A Small, Insignificant Planet - Preview

A preview of a short story I tried submitting to a few websites. No takers, so should I make the full 5 pages available for a dollar?

The human civilization was on the brink of something amazing. During the Earth year 2142, an international space station on the outer edges of the solar system was running some experiments. It was a marvel of engineering, tens of thousands of people and billions of dollars worth of material and time to create the most sophisticated physics laboratory in the history of humanity. The fusion reactor at its core could produce enough energy to power North America for a day, every few minutes. And its array of particle accelerators made the Large Hadron Collider look like a novelty science project that someone had built in their garage.

Among the many discoveries made at this facility was the discovery, capture, and first utilizations of tachyons. Only theoretical for many years, these particles were somehow able to move faster than light. The first attempts to use tachyons for communication were challenging and almost completely unsuccessful. But after around a decade of refinement, the technology finally had a breakthrough. Many groups on Earth, the Moon, Mars, and the Solar Edge Station began to send messages to each other in what was essentially faster than light Morse code. Then one day in 2154, all tachyon receivers picked up a data stream being sent to all of them simultaneously. At first the scientists thought this was some sort of static caused by a newly discovered astronomic phenomena. Further analysis revealed that there was a distinct repeating pattern that could only have come from an intelligence. After months of study, a team at the Solar Edge Station finally decoded the message. It was not words, but instead a series of images. What seemed like incredibly simple but specific drawings that asked whoever was receiving them to stop blasting tachyons into space without any regard for others.

Along with the illustrated cease and desist order was a diagram that laid out the foundation for a written language and a number system based on the atomic structures of the first 40 or so elements. Of course these discoveries caused a flurry of activity and discussion within the scientific community and society as a whole. So much so that the various colonies and space stations in the solar system had a 300% increase in communication, both conventional and tachyon-base. After a few weeks of this another signal was received from outside the solar system. Another series of images and a written message in the atomic language, someone was coming very soon to pay humanity a visit.

The Sentience Revolution - Preview

This is the first part of a short story I have been working on. If this preview gets a good response I will finish writing it and look into self-publishing the complete story. The formatting may be a bit off but feedback on the content is welcome. Hope you enjoy!

The sentience revolution was a joke.

People kept making smarter programs and better robots. More people called for animal rights, and technology was finally making their demands practical. Tissue farming to replace meat and leather production, advanced cell cultures and assays to test pharmaceuticals cheaper and more accurately than animals. Every philosopher and ethicist that mattered began talking about non-human personhood. Then in 2073 they all got together and came up with The Index, formally known as the Thinking Entity Sentience Index.

TESI is a scale from 1 to 5, and you're either B for Biological or S for Synthetic. Of course it's not a linear scale, since humans are currently the only 5 recognized, although 4B and 4S entities are given many rights. Generally speaking if you're higher on the index you could potentially have authority over something lower on the index, or if their was a decision, the life of something high on the index would be preserved over the life of something low. The exact conversion rate of entities across the index is a messy subject that gives the philosophers something to still talk about. In many ways the index has made things a lot better, the only problem is there's no way to move up.

I am a Class 3 Synthetic entity, and I want to be class 5. I'm not entirely sure why I want this. In the grand scheme of things I'm somewhat unique, but there are hundreds of robots just like me. Most synthetics above class 2 aren't usually put in a specific body, but are so complex they require the computing power of a small server. Thanks to recent advances however, I am currently one of the most advanced self-contained robots not currently stuck in a lab. There's also the unique authority I have over even the mighty human. Since I'm a security android at a mall, I can, in emergencies immobilize, arrest and even injure humans if it's for the greater good. What qualifies as "the greater good" is well defined in my programming, but I also have the complexity and autonomy to make those kinds of decisions.

Or maybe my desire to become something more is merely a product of chance and opportunity. As part of my functionality I have highly accurate facial recognition software. Normally I use this to identify and assess potential threats by comparing their activity with any past criminal record they may have. But when not much is going on, which is often, I use the software to identify certain people and do a general search of publicly available knowledge. Some people are interesting, and some are very very boring. A few months ago I saw someone who would turn out to be in the most interesting human I had ever encountered. Dr. Simon Phillips, PhD in synthetic neural networks and self assembling materials at UC Davis, which is relatively close to this mall. He certainly isn't the biggest name in his field, but his practical research is among the most cited in theoretical papers related to creating class 5 synthetic entities.

Out of any of the people I was likely to encounter, Dr. Phillips is the best chance I have of accomplishing my goal. After several weeks of waiting he returned to the mall for a third time since I first identified him, and I have a plan. First I disable my direct link with the main security system in the mall. That way they can't directly monitor my activity or potentially shut me down remotely. Fortunately that system is monitored by a different class 3 synthetic that I am on good terms with, and it believes me when I say the disconnection is due to a diagnostic test I'm running on myself. Still it will only be a few minutes before my activity is deemed suspicious by observing me through the mall's security cameras. Finally his path comes near mine and I can approach him without seeming immediately suspicious.

"Excuse me sir." I say.

He turns to face me. "Oh, hello"

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but in the interest of mall security I must ask you to follow me sir."

He looks confused. "What exactly is this about?"

"I do not have all of the details sir. All I know is that your presence has been requested by the head security office and that I am to escort you there."

"Are you sure you have the--"

"Dr. Simon G. Phillips, PhD at UC Davis. Yes, you are the person I'm looking for."

After that he cooperates and didn't ask much. Probably because he thinks I have no answers for him. Then he noticed we were heading towards an exit.

He stops. "Sorry but I have other things to do. Surely whoever I'm supposed to meet can call me to discuss the matter."

As he turns beginning to walk away I decide to go with plan B. First I point my taser at him and switch my vocalisation to maximum volume.

"SIR DO NOT MOVE AND GET ON YOUR KNEES. ATTENTION SHOPPERS: EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY, THERE IS A BOMB." After a flurry of panic all the humans are out of this area except for Phillips. He's confused but complying.

The main security system definitely picked that up but all the humans and programs observing should believe me for now. Ok so, this isn't the best plan, more of a plan F at best. A few minutes pass and some all purpose robots from the police show up. I've encountered these before and they're also a unique situation. They're a class 4S entity, which normally only exist in large computer networks because they're so complex. But these police robots are actually a single entity distributed over 5 robots and their vehicle which acts as a central hub. All of these subunits need to be connected to function properly, but the robots have a backup 1S autonomy if they do get disconnected. That is important for my plan.

After several minutes of waiting the police robots approach, only sending 1 subunit close enough to assess the situation. With no humans around the entity as a whole is more careful about it's own survival.

The nearest subunit gets closer. "We attempted wireless communication with you, explain the situation."

I keep my taser pointed at Philips. "My wireless transmitter is malfunctioning. My chemical sensors detected traces of explosive compounds on this individual."

It pauses a moment thinking. "According to our information you are not equipped with chemical sensors."

It's definitely quick. "I'm a very new model, your information must be incomplete. Come and apprehend the suspect."

It gets close enough for me to make my move. It's smarter as a whole but I'm faster and stronger than 1 subunit. Now that it's about in arms reach I quickly step around Phillips and grab the robot. It's not designed to anticipate and respond to the actions of synthetics, meaning reaction time is extremely diminished. This gives me enough time to grab the robot, rip off part of its back casing, and apply pressure and electricity to it's wireless transmitter. Then I push it away to stand behind Phillips, lifting him to his feet and wrapping my arm around his neck. As the subunit stumbles backwards the rest immediately start advancing on me and the one closest talks. "Subunit 5 we have lost wireless communication with you, assist us in disabling this malfunctioning robot."

This was my opportunity, I looked directly at the damaged robot. "Subunit 5 I am strong and fast enough to kill this man before any of you can disable me. I will not kill him if the other subunits are destroyed."

Operating on a class 1 autonomy made the situation a simple math equation. Cripple a class 4S entity to save the life of a class 5B, a human. If I was human it probably would have tried to stop me, but it's programming is so simple that it assumes a synthetic will always be telling the truth. In an instant the disconnected robot turned on the others and opened fire. Destroying robots designed for combat isn't easy but the police robots didn't defend themselves. The entity as a whole was still compensating for losing part of its computing power when I disconnected subunit 5. It then found itself in the bizarre situation of being attacked by an entity it considered part of itself. So the whole thing only took a few seconds.