Chapter 5: February 7th, 2349

Two days would pass for Ericson. He had downloaded all the data to Minerva’s memory core. Every cent of information except for a few things that he felt were not recommended for her, was excluded. Minerva was given the intelligence of some of the greatest scholars that anyone could ever achieve. He had the next thing that he needed to do, however, and it was the most important step for her. It would have to wait, however...

Ericson was walking straight ahead inside the nearby ring. Getting from ring to ring was annoying but necessary. It required having to leave the ring, go to the next one, and then enter that ring. It was the only way for the crews to operate inside the ship. Not all places could be held inside one ring, and it was a regular thing for crews to have to sometimes move from ring to ring to take care of certain things.

“Ugh...” he remarked as he walked down the hallway. Walking in the rotating ring was just like the other one. Rooms were lined on his left and right. Doors and compartments of various operations seemed to be the highlight of Ericson’s trip. The ring was just like the other one, but it had different rooms inside them. He passed the door that was marked for officer’s quarters. He remembered that there were only about four officers on the ship. The rest were enlisted military personnel, with the others being civilian workers.

“I admit ... I don’t normally go to this ring,” Ericson commented to himself. There is not much here besides the command staff and other nonessential equipment rooms. There was a bridge on the ring to help back up the other bridges in case of a disaster. He remembered that the Magellan Class Battleships that form the backbone of the UHN would have a large ring. The single ring would still create issues of crowding, though. The Tyson having two rings had not only the extra room but less crew at the same time. The good news was that regardless, there was plenty of space in the ship. The ring he was inside with could be easily swapped over to the other one in case it suffered severe damage.

The passageway was seemingly simple but effective in getting to the place he needed to reach. Finally, he reached the door. The Captain’s stateroom door had the emblem that depicted the UHN Tyson planted on the sliding door. The emblem showed the research ship flying vertically upwards. It almost left a cartoonish flame trail to the rear end of the ship. Ericson was seemingly unimpressed, but he knew that every ship had its own emblem to it. He waved his hand near the touchpad and pressed his thumb to it.

He waited for a couple of seconds when he heard the captain say, “enter.” The door slid open, and Ericson walked into the Captain’s stateroom. The inside of the room was not really much different than what he had for quarters. It was a square room that connected to a bedroom and a toilet but nothing more. The main room that he entered consisted of a mounted furnished desk and chair. There was a red carpet that lined near the desk. A glory shot of the Tyson taken from a shuttle’s camera as the Tyson flew through space was hanging on the wall. There was a fine comfortable, mounted red vinyl chair next to the desk. There was a series of displays on the sidewalls that showed the activity of the ship itself. One showed a blue screen with various systems lit green. Another screen showed the internal layout of the ship. One display showed the news. The other displays showed outside the ship itself. Ericson noticed that the channel for the news was on mute.

The same emblem of the ship was painted on the large desk where the captain sat. The Captain was typical for a man that descended from Vietnam. He had black hair, cut down in size. He wore a blue and red uniform that showed his captain’s insignia. Despite how important he looked, Ericson knew that he was a captain of an insignificant ship almost in the middle of nowhere. His dress seemed to reflect this. Despite how well the uniform looked, it didn’t seem as prim and proper than past officers he had seen. Captain Nguyen’s face had a slightly darker skin tone, and he had the features of a man that was born from Southeast Asia back on Earth.

“There you are...” Nguyen greeted him in a slightly annoyed tone. His voice had a slight Chinese accent to it, similar to some Martian dialects.

“Hello, Captain,” Ericson greeted him in the same tone. “Why do you need me here?” He stood by the table as the door closed behind him. Nguyen’s hands rested on the table. His finger would jab the vinyl occasionally as he spoke to him.

“Doctor Ericson,” Nguyen explained. “I have gotten word of your progress so far with the Minerva Project. I need another update on what is going on.”

“I gave you an update a few days ago. Minerva is currently running. Her system is running at about 90% capacity. I plan on installing her emotional subroutines today.”

“So you managed to get that AI up and running finally? Hmmm...”

“It wasn’t easy if that is what you are asking. There hasn’t been an attempt at this for over hundreds of years. Even the AIs used in the companion bots can never come to this construct. I managed to install all the memory data into her.”

“Her?” the captain questioned him.

“Yes, Minerva has a female voice and is named after a goddess. I figured that it would be fitting if it were a female, so to speak.”

The captain pointed his finger at him. “They allowed an advanced AI to be constructed on this ship. You decided to wait till now before installing the emotional subroutines?”

“Captain...” Ericson said, growing more annoyed. “My goal is to make sure that Minerva is functioning properly before I start giving additional abilities to her. Giving her emotions before having the system fully up can make her unstable.”

“She is capable of that right now!” he exclaimed in an accusatory manner.

“We have been through this,” Ericson explained. “I was assigned to this ship to experiment with creating an advanced AI. It is my goal for this to go into full fruition.”

“Much against my wishes...” The captain said with an aggravated sigh.

“And I know that you are now annoyed with it because you expected me to fail at this,” Ericson said, crossing his arms. “Now that I have her functioning, you stand against it.”

“What do you expect, Doctor? You know what an AI of ... her magnitude will bring to us. Robots, androids, AIs of her capability will betray the human race. It is an inevitable process. They will see us as inferior and try to eliminate us in turn.”

“It never happened,” Ericson waved his hand. “The only actions the human race has committed to trying to create advanced AIs and robotics resulted in us turning on them. We were the ones that attacked them.”

“For good reason ... I have voiced my opinions to my Chain of Command, but they ignore me. Instead, I have had to sit here and wait for someone to make one right under my own roof eventually.”

“It is better to have it under careful conditions than have someone develop one in a special hidden lab in the middle of a heavily populated city. I understand the risks that I partake in this creation.”

“And that’s so? What safety precautions have you made to ensure Minerva doesn’t turn on the human race?”

“I have given the list to you in the past before,” Ericson snapped at him. “Go and read it yourself!”

The captain seemed to lean forward on his desk and looked at him. He didn’t display any anger but instead gave him a snide look. “Enlighten me...”

Ericson knew that the captain really didn’t give much of a damn about his work until now. Nguyen had been against his project but had said virtually little against him. He expected him to fail and never bothered to voice much against it, but now with her functioning, it put him in skeptical and fearful mode. He had no choice but to indulge the captain’s wishes.

“First thing is first, Minerva operates in an enclosed environment. She doesn’t have access to the UWAN or any external equipment beyond what is outside the lab. She is encased in that room and inside a quantum computer.”

“Continue... , “ he replied to him.

“Second is that I designed Minerva from a previous AI used in companion bots. You know? ... the ones everyone likes to go and fuck?”

“Your point is?”

“She is not designed for violence.”

“That is what they all say. Before you know it, they will turn on us and try to take control. Leave Minerva alone long enough, and she will gain control of the ship. She will vent us all into space.”

“And what would that gain for her?” he countered. “The ship can’t fix itself, and she would be isolated.”

“I don’t know! I know that she will somehow try to overpower us and then try to dominate the human race.”

“She won’t do it. Besides ... I also anticipated the worst of the worst possibilities. I was given orders by UWA Research to have a failsafe subroutine installed into Minerva. If Minerva was to go rouge, I could activate the subroutine. Her program is not designed to identify it, and it cannot be erased from her system. She cannot erase it if she somehow finds it. If she turns on us, then the subroutine will create a cascade error in her system. It will completely decompile her system and shut her down entirely. Only I and the chairman of the UWA have the code as well.”

“I should have this code as well...”

“No. Too many people having access to it will only prevent her from reaching her potential.”

Nguyen seemed to be annoyed with hearing everything, but he seemed to calm down a little bit. The failsafe code to shut down Minerva was the thing that seemed to convince him a little bit even if he didn’t fully show it.

“Chairman Aniruddha is a fool for carrying out on this whole idea...” he turned to look at the display on the news. He seemed to come to a realization as he calmed down even more. “I hate to say this, but your creation of Minerva is at a bad time. I am angry because I know what I am going to face if the media or public gets the full word of Minerva. Anger, paranoia, and fear are all over the news when it comes to the Itreans. For all we know, the Itreans are amassing a fleet to bear down on Mars or Cebravis anytime now. We could see a fleet of warships come to this very system. This ship is not even capable of repelling one of those battleships that assaulted Eutera.”

“I doubt that they will come to Jupiter,” Ericson told him. “There is nothing really here. We have a colony on Titan and the UHN Michio Kaku at Enceladus, but that is all at Saturn. Hell, they won’t even bother to send us to Ganymede.”

“Titan’s position is important to us. It was designed to serve a reserve base in case Mars gets attacked. Its location is perfect for hiding old warships, but I am afraid you are right. Humanity wants to find other worlds and study other phenomena. I am afraid that the UWA will know more about other systems than the system it came from. My point is Doctor that the public is very nervous towards anything. I would recommend not telling anyone about this project. I am very much against it, and if Minerva poses any threat to the crew of this ship, then I will do something about it. I don’t care if I am under orders, I will safeguard my crew and staff. That is my responsibility.”

At least on that part, Ericson nodded his head in agreement. “I understand.”

“This mission of yours is still declared a secret operation. I will keep my mouth shut as I am ordered, but I will be watching the media. The people are scared right now. We might have lost a brand new colony and one of our smallest ones, but it is still a loss. We are fighting an enemy that we have virtually no known information, which causes fear as a result. The fleets are on wide alert. While the public is more scared with an alien invasion if they find out that there is an advanced AI in development...” Nguyen paused as his eyes widened. “You think I will be an asshole ... everyone will turn on the administration, they will declare you an enemy of the UWA.”

“I don’t think they will turn on me...” Ericson tried to defend himself.

Nguyen simply replied by leaning back on his chair. He folded up his arms and gave him a blank stare.

“But ... I imagine it won’t be good,” he finished his sentence.

“Alright...” Nguyen said. He tried to recompose himself. “I will go ahead and pass your status reports to research. I don’t need any more from you.”

Ericson said no more as he decided to leave. He was left with a continuous reminder that he was basically on his own. Nguyen instead watched as the door slid closed. His eyes instead watched the news feed from his display. He pulled out a tablet from his desk and resumed his work for the day.

Ericson walked into the computer lab. The face of Minerva seemed to respond to him the moment he walked in. The door slid closed as the eyes focused on the black box that Ericson held with him. Several hours had passed since the meeting with the captain. What had happened hours ago, had seemed like a regular passing moment for the doctor.

“Welcome back, Doctor Ericson,” Minerva said in a neutral tone.

“I finally got it operating,” Ericson commented as he walked up next to the quantum computer. He set the box next to it and plugged in the black box to the main computer itself.

“I do not understand Ericson,” Minerva replied.

“I have a gift for you. It is the gift that all humans have... , or it is a curse depending on how the day goes.”

Ericson walked up to the center table and activated his arm display from his left arm. He used his right hand to interface the quantum computer and the small box he brought inside. He was monitoring the data stream going on between the two devices. He seemed satisfied with the connection.

“I can answer your question, Minerva, by doing this... , “ he said as he pressed the button that displayed in front of him. His eyes immediately went to the waterfall of subroutines on display. It accumulated a considerable sum of data. The waterfall began to move faster and faster. Finally, it looked exactly as it was intended. It was like watching water itself.

He turned to look at the face of Minerva. He deactivated the arm display as he focused his eyes on the AI in front of him.

“Status?” Ericson asked her.

“I have... , “ she said with a pause. “I have received new data. The transfer was successful ... new algorithms and subroutines have been added and activated...”

This was the first time that Ericson had seen her react in this way. It was a good sign to him but one that he had not fully expected to see. Minerva’s face was no longer focused on him. She would look away from him as if she was interpreting everything. It was almost as if she was completely different now.

“Status?” Ericson asked again.

“I am ... experiencing new events ... I am unable to explain.”

“I gave you what you needed the most. I gave you emotions. Good, bad, and all. You are just like any red-blooded human out there.”

Minerva seemed to gather some control of herself. She displayed something that made Ericson smile a little bit. Minerva was showing a look of confusion on her face.

“I am experiencing many events going on with my system. I do not detect any errors. I feel ... I feel...”

“It’s alright, Minerva,” Ericson stepped forward to the digital face. “I imagined this one would be the next difficult step for you. You are experiencing emotions. I gave you essentially a personality for you to figure out.”

Minerva’s face seemed more alive than it ever was. No longer was it restricted by a simple program. She was trying to figure herself out.

“I am experiencing ... confusion,” she stated as she tried to answer him. “I am trying to figure out why you gave me emotions.”

“For simple reason. You are more than some basic AI. You are designed to surpass all the AIs out there. It hasn’t been easy, but we are getting very close to getting you fully complete. Having emotions is important. It will allow you to interact with others even more easily than you have been in the last couple of days.”

“I am still experiencing some confusion ... I am experiencing something else though ... I am unable to understand it fully.”

“Explain to me.”

“It is ... I feel understanding. I feel ... like your words make sense and don’t make sense.”

Ericson simply chuckled a little bit. “It’s alright. You are essentially capable of processing the true essence of your environment.”

“Doctor, I do not understand why I am experiencing all of these ... emotions. I need more data to understand.”

“You have a personality. It is your goal to figure this out.”

“Why is it important for me to ... figure it out?” she asked as her digital eyebrow lifted. “These emotions feel ... distracting.”

“You have nothing but raw data. You might have all the downloaded memory banks of the human race, but in the end, not having emotions will never make you human. It’s what’s separates us from a ship or this table.”

Minerva reacted by focusing her eyes at him. She seemed to gaze at him. “Are you saying that I am alive?”

The question took Ericson a little bit off guard. Even though he expected her to ask this question eventually, even he almost didn’t have an answer for her. Instead, he simply answered with his gut.

“I can’t fully answer that question. However, I feel that if you are capable of asking that question, then you are more likely alive than anything else.”

Minerva, for the first time, seemed to look around her surroundings. She looked back at him, and Ericson could see for the first time a small smile develop on her face.

“That is a good sign,” he told her.

“I do not understand this feeling fully. A part of my system feels different ... I can see things differently.”

“I am happy to see you like this.”

“You are happy to see me display this face?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he exclaimed.

“Why do you feel that way?”

“It’s been my goal to see and talk to somebody that can talk back to me in return.”

“There are currently 39 other individuals on this ship, not including the less than ten billion humans that exist throughout the galaxy. Why not just talk with them?”

“You are ... different.”

“Explain to me.”

“I wanted to make an advanced AI since I was eighteen. It was my dream and desires to make somebody like you.”

“You stated that you wanted to make another human. Why not rely on simple human reproduction to create another human being?”

Ericson chuckled a little bit. “Nah ... trust me, I tried. It simply didn’t work out.”

“Do you lack the necessary abilities to reproduce?”

“No it isn’t that ... far from it. My situation is that by creating an AI like you, I would gain notoriety for my actions.”

“It is my understanding according to the historical data that I have downloaded, including what you told me, that humans do not favor those that are like me. Your notoriety would suffer building somebody like me.”

“I would be infamous yes... , “ he said as he sighed. “But ... I would still be famous for creating you. Ever since I was young, I wanted to achieve a goal of something that not everyone could do. I programmed computers for a living. Yes ... I have even seen the companion bots and knew that their programming could be enhanced further. You would be capable of doing so much more than just be a program in a box. For example...”

Ericson went and lifted his left arm. He activated the display, and he began to interface the large display that showed the steady waterfall next to him. He slid his finger as the left display changed into a scene of Jupiter and Europa. Minerva’s eyes went to the display. He then tapped his finger on a series of buttons that showed up.

The overhead speakers began to make a steady hum. The ambient sound filled the room. The tone would shift in different degrees, but it would remain constant. It sounded like an electronic hum similar to a person blowing into a horn. Occasionally the hum would alternate around. There would a slight ring far in the distance of the overall sound. The ring would reach a certain harmonic resonance as it would come and go. Behind the hum would also be the sound of hissing wave. The ambient sound was somewhat hypnotic, but it kept going.