Gabatrix: Minerva

Ericson walked past the several launch tubes and hatches for the pods as he reached the next section of the ship. This was the entryway hatch for the ship. On both port and starboard were the docking hatches for the ship. These hatches were the airlocks to the ship. With it, the ship can go to a space station or another ship and dock. The hatches were huge, measuring about 5 meters in height alone. This would allow enough room to move massive amounts of cargo from one ship to another and even allow large components from being brought in. It was one of the reasons why the passageway that Ericson walked through was so big. This allowed parts to be easily replaced and fixed in case of a large scale breakdown of the ship.

Above and below Ericson were the decks that contained, housed, and stored the powerful Genisen Mk 7 100mm Flak/Missile/Laser (AIO) turrets. While utterly obsolete compared to the newer warships, it at least provided the ship with some protection against whatever hostile forces maybe out in space. The turrets were mostly there to shoot down enemy missiles and small craft.

Ericson walked past the hatches and was nearing the shuttle bay. A walk of about three minutes had finally taken him to his destination. He wasn't shocked that he didn't see another crew member along the way. Most of them were obviously in the rotating rings except when they needed to take care of maintenance, on duty, or get to the shuttle bay.

He finally reached the door. There was a display panel that was lit green to indicate that there was pressurization and that it was safe to enter the hangar. Obviously with Jabr's wife being there, the place had to been pressurized as Ericson had thought. He waved his hand over the panel and it picked up his signature. The motion sensors activated and the door opened up in front of him.

There was a secondary door that he also had to pass through. This was to ensure that there was proper pressurization when the shuttle bay doors open up to open access of space. Air would be pulled out as the shuttle bay doors open up and be pumped back in once the doors closed. The door slid behind him and there was a momentary pause by the door's sensor in front of him. Checking to see that there was proper ventilation in the adjacent room, the panel above him lit green and slid open.

Upon opening up, the shuttle bay was vastly large. It was big enough to house the 40 meter long Argas shuttle. Literally taking a sizeable chunk of the Tyson's space, the shuttle bay allowed the research ship to launch its shuttle to the moon and back again. The shuttle which had the name "Gray Whale" written in both English and Chinese, was an older ship but still used quite well in the UHN. It consisted of a long cylindrical vessel. Its landing gear had been deployed as it rested on the solid deck. The shuttle itself had three engines lined around it. Besides all the vectoring thrusters, the engines were strapped near the aft sides and top. There were the classic big hatches on the sides that were capable of docking with the hatches of the ship itself. He could tell that this was a civilian model with the lack of guns on it. It also had large windows on the sides of them for people to look outside. The ship had the cockpit window up front and on top. It also included a set of small grappling arms for moving and picking up cargo.

Besides the Gray Whale, was a woman that was busy looking at a series of containers and boxes. She was holding a tablet and electronic pen marking down certain things. Ericson already knew it was Jabr's wife. She was dressed in a similar white and blue suit that he was wearing along with her magnetic shoes. Her features were marked by her appearance. She was a foot shorter than Ericson being about five feet in height. Even for a woman of her height she seemed much shorter than the typical humans of the time. She had long black hair that was tied up in a bun to prevent it from floating around in the zero g environments. Her facial features were similar to that of a Japanese woman. The containers and boxes were obviously magnetized to the deck.

There was also music being played that prevented her from hearing Ericson's approach. He already knew the odd music that she liked to hear. She often played it to keep herself entertained so much that she would dance around as she did her work. Ericson remembered her once calling it "Future Funk" music where 1980s Japanese and United States Earth pop music would be remixed and turned into dance music. She always seemed to enjoy listening to it though. It would echo throughout the large shuttle bay.

Ericson literally walked up to her. Her back was turned to him as she moved around to the dance beat. He stopped to look at her and waited for her to turn around and look at him. Finally after a few seconds, she turned around and almost widened her eyes in surprise.

"Hello Akari," Ericson greeted her. "Your husband said you were down here."

"Ericson! You almost scared me," she replied back to him. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be down here except my husband and I know he is busy today."

"I heard about the shift change. Jabr seemed pretty happy that you two will be able to spend more time together."

"I know!" she exclaimed clapping her hand. She said it with such enthusiasm that she let go of her tablet in the air. It hovered and tumbled in the air as she clapped her hands together. She then grabbed her tablet before it got away from her. "Whoops....almost got away from me there."

"Well I have some good news. I got Minerva up and running."

"You do? That is really great! I know you have been trying to get her to work for awhile."

"She?" Ericson seemed confused. "I am surprised to see you refer to her as a she."

"It does have a female name doesn't it?" she said as she waved her hand at him.

"Yes, although I did give her a female voice so I figure it makes sense. I kept referring to it as neutral gender for awhile. I guess it is alright to refer to it as a she."

The music changed. A new song kicked in. She paused real quick and nodded her head. "I love this song," she said. "Patrice Rushen is always good even if this is a remix."

He paused to listen to the song. She began to move her hips in place a little bit as she listened. He looked at the containers.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Dancing what do you think?" she replied. Then she turned to the containers and the boxes. "Oh you mean this? My team and I just came back from Europa. This is the latest samples taken from the moon. We just got done doing some deep core drilling."

"Oh yeah, you were trying to find out if there was life on Europa. How is the whole process so far?"

"Hmmm...." She shook her head. "Not much luck yet. The first samples turned up nothing. There is some good news though. It is actually the perfect temperatures underneath the surface to melt the ice. There is still a possibility to find life. We just need to keep looking."

"Didn't they find out there was life on Enceladus?"

"Yes they did!" Akari replied. "They discovered bacteria deep near the core of Saturn's moon last year. The crew and scientists of the UHN Michio Kaku have been busier than ever. I just wish my husband and I were on that ship."

"Isn't it the same type of vessel as this?"

"Of course. I just wish I would have been there for the discovery. It is ok though. It might just be bacteria but it could mean that there may be life on this moon as well. We just need to look harder."

Ericson seemed to move his legs a little bit to the beat. He was trying to resist the urge to dance but Akari took notice.

"I saw that! You like it too?" she asked him.

"What?"

"The music. You like my music."

He went and shook his head. "No......no I listen to Martian Country Music."

"Ick," she seemed disgusted.

"What's wrong with it?" he gave her the dirty look.

"That is the most depressing music ever."

"Oh? And how would you know?"

She went and moved her pen to her other hand. "I happen to be a good music aficionado. My father loved the 1980s music of Earth. I had a chance to learn about other music of the time period and Country Music of Earth was great. When humanity settled on Mars, it just started talking about the dirty landscape of the planet. It all went downhill after that."

"Ugh....that isn't fair. All we have is dirt and rocks.....and dust storms....." he paused as he thought more about it. "Yeah it does suck, but it's all we have."

"Not true. You can play the classics like I listen to."

"Don't you listen to remixes? You told me that these are just rehashes of the original music."

She moved a little bit as a new song kicked in. She nodded to him. "Yeah it's true. I partly share my dad's thinking. You can't blame me."

Ericson already noted the playful like nature to Akari. He could see why Jabr liked her. She seemed very positive towards life.

"So what are you doing out here besides just telling me about Minerva?" she asked him.

"Ah...." He said rubbing the back of his neck. "I just needed to walk around a little bit. I was getting tired of working in the lab."

"You feel accomplished. I know Jabr told me how long you have been working on it."

"I know," he sighed. "I know once I go back into that room, I will be working on her nonstop. I am excited, but just needed to get around a little bit."

"I can't blame you. Maybe you need to come with me to Europa. You will get a chance to see some of the rising geysers. Good ol Jupiter keeps flexing that moon so much that it just loves to spill icy water all over the place. Why else do you think the surface looks like it does?"

"Unfortunately I am not too keen on that idea," he replied shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"I was selected for the Research committee to create a super intelligent AI. They wanted a good remote location to try to get it to work. They figure this ship was perfect for doing it."

"So in one way we try to find life on this rustic moon and you get to stay in the ship and make your own form of life?"

"That....." he paused as he thought about it. "Yeah that is pretty much it. Hey I don't mind getting a chance to see the area some. I just prefer to stay on the ship."

"Yet here you are in the shuttle bay and listening to my wonderful music? Hmm....." she mocked him.

"Yes," he nodded. "Maybe I just needed to talk to some people."

"I see...." she told him. "You know my sister Yui needs a man right now."

"What?" he replied as his eyes widened.

"Yeah, I can see that look in your eyes. You have been isolating yourself so much that, that you hate it. I think Jabr told me that you were single. How about going to my sister? She would take you right in."

Ericson seemed to shake his head. "I don't know. You guys come from that colony world New Olympia. It seems so.....weird there."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just hear the stories with that planet. You have a barren wasteland of a world and everything is underground. Tourists always talk about how great the place is and some of them decide to stay. Next thing we hear is that they get married to somebody that lives there and they never leave."

"What is wrong with that?"

"I don't know......it just seems strange somehow. I watched the news of how your planet reacted to the Itreans. You seem like you are unafraid of them."

"The Itreans? Nah they wouldn't touch New Olympia."

"You say that with such confidence," he replied as he crossed his arms. "Again....no thanks. I am married to my work."

"Besides you are making a girlfriend right?"

Ericson frowned. "No, that is not what I am doing."

"You sure? I know what humanity has been doing for some time. They certainly like those 'companion bots' of theirs. You know the ones that have vaginas and breasts to them? I always loved that they used the word 'companion bots' instead of what they are truly designed for."

He sighed and shook his head. "No.....I am not going to do that with her. You are jumping to conclusions."

"Whatever....." she replied as she shook her head. "I got my man and we are going to be celebrating tonight."

He looked at the containers. There were some that looked bulky. "You need help moving these?"

There were three large boxes all together. Obviously being in a zero-g environment was not an issue in moving the boxes and containers but she would be making several trips to move all of them.

She shook her head. "That is alright. I got my team coming in about a half an hour. They will take care of moving all of them. Getting them into the rings will be a little bit of an issue though."

"It is always an issue. Anyways.....I think it is time that I head back. I think I have had a chance to rest a little bit. I want to go ahead and get started with Minerva."

He was about to leave when Akari stopped him. "Wait....."

"What?" he asked as he stopped and looked at her.

"Keep me updated with everything that is going on with Minerva alright? A friend of my husband is a friend of mine. I want to make sure that you succeed. It would be rewarding to see her work."

"I am happy that you share that thought. So few do....."

"I know that it hasn't been easy with you as well," she added. "I just got the news about the military buildup spending. I know it will have everyone on edge."

He shook his head. "We needed to know if there was life out in space. We are getting the wakeup call and it hit us in the ass so hard we will be shitting out of our mouths for years."

"If the human race can survive a planetary wide evacuation hundreds of years ago, we can survive anything."

"Yeah...." he replied as he looked down. He waved his hand to her. "You take care Akari."

"You too Ericson," she replied. As she watched him start to leave, she focused back to her music and work. She began to shake her hips a little bit and resume her work.

Chapter 3: Eutera

Ericson stood in the lab as he looked at the subroutines displayed from his arm. He had been working for five hours. Minerva's face seemed different than the day before. He spent the time correcting the missing subroutines and nonfunctioning algorithms. The lab was as displayed as before, but there were changes. The planet Jupiter and Europa were no longer depicted on the left large screen. Instead, it had the waterfall of subroutines to his left as Minerva's face was on display beside it. The room was partially illuminated as before. It was pretty much the afternoon on the ship.

"Minerva," Ericson called out to her. "Report on your status."

"I am currently operating at 84% efficiency."

"That is good. We will keep working on that. I got the last of your human response subroutines fixed and operating now. Your memory core should be working at 99% now."

"My memory core is currently operating at 98.978% Doctor Ericson," she replied with an emotionless reaction.

He turned to look at her face. He was used to her voice by now. Even though it was a female voice, there was a lack of emotion in her words. She didn't sound like a robot, but she reacted as if she was unimpressed towards anything. It was the reaction that he was expecting from her. Her face seemed to operate much better now when it was displayed on the screen.

"Well," he said as he sighed a little bit. "It looks like I got you operating well enough that I can have a conversation with you now."

"I am capable of communicating with you Doctor Ericson," she replied back, affirming what he said.

"You look better when it comes to your face."

"You have made approximately five comments about my face. Why is that important?"

"I can look at you," he said. He deactivated his arm display as he perched and sat down on the center table. His legs hung from the table as he turned to look at her.

"Doctor Ericson, my....."

"Please, just call me Ericson. You don't have to call me doctor."

"Affirmative, Ericson," she replied with no emotion. "My program is currently running from the quantum computer that is currently on the table. My identity belongs to that. Why is it important for me to have a face?"

"Ummm.....I guess it is human nature for us to talk to somebody. Giving you a face allows us to communicate with you better."

Her white and blue eyes would periodically blink. Her voice synchronized perfectly as she spoke. Speakers around the room continued to allow her to talk normally. There was no screen flickering or anything. It confirmed with him more and more of her abilities as he spoke to her.

"Ericson, why is my face so important to you?" she asked.

"I guess your memory core is still not functioning correctly. You asked that question before."

"Negative. You have not provided enough answers to respond to my inquiry correctly. Why is my face important to you?"

"Well, it simply goes this way. Can you see my face right now?"

"Affirmative."

"What is your opinion on my face?"

The face of Minerva looked with the same intensity as before. She had the answer immediately. "Your face consists of numerous hair follicles, human tissue, a mouth, a nose, two eyes,....."

"What is your personal opinion?" he asked her again. He was testing to see if the subroutines and algorithms were working as he kept asking her questions.

She paused again. Then she answered again immediately.

"Your face is healthy for a man of thirty-one."

"Hmm.....," he replied as he nodded his head. "That is a start. I am making sure your responses are valid enough for me. To answer more of your question, it is the fact that we respond better to seeing a face."

She gave him a blank stare.

He snapped his fingers. "The problem is, you can't see your face right now. We need to do something about that."

He lifted his left arm and activated his arm display. The projection showed him the display settings. He opened up the menu for the leftmost display. He flicked his fingers over the settings and activated it. The screen that showed the waterfall now changed to show the face of Minerva on both screens. It would now allow her to peer over and look at the face of herself. The micro overhead camera was focused on her face.

"What do you see?" he asked her.

"I see a digital display of a face. The mouth is currently moving as I speak."

"You are looking at your own face that I was looking at right now. This is you."

For the first time, Ericson actually saw a little bit of a reaction from her but only the slightest. She paused as her face mirrored what she was currently doing. There was still no emotion but enough that he could tell that something was working.

"What is your opinion upon looking at your own face?" he asked.

"The face is different than yours. I have no hair on the top of my head. There is no beard to my face like you have."

"Hmmm......maybe I should see if I can give you hair for your Face Interface program."

"Why would you do that, Ericson?"

"Do you want to have hair on top of your head?"

"My face is adequate," she replied with a simple reaction.

"Let me know if you change your mind."

"Affirmative."

He looked at her as he shut off the left display. Seeing two faces talking at once was distracting to him. He focused his attention back to Minerva as he shut off his arm display.

"I want you to ask me questions, Minerva," he directed to her.

"What questions would you like me to ask?"

"Anything that comes up. Ask me, and I will do my best to answer them."

The eyes of Minerva looked away before looking back at him. He smiled for a short bit as he went back to his usual composure. He could see that she was thinking and trying to come up with a question. It was exactly what he wanted.

"What is my function?" she asked.

"You are the Artificial Intelligence or AI named Minerva. I created you to explore the advancement of Super-Intelligent AI constructs to see how they behave and operate with humankind."