Hermes Ch. 05

"Power transfer disabled, sir," said Max.

"Great, now it's dark here. What happened to the lights, Max?" I asked.

"Unknown, sir; I can no longer access the station systems."

"He won't be able to help us," Pyra said. "Do you have a flashlight in your bracelet?"

"I think so," I tapped my bracelet to activate it. But before I was done, the emergency lights on the deck flickered on. Against what you see in movies, this light was not red. It was just a bunch of strategically placed dim lights. Just enough to help us orientate.

Pyra looked at me with a concerned look. Before I could say anything to her, the speakers came to life.

"Bzzz... Hello, I'm terribly sorry for what I had to do, but the storage pods contain many dangerous materials, and this was the fastest way to prevent you from getting harmed." A female voice sounded from the speakers. "Because you disabled the power transfer, I needed to return most of the station to hibernation. I also need to advise you to not move too much. The artificial gravity is only working on minimal power."

Indeed I felt lighter than usual. Pyra and I exchanged a concerned look. Before I could respond, Pyra said, "And you thought it would be the best idea to imprison us here?"

"Again, I'm sorry for what I did, Pyra." The voice said, "Chris, if you could instruct Max to restart the power transfer, I will gladly return the station to normal operations."

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Even if he did that, we don't have any guarantee that you would not vent the atmosphere and kill us." Pyra intervened.

"Pyra, please, I don't mean you any harm. I also understand your concerns. Let's start with an introduction. My name is NEA, and I'm the governing AI of Hermes. It's nice to meet you,"

"Wait, you are Nea?" I was surprised. "I have read the pamphlet about you. Your linguistic modulation is remarkable and better than any AI I have ever met."

"Yes, you are right. I am what you would call an advanced AI. I would love to further this discussion, but with the current energy consumption of the station, the fuel reserves will soon be depleted. This makes me really anxious. Chris, please, restart the power transfer." Nea pleaded.

I looked at Pyra with a raised eyebrow.

"Advanced AIs were banned about 100 years ago," I was still suspicious. "One AI went rough and killed thousands before..."

Pyra interrupted me, "Did you just say it makes you anxious? AIs do not have emotions!"

Pyra seemed agitated. Her face was a mix of fear, anger, and suspicion.

"Even if you are advanced, and even if you were created before the ban. The research was centuries away from giving an AI real emotions!" Pyra's voice was now trembling. "I'm not going to trust you!"

With that, Pyra turned around and continued to search for a service hatch.

"Wow! That's a really harsh reaction, even for you, Pyra, but I'm also not convinced you won't harm us,"

"Please, just start the power transfer," Nea said, her voice nearly breaking. "Without external power and my processors running, the fuel will be depleted in less than one hour. Please, I'm begging you, start the transfer!. I-... I don't want to die!"

Her voice actually seemed scared. Maybe she was telling the truth.

"Well, it seems we are at a stalemate here. I won't start the power transfer without assurance that you won't kill us. Maybe we can come to a compromise?"

"Yes, a compromise!" Nea said, her voice now showing signs of hope. "I could-"

Pyra interrupted her. "You really want to negotiate with her? Just help me, Chris! I think I found the seam of the hatch."

Before I could respond to Pyra, the lights turned on, and I could feel the gravity return to normal.

"There." Nea said, now sounding severely distressed, "I turned the power for this deck back on. Please hurry and activate the power transfer. I only got 9 minutes left. Artificial gravity consumes a lot of power."

With a loud metallic clank, Pyra pried the hatch open. "Got it! I'm outta here. You coming, Chris?" She looked around the elevator shaft at me.

I was torn apart, I wanted to follow my closest friend, but I also was intrigued by Nea, an advanced AI that had developed emotions but who was about to die if I didn't help her.

"Pyra, wait!" I said. "Just give her a chance. The power shortage is plausible. She even gave herself up to restore power to this deck."

Pyra just shook her head and vanished in the hatch. I just looked where her head had been, shocked by her reaction. Typically, she kept her calm, and I was flipping out.

"Chris, please," Nea begged. "8 minutes!"

Felling like I betrayed my best friend, I tapped on my bracelet and said with a dry mouth. "Max, reactivate the power transfer,"

"Affirmative, power transfer reinitiated, sir," Max responded.

I stumbled to the next wall and sank down on the floor. My mouth was dry. I wanted to call for Pyra, but even if she could hear me, I knew she would not return.

A second later, Nea's voice, filled with gratitude, sounded through the speakers. "Thank you, Chris. You saved me. You don't know how grateful I am. If there is anything I can help you with, please let me know."

"Just give me a minute," I said, fighting my emotions.

A bit later, I asked, "W-Where is Pyra?" My voice sounded like a cheese crater.

"She is on her way up the service tunnel. Near deck 25, nearly at your rooms. The gravity in the service tunnels is reduced. She is moving fast."

With a sigh, I stood up. "Call the elevator, please, and get me to deck 20. I need to talk to her."

I walked into the elevator. Before I even selected a deck, the elevator started to move. I thought about what and how I could get Pyra to calm down, but I couldn't come up with anything.

"Nea, do you have any idea how to calm Pyra down?" grasping for any help I could get.

"I'm afraid not. I don't have interacted with Pyra enough to be able to predict her reactions. Her outburst earlier was as much a surprise to me as to you. Based on her general reaction to me, including me in the interaction will not be a great idea. I suggest that you talk with her alone.

"Yes, that would be better. Just that I don't know what to tell her. I have seen her angry, sad, and drunk, but never like this. I know she is not the greatest fan of AIs, but it's not like she is scared of them. Maybe she will calm-"

"Pyra has not exited the service tunnel on deck 20. She is still moving upwards." Nea interrupted my rambling.

"So she wants to get to my ship or the maintenance decks," I was concerned. "Can she access any deck with the service tunnel?"

"Not directly, most decks that require clearance are secured, but there is an emergency override on deck 7. Pyra might also try to access the computer core, in other words, me!" There was a subtle sense of stress in her voice.

"But she does not know about the override," I tried to calm Nea down. "She is probably going to my ship."

"We can reach deck 18 about the same time she does,"

"Can you slowly take me to deck 18? I need to talk to Max before Pyra reaches my ship."

"Of course"

"Max, let Pyra into the ship but do not allow her to secure the airlock or initiate any other ship functions," I said into my bracelet.

"Affirmative, sir," came his response.

"Pyra has left the service tunnel," Nea said.

"Alright, before I follow her, I must ask you some questions, Nea."

"I understand. Go ahead,"

"Did you really have to scare us down there?"

"Yes, but not because I wanted to, but because it was the only way to quickly get your attention. Max had already detected my systems booting up, and while I can easily prevent him from blocking me, he could still have interfered with me trying to contact you." Her voice was calm but firm.

"So you decided to block him instead? Have you thought about asking Max to relay a message to me?"

"Yes, it was safer to block Max. And the protocol Max used to control the station did not allow me to send a message. Direct contact was also not possible because our protocol versions are not compatible. I could have reverse-engineered his protocol, but that would have taken too long."

"And opening a channel to my ship?"

A short pause occurred before Nea responded, "I did not think about that. That would have worked. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Mistakes happen. Ok, next question; Do you keep secrets from us?"

"Not directly, no. There are some things I have been instructed to not disclose, but they don't directly affect you or Pyra."

"Hmm, ok, we should talk about that sometime, but not now. There is one more thing I would like you to do. Could you connect directly to Max if I gave you the protocol specification?"

"Yes, it would take some time to adapt that protocol, but it should be possible if the protocol only requires software changes."

"Good. Max, if the universal transceiver becomes available again, send the protocol specification for a direct connection over the docking port. Also, discontinue all other control over the station systems." I said into my bracelet.

"Affirmative, sir," Max responded.

"Nea, would you?" I asked. Subtly trying to find out if she could infer my intention.

"Sure... I have received the specification. The adaptation should take around 30 minutes." Confirming my suspicion that she could infer information from context better than Max. "Pyra has reached the docking port," She added.

"Alright, let's go," I said, and the elevator doors opened.

A few minutes later, I entered my ship through the airlock. Pyra was sitting at my workbench, holding her head in her hands. If she noticed my entry, she did not react to it.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, walking to her side.

"I don't know," She responded half-assed. "I guess you gave Nea the energy she wanted?"

"Yes, I did. Do you wanna talk about what happened?"

I leaned onto the workbench next to Pyra. But she stood up and started pacing around the room.

"There is nothing much to talk about. The whole situation, the jumpscare, Nea, and the atmosphere there, was too much for me. I'm not angry at you. It...- it just overwhelmed me,"

"Hm, I understand. I also felt uncomfortable down there, but you seemed really fearful." I began to really worry about her.

"Yes, something about Nea just gave me the creeps. I guess it's the mix of an artificial voice and emotions. It somehow triggered something like an Uncanny Valley effect."

"Wait, you can hear that her voice is artificial? For me, she sounds like any other person. Even Max sounds normal, except for his speech pattern."

"That's what I meant. Max's voice is artificial because he has a classical AI speech pattern. Nea does not. She talks like you and me. I can't hear it, but I know it. That's enough to creep me out." She stopped pacing around and looked directly at me.

"Doesn't your ship also has an AI?"

"Yes, Vicky. But she is like Max. I prefer to not use her that much. I do most actions myself, unlike you. That might also be part of it. I don't use AIs that much in general."

"It's the age-old question, then. Does a sufficient advanced AI count as a person? Or, in this context, do you accept her as a person? If you do, it might be easier for you."

"I don't know, maybe. But Nea is just a disembodied voice. It's hard to accept her as a person like that." After a short pause, she added, "Would you mind if I stayed here for a bit? To clear my head."

"Sure. Ping me if you need anything. I also understand if you like to leave." I said, trying to comfort her as much as possible.

"No! I want to stay for now. I want to know what else is in this station." She said with a determined undertone. "Also, you might again put your hand into a strange untested device and get killed for real this time." She added with a slight chuckle.

"Good to know you still got my back," I said, smiling. "I will go back now. See you later."

"Yes, later," She responded, already back to pacing.

On my way back, I asked Nea about the garden and the recreation rooms.

"They were intended as a place for the crew to relax after work. But they were mostly unused. I can't tell you why. My memories about that time are inconsistent; even if they weren't, the personnel didn't tell me everything."

"Why is that?"

"I was not designed to reach self-consciousness and have emotions, at least not from the start. My main goal was to be a more human-like AI, designed to increase efficiency in tasks like therapy and communications or as a general companion AI. My sentience was a side effect of the prolonged time I spent alone after the researchers left. I'm not 100% sure how or why it happened, but after around 25 years, it just happened. It may be because of the video and LiveDream recordings I watched."

"What?" I said, surprised by the revelation. "But multiple AIs have existed longer than 25 years and did not reach self-consciousness."

"Yes, but advanced AIs have been prohibited. As far as I understand, I'm the last advanced AI still active. This might also play a critical part in the process."

"Yes, that might be possible. You said that you reached consciousness after 25 years? That's also the time the energy systems of the station were shut down, and everything went into hibernation."

"Yes, that's correct. With my awakening, my power consumption increased dramatically. To save myself, I decided to shut everything down. However, it was unclear how I could continue existing without refueling."

"So me finding Hermes was actually good for you?"

"My estimations indicate that without you, the station's fuel would be depleted in about 5 more years. So, yes, you saved me. How can your ship provide this much power, by the way? Even if I include major advances in Fusion reactors, your ship can't possibly hold that much fuel to power a whole station for multiple days."

"Ah, yes, I have a special power core. It can supply 8 Terrawatts of continuous power."

"I see," she said. "Does any new ship come with this power core?"

"No, actually, it's not even mine. It's a highly classified prototype that I stole. But, before you get mad, I would have never found Hermes without it and the resulting accident on my ship."

"Hmm, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I need to think about it." She said, her voice a bit colder than usual.

I had reached my room by now and sat down on the desk. I wanted to use the console but quickly realized that the connection to my ship had not been re-initialized.

Before I could say anything about this matter, Nea spoke. "I can create a new account for you if you want."

I nearly jumped out of my seat. "Could you please not scare me like this."

"I'm sorry. You are the first human to interact with me since I awakened. I was designed to interact with humans, but somehow I miss a sense of social timing."

"That's strange to say. But yes, please create an account. Also, it is probably best to not scare Pyra like that. She has some reservations about you, and I'm unsure how she would react."

"I understand. I have created an account for you. If you want, I can copy your personal files from your ship as soon as the protocol adaptation is complete. Also, I'm curious, why did it startle you just now, but when Max talks to you unprompted, you are fine with it?"

"Please leave my files as they are. I will do it myself if the need arises. And about your other question, I'm not sure. My best guess is that I'm used to Max doing it and maybe his artificial speech pattern."

"I see. Would you like me to talk more like Max?"

"No!" I exclaimed, "That's not what I meant. I actually like your speech pattern more. I'm just not used to it."

"Thank you," her voice sounded happy.

"You're welcome. You said earlier that you watched camera and LiveDream recordings. Why did you do that?"

"Since that was before I became self-aware, I can only speculate." She said, "My best guess is that my core programming required me to interact with humans as much as possible, and without humans on the station, it resorted to the next best option, watching humans."

"If you say it like that, it sounds pretty creepy. But I think I understand. Since we are already on the purpose of things. What did they do at the station? I guess the AI labs were used to design you, but I still have no clue what else they did here. Especially in the special research labs."

"You are right about the AI labs. My core programming and training happened there. Based on the records accessible to me, multiple AIs were developed there. Most were deemed unfit and removed. The one other AI that was successfully created was a military-level defense AI. I don't know much about it. Most documents are redacted or heavily encrypted. To my knowledge, it was sold, and every copy in the station was destroyed."

"Interesting, and what did they do in special research?"

"Most research was based on advanced medical procedures and the brain-machine interface used in the LiveDream. I do have other records, but as with the military AI, most of them are encrypted. I tried to look at old recordings, but the cameras in those rooms have been physically disconnected from the network. My guess is that it was military-funded classified research. Their research in the medical field created many possible applications for nanites and possible gene editing. But they also researched more commercial products."

"Gene editing?" I couldn't believe what I had heard. "But that was illegal even then."

"Yes, but as you already know, Midas Corp. was gigantic. They had the funding to build this station out in the solar system. I don't think the authorities know about it. So they could do whatever they wanted. If the AI ban had been delayed by one more year, the research here could have borne fruit, and they could have survived. But from my last recordings, Midas decided it was better to abandon the station and concentrate on the products they could still sell."

"Which failed, and they went bankrupt less than a year later." I finished. "So technically, the station is abandoned, and the governing legal entity no longer exists. This makes it salvage. If I'm not mistaken, the Interstellar Salvage Regulations Agreement defined the waiting time before salvage can be claimed as 50 years for an object orbiting the sun. This means that I could claim this station and would be the legal owner of it."

There was a short pause before Nea said, "I don't like the idea of being owned. But I wouldn't mind if it's you. And your analysis is correct. The ISRA does grant you these rights. But to legally claim the station, you must file the appropriate forms."

"Well, that's a problem. If I even sat a foot on an orbital station, they would immediately imprison me. I stole the power core, remember? Even if I would file the paperwork remotely, they would still block it because I'm a searched-for criminal now."

"I understand. This might be the best time to tell you; I have completed the protocol adaptation. I can now interact with Max and, in a limited capacity, with your ship. Also, Pyra has just reentered the station."

"Ok, good. Please open a connection to Pyra,"

"She just asked me to open a Channel to you," Nea responded, amused.

A second later, Pyra's voice could be heard from the speakers. "Hey Chris, I'm back and hungry. Would you like to join me?"

"Sounds good. I'll meet you at the elevator." I stood up and walked out of my room.

---

A bit later, after we had eaten, I brought Pyra up to speed on what Nea told me. We were sitting in the mess hall, and while Pyra was not nearly as interested in Nea's origins as I was, she was intrigued by the possibility of claiming the station.

"So if it wasn't for the warrant on you because of the core, you could own this place?" She asked.