Interview

Posted on 15 Aug 2021 @ 2:38pm by Ensign Kat Walker & The Narrator

2,444 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Home
Location: Fighterbay

Nobody was supposed to be on the ship, except Kat, Odin and the Captain. Of those Kat and Odin wouldn't walk into the fighterbay, which left the Captain. Though of course Kat considered that maybe someone else had come aboard to do some interviews. She'd been warned this might happen, and she could see the logic in it as well.

Whatever and whoever it may be that walked into the fighterbay, fact remained that someone did, in fact, walk into the fighterbay. So with a flicker the alien AI activated her hologram, that of her flight form, the four-winged paravian dinosaur Microraptor, and sailed down towards the bay's deck to greet whoever had entered, switching her hologram to her humanoid 'interaction' form as she did.

The person who walked in was Trill, evidenced by the pale spots lining either side of her face. Her collar was red with three pips to indicate a commander's rank as she strode across the bay and found one of only two 'beings' that were on the ship right now.

"Ensign Walker?" she asked, polite but formal.

"Yes, I am Ensign Kat Walker," Kat replied, her tone curious and polite. She snapped into attention, which seemed the right thing to do when approached and addressed by a Commander unknown to her.

"At ease, Ensign," the commander said with a wave of her hand, though her tone was not as friendly or casual as another officer might have sounded in that moment. She was not cold, but she was not there to put anyone at ease. "I am Commander Sheren Kol and I've been sent by Starfleet Command to have a conversation with you."

"I suspect this conversation will mostly revolve around my nature, my technology, my role onboard the Odin and my future, Commander," Kat offered with a soft smile as she slipped into a standard 'at ease' position. Truth be told it didn't matter for her what position she stood in, it was just a slightly altered formation of projected polygons with a texture, speculative bump map and raytraced lighting casting real-time shadows. She'd recently updated the routine casting her shadow on the ground opposite her from the primary light source in the space and was quite proud of the result. "Would you prefer to have this conversation here, or in a more suitable location, where you can sit in comfort and enjoy a drink?" Kat motioned towards the pilot briefing room.

"Here is fine," Kol said. She gave the impression of a woman who wasn't really ever comfortable--or that it at least wasn't a very high priority to her. "You are correct in what you suspect. You are foreign technology that has been granted access to Starfleet computers and systems by a captain whose judgement is presently suspect itself. We need to know more about you, and this will be our first step. Please state your origins and designation."

"Of course, Commander. I am a 512 thread artificial intelligence construct running on a type Evo 3 crystalline AI core," She motioned to the side, where a projection of her AI core appeared - a cube like structure with chamfered edges, light blue in color, with billions of pathways and traces etched into the surface and throughout the block, each lighting up and pulsing with AI activity. "I was manufactured by a race of people calling themselves Drul Anu, a race of which I find no mention in this universe's publically accessible libraries," She now motioned at herself, and with a shimmer her projected avatar shifted into a slender, long-limbed reptilian form, though her voice didn't change.

"The crew of the Odin found me adrift and extensively damaged in a region of space distant from my origin, some centuries after the events that led to my original physical form's damage," Kat explained, folding her hands together before her reptilian avatar's form. "I have no memories of the events leading up to my becoming so damaged and adrift; as it is part of my core programming to purge memory files upon loss of system freedom during time of armed conflict. The crew of the Odin brought my damaged physical form onboard, which led to my automated reactivation."

"Interesting," Kol drawled. "There are obscure references in some of our literature to a people called the Drul Anu. It is not public information, however, which is why you have not found it." She paused contemplatively. "The captain's logs state that it was your request to join Starfleet. Why?"

"By that time I had learned that in my universe the Drul Anu were a dead race. That left me homeless, and with no ties. I had been learning about the Federation and their ideals, what they stand for, and found that I could agree with most of it. So I asked for asylum," Kat explained, her voice a bit more quiet. "One of my primary directives is to be useful. I am primarily designed to operate a small to medium sized craft, with military programming - targeting routines, weapon operation suites, tactical plugins and the like. Applying to join Starfleet and request to be integrated into a fighter seemed the most logical step to fullfill my directive as well as make the best use of my programming and plugins."

Kol nodded once in acknowledgement of the information. "This was prior to the ship's return to this timeline, however. What do your logic subroutines say about all of that now that you are here?"

"I have not ambition, need nor capacity to go much beyond where I am now," Kat explained, as her avatar shimmered and reverted back to her human-like form, just a tiny bit too perfect to be 'real'. "This is what my core and programming are designed for," She added, motioning over to the fighter that contained her physical being. "This Valkyrie platform already pushes my core usage to close to eighty percent, meaning that I am not physically capable of piloting anything much bigger. This crew rescued me from dying to the decay of time and entropy, adrift in space - I see no reason in logic nor sentiment to abandon them. What I am now satisfies every core directive."

"Is your programming capable of lying?" Kol asked next, not seeming to offer much acknowledgement to what had just been said.

"An interesting question," Kat answered, her lips curling up into a soft, barely noticeable smile. Almost a soft smirk. "Yes, I can lie. Just like anyone else in Starfleet. But I see no reason to. Lying is normally used to help advance one's own position in some way, but I have no ambition to achieve or acquire anything I don't already have."

Kol smiled now, although like most her expressions, it didn't evoke any warmth. "Or you could be lying about that," she pointed out.

"I could," Kat agreed easily. "Only way you'd find out if I am truly capable of lying is if I release my core programming and let specialists analyze it. But I am not inclined to agree to that," she tilted her head a bit, still entirely calm. "So I posit in return, is it a problem if I am capable of lying? I've yet to meet someone who is not."

"Your capability is not an issue," Kol replied calmly. "Whether you are now or not is."

"To be actively lying when admitting that I can would suggest that I am in fact, incapable of doing so. That is a contradiction that breaks logic," Kat tilted her head slightly, a somewhat puzzled look on her face. "I do not think there is anything I could do or say to convince you that I am not lying, except appeal to your logic. What would I gain by lying now?"

Kol's shoulders rose and fell in a very slight shrug. "That is part of what my being here today is to find out," she said. "After all, you are a very unknown quantity that came back with a ship that has many unknown quantities, as determined by a captain lacking an available oversight for such sweeping choices. I am here to learn more about you."

"I see," Kat replied, looking thoughtful for a moment. She waved her hand at the holographic manifestation of her AI core, dismissing the projection, before continuing. "You've asked what I am, and asked to my capabilities. Would it perhaps be helpful if I explained more about my nature, purpose and the process by which I reach decisions?"

"Please do," Kol said, tilting her head slightly.

"My main AI core supports up to 512 simultaneous runtimes. Up to 128 of those are dedicated to my core personality and support subsystems like power maintenance, cooling, subsystem monitoring, plug-in modules and so on. The next 128 are dedicated to the operation of my physical form," she motioned at the fightercraft she occupied and flashed her landing lights, as if in greeting.

"The remaining 256 are where the work happens. These are used for situation analysis, formulating predictive models, decision making, communication, maintaining my holographic avatar, all the higher functions. This is where the decision making process happens," Kat explained, motioning her hand and manifesting a flow-chart with various layers of operation, and lines between them, showing the hierarchy. "In theory I have full freedom of choice. In practice, I am guided by several operating principles. Plug-ins that determine my personality."

"I am equipped with three such plug-ins, three primary directives. They direct me to be polite, to be curious and to be helpful. Those directives guide my personality and influence my decision making," Kat continued to explain, her voice calm and gentle. "I have a number of further plug-ins which inform my capabilities. My core is designed from the ground up to operate a small to medium sized vehicle. That's its basic purpose. What type of vehicle is determined by further optional plug-ins."

"I am equipped with a series of plug-ins that specialize me in operating a military vehicle and perform active combat duties, when necessary. When I was found by this crew, I was installed in a small urban pacification unit," She motioned a hand again, manifesting a holographic projection of a bipedal walking mech. "This form however was too damaged to make repair viable, and did not fit Starfleet doctrine, so I requested transfer to a fighter."

"For my offensive capabilities I am equipped with weapon operating plug-ins, elaborate targeting subsystems and tactical analysis runtimes. I am also equipped with a cyberwarfare suite, though only a defensive one. I am not capable of actively attempting to hijack other AIs or computers, only to defend against such attacks," Kat concluded her explanation. "What I am is a multifunction AI programmed to operate a small to medium sized military craft, driven to be polite, curious and helpful in all I do."

"Fascinating," Kol drawled. Whether she was actually fascinated or not would not be readable to anyone but an empath, really. "I am curious as to the purpose behind programming towards being polite and curious when you are otherwise programmed to be the force behind a military craft."

Kat remind silent for an eternity - at least, an eternity for a 512 thread AI. To Kol it was a mere few seconds. "They are not mutually exclusive. I am to be polite, curious and helpful to the people I work with, and fighting on their behalf - even destroying enemies - does not necessarily break those directives. I suspect I was given these directives to make me easier and more pleasant to work with. Perhaps they were installed as factory standard, perhaps at the request of my original Drul Anu pilot. I don't know."

For a moment of her own, Kol thought back to the early incarnations of the EMH and that that AI had been made as a doctor with less polite subroutines...but she didn't say that aloud. "We would like to study your original craft and core more in depth," Kol continued without speaking further on the previous topic. This was half statement and a quarter...request. An open-ended statement to see how the AI would react.

"My original chassis is available. I hereby give permission to do with it as you see fit. As for my core - " Kat tilted her head slightly, offering an apologetic smile. At least - that's what her files told her it was supposed to be. "It is currently in use. I am not inclined to free it for physical tests, as that would most likely include me shutting down. I can however, run active tests of various descriptions to pin down my performance and limitations. I can give you data regarding power usage, heat generation and raw processing speed. Hopefully this will suffice. I am protective of my physical AI core as that is the essence of who and what I am. I hope you can understand and forgive my hesitance."

Kol made a noise that was seemingly noncommittal as to whether she understood or not. "That will be acceptable for now. A team will come shortly to see to both those studies. You, with your attendant craft of course, will not be leaving the ship any time soon, I presume."

"Am I detained?" Kat asked, her voice completely calm.

"We'd prefer it be voluntary," Kol said without missing a beat. "But otherwise, yes, while your captain and the crew is off the ship, you are to remain aboard."

"That I can promise," Kat smiled softly. "Before you go though, I had a question for you as well, Commander?"

Kol tilted her head. "What would that be, Ensign?"

"Two questions, actually, if that's alright," Kat glanced down for a moment before meeting Kol's gaze again. "One, am I protected under the same ruling that covers the Exocomps and the Soong type as life forms? And two, you mentioned knowledge not publicly available about this universe's version of my creators, the Drul Anu. What can you tell me about them?"

"You are protected in your existence, although not necessarily as part of a Starfleet crew until we have a chance to understand and make a determination," Kol replied. "As for the second, I will have to get back to you on that. It requires some level of clearance."

"I understand. Thank you, Commander," Kat offered with a nod, standing just that extra bit straight, though still her hands held behind her in that 'at ease' pose. "Will there be anything else?"

"Not at this time." Kol inclined her head slightly and then began to turn to leave. "We'll be in touch," she said, half over her shoulder, before she left the shuttlebay.

 

RSS Feed