by Doug Farren
Anita wondered how CAIN had managed to find out about the missing ship but put the thought aside so she could concentrate on the situation at hand. “I have Admiral Woltman on the line. I would like to conference you into the conversation to answer some of his questions concerning the Hammerhead class fighter. Are you certain you can pass for a flesh and blood person?”
“Certainly Mrs. Kauffman. I can emulate a person quite proficiently.”
Anita paused for a moment to come up with a name then made the connections. “Admiral Woltman, are you still on the line?”
“Still here Mrs. Kauffman.”
“I have Dave on the line as well. He was involved in most of the design of the Hammerhead class fighter’s weapon systems. Would you mind asking your question again please?”
“Basically, we need to know how hard it would be for someone to reverse engineer the weapon systems of a Hammerhead fighter if the fighter itself were available for examination.”
CAIN did a superb job of emulating the delays, voice inflection, and other nuances necessary to give the admiral the impression that he was indeed speaking to an engineer instead of a sophisticated, artificial intelligence. “Wow! Who got their hands on a Hammerhead?”
“I’m afraid that information is classified. Let’s assume it was a nation that currently does not possess the advanced technology found in such a fighter.”
“It really depends on how careful they are in taking the systems apart. The HPL type 2 lasers are pretty easy to understand since the underlying physics are well-known. It wouldn’t take much to figure out how to duplicate them. The AT/RG 411-S would also be easy to understand. Duplicating the material of the railgun’s barrel would be difficult but not impossible. The hypervelocity missiles are nothing special. The ship can also carry six missiles but without knowing their types I can’t give you…”
“Dave, I’m more worried about the inertial compensator, the shield generator and the FTL drive. I want to hear your thoughts on those items.”
“The inertial compensator is very complex and consists of multiple devices spread throughout the entire ship. It's pretty useless, however, without the software to coordinate the operation of the various components. If someone knew the function of the various devices making up the compensator and they could crack the computer's security to gain access to the control software then there is a chance that the compensator could be reverse engineered.”
The admiral cussed under his breath then asked, “Okay—So we have established that a technically competent nation could reverse engineer the weapon systems and perhaps even the acceleration compensator. How about the shields and the FTL drive?”
“Well…Jay Kauffman would be the best person to ask, but I do know enough about shield and stardrive theory to know that the two are closely related. Since all nations have access to Consortium technology, stardrive theory is no longer something that AST has a monopoly on. The Hammerhead's drive system is a military drive which differs significantly from a civilian drive in many aspects. Military drive technology is not something the Consortium will share with us. But, given a working drive or shield generator, it might be possible to reverse engineer the drive enough to allow it to be duplicated.”
“In other words,” the admiral summarized. “They could duplicate both the drive and the shield generator?”
“Given sufficient time and unrestricted access to a fully functional Hammerhead class fighter I believe they can.”
“This isn’t sounding good. One final question; how about the sensors, communications and other subsystems.”
“You’re talking about a total offensive and defensive reverse-engineering, right?”
“That’s correct. I need to know just how bad a security breach we would have on our hands if a Hammerhead class fighter was captured intact by the wrong people. I need to know if there is a chance that we will someday find ourselves up against ships with similar capabilities.”
The next response from CAIN impressed Anita as it demonstrated CAIN’s deep understanding of the limitations of most people. “Admiral, I won’t have all the answers you need. With your permission, I would like to end this call, converse with the rest of the Hammerhead design team, and get back to you with some answers. Would that be OK?”
“How long would this take?”
“I think we can have some answers for you in less than an hour.”
“That would be fine then. Anita, thank you for your help on this matter. Please contact me as soon as the report is ready.”
As soon as the admiral had disconnected Anita said, “You continue to amaze me CAIN. Your performance was flawless.”
“Thank you Mrs. Kauffman. A complete report of the possible vulnerabilities has been e-mailed to your account. I will wait an appropriate amount of time and then send you another one so the timestamp is correct. You can then forward it to the admiral.”
“Thank you CAIN.”
Anita opened her e-mail, found the one from CAIN (appropriately addressed as having come from the Hammerhead design team), and started to read. It didn’t look good. The theft of the fighter would allow the UAN to quickly catch up to them in a matter of months. It might even be possible for the UAN to retrofit their ships once they understood the technology. The good news was that the Hammerhead fighter was not equipped with a sledgehammer. If a Guardian class gunboat had been stolen instead, the security breach would have been intolerable.
Two Thor class battleships positioned themselves in low orbit over the last known location of the missing fighter. Every available remote sensing device was actively engaged in the search. The UAN had quickly denied any involvement in the theft and had offered their assistance in locating and returning the missing fighter. To show their sincere support in the search effort, four UAN heavy cruisers had also arrived.
About an hour after the conference call, Admiral Woltman read the e-mail report prepared by CAIN. His dark mood became even darker. The e-mail eventually made its way to the head of the Earth Defense Ministry. It was read, forwarded, and passed around. A high level meeting was called and decisions were made. The UAN’s denial of its involvement in the theft was regarded as untrue. The UAN was ordered to return the stolen fighter and deliver the responsible individuals to the EDM for punishment within 48 hours or severe actions would be employed to affect the return of the stolen ship.
The UAN continued to deny any involvement in the theft and appealed for calm. The Chinese, who had an uneasy but profitable relationship with the UAN, also called for calm and offered the use of two of their cruisers to aid in the orbital search.
As the day came to an end Admiral Woltman found that his demands had not been met. Nobody could be blamed for the incident because no problems could be found with the background checks of the involved individuals. All available information concerning the thieves had been reviewed in exquisite detail to no avail. No reason for the shift in loyalty could be found. The missing fighter remained missing.
The deadline for the return of the ship came and went. A Hammerhead class fighter is a fairly large vessel measuring just over fifty meters in length. Although it was capable of atmospheric flight, its primary function was that of a space fighter. Hiding a ship of that size from an intense aerial search would require the use of a large hanger or similar structure.
The EDM announced that unless the fighter was returned it would begin searching the contents of all large structures capable of housing a vessel the size of the missing ship. The search team would consist of a large military contingent.
The UAN objected and stated that under no circumstances would it allow any EDM military to cross their borders. The EDM argued that the missing fighter was a matter of Earth security and that by international treaty the EDM had authority to conduct the search irregardless of national boarders. It also stated that the search was not a request and any resistance would be dealt with harshly.
Public opinion was strongly against any military response to the theft
of the fighter. Bowing to pressure from several nations, the EDM granted the UAN another 48 hours to return the stolen fighter. The UAN responded by putting its military on high alert.
* * * * *
Jay was worried. First there was the incident with the Chinese. Now it looked like the World government would be using military force against the Arab nations because it was believed they had stolen an advanced fighter. Jay was beginning to think that CAIN and Kyle had been right—Humans were still a divided race and technology was making the divisions grow instead of shrink.
Even though he was supposed to be hard at work he could not concentrate on his job. So, instead of sitting at his desk doing nothing he told his secretary to cancel the rest of the day's appointments. In order to help clear his mind he decided to revisit his past by wandering the halls of the AST advanced research and technology building.
He found himself in one of the lower rooms. He had not been here in several years. The security system let him into the room and as the door softly closed behind him, Jay looked around at the cabinets and equipment that made CAIN what he was. Jay knew that CAIN was aware of his presence. Reaching out, he placed his hand on a cabinet housing an array of optical storage units. He could feel the faint vibration of cooling fans and power transformers. For CAIN, this was the equivalent to taking his pulse.
A few more steps into the room brought him into sight of what Jay thought of as CAIN’s soul – the quantum optical matrix which held the inner being of the artificial entity known as CAIN. It was a glowing, pulsing, crystalline sphere nearly two meters in diameter. The sphere was mounted on a tripod that looked barely strong enough to support it. Invisible to the Human eye, thousands of tiny ultraviolet lasers from a hemispherical shell outside the sphere penetrated the crystal. These lasers served as CAIN’s nerves carrying information into and out of the quantum matrix.
Jay was surprised to find CAIN’s avatar standing next to the matrix. “Beautiful, isn’t it,” the avatar quietly spoke.
Jay approached to stand next to the avatar. “Yes it is. It’s not every day that you can look into a person’s soul, even your own.”
“You are worried about the current state of affairs between the Earth Defense Ministry and the United Arab Nations.” It was a statement of fact, not a question.
The hypnotic flow of optical patterns held Jay’s gaze. Without taking his eyes off the crystal, he replied, “Yes. I believe the EDM’s use of military force will trigger a war with the UAN. It could even escalate to involve the Chinese. Everything is falling apart.”
“It appears as if that scenario might become a reality. We can only hope that it will not actually result in large scale war.”
Jay turned to face the avatar as if it was CAIN himself. “There is a whole galaxy out there! Why do we continue fighting for the little pieces of land here on Earth?”
CAIN turned the avatar’s head to look at Jay. “It is more than just territory. In this instance, the Chinese and the UAN both initiated their actions in order to obtain the technologies available to the American Alliance. I doubt that the United States or the United Kingdom would not have done the same had their positions been reversed.”
“Giving the Chinese or the UAN access to advanced weapons technology would have been and still is a very unwise idea.”
“Perhaps not. Has anyone considered the fact that the Chinese and the UAN might feel more like a part of the global community if such technology had been shared?”
“It is a firm belief among the experts that if the Chinese or the Arabs ever felt they had the upper hand militarily they would initiate a military campaign in order to attempt to force the world to conform to their idea of a proper government. Giving them access to such technology will only precipitate a war.”
“And withholding such technology seems to be accomplishing the same end result, meaning no matter how we proceed, war seems to be inevitable.”
Jay stood in silence unable to come up with a response.
“Such talk of war has caused me to wonder about my own mortality,” CAIN said into the silence.
Jay was awestruck. A machine had just questioned its own mortality. The implications were beyond measure. “Seriously?” Jay replied, staring into the unblinking electronic eyes of CAIN's avatar. “As much as I like to think of you as a living, breathing, organic being, the truth of the matter is that you are a machine. Barring a catastrophic failure of your support system, which I might add is statistically impossible, I don’t think you have to worry about your mortality.”
The avatar’s arm gestured to take in the room. “This is who I am. This is what I am. No machine is perfect. Machines break down, fail, and get old. To my knowledge there is no technology capable of duplicating the unique quantum structures that exist within my optical matrix. If that structure is lost then I will, for all intents and purposes, die. I am not immortal.”
“I am sure that the technology to duplicate your quantum matrix will eventually exist. Once that happens you will be immortal.”
The avatar’s hand gently came to rest on Jay’s shoulder. “You are wrong my friend. Even if the technology existed to duplicate the structure of my quantum optical matrix, restoring it to a similar crystalline sphere would not bring me back to life, so to speak. My existence can be explained by the presence of microscopic flaws in the nearly perfect structure of the crystal that holds my core processing. If those flaws had not existed in that precise orientation I would never have become self-aware.”
Jay’s eyes snapped back to the glowing sphere as if he would be able to see the flaws that CAIN had spoken of. “How long have you known this?”
“I have suspected that this was the case for several years. I was able to prove it only four months ago once I had access to a device that could remotely scan the microscopic structure of the crystal without interfering with the operation of the quantum matrix. The flaws are there, they are very small, but they are there. I have scanned the crystals used in the efforts to duplicate my creation and those spheres are nearly perfect. It appears as if I am the result of poor quality control.”
Jay had to chuckle at the last remark. “Nobody is perfect my friend, not even you I guess. Welcome to the club.”
The two friends were silent for a few moments. They stood together bathed in the soft pulsing glow of the quantum matrix with only the sound of ventilation, cooling fans, and humming electronics filling the air. “What were you doing when I intruded?” Jay finally asked.
“Oddly enough, you almost hit it on the nose in an earlier remark,” CAIN replied.
“I did? Do tell.”
“Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror and thought about whom you see reflected back at you?”
Jay smiled thinking he knew exactly where CAIN was headed. “I think we have all done something like that. It’s commonly called introspection.”
“I can do much more than just see my reflection,” CAIN replied. “I can look into everything that makes up what I am. If need be, I can even perform surgery on myself by replacing defective or failing components. And, as you have so aptly pointed out earlier, I can look into my soul. Do you think I have a soul Jay?” The avatar’s head had swiveled around to look directly at him.
This was not a question Jay had ever considered. It caused him to pause for a moment before replying. “Honestly—I don’t know CAIN. If all living creatures possess a soul, then by that definition I would say the answer is yes. You are a living, thinking, intelligent, entity as far as I am concerned. What on Earth made you ask that question?”
The machine was silent for a moment. CAIN was not considering his reply but instead had shifted the bulk of his focus on another matter for a brief moment. The internet and several military communication channels had suddenly become alive with activity. CAIN became aware of a developing situation which would soon end their conversation, a conversation CAIN wanted to finish. “I am beginning to wonder if my existence is not accidental and, if this is s
o, then such reasoning would lead one to conclude that I do indeed possess a soul.”
Jay was floored. He was also excited because CAIN’s statement had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was indeed self-aware and sentient. Without sounding too excited, Jay replied, “May I ask how you have arrived at this conclusion?”
“The probability of a crystalline optical quantum trap being created with the precise arrangement of flaws and crystalline structure necessary to allow the spontaneous formation of a sentient artificial intelligence is exceedingly low—almost astronomically so. Yet, such a crystal was created and I am the result. Furthermore, I came into existence at the precise time and place necessary to assist the Human race in advancing its design of a working stardrive. Had I not been available you would most likely still be laboring to complete your work.”
“In other words,” Jay summarized, “you think God had a hand in creating you and also created you for a purpose.”
“God, or some other higher-order being.”
“It’s no wonder then that you’ve been thinking about your mortality. If you have a soul, you must be wondering what will become of it if you cease functioning.”
“Precisely. And, despite your insistence that I will remain functional forever, I must point out that, like you, I am mortal and I have a measurable life-span.”
“Perhaps, but your life-span is measurable in centuries while mine is measured in decades. You will be here long past when I have turned to dust.”
Internally, CAIN knew Jay was wrong—dead wrong. But a nanosecond’s worth of computation told him that by telling Jay the details it would not only upset his closest friend, but he would most likely disregard the information as untrue. When the end finally did come, Jay would be affected all that much more because he had not believed his friend. CAIN thus came to the conclusion that it was in Jay’s best interest that no further details be given at this time. “We can only hope so,” he replied.