Henry Gallant Saga 2: Lieutenant Henry Gallant (27 page)

What would Gerald Neumann, president of NNR Shipping and Mining Co., say about the
Intrepid’s
new captain becoming incapacitated on the eve of battle?

Neumann tried to dismiss the question by putting real human dimensions on it. He shook his head, as if the move could shake off his father’s expected disapproval.

Lieutenant Mendel came to the bridge to care for Neumann there. He cauterized the wounds and recommended immediate surgery to resection the lungs and other damaged internal organs.

Neumann turned his head away.

Mendel said, “Captain Neumann.” But whether from his wounds or simple stubbornness, Neumann remained unresponsive.

“Anton. Listen to me, Anton.”

Finally Neumann faced his ship’s doctor.

Mendel said, “You have life-threatening injuries. Your internal organs are severely damaged requiring an immediate operation. Each minute you delay, places your life in grave danger.”

“I can’t leave my post,” Neumann said with finality. He refused an anesthetic; instead he allowed only a local analgesic in order to remain in command. Mendel did as ordered, but voiced his objections.

I have to prepare this ship for battle neither Palmer nor Smith are capable of assuming command.

Gradually picking up speed, the
Intrepid
continued its desperate flight toward the sanctuary of the Elysium moon.

As he monitored the approach of the Titan destroyer, Neumann bit back the pain from his wounds. With sweat rolling down his forehead, he ordered, “Get a message to Gallant. Tell him to report on board and assume command, immediately.”

Gallant and Alaina marched quickly along the passageway deeper into the ancient AI structure with Cyrus Wolfe trudging behind them.

The machinery within the chambers and along the corridors, as well as embedded within the wall, became a maze of complexity and sophistication far beyond Gallant’s comprehension. He was amazed to see the building transform into a living body of mechanical organs and pulsating energy.

At one junction point, they found huge rooms resembling microprocessors with memory banks. The banks of silicon and germanium wafers went on row after row. Some of the exposed panels showed a great deal of equipment and memory capacity that had been fried long ago. They passed several more rooms, as large as, the chamber Wolfe had visited. Still they kept searching for the main control room.

At the intersection of several passageways, a branch revealed an elevator shaft.

“I’ve seen these chutes before. They go down kilometers into the planet. The total number of compartments in this structure is enormous,” said Wolfe.

“This branch looks larger than the rest,” said Gallant. “There isn’t time to explore this maze of passageways to find the central control chamber. We have to pick the right one, immediately.”

“How do you propose to do that?” asked Wolfe.

Gallant looked at the intersecting hub where a dozen passages converged. The distances between passages were not considerable. “The machine only uses these passages to transport supplies and replacement parts for the deeper recesses of the machine where the microprocessors are housed—all of which are moved by automated machines. Aristotle’s interaction with people involves allowing them access to surface areas near the entrance. I think the antechamber we just left was a preliminary screening station and these passages are like spokes in a wheel, probably all going outward to other screening stations. The central hub ahead should be the main interaction chamber. We should find the real ancient AI there.”

They approached the well-lit passageway with a large double door entrance. Standing in front of the doors was a powerful looking eight-foot-tall mechanical being; a robot.

The huge metallic being was frozen in place—mute. It had humanoid features including arms and legs, but a blank face—no eyes, nose, or mouth. It appeared to be made of a composite of liquid carbon and liquid metal, like mercury. It appeared slightly amorphous in shape, color, and transparency, but it didn’t move or speak.

Gallant stepped forward. “I’m Lieutenant Gallant of the United Planets. I’m here to talk to Aristotle. Will you open the door and allow us to pass?”

They waited as seconds turned into minutes. The tension mounted, but the sentry did nothing. It gave the impression of waiting for something, but they couldn’t guess what.

“It’s a good bet whatever we need to know is through those doors,” said Alaina. “I’m going to look.”

Before Gallant could grab her, she sprinted right past him—past the metallic robot—and placed both her hands on the double doors.

The doors slide open silently.

The robot never twitched.

All three of them entered the new chamber, which was ten times larger than of the one Wolfe had frequented. Gallant ran adjectives through his mind—imposing, majestic, and formidable, any of which could apply.

To their surprise, a familiar figure stood in the center of the room enclosed in a blue beam streaming from floor to ceiling, several meters away from the ancient AI avatar.

The figure remained silent, but appeared to be in deep concentration—locked in a mutual spiritual meditation with Aristotle.

Gallant and Alaina stood at the entrance to the central control chamber of the ancient AI machine. Wolfe took several hesitant steps toward Hepburn, a perplexed expression on his face.

The walls around the chamber were covered with screens and monitors, all brightly lit, giving the impression of a great deal of activity and power being expended.

Suddenly James Hepburn emerged from the blue beam. The hypnotic expression frozen on his face slowly melted. His face changed from bleached white to beet red within seconds, his fists balled in anger, clearly fighting to control his outrage.

The Aristotle avatar dematerialized and instantly the rows of glowing displays winked out, dropping the illumination of the room considerably. A significant power source had been turned off.

Gallant thought,
I hope that means the laser cannon is now inactive.

Alaina repeated, “Grandfather.”

She took a tentative step toward him, and then stopped. “I don’t understand. How could you?”

Gallant remained stone faced, not daring to speak lest he further tip Hepburn’s passions.

The professor looked at the trio. Taking deep breaths, he slowly recovered some of his equanimity.

Finally he spoke. “It didn’t occur to me you could penetrate my disguise. After twenty years I’ve become convinced of my inscrutability. It is the ultimate lesson of my life. You have triumphed, Gallant. There can be only one outcome now.”

Alaina said, “Grandfather, I don’t understand.”

“Alaina, I did it for you—and all the people of Elysium.” He gestured at Alaina and then he swept his arms in a great arc. “A year after we were settled here, I found this chamber and gained access to the knowledge of the ancient AI’s library. I found I was able to activate its force field controls, and I manipulated Cyrus Wolfe into thinking he had turned it on and off through a remote device which I let him find. It merely signaled me. I operated the force field from this chamber. It caused an uncertain time delay after he thought he had activated it. I activated and operated an avatar that appeared before Wolfe and interacted with him, and later with you, Gallant. I pretended to be the ancient AI machine, to miss lead you.”

“It’s all a lie,” said Wolfe with utter consternation. Then with growing bitterness and venom, he said, “Every word you’ve spoken, every move you’ve made has been nothing but deceit and illusion. You’re not an ancient AI dictating terms and handing out rulings. You’re not a machine. You’re a cheat. You’re a liar. You’re a man playing at god.”

Gallant and Alaina looked at Wolfe and then back to Hepburn.

Ignoring Wolfe, Hepburn responded, “I studied these vaults for years learning more and more science and math from the ancient AI. I learned it was created many millions of years ago during an ancient war.”

“So it wasn’t native to this planet?”

“Aristotle was an ancient Artificial Intelligence berserker machine, self-aware, ten cubic kilometers in volume, and claimed to be a sentient super-being. The machine was originally housed in a huge spaceship consisting of many segments. When it landed here, it buried its multi-arrayed devices and machines deep below the planet’s surface. It drilled all the way into the planet’s molten core and used the power of its thermal energy. It built and controlled a planetary force field,” said Hepburn.

He rubbed his eyes before continuing. “After it was well-established, about one million years ago, Aristotle committed genocide when it killed the entire species of intelligent beings inhabiting Elysium, the Ely.”

Once more he paused, looking back and forth between Gallant and Alaina, as if pleading for understanding. “With their dying breath, the Ely exploded a dark matter bomb. The bomb left Aristotle a defunct contraption buried deep within Elysium.”

“And the giant robot?” asked Gallant.

“Aristotle fabricated the robot, Rur, with limited AI capability, but it was never activated. At least, not until, I unwittingly did so. Under my direction, Rur has been working to repair certain pieces of equipment I wanted to use, such as the planetary force field and the laser cannon.”

“Did you control Rur?”

“Yes. And I was also able to shoot the laser cannon at the
Intrepid.”

“You’re not in your right mind, Grandfather,” said Alaina softly. She touched his shoulder as she looked into his vacant eyes.

“I convinced myself I could eventually be a great benefactor to mankind, releasing tidbits of information from time to time to defeat the Titans and expand human sciences. As such I welcomed your arrival, Lieutenant. I activated the Aristotle avatar and pretended I was the ancient AI. I let you conduct a Turing Test on me. I was delighted to provoke and quiz you in your attempt. Instead of quizzing the AI, you were testing me; a great joke.” A hint of a smile flashed briefly and then disappeared.

Gallant said, “When I made a deal with Wolfe, things changed. Didn’t they?”

“Of course, they did.” The rage reappeared in Hepburn’s face. “You were arming a dictator to oppress the people of Elysium. I couldn’t allow that.”

“Who are you to decide what is right for the people of Elysium? I’m the elected leader. I will decide,” interrupted Wolfe.

Gallant addressed Hepburn. “Did you use your access to Aristotle’s machines to launch cyber-attacks on our facilities?”

“Yes. I tried to stop the tragedy you were creating for my people,” said Hepburn.

“When we didn’t stop, your attacks became more ferocious. People died, Professor. How do you reconcile that?”

“Yes. I hoped to win without serious challenge, but when you proved to be more resilient and resourceful, I became more frustrated with every setback. I was forced to resort to more extreme attacks. Somehow, I couldn’t stop myself. Something drove me to select specific targets and to continue, even after people were hurt. That doesn’t seem right . . .”

“Oh Grandfather,” said Alaina, “you could’ve supported my efforts with the Pro-United Planets organization to lobby for change from within the council. Together we could have made a difference without hurting anyone.”

Hepburn shook his head and became more emotional. “When you three walked in here and exposed me, I wanted to squash you all like insects.” He pounded his fist into his hand, one, two, three times, before he was able to restore his self-control. “Like the bugs, I felt you were.”

Hepburn paced, like a caged animal. “I’ve always considered myself a caring person, a patron of good will. I thought I was the perfect person to have found the AI machine and to control it. I would adjudicate it fairly. Could you imagine if Wolfe had controlled it, instead of me? And he is hardly the worst humanity has to offer. No, I was the best man for the job of shepherding humankind into a greater future.”

Wolfe looked so apoplectic, he couldn’t respond.

“Professor Hepburn, your mind has been under an alien influence,” Gallant offered gently. “The platform with the blue light is more than a control processing station. It is a neural interface to the AI machine itself. Aristotle is an avatar representation of the machine. When you interface with the machine, you’re not able to simply issue orders. The AI is integrating your thoughts with its own intelligent processing. The result is a composite of the two thought processes. I fear you have been expertly manipulated. I sensed the power of this machine when I was analyzing the cyber-attacks on our mining sites. The intelligence behind this machine is dangerous and sinister, whether it poses as a philosophical avatar like Aristotle or not.”

Hepburn said, “Perhaps power does corrupt and absolute power. . . well. . . the temptation is too much. Don’t you think this is too much power—too much power for any man, even a so-called good one, let alone someone not so. . . pure? And my health is not reassuring. What will happen after I’m gone?”

“Professor you can undo part of the damage by helping us now,” said Gallant.

Hepburn seemed confused, unfocused. “Wolfe, you’ll never achieve your ambitions as long as I’m alive.”

“From everything I’ve seen, that’s easily remedied,” said Wolfe. He pulled a laser handgun from his pocket and fired.

The blast burst squarely into Hepburn’s chest and he crashed to the floor.

Gallant was on Wolfe in an instant.

Wolfe’s warped grin quickly vanished as Gallant twisted the gun from his hand.

Wolfe’s shocked and fearful expression told his story—he was now exposed and vulnerable. He put his forearm up to his face as if he was afraid someone was going to strike him. A moment later he turned and ran from the room, vanishing down the passageway.

Alaina rushed to her grandfather’s side. She cradled his head in her arms and began to cry.

“Don’t cry for me, Alaina. There comes a time when one must embrace his fate,” sputtered Hepburn, coughing up blood.

“No, Grandfather!”

“It’s better this way, Alaina. You see, even I can’t trust me, anymore. It’s too much power, too dangerous to be allowed to exist. Young man, take my granddaughter to safety,” said Hepburn, closing his eyes.