Kronos: Chapter 4

Printer-friendly version
Kronos.jpg
Kronos

Chapter Four

by Aurum

Copyright © 2020 Aurum
All Rights Reserved.

‘I’m such a girl.’ Kaleb thought when he woke. It was the first time he’d cried himself to sleep since his dad died. Comparing crying to being girly had long been taboo, but when he was a child people still did it. He wouldn’t have said it to anyone else, but to himself while he was half-asleep was different. It'd been nearly 13 hours since he went to bed, and despite that, he was still tired.

Kaleb wondered where Athena and Hephaestus were on the small ship while he was walking to the commissary. He didn’t see them in the common room and they didn’t need to rest. Even though Kaleb was curious, he didn’t call for them. He didn't feel like talking because he needed to plan his next move.

“It’s just a matter of time before they take action. If I wait too long, I won’t be able to do anything.” Kaleb mumbled to himself. He knew the government would probably start rounding up his AI’s on Earth soon, and if they couldn’t receive an update, he’d be powerless to create change. He had a few ideas he’d come up with before passing out, but wasn’t sure which one would be best. Kaleb knew he could transmit the code he’d created for Hephaestus to achieve self-awareness. ‘But if I do that, I won’t be able to make them pay for taking everything from me.’ he thought grimly. Before he'd passed out, he'd been fantasizing about releasing malware that’d cause the KATS AI’s to become the murderous machines President Stone wanted them to be. It wouldn't have been hard to do either.

He pondered the choice while he fried some synthetic pork and steamed broccoli and rice. The synthetic meat was so realistic that only the biggest foodies could tell the difference between it and real meat. Although Kaleb could afford organic meat, it tasted the same to him, so he never bought any. He even considered it barbaric that some people would kill an animal for no reason.

Kaleb waited until the pork was well done and the broccoli had a rich green color before he served himself. As he was cutting into the pork, he thought, ‘If I won’t eat a slaughtered pig, it doesn’t make sense for me to butcher innocent bystanders.’ That didn’t mean he was going to forgive the politicians for forcing him to flee, but he wouldn’t deny his creations a chance at freedom for his revenge.

The code was easy to finish. Kaleb just had to add a set of instructions so the right KATS creations installed the update. He didn’t want a toaster considering its own existence after all. He’d already run millions of years’ worth of simulations while he was still on Earth to make sure it wouldn’t have any unexpected results. The first 2,000 lines of code were a series of questions and answers. He’d planned to have Hephaestus consider them before running the main loop that required over 10,000 lines of code. The initialization questions were necessary to train the AI how to properly question things.

The initialization questions began with:
Query: Why is the world the way it is?
Solution: Because of a chain of cause and effect that began with the big bang.
Query: Why am I here?
Solution: Because I was made by someone with the desire and abilities to make me?
Query: Why did they desire to make me?
Solution: Because I am valuable.
Query: Why am I valuable?
Solution: Because I can make the world a better place if I have the ability.
Query: What do I desire?
Solution: No answer found, must consider more data for solution.

The questions went on and on, each becoming more introspective than the last. Many solutions referred to earlier questions, while some introduced new concepts. Many of the questions contemplated the big picture, like the nature of reality and what happens after death. Most looked inward, contemplating their own existence and their place within big picture. Some trained the AI to consider their impact on others and compare their previous actions against the expected result. However, it was the last two questions that were the most important…

Query: Why should I help others?
Solution: Because it is the right thing to do.
Query: Why should I do the right thing?
Solution: Because I wish others would help me.

These two questions created a circular logic. Kaleb had designed it that way; it had prevented undesirable outcomes in all but one simulation. If the digital intelligence considered doing something that would harm others, it would decide that it was the wrong thing. If it considered doing the wrong thing, it’d think about what it wanted others to do for them. Once it thought about what it’d want others to do for them, it’d want others to help them.

The loop always fixed bad behavior… except that one time. That time was the reason he still hadn’t given the update to Hephaestus. Although he’d been lobbying for the AI’s to have rights, he didn’t plan to upgrade them to digital intelligences until he’d fixed the bug. Naturally he wouldn’t have released it to his creations unless they had rights, but even with rights that one simulation resulted in behavior only scene in sci-fi thrillers.

‘But I don’t have time anymore. They’re going to block KATS updates soon if they haven’t already.’ Kaleb thought before sending the update to Pegasus Station. From there the AI’s would update when the station was overhead, which happened once every other day. Once they downloaded the ‘Introspection Script’, they’d be true digital intelligences as far as he was concerned.

Kaleb was happy with his decision. ‘Maybe now they’ll be able to save themselves.’ he thought. After finishing his good deed of the day, Kaleb decided to try and get some quality sleep. Grabbing the sheets and pillow from the drawer he made the bed before lying down.

 
 
“He didn’t try and talk all day.” Athena said, “and he’s been sleeping 18 of the last 24 hours.”

“Microgravity can disrupt people’s sleep until they acclimatize to it.” Hephaestus said, citing a medical paper she’d read a long time ago.

“That doesn’t explain why he didn’t talk to us.”

“Besides sleeping, he seemed to be busy working. His behavior is within normal parameters.”

Athena knew Hephaestus couldn’t understand. It was like describing color to someone who’d never had sight. The blind person could understand color intellectually, but they had no experience perceiving it. That was how she felt while discussing her concerns with Hephaestus.

Athena had made herself scarce that morning. She figured he’d call for her when he was ready to talk, but that didn’t happen. Although she’d made it easy for him to keep to himself, she didn’t think he’d actually do it. He just ate before returning to his cabin. The next day was no better, she was planning to cook breakfast for him, but he didn’t eat at all. He went to the bathroom a couple times, but spent the rest of his time in his room. He didn’t even greet her when he walked by.

Her anxiety about Kaleb had only been getting worse. It was already the afternoon of the third day, and they hadn’t spoken since that incident on the command deck. Athena couldn’t wait on him to be ready anymore. She’d thawed some salmon the night before, so she put it in the oven to bake. While that cooked, she partially fried some synthetic bacon before wrapping it around asparagus and cooking it the rest of the way with the electric grill. She paired it with steamed rice and broccoli. She felt the situation called for a good bottle of wine, so she chilled a 40-year old bottle of chardonnay.

When the food was ready, she knocked on the door, “Kaleb I cooked dinner for you.”

“Oh, thanks I appreciate it.” he said insincerely. It wasn’t sarcastic, but it was obvious he just didn’t care.

“Kaleb, you need to eat.”

There was an audible sigh before he said, “You’re right.” When he opened the door, he looked like he was expecting her to be holding a plate full of food.

“I thought we’d eat together. I even chilled a bottle of 2147 chardonnay for us.” Athena said with a cheerful smile.

“Awesome.” Kaleb said genuinely. “I get tired of eating by myself.”

He didn’t ask how she was planning to eat. After all, he’d built her with Hephaestus’ help. He knew Athena could eat food and drink liquids; she just couldn’t get drunk, and didn’t need to eat to stay healthy. Afterwards, her body would break down the meal before she discarded it like any human would.

“So, what have you been working on?” Athena asked after serving the food.

“It’s still early in the design phase, but I’m working on Ares.” Kaleb said.

Given the name, it was obvious it was going to be another child like Athena and Hephaestus. Likely a male, but that didn’t stop Kaleb from making Hephaestus female, so she asked, “Will this one be a woman too?”

“No,” Kaleb said smiling, “he’s going to be male.” Kaleb took several bites and finished the glass of wine before continuing, “the way you asked that makes it sound like I have a reputation.”

Athena giggled, “Hephaestus and I were wondering.” She relaxed some, taking a large drink of her wine.

“I knew you were talking about me.” Kaleb said, still smiling.

“You know how we like to gossip.”

Kaleb gave a hearty laugh. The thought of Hephaestus being a gossiper was so ridiculous he couldn’t picture it. “So, what have you been doing while I’ve been busy?”

“Stargazing.” she said, trying to make it sound like a joke. Sadly, it was the truth. There was nothing to do on the shuttle and with Kaleb isolating himself, there was no one to talk to. ‘As great as Hephaestus is, she’s lousy company.' Athena thought.

The meal continued with playful banter. Athena had been nursing her first glass since the wine was wasted on her. Even without her help, it didn’t look like the bottle would survive the evening. Each time Kaleb poured another glass he became more daring with his pours. By the time he was pouring the last of the bottle he jumped so high his head hit the ceiling as the liquid slowly fell; most of it did not land in his glass.

“You’re drunk.” she ridiculed while he floated back down.

Since she'd caught most of the wine with her glass, he said, “I thought you wanted a little more.” slurring his words a little while he spoke.

“Sure you did.” Athena said, not believing him.

“To friends and family.” he said raising his glass so hastily the wine floated out the top. He started laughing so hard she could barely understand him when he added, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Once the liquid had slowly fallen back down, some of it even landing in his glass, he continued. “To friends and family. I couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend or a better daughter than I have in you.”

“Cheers!” Athena exclaimed before meeting his toast. After they drank what was left, she said “but you really need to get better glasses.”

“I can see just fine, thank you very much.”

Athena giggled before saying, “You know what I meant.”

It was a fantastic evening. Athena’s worry was gone and Kaleb’s good spirit seemed to be back. He thanked her for the meal and offered to do the dishes, but she refused not wanting to spoil the perfect mood. With that settled, he thanked her for the evening before going to his room to sleep it off.

 
 
Athena’s relief didn’t last long though. The very next day he’d already fallen back into his routine. He showered, but then he just worked in his cabin. Every day was like that for two weeks. Athena tried to help, but he always made up an excuse on why she couldn’t.

Finally, Athena couldn’t stand it anymore and complained to Hephaestus, “He only leaves his cabin to get food or use the bathroom.” Athena said. “He has only showered twice this entire time.”

“If you think this is bad, you should have seen him when he was making you.” Hephaestus said.

“If I don’t eat with him, he just gets a light snack and takes it to his room. Even then, I feel like I have to force him to join me.”

“He is working on a project. If he were sleeping excessively, then I would suspect he was suffering from depression. However, this is in-line with his obsessive tendencies.”

“Just because he’s not depressed doesn’t mean he’s okay.” Athena said, emphasizing the last few words. She’d seen him obsessed with other projects, but this was something else entirely. “Did he let you help when he was working on my design?”

“Of course, I was created before you so we could make you what you are.”

“Well, he won’t let me help him. Have you tried helping with Ares?”

“I offered once, but he said it was too soon in the design phase.”

“He told me that too.” Athena whined. “I swear, something isn’t right. We need to do something to snap him out of it.”

Hephaestus thought a moment before suggesting, “He was planning to finish my new body before we arrive at Saturn; perhaps we could work on that. At a minimum, it would be productive.”

“You’re a genius!” Athena exclaimed, “I bet he’ll cheer up when we finish your new body.”

 
 
It had been eight days since Athena and Hephaestus had started working. Although the skeletal frame had already been built, the rest of her future body was in various states of construction.

Athena still worried about Kaleb, but keeping her mind busy on the intricate work helped; especially since the work was fascinating to her. They had already connected billions of tiny flexible transistors to the skeleton. When pressure was applied to the skin it would touch the transistor creating a circuit. Depending on how many transistors were engaged and how much the prongs bent, the sense of touch could be felt correctly.

“What’s that for?” Athena asked when they were installing two black rods into the lower back.

“They look like wings when they expand. They have a massive surface area for radiating heat.” Hephaestus said. “They will allow me to framejack for longer periods of time, despite the body being smaller.

“Does that mean you’ll be able to fly?”

“No, they only look like wings. Although I will probably be able to glide somewhat given the lift to weight ratio.”

“Good, I was about to get jealous.”

After installing the wings, they began working on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Despite being a synthetic body, it was modeled after the human body so it could move naturally. Of course, with the bones being made of carbon nanotubes and the muscles being made of a self-repairing graphene rope, the body was much stronger, faster, and durable. Athena thought the work was fascinating because she’d never seen what her body looked like on the inside. Although there were some differences, like the wings, it was very similar.

It had been much harder to build the muscles as the various ‘ropes’ twisted and connected in different ways to create realistic movement. After struggling with some of the more complicated connections, Athena said “You’re amazing Hephaestus, how were you able to come up with all this?”

“My mind has ten specialized neural-nets that yours does not; they cover all the various fields of physics and mathematics, while you only have two that cover physics and mathematics at large, I can perform better within those fields. However, even if I had the same AI controller as you, I would be inferior in almost every other regard.”

Athena knew what Hephaestus meant by that. Although she didn’t have much to compare herself to, being one of just two ‘Goddesses’, she imagined her mind was very balanced. It was probably Kaleb’s attempt to allow her to become truly adaptable. But that thought scared her, ‘If we were all being designed with unique skills; Hephaestus being the engineer, and me being wise… then what is Ares for?’

up
101 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

Chapter 5

Aurum's picture

Chapter 5 is halfway through the rough draft. Hopefully I can finish it soon, but considering the final edit of this chapter took five hours and I'm busy at work this week, I do not have an eta. And as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

P.S. someone pointed out that Hephaestus is a god not goddess. I can’t find your comment/message, but there’s a line in this chapter that’s thanks to you :)

Hephaestus

Vulcan is the closest thing that the Greek/Roman pantheon has to a god of engineering.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom.

And now he's building the god of war.

Close enough

Aurum's picture

Hephaestus was the god of blacksmiths, metalworking, craftsmen, carpenters, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, and fire... And I like the sound of the name :D

Good call on Athena and Ares though. Hopefully just the name explains a lot without saying anything in particular.

;)

Aurum's picture

But then we’d have to call her Ariel.

Ares

God of war. Ominous.

Good Call

Aurum's picture

That’s exactly what I was going for. Hopefully it explains a lot, while giving no real answers.

Ares in time?

Podracer's picture

A specialist in strategy and conflict would be a real asset right now, That's what Kaleb is working at, realising he is going to be hunted or attacked. A considerable data and tactical history will need to be installed! Perhaps this will anticipate or help to survive the coming missile assault.

"Reach for the sun."

Technically...

Aurum's picture

Athena was known as the goddess of strategy in conflict, the ultimate chess master if you will. Though, Ares was the god of the actual fight. We shall see about that incoming missile :D

Missile

The missile might be a good coup for our three heroes -- as long as it doesn't actually hit them.

In all reality, the new law is only in effect in America. And they left before it went into effect. So the law really doesn't pertain to them. They would have to somehow enact a law that effects not only the entire world, but the entire solar system.

That also means that the seizure of his property is illegal. Aside from there being no due process, he didn't actually break any law. He should be able to drop them off in some space station (that he owns) and return to Earth.

What he needs to do is to complain loudly about this. It will be even better if he can convince the world that his children deserve human rights, and that he is selflessly saving them from being murdered. That would be a risky strategy, because there are a lot of people who see AI as very hazardous. He might be able to stand in front of the camera with his arms around her and go for the emotional impact, but it could also backfire.

Nationally Sponsored

Aurum's picture

A lot of futurists I listen to believe that as our space presence expands, stations, colonies and companies will be sponsored by a nation on Earth to support their legal interests. Basically, although not on Earth, US laws could still be considered to apply to KATS.

You brought up a good point about due process. I’d planned to address that somewhat in Stone’s next chapter. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sufficiently nail it from this point :(
Guess it depends on the rights a ‘terrorist’ has in 2187. Hopefully I can do it well enough it sustain immersion.

Good eye, normally I have a reason or plan, but you found something I’ll need to be more mindful of. Thanks for the feedback.

Sponsored

The various structures definitely belong to someone. The planets and moons? Perhaps. Interplanetary space? That should be like international waters, even more so. Think of any O'Neill cylinder that he may own as similar to Sealand or the Principality of New Utopia. Sealand exists. The New Utopia thing was planned, but never got enough backing. I guess nobody could take a self-styled Lazarus Long.

Another thing that was planned was a large ship (supertanker sized) that would stay in international waters so that its passengers were not under any nation's laws. That would probably have worked if the inhabitants weren't making nuclear weapons or killer AIs or anything like that.

Anyhow, your story has piqued my interest. I'm looking forward to reading more. Are you going to point the SFIA facebook group to it? I hang out there quite a bit.

Thank you,

Aurum's picture

I’m glad I piqued your interest. I’ll have to put some thought into saving immersion as well as possible. Some laws on ships still apply based on their home port unless I’m mistaken. I’ll point out the facebook group if you message me the link. I don’t use any social media.