by Chris Hechtl
“We could go our separate ways,” Lever suggested.
“You do and they'll pick you off surer than shit,” Bravos said, thoroughly disgusted. “No man, you wanna live, we work together. Otherwise I'll shoot you myself,” he said, nodding his chin to the other man.
“Frack you,” Lever replied.
“Quit it,” Attila ordered mildly. He didn't care if they fought too much; it was a good way to relieve stress. But they could injure themselves and the fight would serve as an unwanted distraction.
“According to the intel they gave us, the war ministry's A.I. Zhukov has been compromised. He didn't put up much of a fight, little at all actually,” Wladislaw stated. “Be on alert anyway,” he ordered.
“Exactly my thinking, Attila stated, hijacking the order and making it his own. He turned a baleful look on the squabblers. Both looked a bit sheepish. “Keep on guard. Remember, the enemy is out here, not standing next to you.” Both men nodded grudgingly when he locked eyes with them. They couldn't hold the gaze long, they immediately dropped it with the nod and looked away.
Attila smiled. Sometimes it was good being the alpha of the pack.
<>V<>
Shadow hadn't anticipated its child to send forces back after it. Fortunately the area was enclosed on three sides; the river nearby created a natural damn. That and the humans kept Skynet busy.
Shadow realized the virus's intent when it sent a quartet of maintenance droids to Shadow's building specifically, however. The A.I. deduced that they were to seize control of the hardware within in order to allow Skynet to occupy it to further its goals. But to do so it would have to destroy Shadow since Shadow was partially immune to the virus's known attack tools.
Therefore Shadow used its two remaining robots to form a trap. It didn't have numbers, so it played it smart, cutting the group up into pairs by partially blocking the main entrance. The two smaller canister style droids could enter but the two androids could not. While they circled around the building to find another entrance, one of Shadow's robots pinned an intruder against a wall while the second shut off its power.
However, such an action wasn't without risk. The attack exposed the pair to the first droid. It had been refitted with a pistol on top, mounted next to a small camera. It tracked the robots as Shadow directed them to split up, firing wildly. One shot tore through a wall narrowly missing robot 1. Robot 2 tripped over the cable that had been dragged outside for Shadow. Before it could recover, the Skynet droid turned and fired into it.
But while it was doing that Shadow had circled robot 1 around to attack from the exposed flank. It grappled, disabling the pistol and eyes then knocked the robot over. Its tracks spun as it toppled, then stopped. After a moment it attempted to right itself again. Shadow used robot 1 to shut it down with a flick of an appendage onto it's on off button.
While the four droids were duking it out inside the androids had circled around the building until they found a seemingly unguarded entrance. When they entered the first touched the latch in order to open the heavy door. But the door handle had been booby trapped with a high amperage battery. Shadow had set the trap up anticipating a human. Instead the power surged through the robot's sensors, hit a bare wire leading to its core electronics with predictable results. The robot seized and then toppled over, smoking slightly.
Skynet pulled its remaining attacker back.
That had been the first attack. Not the last. Shadow had repurposed the captured robots by purging the two maintenance droid's memory with a factory reset then programming its own overlay during initial start up. That had made the robots his to command.
The android was a different story. Its electronics had been fried by the battery. Instead Shadow used the android as donor material in various attempts at upgrading or repairing the other robots in the building.
The repaired robots came at just the right time. Skynet sent a second wave, this one even more reinforced to the building in order to take it over.
<>V<>
Saul hated having been driven north, despite his assurances to his men that it was for the best. It was bitter cold, well below zero all the time. Frostbite was a big threat. They'd already lost some skin. He'd lost some skin. Lighting a fire drew unwanted attention. They'd gone through three firefights, each time narrowly surviving the night. Each time he'd pushed further north away from robots coming into the area.
He had been amused when they had crossed the Canadian border. Less amused when they had found the outskirts of a burned-out city. But a small part of it had seemed less picked over than others. Pasha had picked up some refugees to boot, which had put him in a foul mood. More mouths to feed. At least they were survivors. They also knew the area, which was a plus.
He'd been ready to move on until he saw a pair of robots fighting. That had intrigued him enough to stop and watch.
When Pasha had turned his weapon on the robots, he'd pushed it down. “Wait. Let them do our work for us.”
“What the hell are they playing at?” Olof demanded.
“Practicing?”
“A civil war?” Forchenko asked. The others looked to him in disbelief. He shrugged. “I don't know.”
They watched as the larger force beat down the smaller. It took a few minutes before Saul recognized their objective, a battered large building with a burned-out van in front of it. He cocked his head and then hand signed the others to spread out and take the robots on.
<>V<>
Shadow saw its last defender go down and snarled in electronic impotent rage. It was now completely vulnerable to the intruders. Within moments it would be a zombie or nothing at all.
<>V<>
When Saul's group were ready he gave the signal and they attacked. He winced at wasting precious ammunition but they had to take the androids out quickly. There was no playing around with the police units. They were heavily armored and programmed to handle resistance.
Fortunately, their attack came from behind, and the robots were slow to respond. By the time the last one turned to fire back it was already toppling over from several rounds to its torso and head. Pasha moved in and smashed the neck with his sledge hammer then the spine as the robot jerked and tried to attack him.
“Now we see what they wanted so badly,” Saul said softly, indicating the team move in cautiously.
<>V<>
Shadow's emotional modulator indicated an array of emotions as it saw Skynet's forces being taken down and by who. It warily watched as the human intruders entered its building. There was nothing it could do to stop them after all.
Nothing at all but sit and wait.
<>V<>
“What the hell is this?” Ox demanded, eying the lair once they entered it. The bodies were decayed, he nudged one with his foot to get it away from him. It crumbled a bit. “Computers... this place has power.” He could feel the room temperature. It wasn't as cold as it was outside of course. There were fans blowing too.
“Can we use any of this?” Saul asked, looking around. He noted the camera views of the building. Obviously some were jury rigged. He nodded.
“I think so,” Pasha said slowly.
“Think?”
“It's got power, though I'm not sure what source. Maybe a generator? Solar?” the mechanic shook his head, fingers tracing the electronics. “There are tons of servers here. That's a lot of electronic hardware. Probably why the robots were fighting, you think?”
“I don't know. But this building is defensible if we handle it right. Only the two ways in or out,” Ox said. “The streets are narrow on the one side too,” he said. “That alley—you saw how it was filled up with garbage bins and shit?”
“So you are saying it is a defensible place,” Saul said.
“But no food, water...” Pasha frowned.
“We should shut the computers off at least. Conserve the power,” Forchenko said, indicating the blinking LEDs. “They give me the creeps anyway.”
That made Shadow come onto the main scree
n. Forchenko gasped as the black wraith glared at him. “What the hell?” He demanded, raising his weapon.
“It's a screen!” Pasha said, pushing the gun away. “No threat!”
“The hell it isn't!” Forchenko said, turning his weapon to the servers. The black dinosaur-like thing hissed.
“Wait,” Saul said, holding a hand up. He coughed, then undid the scarf around his throat to allow him to breathe a little easier. “Just wait.”
“Food and water. You take and leave,” a voice hissed over the speakers. They looked up and around then centered on the image of the raptor like thing.
“Hmm...,” Saul said. He frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his craggy face. Pasha checked the room as Ox pushed the bodies off to one side. From the look of them they had been FBI and SWAT agents. They had at one point been wearing armor. Now only a few had armor, all the weapons were gone. “Strip the bodies of anything useable then dump them outside.”
Ox grunted. It was a distasteful task, the bodies were frozen, but he knew better than to argue with the boss. Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't done it before. He'd also found a couple useful things for himself, like a precious energy bar.
Saul turned his attention to the screen. He studied it, then looked around until he saw the camera. He turned to it. “Where is the food and water?” he demanded.”
“You take and leave me alone—alive,” the A.I. said.
Saul eyed him. “I'll take it either way. Where?” he demanded.
“Why should I help you then?” Shadow demanded.
“Because I might be persuaded to let you live,” Saul said with a tiger-like grin. Pasha looked up at him in alarm but caught that smile. It wasn't a nice smile, and he knew his boss was going to do what he wanted anyway. Before it could be turned on him he looked away.
“Food there,” the A.I. said, indicating a room. It opened a window between its hands and a map appeared. “Storeroom for food and drink there. Food paste and food replicator as well. Descartes didn't need much. He used the IV when he wanted to focus,” the A.I. stated.
“Descartes?” Saul asked, his eyes fell on the corpse in the center of the room in the chair. “Ah, your creator? Operator?”
“Yes,” the A.I. hissed.
While they had conversed, Forchenko had followed the map. He came back excited, eyes bright. “Boss, there is an entire room of food there. Some MREs, some other stuff frozen. Some kind of replicator too.”
That got the others to scramble to the room. “Ration it!” Saul barked. That slowed their pace. He knew each would hoard a few things for themselves. There was no way to stop that so he didn't try. Let them carry the food. If they pissed him off, well, he could take it off their corpse.
“You will go?”
“Maybe. Then again, we need a place to stay,” Saul said, pushing the body of Descartes aside. He sat on the edge of the blood stained seat and looked at the A.I. “You can't stop us.”
He grimaced as Pasha brought him an energy bar. He unwrapped it and took a bite. “Can you?”
“No,” Shadow said, clearly unhappy.
“My very own pet A.I. how nice. Ded Moroz, father Christmas gives good gifts, da?” Saul grinned evilly at the image of Shadow.
“Boss, we should destroy it,” Pasha said, eying the hated thing. Shadow glared balefully back at him with red glowing eyes.
“No, I have other uses for it. It's not the virus. At least I don't think so.” Shadow shook his head and hissed. “There, you see? What was that line about the enemy of my enemy?”
“You think we can use it? It'll turn on us!”
“I think it needs us. Right?” Saul demanded, eying Shadow. “I'm right, aren't I?”
The A.I. glared, eyes red. Slowly it nodded. Saul's lips quivered in a not quite suppressed grin of triumph. He turned it on his followers. “See? It needs us. We can use it to fend off the damn virus. Right?” He turned on the A.I. Again he received a nod. He turned back to his followers. “See? We keep it. It'll let us know where the virus is and how to fight it. The same for anyone who comes knocking on our front door.”
“How?”
“We hook it up. And I'll hold a kill switch to its power,” Saul said with a grin. He turned to Shadow. “You hear that? You double cross me it'll be the last thing you do, chort,” He frowned thoughtfully. His hair was falling out, more every day. It sucked. So did not having any proper vodka to ease the pains his body was giving him more and more. It was getting harder to eat too. “We'll rig something up. Like a … like a sensor hooked to my body. If I die, it dies.”
Theo eyed him. “That's good for you, but what about the rest of us?” he asked. “The thing won't protect us,” he said.
“He will if he knows what's good for him,” Saul answered. He turned a baleful glower on the rest of his troop. “The same goes for you. All of you,” he snarled. He lapsed into Russian when he coughed.
“I think our fortunes have finally changed.”
<>V<>
Shadow noted the human leader and noted the humans’ actions. Its behaviors, specifically regarding its health, were alarming. Shadow was used to humans with mental issues; its creator Descartes had plenty including megalomania. But this human's health was failing. Its calculations were simple. The human leader had been exposed to radiation, most likely a lethal amount. Since it was threatening to tie his vital signs to the A.I., that was alarming. But the A.I. had no choice. It would have to endure until it could find an escape.
For now it would build a profile to help it learn to adapt to the new human user. It would have to keep the human happy in order to continue to function and plot its escape.
<>V<>
Fiben, Harper, as well as the other adults tried to make the best of their situation for the kids. Kelsy found and gave them simple toys from a store. None of the kids were happy; they'd much rather have food and safety. Everyone was aware of the situation but unaware of how to bring about that wish with the limited tools they had available.
The winter was getting brutal which had curtailed Harper's squad's efforts to patrol and destroy the robots in the area. They had a third of the city cleared, which was good. But it was all taking a toll, the squad was weary and a bit jumpy. They had found two dozen more people but only a few were fighters. The rest just huddled in groups.
Their one hope for resupply was the shuttle, which was still being repaired by Percy, Pat, the pilots and a couple of local volunteers. Despite access to the airport's machine shops, it was hard for the engineers to improvise parts. They had no electricity nor the right materials.
It wasn't like you could slap a piece of steel and tack it on. A shuttle was a delicate instrument with thousands of carefully machined parts.
Percy made that point each day when Harper asked for a morning SITREP before he reported in to Olympus.
Two days earlier a spat of clear mildly warm weather had allowed them to do some scouting while Fiben did his best to put the refugees to work improving their shelters and digging them out.
When they scouted the area, robots attacked them. The robots ignored the dogs, focusing on the humans first, then the apes. It was a two-prong attack; a robot sniper pinned them down while a dozen robots attacked from all around.
Baxter and Fiben were injured, Paudrick, and two of the locals were killed before the robots were taken down.
Ace had managed to circle around and destroy the sniper robot from behind while the others were busy dealing with fighting off the primary attack. The Doberman sustained minor injuries to his mouth from biting the metal and plastic. He had broke a tooth and had cuts on his muzzle and lips. Harper teased him about a scar on his brow, “Chicks dig scars,” the medic said.
The dog sniffed. “We won't live that long,” the dog said as he turned away.
Harper watched him turn away, aghast that the dog had given up hope like that. He packed his medical gear, trying to focus on routine.
When he headed for the radio Fiben intercepted him. He e
yed the other chimp. “You should be laying down, not walking on that Fiben,” he growled, waving to the limping chimp.
“What this? It's a clean through and through,” Fiben growled, looking down at his bandaged left leg. “Percy offered me a crutch but I'll be good in a day or two. What are you up to?”
“What do you think? I'm going to call it in,” Harper said, indicating the communications array they had set up in the control tower. The tower's tall glass tower allowed them a commanding view of the area. It also had a lot of electronics in it, some of which they'd appropriated for their own uses.
“Hang on a second,” Fiben said, holding a hand up.
“What?” Harper demanded. He modulated his tone as a few of the other people around them looked up curiously. “What?” he asked, softer.
“I'm not saying not do it, I'm saying wait until the morning report. And keep it vague.”
“Vague?” Harper wrinkled his nose. “Fiben …”
“I'm saying don't go into details on the ambush. Let them know it happened, we took casualties, who died, that. But not how Ace took that robot out.”
“Ace deserves a medal,” Harper said loyally.
Fiben's brown eyes locked into his. He cocked his head and then slowly nodded. “Maybe. But we don't want that getting out.”
“What? That he did it? What's wrong with that? He deserves respect!” Harper said.
“Yeah, from us of course. But I think we need to hold that back. The enemy isn't targeting them. Maybe we can use that.”
“We can't use it if we don't tell the right people, Fiben,” Harper growled.
“Then wait and give them a detailed report in person,” Fiben said. Harper pursed his lips thoughtfully.
He looked over to Kelsy who was waving to them from the door. “Now what?” Harper asked.
“I dunno. Let's go find out,” Fiben said, putting motion to words. When Harper slowed his pace he waved the other chimp impatiently on. “Go. I'll catch up,” Fiben growled.
