The Cold Steel Mind (18 page)

‘Uh, sure. Why aren’t you doing it yourself?’

‘Because you have a mind she can’t hear.’

~~~

The room Aneka was directed to by Speaker when she asked where Shannon was brought on a sudden attack of geek. It was a big open space in the very heart of the station. There was a door halfway up one wall which let you out onto a walkway, railed on either side. That stretched out to a platform like an elongated diamond shape in the middle. Around the sides of the big chamber were huge blocks of machinery and electronics. The light was pretty dim, and that was likely another reason the psychic was here.

Shannon was lying on the floor near the middle of the room, just in front of the podium-like construct which occupied the centre of the diamond. One leg was propped up at the knee and an arm was draped over her closed eyes. A little time had been spent by various members of the crew arranging for the fabrication of more Jenlay clothing and the pilot was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of running shorts which suited her better, but she did not look particularly happy lying on a hard surface beside an enormous sphere which hung in some sort of suspension field between four large ‘paddles’ stretching down like great hands from the ceiling.

‘That doesn’t look particularly comfortable,’ Aneka commented, kneeling down beside the blonde.

‘It’s bliss,’ Shannon replied without moving her arm or looking up. ‘I’ve got enough worries of my own without having to listen to seven other worried people. Speaker told me that this place is pretty heavily screened and well away from all the areas with people in.’

‘What is this place?’

Shannon stretched up her eye-shielding arm and pointed at the sphere suspended in the air nearby. ‘Several hundred years ago, that was the city the local Xinti lived in. The computers the AIs occupy are all around us. So many minds and I can’t hear a single one. Like I said, bliss.’

‘It’s really that bad?’

Shannon nodded. ‘And I don’t have my painkillers.’

‘I’m sure the AIs could give you something.’

‘Yeah, but I’m better off without. If it gets bad I’ll ask, but… I did say I was mildly addicted, right. This is an excuse to stop. It’s just… Everyone’s worried about what’s going to happen. They all want to leave, so they worry they’ll have to stay. They worry that
if
they leave it’ll be a disaster. Monkey worries that we’ll get back and be locked up for good. I hadn’t thought of that one.’ Aneka said nothing; she had thought of that eventuality. ‘Abraham can actually envisage what the military could do with some of this technology. He’s not saying anything aloud, but if anyone is going to be hard to convince to go, it’s him.’

‘I can’t imagine what it’s like, having to deal with everyone else’s problems as well as your own.’

Shannon, obviously feeling far better out of range of the others’ thoughts, grinned. ‘Normally it’s not this bad. Everyone’s focussed on the decision we’ve got to make so it’s all far clearer.’

‘That figures, I guess.’ Aneka looked up at the sphere hanging in empty air above them. ‘So… that’s a computer that executes Xinti minds?’

‘A lot of them at once, yeah. Speaker said something about a multi-dimensional quantum processing system and hyper-parallelism. I glazed over a bit.’

‘So I’ve got something like that in my head?’

‘I guess. A way smaller one. Also, that one’s super-cooled so I wouldn’t touch it.’

‘I wonder what the difference is. I mean, what makes that different from the computers the AIs execute on.’

‘No idea. You want answers to that you’d be best talking to Abraham and Reality.’

Aneka wrinkled her nose. ‘If I do that it’ll take me two weeks to work out what they said.’

Shannon laughed and sat up, crossing her legs. She looked a lot happier. ‘It’s not like most of us have a lot to do.’

~~~

Aneka got the impression that Reality was developing something of a fondness for the old Jenlay physicist. When she asked her question they looked at each other and she could see them thinking. The thoughts were probably something like, ‘How do we explain this to the girl?’ Wallace, she thought, had impressed the AI with the speed he was picking up the science the AIs had been working on for a millennium, but explaining something like this to a soldier…

‘I get that I’m going to have a bit of difficulty in grasping this stuff,’ she said. ‘Just try and I’ll ask questions, and hopefully I’ll be able to grasp the concept if not the details.’

‘In a way,’ Wallace said, ‘the problem is not explaining it to you, but in actually differentiating the two.’

Reality nodded. ‘Both systems are a complex amalgam of photonic, electronic, and quantum components. The systems in the brain machines are so complex that they use multi-dimensional superposition to allow increased amounts of parallelism, thus allowing more minds to be executed within a, relatively, smaller amount of hardware. Essentially the machine exists in more than three dimensions.’

‘But that just lets them house all their minds in one computer and still provides the processing power necessary,’ Wallace went on. ‘At a basic level, the components in your brain do not differ substantially from those in the computer Reality runs on.’

‘The arrangement is different, however,’ Reality said. ‘I execute on an array of general purpose processors. Some are relatively traditional, others qubit based. Your brain and the structures within the one in the Core Room are built from a number of units with varying, specific purposes. Then there is the… software, if you will. Technically it is entirely possible to deconstruct my executable and memory, and use the information to determine exactly how I would react to any set of stimuli. No one has ever found a way to do that with the result of a brain map, even though your mind is created as a program which executes on a computer.’

Aneka frowned. ‘You said, “Technically it is entirely possible.”’

The androgynous figure’s face shifted, thin, grey lips forming a smile. ‘Your selection for your role was clearly a wise choice.’

‘Aneka is a great deal smarter, and certainly more observant, than your typical soldier,’ Wallace agreed, smirking at her.

‘Yes, technically. The scientists would never openly admit it; it would have caused some issues in the structure of Xinti society, but many of the AIs they built were too complex to be defined in such a deterministic manner. That was the basis for their social hierarchy, placing Xinti above artificial creations. To admit that it was, essentially, a prejudice would have disrupted their culture.’

‘So, really, you’re saying that they were no different from a complex robot?’ Aneka said, her stomach sinking. ‘That
I
am basically a robot who thinks it’s a woman?’

Reality nodded. She could tell he could tell that this was the wrong thing to do, but his nature was highly fact-oriented and he would not deny a basic fact.

Wallace had other ideas. ‘What, my dear girl, do you think I am?’

‘Human,’ Aneka replied. ‘Jenlay anyway.’

‘What is a Human if not an organic machine operated by a complex, organic neural network? As I understand it, there was once a definition of life involving respiration and reproduction, and a few other characteristics, but when Humanity, as you call us, left Old Earth they discovered things existed which were clearly a form of life, but did not fit the known model. We junked the model and came up with, “Life is something you know when you see it.” Not very scientific, but far more pragmatic.’ He gave her an intent stare and spoke slowly to emphasise his next statement. ‘You are very clearly a sentient life form. Perhaps, and I mean perhaps, you are not quite the Aneka Jansen who lived on Old Earth before the Xinti War, but you
are
who Aneka Jansen is
now.
’

‘Perhaps one of them,’ Reality said.

Aneka’s gaze snapped around to the AI so fast he actually sat back in his seat. ‘I’m sorry?’ she asked.

‘When the Agroa Gar went missing a new body was constructed and your mind mapping installed. It is unlikely that that one survives to this day, but not entirely…’

‘You did what?!’ Aneka roared.

‘You would have to speak to Evolution to learn the details,’ Reality said, clearly taken aback by her apparent anger.

‘Fuck yes,’ Aneka snarled and headed for the door.

~~~

‘She was designated “Yrimtan,”’ Evolution said, her voice level despite the glower Aneka was directing at her. ‘Not an exact copy of you since she had a different purpose, one defined by Chief Scientist Magdigan. She was to direct the process of Humanity’s uplift from within. This was his answer to the Herosian issue and one both Memory and myself considered insufficient. However, his wishes naturally overrode our views. She was reinserted into Earth society, apparently having recovered from a coma, and returned to your home.’

Aneka’s anger stalled in her mind and was replaced by confusion.
She
had never made it home, but Aneka Jansen had. Her family had been spared the loss. ‘What happened to her?’

‘Her mission was initially a great success. Her reports indicated that your brother, Alan, had been selected to be her agent, for want of a better word. She believed his skills in science would be an excellent front. She directed him, secretly, to write a paper which resulted in him being inducted into the team examining the warp core we dropped on Earth, and he played a pivotal role in ensuring that the technology was understood and could be replicated.’

‘Alan always was clever,’ Aneka said, smiling at the memories. ‘He would have loved being on that project. He had a thing for science fiction.’

Evolution nodded, but her expression was sad. ‘When the Warrior caste set about bombing Earth, they gave no thought to retrieving Yrimtan. They were, according to them, correcting a terrible mistake and they considered her part of that mistake. It is very unlikely that she survived the assault.’

‘I’m tough as Hell,’ Aneka replied. ‘I might have been able to.’

‘She was built to similar specifications, but not quite the same. Her resistance to environmental hazards was not as great. The weapon and shield you have were replaced by neural induction equipment which allowed her to instruct a Human mind directly. That was how she influenced Alan to write his paper and gave him insights he might otherwise have not had.’ The AI saw Aneka’s face tighten. ‘Her touch was subtle, Aneka. It had to be. She selected your brother because he was suitably inclined towards the path she needed and gave only “pushes” in the right direction. As you said, he would have enjoyed the work and was quite clever enough to grasp most of it. If she had had to change him significantly, someone would have detected the change.’

‘Huh. I’m not sure I like this, Eve. Any of it. But I can’t change it and it happened a thousand years ago… I need some time to think this through.’

‘Of course, Aneka. If there is anything I or Speaker can do to help…’

‘I’ll let you know.’

~~~

‘Two Anekas,’ Ella said, grinning. ‘Think of the possibilities.’

The effort involved in getting a good punch in with the girl nestled in her arms dissuaded Aneka from trying. ‘This isn’t funny.’

‘No, not really, but there’s nothing you can do about it and she probably died an age ago. You’re alive and here, and this doesn’t really change anything does it?’

‘No, except…’

‘Except?’

‘She went home. She got to see my family, live my life. It’s like an imposter took my place. Except that she probably had a better copy of my memories than I do so it’s more like I’m the imposter, the fake.’

‘You’re not a fake.’

‘I…’

‘You’re not,’ Ella stated flatly. ‘Even if you’re not the Aneka you were,
you
are you. Does it really matter whether you’ve a perfect set of memories? Jenlay have imperfect memories. It’s a fact, a basic function of the way we store memories. They don’t even stay the same. My memory of an event is a function of what happened, and how I perceive it, and how my mind has changed since the event, and a hundred different factors that influence its recall. Who I am now is what’s important, and the same is true of you.’

Aneka gave that a second of thought. ‘Sometimes having an intelligent girlfriend with a background in psychology is a real pain.’

‘Uh-huh. Of course, I can tell you this stuff, but I can’t make you believe it.’

‘No, but it helps.’

‘Uh-huh. So I’m going to keep telling you as often as I think is needed until you
do
believe it.’

‘You’re mean,’ Aneka responded, pouting.

Ella giggled. ‘Yes, but only when you’re being stubborn.’

1.9.524 FSC.

‘You seem rather more sanguine with your situation, Aneka.’ Evolution was smiling, looking pleased at the change. Aneka had asked to meet her in her project lab to continue their discussion, and she
was
feeling better.

‘I’ve had a couple of days of people reminding me that I’m a real person. Ella’s been very persistent about it.’

‘Miss Narrows, despite her youth, has a remarkable talent for seeing to the root of people’s problems.’

‘She’s forty years older than I am. Or I was before I became ageless.’

‘Compared to the AIs here and the Xinti who created us, she is a baby.’

‘Huh. Compared to you even Abraham is little more than a child, but Reality seems to think he’s doing a good job.’

‘Touché,’ Evolution replied, the smile sliding to more of a grin.

‘You said the Xinti who lived here died?’ It was time to get to business.

‘They chose to stop living.’

‘How? I mean, as far as I can tell I’m basically immortal. I could probably quit eating and drinking and let my power run down, but I’m not even sure that would finish me…’

‘Hmm… How to explain. The basic facts first, I think.’ She paused, apparently considering how to start. ‘When a Xinti chose to cease, their memories were serialised into a database. It was considered rude to destroy your memories along with yourself. Then the… program, the part of the mind which thought, was erased along with any backups.’

‘They can’t be, uh, reconstructed from their memories?’