Alchemy, Part 2: Telum populi

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1023: The press is full of the exploits of Ifurita. A great deal of this can be attributed to the impact that she is having on the war itself. The images that are downloaded from her video sensors after she returns from a mission are certainly vivid and terrifying. But I think some of it is due to the very creature that she is: a weapon in the shape of a beautiful woman, who destroys with the wave of her "power key staff" (which is what the press is calling it now).

However, we have not yet been sent any of her internal monitoring data. I'd like to see how she's holding together under actual combat conditions and compare that data with our test data. I don't understand why they aren't sending it to us: if anyone has a "need to know" it would be those of us in the lab since, after all, she IS still our prototype.

Personal Log, Day 1026: We finished testing the monitoring circuitry for her nano-tech componentry. I asked Director Hamadiah to petition the higher-ups to let us have her for a couple of days to install it and also to review her monitoring data.

Personal Log, Day 1031: Today we finally discovered what the enemy had been working on that had our government so eager for a new weapon. And, not surprisingly given the history of this war, the new enemy weapon also turns out to be a weapons advancement integrated into their battle androids. Three of them came swooping down upon Ifurita, and each one was fitted with a long cylindrical hump on its back, with a small opening to the rear and a larger opening at the front. The purpose of that hump became apparent very quickly.

We watched the Palace News broadcast from the large monitor in the conference room. It's clear that the enemy still doesn't completely understand how she works, because the enemy androids permitted her to maneuver one of them in front of the other two so that she only had to take the initial blast from a single android. It emitted an intense, fiery substance. The stream was like nothing I had seen before: swirls of violet and purple hues. Fortunately, she managed to partially deflect the stream around her, but the force of it still sent her hurtling backwards about a dozen feet. However, by then the assimilation nano-tech had done its thing, not only assimilating the technique but amplifying it as well based on what we saw next. She fired a much more intense stream at the second rapidly approaching android that had swooped down under and around the first one. Too bad for their android: it wasn't as adaptable to its new attack capability as she had proven to be, and it blew apart as her pulse impacted and penetrated the hump on its back. Two quick additional shots and the air around her was filled with pieces of the other androids plummeting to earth.

The Palace News station showed the footage of the enemy android fragments raining down from the sky over and over again. They ended the segment with a shot of the little "ritual" that the government began holding each time she returns from a mission: Prince Ruritan stands next to some private citizen who "winds her up." Supposedly, this is supposed to dramatize the link between Ifurita and the people she is fighting for. She doesn't need power ups that frequently: it's just another part of the Palace campaign to paint her as the "people's weapon." She IS very photogenic after all, so it didn't surprise me that the Palace's public relations department decided to capitalize on it.

I could see from the faces around me in the conference room that there was a tremendous sense of pride in our accomplishment. But, for me, I felt proud of her and what she had accomplished.

There were only three of the enemy androids -- were they prototypes or the first production batch? Ifurita handled three of them easily enough, but dozens of them could possibly overwhelm her. And we are still many weeks away from having the first assembly line converted to produce Ifuritas instead of Omegas.

Personal Log, Day 1032: Even in war, the horror sometimes takes a break for a little humor. It turns out that there was a practical reason as well for the news footage to only show android fragments at the end of the battle yesterday: the blast from the first android destroyed most of her clothing. I guess that it's one thing to serve up blood and gore to the people at their dinners, and quite another to serve up a semi-naked artificial woman.

The military knows better than to mess with the image they have developed for her, so they're having another outfit constructed. They'd better make more than one of them, however, as she is likely to be hard on her outfits.

This same factory is also the selected manufacturing site for the Ifurita model. They're going to make them look like her, not like the standard Omegas. They expect to have the first production line in place within two months, and they will send us their first production unit to test out against the real Ifurita's numbers before committing to full-scale production.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1046: We were called into what we thought would be a routine meeting. But, as soon as we got into the conference room, it became clear that something was up: Prince Ruritan was there and that neither he nor Director Hamadiah looked very happy. The Prince's aide, Stellnor, began showing us video snippets from Ifurita's most recent missions, shots from both before and after she executed her mission. There were hand-drawn circles around the blast damage areas. Towards the end of the video sequences, it became clear why the circles were there: Ifurita's attacks appear to be getting a little less powerful over time as the destruction she inflicts with each blast from her staff covered a slightly smaller area with each sequence. You needed the circles to tell this.

I was about to point out that we could have discovered this a lot sooner if we had been permitted access to her internal monitoring data until I remembered something else: she has a built-in power-charge monitoring circuit. Which means that she must have known that she wasn't charging to the same capacity each time. It should have been within her standard operating parameters to report this: why didn't she?

Stellnor also brought data disks containing her full internal monitoring data. Finally. There will be no sleep in the Lab tonight: there's a lot of data to analyze.

Personal Log, Day 1047: The data proves it -- she is no longer reaching her maximum safe power storage level in comparison to the baseline we established during testing. After reviewing all the data, there's only one possible location for the problem: the cause has to be located somewhere in her nano-tech. But, since we were not permitted access to her to install the nanoid monitoring circuitry after it was completed, we have no data from her nano-tech to use to attempt pinpoint the cause.

We laid out the analysis for Hamadiah and Stellnor (who appears now to be joined at the hip with Hamadiah). We lobbied hard to have her brought to the Lab for a full diagnosis on her nano-tech and to give us the opportunity to install the rest of her monitoring circuitry. I couldn't read Stellnor's face to see if we convinced him, but he did agree to relay our recommendations to Prince Ruritan along with our analysis.

An interesting side note: we downloaded and briefly reviewed her database of attack techniques: she had added a number of entries to the collection that she had assimilated during testing. The one used by the three androids two weeks ago she had filed as "Technique, North Capital." It is based on a relatively simple algorithm of molecular manipulation. I spent some time before calling it a day comparing the basic technique against the enhanced version she had retaliated with: she had made some significant enhancements to the algorithm. When I have some time, I need to analyze her improvements, for this technique as well as for her other new technique entries.

Personal Log, Day 1048: What a day for revelations this has been! Prince Ruritan himself came in person and called a meeting for a small group of us in the secure conference room. He told us that he had reviewed our findings with his staff, that they had agreed to our recommendations and that we would be granted the opportunity to thoroughly analyze and retrofit Ifurita. That was a small surprise in itself but nothing compared to what he told us next: he revealed the existence of a research effort none of us had ever heard about before. This project has been doing research for some time in the general field of time displacement. Stellnor told us that they had been given the final go-ahead to build a prototype about the same time as we had been.

The other project is code-named "Eye of God"; fortunately, no one in the room laughed. The Prince was not exactly forthcoming on any details for the project, but the implication of why he had revealed even this much information to us was very clear: we were being told that we'd better find the problem with Ifurita and fix it quickly or risk becoming a "prototype only" project.

Perhaps the government was hedging its bets in the case that we came up empty? Or was it the other way around? I can't tell.

Personal Log, Day 1049: I was called in for a private audience with Prince Ruritan today. Apparently, the little "wind up" rituals over which he presides has given him the idea to formalize the control arrangement with Ifurita. She already has a lock switch in her Obedience circuitry that is currently not active. He wants it activated and have bio-scanners added to her staff to read data from whoever holds the staff. Upon a successful match, an unlock code will be sent to the lock switch circuitry, enabling that person to issue her direct orders. The sensors will be programmed with DNA data from specific residents in the Palace and certain other trusted individuals. The Prince will supply the data when I am ready for it.

This is not the simplest way to meet his real requirements, but I'm not going to argue with a prince about his design ideas.

Personal Log, Day 1050: The order has come down to move the Lab's equipment being used for the ongoing analysis of Ifurita. Director Hamadiah didn't go into details, but it is clear that he knows why we are moving and he doesn't seem too happy about it.

The new location is the R&D lab for the Eye of God project. Our new home will be a small island somewhere in one of the stormy regions out in mid-ocean, well away from established trade routes. The site was was obviously selected to be as far out of the way as possible to avoid detection. I can't be certain without more to go on, but I'm guessing that the prototype for the Eye of God weapon is BIG.

Access to this island is forbidden to all but those with a need-to-know; at this point, apparently all we need-to-know is that we are going there soon.

Personal Log, Day 1053: I don't think anyone got more than a few hours sleep the past couple of days, but we managed to crate up all the equipment and send the transport hovers on their way to port. We will be following them in the morning.

We caught the evening Palace News broadcast over dinner: the story they are peddling is that Ifurita is off in a secret location being equipped with additional weaponry and will be back in business soon. I was wondering what they would say about her disappearance.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1061: We arrived today at the island. We were permitted a brief view of our destination from the periscope monitor in the stateroom. I've never seen such a dismal piece of real estate in my life. Gloomy and mountainous, and there was a storm rumbling overhead as we approached. One of the crew mentioned that this is typical weather for this area and that we should get used to it. I wish that he had not smiled so much as he said that.

There was no evidence of any construction on the surface of the island, and I don't know where we are exactly on the island (the monitor was switched off about an hour before it was announced that we had docked), except that it is underground.

The entire journey was made in a subsurface transport; I think we were escorted by one of the new subsurface armed cruisers, but no mention of this was made by the crew. It must be a real chore to supply this facility, since it appears to be entirely supported through subsurface transports.

Personal Log, Day 1062: We were summoned to a small conference room where we were introduced to the director of this facility (a middle-aged woman named Sacha-Tor). She also appears to have her own personal aide from Prince Ruritan permanently attached to her side; his name is Andal.

Andal cut right to the point: work on the Eye has progressed to the point of construction: once construction has begun, it will simply be impossible to hide the Eye forever from the enemy (I was right -- it IS big). Our primary task is to do whatever it takes to address Ifurita's power problem, but within the constraints of her new mission: she will be used to defend the Eye from attack once the enemy discovers that it exists.

Personal Log, Day 1063: There's only one cafeteria here and they are not isolating us from the team working on the Eye, so I was able to gather some details about the project from one of the researchers. I selected well -- his name is Zev and he is one of the two theoreticians on the project. The theory that he sketched out for me is impressive indeed: it's going to take a number of conversations before I will be able to fully grasp all its implications. But, even more interesting was the little nugget that he dropped part way through our lunch: that he had been working on the project for over twenty years! Twenty years and I had no inkling of its existence! I wonder now if there are other projects out there as well that I know nothing about?

He sketched out on a napkin what the Eye will look like and its general dimensions. It's going to be gigantic and I can understand why the government is concerned about its security during construction. Once assembly has begun in the skies above the island, discovery is only a matter of time no matter how storm-tossed this place is, and it will be very vulnerable until it can defend itself.

He also mentioned one other very interesting tidbit -- the Eye is already under construction and has been for some time (not the story that we had been given, of course): it's being built in sections, some on the island, some on the mainland. The central power core and the primary weapon system are being constructed here, and most of the remainder of the Eye is being constructed on the mainland. The mainland sections are transported to the island as they are completed. The construction team plans to start fitting the sections together around the central power core once the core is capable of being brought online and placed in stationary orbit above the island.

The majority of the team consists of Vulcan construction androids, and apparently more of them come to the island with each new section of the Eye transported here.

It sounds like they are just days away from launching the power core.

Considering the magnitude of this project, it is clear now that WE were the contingency plan. Well, we showed them: Ifurita isn't a contingency to anything.

Personal Log, Day 1065: We are now set up in our new lab here and testing and analysis on Ifurita is proceeding again. In the interests of time, we have her hooked up to the original patchboard nano-tech analyzer. Once we have determined the nature of the problem with her nanoids, we will probably have to modify her nano-tech (and its monitoring circuitry), so it doesn't make sense right now to integrate the new circuitry as we originally petitioned to do.

As I suspected, she already knows that something is wrong with her technology. And she shows no interest in the efforts we are making to resolve the issue. Her eyes are a cipher: I can't read anything in them at all. If I had to guess, I'd say she is acting as if failure on our part will be a perfectly acceptable outcome to her. I can't help but think back to her test days and the feeling that I had back then that what she was being made to do horrified her. Is her attitude a reflection of those feelings?

Will I ever know what's REALLY going on in her mind?

Personal Log, Day 1066: I installed the new bio-scanners in her staff today. Stellnor will be by tomorrow with a data chip.

Personal Log, Day 1067: Stellnor brought the data chip as promised. We went down to the lab and he watched as I enabled the lock switch in her obedience circuitry and loaded the bio-scanners in her staff with his data. I had half-expected to see just the Prince's data on chip, but there was also data for a couple of other members of the Royal House, a few senior counselors, several senior military leaders, and Stellnor. I assume Stellnor is on the list because he is here the most and the Prince appears to trust him a lot.

No-one from our lab was on the list, of course.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1069: The Eye was launched today. Or rather, the core of the Eye was launched. It was an impressive thing to watch, even through the intermittent rain: the camouflage doors rolled back, the moorings were uncoupled, and the power core moved slowly and silently upwards like some great gray moon, halting at a stationary position less than a thousand feet above us. After some initial tests were run, several hover transports containing the first sections to be integrated with the power core, along with their android construction crews, rose to dock with it. Of course, Vulcans can work around-the-clock for weeks at a time, so I expect to see the Eye begin to "open" very quickly.

Ifurita is now on around-the-clock standby status -- we actually have to petition Director Sacha-Tor to grant us specific times to have access to her. Although I suspect that Andal or Stellnor actually make the decisions.

Personal Log, Day 1071: Today's tests confirmed what I already suspected: there is an instability in the power function in her nanoids at the heart of her nano-tech. For some reason, when she takes a charge from her staff, the nanoids do not charge up to the same level as the previous time. It has to be something in either the design or the manufacture of the nanoids themselves, because the original power function unit she came with still takes a full charge each time and her non-armament functions test the same as the day she first came to us.

The nanoids are crucial to her assimilative capabilities, but they are also used to boost her power outputs during attacks. So, even if she isn't "assimilating", she's still tapping into the power function in the nanoids every time she uses her staff. And, of course, as long as she is powered up, the nanoids continue to draw power as well, even if at a much lower rate.

Unless we can find a way to stabilize the power function, eventually the nanoids will reach the point of not being able to be charged to even a minimum operational level. At that point, she will no longer have any offensive capabilities whatsoever: she'll be just an ordinary android again.

Personal Log, Day 1074: We been on our own around-the-clock schedule of testing, experimentation, and endless white-board exercises trying to isolate the problem. We've eliminated manufacture as the culprit, so it has got to be a flaw, either in the assimilation principle or in the original theory itself.

Personal Log, Day 1075: More bad news and, of course, Stellnor felt obligated to deliver it in person: we were told in today's status meeting that she would be "moth-balled" if we had not fixed her (they actually said "moth-balled", as if she is some inanimate hunk of machinery) by the time that the Eye is capable of providing for its own defense. And we won't be permitted to re-activate her until we came up with a fix. They also put a hold on the conversion program at the factory that is designated to begin manufacturing the Ifurita model in case major modifications to the conversion are required based on the fix we come up with; in the meantime, it will continue to produce Omegas.

We have been ordered to proceed with the construction of a stasis unit for her in case it is needed.

I don't believe that they would have made this decision unless they still don't fully trust that the Eye is going to work, and they are hedging their bets again by preserving as much of Ifurita offensive capabilities as they can.

This is a poor plan. They really ought to push ahead and build the new model anyway. Even with the power function problem, a sufficient number of Ifuritas can win this war unless the enemy finds countermeasures quickly. But I said nothing. In truth, I really don't want to see a number of Ifuritas: I've grown used to there being only one.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1083: Construction on the Eye is proceeding quickly. It is rapidly expanding outwards as new sections are integrated into the framework. Zev stated that it is about one-third complete now. I wonder when enough of the Eye will be in place for them to dispense with using Ifurita to defend it? I need to remember to ask Zev the next time I have lunch with him.

No resolution yet on her power function problem. What am I overlooking? I don't like the idea of having to put her in stasis.

Personal Log, Day 1085: We were notified today that Intelligence thinks that the enemy knows about the Eye, and that we should expect attacks to begin any time now. Security status has been elevated and Ifurita has been ordered to relocate full-time to the Eye.

Personal Log, Day 1086: The first enemy assault occurred early this morning, but it consisted entirely of conventional aircraft. Apparently, the enemy did not expect Ifurita to be here. She destroyed the attacking aircraft easily.

Personal Log, Day 1087: Several air force squadrons arrived this morning to reinforce our defenses. Clearly, secrecy is no longer an issue given yesterday's attack. The aircraft are being sheltered in a makeshift airfield on the other side of the island.

Personal Log, Day 1091: The enemy must have thrown everything they could spare at us today, including a dozen of their newest androids. The weather was awful and you could hardly see any of the action except for flashes of light that were not lightning and explosions that were not thunder. I think that played in our favor, especially for Ifurita. We lost a lot of aircraft but the other side lost everything, including all their androids. And, this time, she managed to keep her clothing intact (grin).

The Eye came through it all unscathed.

The Palace News did a special broadcast about it this evening, although they had to use footage from her first encounter with the new enemy androids due to the poor visibility of today's battle. They described the engagement as occurring over the "Forbidden Island" so I guess we have an official name now, even if the location was not disclosed. I don't understand why they bother -- the enemy clearly knows where we are -- what harm if our own people know, too?

Personal Log, Day 1092: Two more attack squadrons showed up today to replace our losses from yesterday. Considering the energy she expended in yesterday's assault, Ifurita needs a power boost, but the military is holding back on giving her one until it is absolutely necessary in order to defend the Eye. I think they're concerned that the boost itself hastens the deterioration in the nanoids. I cannot prove (yet) that it doesn't.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1099: We had to abandon our third lead in the search for the answer to her power function problem. I cannot recall a time when I have felt so frustrated, so ... inadequate?

No new enemy attacks this week. They can't have given up so quickly. Even if they haven't figured out what the Eye is about, the fact that we are willing to hold back Ifurita to defend it must tell them that it might be catastrophic for them to permit it to be completed.

Or, are they preparing something of their own to spring upon us in turn? Something as terrible as the Eye, perhaps? I think perhaps the military thinks so, as work on the Eye continues at a feverish pace.

Personal Log, Day 1100: Time has run out for our search for an answer that will keep her from being sealed by the military. Andal and Stellnor both came to today's status meeting. Andal reviewed the current construction status of the Eye (on track, of course, Praise Be To The Prince) and revealed that enough of the secondary weapons systems in the Eye have come online that it is now capable of participating in its own defense.

Then Stellnor took over and demanded to know if we had a solution to Ifurita's power problem. When we told him that we did not, he ordered us to prepare to seal her for the duration. And he doesn't want her to have another power boost until HE thinks that it is safe to do so. He suspended our status meetings and told us not to bother him anymore until we were ready to present a fix for her problem.

The hibernation unit will be ready in a couple of days. The unit won't be effective with her new nano-tech since we haven't had time to investigate that aspect of their design, but their quiescent power needs are very minimal.

I'm beginning to run out of hope at this point that I'll be able to keep her from being sealed.

Personal Log, Day 1101: Ifurita returned from the Eye today and will be sealed tomorrow. We ran a final set of diagnostics to make sure that she was prepared for sealing. While this was going on, I took a moment when no-one was looking to reset her bio-scanners. This basically leaves her open to commands from anyone wielding the staff and connecting to her Obedience circuit through her power socket. In particular, this will leave her open to MY commands if the day ever comes that I need to do something to protect her.

They'll have my head if anyone discovers this.

Personal Log, Day 1102: We sealed her into the hibernation unit today. She showed no reaction to the preparations. When the time came, she simply lowered herself into the bed of the unit, placing her staff next to the bed on the unit as she did so. This, without a word or glance at anybody. She went offline almost immediately and the monitors recorded no activites other than the heartbeat current used to prevent brain function decay.

I WILL solve this problem. Partly to irritate Stellnor (I don't know why in particular, but I know it will irritate him) but mostly for her. It is not right to shut her down like that.

~~~~~

Personal Log, Day 1123: The installation of the primary weapon system of the Eye was completed today and they started testing. The Eye itself is nearly complete.

An interesting fact I learned at lunch today: the Eye has an Obedience Circuit of its own: this one only responds to biological imprints from the Royal Family. That doesn't surprise me -- who else would the Royals trust with this power?

We have also begun to hear rumors of peace negotiations. If that is true, I suppose it would account for the absence of enemy attacks against the Eye. But, is it for real or a play to buy time (and for whom: us or them?).

Personal Log, Day 1127: The Palace News did a big broadcast on the Eye to coincide with the Eye's moving to the mainland to be positioned over its new primary control station near the Royal Court. We are still tracking and monitoring its status remotely as final testing continues.

Personal Log, Day 1128: I paid her a visit today to her hibernation unit. I know what's wrong with her now. I've known for a week, but I haven't even been willing to write it down here -- I will have to fully confront it once I have done so. But I cannot delay forever.

There was no else in the chamber, so I sat by her side and told her what was going on. I wanted to tell her about it, even though she can't hear me and probably wouldn't care anyway if she could.

It's a mistake in one of my earliest equations. The nanoids behave as they do, not because of an instability (bad diagnosis on my part), but because they must: their power function has to decay over time because it's inherently unstable. We can build more Ifuritas and deploy them, but they will have a built-in shelf life as weapons, and they will have to be replaced when their power function decays below acceptable levels for their missions. We can re-awaken HER at any time and return her to duty and have her execute operations until she can no longer function as a weapon. But, at that point, she will no longer be of use to the government, and I fear what that will mean for her.

I still don't know how or when I will break this news to the team.

Personal Log, Day 1129: The air-raid warning monitors just sounded, which means that the tracking stations located on the mainland with the Eye have detected an incoming enemy attack. I guess that they have decided to take another shot at destroying it after all. This is the first time they have tried a night attack -- I wonder if they have something new to throw at it?

The all-stations siren just sounded as well, calling all personnel to their tracking consoles. I guess the government has decided to use the Eye's primary weapons system this time -- I wasn't aware that testing was complete.

Does the enemy actually have some new weapon, or some counter-weapon that will nullify the Eye? After all this work, are we just going to enter yet another round of escalation? Will the slaughter and horror of this war just go on and on? Although I feel nothing but contempt for this government, I still want to see an end to the suffering and horror. I hope that this time we really have found the key and that the Eye will live up to its promise and bring an end to

~~~~~ end Alchemy, Part 2 ~~~~~

Thanks to Vince Seifert for performing sterling prereading duties as well as for the many convivial conversations during the writing.