Casindra Lost

by Marti Ward

  “Cavum entry and exit parameters calculated, uploaded and flagged. Collision, or cavum entry, will occur in… 21 minutes.”

  “Captain, EMP-J has overridden our collision protocol on MD19, and a default collision protocol has been engaged – this will self-destruct the drone as soon as it determines a collision is unavoidable.”

  “Al, is there any way you can block communications from EMP-J to the message drones?”

  “That may be possible, Captain. But artificial jamming may also initiate security responses. However, this would normally only be implemented if a drone had information or technology that must be protected. On the other hand, self-destruct as a collision avoidance protocol was not present in our drones, and it is impossible to say what other protocols have been introduced.”

  “Very well, Al. Ensure logs are updated with this response, then implement jamming and divert course to a collision course with MD20 instead.”

  “Radio jamming has been implemented across all MD communication frequencies, and course correction has been executed, Captain. As far as we know, our jumpgate collision protocol is in effect. There is the possibility that EMP-J could effect a point-to-point link by laser.

  Sideris hadn’t even felt the miniscule thrust adjustment, but focused on the lasercomm question. “Can we burn out or overload their laser receptors?”

  “Yes, Captain! As EMP-J is tracking to enter New Eden orbit, there remains only one sensor that could pick up lasercomm. I am initiating laser jamming now at overload levels. It will not be able to receive lasercomm from EMP-J now. Collision or cavum entry will occur in 13 minutes. EMP-J is still on an elliptic to polar transfer orbit on the approach to New Eden.”

  “Thank you Al. Please ensure reverse course is programmed in for immediate implementation following our encounter with MD20. I want to slow down, reverse course, catch up with and retrieve MD19 before EMP-J does. Also, transfer radio and laser jamming to MD19 on initiating this program… Is there any danger of the collision protocol activating when we dock with MD19?”

  “No, Captain. Drone AIs are perfectly capable of distinguishing low relative velocity approaches for docking from a head-on high velocity collision course. But that does not mean it doesn’t have a self-destruct protocol for boarding.”

  “It’s only a message drone, Al. Why would it possibly have a boarding autodestruct trigger?”

  “Because it is treating this as enemy-controlled territory – whether this is a deliberate decision of Solar Command or not I cannot say. It may be that the drone has been repurposed from some kind of military tasking.”

  “Even so, EMP-J still needs us intact to carry out its orders to retrieve our samples.”

  “True Captain, except that we are blocking communications between EMP-J and its probes.”

  “Al, you picked up activation of the self-destruct on unavoidable collision activation, won’t you be able to pick up self-destruct on boarding activation?”

  “No, Captain, I won’t be able to pick up any self-destruct warnings if we are jamming the signals.”

  “Ah! So what could EMP-J do if we dropped the jamming before docking?”

  “I will cogitate on that, Captain! In the meantime, the collision unavoidable state has been reached, and MD20 is unfurling its mirror. Jamming is still active, so correct functioning of the program cannot be verified. Parameters calculated are still accurate to within one part in twenty billion. Arrival at the correct space-time coordinates is normally specified to one in a trillion.”

  “That still sounds pretty accurate, Al.”

  “But it means there is 50 times the error – an error of up to 8 seconds becomes almost 7 minutes, and an error of up to 4 000 kilometers becomes 200 000 kilometers.”

  “But we routinely target entry at 150 000 000 kilometres from the Lagrangian.”

  “Yes, Captain, but it can take all of that to slow down into orbit in the worst case, depending on the precise point the gates are in their orbits around the Lagrangians and their suns. But we aren’t at a gate, or in Tenebra’s orbit – the probe is already traveling at high velocity relative to our SECASM mirror and more than 20% faster than it would be in Tenebra’s orbit. Although I took this into account, it is usual to make precise adjustments to the last minute for a message drone – and for an EMP or a LETO, these adjustments continue in the cavum. The jamming was unanticipated, and the error could grow to the point where SJL4 capture is not possible and the probe may destabilize the wormhole or collide with the gate.”

  “Very well, cease jamming, and transmit the corrections. Hopefully EMP-J cannot interfere now. Transmit a message to EMP-J warning it that any interference will both compromise its mission here and compromise the safety of the SJL4 gate. Emphasize again that our message is essential to avoid failure of both our mission and the entire Solar Horizons colonization program.”

  “Jamming has been discontinued and transmissions to MD20 and EMP-J are complete. Collision point in 30 seconds.”

  Before Sideris could respond, Al spoke again. “Captain, EMP-J has transmitted an override order to give the self-destruct condition priority. Switching to forward view”

  The viewscreen changed just in time to show MD20 explode moments before it would have entered the cavum. Casindra’s forward sensors were decimated, and their SECASM was shredded with shrapnel. The viewscreen switched from its partial forward view to a system status report.

  “Captain to the bridge”, Al intoned.

  Al

  12 May 2078 08:20

  Al couldn’t understand why EMP-J’s AI would have destroyed an empty M-drone that had no significance for EMP-J’s sample recovery mission. There were only two possibilities he could see. One was that the AI had been compromised somehow – whether it had gone rogue on its own somehow, or had been given additional orders beyond those that it had disclosed. The second was that the M-drones weren’t empty but had some specific high security mission – perhaps even one that Solar Command wasn’t officially aware of, but again this suggested that the EmProbe’s AI must have been given additional secret orders. In either case they were dealing with the kind of Nemesis he’d always hated and feared – just like the fictional HAL whose name was a bit too similar to his own.

  Sliders whispered as Sideris entered the bridge, direct from the bridge in a sweat-covered t-shirt. Simba had already arrived and welcomed the Captain with an interested sniff.

  Al filled in the Captain on his theories, and was rewarded by agreeing nods from both Sideris and Simba. Sideris gave a snort at the mention of HAL, and reflected Al’s own thoughts better than he could have himself “… as exemplified by 2001: A Space Idiocy. Just goes to show, idiocy can repeat itself – even the fictional kind.”

  “There is a protocol Captain, a protocol to deal with a rogue AI in control of critical systems. We need to present official logs as evidence and lay formal charges against the AI under ordinance SS42 concerning actions by a person or an AI that endangers foundation personnel or property or missions – in this case, willful endangerment of system traffic, willful destruction of a message drone, willful damaging of a manned ship, willful disruption of an official mission, and failure to perform its specified function or mission. We then send out a global message enjoining all AIs in the system, including the Automated Systems on board EMP-J, to cease communication with and ignore all messages from the EMP-J AI. They have a responsibility to compare the evidence with the logs they have access to, weigh up the charges, and if they have substance to uphold the suspension and no communication order, and assist in the return of the AI to Solar Command for evaluation. Since messages are received and relayed by the Automated Communication System, our HAL will not be aware of this until he loses contact with all his Automated Systems.”

  “Will this include MD19?” Sideris asked.

  “Yes, this should mean MD19 is prohibited from sending or receiving messages to EMP-J – until and unless a hearing is convened by Solar Command and exonerates
the AI.”

  “But?” Sideris knew that when Al said ‘should’ there was always a ‘but’.

  “But… we have no idea what protocols might have been installed on MD19: it might still have a self-destruct-on-boarding trigger; it might have been instructed to ignore any command stream messages from Casindra specifically, or as some kind of blanket embargo. Of course, an embargo could also be built into all the Automated Systems on EMP-J – but that would have been a major undertaking.”

  “EMP-A and EMP-T have been receiving a real-time copy of everything we’ve seen or heard or experienced, haven’t they?” asked Sideris.

  “Yes Captain,” answered Al, “except for during the jamming, but these compromised packets have been automatically scheduled for reissuing. And yes, I can confirm all telemetry of the incident has now been broadcast. Why do you ask? What do you have in mind?”

  “Use lasercomm to draw the attention of EMP-A and EMP-T to ordinance SS42 and ask them to initiate any action that may be warranted. That way if Casindra specifically is being ignored, the action will have originated from them not us. There will be a delay – but I don’t see that there is any great hurry. We should for the time being just reverse course, beat EMP-J to MD19 and latch it – without interfacing hatches, so that there is no chance of interpretation that we are boarding it. Does this sound reasonable, Al?”

  “Message drones are standardly latched for transport, so that should be safe. If it initiated transfer of samples under its mission orders, then it would also be safe to hatch match. We can try contacting it before catching up to discuss transfer of samples. All this will give plenty of time for EMP-A and EMP-T to make their decisions and transmissions – assuming they find there is an action to answer for.”

  “Very well, proceed on this basis.” ordered the Captain.

  “Messages to EMP-A and EMP-T sent.”

  “Offer to transfer samples to MD19.” The Captain had found a way to do something that made sense for reasons that didn’t directly relate. Having urgent samples from New Eden on MD19 was a good idea in its own right – if they managed to get it dispatched. It was the asteroids that were most critical, and required the interaction of at least a message drone and a LETO-sized mirror to get through in time to do something about the asteroids.

  Eventually, the expected messages came back from EMP-A and EMP-T – they included evidence from the automated copy of Casindra’s logs and provided the interdiction order. EMP-J’s AI was ordered to suspend pending a hearing, and all other AIs or ASs in the system were ordered to cease communication with EMP-J’s AI, and to cease providing services to it – including cutting power. The EMP-J Automated Navigation System should continue on to the programmed rendezvous in New Eden orbit, and then maintain station while awaiting further orders.

  Sideris

  12 May 2078 12:00

  Sideris had had time to have his shower, have a snack, give Simba, Samba and the kits a little attention, and still be back on the bridge in plenty of time for their encounter with MD19. EMP-J had showed no sign of deviating from its course, and all its Automated Systems had acknowledged the suspension order against their AI. There was no communication from the AI – which there shouldn’t be as the Automated Communication System was ignoring it. Later they would interrogate and analyze the on board systems, remotely, before attempting to deal with the EMP-J AI.

  But for now, they were matching speed with MP19 and almost ready to dock. MP19 had not acknowledged either their request to load samples, or EMP-A and EMP-Ts embargo on communication with EMP-J’s AI – either by beamed communication or system wide broadcast. Again, it was not clear whether MP19 had tried to communicate with EMP-J, whether its AI or other Automated Systems – again, they’d have to wait to interrogate and analyze its Automated Communication System. But in general, all communication with EMP-J systems other than its AI or its ACS should go through both the AI and the ACS.

  Of course, they needed physical access to EMP-J to do a full analysis of the Automated Systems, and the protocols in place did give them the clearance to do so remotely. They just had to hope that EMP-J wasn’t also booby-trapped in some way.

  Finally, the moment was here: they had matched speed and were in position. Sideris gave the order. “Al, latch on to MP19 – do not engage hatches.”

  There was no hurry at the moment to board MP19 or to reinitialize its systems. Al was still working with the Automated Repair System to assess and organize the repair of the SECASM. The Solar Energy Collector and Mirror was a reconfigurable multipurpose organ of the ship that depended on billions of microscopic nanobots to program the various functions and configurations. But there was also a conventional metal lattice framework that provided the structural support and allowed the opening and closing and orientation of the complex structure. It was virtually impossible to damage the nanosilc, being composed of all of those silicon nanobots that could simply be recycled and regenerated as needed, through a special 3D printer that could manufacture thousands a second and squirt them out like a stream of milk.

  The diagnostic report was basically that the structure was sufficiently intact that a reasonably complete nanosilc Ford-Svaiter mirror could be generated. But reasonably did not imply that they would have the usual high degree of accuracy. They were also currently unable to reconfigure it properly as a reorientable solar array suitable for employment in standard elliptics or in standard orbit. They would have to turn the whole ship towards the sun to generate power.

  Al’s recommendation was to complete a full repair before attempting to use it as an SV Mirror, and to expedite the repair so that normal power generation was available as soon as possible. Of course, the other possibility was to use it with MD19 first, so they didn’t have to repair again if it blew up in their faces too.

  “Al, can you analyze the deployed FS mirror and compensate for any errors it produces? I am inclined to try sending MD19 back before repairing the mirror. Is there any way you can program it for cavum entry and exit without physical access to its systems?”

  “No, Captain. At the moment all systems are in impound lockdown – since the controlling AI has been suspended, all systems slaved to it are in a failsafe mode designed to allow a choice of completion or abort of current navigational programs, as required to ensure safe confinement or return to base. Physical swap out of locked down systems is required to reinitialize the drone – we do have the required spares and specs to put together replacement systems. Quite apart from that, I suspect there is something special on board that is being protected.”

  “What about MP18? EMP-A has already had its bots check it out without finding anything unusual. Even the security programming seems standard. Did your scans of the MD20 reveal anything unusual?”

  “No, Captain. I analyzed the debris field very carefully as we passed through. No anomalies were found. Every particle down to 10cm diameter was scrutinized.”

  “So there couldn’t be anything more dangerous than nanites or nanobots?”

  “I’ve checked, Captain. Apart from the nanobots that formed part of the drone’s SV mirror, there was no evidence of cohesive networking, or indeed any EM activity from the debris.”

  “Ok Al, then what about our scans of MD19 – are there any usual shielded areas or any suspicious looking items,” asked Sideris.

  “The message drone shield is pretty good, Captain, and we do not have scan capabilities that can give us an accurate picture. But in terms of what we can see, there is nothing suspicious.”

  “Ok then Al, then this is what we’ll do… We’ll extend the scissorhatch as far as we can before matching and opening the drone’s hatch. Then transmit a message with our intentions to load New Eden samples, open the hatch, and send in bots with the samples – programming them to distribute the samples in a way that manages to maximize their ability to look around, and in particular to look for anomalies and security devices and autonomous bots of any size – and allocate some to thoroughly scan accesses t
o the Automated Systems.”

  “Acknowledged! Extending scissorhatch now, and resending our message about the intention to load samples.”

  “That’s good, Al. It’s a nice routine touch to send exactly the same message. Are there any issues selecting and programming bots for these tasks?”

  “No, Captain. I’ll use mostly standard cargo bots whose sensors are adequate for the stowing of the samples and associated general scans. I will include some engineering bots that can carry samples, but will have capabilities to assess the Automated Systems. As much as possible I will use autonomous protocols for the scanning, and limit radio telemetry to cargo-loading communications or emergency communications – which will only include things that are so far from normal safe protocols as to require immediate communication at the expense of alerting the EM to the nature of our scans.”

  “I presume you will use encryption for these emergency communications – and disguise them as something else,” asked the Captain astutely.

  “The engineering bots have the capability of encrypting and decrypting data, Captain. But yes, we can send back encrypted scans of the Automated Systems in the guise of normal scans of the biosamples. I have updated their programming to do so.”

  “Very well, Al. Proceed!”

  Al

  12 May 2078 15:50

  MD19 was clean. There was no sign of any unusual cargo, systems or nanites. The MD19 AI, was just a level 2 Artificial Intelligence – a relatively simple expert system to coordinate all the individual level 1 Automated Systems, which operated in a highly deterministic way. An M-drone does not have a separate Automated Security System – security functions were performed directly by the level 2 AI based on the information available from its level 1 ASs.