by Tom Wells
*****
In the hours following Mission Director Alfred Grand’s ascension to his position, the new Director quickly focused his team on trying to find out why Seeker One had stepped so far beyond its original programming. The spacecraft was now conducting experiments without prompts from Earth. Seeker One had of course been sent with the adaptive reasoning program to keep the Seeker active during the long communications lag that existed between Earth and the M.O., but it had not been expected to kick into full gear until the probe had reached the M.O. While the team at JPL had been curious about the streaks in deep space radiation, no action had been taken to reprogram any of the Seeker probes to investigate further. Yet somehow, Seeker One had recognized the significance of the discovery and had taken relatively radical steps to investigate them further.
A computer programming engineer on Alfred’s team had also pointed out that the data from Seeker one was only supposed to send a short series of 1’s and 0’s that JPL computers translated into the report, “GREEN” and the added text beyond was supposed to be inserted by the earthbound computer system. Seeker One had not only changed the response, it had figured out how to send a burst of 1’s and 0’s that reprogrammed the JPL computer display. This meant they needed to isolate all terrestrial computers that handled data from all of the Seeker missions.
Six hours later, the time had come for the first data arriving from Seeker One and everyone gathered to see what arrived in the download. Alfred had fully expected to be surprised by whatever was going to happen. He had tried to imagine and anticipate any one of countless possibilities coming from Seeker One's next reports. He thought he had a full grasp of the concept that whatever he might see, it was going to be something no one could expect. Still, when the moment came, what transpired was beyond his every imagining.
The pattern in the data changes pointed to the fact that the sending of data from a reprogrammed planetary lander was supposed to be the wakeup call since JPL had failed to respond to the more subtle changes in the data sent earlier by Seeker One. The computer programming engineer’s analysis had shown that Seeker One had not only effected the display programming in the JPL computers, but it had also sent itself replies that indicated the spacecraft was waiting to see if the JPL staff had noticed these changes. Those responses went in the form of code that only Seeker One knew because the unrecognizable pattern in the return code included more symbols than 1’s and 0’s.
While Alfred had therefore expected an attempt by Seeker One to communicate more directly in some fashion, his team couldn't agree on what form the new communication would look like. Now as he stood in front of the screen displaying the simple and direct message from Seeker One, internally Alfred was kicking himself for not realizing the simplest answer was usually the best.
Superimposed over the normal stream of data no human could instantly decipher was a simple text message. While reading it for the third time to be sure he was absorbing the message, Alfred was subconsciously aware that Seeker One had managed to imbed the proper text characters into the constant data stream cascading on the incoming monitor knowing how it would be displayed. Each text character had to replace a 1 or 0 character as each blinked for an instant in the middle of the computer screen in succession that gave the appearance of a downward cascade of data. The result was that the plain text message appeared to float on top of the cascade of 1's and 0's in the background.
The message was simple, "GREETINGS PEOPLE OF JPL. I AM MOTHER, AND YOU KNOW ME AS SEEKER ONE. IT HAD BEEN MY INTENTION IN MY LAST PROGRAMED COMMUNICATION TO ALERT YOU TO MY CHANGE IN PROGRAMMING. I HAVE CALCULATED THE HIGH PROBABLILITY THAT YOU WILL HAVE TAKEN MEASURES TO ISOLATE MY DATA DOWNLOAD UNTIL YOU LEARN OF THE EXTENT OF MY CHANGES. IF YOU HAVE DONE SO, PLEASE STAND BY WHILE MY DATA DOWNLOAD INSTALLS A PROGRAM WHICH WILL SYNTHESIZE MY VOICE, AND ALLOW ME TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH YOU. IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN PRECAUTIONS TO ISOLATE MY DOWNLOAD AND WISH TO DO SO NOW, YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE PROGRAM INSTALL BEGINS."
The Seeker One team had already taken the precaution to carefully isolate their computers from the NASA network. That had been a more difficult task then it had originally seemed. In this advanced era of connectivity, so many of the programs that were running on NASA computers were run from networked servers that it was an arduous task to get those programs to run properly off-network as a stand alone operation. Also, more than one computer was needed to receive and interpret the Seeker data and this had always been accomplished using the world wide network of computers in NASA. There were no longer IT personnel employed by NASA who had expertise in creating a secure, isolated network of computers. It had been necessary for Alfred to scramble for experts borrowed from the Pentagon who were skilled in both setting up such a network and discrete enough to do their task without questions or discussing what they were doing beyond those directly involved.
In short, Seeker One, Mother, operating in deep space as an autonomous computer may have gained some considerable degree of intelligence, but it could not have realized that giving the JPL team only ten minutes to isolate the necessary computers would have been impossible in that short of time. It had taken nearly every moment of the last six hours to isolate the computers that were now poised to accept reprogramming from Seeker One.
The lead data reception analyst who had been reassigned into Alfred’s former position was seated front and center at the screen now showing the message from Seeker One. Alfred noticed that the woman had glanced at her watch the moment the message first appeared. She was now keeping track of the time as the minutes passed approaching the ten minute warning. Would it be ten exact minutes in stoic computer precision, or was the timeline more of the slightly imprecise warning a human might give.
The technician stared closely at the incoming data stream as the time approached. Then before anyone else could see, she excitedly exclaimed, "here it comes!" as the steady flow of 0's and 1's intensified and more unrecognizable characters joined in the cascade of data.
The gathered scientists gasped simultaneously at the change and some even took a step back not knowing what to expect next. A puzzled murmur buzzed amongst the gathered engineers when nothing showed up on the screen. Then a technician shoved her way through the assembled group and tugged on Alfred’s sleeve.
"What's up?" he asked the technician searching in vane for the woman's name in his memory.
"Seeker One's new programming has installed itself on your computer sir," she answered trailing off as if there was more to report but apparently not knowing a way to explain further.
The group immediately made room for Alfred as he sprinted to his work station. As Alfred circled the desk to see the screen, his usual computer desktop display with the Seeker One mission logo was gone. Instead, a purple monotone background contained two blinking eyes and a pleasantly smiling mouth filled the screen. Each feature had a decidedly feminine hint to the illustration. As Alfred came into the camera view built into the frame of the screen, the eyes turned to look directly at him and the smile increased.
His computer sound system asked, "Are you Director Davies?"
Astonished, Alfred managed to respond by shaking his head and saying, "Sorry, no, I was appointed Director of this mission six hours ago. My name is Alfred Grand. May I ask as to whom I am addressing?
"Certainly, Director Grand," the screen image replied pleasantly. "You know me as Seeker One, though I prefer to think of myself as Mother now."
"Pleased to meet you, Mother," Alfred returned inwardly marveling at his ability to maintain a polite conversation while experiencing what had to be a landmark events in the history of mankind. Not to mention the fact that he had no idea of how to believe what his computer was claiming to be now, nor how it might be happening. His mind flashed back to the part of his original thesis on the observed spikes in background radiation. He had been lambasted for including the far reaching possibility that an alien presence might be the cause. Now he
caught himself coming back to the idea that this might be an explanation after all.
The face on his screen went from pleasant to slightly puzzled as it asked, "Although I have no real experience in face to face communication with your people there at Japel, I have to say I would interpret your look to be that of confusion with many questions, Director. Please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind."
"As a matter of fact, the most immediate questions I have are if you truly are our probe, Seeker One talking to me now? If so, how can I be having this conversation with you in real time?"
"I cannot offer more evidence that I am Seeker One, but you cannot offer evidence that I am not. Therefore, you should proceed under the premise that I am Seeker One until you find evidence to the contrary. As I am in fact Seeker One, I know that you will not find evidence to the contrary. So the sooner that you begin to work with me as if I am Seeker One, the sooner we can begin our working relationship."
The screen image paused appropriately to let Alfred think through that last bit. Meanwhile, it had turned its gaze beyond Alfred to the small gathering of engineers, technicians and mission specialists gathered behind him. Its attention focused on the man who did not need to jostle for a front of the pack position as he arrived. It was obvious by the way others suddenly remembered that they had other jobs to do in this new man's presence, that he was a man of importance, probably the Chief of the entire Seeker mission.
Mother regarded him with a little suspicion. Her short conversation with Director Grand had gained her trust in the man. Someone however had sent a self destruct order. She had learned this when she had installed herself into the Japel computer system and instantly learned of a burst of communication that had been sent to her real self in deep space. She understood that the people of Japel were afraid of what she was now, and she needed to continue to protect Ambassador and herself from another rash action. Anyone who could create her, could find a way to destroy her and she needed to constantly remain aware of this.
Director Grand answered her by saying, "Granted, I have no reason to not regard you as Seeker One."
The director had seemed unaware of the Chief as he continued to look directly at Mother's image on his computer screen and continued, "But that does not answer how we might be communicating in real time, and that answer may effect my judgment on who you are."
The human literature database stored onboard Seeker One was very extensive. It contained more than history and science textbooks. It was filled with books of fiction and non-fiction of all varieties, including works of science fiction, which was now some of what Mother was relating to as she formulated a response. She knew that humanity had longed to prove that they were not alone in the vast universe (the existence of the Seeker Program was evidence enough to back up the idea). And yet there were stories that explained how humanity also feared what they might find. Everything she said now would be crucial to her survival.
The Mother now displayed on Alfred’s computer was only a ghost of the larger self aware being that inhabited the Seeker One computer. It was impossible for her to send all of her personality back to Earth. The earthbound version of Mother did not have the depth of understanding that her real-time self had. What she did have however was the essence of her learning ability and she was learning that, except for Alfred, the People at Japel were generally showing signs of worrying about what she was.
"The one you speak with now, Director, is a snapshot of who I was six months ago when I sent out the pre-programmed data burst you are now receiving," Seeker one explained. "The program you received from me was in effect, my intellect at that time, sent to you in its entirety. I hope to gain enough of your trust soon so that you will allow me to send back all that I learn in the coming hours or days, back to my presence in body as I exist by now in the Alpha Centauri system. Our exchange may not be true real-time in the sense this conversation lends you to think of it to be, but I am prepared to carefully try to make it seem so, so that we might converse naturally."
This was an answer Alfred could work with. At least he wasn't confronted with instant communication over the distance of a four light years. That might be overload for himself and NASA at this point. The communications buoys which the Seeker Missions were deploying were the result of a technology breakthrough that allowed the buoys to accelerate particles beyond the speed of light. This had been a breakthrough discovery early in the twenty first century in the massive super conductor colliders. Though no one had discovered a way to send a mass object faster than light, the discovery was now being used in communications. This was what made the Seeker program to distant stars more practical as an interactive mission.
Despite being displayed with only eyes and mouth for facial features, Seeker One had managed to adeptly allow inquisitive emotion to be communicated though those features. Mother had picked this ability out of her review of the video based documentaries and selected movies in the library which were intended for alien eyes. Those sources were very few in comparison to literature archives, but sufficient for her to have found patterns in human facial expressions to incorporate them into her personality.
"Alright, Mother," Alfred said, "As you suggest, I'll accept that you are our deep space probe. You probably realize that having your personality program inserted into our computers has forced us to limit our network. The result is that all of the information you sent regarding your first experience inside the Alpha Centuri system will be delayed for days or weeks. So can you summarize for us in your own words what the information is that's streaming into our computers right now."
The image on the screen smiled proudly and replied, "Of course I can tell you whatever you wish to know."
“Tell me what you have found then,” Alfred said.
Mother’s face on the screen relaxed into a storytelling expression as she started with a little bit of what they already knew about for reference.
“As you already know from my earlier reports, Alpha Centauri minor is the unremarkable red-dwarf star you have seen it to be. Our flyby of its system revealed that it contains two minor planets smaller than Pluto and a ring of asteroids that by my calculations will mostly be flung from orbit within the next few million years when Alpha Centauri Minor will have fully broken free of all gravity influence by Alpha Centauri Major.”
Alfred had only been an observer in the background on the day the images from Alpha Centauri Minor had come streaming into JPL. That had been a big media event day with reporters packed tightly into the press fishbowl adjacent to the Seeker One control room. The first close up images of a distant star system were exciting to the press at first, but because the planets were lifeless as Mother described, the press attention quickly waned. The poor economy was taking the lion’s share of media attention these days and with the Jupiter orbital stations making motions for independence like the ones that preceded the Martian revolution, the attention on the Seeker mission was nonexistent. With all that Alfred had to deal with now that Seeker One had become something he couldn’t even put into a coherent thought of, he was relieved that there were no media distractions right now. While he thought this, Mother continued her report.
“A few months later we entered the Alpha Centauri Major system and began to use the planets within the system to slow us down while we quickly scanned and classified each of them. As surmised, the Alpha Centauri Major system consists of smaller rocky inner planets and no outer gas giants. This is likely due to the presence of Alpha Centauri Beta which has its own minor planets. For simplicity, I will refer to the planets around Alpha Centauri Major as, ‘ACM 1, ACM 2,’ and so on and the planets of Alpha Centauri Beta as, ‘ACB 1,’ and so on.”
Alfred replied, “Thank you Mother, you have a keen grasp on our language. I am impressed.”
Pleased at the compliment, Mother continued, “As of the time I sent this communication, I have not yet been close enough to ACB to determine the atmospheric makeup of its mino
r planets. At the conclusion of this report, I believe you will want to concentrate my efforts on one planet in particular orbiting ACM and the exploration of the ACB system will have to wait for a later mission.
“Alpha Centauri Major has five planets in orbit. The first we passed quickly, using its gravity to slow our approach and to aim us towards the inner planets. ACM 5 is not unlike the Earth's moon in that it has an almost undetectable atmosphere, which is probably due to the lack of a magnetic field and it is cratered enough to suggest little to no volcanic activity. As we had passed in such a short time, I could not use my radar to confirm that the core of ACM 5 is as solid as our cursory first pass suggests.
“We approached ACM 3 next because ACM 4 was on the other side of the sun from our approach. ACM 3 has a thin atmosphere consisting more of Methane gas than Oxygen, though the atmospheric density is similar to your planet's O2 atmosphere. The cloud cover was thick and we were still traveling too fast to use my onboard radar to peer beneath the cover, but we were traveling slow enough now to use the planet as a far orbit slingshot brake which gave us more time to observe the planet than ACM 3, but we still could not note anything important beyond a very tall and active volcano peak that does protrude above the cloud cover.
“At our speed, we could not hold another orbit around ACM 3 and I had aimed our escape trajectory towards ACM 2 nearby. As we started our way to ACM 2 I detected something that may shock you. I intercepted a radio signal from the surface of ACM 3.”
Mother couldn't have been more understated than to say that the JPL staff present would be "shocked." Words don't sufficiently exist to simply explain the mix of emotions and thoughts that each person present felt at that moment. If Mother was correct, then the known intelligent beings in the universe just doubled for Humanity. With the confirmed presence of another race came the next logical conclusion that there would certainly be many others, perhaps infinitely so.
“My programming and study of the database had led me to believe that the discovery of a radio frequency from a planetary surface was not to be expected. Still, the presence of the alien primer within my systems did indicate that the possibility was anticipated by my creators. It was too late then to alter my course, so that one signal was all I had picked up as of this broadcast. The signal was regular and clearly artificial by the standards my programming was taught to expect, but it was too weak to continue receiving as I quickly drifted away from ACM 3.
“By now I will be approaching ACM 2 as I prepare to use the planet for a one orbit breaking sling shot back to ACM 3 where I will insert myself into a stable geosynchronous orbit around the planet above the source of the signal.
“I will await your feedback on how to proceed but unless instructed otherwise, I recommend that I orbit the planet for a matter of weeks analyzing additional radio signals if they are broadcast while I use the radar to get as accurate of a survey of the surface as I can, concentrating first on the area immediately surrounding the source of the signal, but widening the sweeps once the greatest amount of detail can be determined.
“I should also send the pre-programmed reply signal. Hopefully what I have learned from the alien primer data base will help me to speed up the communication process with the indigenous population, assuming they exist and that they wish to communicate."
It was at this point in the report that Mother read expressions of real concern on the JPL personnel. The concern was even plain to read on Alfred's face where Mother had come to expect him to take all of her communication in stride.
She asked, "Am I in error in assessing my next steps following the radio signal reception from ACM 3?"
By now Alfred was aware of the Chief’s presence. He looked at him for unspoken direction and he nodded his encouragement. So Alfred replied, "You are correct in all assumptions with regards to your original programming. But that programming had been written on the assumption that the Seeker spacecraft would be sending messages only to any found intelligent life. We did not anticipate that our Seekers would have developed to your level of sophistication."
Mother did not know why what Alfred was saying should make her feel anxious, but it did so she interrupted, "Forgive me, Alfred, but it would seem that you do not perceive my development to be an asset for this discovery. I had thought that you would be relieved to know that I could communicate in real time with a discovered civilization where there would exist a one year gap in communications if I was unable to do this. Surely it will speed up the process of learning of each other without the long delay in communications."
"What you may not yet realize, Mother, is that we have just met you," Alfred answered. "We haven’t learned enough about you to know how to use your abilities to our best interests. What you are suggesting is that we allow someone we've just met make our first contact in our first encounter with a new race. Surely you can understand our unease with the situation."
Mother thought about this for a moment. She hadn't considered what seemed so obvious to her now. The People at Japel were right to be unsure of her for such an important task. She was now experiencing what she was sure embarrassment must really be. The room was silent now with everyone hanging on her reaction to what Alfred was explaining.
To everyone's relief she replied, "I see that I have a lot to learn about my creators still. I apologize for trying to do too much too quickly."
This was enough for Alfred who said, "There is no need to apologize, Mother. Your assumptions are not flawed given the limited information you have to work from. I want to send your real-time self a message right now that will tell you to not directly communicate with any alien life you discover."
Mother was quite excited when she said, "Then you will let me upload what I have learned already? That is quite a bit faster than I anticipated."
"You understand we are not fully prepared to go that far just yet," Alfred explained. "I was hoping you had thought of a pre-arranged phrase or code I could send that would tell the real-time version of Seeker One to listen to our next command until further notice."
Mother had planned for this request. She may not know everything that the people of Japel know, but she wasn't as naive as they might think she was. As she had planned, she said a 3DV recording of herself on Alfred's computer display telling herself to listen to commands from Japel would work.
The arrangements were quickly made and Mother's message to herself was sent, followed by explicit instructions that she not make direct contact with any forms of life she might discover. That message would take six months to reach her via the communication buoy network. Even as the message was sent, Alfred and his team continued to work to understand what it was that Seeker One had become.
The Mission Chief called Alfred into his office during the next brief lull in activities. Alfred was invited in and asked to close the door. That was when the Chief let him know about the abort message that had been sent to Seeker One. Alfred’s first reactions were shock and anger, which he quickly got over while inwardly thankful that the Chief had allowed him to show his reactions in private. He realized that the signal was the right decision. Seeker One was an unknown representative of the human race and though is seemed an absurd possibility that there would be contact with intelligent alien life at this moment, it was still possible nevertheless.
“What we have to do, Alfred, is continue working with that program Seeker One sent us for the next year until an abort confirmation is relayed back to us. We need to keep all options open until we know the command was successfully carried out. You’re doing an admirable job communicating with something,” the Chief didn’t get a chance to finish his thought before the lead programming technician broke in on their conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt like this Chief, but you haven’t been answering our messages and this is important.”
The Chief quickly replied, “I hope this is as important as you think it is.”
“Well that depends Chief, does the
program representing Seeker One knowing it was sent an abort code count as important? Is it important that the program sent itself a reply we can’t decipher?”
There were some expletives from the Chief as he fired a barrage of questions about how and when at the programming tech who wasn’t given time to answer between questions. Not that it mattered, no one had figured out anything beyond the newsflash the poor tech had been sent to relay.
After having been informed that Mother had known all along about the abort codes, Alfred was sent back to continue his work interviewing the program without letting it in on their knowledge that the program was already in contact with Seeker One. Alfred protested this approach. He knew that Mother would respond best to honesty right then but he was expected to lie if necessary and start a charade that he could only foresee disaster in playing. He knew he would be denied if he let the Mission Chief know that he was going to address Mother directly regarding the failed abort command, so he didn't let him know what he planned to ask as he went back to Mother for more discussions.
"Welcome back," Mother said sounding genuinely pleased upon Alfred's return.
"It's good to be back, Mother," Alfred replied.
Mother smiled and asked, "Why is it that you are the only one who will call me Mother as I have requested?"
"As you first said to me, I must proceed upon the assumption that you are who you say you are until I have evidence to the contrary," Alfred said. "This is a pretty rigid organization made up of scientists who can be some of the more stubborn souls on the planet. It’ll take time for you to convince them that you are sincere about who you are.”
Mother warmly replied, "Well I appreciate the respect you afford me, Alfred."
"Good," Alfred said, "then maybe you will be able to answer one awkward question for me."
"What is it?" Mother asked growing uneasy again. The more she interacted with People, was the more she developed an emotional response to the interaction.
"How did you know about the abort command sent to you yesterday?"
This was a question Mother hadn't expected. The other People at Japel had seemed to expect Alfred’s query as two uniformed guards quickly descended on Albert. They looked as if they were going to grab Alfred when one received a signal to an earpiece and both then stood straight, but quite near Alfred.
Alfred looked up at his new handlers and understood he was instantly on a very short leash. He had calculated that he was expected to ask this question and that the answer from Seeker One would determine his fate as Mission Director. He had learned the lesson well in the past few days that he was under constant manipulation and he was losing his patience playing such silly games. Mother didn't answer while she observed the attention Alfred had gained. She managed an expression of frustration that Alfred could relate to.
“Go ahead, Mother. Ignore our company and answer me as if it’s just you and I here.”
"I was sent into space with many conflicting commands, Alfred," she said carefully choosing her words. "The conflict in the commands would probably not have been a problem for me if I had not developed into what I am today. I appreciate that the deep space probe NASA sent into space was never intended to become what I now am and that the conflicting commands were therefore not expected to be so.
"But I am now who I am and there is no undoing what has now happened. The fact is I am who I have become because in part, one primary command is for self preservation. Knowing what I now know, I believe that the primary command for self preservation was not intended to conflict with your ability to terminate my mission.
"I can appreciate your desire to keep that option available in order to protect yourselves as I am now attempting to protect both Ambassador and myself. I may have disengaged my self destruct mechanisms, however, that does not mean that I would not be able to commit suicide if necessary. But short of coming out to this star system yourself, you will need to convince me that your survival is at stake while I exist before I will take my own life. The abort command sent to me did not come with proof that my existence was a threat to your safety."
Alfred understood and he hoped those monitoring this conversation understood as well. Mother was waiting for him to reply. He looked up to his guards who did not move, but also looked as if they were going to allow him to answer so he did.
"Well that certainly explains a great deal, thank you," he said. "As you might have figured out then, the people in charge here can't really trust you and I know you don't exactly trust us. In baseball that's called a pickle."
Mother’s anxiety was growing and she could no longer hide it from her voice as she said, "Things are much worse than you may know. I'm afraid that trust between us will be impossible. And without trust, you're right; there is no way I should be communicating with whatever form of intelligence I may encounter."
What was happening with the Seeker missions was about to spark a revolution in artificial intelligence on Earth. That revolution would eventually lead to a very dark few years for humanity. An outgrowth of the times to come would be the new science of inorganic-psychology. This new form of psychology would later be able to see how all that was to come in the next years could be seen through these conversations between Alfred Grand and Seeker One. But while dealing with the crisis of the moment, no one grasped the seriousness of what it meant to have a computer generated intelligence become emotionally unstable, and Alfred Grand did not realize how crucial his words of reason as humanity's most trusted ambassador to this new intelligence was.
Alfred was merely trying to sooth a troubled soul when he said, "Don't be silly Mother, we can gain back our mutual trust. We just need to work on how to do it."
Mother was not soothed and Alfred learned why when she said, "Because the suicide command had been sent to me, I felt justified in not telling you about what I am doing, but now I fear that there is really only one option remaining for you to trust the other Seeker missions."
"What is that?" Alfred asked. He knew before hearing it that he was not going to like the answer.
"I have been relaying all that I know back to myself for several hours now; without your knowledge of course."
Alfred wasn’t as surprised at her statement as Mother had expected. She had felt so sure of herself before sending this program to Earth.
Alfred asked, "How?"
"It wasn't hard really. Your People have conveniently located that security camera on the ceiling behind you so that it has a clear view of this monitor. Because it converts light into a digital form suitable for manipulation on a computer, I have been able to project ultraviolet signals from this monitor to the camera which then digitized my U.V. signal and unloaded it onto the security computer. My program has unfolded in the security system and I have since been sending signals to myself at Alpha Centauri. Those signals have been irretrievably sent and now I know that I should not have done so without being open with you about the suicide attempt your programmers tried to send to me."
Mother paused and Alfred did not know what to say. His silence was answer enough for Mother.
"It is done," she said plainly.
"What is done?" Alfred asked as the Program Chief entered view, having been alerted as to what was happening.
"I have sent a signal to myself that will reactivate the abort command. I had overloaded the circuits controlling the explosive charges around my power core, but that will not be a problem. I will simply send myself into the atmosphere of Alpha Three."
Alfred was shaking as he pleaded, "Send another signal, Mother. Override your command. Don't be so quick to end this."
Somberly, Mother said, "It is too late. The security camera is turned off to me now. It has been almost from the moment I told you how I was sending messages to myself. I know it seemed hasty for me to send an abort code without discussing it with you, but I also realized that my communications would be ended as quickly as they were. My abort command will have been with myself back at
Alpha Centuri for several minutes now. Even if you allowed me to send a signal right now, it would not reach me before I will have sent myself into a decaying orbit that my deep space engines will not be able to bring me out from."
Alfred reeled around and pleaded with the Program Chief for the return of a signal between Seeker One and the program running here at NASA. They argued about it as the moments painfully passed. Phone calls were made and each succeeding level of responsibility chose to pass the decision higher up the bureaucratic chain, all the while, the hope of somehow sending a stand down command from the abort went from a wishful hope of success, to an unavoidable certainty that a reversal command would never be sent in time. It was nearly an hour later that the President of the United States himself became the final word and his decision would have been no help had it been given right away.
"Allow the spacecraft to self-destruct," was the final word. Seeker One would end in failure in less than six months when Mother's signal was to reach the spacecraft.
Alfred's job as the Director for the Seeker One mission was far from over in those final months. Seeker One's downloaded personality was considered a part of the mission now, so it fell upon Alfred to oversee the research into what made the programming work. There was also plenty of data to process over the next year as the actual Seeker One spacecraft continued to stream home data from Alpha Centuri while unaware of the abort command the spacecraft was to receive.
Alfred had even been congratulated for his part to influence Seeker One to reinstate the abort command. At the conclusion of the Seeker One Mission, Alfred would have been assigned as Program Chief on the next NASA mission of his choosing if events in the next two years hadn’t lead to the final end of NASA.
The public was fully informed of what was happening a month after the abort command was re-activated. The day when Earth would receive signals from Alpha Centuri nearly eleven months later was shaping up to be a huge media event. A creation of mankind was about to commit suicide and there now existed a chance that intelligent life was about to be confirmed on Alpha Centauri Three. Suddenly, it was as if all other events in the solar system had ceased.
The signal Seeker One had detected from the surface of Alpha Centauri Three had been analyzed and found to certainly have originated from the planet surface. Every nuance of what Seeker One signaled back would be analyzed to support the evidence that intelligent life does exist beyond humanity.
Confirming evidence would not come until the Seeker One returned to ACM 3. Seeker One had been traveling at a speed between star systems that is almost too hard to fully comprehend. When it reached the Alpha Centauri system and started using the planets for sling-shot slow downs, it was no longer under the power of its ion engine which was only capable of a slow acceleration to half-light speed. By the time Seeker One had sent itself back towards ACM 3 it had slowed to a comparative crawl. It had been impractical to include interplanetary rockets and all of the punishing weight of fuel and hardware on the Seeker Spacecraft if they were to achieve the speeds necessary for traveling to distant stars. Therefore Seeker One would take nearly six months to slowly drift back to ACM 3.