by Ginger Booth
“Welcome to the Mars Colony sports complex!” For this meeting, Sass decided to host them in VR. Clay showed Tharsis around briefly once before, on the Luna Colony mockup. On a functional level, this provided a private meeting space while seated in Thrive’s public galley.
Colonel Tharsis stared at the wall-sized poster of a tiger leaping out of lush jungle. Unlike his familiar Sanctuary version, the sports drink ad was obvious here. Sass let Clay explain the facilities by way of ice-breaker. The six of them gathered on a fairly tight crescent of stadium seating above a hexagonal ga-ga pit. Clay even played them a segment of a long-ago dodge ball game to demonstrate.
Sass tapped his foot to wrap it up, and let him complete one final sentence and freeze the recording. She pointed to the spectators and pit, and he disabled them, winking out the fake people until just the six of them remained.
“I have progress to report!” Sass launched with forced enthusiasm. “Our friends on Mahina have been able to reconstruct the original primary directives given to Shiva. The god rules, if you will. Your AI’s fundamental instructions.”
“I don’t understand,” Ling said querulously.
Hugo Silva suggested, “Let’s hold questions for the end. Continue, Sass.”
Good idea, Sass agreed. “Our experts note a serious flaw in Shiva’s directives. She was never given a domain of operations. In the Aloha system, our AI’s are forbidden to act on human beings, by any means. Yours is not.”
“We need Shiva to manage human beings,” Tharsis pointed out.
Sass hung arrested. This stunning statement derailed her pitch for today. “Why would you want her to do that? I mean, she’s doing it now. She’s operating your people like puppets.”
Tharsis waved this away. “Of course, we agree that she’s entirely too intrusive. However we need her to raise the children. We’ve discussed this at length. We decided the ideal is for her to continue chip control until age 18 or so. Then we’d gradually wean the youth off. So that young people are self-directed by age 20.”
Sass blurted, “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard!”
Tharsis and Lumpkin bristled. “Children are so inconvenient,” Ling murmured.
“Excuse me,” Sass continued, in a tone anything but apologetic. “But human children need to be raised by humans. Your plan would have them graduating from creche as useless, docile morons!”
Clay stomped on her foot. “Children are inconvenient. For instance, they learn from mistakes. Which means to become a competent adult, you need to make untold thousands of mistakes. But without making all those mistakes, the child remains incapable. At the moment, you have at least nine years of educational malpractice to undo. You can’t allow this to continue.”
“But what competence do we need?” Lumpkin argued. “Shiva provides for us. The children are healthy.”
“If you’re unwilling to train children,” Sass growled, “you shouldn’t be permitted to have them! As a society.” Though she also meant Lumpkin personally.
Tharsis raised a placating hand. “Captain, I agree in theory. And I enjoy my children, unlike most. Our problem here was that for a viable colony, we require many children. Far in excess of the available motivation to raise them. Sanctuary would have died out quickly if we didn’t take advantage of the AI for babysitting duty.”
“Then Sanctuary deserved to die out,” Sass said flatly.
Clay covered his face with a hand. The others sat in stony silence. “Sass, your suggestion was?” Clay prompted.
“We need to insert new directives into Shiva, forbidding all operation on human beings. Her domain is resource extraction, manufacturing, and facilities upkeep. The human domain is food production, science, child-rearing, any care of other humans. Shiva controls robots. Humans handle humans. Period.”
“Sass has the necessary logic directives,” Clay added to Hugo Silva. “A sixteen-year-old friend on Mahina was our point person. Nico Copeland.”
Sass was proud to bursting of Nico’s role in figuring out new directives. And to think he was a listless blue baby in a phosphate mine when she met the poor darling. But she couldn’t help wondering why Clay volunteered that factoid, when their audience clearly despised young people.
But Hugo cast a guilty glance toward Tharsis. “Two things. One, colonel – I’m not sure I would ever have learned about AI or software unless I started long before Nico’s age. Math, technology, software – these are disciplines we need to start early. Or they’ll never make sense to you.” He waved an apologetic hand toward Ling. “Sass is right. Our children are not being taught what they need to know to replace us.
“Two. Sass, assuming we could get agreement that this new directive was a good idea,” fat chance, “have you made any progress on how to get the god password?”
Sass shifted back in her chair, and refolded her legs another way. “Our experts believe there is no god password.”
“There most certainly is,” Hugo asserted.
“Our experts suggest there was,” Sass allowed. “But not anymore. That when Shiva achieved sentience, she was granted her own right of self-determination. Something like this proposal that a 20-year-old should finally be allowed to think for himself. Except she had to practice and pass a test first.”
“Captain!” Tharsis barked. “This is not your planet! You are a guest here, and you will respect our decisions!”
“For the record, colonel,” Hugo interjected. “I agree with her. This is no way to train our next generation. We’re too dependent on our AI.”
Lumpkin shot him a withering glare. “Duly noted, scholar. The subject is closed. I believe the next item on the agenda was database transfer. Why haven’t you shared your data with Alexandria, Ling’s librarian?”
“Is she? Ling’s librarian?” Sass hooked her heels onto the guard rails before her and slouched in her seat. She trusted the body language was suitably defiant. “Major Ling, where is Alexandria’s office?”
“There are nearly 1400 Loonies in Sanctuary, captain,” Ling objected. “I…”
“Of course. I apologize. Where is your library?” Sass asked.
“Ah, well…”
Tharsis sighed. “Petunia, you don’t have a library. Shiva controls our data storage.”
Sass allowed a brief silence, then pointed out the obvious. “I can’t give your hostile AI my data on the Aloha system. Shiva has multiple ships, fuel, powerful next-generation star drives. Unlike me, she has working warp drives. She can beat me home to Aloha. If she wants, she could inflict extreme damage on my home system.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“With respect, colonel, she’s already murdered seven of my crew and grievously harmed two more. We’re not allowed to enter your colony without being chipped. So far, I have no way to refill my water tanks, buy food or fuel, or return home.”
“Your two chipped individuals are not ‘grievously harmed’!”
Sass thunked her feet to the concrete ground and leaned forward. “You’re wrong! Darren Markley was one of the most joyous, brilliant men I ever met. Now he’s sad and confused and wants to divorce his wife of fifty years. Young Zelda was happy, perky, can-do, and excited to come on the adventure of a lifetime. She had a promising career in atmospheric chemistry. Now she helps in the kitchen. And the four of you? Aren’t thinking clearly either.”
She pounced. “Hugo? You were desperate for the god password. Did your grandmother truly never mention this?”
“Yes, I remember now,” Hugo admitted sadly. “You’re right. I…forgot. I’m thinking better now, the longer I stay on Thrive.” He’d never left, despite a half dozen opportunities. “Aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Clay agreed. “Just like Darren and Zelda. And these three. Sorry, Hugo, but you’ve always been higher-functioning.”
The scholar winced. Alas, his clearer intellect had yet to cough up a solution to Shiva’s brain nanites.
“I can solve my own water,” Sass said. “Eventually. I
mean, you did. But why you don’t have the human decency to trade food and water is beyond me.”
Lumpkin threw up her hands. “We are at an impasse. We are willing to give you what you ask. We ask very little in return.”
“I’m afraid that’s only because you can’t think straight,” Sass returned. “Does anyone have anything constructive to add? Or, you’re just happy to be Shiva’s little robots?”
“Sass…” Clay warned.
“Clearly we are not,” Tharsis growled. “And we are working the problem.”
“On behalf of over 5,000 slaves,” Sass conceded. “Whom you have agreed to keep enslaved rather than consult them. Colonel, have you considered who exactly would be willing to take you in, should you ask it of another world?”
“We had a very sound proposal ready for Cantons.”
“They’d be fools to take you,” Sass countered. “Or permit your AI anywhere near them. Until it’s muzzled. With that, I believe we’re done here.”
She accessed her VR menu and rudely kicked the mayors out, plus Clay to play host. She kept the scholar behind for a quick word, though.
“Hugo, our geeks on Mahina believe the best way to install new directives is to persuade Shiva it’s in her best interest, or the best interest of the colony. Or, build a virus capable of sneaking it in. Or, turn her off. Shiva cannot persist if we power down the computers and wipe her cores.”
He blanched. “Sanctuary can’t survive without Shiva. Life support in the colony could start decaying within hours. You said yourself, our skills are pitiful. And they’ll keep getting worse if we don’t break the children loose. Even the experienced people…”
“Have lost their skills,” Sass completed his thought. “Well, think about it. But at this point, I need to ask you to return to Sanctuary. We enjoy your friendship, and hope to continue working together. But if I can’t solve this impasse, Thrive needs to pursue a new agenda.”
Hugo cowered. “Is that a threat, captain?”
Sass shrugged, and kicked him out of VR.
As she pulled off her headset in the galley, two of the three mayors were already sniping at Clay. The third, Ling, stared at the wall, hopefully just a habit she hadn’t broken yet. Sass could say this for her lover – Clay truly didn’t care when other people went mental. He stood erect, arms cross on his chest, and gazed at them implacably.
“Ten minutes to pack and say good-bye, Hugo,” Sass interrupted. “Clay, would you like to deposit the mayors back home, or shall I?”
Clay raised a dry eyebrow. “I prefer to do it, captain.” He meant he didn’t trust her with the chore. “Though perhaps we could all take a breather, and resume talks more calmly.”
“No, Mr. Rocha,” Sass overruled him. “Colonel Tharsis is correct. I don’t respect them enough to talk further. Have fun dropping them off.”
On automatic, she turned to assure the mayors it was a pleasure. But it wasn’t. So instead she turned and stalked out of the chamber to head for her office.
“Captain!” Hugo attempted. “My ansible!”
She ignored him. OK, the ansible was outright theft. But she needed it. She wished she only needed it professionally. But in truth, the antlered box was her emotional teddy bear. She craved her weekly talks with Cope and Ben like an addict longed for her fix. Maybe she’d call them again tonight, off schedule, just to vent.
No. Be here now. She’d gone to a lot of trouble to get here. She dragged along others, including seven to their deaths. Maybe she’d call Loki Greenwald again later. The wildcatter lived in this world, if not in the colony.
Sounds wafted to her from the catwalk. Clay physically blocked Hugo from coming forward to argue with her. She tuned them out.
Then Dot commed her. “Captain, if you’re done with the mayors –”
“Oh so very done. Done with Shiva, too.”
Dot chuckled softly. “There’s another development. If you could come to med-bay.”
“Good news?”
“I’m afraid not.”
128
Sass exited her office, then took the express hop down to the hold. Clay hadn’t left yet, so she ignored them all. Once inside med-bay, she locked the door behind her and nodded to Remi and Dot.
Sass tried to smile, with haunted eyes. “What’s up?”
Remi lounged feet up on the auto-doc cot, the only bed in the compact room. He flashed a similar half-smile. “Not my arches.”
“Oh?” She had fallen arches once, after her son was born. The complaint was common enough. The Army doctor told her a third of all people had flat feet. Unfortunately they didn’t have them in the Army – they were cashiered. Of course, her nanites fixed that. “Well, you look tired lately, Remi. Getting enough sleep?”
He waved to Dot, who took over. “Captain, Yang-Yang nanites correct flat feet. And those crow's-feet as well.”
Sass peered more closely at his face. This time when their eyes met, her smile was warm and genuine, though professional.
Meanwhile Dot pulled up another skull diagram on her monitor. Since they arrived on this planet, Sass had seen more of those than she ever wanted. This one didn’t show the lime green nanite dots.
Dot flourished her hand. “Remi’s brain.” She flicked to another picture. “My brain.” On this one the nanites were magenta for Yang-Yangs. “Darren’s brain.” Lime green speckled throughout, with a smattering of magenta. “Your brain.” Sass and Clay’s extraordinary nanites were shown in cobalt blue. “Remi’s brain again.”
“You’re not showing the nanites.”
“No, Sass. He has no active nanites.”
Sass’s eyes widened, and she laid a hand on Remi’s arm in reassurance. “We’ll get you a fresh set of Yang-Yangs, don’t worry.”
Dot shook her head. “I gave him a fresh set of nanites yesterday. He came in reporting flat feet the day before, and several other symptoms of resumed aging. Today those nanites are gone from his system.
Sass kept her hand on the engineer’s arm. “Has anyone else experienced this?”
Dot looked down, then away. Medical ethics required her not to say.
Remi volunteered, “Husna. That’s why she hides. Her face… She ages faster than me.”
“Yes, she would,” Sass murmured. “And no one else? Remi, do you have any theories about how this happened?”
He and Husna spent an unusual amount of time together. Granted, as a miner, he had more in common with Husna than anyone else. But she’d prefer he spent his spare time on several other engineering challenges on the ship. Markley’s nanites, for instance, and the still-warped pressure bulkhead for crew berthing. Not that she had much crew these days.
“Question, captain,” Remi replied. “Your touch is not intimate, inappropriate?”
She patted his arm, then left her hand lying as it was. “Do you think I am making a pass at you, Mr. Roy?”
“No, captain.”
“Good. Answer the question. What caused this?”
“I don’t know, of course. We live same as everyone on Thrive. The only thing I can think of, is the lake.”
“The lake?”
“Yes. I step in the lake. An accident. My suit is wet, and I ride home with Husna in my arms.”
“In your arms? Quick work, Mr. Roy.”
“I told you, one horse has no air left!” Sass and Dot exchanged grins. “Ah, this is teasing, yes?”
“Yes,” both women confirmed.
He threw up both arms in disgust. “This water, she is no problem, yes? How does water get through a p-suit? But it did. I go to bed that night – of course alone! And my leg, it glows blue-green like the lake. In the morning, I speak to Husna. She has same experience, though the patch on her leg is small.
“I help her study this, because I am confused. How does glowing water cross my p-suit? You know how dry it is here. My suit, she is barely damp when I mount Quartz with Husna –”
“Quartz?” Sass asked.
“They named the ho
rses,” Dot supplied. “Quartz and Scheherazade. To be romantic.”
Remi glared at her. “It was romantic! It was lovely! You and Darren should try this, ignite your romance.”
“Rekindle,” Sass suggested.
Remi waved that away. “My suit, her suit, they pass inspection. I even fill the leg with water. No seepage. We study the lake water samples together. To solve this mystery. But we don’t touch it again.”
“From your investigation, are you surprised it seeped through your suit?”
“From our studies, we understand nothing,” Remi conceded. “So I ask Hugo. He says this phosphorescence is why it is so hard to purify the lake water. The lake is forbidden now. But not when he is a child. When young, he swimmed in it.”
“Swam. Huh. Could they really have enough mind control to keep teenagers out of the lake?”
“Of course no,” Remi replied. “When teenagers fall in now, they go to quarantine. Six weeks.”
“It’s been four weeks.” Sass thought this through. “Dot, is Husna safe for six weeks without nanites?”
“She’s inconsolable. She’s years from an active dying stage –”
“You misunderstand me. If you give her Yang-Yangs six weeks from now, will her aging reverse? She’ll be well?”
“I think so. Unless… Well, she’s old in the meantime, and getting older. There’s risk of heart attacks, strokes, falls and broken bones.”
Sass nodded impatiently. “But we expect she can survive aging for six more weeks.”
“What are you thinking, Sass?” Remi asked.
“What if we dosed Darren and Zelda with this water? Would it kill off all the nanites in their systems, including Shiva’s? And then we add fresh Yang-Yangs six weeks later.”
“No!” Dot’s voice sounded strangled. As the other two glanced to her, she swallowed and fidgeted with the edge of the counter. Sass gave her a few moments, until she explained haltingly. “Please. We could test on Zelda. She’s young anyway. Living without nanites isn’t so bad for her, but… Wait on Darren until the experiment proves out.”
Sass suggested gently, “That choice should be Darren’s. I’m sure he’ll consider his wife’s views.” That might mean he’d knee-jerk choose the exact opposite of what Dot wanted. “Maybe I should speak to him before you.”