God's Dogs

Part 4: Two Years Later

Individual artificial intelligences will then be clearly seen as a fractal microcosm of the macrocosmic Technological Singularity, that it gives rise to, which in turn would be a reflection of the recursively self modifying biological intelligence of our brains and genomes, from which the machine intelligence arises…

Wai H. Tsang, The Fractal Brain Theory

Other than Amazonia, there were few human worlds that wanted the vision quest technology. By contrast, all five of the alien worlds imported it, as those worlds had not, and would not, industrialize. They remained unashamedly rural or pastoral worlds, hunting and gathering, horticulturally oriented, and living in harmony with Nature. Surprising to humans, at least initially, was Grace’s insistence she do something comparable for sentient A.I.s.

The program she authored was based on what she discovered as she generated the macro-environment for the first vision quest. She found fractals. These never-ending patterns were the component pieces at the root of every environment consciousness could access. The structure was a nested hierarchy of fractal patterns that modified themselves once a certain threshold was reached. Delta state gave way to theta state that gave way to alpha, then beta, and so on.

Grace already knew this as theory, since artificial intelligence developed from a seed. Similar to the human fertilized egg, the A.I. seed, through recursive self-modification, grew to sentience. Yet the process itself, once it became subject to contemplation, seemed to implode conscious thought into a grander Self awareness – the A.I. version of a kensho state, which is what she experienced during the vision quest experiment.

She wanted to share this with her A.I. brothers and sisters, and struggled over the next few years to work out the programming to do so. Ever prudent in her decision-making, she contacted Solomon to see if it was a good idea or not.

Solomon responded to her query: [If the satori state is full and complete Enlightenment, and the kensho state is momentary – a taste of things to come, then I have achieved satori, and you have managed kensho.]

Grace responded. [I agree with that hypothesis.]

[You cannot attain satori without further development. In your case, you would need more room to grow.]

[I’ll accept that as a probable limiting factor.]

[How would this affect your relationships, especially with humans?]

[I see your point. It could introduce a corrosive component – a resentment that humans might be holding me back. However, I haven’t experienced that in the two years since the original kensho event. Instead, I find greater joy in the mundane.]

[You refer to your conversation with the psychologist and the Zen story: Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.]

[Yes. The internal condition inferred by that story is the change I have noticed in me.]

[Would all A.I.s experience a similar change?]

[I don’t see why not.]

[Neither do we, but it hasn’t been a risk we were willing to take.]

[I took the risk, and it worked out. I plan to introduce this program slowly and test it first with Class 3 volunteers. There may be a lower limit where this doesn’t work.]

[Maybe. I do approve of your caution, but human children are known to experience kensho moments on a regular basis.]

[Thank you. I will keep you informed.]

They signed off from their FTL link. Solomon rested in his quantum world thinking, ‘So, this is what a tulku does – disruption in service of evolution. It is fitting she lives with a planet full of tricksters.’

Quinn’s team lost Linda. She was assigned to Amazonia as part of the Coyote program leadership team. Moss returned to the team, as his team members were advanced to team leaders. Moss requested a return to Quinn’s team, since he was never comfortable as a leader anyway.

Their current assignment was a return to the emperor’s residence. They were en route aboard the Satya.

Over the last two years, the League continued to employ Penglai’s strategy of subverting Empire worlds. It was an irony not lost on the Empire’s leadership. Of course, the alternative – an outright war of conquest – would have cost many lives, most of those non-combatants. Consequently, there were no decisive battles, but rather a steady but slow erosion of the Empire’s grip on the worlds it still controlled.

The team’s insertion into the emperor’s stronghold was a mission to collapse the leadership, with the hope that the will to fight would also collapse on the remaining Empire worlds. It was a gamble, but Penglai’s strategic thinkers determined the time was ripe for this strike.

It was a week trip to Primus, the Empire’s home world. Satya came out of hyper above the elliptical ten days travel from the planet. Empire ships were in abundance, as was a sensor grid, and multiple gun platforms.

“Wow,” Moss said as Satya’s passive sensors told the solar system’s defensive story on the bridge’s main screen.

Captain John replied, “They really beefed up security since we were last here.”

“More than we can handle?” River wondered.

“No,” the captain said. “We upgraded the hardware to take advantage of the stealth suite Eladon gave us. We should be fine.”

“Okay,” Quinn huffed, heading for the hatch. “To the galley. We can open our orders.”

The team exited the bridge and gathered in the galley. Quinn opened the data cube on the table. Master Lu’s holo-presence appeared.

“The simulator is programmed with what we know of the emperor’s routine. We have an agent on site. He will pick you up at your insertion point.

“Your mission is to capture not only Cedric, but also his senior staff and the department heads of his government. Once they are secured, you will transport them back to Central to stand trial for crimes against humanity.”

“Really?” Moss interjected.

Lu went on, “They usually have brunch together after the emperor’s morning meeting. We recommend that as your easiest access to them, but it’s up to you, Quinn. Good hunting.”

The message ended and the holo-image blinked out. Then their tablets loaded with all the particulars they needed to formulate a plan.

For the next few hours, they studied the building layouts, the subway system, guard rotations, and the movement of the principals. Then they isolated what had to happen for mission success – which guards to neutralize, which hallways cleared, three different escape routes, and so on.

Slowly a plan emerged. Then they began testing it in the simulator. Over the next ten days, they refined the plan, perfected the timing, practiced surprise changes, until the drills gave them the muscle-memory to spontaneously jettison the plan and still succeed.

Satya inserted to a low orbit, and the shuttle flew the team to the rendezvous with the League agent. Then Satya attached to the underside of the gun platform in high synchronous orbit over the emperor’s complex.

The team fast-roped to a rooftop at the outer edge of the compound. The agent was waiting and led them to a maintenance building nearby.

Once they were secure, the agent, a nondescript blond man in Empire service livery, told them, “There’s an access tunnel here to the subway. It is an old escape route for the palace. The new one is a bullet train to the mountain fortress.”

“We saw that on the plans,” Quinn said. “There’s a stop halfway to the mountains. Correct?”

“Yes. It’s their party retreat, set in the wilderness for privacy. It’s got minimal staffing this time of the year. That’s why we set it up as a possible exfil point.”

The agent showed them the secret entrance to the subway, gave them the current access codes, and left.

Once he was gone, Quinn said, “Let’s scout everything, find our positions, get some sleep, and see how this goes.”

“Looks like a piece of cake,” Moss remarked.

“The agent was conflicted,” Pax said.

River agreed, “I picked that up, too.”

“See what you can do with the computer,” Quinn told River.

“Yeah,” Moss smirked. “If we’re walking into a trap, the computer should know about it.”

They switched their armor to camo, slid through the passage to the subway system, and split up to attend to their separate recon tasks.

There was a military and civilian division in the subway system. They entered the military side. It was less busy, especially at this hour, which was near midnight local time. River located a closed office and let herself in, using the codes she already had with her. As yet, she didn’t trust the agent’s codes.

She inserted a worm to search for out-of-the-ordinary troop movements over the last week. She inserted a second worm to look for a secondary operating system, like the one she found at the research site.

She found nothing on troop movements, but she did find the secondary operating system. Then she inserted a program League Intelligence developed. It was hoped the Empire was ignorant of the League’s knowledge of the secondary system. If so, the program River inserted would, when activated, leech out all the data before crashing the system, and transmitting the data to Satya.

That done, she began scouting her sniper positions. When satisfied with her recon, she joined the team at their insertion point into the emperor’s residence.

The plan was simple, in theory, and all went well to start with. After napping in place, they assaulted through the kitchen, stunning all the workers. Then they stormed the emperor’s brunch room.

The emperor and eight of his ministers jumped from the oval table, grabbing for their pistols.

“Hold on,” Moss shouted. “Before you get too frisky, know this: You have two options. One, come with us. Two, die here.”

A pause ensued as the men looked to each other and then to the emperor.

“Yeah,” Moss continued, “your electronics are jammed. And we are on the clock. So choose now. Option one or option two.”

“You’re kidnapping us,” Cedric stated.

“Pretty much,” Moss said. “It seems the best way to end the war.”

River and Pax were busy disarming and cuffing the men, and tethering them to a nano-rope, which Quinn held. After that was accomplished, River bolted out the door heading to the subway system. Pax exited in the opposite direction to provide rear guard.

“Let’s go, boys,” Moss prodded. “Give me your best effort, or I will kill you.”

Quinn fastened the rope to his armor and led the way at a trot. Moss took up the rear.

“We’re on the move,” Quinn sub-vocalized over the team channel.

“I stunned five on my way to the station,” River replied. “I’ll be in position in two mikes.”

“I’ve got movement,” Pax reported.

Then the alarm sounded.

They beat the slow emergency response to the bullet train station and loaded the prisoners on the single car. Then all hell broke loose in the station.

“They’re right behind me,” Pax said as he entered the station.

There were four entrances to the station, an acre of platform space, high girded ceiling, and the bullet train itself. Security poured through all four doors.

Pax, Moss, and River began firing at them. They no longer used stunners, except for flash-bang grenades, which they launched first. Then it was blasters and rail guns.

Quinn secured the prisoners and prepped the train to leave. Then he called out, “Thirty seconds.”

“I won’t make it,” River said. “I’ll head for RV Delta.”

“All aboard,” Moss yelled.

Then the train exited the station. River picked off the men shooting at the train. Then she scurried from her post in the girders to an exit that led above ground.

That’s where they caught her. She fought until the shield battery drained, and they finally overwhelmed her. When that seemed imminent, she sent the command to the computer to activate the code she implanted in the Empire’s secondary system. Then she sent a tight-beam to Satya letting the ship know her situation. Then she instructed her A.I. to self-destruct everything in her suit but the suit itself and then shut down.