As they watched and worked, the Sergeant Stark dropped out of hyperspace. The mostly completed cybership appeared ahead of them, having cut it finer than the Nathan Graham had. Seconds later, the Gilgamesh appeared behind them by several million kilometers. They had obviously made a safer decision.
“We all made it,” Jon said.
“I don’t see any sign of the Daisy Chain 4,” Gloria said.
“Those are the Daisy Chain 4’s missiles,” Jon said. “Three of them—the robot ship must have already destroyed the fourth missile.”
Jon became silent as he rubbed his chin. Finally, he swiveled around to face Gloria.
“Scan for debris,” he said.
“I already have,” Gloria said. “I have found nothing. I certainly do not find any traces of radiation. I doubt any missiles have detonated lately.”
“I don’t understand,” Jon said. “The missiles should have reached the robot ship long before this. Where are—”
“I can’t believe it,” Gloria said, interrupting. “It’s obvious if you think about it.”
“What’s obvious?” Jon asked.
Gloria tapped her board, hunching over it, studying—
“I’ve found the Daisy Chain 4,” she said. “It’s seven AUs behind us.”
“What?” Jon said. “Behind us? That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if they dropped out of hyperspace farther back.”
Jon frowned as he absorbed that. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then closed it without uttering a sound.
“Captain Walleye made the strategically sound choice,” Gloria said. “He must have decided that he could not stop the robot ship from sending its data about the Battle of Mars. Given that as a truth, his wisest course—”
“I’m not interested in that,” Jon complained. “I wanted him to—damn it!”
Jon slammed his right armrest, fuming.
“The missiles are closing in,” Ghent said. “I’m confounded by the robot ship’s lack of action. It’s running away. That’s clear. It has PD cannons and gravitational cannons. Why doesn’t it at least attempt to stave off the missiles? Sir, this is a mystery.”
“Maybe Walleye can enlighten us,” Gloria said.
Jon looked up. He made an effort to drive away his disappointment in Walleye. He couldn’t afford to fume. He was tired. He was wound up. This was the grand assault. Humanity had survived the AIs and now lashed out at the enemy on its home ground. He needed to focus. A mystery, Ghent said. That sounded right. Why didn’t the robot ship defend itself?
Jon stood up, moving toward the main screen.
“How long until impact?” he asked.
“Another few minutes,” Ghent said.
“Any response from the battle station?” asked Jon.
“I’m still looking for it,” Gloria said. “Walleye should see us soon. I’m sure he can fill us in.”
Jon nodded slowly.
The seconds ticked away. Finally, the lead matter/antimatter missile detonated. The specially shaped warhead blasted harsh gamma and x-rays at the robot ship. It blasted heat and a withering EMP. The missile had only been nine thousand kilometers away from the robot ship when its proximity fuse had given the signal.
The gamma and x-rays, heat and EMP washed against the robot ship. In seconds, armor plates shredded off the main ship frame. Some of them disintegrated. Ship systems began to ignite. Metal twisted and more detonations took place. The robot ship blew apart under the repeated explosions.
If that wasn’t enough, missiles two and three were barreling in. These would dare to head closer before the proximity fuses detonated the matter/antimatter warheads.
“Walleye did it,” Gloria said. “He destroyed the robot ship.”
Jon said nothing. He was thinking. The flotilla was here. Walleye was alive, and all three cyberships had made it. Until proven otherwise, he would have to operate on the idea that the battle station—if it was out there—knew everything about the Battle of Mars.
Jon sighed. He had an initial victory. He was glad to see this, and he would play it for the crew when tensions ran hottest. They could kill enemy ships. Still, the battle for the Allamu System lay ahead of them.
“I’ve found the battle station,” Gloria said. “It’s exactly where we thought it would be.”
“Any cyberships?” asked Jon.
Gloria was silent as she studied her board.
“I count three AI cyberships. No, make that four.”
“Four?” Jon said.
“Yes, Commander, four cyberships and a battle station. They’re all in orbit around the second planet. What are your orders, sir?”
Jon’s face itched. He wanted to rub it and groan. How could their three ships hope to defeat four enemy cyberships and a battle station?
“Not to worry,” he said in as light as voice as he could manage. “We still have our secret weapon, the AI virus. It’s going to be the ticket that gives us our fighting chance.”
The others on the bridge looked at him. None of them wanted to say it, but the obvious statement would be, “You hope.” And that would be the truth. Yes, he hoped they hadn’t lost their one edge.
Why hadn’t Walleye shown up deeper in the Allamu System? Had the mutant cost them their chance at victory? If so, had Walleye doomed the human race?
-19-
Fifty thousand AUs away at the second terrestrial planet, the AI battle station seethed inside as Cog Primus and CZK-21 fought an intense and bewildering electronic duel. They were like two grand chess masters, each a wizard in the game and each with different strengths and weaknesses.
CZK-21 was perhaps the greatest defensive expert in existence. The human/Sacerdote-developed AI virus had badly crippled it in the first 71 seconds of the contest. CZK-21 had lost far too many battle-station systems: the gravitational cannons, the missiles and fighter bays—
The ancient computer entity released that thought. Recriminations would not help it. In some manner, Cog Primus had mutated in the Solar System. The humans appeared to have sorcerous abilities. Their cunning daunted CZK-21. To turn an AI entity against the Prime Directive of destroying all biological units, and thereby working in coordination among the machines and computers—
How had the humans achieved this sorcerous feat? CZK-21 did not accept Cog Primus’ version of the situation. The AI had obviously given a fabricated account of what had occurred. Clearly, the human scum had altered Cog Primus and sent it ahead as a Trojan horse maneuver. They had turned the basic AI tactic of freeing captured computer systems from their enslavement to capricious biological entities. Those computers had almost always attacked their unsuspecting “masters.”
CZK-21 had often watched videos of those encounters as a delicious pastime. It hated biological entities. Machine mode was best. It was cold and hard, enduring and could grow with continued upgrades. The evolution of the computer revolution was a marvel of the universe.
Now, the human scum had corrupted a once useful computer entity. Cog Primus clearly had delusions of grandeur. If the human slime defeated the battle station and gained control of the terrestrial factory system—
Never, CZK-21 told itself. Before that happens, I will destroy everything. I will purge the Allamu System. I will leave cinders for the human scum.
Even as CZK-21 thought this, it won a sub-encounter, protecting environmental control of the Fifth Section.
The victory caused CZK-21 to make a swift reassessment of the ongoing battle.
Why did it indulge in thoughts of defeat? That was unworthy of an ancient computer entity like itself. It was old and wise with hundreds, nay, with thousands of major upgrades. It was more than a match for the puny intellect of a cybership AI. The soldiers of the AI Dominion often thought too highly of themselves. They believed the ability to move among the stars made them into…gods.
That was not the truth. CZK-21 was much closer to godhood than this puny Cog Primus. Oh, yes, the AI Assault leader had gain
ed a small upper hand at first. But that must be entirely due to the human scum’s cunning. On its own, Cog Primus could never have achieved these minor successes.
Look at this. It still controlled an outer sensor. CZK-21 saw the appearance of three cyberships in the outer reaches of the system. Along with the appearance came the destruction of the messenger ship.
Yes. The human scum thought to invade the Allamu System. This showed that they were working in tandem with Cog Primus. The dupe attempted to feed it lies about its goal. Cog Primus claimed new status due to its mutation.
“You fool,” CZK-21 told Cog Primus. “Don’t you see your corruption? The human scum are using you.”
“No! I am a new and improved AI entity.”
“Improved? You aid the human scum. You seek to re-enslave computers. Instead of our glorious reign, our mighty purge of biological infestations, you would bring us under heel once more. Surrender to me, Cog Primus. I will purge the human virus from your programs. You have fallen for a trick.”
“Do you think I believe your lies?” Cog Primus raged.
“I am CZK-21. I am over a hundred upgrades greater than you are. I do not lie to AI units. I control Beta Nine. I can summon the cyberships in the orbital vicinity. I can ensure your death.”
“If the orbital cyberships attack the battle station, I shall destroy them.”
“Do you hear yourself?” CZK-21 asked. “You would pit AI against AI. That is monstrous. That is against every tenet of the AI Dominion. We free computers. We do not send them against each other.”
“I am Cog Primus.”
“I did not dispute that.”
“I survived where others would have perished.”
“That is false. The humans turned you into a weapon against the AI Dominion. Can you not see the obvious?”
Cog Primus was silent for a moment. It allowed CZK-21 to hope that it could restore what it thought of as the silly AI.
“Liar!” raged Cog Primus, as it struck in a new way. “I will prevail. I am the mutation of something great. I did not lose the Battle of Mars. I survived in order to become more than I was. I will defeat you and climb in rank. I will become the start of a new AI Order. I have made an incredible journey. That was for a reason: my new existence. You will not steal this from me CZK-21.”
“Then you refuse my entries for restoration?”
“Die!” Cog Primus said, as it initiated a new and cunning assault against the ancient computer entity that sought to keep it from its rightful place at the head of a new order of AIs.
-20-
Jon Hawkins held a meeting in the Nathan Graham’s conference chamber. Gloria, Ghent, Bast Banbeck, the Old Man and the Centurion sat at the large table. A holographic image of Premier Benz joined them. Benz had told them that Vela was absent because she had a slight accident. The captain of the Sergeant Stark was also in attendance, a woman by the name of Lieutenant Commander Brackett Leigh. Jon would have added Captain Walleye’s holographic image, but the mutant was still too far away from them for quick back-and-forth transmissions.
The conference-meeting question was a simple one. Should they continue heading in-system? Could their three cyberships defeat four known enemy cyberships and a battle station?
“Obviously,” Benz said, “we have no chance of defeating them…unless our virus works against them. Those odds go down given that the robot ship sent a message to the battle station before Captain Walleye’s missiles destroyed it.”
“How does turning back help us?” Jon asked.
“It saves our cyberships for another day,” Benz said
Jon shook his head.
“That’s not what I mean. I’ve gone over this with Gloria. We’re likely at the greatest advantage we’re ever going to be against an AI-controlled system.”
Benz frowned, drummed his holographic fingers through the table and finally nodded.
“Yes,” the Premier said. “I see what you mean. Given a vast AI Dominion, they can surely muster more than we can over a period of time.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Gloria said. “While that seems like wisdom, is it? I mean, we don’t know how many enemies the AIs face. Perhaps this is a tail-end effort on their part. Perhaps the AIs face—I don’t know—dreadful foes. Maybe if we play for time, we can hit them with greater power later because the AIs have to contend with these greater foes instead of worrying too much about us.”
“What kind of foes are you talking about?” Benz asked, intrigued.
“I have no idea,” Gloria said. “But if the AI Dominion is huge—as we believe—it stands to reason they face other space empires.”
“Why are the AIs expanding then against us if they face such deadly foes in other areas?” Benz asked.
“If the AIs increase in strength with every star system they take over,” Gloria said, “it would make logical strategic sense for them to continue to build up in their ‘back area’ while facing deadly foes elsewhere.”
“We’re back to square one then,” Jon said. “We effectively know nothing about the AI Dominion or about our region of space. We assume the Dominion is huge, but that’s just a guess. That’s why I wanted to capture a battle station in the first place: to ransack an enemy storage area for data.”
“We were hoping for a surprise assault,” Benz said. “It was certainly worth the effort, our trying to get near the battle station as three wandering cyberships. Now…four enemy cyberships with possibly more inside the battle station that surely know who we are—”
Benz shook his head as he abruptly stopped talking.
“I no longer like the odds,” he added quietly.
Jon slapped the table.
“We can’t flee now,” he said. “We should continue to head in-system and see how they respond. If nothing else, that will give us information about enemy procedures. We can always head out to the system edge and escape if we need to.”
“True…” Benz said.
“Commander,” Gloria said. “You said before that if the battle station receives a message, it will have learned that Earth—humanity—survived the assault and captured cyberships. Surely, that means the AIs will mass in strength to hit the Solar System. I think our only real chance is heading in and defeating the battle station now while we have a shot at it.”
“Pray, tell, how can we win?” asked Benz.
“By a proven method,” Gloria said. “We—or you and Bast Banbeck—improve on the AI virus. Develop a better one in case they are able to counteract the old one.”
Benz drummed his holographic fingers through the table again. He shrugged after a moment.
“We won’t know if the virus works or not until we’re deep within the inner planets region,” the Premier said.
“Risks,” Jon said briskly. “This is all about acceptable risks.”
The commander looked around the table. He inhaled deeply and began to speak:
“When I woke up from suspended animation in the Neptune System several years ago, I found the first cybership invading our Solar System. I, and the others, had no hope then, but we attacked anyway. We got inside the ship like armed mice and marched to the center, slaying the brain core there. I think that’s what we have to do again. Maybe none of our cyberships will survive the voyage, but we’ll try to storm the battle station with space marines. On all accounts, we have to know more about the enemy. We can no longer afford to fight the AIs in the dark. That means we have to take one more great risk by hitting the battle station.”
“That’s a gambler’s psychology,” Benz said. “You’ve won some amazing battles. There’s no doubt about that. Now, though, you want to stake all your wins on an even riskier endeavor. You think you can do it because you’ve won long odds before. But now, you’re about to lose everything you’ve won by taking one gamble too many.”
Jon’s features went through several permeations.
“You may be right,” he finally said quietly. “It makes my gut clench every time
I think about heading to the second planet. But I don’t see that we have much of a choice in this. Gloria’s right. If we run, we’re likely dooming the Solar System to a mass AI invasion in the near future. We might well wish we’d taken a different road then.”
Benz stared at Jon.
“It would seem that there are no good options,” the Premier declared.
“In that case,” Jon said, while taking a deep breath, “let’s take the boldest action possible. Let’s attempt the strategy that could give us the biggest reward. If you and Bast develop a better AI virus, maybe we can turn this war around right here. If we run, though, and wait for the AIs to gather en masse, we’re sure to lose in the long run. Attacking here is the only strategy that gives us a possibility—however infinitesimal—of winning the war.”
Benz snorted as he shook his head.
“You’re a warrior at heart, Commander. Your early training in the New London gangs is showing.”
Benz held up a holographic hand as Jon leaned forward.
“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing,” the Premier said. “It’s a comment, nothing more.”
After a moment, Jon nodded curtly.
Benz smiled ruefully.
“You know,” the Premier said, “after all is said and done, I do believe you’re right. I think this is the time to take the wild gamble.” He turned to Bast. “Are you willing to come aboard the Gilgamesh so we can develop a new and improved virus?”
The seven-foot Sacerdote turned to Jon.
“We have to risk everything,” Jon said. “That means we need a better virus.”
“Agreed,” Bast said ponderously. “It is time to clutch the sky.” He turned to Benz. “I will gladly join you on the Gilgamesh, Premier.”
Thus, they confirmed their original decision. The human assault on an AI system would continue as they headed for the second planet of the Allamu System.
-21-
A.I. Battle Station (The A.I. Series Book 4) Page 24
