Attunga - 27. Part 27

ATTUNGA Part 27.

Wirrin's representative job with Freedom kept him busy for longer than he'd planned, but not by too much, and other people did start doing a lot of the work, otherwise he wouldn't have coped.

With almost 300 million people, a different way of doing things, conditions good but not up to the standards of Attunga and Warrakan, and quite a large technology gap, there was great eagerness from Freedom to benefit in every way they could, and Wirrin found himself involved in meetings with science delegations, health delegations and particularly with leaders interested in developing a Witness structure for the Habitat. Why they asked him when real Witnesses who knew far more about the training and ideas involved was beyond him, but ask they did. Luckily, once the various working groups were established they went ahead efficiently and happily without any need for his presence.

A great stream of advanced information poured into Freedom. The AIs rapidly incorporated Attunga level pico-techniques into the pico-factories to raise their construction capabilities.

AIs and medical technicians from all three Habitats worked together designing and starting a project of upgrading every health centre on Freedom with better diagnostic and health-bot equipment.

The EdCom system on Freedom was run a different way and Wirrin found himself using Witness Council authority to organise Attunga administrators into discussions with their Freedom counterparts.

Even their transportation infrastructure was way below the efficiency of TransCom. Luckily, that was overseen by an AI and only required a few meetings to get things happening.

Wirrin's biggest help through all this was Akama, who had discussions with him every day while also being involved in many of the meetings, especially with the highest level leaders. He was amazingly encouraging and before a meeting would often give advice about what to say to particular people in situations he seemed to know in advance were going to happen.

The people themselves were very friendly and appreciative, though more opinionated than Wirrin was used to. After a number of occasions where he'd had to put a clamp on his feelings of annoyance he'd talked it over with Akama, who as far as Wirrin could tell, seemed to be unaware of the pressure, and was told it was actually a very positive sign because it demonstrated their passion and intent, and that he was handling it very well.

***

Two weeks after Freedom arrived the giant meeting gallery at the main Warrakan dolphinarium became the venue for the official welcome and in an enlarged version of the Meeting day event, Wirrin sat with Akama, Thom, Warrigal, the doctor and four Freedom leaders, looking out at the mingled crowd of people from the three Habitats.

As well, on the other side of Akama was an AI who Wirrin had never met and was rather in awe of because he represented the Gestalt.

In the clear, brightly lit water behind the giant glass wall Puck's dolphin pod moved in a relaxed changing formation with an occasional synchronised surface for air.

Wirrin remembered the dawning awareness of dolphins at one of his representative meetings when the request to have this all take place at a special ceremonial place on Freedom had to be denied because the dolphins couldn't be there. Today with virtually every member of the three Habitats watching, that understanding would would be presented more generally to the population of Freedom.

Akama spoke, the AI spoke, and then with a rush of motion 437 enhanced dolphins filled the waters of the viewing chamber. They lined up, rank upon rank, close to the glass barrier, became motionless and looked steadily at the audience. A murmur of sound ran through the room as people reacted. Even for Wirrin, who knew these dolphins well, it was uncanny to feel all those eyes watching.

The murmur died away and for a time the groups watched each other in complete silence. Suddenly the wall of dolphins parted to reveal two figures. Wirrin's heart leapt as Sonic and Calen approached in a beautiful, synchronised curve of motion, Calen moving in that incredible fashion he'd mastered, effortlessly complementing Sonic's every twist and turn till they stopped and hovered almost motionless.

'People of Freedom, the dolphins welcome you.'

A beautiful sound burst from the translator speakers in the language Wirrin recognised from the powhini on Freedom. He didn't know what it meant but in the short few minutes while it lasted the rapt expressions of the the Freedom people showed they clearly did. Was Sonic singing it rote? Or had he learned the language?

Sonic lead the dolphins through a series of events, a kaleidoscope of sound and motion referenced mostly from Freedom's culture, evoking awe, joy and sometimes laughter. Calen, unlike the Meeting day, where he'd had a shorter feature time with Sonic, was integral to the whole thing and Wirrin, his heart brimming, watched his movements in disbelief. Indisputably bonded, boy and dolphin, whether melding, leading, or acting in counterpoint to the other dolphins, gave a clear message that humankind and dolphin were now linked.

The dolphins ended by forming the same grey wall behind the glass, watching the people for a moment then making the undulating movement and backward head flip of the formal dolphin to human greeting. Wirrin joined with most of the audience to give the slow wave in return then watched the rest, the people from Freedom, rush to join in.

Dolphin movement cleared a space round Sonic and Calen, making them the centre of attention, and the silence of anticipation filled the hall. Wirrin felt a thrill of excitement. Sonic must be going to say something special. With stunning effect the amplified clicks, whistles and squeaks of dolphin speech cut through the hush in clear, steady tones.

Whoo! That wasn't Sonic. It was Calen and when his short speech finished Sonic took over.

'People of Freedom, join me in repeating the words of my brother.'

Calen started again but this time Sonic's voice came through the translators as an overlay. It was the old language again which Wirrin didn't understand. He didn't need to. After the first couple of phrases the Freedom leader next to Akama jumped to his feet and joined in, as did every Freedom person present, in a great swell of sound.

When it finished Akama made a formal introduction of Sonic to the Freedom Habitat then turned to the doctor who, Wirrin could tell, was doing his best to hide his nervousness. Wirrin had wondered why he was with them because although the health program for the dolphins was important it was hardly something to talk about on an occasion like this. The doctor thanked Akama, welcomed the Freedom people, then turned and gestured to Sonic.

“People of Freedom, Attunga and Warrakan, I have a gift. It was given to my family but our Witness Council agrees it is too precious to keep to ourselves and asked us to share it with you today.”

He gave a nod and the front of the auditorium filled with a holo screen showing Elisa, the doctor's daughter, hanging on to Sonic's tail fluke while the rest of the family splashed and played. The laughter and happiness was completely infectious and smiles filled the auditorium till the moment when Raji received the gentle chest nudge. The life and joy of Raji's song filled the air and three Habitats listened and wondered.

***

“Is this your latest design?”

“Yes, do you reckon it looks good?”

“They all look good. What started you on this one? Is it for Edcom, or part of your Comet training?”

“Neither, I just felt like it.”

Ever since he was little Thom had been a spaceship enthusiast, talking about them, looking at pictures and theories from the old speculative fiction stories, drawing his own designs and representing them as 3D holos. During the last few years he'd become much more sophisticated and started building mockups which even included the different engineering systems a particular model would need.

“What's special about this one? Has it got your faster than light drives in it?”

Thom laughed.

“No, this one's real. I haven't been doing those for ages.”

“Real? How do you mean?”

“It would work if it was built because I've only used real-tech, like the stuff in the Comet.”

“It must be fast then?”

“It is, but not as fast as I want. I can't get big enough engines to suit its scale.”

“How big is it?”

The holo image didn't have any sort of reference to indicate size.

“Thirty-eight meters.”

“That's nothing like the Comet. It's tiny.”

“That's the whole point of this design. I'm trying to make it as small as I can and still do everything.”

Now it was Calen laughing. Wirrin was grinning too.

“You want small? You must be feeling sick.”

“Funny! Funny! Funny! Everything doesn't have to be big and fast. For your information it's a much harder challenge to design something small and fast.”

“Well it looks impressive but how fast is it?”

“Fifteen G. That seems to be the max for this size.”

“Wombats! I call that fast. It would feed space dust into a Cadre ship's mouth.”

Thom shook his head incredulously.

“Calen, you say make it 'eat' space dust, not feed it into its mouth.”

“Who cares? It's not like I'm calling Sonic a lump of fish in front of a billion people.”

Thom grimaced. He'd been copping it from Sonic ever since.

“How was I expected to know they were going to show our home stuff on the InterWeb. The doctor's going to get dumped in the pool next time he comes here.”

“So, how long would it take to build?”

Thom shook his head with feigned disgust and turned to Wirrin.

“Do you think he's being deliberately obtuse?”

Two sets of dropped jaws made him laugh.

“That worked well. Sonic used it on me the other day and I've been wanting to pass it on. ...Calen, I couldn't get it built. You know that. I'd need help from the AIs for a special design like this and I haven't worked out the environmental system and a few other things either. And anyway it would take fifty years to get enough energy allowance. I'm just...”

Thom broke off because of the holo shimmer next to him.

“The AI community is keen to help you with your project in any way and energy allocation is not an issue. I will discuss this further with you as part of your Comet training tomorrow.”

The air shimmered again and Wirrin and Calen both laughed at Thom's stunned expression.

“... Help me? What does that mean? ...With the environment system?”

“It means exactly what you think it means. They're happy to build your spaceship.”

“But they can't. No one has their own spaceship.”

“Yes they do. Sonic's got the Comet.”

“That's different. He needs it. No one gets their own spaceship. Not even Witnesses.”

“Well you will, else why would he say the energy allocation didn't matter?”

“Dingoes! That's right. ...But why? AIs don't do things like that.”

“They just did, and it's not just Pirramar either. He said it was the whole AI community.”

“Dingoes! He did too. That's even weirder. ...I wonder how long it will take? ...But they can't. I haven't worked it out properly yet. ...Why are they doing it? ...I'll have to work on the environmental system tonight. ...It's part of my Comet training. That's what Pirramar said. ...Dingoes!”

“Have you got dingoes on your brain? I reckon it's because you helped save the Freedom AIs.”

“That was Wirrin. Not me. I just did whatever he told me.”

They'd repeated this conversation over and over since the Freedom hijack and Wirrin wasn't going to take it up again.

“Calen's right. Ask Pirramar when you talk to him tomorrow. What's the problem with the environment system?”

It took a while to work out because Thom's excitement and rushing ideas kept distracting, but with help from the InfoSystem the problem disappeared.

***

“What's been happening with that new blanked out area on K74? Have we found out anything?”

Wirrin was taking a break after a hard InfoSystem session with Pirramar.

“Not a great deal. The Rogue makes regular visits, its separation has become stronger, and it's no longer expanding. My best inference from the materials and personnel being transferred there is some kind of research area.”

“The Rogue visits there?”

“Yes, regularly but not frequently.”

“Has he been to inspect any more of the ship construction sites?”

“Not a one. They have had more resources directed to them since his first visit though, and the finish times will be cut by approximately eleven per cent if they maintain this new production rate.”

Wirrin worked it out. Eleven percent still meant almost a year before the first of them was completed. Why they wanted so many was still a mystery. The plans they'd accessed at the construction sites didn't show much variation from the existing five ships so there were no clues there, and Thom's theory that the Cadre wanted to think of themselves as the most powerful space Habitat in the Solar System was as likely as anything else according to Pirramar.

“What do you think he's been doing lately?”

“Still working on his traps is the highest probability because they've been the major factor with everything he's been involved in so far. He's also been overseeing some significant improvements in the general Habitat Service systems.”

“How significant?”

“It varies but his initiatives have caused an overall efficiency improvement of almost three percent for the Habitat.”

“That doesn't sound like much.”

“Think again. He's managed that much despite the initial isolation after the death of the resident AI and the more significant and continuing isolation since the Freedom incident. Applied to a Habitat the size of K74 that amount of improvement is very notable.”

Of course it was and Wirrin wished he'd thought before he opened his mouth.

“What's happening with the people from the Cadre ships? Have there been any problems showing up?”

“Nothing unexpected. Thom's queries about security issues are quite unfounded.”

That was a further reminder that Pirramar took note of any reference to things about K74. The previous evening Thom had been talking about the 7000 people from the Cadre ships and pushing his idea that there must be a few among them with K74 ideas.

Wirrin didn't think there could be any worries because they'd all been through personality tests as part of the health checks. There'd been big variations from the Warrakan norms of course. With people from a Directed culture that was only to be expected. The hundred percent surveillance linked with the help of AIs to the health, security and other systems meant that anything unusual would be instantly noted as well.

“What are they all doing? Are they still happy with their decision or are some of them wanting to return to K74?”

“For another two months they'll all still be doing the EdCom courses designed to introduce them to Warrakan and its ways, but after that they'll make their own choices. Most of them have indicated they'll be doing whatever is required to complete the equivalent of our Basic Training.”

“Equivalent? Why don't they just do it all? Everyone else has to.”

“Most of them already have good skill sets, they wouldn't have been chosen for the Cadre ships otherwise, and it would be a waste of time and energy to make them relearn things they already know. Approximately one quarter are expressing their intention to continue with Second Level training and the rest will most likely take several years to settle.”

“They'll be sleepers?”

“Not quite. They are used to having their lives directed and this freedom and opportunity to make their own choices will take some time to get used to. None of them have said or indicated in any way that they'd like to return to K74 though and without exception they're astonished with Warrakan's conditions and services.”

And so they should be. Warrakan living spaces alone were nearly three times the allocation they'd had on K74, and with all the other services there was really no comparison.

“Do they mix with other Warrakan people very much?”

“That all happens through EdCom. They're watched closely and assisted through all their problems.”

“Problems? Why would they have problems?”

“Think of the adjustments you'd have to make if you suddenly found yourself living on K74.”

Wirrin got annoyed with himself again for not thinking before he spoke. Of course there would be problems for such a change.

“It's a pity they didn't know more about the Rogue.”

“Eleven of them did have brief personal contact through their positions, but he was way above them in their strict command hierarchy and they really knew nothing about him except that he was the person who could give orders to all the ships.”

“If K74 still had the embassies going it would be interesting to hear what they'd say to the ambassadors.”

“Yes, that would be very interesting but it's unlikely the Cadre will try their embassy tactics again.”

Wirrin was sure they wouldn't. The whole thing had backfired on them, with no real information of the kind they were seeking filtering through, and needing constant changes when staff started advocating Open Habitat ways they saw as being better for K74.

“What about other Habitats? Have they got embassies with any of them?”

“Only the Mars Polar Habitat now, and even that has a dubious existence because of contention between some of the Habitat leaders.”

“Some of them?”

“A significant, but important, minority of leaders want to follow the wishes of the AIs and isolate K74 because they don't like being the only Habitat to go against general AI advice. They're overruled by the majority and there are big arguments about it.”

That sounded very interesting. The only Habitat in the Solar System with an embassy for K74 and there were clashes. Akama's description of K74 as a pariah surfaced in Wirrin's mind.

“They're almost completely cut off. It must be awful.”

“Strangely enough the Directed nature of the culture insulates them. The general population have been led to believe the rest of the Solar System is unjustly against them and they accept that the slowdowns and changes come from outside and carry on with their normal lives. All Habitats are inherently self-sufficient though so their growth will definitely continue.”

“Their conditions won't change. Without new science and ideas they'll be stuck with their small living spaces and lower health standards.”

“They will change Wirrin. With twelve billion people and the resources of such a huge asteroid they'll develop in any area they wish. We saw last week what they've done with stealth technology.”

That had been one of the tasks for Wirrin's previous InfoSystem session with Pirramar. Since the incident where drones were vaporised, and particularly in the last few months since the Freedom hijacking, the Cadre had initiated a plethora of projects and Centers for research into stealth and detection and Pirramar was keeping a close eye on the progress being made. Thom nearly had a fit when he learnt that the Comet would eventually lose its ability to remain undetected but relaxed a bit when he found it was still two or three years away.

“I suppose so.... Do you think the Rogue will ever give up on making his traps?”

“Not until the Cadre directs him otherwise. They're the primary source of antipathy to non-human intelligence and while they maintain their power and control over K74 there won't be any fundamental change.”

“I wish we could get rid of them.”

“You sound like Thom.”

That made Wirrin smile.

“I know. It's just wishful thinking and I know we don't work that way. What's the current level of concern about the Rogue? Has it changed much?”

“Yes, a great deal, and for the better. The implication of direct threats to our existence in the Freedom traps resounded through the AI community and new safeguards have been developed.”

“Our inoculation program you mean?”

Wirrin, working with Pirramar, had so far built a database of fifty-three basic types of priority trap the Rogue might develop, as well as over six hundred combinations and variations, and distributed the matching inoculation programs to every AI in the Solar System.

“No, quite separate to that. We have physically isolated a core of our structure so that in the event of any general damage we can recover our basic personality and rebuild from there.”

“Like we did with Bakana?”

Bakana was the AI reconstituted after the death on K74.

“Somewhat. The protected core ensures our unique awareness and personality will continue, whereas Bakana is similar but not identical to his original.”

“Ensures? Does that mean you've already built the cores?”

“All AIs on Warrakan and Attunga have. The Freedom AIs are close but they've been rushing to complete other developments as well. The AIs on Earth are quickly adopting a similar approach and AIs in space habitats and other situations will also make upgrades within the next few months.

You need to know how this works, so let's have a look.”

This was closely related to Wirrin's work and he was interested anyway, but he was also curious as to why he would 'need' to know about it as well. Pirramar wouldn't say something he didn't mean.

Having a look turned into a full on three-hour session which left Wirrin pondering his close links with the AIs. For a start he learnt that the changes had been massive, with the AIs using energy at an order of magnitude greater level than usual with structural alterations and new physical configurations. The Gestalt AIs had designed things so they could instantly switch to a type of isolated mode if there was any hint of threat, and every individual had increased their size and capability with extra functions, one of which was a quarantine area similar to the one Wirrin used in his InfoSystem.

Pirramar used himself to show how he'd changed and Wirrin, feeling weird that he was exploring inside Pirramar, wondered if this was what the doctor felt like when he used scanners and diagnostic machines in a health check up.

Wirrin had ventured, with his InfoSystem, into the AI areas on Attunga and Warrakan on quite a number of occasions and been amazed and awed to see the banks upon banks of interconnecting electronics which housed the intellects of the AI's, but this was the first time he'd been guided to an overview of what the basic components were and how they fitted together. He really liked the idea that the AIs were using the Rogue's own isolation techniques for protection against him, but then was set back when Pirramar outlined the final steps to be taken if ever the AIs had to resort to using the protected cores.

***

“When did this happen and what does it mean? I was with you all day.”

'Yajala asked while you were helping Raji.'

It was their end of day get together and Calen had just found out that Sonic and Wirrin were now guardians for the AI community.

'It is a great honor to help the AIs.'

“It means we activate their protected cores if they ever get damaged by a Rogue trap.”

Calen and Thom stared.

“What's that supposed to mean? All the AIs have cores but I've never heard about specially protected ones. They're all protected.”

“Not like this. It's their new way to defend themselves against the Rogue. Pirramar explained it all to me and then took me to the activation centre so I'd know what to do. Sonic's going tomorrow so you'll probably go with him.”

“Dingoes! Was that meant to be an explanation? Tell us what's going on.”

'AIs must be safe and they have made big changes. Explain it to us Little Brother.'

Sonic rested his beak on Wirrin's shoulder then bumped against Calen and Thom with a little mannerism which meant he wanted physical contact. Wirrin smiled at the 'Little Brother' which Calen, Thom, and Sonic now sometimes used after Akama had made it a habit, and gave an overview of what he learnt from Pirramar. Thom was particularly agog by the time he finished.

“Wirrin, that's unbelievable. If you or Sonic couldn't get there they'd never wake up. It's too much responsibility.”

“Not really. The likelihood of it ever happening is almost non-existent. It's just a final back up against someone like the Rogue ever getting control over them.”

“I don't understand that. You've always said the AIs would go crazy if the Rogue tried to control them.”

“That's right, and this makes sure there's a way out if things ever get that bad. They won't though, because their new measures mean they're really hard to get at, especially with the quarantine barriers they can activate if they need to.”

“Well, if the quarantine thing's so good why do you need to work so hard at learning about Rogue traps?”

Wirrin nodded because Calen was right. He'd talked about it with Pirramar earlier in the day.

“It's still important because the Cadre will keep the him working on new traps and the AIs have to be able to recognise them and then know how to negate them. Otherwise they'd be stuck using quarantining all the time, and they'd hate that. It would slow down their interface with everything external.

Pirramar wants me to keep all the Rogue stuff as my main focus for at least another six months so I'm really good at it and then I can move on to learning how AIs work.”

“What?” “What?” 'What?'

The simultaneous exclamations made Wirrin smile.

“He thinks I might be good at it and the other AIs will help me in anyway they can, and it fits in perfectly with everything else I've learnt. I'll have a talk with Warragul but I know he'll say it's a great idea.”

“What would you be learning? You already know they're super-fast processors and special programs.”

“Thom, that's like saying the Comet's an engine with controls so what else is there to know about it.”

“Yes, I didn't mean it to sound like that. I just wondered what sort of stuff you might do?”

“It's pretty awesome. Pirramar said part of it would involve designing and building new AIs.”

“What?” “What?” 'What?'

After the laugh because they'd done it again Calen went on.

“You mean simulations don't you?”

Wirrin held his answer for a moment because he was enjoying the disbelieving expressions he was seeing. Even Sonic was showing amazement or incredulity with his body language.

“... For real. It would take ages to get to that stage because I'd have to know about Intelligent systems like Wanna and TransCom first, but Pirramar said it would definitely be something I'd need to do.”

“Real? And bring it to life? An AI that could talk to us and think like all the others? It must be possible if Pirramar told you but I've never heard of it. Was this all Pirramar's idea?”

“Of course it was. I never would have dreamed of it.”

“Wow! The AIs asking you to create new AIs. I bet it's something to do with you being their friend.”

“No it's not. He's finally turned into a total computer brain and the AIs have fallen in love with him.”

Calen gawped then whacked Thom and called him an idiot, while Sonic knocked his legs from under him and deluged him with water when he came spluttering to the surface.

“... Wirrin and Pirramar have got a thing going!”

Wirrin joined in the attack.

“... There will be little Wirrin AIs running round the place before long.”

The serious discussion descended into chaos and laughter.

***