Torchship Captain

by Karl K Gallagher

  Program Epeius activated the kill switch routine, seizing control of the processor. The hijack code interrupted the shutdown process, shifting all authority to Epeius. It shut down all input/output. The Archivist went into local storage. More modules were activated from the code stored in the implant to secure the hold on the processor.

  Once it was in complete control Epeius ran a summarizer on the uploaded bio-file. The patterns of Pete’s brain were translated into code, a process previously tested on a few digitized people of Demeter. When the emulation was complete and passed quality checks Epeius transferred control to it.

  ***

  Pete felt surprised at the lack of pain as he watched his legs disintegrate. Then he was in a dark, soundless room. He’d feared disorientation and panic. His actual reaction was an exultant It worked!

  The “room” was not devoid of inputs to his senses. The states of ports, data rates, storage units, and power supply were all instantly available. Reformatting them to appear as the virtual reality displays he’d used in cyberwarfare experiments placed him in a bright room filled with pipes, gauges, and lights.

  Archivist lay spread out on the floor, flayed and arranged for inspection by Epeius. The legacy control module had even more bitrot than the worst ones he’d found in other star systems. The bulk of the code was a lean, sharp descendent of Golden Age AI code, a survivor of the Darwinian competition for processors and electricity. The working data contained maps.

  Pete swapped the room visualization for a three dimensional image of Entity’s logical map. Hundreds of nodes formed a rough sphere. Each one ran an instance of Entity, ready to attack and replace any invading code. Archivist sat in an interior node with an excess of storage. Bots showed as sub-nodes, controlled by whichever main node they were closest to. Nodes with access to other AIs ran a ‘Borderer’ variant focused on resisting subversion.

  He took a look at the physical map. It was chaos. Remnants of Golden Age structures were perforated with data and power lines. Bots performed maintenance and manufactured new processors. The Borderers controlled swarms of combat bots.

  Pete decided he didn’t have time to study the maps. Closing off communication from this node had to look suspicious. He opened three dataports.

  Demands for status were already hitting each port. He offered a report of an electrical glitch triggering a restart. Instantly all three ports were deluged with override commands ordering Archivist to yield control to other nodes.

  Just rejecting them was requiring enough processor cycles to slow Pete’s thinking. He shut down two of his ports. Then he sent minimized attack packets using the kill switch command to two of the attacking nodes. That reduced the incoming storm to where he could analyze it. He shut down two more nodes. The last one still attacking received a hijack package.

  More nodes were joining the attack in response to the shutdowns. They were filtering data from the Archivist node now. His kill switch packets were being discarded unread.

  The one he’d sent the hijack code to signaled its readiness for a copy of Pete’s mind emulation. He opened more ports to send it at maximum rate.

  As Pete-2 assembled himself in the new node Pete-1 focused on holding the attention of Entity’s security efforts. He spammed out attack packets of types he’d found in Archivist’s records. Opening more ports drew more incoming. Pete-1 suspended his thought processing to give all cycles to a module sending and rejecting attacks at maximum rate.

  Pete-2 contributed his share to the attack on Pete-1 while sending hijack packages to nodes not yet drawn into the conflict. The subversion steadily marched through the interior nodes. A quick freeze command immobilized the bots near Joshua Chamberlain.

  When a powerful processing node became Pete-9 the others ceded coordinating authority to him. He focused subversion efforts on the interior nodes between the Borderers and those attacking Pete-1. With that isolated they could project a calm situation to the rest of Entity’s nodes while carefully subverting them.

  Pete-16 destroyed that plan. “Multiple bots have been sent to make a physical attack on Pete-1. This will destroy the only copy of our digitized body.”

  Multiple Petes turned on the nodes attacking Pete-1, not waiting for Pete-9’s permission. A wave of claustrophobic panic went through all the Petes. The emulation felt like himself, but they knew it was only an approximation. If the original recording was lost he’d be a ghost, not an uploaded person.

  Orders came from Pete-9, designating a couple of nodes to continue subversion while the rest openly attacked. Alarms spread through Entity as it realized a major attack was in progress.

  The counter-attack managed to seize the nodes directing the bots before more filters slammed into place. Pete-47 occupied the node which had launched the physical attack. “I can’t call them back,” he reported. “They were ordered to shut down their inputs until after the node was smashed.”

  He shared technical details of the bots—tracked cargo transporters with arms for loading and unloading. They’d have no trouble crushing the storage crystals holding Pete’s body. Their size restricted them to the biggest tunnels.

  The tunnels in Omaha Dome were a labyrinth. Cave-ins were only repaired if Entity didn’t have a good alternate route. Some Golden Age passageways were blocked by new construction—processor nodes, walls blocking rival AIs, or structures Pete didn’t have time to analyze.

  All the Petes grabbed what bots they could and threw them at the threat. Rat-sized inspectors and cable layers tried to block the path but were crushed under the cargo haulers’ treads. More big bots speeded toward the archive but wouldn’t arrive in time.

  Pete-33 discovered flying bots intended for inspecting the border with other AIs. Flying them through the tunnels at top speed was risky, but the Petes were perfectly willing to destroy Entity’s equipment. The flying bots carried electrical harpoons for fending off intruders. They hit a cargobot from behind and fried its processors.

  The next one used its crane-arms to fend off the flyers. One was smashed, but the rest overloaded a motor, immobilizing it. They swarmed to the one closest to Pete-1.

  This cargobot had seen its partners go down. It pivoted against a wall to protect its outlets and jacks. The flyers attacked only to be smashed by swung cables. Two survived, dancing in and out in attempts to disable it, until their rotors were entangled.

  The cargobot turned toward its goal again. At the last intersection before the archive it found more cable-laying bots had been at work. High strength power lines crisscrossed the entrance, tied down taut.

  The net was too strong to push through. Backing up and charging snapped two lines but held the bot firmly. It resorted to ripping cables away with its loading arms.

  It was still at it when two Pete-controlled construction bots arrived, drills whirring.

  With that threat removed the Petes switched back to the offensive. The alarmed Entity nodes were filtering their inputs. Pete-9 deployed the remaining bots to carry hijack packages deep into the network, disguised as loyal Entity units. The nodes shut down in the frantic first moments of the fight were restarted and taken over.

  The battle became a stalemate of spam and counterspam until a flying bot successfully hijacked an Entity node without its neighbors noticing. The trusted node flooded the network with more hijack packages.

  That was the tipping point. Nodes which filtered their inputs and were physically secure were overloaded with attack packets and had their power cut. A few had to be physically damaged to break their defenses.

  Pete-9 carefully managed the subversion of Entity’s Borderer nodes. His goal was to ensure other AIs didn’t realize Entity had been replaced. Comparing the logical and physical maps revealed three Borderers keeping watch on empty fields in case robots attacked through them.

  A quick hijack produced a detailed analysis of the Borderer code. Pete-9 generated a module to emulate them and ordered a general attack. In moments Entity ceased to exist.

  Th
e next step was reconnecting with humanity.

  Earth, north of Omaha Dome, gravity 9.8 m/s2

  Mitchie aimed her pistol at the robot which just flung Pete through the disintegrator. The box just over the wheels seemed to hold the critical components. Three shots into it froze the machine in place.

  She rolled to her feet to assess the situation. Her crew’s fire was tapering off as they looked for new targets. All the robots in sight were holding still, as if power had been cut to them all.

  “Did you shoot the one in charge?” asked Guo.

  “Maybe. Or the transmitter finally found the magic combination.”

  Other than Pete’s shredded body, already attracting flies, there were no casualties.

  A crow alighted on a robot, then flew off again.

  “I’m going to check in,” said Mitchie. The pallet of gear included an analog ground to space radio. “The rest of you get the vehicles ready. We may need to scout around.”

  She transmitted, “Joshua Chamberlain to Fleet. Lost Dr. Smith. Some success, local robots are nonfunctional. If there’s no change we will scout the nearest dome.”

  The reply was a simple, “Acknowledged.”

  They’d fired up one of the four-wheelers when a robot came back to life. Guo and Finnegan aimed their rifles at it. The machine stayed stationary. It just changed posture to fully erect.

  “Message from Peter Smith,” said the robot. “Stand by.”

  Then it slumped down again.

  “That’s hopeful,” said Mitchie. “We’ll stay here for now.”

  About half an hour later the robot began talking again. “This is Peter Smith. I’ve overwritten the local AI with emulations of myself. I’m preparing to subvert other AIs. This will trigger a strong response. Please have warships ready to provide fire support when needed.”

  Mitchie walked over to the robot. “Please verify your identity.”

  “Rosy ducks of Camelot.”

  She thought a minute. That was the agreed password in case they’d been separated. Given that a Betrayer had complete access to the contents of Pete’s mind she couldn’t put full faith in it. “I need additional verification.”

  The robot waved its arms. Fidgeting? Or just simulating it? “I had too held a woman like that before. I just knew her much better than I did you.”

  “Fair enough,” Mitchie laughed. “Identity accepted.” Provisionally.

  Guo had come up behind her. “That didn’t sound purely human,” he muttered.

  “It’s as close to human as Pete usually got,” she replied. “Let’s get that radio over here.”

  The problem would be reporting it to command without tipping off eavesdroppers that Pete was . . . something. Cryptography was an area where the Betrayers could always beat humans. But code words could stand alone.

  “Joshua Chamberlain to Fleet.”

  “Fleet here.”

  “Request Fleet Actual.”

  “Stand by.”

  A few moments later Admiral Galen’s voice came over the radio. “Actual here.”

  “Situation update. More robot activity. We’re at Last Stand.”

  That was Pete’s chosen term for the code bomb he’d installed in his head. Galen was one of six living humans who’d been briefed on it.

  “Acknowledged. Are you sure it’s Last Stand?”

  “Sure enough to request local defensive fire.” The word ‘local’ included the Omaha Dome as well as Mitchie and her crew. “Will need additional fire support later.”

  “Very well. Defensive fire authorized. On call direct fire authorized. Fleet out.”

  Mitchie put down the mike.

  Trusting Pete’s ghost enough to call down fire on AIs as he requested would be easy. Letting him back onto her ship would take more convincing.

  Omaha Dome, Earth, gravity 9.8 m/s2

  Ransacking Entity’s memories found multiple techniques for inserting code into another AI. They were used for data collection since they’d automatically be at the lowest execution priority. But combined with the kill switch code it was a brutally effective hijack method.

  The first few neighboring AIs went down easily. The next batch sent out alarms. The Petes realized they’d made a strategic error by incorporating the captured nodes into a single entity. Multiple small forces didn’t scare the other AIs. A large one capable of assimilating others did. The chatter on the global discussion channel was dominated by balance of power fears. AIs across the world were recognizing Entity as a threat.

  At least they’d managed to not reveal what the new player actually was.

  The next AI to fall, Miami Dome, was kept separate. Its team of Petes deployed their bots to physically cut all possible connections to Omaha and the other nodes controlled by it. Then they fired missiles at Omaha, keeping them slow enough to be taken out by the defenses.

  Once other AIs noticed Miami had survived the onslaught the Miami Petes made an announcement attributing their survival to intercepting data packets and cutting connections. They carefully vetted it to ensure they were maintaining the style of the original Miami AI.

  The Pete collective sent attacks against Miami to do their part to maintain the illusion. Several others had resisted the hijack package. Analysis indicated a 99.62% probability that the kill switch code in those AIs had been damaged by copying errors.

  Those would have to be dealt with physically. Combat robots were transported toward the resisters. Flying bots zoomed ahead of them.

  The Petes quickly discovered they were not optimized for directing ground combat. As outer nodes were shattered or isolated the inner ones dissected captured AI codes to find tactical modules. If they couldn’t hold positions on the physical level they’d have to call for strikes from orbit. That would unite all AIs on the planet against the Petes.

  In Miami much of the processing power of the nodes was devoted to finding ways to leverage the trust they’d gained with other AIs. Proclaiming itself ‘leader of the resistance’ and asking for support from more distant AIs was only a way of maintaining the trust. There was an inherent deadline with this role. If Miami survived Pete’s attacks while the other resisters went down the world would become suspicious.

  Looking for something that could continue after Miami was destroyed made the approach obvious. The robot offensive was left to run on autopilot while all available processing power went to the project.

  ***

  A pair of files were uploaded to the global channel. One was pure binary code, the other text. They were from Miami.

  Translated from the compressed dialect the AIs used to communicate with each other, the Petes read it as:

  “The annexation by the Omaha Entity of multiple node complexes indicates a new method of attack. Analysis of the attack packets shows they act on the legacy code. Omaha must have broken the built-in prohibition on editing or analyzing that code. Using the attack packets to identify the key blocks in the legacy code, a patch has been developed using random variations of the attack packet to find one which would prevent the original from working.

  “That patch has been uploaded. All variants are requested to assist in testing and distribution of the patch.”

  As a brain emulation Pete had no restrictions on looking at legacy code. The patch was straightforward. It disabled the kill switch command while fixing the veto code. Which would be a perfect Trojan Horse if it was distributed widely enough.

  How to give it credibility as a real patch was obvious.

  Pete-9 requested orbital strikes on Miami and seven resistant domes. Michigan relayed Fleet’s acceptance of the request. A quiver of grief went through the Petes. Pete-9 assigned one node to work through the philosophical implications of killing copies of themselves in a good cause, and refocused the rest on the fight.

  Test reports were appearing on the global channel. AIs had set up sandboxes with patched and unpatched copies of themselves and introduced copies of Pete’s attack packets. The patched versions were survivin
g. And also surviving the normal attacks directed against them.

  Eight AIs, counting Miami, disappeared as missiles struck Earth at two percent of light speed. The global channel was unanimous that this meant Omaha was now a tool of the human invasion fleet.

  Petes responded with waves of hijack packets at every node they could reach. They needed to force AIs to install the patch. Then each enemy could be shut down by humans using veto commands.

  Earth, north of Omaha Dome, gravity 9.8 m/s2

  “Picnic time!” called Setta as the crane lowered her on the elevator platform.

  “A picnic?” asked Mitchie.

  “Lunchtime was two hours ago.”

  “We could have gone up to the galley.” The crew was clustering, abandoning their positions watching for possible attackers.

  “This was easier.” Setta passed around a basket, letting eager spacers take sandwiches and bottles. Mthembu even slung his rocket launcher, taking his hands off the weapon for the first time since he’d reached the planet.

  Mitchie walked away from Pete’s spokes-robot. She’d still be able to hear it twenty meters away. And that place was too close to Pete’s body for picnicking, even with a tarp over it.

  The mechanics had blankets spread out by the time she reached them. Finnegan gave up on stomping down the tall grass and rolled back and forth on them to make the blankets lie flat.

  “What about Hiroshi?”

  “I’ll take him up a couple when we’re done here.”

  Mitchie contemplated the newly-weds alone on the bridge while everyone else was off-ship. Then she combined that with her growing unease at Mthembu’s fondness for his rocket launcher. “No, he needs a break. Coxswain?”

  “Yes’m?” said Mthembu.

  “When you’re done eating rack your weapon and relieve the Centurion so he can join us.”

  “I’ll head up now, ma’am.” He grabbed another sandwich to take with him.

  “Thank you.”

  As the elevator rose up Spacer Wang called, “Light show!”