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    AI's Children
    AI's Children
    AI's Children
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    AI's Children

    By Ed Hurst

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    About this ebook

    When heroes have children, can they not also be heroic? The second volume after "AI's Minion" and the prequel to "The Chronicles of Misty," this tale carries The Brotherhood and its message into a new age in preparation for interstellar exploration. The origin of AI is explained and Chandler's children branch out, driven by their own dreams of what could be. Dax joins the military to teach them how to use AI only to empower the rising emperor, while frustrating a vile cult that sought to destroy the Brotherhood. His sister Harp builds an entirely new form of community that affords The Brotherhood great prosperity and influence in the new imperial government. Their youngest brother Tim creates an entirely new form of communication that sets the stage for a new civilization destined to spread across the universe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEd Hurst
    Release dateApr 7, 2014
    ISBN9781310917592
    AI's Children
    Author

    Ed Hurst

    Born 18 September 1956 in Seminole, OK. Traveled a great deal in Europe with the US Army, worked a series of odd jobs, and finally in public education. Ordained to the ministry as a Baptist, then with a non-denominational endorsement. Currently semi-retired.

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      Book preview

      AI's Children - Ed Hurst

      AI’s Children

      By Ed Hurst

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2014 by Ed Hurst

      Copyright notice: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior – be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23)

      Permission is granted to copy, reproduce and distribute for non-commercial reasons, provided the book remains in its original form.

      Cover Art: Background is a public domain image; silhouette overlay is by Helen Gizi, used by permission (source).

      AI’s Children

      Table of Contents

      This is fiction within fiction, so please read the Foreword.

      Foreword

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Epilogue

      Foreword

      You have my condolences.

      The tale is not yet told, so we continue where the last volume (AI’s Minion) left off.

      Thinkum advises me that you folks have a high technology mythology that includes the concept of teleportation. That’s as good of a word as any for the real thing far in your future. The portal system is much more complicated.

      In our narrative at least, you might best imagine it as an extension of field technology, which I also have to explain. All matter bears a multitude of resonance, reflecting the presence of electron valence, mass, and other factors. The resonance also reflects the effects from ambient valence, magnetism, gravity and proximity to other matter, along with other things for which you simply don’t have words. One kind of device can measure the resonance of various particles, filtered and as a context, and so forth. That kind of device is the basis for scanners. Another kind of device can project a field that changes the resonance of selected particles and can change the way they act. That would include devices that shield from scanning all the way up to certain kinds of manufacturing on a microscopic level and even some unspeakably destructive things.

      The teleportation in our narrative began as quantum resonance matching between two locations, first with just a few particles. Then as things got more advanced and quantum computing became common, people could actually deconstruct matter in one place and transmit the gestalt resonance structure to another place. It required complicated fields to capture the resonance, but until communications could be sent through subspace, the resistance level of transmission kept things primitive. In essence, the resonance is transmitted through the earth’s metallic core, but the structural data won’t go far that way. Once subspace communications became possible, the data could move intact as a sort of side-channel.

      Teleportation is therefore restricted to a single planet. Space travel is a wholly other kind of game.

      Of course, you could hardly use this feeble form of communication that I use to relate this message to get a head start on developing teleportation until you folks begin learning how to capture resonance data. Once you know what that’s all about, you’ll already understand how to do teleportation. You won’t see that in your timeline until you develop other means of communication.

      I pity you for such abysmal ignorance, but the story continues.

      Chapter 1

      His name was Claxon. Despite being a rather precocious toddler, his first effort to pronounce his own name came out as Dax. It stuck.

      The first child born in The Brotherhood enclave, his father somehow became the de facto leader. This was despite the man’s wishes and intentions. Everyone called him AI’s Minion, but those close to him knew him as Chandler.

      Chandler’s office in the newest Brotherhood facility appeared more as a library than what most people thought of as an office. There were comfortable chairs and the newer type of computer display screens mounted on arms attached along one wall. When Chan sat back in his rather simple chair, he pulled the larger screen in front of him, which allowed him to see through the screen’s transparent display at anyone else in the room.

      Dax glanced up and saw his father sitting quietly, occasionally pointing to the screen to move around elements in the display that was visible from the backside. Otherwise, the display often changed for no apparent reason. Chandler’s interaction with the AI behind the display was unlike any other person Dax knew.

      Dad, how come you never use the gestures everyone else does with AI? As with other children around age twelve, Dax was developing the capacity for abstract logic. Unlike most children in the world, Dax had parents who understood this and helped him struggle to make sense of things without unduly restricting his explorations. I know you’re smart enough. Even Mom does it and she taught us kids how to use them.

      The sound of their conversation bore the earmarks of exposure to AI. The enunciation tended to high precision. When asked about it, Chandler noted he learned it from a predecessor, the man who introduced him to AI and to The Brotherhood. It produced a sort of accent that could not be identified with any region of the planet, but became a hallmark of The Brotherhood.

      Chandler looked over at his son through the semi-transparent images on his display. Pushing the screen aside, he gave the boy his attention, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and grasping his hands together. Small question, Son. Big answer.

      Dax rapidly gestured to the screen before him, and then waved it blank before he pushed it away. These were moments he relished. Dad was always so busy with a thousand things everyone wanted from him, but his answers were typically fascinating, often taking unexpected directions.

      I take it you signaled your brother and sister? Chandler smiled.

      As if in answer, a slightly younger girl and even younger boy walked into the office and took the empty chairs. Dax glanced around when they came in. We were talking about gestures the other day, Dad, he admitted.

      Chandler leaned back again, drawing his elbows back up on the armrests. First, it’s not a question of whether I am smart enough, but how I am smart. In terms of raw intellect, I’m probably just above average. Your mother is easily two notches above that. But I had something she’s still trying to learn, a form of intelligence that most people don’t recognize. You three are also learning it, and this whole place exists to offer that same thing to anyone who feels the need. But I never learned it from The Brotherhood. So far as I can tell, it was something already in me just waiting for the right moment to wake up.

      The girl asked quietly, Is that why you get more out of AI than anyone else, even without using the gestures?

      That’s as good a reason as any I could give you, he said. Honestly, kids, it has more to do with AI and how it works. I just happened to have already that ability to operate on decisions made above the intellect.

      Dax jumped in with, We’ve heard you talk about how you got involved, but we still don’t understand how it works. We don’t understand where AI came from.

      Two questions with the same answer, Chandler noted. "You three should have at least some idea of what the old computer systems were like; we keep some around for that reason. Dax, you at least have

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