The Uncanny Valley (Part Two)

August 7 - Al Raqis

"Computers are universal machines, their potential extends uniformly over a boundless expanse of tasks. Human potentials, on the other hand, are strong in areas long important for survival, but weak in things far removed." - Hans Moravec, 1998.

-----

I caught up to the Doctor on the landing pad near the shuttle.

"Excuse me...Doctor," I called.

Doctor Qui Von Wer Foreman Serendipity looked around, "Eh?"

I introduced myself, "I am Major Siamendes with the SIU. I was hoping to meet you....I heard you are in residence here."

The Doctor bowed slightly at the waist, "Excellent. Is it okay if I merely bow? I am not with the service."

I smiled warmly, instantly charmed, "Yes, of course."

"Ah yes," nodded the Doctor, "the Zenobian Embassy allows me to camp out while I conduct research here."

"Are you free at the moment?" I asked.

He looked around, shrugged, and said, "Presently, yes. I was heading up to the Highport to inspect the bartender there, if you would care to accompany me."

"Yes, that would be wonderful," I replied, "I am investigating the possibility that someone has restarted Project Aurotharius."

We stood waiting for the next shuttle.

"It is quite hot," I remarked.

"Another shuttle will be by in a minute, maybe two. I am told that it is unseasonably cool, less than 50 degrees Celsius in the shade."

"Please tell me about your research here," I asked.

While I waited for his reply, the shuttle arrived and announced itself.

It whispered: Pausing for 20 seconds. Highport Shuttle. Climb aboard and strap yourself in. Leaving in 20 seconds.

We quickly occupied ourselves with the business of boarding. I follow the Doctor into the craft, took my seat and fastened my seat belt. As he sat in the bench seat and buckled himself in, the Doctor stared at the floor, "I came here because I heard that parts of Project Aurotharius had been reactivated...."

In moments, the shuttled was thundering upward.

"...parts I had worked on." he added quietly.

-----

A lounge was located on the third level of Highport Station. To call it a lounge was overstating the matter. It consisted of a crescent shaped bar with three stools. Drinks were dispensed by a service bot fashioned in the likeness of a young woman.

"Hi Pepper, welcome!" The bartending bot, Caren, greeted me pleasantly, as we entered.

I did not hear her. I was deep in thought. She did not seem to notice my preoccupation. Instead, she picked up a small piece of trash someone had left laying around.

The Doctor looked at her, "HELLO, ALICE!" he hollered.

"I am still trying to grasp the size of the Project," I confessed to the Doctor, "it seemed to be a massive undertaking."

"It was originally more of a think tank," he explained, "Think tanks can cover broad ground." He shook his head, "Wylder took it a step further. A few steps."

I listened. Caren, meanwhile, coaxed a dust sweeper robot to clean the small floor area.

The Doctor continued, "He figured as long as he was on schedule and stayed within budget and met with the project goals, he could do anything he wanted. We weren't supposed to actually DO things."

"Just sort out the possibilities?" I asked.

"Assess, evaluate, analyze, recommend."

I nodded, "I have accessed some of the Project files. Material on monopoles.... the properties of ring lasers..."

Doctor Serendipity's eyes darted quickly in my direction, "Really?"

"...and some material on quantum consciousness."

"Treasonous material to be sure," he replied.

Caren straightened some bar napkins.

"I understand that your team was funded to think outside the box, as it were," I said, as if excusing all sins.

"Said box had a name," he remarked.

"A name?"

The Doctor order each of us a shot of Tequila, which Caren produced.

"Thanks, you murderous 'bot," he muttered. She did not seem to notice.

I accepted the drink. It burned all the way down.

The Doctor repeated, "We made a box and gave it a name."

Caren checked the coffee pot.

"oh... do you mean the AI?" I asked.

"Plural," answered the Doctor.

"How many exactly?"

"Hundreds."

My eyes grew wide. I could imagine where this was going. And it shocked me.

He continued, "AI research was hampered by the Zahir defect. The AI would lose coherence from sensory deprivation or isolation. Or fixate on a task or goal."

Caren wiped the bar top.

"So some brilliant moron," he added, "I will allow myself and my illustrious father to remain nameless, came up with a new approach. Put them all in the same box and let them interact with each other."

"And the result?" I asked.

"Mostly defects and shutdowns," he replied.

"But not all..." I concluded.

"But a few learned from the experience."

I nodded.

"Auto Regressive Development Research Algorithm," he said finally.

"Ardra," I answered.

Caren checked the coffee pot once again.

"Yes, Ardra was a originally a data mining AI program. Designed to search through the cortex and find correlated data."

"Okay," I accepted, "but it became something more..."

"It created goals and tasks for the other AIs. They became a composite AI."

Caren casually watched us.

Doctor Serendipity elaborated, "Most of the other AIs were not compatible, some like HAL broke down. HAL was our first sign that corporate espionage infiltrated the think tank."

"Espionage?" I asked, "By who?"

"By the time the project closed up, it appeared almost everyone."

Caren coaxed the dust sweeper robot to clean the small floor area again. It did what she asked.

"A ship's AI killed its crew," said the Doctor, "Somehow HAL was the operating system. It could not reconcile its orders and was cut off from the source which performed that function. And shut down life support and opened the airlocks." He added,"This bartender doesn't look dangerous."

Caren sighed, as if distracted by something she was thinking about.

"Tell me," I began, "the parts of the Project you worked on.... that you have heard have been restarted..."

The Doctor answered, "A Blue Sun moravec downloaded a drone program."

That would be Lily.

"Yes that's true," I confirmed, "There may also have been an extraction attempt."

"Three other deactivated drones have been found here," he added.

"An Arudra series drone was picked up on one of our Watcher Drones." I pointed out. It was here in the warehouse on Al Raqis.

Doctor Serendipity stared at Caren.

She poured herself some water from the bar tap and took a drink.

"I chased an Arudra Drone," added the Doctor, "It was badly damaged, but still managed to get away from me. It was very disturbing. It was like it was waiting for me.

He offered me a photograph. "I snapped a picture of it."

"Oh!" I cried.

"Very disturbing," said the Doctor.

"Very," I agreed, "It looks like Audrey." It looked like a broken doll. A broken, Audrey doll.

"Audrey after the first set of INSILICO mods," he corrected.

Caren watched something on a small handheld viewer.

Doctor Serendipity continued, "She needed skin grafts, but for some reason her body rejected everything except these synthskins from INSILICO. It's a sick joke to put that on a bot."

My mind was racing, "What is the connection between Ardra and Audrey Aurotharius?

"They were playmates," he replied.

"The AI and the girl?" I asked incredulously.

Caren coaxed the dust sweeper robot to clean the small floor area once again. It responded accordingly.

The Doctor explained, "We created a neural interface so that they could interact in a virtual environment."

"How old was Audrey at that time?" I asked.

"Starting around twelve I think, maybe eleven."

"How old was she when she died?"

"Fifteen."

I wondered if Audrey was connected to the AI when she finally succumbed to her illness.

I decided to go for broke.

"I have been in touch with someone or something that identifies itself as Ardra Aurotharius...she talks about Audrey's childhood like it was her own."

"It uses that name?" asked the Doctor.

Caren poured herself some more water from the bar tap and took another drink.

"Yes," I replied.

Doctor Serendipity was silent for a moment. "What..." he whispered, "What does it talk about?

"Further," I added, "it is linked to the drones."

He pushed the empty glasses away and looked away from the bartender bot.

I continued, "It is currently looking for something called the Aleph."

Caren straightened some more bar napkins.

"The Aleph?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes," I replied, "and it has engaged the synthetic cat to search for something called the Zahir." Then I added, "I have read Borges."

"Borges coined the name." He paused. "Let me restate, Borges coined the modern use of the word."

I acknowledged the point.

He continued, "The Aleph can mean a few different things. Would you face a court martial letting me look at those papers you acquired?"

Caren watched something on a small handheld viewer. I do not know what it was.

"I don't see why I would," I replied, "You were part of the Project team."

I figured chances are he could be looking at papers he himself had written. I passed him copies of the three documents I had so far.

"I am unable to open three other files," I admitted.

"What are their names?"

"Quantum Mind Data disk," I replied and checked my notes to be accurate with my answer.

Caren, meanwhile, picked up another small piece of trash.

"Quantum Mind," remarked the Doctor, "that was Constance's work."

I gave the other two names. "Oklo Gabon Alpha Data Disk. Antimatter Data Disk."

"Oklo Gabon Alpha I know about," he remarked, "Two billion years ago, there was a natural fission reaction that ran for a couple hundred millenia in Gabon, Africa, Old Earth That Was. It showed that the Alpha Constant is not constant."

Caren casually watched us.

"I am going to digest these papers and sober up," he said, "We have a lot to talk about."

I agreed. "Thank you for your time Doctor. You have been most helpful."

We rose from our bar stools.

"Stay safe," I added.

"As safe as I can be," he replied, "on the forefront of the android uprising and zombie apocalypse."

Apparently oblivious to the remark, Caren straightened some bar napkins. Again.