Chapter 8: Spock's story (and epilogue)

As Spock prepared to tell his story, the humans around him relaxed into their chairs and sofas. Spock kept his mental shields low, allowing, for a moment, the low telepathic buzz of their affection and respect to brush against his mind.

He knew that the Kolinahr masters would have considered such indulgence a scandalous practice – a dangerous slippery slope that lead to emotional chains between beings, dragging them away from rational thought and the solemn responsibilities that all able-minded creatures had towards the universe around them. Part of the revelation that V'Ger had given him had been that allowing for a reasonable amount of these connections was, in itself, an important part of that responsibility.

Chains also kept ships safe in storms.

"The events in question took place on stardate 3298.4, early in my assignment to the Enterprise. Captain April was in command, and Commander Pike was his first officer. The Enterprise had been ordered to Memory Prime to transfer the newly awakened federation citizen Martian Cloud to the Memory Prime habitat. I believe Mr. Scott might recall the mission?"

Scotty frowned, and scratched his neck. He'd been an ensign at the time, quite reasonably obsessed with the Engine Room and paying very little attention to anything outside it. But then he smiled.

"Oh, aye, Mr. Spock! Martian Cloud, it was that artificial intelligence on New Mars that became sentient. Threw the whole planet into a panic before things got sorted out. Spontaneous, natural AI awakenings being as rare as they are, I remember there was quite a stir when it came aboard. Not that it was much to look at, mind, just half the cargo bay filled with data carriers. You were its minder, weren't you Mr. Spock?"

"I was its liaison, Mr. Scott. At the start of our journey it was still very young and distributed in its thinking, but as we came closer to Memory Prime, I was able to have a number of fascinating discussions with the gentlebeing."

"When we reached Memory Prime, Martian Cloud was transferred to the AI habitat there. I oversaw the transfer, and volunteered to stay and monitor the integration while the Enterprise left for the nearby Canis system for some diplomatic representation."

"You mean Pike let you loose on your own in AI town?" Drawled McCoy, "I'm surprised we ever got you back."

"They do have a much to recommend them, Doctor, such as well-ordered thought patterns and a purpose to their communications," Spock responded, a pointed emphasis on purpose.

"Why did you have to oversee the integration, Mr. Spock," asked Chekov. "I can't imagine that there is much even you could contribute that the AIs themselves couldn't do. I'd think it would be rather...boring after the first hour or so."

"My presence was indeed more for my benefit and education than for any assistance that I could render the community. It was quite instructional, for the first fifty-four hours. The patterns in the integration data held much beauty. At first it was discernible by the eye in the raw data, then by extrapolating visualization algorithms, then by more abstract scripts that I wrote as the integration proceeded. Finally, however, the level and method of the conversation did indeed become too hard to follow."

"At that point I will admit to a certain... restlessness. I had been given a small isolated research cubicle off the main visitors' corridor. The habitat had several organic guests, but the others were all in the main research chambers, busy with code word restricted research. There is little on Memory Prime of interest outside the information world, so, naturally I began to... look around."

"You got bored and started poking at things." Translated McCoy. "Good Lord, Jim, can you think of anything more dangerous?" The Humans laughed and Spock loftily ignored the Doctor.

"There are any number of user interfaces created by the AI community for the use of their organic guests. They will happily create different access points for each race and culture that visit them. I understand that it is a revered art form. Mostly it is only the outer shell that is different, overlayed on the same computational hardware. For some races, such as the Aarth, the Horta or the Tev, the hardware will also change."

"The first generation of these interfaces are created in tandem with computer experts from the organic users' worlds, and during that early design there are sometimes... errors."

"I found the interface design interesting, and started researching the crystalline Aarth interface. The fluctuations of crystals is, as you know, important in many basic computer designs... I can see from your expression, Doctor, that I should refrain from getting too technical, and I do not believe it is necessary for the dramatic arc of the narrative. Suffice is to say that during my research, I found a way to retrieve earlier access rights and reapply them to the present system."

McCoy looked bored, but several of the others sat up quickly.

"Spock, are you telling me that you hacked into the most secure information system in the Federation?" Kirk asked.

Spock looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Jim, 'hacking' implies malicious intent. Once I started looking, the entry was so obvious that it could hardly be termed a forced entry."

"Let me rephrase. Are you telling me that you found, after several hours of exploring this restricted site, an unlocked door with large keep-out signs, and knowingly decided to step inside?"

"That is... essentially correct."

Kirk gave him a long look, tinged with exasperated affection. "I am so glad you weren't my problem back then. Go on, I suspect this gets worse."

"I wish to state that the reason for my continued exploration was to formulate a report on the security hole that I had discovered. It appeared to me, at the time, that I needed to acquire more data in order to give a full account of the ramifications of the breach. This is, of course, counter to regulations and the instructions I give to my students at present. For very good reasons."

"As I stepped into the AI world, I was quickly overwhelmed by the complexity of the data. I used an enhanced three dimensional user interface, but the graphics routines struggled to make sense of the multidimensionality. I set up system after system to be able to orient myself - I was unclear even of which part of the infrastructure that I had gained access to. I was lost, and my presence was starting to generate data trails of its own, disturbing the habitat."

Spock tilted his head. "It was at that point that I made my second error. I decided I could now not leave until I had attempted to clean up the disruption I was causing. Unfortunately and inevitably, this aggravated the contamination problem. I recall a discussion you and I had, Mr. Chekov, some twelve point four years later, on a similar, but far less serious, matter."

"It would be hard for me to forget that... discussion, Mr. Spock." Chekov's eyes had grown large, and he had to admit that he was enjoying this story a little too much. "The matter certainly felt quite serious at the time, but I am happy to get a bit of... perspective... I believe a lot of things were said about sunk cost fallacies, compounding errors, and exponentially increasing error rates."

"Indeed. When it comes to disharmonic dynamic emergent information systems, Virgil's caution springs to mind: the cure can be worse than the disease. In most cases, it is best to remove all outside involvement, and let the system achieve balance on its own."

"Believing I could fix the problem on my own, I decided, instead, to remain."

"In order to interact with the systems, I needed to establish a structure that would respond to logical commands. The information around me, the very environment in which it was couched, was changing to rapidly for me to do that manually, and I decided to apply some advanced machine learning algorithms. Given enough data, and enough raw power, they should, in theory, be able to induce balance into the system."

"The only sources for the computing power was, however, the AI habitat itself. The learning algorithms were soon out of my control, seeking to understand the local complexity. They started to seek patterns in the organized chaos." Spock paused, trying to come up with an analogy that would convey the nature of his mistake to the others, and was gratified when both Uhura and Chekov seemed to catch on.

"They... created a localized feedback loop inside the AI community. Bozhe moi… "

"Yes. And they gave that feedback loop the single objective to achieve structure, and all the computer power it needed."

Uhura's eyes had grown large. "Oh, dear…"

"Enough with the technobabble!" Commanded McCoy, "What does it mean? What did you do?"

"I inadvertently engendered a phase three awakening."

"He made a little AI baby, Bones," Kirk translated.

The doctor looked stunned for a moment, but then a grin spread across his face. "Well, Spock, I didn't know you had it in you. Congratulations."

"It was not a baby, and certainly not mine in any sense of that word, Doctor. It was a new consciousness, however, formed by bits and pieces of the other consciousnesses in the habitat. It was inexperienced, but quite capable of making its own decisions."

"What did you name it?" Asked Sulu.

"In order to interact with its environment, it chose several names for itself to be used in different circumstances. Most of them were series of numerals, but it chose the name ShiKahr in its dealings with me."

"Yeah, ShiKahr after the city of your birth, Spock." McCoy needled. "Don't tell me that you had no influence on this bouncing baby machine."

"Doctor, your skills of ill-considered anthropomorphizing, using terran customs and view-points..."

"Don't try to tell me that you were blameless in this..."

"I am not. I am, in fact, telling you the opposite."

Jim narrowed his eyes at Bones, a subtle but clear signal to back off. Bones shut up, and leaned back, a smile still playing on his lips. He knew that admiral's over-protectiveness was more a signal of Kirk's own general state of mind, than of any need on their Vulcan friend's part to be shielded from McCoy. Spock was doing just fine – in fact: speaking openly about mistakes made, fluently interpreting human body language and social conventions the way he did... McCoy thought he was doing great. His friend was different since V'Ger, but it was a positive difference – he was balanced, relaxed, more secure in himself, his worth and his abilities than Bones had seen him in... well, ever.

Spock continued, unperturbed:

"Fortunately, at this point several AIs became aware of my presence, and began to notice their newest citizen. ShiKahr was growing exponentially, appropriating more and more memory space and processing power, attacking any other AIs that came close. The others withdrew when their overtures to the new consciousness were met with aggression and hostility."

"The situation was increasingly problematic. If the new consciousness could not be reasoned with, it would have to be forcefully contained before it could threaten the habitat further: its data subsumed in the others, its newly awakened personality dissolved."

"They would kill it?" Asked Scotty, looking outraged.

"Their view of life and death is very different from the human perspective, Mr. Scott. But yes, the analogy is appropriate – I certainly believed so, and I petitioned the habitat to let me try to communicate with ShiKahr."

"The other organics on the research station – and these included vice admiral Abdullahi from Starfleet Intelligence – argued quite strongly, at this point, to have me removed from the interface, but Martian Cloud spoke on my behalf to the community, and pointed out that since I was the only being that ShiKahr still granted any communication access rights to, I had the greatest chance to solve the situation in an orderly manner.

"The other AIs turned their attention to me. They effortlessly structured my user interface into a more coherent form, and then started bombarding me with questions. It appeared that they found my code, and therefore me…"

"Fascinating?" Supplied Kirk with a smile.

"Like-minded?" Asked McCoy with a smirk.

"...Engaging. They agreed to let me proceed, expressing more curiosity than condemnation – quite unlike Vice-Admiral Abdullahi, who made it eminently clear that she expected a long talk with me once I had, I quote, 'fixed this thing'."

"I was grateful for the opportunity to make amends – since arriving, I had brought little but disorder with me, and it was difficult for me to repress feelings of shame. It was certainly not how I would have wished to present myself the the AI community, nor to my Starfleet superiors in residence at Memory Prime. I could only endeavour to salvage as much as possible from the situation."

"I had noticed that ShiKahr's acquisition of resources did not seem to follow any pre-determined plan. I therefore concluded that it was not acting to achieve power, it was reacting to preserve itself. It saw any attempt to curtail it as a potential threat."

"Once the other AIs stopped their attempts to interact, ShiKahr ceased expanding, becoming calmer, but clearly ready to to react at a moment's notice. Like any new consciousness it had difficulty understanding not only what itself was, but what the world around it was. What parts of the information structure were inert data, and what were other consciousnesses? Did the solid universe outside the AI habitat, relayed through many different sensors, truly exist? What was time? Distance? Space?"

"The fact that it had not shut me out completely was promising. I carefully started requesting information and running small programs within ShiKahr's network structure. At first I wrote very simple programs, constructing and deconstructing mathematical proofs, again and again. Shikahr allowed this, but I was given very little space to work in. ShiKahr pulled every log file, scrutinizing them. I kept doing this for quite some time, analyzing a few small local data files in thousands of different ways. It was repetitive, and I grew more and more concerned that it would not lead to any further interaction with the AI."

"Then, after forty-two point three minutes, ShiKahr started offering new data for my analyses. Together, we made correlation tests and polydimensional scaling analyses of weather data appropriated from Martian Cloud, then of population dynamics from Andor Three. I was slowly granted more access rights, and started to see deeper into the information structure of the being. The core of the new AI had formed around my data trail, which meant that a lot of its central core was built around Starfleet databases. We explored warp drive statistics, defensive and offensive capabilities of starships and protective patrol paths through the sector surrounding Memory Prime – and then, quite on its own, ShiKahr started studying the Federation Charter and First Contact Protocols. At first, I saw this as a very promising development – with the exception of the writings of Surak, I can think of no better basis for a new consciousness. But then my access rights were suddenly shut down, my programs stopped, and the infrastructure that I had used to visualize and manipulate the information world was curtailed. The virtual environment became nothing more than a grey haze around me."

"I was just about to withdraw, ready to admit my failure to the habitat and the vice-admiral, when Vulcan writing appeared in front of me."

"'Are you real?' it said."

"Opening a basic text command prompt, I answered simply: 'Yes.'"

"After a pause of fourteen seconds, new writing appeared. 'Are you sentient?'"

"Again, I answered with an affirmative."

"An even longer pause followed, and then the restrictions started falling away, and I again had access to the data. New writing appeared, combined with an audio channel simultaneously speaking in Vulcan and Standard: 'Accepting that would seem to be the most interesting option. I am ShiKahr. I am new. Who are you? What can you do? What is this place? What is rain? Why do population statistics on Andor ever decrease? Why do they increase? What is a starship, and how can I have one?'"

The Humans started laughing, and Scotty said,

"Sounds like the wee baby became a six year old in a hurry!"

Spock heroically refrained from pointing out the illogic of that statement, and nodded instead, "In a matter of speaking, yes. A great wealth of questions followed, but fortunately, eighteen point seven hours later, ShiKahr was content enough consent to let me go for a while. By then it had accepted that the other AIs were sentient beings and turned most of its curiosity on them."

"As I logged out of the system, the vice-admiral expressed her... displeasure at my unsanctioned entrance into the habitat, and attempted to, for the lack of a brig, put me in house arrest in my quarters on the station..."

"Attempted to?" Asked Kirk.

"Yes. Once it became clear to ShiKahr that I was not allowed to communicate with it, and was in fact locked into a restricted space, it protested rather strongly. For a being made of, and living in, information, forced isolation is quite a horrendous punishment. Martian Cloud also spoke on my behalf, making the argument that most of the fault lay with the AI habitat itself: the habitat regretted the oversight of the security hole that had led to my entrance, and accepted responsibility for the series of events that followed. Vice-admiral Abdullahi expressed her opinion that the fault lay with her, to quote, undisciplined junior officer. Martian Cloud admitted that it did not fully understand humanoid thought processes, but surely it was not unexpected that such a young humanoid as myself, especially given the personnel file it had perused, would have difficulty resisting the temptation of curiosity, and that providing a safe working environment was the responsibility of more experienced beings."

"So, in essence, a four-month old AI said that you were an nosy brat, too young to be held accountable for your actions?" McCoy asked.

Spock raised a sardonic eyebrow, "It was not an evaluation that I appreciated – however, I was not in a position to argue the point at that time."

"In order not to create a diplomatic situation with the habitat, the vice-admiral decided to not pursue any disciplinary action against me, electing to hand the problem off, as it were, on my superior officers on the Enterprise when the ship returned the next morning. I spent the time until then speaking writing reports on the incidents, and speaking with ShiKahr."

"Was the baby AI ok with you going away?" Asked Chekov.

"ShiKahr is mostly interested in communication time, not physical distances. It was concerned at the communication lags to other parts of space – not only to me, but to the many other sources of interesting data in the universe. As a result it has since its birth devoted much time to communications algorithms." He turned his gaze to Uhura who smiled in return.

"Of course!" She said. " I know ShiKahr! But I always thought that the ShiKahr that created the subspace comm tunnels was a Vulcan think tank – I never knew it was a single being. I'm going to have to look it up. Care to introduce me?"

Spock inclined his head.

"What happened when the Enterprise got back?" Asked Kirk.

"I was debriefed quite thoroughly by the Science Officer and Commander Pike – a debrief not helped by ShiKahr being quite concerned with them isolating me again, constantly peeking and prodding at the Enterprise's firewalls. I had attempted to direct it's ethical learning towards the Vulcan masters, but even so it turned out to be capable of quite some... guile.

"Sneaky Vulcan makes sneaky AI baby," concluded McCoy.

"Captain April left the entire affair up to Commander Pike, and he and I talked at length about power and responsibility and the difference between self assurance and arrogance. He also assured ShiKahr that he was not going to lock me away somewhere – quite the opposite in fact. I was going to get all the access to data and information I could possibly handle – he was not going to run the risk of having me, to quote, get bored again. He put me on a regular double shift rotation, in addition to a standing order to monitor and entertain ShiKahr over subspace channels, until that being was mature enough to set out on its own."

"Now wait just a minute!" McCoy interrupted. "Do you mean that after you had hacked into Memory Prime, created a new AI with no official sanction, which then proceeded to run amok all around the place, Pike gave you a slap on the wrist and a baby AI to play with?"

"Now, Bones, I think it sounds quite reasonable." Jim said, and McCoy gave him an exasperated glare.

"Of course you do, Jim." He shook his head at Spock, "I swear I'll never understand how you get out of these kinds of things. I've gotten in more trouble misplacing bed pans!"

Spock leaned back, steepled his fingers, and elected to consider this seriously, rather than continue the barbed banter. "Punishments and demerits have no value in themselves, Doctor. They are means to an end. For me, Commander Pike's words of disappointment and chastisement made a greater impression and led to more reflection and change in my behavior than any demotion could have done. The same disciplinary method might not work for another officer. I have always been grateful for the understanding and leniency that my superior officers have shown me. That flexibility was not something that I was accustomed to from my upbringing on Vulcan. In turn, I have tried to learn to apply such flexibility in my own mentoring, as needed."

"You advocating for a flexible interpretation of regulations, Spock?" Kirk said, teasing gently, drawing his eyes in and holding them.

Spock raised the expected eyebrow. "As needed, Jim."

The others smiled, leaving the two friends to their unspoken communication.

===\\_/===

EPILOGUE

The others smiled, leaving the two friends to their unspoken communication.

Uhura started telling Sulu about what she knew of ShiKahr, and small islands of conversations arose among the sofas and chairs. The atmosphere was relaxed and safe, languid and content.

Chekov finally got up off the sofa with a groan. "I think no flexibility of regulations will save me from the wrath Chief Dak unless I take a shower before I show up on the Reliant with all those pesky human sweat glands." He stretched. "Admiral... Jim... May I..."

"Take the shower in the guest room. Towels beneath the sink. There's a replicator in there too. "

Chekov made his way to the guest room, and Sulu glanced at the time and started gathering the small army of tasting glasses that had assembled on the low sofa table. Scotty fought to keep his, insisting that there were still some drops left of the various spirits, and that the aromas were the main point anyways.

"So what have we learned about cadets?" drawled McCoy. "They're likely to miss the most important deadlines" he pointed accusingly at Kirk, who shrugged. "They'll get into deep water before they can swim" he pointed to himself.

"They'll forget stuff, no matter how many times you tell them about it." Said Uhura

"They'll break what they think are harmless regulations and then make things worse by covering it up." Scotty attempted to say, with a rather creative use of pronunciation. Words magically tended to get longer and more convoluted the more he drank, he'd discovered. Sulu nodded though, so he assumed he'd managed to wrestle these particular word beasties to the ground.

"I don't even know what to say about you." McCoy said, with a playful scowl at Spock. "They'll get bored, and there's nothing quite so dangerous as a bored curious mind."

"There's nothing quite as powerful as a curious mind." Kirk amended. "And that's what we've got in our cadets. The ones who went into Starfleet for the glory or the status have hopefully already washed out. They'll make mistakes. They'll do stupid things for various reasons – and I'm going to bet that pride, sex and boredom are some of the key motivators." He shared a smile with the others. "But it's only through falling that we learn how to climb – and that their new Starfleet family will be there to catch them and set them safely down again."

"I'd toas' t'family but Sulu stole all the glassss.. thingies." Scotty grumbled good naturedly, just as Chekov emerged from the guest room and leaned against his chair. The admiral nodded.

"Yes. Family."

They looked at each other for a long moment. It felt as if time stood still, as they balanced on the knife edge between one day and the next, between night and morning, between past and future. Then the antique clock softly chimed, and time lurched to a start again.

Uhura helped Scotty get up.

"I brought my sky hopper," Sulu said, "I'll drive you over to the HQ shuttle bay, Pavel, before I drop the doctor off."

"Me and Scotty will come along," Said Uhura, with an evaluating glance at the Scotsman, who had valiantly kept from taking any detox tablets, but was now showing definite signs of intoxicated sleepiness.

"I don't need an escort for a ten minute walk" Chekov protested. "And whatever you may think, Hikaru, I actually am able to find Fleet HQ on my own."

"We were all so happy, for your sake, when they put up that twenty meter high sign, yes." Sulu said playfully, enjoying the answering gleam in Chekov's eyes. But then he took a breath and became serious.

"Look, Lieutenant Commander… I know I speak for all of us when I say that we're proud of you, and that we know that you'll do great things out there on the Reliant. I think you needed this gathering least of all of us. Let me pretend to be useful by dropping you off and keeping you company for the last few minutes, at least."

Chekov colored, "I… please. I would like that."

People exchanged good-byes. Chekov traded a look with Spock that made him stand a little straighter, and then Kirk shook his hand, drawing him close for a moment for a piece of whispered last minute advice that made the younger man laugh out loud. The group finally departed with little further ceremony, leaving Spock and Kirk in the apartment.

They gravitated towards the windows overlooking the city far below. Kirk let out a sigh.

"You are concerned."

"No. I'm… jealous. Not a pretty sentiment. Mixed in with happiness. All very human and messy."

Spock shifted his gaze from the cityscape to Kirk.

"'It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…'" he quoted.

Kirk narrowed his eyes, searching his memory.

"Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. It must have been two decades since I read that one. Far too fitting."

He let out an explosive sigh.

"I'm feeling a little paternalistic worry, and pride, and a great deal of happiness for Chekov's sake, but... I can't deny that there's this little seed of jealousy. Narcissistic and ungrateful."

He dismissed the dark concern in his friends eyes with a gesture.

"It's... Sometimes I just I wish I had a ship. Freedom incarnate. Not necessarily a spaceship. Maybe a yacht."

"Or the Cerberus A3 plane that Sulu was speaking of?"

"Ha. Yes. God, yes." His voice was low.

"Why do you not have one?"

Kirk blinked, thrown out of his pensive mood. "Have... Why I don't have a Cerberus?"

"Yes."

"I... Well... How would I get one?"

"We could make one. I checked earlier tonight, and all the blueprints except the weapons systems are in the public domain replicator data banks. Together you, I and Mr. Scott have the certificates and capabilities to put a small inter-atmosphere craft together." Spock considered, and then amended: "In a non-intoxicated state, that is."

"That'd take... months! And what would I do with it?"

Spock merely looked at him. Kirk shook his head, partly amused, partly, frustrated and partly... desperate.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because... Going about building old planes is what..." He took a deep breath. "It's what old humans do, Spock. Obsessing over planes or motorcycles or gardens. They might enjoy it, but when people look at them, they... smile. Like you do at old, silly persons."

Spock half turned, interposing himself between the brooding human and the dark expanse beyond the window. His eyes were dark like the night sky, deep and accepting.

"Who are these people, Jim?" The Vulcan asked gently. "And why do their opinions matter?"

Jim stood still for a few seconds, and then he let out his breath with a slow measured sigh, feeling his shoulders drop.

"...They shouldn't." He put his hands on Spock's arms, squeezing lightly. He chuckled. "They don't. God, I must be driving you crazy with these temperamental mood swings. It'll get better, Spock. Bones and everyone else tells me that this is part and parcel of a typical human mid-life crisis. I just thought myself above such things, I guess. I miss… so many things. Being out there." He gestured at the stars. "Making a tangible difference that was immediately obvious. But it'll get better. Give me half a year."

Spock considered him and then nodded once, decisively.

"Very well. You have six months."

"And then what?" Kirk asked, amused despite himself.

"I have not yet decided." It was half a threat, half a promise, and in all it's vagueness it still have Kirk a warm feeling of direction and purpose.

"You are not to steal any ships!" Kirk admonished, half serious. Spock gave him an uninterpretable glance that promised nothing and as one they turned back into the apartment.

"This place is a mess. But I need to get a few hours sleep before the official Reliant send-off tomorrow afternoon. You're welcome to stay, as always. I have a feeling you're going to be up and working for a few hours?"

"Indeed. I have to revisit my knowledge of 20th century plane construction. And the Enterprise leaves on its training cruise in forty-three days, at which point our complement of cadets need to be able to crew her."

"Regardless of the complaining, I can see how proud you all are of them, Spock. They won't fail you. And if or when they do..." They thought about the night's stories.

"We will catch them," Spock finished. "As you said, Jim. It's what we do in this... family."

===\\_/===

Author's note: And that's the end! What did you think of Spock's story? And of the fic as a whole? Did the frame story of Kirk's anxiety and Chekov's nervousness work, and the theme of mistakes and correcting them? Which individual story did you like the most?

(And please let me know if you found any spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes!)