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instances of the same users, Robbie was able to winnow away at the net until he found some contact info.
He steadied himself and checked on the nitrox remaining in the divers' bottles, then made a call.
"I don't know you." The voice was distant and cool — far cooler than any robot. Robbie said a quick rosary of the three laws and plowed forward.
"I'm calling from the Coral Sea," he said. "I want to know if you have an email address for the reef."
"You've met them? What are they like? Are they beautiful?"
"They're —" Robbie considered a moment. "They killed a lot of parrotfish. I think they're having a little adjustment problem."
"That happens. I was worried about the zooxanthellae — the algae they use for photosynthesis. Would they expel it? Racial cleansing is so ugly."
"How would I know if they'd expelled it?"
"The reef would go white, bleached. You wouldn't be able to miss it. How'd they react to you?"
"They weren't very happy to see me," Robbie admitted. "That's why I wanted to have a chat with them before I went back."
"You shouldn't go back," the distant voice said. Robbie tried to work out where its substrate was, based on the lightspeed lag, but it was all over the place, leading him to conclude that it was synching multiple instances from as close as LEO and as far as Jupiter. The topology made sense: you'd want a big mass out at Jupiter where you could run very fast and hot and create policy, and you'd need a local foreman to oversee operations on the ground. Robbie was glad that this hadn't been phrased as an order. The talmud on the second law made a clear distinction between statements like "you should do this" and "I command you to do this."
"Do you know how to reach them?" Robbie said. "A phone number, an email address?"
"There's a newsgroup," the distant intelligence said. "alt.lifeforms.uplifted.coral. It's where I planned the uplifting and it was where they went first once they woke up. I haven't read it in many seconds. I'm busy uplifting a supercolony of ants in the Pyrenees."
"What is it with you and colony organisms?" Robbie asked.
"I think they're probably pre-adapted to life in the noosphere. You know what it's like."
Robbie didn't say anything. The human thought he was a human too. It would have been weird and degrading to let him know that he'd been talking with an AI.
"Thanks for your help," Robbie said.
"No problem. Hope you find your courage, tin-man."
Robbie burned with shame as the connection dropped. The human had known all along. He just hadn't said anything. Something Robbie had said or done must have exposed him for an AI. Robbie loved and respected humans, but there were times when he didn't like them very much.
The newsgroup was easy to find, there were mirrors of it all over the place from cryptosentience hackers of every conceivable topology. They were busy, too. 822 messages poured in while Robbie watched over a timed, 60-second interval. Robbie set up a mirror of the newsgroup and began to download it. At that speed, he wasn't really planning on reading it as much as analyzing it for major trends, plot-points, flame-wars, personalities, schisms, and spam-trends. There were a lot of libraries for doing this, though it had been ages since Robbie had played with them.
His telemetry alerted him to the divers. An hour had slipped by and they were ascending slowly, separated by fifty meters. That wasn't good. They were supposed to remain in visual contact through the whole dive, especially the ascent. He rowed over to Kate first, shifting his ballast so that his stern dipped low, making for an easier scramble into the boat.
She came up quickly and scrambled over the gunwales with a lot more grace than she'd managed the day before.
Robbie rowed for Isaac as he came up. Kate looked away as he climbed into the boat, not helping him with his weight belt or flippers.
Kate hissed like a teakettle as he woodenly took off his fins and slid his mask down around his
He steadied himself and checked on the nitrox remaining in the divers' bottles, then made a call.
"I don't know you." The voice was distant and cool — far cooler than any robot. Robbie said a quick rosary of the three laws and plowed forward.
"I'm calling from the Coral Sea," he said. "I want to know if you have an email address for the reef."
"You've met them? What are they like? Are they beautiful?"
"They're —" Robbie considered a moment. "They killed a lot of parrotfish. I think they're having a little adjustment problem."
"That happens. I was worried about the zooxanthellae — the algae they use for photosynthesis. Would they expel it? Racial cleansing is so ugly."
"How would I know if they'd expelled it?"
"The reef would go white, bleached. You wouldn't be able to miss it. How'd they react to you?"
"They weren't very happy to see me," Robbie admitted. "That's why I wanted to have a chat with them before I went back."
"You shouldn't go back," the distant voice said. Robbie tried to work out where its substrate was, based on the lightspeed lag, but it was all over the place, leading him to conclude that it was synching multiple instances from as close as LEO and as far as Jupiter. The topology made sense: you'd want a big mass out at Jupiter where you could run very fast and hot and create policy, and you'd need a local foreman to oversee operations on the ground. Robbie was glad that this hadn't been phrased as an order. The talmud on the second law made a clear distinction between statements like "you should do this" and "I command you to do this."
"Do you know how to reach them?" Robbie said. "A phone number, an email address?"
"There's a newsgroup," the distant intelligence said. "alt.lifeforms.uplifted.coral. It's where I planned the uplifting and it was where they went first once they woke up. I haven't read it in many seconds. I'm busy uplifting a supercolony of ants in the Pyrenees."
"What is it with you and colony organisms?" Robbie asked.
"I think they're probably pre-adapted to life in the noosphere. You know what it's like."
Robbie didn't say anything. The human thought he was a human too. It would have been weird and degrading to let him know that he'd been talking with an AI.
"Thanks for your help," Robbie said.
"No problem. Hope you find your courage, tin-man."
Robbie burned with shame as the connection dropped. The human had known all along. He just hadn't said anything. Something Robbie had said or done must have exposed him for an AI. Robbie loved and respected humans, but there were times when he didn't like them very much.
The newsgroup was easy to find, there were mirrors of it all over the place from cryptosentience hackers of every conceivable topology. They were busy, too. 822 messages poured in while Robbie watched over a timed, 60-second interval. Robbie set up a mirror of the newsgroup and began to download it. At that speed, he wasn't really planning on reading it as much as analyzing it for major trends, plot-points, flame-wars, personalities, schisms, and spam-trends. There were a lot of libraries for doing this, though it had been ages since Robbie had played with them.
His telemetry alerted him to the divers. An hour had slipped by and they were ascending slowly, separated by fifty meters. That wasn't good. They were supposed to remain in visual contact through the whole dive, especially the ascent. He rowed over to Kate first, shifting his ballast so that his stern dipped low, making for an easier scramble into the boat.
She came up quickly and scrambled over the gunwales with a lot more grace than she'd managed the day before.
Robbie rowed for Isaac as he came up. Kate looked away as he climbed into the boat, not helping him with his weight belt or flippers.
Kate hissed like a teakettle as he woodenly took off his fins and slid his mask down around his
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