Unwilling From Earth

by Andrew Maclure

  “The grenade knocked Orange out, but that was only because his armour was depleted. There is an interesting feature of the field armour that you need to understand. It is very good at stopping high energy impacts, in fact, the higher the energy, the more effective it is, which is why it is so good against pulsed energy weapons - which will cut through almost anything. On the other hand, it won’t stop low energy impacts, like a knife, a sword, clubs, chains, hands or feet. That means even if your armour is at full strength, someone can walk up to you and stab you.”

  “Oh great. And I was feeling pretty safe with my armour.”

  “You’ve still got your body armour, and that is active. That means that it will stiffen if there is an impact to cushion a blow and will stop most blows from a knife or a sword, but there are gaps. Your face and eyes are vulnerable too. You can have a mask to protect you, but they restrict your movement and vision so I wouldn’t recommend you try that. We need to get you some combat gloves. They won’t restrict your hand movements but they are cut proof - so you can safely grab your opponents knife or sword blade. They have weighted knuckles and stiffen when you form a fist. Hold your hand up.”

  Mark did as he was told and held his hand up, fingers extended. Mike held her hand up and pressed it against his.

  “A bit bigger than mine. I’ll get you a pair dropped off by the drone when we get our Mark Eights delivered. Hopefully, that will be before we attack the enemy base. Come on, let’s run back.”

  Why We Do It This Way

  When they got back to the camp, the others were waiting, ready to go. Mike and Mark picked up their backpacks and Mark Sevens.

  Sally gathered them round her. “OK, you all know the plan. We’re about 20 kilometres from the enemy base. It won’t be a quick hike there, our surveys show that the forest undergrowth gets a lot denser on the way. Our route is the best compromise between distance and ease of travel to get there as quickly as possible. We’re heading North and we’re going to swing East and come in on their right flank. We should still get there in daylight and we’ll rest up until sundown. Then we’ll hit them. Any questions?”

  Nobody spoke. Mark wanted to ask if he could go home now but decided against it.

  “Our primary objective is to destroy their industrial sized synthesiser. Our intel is that they are dependent on it for the supplies for their war, so if we can disable it beyond repair it will have a significant impact on their ability to wage war. We believe that they got themselves into such a vulnerable position because they were depending on re-supply from orbit and had this as standby. Now we have our gun platforms in orbit they’re not going to get any off planet re-supply. The base is not as heavily defended as we originally expected, probably because they thought the war would be over before we could get properly organised to attack them. However, we caught them out by attacking sooner than they expected!” Sally said with a grin.

  “The secondary objective is to take out as many command and technical personnel as possible. If I know you at all,” Sally said with another grin, “we will also create as much damage and chaos as possible. We have got more than enough demolition charges to take out all of their key installations and unless I’m mistaken, Orange has spares too. Simon, take point, Mark, you go last. Let’s go!”

  Simon led the way out of the clearing at a jog. Mark tagged on to the end, which suited him because it meant that not only was the low-level vegetation trampled down in his path, but it also meant that if they ran into anything dangerous, he would be last in line to meet it. Thinking about it, nobody had said whether there was any dangerous wildlife in the forest. Probably just one more of the many things they had forgotten to tell him. He tightened his grip on his Mark Seven.

  After about twenty minutes the undergrowth got denser until they had to slow down to a walk, which suited Mark, he was nowhere near as fit as the others. Thorn bushes started to appear in the undergrowth too. The thorns didn’t harm Mark’s body armour but when he snagged his foot on a trodden down plant stem, he staggered and fell flat on his face into the bushes at the side of their new made path. The thorns cut deep scratches into his hands and face. He jumped up quickly so as not to get separated from the team and was disappointed that Mike, who was in front of him, hadn’t paused or looked back even though he had hit the ground with a crash.

  They pushed their way forward for another two hours before Sally called for a break as they entered a clearing underneath a huge tree with a dense canopy.

  “We’ll take a break, then move on. Orange, you can take point for a while.” Sally announced. “How are you holding up Mark?” She noticed the scratches on his face. “What happened to you? Did you get into a fight by yourself at the back?”

  “I’m fine. I just tripped and fell into some thorns. Don’t worry about me.”

  Sally walked over to Mark and took a close look at the scratches. “They are quite deep and look like they might sting a bit, but I don’t think there’s any real damage.” Sally said.

  She shrugged her backpack off and reached into it, pulling out her medical kit. She took a moist tissue out of it and carefully wiped the scratches on Mark's face and hands. Then she selected a tube and squeezed cream onto her fingers which she gently rubbed into his wounds. “Better to be safe than sorry. That should make them feel better and will kill anything that might infect you. It will also seal them to stop anything else getting in. Why haven’t you got any gloves?”

  “Good question. Mike said there will be a pair for me dropped with the Mark Eights.”

  “Mike!” Sally called to her. “Keep a close eye on Mark. Remember he is a rookie.”

  Sally walked over to Ti’rrk to talk to her. As he watched her walk away Mark thought “I bet doing that made you feel a lot better. I should have asked my AI what to do to treat the scratches.”

  Orange came over to Mark. “How are you getting on Mark? Are you keeping up OK? I know you’re not very fit, we don’t want you falling behind.”

  “I’m doing OK thanks Orange.” Mark answered. “I’m glad we’ve slowed down now though.”

  “I’ll be able to trail blaze more quickly than Simon could, but I’ll try to keep the pace down. Make a private comm link to me if it’s getting too tough for you and I’ll ease off the pace.”

  “Thanks Orange, I really appreciate that.”

  “No problem Mark, you’re one of the team now and we all have to look after each other.”

  Mark pulled a water flask out of his backpack and flipped the switch that made the backpack into a seat. He sat down to take a drink and realised that he was thirsty. Unsure how long his water would have to last, he took another mouthful and sealed the flask again.

  Sally looked around at them and called out “The reconnaissance drone is still showing our path is clear. It looks like we’ve got about another four hours travel before we reach the enemy base if we continue at this rate, so we’ll arrive well before dark. That will give us time for a rest and scout it out. Let’s go!”

  Orange led the way pushing through the undergrowth at a fast walking pace, followed by Ti’rrk, Simon, Sally, Mike and Mark at the back.

  Mike looked over her shoulder at him “Call out if you’re having a problem - and pick your feet up.” She said with a grin.

  Mark grunted and settled into a steady walk, keeping his eyes down to avoid tripping again and listening for sounds of anything approaching.

  Mark noticed that the undergrowth seemed to be getting denser and taller for a while but it obviously wasn’t causing Orange any problems as their pace didn’t change. After a while Mark checked the time with his AI and was surprised that it had been almost two hours since they had their last stop. He wondered how much longer it would be before Sally called for another break. Soon after, the undergrowth thinned out and Mark heard Orange across the comm link.

  “You OK Mark? Do you want to pick up the pace?”

  “If it’s OK with you, I’d rather stay at this pace.” Mark answered.
r />   Sally addressed them all via the commlink. “We’ll take a short drink stop then push on to the base.”

  Sally walked back to Mark and said. “Come and walk with me.” And started walking into the forest away from the others.

  Mark was tired and fed up with being pushed around and threatened. He had put up with that for as long as he remembered but now, the threats were of death and physical violence and he had no protection. No teachers to go to, no police to protect him. He could be killed in the forest and if anyone ever found his body, they would just step over it and keep on walking. He never wanted to be here and he was angry and frightened. He adjusted his grip on the Mark Seven ready to defend himself if needed.

  They walked in silence for about fifty metres. Sally stopped and faced Mark. “Take your backpack off and sit down.” She told him as she slipped her backpack off.

  Mark sat down and kept his Mark Seven right by his hand. Sally put her backpack down in front of him and sat down facing him. She said “We’ve hardly spoken since we left Earth, let’s take a few minutes. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

  “Yes. We got on fine on Earth, you were friendly and pleasant and I really liked you. Since we met again, off Earth, you’ve been a complete bitch. You’ve assaulted and threatened me, and now you’ve dragged me off the safety of Alan’s ship onto the front line of a war which is the last place in the universe that I want to be. When can I go back?”

  Sally scowled, looked down at the ground and frowned. After a few moments she looked up at Mark and sighed.

  “Yes, I know. I was angry and I’m not at my most charming when I’m running a war. We can relax when this is all over, but until then I will be tense and abrasive. You’re really not ready for this and you shouldn’t be here, but I wanted you with me. If I’d been thinking clearly, I would have left you up there with Alan - but I wasn’t and you are here now. I’m sorry.”

  Sally paused, waiting for Mark to say something. The moments stretched out in silence while they sat looking at each other. Mark’s lips were compressed and he had a hard unforgiving look in his eyes.

  Sally eventually broke the silence. “There is so much you don’t know, is there anything else that you want to ask me?”

  “There is something that has really been bothering me. Why are we here at all? You’ve got all this technology and incredibly powerful AI’s, why don’t you just put the weapons and AI’s together, stick them into aircraft and vehicles and let them shoot it out. We wouldn’t even have to be in the same solar system. Instead, we’re grubbing about in the mud like they did in Vietnam. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Sally gave a wry smile. “You’re right. This must seem like total madness.” She sighed again. “The reason that conflicts are fought like this, whether it’s a small rebellion or an all-out war is that there is a sort of - de facto protocol that AI controlled weapons aren’t used. No one would deploy fighting machines that don’t have some element of AI, they would be too vulnerable to attack by the kind of weapons that infantry have. I read about the tanks and military aircraft that you have on Earth - which are pretty much state of the art for non-AI controlled fighting machines. Your Mark Seven would easily take out the best-armoured tank that Earth has and you would need something only slightly better to take out the best and fastest of your warplanes or missiles.”

  “So you’ve just all agreed to not use military AI? I’m surprised that Tk'ng Dach Rrn agreed to that.”

  “It’s not so much an agreement. If the People observe any military AI, they will move quickly to destroy all trace of it, track down where it was made, and who by, and eliminate them too. They do it with all the subtlety of Ants.” Sally said, ironically.

  “What! I thought that they didn’t interfere and never used force. Do they even have weapons?”

  “The People have weapons that can destroy solar systems - probably entire star clusters, and their ships have armour that would defend against a supernova.”

  “Energy field armour, like ours?” Mark asked.

  “Not like ours. They call it phase shift armour. They have a personal armour version of it too. That’s the reason that none of the People ever get hurt or killed - nobody can hurt or kill them.”

  “That explains a lot. But why are they so against AI controlled weapons?”

  “There is a story, a legend almost, that a long time ago, billions of years ago, they had a bad experience with AI controlled war machines with the ability to evolve and build new improved versions of themselves. They got out of control and fought their own war against anything that was living. The idea of that happening again seems to about the only thing that worries them.”

  “So this is all Alan’s fault?” Mark asked.

  “I blame Alan for a lot of things, but this is a People thing and there are trillions of them, so I don’t think we can lay this one at his door. Is there anything else?” Sally asked, in a concerned tone.

  “No. Let’s get on with it.”

  “Can we act like we’re friends for now, until we can sort things out properly when this is all over?” Sally asked.

  “You mean pretend? No.”

  Mark stood up, picked up his backpack and walked back to the rest of the team, leaving Sally sitting by herself.

  Mark walked away thinking “All my life I’ve been pushed around and just gone with the flow. I even smile and nod at that bastard James Blackstone after all that he’s done to me over the years. Not anymore. If I ever see him again, I’ll flatten him and those scumbag friends of his. Fucked if I’m just going to roll over for Sally now. Enough is enough!”

  As Mark walked into the clearing Mike called out “What have you done with Sally.”

  “She’s back there.” Mark answered, nodding in the direction that he had just come from. He carried on walking until he got to where Ti’rrk was sitting. Mark dropped to the ground and sat leaning against her side.

  ”Tough time?” Asked Ti’rrk.

  “You could say that.”

  “Something I have observed among many of you mammalian humanoids,” Ti’rrk said, “Is that sometimes you should take their offer of peace at face value. For some reason, she is very fond of you.”

  “She hasn’t threatened to kill you.” Mark said sourly.

  Ti’rrk chuckled. “She has never has threatened to kill me, but she has done so to all the other team members at some time. And they have all threatened to kill her too.”

  Mark snorted, but he had a small smile on his lips. He could just imagine that.

  “You’re not the same man that you were when I first met you Mark.”

  “Really? Am I better or worse?”

  “You are neither better or worse. But you are different. I think you are starting to grow up, but you still need to take a wider view and think about others, not just yourself.”

  Mark grunted, but said nothing. He sat silently, leaning back against Ti’rrk.

  After a few minutes Sally came back. “OK, get your stuff together, we’re moving out. Orange, you’re on point still, Mike, look out for Mark.

  They all put their backpacks on and picked up their weapons. When they were all ready, Orange called out “All set? Let’s go!” and led the way towards the enemy base.

  Time To Make Up. (Or Else!)

  About three kilometres from the enemy base, they reached the edge of a small clearing. It had stopped raining and a watery sun was high in the sky.

  “This will do.” Sally called out. “The reconnaissance drone is showing that it’s all clear. It has started picking up sensors, but ours are more sensitive than theirs and we are well out of range of them.”

  They gathered in the middle of the clearing and Sally addressed them again. “We’ve got several hours before it gets dark. We’ll rest here and make sure that we are all prepared. I’m going to set up perimeter sensors.”

  Sally turned and walked out of the clearing. Simon who had taken off his backpack and sat down, jumped up, quickly pulled it o
n again and hurried after her.

  Mike said. “That’s not like Sally. That doesn’t look good.”

  Orange nodded in agreement. “I hope she gets her head together before we break camp. I’d like to live through this.”

  Ti’rrk looked at Mark for a moment, then walked off into the forest. Orange started to clear the leaf litter from a space in the middle of the clearing. “Mark, have a look around and see if you can find any stones for the fire.”

  “Is that a good idea this close to their base?” Mark asked.

  “We’re far enough away and downwind of their base. We’ll have a fire without smoke, and it will do us all good to have hot food.”

  “I’m on it Orange.” Mike said. “There should be something growing around here that we can all eat.” She left to search for edible plants in the forest.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Sally.” Orange said to Mark. “I’ve not seen her like this during an engagement before. I don’t understand you mammals. My species is very different to, well, to everyone else. We don’t have the same emotions as you so I’m not the one to give you advice, but it would be good for all of us if Sally was focused on the mission.”

  Mark nodded but said nothing. He continued kicking through the leaf litter, finding the occasional fist-sized stone to make an edge around the fire.

  Ti’rrk came back with a bunch of dry sticks in her mandibles and dropped them near the fire pit that Orange was preparing. She returned to the forest.

  “Where does she find dry wood in this wet forest?” Mark wondered.

  Mike came back with a big smile and her arms full of a variety of leaves. “We’ll eat well this afternoon!” She said. “And there’s plenty more. I spotted some trees with nuts and my AI has identified them as edible for Sally, Simon, you and me.” She said to Mark. “There are bracket fungus on a few of the trees which should be OK for you too.” She said to Orange. “But you’d better check them yourself first. I’ll bring them back in a minute. Mark, can you come and give me a hand?”