The Way of the Dhin

by John L. Clemmer

  “But I’ll eventually bump into it—unless my course changes?”

  “I am not sure yet, Jake. It is tough without the navigation computer running. That is a better system for making those calculations, and it is right there with you, not dealing with just a few views of the star movements from the camera feeds I am receiving from you. Like always, do not panic. You know that hitting things in the capsule does not cause damage.”

  “I know, but this detour, if we consider it as one, is strange enough that I don’t have the same confidence in all this that I did previously. We’re not in control anymore!”

  Chuck had the same thought, but tried to impart a reassuring tone, “You should have enough power to get the navigation computer running. When you do get it going and get your position, I’m urging that we send another capsule out. We don’t have consensus yet, but I’m pushing for it.”

  “Thanks, Chuck. Alice, I hope you’re of the same opinion?”

  “Jake, you know we want you to survive.”

  “That’s not exactly an answer to my question, Alice.”

  “We are working on it, Jake. You know how this unfolds. Because of this even larger divergence from the original plan, the senior management team is revisiting every decision point, and they have far less confidence in my estimates for the moment. And Chuck’s, too, for that matter. We had been working on Aries Two, of course, but everything was on such an accelerated track, the preparations haven’t been coordinated with what you have been engaged in. We have focused on the other drives in the labs, and Krawczuk and Ruiz have squeezed so hard on the secrecy that the only other candidate for test pilot so far was still rejected. You know you are the only one.”

  “Alice, it sounds like you’re blaming them. You’ve contributed to all those decisions, too.”

  “Your actions contributed as well, Jake. After that speech you gave, we almost froze all the test flights until we found and assigned alternates for the teams. If you value what you have done as much as you claim to, you can thank me for the opportunity you have had to do it.”

  Alice paused briefly. Jake sighed and shifted in his seat. He felt the pressure for an apology.

  “The immediate concerns are keeping you alive and regaining control of the capsule. We need to bring you home. Back here, we are focusing on analysis of this new information. We are restructuring almost everything around the tech in the other drives. No testing, just engineering. Besides Aries Two, we are prepping the others for flight. We have chosen automata and remoting for the work. They are far faster. Xing and I do not have to consult revisions to charts and plans, slowed down by the team’s reading and writing speed. ‘There is a lot going on’, as you might put it.”

  Jake glanced about the capsule as he took this in.

  “How is Ruiz taking all this?”

  “He is sure we are at high risk of who-knows-what and wants to expand the capsule fields to the maximum size we have tested for and fill them with weapons and small teams of Special Forces. Arnold and I are trying, with marginal success, to keep him in a manageable state.

  “I would never consider him ‘manageable.’ I expect he’s pulling rank everywhere that you can’t prevent it.”

  Alice continued, “The PM is much more understanding of the situation, but we, and Ruiz, have to remember that ultimately she is the one in charge, and if somehow she and her advisers decide that the ‘military option’ rather than a continuation of pure scientific research is the path to take, Arnold and I will only be able to do as directed.”

  “Ruiz has bordered on insanity with this the whole time,” Jake said. “You know that’s my opinion on him. So, you guys have built out frames that fit in the larger field already. That construction pipeline moved up in priority?”

  “Yes, I am afraid so. We have been using some new larger quadrupeds for the loading along with the reconfiguration and prep I mentioned.”

  Jake scanned the displays and controls again, imagining the changes in the capsules back home.

  “All that chaos because of this unexpected behavior from the drive?” He turned his attention from the rounded, glowing control surfaces and shifted his focus out to the infinity of space, ever-present, and muttered, “I never had any illusions, did I? I always knew the reality. I might not make it back.

  Every time there’s been a choice to abort or continue, I’ve taken the dangerous path. It’s my personality that’s put me here.”

  No rebuttal would come from the void. The stars remained a silent challenge. Nor did Alice interrupt his reflection. Somehow, the AI calculated correctly and knew he wasn’t expecting input from her.

  “I chose this. I tried for objectivity. I tried to see all these risks clearly. In advance. It sounds now like that rescue mission plan might not happen.”

  Still no reply came from the AI. The pause stretched, while Jake examined the potentially useless navigation computer and all the other equipment.

  “Don’t sugar coat it, I’ve already grasped it but haven’t wanted to accept it. Everything was too easy with the engine so far. Even with my speech about the risks, I led myself to a false sense of safety. It looks like I may run out of power. An excess of CO2 will be what kills me.”

  Jake instinctively re-checked the CO2 sensor.

  “That’s what would get me first, right? The water and O2 will last a lot longer.”

  The silence from the AI became pregnant. Then, just before Jake could call out to confirm the communication link was live, Alice spoke.

  “My projections suggest that is correct, Jake, it is the same calculation matrix we did for your flights here in the solar system, with extrapolation. You have some time, and to extend that time you can run only the scrubber and nothing else. The pedal-power from the generator can generate enough power to keep that operational.”

  “OK, Alice. Chuck, do you have anything you want to tell me that she didn’t cover?”

  “I think that’s about it for now, Jake, we’re working as fast as we can. I think you can power the nav computer, and then power the scrubber after you finish with it. You have done a lot of endurance training and running. I wouldn’t, ah, be able to go for that long or recover often enough myself. I have the EE team working on instructions for you to bypass the battery array and go directly into the regulator. To get more efficiency and less resistance. It will, umm, get hot, but if I’m right it will help.”

  “Thanks, Chuck.”

  Jake fell silent, turned his eyes to the forward viewport, and watched the seemingly infinite array of stars move slowly across the viewport, right to left, with the glare of the nearby star growing just barely brighter, off-center in his view. The silhouette of the mysterious object, his destination, crept across the brilliant backlight of the red-tinged star.

  Vandenberg

  “Alice, explain to me what all this activity is that’s going on in all the labs—it’s not part of the currently-approved revised-yet-again plan set we’ve got here. None of it is, and when I asked Ruiz he just barked ‘go ask Alice!’ and cursed both of us. You know I hate it when I’m the last to get the new marching orders. Besides, we’ve discussed this, other than things that come from the top, I’m the one that’s supposed to be giving the marching orders. What’s going on?” Ethan paced back and forth.

  Now I know what Ruiz feels like.

  “Ethan, you have known all along that while you have had some autonomy on the project, the ultimate decisions and the marching orders, as you put it, come from the Coalition Executive, specifically the office of the Prime Minister. I am the voice of that authority here, and in the related activities beyond just your project. Your initiative was to reverse engineer the components of the Dhin engine for us. The work in the labs currently is unrelated to that, but takes higher priority. We value your work and your effort. But for the moment, R&D is on hold while engineering and logistics are primary.”

  “OK, of course I can’t argue with that, Alice, but it’s almost like there’s a fir
e drill and I can’t hear the alarm. Because of the distributed nature of the work and the disparate labs, only a few of us would even notice that all these changes in the work were happening. So why, again, didn’t you tell me?”

  “Consider yourself informed now, Ethan. The current situation with Jake in Aries One mandates that we take these actions at the moment. I will let you know first, and then we can inform the research teams together when they can resume their work.”

  Huh? That’s weird. She’s not usually like that, thought Ethan, scratching his head.

  He stood and stretched, then walked out of the workroom and off toward the commissary. He’d call Chuck in a bit after he got something to eat, and see if he could shed light on what the heck was actually going on.

  Perseus Arm, Outer Edge

  I have to take a break, and I’ve done this long enough. The meter’s showing what ought to be a reasonable charge. That was tiring. It definitely took longer than it should have.

  Jake unlocked, swiveled, and locked down the pilot's chair, then got up and walked over to the supply bin and pulled out a ration pack, then drew out a portion of water from the reclamation unit. As he sat, cooled down and had his refreshment, he stared once more out the forward viewport. The star was now past the edge of the viewport, so he scanned for the highlighted edge of the mysterious object he was inexorably approaching. He found it easily now, as it was large enough that the area lit by the bright red sun stood out distinctly against the inky blackness. Much larger, as his speed of approach did not need to slow as a conventional transport would, and the lit area wasn’t just a halo or slim crescent, as the star was now behind him. He tried to sort out what the shape signified. Was it a larger spacecraft, a space station, or something else? There was, at this point, no way to know for certain. He considered that the shape of the protective field generated by the Dhin engine might not be constrained to generate only the ovoid shape his capsule generated.

  The shape was discernible now, about the size of a thumbnail held at arm’s length. There was a central disk, a squashed cylinder really, which formed the core of the structure. That was the simplest and most clear element in the design. Around the disc, there were three shapes, like large ram’s horns spaced equal distance from each other. They started below the disc, at its center, and curved over and around the edge of the disc, narrowing as they curved upward, smoothly narrowing as they arched above the top of the disc and merged into the top of it. From the angle of Jake’s approach, it wasn’t clear what the base of the horn shapes looked like, and the apparent merging of the horn shapes inside the top of the disc was only now becoming clear as an aspect of the structure. The bottom of the structure would be visible as his tilted spiral orbit brought him around the object.

  The structure grew larger. Egg-like shapes were distinctly visible now, one between the arch of each horn shape and the outer edge of the disc. Shadow and distance had made those shapes previously unclear. Jake noted that the horn shapes were like the frame that enclosed his capsule, cradling the engine. The ones wrapping the object looked larger. Quite a bit larger, if the egg shapes between them and the disc were close to the size of his capsule. Again, there was no way to tell at this distance. The material was a uniform flat light gray color. Based on the color of the frame of his own capsule, it was possibly the same material, a mixed-metal alloy that was very strong, but not the strongest alloy theoretically possible. Had the Dhin constructed it of something entirely different? There was simply no way to tell from here. There were no visible windows, but that wasn’t conclusive either. The edges of the disc and an area near the axis were darker and wider than he might have expected them to be, but whether they were folds, creases, paint, or a different material, it was again impossible to know.

  “Chuck, Alice? Do you guys have any additional insight for me?”

  “Not at the moment. If you are ready, we can try the navigation computer,” said Alice. Chuck followed immediately with words of encouragement, “Jake, don’t worry if the charge doesn’t last, you’ll be able to power it with the generator directly. Let’s try it this way first.”

  “OK, control. Powering navigation computer on.”

  Jake was tempted to cross his fingers, even though he wasn’t a believer in superstitious gestures, or luck, for that matter.

  ‘You make your own luck’, my dad always said to me, along with ‘luck is just preparation combined with opportunity.’ Well, Dad, look at me now.

  Jake watched the navigation computer as it went through its startup procedures, and resisted the urge to glance nervously back-and-forth at the remaining charge meter on the battery array. Once the boot process was complete, the computer set about its attempt to calculate the current location. Jake verified the ‘return home’ program was loaded and ready to calculate for entry into the guidance controls. After that, there was not much for him to do but wait, and hope that the navigation computer’s calculations completed before his power ran too low to keep the computer on. He reminded himself to stay next to the computer, since the process to transfer the program over to the controls was limited by how fast he could manipulate them, and he didn’t want to have to rush over. If it turned out that he did have to power the generator manually, that would be quite a trick.

  That’s something to fix in the next design. Otherwise, I could be sitting over there pedaling and keeping some charge flowing into the batteries. Well, stay focused.

  As they had feared, the computer was very slow with the calculations. At first, Jake thought it might not be making any progress at all. With guidance from Alice, he was relieved to discover that the program had made some. It had potentially identified several stars. It would take time still for it to determine with confidence his precise location, but it was not going to be beyond the capabilities of the program. He’d known that, but it was still a relief. He nervously glanced at the charge level meter again.

  OK, wow. That’s definitely dropped more than it did before. Well, the program may still be finished in time. I wonder though if it’s worth it to save our work and then charge up again first.

  “Alice, do you think it makes sense to save the current state of the calculations and then charge the batteries again? We’re running out of charge quick here. I’d rather do it in several runs, safely, rather than risk it crashing due to the power dropping out. Why does this program not automatically save state, again?”

  “Jake, if you’re more comfortable with that, then of course it is fine. As we have discussed, it is more important to get this done than aim for maximum efficiency. Time is something I am still of the opinion that you do have. Realize, though, that some recalculation will have to execute in order to adjust for your new position when you restart the program.”

  “I know. Well, I’m going to do it. I’m saving the current state of the program. Now.”

  19

  Langley

  Nick’s integration with the various surveillance technologies of CoSec gave him insight into individual behavior that Arnold, Alice, or any of the other AIs simply didn’t have. The fusion of all these data sources, as a secondary effect, gave him insights into social and cultural behaviors and trends that were well beyond the reach of an AI with access to public data ‘enhanced’ with summary information from the CoSec reporting and distribution processes. An AI like Alice focused on other things. While any of them had the computing power to perform such computation, it did take time and effort, and there were only so many microseconds in a day.

  He knew when riots were going to erupt before they happened. He knew in advance when certain memes were going to spread. He had good luck providing conceptual seeds that CoSec could scatter across the Cloud and the net in order to change public opinion, or at least sway it significantly. With the worldwide population reduced by the waves of disease that had circled the globe in the previous decades, the remaining population was less worried about resources and influence and more about their security and future stability. The cen
tral planning and control provided by core leadership guided by the AI was acceptable to all but a few. Individuals had apparent freedoms to engage in all sorts of activities, but there were ‘fuzzy edges’ to what was acceptable and expected. Ideas that could help improve and rebuild society were encouraged, of course. Entrepreneurship still existed, as did the possibility of rapid wealth creation. But, ultimately, the minds of the AIs steered invention, growth, and the direction of the Coalition culture.

  The AI and CoSec tolerated the Darknet and the activities and ideas that sprung forth from it because they remained useful. Creativity and innovations that the creators thought were unconstrained had a risk profile that it was difficult to obtain in the public sphere. They monitored much of the Darknet. Most of the encryption software had ‘back doors’ in it. Frequently they subverted even the newest code and open source projects. After all, an AI could pass the Turing test. If your communication with someone was always online, anonymously, you couldn’t tell if it was an AI. In software development, which had very little social interaction involved, it was therefore nearly impossible to determine if an anonymous contributor to a project was an AI. All the AI had to do was appear a little less intelligent as it actually was.