Attunga - 31. Part 31.

ATTUNGA Part 31.

***

Engrossed and filled with sheer delight, Wirrin watched and listened as Puck's full dolphin pod surrounded him with movement and song. He knew this song from the InterWeb presentation which Miah and the Enhanced dolphins had made for the three Habitats, but on this occasion it seemed to be a kind of spontaneous outburst for his arrival at the Dolphinarium.

Calen had told him he wasn't visiting enough because of all his study, so Wirrin, in full agreement, had organised an extended drop-over in his transit from Attunga EdCom to his work at home with Pirramar.

When he'd donned his face mask and dived in there'd been the customary tumultuous calls of a pod greeting, the great swirls of recognition activity, the familiar companionable nudges from Sonic, and then, last to realise he was in the water with them, Calen and Raji arriving with welcoming smiles obvious behind their face masks. Moments later there'd been another bump from Sonic, a single call from somewhere indeterminate, and an instantaneous transition from friendly chaos to group action and sound.

Right now he was watching with amazement as Calen and Raji followed Sonic with that special style of apparently effortless swimming. Except for its appearance there was nothing effortless about it, as Wirrin well knew. He did keep trying to learn, with tiny flashes of success, but according to Calen he wouldn't improve till he got serious and spend much more time in the water with them. Calen, with all the strength and endurance he'd built up was pushing after five minutes, and his best effort was an exhausting fourteen minutes on one occasion when Sonic and Puck tested his limits. Raji never went for longer than the burst of thirty to forty seconds the doctor said was appropriate for his current stage of physical development. His ability in the water was quite extraordinary, though it should be with the amount of time he spent associating with the Enhanced dolphins. Every day according to Calen, sometimes with his father, sometimes with Miah's song and motion activities, and generally tagging along with whichever dolphins were near the Dolphinarium when he finished his EdCom work.

The dolphins disappeared and when Calen and Raji swam purposely to the surface Wirrin followed.

“Grab your skimmer. The whole pod's heading for their favorite sea-grass bed.”

That was nearly five kilometers down the reach and at dolphin cruising speed definitely required a skimmer.

***

“Why is Pirramar sending you with us this time?”

“I'm not really sure. Everything's been happening the way it's meant to as far as I know. I think he probably wants me to feel more directly involved.”

Wirrin and Thom were heading on one of the frequent trips with the Comet to help Quambi, the new AI on K74. Every three or four days for the last five weeks the Comet had made this trip with updated suppliers and resources, completely interrupting Thom's routine with the need for his stealth skills,.

The Attunga Gestalt had decided to build two extra sanctuary stations as a backup precaution against the unlikely event of detection or accidental Rogue discovery and because the Comet, with its resident AIs was the only ship capable of the job, it meant the crew had been extra busy.

Thom was very pleased and quite excited that at his suggestion a replacement Comet, specially designed with enough infrastructure for at least five AIs was under construction and would be completed in another eight weeks. Yajala and Turaku had been big supporters of his idea, wanting the Comet to be kept free for its primary purpose of looking after Sonic.

“Directly involved? You've been talking to Quambi ever since the first day when he said thank you. I think you must talk to more AIs that anyone on the Habitats.”

“Not me. That would be Sonic. He talks to AIs I've never even heard of. How long does it take to get to K74?”

“I've got it down to a fine art. Thirty-nine minutes from start to stop.”

“Thirty-nine? That's longer than I thought.”

“We're not on a priority call like the first time. It's just routine stuff we're doing today.”

“No it's not. It's the completion and final check-over of the third sanctuary station. It's a big deal because it makes Quambi completely self-sufficient.”

“It does? Is there something different about the third sanctuary then? I thought they were all copies of each other.”

“They are, except this one's got a small pico-factory as an extra so Quambi can build his own things and won't have to rely on the Comet.”

“He's pretty smart isn't he?”

“Pirramar says he is the most advanced single AI in the Solar System. He has to be because on top of looking after Quambi-K he's got super advanced monitoring and detection prevention abilities.”

“What's his latest thinking about the Rogue?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know everyone thinks the Rogue won't figure out he's there. but Quambi's been studying him much more than you and Pirramar do and he might have different ideas.”

“No, he's come to the same conclusion we did, except he's even more definite. He reckons the probability of being discovered is less than half a percent at the moment and getting better every day.”

“Better? With all the work the Rogue and the Cadre have got going with scanning and surveillance? You told me they're getting so good I won't be able to use stealth against them in another couple of years.”

“Quambi learns everything on K74 as soon as it gets into any of the systems that haven't been blocked, and that means he can work out the best ways to keep himself hidden.”

“Can he get into any of those blocked areas? I don't suppose so or you would've told us.”

“No, the Rogue's kept them as secure as ever, so we still can't hear any of the plans the Cadre makes. We know almost anything else about the Habitat though, because Quambi accesses it all through Quambi-K.”

“How come we never talk to Quambi-K? We talk to Quambi all the time.”

“Wake up Thom. Can you imagine the Rogue allowing his AI to talk to outsiders or other AIs?”

“No, I suppose not. Has he tried ordering Quambi-K to do things we don't like?”

“All the time, and often Quambi-K does them, but Quambi makes the decisions about that. I know he stopped Quambi-K when the Rogue tried to get him working on a new AI trap.”

“Stopped him? How do you stop an AI?”

“He didn't really, but when some of the habitat systems started going haywire the Rogue quickly changed the order.”

“That must make the Rogue and the Cadre angry.”

“Probably, but Quambi-K is so important to them now they'd never do anything serious against him.”

“Wow! Because he makes things work better?”

Wirrin gave a nod. In fact the improvement and increases in efficiency were quite astonishing, with an overall Habitat lift of nearly twenty percent. The big systems like organics, construction and transportation were particularly benefiting by having an AI in control and people throughout K74 were amazed at their reduced travel times, and in just the last week the quality of their food had shown a marked improvement.

“Yes, it's his strongest protection really. ...Thom, there are two Cadre ships dead ahead of us.”

“Don't take any notice. They haven't got a clue. So, how good is Quambi's pico-factory?”

“Hang on, I'm watching these ships. I know they can't see us but they still make me nervous.”

“I don't know why. Our Security AI can control them in an instant if we need to.”

Wirrin understood that, but all his previous encounters with Cadre ships had been fraught with drama and tension and he watched intently till both giant spaceships were behind them.

“... It's a basic pico-factory, but the gestalt has provided Quambi with all the information he needs to make it do anything our own pico-factories can do here on Warrakan or Attunga.”

The great mass of K74 appeared on the display screen, magnified because it was still at long range, and for the next ten minutes Wirrin checked the positions of various vessels in its vicinity while Thom manoeuvred the Comet to a position some forty-five kilometers from the surface.

“Don't we go any closer? You took us in to fifteen kilometers on the stealth exercise.”

“That was pushing the limits. We're here for much longer with the supply trips so it's better to play safe and keep well away from all those construction ferries. They mostly stay close to the asteroid but occasionally the faster moving ones come out to about twenty kilometers.”

Wirrin did a check with his InfoSystem.

“Why so many? I just counted fifty-four moving ones and hundred and fifty-six stationary.”

“Look where the stationary ones are. That'll tell you what they're for.”

“... I see. They're all at the construction sites for Cadre ships.”

“Yes, we'd call them mobile techbots. K74 doesn't know enough to have pico-tubes like we do and those things do most of the building. Zoom in on one of the sites and you'll see what I mean.”

Wirrin chose the nearest site then jumped when the image of a Cadre ship filled his display screen.

“Thom, that thing looks like it's finished.”

“Nearly. Quambi says in another seven weeks the first ten start their flight trials and three months later the next twenty.”

Three of the mobile techbots could be clearly seen doing something on the hull of the giant ship. That didn't tally with the number he expected so Wirrin accessed the Comet's scanners. Yes, there were four more units out of range of the visuals and many more inside. Dozens of them. No they weren't. The signatures were similar but the sizes varied.

“I've just scanned fifty-four smaller versions of them working inside.”

“That'll be about six of the outside ones. They split into smaller units once they're inside and reassemble when they move to the next ship.”

A holo shimmer started and Wirrin lost all interest in the techbots. For the time being at any rate.

“Welcome Wirrin. I am honored you are here to share in the completion of my independence project. Thom has been part of my lifeline for the five weeks since you made my existence possible and I'm delighted you are both here.”

Whoo! So this was why Pirramar had been so keen on him being here.

Wirrin thought he was the one being honored rather than the other way round. He responded and then spoke with Quambi for the next hour after Thom sent off the final supply module.

When the last components were installed and the all important diagnostic check finished, there were smiles all around and a formal thank you from Quambi before the Comet started its return journey.

Both Thom and Wirrin were quiet for awhile, thinking of Quambi's burdens and his isolation from other AIs.

***

“The Witness Council was shocked and it even seemed like the AIs were taken by surprise.”

Thom and Wirrin were staring in disbelief as they listened to Calen's account of Sonic's approach to the Council.

They'd both had normal days till mid-afternoon when they received messages to meet at the Dolphinarium. Wondering about the interruption to their routine, they arrived to find Calen agog with excitement and raving that the Habitats were moving to Titania.

“Titania! That's crazy! What are you talking about? What for? What's happened?”

“Sonic told them they should and they said yes.”

Wirrin, as bewildered as Thom, also felt like asking a million questions but he knew he had to calm things down.

“Calen, we believe you, I think, but take us through its steadily so we know what's going on. This all happened today?”

Calen laughed.

“Of course you believe me, well Thom mightn't, but he'll find out soon enough. It was totally exciting. The whole Council was shocked and I've never heard Sonic sound so forceful. Once he got started they were practically spellbound and when the AI's said there wasn't enough evidence Sonic straight out disagreed with them.”

Wirrin and Thom looked at each other, gave a nod then pounced and wrestled Calen to the floor. When Wirrin sat on his stomach and Thom pinned his arms behind his head he didn't resist, which was just as well because he was way stronger than either of them.

“What?”

“Slow down. Start at the beginning. If it's so amazing we don't want to to miss out on anything.”

Calen laughed again with an expression that said Wirrin would be sat on sometime later.

“All right! All right!

When I got to the Dolphinarium this morning the place was in an uproar because Sonic had surprised everyone by calling for an urgent meeting of the full Witness Council and representatives of the AI Gestalt. Akama was there by holo and when I went over Sonic was saying it was about the Cadre and insisting the AIs and as many Witnesses as possible should be present to help with an important decision.”

Wirrin tensed and felt his own level of excitement build.

“The Cadre? Have they done something?”

“Not in particular. I had to wait nearly two hours before I heard exactly what Sonic had to say. He wouldn't even tell me, just that his worries about them have been building.”

“Since his talks with the Cadre ship refugees?”

“Yes. You know how he's been spending more and more of his time researching the Cadre on his InfoSystem? Well this morning he had another session and something convinced him we could be in a serious situation. He didn't even talk it over with Pirramar, just suddenly contacted Akama and got everything going.”

“Serious? Like danger? Should I be heading for the Comet?”

“No Thom. Not that kind of serious. At any rate, they set up the big auditorium for a meeting and Witnesses started arriving almost straight away. I was in the viewing gallery with Sonic the whole time while we waited for them to get there. Puck and Flute turned up, then eventually all the other pod leaders and they grouped around him till the meeting started. Some of them had to come from nearly thirty kilometers down the reach and they'd been swimming hard to get there.”

“Were they talking to Sonic?”

“Hardly at all. He was different to usual and I could tell he was preoccupied with working out what he was going to say and getting himself ready so I stayed quiet too. It felt like the right thing to do.”

Wirrin had an image in his mind of Calen and all the pod leaders surrounding Sonic with their support. He'd have a look at that later because it sounded special.

“Was he nervous?”

“Concentrating. You know how he really focuses on things sometimes. Hundreds of Witnesses arrived together from one of the Attunga ferries, and not long after that Akama arrived from another ferry with even more and the auditorium came alive.”

“Ferries? They should have got the Comet to do a special job like that.”

“They couldn't. You were away on one of your training flights.”

“Um! Yes, I suppose.”

“Anyway, Witnesses kept arriving and when it was time to start the AIs appeared and Akama announced that the dolphins had called the meeting and Sonic was going to speak for them.”

“The dolphins called it? Not just Sonic?”

“That surprised me too in a way because I hadn't heard them talking but they were sure supporting him. That was completely obvious. Sonic moved close to the glass then didn't do anything for a while except look out at everyone. The whole auditorium went totally silent while they waited for him and then he said straight out that the Habitats were in danger and should be moved. He explained how he'd been studying the Cadre and believed they'd become an implacable foe and would never give up trying to get back at us after all the defeats we've given them. Then he said that moving out of their sphere of influence would be a wise first step.”

“Sphere of influence? Exactly what does that mean?”

“He talked about it a bit and it sounded like it meant we're so close to K74 that the Cadre can't help thinking we'll always be trouble for them.”

Wirrin certainly agreed with Sonic's logic on that point.

“Did he say what sort of trouble he was expecting?”

“That was the main thing that kept being asked when Akama opened the meeting for questions, but before that Sonic explained why the Cadre was so powerful on K74 and how the wider population there would do whatever they were told. He learnt a lot of that from his talks with the Cadre ship refugees. The Witnesses did already know, I'm sure, but the way Sonic described it really showed why there's so much difference to our open ways. It was scary.”

Without warning, Calen suddenly galvanised into action and toppled Thom who was holding his arms, and pushed Wirrin sideways. Two seconds later Wirrin was squawking with the reversal of roles as Calen bounced on his stomach.

“And Sonic didn't say what the trouble would be. The questions about it kept coming from different approaches and every time he said he didn't know what form it would take but everything we know about the Cadre tells us they'll keep trying to impose their will.”

Once again Wirrin could only agree.

“Did the AIs ask any questions?”

“Not a single one. They didn't really have to because every question you could imagine came from the Witnesses. They did surprise everyone then though, when Akama asked for their opinion and they straight off said they supported Sonic completely. The whole auditorium went silent again because suddenly the situation was AIs and dolphins being certain and humans not. Even Akama was surprised. You could hear it in his voice when he asked if there was any reason why the Gestalt had suddenly changed their view on a matter which had previously had a low priority.”

“Wow! That means they must have already talked about moving and thought there was no need.”

Wirrin was more amazed that Akama had shown surprise. No, not really. He'd probably done it on purpose to highlight the AI's answer.

Calen didn't say anything and Wirrin laughed and followed the dramatic lead.

“Well, go on. Tell us what the AIs said.

“It was pretty amazing. They said Sonic was far more able to understand the Cadre than they were and his insight was a factor which couldn't be ignored.”

“And I bet Akama gave a big nod of agreement?”

Calen gave Wirrin a startled look.

“How did you know that? He nodded to the AIs then gestured to Sonic and nodded again.”

Thom stuck a knuckle in the back of Wirrin's neck.

“Brainiac! That's what. Except I'm meant to say solution brain.”

Wirrin quickly focused back on the meeting.

“And the Witnesses made up their minds fairly quickly I suppose?”

“They just acted like it was a done deal. When a Witness said we should go somewhere on the asteroid belt at least a light hour away I thought there was going to be a lot of discussion about where to go but the Gestalt AI representative said Titania provided the optimal potential and that was that.”

“Optimal potential! That sounds good. No wonder they all agreed.”

“Everything's out there Thom. The five moon Habitats and the Titania space one with its AIs, and all the resources we could ever need. Where else would they tell us to go?”

“We won't have asteroids close by and we use them all the time.”

“We'll still use them. They'll just take longer to arrive.”

“Hey! Did they say when this is going to happen?”

“As soon as possible. In eight months time.”

“What? That's not soon. That's ages.”

“Not really. Warrakan needs two more of its big engines installed and Attunga is still working on its shell. There are other hold-ups too but those are the main ones.”

“Did Sonic say anything about the eight months?”

“Nothing. That was all information from the AIs and he just listened, the same as everyone else.”

“What else happened?”

“Nothing much. Akama finished off by thanking Sonic and everyone else. The usual meeting stuff and. ...Oh, I know. There was a bit where I thought you should have been there.”

“Me?”

“Yes, there were questions about whether the Cadre was being watched closely enough and you and Pirramar know more about them than anyone. Akama just said that was all being taken care of.”

“I know about the Rogue, not the Cadre. That's Pirramar. He knows everything. And Sonic too.”

“Where's Sonic now? You should be with him.”

“I was, but he went to talk to the doctor about the dolphins in reach twenty-four while I arranged to get you here and let you know what's been happening.”

“Well, if you can stop squishing we'll go and see what he has to say.”

***

“What will happen to Quambi when we move to Titania? He's already isolated by the seven second time lag and that will change to two and a half hours. It feels like we're abandoning him.”

Wirrin and Pirramar were talking before their session start.

“Some suitable asteroids were moved into position last night and construction of three new mobile AI habitats has already started. One of them will join the companion ship and be permanently stationed close to K74 as soon as we can get it there.”

The companion ship Pirramar was referencing was the now completed standard Comet type Thom had pushed for to help Quambi, and till now the only ship apart from the Comet with resident AIs.

A holo sprang into view showing the Warrakan ship construction area with pico-tube connections to two asteroids in a split screen with a mock-up view of a completed ship and a basic specification list.

With a quick thank you to Pirramar for understanding that he'd want to know what a mobile AI habitat was, Wirrin started checking. The most striking feature was the mock-up, which at first glance looked identical to Thom's ship. It wasn't. A closer look showed it wasn't as slim and from the size of the entry portals it had to be much bigger. Wirrin referenced the size in the specs. One hundred and ninety-four meters in length. Way bigger, nearly two thirds the size of the Comet. He read more.

“Does Thom know about this?”

“Not yet. He's still on his way to the Flight Centre for a session with the simulator.”

Wirrin directed a copy of the holo to Thom with an attention message.

“He's going to be excited. Why do they look so much like his ship? Is that on purpose?”

“Thom's ship is state of the art and its best features have been adopted for the larger size and different purpose, along with all the expertise we've developed in making Quambi independent.”

“Oh my! He'll be changing his plans when he sees this. Has it been set up on the simulators?”

“Now that you've asked it has, though he'll find it somewhat difficult as it's been designed primarily for AI control.”

Wirrin grinned. That wouldn't hold Thom back for long. Getting control of a new type of ship nearly as fast as his own would be a motivation he couldn't resist.

“What about the other two ships?”

“They will be available for general activities connected with our three Habitats.”

“How many AIs will be on them? I didn't see that in the specifications.”

“That's variable. Initially there will be three on the companion ships and two on the others but the design allows for up to five.”

Wirrin talked some more about the new ships then listened to an outline of other changes resulting from yesterday's meeting. His attention was slightly off though, as the days activity was about to start and that was very much on his mind because his activities and exercises with Pirramar for the last few weeks had been leading up to it. Thom had dubbed it their fight week as they both had to pit their skills in full on battle. For Thom it was simulated combat testing his tiny ship against one or more Cadre ships in active attack mode.

For Wirrin it was an exercise marking the scaling back of his studies about the Rogue and priority traps from almost full-time to roughly a third of that, and he had four sessions this week where his task was to disable Pirramar with priority traps or any other means he could devise.

“... And it will mean bringing in extra asteroids to build a docking bay so Warrakan can accommodate the extra ships when we change to travel mode.”

“Sorry Pirramar. My mind started rushing. I'll zap it later.”

“Challenge nerves? I see you have a slightly elevated heart rate and increased cranial blood-flow. As Thom would say, the only thing you need to worry about is coping with the disappointment when your efforts fail.”

***

“It was a disaster. They blew me up twice, so tomorrow I'm trying different calibration factors for the multi-spectrum beam controls. The AIs cheated and made the Cadre ship do things the K74 crews would never think of. What about you?”

“Better than I expected. Pirramar activated his quarantine zone at one stage and I didn't think I'd be able to force that until tomorrow.”

“How many priority traps did you throw at him?”

“Twenty-three, but he hardly even noticed. It was a triple combination that made him use the quarantine zone.”

“Why don't you just hit him with every single trap you know at the same time?”

“Because it's too obvious. He's ready for it.”

“How can you possibly get to him when when he already knows every trap you've ever worked on?”

That was Calen.

“I've got lots of secret methods I've worked out but I can't tell you because he's listening.”

“How can you have secrets when he's got access to everything you do on your InfoSystem?”

“They're in my head. He can't see what I'm thinking.”

***

“How did you go today?”

“Much better. They damaged my ship but they couldn't blow it up.”

“Me too. I forced Pirramar into quarantine twice this afternoon.”

***

Thom's eyes were wide at Wirrin's news.

“You killed Pirramar? I thought that wasn't meant to be possible with those inner cores the AIs all built?”

“It's not. I hit him with something that wasn't even a priority trap. It's only because I've been working with him all this time that I could figure it out.”

“I bet he wasn't happy about that?”

“He was shocked but he loved it. He's really pleased because it will never work again and we're going to have a rematch roughly every six weeks.”

“Huh? Why so long? You see him every single day except activity days.”

“With my Rogue work dropping back to about a third he reckons that will be about right. So, how did you finish up?”

Thom was looking very pleased and confident so Wirrin knew it was a good report.

“When it's one Cadre ship I can blow it to pieces or disable it or whatever I want. If it's two I can defend myself for a while, but any more than that and I have to run or I'm space dust.”

“Your tiny little forty-three meters against those seven hundred meter monsters? That's incredible Thom!”

“It is good. It's my combination of manoeuvrability, stealth and multi-spectrum beam abilities that lets me do it. The Cadre ships haven't got any of those.”

Thom might be proud of the capabilities of his special ship, but his own capabilities would have been the biggest factor in his success.

***