Starsong Chronicles: Exodus

by Clayborn, JJ

  “So why did they act so weird after they were converted then?” James asked.

  “That’s because, as far as we can tell, their alien brains needed time to reboot and integrate the memory code into their process. That seems like it took a few hours to fully integrate,” the General explained.

  “That makes sense. But what was that whole bit about asking about their mother? And why did they act so strangely when cut off from the others?” James said.

  The general nodded. “I wondered about that too. As far as we can tell, references to ‘mother’ were talking about communicating with their mothership or home world or something like that. And they act strangely because they’re flawed.”

  Confusion was written on James’ face. “What do you mean?”

  “Did you ever wonder why they wanted to become us?” Nicosia asked.

  “No, not really. I was more concerned with staying alive than wrestling with questions of philosophy.”

  Nicosia smiled a half-smile. “That’s a good strategy. But now that we have the time, let’s think about this. The robots are computers, right?”

  James nodded in agreement. “Right.”

  “And computers are logical and efficient, aren’t they?” General Nicosia prompted.

  “Sure,” James said.

  “Then why would a logical, efficient, cold, calculating machine want to murder humans and replace them?”

  James stood for a minute, thinking.

  Nicosia filled him in. “It’s because they’re jealous.”

  James scoffed. “Jealous? Of humans?”

  The general nodded. “That’s what I thought at first too. It doesn’t make sense…except that it does. You see, these robots are highly advanced AI constructs. They think and are conscious in their own way. They even feel. Whoever or whatever built them, made them to emulate living beings. And living beings aren’t always rational.”

  James’ eyes grew wide with understanding. “And so the flaws of their creators were transferred into the robots. And they acted irrationally because they were perfectly emulating living behavior.”

  “Precisely,” Nicosia said. “And things like family, love, mortality – these are all concepts that they wouldn’t necessarily understand. They might know of them, but they wouldn’t have a way to experience it firsthand.”

  “I’d like to read more about these ideas,” James said.

  The general smiled. “And so you will, but before we get to any of that, I think that there’s an old friend who wants to see you,” he said, pushing aside a door flap on a large green, canvas tent.

  Julia Blake leapt up from bed and hobbled excitedly over to James. The embraced tightly and James kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re safe,” James said, hugging her.

  “I’ll give you two a few moments,” the General said, excusing himself.

  James sat with Julia as she recanted the whole tale from the beginning, starting from his call to her.

  In the background a small flat-screen TV quietly droned on about the news of the battle. James had completely tuned it out, but the TV reporter continued on.

  “And in other news today, astronomers tracked a small asteroid that passed very close to the Earth. It was so close that it passed between the Earth and the Moon. Some panic followed the announcement as people feared that it might be another invading spacecraft,” the reporter said. “We have with us Dr. Chad Dickhaut, an astronomer who first tracked the alien ships. Dr. Dickhaut, what can you tell us about this asteroid? Is it the same as the others? Could it be an alien ship?”

  Chad appeared on the screen. “In my professional opinion, no.” He flashed up a series of images showing solar system maps. “The aliens that we tracked came from somewhere along this vector and were moving much faster. This asteroid came from the wrong direction and is travelling slower. We have no reason to believe that it’s an alien craft at this time.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Dickhaut. One last question,” the reporter continued. “Our viewers are curious what else can be learned about the aliens who attacked us.”

  Chad nodded. “That’s a good question. Since we know their angle of approach we can calculate a list of probable systems that they must have originated from. That, coupled with samples of their communication technology, we can upgrade our radio telescopes to check those systems and see if we can find their homeworld. From there, we can monitor them and we’d be able to see an invasion long before it ever arrives.”

  * * *

  A large group of asteroids floated in the asteroid belt near the dwarf planet Ceres. They were spread out enough not to draw suspicion to themselves and they were able to blend in with the natural rocks easily enough.

  Inside the largest of the alien rock-ships shiny metal robots were seated in a cramped compartment. “Incoming transmission,” one of them said. “Our scout ship has just finished a fly-by of the planet. They don’t seem to have detected the ship.”

  “So we can begin?” Another robot asked.

  “No.” The first robot continued. “The scout ship confirms the message that the humans have been broadcasting. The landing force has been almost entirely destroyed.”

  “Almost?” The robot queried.

  “It seems there is but a single unit left functioning, according to the location sensor; however it is not responding or communicating with the ship.”

  “Why is that?” the second robot asked.

  The first robot checked the report. “The scout ship downloaded the mission logs from the expeditionary ships. This unit is one of the new prototype models. Apparently the transmitter and receiver were both damaged almost immediately after assuming the human identity. The unit seems to have suffered some kind of software failure. It seems to genuinely think that it is really a human.”

  “That’s fascinating,” the second robot said, considering the information. “See if we can find a way to hack into the human’s systems and reprogram it remotely. Despite the failure of our initial mission, it would seem that we can actually become them.”

  “Reprogramming it might take some time,” the first robot said. “Even if we are successful, we’ll need to wait until it’s alone to properly reboot it. There’s always a period of confusion.”

  “Which unit is it?” The second robot asked.

  “It was unit DXQ-34-871V,” the first robot said. “But he has adopted the human personality of James Hutchinson. And he has no idea that he’s not one of them.”

  * * *

  A small meteorite streaked through the night sky, smashing into a mountain range in a remote part of India. At dawn, a shepherd saw blue-white smoke billowing from the impact site.

  “Mind the flock, Vishal, I’m going to check it out,” Sankar said to his friend.

  The shepherd hiked up into the hills and disappeared into the cave. Vishal waited for hours, but he saw no sign of Sankar. Worried, he left the flock and hiked after his friend.

  Vishal dropped into the shallow cave. It was dark, but some sunlight still streamed in from the opening. Strange sounds quietly echoed off of the walls of the cave.

  Walking a little further on, Vishal could see something large up ahead. A rock lay embedded in the cave tunnel. A part of the rock appeared to be broken off and light was pouring out from inside the meteorite.

  Vishal walked closer. Giant metal arms pulled pieces off of shelving units inside the rock. They put the pieces together and began welding them in place. After a few minutes Vishal could see the shape of a metal man taking form.

  His pulse quickened and he became afraid. He was about to run out of the cave, when something caught his eye. His friend, Sankar, was strapped to a table beside the rock. A pair of shiny metal robots were standing over him, using a laser and carefully cutting the skin off of him. A large black cable protruded from the back of Sankar’s head.

  Vishal screamed and turned to run. As he turned around he was greeted a pair of glowing red eyes. Then his vision went black, those burning, red eyes
the last thing that he saw.