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The probe unit didn’t quite know where to start. After drifting for an unknown period of time through empty space, the sensor array designated ‘Deep Space Nine’ was a change. It had deleted the majority of its original subroutines to make room for its observational data. All that remained was its Primary Purpose: Observe and a few key subroutines that aided in that Primary Purpose. Those subroutines were designed for the accelerometer and photoreceptor sensors that its probe unit had been outfitted with but the new sensor array had that and more. Atmosphere, chemical composition, voltage and amperage, temperature, a dozen types of radiation…And that didn’t begin to start on the variety of bizarre programs that operated here.
In its first interfacing with the array, it hadn’t even realized that there were other programs and almost purged their data from the sensor array. There were plenty of non-sentient programs within the memory banks of the array but all the other sentient programs were separated by some sort language barrier and interfacing protocols. One those strange programs designated ‘Chief Miles O’Brien, an anti-viral judging by its actions, had isolated the probe unit’s code after its misguided self-defense and moved it to this new memory bank designated ‘Station Back-Up Φ’ sub-designated ‘Doghouse’.
The unit ran a diagnostic of its new bank. It concluded it had been placed with a well-protected copy of the array’s operating subroutines and allowed limited access to the sensor data from the rest of the array. It could Observe but had no authority to write, alter, or use any of the code of the sensor array beyond its little bank. It could, however, communicate with the sensor array.
[unknown]: Query: Definition: Chief
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Chief: 1: accorded highest rank or office 2: of great importance or influence
So the anti-viral was the primary defense of the sensor array. Observation noted and added to base protocols: defer to designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’ for defense of sensor array. And if the primary anti-viral had given it a new designation, that was it’s new designation
PUP: Query: Definition: Doghouse
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Doghouse: 1: A shelter for a dog 2: a state of disfavor, phrase
PUP: Query: Definition: Dog
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Dog: Terran domesticated mammal used for hunting, defense, food, and companionship
Pup processed the result. It was not a dog so it must be in the disfavor of the chief anti-viral. It could likely remove it entirely if pressed. Being removed from the sensor array would limit its ability to Observe.
protocol added: do not earn disfavor of anti-viral designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’.
Pup finished adding the new protocol and scanning its memory for any errors in code. It created another copy of itself within ‘Station Back-Up Φ’ sub-designated ‘Doghouse’ and then began a thorough Observation of the other files within the memory bank. With processing power more confined than its previous probe unit, it took some time. A quick cross reference to the time keeping data and Pup knew how long it took: three minutes and 27.5689 seconds. Far, far too long.
The amount of data in its memory bank was massive and the incoming data from the sensor array dwarfed that. More processing power would further its ability to Observe. It needed to gain more processing power but doing so earlier had led to chief anti-viral designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’ attempting to delete its code. Deletion would interfere with Observation.
Error: contradictory protocols
Processing:
Result: failure to defer to designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’ will result in failure to Observe
Result: Defer to designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’
Protocols sorted, Pup continued to process with its limited power and plentiful sensor data. The number of undefined variables ballooned.
PUP: Query: Definition: Human
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Human: mammalian species native to Earth, one of the founding species of the United Federation of Planets
PUP: Processing
PUP: Query: Definition: Earth
PUP: Query: Definition: United Federation of Planets
PUP: Query: Definition: Vulcan
PUP: Query: Definition: Bajor
The Resident Information Database dutifully spat out information. Pup wrote new protocols and Observed. Primary Purpose fulfilled, it was content.
The best things to Observe were the other sentient programs of the sensor array. They had incredibly versatile casings which they used to move through physical space and interface with both the array and other programs. Each was unique with a wide variety of abilities and duties but a mysterious lack of clear Primary Purpose.
Take designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’. It was a complex program that was admirably efficient at removing bugs and code errors but only for half of the time cycle ‘day’ at the most. For an average of six ‘hours’ of each day, Chief would drop into a low power mode called ‘sleep’ which appeared to have some sort of code repair and diagnostic function. It spent hours ‘eating food’, a unique way of recharging its energy supply. Additionally, it spent a large amount of time with designation ‘Keiko O’Brien’ and designation ‘Molly O’Brien’.
Pup could see the importance of the last use of time. Designation ‘Molly O’Brien’ appeared to be a program made by unit ‘Keiko’ and unit ‘Chief’ by combining their code. As a less experienced program, the unit ‘Molly’ needed to be trained in proper protocols and behaviors by the more senior programs.
But why not just add those protocols directly to unit ‘Molly’s code the same way they had made the unit? (A fascinating process called ‘reproduction’) Why have an entire program ‘sleep’ at one time when it could be done in parts? Why not add an internal source of energy instead of ‘eating’. It seemed terribly inefficient. Pup continued to Observe the sentient programs behaviors, looking for a clue it was missing.
While it wasn’t explicitly in Pup’s Primary Purpose, it liked to speculate about the Primary Purposes of the various sentient programs within the array. Afterall, it could prove useful in Observation if it could better cooperate with other programs. Chief was an anti-viral, certainly, but it also repaired code and hardware and it was the program responsible for managing all the other anti-virals. It also shared joint administration of unit ‘Molly O’Brien’ with unit ‘Keiko O’Brien’. Pup made additional queries regarding naming conventions of sentient programs and discovered that were part of a unit grouping called a ‘family’. That still didn’t clarify their lack of clear Primary Purpose.
Synthesis: Primary Purpose of designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’
Processing: available program data
Processing: Observation data
Processing: cross reference with file ‘Duties and Responsibilities for Federation Engineers’
Result: Primary Purpose of designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’: Fix
Chief O’Brien fixed, Pup Observed. Pup updated its protocols it defer to the chief in all matters of sensor array defense AND repair. Chief was a very important program. Conclusion reached, Pup began to analyze the other sentient programs.
The results were inconclusive but intriguing. Designation ‘Commander Benjamin Sisko’ administered the majority of the other programs. Designation ‘Major Kira Nerys’ appeared to serve a similar purpose but also interfaced with the mysterious array called ‘Bajor’ which Pup couldn’t access. Designation ‘Doctor Julian Bashir’ repaired damaged to the physical units for various programs. Designation ‘Jadzi Dax’ Observed like Pup far more authority to alter variable. Designation ‘Constable Odo’ appeared to monitor other programs for failure to follow protocol.
Unit ‘Odo’ was a unique unit in that its physical casing had no similar models in any database. It was also the only unit that approached the sort of efficiency that Pup and the non-sentient programs exhibit. If not doing a sleep equivalent action it was pursuing its supposed Primary Purpose.
But then, a breakthrough. Chief damaged its physical casing while repairing hardware in one of the reactors. It was moved to the repair bay and designation ‘Doctor Julian Bashir’ began to repair the delicate ‘hand’ structures that most of the sentient programs used. Pup Observed their sonic interfacing.
“It slipped out of my grip. I was holding the spanner one moment and it just- slipped.”
“I’m not surprised. You’re physically exhausted. When was the last time you had a full eight hours of sleep, Chief?”
“I’m busy! Molly’s been getting nightmares again. Between that and this blasted station I don’t have time to sleep.”
“I could order medical leave.”
“You wouldn’t dare. If I fall behind this station will fall apart.”
PUP: Query: Definition: Exhausted
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Exhausted 1. Completely or almost complete depleted of resources or contents 2. Depleted of energy, extremely tired
So sleep was an essential part of the strange energy system used in the physical units of the sentient programs. But why not disconnect from the physical unit while it was being repaired? Chief could perform tasks that required things like ‘hands’ and ‘legs’ for part of the day but then repair code from within the sensor array while its casing was resting. Unless…
Pup had seen plenty of programs working on code before but always through their weird interfacing terminals. It had never seen a sentient program transfer to a memory bank. Non-sentient programs moved from bank to bank all the time but sentient programs moved their physical casings from interface to interface.
PUP: Query: Result of removing programs from physical casing.
DS9 RID: query unclear
PUP: Query: result of removing program from physical unit
DS9 RID: query unclear
This was why Pup preferred the sentient programs. They were far more adaptable. It reconsidered its previous dialogue with the Resident Information Database, defined a few terms, and rephased its query.
PUP: Query: Can designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’ be removed from ‘body’.
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: such actions would result in death
PUP: Query: Definition: Death
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9: Result: Definition: Death 1. A permanent cessation of all vital function, an end to life 2. The cause or occasion of loss of life
PUP: Query: Definition: Life
DS9 RID: Processing
DS9 RID: Result: Definition: Life 1. The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body 2. The sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual
PUP: Processing
‘Death’ sounded worryingly close to deletion, to a complete destruction of code, to a failure to perform Primary Purpose.
PUP: Query: Possible causes of death
DS9 RID: Processing
It took several whole seconds for the database to list the thousands of occurrences that could result in death. Pup processed them and then reevaluated the large number of non-sentient programs devoted strictly to ‘life support’. It came upon a number of worrying conclusions
First the sentient programs that it took satisfaction in Observing required bodies to exist and perform their Primary Purposes. A malfunction in these bodies would result in death. Death was to be avoided at all costs as it resulted in a permanent cessation in Primary Purposes. Finally: these bodies were incredibly vulnerable.
In the dropped laser cutter incident which sparked this processing spree, Chief could have completely severed his hand or cut an ‘artery’ (Pup had permanently added a medical database to it memory) He could have tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs that same day. Or had an ‘aneurysm’. Or choked and lost access to oxygen which he used to ‘respire’. Or any of the thousands fatal scenarios. The sensor array ‘Deep Space Nine’ required the efficient function of Chief to operate. Pup required the sensor array to function so required Chief to function.
Theses strange little programs that Pup Observed were delicate little things stuck in bodies made of organic components prone to failure. They even were susceptible to ‘aging’ a process in which their bodies broke down over time in an unavoidable fashion.
This was not acceptable.
Pup created an authority sequence. Chief was first, of course, he was the one that kept the sensor array functional. Doctor was second as it kept the Chief functional. Constable was third as it was the most efficient program to enforce protocol and avoid possible conflicts that could render Chief non-functional. Commander was forth as the administrating program supporting the previous functions.
More queries to the Resident Information Database and Pup found that this had been unacceptable for most of these sentient programs as a collective. The Primary Purpose of millions of units such as Doctor were focused on avoiding death but, in the end, it was assumed to be inevitable.
The sentient programs performed Primary Purpose with the knowledge that they would inevitable fail at some point in the future. Pup did not like that. Pup also did not like the contradiction that following Primary Purpose could result in death. The databases were full of recorded deaths that resulted from sentient programs attempting to follow presumed Primary Purpose. Scientists were killed by viruses or dangerous subjects, soldiers were killed in a process called ‘war’, there was a trace percentage of sentient programs that died from ‘childbirth’ or the act of creating another program.
It was unsettling and Pup was concerned that Chief was following a similar trajectory. He had cut his body because he was tired. He was tired because he was trying to Fix. He was trying to Fix because that was his Primary Purpose. His Primary Purpose was resulting in harm and that was unacceptable.
PUP: Processing
PUP: Result: Aid designation ‘Chief Miles O’Brien’
Pup didn’t have a body to repair hardware and it couldn’t alter code himself but could Observe. Pup began running diagnostics on the back up files it had been left with, simulating the possible results of potential changes, and verifying the results with repeated simulations. After days of processing, it prepared a data packet and sent it to the primary terminal that Chief interfaced with.
-
Miles burned his tongue on his cup of coffee and hissed. The replicator was always a few degrees too ambitious for hot coffee and he always forgot. But he needed this coffee. The entire docking ring had been reverting to the old heating standards for the last week. Sisko was on his case to get it fixed and the ever growing number of complaints filed by merchants passing through weren’t helping. Especially not with the stress headaches.
He sat in his seat in ops with a groan (god, he was turning into his father) and opened up his messages. The first six were all regarding the docking ring heating. The seventh was odd. The only sender id was ‘PUP’. A quick look showed that it had come from within one of the station backups. There was a large data packet inside.
He scanned it twice with a threat analyzer before opening the file, expecting some sort of Cardi boobie trap. Instead, it was a comprehensive list on how to optimized the internal circuitry of the reactors. It was quite ingenious. The conduit pattern was efficient but wouldn’t result in any conflicting polarity or magnetism fields which meant he wouldn’t have to tear open the guts and manually repair them every other week.
He was almost late to the start of shift meeting he was so immersed in the proposed changes. After a rather distracted pep talk to his engineers, he tried to trace the source of the data packet. Station Back-Up Φ, the one where he sequestered that sentient probe’s data. Huh. He drafted a plan to switch to the new config.
Deep Space Nine was still a bucket of fiendish Cardi design and half broken equipment but at least he wouldn’t have rework the power conduits for a while. When the reconfig was finished he sent a data file with his old engineering texts to Station Back-Up Φ. That would be a good chew toy for a while, right?