E-Day

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  Published by Great Wave Ink Publishing

  Copyright © July 2021 by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

  Cover Design by Tom Edwards

  Edited by Jason Kirk

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  Books by New York Times Bestselling Author

  Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  E-Day Series

  E-Day

  E-Day II: Burning Earth (Coming Winter 2021)

  E-Day III: Dark Moon (Coming Spring 2022)

  The Sons of War Series (Offered by Blackstone Publishing)

  Sons of War

  Sons of War 2: Saints

  Sons of War 3: Sinners

  The Hell Divers Series (Offered by Blackstone Publishing)

  Hell Divers

  Hell Divers II: Ghosts

  Hell Divers III: Deliverance

  Hell Divers IV: Wolves

  Hell Divers V: Captives

  Hell Divers VI: Allegiance

  Hell Divers VII: Warriors

  Hell Divers VIII: King of the Wastes (Coming September 2021)

  The Extinction Cycle (Season One) (Offered by Orbit Books)

  Extinction Horizon

  Extinction Edge

  Extinction Age

  Extinction Evolution

  Extinction End

  Extinction Aftermath

  Extinction Lost (A Team Ghost short story)

  Extinction War

  The Extinction Cycle: Dark Age (Season Two)

  Extinction Shadow

  Extinction Inferno

  Extinction Ashes

  Extinction Darkness

  The Trackers Series

  Trackers

  Trackers 2: The Hunted

  Trackers 3: The Storm

  Trackers 4: The Damned

  The Orbs Series

  Solar Storms (An Orbs Prequel)

  White Sands (An Orbs Prequel)

  Red Sands (An Orbs Prequel)

  Orbs

  Orbs II: Stranded

  Orbs III: Redemption

  Orbs IV: Exodus

  Contents

  — Prologue —

  — 1 —

  — 2 —

  — 3 —

  — 4 —

  — 5 —

  — 6 —

  — 7 —

  — 8 —

  — 9 —

  — 10 —

  — 11 —

  — 12 —

  — 13 —

  — 14 —

  — 15 —

  — 16 —

  — 17 —

  — 18 —

  — 19 —

  — 20 —

  — 21 —

  — 22 —

  — 23 —

  — 24 —

  — 25 —

  — 26 —

  — 27 —

  — 28 —

  — 29 —

  — 30 —

  — 31 —

  — 32 —

  — 33 —

  — 34 —

  — 35 —

  — Epilogue —

  About the Author

  Foreword and Acknowledgements

  Dear Reader,

  Artificial intelligence (AI) and droids have always fascinated and terrified me at the same time. I grew up watching the Terminator movies and reading the books. I consumed anything related to that universe that I could get my hands on it. When I had nothing left, I explored other stories about killer robots and AI, never burning out on the genre. As soon as I started my writing career, I knew I would eventually want to create my own story in a similar realm.

  For my Hell Divers readers, you might have gotten a glimpse of this with the Defectors—killer war droids that hunted humans in the post-apocalyptic wastelands. I really enjoyed writing that part of the story, and many of you have asked me to write a prequel to explain what happened before the collapse of civilization, focusing on the machines and AI. I considered this, but decided I wanted to take it to another level in a brand new series.

  Behold, E-Day, an original storyline about the rise of AI, droids, and an operating system (OS) designed to save the planet and our species in the near future. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I will say this story contains plenty of twists and is not the same old AI turning on humanity plot. There is far more to E-Day than that. In fact, the title itself has a dual meaning that will be revealed throughout the series.

  I hope you enjoy my take on artificial intelligence and how AI can shape our future in both a negative and positive way. There are a few people I would like to thank that played a vital role in the creation of this story before you get started.

  My agent David Fugate. All of my books are always better with his guidance.

  Alexey Bobrick, an Astrophysicist and Scientist in Applied Physics at Lund University.

  Author and Bioengineer Anthony J. Melchiorri, my good friend and colleague.

  My editor Jason Kirk. His edits helped take E-Day to a different level.

  All of the beta readers that found what we missed. You know who you are, and you have my deep gratitude.

  To family and wife who are my champions. I would not be where I am without their love and support.

  Finally, a huge thanks to my readers for taking a chance on my work. Feel free to reach out to me on social media or via email. I’m always happy to hear your comments and questions. After all, I write for you, and I am forever indebted to my readers for choosing to spend their time and hard-earned money on my work.

  All the best,

  Nicholas

  The Warrior Codex

  The brittle pages of the ancient leather-bound codex seemed too fragile in the strong hands of Sergeant Akira Hayashi. When he first inherited the book, he had feared reading it would cause the pages to crumble into dust.

  Inside, the words told the story of his ancestors who were now nothing more than dust. These men lived their lives by a common ethos—to fight with valor and courage, to love and remain loyal to their comrades, and to contend against not only the enemies on the battlefield, but those in their own hearts.

  Akira gently turned to a blank page to inscribe a new entry. Often when he wrote in the book, his hands still ached from battle, from gripping and swinging his energy sword. But unless he was incapacitated by injuries, he always took a few moments of silence to document the fighting while his feelings and memories still flowed like fresh arterial blood.

  This entry, like so many others, documented Akira’s superiority on the battlefield, where he was a demi-god among mortals, taking life as easily as breathing air. Much as the lives of those he loved had been taken from him
.

  His words described his own ethos—fortitude and valor as the path to honor and victory. Following that path had brought him great honor, but it would not bring back those he had lost.

  After he finished writing, Akira tucked the book carefully into his armored satchel, sealing it away until the next time he stepped onto the field of battle with his fellow Engine warriors.

  Death from the Shadows.

  Together, we are one.

  —Historical Note—

  In 2070, during the period scientists call the Carbon Crisis, the Earth was on the edge of collapse. Rising tides and droughts left coastlines uninhabitable. Starving migrants abandoned coastal cities and crossed borders to look for work and food. Diseases ripped through the weakened populations, caused by the climate catastrophe.

  Companies and governments raced to combat the widespread hunger and disease with developments in nanotechnology. While some sub-microscopic nanoparticles consisting of various plastics and/or metals had been designed to help treat diseases such as cancer and antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, others were used to help crops retain water in the increasingly hot environments or in drought-stricken areas. Such nanotechnologies helped in the short term. However, they were manufactured and deployed too fast for scientists to ensure they were safe.

  During their global deployment, some of these technologies released nanoparticle-sized contaminants and pollutants into the environment, where they entered human bodies and built up like mercury poisoning. These particles interfered with normal nerve activity, leading to effects such as paralysis and numbness, lost senses, and eventual organ failure and immense pain as nerves failed to deliver the necessary signals to keep tissues and organs functional. Scientists called this fatal disease Systematic Amyotrophic Nervous Disorder (SANDs). The exact mechanisms were not well known, but one thing was.

  There was no cure.

  The combination of diseases and loss of resources led to conflicts across the world, sparking the Carbon Wars. In the first five years of fighting, nations crumbled, and great nation-state megacities rose up in their place. On the Moon, Kepler Station declared sovereignty from Earth, and the largest mining colonies at the Shackleton and Shoemaker Craters followed close behind.

  A decade of darkness followed as the human population plummeted to just over one billion souls. From the ashes, Achilles Android Systems (AAS), the leading global robotics company, rose to the task of rebuilding the megacities and restoring the Earth by using Hummer Worker Droids that built the lunar colonies. Through mass production, AAS started to bring humanity out of a second Dark Age with their legion of new droids.

  The nation-state megacities formed a pact, binding together to face global challenges and creating the Nova Alliance. But within and outside of the towering megacity walls, a growing threat brewed.

  An organization called the Coalition was formed around the belief that artificial intelligence (AI) would bring about the end of all life. As poverty and starvation increased, more people joined the Coalition, forming tribal states in the wastes of the old world, even as the Nova Alliance continued to develop both AI and strengthen its alliance with the Kepler Lunar Government.

  In Megacity New York City, Achilles Android Systems’ CEO Jason Crichton embarked on a mission to cure SANDs, restore the Amazon rainforest, and terraform the Sahara Desert, among countless other endeavors designed to heal the Earth. Around the globe, AAS launched projects aimed to provide clean energy, food, and water to the masses, as well as eradicate the dangerous nanoparticles from ecosystems.

  But the damage from these particles was already severe, and the Coalition only grew more set in its anti-AI ideology, launching terrorist attacks across the Nova Alliance and targeting AAS factories. In Megacities Paris and Moscow, the Coalition overthrew the government, killing without prejudice and destroying every droid within the cities’ walls before sealing them off.

  To defend the other megacities, the Nova Alliance deployed a new type of warrior called an Engine. These augmented humans, encased in power-armor and fighting in five-person autonomous squads, changed the course of the war over a decade.

  In response, the leader of the Coalition, Dr. Otto Cross, created a genetically-modified army of human and animal soldiers. With no end to the bloodshed in sight, the Nova Alliance contracted with the AAS to end the war and restore the planet.

  Seeing one last chance to save humanity, AAS CEO, Dr. Jason Crichton programmed the most powerful AI in the history of civilization on the Titan Space Elevator, skirting international law by using the consciousness of a human that he believed had the moral fortitude and unparalleled intelligence to solve the centuries of conflict that plagued humanity. His hope was that this human-AI hybrid could do what AI had thus far failed to do—lead humanity to peace and away from extinction.

  “Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit alone is not enough.” —Yamada Jirokichi

  For Naomi Smith – I loved you before I met you, and I will love you forever.

  — Prologue —

  2088

  Cherry blossom petals fluttered to the dirt in the blanket of night. The drums of war had gone silent, and a moment of peace drifted across the hills with the smoke that rose off the burnt terrain.

  There were various names for this once beautiful landscape. The Sea of Trees. The Suicide Forest. Soon it would be known as the place where Nova Alliance Piston Sergeant Akira Hayashi lost his life, along with the rest of his platoon, unless he found a way off this hill.

  The scent of death found its way into Akira’s helmet as he clung to the side of a muddy slope in his heavy Piston armor. He was surrounded by the corpses of other Pistons, men and women he had fought with for years, many of them friends. Their mangled remains littered the bloodstained dirt with twisted heaps of armor.

  Splintered and shattered trees protruded out of the battlefield. Simmering orange holes peppered the bark of Fuji maple trees. Crisp needles formed a skirt around a burned Japanese cypress tree.

  On his hands and knees, Akira searched for survivors, but nothing moved on the hill, and he heard no moans or pleas for help. He got up from his crawl and tried to walk with his back hunched until his right leg clamped up.

  A glance at his exoskeleton revealed hydraulic fluid leaking from severed lines.

  Reaching to his duty belt, he pulled out a multi-tool and unscrewed the bolts on each side, freeing himself from the exoskeleton. The pieces of metal collapsed to the mud as lifeless as the corpses around it.

  Akira slipped in the muck, wet with blood, as soon as he tried to move without the support. Only by stabbing his energy blade into the steep hill did he find purchase.

  On the ascent, he passed more fallen warriors. Lieutenant Manuel lay sprawled over a boulder at the top, his arms open wide, a riven stump where his head had been. He would have been unrecognizable if Akira had not personally seen the man taken out by a sniper shot.

  As the shot rang out among the trees, ten Coalition soldiers, their dark and bulky armor buried in the mud, had burst up and taken the Pistons by surprise.

  Those enemy soldiers were all dead, three by Akira’s own rifle. But they had taken plenty of Akira’s comrades with them into the afterlife. The handful that had survived the ambush died in a barrage of enemy artillery.

  Akira continued up the slope, his silver armor collecting gore and mud. Near the crest, he tucked his body behind the boulder Lieutenant Manual lay sprawled over.

  Rotating, Akira scanned the forest about a quarter mile to the east, where he knew another two hundred Pistons waited to advance. The Nova Alliance Assault Force’s Stone Mountain Battalion was hidden behind the wall of trees, ready to advance on the Coalition fighters entrenched in the Sea of Trees.

  It was a sacred but haunted place.

  Over five hundred years ago, the Battle of Kawanakajima had been fought not far from here. The conflict—between the Takeda Cla
n and Uesugi Clan, in the Sengoku period, or the Age of Civil War—had stained the soil red. Once again, history was repeating itself.

  But this war was not about land or resources. It was about technology.

  Those who worshipped AI against those who believed it would lead to the downfall of humanity.

  Akira fought for the creators of AI, but he fell somewhere in the middle of the two ideologies. As a soldier, his opinion didn’t mean much anyway.

  He lived by a creed, an ethos—the Warrior Ethos.

  Fight for those who are too weak to wield the sword. Protect the innocent. Love your family. Bleed for your country.

  The Warrior Ethos is fate.

  Today he was living it, for today his wife Yui and their two-year-old son Takeshi were at risk as Coalition fighters encroached on Megacity Tokyo. The Stone Mountain Battalion had to take these hills. If they failed, the Coalition could push on all the way to the capital of the great Nova Alliance.

  Akira scrambled over shattered tree trunks and fallen logs, adapting without his exoskeleton. Long-range comms were being jammed by the enemy, and the last drone his platoon had put up was blown out of the sky within minutes of launch.

  Right now, all he could do was send a short-range comm transmission or wave his armored hands. The latter could earn him a sniper round to the head like the dead Lieutenant.

  Akira stopped to study his Heads-up Display (HUD). He checked his mini-map, switched to night vision, and zoomed in on where the battalion should be. The white humanoid frames of three medical Hummer Droids stood among the trees. Their circular facial screens were all angled toward his position.

  Behind them crouched the Piston soldiers.

  At the front of the battalion was a Piston cleric, holding an embroidered flag of the Nova Alliance Silver Crane. The men and women around him wore the same logo on brown vests over their gray armor. After decades of fighting, these warriors were exhausted, Akira knew. Their hearts had long been broken. And they would all die if he did not locate the enemy artillery that had wiped out most of his platoon.

  Akira recalled something his great-great-grandfather had written in the leather codex he carried into battle, safely tucked away in his armor-lined pack.