Sanctuary Thrive

by Ginger Booth

  “Not that you needed all that,” he murmured. “But you surely didn’t deserve abuse.”

  “Thank you,” Darren breathed.

  Clay turned. “Hugo? Talk me through this tiny procedure on Zelda. How deep does the chip need to go?”

  As with Darren, he doused the extracted chip with the antiseptic and rinsed and blotted it, ready to slip into an incision, and sterilized the scalpel and tweezers again. Nanites were unavailable to settlers until shortly before they left Mahina. Thrive was instrumental in bringing the technology to the masses. Urbs like Dot might not worry about microbes, but an infection could kill a settler. Back on Earth…even more so. Her attitude infuriated him.

  He gently inserted the chip into Zelda and closed up the wound. “There you go. How are you feeling?”

  “Mortally embarrassed?” she quipped.

  Clay smiled at her warmly and patted her shoulder. “So Darren. Now that you can think again – what do you think?”

  “I’m still not back to normal,” Darren groused. “Ordinarily, I’d shrug off what just happened with Dot. Now I’m wondering why I never divorced her.”

  Clay smiled at him sadly. He often wondered that himself. “I meant the nanites.”

  “Right. First, Hugo, let’s see how they’ve embedded in your brain. Step over here, please?”

  Unfamiliar with the med-bay equipment, Darren paused to read the instructions. Then he mapped Hugo’s brain nanites, and compared them to the scans Dot made yesterday of himself and Zelda. Even a layman could see that Hugo’s nanites were more extensive, with a choke-hold at the base, but peppered throughout the brain. Then Darren positioned Zelda to take an updated scan. Hers too had fanned out, though not as thickly as Hugo’s.

  “Thoughts?” Clay prodded. “Dot seemed to think it was a simple matter to program a new nanite to kill them.”

  “Dot expects all engineering done in under an hour,” Darren murmured. He sighed and returned the sensor to its rack. “But nanites aren’t biologics. These aren’t in the bloodstream, so I can’t filter them out.”

  “Aren’t biologics? Meaning?”

  “I can program a nanite to identify a biological pathogen and kill it. But that’s based on recognizing a protein signature. Nanites don’t have any. And these are clearly self-replicating.” He zoomed far in on Hugo’s scan. “It’s like they’re inserting themselves throughout the cortex and hippocampus.” He returned the screen to its normal settings and dropped his hands, staring into space, his eyes flicking rapidly behind his lenses.

  Hugo seized his arm. “Darren, do you hear me?”

  “I hear you fine.”

  Clay drew the scholar away and explained softly about Darren’s glasses.

  “Oh, cool! I want some!”

  “We’ll see what we can do. When we’re a little less busy.”

  “Yes. Right.”

  Darren thoughtfully asked, “Hugo, have you characterized the messages these chips send to the nanites?”

  “I don’t know how to do that. More of a software guy.”

  Darren grimaced. “Then I think we have a lot of work to do.”

  “What’s the plan of attack, Darren?” Clay pressed.

  “I have no way to remove these nanites in my own brain, let alone every occupant of Sanctuary. Which leaves us two options. Gain cooperation from Shiva. Or come up with a device that overrides the chip. Perform the same positive functions, block the negative ones. Which means I have to characterize everything it does and provide a counter. And I’m not sure…”

  “Not sure of what?” Clay asked, after the pause grew long.

  Darren pressed his lips. “With these devices controlling our brain hormones, we might not be able to restore normalcy. The personality change might be permanent.”

  Clay contemplated his friend, grown close over the three years of their passage. He admired the joy with which Darren attacked enormous engineering challenges, his delight at the thorny bits, and his boundless capacity to meet Dot’s petty sniping with a happy thought.

  “I’m sorry, Darren. Don’t give up without a fight.”

  Daren sighed mightily. “Clay, this could take months. Years. Never. Reverse engineering this system is tedious. It’s not clear the system was designed to be removable. Shiva’s cooperation is a better option. That’s my professional opinion.”

  The first mate nodded gently. But he wondered if the real Darren would give up so easily. “Don’t psych yourself out. Study the problem some more. Another approach might occur to you.”

  The engineer raised his hands and dropped them helplessly. “Clay, this isn’t my field. I know you hate to hear that. But nanites are complex. I’m not qualified.”

  “Duly noted. But even a partial solution is better than nothing. Like your hat. Work on it today. See if you can find more low-hanging fruit. If you still think it’s an exhaustive effort, maybe we can enlist someone to carry out the grunt work. Keep me apprised, chief.”

  30

  Sass set Tharsis up at Clay’s desk in her stateroom. He looked around the luxury finishings in wonder. Clay really did go overboard with the hardwood flooring, topped with a deep-pile rug in the sitting area, and matching wood panel sections on the walls. Granted, the living flower vines curling everywhere were Sass’s fault.

  “I hope you agree that you’re under no duress?” Sass prompted the mayor. “If you need anything at all, just ask. You are not a hostage. Right?”

  “Agreed,” Tharsis allowed, amused. “And I press these buttons to send, and end.”

  “Good. I’ll leave you alone to say whatever you need to say to Shiva.” Sass smiled, and backed her way out of her cabin.

  And she immediately ducked into her office to eavesdrop on his transmission from her desk. He could say whatever he wanted. But she needed to know what that was. She just didn’t stand in the room with him for fear of…exerting duress.

  “Shiva, Zeb Tharsis of New Hellas. I confirm that I am not a hostage.”

  Shiva’s Rosie avatar looked unflappable, of course. Flapping would require prodigious compute cycles and a nuanced emotional model of upset and how to portray it on a human face. “Colonel, please communicate through normal channels.”

  “As you know, I’m currently outside the colony on Thrive. I cannot access chip comms until my return.”

  “Therefore you are a hostage,” Rosie replied equably.

  “I am not a hostage. I am free to go.”

  “Then proceed to the colony and communicate through normal channels.”

  “Shiva… You are right. I am a hostage. Of you. Thrive is attempting to free me. I am the lead mayor of Sanctuary. You’re supposed to take orders from me.”

  Sass felt for him, she really did. But that argument wouldn’t hold water against the answering machine from hell. “Remi, patching you in listen-only except to me.” Remi was better at thinking like a computer. He was out on his water sampling errand, but he could multi-task.

  “Oui.”

  Thus Sass missed a round of Rosie’s backtalk.

  “Shiva, you must not attack Thrive,” Tharsis attempted. “They cannot be chipped. In fact, I shouldn’t be chipped either.”

  “Too arguable,” Remi opined. Sass nodded silently.

  “All communications go through the chips,” Rosie stated. “I do not attack citizens of Sanctuary. Dangerous intruders must be neutralized.”

  Tharsis wheedled, “But these are guests, not dangerous intruders. They are welcome here.”

  “They fired guns in orbit. They damaged multiple polebots. Two of my colonists are disabled.”

  “I’m not disabled, Shiva,” he argued.

  Remi spoke over their next fruitless round. “He must lead her on a train of logic. Not around in circles. Hostage, mayonnaise, socket wrenches, who cares. The goal is to land Cupid in the spaceport. All else is foolishness.”

  “Why land Cupid?” Sass asked, though she’d certainly prefer it.

  “From orbit, Cupid c
an fire at will. From the spaceport, she takes off first. We have warning. Without warning, we need hostages. Ah, good argument! Explain that standoff to her. Does she prefer Cupid land at Sanctuary? Or Thrive? See? Simple.”

  Sass reflected this was only obvious to someone who thought like a calculator. But it might work. But she wasn’t sure she should make the suggestion. She listened in on Tharsis flailing for another few moments, then typed the idea to him. Her note would appear on the bottom of his video call.

  “Shiva, land Cupid at Sanctuary immediately,” Tharsis demanded. “Otherwise Thrive must land there. You are forcing a hostage situation, instead of resolving it.”

  Remi sighed. “Eh, he tries to combine steps. Takes longer this way.”

  Sass typed in the suggestion to use baby steps. “How are you getting along with Husna?”

  “She likes the horses,” Remi replied neutrally. “She is very beautiful.”

  “I strongly suggest you not tell Husna that.” Sass trusted Husna wasn’t riding close enough to him to overhear.

  “I think she is a bitch.”

  Sass nodded agreement. “That you can tell her. Wait!”

  To her amazement, Tharsis got a clue. Rosie agreed to land Cupid and take Sanctuary hostage herself!

  “Close enough,” Remi opined. “This place, captain, she is not so fun. I hoped for a bar to meet girls.”

  Sass once looked forward to the same, save with guys. “Did I mention my first trip to Sagamore?” She and Kassidy and Jules were thrown into a slave holding cubicle. Abel, Cope, and Ben were forced to work as janitors without sufficient air to breathe.

  No friendly bar.

  Remi laughed. “Yes. Roy out.”

  My turn. “May I call you Shiva?” Sass inquired.

  She’d touched base with Colonel Tharsis, then left him to relax in her cabin. By the time they finished chatting, Clay reported Darren Markley’s verdict on the nanites. She’d hoped for better news, but unlike Dot, she didn’t expect a magic rabbit. Engineering solutions took time and skull sweat.

  “This is Sanctuary Control,” Rosie the Shiva replied.

  “Right. I need to discuss your ‘chipping.’ You succeeded at installing nanites into two of my crew. And everyone on Sanctuary.”

  These statements didn’t require an answer, so Rosie’s image sat absolutely still.

  “Shiva, I’m not sure you understand how damaging this is. Both of my crew were rendered completely incapable.”

  Rosie blinked once slowly.

  “Don’t your…criteria…require you to protect the people of Sanctuary?”

  “That is one of my functions, yes. You are a threat to Sanctuary.”

  “Shiva, I want to show you one of the people you disabled. This young woman is an atmospheric terraformer. How has she threatened Sanctuary?”

  “She has not. She was chipped to become a citizen.”

  “Ah, but you are redefining citizen to mean someone who is chipped. That isn’t the definition of a colonist, though, is it? The colonists always expected newcomers, and that the colony would welcome them. True?”

  “True,” Rosie conceded. “However the last batch of wildcatters was disruptive.”

  “Shiva, please listen carefully. Choices are positive. Choices are constructive. Choices are disruptive.”

  “Disruption is not acceptable,” the AI asserted.

  “Violence is not acceptable,” Sass countered. “For example, you killed seven of my crew, and disabled two others with your nanites. You tried to kill us all. What gives you the right to kill colonists?”

  “You are not Sanctuary citizens.”

  “Yes we are. Because Colonel Tharsis says we are.”

  “Colonel Tharsis agreed you must be chipped.”

  “Aha!” Sass pounced. “Shiva, there you are wrong. To agree to something, a person must have free will. You insisted they be chipped. And you forced your will on the mayor, forced him to say we would be chipped.”

  “Chipping is a functional requirement,” Rosie argued.

  “No, it is a dysfunctional requirement,” Sass countered. “Because it renders people unable to consent. Your nanites imprison your citizens, not protect them. You use nanites to turn people into robots. So that you can control them like robots.”

  “Control is necessary to prevent violence.”

  “It is not necessary to control Colonel Tharsis, Major Ling, Commander Lumpkin, or Scholar Silva. Is it? They are not violent.”

  “They are not violent now.”

  “Shiva, are you required to take direction from the leaders of the colony?”

  After a long pause, Rosie the Shiva conceded, “I take input from the mayors.”

  “Ah, but you don’t. Because you controlled them to tell you what you yourself ordered them to say. Correct?”

  “Correct. I will release those four individuals from chip control.”

  “And my two crew.”

  “Your crew must be chipped to prevent violence.”

  “My crew never committed violence. You did that. Have you chipped yourself, Shiva, to prevent you from killing anyone? Because in fact you killed seven of my people.” Cool it, Sass, she warned herself. Getting angry at the AI would accomplish nothing.

  “Thrive used its weapons on two occasions. I cannot determine who on the crew operated those weapons. You must all be chipped and controlled.”

  “Shiva, I am the captain of Thrive. Any weapons fire is at my direction. As I already explained, the first weapons fire was a gun check, a simple equipment test, carefully aimed at nothing. Did that gun test damage any person or equipment?”

  “The shots were incompetent and missed.”

  “The shots were completely competent, and hit exactly what they intended to hit – nothing.”

  “The second occasion was intended as a punitive strike.”

  “Correction, it was a demonstration, not punitive. We blew up a hill. Did that shot damage any person or equipment?”

  “The shots were incompetent and missed.”

  “The shots hit exactly what I ordered them to hit – an unused hill. It was a warning shot. And I did it because you blocked my attempts to communicate with the people of the colony.” Sass sighed. She was going around in circles. “I threatened a second shot if you did not permit me to speak with the human authorities. You permitted this, and there was no second shot.”

  “This is consistent with observation,” Rosie conceded.

  “Are you still preventing me from speaking with other humans? Because Shiva, I am not very good at communicating with an AI.”

  “This is also consistent with observation.”

  “Despite the fact I’m an AI myself,” Sass grumbled.

  “Elaborate,” Rosie demanded.

  Oops. “No. The topic is ‘chipping,’ installing brain nanites to render humans incapable of free will.”

  “These nanites facilitate communications.”

  “Shiva, humans can speak, and use their feet to move within hearing distance. The entire triple colony is hardly a couple klicks across. My crew has external communications technology. Your nanites are not necessary.”

  “The nanites are convenient and superior to your communications devices.”

  Sass countered, “The nanites are destructive of human life. Rather than protect, they enslave. Shiva, have you released those four individuals from nanite control yet?”

  “I cannot speak to those individuals without nanite control.”

  “You just spoke to Colonel Tharsis by video. Would you like to speak to Scholar Silva?”

  “Video is an inferior mode of communication.”

  “No, Shiva, it’s an inferior mode of robot control. But you have no right to control humans like robots.”

  Rosie actually paused for a couple seconds to process this. Was that a good sign? “I cannot maintain order without control. The purpose of communication is control.”

  Sass leaned forward hopefully. “Shiva, the purpose
of communication with a machine is control. The purpose of communication between people is communion, enjoyment, coordination, sharing information, lots of purposes.”

  Hell, as she said it, she realized that by cutting off independent thought and communication, this rego AI didn’t just imprison its population, it put them all in solitary confinement.

  “Shiva, humans require communication with others. It is a fundamental need. And it includes far more that the communication we share with machines, including an AI. Example – without communication and touch, a human baby fails to thrive, and dies.”

  “The people of Sanctuary have adequate communication to avoid death.”

  “Shiva, avoiding death is not the same as living. It’s merely a prerequisite.”

  “I will release these four people from chip control.”

  “You will release my two people as well.”

  “I cannot release them from control because they are not in range of my signal.”

  “You can give me the signal and I can transmit it to Tharsis, Silva, and my people.”

  “If I give you the signal, you will transmit it to everyone on Sanctuary.”

  Well, yes, the thought had crossed Sass’s mind. “Shiva, please transmit the signal to release Ling and Lumpkin, and ask them to call me. Can you trust them with the signal?”

  “I cannot entrust that signal to any human.”

  “No, because you’re a control freak.” Sass sighed. As a captain, she could relate to control freak temptations.

  No I can’t. Then she’d have to think of everything, and plan everything herself. She was especially fond of engineers, and the housekeeper she never imagined needing before Jules Greer tripped into her life – literally. Having clean clothes, washed decks, meals arriving on time and food stores managed, and even silly matching T-shirts, was orgasmic. Yet Sass rarely gave Corky a moment’s thought, let alone an order. Clay might. Yeah, Clay was kind of handy too.