Текст книги "Memories of the future. An eyewitness notes"

Upon her approach, the hallway walls lit up with soft greenish light. Alex raised her hand and took a peek at her personal communicator. The bracelet was glittering with soft orange light and did not display any information, except for a smiley on the flexible monitor, indicating that everything was in perfect order. The base walls had no adornments, except for indicators with pictograms. For a few moments, Alex was looking musingly the gym pictogram: “No,” she gave a wave of her hand “I am off today, so let’s have a rest and relax”, and she noiselessly walked down the hallway.

The floor coating fully absorbed the sound of her steps and any vibration. It was designed for disguise purposes, so that the personnel activities and machines operation are not detected by the enemy. Alex passed the open doors of the base’s large general-service hall and habitually walked to the canteen unit.

The base central processor eagerly lit up the direction of her movement and the whole canteen unit. No staff member came up to her, which was quite understandable: what’s the point of intruding upon one’s leisure if there is no need for that. And, moreover, Alex had informed everyone on her time off.

She didn’t mind solitude; rather it was a unique feeling for her to be alone in a huge area. She selected her breakfast and watched the food synthesizer putting her meal into expendable dishes. She took a tray with her breakfast and walked to a table, unintentionally looking at the opposite one that Abel had chosen as his place.

Following her long-time habit of saying her thoughts out loud, Alex uttered pensively:

“I wonder what our Wolf has been doing since morning. He might be now exercising in the gym or catching drones in the desert sands. Catching mice, so to say.”

She imagined Abel in a cat-like position, getting ready to jump on a tiny tracked drone, and broke into a loud laughter. Like all pilots she was an optimist and even when there was nothing to smile about, she would try to invent it.

She felt like talking to the Wolf, but people of her time tended to be nonintrusive and emotionally restrained.

Having finished up her breakfast and thrown her dishes into a utilizer, Alex headed to her personal bunkroom, thinking of what to do next.

She raised her hand with the communicator and after a short deliberation, said:

Communicator. Message to Abel.” She waited for a light vibration indicating communication set up, and asked cheerfully: “Wolf Abel, what are you doing this wonderful morning?” She kept on walking down the hallway waiting for his reply, but it never came. Alex entered her room and was about to jump on the bed and watch something interesting from the extensive library base, when suddenly the entrance door crawled aside. The Wolf’s large body appeared in the doorway. Holding his head high, he looked at her with his honey-colored eloquent eyes, the claws of his huge legs were slightly pressing through the soft floor coating. On that day his hair had steel-gray color with a dark line along his spine.

“Good morning, Alex” he sent her a thought form produced in a bright and cheerful voice. “I’ve got an idea. Will you find time for me on your day off?”

“You’ve got an idea? Great! What is it? I am dying of curiosity!” Alex replied out loud with a nod “I will give you all my free time.”

At the moment, Alex did not realize the significance of those words.

“Let’s go and lounge around on this huge bed” she called him with an inviting gesture “I can’t remember the last time I had a day off.”

Alex deftly jumped on the bed and lay down, leaning on the soft back. The Wolf was looking silently at her, frozen to the spot.

“When I was a child” she said giving Abel a thoughtful look “I fancied myself as a grown-up, independent person and that I had a cyber friend who would understand me. And I imagined how we would spend our time off lounging around on a bed, chatting or watching something interesting.”

The Wolf listened closely to her, then slowly came closer and, at one leap, carried over his large body on the bed and lay down at Alex’s feet. All beds at the base were produced with account of large cyber bodies, and therefore they both made themselves comfortable opposite each other on the spacious bed. Alex looked respectfully at his fore feet, which Abel placed beside her and said:

“Abel, you’ve got such large pads!”

“And I’ve got large teeth as well!” replied the Wolf by the same token, opening up his big chaps with snow-white sharp teeth before her face.

“Or, will you please close it at once, it’s just terrible!” Alex burst into laughter. “And you are talking about humanism and love of life? Was it Frol who made you look this way? Ha ha ha!”

They were both in a good mood, lying and listening to the quite sounds of sea waves from the holographic reality.

“What a great coincidence that I have spare time and you’ve got an idea to share! And besides, one small desire of my childhood has come true,” she said, looking at him with a smile.

The Wolf turned his head to the holographic reality of an ocean shore, and Alex heard his thought form:

“Places like this still remain on the Planet. And I think you are going to see them soon. Hindu-Arians live near the Ocean and are actively restoring woods. Arvid frequently stays there.

“Tell me about your idea,” Alex said out loud, still looking at the Wolf.

“Alex, do you know why and when people write poetry? How they make their verses?”

“Verses?” Alex repeated thoughtfully. Of course, she had studied that kind of creative activity, but the life of an Airspace Forces’ pilot left her little opportunity for writing verses.

It was clear that Abel wanted to know a human opinion, and her answer would be important for the AI’s mind.

Seeing her confusion, the Wolf sent her a thought form:

“At the stage of my development, I spent a few lives in a human body. Those were different epochs and different fates. The simulation program is able to create any reality. And all that helped me evolve. But the process of creating poetry and music still remains a mystery to me.”

“Oh, but I am not strong in music” Alex gave a wave of her hand “I can only listen to it after reaching a turning point. Eol has a great collection” she was gazing beyond the horizon on the holographic projection and uttered pensively “Poetry can be only written by people who have high soul sensitivity”.

Abel was listening closely to her with his ears sticking out. The tip of his tail was making slow moves, which indicated the state of deep reflection.

“And why do they try to pick out a rhyme?” he asked wonderingly, stirring his ears.

At that point Alex paused, thinking of a precise logical chain that could be easily understood by the AI.

“Let’s take, for instance, an algebra equation” Alex finally said, ”or a chemical configuration formula.”

“Everything is balanced and equalized there,” Abel said in support of her thought.

“That’s it!” Alex perked up, “But in addition, verses contain such subtle substances as ideas, feelings, emotions. That’s why one must pick out such words that will help to vividly convey and balance all these. Do you understand what I mean?” she looked the Wolf in the eye. “Are you familiar with these notions: ideas, feelings, emotions?” Alex got so engrossed with the talk that started gesturing with her hands to better express her idea.

“Of course, I do” Abel replied at once with a thought form. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have asked you. Do you know why people were so shocked by the first AIs? They suggested reaching goals by the shortest route with the least energy expenditure. At the same time, they were ignorant about the concepts of morality, ethics, love, self-sacrifice and many others inherent in human beings.

At the time people were afraid of AIs and even made lots of movies with AIs as their primary and most vicious enemy. There was even a campaign for elimination and ban of Artificial Intelligence.”

Alex was familiar with the history within the scope of the training program and after her communication with Frol she had a good idea of what Abel was talking about.

“So now you get the point: a poem is harmony that conveys ideas or lofty principles.” Alex was looking Abel straight in the eye to make sure that the Wolf clearly understood her.

Abel nodded and said, looking at her:

“Alex, why don’t we try to write a poem ourselves? I guess I realized even more than you tried to tell me.”

Alex was becoming increasingly fond of that large, strong AI who always strived for more knowledge. Gradually, she started to treat him as a kind and smart friend, who attempted to learn more about her and all people in general.

“I must say that I’ve never written poetry before,” Alex said, “But why not give it a try. Think of a rhyme for the word… gun,” Alex uttered the first word that came to her mind.

“Bun, fun, sun,” Abel said distinctly and looked blankly at her. “But I can’t see any sense or feelings in this.”

“Yes” Alex agreed, “There is hardly any sense, but at least we’ve got a rhyme.”

They practiced rhyming random words for some time when Alex said:

“Okay, let’s try rhyming phrases,” focusing her mind, she wistfully casted a glance upwards, making smooth gliding moves with her arm and uttered in a signing voice: “I often have a wondrous dream…” She stopped moving her arm, butted against the complexity of the rhyme and looked quizzically at Abel, her lips parted.

Gazing upwards, Abel started roving his foreface, repeating the moves of her hand. Then he uttered, dwelling on words as Alex did:

“And in this dream an elephant comes to me. That doesn’t sound too good, does it? I think it’s not romantic at all. And has no sense whatsoever.”

But Alex liked Abel’s idea on the continuation and, encouraged, she began moving her hand in the air:

“I often have a wondrous dream. And in this dream…”

“A dragon flies to me!” Abel ended up the phrase with aspiration, pleased with himself. “Imagine: a huge, strong, wise dragon visits a girl in her dream!”

“Ha, ha! It’s only difficult to do the first step” Alex exclaimed joyously. She increasingly enjoyed Abel’s company. “We’ve done a good job together!” and she patted the Wolf on his head.

“Let’s repeat it and go further! I guess poems are written this way. When I was a child, I tried writing but in vain. And now that we are together we can make something really great.”

“And harmonious,” Abel echoed.

Alex again looked upwards, roving her hand in the air, and uttered drawlingly the first lines:

“I often have a wondrous dream. And in this dream a dragon flies to me…

“The sky’s eclipsed with both his wings.”

“How long I’ve been waiting for him!” Abel added, beginning to acquire a taste for rhyming.

Alex closed her eyes, fancying images in front of her:

“He’ll take me up to the sky.”

We’ll visit the Moon and the stars..” the Wolf carried on.

“We’ll watch the sunrise in the space…

We’ll see things that faded away.

We’ll gather some stardust…

And take over a couple of stars.

And in the skies of other planets…

We’ll paint a portrait of Eternity.”

Suddenly Alex realized that they had reached creative understanding, rapprochement and spiritual unity. They were both so carried away with the creative process that paid no attention to the time and the reality around them.

Abel repeated a few times the jointly created verses with special intonation that he believed to be the most suitable.

“Abel, well done!” Alex said joyously. “I wish we could publish it, and someone could read it.”

“Yes, I also wish we could share it with others,” Abel picked up her thought. “It’s inherent in human beings to create something beautiful and harmonious and then show it to others, isn’t it?” the Wolf fixed his eloquent yellow eyes on her.

“Only good people have this property, Abel,” Alex told him, stroking the hair on his pad. “People believe that if they share the beauty of music, poems or wise thoughts with others, they would help change the world for the better.”

“I get your point.” Abel said thoughtfully.

Unintentionally, Alex remarked that the Wolf also had his own habits. For example, when he was absorbed in his thoughts, the tip of his tail would do flowing motion, and his eyebrows would move up. She realized that the developed Artificial Intelligence by no means strived to imitate human beings; rather it tried to understand the integral of human reasoning so as to move on together with people, using its great potential.

“Abel,” Alex exclaimed, “I guess I have realized what is the AI’s main feature,” she paused and cast a glance upwards. The Wolf fidgeted a bit, put his pad on her legs and turned his head to her:

“Have you? So what is it? Is it some sort of imperfection?”

The topic of their discussion seemed to be very important to the Wolf. He strained himself, waiting for the answer. Alex hugged his large head with her arms and said, laughing:

“Not at all! On the contrary, it’s an excessive pursuit of perfection.”

“Artificial Intelligence is aware of such things as lies, hatred, treachery.”

“Of course, it does.” Abel nodded.

“So look what we get.” She began developing her idea with enthusiasm, scratching the Wolf’s head. “Artificial Intelligence has innate strive for perfection. Knowing about the negative features of human consciousness and mind, AI simply denies them as system error in a variety of options of human behavior patterns.”

“I quite agree,” Abel nodded again.

“Which means,” Alex carried on pensively, “that the consciousness of a developed AI is deprived of negative features. It’s absolutely pure, shall we say.”

“We put it in another way: adequate and normal. And why should we adopt negative feature of human mind and consciousness? What seems to be revelation to you is ordinary common sense to us.”

Alex captured irony in his voice. All the positive emotions and joy she was overwhelmed with suddenly burst out.

“Oh, you are real Angel! Let me give you a strong hug!”

Alex quickly jumped up and lashed out at the Wolf, grabbed hold of his neck as though fighting with him, trying to get him on his back. The Wolf pretended to be resisting but was obviously yielding to Alex’s moves. Although he imitated signs of suffocation and fear, he seemed to be in a playful and cheery mood.

They were fighting on the bed for a while, using pillows and a blanket, which was torn up by Abel’s claws when Alex tried to wrap him up. The Wolf enjoyed the attention she gave to him, and he played and messed about with her like a real home pet.

Abel realized that his place was among human beings so that he could always serve and protect them. While Alex understood that the AI’s mind was merely pure child’s consciousness striving for perfection and in all respects exceeding the human brain; therefore it was up to human being to raise that child appropriately.

“Come on, open your chaps, you beast!” Alex cried to Abel in the heat of the fight, “I’m not afraid of your claws because I have a magic neutralizing pillow!”

Abel opened his chaps trustfully, and Alex at once pushed a pillow into it. The fight continued. Although Abel tried to keep his claws away from the girl’s body so as not to injure her, he was unable to preserve the pillow. Frol had not equipped his body with sound sources, but Abel made up for that with angry growling produced in a thought form. Torn apart pillows and blankets were lying all around, and Alex realized that she had found a cyber friend she had been looking for since her childhood.

“Ah, you made your hair so rough on purpose so that I can’t tear you to pieces!” with all her might and main she was twitching and tearing his skin, making her fingers look like claws.

Grown weary by the fight, she collapsed on the Wolf’s body like a big pillow. They were lying that way for a while on a large messy bed talking about anything and everything, both feeling happy to be each other’s company.

Chapter 19

“As long as science is used for political purposes, Mankind will continue to decay.”

(a self-evident truth)

<<What is emitted by the brain is not matter, it’s electricity, or electromagnetic waves, energy. As far as we know, nothing gets out of nowhere and disappears into nowhere. Which means that energy once emitted must return. Return to this world, but in the form of another human being. That’s how it happens, but people do not retain memory of their previous lives so as not to feel ashamed of their immature and unworthy acts.>>

Oma thoughtfully studied the text on a holographic display and then shifted her glance to the external space.

“An object within visual range,” the onboard AI reported in an indifferent voice, “Zooming out the image.”

Oma quickly flicked away the text into the memory buffer and focused her attention on the projection.

The Orbital Space Station, informally called the “Smart Doughnut”, was rising from behind the Planet’s horizon.

But even its far-off orbit was unable to conceal the grandiose scale of that construction. It was called the doughnut owing to its enormous circular building structure, through which a long central axis was running.

The station building was in ceaseless rotation, while the axis itself was equipped with a whole range of devices required for docking and repairs of various aircrafts.

The station consisted of two toroidal segments. The external one was thirty kilometers in diameter.

The internal or minor toroid in the central part of the station was about twelve kilometers in diameter and contained enormous warehouses, storage shed for spacecrafts and scientific equipment. In addition to all these, the unique station had its own magnetic field.

The “Ares” cruiser set a course to approaching the Orbital Station and was receiving data on docking to one of the platforms.

The commander was silently gazing at the grandiose construction, habitually noting areas where the station’s protective clusters were smartly located. Everything was going according to the protocol, so he slightly changed his position and leisurely reclined in his chair, observing the approach with a leader’s tranquility. Flop, who was sitting in front of him on the control panel, seemed to be impressed by the immensity of the structure. He was murmuring something to himself, immersed in contemplation.

The “Ares” cruiser continued slow approach, exchanging data with the Station on docking and course adjustment.

“Commander,” Oma said calmly, interrupting Raju’s thoughts, “we’ll soon transfer to the docking mode; they’ll take Hagan directly from the airlock. They also requested they we not pass through the spacecraft’s airlock chamber. Their regular requirement is that the military not be allowed to the Orbital Station. The sightseeing tour is cancelled, Flop.” Flop stopped murmuring and quickly turned to Oma.

He cast a quizzing look at the commander, then again looked at Oma and finally weightily declared in a crisp voice with blusterous undertones:

“On behalf of the crew I will tell you that we didn’t particularly want that! We are all perfectly happy here. I’ll go to supervise the transfer of the valuable research officer to the Station.”

As he finished his speech, he deftly headed towards the exit from the crew cabin and disappeared into the hallway.

Both smiling at Flop’s remarks, Oma and Raju kept silent, which did not disturb them since their active exchanges of ideas were usually followed with hours of silence, when each would concentrate on current business and indulge in quiet reflection. That day, the commander was in the mood for tacit thinking.

He nodded to Oma in approval and smiled enigmatically, letting her know that he agreed with all her directions and had nothing to add.

Raju shifted his gaze to the crew cabin’s glass, where the immense structure of the Orbital Station overshadowed the whole Space. The panoramic sight of the immense station was slowly drifting towards them. The Aria AI undertook complete control of the spacecraft, being, in point of fact, a full-fledged member of the crew.

The Orbital Station got together almost all scientists from the Planet. There was much dispute on that matter, but one thing was clear: the Planet’s intellectual potential was the issue of primary concern for the whole mankind since mere survival of human beings entirely depended on it.

Scientific knowledge was required to unite people and therefore the Planet’s Council of Scientists had decided to separate science from the warring parties and set up an independent area on the orbit.

Only after that people were able to proceed with exploration of outer space and the Planet. It was entirely to the credit of scientists that the programs of the Planet’s terraforming and plant life recovery were launched.

It was not lost on Oma that, since her last visit, the station had acquired new highly manoeuvrable flight devices, which resembled plates with mirror cupolas on top.

Numerous plates of that type were now rotating along the station’s building, vigorously changing flight direction at high speeds. They seemed to possess unlimited potential of energy, disobeying the general laws of space. Particularly astonishing was their ability to suddenly start glittering and then turn into light steroids or totally disappear to emerge in some other point of space.

Pilots of the Aerospace Forces were familiar with that type of machines, but had never seen them in such great amount. It looked as though the Orbital Station had resumed their production and apparently had significantly upgraded them.

The devices built on the anti-gravity principle had once been wildly used for military purposes; however those wonderful machines were not free of drawbacks and therefore had been replaced with new types of weaponry.

With its almost infinite potential for spatial motion, the device was built on an ingeniously simple operating principle: cold-synthesis reactor used for energy production and two thickened levitan-made disks inside, filled with mercury and rotating in opposite directions. That was all there was to it! In addition, plasma vortex could be used to attain anomalous density of gravitational energy.

"Oma, do you remember how astonished we were on seeing the first plates with their anti-gravity? By that time we had just learnt to produce spacecrafts on printers and believed that to be the pinnacle of evolution. Those plates came as great surprise!” Raju was closely observing the flight of the glittering machines. His memory brought him back to the past, where the brave captain had left all his life, hopes and youth; where he had abandoned laughter and love, but instead acquired his destination through transformation. The Pole Battle had made it into the Planet’s history as an example of courage and bravery.

Chapter 20

The Pole Battle

“Technologies will win in any war. But I will always give my heart to a hero, who rushed into a fight empty-handed, driven by courage and faith”.

(words of an unknown author)

The North Pole is a place deprived of coordinates; whatever direction one takes, he will go south, seeing nothing but ice drifting beneath his feet and endless space covered with sharply white snow.

What can be more beautiful than a quite polar night, illuminated with the Polar Light?

That night, the bright iridescent glows accompanied with slight rustle that had once been called the “whisper of stars” changed the horizon as quickly as wind changes clouds in the sky before approach of a storm.

All of a sudden, three bright light spheres emerged close to the ground surface and suspended at a ten feet’s distance from the takeoff runway.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone. At the same moment, the calm of the night was broken by thunderous roar of explosions. Wrapped up with a fire circle, the refueling vehicle was the first to be thrown into the air by a powerful explosion wave. Then, one by one, combat flying machines in the parking zone began to drown in fire. Figures of men in flight suits started running between the aircrafts that were burning like flare stacks; some of them were completely enveloped in flames. The unbearable heat spread all around; even snow seemed to be burning. A heart-wrenching chorus of groans and cries was heard all around.

And above all that horror, soft green sparkles of the polar night’s lights were shining.

Stricken down to the ground and knocked senseless by the explosion, Raju raised his head, his ears were buzzing. He realized at once that the base had come under attack, and then another clear thought pierced into his mind: “The Coalition created a new-generation flying machine, and now we are facing the enemy who seeks an easy victory.”

Having quickly recovered and without waiting for instructions, Raju rushed to the remote open-air parking area, on the run giving orders through communicator to the unit’s pilots. Nearby and at a distance, he saw groups of people running towards their machines. There was no panic; everyone was acting in full compliance with the order of battle. There is only one way for pilots to escape: to take off to the sky.

Air defense batteries responded with counter fire. And the sky was splashed with light strokes of pulsed weapons, lasers and missiles. However the batteries fire seemed to be no particular threat to the fire spheres that were cruising around in the sky and near the ground at fantastic, almost impossible speeds.

Meanwhile, the vigorous flying machines were deliberately destroying all the airdrome facilities, airplane sheds, barracks, and warehouses. They were either smoothly moving at fifty feet’s distance from the ground, or altering their course sharply, attacking yet another target. One could get the impression that they were invulnerable and there was no force capable of defeating them. No sounds of engines or firing were heard.

Although a few planes managed to take off, that came to naught. The fast flying spheres were changing their courses and speed so quickly that on-board fire systems of planes were unable to take aim of them and hold it prior to missiles launch. Pilots were firing guns, but the flying spheres always managed to shift to other places.

There was something new in their tactics: in a flash they disappeared from one point in space to emerge in another at a significant distance. They appeared to be absolutely invincible.

Raju’s plane was already on the taxi way, when one of the spheres hung up about forty feet away from his cabin lamp. It ceased glowing for a few seconds, and he saw a circular glossy body with a cupola on top. The machine was most likely to be equipped with powerful lasers; for a moment it hung up in front of its target, then hit it and evaporated to come out in another point.

Not only Raju figured out the spheres’ tactics of selecting and attacking their targets; one of the drones which had taken off was circulating at the height of fifteen feet, monitoring the attack scene, when a flying sphere suddenly appeared some eight feet below it and halted for a while before pulse launch.

The AI-controlled drone, without a moment’s hesitation, darted down on the sphere, trying to pick up full speed before the stroke. Air ramming is the last resort for a pilot! The drone’s AI aimed at knocking down the sphere for the purposes of examination and chose that valiant method, fully realizing that it would be destroyed as well by the tremendous blow and explosion.

A fire ball generated instantly, and bluish tongues of electrical discharges intertwisted with the explosion fire, absorbing the enemies.

For a moment, one could see a round glossy body and the drone pushed into its upper cap. The sphere’s accelerator was damaged. Like deadly enemies, they grabbed hold of each other, unable to unclasp their embrace, and collapsed on the ground, wrapped up with fire and sparks.

Raju’s plane quickly pulled up and was already preparing to do a turn, when fire spheres abruptly suspended high above the base and all at once dissolved in the Polar Light.

Chapter 21

“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”

(Samuel Johnson)

(Flop’s memory achieve)

Have you ever wondered what sets the mood on board a spaceship? It’s the living environment. It has always been like this. Spacecrafts crews, who spend months and even years in space, give great importance to the design of internal rooms, no matter whether it is a combat ship or a research lab. Internal design of cabins on the Ares cruiser was done in traditional white tones, featuring smooth, friendly forms and dim greenish lighting. No wiring, appliances, or display screens were to be seen on the walls. Everything was arranged in compliance with the safety and comfort requirements of the crew. Communication with the omnipresent AI of the spacecraft could be performed from any point, either verbally or through thought transfer.

Flop was briskly floating along the hallway, passing by white mat walls, oval doors with pictograms indicating a room purpose. Occasionally, fragments of spheroidal apparatus flickered in the external illuminators.

As a matter of fact, Flop was not merely a cyber friend; his responsibilities involved a variety of auxiliary functions. He coped successfully with his duties and appeared to be highly proud of himself.

Like all other rational beings, AIs have their individual peculiarities and habits. For instance, Flop, aside from his passion for anime movies, had a hobby: he enjoyed designing and printing small drones – his assistants. They could take a variety of forms: insects, caterpillars and even worms. They then penetrated each and every corner on the spacecraft to control and check its operation systems. All data obtained by these devices would be transmitted directly on the cruiser’s main processor.

The spaceship’s AI appreciated Flop’s efforts in maintaining the cruiser’s operational readiness and usually reminded Raju to thank the isoform for his work. Among his recent developments, was a smart system of long-range video signal transfer that could be sent from some enclosed space, for instance, from an abandoned breakdown spacecraft. Severe on-orbit battles resulted in lots of such holed dishes drifting in space with still operative reactors. All of them were badly damaged, and therefore radiation leakages were an everyday occurrence. Such crashed ships usually presented problems even to beings in cyber bodies; while people in biological ones avoided those sinister places altogether. In such cases, drones were indispensable. And now Flop was going to send his assistants to explore the insides of the “Smart Doughnut” so as to satisfy his curiosity.