Galactic Forge: Nexus

"Aren't you edging a little bit into mad scientist territory?"

"You're serious about this?" said Khamal.

"Naturally," Nexus replied, seated atop the big metal relay they'd extracted as if it were no more than an over-sized stool. "Look, the main blockade to creating an artificial brain is the size requirement. In order to replicate the complexity and processing of a human mind. You'd need a computer the size of a house. But with this beautiful bastard!" she said, excitedly slapping the device under her backside. "We know that not only can we safely suspend matter in sub-space, but that relay between sub-space and normal space is possible."

Parker was seated in Nex's usual chair, having battled his way out of their ramshackle environment suit. "So you planned this little project all along?"

She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I've had this project planned since I was fourteen."

"So last week?" Parker replied with a smug smile.

"If you think you can ruin my mood today, you will be sadly mistaken."

"So we can do this," added Khamal, cutting in, "But why? What purpose will this thing serve?"

Her already ear to ear grin broadened and she resembled a house-cat, oh so pleased with its latest catch. "Whatever we want! Let me explain. Parker, get me down from here."

Without questioning it, he hopped to his feet and reached toward her. Her slipped his hands under her arms, lifted her off the device and placed her feet on the ground and her cane in her hands.

Nexus marched over to her big whiteboard and wiped it clean, swiftly drawing up a diagram. She sketched up two sides, one labeled 'Sub-Space,' and the other, 'Normal Space.' At the bottom of the diagram, she wrote a small notation, '5,509.3:1.' She tapped it with her finger. "As we all know, sub-space is condensed 5,509.3 times compared to our universe."

"Yes... We all know this," Parker replied with mock confidence. Silphi nodded in agreement.

Nexus rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Go on, Meryl," said Khamal.

She cleared her throat audibly and continued. "Thank you." She proceeded to scrawl a large circle on the sub-space portion of the diagram, labeled, 'Posi-Brain.'

"If we create our brain and move it into sub-space, equipped with planet-to-planet relay systems and some thrusters, it can easily communicate with any system on Pantainos." She proceeded to sketch a small map of Pantainos's solar system, noting various space stations and other colonized planets. She circled it at and drew a line across the border between sub-space and normal space, leading back to the Posi-Brain. "With some work, entire solar systems could be accessed simultaneously. Get the picture?"

"Indeed," Khamal said in a hushed voice. "Instantaneous, inter-system communications and transfer of data. If possible, this would change the entire structure of galactic civilization."

"Even bigger!" said Nexus, practically bouncing on her toes with excitement. "With the right programming, the processor could connect to anything with wireless access and simply occupy the equivalent location in sub-space. The Posi-Brain does all the work and outputs the results to the device on our side and it can inhabit any machine, no matter how big or how small. This AI could operate entire starships or building complexes, intelligently and autonomously and with this kind of computing power, it can overpower any security. If we so decided, the entire galaxy would be under our control!"

Parker's eyes widened at this last statement. "...Nex," he said cautiously. "Aren't you edging a little bit into mad scientist territory?"

"I never said I was going to!" she whined. She sounded almost like a child, upset over a grown-up souring her fun.