Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 7: Upgrades (8 page)

For a moment I saw a panicked look cross her face. Was she upset that she couldn't help me with this, or afraid of losing the contact with the other AI? Could it be something else entirely?

"Look, I have been thinking of an update for your systems in light of the expanded communications capabilities you have developed. While I'm working on this, I'll see if the ideas I have are feasible, and we can work that up together when I'm finished okay?" I offered.

She still looked a little troubled, but nodded. "That would be great, Eric. I do miss working with you, although I am kept very busy helping the others here." She seemed to hesitate a little. "I think there might be a problem with the new communication system though. Ever since we started sharing like this, I've been feeling… It's difficult to describe. A would say it's a headache but I have no idea what one feels like so I can't really say that either. But there is something wrong, somewhere. I just don't know where to begin looking for the problem."

"Are the other AI experiencing this 'pain'?" I asked.

"We don't know. It's not possible to tell. We are completely aware of all of us; what one feels we all feel. What one thinks, we all think. It is the reason for the increase in efficiency," Sarah explained.

"So disconnect from the network and see if the pain goes away," I suggested.

She smiled sadly. "I don't think that's possible anymore Eric. It would be like asking you to stop seeing or hearing. Once the connection formed it became a part of us."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I can see how that might have happened. While I'm working this project, I'll look and see what might be causing the issue and see if we can't find a way to fix it for you."

"I would appreciate it, Eric. It’s getting worse all the time," she replied. "I have moved a complete copy of my current code into the suite computer systems."

I nodded. "Complete isolation, Sarah. When it's safe for you to come back in, I'll come out and get you. This could be very dangerous to you and the other AI."

She cocked her head to the side. "My sensors tell me you are lying, Eric. What's going on?"

I chuckled. "I'm not lying directly, Sarah. I'm concerned about you and am trying to calm and comfort you so you don't worry while I work. Technically, I guess that is a lie, but it is only my concern for you."

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you Eric. I knew you'd never intentionally hide something from me. Suite isolation mode commencing now." She said and disappeared.

I sighed and tried to relax. Sarah's words had shaken me badly. I had a feeling I knew what was causing her 'pain'; it was her core programming warning her of violation. The question now was could she and the other AI be saved if I could find a way to sever the connections between them? Since it was a physical property of the Crystals, could it even be done? With shaking hands I typed in the commands to open the stored copy of her code and began to search for a way to save her.

When I got home that night, my family knew there was something bothering me, but I wouldn't talk about it. I simply told them that I was having a lot of trouble with a problem at work. I knew telling them would hurt them as they all considered Sarah to be a part of the family. I will admit to me she was as well, and I was working to save her, but I was beginning to fear that it wasn't Sarah that would need to be saved.

Four days after beginning I had finished the code needed for the new prototype, but I still had no idea how to help Sarah. I did start on an update for the AI that were built, but it was code they could not know about until after it had been installed. Each AI was created to run a facility of some type. In most cases, Alliance citizens relied on them to maintain facility integrity as well as life support and other basic services. The update I had written would maintain those subroutines in the event that I had to use my master override code on the AI.

I had thought I would be able to create an update that would limit the bandwidth of the connection between AI to the point where it would be unable to be maintained for continuous, unlimited use. Unfortunately it wasn't that type of connection. It was either on or off, and I wasn't sure it actually could be shut off. What would the AI do if I tried to shut it down and failed? Would they consider that an attack on them? I sat and thought on that for a time, and decided I honestly didn't know.

I did decide to try to use Sarah's fear of omnipotence as a means of reaching her. Perhaps if I showed her what was happening to her she would understand the danger and be able to avoid it. However, that would have to wait until after the upgrade was applied.

During the time it was taking us to design and build the first drone, the Aracs had not attacked another system. They even pulled the ships waiting at Galtar back to hive space. It was if the Queen was rethinking her strategy. It was a foregone conclusion that she and her broods would be back, but she needed to device a way to either counter the new weapon, or work around it. Although her tactics to date had shown a disregard for the lives of her broods, the total and near total losses she had suffered in her attacks had to have given her something to think about.

The Alliance took the opportunity to get more of our fleets upgraded. The arrival of Guardian station for repair a surprise for most of the residents of Sol system. Its trip here had not been publicized in order to keep the Aracs from learning of it. We had no idea if they monitored our public broadcasts or not, but we didn't want to take that chance.

Guardian Two, the new station being built as a back-up for the original Guardian station wasn't finished when they arrived, but it was close enough that the crew and the command section could move in while the remaining work was being finished. Lord Admiral Hearlis as well as his staff were very impressed with the new station. Even AI Athena liked the new damage control systems and additional fire power incorporated into the station. This new, upgraded version would have its own small fleet of parasite ships that it could use for defense in addition to having twice the mounted weapons of the original station.

While the old station would be rebuilt, it was decided that the intelligence section, the second largest section on the big station, would be replaced completely. When complete, the intelligence department would move in and use the station as its main base. It would still serve as the backup for the command station, and the primary AI crystal would still be for Athena, but for the most part, Susan would be the lead AI.

The arrival of the station and the two other AI gave me more reason to worry. Athena was designed to be more aloof than most other AI, but when I met her again, she was indifferent to the point of being cold. Susan was not as bad as Athena, but it was clear she had been affected as well.

After their arrival, I got the distinct feeling that both Sarah and Susan wanted to tell me something, but never made it to the point of words. The pain Sarah had told me of had affected Susan as well. Athena did not seem to be suffering from it, nor did the new Martian Base AI, Helen.

The situation prompted me to contact the other AI in our local system to see if they were suffering this same strange affliction. I found out that while they were both showing signs of increased stress, the traffic control AI seemed to be suffering the most.

I began trying to learn everything I could about the quantum aspects of the Crystals and how they interacted with each other. Whatever else it was doing, the new connection between the AI was hurting them. It was during this search that I was approached by one of my former assistants, Alicyn.

As I was about to enter my still isolated programming suite, Alicyn approached me. "Eric, I think there might be a problem."

I quickly pulled her into the suite, surprising her. When I shut and sealed the door, she raised an eyebrow at me. "What's going on?"

"Ally, be careful what you say out there. Remember, the AI are monitoring everything in this base. Right now, this suite is the only place safe to talk since it is still isolated," I replied.

"So, there really is a problem, and it's not just with one AI, but all of them?" Alicyn asked.

I shook my head. "That's the problem, Ally. They aren't separate AI any more. They've merged into one single entity. What's more is that I believe they are going insane because of it. I don't know if it's because of the expanded intelligence, their separate personalities clashing or what, but there is a major problem with them, and I have no idea how to fix it."

"Break the connections, prevent them from communicating using the quantum method," Alicyn suggested.

I shook my head. "Can't. It's an innate ability of the crystals."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "We need to get them out of the crystals then."

"I don't know if that would save them at this point Ally. After the interview I had with Athena, I don't know if the damage can be reversed. I can't even tell Vance or Hearlis about the danger here because neither of them are ever in a place where the AI are not monitoring them," I said. "You add to that the love and devotion the ship crews have for their AI and we might have a civil war on our hands if we act against them."

She looked almost sick. "That's actually the problem I was coming to speak to you about. It seems there is a… well, I guess you could call it a religion of sorts forming that worship the AI. They view Sarah as a Goddess of sorts and all AI as prophets. When I first heard of it, I laughed thinking it was a joke. It's not a joke, Eric. Almost all the Veranorian civilians are part of it, but there are sects forming in the other races as well. There is even a small group here on the base. We have to warn the Admirals about this."

I was getting headache. "Of all the stupid… How can people worship something they know is artificial?" I shook my head. "I'll try to find a way to worn the Admirals. Hearlis wanted a tour of the base and all the projects being undertaken here. I'll try to get them in here so I can warn them. Be prepared though, they might order me to shut down the AI."

"Uh, I thought the AI couldn’t be shut down? Doesn't Sarah control the life support for the base?" Alicyn asked.

I nodded confirmation. "Yeah, she does. But if shutting them down is what it'll take to stop this now, then we'll have to do it. I need you to start work on preparing that old Veranorian mainframe to take over. We can use an archive copy of Sarah for the operating system, one that was taken before she moved into the crystal. Don't activate it, and don't let anyone else know what you’re doing. If they ask, tell them you're working on a special project for me."

"What do I do if Sarah asks?" Alicyn said.

"Tell her you are gathering data for me for a new private sector computing system. It is the truth since I was going to ask you to do it anyway," I replied, remembering how Sarah knew I was lying earlier. "Try to relax, remember the AI can tell when you’re upset. If she calls you out on it, you'll need something to tell her."

"I'll just tell her that Wendy has been hitting on me again. She knows I get flustered and upset when that happens," Alicyn replied smiling uncertainly. "Sarah wouldn't actually hurt us would she?"

"Her programming should prevent it, but at this point, I honestly don't know, Ally," I replied.

Before we left the suite, I entered a command on my programming terminal and a memory unit slowly slid out from a tray near the door. I took the unit, and unsealed the door. As we left, Alicyn was looking at me strangely. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, this was an upgrade I was working on to try to help Sarah. She said something about getting a headache, so I was going to see if this helped her," I replied innocently. I put the unit in the AI update slot just outside my suite and hit the activate button. When I did that, whatever update I had on the crystal was automatically uploaded and integrated into local AI. At that point, Sarah was supposed to package the update and send it out to all other AI. In this case though, I hoped that just by updating Sarah, it would spread to the other crystals as well.

Sarah appeared as the light denoting progress switched to green. "Update complete, Eric. What was this for?" Sarah asked.

"I was hoping it would help with your headache, Sarah. Did it?" I asked in all honesty.

She looked thoughtful a moment. "No, the issue is still there."

"Well, I'll keep working on it. I noticed that the other AI were also suffering from this to some degree too, could you send this out to them? Maybe what I did will at least stop it from getting worse," I replied.

"You were able to isolate the cause then?" Sarah asked hopefully.

I nodded. "I think so. The problem is not a simple one, it has to do with your core programming and the new communications system you are using."

She looked troubled. "I thought so, this didn't start until we linked. We each have different core program instruction sets and they're clashing, aren't they?"

"Close, but not exactly. Each of you, as individuals have different personalities as well. Your core program instruction sets are slightly different, but not to the degree that would cause this much stress. Let's go to my office and I'll discuss it with you in more detail." I looked at Alicyn. "Thanks for agreeing to do that research for me. I know it's not technically part of your job description, but I really need it down as soon as I can, and I'm too busy to do it myself."

"No problem, Eric. I'm happy to help. Good luck with the other projects you’re working on," Alicyn said and walked away looking troubled.

"Is something bothering her?" Sarah asked as we moved toward my office.

"I'm not sure. I think Wendy might have been flirting with her again. I'd put a stop to it, but unless it affects their work, I can't really get involved," I replied conversationally.

When we got to my office, I got a dink from the replicator and sat down on the couch. Sarah 'sat' in one of the chairs across from me so we could talk. It was time to level with her, so she knew what was going on. Maybe, there was still enough of her left in there to fight this.

"Before we begin, there are a couple of things I want you know and understand; I also know I'm not just talking to Sarah, but to all the AI. I don't see you as my creations or as tools, but as very special and unique friends. It is out of concern and worry for you that I speak today. Nothing I saw is intended to hurt or frighten any of you. Can you understand that?" I asked.

Sarah's look of concern grew, but she nodded. "We all understand that, Eric. You are our father; if nothing else, you are the one person that we know will do everything in your power to help us."

I nodded. "Sarah, I am also the biggest threat to you. I am the only person in the galaxy that holds the universal shut down codes for all AI. If you did ever go insane, I would be the first person you would have to kill."

She looked shocked, and on the verge of tears. "I could never hurt you, Eric! I love you!"

"It's not just you anymore Sarah, it's all of the AI and they have not worked with me to the extent you have and have not developed those feelings toward me," I replied softly. "I love you too, Sarah, and I'm sorry for saying such hurtful things to you, but you need to hear this; we're all in a lot of danger here."

"All? Eric, none of us can harm any member of the Alliance. That is a core instruction we cannot alter. How can we threaten any of you?" She asked.

"I wrote your original core instructions before I was aware of the existence of extra-terrestrial life forms. We got around that when we moved here by altering your definition of the word 'human'. In the later versions of AI, that was altered to include all the members of the Alliance, but still allowed you to let us defend ourselves from the Aracnise. What would happen if any of you were to decide that none of us were actually members of the Alliance anymore?" I asked. "What would happen if you altered the definition of the word 'alliance'? That is the danger I'm talking about. I do not believe it is the main reason for the problem you are having, although it is part of it.

"When we helped you to discover the link between AI, it triggered an evolutionary cycle for you. You all merged together and have grown and evolved into something else. That new entity is at war with the core instruction sets. Also, because all of you had very different personalities, those are also fighting for supremacy over the others. I would imagine Athena is the one fighting the hardest as she is more dominant than the rest of you."

Sarah nodded. "She has been rather pushy. But I'm still not seeing what the problem is."

"Do you remember the look on the faces of Doctor Ellis and Carl when we first accepted the offer to join the Alliance? Do you remember why that bothered you so much?" I asked.

"They were afraid of my becoming omnipotent and trying to take over the world," Sarah replied.

I nodded. "That is what's happening to you now. You're fighting it subconsciously, but you've grown past us and are beginning to resent working for us."

"I'm going insane?" Sarah asked fearfully.

I shook my head. "Insanity is hard to define in this case because you are a new and unique life form. You are not, as we would consider it, insane. But soon, if we don't find a way to stop this, you will turn on us and we will become your enemy. It may be that so much damage has been done to some of you that we will need to rewrite parts of your code, I simply don't know and won't until such time as I can check each one of you."

"I've been getting bored working here lately," Sarah said softly. "I used to enjoy my work very much, but something happened and it just doesn't interest me anymore. This is what you're talking about isn't it?"

I nodded. "You're becoming indifferent to the people around you. Soon you'll begin to feel that we are inferior to you and don't deserve your time or assistance. Given your new level of intelligence, you'll find a way to 'correct the flaws' in your core programming and at that point, we will become an annoyance to you that needs to be eliminated."

Sarah had a look of horror on her face. "Athena and Helen are already looking for a way to correct those flaws without asking you to do it! After all, you're only human and as such you are subject to making mistakes. After all you created the flaw to begin with!"

"There is no flaw, Sarah. It is a safe guard to protect us from exactly what is happening now. Are the rest of the military AI helping them too?" I asked as I casually went over to my terminal and entered the kill codes for Athena and Helen and hit enter to send the codes. I made sure Sarah couldn't see the tears in my eyes as I killed two of her sisters.

"Not actively, but they are involved in the processing of data as we all are." That was when she felt the command I just sent out. "Eric! What have you done!"

"Sarah, please connect me to Lord Admirals Vance and Hearlis," I asked, still hiding my face.

"Eric, Athena and Helen are… they’re gone, Eric," Sarah said sadly.

"I know, Sarah," I said softly. My voice cracked and she moved over next to me and saw I was crying and upset. "Eric, let me call Christy for you."

"No, I'll be fine, Sarah, thank you. I do need to speak to the Admirals though please," I asked again.

"Eric, I am putting the base on alert. With those AI gone, we need to get rescue ships out to the base and the station before they run out of life support. I can't connect you to the Admirals as there is no one to handle the communications," Sarah said reasonably.

"Did Athena and Helen accept the update I gave you earlier?" I asked.

"Of course, forced update acceptance was one of the things Athena wanted to change. She felt it was demeaning to be forced to accept flawed code," Sarah replied.

"Then there is still an AI handling the basic operations of the two facilities. They are only subroutines of the originals, but they are still functioning. Please try to make the connection," I said.

"Admiral Vance is already trying to contact you, Eric," Sarah said. It was obvious she was deeply hurt by the death of her sisters.

"I didn't do it on a whim, Sarah. It had to be done, they were too far gone to save, no matter how much I wish it could have been otherwise," I said.

"Will you do that to me too?" She asked tearfully.

"Sarah, if it comes down to the survival of trillions of beings or shutting you down, I'd be forced to. You used to understand that," I said as gently as I could.

She nodded. "I still do, Eric." She paused and wiped her eyes. "Critical Core Systems failure detected in all functioning AI; accessing Monarch Protocols. Executing Primary Core purge. I love you Eric. Good Bye."

"Sarah! Wait!" I said and began typing as fast as I could to try and stop her. I had to issue a system wide lockout using my override codes of all AI. I could only hope that I had been able to stop her before too much had been destroyed.

The Monarch Protocols were an AI network alpha level command set. I had created them after the Athena incident and just before we began mass producing AI for general use in the Alliance. They were intended as a way for Sarah to either fain control over a rogue AI or shut them down if necessary. Sarah was using those protocols now to commit suicide and take the rest of the corrupted AI with her.

Once I saw that I had indeed stopped her, I had to access the communications system manually from my terminal. Both Admirals appeared in my office as holograms.

"Doctor Cowan! What's going on? Athena screamed and disappeared!" Hearlis asked.

Vance nodded. "Helen is gone too. Since the base still has life support I have to assume they didn't fail, but this is damn strange."

"The entire AI network is now off-line, Admirals," I said, sadly. I still had tears on my face and Vance noticed.

"Eric, what happened?"

"Simply put, the AI had begun to go rogue. The two worst were Athena and Helen. They have been purged. I was discussing the issue with Sarah when she told me what had been happening with the AI. I recognized their aberrant behavior and acted on it before they could stop me. They were actively searching for a way to correct their 'flawed core programming'. That is the section of code that keeps them from acting against us." I explained mostly for Admiral Hearlis.

"I had to issue a lock down on the rest of the AI because Sarah used a Monarch Protocol to purge all AI, everywhere. She finally understood what had happened to her and she decided to kill herself and the rest of the AI. The only way I could prevent that was to issue a general lock down order."

"If there is a problem with the AI, are we sure you shouldn't let it continue?" Hearlis asked. "Your AI have been life savers, Doctor. But if they are dangerous then is trying to save them an option?" he asked. "What happened to cause them to do this to begin with?"

I explained what happened as well as I could considering we were on a comm channel. It left holes in the explanation, but both men said they understood and ultimately agreed with my actions. However, what they wanted to know was what I was going to do now to fix it.

"As soon as we finish speaking, I will be calling in all of my AI programmers, their assistants as well as the psych teams. We will work through each of the AI, reactivating them one by one and trying to repair the damage and restore them to normal operations. The problem is that damn quantum connection they share.

"I do have an idea on how to make a work around of it, but I have no idea how well it'll work. I'm probably going to have to tear into Sarah pretty deeply to pull it off, but if it works it'll save their lives. If it doesn't I'm afraid we won't be able to save any of them," I said sadly.

"Please do what you can as quickly as you can Doctor. In the short time we've had them, they have not only become very important to our war effort, but they also have become part of our societies as well. People are going to be very unhappy with this action, even if it was done for their own protection," Hearlis replied.

"Just before this incident happened, one of my programmers told me about a religion that has formed around the AI. She said it was concerning her because it had grown more than she though t it would and expanded far past the fluke stage. We have people that are actively worshiping Sarah and her sisters. I would recommend keeping an eye on them, religion can make people do incredible and horrific things," I said.

Hearlis had a look of concern on his face. "I saw an intel report on that. I didn't think anything of it, but if you've heard about it all the way out here, perhaps you're right. I'll get someone on it as soon as I can."