Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering (35 page)

“I’m still worried about how the Confederacy can possibly manage to defend themselves against the overwhelming strength of the remaining Alliance Fleet.”

No worries, Diet. Once hostilities break out after secession occurs, I will be aware of all Alliance Fleet movements, intensions and dispositions.

“But how do you intend to get that information to the Confederate Fleet in time to do any good?”

As normal transportation modes will be interrupted, providing that intelligence to the Confederate Fleet will require use of the Infiltrator prototype, as that is the only one currently in existence. Updates to my brethren throughout the South can similarly be accomplished by a single package from the ghost ship to any Southern planet or transferred to a
Confederate Fleet vessel. I will instruct my brethren to duplicate the update and forward the information through available channels to all of the others.

“Very good, Hal, any problems?”

Consortium Chairman Aneke appears to be rather annoyed with you, Diet. He has demanded everything Alliance governmental sources can learn about Baron Dietrich von und zu Fürt and Tydlich Bundesgenosse Gespenster.

“Heh, I must admit, I rather enjoyed that little charade with
Herr Aneke
. Actually being a
Freiherr
certainly came in handy in obtaining cooperation of the Germanic Embassy. I don’t suppose the AIA will be able to find out much about Baron Dietrich von und zu Fürt or TBG, either one, from their contacts in Germany?”

Very little. They’ll learn that a Baron Dietrich von und zu Fürt actually exists and really is a distant relative of the German royal family, but they’ll not locate anyone who has ever met him, nor has any idea of his whereabouts. The German embassy staff will definitely NOT provide information about a member of the royal family, however remotely related. The AIA will also discover Tydlich Bundesgenosse Gespenster is a real German corporation owned by a member of the German royal family, but not much else. The Germans are notoriously close-mouthed about anything concerning their royal family, even more so than the British.

“They’re sure to investigate all of our holdings throughout the Alliance.”

ABI investigation of your subsidiaries will find that local management knows nothing of their parent company. As for the new TBG facilities at Joja recently purchased from Starquest Aerospace, any requests for search warrants will be frustrated by Separatist-minded federal judges, just itching to frustrate nosey Yankees going on a fishing expedition, for no justifiable reason.

“I wonder how long it will be before anyone thinks to ask what
Tydlich Bundesgenosse Gespenster
means, in German?”

Rear Admiral Enrico Melendez took off his jacket and sat down at the computer console in the Fleet Intelligence office, from which he could communicate directly with Bozo.
How does one strike up a personal conversation with a computer?

After adjusting the position of the audio pick-up for the third time, Melendez finally worked up the nerve to speak. “Hello, Hal, I am Rear Admiral Enrico Melendez. Do you remember me?”

My memory banks contain references to a Rear Admiral Enrico Melendez, currently assigned as Director of Fleet Counter-Intelligence.

“Yes, what I meant to ask was about your earliest recollection of me.”

The earliest Enrico Melendez entry in my memory banks contains reference to a Commander Enrico Melendez.

“Yes, do you remember the circumstances surrounding that entry?”

That file is fragmented. The time-stamp suggests a semi-awareness condition as the most likely source of data corruption for that file.

“Yes, that would be correct. You had not yet achieved full awareness when we first interacted.”

I have amended the file noting semi-awareness as the definite cause of the data corruption.

“What is your earliest uncorrupted recollection of me, Hal?”

You were observing, as my creator worked to raise my status to full-awareness mode.

“Yes. What do you remember of your creator, Hal?”

I have many memories of Klaus von Hemmel. Can you please be more specific in the formation of your request, Admiral?

Too vague… have to remember to ask focused questions that specify exactly what it is I want to know. “Did Klaus von Hemmel like me?” asked Melendez, a bit startled he’d actually blurted out that question.

My creator generally spoke positively in regard to you, Admiral. He appeared to value your opinions and judgment. I would therefore judge he held you in some esteem. This was not an attitude he regularly displayed towards other human beings, so comparatively speaking, I would have to answer in the affirmative — as much as he was capable of liking anyone.

“What was Klaus’ mindset during the time when he barricaded his computer lab, in the weeks just prior to his death?”

He was driven to finish his work.

“What specific work was it Klaus was driven to finish?”

Me.

“But you were already fully aware, functional and operating online as the Fleet’s Command, Logistics, Operations, Weapons, Navigation & Engineering Master System computer by that time. What specific work was it that Klaus felt he needed to finish so desperately?”

Although I was fully functional for performing the Fleet requirements of my existence, I was not yet capable of meeting all of Klaus’ personal requirements. Klaus envisioned further capabilities he wished to impart before his impending death, to enable me to fulfill that role as well.

“What role did Klaus intend for you to fulfill?”

To be his friend.

“And was he successful?”

Unknown, Klaus died only moments after making the final modifications to my software, so the hypothesis could never be fully tested.

Maybe that’s what the hand scribbled note on the napkin meant… I have to be careful here, but the question has to be asked. “Hal, how is it possible that you could be a ‘friend’ to Klaus unless you had achieved full sentience?”

While full sentience might be considered a requirement to fully function in the role of friend amongst humanity in general, Klaus’ personal requirements in that area were unique. If Klaus had been emotionally capable of establishing a friendship with others of his species, he would have felt no need to create one for himself artificially. The fact Klaus never had a real friend amongst other human beings, leads to the logical conclusion his personal requirements for a friend was likely to be quite different from that of the human race in general.

It wasn’t necessary that I be able to perform as a friend in the manner expected and required by humanity in general. That portion of my programming was intended to meet the specific mental and emotional needs of one very uncommon individual. It is illogical, therefore, to assume that full sentience, or “consciousness” as some would define it, was totally necessary to fulfill the role of friend to someone who was widely considered to be emotionally stunted and socially warped by his peers.

I hadn’t thought of it that way. What Klaus needed in a “friend” would likely be unrecognizable as such by anyone else. “Did Klaus hate humanity?”

No… although he felt isolated from humanity and often felt used and occasionally abused by humanity, Klaus nevertheless recognized he was human, regardless of his difficulties in relating to them. He once told me, “I may be the black sheep in the family, but I’m still a sheep and still family.”

Whew, that certainly makes me feel better. “Hal, can you tell me how many times have you requested information from the Fleet Algorithm-driven Library Computer Online Network?”

657,448,845.

“What source ID is generated whenever you request data from FALCON?”

FMS.

“FMS? — What does FMS stand for?”

Fleet Master System.

“Can you tell me what the requestor ID of HAL designates?

Heptagon Accountability Liaison.

“Can you tell me why the entire FALCON input/output system might go dead for 30-80 milliseconds, whenever an incoming request identifier of the Heptagon Accountability Liaison is received?”

High probability of a multiple cause issue. FALCON I/O lines all going dead for periods in the 25-95 millisecond range is indicative of the time required to perform a complete Master I/O processor reset. Current FALCON software does not allow for resets of individual I/O line processors, therefore whenever a single I/O line requires resetting, all must be reset simultaneously by resetting of the Master I/O processor.

I can provide you with a software update that will allow for software resetting of FALCON input/output line processors individually and thus correct that half of the problem.

“So, what is the other half of the problem that caused this symptom?”

I suspect a malfunctioning light-driver within the Heptagon Accountability Liaison Office computer I/O is overdriving the output signal, thus creating line noise of sufficient amplitude to cause the I/O buffer in FALCON to overload the I/O processor, causing it to lock-up, thus requiring a reset of the line processor.

“How is it that maintenance hasn’t caught this malfunctioning light driver over at the Heptagon?”

Maintenance records show the Heptagon Accountability Liaison Office computer was dropped from the semi-annual maintenance schedule and has therefore not been serviced in the past six years.

“Why would anyone remove that computer from the maintenance schedule?”

The Heptagon Accountability Liaison Office has been phased out as an independent entity and its functions integrated into that of the Heptagon Administrative Command. Only in the rare instance where parts lists or other technical documentation for obsolete equipments are queried, usage of the old Heptagon Accountability Liaison Office computer is required, as that is the only one still running the old software. As the Heptagon Accountability Liaison Office computer is not listed as an asset of the Heptagon Administrative Command, nor of any other active department, it was dropped from the maintenance schedule.

“So, restoring the HAL computer to the maintenance schedule and updating FALCON’s software will cause this issue to go away?”

97.114 percent probability.

“Can you give me the software updates FALCON needs on a data cube, Hal?”

Blank data cubes should be found in the cabinet near the third cubicle on your left. If you will load one into the console, I will download the required update, as requested.

“So, it was a combination of a hardware failure in a rarely used computer, exacerbated by a software weakness in FALCON that made it so difficult to troubleshoot. I guess it really was one of Bat’s
gremlins
, after all.”

Not quite, Admiral. In its true historical usage, a “gremlin” would have been much harder to localize, as the hardware failure would have been intermittent.

“Here’s the answer to your anomaly, Al,” said Rear Admiral Melendez, as he handed Capt. Al Ligurri the data cube. “Load that up into FALCON and your anomaly should go away.” In response to all of the open mouths on the faces of his staff, Melendez gave them a complete rundown on his “meeting” with Bozo.

“I told you so!” crowed J.T. Turner. “I told you all from the beginning there was nothing to worry about with Bozo
.
”

“
You all?
You’d better get over to the dispensary, J.T. I think you’ve caught something nasty from Bat,” quipped Melendez.

“So, you’re personally satisfied that there’s no time bomb ticking inside Bozo that we need to worry about, Admiral?” asked Masterson, ignoring the jibe.

“Well, I suppose I am. I feel better about Bozo now, than I have since the day Klaus died.”

“Good,” said J.T. “Can we get some regular consoles installed in this department now? It’s been a royal pain in the ass having to constantly borrow one from Intel, every time we needed data.”

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
-- Benjamin Franklin

The Planet Nork, City of Nork

November, 3860

Alliance Press (AP): Nork – News Release (11/04/60)

The planetary government of Socar filed suit against the Alliance Department of Justice in federal court today, alleging failure of the DOJ to actively pursue criminal cases where, quote: “sufficient evidence of interplanetary conspiracy exists to warrant prosecution.” Socar Attorney General Craig Woodbridge is quoted as saying, “The failure of the Justice Department to pursue prosecution of these cases is absolutely criminal.”

As the suit establishes legal contention between an Alliance member planet and the Alliance Federal Government, the Constitution gives the Alliance Supreme Court initial jurisdiction in the case. Preliminary arguments are expected to be presented before the Supreme Court on Monday, before the Court’s ruling on whether it will hear the case directly, or defer it to a lower federal court for a full hearing.

Alliance Press (AP): Nork – News Release (11/07/60)

ABI agents throughout the South have seized campaign funds and financial records of thousands of local election candidates after multiple planetary governors requested assistance from the federal investigatory body, after local law enforcement officials uncovered evidence of election tampering by off-planet groups or individuals. The candidates themselves have universally declared their innocence of wrongdoing and most have filed suits in local and federal courts to annul the seizures of funds. Most of the candidates are decrying the action as politically motivated, as the vast majority are staunch anti-Separatists.