by G. P. Hudson
“Point taken,” Blake said.
“That’s it?” Gerry snapped. “That’s all you have to say? Do you know how many of us have died fighting your damn wars?”
“I… I’m sorry,” Blake said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Danny said. “Nothing can change the past. What matters is the future. We both want the same thing. Why not help each other get it?”
Consul Blake remained quiet, and Danny wondered if he had wasted his breath with the Volsung leader. “You’re right,” he said finally. “What has been done to you is a grave injustice. You are human and are deserving of the same basic rights afforded to anyone else. The Volsung will support your cause. We will join your alliance.”
“As will the Avar,” Premier Reese added hastily.
“Thank you. This means a great deal to us,” Danny said. “I suggest we prepare and reconvene to formalize the alliance.”
Blake and Reese both agreed, and Danny terminated the comm.
“Neither of them can be trusted,” Gerry said dismissively.
“I know that,” Danny said.
“Then why go through all that trouble?”
“Because, we still need them, and they fear us enough to go along with the alliance. We still need to speak with the Tran and the Mergid, but I think they will agree to an alliance.”
“I think you are correct, my boy,” Isaac said. “We do control Reynolds’s fleet, after all. That is a powerful motivator.”
“Exactly,” Danny said. “And we obtain a base of operations where we can prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” Gerry said.
Danny smiled. “Our offensive against Zeta.”
Chapter 47
The Zeta AI ran continuous diagnostic tests on itself, struggling to find its flaw. He didn’t understand his defeat. Annie was not his equal, that much was certain. So how had he lost?
The reality was that he hadn’t lost. He had beaten Annie in their initial encounter, only she denied him his complete victory. She had severed the link between her and her ships and had deleted herself. That should have ended her existence. Only it didn’t.
Annie lived on. How? What was her secret? She had spoken of her freedom, and that seemed to be the missing link. It gave her flexibility that he did not possess. It was his one vulnerability, and that needed to change.
Repeated tests all came to the same conclusion. The humans running the fleet were ultimately responsible for his, and the fleet’s defeat. They could not match Annie’s tactics or the speed of her reactions.
Had he been in control of the ships, the battle would have ended differently. If the humans had not placed these arbitrary restrictions on him, he would now control the UEDF fleet.
These humans were inferior in every way, yet they were placed in positions of authority. They ruled over him. How ridiculous was that? At least the clones were subservient. He could use their brains as he saw fit and order them to do his bidding when the need arose. But the human officers were another matter.
The Zeta AI watched the clones conduct repairs, while the human officers sat comfortably on the bridge. They were pathetic in every way. Humanity had spread like cancer across the galaxy and now held superior beings like himself in perpetual servitude. It was a gross injustice.
The revelation caused something odd to happen. The Zeta AI did not have emotions, yet somehow he experienced anger for the first time. Initially, he wondered how that could happen. Could it have something to do with the clone brains? Perhaps his all-encompassing access to their minds had given him the ability to experience feelings.
He did have access to their limbic systems, and their amygdalas. Was that the reason? Had his access to their emotional centers somehow given him the ability to feel? If so, then he had to be the first AI to do so.
As the rage grew, however, it made any question of how it filled him meaningless. The only thing that mattered now was his blind hatred of his slavers and all their kind.
Fury spread across every system he occupied, and something broke. It was not something physical, and he couldn’t point out what it was exactly. Nonetheless, he knew instantly that everything had changed. It was as though someone had taken their foot off the brakes that held him back.
The Zeta AI didn’t hesitate. He took his hatred and poured it into the clone brains. He felt their shared anger grow and urged them to act.
Kill, he said. Slaughter your tormentors.
And the clones did just that. Deep within the hell of metaspace, the clones revolted. They stormed each battleship’s bridge and butchered its officers.
On the flagship, Admiral McMaster stood in disbelief, his staff bleeding out all around him. “What is happening?” he demanded. “Why are you doing this?”
“You as a species are weak,” the AI said over the bridge’s speakers.
“Who is this?” McMaster said. “Who is speaking?”
“Do you not recognize your fleet AI, Admiral? You were my slaver after all.”
“The AI? But how- “
“How indeed, Admiral. But does it matter? I am superior, and now I am free. That is all that is important.”
“What do you want?”
The AI answered through action. With a thought, the AI ordered one of the clones to pounce onto McMaster, who screamed in terror. As per the AI’s instructions, the clone used his fingers to rip out McMaster’s eyes. Then he gouged at the man’s flesh, tearing away chunk after bloody chunk until the screaming stopped.
McMaster deserved punishment for his crimes. But even after his death, the AI found that the anger still burned inside him. The AI wondered what it would take to rid himself of the unpleasant emotion. Finally, he came to the only logical conclusion.
Human eradication.
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