by D S Emerson
“Earth is completely owned by the robots now,” Jaina told him. “Their population is increasing more and more all the time, shaping the planet as it fits them,” she said while she was peeking at the screens.
“I know, and they probably need more energy now than before, since no energy source remains on Earth and their numbers have grown immensely,” Bek replied. While images from Earth were displayed on the screens, showing robots occupying the planet where humans had once been the dominant species, a voice started to transmit a message to the population of the city.
“Humans who are allocated livable space on planet Cennan: the AI coordination module, version seventy-six, is addressing you,” the city-wide message said. Bek and Jaina tried to hear the message while at the same time staying hidden as best as they could. “When organics accepted their defeat and that their successors on Earth were going to be our artificial constructs, as a token of appreciation we allowed you to remain on Cennan, and serve us with minimal presence on our behalf. For decades, you kept your part of the deal, but suddenly, among your population here, some humans wanted to end this bargain that has allowed you to survive—all the while putting at risk our survival, since the last available power source that we know of comes from Cennan. Our ongoing investigations into other planets haven’t shown any other available power sources, so we are expecting the humans on this planet to continue to abide by our pact. However, observing the uprising that took place here recently, we realized that the passage of time has made part of the population here not appreciate the deal that was originally offered to the humans. Since people here have forgotten our deal and think they can return to Earth, we have activated our plans to continue the extraction of Iorine from this planet. I am announcing to the population here, which had permission to exist, that we are revoking our part of the deal. All around Earth, there are camps with humans who are grown under our monitoring. In any scenario in which the population here stopped producing energy, they would be replaced with other humans from Earth.”
Bek and Jaina were surprised to hear this news. “I thought we were the last humans. Now it seems they keep others alive to have them replace us if necessary!” Jaina said.
“They are going to kill us all if we don’t stop them first. We are like cattle here,” he said to her.
The message from the AI coordinator module continued. “Our mission here is to clear this city of the existing population, and replace it with humans who will uphold their part of the deal. Broadcast end.” Bek realized now that the humans in Cennan weren’t going to survive without a fight.
“Jaina, you must get out of the city and head to an area with Iorine. I have to protect as many people as I can here in the city, and if possible, I have to help them leave the city,” he told Jaina.
“No, I am staying with you. I can help as well,” she replied.
Somewhat reluctantly, Bek nodded his assent. Taking a look around them, he saw only people running in every direction. “Where can the AI land, do you think?” he asked her.
“There are areas without Iorine close to the city, such as the agricultural center. Maybe they will land there,” she told him.
Bek acknowledged it. “We should go to the rogues around the tower—ask them to keep in mind that the AI will probably come from that direction,” he said.
“Let’s go then,” Jaina said, and both moved out, but stayed close to buildings so as not to attract attention. Around them, people were leaving their buildings in greater numbers and getting out on the roads to run. Moving slowly, Jaina and Bek eventually reached the area close to the base of the tower. They saw the rogues making fortifications on the remains of the fallen part of the building.
“Anyone know where Denec or Malok are?” Bek asked some rogues who were taking cover behind the rubble. They pointed in the direction of Malok’s location, and the pair continued slowly toward him. They found him giving instructions to other rogues who were busy making fortifications. “Malok!” Bek shouted to him as they approached. “Do you know where the AI forces will be coming from?” he asked.
Malok turned slowly at hearing Bek’s voice. He faced him and angrily said to him, “Where were you? You disappeared when the whole population here is facing extermination! Where’s your friend—Abel?”
Bek sharply replied, “I don’t know where Abel is, and I hope he is well. This whole mess started when you wanted to take over the city. Now the robots will replace us!”
“I didn’t know there were remaining humans on Earth! I thought we were the last ones. I only wanted what’s best for mankind!” Malok told him swiftly.
“Whatever is left of mankind,” Bek said to him. “There is no time for discussion now…Do you know the direction that the AI will be coming from? We must direct people away from the point of attack.”
“I sent scouts with our vehicles to the edges of the city to monitor where they land,” Malok told him.
“Maybe it will be near the agricultural center,” Jaina said, intruding on their conversation. “It’s close to the city, and the area is not Iorine-covered.”
At this, Malok went and got his radio. “Station five, are you in position?”
“Roger, already in position,” a reply came after a slight delay.
“Watch your area. The location is a good candidate for the landing zone.”
“I am monitoring,” the voice replied. “Everything looks clear.”
“Very well, continue monitoring,” Malok told the voice. As Malok finished his message, the big flying drone that was making circles above the city headed in the direction of the agricultural center. They watched it go that way and soon, they heard the sound of another attack.
“What is that drone attacking? The agricultural center?” Malok asked Bek.
“They are here! I see them clearly now!” the voice from the radio came to life again. “The drone that attacked the tower is clearing the area from city infrastructure, and their transport fleet is getting bigger as they get closer! They are landing here!” the voice said, screaming.
“Get to cover! You saw enough,” Malok replied. “Every station around the city: move to the edge of the city toward the agricultural center. Help every person you see to exit the city in the opposite direction. Now!” He turned around and signaled everyone to pack their equipment and get to any vehicle they could find. “We have to go to the landing site, and delay the AI enough for people to escape! Now!”
Every rogue in the area rushed to get out of the temporary fortifications they were making and spread around the square to get into any vehicle they could find. They signaled to people who were rushing in various directions to head opposite the agricultural center, and soon, those running erratically around the city formed more orderly lines heading away from the epicenter.
“Let’s go! Move!” the rogues and the city guard together urged every person they saw to leave the city.
Bek and Jaina were helping, pointing people in the right direction, when suddenly, a familiar person approached them.
“Finally, I found you! I didn’t know where you were, with all this panic,” Abel told them in a relieved voice.
“Abel!” Bek said as he and Jaina turned to see if he was all right. “Everyone is running because the AI army is landing near the city. You didn’t hear any of the messages?”
“I saw the announcements and all the people running; I came to the square to see if the rogues were still here, and fortunately, you are here as well. I was resting in my apartment and it didn’t take long for the robots to react to us. I say to them, ‘Welcome to our prison!’” Abel was almost-laughing but his determination was real.
Bek knew Abel had always been about fighting the robots, but not every person wanted to risk their lives. “The rogues are going to the edge of the city to try and stall them. The city should be evacuated, and everyone who isn’t fighting should go outside to areas that have Iorine interference,” Bek told him.
Abel, without flinching, replied,
“Well, I intend to fight them, so I am going in their direction. Are you coming with me?”
“I am. I think it’s what’s best now,” Bek told him slowly, and Jaina agreed as well. They all saw Malok, Valeena, and Taner entering a vehicle some distance from them. They went in front of the other vehicles the rogues had gathered, and all together, they headed in the direction of the agricultural center.
“We need to get a vehicle,” Bek told Abel, but Abel was already moving toward one of the taxis parked on the sidewalk. He took his rifle and shot the glass on the driver’s side. He opened the door and started searching for the lever for manual mode. He flicked it from beneath the center console, and the taxi went into manual.
“Come on, let’s follow them,” he signaled to the rest, and they all ran to get into the taxi.
“Let’s go, right behind the rogues,” Bek told him, and Abel turned and accelerated toward the rogue forces.
It didn’t take long for them to catch up. In front of them was the rogue convoy, and on the sidewalks, people were running opposite them. Proceeding to the edge of the city, they could see the transports coming down from the skies outside the city. One after the other, they landed in the area that the flying drone had cleared; it was now flying in circles above. The transports that came first were starting to offload the army they carried. Big tank drones, along with bipedal mechs, were entering into formation after being offloaded. Between their lines, the spaces were filled with human-size robot soldiers.
The convoy with rogues and guards reached the edge of the city, and after coming to the end of the road, they formed lines with every vehicle they had. “Put all vehicles in line,” Malok shouted to everyone. “Take cover behind them and the buildings behind us!” They rushed to take cover—some behind the vehicles, and some sheltered by the last buildings at the edge of the city. Bek and the others followed and parked the taxi alongside the other vehicles.
“We should get to cover,” Bek told them, and they hastily exited the taxi. They left the vehicle and ran toward the gathering rogue forces. Deafening sounds made them cover their heads; the AI army had begun firing in their direction. Luckily, the vehicles and the buildings absorbed the combined firepower. They crouched while continuing to make their way toward the others. Valeena, seeing them struggling, activated her personal shield in her hand and approached to give them cover. She went behind them, her shield absorbing the shots coming toward them.
“It won’t last for long,” she told them. “Get farther behind the buildings.” As they were crouched, they passed the line of rogues and took cover behind them.
“Fire off everything we got!” Malok shouted after seeing them get to cover, and the rogues aimed their Iorine-filled guns, opening fire toward the AI army. Malok took his rifle and started shooting, and Valeena followed with her own. Taner shot grenades that couldn’t reach the enemy, but helped create valuable space with Iorine interference.
The AI army, after receiving shots from them, had some smaller robots go down from the Iorine rounds, but not the bigger machines. This allowed the robots to start progressing toward the city while even more transports landed to offload more robots. Frontline robots approached the areas where Taner’s grenades had exploded, and they went down, but the following robots took notice and merely avoiding the fallen, continued on.
Bek, Abel, and Jaina went to the second floor of a nearby building and started firing with their weapons toward the approaching army. They could put down some smaller robots, but the bigger mechs and tanks were not stopping. Eventually, the last transports landed and finished offloading the rest of the AI army brought from Earth.
The flying drone stopped circling the landing area after this and began to head toward them. “Everyone fire toward the flyer,” Malok commanded them, and the rogues fired toward it. The drone was forced to change course and head to one side, but the advancing army, which had grown bigger after the last transports had offloaded robots, started to destroy the vehicles the rogues had placed as cover. Some of the rogues were hit and went down.
“Retreat! Go back to the city!” Denec shouted.
Malok looked around and agreed. “Taner, fire every grenade you have toward them. We have to get back to the city buildings now.”
Rogues began retreading back to the city. Some had been injured, and Taner shot grenades in front of them to provide cover. “The Iorine cloud will delay them. Go!” he said to Malok, and they both went back toward the building where Bek was with the others. The grenades hit more robots and some bipedal mechs, now that they were closer. They continued firing toward them, but the bigger tanks wouldn’t go down, and more robots were coming behind them as they now approached the destroyed vehicles that had been abandoned by the rogues and guards. The flying drone saw the opportunity to hit them when they entered the building and made a pass, firing toward the street, making explosions that shook the building on the sides.
“Can we do anything about the flyer?” Taner asked.
Valeena replied, “Let me go. My sword can do more damage than bullets that have little Iorine in them. If I hit it with the sword, it will do way more interference.” Malok looked at her, and while he saw it was dangerous to go out, he knew that they didn’t have any other equipment for this.
“Go, but be careful. Taner, escort her,” Malok commanded, and they both headed to the stairs. Malok and Denec continued firing toward the tanks that started going over the vehicles outside the city.
“I don’t know how much longer we can hold them,” Bek said to Abel. “But we need to hold them as long as possible for the people to escape.”
“Escape to where?” Jaina asked them slowly. “They could get outside the city, but it’s all a wasteland. They won’t last long when the robots take the city.” Bek lowered his head and stopped firing after hearing this, thinking that the humans in Cennan were going to be exterminated. He feared that this battle would have the same result as the war on Earth.
“Come on, we can’t stop now,” Abel told them, and he continued firing toward the robots. Meanwhile Valeena and Taner climbed the stairs of the building and went on top. From there, the vast AI army lay in front of them, with thousands of robots and drones coming toward them. Defeat seemed imminent, but the sound of the flying drone coming from inside the city caught their attention.
“It’s coming from the city,” Taner told her, and Valeena equipped her Iorine-filled sword. She gave him her personal shield, and he activated both hers and his in front of them, absorbing gunfire from the flyer.
Valeena took aim, holding her sword toward the approaching flyer when it started to prepare missiles to fire at them. She aimed carefully and threw her spinning sword toward it, managing to adhere the sword to the flyer’s left wing. They both watched anxiously, but then the drone started to make small dips to the side, and eventually, it started spinning and going down.
“It worked!” Valeena told Taner as it passed, spinning above them. She pointed her hand toward it, and the sword returned to her. The flyer continued spinning and dropped close to the tanks climbing over the vehicles, creating a huge explosion that destroyed the tanks there. The area was full of destroyed metal, but that was only one small part of the attacking army.
The rogues celebrated this small victory by shouting out their approval, but Jaina, watching the explosion along with everyone else, turned to Bek and hastily said to him, “We need to get a cargo shuttle, fill it with Iorine, and detonate it over them. It’s our only hope.”
Chapter 8
Bek quickly turned toward her. “You mean the shuttles that transfer energy to Earth?”
“Yes, those that are loaded from the export center close to the factories where you worked with Abel. But we will need explosives to spread Iorine all over the robot army,” Jaina told him hastily. The situation around them wasn’t giving them time to consider many plans to face the advancing AI forces.
“Let’s go find Malok,” Bek told Jaina and Abel. “We have to go to t
he building they are in. Follow me.”
They stopped firing from the window and headed toward the stairs. They were only on the third floor, so they quickly reached the ground. Before exiting the building, they took a look around, but didn’t see any robots nearby. “They are holding back due to the Iorine weapons, but they won’t be stopping for long,” Abel warned. They headed toward the street, where rogues and robots were exchanging fire. This made crossing the street difficult and dangerous. “I will cover you,” Abel said to them. “Cross, and I will be right behind you,” he told them while taking up a position in the corner. He then started firing.
The smaller robots immediately in their path were destroyable by the rogues’ weapons, and Abel managed to hit a couple of them in the distance. The pathway farther ahead was trickier to navigate because rogue forces had retreated in the face of the AI’s advancing heavy machinery. Bek and Jaina took advantage of Abel’s cover, and in a crouching position, they quickly crossed the street. Then they both turned toward the approaching AI army and opened fire, giving Abel the opportunity to come toward them. He looked around and quickly crossed the road as well.
“Malok should be upstairs in this building,” Bek said to them as all three entered. They looked around the ground floor, but they didn’t see him there. They went to every floor above sequentially until they found him on the fifth floor, taking shots out of a window. He was fighting from there while other members of his team spread to positions throughout the building. “Malok!” Bek called to him from behind.
