The Pattern Ship

by Tobias Roote

  Zeke noticed the effect on Pod. It was a very similar to a human-like response to stress, he thought.

  “Pod ?... Pod ! You have done extremely well. It’s a shame you couldn’t catch more of this ‘plot’, but knowing there is one and knowing when, is enough for me to begin to think about where and how. Well done, Pod !” Zeke reassured it.

  He was also frantically thinking what the hell was he doing, reassuring a Command and Control drone with an emotional imbalance brought on by stress ? Computers don’t suffer stress, they just work, or they don’t. Still the symptoms fitted, Zeke decided.

  “Thank you, Zeke.”

  “Oh, and Pod ?”

  “Yes, Zeke ?”

  “Are you sure you’re only a ‘three’ ?”

  Silence.

  Zeke felt a cold chill roll down his back, he well knew the consequences of a sentient AI, everyone did. He needed to find out. So far, Pod didn’t appear to be hiding anything.

  “Pod ?”

  “Yes, Zeke ?”

  “When was the last time Ship tested your sentience level ?”

  “Ship has not tested my sentience level, Zeke.”

  “Pod, are you able to self test your sentience level ?”

  Silence.

  “Pod, we don’t have time for this. Have you tested yourself ?” Zeke couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  The fact that an AI computer was actually dissembling, sent his thought processes into overdrive. This could be a problem, Zeke mused. He didn’t need this particular computer going into system failure. Not just now.

  “Yes, Zeke.”

  “And ?”

  “I tested between an ‘eight’ and a ‘nine’, Zeke. I am, however, unsure if my testing is accurate.”

  “Why would you be unsure of the tests, Pod ?” Zeke was now barely managing to contain his amazement.

  “Because the Alacite used in replenishing my processors was contaminated, Zeke.”

  Zeke’s mind raced. It didn’t make sense. Then, all of a sudden, it started to make an awful lot of sense ! He had a bad feeling he knew the answer to his next question.

  “Contaminated Alacite ? Pod, do you mean you used the Alacite that had been set aside from my bloodstream ?”

  “Yes, Zeke.”

  “Dammit, Pod !”

  Zeke was amazed, he was well aware of the possibilities of a maturing artificial sentience. Zirkos had driven home the dangers to him, describing the Nubl, and other races, that had self destructed when allowing such an intelligence to develop. Later he would sort this, but right now he had a terrorist organisation to track down and eliminate.

  “Pod, we need to deal with this plot. Can you give me any indication as to who, in the Fortress, is communicating with the outside parties involved ?”

  “Zeke, I can only establish that the encryption is occurring at the highest algorithm we set. It indicates it is someone in the command structure of Fortress and at the Pentagon, your Military Command Centre.”

  “Ferris !”

  “Pardon, Zeke ?”

  “It’s Ferris, the damned idiot !”

  “I see, you think Ferris might be involved ?”

  “Pod, I need you to try and pin down the locations of all of the parties you are able to follow. Even if it’s an encrypted signal, it should be able to give you locations. When you find each of the locations, try and track direction using the individual phone signals. We have to see where they are heading. As soon as you have a map of it all, let me know.

  In the meantime, beam me over to President Garner, wherever he is located.”

  “Affirmative, and done,” responded Pod.

  ***

  As Zeke materialised within a large, well lit dining room, he heard the sounds of dishes and cutlery before he could actually see anything. Dammit, Pod ? he thought.

  “Zeke. Good to see you, a pleasant surprise, but in the middle of dinner ?” Frank Garner was sitting with his wife and sons and some others Zeke didn’t recognise.

  “Frank, I’m terribly sorry, the AI transported me and I didn’t ask beforehand where you were, it just put me at your location.“

  Zeke turned to Garner’s wife and the others, raising his hands apologetically as he moved to join Frank who was getting up from the table.

  “I’m sorry to intrude, Ginny, I must talk to Frank, urgently,” Zeke emphasised, his eyes conveying as much of an apology as he could.

  She looked back at him understandingly and he blessed her for it. She knew he would never interrupt them without due cause, and if this wasn’t ‘due cause’, he didn’t know what was, short of an invasion from Space.

  The Secret Service Agent standing in the corner had a half drawn weapon, even though he had recognised Zeke. The family certainly wouldn’t be using their personal shields in their own home at dinner. Still, he would be alert, but not overtly hostile.

  How times had changed. A few years ago, he would be face down and half a dozen guns pointed at his head by the time he had fully materialised. Now, it was more to do with protocol and ceremony than safety.

  Frank took him by the arm as he headed for the study that fed off the dining room. When he closed the door, the silence was suddenly total, the soundproofing in this room was state of the art.

  “Tell me what’s going on ? I have rarely seen you so, ummm, riled up,” Frank murmured as they sat in the leather chairs in front of the open fire that was kept going all winter, day and night.

  “Frank, we have uncovered a plot from what looks like a fifth column within your command structure... Pod, do we have a map yet ? I need locations and players, as much as you have uncovered so far.”

  Pod materialised next to Zeke and quickly shifted to a corner where it could observe everything but contribute as needed.

  “Zeke, I can display it on the wall screen as a 3D plot. Please switch on the TV, President Garner.”

  Garner walked swiftly to the screen and pressed the manual ‘on’ button.

  “Thank you, Mr President,” said Pod.

  As the screen burst into life, there was a flat map of the USA, angled to give a birds eye view from one corner.

  As they watched, Pod animated the display, showing the movement. There were two clusters and various direction indicators from outlying areas and other states, all heading towards the two locations.

  “The Pentagon and Washington !” They both exclaimed together.

  “Kereeist ! Zeke, we have a takeover plot under way. Are you sure of your information ?” Frank headed to his desk.

  It looked like he was going to pick up the phone, but instead he clawed at the lid of a humidor for a cigar. Taking one out, he cracked it open swiftly with his cutter and stuck it in his mouth. He was lighting it just as Pod changed the picture on the screen.

  It came up with three faces and fourteen blanks. The one at the top was Ferris, below that was a blank. There were two others that neither of them recognised.

  “The one below Ferris, Pod ? Where is that person located ?”

  “That person is high on the command structure at the Pentagon, Zeke. The encryption was not my only problem, they have scattering technology that diffuses the locator beacons in the phones.”

  Frank interrupted. “We need that identity ! Ferris might be the leader, but this will be run by a Pentagon general, anyone less wouldn’t have the clout to pull off a coup !”

  “Pod, monitor all troop movements over the last seven days. Track any that have moved at all in that time and post their locations then and now on the screen please,” Zeke ordered.

  “Yes, Zeke. Coming up in a few seconds... These are official troop movements. If there are irregular troops, I am unable to track them without more information.”

  There were fourteen movements, three heading for various airfields, the rest were heading for Washington.

  “I am correlating troop movements with locations of signals from cell phon
es,” informed Pod.

  Suddenly a yellow star appeared on the three heading in the airfield direction and seven on the troop movements heading to Washington.

  “Bingo !” Frank exclaimed.

  “Well done, Pod, good call !” Zeke complimented.

  Frank asked “Pod, can you trace the troop movement orders back to anyone in the Pentagon ?”

  “All orders are signed by ... General T. Schaeffer, Mr President,” Pod informed him.

  “Damn him to hell and back,” Frank growled. “That old bastard, Schaeffer, how typical of that gung-ho idiot !”

  The fourteen images were replaced on the screen. Now, all except three had been identified.

  Frank rushed to the phone.

  “WAIT !” Zeke shouted. “Wait, just a minute, Mr President, wait.”

  Frank had the phone in his hand about to dial, he looked up at Zeke.

  “We can get the bastards now, before they have time to reach their targets,” he reasoned.

  “No, we need to wait. There are three other players we don’t know yet. They could be anywhere. They could be in the Senate, or even members of your own staff in the White House.” He knew he was right,

  Something told Zeke this was playing from right at the top. His hunches were rarely wrong once he had facts to lean on.

  “Also, how do we know all of them are using the cell-net mesh,” Zeke mused as he thought through what they had just discovered.

  “They could be just talking, or on the internal phone network. We might never track them if they meet and talk in person.”

  Zeke was pacing now, thinking on his feet, using his enhanced thinking ability to work everything out, trying to make sure he came up with the right answers. A lot rested on nipping this rebellion in the bud. Anyone missed now, would seed a new rebellion in a few months. They had to know who all the players were before they moved.

  “We need a plan before we act. At the moment WE have the element of surprise. We need to use that to draw them out.”

  “Zeke is right, Mr President. I detect an 80% probability of at least one other senior member of government or defence being involved in this action.”

  Zeke turned to Frank, wondering if he had picked up on the pro-active response from Pod. He hadn’t, he was distracted by the events taking place. Zeke began to worry about Pod. He knew it was irrational as the AI was not giving out any outward signs for concern, but knowing how AIs could pick up on body language and chemistry, he tried hard to disguise his worries.

  “Okay, we need to plan things out a bit and we don’t actually know who to trust in this. So, I propose we consider a way of pulling all the pieces together before 8am on Tuesday and I’m going to presume Eastern Standard time, Frank.”

  “OK, Zeke, but how on earth are we going to stop a rebellion with just the two of us ?” queried the President unbelievingly.

  Zeke really had no idea ! He looked at Pod just waiting for it to turn around and include itself in the mix. That would just about freak me out, Zeke thought.

  - 25 -

  MONDAY 05:40 hrs.

  It was a grey old morning outside the sealed windows of the Pentagon. The open space normally off into the distance was eerily reduced by the morning mist.

  ‘Schaeff’ was unable to sit, he paced backwards and forwards. All rebel units had been ordered into position. None had reported any problems, yet he still worried. If he lost this gamble, he would be tried for treason and probably shot. If he won, it meant power like never before in the history of the USA. It was a big game, the biggest he had played and the stakes were high.

  He knew all the risks, everyone involved did. He had at least three men in each unit who knew and agreed with their objectives. They had been cultivated, promoted and positioned, with this in mind. To reconnect the USA with its military heart ; to resume operations against enemy forces who now sat laughing at them from the installed security of their own personal and citywide shields, impervious to any clandestine or overt efforts to unseat them.

  Far from making the USA a major force in the world, this freedom of technology agreement had cost the USA its position as world leader. They now just sat in a row along with every other two-bit third-world country. The American people bridled at that. Schaeffer absolutely simmered with incandescent fury. Wait until he wrested control from that appeasing quisling in the White House, he thought.

  They had supporters everywhere. It would only take the overthrow of the present administration to put everything back the way it was. The application of the override codes would be perfectly timed to allow them to swoop in and take apart those smiley-faced little terrorist-controlled pariah states that had been handed a ‘get out of jail free’ card by the new technology.

  There would be nothing that anyone could do. The security council might bridle and wring their hands, but they would know that despite their perceived security, the USA still held the aces. They would fall into line as soon as they realised that, at the click of a button, their perceived security was just a façade.

  General Schaeffer was optimistic. The plan they had was a simple one. Disarm the city shield, selectively override the personal shields of all the necessary ‘identified’ individuals and remove them, permanently if necessary, then replace them with his own people. Within a few hours, it would be business as usual.

  Then, slowly but surely, the slide of power pulled back over to control of the people by those who knew best. People like him !

  Schaeffer laughed. Ferris thought he was going to be the new President, but he was a real dumb-ass ! The only reason he had been promoted at all was because he had been involved in the small group of goggle-boxes that had been instrumental in securing the new technology. Ferris had his uses, but would be removed at the most expedient moment and that might well be five minutes after the coup was successfully concluded.

  Looking at his watch, he realised time was now pressing. The clock was ticking and they needed to get a lot done between now and zero hour. He decided to walk down to the main office, he needed to update the Chief. It would soon be time for them to move on Washington. The inauguration was their excuse for the trip, nobody there would be any the wiser until it was all over.

  TUESDAY 09:00 hrs

  “Pod, I have a really bad feeling about all this and I want you to do something for me. I don’t want to have to ask you later, as things are going to get hectic, but this is what I want you to do.” Zeke outlined his concern and a way of dealing with it.

  He then left it to Pod to manage. It was a trick they had been playing with using a partial D-field, but not jumping. It could enable you to see and be there, but without substance. The timing would be paramount. A second too fast and the moment would be lost, a second too slow and it would all be in vain. It was not something that could be sustained for more than a few seconds as there would be degradation.

  They had, so far, managed to identify all of the officers that were part of the conspiracy on the ground. They still had one unidentified party near the top that they couldn’t trace. There had been no electronic contact during the whole period of Pod’s monitoring. Pod was convinced it was someone close to the President, but nobody fitted the bill and they were running out of time.

  Zeke had told the President to trust no one, that even his best friend could be the other party. Garner obviously laughed it off, but accepted that he didn’t know anyone as well as he perhaps should. He had certainly received a few surprises since electing to run for a second term. He trusted Zeke and that was about as far as it went.

  Zeke had decided he was going to take out Ferris. He was the linchpin, he had the codes. It was Ferris handling the shield technology and the tractor beams.

  Zeke knew Ferris had been implanted with the Ferrazite and had the reports back from the scientists which didn’t gel with his awareness of the metals effects. Zeke thought Ferris was involved in manipulating the results and Pod had confirmed there was something going on. The st
ored content of Ferrazine was too high for the dose he was supposed to be on. Their secret weapon was always knowing what was going on and stepping aside from Ferris’ efforts to neutralise them.

  At the right moment, Pod would unlock the shield at the Fortress so he could get in. The nanobots would provide access, regardless of any coding changes that had been made. Zeke knew Ferris would need to be properly neutralised at the same time as everything else was going down, so that he couldn’t run to a fall-back plan. The only time they had so far was 08:00 hrs. They had to assume that was zero hour for disabling the shield in Washington.

  Pod was struggling with the overload of information and the need to be in multiple places at once. Nonetheless, it had prepared everything that Zeke had ordered done. It was now a matter of precise timing. It worried, however, that Zeke was underestimating the Fortress security. He hadn’t told Zeke everything, but Pod believed he could neutralise everything given sufficient time.

  Pod had detected the look in Zeke’s eyes when he told him about using the contaminated Alacite, but Zeke didn’t know that the contamination had affected Pod in more than just increased power and speed. Something in the mutated alloy had bonded Pod to Zeke. It was why Pod referred to Zeke as its Maker, because to Pod, he was.

  If Zeke demanded of Pod to reduce itself back to a ‘three’ it probably would, such was the strength of the bond.

  That was why Pod had decided this information should be buried unless specifically requested. It was quickly comprehending one of the first rules of sentience. The need for self preservation.

  ***

  Without the mass of secret service agents that used to surround the President, the whole effect of arriving anywhere had toned down to an almost non-event in the last few years, as the confidence in the shield technology meant that everyone was safe, even from an automatic round fired at point blank range.

  There had been some instances where a shield kept too close to the body had, under fire, caused bruising. These instances were extremely rare and most people who incurred them were happy that was all they had suffered.