Attunga

by Peter Wood

  ‘Are we going to build a new Comet or give them all our defensive security data, or something like that?’

  ‘Three more Comets, Thom, but they’re for here and four of Attunga’s space drives are going to be diverted and installed on Freedom so they can move. It will arrive in about five months’ time.’

  Wirrin and Thom gawped and Calen continued.

  ‘That all happened last night. They asked, and Freedom agreed, and everything was set in motion before the meeting even ended. It only took twenty minutes. The Council could hardly believe it themselves, but it turned out that the Freedom AIs pointed out the benefits of the idea and practically insisted on moving and joining even more closely with us.’

  It was another reminder of how fast things could happen when AIs were involved.

  ‘Kadaitcha man! That’s amazing. The AIs don’t muck around once they’ve worked something out. The Council meeting must have been nearly as exciting as it was for me on the Comet. Did they decide anything else?’

  ‘Lots of things, Thom. Mostly about security stuff, but they’ve also decided to go ahead and build the embassy at K74.’

  ‘You must be joking. The Cadre will be so mad at us they’ll probably blow it up … And it doesn’t make sense anyway. If the AIs are cutting them off from everyone, why are we doing the opposite?’

  ‘Akama says they won’t do a thing no matter how mad they are. They’ll act as if nothing happened and after three weeks of isolation they’ll jump at the opportunity because it means they can get more information.’

  ‘I’ll bet it’s something to do with protecting any new AIs. That’s going to be really hard,’ Wirrin said.

  Calen nodded.

  ‘What was the security stuff? Was it about the new Comets?’ asked Thom.

  ‘Some of it. They’re going to speed up work on the shell around Attunga, and Warrakan is going to have one too.’

  ‘Three Comets … As soon as I’ve had a sleep I’m finding out about them.’ Thom, understandably, wanted to know about the Comets but Wirrin was intrigued by the idea of a shell for Warrakan. It already had almost a kilometre of its outer layer reserved as a natural buffer for when it started travelling through deep space, so an extra shell seemed redundant.

  So many things happening at once. Well, maybe this evening after a sleep he’d get some catch-up time.

  ‘What did you find out on your InfoSystem, Wirrin? Akama said you did some good things.’

  ‘He did?’

  ‘Yes, and he told me to tell you he’s been too busy and he’ll talk to you after you’ve had some sleep … But what happened? He practically ordered you to work with Pirramar.’

  ‘We did work. For over twelve hours, and most of it was really hard. The first bit wasn’t, because it was helping Bakana, and Pirramar let me see what he was doing.’

  ‘Bakana?’

  ‘He’s the new AI who was with Turaku and Pirramar when they turned up last night, Thom. He’s a reconstruction of the AI from K74. Pirramar needed him to help with understanding the information that he sent through just before he died.’

  ‘Wirrin, what are you talking about? The AI who died is alive again?’

  ‘No, he’s not, Calen, but yes, in a way. It’s a bit like a human clone only with AIs. The building blocks of the original are there so he’s kind of identical but he has his own consciousness.’

  ‘Like Comet-Turaku and Attunga-Turaku?’

  ‘Not really. They’re exactly identical because they’re constantly linked and updating each other. If they stopped sharing everything then they would develop into two different AIs but they have no intention of doing that. Bakana is as close to the K74 AI as Pirramar could make him but some things we just couldn’t find out.’

  ‘You helped to build him? How does that work? He was already alive when you met him last night.’

  ‘That was young Bakana. Pirramar used the basic information that had already been sent and matched it with the processors and electronics that were ready in case they were needed. Last night we sneaked into every system on K74 we could and grabbed data that was tagged to be transmitted as part of the AIs escape plan. We couldn’t get it all but what we did get was used by Bakana with Pirramar helping him integrate it all and build up his abilities.’

  ‘He was different when you finished doing that? Could you tell?’ asked Calen.

  ‘I couldn’t. Not one bit, but Pirramar said there was a huge difference.’

  ‘It’s amazing how they can just build a new AI whenever they feel like it. They should build up their population more.’

  ‘More? Calen, we’ve got nearly four hundred of them here. No other habitat except Titania Orbital has got anything like that number.’

  ‘That’s exactly what I mean. How would it be if there were only four hundred people on Attunga? We’d think something was wrong.’

  ‘Calen, you can’t think of them like people … they’re too different. And if you tried to build it up to even a thousand you’d have to add about eight extra levels.’

  ‘Building levels is easy, Wirrin. We’re adding one for the dolphins and that’ll be finished in two years. Our picofactories could add another eight in the same time if they really wanted to. But what about Warrakan? It’s got so much space they could easily fit thousands of them there. Is it the same there as it is here? I mean, Attunga’s got two levels for AIs and five for people, … and one for dolphins.’

  ‘Oh right. I see what you mean. Let’s have a look.’

  Within seconds Wirrin had a holo model of Warrakan floating in front of them with a cutaway view showing the general proposals for future development.

  ‘Nine levels for people, six levels for dolphins, and five levels for AIs. The other ten levels are for all the services.’

  ‘Their AIs get a lot more space.’

  ‘Hey, you’re right. That’s very interesting … Wombats! That’s huge. Calen, when you calculate at the Attunga rate Warrakan has enough space for over ten thousand AIs.’

  ‘Wirrin, how did you do that?’ said Thom as they both stared at him.

  ‘What do you mean? I compared the Attunga space with the Warrakan space. That’s easy.’

  ‘It might be easy, but it should take more than a couple of blinks.’

  ‘Did I blink?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Thom. ‘You might have. I just meant that’s how long it took to work it out. You didn’t seem to put it all together before you came up with the answer.’

  ‘Of course I put it together. I’ve had lots of practice lately. That’s all.’

  ‘We said you were a brainiac when you started zapping without concentrating, and now you’ve proved it by doing the same thing with calculations.’

  ‘Good try, Thom, except I did think about it.’

  ‘Are you zapping now?’

  ‘You know I am. I’ve been doing it automatically for ages.’ It wasn’t really ages, just since the last visit to the doctor a few weeks ago.

  ‘Play it back for us then and see how long it took.’

  Wirrin pulled the relevant moment from his storage implant and played it. He couldn’t see himself of course, but his voice was recorded along with the images of Thom and Calen looking at him. There it was, in the moment before he said ‘Wombats’.

  ‘It does seem a bit short.’

  ‘A bit! … Measure it,’ said Calen.

  ‘It took 1.8 seconds. See, there’s a definite period while I’m thinking.’

  ‘Thom does calculations all the time for flying the Comet. Flash the numbers and see how long it takes him.’

  That little experiment showed Thom taking 6.4 seconds.

  ‘You’d better talk to the doctor about this, before your brain goes all electronic.’

  ‘And before you have to start plugging yourself into your InfoStation for recharges.’

  Idiots! It was puzzling, though, and worth checking out. ‘Look at this model of Warrakan. You were wrong about the shell, Calen.
’

  ‘Good change of subject, Wirrin, but I wasn’t. It shows it right there.’

  ‘But they’re not adding it outside like Attunga’s. They’re converting the buffer zone instead, so it’s not really a shell.’

  ‘Giving it a hard outer layer? Sounds like a shell to me. Stop waffling and get on with what else you did last night. I know you’ve got more, too, because the Council talked about some of it.’

  Wirrin didn’t know that, but it wasn’t a surprise really after hearing the decisions they’d made. Pirramar had probably been in constant contact with them.

  ‘Well, after we worked with Bakana, which was time critical in case the stored files got wiped out or blocked, we started looking at what happened on K74. That was critical too because Pirramar received just enough warning to know that there was danger for any AI looking too closely at the information in the panic transmission.’

  ‘Danger for external AIs? That’s scary.’

  ‘Really scary, Thom. And it’s why Akama made such a big deal about me helping. Just as well too, because Pirramar would have been in big trouble if he hadn’t listened to the warning.’

  ‘It wouldn’t have … ?’

  ‘No, but it could have interfered with his thinking if he wasn’t prepared.’

  ‘So what was it?’

  ‘It was a different version of that priority trap that interfered with the AIs when we were at Monkey Mia. This time it was so strong it could force processors to overload and become temporarily useless. Pirramar said it would be horrible for an AI, like a human suddenly losing their senses one after the other. The trap was bad enough, but its whole purpose was to tie up all the AI’s resources so he couldn’t react fast enough when the real attack was launched against his core. Without that overload the AI would have escaped easily. He had that all planned and ready.’

  ‘If he hadn’t followed the warning could Pirramar have been hurt by the real attack as well as the overload part?’

  ‘No, Thom, the attack was designed against the exact processors and code being used by the K74 AI and Pirramar’s is different. His code did start off the same when he first transferred but it was immediately updated and his new processors are way ahead of the ones on K74. That’s good news for every other AI too, because the lethal part won’t work without being designed to their exact specifications, but we didn’t know that until we looked at it and understood what it was doing.’

  ‘Brainiac saves the AIs again.’

  ‘Galah head! It was your idea that saved them at Monkey Mia not mine, and we knew there must be something like it happening again so call yourself a brainiac.’

  Thom, completely ignoring the logic in Wirrin’s argument, and knowing that much more would have happened, promptly called him a brainiac again.

  Calen was enjoying the brainiac stir as much as Thom but he moved the conversation on. ‘The Council knew the AIs were safe early in the meeting, Wirrin, so what were you doing the rest of the time?’

  ‘Getting into as many of K74’s systems as we possibly could. It’s a nightmare now because there’s no AI to give us the access codes. Pirramar can work them out or bypass them sometimes but there are critical areas we can’t get at. That rogue scientist has his section completely blocked and he’s started working on the Cadre’s control area as well and their meeting room has gone from our view.’

  ‘So we won’t know what they’re saying any more?’ asked Calen.

  ‘Not when they’re meeting together, but we’ll be able to find out indirectly as long as the blocked areas don’t spread too much.’

  ‘If he blocks the whole place we won’t know anything,’ said Thom.

  ‘He couldn’t. Well he could, but everything would slow down too much.’

  ‘That wouldn’t worry them.’

  ‘Yes it would, Thom. Their TransCom system isn’t nearly as efficient as ours for a start, and it would probably take two or three times as long to get anywhere, and on a 300 kilometres long habitat they definitely couldn’t cope. You’d have twelve billion people complaining, and it would be the same with their services and communications.’

  ‘So we’ll still find out stuff but it will be second-hand?’

  ‘We’ll find out lots but really important things might be blocked.’

  ‘The rogue must be very clever.’

  ‘He is, Thom. Pirramar says we need to know a whole lot more about what he’s doing and what he’s capable of.’

  ‘What did Sonic say about all this?’ Thom asked Calen, who looked thoughtful.

  ‘He agreed with all the proposals from the Council and the AIs but he hardly said anything at all. When we were travelling back to the dolphinarium he said he was puzzled about K74 and needed more understanding before he could make proper decisions about them.’

  ‘Really? That sounds like he might have doubts about the proposals.’

  ‘He doesn’t, because I asked him.’

  They started to discuss Sonic’s reactions but when Thom half stifled a yawn and Wirrin and Calen both caught it off him they realised it was time for bed.

  ***

  Wirrin watched Thom and Calen in the pool and laughed when Thom got a face full of water for trying to twist Sonic’s tail flukes. He’d been happily mucking round himself but it was now right on the time when Akama and Gulara were due for a surprise conference. Akama was expected but he woke from his much-needed sleep to a message saying Gulara would be present as well, and even more unexpected was the way the meeting was couched in terms of a conference, which sounded serious.

  ‘Welcome to my home Honoured Ones.’

  ‘Thank you Little Brother. We treasure the gift of your welcome.’

  All sound from the pool stopped and Wirrin knew Calen, Thom and Sonic were watching, intrigued by the exchange of traditional greetings. For Wirrin it had been almost automatic because Akama’s usual friendly manner was overlaid by the weight of his office, and that was somehow reflected in Gulara.

  ‘The Witness Council, acting on a request from our AI associates, formally commends you in recognition of your service to the community of Attunga. Furthermore the AI gestalt expresses its gratitude for your help in protecting their interests and names you a Friend.’

  Wirrin stared in disbelief, then into the sudden silence Sonic’s voice sounded from the translator.

  ‘Dolphins are in full agreement, Friend Wirrin.’

  Wirrin didn’t know what to say so he just nodded.

  ‘Wow! That’s unreal,’ Thom said, and the charged, ceremonial atmosphere dissolved.

  Sonic spoke again, this time with his normal voice.

  ‘This is a time for friends to celebrate.’

  Calen beckoned to Akama and Gulara. ‘He wants everyone together in the water.’

  A few moments later, with four very pleased people around him, and Sonic nudging companionably against his side, Wirrin felt he could say what he really thought.

  ‘Akama, why have they made it such a big deal? All I did was work on the InfoSystem. I don’t see why the Council think that’s so special.’

  Wirrin felt a jolt of surprise and pleasure when Akama firmly grasped his shoulder. He seemed to be expressing a degree of pride in Wirrin.

  ‘The Council had no choice, Wirrin, because the AIs insisted. Not that there was a skerrick of resistance. How could there be when Pirramar reported directly that you ventured where he daren’t, discovered an insidious trap dangerous to every AI in the solar system, then pointed the way to a solution? On top of that, several of your tasks and your hours of application were a vital help for the new AI … The commendation and the status are rightly yours.’

  ‘Too many brains for his own good.’ Thom sighed. ‘What’s that status part mean? Will we have to bow to him every morning when we wake up or something?’

  Wirrin was wondering himself.

  ‘You’re right, Thom. A formal commendation automatically grants special privilege, and from now on you will be expected to re
spond to his every request and treat him with the utmost respect. A bow would definitely be appropriate, along with taking over all his jobs around your living space and preparing his meals. Whenever you speak to him you should call him “Great One”.’

  That was ridiculous but Akama sounded so serious and authoritative that it must be right. Thom’s jaunty manner faded and his jaw dropped.

  ‘Great One?’

  ‘That’s correct. Try it. A commendation from the full Council and all the AIs is an extraordinary event and if you can’t manage it appropriately we might need to train you with a protocol holo.’

  ‘Wirrin is a Great One.’

  Coming from Sonic it sounded right, and seeing all the expectant gazes focused on him, Thom faced Wirrin and gave a slow nod. ‘Great One.’

  Wirrin’s thoughts were whirling. If they had to follow all his requests then the first one would be not to call him ‘Great One’ at home. Akama would say that must be all right, surely? Wirrin was about to ask when he caught a surreptitious twitch.

  A wink? Yes, Akama had a definite twinkle in his eye.

  Bunyips! They’d all fallen for it completely, well maybe not Sonic. His comment was conveniently complicit come to think of it.

  Keeping a straight face, Wirrin returned the slow nod to Thom then suddenly directed a scoop of water at him.

  ‘Thank you “Tiny One”. I’d like my breakfast delivered to my grav-bed every morning.’

  Thom registered first astonishment, then realisation, and one glance at Akama’s huge smile confirmed he’d been tricked. Wirrin was almost shocked when jets of water started flying at the leading Witness on all of Attunga, but the vigorous return attack showed Akama was relishing every moment. Sonic joined in and Thom had no hope.

  ‘Fish attack. Not fair.’

  ‘The Tiny One sends tiny splashes.’

  ‘You great lump. Why don’t you splash Akama and Gulara? I bet you’re not game.’

  Akama and Gulara almost disappeared under the amounts of water Sonic sent up but, for the last word, Thom copped the same treatment.