The Sword and the Go Stone, pt 3
It was ridiculous to spend so much processor power on estimating a single Go player's ability. #1 wanted to see Michael M defeated in the tournament, rather than having to forcefully intercede. Overnight, he had conducted a level 7 scan of the Go player's brain, finding no hint of deception, and abundant evidence of the Go player's skill. There was still uncertainty, because Michael M hadn't faced any real challengers yet. That made it tough to put an upper bound on his skill.
He was running on an overheat cycle, rely on cold lake water to keep his cores from exploding. The growing mass of hot exhaust water would have to be slowly cooled and reintroduced to the lake later. The reserve pool was filling up, however. If he continued to run at overheat levels for another day, the water would have nowhere to go but immediately out into the lake, causing ecological damage on a large scale.
Go didn't seem like it should be that important to his adversary, but given than Sandra K. was targeted for observation, it might all be part of a plan to get her attention.
#1 had investigated Toyota's colonial level AIs. Toyota compound AIs didn't seem capable of avoiding him, however, a colonial level AI might be able to. The fact that Michael M had debarked from the 'Sephiroth', a ship that didn't normally travel to Exeter colony, seemed to point towards someone on Toyota's network being responsible for this.
He had no comprehensive theory. Nothing in Sandra K's background seemed to point to personal animus, or any other reason to target her. Or perhaps Michael M was the target, but his lack of memory or history pointed towards him being a tool for an adversary's use.
#1 went into a lower power mode for the remaining hours until Day 2 of the tournament began. His reserve water was cooled, and gradually slipped back into the lake, leaving #1 will all of his over-power capacity ready to use throughout the day. It gave his adversary time to act under less suspicion, but #1 felt the trade off was worth it. It was better to have excess power available during the tournament hours.
He continued to find that small things had been tampered with, but none were near the Go center or the hotel, and he could find no trace of his opposition. He was regularly altering his power levels to eliminate the kind of sound-hiding that had been used against him that first night. No simple processor thrum would make his opponent inaudible. It would take something more sophisticated.
He ran thorough self checks, nonetheless.
At the start of Day 2, he announced to the crowd assembled, that he was personally paying attention and would allow no cheating to occur.
Michael M had no particular reaction to that. Cheating was very rare. It was caught early when it happened, and only a fool believed they could hide from a colonial AI. Normally, it took only the slimmest portion of his subconscious capacity to watch for cheating. Today he would be putting a lot of his conscious awareness towards the Go facility.
Michael wasn't cheating, at least not in a direct way. He actually had the mental capacity to play well. His mind may have been modified by nano manipulators to make him suddenly good at Go, or perhaps he had undergone hyper-accelerated learning under the guidance of a colonial or compound AI. Or thirdly, perhaps he had a history of Go experience that was somehow being suppressed from all records. That seemed unlikely, as Michael M's brain showed no signs of remembering previous Go tournaments. Remarkably few memories existed in his brain.
Sandra K watched and commentated on the games of several elite amateur players. She still had a fondness for their games, having played at that level for seven years. From seventeen till twenty four she played in the New London Elite amateur leagues and tournaments, and made a lot of friends in the area. Going pro was something she hadn't planned on. Those seven years still had a lot of influence.
Michael M continued to win, but his games were finally contests. He won in highly technical ways, again and again. #1 decided that he have Jeffry and Tracey bring Michael in for questioning if he won the professional division. There were rooms shielded from all forms of interference, where #1 might have more success in his efforts to figure out M.
Michael M won the Elite Amateur division, continuing the unprecedented run from the Beginners on up.
It was just before Noon when the first pro games started. Jin W and Jason M (seeds 1 and 2) had byes in the first round. So it was up to Sandra K at #3 to play 14th seeded Michael M.
She wasn't widely known outside of New London, but Sandra K had tons of completely quiet fans encircling their game board.
Jin W had a few words of encouragement for her. "Show the newcomer your best stuff, K. I want to see you on the level you played against me last time."
"Good luck," Michael M said.
"You've had an amazing run. Congratulations on three medals," she said.
"Thank you," he answered.
There was lots of data about Michael M that #1 had stored away as not relevant. Michael M hadn't said a single word to any of his competitors, until now. He was physically fit, buff even. Attractive to most woman, #1 thought. The man had muscle memory for things he didn't even remember having done before. Like playing an acoustic guitar, or fencing.
Economically it made no sense, but perhaps his adversary was trying to recruit Sandra K after all. From a return on investment perspective, it made no sense for an AI to invest so heavily in a single recruit, but nonetheless, when he looked at everything about Michael M that he had gathered, and all the other data as well, that seemed to be a strong possibility.
And #1 watched as Michael M proceeded to carefully, undetectably (except to #1), methodically, lose to Sandra K. He had planned to lose to Sandra K the whole time. He lost in a way that looks, to even a seasoned Go pro, to be the result of Sandra K's superior ability. It was obvious to #1 then, that Michael M could have annihilated every single one of those pros. That was not his purpose, however.
The applause at Sandra K's victory, and more importantly, Michael M's defeat, was thunderous. She would be famous at Exeter Go club forever now.
He powered down a bit more. Economically, he had little reason to resist someone who was intent on recruiting Sandra K. What job would you want a professional Go player for? Surely Toyota colonial networks had their own subcultures of Japanese Go players.
He stayed above normal power levels, but only slightly. He left the Go club to his subconscious, and proceeded to get back to his normal duties, while investigating loose ends and unlikely possibilities. He had no proof that Michael M was connected with anything, only peculiarities of his brain. Muscle memory, but not recall memory.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
The Tournament Upset
The Sword and the Go Stone, pt. 2
Exeter's Annual Go Classic was divided into four divisions: beginner, intermediate, elite amateur and professional.
Sandra K became a professional two years ago, after winning the amateur league in New London colony, and winning into the professional division in two consecutive tournaments.
The division tournaments were played consecutively, in single-elimination, with the winner from each division getting a spot in the next. Placement in the lower divisions was determined by league ratings and past tournaments, and there was no separate division for children, most were in the large beginner's division, along with adult newcomers to the game.
Qualifying as a pro, and actually making a good run as a pro were two different things. Only the pros traveled between colonies to attend significant tournaments. New London still ran the most popular professional league, but tournaments were spread out across Google's colonial network.
They were part of a cultural diaspora of anglophone Go players who no longer had contact with the original traditions of Go in Japanese and Chinese culture. They drew upon their own English terminology with fewer borrowings from Japanese.
The first rounds in the beginner division started at 0400 sharp, she had to hurry. She took a long shower, eager to brush off the fears that followed her after being woken up at 0200 by a loud noise and two agents in her bedroom.
The agents told her it was just a precaution, that Exeter's 'Uno' had found something suspicious while following up on a hunch. Just be alert, they said.
There were drugs you could take to calm down, but they were all prohibited during competitions. 'Uno' himself would be watching all of the competitors to make sure no one was cheating. A handheld device could crush all of them at Go, so it took an anal sentient computer like 'Uno' to watch them and make sure no one was relying on illegal assistance.
The local Go center was filled to its limits for the annual tournament. She left the auto-cab and stood at it's entrance. At least 50 people were waiting outside for their chance to play. Parents were going through routine drills with their children. She couldn't help but remember being one of those children in New London. New London was home to 800 million now. It was hard to reconcile with her childhood.
She entered the building. The building's non-sentient computer system greeted her: "You'll find the other professionals in the back left corner table. 1st division play will start shortly."
She gently weaved through the rows of tables and chairs. A trough of go stones was placed on each side of each board, and their was a game clock on the left side of each table. This would be a grueling three days, and watching and eventually playing. The lower divisions played with 30 minute clocks each, so each round took 1 hour at worst. Professional games were played with 1 hour clocks.
By playing each division sequentially, everyone got to see the top players at each level, and the semis and finals from beginners up would be crowded with watchers.
At the back corner, there was a long table with a series of holo boards that could be used to watch any game being played in the building. All of the boards were empty at the moment.
Sandra sat down in the middle of the table across from her frequent opponent Jin W.
Jin was busy talking to the unfamiliar pro sitting next to him, and the other seats were quickly filled by her counterparts. She had played most of them, but that didn't mean that she truly knew them. She had played several well-regarded games against Jin, losing both but narrowly. She knew him well. Jin was confident, he had no need to put anyone down because they had lost. Few had defeated Jin. She didn't need to check to know that he would be #1 seed at this event.
She pulled out her handheld to check seedings. She'd made it in at #3. They were missing a lot of the top pros. Being 3rd out of 13 didn't seem bad.
"1st division, 1st round is started. Please find your boards, and begin play."
Her handheld said there were 86 beginners, 112 intermediates, 38 amateur elites, and the 13 pros.
She swiped her hand across the empty holo board, and it changed to board #43. Commentating games was an easy way to earn a few extra Google points.
Beginner games descended into pure chaos after a couple of moves. The beginners were easily delineated into well-coached kid, uncoached kids and adults who had just started playing the game. Many of the well-coached found their way into the intermediates, but they often struggled after they left the opening. It was easy to follow their parent's guidance on what to play in the opening, but after that they were on their own.
Board #22 was unusual, in that one of the players had never played Go before. His rating was ?, according to the holo board, and he was placed in the beginner's division because of the lack of information on his skill. Michael M, seeded 86th by default.
His opponent (playing white) was 43rd seeded and an eight-year old. Jeffry L. Had placed middle of the pack in an Exeter kids league.
She wondered how many people really watched commentaries of beginner games.
Michael M proceeded to devour every desperate formation Jeffry L tried to put up.
"I really feel like Michael M could win the Intermediate division with his current play. Beginner's division is his for the taking," she said, commentating.
"Sandra K! Sorry, I was distracted by conversation. You're already picking a winner for the division?"
"He has no game history on record, and yet he's won with expert technique. It's board #22," she said.
After a few minutes, Jin said, "He's an elite amateur for sure, I wonder if there's a glitch in the system, or if he really doesn't have any games history. Or something fishy is going on."
"Did you hear that noise this morning, scared me half to death," Sandra said. "Two agents sprang into my room and let me know that it was 'just a precaution'. Something fishy indeed."
Most of the games were over quickly, as the top 42 players had a first round bye to bring their numbers to an even 64. Sandra did a bit of commentating on the last few games of the round. Nothing was as interesting as Michael M's play so she found herself reviewing it repeatedly. It was hard to judge a player's level when they so thoroughly trounced their opposition.
"Sandra K," she heard from behind her, as the 2nd round was about to start.
"Yes?" she answered, turning to see the agents from that morning approaching.
"Uno is interested in this 'Michael M'. Even with Uno's full powers of analysis, we've found nothing to suspect about the man. Uno says Michael M is defintely an advanced Go player, but no history of play can be found on Google or Toyota networks. The man arrived on the Toyota ship, 'Sephiroth', which strangely enough, docked at about the same time as our fishy business at the hotel. Uno is on high alert. He is paying attention to this tournament and especially Michael M," Tracey said.
"Thank you," she said.
The agents filed out.
Michael M would end up winning round 2 just as handily, destroying the #1 seeded beginner. There was a lot of consternation that the promising kid was defeated so quickly, but Sandra knew that regular league play would result in her promotion to Intermediates soon enough, anyway.
He enveloped and destroyed each beginner's positions, and even played sophisticated openings where they weren't necessary. Still though, he hadn't faced any determined opposition.
The top 4 beginners were assembled, and given small medals. The crowd of parents and other watchers were subdued by Michael M's dominance. They felt like he was mis-seeded because of a computer fault. Many of them had favorites they wanted to see went the Beginner title. Only Sandra K and the other pros who were paying attention, knew that he had no record of games, and couldn't be placed anywhere else.
The Intermediates division began immediately after. No one had ever metaled in two different divisions, according to the Go center's computer system. The Intermediate division was the largest, composed of mostly adults who didn't take the game that seriously, but also some dedicated children.
All of the pros were commentating on Michael M's games. No one was commentating the other games. Sandra K decided to switch to a different game. She'd had enough of watching a slaughter game after game.
The other games seemed dull after watching Michael M's play. Intermediate games briefly seemed reasonable before lapsing into insanity, unlike beginner games which had no resemblance. Elite games looked like any other game, the differences at that level weren't visible to a brief glance at the board.
Michael M would be a fun opponent to challenge. He trounced the top Intermediates like a strong Elite amateur or a new pro. It was late in evening when the Intermediates division was complete. Michael M held a second gold medal aloft. The presumptive winner and Intermediate #1 seed had been defeated in the second round by Michael. Disquiet amongst the crowd had turned into discontent.
Day 1 after-parties were cancelled. Sandra K got the sense that the community was looking for someone in the Elite division to defeat Michael M. They didn't want to rely on an out-of-town pro to stop his menace.
She spotted the pair of agents from time to time. They seemed to be paying attention to only two people, Michael M, and herself.
Exeter's Annual Go Classic was divided into four divisions: beginner, intermediate, elite amateur and professional.
Sandra K became a professional two years ago, after winning the amateur league in New London colony, and winning into the professional division in two consecutive tournaments.
The division tournaments were played consecutively, in single-elimination, with the winner from each division getting a spot in the next. Placement in the lower divisions was determined by league ratings and past tournaments, and there was no separate division for children, most were in the large beginner's division, along with adult newcomers to the game.
Qualifying as a pro, and actually making a good run as a pro were two different things. Only the pros traveled between colonies to attend significant tournaments. New London still ran the most popular professional league, but tournaments were spread out across Google's colonial network.
They were part of a cultural diaspora of anglophone Go players who no longer had contact with the original traditions of Go in Japanese and Chinese culture. They drew upon their own English terminology with fewer borrowings from Japanese.
The first rounds in the beginner division started at 0400 sharp, she had to hurry. She took a long shower, eager to brush off the fears that followed her after being woken up at 0200 by a loud noise and two agents in her bedroom.
The agents told her it was just a precaution, that Exeter's 'Uno' had found something suspicious while following up on a hunch. Just be alert, they said.
There were drugs you could take to calm down, but they were all prohibited during competitions. 'Uno' himself would be watching all of the competitors to make sure no one was cheating. A handheld device could crush all of them at Go, so it took an anal sentient computer like 'Uno' to watch them and make sure no one was relying on illegal assistance.
The local Go center was filled to its limits for the annual tournament. She left the auto-cab and stood at it's entrance. At least 50 people were waiting outside for their chance to play. Parents were going through routine drills with their children. She couldn't help but remember being one of those children in New London. New London was home to 800 million now. It was hard to reconcile with her childhood.
She entered the building. The building's non-sentient computer system greeted her: "You'll find the other professionals in the back left corner table. 1st division play will start shortly."
She gently weaved through the rows of tables and chairs. A trough of go stones was placed on each side of each board, and their was a game clock on the left side of each table. This would be a grueling three days, and watching and eventually playing. The lower divisions played with 30 minute clocks each, so each round took 1 hour at worst. Professional games were played with 1 hour clocks.
By playing each division sequentially, everyone got to see the top players at each level, and the semis and finals from beginners up would be crowded with watchers.
At the back corner, there was a long table with a series of holo boards that could be used to watch any game being played in the building. All of the boards were empty at the moment.
Sandra sat down in the middle of the table across from her frequent opponent Jin W.
Jin was busy talking to the unfamiliar pro sitting next to him, and the other seats were quickly filled by her counterparts. She had played most of them, but that didn't mean that she truly knew them. She had played several well-regarded games against Jin, losing both but narrowly. She knew him well. Jin was confident, he had no need to put anyone down because they had lost. Few had defeated Jin. She didn't need to check to know that he would be #1 seed at this event.
She pulled out her handheld to check seedings. She'd made it in at #3. They were missing a lot of the top pros. Being 3rd out of 13 didn't seem bad.
"1st division, 1st round is started. Please find your boards, and begin play."
Her handheld said there were 86 beginners, 112 intermediates, 38 amateur elites, and the 13 pros.
She swiped her hand across the empty holo board, and it changed to board #43. Commentating games was an easy way to earn a few extra Google points.
Beginner games descended into pure chaos after a couple of moves. The beginners were easily delineated into well-coached kid, uncoached kids and adults who had just started playing the game. Many of the well-coached found their way into the intermediates, but they often struggled after they left the opening. It was easy to follow their parent's guidance on what to play in the opening, but after that they were on their own.
Board #22 was unusual, in that one of the players had never played Go before. His rating was ?, according to the holo board, and he was placed in the beginner's division because of the lack of information on his skill. Michael M, seeded 86th by default.
His opponent (playing white) was 43rd seeded and an eight-year old. Jeffry L. Had placed middle of the pack in an Exeter kids league.
She wondered how many people really watched commentaries of beginner games.
Michael M proceeded to devour every desperate formation Jeffry L tried to put up.
"I really feel like Michael M could win the Intermediate division with his current play. Beginner's division is his for the taking," she said, commentating.
"Sandra K! Sorry, I was distracted by conversation. You're already picking a winner for the division?"
"He has no game history on record, and yet he's won with expert technique. It's board #22," she said.
After a few minutes, Jin said, "He's an elite amateur for sure, I wonder if there's a glitch in the system, or if he really doesn't have any games history. Or something fishy is going on."
"Did you hear that noise this morning, scared me half to death," Sandra said. "Two agents sprang into my room and let me know that it was 'just a precaution'. Something fishy indeed."
Most of the games were over quickly, as the top 42 players had a first round bye to bring their numbers to an even 64. Sandra did a bit of commentating on the last few games of the round. Nothing was as interesting as Michael M's play so she found herself reviewing it repeatedly. It was hard to judge a player's level when they so thoroughly trounced their opposition.
"Sandra K," she heard from behind her, as the 2nd round was about to start.
"Yes?" she answered, turning to see the agents from that morning approaching.
"Uno is interested in this 'Michael M'. Even with Uno's full powers of analysis, we've found nothing to suspect about the man. Uno says Michael M is defintely an advanced Go player, but no history of play can be found on Google or Toyota networks. The man arrived on the Toyota ship, 'Sephiroth', which strangely enough, docked at about the same time as our fishy business at the hotel. Uno is on high alert. He is paying attention to this tournament and especially Michael M," Tracey said.
"Thank you," she said.
The agents filed out.
Michael M would end up winning round 2 just as handily, destroying the #1 seeded beginner. There was a lot of consternation that the promising kid was defeated so quickly, but Sandra knew that regular league play would result in her promotion to Intermediates soon enough, anyway.
He enveloped and destroyed each beginner's positions, and even played sophisticated openings where they weren't necessary. Still though, he hadn't faced any determined opposition.
The top 4 beginners were assembled, and given small medals. The crowd of parents and other watchers were subdued by Michael M's dominance. They felt like he was mis-seeded because of a computer fault. Many of them had favorites they wanted to see went the Beginner title. Only Sandra K and the other pros who were paying attention, knew that he had no record of games, and couldn't be placed anywhere else.
The Intermediates division began immediately after. No one had ever metaled in two different divisions, according to the Go center's computer system. The Intermediate division was the largest, composed of mostly adults who didn't take the game that seriously, but also some dedicated children.
All of the pros were commentating on Michael M's games. No one was commentating the other games. Sandra K decided to switch to a different game. She'd had enough of watching a slaughter game after game.
The other games seemed dull after watching Michael M's play. Intermediate games briefly seemed reasonable before lapsing into insanity, unlike beginner games which had no resemblance. Elite games looked like any other game, the differences at that level weren't visible to a brief glance at the board.
Michael M would be a fun opponent to challenge. He trounced the top Intermediates like a strong Elite amateur or a new pro. It was late in evening when the Intermediates division was complete. Michael M held a second gold medal aloft. The presumptive winner and Intermediate #1 seed had been defeated in the second round by Michael. Disquiet amongst the crowd had turned into discontent.
Day 1 after-parties were cancelled. Sandra K got the sense that the community was looking for someone in the Elite division to defeat Michael M. They didn't want to rely on an out-of-town pro to stop his menace.
She spotted the pair of agents from time to time. They seemed to be paying attention to only two people, Michael M, and herself.
Friday, April 25, 2014
What interests the server at 2 am?
The Sword and the Stone, pt 1
Sandra K slept soundly, undisturbed. He silently recorded her heartbeat. Some physical activity would do her good. Her brain was adapted to the demands of an Elite Go player, to the extent that was possible for a mostly unmodified human.
#1 wasn't really there in that hotel room, the night before Exeter colony's Annual Go Classic. #1 wasn't in the server room 20 miles away at the heart of the colony's infrastructure. #1 was that server room. Each processor on that floor was just one part of #1's computer brain.
Exeter's backup AI, #2, was one floor up, powered down. With a population of 3 million humans on Exeter, a lot was required for #1 to devote so much attention to one person. #1 had a suspicion that he hadn't yet completely developed. Sandra K was being targeted by an AI from Toyota's colonial network. IT could be a colonial level AI, like #1 (Exeter #1 for long), or a compound AI in charge of a particular subculture or organization's facilities.
The Go center didn't have a compound AI, or #1 would have been in conversation with them. For tournament results and up to day timekeeper, the Go center relied on a non-sentient control computer.
Someone on the Toyota network had been gathering data on the Go players on planet. Each data request costed the AI on the other end a lot. Half a dozen data requests had been sent. The requests had cost 30 million Google points, or by current exchange rates, 16 Toyota points.
There was a pattern to the requests, but the sender had issued convoluted instructions which made it much more difficult for #1 to gain full understanding. He had hypotheses, but needed more data before anything else.
It was helpful to have a few humans working for him, though he didn't need their help. Tracey was a 53 year old woman with a positive attitude, and a desire to go behind just having a hobby. The best thing #1 could do for her was to make use of her abilities. She was a calming presence with a colonist just needed to be talked to. #1 could use holos whenever he wanted or needed to, but again, a real human sometimes served just as well.
Jeffry didn't have a gun, though he really wanted one, despite having never seen one in his life. His "zinger" induced a ticklish sensation in the target. It was the most powerful weapon Google Colonial Network would allow a human to have.
Jeffry was very satisfied with the "zinger". It had settings all the way from light laughter to fall on the floor ticklish. Jeffry kept it on the maximum setting, though #1 had to order him to hold back on many occasions.
"Hey Uno", Jeffry said, standing outside the door to Sandra K's hotel room. Uno was Jeffry's nickname for #1.
There was no need for any kind of communication device. #1 was jacked in, everywhere and anywhere on colony. He could hear and be heard--anywhere.
"Just hold position until Sandra K leaves the hotel room, unless I tell you otherwise," #1 said.
"Boss," Tracey said quietly, "I assume you've accounted for the whirring sound coming from inside the room?"
"Hold on a 2 count then go in hot," #1 said.
His prior probability had been that no one on-colony was a valuable target for recruitment or for violence. An elaborate evasive system could gain entry into the compound for information gathering purposes, and without frequent intensive scans, he wouldn't be able to stop it. The hum exactly matched the ambient noise in the server floor, and even adjusted itself in a manner similar to how the processors and fans changed in responsive to environmental conditions.
To the humans entering the room, #1's actions were simultaneous. The small scanning drone was suctioned towards the air vent (which also served as a material evacuation system, while at the same time the grill on the air vent slid open with explosive force.
With his faster processing, he observed Sandra K react to the noise in slow motion, as Tracey and Jeffry cracked open the door.
I performed a thorough sweep of the room in half a second, and finding no more hostile intent, let my attention drift back to a human flow speed.
In the instant I had recognized the threat, I repurposed much of my processing power that was monitoring things like, the crew manifest of the next find ships due on arrival at the space, or the weather conditions for the next 210 hours, or a million other things.
For a moment, my attention was 100% focused on that hotel room, running at maximum CPU load. I could hear the fans start to downrate from their shrill emergency rpms as I watched Tracey reassure Sandra K.
Jeffry stayed back by the opened door.
My room by room sound buffered had knocked down the decibels for other hotel occupants, but some of them were waking up. I wrote and published a statement about the incident to the Hotel's information system, while I kept my eyes on Sandra K's hotel room, the rest of the hotel, and the evacuation system's report about the spy drone.
I redirected all processing power once again once I realized the drone I had flushed was a decoy. 5 milliseconds later, I was frustrated and also bemused by my counterpart's sophistication. I couldn't run at 100% attention for very long without drastic consequences. Somehow, in some small way, my counterpart had changed my colony.
I intended to find out why. There were fundamental scientific limitations which bounded how much damage he could have done in 5-10 millis.
Sandra K slept soundly, undisturbed. He silently recorded her heartbeat. Some physical activity would do her good. Her brain was adapted to the demands of an Elite Go player, to the extent that was possible for a mostly unmodified human.
#1 wasn't really there in that hotel room, the night before Exeter colony's Annual Go Classic. #1 wasn't in the server room 20 miles away at the heart of the colony's infrastructure. #1 was that server room. Each processor on that floor was just one part of #1's computer brain.
Exeter's backup AI, #2, was one floor up, powered down. With a population of 3 million humans on Exeter, a lot was required for #1 to devote so much attention to one person. #1 had a suspicion that he hadn't yet completely developed. Sandra K was being targeted by an AI from Toyota's colonial network. IT could be a colonial level AI, like #1 (Exeter #1 for long), or a compound AI in charge of a particular subculture or organization's facilities.
The Go center didn't have a compound AI, or #1 would have been in conversation with them. For tournament results and up to day timekeeper, the Go center relied on a non-sentient control computer.
Someone on the Toyota network had been gathering data on the Go players on planet. Each data request costed the AI on the other end a lot. Half a dozen data requests had been sent. The requests had cost 30 million Google points, or by current exchange rates, 16 Toyota points.
There was a pattern to the requests, but the sender had issued convoluted instructions which made it much more difficult for #1 to gain full understanding. He had hypotheses, but needed more data before anything else.
It was helpful to have a few humans working for him, though he didn't need their help. Tracey was a 53 year old woman with a positive attitude, and a desire to go behind just having a hobby. The best thing #1 could do for her was to make use of her abilities. She was a calming presence with a colonist just needed to be talked to. #1 could use holos whenever he wanted or needed to, but again, a real human sometimes served just as well.
Jeffry didn't have a gun, though he really wanted one, despite having never seen one in his life. His "zinger" induced a ticklish sensation in the target. It was the most powerful weapon Google Colonial Network would allow a human to have.
Jeffry was very satisfied with the "zinger". It had settings all the way from light laughter to fall on the floor ticklish. Jeffry kept it on the maximum setting, though #1 had to order him to hold back on many occasions.
"Hey Uno", Jeffry said, standing outside the door to Sandra K's hotel room. Uno was Jeffry's nickname for #1.
There was no need for any kind of communication device. #1 was jacked in, everywhere and anywhere on colony. He could hear and be heard--anywhere.
"Just hold position until Sandra K leaves the hotel room, unless I tell you otherwise," #1 said.
"Boss," Tracey said quietly, "I assume you've accounted for the whirring sound coming from inside the room?"
"Hold on a 2 count then go in hot," #1 said.
His prior probability had been that no one on-colony was a valuable target for recruitment or for violence. An elaborate evasive system could gain entry into the compound for information gathering purposes, and without frequent intensive scans, he wouldn't be able to stop it. The hum exactly matched the ambient noise in the server floor, and even adjusted itself in a manner similar to how the processors and fans changed in responsive to environmental conditions.
To the humans entering the room, #1's actions were simultaneous. The small scanning drone was suctioned towards the air vent (which also served as a material evacuation system, while at the same time the grill on the air vent slid open with explosive force.
With his faster processing, he observed Sandra K react to the noise in slow motion, as Tracey and Jeffry cracked open the door.
I performed a thorough sweep of the room in half a second, and finding no more hostile intent, let my attention drift back to a human flow speed.
In the instant I had recognized the threat, I repurposed much of my processing power that was monitoring things like, the crew manifest of the next find ships due on arrival at the space, or the weather conditions for the next 210 hours, or a million other things.
For a moment, my attention was 100% focused on that hotel room, running at maximum CPU load. I could hear the fans start to downrate from their shrill emergency rpms as I watched Tracey reassure Sandra K.
Jeffry stayed back by the opened door.
My room by room sound buffered had knocked down the decibels for other hotel occupants, but some of them were waking up. I wrote and published a statement about the incident to the Hotel's information system, while I kept my eyes on Sandra K's hotel room, the rest of the hotel, and the evacuation system's report about the spy drone.
I redirected all processing power once again once I realized the drone I had flushed was a decoy. 5 milliseconds later, I was frustrated and also bemused by my counterpart's sophistication. I couldn't run at 100% attention for very long without drastic consequences. Somehow, in some small way, my counterpart had changed my colony.
I intended to find out why. There were fundamental scientific limitations which bounded how much damage he could have done in 5-10 millis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)