pete. He still tends to assume that upper management is always aware of everything that’s going on. So he hasn’t quite grasped the fact that top brass sometimes gets overwhelmed. And, that means they occasionally fail to recognize a potential ‘oh shit.’”
“So, I take it you want me to be the one that pushes this up the chain?”
Todd smiled. “That’s one thing I’ve always admired about you Captain Wagner, you really see to the core of a problem and the best solution very, very quickly.”
“Humph. You don’t think that talking to Nathan or Frank is the best next step?”
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 117