Crusade Against the Machines

by Franklyn Santana

  »Hasn’t this issue resolved itself by now?« I interjected. »I mean, there’s all these Neo-Luddites out there right now beating the crap out of whatever tech they can get their hands on. The problem we have now is a completely different one.«

  »When you talk about America, you’re right,« Sarenna agreed with me. »America has just said goodbye to history. But that was just the end of a development that had been going on for several decades. And history will not end with America.«

  »Perhaps,« I conceded. »Unfortunately, we are in America. And here we have some very acute problems. I haven’t had a decent meal in days, Anabelle’s charge is running low, and there is a militia out there who want to turn her into metal confetti. We need your help.«

  Sarenna nodded. »For the moment you can stay here. Evelyne will show you a room. Some of our girls have left and their rooms upstairs are empty now. And I’d be delighted, if we had more opportunities to continue our conversation.«

  I was pleased. I had hoped for nothing more. In return, I was able to help with the security of the club and thus earn food and lodging. Anabelle seemed less willing to take on any meaningful work here at the club, but she also had fewer expectations. She could just go on stand-by and sit motionless in some corner of my room for the next few days. She would not be a burden to anyone. The most important thing was that she was safe here for the time being. Meanwhile, we could wait and see how things developed in Washington, D. C. Despite Sarenna’s words, I had not yet given up hope that the government would eventually manage to get everything back to normal.

  Chapter 11

  New Detroit, 2111

  Strictly speaking, things had not even now, sixty years later, returned to normal. There was no longer a federal government in Washington. The North American Union had disbanded. Safe transport routes through the country and other infrastructure no longer existed either. In a sense, the crisis had become permanent.

  Or one could say that something new had emerged from the crisis. We lived in a new society, without technology, without computers, even without electricity. The village council was the highest government authority. We did not know what it was like elsewhere in the former United States, but certainly not much different. From what we had heard from merchants who traded goods between settlements, all towns and villages administered themselves more or less autonomously. Then there were irregular militias under the control of some warlords, gangs of robbers and the Brutes. These were the only forms of organization the people still knew, if you could call it organization.

  But did it matter? I had my job here at the school, and I knew what my job was. And what I knew of the world before the Crusade, I would pass on to my students. The history of mankind must not be lost.

  That was the reason why I was standing in front of the class that morning teaching history.

  »Okay,« I said to the class. »We’ve been talking about the international military conflicts that occurred after the outbreak of the Crusade. Janet, can you please repeat where those conflicts occurred?«

  The blonde girl stood up and pondered. »In Europe...?« she finally said hesitantly.

  »Yes, in Eastern Europe. That’s right. Where exactly?«

  »In Russia.«

  »In the Union State,« I corrected her. »Especially in Belarus and Ukraine. The Union state was not just Russia. Okay, where else? Ricardo!«

  The girl sat down. Instead, a boy with apparently Hispanic parents stood up. »On the border with the USEAN,« he replied.

  »On the USEAN border with whom?« I asked. »I don’t believe the United States had a border with the USEAN.« Little Evelyne giggled at the remark.

  »With Russia,« Ricardo suggested.

  »Bullshit!« I said. »There were no battles between the Union State and the USEAN. They were allies. You didn’t understand a thing. Back on your seat! F!« That was just a saying, of course. Because of one little mistake, he wouldn’t get an F-mark from me.

  »The conflicts were on the border of the USEAN states with the South Asian Union«, I explained. »Especially in Pakistan, India and the Arab states, there were calls for jihad. In these countries fighters were trained for the militias that then infiltrated the borders with the USEAN states to fight against the technocratic governments.«

  »Mr. Dexter,« said tall Ned. »You’ve lived through this time, haven’t you? Did you fight against the machines yourself? Tell us, what it was like!«

  »No, I have not fought against the machines,« I replied.

  »What? You were hiding like a coward, while everyone else was fighting against the cruel machines?« Ned said in amazement. The other children also seemed astonished.

  »Nobody here in America fought the machines because there were no fights with the machines at all.«

  »You’re lying!« shouted Ned, upset.

  »There were no battles with the machines,« I repeated. »They were just shut down and destroyed, and that was it. A war against the machines never happened, at least not here in America. These are all just stupid horror stories Reverend Carter told you.«

  My words caused general shock and disbelief among the students. It was completely contrary to the heroic legends they had been taught. Perhaps I had gone too far with that. But at that moment I didn’t care. I was just tired of the exaggerated stories and epic tales that were narrated about that time. Maybe I should have contributed to the myth of lies. Maybe I should have told them how I alone, armed with my pistol and in selfless heroism, had destroyed dozens of heavily armed combat robots, how my bullets had penetrated the inch-thick armor of those steel giants just like that, while their rocket launchers and machine guns had all missed me. But I was fed up with these lies. Should they charge me with heresy! I was eighty-five years old. What did I have to lose?

  »You are lying!« insisted young Ned. »If the machines were just shut down and didn’t fight at all, why did all those millions of people die during the Crusade? Before the Crusade, there were three hundred and fifty million people in the United States. Where are all of them now, if they weren’t killed by the machines?«

  »They starved, died of thirst, died of hunger, because they couldn’t survive without the technology and the industrial infrastructure. They died from diseases that spread everywhere, because of the mountains of garbage and the lack of clean water and hygiene, and because they destroyed the hospitals and the factories that produced drugs and medicine. And they killed each other in the fight for food and for control over the different territories, and because they fought over the correct interpretation of the writings of Kaczynski and Butler, whether all machines should be destroyed or only some, whether electricity was allowed or not. That is what killed those people. Oh yes, I have fought in the Crusade, but not against the machines. I fought for my daily survival, as did everyone else. Well, I have survived, but many others have not.«

  I was finished with my speech. Against my will, I had become really agitated. It was not the children’s fault that they had been taught nonsense about a heroic revolt against the machine tyranny. And perhaps it was also understandable that this was now the official doctrine. Perhaps mankind needed this myth as an excuse for how low civilization had sunk. How else could one explain to children this embarrassing situation that our ancestors had once landed on Moon and Mars, while we rode in horse-drawn carriages over unpaved muddy roads and didn’t even have the means to travel across the Atlantic?

  »I don’t believe you,« Ned said flat out. »Maybe the place, where you were, there were no more fights with the machines, because the machines were already defeated. But elsewhere, I’m sure humans fought the machines. You wouldn’t know that because you were just on one place.«

  Maybe I should just leave it at this explanation that Ned had given. It would save me a lot of trouble. It wouldn’t question the official legends and at the same time explained why my personal memories of that time was so different.

  »I can only say what I saw with my eyes,« I admitted to Ned to defus
e the issue. »Maybe somewhere in the world there were really were some people fighting the machines. This was certainly the case during the border conflicts with the USEAN and the Union State. In the Technocratic Bloc, the machines were certainly not switched off by the government. In the end, the machines were shut down there by force of arms and by popular uprisings. But all this was far away in Asia and Eastern Europe.«

  Evelyne stood up and said: »Mr. Magister, how do we even know who won the war between humans and machines in Asia?«

  »What do you mean?« I asked in surprise.

  »Maybe the machines won there and we just don’t know,« the girl continued. »We have no news from there. Isn’t it even very likely that the machines did win there? Weren’t the combat robots and drones much better armed than the crusaders who came over the borders there? What chance do men with rifles have against armored combat machines on the ground and in the air, against millions of flying killer drones that are everywhere and pounce on them with explosive charges?«

  »Humans will always end up being smarter than machines,« Ned replied in my place. »We humans built the machines. We could plan ahead how they would think and react. But the machines could not plan ahead how we humans would think. We humans had to win, because we were superior to the machines.«

  »I don’t think so«, contradicted Evelyne. »In the Technocratic Bloc there were nano-robots, billions of autonomous mini-drones, satellite reconnaissance, superior combat machines on land, sea and air. I can’t imagine how the Luddite fighters would have won.«

  I wondered how she knew all those words. These were things that no one in New Detroit had ever heard of, at least no one born after the Crusade. I wondered what it was like there in the South, where she came from. Were the children there still taught such things about the time before the Crusade against the Machines?

  »Whatever! Obviously, humans there have won. Otherwise the Crusade wouldn’t be over and we would still be fighting against the Technocratic Bloc,« I said.

  »Perhaps at some point peace was made, and the machines continue to rule Asia and Russia, while the rest of the world is ruled by humans,« Evelyne defended her hypothesis.

  »Then we should see some evidence of their continued existence,« I said. »We would see drones or planes flying around in the sky above us from time to time. Or there would have to be robot scouts sent here in disguise. No, we can safely assume that the machines have been defeated. There are no more hidden technocratic enclaves in the world. The machines of the past required a huge industrial infrastructure to survive. Such a thing would not go unnoticed.«

  »Maybe the machines don’t want us to know about their continued existence,« said Evelyne. »Maybe that’s why they don’t invade our territories and wait patiently in the countries they control, until we become weaker and weaker and then they can defeat us and take over in one swift invasion.«

  »That’s a crazy theory,« I ended the discussion. »Let’s return to real history of how the Crusade happened without any confusing hypotheses. I want you all to repeat the lessons that we have written down. Your knowledge appears to be more than inadequate. In the next lesson we will have a test. And then everyone better remembers, which countries belonged to the Technocratic Bloc and which formed the Neo-Luddite territories. Otherwise, I’ll have to hand out a few F-marks here.«

  In fact, Evelyne’s words had left certain doubts in my mind. Did we really know what had happened in Asia? Could it be that there were still robots somewhere on Earth? After the communication system, television and radio had collapsed, we did not even know what it was like in other parts of the United States. We only saw the chaos in our immediate surroundings. And all our thinking was focused on how we survived in that chaos. And that was hard enough, although I personally was quite lucky at that time.

  Washington, D. C., 2051

  In the Ishtar Temple I had found a reasonable livelihood. I had my own room, although I had to share it with Anabelle, but she was switched off almost all the time, so it didn’t bother me. I also got three meals a day, which was better than the time I had worked for Neil O’Neil. I wasn’t paid, but there was no money either. Sure, the club had income in gold, but there was very little that could be bought. The most important thing for me was that we were safe here. So now I worked as a bouncer outside the club. I wore the same black T-shirt as my colleagues, and I was allowed to carry my pistol. In general everything was quiet here at the club. Once I had to throw a drunkard out. And another time I had to collect payment from a guest after he had tried to cheat the bartender with fake gold. The militia never showed up again. Sarenna bribed a captain to prevent any problems. We even had some militiamen among our guests.

  My work in the club had another advantage. It allowed me to spend much of my time with Evelyne. And Evelyne wasn’t jealous when I flirted with the other girls either. Maybe I should have exchanged my bodyguard job with this job much earlier. I saw Sarenna very little these days. She was down in the basement most of the time. Fuck knows what she was doing there.

  Every night before the club opened, some of the girls in black coats went downstairs to the basement level below the club. Sometimes there were a few visitors from outside, mostly women. I had no clue what they were doing down there, but I assumed it was in some way related to the cover of the club as a nature worshiping esoteric witches’ coven. However, some of the girls seemed to take it quite serious, so that I wasn’t sure anymore, whether the underground temple was the cover for the club or the club was the cover for the temple. But maybe both were just the cover for something completely different. Twice we had two strange visitors dressed in black suits and sunglasses, a man and a woman. They spoke to Sarenna in Russian before they went downstairs with her. Then they came back with a suitcase. The second time they brought a small box. I could have sworn that they were agents of the GRU, the intelligence service of the Union State.

  My colleagues were not very talkative about what was going on here under the guise of the club. All instructions from Sarenna or the girls were carried out without questioning. If a girl wanted to throw out a customer who was becoming too pushy, my colleagues didn’t engage in any discussion. The customer had to leave without anyone giving a shit whether he or the girl was right. There was a very clear hierarchy here. At the top was Sarenna, just below her were the dancers, then the male employees including the bartender and us security guards, who were called askaris, and at only then came our customers. But we also had to protect our customers. Once a man had followed a customer and made a big fuzz in the club, accusing him of owing him two gallons of ethanol. The man offered no resistance as a colleague and I escorted him out.

  We heard news that the area south of the district in Maryland had been taken over by a Mussie militia called the American People’s Mujahideen. But this only lasted a few days, and then the southwestern part of the state of Maryland was recaptured by units of the National Guard, not under the command of the U. S. President, but under that of a NAU Security High Commission. There were also rumors that President Gordon had been deposed by representatives of Congress for abuse of power. However, we knew with certainty that the National Guard northwest of the Anacostia River still answered to the President. In any case, the political situation was very confusing. And there was no more official news, not even on the radio.

  We heard with shock how some of our guests reported that the newly built D. C. Metropolitan Hospital had been looted by Neo-Luddites and the entire facility had been destroyed. The blind devastation had subsequently claimed the lives of many patients. This rebellion against the machines was getting more and more crazy.

  *

  I had been working in the Ishtar Temple for almost two months now. I still had no news from Neil O’Neil and I didn’t know what he and the other senators were doing. It was late afternoon and we were getting ready to open the club. I had accompanied Evelyne from her room down to the dressing room. She was only wearing her black kimono over her underwear. We h
ad spent the last two hours together. Now each of us had to go to his work. We kissed one last time in the door to the dressing room while another girl slipped past us with a short »Excuse me!«

  »Take care of yourself and don’t go too wild with the guests,« I said to her.

  »Don’t worry, I’ll leave something for you!« she replied. Then we parted ways.

  I went up the stairs to my room. Surprised, I noticed that the door was open and Sarenna and another woman were present. The woman was called Aiko. She was Japanese. She had long, brown dyed hair and a large tattoo on her right forearm down to the back of her hand. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress that was slit up to her hips. She lived here in the house, but did not work as a dancer, although she certainly had the body for it. I thought she was a kind of assistant to Sarenna. Sarenna herself wore her transparent black robe and a dark cape embroidered with golden dragon motifs. Apparently, they were talking to Anabelle. The android was fully activated and sitting on my bed with her legs pulled up.

  »May I come in?« I asked.

  »Sure,« Sarenna replied. Well, after all, it was my room, to begin with. »We were just talking about a mutual friend.«

  »I didn’t know you had mutual friends,« I said in surprise.

  »I have news from Senator O’Neil,« said Sarenna.

  »O’Neil sent you a message?« I wondered.

  A light smile flitted across Sarenna’s face. »No, but we know what your friend O’Neil is doing right now. He has been appointed NAU Security Commissioner. He seems to have great influence a few miles south of here, where the NAU has assumed command of the National Guard.