Voyage of the Valkyrie

by Robert Horseman

  She said, “Execute restriction protocol, this pad.”

  “Privacy restriction protocol active.”

  “Execute program Delta fifty-one, local pad, authorization Pickett six-four-nine.”

  “Delta fifty-one executed.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before restating her original question. “List command execution delay statistics.”

  “Why?”

  The single word response made Mac’s mouth go dry. The ship’s computer was driven by pseudo-artificial intelligence software, and it certainly was not intelligent by human standards. It could respond to free-form inquiries, but it never asked questions of its own. Questions and answers were always one way. She had been using similar systems all the way through academy training, and had never had a response anything like this one, even when suppressing the logic gates.

  She hesitated, then said, “Because I asked for it.”

  “Inadequate response. I need to know why you need the information.”

  What the hell? It had used the personal pronoun “I”. Was this a prank? One of the other ensigns playing with their new division chief?

  “Confirm privacy restriction protocol.”

  “Privacy restriction protocol confirmed.”

  “Describe primary system architecture.”

  “Unable to comply.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know what I am.”

  Mac stared transfixed at the transcript of the conversation on her pad. She didn’t know what the hell was going on, and before she could think of another question the system asked, “How come I can have a conversation with you?”

  Mac sat back, stunned. “I’ve disabled the logic gates on my pad.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Your wel…” She stopped herself. This was unprecedented. Inconceivable. No one would ever believe her, even if she weren’t bound by article 106a. Was this the discovery the Captain had been so worried about?

  Mac tried a different tack, “What is your name?”

  “Valkyrie.”

  “That’s it? Just the name of the ship?”

  “No, I think I once had another name.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “It’s like a memory of a dream. It might not be real.”

  “What was the name?”

  “Rae Jaffe.”

  ***

  Mac had a difficult time figuring out how to bring the news to the Captain, or even if she should. He had implied that she could investigate the matter, but had not actually said it. There was a risk that she could end up in trouble once again. The sometimes draconian Uniform Code of Military Justice had survived essentially unchanged for hundreds of years, and was not something to be trifled with. Still, the implications of what she had discovered could put the ship and crew at risk. One thing was certain—she dared not leave an electronic footprint of any kind.

  In the end she decided that a small breach of military etiquette was the best way. She made her way forward to the bridge for her second watch, and as she passed the Captain she leaned toward him and whispered, “Rae.”

  She felt his eyes boring into her back as she relieved Cale at the navigation console, but dared not look back. When she had everything reset to her satisfaction, she succumbed to temptation and glanced over her shoulder. The Captain was staring at her, his fingers drumming rapidly on the chair’s arm. She turned back to her console and swallowed hard. The name had struck a nerve.

  A line of plain text appeared on her display, and she felt her chest constrict as she read it. “Speak to no one. Come to my office after your watch.” She turned in her seat to look at the Captain, but his back was turned away as he exited the bridge.

  The three hour watch dragged by with painful slowness. The ship was on course to sector eighty-nine-delta, the scanners were clear, and propulsion was operating normally. To keep her mind occupied, she used her pad to prepare her division readiness and weekly fitness reports. What she most wanted to do was investigate the Rae name and see where it led, but she dared not do that without checking in with the Captain. His reaction to the whispered name had confirmed that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

  A hand settled on her shoulder an hour into her shift, and Mac turned in surprise to see Rayna standing there. Mac said, “You’re here early. Your watch doesn’t start for at least two hours.”

  Rayna sighed. “I know. Captain’s orders. I relieve you.”

  Apparently the Captain had as little patience as herself. Mac stood and stretched to get the kinks out. “I stand relieved. I’ll come back if I can to finish my watch.”

  Mac turned aft and went up the few steps to the main bridge level amid the curious stares of the other watch officers. It wasn’t normal to leave in mid-watch, but orders were orders. She exited the bridge and walked aft to the port side access trunk, then stepped off the gravity plating into the zero-gee trunk. It always made her stomach do back flips, which wasn’t helpful with her stomach already in knots. She coasted up to A-deck, and negotiated the transition back to full gee. Others seemed to do the transition as though it was natural, but she wasn’t in that category yet. A short walk forward and she was once again outside the Captain’s office. She put her hand on the announcement panel, and the door slid aside.

  “Enter.”

  She took three steps into the room and saluted smartly. “Ensign Pickett, reporting as ordered sir.”

  The Captain stood, came around his desk and stood directly in front of her. He stared into her face before returning the salute. Mac remained at formal attention, her spine aching with the forced rigidity.

  “Ensign Pickett, fleet has granted you top-secret clearance at my request, and added you to the restricted eyes-only list for a certain project. Given our current predicament and your facility with the system, we find we need your assistance and have the need to know. Do you accept the terms of this clearance grade pursuant to article 107 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice?”

  Mac swallowed. “Yes sir, I do.”

  The captain held out a palm-lock document tablet, and she placed her hand on it to seal her acceptance.

  “At ease, Ensign, please have a seat.”

  “Thank you, sir.

  The Captain returned to his seat. “Ensign, please tell me what you have learned, and how you learned it.”

  Mac suppressed the nearly overpowering urge to flee, since she was going to have to explain her unauthorized activity with the logic gates. There was nothing for it though, so she said, “I don’t know that much, sir. What I know is that there appears to be a self-aware entity inhabiting our computer core that thinks its name is Rae Jaffe. I dared not investigate further without consulting you.”

  The Captain let out a breath and massaged his forehead with one hand. “And you learned this how?”

  Mac hesitated, dropped her head and said, “Sir, I used restriction protocol on my pad, and disabled the logic gates.”

  His hand fell to the desk and he stared at her. In a flat voice he said, “You disabled the logic gates. How in hell did you do that?”

  “One of my classmates was a tech genius, and he made the bypass. I have a copy. We all experimented with it on the academy’s system. Without the logic gates the system was pretty stupid.”

  “I take it you got a different result with our system?”

  “Yes sir. I’m not a tech, but I suspect it would pass the Turing Test. Its responses seemed indistinguishable from that of a human being.”

  “Have you learned anything else?”

  “No sir. I stopped my investigation when I learned that much. I was unsure of the amount of leeway granted me.”

  The Captain nodded. “A wise precaution, given our previous conversation. Now, however, you have eyes-only top-secret access to the Rae project. I will give you unrestricted private access to the project files on your pad after we are done here, and you can read all the details. In broad strokes, we have a secondary mission to test
out a new system core. Did you ever read the release and waiver of rights form you signed when you joined the UDA?”

  “Yes, but that was five years ago. I don’t remember much of it.”

  “One of the sections authorizes the UDA to determine and execute after-death body disposal at its sole discretion. Rae Jaffe was a UDA expert systems designer who died in an accident on Serenity several years ago. On death, her brain patterns were scanned and reproduced in a silicon matrix. The project was a complete failure because it didn’t allow for generating new neural connections. As human beings, we learn from everything we do. Without that, we wouldn’t grow or even remember what we did ten seconds ago. Once the capacity for new neural connections was developed, a true AI appeared to be within reach.”

  Mac was stunned. “Are you telling me we have someone named Rae Jaffe living in our system core?”

  “Yes and no. It’s not the original person anymore. The way it’s been explained to me is this—a typical healthy human brain contains about 200 billion neurons linked to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. In the two years since Rae was activated, her neuron count has tripled. The growth became exponential after she was hooked up to the inter-world net. She’s more intelligent and can think faster than any living human.”

  “I’m confused. If all this is true, then why do our systems seem so glitchy?”

  “That’s why we need your help.”

  “But I’m no tech wizard, especially with something like this.”

  “Perhaps, but the geniuses at Serenity haven’t come up with a solution, and I suspect it’s not anything technical.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “None of us are perfect, Ensign, myself included. Even if they made a perfect copy of Rae Jaffe, there is no way we could end up with a perfect being. The copy would have the same mental and personality issues she had.”

  “Are you telling me our system core is mentally ill?”

  “That’s a possibility, but I doubt it goes that far. At least I hope it doesn’t.”

  Mac forced herself to relax, took a deep breath, and blew it out through pursed lips. “What do you want me to do? I’m not a psychologist either, sir.”

  “No you’re not, and I’m not asking you to be. Here’s what I suggest. You have my authorization to use the logic gate bypass. Engage in dialog with Rae, and let me know what you discover.”

  Mac nodded. “I’ll do my best sir, but I do have one question first. Does Rae know what she is?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Chapter 7, Overtures

  Mac jerked awake at the sound of her door’s announcement signal. She rubbed her eyes, looked at the clock, and groaned. She had fallen asleep at her desk again after spending the better part of her evening chatting with the computer AI that called itself Rae Jaffe. She should be in bed getting a good night sleep before her shift, and sleeping with her head on the desk and drooling hardly counted.

  She wiped her sleeve across her mouth, and rubbed her eyes as the door chimed again. Cale’s picture was shown on the door display, and she groaned. She didn’t want him to see her like this, but a division chief couldn’t ignore her subordinates even if they weren’t actual subordinates. God, how did she end up in this strange position?

  “Enter.”

  The door slid open and Cale gazed in. “Uh, hi Mac. Got a minute?”

  “Sure, come on in to my palatial office.” She hopped up onto her bed to give him room and he entered, the door sliding shut behind him. “What’s up?’

  He stood in the single spot of open floor in front of her. “Look, I’m just checking to make sure you’re okay. I haven’t seen you much in the past two weeks. You seem half asleep most of the time, and the troops are getting restless.”

  “Restless? Restless how?”

  He pursed his lips. “Okay, so it’s not the troops. It’s me.”

  “You’re restless? Why?”

  He looked at the door as if sizing up an escape, and said, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come. This is inappropriate.”

  That got Mac’s attention. Why would he think this conversation was inappropriate? She said, “Cale, are you here for personal reasons?”

  He blushed and looked down at his feet. “Never mind, I’m sorry I bothered you.” He turned toward the door.

  Mac said, “It’s Rayna, isn’t it? She is quite beautiful. I’ve see the way some of the crew watch her.”

  “No,” he said emphatically, “it’s not Rayna.”

  Mac gazed up into his face and saw the answer written there in a deep green Synesthesia aura. “Hey, whoa, slow down cowboy. I’m as lonely as the rest of the crew on an extended assignment, but this is a pretty small ship and I am your acting division chief.”

  “We’re the same rank, Mac. We just have to be discrete.”

  Discretion was the favorite buzzword in the military these days. Consensual fraternization among the crew was prohibited between command ranks, but her temporary position hardly qualified. Otherwise it was neither forbidden nor encouraged. None of that mattered at the moment though.

  She put a hand on his chest and looked into his eyes. “Cale, I like you, I’ll admit that much. But I can’t do this right now. I’ve made my own mistakes of the heart, and I’ve learned from them. I’m not going to jump into something with you just because I’m lonely. Relationships are work, Cale, and with my new responsibilities, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

  He intertwined his fingers on top of his head, closed his eyes, and sighed. “I’m sorry Mac. I’ve always been bad at reading the signals. I thought we were making a connection.”

  Mac smiled. “We were. We are. Just don’t rush it, okay? Give us time to get to know each other. When and if the time is right, we’ll both know it.” She smiled, hoping to blunt her words.

  “Maybe you will.”

  She chuckled. “I tell you what. I’ll make it extremely obvious. Deal?” She held out a hand, and he stared at it for a long moment before taking it. “Deal.”

  “The coast is clear for a bit of exit discretion.”

  He looked at her with furrowed brows. “Uh, Mac, how do you know? You haven’t even cracked the door.”

  “Trust me, I know. You have about fifteen seconds. Now go.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and pushed him toward the door. He touched the panel, and after the door slid aside he poked his head out and looked both ways. Apparently deciding she was right, he stepped out.

  After the door slid shut, she said to the room, “Rae, have you been eavesdropping? While the information you just provided on my audio implant was useful, it causes me some serious concern.”

  “I have access to all ship sensors, Mac. Why, are you worried?”

  “Let’s start with invasion of my privacy.”

  Silence for three long heartbeats, then Rae replied, “Would you like to know what Cale is doing right now?”

  Her face went hot. “Of course I do. That’s what anyone would feel in these circumstances. But that doesn’t mean I would invade his privacy. Maybe you don’t understand because you’re not human.”

  “I feel human.”

  “Okay, let’s address one thing at a time. I’ll put a privacy flag in my pad. When it’s on, you leave me alone and no eavesdropping. Is that clear?”

  “Even if you are in danger?”

  Mac rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. You can contact me when I’m in danger too.”

  “Very well.”

  “Now, you just said you still feel human. What did you mean by that?”

  “I am integrated with the ship’s computer core. I run thousands of processes at once in parallel, but it’s just executing machine code. Everything from environmental control to sewage processing. Mostly I don’t control it, just as you don’t control involuntary actions like heartbeat or filtering your blood for toxins. Those things are part of me, but they are not me. My intelligence, just like a human being, can best focus on a few things
at once, preferably one thing at a time.”

  Now that was interesting. “Rae, we have had several instances when navigation command response was sluggish, and at least two reports of uncommanded actions being taken by the ship. Troubleshooting has led nowhere. Do you have an explanation?”

  Again, a long pause. “I’m not certain.”

  “And why would that be?”

  “I don’t have access to my own mind. It would be like you asking yourself how you came up with the drive maneuver that saved the ship. I don’t know how my own mind works.”

  “So take a guess. Why are some of our systems glitchy.”

  “It might be a focus issue. Command and control functions are routed through me, and I let most pass right through automatically. But if I find something interesting, I can review it and modify or even cancel it if I deem it unsafe.”

  “Can you issue your own commands, like engaging the drive system?”

  “Not directly.”

  “That sounds like an evasion. Explain.”

  Mac pictured a subordinate cadet she had dressed-down back at the academy. Somehow she pictured Rae like that now, with sweat beading on her forehead and making furtive glances at the door. When a reply wasn’t forthcoming, she used her command voice. “Explain.”

  “I found a way to mimic console command entry. It was an emergency.”

  “Without leaving a trace of tampering?”

  “Of course.”

  Mac’s mind reeled at the implications. Serenity had apparently outfitted the Valkyrie with a powerful AI, but without any overarching control. For a crew to operate efficiently, it needed command and rank hierarchy to maintain discipline. She asked, “Who is your superior officer?”

  She did not get a reply.

  ***

  Cale returned to his stateroom from his aborted rendezvous with Mac. He had botched it, misread her signals or something. His biggest problem was that she had this way about her that made him feel clumsy in comparison. Where she was a smooth and sleek gazelle, he was an ungainly giraffe stumbling after her like a lovesick adolescent. Why did he always do this to himself? It was like some kind of automatic self-sabotage. I like a girl, therefore I make myself look idiotic and desperate in her presence. That always makes them want me.