Attunga (Tales of the Terran Diaspora Book 1)

by Peter Wood

  ‘It’s his next thing. I can tell,’ said Calen.

  ‘Thing?’

  ‘Like the music, and learning to read. He talked about it all this afternoon while we visited the pods. He’ll spend weeks on it till he thinks he’s good enough.’

  ‘Wow! We’ll have two brainiacs saving the AIs … Do you think he’s going to be good at it?’

  Wirrin thought that was a strange question. ‘Of course he will, Thom. When he’s interested in something he’s always brilliant. Look what he did with the Dreamtime Concerto and the meeting songs.’

  ‘I suppose he’ll do it the same way he uses the InterWeb?’

  Wirrin nodded. ‘Yes, except he’s got the option for much more extended input.’

  Sonic was adept at using the InterWeb. He used sound exclusively, of course, since the fine motor control of human fingers wasn’t available to him, but according to Pirramar, the incredible range and rapidity of his auditory signals gave him the potential of far greater facility with input than any human.

  Wirrin, using a combination of speech and touch, was way ahead at the moment, but he’d learned yesterday that with a system designed especially for him, Sonic would eventually be faster, as long as he practised.

  ‘What does extended input mean?’

  ‘He’ll be able to run the system faster than I can.’

  Thom thought about that for a moment. ‘I wonder what it will sound like? If much of it’s that high stuff we can’t hear it might overload Calen’s implants.’

  ‘No it won’t. It’ll be just like the InterWeb controls he uses now except there’ll be more of them.’

  ‘What does Pirramar say about it?’

  ‘He’s really keen. He’ll help out any time Sonic wants him and so will Yajala and Turaku.’

  ‘All three of them? What happens about his time with Calen?’

  Calen laughed. ‘That goes back to normal, Thom, whatever that is. We’ll still be going to nurseries and EdCom groups and talking to the scientists and visiting Earth dolphins and all the other things. I might actually have a chance to catch up on some EdCom work.’

  ‘Do you think the EdCom here will be much different?’

  Thom and Calen both looked to Wirrin to answer this as his big work commitment meant he’d had the most involvement in planning everything.

  ‘I don’t see how, except we’ll be meeting a whole new set of people. Gulara says the Intelligent System that runs it all on Attunga is state of the art, so Warrakan can’t be better.’

  ‘The labs and tute rooms are bigger,’ said Thom.

  ‘I suppose. But the same things will still happen in them. Anyway, we’ll soon know.’

  They’d find out the next day, in fact, when they were due to attend their first EdCom courses on Warrakan. Gulara had finalised everything and swapped a number of Calen and Thom’s times to match with Wirrin’s, which were far more complicated. Wirrin’s EdCom work involved a day each on Attunga and Warrakan with other students, and a day each with the faster and more adaptable personalised electronic instruction courses. His other day involved the K74 work with Pirramar and InfoSystem training with Sonic.

  For both Calen and Thom the EdCom work was secondary, after dolphin time and Comet-related studies respectively. Not so for Wirrin. His study from now on would be strongly directed and purposeful – namely to build an understanding of the rogue scientist – and very different from the broad educative structure of Basic Training. On top of that, Pirramar was now linked to EdCom and overseeing his progress, a unique situation according to Gulara.

  ‘Hey look, Sonic’s out there with Puck and Flute. They’re early.’

  ***

  ‘Hello, doctor.’

  ‘Hi, Wirrin, what’s the news this time?’

  ‘News?’

  The doctor grinned. ‘Your status has changed to a permanent time priority, you’ve turned up a week earlier than scheduled, and you always have some exciting and interesting news. I feel a sense of anticipation every time I see your name on the roster.’

  Wirrin grinned. ‘Yes, I have got news, and several questions as well.’

  ‘Medical ones? Well, let’s deal with those first and get your checkup out of the way, since it’s a bit longer than usual.’

  Wirrin wondered why but didn’t ask because he’d soon find out.

  ‘Thom and Calen call me a brainiac and I wanted to ask you about it.’

  ‘A brainiac? Meaning you’re a genius?’

  Wirrin laughed. ‘No, they’d never say that. They think there’s something unusual about my brain because I work some things out too quickly. Look at this.’ Wirrin called up the incident about AI space on Warrakan and projected it as a holo. ‘See what I mean. Thom’s good at calculations like that and he took three and a half times as long to work it out.’

  ‘Interesting. Let’s have a look.’

  Having a look meant a number of tests and a half hour later the doctor’s conclusion. ‘You can tell Thom and Calen there’s nothing weird going on at all, just a natural gift being diligently exercised. Your study must involve quite a bit of this sort of calculation?’

  That was such an understatement Wirrin spluttered with laughter.

  ‘It always has. They’re part of InfoStudies which I’ve always loved, but when the AIs started giving me challenges I had to do even more, and now that I’m on my special course it’s practically constant calculations and puzzles.’

  ‘You’ve changed your Basic Training?’

  ‘It’s not a change. I don’t even do it anymore. The Witnesses and AIs exempted me.’

  ‘A complete exemption? You were squeezing your Basic in amongst the other activities last time I saw you.’

  ‘There’s just no time now and it might be a couple of years before I can get back to it. My new course is totally full time.’

  ‘Totally? So it’s something to do with the priority classification on your file.’

  ‘I don’t know what the priority’s for but it could be. The AIs asked me to do this course.’

  ‘Wirrin! No wonder I look forward to your news. Tell me more.’

  So Wirrin did, the reasons and then the structure of the study. Some of Wirrin’s concern must have come through because the doctor seized on the difficulty aspect.

  ‘How are you coping? This looks close to an overload to me.’

  ‘It’s okay so far. It’s very exciting too, especially working with Pirramar, but it’s hard to wake up in the mornings and I’ve never been like that before.’

  ‘And you’re worried you mightn’t be able to maintain this rate of output?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What about your sleep pattern? Do you wake up during the night or have any trouble getting to sleep?’

  ‘Never. I close my eyes and then, when I’m wondering why Calen and Thom are speaking to me, it’s the next morning.’

  ‘That’s good. Just out of interest I’ll program your healthbots to log your sleep rhythms for the next few weeks but I think we’ll find you’re going through a typical adaptation process. Your health check will tell us what’s going on. So, any more questions before we start?’

  ‘Yes, we’re wondering why I have more visits than Thom and Calen. It seems to have gone back to the same pattern as when I was little.’

  The doctor raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Your recent extra visits have all been circumstance, mostly due to your unusual implant abilities, but up till age nine you did have a different monitoring schedule. Hasn’t that ever been explained to you?’

  ‘Never. I vaguely remember asking if there was something wrong with me when we noticed I had a lot more checkups than Calen and Thom, but they said I was extra healthy and everyone just needed varying numbers of checks … something like that at any rate.’

  ‘Hmm, well they wouldn’t go into details because of your age, but this is strangely coincidental because it ties in with today’s extra procedures. Your genetic background is different to Tho
m and Calen’s and did require extra monitoring because it came from the Legacy source. Ninety per cent of nursery children originate from the gene pool of our current citizens, but since it is so important to maintain genetic diversity the rest are carefully selected from mostly external sources.’

  ‘What does Legacy source mean?’

  ‘It’s the small but significant collection of genetic material that was gathered from Northern Australia as a bio-backup when Attunga was first constructed. It’s accessed regularly as a physical affirmation of our heritage.’

  This was interesting and it certainly explained the cast of his physical characteristics. Thom and Calen would want to hear about this.

  ‘Do you know how many people come from it?’

  ‘Almost everyone. It’s only the external ten per cent I mentioned who aren’t descended from it as a base, but that’s not what you meant.’

  He manipulated his holo screen. ‘The external 9.6 per cent to be exact. According to this the current access rate for Legacy material stands at approximately 0.4 per cent, so you’re quite a select individual. Calculating an exact number would be very difficult as we’d have to access the records of every single nursery on the habitat.’

  Not really. Wirrin knew he could do that in moments with his InfoStation. He had a bigger question.

  ‘So why do children from the Legacy source need more monitoring? If I was extra healthy that sounds like I’d need less.’

  ‘That’s a very good question. Legacy material was all vetted at the time of collection, but we’ve learned a great deal in the decades since, and a whole range of modifications need to be applied when using that early material to ensure a long and healthy life. Most of the changes are very minor and are only significant in their cumulative effect, but there are also a number of very important ones. For example, we fixed a propensity in your body for hearing failure after age eighty, as well as a slight weakness in your liver function.’

  Wirrin immediately thought of Peggy, the dolphin in Martin’s pod. They had something in common. He’d watch her progress from now on.

  ‘That doesn’t sound too healthy.’

  ‘Completely healthy, Wirrin. We all carry a huge range of characteristics in our makeup and understanding their relative importance is very difficult. We have to be careful about eliminating any bad traits because they’re often linked in some way with more important good ones. Basically no-one is perfectly healthy but we’re steadily improving.’

  ‘I won’t tell Thom and Calen about the hearing thing or they’ll be yelling at me as if I can’t hear.’

  ‘Tell them how select you are instead. Less than 0.4 per cent of the population is quite impressive.’

  ‘One in every 250. That sounds even better. I’ll say it that way … What’s the coincidence?’

  ‘Today is deposit day for your bio-bank.’

  Wirrin stared for a moment.

  ‘Is that what I think it is?’

  ‘Probably … if you’re thinking stem cells, blood, sperm, DNA material, and a microscopic amount of brain matter, then yes.’

  He had been, but that list was more than he’d expected, especially the last bit.

  ‘You’re going to collect a piece of my brain?’

  ‘Yes, and when people complain we leave the machine on till there’s nothing left.’

  ‘Typical doctor. Wait till I tell Sonic.’

  They were both smiling but Wirrin could tell the doctor was wondering why he’d mentioned Sonic. Good.

  ‘On a more serious note, Wirrin, do you discuss the idea of having children?’

  ‘All the time, because the dolphins never stop asking, but we’re just too busy and not ready.’

  ‘The dolphins ask? That’s interesting … Because they’re curious?’

  ‘No, because they want us to have children. Puck asked us the very first day we met and they’re still asking. They want more Calens for their babies to bond with.’

  ‘They’ve asked for children from Calen?’

  ‘Well, that’s what we thought they meant because of his special way with animals, but we’ve talked with Sonic about it quite a bit since and he says no. They want our trio children.’

  ‘Oh my! I start to ask the standard questions connected with your bio-bank and I’m out of my depth before we’ve answered the first one. Trio children could be arranged with a variety of techniques through the nurseries of course, but all the rules would have to be changed and that’s a decision for the Witnesses.’

  ‘The dolphins don’t want that. Burilda told them it was one of the options and Sonic said a straight out no. He says they’ll wait till we can bring them up as part of our own pod.’

  ‘You have talked about this extensively. What other options were mentioned?’

  ‘Children or clones of Calen, before we knew they wanted pod children.’

  ‘Pod children? What exactly does that mean?’

  ‘We call them that because trio means us, and pod means Sonic as well. When we have children they’ll be part of his pod. Growing up together is very important to dolphins.’

  ‘It’s important to all of us, Wirrin, but you just said ‘when’. You’ve made a definite decision?’

  ‘It’s definite at the moment, but it won’t happen for another ten or twelve years … The same as for most people.’

  Children on Attunga were cherished and welcomed by whatever path they joined the society. Most adults formed bonds of some type, and most elected to have children at some stage, usually after the free years of their twenties, but not necessarily, and brought them up with the help of a nursery assistant. These were assigned according to need, much the same way a planning assistant like Wanna was assigned when the trio needed help with their living space.

  Because of the aim for Attunga’s population to grow to something like three times its current 800 million, the majority of children were born and nurtured in a nursery with specially trained human carers.

  Wirrin’s nursery family consisted of nineteen children, including Thom and Calen, two nursery mothers, two nursery fathers and associated nursery assistants.

  ‘Why do you think you’re not ready? That’s not the way I see any of you.’

  Gulara had said the same thing even though her advice was to wait.

  ‘Mostly because there are too many other things happening but also because we still feel like kids ourselves.’

  ‘Yes, I understand that. I felt the same when I was your age … Well, let’s get busy.’

  An hour and a half later Wirrin and the doctor sat down to enjoy a snack.

  ‘Fire away, Wirrin. I’m all ears.’

  Wirrin smiled. Sonic would enjoy hearing these figures of speech.

  ‘There’s too much. I don’t know where to start.’

  ‘Okay, tell me what’s so exciting about your work with the AI. You gave me the impression there was something going on there.’

  ‘Pirramar. Everything. Gulara organised for him to link in with EdCom and I’ve never learnt so many things so fast. He makes it so interesting. We spend a lot of time looking at K74 as well and there’s so much going on there we can’t keep up.’

  ‘An AI can’t keep up? That doesn’t sound right.’

  ‘I know, and Pirramar’s a composite so it’s even more amazing.’

  ‘I don’t know what that means.’

  ‘He’s one AI but he’s based on Warrakan as well as Attunga, so he’s got more than twice the normal amount of resources. He’d keep up easily if we could get in to all the places we’d like but the rogue knows a lot about AIs and how to block them.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to block an AI?’

  ‘He blocks every electronic pathway so we have to discover things indirectly. Three days ago we checked the construction systems and found plans for building a fleet of their big spaceships. They have seven at the moment but we need to know why they want thirty more.’

  ‘I don’t know anything about
the K74 spaceships. What does big mean?’

  ‘They’re not as big as the biggest Earth or Mars transports, but 700 metres makes them nearly twice as long as our Comets.’

  ‘That’s enormous. And they must be dangerous or your AI wouldn’t be worried about them.’

  ‘Pirramar. Yes, they’re very fast and the seven functional ones all carry atomics. The only good thing about the situation is that it will take at least fifteen months before any of them can be finished.’

  ‘And you work with Pirramar on things like this every day?’

  ‘Not every day. Gulara made sure that a big block of my course is ordinary EdCom with other students, but I do see him most days.’

  ‘I can’t imagine what it must be like. I’ve never even seen an AI in real life let alone had a conversation.’

  You couldn’t see them in real life, just their holo projections, but Wirrin understood what the doctor was getting at. ‘It’s quite hard to explain. After a while it feels like you’re just talking to someone in a holo conference but underneath you know it’s an amazing intelligence, or creature, or being or something who’s there with you. I get goosebumps sometimes when I see Pirramar do something that would take me a million years, and he does it by the time he finishes a sentence.’

  ‘Do you have a sense of personality or identity after seeing AIs so much?’

  ‘Completely. Turaku’s like a quiet, steady, very firm sort of person. Pirramar’s very friendly and encouraging, and Yajala’s the easiest to talk to and always smiling and laughing. It’s really interesting because everyone has the same reactions to them but it’s totally fake.’

  ‘Fake?’

  ‘Fake’s not quite right. Controlled is a better word. Calen and Thom and I used to argue about it all the time because I kept telling them it was all a program the AIs were using. They reckoned they could see past that, so we asked Yajala. He changed right in front of us to different personalities. A really grumpy and irritable-sounding person, then a serious person, a bit like Turaku, then someone worried, and then like a child. He kept the same holo image all the time and that made it so strange it was almost creepy. He totally convinced Thom and Calen about the programs but then made everything more confusing by saying that AIs did have personalities and identities, but not in the way humans use the terms.’