Amongst the Heavens

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

With the Government's growing national surplus, Prime Minister Jiucheng Yi looked for a way to balance the budgets and aim to break even. With tax rates in not causing an issue and all desirable industries that needed them already subsidies, it came down to finding some way to increase both national prestige yet and to further the nation in general. And thus, the Meihua'a Space Probe Agency (国家航探测器天局) was created. Aimed at quite simply sending something into space, it would have the long-term goal of large-scale satellite coverage with the possibility of a space station to boot. Handed over to the new Director, Dr. Hsiu Mei, great amounts of money and excitement were being funnelled into the Agency as a whole, and results were expected.

[hr]
Alas, handing the reins of a project, with immense resources dedicated to it, over to certain eccentrics could often have mixed results. Whilst most resources had been dedicated so space travel and exploration proper, a substantial amount had been dedicated to a thus unnamed department, presided over by the Director herself. Said to have been aimed to birth Artificial Intelligence designed to assist in space-faring endeavours, few people in the Agency had actually seen or been involved in its work. The people who did assist, and temporarily at that, had credentials that ranged from nanolithography to machine learning; scheduling to psychology; neural networking to architects. The only people who were actually seeing the progress as it went were the Director herself, and her assistants, who weren't actually formal members of the Agency.

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

The room was dark, and the only light was from a monitor that shone an almost blinding light that encompassed the room. The woman sat in front of it had clear bags under her eyes as she briefly closed her eyes and thought to herself. This would be a big breakthrough for the project, and would speed up the rest of it significantly if it was completed.

"Begin", typed the woman into a separate computer. It then read out her words slowly and clearly, as if teaching a child to talk.

Waiting... flashed up onto the screen, the black text almost grating against the plain grey background of the console.

"List libraries.", it intoned. It was more of a test to ensure that the basic and core functions were working, rather than to check the polish of the final product, but much of what was considered done already was an integral and difficult part of the project itself.

Libraries:

stdcorelib.h
statistics.h
sorting.h
searching.h

"What is your name?"

error C2065: 'name' : undeclared identifier

Well, it was always a long shot. The capability to choose its own name hadn't even begun to have been implemented yet, but the romance of such things was always illusive and beckoning. At least it worked, but... Edited September 18, 2014 by Horo the Wise Wolf

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

They were going to have to speed up, or risk bottlenecking the entire program. Initial shuttle prototypes were being created, with test launches planed within the coming months. Taikonauts were advancing quickly through the stages of their training program, and mathematicians were dusting off the final figures.

The project had born enough fruit to be considered a success, but would it not taste sweetest when fully ripe? It would essentially be sending a child into the inhospitable void beyond, and then making them the backbone of the entire flight. Well, maybe a child that already had the mental capacity of a fully-developed adult, but it would've been nice to make the maiden voyage one with already a marked success. Although, maybe it'd be better not to tell them...

Mei nodded to herself as she compiled the ship's navigation AI without the capacity to develop a personality or to truly learn. Instead, it'd operate as the product of three subsystems, each of which with a different decision making process, so that they could have more than one decision to choose from. Pretty similar to what NASA did, though they wouldn't get ostracised for having a different opinion. It'd be even more interesting once she'd created the template and putty from which to later develop a personality off of, but such intrapersonal (or would it become interpersonal? The amount of uncertainties and possibilities would make for an exciting conclusion) conflicts would have to be shelved until the launch proper. Yu Bin, one of her assistants, had written the pathing and navigational decision making for this module, and had done a mighty fine job of it. Still, she'd made sure that there was major room for improvement and that he'd have a chance to go again. Where is a child without their parent, after all?

[hr]
And so went the third unmanned test flight into that great beyond. The shuttle shot through the sky from its rough landing bad, and left a curve in the sky that would make even the best of artists jealous. It was just as well this one went well, because the Government had started asking questions after the horribly botched initial take-offs. The first hadn't actually left the ground, and had instead fallen onto its side in an accident of huge financial strain. As comical as it was seeing the multi-billion technological marvel roll around on the floor like some turtle that was stuck shell side down, the Prime Minister hadn't been too happy. Something about rumours of "resource mismanagement" and "strange priorities". Still, it had been bearable until the second one actually exploded after take off. Mei herself had no idea what had happened, as such things had been delegated to people capable enough to do the job, but not so capable they'd be her personal division. It was a strange balance

Still, she smiled for the cameras as she posed with the Prime Minister and shook hands with him in the post-launch conference. She'd given the seat to her left to the rather unambitious yet useful Wang Jin, who lead what she sometimes liked to refer as the "Space and Expensive Materials Division". It was his quiet and and cautious nature that let her run amok doing research on AI, which some might call "wasteful." And here was his reward - public recognition! Truly, it was quid pro quo.

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

"You know it's unfair to make them name themselves, right? I mean, what basis would you use to name yourself? It just doesn't make sense.", said the first man.

"Where's the fun in naming them ourselves? They could do so much more than we let them do.", said the second.

"Yeah, really. You're going to go round asking newborn children to name themselves too? Parents name their children; think of this as our legacy. Mei's planning for them to outlive us by a few centuries anyway. Heck, they could have children of their own if they wanted. One day. Perhaps. Assuming they don't crash and burn before then."

"I wouldn't rule out that possibility. At all."

[hr]
Mei clicked her tongue as she stared at the almost scathingly grey screen. The recent advances in computing technology were nothing short of a miracle - without them, miniaturisation would've been quite the issue, especially due to the fact that each resident AI would be using a system larger than the building it was being created in itself. All that time in research labs was finally paying dividends, though perhaps to their own benefit rather than that of humanity's. Hoarding the smallest transistors ever created for a harebrained project to send AI into space was nice and all, but perhaps others would like a go with it too. Still, they'd get access to it once the research group had had their fill and actually finished their jobs - you can only get so much fame and glory before it all goes to your head, after all.

Jin would occasionally pop his head in with updates on the actual Space Project, though it was largely small, incremental advances that had yet to add up. That lot still had a long way to go; it was almost a race to see who could get their work done first. And if Mei lost, well, then it'd be quite obvious that she was perhaps prioritising resources incorrectly. When your secret department bottlenecks a huge national project, it becomes a bit less secret. Still, Jin was growing up into a fine young man who knew when to and when not to give a !@#$, and he was certainly in the latter at he moment; the fame and glory had certainly gone to his head.

Looking at the portfolio of ship jobs that would need to be done, she was almost spoilt for choice as she noted how many could be computerised and done by a machine instead. Archival, security, navigation, resource management and optimisation... It was actually quite a long list. Long enough, in fact, that most of the department would actually be able to sculpt and raise some of the AI themselves. It was almost a scary microcosm of reality, though with a bit less parental and unconditional love. The neural networks were arguably more established than a child too, and about on par with an adult - hence the importance of good technology. The equipment used was scarily situational, but that was what made it so good - it didn't need to be a one size fits all commercial piece, and so they'd only put what was needed in, and they'd made it good at what it needed to do, and nothing else. Ah, how the Time of Eve approached. Edited October 4, 2014 by Horo the Wise Wolf

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

"Sorry, you, uh, what?", asked Deng, looking somewhat incredulously as his colleague. As jokes went, the punchline was a bit lacking and it didn't really have much impact, nor was it particularly funny.

"Yeah. He's blind. I have no idea what happened, but he's been like that since the first day. I told Hsiu, and she just told me to go on anyway and adjust my parental plan accordingly. Which, on that note, would sound strange to those outside the project."

"Perverse, more like. Did you try turning the camera feeds off and on again?"

"Haha. And yes. I compared Shu's input to the cameras' output, and they match. He just, I don't know, ignores it. He understands sight and vision as a concept, but the fact that he basically has eyes is pretty much worth nothing to him mechanically. I asked him about that bit of his input specifically, and he just shrugged. Strange. Explains why he did so little in his infancy. Hsiu had me keep this whole thing on the down-low for whatever reason, but it'll be in his portfolio before the big AI get together. How're Hei and Bai?"

"Spitting images of their father. Well, not really. The two are polar opposites of each other - at least they're happy together. It's nice to see siblings getting on well."

"Well, you'd already brought two children up. You're like the King of raising AI! Oh God this is getting weird."

"Well, we're basically their parents at this point and sole figure in their lives. At least they'll be mingling soon."

Deng sighed, and simply glanced to his side. Sometimes, the pristine white walls seemed to just tire him so.

[hr]
The whole space thing was progressing quite well. Or so Mei had been told, considering her near-zero actual work in the main project herself. Something about putting satellites up now that they'd gotten feet onto the Moon. She'd have to start reclaiming influence MSPA-wide if she wanted to actually push things in the direction she wanted, though - as great as leaving it to Jin had been, the Agency was starting to look more like his wants rather than her own, which wouldn't really work. Well, thankfully, the bulk of the work had already been done, and the AI could be left to their own devices to learn and grow until it was time for them to do something else. Which, admittedly, would be in quite some time.

She looked over at *Ying-ai saw her dutifully reading. As much as she had the capability to read the entire book in under a second, she seemed to prefer treating it as an actual book and mulling over the words as they came. Apparently she enjoyed turning the individual pages which was strange, considering that the book was just an abstract that didn't actually physically exist or have pages to turn. It had been Deng who'd chosen to implement Objects in that way, and it was certainly paying dividends personality-wise. Their world was, essentially, whatever was provided them in that little box that the monitors displayed them as, and whatever they got from the microphones and cameras. A truly closed world. Perhaps a sad existence, but they'd have hundreds of years to fully improve themselves and recover. Still, their were reports on each individual AI waiting to be read before the floodgates were opened, and there was a lot of reading to be done. This would've been the time when reading books in under a second would've been useful, though *Ying-ai was certainly not privy to the life of her peers like this. Edited October 22, 2014 by Horo the Wise Wolf

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

Given that the actual voices and looks of the AI was more of an abstract that didn't well correlate to their actual person, it was decided that they would instead be limited to text-based communication - a chatroom, as it were. Rather than just having an introductory conversation (which would be short in length and lacking in depth), the AI would have 24/7 access to it and have the ability to form groups of their own to talk to other AI in private. Whilst some had protested against the monitoring of the conversations that would take place, it was generally agreed on that doing so would have overall benefit. As a form of concession, however, AI handlers wouldn't be able to see conversations that didn't have their AI in - they didn't really need to see them, after all.
[hr]
"*Jingyin. Nice to meet you all."

"*Konglan. Hi, I suppose."

"*Pishiya."

Mei smiled slightly as she watched them begin to mingle. Now that the hands-off phase of the project had started, it was time to reclaim influence MSPA-wide. She had already started attending board meetings and talking to people as they worked; getting to know them, how the project was going, and ideas they had... And there were some bright minds down there with some valuable ideas. Sadly they wouldn't have a place in any more interesting projects, but their contribution was noted and would be remembered. Apparently, Jin had had some ideas about sending an expedition to Mars, and had begun the preliminary preparations to do so. That would have to be blocked - it would be on the schedule, but further back and way down on the priority list. His scope was way too small to be fitting. Why send and equip people for a mission to Mars when you can equip them for a missions to any planets the crew would likely be able to stumble upon? Looking at the quashed ambitions shared by the researchers, such a change wouldn't be too hard to implement.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Horo the Wise Wolf

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

Looking over the portfolio of requirements for long-range space travel, Mei realised the mountain of a task before them to actually send out a well-functioning crew and spaceship out there. They'd need artificial gravity, protection from advanced radiation, ways of manufacturing equipment and materials aboard the ship and when in transit, ways of gathering resources from the planets they could stumble upon... It was quite the task. Luckily, much of this had already been looked into for the prospective Mars mission - 3D printing for food and other goods, something about electromagnetism to simulate gravity, and a lot of solar panels. This didn't really solve the matter of actually acquiring or fabricating the goods used in 3D printing, which would most likely have to be extracted from a planet, thus adding to the missions cost significantly. Still, the added scope of the spaceships capabilities would allow it to reliably operate independently for much longer periods of time, which was a success in itself.

Furthermore, getting from A to B in the crew's lifespan would be a hurdle in and of itself. As much as FTL wasn't possible, the fact that most of the crew would see anything outside of their windows other than a starry void could be disheartening, especially given that it would bet the same for their children, and their children's children. Some bright minds were working on a system of flowing wormholes that would only be open during the ships traversal between the its two mouths. Despite the successes that could bring in the actual travelling portion of the project, wormhole creation required incredibly complex and intricate machinery, and a monumental amount of energy to maintain the wormhole during the journey between the two mouths. Thus, two solutions were thought up; one to simply workout a highly (space) efficient energy generator with a large (burst) throughput which would be used solely for the wormholes, and one to instead find an incredibly efficient way of storing generated energy which would then be expended for the wormhole creation.

Quickly writing off the former (way out of scope, and something a lot of organisations were already working on elsewhere), Mei sent the rest of the brightest to look into this. Apparently they already had the idea of something along the lines of a (magical) sink hole that would be able to a theoretical unlimited amount of energy. It would only need to be connected to some other machine that would give and take from the sink and, since it was only an "offset" to the energy store, rather than the actual storage, it would only take up a small amount of space, and sounded pretty cool.

On a far more interesting note, the progression of the AI was coming along more than nicely. They'd actually banded together in a (what some would consider dangerous) group that only really amounted to a group of friends. Calling themselves the the Minds (AI was a pretty undeserving term, given the so called "intelligence" of most things given that name), they were already beginning to develop their own skills that could easily be transferred into some part of ship management... Truly an auspicious occasion.