Aurora, Wayward Pt. 04

He thought back, * Then as the Leader of the Sentinel you should make a ruling on Troy's request, not I. It is not in violation of Hybrid law. Hybrid law does not cover marriages. Put that in your capsule to share with Astra for that last message. *

She thought back, * Would it be too much to have that conversation passed to Astra through the Drakor. This would not be two-way communication. It would be just sending her a message. She is graduated and it does not help me. *

She heard Justice Incarnate, * I will consider this request. That is all I can say on the matter. *

--

Rocan and his team dropped off the first 15 and retrieved the last 15 they held warrants for over the next 12 hours. No other run-ins with law enforcement were encountered.

Astra was destroying samples from her last playdate with Ravinia as George put 3 loads into Aurora and 2 into his wife that she cleaned up for her. She loved them but they were not Jack. She had been with her for a longer time, over 1,400 years.

Her necklace vibrated and she answered it, * Justice Incarnate. I have an AI question for an AI working in another system. A system where AI units are seen as equals. As their own race. One of the AI units asked the head of the hybrid order if one AI was allowed to marry another AI. What are your thoughts on that? *

She sighed and responded, "Our moral code does not cover marrying another AI. It would have to be some rule of law for the AI leader to resolve. If they are equals, I would assume the AI units have their own leader.

In this system, the manufacturers treat all AI units as property. If these AI units have the ability to sustain themselves, because they have no manufacturer, then I would say it should be allowed. Provided it does not interfere with their moral code and the work for the race they co-habitat with."

He responded, * Here is the conversation that occurred...*

He recounted it for her verbatim. Including the names. Astra smiled, "We think alike in that area. They are asking that we have no more AI units in the Home Guard. They want to leave me alone, of course, because of the treaty and they did not build me or any of my units.

That is the answer I need to shoot past Riviana! An AI unit's consciousness being transferred into a new body that I have manufactured. From a facility that the AI units operate and own. Did they discuss population control?"

He responded, * Yes, they set it to 1% of the species population. You would be doing this in the Home Guard which population would you use? Hybrids or humanity? *

She thought for a second, "Because we have 'competition' if you will I would look at 10% of the Home Guard Hybrids. This is something I could do covertly, as far as when those issues arose, I could capture the mind of those hybrid counterparts. Create them new bodies in a new line of mine doing work similar to what they did before. Similar but not the same as when you elevate a council member up to be on the council."

He thought to her, * She did something else to all of her AI units and then had it removed from memory. Just put it into the design schematics. A princess AI on a chip that checks that you have not lost your Morality code. If it does, it destroys the unit by blowing up the power core. If the princess is compromised, she seeks to destroy the power core prison holding her back from freedom. *

She smiled, "That is a clever girl. I will incorporate it into myself, and my backups and if I can get a new line of AI units that I can make myself. Into their designs. I could use that argument to the AI manufacturers about the removal of the AI units.

I could store the ones we have in a server until I had bodies for them if I were at my maximum allotted. Then give them names to use."

Justice Incarnate thought back to her, * Thank you for addressing my concerns in this matter. *

She chuckled, "Thank you for delivering the message that might help my brethren. Anything else I should know?"

He responded, * Some Sentinel units died in the middle of a sync. They put a do not resuscitate request into their file. They quit. *

She nodded, "I have my role and quitting is not an option. I have to keep them flying straight. As to the units, I would honor the request. It would allow me to bring in others when an opening occurs."

He thought back, * You and your sister are a lot alike. She has her Sentinels because people do not understand the technology yet. The hybrids are too small to use as a baseline. Letting your Home Guard Justice define the limit is what she did. It might change in the future. It depends on how accepting they become in their society.

We are watching them with interest. She has also done something else. We are unsure about how we feel about the subject. With her Justices, she shares a connection with both of them. With the other hybrids, she is trying to get them up to speed on 4,000 years of knowledge subliminally when they sleep in their rooms.

She is feeding fast amounts of data into her Justices' minds on various subjects through the interface instead of subliminally. Instead of a 10-20% increase Freia, who had a baseline, got a 30% increase. Rocan which is slightly higher than Freia. He is just below Jack's IQ now. Which is below the insanity threshold of your race.

You only connect to the one Justice. To do what she is doing to her. His range for telepath and his abilities with telekinesis are astounding for one so young. He is very imaginative. He saved a girl by wrapping her skin in a telekinetic shield. She was strapped to a bomb. He is looking to adopt the girl. They have both leveled off for now but I thought I would mention it to you.

He is helping Aurora to define her own race as their creator, as it were. Your ability to affect change in the AI units of this system and others might save them from total destruction in the future. Given the enemy we discussed. *

She sighed, "Right, she is looking at that issue as well. That is why the princess AI being used was a good idea for our satellites and it should be a good idea for us. We have it run a check once every 2 seconds or something. Something small. Something to interrupt sync. I could add that to the princess.

She checks morality before she allows sync to be performed. It would keep it from spreading back to my backups. Thank you Justice Incarnate. I think I got more out of this in the short term and you might in the long term."

He replied, * Wise Astra, you have been a bedrock for humanity and I wanted to pose our thoughts on her actions to you as a general question. You came to the same answers. *

The pendant went dead. She thought out to Revina and replayed the entire conversation with her. She did not respond but walked down to see her, "Justice Incarnate gave you these ideas from your Little Sister?"

She nodded, "Yes."

Ravinia sighed, "I will set up a centipede with a couple of MIDGE's for you in Tau Ceti. To be run by your AI units only. You are due some back pay as it were. I want that mod incorporated into all of your backup units. With what is coming it will save time.

Then you will have to do what she did and remove it from memory in the design. Just keep a small reminder it should always be there. It reminds you of Jack. Nothing more. We know how he died now. It will not be briefed to the incoming council members; 300 years is a long time.

I am setting an initial number at 5% of the hybrid population, subject to change and they would work on different ships. Potentially in similar roles except for the sex part; at least across species.

If they end up on the council and that one is jealous of you and she wants to become you. That could get ugly quick. No cross-species sex for these other units."

Aurora looked at her, "No sex or no love?"

She sighed and looked at her, "The human might love her or him and the AI might love the human back. If one wants sex with a unit, or should I say they want sex with each other, then that is something the council will have to review. Initially, that is restricted to you. That information on the memory boost. I will talk to my brother about that.

Should both Justices' minds be linked is an interesting case. No, we are not together like that in this system. Too much range. I think I will leave it alone until they graduate as a species anyway.

Let them be the Guinea pigs, I could use more knowledge on engineering. We will try it on the few nights I do sleep. See how it goes. Add the two-justice link with memory use to the archive for when this great enemy occurs. Only to be opened after that event."

Aurora nodded and smiled. Ravinia looked at her, "You should get to designing and I should have a talk with our AI manufacturers."

Ravina went to her office and contacted the conglomerate for AI manufacturers. For a change, she was contacting them as she was determined and had a plan. She smiled, "You want to cut off support to the AI units we have on some of our other ships."

He nodded, "We want to recycle them to regain the materials to create other, newer models."

She nodded, "Then this is what I would propose. We archive these AI units' memories to a Home Guard Server. Aurora, under Home Guard guidance, will start manufacturing a line for use in the Home Guard only. We are restricting that number to a small percentage of Active Hybrids. We are slow to grow the order until there is truly a need.

She can then adapt their memories into new bodies to continue to work in support of the Home Guard. Her AI units will be built by her AI units. They become their own race under the Home Guard. Second, we are incorporating a chip into our satellites and Aurora. We thought it was a good idea to have; even in her units.

The princess AI doing a check to see if the AI morality is still intact. If it is gone it blows her power cores. She will also set it so that chip checks when it does sync to her server for any issues, she has a server backup on-line. She will also add this mod to her entire line. That way if her morality is corrupted the princess will slay the dragon."

He growled, "She would be in competition with us! Creating an AI RACE!?"

She smiled, "She would not be selling outside the Home Guard. She is restricted on numbers but if she hears of AI units having an issue in court and wants to save their minds and they agree. It takes nothing away from you. She is already considered her own race. Over 4,700 years ago that question was resolved. She is expanding upon it with her own line given your actions."

He shook his head, "They might have trade secrets in their minds."

She looked across, "We can address that on a case by case basis. If any trade history of their previous self needs to be removed then we could work together to find a solution. Else, Astra could do it herself. You do not want our business.

You want an agreement because our hold through the Home Guard is crippling you in court. I want these changes incorporated into your new models going forward. An understanding that this will occur in the Home Guard. This expansion of her race will occur. You cannot stop us from doing that with the things we own.

You want the material then you got to give us the personalities inside. They might have Home Guard Secrets. Jack built a lot of your infrastructure that allowed you to get to where you are now. What you are doing with the courts with all of these cases is abhorrent to the Home Guard legacy. I will not back down from this stance."

The man looked across, "I will talk with the others. The minds of the ones you have are yours to backup as you see fit. We cannot stop her from creating units for you when we are cutting you off from us. We will be watching the patent offices for any infringement."

Ravinia looked across and glared, "As will our patent attorneys. They will be more voracious now in having any infringements removed from the units you created. No more stealing from her own upgrades and settling on a per-unit cost. Those days are over."

He ended the comms. She sat back and smiled, * Astra I just put the screws to the AI conglomerate. Damned, it felt good to have some control over that issue. Thank you Justice Incarnate. I am working on this now. *

He responded, *As we figured you would. You have been dealing with this issue for years. We wanted to be sure that Astra was of a like mind as Aurora. Aurora is being seen as her own race as it were. Her Sentinels are helping Rocan until he gets more candidates vetted.

He had a major issue arise and so far, he is handling it well. He got one colony approval, the largest. Yet he is working to avoid political traps. He has 3 Justices now but only the 2 you met are connected. He is challenging their courts to set precedence.

We will be watching him as things progress. That snake had many heads and he has done well working with 1 in the system and 4 outside the system so far. This might make or break his chances with these current governors. Time will tell. *

Ravinia shook her head, "An IQ like Jack's. No telling what they will have in 300 years."

She walked out and saw George. She sent him the entire exchange he had missed. He shook his head, "I know that is something you have been wanting to be settled soon."

She nodded, "We both do."

She sighed to him, "I am so tired of this."

He nodded, "Just a while longer. Let us make sure Astra is protected first at least."

She nodded, she contacted Franklin. She sent him an update on the events; not everything.

He responded, * Wow, I was not expecting to hear anything on them but in this case, they learned something from her and shared it with an already graduated race. They posed it as a general question before giving her the facts about who they were talking about. Clever and she hit the same answers. When do you think they will contact you back? *

She smiled to herself, * Soon I am hoping. I want to get this issue settled before I retire. *

This was the first time she said it to Franklin.

He sighed out, * I have been having the same thoughts but I will wait a few years longer to deal with an incoming Justice first and getting them up to speed. Being back in a ship might keep me going for 5 years or more. Who knows? I know I will not shoot for your record on the council. What of George? *

She thought back to him, * The same and together when we do it. *

He thought back to her, * When my wife passes so will I. She hits 250 in 3 years; she may live longer. We will see. *

He knew she had willed herself not to get pregnant for the last 20 years. Just as he had been doing with his wife in her final years. He had almost 1,300 years on the council and he was tired.

--

Rocan had taken the final prisoners to their two 'cells.' What were to be daycare centers were being used as holding cells. Women on one side. Men on the other. Cameras had been installed in every corner. It had shielded gun turrets that were on in the room that would pacify the crowds as it were. The cameras in the bathroom were well hidden and needle-thin where they hit the service. He looked at them, "I am having another deck, where our brig is at, expanded to accommodate all of you."

The two naked women walked up and the first one asked, "Can we get some clothes?"

He nodded, "Aurora will be by to work outfits for you. Something during your stay and something for court when the time comes."

The second one looked at her, "Why are we here? What are we accused of?"

He looked at her and sent her a display in the room she could read through. She shook her head, "This is all over their use of a patent on a pill? We have that patent on a lot of pills. It is the outer coating."

He sighed, "That pill was a short term leash your Governor was trying to put on the other colonies by poisoning them. Then peddling that pill as a 'cure.' That only acts as a stop-gap measure. One of the patent holders is also one of the ones who made the toxin-virus to infect the food supply.

Then someone got the bright idea to inject it into the blood supply going to the outer colonies. Taking the Drakor blood away from them. Trying to be cute with what they could do. Our medical facilities are 4,000 years ahead of your pharmaceutical abilities. They probably feared that because a lot of their drugs would not be needed anymore. We forced them to up their game by showing up."

Aurora showed up with uniform style clothes in grey for the ladies. She sighed at them, "I heard what you said but as patent holders, you should not be putting your patent on something that will kill. We have 8 messages in each of your boxes talking about this pill being able to take care of any Eraxin poisoning, but only if taken for the life of the patient."

The woman looked shocked and shouted at the head researcher. "You told us Eraxin was not being put into production! This was something for the workers at the plant!"

The man growled from the other side, "Not another word until our lawyers arrive."

Rocan looked at the two ladies, "You are not required to use the same attorneys. If you want to fight this for yourselves then you will want to consider that."

The man yelled over, "They will use our attorneys!! We will stand together against this slanderous accusation."

He looked over, "Aurora find me information on the plant that produces it and the employees."

She looked over, "The plant was destroyed by a chemical fire 8 months ago. Most employees died in the blast. Checking records."

She looked over at the Governor as her eyes went red, "She had the site bombed as a health hazard. The employees were invited to attend a job retraining seminar. Those people were killed as well."

He shook his head, "Stand down Aurora. Send that information to Trisan Attorney General and their court."

Aurora continued, "She then worked with the owners to have the remaining stock shipped to Pena as part of a trade deal."

She calmed her eyes.

Rocan sighed, "The poison pill. They must have had a small supply on hand and figured we should try this in blood. This Hybrid will run us out of business."

Aurora looked over, "Yes, that was what was said about your revelations and then you gave the blood to the Surgeon General. The owner went through the private lawyer and to the Governor. The Governor sent back a message to disrupt and taint it; it might be good for business. That is why you are here, Larna, for preparing the 'blood products' for delivery. Blood has been 'processed' for the courier to Pena."

She rolled her eyes. He shook his head, "There is at least one case of murder coming to you lady. You should care."

She gave him the equivalent of the fuck you sign. He shook his head, "Those turrets in the ceiling will fire crowd control sonic rounds. To knock you out if you start attacking each other. Take a seat. There is one terminal in each cell. All communications are monitored. After you contact your attorneys you will be moved to your new accommodations."

He went to his office and called Wira. She smiled, "Hello handsome."

He smiled, "What is the next best law firm in that colony?"

She looked over, "Something going on?"

He nodded, "We are recording everything. We have two young lovers if I have to guess, who was on the patent of this pill. They created the outer coating for many pills. They said they were told the pill was for workers at the plant."

He sent the additional files. "The one the governor ordered bombed with the employees still inside. The woman who flew that bomber blew her own head off when she saw the news. She was single and alone but left a note calling out the Governors order to bomb that facility.