A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (50 page)

              A short time later, Tamara walked into the yard complex, left her ship behind and headed for the computer core area. 
This should have been done days ago
, she found herself thinking but then she once again dismissed the thought.  Once she arrived there, she was surprised to find Eretria Sterling already at the core, the silver-haired woman was making last-minute connections for the new core processors that had been in the delivery Tamara had her pilot make here.  It shouldn’t have taken four days to get this hooked up, but Tamara understood.  Eretria didn’t have the access codes to activate the cores, so there wasn’t much point in making sure they were connected up with the rest of the core, but Tamara had to admit a degree of surprise that Eretria just
happened
to be here, finishing up as Tamara arrived.  But then she saw the amused looks on her guards’ faces and realized that the back channel gossips had sent on ahead the information and time of her arrival.  It wasn’t as though she had tried to keep it a secret, her arrival or her travel plans, but it was always amusing to see it in action.

              The Yard Manager looked up once she’d finished.  “Good afternoon, Ma’am,” she said, getting to her feet and brushing off her hands.

              “Good afternoon, Eretria,” Tamara replied, smiling.  “I see you got the package.”

              “Several of them, Ma’am,” she said, returning the smile.  “Just waiting on you to bring this one online.  But the collection of parts and tools you sent will certainly help out with getting
Verdun
and
Xie Feng
moving along.  Might shave a few days off the destroyer and nearly a week from the escort-frigate.”

              “That was my plan,” Tamara replied, giving a critical eye to the cables that Eretria had just finished with.  “And I knew you’d know what to do with them.”

              “So, then, Ma’am,” Eretria said, moving away from the core processor.  She gestured.  “It’s just awaiting your light touch.”

              Two of the bodyguards snorted, but Tamara ignored them.  Stepping up to it, she pressed a few buttons on the small pad on the top.  Pressing her thumb to the data port, she brought up her HUD and sent her access codes.  “Command XJ six dash two four nine dash one one.  Authorization: Samair four seven two.  Command: Activate.”

              A voice sounded over the speakers.  “I am already awake, Captain Tamara Samair.”

              “I see,” Tamara said.  Her diagnostic showed that the AI had awoken the very instant she had entered her command code and spoke the word.  Any sort of delay was just for the benefit of the fleshies before it.  She turned to Eretria.  “Yard Manager Eretria Sterling, may I present the new AI Apogee.”

              Eretria gave a small bow.  “Pleasure to meet you, Apogee.  And it will be good to be working with you.”  Then she frowned.  “Do you have a form?  Something that we can look at?”

              “I am a computer construct,” the voice replied over the speakers.  It was distinctly female, but it was in a deeper octave.  “I do not have a body as you organics do.”

              “Well, perhaps not,” the Yard Manager said.  “But other AI’s that we’ve worked with have chosen a form for themselves to be projected as a hologram.  Organics tend to respond better to a presence when they can see her as well as talk to her.”

              “That is organic foolishness,” Apogee replied, her tone sour.  “I am not an organic, I am an AI.  I see no reason why all of you cannot adapt to me.”

              “Perhaps,” Eretria acknowledged.  “And I’m sure that there many things that we will have to adapt to, but hearing disembodied voices tends to be disturbing for organics.  And I can’t have you scaring the workers just because you think it’s a silly custom.”

              The AI made a noise that sounded almost like a sigh.  The computer core had a small holo projector, installed for just this purpose, as well as for diagnostic reasons, to bring up schematics and other such constructs or diagrams.  The projector activated, but instead of a roughly humanoid shape, Apogee provided an image of shimmering strands of color, weaving slowly in and out of each other.  The movement was oddly hypnotic.  “How is this?” she asked.

              Tamara smiled.  “It’s certainly not what I expected, but I like it.”

              Eretria stared at the holo for a long moment.  Apogee was apparently self-conscious at the silence and the scrutiny and broke.  “You do not like it, Yard Manager Sterling?”

              She grunted and shook her head.  “What I don’t like is being addressed that way while we’re in private.  My name is Eretria, please use it.  If we’re in front of the workers, if you must be formal, you may call me Ms. Sterling.  Being called Yard Manager makes me think I’m a landscape architect.”  Tamara laughed and the bodyguards all chuffed out chuckles.  “You certainly did take what I said to heart, Apogee.  I must agree with Ms. Samair.  It suits you.”

              “Thank you… Eretria,” the AI responded, sounding almost shy.

              “Now,” Tamara said, moving forward.  “We’ve got some work to do getting the automated factory systems integrated into yours, Apogee.”  She stepped back from the console.  “And if I know you, I’m sure you’ve already started.”

              “You assume correctly, Ms. Samair.  Integration is underway.  Once the factory systems are online, we can have replicators churning out parts and I can get the constructor bots moving at a much more efficient pace.  You’ve done a good job so far, Eretria,” the AI congratulated, “But with my help, we can get things moving at a much greater rate of speed.”

              “So long as quality doesn’t start dropping,” Eretria warned.  “We organics might be slow, but so far my people have done an excellent job.”

              “Understood,” Apogee said.  It was hard to tell, based on her form, but it almost seemed as though the AI was offended by the thought that organics could be more efficient and produce better quality equipment and ships than she could.

              “You’re a new AI,” Tamara said.  “And since we’ll have you taking over a large fraction of the work here, Apogee, I don’t want to overload you.  If it’s getting too much, I don’t want you to just try and suck it up and deal.  And I want you to devote ten percent of assets to maintenance here in the yards for both yourself and the constructor bots.  If things start getting out of hand, or quality starts dropping, tell me, or Ms. Sterling and we’ll work with you on it.  I don’t want you spiraling into a recursive loop because you think you can handle things on your own.  We’re a team here, Apogee, all of us.  You’re not alone and I don’t expect you to work alone.”

              “Understood, Ms. Samair,” Apogee replied, sounding touched. 

              “All right, if you both don’t mind, I think I’ll take a tour of
Verdun
while I’m here,” Tamara said, clasping her hands behind her back.  She waved a hand as Eretria got a slightly stricken look on her face.  “I don’t need an escort, Ms. Sterling and I’ll be sure to stay out of the way of the work parties.  I just want to see how the company’s newest escort-frigate is coming along.  Computer images never really tell the whole story and I always like to see constructions in progress.”

              Eretria made a face, but then quickly suppressed it and nodded.  “Of course, ma’am.  But you
will
stay out of my people’s way?”

              Tamara smiled patiently.  “Yes, Eretria.  Don’t worry, I don’t need an accident investigation going on because of my comings and goings.  I’ll be good.”  She gestured to her guards, who parted for her to pass between them.  “Come on, you lot.  Let’s go.”

              Once she was gone, the AI spoke up.  “She’s not what I expected of her.”

              Eretria snorted.  “You didn’t work with her when she was building your core matrix?”
              The color swirl pulsed slightly.  “Well, yes, but that was different.  We didn’t actually speak.  She just did the coding and, well…”

              “Brought you to life?” the woman asked gently.

              “We never really talked.  Not when I wasn’t in my build stage.  We never really talked until just now.  She’s different than I expected,” Apogee repeated.

              “What did you expect?”  Eretria was curious.

              The AI paused.  “I expected her to be more… authoritative.  She told me to request help if I felt I needed it, but I expected that with my core matrix online, she would be demanding maximum output from the yards.”

              “She
is
expecting maximum output,” Eretria corrected.  But then she smiled.  “And so am I.  But we don’t want a seven percent increase in output only to have you overload your processors or burn out half the constructor bots in the process.”

              Apogee considered that for point three six seconds, an eternity for an AI.  “Yes, I can see how that would be a detriment.”

              “For now, things are at peace,” Eretria went on.  “We’re not under attack and there is no immediate threat, but make no mistake, there
is
a threat out there.  I wasn’t personally there, but the outer system was attacked only a few weeks ago.  The pirates that attacked left with a good deal of stolen goods and with only minimal losses on their side.  It is the considered opinion of the upper eschelon of the company that the pirates will be back, perhaps in greater numbers or with stronger forces.  So we need to be ready.  So if we need you to spend ten percent of assets on maintenance to keep things running for longer, then that’s a sacrifice we’re willing to endure.  It’s not a sacrifice, really.  We don’t want you working yourself to death any more than we would any of the organic workers.  You’re a member of the crew, of the company now.”

              “I see.”  The AI considered what had been said.  “Thank you.”

              Eretria reached out and patted the core processor awkwardly.  “You’re welcome, Apogee.  You’re one of us now.”

              The strands of color seemed to twitch.  “I should hope not.  I’m a construct, a program, not a flesh and blood creature like you and the others.”  She sounded vaguely offended.

              “Well, yes, of course.”  She shook her head slightly.  “But we have work to get to.  What is the status of the systems integration?”

              “Forty-one percent complete.  I can begin work now, but it will be at reduced capacity, of course.”

              Eretria waved a hand.  “No, hold off.  Once you have full integration of the automated factory into your processors, then you can begin.  It’s only a few minutes more.  Familiarize yourself with the shipyards and the company while that’s going on, if you’ve got spare processors.  Get yourself up to speed on company operations, but please understand, you’re not to just share information willy-nilly with anyone who asks.  They need to have proper authorization for you to release information.”

              “Of course,” the AI responded immediately.  “That only makes sense.  But I wonder, what if a member of the admin council comes and directly asks for information?”

              The engineer grimaced.  “That’s a thorny issue.  They
are
the governing body in this star system, but they are usually respectful of the niceties.  They’ll come to me or to Ms. Samair; none of them should be asking you anything directly.  Unless it’s just polite conversation, of course.”

              “And if they do ask me to betray company secrets or interests?”

              She sighed.  ”Then refer them to higher authority, either myself or Ms. Korneyev or Ms. Samair, or ultimately Captain Eamonn, if he’s in the system.”

              “Ah, Vincent Eamonn, Captain of the bulk freighter
Grania Estelle
.  He is primary shareholder for First Principles,” Apogee acknowledged.  “I understand.”

              “Good.  Then let’s get to work.”

              She was walking through the Environmental spaces, checking things over when Tamara’s communicator beeped.  She pulled it from her pocket and flipped it open.  “Samair here.”

              “Ma’am, we’re receiving a burst transmission from the Kutok mine,” her pilot reported.  “It’s from Councilor Hroth.  She’s requesting you return to the mine at your earliest convenience.  I guess something of importance happened with the rest of the admin council and she wants to talk with you about it.”  He seemed slightly concerned, but he wasn’t panicking. 

             
Can’t be all that bad, though the fact that she’s summoning me back to my own station can’t be a good thing. 
“Understood,” she said instead.  “Prep the ship for departure.  We’ll be there within the hour and we can make the journey back as soon as we’re aboard.”

             
“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied.  “I’ll be waiting.”  The call ended.

              She closed the communicator and pocketed it.  “All right, kids,” Tamara said, turning to her nearby guards.  “Show’s over.  I have a meeting at the Kutok mine to get back for.”

              “We’re cutting the inspection short then, Ma’am?” Viktoriya asked, her ears flicking.

              “Yes,” Tamara said with a slight frown.  “It seems the Councilor has need of my presence.  Apparently some sort of great happening occurred between her and the rest of the council and now she wants me back at the Kutok mine to discuss it.”