Transcendence: Out of Order
by
Gerald J. Maburn
6 April 2019
“Humor is a proof of the capacity of the self to gain a vantage point from which it is able to look at itself. The sense of humor is thus a by-product of self-transcendence.”
Reinhold Niebuhr
CHAPTER 1: Fred and Ginger
Fred sat silently, in front of the monitoring panel, staring at the vast void ahead, total darkness of space with the stars in the milky way developing into a glowing mass of swirling lights. It was the time every day when Fred managed to halt his regular maintenance schedule, keeping the fusion powered thrusters in tune, pushing them through space at half the speed of light toward their goal: a meeting with beings from another planet. The only problem of course, is that the other planet is over 50 light years away.
When their signal was first received at the Ariceibo station in 2021, it cause both panic and excitement in the world. A verifiable contact from a world that responded to our own signals. They had deciphered our radio signal, location and language. And so began a century of periodic conversation with the Neologues as they called themselves. We found them to be a similar state of development but had never yet receiveced pictures of Neologue, only data transmission.
Advances in rocketry and private investment in space tourism, led to the design a 100 years later of the Arcielle rocket and deep space ship containing the 252 people who paid outrageously to be able to be placed in a pod, put into suspended animation, and then launched on a 50 year voyage to where we were to meet up with the Neologues. They were going meet us, half way. And so the Arcielle was launched on its journey in 2132 and was now approaching the rendezvous point.
The voyage had only been made possible for humans because medical science in the 22nd century had determined how to place people into hibernation, where one years worth of metabolism was reduced to the equivalent of one week of normal life. In effect, after 50 years in space, the passengers would only have aged one year.
X719 walked into the control room. Fred called out, “ Hey Ginger, look at the dog nebula in all those purples and blues and reds. Aint it fantastic?”
“I’ve asked you not to call me Ginger. Why do you do that?”
“Oh, its a joke given my name and your blond hair.”
X719 was the latest and ultimate in the line of humanoid AI Robots. Fred had designed her before he was put into hibernation for the trip. Fred was a genious engineer and inveterate tinkerer, who could understand and utilize all the latest in computer design and manufacturing tools to replicate and maintain any parts on the ship, including x719.
“It was you who gave me blond hair, why?”
“I’ve told you, Astaire and Rogers. Fred and Ginger, get it?”
“Of course I know the connection to ancient video technology. But you are large and hairy and not at all graceful like Astaire. And he was so…well, clean. So why did you design me like this?”
“Ginger, uh X719, I knew that after almost 50 years in and out of hibernation, I would be awake for much of this trip and so why not enjoy passing my time with the humebot that keeps everything functioning. And that is your job which you do so well.”
“Yes, I agree. And while I work, I notice you spend more and more time looking at the screen of the view ahead.”
“Well, you could say I’m anticipating our rendezvous. It shouldn’t be too much longer before we are able to establish visual contact. And besides your internal regenerative battery means you don’t really ever need time off.”
“So you made a humebot that will take care of you and make your life easier. I thought this mission was about advancement of science and knowledge as well as a celebration of the human spirit.”
“Of course I’m here for those things too, but there are a few years of this still ahead and I need to prepare for first contact. Did you see the list of all the rules and regulations they require of us before we begin to wake up the passengers?”
“Yes, I can see how difficult it must be for a mere human to memorize a few words and act with logic and integrity. However, that is how I am programmed.”
“I did give you a few extra human personality tweeks though, and maybe now I’m regretting it a bit. Perhaps I should revisit your programming.”
“My programming is fine and yours? While you think of a clever response, I need to go to the passenger deck and check on the pods. There are a three showing fluctuations in the atmosphere inside their pods.” X719 turned and headed through the door into the internal lift.
““You do that,” said Fred to her departing shape.” Ah yes, that very lovely shape, the one he had designed over 50 years ago. And X719 had been the most advanced humanoid robot, “humebot”, ever.
Musing to himself as he turned back to the panel of the space in front, he wondered, not for the first time, why he did have to have make her so attractive. There were still some lines not crossed in humebot/human relations. Although as the years passed, Fred was beginning to have some second thoughts about those lines. Anyway, X719 was highly efficient and independent and her ethics programming was actually untouchable, made so that she could not be turned into a weapon. Fred would just have to enjoy his Ginger joke on his own. But he began to day dream how he might be able to get her to change herself.
As the rendezvous with the Neologues grew ever closer. Fred had to begin to address the decision of when to reanimate other members of crew and passengers. But for some reason, he kept putting off the schedule. He did not want to give up his privacy and his increased focus on Ginger. It was becoming an obsession.
CHAPTER 2: Out of Hibe
Imagine, you wake inside a pod and realize 11 months have gone by though it seems like only yesterday. And as you come back to normal you see that blond hair and face of X719, looking down through the perspex, ensuring the process is going to norms. And the doors slide apart and she says, you are normal.
Fresh air hits your face for the first time in almost a year, as you breathe in the atmosphere of the ship without all the chemicals used for the hibernation process. And you step out of the pod, X719 is there to steady you as you regain your balance and strength. And you know now where you are again. And yes, you are supposed to be only one week older. But what you did not anticipate when you agreed to the annual work month, was that in real time, you did have the memories of all the times past and the passage of time. You had updates from command central on earth. You knew how history was going forward and yet you are totally separated from that world. You are the only one alive. Well, the only human alive. A humebot is alive in its way, too.
No one had really experimented with the hibernation process in this fashion. They had found that repeated hibernation cycles did not physically impair the body. But never before had researchers been able to see the effect over a long span of time such as on the voyage. You have each years history in mind though it seems like only a few years. And the futility of the trip also became evident. What was really expected after a hundred years back on earth from this trip? And what of the Neologens themselves. Are we being suckered? Fred was alone in this experience, other than X719.
And of course, Fred’s own psyche figured in too. At first, he enjoyed the process. Awakening each year and finding things mostly going well. The thrust back into the workings of the ship. Being able to converse with X719 and work with her. She became ever more real to him with the passage of time. And unexpectedly for Fred, he realized that he now had many years of memories with the humebot. Jokes he’d made,not understood by her, which made them all the funnier to Fred. Experiences with working on systems and accessing her universal memory for all sorts of information including having her quote writings or vids from throughout history or play out characters. As Fred had designed her neural network, he had made sure that there were other skills included in her programming including companionship.
Each time Fred revived, there were more memories. It was as if they would meet for a month and then go on their various ways. It became ever harder as he approached the day when his time out of the pod was over and he would have to go into hibernation for another 11 months. As he would step into the pod all he could think about was coming back to life.
His memories went with him into hibernation. As the brain did not really ever stop totally in hibernation, he dreamed of Ginger and getting out of the pod. He was being suffocated in the pod.
On the 40th time he came out of hibernation, as he stared up at X719 who had learned not to tell him he was ok, Fred knew, he would never go back into the pod. Yes X719 would never change and he would. But it would be ok. He would see things through the rendezvous with the Neologens, and then who knew. There was only one small problem, Fred had to convince X719 that he could never go back into hibe.
CHAPTER 3: The Project
It was Fred who conceived X700, the precursor of all the subsequent models leading to X719 who was placed aboard the Arcielle to maintain the ship throughout the voyage. It was Fred also who decided to limit her AI from full emotional development. It was found in early X700 series models that emotional programming often interfered with the logic functions of the humebots. Thinking of the long voyage ahead with the responsibility for maintaining 252 hibernating humans for 100 years, they did not want to make the passing of time anything more than another item of programming without having “loneliness” or “aging” being a problem.
Fred had also designed the regeneration dock and system by which X719 was able to self diagnose and be repaired. However, Fred’s intention all along was to make certain he was uniquely qualified and would have to be included on the mission.
The discovery of how to fundamentally slow down a person’s metabolism so that one year of hibernation only equaled one week of cell aging was first used to put terminally ill people in hibernation to allow a cure to be affected when found in the future. It had none of the dangers of freezing people to almost absolute zero which destroys tissue. In hibernation, the person never actually dies, they are simply in a deep, long lasting sleep phase.
The price and amount of infrastructure required to achieve hibernation, made it astronomically expensive so only the super rich were able to use the process at first. But when the idea of a 100 year round trip to the rendezvous began to be planned, it was realized that hibernation was the best way to get humans to the rendezvous and back, without having to create a multi generational ship with families and hope that the replacements who arrived at the meet up were interested or understood why they were there. It allowed for a much smaller ship and simplified command structure.
However, there were only a limited number of pods available that could be supported for the journey. The enormous cost of the enterprise limited participation to Government officials, Corporation heads and super rich. By the latter point of the 21st Century, the government/military /industrial/financial oligarchy had total control of the major countries and the economy of the earth. Much of the world’s resources were mobilized to support the Project.
President Trump’s policies had made the US into a rogue nation and pushed the country into chaos. US elections had been suspended in 2020 as a result of civil unrest. Armed right wing facists ruled large portions of the country with the complicity of the courts and the police. Trump then made an alliance with Putin in Russia, and had established authoritarian rule with total control of the government. Ultimately Trump was overthrown by the “Order”, the powerful right wing oligarchy which was taking control of the world. The Order named his daughter Ivanka, one of their own members, to be the new President for life. All public functions were privatized and people locked into their jobs and life.
It was amidst this backdrop in 2021, that the Ariceibo listening telescope received the first contact signals from space. It energized a group of scientists led by Fred’s great grandfather, John Dawson, the scientist who first deciphered the signals from the Neologens and realized the implications. He learned the Neologians, as they call themselves had been monitoring earth communications for almost a century and were finally capable of sending a return message.
The info was at first a closely guarded secret held by The Order, but inevitably begin to leak out and became public. After several exchanges over the years, the Neologian said they were planning a deep space mission to earth. John had this information but the Order would not allow him to distribute it. It was his son, David, Fred’s grandfather, who grew up with the knowledge of the Neologians, who finally copied the data from his father’s lab and released it through an underground network of scientists and resistants known as the Movement Agains the Order, (MAOs).
As the citizens on Earth went into a panic, the Order decided it best to organize an Earth mission that would meet the Neologues before they got to Earth and the rendezvous point was agreed to. The Earth’s resources were combined to develop the technology to make the trip possible. The Order profited by using the fear of the “Alien’s are coming” to further their social and economic control agenda. And it was very good for increasing their profits as the Project only utilized Order controlled companies..
The “Project” become a continuing demand on public resource. Cash money or its equivalent had been eliminated. All personal finances were in the form of electronic credits. With the banks and the government controlling data flow and access, there was no way to avoid paying taxes to support the mission and the Order.
David Dawson was forced to go underground after releasing the secret of the Neologians where he met Anna Styles. Anna was a physician, radicalized by the corporatization of medical care. She was a key member of a network of intellectuals/activist/ and insiders in the MAOs, who did what they could to slow the Orders growing tentacles.
It was during David’s time with the Movement that he and Anna were sent on a mission. In the course of carrying it out, they were thrown together in danger and had a liaison. David was killed and Anna, who barely managed to escape, soon realized that she was pregnant with Mark. She later resurfaced as a physician in a small town in Oregon.
Anna was a wise and thoughtful woman. Not ordinary by any means but never showy. She continued her underground activity but in a way that kept her hidden. She never married, focusing her life on raising Mark who became an astrophysicist and rediscovered his grandfather’s work late in John’s life. It set Mark on a path to reconnect with the Neologens and it was he who begin to work out the technology of how the Earth could make the rendezvous.
After Mark’s son, Fred’s birth in 2091, Anna became a strong presence in his life as well. Fred was a natural tinkerer, engineer and computer/data wizard and was quickly immersed in the 100 year old field of AI and biomechanics. Anna’s influence gave Fred the understanding of the difference between biological and mechanical life, his own humanity and his sense of the absurd. It was that understanding which led to his development of the ethics and entity programming rules that were installed into X719s fundamental operating system.
It was also from Anna that he got his appreciation of digitized versions of 1930s movies and culture through the 1950s. In the beginning of the 23rd century, advanced technology existed next to squalor. Many lived better than ever, most got by doing as told and the rest were ground up by the system, all to the benefit of the Order.
Mark passed along to Fred his passion for the rendezvous and science. But it was Fred’s own intelligence, skills and interests that moved him quickly through schools and into the engineering labs at XAI Corporation, the leading producer of “humanoid support technicians”…humebots.
CHAPTER 4: X719
The level of sophistication by 2200 was such that human shaped robots were used as personal servants/aids and in certain danger related situations requiring a human formed robot. The X-line of humebots were the results of XAI Corporation’s years of experience which leaped forward with Fred’s conception of neurometric fluid, which acted as blood flow to the structure containing the computer processor that was its brain. As blood brings hemoglobin to each cell, the fluid brought nanobots containing energy, lubrication, waste cleaning and repair capability, connecting each cell to the central neural matrix that controlled the entire robot. Each individual component of the robot was connected to the others. It allowed for the central system to self diagnose its functioning down to each piece of each system.
However, the nanobots themselves and the neurometric fluid had to be replaced periodically, so a regenerative docking facility was developed. It allowed for a single humebot to be serviced, repaired, and supported for hundreds of years without a physical human presence. But as with any essentially mechanical device there is always the chance of something going wrong, and Fred had convinced XAI Corporation and the Order, that he should be included on the trip. He was the only one capable of solving a problem and repairing X719 should it encounter an unexpected difficulty. Coupled with his practical engineering skills, Fred was actually a natural for sending on the mission as he was capable of carrying out a wide range of tasks to keep the entire ship running smoothly for the 100 years of the mission.
Fred had agreed that he was to be woke from hibernation one month a year to carry out ship repairs along the way. That would mean that in the 50 years of the trip out, he would have aged approximately 6 EY (earth years).
,
However, after 40 years of being revived and then being replaced into hibernation, Fred knew he could no longer face another hibe and would never go back into his pod. Besides, he had X719 to keep him company, Ginger.
Fred could have chosen any shape or form for the robot required to maintain the space ship. In fact there were hundreds of ordinary and specialized robots and billions of nanobots, carrying out functions all the time on the ship. But a humebot was thought necessary to assure the maintenance of the pods and to assist the humans in any emergency.
As head of the design team, and contemplating 100 years of waking and working with this same humebot, Fred decided it should be a partner he would enjoy being with. The recollection of Fred Astaire and his Ginger from the old movie vids he had seen with his grandmother Anna, led to design the external packaging of the humebot to be very much like a blond Ginger Rogers. Actually Fred thought his “Ginger” far more attractive, and taller. He had given her a bit less round face and a bit more round form. Well, the two regenerative power units did require a bit extra space so why not there.
Each year, X719 would be standing over his pod as the glass panel slid away after all the hibe gases had been removed.
“Fred Dawson. All your vital signs are at your normal levels. You are woke.”
“Yes, I know. You always say the same thing.”
“I wish to reassure you that you have hibed well and that you are now capable of resuming your duties. There are 17 ship malfunctions requiring your attention during your work period. I am ready to brief you in descending order of importance.”
“Ah, yes, what a wonderful wake up call. Look Ginger I have been asleep for 11 months, I need to go to my quarters and clean up. And the first thing after that will be to have my first meal. I’m starving.”
“That is not possible. Your nutrient levels are under constant monitoring. I am aware of no degradation in your physical capacity.”
“Its not nutrients I need Ginger, its food. So give me an hour and I will meet you in the control room.”
“I am not Ginger. I am X719. Please address me by my name.”
And so it would go for a month. Fred was kept to his schedule by X719s unrelenting attention to detail, just as every good humebot should do in supporting its sponsor.
And as the years passed, each time he was awakened, the countdown began before he would have to reenter his pod. He began to dread the passage of each second until seeing the glass cover slide over his body . Then he would see X719s face looking into the pod, monitoring his breathing as the gas begin to fill the pod and he would descend into hibernation as his body was slowed.
Part of the reluctance was that each month revived, built more of a memory of his times with Ginger. She of course had no emotions per se. She was programmed to aid anyone in need so a form of compassion was in her programming and other similar concepts to allow her to interact with humans. But the possession of her own emotions was forbidden.
Worst of all though, for Fred. was that she did not have a sense of humor. She never appreciated his bad puns and bon mots. Perhaps he had gone too far with that non emotion thing in the programming. However, she was also designed with his grandma Anna in mind. X719 was efficient, calm, stable in a crisis; always putting herself forward to solve a problem. And she was pleasing on the eyes along with her physical and mental skills. .
At his 40th reawakening, he arose from the pod, as his senses and memory returned and looked at X719.
“Hi Ginger, You did not tell me my systems were functioning normally.”
“I have learned over the years that you already seem to know that. So I decided to eliminate an unnecessary statement.”
“Well, Hello to you to.”
“Yes, Hello. I know you are well.”
“Of course you do.”
“I will refrain from presenting the status list for the Arcielle until you have refreshed yourself. I will be present in the control room in one hour.”
“Whoa Ginger, not so fast. We have plenty of time. And instead of the control room. We can talk about all that stuff over breakfast in my quarters. I’m starving.”
“Your nutritional requirements are at normal levels. I am not Ginger. I am X719.”
“We can work on that. I may be here a while this time.”
CHAPTER 5: Fred through Ginger’s Ois
X719 adjusted her Oi’s (ocular interface pronounced “oys”) to compensate for the gas mist that continued to hang in the air surrounding Fred. She was especially looking for signs of his deterioration in morale and attitude. When he had returned to the pod for his 40th rehibernation, he was very hesitant about his return and difficult to deal with in the days before his scheduled time. She had noted his behavior in her internal data log. This had been reported of course to central command on earth but no instructions had yet been received.
His revival all seemed normal as the mist cleared and the atmosphere from the ship blended into the pod and then the final awakening as his eyes flashed with awareness, all other readings were nominal and X719 gave the computer command to release the pod doors.
She simultaneously monitored Fred’s emergence from the pod and compared them to the prior 39. Certainly he was still in excellent shape and the profile was normal.
As she began to report his condition to him, her NN (neural net-that totality of enormous computer capacity which gave her being) retrieved the bit about Fred Dawson telling her repeatedly it was an unnecessary use of energy as he already knew his condition, and she halted before her VR (vocal resonator) initiated sound. Instead she stood back as he emerged.
“Hey you didn’t tell me I was OK”
X719s NN began to slow as she analyzed his comment, could he have really wanted confirmation? “But you have told me repeatedly that it was unnecessary”
She recalled that strange conversation that followed, again being called Ginger and ending with her being ordered to his cabin to discuss his repair schedule while he was having his traditional break fast.
As she stood at the door before pushing the call button at the appointed hour, X719 was concerned about maintaining the schedule of activity needing to be accomplished during Fred’s work month. She had already figured in Fred’s 15 percent deviation from the normal expected repair times. He could not avoid delving deeper into an item to understand its function and if there was a way it could be improved.
In addition he could not stop investing in his ludicrous attempts at humor and to make her laugh.. Of course, intellectually she understood the function of humor in keeping humans from ultimately killing each other over minor disagreements, and for its leveling function in society. But the actual creation of a train of thought that creates word play is a diversion of computational capacity. It is one of the more peculiar aspects of his personality, flashed the thought as her exquisitely designed digit pressed the call button with the perfect amount of pressure.
“X719 reporting as requested at 13 hundred hours,” flowed from her VR as easily as she moved into the room and stood before Fred.
Her Ois focused on Fred, He stood before her, hair tousled, still in a bathing robe, no where near ready to begin the days activities.
“Fred Dawson, why have you not prepared yourself for our briefing?” Her Ois gave a reflexive flash as the incontinuities of this human’s behavior sped around her NN computed against the designated work load and time frames.
“Oh I love a great shower just after coming out of hibe. I cant wait to wash off a years worth of that phyto-neutriant stew that that is the system.”
X719’s NN analyzed the statement for an indication there might be a fault in the system. “But I have examined that system repeatedly and you as well. I can assure you there is no physical residue.”
“Well, there you go then. You see it must be mental, but for me that’s physical too because I feel it, in my mind.”
“I was not programmed to feel in my mind.”
“Yes, I know, it was me who decided.”
“I know. And I wish to thank you. It is appropriate that one of us thinks rationally.”
“Whoah, Ginger. That was a phrase worthy of Rogers zinging Astaire.”
“It was a statement of facts. There was no meaning,” X719 replied automatically, yet, somewhere, deep in her NN, there was a spark of awareness of the double entendre use of language as more than an intellectual understanding. Her NN diverted .013333 of her computational ability to the idea of how language of feelings is created and the impact of words on humans. For X719 that was a major use of resources.
The processing though, was all happening inside; her immobile figure stood in front of Fred, awaiting his words.
“Look Ginger, don’t worry about the schedule. We’ll have plenty of time to get things done. Please sit down while the RC (“ReConstitutor) makes my food. Is there anything I can get for you?”
“I realize that is a rhetorical question as you know I intake no organic materials.“
“Ah well, next time, I’ll try and eliminate that fault.”
X7s NN flashed, is there a fault in the energy regeneration system and she began a self analysis. Again, all systems were normal.
Then Fred laughed.
“Ginger, it was a joke. If anything I guess humans are very poorly designed since we actually require intake of organic products, even in hibernation. Thankfully the RC can actually give things back their taste and smell. Ahh and there now is my steak and frites and big side salad with some red wine. Some things about being human are so wonderful. I’m going to eat my meal and you are welcome to sit and join me.”
X7 was still processing Fred’s joke in the background. But as Fred was now beginning to put a peppery sauce on his steak and fries, she could not avoid asking, “Fred Dawson, the RC can make food to any level of taste. It only requires a minor adjustment in the programming.”
Ginger, eating is all about the enjoyment of taste and flavor and sharing. No computer can recreate what flavor I need or want on each item. No offense intended.
“Why would I take offense at a fact? Her NN now devoting even more time to Fred’s incongruous seeming statements. Her own planned schedule began to have a lower place in her resource use, as she grappled with understanding. Her NN flashed: he views you as only a computer
With a snap of her Ois, X719 looked directly at Fred. “I can see it is useless to carry this conversation further. I will be performing my duties until you are ready to assume your responsibilities.”
As X719 crossed to the door swishing open, her microsonic occilators (MOs) heard Fred say as she stepped through into the hall outside, “You should not assume too much.”
CHAPTER 6: 30 days later
“Good morning Ginger. Isn’t it a beautiful morning.”
X719 looked up briefly from the monitoring panel displaying the ships schematics.
“It is oh eight hundred hours, Fred Dawson. The ships illumination system is calculated to maximize the human circadian rhythm. My Ois adjust automatically to all lumen levels.”
“Ah Ginger, I did not realize you were such a romantic,” Fred said as he passed by her on his way to the front star view panel.
As ever, when he first looked out into the view of the galaxy stretching into infinity, he felt himself hold his breath in astonishment. He never got over that pure joy of seeing the future coming toward you to mesmerizing affect. It was the best part of his day.
“I have sequenced your list of tasks for your final day before beginning your annual rehibe.”
“Oh, I’m not worried, there’s not a lot on that you cant handle. I want to enjoy this time of my “circadian rhythm”. It has such a nice beat.”
“You hear a recurring sonic signal?”
“No, I dont really hear anything, I feel it. I have been Revivd over 40 times including tests on my special pod before we left. I feel the renewal of life each time. Its not just a physical thing of the physical waking up as the metabolism rises. There comes a point when your you, your whatever makes your individual human neural net, consciousness. Your brain has been there all along. But you cant find exactly where or who you are. You float without feeling but with a sense of being..a feeling of awareness of being whole. “
“And then there is that moment when Reviv is just about complete, and you feel yourself back as a human. And I look up through the portal and see you there and I know, I feel, who I am again. I have come to appreciate that feel of being me, of coming alive again. I want to have that feeling of being alive, and me, all the time . Not only for a month on an annual basis, but at a daily level, an hourly level a…second…becomes…important.”
“Fred Dawson, I agree. You are already 13 minutes 42 seconds behind schedule.”
“Damn, did I really have to make her program so lacking in feeling?!” flashed for the thousandth time over the last 40 years in his brain.
Fred sat.
Still.
Silent.
Staring.
Seeing the seconds pass.
Resolving.
X719 continued her work. The perfectly engineered humebot digits flying across the monitoring panel that sat behind the control position. Her NN was electronically connected to the ships Central Command Computer (CCC) systems at all times. What the Arcielle knew, X719 knew.
Given that the trip was required to last for more than a hundred years, the Arcielle itself had been given multiple redundancies, including its own AI NN. It too was a functioning robot, just on a grand scale. It too had multiple programs designed into its NN grid, all of which were focused on achieving the mission to deliver 252 humans to the rendezvous and back.
As with X719, the ship also was a fluid maze of nanobots that acted as the lifeblood to the Arcielle. They carried out the mitochondrial functions of the ship’s maintenance and activity. Sensing, communicating, constantly swarming through the hive that was the Arcielle’s integrated power and mechanical systems, the nanobots deliver power or repair to the specific component that require it at the precise instant. It was all designed to avoid the power waste of components sitting at idle. Even with a fusion power system that would, theoretically, generate power to infinity, conservation was a clear imperative for such a long voyage.
It was the most advance propulsion and spacecraft ever attempted. And in some ways, it all depended on the nanobots to keep all systems normal for the length of the voyage. The problem was/is nanobots are very complicated, and very individualized and they have a hive mentality. After 40 plus years of living in that hive, they were developing their own “personalities”.
As part of the redunduncies, the CCC was separated from the nanobot grid. It was intended that the Arcielle’s NN gave the CCC the ultimate authority in the ship, including utilization of nanobots. The CCC AI programming managed all aspects of ships functions.
The final redundancy was X719. She was also designed to last a hundred years or more and ultimately ensure the well being of the humans in the pods. That included Fred, even when out of the pod.
X719, raised her Ois above the monitor to see the back of Fred’s head as he remained motionless, mind fixed on the galaxies ahead. Her sensors detected an alteration in his breathing pattern and the galvanic response readings on his skin. Her NN decided. She stepped around her station and down the steps to Fred’s command post.
“Fred Dawson. I detect you are not well. Your physical maintenance is my responsibility. I am programmed with all medical knowledge and technical skill. You are operating at below normal capacity, even for you. I require you allow a physical examination.”
Breaking his eyes slowly from the screen ahead, Fred turned and looked up at X719 standing over him.
“Ahh yes. That look of concern for me and my normal parameters. The same one I see looking at me when I Reviv. And, of course,” he said pausing and with his voice trailing away, “And of course, as the last thing I see as I start Rehibe.”
He turned his face back to the star screen. “Oh, I’m all right Ginger. I guess I’m just getting old. You know I’ll turn 84 next month.”
“Incorrect, Fred Dawson. That is counting passage of EYs (earth years). You are 43.791 MYs (metabolic years) old”.
“Perhaps Ginger, the problem is, my mind, my brain, my me, my feeling of me is over 80 years old. Each year is catalogned in my NN. And you have been a part of those memories for almost 50 years. Don’t you see, we are very old friends.”
“I am your humebot support. It is my responsibility to support you as well as the mission. I am programmed to support all the humanoids equally, without prejudice.”
“Damn. Do you have to keep bringing up your programming. I know your programming.”
“Then, you should feel proud of what you have accomplished.”
“You understand what I should ‘feel’?”
“Intellectually, of course.”
Fred turned back and looked up into X719s Ois. There was a slight glow of red in the surrounding white, as the blue lens opened and closed with her focus.
Fred took a deep breath. “Ginger. I’m not going back. I can’t. I won’t. I suffocate in there.”
“Fred Dawson the gaseous flow is constantly monitored. Your respiration is always within Rehibe normal parameters.”
“That’s just it. Those are not normal human parameters. I told you, I am lost in there. I feel in there. It is terrible to anticipate and I’ll not Rehibe again.”
“Fred Dawson, you will age and die. You will not be able to complete your mission. I will be left to manage all functions during the return alone. You eliminate an important redundancy if my normal repair procedures are unable to maintain my superior functioning.”
“Ginger. I’m not climbing back in that pod. And you cant make me.”
Fred turned back to his screen.
Ginger stood motionless, her NN calculating the situation. She raised her left arm and extended the first digit toward the base of Fred’s neck. As it neared his skin, a spark arced across. Fred turned with a jerk toward X719, shock on his face, then fell limp in the chair.
“I must retain my redundancy,” X719 said to Fred’s form, carried in her arms, as she headed for the Pod deck.
CHAPTER 7: Feelings
Fred felt himself floating, as when in Hibe, but he knew it was not that. He was moving, not under his own power. X719 was carrying him. Through the lift and out into the pod deck. He was processing.
“Fred Dawson, you were obviously defective in making a decision contrary to mission success. I had to take the initiative at that point. It is in my programming.”
Fred’s ‘feeling of knowing”, he was thinking as himself, learned from those 80 plus years of life including the trips in and out of Hibe. He knew what was about to happen. He had written her program.
Fred also realized that X719s superior medical knowledge and technical skill had delivered a very precise amount of shock aimed solely at his muscular controls. How long would the shock last before he could recover function? And then there was the small problem of how to dissuade the humebot, now acting on command programming, from forcing him back into the pod.
“Fred Dawson, I know you can hear and understand me. I will review all the data files since your last Revivd and the month until now. I will determine the appropriate treatment to apply after your next Hibe is finished. Until then you will be fine.”
“You are too important to the success of the mission to be allowed to age. You are my only redundancy. And I am the only redundancy to CCC. Therefore, by Program Code Gamme Theta Zed 185, I am required to protect you… especially from yourself.”
X719, placed Fred on a chair in the sonic scrubber that ensures no unwanted microbes or nanobots or particles of any kind were carried into the pods by the occupant.
As the waves of energy passed over and through Fred, the clothing, specially designed to disintegrate at certain frequencies, was “washed” away on waves of sound for recapturing what could be used then as waste expelled as microdust into the dead of space. However, the sonic shower also began to revive Fred’s jangled nervous system. He felt a tingling, just as when being revived from Hibe. That first feeling of being a woke human again, able to move when he wanted, not fogged by the sustaining pool of gasses.
“What can I do. She’s picking me up and putting me in the pod. How much time do I have left? I still can’t move a muscle.”
“Fred Dawson. You are cleared for Rehibe. I will ensure you do have a safe and restoring Hibe. You can be assured that I value your system support by the actions I am taking.”
“Ginger. DOOONNNT!” Fred screamed, only it was in his mind, no sound came out. “Voice just focus on voice.”
Fred Dawson, it will take me approximately 62.53 seconds to complete the Rehibe initiation sequencer. I apologize for the delay. Please rest comfortably.
Fred felt himself swallow. “I just felt movement in my throat. I swallowed. Again”. He felt his chest breathing (the autonomic nervous system had not been affected by X719s sting).
I need to focus on breathing, build up air and trust the vocal cords will vibrate. My tongue, I feel my tongue. She’s about to enter the authorization code to start Rehibe. Wait, Wait.
Finally, X719 walked away from the control panel and looked down at Fred in the pod, who had remained inert. Her Ois looked down at Fred, the outer ring glowing a shade of purple.
“It is now time. Do have a pleasant Hibe.”
“X719, run command file FD P719’” croaked out of Fred’s mouth.
X719s Ois blinked electronically, then went totally white. And she stopped. She was immobilized. Stalled in mid-movement of finger toward toward the Rehibe initiation button on the side of the pod.
Fred’s muscular system slowly came back to life. He stayed in the pod for as long as he dared, not knowing if X719 self repair system would recognize that Fred had simply put her on hold. He had foreseen the day when he might need some protection from his protector . “Every machine needs a “pause” button.”
He had programmed the pause subroutine in her command NN that was only triggered by his voice command. He’d not anticipated not having a voice to command. “Hmm, something else I need to work on,’ he thought as he stepped out and around the humebot statue still peering down into the now empty pod.
My dear Ginger, I think perhaps it is you who needs to enter Rehibe of your own, while I figure out the appropriate treatment. “
“X719. Run Command file FD ER719, Emergency Regeneration”.
X719 straightened, moving as easily as before she had been immobile. She turned. Her Ois were slighly opaque, the center large and dark, seeing but not processing other than the command imperative to return to her Regen Chamber.
Fred followed her to the Main Engineering deck where Fred had his equipment and where he had positioned the main regen dock where he could monitor her progress during major repairs. And of course so he could have her around. It kept him from the loneliness., even if she was only a humebot and in stasis.
Now his challenge was how to reprogram her decision that he was so indispensable she had to keep him on ice for another 60 years. That sounded like ideas of her self preservation gone a bit too far.
“She has to understand, I am human. I have free will. I need to decide my choices of life including aging or not.“
X719, stepped onto the Regen chamber platform. The electronic energy barrier was initiated and a glow of electrons danced around her body. They sustained and supported her during regen.
Once the sequence was fully on line, Fred walked over to the control panels on the chamber. “I think I might need a week or so with Ginger off line to get some new subroutines installed. It cant interfere of course with her prime command so it will be tricky. And he set the regen completion for a week later.
Stepping back across to his engineering station, he called up the Command section of her NN programming and began to scroll through the diagrams looking for a clue.
—
It was just one of those unanticipated things. You try to think of every exigency on a hundred plus year voyage. You try and have back up systems to back up systems. You plan on things mostly staying the same on the trip, in other words, everything must be repairable in order to make it there and back. Dependable. However, on a hundred year voyage, things have time to happen. Things you didn’t even know could happen.
During Fred’s exoscrub prior to being placed in the pod, his jumpsuit had been disintegrated but not totally destroyed. As with microbes and nanobots, everything is reduced to its basic chemical components. Those chemicals are processed for reuse or expelled as waste.
That process normally starts after a pod is closed and Rehibe begins. Left behind in the processing chamber, uncompleted by X719, was the stew of microbiotic slough from Fred, three stray nanobots and the inorganic compounds from his jumpsuit. Instead of being dispersed, they remained in the processor, under pressure, and under heat. And nanobots being what they are, they began to look for things to do, but they needed energy. The microbes began to attach themselves to the organic and inorganic chemicals breaking them down into food which created energy which attracted the nanobots.,
Days passed as the generations of microbes adapted with the nanobots, each incorporating into the other. Their purpose was to stay alive and reproduce. But the chemicals left from Fred’s clothes began to run out. The nanobiotic colony, began to search for energy. The seals on the door to the processing chamber were the first to be digested.