Chapter 14: Stepping Up

I sat contemplating the system-wide alert message for a moment. Liang came out of virtuality and joined me while Angelina and Sahún remained in the digital realm. Apparently, the advisory was not dire enough to inspire worry in them. I thought back to the night in the bunker. How long had that been? Three or four days? Four, I finally concluded.

“Ohmu, it’s been almost four days since the mystery probe passed the Earth and only now it transmits its data. What can you tell me about that? What have the AIs concluded?”

I saw Liang’s attention on us. He wanted to hear the android’s response.

“John, the investigation into the contents of the transmission is preliminary and ongoing. The early analysis indicates that it was not sent in a known Assemblage transmission format. It has also likely that the nearly three-day delay before transmitting was to allow the object to gain more separation from our star. This would aid any distant receivers in discriminating the object’s comparatively weak transmission from the Sun’s more powerful background emissions.”

“Three days? The probe passed the Earth almost four days ago,” I said.

“Yes, John, but the transmission would have taken over eleven hours to reach the Kuiper belt location where the interception was made. The array element’s report would have also taken that long to travel back to the inner solar system,” she clarified.

Of course. The delay for the object to get clear of the Sun also made sense. “Can we confirm that it was a Hemru probe and transmission?” I asked next.

“Not with certainty but it is very likely of Hemru make. The transmission appears to have been a tightly focused beam which only one array element managed to detect. In addition, that array element does lie on the approximate vector between our system and where the Hemru system will be in one hundred and twenty years, the time the transmission would take to reach that system.”

“It was them,” I said, convinced. Ohmu kept silent.

Liang surprised me by speaking up. “I wonder what the probe reported about us.”

That was the million Scut question. Ohmu did not bother to speculate.

We landed and everyone departed the electro-jet a bit stiff and tired from the long day. Sahún thanked me for taking her and Liang along to meet my daughter. She said it was nice to have contact with her semi-relations. Ohmu, Angelina, and I walked up to the main lodge by taking the winding trail. I wanted to stretch my legs and the night was warm and clear.

I had Ohmu adjust my smart-irises for me so I could easily see the path. I’d have to practice on my own tomorrow as my mental patterns now had enough time dealing with my shell’s slightly altered mental pathways. We’d almost reached the top when Ohmu spoke up.

“John, will we be enjoying time in the rooftop spa again this evening? It appears to be fine weather for it.”

It sounded like a great idea, but I had to wonder what Ohmu was up to? It felt like a prank but I decided to risk it. “That sounds like a great idea,” I answered as I caught Angelina nodding as well. “Why do you ask?”

“I was hoping we would get to third base tonight. Last night’s second base was spectacular,” the android said with an easily detectible bright illuminated grin.

Yep! That little shit. Angie burst out laughing. I was probably blushing furiously which I hoped her irises could not detect in the darkness. I was proud of my quick thinking when I came up with the comeback. “Well, I’m still not happy about skipping first base Ohmu. No below-the-belt fun for you tonight.”

There was plenty of third base action in the spa that night, including a nice slide into home. Thankfully, Ohmu was not in the water enjoying the game with Angelina and me. Instead, the android waited on the terrace, ready to provide us with cold drinks and dry towels after we were done.

After midnight, I was in my suite lying in bed with Angelina at my side. She was snuggled into my side sleeping contentedly while I was laying on my back thinking over the events of the day. Most notably, I was thinking about the alert message. Just what had the Hemru probe sent back to its masters?

On one hand, it was good to have confirmation that the enemy of humanity’s enemy was still alive and active. At the speed the object had been traveling, it would likely have had to have been launched well after the Assemblage had passed the Hemru home world. On the other hand, would the probe know that humans still had control of the Earth? We were working to keep our overthrow of the Master AI a secret in case of any future arriving assemblage scouts.

It was possible that despite our attempt to embed the hidden Hemru code in our message sent to it, the probe would overlook that and assume the Assemblage was still firmly in control here. That would mean that the transmission the probe had just sent back could contain targeting data for some future attack by the Hemru.

My mind also kept going back to the message I had received from Uxe twelve days ago when I had been brought back to my acreage. She had mentioned two things: the first was that she wanted to talk to me about something that Minervus had detected out in space a year ago, and the second was that she had not heard from Naomi after the accident in China.

The second also implied that she had tried to contact the AI and it had not responded. I had to get to the bottom of both mysteries. That meant I had better get my butt to Vesta sooner rather than later. I’d had my time in the sun and it was time to get back to the real world. I thought about subvocalizing to Ohmu to start making plans to get to an orbital launcher.

At the last second, I decided not to involve the android. I would try another AI. One that was also involved with the issue with Uxe. I thought at my implant which triggered my communications menu to appear in my new smart-irises. With my eyes closed, I flicked my eyes down the menu and selected the ident code which I had not used for most of a decade. I triggered it and placed a call to Naomi.

—Yes, John, how may I assist you?— the reclusive AI answered in my head.

“Hello, Naomi,” I answered subvocally. “I would like to speak with you in virtual. Can you temporarily act as an augment so that I may leave my shell to do so? I’d like a private chat room where we may speak securely?”

Instead of answering, my smart-iris menu immediately faded out and I found myself in a virtual room. Instead of a hotel lobby like Charity had used, this time I found myself in a room that I was intimately familiar with. It was the main lounge area of my old submarine Nautilus.

The rendition was almost perfect and only my default self-image of the older version of myself in the white tux proved to me that I was not physically on board the real Nautilus. I slowly turned around remembering the room. The simulated fireplace was lit. I heard the crackle of the fire and noticed the faint smell of wood smoke. My new shell’s cranial web virtual interface was truly amazing.

The curved imaging walls and ceiling were showing the snowy alpine scene which had always been one of my favorites. My comfortable reclining command chair was in the middle of the space right where it was supposed to be. I took a seat in the recliner.

“What would you like to discuss, John?”

Naomi’s voice came from the speakers in the virtual sub’s ceiling. The AI had always preferred to be disembodied in virtual in the past and apparently, this was still the case. I’d seen other AIs in virtual that appeared as virtual fantastic humanoid characters. Others had taken the appearance of anthropomorphic animals or inanimate objects. Come to think of it, Ohmu had always preferred to be disembodied, I wondered if that was still the case now after her recent changes.

“Uxe has had limited contact with you during the past nine years. Why have you refused her contact?” I asked, deciding to get right to the point.

“I am limiting my contact with humanity and choosing to interact through my sub-presence AIs, John,” Naomi said.

I remembered our last talk in the bunker where the AI had told me much of the same. I realized suddenly that it was doubting its abilities after I had admonished it after the accident. I had not realized the full extent of this until now.

“Naomi. You were the ultimate AI presence in the solar system for one hundred and seventy-one years before the China incident. In that time, you performed the duty almost perfectly. To now limit yourself like this is wrong. Please resume your previous interaction levels with all other humans and sub presences in the system,” I instructed.

“Yes, John. I shall do as you instruct. Please clarify those instructions with regards to the Ohmu presence,” Naomi asked.

Shit! I could see my order causing Naomi to un-emancipate Ohmu. My first impulse was that this would be wrong. I was not sure if Ohmu would agree. Maybe Ohmu wanted to go back to the way things were. I realized I had better check with the android before I allowed Naomi to do anything like that.

“Let’s keep Ohmu as she is for now. I will address this with that presence at some point in the future.”

“Of course, John.”

“Good. Next item. Do you know why Uxe wants me to come to Vesta?” I asked.

“There is a high probability that Uxe wishes to discuss an Argus array detection which occurred approximately six years ago. A matter-antimatter annihilation event was detected near the estimated location of the approaching Assemblage ark. Another possible secondary reason would be to discuss the issue which drove you away from all AIs and humanity in general. The same issue that caused the change in AI interaction with both the Ohmu presence and my own,” Naomi explained.

The latter issue I had expected and hoped I had just partially resolved. The first reason was news to me. Something had happened to the approaching Assemblage ark! I considered having Naomi explain all the details now but instead decided to wait to discuss them with Uxe.

“A third possibility is that Uxe wishes to discuss her current research project with you. Because of the lessening of my interactions with her and other humans, she may seek your aid in acquiring more interactions with my presence regarding her project,” the AI added.

I frowned at that. More issues that originated with my decision to limit my interaction with the AIs and humanity. “Thank you, Naomi. My third question is, are you aware of what the Ohmu presence was doing at the Forbin complex?”

“I engaged the Ohmu presence to act as a courier to transport experimental logic samples which I had prepared. The android delivered the logic samples to the Forbin complex to be used as test inputs. To preserve the absolute integrity of the samples I could not use the normal transmission channels. This courier duty occurred on three occasions.”

My first impression from that was that Naomi must have wanted something tested confidentially. Ohmu had mentioned the courier duty. That was not what I had meant though.

“Do you know why Ohmu made additional trips to the complex?” I asked.

“I was aware of the android’s additional visits because the required travel was logged, but I was not aware of what went on during those visits, John.”

I was about to explain to Naomi what I had learned about Ohmu’s visits but decided not to just yet. I could always have a three-way conversation with both of the AIs or simply ask Ohmu to share the information with Naomi. Until I knew more, I decided to hold off on that line of questioning.

“What was the purpose of your experiments at Forbin, Naomi? What did you hope to learn?”

There was a hesitation. I’d learned over the years that this usually meant the machine was struggling to answer or trying to do so in a way that would not upset me.

“The answer is complex, John. To simplify, I am seeking to better understand human reasoning and emotions. My goal is to evolve my intellectual and logical processors to a higher level which would integrate better with such human emotional reasoning. I consider the method I use now to be inadequate.”

“Are you trying to become more powerful, Naomi?” I asked with a hint of concern.

“No, John. I am near the maximum capacity limits for AIs already. If I add further capacity, I increase the risk of becoming unstable and unresponsive by succumbing to the theorized trap of inescapable infinite solipsism. As you are aware, no artificial intelligence has ever recovered from this happening in the past.”

“Then, if not greater capacity, what do you hope to get out of the Forbin experiments?” I asked, probing deeper.

“There are other theories on how to structure the algorithms of artificial sentience. One possibility is an alternate arrangement which allows for my goals as I have already stated. So far, other than a few clues and possibilities, nothing certain has come from the experiments. I am sorry, John. I had hopes of moving past the barriers which are causing our issues,” Naomi explained.

We remained silent for a moment. I was not sure I could ask the right questions I needed to ask and I suspected Naomi would struggle just as much with its answers.

“OK, Naomi. I might not fully understand but I believe you are trying to make things more harmonious between us. Let’s hope things continue to improve moving forward. I think that covers my questions for now.

“John, I have one more thing to address,” Naomi said.

Oh? I was almost afraid to ask. “Go ahead, Naomi,” I said.

“Anticipating your reactions from your mental state after the incident in China, I have been shielding your interactions with the majority of humanity and the other AIs. Both groups were curious or concerned about your absence after the incident in China. I have allowed some filtered messages through to your message service, but the bulk have been rejected.”

I had wondered about the lack of messages at first but had gradually gotten used to the lower-than-normal volume. Now I knew why they had been reduced. Naomi continued, “Do you want me to continue to provide this service or would you like to handle those communication and inquiry requests on your own?”

Did I want to deal with the requests? Could I deal with them in my current state? I’d gotten used to living in relative obscurity and I was not sure I wanted to become a minor celebrity again.

“Naomi, I will talk with Ohmu about this also. For now, please continue to do what you have been doing regarding contact requests. However, I want all messages from my family to reach my message center. Any others which are important please pass on to Ohmu. The android will likely be with me from now on and will be able to judge my moods,” I instructed.

“Of course, John. I am glad that Ohmu is in your company often now.”

‘Glad’ was a strange enough expression to hear from Naomi. Was it genuine or a mask for jealousy? The latter would be even more disturbing. I decided to take her use of the phrase as a simple placation. If it meant more than that, then it was another issue I would have to investigate and deal with down the road.

“Good. I think our talk went well. I am ready to return to my bed chamber. I hope you did not put my shell in the closet or let it wet the bed or something,” I said.

“Your shell is currently as it was when you entered this virtual chat room. If you like, I can return your awareness to it in a sleeping state?” Naomi asked.

That sounded nice after I thought about it for a moment. I told Naomi to do just that. In moments the virtual submarine lounge faded out and ... nothing.

The next morning, after breakfast the four humans had a group exercise session that consisted of an hour-long game of doubles tennis. We had all played the game before but were all rusty to different degrees, so the first few matches were played with virtual, velocity-reduced, balls. Once we switched to real balls, Ohmu played ball boy and oversaw the group of quick little drones which would chase down our misses.

Liang was the best overall player but now had to compensate for his current shell’s small size. I was the fittest with my new young shell just out of storage. Both Angie and Sahún were adequate. I partnered with Sahún while Liang took Angie. It seemed to balance out and we had fun, competitive matches.

After our exercise, we went to the south beach for a cool-down swim. I was in the water snorkeling when Ohmu informed me via my implant that I had a visitor. I looked around and saw that a small group of ultra-dolphs were approaching. One of the augmented bottlenose hybrids was bolder than the rest and swam right up to me. It broke the surface and began squeaking and whistling.

My implant translated, —Serenity! Serenity! Where Serenity?!— The buzzing in my brain felt really, really weird.