following through on his attacks. I think the same thing happened with Amphisbaena. The data relay on each habitat—that’s all Amphisbaena is to Shiva.”
“But if Shiva is reacting to symbols, how did he target the station? That has to mean some kind of awareness of the physical world.”
“Being dependent on symbol recognition doesn’t mean Shiva can’t target things in the real world. The relays on the station are just above the docking ports. Shiva is constantly tracking them, which means he can extract a targeting solution from real-time coordinates. That’s not recognition of three-dimensional space, though. We had another dummy Amphisbaena ID ready to swap into the system, but we haven’t used it. As far as Shiva is concerned, the attack rendered Amphisbaena nonexistent. The truck’s speed dropped after I was fired on, though that was just an accident. Shiva will think the truck’s been destroyed.” In point of fact, Catherine wasn’t sure about this, but she felt reason for optimism. Accounting for Shiva’s behavior in terms of faulty awareness was easier than assuming the AI had decided to attack its human masters.
There was a pause. “Catherine, it looks like the angle of the laser strikes on Amphisbaena is consistent with an attack on the data relays. The shuttles were just in the way.”
“See? That’s a major indication of why this started in the first place.”
“But in that case, Shiva is a danger to us all,” said SysInt. “He doesn’t understand that humans are physically present on Amphisbaena.”
8
“ CHIEF, SOUTH PLATFORMS’S SHUTTLE is ready when you are.”
“Understood. Prep for evac. I’m almost there.”
Tatsuya toggled off. After the laser attack he’d decided not to use a new ID to reestablish contact with Ouroboros Net. Clearly Shiva had some serious issues with Amphisbaena. For now the AI seemed to be deliberately ignoring them. As long as they weren’t under attack, it was best to leave things alone.
The current problem was how to get to the logistics module across forty kilometers of Amphisbaena’s struts and bracing. It had been his idea, but he’d never imagined it would be this challenging. The gravity in the habitat was about the same as that on Mars—about a third of Earth’s—and as he worked his way toward Amphisbaena’s midpoint, the force generated by the station’s rotation would diminish. The beginning was supposed to be the hardest part.
Tatsuya’s guess that it would be possible to cover such a distance was based on a vacation he’d spent as a young man climbing Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system. The volcano was twenty-seven kilometers high, but nearly six hundred wide. It was more of a plateau than a mountain, with a constant, gentle slope. Walking to the top in his suit had been exhausting and he’d had some close calls along the way. But he’d made it.
Of course, Amphisbaena was not a mountain. But there was little difference between gravity at the base of Olympus Mons and at its summit. Even so, he’d managed to gain twenty-seven kilometers of altitude. With gravity dropping the closer he was to the center of Amphisbaena, this should be far easier. At least that was the concept.
As it turned out, he wasn’t entirely wrong. He could feel his body getting lighter as he worked his way along. Still, it had taken him twenty kilometers of climbing just to reduce the gravity by half.
“Kurokawa, can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Chief.”
“How far along are you?”
“I think about halfway.”
“About the same as me.”
“Can I ask you a question, Chief?”
“Sure.”
“What gave you the idiotic idea we could climb forty klicks?”
“Is that your only question?”
“That’s it for right now.”
The rest of their climb was punctuated with similar exchanges. Not long after the halfway point it was clear to Tatsuya that he was reaching his limit, because he was having trouble gripping the
“But if Shiva is reacting to symbols, how did he target the station? That has to mean some kind of awareness of the physical world.”
“Being dependent on symbol recognition doesn’t mean Shiva can’t target things in the real world. The relays on the station are just above the docking ports. Shiva is constantly tracking them, which means he can extract a targeting solution from real-time coordinates. That’s not recognition of three-dimensional space, though. We had another dummy Amphisbaena ID ready to swap into the system, but we haven’t used it. As far as Shiva is concerned, the attack rendered Amphisbaena nonexistent. The truck’s speed dropped after I was fired on, though that was just an accident. Shiva will think the truck’s been destroyed.” In point of fact, Catherine wasn’t sure about this, but she felt reason for optimism. Accounting for Shiva’s behavior in terms of faulty awareness was easier than assuming the AI had decided to attack its human masters.
There was a pause. “Catherine, it looks like the angle of the laser strikes on Amphisbaena is consistent with an attack on the data relays. The shuttles were just in the way.”
“See? That’s a major indication of why this started in the first place.”
“But in that case, Shiva is a danger to us all,” said SysInt. “He doesn’t understand that humans are physically present on Amphisbaena.”
8
“ CHIEF, SOUTH PLATFORMS’S SHUTTLE is ready when you are.”
“Understood. Prep for evac. I’m almost there.”
Tatsuya toggled off. After the laser attack he’d decided not to use a new ID to reestablish contact with Ouroboros Net. Clearly Shiva had some serious issues with Amphisbaena. For now the AI seemed to be deliberately ignoring them. As long as they weren’t under attack, it was best to leave things alone.
The current problem was how to get to the logistics module across forty kilometers of Amphisbaena’s struts and bracing. It had been his idea, but he’d never imagined it would be this challenging. The gravity in the habitat was about the same as that on Mars—about a third of Earth’s—and as he worked his way toward Amphisbaena’s midpoint, the force generated by the station’s rotation would diminish. The beginning was supposed to be the hardest part.
Tatsuya’s guess that it would be possible to cover such a distance was based on a vacation he’d spent as a young man climbing Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system. The volcano was twenty-seven kilometers high, but nearly six hundred wide. It was more of a plateau than a mountain, with a constant, gentle slope. Walking to the top in his suit had been exhausting and he’d had some close calls along the way. But he’d made it.
Of course, Amphisbaena was not a mountain. But there was little difference between gravity at the base of Olympus Mons and at its summit. Even so, he’d managed to gain twenty-seven kilometers of altitude. With gravity dropping the closer he was to the center of Amphisbaena, this should be far easier. At least that was the concept.
As it turned out, he wasn’t entirely wrong. He could feel his body getting lighter as he worked his way along. Still, it had taken him twenty kilometers of climbing just to reduce the gravity by half.
“Kurokawa, can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Chief.”
“How far along are you?”
“I think about halfway.”
“About the same as me.”
“Can I ask you a question, Chief?”
“Sure.”
“What gave you the idiotic idea we could climb forty klicks?”
“Is that your only question?”
“That’s it for right now.”
The rest of their climb was punctuated with similar exchanges. Not long after the halfway point it was clear to Tatsuya that he was reaching his limit, because he was having trouble gripping the
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