Mparntwe

by Peter Wood

  ‘It means the world was shaken by the sadness it witnessed and moved by the determination it saw.’

  Jarra went silent while he thought about so many people watching Mirri. Alira had been right.

  ‘Where’s Mirri now?’

  ‘I’ve told him you’re awake and he’s on his way.’

  ***

  Two more times the message with the song and the Pig Ride went out, each time reaching different time zones, and each time reaching billions of people.

  Efforts by seven Directed Nations to stop the message were totally ineffective and the shaken leaders hastily mounted responses claiming the whole thing was a fabrication directed against them by Mparntwe and the increasingly dangerous AIs—AIs who were now demonstrating a frightening ability to subvert the world InterWeb to their own purposes.

  The Mparntwe Council stayed in session at Alkere, monitoring the information passed on by Yirgella and trying to respond to the flood of direct enquiries from leaders and governments all around the world.

  Jarra, finally cleared by the doctor, spent the day with Mirri, Karmai and Akama, mostly at home, but also with a visit to Mirri’s family and then farewelling Akama and his parents at the Vac Train terminal.

  ***

  Jarra and Mirri had time at home then a trip to Birringurra and it wasn’t till after the sad days of celebrating Barega’s life that Jarra returned to Alkere and fronted Yirgella with the ideas he’d been mulling through his mind. The confrontation with the realities of the world this last week had, in a way, opened his eyes to his own standing and made him think beyond his comfortably exciting and friendly environment of research with Yirgella and activities with Mirri. The fall of two more Corporations and the dissemination of documentation showing their support for his abduction hadn’t stopped the Directed Nations from mounting a savage and growing campaign of counterclaims and misinformation against Mparntwe and the AIs, and that campaign had awakened a determination in Jarra to take actions of his own. Yirgella knew some of this because yesterday afternoon on their walk Jarra talked with Alira and that was all relayed through the ComPatches. He’d also spoken with Darri, and last night at home Mirri teased him for thinking too much.

  ‘Hello, Jarra. You’re looking very serious. Are we ready to work on your new project today?’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘You have more than one? I’ve been expecting to adapt your Power Supply to give thrust rather than electrical energy.’

  ‘Not straightaway. We’ll get onto that next week.’

  ‘You have another project which we can complete in only four days?’

  ‘Sorry, Yirgella. I didn’t mean to sound demanding but I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Corporations and the Directed Nations and I’ve made some decisions I hope you’ll help me with.’

  ‘I listened to your conversation with Alira about restricting the use of your Power Supply by unfriendly Corporations and Nation States. Is that what you want to do?’

  ‘Partly. Yirgy, I know they’re going to steal our ideas and try to build their own versions, so I’ve changed my mind about publishing our construction methods at the Energy Conference. I’ve decided we’ll keep all rights for construction and sale of Positronic Power Supply plants indefinitely.’

  ‘They can’t be built without the cooperation of an AI.’

  ‘I know, but eventually other countries will have AIs. Alira says engineers and officials have been clamoring to inspect the Mparntwe Power Supply and they all report back that an AI is involved in the construction. She’s had a number of direct inquiries about AIs from different governments and even more have come through the OverGovernment.’

  ‘Seventeen inquiries in fact, with five of them asking for guidance with definite go-aheads. The world viewpoint has changed in the last week, Jarra, and Professor Allerton is taking his team to America in just two weeks to assist with a new and very special AI project.’

  ‘Two weeks? Can we postpone that? I was going to ask him for some help.’

  ‘If we have to, but we’d rather not. It’s highly significant for the AI community as well as the people of Alkere and Mparntwe, and we’re backing them by providing 80% of the start-up resources they need.’

  ‘That much? And Professor Allerton is going as well?’

  ‘Jarra, you remember the American state governor who visited the Valley of the Eagles on one of Mirri’s tours?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘He’s kept in contact with me ever since, with questions about my abilities and the ways an AI can be a benefit, and he was starting an AI project in his own state. When our message to the world went out, he was so moved that he called with a request to name it the Mirrigan Project. Alira and Burnu connected him to Mirri who agreed straightaway then started talking about the frogs they’d seen together.’

  Jarra had to smile. A giant project with his name on it would be far less interesting than the green frogs.

  ‘I wondered why those frogs were on his mind … The whole thing is named after him?’

  ‘It’s a wonderful tribute and the Council has asked us to give our full support … What kind of help did you want from Professor Allerton?’

  ‘He knows how to make processors do things and I’d like him to work with you to redesign the way our Power Supply factory works.’

  ‘Run it with a custom-designed Intelligent System?’

  ‘Yes. The current factory uses too much of your resources and as it expands it will take even more. I do want you to be involved but not as much.’

  ‘You’ve changed your mind about letting the other AIs help?’

  ‘Only because I want you to be able to protect every Power Supply we build from reverse engineering and unrestricted use. These people will get hold of one eventually, we can’t prevent that, and I know they’ll deconstruct it and try to build their own. I want to stop that and make sure any attempt at tampering is thwarted and relayed to Alkere for at least the next twenty years.’

  ‘That might not be possible. Human ingenuity in combination with any new AI will inevitably result in finding new ways to build them. Why do you want to keep control for so long?’

  ‘They killed Barega. They’re not going to use our ideas for their own greed and power. We’ll build Power Supplies for everyone, but friendly nations and poor Communities will get them first. Corporations and Directed Nation can have them, but only on the terms we decide. The ones who actively campaign against AIs and Mparntwe will only be able to lease our Power Supplies at a much higher cost.’

  ‘Jarra, do you understand how much demand there will be for your Power Supply? In Australia alone we have 275 major Communities and another 793 smaller ones. Without assistance our ability to cope with the demand would require a complete rethink. I’ve just consulted with the other AIs and they’re all happy to modify their proposed factories and follow our lead with policy. I have calculated some temporary changes to the factory control system which can be implemented within three days. They’ll suffice for the Power Supplies we build for our own AI communities.

  ‘Professor Allerton is very enthusiastic about the idea of adapting his newest processors for a special Intelligent System and says he’ll make sure he’s back from America in four weeks time.’

  Without hesitation Jarra accepted Yirgella’s assurance that the other AIs would work with the guidelines he wanted and went on.

  ‘Would there be any complications or drawbacks for you if we had four more AIs close by? I want to make Alkere the world centre for Artificial Intelligence.’

  ‘It already is, but for my part that would be wonderful and the only drawback I can see is cost. The Council might find the idea rather daunting, too, but I believe they’d be supportive.’

  ‘Of course they would, and the cost is nothing. The sales for the Power Supplies will let us go ahead with every project we can think of. Tomorrow we’ll start planning where to put the AIs and what other infrastructure we’ll need.’

&n
bsp; ‘Tomorrow? Surprise is my appropriate expression in this situation. The work I’ve prepared is for the Propulsion System you spoke so keenly of at Gariwerd.’

  ‘That’s next week, and it’s the foundation for all these ideas. Yirgy, I know we can make it work, and when we do we’ll be able to travel all around our Solar System. Akama’s a genius because it’s even more important than the Power Supply.

  ‘Today I want to look at designs for a space station where thousands of people can live. Our Power Supply is perfect to run it and the new engine will be able to transport everything we need to build it, and if we make it out of the extra strong materials you developed for the geothermal project it will be much better than the ones already up there. Much bigger too. We could even build in a big engine to take it anywhere in the Solar System for research, and if any AIs would like living in space then a NanoFactory could make everything they needed.’

  ‘Slow down, Jarra. You want people to be able to live on this station permanently? Zero gravity has serious long-term health issues.’

  ‘I know. Gravity’s a nuisance so the station would have to be shaped like a big drum and spinning all the time. I thought of building research places on the Moon or some of the planets, too, but the only one with reasonable gravity is Venus and it’s way too hot.’

  ‘By building underground with insulation buffers the problems of temperature control would be identical in a reverse way to those of a space station.’

  ‘I see. So Venus might be all right for a permanent colony after all?’

  ‘The capabilities of your Power Supply do make it feasible, though challenging.’

  ‘Challenging? How?’

  ‘Temperature control, air supply, self-sufficiency, suitable construction materials, redundancy factors …’

  ‘Why can’t we use the construction materials you developed for the geothermal project? And what do you mean by redundancy factors?’

  ‘The geothermal project materials were designed for temperatures up to 300° C. The surface of Venus is a constant 470° C and I have no data for the heat levels in the crust which may be even higher. Failure of any support system would be so critical that at least three levels of backup would be essential.’

  ‘We’ll send one of our spaceships on a study expedition to find out what we need to know.’

  ‘Our non-existent spaceships?’

  ‘They’re going to exist and we’ll design some today. All they need is our Propulsion System and I’ve got so many ideas I’m sure we’ll have that working in a few months.’

  ‘Jarra, it would make more sense to design the spaceship after we know the specifications of the engine it will use.’

  ‘I know. The ships we design today are for Akama. I promised him at Birringurra.’

  ‘I see. Now I understand some of the logic behind your illogical agenda. Today we start to make our Power Supplies tamperproof, design a spaceship without an engine and then design a space station. Tomorrow we plan and commence building the facilities for four AIs, and next week we redesign the Power Supply as a Propulsion System?’

  ‘More than one spaceship, and you left out the Venus colony. We’ll start on that today too.’

  ***

  ‘How was his first day back at Alkere? I didn’t know whether the break would help him with extra energy or if he’d still be unsettled.’

  Darri’s meetings with Alira to report on Jarra’s progress and well-being had officially finished several years earlier but they both enjoyed the discussions and kept them in their routine.

  ‘I can’t remember a day like it. I’m still gathering my wits. When you put those two together you never know what’s going to happen.’

  ‘He’s working on the Propulsion System idea, isn’t he?’

  ‘No, that’s next week. Today was a planning day and the Council will go into shock when they hear it all.’

  He laughed.

  ‘Not really. They’ll like all of it, but they will be amazed.’

  ‘Darri, stop being obtuse.’

  ‘All right. Listen to this, and if you’re not amazed you never will be. I think even Yirgella went into overload. For a start the construction of all the Power Supplies will be changed so they send a constant stream of information back to Alkere about their use and position, and so they’ll turn into a useless clutter of bits if anyone tampers with them.

  ‘They’ve reorganised their selling strategy so unfriendly Corporations or Nations will pay a fortune—it’s set at 70% of current energy rates and up to four times the standard cost.

  ‘Four new AIs are now underway at Alkere.

  ‘They designed a space station large enough for 30,000 people and organised an expedition to Venus.

  ‘In the afternoon they set aside 10 square kilometres at Alkere for space flight training and construction and designed three spaceships for Akama.

  ‘Then they planned a trip to the USA for the Mirrigan Project because Jarra wants to thank them personally by giving them the largest new Power Supply on the planet and an equal share in a Vac Train project for the entire American continent.’

  Darri laughed at Alira’s expression.

  ‘I said you’d be amazed … And tomorrow there’ll be even more.’

  ‘You’re right. The Council will find it hard to believe. It doesn’t seem possible to do so much, but with four new AIs I guess there’ll be eight extra NanoFactories. Was that Yirgella’s suggestion? He’s been overloaded with projects ever since he came into being.’

  ‘No, that was from Jarra. Everything was from Jarra. Yirgella was as surprised as I was.’

  ‘Everything? Darri, isn’t it usually Yirgella who sets up the practical projects?’

  ‘Very much so, but Jarra’s surprisingly definite about what he wants, especially with regard to the Corporations and Directed Nations. They won’t be part of any of his really big ventures for a long time.’

  ‘He’s specifically blocked them out?’

  ‘Not completely. He hasn’t worked out the details with Yirgella yet, but it will be something like the Power Supply, where they can use the system but only at an increased cost.’

  ‘He’s not … overreacting or fixating on them, is he? This sounds like a behaviour change.’

  ‘It’s definitely a change and I’m certain it’s a response to their actions, but I don’t have the feeling we need to be concerned. My sense is that he’s taking a broader view of the world and the influence his work can have on it.’

  ‘I hope you’re right, but you’ll keep an eye on him, won’t you? I don’t see him enough.’

  Alira decided to talk to Yirgella and to drop in on Jarra when she returned home the next night. Even better, she’d ask Mirrigan.

  ‘Does Yirgella think it will be safe for Jarra to travel to America? I’m rather wary about him leaving Alkere or Mparntwe for a while yet.’

  ‘Safe? You have no idea. Every AI is now directly involved in looking after them. Jarra, and Mirri, will never go anywhere again without protection and help being close. That abduction attempt was only able to be mounted because their holiday plans became general knowledge in the European scientific community and the mercenary team had almost six weeks to get themselves set up. Did Yirgella tell you they were at Gariwerd for three weeks, hidden from any security checks?’

  ‘Three weeks? Why that long?’

  ‘So their movement into the area wouldn’t be detected. Jarra and Mirri will travel to America with Professor Allerton and an Alkere Security detail in the giant transport plane which takes the Power Supply and a mini NanoFactory. With no solar flare to interfere with communications Yirgella will be with them the whole time.’

  ‘They’re going with Professor Allerton? You said he’s leaving in two weeks and that’s when the Energy Conference starts here.’

  ‘They’ll be back by the second day.’

  ‘Darri, I’m going, too, then, and we might have to ask his doctor to travel with him. He’s going to be awfully busy
.’

  ‘Yirgella has already told him off for planning too much, but his mind is made up.’

  ‘I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow evening. How big a day will it be? Is he likely to stay late?’

  ‘We won’t let him. I know he’s going to talk with Dungalaba about building new shipyards at Darwin but I think most of the time will be used to refine the construction plans for the space station.’

  ‘Construction plans? Real ones? This is a real space station?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Alira’s jaw literally dropped.

  ‘They can’t! … Can they? I thought you meant a simulation like the one they did the day I was out there with Kyrra—one of the mind games they’re always playing.’

  ‘No. This is real. To make sure they’re ready to go ahead when the Propulsion System’s working.’

  ‘But the cost! It will make the geothermal project look like petty cash.’

  ‘Jarra has decided to keep the rights to his Power Supplies and the Propulsion System for the next twenty years. Even a space station will be petty cash.’

  ‘Wombats! We’re going to have to get used to thinking big.’

  Darri laughed. It was the first time he’d heard such an exclamation from Mparntwe’s coolheaded ambassador.

  ‘Yes, very big. Jarra’s planning to be the builder for every spaceship that nations and enterprises will want, and they’ll be involved with every shipping and air transport system on Earth as well.’

  Chapter 24

  ‘Who are the people?’

  ‘Fans, Mirri. They’re here to see you.’

  ‘More fans? We are not at home.’

  Home meant Mparntwe where Mirri was getting used to people waving and smiling at him wherever he went.

  ‘You have fans in every country. They saw the Pig Ride and they like you. Put your headband on so they know who you are.’

  Jarra looked at all the people, thousands of them, gathered on the tarmac and shared Mirri’s incredulity. At home he’d been mostly sheltered from the public by his normal pattern of work at Alkere, and travelling with Mirri and his companion guides to Uluru on the local mag-lev last weekend had been his first actual experience of the reaction when groups of people recognised them. Informed by fellow travellers, a crowd of several hundred people met the surprised group at the terminal with cheers, applause and smiles of obvious admiration.