Claws and Curls

Claws 49 - The Lab

“There are other team members for you to meet, then we’ll sort out your training and get you up to speed.” “Great, here today?” Parrish chuckled, “ah yes, sort of!” and he turned to the situation table console. He typed in a code sequence and the table lit up showing Jervis Bay, the MV Gaia and a research lab on the sea floor below them.

Harry focussed in on the lab. “This is one of my own projects where we use prolonged residency at 100m depth, to test human resilience and responses while carrying out various programs into undersea mining and systems function.” Harry turned and changed the wall display. "Here you see all current undersea research and mining operations. So far there haven’t been any incidents anywhere to warrant Jaeger International being contracted to assist in some way,” he adjusted the setting and a few of the sites changed colour. “These ones though have had local groups protest over breaches of land and sea rights. Given the political instability of most of them we use a few facilities such as that below us to train personnel in potential undersea ops!”

“Man that’s thinking way out in front,” I burst out. I covered my verbal stumble by leaning forward as if to look more closely at the table display of the lab. This was how Harold Parrish had made the Jaeger into the powerful player that it was. He looked for the most risky activities that companies and researchers were undertaking and trained personnel to deal with anything that could go wrong.

“Do you have one of your Seed AI programs running here as well?” I asked off handedly. Parrish didn’t respond immediately and I turned to ask him again just in case he hadn’t heard me. His face was a little paler as if my comment had caught him off guard.

“Yes, we do actually.” and he adjusted the wall display to show six different locations around the world. I realised that the pattern to their locations was that of six different ecological locations. “So do you think that even the environment could play a role in how an AI evolves?” Harry nodded, “left field I know, but all our developments are verifying an eco-effect,” he paused and altered the wall display again. “This is in keeping with the Seed AI theory that every quantum variation in an AI’s data matrix represents an aspect of their personality! So copying the matrix to another storage site, say an orbital facility, would create sufficient quantum variations to produce a different individual!”

I stood there shaking my head, “how do you blokes wrap you minds around all of this? It’s quantum physics combined with evolutionary biology and anthropology thrown in,” I snapped the fingers of my right hand, “ah yeah, that’s why you hired me, right, yep; I’m catching up. Don’t mind me!” Terry cuffed me softly across the head and old Harry just smiled.

“We do things very differently here," began Harry. “There is no time to waste and we have to be ahead of everybody else on all things. Jaeger research actually has more personnel than our security service, and yes it will be a steep learning curve for you,” Harry winked at me. “But Terry reckons you’re already ahead of us on some things so any insights you have, you speak to me immediately, where ever you are!” “Right boss,” I said smiling from ear to ear. I could really get to like this bloke, I thought. Terry did his ‘good onya,’ nod to me and I winked back at him in our brother communication code.

I looked again at the six research labs. There was this one, one out in the Simpson desert near the Geothermal power station there; and another up north in the Dragon Mountains. There was another down in Antarctica at Wilkins Base. That was four in Australian territory, secure and stable politically and isolated from other national borders, and of course Harry’s home country so he could look after these himself. There was another in the Harz mountains in Germany and another on the floor of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Yep again both relatively safe and secure.

“What made you choose Jervis Bay Harry?” I asked nonchalantly and saw Harry nod to Terry. “Not much choice actually bro, we needed military nearby so we chose the navy base in JB to be near. “Military, in association with Jaeger research, how did ya get talked into that. This must be some nasty bit of work going on down there.” I looked up and both were watching me. Was this a test of my commitment to Jaeger International or a test of my morals and integrity. As always I chose the latter. “If this is WMD research or anything like it, I just can’t do it and you’ll have to tear up the contract now and settle me on an island somewhere for twenty years to keep my mouth shut, but ah, ...” They were still looking at me.

Terry cuffed me again and I frowned, “OK I’m missing something, I ...” Oh shit, I thought and the lights went on. Oh fuck, oh jesus, buddha and mohammed, and zarathustra as well. “You did it, didn’t you?”

“Oh very clever,” and I snapped my fingers, “you have AIME completely isolated on the bottom of the sea!” Harold Parrish, one of the most powerful men in the world smiled at me, “... and AIME’s asking to be let free,” added Parrish. “Oh fuck me dead!” I said reverting to my best language choice. “Yes you got it in one bro!” said Terry nodding.