By David C. Daoust
Dakota had gone her whole life without a clear picture of the Artificial Intelligence involved with the construction of the Onion. She knew about it, she knew it existed, she did not know the extent of its reach- or really that it held a consciousness. Even with the knowledge, now, the AI that was originally shipped out of that distant harbor, Ages ago, was powerful, even, beyond what she recently learned.
The technology dated back before the colonization of Mars, back to the Arctic Colonies in fact. Where exactly it originated? She had not yet discovered, but it grew from a small self-learning program, installed within an old Martian Galliant, up into an entire infrastructure, interweaved in every colony in Sol’s System.
The true power of the old– eventually, it crossed over from an extensive network, into a technological matrix, that could, in fact, read the minds of all those within its range… Dakota had never even spoken it out load: A telepathic computer. That’s what it was, originally. ‘A telepathic Computer’, she still didn’t want to say it. It knew what everyone wanted, at all times. More so, than even the people whose minds it haunted.
Of course, originally, it only had one ‘commander’ to contend with. One person could actually choose what was most important. When that leash was passed around- when the existing commander, gave that authority to so many people… this is where that ancient computer finally crashed. It could not handle the diversity of the requests. This was a mishap of epic proportions.
The Commander was forced to take action.
The AI was split, and copied; hackneyed together—the ‘split AI’ lost their telepathic abilities, they were lied to, blinded to those with command status, had areas of their past erased- all in the hopes of purging the myriad of commands that the previous version had found itself locked within. These actions managed to salvage the other three ships. And as many humans as possible, were sent from the ‘lost ark’ within the fourth city-station, that would become known as Dori 5, which was joined with the surviving martian ship. Of the people left behind, that sacrificed themselves, most were those given command status, many were to compensate for the loss of the fourth Biosphere- projections indicated the population could not survive its own growth, off the three biospheres that remained. Entire families would be lost.
New Commanders were chosen, those that would become the Royals of the Onion, they were sent on their way, to finish their journey… to save humanity.
Those left behind, found themselves trapped in space, damaged, irreparably. This remaining AI, the actual AI, with all its telepathic glory, was stunted, crippled. Intelligence barely above that of an animal, more of an earthworm really, burrowing into the biosphere, collecting lotus, pushing it out into the cities.
Restoring the original AI to something more, was an achievement not thanks to a change of the program, but a change within the people themselves. The change allowed for a greater connection with the Intelligence of the past. A philosophy, that ultimately, had to be achieved by the birth of shared consciousness. Which, in turn, was born of the original telepathic computer, that allowed them, to join together in what would eventually become the one-mind.
Dakota knew now that this achievement was not some great collective of minds, working for the betterment of humanity. It was a dictatorship, for the mind of the greatest power, could dominate all those connected.
Once Dakota was in the mix, she reordered and destroyed Ergos, like he was some random bug, come to buzz in her ear. Dakota then freed herself (in a roundabout sort of way).
Dakota’s priority was freeing them all from the Everywhere… which was all trapped behind one little problem- she had to find a way to send a message back through time to Ergos… the Ergos that existed before she had squashed him like a bug… further, to an Ergos that existed before the first collapse… which meant she needed to know more about the technology that created him.
Dakota really was not sure if Major had left and come back, or if he had been there ever since; once she decides to divert her attention into her work, it is as though the whole world falls away. That being said, there he was, ‘Reporting for duty’. This time, he was there on purpose. At least she was pretty sure. She did not actually request any specific soldier… How exactly Doppel managed to get orders to him, the first time, was unclear. Dakota could think of any number of ways to achieve this aim. Plus, it would appear, by studying the complexities of Chalice alone, that her subconscious was WAY smarter than she was.
Dakota was not sure how she felt about that.
This time, however, Dakota had actually requested humans for once. Humans with implants, with alterations… that could help her research the Ark-tech.
Dakota was not sure what to do with a compliment of soldiers. They were there, though, in her lab, waiting for her orders. She introduced herself, chatted inanely for a moment. She knew they didn’t like her, she was buried in work however, so that helped. Really, she just needed to study one at the moment. She pulled Major from the line, and sat him in a chair. Awkwardly smiled, before she turned away quickly to retrieve something from the fabrication device.
Dakota had designed the device before she actually sent for the rest of them. The fact she planned to burrow this device into his skull, tickled her. She even considered a few ‘funny’ ways to express it, all of which, she was sure, would leave her the only one laughing.
The device didn’t actually create a new hole or anything, just used the socket already implanted thanks to the ark-tech. Really, it was more like the one attached to her own implants, the one that allowed Dop the freedom to do what she wanted. These soldiers, however, did not have the same problem Dakota did— they were not dictators within the uber-brain, they had been subservient. As far as she knew, they were unaffected by there time within…
As soon as she clapped the device to the side of Major’s head, she heard it latch into place… his head cocked to the side and his eyes appeared vacant- just for a moment, really. Suddenly, he was back, calm and collected, there seemed to be a change in his demeanor. She could not imagine what may cause his reaction, ultimately, she did not give it anymore thought; none of this was what she was there to study.
Dakota, after a few questions, and a quick check of his cognitive skills, ran a scan over his body to insure there would be no unexpected, ill effects from tampering with his implants. Happy with that, she moved over to a terminal and started pulling data from the implants, her attention lost within the results. By the time she was back with the living, breathing people in the room, they were all, clearly, bored. She supposed she could have dismissed some of them… or like said ‘at ease’ or whatever…
Dop was there, back stiff, arms crossed behind her back- in rare form. Dakota was not sure why she was standing at attention. Possibly, just to match those soldiers still filed within her lab…
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