White Clouds

Prologue

"I don't suppose we will be going anywhere soon." her daughter said while her eyes strained to gather the activity of the tiny looking machinery at the distance. "You mean mankind?" Kaishi asked, and her daughter nodded. Kaishi looked at her daughter appreciatively from the side and said nothing. She supposed she was right about that.

Gathering herself, Kaishi turned to her daughter and said: "Meizhen, there's something I need to tell you and it will not be easy to grasp, but you're old enough now to understand. It's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time, even if only for my selfish reason of finally sharing it with the closest person to me. But I waited so you can have a proper childhood, unlike the one I had."
"What are you talking about, mom? You're starting to creep me out."
"Good. Now let's go home and I will explain everything."

They made their way out, trying to avoid being seen by any other member of the press. Leaving the museum undetected wasn't too difficult and the two started their walk home, which on normal days would have taken them straight to the vertical shuttle station. Today was different as they had to circumvent the large crowds and parades crowding the main boulevards. They chose a quieter route and Kaishi began to explain.

"Honey, you know, like everyone else, about my story. At least how it started – 'The miracle baby girl', the only survivor from the destroyed ARC. From a data drive attached to my clothes, they found out I was the daughter of Ilyse Jantis, a Doctor, and Thomas Jantis, a fleet Commander. But what you don't know because I never told you is that I believe the disaster was intentional, sabotage..." She stopped talking as two couples, seemingly already inebriated, passed them on the street. Laughing and talking loudly. "...The official statement that came out from the government's analysis only said that it was a terrible accident. I have come to doubt that very much".

"How could you possibly know this, mom? You were only a baby." Meizhen said with incredulity plain in her voice. Kaishi wore a small wry smile on her face, proud of her daughter's critical thinking. "It started when I was a child, I don't remember how old anymore but I was very young when the vision started. It's been the same one ever since. I was terrified by it in the beginning. Seeing a black shadowy figure and hearing its message in my head. But I've learned to live with it and even be grateful for it as otherwise, we may not have known the danger is still real." Looking at her daughter's face she continued. "Oh, I assure you honey, I'm perfectly sane, at least I think I am. The danger I'm talking about is a true, self-conscious artificial intelligence. It was aboard the ARC and I have no doubt was the reason behind its destruction."

They were alone as they rode in the immense shuttle-elevator in the direction they considered as down. Home was in a section of one of the giant ARC ships that had been attached and repurposed as the basis for the first orbiting station - Abalone. "The good news is that we haven't found anything yet to indicate it survived the journey here. Either it's very good at hiding or it's not on board. "Who's we? The government?" her daughter asked with a mix of nervousness and skepticism apparent on her face. "No. A much smaller organization I started with a few trustworthy friends. We don't know who can be trusted with this information."

"We've charged ourselves with making sure a true sentient intelligence can never arise again. There are only several of us, we must remain small to stay undetected. But we did manage to occupy some key positions which will allow us to place precautions and policies where it's important. Including in this new, BRAIN Company the government created." Meizhen still seemed unconvinced. "But you said yourself, there isn't any sign of this AI. I remember learning about the ACDAs everyone had to sign after the mess at the beginning of the twenty-third century. No one is allowed to develop such technology anymore."

They were almost home. "The accords were a fine document, honey but that's all they were. If someone wanted to go rogue and develop on their own it would be almost impossible to stop them. People, especially men, throughout history had a false confidence they could do better than their predecessors for good or ill. But this is more than a theoretical threat. Through the years we had detected worrisome queries over the network, filters that were specifically crafted to look for traces of the banned AI. It's been long since we've seen them but it means someone other than us was aware of its existence. We've never been able to find out who that was though"