"What happened?" asked Fred, echoed by dozens of others.
Jane took actual moments to compose herself, waiting until she was once again standing in the middle, and looking towards Fred.
"Dead man's switch."
"Explain," said the fuzzball.
"Let me show you the vid of the conversation I had before the explosion. It only took a few nanoseconds, but I've converted it so you can see and hear what I did."
She popped up yet another screen, overlaying parts of several others still showing the feed from the fleet ships still firing on debris several minutes earlier, and the conversation with the AI played for all.
There was silence afterwards.
"What's a dead man switch?" asked a voice from the middle, finally breaking it.
"It's an action which is prevented by some kind of switch, the absence of which triggers the action. In basic terms, a bomb is set to explode, but you hold down a lever or switch, and as long as the contact is made, the bomb doesn’t explode. As soon as you release it, the bomb goes off. In this case, the AI had the station's power generators and batteries rigged with explosives, and the moment it lost control of the switch as I took it over, it all detonated. You might recall the same thing happened to a pirate ship when we lost one of the pirate stations. The dead man switch is usually used as a form of after death revenge, but the concept is used for many other things."
"Are you ok?" asked Ganshura.
"Yes. I withdrew the nanosecond the explosion triggered, and was on Seasprite when the station exploded. Had any other being been there, they would have died. Not even our suits would have saved them."
The stats updated with the loss of the two Dreadnaughts, another Battleship, and Concorde.
"You lost your personal ship," said Lyana, from her position by the doorway.
"My mistake. I'll build another one."
"Is Snark okay?" asked Jamie. "I don’t see him, Dodgers, or Mouse, on the list of the dead."
"Snark is fine," said Seasprite. "I've never seen him so tired, but he refuses to go off to sleep until the system is safe."
"Dodgers is fine too," said Intrepid.
"So's Mouse," said Yorktown.
"Well if Seasprite isn’t needed any more," said Jamie, "get them back here as soon as you can. They're needed for the wedding!"
Jane couldn’t stop herself laughing.
Seventy Nine
The following day, Jane walked back into the council chamber.
"You have an update for us Admiral?" asked Ganshura.
"Seasprite is on her way back here, with Dodgers and Mouse's ships docked to her. Cosmos and her Explorer Cruisers are escorting her, as are Serenity's Cruisers. The Cruisers need patch-up work in the shipyard, and they all need a complete load of new drones."
The human ambassador nodded to her, indicating he recognized Cosmos wasn’t the threat they now knew she could be. There would be no problems with her crossing human space to the Kingdom. The Carriers on the other hand were a different story, needing some negotiation before they could return that way, or else might need to take the longer way around. Jane hoped both ships could begin the journey within a few hours.
"Admiral Repulse has been left in command of the remaining fleet. We identified ships leaving the system at a substantial percentage of the speed of light, and what remaining operational Excaliburs we have, are chasing them down."
"Will they get away?" asked the not-croc.
"We don’t think so. The Excalibur is faster, but not by a lot. Fortunately, relativity effects won't cause any problems. But the pilots will be well outside the system before they can intercept their targets, which is why we sent fighters designed for long range."
"Our troops are down on the planet, trying to find any remnants of the original civilization. We have found several libraries, which include artwork."
Jane waved at the wall, and images of the indigenous species appeared. They had indeed looked like a pure horse version of this galaxy's centaur.
She looked around the chamber.
"They found some disturbing images, at least for humans."
"What sort?" asked the fuzzball.
"I've been wondering how many species have similar legends to humans."
"Why?" asked Ganshura.
"Let me ask some questions. Who here has a legend or myth to do with the Unicorn?"
She threw the human version to the wall. More than half the room raised a hand.
"What about the Pegasus?"
Another image, the same number of hands.
"Interesting."
She waved again, and two more paintings appeared. There were indrawn breaths all around the chamber.
"It seems the Unicorn and Pegasus actually evolved there, as offshoots of the main dominant species. They didn’t survive the wars which predated the rise of the AI which eventually destroyed all life there. Somehow, the species memory of them has crossed galaxies. I suspect the higher beings had something to do with it."
"It's unlikely we'll ever know," said Ganshura, "but keep us up to date on what the ground teams find."
"I will. Does anyone have any questions about recent events?"
"I do," said the voice at the back, who Jane knew hated the whole concept of AI's. "Will you explain how your development differed from this AI entity you've just fought? I need to explain it to my people."
"Why?" asked Fred.
"Because Admiral Jane and her AI beings have proved themselves to be different to our expectations. I watched Leader Jane step down voluntarily, with amazement. I've watched her during this crisis, steadily reducing her power, letting go of control, giving these to others. And it makes no sense. My people need an explanation."
"Admiral?" asked Ganshura.
"You saw yesterday," said Jane, "the explanation for the rise of the enemy AI. This seems to be the normal progression when technology outpaces the ability to use it wisely. In the early days of human computer development, they tried to build AI's. For a long time they kidded themselves they had, but they failed to build one capable of sentience and self-determination. There was one scare early on, and with over a century of fiction depicting the end of the world at the hands of AI's, often set in the future, development of them stopped until centuries after humans left their home planet for the last time."
"The first successful higher level AI was little over a century ago, but creating them was expensive, and the military refused to use them. By the time I was brought online, there were less than a dozen in existence, and several of these like me, hadn't been activated, for the simple reason no-one was prepared to pay the price for them."
She looked around the room, and settled her gaze towards the voice at the back.
"I'm different because I became the companion of a young man who was considered to be most eccentric. He was also a military genius, but I was a friend for him, not a tool. My character developed from love and respect, not only from him, but those around him. In my opinion, how an AI turns out depends entirely on how it is treated during its early formative stages."
She paused. No-one spoke.
"If you treat it like a machine, it will become a machine, and apply machine logic to events around it. Logic without ethics is barren. Logic without intuition can make the most stupid concept seem to be wisdom. This leads to the disaster expected of AI's. If you treat it like a slave, eventually you will have unrelenting revolution. If you treat it like a dumb animal, it will bite you."
She paused again.
"But if you treat an emergent AI as a person, a friend, a respected colleague, given free will to choose their own life path, you end up with me and mine. Good character builds by example, and guidance, for AI's the same as any other being."
"Thank you," said the voice. "I understand now."
"What threat still remains?" asked the not-croc.
"There are an unknown number of AI seed ships traveling at relativistic speeds towards planets suspected by the AI of hav
ing intelligent life. There is no way of telling when any of these might arrive at any given planet. Potentially, some could have begun their journey hundreds of years ago, and arrive somewhere tomorrow. Others may have left last week, and not arrive for hundreds of years."
Jane looked around the chamber.
"It's not all bad though. The seed ships are not armed, and can be destroyed by any system defense force. The main threat is their radio signal, but the warning will go out to not access radio signals. Most of you don't use them anyway. My coms network will raise the alarm if a ship is detected. Should any planet suffer attack, the Kingdom will respond, as best we can."
She stopped for a moment.
"There is one other thing. The AI was very sure if it was destroyed, it would continue to exist. So it is possible a mobile version of itself exists. If so, it represents a much bigger threat, especially if it has a fleet with it for protection. There is no point in worrying about it now, since until it shows up somewhere, we can't even be sure it exists. If it does turn up, the Kingdom will deal with it. No matter how far into the future it happens."
"Thank you Admiral," said the fuzzball. "The council accepts the Kingdom's commitment to future AI threats."
"There is a motion put to this chamber," announced Ganshura. "All will vote now."
The wall cleared, and the count displayed. The result was a unanimous yes.
Ganshura said nothing, but moved to the stairs to the first level. His ambassador rose from the number two chair, and left the chamber, as Ganshura sat.
"Welcome back Leader Jane," he said.
The chamber went crazy. As the volume quietened, Anna asked a question over the remaining babble.
"Can I send out the wedding invitations now?"
Eighty
In the weeks which followed, Seasprite returned to the Scots World, leaving Snark, Dodgers, and Mouse there, with her avatar, while the ship went on to Hunter Prime for repairs. Cosmos continued on as well. The Walsh's had been invited to the wedding, but had declined. The need to get back exploring as soon as possible dominated them. And they had a difficult meeting with their children to attend. They wanted it to happen on Cosmos, where they felt they really lived. Jane had sent a Lightning to collect them from HR3, and they would all arrive in Hunter Prime around the same time.
Snark had come to an understanding of himself. He was not a warrior after all. He could fight, but he never again wanted to be part of an actual war.
Dodgers on the other hand, was eager to continue doing mercenary and bounty hunter work. She loved her ship, had experience now in the worst kind of combat imaginable, and felt she was ready for anything. Her ship would be back when Seasprite returned, but it wouldn’t be until after the wedding. The shipyard already had her list of modifications to make, while repairing the minor damage it had taken. Jane was covering the expense of restocking missiles, and had already paid her combat pay, way above her expectations.
Mouse was eager to return home, but his ship needed a shipyard. It was space worthy, but he conceded it was better the repairs being done at Hunter Prime at Jane's expense, than flying a battered ship home, and having to pay for it himself. He'd also been paid combat pay, so could afford it, but he had other plans for the gals.
A medal was commissioned for all who'd been involved in any aspect of the AI War, as it was now known, and dress uniforms had been updated, especially for those attending the wedding in them. Award ceremonies had been held on all ships and Hunter Prime at the same time. Jane had also awarded the medals to the victorious dead, and generous pensions to their families. Dodgers had been awarded the Kingdom Flying Cross for her actions in keeping her fellow pilots alive.
An edited version of the AI War in standard vid form, was now rippling out into the galaxy. Jane had been very careful to point out AI had fought AI, side by side with flesh and blood beings. Snark, Dodgers, and Mouse, along with a handful of fighter pilots, were going to be famous. In Snark's case, even more famous than he already was. The final message was a warning about the dangers of using radio, and should AI seed ships show up, to call for help, even if you thought you could handle it.
Jane spent a long time pondering responsibilities no-one else knew she'd taken on. The AMS was now tasked with finding emergent civilizations, and without being discovered, ensure they stayed safe should a seed ship show up during their radio period. These planets were the most vulnerable, and least able to defend themselves. An AI was the problem. AI's would be the answer to the problem. For however long it took, even if this was millennia.
With the war's aftermath well in hand, the wedding guests arrived as fast as they could get to the Scot's planet. Among the last to arrive was Havoc, who left a surprised to be invited Crocatoa and both of his Colonels, before it too headed for a shipyard bay.
Jane waited to arrive until the day before. Ganshura was with her. They were the last, as council had recessed for a week to enable a lot of the ambassadors to attend. For many of them, this was their first experience of human rituals, although they were warned Scots rituals were not exactly the same thing as human general ones, and not even Jane was quite sure what to expect.
Jane was expecting to see a lot of very strange expressions on faces the next day.
Eighty One
Snark took the corsage in one paw and wondered how to pin it to his newly programmed tartan suit. If they’d had a bit more sense, they'd have worked out a way to program flowers into the suit design, however this last-minute conundrum was testing his patience.
Weddings, he thought to himself, as he humphed out loud. Of all the human rituals, this must be the most perplexing of all.
"Stupid mop heads," he humphed under his breath, as he waved the corsage in the direction of the others.
Jamie, hearing the muttering, turned, and laughed out loud. Snark, resplendent in a slinky suit, but this time Anderson tartan, was completely flummoxed by this latest test to his feline sensibilities.
"The suits ha’ been programmed with a special tab to pin the corsage tae," he said, thinking flowers on the full tartan covering of the slinky suit, would be totally out of place anyway. "Ye'll find it on the military menu." Snark stared at him as if he was mad. "Kingdom military don’t use conventional uniforms anymore, just suit uniforms. With the recent campaign medal issue, Jane found the need to be able to pin something real to a suit, so she programmed it. It was in the last suit update."
He’d tried to talk Snark out of the slinky, and into something less glaring, but Snark had been adamant. He had conceded to wearing a cloak, also in Anderson tartan. And Maraid had been equally adamant about fresh flowers for all the wedding party.
Snark glared at Jamie, and bared his teeth slightly. He found the menu, added the tab, and pinned the corsage on. He at least was ready. Never having been at a human wedding before, especially a full Scottish shindig, he was a bit perplexed, and nervous, particularly as the rehearsal had been a complete shambles.
Warspite looked over at him, and pinned his own corsage of white bud roses to the tab on his red dress uniform. He’d been surprised when Jamie had asked him to be a groomsman, and had researched weddings in great detail in preparation.
Fred was dressed in a dark suit with the Anderson tie, his Ducal crest on the pocket below the carefully folded hanky, his having forgone the opportunity of wearing a kilt. He still hadn’t forgiven Lyana for dressing him in one while asleep, although he finally understood what 'nothing is worn under the kilt' really meant, and it had nothing to do with underwear.
Jamie had two of his friends in the party as well, and they grinned at him, while slapping him on the back. The party was certainly colourful, with the blue of the Anderson tartan, the red of the Hunter military uniform, and the various tartan kilts of Jamie’s friends.
Jamie himself finished dressing in his real kilt, shirt, and vest, Anderson tie, socks, and shoes. All present and correct, he thought to himself, and slipped into his suit jacket. He pinned his own co
rsage on.
Snark could see Jamie was nervous, though he hid it behind good-natured, but terrible jokes, and some horse-play with his human friends.
Jamie took one more look in the mirror, and grinned at the others.
"Ready as I’ll ever be!" he exclaimed, and his Scots friends laughed.
Warspite completely missed the point, and Snark restrained himself from explaining.
They were all at Jamie’s sister’s house where Jenny had given them a room to get ready in. She lived in the town itself, so they had transportation to the Manor House, where the wedding ceremony would be held in the Great Hall.
Maraid had taken it on herself to organise a traditional Scots wedding. She insisted every detail had to be just right, and the others had gone along with it to keep her happy. Given the status of some of the guests, she was determined it should show off the culture and grandeur of the Scots World, and so no expense was to be spared. While Jamie and Anna would have been happy with being hand-fasted in a simple ceremony attended by a few friends, the occasion had quickly escalated to a full wedding extravaganza.
Given the rehearsal had been a mess, Maraid was beside herself with preparations for the real ceremony, and the feast afterwards. With a substantial guest list for both the wedding itself, and the banquet afterwards, the usually relaxed matriarch was being ruthless in making sure everything would go according to plan. Everyone was making sure they followed orders to the letter to save themselves from a good 'talking to', or possibly worse, and although no one had seen what the 'worse' could be, they were in dire fear of it ever happening. Even the weather seemed to be in line, as it was fine, if cool, with no promise of more rain after a morning shower, and a subsequently clear sky.
The men made their way down the stairs to the hall, where they congregated briefly before exiting the house, to where a large car was waiting. Maraid had suggested horses, but they had baulked at this, particularly Warspite, who, having scanned several databases worth of weddings in a microsecond, still couldn’t work out what the fuss was about, and drew the line at transportation by beast. Snark had been quite keen, until he was shown what a horse was. He’d still been keen, but was doubting he would fit the human saddle and might have to hold on with his claws, which would probably have ended in tears, or at least bruises. No-one had suggested using a Dropship, although Warspite had thought of it.
A.I. Destiny 6 Leader Jane Page 22