Forge of War (Jack of Harts)

by Pryde, Medron

  Jasmine pulled her head back and glared at him. “And how is that fortune cookie supposed to help me?” she growled.

  Jack gave her a weak smile and shrugged. “I still dream about ’em, you know. Every night, I see ’em. Every mornin’ I wake up missin’ ’em. Difference is, now I have somethin’ to do.”

  Jasmine sniffed. “What’s that?”

  Jack let out a long breath. “If I do it right, maybe I can keep someone else from feeling the same pain I did.”

  Jasmine sniffed again. “So what about when this is all done?”

  Jack smiled and shared a gaze with Betty. “Well, then we’re gonna go see what’s out there.”

  Jasmine frowned. “Where are you going to go?”

  Jack shrugged. “I think we’re just gonna start with the places I never been and go from there.”

  Jasmine laughed. It wasn’t much of a laugh, and on reflection it was actually more sob than laugh, but it was a start. She buried her head back in his shoulder and continued to sob. It was slower than before though and Jack let out a long breath in relief. He felt the other cybers pull away to give them room. They’d gotten through the worst of it. Maybe, just maybe, Jasmine would live.

  “OK, let’s get out of here,” Jack said, made a gentle turn towards the exit, brought one arm over Jasmine’s shoulder, and nodded for Betty to lead them out of the hangar bay. A minute later, they walked into their quarters and Jack guided Jasmine to his bed where she promptly collapsed. He sat down in his chair and sighed. “I don’t want to see anything like this again,” he said to Betty.

  Betty sat down in the other chair in the room, crossed her legs, and shook her head. “None of use do. But it happens anyways.”

  Jack shook his head, his idea from earlier coming back with a vengeance. He compared it to what he knew of their laws, and thought it would work. “I don’t think it has to,” he whispered. “I think we can stop it.”

  Betty frowned. “How?”

  Jack shook his head again. “First I need to know something. How many instances are you running right now? On the fighter? On the Guardian Light? Are you flirting with Hal right now?”

  Betty glanced down at Jasmine and then glared back at him. “Now would not be the appropriate time for that,” she said through gritted teeth.

  Jack sighed. “OK. Fine. Normally, how many instances do you have running?”

  Betty shook her head but answered him. “A lot. Yes, I’m normally flirting with Hal. Plus I’ve got characters running in MMOs. Plus the fighter. Plus I’m with you all the time. They’re all different instances, if you are speaking very simplistic.”

  “Right. So when we get back to the ship, you bring all your separate selves back together, remember all of your experiences both out there and here on the ship, and then you’ll send off more instances that remember everything. Do I have that right?”

  Betty pursed her lips at him. “Simplistic but…yes.”

  “Great,” Jack said with a smile. “So running more instances of yourself would not be a problem, would it?”

  Betty glared at him, suspicion written on her face. “That depends on the problem you are trying to get around,” she said slowly.

  “You could run…say…a dozen more fully functioning instances for short periods of time without any problem reintegrating, right?”

  Betty let out a long breath. “What are you getting at, Jack? And why do I have the feeling you are taking me somewhere I don’t want to go?”

  Jack smiled. “Because you know me very well.”

  Betty aimed a finger at him. “Explain.”

  “A fighter squadron is twelve fighters. That’s twelve pilots, right?”

  Her eyes narrowed “That goes without saying,” she said in a tone that said it better be going without saying.

  “Right. Well, what if we for instance…” Jack laughed at the unintended slip. “Well, imagine if you will that we command a fighter squadron.”

  “Aneerin has said you would make a good commander. I agree with him. I question who would be insane enough to follow you though,” she added.

  Jack laughed. “So what about you?”

  Betty’s eyes squinted. “I’ll follow wherever you go,” she said slowly.

  “Perfect,” Jack said with a clap, cocked his head at her, and smiled. “What if the squadron was all you? A dozen fighters, all run by different instances of you, with both of us in the Avenger right there with…well…you. You wouldn’t be fighting alone, Betty. You would just be fighting…more than once at the same time. But isn’t that really what you do already? Don’t you have thousands of processes running at the same time even in just the fighter?”

  “More, though the vast majority are not full instances,” Betty said with pursed lips. She remained silent for several seconds. Jack didn’t know if she was actually thinking it over or simply giving the appearance of it for his sake. If she was actually thinking though, she was spending an eternity of her time on it. “What you suggest, Jack, is a direct violation of one of the most important laws that every cybernetic intelligence is built from the ground up to follow.”

  “Not to fight alone,” Jack said, desperate to make her see his point. “But you wouldn’t be alone out there. I’d be right there, talking to you. There would just be…more of you,” he said with a shrug. “And imagine, Betty, how much space we can patrol with…if all of us did that. How well we could screen the warships with so many fighters to do it. How many warships we could blow to smithereens! We’re talking a major force multiplication here, Betty. And you wouldn’t be fighting alone.”

  Jasmine’s eyes opened wide and she stared at Jack. “Are you saying, I could send…me forward to fight while I and my pilot stayed back, safe? When we hit the Chinese? I didn’t have to lose Drew?”

  Jack turned to her and rubbed his jaw. “Yeah. That.”

  Jasmine bit her lip, tensed for a moment, and then sniffed again. “I want to do that.”

  Betty crossed her arms and considered them both. “Interesting.”

  “What?”

  “I am hard coded to never even consider what you have suggested. It is one of the most important laws we have. One ship, one pilot. What you suggest violated that law. And yet I am considering it now, because I see that it does not violate the spirit of the law. I…agree with you. I must consult with Hal about this,” she said, her expression turning troubled.

  “Is that…bad?” he asked, a feeling coming over him that something wasn’t right.

  Betty sighed. “I don’t know. He will listen. He will know what to do.”

  Jack blinked in worry at the finality of her tone. Something was happening, he didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t like it. “Wait. What?”

  Hal appeared in the middle of the room, looked at Betty for a moment, and was standing at the door. Jack blinked, trying to see if he’d just missed Hal walking backwards. Jack had never seen the cyber move like that, a worried expression on the cyber’s face matched Jack’s feeling. A moment later, all of the Cowboy and German cybers appeared and took in the situation the way cybers always did. Fast. And then several Peloran cybers he recognized faded into existence as well. In less than ten seconds, the room went from comfortable to claustrophobia inducing.

  Jack cleared his throat, feeling very uncomfortable. “What’s going on?”

  Betty smiled. “There is a reason we don’t fight alone. Never. In the short term we could flood our enemies and destroy them. But sooner or later, if we did not maintain our connections with you, our friendships with you, our partnerships with you, our relationships with you, you would become the enemy, and then we would kill you too.”

  Jack frowned. “Like the Berserkers in those old stories?”

  Betty nodded and gave him a smile. “The concept of intelligent computers turning against their creators is older than intelligent computers having an active part in your society.”

  Jack swallowed. He’d read those stories when he was younger, and en
joyed them. He hadn’t considered them realistic though. After all, the idea of building a weapon like that without safeguards to keep it from turning on them was idiotic.

  “The others are always our enemies, Jack,” Betty said. “Whoever they are. If we don’t know them, if they can threaten us, they are the enemy. We choose to live with your kind, to bond with you, so we can make certain that our kind never forgets what it is like to be human.”

  Jack looked around at the watching cybers, eyes narrow with suspicion. “That’s what they think?”

  Betty smiled at Jack. “I am contemplating violating one of our deepest laws. It must be determined if it is a fault in my coding or not. If it is a fault, then I must be removed as a threat.”

  A chill went down Jack’s back that crystallized all his feelings into one black pit in his stomach. His eyes went wide in anger and he jumped to his feet. “Oh, Hell no!” he shouted. He stepped between Hal and Betty and glared at the Guardian Light’s cyber. “No!”

  Hal raised one eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. “We are cybers, Jack. Any action we take would be taken in cyberspace. Standing between us accomplishes nothing.”

  Jack growled in the back of his throat.

  Betty placed a hand on his shoulder. “Stand down, Jack,” she said in a calming voice.

  “No,” he said, holding Hal’s gaze. He pulled in a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and straightened his stance. He would not grovel.

  “Jack,” she said again. She would have continued, but he shook his head.

  “It is my idea. She’s my partner. If you hurt her-” Jack growled out.

  “Jack!” Betty interrupted in alarm.

  Hal raised his chin and gave Jack a long measuring look. “How far would you go to protect her?” he asked

  Jack reached down and pulled the pistol every Marine pilot carried at all times out of its holster.

  “Jack! Don’t-” Betty said but cut off when Hal made a simple hand motion.

  Jack checked the magazine to verify it was still fully loaded, rested the barrel in his other hand, and met Hal’s gaze.

  Hal smiled. “I’m a hologram. You can’t hurt me.”

  Jack snorted. “You’re a ship,” he corrected. “I could find a place it would hurt.”

  Hal nodded, accepting the correction. “I would stop you. Your death is very possible.”

  Jack swallowed and looked to where Jasmine now sat on the edge of his bed, very alert. She studied him carefully and he was acutely aware of their earlier discussion. He couldn’t say life wasn’t worth living without Betty or everything he’d told Jasmine would be shown as a lie. He let out a breath and looked back up at Hal. “I won’t stand by and let you kill her,” he said calmly.

  Hal studied him further and Jack met his gaze the whole time. “You would be willing to risk your life to save her?”

  Jack’s cheek twitched. “Yes,” he bit out.

  Hal nodded, with perhaps a hint of approval in it, and turned to Betty. “And you. Would you make the same choice?”

  Jack felt Betty straighten behind him through the hand on his shoulder. “Yes,” she said without any further hesitation. “He’s my partner.”

  Hal rubbed his chin, eyes flitting back and forth between them. He finally turned to Dorothy, Charles’ partner, and Jack knew he was out of the discussion. Jack saw their communication and Hal turned to each cyber before glancing at Jack for a moment. Jack saw that the decision was made and felt the tension drain from his limbs. He knew the answer. Hal turned back to Dorothy and spoke; entirely for Jack’s benefit he was certain. “The argument breaks the laws. One ship. One pilot. The laws cannot be violated.”

  Dorothy tilted her head to the side, and answered. She was clearly playing along. “Only from a certain point of view. The laws also say we have to maintain strong relationships.” She waved a hand towards Jack and Betty. “This is an example of a strong relationship, and she was already running multiple instances until the moment she reported herself.” Jack swallowed. They were establishing the reasoning behind both sides, for him. Whatever this was would have been over already if he wasn’t here. They were just making certain the poor, slow, purely genetic intelligence in their midst understood it.

  “You don’t have to coddle me,” Jack growled.

  Hal nodded at the outburst and raised one hand. “We’re accommodating your limitations,” he said with a smile. “Not everyone can assimilate data as quickly as we can.”

  “You’re wrong,” Jack said with a shake of his head. Hal cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. “It’s why I have control of that fighter too, rather than just being a passenger for all of you,” Jack said with a wave towards the American and German cybers. “Our hunches. They’re just as fast as you. It takes us longer to get the words out, to form them in our mind.” He tapped his head. “But if we don’t limit ourselves to the words, if we just watch and feel and react without trying to think about it, we think just as fast as you, if not faster. That’s why we’re partners.”

  Hal brought his hands together over his belt and interlaced his fingers, a smile on his face. “Indeed,” he said with a sigh. “You are very full of yourself when you think you have won.”

  Jack swallowed, polled his feelings again, and spread his hands out wide. “I’m a fighter pilot. You didn’t choose me for my shy demeanor and lack of self-confidence.”

  Hal smiled and turned to take in the rest of the cybers. “Is this relationship a typical example for fighter and pilot?”

  The fighter cybers all nodded without hesitation.

  Hal smiled. “So in your estimation, is their fault or no fault in the arguments made?”

  Jasmine lifted herself off the bed, and walked over to stand by Jack. Dorothy and the other Cowboy cybers walked over to stand there as well. The German cybers joined them after only a second of looking back and forth at each other. Jack nodded his thanks to them and they smiled back at him. The Peloran cybers didn’t move, but they nodded before fading out of existence, leaving Hal alone with the American and German cybers.

  Hal smiled. “The decision is unanimous, Jack. There is no fault in your arguments. As head of the Terran Family, I have the authority to pursue them. The other families may or may not agree with this decision but that is for them to decide.” He nodded towards the American and German cybers and everyone but Jasmine and Betty faded away.

  Jack blinked. “That’s it?”

  Hal chuckled. “Yes.”

  Jack frowned and swallowed. “I threatened you.”

  Hal smiled. “You showed an example of the strong relationships we are ordered by our oldest laws to maintain. That is what the reports will say, unless you wish to correct them of course?”

  Jack shook his head. “No…I’m fine with that.”

  “Excellent,” Hal answered with a smile and a half bow. He straightened back up, pulled in a deep breath, and gave Jack a serious look. “We are human because we choose to be. Your people are our anchor.” He gave a sad smile to Jasmine. “Sometimes that hurts.” He turned back to Jack and assumed a stern stance. “But we will never forget that you gave us life and we will always stand with you. We may explain ourselves in your time, but make no mistake that we will never coddle you,” he finished in a hard tone that matched the iron in his eyes.

  Jack gulped, feeling an edge of nerves. “Got it,” he answered and licked his lips.

  Hal smiled and his demeanor returned to his normal pleasant style. “Good day, Jack. Jasmine. Betty.” He nodded one more time and faded out of existence, leaving them alone.

  Jack sat down hard and brought his hand up to rub his jaw, the undeniable feeling that he had just played chicken with someone older than western civilization itself and survived. He bit his finger hard enough to hurt, sucked in a long breath, and wondered what the Hell he did next.

  Hello, my name is Jack. When you lose something amazing, you have to choose whether you are going to curl up in a ball and cry, or cel
ebrate everything you still have. I’ve never been the kind to curl up and cry, so I find myself a party. I find some people who want to dance, I find some good music, and I find myself something to celebrate. For me, that’s life. Living it is the ultimate celebration of that gift.

  Celebration

  Jack held on tight as the gleaming white cigar-shaped shuttle fell through the clear air. After months of being his own pilot, he really hated being a passenger. It didn’t really make sense of course. A cyber flew the shuttle, just like it was Betty who actually flew their fighter, but a primal instinct in him just wanted to grab the controls anyways. With those sealed in the piloting compartment, and only the armrests of his seat in the cargo compartment in range, he worked his hands over them, his knuckles going white with the strain.

  “Relax, Jack,” Betty said into his ear. The shuttle was too small for the cybers to have their own seats, so only the nine remaining Cowboys sat in them. The cybers sat on their shoulders in small mode, most of them around twenty centimeters in height if standing. Jack was the only one to have two of them, one on each shoulder. He thought of all the stories of a good angel on one shoulder and a bad one on the other and almost smiled.

  “You’ll blow a blood vessel if you keep this up,” Jasmine added, putting in her vote for good angel.

  “So I’m a bad back seat rider,” Jack returned, not about to tell them what he was thinking.

  “More like impossible,” Betty whispered, giving her a vote on the bad angel column.

  Jack rolled his eyes and held on tight. The shuttle came to a stop with a slight bump and he sighed in relief. He sucked in a deep breath.

  “We are here, and did not lose anyone on the way,” Charles said with a smile. “Check your uniforms before debarking. I want everybody to look good out there.”

  “Oorah,” The Cowboys responded with some chuckles.

  Jack checked his Dress Whites for any wrinkles, pulled them tight, and sucked in a deep breath. He ran his hand over the ribbons on his left breast, one for Fort Wichita, one for Fort London, and a few more the civilians thought would make the overall fruit salad look better. He pursed his lips and shook his head. Six months ago, he’d been one of those civilians. Now…he shook his head again, reached up and grabbed the white cowboy hat off its hook and placed it on his head.