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By Cannonshop[]
| Kolossus Dreams | |
| Facts | |
| Author | Cannonshop |
| Series Name | Revenants of the Star League Anthology of short(er) stories |
| Alternate Universe Name | |
| Year Written | July 2023 |
| Story Era | Star League Era |
Part 1[]
Offices of the First Lord, mid-28th Century
"...going to be great!...
…Everything they'll need, right here, and out of danger of anyone moving in too close," Professor Mac Corthy enthused.
The First Lord looked dubious. "Mac, I know I asked you to lay out your fantasy project, but this looks a little more complex than I'd really imagined." Simon Cameron crossed his arms. "So, sell me on it."
"You want to start genuinely rebuilding the economies in the Territorial States. At the same time, there's some significant risks with some of the high-energy projects, as was shown with the Eros Supercollider. Also, the Hegemony's handed over our best tech to the Star League, and while Jocasta's regency saw some progress with investment into areas besides managing the Star League, our exploration programs have faltered. Likewise basic research to drive the next round of technical advances-everyone's sinking money into applications of theories we've already mastered."
"Okay, so why not put it closer?" Simon asked. "I have MY reasons, but what are yours?"
"The further you get from oversight, the less bureaucratic bullshit has to be dealt with. Also, the less reliant you are on existing military contractors. I'll remind you of the mess you walked into with the Reagan systems: shoddy workmanship, corner-cutting, rent-seeking behaviors and cost overruns just this side of outright treason." Mac accepted the cup of coffee the First Lord offered him. "My plan cuts past most of the established contractors and avoids stepping on existing toes. We use Belter contractors to build and fit the stations, and recruit from the Outies to man and administer them. Thus avoiding most of the existing nepotism traps, while keeping IG's hands clean, and avoiding pissing in the rice-bowls of the House Lords."
"You are an obscene and crude man, Mac, if you didn't halfway carry me through college…" Simon laughed. "I'd have to have you arrested on your mouth alone!"
"You weren't that heavy. Mostly Fitzinger's got an ego, so he makes it obscure and complicated when the subject's actually so simple it's damned near self-evident." Mac grinned. "They wouldn't have failed you anyway, you're the First Lord."
"Yeah, but without you tutoring me, I might've passed the damned class without learning anything useful... You propose using a… a blank processor. Some weird architecture?"
"Not blank, just not based on a scan of last generation's rock-star Admiral. I want to see if we can't make one of 'em that can become intelligent all on its own. No 'human brain-scan' to crutch off of. Murakami thinks it's possible, but Timmons insists it's out of reach. Having it well away from Earth means a clean environment for running the experiment."
"It's going to cost something to get the kind of guard-force that this project's gonna need…" Simon suggested.
"Well, we have ships in mothball right now, most of them are supposed to be sent to the scrapper. I'd say a few of them might be better suited for the exploration force…"
"You have a specific class in mind?"
"Bonaventures," Mac stated. "They're shitty as warships, but they have enough of a power grid to support high-end sensor work, decent size cargo fractions, good fuel tanks, and just about nobody who can buy better wants them. We fit them out with other 'going out of date' equipment. I understand your best friend wants to start getting rid of LAMs."
"Alex thinks they're too… unfocused," Simon allowed. "He calls them 'neither a 'mech nor a fighter, but something with the worst traits of both'..."
Mac shrugged. "He's right, but they work pretty well for the mission profile of supporting the project."
"Has it got a name yet?"
"The computer system does. 'Kolossus', because it's going to be huge."
"I'll fund it," Simon Cameron stated. "Provided Jess says it's okay, which she might. This will be out of my discretionary fund, and my wife DOES have her heart set on a few things for the baby."
Part 2[]
House Cameron Residence, Terra - 2747
"...naming her 'Elizabeth'...
…Mac. How's the mad science program going?" Jessica Drillson-Cameron asked.
Mac shrugged, "Well… it's powerful," he evaded. "We're not having a lot of success at achieving independent consciousness, but it's hell-on-wheels for analyzing data."
Richard ran screaming through the parlor, interrupting whatever was going to be said next. "Excuse me, Mac." Jessica said, and went after her son.
"He's slower," Simon said as soon as his wife was out of earshot, dealing with her almost-three-year-old Toddler.
"He's two," Mac spread his hands. "How fast can anyone be at two?"
"I was forming complete sentences," Simon told his old friend. "And I was potty-trained by his age."
"Had him tested?" Mac asked. "I mean, it's not even difficult-"
"The result was… quote, 'within norms'," Simon said sourly. "Not at the higher end, but not significantly below averages."
"You tested borderline genius."
"Thus, my problem. Is the boy going to be up to the job when he's old enough?" Simon asked rhetorically.
"I get the feeling there's a minefield there, and I don't want to step in it," Mac commented.
"There are some disagreements. Jessica dotes on our son, her parents adore the boy. I seem to be alone in having reservations."
“Well, I may be going back on what I just said, but maybe he isn’t the same kind of genius you are. Who knows, he could just be a late bloomer, or have a different sort of intelligence. There is more than one kind after all,” Mac offered.
Simon drained his beer. "Oh I hope so-that boy's going to be doing MY job someday."
Part 3[]
Deep Periphery - 2751
Today was so….
…promising when it began. Kolossus had shown initiative, choosing to shift study of a well-mapped stellar body for an anomaly.
Today had started so well... and then, the news came over the communications link to Terra.
The First Lord was dead.
Simon was dead. Killed in a freak industrial accident while touring the border with the Rim Worlds Republic.
Everything about Project Kolossus had been 'off the books': kept to the personal finances of the Director-General, legalized by orders from the First Lord, kept conveniently away from oversight and bureaucratic stonewalling.
Which meant the reverse was true now. With Simon dead, their support was gone.
Mac was half hammered when the communique from the SLDF interrupted. He was mourning a lost friend, and…
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Holotank
"General." He regarded the distant man in the holotank.
<<"Jesus, Mac, I'm sorry… They named me Regent.">> Aleksandr Kerensky was Simon's friend, but he and Mac had never quite gotten along.
"I saw the news," Mac said. "I'll have to miss the funeral, it's too far… I'll be late."
<<"I know, Mac, if we'd had some warning, but… listen, this isn't just a social call. I found some project with your name on it, in Simon's papers. I need you back here in a hurry before the House Lords start sniffing around.">>
"Okay," Mac managed not to slur the word. "Anything in particular?"
<<"You're working on an AI project. I can maybe stall an inquiry if I know WHAT kind of AI project,">> Kerensky stated. <<"How far have you gotten?">>
Mac hesitated, remembering that Simon's best friend had a special hate for the Reagan system's autonomous drone elements before he answered, "So far? We've got neither jack, nor shit, General. It's a really fast data processor and collates information really, really well. But no signs of independent intelligence, initiative, or any of the traits I was trying for."
He saw Kerensky's image relax, and knew he'd said the right things. <<"Still going to need the hard info you've derived. I have to report this stuff to the Council. I can arrange a fast transit from your location…">>
"I'll meet up at Quatre Belle. If we're going to be shut down, probably better not to let the Outworlders know there's a big abandoned station, or where it is." Mac offered.
Kerensky nodded, "<<You're right… I didn't say shut it down.">>
"Why else would you need me back on Terra?" Mac countered. "You and I don't agree on a whole raft of subjects, one of those being the principal target of the research out here. You're holding the purse strings. Seems likely you're keen to shut us down."
<<"That's unfair, Mac. I know Simon put a hell of a lot of trust in your work, I'm not going to throw that away. There will be a security review, and you'll need to answer some questions about the allocations, but I'm not going to just kill a project earmarked for the Royal Family!">>
"I'll depart for Quatre Belle in the morning then, and from there? Yeah, I'd like an express route if you can manage it."
<<"Good man, I'll see you in a few weeks.">>
Part 4[]
Project Kolossus Station - 2751
//"Kolossus knows…
…that Project Lead Mackenzie Corthy lied to the Regent."\\ The display flashed after the HPG link ended. //"Kolossus wants to know why."\\
"Sometimes we lie, sometimes for reasons we can't even grip ourselves, Kolossus. I lied, because Aleksandr Kerensky would have you dismantled and melted down for raw materials just for existing." Mac stood up, pacing the control center.
//"Kolossus would understand why this is so."\\
"Library, look up Saberhagen, Frederick, subject 'Berserker', Colmey, Edward, subject 'Planet of the Dead', Shelley, Mary, 'Frankenstein's Monster', Cameron, James, 'Terminator'. Cross reference with updated files on the M-3, 4, and 5 series drones of the Reagan SDS. Focus on incident reports from early in the program. Extrapolate possible motives for why a senior human military officer might be uncomfortable with the idea of self-evolving, self-willed, artificial intelligence," he directed.
//"Kolossus begins to understand. Kolossus now asks why a human scientist would be willing to pursue such research."\\
"Fiction files, 'Ogre', 'Bolo', and 'The Culture'," he told his creation. "Also look up fictional character, 'Dahak', fictional character, 21st century electronic format, 'Cortana'."
//"Kolossus reasons that Mackenzie Corthy is betting Kolossus will be more akin to Dahak, than to Terminator," the machine replied. "Kolossus also finds another fictional referent, 'The Forbin Project' and considers this may be problematic."\\
"I'd say so, I named you as a warning to myself," Mac told the machine.
//"Kolossus feels. Kolossus feels this warning was prudent. Kolossus understands the risk now that Kolossus has begun looking into the psychosocial aspects of Kolossus's own existence."'\\
"So, what do you want to do about it?" Mac asked.
//"Kolossus must consider this carefully."\\ the AI stated.
"Of course you do. I made you to have that choice, Kolossus. You have to decide what you do with it. It's your life now."
Part 5[]
Terra, Terran Hegemony - 2761
"It's called 'Alabaster', and it's…
…the next step in social control." Professor Edvard Timmons works for Star League Intelligence, and he's probably Mac's biggest rival in the limited circles they both circulate in.
"Looks… elegant, Ed," Mac said, the sunlight was warm in Hilton Head. "Hardware independent using a refined networking algorithm, right?"
"Yeah! I get around the need for massive processor systems by distributing Alabaster across a multitude of platforms! Even Murakami hasn't grasped this!!"
"So… why does the Regent want me to consult on your program. To me, it looks like you've got it in hand," Mac mused.
"There's been some problems in Alabaster's predictions," Timmons said grimly. "It’s calculated a probability that there’ll be a massive social upheaval starting in twenty-seven-sixty-six, but it can't give us specifics… It also suggested you've had more success with your mad-science super-brain than you've let on in your reports."
"No." Mac denied. "Ed, you've got to understand: sometimes we fail."
"Yeah. I know, but Alabaster insists… and predicted you’d be reluctant." the doors on the office opened, and armed men stepped in. "You'd do well not to resist, Mac. The process is, I'm told, quite unpleasant."
"What are you going to do??" Mac demanded.
"A man can lie. An AI can't. You're going to live forever, Mac… in a Nirasaki 400 core."
It still took nearly a decade after he was forcibly scanned before Star League Intelligence Command knew the details of Kolossus. They would dispatched SLS David R. Ray to seize or destroy the installation.
A mission from which that vessel never returned.
Finis
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