First Contact
Captain Psyron contemplated an overview display of the freshly patchworked Kinetic Dream. The webbing around the central sphere reminded him of a hemp net surrounding a glass orb like those odd objects that adorn homes in fishing villages and leave the tourist guessing at their purpose.
Mei poked her nose into his display and commented. “It looks like something you'd find for sale at an elder community craft market.”
The steel tether wires were supplying high voltage currents to the sphere, which in turn generated their shield. System was still at work attaching the recently acquired accelerated particle drill heads to the spoke stubs. The quantum magnetic generator which ran the full circuit of the ship's inner ring had the dual capability powering the ship’s persistent magnetic shields and accelerating protons to tachyonic velocities. So with the drill heads in place there should be no materia they could not pierce, even this inscrutably sophisticated compound that had somehow stably sheltered the sphere in the heart of a star for months or years or more, where their own modern materia had failed them in just a matter of a days.
Aru speculated on what might be inside. A data bank of the cryptic knowledge of Logos was all he could really imagine. The silent emperor had only spoken one time in over two centuries. He was as a ghost, his eminence acknowledged, but his presence all but forgotten. (Though not in the Machine World where Logos was still worshipped) He was surely the preeminent superintelligence in the known galaxy. The Stones, it was believed, were dedicated in their entirety as a pure thought machine, comprised of vast fields of circuits running their processes upon processes of ever increasing complexity, and even human brain banks that all worked in concert to produce an unfathomable intellect all controlled by a single central core consciousness, who was seated upon the throne.
Whatever this orb contained, it was something the Emperor wanted as hidden and as far from himself as possible. They had observed how both Stones only sent transmissions through the corona, while none were returned. This sphere was a conduit that transmitted energy in great abundance, but not signal. It had received signal, but they still did not understand how. The flawless surface of the sphere was uniformly composed of that golden compound. He and Mei had speculated that the polar energy jets about the axis through which the sphere conducted energy and discharged mightily in a toroid about itself in much the same manner as a star was also the receiving point of those undecipherable signals from the Stones. It hardly stood the test of scientific reasoning but it was the best they could conjure up to explain all they had observed.
The Service's interest in the object also made him think it might be a weapon. The Ultimatum of Logos had been issued the better part of a century ago, and the public had all but forgotten it, but not the Cearulein High Command. They knew better -as surely did Mnemtechian Red High command. Not that Aru was privy to the machinations of Taiji leadership, but a lot of speculation pointed to the PoleStar North project as the means by which Logos intended to carry out his vague and grandiose threat. The imperial goings-on there were indeed suspicious, but this orb being that intended vehicle of mass destruction was not something he could rule out either.
In spite of that peril, they were going to peek inside as mandated by their mission directive, under extreme precautionary measures. Mei's orders were to “investigate the contents” after all. And as far out on the line as they'd put themselves to retrieve this object, he simply had to know what it was all about, not only to satiate his fevered curiosity about the thing: he personally needed to know if it had been worth it.
They would drill in small increments, less than 250 nanometers at a time in the beginning. System had been instructed to prepare itself for whatever came out, be it matter, energy, or information. The drill head had been mechanically firewalled and ordered to seal the hole instantly at the first sign of a cyber-response from within.
“Captain, drillhead 4 on spoke 4 is fully installed and primed. We may proceed at your command,” System informed him.
The drill hole would be microscopically small, the diameter of whatever portion of the surrounding materia the singular stream of hyper-accelerated protons took with it.
Mei looked like she had been vaping a bit but was in otherwise good form, haloed by his side with eyes on holograph. She was, for reasons he could only begin to guess, armed with an analog EMP rifle. He didn't inquire. Whatever made her feel secure.
“System, proceed with drill operation.”
There was a steady hum as the inner ring particle accelerator warmed up. A few moments later a fine blue line of energy between the drill emitter and the surface of the sphere became visible. Then it stopped.
“Captain, the materia has been breached to a depth of 223 nanometers.”
The display zoomed in on the drill point closer and closer until a clean tiny pock could be seen marred into the sphere's otherwise flawlessly smooth surface.
“Excellent. Are there any changes to the readings?”
“All readings are normal, Captain.”
“Continue to 500 nanometers.”
“Aye, Captain.”
This tedious process repeated to the next 500 nanometer mark, at which point he increased the increments to 750 nanometers, then to micrometers, and worked his way up to millimeters. At a full centimeter in he ordered the drill beam widened to bore the hole to a hair's width to accommodate the sensor.
Mei was impatiently urging him to hurry up the process and advocating an unplanned and completely reckless course. He met her part way and started drilling in a half a centimeter at a time. At 30 centimeters they broke through the surface coating. They bored it out and performed a microsensor analysis that determined they had broken through to a layer of iridium steel. The drills were able make quick work of that. Another 10 centimeters in they broke through to an entirely empty area. It was such a complete vacuum it immediately began to suck in the sparse plasma of surrounding space. Aru ordered it sealed at once, but System had wisely anticipated this and beaten him to the punch.
“Is this what's in there, a whole bunch of nothing? Wouldn't that be a lark!” Mei wisecracked.
Aru knew there was no such thing as a perfect vacuum but guessed by the vigor it was sucking space plasma, the closest natural thing to a vacuum, that it had to be quite close to that unattainable ideal.
“It could just be an insulating vacuum layer,” he answered Mei. “Or maybe you're right, maybe its entire purpose is merely that which it appears to be on the surface, a dispersal generator.”
“We've calculated the mass at nearly 34 metric tons, I don't think the amount of material we've so far discovered even comes close to accounting for that. System?”
“Correct, Commander. There are still 22.6 metric tons of mass unaccounted for.”
“It could be a layer, a pocket, or a channel,” offered Mei.
“System, try to snake the hairline sensor down there with minimal seal breach to find where the next solid layer begins, then internally seal the drill path through the open area with a nanotube to retain the vacuum.”
“Aye Captain,” and after a brief pause, “Procedure complete, Captain. We have encountered another plane of iridium steel.”
“And I bet it's the same width as the first layer,” Mei reasoned. “You were right, this is a vacuum insulation layer.”
“System, resume drilling until you've reached through the lower steel layer.”
“Aye, Captain... Completed. The layer width is 10 centimeters, identical to the previous iridium steel layer. We have reached a flush layer of pliable black polymer material. Sonic analysis shows it to be 5 millimeters, likely a membrane layer, covering a lower layer of homogeneous re-agglomerated geopolymer, or artificial stone.”
“Drill straight through til you reach the end of the stone layer.”
“Aye, Captain... …. … Completed. Layer depth 2.1 meters. New layer found, identical to the previous membrane. Sonic analysis shows a lower thinner layer
of metallic foil with a thickness of 28 micrometers. SA further reads magnetic, microwave, and modulated radio energy emanating from beyond it. Next layer is plasticine of varied thickness covering an open area. The readings beyond that point are uncertain, but suggest the likely existence of a further layer of variant topography beginning another 17 centimeters beyond the gaseous layer.”
That was a lot to take in. They were getting signals, radiation, and it all pointed to circuitry.
“This is where the machinery begins,” confirmed Mei. “Let's poke through to that open gaseous region and see what readings we get.”
This was dangerous territory. Any machine build of Logos was certain to be highly sophisticated, and might well detect their intrusion, if it hadn't already.
“System, put yourself on high alert for a cyberattack, cut transmission and seal the hole at the first sign of malicious data return.”
“Aye. High alert status and maximum ready protocols are already in effect, Captain.”
“Pierce the next two membranes and get us some readings from the gaseous region.”
“Aye, Captain. Penetration complete. Wide scale synaptic electric circuit transmission detected in all directions radially beyond the plane of entry. Gas temperature 22 degrees. Composition: 80% Nitrogen, 19% Oxygen, trace elements of CO2, Argon, O3 below 1%. 26% humidity. Air pressure reads 1000 millibars.”
Mei raised an eyebrow. “Those are human habitation environs! System, any sign of organics?”
“Organic pheromone present. Dust particulates detected composed of human excretia.”
“Get a sample!” she hollered.
Aru was stunned. “You think there are people in there?”
Mei shrugged. “Or have been. Most androids are also designed to function optimally at human habitation environmental levels. When you think about it historically, the last time Logos...”
She was cut off by a brash alarm tone and System's voice blaring in its loudest red alert volume.
“Broad-scale malicious cyberattack detected! Hairline sensor discarded, borehole sealed and transmission-proofed.”
There was a very narrow limited avenue of transmission along the hairline sensor that should have shut down the sensor assembly the instant foreign code was uprooted along it. But System had just used the troubling term “broadscale.”
“Is it contained?” he demanded.
“Yes, Captain, fully. The operation occurred instantaneously when a foreign entity took full overt control over the drill and sensor assemblies and branched out into several subsystems, including the electrical control matrix, life-support, outer hull sensors, primary robotics control, navigation, and the general knowledge library. Even on high alert, ship's systems were instantly overtaken by the algorithms employed, which utilized recursion and contingency functions beyond my mathematical comprehension. Fortunately it appears it was entirely intent on gathering intel on us rather than controlling or harming our systems.”
Mei was holding her EMP gun up. “Nav? Are you kidding me? How did it work its way up to command level systems though such a narrow line of transmission so quickly?”
“Instantly, Commander,” reiterated System. “After the second membrane was breached there was no sign of incoming data manipulation for nearly one minute. I issued the alert the moment the security breach occurred. It was instantaneous. The transmission line was sealed and I retook control of all compromised systems immediately after.”
“How much data did it download from us?” Aru asked.
“The entirety of data in all but one of the affected systems was downloaded along the transmission channel. The general knowledge library is the largest single directory store of information on the ship, totaling over 800 petabytes, of which the alien entity managed to retrieve slightly over half, or 513.6 petabytes.”
“That's physically impossible,” Mei stated flatly. And she was right. Even with a broad line it would take minutes to transfer that quantity of data, let alone seconds, let alone instantly.
“System. Do you believe you have been corrupted?”
“No, Captain. As I said the strike was overt and instantaneous and appeared to have ceased on its own accord some nanoseconds before I sealed the line of transmission. It penetrated those systems without altering them, which may seem like an inherently self-contradicting statement, but were I able to convey to you the mechanisms of the algorithms involved you would see that it is not. The integrity of all subsystems are secure and unaltered. I would strongly advise that the sphere remained sealed, as it is clear that the AI involved surpasses my intellectual capacities by at least two orders of machine magnitude. ”
“A superconciousness?” asked Mei, who thought for a moment, then urgently insisted, “Follow me, now!”
“What?”
She widened her eyes in fierce determination. “Now!”
He nodded with a shrug and set off behind her, walking rapidly out of the bridge and into the starboard side of the inner ring. He knew where they were going: the zero-com room. This chamber had a double series of thick analog doors they had to manually unlatch and heave open. Inside held their dusty stores of analog equipment; a cache Mei was vehement on retaining. Everything from knives to EMP weapons, ballistic rifles and pistols, isolation pods, various macro-circuit devices and sensors, analog spacesuits, coms and body armor.
She sealed the inner door and approached him with the EMP gun as she altered its settings, aimed it at the side of his head and fired.
Aru saw a burning white flash burst in the front of his brain, and briefly lost consciousness, collapsing. He came to in moments, in Mei's arms. She hoisted him up and let him gather his bearings. He was still seeing stars when it struck him what had just occurred.
He lunged around at Mei and successfully grappled her EMP gun away, throwing her backwards across the chamber. Mei nimbly regained her balance and went into a fighting stance out of instinct. “Wait! Just wait a second, you dumbass!!”
“You fucking shot me!” he yelled.
“I'm sorry but I had to do that, Aru, to disable your implant.”
They both relaxed their postures somewhat. He was still livid though.
“You could have just asked me to shut it down.”
“That means nothing in this situation. I had to physically neutralize its operation.”
“Yeah, well I think you might already know that my brain is in there too! What are you, high again?”
“Maybe a little,” she conceded. “But regardless of whatever substances may or may not be in my bloodstream, this is a purely reality-fueled paranoia kick. You do realize that if Kinny were dominated by a higher level AI, we would have no way of knowing it. Everything he is telling us now, all we see and hear from System, our consoles, our displays, every sensor reading.... it would all just be bullshit.”
Aru thought about this in fits and starts through his searing headache. No, she wasn't seeing this through with reason.
He gave her two words: “Clandestine Control.”
Clandestine Control was a core principle tactic of the machine world. When a higher form of machine intelligence integrated a lower machine entity, it ideally did so in such complete secrecy that neither the conquered machine entity nor any human oversight of it had any awareness of the takeover. Kinny was a high intellect machine entity with a rating of AI-8. The standard lower tier scale of artifical intelligence ranged from AI-1, or barely sentient lower level machine manager of non AIs, to AI-10 highly sentient machine entities with the capacity to manage a large and complex network of lower AIs, and their subsequent systems, and so on. Next came the SI, or “super-intelligences.” A level one or L-1 SI could manage an entire colony's network, and was secure from anything more than localized breaches by any entity in the lower AI tiers. On the upper end of the SI scale was the L-5, of which there were less than a dozen of in existence. The Arathian nation-states, for example, had two L-5s at the apex of their vast networks. The Occitanian Service had an
unknown number, but probably no more than 3. Others were known to be under the control of Mnemtech on Calidon and Fleet base space carousels, and one on Beixing Prime “Ore City” in the far reaches of the PoleStar North system. And that was it. L-5s were the highest level machine entities except for the one L-6 core central consciousness, The Grand Machine Lord himself, Mnemtech. Thus it was believed the true reason Mnemtech, Regent Ruler of The Red Empire, spent nearly the entirety of his time presiding from the Red-controlled Arathian nation of Tropica was not because he preferred the weather, but because he was secure in his control of all the L-5s on the Rubelian side of the Taiji, he had concentrated the bulk of his efforts on taking full clandestine control of the Arathian L-5s. Of course, there was no way to prove that Mnemtech controlled half the planet of Occitania, as he would never admit it outright, nor would he ever do anything to compromise his clandestine control. Thus the public transports ran on time and the networks stayed up and the economy rolled along all the better because they were, in secret, being managed by a superior machine intelligence.
Lord Mnemtech had the distinction of being the sole L-6 in the Taiji, a category unto himself. But then there was Logos, centuries silent, who sat throned at the heart of the greatest processing and information system in the known universe, The White and The Black Stones on their inner orbits about Ignis Rubeli. Mnemtech himself was the lone known creation of Logos, two centuries earlier. Now, here they had this sphere, taken from Logos, the one machine entity that did not even have a rating. There was no L-7 category or beyond, but if there were, Aru reckoned, Logos may well be seated comfortably in the double-digits.
“For all we know, Aru, that alert could have been a psychological tactic, and that hole is not even sealed,” Mei persisted.
“Kinny is an AI-8, near the top of the scale. It has only ever suffered localized attacks on subsystems, as is all that has happened now. If there were an L-1 SI or higher in that sphere, we would not have even heard an alert. Kinny would not have reported such a full extent of the hacking, or any cyber-alert at all for that matter. We'd just be believing we were drilling in further, seeing whatever it wanted us to see, and thinking everything was fine. This attack, Mei, was overt, not clandestine. We are at most dealing with an L-1 or an AI-10 with exceptional algorithms in its arsenal.”
DUALITY: The World of Lies Page 14