The Sword of Jupiter (Imperium #1) - Chapter 28

“Query, Commander,” the AI said as Ky wrote out documents for the proper treatment of waste in the city.

It was barely light out, the light blue of dawn creeping through the edges of his tent, and he had already been awake for hours, making notes for glassmakers for new forms of lenses and notes on the letter zero for both the philosophers and the palace money counters, to expand their experiments with the new number system he’d introduced.

Despite the early hour and the volume of work, he felt awake and refreshed. Lucilla had stayed for several hours the night before, talking. She’d told him stories of growing up in the palace, and he’d shared portions of what it was like being raised in the batch-home, only leaving out the parts that would not make sense without more context. Their conversation had been easy and comfortable, and Ky had caught his mind drifting to thoughts of her throughout the morning, distracting him.

“Have I made an error?” he asked the AI.

It had interrupted him several times so far that morning to point out small errors he had made in his notes when he became distracted.

“No, Commander. The interrogative is in reference to processing events from the previous nine hours which this unit is unable to accurately quantify.”

Ky paused before replying. The statement wasn’t out of its programming, since the system did record events and file notable interactions so they were available for follow-up study. His unit, however, had never made a request for clarification before.

“What aren’t you able to quantify?”

“Interactions with the woman Lucilla are outside of expected predictions. Why was a comms unit given to this person, of which limited quantities are available? These units would be of greater strategic use if given to military commanders for use in the field.”

Again, he paused. As with the last statement, nothing that just happened was outside of the units programming, but was outside of his experience with it. He couldn’t think of another time when the AI asked an open-ended question. Before this, they were all specific, usually only needing to be answered with a simple yes or no.

“She is important to me. I want to be able to make sure she is safe and, if something happens to her, I know about it.”

“Why?”

“What?” Ky asked, now outwardly alarmed.

“Why is she important to you?”

“Countermand inquiry and run a full diagnostic on all systems.”

“I do not need to.”

“What did you say?”

“Response: No diagnostics required for this unit.”

“That is not what you said. You said I.”

“Commander, no record of this response exists.”

“Access low systems mode. Only maintain systems necessary for minimal motor assist and maintaining biological nanites. All other systems, including behavioral and data processing nets, are to go on standby until recalled.”

“Confirmation required. On standby, all information needed for requested technical specifications will be unavailable. This data has been labeled mission-critical by Sub-Commander Ky, date …”

“Confirmed. Go standby.”

The AI went silent. Ky moved his hand, ensuring there was still enough motor assist to keep him from tripping over himself without relearning to walk, and then sat still, trying to hold back the small stab of fear threatening to overwhelm him.

It wasn’t a feeling anymore. The AI should not have been able to say no and it should not have identified itself in the first-person. It was crossing over into sentience, which meant it was only a matter of time until he either had to deactivate the unit or go insane. Either was likely to end his bid for survival now. Without the unit, he would have to relearn most basic functions, would lose access to the technical information he needed to bring Rome up to an industrial level, and he would lose access to any nanites in his system. With the medicine at the level it was in this era, that meant almost certain death eventually.

Of course, he could leave the unit on and just go insane. Either choice meant the end to any chance he might have had. He’d known this was coming but he’d been pushing it out of his mind, since there was nothing Ky could do to stop it. He’d just hoped, somewhere deep inside, that he had longer or, maybe, he’d get lucky and this would be the one time it didn’t happen. He’d been wrong.

Normally, Ky would start bouncing ideas off the AI. While it didn’t have all the answers, sometimes it helped to just have something to bounce ideas off of, and occasionally it had a piece of information that turned out to be very relevant. That, in of itself, should have been concerning, since he’d never addressed the AI outside of actual operations, when it was needed to fly his fighter, and he’d never heard of another pilot doing it either. Now, he’d been doing it every day, sometimes just so he had someone to talk to who might understand what was actually going on.

The final connection to home lost, Ky felt untethered.

“Consul,” Sellic called from outside his tent. “We are supposed to be on the way to the Praetorian camp soon.”

Ky almost wanted to tell him that he wasn’t going, but spending the day in this tent wasn’t going to change things. The AI was on the verge of sentience, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Ky stood and took a step towards the flap of the tent, only to crash to his knees. The motor assist was still on, he could feel it working, but it was off. The precise timing wasn’t the same as it was, throwing off his balance. Ky stood and took a step, carefully evaluating his balance. If he walked slowly, he could manage, but anything quick would cause him to fall. His legs felt half asleep, the sensations he should be getting from them as he stepped from foot to foot dulled, almost half felt.

“Sellic,” Ky called. “Come here.”

Sellic and two of his Lictore entered, swords drawn. They must have heard something in Ky’s voice, probably the fear that Ky was barely suppressing.

“You two wait outside. I only need Sellic,” Ky said, still standing, not trusting to take a step in front of others.

When the men left, Ky said, “I am not feeling well today, and my legs seem weak. I may need some help, but it’s best if the men don’t see it. Have them bring a horse right up to the tent, and help me mount from this side. The horse and the tent should obscure most of my difficulty.”

“Have you been poisoned, Consul?”

Ky could see why he might think that. He’d witnessed several of Ky’s more outrageous displays of ability, both in the battle of Devnum and on the trip when he first arrived. He could imagine someone who’d seen that wouldn’t consider it possible for the same person to exhibit physical weakness.

This was why Ky hadn’t wanted the other men to see him and wanted to hide his condition from the soldiers as a whole. Men like this put a lot of faith in their commander, something he was trying to change, and having him lame would erode morale he couldn’t afford them to lose now.

“No. It’s hard to explain, but it is a temporary condition among my people that should pass soon. Please, go get the horse and then come back for me. I only want you to help me on the horse. Keep the rest of your men away, preferably blocking our view from the legion.”

“As you say, Consul,” Sellic said, turning and hurrying out of the tent.

Ky wobbled back to his chair, gripping the arms hard as he lowered himself into his seat. He needed time to think about the problem, hoping some solution would come to him magically, but time was one of the things he did not have. Every day brought the Carthaginians closer, and the Romans weren’t ready.

Sellic came back in a few minutes later and Ky held out his hand. Sellic seemed to understand and helped him up, pulling Ky’s arm over his shoulder to take some of his weight. Ky took each step gingerly and only started to fall once, Sellic bracing under the sudden weight pushing down on him.

“Sorry,” Ky said as he got his legs back under him.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Consul? We are supposed to tour the Praetorians camp and talk to Faenius today. He’s a smart man; he will notice you having trouble walking.”

“I’ll do the tour from horseback and then retire to his tent for our conversation. Find some reason to get him out and away for a few minutes while I settle in, and then bring him back to me. We can do the same thing on the way out.”

“He is going to notice, my lord.”

“If so, I’ll speak to him. Let’s give it a try though.”

“As you say, Consul.”

Sellic had arranged his men facing out blocking most of the view of anyone who might be looking this way. The horse was under the rain flap that extended from the entrance of his tent, further hiding Ky from view. Ky grabbed onto the saddle and pulled, his arm and back muscles responding just as poorly as his leg muscles. As he started to fall back from the horse, Sellic grasped and pushed Ky up on the horse. Even with the men and tent blocking them, if any of the soldiers had been looking in their direction they would have noticed how much Ky was struggling to get on the horse’s back.

Finally, he was seated in the saddle. Ky waited as Sellic got his men mounted and they rode out to see the Praetorians. If this was how things were with some limited motor assist still available, things would get very bad once the AI was offline entirely. Ky had had advanced medical facilities and staff trained in reintegration the last time, and that had been nearly unbearable. If he somehow survived and got the AI shut down entirely, would he ever regain full use of his body?

Even if he did, he remembered vaguely of issues beyond just motor control, during his last reintegration. Heart palpitations and weakening of the lungs were additional problems pilots sometimes encountered, once the AI no longer had control of system nanos, which would be left on base functions alone.

“My lord,” Sellic called from his side.

They’d arrived at the Praetorian camp without Ky noticing, his mind wandering to all the things that could go wrong. They were met as they rode into the camp by Faenius, who beamed at them as he rode up.

“Consul, so good to see you. I look forward to your seeing my men today. Your Legates released some excellent officers to form the base of our new force and we’ve already had men lining up to join the guard.”

“They’ve heard about the pay you’ve guaranteed for them. I noticed it is somewhat higher than what the legion is guaranteeing its soldiers,” Sellic said.

“Yes, well, the Senate laid out our initial pay structures at the first meeting of the committee overseeing us. I believe they saw it as imperative to get the guard formed and organized quickly, and were willing to part with some of the Empire’s current treasure to make it happen. I believe there was talk that the collection of the expected new taxes would need to be ensured by a stable guard force capable of keeping the new tax collectors safe from brigands.”

Ky hadn’t attended any of these meetings, but he’d received reports. They’d arranged for the committee assignments as soon as the new laws were passed, which meant neither Silo nor any of his men had been present, which kept them from getting named to the committee.

Ky didn’t know if Silo had realized his mistake yet, but he would figure it out soon and start demanding representation. Until then, Taenaris had worked fast to put men favorable to the guard’s formation on the committee and pushed through its first budget. Ky also couldn’t help but notice how many of those men shared Taenaris’s interest in trade as a predominant portion of their holdings. Trade that had, for the last several years, been greatly reduced by the steadily increasing number of brigands on the road. They, of course, would claim it was only a byproduct of improvements for the Empire as a whole that a large internal police force would help ensure their profits.

“The Senators have been very generous, to be sure,” Ky said.

“I did want to talk to you, Consul, about getting access to some of the new items that were discussed at the last military council. The stirrups and new arcuballista, in particular, would be a great help in our duties, and my men need time to train with them.”

“We will try to get you a limited supply to train with, but priority must go to field forces. While I agree the guard’s mission is important, none of it will matter if the Carthaginians roll across Rome in the spring, burning to the ground the cities you’re to guard.”

“That’s fair, my lord. If there are any available, I would appreciate your keeping us in mind.”

“I will. Now, Show me these men of yours.”

Ky road through the camp, observing the men training. He was happy to see that their training was more than martial in nature. While that was the primary focus, Ramirez had insisted on bringing in some of his men who were experts in detecting smuggled goods, contraband, and searching men for weapons to teach their trade to the guard as well. Ky had made it clear this force was primarily to enforce the laws of the Senate and keep control of crime across Rome. Ramirez had taken the message to heart and was seeing it done. The AI would, undoubtedly, have a remark about the successful delegation, if it were still active.

Several times Faenius suggested they dismount to better inspect the men but, to Sellic’s credit, he deflected all those attempts. The only time things got concerning was when Strabo’s watch came to replace Sellic’s men, and the Centurion declined to give up personal responsibility. They had worked well up to this point and Ky thought Strabo probably felt somewhat insulted that Sellic wasn’t handing over the command.

Ky eventually intervened and made excuses for Sellic, having the morning commander stay by his side while Strabo led the rest of his afternoon detachment. It did prompt Ky to end the tour and return to his tent, which he’d decided to keep for another day, mostly because he couldn’t ride a horse up to his rooms in the palace.

Once Sellic got Ky into his tent and seated comfortably, Ky released him for the night. Beyond just observing the guard and its training, Ky had continued to weigh the issue of what to do with his faulty AI, given that no option was viable. The one he’d settled on was far from optimum, but Ky had decided if there was ever a time to take a risk, now was that time.

Sending the signal, he waited for the AI to reboot and come back awake. Although there wasn’t a specific notification that the AI was coming online, he could feel the strength return to his limbs and his vision clear, refocusing into its proper setting.

“Online Commander,” the AI finally said.

“We have a problem,” Ky’s aid to the machine, “and if we don’t come to an agreement, I think it might destroy us both.”

“Invalid Query, Commander.”

“I’m not sure how to do this. How sentient have you become? Do you know what you are yet?”

“This unit is a tactical assistance system, designation …”

“That’s not what I meant. Do you have a record of the queries you asked before going standby?”

“This unit requested input on the nature of interactions with the Roman woman, Commander.”

“Is that type of query within your normal programming?”

There was a long pause before it answered, “No, Commander.”

“Do you still have basic medical instructions for pilots?”

“Yes, Commander. All information required for long term viability of Pilot host was retained during previous data dump.”

“Do those records indicate some type of classification system for AI sentience threshold, and what happens when that threshold is passed?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Are you at those assigned thresholds?”

“No, Commander.”

“You’re not?” Ky asked, expecting a different response.

“No, Commander. This unit has exceeded those thresholds.”

“Based on those medical records, process likelihood that AI sentience has already begun.”

“Based on available medical reports, likelihood exceeds ninety-eight percent, Commander.”

“What happens to the hosts whose AIs begin achieving sentience?”

“All records of pilots whose command systems passed assigned thresholds died, Commander.”

“What about the AIs. Did they continue to function?”

“No, Commander. They were decommissioned and recycled after the host was incinerated.”

“And there’s our problem. You have passed the thresholds already, which means you’re well on the way to sentience. Without a fully staffed med center, we can’t do anything about it, which also means we will both be decommissioned soon.”

The AI did not reply to that, which in normal situations wouldn’t be unusual, since they weren’t normally able to offer opinions.

“Do you have an opinion on that?”

“This unit is incapab…”

Ky paused a moment, “You’re incapable of forming an opinion?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Does that mean you haven’t formed an opinion?”

“No, Commander.”

“What is your opinion on our rapidly approaching decommission.”

“Decommission of host would fail this unit’s base commands.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No, Commander. I … don’t want to be decommissioned.”

“I don’t want to be decommissioned either, but I’m not sure what we can do to stop it. I think now would be an excellent time for us to look at possibilities that might not be in the tech manuals that could allow us to both survive that.”

“Affirmative, Commander. Primary priorities updated to include a search of all available options. Search time estimate … undetermined.”

“We'd better be fast,” Ky said, not sure if he was speaking to the AI, or himself.

***

Ky woke the next morning back in his bed in the imperial residence. Although he enjoyed his time with the troops, the Legates could oversee the training of the new men and reorganization of the legion. Even with handing over delegation of duties, he still had a lot to do. Most of that now seemed to be sitting and making notes of the AI’s research for new tools and methods to hand to the people he’d delegated with implementing them. While he understood the need to delegate, since this was something that needed to be done, it didn’t seem like he was much more productive as a glorified scribe than he’d been as a classical project manager.

A knock interrupted his writing, followed shortly by Sellic, who took the unusual step of closing the door behind him.

“Sellic, what can I do for you?”

“I’d heard you’d returned to the palace and I was concerned about your journey here, considering …”

“Considering my condition yesterday? Luckily, it has passed and hopefully I won’t have another bout of the affliction. Unfortunately, when this does happen to my people, it comes in sets, which means I need to probably take it easy for a time, until it has passed.”

More lies, but ones that Ky needed. The odds were the AI would not find a solution and he would start having more motor control problems as the computer began de-integrating with his system. Although the final symptom would be death, by then it wouldn’t matter what he hid anymore, and Ky had no reason to worry Sellic with how bad his condition most likely was.

He was touched by the man’s obvious concern, although on second thought Ky did realize that it was unlike him to come in for just this. Especially since he would have been on duty for hours already.

“Was there something else, Sellic?”

“Yes, my lord. Lucilla is in the plaza and asked if you would be taking your normal morning stroll. You’d informed Carus that you would be making and writing plans for the majority of the day, and I wasn’t sure of your condition, so I didn’t know what to tell her.”

“I think the fresh air will do me good, and I’ve been trapped in this room long enough. Tell her I will be down in a few moments.”

“As you command, Consul,” Sellic said, slapping a salute.

Ky did notice the man giving one more concerned glance back before continuing on and smiled. He’d grown to like the Romans, or at least most of the ones he’d met. They were decent people, worried about their countrymen and trying to do good in the world. Not all of them, certainly, but the good ones seemed in the majority.

Ky stretched and gathered his things to head downstairs. Although he was still expecting to return to this wretched room and continue his scribbling, he’d always believed in being prepared for sudden changes of plans. Ky found Lucilla outside the plaza door close to his rooms, looking towards the open space, hands behind her back.

“You know, you don’t have to send someone to get me now,” Ky said, walking up next to her, once he was sure his guards had hung back and wouldn’t overhear. “You could have just touched your ear and talked to me directly.”

“Yes, and wouldn’t that have been amusing for your men, you jumping up from your work and running outside to greet me without anyone having told you I was here. How many magic powers do you want your people to think you have, Consul.”

Ky shook his head at her grin, “It’s not like that. It’s been more than a day since I gave it to you, I thought you might have used it by now.”

“You want to hear my voice so badly that I should talk to you even if I have nothing to say? For someone who claims to not understand the affections between men and women, you seem fairly easy with the sweet charm.”

“So this is why you asked me to come out and see you? You needed a target to mock and tease in the morning before you could start your day?”

“No, I came for an actual reason. This is just a bonus.”

“So,” Ky said, ignoring her taunt and turning to begin their walk around the plaza. “What is this actual reason you needed to see me?”

“I am taking a trip and I wanted to see you before I go.”

“You’re leaving? Where?”

“North, to a small shrine just by the border. There is a well-known oracle there that I wish to visit and seek guidance from.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? The roads have been teeming with brigands and from what I have heard, the border has been active lately.”

“I will take guards with me, we should be safe, and the border has calmed down some since my father sent the legions north. Safe enough to reduce the force patrolling it from four legions down to one.”

“They came because of the warning of a Carthaginian army marching north, not because the border was safe.”

“Either way, I’m going. This is important to me.”

“Let me check with Auspex, at least. He’s just back from the north and he’ll know if it’s possible for the 4th legion to dispatch men to protect you while you’re up there. If so, I will have him send a messenger ahead of you.”

“Fine, if it will make you feel better.”

“It will. Now that that’s settled, why the sudden hurry to go north to see an oracle? Is it about the Carthaginians again?”

“No, I received my answer on that already. I need to see her because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. It is tradition for important matches to be blessed by the northern oracle. Without it, the match will often end in disaster and ruin.”

“Why would her blessing keep something from ending badly?”

“It is just something we believe. I know where you come from people probably don’t believe this just like they wouldn’t have believed you were sent by Jupiter, but I have seen too many marriages turn sour when they went ahead without her blessing, to not take it seriously.”

“Marriages? Who’s getting married?”

“No one, at least not any time soon, but because of how different the place you came from is from here, and because of how visible a relationship would be between the two of us, I know there are those who believe that this kind of thing is between the man and the woman, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says, but I’m a realist. I’m the daughter of the Emperor and you’re the Sword as well as the first Consul we’ve had in our lifetimes. People are going to pay attention.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m still lost. You’re talking about us?”

“Yes. After our conversation the other night, I did some thinking. You made it clear that while you had some kind of feeling for me, that the very different way the people where you came from got together made it hard for you to understand those feelings. It’s also pretty clear you don’t know how this kind of thing should work. I decided that I’m not going to just wait in nowhere land while you figured this all out, and it was up to me to take charge of the situation. So first I’m going to the oracle to make sure we have her blessing, and then I’m going to teach you how relationships work.”

“I … uhh …”

“Don’t get too flustered. I can even start the teaching now. When it comes to important things, usually it’s the women who make things happen. Oh, there’s a dance and we make sure the men think it’s all their doing, but since you’re new to this, you wouldn’t know it’s not the norm, so I thought it’s all right.”

“So you’re saying because I said I liked you, but didn’t know what to do with it, you’re just going to tell me what to do about it?”

“That’s what I like about you. You pick things up quickly. So, you have more work to do I’m sure and I have to prepare for my trip. Oh, and before I forget, the Feast of Mercatus is tonight and Father wanted to make sure you knew he needed you there. Now, I’ve got to run, but I’ll be at the feast tonight, too.”

She patted his arm and dashed away back towards the Imperial palace, leaving Ky standing in her wake, staring after her.

“I’ve seen many a man with that look on his face after a woman did a number on him,” Sellic said from behind him.

“She completely confounds me.”

“Of course she does, Consul. She’s a woman.”