System Shock 2 Short Story

Part III

The UNN senate sub-committee was hastily assembled. Senator Cal McGill was elected the chairman. Cal McGill had been on Korenchkin's payroll since she was a freshman. The committee was comprised of sixteen members. Seven were senators, four were scientists, one was an economist and four were senior officers from the upper echelons of the UNN military.

Korenchkin himself, was merely an observer to the proceedings. Neither was Delacroix, nor Diego, but they both were an the roster to testify. Korenchkin would have preferred Diego not to participate, but that was something he could not control. After all, Diego had propped himself up as more force of nature than man.

The battle of Boston Harbor, or more accurately, the media coverage of the battle had made him a national hero. A doomed uprising carried out by a badly led and under-equipped insurgency against a well financed, numerically superior and ruthless military force. However, the media portrayed it as anything but a foregone conclusion, and thus Diego came out a hero.

The insurgency, led by a band of tech-nostalgic teenagers, was put down in three weeks and the conflagration laid waste to a good portion of downtown Boston, Charlestown and Cambridge. But in the end, it was Diego who kept the peace, who restored order and oversaw the executions of the ringleaders.

In the sub-committee meeting room, Korenchkin watched Diego as he moved towards his seat, shaking hands with military colleagues and some gushing politicos. He nodded at Delacroix and Anatoly felt a slight flush at this. After all, Delacroix was his pet. He had found her, nurtured her talent and provided her the means to do the kind of work that lead to Sarah. And here she was, nodding at Diego, holding not-so-secret meetings with the son of a bitch on picturesque New England coastlines. Where was the honor due him, the man who had made her?

Ah, the meeting... he knew well of it. How his spies must have rubbed elbows with Diego's operatives as they shared a mutual orbit around the tete-a-tete. Diego had wanted him to know of the meeting. If he hadn't, Korenchkin never would have heard of it. Diego had the best men and the best toys...he could not be outmaneuvered when it came to subterfuge.
The proceedings were on the surface mind-numbingly dull. Lots of very long-winded scientists stiltedly reading prepared statements; independent confirmation of Delacroix's work. A woman named Dr. Janice Polito was one of the rare high points, a touch of drama. She had written a number of famous papers on artificial intelligence, most of them in the clenched teeth, hand wringing style so popular in the neo-Luddite community.

Polito: "In Dr. Delacroix's native tongue, there is pouvoir and devoir. In English, there is can and must. They're too very different words, and when it comes to building technology we must not confuse the meaning of these verbs. Sarah can be built. She will crack open the galaxy. She will eliminate mystery from the universe. I realize that's a pretty esoteric argument against building a faster than light capable device, but let me bring it down to earth a little.

"We have no idea what Sarah will do. Just to make her work at all, we will need to (and, in fact, have already begun to) resurrect the form of computing power that gave us SHODAN. Conventional, non-personality AI cannot make the kind of leaps necessary on this schedule. In order to build the kind of technology we really don't understand, we must harness technology that we really don't trust."
Cal McGill, the chairman of the sub-committee, and the most expensive line item on Anatoly's payroll at the entire hearing, leaned forward in her chair.
"Uh, Dr. Polito, isn't this exactly the kind of challenge that you created the Xerxes prototype to face?"

Color drained from Polito's face as if she had been slapped. She looked sideways at Delacroix, her face saying, "How did they..."

She looked back at the senator. "How do you know about Xerxes? That is private work, with no-"
The senator tapped a screen in front of her and 3D image appeared on a large display above the floor. It was a render of a striking, bald man, with supernaturally blue eyes.

"Good afternoon" said the personality, in a clipped, English tone. "I am Xerxes 453/RT4b3."

Delacroix began to protest but the committee chairman gaveled her out. "Dr. Polito, Dr. Delacroix, sit down." After some time, when the room quieted down, they did as the chairman ordered. Xerxes, Dr. Polito's prototype personality hung in the air over them, a silent presence.

The chairman continued: "Dr. Polito, you came before us ringing the chimes of doom, while simultaneously constructing the very kinds of artificial intelligence you warn us against. How, Doctor, do you reconcile this position?"

Polito did not speak.

Delacroix wanted to turn to Diego to receive some sign that everything was okay, everything was still going according to plan. But she dared not. Korenchkin would surely notice. In her mind he remained ignorant of her alliance with the UNN.
Polito stammered. "I'm not as naïve as this committee might think. Progress happens. Inertia takes the day. But if progress will happen, it should occur responsibly with forethought and with humility. Yes, I am building something that is smarter than all of us. We are the rabbit who chooses to build the fox. If I didn't believe that, I would have finished the Xerxes prototype six years ago. Development time on this prototype was one third AI routines and two thirds restraint and containment protocols. If and only if I and my colleagues are convinced that Xerxes is secure would I ever consider authorization of actual production models."

Hubbub. Noise. Shouts. Polito escorted out. More testimony, days pass, decision.

Cal McGill: "The future happens. As we've seen these last few days, the hand wringers arrogantly condemn technology while clandestinely spearheading its development. However, while technology may be inevitable, it must not be rushed. To this end and in lengthy deliberation, with extended consultation with Captain Diego and his task force, this committee recommends the following..."

The recommendation took over forty minutes to read. It was filled with hedging, well-worded language, and a fair amount of irrelevant riders, but at root it allowed an additional three months of development time of Sarah before reaching a finished prototype by 2112. The production of the first FTL capable starship would begin in early 2113.
Delacroix was speechless. Polito was perhaps in tears, but Delacroix couldn't tell for sure.

3 months! Diego had promised her five years. Did she underestimate his influence? Were the events spiraling even out of his control?

The chairman continued: "Furthermore, the maiden voyage of said starship shall occur with the full cooperation and participation of the UNN military arm, such endeavor to be personally supervised by Captain Diego himself. This participation will include comprehensive military escort of the mission, military approval of key civilian personnel, military..."

She continued on for another twenty minutes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Delacroix sat outside the chamber. She was numb. She wasn't aware that Anatoly Korenchkin had joined her on the bench until she heard his voice.

"What were you trying to accomplish, Marie? Did you really think he would play it straight with you? Don't feel to abused. I didn't win this one either."
"I won't finish her... It's over."

"Oh, Marie, you've already done the hard parts. But now you must come along and make sure little Sarah plays nice. Without you, who would stand between her and the egomaniacs like Diego and the ruthless capitalists at TriOp?"

She said nothing.

"You know, I really don't know why you dislike me so much, Marie. At least you know what I am. I imagine that must provide some degree of comfort."

He patted her on the knee, got up, and walked away. Watching him go putter down the corridor, he looked oddly deflated. And old man, very alone in the world. Never really winning, never really losing.
She stood up, waited for him to reach a comfortable distance and then walked away from the committee room. It was time to get back to work. Sarah was waiting.