Leaving Earth Vol. 1 (Leaving Earth Omnibus)

by Kaal Alexander Rosser

  Grum stood up and walked over to his coffee machine for a refill. He could not solve everything. He had enough to do just keeping his own Division in order. As well as those things which seemed to be involving him in some way.

  Building maintenance, for example, sent him everything even vaguely related to power. Getting the service reports on the not-a-pod — Grum could not bring himself to call it a pseudopod — in the sub-basement, was reasonable. No standard building service engineer could be expected to maintain that thing. However, Grum got all the building's departmental power consumption reports — down to the light fittings — and copies of the power bill. He had no idea why. If the manager in charge thought that Grum could wave a magic wand and increase the output from the generators downstairs to bring the power bill down, he was sadly mistaken.

  Seeing this batch reports, though, had reminded him of something he really did have to do. He took his coffee back round the desk and sat down to bring up the latest report on the not-a-pod itself. Grum had asked for some of Vann's time, again, to do a real service report on it.

  The governor system which Vann had designed and had bolted into the installation as a bodge-job to stop it exploding, seemed to be coping, but was perhaps reaching the end of its useful life. Replacing it would be tricky, but far less tricky than having it explode. Vann's recommendation was to have a trained engineer constantly monitor it and perform manual overrides on the distribution and safeguard systems if they went out of tolerance too often.

  It seemed that the governor system itself was reacting more frequently to readings which were out of tolerance, but nothing which actually raised red flags. The early generators and the pre-pod system put together specifically for this installation were not as bulletproof as the newer design by a long way, but they were still good.

  It was odd that Vann had specified a manual intervention, though. An automatic system trained to spot anomalies would be far better, in most circumstances, than any manual operator. Then he saw the reasoning.

  There was no other system to train a new governor on, and this one was already — apparently — too out of whack to train an limited AI. Human intelligence would have to do.

  In general, an automatic system was capable of modelling many more variables, and of assessing and dismissing many more options, than any human could. Self-drive cars had shown this. Despite the egotistical human need to be better than a machine. That frailty had led to far more fatalities in the change over than if people had just accepted that machines were better at this stuff. One of the fatal flaws in humanity was its tendency to trust its senses, and its judgement — and even its beliefs — in direct contradiction to both evidence and reason.

  In this case, however, no model could be worked up as there were no norms to draw upon. The AI would make the wrong decisions, almost inevitably, whereas a human could be given instruction — ironically due to the fatal flaw — that even though the machine said something was normal, it might not be.

  That was where humans had the edge over AIs. Humans could be taught to go mad, safely. It was utterly insane to believe that reality was not as it self-evidently was, and yet humans did it all the time without always breaking down.

  If we are ever to make a truly artificial intelligence capable of operating on our level, it will have to have the capacity to go utterly bonkers, thought Grum. As for me… I'm going to give this job to someone else. Because I can.

  He pinged Stew a message to come over. This one could go to him, directly, to deal with.

  Stew arrived within seconds of Grum sending the message.

  'Good timing!' said Stew.

  'Apparently!' Grum agreed.

  'I have a list. What have you got?' Stew had got a coffee mug for the previous christmas and had taken to wandering around with it everywhere. It was one of those which changed with the temperature of the liquid inside it.

  As Stew filled up his mug with hot coffee from the jug, Grum read, for the umpteenth time: "YOU MATTER! Unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared… Then, YOU ENERGY!", and groaned. 'Why do I do it to myself? Every time!'

  'Because you're a nerd, like me. So what did you want to see me about?'

  'I have a thing which you could deal with better than me.'

  'One thing?'

  'Yes.'

  'You go first, then.'

  Grum nodded and pulled up the folder with the service reports from the building manager, and caught Stew's wince of recognition.

  'If that whole folder is your one thing…'

  'No, don't be silly. Sit down. Look…' Grum also pulled up the service report from Vann. 'Most of the stuff in that folder is either dealt with, or nothing to do with us, but this bit is.'

  'Certainly Vann's report is…'

  'Yes. But it belongs in building services, only they can't deal with it, so…'

  'You want me to liaise with the BS-meister, and source a suitable person to implement Vann's recommendation.'

  'Yep.'

  'That it?'

  'Yep. We need to make sure that the right person is on the job, that the training programme is up to scratch, and that whatever procedures are necessary are approved by Vann.'

  'OK. I agree, that's better with me. My turn!'

  'Go on, then.' Grum sipped his coffee. Stew looked like he was mentally seeking take-off speed.

  'First thing, have you heard of the Richard Dean Anderson School in New Jersey?'

  'Can't say I have.'

  'It has a science-heavy programme, and USSMC funnels a chunk of money directly into it, in addition to the money earmarked for STEM activities in each state.'

  'Good for us.'

  'Well, yes. But I was looking at the school and its ratings are through the roof. Do you think we should check it out? For Ju and Clait, I mean. Oh, the extra money, isn't a worry, as far as I know. It gets used to fund the science fair prizes, and so on. We do have a disproportionate number of successful applicants from there, but I can't tell which came first, so I'm not worrying about it unless someone shows me some evidence of undue pressure.'

  'Wise, on all counts. Yes, I think we should check it out. But I have another idea too… How about we sponsor a direct prize, ourselves. Arrange a tour of the Tech Centre. Meet the crew. Look at all our cool blinking lights. You know the thing.'

  'Not bad, mate. Yeah. I reckon we could do that. Let me chat to Steve Branch about it, and…'

  'He's on government, now,' said Grum.

  'Board of Education is close enough, and we'd have to get it approved through them anyway.' Stew waved the consideration away.

  'True! OK. Make it so!'

  'Aye, captain.'

  'Cool. What's the other news?'

  'The next thing is getting the programmes for fourth and fifth generation nuclear power stations under-way, properly. What's the status with the Nevada state government?'

  'Stonewall on that front.' He was not sure he should tell Stew about the emails he had seen. Not yet, at any rate. There was nothing actually there. Not in words. Just… 'There aren't any nuclear power stations in Nevada at the moment, you know. And even if we did start those builds based on the current designs, assuming they worked first time, we still wouldn't be in a position to properly put them into production for at least a decade.'

  'I know, but we can barter that energy against buying it in from out-of-state, now.'

  Grum shook his head. 'Nope. Climate commitments preclude that, for the time being. Nevada would have to negotiate for specifically renewable energy sources coming in. The tide is changing on that front, but for now, it's a no-go.'

  'That put UMBRA in jeopardy?'

  'Yes. Which is why we are looking to form partnerships in other states which have active nuclear energy programmes in the public and private sectors. We should be able to get a few of those off the ground. It might even get us quicker results.'

  'But loses us the tech advantage.'

  'On fission, yes, but the game isn't reall
y about fission for us. We can still get those damned things built, then get them where they should be.'

  'Still not convinced on nuclear?'

  'Not entirely. I hope the fourth gen stuff works out as well as it could, but right now, I see an ever-dwindling finite resource of fissionable material being used in inefficient systems. Let alone the third gen work I've seen.'

  'Take another look at some of the designs and whitepapers our own fission department has come up with. They've worked some of the fourth generation benefits backwards into third gen. Three point five edition, you might say.'

  'You have got to be kidding me. Three point five edition was a horrible kludge'

  'Well, maybe we can consider those features a "pathfinder" generation…'

  'Get out, now.'

  'Not yet, boss. We haven't really finished with this, yet.'

  Grum leaned back in his chair and looked directly at Stew. 'We have to put everything into building the renewable power plants in Nevada. That is what you're going to tell me, right?'

  'Without the nuclear options, yes. Otherwise we cannot cover the shortfall. Even smaller programmes will help.'

  Grum's frustration boiled over, and he slammed his mug down on the desk, spilling some. Borne of the extra complications to expansion, the ever increasing backlog of orders, and the intense feeling that he was constantly swimming against a strong current just to stay keep the business where it was.

  'Is this what deja vu feels like? I thought we had been through this once. We expand and demand just balloons. Great in any other business! Just spend a couple of million on a new widget factory and bang! Your production ability is above demand!'

  He caught Stew's gaze, who was looking at him curiously. 'You do know…' began Stew, slowly, 'that if a company is in the kind of business where it would take "just" a couple of million to build out a new factory, that they would find it equally — or probably more — difficult to find that money than us, right?'

  Grum slumped back in his chair and washed his hands over his face. 'Damnit. Losing perspective, aren't I?'

  'Little bit.'

  'Sorry. Let's get on. Renewable power generation state-wide in Nevada or we don't get to turn on all the colliders at once. The board is reviewing the expenditure. I'll have to kick it upstairs.'

  'I'll see you for a beer after you do.'

  'I'll probably need one,' said Grum, then reached into a draw for some paper towel to mop up the coffee spill.

  Chapter 3

  GRUM summarised the situation in an email to Kelvin, and included his notion about having a tour of the Tech Centre as a prize for the winners of the science fair at RDA School. He got a meeting invite for right now back within a couple of minutes.

  Grum took the short walk to the CEO's office, quickly. The entrance to the outer office was directly off the main observation area where people on a tour would usually end up for the big meet and greet. As usual, he was waved straight through to Kelvin's inner sanctum where the CEO sat, beaming.

  'How do you know about my old school?'

  Ah, thought Grum, so that's the connection. 'I didn't know it was your old school, Kelvin, but Richard Dean Anderson was in a favourite old series of mine.'

  'Which one? It had to be one of the two big ones.'

  'Oh, yes. I actually liked them both.'

  'Me too! Although the latter one was a bit too far-fetched for me. Travelling to other planets through wormholes. Pfft. But a guy who can fix anything in any situation! Yes. That's my kind of guy!'

  Grum wondered if Kelvin was perhaps a little drunk. The exuberance was the same as normal, but the manner was far more open and relaxed. The mode of speech was more like you would use chatting down the pub. To Grum's mind the series about wormholes was less far-fetched than the other one, but then Grum was a practical scientist. Speculative science always got more leeway with him than hard science done wrongly. 'So, you like the idea of a tour?'

  'Absolutely! We can send the suggestion down to the school board this afternoon. I'm sure it'll be accepted.'

  I'll bet you are, thought Grum. 'On the other matter, then, Kelvin?'

  'Ah, yes. On that front, I don't have such good news. The board are insisting on justification for that kind of expenditure on something which the refuse to see any directly benefit from.'

  Refuse to see. 'I see. So it comes down to whether I can provide enough evidence that increasing production at Nevada, by the four colliders, will create sufficient profit to justify augmenting the state's overall power supply? Over what time-frame are they thinking?'

  'Essentially, yes. But I would take all possible views on profit, rather than just the purely monetary. I don't think they are quite that narrow minded. A positive public image is also good for the share price, you know. As to time-frame, I would suggest five, ten, and twenty year projections would be enough.'

  'Thank you, Kelvin. I'll get right on that!'

  'Great! Brilliant to see that you are taking the long-term view of the company future, too.'

  As Grum walked back to his office, he wondered about that comment, as well as Kelvin's general demeanour.

  Grum sent Stew a message as soon as he got back to his desk.

  Sorry, mate, no beer, yet. I need more than one brain to sort this out.

  Commercials, first, he thought. Best chance of showing profit over the terms they are talking about.

  'Did my afternoon of skulking in my office just go bang?' asked Stew, as he entered the office.

  'Yes. Sorry. They want justifications over five, ten, and twenty year periods. Monetary and anything else we can think of which can be put down in a hard evidence type fashion.'

  'So you're starting with the commercial sales?'

  'Seems like as good as any place to start.'

  'OK. Let's look at it.'

  'What are the top-line costs?'

  'Each new build of a current generation nuclear reactor would carry a nominal cost of around fifty billion dollars to run over twenty years. Including: build, maintenance, fuel, waste storage, and replacement.'

  'I have a couple of notes, but first of all… Replacement?'

  'Yep. All recent estimates assume that new build reactors are considered commitment to nuclear for the long-term and so the cost of replacing it with either then same thing, or other power source must be considered part of the first twenty year cost.'

  'Doesn't seem exactly fair.'

  'No, but it is the standard.'

  'OK. Other notes… Fourth gen is more efficient than the older generations, and could well use spent fuel as part of its fuel. Waste storage costs would be lower in that case. Fifth gen isn't far along enough to cost out builds. It's pure R&D at this point.'

  'Very true, and we can factor those aspects in, but the current figures are third gen at best.'

  'Fine. What else?'

  'Well, we could just bin those costs, if we did not need them for the UMB programme. That is where those costs really belong, in R&D for Space Div. We have assumed them because of our Divisional name, but we don't actually need them to bring the new colliders online.'

  'I'll talk to Hank about that. So what are our costs, really? The costs of all the renewables plants, right?'

  'Yes. We would be looking at just over a billion dollars for each two hundred megawatts of output.'

  Grum paused before repeating Stew's words. 'A billion dollars, per two hundred megawatts? So we'd need six of those, right?'

  'Well, no. We'd need fourteen.'

  'Fourteen?'

  'For excess capacity buffers and to account for non-production time storage, yes.'

  'So fourteen billion dollars…'

  'Nearer fifteen, really.'

  'Fifteen billion dollars. Less than a third of just one reactor.'

  'Well, yes. Third gen. But definitely cheaper to build than any of the nuclear reactors, yes.'

  'So, why is this even a question?'

  'I'm guessing because it is in addition to the alr
eady enormous cost of the Facility it's going to power.'

  'Good point, well made. So that's the lifetime cost, right?'

  'Yes. Twenty five year lifetime cost, accounted for in the first twenty years to give the prospect of five years profitable running.'

  'OK. But I don't get to play with those profits, I have to account for the whole cost on my watch.'

  'Yes. Are you sure you couldn't to a twenty five year projection?'

  'I probably could. If it comes to a pinch, I might have to, but let's try and account for everything in the first twenty.'

  They worked on it for an hour. The commercial products would eventually make a positive margin over the cost of the expanded facility build and operations, but not with another fifteen billion dollars factored in.

  Hank's Division was a bust too, in terms of pure numbers. Core Power sold the generators and pods to Space for cost-price. No margin there. But Space had another thing going for it.

  'How many of Hank's big ticket programmes could continue to exist without AM power? And how many are waiting in the wings purely for a lack of capacity at Nevada?' asked Stew.

  'A veritable bastard of a good point. If memory serves, the only programme which is not reliant on AM tech is UMB. Everything else needs it in one way or another. I have no idea how many things he has backed up, though.'

  'Ask him? He'd probably invent a few just for good measure.'

  Grum smiled. That was probably true, Hank had been a friend to Core Power since Grum took over. It had on occasion been a strained friendship, but always there, nevertheless. 'I'll ask him. Or Vann. Or you could ask Amy, since she's over there as well, now.'

  'I could. Shall we see if we get different answers?' Stew laughed.

  'Why not? But let's wait until we're done here. It will be useful info, but I want to see if we can at least get the numbers to line up, first.'