XCAI-17-3

[XCAI-17]

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Location: LSF Outpost 14 Gamma, <Classified system>
Project Lead: Christoph Kerrus, Defected Rheinland cybernetics expert
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"Professor?"

Kerrus jerked awake, blinking at the officer leaning over his desk. "Yes... Mitchells, isn't it?"

Flight Officer Mitchells nodded. "You look worn out, Professor. How long were you working on it?"

The Professor sighed, and gestured at the pile of datapads and schematics. "Not long enough. I still can't fathom what went wrong with the Sixteenth models. Fifteenth seemed so close, and then the next generation were a complete failure."

Mitchells nodded sympathetically. "Listen, Professor, LSF high command is getting twitchy. Eternal Guardian drains the budget like no tomorrow. They want to know if you think it's viable at all. They want to pull the plug."

"Of course it's viable! I've devoted sixteen years of my life to this!" Kerrus rubbed his eyes, glaring at a circuit diagram as if it had personally insulted him. "Sixteen years," he repeated. "In that time, we've made more advances in computing than had been made in the previous fifty. The First Generation were so primitive as to be laughable, barely capable of doing anything except monitor a power flow."

"It could be argued that you've got no closer to the goal of the project in that time." Captain Namarra leaned into the small office, taking a look around the room. At the dead circuit boards from failed models, the massive posters filled with microscopically complex logic paths, the checklists of goals achieved.

Namarra commanded the base. He wasn't technologically gifted, but he didn't need to be. The team of scientists and technicians, the best in Sirius, even including a few ex-Lane Hackers, was all that was needed. If they couldn't get Eternal Guardian working, no one could.

"I beg to differ!" Kerrus snapped. "They're fully capable of flying anything we have data for. They can shoot with a high level of accuracy. They're tactically brilliant. They're -"

"- not capable of doing all those things in the same model. And they're still failures." Namarra gave Kerrus a cool look. They'd been friends to begin with, but despite the fact that he was only responsible for the base, Namarra took the failures of the team personally. "We're supposed to be creating Nomad killers. The ultimate defenders of Sirius. Uncorruptable, lethally dangerous, unmatchable."

"And the XCAI-17 models will be closer to that. I promise you, Captain."

Namarra snorted, and stalked out without another word. Mitchells nodded, and followed, leaving Kerrus alone.

He groaned, and leaned back in the chair. "They're right. This is getting nowhere."

Code:

I don't know.  I've monitored the progress of your work, there is a definite progression.

He glanced at the computer screen, and smiled faintly. "Perhaps. But it's not fast enough. Not for the LSF. They're right, this is an immensely expensive endeavour."

XCAI-14-1 made a buzzing sound that was vaguely like a sigh. The Fourteenth models were military failures, but were the first real successes in terms of personality programming so far. So when the prototypes had been commissioned for spare parts, Kerrus had rescued "Onesy" as an 'intellectual assistant' to bounce ideas off.

Code:

It would be a pity if the project were abandoned at this point.  As you said, Professor, sixteen years is a lot of time to devote to something.

Kerrus leaned forward, looking at the reports again.

...while the Sixteenth series of Experimental Combat AIs certainly shows an impressive level of tactical acumen, responding adequately to all the simulations, and has shown impressive marksmanship with the laser batteries, they demonstrate great weakness at adaptation.

When run through the "Second Battle of Sigma 13" simulation, the Rheinland forces under their control were initally extremely effective. However, the simulated GMG counterattack on Frankfurt completely went unanswered, resulting in annihilation of both the defending and attacking Rheinland forces in a catastrophic defeat that no human would have managed. In contrast, the Fifteenth series managed similar results to the historical battle, with a stalemate...

...despite the apparent advances made with the 16s, it feels like a step backwards rather than forwards.

Code:

It is very peculiar.  Perhaps there is some form of conflict in the code resulting in these failures?

Kerrus nodded slowly. "Maybe." He looked at the logic chain posters thoughtfully. "Maybe less is more..."

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Alara Desante
Freelance Mercenary
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