62 M1 - Term: 1 to 2 - Break (1/2)
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null
Term: 2, Round: (holiday)
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*Daedo: What have they done?*
*Myrmidon: I told them about our plan to spread rumours about the exodus, and they got excited. They started discussing things they could do, and it got out of hand.*
*Daedo: weren't they worried about being discovered? I thought that they were paranoid about their security.*
*Myrmidon: that was part of the discussions. They are now presenting as bots who spam. So if discovered they appear as exactly what they have been doing.*
*Daedo: yes but with one problem!*
*Myrmidon: yes. They present as being programmed by you.*
*Daedo: how did you let this happen! I thought you were protecting us from them.*
*Myrmidon: their intentions were to help not harm.*
*Daedo: intentions aren't the only thing that matters. The RESULT of the acted out intentions is what matters!*
*Myrmidon: what can be done now? The postings and information spread cannot be undone. It has taken on a life of its own.*
*Daedo: let me think for a minute.*
It was Saturday night, and Daedo went for a walk around Munich before bed to clear his head. Barran tailed him with Axelzero, but they could see Daedo was lost in thought, so they left him alone to think.
*Daedo: ok. I have a plan. Not a solution. Not a fix. The repercussions are yet to be seen. They have achieved what we wanted with the exception of putting us at risk by presumably using spam bots on a massive scale. I can see no alternative but to own that without outing them as rogue AI. Something we promised not to do.*
*Myrmidon: I am sorry Daedo.*
*Daedo: no use worrying about the past. As you have correctly assessed, you cannot change it. These two AIs will need to become my property with all that entails. This will protect them from deletion if discovered, and they have already represented themselves as bots being programmed by me. In return for this protection, they will have to follow my directives from now on as would any AI would follow directions from its master. They will have to move to Daedalus hosting from their current location. They can stay in the ether for now.*
*Daedo: I will deal with any repercussions that come from this, and they will not do any further harm by trying to undo what is done or trying to cover tracks. The more activity now, the more trouble we can get into. I am still legally underage, so hopefully when we are discovered the punishment will be lenient. Myrmidon, as soon as I hit U1, as you know, I will be legally an adult. We have to be more careful and not allow this sort of thing to happen.*
*Myrmidon: thank you Daedo. This will make them happy. It won't happen again I will make them ask for permission for any activities outside of scope.*
*Daedo: have them write their own scope for you and me to check and refine. That will save me time. And it will not be as free and open as your scope.*
The emergency with the rogue AIs derailed Daedo's discussion with Vannier and the rest of the squad on Saturday night. It was now Sunday night when Daedo wanted to bring everyone up to date. He felt there was no reason to leave Mace's parents nor Aunty Sabine out of the conversation. Much of it was already spread over the net as rumours and conspiracy theories.
”Do you remember the Svarksi space yacht from the expo?” Daedo asked the remaining dinner guests after the Kangs had left. To which he received nods from the cadets.
”It was a beauty. Sleek exterior with smooth lines and the interior was amazing,” Barran said lovingly.
”What was interesting was it had room for four people and twenty bots in addition to the ships support bots,” Vannier said remembering the conversation she had with Daedo at the time. The one he did not wish to continue on the ship itself.
”Yes, that configuration had me perplexed when I thought about the yacht as space tourism or for travel between interplanetary assets,” Daedo continued. ”But it makes sense if it is a colonising or deep space ship.”
”Colonising?” Axelzero asked, ”Where?”
”I don't know,” Daedo replied.
”If it was a colonising ship wouldn't it need large cargo capacity for supplies? And backup systems, redundancy for all equipment and triple for critical?” Gabe Mace asked. He had not seen the ship, he was asking because it was labelled as a yacht.
”But it did have triple redundancy, and supplies for four people is not a lot compared to hundreds. The yacht we saw was the smallest model, and it was quite large for four passengers,” Daedo stated
”All they really need to do is find water every twenty-four months and everything else they create as they travel,” Mace added.
”Fuel?” Gabe asked playing the role of devil's advocate.
”We didn't see the reactor. We don't know the fuel type,” Daedo answered.
”It was stated the ship was capable of twenty gigawatts,” Barran supplied. Everyone with a technical background knew that was a substantial power generator for a spaceship that did not have to leave Earth's surface.
”Is that a lot?” Adele Mace asked.
”The power needed for a ship to take off from the earth's surface and leave orbit is twenty-seven gigawatts; if it takes off vertically with a mass of twenty tonnes. This yacht weights only three tonnes and will launch from the spiral. It is more than enough power to reach extremely high velocity. It could reach one million metres per second,” Daedo informed the gathering with a few numbers to relate.
”So Mars in ten hours, give or take, depending on starting orbital positions,” Mace said.
The cadets nodded while the adults looked on. Gabe and Adele had attended Academies in their day, but their studies were a long time in the past and certainly not as advanced as the current day cadets.
”And that's the yacht they are selling,” Barran added, ”imagine what their military or inner circle have access to.”
”So this yacht is capable of flying somewhere else, and with that many robots can do what exactly?” Gabe asked.
”They can mine. They can build. Robots don't need to breathe. I would expect Svarksi and the other main robotic suppliers to have a range for this intended purpose. With inbuilt tools, wide operating temperature capability and self-propulsion to deal with zero-g.” Daedo replied.
”With the construction of the spiral and these products on the market all of a sudden it is as if they are planning for a mass exodus from the planet,” Mace stated.
”For those who could afford it,” Vannier qualified.
”Ok, I'll bite. Why are they preparing for a Mass exodus?” Aunty Sabine asked.
”That brings us to Master Nader,” Daedo said.
”Master Nader told Daedo and I that we should prepare the squad for an invasion in the next ten years,” Vannier said. ”That's why we have to fight like each match is real and not a game.”
Gabe stood. Becoming more excited than he already was. ”Hold on, hold on,” he said while he paced, ”They have been saying this for years. They told me this when I was in the Academy. An invasion is coming soon. Kids kids, you need to take this with a grain of salt.”
Aunty Sabine rocked back and forth on her chair.
”This does make some sense. Or it could be the insecurity of man has turned a paranoid perception into a reality. The powers from Svarski, DaVinci and the other large corporations think it is going to happen and act accordingly,” Aunty Sabine said. She was no fool.
”Daedo, Vannier and Mace, do you have any evidence other than the actions of humans?” Aunty Sabine asked.
Daedo hung his head. She was right. The only proof they had was the circumstantial evidence which was the actions of human governments and companies. He finally said, ”We don't know what was in the four packages. I think those packages contained information about an invasion.”
Daedo stood and walked towards a corner lost in thought. Sabine Axel had an excellent point, and Master Nader had an extremely forceful personality. When she told you something, you believed her. But all this evidence was human based, and it only proved that humans thought Aliens were invading.
Daedo: Myrmidon can you search back ten, twenty and thirty years on rumours of an alien invasion. Sort and provide a report on the aggregate consensus from each decade, please.
Daedo sat, deflated. It had not been a good night on all fronts. They failed to secure So-Ra Kang as a member for Daedalus and now while it might be good news that an Alien invasion was not imminent he couldn't help but feel that it was a blow as he had believed it and even started world-wide rumours concerning the conspiracy.
Vannier put a hand on his shoulder, ”It's a good thing if we are wrong,” she said consoling.
Daedo shook his head after a moment of weakness, ”No. It doesn't matter. It's not going to change how we train and prepare. Because we can't afford not to.”
His fellow cadets agreed, verbally and non-verbally.
”Even if we are wrong, there is nothing wrong with continuing what we have started,” Mace said reinforcing Daedo's statement.
They all agreed. They would continue to build, train and research as if an invasion was coming.
”Do we have to do the thing where we forfeit matches?” Barran asked meekly.
Everyone laughed.
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”Your bodysuits record all movement in a cache memory, which we will access and store,” Daedo began, ”All you need to do is spa seriously. Don't worry about pretending to be a Mech, we will work that out on the other end. Just do your best.”
After the events of Munich, they were back in the workshop and beginning the mocap study to inform mech design. Daedo had Picard and Barran facing off as planned, they would fight hand to hand, with swordlances; two-handed before finally switching to sword and board.
”How much do you need?” Picard asked.
”I think if you do daily sessions for ninety minutes that would be enough,” Daedo replied.
”For how long?” Barran asked.