[Sorry this is so late I have had a head cold for the past week. A lot of sinus pressure couldn't think too clearly. Have the next one about ready to now it will be released in a few days. Looking for a Bata reader now thought I had one but it has worked out yet. Working on the appendix to go with this story as well. I hope you like this chapter.]
Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty A.L.I.C.E.
09 JAN 2016
TERRA, SPRINGFIELD
SCIENCE LABS
General Carter had been asked to come to the research labs that were in the other wing of the complex. They had have made a breakthrough that she must-see. She wanted the labs close to her so she would be able to watch over some of them a little closer. This was the scientist that needs to be supervised the most. He had some good ideals but was fast to draw to conclusions and in doing so had made some big mistakes.
"Good morning Chloe I didn't know you were back to work yet. How are the babies?" Sam ask Chloe Felger who had been on maternity leave after giving birth to twins. Chloe had been Dr. Felger's assistance for years in the old SGC. He had finely gotten the nerve to ask her out. They were married after a year. They had been transferred to Area 51 after the Stargate was taken. They had just been brought to Springfield six months ago. Chloe had been the first to give birth on the planet and to twins no less. They had been the talk of the planet for the last month.
"They are doing great thanks for asking. They are down the hall in my office now with my nanny. Thanks again for allowing us to be here this place is wonderful. Our new apartment is a perfect size. Lt. Hightower is doing a great job as well. She will make a wonderful mother after she gives birth." Dr. Chloe and Dr. Jay Felger had been married for ten years now. They now have four children two boys one eight and the other five plus now the twin girls.
"Glad to hear that you have settled in so nicely. Though I did have my concerns about having babies so for away from Earth. But if we are to colonize another world that means there will be babies too. After we are done I would love to see them again." Sam said as she was wanting to have kids to someday. "The Doctors had put Lt. Hightower on light duty so I asked her if she wouldn't mind helping you out some. At least until she has her baby. We will have to start looking to put in a nursery now. I was told that three more of my officers, two of the nurses and Dr. Wiggins are all pregnant now. That is just here at Springfield."
"It looks like there must be something in the water here then." They both got a little laugh in. "I came back a little early so we could finish the programming on our project so it can be installed in the new ships," Chloe answered. Then Dr. Jay Felger came out of an office at the side of the lab.
"You're here already?" he said getting a bit nervous as he saw Carter talking to his wife. "General Carter good morning I wasn't expecting you till 9:00."
"Dear, it is 9:05. General Carter has been here sometime now." Chloe told him.
"Yes yes, I was just put the new images in the scanner." He said.
"So what have you and Dr. Felger come up with now? I do have a very busy day ahead of me." Sam asked not sure what he had been doing. He often when into doing some off the wall stuff.
"Yes, you're going to love this. We have found in the Asgard computer core what was used to help them run their ships. We have made some modifications to suit our needs." He said as he turned and went to his console. Tripping over a trashcan that was next to it. "May I present A.L.I.C.E." Just then a hologram of a woman appeared.
"Hello, how may I assist you today Dr. Felger?" Alice asked a 1.72-meter woman with medium length black hair stood. She was wearing a firm fitting black uniform that was like the new ones that were planed to be used in the fleet.
"Alice, say hello to General Carter," Felger said.
"Hello, General Carter. It is a pleasure to meet you." Relied Alice turning to face Sam.
"Hello, Alice nice to see you. What is your purpose?" Asked Sam.
"I was created to assist in day to day functions of ships and basses. I have been programmed with all safety procedures and protocols. Once I am inter grated into their computers I will be able to better monitor the ship functions keeping it and the crews safe."
"She is an Artificial Logistic Intelligence Computer Entity or A.L.I.C.E. as she stated she will monitor ships functions and will be able to reroute power from damaged areas faster then we can. She even can handle the point defenses able to track multiple targets at once. She can be in any place on the ship. We can upload any image for her to be. Some protocols will be in place at command access levels only to privet her from launching missiles without orders. As you know there will be a transport pad at the bridge that will be locked for bridge personal only access. The captain and commander of the ships will have priority to all transports. The fact that she may seem real she is just a computer program." Jay informed Sam.
"Well, we have found some sentient programs in the past. How sure are you that she is not?" Sam asked looking to both Chloe and Jay Felger.
"We are sure that it is just a program but there is a chance that it may start to think it is sentient. Though that is not likely." Chloe Stated.
"She can be accessed through video screens or as a hologram through the ship. While yes her program can grow it will be limited to the computer core that she is on. The Asgard have been using the base programming for centuries. This is the same program they used within the original core on the Odyssey that allowed you to see any Asgard that was in the core. All we have done add a more friendly interface. The core has multiple lairs of security firewalls to prevent any tampering. We have sent a sample of our program to be placed in an online game so far, none have been able to break it." Jay Felger said.
"You did what?" Sam asked as she was fuming. "Take that game down now. If someone does figure out what that is it could be a serious breach of security." Sam looking at Jay now.
"I thought you knew about it it has been up now for nine months. General Halls at Area 51 had approved the release of the game. It is in hope that if someone was to break the code that we would be able to recruit them into the program." Dr. Felger said trying to point the blame on the General.
"I will have to talk with Home World Command. We need to get that code ff line before it falls into the wrong hands." Carter said making to mental note to remember. After a few more minutes running the hologram test getting favorable responses. She still needed some more work but would be installed in the new classes of ships. Then in the 304s on their next maintenance cycle.
Sam had another meeting with Dr. Coombs and Dr. Meyers. They were working on something that was to work with the hologram system. As she interred their lab a woman was laying on a table that looked like Alice. Seeing the Doctor's working. They still had not noticed her. "Tell me that that is not a replicator?"
"Haaaa! You're here. No, she is not a replicator. She is an android that we have put together." Dr. Coombs replied.
"The Asgard data core had many design androids including that of Reese. We have also spoken to Harlan turns out he is just a less advanced version of Reese. We believe that it was the Altair that built Reese. We have found that they had a colony on the world where she was found. When there highly technological world fell do to the radiation. They had lost contact with them a century or so before that. Never knowing what had happened. But this is just a simpler design." Dr. Meyers answered.
"She can be placed onboard to perform some of the simple tasks and repairs. She will be able to work on some of the more dangerous areas. She can even work in the vacuum of space without a suit, unlike a replicator. She does not have any nanites, therefore, she can not replicate. She can only be made with a captain's consent with on more than ten can be made for a single ship and that will take a higher command rank to be proved." Dr. Coombs piped in before Carter could say anything.
"So she is just an android then. So how does she perform?" Sam asked looking a her laying on the table. She walked around getting a better view of the android.
Then Alice opened her eyes and sat up making Sam jump back a bit in fright. Alice turned to face Carter. "I am sorry General Carter. It is good to see you again. I am Alice made flesh so to say."
"While I am the hologram version." The hologram of Alice appeared standing next to the table then the screen of a nearby monitor the image.
"While I am the programmed version. We all share the same memory matrix. While the android version sends updates to us every hour. We can send her updates as needed." Alice on the screen stated while seeming to look at Cater.
"I see! Is there anything you can't do?" Carter asked.
"General Carter we are at your command. We can only do as we are programmed nothing more. You have the highest clearance the Captain of the ship that I am on will have the next highest. We are to keep the crew safe while maintaining the ship. With the new systems that are being implemented on all the ships and bases with the health implants. I will be able to get them to medical faster and in case of a hull breach on a ship there will be a chance of saving anyone who gets expelled into space." The android said.
"How long can you go without recharging?" Sam asked looking at the android of Alice.
"I can go for seventy-two hours and ninety-six hours if I conserve power usage before shutdown. If I stay onboard the ship I will only have to shut down for six hours every two weeks. Same as on a ground base or cities. I can draw power wirelessly from many sources that the other Altair models could not." Answered the android.
"Very good. Doctors while I fill this is all good. I'm not sure about the android models yet. We will show the command staff what they can do and it will be up to them to put into use. While I see their uses that can benefit a ship just not sure how a crew will react to her." Sam said looking at the doctors. "I know that it was uncomfortable finding out that I had a synthetic duplicate but this is going to be different."
"We also have another program that could be used as combat drones. Harlan has given us the mains to scan our personal to make other synthetics that will have all the training needed. We have spoken to the others that Harlan has scanned they all have adapted to their new environment and are glad to know that they will live thousands of years." Dr. Coombs said.
"That will remain an option but only if the need arises. Flesh and blood troops will be our main fighting force." Sam was thinking of her last time on Atlantis with them using replicators to boost their security. "We may use some as security at some sites."
Three days later Sam heard a knock at her door. She was in deep thought going over the Alice program. "Hello, Sam is this a bad time?" Came a familiar voice.
"Not at all Alex come on in and have a seat." She said as she pointed to the empty chair. "What can I do for you today?"
"We have completed the surveys of Mustafar moons. There is way more material there to build thousands of ships. Mustafar its self has what we need to do so as well. We would have to use remote control drones we could never survive the heat or gasses that is there." Alex informed her setting back in the seat. "Then there is the gravity that is twice that of earth. There is also the matter that it would have to be none by ships cause there is no place stable on the surface."
The name Mustafar was given to the fifth planet in the Sol 2 system. There was a preliminary survey done when the system was first discovered. They had determined that there were sufficient amounts of Naquadah, Trinium, and Neutronium. Mustafar was a hellish planet that would have made Sokar fill at home. Neut would fill like a winter wonderland. They had placed a mining site on the Alpha moon. The Beta moon was being looked at for a colony world. But for now, there was plenty of room on the other worlds in the system.
"Well, what if we can build androids to do the labor. We would have to build shielded suits for them. Alice can be programmed to do it so long as we can build a craft to stand up to the heat for an extended time. The whole thing can be automated including a shipyard." Sam said as she thought for a moment.
"I knew you would have something up your sleeve. I have found a suit design in the Asgard core of an automatic fitting suit that was used by the Alterra as well. The mining ships we have in use now can do it with the transport beams and shields. We will have to maintain a watchful eye on them and the planet to make sure we don't destabilize the planet." Alex said following Sam's thoughts.
"Go ahead and start building a manufacturing facility on the Alpha moon. We still have some more testing to do on the Alice program before I am going to in act it. I saw the suit as well, we have encountered them in Atlantis when the Asgard took Danial and McKay. Go ahead and make a thousand of the suits they are better than the ones we have gotten from NASA." Sam and Alex continued making plans until late in the afternoon.
That evening she returned to her and Narim had a late dinner. They went out on their balcony and shared a bottle of wine. She was still thinking about the morning and the time she spent with the Felger twins. "Do you ever think about have children?" She asked him leaning over to kiss him.
"I haven't. At least not in a long time. Then there hasn't been anyone who I would want to have children with until now any. What has brought this on?" He asked her as he refilled their glasses.
"Ho! I spent some time with the Felger's twins this morning. Guess it got me thinking about wanting to have some of my own someday. I have always put my career first and never put too much thought into it." Sam said turning on the charm looking up to him with a smile.
"Well, we will have to work on making some." As he swept her up in his arms. They embraced in a kiss.
{ Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and thanks for reading.}