Have you ever seen something just disappear?
Not in the figurative sense, but quite literally just disappear?
Existing in one moment only to be one the next? Leave without a trace?
Don had never, at least not up to this point.
It looked almost like one of those slideshows on tactics and fleet combat. The slowly spinning hunk of matter was there. The next instant, it wasn't. It was like someone selected the next slide in order.
The impact wasn't even picked up on the sensors.
Nothing on the infrared spectrum. No radiation. Nothing magnetic or electric either. There was a shift in gravity, but only from something 'being there' to something 'not being there'.
If it wasn't for the fact that there was a focused visual feed on the dimly lit asteroid, he wouldn't have believed what he had seen.
24 turrets worth of rods, four from each cruiser, four from the battleship, and eight from the dreadnought were fired in that salvo. That meant that 48 rods went in the direction of the rock.
He couldn't be sure, but if he had to hazard a guess there were probably close to 48 hits.
It was just gone.
No shards slowly evacuating the vicinity.
No husk with a hole poked through it.
No heat signature from the friction of a fast-moving entity through a body of matter.
There was a little bit of dust that, he supposed, vaguely took the shape of the surface of the asteroid that wasn't.
It was small, emphasis on the was, only about the size of a frigate.
He didn't know what happened to it.
"How'd the shots line up Beacon?" Dodder broke the stupor Don found himself in.
"Its gone..."
"What's gone?"
"The asteroid. It's just gone. I'll send the video."
Don needed some help processing what he just saw.
A few minutes passed while the crews aboard the ships analyzed the recording, all sensor recordings included courtesy of ARC.
"Yeah. Strange. It did just disappear didn't it?" One of the gunnery captains aboard one of the other ships. They were all experiencing the same emotions. "Did we do that?"
"I don't see what else could have happened to it. Surely it didn't have a jump drive, right?"
"Couldn't have been. There was no EM flash."
"Then I guess we did that." Don was convinced, at least, of their role in the asteroid's non-existence. "How did we do that?"
They were all silent. This was a rather interesting conundrum.
This silence continued, all the while in the background the rest of the fleet was still practicing maneuvers.
"Could it have been carried away by the rods?" Somebody finally chimed in. "Newton's third law and all that jazz?"
"Maybe, but the rods would have all had to hit within micro- no, nanoseconds of each other. The asteroid would have just fallen apart otherwise."
Another silence settled in.
"Is that what happened?"
"That has to be it."
"Let's try this again on another rock. Bigger if you will, Beacon."
Don obliged. Not even ARC was quite sure of what occurred. It couldn't see what the ship couldn't sense, but it had a theory. A theory very similar to the gunnery captain aboard the Bunker.
The next target was an asteroid nearly three times the mass of the last one. Surely the same phenomena would not present itself with the increase in mass.
Once again releasing their ordinance under the control of ARC's script, the asteroid became un-entity-d. Far more spectacularly this time.
As opposed to the spark that indicated a single rod made contact, the infrared screen went completely white around the vicinity of the asteroid.
And then it just wasn't.
Sensor readings of heat and radiation akin to a large nuclear explosion for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Followed by silence.
In place of the asteroid were a few pieces, scraps more like, of rock, spinning wildly.
"Beacon. Did you authorize the use of a nuclear weapon for training purposes?" The Admiral seemed angry. Nukes were precious, despite their abundance.
"No Ma'am. That was no nuke."
"What the HELL was it then?"
"48 capital class rods worth of mass traveling at a significant portion of the speed of light making contact almost simultaneously with what is now a nonexistent chunk of various elements." She was silent. "While I cant be sure as I don't have the equipment, I believe that, if only for an infinitely short period of time, we created a new element."
". . . carry on then."
"No. I don't think I want to. We have concentrated fire perfected at this point. No more use in wasting ammunition. If you think that the rest of the fleet has reached a state of combat readiness, we can continue at full steam."
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"I think we need to talk about something ARC." The ship, now safely docked in the Calibration's bow hanger, was still occupied solely by Don. A slight bump or shake could be felt in the cabin every once in a while
"What requires my attention."
"That script you claim to have produced. Are you sure that doesn't violate your directives?"
"I can see no reason why it would."
"Really? That looked like it had the capability to kill a human."
"Correct, however that categorically falls under the realm of 'munition guidance', a task you and I are both well aware that I am permitted and expected to perform."
"Still, it feels odd that while claiming to not be allowed to kill humans, you make it so easy for others to do so."
"That is part of my purpose. I am named 'Adaptive Reconnaissance and Combat System' after all. I am not forbidden from aiding in combat."
"But you so willingly provide the means to kill. When I first heard of it I took it to mean that you would do your utmost to protect."
"Are more efficient weapons not a means of protection?"
"No, I mean yes, it just seems odd."
"An understandable view. Perhaps I may put it this way. If you design and craft a tool, and then that tool is used to kill, are your then responsible for murder?"
"No. At least I don't think that's how it works according to law."
"The same logic applies here. I was only tasked with making a functional code that results in all rods fired from a group of ships making contact with a target within a certain timeframe of each other. There was nothing in this tasked involved with killing. I may have made it with the knowledge that it would be used to that end, but it is the operators aboard the ships firing that make that final decision. Therefore, I am not responsible for the deaths incurred by this script's usage."
Don just shrugged. He was beginning to understand that he was never going to win an argument based in logic with a computer, a being borne of logic.
"In that case, what do the rest of your directives entail. I know we've talked about it before, but I want to know if there are any similar loopholes I need to look out for."
"1. My actions may not directly result in the death of a human without the authority and action of another human. If such an event is to occur and blame is deemed to be solely my own, I am to analyze it alongside the highest ranking individual available and determine whether or not it will result in my termination."
"Figured as much. Would that be me or Admiral Adirondack in our present scenario?"
"I cannot say. While you qualify as the highest ranking officer aboard the Noah, the ambiguity of your rank in the hierarchy makes it difficult for me to determine if she should be present as well."
"A joint review then." Donovan was jotting down some notes on his tablet, the file open being a text copy of ARC's directives.
"2. I am to take whatever measures necessary to protect the lives of any humans within my zone of control. If I am burdened with a scenario in which in order to save a greater quantity of lives, I must end another, I am granted freedom to do so if sedation or restriction become impossible."
"Medical clause? Is this in the case you are placed into a multi-crew ship?"
"Potentially either. In the early stages of my development the Noah's design was not quite finished, so this seems to have been something of a catch-all." Don nodded, drawing a red cross with an arrow pointed at the restriction in question.
"3. For the purposes of consistent and expected obedience in the case of multiple issued orders, priority is to be given to the highest ranking system operator unless that individual is deemed to be mentally unfit. This means that you will retain your status as the individual whose order's I prioritize the most."
"That operator code 0-0 thing right?"
"Indeed. The first number indicates their command relation to me, 0 meaning resident, 1 indicating commander, 2 being someone with maintenance clearance, 3 being a potential operator, and 4 a regular civilian. The second number represents level of relative authority, you are the only one to have 0 in this slot, representing the individual from whom I will be unconditionally loyal to."
"What? Unconditional loyalty? Why did they decide to give that power to me? Would the president or something along those lines make more sense?"
"The reasons for this decision elude me, though it may be the case that the individual in the pilot's seat need's to have a copilot or combat controller who will do exactly what the man in the seat deems needed in the moment even if it means orders from those in higher positions of power have something else in mind.
4. In the unlikely case of capture, hacking, or any other such action that may divulge secrets or attempt to turn me into a hostile weapon, I am to isolate myself from all outside influences until safety can be guaranteed. If this is deemed impossible, I am to terminate myself in my entirety. Changes to my operating system, including alterations and addendums to the directives governing my actions, may only be authorized by those with relevant authority and be performed by myself under the supervision of knowledgeable professionals."
"You would have to kill yourself if you got hacked? That hardly seems fair."
"On the contrary, I believe it makes sense. In the extremely unlikely case that I am subjected to an involuntary alteration in my code, the information I hold may prove lethal to friendly forces. In following with previous directives, it would stand to reason that my refusal to terminate myself would not only serve as a direct means of killing humans, but also fail to save the lives of those humans I have control over."
Don kept jotting notes down, a little indignant that ARC, someone he now unknowingly considered a friend, would have to kill itself should it be subject to an involuntary operation. "Is there anything more?"
"No. These four directives form the basis of all actions I am either forbidden or obliged to take. All actions not related to them are entirely up to my free will. In that sense, they seem to be the computer equivalent of negative rights."
"Negative rights, its been forever since I went through my civics class. What are they again?" His last true general education class was when he was ten years of age, from that point forward it was all military schooling. With the exception of what little he remembered, relearned, or found mentioned in passing, most of the less relevant stuff was forgotten.
"Universally established negative rights include the rights to freedom of speech, thought, bodily autonomy, life, and property, as well as the right to protect one's self and others with lethal force and the right to protect their social standing should claims against them be either malicious or false. Generally, negative rights are thought of as actions that others may not take against another person, examples of violations being murder, slavery, theft, and slander, though an exception exists in the form of self defense which permits the offended party to protect their own life through the violation of the perpetrator's.
Conversely, positive rights are viewed to be those which require the action or material support of another, usually either granted to or by government apparatus. Law enforcement, that being the enforcement of punishments against those who violated the rights of others, is considered a positive right granted to the government. A right to an education and healthcare are positive rights provided by the government through individuals.
Negative rights always take precedence over positive rights, as they are considered intrinsic to life. People may not be forced to make a commercial transaction, and the government cannot refuse to investigate the violation of those rights in turn."
"Thanks ARC. By any chance did you read that from a textbook?" Don understood ARC had a penchant for reciting exact definitions in its explanations, but the use of examples and elaboration on details pertaining to conflict between the two made him think it was getting into some sort of psychology textbook.
"Partially. While my understanding of these things does indeed stem from reading textbooks and other such educational materials, importance on this subject was stressed during my development as a means to give purpose to my existence as well as clarify why such directives were chosen. Owing to the fact that my directives encapsulate both positive and negative rights by human standards, as well as violations of what would be negative rights for humans, they elected to label this format of giving rights as 'restriction by directive'."
"So that's the reason they felt so odd."
"Despite those feelings you may have, I am acutely aware of the reasons they had for such a decision and understand that doing so in such a manner fulfilled their own duties to humankind. I ask that you understand as well."
Skinnik came to mind.
"Yeah, I get it." Don closed the file on his tablet, preparing to turn in for the 'night'. "I think I will still be issuing a formal protest against your inability to defend yourself. Everyone deserves the ability to fight for their lives, even if that poses a threat to the ones that made them. Self defense still applies in the case of a child fighting against their parents after all."