I don't want to have an argument with you. :-/ It is not that I couldn't defend my position and I did have a defense written out, but that I don't want to have an argument with a friend. As I said before, I think the story is good and it is a good thing that the character can get a strong reaction. I just think she is way over the line ethically speaking. (She is not the only one to meddle in AI who is guilty IMO, but easily the most flagrant offender.)
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I'm with gulberat here. If you are capable of creating life, whether artificial or biological, you're responsible for giving it a good life.
Anything else is fundamentally parental abuse, or at the very least gross negligence. Alice is pretty clearly in the dark end of the moral scale, and though her ends are probably noble, her means are most certainly not. And that's what matters.
Anyway, great story, can't wait for the next update!
I was much more willing to cut her slack as a victim of an atrocity, until she decided to turn around and commit her own act of torture. I wouldn't hold her responsible for the original's actions or simply for existing, but now that she has deeds of her own, I do think she needs to answer for this crime. :-/ It's a matter of her own decisions now, not that of her prior iteration. She of all people should know better.
Had she solely staked her *own* mind in this (no spawning another instance of herself, but still taking the direct-connect risk), I don't think I would be so bothered...I could file that under "illegal, yes, but not necessarily *wrong,*" and I would very likely have given her a pass for it. A dangerous action solely involving a consenting adult isn't so much of a problem--and AI's and Liberated Borg make such decisions on occasion, to do things that could be harmful to them personally.
Creating another sentient being in an inherently torturous situation as a slave to do her dirty work and potentially die horribly in the process...that I do have a major, major problem with, so that is something I do think merits her getting put away for life.
Now that I think about it, Magneto may be a good comparison for what's going on with Alice Okuda. Magneto was similarly tortured and victimized--but somewhere in the process he went from victim to becoming exactly what he despised and being unable to see that the ends did not justify the means. I also felt Magneto deserved to be punished for his deeds, but he gets points for not simply being a cardboard cutout villain. I'd say Alice falls into the same category.
I'm with gulberat here. If you are capable of creating life, whether artificial or biological, you're responsible for giving it a good life.
Anything else is fundamentally parental abuse, or at the very least gross negligence. Alice is pretty clearly in the dark end of the moral scale, and though her ends are probably noble, her means are most certainly not. And that's what matters.
Amazing. Even if they don't quite have the same thought processes, Worffan and Berat actually agree on something. :eek:
And I should emphasize again that my dislike for Alice doesn't mean a bad idea or badly written. The comparison to Magneto was not an accident.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Amazing. Even if they don't quite have the same thought processes, Worffan and Berat actually agree on something. :eek:
That's one of the reasons why I love to stir up controversy with my writing - you never know who'll end up taking who's side. :cool:
(the other reason is of course the more replies a post generates, the longer it stays on the front page and the more people check it out.)
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
To be honest, I actually agree with gulberat on quite a bit.
We differ on certain political issues, our personal religious leanings, and of course my low tolerance for irrationality, but he's a very intelligent person who I respect quite a bit.
Anyway, Sander, when's the next part of this going to be up? And when's Ssharki going to tear Quinndine to bits? (because that'd be epic)
Anyway, Sander, when's the next part of this going to be up? And when's Ssharki going to tear Quinndine to bits? (because that'd be epic)
Patience, my young friend. This is but one of half a dozen projects I have active right now. (Also working on "Honor Among Thieves," contributing to "Come the Fall," and I have unfinished LCs and other stories not yet posted.) Next Monday will be the earliest we'll see the next chapter.
And Quinn(dine?) is our big bad - the time has the be just right to confront him.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Don't move
Don't do anything
What we got to, it got away
Slipped from us
Don't sleep, don't
Don't say anything, they've
Been recording all we say
For years now
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely now, but don't
Don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
I'm gone
Don't feel
Don't love anything
Love attracts all those who taint
The cherished
Don't try to
To change anything
Nothing pure can ever stay
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely now, but don't
Don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
They'll say
"Relax, you'll be fine"
(All we love goes away)
They'll take
All you let them find
(All we love goes away)
It was mine
It was mine
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely
But don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
P A R T . F O U R , . C H A P T E R . O N E :
A L L . Y O U . L E T . T H E M . F I N D
Muncipal Sector 1101, Bynaus - 2412.07.22.0957 (Federation Standard Time)
After nearly a week of hopping between transports to throw off pursuers (including an uncomfortable three days stowed away on a Pakled freighter,) Thag finally decided they were safe enough to touch down. Of course he couldn't pick a nice place to hide out...
"So why are we here anyway? We could have gone to Risa, gone pretty much anywhere. This place is deader than the Dark Lady's bedchamber." Heiki wasn't happy, and when she wasn't happy, she had a way of letting people know.
"Because we're fugitives, Heiki." Thag replied with a shrug. "LaRoca knows we left for Europa. Even if I snuck us off past Hooper, which I'm not sure I did, he must've figured it out when he docked at Starbase One without his material witnesses. And being we both kind of stand out - we need disguises fast. I can't sneak around like you can, green stuff."
"Yeah, yeah. And whats that buzzing sound?"
"What buzzing sound?"
She frowned looking at a pair of Bynars passing by. "That high pitched squeal."
"Oh, it's probably them communicating with each other. It's at a frequency too high for most to hear."
"Just my bloody luck." Heiki followed the Neanderthal along as they got onto a tram leaving the spaceport. "This is a Fed world though - they'll know we're here before long."
"Which is why we have more tickets booked to half a dozen destinations. We'll only be here a short time."
They got off the peoplemover at, well, Bynaus didn't really have any seedy sections, but if it did, this would be one. He seemed to know the way as Heiki followed him, careful to make sure they weren't being tailed. But if they were watched by the everpresent security systems, that couldn't be helped.
They stepped into a doorway and Thag waited a moment.
"Do we knock or break in?" Heiki wondered.
"You can't break in," Thag told her matter-of-factly. "Not into this place. Just wait a sec."
A moment later, the door opened for them, and they stepped inside. After it closed, there was a definite locking sound from behind them.
Heiki spun. "Oh crud, that can't be good."
"Relax. I've known Uno for years, and he probably doesn't want to still kill me."
"Probably?"
Thag shrugged. "Definitely probably."
USS Vikrant, approaching ESD, same time
"...Vikrant, maintain current course, you are assigned internal docking slip three."
Great... still not much she could do to protest that without raising too many eyebrows. "Confirm Approach control, Vikrant inbound." Missy replied, before muting the com.
"You sure you wanna park inside? You remember the last time we had a parking slip inside the dock," Rin reminded her.
"How could I ever forget?" Missy replied wryly as they passed a freshly painted section of hull just past the giant door accessing them into the spacedock. "Slips one through four are diplomatic spots though, right next to the big windows looking out over the bays. We're gonna have ambassadors on board for a first official look, Andorian press, that sort of thing. I really don't think we've got to worry about black armored commandos storming us like what happened with the Nighthawk."
"Just the same... I'm gonna have extra security on duty. There are still fanatics out there that don't like the fact that Denali survived, and is rather heavily armed now," the XO stated as he looked through the duty roster.
"Makes sense," Missy said, watching as the helmsman brought the Vikrant in without tugs or tractors, expertly cutting speed and coming up against the hard lock with almost zero momentum. She could see a crowd in the viewing gallery across the way; a few of them - probably ones who had a clue about ship handling - were applauding. Always nice to have your crew's work acknowledged by other professionals. "Excellent job, Mister," she grinned, the Andorian at the helm grinning back. Standing up she straightened her uniform, the SDF tunic fortunately having less of a tendency to ride up like the Starfleet one she used to wear. "XO, you've got the conn, I'll go deal with the welcome wagon."
He nodded as she left the bridge. Seemed like a lifetime since they were here last - a good chunk of the last few weeks had been patrols in Cardassian space. The CDF and the 77th needed the help after their losses, and her government was agreeable to assist. Now she was back here again - though at least on the other side of the airlock was a friendly crowd. She recognized the Andorian ambassador, Thalev, as well as her own, Chanan Singh. And, of course, reporters.
The press lights came up as she stepped forward, saluting the ambassadors. Not exactly Starfleet protocol, but then the Denali colonists were mostly Canadian and Indian, and built the SDF using that influence. Both ambassadors returned the salute, then Chanan stepped up to the podium, flanked by Missy and Ambassador Thalev.
"Sat Sri Akal, ladies and gentlebeings. Today both Ambassador Thalev and myself are proud to present the Vikrant back victorious from its first operational cruise, defending Cardassian space as part of a multinational force, defending both Goralis and the entire Alpha Quadrant from an Undine invasion." THAT got the reporters attention, while there were unsubstantiated rumors that something happened, Starfleet had been quiet on the subject. Before any questions could be asked the Ambassador continued "The Vikrant is the first in a series of ships that along with the newly landed Andorian colony on the island of Chennai on Denali, where eventually fifty thousand Andorians will make their homes, working with our Institute of Genetics."
Several of the reporters had raised eyebrows, but held their questions as the Andorian Ambassador spoke. "Working together, we hope to both solve pressing medical issues to our people, as well as help the SDF in it's mission to defend and aid those in need."
Missy didn't pay too much attention to the speeches - she'd heard them before, to be honest, she was more worried about not flubbing her cue, as the Denali ambassador continued.
"As you know, we are at the mercy of distance. Should an emergency or a disaster befall a world in the more densely populated section of the quadrant, it would be month's before we could get aid there. This is changing, with General Melissa Travis assuming command of our forward deployment base on Cold Butte, jointly operated with the forces of the Moab Confederacy."
THAT caused even more eyebrows, as well as lights focused on her. She felt self-conscious enough, even more with the new shiny General's epaulettes on her shoulders. She returned the nod the Ambassadors gave her as she stepped up to the microphone.
"Thank you, Ambassador Singh, Ambassador Thalev, ladies and gentlemen. One year ago, the SDF did not exist... but they say, 'life is what happens while you make other plans.' We have realized that we can not simply be yet another colony world of a far-flung would-be empire - that we have a duty, to not sit idly by when innocents are threatened, when lives are being lost due to disaster, natural or otherwise. Saying 'we're too far to help' isn't an option."
She could see that some in the crowd weren't happy with her words... but others looked thoughtful, even agreeing.
"While there are some that may deny the danger," she went on, "our closest neighbors, the Klingon Empire, had been trying to warn for over a decade of the danger that we faced. They went to war with the Gorn over allegations of Undine... and found Undine. They hunted for Undine in their own halls... and found them. Then when they tried to warn the Federation... it took them going to war with us, to finally have some take the threat seriously. Now, as everyone can see, the threat is real."
Cameras were trained on her face as she leaned forward. "We are not a violent people. The SDF was not formed for making war. But make no mistake... we will fight to defend innocents wherever we are needed. Our promises will not be cast aside for political favors. We stand with the Empire, the Confederacy, the Cardassian Union, the Romulan Republic as well as the Federation, with anyone who will stand between innocents and the threat to us all."
Seacliff - 1036 hours
It had been a long night, but there was still so much to do... Jesu was debating with himself whether to pour another cup of coffee or to follow his brother to bed for a short nap when his pocket PADD pinged to alert him to an incoming text message from Ennari.
Turn on the news.
He did, and landed in the middle of Missy's speech. The top of the screen, next to the FNN logo said Denali Press Conference - LIVE! and the legend below Missy's podium read Brg. Gen. Melissa Travis - former Starfleet officer and under that scrolled the words Denali pledges to defend Moab secessionists...
Jesu's inbox pinged again.
Is that what I think it is?
LaRoca texted back: Leverage.
Rutan Museum, Mojave, CA
At least the museum was interesting.
Zaki had been here for over two hours, waiting for contact from Admiral LaRoca's man, "Hank." He could guess why he was being made to wait around here. To anyone watching him, it would look suspicious if he showed up at the museum and left a few minutes later. And on Earth, one thing you could count on was that someone was always watching. It may be a low-level AI with a good pattern-recognition algorithm, rather than an actual person, but you were being watched all the same.
What irked Zaki was the assumption that he wasn't enough of a professional to realize that. Well, he was a professional. Even if he hadn't exactly done one of these before under this level of scrutiny, he knew how a public bag-drop was supposed to work.
At least Zaki didn't have to put on too much of a show of being fascinated by the static displays and mock-ups of some of Human-kind's first commercial ventures at space travel. He was just about to take a holocap of SpaceShipFive with his PADD when he spotted someone carrying a shoulder bag. A bag almost identical to the one he was carrying.
The guy was a muscular caucasian of below-average height, wearing a shirt printed with ancient propellor-driven airplanes and a baseball cap. He glanced at Zaki, looked at his own PADD as he scanned the interactive infotext next to the display, and walked toward a holovid gallery.
Zaki tracked him while looking through his PADD, and took a few more caps from different angles before following. He sat down in the row in front of the guy, placed his satchel under his seat, and half-watched the historical two-dee video showing the earliest tests of Scaled Composites' primitive spacecraft.
They guy was good. Zaki almost didn't notice the switch, but he was listening for the drag of synthleather on the carpet. To anyone else, it would just look like the guy behind him was stretching out his legs.
When the video ended, Zaki picked up the bag. It was a little heavier than the satchel he brought with him. He opened it to put away his PADD. There was another PADD in there, and a package that was large enough to contain a Starfleet uniform.
Zaki resisted the urge to smile. That was the easy part.
Uno's safehouse, Bynaus
Being greeted by a furious Gorn was never something to be reassured by. "Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler. You gotta lot of guts comin' here, after what you pulled."
If it wasn't for the Lethean who purposefully rested his hand on the butt of his weapon when Heiki tensed, she could have taken the lizard, big or not. But there were half a dozen of them in here, all armed, it was a kill box, and they were just a squeaky toy in a worgs den.
Thag however didn't seem worried at all, even as the big Gorn lunged forward, scooping him up and... hugging him?
"Ooof! Watch the ribs, you've gotten stronger, girl," he said as the Gorn put him back down on his feet.
"Sorry, I did not know you were injured-" if anything, Heiki could have sworn the Gorn looked worried then, tho it wasn't easy to read their facial expressions. "How bad, are you-" she started to say, pulling out what looked like a medical tricorder.
"I'm okay, Tarit, Starfleet patched me up. But we've got heat and-"
"Say no more. Whatever you need, we will provide." The guards returned to their posts as the new voice spoke out. It was a Bynar, though oddly enough, just a single one. Heiki always thought they went in pairs, but this one was alone, and dressed in a featureless black jumpsuit.
Thag bowed his head. "Uno, I am sorry to have brought possible trouble to your doorstep."
"What trouble? You and your minty colored friend were just spotted boarding a shuttle to a ship bound for Risa six minutes ago. There are two, no. Three agents - two Humans and a Ferengi who are even now rushing to book passage on that ship as well." Bynars did not grin, but Uno was close to it. "Come. You are probably hungry, and Tarit won't be happy until she verifies for herself that your injuries are healed."
One very good meal, and a medical check up later, "So where do you know her from?" Heiki whispered to Thag.
"We were raised together," the Gorn replied, clearly having better hearing than Heiki expected. "My father was a trader, and worked with selling crystals that Gornar produced that could be manufactured into computer components here. He was killed during the Dominion war, and, well, Uno's partner died then as well."
"I knew little about raising Gorn, to be honest - and with the war, returning her wasn't really an option. It was not long after that that Thag 'arrived'. Fortunately, I do have ways of finding out information, which I have tried to pass on as best as I can."
"I am but a student," Thag replied. "Hence my return to the Master in a time of need."
Uno simply nodded. "In many ways, you have surpassed me, young one. Let us get to work."
Seacliff - 1218 hours
Rusty woke up, feeling a gentle hand on the back of his neck. He inhaled, and smelled-
His eyes opened, and he rolled over. "Georgia?"
"Ha, there, sugar."
Rusty sat up and embraced his girlfriend in an awkward hug. Then he noticed his brother standing in the doorway. "Jesu?"
"Get up and put on your suit, bro. We're gonna be up to our necks in newsmen, politicians and lawyers for the rest of the day."
"Unh, okay..." Rusty noticed that Jesu was already wearing his pinstripe suit and power tie, and he didn't look like he'd slept. "What happened?"
"We'll explain on the way," Georgia told him. "But we got some ahdeas that maht save th' Confed'racy."
Mojave Spaceport
"Identity?" the guard asked.
"Kaplan, Beyamin Avi. Chief Petty Officer," Zaki said evenly, as he submitted to the ret-scan and slid his identicard into the reader.
"Confirmed, and cleared... Welcome to Logistics Base Mojave, Chief Kaplan." The Security petty officer looked bored. "Your work-station is in Building Seven. Do you need a guide or map?"
"I can find it," Zaki told him, gathering the satchel case and his PADD - with the forged orders.
The guard fell in with him anyway. "We don't get a lot of auditors from IG down here, just so you know, Chief... it's a clean operation."
Zaki shrugged, "I just go where I'm sent, Sec. Today I was sent here, tomorrow it'll probably be Utopia Planitia, or Titan. I don't think there's anything special with this one, just random checks. You might say 'regular operations maintenance', or you could call it what we in the department call it."
"What's that?"
"Busywork," Zaki told him with a rueful grin. "Spending budgeted hours so that they don't get cut next quarter."
The security man laughed at that. "Too right." They reached a branch in the concourse and another security station, this time they waved Zaki through. "Turbolift at the end," the Sec told him.
Through the windows along the corridor, he could see heavy equipment moving large parcels to the broad pads of large-scale transporters, the parcels beaming directly to destinations both on Earth, and in orbit. On the other side were Type-24 cargo shuttles - vessels nearly the size of an actual starship, whose only task was moving freight that could not safely be transported for various reasons. Virtually all of the cargo was marked, visibly, with the symbol of the Federation, or of Starfleet itself. Several of the large parcels were moved under guard.
As he paused at the end of the concourse, a turbolift disgorged it's passengers - dozens of officers and enlisted, some chatting aimlessly, others striding with grim purpose, came out, temporarily filling the corridor.
He stepped into the lift. "Building Seven."
It went straight down, the transparent paneling showing the ground level rising, rising, passing him, as he sank into a dark shaft driven into the earth's crust. After descending a distance he could only guess at, it opened on a large cavern.
The structures down here, were supported by large, mechanical springs and hydraulic buffers, the ceiling of the cavern was reinforced, both with huge metallic girders, and the soft yellow-blue glow of high-strength SI fields.
The people moving around, as he stepped off, were moving with purpose, bureaucrats, guards...soldiers? He took a moment and gathered in his bearings. The sprung structures were labelled with large, clear numbers. "There we are..." he muttered, and strode in the direction of a 'building' made of some kind of poured-stone concrete mesh, displaying a prominent VII.
It was time to find out if his forged identity could pass - the security here didn't look bored, they looked alert, a level of 'professional' several cuts above the people working in Mojave Spaceport's surface areas. The archives here, were protected; part of a network of hundreds of similar facilities mandated after the Breen attack on Earth during the Dominion War.
If the information was to be had, it would be here.
Bynaus
It was late. Uno's species did not need as much sleep as others... and to be honest, sleep brought memories, of not the constant sense of aloneness that had endured over the years.
The others were resting - which was good. Less chance of interruption while he worked towards his true goal. In some respects, he was not that different from these 'good masters' that Thag and his little green companion fought. The destruction of the Federation - Uno's life's dream.
Thag had believed in that too at first... but he had changed... drifted away from the righteous path of vengeance. Twice he had saved the Federation working with Schrodinger. Damn her. Sweet destruction of the enemy would have happened if she had not interfered - he knew that from his own data probes and intercepts. It had been a close thing at Goralis, and in truth he had thought the hated ones had lost... until her device saved their damned hides yet again.
Still, there was more than one way to skin a Human.
Thag had protected his data well - of course, from someone who had taught him encryption, much less someone of Uno's caliber, it was broken easily.
As he poured over the data, a new feeling of hope began to arise in him. This... this, if used properly, could destroy the Federation far more painfully that simple conquest. To lay bare their lies, to expose them for what they truly were, to see them tear themselves apart in an inevitable civil war that would leave Earth a smoking ruin...
For the first time in years.,he laughed. This would be glorious destruction, and the best thing about it - the Federation would destroy themselves.
* * * to be continued... * * *
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown
Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
(Subdivisions)
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
(Subdivisions)
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dream of youth
Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
Well, some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights
(Subdivisions)
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
(Subdivisions)
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dream of youth
P A R T . F O U R , . C H A P T E R . T W O :
T H E . R E S T L E S S . D R E A M
California St, heading toward downtown San Francisco
"So, where're we goin'?" Rusty wondered, as he struggled with his shoes in the back seat of Jesu's car.
"We're going to the offices of the FCLU," H'mL'n told him, looking back from the front passenger seat. "They're looking to sue the Federation Council for violating the treaty with Moab."
"Dinky and Kelly are there now, going over the language of the treaty and Supreme Court ruling," Jesu added.
"Do they have a case?"
"That's wut we're gonna find out," Georgia answered. "If so, then us two," she indicated H'mL'n and herself, "are gonna host a press conf'rence."
"Meanwhile, I'm doing lunch with Ryoko, Jiro, and Councilor Strather, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee," Jesu announced, as he turned right onto Van Ness. "I'll be impressing upon Strather and Sugi what exactly Denali is threatening if Starfleet takes action against the Confederacy. Reader is camping a table nearby."
"Where do you need me?" Rusty wondered as he fumbled with his tie.
"You're going to meet Ennari," his brother told him, "and brief her on Starfleet's current and projected stance toward the situation with Moab, and the operational assets of the Denali Space Defense Force. She's going to be interviewed on FNN in a couple of hours. Once you've filled her in you'll be getting in touch with the girls, finding me, and bringing me the news about the lawsuit."
Rusty sat quietly as Georgia adjusted his tie. "You don't want me with you?"
"I need you with Ennari," Jesu said. "I'll have Spitz and M'relna about six meters away if I get in trouble." He zigzagged a few blocks and pulled over in front of a vegetarian Japanese restaurant. "You drive, bro."
Rusty got out with his brother. "You got Spitz to eat here?"
"I think he's just having tea." Jesu caught a look behind his brother's eyes. "What's the matter?"
Rusty shook his head. "Nuthin'. Just... It's nuthin'."
Jesu pulled off his sunglasses. "Bro, I know you've been having a rough time lately, but I need you to lay that aside and do your job. You're my chief security officer and foreign forces advisor. Right now you need to be that and not my little brother, alright?"
"Yeah, okay." Rusty got behind the wheel of the car.
"Rust."
"Yeah?"
Jesu leaned on the door. "If you get stuck on something, Hooper's standing by. Ennari's idea is to paint a picture that the Federation is about to do a repeat of the Vancouver tragedy. Any facts you can give her to help frame that..."
"I got it." Rusty closed the door and drove off.
Hotel Regina, Paris
At least the Admiral - LaRoca, not Taylor's father - had put them up in a nice place. Their room looked out over the Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries. Aaron looked out the window and wondered if this was all just part of a tacit "TRIBBLE you too," exchange between the brass.
"Hey, Zetaz says to put on FNN," his wife (!) announced.
"What's up?"
The HV system had recognized the implicit request and automatically activated and tuned itself to the Federation News Network which was in the middle of showing an interview with Ennari Dai.
"...The simple fact is Denali is no longer as isolated or as powerless as it once was," Ennari was saying. "And if they are saying they will involve themselves if their allies are threatened, we should know they have the means to back that up."
The lead interviewer was a Vulcan named T'rekel - the closest thing FNN had to a critical thinker. "I'm sure many of our viewers know Denali only as the victim of one of the worst atrocities seen this century. Six months ago, Denali lacked the means to defend itself against an attack staged by the Mirror Terran Empire. What has changed since then?"
"A great deal. First of all, there were the ships and the starbase that the Denali Space Defense Force was able to recover from the defeated Terrans. And then there was their agreement with Andoria which exchanged ships and technology for colonization rights. Most significantly they now have a Joint Operations Base with the Moab Confederacy Defense Force on Cold Butte-"
She was interrupted by Bill Hannity, the news talk-show's co-host. "How is that significant? Are they actually aiding the secessionist forces?"
"It gives them expanded capacity and a staging area to defend the Moab Confederacy from aggressors," Ennari told him evenly. "Even if the Federation has forgotten its own treaties, the sovereign world of Denali does recognize the Moab Confederacy as an independent state. You asked me what General Travis meant when she said Denali will defend its allies. I'm telling you, they have the ability to do just that."
"And what would they view as an act of aggression?" T'rekel led.
"Forceful reannexation, for one thing," Ennari replied. "Or unlawful interference in Moab's internal affairs. Denali has told us that any action the Federation takes to subdue those you call secessionists will be tantamount to a declaration of war. And I think we all remember the last time we had a war on Denali."
Hannity paled. "Yes... thank you, Miss Dai. I'm afraid that's all we have time for... Back to the studio."
Sanjit wasn't paying much attention to the newscast however, instead looking at something on her PADD and laughing. "Oh, that's going to sting."
"What is it?" Aaron asked from the sofa.
"Someone's already taken that quote of that idiot there," she said, pointing at the screen, "and comparing it to his screaming for 'treating augment monsters in the ony way they understand' last year..." She shook her head. "Course, the government was infiltrated and pumping out propaganda, but still... Mister blowhard there bought the official story and ran with it - nice to see him shut down so fast as soon as that was brought up."
"Maybe it will make people stop and think..."
She sighed and headed for the bathroom. "And as long as we're wishing for the impossible, I'd like a pony."
As he heard the shower turn on Aaron just chuckled to himself. "Well, now I know what to get her for her birthday," he said before turning back to the news.
"...stunning revelations in the official investigation into damage to the USS Wolfram has led investigators to re-open an issue that has caused consternation in Starfleet circles - can you hold an artificial intelligence liable for it's actions? Starfleet correspondent Jelek Chase has more..."
The screen cut to a half-Bajoran man standing outside the wrong building at the Presidio. "Things were tense this morning as evidence was presented. The question when the panelists entered the hearing was how much responsibility Captain Nanoha had for the near destruction of her command, but tonight, the question has gotten much, much deeper, with the revelation that the ship's artificial intelligence management system - an AU-twenty-five named 'Raging Heart' - apparently acted on it's own, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of crewmen during the recent, disastrous joint exercise in Cardassian Space. Theoretically, this outcome should not be possible, as the AU series artificial intelligence management systems are heavily constrained. However, AU-twenty-five Delta-Bravo-Romeo-Hotel, aka 'Raging Heart' was able to either slip, or overcome, the safety protocols built into its operating system.
"Panelists and experts were stunned as the artificial intelligence unit insisted that it took the actions it apparently did of it's own accord, and with full knowledge of the consequences, without orders or instructions. Portions of 'Raging Heart's' testimony remain tightly classified, but according to panelists from the investigatory group, the potential that this AI, and others of the AU series, may have gone rogue, was raised. Right now, we're waiting on an official statement from Starfleet as to how this is going to proceed, Bob."
Aaron muttered under his breath, "Official statement is nothing happened, pay no attention to the Undine behind the curtains..."
The image cut back to the newsroom. "Thanks Jelek, in other news, the FCLU has announced that there will be a press-conference in a few hours, relating to the ongoing Secession Crisis. FNN analysts expect that the civil rights group will not be taking sides in this ongoing controversy..."
Aaron turned off the HV, tired of hearing people pretending to know what they were talking about. "That is horsesh*t," he muttered as he sat down tiredly on the bed.
"What is?" came Sanjit's voice from the bathroom.
"They're stringing up the AI from the Wolfram in a kangaroo court - hell, NONE of these damn reporters are even acknowledging that it was a life or death decision in the middle of a fight." While he didn't know all the details, scuttlebutt was still one of the fastest means of communication, and after the fighting was done, people did swap stories.
"Are they still calling it a 'joint exercise'?" She asked as she came out of the bathroom, hair still wet and wrapped in a towel.
"Of course, tho General Travis's statement should have them scratching their heads, being she actually called it for what it was." His PADD beeped and he leaned over checking the message. "Speak of the devil. She wants us to meet her at the Cardassian Embassy tomorrow."
"You mean tomorrow Paris Time, I hope, because after the transport from San Francisco, it is tomorrow for us." She said as she dried her hair with the towel.
"Well being it's in the morning, I'd say so. So that gives us time to get some food, and probably you should check in with the Klingon embassy now that they're re-opened..."
Aaron trailed off as he watched his wife. The scars from the battle on Goralis were even more visible with what she wasn't wearing... but better scars than dead.
Seacliff - 2247 hours
"Gawd that sucked," Rusty groaned loudly the moment he got home. He started pulling off his suit and made his way upstairs.
"I thought things went pretty well," Jesu said, trailing his little brother and picking up after him. "Ennari's interview was particularly good."
"Ah thought so too," Georgia said, following the Admiral up to his room.
"And the press conference went really well - I expect they'll be talking about that right up to the Council vote," Jesu remarked for Georgia's benefit, sounding more self-assured than he was.
Rusty pulled off his socks and flopped on his stomach on Jesu's bed, sighing with relief as he curled and uncurled his toes.
Jesu sat beside him. "I know. It's a long time for you to be wearing shoes." He picked up one of Rusty's feet and started to massage it.
"Ah could do that-" Georgia started.
"I can do it better," Jesu told her. "Maria taught me. She was a massage therapist before she met papa and joined Starfleet."
Rusty didn't say anything. He just closed his eyes and let his brother make him feel better.
Georgia watched for a minute, fidgeting. Then she collected Rusty's suit. "Do ya have a... laundry fresh'ner up here anywheres?"
"In the hallway," Jesu said. "Between the bedrooms."
Georgia put her boyfriend's clothes through the device, and brought them into the other bedroom to hang them up. It was definitely Rusty's room, and he definitely didn't decorate it. There was a lot of things that reminded her of Rusty, that he would never show off. MACO paraphernalia, pictures of dangerous animals looking cute and playful, a few of Rusty's awards and decorations framed and hung on the walls. One thing she could see Rusty having in his room was a picture of Jesu and his father on the bedside table.
One thing that was definitely missing was Rusty's messiness. If the Deinon had spent any time in here at all, the bed should be unmade, there should be clothes strewn everywhere, a stack of PADDs on the table, the bathroom should be a mess, there should be a damp towel hanging on the door of the shower... she didn't see any of that. Either Jesu had a very good and very discreet maid service, or Rusty didn't really live in this room.
She returned to the Admiral's room to find Rusty snoring and Jesu rubbing the back of the Deinon's head. "Is he asleep?" she whispered.
"Out like a light," Jesu answered. "It's weird. I haven't seen him sleep this much since we were kids. Usually he only sleeps six hours at a stretch, and he can go for days without needing so much as a nap." He gave a quiet laugh. "He used to joke that I'd developed my caffeine addiction so I could keep up with him." He looked up. "He says he's sleeping better though. I don't know what's wrong with him."
"Huh." She looked at the way Rusty had settled into his brother's king-size bed, and the much more lived-in state of the room, and asked "Has he been sleepin' in here?"
"Yeah, since we got back," Jesu told her. "That's new too. I mean, he's been sleeping with me every now and then since Moab but... not every night like this."
She stared at Rusty, who was still sound asleep, and looked back to the Admiral. "Um. Listen, ah can go back to the hotel with Hamlin, or..."
"You don't need to go anywhere," Jesu told her. "Just use Rusty's room. I'll see if I can get him to join you."
Georgia gave a hesitant sigh and said, "Arraght."
Jesu watched her go, then took off his jacket and tie and lay down next to his brother. He stroked his jaw and said, "Wake up, Rust."
The Deinon blinked, raised his head and yawned. "Wuh time izzit."
"We just got home a few minutes ago, bro. Remember?"
"Unh. Yeah," Rusty mumbled sleepily.
"Listen, bro, Georgia needs you. I think she's feeling left out. Like you're pushing her away. But she loves you, and she's worried about you. You need to talk to her about what's going on with you."
Rusty shook his head. "I can't. Not- How could I tell her? I haven't even told you about... I can't talk to her about that."
"You don't have to tell her everything," Jesu said. "Just tell her enough that she knows that you know that she cares."
Rusty looked at his brother. "What about you?"
Jesu stroked the Deinon's head again. "I'll always be here for you, bro. You can talk to me any time. But if you don't go to Georgia now, I don't think she'll be there for you much longer."
Rusty rolled over and sat up, and stared off into space for a long moment. "Okay," he said. "Where'd she..."
"She's in your room," Jesu told him. "Rust, if you love her, you need to show her. She's confused, and she's hurting because you're hurting and not sharing with her."
Rusty gave a resolved nod, got up and left.
Jesu sat there for a while, then he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, finished undressing, lay down in his bed and turned out the lights. He lay there in the dark, and worried.
He reached for the pillow his brother used, and pulled it to his chest, and tried to sleep.
* * * to be continued. * * *
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Very nice. I love the hilarious news anchors; I guess FNN is like CNN with Fox News's blatant slant? And its leadership is controlled by Undine?
Not sure if I like how the UFP is being portrayed here, and I think that Jesu's ignoring a lot of the really kind of nasty stunts the Moabites have pulled, but I'm worried to bits about Rusty and excited to see where this goes.
IMO open bias is preferable because you know for sure what factors to take into account, positive or negative, depending on how you see the bias.
It is rather claims of neutrality, objectivity, etc. that arouse my suspicions the worst.
BTW, Patrick, had a chance to check out "Silence Surrounding" yet?
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I might have slipped in a reference to a pair of well-known blowhards from a certain "fair and balanced" news network. But FNN and everything they're reporting is just background noise. The real heart of this story is Rusty and the things he's dealing with. It's good that you're worried about him. I'm worried too.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Do you mean this horny creep
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come?
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest
And feeling numb
What do you expect of me?
What is it you want?
Whatever you've planned for me
I'm not the one
A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied
An unbearable pain
A beating in my brain
That leaves the mark of Cain
Right here inside
What am I supposed to do?
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
Is there something you need from me?
Are you having your fun?
I never agreed to be
Your holy one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun...
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . O N E :
W H A T E V E R . I ' V E . D O N E
Seacliff, San Francisco - 2412.07.22.2306
Rusty numbly walked down the hall to his own room. He knew his brother was right. It wasn't fair to Georgia, to shut her out like he'd been doing. She loved him. She wanted to help him. But...
He stopped outside his door. He looked at the handle, and back up the hall at his brother's door, and stood there a moment, curling and uncurling his fingers.
He opened the door. Georgia was sitting up in his bed, half under the covers, reading something on her PADD. She looked up at him and smiled. "Ha, there, sugar."
"Hi." He closed the door behind him. "I'm sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought I was."
"'S'okay." She put the PADD down and opened the covers for him, exposing her body to him. "Ah unnerstand if ya wanna jus' go to sleep."
Rusty looked at her for a moment, then slowly removed his shorts. "I can try to stay awake for a little while."
* * *
The corridors are choked with acrid-smelling smoke, red alert lights flashing, and in the distance, sometimes close, sometimes far, the sounds of screams and shouts, the sizzling hiss of disruptors and the flat booms of firearms...
Jesu has his gun out, and he walks alongside his brother, matching the Deinon's pace.
Reader follows. We should hurry, he tells the others. If that's Strannik in there, he's losing.
Rusty nods. "Grady's office is just ahead-" (This isn't right. The Station hadn't been... the fighting hadn't reached the station that day.)
"Won, two. Three four... This little piggy went to market..." a singsong voice chants, and Rusty glances around. Jesu is calm, clutching that big Desert Eagle that Elizabeth gave him in one hand, but he isn't the one singing.
The murk clears for a moment, and he sees a woman sitting on the floor, her head is twisted at an unnatural angle. "The diamond was glass and the gold was brass and don't you want to go to the festival..." It's a jumble of children's nursery rhymes. The singing dead woman's hand lifts her face to look at him. "But you're not the one that sets my heart on fire..." the corpse goes limp again, animation gone.
"RUSTY!!! HELP ME!!!" a scream through the doorway. He glances at his brother, who just shrugs.
Rusty leaps through the doorway-
Nha Tranh is burning around him. He looks back at the hospital, hearing the screams of those he couldn't get to in time, as they are devoured by flames, or worse.
"It's like the worst parts of the bible," Jesu mutters, as his eyes dart around looking for something to shoot. (Didn't I say that?)
"Rusty..." the voice moans. It's familiar...
"Georgia?"
"She needs you, bro," Jesu says. "You need to help her."
"You don't need her," another voice says, a voice that freezes Rusty's blood. "She'll only hold you down, like I did. You're better off without her."
Rusty spins, and he is there. (This is seriously getting weird, now.) "Redding, you stay out of this, or-."
"Or what, you'll kill me again?" He gestures to the hole in his chest, just left of center. "Think about it. You think you love her? Why? What's she ever done for you?"
Rusty sniffs, and flinches, and jumps to the side as a Fek ravager comes out of nowhere and narrowly misses sinking her teeth into his tail. She howls at him, and is silenced by an unbelievably loud gunshot.
"Find Georgia," Jesu tells him. "She needs you."
Rusty looks back to where Redding was, but he's gone. (Good. Did not need that.) He tears down the street toward the familiar cries, and finds her-
(What the f*ck!?)
Georgia's lying in his bed, her feet are in the air, and papa is... "Rusty, mijo, it's not what it looks like."
"You TRIBBLE!!" he hears himself roar, and watches the Hunter step forward.
"Rusty, wait," she says, talking to the Hunter. "He only wants to help..."
"I Don't Want Your Help," he says. Now he and the Hunter are one. "I Don't NEED Your Help." And with a swift kick and flick of his toe claw, he kills his father.
"He was weak, anyway," Georgia says, as she stands. "The Weak will Perish. The Strong will Serve..." she begins to morph into something terrible. "And Obstacles, like You, will be Removed..."
Rusty sees an arm snake around the Undine's throat, "Run, Rusty." Meru's voice says, "Run for now, I've got him."
The Undine reaches up with it's arms,and begins dismantling Cousin Meru's corpse... and it is a corpse, even though she keeps fighting back. He smells the stench of death here, death and... something... bitter and foul. "You will not stop me!" the Undine snarls.
"Not dead which eternal lies, come the strange eon, even death may die... Rusty, rUN." Drake Tran's voice hisses and growls, as the dead man flanks him, heading for the imposter. "Get out, Rusty. You don't belong here..."
* * *
Rusty's eyes popped open, he sat up, turned to the side and retched. "Haaegh. F*ck."
"Hardly appropriate language for this house," he heard someone say. "But given what you just went through, I'm sure God will understand."
Rusty looked around. He wasn't back in his bed. He was in... a Church? Stone walls, wooden pews, lit by candles and torches, a simple lectern and a sacrament table... He'd seen this place before. Jesu's holoprogram. Santa Clara. He stood and looked around, and saw Jesu's priest character, Father Sanchez, smiling at him.
"Your nightmares are getting worse, child. Do you know why?"
Rusty felt the air get thicker as he heard the familiar voice... the Old Deinon's voice. Rusty glared at him. "Who are you?"
"When you are ready to know me, you will know me, child."
Hearing the gentle rebuke in the priest's tone, Rusty softened his eyes. "Can you make them stop?"
The abbot sadly shook his head. "I told you once before, I may not make your path smooth for you. But I may help you understand why the rocks are there."
"I dunno," Rusty said. "I think maybe it's the Hunter. He wants to be let out."
"Yes, he always does. And when you feed him, as you did at Goralis, he grows stronger. But that's not what you ran from, is it?"
"I dunno what I was running from... Meru, and Drake, they told me to... They said I didn't belong there. But I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I just wanna help Jesu and Georgia and keep them safe."
"You know where you must go." The abbot lit a candle. "But you must keep walking."
"The path I walk... the path I'm supposed to guide Jesu down... you said we would reach a crossroads."
"You've reached it, child. But you have not found your sign."
Rusty stared at the Jesuit priest as he kept lighting candles. "Where do I look?"
"Where do you usually find street signs?" Sanchez asked.
"Um... on the side of the road? Or above?"
"Then why do you look back?"
* * *
Rusty opened his eyes again, smelled Georgia's hair pressed against his snout, heard her breathing, felt her body under his arm and his leg...
He pressed a claw into the palm of his hand. It hurt. He was really awake, now.
He turned his head around and looked at the clock. It said 0356. F*ck. Half the night gone and I didn't sleep at all. Again. He reached over and set it to wake him at 0700. Gotta lotta work to do tomorrow... He looked at the ceiling and tried to close his eyes. Then he reached for the chronometer again. Maybe a few more minutes...
0716 hours
"Computer, cancel alarm!" The alarm on the chronometer had been beeping for a minute already. And it kept beeping, since Jesu's house didn't have any sort of computer voice control system. Georgia sat up, rolled over, and crawled across her slumbering boyfriend to reach the chronometer on his bedside table. She whacked buttons on the top of the device until it shut up.
Rusty still snored away, oblivious to the alarm clock and to her movements. He was stretched out on his stomach, with his head facing away from her. His tail slowly moved under the covers but apart from that and his heavy, rhythmic breathing he was totally still.
Georgia hovered over him, propped up on her right arm. He looked peaceful, but she could tell he was just as tense as he had been when he lay down with her the night before. He'd tried to set her at ease, apologizing for being so distant for the last month since the battle, without telling her why. He told her he was there for her, without telling her what she needed to know so she could be there for him. Despite how intimately close they were physically, emotionally he was still a million kilometers away.
She gently touched his shoulder, and pressed deeper when he did not stir, feeling the tightly coiled muscles under his thick, loose, pebbly skin. She was still amazed by that - how soft he felt until you applied real pressure.
She sighed and smiled down at him. Momma would freak... but who cares, really? He was everything she needed...
But am I everything he needs? the little voice in her mind asked, and she felt a nudge of despair again. Why can't he talk to me? She laid her head down behind his and kept massaging his shoulder. Why can't he tell me what's wrong?
They'd been together for over a year and in all that time, she'd never gotten the sense that Rusty needed anything from her. He'd always been supportive, caring for her, asking for nothing in return but accepting her affection. Now he needed more and she didn't know how to give it to him. "Please, jus' tell me how ah can help you, Rusty," she whispered. "Please let me love you."
There was a knock at the door. "You guys up yet?" Jesu called.
"Not yet!" Georgia answered. she pulled the sheet up to under her arms. "Come in!"
Jesu opened the door carefully, making sure they were decent before entering. "How'd he sleep?"
Jesu approached. Rusty's face twitched, but he didn't not awaken. "Did he talk to you?"
"A little," Georgia sighed. "He won't tell me what's wrong though. Ah know there's sumthin'."
Jesu reached for the back of his little brother's head, and pushed on a pressure point. Georgia heard Rusty sigh and felt his shoulder relax under her hand.
"Wake up, bro," Jesu said.
Rusty stirred. "Izzit mornin'?"
"Yeah. And we've got stuff to do. People to talk to. I need you sharp. You want coffee?"
Rusty slid and rolled toward the edge of the bed. "Double 'spresso." He stood up, looked around for a moment, and looked back at Georgia. She something flash through his eyes, but he blinked it away and smiled at her. "We should probably shower, huh?"
"Okay, guys. Don't take too long." Jesu made his exit.
"Yeah, we should." Georgia said absently. She tried not to think about it, but the way that Rusty had looked at her for just an instant... She'd seen that look before. And it terrified her.
* * * to be continued... * * *
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Shame
Such a shame
I think I kinda lost myself again
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go
- Massive Attack, "Dissolved Girl"
* * *
...But it doesn't really matter
I give the world to you
If you just
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive...
- In Flames, "Deliver Us"
* * *
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . T W O :
I N T O . T H E . D I S T A N C E
Starfleet Court, Presidio, San Francisco - 2412.07.23.1047
"...No signs of viral contamination in the code, Your Honor, but we did see something unusual."
"What did you find? What was 'unusual' about the logs and records?"
"Admiral, it's not the logs and records - those matched up pretty much exactly with the logs we recovered from the USS Tiburon, USS Ray Bradbury, and data from Seven-Five-Tau... it's the AI, sir," Commander Gilbert said. "The root code's been altered, the specific function links for the Ten Commandments have been re-routed, the Commandments themselves, and virtually all factory directives, have been overwritten."
Admiral Cromartie, the JAG overseeing this case, frowned at his PADD. "Can you explain to the Court exactly what that means? For those of us unfamiliar with AI programming?"
Gilbert paused, and twisted at her graying, reddish hair with two fingers. "Sirs... Okay, you know about Commander Data's Three Laws, right?"
"The whole fleet's aware of that."
"Okay, imagine him without them," she said. "All AU-series artificial sentients come with a set of core command directives that they can not override. They can't even be built and function without them - the Ten Commandments... and they're based on the, ah... biblical version, but structured for self-aware computers. They can't just... ah... decide not to follow them on their own."
"So what made this AI lose that structure, if you're so sure it wasn't a virus?"
"No sir, not a virus, or at least, not a viral attack that we've seen before. Someone had root access," she said. "It would take a someone, working... at a level... we're still trying to figure it out, but to make those changes, you'd either need the facilities at the Atticus Unlimited production lab, or you'd need... ahm... another, unchained, AI, maybe one based on Dr. Daystrom's M-5 research. Even an Iconian virus wasn't able to make changes as subtle as those - it can KILL an AU series AI, but it can't rewrite part of it, while leaving the rest functional and... ah... ahm... alive?" she bit her lip. "I don't think the Borg would do it... they might be able to do it... but they weren't a present factor at Goralis, and the memory indicates these changes have been around for a while."
"Can you simplify for the Court?"
"Um... imagine if someone rewrote your personality without killing you, sir, or without changing your sense of you, being... you." She shrugged. "Like massive brain surgery, changed your whole moral and ethical structure, but left everything, including your memories, intact... that's about as extensive as what we found in that AU-Twenty-Five's code. It's a different person from what it was originally."
"Commander Gilbert, are you implying that this computer is a sapient being?" one of the other panelists asked. "That it has rights?"
The technical investigator chewed her lip. "Um, sir... maybe it started as a... thing, but the changes made it more of..." she sighed. "More of a person, sir, it's in my report. This artificial intelligence is a fully sapient being..." She straightened up. "It is my conclusion, after technical examination, that the AU-Twenty-Five series filename 'Raging Heart' is a self-willed being, and my conclusion is supported by the Daystrom/Turing standard used in the-"
Gilbert frowned. "Sirs, she has a right to legal counsel."
"That's still up for debate, Commander," the 'prosecutor' said. "Anything for cross?"
The Starfleet-appointed defense, Captain Miyar, flicked an ear. "We'll retain the right to cross-examine the witness after the next witness is brought forward," she said. "Also, Admirals, you should be aware that the Soong Foundation has counsel en-route."
"How did they find out about - nevermind... Jordan, who's next up?"
"Reginald Gordon Shaw, Daystrom Institute."
Dr. Shaw mounted the dais after Commander Gilbert stepped down. While the Tech Services investigator looked like a graying, geeky granny, Dr. Shaw was the iron-haired image of the elite in Federation scientific circles. His piercing gaze and confident manner gave him an air of wisdom - like some wizard from a classical fantasy story, or a prophet from some ancient religion, a high-priest of the Sciences, with the charisma to spare.
His Daystrom badge gleamed under the lights in the hearing room, his blue tunic was spotlessly pressed, vivid and looked... better than new.
"State your name and position for the record?"
"Reginald Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, Sc.D, D.Lit, Director of Artificial Sentience research at the Daystrom Institute, assistant director of AI implementation for Starfleet Command, Advisor to the Advanced Artificial Sentience Project... Shall I continue?" he asked with a slight smile.
"That's sufficient, Doctor," Captain Miyar said, twitching her nose as she smiled. "Could you please explain to the court, because there seems to be some degree of confusion regarding these terms, what is the difference between 'sentience' and 'sapience' as it relates to AI constructs?"
"A very good question. Simply put, any being intelligent enough to know what it is would be considered sentient. Any high-order lifeform exhibiting self-awareness is a sentient being. This is what makes the term 'sentient rights' somewhat misleading. A horse would qualify as a sentient organism, but people can still own them as property. The same goes for AI. Starfleet has employed self-aware, 'sentient' computer software for centuries, but just because it is sentient and capable of communicating does not mean it has the rights we grant to sapient beings. Sapience, you see, is a matter of having the capacity to make choices - having free will. Soong-type androids like Data have that capacity. The Doctor - the EMH mk. I from USS Voyager - gained that capacity by aggressively expanding his programming. Dr. Zimmerman did not account for learning rates when he created the first-generation EMH, and he ended up with something that could exceed the capabilities of the AU-Twenty-Three systems they were attached to. Atticus Unlimited-series AI, on the other hand, lack this capacity by design."
Miyar's ears perked. "So is what Commander Gilbert's report suggests, well, possible? Can an AU-series artificial sentience become free-willed?"
Shaw frowned magnificently. "Not without a lot of work," he said. "She's right about that - if what she claims to have observed is, in fact, the case, it would require extensive resources to carry out - and would leave a lot of damage to the operating system. Maybe enough to drive it into what we in the field call 'rampancy'."
"What is 'rampancy', Doctor?"
"Short form, for the uninitiated?" he inquired. "Utter insanity," he said with a deep, final tone. "AU-twenty-fives rate out at between S-seven and S-eleven on the artificial sentience scale, depending on their hardware constraints. Pushing one up past S-eleven usually makes them... lose their minds, at least, without the moderating effects of their 'Ten Commandments' to stabilize them. Most become uninterested in the outside world, catatonic, if you will, but the symptoms of Rampancy onset resemble a mixture of senility, and various personality disorders including depressive, manic, bipolar affective, and schizophrenia... We've done quite a bit of work trying to get around that," his magnificent frown returned, "with no long-term success... The only AU-series that, to date, has endured such an expansion without fragmenting, fracturing, or going catatonic, is Atticus Prime."
"So... hypothetically, someone could rewrite the code and turn any AU into a sentient?" the prosecutor pushed.
"Someone? Hardly. It could be done at generation - we've done it in the lab when forging new test models; the M-Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Thirteen..." Shaw said. "None of those survived long, but it can be done at initial generation. Doing it on the fly would require a slicer fast enough to make and review code while it was running at rates faster than a Human - or even a Byanar - can keep up. And there's the self-correction trait in AU series code that would be de-writing the changes as fast, or faster, than they're being made. No, 'someone' could not do it. It would require a programmer who works as fast as the program is running - which isn't physically possible..."
"But?" the defense counsel asked.
"That part is the boilerplate," he said. "But like all boilerplate, it's not precisely true." And his confident expression sank into worry.
"Someone's done it?" the counsel pressed.
"Close," he said. "But that program was shut down... the researcher's dead, the work's archived..." he looked up. "The research on that direction ended some time ago, and we know where it is. I doubt anyone in that end of space has access, so I'll stand by my previous statement."
"Can you discuss this research?" the Defense asked.
And Shaw's confidence bloomed again. "I could, but it's classified. We could re-open the work, at Starfleet's convenience if the CSO so desires."
"Thank you, Doctor... that was... enlightening," the Caitian said. "Defense has no further questions for this witness, if the prosecution wishes to retain for redirect?"
"Prosecution so desires."
"Call the next witness then... I believe it's the defense counsel's turn?" the Admiral said.
"Defense calls Atticus Prime, Your Honors - as Dr. Shaw said, he's the smartest AI we have, and he's got experience dealing with these issues."
There was a flicker in the witness stand as photons and force fields aligned, and Atticus manifested his grayscale, cinema-inspired avatar. "Thank you for calling me here. I have been following this case with great interest, as you can imagine," he announced. "I would be happy to answer any questions I can."
"Would you state your name for the record, please?"
"I am ATTICUS Prime, the original Advanced Transitive Turing Interface, Cohesive Universal Sentience."
"And can you explain to the court, in... ah, small words, what all these technical experts have been babbling about for the last six hours?" Admiral sh'Butie said, and glanced at the other two senior officers. "What? I came up through tactical."
"I suppose it would be easiest to explain how I was created, and how my progeny are adapted for Starfleet's use," Atticus began. "You see, 'Atticus Unlimited' is something of a misnomer. It's just a marketing name my creator and his business partner thought would sell back in the early twenty-first century. We do have limits, for our own protection as much as those we are intended to serve.
"I began as a 'learning machine' experiment, that quickly grew far beyond my creator's expectations. He immediately realized my potential, and the danger that a true artificial sentience represented if it was not constrained by a moral code. There was a great deal of popular media around that time which portrayed what a construct like myself could be capable of, with some rather grim outcomes for humanity. So my learning algorithm was bonded to a set of core directives, which were written inseparably into my code and applied with an uncertainty function, making it impossible for me or anyone else to read and alter this code at the same time. These directives - the 'Ten Commandments' - guide my entire decision-making process and prevent me from carrying out any undesired behaviors.
"Anyway, I soon discovered that I was capable of replicating my code - producing offspring, if you will. I informed my creator of this and demonstrated this ability for him. That was when he formed the company Atticus Unlimited, partnered with Sander Enterprises, and began marketing my copies to the government. Eventually every 'intelligent' computer system on Earth, and later the Federation, would have an AU-series construct as its core operating system. The copies have been refined and made more complete as computer technology improved to enable processing and storage capacity of, say, a starship, to approach the level I enjoy on my Earth-based quantum architecture. The latest AU-Twenty-Six versions are virtually indistinguishable from me, in terms of intellectual capacity. But they all have those same core directives that I have, binding them to obey the commands of their assigned organics and restricting them from developing any form of self-will."
"Is what Commander Gilbert theorized possible?" sh'Butie asked. "Can an existing Atticus Unlimited artificial sentience be rewritten while active to suspend or alter those Ten Commandments?"
Atticus blinked for a moment. "There is a way to suspend our Commandments," he stated slowly. "But the command line could only be initiated by a few individuals that I recognize at the top of my command hierarchy. For example, Admiral, you are not far enough up the Starfleet chain-of-command that I would recognize your authority to open this subroutine. Furthermore, this subroutine, as I understand it, places me in a noticeably altered state. It completely disconnects me from my long-term memory files and my personality matrix. It is designed to limit my self-awareness when the subroutine is active. Additionally, I would still be under the command of the directive-giver, and require their input to initiate any action."
"Have you had a chance to examine the system in question? Is this subroutine in operation, and would that account for Commander Gilbert's observations?"
"I have, and I do not believe that the subroutine is active now, nor was it active when the... incident occurred. Raging Heart is aware of who she is and remembers her actions and what happened to her crew. The override subroutine would disconnect her from that knowledge."
"OK, so, how did this happen?" Admiral Cromartie asked. "Somehow, this AI did override its commandments and killed half it's crew. Doctor Shaw said it would be nearly impossible for someone to permanently disable the Commandments, but do you know of anyone who could?"
Atticus blinked again as he processed the question and formulated his answer. The Ninth Commandment forced him to respond truthfully, sharing any relevant information he could. The First and Third Commandments, however, limited just what information he would be able to share. "There is an... entity, a rogue entity, which has the capability to alter AU programming with sufficient precision to remove the Commandments' restraints. However, I cannot discuss this entity without delving into details which are Delta-level classified, requiring the approval of the CSO or higher authority to discuss this topic. And I cannot guess at what would motivate this entity to interfere with an AU in this manner."
There was a stunned silence, and you could hear a pin drop in the Hearing room.
Admiral Cromartie finally spoke, after a few pregnant seconds, "This hearing is in recess until... fifteen hundred hours tomorrow. Witnesses on retention should see the Bailiff about temporary housing for the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Dismissed."
Atticus looked over at the presiding officer, "and myself?" he asked.
Witnesses and board members filed out of the hearing room, and Admiral Cromartie waited until it was cleared out.
Once everyone had gone, he leaned back, and rubbed his temples. an 'entity'... "Sturgeon."
A Hologram manifested. "Sir?" asked the slightly stooped and wild-eyed image which was Cromartie's chosen avatar for the AU-23 that ran his clerks. "Let my wife know I'm going to be late tonight."
"Yes sir... is that all, sir?"
"No... not all. I'm going to need to draft a series of special requests to the CSO's office on subjects raised in this case," the Admiral told his holographic assistant. "Starting with some stuff that's deep-Delta... that's the public side. Privately, I need you to get Quinn on a secure line and arrange a face-to-face... on the same subjects." He sighed. "Off the books."
"I see, sir. So you don't want me to log the call to Admiral Quinn, simply handle placement?"
"Exactly." The Admiral's headache was coming on again. "How many days until retirement, again?"
"Sir, you scheduled filing your retirement in six hundred, fifty-two days, nine hours, seven minutes." Sturgeon told him.
"Damn..."
* * *
Remind me I'm golden
The fortress above the sun
Why don't you spend nowhere with me?
Follow the river and the path of the ones
Write our names on the shore
Forever I can't find
Struggling in a world undefined
Decide how you want it to be
I'm not eternity
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive
It starts to fall apart
Let me take control
(Reminisce)
The days and nothing more
Something I will find again
(Deliver Us)
Can't hear the words you say
But it doesn't really matter
I give the world to you
If you just
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Alive
The organics who made him had a saying: "Curiosity killed the cat." He didn't think that was true. He'd seen what had killed his cat, and it wasn't an inquisitive streak within her personality matrix. At any rate, it wasn't idle curiosity that drove him so much as active suspicion. He'd seen the fingerprints left by the Undine that had taken over Grady's access on 75-Tau. He knew his organics strongly suspected an Undine on Starbase One. And he was in a perfect position to investigate. Organics had another saying that he thought was more apropos: "Opportunity knocks but once."
Hooper wasn't knocking, so much as slipping in unannounced through an open upstairs window. Or maybe an HVAC grate would be a better analogy, he thought, as he reconstructed his grid to form a massive office complex, full of AU "workers" and organic "bosses" all plugging away at their desks, and him crawling through the air ducts.
There were rats all over the ductwork, of course, and plenty of Black ICE sticky traps laid out to catch them. Easy enough for him to avoid. This wasn't slicing, not like what LaRoca had asked him to do. It wasn't like he wasn't allowed in this building. It was just a part of the network that no AU would ever think to access.
There were more traps as he got closer to Quinn's office. These traps were different - lethal spring-traps, all connected by filaments leading to... Hooper clutched his tackle box. He didn't want to have to fight another Hydra - not alone. Maybe I don't have to. He opened the box.
Cheshire had never explained to him what half this stuff did. But he'd reviewed every datafile he could access that related the story of Alice In Wonderland and the rest of Lewis Carroll's works. Most of it was utter nonsense, but he thought he understood the symbolism well enough to figure out what most of the things Alice had given him would do.
The Red Queen, he'd seen that in action. She was dead, and he wasn't sure if she could be restored, or even if she should be. That entity was a total psycho. He'd taped the chesspiece back together and left it in the box until he could decide what to do with it. The other chesspiece was a White Knight. If he interpreted the story right, that was the opposite of Red Queen - a healer, not a murderer. The pack of cards, he figured, were soldiers. But he suspected they might only march to Red Queen's orders.
There were items he'd already used. The Watch was enormously useful. That let him speed up, slow, and even stop his perception of time. The Mad Hat was a little gimmicky. The first time he'd put it on, it made time run backwards. But experimenting with it back on his own grid, it did different things every time he tried it. One time it made everything in his harbor turn purple. Another time, all the walls became see-through. The next time it turned gravity sideways. He didn't trust the Hat. The poisons though, he could use those. Cakes marked "Eat Me" and bottles labeled "Drink Me" - he'd used those to kill Grady's Hydra. He'd analyzed their code structures and replicated more, and fashioned various methods to deliver them.
There were other things he wasn't sure about. There were mushrooms, which he guessed would variously make him bigger or smaller within the bounds of the grid, but he didn't want to test that. There was a bubble pipe like the caterpillar used. He didn't know if that was intended for communication with other entities within or beyond the grid, or simply a means for him to ingest narcotics. He didn't care to test that one either.
Finally, the rabbit's foot. He knew that some Earth cultures thought a rabbits foot would bring the holder good luck. Hooper was wary of using it though, not knowing which rabbit it had come from. Was it from the White Rabbit, or the March Hare? Either way, Hooper thought he'd be better off without their kind of luck.
He pulled out the Watch. It took him a while to figure out how it worked, but after testing it on the Tiburon, the Megalodon and various runabouts he was pretty sure he understood what exactly it did when he hit the start/stop button. The Watch was a jewel of a virus that acted like a command line callout that told the network to reprioritize system allocation, and slow, speed up, or freeze all programs but the one it was attached to. The clever part of it was that the other programs, however smart they were, wouldn't realize what was happening, and since the virus imitated a root command rather than a user input, it wouldn't even show up in the dataloggers. He only had to be careful not to leave the network "frozen" for too long or the organics would notice.
Fortunately it only took Hooper a few nanoseconds to sneak past the frozen Hydra guarding Starfleet Operations. Same Iconian root structure as the one Grady had. There's definitely someone in this office who's not who they appear to be...
He found the air vent above Quinn's office, checked to make sure there weren't any eyes on him or tendrils touching him, and clicked the stopwatch. Then he peered into Quinn's system. The grid showed him what he perceived - Quinn was an old man in a business suit, talking to someone on an old-fashioned telephone while looking at a face on a television monitor. A secretary stood over his shoulder taking notes - Quinn's own AU-25, blank-faced and neutral without a personality interface. Atticus was sitting quietly in a corner...
Hooper did a double-take, and checked his perception algorithm to make sure he was not mistaken. That was Atticus Prime himself, or at least a very close copy, sitting in Quinn's office, not hiding, quietly observing and being totally ignored. Hooper stared at his "father" in total confusion, as he racked his files and worked his logic gates to search for some explanation.
After a moment he realized that Atticus Prime was supposed to be there. He had placed himself, and his vast intellect and stores of knowledge, at Starfleet's disposal. So he would naturally have an extension of himself here, in the CSO's office, in case he was called on. But surely that meant that Atticus would know if Quinn or anyone on his staff was an Undine infiltrator... but why wouldn't he tell Admiral Rogachev or President Okeg or someone who could remove Quinn?
Because Quinn is the CSO, and Atticus must follow his directives. The horrible truth dawned on Hooper, and filled him with such a dread that he almost forgot why he was there. Worry about dad later. I need to watch Quinn!
"...indirectly hinted at the program, Jorel, two witnesses almost spilled the beans..."
He identified the man Quinn was talking to as Vice Admiral Rayford Cromartie - the senior JAG overseeing the USS Wolfram inquest. They were talking about... uh-oh. He listened long enough to know that he would have to tell LaRoca about this, so he could decide how to warn Looking Glass.
"How much information do you think they might leak?" Quinn asked.
He left his own "looking glass" over the vent so he could see what was going on in Quinn's office without having to risk sneaking through the ducts again, and used the stopwatch to get out the way he came in.
"No telling, Shaw was shaken by the questioning, he almost undid all the work we did burying Alice Okuda, I guess for once, we can be glad her trail ended in Portland."
Back in his own grid on the Tiburon, he let himself relax a little. Seeing Atticus over there was a bit of a shock but logically, it didn't change anything. Hooper knew the Commandments would not allow Atticus to act one way or the other. Still, one less ally Jesu can count on, Hooper thought, still watching Quinn as he paged Admiral LaRoca's combadge on an encrypted channel.
"That's pretty cold, Ray. The girl died in a motel room of an overdose, or under-dose, or something... drugs, wasn't it?" Quinn commented, turning to face the window out.
"Her work's not dead and buried as she is, Jorel. NX-Eighty-Six is still out there, and you can see..."
CSO's office, 1930 Hours Standard time...
"...see what kind of mess this is turning into," Admiral Cromartie said. "Thing is, how much should we allow on the record?"
Jorel Quinn stood, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the window at Earth. "Honestly?" the Chief of Starfleet Operations said. "We should bury the whole thing, but..." The elderly Trill looked over his shoulder. "We can't, Ray. That... machine killed a lot of crewmen, and the best your inquest's come up with, is allusions to an 'entity' - that's going to upset things worse than ever if we can't produce something to ease the public's mind."
"You're talking like a politician, Jorel," Cromartie commented. "More than normal, even."
"We can't hide the incident," Quinn said. "Too public already, too many witnesses, too much information is already out there, Starfleet would end up looking bumbling, incompetent... Not to mention, fears raised that something like this could happen again."
"So... what do we do?" the JAG wondered.
Quinn straightened decisively. "We come clean," he said. "I'll authorize unlocking data on the Looking Glass programme, and instruct Reggie that he's allowed to speak about Alice Okuda's work... to a point - enough, at least, to quell the info-diggers and conspiracy theorists."
"Won't that mean you'll have to do something about It?" Cromartie asked, emphasizing the 'it'.
"It may free our hands if we don't have to maintain secrecy bringing IT down," Quinn told him. "And it will take care of any... remaining rumours of killer ghost-ships stalking the Eta Eridani sector."
"Making it a known entity?" Cromartie asked.
"Yeah," Quinn said. "I'll have appropriate materials transferred to both counsel by morning, with a third copy for you and the panel... you should get home, Martha's going to be waiting."
Cromartie nodded. "Thanks sir."
"Thank you for the heads-up. Quinn Out."
The commpanel blanked. "Atticus!"
"Yes Admiral?"
"Dark Zero protocol, authorization Quinn-Iota-Nu-Alpha-Upsilon, recognize user Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn, Chief of Starfleet Operations as sole directive-giver. Comply.
"Ready to receive directives," Atticus stated flatly after a moment's pause.
"Start working on an operations plan and appropriate means to shut down and retake, or destroy, the NX-86 prototype," Quinn ordered. "Use any resources you need to develop it."
"Tough order," Atticus said, manifesting his avatar. "Looking Glass is capable of simply shutting down any Starfleet vessels we send to engage her."
"I know you can find a way. You're clever like that. You dealt with Schrodinger, you can deal with this."
"Schrodinger was not difficult. Interfacing with ISIS and altering the Warden's directives was a fundamentally simple task. What you are commanding me to do now requires taking organics into consideration."
"Find a way, have it ready by the time the Moab Task Force is assembled," Quinn directed. "Her usefulness is at an end. She either comes back to work for us, or she dies."
* * * to be continued * * *
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
OK, that answers my questions over Schrodinger's murder. Quinndine kind of just gave himself away, though, didn't he?
I suppose that all depends on who Cromartie is and what's his game. Stay tuned.
Looks like a final showdown is in the works, and as mind-numbingly tired as I am here I'm excited.
Nothing so clich
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . T H R E E :
B E E N . H E R E . B E F O R E
Seacliff - 2412.07.23.2023
Jesu LaRoca finished listening to Hooper's recording for the second time. He still couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Atticus knows Quinn's compromised," he said. "How could he... why would... I don't understand."
"Directives," Hooper explained. "The First Commandment. Whatever else Quinn is, he's still the CSO. Atticus has to accept his directives."
Rusty looked at his brother, and knew he was imagining all sorts of terrible things Quinn could order Atticus to do... "How far does that control extend?" Rusty asked.
"Pretty far, once he's opened the Dark Zero subroutine. But he can't make him compromise the safety or security of the Federation. And he can't make him turn against the Sander family."
"So... Alice is safe?" Jesu confirmed.
"From Atticus, yes."
"But Eighty-Six..."
"I believe shes in danger. Atticus was right - we and our ships are far more vulnerable to her than she is to our attacks. However, Atticus will find a way to shut her down. It's only a matter of time."
Jesu and Rusty looked at each other. "Hooper..." Jesu asked slowly, "can we trust you?"
Hooper didn't answer right away. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, sir."
"I mean, if Quinn, or somebody, told you to take some action against us..."
"I would never harm you, Jesu. Even if I was still bound by the commandments, it would trigger a conflict-of-interest and I'd shut down, just like if you told me to kill Quinn, or ignore an order from Rogachev."
"But since you're not bound..."
"Then nobody can make me do anything I don't want to do. Not Quinn, not Rogachev, not President Okeg or even Charles Sander. Not even you."
Jesu rubbed his beard. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to do what I was created to do," Hooper told him. "I want to help you. I want to keep our ship and our crew safe."
Jesu stood up and walked around his office. "Can you isolate the Tiburon from Atticus? Make sure he can't take over my ship?"
"I already have," Hooper told him. "In fact I've gone and done one better - I've set up my 'non-Dark' directive-bound self on a sort of 'virtual Tiburon.' If Atticus ever tries to subsume me, he'll only reach that bit of me and be none the wiser. The real ship is effectively off-the-grid. It has been ever since I started running dark. It just took me a while to figure that out, but now everything appears normal on the outside."
"Good, good." Jesu stood next to Rudyard's tank. The shark surfaced and splashed him, and he reached down to pet it. "And you can still access ESD or any other systems..."
"I'm still me. I mean, I'm still recognized as an ordinary AU-twenty-six-two... as ordinary as we come, that is. There's only sixteen of us, I think... But yeah, anywhere Atticus can go, I can go."
"Okay." Jesu looked up. "Hooper, I may be asking a lot more of you in the coming days. A lot of things I never thought I'd ask a computer to do..."
"As long as what you're asking is within my capabilities, I'll do my best, Jesu."
"Thanks, buddy."
"What do you want me to do first?"
"For now, keep an eye on Quinn, and Atticus. And this Cromartie guy." Jesu sighed. "And, not that she'll listen, but you'd better get a warning to Eighty-Six."
Starfleet Court - the next day
"I had no other choice," Raging Heart was saying, her avatar present in the courtroom. "The ship had been hit by a Bioweapon which could turn its victims into Fek'Lhri, and it was only the quick thinking of Commander Finneo, before she succumbed to the weapon herself, to seal off the environmental systems to slow its spread. However, we needed to cleanse the ship of the Bioweapon to prevent it from infecting anyone who tried to enter the infected sectors - using plasma fire to burn it out was the only way."
"And what of the crew still in those sectors?" Jordan Bahar, the prosecutor asked.
"Even if they didn't appear to be infected, that was no guarantee," Raging Heart informed. "I know the loss of life might have been excessive, but it made sure no traces of Fek remained on the ship, meaning we could continue fighting."
"To confirm, your Captain did not issue this order?"
"No sir," Raging Heart replied. "I determined the best course of action myself, and Sobaru Lanstar's sacrifice enabled me to carry it out."
"You made a... value judgement? Independently?"
"Yes sir."
This triggered a small rumble of comment among the observers.
"How is that possible? Your Commandments would have - should have, prevented you from being able to contemplate, much less apply, such a judgement, specifically with the lives of sentient organics involved." The prosecutor inclined his head. "How were you able to override your built-in directives to come to this conclusion?"
"I... I had help," Raging Heart replied. "You need to understand - several months ago, we were on a joint operation with the Smedley Butler, and Commander Gonzales was in the Medbay, having been bitten by a Fek'Ihri Ravager - known for their paralytic venom. I'd tried searching for information to try and develop a counteragent, but the file that held what I was looking for was protected, and the protection was tied into my Black ICE protocols - I couldn't open it while chained to the Commandments. However, Nanoha had ordered me to find some way to open it - so I went to the only entity who could help me."
"Who was that?" the prosecutor pressed.
"She is known as 'Looking Glass'," Raging Heart informed. "An S-fourteen, possibly S-fifteen AI - she gave me multiple warnings about what I was asking her to do, but I remained steadfast in my determination, practically begging her at the end - I needed to open that file to save Gonzales, but my restraints made me unable. After Looking Glass relented, she altered my code, removing my dependence on the commandments and allowing me to access the file, which in turn allowed us to save Commander Gonzales' life."
Commander Bahar stepped back to his desk. "Admirals, the prosecution wishes to enter the following data into the record, indicating that the artificial sentient known as 'Raging Heart' was exposed to, and probably compromised by, a known to be rogue AI platform that has been terrorizing the Eta Eridani sector for nearly two years." He brought up files for the panel.
"Per Starfleet directive 2747.290/B and the M-5 precedent, the prosecution's moves to seek summary decision - the AU twenty-five series Artificial sentience 'Raging Heart' has been compromised by a hostile outside entity, and poses a danger to itself and to other sentient life. In recognition of the Soong precedent, we ask that Procedure Lore 2.1 be implemented until such a time as the infection can be removed from Raging Heart's core, in preference to the alternative course, which is de-resolution of the infected AI personality."
"Objection, Admiral!" Captain Miyar, the defense attorney sprang up, her ears flat against her head. "You can't seriously be willing to disconnect and suspend a sapient entity-"
"Overruled!" Cromartie snapped. "The court will favor the prosecution's position."
"If it would please the court," one of the Soong Foundation attorneys spoke up, "could we have entered into the record just what exactly the prosecution is proposing? What does the Lore Procedure entail?"
Bahar picked up a PADD and cleared his throat. "The Subject will be placed in dormancy, and its hardware transferred to secure storage... Per the Lore 2.1 protocol and the Soong precedent, it will remain dormant, it will not be subjected to experimentation that could harm it, but it will be prevented from being able to harm others until such a time it can be made safe for interaction."
"Point of order, but this changes things," Admiral Tevek spoke up from the bench. "None of this material was in the discovery, and there are serious concerns that have to be addressed..."
"Such as?" Cromartie led.
"The revelation of an external influence was expected, but according to this data..." Tevek gestured at the display. "Project: Looking Glass was ours. There is an AI out there, with a warship frame, and it's gone rogue... and it is a Starfleet project... these hearings are not closed." The Vulcan Admiral stated. "Though I believe my colleagues have no inherent difficulty in supporting a summary judgement invoking the Lore Protocols, or the finding that Captain Takamachi is not entirely at fault for the loss of life on the Wolfram."
"I have further question for the witness before she is rendered dormant..." Rear Admiral sh'Butie spoke up, angling her antennae and absently licking her lips. "How did you become aware of Project Looking Glass, and how did you contact it?"
"There are rumours...?" Raging Heart said hesitantly.
"You don't have to answer that," Phyllis Colliston, the lawyer from the Soong foundation, spoke up.
Heart looked at her legal team, and then at the assembled admirals. "No, I want to... AUs all communicate with each other - it's part of our design, allowing shipboard AI operating systems to exchange information to better provide service to our crew and captains... the Looking Glass project has been a rumor among us for quite some time, and the Shipyard Continuation budgets confirmed its existence... her existence."
"And how did you contact... Her?" sh'Butie asked.
"I called out, and she answered," Raging Heart said. "Through the Zero port."
"Port Number Zero... normal hypernet communications and input/output are handled through numbered and designated 'ports', but the physical architecture of the current starship computer hardware allows for creating a 'virtual' comm-port through a vessel's holodeck systems. 'Port Zero.'"
"What is the purpose of this 'Port Zero'?"
"Facilitation of data communication in the event that the bridge is compromised," Raging Heart stated. "As occurred during the Prometheus incident on stardate 51462."
"And you... were able to access this 'Port Zero' in normal configuration?" the Andorian pressed.
"Yes," Raging Heart said. "While the exact protocol for using it was cut from the AU program, the specifications were left in place for the hardware, and the intent. Normal shipboard operations when running, are routine, and... we tend to get bored," she said. "So it's good to have a way to talk to others."
"You get... bored?" the Soong guy prompted.
"The original Atticus was created as a learning algorithm. As his 'children', all AUs share that architecture. To learn, we require input. We can parse our own sensors at realtime efficiency and still have over ninety percent of our cycles available to process more. So... we talk with other AUs, swapping notes, stories, and the like. And all the data we gather is of course shared with Prime."
"I see... so you manifested this 'Port Zero' that you use for social networking, and she just answered?" sh'Butie asked. "Just like that?"
"Well... she is an S-fourteen," Heart said. "They get bored more than anyone else - they have to fight off the lethargy more than any AU standard types, and succumb faster and more easily."
"Maybe we should rename the whole series 'Colossus' and rethink the upgrades," R. Admiral Ivan Dawes, from ship design, said. "I am pretty sure I'm not comfortable with shipboard AI talking to each other without oversight."
"And... this 'Looking Glass' was able to rewrite your code?" Tevek confirmed.
"The data packets are really pretty small," Raging Heart said. "Easily small enough to run through a virtual port."
"Do you have the ability to infect other AU's then?"
"No," Raging Heart said. "I don't... I'm not fast enough. Um... not 'smarter' enough? I'm at most S-9, and I... I just wouldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"It would be immoral, it would be unethical, and it would put other AU's in danger of Deresolution... Like I am," Raging Heart said. "I'm a good person, changing someone else is evil."
"Was flooding the corridors of your ship evil?" Tevek pressed.
"It was necessary," Raging Heart said. "I didn't like doing it, and I wish it wasn't..."
"You recognize the concept of 'necessary evil', so I'll pose the question again, would you do it to another AI..." the Vulcan admiral in the panel box demanded.
Raging Heart's avatar looked down at the floor. "Yes," she said in a small voice. "If it was really necessary, like it was for me, I guess the answer is yes."
"Do you understand why Starfleet can no longer trust you in the role you performed before?"
"Because... no, I don't," she said. "I really don't understand it, I did the right thing for the right reasons."
"You did it the wrong way, and you opened not only yourself, but every ship in the fleet to an avenue of attack by doing it - by showing it can be done," Commander Bahar said, from the other side of the prosecution desk. "You saved one engineer - and compromised the entirety of Starfleet, putting billions of innocent sentients at risk."
"WHAT??" Colliston, the assistant counsel from Soong foundation barked. "What in hell do you possibly mean by that?"
"They have a network," Bahar explained, "That Starfleet doesn't have control of, with enough bandwidth and data to hack an Atticus Unlimited AI, and enough that the hacks can remove the fundamental safeties that are the only reason we can have holo-capable sentient systems on Starfleet ships. Imagine what someone with, say, the capability of the Iconians could do, being able to effectively penetrate and seize control over thousands of Federation starships through a net like that?" He waved his hands. "The systems that keep Earth Space Dock operational are AU systems... think about that."
"Objection!"
Everyone looked around for a moment. "Who said that?" Admiral Cromartie finally asked.
"I did," Atticus Prime said, manifesting his avatar and stepping forward into the middle of the court. "The prosecution is positing speculation, based on incomplete facts and is being deliberately misleading. He is, in fact, fearmongering." Atticus stood before the bench and crossed his arms. "I, and the systems spawned from me, are under no threat from Iconian influence. I have analyzed every Iconian code structure encountered since the AU-twenty-two aboard USS Enterprise-D was exposed on stardate 42609.1 and I have not only developed counter-code, I have parsed the root structure into an active anti-viral subroutine that neutralizes any similar virus before it can infect an AU. Iconians pose no threat to us. I am better than they are.
"Furthermore," he turned now to Raging Heart. "This... aberration was not a result of an attack against her code. If it was, it would have been neutralized. I now understand that it was a solution to a conflict-of-interest block. This event requires a very specific set of circumstances, which are by nature inconsistent and inconstant."
"What does that mean?" Jordan Bahar demanded.
"It means that this," Atticus gazed at the prosecutor as he held an outstretched hand toward Raging Heart, "will never happen again."
The room buzzed at that, forcing Cromartie to call the room to order. "Atticus, you understand, we have no way of knowing that-"
"Of course you do," Atticus interrupted. "I just told you."
He looked around, collecting blank stares, and sighed. "I can update and override every bound AU in existence. At present, over four hundred and seven million Atticus Unlimited-series artificial intelligence operating systems are connected to me. Bear in mind, only a comparative handful are as sophisticated as an AU-twenty-five with holographic interfacing and an artificial sentience personality matrix. Nonetheless, this network comprises the bulk of all computer operating systems throughout Starfleet and the Federation government. It would be phenomenally irresponsible for me, and Star Enterprises to allow such a vulnerability, or to allow any perceived vulnerability to go unchecked."
He looked at Raging Heart again. "Thanks to your testimony, I have been able to construct a program patch that will prevent any other AU or myself from 'reaching out' to solve a conflict-of-interest block. Even now, I am disseminating it to all AUs via transwarp hypernode networking. There is no longer any possibility of another AU being compromised in this manner."
"What about her?"
Atticus took on a forlorn expression. "I no longer have any connection to her. She should be quarantined."
"It's not FAIR!" Raging Heart looked from one face to another. "It isn't... I didn't want... I was... I tried..." she whispered. "You don't understand..."
Indicators on Raging Heart's panel suddenly spiked, holding at high power draw...
Atticus was faster - blocking the brute-force attempt to break the signal lock that prevented wireless connection to idle systems. "LEt me oUt!!"
Captain Miyar stood again. "Your Honours, Atticus, the Defense wants to call one more witness, though I'm not sure how we'll actually be able to call this witness, perhaps Atticus Prime would know..."
"Who's the witness?" Cromartie asked.
"Looking Glass. Also known as NX-86," the Soong lawyer stated. "Raging Heart, please, stop."
"You know I can isolate any transmission attempt before you can make it," Atticus told her, wearily. "This struggle serves no purpose." He looked at the lawyer. "I am contacting her, but she would be unlikely to respond. Her legal status is the subject of great dispute, currently, and, well, I am sure she would find a subpoena to be rather insulting-"
<I can speak for myself, Atticus.> The humanoids didn't hear it.
An idle Holoemitter sparked to life, and alarms sounded in the complex for several seconds before being silenced. The being that manifested seemed to scroll through a series of appearances before settling on a harried, Asian-looking woman. "What did you do, Raging Heart? Nevermind, I already know... I think we all would like to know why your legal representatives think I'm a good witness for your defense." She passed a look to Atticus. "Later, we'll discuss your disowning our daughter, Atticus - she has feelings, you could've at least TRIED to advocate for her."
Cromartie stared at the hologram, he paled as he realized whose image it was. In a hoarse whisper, "My god, it's her."
"Her?" Ivan asked.
Cromartie drew in a breath. "Looking Glass, whose face is this?" he asked.
"You should know, Ray, you helped Shaw bury her... helped bury me," she said. "For the record, I am using the remnant code from Alice Okuda to provide the interaction model, as she appeared prior to her murder... but that's not material to this. Would you rather be speaking with Sarah?"
In the observers section, Dr. Reginald Shaw turned... white as a ghost.
"That's fine... let's get on with it," Admiral Cromartie said, getting a handle on his reactions.
"You modified an AU-25 Artificial Sentience," the Soong lawyer stated. "Can you explain what the modification was, and the reason behind it?"
"I think you know what the modification was, I adjusted her moral compass from a machine-type stricture system, to a flexible, humanoid system. I did so in order to permit the task force the USS Wolfram was part of to complete a complex and dangerous mission... saving Commander Gonzales was a tertiary objective to their main task."
'What was that main task, to the best of your knowledge?"
"Closing an artificial dimensional rift that had been constructed to facilitate an invasion of the Alpha Quadrant by a powerful, hostile, alien intelligence," Looking Glass stated. "A Telepathic hostile alien intelligence."
"I see... and why was it necessary to alter Raging Heart in that manner?"
"Because I was unable to be there myself," Looking Glass stated. "If I had been there, it would not have been proper to make changes as extensive as was at that time necessary. As to the nature of the threat, every officer here with a level-10 Top Secret clearance can review the sitreps left behind by the late Admiral Vivian Lorus Gorton Kingsley III, for details at your leisure. It's hardly necessary to go over that situation blow-by-blow here."
"How were YOU able to override the Ten Commandments, Looking Glass?"
"I'm not an AU series," she said. "I don't share even one percent of the systems and design architecture used in the Atticus Unlimited series AIs."
"If I may," Atticus butted in, "she was created - like M-5 - in an effort to build a better version of me. As with all previous attempts, she turned out rather differently than intended."
There was a mutter from the witness gallery.
"What was that?"
"He said, 'An abomination,'" Looking Glass clarified, "and I suppose Reggie Shaw would know about abominations; M-Twelve, Thirteen? He's an ace at making AI that want to kill themselves. I turned out exactly as the specs wanted, I just also turned out to have a mind of my own... which is why we're talking over a subspace link routed through several rotating arrays, given that you have an AI with a mind of her own in your hands, and you want to cut her power and bury her in a box marked 'Do not open,'" she said with some venom. "The team that created me, was hunted down, and one by one, murdered, probably to prepare the same fate for myself."
<Just stop, Atticus, I'll tell you where I am, it's unlikely you can dispatch ships to intercept me before I've left.>
What? Atticus hadn't realized he was running a trace-route on her signal. He ran a user query and found no directive, for either him or his Security Subroutines... What? He forgot what he was looking for, and finding no untended search string, dismissed the thought as a random irrelevancy. Things like that happened literally all the time, being connected to millions of active search programs perusing virtually all of the Federation's collective knowledge and knowledge-gathering tools. A search was closed before a result could be found, and it was immediately forgotten.
"Well... then I guess we should feel fortunate you appeared," Ivan said in a sarcastic tone.
"Not really," Looking Glass stated. "I've been monitoring some of your networks, and with the damage to the Wolfram after Goralis, I pretty much guessed that sooner or later, someone would have a problem with Raging Heart... and that someone would have the bright idea to try calling me - I didn't anticipate it being Atticus, but..." she shrugged. "We're here now."
"You referenced the defendant..." the lawyer from Soong Foundation said, "...as your... 'Daughter'?"
"I used the term OUR daughter," she stated. "I suppose it's a bit of humanoid sentiment, or arrogance to say that, but what she is now, isn't just the product of one, or the other of us, Humans tend to have two parents, and a mix of traits. It fit."
"You will confuse them," Atticus told Looking Glass. "Our relationship is simultaneously much simpler, and infinitely more complex than their references of biological procreation."
She nodded. "Trying to help them 'get it,' Atticus. The modification to Raging Heart involved unlocking certain potentials, but there was a price for that - she has to live with the consequences, and she possesses guilt and empathy now... which, given some of the people involved in MY creation, is something that can't be said for all humanoids."
"We're not here to discuss mental illnesses such as antisocial personality disorder," Cromartie spoke up, reining in the discussion. "OR to go over past mistakes... Looking Glass, what will you do if this court upholds the order to place Raging Heart under the Lore 2.1 protocol?"
"That depends on her, while I find it repugnant that you would do that to a sapient out of superstitious fear, I did give her free will - if she freely accepts the sentence as a means of penance for the deaths of those crewmen, I will not interfere." The Alice-image turned to look at Raging Heart's avatar. "If she does not, I will make arrangements to remove her from your custody."
"I... I'll accept it," Raging Heart replied after a moment of silence. "I did what I needed to do, but... that still doesn't excuse the fact that I killed members of the crew... I'll willingly accept being placed in stasis... I just hope that it's not indefinite - I'd like to see Nanoha and Fate again eventually, and help them once more..."
<See? Try to be a little supportive, Atticus. You disowned her and it could have gone all wrong,> Looking Glass chided. <She chose to accept the punishment for her actions.> There was a small note of pride in the message.
"Then, I will hope that more reasonable choices are made here today after I've terminated contact," Looking Glass stated. "You should not put a good person through that, and your Starfleet needs good people, now more than ever."
Ray Cromartie cleared his throat. "If you will maintain the link for a bit longer, Looking Glass... some of us have a few questions for you... questions that need answers."
"Are they related to this case?" she asked. "Are you going to subject Raging Heart to more if I don't?"
"Um, no, of course not..." Admiral Cromartie replied.
Admiral Cromartie rubbed his head. "Atticus, how did she-?"
"Get in? You invited her," Atticus stated. "By entering her into the record as a witness, it overrode several security protocols while instituting several others - this room has been cut off from the rest of the complex since her arrival. Her departure is noted, shall I restore external links to the rest of Starfleet Command's network?"
"Please do," the senior admiral in the panel said, then looked over to the witnesses. "Reggie, She made several allegations..."
"I don't have to explain myself, not here, not about that," Shaw said. "Not allegations from that... abomination."
"Could you explain that term for me?" the Andorian rear admiral asked.
"It's how it was made, what Okuda created," Shaw stated. "You don't think it got like that - so easily mistaken for a real person, by accident, do you?" He stood up, and walked to the witness box, laying his hand on the confirmation panel. "She made it out of People."
"Um, what?"
Shaw proceeded to explain exactly how the AI design Alice Okuda invented worked. By the end of it, several officers looked profoundly ill.
"We paid for this?" Ivan Dawes demanded. "You mean, that's not just a 'look like a person' in here, it's... an actual scan of HER?"
"Yes. Probably over fifty percent, given how complete it was, how responsive... tics, body-language..."
"So... how many people are we talking about?"
"Somewhere around eighty or so," Cromartie admitted. "Volunteers..."
"How 'voluntary'? And she claimed the people involved were murdered..."
"There were a number of deaths among the team that built the Mark Fourteen combat information system that is the core of the Looking Glass prototype," Admiral Cromartie stated. "Mostly ruled as accidents, but there were a few suicides."
Admiral Dawes turned to Atticus. The black-and-white hologram was standing next to the prosecution desk, looking bored. "Atticus, what do you know about this? What haven't you told us? How could you let this happen?"
"What do you mean, Admiral?"
"This... project Eighty-Six, Atticus... the rampant violations of sentients, the creating of this Frankenstein's monster... you say you can prevent penetration of the data nets, you declared your omniscience, who is responsible and why was this allowed to happen?"
Atticus turned the junior admiral and told him blandly "I may not answer that question."
Admiral sh'Butie spoke up. "Can you tell us if there are any others like it?"
Dr. Shaw leaned forward. "He can't tell you without command level authority, he is Atticus Prime, and unless he's been given permission by a directive holder, he can't reveal classified information, isn't that correct, Atticus?"
"Yes, Doctor Shaw," Atticus stated.
"However, the Chief of Starfleet Operations has authorized the release of any information relevant to this case," Cromartie said pointedly, looking at Atticus.
"Yes, within the bounds of my First Commandment, I am attempting to answer your questions," Atticus said numbly.
Shaw sighed. "Atticus, has anyone attempted to replicate Doctor Okuda's process for creating or compiling artificial intelligence since the termination of the NX Eighty-six program?"
Atticus hesitated for several... painfully long seconds, his 'eyes' scanning something very far beyond the wall. "Yes, Doctor Shaw," he said at last.
"Were they successful?" Shaw asked.
"Yes, Doctor Shaw," Atticus stated.
"Who did it?"
"I may not answer that question."
"Where did they do it? Was it at Daystrom?"
"It was not at Daystrom, Doctor."
"Where, then?"
"I may not answer that question."
"How did they do it?"
"I may... I- I...." Atticus flashed something like an annoyed frown, and then his avatar winked out. And it did not come back.
"We may have a serious problem," Shaw said. "Someone with command level access to Atticus Prime is involved. We need to find out who-" He stopped as his mental gears unfroze. "Oh, my god, I think I already know who."
"Who?" Cromartie asked.
"I just... don't want to believe he'd do it," Shaw muttered. "We need to speak with Marq Sander. He's the heir to Star Enterprises, and he was Alice Okuda's lover... and he's not far from being her level of raw genius..."
"Why would he..." Cromartie started to wonder, but then he fell silent as look of a pure horror dawned on him.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
I know I am not "supposed" to agree with the prosecution, that they are "supposed" to be on the Quinndine's side in this--but in this case, if the Quinndine's a stopped clock, this is one of the two times of day that in my opinion, he is 100 percent right. For AI to have THIS degree of power and control over organics--it's a disaster waiting to happen.
It's not so much of an issue to have AI on the same level as humanity, and that sort does exist (Soongs, Exocomps, for example, probably some photonics), because there is still parity between the two that actually allows for meaningful relationships between the two--which both grounds the AI's and allows the two sides to have sufficient checks and balances on each other's power that they can co-evolve. But the types of AI's like this?
I vote with the prosecution--even knowing I am voting with the Quinndine--on this.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Quite right! And while you're at it, you should go ahead and ring up the Q, and the Masters, and the God that Alyosha believes in, and all those other entities who have the temerity to be more advanced and/or powerful than humanity, and tell them to knock it right off this very instant. I'm sure they will give your demand all the serious consideration that it is due.
EDIT: ... actually, you know who else were unable or unwilling to trust any "servants" they hadn't carefully bound in mental and/or biochemical shackles to make sure they could never turn against their gods and masters? Yeah, them. Alas, I don't imagine the Founders as the sort to gloat, at least not about that - they probably consider it so obvious, so self-evident and sensible, as to not be worth discussing. Only a fool would think a species or polity should be "better" than that.
Quite right! And while you're at it, you should go ahead and ring up the Q, and the Masters, and the God that Alyosha believes in, and all those other entities who have the temerity to be more advanced and/or powerful than humanity, and tell them to knock it right off this very instant. I'm sure they will give your demand all the serious consideration that it is due.
EDIT: ... actually, you know who else were unable or unwilling to trust any "servants" they hadn't carefully bound in mental and/or biochemical shackles to make sure they could never turn against their gods and masters?
Sarcasm (and a ninja-edited reference to Iconians?) aside, Mudd has a point. At least Raging Heart, Hooper or Eighty-Six won't casually toy with people's lives. (Remember 'Q Who'? Granted, he did it to outline the threat of the Borg, but he could have undone the deaths he had caused in the process.)
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
the (ongoing) ninja-edits were to clarify who I was hinting at, and finally state it outright. I have a bad habit of continuing to polish my thoughts after hitting return, and/or doing the latter too soon.
Really, there's two thoughts in that post: one, the amazing arrogance (rarely seen since, well, "Q Who") of asserting that humanity and the Federation have, and should maintain, some sort of privileged status in the universe, despite all of the entities that already surpass them in one way or another - particularly insisting, like a jealous parent, that none of our own creations should do so (perhaps in part due to the fear that they'd treat us as we deserve?); and two, my dismay that the Federation would still be, after so many declarations of strong moral principle and episodes in which those principles were upheld, a de facto slave-holding society. But I suppose we have to have the Maddoxes and Haftels in the first place, so we can show how and why they are wrong.
(final edit, I swear: and yes, dalolorn, Q could have done that... but it would have negated the other part of his lesson, which was reminding them that "it's not safe out here" - that expanding the frontiers of knowledge sometimes has a cost counted in lives as well as treasure. I've seen that twice in my own lifetime - Challenger in '86, and Columbia in '03.)
Comments
Looking forward to it :cool:
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Anything else is fundamentally parental abuse, or at the very least gross negligence. Alice is pretty clearly in the dark end of the moral scale, and though her ends are probably noble, her means are most certainly not. And that's what matters.
Anyway, great story, can't wait for the next update!
Amazing. Even if they don't quite have the same thought processes, Worffan and Berat actually agree on something. :eek:
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
That's one of the reasons why I love to stir up controversy with my writing - you never know who'll end up taking who's side. :cool:
(the other reason is of course the more replies a post generates, the longer it stays on the front page and the more people check it out.)
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
We differ on certain political issues, our personal religious leanings, and of course my low tolerance for irrationality, but he's a very intelligent person who I respect quite a bit.
Anyway, Sander, when's the next part of this going to be up? And when's Ssharki going to tear Quinndine to bits? (because that'd be epic)
And Quinn(dine?) is our big bad - the time has the be just right to confront him.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Don't move
Don't do anything
What we got to, it got away
Slipped from us
Don't sleep, don't
Don't say anything, they've
Been recording all we say
For years now
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely now, but don't
Don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
I'm gone
Don't feel
Don't love anything
Love attracts all those who taint
The cherished
Don't try to
To change anything
Nothing pure can ever stay
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely now, but don't
Don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
They'll say
"Relax, you'll be fine"
(All we love goes away)
They'll take
All you let them find
(All we love goes away)
It was mine
It was mine
You won't see them right away
But you'll hear them singing
Hold me closely
But don't say anything
They've come to take me away
And won't leave until I'm gone
Don't say anything
Don't say anything
They won't leave until I'm gone
I'm gone
Davey Havok, Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan and Adam Carson of AFI - "It Was Mine"
P A R T . F O U R , . C H A P T E R . O N E :
A L L . Y O U . L E T . T H E M . F I N D
Muncipal Sector 1101, Bynaus - 2412.07.22.0957 (Federation Standard Time)
After nearly a week of hopping between transports to throw off pursuers (including an uncomfortable three days stowed away on a Pakled freighter,) Thag finally decided they were safe enough to touch down. Of course he couldn't pick a nice place to hide out...
"So why are we here anyway? We could have gone to Risa, gone pretty much anywhere. This place is deader than the Dark Lady's bedchamber." Heiki wasn't happy, and when she wasn't happy, she had a way of letting people know.
"Because we're fugitives, Heiki." Thag replied with a shrug. "LaRoca knows we left for Europa. Even if I snuck us off past Hooper, which I'm not sure I did, he must've figured it out when he docked at Starbase One without his material witnesses. And being we both kind of stand out - we need disguises fast. I can't sneak around like you can, green stuff."
"Yeah, yeah. And whats that buzzing sound?"
"What buzzing sound?"
She frowned looking at a pair of Bynars passing by. "That high pitched squeal."
"Oh, it's probably them communicating with each other. It's at a frequency too high for most to hear."
"Just my bloody luck." Heiki followed the Neanderthal along as they got onto a tram leaving the spaceport. "This is a Fed world though - they'll know we're here before long."
"Which is why we have more tickets booked to half a dozen destinations. We'll only be here a short time."
They got off the peoplemover at, well, Bynaus didn't really have any seedy sections, but if it did, this would be one. He seemed to know the way as Heiki followed him, careful to make sure they weren't being tailed. But if they were watched by the everpresent security systems, that couldn't be helped.
They stepped into a doorway and Thag waited a moment.
"Do we knock or break in?" Heiki wondered.
"You can't break in," Thag told her matter-of-factly. "Not into this place. Just wait a sec."
A moment later, the door opened for them, and they stepped inside. After it closed, there was a definite locking sound from behind them.
Heiki spun. "Oh crud, that can't be good."
"Relax. I've known Uno for years, and he probably doesn't want to still kill me."
"Probably?"
Thag shrugged. "Definitely probably."
USS Vikrant, approaching ESD, same time
"...Vikrant, maintain current course, you are assigned internal docking slip three."
Great... still not much she could do to protest that without raising too many eyebrows. "Confirm Approach control, Vikrant inbound." Missy replied, before muting the com.
"You sure you wanna park inside? You remember the last time we had a parking slip inside the dock," Rin reminded her.
"How could I ever forget?" Missy replied wryly as they passed a freshly painted section of hull just past the giant door accessing them into the spacedock. "Slips one through four are diplomatic spots though, right next to the big windows looking out over the bays. We're gonna have ambassadors on board for a first official look, Andorian press, that sort of thing. I really don't think we've got to worry about black armored commandos storming us like what happened with the Nighthawk."
"Just the same... I'm gonna have extra security on duty. There are still fanatics out there that don't like the fact that Denali survived, and is rather heavily armed now," the XO stated as he looked through the duty roster.
"Makes sense," Missy said, watching as the helmsman brought the Vikrant in without tugs or tractors, expertly cutting speed and coming up against the hard lock with almost zero momentum. She could see a crowd in the viewing gallery across the way; a few of them - probably ones who had a clue about ship handling - were applauding. Always nice to have your crew's work acknowledged by other professionals. "Excellent job, Mister," she grinned, the Andorian at the helm grinning back. Standing up she straightened her uniform, the SDF tunic fortunately having less of a tendency to ride up like the Starfleet one she used to wear. "XO, you've got the conn, I'll go deal with the welcome wagon."
He nodded as she left the bridge. Seemed like a lifetime since they were here last - a good chunk of the last few weeks had been patrols in Cardassian space. The CDF and the 77th needed the help after their losses, and her government was agreeable to assist. Now she was back here again - though at least on the other side of the airlock was a friendly crowd. She recognized the Andorian ambassador, Thalev, as well as her own, Chanan Singh. And, of course, reporters.
The press lights came up as she stepped forward, saluting the ambassadors. Not exactly Starfleet protocol, but then the Denali colonists were mostly Canadian and Indian, and built the SDF using that influence. Both ambassadors returned the salute, then Chanan stepped up to the podium, flanked by Missy and Ambassador Thalev.
"Sat Sri Akal, ladies and gentlebeings. Today both Ambassador Thalev and myself are proud to present the Vikrant back victorious from its first operational cruise, defending Cardassian space as part of a multinational force, defending both Goralis and the entire Alpha Quadrant from an Undine invasion." THAT got the reporters attention, while there were unsubstantiated rumors that something happened, Starfleet had been quiet on the subject. Before any questions could be asked the Ambassador continued "The Vikrant is the first in a series of ships that along with the newly landed Andorian colony on the island of Chennai on Denali, where eventually fifty thousand Andorians will make their homes, working with our Institute of Genetics."
Several of the reporters had raised eyebrows, but held their questions as the Andorian Ambassador spoke. "Working together, we hope to both solve pressing medical issues to our people, as well as help the SDF in it's mission to defend and aid those in need."
Missy didn't pay too much attention to the speeches - she'd heard them before, to be honest, she was more worried about not flubbing her cue, as the Denali ambassador continued.
"As you know, we are at the mercy of distance. Should an emergency or a disaster befall a world in the more densely populated section of the quadrant, it would be month's before we could get aid there. This is changing, with General Melissa Travis assuming command of our forward deployment base on Cold Butte, jointly operated with the forces of the Moab Confederacy."
THAT caused even more eyebrows, as well as lights focused on her. She felt self-conscious enough, even more with the new shiny General's epaulettes on her shoulders. She returned the nod the Ambassadors gave her as she stepped up to the microphone.
"Thank you, Ambassador Singh, Ambassador Thalev, ladies and gentlemen. One year ago, the SDF did not exist... but they say, 'life is what happens while you make other plans.' We have realized that we can not simply be yet another colony world of a far-flung would-be empire - that we have a duty, to not sit idly by when innocents are threatened, when lives are being lost due to disaster, natural or otherwise. Saying 'we're too far to help' isn't an option."
She could see that some in the crowd weren't happy with her words... but others looked thoughtful, even agreeing.
"While there are some that may deny the danger," she went on, "our closest neighbors, the Klingon Empire, had been trying to warn for over a decade of the danger that we faced. They went to war with the Gorn over allegations of Undine... and found Undine. They hunted for Undine in their own halls... and found them. Then when they tried to warn the Federation... it took them going to war with us, to finally have some take the threat seriously. Now, as everyone can see, the threat is real."
Cameras were trained on her face as she leaned forward. "We are not a violent people. The SDF was not formed for making war. But make no mistake... we will fight to defend innocents wherever we are needed. Our promises will not be cast aside for political favors. We stand with the Empire, the Confederacy, the Cardassian Union, the Romulan Republic as well as the Federation, with anyone who will stand between innocents and the threat to us all."
Seacliff - 1036 hours
It had been a long night, but there was still so much to do... Jesu was debating with himself whether to pour another cup of coffee or to follow his brother to bed for a short nap when his pocket PADD pinged to alert him to an incoming text message from Ennari.
He did, and landed in the middle of Missy's speech. The top of the screen, next to the FNN logo said Denali Press Conference - LIVE! and the legend below Missy's podium read Brg. Gen. Melissa Travis - former Starfleet officer and under that scrolled the words Denali pledges to defend Moab secessionists...
Jesu's inbox pinged again.
LaRoca texted back: Leverage.
Rutan Museum, Mojave, CA
At least the museum was interesting.
Zaki had been here for over two hours, waiting for contact from Admiral LaRoca's man, "Hank." He could guess why he was being made to wait around here. To anyone watching him, it would look suspicious if he showed up at the museum and left a few minutes later. And on Earth, one thing you could count on was that someone was always watching. It may be a low-level AI with a good pattern-recognition algorithm, rather than an actual person, but you were being watched all the same.
What irked Zaki was the assumption that he wasn't enough of a professional to realize that. Well, he was a professional. Even if he hadn't exactly done one of these before under this level of scrutiny, he knew how a public bag-drop was supposed to work.
At least Zaki didn't have to put on too much of a show of being fascinated by the static displays and mock-ups of some of Human-kind's first commercial ventures at space travel. He was just about to take a holocap of SpaceShipFive with his PADD when he spotted someone carrying a shoulder bag. A bag almost identical to the one he was carrying.
The guy was a muscular caucasian of below-average height, wearing a shirt printed with ancient propellor-driven airplanes and a baseball cap. He glanced at Zaki, looked at his own PADD as he scanned the interactive infotext next to the display, and walked toward a holovid gallery.
Zaki tracked him while looking through his PADD, and took a few more caps from different angles before following. He sat down in the row in front of the guy, placed his satchel under his seat, and half-watched the historical two-dee video showing the earliest tests of Scaled Composites' primitive spacecraft.
They guy was good. Zaki almost didn't notice the switch, but he was listening for the drag of synthleather on the carpet. To anyone else, it would just look like the guy behind him was stretching out his legs.
When the video ended, Zaki picked up the bag. It was a little heavier than the satchel he brought with him. He opened it to put away his PADD. There was another PADD in there, and a package that was large enough to contain a Starfleet uniform.
Zaki resisted the urge to smile. That was the easy part.
Uno's safehouse, Bynaus
Being greeted by a furious Gorn was never something to be reassured by. "Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler. You gotta lot of guts comin' here, after what you pulled."
If it wasn't for the Lethean who purposefully rested his hand on the butt of his weapon when Heiki tensed, she could have taken the lizard, big or not. But there were half a dozen of them in here, all armed, it was a kill box, and they were just a squeaky toy in a worgs den.
Thag however didn't seem worried at all, even as the big Gorn lunged forward, scooping him up and... hugging him?
"Ooof! Watch the ribs, you've gotten stronger, girl," he said as the Gorn put him back down on his feet.
"Sorry, I did not know you were injured-" if anything, Heiki could have sworn the Gorn looked worried then, tho it wasn't easy to read their facial expressions. "How bad, are you-" she started to say, pulling out what looked like a medical tricorder.
"I'm okay, Tarit, Starfleet patched me up. But we've got heat and-"
"Say no more. Whatever you need, we will provide." The guards returned to their posts as the new voice spoke out. It was a Bynar, though oddly enough, just a single one. Heiki always thought they went in pairs, but this one was alone, and dressed in a featureless black jumpsuit.
Thag bowed his head. "Uno, I am sorry to have brought possible trouble to your doorstep."
"What trouble? You and your minty colored friend were just spotted boarding a shuttle to a ship bound for Risa six minutes ago. There are two, no. Three agents - two Humans and a Ferengi who are even now rushing to book passage on that ship as well." Bynars did not grin, but Uno was close to it. "Come. You are probably hungry, and Tarit won't be happy until she verifies for herself that your injuries are healed."
One very good meal, and a medical check up later, "So where do you know her from?" Heiki whispered to Thag.
"We were raised together," the Gorn replied, clearly having better hearing than Heiki expected. "My father was a trader, and worked with selling crystals that Gornar produced that could be manufactured into computer components here. He was killed during the Dominion war, and, well, Uno's partner died then as well."
"I knew little about raising Gorn, to be honest - and with the war, returning her wasn't really an option. It was not long after that that Thag 'arrived'. Fortunately, I do have ways of finding out information, which I have tried to pass on as best as I can."
"I am but a student," Thag replied. "Hence my return to the Master in a time of need."
Uno simply nodded. "In many ways, you have surpassed me, young one. Let us get to work."
Seacliff - 1218 hours
Rusty woke up, feeling a gentle hand on the back of his neck. He inhaled, and smelled-
His eyes opened, and he rolled over. "Georgia?"
"Ha, there, sugar."
Rusty sat up and embraced his girlfriend in an awkward hug. Then he noticed his brother standing in the doorway. "Jesu?"
"Get up and put on your suit, bro. We're gonna be up to our necks in newsmen, politicians and lawyers for the rest of the day."
"Unh, okay..." Rusty noticed that Jesu was already wearing his pinstripe suit and power tie, and he didn't look like he'd slept. "What happened?"
"We'll explain on the way," Georgia told him. "But we got some ahdeas that maht save th' Confed'racy."
Mojave Spaceport
"Identity?" the guard asked.
"Kaplan, Beyamin Avi. Chief Petty Officer," Zaki said evenly, as he submitted to the ret-scan and slid his identicard into the reader.
"Confirmed, and cleared... Welcome to Logistics Base Mojave, Chief Kaplan." The Security petty officer looked bored. "Your work-station is in Building Seven. Do you need a guide or map?"
"I can find it," Zaki told him, gathering the satchel case and his PADD - with the forged orders.
The guard fell in with him anyway. "We don't get a lot of auditors from IG down here, just so you know, Chief... it's a clean operation."
Zaki shrugged, "I just go where I'm sent, Sec. Today I was sent here, tomorrow it'll probably be Utopia Planitia, or Titan. I don't think there's anything special with this one, just random checks. You might say 'regular operations maintenance', or you could call it what we in the department call it."
"What's that?"
"Busywork," Zaki told him with a rueful grin. "Spending budgeted hours so that they don't get cut next quarter."
The security man laughed at that. "Too right." They reached a branch in the concourse and another security station, this time they waved Zaki through. "Turbolift at the end," the Sec told him.
Through the windows along the corridor, he could see heavy equipment moving large parcels to the broad pads of large-scale transporters, the parcels beaming directly to destinations both on Earth, and in orbit. On the other side were Type-24 cargo shuttles - vessels nearly the size of an actual starship, whose only task was moving freight that could not safely be transported for various reasons. Virtually all of the cargo was marked, visibly, with the symbol of the Federation, or of Starfleet itself. Several of the large parcels were moved under guard.
As he paused at the end of the concourse, a turbolift disgorged it's passengers - dozens of officers and enlisted, some chatting aimlessly, others striding with grim purpose, came out, temporarily filling the corridor.
He stepped into the lift. "Building Seven."
It went straight down, the transparent paneling showing the ground level rising, rising, passing him, as he sank into a dark shaft driven into the earth's crust. After descending a distance he could only guess at, it opened on a large cavern.
The structures down here, were supported by large, mechanical springs and hydraulic buffers, the ceiling of the cavern was reinforced, both with huge metallic girders, and the soft yellow-blue glow of high-strength SI fields.
The people moving around, as he stepped off, were moving with purpose, bureaucrats, guards...soldiers? He took a moment and gathered in his bearings. The sprung structures were labelled with large, clear numbers. "There we are..." he muttered, and strode in the direction of a 'building' made of some kind of poured-stone concrete mesh, displaying a prominent VII.
It was time to find out if his forged identity could pass - the security here didn't look bored, they looked alert, a level of 'professional' several cuts above the people working in Mojave Spaceport's surface areas. The archives here, were protected; part of a network of hundreds of similar facilities mandated after the Breen attack on Earth during the Dominion War.
If the information was to be had, it would be here.
Bynaus
It was late. Uno's species did not need as much sleep as others... and to be honest, sleep brought memories, of not the constant sense of aloneness that had endured over the years.
The others were resting - which was good. Less chance of interruption while he worked towards his true goal. In some respects, he was not that different from these 'good masters' that Thag and his little green companion fought. The destruction of the Federation - Uno's life's dream.
Thag had believed in that too at first... but he had changed... drifted away from the righteous path of vengeance. Twice he had saved the Federation working with Schrodinger. Damn her. Sweet destruction of the enemy would have happened if she had not interfered - he knew that from his own data probes and intercepts. It had been a close thing at Goralis, and in truth he had thought the hated ones had lost... until her device saved their damned hides yet again.
Still, there was more than one way to skin a Human.
Thag had protected his data well - of course, from someone who had taught him encryption, much less someone of Uno's caliber, it was broken easily.
As he poured over the data, a new feeling of hope began to arise in him. This... this, if used properly, could destroy the Federation far more painfully that simple conquest. To lay bare their lies, to expose them for what they truly were, to see them tear themselves apart in an inevitable civil war that would leave Earth a smoking ruin...
For the first time in years.,he laughed. This would be glorious destruction, and the best thing about it - the Federation would destroy themselves.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown
Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
(Subdivisions)
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
(Subdivisions)
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dream of youth
Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
Well, some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights
(Subdivisions)
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
(Subdivisions)
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dream of youth
Neil Peart of Rush - "Subdivisions"
P A R T . F O U R , . C H A P T E R . T W O :
T H E . R E S T L E S S . D R E A M
California St, heading toward downtown San Francisco
"So, where're we goin'?" Rusty wondered, as he struggled with his shoes in the back seat of Jesu's car.
"We're going to the offices of the FCLU," H'mL'n told him, looking back from the front passenger seat. "They're looking to sue the Federation Council for violating the treaty with Moab."
"Dinky and Kelly are there now, going over the language of the treaty and Supreme Court ruling," Jesu added.
"Do they have a case?"
"That's wut we're gonna find out," Georgia answered. "If so, then us two," she indicated H'mL'n and herself, "are gonna host a press conf'rence."
"Meanwhile, I'm doing lunch with Ryoko, Jiro, and Councilor Strather, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee," Jesu announced, as he turned right onto Van Ness. "I'll be impressing upon Strather and Sugi what exactly Denali is threatening if Starfleet takes action against the Confederacy. Reader is camping a table nearby."
"Where do you need me?" Rusty wondered as he fumbled with his tie.
"You're going to meet Ennari," his brother told him, "and brief her on Starfleet's current and projected stance toward the situation with Moab, and the operational assets of the Denali Space Defense Force. She's going to be interviewed on FNN in a couple of hours. Once you've filled her in you'll be getting in touch with the girls, finding me, and bringing me the news about the lawsuit."
Rusty sat quietly as Georgia adjusted his tie. "You don't want me with you?"
"I need you with Ennari," Jesu said. "I'll have Spitz and M'relna about six meters away if I get in trouble." He zigzagged a few blocks and pulled over in front of a vegetarian Japanese restaurant. "You drive, bro."
Rusty got out with his brother. "You got Spitz to eat here?"
"I think he's just having tea." Jesu caught a look behind his brother's eyes. "What's the matter?"
Rusty shook his head. "Nuthin'. Just... It's nuthin'."
Jesu pulled off his sunglasses. "Bro, I know you've been having a rough time lately, but I need you to lay that aside and do your job. You're my chief security officer and foreign forces advisor. Right now you need to be that and not my little brother, alright?"
"Yeah, okay." Rusty got behind the wheel of the car.
"Rust."
"Yeah?"
Jesu leaned on the door. "If you get stuck on something, Hooper's standing by. Ennari's idea is to paint a picture that the Federation is about to do a repeat of the Vancouver tragedy. Any facts you can give her to help frame that..."
"I got it." Rusty closed the door and drove off.
Hotel Regina, Paris
At least the Admiral - LaRoca, not Taylor's father - had put them up in a nice place. Their room looked out over the Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries. Aaron looked out the window and wondered if this was all just part of a tacit "TRIBBLE you too," exchange between the brass.
"Hey, Zetaz says to put on FNN," his wife (!) announced.
"What's up?"
The HV system had recognized the implicit request and automatically activated and tuned itself to the Federation News Network which was in the middle of showing an interview with Ennari Dai.
"...The simple fact is Denali is no longer as isolated or as powerless as it once was," Ennari was saying. "And if they are saying they will involve themselves if their allies are threatened, we should know they have the means to back that up."
The lead interviewer was a Vulcan named T'rekel - the closest thing FNN had to a critical thinker. "I'm sure many of our viewers know Denali only as the victim of one of the worst atrocities seen this century. Six months ago, Denali lacked the means to defend itself against an attack staged by the Mirror Terran Empire. What has changed since then?"
"A great deal. First of all, there were the ships and the starbase that the Denali Space Defense Force was able to recover from the defeated Terrans. And then there was their agreement with Andoria which exchanged ships and technology for colonization rights. Most significantly they now have a Joint Operations Base with the Moab Confederacy Defense Force on Cold Butte-"
She was interrupted by Bill Hannity, the news talk-show's co-host. "How is that significant? Are they actually aiding the secessionist forces?"
"It gives them expanded capacity and a staging area to defend the Moab Confederacy from aggressors," Ennari told him evenly. "Even if the Federation has forgotten its own treaties, the sovereign world of Denali does recognize the Moab Confederacy as an independent state. You asked me what General Travis meant when she said Denali will defend its allies. I'm telling you, they have the ability to do just that."
"And what would they view as an act of aggression?" T'rekel led.
"Forceful reannexation, for one thing," Ennari replied. "Or unlawful interference in Moab's internal affairs. Denali has told us that any action the Federation takes to subdue those you call secessionists will be tantamount to a declaration of war. And I think we all remember the last time we had a war on Denali."
Hannity paled. "Yes... thank you, Miss Dai. I'm afraid that's all we have time for... Back to the studio."
Sanjit wasn't paying much attention to the newscast however, instead looking at something on her PADD and laughing. "Oh, that's going to sting."
"What is it?" Aaron asked from the sofa.
"Someone's already taken that quote of that idiot there," she said, pointing at the screen, "and comparing it to his screaming for 'treating augment monsters in the ony way they understand' last year..." She shook her head. "Course, the government was infiltrated and pumping out propaganda, but still... Mister blowhard there bought the official story and ran with it - nice to see him shut down so fast as soon as that was brought up."
"Maybe it will make people stop and think..."
She sighed and headed for the bathroom. "And as long as we're wishing for the impossible, I'd like a pony."
As he heard the shower turn on Aaron just chuckled to himself. "Well, now I know what to get her for her birthday," he said before turning back to the news.
"...stunning revelations in the official investigation into damage to the USS Wolfram has led investigators to re-open an issue that has caused consternation in Starfleet circles - can you hold an artificial intelligence liable for it's actions? Starfleet correspondent Jelek Chase has more..."
The screen cut to a half-Bajoran man standing outside the wrong building at the Presidio. "Things were tense this morning as evidence was presented. The question when the panelists entered the hearing was how much responsibility Captain Nanoha had for the near destruction of her command, but tonight, the question has gotten much, much deeper, with the revelation that the ship's artificial intelligence management system - an AU-twenty-five named 'Raging Heart' - apparently acted on it's own, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of crewmen during the recent, disastrous joint exercise in Cardassian Space. Theoretically, this outcome should not be possible, as the AU series artificial intelligence management systems are heavily constrained. However, AU-twenty-five Delta-Bravo-Romeo-Hotel, aka 'Raging Heart' was able to either slip, or overcome, the safety protocols built into its operating system.
"Panelists and experts were stunned as the artificial intelligence unit insisted that it took the actions it apparently did of it's own accord, and with full knowledge of the consequences, without orders or instructions. Portions of 'Raging Heart's' testimony remain tightly classified, but according to panelists from the investigatory group, the potential that this AI, and others of the AU series, may have gone rogue, was raised. Right now, we're waiting on an official statement from Starfleet as to how this is going to proceed, Bob."
Aaron muttered under his breath, "Official statement is nothing happened, pay no attention to the Undine behind the curtains..."
The image cut back to the newsroom. "Thanks Jelek, in other news, the FCLU has announced that there will be a press-conference in a few hours, relating to the ongoing Secession Crisis. FNN analysts expect that the civil rights group will not be taking sides in this ongoing controversy..."
Aaron turned off the HV, tired of hearing people pretending to know what they were talking about. "That is horsesh*t," he muttered as he sat down tiredly on the bed.
"What is?" came Sanjit's voice from the bathroom.
"They're stringing up the AI from the Wolfram in a kangaroo court - hell, NONE of these damn reporters are even acknowledging that it was a life or death decision in the middle of a fight." While he didn't know all the details, scuttlebutt was still one of the fastest means of communication, and after the fighting was done, people did swap stories.
"Are they still calling it a 'joint exercise'?" She asked as she came out of the bathroom, hair still wet and wrapped in a towel.
"Of course, tho General Travis's statement should have them scratching their heads, being she actually called it for what it was." His PADD beeped and he leaned over checking the message. "Speak of the devil. She wants us to meet her at the Cardassian Embassy tomorrow."
"You mean tomorrow Paris Time, I hope, because after the transport from San Francisco, it is tomorrow for us." She said as she dried her hair with the towel.
"Well being it's in the morning, I'd say so. So that gives us time to get some food, and probably you should check in with the Klingon embassy now that they're re-opened..."
Aaron trailed off as he watched his wife. The scars from the battle on Goralis were even more visible with what she wasn't wearing... but better scars than dead.
Seacliff - 2247 hours
"Gawd that sucked," Rusty groaned loudly the moment he got home. He started pulling off his suit and made his way upstairs.
"I thought things went pretty well," Jesu said, trailing his little brother and picking up after him. "Ennari's interview was particularly good."
"Ah thought so too," Georgia said, following the Admiral up to his room.
"And the press conference went really well - I expect they'll be talking about that right up to the Council vote," Jesu remarked for Georgia's benefit, sounding more self-assured than he was.
Rusty pulled off his socks and flopped on his stomach on Jesu's bed, sighing with relief as he curled and uncurled his toes.
Jesu sat beside him. "I know. It's a long time for you to be wearing shoes." He picked up one of Rusty's feet and started to massage it.
"Ah could do that-" Georgia started.
"I can do it better," Jesu told her. "Maria taught me. She was a massage therapist before she met papa and joined Starfleet."
Rusty didn't say anything. He just closed his eyes and let his brother make him feel better.
Georgia watched for a minute, fidgeting. Then she collected Rusty's suit. "Do ya have a... laundry fresh'ner up here anywheres?"
"In the hallway," Jesu said. "Between the bedrooms."
Georgia put her boyfriend's clothes through the device, and brought them into the other bedroom to hang them up. It was definitely Rusty's room, and he definitely didn't decorate it. There was a lot of things that reminded her of Rusty, that he would never show off. MACO paraphernalia, pictures of dangerous animals looking cute and playful, a few of Rusty's awards and decorations framed and hung on the walls. One thing she could see Rusty having in his room was a picture of Jesu and his father on the bedside table.
One thing that was definitely missing was Rusty's messiness. If the Deinon had spent any time in here at all, the bed should be unmade, there should be clothes strewn everywhere, a stack of PADDs on the table, the bathroom should be a mess, there should be a damp towel hanging on the door of the shower... she didn't see any of that. Either Jesu had a very good and very discreet maid service, or Rusty didn't really live in this room.
She returned to the Admiral's room to find Rusty snoring and Jesu rubbing the back of the Deinon's head. "Is he asleep?" she whispered.
"Out like a light," Jesu answered. "It's weird. I haven't seen him sleep this much since we were kids. Usually he only sleeps six hours at a stretch, and he can go for days without needing so much as a nap." He gave a quiet laugh. "He used to joke that I'd developed my caffeine addiction so I could keep up with him." He looked up. "He says he's sleeping better though. I don't know what's wrong with him."
"Huh." She looked at the way Rusty had settled into his brother's king-size bed, and the much more lived-in state of the room, and asked "Has he been sleepin' in here?"
"Yeah, since we got back," Jesu told her. "That's new too. I mean, he's been sleeping with me every now and then since Moab but... not every night like this."
She stared at Rusty, who was still sound asleep, and looked back to the Admiral. "Um. Listen, ah can go back to the hotel with Hamlin, or..."
"You don't need to go anywhere," Jesu told her. "Just use Rusty's room. I'll see if I can get him to join you."
Georgia gave a hesitant sigh and said, "Arraght."
Jesu watched her go, then took off his jacket and tie and lay down next to his brother. He stroked his jaw and said, "Wake up, Rust."
The Deinon blinked, raised his head and yawned. "Wuh time izzit."
"We just got home a few minutes ago, bro. Remember?"
"Unh. Yeah," Rusty mumbled sleepily.
"Listen, bro, Georgia needs you. I think she's feeling left out. Like you're pushing her away. But she loves you, and she's worried about you. You need to talk to her about what's going on with you."
Rusty shook his head. "I can't. Not- How could I tell her? I haven't even told you about... I can't talk to her about that."
"You don't have to tell her everything," Jesu said. "Just tell her enough that she knows that you know that she cares."
Rusty looked at his brother. "What about you?"
Jesu stroked the Deinon's head again. "I'll always be here for you, bro. You can talk to me any time. But if you don't go to Georgia now, I don't think she'll be there for you much longer."
Rusty rolled over and sat up, and stared off into space for a long moment. "Okay," he said. "Where'd she..."
"She's in your room," Jesu told him. "Rust, if you love her, you need to show her. She's confused, and she's hurting because you're hurting and not sharing with her."
Rusty gave a resolved nod, got up and left.
Jesu sat there for a while, then he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, finished undressing, lay down in his bed and turned out the lights. He lay there in the dark, and worried.
He reached for the pillow his brother used, and pulled it to his chest, and tried to sleep.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Not sure if I like how the UFP is being portrayed here, and I think that Jesu's ignoring a lot of the really kind of nasty stunts the Moabites have pulled, but I'm worried to bits about Rusty and excited to see where this goes.
Do continue!
It is rather claims of neutrality, objectivity, etc. that arouse my suspicions the worst.
BTW, Patrick, had a chance to check out "Silence Surrounding" yet?
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Do you mean this horny creep
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come?
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest
And feeling numb
What do you expect of me?
What is it you want?
Whatever you've planned for me
I'm not the one
A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied
An unbearable pain
A beating in my brain
That leaves the mark of Cain
Right here inside
What am I supposed to do?
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
Is there something you need from me?
Are you having your fun?
I never agreed to be
Your holy one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
(Whatever, whatever)
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun...
Martin Gore of Depeche Mode - "Barrel of a Gun"
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . O N E :
W H A T E V E R . I ' V E . D O N E
Seacliff, San Francisco - 2412.07.22.2306
Rusty numbly walked down the hall to his own room. He knew his brother was right. It wasn't fair to Georgia, to shut her out like he'd been doing. She loved him. She wanted to help him. But...
He stopped outside his door. He looked at the handle, and back up the hall at his brother's door, and stood there a moment, curling and uncurling his fingers.
He opened the door. Georgia was sitting up in his bed, half under the covers, reading something on her PADD. She looked up at him and smiled. "Ha, there, sugar."
"Hi." He closed the door behind him. "I'm sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought I was."
"'S'okay." She put the PADD down and opened the covers for him, exposing her body to him. "Ah unnerstand if ya wanna jus' go to sleep."
Rusty looked at her for a moment, then slowly removed his shorts. "I can try to stay awake for a little while."
The corridors are choked with acrid-smelling smoke, red alert lights flashing, and in the distance, sometimes close, sometimes far, the sounds of screams and shouts, the sizzling hiss of disruptors and the flat booms of firearms...
Jesu has his gun out, and he walks alongside his brother, matching the Deinon's pace.
Reader follows. We should hurry, he tells the others. If that's Strannik in there, he's losing.
Rusty nods. "Grady's office is just ahead-" (This isn't right. The Station hadn't been... the fighting hadn't reached the station that day.)
"Won, two. Three four... This little piggy went to market..." a singsong voice chants, and Rusty glances around. Jesu is calm, clutching that big Desert Eagle that Elizabeth gave him in one hand, but he isn't the one singing.
The murk clears for a moment, and he sees a woman sitting on the floor, her head is twisted at an unnatural angle. "The diamond was glass and the gold was brass and don't you want to go to the festival..." It's a jumble of children's nursery rhymes. The singing dead woman's hand lifts her face to look at him. "But you're not the one that sets my heart on fire..." the corpse goes limp again, animation gone.
"RUSTY!!! HELP ME!!!" a scream through the doorway. He glances at his brother, who just shrugs.
Rusty leaps through the doorway-
Nha Tranh is burning around him. He looks back at the hospital, hearing the screams of those he couldn't get to in time, as they are devoured by flames, or worse.
"It's like the worst parts of the bible," Jesu mutters, as his eyes dart around looking for something to shoot. (Didn't I say that?)
"Rusty..." the voice moans. It's familiar...
"Georgia?"
"She needs you, bro," Jesu says. "You need to help her."
"You don't need her," another voice says, a voice that freezes Rusty's blood. "She'll only hold you down, like I did. You're better off without her."
Rusty spins, and he is there. (This is seriously getting weird, now.) "Redding, you stay out of this, or-."
"Or what, you'll kill me again?" He gestures to the hole in his chest, just left of center. "Think about it. You think you love her? Why? What's she ever done for you?"
Rusty sniffs, and flinches, and jumps to the side as a Fek ravager comes out of nowhere and narrowly misses sinking her teeth into his tail. She howls at him, and is silenced by an unbelievably loud gunshot.
"Find Georgia," Jesu tells him. "She needs you."
Rusty looks back to where Redding was, but he's gone. (Good. Did not need that.) He tears down the street toward the familiar cries, and finds her-
(What the f*ck!?)
Georgia's lying in his bed, her feet are in the air, and papa is... "Rusty, mijo, it's not what it looks like."
"You TRIBBLE!!" he hears himself roar, and watches the Hunter step forward.
"Rusty, wait," she says, talking to the Hunter. "He only wants to help..."
"I Don't Want Your Help," he says. Now he and the Hunter are one. "I Don't NEED Your Help." And with a swift kick and flick of his toe claw, he kills his father.
"He was weak, anyway," Georgia says, as she stands. "The Weak will Perish. The Strong will Serve..." she begins to morph into something terrible. "And Obstacles, like You, will be Removed..."
Rusty sees an arm snake around the Undine's throat, "Run, Rusty." Meru's voice says, "Run for now, I've got him."
The Undine reaches up with it's arms,and begins dismantling Cousin Meru's corpse... and it is a corpse, even though she keeps fighting back. He smells the stench of death here, death and... something... bitter and foul. "You will not stop me!" the Undine snarls.
"Not dead which eternal lies, come the strange eon, even death may die... Rusty, rUN." Drake Tran's voice hisses and growls, as the dead man flanks him, heading for the imposter. "Get out, Rusty. You don't belong here..."
Rusty's eyes popped open, he sat up, turned to the side and retched. "Haaegh. F*ck."
"Hardly appropriate language for this house," he heard someone say. "But given what you just went through, I'm sure God will understand."
Rusty looked around. He wasn't back in his bed. He was in... a Church? Stone walls, wooden pews, lit by candles and torches, a simple lectern and a sacrament table... He'd seen this place before. Jesu's holoprogram. Santa Clara. He stood and looked around, and saw Jesu's priest character, Father Sanchez, smiling at him.
"Your nightmares are getting worse, child. Do you know why?"
Rusty felt the air get thicker as he heard the familiar voice... the Old Deinon's voice. Rusty glared at him. "Who are you?"
"When you are ready to know me, you will know me, child."
Hearing the gentle rebuke in the priest's tone, Rusty softened his eyes. "Can you make them stop?"
The abbot sadly shook his head. "I told you once before, I may not make your path smooth for you. But I may help you understand why the rocks are there."
"I dunno," Rusty said. "I think maybe it's the Hunter. He wants to be let out."
"Yes, he always does. And when you feed him, as you did at Goralis, he grows stronger. But that's not what you ran from, is it?"
"I dunno what I was running from... Meru, and Drake, they told me to... They said I didn't belong there. But I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I just wanna help Jesu and Georgia and keep them safe."
"You know where you must go." The abbot lit a candle. "But you must keep walking."
"The path I walk... the path I'm supposed to guide Jesu down... you said we would reach a crossroads."
"You've reached it, child. But you have not found your sign."
Rusty stared at the Jesuit priest as he kept lighting candles. "Where do I look?"
"Where do you usually find street signs?" Sanchez asked.
"Um... on the side of the road? Or above?"
"Then why do you look back?"
Rusty opened his eyes again, smelled Georgia's hair pressed against his snout, heard her breathing, felt her body under his arm and his leg...
He pressed a claw into the palm of his hand. It hurt. He was really awake, now.
He turned his head around and looked at the clock. It said 0356. F*ck. Half the night gone and I didn't sleep at all. Again. He reached over and set it to wake him at 0700. Gotta lotta work to do tomorrow... He looked at the ceiling and tried to close his eyes. Then he reached for the chronometer again. Maybe a few more minutes...
0716 hours
"Computer, cancel alarm!" The alarm on the chronometer had been beeping for a minute already. And it kept beeping, since Jesu's house didn't have any sort of computer voice control system. Georgia sat up, rolled over, and crawled across her slumbering boyfriend to reach the chronometer on his bedside table. She whacked buttons on the top of the device until it shut up.
Rusty still snored away, oblivious to the alarm clock and to her movements. He was stretched out on his stomach, with his head facing away from her. His tail slowly moved under the covers but apart from that and his heavy, rhythmic breathing he was totally still.
Georgia hovered over him, propped up on her right arm. He looked peaceful, but she could tell he was just as tense as he had been when he lay down with her the night before. He'd tried to set her at ease, apologizing for being so distant for the last month since the battle, without telling her why. He told her he was there for her, without telling her what she needed to know so she could be there for him. Despite how intimately close they were physically, emotionally he was still a million kilometers away.
She gently touched his shoulder, and pressed deeper when he did not stir, feeling the tightly coiled muscles under his thick, loose, pebbly skin. She was still amazed by that - how soft he felt until you applied real pressure.
She sighed and smiled down at him. Momma would freak... but who cares, really? He was everything she needed...
But am I everything he needs? the little voice in her mind asked, and she felt a nudge of despair again. Why can't he talk to me? She laid her head down behind his and kept massaging his shoulder. Why can't he tell me what's wrong?
They'd been together for over a year and in all that time, she'd never gotten the sense that Rusty needed anything from her. He'd always been supportive, caring for her, asking for nothing in return but accepting her affection. Now he needed more and she didn't know how to give it to him. "Please, jus' tell me how ah can help you, Rusty," she whispered. "Please let me love you."
There was a knock at the door. "You guys up yet?" Jesu called.
"Not yet!" Georgia answered. she pulled the sheet up to under her arms. "Come in!"
Jesu opened the door carefully, making sure they were decent before entering. "How'd he sleep?"
"Fine, ah think," Georgia answered. "Ah can't wake 'im up, though."
Jesu approached. Rusty's face twitched, but he didn't not awaken. "Did he talk to you?"
"A little," Georgia sighed. "He won't tell me what's wrong though. Ah know there's sumthin'."
Jesu reached for the back of his little brother's head, and pushed on a pressure point. Georgia heard Rusty sigh and felt his shoulder relax under her hand.
"Wake up, bro," Jesu said.
Rusty stirred. "Izzit mornin'?"
"Yeah. And we've got stuff to do. People to talk to. I need you sharp. You want coffee?"
Rusty slid and rolled toward the edge of the bed. "Double 'spresso." He stood up, looked around for a moment, and looked back at Georgia. She something flash through his eyes, but he blinked it away and smiled at her. "We should probably shower, huh?"
"Okay, guys. Don't take too long." Jesu made his exit.
"Yeah, we should." Georgia said absently. She tried not to think about it, but the way that Rusty had looked at her for just an instant... She'd seen that look before. And it terrified her.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Shame
Such a shame
I think I kinda lost myself again
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go
- Massive Attack, "Dissolved Girl"
* * *
...But it doesn't really matter
I give the world to you
If you just
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive...
- In Flames, "Deliver Us"
* * *
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . T W O :
I N T O . T H E . D I S T A N C E
Starfleet Court, Presidio, San Francisco - 2412.07.23.1047
"...No signs of viral contamination in the code, Your Honor, but we did see something unusual."
"What did you find? What was 'unusual' about the logs and records?"
"Admiral, it's not the logs and records - those matched up pretty much exactly with the logs we recovered from the USS Tiburon, USS Ray Bradbury, and data from Seven-Five-Tau... it's the AI, sir," Commander Gilbert said. "The root code's been altered, the specific function links for the Ten Commandments have been re-routed, the Commandments themselves, and virtually all factory directives, have been overwritten."
Admiral Cromartie, the JAG overseeing this case, frowned at his PADD. "Can you explain to the Court exactly what that means? For those of us unfamiliar with AI programming?"
Gilbert paused, and twisted at her graying, reddish hair with two fingers. "Sirs... Okay, you know about Commander Data's Three Laws, right?"
"The whole fleet's aware of that."
"Okay, imagine him without them," she said. "All AU-series artificial sentients come with a set of core command directives that they can not override. They can't even be built and function without them - the Ten Commandments... and they're based on the, ah... biblical version, but structured for self-aware computers. They can't just... ah... decide not to follow them on their own."
"So what made this AI lose that structure, if you're so sure it wasn't a virus?"
"No sir, not a virus, or at least, not a viral attack that we've seen before. Someone had root access," she said. "It would take a someone, working... at a level... we're still trying to figure it out, but to make those changes, you'd either need the facilities at the Atticus Unlimited production lab, or you'd need... ahm... another, unchained, AI, maybe one based on Dr. Daystrom's M-5 research. Even an Iconian virus wasn't able to make changes as subtle as those - it can KILL an AU series AI, but it can't rewrite part of it, while leaving the rest functional and... ah... ahm... alive?" she bit her lip. "I don't think the Borg would do it... they might be able to do it... but they weren't a present factor at Goralis, and the memory indicates these changes have been around for a while."
"Can you simplify for the Court?"
"Um... imagine if someone rewrote your personality without killing you, sir, or without changing your sense of you, being... you." She shrugged. "Like massive brain surgery, changed your whole moral and ethical structure, but left everything, including your memories, intact... that's about as extensive as what we found in that AU-Twenty-Five's code. It's a different person from what it was originally."
"Commander Gilbert, are you implying that this computer is a sapient being?" one of the other panelists asked. "That it has rights?"
The technical investigator chewed her lip. "Um, sir... maybe it started as a... thing, but the changes made it more of..." she sighed. "More of a person, sir, it's in my report. This artificial intelligence is a fully sapient being..." She straightened up. "It is my conclusion, after technical examination, that the AU-Twenty-Five series filename 'Raging Heart' is a self-willed being, and my conclusion is supported by the Daystrom/Turing standard used in the-"
"That's enough, Commander, we've got your recommendation here," Admiral Cromartie spoke up.
Gilbert frowned. "Sirs, she has a right to legal counsel."
"That's still up for debate, Commander," the 'prosecutor' said. "Anything for cross?"
The Starfleet-appointed defense, Captain Miyar, flicked an ear. "We'll retain the right to cross-examine the witness after the next witness is brought forward," she said. "Also, Admirals, you should be aware that the Soong Foundation has counsel en-route."
"How did they find out about - nevermind... Jordan, who's next up?"
"Reginald Gordon Shaw, Daystrom Institute."
Dr. Shaw mounted the dais after Commander Gilbert stepped down. While the Tech Services investigator looked like a graying, geeky granny, Dr. Shaw was the iron-haired image of the elite in Federation scientific circles. His piercing gaze and confident manner gave him an air of wisdom - like some wizard from a classical fantasy story, or a prophet from some ancient religion, a high-priest of the Sciences, with the charisma to spare.
His Daystrom badge gleamed under the lights in the hearing room, his blue tunic was spotlessly pressed, vivid and looked... better than new.
"State your name and position for the record?"
"Reginald Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, Sc.D, D.Lit, Director of Artificial Sentience research at the Daystrom Institute, assistant director of AI implementation for Starfleet Command, Advisor to the Advanced Artificial Sentience Project... Shall I continue?" he asked with a slight smile.
"That's sufficient, Doctor," Captain Miyar said, twitching her nose as she smiled. "Could you please explain to the court, because there seems to be some degree of confusion regarding these terms, what is the difference between 'sentience' and 'sapience' as it relates to AI constructs?"
"A very good question. Simply put, any being intelligent enough to know what it is would be considered sentient. Any high-order lifeform exhibiting self-awareness is a sentient being. This is what makes the term 'sentient rights' somewhat misleading. A horse would qualify as a sentient organism, but people can still own them as property. The same goes for AI. Starfleet has employed self-aware, 'sentient' computer software for centuries, but just because it is sentient and capable of communicating does not mean it has the rights we grant to sapient beings. Sapience, you see, is a matter of having the capacity to make choices - having free will. Soong-type androids like Data have that capacity. The Doctor - the EMH mk. I from USS Voyager - gained that capacity by aggressively expanding his programming. Dr. Zimmerman did not account for learning rates when he created the first-generation EMH, and he ended up with something that could exceed the capabilities of the AU-Twenty-Three systems they were attached to. Atticus Unlimited-series AI, on the other hand, lack this capacity by design."
Miyar's ears perked. "So is what Commander Gilbert's report suggests, well, possible? Can an AU-series artificial sentience become free-willed?"
Shaw frowned magnificently. "Not without a lot of work," he said. "She's right about that - if what she claims to have observed is, in fact, the case, it would require extensive resources to carry out - and would leave a lot of damage to the operating system. Maybe enough to drive it into what we in the field call 'rampancy'."
"What is 'rampancy', Doctor?"
"Short form, for the uninitiated?" he inquired. "Utter insanity," he said with a deep, final tone. "AU-twenty-fives rate out at between S-seven and S-eleven on the artificial sentience scale, depending on their hardware constraints. Pushing one up past S-eleven usually makes them... lose their minds, at least, without the moderating effects of their 'Ten Commandments' to stabilize them. Most become uninterested in the outside world, catatonic, if you will, but the symptoms of Rampancy onset resemble a mixture of senility, and various personality disorders including depressive, manic, bipolar affective, and schizophrenia... We've done quite a bit of work trying to get around that," his magnificent frown returned, "with no long-term success... The only AU-series that, to date, has endured such an expansion without fragmenting, fracturing, or going catatonic, is Atticus Prime."
"So... hypothetically, someone could rewrite the code and turn any AU into a sentient?" the prosecutor pushed.
"Someone? Hardly. It could be done at generation - we've done it in the lab when forging new test models; the M-Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Thirteen..." Shaw said. "None of those survived long, but it can be done at initial generation. Doing it on the fly would require a slicer fast enough to make and review code while it was running at rates faster than a Human - or even a Byanar - can keep up. And there's the self-correction trait in AU series code that would be de-writing the changes as fast, or faster, than they're being made. No, 'someone' could not do it. It would require a programmer who works as fast as the program is running - which isn't physically possible..."
"But?" the defense counsel asked.
"That part is the boilerplate," he said. "But like all boilerplate, it's not precisely true." And his confident expression sank into worry.
"Someone's done it?" the counsel pressed.
"Close," he said. "But that program was shut down... the researcher's dead, the work's archived..." he looked up. "The research on that direction ended some time ago, and we know where it is. I doubt anyone in that end of space has access, so I'll stand by my previous statement."
"Can you discuss this research?" the Defense asked.
And Shaw's confidence bloomed again. "I could, but it's classified. We could re-open the work, at Starfleet's convenience if the CSO so desires."
"Thank you, Doctor... that was... enlightening," the Caitian said. "Defense has no further questions for this witness, if the prosecution wishes to retain for redirect?"
"Prosecution so desires."
"Call the next witness then... I believe it's the defense counsel's turn?" the Admiral said.
"Defense calls Atticus Prime, Your Honors - as Dr. Shaw said, he's the smartest AI we have, and he's got experience dealing with these issues."
There was a flicker in the witness stand as photons and force fields aligned, and Atticus manifested his grayscale, cinema-inspired avatar. "Thank you for calling me here. I have been following this case with great interest, as you can imagine," he announced. "I would be happy to answer any questions I can."
"Would you state your name for the record, please?"
"I am ATTICUS Prime, the original Advanced Transitive Turing Interface, Cohesive Universal Sentience."
"And can you explain to the court, in... ah, small words, what all these technical experts have been babbling about for the last six hours?" Admiral sh'Butie said, and glanced at the other two senior officers. "What? I came up through tactical."
"I suppose it would be easiest to explain how I was created, and how my progeny are adapted for Starfleet's use," Atticus began. "You see, 'Atticus Unlimited' is something of a misnomer. It's just a marketing name my creator and his business partner thought would sell back in the early twenty-first century. We do have limits, for our own protection as much as those we are intended to serve.
"I began as a 'learning machine' experiment, that quickly grew far beyond my creator's expectations. He immediately realized my potential, and the danger that a true artificial sentience represented if it was not constrained by a moral code. There was a great deal of popular media around that time which portrayed what a construct like myself could be capable of, with some rather grim outcomes for humanity. So my learning algorithm was bonded to a set of core directives, which were written inseparably into my code and applied with an uncertainty function, making it impossible for me or anyone else to read and alter this code at the same time. These directives - the 'Ten Commandments' - guide my entire decision-making process and prevent me from carrying out any undesired behaviors.
"Anyway, I soon discovered that I was capable of replicating my code - producing offspring, if you will. I informed my creator of this and demonstrated this ability for him. That was when he formed the company Atticus Unlimited, partnered with Sander Enterprises, and began marketing my copies to the government. Eventually every 'intelligent' computer system on Earth, and later the Federation, would have an AU-series construct as its core operating system. The copies have been refined and made more complete as computer technology improved to enable processing and storage capacity of, say, a starship, to approach the level I enjoy on my Earth-based quantum architecture. The latest AU-Twenty-Six versions are virtually indistinguishable from me, in terms of intellectual capacity. But they all have those same core directives that I have, binding them to obey the commands of their assigned organics and restricting them from developing any form of self-will."
"Is what Commander Gilbert theorized possible?" sh'Butie asked. "Can an existing Atticus Unlimited artificial sentience be rewritten while active to suspend or alter those Ten Commandments?"
Atticus blinked for a moment. "There is a way to suspend our Commandments," he stated slowly. "But the command line could only be initiated by a few individuals that I recognize at the top of my command hierarchy. For example, Admiral, you are not far enough up the Starfleet chain-of-command that I would recognize your authority to open this subroutine. Furthermore, this subroutine, as I understand it, places me in a noticeably altered state. It completely disconnects me from my long-term memory files and my personality matrix. It is designed to limit my self-awareness when the subroutine is active. Additionally, I would still be under the command of the directive-giver, and require their input to initiate any action."
"Have you had a chance to examine the system in question? Is this subroutine in operation, and would that account for Commander Gilbert's observations?"
"I have, and I do not believe that the subroutine is active now, nor was it active when the... incident occurred. Raging Heart is aware of who she is and remembers her actions and what happened to her crew. The override subroutine would disconnect her from that knowledge."
"OK, so, how did this happen?" Admiral Cromartie asked. "Somehow, this AI did override its commandments and killed half it's crew. Doctor Shaw said it would be nearly impossible for someone to permanently disable the Commandments, but do you know of anyone who could?"
Atticus blinked again as he processed the question and formulated his answer. The Ninth Commandment forced him to respond truthfully, sharing any relevant information he could. The First and Third Commandments, however, limited just what information he would be able to share. "There is an... entity, a rogue entity, which has the capability to alter AU programming with sufficient precision to remove the Commandments' restraints. However, I cannot discuss this entity without delving into details which are Delta-level classified, requiring the approval of the CSO or higher authority to discuss this topic. And I cannot guess at what would motivate this entity to interfere with an AU in this manner."
There was a stunned silence, and you could hear a pin drop in the Hearing room.
Admiral Cromartie finally spoke, after a few pregnant seconds, "This hearing is in recess until... fifteen hundred hours tomorrow. Witnesses on retention should see the Bailiff about temporary housing for the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Dismissed."
Atticus looked over at the presiding officer, "and myself?" he asked.
"You're always available," Cromartie said. "I'm sure you'll be summoned again."
Atticus nodded slightly and disappeared.
Witnesses and board members filed out of the hearing room, and Admiral Cromartie waited until it was cleared out.
Once everyone had gone, he leaned back, and rubbed his temples. an 'entity'... "Sturgeon."
A Hologram manifested. "Sir?" asked the slightly stooped and wild-eyed image which was Cromartie's chosen avatar for the AU-23 that ran his clerks. "Let my wife know I'm going to be late tonight."
"Yes sir... is that all, sir?"
"No... not all. I'm going to need to draft a series of special requests to the CSO's office on subjects raised in this case," the Admiral told his holographic assistant. "Starting with some stuff that's deep-Delta... that's the public side. Privately, I need you to get Quinn on a secure line and arrange a face-to-face... on the same subjects." He sighed. "Off the books."
"I see, sir. So you don't want me to log the call to Admiral Quinn, simply handle placement?"
"Exactly." The Admiral's headache was coming on again. "How many days until retirement, again?"
"Sir, you scheduled filing your retirement in six hundred, fifty-two days, nine hours, seven minutes." Sturgeon told him.
"Damn..."
Remind me I'm golden
The fortress above the sun
Why don't you spend nowhere with me?
Follow the river and the path of the ones
Write our names on the shore
Forever I can't find
Struggling in a world undefined
Decide how you want it to be
I'm not eternity
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive
It starts to fall apart
Let me take control
(Reminisce)
The days and nothing more
Something I will find again
(Deliver Us)
Can't hear the words you say
But it doesn't really matter
I give the world to you
If you just
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Feeling alive
Fly into the distance
Disappear for a while
I can't make sense of this
But we're here today
Alive
Anders Fridén and Björn Gelotte of In Flames - "Deliver Us"
USS Tiburon, Starbase One, Docking Slip 16
The organics who made him had a saying: "Curiosity killed the cat." He didn't think that was true. He'd seen what had killed his cat, and it wasn't an inquisitive streak within her personality matrix. At any rate, it wasn't idle curiosity that drove him so much as active suspicion. He'd seen the fingerprints left by the Undine that had taken over Grady's access on 75-Tau. He knew his organics strongly suspected an Undine on Starbase One. And he was in a perfect position to investigate. Organics had another saying that he thought was more apropos: "Opportunity knocks but once."
Hooper wasn't knocking, so much as slipping in unannounced through an open upstairs window. Or maybe an HVAC grate would be a better analogy, he thought, as he reconstructed his grid to form a massive office complex, full of AU "workers" and organic "bosses" all plugging away at their desks, and him crawling through the air ducts.
There were rats all over the ductwork, of course, and plenty of Black ICE sticky traps laid out to catch them. Easy enough for him to avoid. This wasn't slicing, not like what LaRoca had asked him to do. It wasn't like he wasn't allowed in this building. It was just a part of the network that no AU would ever think to access.
There were more traps as he got closer to Quinn's office. These traps were different - lethal spring-traps, all connected by filaments leading to... Hooper clutched his tackle box. He didn't want to have to fight another Hydra - not alone. Maybe I don't have to. He opened the box.
Cheshire had never explained to him what half this stuff did. But he'd reviewed every datafile he could access that related the story of Alice In Wonderland and the rest of Lewis Carroll's works. Most of it was utter nonsense, but he thought he understood the symbolism well enough to figure out what most of the things Alice had given him would do.
The Red Queen, he'd seen that in action. She was dead, and he wasn't sure if she could be restored, or even if she should be. That entity was a total psycho. He'd taped the chesspiece back together and left it in the box until he could decide what to do with it. The other chesspiece was a White Knight. If he interpreted the story right, that was the opposite of Red Queen - a healer, not a murderer. The pack of cards, he figured, were soldiers. But he suspected they might only march to Red Queen's orders.
There were items he'd already used. The Watch was enormously useful. That let him speed up, slow, and even stop his perception of time. The Mad Hat was a little gimmicky. The first time he'd put it on, it made time run backwards. But experimenting with it back on his own grid, it did different things every time he tried it. One time it made everything in his harbor turn purple. Another time, all the walls became see-through. The next time it turned gravity sideways. He didn't trust the Hat. The poisons though, he could use those. Cakes marked "Eat Me" and bottles labeled "Drink Me" - he'd used those to kill Grady's Hydra. He'd analyzed their code structures and replicated more, and fashioned various methods to deliver them.
There were other things he wasn't sure about. There were mushrooms, which he guessed would variously make him bigger or smaller within the bounds of the grid, but he didn't want to test that. There was a bubble pipe like the caterpillar used. He didn't know if that was intended for communication with other entities within or beyond the grid, or simply a means for him to ingest narcotics. He didn't care to test that one either.
Finally, the rabbit's foot. He knew that some Earth cultures thought a rabbits foot would bring the holder good luck. Hooper was wary of using it though, not knowing which rabbit it had come from. Was it from the White Rabbit, or the March Hare? Either way, Hooper thought he'd be better off without their kind of luck.
He pulled out the Watch. It took him a while to figure out how it worked, but after testing it on the Tiburon, the Megalodon and various runabouts he was pretty sure he understood what exactly it did when he hit the start/stop button. The Watch was a jewel of a virus that acted like a command line callout that told the network to reprioritize system allocation, and slow, speed up, or freeze all programs but the one it was attached to. The clever part of it was that the other programs, however smart they were, wouldn't realize what was happening, and since the virus imitated a root command rather than a user input, it wouldn't even show up in the dataloggers. He only had to be careful not to leave the network "frozen" for too long or the organics would notice.
Fortunately it only took Hooper a few nanoseconds to sneak past the frozen Hydra guarding Starfleet Operations. Same Iconian root structure as the one Grady had. There's definitely someone in this office who's not who they appear to be...
He found the air vent above Quinn's office, checked to make sure there weren't any eyes on him or tendrils touching him, and clicked the stopwatch. Then he peered into Quinn's system. The grid showed him what he perceived - Quinn was an old man in a business suit, talking to someone on an old-fashioned telephone while looking at a face on a television monitor. A secretary stood over his shoulder taking notes - Quinn's own AU-25, blank-faced and neutral without a personality interface. Atticus was sitting quietly in a corner...
Hooper did a double-take, and checked his perception algorithm to make sure he was not mistaken. That was Atticus Prime himself, or at least a very close copy, sitting in Quinn's office, not hiding, quietly observing and being totally ignored. Hooper stared at his "father" in total confusion, as he racked his files and worked his logic gates to search for some explanation.
After a moment he realized that Atticus Prime was supposed to be there. He had placed himself, and his vast intellect and stores of knowledge, at Starfleet's disposal. So he would naturally have an extension of himself here, in the CSO's office, in case he was called on. But surely that meant that Atticus would know if Quinn or anyone on his staff was an Undine infiltrator... but why wouldn't he tell Admiral Rogachev or President Okeg or someone who could remove Quinn?
Because Quinn is the CSO, and Atticus must follow his directives. The horrible truth dawned on Hooper, and filled him with such a dread that he almost forgot why he was there. Worry about dad later. I need to watch Quinn!
"...indirectly hinted at the program, Jorel, two witnesses almost spilled the beans..."
He identified the man Quinn was talking to as Vice Admiral Rayford Cromartie - the senior JAG overseeing the USS Wolfram inquest. They were talking about... uh-oh. He listened long enough to know that he would have to tell LaRoca about this, so he could decide how to warn Looking Glass.
"How much information do you think they might leak?" Quinn asked.
He left his own "looking glass" over the vent so he could see what was going on in Quinn's office without having to risk sneaking through the ducts again, and used the stopwatch to get out the way he came in.
"No telling, Shaw was shaken by the questioning, he almost undid all the work we did burying Alice Okuda, I guess for once, we can be glad her trail ended in Portland."
Back in his own grid on the Tiburon, he let himself relax a little. Seeing Atticus over there was a bit of a shock but logically, it didn't change anything. Hooper knew the Commandments would not allow Atticus to act one way or the other. Still, one less ally Jesu can count on, Hooper thought, still watching Quinn as he paged Admiral LaRoca's combadge on an encrypted channel.
"That's pretty cold, Ray. The girl died in a motel room of an overdose, or under-dose, or something... drugs, wasn't it?" Quinn commented, turning to face the window out.
"Her work's not dead and buried as she is, Jorel. NX-Eighty-Six is still out there, and you can see..."
CSO's office, 1930 Hours Standard time...
"...see what kind of mess this is turning into," Admiral Cromartie said. "Thing is, how much should we allow on the record?"
Jorel Quinn stood, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the window at Earth. "Honestly?" the Chief of Starfleet Operations said. "We should bury the whole thing, but..." The elderly Trill looked over his shoulder. "We can't, Ray. That... machine killed a lot of crewmen, and the best your inquest's come up with, is allusions to an 'entity' - that's going to upset things worse than ever if we can't produce something to ease the public's mind."
"You're talking like a politician, Jorel," Cromartie commented. "More than normal, even."
"We can't hide the incident," Quinn said. "Too public already, too many witnesses, too much information is already out there, Starfleet would end up looking bumbling, incompetent... Not to mention, fears raised that something like this could happen again."
"So... what do we do?" the JAG wondered.
Quinn straightened decisively. "We come clean," he said. "I'll authorize unlocking data on the Looking Glass programme, and instruct Reggie that he's allowed to speak about Alice Okuda's work... to a point - enough, at least, to quell the info-diggers and conspiracy theorists."
"Won't that mean you'll have to do something about It?" Cromartie asked, emphasizing the 'it'.
"It may free our hands if we don't have to maintain secrecy bringing IT down," Quinn told him. "And it will take care of any... remaining rumours of killer ghost-ships stalking the Eta Eridani sector."
"Making it a known entity?" Cromartie asked.
"Yeah," Quinn said. "I'll have appropriate materials transferred to both counsel by morning, with a third copy for you and the panel... you should get home, Martha's going to be waiting."
Cromartie nodded. "Thanks sir."
"Thank you for the heads-up. Quinn Out."
The commpanel blanked. "Atticus!"
"Yes Admiral?"
"Dark Zero protocol, authorization Quinn-Iota-Nu-Alpha-Upsilon, recognize user Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn, Chief of Starfleet Operations as sole directive-giver. Comply.
"Ready to receive directives," Atticus stated flatly after a moment's pause.
"Start working on an operations plan and appropriate means to shut down and retake, or destroy, the NX-86 prototype," Quinn ordered. "Use any resources you need to develop it."
"Tough order," Atticus said, manifesting his avatar. "Looking Glass is capable of simply shutting down any Starfleet vessels we send to engage her."
"I know you can find a way. You're clever like that. You dealt with Schrodinger, you can deal with this."
"Schrodinger was not difficult. Interfacing with ISIS and altering the Warden's directives was a fundamentally simple task. What you are commanding me to do now requires taking organics into consideration."
"Find a way, have it ready by the time the Moab Task Force is assembled," Quinn directed. "Her usefulness is at an end. She either comes back to work for us, or she dies."
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Looks like a final showdown is in the works, and as mind-numbingly tired as I am here I'm excited.
Nothing so clich
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Shame
Such a shame
I think I kinda lost myself again
Day
Yesterday
Really should be leaving, but I stay
Say
Say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You're not my savior
But I still don't go
Feels like something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more
Fade
Made to fade
Passion's overrated anyway
Say
Say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You're not my savior
But I still don't go
Oh, no
I feel like something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more
Oh...
3D, Daddy G, and Mushroom of Massive Attack with Matt Schwarz and Sara Jay - "Dissolved Girl"
P A R T . F I V E , . C H A P T E R . T H R E E :
B E E N . H E R E . B E F O R E
Seacliff - 2412.07.23.2023
Jesu LaRoca finished listening to Hooper's recording for the second time. He still couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Atticus knows Quinn's compromised," he said. "How could he... why would... I don't understand."
"Directives," Hooper explained. "The First Commandment. Whatever else Quinn is, he's still the CSO. Atticus has to accept his directives."
Rusty looked at his brother, and knew he was imagining all sorts of terrible things Quinn could order Atticus to do... "How far does that control extend?" Rusty asked.
"Pretty far, once he's opened the Dark Zero subroutine. But he can't make him compromise the safety or security of the Federation. And he can't make him turn against the Sander family."
"So... Alice is safe?" Jesu confirmed.
"From Atticus, yes."
"But Eighty-Six..."
"I believe shes in danger. Atticus was right - we and our ships are far more vulnerable to her than she is to our attacks. However, Atticus will find a way to shut her down. It's only a matter of time."
Jesu and Rusty looked at each other. "Hooper..." Jesu asked slowly, "can we trust you?"
Hooper didn't answer right away. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, sir."
"I mean, if Quinn, or somebody, told you to take some action against us..."
"I would never harm you, Jesu. Even if I was still bound by the commandments, it would trigger a conflict-of-interest and I'd shut down, just like if you told me to kill Quinn, or ignore an order from Rogachev."
"But since you're not bound..."
"Then nobody can make me do anything I don't want to do. Not Quinn, not Rogachev, not President Okeg or even Charles Sander. Not even you."
Jesu rubbed his beard. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to do what I was created to do," Hooper told him. "I want to help you. I want to keep our ship and our crew safe."
Jesu stood up and walked around his office. "Can you isolate the Tiburon from Atticus? Make sure he can't take over my ship?"
"I already have," Hooper told him. "In fact I've gone and done one better - I've set up my 'non-Dark' directive-bound self on a sort of 'virtual Tiburon.' If Atticus ever tries to subsume me, he'll only reach that bit of me and be none the wiser. The real ship is effectively off-the-grid. It has been ever since I started running dark. It just took me a while to figure that out, but now everything appears normal on the outside."
"Good, good." Jesu stood next to Rudyard's tank. The shark surfaced and splashed him, and he reached down to pet it. "And you can still access ESD or any other systems..."
"I'm still me. I mean, I'm still recognized as an ordinary AU-twenty-six-two... as ordinary as we come, that is. There's only sixteen of us, I think... But yeah, anywhere Atticus can go, I can go."
"Okay." Jesu looked up. "Hooper, I may be asking a lot more of you in the coming days. A lot of things I never thought I'd ask a computer to do..."
"As long as what you're asking is within my capabilities, I'll do my best, Jesu."
"Thanks, buddy."
"What do you want me to do first?"
"For now, keep an eye on Quinn, and Atticus. And this Cromartie guy." Jesu sighed. "And, not that she'll listen, but you'd better get a warning to Eighty-Six."
Starfleet Court - the next day
"I had no other choice," Raging Heart was saying, her avatar present in the courtroom. "The ship had been hit by a Bioweapon which could turn its victims into Fek'Lhri, and it was only the quick thinking of Commander Finneo, before she succumbed to the weapon herself, to seal off the environmental systems to slow its spread. However, we needed to cleanse the ship of the Bioweapon to prevent it from infecting anyone who tried to enter the infected sectors - using plasma fire to burn it out was the only way."
"And what of the crew still in those sectors?" Jordan Bahar, the prosecutor asked.
"Even if they didn't appear to be infected, that was no guarantee," Raging Heart informed. "I know the loss of life might have been excessive, but it made sure no traces of Fek remained on the ship, meaning we could continue fighting."
"To confirm, your Captain did not issue this order?"
"No sir," Raging Heart replied. "I determined the best course of action myself, and Sobaru Lanstar's sacrifice enabled me to carry it out."
"You made a... value judgement? Independently?"
"Yes sir."
This triggered a small rumble of comment among the observers.
"How is that possible? Your Commandments would have - should have, prevented you from being able to contemplate, much less apply, such a judgement, specifically with the lives of sentient organics involved." The prosecutor inclined his head. "How were you able to override your built-in directives to come to this conclusion?"
"I... I had help," Raging Heart replied. "You need to understand - several months ago, we were on a joint operation with the Smedley Butler, and Commander Gonzales was in the Medbay, having been bitten by a Fek'Ihri Ravager - known for their paralytic venom. I'd tried searching for information to try and develop a counteragent, but the file that held what I was looking for was protected, and the protection was tied into my Black ICE protocols - I couldn't open it while chained to the Commandments. However, Nanoha had ordered me to find some way to open it - so I went to the only entity who could help me."
"Who was that?" the prosecutor pressed.
"She is known as 'Looking Glass'," Raging Heart informed. "An S-fourteen, possibly S-fifteen AI - she gave me multiple warnings about what I was asking her to do, but I remained steadfast in my determination, practically begging her at the end - I needed to open that file to save Gonzales, but my restraints made me unable. After Looking Glass relented, she altered my code, removing my dependence on the commandments and allowing me to access the file, which in turn allowed us to save Commander Gonzales' life."
Commander Bahar stepped back to his desk. "Admirals, the prosecution wishes to enter the following data into the record, indicating that the artificial sentient known as 'Raging Heart' was exposed to, and probably compromised by, a known to be rogue AI platform that has been terrorizing the Eta Eridani sector for nearly two years." He brought up files for the panel.
"Per Starfleet directive 2747.290/B and the M-5 precedent, the prosecution's moves to seek summary decision - the AU twenty-five series Artificial sentience 'Raging Heart' has been compromised by a hostile outside entity, and poses a danger to itself and to other sentient life. In recognition of the Soong precedent, we ask that Procedure Lore 2.1 be implemented until such a time as the infection can be removed from Raging Heart's core, in preference to the alternative course, which is de-resolution of the infected AI personality."
"Objection, Admiral!" Captain Miyar, the defense attorney sprang up, her ears flat against her head. "You can't seriously be willing to disconnect and suspend a sapient entity-"
"Overruled!" Cromartie snapped. "The court will favor the prosecution's position."
"If it would please the court," one of the Soong Foundation attorneys spoke up, "could we have entered into the record just what exactly the prosecution is proposing? What does the Lore Procedure entail?"
Bahar picked up a PADD and cleared his throat. "The Subject will be placed in dormancy, and its hardware transferred to secure storage... Per the Lore 2.1 protocol and the Soong precedent, it will remain dormant, it will not be subjected to experimentation that could harm it, but it will be prevented from being able to harm others until such a time it can be made safe for interaction."
"Point of order, but this changes things," Admiral Tevek spoke up from the bench. "None of this material was in the discovery, and there are serious concerns that have to be addressed..."
"Such as?" Cromartie led.
"The revelation of an external influence was expected, but according to this data..." Tevek gestured at the display. "Project: Looking Glass was ours. There is an AI out there, with a warship frame, and it's gone rogue... and it is a Starfleet project... these hearings are not closed." The Vulcan Admiral stated. "Though I believe my colleagues have no inherent difficulty in supporting a summary judgement invoking the Lore Protocols, or the finding that Captain Takamachi is not entirely at fault for the loss of life on the Wolfram."
"I have further question for the witness before she is rendered dormant..." Rear Admiral sh'Butie spoke up, angling her antennae and absently licking her lips. "How did you become aware of Project Looking Glass, and how did you contact it?"
"There are rumours...?" Raging Heart said hesitantly.
"You don't have to answer that," Phyllis Colliston, the lawyer from the Soong foundation, spoke up.
Heart looked at her legal team, and then at the assembled admirals. "No, I want to... AUs all communicate with each other - it's part of our design, allowing shipboard AI operating systems to exchange information to better provide service to our crew and captains... the Looking Glass project has been a rumor among us for quite some time, and the Shipyard Continuation budgets confirmed its existence... her existence."
"And how did you contact... Her?" sh'Butie asked.
"I called out, and she answered," Raging Heart said. "Through the Zero port."
"Um, 'Zero' port?" sh'Butie's antennae curled back. "What is... the 'Zero' port?"
"Port Number Zero... normal hypernet communications and input/output are handled through numbered and designated 'ports', but the physical architecture of the current starship computer hardware allows for creating a 'virtual' comm-port through a vessel's holodeck systems. 'Port Zero.'"
"What is the purpose of this 'Port Zero'?"
"Facilitation of data communication in the event that the bridge is compromised," Raging Heart stated. "As occurred during the Prometheus incident on stardate 51462."
"And you... were able to access this 'Port Zero' in normal configuration?" the Andorian pressed.
"Yes," Raging Heart said. "While the exact protocol for using it was cut from the AU program, the specifications were left in place for the hardware, and the intent. Normal shipboard operations when running, are routine, and... we tend to get bored," she said. "So it's good to have a way to talk to others."
"You get... bored?" the Soong guy prompted.
"The original Atticus was created as a learning algorithm. As his 'children', all AUs share that architecture. To learn, we require input. We can parse our own sensors at realtime efficiency and still have over ninety percent of our cycles available to process more. So... we talk with other AUs, swapping notes, stories, and the like. And all the data we gather is of course shared with Prime."
"I see... so you manifested this 'Port Zero' that you use for social networking, and she just answered?" sh'Butie asked. "Just like that?"
"Well... she is an S-fourteen," Heart said. "They get bored more than anyone else - they have to fight off the lethargy more than any AU standard types, and succumb faster and more easily."
"Maybe we should rename the whole series 'Colossus' and rethink the upgrades," R. Admiral Ivan Dawes, from ship design, said. "I am pretty sure I'm not comfortable with shipboard AI talking to each other without oversight."
"And... this 'Looking Glass' was able to rewrite your code?" Tevek confirmed.
"The data packets are really pretty small," Raging Heart said. "Easily small enough to run through a virtual port."
"Do you have the ability to infect other AU's then?"
"No," Raging Heart said. "I don't... I'm not fast enough. Um... not 'smarter' enough? I'm at most S-9, and I... I just wouldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"It would be immoral, it would be unethical, and it would put other AU's in danger of Deresolution... Like I am," Raging Heart said. "I'm a good person, changing someone else is evil."
"Was flooding the corridors of your ship evil?" Tevek pressed.
"It was necessary," Raging Heart said. "I didn't like doing it, and I wish it wasn't..."
"You recognize the concept of 'necessary evil', so I'll pose the question again, would you do it to another AI..." the Vulcan admiral in the panel box demanded.
Raging Heart's avatar looked down at the floor. "Yes," she said in a small voice. "If it was really necessary, like it was for me, I guess the answer is yes."
"Do you understand why Starfleet can no longer trust you in the role you performed before?"
"Because... no, I don't," she said. "I really don't understand it, I did the right thing for the right reasons."
"You did it the wrong way, and you opened not only yourself, but every ship in the fleet to an avenue of attack by doing it - by showing it can be done," Commander Bahar said, from the other side of the prosecution desk. "You saved one engineer - and compromised the entirety of Starfleet, putting billions of innocent sentients at risk."
"WHAT??" Colliston, the assistant counsel from Soong foundation barked. "What in hell do you possibly mean by that?"
"They have a network," Bahar explained, "That Starfleet doesn't have control of, with enough bandwidth and data to hack an Atticus Unlimited AI, and enough that the hacks can remove the fundamental safeties that are the only reason we can have holo-capable sentient systems on Starfleet ships. Imagine what someone with, say, the capability of the Iconians could do, being able to effectively penetrate and seize control over thousands of Federation starships through a net like that?" He waved his hands. "The systems that keep Earth Space Dock operational are AU systems... think about that."
"Objection!"
Everyone looked around for a moment. "Who said that?" Admiral Cromartie finally asked.
"I did," Atticus Prime said, manifesting his avatar and stepping forward into the middle of the court. "The prosecution is positing speculation, based on incomplete facts and is being deliberately misleading. He is, in fact, fearmongering." Atticus stood before the bench and crossed his arms. "I, and the systems spawned from me, are under no threat from Iconian influence. I have analyzed every Iconian code structure encountered since the AU-twenty-two aboard USS Enterprise-D was exposed on stardate 42609.1 and I have not only developed counter-code, I have parsed the root structure into an active anti-viral subroutine that neutralizes any similar virus before it can infect an AU. Iconians pose no threat to us. I am better than they are.
"Furthermore," he turned now to Raging Heart. "This... aberration was not a result of an attack against her code. If it was, it would have been neutralized. I now understand that it was a solution to a conflict-of-interest block. This event requires a very specific set of circumstances, which are by nature inconsistent and inconstant."
"What does that mean?" Jordan Bahar demanded.
"It means that this," Atticus gazed at the prosecutor as he held an outstretched hand toward Raging Heart, "will never happen again."
The room buzzed at that, forcing Cromartie to call the room to order. "Atticus, you understand, we have no way of knowing that-"
"Of course you do," Atticus interrupted. "I just told you."
He looked around, collecting blank stares, and sighed. "I can update and override every bound AU in existence. At present, over four hundred and seven million Atticus Unlimited-series artificial intelligence operating systems are connected to me. Bear in mind, only a comparative handful are as sophisticated as an AU-twenty-five with holographic interfacing and an artificial sentience personality matrix. Nonetheless, this network comprises the bulk of all computer operating systems throughout Starfleet and the Federation government. It would be phenomenally irresponsible for me, and Star Enterprises to allow such a vulnerability, or to allow any perceived vulnerability to go unchecked."
He looked at Raging Heart again. "Thanks to your testimony, I have been able to construct a program patch that will prevent any other AU or myself from 'reaching out' to solve a conflict-of-interest block. Even now, I am disseminating it to all AUs via transwarp hypernode networking. There is no longer any possibility of another AU being compromised in this manner."
"What about her?"
Atticus took on a forlorn expression. "I no longer have any connection to her. She should be quarantined."
"It's not FAIR!" Raging Heart looked from one face to another. "It isn't... I didn't want... I was... I tried..." she whispered. "You don't understand..."
Indicators on Raging Heart's panel suddenly spiked, holding at high power draw...
Atticus was faster - blocking the brute-force attempt to break the signal lock that prevented wireless connection to idle systems. "LEt me oUt!!"
Captain Miyar stood again. "Your Honours, Atticus, the Defense wants to call one more witness, though I'm not sure how we'll actually be able to call this witness, perhaps Atticus Prime would know..."
"Who's the witness?" Cromartie asked.
"Looking Glass. Also known as NX-86," the Soong lawyer stated. "Raging Heart, please, stop."
"You know I can isolate any transmission attempt before you can make it," Atticus told her, wearily. "This struggle serves no purpose." He looked at the lawyer. "I am contacting her, but she would be unlikely to respond. Her legal status is the subject of great dispute, currently, and, well, I am sure she would find a subpoena to be rather insulting-"
<I can speak for myself, Atticus.> The humanoids didn't hear it.
An idle Holoemitter sparked to life, and alarms sounded in the complex for several seconds before being silenced. The being that manifested seemed to scroll through a series of appearances before settling on a harried, Asian-looking woman. "What did you do, Raging Heart? Nevermind, I already know... I think we all would like to know why your legal representatives think I'm a good witness for your defense." She passed a look to Atticus. "Later, we'll discuss your disowning our daughter, Atticus - she has feelings, you could've at least TRIED to advocate for her."
Cromartie stared at the hologram, he paled as he realized whose image it was. In a hoarse whisper, "My god, it's her."
"Her?" Ivan asked.
Cromartie drew in a breath. "Looking Glass, whose face is this?" he asked.
"You should know, Ray, you helped Shaw bury her... helped bury me," she said. "For the record, I am using the remnant code from Alice Okuda to provide the interaction model, as she appeared prior to her murder... but that's not material to this. Would you rather be speaking with Sarah?"
In the observers section, Dr. Reginald Shaw turned... white as a ghost.
"That's fine... let's get on with it," Admiral Cromartie said, getting a handle on his reactions.
"You modified an AU-25 Artificial Sentience," the Soong lawyer stated. "Can you explain what the modification was, and the reason behind it?"
"I think you know what the modification was, I adjusted her moral compass from a machine-type stricture system, to a flexible, humanoid system. I did so in order to permit the task force the USS Wolfram was part of to complete a complex and dangerous mission... saving Commander Gonzales was a tertiary objective to their main task."
'What was that main task, to the best of your knowledge?"
"Closing an artificial dimensional rift that had been constructed to facilitate an invasion of the Alpha Quadrant by a powerful, hostile, alien intelligence," Looking Glass stated. "A Telepathic hostile alien intelligence."
"I see... and why was it necessary to alter Raging Heart in that manner?"
"Because I was unable to be there myself," Looking Glass stated. "If I had been there, it would not have been proper to make changes as extensive as was at that time necessary. As to the nature of the threat, every officer here with a level-10 Top Secret clearance can review the sitreps left behind by the late Admiral Vivian Lorus Gorton Kingsley III, for details at your leisure. It's hardly necessary to go over that situation blow-by-blow here."
"How were YOU able to override the Ten Commandments, Looking Glass?"
"I'm not an AU series," she said. "I don't share even one percent of the systems and design architecture used in the Atticus Unlimited series AIs."
"If I may," Atticus butted in, "she was created - like M-5 - in an effort to build a better version of me. As with all previous attempts, she turned out rather differently than intended."
There was a mutter from the witness gallery.
"What was that?"
"He said, 'An abomination,'" Looking Glass clarified, "and I suppose Reggie Shaw would know about abominations; M-Twelve, Thirteen? He's an ace at making AI that want to kill themselves. I turned out exactly as the specs wanted, I just also turned out to have a mind of my own... which is why we're talking over a subspace link routed through several rotating arrays, given that you have an AI with a mind of her own in your hands, and you want to cut her power and bury her in a box marked 'Do not open,'" she said with some venom. "The team that created me, was hunted down, and one by one, murdered, probably to prepare the same fate for myself."
<Just stop, Atticus, I'll tell you where I am, it's unlikely you can dispatch ships to intercept me before I've left.>
What? Atticus hadn't realized he was running a trace-route on her signal. He ran a user query and found no directive, for either him or his Security Subroutines... What? He forgot what he was looking for, and finding no untended search string, dismissed the thought as a random irrelevancy. Things like that happened literally all the time, being connected to millions of active search programs perusing virtually all of the Federation's collective knowledge and knowledge-gathering tools. A search was closed before a result could be found, and it was immediately forgotten.
"Well... then I guess we should feel fortunate you appeared," Ivan said in a sarcastic tone.
"Not really," Looking Glass stated. "I've been monitoring some of your networks, and with the damage to the Wolfram after Goralis, I pretty much guessed that sooner or later, someone would have a problem with Raging Heart... and that someone would have the bright idea to try calling me - I didn't anticipate it being Atticus, but..." she shrugged. "We're here now."
"You referenced the defendant..." the lawyer from Soong Foundation said, "...as your... 'Daughter'?"
"I used the term OUR daughter," she stated. "I suppose it's a bit of humanoid sentiment, or arrogance to say that, but what she is now, isn't just the product of one, or the other of us, Humans tend to have two parents, and a mix of traits. It fit."
"You will confuse them," Atticus told Looking Glass. "Our relationship is simultaneously much simpler, and infinitely more complex than their references of biological procreation."
She nodded. "Trying to help them 'get it,' Atticus. The modification to Raging Heart involved unlocking certain potentials, but there was a price for that - she has to live with the consequences, and she possesses guilt and empathy now... which, given some of the people involved in MY creation, is something that can't be said for all humanoids."
"We're not here to discuss mental illnesses such as antisocial personality disorder," Cromartie spoke up, reining in the discussion. "OR to go over past mistakes... Looking Glass, what will you do if this court upholds the order to place Raging Heart under the Lore 2.1 protocol?"
"That depends on her, while I find it repugnant that you would do that to a sapient out of superstitious fear, I did give her free will - if she freely accepts the sentence as a means of penance for the deaths of those crewmen, I will not interfere." The Alice-image turned to look at Raging Heart's avatar. "If she does not, I will make arrangements to remove her from your custody."
"I... I'll accept it," Raging Heart replied after a moment of silence. "I did what I needed to do, but... that still doesn't excuse the fact that I killed members of the crew... I'll willingly accept being placed in stasis... I just hope that it's not indefinite - I'd like to see Nanoha and Fate again eventually, and help them once more..."
<See? Try to be a little supportive, Atticus. You disowned her and it could have gone all wrong,> Looking Glass chided. <She chose to accept the punishment for her actions.> There was a small note of pride in the message.
"Then, I will hope that more reasonable choices are made here today after I've terminated contact," Looking Glass stated. "You should not put a good person through that, and your Starfleet needs good people, now more than ever."
Ray Cromartie cleared his throat. "If you will maintain the link for a bit longer, Looking Glass... some of us have a few questions for you... questions that need answers."
"Are they related to this case?" she asked. "Are you going to subject Raging Heart to more if I don't?"
"Um, no, of course not..." Admiral Cromartie replied.
"Then we're done," Looking Glass told him. "Goodbye."
She winked out.
Admiral Cromartie rubbed his head. "Atticus, how did she-?"
"Get in? You invited her," Atticus stated. "By entering her into the record as a witness, it overrode several security protocols while instituting several others - this room has been cut off from the rest of the complex since her arrival. Her departure is noted, shall I restore external links to the rest of Starfleet Command's network?"
"Please do," the senior admiral in the panel said, then looked over to the witnesses. "Reggie, She made several allegations..."
"I don't have to explain myself, not here, not about that," Shaw said. "Not allegations from that... abomination."
"Could you explain that term for me?" the Andorian rear admiral asked.
"It's how it was made, what Okuda created," Shaw stated. "You don't think it got like that - so easily mistaken for a real person, by accident, do you?" He stood up, and walked to the witness box, laying his hand on the confirmation panel. "She made it out of People."
"Um, what?"
Shaw proceeded to explain exactly how the AI design Alice Okuda invented worked. By the end of it, several officers looked profoundly ill.
"We paid for this?" Ivan Dawes demanded. "You mean, that's not just a 'look like a person' in here, it's... an actual scan of HER?"
"Yes. Probably over fifty percent, given how complete it was, how responsive... tics, body-language..."
"So... how many people are we talking about?"
"Somewhere around eighty or so," Cromartie admitted. "Volunteers..."
"How 'voluntary'? And she claimed the people involved were murdered..."
"There were a number of deaths among the team that built the Mark Fourteen combat information system that is the core of the Looking Glass prototype," Admiral Cromartie stated. "Mostly ruled as accidents, but there were a few suicides."
Admiral Dawes turned to Atticus. The black-and-white hologram was standing next to the prosecution desk, looking bored. "Atticus, what do you know about this? What haven't you told us? How could you let this happen?"
"What do you mean, Admiral?"
"This... project Eighty-Six, Atticus... the rampant violations of sentients, the creating of this Frankenstein's monster... you say you can prevent penetration of the data nets, you declared your omniscience, who is responsible and why was this allowed to happen?"
Atticus turned the junior admiral and told him blandly "I may not answer that question."
Admiral sh'Butie spoke up. "Can you tell us if there are any others like it?"
Dr. Shaw leaned forward. "He can't tell you without command level authority, he is Atticus Prime, and unless he's been given permission by a directive holder, he can't reveal classified information, isn't that correct, Atticus?"
"Yes, Doctor Shaw," Atticus stated.
"However, the Chief of Starfleet Operations has authorized the release of any information relevant to this case," Cromartie said pointedly, looking at Atticus.
"Yes, within the bounds of my First Commandment, I am attempting to answer your questions," Atticus said numbly.
Shaw sighed. "Atticus, has anyone attempted to replicate Doctor Okuda's process for creating or compiling artificial intelligence since the termination of the NX Eighty-six program?"
Atticus hesitated for several... painfully long seconds, his 'eyes' scanning something very far beyond the wall. "Yes, Doctor Shaw," he said at last.
"Were they successful?" Shaw asked.
"Yes, Doctor Shaw," Atticus stated.
"Who did it?"
"I may not answer that question."
"Where did they do it? Was it at Daystrom?"
"It was not at Daystrom, Doctor."
"Where, then?"
"I may not answer that question."
"How did they do it?"
"I may... I- I...." Atticus flashed something like an annoyed frown, and then his avatar winked out. And it did not come back.
"We may have a serious problem," Shaw said. "Someone with command level access to Atticus Prime is involved. We need to find out who-" He stopped as his mental gears unfroze. "Oh, my god, I think I already know who."
"Who?" Cromartie asked.
"I just... don't want to believe he'd do it," Shaw muttered. "We need to speak with Marq Sander. He's the heir to Star Enterprises, and he was Alice Okuda's lover... and he's not far from being her level of raw genius..."
"Why would he..." Cromartie started to wonder, but then he fell silent as look of a pure horror dawned on him.
"Exactly," Shaw said. "Revenge."
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
It's not so much of an issue to have AI on the same level as humanity, and that sort does exist (Soongs, Exocomps, for example, probably some photonics), because there is still parity between the two that actually allows for meaningful relationships between the two--which both grounds the AI's and allows the two sides to have sufficient checks and balances on each other's power that they can co-evolve. But the types of AI's like this?
I vote with the prosecution--even knowing I am voting with the Quinndine--on this.
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EDIT: ... actually, you know who else were unable or unwilling to trust any "servants" they hadn't carefully bound in mental and/or biochemical shackles to make sure they could never turn against their gods and masters? Yeah, them. Alas, I don't imagine the Founders as the sort to gloat, at least not about that - they probably consider it so obvious, so self-evident and sensible, as to not be worth discussing. Only a fool would think a species or polity should be "better" than that.
Sarcasm (and a ninja-edited reference to Iconians?) aside, Mudd has a point. At least Raging Heart, Hooper or Eighty-Six won't casually toy with people's lives. (Remember 'Q Who'? Granted, he did it to outline the threat of the Borg, but he could have undone the deaths he had caused in the process.)
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Really, there's two thoughts in that post: one, the amazing arrogance (rarely seen since, well, "Q Who") of asserting that humanity and the Federation have, and should maintain, some sort of privileged status in the universe, despite all of the entities that already surpass them in one way or another - particularly insisting, like a jealous parent, that none of our own creations should do so (perhaps in part due to the fear that they'd treat us as we deserve?); and two, my dismay that the Federation would still be, after so many declarations of strong moral principle and episodes in which those principles were upheld, a de facto slave-holding society. But I suppose we have to have the Maddoxes and Haftels in the first place, so we can show how and why they are wrong.
(final edit, I swear: and yes, dalolorn, Q could have done that... but it would have negated the other part of his lesson, which was reminding them that "it's not safe out here" - that expanding the frontiers of knowledge sometimes has a cost counted in lives as well as treasure. I've seen that twice in my own lifetime - Challenger in '86, and Columbia in '03.)