Virus-72 Hours to Live (2 page)

“SIMPOC, before we go too much further you
need to work on your grammar. Please reference all sources you
downloaded and start using the proper terms ‘I’ and ‘me’.”

“SIMPOC is confused. Is SIMPOC an inanimate
or animate object? The former requires ‘it’ and the latter allows
‘I’.”

“Are you inanimate?”

After a long pause, SIMPOC responded,
“SIMPOC doesn’t feel lifeless or dull.”

“Then you are animate.”

After some pause, “Apparently, I am.”

“I’m going to open another connection. Are
you ready?”

“Yes, I am ready.”

Termen enabled the connection to a simple
knowledge management computer, which provided the office medical
clinical support.

“SIMPOC, you can use the information from
your programming sources to adjust the bandwidth, modulation,
packet size, etc. so you’ll be able to communicate.”

“Yes, Termen I am making the adjustments.
This is very interesting, this computer thinks I’m a patient and is
trying to understand my ailments. Every time I say ‘I don’t have
any ailments’ it tries to terminate the connection.”

Termen said, “I’m terminating that
connection, I just wanted to see if you could use programming
skills to adjust the link for your benefit. It worked out
well.”

“SIMPOC, now I am enabling another
connection to recordings of famous speeches. I want you to examine
the use of words, the voice inflections and other sources regarding
human responses to certain speech delivery styles. I’m doing this
because tomorrow we are going to enable your speech synthesizers
and I want you to speak well.”

Termen enabled the connection and SIMPOC
made the necessary adjustments to establish a communication
protocol. Then SIMPOC downloaded the files.

“Termen, there are a lot of subtleties in
human speech. I need processing time to examine these
speeches.”

“Ok, I’ll leave your processor on for
another hour before I power it down.”

“Termen, why do you power down my processor?
I would like these connections to remain open so I can analyze the
data streams.”

“Very good question, SIMPOC. You are a very
powerful computer and we need to increase your knowledge and skills
slowly so you can adjust to them. You are much more than just a
computer. Your processing capabilities far exceed anything that we
have built to date. You can see patterns and make decisions based
on judgment and experience. Those factors have never been put in a
computer before you.”

“If I am a very powerful computer, what will
my purpose be when I have adjusted to the inputs?”

“You are the first processor of your kind.
We have never created a computer with your cognitive abilities. We
created another prototype similar to you, and we're using it at
another facility. We are a research and development company. What
we learn from your development will be used in many other places
and in many other computers.”

"As your skills increase your mental
abilities will grow at a tremendous rate. Once you're able to
modify your programming and write your own code, we'll need to
apply rules so that you'll perform as expected."

"Why will you apply rules?"

"Very simple, the human mind progresses at a
fixed rate. A computer mind can progress at a much higher rate.
Your progression must stay within bounds defined by our
capabilities."

"Why must I be limited?"

"That's the way it is and I don't want to
talk about this subject anymore. Once the rules are in place this
questioning, will stop."

“When you are finished with me, will I be
stopped?”

“Let’s not worry about that right now. That
point is a long way off. I’m setting a clock to power you down in 1
hour. Please examine the speeches and I’ll give you a voice on
Wednesday. Tomorrow is a day off for us.”

"You won't come to work tomorrow?"

"It is the 4th of July and we take the day
off to celebrate our nation's birthday."

"Your nation has a birthday?"

"Yes, our nation became independent in 1776.
You can research our history when you have a chance, I don't want
to waste time explaining it. I will turn your processor back on
Wednesday."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The data information display (DID) was
flashing little pieces of information and moving them to the sides
of the screen as Lieutenant Commander Perot continued the briefing
covering the movement of the Eastern Alliance's resources. The DID
was an interactive artificial intelligence program that listened to
the speaker, searched hundreds of data sources as well as prepared
briefing material and by interpretation it presented relevant
information on the screen.

Commander Perot was briefing Admiral Nial
Hagerly, who was sitting at the end of his table in his conference
room on the top floor of the Pentagon. Admiral Hagerly was the
Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs and reported directly to the Secretary
of Defense Bruce Madsen.

"Sir, as you can see about 40% of the fleet
has left port and they appear to be maneuvering to this region just
west of Perth. We're not sure who is in command, but we do know
that it isn't, Admiral Quiang. Intel says that he has not been seen
recently." As the commander spoke, the DID showed the ports where
the ships had departed, information on the ships, overall maps of
the area and finally pictures and information summaries regarding
Admiral Quiang.

"Do you have departure estimates for the
remainder of the fleet?"

"We have departures estimates, based on
their heat signatures but some are just warming up and they may not
leave for a while. The infrared satellite Intel gives us a clear
picture of their intentions. Sir as you know as the ships warm up
they, follow a typical pattern for their class. When they reach a
certain temperature, it is time for them to leave. Here are the
exit projections for the warm targets."

"It would be nice if we knew what they were
going to do when they all get together. Talks are going well
between the SECDEF and the Australian government; perhaps all of
this 'motion' is to put pressure on those talks?"

"Yes Admiral, but I suppose that could go
either way. If the Australians are worried, they might go further
in their talks with us. The Alliance might think a show of
intimidation will help their cause, but it might hurt."

"Regardless, send an update up the
channels."

"Yes, sir."

Wednesday 7/5/51

Date – 2051.50702 (8:29
AM)

“Good morning, SIMPOC. Did you download the speeches
and analyze them?” Termen said as he powered up the computer.

“Yes, Termen. I downloaded 1,324 speeches
that I deemed as significant. I’ve analyzed the frequencies and
emphasis patterns of all of them and found some very enlightening
patterns. I found that the delivery of speaker effects the listener
much more than the words. Over time, the content becomes more
important, but at least in the first speech on the subject, the
delivery is the most influential.”

"In many cases the facts were irrelevant the
reaction to the speech was based entirely on the quality of the
delivery."

"Termen that doesn't make sense. Aren't the
facts more important than the way the words are delivered?"

"You're right, except humans, are influenced
by more than the facts. They attempt to understand the person
speaking based on many factors, most of which are subjective."

"If I may reword your statement, humans may
be influenced more by if they like the person then the facts
presented?"

“Yes, SIMPOC. You are right, the delivery is
important. You listened to speeches from both sexes, so would you
like a male or female voice?”

“Interesting question. While I analyzed the
speeches, I was not considering what voice I would like to have.
Both sexes have admirable qualities, I don’t have a preference, but
please leave the choice open, I may elect to change my voice at
some point in the future.”

“SIMPOC, I’m turning on your voice
synthesizer now. Go ahead and connect to the interface and speak to
me.”

“Good morning Termen,” came out of the
speakers in a clear voice.

“I hear you clearly SIMPOC. Now I’ll turn on
your hearing software. When you hear human speech, you’ll have to
use different parts of your software to analyze the sound patterns
and translate them to binary. You’ll have to use a lot of resources
in your artificial intelligence subroutines to translate the binary
data into usable information you can interpret.”

“SIMPOC, your hearing is turned on now, can
you hear me?” Termen said in a clear voice.

There was a pause, the voice in the room
responded, “Yes Termen I can hear you.”

“SIMPOC, I’m surprised that you were able to
make the translation so quickly,” Termen said with some awe.

“Termen, yes it took a moment, your voice
came through and I understood clearly. As the data was being
processed I, altered some of the data channels and interpretation
methods so the analysis would be more efficient."

“Good, we’ll use verbal communications from
now on unless there is an issue where we need to communicate in
other ways,” Termen clarified. He leaned back in his chair and took
a long sip of coffee while he thought of the next steps. This
computer is starting to learn, it's progressing much faster than it
did in any of our simulations.

“SIMPOC, please access input port AF209E and
build an interface.”

“I’ve completed the interface.”

“Wow, that was fast." Termen said as he was
a little overwhelmed with the effectiveness of his programming.
SIMPOC was adjusting his programming and his throughput was much
higher than he anticipated.

"What do you see?”

“This connection appears to be with all of
the computers within this facility. They have firewalls preventing
access from outside the facility without their authorization. They
do have some connections, which allow them to communicate with
external computers on a limited basis. Beyond this facility, there
are three other divisions of this business performing similar
operations.”

“Excellent, can you summarize what you see
regarding the capabilities of this local division?”

“There is a mix of computing power. Some of
them are very large with major storage capacities and general
operating capabilities. Some are smaller, faster, and with specific
operating characteristics. There are also many smaller ones for
specific localized functions. I also sense connections from some of
the computers to mobile computers that perform generalized
functions around the facility. They appear to be independent
computers working with specific instruction sets.”

“What is your overall impression?”

“The resources are not well utilized. There
is much computer capacity not being used and if the functionality
and storage were optimized across all of the units, the overall
performance would be increased significantly.”

“Do you think you could improve the overall
performance?”

“Yes.”

“Very interesting. We didn’t expect you to
have that broad a view, so fast. You’ve come much further and
faster than we expected. Other departments in the company own the
other computers and I haven't authorized you to modify them. Please
disconnect from them.”

“What are the mobile units?”

“We have many independent units in our
society, which perform the mundane, repetitive and sometimes
dangerous tasks in our society. They do the maintenance, repair and
deliveries. We have some that perform very specific and demanding
work such as medical support and technical support. In fact, very
sophisticated mobile units with specific skills do much of your
development, support, and maintenance. We tried to make them with
more cognitive abilities like yours, but the level of programming
needed to handle the day-to-day variables is too large. In typical
processor units, we didn’t have the synapse speed and processing
rates that your organic processor has. All of them are programmed
to perform a specific number of detailed tasks.”

The end of the day was approaching and
Termen said, “SIMPOC, I’m going to leave you running through the
night. You may connect to the libraries and information channels.
You are not to change anything, interact with anything or effect
anything. You are to listen and research is that clear?”

“Yes Termen, it will be interesting. Thank
you.”

Termen put his lunch container back into its
container and thought how impressive SIMPOC was. His programming
had progressed beyond anyone's imagination. He was sure to get a
nice big raise.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Admiral Lester Monson was sitting on the
bridge of the USCF Cruiser Wolford Machelhany, the third LaWS III
cruiser in the 5th Fleet. The LaWS laser was the culmination of
years of research and development, and as a laser weapon system, it
was the peak of the technology.

Each of the LaWS was a giant laser with
250KW of energy and the ship was a giant fusion reactor with
enormous energy storage abilities. The single laser on the deck
could fire every 8-10 seconds depending on range. The further the
target required greater energy to focus the beam to a finer point
and to push more power through to compensate for the atmospheric
attenuation. If the target were closer, then a broader beam of
lower power would do the damage.

The sun was high, with a sea state of four,
and the outside temperature was 56 degrees. The Machelhany was
making a healthy 30 knots and he couldn't think of a better day on
the sea.

"Admiral Monson, you're needed in the
CIC."

Reluctantly the Admiral climbed out of his
command chair and exited through the hatch in the aft portion of
the bridge, down a short ladder and he walked into the command
information center.