Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Present Day

He heard the door open, despite the attempt at stealth, and heard the woman as she moved through the house, opened the bedroom door, crossed the open floor and sat down. He never acknowledged the woman’s presence though. Choosing instead to feign sleep while he gently cuddled next to his most recent lover. A lovely young woman who provided him with excellent sport on and off for the past two months. Gaius hoped to have a little more time with her today. His new guest was an hour or so earlier than he expected.

Time to get on with the plan.

He was still uncertain why the others chose to wait so long before intervening directly. Yes their logic made sense, it always made sense, but he felt someone was trying to be just a little too cute and perhaps even showing off a bit. Of course, he admitted, it was fun to string them along for a while.

“Gaius,” the woman said.

He ignored her. His companion stirred, starting to wake up.

“Gaius!”

“Hello,” Gaius said, finally acknowledging her presence.

“Who are you?” demanded his companion as she woke up and stared at the other woman.

“Get out,” the woman ordered.

“Now, now,” Gaius said as he got out the bed and directed a smile at the tall blond seated at the chair. “There is no reason to be rude,” he shifted his attention to the woman still lying in his bed covering herself with the sheets. “Meredith, this is the young lady I told you would be coming by. She’s earlier than I expected. Although,” he smiled looking back at the blond, “that does make for an opportunity. Would you like to join us? We could have some fun.”

Something is very wrong, thought Six. Baltar’s reaction to her surprise appearance made no sense. She’d expected him to be flustered, to offer some banal excuses. Instead he was calm, self-assured, relaxed. Not the phony smugness he normally carried around but genuine self-control. And how did he know she planned on returning after they parted earlier that day?

She felt the shift. Normally she dominated their relationship, able to throw him off balance with a simple statement or look. But now … now Baltar seemed to be in complete control.

She shook her head.

It wasn’t right. Today was their day. The day of reckoning. The day everything would be made right. She should not be feeling out of her depth or the least bit insecure. There should be no … no feeling of … of … powerlessness.

“Get out,” she ordered the woman Gaius identified as Meredith.

She looked up when she heard Gaius sigh.

“I guess that’s a no to my offer,” he shrugged. “Meredith, I apologize for the interruption. I’ll show you out, we can talk tomorrow.” Turning his attention back to Six Gaius said, “Why don’t you wait in the living room, I’ll just be a few moments.”

Six found herself rising from the chair and heading for the living room. How was Baltar doing this? She was being herded. Worse, she was allowing herself to be herded.

Six comforted herself with the knowledge that she still held the upper hand. She would soon crush the false sense of confidence Baltar projected.

She sat on the couch and struck a pose that was sure to throw him off balance, somewhere between seduction and rejection, poised to go either way depending on her whim.

She watched as Baltar and Meredith came out of the bedroom, now both fully dressed. They exchanged quick pleasantries as Meredith left. His attention shifted back to her with that same calm demeanor.

This ends now.

“Gaius,” she said. “There is something I have to tell you.”

Gaius smiled at her. “Yes of course,” he replied as he calmly walked towards her coming to a stop about two meters from the couch. “This is the part where you tell me that you are a Cylon. Model number six, right?”

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21 years ago (Colonial Reckoning)

It took the machine nearly 35 seconds to come up with the answer. The builder smiled as he checked the machine’s computations. A basic fourth-dimensional math problem that the average Culture citizen could do in their head in seconds.

A quick review proved the calculations correct.

He switched over to the next set of problems. Each structured to force the machine to use an ever increasing amount of processing and memory capacity. He hoped the machine could work through each successive problem without failing. Although that was highly unlikely this early in the programming and testing phase of Project 64. The goal now was to avoid a catastrophic failure that would force a rebuild or worse, redesign.

Almost entirely hand built the machine took up the entire top floor of his home. He carefully set the controls, making certain at each step that the parameters precisely lined up, using the large ‘punch cards’ as the primary input and output method proved more effective than he originally expected, and then set the machine in motion.

Power flowed through seven hand made processing boards, each one two meters square, laid out in a three story pyramid in the middle of the machine. Another smile crossed his face as he watched three of the nine one meter blocks of crystal light up as micro-lasers ‘read’ the delicate patterns etched their interiors (he was particularly proud of the mostly hand made memory crystals). At one point he thought to use magnetic tape but the size requirements needed to achieve the necessary data storage demanded nearly three square kilometers of space for the completed machine. While the Hub was willing to make the space available, he compromised by using naturally occurring crystals that he could shape by hand and ‘etch’ using early stage industrial laser technology.

Other components flared to life as the machine began to work through the complex equations.

Project 64 represented eighteen years of work (with a few months off here and there for vacations or other projects and of course teaching the occasional ‘computer history’ course at one of the Orbital’s universities). He estimated within another six years the machine should achieve actual sentience (albeit at the bottom end of the Culture’s scale). The first genuinely hand crafted AI ever.

At least as far as his Hub assisted research could determine.

Of course modern technology created computers and processors the size of molecules that possessed far greater processing capability than the oversized machine churning away.

But that wasn’t the point.

This machine was HIS design and each of the parts was crafted by HIS hand. Over 80 percent of the components were made using pre or early industrial techniques and the reminder (such as the memory crystals) used the lowest tech equipment he could get away with, all built by hand or by hand built tools. Some mechanical controls were used (built into machines he designed and constructed) but absolutely no computer controlled equipment was permitted under his own self-imposed ‘rules’.

He made his own wiring, transistors, processors and other components. The challenge lay in ‘scaling up’ the components into something that could be crafted by hand and still function. To build a true sentient machine of ‘modern’ design using ‘primitive’ techniques.

Project 64 represented a crowning achievement for Hetiza-T’lecta Ben Gaius ter Baltar da’ Vankopt.

It had been millennia since a human being had a direct hand in creating or programming one of the Culture’s artificial intelligences and technically no human had a part in the creation of a Mind. All modern Drones and Minds were built and their initial mind-states set by other Minds.

The study of primitive AIs always fascinated Gaius. After all such devices evolved into the Minds that in many ways defined the Culture. And buried deep within the Minds programming generations of ‘code’ back (if such a crude term could by applied to a Mind) lay the original human creator’s genius, the true seeds of the Culture.

Gaius built and programmed several simple AI matrixes. Including the one charged with running his estate, originally called Project 22 until it achieved sentience and chose the name Hetiza-T’lecta Somma ter Baltar. He was only able to get a few of his creations over the hump to true sentience on his own (the others required the aid of a true Mind or remained limited non-sentient AIs).

The Hub Mind found Gaius’ work interesting and provided much in the way of assistance. Passing ship Minds (everything from powerful GSVs to small fast pickets) often checked in on his work, occasionally ‘adopting’ one his AIs for their own purposes. Gaius had achieved a certain amount of fame within the Culture and a small following among various Minds. A fact which pleased Gaius to no end. It was extremely rare for a single human to be noticed by multiple Minds and even to be sought out by them (at least outside of the Mind that ran whatever Orbital or ship they lived on).

“Gaius,” a voice intruded on his contemplations.

“Yes,” Gaius answered.

“Hughvan-Terz is here to see you,” came the reply. “He has brought a guest.”

Hughvan-Terz was one of the very first Drones the Hub Mind created when the T’lecta Orbital was completed 3,600 some years ago. The Hub often asked it to act as a go-between with Gaius because it knew of Baltar’s fascination with older designs. Technically the Hub (or more often one of its subroutines) could speak with Gaius directly at any time through the terminal integrated into Gaius’ ring or send one of its many avatars.

Gaius decided he did not want to halt the current test.

“Allow them in Sooma,” he said. “And tell them to come up. Hughvan-Terz knows the way.”

“Understood,” the Estate AI answered.

A couple of minutes later two Drones floated into the large room.

Gaius recognized the first instantly. Hughvan-Terz was just under a meter in length, and just a little bigger around than a human torso. Projector fields played out a flash of color across its surface, signifying pleasure, before settling back to a more neutral gray with a blue stripe.

The second Drone was unknown to Gaius. Only a little larger than his hand the smaller Drone floated up to Project 64’s perimeter. Its projector fields flashed a quick series of colors moving between pleasure and fascination.

Hughvan-Terz began, “Gaius, permit me to introduce Gurlaz-JaLite Ubatoma ‘la Tozy Banum. Tozy, this is Hetiza-T’lecta Ben Gaius ter Baltar da’ Vankopt.”

“Thank you Hughvan-Terz,” Tozy said it dipped slightly at Gaius, the Drone version of a bow, and then used a projector field to point towards Project 64. “Remarkable. When I received this assignment I looked through all of the material you’ve made available on this project. Are you still expecting success within the next six years?”

“Yes,” Gaius replied. “Assuming there are no major faults found during the current round of testing. If I discover a fault that requires a major rebuild than the final timeline will be pushed out. But if things continue as planned then in nine months I should have complete verification of all mechanical systems functionality and the hardware/software interfaces. After that it just becomes a question of programming. Are you here to inquire about my work?”

“No,” Tozy replied. “Gaius I am here at the request of GCU How Many Roads Can a Mind Walk Down.”

Gaius smiled at the name. How Many Roads Can a Mind Walk Down was the GCU he’d been assigned to during most of his 20 year tour with Contact some forty years ago now. His tour with Contact provided him with the opportunity to meet with dozens of low-tech civilizations and engage in practical first hand research on the development of artificial intelligence design.

He’d done some additional projects for Contact since then, usually involving ‘barbarian’ cultures adjusting to the development of artificial intelligence and most his ‘vacations’ were to early stage civilizations for additional research.

“So what does Contact ask of me today?” Gaius inquired.

“Your help,” Tozy answered. “How would you like to participate in redefining a society’s entire outlook towards Artificial Intelligence?”

That got Gaius’ attention. “Well that does sound like a challenge.”