this… entire brain structure is something…” he trailed off. Lisbeth had an advanced engineering degree from one of the best colleges in human space. It was specialised in starships more than computers, but she still had enough knowledge to know why Romki couldn’t complete the sentence.
“I know,” she agreed. “It’s incredible.”
“Beyond incredible. All the literature on hacksaws says molecular-level processing, quantum computing, but… well, maybe someone in Fleet or in tavalai labs somewhere knows how it works. I’m struggling. There’s at least twenty different kinds of brain structure here, but the main data-retention seems to be almost crystalline. It’s like it grows memory and data, and somehow feeds sub-molecular level storage into these incredible crystal matrixes. And I mean, they’re beautiful. So beautiful.”
“Maybe the reason we find it so hard to figure out how it works is that we’re organic,” Lisbeth murmured. In the thick fluid submerging the queen’s head, shimmering swarms of dust seemed to swirl. Like a billion microscopic animals, turning together in unison. “The first machines were just server droids when they rebelled against the Fathers. Then over twenty thousand years they evolved into this. Maybe it takes a machine to make another machine this advanced.”
“That’s quite possible,” said Romki, barely listening as he ate.
“Any more ideas about what she is? Which branch of AI civilisation she belonged to?”
“Oh god no,” said Romki. “It’s hard enough just trying to figure out how she works. And there were hundreds of branches. That was actually a very complicated civilisation — I mean imagine, twenty three thousand years, spread over so many hundreds and thousands of star systems. How complicated did humans get in just a few thousand years on one planet? But it’s all so long ago now, they were extinct so long before humans even got into space, and all the species that were around at the time would rather forget.”
“And you’ve got her in the nano-tank,” said Lisbeth, looking at the thin veil of swirling metallic dust. “Any chance the micro-machines could actually complete a full circuit?”
It was what the nano-tank was designed to do. You put damaged electrics into it, and the micros swarmed and analysed and figured out which pathways needed to be completed in order to restore function. And then, in human tech at least, they set about joining themselves to create those pathways.
“No, dear girl, look… our queen is a work of art. Such advanced synthetics, almost beyond belief. Our own technology, including those micros, is so primitive by comparison… using them to make her work again would be like trying to restore function to a supercomputer with an elastic band and a couple of paper clips.”
“But you said yes and no,” said Lisbeth. “You mean… she’s not completely dead?”
“Well this is pure conjecture on my part… but I see no reason why these crystalline neural structures should not retain complete data sets long after the neural mechanism itself has long since ceased to function.”
“You think she’s still alive in there?” Lisbeth breathed. “Waiting to be revived?”
“Well beyond our technology, I’m quite sure. More’s the pity.”
Lisbeth gazed at him. “You think we should do it, don’t you? Wake her up?”
Romki raised the glasses for the first time, and looked upon her. His head was bald mostly for shaved convenience, his eyes dark and intelligent, his brows arched like an owl. It was a face that did intelligence and enthusiasm well, and condescension and disdain even better.
“Ms Debogande,” he said with angry amusement. “Which do you imagine is more important? Attempting to make peace between two groups of humans who are hell bent on trying to kill each other due to factors entirely beyond our control? Or researching the true nature of our alo allies? Because if the alo did indeed
“I know,” she agreed. “It’s incredible.”
“Beyond incredible. All the literature on hacksaws says molecular-level processing, quantum computing, but… well, maybe someone in Fleet or in tavalai labs somewhere knows how it works. I’m struggling. There’s at least twenty different kinds of brain structure here, but the main data-retention seems to be almost crystalline. It’s like it grows memory and data, and somehow feeds sub-molecular level storage into these incredible crystal matrixes. And I mean, they’re beautiful. So beautiful.”
“Maybe the reason we find it so hard to figure out how it works is that we’re organic,” Lisbeth murmured. In the thick fluid submerging the queen’s head, shimmering swarms of dust seemed to swirl. Like a billion microscopic animals, turning together in unison. “The first machines were just server droids when they rebelled against the Fathers. Then over twenty thousand years they evolved into this. Maybe it takes a machine to make another machine this advanced.”
“That’s quite possible,” said Romki, barely listening as he ate.
“Any more ideas about what she is? Which branch of AI civilisation she belonged to?”
“Oh god no,” said Romki. “It’s hard enough just trying to figure out how she works. And there were hundreds of branches. That was actually a very complicated civilisation — I mean imagine, twenty three thousand years, spread over so many hundreds and thousands of star systems. How complicated did humans get in just a few thousand years on one planet? But it’s all so long ago now, they were extinct so long before humans even got into space, and all the species that were around at the time would rather forget.”
“And you’ve got her in the nano-tank,” said Lisbeth, looking at the thin veil of swirling metallic dust. “Any chance the micro-machines could actually complete a full circuit?”
It was what the nano-tank was designed to do. You put damaged electrics into it, and the micros swarmed and analysed and figured out which pathways needed to be completed in order to restore function. And then, in human tech at least, they set about joining themselves to create those pathways.
“No, dear girl, look… our queen is a work of art. Such advanced synthetics, almost beyond belief. Our own technology, including those micros, is so primitive by comparison… using them to make her work again would be like trying to restore function to a supercomputer with an elastic band and a couple of paper clips.”
“But you said yes and no,” said Lisbeth. “You mean… she’s not completely dead?”
“Well this is pure conjecture on my part… but I see no reason why these crystalline neural structures should not retain complete data sets long after the neural mechanism itself has long since ceased to function.”
“You think she’s still alive in there?” Lisbeth breathed. “Waiting to be revived?”
“Well beyond our technology, I’m quite sure. More’s the pity.”
Lisbeth gazed at him. “You think we should do it, don’t you? Wake her up?”
Romki raised the glasses for the first time, and looked upon her. His head was bald mostly for shaved convenience, his eyes dark and intelligent, his brows arched like an owl. It was a face that did intelligence and enthusiasm well, and condescension and disdain even better.
“Ms Debogande,” he said with angry amusement. “Which do you imagine is more important? Attempting to make peace between two groups of humans who are hell bent on trying to kill each other due to factors entirely beyond our control? Or researching the true nature of our alo allies? Because if the alo did indeed
Similar Books
