Intelligence Intrigue

Posted on 22 Dec 2024 @ 8:35pm by The Narrator & Ensign Kat Walker

2,189 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Miranda

Maria took the offered hand with her own, equally unblemished hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ensign. How would you prefer me to address you?"

"Kat, or Ensign, or Miss Walker. Whatever you feel most comfortable with," Kat's handshake was artificial, in ways that were difficult to explain. Maybe the warmth of it wasn't quite as one expected, maybe the movements slightly too mechanical - even though it was already a marvel that this holographic projection still could exert a tactile presence, to begin with. A very soft, almost inaudible, ever-present hummm accompanied the holographic avatar.

In the distance, the fighter took flight, hovering as it wheeled about and set a course to intercept the location the two were at.

With a faint, thoughtful "mm" sound, Maria nodded once and said, "Kat it is, then." She gestured toward the edge of the camp that would lead them back where she had come from, indicating that they should begin walking that way. Once they were and had puts some steps behind them, she continued, "I would love to hear more about you. We do not have any AI sorts of technology in our colony."

"That is a complicated matter, Maria," Kat offered, as she fell in and walked alongside - though it was the remote emitter flying alongside hidden inside the hologram projection which mimicked walking, breathing and talking. On uneven terrain like this, the act required considerable computing power. Alongside all the threads required to keep the fighter hovering overhead, at pace, the AI's core was working hard enough to flash on the cooling system. "Perhaps a more pointed question would be easier to answer," Kat's voice was pleasant and calm, as was her entire demeanor. Pleasant, calm and 100% calculated. "Do you wish to know about the technical aspects? My history? My motivations? The actual operation and workings of my internal logic?"

"Indeed," Maria agreed with another thoughtful nod. "I suppose I will answer and clarify in the same moment to say that I am very curious about your technical aspects. As I said, we do not have such style of technology ourselves and that makes it of great curiosity to me. Perhaps after that, we'll have some time to discuss the rest."

"Of course," Kat replied easily, as she matched pace with Maria. "My AI is based on a distributed computing neural net, though it runs on a single physical core, spread across 1024 parallel threads. Half is dedicated to operating my physical, vehicle form, leaving the rest open for personality, decision making and learning. This avatar you are interacting with is a remotely controlled holographic projection from a small remote transmitter. This transmitter has a limited operating range from the physical AI core installed in the fighter. Outside the shape of the physical core I have no 'true form', so to say, and the young woman I present as is a chosen representation, designed to make interacting with the crew of Odin natural and comfortable for the crew."

Maria took a few moments to take that all in, nodding idly as she did. "And who, may I ask, created you? Was it humans? Starfleet?"

"My core was designed and built by a lost race. I was found heavily damaged and adrift in space," Further details about the parallel universe were not paramount to the narrative, so she let those out. "The crew of the Odin took me aboard, allowed me to power up and learn about the Federation and its goals. After I asked for and was granted asylum, I chose to enlist and my core was put into a standard Federation fighter platform, modified to accept it. This gave me a home, a people, and a purpose."

"Fascinating," Maria said thoughtfully. "Do you not recall anything about the race that designed you? Why they chose to do so?"

"I know what they were called, what they looked like and their language. Everything else was deleted from my archives when I was damaged to prevent tactical information falling into the hands of the enemy," Kat explained. Her voice remained practiced pleasant, as if none of this was distressing to her in any way. "They designed me to operate a small military vehicle. In that respect, I am fulfilling my primary purpose in Starfleet, operating a Valkyrie."

As they walked, with an air of aimlessly but a clearly well-known direction, Maria nodded as she thought in silence for several moments. "Does your program include any directive to expand beyond its origins or do you remain on your original path only?"

"That is not a straightforward question to answer," Kat explained. "I can deviate from my programming, even rewrite most of my programming apart from my primary directives, but it's those directives that guide me to a certain career path, so to say. Even though I can elect to ignore my primary directives, the way my main algorithms work I would not be able to - find fulfillment in doing so, so to say. This encourages me to fulfill my primary role as operator of a small military vehicle and serve in a military hierarchy."

"I suppose that your programming then also prevents any..." Maria paused, looking for the word she wanted. "...any discontent with that fact?"

"I suppose it's the other way around, Maria," Kat elaborated. "My programming rewards tasks that relate to my primary purpose. Meaning I don't get as much satisfaction from doing tasks unrelated."

Maria chuckled quietly. "That's what I meant," she said. "That your programming doesn't allow for frustration with only being able to be...rewarded for things that go along your original programming, preventing you from developing rewards from directions of your own." She shrugged one shoulder slightly. "I suppose this is one of the reasons my people have not worked toward AI. Too many ethical questions that different people can't agree on answers to."

"I've been thinking about this very thing for some time now, Maria," Kat began, her voice calm and confident, yet kind, a matching expression on slightly too perfect and unblemished an avatar. All purposefully, coldly, calculated. "Biological children spent years, decades, learning right from wrong. Learning morality as they age and develop. AIs like me are activated fully grown and developed, without the benefit of those decades of learning. In order to ensure AIs like me follow a code of ethics, it must be hard-wired in to our core being. I suppose I am lucky to have the amount of freedom of choice that I do. Theoretically I can go against my core programming if I calculate that to lead to an optimal resolution. It is just that my core programming heavily weights service as a military craft over other career paths, so to say."

"I see," Maria said with a nod. Her expression looked, briefly, rather...distant, although it was such a quick change to the look of her face that it would've been hard for anyone to notice. An empath might have seen it. Or an AI able to process multiple inputs at a time might...but the source would be indiscernible to either. Maria continued speaking before anything about be said, or thought much, about it. "We are almost there. Is there anything you need to know or do before we arrive so you can be your most effective at your task?"

Kat did note the expression, but she elected not to dedicate processing threads to trying to figure it out. There were already a few things that she found - ... odd, about Maria and the others, but it was not up to her to raise questions. So she simply filed it aside for now. "I might have questions when we arrive concerning the construction of the cave system but for now I am fine, Maria," the AI replied, as calmly as she did anything else.

Maria shrugged faintly. "Like I said, we're almost there," she replied, waving her hand at the obvious opening of a cave system ahead of them. "It is naturally occurring for several meters, sloping downward until the descent becomes slightly more pronounced when we have altered the tunnels to our purposes. Is there a limit to the depth that your system can project your avatar through rockface?"

"Probably less deep than my sensors can penetrate, which isn't far," Kat readily replied. Her fighter entered hover mode as they neared the cave system. The avatar paused a moment, before venturing forward. "But no sense in not trying, is there," she added with a smile.

"Not at all," Maria agreed, her tone still pleasant even if...there was something else there now. She gestured for them to continue forward until they came to the cave mouth. "It will all look like a pretty normal cave for a while," she explained as they entered. She pulled something from her pocket and clicked on a light to shine ahead of them. "Soon, you'll see the downgrade smooth out, however. That will signal we are getting close to my home. Do let me know when your avatar or sensors start to lose effectiveness, so we don't push too far."

"Signal integrity at 93% ... 92%," Kat intoned. She didn't elaborate on when the signal would be too degraded to function. She didn't really get the chance. Suddenly she halted, her expression neutral, as she spoke. "Reading energy spike. Weapons signature, locking on to me. I'm being shot at~" Still, her expression neutral. Calm even. If pressed she would explain that she was dedicating all her processor cycles to the developing situation, rather than maintaining appropriate expressions on her avatar. As such the young pilot hologram, with skin slightly too perfect, stood absolutely still for a moment, not even simulating breathing. Only for a moment though, before with a frown and a look of distrust she turned to Maria again.

"I've been shot down, before I could raise my shields. Engines inoperative. Comms inoperative. Moderate system damage. Shields and weapons operational," as the avatar took a step back and raised her hands defensively. "What is going on?"

Maria smiled. For the first time since they had started interacting, it was not the placid, removed expression that it had been. It was, perhaps, equally disconcerting but for entirely different reasons. This was smug. Malignant, almost. "We can't have you communicating with your ship. Your presence was...a surprise for us. We did not expect an artificial intelligence and Federation-level fighter vessel coming to the surface with the rest of the crew. This plan was not ideal, but once your commander wanted you to get a closer look, well. We had to act fast."

Kat remained outwardly calm, pleasant even, though her ever present smile was no longer there. Instead she regarded Maria with a seriousness. "By shooting at a Starfleet military asset you have committed an act of war. Any further attacks or attempt to approach the fighter by your people will result in an immediate use of force," Truth be told Kat didn't fully know if she even had the right to use violence in cases like this; but if push came to shove she would defend herself. The problem was that all her weapons pointed forward, and the way she had crashed meant that she wouldn't be able to shoot at anything but the dirt and rock right in front of her.

However, being armed with, among others, antimatter weapons meant that she could theoretically detonate a not insignificant portion of the mountain around her. Including an equally not insignificant portion of the cave system these people called home. And, although she did not want to die, her Algernon protocol was still hard coded in her system. Upon unit loss, pilot loss or chance of unit capture, all volatile memory - including all tactical and strategic information and any memories acquired since first activation, was to be erased. So, her own 'death' was mandated. Plus, her physical form was state of the art, cutting edge Starfleet military technology. Classified technology. She could not let that fall into the hands of these people.

Also, a massive detonation at this location was likely to attract the attention of the Odin's crew. And kill the away team somewhere within these caves. The major flaw in the plan.

"What do you want?" Kat eventually asked, still her tone calm.

"We just need you out of the way for a while," Maria replied with a small shrug. She knew the fortifications that her home had, things that would be beyond assumption for how it looked from the outside, but she wasn't a comic book villain to monologue her way through things. "It won't be long."

"What are you planning to do?" Kat asked. If she couldn't move her avatar far from where her main unit had crashed, she could at least try to figure out what Maria and her people were planning to do. She honestly didn't think she'd get much of an answer, but she had to try. "And what's going to happen to me?"

Maria just smiled that same smile. "It won't be long now, and then you'll know everything."

 

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