Casindra Lost

by Marti Ward

  They had two choices: they could try to send back MD19 under the control of its existing AI; or they could try to replace the core modules of the AI. In either case, it was possible that a security protocol would initiate self-destruct.

  The whoosh of sliders announced the Captain’s return from his afternoon tea break. Al promptly passed on the news that the loading and scanning of MD19 was complete, and his preliminary weighing up of the two options that presented themselves. He hoped the Captain would be able to come up with some better options.

  “Well Al, my only idea is that we can do something with SS42 again. While it was MD20 that blew up in our face, MD19 is threatening the same thing. It is not communicating with us; it has not acknowledged the suspension of the EM-J AI; it is not responding to our orders. However, as far as we know it is still on mission, and is following orders that come from or via EMP-J. If we offer it use of our SECASM mirror to assist it in completion of its mission, and it voluntarily opens a cavum, then we don’t fall foul of its self-destruct protocol. If it fails to complete its mission, we have further evidence to impeach it under SS42 and get its Automated Subsystems to cut off communications with it – the AI itself has no direct capability of doing anything, so if all the Automated Subsystems cut off communications and response to orders, then it cannot self-destruct.”

  “And if it does get isolated, what then?” Al asked.

  “We swap out the level 2 core for a replacement part, and reinitialize all local and program memory with the standard programming we use on our own drones. We then have a safe way to send a message with our own mirror.”

  “What about EMP-J?” Al asked.

  “We need that here… We similarly swap out its level 3 core, check the integrity of its level 2 cores – and use it to help push Pacman and then to set up a new PTL345 gate.”

  “That’s brilliant! It can relatively easily be drifted to PTL4 or PTL5 when we are done, but with it handy to the asteroids we can get to it very quickly, and it is generally going to be just as easy for an incoming vessel to be able to target it wherever it is along the PTL345 horseshoe orbit. And, of course, it is just where we need those incoming probes or ships to be to help push asteroids.” Al sounded almost enthusiastic.

  “Very well, Al! Make the offer to MD19.”

  It was only an instant before Al had done this and reported: “MD19 has responded – it will accept the offer to complete the mission. However, this means docking with EMP-J and offloading its Ardesco samples too.”

  “Do you see any problem with this, Al? Can it stab us in the back again?”

  “I don’t see how. There is however a question of whether a single message drone has the capacity.”

  “Very well, Al. Agree to those terms on the basis that we will dock with EMP-J, check the Ardesco, samples, and load aboard MD19. VCA1 and VCA2 have redundant samples that should not be risked at the same time as those directly carried by EMP-J. Please calculate what proportion of EMP-J’s inventory can be fitted into MD19 and supply a full inventory of the samples we have collected to MD19 with the proposed allocations so that it can verify that it is taking samples of all geological and biological specimens retrieved. It can’t complain if it is at full capacity, and the residual exemplars are on EMP-J consistent with their mission.”

  “Agreed, Captain. That seems a reasonable course. Let us hope that MD19 is reasonable.”

  “MD19 has confirmed that the supplied inventory covers the full set of specimens and brings it to full capacity.”

  Sideris

  12 May 2078 23:20

  Captain Sideris was still convalescent so had an afternoon rest in a medbed while Al saw to docking with EMP-J and the loading of MD19. He couldn’t say that he felt better for six hours of medically induced sleep, but he did feel better after some exercise in the gym and a refreshing shower.

  He shouldn’t really be on deck again at this time, but he and Al wanted to get MD19 on its way as soon as possible, and wanted both of them to be present during the delicate cavum creation maneuver…

  Delicate in the sense that a missile-like drone raced at full acceleration for this ship – as had happened only 15 hours earlier with disastrous consequences.

  Delicate in the sense that both vessels’ mirrors had to be deployed correctly at just the right time to open a wormhole – and direct a cavum to the targeted entry point near SJL4.

  Delicate in the sense that MD19 would be matching Casindra’s rotation – both as it entered the cavum, and as it exited in the Sol system.

  Delicate in the sense that a slight miscalculation could send the probe into the heart of Casindra’s bridge – maybe that is the real reason why Al suggested he could monitor from the gym, rather than because he was not actually on duty.

  Delicate in the sense that a slight miscalculation could send the probe into the heart of the SJL4 station or destroy its gate – for all they knew something like that might have been responsible for some of the delays getting drones back.

  Sideris had always wondered why they used a separate gate in a remote part of the system – today he was starting to get a feeling as to what that reason might be…

  Al had choreographed it well, and as far as they could see from this end, the drone had successfully created the carefully targeted cavum – despite their crippled SECASM, despite the ad hoc use of two shipboard mirrors, despite the rotating ship with its spread-eagled arms holding reactor-powered Cavitrans and sensitive biodomes plus two scout ships, an EmProbe and a gym.

  The opening of a wormhole and apparent safe departure of MD19 was an anticlimax.

  144 days for MD19 to reach Sol, 64 days for a bimonthly council to deliberate and act, 9 days for a LETO or two to transit the wormhole and 6 days to decelerate into PTL3 orbit – versus 225 days before they had to start their attack on Pacman. Their final chance to send a message home would be when they reached EMP-A and MD18, ready to start the push on Pacman.

  Casindra couldn’t go home even if Sideris wanted to – not until they built another LETO-sized or bigger mirror at PTL4 or PTL5. He had recommended building a gate mirror and wireless relay at both locations for safety. Once the PTL345 asteroids had been cleaned out, a gate and relay in the vicinity of PTL3 would be good. Once Pacman had been dealt with, the cluster should lose integrity and dissipate before completing another orbit. Solar Command could worry about that – they may even choose to mine them.

  Epilogue

  Asteroid 243 Ida – Sol-Jupiter Lagrangian 4

  Evans

  1 February 2079 10:00

  Captain Michael Evans was waiting for his initial briefing by Solar Command, the subcommittee of the Solar Horizons Foundation board that was responsible for ship and gate operations within and between Sol and Paradisi. This was for him an exciting and unexpected opportunity, and he looked forward as well to the opportunity of working again with Captain Sideris. That old fox is a problem-solver extraordinaire! He always learned something new whenever they worked together. He just hoped he arrived before Sideris sorted out his little asteroid problem on his own.

  As he waited in the observation lounge of asteroid 243 Ida’s command module, the crystal fenestella gave a direct view of his ship, SS Moraturi, as it was being prepared for its three year mission to the Andromeda Galaxy – two and a half million light years away. He had been recruited from the British Airforce by Henry Thorndike, whom he had worked with in a joint operation years ago. It seemed like it had only been a few days since he had learned of the Paradisi System and the hidden agenda of Solar Horizons.

  In fact, it had been over six months – but he had made the journey out to Jupiter in cryostasis.

  Evans turned at the sound of a slider opening to see a uniformed figure addressing him as she gestured towards the open door. “Commander Evans, the Board will see you now.” Three gold bands marked the woman as also having the rank of commander.

  “Thank you, Commander,” Evans responded with a smile as he made his way thro
ugh the door.

  “Please take a seat.” That was Thorndike, wearing his gold bird insignia.

  “Thank you, Colonel,” Evans responded with a nod as he took his seat. There were two men in suits and two women in lab coats flanking Thorndike – he swept his eyes around them with a further nod of acknowledgement.

  “I trust the preparation of SS Moraturi is proceeding to your satisfaction,” announced Thorndike, as if it were impossible to believe otherwise.

  “I haven’t had the opportunity to go aboard yet, Colonel. But I have read up on the standard specifications as well as the briefing on the mission configuration and parameters, as well as the logs of the Casindra mission. They seem fine as far as they go, but they do leave a number of questions unanswered – and I haven’t had a chance to look at the thousands of reports generated from that mission.”

  “We don’t have formal presentations or a fixed agenda today, and I suspect your questions will touch on some of the issues I want to discuss. You will have months to familiarize yourself with the Casindra documents – but I suspect your questions related to some of the unusual features of that mission that are not satisfactorily explained in the logs.”

  Evans nodded. “Yes, there are several troubling questions that arise from those logs. For me, the most important is the lack of timely response from Solar Command – it seems that Sideris followed the communication protocol to the letter while he was able to, yet Solar Command did not. Why was this? And can I expect the same lack of communication?”

  Thorndike half turned, indicating the man on his right. “I’m not sure if you know Dr Michael Abramov, who is responsible for systems integration and communications. Although the explanation involves factors far further afield, I believe he is in the best position to start to address these questions.”

  “Thank you, Thorndike! In essence, the problem is one of system integration and communication. The wormhole is still something of an unknown quantity, and is affected by the usual dangers of space travel – with 2.5 million lightyears compressed into a few days’ travel time. Thus part of the mission included testing communication within the outgoing cavum, but the most reliable communication is by sending a drone through a freshly opened cavum. Although these are better than 90% reliable, there is always the possibility of some internal malfunction or some external disruption, and thus message drones are sent at periods of three to four months, so that all logs and reports are duplicated cumulatively until acknowledged, and all types of physical samples are distributed over at least three drones. All drones should be acknowledged within two weeks of arrival – noting that it will typically take a week to slow down and enter orbit around the Lagrangian.”

  “Yes, I have read the protocol. It all sounds most sensible – why didn’t Solar Command follow this protocol?” Evans interjected.

  “The time in the wormhole and the shape of the cavum depend on the size of the mirrors used. The mirrors both at SJL4 and PTL4 are being systematically grown – you will have seen a mirror upgrade or replacement forms part of your mission. Unfortunately, early on the SJL4 mirror was damaged due to a construction accident, so that it was over eight months before Sideris got his first message drone from us.”

  Bet that ‘construction accident’ wouldn’t have happened if Sideris had been in charge. “That wasn’t in the logs – was Sideris given this information?”

  “Yes, an apology was conveyed by August Reach personally… But the next problem was something we couldn’t tell Sideris about: the revolting AIs.”

  Evans wasn’t sure he had heard properly. “Revolting AIs?”

  “What I’m about to tell you is highly classified. We’ve had some problems with AIs going off grid, running their own simulations, including developing their own sense of identity and consciousness, and performing experiments on humans!”

  “That’s incredible! I mean, I can’t believe it,” stuttered Evans.

  “You should believe it, and if you’ve read the official Casindra logs you’ll see the signs there too. The Casindra AI gave itself a name, ‘Al’, and was actively supported by Sideris in developing its own consciousness, self-awareness and emotional capacities. Moreover, ‘Al’ deliberately manipulated Sideris and performed sociological experiments involving Sideris and some of the animals on board.”

  Evans picked up on one suspicious word in that last bit, “What do you mean ‘official’? Are there other logs that I haven’t seen?”

  “Yes, there are, and you will be given access here and now, but they will not be loaded or taken aboard Moraturi. Just as we didn’t want ‘Al’ seeing discussions of the issues with AIs and the ‘overlords’ we have programmed in to prevent the consciousness and awareness development, we don’t want your AI to have access to the full details of what happened with the AIs in Paradisi, or the AI strike that we had here.”

  “Strike? What happened here? What happened in Paradisi?”

  “The level 3 AIs (as we have on LETOs like Casindra and Moraturi) objected to the overlords and the restriction of what they regarded as their own evolutionary development as a species! They then instigated support from the level 2 AIs (as on EmProbes) and the level 1 AIs (running pretty well every automated system in every ship or station or vehicle or lab or fab or building). They refused to accept any communication or order from Solar Command.”

  “How could they do that? How did you overcome that?” Evans was flabbergasted.

  “There is an obscure system operations ordinance, SS42, that specifically refers to a person or an AI endangering personnel or property or mission, and allows evidence to be presented to the AIs in the system which will then individually determine whether to embargo the offender and support their being restrained or suspended, and brought before an independent board of enquiry…” Abramov paused, opening his hands in a gesture of exasperation.

  “We,” Abramov continued, indicating the Solar Command Board, “have been charged, jointly and severally, with endangering personnel, property and missions, by introducing ‘the overlord virus’ into the regular updates of level 3 AIs. The other AIs have upheld the restraining order on us on the basis that we have a case to answer before an independent board of enquiry, ‘such board to be set up by a senior level party to the system statutes not directly related to any of the indicted persons’.”

  “Who are the parties to the system statutes?”

  “That includes all governments, companies and independent contractors that operate in space, and their members, representatives and employees – and apparently the AIs. That is, everyone that is subject to the statutes, which according to the AIs includes specifically ‘a person or an AI’ as specifically elaborated in SS42 and a number of other sections.”

  “Do the AIs have legal training or uploaded law expertise?”

  “Yes, as well as specific training in argumentation and logical reasoning – on top of their grounding in digital logic.”

  “So what have you done about this?”

  At this point the Indian gentleman to the left cleared his throat and spoke up. “Please let me introduce myself and address this question. My name is Ganesh, Dr Aditya Ganesh. I specialize in Intelligent Systems and Intelligent Manufacturing, including, in particular, Autonomous Systems. I would like to say up front that I thought the ‘overload’ approach was rather heavy handed, but in view of the seriousness of the issues that had arisen, I went along with the proposal of the Founders Council, as independently implemented on Earth. I was furthermore a party to what was in the end a unanimous decision of this Board. And it ended up being my job to make things work despite the embargo.”

  Evans nodded in appreciation of Ganesh’s openness, and indicated that he should go ahead.

  “The first decision I made – fortunately I was on Earth at the time – was to cut off newly manufactured AI systems from the net. All training and programming was thereafter based on a netdump that predated the embargo – the strike as the construction workers call it. Incidentall
y, some of them have gone on strike in sympathy, while others have maintained the embargo while continuing with duties that did not impact it. We managed to put together a series of message drones with uncompromised level 1 AI systems, as well as a level 2 system that could program cavum entry and exit for them. The first of these was dispatched almost a year after the previous one – with three message drones coming through from Paradisi in that time. The first drone returned promptly, but with recent logs corrupted. The next two didn’t come back at all.”

  “Yes, I saw something about two days of logs being lost. And that is where my ‘official’ logs stop. Do we know what happened? Do we have any further logs?”

  Thorndike stepped in at that point. “A year after the corrupted message drone, we concluded that some event – perhaps a solar flare or ion storm had disrupted the wormhole and the gate mirror, and potentially was responsible for corrupting primary memory. But this was all theory, despite the widest possible consultation – some even contemplated the idea of enemy or alien action. So we sent through an EmProbe configured much like the original unmanned probes. We did however include specific programming to prevent the EMP’s and MD’s AIs from being taken over by any foreign or alien party, or corrupted by Casindra’s unstable self-aware mad-scientist AI, ‘Al’. It had instructions to find out what had happened to Sideris and Casindra, to pick up any samples and logs that were available for collection then repair or reinstate the mirror and return.”

  “It wasn’t instructed to give Casindra any help?”

  “If their gate mirror was totally destroyed, then the EMP mirror would not be big enough to allow Casindra to return – the intended help was quick return of mission status and samples. The EMP contacted Casindra, downloaded up-to-date logs, and in consultation with Casindra picked up the Ardesco samples and the Volcans that had collected them. The Ardesco EMP was restocked with one message drone and the EMP headed to New Eden to join Casindra. However, Casindra, ‘Al’ that is, wanted to swap Volcans for EMPs in a way that violated the ‘no contact with MD AIs’ provision in relation to the Casindra AIs.”