Steel Beneath the Skin

by Niall Teasdale

  Aneka recalled stories of Japanese soldiers in the Pacific who had gone on hiding in the jungles, unaware that the war they had been fighting had ended. Where these robots the same? ‘Why are you still operating here?’ That seemed to take the robot by surprise. It paused and Al flashed text messages across her vision as the scout communicated with the other robots.

  Why would this operative ask that?

  Operational parameter change?

  Clarify.

  They were definitely all robots. She guessed that they had been left in situ to ensure that the planet was not reoccupied. Left with no updates to their orders and no backup. She spoke before it could. ‘The war ended a thousand years ago. You should have been stood down. No one has operated in this part of space for centuries.’ She lowered her pistol and then slipped it into its holster. ‘Return to your base and wait for orders.’

  Conflict concluded?

  New orders?

  Request authentication.

  ‘I have no idea what your authentication codes are. Your orders were issued too long ago. Stand down and await further orders.’ She looked at the robot and waited, her stance neutral. If it came to it, she was moderately sure she could out-draw the thing, but she was hoping it would not come to that.

  Situation unconfirmed. Stand down. Await further orders.

  ‘Withdrawing,’ the scout hissed at her, and then it engaged its camouflage and turned, vanishing into the jungle. On Aneka’s radar image, the warbots began to retreat.

  Ella was just about bouncing as Aneka walked back up the ramp into the shuttle. ‘You did it! They left!’

  ‘I bought us some time,’ Aneka replied, looking around at the faces of the team. ‘You were right, I think. An emulated mind out-ranks a purely synthetic one, and they haven’t had orders from a real commander since the war. They were left here as an area denial task force. They never got told the war had ended so they just went on doing what they were left here to do. I gave them an order and they decided to follow it.’

  ‘Just like that?’ Monkey asked.

  ‘I’m not sure how long it’ll hold. They wanted authentication codes. I told them it was too long ago and they seemed to accept that, but if no one comes to give them any they may decide to come get them.’

  ‘You know,’ Gilroy said, ‘people have found unmanned xinti squads like this before. The herosians make a point of blasting them to atoms, but maybe they’ve all been like this. Ancient sentries left without orders to stop, and no one could talk to them to tell them it was over.’

  ‘That’s horrible,’ Ella said.

  ‘They’re just robots, Ella,’ Aneka replied.

  ‘Xinti robots generally have moderately high-level AIs,’ Gilroy replied. ‘Anything they left to operate independently would have volition. Volitional AIs are banned under federal law because using them as a computer was considered to amount to slavery. You can find some around still, but they’re old, mostly. Turning them off would have qualified as murder.’

  ‘Huh. Well, they didn’t seem too bright. I don’t think they’ve exactly suffered.’

  ‘Still,’ Ella said, ‘we should talk to them. Offer them the chance to surrender.’

  Aneka blinked at her, but Bashford spoke. ‘That would be extremely inadvisable.’

  ‘Think of the information they could give us,’ Gilroy replied.

  ‘Mom,’ Monkey said, his voice half a whine, ‘are you nuts? You heard the stories Dad told about them.’ Aneka could tell how worried he was; it was the first time he had ever called her “Mom.”

  ‘It would be better to come back with a larger force,’ Bashford said. ‘An armed force.’

  ‘We couldn’t keep it quiet,’ Gilroy replied. ‘The Herosians will get wind of it and we’ll come back to a cinder.’ Bashford grunted in acknowledgement.

  ‘Well,’ Aneka said, ‘it’s going to be my arse on the line. I’m the only one who can talk to them. If you think it’s worth the risk, I can try.’

  ‘This is crazy,’ Monkey said.

  Aneka nodded. ‘It’s tactically stupid, but sometimes you have to take risks to win.’

  ~~~

  ‘Another hundred metres,’ Patton said over the communications channel from the ship. ‘You may be able to see it now.’

  ‘Yes,’ Aneka said as her enhanced vision picked out a concealed hatch ahead of her. ‘I’m not sure how you located it from up there.’

  ‘It showed up as an anomalous heat signature. It’s very well hidden, but it’s a degree or so warmer than the surrounding jungle.’

  They had obviously detected her approach; the hatch levered upward as she got closer. It was large enough that you could get a small car out through it. ‘They’re inviting me in. You’re sure about this strategy, Doc? I may lose communications once I’m in there.’

  ‘I think it’s the most reasonable course of action,’ Gilroy’s voice was confident, maybe overly so. ‘Consider them to be grunt soldiers. Not especially bright ones.’ Well, Aneka was used to those at least. ‘Explain the situation, ask them to stand down and they’ll be treated fairly.’

  ‘Can we actually guarantee that?’

  ‘If they’re willing to disarm, I believe so. As I said, creating volitional AIs is illegal, but where they exist they have the same rights as any sentient life form.’

  Bashford’s voice cut in to add, ‘The Federal Articles of War state that a surrendering enemy combatant has rights. That includes the right to not be executed on the spot. The Herosians get away with it because no xinti AI has ever surrendered before.’

  Aneka nodded, though they could not see it. Even if these things belonged to the same race that had basically killed her and stuck her in a robot body, these robots had had nothing to do with that, and if they were really sentient she did not want to lie to a fellow soldier. ‘All right, here goes nothing.’ She started down the ramp into the xinti base.

  It looked more like a garage. There were five of the warbots and two scouts, each standing against the walls settled into individual stations. The warbots were bulky things the size of a small car, each with six armoured legs supporting a heavily armoured hull with a T-shaped “head” mounted on top. Two manipulator arms were mounted to the front of the hull, but Aneka was more concerned about the three weapon mounts at the sides and rear since every single one of the robots was tracking her with weapons which looked like they could have taken out a main battle tank.

  The two scouts just watched her, each identical machine sitting in a chair-like framework. One of them sat beside a console of some description, connected to it by a thick cable. Presumably this was the sensor suite.

  ‘Who wants to do the talking?’ Aneka asked. Behind her she heard the hatch shut and Al indicated that communications with the shuttle were out.

  One of the scouts, the one not connected to a terminal, rose to its feet and moved closer. ‘You are not Xinti,’ it stated in a hiss of noise. ‘You identify as Xinti, but are not.’

  ‘No,’ Aneka replied, wondering again about the identification thing. ‘I’m human.’ She frowned. ‘I was human. I was taken from my home world by the Xinti before the war and put into this body. The ship I was travelling on had a catastrophic accident. I was the only survivor, and I was only found by chance after floating in deep space for over a thousand years.’ She paused. ‘But I’m the most xinti thing you’re going to meet now.’

  There was a long pause. No communications chatter, no audible speech. It was as if each robot was assessing her statement and unsure how to respond. ‘Xinti lost war?’ the scout finally said. Al flashed up indicators with the translation; side frequencies suggested disbelief, but something more like shocked disbelief and fear.

  ‘Yes,’ Aneka replied, ‘but from what I’ve learned since I was reactivated, no one really won. All the combatants suffered huge losses. The galaxy was plunged into chaos for three hundred years. There’s a new federation of the surviving races, but the Xinti were wiped out. There’s no one
coming to relieve you or give you orders, except me.’

  This time there was a burst of radio chatter. All of them talking over each other until the scout who had been talking to her called for silence. The message Al put up when it spoke stated that the tone was almost pleading. ‘Orders.’

  It wanted orders. They were, she realised, slaves. Now they were slaves without purpose, holding a position which would never be reclaimed. ‘If you disarm, I can accept your surrender for the Federation. They have laws. You would be treated as surrendering enemy combatants and treated fairly. I think that this new Federation would view you as they would any other sentient being. You may find your life better than under the Xinti. Two of the humans here are scientists, historians and archaeologists. They are very interested in what they could learn from you.’ She paused. ‘Look, I’m a soldier, or I was a soldier. If you fight, they’ll send warships and level the planet. You can kill the people here, but others know about you now. If I didn’t believe you’d be treated fairly, I wouldn’t suggest it, but surrender is your best option.’

  ‘Consideration required,’ the scout said. ‘No hostile action to be initiated. Self will communicate decision within one planetary revolution. Acceptable?’

  Aneka nodded. ‘Acceptable.’ She turned and headed for the ramp as the hatch started to open. Al indicated that communications had been re-established as she reached the surface and she spoke silently. ‘They’re considering the terms of surrender. They won’t attack us.’

  ‘You believe them?’ Monkey’s voice, tense.

  ‘It was one soldier to another,’ she replied. ‘They won’t attack us, but I don’t know whether they’ll agree to surrender.’

  ‘What other option have they got?’ Ella asked, clearly a little confused.

  Aneka kept walking, her expression grim. ‘They can wait for someone to come and blow the shit out of them, or they can do it themselves.’

  7.10.523 FSC.

  Gilroy and Ella were working on the site with Bashford assisting. Monkey was at the security console after replacing the destroyed cameras on the trail through the jungle. Aneka sat outside the admin building, her eyes watching the jungle with a window in her vision showing the view from camera fifteen.

  According to Al, there was another three hours before the time limit set by the scout, which she was sure was the same one she had talked to in the clearing, was up. She had mixed feelings about the entire business. The thought had come to her as she sat through the night shift that if the robots surrendered they would likely end up as lab rats. The thought had also surfaced that she was going to be in for the same treatment, but she had a human mind and it would be far harder for anyone to lock her up for research purposes. A robot was another matter. And what sort of life was she really offering them? Most jenlay had a strong dislike of robots. She suspected the law against AIs was as much to do with that as not wanting to deal with the consequences. She at least looked human. She could probably avoid a lot of trouble because of that, but the warbots in particular would never integrate into federal society.

  When the scout appeared in the view from camera fifteen, Aneka began running for the shuttle. By the time she got there, Monkey was standing at the tail ramp, his carbine cradled at the ready. He glanced at her, but he neither moved nor said anything. The scout was standing a few feet onto the broken concrete, silent and unmoving. It was still wearing its pistol and there was a bulky case slung over its shoulder by a strap.

  As she approached it reached to its leg and Aneka snapped a look at Monkey, willing him not to react. The young man looked tense, but he seemed to recognise that the move was not a threat. When she turned back, the scout was holding its pistol at arm’s length by the muzzle.

  Aneka took the weapon, nodding. She was a little surprised when it said, ‘Surrender not possible.’ It lifted the case from its shoulder and held it out. Aneka took it and looped the strap over her shoulder. Whatever it was, it was heavy. ‘Purpose negated by cessation of conflict. Our gratitude for honesty and respect expressed in data for research purposes.’

  For a second, Aneka thought about trying to argue, but she was not sure she did not agree with the decision. Instead she raised her hand to her brow in salute. ‘I respect your choice. Thank you for the information.’

  It might not have understood what the salute signified, but it seemed to understand her meaning. Its head nodded slowly and then it turned back into the jungle. Aneka turned back and headed for Monkey. The others had joined him now and there was a quizzical look on their faces as Aneka approached.

  ‘They aren’t surrendering,’ she said, ‘but they wanted you to have this thing.’ She shrugged the shoulder with the case hanging from it. ‘It said it was research data.’

  ‘That’s a xinti data storage unit,’ Gilroy said. ‘You couldn’t persuade them to stay?’

  Aneka started past them to the ramp. The case was damn heavy and she wanted to put it down somewhere safe. ‘I didn’t try.’

  ‘Why not?’ Ella asked.

  ‘Because I think they’ve made the right choice.’ They were possibly being more sensible than she was.

  ~~~

  Thirty minutes later Drake called down from the Garnet Hyde to tell them that they had detected an explosion where the xinti base had been located. It had an extremely high thermal reading, probably the result of the detonation of several plasma grenades.

  Aneka wished she could get drunk.

  Part Three: On the Edge

  FScV Garnet Hyde, 2.11.523 FSC.

  Aneka lay on her bunk, staring at the ceiling. She was getting a little sick of sterile spaceship interiors, but there was nothing else to look at. She had tried watching various movies, but she did not really understand the cultural references, action movies seemed to have died out, and the comedies were far too reminiscent of nineteen-seventies sex romps like Confessions of a Window Cleaner, except with more explicit sex. She had not thought they were that funny the first time around.

  With the dig wrapped and all the equipment checked, packed, and stored away in the hold, the facilitator team members were basically off duty, and Aneka would have welcomed the oblivion of cold sleep. Except that no one had come up with a way of putting her to sleep, so that was not going to happen, and anyway they were taking a side-trip so no one was going to sleep.

  Five days after the xinti ‘bots had blown themselves to pieces another ship had arrived in the Alpha Mensae system. The frigate, the Delta Guantina, had been sent out to assist if the robots had been more trouble than they proved to be. When it turned out that it was a wasted journey, they had left orders that the Garnet Hyde was to stop off in the Harriamon system on their way back for debriefing, and then turned around and left. Aneka had not been overly impressed with the two officers; they had seemed far too disappointed that they were not going to be able to bring enormous weapons to bear on a few relatively unprotected robots.

  The door slid open and Ella came in, the smile on her face fading a little as she saw Aneka lying there on the top bunk. Ella had been getting more and more worried about her friend as the days had gone on, though if she were honest about it part of the worry was displacement activity. Harriamon was not her favourite place in the galaxy and she had been less than pleased when she had heard they were going there.

  ‘You look bored,’ Ella said. ‘Wanna fuck?’

  Aneka let out a short bark of a laugh. ‘Sex is not the answer to everything, y’know?’

  ‘It’s an answer.’ She paused, unsure how to broach the subject which had been bugging her for a while. ‘Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you? You’ve been… well, kind of depressed since the Xinti thing. I’m worried about you.’

  Aneka swung her legs off the bed and dropped to the deck with artificially lithe grace. Then she lay down on the lower bunk, putting her back against the wall and patting the mattress beside her. Ella settled into the crook of her arm, plastic ship-suit pressed against skin. It was hard to believe t
hat Aneka was basically a robot; she felt real, even down to the warmth of her body seeping through the suit. As Aneka curled an arm around Ella’s waist, Ella’s hand stroked up over her shoulder, feeling the perfect skin, the tiny hairs.

  ‘We’re heading back toward civilisation,’ Aneka said, her voice soft and her breath making the skin on Ella’s neck tingle. ‘What happened with the xinti ‘bots made me think about the reaction I’m going to get, and then those navy guys turned up… Did you see the way they looked at me?’

  ‘Yes.’ Actually she had wanted to smack the frigate’s first officer silly. Her rational mind told her that the majority of jenlay had a dislike of robots and these men knew what Aneka was. They were acting on basic fears, difficult to overcome. But Aneka was a person, damn it! She had not asked to be turned into a mind in a metal body. You just had to talk to her…

  ‘I can’t help thinking that I might have been better off if I’d never woken up. Lots of people are going to be just like those sailors. I’m a freak, Ella.’

  ‘You’re not…’

  ‘The only bit of me that’s human is a simulation of my mind. I’m Aneka Jansen’s ghost animating a dead body. I’m not just a robot in a society which hates robots, I’m a robot that thinks it’s a human. My heart's artificial, my pulse is simulated. I can see your heart beating with the cameras I see out of. Mine just pumps.’

  ‘Then you can see my eyes too. I’m just as much a freak as you are, at least in most people’s eyes. You know your identification won’t tell anyone you’ve got cybernetic parts unless they have clearance to see that. Most people aren’t going to know. We wouldn’t know if we hadn’t scanned you when we found you.’ She frowned and put her finger to Aneka’s lips before further worries could be expounded. Then she reached up and hit one of the buttons on the headboard console. ‘Narrows to Patton. Shannon? Are you busy?’

  The reply came after a short pause. ‘Not really. I was watching a vid.’