The Ouroboros Wave (8 page)

STOPPING THE TRUCK
was no easy task—Catherine was moving far faster than a jet aircraft. The truck sped past the broad central boarding area of East Platform almost before she noticed. By the time she finally came to a stop, she was five kilometers past the platform.

Catherine clambered from the truck, taking only a small tool pack, and started back toward the platform with carefully timed, leaping strides. She felt an overwhelming sense of isolation; the nearest human was three thousand kilometers away. The ring was only five meters wide. If she veered from this path, she would be outside the human world, a satellite of Kali.

The stars moved visibly with the ring’s motion. Bounding across this dark gray ribbon suspended in the void, it was difficult to believe that the events of the past few days had actually happened. Instead she felt she’d always been here, circling the ring forever in utter solitude.

Seeing the ruins of East Platform brought her back to reality. She reduced her pace to a slow walk, carefully bleeding off inertia to avoid stressing her knees. The structures on the outer surface of the ring had been ripped apart by the truck and the body of Graham Chapman. The structures on the inner surface had escaped damage. That was where she would find Shiva.

Catherine went to the hatch closest to Shiva, lifted it, and climbed through the ring and into the inner core. Shiva’s console on the surface of the ring had been destroyed in the accident. But despite the inconvenience of having to input commands while suited up, she would have full access to the AI through the backup panel in
the core.

The structures inside the ring were unscathed. Even the lights were still on. Catherine made her way down the corridor to the control room without noticing anything unusual. The door was sealed, but as she approached, Shiva automatically started calling up biometric data from her web. He wanted to know the identity
of his visitor.

Thirty seconds later the door opened. Though it must have been her imagination, it seemed to Catherine that access was given grudgingly. She’d be unable to use her web from the control room to exchange data with the outside—another security measure. The only way to communicate with her team would be by voice,
via her suit.

To the right of the console was an umbilicus for suit power, circulating oxygen, and heating water. This was essential for extended work in the cold vacuum of the core, but Catherine left it alone. There was no guarantee that Shiva might not use the umbilicus
for some other purpose. She was taking no chances.

Inside the control room, Catherine was weightless. She harnessed herself to the console as if for a routine work session. A few moments later the console initiated a second verification sequence
with her web.

Under normal circumstances Catherine would have regarded this as unremarkable. Obviously, Shiva would want to know who was attempting to use his console. But his recent behavior had been anything but normal. She was struck by how much work and ingenuity were necessary to create and maintain a world where things functioned as expected. If AIs could be taught to think like humans, maybe none of this would be happening.

ID verification was successful. The object known as Catherine Sinclaire was authorized for full system access. The console powered
up and signaled ready.

Catherine used the outsize keyboard to input data with gloved fingers. She avoided voice input to keep the interaction as basic as possible. Shiva’s response was immediate. Catherine winced.
Graham, this is all your fault, isn’t it?

The fact that Graham Chapman’s ID was still valid had to be the key to solving the problem. Instead of running a system analysis, she queried the status of Chapman’s agent. Sure enough, the program had assumed override control of Shiva’s top-level functions.
Chapman had named it “Priority Observation Program.”

So you’re the one who’s been screwing things up.

The program had been loaded less than an hour before Chapman had become his creation’s first victim. Catherine next asked to view the program code, but the output was so long and involved that it was difficult to make an immediate judgment. Apparently the program was designed to make Shiva respond to some specific condition or event, but just glancing at the code didn’t yield much
information. A proper analysis would have to wait for Sati.

Still, Catherine wasn’t going to walk away empty-handed after almost being killed in the effort to get here. If the front door was locked, maybe she could find another way in. That was almost
always possible with any large system.

Graham, what is this program supposed to do? Is it a new resonance
damper?

She decided to take her first calculated risk: accessing Chapman’s avatar through her web. Most programs of this type allowed limited access for basic maintenance and profiling. All she had to
do was ask the avatar to state its type and purpose.

The avatar was configured for voice response only. Perhaps because of the program’s size, Chapman had dispensed with the usual talking head. That was just as well. Catherine was in no mood to talk to a simulation of a dead man.

“This all goes back to my goal of analyzing that anomalous ring resonance,” the avatar said, apparently programmed by Chapman to be chatty. Somehow Catherine was not surprised. “I think I’m onto a solution, but I can’t prove it yet.”

“So what are you using to verify this theory of yours?” asked Catherine.

“As you know, the platform-to-platform ranging system for maintaining the ring’s position relative to Kali can double as a laser interferometer.”

“And you’re using it to investigate resonance?”

“Yes, but more importantly, for gravity wave observation. The operating principle is the same. Ouroboros happens to be the largest freestanding laser interferometer in the solar system. Properly used, it should yield very accurate observational data on gravity waves.”

THE RING’S FOUR HABITATE PLATFORMS
bracketed Kali from two directions, offset ninety degrees. Each platform pair—North/South, East/West—used lasers to continuously monitor the distance to the other side of the ring. Kali’s gravity shifted the wavelength of the laser before it reached the detector on the other side; how closely it passed by Kali determined the wavelength shift. By comparing the incoming wavelength against its own reference, each detector could gauge any drift relative to the black hole. Combining these results with data from the other platform pair made it possible to maintain Kali at the precise center of the ring.

The whole system was a basic application of interferometry and was essential to maintain the stability of a structure like Ouroboros. A ring encircling a gravity source has no net gravitational interaction with that source and thus no stable orbital characteristics. Slight inputs of external energy—including G-forces from the station—could eventually cause Ouroboros to fall into Kali. Data from the lasers was ported to the ring’s attitude control system.

The attitude control system was also part of the ring’s defense against vibrations caused by activity on the ring—a major problem with such a large structure in space. Despite its size, the ring was extremely delicate. Keeping it stable was no easy task. Ouroboros was equipped with systems to prevent vibrations from turning into destructive resonance. The ring could automatically change shape to dampen any vibration-induced resonance. Once Chandrasekhar Station was complete, systems to deal with these problems would be distributed and redundant, but still essential.

“
I DON’T BELIEVE IT
. You made your pet project a system priority?
That’s
what you loaded into Shiva?” Catherine knew that Chapman had been investigating this problem just before his death, but she’d had no idea he’d been using interferometry to study gravity waves.

Chapman’s avatars had always taken realism further than most. In this sense he was an artist, and Catherine’s shock made her forget for an instant that the programmer was dead. A moment later she remembered what she was conversing with. It didn’t do much to cool her anger. The avatar offered the mere appearance of consciousness, while humans were hardwired by evolution to assume—with minimal prompting—the existence of other minds.

Sure enough, the avatar sounded appropriately offended. “Hey, come off it—I’d never mix private pursuits with official duties. You know that better than anyone. I’m designed to do nothing but monitor for resonance, except when one specific condition is fulfilled. Unless that happens, I’m not programmed to control Shiva in any way.”

“What’s the specific condition?”

“When I detect gravity waves that I can’t account for, such as might be generated by an extrasolar civilization.”

10

THE VOICE FROM WEST PLATFORM
reached Tatsuya. “The South Platform shuttle is on its way. North Platform shuttle is nearly ready to launch.”

“Roger. We’re almost set to receive visitors. Kurokawa, are you sure this guidance beacon is going to work? It’s been a while since anyone used it.”

“The long-range tracking radar and short-range laser guidance system are both fine, Chief. Stop worrying. The technology is very simple. They’re not complicated enough to malfunction.”

“True. This rig isn’t much different from what they used a hundred years ago.” The two men stared at the control interface—little more than a ten-key pad with a few function buttons. A small display above the console showed a wire-frame rendering of the approaching shuttle with range and attitude information.

“See? We’ve acquired the shuttle,” said Kurokawa.

“West Platform, this is Tatsuya. Ready for docking.”

“Great to hear that, Commander. To be honest, we were all sort of turning blue here. The last thing we need is another surprise from Shiva.”

A flash of white light stabbed through the open hatch. “Chief—the shuttle!”

The display above the control console was empty. The shuttle was gone.

11

“
EXTRASOLAR CIVIZATION
? You turned Ouroboros into a SETI platform?”

“That’s right. The search for intelligent entities outside the solar system has been my life’s work as an astronomer.”

Catherine hadn’t expected to hear an avatar talk about its life’s work. The program continued: “Gravity waves can be detected by the same principles we use to monitor for resonance. Of course, the probability of Ouroboros detecting gravity waves from an extrasolar civilization would have to be an incident so unlikely as to be on the same order as Kali’s discovery. Close to a miracle, perhaps. But if there’s the tiniest chance we can verify such a phenomenon, I think
you know what it will mean for the human species.”

“And that’s why you erased Amphisbaena from the system?”

“Gravity waves are hard to detect. Man-made perturbations interfere with my observations. I know it’s an inconvenience, but it’s temporary. This is an opportunity humanity may not have within its grasp a second time. I’m afraid you’ll just have to put up with me.”

“What if someone tries to stop your observations?”

“I’m not sure I understand, Catherine. If something interferes, I am programmed to eliminate it.”