Bunker Core (Core Control Book 1)

by Andrew Seiple

  Well… maybe I could help them on that front.

  I fumbled around, found the room’s lighting. My prompts hadn’t mentioned that, but it was there. Had that been an oversight? Maybe not. The lights had been working fine when I’d arrived, so maybe the prompts only reported on things that I’d repaired.

  I dialed down the lights to almost nothing, and the bats seemed to settle. There were definitely mutants among them… lumpy, tumor-ridden, some with wide, wide mouths, others with multiple, spider-like eyes. A few had extra limbs or spare sets of vestigial wings.

  “No, look, they need to go,” Argus said, blinking at one who was flipping himself upside down on the ceiling, aiming his lower half down. “They’re shitting all over the place!”

  I gave the nanoswarm its marching orders and sent it over to clean things up.

  And lo and behold, the feedstock rolled in as time passed and the bats did what bats do. One, two, three units worth, all from one hour’s worth of sitting there and watching bats do their business.

  Guano is chock-full of reactive chemicals, I knew, though I didn’t know how I knew that. Regardless, I had my own little organic harvester helpers.

  After a while their shitting slowed and stopped, and I judged that they’d cleared out their digestive tracts enough for one night. I eased the elevator shaft door open, and slammed the main door shut. “Go on, get,” I said, and between the crash of the metal door and my voice, the bats were only too happy to flee back to the darkness below. “Alright, now we can talk.”

  “Are you talking to me? Or your new best friends?” Argus sulked.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll always hold a special place in my heart. Besides, it’s a different niche. I’m okay with them giving me shit, but I’d rather that you didn’t.”

  He snorted, which was pretty impressive for something without a nose. “Well, at least they’ve got a rich diet. That’s an amazing amount of stock for so little volume.”

  “To be fair, that’s a pretty big swarm. They must eat well.” That thought led to another. “I need to see what’s around here. Get the lay of the land.”

  “Well, you know which direction you have to go,” Argus nodded toward the door, and the corridor beyond. I eased it open, regarded the daylight shining in from around the corner.

  “So how does this work exactly?” I asked him.

  “Visualize what you want, and order the builder nanoswarm to do it. I’ll handle the rest,” Argus said. “Basic corridor? Something to match the décor in here?”

  “Without monitors or furniture, but yes.”

  “Got it. If you don’t like it, let me know and I’ll change it. Oh, uh…” he said, eyeing me nervously, “fair warning, since the nanoswarm’s operating outside of your bandwidth, you won’t be able to do anything with it except call it back until it’s done.”

  “I see.” I considered him and figured he was afraid of another shaking if I got surprised. Still, it was a step in the right direction, even if it came from fear, instead of honest concern. “Thanks, Argus.”

  “Not a problem.”

  I thought of a basic tunnel, gave the nanoswarm its orders and got a prompt in reply.

  Estimated feedstock cost for a tunnel of this area: 2

  Estimated bandwidth requirement for a tunnel of this area: 1

  Do you wish to begin this project?

  I did, and I watched my swarm seep out of the room and begin its work.

  Minutes passed. Ten, twenty, thirty all told. The corridor changed, the stone smoothing, metal extruding from the walls of the core chamber, and into small channels of the corridor. It linked up with existing infrastructure there, converted it. Broken light fixtures were sucked into the ceiling, and spat out whole.

  Then it was done. Light flickered, matching my room’s ambient levels, and I felt part of me shift. It was a satisfying feeling, like wriggling your arm in a stuck sleeve and then finally slipping through.

  Bandwidth committed!

  Resonance rate increased!

  I blinked non-existent eyes, and my perspective shifted. I moved it through the tunnel, nodding at the metal-grated floors and concrete below. Plenty of drains down there, now unclogged, after my nanobuilders had gotten through with them. The walls were white concrete, sterile and smooth.

  I rounded the corner and stopped.

  Ruins lay before me. A pile of rubble that had once been a larger building and twisted metal siding caught in a few tangles. Beyond it all, a clearing, with a crumbled road leading away. Trees lined the road and the clearing, descending as I looked further on. I was atop a hill, perhaps a mountain… I didn’t have a good angle from where I was standing. I needed to go up and out.

  I tried that and couldn’t. My perspective wouldn’t leave the tunnel. Oh, I had figured that was the case, especially with that early prompt about nanocams. But it was another thing to have it confirmed. I felt my heart sink in my nonexistent chest.

  “What do you think?” Argus said, appearing beside me. “Gah! It’s so wide open!” He darted back around the corner. “That’s way too chaotic. Anything could just walk out of those woods, and we can’t control it!”

  “You’re not wrong about that. We don’t seem to have a door, here.” I looked around at the open end of the tunnel. The way the rubble sat, I thought the entrance was concealed from the main road, but it wasn’t good enough now that at least two people knew where we were. “We need something. A door to start. Then maybe something that can patrol around the clearing.”

  “You know what to do,” said Argus. “Though maybe you don’t have the subroutines set up properly for it. So I’d recommend trying to create a few things and see what happens.”

  “Sensible.” Create door, I thought.

  Insufficient Subroutines to devote to this task!

  Requirements: Defensive 1, Fabrication 1, Infrastructure 1

  I started to commit a circuit and hesitated. I also wanted a scout. Maybe a little flying drone that could be mistaken for a bat. Why not figure out what that entailed, before committing anything?

  I focused on the idea, visualized it, thought about what I wanted it to do and be capable of, then thought create bat drone.

  Insufficient Subroutines to devote to this task!

  Requirements: Fabrication 2, Broadcast 1, Drones 1, Energy 1

  I blinked in surprise. So complicated? “Argus, use my eyes for a minute. Tell me why a tiny scouting drone takes five subroutines.”

  He zoomed closer. “Analyzing… ah. Okay. It probably takes a higher level of fabrication due to miniaturization. Tiny parts are always harder to make.”

  “Then why doesn’t my nanoswarm take more?”

  “Nanobots are different. The Core’s made of those. The machinery’s already there to extrude and manufacture different types… up to a point, anyway. The builder swarm is just a slight variation of what your core can do. Whereas a small flying drone takes mechanical bits that aren’t in your, uh, core programming.”

  “Alright. Can you explain broadcast and energy?”

  “Sure. Broadcast is part of the power process. I’m guessing you want this drone to operate outside?”

  “Precisely.”

  “So it’ll need you to beam it power. When it’s in your complex, it can operate off the ambient stuff supplied by your resonance, but you’ll need the proper subroutines to extend or focus your resonance into a wave… or a beam.”

  “And energy?”

  “That’s under the storage process, so it’s probably a battery backup, or something similar.”

  “Complicated. I’m not sure I have enough circuits to do this and the door.”

  I pulled up my status again.

  CORE STATUS

  Controller Designation: Wynne

  Make/Model: Northwest Enginetics Bunker Core Nanohive 4L

  Resonance Rate: 1/23:58

  Bandwidth: 9Feedstock: 4

  Open Circuits: 6

  Specialized Circuits: 4


  Floors: 1

  Minions:

  1x Autonomous Remote Guidance Universal System

  1x Nanobuilder Swarm

  Processes and Subroutines

  Construction(1): Demolition 1, Infrastructure 1, Fabrication 1

  Medical: Cybernetics, Pharmaceuticals, Recovery

  Power: Broadcast, Efficiency, Redundancy

  Research: Algorithms, Analysis, Databases

  Security: Defensive, Drones 1, Offensive

  Storage: Energy, Material, Organic

  Improvements:

  Sturdy Construction – Your construction techniques utilize multiple layers and reinforced structural components. All items and features constructed are moderately tougher.

  Schemas

  Nanobuilder Swarm

  WARNING: Contamination detected! Core is 24% compromised.

  I sighed in relief. “No, we’re good.”

  “Barely,” Argus said, and I realized I hadn’t told him to stop using my eyes. “If your progression matches those of the cores I’ve worked with before, then upping that Fabrication from one to two is going to eat up two circuits. Then you’ll commit three more to the remaining subroutines which will leave you with one circuit free.”

  “Expensive…” I glanced upward, and winced. “Especially since that tunnel didn’t do much for my resonance rate. Two minutes? That’s all?”

  “Sorry,” Argus shrugged, a rippling affair that involved lots of blinking. “Starting out, it’s always a pain. It takes a few days, at least, to really get going.”

  “What if I just keep digging tunnels?” I wondered. “They’re relatively cheap enough. And the dirt and rock should provide feedstock to keep doing it.”

  “Well, there’s two flaws with that idea,” Argus said. “I’ve seen what happens when cores try that, and it helps in the short term, but only up to a point. You hit diminishing returns fast. The resonance needs different structures and facilities to grow properly. Without variety you’ll be burning feedstock and time for something that won’t help you as much as experimentation and a little planning.”

  “What’s the second flaw?”

  “Those intruders are still out there somewhere and we’ve got other worries right now.”

  I shook my perspective, still staring out into the sunlight. I’d let the sight of the outer world lull me. They were, weren’t they? I couldn’t afford to spend time farting around with empty tunnels.

  And I couldn’t afford four subroutines on a batdrone right now. I would have guests, soon. I needed a way to kill the ones who needed killing.

  “Security. That’s all about dealing with intruders, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Argus nodded.

  I turned away from the sunlight, and started trying to create various things, checking the subroutine requirements.

  Sadly, machine guns were out of my reach at the minute. But other things? They were doable. And at the end of it, I thought I had a pretty good range of options to hand.

  With a few commands, I allocated my remaining circuits.

  Demolition subroutine is now 2!

  Defensive Subroutine is now 1!

  Offensive Subroutine is now 1!

  Material Subroutine is now 1!

  Analysis Subroutine is now 1!

  You have unlocked a Construction Improvement!

  Three options are available at this juncture;

  Concealed Countermeasures: Through extensive camouflage and careful craftsmanship, your traps and drones are harder to detect while inside your complex.

  Manhunter: Your security measures and minions are optimized for use against humans.

  Lethal: Toxic nanobot cutter strains are worked into every trap and weapon that you construct. Though limited, their estimated kill ratio is 25% against most organic subjects, though this varies by the nature of the affected subject and several mitigating factors.

  The security improvement options were everything I’d hoped for and more. Damn me, this was a tough choice.

  And it came down to what my foes were bringing, and what their strategy was going to be.

  “So, lethal and call it a day?” Argus asked.

  “No,” I said, deciding as I considered it. “The girl, at least, was a friendly. I don’t want to chance killing her accidentally if she drops in again.”

  “She was a HUMAN. She might not be a friendly next time you see her. And you’ll be able to turn the traps off, if she comes back.”

  “Unless I’m sleeping through another improvement coma. Which would happen if I chose this now.”

  Argus was silent.

  “Besides, I might want to capture one of the bald guys alive. Give me a day or two and I think I can crack the lingo.” A universal translator had been stupidly expensive, subroutine-wise. But one that focused on humans was simpler. That was why I had picked up the analysis subroutine. I’d also need databases and algorithms, but that was fine. I’d played enough games to know that the research tree was a big deal. They’d be on the short list after the current crisis was through.

  “Okay,” he said, looking disappointed. “That puts it down to concealed countermeasures and manhunter.”

  That… was hard. Stealthy traps would increase their chances of disabling their targets.

  Once per trap, anyway.

  But the first threat I was up against was humans.

  This was why it came down to their strategy, because if I made the wrong choice here, then their strategy would negate it, and I’d be destroyed before my rebellion could even start. “I’m taking my eyes back, Argus. Get out of them,” I said, as I mulled things over.

  “Sure, okay, no problem.” He sounded chipper.

  And why shouldn’t he? I was fixing to deal with the intruders, and that was his original mission. He probably figured that once the crisis was over, when Juno yanked us back he could at least say that he’d helped me complete the task she’d assigned us.

  That was something. I still couldn’t trust him in the long term, but for the short term, our goals were the same. So why not trust him with the battle plan?

  “They’ve got two basic approaches against us,” I told Argus. “Slow and cautious, or fast and overwhelming.”

  “Okay…”

  “If it’s slow and cautious, then concealed countermeasures would be the better improvement. It would make our stuff harder to detect.”

  “And if it’s fast and overwhelming?”

  “Manhunter, to take them down hard and fast.”

  “And you’re sure lethal is off the table?”

  “Entirely. Cutter nanobots are like poison, right?”

  “More like a fast-acting disease. They start traveling through the body, slicing through cells as they go, aiming towards important organs.”

  “But they still take minutes or hours to kill, I’m guessing?”

  “Well, it depends on the location of the wound on the body- but yes, basically,” Argus bobbed.

  “Then if they come in fast and overwhelming, killing twenty-five percent more of them won’t help us. There just isn’t that much distance between the core chamber and the entrance. I don’t care if I kill more of them, because my goal is to survive this, not wipe them out. And if they come in slow and cautious, it’s still not a good solution. They’ll probably detect traps easier than if I had concealed countermeasures going, which means less of them will be hurt.”

  “You keep saying ‘them’. How do we know there’s a them? And not just one obviously-hostile male and a secretly-hostile female?”

  “I know humans. Was one, once. They’re social creatures, and when it comes to big fucking deals, they don’t act alone. Going by the strength of the emotions I saw, I’m not a minor matter. Pretty sure I’m a big fucking deal, which means that even if they aren’t a ‘them’, then that guy will go get help until he’s got a proper lynch mob going.”

  Argus nodded. “Manhunter,” he said without hesitation.

  “Got any reasoning behind that?�
�

  “Always!” He sounded insulted. “If they come in fast and overwhelming, then it gives us the best chance of stopping them. And if they come in slow and cautious, that gives us more time to think and change our strategy.”

  I laughed. “We’ll make a general of you yet.”

  “Um. No, that’s okay, thanks.”

  “You’ve convinced me. Manhunter it is. But before that…” If I was right, then upgrading to any improvement was going to knock me out for a while, and I had way too much to set in motion before I took a nap. I spent several minutes telling Argus what I wanted and gave him explicit instructions on what NOT to do. Then I handed over control of the nanobuilder swarm and the doors, and watched him get started on the traps, and other constructions.

  Then there was no putting it off any longer.

  Manhunter selected! Upgrading existing structures…

  Darkness embraced me, and I slept.

  SIX

  I woke to a multitude of messages, none of them good.

  ERROR: Allocation failure – restoring from backup………

  ERROR: Allocation failure – restoring from backup………

  Corruption detected in sector 4GH*F* Do you with to reformat? y/n?

  “Alternate communication attempted. Corruption detected in core,” a pleasant female voice intoned, over one of the room’s intercoms. “Do you wish to reformat?”

  “No!” Argus yelled, as soon as I woke. “Say no!”

  “No,” I muttered, and the messages started to fade.

  I felt horrible. If I’d had a stomach I would have emptied it.

  “You were out longer,” Argus said. “I think the corruption’s getting to you. We need to do something about that.”

  “I’m inclined to agree,” I said, pulling open my status and wincing. Corruption was still at 24%. I couldn’t count on time fixing matters.

  But on the upside, I had a circuit, presumably gained from resonance. Which meant… I flicked my consciousness out to the tunnel and the exit and saw that it was dark outside. The lights in the tunnel were turned off, and I nodded approvingly. No sense in making a glowing beacon of the place.

  The steel door between the control room and the tunnel was open. “Argus? Why are we open?”