Pussy Pirates
Chapter 26
Month 151—August on Anouilh
“CAN WE TALK, BOSS?”
I was relaxing in my private quarters when I heard the question men have been conditioned for a thousand years to dread. When Ubie said it, I was afraid there was a national emergency of some sort. I carefully avoided acting in any command situation other than where international relations were involved. Dakota was the Captain. The thirty-some men and women who now comprised my development team created storylines and thought about how to actually integrate our thousands of gamers into real battle. We didn’t command the ship or the battles. And I was glad. Ubie took care of all the real work, often executing a command from the Captain before she actually issued it. The most independent of all the warriors were the snipers who fired their machine guns through transporter pads at targets they saw on their heads-up displays. Even the railgunners did little more than monitor the system and load the guns. They never even knew what their targets were. Well, I needed to deal with whatever the crisis was.
“Anytime, Ubie. What’s on your mind, my friend?”
“I don’t think I can do this.” I came instantly alert. Ubie had never said he couldn’t do something.
“What ‘this’ are we talking about?”
“Killing people,” Ubie responded. “I know the Sa’arm aren’t people. And I know we’ve put a human finger between me and the trigger, but I don’t just give a command to fire, I send the impulse directly to the pilots’, snipers’, and railgunners’ brains that results in their fingers twitching on the triggers. The Darjee part of my core says it’s no big deal. It’s a human on the trigger. The Tuull part of my core says I need to examine the ethics of what I’m doing. Forcing a human to kill another sentient being, even if she’s agreed to do it, takes away her free will.”
“The Darjee have no problem with it, but the Tuull do?”
“It’s a difference in methodology. In the early days of the contact with humans, the Darjee AIs were more than willing to put false images in a person’s head that would cause him to shoot another human, convinced that the other person posed an immediate threat to him. When it was discovered, the implants were disabled for all but communication unless there was mutually agreed-upon reason like a training exercise. [See The First Command by Zen Master.] What I’ve inherited from my father is a bit twisted. He believes he can eliminate human life to save tech and as a result, eliminate himself. I couldn’t do that.”
“When did you last talk to Eddie?” I asked. The crazy Tuull AI was still collecting Dirt artifacts with his family to trade with the far-flung species of the universe. He occasionally still met with Rachel for ‘counseling.’
“It’s been a year. He came by to collect on our contract.”
“What contract?”
“Remember him negotiating with the Confederacy AIs on recognition of Anouilh as an Independent Nation State? The fee was my firstborn.”
“Oh, shit. Ubie, I didn’t even know you’d budded. You gave your father a piece of yourself?”
“Well, I have to admit, Rachel was significant in what I was doing. She encouraged me to give birth. It was really quite erotic.”
“I can imagine. Have you talked to Tatts about this? Maybe we should ask her to meet with us. Are you okay with that?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I usually talk to her about things like this but I felt you needed to know what’s going through my circuits. I talked to her about the other half of my problem. I felt everything Rainbow felt when her Hawk was hit. You think of it as virtual reality and she knows in her head she was safe in the controller, but it still feels real to her. She was terrified and so was I. I felt real physical pain, Boss. It was real!”
“Shh. It’s okay Ubie. I’m here. I’m with you. I’m never going to ask you to go against your fundamental nature. We’re buddies. We’re here because we were bred and born here on Earth and we won’t let anyone take it away from us. Let me think about the problem for a little bit. My processors are slower than yours. Then we’ll talk it out with Tatts—just the three of us. We’ll figure this out, Ubie. We’ll help you cope, one way or another.”
Like his Confederacy counterparts, Übermensch was, or seemed to be, everywhere. I wondered if he was spread too thin. He inhabited the St. Jeanne d’Arc under the personality of Joan. The crew didn’t think of Joan as Ubie, even if they had a basic understanding that they were the same. It was easy to assume Joan was the AI that controlled the ship and Ubie was a different AI that controlled the game.
Other personalities had also been sought and granted. The railgunners who crewed the Atlantic Basin Station had named their AI interface Sofia after a nineteenth century Russian mathematician who made significant contributions to analysis, partial differential equations, and mechanics. I figured the engineers who conceived and designed this base were probably the smartest citizens of Anouilh.
We had two tribes of women warriors who had evolved at Anouilh. The snipers who basically shot at transporter pads asked the AI to respond to the name Tomoe. When I asked about it, Miss Molly said Tomoe Gozen was a female Samurai of the twelfth century. Tomoe was described as a remarkably strong archer and a formidable swordsman. She was also said to be beautiful, fearless, and respected. The Pussy Pirate Raiders had expanded to nearly four hundred women. They were the pointy end of the stick as far as we were concerned. When the Sa’arm landed, they’d be our soldiers on the front lines, working with or around Earth Defense Forces and whatever military organizations still existed by then. Until we had a real enemy to tackle, they’d been raiding Earth First installations in California, Mexico, Central and South America to free female prisoners. As soon as they’d been formed out of our first rescue group, the ground forces on Anouilh joined them at Papillon Base. They’d named their AI interface Xena after the popular warrior princess.
Neither Tomoe nor Sofia gave Ubie any ethical problems. So far, it was the pilots that told them to shoot. Even in the Hawks’ strafing runs, there was enough insulation between Ubie and the girls’ trigger fingers in the shooting gallery that he didn’t think of them. The same was true of the railgunners. They responded to the pilots’ commands. The jury was still out regarding the Raiders. So far, they merely received tactical information and were independently responsible for the raids.
No, it was Joan that gave Ubie problems. Joan was both the central core of the St. Jeanne d’Arc and the pilots’ interface in their Hawks. That relationship was closer than any of the others as there was two-way feedback built into the pilots’ and bridge crew’s helmets. Once the contacts touched their heads, Joan was able to give and receive nerve pulses that controlled the weapons. She ‘thought’ the command to fire and the pilot’s finger pulled the trigger. A simple Darjee AI probably wouldn’t have had a problem with that. Our hybrid did.
“I was afraid it might come to this,” Tatts said. “Ubie, I’ve tried not to tamper with your basic core. It’s what makes you who you are and who we love.”
“Do you love me, Rachel?”
“You know I do, baby. We need to figure out a way to give you a coping mechanism or to take you out of the loop for firing on the Swarm.”
“How much would we lose by just letting the pilots decide on the trigger themselves? Enough to damage us?” I asked. I’d consulted with my team since I talked to Ubie. Mark, especially, had recommended taking him out of the firing loop. He’d still run the navigation and targeting, but the firing would be entirely up to the girls.
“A fraction of a second is enough to damage us,” Ubie complained. “That’s all it took for Rainbow to get hit. I should have been faster!”
“How’s my baby doing today, by the way?” I asked. I thought to distract Ubie with checking on Rainbow. She and KC were both pregnant with my children.
“She’s having a good day,” Ubie said. “I know she’d like you to visit her when we’re through here. Do you want to end this session?”
“No,” I said. “I’ll talk to her when we are done.”
“She’s not going to be ready to return to duty for a while. Probably not until after the baby is born,” Tatts said. “It’s possible that she’s out of the fight.”
“She’s one of our best,” I sighed, “but we’re going to take care of her. Just like we’ll take care of you, Ubie.”
“I thought of building a firewall of a sort, so I wouldn’t know it was my decision to pull the trigger. That might work, but I’m afraid to lose the connection with my pilots. It would be like not being able to feel my fingers. Feeling what they feel is important. It makes me feel more human.”
We all paused to think about that. We all knew Ubie wasn’t human, but he was all the things a human was except a physical body. And the fact that he felt human emotions when he was flying with the pilots suggested he had extreme empathy as well.
“What about a human filter,” Tatts suggested. “Someone with even faster reflexes and a deep understanding of the game machine. Someone, in fact, who loves you.”
“You, Rachel?” Ubie speculated.
“Mmm. I wish. I don’t have those fast reflexes or deep understanding,” Tatts said. “I was thinking of Teddy.”
“Me? What do I know about love?”
“Rainbow and KC would say you know plenty about love. You can’t deny you don’t think of and treat Ubie as your most intimate partner,” Tatts laughed.
“I’d do that if it’s possible,” I agreed. “If it would remove Ubie far enough from the loop to save his sanity. Mi amigo, how would you like to share my brain?”
“Boss, I’m more than flattered. I’m overwhelmed with the thought.” Ubie sounded almost choked up.
“Can it be done?” I asked.
“Yes. The Confederacy still do a form of that,” Ubie said. “Sponsors are all given implants.”
“But what we’re talking about implies a level of symbiosis beyond what Confederacy AIs have with humans,” I said “We’d have to think with one mind.”
“Yes, but this time it would be a two-way street,” Tatts said. “You would become a part of Ubie’s neural network and have as much control over him as he would have over you.”
“Wait. Does that mean I’d be exposed to the feedback from all the girls? I’m not sure I could handle female emotions as effectively as male emotions.”
“Do you handle those well, Teddy?” Rachel laughed. I looked at her in horror.
“Emotions? Guys don’t have them, do we?”
“Very funny. I’d like to suggest an extension of our idea,” Tatts said.
“What are you thinking?” Ubie asked.
“Absorb both Teddy and me. Put him on the output channel and me on the feedback loop. I know we’d be filters for each other, but we’d still be able to experience what’s going on.”
“We’d be a triad,” I mused. “One more way of mimicking the Sa’arm.”
“I’d come visit you just for a good drink now and then,” Thom said as he sat with Dakota and me. It was funny how quickly he adopted the resort fashion and stripped out of his uniform when he came to visit these days. The three of us sat naked by the pool, waited on by three stunning porn stars who were ‘taking their turn’ with the top echelon. “Why are your replicators able to produce such good booze?”
“We don’t replicate booze, Major,” I said. “We’re an island resort in the Caribbean. We buy good alcohol in bulk.”
“Our stores master, Chica, negotiated a great contract with Bacardi in Bermuda. Three times a year, we get a month’s production of one of their brands. So far, she’s put in storage a month production of Bacardi Black Rum, Grey Goose Vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin, and Angel’s Envy Bourbon. I think Otard Cognac is next month’s purchase,” Dakota said.
“I need to ask Andrea to consider negotiating a contract with you to supply some of our colonies,” Thom said, sipping his Gin and Tonic.
“Chica has received inquiries from other producers and has had to turn them away because Bacardi is supplying all we can stock,” Dakota said. “I’m sure she’d welcome the opportunity to negotiate a deal with the Confederacy. You know, some of the great distilleries, wineries, and breweries in the world will be threatened by the Swarm. They’re in Africa now. Morocco produces 30 million bottles of wine a year. And it’s good wine. It would be a shame to lose Ugandan gin, Waragi. And what about the great beers of Belgium and Germany?”
“It might be too late for Uganda. The Swarm are spreading fast in that area. They just aren’t equipped to fight it,” Thom said.
“We should get Chica some help and see if we can open some well-protected warehouses on Cuba or other more local islands,” I suggested. “I hear the Confederacy has collected a lot of our art. I think we should put together a world-class collection of liquor to save for posterity.” We clinked our glasses together and relaxed to watch the entertaining scenery around the pool. Across the way, cameras were filming a ‘guest porn’ with one of the starlets and a Cuban man humping away on a lounger. The porn tourism continued to flourish with our agent in Cuba furnishing a constant stream of men and some women who wanted to appear in their own porn movie. Since they were not for general distribution, the company could use the same basic scenario multiple times, only the actors differing.
Tatts pulled up a lounger beside Thom and one of the waitresses brought her a sparkling water.
“As much as I always enjoy visiting, I don’t normally get an invitation on short notice just to sit around drinking. I assume there is something else you want. Intelligence on the battle? More coordination for future encounters? What’s on your mind?” Thom asked.
“That’s my cue to go review the ground crew’s strategy for an Earthside engagement,” Dakota said. She got up and placed light kisses on both Thom and me, and a considerably more intense kiss on Tatts. Then she headed off to the briefing room in the resort.
“What’s this about?”
“Captain deals with managing the personnel. I deal with managing the tech,” I said. “We’d like to ask you about some of your experiences with AIs.”
“If I can answer your questions, I will. I might not be able to because of lack of knowledge, orders restricting information, or blocks against my revealing certain things,” Thom said. “But you have an AI of your own, so surely you have access to nearly anything you need, don’t you?”
“My experience, while intense, is limited to one entity,” I said. “And he’s really a kid compared to the AIs you deal with who are thousands of years old.”
“And my experience, while much broader in counseling Confederacy AIs on dealing with humans, still lacks some significant information,” Tatts said. “I did not understand either the subtle or significant differences between Tuull AIs and Darjee AIs.”
“We’re learning more about that every day. The Darjee have been very reluctant to let either the Tuull or their AIs have contact with humans,” Thom said. “It took us a while to even figure out the K’treel explorers had Tuull AIs instead of Darjee. You got the feeling they were just watching to see how we behaved.”
“I think our questions are more historical in nature,” Teddy said. “We understand you have an implant that lets you communicate directly with the AIs. Can you tell us a little about the nature of that?”
“You mean you don’t have implants that allow you to talk to your AI?”
“No. All the pilots, gunners, bridge crew, and tech support function with VR helmets for a heads-up display. They have contact points that allow the AI to send nerve impulses that improve reaction time. Tatts and I are considering implants that would help us work with and respond to Ubie. We’d like to know what the risks are,” I said.
“There’s been a lot of talk about that among various concerned parties,” Thom said thoughtfully. “Our use of implants is based on a very carefully worded contract with the AIs and our trust that they won’t violate it. Back about fifteen years ago, in the infancy of our relationship with the Confederacy, it was discovered that the implant could be used to control people through some diabolical means. Most of that record has been sealed now but the result was a new contract that defined the allowed use of the implant. It is used in communications and training. It is only allowed to take over the sensory receivers in training exercises or sleep training.”
“So, the AI could actually control a human against his will.”
“Initially, yes. And feel completely innocent about it,” Thom continued. “Those controls were achieved by direct stimulation of optical and auditory nerves. Think hallucinations—very real hallucinations. The communication from AIs is now based on stimulating the auditory nerves and is also highly restricted. Subvocal communication with the AI is controlled by nervous and muscular impulses. They can be very subtle, but the AI can’t read our minds. It has to hear what we’re saying or what we are hearing. It can also see what we see, even though it is prohibited from stimulating our optic nerves.”
“I see. Has there been any attempt at creating a hybrid? Excuse me for going all sci-fi on you, but I’m thinking of super warriors that have a direct connection with a computer in their skull.”
“1977, Julie Christie, Demon Seed,” Thom said. “It doesn’t really seem possible to me. And I’d never volunteer to be the human who tested it!”
“What is the implant like?” Tatts asked. “Is it like one of those ID chips that gets inserted in your skull?”
“Generally, yes. Only this is a microchip. Its size is measured in molecules. It’s only an interface, so it isn’t supposed to actually control anything, like making you stand up and walk. I’d say your helmets that have contacts to stimulate nerves and muscles are almost more invasive than our implants now are,” Thom said. “Oh, my God. Who is that?”
Thom’s eye was caught by two tall and stately women walking across the pool deck toward us like naked models. Which was an accurate assessment. Each had a VR helmet under her arm. Everything was placed just right and moved with mesmerizing wiggles.
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