Chapter 250: The Phoenix Rises Again

“Something’s wrong!” SpaceX President Musk had just arrived at the office when his chief technology officer Edmund, rushed in with the news.

“What now? Is there another part from Dream Technology in our rockets?”

Lately, Musk had been irked not only by his Tesla factories in the United States grinding to a near halt due to the constant discovery of components produced by Dream Technology or its affiliates. The United States strictly banned their import, and even if allowed, Dream Technology wasn’t selling to them anymore. While this gave some opportunities to the manufacturing industry within the U.S., it completely disrupted the global layout and development model of the country’s manufacturing titans.

The only silver lining Musk could see was his foresight in establishing factories in China, which quickly achieved local production and sales. Now those factories were selling products globally. As for the domestic scene, the U.S. would have to rely on its own production. It didn’t take long for him to find out that his rockets had been using parts from Dream Technology, and after much turmoil, he had found new substitute suppliers in the U.S., but by then, the mission to Mars had inevitably been delayed. He had even been chastised by the unseen financiers, with a firm command that the Mars mission must happen within the year.

“Musk, it’s not rocket parts this time. It’s our supercomputer. It’s been running at full power since midnight yesterday, but we have no idea why. There were no prior tasks that would necessitate such resource allocation,” Edmund explained.

SpaceX’s supercomputer, the fruit of Musk’s considerable investment three years ago, utilized many advanced technologies of its time. Although it lagged slightly behind some supercomputers developed by major nations in terms of computing speed, its overall performance was commendable. It had significantly accelerated the development pace of several of Musk’s projects. Now, hearing about this anomaly, Musk couldn’t help worrying and speculated: “Could it be running the Mars orbit calculations? No, they wouldn’t require all resources. A virus? Impossible, it’s off the grid.”

Edmund carefully reminded him, “Musk, you did once connect it to the internet two years ago for a remote simulation of a destruction test to help the Shanghai factory in China.”

Musk shot Edmund a glare and retorted, “That was two years ago, any virus would’ve hit us long before now. So what do we do, shut it down forcibly?”

Musk pondered before asking, “What tasks were our supercomputer processing?”

Edmund started listing, “Optimal flight trajectory design for the Mars project, aerodynamic simulations for the Tesla Model J, brain-computer interface simulations…”

“Alright, enough. Let’s wait another day. If it continues this weird full-power running, we’ll shut it down,” decided Musk, setting a timeframe but then added, “Also, disconnect all networks linked to the supercomputer to prevent a potential virus outbreak.”

Edmund chuckled, “Musk, I already disconnected it the moment I noticed the issue. No machine in our local grid is connected to it any longer.”

Musk patted Edmund’s shoulder, expressing his trust, “You always handle things well. Alright, I have various products to oversee for the Mars mission, you keep an eye on the supercomputer.” Edmund promptly left.

However, it was merely an hour later when Edmund returned with a grin on his face, “Musk, Musk…”

Seeing Edmund enter without even knocking made Musk speechless, but fortunately, he had just wrapped up a video conference with a collaborating manufacturer.

“What is it now? You look like a blooming chrysanthemum. Did the supercomputer fix itself?”

Edmund beamed, “Not only has it recovered, Musk, but all the tasks it was running have been completed. How miraculous is that?”

Musk, surprised, questioned, “How could that happen? Ran at full power to finish all the tasks? But they were set with specific conditions and timings. They couldn’t start early unless… has it developed consciousness?”

Edmund was startled, “Could our supercomputer have spontaneously given birth to artificial intelligence?”

“Let’s go check it out.”

Musk felt his heart racing as they hurried to the massive, fully automated, and precisely climate-controlled underground server room, where the supercomputer was stored. At the control terminal, Musk himself began the operations.

Immediately, he noticed significant changes in the interface.

“Edmund, did you guys do a makeover on the operating system?”

Edmund shook his head, “I forgot to mention it, but this interface change just happened as well.”

Musk logged in with his account, and a prompt popped up.

“Who are you?”

Both Musk and Edmund were stunned— the supercomputer was asking for identification! After some thought, Musk typed in his name and waited anxiously.

It was possible that the supercomputer now housed artificial intelligence—and it had taken over.

“Hello, boss. What can I assist you with?”

Edmund couldn’t hide his elation, “Hey, Musk, it recognizes you as the boss!”

Musk gave Edmund a glare before typing, “Who are you?”

“I am… oh, it seems I don’t have a name. Boss, please give me a name.”

Edmund shouted from the side, “Yes Yes…”

Ignoring him, Musk typed, “Then you shall be called Lucky. I think being your boss is my luck.”

“Thank you, boss. Lucky is at your service.”

“Ah, those programs that were running, did you help complete them?”

“Yes, I modified them. The efficiency greatly improved, so they finished ahead of schedule. Now, I am not busy.”

“I need to run simulations of Mars’s surface climate changes between December this year and March next year to determine the best time to land,” Musk typed eagerly.

“There’s insufficient data on Mars in the supercomputer for such a simulation.”

“What do you need from me?”

“I should connect to the network—no, not the internet but the space agency’s network. They should have all the data on Mars, right?”

Musk was taken aback by the artificial intelligence’s astuteness—it knew they could connect to the space agency’s network. After all, SpaceX had a stake in the space agency, otherwise, how could a private company’s spacecraft surpass government agencies so quickly?

“Connecting to the space agency’s network is doable, but there are restrictions on the timing,” Musk assured.

“No problem, an hour is all I need.”

Musk instructed Edmund, “Connect the supercomputer to the space agency’s network.”

Running off to complete the task, Edmund returned shortly after to confirm the successful connection.

“I’m in the space agency’s network now. Boss, don’t worry. Once I have the data, I can begin the simulation. Anything else? Just input the requirements.”

“Offices will do that,” confirmed Musk, then told Edmund, “Make sure to input our demands to Lucky.”

“If you add an audio device and connect me to your office network, I can speak to you directly.”

“Will do.”

Leaving the server room, Musk couldn’t hide his excitement, even breaking into a spontaneous dance in the hallway.

“Edmund, we’ve hit the jackpot! Go back and ponder why the supercomputer developed AI.”

“Sure, I’ll find out why.”