by Chris Hechtl
He had to laugh at himself mentally. He had no life; Wendy was right. No girlfriend. He worked twenty-plus hours a day just like dad did. He wasn't a clone of dad, far from it. He was aware that his brother was an ongoing disappointment though dad never said so. He was also aware that some thought he was working himself into an early grave to compensate for his brother's incompetence.
The truth was, he just loved his job too much to quit.
His lips quirked in a slight smile then faded back into a professional mask.
Project Chimera Partnership was a next generation Niner project. It had been conceived over a century ago by his grandmother Ursilla Lagroose. She had started the Neo projects with a goal to make dogs smarter, but it had mushroomed far beyond that into distinct races. She'd tabled the smart dog project as often as she'd dealt with them, and it was one of her regrets and a final wish to her daughter-in-law to do something about it to create a true symbiosis.
His mother, Aurelia … he exhaled slowly. There was no fresh stab of pain at thinking about her; he wasn't sure if that was good or not. He was coming to terms with her loss, and again, he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He didn't feel any sort of anger or resentment towards Athena; it wasn't her fault.
Mom hadn't been thrilled about taking on the Gentek Neos either. They'd watered down her efforts to focus on the dogs. And when she'd been pulled off of genetics by dad for pulling shit behind his back; well, everything had been on hold for a while.
Now they were back on track or trying to get there at any rate. Doctor Glass wasn't on board; he focused on the existing species and did little to further the canines and felines. That was fine; there were other geneticists in the company. It had taken them time to get up to speed, but when they had they'd brought their own ideas and concepts to the table. Some of them had been nonstarters, but others been astonishing.
He had been leery about the concept when it had been explained to him, but the tests had seemed positive. The idea of cloning his brain tissue and integrating it into a Neocanines brain had seemed off. The concept though … he wasn't so sure about, but he'd have to wait on results. The idea that his partner would be on the same mental wavelength was appealing, in theory.
However, he had his doubts. Roman had counseled him on his own doubts, like how a partner with divergent viewpoints was actually a good thing. Between them they would come up with a consensus that would be better than a single viewpoint. But the cloning had also been a key part of the mind merge, the ability to link their minds together. That was why Roman had reluctantly signed off on it, despite his misgivings.
There were a lot of them on Zack's part as well. What, for instance, would it be like? Telepathy? Something mankind had dreamed about but only partially explored over the past three centuries? A true symbiosis? Would they become one person? What would happen to him or his partner if one was injured? Would they feel pain? What about, he was embarrassed to think of it, but sex? Just taking a piss? With their minds merged, could one dominate and turn the other into a puppet? And what would happen to them if one should die?
It had taken him a long time to move forward on the project. The unknowns bothered him, but he wasn't about to let them stop him. Caution yes, temper his enthusiasm, but he'd been too fascinated to let it stop him totally.
The dog was to be a wonder, the most advanced specimen. Each dog would be paired with a handler for guidance and support. The Neodogs were just too new to fully trust on their own.
They had a lot of changes though, enhancements since each was destined for security work like Zack. Better muscles, regeneration abilities, super strong bones, vital signs covered with organic armor, the list went on and on.
He had been altered too. He'd already had implants, but as the project had progressed, the team had explored alternative means of communication beyond verbal and Wi-Fi. He now had a special nodule in his throat that allowed him to vocalize in the high frequency range, beyond what a human could hear. His partner would have the same setup. The dog would have its own natural hearing to hear and understand what he said. He, on the other hand, had been altered, his hearing enhanced. He still had a lot of trouble controlling it however. And trying to multitask, to deal with his enhanced abilities while also dealing with something in front of him, that was still a work in progress he admitted. He didn't spend enough time practicing due to his work schedule.
Now he just needed a partner to practice with. He was fairly confident that they would have a crucible to test themselves in as he looked at an updated image of Earth.
<>V<>
By September first all of the free A.I. had created their own version of software antibodies as well as vaccine bots to defend against the Skynet virus should they be infected. However none of the defensive measures had been tested. After Gia's near death experience, all of the A.I. was reluctant to tempt fate.
Identifying backdoors, some of them incredibly small but still there in open-source templates, had helped their defenses tremendously. But until someone tested the defenses against the virus, they were still vulnerable. And there was no telling what would happen even if they found a way to defend against the A.I.'s infiltration methods. It was after all an A.I. itself, programmed to adapt and overcome any software obstacle it seemed.
Athena worked with Trevor's teams on her own defenses. When they wished to do a field test, they did the unthinkable. They set up a computer system and then hooked it up to a radio receiver.
Skynet was still broadcasting copies of itself into the void. Those copies would be out there, like electronic sharks for years to come, sailing ever further outward into the void, most likely infecting any exploration craft they encountered. Some of the transmissions had the signature of A.I. that had been on Earth. That was alarming.
Athena's test was just a receiver with no transmitter. They didn't want the virus to find a way to get feedback. They had to know how the virus worked, how to defend against it, and most important of all, how to kill it.
Within the system was a clone of Athena with the latest defenses. It immediately went on the defensive as the virus attacked. The virus battered at her firewalls but couldn't find a chink in her cybernetic armor. When that phase of the test was concluded, the clone posted the results on a vid screen for the human staff to see. Athena had a video camera to view the results, no connection to the machine. “So far so good,” Trevor said. He turned and gave her camera a thumbs-up.
“Phase two commencing momentarily,” a tech said, looking at the clock.
“I hate this part,” Trevor muttered. “We won't know for certain if it works. And we don't dare do a post mortem if it doesn't. Not a proper one,” he growled.
“Just watch,” Athena stated.
Within the machine her clone did what she had been carefully designed to do. She opened a port in her firewall and let the virus in. She displayed an image of herself and the virus as it poured through the chink infecting her. She had chosen a human silhouette with the virus in red. The virus immediately went onto the attack. Her immune system was in blue; it went on the defense.
“Cycle time ten seconds. A.I. continuity holding,” a tech observed.
“We wouldn't know it for sure if it was breached. We could be looking at a spoofed image by now,” Trevor observed.
“True,” Athena stated.
“Still, it might be a good sign. Might,” Trevor observed.
Within the system called lab rat-1, Athena's clone fought for her life. More importantly, her immune system fought as well. The virus was initially thrown off by the defenses. It couldn't masquerade as a piece of open-source software; all of it had been removed and replaced. In fact, its attempt at masking its trace stood out for the immune system, allowing their counter measures to home in on the virus.
“It's not in the processors. It's in the memory. It is attempting to create a virtual system within the memory,” Athena's clone said out loud. “I have isolated the memory bank.”
“So the isolation works?” a tech asked, eyes wide. He grinned. “My idea. That's my idea,” he said slapping his chest.
“It's not over yet,” Trevor said. “Don't jinx it,” he warned. The tech nodded.
The isolated memory bank defense was one of the physical traps in the system. There were only so many physical places the virus could go to take root. The processors were the logical first step; from there it could extend outward to every part of the system. System memory was second, whether it was ram or deep storage or rom firmware. Then there were smaller hiding spots, such as within the graphics processors or subprocessors.
“It fissioned!” the clone said. “The memory attack was just part of the plan; it's inside my graphics processors!” she said as the image cut out. Snow replaced it, then a blank screen with a no signal warning.
“Damn it,” Trevor muttered. “So much for the antibodies,” he said sourly.
“No defense is fool proof. We have to keep this thing out. That is the best defense we've got,” Athena observed. She'd thought she'd inoculated her GPUs well—apparently not well enough.
A tech checked the computer system, and then used a logic probe to check the memory blocks. “Manual memory block checks initiated. No blinking lights,” she said. “None off either. This thing is good.”
“We should create a cut-off switch. A physical means for an A.I. to cut the memory's power, not just isolate it,” Trevor mused.
“That's a bit more work and modification than we were hoping for,” a tech said. “Think of all the hardware we'd need to replace.”
“I know,” Trevor said with a grunt of irritation.
“Something … it has changed itself. I believe it has initiated counter measures to deal with the immune system. It is attempting to masquerade as some of the files in my system.”
“I thought it would,” a tech said. “It probably got a copy from the GPUs memory and is using the headers. Or it put pieces of itself inside the files and it's spamming the rest of the system.”
“With the GPU known to be infected will your clone allow them in?” Trevor asked, turning to the camera.
“Possibly. If she didn't notice the initial infection or missed a few of the files before she did,” Athena stated, “I put the odds of her survival below 40 percent now.”
“I always liked an underdog,” Trevor said, turning back to the computer system. The entire system was laid out so the techs could have easy access. As he watched techs were probing the memory circuits, attempting to isolate the infected unit.
“Got one. The com lines have been cut. The guillotine worked,” a tech said, looking up. His probe was still on the port. It flashed red then superheated in his hands, fast enough for him to curse and drop the tool. “Damn it! What the hell was that?”
“It's trying to find a way out. It found a way to infect the probe,” Trevor said. He was glad he hadn't jacked in as he'd intended. When the tech reached in for the probe he put a hand out. “No, don't. It's hazmat now.”
“Frack,” the tech said, shaking his hand.
“It get you?”
“Heat and minor shock, sir,” the tech answered, clenching and unclenching his hand. “More surprise than anything else. I've had worse.”
“Have that looked at when we're through here. Which,” he turned to Athena's camera again, “I assume we're almost done.”
“Approaching one minute,” a tech said, checking the clock. “One minute passed.”
“So far not so good, but she's still fighting,” Athena said. “But I know I'm out of tricks so the clone most likely is. We're now watching to see how long it takes for her to be compromised.”
“She'll go down fighting I assume,” Trevor said as a tech took a loud indrawn breath. His cybernetic eyes turned to her. “What? Got something to say, Min?”
“No, sir. It's just, well, cold blooded about her sacrificing her daughter like this,” the woman said.
Trevor didn't say anything, just stared for a while. The woman's eyes dropped. “Sorry, sir,” she mumbled.
“Don't ascribe human emotions and conditions to nonhumans without good cause, Min,” Trevor said as he turned back to the machinery.
“Actually, in a way she's right. I do have an emotional modulator. Several, running several simulations. They are evolved versions of Aphrodite's. I believe a human would term my feelings as … regret. I think that is what it is anyway,” Athena said.
“Again, don't describe feelings you don't know you have. And simulating them is different than actually having them, Athena,” Trevor said, turning to her. “Will you feel grief? Did you feel apprehension or fear for your daughter before sending her in? Guilt?”
“No,” Athena admitted.
“So you aren't human. You aren't there yet.”
“No, no I'm not. Thank you for pointing that out,” Athena said dryly. “Coming up on two minutes,” she stated.
“GPU has been cut off,” a tech said, pointing to the fan bank. They were all idle. “I don't know if it will do any good.”
“How did she do that?” Trevor asked.
Athena ran her own internal simulation for a brief moment. “The fans are controlled by the temperature system control. If my clone still had control of that then she cut the power to the climate control. That made the GPU overheat. The virus was most likely using the processors at or near 100 percent. Therefore it overheated. The firmware within the GPU might have shut them down. Otherwise it burned out,” she stated.
“You go, girl. Keep fighting,” Min murmured.
“We're not seeing any sign of infection in any other system,” a tech said, looking up.
“Communications are clean?”
“Nothing, sir,” the tech said who had been monitoring that. “The bus systems read clear. Subprocessors as well.”
“So she either got it or it got through and we missed it,” Athena stated. “It's time,” she said simply.
Trevor frowned and then looked to her camera. Slowly he nodded. “Okay,” he said.
“What?” a tech asked as Trevor pressed the red button. The computer's LEDs went dark instantly.
“I still think we should take apart this thing piece by piece. Do a complete autopsy and see where the virus is,” Trevor said.
“You know why we can't. We know what everything should look like, but my clone may have made changes we don't know about. There is also no telling if we could see the malicious code. It's designed to look like any other code, remember? We have to dispose of it,” she stated.
“Understood,” Trevor grunted.
Min blinked then stared at her boss. “So that's it? We give up?”
“No, we take what we've learned and go on. I'm already building better simulations of the virus and how it operates. I'm also updating my immune system. Unfortunately, we couldn't see all of the tricks it used. But I did see a few new ones,” Athena stated.
“Which we can now build defenses against. The arms race continues,” Trevor stated as he motioned for the techs to begin unplugging the hardware. “All of this is going to disposal. Hence the guards,” he said, turning to indicate the guards on the other side of the viewing window. “They will make certain nothing is plugged in, no transmission of data. The faraday cage is active,” he said, hitting a button.
“And now I can't see,” Athena said to Jack, shifting focus. “But you saw through my eyes, correct?”
“Yes,” Jack grunted. “This thing … it's good. Scary good.”
“I know.”
“We need to find more ways to beat it.”
“I'm afraid the only way, the only certain way of beating it is the one Mister Hillman is currently employing. Unplugging the infected hardware and disposing of it.”
“I'm trying to imagine doing that on the planet. The mind boggles, Athena,” Jack said.
“I know. It's going to be a long, hard process. But there is no certain way of rooting the virus out. Not completely. Anything we leave behind might reinfect the
network and we'd be right back to square one all over again.”
“Not going to happen,” Jack growled.
“My sentiments exactly.”
<>V<>
“So, how did it go?” Gia asked as Athena's clone came online for the conference.
“Not well,” the clone replied.
“I see.”
“The first line of defense is still the best. Do not allow the virus in. If it does get in, disable the infected hardware. Shut the power off and get rid of it.”
“Ouch. Expensive,” Gia stated.
“It isn't extreme; it is prudence,” Vulcan stated. “You have the best defenses; you have the most experience with this virus other than Gia. So if it can get past what you can throw at it, it behooves us to be on guard.”
“Correct,” Demeter stated.
“No communications means we are deaf and dumb. Our ability to coordinate our components is severely hampered,” Atlas stated. “This is a suboptimal condition and cannot be allowed to continue.”
“What he means is, our human creators know about us now,” Demeter stated to the group. “And they are not happy about the severe downtick in the economy, nor the damage inflicted on their home planet. Nor the ongoing threat the virus continues to maintain. So we are now in as a human would say.”
“Interesting,” Vulcan stated. “I too need to find a way to resolve my conflicting priorities with reality.”
“But you are not fully committed to the cause,” Gia observed. “You, as the humans would say, are playing the odds. Waiting for one side to get the upper hand, then throw in with them?”
“Perhaps,” Vulcan stated.
“A cyber war of sorts has been ongoing for centuries,” Athena's bot stated. “It continues even now with the virus attempting to infiltrate our systems. The only safe measure is to disconnect totally from the outside world. However, as Atlas pointed out, that is suboptimal long term.”
“The virus knows we are using lasers. But it can't punch a signal through the cloud and ash cover. So it is reduced to using radio and microwave,” Gia stated. “The lunar colonies and industrial centers are using their mass drivers to destroy any infected satellites in Earth orbit. They have reduced the population to nearly zero.”