Limitless: Book IV: The Settlement Chronicals

by W. J. Rydrych

  Captain Fleming shrugged, “can’t be absolutely sure of course, but out experts say from the pictures it should be possible to fully sever the cable in less than five seconds; hopefully fast enough to avoid an external response from the network. The android in attendance also referred to the node as ‘self powered’. Also, from the lack of security we’ve seen so far it’s doubtful the node includes a self destruct or ‘wipe’ function. It should be OK for one instance; but suggest that the network will respond by making it impossible in the future.”

  “But,” he added, “if we can obtain even one node for analysis it will tell us a lot about how Carl operates and thinks.”

  After a pause Captain Fleming added, “the best possible outcome would be that it contains a map of the full network with other nodal locations; almost too much to hope for.”

  Ambassador Corado nodded, “while I’d rather we had a better choice I’m afraid I have to agree with Captain Fleming. While Carl may respond violently, and it may end any chance of a peaceful accommodation, it will at least force some type of response.”

  Looking around the room at the others, “my vote is that we proceed.”

  That evening . . . .

  Lt. Yashita and his platoon sat quietly as Captain Fleming outlined the procedure that was to be used on the following day. Mr. Moore sat in the back of the room listening

  For the operation itself the same personnel would be involved as on the previous day, with Mr. Moore present; but this time Lt. Yashita would be calling the shots. They would be accompanied by several civilian experts for the actual removal of the node plus a second platoon that would station itself outside the entrance of the facility. Additionally they would be backed by a full company of combat troops landed a distance away that could be called on if necessary.

  They would appear as the same potential customers who had previously toured the facility returning for a second time, accompanied by a few additional ‘potentials’, but this time ask to be taken directly to ‘stage five’ where the node was located. One squad would be left in the lobby to provide support in the event they met opposition, with the other two squads and the civilian technicians proceeding to stage five.

  The following day . . . .

  It was early afternoon before the landing craft carrying Lt. Yashita, Mr. Moore, and the supporting platoon and pair of technicians accompanying them set down in the empty parking lot in front of the facility, followed by a second landing craft carrying the platoon that would provide security outside the building. A distance away a larger landing craft carrying the reserve company followed. Within minutes they had disembarked, organized themselves into their three squads, and covered the short distance to the building entry; the door opening automatically to allow their entry.

  As they entered they were immediately met by a ‘beaming’ Monica who greeted them with, “I am so happy you decided to return for a second time. I’ve called Andrea, who guided you before, and she should be here shortly. In the mean time join me over in the seating area. Would any of you care for refreshments?”

  They had been seated for less than a minute when Andrea walked into the room and joined them. “Would you like the grand tour again, or is there anything in particular you would like to see?”

  Adding, “if not we could go to one of the conference rooms to review contract terms and prices.”

  Moore smiled in return as he stood, followed by the others, “well, we would like to show the new members of our group stage five again; several are excited to find your facilities have an actual node of the controlling computer network present. Aside from that I think we can forego the rest of the tour.”

  Andrea thought for a moment, then, “I see no problem with that since you have before received stage five access permission. We are very proud to be the home of a node; few facilities are so honored.”

  Turning, “please just follow me.”

  Mr. Moore and Lt. Yashita fell in behind Andrea, followed by the two squads and the two technicians; the younger of which carried a medium-sized duffel bag with tools and a small folding cart. Crossing the lobby and the hallway to the door leading to the long corridors descending to the stage five room, and then down to their destination, took no more than two or three minutes, and Andrea opened the door and motioned for them to enter, “it may be crowded. Visitors are rarely allowed and,” smiling at the two androids sitting at their small desks, “there is normally little activity.”

  Lt. Yashita motioned for most of the two squads to stay outside while the rest entered; the two technicians immediately going to the platform where the computer node sat, setting the duffle bag down. While one carefully inspected how the node was mounted, the other knelt and opened the panel doors underneath and examined the cable connections. After a short discussion between them the older of the two motioned Lt. Yashita to follow him outside where they could talk without being overheard.

  “Shouldn’t be too difficult,” the technician said quietly, “the node itself appears loose except for the cable, which we’ll have to cut. I’d guess only a few seconds to sever the cable; short enough that any response is unlikely; at first Carl, or the network if you prefer that term, will assume some natural occurrence. The two of us should be able to lift it once it’s disconnected; I doubt if it weights over 20 or 25 kilograms, which the cart can easily handle. But we may get some resistance from the androids.”

  Lt. Yashita nodded, and the two returned to the room, Lt. Yashita closing the door after him and then speaking quietly to Sergeant Bennett who just nodded and passed the instructions on to the squad members. Then one of the technicians opened the duffle and removed a cutting tool with a small tank attached and kneeled in front of the open panel, while the second technician removed and opened the small folding cart.

  “What are you doing?” Andrea asked as she saw the technician fire up the tool, “you can’t do that.”

  Lt. Yashita motioned for several of the soldiers to seize both Andrea and the two other androids; the androids struggling against the restraint. When it became clear the android attendants were too strong to subdue easily, Sergeant Bennett placed a stun-stick at their temples causing them to fall to the floor.

  As the technicians continued to cut through the cables Andrea just stood looking aghast, but uncertain what to do. After all, these were naturals, and she was conditioned to defer to naturals when encountered. All she could do was say, over and over, “it’s forbidden, it’s forbidden.” Then even that stopped and she was reduced to silence; no longer struggling.

  Within seconds the node was free and the two technicians loaded it onto the folding cart and rolled it through the open door into the hallway, both proceeded by and followed by the soldiers with weapons at the ready. In less than two minutes they were again in the lobby, followed by a distraught Andrea, this time joined by Monica. Pushing open the outside doors they were soon at their landing craft and aloft, followed by the platoon that had been securing the outside of the building; the supporting company a distance away waiting until they were gone.

  Two weeks later . . . .

  Elements of the 1st Assault Regiment had only the previous week started their landings on the planet and begun the search operation of all commercial, large residential, and military facilities, only one of dozens of operations underway. At the same time similar operations were underway for the satellites orbiting the planet. The search was on to locate and destroy all computer nodes they could locate before they could be taken to more secure locations.

  While they had been prepared for opposition, there was none. The android attendants merely stood aside and provided no opposition, largely ignoring their presence or limiting their resistance to protestations against what they were doing, and the few humans encountered not asleep in their virtual worlds just seemed confused. While some of the ‘awake’ humans welcomed them, most appeared resentful at the intrusion into their affairs. No resistance came even from the military installations and satellites as th
ey were searched and their weapons systems destroyed.

  The information obtained from the computer node seized earlier had exceeded expectations. Not only had all the data and programs been retained without damage, included had been a map with addresses and locations of all nodes in the network. It was also clear that, while the network itself was fully distributed it responded to some central controlling node, with no reference to which node it might be or where located.

  When it was clear they faced no opposition medical personnel were transported to examine the many sleeping humans and their report was chilling. They estimated it was safe to revive less than 10% of those they found, the rest having been in their virtual worlds so long it was unsafe to attempt revival; vital organs of many had been replaced with artificial organs or had atrophied to the point they would soon require replacement, and others had largely forgotten the natural world and a transfer at this late date could be traumatic. As to stage four, which consisted only of a brain suspended in fluid and attached to a life support system, there was really nothing they could do, even though brain scans showed all were fully active in whatever world they inhabited at the time.

  What to do? The situation wasn’t totally unexpected; the first expedition to the surface had reported fully on what to expect. If they were simply to disconnect the ‘sleepers’ from the network it would remove life support from those in the more advanced stages, and after all they were human beings. Or could most of them still be considered human at all?

  It soon became clear their only option was to simply remove those humans they could and destroy all facilities not in use. Those too far advanced in their state of deterioration to be removed would have their physical needs taken care of by their android attendants as they always had been; at least, from what they had seen so far, the android attendants were fully capable of such ‘caretaking’ without relying on the network itself.

  For those released, any willing to join the colonists would be absorbed into their own forces, while the others would just be released to fend for themselves.

  CHAPTER 4: Arrival

  (Eight Earth years later ): Nora II sat in the small cafeteria of the crew section of the Starship Bellatrix III, the nearly empty glass in her hands. Only twenty four years old life was still a package to be opened, even though she possessed all the memories and emotions of the retired Nora I. Well, not really twenty four; actually less than three years since she had emerged from the tanks following her growth to a condition equivalent to an age of twenty one. Much of the last three years had been filled with the regimen of long hours of class work, followed by equally long hours of training, followed by the tedious hours strapped to a bed next to Nora I undergoing the memory transfer procedure, and then sleep.

  Now, only weeks ago, that had ended; Nora I had been retired and Nora II, now just Nora, had taken her place.

  Nora McDonald II had been just one of those born on board the ship in the nutrient tanks. In fact this was true of the entire crew; all the original crew were being replaced before the Bellatrix III joined the upcoming battle even though they had not reached their planned expiration dates. It was felt that with the upcoming conflict they expected to face all should be at the peak of condition, and if necessary some of those from generation one could be called back to service in an emergency; in effect, a full back up crew.

  Now that they had reached orbital speed Nora could see the vast fleet orbiting below intermingled with the planet’s large satellite cities. The size of the fleet showed many other ships and been built and dispatched from Alpha Centauri and Sirius since their initial arrival nearly a decade earlier; there were far more than the worlds possessed when the Bellatrix mission had gotten underway. That wasn’t her own ‘real’ memory of course, but a memory of the earlier Nora implanted on her neurons.

  Through the display on the wall the planet surface was visible, in areas looking pristine with buildings scattered here and there in a park like setting, other areas scarred and burned over with only the remnants of buildings that had once existed. Occasionally groups of temporary buildings near landing pads busy with craft coming and going were also visible.

  As she looked around the large room she saw the starship captains Arnold I and Arnold II enter. Well, not really plural since Arnold Beck I still remained captain while the process of modifying Arnold Beck II’s neural pathways was underway. As soon as that was complete, which Nora had heard would now be in less that a week, Arnold I would disappear and Arnold II would take his place; becoming the ‘new’ Arnold. After his farewell party Arnold Beck I would retire to the segregated area of the ship where the retirees lived and Arnold Beck II would ‘seamlessly’ assume command. The ‘Arnolds’, as the crew often referred to them, were one of the last in the replacement process.

  The ship had undergone large changes since the recall message had been received. While there were few changes in the crew sections, the sections formerly planned for the growth and occupation by the first generation of colonists had changed greatly. The speeds of rotation and internal atmosphere had been changed to match the gravity and air makeup of Earth, and they were now teeming with soldiers either newly out of the tanks and undergoing training, or others still in the growth stage. Of course, this was nothing she had actually ever seen; those sections were operated totally by the onboard computer with android and robotic assistance, and the gravity at twice that of the crew sections made it out of bounds for any of the crew except on rare occasions. But monitoring progress and any changes were still their responsibility.

  In a way she felt sorry for the hundreds of soldiers in the large Earth gravity pods. It was beginning to look like they had been grown and trained for battles that would never come. While the main fleet from Sirius and Alpha Centauri had been in place for nearly a decade opposition had been minimal. Some of the humans removed from their virtual worlds were resentful and had formed guerilla units that sometimes attempted to oppose the ground forces clearing a site for the Tracker Teams, but rarely were they large enough to cause a problem, with their main problem the ever present booby traps.

  As to the robots and androids controlled by Carl? Bound by Carl’s imperative to do no harm to any humans they just stood aside when faced by the invading forces. But that only applied to human invaders; any attempt to use robots or androids immediately met resistance, and even unoccupied vehicles were free game.

  However, there were still the inevitable casualties. Apparently the prohibition to not harm humans didn’t apply to booby traps set off by their own actions; Carl had mastered the art of ‘self justification’ he had absorbed from his teachers. As time passed the traps set by Carl, both on the surface and in the tunnels leading to nodes of the network, became more and more sophisticated and casualties mounted.

  CHAPTER 5: The Tiger’s Den

  The Tracker common room of the Hudson Bay contained few occupants. The Tracker Companies, of which there were three aboard, were allowed an area separate from the regular army units in recognition of their status within the military. Something like the special forces of earlier days, selection for a Tracker assignment required rigorous training, and even the lowliest held the rank of sergeant.

  1st Sergeant Chris Benson, the leader of the 1st squad, was doubled over with laughter at Nelson’s characterization of the pompous Lt. Colonel Smith, the regimental executive officer. The other three members of his squad were having similar difficulty; all except Kwame of course. Sgt Kwame Lewis, a hulking dark skinned man prided himself on his stoicism; but Sgt Benson thought he could detect a faint smile on his grim countenance.

  When off duty the 1st squad, as with all the Tracker units, spent much of their time here in the Tracker common room. The five members of the squad, all that remained, were as close as anyone could possibly be. All had completely different personalities, although they all still managed to fit together as a cohesive fighting force; Sgt Damian Nelson, the joker of the team, Sgt Lu Chin, a small, slim female who never let do
wn her guard, Sgt Kwame Lewis the grim African, and Sgt Betty Ogden, in spite of her female sex nearly as tall as Kwame and a fierce fighter. And then of course there was 1st Sgt Chris Benson, the only one born on Sirius, the rest having been born during the long years enroute to Earth.

  Opposition to the arrival of the colonial fleet had been expected to be severe, but in the beginning there was no opposition; in fact its arrival was ignored. Later, as the invaders spread out over the surface, except for minor encounters with some of the renegade humans who wandered the surface beyond Carl’s control, and some of those removed from the network who declined the invitation to join the invaders, opposition was limited. Surprisingly, while they knew Carl had robot and android soldiers at his disposal, up to now none had ever been employed against their forces. Carl’s basic imperative of not hurting humans held back any attempt to use force against the invading forces, and the bulk of what remained of Earth’s human population slept on, locked in their own private fantasy worlds.

  The Tracker’s were the elite of the military and rarely got involved in standard military operations, with their task to search for and destroy all nodes in the network. The suspicion was, however, that behind the network itself hid a controlling intelligence that used the network for its own purposes; that controlling intelligence is what was referred to as ‘Carl’. Where Carl himself was hiding was still unknown, but since any computer node in the network was capable of assuming the central control function, all must be destroyed.

  During the early years the task had been simple. Most nodes were located in installations on the surface, in building basements, or in satellite cities or factories with little protection, with their locations mapped in the first node captured. While some were located deep underground, drilling from the surface and lowering a small nuclear device usually did the job.