Project Engineering - 14/Jul/2012
Arthur sat down and shook. After getting back from O'Neill Station. He nearly cried, thinking about Del. Then he nuked and ate something random from the deep freezer. And went to bed.
He woke thirteen hours later. Ideas buzzing in his head. He needed to organise an office for Janet, and somewhere secure, but radio transparent, to keep her AI core. The idea of an AI assistant was something he'd been playing with for weeks. So, it wasn't that much of a push doing it in a hurry. But, there went all his recordings and notes on his work for O'Neill. Into her handwavium. And, he hadn't had time to take copies of all of them.
Still, he'd have Janet, and he could pick her brains. Maybe get her to construct a master wiki of anything they knew of, to do with O'Neill? Security was an issue, but they should be able to manage it. This assumed, of course, that he'd got her AI right. Nurse Blake worried him, sometimes, being a bit too focused. Dave Mathers still had a few things to teach him.
Had he been too cruel to Kelly? She'd made quite a few mistakes. He thought she was smarter than that, but, maybe she was just trying to do too much? If he understood her, she was trying to be Chief Engineer for a place that used engineering she didn't have a feel for, understand, beyond the mechanical side, and electrical stuff pre-thermionic valve. Yes, she was also a brilliant conventional scientist, but that didn't translate into engineering expertise.
She was supposed to substitute for all the Stellvia super-scientists and engineers. He thought he'd failed, there. If he'd been smart he'd have made her a conventional engineer, but no, he had to be clever and make her a steam-punk. From what he'd been told, that might make her a 'Spark' - some day he'd have to read-up on what that meant.
Overnight, Janet had cleaned-up his workshop. Done the reorganisation that he'd talked about doing for months. What's more, everything was just where he expected it to be. How had she done that? Interesting that she couldn't explain. "It just 'felt right'."
With an effort of will, he restrained himself from digging-in, and they went out clothes and household shopping. She could have the second bedroom above the office, it was rarely used by visitors. If needed, he could clear enough of the junk out of the third bedroom for emergencies. He encouraged her to buy a wide range of foodstuffs, so she could experiment and figure-out what she liked.
He kept quiet while she bought stuff. Was she reading his mind? All the colours and patterns were ones he liked. Could The Machine have got at her? Where would it get his preferences? He'd never so much as sat under one of the helmets. Even sleep walking - he'd checked the security logs.
It was getting a bit creepy, so he suggested they go back to the office and discuss what needed doing next. A nasty thought. Hadn't some of his blood got into her handwavium? He'd cleaned and sealed the cut as quickly as he'd spotted it, and he tested clean from handwavium. Your memory wasn't in your blood, but, he'd enough evidence handwavium was tricky stuff. So, clone sister?
Her legal existence was a problem. Cash would only get you so far. She'd come back down as part of his luggage, which fortunately he'd thought of in advance. But, that was no way to travel. Fake documentation was really going to mess you up, sooner or later. He wondered what Kevin Wright had done for Nurse Blake?
While they made notes and drew diagrams, a message came in. Direct from O'Neill Station. Looked like his next project was working-out how to solve their engineering management problems.
Joy.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
Arthur sat down and shook. After getting back from O'Neill Station. He nearly cried, thinking about Del. Then he nuked and ate something random from the deep freezer. And went to bed.
He woke thirteen hours later. Ideas buzzing in his head. He needed to organise an office for Janet, and somewhere secure, but radio transparent, to keep her AI core. The idea of an AI assistant was something he'd been playing with for weeks. So, it wasn't that much of a push doing it in a hurry. But, there went all his recordings and notes on his work for O'Neill. Into her handwavium. And, he hadn't had time to take copies of all of them.
Still, he'd have Janet, and he could pick her brains. Maybe get her to construct a master wiki of anything they knew of, to do with O'Neill? Security was an issue, but they should be able to manage it. This assumed, of course, that he'd got her AI right. Nurse Blake worried him, sometimes, being a bit too focused. Dave Mathers still had a few things to teach him.
Had he been too cruel to Kelly? She'd made quite a few mistakes. He thought she was smarter than that, but, maybe she was just trying to do too much? If he understood her, she was trying to be Chief Engineer for a place that used engineering she didn't have a feel for, understand, beyond the mechanical side, and electrical stuff pre-thermionic valve. Yes, she was also a brilliant conventional scientist, but that didn't translate into engineering expertise.
She was supposed to substitute for all the Stellvia super-scientists and engineers. He thought he'd failed, there. If he'd been smart he'd have made her a conventional engineer, but no, he had to be clever and make her a steam-punk. From what he'd been told, that might make her a 'Spark' - some day he'd have to read-up on what that meant.
Overnight, Janet had cleaned-up his workshop. Done the reorganisation that he'd talked about doing for months. What's more, everything was just where he expected it to be. How had she done that? Interesting that she couldn't explain. "It just 'felt right'."
With an effort of will, he restrained himself from digging-in, and they went out clothes and household shopping. She could have the second bedroom above the office, it was rarely used by visitors. If needed, he could clear enough of the junk out of the third bedroom for emergencies. He encouraged her to buy a wide range of foodstuffs, so she could experiment and figure-out what she liked.
He kept quiet while she bought stuff. Was she reading his mind? All the colours and patterns were ones he liked. Could The Machine have got at her? Where would it get his preferences? He'd never so much as sat under one of the helmets. Even sleep walking - he'd checked the security logs.
It was getting a bit creepy, so he suggested they go back to the office and discuss what needed doing next. A nasty thought. Hadn't some of his blood got into her handwavium? He'd cleaned and sealed the cut as quickly as he'd spotted it, and he tested clean from handwavium. Your memory wasn't in your blood, but, he'd enough evidence handwavium was tricky stuff. So, clone sister?
Her legal existence was a problem. Cash would only get you so far. She'd come back down as part of his luggage, which fortunately he'd thought of in advance. But, that was no way to travel. Fake documentation was really going to mess you up, sooner or later. He wondered what Kevin Wright had done for Nurse Blake?
While they made notes and drew diagrams, a message came in. Direct from O'Neill Station. Looked like his next project was working-out how to solve their engineering management problems.
Joy.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind