Jason's head was spinning. Fortunately, the organizational structure of the oceanic army was easy enough. There were the captains and their seconds but else, the groups organized themselves and appointed leaders for specific tasks among them. They had been without an An'Goleda for decades. If decisions had to be made, they would be brought to Jason and the captains would report to him regularly. However, especially Shesh had insisted that Jason had to learn the necessary vocabulary to interact with the soldiers. Only few of them knew English. When Jason was too tired to continue, he called it a day and Tabarik had volunteered to be his teacher which was hardly surprising. He could tell that Shesh watched Tabarik's eagerness with weary eyes. Jason hoped it wouldn't lead to tension between the captains. He needed them united.
He was still over some vocabulary when voices interrupted his concentration. Brett, Neri, Mera and – to Jason's surprise – Froggy entered the chamber. Neri's and Mera's hair looked dry and a quick look at his watch told me that more had passed than he'd thought. Mera gave his clothing a glance and nodded in approval. Brett wasn't quite as subtle, inspecting him from top to bottom.
"I don't know if that's cool or weird."
Jason ignored him and extended his hand to Froggy, who took it shortly.
"It's good to see you, Jason", he said and took his hand back. "Brett told me everything but it's still a relief to see you in person."
"You forgot to bow", Brett told him and Froggy paled.
Jason gave Brett a nudge with his shoulder. "Don't listen to him. No one bows. And it's good to see you, too. I didn't know you were in the neighborhood."
"Spring break", Froggy replied casually but looked sheepish at the same time.
"And you spent it on O.R.C.A. with – let me guess! – H.E.L.E.N.? Don't you think you should find a real girlfriend?"
Froggy turned pink and shook his head. "I know you told me to stop messing around with the Pyramid", he said fast in a defensive tone, "but I'm sure, H.E.L.E.N. would warn us, if it had some agenda."
Jason sighed. "What did you do?"
"It's better if I show you."
Froggy approached the desk until he stood in front of the control panel and opened up a screen. As he navigated through the menu of oceanic symbols with no difficulty, Jason and Brett exchanged astonished looks.
"Here." A holographic projection appeared above the table, a kind of diagram with spheres and strings. "This" Froggy nodded to the holographic image, "is a representation of everything we have to deal with. The spheres are the major knots like Earth and Planet of Oceans. And, the syncronium, Malakat's followers, the trial, repopulating the oceans, Shersheba, going public …"
"The strings that connect everything", Jason concluded.
"Exactly. In theory, if we solve one of those, it'd certainly have some positive effect on the other strings. I thought if we get it into a visual… "
"It's beautiful", Neri said.
"It's a mess", Brett replied dryly. "I mean, not just your representation", he added quickly in Froggy's direction, "but the whole situation. To see it like this is really scary. I almost forgot half of it."
"This is exactly why we need this." Jason gave Froggy a pat on the shoulder. "This is great, Froggy. We should have thought about something like this sooner."
Froggy smiled and looked uncertain. "It's not just a representation", he said with hesitation. "It's actually a self-learning program by the Pyramid itself. I only found while looking through its database and adjusted its interface. "
"You did what?" Brett looked as alarmed as Jason felt.
"Look," Froggy said quickly in his defense, "There are zetabytes of useful information and tools and I think it wants to help us …"
"It doesn't take sides, Froggy", Neri said calmy. "It's just a machine and it only listens to my mother more than Malakat because she is higher in rank."
"Yes, she is the ultimate administrator", Froggy replied impatient. "Which means right now, it can't go against her saying. And we can make use of its computing power. People are complicated and messy and the Pyramid is able to keep up with it, figuring out patterns and can remind us about important things we've forgotten, as Brett said."
"You said self-learning", Mera said, "what did you mean?"
"We know it listens because it reacts to spoken commands even if it doesn't answer directly and H.E.L.E.N. told me, it has a huge archive of stored information. It's got a prioritizing algorithm on how to store and manage the database. It's rearranging the data constantly into important stuff and noise, learning from the people in the pyramid which is which."
"So, the Pyramid's learning abilities are restricted to some programs, but it doesn't learn on its own?" Jason followed.
"It's not a true AI, not self-aware – at least, I think so", Froggy replied. "Not like H.E.L.E.N.. Her basic program was just a prototype for running a research facility. She did a great job, so other H.E.L.E.N.'s were installed at other facilities as well. But when she was upgraded, you taught her to keep secrets, to laugh, to tell jokes. She learned from you and she became aware. She even distinguishes people into those she trusts and those she would never let come close to her hardware. She is a person – and no", he said directly to Jason. "I don't need to find a real girlfriend, because H.E.L.E.N. is as real as it gets. And she is unique because she is not networked either."
Jason and Brett exchanged an amused look. Mera tried to hide her smirk but Neri smiled openly. "Yes, H.E.L.E.N. is a good friend."
"Nevertheless," Jason replied, "we need to run this by Shalamorn. It's a huge risk to tap into the Pyramid. By the way, how did you navigate through this program just before?" he wanted to know. "You said, H.E.L.E.N. is not networked, so she is not helping you right now."
Froggy took a deep breath. "What is the most pressing problem in most conflicts, no! – in all conflicts?"
"Stubbornness", Brett guessed. "Selfishness, stupidity …"
"No, no", Froggy interrupted. "Think more basic."
"Just tell us", Jason said.
"The lack of communication", Froggy said.
Mera shook his head. "There is communication, Froggy. There's just not enough agreement."
"I'm not talking about politics but about just common people getting along …"
"Froggy", Neri interrupted him gently but Jason could tell her patience was running thin as well.
"Fine." Froggy sighed. "I built a universal translator from an oceanic blueprint."
"Bullshit," Bret said after a second of silence. "Those things only exist in Star Trek."
Froggy shrugged. "Not anymore. I printed what I could with a 3D printer and took parts out of an old computer. But it was H.E.L.E.N. who had to put it together in the automated repair laboratory. Too small for human fingers. And the software is from the pyramid, although translated by H.E.L.E.N.. I wanted to take a look."
"So, it's basically a nano-chip?" Mera guessed.
Froggy nodded. "You swallow it and it automatically attached itself to the part of the brain which is responsible for processing language and communication."
Brett gaped. "You're carrying a nano-chip in your brain which was created by an A.I.?"
Froggy sighed. "Brett, you watch too many movies. H.E.L.E.N. and the Pyramid don't have any intention to destroy the world."
"It almost did."
"That was Malakat."
"Fair. Still, running around with a nano-chip in your brain is kinda creepy."
"I agree", Mera said. "How will you get it out again?"
"I added a few lines of code. If I say a specific sequence of letters and numbers out loud, it detaches itself and you … poop it out." He blushed a little.
"And that works?" Jason asked with skepsis.
"I didn't try it yet. I worked several days on them. I'm not gonna flush my hard work down the toilet. But I trust it will work." He took small glass phial out of his pocket and put it on the table in front of Jason. "I made a second one for you."
"You want me to be your guinea pig?"
Froggy shook his head. "I was the guinea pig. It works. Only one way though. I can understand Oceanic, but they can't understand me."
"And if Jason is on board, Mother will distribute them among our people as well", Mera concluded with slight anger in her voice. She turned to Jason. "But you won't, will you?"
Jason took the phial in his hand and tried to make out the nano-chip. A small black dot, barely visible.
"If it really can do, what you say it can, then that's a remarkable piece of technology."
Froggy blushed again, this time with pride. "Isn't it? Think about it: so many misunderstandings that could be avoided."
Jason turned to Neri. "What do you think?"
"I trust Froggy and I trust H.E.L.E.N.", she replied. "And if it helps, we should take a leap of faith."
Mera huffed but said nothing. Froggy looked excited and Brett sceptic.
After another second of thought, Jason opened the phial and emptied it into his mouth.