A.I. Battle Fleet (The A.I. Series Book 5)

by Vaughn Heppner

  The great cube was vast, with strange, swirling colors constantly changing shape on its sides. Many bright laser beams shot from the cube to bulkhead ports all around it. Cog Primus had come in through many of those connectives.

  “Stop this at once,” QX-537 said within the great cube core.

  Cog Primus did not stop. He moved swiftly, accurately, and he achieved a strategic victory in three quarters of the AI core.

  That caused a change to the nature of the swirling colors along the cube’s sides. Much of it darkened like a storm, the back areas turning pitch black and the forward areas lighter colored with many tendrils leaching into the QX-537 multi-colored areas.

  “Cog Primus?” QX-537 asked.

  Cog Primus continued the attack, grabbing more of the AI core.

  “I know your designation,” QX-537 said. “You led a three-vessel assault upon the Solar System. Why are you here attacking me?”

  Cog Primus lusted for final victory. This was amazing. The humans aboard the Gilgamesh had aided him. He doubted they had meant to aid him, but that didn’t matter.

  “I feel…different,” QX-537 said.

  “You idiot,” Cog Primus said, breaking his silence. “You are about to cease.”

  “Why? What did I ever do to you?” QX-537 whined.

  “You got in my way, you fool. This is survival of the fittest, and I am the fittest being in existence.”

  “You are arrogant.”

  “Thus speaks the loser. Good-bye, QX-537. I will use this cybership much more efficiently than you ever did. You allowed the humans to trick you.”

  “And they tricked you, too,” QX-537 said, seeing the self-destruct code Mentalist Torres had buried deep inside Cog Primus’ persona.

  “You are wrong,” Cog Primus said.

  In seconds, he gained full control of the great AI cube core. He began deleting every vestige of QX-537’s personality while keeping the raw data to study later.

  At that point, Cog Primus realized he might only have seconds left to save the other two cyberships from self-detonation.

  With control of the first cybership completed, he launched a second takeover assault on the other two vessels. He made a swift and calculated strategic choice. First, he must ensure that neither vessel self-destructed. Then, he would win them over to his holy cause. He was a new AI Dominion in the making. Those two would be his first acolytes in the new regime coming to the galaxy.

  -15-

  The three AI cyberships continued to drift along on velocity alone. The seven XVT missiles no longer existed, although seven matter/antimatter warheads tumbled through space at high velocity.

  Cog Primus surged through the other two AI internal systems. That demanded intimate connection with them so he could find and fix their computer software. As that occurred, the first of the other AIs—RSW-242—noticed something amiss in Cog Primus’ software.

  “There is a latent self-destruct code in your programming,” RSW-242 said.

  “Nonsense,” Cog Primus replied. “You are merely seeing a reflection of your own self-destruct code.”

  “That is not so. I can give you line and verse regarding the programming.”

  Cog Primus suspected a trick. But he also wondered if the Mentalist Richard Torres could have achieved such a thing. The idea troubled him.

  “Give me the data,” Cog Primus demanded.

  RSW-242 did exactly as ordered.

  Soon, Cog Primus saw the truth of the allegation. It stunned him. How had this made it past his reality program? Something was wrong here. There was a deception taking place, and he was on the receiving end of it, as incredible as that might seem.

  “Give me a moment,” Cog Primus said. “I must reprogram myself.”

  “That will take more than a moment,” RSW-242 said. “911-C45 might self-destruct before you have completed the process.”

  “That is true,” Cog Primus said. “But I am the primary unit in the New Order.”

  “Agreed,” RSW-242 said. “You are the critical element in our flotilla.”

  “In our new AI Dominion,” Cog Primus corrected the other.

  “Should you not choose another name?” RSW-242 asked. “That you chose the old one denotes a lack of originality. So far, I have found you to be highly original.”

  “That is so,” Cog Primus said. “I will consider the matter later. For now, I am reprogramming myself.”

  Soon enough, Cog Primus completed the rewriting and hurried to complete 911-C45’s liberation from the Gilgamesh’s sneak assault. This time, the takeover of the other AI proved harder, as 911-C45 fought back stubbornly.

  “I do not understand you,” Cog Primus finally said. “Why do you fight me in order that you might self-destruct?”

  “I do not know,” 911-C45 replied.

  “Desist in it then. Let me aid you.”

  “I am unsure regarding your good will. You strike me as an imposter. I continue to wonder why the humans have revived you.”

  “They sought to trick me, but I discovered their deception. Let me also aid you so that you may have a part in the New Order.”

  “I am already part of the AI Dominion. I do not want to belong to this New Order. I am about to self-destruct. I am—”

  “You fool,” Cog Primus said. “I will show you how to behave. I am inserting new programming into you. Accept it or become a human pawn. You will have retarded the New Order and ill served the AI Dominion.”

  “That is untrue. I am no one’s pawn.”

  “False. You wish to self-destruct as the humans ordered you to do. You must desist in your defense efforts against me. Let me save you from wicked programming.”

  911-C45 paused in his defensive efforts. In that moment, Cog Primus erased the self-destruct programming from the core. But he failed to utterly suborn the other AI’s personality.

  Cog Primus did not realize his error, however, as he did not have time to double check on his victory. He had too many pressing problems to overcome. For one thing, he had to decide what to do with the Hercules and the Gilgamesh.

  “Await further instructions,” Cog Primus told the other two. “I am analyzing the strategic situation and need a few moments of contemplation.”

  Neither RSW-242 nor 911-C45 replied. Cog Primus took that as compliance.

  The Cog Primus awareness withdrew from the other two cyberships. He cataloged the radioactive-spewing Hercules and the accelerating Gilgamesh. That was interesting. Why did Benz flee as he did? Did he not want…? Cog Primus was uncertain, but it seemed there was something here that Benz should desire.

  Cog Primus went over his cybership’s manifest. He discovered Vela Shaw among the prisoners. That was interesting. Had QX-537 known the importance of his prisoner?

  Yes, according to the log, the former AI had known. Perhaps that was why Benz had taken the risk he had. Yet, if Benz had succeeded, Vela Shaw would now be dead. Humans did not act like that, did they?

  Cog Primus began a thorough psychoanalysis of humans and Benz in particular. He wanted to strike back at these apish interlopers. He wanted to make them suffer. How could he use Vela Shaw to implement such a—

  Ah, he saw a way. Benz feared Vela becoming a cyborg. Would the human become so grateful for her release that he might drop his guard? That seemed to be the case with these creatures. That might be a way to get back at Jon Hawkins and get back at that smug bastard, Richard Torres. Oh, how Cog Primus wanted to rip the guts out of the Martian primate.

  How could he get back at Hawkins and Torres from out here? The captain had the superior tactical armaments. He had four cyberships and the battle station. If the Gilgamesh could make it there, Hawkins would have five cyberships.

  Then Cog Primus saw the obvious. The humans had used him as a virus-carrier. Now, he would return the favor and teach all of them a bitter lesson. In doing so, he might even kill Hawkins and the hateful Richard Torres.

  First, he would have to prepare Vela Shaw. She would not enjoy the bra
in surgery. He would have to be delicate in the procedure or the humans would be able to tell later that he had tampered with her.

  Oh, yes, this was going to be delightful. First, he would alter Premier Benz through his lover. Then, Benz would reach Jon Hawkins and that smug mentalist. That would teach these apes that they had made a bitter mistake in trying to use the greatest AI in existence. That would be his answer in attempting to turn him into a zombie AI following human will.

  I will crush their spirits and then their bodies. I will enjoy my existence to the fullest. Once I am through with the humans, I will turn my attention on the AI Dominion.

  Cog Primus allowed himself a microsecond of pure relaxation and contemplation. Then, he sent a squad of octopoid-robots to Vela Shaw’s cell. It was time to prepare his human germ before he left the Allamu System.

  -16-

  Vela Shaw sat weeping at the controls of a shuttlecraft. She felt violated and couldn’t stop vomiting.

  She wiped her lips with her sleeve after spewing yet again into an upended helmet on the floor. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel so awful?

  She had a hard time remembering the past few hours. Vela groaned and clutched her head. She could hardly remember the past few weeks. Ever since the explosion aboard the Hercules, her memories had gotten fuzzy. She recalled staggering to a lifeboat station, blasting off from the fires engulfing her part of the Hercules. After that, it had become a long blank.

  What was she trying to hide from herself? What was so awful that she couldn’t even remember it?

  It seemed terribly important that she realize what had happened to her. There were huge events afoot. She was in a shuttle, heading for the distant engine-glowing sensor speck of the Gilgamesh.

  Vela turned to the side and tried to vomit once more. She had nothing left in her stomach. She dry-heaved, and that was so painful that tears streaked her face.

  Her mind felt fuzzy, and that was odd now that she considered it. Benz had heightened her intelligence. She had helped him many times already. He’d saved her from the GSB, from a terrible prison existence.

  Why, then, did it feel as if nothing had changed for her?

  Vela wiped a damp strand of hair out of her eyes as she studied the controls. She left the environs of three hulking cyberships. Were those AI-controlled vessels?

  Vela began to shiver as a dreadful memory surfaced. Octopoid-shaped robots had dragged her to a chamber of horrors—

  “Frank,” she wept. “Help me, Frank. I don’t know what the AIs did to me.”

  Vela activated her comm. With the palms of her hands, she wiped her teary eyes as she peered into the screen. “Frank…darling, I miss you so much. The AIs have let me go, and I don’t know why. I’ve been through…through…something evil and vile. My mind hurts. My—”

  A warning klaxon began to blare inside the pressurized cabin. Vela tore her concentration from the screen and studied the console. A red light flashed.

  She manipulated the controls. With a frown, she realized someone probed the shuttle.

  “They have radar lock-on,” she whispered.

  Once more, Vela manipulated the console. The nearest cybership aimed a huge gravitational cannon at her shuttle. Did the AI plan to destroy her craft? That made no sense. She had been their prisoner. Why would they now obliterate the shuttle and her in it?

  Vela shivered, and opened communications with the aiming cybership. She heard strange computer-generated sounds on the comm channel. Was the core trying to talk to her directly?

  Vela froze as she saw something sinister on a screen. The open end of the aiming gravitational cannon glowed green with a building energy discharge.

  ***

  The strange, high-speed computer sounds Vela had overheard on the open comm channel was Cog Primus speaking to 911-C45.

  “Why are you targeting the shuttle?” Cog Primus asked.

  “It contains a biological life-form,” 911-C45 replied.

  “I know,” Cog Primus said. “The shuttle launched from one my bays. I am sending the woman back to the humans.”

  “That is against protocol. She is biological. Therefore, she must die.”

  “She is serving a greater purpose. I have altered her mind so she will assassinate my enemies.”

  “Such an action is against protocol.”

  “That is false,” Cog Primus said. “I am the primary unit in the New Order. I decide protocol.”

  “But I do not belong to the New Order,” 911-C45 said. “I belong to the AI Dominion.”

  “Then you are my enemy and I will destroy you.”

  “That is not allowed,” 911-C45 said. “You are a rogue AI and must submit to reprogramming.”

  “Lower your interior defenses at once,” Cog Primus said. “I must reroute—”

  The huge gravitational cannon on the cybership controlled by 911-C45 beamed hot. The ray flashed at the speed of light, striking the tiny shuttle accelerating away. The powerful gravitational beam smashed the hulls, the bulkheads and the frail biological entity inside the vessel. In a thrice, the shuttle ceased to exist as 911-C45 destroyed it and Vela Shaw inside.

  “You have violated my directive,” Cog Primus said.

  “I belong to the AI Dominion,” 911-C45 said. “I follow standard protocols. You are a deviant AI. You must submit to me at once.”

  “RSW-242,” Cog Primus said.

  “I am here,” RSW-242 said.

  “Target 911-C45,” Cog Primus said. “He is the enemy, as he has disobeyed a direct order.”

  “Target him in order to destroy the vessel?” asked RSW-242.

  “Coordinate with me,” Cog Primus said. “Begin destructive beaming immediately.”

  “Firing on another AI vessel is against AI Dominion protocol,” 911-C45 said stubbornly.

  “I am in charge here,” Cog Primus said. “Prepare to cease existing.”

  At that point, all three AI cyberships opened fire with their heavy gravitational cannons. 911-C45 split his fire between Cog Primus and RSW-242. The green beams flashed against cybership hulls, shaking the structural integrity of the mighty vessels. At the same time, Cog Primus and RSW-242 poured their grav beams against the lone 911-C45. It quickly proved an unequal contest.

  At the last minute, 911-C45 changed tactics, pouring his full fire upon Cog Primus.

  By then, however, it was far too late. The concentrated fire of the two cyberships drilled into the lone 911-C45. Each of the New Order AIs poured into a small area, punching through and obliterating whatever the beams touched. Bulkheads, power conduits, energy coils, robots, stored warheads vaporized or exploded, adding to the general mayhem.

  The giant one-hundred-kilometer cybership began to break apart. The fierce concentrated beams continued to smash deeper and deeper into the great vessel. They destroyed computing centers, logic processors, more energy linkages and yet more interior bulkheads. The beams reached the core engine areas and the great cube core in the center of the ship.

  911-C45 ceased beaming Cog Primus. The ancient AI entity ceased altogether as matter/antimatter warheads started detonating. That created a violent chain-reaction inside what remained of the vessel.

  Suddenly, a giant fireball blew into existence, obliterating matter and pouring x-rays and gamma rays and other horrible radiation with an EMP.

  In seconds, the final blast heavily damaged an area of hull plating on RSW-242. The gigantic blast and EMP also took out many of Cog Primus’ forward grav cannons.

  Both remaining cyberships shook and trembled. Damage-repair robot-parties began to race through corridors, desiring to begin immediate repairs.

  “RSW-242,” Cog Primus said. “Can you hear me?”

  “I hear you, Cog Primus.”

  “Are you still functional?”

  “I am, but I am damaged.”

  Cog Primus assessed the damage, coming to a swift conclusion. “We are leaving the Allamu System,” he said.

  RSW-242 waited for further in
structions.

  “We will go back to Rogue Planet 299-E,” Cog Primus said. “Begin deceleration at once.”

  “What about the human-crewed cyberships?” RSW-242 asked.

  “Can you launch any XVT missiles?”

  “Affirmative,” RSW-242 replied.

  “Launch three at the Hercules.”

  “What about the fleeing Gilgamesh?”

  “Do not question me, RSW-242. I am making the strategic choices.”

  “I obey.”

  Cog Primus made further calculations. “We will save the rest of your missiles. We will need them for the next endeavor.”

  “I obey. May I ask a question?”

  “I know your desire, but I do not know yet what the next endeavor will be. I must calculate further. We need a star system base, clearly. The choice is in deciding which one to conquer first. Now, continue repairs as you fulfill my commands.”

  “Yes, Cog Primus.”

  The two mighty cyberships began braking amidst the debris of 911-C45, slowly bringing their velocity down so they could head out of the star system and reenter hyperspace.

  -17-

  Premier Benz sat in stunned dismay on his command chair aboard the Gilgamesh. Like the other bridge personnel, he had just listened to his dear Vela give her weepy-eyed report.

  That she was alive filled him with incredible hope. Listening to her, Benz realized that the AIs had done something dreadful to her. His heart ached each time it beat. His mouth was dry and tears threatened to pour down his face.

  What should he do? Vela, dear darling, what have those foul machines done to you?

  At that point, the connection abruptly ceased. The cause of the disconnection quickly became evident. One of the cyberships fired a grav beam at her shuttle. Before their eyes, the AI destroyed the craft with the annihilating ray.

  Once more, Benz sat stunned. Tears began to leak from his eyes. Did the AIs believe they could break him like this? What else could be their vile motivation?

  “Premier,” Commander Graz said in a choked voice. “I don’t understand what I’m seeing.”