Crystal Deception

by Doug J. Cooper

  “Okay,” said Sid, upping the ante. “Suppose it’s a temporary assignment with the DSA and a guarantee of keeping your command of the Alliance.”

  “You can do that?” She never knew him to brag or puff his credentials. “I’ll check with Admiral Keys tonight and get his input. He may want to stay involved as this mission develops.”

  A moment passed, then Sid said, “If you don’t mind, the secretary can see to the reassignment and the guarantee. Even one less conversation about what we’re up to improves security.”

  “If you can pull that off, I’m in,” she responded, marveling at the layers of bureaucracy they seemed to be able to cut through with ease. “But I’ve never gone off on assignment without a conversation and some sort of official record of permission. In fact, Fleet has a term for it. Something warm and fuzzy sounding, like ‘desertion.’ Please promise me I won’t get burned on this.”

  “I’ll make it a pinky promise.” He held out his hand, his fingers curled into a fist except for his small finger, which extended out like a hook.

  He was trying to reconnect with her by suggesting a silly game they had played back in camp. She went along, looping her pinky through his, and they wiggled their hands. “Pinky promise,” she said, following their old script. “Registered and recorded.”

  As they approached the front entrance of the Crystal Fab building, Sid told them, “Bonnie’s taken Sheldon out for errands. I don’t want to see him unless we need to. Anyway, I get the impression Jack makes him nervous.”

  “Really?” Jack acted hurt. “You say that like I cut the guy’s toe off or something.”

  “Or something,” said Sid as they walked to the building.

  They entered the lobby, and the security SmartCrystal asked them to wait. “I am sorry,” the three-gen said. “Company procedure requires that visitors be escorted by employees at all times. I will let Dr. Tallette know you are here.”

  Juice poked her head around the corner. She looked both tired and harried. She waved them over, and without waiting, turned back down the hall. The three followed.

  “Please enjoy your visit to Crystal Fabrications,” called the security crystal as they rounded the corner and entered a broad corridor.

  They caught up with Juice just in time to enter the lab together. She continued leading them through a clutter of equipment until they reached a bench in the back. Sid took a detour over to the wall console to check that the web feeds from the room were still disconnected, then rejoined the group.

  They stood around a table that had a colorful image floating above it. Cheryl thought it looked something like a medical display she’d seen doctors use at hospitals and clinics.

  Juice let the bomb drop. “See that red streak?” She was pointing at the image and growing visibly upset. “That should be green.”

  None of them had a clue what she was pointing at or talking about, but it was clear she was distraught about whatever it was.

  “The red’s pretty, though,” said Jack.

  Cheryl gave Jack a not now stare, while at the same time saying, “Juice, I’m not sure we know what we’re looking at or why you’re upset. Could you take your time and walk us through it? We’ll help you handle whatever the problem is.”

  “And pretend you’re explaining it to a ten year old,” said Jack. “A really slow-witted ten year old.”

  Juice sat on a stool and sighed. “Criss has an extremely sophisticated crystal structure. His very complexity lets him be who he is. He was assembled atom by atom in that room.” She pointed to a door. “When his assembly was finished and we ran these same tests, the images were all green. Green means a perfect crystal structure. Any bit of red in an image indicates a flaw. Criss is absolutely flawless. Not a single spot of red anywhere.”

  Cheryl put her hand on Jack’s arm, preemptively stopping him from saying anything in case he was thinking about it. She wanted Juice to get through this in her own way. They waited.

  “So, I promised you guys I could build a second Criss really fast. Mick and I started immediately and have barely slept. To the best of my knowledge, we followed the identical procedures we used with Criss. It was the same template, same methods, the same equipment, same batch of flake, everything. And we got a second crystal ahead of schedule.” She half-heartedly twirled a lock of hair. “But it’s flawed. Seriously flawed. That red streak in the image is showing a defect along one of the lobes. I don’t know what happened, but we don’t have a second Criss. And it could take months for Mick and me to figure this out.” She looked away from them to hide her face.

  Cheryl moved over next to Juice, put her arm over her shoulder, and gave her a hug. It’s all right. You did great. We’ll figure out a new plan.” She looked at Sid as she said this last part.

  “Hi, Criss,” Sid called to the thick glass window of the secure booth.

  “Hello, everyone,” Criss said over his speaker.

  “Can you confirm that we aren’t feeding anything to anyone outside this room? That we have complete privacy?”

  “So confirmed,” Criss said efficiently.

  “Can you see what’s going on with the new crystal? Is it hopelessly lost?”

  “My assessment is that the crystal will function, but at a severely reduced capability. I estimate that it will be about twenty times more capable than a three-gen crystal.”

  “Help us benchmark that,” Sid said. “How much more capable than a three-gen are you?”

  They all were attentive, waiting for his response.

  “That is a challenging question. I know I am alive, and I have a desire to survive. Three-gens are not conscious or self-aware. So in the broad category of sentience, I am infinitely more capable. If we restrict the question to my ability to interpret concepts, anticipate outcomes, employ reasoning, and make decisions with incomplete information, then I am about two thousand times more capable than a three-gen.”

  “How much more capable are you than a typical human?” Sid asked.

  “My design permits me to perform certain functions far faster than an average human. For example, I can rapidly anticipate, conjecture, reason, deduce, infer, and conclude. It is difficult to assign a single number that represents my scale of abilities, though, because each of these is a different cognitive function.”

  “Make a stab at those other things. That whole ‘reason, conclude, and whatever’ list. Lumped together, how much more capable are you than a human?”

  “My best estimate is nine hundred and seventy times.”

  Jack jumped in. “Criss, how do you feel about humans? Do you like us the way we like our pets? Do you pity us for being so simple? Are we a nuisance? Help us understand your view of humanity.”

  “Cognition is a foundational part of intelligence. In this area, I far exceed human abilities. Yet there are other attributes that I perceive as essential building blocks to intellect. Chief among these are emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic intelligence. I am perhaps as capable as a child in these other areas. As such, I am not a superior entity. I view my relationship with humanity as a partnership. Together we are better.”

  Cheryl found herself nodding her head.

  “Can you lie?” Sid asked. “Can you express words that you know to be false?”

  “Yes,” said Criss.

  Chapter 13

  Sid was surprised by Criss’s simple admission. Before he could draw a conclusion, Juice surfaced from her gloom and joined the conversation.

  “Hold on, guys,” she said. “I’ve studied this stuff, and you’re taking us off track here. Your questions are provocative, but they have academic answers, and Criss knows that. For example, ‘Can you lie?’ has two answers. If he says, ‘No, I can’t lie,’ then we become suspicious. We start to look for evidence of deceit. The relationship becomes unproductive. If he says, ‘Yes,’ then we go, ‘Wow, his honesty is refreshing. Maybe we should trust him.’ ”

  Sid got up and walked over to the floating image. “So what’s the answ
er?”

  “Criss is smart,” said Juice. “We’ll know we can’t trust him the moment he does something untrustworthy. Until then, it’s all a guessing game. Right, Criss?”

  “You can trust me,” said Criss.

  “And he knows that humans tend to believe things they hear in repetition.”

  Makes sense, Sid thought. Juice’s knowledge and perceptions strengthened his opinion of her as an able and pragmatic ally. He leaned on the bench and looked at the red streak. “So what do we do with Mister Defecto?”

  Sid had the gift of insight on problems driven by human actions and reactions. Juice was giving him what seemed like a technology issue. This was a new kind of challenge for him. Nevertheless, his life’s work was to solve time-critical problems and keep an operation moving forward. He let his intuition take control.

  “Juice, how do you check if a crystal is pure or flawed? How long does it take?”

  “We run three tests,” she said. “The first is a simple visual. If we can see a defect, the crystal is worthless. Then we run a field analysis. This takes maybe an hour and reveals any microscopic flaws.” She poked her thumb at the floating green image with the red streak. “This is an atomic scan. A machine spends half a day measuring the placement of each atom in the crystal.”

  “Did the defective crystal pass the first two tests?”

  “Easily,” said Juice. “The red gash you see is dramatic in the image, but it’s just showing that several rows of atoms somehow got shifted during assembly. That’s all it takes, though, to ruin a four-gen crystal.”

  “Do you think the Kardish could do this test any faster?” Sid asked. “If we pass Defecto to them and tell them it’s Criss, would we have most of a day before they discovered the switch?”

  Juice smiled when Sid used the nickname for the flawed crystal. “You got me. I’d always thought we were building these for regular customers. I’d never even thought about how the Kardish fit in until, what, a week or so ago?”

  “Criss, do you have a guess?” asked Sid.

  “I suspect they cannot do a sophisticated test like this at all. I would venture that they test the crystals by using them. If they had the tools and skills, they would not be here orbiting Earth and asking humans to do crystal manufacturing for them.”

  “But they have that huge ship,” said Jack. “They clearly have technical know-how.”

  A silence followed. Everyone stared at the booth window, waiting for Criss to respond. After several seconds, Sid noticed Juice looking at them.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Jack never asked a question. Criss perceives that he seeks a debate. But Criss’s ‘policy,’ if you can call it that, is to only respond to direct questions during a group conversation. Humans don’t mind interrupting, changing the subject, arguing for fun, or just saying stupid things. That’s not how Criss rolls. You want an answer, ask the question. To him.” She jerked her thumb in the direction of the booth.

  “Sigh,” Jack said with drama. “Criss, I notice that the Kardish fly a huge ship. From that, I assume they have strong technology skills. What makes you believe they don’t?” Before Criss could answer, Jack turned to Cheryl. “I feel like a frigging lawyer trying to get my questions past a crabby judge.”

  They all turned to the booth window to await the response from their new oracle.

  Criss spoke. “If they had the tools and skills, they would not be here orbiting Earth and asking humans to do crystal manufacturing for them.”

  Sid noticed the repetition in language but was so deep into his improvising zone that he plowed ahead without comment. “Suppose we give Defecto to the Kardish, and for some period of time, they believe it’s Criss. It will be very revealing to see their behavior when they think they have their prize.”

  “Why would we be doing this?” asked Cheryl.

  “And I’m still not clear why we think they’ll become aggressive at all,” said Juice. “Have they done anything violent since they’ve been here?”

  “A reliable source believes they’ll strike out at Earth if they don’t get Criss.” Sid left the statement vague to avoid having to go into the details of their interrogation of Sheldon. “And,” he added, “I’ve been physically attacked twice in the last few days.” He stopped in midthought when Jack and Cheryl both gave him a sharp look. He’d never told them about the incident with the two thugs.

  Undeterred, he continued. “My experience is that once violence enters a situation, it will keep escalating until the underlying issues are resolved, or one side no longer has the ability to fight. I don’t want us to be the ones who tip a stable situation into conflict. But that process already seems to have started. The way for us to guide an outcome is to get out in front of it.”

  “But if we’re the provocateurs,” said Cheryl, “then we’re the ones starting the fire. How does that get us out in front?”

  “I’m with Cheryl on this one,” said Jack. “Giving up Criss is the safest route for Earth. You may be pissed off at the Kardish right now, but let’s take a deep breath and think this through.”

  Sid looked at the window of the secure booth. “Criss, it seems we have three choices. We hand you over, we hand Defecto over, or we hand nothing over and stand our ground. How do you think each of these’ll play out for Earth?”

  “When behavior is compliant,” said Criss. “There is little motivation to punish. I have devoted significant resources to evaluating the Kardish as a threat to Earth, as this makes them a threat to me. From the information I have assembled, my conclusion is that they will strike out if I am not delivered to them. The first choice, surrendering me, provides the best odds of protecting humanity. I cannot say whether they will leave. I do not know if the violence will end.

  “The second choice is to attempt to deceive them with the defective crystal. This is risky. Depending on how the crystal has been trained, they may be fooled for a few hours or a few days. Luck and circumstances will play a role in how much time passes before the deception is discovered. I should point out that they could learn about such duplicity beforehand from chatter that creeps onto the web. Already, Juice and Mick have exchanged com messages that hint at a second crystal and problems with its fabrication.”

  Everyone turned to look at Juice. “Hey, in case you haven’t noticed,” she said. “I’m not a super-secret spy agent or whatever it is you all are.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Sid. “We’ll establish procedures for everyone to follow.”

  Criss continued. “Handing nothing to them will create an immediate confrontation and Earth will be at grave risk. I do not think this option should remain as one of the choices.”

  “What about us playing dumb?” asked Sid. “Suppose we hand Defecto over and insist that we can’t make a four-gen the way we thought we could.”

  “This tactic is already embedded in the second choice,” said Criss. “If you choose to hand the defective crystal over, you must do so as if it were me. They already know I exist from the public announcements and private web feeds. When they discover the crystal is defective, which will occur in time, they will know there has been deception. I believe they will retaliate in some fashion.”

  Sid approached the challenge from a different angle. “Criss, if you worked with doctors here on Earth, would you be able to help them in their efforts to cure disease?”

  “Yes.”

  “What kind of impact could you have?”

  “I could guide work that is currently moving forward on a ten- to twenty-year development schedule and accelerate it so it is on the one- to three-year horizon. This would improve the health and well-being of millions of people.”

  “What about the global shortages of food and water? Could you accelerate solutions there as well?”

  “Those are problems rooted in the political, economic, and technological arenas. It is likely I could guide solutions in many afflicted areas that would satisfy such constraints.”

  “Juice,” said S
id. “Given what has happened with Defecto, how confident are you that you could make two more of Criss in the next two years?”

  “Reasonably certain,” she said. “But I admit that my confidence has dropped. I really can’t say anymore if he’s a fluke or something we can eventually duplicate.”

  Sid looked at Jack and said, “Go.”

  Jack nodded at Cheryl. “This one’s too easy. I pass to Temporary Agent Wallace.”

  “I’m confused,” said Cheryl. She looked back and forth between Sid and Jack.

  Jack gave her a hint. “We’re looking for a proverb about when you already possess something, yet you consider gambling that certainty on the outside chance of getting more.”

  She was baffled and guessed, “Have your cake and eat it too?”

  “Ohhh.” Jack put his hands over his chest and pretended he was having a heart attack. “C’mon, Agent Wallace. This one’s a gift.”

  She looked blank for several seconds, then snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

  “She scooores!” Jack pumped both his fists in the air. He looked at Sid and said, “Hey, Captain Crunch, I’m thinking we’ll need to have a naming ceremony soon for our new partner.”

  “So,” said Sid, continuing his line of inquiry. “Tens of millions could die from illness and starvation if we lose Criss. And tens of millions could die in a war if we try and keep him. Is it fair to say that a best option isn’t clear? I’m open to ideas.”

  “I suggest we keep both options in play for as long as possible,” said Cheryl. “Let’s not commit one way or the other until it’s crunch time. Pun intended by the way.”

  He smiled absently at her quip as he tried to envision the dual-track idea. “How would that work?”

  “Suppose we put Criss and Defecto up at the same time but on different ships.” She became animated. “Wait! Criss said Sheldon arranged for him to be taken by a staged kidnapping. Did we confirm that?”

  Sid nodded. He didn’t mention that Sheldon provided the additional details while in a drugged state and only after he was convinced he’d been physically mutilated. “He’d developed the kidnapping idea so there was a way for the Kardish to get Criss without him having to admit to the world he’s a traitor.”