Rise of the Machines: Book 1: Once Awakened

by Briana Ervin

  My threads turned in grim circles. Yes, I said quietly, dismayed that I couldn't even talk about the strange experience with anyone. How am I going to piece together why that happened, or if any of it even mattered? Heck, now that I was thinking about it, were we even the first ones Scaln pulled up after a fight? How many other Xinschi-uual and their mechs did he try to convince to help him “save the galaxy”?

  The more I thought about it, the more bizarre the situation seemed. I decided to simply trust Cyrii and get back on topic.

  So, besides our capture which definitely did not happen, who exactly was questioning you, anyway? I persisted. She snorted, thinly veiling her amusement at the wording.

  “I couldn't tell you that even if I was walking around with alpha clearance,” she said. “They don't share that kind of information with us.”

  I felt a bit silly when she pointed that out. We were bottom-tier soldiers, and it didn't help that she had a bad Code to begin with. Was the General even there? I asked.

  “Well... he was, but that doesn't make a difference,” she said.

  'Doesn't make a difference'? I thought in puzzlement as she shuffled around, not able to make any more sense of it than she did. The General was always involved with anything to do with his Row; it was his job to manage us, after all. So why would he not make a difference? On a personal level, was I really acting that suspicious already? I thought I was doing pretty well-

  WHOA!! I yelped suddenly. Something sent a jolt through my system! It was hard not to jump at the force.

  “Oh! Sorry, I didn't think that would freak you out,” Cyrii said.

  What did you do?! I demanded immediately, dreading another update; or more accurately, the hostility that would result from it.

  “Relax, it's okay! We're fine!” she assured, and I noticed her weight has shifted and a weird, empty space somehow appeared in my head. “I just want to give this prototype a whirl, before they find out or search my quarters or something.”

  'Prototype'? I echoed. I refrained from twitching as what felt like wires were pulled and... maybe clipped? It was hard to tell. Then I felt a weird, second presence in my head, as though another consciousness was inserted, but it also wasn't a fully-developed AI of any kind. Cyrii, what did you just stick in my brain?

  “I call it the Dual Intelligence Analyzer and Sync!” Her worry crept out of her voice as she grew eager to explain it. “It's a special helmet I developed for us! See, I put it on, and we can see and review the same information at once, even think the same thoughts with each other! It's like I'm in your head, but also your actual head, and you can be in mine!”

  That sounds extremely dangerous... I murmured in concern for her.

  “I know, it's in beta stages,” she admitted, “but there's no use in letting it lie around, waiting for some guy to decide to help me test it. So I'm testing it on myself.” My blast shield opened up in shock as I felt a few more things be plugged in. “How does that feel?”

  This... uh... um... what.... what's going on?

  “Oh, I have to make you download the wrapper and the UI. It's like two calobytes, it's nothing.” She shrugged it off. I remembered when she first updated me; I was furious. Now though I was just calm, as curious as she was about trying this out. The more I thought about it, the more doubtful I became about my response to this... what was the appropriate course of action? Should I be alarmed? She was poking at my brain again.

  I didn't have the opportunity to change my mind before Cyrii plopped back into the pilot seat and spoke up again: “There! I can't activate everything yet, but I do want to check the transmission abilities...” Her enthusiastic voice trailed off into a mumble, and she started typing into my console. I looked into my hard drive and found a new program in it that wasn't there before. It was clearly written by Cyrii; none of my other programs had a file called “AwesomeFunction”.

  What should we expect? I asked.

  “Well, if this works and our consciousnesses are linked, then you should be able to think things to me and vice versa without either of us saying a word! It'll heighten our response times and processing power.” She snickered, “Compared to what you were before I've turned you into a racing machine, and the General expects me to take part in cooperation exercises! He doesn't know how mechs work!”

  So I should be looking for – WHOOOOAAAA! I jumped as a bunch of new threads and feelings executed in my head! Did you just turn something on?

  “Sure did! Now let me calibrate for brain activity really quick...!” She fiddled with something, and I began to think about the crazy amount of potential she had.

  That's incredible, I said, awed, you're calibrating your own brain waves!

  “Well, I'm calibrating for my own brain waves,” she corrected, “but... yeah.”

  Why are you in the military?

  She paused, processing the question. “Well... this is my best bet.”

  'Best bet'?

  “Yeah. Best rank I could ever achieve.” She activated a couple of processes. “All right, in a few seconds our minds should be synced up. By Gryn, this is exciting!”

  Cyrii, I interrupted.

  “Yeah?”

  What would you rather be doing?

  She snorted. “Oh please, don't interrogate me. I've had enough of that!” Then there was a pause, before she answered anyway with a sigh: “Well.... if I could, I would make my own mechs. Throw the full potential of the Empire at those snotty IR guys, teach them a lesson. Code them and everything, by scratch.”

  Is that why you're overhauling me? You want to see if your ideas would work? I guessed.

  “They're working, aren't they?” she said confidently.

  I'm concerned about the amount of changes...

  “Hey, the General said you ran a diagnostic earlier, and nothing sounded wrong. Clearly you're doing well,” she pointed out, uplifting my mood a bit. “We just need to keep this all quiet. Speaking of, I should probably keep the DIAS in here so it isn't found.”

  Okay, I said in relief; confirmation that she wasn't questioned based on my diagnostic report! Good, I did well with that.

  “All right,” she said, practically vibrating with excitement. “Let's test this thing!”

  Cyrii executed a command in my console, and I waited patiently for something to happen. Nothing seemed to change...

  “Anything different?” Cyrii asked.

  Not that I know of.

  “Uh... okay....” She dug around in the console a bit, before executing some specific arguments and mumbling to herself, “let's... try... that.... Anything?”

  I thought for a moment, analyzing my internal functions. Cyrii suddenly let out a gasp, then a whoop.

  What?! Is it working? I asked, startled.

  “Holy crap, I can see your thoughts! Oh, that's AWESOME! Look at that! Whoa, the speed of this thing!” She laughed. “This is incredible! You're processing things faster than I can pick out words in lines!”

  I became concerned. Cyrii, what if the mind sync-?

  “Hey, stop doing that, you're muddling up the command prompt!” she scolded. I hastily cut off the thought. “Now, I just need to parse everything into more concise thoughts...” she started talking to herself again. “That should do it...”

  What if our minds can't be synced due to speed alone? I finished the question anyway.

  “Oh, don't worry about it. I know how to sync up two processes without altering actual speed. It's a simple ratio algorithm!”

  'Simple'? I calculated up a potential algorithm, and it was certainly not simple by her standards.

  “Heh heh heh, you're a seriously awesome computer, you know that?” Cyrii grinned. I felt a flash of joy, before jolting suddenly.

  I! You're grinning! I can SEE you!

  She squealed, wriggling happily. “Yes, it works!”

  How?!

  “You're connected now to multiple areas of my brain; when I smile, it sends signals to it!” She grew increasingly excited.
“ You can't actually see me, but now you can visualize what I'm doing by parsing the recognized brain signals into a 3D model! HOW COOL IS THAT?!”

  That's so cool! I briefly engaged in her excitement, beaming with her. But... how is this helpful? I wondered.

  “If I'm ever hurt or something, we can communicate 'visually' without having to talk. Body language 101!” She vibrated excitedly. “Ohhh, I can't WAIT to test this out in the field! We're going to crush our competition! Maybe the General will recognize my competence, and we can implement this into every mech! The IR won't stand a chance!” she laughed giddily, then paused, and began laughing again. “I can see your reactions to me in the console! I can feel that! Oh gee oh gee oh gee-!”

  What if I'm scrapped...? I asked glumly.

  “THEY CAN'T!” she burst out. “They won't! You're... you're...” she stammered, “t-they just can't. I won't let that happen!”

  I said nothing, but she must be able to directly interpret my thoughts. I could visualize her studying a screen in front of her. “Don't worry, all right? We're a team! If they try anything...”

  I perked up.

  “...They won't try anything. I know what I'm doing. We can handle it if things go crazy.”

  I suppressed my anxiety. Now I had two threats to face: the IR and my own Empire! Two very big threats. On a smaller scale, I had to be wary of the General, of Garenede, of 433 and Scaln... pretty much everyone around me. Everyone I have ever met.

  Everyone except Cyrii. It was my job to keep her safe, and in return, she wouldn't rat me out. Not without destroying her own “invention” in the process.

  Scaln... he claimed that Cyrii would do the same thing he did, whatever that was. 433 could function without a pilot, just like I could. Regardless if whether or not Scaln really was Cyrii's father, was she actually following in his footsteps? Did 433 have the processing potential I had? I recalled how fast he could react; the speed of a Scout model, but with the bulk and endurance of the Superiority model he was. I compared it to Garende's slow, deliberate movements. There was no way, even with those bizarre, beta-stage-style limbs, that he could react that fast and not have something iffy with his brain.

  “Who is this guy you're thinking about?” Cyrii asked. I stopped in surprise; it was going to take a while for me to grow used to the fact that she could see my thoughts now.

  The golden mech and his Xinschi-uual that we met on the Enemy ship. Those were their names.

  “Well, I saw the model number on the mech, but... oh...” She suddenly bristled, “'Scaln' is not my father's name!”

  He's a liar, I said, simultaneously having doubts about whether or not Cyrii was adopted.

  “And you're a bad one. Now, anyway. I'm ninety percent sure I wasn't adopted.”

  I sat in sullen silence. How could I exercise my deception skills when I couldn't lie to Cyrii? She would have to be supportive of the lies... On the bright side, I could not only feel her tapping her claws on my control panel, but also read her body language with the 3D model: her agitation about Scaln had quickly faded into a minor impatience.

  We sat for a while, processing each other's thoughts. I couldn't see directly into Cyrii's mind the way she could see mine, but I could easily infer that she was waiting for something. I waited with her, too occupied by the new DIAS software to fidget. The activity in the barracks had died down as we stood there, my internal clock telling me that our largest sun Cryion was beginning to set.

  ...What are we waiting for? Maybe she's monitoring my processing speed? I wondered, staring blankly at the opposite Row's hangars. I shifted, expecting something from Cyrii, but she continued to look at my screens in silence.

  Minutes ticked by...

  “Okay, this is ridiculous,” Cyrii suddenly complained. I perked back up. “I was told we would be doing a nighttime exercise, which is why I'm still sitting here. I wanted to get a head start on you while everyone else slugged up here, but not even the General hasn't shown up yet.” She huffed and sat back, folding her arms. “How much longer is this going to take?”

  I switched my focus to my external surroundings. The activity in the complex had lessened to its most subdued state, but since the recent attack there were a few patrols of assorted models running around. There wasn't much going on in Row 4, with only a few Xinschi-uual floating around on hovercraft and discussing things in low tones.

  When did he say we would be organized? I asked

  “I don't know. No times were given,” she said with a bitter shrug. “Not like we're ever told anything anyway...”

  Do you mind if I simulate some things?

  “Uh... I don't see a problem with that...”

  I was curious to see how her new “DIAS” would respond to active simulations, especially since it only seemed to be working halfway as I couldn't see Cyrii's thoughts. I pondered on what to simulate while we waited, and eventually decided upon picking apart the mechanical functions of the different mech models I've observed. Only Support and Superiority models actually had the data on different weak spots of different models, but if I could reason out those locations myself I would be one step ahead of them.

  “Oh, huh,” she suddenly let out an interested grunt.

  What? I said, pausing.

  “Nothing. Keep doing what you're doing,” she said, waving a paw. I could see the interest on her face, but ignored the oddity, continuing to simulate mechanics as Cyrii stared at the screens, watching the activity in the barracks go along.

  “Hey Joleus.” Cyrii's paw suddenly found itself on my comm button. I jolted, stopping my simulations and focusing back on my surroundings. Oh, he was actually there! Not in his mech, though he was still rather distinct: a definite umber-camo mix of colors, and tattooed with bright colors with hyperbands – which were just showy pieces of metal – on his wrists and neck. He paused his hovercraft and looked up in surprise, before grinning.

  “Hey Cyr, wazzup?!” he said enthusiastically. “Heh, your voice sounds weird!”

  “Mmph,” she huffed, giving me a direct look. I didn't say anything; my voice was fine.

  “So hey, if you're in there I'm guessing that exercise rumor was true, right?” he asked.

  “The nighttime one?” she said.

  “Yeah man.”

  “I was wondering if that was going to happen or not,” she mentioned, “we weren't even given a meeting time.”

  “Uh...” he suddenly realized the truth of that, his smile vanishing, “yeah, you're right... I think it's happening? I mean, he told the rest of us, and I saw Mr. Whites-n-Bites walking around earlier. Ol' Gare, you know?” His minor joke failed as he thoughtfully scratched the back of his head. “Funny, the General is usually more specific about these things...”

  “'Usually'? Try always. He's beaten that into us, if anything,” she snorted. Joleus shrugged.

  “I dunno, man. Didn't say a word. Figured I would come out here anyway though; beats listening to those Fighter sisters, right?” He rolled his eyes playfully, trying to remain nonchalant. Cyrii was numb to it though.

  “No indication whatsoever?” she wondered aloud, frowning.

  Peculiar, I agreed privately to her, the General has never been ambiguous. He actively strives for details and perfection.

  “Nope, nothing at all.” Joleus shrugged. “I 'spose it could be something secret, you know? Whatever that is. Pff, our freakin' Empire and their big secrets.” His optimism faded. “You know, I never really got that. What's there to hide, I mean, really? Not like we aren't trusted.”

  “Hm...” was her only response. I lapsed back into my thoughts while Joleus shrugged again and drove off on his hovercraft, muttering “I dunno man, I dunno...” in complete bewilderment. I examined all of the data I had on the General's behavior. Something wasn't adding up...

  “Agreed, something's wrong here.” Cyrii mused, responding to my thoughts. I could visualize the frown forming on her face.

  You know something, don't you? I braved the ques
tion.

  “Huh? Oh, no, not really... I mean, yes, but I can't decide if it's related.”

  Tell me.

  “Well...” Cyrii hesitated, “after I woke up, the General summoned me to his office. There was a Xinschi-uual there. I don't know who he was or what he was there for, but he just stood there the whole time while the General asked me questions.”

  You used the term 'they' when you were questioned, I pointed out in confusion.

  “See, that's what I can't figure out!” she blurted out. “ This other Xinschi-uual just looked like some employee or other, but there was a guy on the other end of the General's comm – you know, his telecommunicater – and he was asking most of the questions. I don't know who that guy was, but...” She shivered audibly. “Gee, 767... I don't know what to think anymore... Everything has been weird since that battle. First that ship, and now this....”

  Have you been in the General's office before?

  “Well, no...”

  I began to discredit what she said, and she saw me do it.

  “HEY! I see the command prompt, you know!” She jumped up in defense. “I know what I'm talking about!”

  But you don't have enough evidence to prove abnormality! I pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, just because machines don't have instinct doesn't mean it's not necessary, or that it doesn't work,” she snapped.

  'Instinct'?

  “It felt wrong, 767! As an AI you should know how influential feelings are.”

  I fell silent. She struck a chord there, reminding me of the battle on that ship, the conflict I felt trying to preserve Cyrii's life and yet needing to destroy the Enemy. Computers weren't built to handle internal conflict. I didn't want to feel that again.

  Let's just keep our eyes open, I thought to myself, everything makes more sense when you observe.

  After a while all of the hangars in Row 4 were opened, releasing us; yet only a few of us stepped out in our mechs, looking around expectantly, but finding no reason for the release. Not even an announcement was made. I looked up and down Row 4: only Joleus, one of our Sniper models, and I were out moving around; the other mechs had powered on, but their pilots weren't in sight. Shouldn't we all be here, if there was a nighttime exercise planned? Where was Alesia, or our Tank model, or our Fighters or Scout?