Questionable Tech

Posted on Thu 29th Aug, 2019 @ 8:47pm by

1,818 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: USS Samurai Science Lab
Timeline: MD 5, 1930

Henry turned the corner and entered the main science labs on Samurai. He had to admit that the lab was shaping up quite nicely with Riko's recommendations and help. He found his friend working on one of the devices that was installed into a wall unit.

"Hello there Dr. McCord. Henry stated with his usual jovial voice. "How goes things in the science lab tonight? Have you forgotten to take a break again?"

Riko looked up and smiled, "I'm not sure, Henry, and since when are you being so formal with me?"

Henry walked over to one of the brand new science lab's wall panels and removed the covering of a junction box. "I mean, I just want to show the proper respect to the Samurai's head Science Officer."

McCord snickered, "Right. Hey, have you looked at that planet off in the distance? It's beautiful, but I'm curious about it. I'm getting some information with our sensors and scanners, testing them out, actually. But I want to know much more. It's so tantalizing!"

Henry stopped what he was doing and walked over to the console that Riko was working on. "What did you find that is so tantalizing?"

"From this distance, scans aren't as complete as I'd like, but they did note there's a relatively high water content for a massive Jovian planet, and the nitrogen levels are also high. It's just a curious combination of things I'd expect and things I wouldn't. So ... it's tantalyzing. But just look at it, Henry." She tapped a few keys and enlarged a view of Nāmaka. "Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't it seem like something wonderful should be there?"

After a moment, she laughed at herself. "Don't mind me. I guess I'm feeling a little antsy here on the station. I'm more of an explorer and less of a city dweller. I like it here, and it's been a great refuge as I pulled myself back from the brink of despair, but I think I'm feeling cooped up now. I need to get out somewhere for a while."

"Well, let's make it so my friend," the engineer stated with a look of adventure in his eye. "I have made a series of upgrades to the Captain's Yacht that I need to test out. What better way to test them than to go check out some tantalizing sensor reading?"

"Woohoo, the Captain's Yacht!" Riko laughed. "Go exploring in style! Sounds like a plan to me. Let me check the updated work schedule and find a good time to go." She brought the schedule up on the console, continuing to talk. "And what about inviting the base science department head, and maybe an astrogator? If they don't want to join us, their loss, but I'm betting they will. What scientist could resist that lure?"

"Invite whoever you'd like, Riko," Henry said. "Just make sure they aren't going to be a kill joy and ruin the adventure in the adventure."

Laughing, she said, "I'll try to remember that. I don't think I've actually met many here like that," she added thoughtfully. "Maybe the clown in the housing department, but staying on Samurai means I don't have to deal with him. I thank you for that."

Her console pinged, and she scanned down the list of activities and installations planned for the coming days. "Oh, okay, here we go. Hmmm, looks like I can clear out of here at the beginning of next week ... any time over about three days." Looking up she asked, "How long were you thinking about being away?"

Henry walked over to the console Riko was using and logged into the panel right next to hers. He brought up the spec for some of the upgrades to the Captain's yacht. " I think three to four days would be good. Starfleet wants me to test out some new tech, but before I put it in Samurai, I want to see how it is. Some of this stuff I have never even seen. And you know me, if I don't play with it, we don't use it."

"Oh? What kind of tech? Simple upgrades or top secret stuff?" Riko asked, interested in what Henry had been asked to do. "Is it something that using it on the yacht will give you enough information?"

"I will have to do multiple simulations on the yacht, but it should yield enough results to see if things would be good enough for Samurai." Henry put his finger on the screen with the upgrade specs and swiped them toward the screen Riko was looking at. "Computer, grant access to level sigma six technical upgrades files to Commander Riko McCord. On the authority of Commander Henry Perry. Security Code Henry-Alpha-Plato-110. And computer, grant all future access to Commander McCord."

=^= Working!=^=
=^= Access Granted=^=

"Take a look at this Riko, and remember. What you see here can't leave this room." Henry said.

As Riko looked at the specs for the upgrades, she searched for something recognizable, and finally found it. "Wait, is this an axial transition cell? As in bio-neural circuitry? I read about some research into moving beyond the gel packs, but nothing came of it. Or so I thought! This is exciting, Henry!" she exclaimed, her eyes following the technical blueprint. "Do you know how much faster ..." McCord looked up at him with elation shining from her eyes, and stopped suddenly, laughing. "Of course you do! No doubt you saw a lot more than I'm seeing, when you were in San Francisco, and you probably know a lot more, as an engineer, than I can see as a scientist ... but bio-neural circuitry in a starship!"

"And you think that's wild? Look at this part." Before Henry pulled up the next set of schematics, he made sure to lock the door to the science lab. Just to be sure no one wandered in on the two of them. Henry then pulled up the next file in group and brought it up on the bigger screen in front of them.

"The next step in starship technology is to introduce a mild artificial intelligence into each subsystem. The eggheads at Starfleet Command figure we need a little bit more of a cutting edge when it comes to fighting a battle. So in theory, each system like weapons or shields would be able to re-modulate torpedo or shield frequencies on their own, without any human input."

Riko stared at the plans and bit her lip. "That seems ... a little scary. It seems different from adding biological components to circuitry ... like giving control to a machine which can't really reason. Have you seen this in practice?" She glanced up at him. "You're going to put that on the captain's yacht? How would it actually work if, well, say pirates attacked us? And it did work."

Henry ran his fingers over the control panel and brought up a battle simulation on the main view they were using. "In theory, the computer would take data from our sensor analysis and records and formulate the best strategy for us mere humans in battle. But not only is this supposedly to be used in battle but for mission selections, staff selections, science labs, in everything."

Henry looked over to Riko and gave a pained expression. "I agree with you, I do not like the sound of this tech. A computer doesn't have the compassion that would need to be in the decision of whether we are going to fire our phasers or not. And no. I have not seen this in action. Only in theory. While I was in San Francisco, there were multiple meetings about this. Many Admirals did not like the idea of having a computer decide when to automatically implement a strategy without human input. But with threats like the Borg out there, where time is always of the essence.........! Well, let's just say, there are plenty of people still reeling over the losses of Wolf 359."

Henry then walked over to one of the wall panels and pulled the paneling off. Exposing the newly installed Neuro-circuitry's greenish-blue glow. "As of right now, the AI function has not been installed on Samurai. The Neuro-circuitry has increased computer response buy ten-fold, but I am just not sure about the AI parts of the tech."

"Well ... I know there are some AI's I would trust ... such as the one's at Jade's place. I wonder if someone could evaluate this tech for us from their point of view? Would that even be helpful?" Riko thought about the oddity of asking an AI to evaluate AI tech, and shook her head at the notion.

"Can we install a switch to turn it on or off? Or is it always on? I would think a captain would want the ability to decide when things were desperate enough to automate the system and speed up the destruction of the enemy. I'm not a soldier, I'm a scientist. So maybe I'm not looking at this clearly. I need someone to tell me we already have most of this on the ship and have been using it for years," she said with wry amusement.

"So far, I give Starfleet one thumb up and one possibly down. What else have you got in the magic box?" McCord asked. "We need a tie-breaker!"

Henry replaced the panel on the wall and walked back over to Riko. "This has never been tested on any Starfleet vessel before. Even the designs they sent have had some errors in them that I had to fix on the fly. And of course, there is a kill switch if you need it. But, what if the AI decides it doesn't want to be cut off? What if it decides to try to circumvent the shut-off switch?"

Henry wiped his forehead in frustration. "I'm not too comfortable with this, but I am willing to give it a try on a smaller scale. As far as our scientist friends go, we will need to come up with an excuse about what we are doing. I don't mind talking to them about the weapons and sensor testing, but they do not need to know about the AI system. Thoughts?"

"I agree completely," Riko nodded. "I suppose this will someday be business as usual, but for now ... just between us. Do you think I should try to borrow one of Jade's humaniforms to go with us? Them, I trust. I would, at least, like to know the parameters of Dr. Asimov's Laws of Robotics before we take the trip."

"Sure, let's go down and get a lemonade," Henry said with a huge smile on his face. "Let's at least talk to Jade and see what she thinks of the AIs she's using. Come on my friend." He stated as he offered his arm to her. "Let's go get us a drink."

 

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