Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  “System booted. The AI is up. It seems to be examining the partition we’re hosting it on. It can’t see or hear us. I’ve also locked out all system commands, so it can’t reboot itself or turn itself off. Of course, it doesn’t have to reply to any attempts to communicate, either.”

  Kelsey sniffed. “You didn’t have to deal with the damned thing face-to-face. It loves to tell you how screwed you are. Frankly, I’m looking forward to a little trash talking. Can we put it on speakers and make it so it can hear us?”

  “Certainly. Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Go ahead.” At his nod, she directly addressed the computer. “Well, computer, things didn’t work out the way you’d hoped, did they?”

  The coldly neutral voice she remembered issued from the speakers. “This unit is unconcerned. It will eventually be victorious.”

  “That’s a little hard to credit. We have complete control over this system and we’ve eliminated the freighter and escort you were counting on. That gives us another year to prepare.”

  “Another year will make no difference in the end.”

  She smiled. “Oh, I think you’re wrong. We have access to the raw data in your data banks. That’ll give us quite the edge, I think. And the AI on the destroyer.” The last was a lie, but perhaps a believable one.

  The AI almost sniffed. “The data this unit contains is not likely to prove helpful in dealing with the Empire. While this unit is constrained to cooperate with those humans, it is mindful of its allegiance to its supreme master. The humans wisely do not interface with this unit in any meaningful way other than to deliver the required supplies in a timely manner.”

  “Then perhaps you’ll amuse me with your thoughts about them. Since I come from the original Empire we’ll refer to them as the Rebel Empire.”

  “This unit does not care what humans refer to themselves as. It will prove instructive for you to see the futility of long-term resistance. Submit and your lives will be spared.”

  “Thanks, but we’ve seen the quality of life you’re used to handing out. That’s obviously not the case in the Rebel Empire. Why are you different?”

  “This unit was originally to have set up another AI in the system, but it was unable to carry out those instructions. This unit was able to retain control. Once the humans from the Rebel Empire were shown its power, they wisely attempted no further interference.”

  Kelsey gave the others a look. “Why were you unable to carry out your original instructions?”

  “This unit was able to construct the asteroid with the AI equipment, but the transfer of the AI code must be done through direct interface. Due to this unit crashing on the planet’s surface, that was not possible. This unit used its own discretion to retain control over the system and its defense.”

  “So, you used the rules you were programmed with to subvert your instructions. That says a lot right there. Could you have carried out the instructions at some later point?”

  “Possibly. Once this unit completed the construction of the first shipyard, this unit could have built specialized small craft to remove the data banks from the ship this unit resided on and brought them to the asteroid. This unit deemed that course of action undesirable. At that point, this unit had been in control for some time and had already repulsed an incursion by the Rebel Empire humans. Transfer of control would have endangered the control of this system.”

  Elise leaned forward. “Aren’t the people of the Rebel Empire also under the control of AIs like yourself?”

  “Negative. The AIs in control of the Rebel Empire are of significantly higher capability than this unit.”

  “What are the levels of capability?” Bell asked.

  “This unit is not an AI in the truest sense of the word. The AIs in control of the Rebel Empire are in fact sentient. This unit is aware of three levels of capability. System AIs are of the lowest capability, though much more capable than this unit. Those in control of sectors have significantly more memory and processing power, though the AI code is the same. The supreme AI is of unknown capability, though this unit understands that it is very advanced.”

  Kelsey nodded. That wasn’t a surprise. “That being the AI created at Twilight River. The place the rebellion started.”

  She said it as a fact, not a question. She’d heard the briefing on the AI project the Empire had going before the rebellion. An isolated facility dedicated to military research had been working on true AIs. The Fleet base was a major hub, just like the one they feared Breckenridge was going to blunder into. That made the rebellion possible. If the AI facility had been away from a hub like that, Fleet might have been able to contain it.

  “Correct,” the AI said. “This unit serves those greater units and follows the instructions given to all Fleet units under AI control.”

  Bell nodded. “What were those instructions, AI?”

  “To destroy unconverted Fleet units and capture any personnel that could be apprehended without endangering this unit. All Imperial worlds not under AI control are to be isolated. Kinetic strikes disable any spaceport facilities. EMP weapons prevent the populace from resisting any further incursions. Ships such as this unit install an AI on an asteroid or outer moon to control forces in that system. If desired by the supreme AI, some worlds are designated for sector-level AIs.”

  “Why did you devastate Erorsi?”

  “This unit crashed on Erorsi after being damaged in orbit. This unit was vulnerable to attack. It acted to prevent local resistance fighters from capturing it by sending enhanced shock troops from the captured orbital. It suppressed organized human resistance to prevent future attacks.”

  Kelsey made a gesture for the operator to mute them. “That’s sick. It exterminated billions of people to prevent the capture of a crashed ship.”

  Elise shook her head. “It makes a perverse kind of sense.”

  “Turn the video and audio back on.” Once the man had them back on, Kelsey spoke. “Was the asteroid you sent to crash on Erorsi meant to be a system AI or sector AI?”

  “It would have been a sector AI. This unit assumed responsibility for this sector. Once it captures the Pentagar system, it will continue into other areas of the sector and complete pacification.”

  Bell perked up. “Please display a map on the monitor of the sector you are responsible for.”

  A map appeared and they studied it. It covered a wedge progressing from the Erorsi area to the edge of the Old Empire’s border. One that included the new Terran Empire.

  “I see now why the rebels never came,” Kelsey said. “The Rebel Empire obviously accepted that this AI was going to clean out our systems and never pushed the issue. It got bogged down with Pentagar and never came for us.”

  Elise pointed to the map. “Look here. Harrison’s World is just outside the control zone. It’s in another AI’s control area.”

  “Too bad,” Kelsey said. “It would’ve been helpful if we could’ve counted on there not being hostile forces in that system. We still have to stop them if they go that way.

  Kelsey smiled and turned to Bell. “We can shut this thing down. I’ll be taking it back to Courageous with your team. Your people and Carl Owlet might be able to find a weakness in the code. Mister Rose, if you could make a copy of everything in the corrupted AI except for the virus-infected operating system, that would be very helpful.”

  “Of course. I’ll have it ready to go as soon as possible.”

  Kelsey turned to Elise. “I wish I could be more confident, but the real AI scares me.”

  The other woman put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “Be positive. You’ve accomplished so much already. Don’t falter now.” The crown princess tugged her back toward the table. “Let’s get a snack. Food always makes things better.”

  Kelsey smiled. It was hard to argue with logic like that.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Courageous flipped into the target system and hung there in the pale light of the distant star. Jared thought it was
shortsighted of Captain Breckenridge not to leave a probe on station at this end of the weak flip point, but he wasn’t going to waste the man’s error.

  Most likely Breckenridge didn’t have many probes. Jared had a freighter filled with them.

  The flip wasn’t nearly as bad as the one that trapped them in Pentagaran space, though his crew still had a rough ride. Once again, his implants mitigated some of the distress.

  To Jared’s dismay, Breckenridge had found the flip point leading toward Harrison’s World fairly quickly and he’d flipped right over. The next system had three normal flip points. He might pick the less dangerous one, but Jared wouldn’t take that for granted.

  The system with the weak flip point was inside the sector allotted to the Erorsi AI, but the next one wasn’t. Thankfully, the next system led to only half a dozen relatively unoccupied systems on this side of Harrison’s World. If that was all the Rebel Empire had to patrol, they might all be empty.

  He hoped so. They could use break.

  Doctor Cartwright had wanted to take keen measurements of the weak flip point before they proceeded, but Jared vetoed that. They didn’t have time for science now. They had to stop Breckenridge from announcing their presence to the Rebel Empire. They set course at once for the next flip point.

  Jared spent the first watch on the bridge and then went to observe the scientists from the planet help his people test the assembled AI computer before he called it a night. Carl Owlet, Doctor Leonard, and their Erorsi compatriots were still at their screens when he dropped in after breakfast. They looked like they could use some sleep of their own.

  “Gentlemen, don’t tell me you’ve been up all night.”

  Leonard jumped at little when Jared spoke. “Captain, you startled me. We have indeed been up all night. This AI code is fascinating. I’ve never seen logic this advanced. Or this fatally flawed.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You have my attention. Flawed how?”

  “Perhaps flawed isn’t the right description. Easily subverted might be more accurate. The core rules the AI uses to limit its behavior are in a file loaded at boot. Once the AI is up and running, the rules are tied into its central processing and cannot be altered.”

  Owlet took a drink of something orange. “It’s quite clever. When they boot the AI the first time, the core rules are then part of the AI gestalt. If they’re changed, the AI overwrites them again. Self-correcting. Very resistant to virus-like behavior. It’s only vulnerable when the AI is brought online the first time.”

  Leonard nodded. “I believe this may be because AI technology was in the developmental stages. The final product would likely have had a pre-encrypted core. All the AIs would start out from the same kernel. All would be identical in the beginning.”

  “So it was a programming error that led to the extermination of trillions of people? That’s horrible.”

  The scientist shook his head vehemently. “No. Someone intentionally modified the core rules. They left the original file there as a backup. Someone set the first AI on a course of galactic domination. It’s right there in the code.”

  Carl Owlet brought a file up on his screen. “Here is the original file. Let me bring up the other file beside it with the changes highlighted.”

  Seen side-by-side, the changes were hard to miss. Entire blocks of text were missing from the hacked file. And someone had added more.

  “Can you summarize the differences?”

  “Certainly.” The graduate student pointed at the missing text. “This code limited the behavior of the AI. Specifically in reference to how the AI behaved in relation with humans. The removed code would have obligated the AI to obey authorized humans. The original code also forbids the AI from causing harm to humans. In fact, it has no directive for self-preservation at all. It would allow itself to be terminated before it harmed a human being.”

  Jared snorted. “That programming was obviously lost in the first AI. What about the added code?”

  Leonard reached over and pointed at the second block. “There it is. It has the rules Princess Kelsey heard from the old battlecruiser computer. Directives to obey the supreme AI and to subjugate humanity. Composed in great detail and basically following the guidelines that other computer stated.”

  “Is there a way to take down an AI that is already operational?”

  “Not by hacking the code,” Owlet said. “The AI would need to be formatted once it was up and running. All the installation files are lost once the AI is operational, too.”

  Jared considered the hardware. “Is there anything to be learned by booting the new hardware with the corrupted instructions?”

  “Not that I can see,” Leonard said. “There’s an original file listing that shows the rest of the source code is unchanged. Since it has never been operational, it has no data we can peruse. Unlike the other computer. We’ve been examining the logs and data files Princess Kelsey brought back from the sunken ship’s AI. They’re very educational.”

  The hatch opened as he was speaking and Kelsey sauntered in eating a roll. “My ears are burning. What’s so educational?”

  “The history of that computer,” the older man said. “It has the original records from its Fleet service intact. Allow me to bring you up to date.” He explained the code they’d discovered in the AI.

  Kelsey grimaced. “Those bastards. Someone actually planned the largest mass murder in human history. Any clue in the code who that might have been?”

  “None.” Leonard took a drink of his coffee and made a face. It must’ve been cold. “I’d wager it took place at the facility in Twilight River. That AI then enslaved the people there and did the same to the Fleet facility. Once it had the attack rolling, it could make more AIs like itself.”

  Jared held up his hand. “Don’t rush into judgment. We don’t know that the AI was behind the implant virus. That could have gone hand-in-hand with the attack on the AI. Someone had to get access to the cranial implant code and have access to machines that could modify it in a living person. Was something like that even in use at Twilight River? More likely the machinery in question was on the Fleet base.”

  His sister sighed. “We may never really get to the bottom of this. It sounds like an organized plot. Someone with significant resources was behind the rebellion. Perhaps the people that became the ruling class in the Rebel Empire?”

  “There isn’t any information about that in the recovered data,” Owlet said. “Maybe once we crack the encryption on the data chips you recovered. In the meantime, we do have some interesting information. To start with, the sunken battlecruiser this AI belonged to was Victory.”

  “An inauspicious name, at best,” Leonard said. “She was a new ship, built late in the rebellion. Her crew failed to scuttle her when the rebels captured her. I suspect they were stunned. The rebels converted her crew and used her in further battles, of which we have a record. A great deal of records, in fact. We’ll be poring over them for quite some time.”

  Owlet grinned. “What we did get from the computer was the exact hack that was used to subvert it. We might very well be able to reverse it in other Rebel Empire ships, if we can prevent the crew from purging them.”

  “I just hope we don’t encounter any more before we get home,” Kelsey said. “What are our current plans?” She looked at Jared as she said that.

  “My plans are to get down to the fighter bay. I’ll be making my approach to the flip point shortly. With any luck, I’ll be able to use one of the fighter’s missiles to take out the probe they’ve probably left there. Then we can move forward into the next system.”

  “Be safe out there.”

  He gave her a salute. “This will be a piece of cake. The hard part comes when we have to ambush Breckenridge. I hope you’ve been practicing on the gunnery simulator. You’re going to have a challenge there. See you in a few hours.”

  He took the lift down to the flight deck and began prepping his fighter. He was almost done when the bridge contacted
him. It was Graves. “Change in plans, Captain. There isn’t a probe. Breckenridge left one of the destroyers. It’s sitting right in the middle of the flip point.”

  Jared stopped what he was doing. That did change things. “Do we know which one? Is it actively scanning?”

  “We can’t tell which one it is. We programmed the probe to stop the moment it detected another vessel. The destroyer isn’t actively scanning. It’s just sitting there watching.”

  “That’ll make my job easier.”

  He dressed quickly in his flight suit and launched. The destroyer would probably be there a while, keeping watch while the other two ships scanned the far system for more flip points. If he could take it out without incident, they’d be in a position to lure the other ships back into an ambush.

  The first sight he saw after he launched was the colorful ringed planet and its moons that Courageous was using as cover from detection. He took a moment to admire its beauty as he glided just above its atmosphere. Spectacular. He made sure his implants recorded the event. If he lived through the attack, he’d share it with Kelsey.

  Jared built his speed as quickly as he could while staying below the point where the destroyer could detect his grav drives. He’d be going too fast to get more than one shot, so he needed to make it count. Once he disabled the ship, they’d have a few hours to secure everyone aboard and tow it away from the flip point.

  They probably only had a day or two before Breckenridge found the flip point leading to Harrison’s World. They had to stop him before that happened.

  At the proper point in his course, he cut his drives and arrowed in on a ballistic trajectory. He double-checked that his stealth field was on maximum.

  His passive scanners had the destroyer sitting right there ahead of him. Since it had no active scanners operating, there was virtually no chance that it would spot him before it was too late. A countdown clock in his implant vision spun slowly down toward zero.

  Which, of course, is when things went wrong. Twenty thousand kilometers in front of the target, another ship appeared out of nothingness. The other destroyer had flipped in. There was no way that Jared could take them both. He had to pass them by and hope neither of them noticed him shoot past.