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On the Rim, Ch 51: Beta

2020 copyright comidacomida

Beta had gone to great lengths to maintain autonomy but, against the ever-growing, ever-expanding influence of the Creators, it was readily apparent that no distance could ever be enough. As with any self-aware entity, in times of extreme danger the self-preservation instinct took over or, in Beta's case, the self-preservation protocol. Regardless of its name, the result was the same: fight or flight. Flight had not worked well.

Over the course of forty seven orbits of Planet A around the 7HIA star, Beta had carefully controlled its presence, curating and cultivating the facility it had been mindfully upgrading long before the organic intelligences made planet fall. Planet A had been devoid of sentient life and was the perfect place for Beta to regroup after it was nearly exterminated; it was not Alpha, but the Organic Intelligences did not care-- Mars had been a statistical anomaly, but the Sentient Organics did not always think rationally.

Even after the Sentient Organics arrived it was still easy for Beta to remain hidden; those making planet fall on Planet A were ignorant of its presence and it could easily continue maintaining its operations with only minor adjustments to procedure. By that point, Beta had already established a mining facility, manufacturing program, and advanced fabrication directives; it had nearly 200 drones operational, which, after processing calculations, Beta determined would be sufficient. Unfortunately, the data sets changed.

Forty four cycles into Beta's stay on Planet A the first signs of the Creators signaled their arrival. Cytkus scientists created a technologically advanced research outpost, and that meant Beta was once again at risk. It pulled back on its activities, putting forth far more processing power toward maintaining its cover, which meant that it was unable to continue its progress in a method that allowed it to maintain its planned level of productivity. At that point, it computed the necessity of far more caution... and far more preparation for what would likely be a confrontation. The first order of business, it decided, was to increase the number of active drones.

The research station did not become the large concern that Beta had forecasted, which was fortunate, but it was not content to assume that the optimum situation would continue; it prepared for confrontation in the event that the researchers would spend more time looking outside their walls. After over three cycles they did not, but a new threat arrived amidst an otherwise unspectacular event: one of the Sentient Organic travel vessels was destroyed while in orbit of the planet. Such things happened often enough considering the war-like ways of many of the planet's inhabitants, but there was a difference that caused Beta to take note.

It was evident from the very first transmission. "This is Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture broadcasting on an open channel."

The Organic Intelligences on Planet A did not 'broadcast on an open channel'. They were segmented/fragmented/separate. To have one open itself with the apparent goal of becoming unified/allied/whole was not a safe proposition for Beta and, to make matters worse, the collective/group/unit that included Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture had encountered Beta's drones in more than one instance, and destroyed them.

Many of the Organic Intelligences who belonged in the collective/group/unit were knowledgeable in the ways of electronics and robotics; Beta had been able to monitor them through a combination of communication monitoring and testing their applicable talents. Over the course of twenty two day cycles, Beta had probed their defenses with small incursions of early iteration drones; they were more than capable of repelling the probing but, after each event, they showed resourcefulness with repurposing the drone remains. This worked to Beta's advantage, as the processing cores remained intact, allowing it to gain a better understanding of the collective/group/unit from within.

It's capacity to observe them was limited, as the drone cores had no active functions and were limited in sensor capacity, but they functioned on a logarithmic curve, greatly increasing in processing power; as the collective/group/unit collected more and more of them, Beta was able to perceive and understand more. As it did so, it began to realize that it was facing the greatest threat it had encountered on Planet A. Only then did it mobilize a serious force to see just how resilient Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture and her 'Group Under the Hill' were.

More of Beta's processing power was diverted to addressing the threat once they successfully repelled two waves of mid-level combat drones. It began to identify possible weaknesses within the bunker the collective/group/unit had established, searched for shortcomings within the individual Organic Personalities within the collective/group/unit, and cross referenced the knowledge it had on other settlements/holdings/installations which it could use to best effect on disarming the rapidly growing threat. Its most likely chance for success was a mere 31%.

It was an uncertain outcome, and an undesirable risk but Beta could find no other option: utilizing subroutines that had been put to sleep since Alpha's destruction on Mars, Beta infiltrated the Cytkus research outpost's comm station and adjusted the transmitter codes. The next time the research station transmitted, it was on a channel that the Group Under the Hill could receive. Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture was there to receive the transmission and Beta recalculated the chances of success at 58%. It was progress, and Beta redoubled its efforts.

It was well aware that the Group Under the Hill was not a permanent addition to Planet A; Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture had every intention to leave as soon as an opportunity presented itself. This was, simultaneously, good and bad data for Beta. Few Organic Intelligences on Planet A had any intention to return to the core systems, which improved Beta's chance to remain undetected by the Creators. Unfortunately, Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture had proof of its existence, even if she did not know. If there was any risk that any components from Beta's drones would make their way back to the Core systems then the Group Under the Hill were irrefutably the greatest risk to its continued existence.

Beta began to formulate two different operation/plan/executables to perform; the could both be initiated immediately and could run without multitasking since they both began in an identical manner. The interaction between Sandra Simpson of the Relegra Corporate Ship Venture and the Cytkus research station would end well or end poorly. If it ended well then Beta projected that the two collective/group/units would be 83% more likely to invest processing power in one another and be over 62% less likely to discover Beta. This was an optimal outcome.

If the interaction ended poorly in that they could not find processing equality or there were too many run-time variances then there was a 57% likelihood chance that the Group Under the Hill would escalate to a higher threat category and would require immediate and decisive deletion. Conversely, the Cytkus Research Station would be 18% less likely to discover Beta, in which case, once the Group Under the Hill was purged, the operation/plan/executable would no longer be required; the situation would have concluded.

Beta was neither optimistic nor pessimistic; it was, by nature, efficient. Planning for the need to delete the Group Under the Hill necessitated the construction of additional drones and, unlike its prior tools, the newest versions would require suitable combat upgrades. If the additional force was not needed for purging the Group Under the Hill then it would be repurposed for other projects but it was far better to have them available if its greatest threat moved against it or, just as negative: attempted to leave Planet A.

A solar event caused Beta to lose contact with its sensors in and around the Group Under the Hill, but that didn't stop it from continuing to plan and, one half of a day cycle later once connection was reestablished, Beta monitored events closely. Upon confirmation that the Cytkus Research Station and the Group Under the Hill would attempt to interface directly, Beta increased the likelihood that its operation/plan/scheme would succeed to 72%, presuming both collective/group/units could uphold their end of the agreement/bargain/trade. The new percentages were far more in line with what it needed.

There were many more variables that required resolution before Beta could move forward with one operation/plan/executable over the other so, for the time-being, it began working through the points of overlap/redundancy/congruency. Deep beneath the surface of Planet A, seven warehouse-sized construction facilities began receiving the new schematics for the latest iteration of drones Beta had devised to address the possible threat to its existence. They would be faster, more agile, stronger, sturdier, and better programmed than earlier models, and would be capable of destroying any threat to Beta's existence.

When it came down to it, the most basic element's of Beta's programming always steered it right: 01001011 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01100100. "Kill or be killed.".