Blue Star Enterprises

Chapter 42

Alexander monitored the printer terminal. It was only one of half a dozen that were constantly in use. It had taken two months, but the manufacturing center was finally back to operating at full capacity. The auction company had apologized for the missing equipment, but only refunded him a million credits. He supposed he was lucky to see any after his previous experiences with STO corporations.

The room was filled with the mechanical hum of robotic arms zipping through a ballet of welding and assembly work as they built replacement components for the facility. Everything was starting to move in the right direction. He only wished he had known the old robots had been stolen, he would have purchased newer robotics diagrams before coming out here. Assuming he could have afforded it with his severely diminished bank account. The current ones were fine for fixing up the facility, but they were not accurate enough for the type of work he wanted to accomplish.

He would just have to design and build his own, assuming he found time. Negotiating and working with the locals, attending weekly briefs with the Hawks, chatting with Jasper and his crew, and being a father for Yulia were all taking significant portions of his time. Not that he would give any of them up. Well, maybe the weekly briefs were a bit much.

The locals had adapted quickly to the change and there were very few issues, despite Damien’s less than friendly reception. It seemed he was an exception to the rule. Not that the man’s attitude bothered him one bit. He may come off as an ass, but he took things very seriously once Alexander laid out his plans to fix the complex completely.

Alexander would like to say there were no issues, but you didn’t suddenly tell a group of people who hated authority that you were now the authority without some pushback. He had to lay down the law a few times when people tried to use his printers and robots for their personal use. This was his space. If they wanted something from it, they had to trade just like he did for their work or produce.

Speaking of locals, one just entered his shop. At least this was one he liked dealing with.

"How can I help you today, Lucas?" Damien’s younger brother was a bit of a sticking point between him and the Hawks. The man didn’t have a warrant, but there was a bounty to bring him in alive.

It took a bit of effort from Alexander to convince the Hawks’ Leadership not to turn Lucas over. Alexander’s reasonings were mainly selfish for requesting this. The man was an expert with computers. He also didn’t want to start a conflict with Damien over the issue but the main reason was he didn’t give a shit about some corporate bounty. They had no jurisdiction out here.

To be fair, it didn’t take too much convincing. Once he showed Captain Matthews the data on his previous Omni work, the man had agreed not to take the man in if Alexander agreed to update the Talon’s engines when he had a space dock.

"I wanted your opinion on some code I wrote."

Alexander sighed. "I told you before, I’m not an expert with code. But I will take a look if you insist." As far as he could tell, Lucas Laront’s code was brilliant. It was no surprise considering he had a corporate bounty placed on him.

He examined the code. Alexander couldn’t tell what half of it did. He wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t an expert with code. He only learned the bare minimum to create his holo-avatar and have it respond. He was more focused on the manufacturing aspect of things than the coding side but he was learning a little bit here and there. It seemed to him that Lucas was looking more for validation than anything else.

"Can you explain to me what it is supposed to do?"

The skinny man smiled and launched into an explanation. "You remember those camera asteroids I told you about?"

"The ones you use to watch for incoming pirates?" How could he forget? Finding out pirates still occasionally attacked this place was a sobering realization. It was so disconcerting that he rearranged his priorities after hearing that. He knew pirates flew through the area, but he figured they wouldn’t come this far out since there wasn’t anything of value out here. Apparently, he had been wrong.

"Yes, those. Well, I improved their telemetry and tracking. I believe with this code, I can even improve their camera range. Well, it’s not really changing the range so much as it is improving the quality of the images. Removing noise and implementing certain learning algorithms to clear up those images."

"I thought learning algorithms were frowned upon?" Alexander knew they were. It’s why those automated bots on Petrov Station seemed so stupid. They couldn’t learn from their mistakes, so they had to have contingencies programmed into them. But you can’t program for all contingencies. He also knew that Yuri had used learning algorithms in his initial control box construction. Alexander was glad the old man had only added self-learning to his movement commands. If he had added it to his restrictions, Alexander probably wouldn’t have broken free. He would have been sold off or melted down for scrap when Yuri died.

The skinny genius snorted. "Maybe in the STO but we aren’t there, are we? Besides, the STO likes to preach about not using self-learning code, yet fails to even follow their own guidance. Don’t even get me started on the corporations, do you think they prevent those corporate bastards from using learning algorithms? No, I bet you those turds use full AI. Hell, ask the Hawks. I can almost guarantee you that they have something aboard their ship that assists them."

"Fine, but what about the code going out of control?"

The man laughed at the question. "You need to stop watching those ancient videos about artificial intelligence taking over. I’ve seen a few of them myself for a laugh but that’s about all they were good for. I don’t know what those people back then were so afraid of, it’s honestly ridiculous."

It wasn’t that ridiculous, he wanted to say.

"Self-learning and ’AI’ have been around for hundreds of years. I have never heard of a single instance of rogue code in that entire time. Not that rogue code would get very far. Most computer systems and terminals have hard-coded restrictions in place to prevent people from hacking them. Unless you have a master code, but even that only gets you certain access."

Lucas didn’t have to tell Alexander about hard-coded restrictions, he knew all about those. "The master code I got for Eden’s End locked everything down."

"…Well, yeah. This place is ancient. Half the code used in the systems here hasn’t been in use since before I was born. Most of the systems here also predated hard coding. I think that practice only became widespread when the STO started running into the Shican. I guess they were afraid of the aliens taking over our systems. You can sorta see early attempts at that in the consoles here."

Alexander decided to change the subject because this conversation was straying too close to what he could be. Yes, he had thought about the possibility that he was some AI. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense though, considering some of the memories he had. Then again, who knew what the weirdos who put him in this body had in mind?

"How did you get those satellites into orbit anyway?"

"Oh that, eh we mostly just paid the few traders that make their way out here to carry them back into space and release them for us."

"Traders actually come out this way… Wait, paid them? Paid them with what?"

The man glanced around the room.

"Ah…"

Lucas shrugged. "Most of the stuff missing in this room happened a long time ago. I only heard about it from one of the old timers that left."

"I’m not judging you. I understand the need to survive. But from now on, let’s do things a bit differently, ok?"

"I’m all for change. Although you might want to think about how deliveries are going to arrive. I see you brought a cargo ship that was too big to land. Fixing the Low Orbit Launcher might be a good idea if you plan on shipping goods from here. Assuming you didn’t do all this just to fix up this old relic of a base," he gestured around the room.

Alexander made his avatar blink. "Low Orbit Launcher?"

"Oh, yeah, it launches small payloads into space for pickup. They don’t really use them anymore, quicker and easier just to use orbital elevators to get large cargo into space. Or a shuttle if the cargo isn’t too large."

"The schematics of the research base didn’t show any such device. I would know, I looked them over very carefully." He looked it over more carefully after arriving. Being surprised by the size of the atriums told him he needed to pay more attention to the details of the place he purchased.

Lucas scratched his chin in confusion. "It’s definitely got one. I wonder if it wasn’t included in the plans because it was built separately from the structure. If you aren’t too busy, I can take you there."

Alexander followed the chatty man as he led them through a twisting series of hallways. "Sorry about the roundabout route. The main route to that section collapsed a few years ago."

"It’s fine. How did you come across this launcher anyway?"

"I was scavenging for components about a year ago. The door that led there was rusted shut, but with a few weeks of work, I managed to get it open. That led to the control room. Ah, here we are."

The man gestured to a twisted metal frame and a standard security door lying broken off to the side. "As you can see, it put up a bit of a fight." Alexander sighed at the damage, looking pointedly at the man who just shrugged. "Gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes."

The man stepped through the doorway and Alexander ducked in after him. He got his first look at the control center for this launcher as he straightened.

"Sorry about the mess. We couldn’t be picky with spare parts."

"I see," he stated flatly. The consoles had been torn apart and loose wires hung everywhere. What wasn’t there was circuit boards or any electronics. "You were able to repurpose all of this?" He wasn’t angry but he was annoyed that the people living here had cannibalized a good majority of the systems in this facility. He understood why they did it, but it still meant more work for him. The only balm to his annoyance was that this section of the facility was not in the design plan. Thus he technically hadn’t spent any money on it and everything still here was a bonus. It sort of made up for the missing manufacturing robots.

Alexander had plans to update all of the systems inside Eden’s End eventually, this just moved that up his priority list.

"Eh, most of ’em. The telemetry modules went into the asteroid control systems. The rest of the unused components went into storage for later use."

Alexander sighed. "I’m going to need to see these storage rooms to see if there is anything worth fixing." He walked over to a small blast window that overlooked a large chamber on the other side. He couldn’t see much through the grime-coated glass. "Is there a way into the transfer chamber?"

"Probably," Lucas shrugged. "I think I know the door that leads out there but good luck getting it opened. I haven’t had any luck."

"Could you show me?"

The man nodded and the two exited the control room and moved down a few flights of stairs that led into a wide hallway with a pair of rails running along them.

"This is the transport tunnel?" Alexander had seen it on the facility plans but he hadn’t had time to investigate it.

"Yup. As far as I can tell, it has three lines. One cuts directly across the facility while the two outer lines curve along the outside."

"As far as you can tell?"

"All three lines have caved-in sections. So nobody bothers using them. The door that should lead to the launcher is over this way," the man gestured.

They stopped outside a pair of imposing doors a moment later. "I see why you can’t get in."

The heavy steel blast doors in front of him made the ones that sealed off his manufacturing center look rather pathetic in comparison. He could see deep scratches in the hardened exterior that showed just how much effort Lucas had put into trying to get inside.

"Yeah. These things are a real beast. Complete overkill as well. Have fun, I’m going to go back to working on my programming."

"Wait, you’re just leaving?"

"…Um, yes. It’s not like there is anything I can do here."

Alexander supposed that was true. "I see. I’ll need to bring some things from my shop to even attempt opening this door anyway."

"Ooh, let me know when you make the attempt. I really wanna get my hands on what’s inside." Lucas rubbed his hands together.

Alexander just made his avatar stare at him.

"What?"

"No more ripping apart my facility. I can make spares for most things by now."

"Oh? What about computer processors?"

"…Not yet. But I do have some spare ones I brought along. I might even be willing to trade a few for the right work."

The man rubbed his chin. "Really now? Well, you let me know what kind of work you want done, and I might just agree to take a few of those processors off your hands."

Alexander watched the computer expert leave. He had tried tempting the man to work for him since he arrived, seeing the man’s skill with coding. The man seemed uninterested in any of the other offers he had made. He hadn’t wanted to give up any of the processors he brought along, but seeing as the man was receptive to one of his offers for the first time, it might be worth it.

He wished he could just print up new processors like everything else, but just like processors from back in his day, these futuristic ones required multiple specialized machines and processes to manufacture. He was years away from even getting to that point, let alone purchasing plans for the machines needed. Until then he would have to rely on purchasing them and having them shipped out here by Jasper and his crew.

Speaking of Jasper, he needed to have a conversation with the man before they left soon. He turned away from the blast doors. That was a project for a later date.