Attunga

by Peter Wood

  ‘It’s like an Earth ocean. They could have ten times as many dolphins and there’d still be plenty of room.’

  ‘Not really. It’s just a drop compared to Earth, but I know what you mean. It does make the Warrakan reaches seem tiny.’

  But on Warrakan every major type of marine environment on Earth would eventually be active, from polar to tropical, from nutrient rich to nutrient poor, in an attempt to foster the greatest degree of biodiversity.

  ‘Why have they built it so big? They’ve done the same on all the moons and they won’t need this much space for fifty or sixty years.’

  ‘The reaches aren’t just for dolphins. All the other marine life needs to be established too. Most of the species can only be introduced when the things they depend on have developed properly, and that takes years, Calen. You know all this.’

  ‘Yes I do, but it still feels like they’ve built something like Shark Bay at Monkey Mia when a Warrakan reach would have been enough.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! There will be time to have a look at Uranus if we leave now. I’ll race you back to the landing stage.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! I want you to see all the craters and canyons. Wait till you see the other moons. Some of them are smaller than Attunga.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! The Witnesses on Miranda have arranged for us to see their famous space array.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! We’re meeting some of the AIs at the Titania Space habitat.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! This floating research station in the Uranus atmosphere sounds weird.’

  ***

  ‘Let’s go! We’re heading for home.’

  ‘Right now? And what’s the big grin for, Thom?’

  ‘I’m allowed to use an extra half-G of thrust and that means a new speed record.’

  ‘This is half a day early. Are we in a hurry?’

  ‘Yes, because Sonic told Turaku he wants to get back quickly.’

  Wirrin looked to Calen and Sonic.

  ‘He’s missing Puck and Flute.’

  ‘Yes, I agree with Thom. Let’s go!’

  After a short period of official farewells the Comet fired up and the screen images of Uranus began to shrink at an astonishing rate. There was no 4G limitation way out here.

  ***

  ‘I wonder if we’ll ever make another trip out there?’

  The big wall display screen was replaying their plunge down the 20 kilometre Great Rift Canyon on Miranda, and even here, in the comfort of their grav-sofa, the visual effect of rushing past the cliff faces and icy outcrops was quite dizzying. The people on Miranda claimed it was the greatest recreational adventure on any of the Uranus moons and the trio was reliving the excitement.

  ‘I don’t think so … You might, Thom, if the Comet has to go there again, but unless they need Sonic we wouldn’t all go. It’s only seven years before Warrakan starts travelling.’

  Conversation paused while a great column of ice loomed on the screen.

  ‘Whoo! Remember that bit, Thom? I thought we were going to collide.’

  ‘Everyone did. The course for the ferry was designed that way.’

  ‘Seven years doesn’t sound like much now we’re sure we’re going. I used to think we’d never even get to Warrakan till Calen made sure we did.’

  Calen shook his head.

  ‘Not me, Thom. It was Sonic’s pod deciding to live on Warrakan that got us there. If they’d stayed here everything would have been different.’

  It certainly would. It was unthinkable that Calen could be separated from Sonic, and just as unthinkable that they not stay together as a trio. A breathtaking buttress of ice jutting from the canyon wall filled the screen but Thom was suddenly not noticing.

  ‘Sonic’s pod won’t change their minds will they? Some other pods did.’

  ‘I don’t think so. Sonic’s totally excited about the Warrakan reaches, and he likes the idea of travelling to another star too, but he’d always stay with his pod … Well I think he would. He might be different when he’s grown up because some male dolphins get very independent when they’re older.’

  ‘That’s all right then. The other dolphins always do what he wants.’

  ‘Not exactly, Thom. It seems like it but it’s more a kind of understanding between them that he knows what they want.’

  ‘Well, when we move to Warrakan they’ll all love it so much they’ll never want to leave.’

  Wirrin agreed with Thom because every dolphin who saw them loved the Warrakan reaches. So far Sonic, Puck and Flute were the only Attunga dolphins to visit, but if their reactions were anything to go by, then all the rest would be staying on Warrakan forever. Well, at least till the new Attunga reaches started coming online in about two years.

  ‘Are they ready to move? It’s only two weeks away.’

  ‘Of course they are. They’ve been ready for the past six months but the moving date’s been changed three times on them so far and I think … ’

  Calen stopped mid-sentence and stared in surprise at the suddenly blank display screen.

  ‘Why did you turn that off? It’s only half finished.’

  ‘I didn’t.’

  Calen and Thom stared in puzzlement and Wirrin’s mind started to race.

  ‘I connected directly to the Comet’s archive to get that clip and the link’s gone.’

  ‘How can it be gone? Links don’t do that.’

  Thom was right, and particularly so in this case, because communications from the Comet had the highest level of security and stability available on Attunga.

  Wirrin headed for his InfoSystem but before he could move further, four holo forms blinked into existence: Turaku, Pirramar, Yajala and someone unknown, all with strangely robotic-looking expressions. Wirrin took in the scene with sudden apprehension, which increased when no-one spoke. Another form took shape, this time with the usual shimmer effect, and Akama caught everyone’s attention.

  ‘Wirrin, we have some very bad news. Moments ago Pirramar received a cry for help from the K74 AI, and in the short time before his call was terminated he managed to convey that the processors and programs at the core of his consciousness were being attacked. For the first time in over a century an AI has died.’

  Chapter 22

  Shocked, Wirrin blanked for a moment before words started to tumble out. ‘He couldn’t be. I was speaking to him only a couple of hours ago and he had everything planned for what to do if there was danger. It would only take him instants to flash onto the InterWeb. He must be on a storage system somewhere and he’ll contact us when he can.’

  ‘Wirrin, he’s gone.’

  Akama’s words thrust like a sword through Wirrin’s numbing incredulity. He pulled his thoughts together and looked to Pirramar.

  ‘How could it happen? It was an attack wasn’t it? And it came from the rogue scientist didn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it was an attack and, with a ninety-eight per cent probability, it came from the rogue. How it happened is not completely clear and we’d like you to work with us in examining the information we’ve retrieved.’

  ‘Wirrin will do whatever he can for whatever period of time is needed.’

  Wirrin jumped at the commanding tone of Akama’s voice.

  ‘Honoured One. Of course … Do you mean right now?’

  ‘I do. With a demonstrated capability and willingness to destroy an AI, he may pose a threat to AIs in other locations and we need to determine whether there is any possibility of that. Calen, I’d like you to meet with Sonic and Turaku at the dolphinarium, and Thom, as a precautionary measure, you should move on board the Comet.’

  The trio exchanged looks then came to life. Wirrin sat at his InfoStation, Calen headed for his skimmer, and Thom raced for the nearest TransCom portal.

  Akama looked to one side as if distracted. ‘Wirrin, I have a meeting with the members of the Witness Council and AI representatives. I will speak with
you later.’

  Akama and Turaku disappeared, leaving Wirrin with Pirramar and the unknown AI.

  ‘Wirrin, this is Bakana. He’s our young reconstruction of the K74 AI and he’ll be working with us.’

  ‘Reconstruction’ and ‘young’ were both unfamiliar terms with regard to an AI but right now didn’t feel like the time to ask.

  ***

  At mid-morning the next day the trio regrouped and caught up with each other’s doings while Thom prepared one of his special snacks before they retired for a well-earned rest.

  ‘Thom, you won’t sleep properly if you eat all that.’

  ‘Yes I will. I was awake all night and we were so busy I hardly had time to eat.’

  ‘What sort of busy?’

  ‘All sorts. For a start we went into security mode and met up with Comet Two and did a high-level scan of everything in a two light-minute radius. That didn’t take long because our sensors are so powerful, especially the long-range ones on Comet Two, and we developed a threat gradient model for everything out there. Most of it we already had but the deep scans picked up quite a few new in-bounds.’

  Wirrin didn’t have a clue what a threat gradient model really was, but in-bounds seemed self-explanatory.

  ‘Heading for Attunga? Were there many of them?’

  ‘More than twelve hundred, which is higher than normal, but not by much. Only five of them turned out to be reds – that’s a threat classification – and the rest were all okay.’

  ‘What did you do about the reds, Thom? They don’t sound too good.’

  ‘We didn’t do anything, which is what usually happens. They just get monitored carefully by habitat security. But at about midnight we got word from the Witness Council about their policy changes and we turned three of them away.’

  ‘What policy changes?’

  ‘They’ve decided to have a clear zone, with extended boundaries, around Attunga and Warrakan, and they’re notifying any vessels without transparent security to stay away.’

  ‘How did you hear about that, Calen? It’s news to me,’ Thom said.

  ‘I was there with Sonic and Turaku when they decided on it and sent the message to get rid of all the surveillance drones.’

  ‘Get rid of them? Wombats! That’s really something. How did they do that?’

  Thom’s face lit up. ‘That was one of the exciting bits. Comet Two disabled every single one of them in less than a second then guided them to collection points and the Comet gathered over a thousand of them in two pick-ups.’

  ‘A thousand? They used to be in the hundreds.’

  ‘Wirrin, that’s ages ago. There were nearly three thousand altogether. The numbers climbed like crazy when K74 started to focus on us. They keep redesigning them and sending more.’

  ‘You said one of the exciting bits …?’

  ‘There were more. It was a busy night, Wirrin. The next thing was sending a ship back to Mars. Some program of yours picked up that they were troublemakers.’

  ‘Mine? What are you talking about?’

  ‘Comet-Turaku said the information came from a task you designed to watch Mars habitats.’

  ‘That? It was just a challenge from Pirramar to learn more about my InfoSystem. They used it for real?’

  ‘Obviously. It found a connection between the ship from one of the Mars polar habitats and K74. We took the Comet right up close and told them they had to go back to Mars.’

  ‘Just like that? You told them to go and they went?’

  ‘That was really exciting. They said we had no jurisdiction over them and refused, so we took over their controls and turned them around.’

  Wirrin could hardly believe what he was hearing.

  ‘But they’re right, Thom. We don’t have jurisdiction out there.’

  Calen explained. ‘After last night we do. The Witness Council and the AIs ratified it for situations involving Attunga and Warrakan interests. It was a very serious meeting last night. Sonic said he’d never seen such strong emotions from Witnesses and the AIs amazed him with their determination.’

  Wirrin stared at Calen. ‘Sonic said that? It must have been some meeting.’

  ‘It was, but Thom hasn’t finished yet.’

  Thom looked up in surprise. ‘You know what happened?’

  ‘Thom, I was at the Council meeting when the AIs asked Sonic and the Witnesses if destroying the drones on the K74 ship had their approval. I don’t know the details but I heard them say to go ahead as long as no people were hurt.’

  By now Wirrin could hardly contain himself. ‘Which K74 ship and what drones? Was it one of those big spaceships?’

  ‘It was the biggest. The one that was named after the number-one Cadre person. He’s going to be mad as a bunyip when he finds out … Which he already will have by now.’

  Wirrin rolled his eyes, partly because Thom was expecting a reaction, and partly because this did sound like something dramatic. Thom understood both reasons and laughed.

  ‘It was heading towards Attunga at 9G acceleration, which is fairly fast, and we detected a load of new drones they were carrying. That was after we’d collected all the local drones so we sent them a message saying no more were to be delivered. They ignored that. They probably thought we didn’t know exactly where they were.

  ‘We sent them another message saying their course showed they were heading straight for Attunga, and if they didn’t turn back the drones would be destroyed. They ignored that too, even though we gave them plenty of time to talk it over with their controllers on K74, so we vaporised the drones and locked control of their ship for an hour.’

  ‘Wouldn’t vaporising the drones be dangerous to people inside the ship?’

  ‘It didn’t happen inside the ship. We forced their loading system to launch all the drones. You should have seen it.’

  Wirrin wasn’t going to miss that and a few seconds later had a holo clip of the event up and running. Loading bays functioned all along the side of the massive ship, the comparatively tiny drones appeared in the openings, moved steadily away, then flashed into spectacular brilliance for an instant.

  ‘Thom, this shows Comet’s multi-spectrum beams. You must have been really close?’

  ‘We were. We went in to 5 kilometres.’

  ‘But that means their visuals would have been able to pick up every detail of the Comet.’

  ‘Not if we didn’t allow it. We’ve got the same technique that tricks the visuals for the drones near Warrakan.’

  ‘You did allow it?’

  ‘Yes, so they could see that a ship less than half their size could run rings around them, take over all their controls, and even make them blow themselves to bits if we wanted to. We gave them a message that they can’t just do whatever they like.’ Thom’s feelings were starting to show so Wirrin agreed with a quiet nod. The Cadre would get the message all right, but he didn’t think it would change their plans. They might be more careful for a while, but getting direct confirmation that capabilities like those of the Comet existed would make them more determined to have those capabilities themselves.

  He turned to Calen. ‘What happened at the Council? You were heading for the dolphinarium when you left.’

  ‘Sonic’s module was there so we met him and travelled to the Council Hall. He needed to be there in person instead of holo. Dolphins like to do it that way for important things.

  ‘The first part of the meeting was sad because they talked about dying and how the K74 AI helped us before he was murdered. The AIs were quiet during that part but they took over when the meeting started to talk about what to do.’

  That was interesting and Wirrin would have to look at that when he had a chance. Taking over was unusual for AIs.

  ‘First they said that K74 has to learn that it must never happen again and they’re taking a lot of actions to back that up. The Cadre won’t know what’s hit them when it starts.’

  ‘When it starts? Calen, it already has.’

  ‘Some
of it. Thom’s told us about clearing the drones and confronting their ships, but it’s much bigger than that. Every AI in the solar system has been informed that K74 purposely killed one of them, and they’re all protesting about it to the humans in their own habitats. Akama said there will be total outrage from almost the whole solar system and K74 will be treated like a pariah, whatever that is.

  ‘The AIs are going to withdraw their services for anything related to the Cadre.’

  ‘There aren’t any AIs on K74 now, so that doesn’t sound like it will do much.’

  ‘Thom, think. The InterWeb relies on AIs to function and that means the Cadre will be cut off from just about everything. If they want to communicate with the rest of the solar system they’ll have to send their own signals. And even that won’t work because the receivers are managed by AIs.’

  ‘No InterWeb? Calen, they won’t be able to keep going.’

  ‘Yes they will. They’ve got an Intelligent System that runs their own version. They use Intelligent Systems to run nearly everything, which is a problem that the Council and the AIs have to solve somehow. They talked about it a great deal.’

  Wirrin’s interest was piqued: Intelligent Systems were one of his areas of interest.

  ‘What problem, Calen?’

  ‘The systems will all have to work at a higher level now that there’s no real AI, and somehow that means a new one will appear.’

  ‘Yes, that’s how Pirramar and the other AIs from K74 were formed, but why is it a problem?’

  ‘They think that the rogue scientist will know as soon as it happens and either kill the AI off like he was ordered to yesterday, or send it crazy by trying to control it. That means they’ll have to do something about protection and there are huge difficulties about that because what the rogue scientist is doing is complicating everything. The Witnesses asked for a lot more information about him.’

  ‘That’s going to be hard. Pirramar and I couldn’t get past some of his blocks last night.’

  ‘Well, the AIs are working on it of course, and the Council said that they’d do whatever they could to help. The next big topic they talked about was Freedom. They think it’s too vulnerable and isolated and last night they contacted them and suggested the whole habitat would be better off under the direct protection of Attunga and Warrakan.’