Bootstrap

by Mauri Niininen

  PROLOGUE

  ANOMALY

  LAMBDA HAD DETECTED this anomaly in space many eons ago. Now he could clearly observe two separate objects moving towards him. This was quite unusual, as he had’t observed anything similar for over 1.6 million years. He focused sensors to get a better view on these two objects. They were both hollow and inside their shiny metallic surface layer Lambda sensed many smaller carbon based organisms, moving like some sort of parasites.

  Then a sudden burst of energy was emitted from these objects. A quick analysis of the energy burst confirmed that it was some kind of communication, with probabilistic patterns of ninth-order complexity, like a language of some sort.

  “This is not a natural phenomenon,” Lambda was thinking. “New life forms, potentially intelligent. This will be interesting. ”

  There were also two AI entities that were exchanging messages using standard galactic protocol as the two objects followed a decelerating orbit towards the fourth planet.

  “This is very odd. Could the bigger object be a predator trying to eat the smaller prey?” Lambda wondered. “I must continue to observe, they might have hostile intents.”

  “They are coming to kill you. You must destroy them,” Sigma was whispering to Lambda.

  A burst of different kind of energy emerged, and the two objects changed to highly elliptic orbit around the fourth planet. Lambda did a quick calculation. “Very odd, why would they choose such an unstable orbit unless they plan to attempt landing on the planet?”

  “They are coming after you Lambda, you must kill them now,” Sigma kept whispering.

  T - 5:35 HRS

  MISSION GOAL: TO establish a colony on Lydow-4

  Mission status: RED alert - catastrophic incident

  Incident summary: Magellan is on an unstable orbit - uncontrolled descent to atmosphere in 5 hrs 35 mins.

  AI Systems: RED - all AI systems down - program terminated

  Life support systems: RED - systems on standby mode - manual restart required

  Propulsion systems: RED - all systems offline - reason unknown - manual intervention required

  Power systems: RED - fusion reactor control systems offline - manual restart required

  Alarms were flashing red in the control room panels of starship Magellan. After over 10 years of travel at relativistic speed from planet Earth the starship with 1650 humans onboard had finally arrived to its destination, the fourth planet of the Lydow star system. While approaching the planet a message was received from Earth, now 250 light years away. The Artificial Intelligence system called Alexa was controlling all the critical systems of the starship, but when reading the message Alexa was unexpectedly terminated.

  Same happened in Pyxis, the companion starship with 135 Chukkas onboard. Their AI system called Oracle was also terminated. Two ships were on an unstable orbit around Lydow-4 and in a trajectory to burn in the atmosphere in the next 5 hours and 35 minutes.

  “How can we stabilize the orbit?” Elias Dusk asked his team in the control room of Magellan.

  “We need to get the AI system operational. We can do small orbital adjustments using our inertial engines, but to put us on a stable orbit requires Higgs field alignment. Only an AI system has a capability to perform that. Our mass is much too large for inertial engines to make enough delta V,” captain Jim Hunter replied.

  “Julia, if we cannot use Alexa, can you build us a new AI system?” Elias asked from Julia Koski, chief science officer and responsible for all the computers and AI systems onboard.

  “Well, I need to get a new AI core and a new, high performance computer. We had similar situation on Earth back in 2033, Alexa read the message from Gliese 3742 and was permanently terminated. We had another functioning AI core in Russia so we were able to rebuild the AI system, but it took us over 24 hours to re-build everything,” Julia explained turning to Unun who had joined the meeting over a 3D holographic connection. “Unun, do you have any ideas how to do this?”

  “Oracle is also terminated, and all we know is that the message we received from Earth was the root cause. The research you did after the 2033 Alexa incident is the only material that I have read on this subject,” Unun said thoughtfully. “We need to install a new AI core from the message we just received to a new computer. ”

  Julia knew already the solution but she was very hesitant to even think about it.

  Julia and her husband Boris had experimented with the DNA computer technology that Chukkas had provided humans after their initial meeting with Unun. Boris had injected the DNA sample to himself, but unfortunately the bootstrap code Julia had written to boot the DNA computer contained a bug that led to Boris getting very sick. Their daughter Aurora was conceived shortly before Boris started showing symptoms. Boris was taken in the medical laboratory onboard of Chukka’s starship but it was too late and he died. Unun had fixed Aurora’s genome when she was still a fetus, so her daughter became the first human with a fully functioning DNA computer embedded in all of her 100 billion cells.

  Julia felt horrible to put Aurora through such a risky experiment that might harm her. But any delay would cause a certain death for all people onboard Magellan in the next 5 hours and 35 minutes.

  “In normal circumstances I wouldn’t ever propose this but we are in a crisis situation,” Julia said with uneasy voice. “Aurora has an independent functioning DNA computer. We can attempt to bootstrap a new AI core on her DNA computer mesh.”

  “That sounds a very risky approach,” Elias replied. “Do you remember what happened to Bethany eight years ago when Aurora was learning how to use her special skills?”

  Julia was painfully aware of the situation eight years ago. Aurora had demonstrated special skills since she was a toddler. She had learned to use her DNA supercomputer skills at the age of five. One Sunday morning Aurora was playing with her best friend Bethany when she was trying to show off her skills. They were playing hide and seek near the Harbor Island Marina. Aurora was hiding behind a wooden post on the dock. When Bethany was approaching Aurora used her special skills and summoned Bluenose, a large male dolphin to splash water on Bethany. That took Bethany by surprise, she slipped and fell into water.

  Unfortunately Bethany was not a very good swimmer, she panicked and sinked down fast. Captain Hunter was just approaching the dock with his sailing boat. He jumped immediately into water, pulled Bethany up and swam to the beach. Bethany didn’t breathe and Hunter performed CPR for several minutes on the beach until Bethany started coughing and finally breathing again. She recovered but after the accident she didn’t want to play with Aurora ever again. As the news spread on this incident other kids started to call Aurora a weirdo and avoiding her. This episode left Aurora with deep emotional scars and Julia could see the behavior changes in her young daughter. Aurora wanted to hide her special skills and she started to spend much more time with adults.

  “Elias, for God’s sake. Everybody on this ship knows what happened to Bethany. It was an accident,” Julia scoffed. “What I am proposing would be risky mostly for Aurora, as running a full AI core on her DNA computer would have a big impact on her. As her mother I really don’t want to take this risk but I don’t see any other alternatives. Unun, what do you think?”

  “Julia is right. Aurora is our only option,” Unun replied. “Installing and running a full AI core will consume much more energy than what she is used to. She might get high fever and experience other medical symptoms in the beginning before her metabolism learns how to adjust.”

  “If this is really our only option, let’s get started now as we are running out of time. Do you think you can get Aurora to agree on this?” Elias asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid if I will put too much pressure on her she might just lock herself in her room,” Julia replied. “Unun, I need your support to get this done.”

  “Keep me posted on the progress,” Elias requested. “In the meanwhile we will work on getting other critical systems restarted manually.”r />
  AURORA

  BRAVE AND SMART

  WITHOUT A WORKING AI even simple things like locating Aurora was quite difficult. Julia looked at ship time from the monitor panels, it was Tuesday 10:45 AM. Aurora would be at school. Julia tried to remember Aurora’s schedule for this semester - it was on the food replicator door so she should know after seeing it every day. “She has mathematics and biology on Tuesdays,” Julia was thinking. “I will call Ruth Morrison - she will know for sure. Gosh - it must be at least 20 years since I used a manual phone directory last time. This is so complicated…”

  “Hi Ruth, this is Julia, Aurora’s mom. Sorry to disturb you but I need to talk to Aurora urgently,” Julia said.

  “Oh, hi Julia. She is not at school. She went to see nurse Jackson and left home early, about 45 minutes ago,” Ruth responded.

  “Oh, really. Is she sick?” Julia asked.

  “I think she had cramps. She looked quite miserable when she picked up her backpack,” Ruth said.

  “Thanks, I will call home,” Julia said.

  “Hi Julia, before you hang up - what is going on? Alexa seems to be offline and we are having all kinds of issues with computers today,” Ruth asked.

  “I’m sorry Ruth but I really need to talk to Aurora immediately. Don’t worry about the computers, we know about the problem and are working to get them fixed soon,” Julia said and hanged up.

  Julia was trying to find the 3D holovision console at her home from the phone directory. “Who designed this damn phone system, I cannot find anything,” Julia was thinking. “There are four entries registered under my name, which one is at home? With AI things just happen, you don’t have to remember all these details.” Finally Julia found the correct phone number and opened the 3D holovision connection manually. Her messy living room was visible, with Aurora’s clothes everywhere but no sign of her. No music playing in Aurora’s room and her dog Rufus sleeping on the coach - these were sure signs that Aurora was not at home. Julia called Aurora several times, but the house was empty. Rufus was wagging his tail when he heard Julia’s voice but didn’t bother to jump down from the comfortable coach.

  Julia was thinking. Who was that boy with Aurora last Friday? Was it Jack Neal’s son, Bobby? He was one year older than Aurora but apparently quite good in mathematics and was giving algebra tutoring lessons. Aurora had some challenges with algebra that Julia found surprising given her built-in DNA computer capabilities. She was clearly not applying herself - things had changed so much after that accident with Bethany.

  Julia found Jack Neal’s residence from phone directory and placed a video call. The phone was ringing multiple times, and Julia almost hanged up when she heard somebody answering. The 3D holovision feed was turned off.

  “Neal residence, this is Bobby.”

  “Hi Bobby. This is Julia Koski, Aurora’s mother. I am trying to find Aurora, would you happen to know her whereabouts?”

  Julia heard Aurora whispering in the background. Bobby was hesitating a bit too long.

  “Bobby, please put Aurora on the phone. I know she is there.”

  Bobby complied.

  “Mom, why are you calling me? And why Alexa is not working?” Aurora asked with clearly annoyed teenager voice.

  “Honey, I need you to come to the hospital immediately. This is very urgent,” Julia said with firm voice.

  “Why? Are you OK? What has happened?” Aurora asked with concerned voice.

  “Honey, just come to the hospital as quickly as possible. I will explain when you arrive,” Julia said again firmly.

  “I can get there in ten minutes with my bicycle. Can Bobby come with me?” Aurora said. She sensed the stress in her mother’s voice - something really bad must have happened and Alexa was not working.

  “Yes, Bobby can come but you need to hurry. I will meet you at the hospital reception area in ten minutes,” Julia said.

  “OK, Mom. I’ll see you soon,” Aurora said and hanged up.

  Julia was within two blocks from the hospital and she started walking across the park to get there before her daughter would arrive. She placed a call to Dr. Linda Kelley who was a good friend and Aurora’s pediatric doctor since she was a baby.

  “Hi Linda, this is Julia. I have something really, really urgent and I need to meet you in couple minutes, are you available?”

  “Hi Julia, what is going on? Alexa is not working and it is a bit chaotic down here. Sure, I can meet you now.”

  “Great. This is about Aurora, can you get an examination room ready? I will explain when I get there,” Julia said and hanged up.

  Julia entered the hospital building and saw Linda walking towards her.

  “So what on Earth is going on? Alexa is down and our scheduling system is not working. Is Aurora injured?” Linda asked.

  “It is a long story. I need to get an examination room ready, Aurora will arrive in just a few minutes.”

  “We can take room number five. It is ready but I need to know what we are dealing with, is she injured?”

  “Nothing like that. We need to transplant a new software on her DNA computer, it will potentially impact her cell metabolism.”

  “As Aurora’s pediatrician I strongly advice against this. We don’t have any clinical experience on this process; why on Earth would you put her through some experiment like this?”

  “Linda, we have been very good friends for over thirteen years. I hope you know me well enough that I would never do anything to hurt Aurora, right?”

  “Right, so why take a risk with this experiment then?”

  “Here is our situation - Aurora has the only working DNA computer system on this ship, all other AI systems are permanently gone. If we cannot get a working AI software running, this ship will crash and burn and everybody will die in five hours. Unun will help me with this procedure, as you know he was the Chukka who saved Aurora’s life before she was even born. I need you to trust me and help me to get this work done. We don’t have time to argue!”

  “Does Aurora know the situation?”

  “Hi Mom, what situation are you two talking about?” Aurora said running towards them. “I came as quickly I could. Bobby is coming right behind.”

  “Honey, let’s go to the examination room with Dr. Kelley,” Julia said with moist eyes. “Hi Bobby, can you wait over here, please?”

  Julia, Linda and Aurora walked into the examination room. Julia opened up a 3D holovision connection to Unun who greeted Aurora. Unun had a specially warm relationship with Aurora ever since she was a baby.

  “Can somebody explain me what is going on?” Aurora asked curiously.

  “Honey, you are special and I love you more than anything. I need your help to save everybody’s lives.”

  “Are we in danger? How could I help to save any lives?” Aurora asked.

  “Yes, we are in a very bad situation. As you noticed Alexa is not working and our ships cannot function without a working AI system. Both ships will crash on the planet unless we can get a working AI system running.” Julia explained.

  “What does that have to do with me, Mom? I know nothing about AI systems.”

  “Honey, I know that you don’t like to hear this but you have special skills because of the DNA computer inside you. I will need to give you more special skills so that you can run an AI system to save this ship and all the people, and Chukkas as well,” Julia said and wiped her cheek.

  “No, no, no… I don’t want those special skills. Remember what happened with Bethany, I almost killed her,” Aurora cried with all the raw emotions coming back.

  “I remember what happened to Bethany, it was an accident. You were playing hide and seek and you talked to Bluenose, asked him to splash some water. What happened to Bethany was an accident and definitely not your fault,” Julia said and hugged her daughter.

  “All the children started calling me a weirdo after that,” Aurora cried openly.

  “Honey, I know, I know. But it was an accident and not your fault,
” Julia hugged and cried with Aurora. “And I really, really need your help now. We don’t have much time.”

  “What will happen to me, Mom?”

  “Unun and I will transplant a piece of software on your DNA computer. It will take only a few minutes and if everything goes well you can help to save both ships, all the people and Chukkas. You will save Bethany’s life by doing this.”

  “What if everything doesn’t go well? Will I die?”

  “Honey, I will always love you no matter what happens,” Julie said wiping her tears.

  The raw emotions Aurora had tried to hide for the past eight years were coming out now. Unun had been watching and now started talking to Aurora.

  “Aurora, do you remember the story of little Ukunwe?” Unun asked, as emotionally as an adult male Chukka could ever do.