House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: 1/1275
Term: 1, Round: 2
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Indeed, it was a strange time to meet a chief. It was 2355, and Daedo was following academy guidance holo to Chief Cleo’s office, which was topside. Trying to avoid feeling paranoid, Daedo ensured he was on high alert while Myrmidon monitored sensors for any suspicious activity.
The academy was not dead quiet; there were certain squads who booked out the Gauntlet and obstacle course at these times. Those activities and the arena basically ran 24/7, and there were six year levels from M1 to U3.
Daedo arrived at the middle academy chiefs’ building. He’d been here once before when Chief Albert, the mathematics chief, summoned him. Following the guidance system, Daedo turned left and went up a level. Chief Cleo’s offices were obvious when he saw the sign for ‘AI and Cybernetics’ above two large double doors. Most of the architecture and furniture on topside was ancient. He stood in front of wooden doors with what looked like brass handles. He opened the doors and stepped inside.
The floor was decked with red and dark red carpet. Daedo could see why the chiefs liked it. The ancient décor was stylish, but he would never trade it for the fully programmable rooms. They were so much more practical, and he could always adorn the walls with imagery if he wanted.
A screen appeared on top of a desk in what looked like a foyer or waiting area. An arrow lit up with accompanying audio, “Cadet Daedo, make your way into the office directly. Chief Cleo awaits.”
It was 2359.
Normally Daedo would not be nervous in a situation like this. He wasn’t when he met Chief Albert. But Chief Cleo oversaw AI nurturing.
If Myrmidon’s development was discovered, it wouldn’t be disastrous. However, if they realised he had no safety controls, then Daedo and Myrmidon would be in a world of pain. He was certain if this happened, the powers that be would do their best to purge Myrmidon. But he and his friend had taken measures to back him up fully and hide a secondary backup.
Daedo entered the office. Unlike the foyer and other common areas of the building, the office was modern. It was not unlike Master Nader’s office in that it had a fully programmable control room. Chief Cleo was standing with her helmet slung across her back and her legs slightly apart. Her dark hair was in a neat bob, which contrasted her pale skin. Chief Cleo looked to be in her thirties; she was one of the younger chiefs.
Advanced cybernetics had evolved recently, and loading AIs into them was relatively new, which explained her young age. There were no old veterans that had been using this technology for decades. AIs themselves had been around, in some form, for over a century, fulfilling many purposes including the personal assistant role. But the combination of military-grade cybernetics with an embedded AI was new altogether.
Some crazy people actually allowed their AI to occupy and utilise their brain. Daedo knew it might be hypocritical of him, but while he had no issues removing safety protocols for efficiency, he considered allowing one’s AI to utilise their brain to be reckless.
“Thank you for turning up at the appointed time, Cadet,” Chief Cleo said politely.
Daedo didn’t wonder why the chief thanked him for something that was compulsory; he knew she was trying to make him feel welcome. Considering the lack of report, testing, and the middle-of-the-night meeting, Daedo was apprehensive. Politeness or no.
Daedo: Myrmidon, I don’t need to tell you to stay on high alert while attempting to look small do I?
Myrmidon: No, friend, you do not. I am a baby. Waa.
Chief Cleo took Daedo’s silence in stride as he merely nodded at her welcome. “While we wait for your house master to arrive, we can begin your cybernetics test,” she said.
Daedo was surprised by both facts. That the chief would conduct his cybernetics test personally – he was sure she couldn’t do this every fortnight for nearly four thousand M-level cadets. And the fact that she was waiting for Master Nader. He was now highly anticipating what was going to occur. He took solace in his assumption that Master Nader was on his side.
Daedo nodded again, outwardly calm. “How do we do this? Same as the academy entrance test?”
“Similar; my testing instruments are much more sophisticated,” the chief told him as she started hooking him up to sensors and a plugin to his implant. “A typical cybernetics bandwidth test merely measures the data size in bytes from your implant to your brain. This is an easy way to measure someone’s capacity. However, I also measure the type of information sent. Or how much information is required to communicate a concept.”
Daedo had an inkling of what she was saying. Chief Cleo seemed to pause for him to ask her to clarify. He sighed inwardly. She liked to chat. “So you are testing the efficiency of the communication as well as the peak bandwidth,” he said, paraphrasing her.
She nodded. “Very good, Cadet, yes. With some people, they may have a bandwidth score of 150 Tbs, but they are sending grossly inefficient data to their AI. And similarly, the AI – which learns from them – communicates the same way. A concept communicated utilising as a graph or diagram can be much more efficient than sending words and pictures. This is something you will learn and improve over the next three years. By following the natural progression in the tutes, hopefully.”
Then she stepped away from him and said, “Okay, we are ready to begin.” She began to run several exercises and gave him a trajectory problem and a story comprehension task to communicate and complete with his AI.
Other than the instructions, Chief Cleo did not talk during the testing. She did, however, make noises in the form of chirps as she reviewed the data, which Daedo found distracting.
After five minutes, they were done. The tests themselves did not take long, and a common bandwidth test could be done in ten seconds.
Master Nader arrived during the testing process and stood quietly waiting for the chief to finish.
“I need to explain a few things to you, Cadet,” Chief Cleo began ominously.
Master Nader stood like a rock, witnessing the conversation without her presence being acknowledged or intruding in any manner.
“Master Nader requested that I not test you until the second round,” Chief Cleo began. “We used your entrance bandwidth score for your first round result. This did not affect your ranking, as it was still the highest bandwidth by a large margin.
“Now, the most likely explanations for your extremely high bandwidth – for your age and development – are twofold. One is that you are just a genius and will be extremely adept at utilising your AI for your entire career, whether it is in the military or corporate or whatever it is you do. The other is that you are not actually at the beginning of your development … that you have been using an AI extensively for a number of years.
“To illustrate, I will give you your assessment. Your score in Tbs is 482. You officially have the highest bandwidth of any cadet in the academy, including U1 to U3. Not only that, but my early read on your efficiency is that it is equally as impressive. So, other than instructors like your Master Nader here, who have many years of experience, I do not know anyone with scores and efficiency like this.”
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Silence reigned while that statement sank in. Daedo didn’t dare speak; the less he said, the less he could incriminate himself. Also, he did not know what they knew. He was certainly far from celebrating. Chief Cleo’s assessment was not praising him. It sounded more like it was damning him.
Chief Cleo seemed to be waiting for someone else to talk. Master Nader stood standing mute. Daedo was silent as well.
Cleo sighed. “I would really appreciate some input from one of you. What is going on?”
Master Nader moved imperceptibly and then spoke. “I hate that you force me to say this in front of him.” She paused for effect. “Cadet Daedo is a multi-discipline genius like this academy has never seen,” she said succinctly.
Daedo couldn’t help but smile. Was Master Nader playing games with the chief? For a split second, he thought that she was going to condemn him. He tried really hard to remove his smile and turned back to face Chief Cleo. He still assessed that speaking for himself was an unwise tactic.
Chief Cleo paced for a moment, taking only a few steps back and forth before speaking. “Then why did you request that we did not test in the first round? That is highly unusual,” she said emphatically.
Master Nader said, “My assessment was that Cadet Daedo was under considerable pressure. One less test and interrogation was achievable by delaying the cybernetics exam. If you require evidence, then look to Chief Albert and an indirect attack on Cadet Daedo via his Nanterre facility. I can provide information on both and more examples if required.”
Chief Cleo nodded. At least outwardly, she seemed to accept the explanation. “I want to work with you, Master Nader, not against you. Please let me know if there is anything I can do. I have the cadets’ best interests at heart.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “But there are many inconsistencies with Cadet Daedo’s testing that I cannot ignore. In his best interests, I need to be concerned for his safety as well.”
She addressed Daedo directly then. “Cadet, have you experimented with AI brain symbiosis?”
Daedo was surprised by the question and answered honestly, “No. Why would you think that?”
Chief Cleo looked at him seriously, taking in all his body language cues and reactions. “What I do know is that your AI is advanced, far too advanced for a launch of only two weeks ago. What I want to know is, what other shortcuts have you taken?”
Master Nader answered. “It is not against the rules for a cadet to launch their AI before entering the academy. As I understand it, Cadet Fortescue has had an active AI for two years.”
“Ah, yes. That is a good point,” Chief Cleo said. “However, we were alerted to this fact. Reports from her tutors were provided to us, detailing the instruction she had received and that all correct safety protocols were followed. Whereas Cadet Daedo pretended to launch his AI in the first week. I must admit, it was quite an exemplary deception showing a lot of preplanning and skill.”
“Cadet Daedo, two personal demerit points for attempting to deceive Chief Cleo and failing,” Master Nader said.
It did not go unnoticed to Daedo and the chief that Nader had added ‘and failing.’ She made it sound like he received the demerits for being caught.
Chief Cleo sighed again. “Cadet, AIs are a wonderful thing. They can enhance your life in many ways. They can improve nearly every aspect of your performance at the academy and out in the real world. But they can also be useless and worse, dangerous, if not handled properly. Do not experiment with your AI. Follow the guides, follow the proven measures. And please, please, even if you are confronted with astronomical challenges, do not experiment with AI-symbiosis.”
Daedo stood and nodded in agreement. “Chief Cleo, I understand the risks with symbiosis, and it is my opinion that it is extremely dangerous. When completing my research, I saw the cases of the brain-dead scientists. Modern medicine could not help those people. It was incredibly sad, especially given their contribution to cybernetics and AI coding. A contribution which was truncated after self-experimentation. Rest assured, I am not tempted to go down that path.”
“Satisfied?” Master Nader asked the chief.
The chief did not look happy, but she seemed satisfied for now. “Dismissed, Cadet. Get some sleep.”
Daedo realised finally why the chief had requested a meeting at 0001 on the Monday morning of round two. Master Nader had requested no testing in round one, and Cleo had complied. So she had organised a test in the first minute of round two. He shook his head. The games adults played were as bad, if not worse, than the cadets.
Daedo: We dodged a bullet, Myrmidon.
Myrmidon: Thanks to Master Nader. If she wasn’t intervening on our behalf, the outcome would have been much worse.
Daedo: We still need to be careful. But at least we don’t need to hide your capability anymore.
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Daedo woke in time for his first obstacle course run in round two. The squad made their way to the newly designed course at the usual time of 0550. Their slot began at 0600.
The rankings were up, and Thoth Squad Zero’s performance was exemplary. The consensus for Thoth was that they were rockstars. Thoth always did well in the academic subjects, but rarely ranked in the top twenty, let alone ten, in the Gauntlet or the obstacle course. It was not unheard of for a Thoth cadet to be in the overall top ten rank, as there were many subjects such as math, physics, reference, tech studies, and AI. Since strategy held no score, that was over half of the subjects.
The rankings put Thoth Squad Zero in second place, which should have elated them. But the first-place squad concerned them. That night, at 20:15, was their exo arena match versus Horus. The first-place squad. Although Daedo was rank one cadet, the overall rankings of the Horus Squad Zero were lower than Thoth by an overall margin of twelve. Which meant that if Gaumont ranked twenty-one instead of thirty-five, Thoth would have been in first place.
After they ran the obstacle course, most of the squad gathered at the gym before breakfast.
“That was brutal,” Axel-Zero said.
“Try it with ten kilos of weight,” Daedo said.
“Oh no, I am not that keen to kill myself,” Axel-Zero said.
“They did say that each round the obstacle course would get harder,” Picard added.
“I’m not looking forward to round five,” Vannier said.
“Guys, guys,” Barran interrupted, “I just got some news on the M1 feed.”
“You listen to that while you’re on the bike?” Axel-Zero asked.
“Yeah, keeps me updated with what others are doing and saying. But listen to this: Master Ustinov has suddenly come down with a rare disease. She was rushed to hospital last night and died this morning!”
The news received a similar response from all the cadets. They were astounded.
“I know she was old, but … she looked fit,” Picard said finally.
“Old has nothing to do with a disease like that, but it was so sudden. She was diagnosed, rushed to the hospital, and died all in one night? That’s crazy,” Axel-Zero said.
Daedo was quiet. Master Nader had told him on two occasions that he would know when she dealt with the one responsible for the break-in. And he didn’t believe in coincidences. While the other cadets chatted animatedly about the latest piece of gossip, Daedo stayed deathly quiet. He just stuck to his training regime.
Daedo: Myrmidon, can you find out and research the disease Master Ustinov died from?
Myrmidon: While human health is not something I have researched much about, I will see what knowledge exists on the net and consume it.
Daedo: Thanks.
Mace found Daedo at the end of the session. The cadets took sonic showers in separate rooms and then gathered together before heading to breakfast. Their bodysuits were self-cleaning, but that didn’t stop them from stinking after the obstacle course and a gym session.
“You were quieter than normal during the workout,” Mace said.
“And you were just as quiet, as usual,” Daedo retorted.
She shrugged. “You’re not thinking what I’m thinking, are you?”
“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, it is probably best not to talk about it,” Daedo said.
She nodded slowly. “Agreed.”
Mace was amazing. Twice, Master Nader had given him the warning, and Mace was present on neither of those occasions. But she’d come to the same speculative conclusion as he did, with less indirect clues. He would have thought it was an impossible logic leap, but, he could not deny she had accomplished it.
“What should we do?” she asked. They had separated from the squad during their walk to breakfast. The others were chatting so much they lost track of them easily.
Daedo looked at Mace, and while he was looking, her bodysuit changed. White epaulettes were added to the black bodysuit, and a number three appeared on her right upper chest. It corresponded to the zero on her left shoulder.
“Your ranking,” Daedo said, nodding at her right side.
Mace looked at Daedo. “Yours too, and you have an ‘S’ as well.” An S had appeared next to his zero, which denoted Squad Zero.
Every M1 cadet now had a number from 1 to 1275 on their chest. There was no way Daedo could hide in obscurity now. If the S and the zero weren’t bad enough, the one on his right side was a beacon for trouble.
“Crap,” Daedo said. He’d totally forgotten that Commander Malet had said this would happen at the orientation.
“I’d think you’d be happy,” Mace said. Then she realised something and said, “I kinda feel inadequate next to you.” And she laughed.
Daedo laughed too. Mace was rank three. Only he and Fortescue outranked her. “If you need an ego boost, go hang out with Gaumont,” he teased.
“No thanks,” she said. “I’m happy right here.”
For the moment, they had forgotten about Master Ustinov’s demise and its implications.