Brought back from Lost Waters...

[Gir Quee]

Admiral Quee hunched over his datapad and let out a sigh as he opened up its entry pints. This isn't entirely what was supposed happen...but it's a down deal now...He tapped a button on the pad, opening up its first entry, scrolling past the title page "Lethe Project Log".

Day 2
Artificial Intelligence has been toted by some technocrats as one of the greatest advancements of civilization; some even expound that such AIs are beginning of true artificial life. I think that's a bit of exaggeration, though I do not doubt for second that they are an important step to it.

It is rumored that some of the first truly adaptable AIs were modeled after organic brains. Neural pathways were mapped and then painstakingly transcribed into their electronic equivalent. After some tinkering, the circuits were complete and the fine programming began. After further testing and refinement, the AI would finally be ready for use. This was a process that likely took months, even years sometimes, but the products of this biomimicry were far superior to the AIs made using conventional programming in terms of adaptability and creativity. But conventional programming quickly caught up in terms of quality and price.

However, today, there is a wide established base of droid and artificial intelligence personality matrixes catering to all spectrums of performance and abilities. The lowest labor droid like an ASP, even without a personality matrix, has a degree of intelligence, as feeble as it is. We take it for granted that it does, just as we do that the protocol droid that we employ will catch and understand the nuances of entirely foreign cultures that they have never encountered in the field before. This is really remarkable when you think about how complex such a task can be. To some extent, this accomplishment can be chocked up to the thousands of years of advancements made by hundreds, if not thousands, of AI pioneers from a variety of cultures. Because of their efforts, droid and artificial intelligence programmers of today can reference large amounts of codes and programming when designing new AI programs.

Today, some of the most popular corporate AI designs are little more than conglomeration of existing codes and programs spliced into a single new entity with a bit of modification on the end-user side. Even the every day citizen users of droids, and some droids themselves, can modify their existing skillsets by adding new programming; especially those that are capable of learning and modifying themselves. I still find it impressive how quickly a droid can download and start effectively using a new skill set, especially compared to the trials and times it takes for an organic to learn a similar skill.

But this trait of modern programming presents a whole new problem from the Lethe Project.

Because many codes and programming are similar and created from existing work, they can be easily predicted, easily understood, and easily hacked. Taking the risk of such a security breach is almost unthinkable given the power that such an artificial intelligence could wield against both its opponents, and its creators. Because of that, I've asked Azira at the labs to start from scratch for this project, as laborous as it is, by going back to the old way.

She quickly pointed out that doing so would take far more time than we have for it. Moreover, she didn't exactly have a brain sitting around somewhere to be mapped out. Even if we did, she referenced rumors that an AI made by Nubian Star Drives had learned and self-actualized enough that it had begun to take illegal actions of its own violitions with the input of its creators or operators. This adaptability would be wondrous as a technological marvel, but again, would be a liability in certain cases. Moreover, it presents me with the moral quandary of controlling a sentient being that is at least as intelligent as I would be, if not more so. It is quite likely that such a skilled being could find and achieve a way of obtaining its freedom of will that could place it at odds with the tasks that I would commit the AI to doing.

Consequently, Azira and I brainstormed to make the Lethe something of a hybrid of both biomimicry based AI design and conventional computer programming. Now to see if we can put our ideas into action...

 

[Gir Quee]

Day 22

The Lethe is modeled conceptually on the bothan brainstem and its cardiovascular system.

Mapping a brainstem is a much easier process than an entire brain, and the anatomical layout is readily available to formulate the kernel of an artificial intelligence. Like the brainstem, Lethe receives sensory input and quickly reacts to it. But rather than using neurons or hormones, it uses electrical circuits. Rather than using the senses of touch, smell, hearing, or vision, it uses the ship's sensor system. It uses a complex process of algorithms to make the right decisions to survive in and protect its body, the starship, but it is utterly devoid of a drive or initiative besides its own beyond survival instincts.

In a way, Lethe at this stage is an idiot savant.

It is exceptionally capable of keeping its body, the ship intact using a variety of built-in processes using both positive and negative feedback loops, but otherwise it is rather unadaptable and entirely uncreative.

Let us take the example of a hull breach. Through the ship's internal sensors, Lethe detects a sudden change in the atmospheric pressure and gas consumption rate. In areas where the gases are abruptly changing, it immediately sections off those areas by closing vents, blast doors, and other portals through which gases could escape. This stems the immediate loss of gases. At the same time, Lethe notifies organic repair crews and onboard droids of the areas affected by the hull breach. Based on the percentages of gas still remaining in each affected area, Lethe can pinpoint the location of the hull breach. In the affected areas where the gas levels remain stable, Lethe is capable of understanding that such areas are not the locations of the hull breach. It then unlocks those areas and pumps in extra gas from the life support reserves to restore those areas to normal. However, in those areas where gas continues to leak or turns into vacuum, it designates as priority repair areas and keeps them locked off from the rest of the ship until it receives input either from the ship's repair crews or droids that such areas are now repaired. When it receives such input, it first tests those areas by injecting a small amount of gas to see if it remains stable over a period of time. If it does remain stable, a positive feedback loop occurs that will then flood the area with the appropriate amount of atmosphere and unlock it for normal usage. If gas leaks out, a negative feedback loop occurs and the process starts over again with Lethe informing the ship's repair crews and maintenance droids of a leak.

Similar processes for all of the ship's systems ensure homeostasis of the ship's various functions by interpreting and using data gathered from its hardwired systems.

The design teams in now currently working on ways to build off of these processes to enable Lethe to look outside of itself.

 

[Gir Quee]

Day 56

One of our biggest concerns is the intrusion of enemy slicers into Lethe's programming and the ship's computers. One of Azira's main strategems has been to reformat the base language of Lethe itself into a dialect of archaic bothese, making Lethe's electronic form incompatible with galactic standard scripting languages. As Azira dumbed it down to me, it makes many foreign insertion commands “lost in translation” even if such code is translated and somehow inserted into Lethe's architecture. Of course, this also means that Lethe cannot easily interpret incoming information from friendly ships as well. Consequently, information transmitted to Lethe's host vessel is a partitioned into temporary memory holding drive, where traditional [url=http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rapid_Repetition_Defense_Measures]Rapid Repletition Defense Measures[/url] scan the information. Inspired by the New Republic's counterslicers that defended the Imperial Palace, part of the augmented RRDMs used as Lethe's immune system employs “flagged codes” found commonly in slicing software, bots, and viruses. The main intent is to stop basic “script kiddies”, standard slicing droids, and off the shelf automated tools from instantly cracking through the ship's firewalls. If such a code is discovered in the packet, the data is immediately deleted. If the data is found to be safe, the data is passed to an embedded program that translates information from foreign sources into ancient bothese. This information is then shuffled into another temporary memory area, where another embedded meta-programming roughly summarizes the data into a new format before the data is deleted. The primary purpose of this process is to prevent any viral codes from slipping pass into the mainframe itself. Summarizing information should interrupt any subtle coding that has somehow slipped past the RRDM and any “flagged codes”. It also forces a time-delay that disrupts most real-time slicing...but the main drawback as that this time-delay also affects data that could potentially be used by the vessel, such as target acquisition data from another warship, but I rather have a more secure vessel than a potential security risk...

 

[Gir Quee]

Day 72:

Azira has stated that in order to keep the project streamlined, and to ensure that Lethe will be capable with existing computer infrastructure, that it will not be capable of hacking other computer systems, even with basic computer tools. However, she was able to create a pocket inside the existing AI to serve as a temporary holding memory cache for a fleet's communications. This allows the Lethe's host vessel to act as a communication's hub. Data to and from other vessels is first routed from the accompanying vessel to Lethe, which scans, translates, and then summarizes the information like normal. However, once it is summarized, it is retranslated to a galactic standard language and transmitted to the original sending vessel for its use. This basically allows the Lethe to act as a fleetwide firewall, but this innoculation does noticeably slow down transmission times. It is unlikely that such a fleet will be able to use sensory data from other ships in the case of sensor jamming...but still, it is rare to gain something of valuable with a noticeable tradeoff.

 

[Gir Quee]

"You're looking at that thing again?"

"Trying to see if there was anything in it that we missed," admitted Gir, rising up from his seat.

Azira's fur rippled, "In things this complicated, I doubt that we'd find in your journal. I'd be surprised if it even was in my entries, unless it seemed to be a particular problem during the compiling...but well..."

Gir nodded, "Well, now that we think it's fixed..."

"I know we have to test it, but I'm not sure this is the best way...with the Ttyielas already being damaged..."

"What's your suggestion?"

"Use the Matthew Lucerne. If something goes whack with it again, we can easily lock down. And besides, if we're testing it against the Ttyielas, the Lucerne's guns won't do a whole lot of damage if it...acts up again."

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded, "I defer to your judgement."

The bothan nodded, "I'll get talking to Tino about installing Lethe on the ship."

"I'll get on the proverbial horn with the gunship then."

The admiral spared a brief glance at the box on the table before leaving the room. He squeezed his way past a pair of security droids and mingled with the rest of the repair corvette's crew before exiting into a tiny chamber. The blonde man tapped a button on the holo-projector. The machine began to make a faint humming sound as light coalesced into a hazy image of the DP-20's captain. The rodian offered a brief nod before glancing at his wrist chrono.

"Mister president, is there to be a delay in the tests?"

Gir nodded, "I'm afraid so. The testing is going to change. Your ship will now be the target vessel. The aggressor is going to be the Matthew Lucerne..."

 

[Gir Quee]

Two hours later...

Armorer-class Support Corvette Matthew Lucerne, somewhere in deep space

"Are we ready?" asked Gir, entering the ship's bridge.

Azira spared a glance up from the ad hoc box that housed Lethe. While the AI was capable of being housed in the Matthew Lucerne's own computers, for saftey reasons, the AI was being housed in a separate computer core. If the AI malfunctioned like last time, they could easily stop its processes before it could hurt anyone by manually disconnecting the cable. The bothan rose to her feet.

"We should be set."

Gir tapped a button on his cylindrical comlink, "Captain Tino, is your ship ready?"

A static burst jumped out of the comlink, "Aye sir."

Gir turned his eyes to Azira, "Let's boot it up."

She nodded and tapped a button on the side of Lethe's temporary housing. Gir himself sat down in the ship's command chair. Let's hope it goes better than last time...His console's screen briefly flickered as Lethe's code flooded through the ship's systems. He watched as an icon set with a river appeared in the bottom corner of the Lucerne's screen. He selected it, bringing up Lethe's interface box. Everything looks good...no errors coming up...let's give him...or her...a whirl...

 

[Gir Quee]

"Looks green to me," said Gir, turning his eyes to Azira.

But the bothan kept her's on her datapad, "Everything seems good to me as well."

"Basic function's test?" suggested the blonde man.

"Yes. Let's start with something simple, like reactive shield control."

Gir turned his eyes to the shield operator's station, but the duros sitting at his station was already bobbing his head up and down in acknowledgment. Always good to have an alert crew...He pulled out the cylindrical comlink and tapped a button.

"Captain Tino, if you would kindly strafe us with your quads..."

"Aye sir."

Seconds later, streams of red laser fire randomly lashed out from the gunship to smack into the ship's shield. Gir intently watched the shield projection statuses as the ship's shield operator worked with Lethe in prioritizing shield output. Performance is at least as good as our baseline tests with just the organic crewmember, so Lethe isn't harming anything or worsening performance, so compatibility seems good...but it's hard to see the specific performance with that weak of attack, and I'd rather not risk a heavier one that could kill us...Gir cleared his throat.

"Goyr, stop working the controls for thirty seconds."

"Yes sir."

The duros pulled his hands back from the controls, letting Lethe take the brunt of manipulating the shields. There significant drop in performance intially, but it quickly stabilized to almost normal levels as the AI took full control of operating the ship's shield systems. Looks good so far...

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir tapped a button on his comlink, "Cease fire, cease fire."

Fire slackened off from the DP-20 to an abrupt halt. Gir glanced down at his console's display, watching the shield power levels rise again to normal levels. He turned his eyes to Azira, but the bothan was already looking at him. She looks a bit more inquisitive than normal...He shook off the thought.

"Next?" asked Gir.

"You're asking me?"

"I'm not interested in pushing its limits this time..."

Her fur rippled, so Gir guessed that he had touched some button of her's, but he didn't know which one. Is that amusement? Or have I hit something more...negative? But Gir could really contemplate any bothan body language hints, Azira was already in action.

"Well, if it's my call, we need to patch it to the drone barges."

 

[Gir Quee]

"Might as well double-check the voice-interface too..."

Gir himself preferred to type in commands through a console to keep noise down, rather than vocally dictate orders. But if his console was damaged, if he was hurt, or otherwise able to type in commands, he would have to rely on the voice interface. Contingency planning...one of those things that I hate to do...but a necessary one none the less...He cleared his throat.

"Lethe, patch yourself into Beta-Two and Beta-Three."

A cold metallic voice emanated from his headset, "Aye sir."

His console screen showed a status icon with a swirling circle around it, informing Gir that Lethe was in the process of connecting to the computers of the droid ships. Some seconds passed before the swirling circle stopped, now replace with a trio of concentric red circles. Gir turned his eyes back to Azira.

"Your freelance buddy is up," said the blonde man, rising from his seat.

She made an approximation of a human nod before barking off a few commands into her own comlink. The admiral walked over to Azira, who tilted her linked datapad to Gir could see its screen. A variety of color code seemed to constantly be flowing through far faster than Gir could process it. He could pick out individual commands occasionally with his limited knowledge of shipboard computers, but it was on the order of one command every twenty lines. He was like an Ewok trying to understand High Galactic; a hopeless endeavor.

"What am I seeing?"

"A duel as vicious between any Jedi and any Sith..my contact opened up with what some hackers call codeslinging...using basic automated hacking tools such as worms, trojans, and the like to try and enter the barge's computer system...but that doesn't seem to have worked. Lethe not only blocked them, but started using a channel-hopping protocol to try and deny Bookes an access point into communications...that was that brief lag right there where you could see the code...it took Bookes a bit to catch up on that development and figure out that algorithm to predict what channels the ships were using to communicate...Wait....Lethe just changed it again. It's the simplest tactic in the book to keep enemy hackers at bay when they do not have direct access through scomp-link or something similar...but I think we'll see that coming more likely than not...and besides, Lethe can still fight back even if they do manage to get a direct link to our systems..."