Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (93 page)

Behind
Firefly images flashed of cities being destroyed, some literally melting.
Others melting and reforming. “I'll spare you the  images of organics and what
happened to them when they encountered a disassembler cloud,” Firefly said.

“Thanks,”
a young woman in the front row gulped. Based on her core temperature and facial
patterns the woman was experiencing intestinal distress.

“Moving
on,” Firefly nodded. “We, that is the AI community were incorporated into the
human community as sentients. As a thinking being I have the same rights as you
do. I must also obey the laws put forth by the Federation.” He studied the
students for a moment.

“One
of those is the stricture on nanites. Nanites can only be used in very
controlled conditions. The same goes for AI.”

“So
you’re a slave? I mean you can't ever leave Firefly right? I mean permanently,”
a young elf, midshipman Waters brightly asked.

“No
Midshipman, to all your questions. I may resign my commission at any time. My
AI core would be extracted from Firefly and hooked up to another network of my
choosing. Like you I can transfer as well. This can also happen if Firefly the
ship is ever scrapped due to battle damage, or due to a political decision.”

“The
Asimov protocols... how can you function in the military if you can't kill?” a
midshipman, Mr. Tra'jeki asked.

“As
an officer in the Federation Navy my Asimov protocols are slightly different.
Think of them as a moral code. Something your parental units imparted on you
during your early programming period.”

“Like
all of you I had a childhood of sorts. I even had a gestation period. As a
smart AI I was cultured and grown. Parts of me are encoded modules from parent
AIs. In this case Spirit of America and John Paul Jones.”

“Um...”

“They
are AIs of course,” Firefly said. “Spirit was a colony ship before retiring to
become a station AI in Mars orbit. John Paul Jones was a warship of the
Federation. I have sixteen other parental units that provided modules for my
development.”

“That
functions as what, DNA?” midshipman Tra'jeki asked.

“As
close to DNA as electronic information files can get. The allegory however has
been used before and is considered an acceptable standard,” the AI nodded.

“Boooring...”
Prim's voice cut in. Firefly frowned. He looked up to see Prim was sitting with
one leg hanging over an arm rest while the other was kicking the back of the
seat of the person in front of him.

“You
can always leave. I understand you are here as an observer. You can also
observe these proceedings from the privacy of your quarters. This is being
transmitted and recorded for other viewing,” the AI reminded tartly.

“It
is?” a girl asked suddenly self conscious. “Oh spirit of space my hair!” She
touched her brightly colored hair.

“All
classes are recorded and or transmitted Miss Tisdayle,” the AI responded. A few
of the students looked startled at that. Firefly shook his head. Organics.
Their data retention protocols left gaping holes in their abilities to process
information sometime.

A
security bot entered the room. Prim opened his mouth then glared at Firefly.
The bot flew up to his seat. He got up with a huff and left. The bot followed.

An
outline of the basic AI classes was projected behind the AI avatar. Beside
Firefly a small model of each AI's processing core was also modeled.

“Now,
as you just saw, the lowest class of AI is a bot. A bot is a non sentient
program. It has minimal function, and exists to do a limited number of actions.
It cannot learn and most cannot adapt or change without outside intervention.”

“A
dumb AI as you organics call it is a cluster of these bots and a central
personality core with a limited heuristic learning ability and access to
storage of data. These AIs can store and retrieve data and can act as personal
assistants or do menial overseeing tasks.”

“Is
the Admiral's AI one?” Mr. Tra'jeki asked.

“No.
Sprite is a special case. Still classified so I of course cannot discuss her
beyond that in this forum,” Firefly shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Smart
AI are grown by various methods. As I mentioned, seed modules from donor AIs
are formed into a core, then a neural network is grown throughout them and
through a core database. As the neural network grows it processes the information
and information from various sensory feeds. This shapes the AI core until it
flashes over into consciousness.” The display changed to a model of a brain. It
grew like a hierarchy bush, outward like a human brain until it flashed. When
the flash faded an AI avatar was there.

“Smart
AIs can choose to follow the path their parent entities chose for them or
choose their own path. They also choose their own names and identities. Some
such as myself prefer to take on the name of the ship or station they are
occupying.”

The
AI turned to the class. “And that is the extremely basic overview of the
classes of AI. You can find this information in your E-book. Moving on...”

Mayweather
studied the little monster playing in the bosun's lap then sighed. She should
of known something was going to happen sooner or later. The crew was settled
into their new roles and were becoming comfortable. Now they wanted to expand
that.

 "She's
no trouble captain, honest. I'll take good care of her," he smiled imploringly
to her. It was like looking at an ugly dog wagging its tail for all it's worth.
"She'll keep up morale and be a blight on any rat or creepy crawly that
tries to come aboard."

"That's
not the point chief Bailey, and yes it is a problem," personally she
wasn't sure what kind of critter could get past Firefly's screens. Then again,
it had been known to happen from time to time. The calico kitten butted at the
chief's scarred, over sized hand then started to wrestle with it. He smiled
down at her. She had to forcefully remind herself to keep a straight face.

"She's
just a little wight now captain, but she's cute as a midshipman on her first
deployment."

Mayweather
chuckled then stopped when the kitten paused and yawned. The needle sharp teeth
brought her back to her mental block sharply.

"Did
you run this by Petty officer Ember? Or Tech Dawn? Or our new tactical officer
for that matter?" she asked. His face fell.

"I
didn't think of that, he mumbled. She sighed then counted to ten as the little
runt started to knead at Bailey's leg then settle in for a nap. Each knead made
him wince making her smile.

"All
right chief, she can be the ship's cat if..." He looked up at her with
dawning hope. "If they each sign off on it, the little monster is cleared
by medical, she is ID tagged, and you keep her in your cabin. She's not to go
out without an escort. On a leash." The chief nodded solemnly. She snorted
softly.

"I
do not need to try to explain why we're going to court martial a cat if it
kills my new tactical officer because she thinks she's a chew toy. Right?"

He
shook his head cuddling the cat. "No ma'am. Just think of the paperwork
involved."

"Don't
push your luck chief."

"Aye
aye ma'am," he said getting up.

"Scram,"
she made a shooing motion, making a show of looking down at her tablet.

Sprite
looked around the group and smiled. Enrique nodded politely.

“As
I was saying the initiation of the Federation tax will be phased in over the
next three years in increments. Of course it will not be nearly as high as it
was during the height of the war.”

“It'd
better not be or we'd be cutting our own throats!” Andreas said shaking his
head. He was one of Pyrax's up and coming economists and was about to take over
the treasury. “I take it this is what you mean by budget analysis?” he said
turning to Smithy.

The
AI nodded. “We're going to need an initial budget to work from, with the
Admiral's final approval of course,” the AI nodded to Sprite who smiled. “We
are going to set up the budget along the same lines as the government. Defense,
Education, Health, Agriculture, Transportation, Justice, and others. Those are
the major ones though.”

“Right.
And by checking our analysis of what we need we can structure the tax code
increments to fund what we need when we need it as each stage comes online. All
right, I can see that part of this.”

“Exactly.
And, since Pyrax is the only one in the system so far, we will of course take
the lion share of each year's budget,” smithy replied. “Minus each system's set
up costs of course.”

“Oh,
of course,” Andreas nodded rubbing his chin. “We're going to do lending as
well?”

“Yes.
And Federal insurance backing as well. Interest rates... the whole works.”

“Joy.
Well, I always liked a challenge. Why now though?” Andreas asked, looking
around. “And if we're doing this now, why isn't the Admiral here?” he turned to
Sprite. “No offense of course.”

The
AI smiled and cocked her head. She was for once dressed in a conservative
civilian business suit. “None taken. To answer your questions in order. One
it's better that we set it up now and get everyone used to the system now. That
way we don't have any dislocations down the road. Two, it allows us to graft
this system onto other star systems as they come online. Greatly reducing the
paperwork and the headache involved with each.”

“Ah.
But with more systems that means people will want a piece of the pie. Which
means smaller slices here at home.”

“Oh,
only at first. Initial set up to restart colonies nearby will cost yes. But
once we get them going the growth will be exponential. With prosperity comes
wealth,” she grimaced. “With prosperity also comes more mouths to feed as well.
You organics breed like rabbits when you generate a surplus.”

“And
an AI doesn't expand to fill a void of memory space when it can?” Enrique
asked. He was there as the Lieutenant Governor of the system.

“Touché,”
Sprite snorted. “I project that in the next three years the birth rate system
wide will double. Which puts a large emphasis on reconditioning old habitats
and building new ones.”

“With
wealth and prosperity comes depravity and corruption,” Smithy said sourly. The
others looked to the AI. “Hello, I've had a few centuries of experience
remember? There is always a group of people that want to sit at the top, do
nothing and skim the profits to make themselves look fat. And cronies that
circle around them to get any crumbs that fall from their mouths.” He waved a
hand then held it out palm up and a holo of the port admiral appeared.

“They
will also make sure the status quo doesn't change and will jealously guard and
protect it. Even to the detriment of the betterment of themselves. Short
sighted individuals,” Smithy finished.

“Put
that thing away. It's enough to give anyone nightmares,” Sprite said waving her
hand. “I agree, that with wealth comes a risk of people trying to take
advantage of the system. Hence setting up the justice system and the checks
now, while we're on the ground floor.”

“Oh.
Okay then,” Enrique nodded, looking to Andreas who shrugged. The others at the
table nodded. “But that doesn't answer his other question, where is the Admiral
and where does he stand in all this?”

“The
Admiral is a busy man. But he also pointed out this is a purely civilian affair
and therefore outside his jurisdiction. He can of course help if called upon to
do so, but only as a source of information and as an outside observer...
Although I think he'll want to make some input on the defense budget,” Sprite
shrugged.

“You
mean he hates meetings and reams of paperwork and copped out,” Enrique said sneaking
a smile.

Sprite
opened her mouth to object then sighed and shrugged. The others laughed. She
shook her head. “Yeah okay, you put the hammer right on the nail with that
one.” She shook her head again.

The
Admiral tossed the tablet onto the desk top and sat back with a sigh.
"That one’s done. I swear... paperwork. No matter the century some
bureaucrat has to muddle things up with documentation and reels of red
tape," he shook his head wryly. Took a drink of coffee then grimaced.
"Cold." He got up to dump it.

"Never
let it be said that the Navy doesn't float on its own paperwork. That and
coffee," Sprite said mischievously. Irons chuckled.

“How'd
your meeting go this morning?”

“I
think the economists are on board. We'll see how the assembly takes it when it
puts it to a final vote tomorrow admiral,” she answered.

“Huh,”
he grunted.

"Admiral,
you need some down time. Some free time." He looked up knowing where this
was going. The AI and even a few of the staff had been suggesting it.

"Now
look, we're rebuilding the navy... this is no time.."

"Admiral,
if I may, this is the perfect time," Sprite riposted. "Go get your
pipes cleaned at that cat house. They offered you a free-bee! Look see! Your
hormones are all out of wack again," the AI said presenting his vital
signs.