A.I. Destiny 5 Talisman of Tomorrow

by Timothy Ellis

  If they moved out, it came down to which direction. The numbers coming at them demanded they stay together, so three of the four pincers coming at them would be unopposed.

  He had to decide where the worst threat was.

  At the back of his mind was the constant jumping in of ships. One caught his attention. Warspite was shocked to see something else jumping into the system through the jump point leading directly back to the Cat World. Something so odd, he dropped right out of AI mode, and blinked rapidly like a startled human would.

  What looked like an enormous ship, with another smaller ship clamped to it, was flying into the system at an incredible speed. It outstripped their own ships' speeds, and was so fast, none of the weapon fire directed at it by the ambush ships, came anywhere near it. It also helped it had jumped on a major angle from normal, and been heading up away from the plain of the system, making it even harder to be hit.

  Warspite quickly scanned the vessel, and found it wasn't a vessel at all, but impossibly, a living entity. However, the vessel clamped to the fin on the top of the being, was a ship. The ship database identified it as a very old Corvette, armed, but not heavily. Sensors showed more than a third of its underside guns didn't work.

  Warspite was not often surprised, but experienced the feeling when a channel opened, and a familiar Scots accent greeted him.

  "Sorry I took ma time. Have I missed anything yet?"

  "You certainly turn up unexpectedly," replied Warspite.

  "Better late than never," laughed Jamie. "What's happening? I see Seasprite, but what's happening wi' the team? Where's Anna?"

  "They're on the planet's surface. Or they were."

  Warspite quickly brought Jamie up to speed. Jamie thought for a minute.

  "I need tae be down there," he said, and started to calculate how it would be possible, given the impending space battle, and no obvious way to follow the team wherever they'd gone from the pyramid. But he had to try.

  "You don't ask for much," replied Patchet drily.

  They communicated with the whale to get them to the planet as soon as possible. It went up and over the fleet ahead of them.

  Fifty Eight

  Snark, Anna, and Sissness, experienced the bright light and the echoing nothingness of the void. The forces were pulling against them, but Anna was ready for it this time, and held on tightly. Snark experienced the disorientation, and felt ill, but also held on to Anna's hand. His head was whirling, and the light was excruciatingly bright, too bright for his sensitive eyes, even though he had them clamped shut.

  Finally, the light dimmed, and the forces diminished. Snark tentatively opened one eye, and then the other. He was still holding tightly to Anna's hand, but he relaxed and let go. They were here, where-ever 'here' was.

  They were standing in another room, this one seemingly very 'normal', if a hexagonal shape. It was completely bare of any furniture, however there was a window on one side. Staggering slightly from the journey through the void, Snark made his way to the window, followed by the others. He jumped on the sill, even though there was no glass, and looked out.

  They were in a high tower, the window looking out over a city. A ruined city. Snark could see once it had been wondrous, but now it was a shell of its former self. Spreading as far as the eye could see, it hinted at sophistication and great beauty. He felt a bit of vertigo, and jumped back down again.

  Anna looked out on the view, and sighed.

  "It's the city of 'the gods'," she said simply. "I wish you could have seen it as I did in my visions. Vibrant, alive, singing with life." She pointed to a great mound of twisted metal and debris over towards the horizon. "There was a great city hanging in the sky. It must have fallen. I also saw it when it was still up there, but dark and abandoned."

  Anna shivered. What had happened to them? What had caused the destruction of a great civilisation?

  Sissness looked out on the ruins, trying to imagine what the city once was. Nature had taken over, and green trees could be seen sprouting out of buildings, fallen domes sprouted green and gold mats of grasses, vines with coloured flowers climbed walls, and hung from towers. Perhaps even in destruction there could be beauty?

  Snark wondered where they were. They were no longer on Argathea Minor he was sure.

  "Where are we?" he asked the others.

  "Anywhere, nowhere, somewhere," answered Anna, as she gazed out over the ruins.

  "Let's get going," said Snark decisively, not appreciating Anna's answer.

  "Where?" asked Sissness. She gestured out of the window. "It's rather large to search."

  "There must be a clue somewhere," grumped Snark. "We haven't much time."

  "I don't think time will matter much here," suggested Anna. "It's like the Hall of Righteousness on Scylla Prime. It was out of time, no time."

  Snark humphed.

  "This all grew here. So time is time."

  "But we don't know if it's the same here as on Minor. For all we know, this place moves very slowly, and time is passing very quickly for the others. It's what happened on Scylla after all."

  "If time moves slowly here, then this place is significantly older than anything we know, and this civilization died out a great deal further back into time than you've been hinting. I don't think so. This is ancient, but not that ancient."

  Anna shook her head as if clearing it. She'd been with Jamie the last time. She had to get on. She had to act. She checked her suit, and weapons. Her guns were gone, but she still had her backpack, and breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Check your weapons," she ordered the others.

  They did, but their guns were gone as well. They still had their backpacks, pads, tablets, and other gear. Just not anything designed to kill.

  They searched the room for any clues, but there were none. Anna tried to See, but nothing happened. Perhaps they were meant to exit the tower? Anna looked out of the window again. What had she seen in visions before? The tower and the hall of the metal standing pillars. The amulet.

  The amulet would be protected from the destruction and decay of the city. She looked for any intact buildings. The others joined her at the window, and she explained what she was doing. They searched as well.

  "There's another tower over there," said Sissness, pointing.

  Anna and Snark followed the line of her pointing paw, and saw another intact tower some distance away. Next to it was a large building which was still roofed in. Was this the hall? It was the only clue they had. Snark made a mark in the dust on the window sill, and took a direction from the window to the tower using his PC. The team decided to check it out.

  They descended the tower using a circular staircase. It took some time, and left them slightly dizzy, emerging into bright sunlight on a street, with ruined walls surrounding them. Snark pointed the way, and they set off.

  Fifty Nine

  Patters was standing near the marine Major, when she saw a shape glide from one tree to another, and across to another one a bit further away.

  "I'm going to do a quick check around the area," she said, and the Major nodded to her.

  She dived out into the near darkness, following the angle the glider had taken. She found one waiting for her. It was Bottoms-Up.

  "Took you long enough to come," he said. "That was the third flyby I had to make to get your attention."

  "Sorry. Concentrating on the ground. You can fly now?"

  "Well of course I can. Short time in the recupe-pod, and you're ready to fly again. But you need to be concentrating on the air."

  "The air?"

  "We just had a report of giant machines flying over one of our outlier communities on the other side of the continent."

  "How many?"

  "Too many."

  "Damn. Our fleet broke orbit half an hour ago, heading out to fight the fleets inbound. Perfect time to launch a ground assault on us. I assume they're coming this way?"

  "Of course. I suppose you're going to tell me you missed the small f
orce of black shapes which scoped out your forces a few hours ago?"

  "Apparently we did. Were these large hairy beings with eyes in the back of their heads?"

  "Valderians, yes. Usually easy peasy to deal with, but these numbers might take a little more effort than usual."

  Patters was perplexed by the little creature. He seemed so confident.

  "How would you know about valderians?"

  "We're not completely cut off from the sector, even if we are all the way out on the rim."

  Patters was about to ask more questions, but refrained. Instead, she pulled out her tablet, and thumbed it to re-join marine coms.

  "Mouse?"

  "Here. Busy though, can it wait?"

  "Are you detecting any movement in the air on the other side of the continent?"

  There was a slight pause.

  "How did you know? I was just about to send out a warning."

  "Little voice told me. How many?"

  "Do you have a report to make Mr. Mouse?" boomed the voice of Crocatoa.

  "Err, yes. Incoming. I'm still counting, but there are now fifty plus troop transports in the air. Looks like they've been hiding somehow, well enough to avoid our sensors."

  "How precisely are they heading towards us?"

  "Very."

  "Then we likely have scouts nearby. All teams prepare for both ground and air assault."

  "If you don't mind Colonel," said Patters, "I'll start trying to find them for you."

  "You do that. I'll have a team of combat suits ready to hit them if you find them."

  Patters turned her mic off again, and turned back to the glider.

  "You should warn your people to evacuate this entire area. That many troopships could lay waste to a huge area of the forest."

  "Don't worry about us. We know exactly how to respond to a situation like this."

  "Where are the scouts?"

  "Give me a lift?" asked the sugar-glider, who didn't wait for an answer, but jumped onto her shoulders just behind her head. The little hands had a tight grip of her suit. "What's this you're wearing? This isn't fur, is it?"

  "It's a special combat suit."

  "Neat. Want one of these."

  "Ok, you can come with me, but keep your head down."

  Patters crept through the forest, and a short time later began to hear movement noises coming from in front of her. She crept up closer to them, and found herself looking at a dozen valderians, one of which had something to one eye, looking in the direction of her own troops.

  "I suggest you take a high position while I deal with these," she whispered, already readying an arrow.

  The glider launched itself towards a tree, attracting the attention of the nearest valderian. He began to turn towards Patters, but her first arrow took it in an eye, and it fell to the ground with a crashing noise, which alerted the others. Two more followed, before the valderians could react. Slugs shredded the undergrowth where Patters had been, but she was running fast now, and using her speed and agility to dart into range, loose an arrow, and move again before they could react.

  With half their number down, the valderians came together back to back, and started spraying slugs in all directions at once. Patters came to a stop behind a tree, having felt several slugs hit her suit. She turned the mic on her tablet on again.

  "Could use a little help here," she said, and pushed a button to send an actual location the combat droids could come to.

  The firing went on, but the combat droids only needed a minute to come into pulse rifle range, and the remaining valderians died at the same time. Patters came out from behind her tree, and the glider landed on her shoulder again.

  "You like doing things the hard way, don't you." It grinned at her. "So do we."

  Patters didn't know what to say to that, so she started back after the combat droids, which were retreating to the fortified position.

  Her tablet bleeped for attention, and she found a map on it of the whole continent, with a big blob on it which was slowly moving towards them. The number next to it was now seventy five. A pop up showed each ship to be carrying one hundred troops.

  "Withdraw to the Pyramid," came the voice of Crocatoa. "We need a better defensive position here in one place, or that lot will simply overrun us with numbers."

  Patters ran faster, listening to the sounds of troops getting new orders.

  Sixty

  "You mustn't be afraid to dream bigger darling," Jane said to herself, remembering a line from an ancient flat screen she'd once watched with Jon.

  She'd underestimated. Badly. She'd been working on the basis of the valderians deploying a few hundred troops, perhaps as many as five hundred. She'd brought enough troops to handle five hundred with ease. But seven thousand? A small division would be assaulting her small battalion. In theory, their superior tech could handle a ten to one disadvantage, but beyond that, sheer numbers made a huge difference if you could get them in one place at the same time. They obviously planned on jumping in en-masse, so it was more than possible they could.

  Just in case she'd underestimated, she'd provided herself with a way of evening the odds. Now she wished she'd been a little more paranoid. Oh well, she had what she had, and Havoc hadn't had enough room for more than one of the fighters anyway. She could have used the Dropships now, themselves lethal enough, but there you go. They were half an hour out into space, and by the time they arrived here, it would be too late. Besides, if they survived the coming fight, the Dropships would be needed to evac the troops. Losing them would be all sorts of inconvenient.

  The Excalibur rose from the water off the nearest coastline bay to where the Pyramid was. She pushed the speed to maximum, and streaked upwards to gain altitude, bringing the heavy fighter around to face the oncoming mass of ships.

  She pondered the ramifications of ground forces being on the ground ahead of the space forces arriving.

  This was a trap in every sense of the word, and one which had been set up well in advance. The Brotherhood had obviously known they would eventually come here, and known it a long way ahead of them. But equally obviously, they'd never found the pyramid themselves. Maybe they hadn't even looked, relying on Seasprite to find it for them. Once located, all they had to do was hit it with enough troops. Take the pyramid, and anyone coming back with the amulet simply walked into the lion's den, and you took it from them at gun point. Nice plan.

  One of the things Jane felt inadequate about, was her knowledge of other species. She had too much to do, and too many things to think about, even for an AI, to be able to do everything. So things like the military potential of most species they were encountering remained only guesswork. And her tech superiority had also made her complacent. She made a mental note for herself to find one of the AI's with an interest in military intelligence. Taking a battalion to fight a division was akin to taking a knife to a gunfight. Even if it was a very good knife. Jane had read every book on military strategy and logistics ever written by humans, but experience was something different. She knew this on an abstract level, but there was nothing like being hit in the face with it.

  She brought up the weapon systems. The front missile launcher had twenty fire and forget missiles ready to go, with thirty image recognitions to follow after. In theory, more than enough to bring down all the transports. In practice, well she would soon see. The torpedo launcher was full, but torpedoes needed precise short range aim, and the one thing she envied Jon for was his ability to fire on intuition, and be right more often than not. She had reaction times in her favour, but this didn't necessarily improve aim. She grouped up the front guns so they all fired together, figuring a killing shot each time she fired was better than trying to hit more often. The turrets she tasked to missile defence first, and targets of opportunity second.

  She came into missile range over the middle of the continent, and began punching out the fire and forgets. By the time she had all twenty out, the lead transport had seen her, and the whole formation had
changed direction slightly, putting her on a head to head with the lead ship.

  In AI mode, she examined the ships, finding them to be a much larger variation of the attack copters used on Scylla. They were bristling with guns, as if while the troops were inside, most of them had a gun to fire. Or it could be those were the troop's guns, poking out through holes in the hull. Hard to tell.

  The one predictable thing about using unpredictable weapons, was they wouldn't do what you really needed. None of the fire and forget missiles hit the lead ship. In fact, no two of them hit the same ship. They punching in through the hulls with part of the explosion making it inside, but none of the ships exploded, or even fell out of formation.

  "Ok tough guys," she said to herself, "let's see you handle this."

  She lined up on the lead ship, waited until the torpedo range icon lit up, and fired three. She immediately pulled the fighter up and over the lead ship, flashing past its remains, as the front of it exploded, and the rest dropped towards the canopy. Troops still alive began throwing themselves out the jump doors.

  The next ship in line she gave a single gun salvo, in a dip, fire, up motion, and continued on to the next. Her shields were shivering with slug hits coming from all directions now, but she kept going through the formation. Dip, torpedoes, up. Dip, guns, up. Again and again and again. She took a few large jolts as heavier weapons hit her shields, and several missiles made it through her point defence.

  When she came out of the rear of the formation, she found she'd achieved her first objective, which was to shred the formation itself. Two thirds of it were still flying onwards, but they were scattered all over the sky now, any attempt at a formation abandoned. This would make the drop zone much larger, and make them take a lot longer to form decent sized ground formations.

  She was surprised to find her shields were down below fifty percent. One of the problems was they were designed for energy weapons in space. Fire hundreds of small projectiles from all directions at once, and the shields couldn't cope. Something else they needed to address for ground actions in the future.