Liberation Game

by Kris Schnee

  Edward stared for a long time, then rose to his feet. "I will." The others followed.

  * * *

  Robin offered Edward the chance to reduce his own personal risk by sending him to the Exposition in Cuba. He objected, and Robin ended up sending the resourceful Miguel in his place.

  Robin attended too, by remote-piloting one of his two fancy regal-class robots. (Lumina had been using it, with a slightly reconfigured face and no antlers; there was a running argument about whether to leave them on or off.) It was a sunny morning in Cuba in a big, elaborate fairground that had at first been a celebration of Ludo's work and her many friends' latest technology. The place was now more of a World's Fair in which people from many walks of life got to show off their ideas, from a US government-sponsored corporation with humanoid worker robots to a group of actors Lumina said she'd helped to inspire. Lumina was all set to take over their exhibit on day two of the fair, but Robin had the first shift.

  Silver Circle had a little pavilion next to that of the engineers of Castor. The focus was on people, not robots specifically. He'd worked with the townsfolk to produce a display of the homes they'd built, the tools they'd manufactured to make and sell more tools, and the workers who'd tended the sick and picked trash and done other routine work in an exotic place. The appeal was that others could repeat the performance in the world's other poor lands, starting from a baseline of machines and knowledge... and the freedom to use them, he was reminded. As he toured the fairground just before opening time, he was struck by how many native Cubans were here. Some were selling food, some hawking ideas in business and science, and none of them could have done it under the island's former rulers.

  Yes, he thought. I'm doing the right thing in Cibola.

  He was a living exhibit himself, a statue that was shaking people's hands and holding conversations as though it were still a novelty to have a machine that could talk without moronic fakery. For many guests it probably still was, at least in a form with an actual body.

  He grinned as another group of impressed tourists walked away, excitedly telling each other about the "deer prince". He'd make the experience become normal, eventually.

  His sense of time jittered and somebody was in front of him, talking with no sound. An alert popped up in his vision: [Network error.]

  He sent, [Getting laggy, team.]

  Ludo answered, [Large-scale network disturbance in Cibola. Want to transfer your mind to the body in Cuba?]

  [What? No.] He paused. [Could you copy my mind and let me steer bodies in both places?]

  [Not allowed. Oh hell, something's wrong with the robots!]

  Robin saw his body moving on its own. He was charging the man in front of him, tackling him to the ground. He managed to call out, "Help! I can't control --" before the robot's voice system locked up. His body was trying to stomp the man while others rushed to help. Robin's vision of the scene flickered and vanished, leaving only a red [Network error] message on black.

  He cursed. [Team, what's happening?]

  His throne room flickered into view along with his virtual body, and Lumina. She said, "We just lost Internet service outbound from Cibola. There are backup links but our main trunk line has been disconnected and the others are lower-bandwidth."

  "Why?"

  "No explanation from Telecom Cibola."

  A voice broke in from one of Ludo's hackers. [Violent attacks by our robots at the park. Someone's seized control. Can't audit your systems from here.]

  Robin said, "Acknowledged. Lumina, shut down all reachable robot bodies and declare Stage Two militia alert. Human personnel are to destroy robots acting up."

  Edward called, and patched Robin through to a pair of i-glasses he wore. Their camera view showed Edward's perspective as he reported to a central square, the way he'd done several times on drill days. People were hastily getting into rows and columns, with nothing more than armbands for uniforms again, and carrying homemade rifles. The officer was Edward himself. The man had taken up a command role only after much prayer and consultation, but the locals listened to him. He said, "The robots are shut down. No reported problems yet. What are we dealing with?"

  Robin admitted, "I'm not sure. There's an attack in progress on the Cuba fairground, and we've lost our main connection there."

  "Then what do you want us to do?"

  "Guard the key locations and stand by. Have a group activate robots in small batches to test them."

  "Yes, sir."

  Robin opened interface windows to the allied towns of Silver Circle, and warned them. They hadn't had problems yet besides the Internet cutoff. "Maybe it's a coincidence?" said the Tres Aguas mayor, seeming not to believe that herself. "We're not seeing trouble locally yet."

  "We have your back, whatever happens."

  "I know, sir. We've trained alongside your men, and they'll take orders from you if need be."

  Robin gave the mayor a long, appraising look. "You say that so casually. If it were between me and the Cibolan military...?"

  She nodded grimly. "Yes, prince. We've gotten more benefit from your group than from the likes of Leopold. It's not just the towns you're working with directly, either; I've spoken quietly to other leaders around here who want to join the Circle. It's only because of infrastructure we built together that we're able to talk right now."

  "Thank you, ma'am. I'm honored."

  Robin ended the call. "She seems to think it's Cibola itself causing this."

  Lumina rested one hand on his back. "You suspect it too, or you wouldn't have soldiers standing by."

  Robin placed a satellite call to Leopold. "Governor, talk to me."

  After the tenth ring, Leopold picked up, voice only. "This isn't my fault."

  "What isn't?" said Robin.

  "You don't need to know the full details. But I'm authorized to tell you that we will be restoring order shortly. You will stand down and have your human leaders greet our forces unarmed, then escort them where they wish to go. I tell you in advance so that we can prevent unnecessary bloodshed."

  "Forces! Governor, what are you talking about? Is this a police operation, and for what?"

  "No, 'prince'. This is military, now, and my hands are tied. You've made yourself a rogue, and an inhuman and dangerous one at that. I say again, stand down with your little militia and your toy soldiers, or you'll get to see what professionals can do. You pushed the wrong people too far." He hung up.

  Robin swore and relayed it all to Ludo using what bandwidth he could get, then in the next second to Edward. To Lumina he said, "He means to invade?"

  Lumina stamped the virtual ground. "This timing isn't a coincidence! Someone is -- oh hell. Look." She conjured multiple news feed windows, showing simultaneous attacks on Ludo's bases all over the world. One group was some Islamic front, one was waving a hammer and sickle, a third was paramilitary, and a fourth nobody was sure. "Either everybody got angry on the same day, or somebody's using and coordinating them."

  Robin's local computer expert sent a typed message: [Sir, we just lost some sensor coverage in the north. And west, now.]

  [What about the robots?] Robin sent intel on the simultaneous attacks.

  [Coming online. Doing a quick scan and they seem fine. Different tactics in different places?]

  [But with one goal. This is about her, more than us.]

  Lumina scowled. "Everybody thinks Mom is so important, but she couldn't do anything without people helping her."

  Governor Leopold had sounded conflicted, under orders to press the attack rather than continue the ongoing negotiations about how autonomous Silver Circle would be. Robin didn't blame him; he preferred a dance to a gunfight, himself. Still he told the computer guy, [Send out every robot you can check. Is the latest default software onboard?]

  [That's what I'm signature-checking, yeah. Looks good. Got a guy checking your personal body's hardware.]

  Robin sent, [Good. And make sure the antlers are on.]

  Edward reported no m
ovement in the east and south sensor net, but the north and west had a spreading zone of malfunction. "Jammers?"

  "Probably. Keep your men close to town and ready. I'm taking the robots with me."

  "But Robin, I said jammers."

  "I can handle those."

  * * *

  He put his mind directly into the local "regal" body, wishing he had the other one he'd left in Cuba. He wore a sort of breastplate or "barding" over his lower half, but he had no assurance a bullet wouldn't rip through and smash the computer inside it.

  Lumina said, "I'm going too." She took one of the previous model, not as big or as strong, but able to hold a gun along with enough hardware to host her brain. "And before you tell me no, I'm taking the same risk as you. We have our backups at the data center. We're not going to die today. Not really."

  Robin hugged her wordlessly. He didn't want to find out what it was like to be restored from a save file like a game character, with his consciousness interrupted. "Then take a squad of your own."

  Together they had dozens of robots carrying a variety of nonlethal weapons, most of them hanging back for now. Robin feared to put actual guns in the hands of machines not under a direct living mind's control, and today he couldn't trust even those. There were six bots here with intelligent minds in them: his own, Lumina, and four uploaders who were former marines and declared themselves "on loan".

  As they traveled toward Golden Goose's borders, his robot's signal connection to base began to cut out, as expected. His "signal booster antennae" helped, but he couldn't relay for the others much farther. He slapped a signal relay onto the nearest tree, but the interference was getting too strong even for that. "Okay, people; old fashioned mode where necessary."

  "Form up!" said one of the marines to his squad of Tier-II AI minions. With that level of intelligence, a direct radio link wasn't necessary; they could interpret voice commands. Really, they were squawking encrypted musical note patterns instead of English, but Robin had a program in place to speak and hear the orders they stood for.

  The first contact with the enemy was the whirr of quadrotor drones from the woods ahead. Robin tensed; the question was who would attack first. As a "mere machine", he was a morally easier target than a human. He used an amplified voice to call out, "Stand down! We don't want to fight. Come and talk."

  One of the hovering drones spoke with Leopold's voice. "Talk? We've talked to you for years, Robin. We were patient with you and made only reasonable demands."

  "Sure," said Robin, glad that bullets weren't flying yet. "What you're missing is that today, somebody said 'let's you and him fight' to your bosses. You're being provoked. There's no need to escalate this to you killing my people."

  "I'm glad you agree. Now turn your faux wildlife off. I am acting director of Golden Goose now. Orders to stand down are already being broadcast across your trading network."

  "Go tell your superiors to turn on the news. Multiple attacks are getting launched around the world to destroy Ludo's operations." Robin now saw movement in the woods ahead as soldiers took position behind rocks and trees.

  Lumina sent, [Robin, I think I could use the old relay ahead. Make it squawk, mess up their drones.]

  [Noted.] Robin said aloud, "How about you personally, Leopold? Haven't you thought all along that killing the goose is a dumb idea?"

  Leopold's voice was software-flattened to hide his emotions, and it came from a faceless drone. "I have my orders. Besides, you're planning to stage a tax revolt, aren't you? Oh, I know about your scheming."

  [Time to declare?] Robin asked Lumina.

  [Yes.]

  Robin stood tall and proud, taking a step forward to let the soldiers get a good view of the bizarre robot who claimed to rule this area. He cued his lesser drones to speak in chorus with him to amplify his voice further. "Then hear me, men of Cibola! Your leader says he's upset about the thought that we won't pay enough in taxes, and he wants you to risk your necks so he can collect. I ask you, is the Silver Circle region not helping your neighbors and friends? Because now --"

  Leopold said, "Just shoot them already!"

  Robin was more angry than hurt at being interrupted. Rifles cracked and ripped through the brush to hit him square in the chest. Robin staggered back, getting red damage warnings in his vision. [Lumina, do it! Everyone retreat!]

  Robin's body was damaged, but the soldiers had been fooled by his front-facing, unarmored humanoid torso. Nearly every shot hit him there. He wheeled around and bounded away like a deer, zigzagging. A stray shot pinged off his side and another tore through his back, but he felt no pain. Behind him, the quadrotors drew no closer and one of his lackey bots showed them autopiloting back to their owners for lack of signal.

  [What now, sir?] said one of the marines.

  [We fall back to the town outskirts.] One of his battle plans covered the idea of a skirmish breaking out like this. He glanced to one side and saw all the mind-hosting bodies were still going, but they'd lost a few minions.

  The soldiers were still shooting, but not chasing them yet. [They think this is easy.]

  Lumina said, [Sure; they do have us on the run.]

  [Drop the stink bombs; wind's blowing toward the enemy and I didn't see masks on them. Edward, can you read me? They're coming. Launch the paper airplanes.]

  They weren't really paper, but a wondrously light 3D printed metamaterial. Schoolkids had made them for a competition of aircraft equipped with tiny propellers and toy bombs, for a war sim -- and then they'd quietly donated the things to the town militia. It was remarkably hard to down one of the things with a gun before it could get close. Fifty or so of the things were getting hand-launched now.

  [What if they did bring masks?] asked a marine.

  His first line of defense was harmless chemical weaponry. [Then we may have to get serious. I hope they get the hint first.]

  Ahead he spotted the militia. He tried to wave, but his right arm was broken. "Edward, flag."

  The men of Golden Goose were behind metal-reinforced dirt ridges that had been built all around town for such a day. Near each major road, there also just happened to be a concrete shed with thick walls and a few openings. Edward was barely within sight at the first line of this subtle artificial cover. He radioed, "Yes, sir."

  One of the militia peeked out from cover to toss Robin a flagpole. Robin recognized the man as a refugee who'd lost his home to the hurricane, complained about the town's lack of generosity, and gone on to start an electronics shop. "Thanks," he said, and took up the flag with his good arm. He stabbed it into the ground and let it unfurl its simple design: a silver circle on a purple field. "Nobody uses purple," a contest-winning kid had said.

  The Cibolan soldiers were late, probably choking in confusion on the wave of tear gas and other noxious smoke. Robin had one more wave of that handy, but then he had only less pleasant options. [Earplugs], he told everyone. Then he fired up the sonic cannon in the nearby bunker, making it squeal horribly in the Cibolans' direction. It was irritating even to his ears, but probably not very effective until the enemy got closer and could have the beam of noise sweep across them. [Keep that going. Microwave beam next.]

  The militia set up a metal box with a portable generator in front of their position and behind sandbags. They'd have to wait a bit to use this one, and the men were keeping the big obvious beam-director dish flat against the ground to hide it for the moment.

  The outsider troops finally got within sight. Robin had signal jammers of his own here, enough to repel their quadrotors, but three of the things buzzed closer anyhow. They'd simply been programmed to keep going after signal loss. "Incoming!"

  He sang out a command. Six of the drones sprang forward to intercept the flying machines. They ran, jumped and made noise, distracting two of the things. And then, those two exploded. The burst of light and noise threw three of his drones to the ground, and one didn't get up.

  [Flashbangs!] said Edward.

  Then the third quad
rotor burst above the men. They'd had a moment to prepare and already had earplugs, but Robin still didn't envy them.

  [They're still trying to go nonlethal against humans!] sent Lumina.

  Robin needed to be in the forefront, but the soldiers were probably going to gun him down properly this time. [Lumina, help copy me to a generic drone, quickly!]

  She hurried over to him and whipped out a cable to plug Robin's side-mounted access port (designed after much snickering) into a drone body. A progress meter appeared but nothing obvious happened. Robin and the drone stayed behind cover.

  Soldiers advanced in the distance ahead. A drone scout got a signal through to report one squad going to Robin's left. Edward signaled and sent out a few sneaky crawler robots in that direction.

  Robin said, "I need a public broadcast." His vision flickered and transferred to the other robot's eyes, giving him the confusing out-of-body experience of seeing his damaged stag-robot from outside. It still looked handsome with bulletholes. He tried commanding it from inside the drone and got it to rise to its feet. "Good," he had it say, and moved his perspective but not his mind back to it.

  A megaphone boomed from ahead, with Leopold's voice. "People of Golden Goose, don't be alarmed. We're here to arrest Director Edward Apery for fraudulent use of government money and for illegal, dangerous AI experiments. We will take him into custody and temporarily shut down your computer centers until order is restored. Any man who wants to surrender, stand up with your hands on your head and walk slowly toward this position. You will be given full amnesty. Anyone who continues to resist, we're authorized to meet with lethal force."