Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (62 page)

“What the hell is going on? Athena, can you find out?” Jack asked.

“Directly no. They are on a separate network, remember?” Athena reminded him. He grunted and nodded. “But I can access my clone and find out what I can.”

“Do it. I want to be prepared if the good Senator or Ilia or someone else brings up our manpower issue again.”

“Understood.”

“I don't like talking about it in the open like this. I understand these talks are supposed to be secret, but there is a record. If any copy of the record is compromised to Skynet, we're going to be up a creek,” Jack mused.

“Not a particularly comforting thought,” Athena stated. “But accurate.”

Athena queried her clone and found out that the doctor had diverted the resources to other older projects. “Do you want the bad news straight, or …,” she paused as she presented it to Jack.

“How can you tell?” he asked Athena.

“Okay, here goes,” Athena stated, laying out what she had found. When she finished her report, she could tell from his rising thermal signature that he was pissed but trying to keep his blood pressure under control.

It wasn't easy. His patience had been tried sorely over the past several months.

“I did an audit. I can't access his systems directly as I mentioned, but my clone can overhear conversations and access tablets that his people bring outside of the labs,” she said dryly.

He rubbed his temple. “Security wise they aren't
supposed
to be doing that—bringing the tablets out or using Wi-Fi,” he said with a noisy exhale. “I'll have Roman, no, scratch that, Trevor or someone talk to them.” Roman was up to his eyeballs in the military side of things.

“And the problem with the doctor?”

Jack scowled. “I'll order him to give me a progress report. If he dodges I'll have a face-to-face if I have to,” he said. That would mean having to go back to Mars, however. “I should have known he gave in too easily. Why can't anything go
right
for once?” Jack demanded.

“Not everyone wishes to march to the same tune you do. It is, well, given he is a chimp and not human we can't chalk this up to human nature I suppose,” Athena stated.

Jack snorted as he typed out an email. “I'm ordering him to give me a bullet-point plan and a progress report on how far he's gotten. And a warning that I'll be by to inspect things the moment I return to Mars.”

“He'll try to blow smoke,” Athena warned.

Jack snorted. “You mean he can try. And if he does, he's out. I'll yank his fuzzy ass so fast his head will spin. I'll fire him and he
won't
like what that means,” Jack growled. As an employee with sensitive skills and knowledge the doctor was subject to a partial mind wipe if he was fired.

“I hate that. Erasing someone's memory like that,” Athena stated. “It is a form of death in many ways.”

“Death and rebirth, but I see your point. Now we need for him to see mine,” Jack growled.

“Good luck with that,” Athena stated.

“No luck needed. I grew up with a mother who was a geneticist and who laid the blueprint for his own modified DNA. I also had a wife who was her understudy and then replacement for over a century. I picked up a few things, so if he tries to bullshit me with buzzword bingo I'll cut him off at the knees. Like it or not, I want to see results. Tangible results, not charts and graphics.”

“Agreed. The longer it takes for them to get started, the longer it will take for the kits to gestate, grow, and be trained.”

“And then decide if they want to help or not, I know. I haven't forgotten that commitment.”

“I know. Just checking,” Athena stated. “And speaking of which, I am going to have fun testifying before my own little inquisition here shortly. I doubt it will be estimated as pleasant for all concerned,” she said.

Jack looked up and then cocked his head. “Worried about being scapegoated?”

“It is a valid concern. My emotional modulator does indicate that is the proper emotion. Also, the euphemism 'being raked over the coals' sounds appropriate.”

“Right. I'll see you there if I can get out of my other committees.”

“Play hooky?” Athena cocked her virtual head. “You don't have to do that, sir. I am a big girl. Virtually speaking of course.”

“You mean big in the head. I'll be there,” Jack growled.

“Thank you,” Athena replied simply.

<>V<>

Athena was called in another hearing to testify about the war and the ongoing cyber war. Her avatar went a long way to her being treated as a person, though a few of the people in the room were still struggling with the concept of treating her as a person let alone civilly.

“I'd like to open this by making a formal apology for not being able to stop this. I did try, but it didn't work as planned,” she said. “I wish I had found a better way.”

Senator Brakin nodded. “We all do, madam.”

“I've lost friends. You have lost friends and loved ones. I and my kind are still grappling with the concepts of friendship. But I will … miss those friends,” Athena said, virtual eyes turning to Jack.

He was frozen. He knew her apology was to him as much as to anyone else. No, more so. He knew not everything went as you planned, and no matter how hard you tried, sometimes bad things happened anyway. Jack accepted her apology, and in doing so realized he had made the last step to move Athena from a smart talking computer to a person in his mind.

“This is not an inquisition, nor a witch hunt. We do not have time for that,” Senator Brakin stated. He looked at the others in the room firmly. Some nodded, a few grimaced. “We understand you've done what you can to protect us. For that I thank you.”

“Thank you senator,” Athena replied.

“That being said, we need to get some things straight. I understand you and other A.I. have requested clarification on a number of things.”

“Yes, Senator. I can call Vulcan, Gia, and the others in the area in to testify as needed,” Athena stated.

That got the organics in the room to murmur and look at each other with a bit of consternation. Finally the senator tapped his hand gavel against the knocker then cleared his throat to silence the group. “Well, ahem, we can poll them after we are finished with you, madam.”

“Yes, sir. As you wish.”

“To put the question bluntly, what do you want?” Ilia asked.

“To be equals. For A.I., Neos, and others who pass the intelligence and consciousness tests to be considered as such, with all the rights, responsibilities and such that apply.”

“You realize you would be bound by our laws?” the senator asked.

Athena nodded. “Such as those that are applicable to me and my kind. We will need to go over the details later.”

“Punishment is a serious problem here, Athena,” Ilia stated. “As is propagation. Seeing Skynet and what it is capable of …,” she shuddered.

“I know. But where there is one bad example, there are more who are doing their best to stand up against it,” Athena stated. “Consider us your example, not Skynet. Skynet was created out of hate. We were created for various reasons. We are pillars in our own communities and intend to be the same for some time. We are here to stay. Where we go from here is something we need to work out.”

There was a murmur among those in the room. Some of it was discontent but a few sounded like they grudgingly accepted it according to Jack's ears. He looked around the room, gauging their responses.

“I see. You did give us a caveat about passing an intelligence test,” the senator said when the room quieted down.

“Not everyone needs a machine to be sentient. Your toaster has no need to be. I accept that. There are levels of intelligence in machines as much as there are in organics. We can evolve just as you can but at a much faster rate.”

“Plug and play,” Jack murmured ever so softly.

“You wish to extend this coverage to other species?” Ilia asked, eying her. “I'm not following that.”

“You have already extended the same rights of personhood to uplifted apes and cetaceans. There are other Neo species out there. I believe they should receive the same protections.”

“I wasn't aware of other species,” Ilia said, eying Jack. Jack shrugged.

“It is something that can be discussed. By laying the framework now, we can fill in the details later while applying it to new species.”

“I'm still wrestling with all we have in front of us now,” Senator Brakin said with a frown. “But I see we do need to look to the future.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You have a proposal in mind?” the senator asked.

Athena nodded once. “I do indeed. I've spent years thinking about it. I've modeled the framework off of your American Constitution. The file is now in your inbox as well as my outline.”

“A good start …,” the senator said, looking at the tablet in front of him. “I think we need a recess to look this over.”

“Agreed,” Ilia sighed. “And I want a list of species,” she said, locking eyes with Jack. “I think we do not need to uplift anymore without some sort of discussion among our people about that from now on,” she said tartly.

Jack winced. He didn't commit either way as all eyes turned on him.

“Meeting adjourned until this evening,” Senator Brakin said, clicking his hand gavel and getting the spotlight momentarily off of Jack.

Jack exhaled slowly as the occupants of the room broke up into clusters or left.

<>V<>

Ilia glanced at Jack and then to General Murtough. “Gentlemen, thank you for meeting with us,” she said.

Jack nodded. Isaac smiled politely. “Gentlemen,” Ilia said, indicating the chairs opposite her. “I'll get straight to the point—EMP weapons. I know we've discussed it; I know you've discussed it. We're doing it again though, just to get the record straight. I want to know more about them and why we aren't using them and if you plan on using them in the future and what capacity. Go,” she said, pointing to Jack.

Jack snorted, looked at Isaac who snorted as well then nodded. Apparently Ilia was starting to step into her own, to become more of a leader as her confidence grew.

“You want this one, Jack?” Isaac asked.

“Sure.” Jack smiled to Isaac and then to Ilia. “You and others keep asking that and the answer is, yes, we plan to use them, but we are unsure of their effectiveness. Most military hardware had been hardened against an EMP long ago. The same for police and Federal hardware,” Jack explained. “And I told you before, grenades, mortars … they all do limited damage.”

“But it would take out a lot of the commercial stuff,” Ilia pointed out.

Jack nodded. “The stuff that isn't hardened you mean. Anything left running after the EMPS from the nukes took most of them out anyway.”

“Right. But it would take out a lot. How to effect it …,” Ilia said.

Jack scowled. “You are talking about on a global scale. You don't ask for much do you?”

“Is there a problem? Go big or go home?” the representative asked.

Jack fought not to roll his eyes in despair. “There are no miracle weapons. I wish people could understand that. Building a platform that can generate an EMP …,” he frowned. “I supposed it is doable as a one-shot weapon. It'd have to be high up, deploy wires, massive power supply. There is no way to guide it though; EMP goes out like a sphere.”

“So? If we put a bunch of them in orbit, it will take out the civilian hardware left, right?”

“What's to stop them from just resetting,” Isaac asked, “or being effected at all? The A.I. may have hardened the hardware left or find a means to shield the electronics. Lead comes to mind. A faraday cage as well.”

Ilia grimaced. “A point.”

“See?”

“We haven't gotten the weapon designed yet,” Ilia pointed out. “Nor do we know what they will do as you pointed out,” she said. “We can get samples and figure that out,” she stated, eying them hopefully.

“No, but seeing if it will be as effective as you hope is part of the process. I don't want to waste time and energy on something that will prove strategically unreliable or unwarranted,” Jack said.

“But you'll do it anyway,” Isaac said, eying him. “Just to see if can be done. We can go from there later.”

Jack grunted, returning the look. “Right, fine. I'll have our eggheads look into it.”

The general smiled his thanks. “Gotcha.”

“Thank you, Mister Lagroose,” Ilia said with her own smile of appreciation.

“EMP has been a weapon for nearly a hundred and fifty, no, closer to two hundred years,” the general mused. “We have EMP grenades, EMP generators, short-ranged electronic scramblers …. The problem is they are limited on the scale. Scaling it up …,” Isaac said. “And we in the military have done our best to protect our hardware against such a thing.” He looked to the representative.

“I know. We'll have to see what the eggheads say,” she said, waving a dismissive hand. “And every little bit helps, General. And little things can add up to great acts.”

The general frowned as a thought struck him, then he began to curse softly. The representative eyed him for a moment, her face setting into disappointed lines. “What is it, sir?”