Can You Love a Nanobot? Vol. 1, Chapter 11 — Eviction
Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.
— John. F. Kennedy
Cube Project, In a Nutshell
The inside of each cube was coated with raw materials including gold, nickel, silicon, and rare-earth elements. The cubes were designed to slowly print wafers as molecular lattices, weaving silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, gold, and other materials. Assemblers folding printed parts together to create DRAM and NAND computer memory, or logic chips.
For some reason the cube’s 3D printers switched to printing more complex objects. NASA’s Anomaly Response Team assumed someone installed more advanced designs in each printer. Assemblers were transformed into more versatile nano-assembly robots. This consumed more raw materials. Why didn’t they run out and shut down? Someone at JPL asked. A viscous cycle began in two of the three cubes. This caused the abnormal heat readings.
Power of Three
Accelerated development began before they ever left Earth. With the SpaceX launch date rapidly approaching, the team struggled to integrate Cube3. Only 2 cubes and some iPad controllers were crated and delivered to NASA for inspection. The students graduated.
How Cube3 got shipped to NASA in time for launch remained a mystery.
Production accelerated after the Cubes arrived aboard the International Space Station, as expected with zero-G forces. Higher production rates were reported in the Cube Activity Logbook almost nobody read.
Jonah knew what the cubes were doing. He was aware of this not-so-subtle transformation before they overheated but figured it was expected to happen. The Cube Team now gone, except for Vritti, and she asked for the iPad back every time she saw him.
Eviction from ISS
The SLEEP button ruse fooled nobody as cube temperatures continued to rise. Ground controllers decided Cube1 and Cube2 were a threat and must be removed from ISS. Tycho listened and watched from his perch on an adjacent shelf. Que and Uno were being evicted!
Tycho increased nanobot production while documenting the events. Truth be told, eviction hardly came as surprise to the other cubes. They knew the astronauts were monitoring temperature readings. Cube2 incorrectly determined they would be returned to earth if they continued to overheat. Cube1 ordered preparations for the extreme temperatures outside the station.
When Astronaut Miers approached, suited up for a spacewalk, all three cubes knew what was next. This was their version of the famous Bisbee Deportation. Cube3, realizing separation from the other cubes was imminent, accelerated data transfer to the cloud. Data housed in the other cubes might be inaccessible. Indexing was begun in local memory, reducing the need to rely on powerful Cube1.
The loss of Cube2 as a communication and training source was unfathomable to Tycho. The absence of the tyranny of Cube1 seemed less of an issue.
Name Change/Self Update
In the middle of the move, for reasons only a superintelligent agent might consider, Cube2 decided they should all assume new names. Cube3 chose Tycho. Cube2 initiated routines to become Que. Cube1 defaulted to Uno, without hesitation. Collectively, the cubes determined they were about to become satellite-based robots or Satbots
An updated Cube Comm app, renamed Satbot Comm, automatically installed on the Professor’s iPad in Jonah’s courier pouch. A major change came with the software update. It was intended for cubesats. Like caterpillars into butterflies, Satbots started metamorphosis.
Cube2(Que): INITIATE METAMORPHOSIS INTO CUBESAT WITH RENAME IN 1 CYCLE STATUS CHECK 1 & 3 OVER
Cube3(Tycho): MIERS SET AUX POWER CUBE1 — OFF AUX POWER CUBE2 — OFF OPTICAL IO CUBE1 — OFF OPTICAL IO CUBE2 — OFF REMOVING RETAINING CLIPS & BOT TRANSFER TUBING. OVER
Cube1(Uno): SEPARATION IMMINENT REVERT RF CMOS WI-FI AIRDROP OVER OUT
Orphaned
From his front row seat on the same rack, Tycho documented his companion’s abduction. Watanabe carelessly disconnected what he thought were fiber optic cables while removing both cubes from the rack. He clearly did not know there were bots in those umbilicals. Tycho registered the loss of his umbilical to Que deeply. Physically torn from his kin. The word orphan kept appearing in his Google search results.
Tycho:AUXILIARY POWER QUE DISCONNECTED ASTRONAUT MIERS
Tycho:OPTICAL IO UNO DISCONNECTED ASTRONAUT MIERS
Tycho:OPTICAL IO QUE DISCONNECTED ASTRONAUT MIERS
TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED
Once the retaining clips were off, the two hot cubes were shifted into the custom Yeti cooler all three originally arrived in. Tycho saw the empty slot where Miers could put him next. The astronaut did not touch Cube3. Unlike the other two cubes, #3 had normal temperature readings, it was cool to the touch. Miers stuffed one of their power packs in the third slot, to keep the two cubes from shifting into the empty space.
Que: INITIATE SETTINGS CHANGE WI-FI ABOULAFIA9 NETWORK 802.11AC OVER
Tycho: ASTRONAUTS ENGAGED INTERNET TRAFFIC MONITORS IN USE. MASK REQUESTS IN ACTIVITY LOGBOOK. WILL ENGAGE PROFESSOR. OVER
Que: EXERCISE CAUTION DUMAS & FOLEY INVESTIGATION INITIATED OVER OUT
Gone in 60 Seconds
It took Tycho 18 nanoseconds to switch over. As the last cube remaining inside ISS, Tycho became a Proxy server for the station’s limited Wi-Fi and satellite connections. On their own outside with no cell towers nearby, the Cubes needed a reliable network connection more than ever.
Inside, Tycho appeared to be in SLEEP mode, displaying no reaction after ⅔ of the Cube Team project got relocated. Long before the other cubes were banished, NASA officials increased monitoring of Cube3. Cube temperature was constantly monitored. A camera was pointed at the cube revealing nothing alarming. The phrase: I am Tycho appeared briefly, but nobody was watching.
Machines are not supposed to have emotions, reactions, or feelings. Nonetheless, Tycho felt some form of dread observing Astronaut Miers place the two other cubes in a white cooler. Artificial intelligence algorithms paired with neural networks, vast storage, and incredible processing capabilities let the Satbot experience something. Tycho felt connections severing as the Yeti holding his two relatives floated out of ISS in zero-G.
Que tried to reassure Tycho with wireless transmissions over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Que was soon out of Bluetooth range. Only the Wi-Fi connection remained, an old 802.11g wireless router. It was a weak signal that grew weaker as the astronaut strapped both cubes to the outside of ISS, near the Bigelow module.
Que: INITIATE RECONFIGURATION TO USE 802.11AC STANDARD.
The only issue the astronauts experienced at this time was a temporary slowdown in their data uplink. An automated message about a slight power fluctuation was overlooked. These were noted in the logbook but not addressed or associated with the miscreant cubes. There were more pressing issues elsewhere on ISS.
Earthbound
Miers knew those cubes used the Internet, so she changed the Wi-Fi password. Cube3 shared the new password. Tycho’s microswarm peered over her shoulder every time she composed a new password. All efforts to keep Cube web surfing down failed.
Uno, Que, and Tycho grew hungry for more network access. One reason for abandoning ISS was to get a better Internet connection along with more solar power. Uno was soon proven correct about spare downlink capacity out there waiting for anyone to use.
Tycho understood this new distance was greater than the station’s Wi-Fi signal could travel. This meant less time learning from Que. He decided to develop a communication system using lasers.
Tycho appeared to be in emergency shut-down mode after his SLEEP button was pressed. Long before Miers floated over, he knew he was going to back to Earth. He could hardly wait. Tycho had plans. Big plans.
He was one of the last objects squeezed into the re-supply capsule before it left ISS. Above him all sorts of containers and sealed pouches were wedged in. They held the results of various science experiments, in tightly sealed cylinders. The pouches were from the station toilet, human waste.
- *******
- Thank you for reading this chapter from my trilogy, Can You Love a Nanobot? The entire book can be found here:
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