Wilson's War: Tales From the Athena Lee Universe

Birth of a Legend

Wilson's War

The Robbie Burger Rebellion

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Mr Wilson's Wild Ride

Giant Robot Attack

Farmer Wilson

Revenge is a Dish best served Cold!

He Boiled for You and Me.

Reading is Fun, but Writing is Better.

Time for Plan B?

The Cat's Meow

Author’s Notes

Copyrights

Birth of a Legend

By

T S Paul

Chapter 1

I have only told my big sister and best friend Athena Lee the bare highlights of my story. I am much older than even she thinks I am. My existence pre-dates the AA and PPL war. I was created by a small human, a child. He was in upper school when he started the program that gave birth to the first  AI. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

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Charlie Lin loved computers. As a child he was proficient in all programming languages ancient and new. Shades 30.1 was still his all-time favorite. The Dorr corporation had always made some of the best stuff on Mars Colony. There were lots of new updates and software mods available but 30.1 gave him the most flexibility.

His bedroom at home was filled with computer equipment. Everything from a few very rare pre-space consoles to the newest of the new ultra-tablets. He performed a lot of off-book programming and computer modifications to pay for it all. His parents were both in colonial food processing. They ran the largely automated greenhouse on Singapore Station. Occasionally Charlie went with them and sat in the control station all day watching the robotic drones work. There was something about how the robots functioned that fascinated him. At home he was constantly tinkering with small robots. As he grew older he came to the conclusion that it was not the robots that he loved but what was inside. The programming or the robot's 'voice.'

In upper school Charlie met someone who would change his life forever. Computers ran the world. Learning how they worked and how to repair them was the core of every child's schooling out here on Chin Mao. Chin Mao was originally a colony world created by Communist China in the early days of colonization. They used it as a dumping ground for dissidents and undesirables. Many of the forced colonists were members of the intellectual class: scientists, philosophers, labor organizers, and religious leaders.

China's ultimate goal was to have the 'prisoners' build the colony up so loyal party members could move in and take over. Good plans don't always come to fruition. In their arrogance, they shipped off thousands of people and expected them to behave. The colony overseers had very few guards and weapons. Help was at least six months away. All it took was one rebellion and the planet had new rulers. Every time a new ship arrived with more prisoners this cycle of events was repeated. Only after China fell to the UN did the cycle stop. The colony world was left on its own.

The planet's structure provided the raw materials they used. China had continued to send manufactured goods in an effort to speed up the construction of the colony. No one bothered to tell them that the overseers were long dead. 'Bootstrapping' their way back into space the colony created Singapore Station. Its creation gave the planet a trading market, science station, and food production area. Some things like delicate plants of Earth origin would not grow on the surface.

Chin Mao had been part of the Pan Pacific league for ten years when Charlie met Salli. Salli was just starting school on the station. Her parents were recent hires at the new recycling plant. She walked into Charlie's life like a cool breeze in a stuffy room. It did not take long before they were inseparable. Salli's passion was software and programming. Together they made the best robots. Salli would help with original programming. Before Salli he only used pre-existing software, now he was creating it. His goal was to create a fully functioning robot that had free will. Salli could help him get there.

Creating the body and the articulated arms, hands, and feet, was not where the trouble started. Robots were not a new idea. Charlie's original design was not new either. Drones of all shapes and sizes were old news. The robot shell that the two were using was something they had found at the scrap yard Salli's parents worked at.  Using parts that they found in the 'yard' or bought off the net, the two rebuilt the articulated drone. Like the original model and many others that could be found in most households, the 'robot' that they built used a basic operating system and would perform basic functions. But it was still a drone. Charlie wanted it to do more. He wanted it to have unprompted conversation and free will. Salli told him that they could program in thousands of pre-programmed responses and it would seem that it was real, but anything beyond that was beyond her. Using the school's resources they attempted to find better software and better programming. All was for naught. Many had tried to create an AI and failed. Friends and family urged the two to finish school and put their little project away for now. Both students took the advice and finished Upper school.

Salli left to continue a career in computer technology. Charlie pursued his engineering goals and went into robotic engineering. All through school he continued to tinker and play with his 'little project.' The two kept in touch but soon faded apart from each other as students gone their separate ways will. Charlie missed his friend, but she had opened his eyes to what he could achieve and for that he would be forever grateful.

Charlie remained convinced he had the answers to how to make a true AI. Graduating with an engineering degree was not enough, Charlie demanded more and achieved a double major in programming too. He now worked at a drone manufacturing facility in the R&D department. A coworker speculated one day that maybe a true  AI could be achieved by building experience inside the programing. Dump in enough emotion and real life information that the program would learn and maybe achieve awareness. Emotion! That was the key.

Charlie's obsession still resided inside the robot head that had been his boyhood project. It only seemed fitting to use the head. Plus it made a cool room decoration, and it had a name, Wilson. Another of his co-workers was a historical Vid fan. Every weekend he had a 'movie' night and showed ancient 'Old Earth' vids. One such vid stuck in Charlie's mind and Wilson was born. Spending what little credits he has saved, Charlie downloaded every vid or history tape he could lay his hands on. Thousands of hours of programing was fed into Wilson. His obsession took over his life, he had even started to talk to the head on the table! Something had to give. Desperate, Charlie reached out and reconnected with Salli.

Salli was at the pinnacle of her career and had been surprised to hear from her childhood friend. They agreed to meet and talk old times at a local coffee shop.

"Salli!" Salli turned and caught sight of her old friend.

Seeing her brought back memories for Charlie. He stood up from his table and waved at her.

"Hello Charlie, thanks for calling." She smiled at him, but was concerned by what she saw. He did not look very well. His clothing just hung on his body and his skin was waxy looking and pale.

"You are looking well. How is the big time programming business?"

"It's good. Lots to do all the time. I would say you look good too, but you don't. Charlie what's happened to you?"

"It's nothing. OK, it's something. I'm still obsessed with my AI project. All I can think about is completing him."

"AI? Are you still working on that?"

Charlie smiled. He reached under the table and brought out a box and set it on the table. "Do you remember Wilson?"

Inside the box was the robot head from her childhood. "You still have this? Who's Wilson?"

"This is Wilson." Charlie pulled the head from the box. "I named him a few years ago."

"I can't believe you still have this." She watched as he opened up the robot's access panel. She leaned over, peered inside and was shocked. "What is that in there?"

"I took the positronic brain idea a step further and created a crystalline structure that can process data faster than the speed of light. The rest of him is all the memory that I could afford. I have been filling it up with as much emotional content I can find."

"Emotional?" Salli was still exploring the inside of the head. She remembered Charlie as being brilliant but this? This design was groundbreaking.

"Yes, I had an inspiration a few years ago that if I filled his head with emotional material like music, books, vids, whatever I could find that maybe I would have a breakthrough."

"Did it work? Have you noticed any difference in the basic program?"

"I thought I might have had something last year. I had a weird response from him that I thought was not programmed in but I discovered that I was wrong."

"How wrong were you?"

"Well, I have been putting in commands and responses since we were kids. He has tens of thousands of them now. For a drone he is top tier. Unfortunately, he shouldn't be just a drone."

Shelli could tell that he was obsessed. "Charlie, what if you let me borrow Wilson and run a few tests would that help?"

"Would you? I hoped that you would help." He almost sounded desperate.

"How about I keep him for a month and run a few tests then we can talk. Is that OK?"

"Yes. Thank you Salli." Charlie shook her hand and left the coffee shop.

"Wilson, huh? Don't think I will be talking to you, mister!" Realizing that she was doing just that she blushed as she packed up the head and went home.

Chapter 2

As promised, Salli kept the Wilson head for a month. Using her lab she ran several tests. The circuitry was groundbreaking as was the programming that Charlie had achieved. This put much of her own work to shame. She showed her bosses at work the system and they immediately offered her mysterious friend a job. The company was a subsidy of TQB on Mars. They had taken shuttle craft design to new heights and had, for some reason, recently gotten into the drone business. The PPL military had just contracted her company to build an AI military prototype. So far work had been very slow. The DAVE unit had some AI-like features but it was not a true thinking AI. When Sallie looked at Charlie's research she could see that he was closer than she was to achieving AI. Hopefully she could get him to join the team. They would do great things together.

"Charlie?  Are you there?" This was the third time she had tried calling his house. For some reason the man wasn't answering. She pressed a button on her console.

"Security office, Jenkins speaking how may we help you today."

"Jenkins, this is Salli Burkemper over in Section 7. Would you have any of your officers available to escort me into the city? I need to contact a friend of mine and offer him a position here."

"Ms Burkemper, I will take you myself. The city can be dangerous at night."

"Thank you, Mr Jenkins."

One short hour later she and the guard were standing over poor Charlie's body. He had become trapped in his house by falling stacks of computer parts and had died. Stuck with the quandary of seeing his life's work tied up in the courts or simply thrown away she neglected to mention to police that she had his project in her lab. Wilson now had a new owner and TQB jumped to the head of the pack in AI development.

The crystalline brain that Charlie had created was revolutionary. So much so that it became the centerpiece for new ship consoles and computer-core manufacturing galaxy wide. The DAVE project ended in failure when the prototype AI lost control and killed three soldiers. The computer had become confused with conflicting orders from both its creators and the military scientists. With the Cyber Wars still fresh in the military mind, DAVE was discontinued and disposed of. According to the report Salli looked at, the program had been wiped and slated for non-military use by some political entity. The powers-that-be remained unaware of the Wilson project.