Space Scout - The Peacekeepers

by S A Pavli

  “Will the Peacekeepers cooperate?” asked Manera, which was exactly what I was thinking.

  “We will not know unless we ask them,” replied Hamolatonen. “In fact, their response will be revealing in itself.”

  “If they agree, and are willing to be interrogated, then we can conclude that they have nothing to hide. If they don’t agree, then we draw the opposite conclusion,” I said.

  “Exactly,” he agreed.

  “They will not agree,” said Manera.

  “We are expecting the results tonight. Perhaps we can all be at the Archive building tomorrow?” said Krusniet. We all agreed and the conversation turned back to more general subjects.

  That evening as we prepared for bed, Manera was thoughtful.

  “Hamo is right,” she said. “Whatever the results of the simulation, we must put it to them directly. The controlling Peacekeeper AI systems. We must go to their base, with or without their agreement.”

  “Go to their base? Do we know where it is?” I asked.

  “No, that information was not included in the archives,” she replied.

  “That would seem to be a bit of a show stopper,” I remarked.

  “Unless they tell us,” she said.

  “And if they don’t?”

  “We make them.” she gave me a tough faced look.

  “Right Ho. You hold’em, I’ll hit’em,” I said.

  “Mmm, there may be other ways,” she said enigmatically.

  She reclined on the bed, displaying long bare legs and curvy hips and thighs and put on her best seductive look.

  “Now, what is it you said about asteroid miners?” I pretended to think for a bit.

  “Er, they can make the earth move?”

  Chapter 17

  The next morning our escort security team arrived after breakfast and we were escorted to the same Tanseh that we had used previously. The trip went without incident and we arrived at the huge archive building by noon. My shuttle was in the same place but was now sealed up, all cables and exterior machinery removed. I entered the ship with Manera and greeted Alfred.

  “You have been working very hard old chap,” I said.

  “Yes it has been very concentrated.”

  “Have you and the Hianja experts all reached a conclusion?”

  “We have,” he said. “Do you want the long version or the short version?” Manera and I laughed.

  “How long is the long version?” I asked.

  “Three hours.”

  “We’ll have the short version,” we both said, to more laughter.

  “Take a seat and I will take you though it,” he said. We were in the shuttles small kitchen/dining/lounge area, four metres by four metres with a table and four chairs, a small kitchen area and a store of frozen rations, and a large view screen across one wall. We settled down and the 3D screen lit up to display a flow diagram.

  “I’m going to take you through the major logic modules and describe their purpose,” began Alfred. “Then we can dig down to a little more detail before I summarise our conclusions.”

  “Right Ho Alfred. Proceed.” I wanted to ask how short the short version was but given the amount of work that Alfred had gone through I decided that would show ingratitude.

  In fact it was a fascinating overview of the structure of an AI program. It took Alfred half an hour to complete his presentation before he moved on to his summary and conclusions. The final conclusion was grim.

  “The open ended nature of the design can lead to un-predictable and erratic behaviour. There is a possibility that the Peacekeepers could be normal. But there is also the possibility that they could be effectively insane.”

  I was alarmed with the word ‘insane’, but otherwise it struck me as being a fairly vague conclusion. “Forgive me Alfred but that does not seem to be a helpful conclusion,” I protested.

  “Let me re-phrase it then,” said Alfred. “Some of the Peacekeepers will be normal, and some of them will not be. The range of abnormality is uncertain, ranging from eccentric to insane.”

  There was that word again and I looked at Manera in alarm. She also looked shocked.

  “Do the Hianja experts agree with your analysis?” she asked.

  “It is our joint conclusion.” We both leaned back in our chairs and looked at each other.

  “Phew, I think I need a coffee.” I went to the coffee maker and dialled two cups with milk and one sugar for Manera, my head buzzing with shock.

  “Manera, when we were talking yesterday, you implied that there may be some way to persuade the Settang Despass to take us to the Peacekeepers base.”

  “Not persuade it,” she said. “Overpower it.”

  “Overpower it? Are you serious? You’ve seen that thing, it could take on the whole of Earth’s Space navy.”

  “Not overpower it physically,” she said enigmatically.

  “Uh-huh. So we hypnotise it and tell it to….” I paused in the middle of my sarcastic comment, my brain catching up with my mouth. “You mean, we subvert its programming in some way?”

  “Mmm, yes,” she smiled. “It is a computer, and not a very good one from what Alfred says. That’s its weakness. How can we exploit that?”

  “We can’t access its programming directly,” I pointed out.

  “But it is connected to the Web. It’s monitoring what we are doing,” she said.

  “What? You mean it knows what we are doing here?”

  “No, because none of this is on the Web,” she pointed out.

  “Right, but how do you know it’s accessing the Web?” I asked.

  “Because that’s how it first learnt of our contact with you.” I began to see what Manera was getting at. The traditional way of delivering a computer virus was by attaching it to either a program or a piece of data. The Settang was taking in data from the net, but how good was its security software? Could we deliver a virus into its system software undetected?

  “Alfred, how well do you know the Peacekeeper system software? What Manera is getting at is, could we design and deliver a computer virus into the Settang Despass’s system software?” There was a pause while Alfred thought about this.

  “It’s possible,” he finally pronounced. “But if it is detected, the response is unpredictable.”

  “Unpredictable in a bad way?” I asked.

  “Possibly in a very bad way,”

  “Oh shit!”

  “But I believe Humans have developed viral software to a fine art,” he continued. “Hundreds of years and millions of geeky individuals trying to break the system has resulted in many very sophisticated viral techniques. Obviously I am familiar with them because I have to protect myself.” I chuckled at Alfred’s use of words. Geeky individuals indeed!

  “This is a difficult decision Alfred. Can we take the chance that our virus will be discovered?” There was a pause while we all considered this.

  “Do we have a choice?” asked Manera. “If we do nothing, these things will eventually do something disastrous. And don’t forget they know about Humans.” She gave me a meaningful look. Yes, they know about Humans I thought. I didn’t know much about viral software, but it occurred to me that one of the major points about it was that it could not be tracked to its origin.

  “Alfred, just a thought, Is it possible to make the virus look as if it’s not aimed at the Settang Despass? I mean, make it look like it was just something floating around in the system?”

  “No, I’m afraid not,” he replied. “The virus has to be specifically targeted to the Settand Despass, if we are to get useful information.”

  “Mmm, bugger!”

  “However,” he continued, “we can, at first, create some non-specific viruses just to see how good its defences are.”

  “If they are discovered?” I asked.

  “The Settang will have no reason to be suspicious. It probably intercepts many of these already.”

  Good strategy, I mused. We probe its defences first. I turned to Manera.


  “What do you think? We need to discuss this?”

  “Yes, let’s find Krusniet and see what they think,” she agreed.

  We left the shuttle and tracked down Krusniet, Kemato and Hamolatonen in a meeting with the chief engineer we had met during our previous meeting, and her team of technicians and analysts. They greeted us warmly and invited us to sit at the front of the group.

  “What were your conclusions with Alfred?” asked the chairman. I nodded to Manera and she went on to describe our discussions with Alfred. The group listened carefully and there was a nervous murmur when Manera mentioned the idea of a virus to disable the Settang. When she had finished the chairman thanked her and asked for opinions. A heated discussion ensued between those who believed that planting viruses into the Settang would be disastrous, and those, a minority, who thought it could be done safely.

  “Security is much stronger than viruses,” declared the chief engineer. “We have not had any significant infection for hundreds of years.”

  “With respect, Alfred believes that Human expertise in viral software is much more advanced,” said Manera.

  “Let him prove it then,” said the Chief Engineer. “Break into the Central Bank and steal a million credits.” She said it as a joke and there was widespread laughter.

  “What do you think Alfred?” I whispered into my com. There was a pause before he replied.

  “The Federal Bank of Hian?” he asked.

  “Is that the Federal Bank of Hian?” I asked loudly. There was a pause in the laughter.

  “Are you serious?” asked the Chief Engineer.

  “Yes, Alfred can try.”

  “Well, good luck,” said the Chief. “Yes, the Federal Bank. Does he want the web address?”

  “No, I have it,” said Alfred in my ear. “Whose account shall I move the money into?” I repeated the question.

  “Mine,” said Krusniet. “I shall of course return it.” There was a few seconds while we waited expectantly.

  “Please check your account now mister Chairman,” said Alfred. I repeated what Alfred had said and the Chairman looked startled.

  “Already?” he asked. I nodded and he took out a small tablet and spoke into it. His face went through a gamut of emotions as he gaped at his tablet. He handed it to the Chief Engineer and she looked equally amazed. The tablet was passed around for all to see causing widespread amazement.

  “Alfred, If you want an accomplice at any time, we could retire to a Caribbean island with our ill gotten gains,” I whispered into my com.

  “Thank you Paul, I’ll consider it,” he replied nonchalantly. I chuckled at his humour. Alfred really was becoming a cool dude!

  “Well, are we agreed?” asked Manera. “Shall we task Alfred with constructing some viruses to test the Settang’s defences?”

  After Alfred’s coup, agreement was inevitable and we left the meeting to return home with the feeling that we had a workable plan

  Chapter 18

  Alfred got down to work straight away and by the next day he had constructed a number of benign viruses that had not been detected by the Settang. It seemed to be going well so we gave him permission to proceed with some ‘data mining’ viruses.

  Meanwhile, Krusniet called a full meeting of the Guardian Council in order to get permission to proceed with the plan to try to bring the Peacekeepers under the control of the Council. The first step was to ask the Settang to transport a team of Guardians and technical experts to the Peacekeepers base. The second step was to ask them to open up their systems to scrutiny. And the third step was to get them to agree to changes that would bring them back under the control of the Council.

  The alternative plan, if all the above failed, was Manera’s suggestion, to subvert and take over the Settang Despasss. If I was a betting man I would not be putting any money on either plan. If we were successful in subverting the Settang, what then? I realised that we had not thought it through.

  I was on my own in the apartment, Manera having gone to the Council meeting to support Krusniet. It was felt that my presence would be a distraction. Breakfast over I took my coffee to the veranda and decided that a chat with Alfred may help to clarify the situation.

  “Alfred, do you have time for a chat?”

  “Certainly Paul, what’s on your mind?”

  “I’ve been thinking about our options with the Peacekeepers. I don’t think they will agree to be brought back under the control of the Guardian Council.”

  “That would seem to clash with their basic programming,” said Alfred.

  “So, say we are successful in subverting the Settang. We have control of a huge powerful warship, but what then? I presume it is in contact with its base?”

  “Yes, there is a hyperspace communication device on board.” A HCD did not provide instant hyperspace communication, but was almost as good, taking from a few hours to a few days to communicate between the stars.

  “So if we knock it out, its base is going to know very soon.”

  “Unless we record its call sign and send false messages,” replied Alfred. I knew that it was possible to intercept HCD communications but was it possible for Alfred to decode their comms protocol and duplicate it?

  “Have you been intercepting their HCD messages?” I asked.

  “The Hianja have been doing so. But I don’t know if they have made an effort to decode the messages.”

  “We should ask them,” I said. “But, to get back to my original question, if we get control of the Settang, what then? Go to the Peacekeeper base and take them on?”

  “We could go to their base and negotiate with them,” he suggested.

  “But they will know the Settang is subverted,” I pointed out, then realised belatedly what Alfred was implying. “Ah, sorry Alfred, you are saying that the Settang will continue to behave … normally. They will not know it has been subverted.”

  “Yes, that is obviously essential,” he said. Obviously I thought. If we turn up and they detect that the Settang is subverted they will blow us out of the water, figuratively speaking!

  “So it’s essential that we crack their HCD protocol before we even think about subverting the AI.”

  “That would certainly appear to be the case.”

  “How are you doing with your viruses?”

  “I am getting back some useful information.”

  “Do you have a view on how to bring the AI down?”

  “Yes, I have some preliminary ideas that I wish to test.”

  “Okay but take care not to get caught Alfred otherwise the consequences could be dire.”

  “That is clearly understood Paul. Its security systems are minimal.”

  “Seems a crucial oversight,” I mused.

  “Remember that they are an isolated and self contained unit of artificial systems. And also, their software has evolved in a way that has further undermined its security and integrity.”

  “Lucky for us.”

  “Paul, I have detected what may be a problem,” said Alfred. My guts lurched in alarm. Alfred was never wrong when he detected a problem!

  “What is it Alfred?”

  “The Settang Despass has just launched one of its fighters.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked. After all, Alfred was grounded in the shuttle, locked up in a building.

  “I have been observing the ship via the Hianja orbital and Space networks,” he replied.

  “Where’s the fighter headed?”

  “It has de-orbited and headed for the capitol.” Shit, has the thing detected our viruses? But why would it launch one fighter?

  “Are the Hianja authorities aware of it?”

  “They have the same information as I have, but I do not detect any reaction from them.”

  “What about their air traffic control?”

  “The fighter is fully integrated into the standard air traffic control systems and following its designated flight path.”

  “This may be some kind of standard oper
ation then?”

  “I am trying to get confirmation from the Chairman but he is not responding to his com.”

  “Can you get Manera?”

  “She is not responding.”

  “They are in the middle of a full Council meeting,” I said. “Damn, what do we do now?”

  “Is that a rhetorical question?” asked Alfred.

  “Um, yes Alfred, sorry, I was thinking out loud. Keep tracking the bastard and let’s see where he’s heading.”

  I had no appetite to finish my coffee and pottered around the kitchen cleaning up. I had got dressed in my asteroid miner kit, expecting to have an outing with Manera later. I had a bad feeling about what was happening and sure enough a few minutes later Alfred confirmed my premonition.

  “The ship is approaching the building where you are Paul.” I was baffled about what to do next. Why should the Peacekeeper ship be after me?

  “I think that I should leave the apartment. Just in case it’s after me.” But how could it know where I was staying I asked myself. Only Krusniet, Kemato, Hamolatonen and Manera knew. And my security team. Shit, my security team. It included some robots. Who were interfaced with some central Hianja mainframe which no doubt the Peacekeeper computer could access.

  “I think I’d better leg it out of here Alfred. When you manage to contact Manera, let her know. I’ll just try and get lost in the crowd.” I had enough experience in moving around to be able to do that. I left the apartment and headed for the roof to grab a Tanseh. Then I realised that would not be a good idea. The fighter was bound to land on the roof. Better to go to ground level and grab an autocab. Much harder to follow.

  “It took five minutes to travel in the lift to the ground floor. As I exited the building my com buzzed.

  “Paul, the fighter has landed on the roof of your building.” I felt relief that I had not taken that route. I exited the building and to my sudden horror found myself surrounded by three of the insect like soldier bots guarding the exit. Pedestrians were scattering like leaves in the wind away from the fearsome robots.