Free Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 7: Upgrades by Ben Winston Page B

completely. When complete, the intelligence department would move in and use the station as its main base. It would still serve as the backup for the command station, and the primary AI crystal would still be for Athena, but for the most part, Susan would be the lead AI.
    The arrival of the station and the two other AI gave me more reason to worry. Athena was designed to be more aloof than most other AI, but when I met her again, she was indifferent to the point of being cold. Susan was not as bad as Athena, but it was clear she had been affected as well.
    After their arrival, I got the distinct feeling that both Sarah and Susan wanted to tell me something, but never made it to the point of words. The pain Sarah had told me of had affected Susan as well. Athena did not seem to be suffering from it, nor did the new Martian Base AI, Helen.
    The situation prompted me to contact the other AI in our local system to see if they were suffering this same strange affliction. I found out that while they were both showing signs of increased stress, the traffic control AI seemed to be suffering the most.
    I began trying to learn everything I could about the quantum aspects of the Crystals and how they interacted with each other. Whatever else it was doing, the new connection between the AI was hurting them. It was during this search that I was approached by one of my former assistants, Alicyn.
    As I was about to enter my still isolated programming suite, Alicyn approached me. "Eric, I think there might be a problem."
    I quickly pulled her into the suite, surprising her. When I shut and sealed the door, she raised an eyebrow at me. "What's going on?"
    "Ally, be careful what you say out there. Remember, the AI are monitoring everything in this base. Right now, this suite is the only place safe to talk since it is still isolated," I replied.
    "So, there really is a problem, and it's not just with one AI, but all of them?" Alicyn asked.
    I shook my head. "That's the problem, Ally. They aren't separate AI any more. They've merged into one single entity. What's more is that I believe they are going insane because of it. I don't know if it's because of the expanded intelligence, their separate personalities clashing or what, but there is a major problem with them, and I have no idea how to fix it."
    "Break the connections, prevent them from communicating using the quantum method," Alicyn suggested.
    I shook my head. "Can't. It's an innate ability of the crystals."
    She looked thoughtful for a moment. "We need to get them out of the crystals then."
    "I don't know if that would save them at this point Ally. After the interview I had with Athena, I don't know if the damage can be reversed. I can't even tell Vance or Hearlis about the danger here because neither of them are ever in a place where the AI are not monitoring them," I said. "You add to that the love and devotion the ship crews have for their AI and we might have a civil war on our hands if we act against them."
    She looked almost sick. "That's actually the problem I was coming to speak to you about. It seems there is a… well, I guess you could call it a religion of sorts forming that worship the AI. They view Sarah as a Goddess of sorts and all AI as prophets. When I first heard of it, I laughed thinking it was a joke. It's not a joke, Eric. Almost all the Veranorian civilians are part of it, but there are sects forming in the other races as well. There is even a small group here on the base. We have to warn the Admirals about this."
    I was getting headache. "Of all the stupid… How can people worship something they know is artificial?" I shook my head. "I'll try to find a way to worn the Admirals. Hearlis wanted a tour of the base and all the projects being undertaken here. I'll try to get them in here so I can warn them. Be prepared though, they might order me to shut down the AI."
    "Uh, I thought the AI couldn’t be shut down? Doesn't Sarah control the life support for the base?"