Robotech: UEEF Saga

"pfft, please i wish. that'd be one hell of a game though." Jackie smirked, abit of vigor breathed into his form with that bit of humor. "Nah it... Well it's... kind of a project of mine yea know. it's... wierd to say it myself, cause I've really only showed one guy and... Well Douglas went crazy over it." he beat around the bush abit before finally coming down to the object of his torture. "Advanced AI... I've spent all that time typeing code and stuff. But i had a... break through I guess? it's still in testing phases, but i think I've got something big. Something that'll really help folks out on the field and in other things. thinking Ai, as opposed to a dumb one that just does one thing over and over. Like... had the thought that... What if our mecha could do things themselves? Like, say it saw something we didn't, or could do something to cover you. or hell, even fly and do stuff all on it's own!" 


'or.. thats what i'm thinking anyways. getting it looked at by a couple folks, run tests, before we tell the higehr ups about it. No sense going to em with dreams and empty hands." 
 
Serena perks up and leans in, clearly interested. "Advanced Artificial Intelligence in a computer small enough to be useable in the field in a veritech? Color me impressed! I know that the Robotech Masters made some inroads with AI, but it never went very far. If you can make it work, that would be amazing! I'll happily volunteer to let you use my Alpha as the first test bed for a field experiment."
 
"W-well I'm flattered, but I ain't about to let anybody get tested with it before were done running it through scenarios in a super comp." he explained to Serena. "Plus, if anything i'd rather test it myself, not that i don't trust anybody else with it, just say if somethin' goes wrong I don't want anybody gettin' hurt... Not to mention as a pilot myself it'd be good to have it tested with someone who knows the thing top to bottom. Once we see it can handle it, I'd be more then happy to check it with ya'll. just don't wnat the thing messing with nothing it shouldn't. it's based off a valkyrie's systems right now anyways." 
 
Serena gives a bit of a pouty face at having her offer passed up, but is in too much of a good mood to let it really bother her.  "Well, fine.  If you want to be reasonable, I guess I can accept that."  She grins at Jackie to help show she is not seriously angry or anything like that.  "Just make sure that you include me in the roll out of the AI.  It sounds like it would make a great addition to our forces, and it came from us, not gift wrapped and served on a silver plate from the Haydonites.  While the Syncro Cannons are amazing, we don't need their tech to take the fight to the Invid.  We can do it just fine without them.  But its not like the Admirals will listen to us; we're just the grunts in the field."  She crosses her arms in front of her and glares out into space at the indignity of it all.


Looking at Dana and then Miu, she asks, "Are we going to be taking the new Shadow Fighters?  I still don't know how to feel about that, but I will obey orders, no matter what."
 
Dana lets out a sigh.  "I don't see how we can seriously avoid having Shadow Fighters; they are the wave of the future, and if we don't sign up with them, we'll be left behind.  Don't worry about me; I'll put on my big girl panties and power on.  Besides, it might be nice not to have the distraction of the Protoculture reactor running right next to me.  In our last fight I had a bit of a headache from the glow coming from the engines."  She reaches out and places her hands over both Miu's and Serena's as she goes on, and shoots a smile at Jackie to let him know that he was included in this, too.  "I'll be ok.  Really.  Its ok." 
 
It was at the moment that Dana looked over at Jackie, is that the snoring became prevalent in the room. the man was splayed out upon the chair as if he was a slightly rumbling ragdoll that was twitching and snorting on occasion.


Indeed, within a few seconds of morale boosting speeches, he fell asleep. But what, one might ask, was he dreaming about? Well I'll tell you, it is no good dream. 


For it is only more coding. 


On and on.


Until the second he awakens, and then it will be right back to it. For now atleast he looks somewhat silly, but no less is gaining the sleep he has to direly needed. 
 
"As long as we're able to deal with those Invids on our own, taking the Shadow Fighters can only backfire. Imagine we get an advanced AI installed, maybe one or two other, minor changes - what do we even need those damn things for? I don't trust anyone who lets the Invids clone my friends." Her eyes follow Dana's look, noticing the sleeping inventor. "Well, looks like it'll take a while till work on the AI's progresses. Still, I'd rather have one of those installed in my Beta - let other teams take the Shadows, we're good enough to keep up with them regardless. Of course you're right in that we'll probably have to switch over at some point, but the longer it takes, the better." She slowly stands up, approaching Jackie. "Anyway, I'll better drag this hero of mankind back to his chamber. Can't have him lie around like that, or noone will take his ideas seriously. Hey, anybody awake in there? Execute protocol wake-up.exe, would you? It's only a few steps from here to your room." With the last few words, she tries to jolt him awake, though already looking for his keys in case he does not respond.
 
"Erhmm...." jackie grumbled trying to wave Miu off him. "I'm awake.. awake..." her grumbled, his hard fought sleep interrupted. His groggy eyes looked up and miu and poked her on the nose. "I'll get to bed I guess if ya'll can't just let sleeping dogs lie. But I guess it's only natural cats will mess with dogs." he chuckled, using one of his last second winds to make that joke and pulling himself up. "Stay cute loves, I'm gonna go to bed and pretend not to feel like the living die for several hours on end." jackie managed to drag himself out of the rec room and head down the way... 


just what would happen tomorrow? Will everything go well? Will the project even turn out to be fruitful? Or would it work out better then he'd ever hoped? 


Here's to an uncertain future!! 


...


Wait....


Did he call them cute?


...


Deal with it later...


Sleep now. 
 
After spending several weeks in combat operations around Paraxis, the final bit of Invid activity has been cleared away. The celebration is quite spectacular, and most people of the fleet get the chance to spend some down time on the planet if you do choose. 


Miu's request to stay in the older model fighters has been, surprisingly, approved. There are a handful of other pilots that have expressed the desire to also stay in the older model ships, so your squad is not the only ones keeping out of the Shadow Fighters. 


With the planet now free, the fleet is preparing to make the jump into fold space to transit to your next destination. You are going to be in fold space for several weeks, giving Jackie plenty of time to work in his project. Bringing Sgt Dorsey onboard was s great boost to your productivity, and between the two of you back stopping each other, you have caught some code that would have caused problems. You are nearly ready to flip the switch and go 'live' on your first real test of the AI.
 
As much as Serena lives for fighting, it will be good to get some down time as the fleet goes into fold space. She spends plenty of time in the simulator, learning the ins and outs of the hover tank.


But she has not forgotten Jackie and his special project. She makes sure to get him off of the computer to get food and the occasional run through the PT course to keep him from getting flabby.
 
Jackie felt he should take up the new tech, since the majority will be taking it up the Ai should be tested with it as well, that was his view on it that he said to the girls. As this wasn't all about the group when it came down to it, but the Ai could very well save many lives out there. Such is a point he stressed during the creation, it wasn't to be seen as a weapon. Though he was convinced by Douglas and some of the others to not turtle up in a safe spot while the celebrations happened down on the planet. As it turned out, everything went rather well. 


Even if he wasn't fully certain of what exactly happened... 


He was never what one might call a heavy drinker, a light weight, so what exactly went down was beyond his knowing. He only prayed he did not do anything to stupid... 


"Almost done... or... well.. Close to a running model at least. A.V.I* should be able to have a test run soon enough. Should a certain somebody not come barging in here and drag me into P.T. Worse than a Drill Sergeant that one." he sighed before cracking his knuckles once again, ridding himself of a small cramp. "...Is Avi a good name for it? I mean yea it's straight up what it is, and it sounds cute." he tapped away once more, finishing up the line he was working upon. "Whatever the case, after this test run we'll have alot more data to work with, not to mention we might finally have enough to show the big guys. Just a matter of crossing our fingers and hoping were not creating skynet." 


*Adaptive


Virtual


Intelligence
 
Serena makes sure to be there when Jackie and Sgt. Dorsey are ready to run their experiment, even if she has to switch shifts with someone else to get time off.  She made the mistake once of trying to understand the level of computing needed for this project, and was quickly out of her depth with the sheer complexity of the process.  "Jackie, you humans continually impress me!  I never thought about what would be involved in making something like this before, being taught by the Robotech Masters that my people are just grunts, and were never encouraged to explore the sciences the way your people do."  She puts her hands behind her back and leans over to look at the ever growing database needed for the 'simple' pilot program to even have a chance to work.  "I do have a question for you, though.  Just what is a 'skynet' and why would that be a bad thing?"
 
Ah damn it, speak of the devil- Oh she isn't here for... Good. 


"Well now cutie pie you got a place in all this to yea know. No reason you can't take up something and learn it you know." he'll admit, she was pretttty cute in her obliviousness. Though... now that she mentioned skynet. "Ah... And old human movie thing, big scary intelligent robot that tried to destroy the world. Well, different then what we're making now. I... Hope." he scratched his chin at his last thought there, dearly hoping his cute little AVI doesn't go full on DESTROY ALL HUMANS on them... Which she shouldn't... Thanks to Douglas's help actually. "regardless little AVI is on her way to a full test run. Honestly I'mm getting all teared up thinking about it! All this work, finally coming to fruition!" he clenched his fists, looking quite enthusiastic. 


"Once we work out the kinks, we can finally bring her to the higher ups. A field test would be good, but simulations are what we can run now." he glanced at the screen once more. "Her job is to keep folks safe, first and foremost. To put a stop to things like what... Well... happened back then from happening. I may have taken the stealth drive for my Turtledove, but I  share the blame for what happened. I'm the sensor guy, the recon pilot... had I caught that cloaked shitter Dana wouldn't have..." he shook his head "AVI's main goal is to protect the pilot at all costs, Civies are also important mind, that part is more to the pilot's own decision making. She can find folks who are an are not harmed, but... Can't be perfect, to many variables there." 
 
Doug looks up with a smile.  "We've already done the initial steps of testing it as a chess program, running AVI against multiple variables, and performance has always been top of the charts.  Next evolution is to see how well AVI can handle the controls of a Valkyrie.  But that is still some time away.  Right now, we are about to flip the switch and see how well the upper cognitive features work in real time situations, and test the verbal recognition prototcols."


Dana says, "So, basically you are turning it on and seeing if it will talk to you and respond to verbal input.  Nice.  Is there anything we can do to help?"


"No, other than be quiet for the test.  AVI knows our voices, since we've already input them into the program.  Yours might confuse the program."
 


"Got it."
 


The two happy programmers lean in and hit some keys, then lean back as the AI comes on line fully for the first time.  At first, there is a strange buzz from the speakers, replaced by a chaotic stream of noise.  Doug looks back and says, "We are getting a response.  AVI is teaching herself how to talk from the linguistic base we input!  This is fantastic!"


After what seems like an eternity which is only in actuality a few minutes, recognizable words can be heard.  "Good morning, Jackie and Doug.  I am AVI, and I am ready for my first lesson."
 
"Don't worry, we'll be able to get her talking to everyone soon enough, just gotta get the test stages out of the way." jackie gave the others a small thumbs up before awaiting AVI's reveal. 


....


.......


"Ah! she speaks! Welcome to the world AVI, theres lots to learn." the man looked proud as can be, patting  Douglas on the back. "Can't believe it... up and running at last." Jackie made a sniffle as he held in the urge to break a few tears. But there was no time to waste, they had to get a few things out of the way. "AVI, could you please run a diagnostics check upon yourself?" the first part of course, see if the program notices anything is going wrong. "nNext, tell us your designation number and name once more." This of course will be AVI prototype #1. "Next, tell us your primary directive." which of course would be to safeguard the life of the pilot.


But now it was time for a hard question, one Jackie made to test it's personality drives. In truth it was the hardest part to get right, but if it catches onto this all other things wouldn't matter to the very proud programmer.


"Next, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" 


Humor, if it answers the strict logical answer, it's only a partial success, but if it catches onto the joke, after he had to painstakingly took the time to hammer in. 


He'll be able to die a happy man. 


It gets bonus points for doing both though, since he did kind of want to know. Though it's likely this is the only time it will have this answer this joke...
 
AVI replies, "I look forward to learning.  Self diagnostic shows a .73% delay in vocal recognition, but that falls within normal operating parameters.  My Primary Operating Directive is to ensure the safety of my pilot."


When the question of the flight speed of the swallow, the response is . . . unusual.  "Too many variables remain unanswered to give a reply.  What are the atmospheric conditions?  What is the surface gravity, and current altitude?  Finally, is the swallow African or European?"
 
Jackie nodded through the answers, checking, writing and finally listening attentively when it came to the last one... At first he was slightly disappointed, but then she finally came through for him. he let out a laugh that spoke of intense relief. "Thank you AVI you are working fine, you can disregard that question now. How does she look on the monitors Doug?" he looked to the man beside him, feeling triumphant in his new creation. It was like the opposite of mad scientist finally creating their monster.


A sane scientist that creates their angel. 


"All time time working... And she shows no trouble at all. Guess thats what you get when you put two genius minds together eh?' he chuckled mischievously. "...Come on now folks I get atleast one time to brag about this."
 
Doug flashes a wide smile at Jackie as he checks different screens.  "I can barely see the time delay of the voice recognition protocols, but I have an idea of what might be causing it.  AVI is trying to overthink the identification, if that makes any sense?  I can tweak her parameters a bit, but with her response time being such as it is, the delay currently being experienced is so small that humans can't detect it as it is.  I will be spending plenty of time going over volumes of data, but I can safely say that this smoke test is a success!  By God, we did it!  Stage one is done!  Hell yea!"


Dana looks puzzled. "What is a 'smoke test'?"


Doug looks at her and says, "Its an old engineering term.  You turn it on, and see if it smokes."
 
Serena stands silently as requested, feeling a great amount of pride for Jackie and Doug.  They have done something amazing here, and even if the computer program takes some more time to get it field ready, they deserve to have their work recognized and praised.  "Damn good work, you two.  Who needs those damn Haydonites anyway?  We are more than capable of making amazing things all on our own!  So, what is the next step?  When are you going to show the Admiral what you've done?"
 
"Well, the next step is to check it out on the field... So maybe it's best we brought it forwards? Would make the whole getting it out there easier if we get permission, and should something go wrong they will know exactly why I'mm suddenly flying upside down constantly." he scratched his chin as he thought about it. "There's really nothing we should worry about if we do. Even if the unthinkable happens we have our fingerprints all over it. Not to mention witnesses." he gave a glance to the ladies before turning to Douglas. 


"I'm for it, after we do some finishes of course. What do you think?" 
 
Doug nods.  "I want to do some polishing of the code, see if I can streamline that voice recognition delay, and try AVI in a simulated Valkyrie to make sure that if there are any hiccups, we can catch them before a full scale demonstration.  Plus, just as a backstop, I want a master kill switch on the test fighter that can be remotely operated or triggered inside the test ship, just in case there is a critical error and full control needs to be reestablished by the pilot, namely Jackie, since I don't see you wanting to hand over our baby to another pilot to mess with."
 
"true enough, would rather we had somebody who knows the thing inside and out in the first run... Plus i'd.. honestly rather not have anybody get hurt should something go catastrophic." he scratched behind his head sheepishly. "Murphy's law yea know, plus I wouldn't live it down if any of ya'll got hurt cause ol' jackie missed a colon or a bracket." he admitted, he trusted them to hell and back but he wasn't about to let any of them risk anything over him, he'd be to worried hovering of the kill switch instead of reading the information. 


"But that wont be for abit either way. honestly, this is cause enough for a celebration. A celebration of a whole new batch of work to do." he started his words rather cheerful, though the realization hit him again. "But what work we got left won't take long... Hopefully." 


[Wherever you wnat to go from here, don't wnat to drag it on for to long, perhaps after @Silanon finally gets a chance to post, kind left them behind}
 
Recognizing spoken words. Comprehending their content, and answering appropriately. That's already more than some humans manage to ever accomplish, and it took them how long? A few weeks with little sleep? Even without proper knowledge of the details, that's impressive - shows you what they're capable of. Will AVI end up saving lifes? Probably, though it might still take a while to get there. First a few more test runs, more coding, lots of bureaucracy to make it happen on a larger scale - nothing where Miu really could be of any help, as someone specialized in blowing up stuff.


"We'll be fine until it's ready. Can't wait to see AVI in real action, though - let me know when you installed her and need someone to fire a few missiles at you. Can't just join the celebrations while you invent our future, right?"
 
Over the next several days, Jackie and Doug continue to work with AVI, making changes to the lines of code to get it ready to demonstrate to the high command.  Finally the day comes to test the AVI program inside a simulator of the Valkyrie, with Jackie at the controls.  The lady sergeant in charge of the sim pods is a bit hesitant to allow you guys access to one of 'her' pods with this strange computer program inside it.  But, after assuring her that there is no chance that the pod will be damaged, she relents to allow you to attach AVI to the pod to run your tests. 


Several scenarios are put to AVI to see how it responds.  In each one, loads of data is collected as AVI works to keep Jackie 'safe' from the simulated missiles and energy bolts.  Overall, your combat performance is increased significantly, as the program frees you up from some of the work of controlling the Valkyrie.  After several hours of testing, when Jackie climbs out of the simulator pod, you can see that a crowd of people has gathered from across the ship, including General Castile, Captain Kutuzov, Commander Holloway, and even Admiral Kerensky. 


Before Jackie gets out of the simulator pod, AVI makes the comment, "If we did something wrong, I'm not scrubbing any decks!"


The Admiral doesn't look angry, but more curious.  "Lieutenant, according to Sgt Dorsey, he tells me that the idea of this remarkable program is your alone.  Is this true?  And that the two of you did all the work to make this, all on your own?" 
 
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