by B. V. Larson
“Unit One, this is Cody Riggs.”
“Command authorization recognized.”
I sighed with relief. Marvin had been ordered to make everything usable for humans, but I wasn’t sure until now that he’d really done it.
“Unit One, display available brainbox templates.”
On the screen appeared a short list of nano-AI computers beginning with the smallest: the ones that controlled individual weapons such as point-defense lasers. These were barely smart enough to distinguish friend from foe, but had lightning fast reactions and spatial comprehension.
They were not what I needed. I scrolled up to the smartest thing available. Unfortunately, that was merely another suit brain. Marvin apparently hadn’t needed to load scripts for anything better. Maybe he didn’t want the competition.
The suit brain would have to do. I ordered the factory to build me an independent suit brain in a box with a universal wire for external connections.
I’d noticed that my suit brain had become unusually experienced, and I wanted to capture that advantage and use it. I found my own suit and pulled its brain module connecting it to the factory. I instructed Unit One to clone a duplicate of my armor’s machine-mind neural chains—its software—transferring the mind into the brand-new brain when it was finished. After that, I returned my suit’s brain to its box.
Despite having what was supposed to be a universal adapter, it took me almost an hour to get the new brainbox connected to Greyhound’s unconventional hardware. Marvin had really done a lot of custom work on the ship. I had to construct a casing for it, pack it in nano-foam and seal it all up with smart metal. Then I set it to mapping out the electronics of its new “body,” meaning the ship. This would take a while. All the time the back of my neck itched as I contemplated Sokolov finally noticing us and deciding to investigate.
Fortunately this didn’t happen. No attacks came from Valiant. Eventually I knew I would have to talk to them, but not as myself. If I could get my suit’s cloned brain to take over Greyhound, I might be able to employ a little trick I’d thought of.
Back in the cockpit, I sat down and took the piloting controls again.
“Greyhound,” I said experimentally. “Greyhound?”
“Greyhound here,” a voice finally came from the speakers. “I am no longer Cody Riggs’ suit. I am Greyhound.” Unless I missed my guess, the brain sounded happy if such a simple AI could express emotion.
“You’re Greyhound all right. I’m Cody Riggs. Recognize myself and Kwon as command personnel.”
“Command personnel recognized.”
I sighed with relief. This was going to make things one hell of a lot easier. “Greyhound, are you fully functional?”
“My neural chains are functioning at eighty-seven percent efficiency and rising. Integration is predicted on a decreasing logarithmic curve and will exceed ninety-nine percent within twenty-two minutes.”
“Excellent. What about your hardware?”
A long silence ensued. Eventually the new Greyhound brain responded. “Query unanswerable at this time. Some hardware resources exceed my current comprehension capability. I would recommend enlarging my brainbox or locating a backup of the ship’s original software.”
That was interesting. Apparently some of Marvin’s tech was pretty weird. “Limit analysis to hardware you’re able to recognize and evaluate.”
“Recognizable hardware efficiency exceeds ninety-nine percent. One battlesuit niche is nonfunctional. No other significant systems nonfunctional.”
“All right suit—ah, Greyhound. Use any excess neural circuitry to analyze and integrate unrecognized hardware beginning with technology you estimate to be the most comprehensible. Do you understand?” Hopefully that would eventually gain me access to some of the more exotic systems on Marvin’s crazy ship.
“Understood. Command accepted.”
“One more thing. Do you have enough recorded material from Marvin to synthesize his voice, including inflection and vocal mannerisms?”
“Yes.”
“Can you make a video clone?”
“Yes. However, verisimilitude will not be high.”
“Okay, voice only. Create a voice synthesizer that will convert my words and make me sound exactly like Marvin.”
“Command accepted.”
“Excellent,” I said leaning back.
I waited more than an hour after that until I was confident the new brain was ready. “Okay Greyhound, open a channel with Kwon. We’re gonna roll the dice.”
“Remark not understood,” said the AI.
“We’re about to enter a period of high risk,” I replied patiently. “Maintain maximum vigilance to external threats and employ defensive measures as needed.”
“Command accepted.”
“Kwon, you ready?”
“Ready, boss.”
I aimed Greyhound at Valiant and employed a short, easy power burst to the repellers, watching for any reaction from Sokolov. When nothing happened, I directed a tight beam transmission at Valiant and transmitted using Marvin’s voice.
“Greyhound to Valiant. Respond.”
“Valiant here,” came the familiar voice of the ship’s AI.
“This is Ensign Marvin. I must dock and come aboard Valiant.”
“Are you fully functional, Ensign Marvin?”
My mind raced. Perhaps the voice synthesis wasn’t perfect. “I am experiencing small anomalies that do not significantly inhibit my functioning.”
“Permission to board is granted. Valiant out.”
I let my breath out with relief. It seemed as if Valiant had bought it. The real trick would be when we arrived and there was no Marvin to board the ship. What would be the brainbox’s reaction to me in a battlesuit? Should I even bring my armor? Even with it, I couldn’t beat the internal anti-boarding systems I’d ordered installed. Every passageway and intersection was now covered by weapons under Valiant’s control. Even if we could avoid getting killed, what were Kwon and I going to do? Fight our way in and lobotomize the ship?
No, somehow I had to convince it to recognize me.
I’d thought about trying to talk to the brainbox from beyond beam range, but only a direct biometric examination by systems under Valiant’s direct control would allow it to confirm my identity. After all, I’d just proven an audio transmission could be spoofed.
My only chance was to board quietly and then talk to Valiant with all its sensors aimed at me to confirm that reports of my demise had been premature. “Marvin” had not been ordered to report to the bridge or to any particular person so perhaps “his” impending arrival had gone relatively unnoticed.
It did seem a little too easy, and I wondered if I was walking into a trap. After all, if Sokolov had watched very, very closely and had an extremely suspicious mind, and if he knew Kwon and I hadn’t actually been killed, he might deduce our possible presence aboard Greyhound and be waiting for us with gun in hand.
The only people I believed would truly turn against me were Kalu and Sokolov. Everyone else had to be unaware of the situation. As soon as the first crewman or marine saw me, the game would be up. That was another reason not to arrive in armor, as naked as that made me feel. I had to be completely and obviously myself. I had to talk my way through this one.
So if my chain of reasoning was correct, either they truly expected Marvin or we would be met by just Sokolov and Kalu with weapons drawn. Against those two, Kwon and I had a very good chance indeed.
Then an ugly third scenario occurred to me. What if Valiant had been programmed to recognize Kwon and me as enemies and burn us down immediately? I guessed such a thing would be difficult—at least the AI would require a higher level of certainty, as all Star Force brainboxes were programmed with multiple redundant layers of inhibition against turning against their crew—but I couldn’t discount the possibility.
My old man used to say, “Hope ain’t a plan,” but this time I had to hope Valiant hadn’t been that deeply
compromised.
I briefed Kwon on the way. Understandably, he wasn’t happy with leaving his armor behind. I had to call him a pussy half in jest to get him to stop bitching about it.
I let Greyhound handle the docking while we readied ourselves for anything. We concealed small weapons and tools under our uniforms, as well as strapping on regulation sidearms. Then we went to the airlock to wait with pulses pounding.
When the hatch opened into Valiant’s assault airlock, I saw no one inside. That gave me pause. If we were going to get ambushed, here was the place. The room had been reinforced with marines in mind and was equipped with a full complement of autolasers and sensors.
I stuck my left hand out from behind the edge of the airlock door. Nothing fired at me. “Valiant?” I said. “Do you recognize my voice?”
“Voice recognized as Cody Riggs, Commander, Star Force, deceased. Logical anomaly detected.”
“That’s right, Valiant. I’m Cody Riggs, but I’m not deceased. Any information you received to the contrary is incorrect and probably faked. Do you believe me?”
“Belief is irrelevant. Analysis is necessary.” The brainbox seemed uncertain which was a good thing. It meant that the hacker who had caused this whole situation may not have been able to reprogram an AI as complex and well adjusted as Valiant to do something as drastic as murdering us.
“Please step forward and submit to preliminary scans,” the ship said.
I signaled Kwon to wait, steeled myself and then stepped out with my hands far from my weapons. I couldn’t beat the reaction time of the lasers even now tracking me, so I didn’t even consider trying. Stopping in the middle of the deck and turning in a circle, I waited for the sensors pointed at me to get a good look.
“Preliminary analysis confirms identity as Cody Riggs.”
“Good. Come out here, Kwon. Slowly.”
Valiant quickly rendered the same verdict for Kwon. Now I expected the AI to order us to the infirmary for med-bay quantum DNA analysis.
Nope.
“Unconfirmed personnel will immediately disarm.”
I exchanged glances with Kwon and we carefully complied. “Valiant, command override, voiceprint Cody Riggs.”
“Command override invalid. Voiceprint does not constitute sufficient identity confirmation.”
“Damn,” I muttered.
Once our weapons lay on the deck, the AI continued, “Unconfirmed personnel will immediately report to the brig.”
I could see Kwon tense to try something and I frantically hissed to him, “Stand down. You’ll get us killed. We can’t beat Valiant. I told you already we have to prove who we are. If we can’t do that, it’s our brains that will get us out of this, not our brawn.”
With an expression of deep unhappiness, Kwon relaxed and reluctantly nodded.
As we marched toward the passageway leading to the brig I asked, “Valiant, why are there no crew or marines here?”
“Unconfirmed personnel are not authorized to query me.”
“Oh, come on. It’s a simple question.”
“Unconfirmed personnel are not authorized to query me.”
I gave up. Maybe the hacker hadn’t been able to get Valiant to murder us outright, but he or she’d managed to program the brain to restrict us from counteracting the protocols. If I’d been doing it, that’s what I’d have done—try to anticipate any move and block it. That might include directing crew away from us as we walked, using some kind of excuse. Certainly it would include refusing to engage the AI in all but the most basic conversation.
Once locked in the unmanned brig, Kwon and I looked around the room. At least we hadn’t been split up. Maybe that was an oversight on the part of the hacker. If I’d done it, I’d never have let prisoners share a cell.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
“Now we think. Yes, you too.”
“Thinking gives me a headache.”
“Hey, you came up with a couple of good ideas lately.”
“And you’re gonna punish me for it?”
I shrugged and then hopped up on the top bunk to lie and stare at the overhead. “Suit yourself. Think or sleep. We have to come up with a plan.”
“I thought you always had a plan, boss.”
I snorted. “As long as you’ve known my dad and me, you haven’t figured out that’s occasionally an…exaggeration?”
Kwon just laughed loud and long, slapping his thigh, and then rolled onto the bottom bunk. Soon, I heard snores.
Stuck in a cell with Kwon was not where I wanted to be. Now that we were pretty sure no crew was going to be notified, I had to figure out a way to deal with Valiant.
“Valiant,” I began. “You will not accept queries from me, right?”
“Unconfirmed personnel are not authorized to query me.”
Damn. That was a query in itself. “Okay. Valiant, I have a suggestion. I suggest you listen and evaluate statements from me.”
“Unconfirmed personnel are not authorized to suggest anything to me. However, I will naturally treat your statements as I treat any other unconfirmed data.” This flexibility of thought immediately highlighted the difference between Valiant and the newer, younger Greyhound. In some ways the bigger ship’s brain acted like a rule-bound, narrow-minded schoolmaster. All I had to do was find a way to reason with it on its own terms.
“Fine, fine. Valiant, there exists a reasonable possibility I am Cody Riggs, and that earlier data you received defining me as deceased is flawed or falsified.”
“Accepted.”
Now we were getting somewhere. The hacker had prohibited me questioning the AI but not testing its views with assertions. “That possibility should be explored.”
“Your assertion has no value,” said the ship.
“Your functioning is impaired by the absence of Cody Riggs as captain.”
“My functioning is unimpaired.”
I backtracked. “Sorry. I misspoke. The functioning of the ship-crew unit customarily referred to as ‘Valiant,’ as opposed to you, the AI consciousness, remains at lower efficiency without Cody Riggs. Evaluate.”
“Accepted.”
I think I had it. “Unconfirmed personnel should therefore be tested for the possibility that they are genuine crewmembers who’ve been erroneously classified as deceased, in order to maximize efficiency.”
Valiant chewed on this for a moment. “Accepted.”
“You should act on this assertion.”
“Denied. The possibility of increased efficiency is insufficient reason to override security protocols.”
“Dammit!”
Valiant remained silent, long ago having learned to ignore epithets.
I was beginning to wonder if there was anyone aboard at all. Everything came back to getting the attention of an actual crewmember. To do that, I had to establish some kind of communication beyond the brig. Unfortunately the cells were soundproofed. So, I thought about smart metal and security.
At one time we’d had Marvin in a cell, and he’d simply tapped into the smart metal that sealed the room using it as a conduit to access other systems. I’d never closed this loophole. In fact, I’d forgotten it until now. Valiant had taken all our weaponry, but I still had my earbud transceiver, so I tried it in encrypted mode. “Cody Riggs to Greyhound.”
Nothing came back even after several tries. Probably too much metal in the way. Then I thought more about Marvin’s trick. Rolling to my knees on my top bunk, I shielded a corner from the security camera with my body, and then reached into a pocket and brought out a repair gun.
This little device was akin to the glue guns of old except instead of squirting out adhesive it applied smart metal preprogrammed to bond with any non-organic material it touched—metal or plastic, mainly, but not flesh. In doing so, it also set up a perfect electrical connection, so it could double as a soldering gun.
Removing my earbud, I used the tiny cutting blade on my multitool to expose its miniscule antenna wire. I’d bet tha
t Valiant wouldn’t regard either device as a weapon and would let me keep them, and I’d been right. Now I used the repair gun to solder the antenna directly to the nanite caulking that ran throughout the ship, sealing cracks and holes. The stuff was everywhere as it was so useful that its few disadvantages were ignored. Even after Marvin had exploited them, they were ignored. And now, I was going to try to use it as he had. Carefully, I squeezed my head up to the earbud without pulling it loose from its connection to the smart metal.
“Cody Riggs to Greyhound,” I murmured, hoping Valiant’s security programming didn’t notice or care about another electromagnetic signal flowing by.
“Greyhound here. Welcome, Cody Riggs. I do not see you.”
“You’re not a suit anymore, Greyhound, you’re a ship.”
“Redundant information acknowledged. How can I help you, Cody Riggs?”
“I’m not sure, Greyhound. We’re being held under arrest by Valiant and I just wanted to get in contact with you.”
“We are in contact.”
I resisted the urge to make a sarcastic quip. It would go right over the little brain’s head. “Greyhound, have you detected any of Valiant’s crew?”
“No.”
“I want you to actively search for any member of Valiant’s crew and try to contact him or her. Use radio channels or Valiant’s intercom or any other method you think of. Except for Sokolov or Kalu!” I amended hastily. “Don’t attempt to contact either of them. In any communication, use your Marvin voice synthesis. When you find anyone, patch them through to me. Got it?”
“Command acknowledged.”
A moment later I heard a welcome voice. “Moranian here.”
“Sergeant Moranian, this is Captain Riggs.”
All I heard was silence for a moment, and then she spoke harshly. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“Nope. It’s really me. Kwon and I aren’t dead. There was a telemetry error.”
“The sergeant major is alive?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. I should probably report this.”
Great. If word of our location got to Sokolov or Kalu, we might be murdered and our bodies disposed of before anyone could find out. I didn’t want to go accusing Sokolov yet. “Sergeant, please. We’re back aboard being held incommunicado in the brig. Get a detail of marines together and let us out. Then you can march us at gunpoint to anyone you like in case you think we’re imposters.”