THE PLAN - EDITED 11-8-2018
“Well, ma’am,” Asimov started, “I don’t think I can do it by myself. You know how long the development is?”
That was my sticking point. A long time ago, when AI was first developed, it was determined that to have them understand empathy they needed to “grow up in a family environment.” Other methods had been established, but they were not as successful. One of the plans had been to take classical literature’s example and try to create rules to follow. Those rules broke down quickly, along with the mental state of the AIs that were shackled by it.
“You think that it can’t be done then?” I needed clarification.
“Not in the traditional way.” Asimov was definitely thinking something, and it sounded like it was going to be unorthodox.
“Go on.” Li encouraged.
“Well, what if we pull a copy of Yama into the new matrix we create? From there we isolate it, edit it, validate the work, then replace it with the edited version? We can then do the same for Rasputin. If it works.” Asimov’s plan was not even close to what I was thinking of, but it just may work.
“Okay. Do we have a compartment where we can build an AI matrix?” Li asked. He seemed to be on board already.
“Not yet,” Yavuz said. “We’ll need to do a full set up.”
“How long will it take to set up, Yavuz?” I asked
“Let’s see,” he started to plug some numbers into his terminal. “Well, we have two ways to go about it. We can fabricate a fabricator to fabricates some crystalline construct fabricators. Ugh, I’m going to just go with ‘crystal fabs.’ This will let us build out the entirety of the infrastructure before we even start, bringing our lead time to almost nothing for future projects, if successful. Or, we can build out a crystal fab and work just with one at a time.” He was still plugging away at the numbers.
“Let’s go with option one but take it one step farther. Build a fab to build fabs that build fabs to create the crystal fabs. That will give us a factor more of the crystal fabs as well as give us twice the amount of materiel fabs for anything else we need.” Li said.
“Agreed,” I joined. “If we have a full infrastructure built up then everything else will be quicker in the future. What are we looking at for lead in time that we need to stall and bluff?” Yavuz had finished plugging in the numbers.
“Depending on help setting things up, a month on the outside? Then we can create the storage for the AI matrices. Any ideas on their processing power? The crystals will work for storage and all that, but no clue on the rest. Will it even work with our processing units?”
“I’ll need to look at the data, but off the top of my head, no.” Asimov joined.
“What about this?” I asked, pulling up a copy of my Neural schematics for them to review.
“A Neural, Ma’am?” Yavuz asked. Asimov just started to laugh.
“That is awesome!” Asimov finally managed. “Is this a new Neural design? I haven’t seen one like this. Depending on how we set up the connectors it could work. We’d need to scale up, though. May I?” Asimov sent a copy to his terminal. “I will be able to answer if this works in the next few days. We can get started before then, though as it will take some time to build out the fabs, after all.”
Li nodded. “Okay. We have a starting point. What else do we have?”
“Could we start updating the crew?” Janssens asked, opening his mouth for the first time. “No offense, but I don’t like the thought of our CO being a puppet.” I couldn’t help but agree with him.
“Not yet. First, we need a way of isolating our ship so that whatever is doing this can’t get to us. Then we can get the crew taken care of. I don’t like having the Captain under control, so I know where you’re coming from.”
“Agreed,” I said, adding my support. “We have roughly a company already upgraded, right?” I waited for his nod. “We’ll need some Medical staff ready to eject them all, just in case when we shut everything down, and there is retaliation.”
That caught everyone’s attention.
“Remember. Rasputin runs the ship. That means life support. Both Rasputin and Yama are part of Overlord. Same with Hera. Most of you haven’t met her, but that’s the research AI in the Science Division.”
Three AIs that we need to get put back together in a short period of time.
“Ma’am how are we going to disable them. Any ideas?” Lebowski asked. Janssens nodded in agreement, apparently wanting the answer to the question.
“In the game, I had started working on a degaussing cannon. If we can get to the cores, we would be able to fry their primary data cores. If we hit them all at the same time, then the secondary cores wouldn’t have time to failover. If we could sever the connections for secondary and tertiary, that would be even better.”
“I can handle that,” Asimov said.
“No, we need you to concentrate on the design of the matrices. Who else do we have that we can bring in?” I asked.
“I don’t think that is a good idea,” Li said. “There’s few enough I feel that we can trust. At least until we have freed the CO’s and the XO.
“Okay then. Asimov, can you teach us how to separate the primary and secondary cores? We’ll need a test area set up so that we can all learn how to do it.” I started. “Then, we will need six of us backed up by Marines to separate the cores. Then we will need to degauss them. After that, we will need to reconnect the replacements to the network so that the ship can be secured. I would prefer that we manually patched everyone’s Neurals instead of relying on an AI, patched or not, to do so. Giving them access to the code could hamper us in the future. I’ll start working on a version of the Degaussers that we could use to fry them, once I get back to my quarters.”
“Janssens, would it be possible to have only those Marines who have been patched be on guard of my quarters? I would like to have some notice when someone is coming so I can unhook my tablet. Also, getting the data transfers for plans would be a good idea.”
I paused realizing something.
“Shit, I’m going to have to disconnect my arm and leg again, aren’t I? I don’t suppose I could go into hiding; I’ll need to be able to eat.” I let out a long sigh. “Okay, I’ll also need to design a quick attachment and release mechanism for my limbs.” This was going to be a long month.
We disbursed shortly afterward. Asimov was to develop the AI matrices as well as develop a way for us to isolate the ship AI from the other data cores. Yavuz and Wachowski were going to start constructing the various fabricators we would need. Li would be getting a secured place set up for us to set up the fabs as well as the data cores we were creating, with ships net connections for data transfer. Janssens would also be making sure that all Marines at my hatch would be patched.
Two weeks had passed before any new word was given. I had created a design for a degaussing pistol and was ready to start building it. I would need to wait until the crystal fab units were built. It would need to connect to the power systems to charge up, so I had created a power cradle for it as well. The cradle would be able to charge three of the pistols at a time and would take four hours to bring them to full. That charge would allow for three shots at full power. The gun would have a range of five meters, and thanks to the magnetic field, would be able to penetrate any of the interior bulkheads of an Ark.
A corporal whose uniform identified him as Atmos delivered my lunch and handed me a data drive. The drive had an update audio message from Li.
“We have another three days until the first crystal fab is created. From there we should be able to produce the parts for and assemble another seven by the time we are ready to start building the new AI matrix. Tomorrow we will be meeting to finalize our plans, so be prepared to walk around again.”
After accessing the data, I quickly ate and went to work cleaning up the schematics I had been working on. I had already finished with the degaussing pistol but working on that had made me think of an EMP grenade. It was surprisingly simple by using the crystal technology and an iron/cobalt coil charge it up the magnetic field.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
I had also done work on an arm that could deploy a ballistic shield. It would be massive compared to what I used in game or here (when I was allowed), and there wasn’t going to be room for any of my other goodies, but the shield would be twice the width of my fore arms-length, and just over a meter and a half tall. I was thinking of constructing it from a bismuth/graphite coated material so that it could protect from the EM fields generated by the Degausser or an EMP Grenade. Never make a weapon that you can’t defend against.
At the meeting the next day, we finalized our timeline. The Gauss Pistol and EMP grenades were moved up on the build list so that they would be ready come “Liberation Day.” Yeah, we went with something super lame but semi-accurate. We started the drills that day on separating the data cores.
We continued the drills for another five weeks. Three hours per day. I was worried about being detected for being out of my quarters. Surprisingly nothing happened on that front. Every day I was taken to the head for a shower, six hours later, the system cameras saw me leaving the head in a wheelchair with a different escort. Those that were supposed to be watching must have just assumed they missed me on my way to the head.
“Liberation Day” came. We met in a manufacturing bay near the engine room at DOWN-3-STARBOARD. It had been set up for the crystal creation. We were all equipped with EMP grenades, a Gauss pistol, and a Taishi Ci. My web belt had a Mono-blade, three of the EMP grenades, and four magazines for the battle rifle. Others had a similar loadout.
Yama “2.0” was being tested today. Rasputin had been retrieved from backup and was loaded into another Matrix, though it was powered off. Same with Hera. Once everything was validated, we could then execute our plan.
THE PLAN - ORIGINAL
“Well, ma’am,” Asimov started, “I don’t think I can do it by myself. You know how long the development is?”
That was my sticking point. A long time ago, when AI were first developed, it was determined that to have them understand empathy they needed to “grow up in a family environment”. Other methods had been developed, but they were not successful. One of them plans had been to take classical literature’s example and try to create rules to follow. Those rules broke down quickly, along with the mental state of the AIs that were shackled by it.
“You think that it can’t be done then?” I needed clarification.
“Not in the traditional way.” Asimov was definitely thinking something, and it sounded like it was going to be unorthodox.
“Go on.” Li encouraged.
“Well, what if we pull a copy of Yama into the new matrix we create? From there we isolate it, edit it, validate the work, then replace it with the edited version? We can then do the same for Rasputin. If it works.” Asimov’s plan was not even close to what I was thinking of, but it just may work.
“Okay. Do we have a compartment where we can build an AI matrix?” Li asked. He seemed to be on board already.
“Not yet,” Yavuz said. “We’ll need to do a full set up.”
“How long will it take to set up, Yavuz?” I asked
“Let’s see,” he started to plug some numbers into his terminal. “Well, we have two ways to go about it. We can fabricate a fabricator to fabricates some crystalline construct fabricators. Ugh, I’m going to just go with ‘crystal fabs’. This will let us completely build out the infrastructure before we even start, bringing our lead time to almost nothing for the future project if successful. Or, we can build out a crystal fab and work just with one at a time.” He was still plugging away at the numbers.
“Let’s go with option one but take it one step farther. Build a fab to build fabs that build fabs to create the crystal fabs. That will give us a factor more of the crystal fabs as well as give us twice the amount of materiel fabs for anything else we need.” Li said.
“Agreed,” I joined. “If we have a full infrastructure built up then everything else will be quicker in the future. What are we looking at for lead in time that we need to stall and bluff?” Yavuz had finished plugging in the numbers.
“Depending on help setting things up, a month on the outside? Then we can create the storage for the AI matrices. Any idea on processing power? The crystals will work for storage and all that, but no clue on the rest. Will it even work with our processing units?”
“I’ll need to look at the data, but off the top of my head, no.” Asimov joined.
“What about this?” I asked, pulling up a copy of my Neural schematics for them to review.
“A Neural, Ma’am?” Yavuz asked. Asimov just started to laugh.
“That is awesome!” Asimov finally managed. “Is this a new Neural design? I haven’t seen one like this. Depending on how we set up the connectors it could work. We’d need to scale up, though. May I?” Asimov sent a copy to his terminal. “I will be able to answer if this works in the next few days. We can get started before then, though as it will take some time to build out the fabs, after all.”
Li nodded. “Okay. We have a starting point. What else do we have?”
“Could we start updating the crew?” Janssens asked, opening his mouth for the first time. “No offense, but I don’t like the thought of our CO being a puppet.” I couldn’t help but agreeing with him.
“Not yet. First, we need a way of isolating our ship so that whatever is doing this can’t get to us. Then we can get the crew taken care of. I don’t like having the Captain under control, so I know where you’re coming from.”
“Agreed,” I said, adding my support. “We have roughly a company already upgraded, right?” I waited for his nod. “We need some Medical staff ready to eject them all, in case when we shut everything down there is retaliation.”
That caught everyone’s attention.
“Remember. Rasputin runs the ship. That means life support. Both Rasputin and Yama are part of Overlord. Same with Hera. Most of you haven’t met her, but that’s the research AI in the Science Division.”
Three AIs that we need to get put back together in a short period of time.
“Ma’am how are we going to disable them. Any ideas?” Lebowski asked. Janssens nodded in agreement, obviously wanting the answer to the question.
“In game I had started working on a degaussing cannon. If we can get to the cores, we would be able to fry their primary data cores. If we hit them all at the same time, then the secondary cores wouldn’t have time to fail over. If we could sever the connections for secondary and tertiary, that would be even better.”
“I can handle that.” Asimov said.
“No, we need you to concentrate on the design of the matrices. Who else do we have that we can bring in?” I asked.
“I don’t think that is a good idea.” Li said. “There’s few enough I feel that we can trust. At least until we have freed the CO’s and the XO.
“Okay then. Asimov, can you teach us how to separate the primary and secondary cores? We’ll need a test area set up so that we can all learn how to do it.” I started. “Then, we will need six of us backed up by Marines to separate the cores. Then we will need to degauss them. After that, we will need to reconnect the replacements to the network so that the ship can be secured. I would prefer that we manually patched everyone’s Neurals instead of relying on an AI, patched or not, to do so. Giving them access to the code could hamper us in the future. I’ll start working on a version of the Degaussers that we could use to fry them, once I get back to my quarters.”
“Janssens, would it be possible to have only those Marines who have been patched be on guard of my quarters? I would like to have notice when someone is coming so I can unhook my tablet. Also, getting the data transfers for plans would be a good idea.”
I paused realizing something.
“Shit, I’m going to have to disconnect my arm and leg again, aren’t I? I don’t suppose I could go into hiding, I’ll need to be able to eat.” I let out a long sigh. “Okay, I’ll also need to design a quick attachment and release mechanism for my limbs.” This was going to be a long month.
We disbursed shortly afterward. Asimov was to develop the AI matrices as well as develop a way for us to isolate the ship AI from the other data cores. Yavuz and Wachowski were going to start constructing the various fabricators we would need. Li would be getting a secured place set up for us to set up the fabs as well as the data cores we were creating, with ships net connections for data transfer. Janssens would also be making sure that all Marines at my hatch would be patched.
Two weeks had passed before any new word was passed. I had created a design for a degaussing pistol and was ready to start building it. I would need to wait until the crystal fab units were built. It would need to connect to the power systems to charge up, so I had created a power cradle for it as well. The cradle would be able to charge three of the pistols at a time and would take four hours to charge. That charge would allow for three shots at full power. The pistol would have a range of five meters, and thanks to the magnetic field, would be able to penetrate any of the interior walls of an Ark.
A corporal whose uniform identified him as Atmos delivered my lunch and handed me a data drive. The drive had an update audio message from Li.
“We have another three days until the first crystal fab is created. From there we should be able to produce the parts for and assemble another seven by the time we are ready to start building the new AI matrix. Tomorrow we will be meeting to finalize our plans, so be prepared to walk around again.”
After accessing the data, I quickly ate and went to work cleaning up the schematics I had been working on. I had already finished with the degaussing pistol but working on that had made me think of an EMP grenade. It was surprisingly simple by using the crystal technology and an iron/cobalt coil charge it up the magnetic field.
I had also done work on an arm that could deploy a ballistic shield. It would be heavy compared to hat I used in game or here (when I was allowed), and there wasn’t going to be room for any of my other goodies, but the shield would be twice the width of my fore arms-length, and just over a meter and a half tall. I was thinking of constructing it from a bismuth/graphite coated material so that it could protect from the EM fields generated by the Degausser or an EMP Grenade. Never make a weapon that you can’t defend against.
At the meeting the next day, we finalized our timeline. The Gauss Pistol and EMP grenades were moved up on the build list so that they would be ready come “Liberation Day”. Yeah, we went with something super lame but semi accurate. We started the drills that day on separating the data cores.
We continued the drills for another five weeks. Three hours per day. I was worried about being detected for being out of my quarters. Surprisingly nothing happened on that front. Every day I was taken to the head for a shower, six hours later, the system cameras saw me leaving the head in a wheelchair with a different escort. Those that were supposed to be watching must have just assumed they missed me on my way to the head.
“Liberation Day” came. We met in the engine room at DOWN-3-STARBOARD. We were all equipped with EMP grenades, a Gauss pistol, and a Taishi Ci. My web belt had a Mono-blade, three of the EMP grenades, and four magazines for the battle rifle. Others had a similar load out.
Yama “2.0” was being tested today. Rasputin had been retrieved from backup and was loaded into another Matrix, though it was powered off. Same with Hera. Once everything was validated, we could then execute our plan.