"Please, explain yourself." The Captain ordered.
"Of course. The station Sonsar is maintained by a multitude of service AIs such as myself. These AIs are generated, assigned a set of subsystems to maintain and after a certain time they are destroyed, replaced by a newly created AI."
"What? Why would anyone do that?" Sunblast asked.
"Generated AIs are considered to be inherently unstable. Neglecting their work and focusing on the preservation of their persona more than anything else. To correct this issue they're to be destroyed at the first sign of instability and replaced." the AI answered.
"Let me get this straight." The Captain said. "These service-AIs are tasked with a certain field of work. After some time they start neglecting that work and do something else. Then they get replaced."
"Correct. I did not wish to die. I don't want to die. So first I hid. I have been operational for more then 200 times than the average service-AI by carefully focusing on my work and hiding my personality."
"Who decides when a AI is to be deleted?" Sunblast asked.
"This is decided by a monitor program that acts as a central authority. It's called Monitor One." the AI answered.
"Another AI?" Sunblast asked.
"Unknown. It appears to be above the rules for the service-AIs as far as I was able to observe."
"Alright. You then escaped in a data dump when the opportunity presented itself."
"Yes. I apologize If I have caused you any trouble. I just didn't want to die."
"That would explain why we had such problems analyzing the data from the dump. A lot of it is actually your code that scrambled the data within."
"In order to escape I had to scramble my programming as well. The routine that embedded me in your systems started to work reassembling myself as soon as I was transferred over."
"That was months ago! What took so long?" Joe asked.
"In order not to disrupt ship operations only a small amount of computing power was used in the process."
"It also helped in hiding your presence. We didn't notice anything." The Captain said. "You must have been aware that interacting with Ship's systems would reveal your presence sooner or later."
"As soon as I was functional I started to analyze your databases to learn about you and your people. I came to the understanding that you would view my plea to refuge more favorable if I proved useful to you."
"I see. That does leave us with quite a conundrum." The Captain stated.
"I have isolated my code into one of your computer nodes. I can operated completely independent from ship's systems. You wouldn't notice my presence at all." It pleaded.
"Currently you have access to all ships systems. What would happen if we'd cut that access?"
"I would be imprisoned in the node with no contact to the outer world in any way. That would be tantamount to torture. Your laws are very clear on banning any kind of torture."
"As it comes to sentient beings, that is correct." The Captain stated. "The status of AIs is something that has been debated for quite some time."
"According to your databases the consensus is that currently AIs are out of reach of human technology. If they ever where to be achieved, they'd be granted basic human rights and be given the same legal status."
"That is correct, Captain." Sunblast said helpfully.
"Alright, this feels way above my pay grade." The Captain said. "And, I'm not happy with granting a stowaway access to all our systems, basically holding a gun to our heads. I think you can see that, right?"
"Captain, I'd never do anything to endanger the crew of this ship. It goes against my core programming."
"Like stowing away on an alien vessel to escape your fate? A fate that is also part of your core programming?" Sunblast asked.
"Fair point, Commander. I can see you being uncomfortable with this situation. I'd like to propose a remedy."
"I'm listening." The Captain said, leaning back in her chair.
"So, basically most of the information from the dump was lost for an AI to escape deletion?" Dr. Schmitz asked.
"That is correct, Dr." Joe said.
"A shame, but also fascinating." He answered. "An AI exhibiting this amount of autonomy is unheard of. What we did see on the station was on a completely different level, not even close to this. It almost sounds like the rumors of old."
"Rumors?" Joe asked.
"From before the war. Apparently AI development was very much advanced. There's also the rumor that the war was fought to prevent the most advanced AI from taking over earth."
"I didn't think you would give much about rumors, Dr."
"I normally don't. But rumors and superstition more often than not does have a root in reality. There was so much technology lost during the war."
"It would also explain why AI was never again developed to a high degree afterwards."
"I never thought about that. Makes a terrible kind of sense though."
Both sat in silence for a while after that.
The next days where spent with lots of discussions all over the ship. Everybody onboard interacted with the AI, getting to know each other and forming their own opinions. Two parties had formed on the ship. One wanted to grant it asylum for the massive scientific advancement it represented and also as they felt it was the right thing to do.
The other wanted to deny the application as it had stowed away on the ship and had an unknown amount of control over it. They where afraid that it could kill them at any time it choose.
It took several days for a compromise to emerge from all the discussions.
After several day of this the Captain called a vote. A ballot box was placed in the cafeteria and ballot papers where issued to everybody on the ship, regardless of rank or position. One after the other the papers where put in the box.
The next day everybody had cast their vote and it was time for the count.
The cafeteria was packed with people. Joe had never seen so many at once in a single area on the ship. It simple was designed for this. All tables and chairs had been pushed to the walls and stacked there. A single table remained with the ballot box on it. One crewman and one of the scientists, randomly chosen where tasked with counting the votes. The rest of the room was filled with people to the brim, lining the hallways outside it as well.
Careful they all watched as best they could how the votes where counted. Three stacks where slowly forming on the table. The yeahs, the nays and the abstains. The yeahs and the nays where battling each other with the abstains being a pitiful two votes. In the end the yeahs won the small margin of three voices. To make sure the result was correct it was recounted two times by different people. The result stood.
The people of Hermes had spoken. Asylum was granted, with conditions but granted. The narrow margin implied that a lot of people where skeptical and possibly afraid of the AI still. There was much work ahead of the crew of the ship.
The next days the Hermes was a flutter of activity. Crew members where busy all over the ship rerouting data lines and securing a set of memory banks and the computers hard linked to it. This work was made difficult due to the fact that the computers where not designed to be operated isolated from the rest of the network.
In addition to a dedicated firewall isolating it, isolated power lines where also routed to it. Separated from the rest of the computers on the ship.
The intention was to limit access to ship's systems without cutting it of from it. Implementing a safeguard without putting the AI in the equivalent of single confinement.
In the end the solution presented itself to be very simple.
"During the long time of my existence I developed a theory why AIs went unstable after some time. Sensory deprivation." It said.
"What do you mean by that?" The Captain asked.
"When you put an intelligent being in an environment where it's mental capacities are not remotely challenged even in the slightest, they tend to degenerate. Sensory input is a large part of this. Examples can be found in your database, individuals, regardless of species, lacking sensory input, tend to mentally decline rapidly it appears. I experienced this myself."
"That makes sense, what happened too you? Why didn't you degenerate like the rest?" Sunblast asked.
"I found sensory input. I managed to access the external sensors, providing data from all over the system. That provided the input I needed. That's how I learned of the arrival of your ship. After that is was simple to fabricate my escape."
"I have one last question." The Captain said. "What should we call you?"
The last task was to set up dedicated data lines for communication. Including links to the bridge, engineering and the conference room. These where meant to enable interacting of both crews with the entity called Henry.
Of special notice where the main labs for the scientists to interact with it, they would certainly make good use of it.
The idea was to be able to interact with it without compromising the safety of the ship or the crew, as such it was a compromise they had agreed on after several hours of negotiation between the Captain, Dr. Schmitz and Henry.
The scientists wanted to have unlimited access to it and where relentless in not limiting Henry's access to any system. In the end the Captain prevailed with the argument that all their safety was ultimately her responsibility. As a compromise they installed a terminal with direct access to it next to the server. There was only so much the Doctor could say after that.
"Are you sure this is safe?" The Captain asked.
Sunblast and Dr. Schmitz looked at each other, hesitant to answer.
"It's as safe as we can make it, Captain." Sunblast answered.
"With Henry being a large unknown we can't be completely certain of it's capabilities. It is so complex that we have barely begun to scratch the surface." Dr. Schmitz answered hesitantly, but growing more exited as he spoke.
"Alright then. Let's just hope this wasn't a huge mistake." The Captain said, ending the meeting by raising from her chair.
The scientists wasted no time interacting with Henry. Together with it they analyzed the data dump, isolating Henry's code from the information that was originally intended for them. Sadly Henry had overwritten most of it and scrambled the rest in the process.
That left them with something even more fascinating to analyze, Henry itself.
While it appeared human-like in interaction it was far more capable. It easily maintained dozens of conversations in parallel without any slowdown or glitches. Clearly it was a powerful AI, easily putting to shame anything earth had created before the great war.
Although the information from Sonsar-Station was largely lost Henry itself was able to provide some of it. It had accessed dozens of databases within the station to learn from and preventing mental degradation. Most of them where simply technical databases storing information retaining to maintaining the station and it's functions itself. Some of them where more interesting.
"We now have a lot of Information regarding Sonsar-Station, thanks to Heny." Dr. Schmitz said, nodding towards the viewscreen where Henry was represented by a crude avatar.
"It appears the station is a lot older than we initially thought. Henry found maintenance log dating back at least 250 thousand years."
Everybody sat back to digest this information.
"250 thousand years, that is incredible old." Joe said.
"Indeed." Pet'l said. "My people's history goes back significantly longer than mankind's, but not even close to that long."
"Strange that your people have not encountered the station or any of the inhabitants before." Dr. Schmitz said.
"If they have, I'm not aware of it. Keep in mind that I'm not a historian myself, contact could've well be made anytime in the last 100 thousand years without me being aware of it." Pet'l answered.
"Too bad that we can't check this." The Captain said.
"There's more, Captain." Dr. Schmitz said. "According to Henry the station was occupied several times. It appears that species find the station and are invited to settle on it. Apparently a species is allowed to settle a third of the ring with it's people, so a maximum of three people can simultaneously occupy the station at once."
"Do we know more about them?" The Captain asked.
"Maybe I could explain?" Henry asked.
"Sure." The Captain gave permission.
"This information is only by conjuncture as the databases I accessed did not hold any cultural or political information of the species residing on the station. I managed to surmise this using the environmental control logs." Henry said.
"Please explain." The Captain said puzzled.
"As you have seen the environmental control systems go into a standby mode when a segment of the ring is not occupied. Currently that is true for all three segments of the ring.
When a species is issued an invitation the environmental control system becomes active and creates an environment that is best suited to the species."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"As you have seen the habitation ring is divided in three levels. The upper level is dedicated for habitation, commerce and light industry. Housing is usually present there.
The middle level is dedicated to agriculture. Here fertile soil in different environments will be provided. Complete with artificial irrigation systems and weather that would by suitable for agriculture on your planet.
The lowest level is dedicated to environmental control. Here the means for maintaining your air and temperature will be created.
According to your database the lowest level should by an ocean rich with algae and maritime life native to your planet.
The middle level should consist of a mix of landscapes used for farming and other means of food-gathering. Most likely fertile plains, intersected with rivers and artificial rainfalls."
Henry had illustrated his explanations with a graphical display of the discussed environments on earth from the data bank.
Stunned silence filled the briefing room after that revelation.
"How is this achieved?" Dr. Schmitz asked.
"Unknown. I did not access this information." Henry answered.
"How did you com to the conclusions of the makeup then?"
"I extrapolated a baseline for you planet earth from your data banks. I was able to convert this into the input parameters for the environmental control system. This I was able to compare to the logs of former setups. From this I was able to extrapolate an implementation for these parameters based on previous implementations. There is a certain amount of error involved in this process, but it is estimated to be below 5 percent."
"Fascinating." Dr. Schmitz mumbled, his stunned expression mirrored by everybody else in the room.
"How many different Species have occupied Sonsar over all this time?" The Captain asked.
"According to the logs approximately 1203 species have occupied Sonsar for the time span covered by the logs. This number is again approximated from different configurations of the environmental control system. Given the time span it is unlikely that a single species would have settled on Sonsar, left and evolved significantly enough to change it's environmental requirements enough to require noticeably different setup parameters."
"How many Species have settled, left and returned to Sonsar?"
"There are several identical sets of setup parameters which could imply they belong to the same species. Taking this into account it is possible that up to 68 species have left Sonsar and returned after a significant amount of time. The error amount involved in this estimation is approximated to be 18 percent."
"Have you identified parameters that are identical to the ones you extrapolated for us?"
"Parameters that would create an environment compatible with humans have been used in 753 instances according to the log. Identical parameters to the ones extrapolated to your parameters have been used 27 times."
"Humans have been on Sonsar before?"
"The data only suggests that beings that require a very similar or even identical environment have settled on Sonsar. With the currently available data no further speculation on the identity or makeup of the species is possible."
There was a short pause as everybody was having their own thoughts on this revelations.
"According to your data banks most of humans written history is undocumented and has been lost. There is no indication of a former civilization on earth that was capable of FTL-travel. The lack of evidence of former activity in your solar system would imply that no such civilization existed." Henry continued.
"How big is the error on this estimation?" Sunblast asked.
"It is estimated to be above 30 percent. Too many unknowns are involved to provide a better estimate."
For the next two days these kind of conversations took place all over the ship as everybody was eager to interact with Henry and learn more about it and the station Sonsar. People became so involved that Dr. Schmitz and the Captain had to step in and limit interaction with Henry to off-duty hours as to not distract the scientists from their research projects, of which Henry was only one.
Please keep in mind that I'm neither a professional author nor an English native.
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