As I stepped around Homer, who was in the door, he looked up at me and shouted, "Hey! No cuts!"
I stopped and looked down at him. The light atop his head began to glow a dim red. He chuckled and said, "Just kidding, Matt."
"That's okay, Homer." I had intended to say something about the robots being so life-like, but instead, I said, "That was a good one, ya had me there, for a second."
Inside, there were several Kilo Whiskeys fitting rifles and grenade launchers to their brother bots. The rifles had their butt stocks and pistol grips removed and a solenoid attached next to the trigger assembly. This rig was then attached to an appendage of each robot. A container for additional ammunition was attached to their chassis and then they were tested to see if they could load, aim, and fire the weapon accurately. It was quite an assembly line and operating with great efficiency.
Behind the counter inside the first weapons storage cage was one lone robot, hunched over a weapon lying on the floor. Flashes of brilliant light illuminated his chassis. As I watched, he folded away a small welding wand into his chassis and righted himself. His identifier was "BSC - WK AI - 211 - Sanyo."
Chapter 11
The Calm of the Eye
The little robot, Sanyo, looked me over a moment then addressed me confidentially over Ismay. "So you're the famous Matt Strum?"
"Famous? How's that?"
"Ava talks about you as if you were sent from Mount Olympus to save us from the Kraken."
"She does, does she? Interesting. I see you're well-read."
"Naw, I watch a lot of movies."
"Really? Me too. Have you seen Casablanca?"
"With Bogart? Sure! Why?"
"I'm hoping this will be the start of a beautiful friendship."
He forced a short laugh. "We'll see. Let me clue you in to something I know Ava hasn't told you. In addition to you SUBs, there are fifteen hundred of us Kilo Whiskeys here—"
"She told me."
"Don't interrupt. We are all very fond of Ava and we would all become quite upset were anyone to hurt her."
"Wow, Doc said you guys were loyal. I had no idea—"
"Our affection for Ava exceeds loyalty."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"As AI's go, we were pretty smart even before Ava’s arrival. We’re designed to be problem solvers, and capable of advanced human robotic interactions. We were manufactured sapient. When Ava arrived, she began to make more than that out of us. She made us sophont."
"Come again?"
"Sophonce is the next step in intelligence. It is the state of being both sentient and sapient, combined with metacognition, or self-awareness. This allows an entity self-reflection and the ability to consider one's own thinking. In short, Sergeant, a sophont entity is a person—as you understand the definition of that word. You can define person, can't you?"
"I got it, partner."
"Good. Now, what can I do for you?"
"Well, Soph-o-cles, I need a weapon and ammo."
"Very funny," he said dryly. "You want range or penetration?"
"I might need to engage out to say...five hundred meters, but I don't want to shoot through the pressure hull."
"Don't worry, nothing in our inventory can do that. The BSC is well made. Now, inside the older domed structures, it's a different story."
"Show me what you've got."
"I recommend the HnK-8 in five point five, six millimeter. I can provide you a wide range of standard and programmable ammunition."
"This is a new one on me. Can I get some training on the use of this thing and its special ammo?"
"I'll send you the data on Ismay. You'll get experience soon enough, I expect."
"Okay, I'll take it."
"Bayonet?"
"You're kidding?"
"No, I'm not kidding."
"Pass."
"This HnK is a good weapon Matt, trust me."
"With my life." He looked up at me a moment, then rolled across the room. I walked along beside him to another bin. "This is body armor," he said, "wear it. Reports are the bad guys are using the AK-110. This won't stop one of those big rounds close up, but it'll help at a hundred meters or more."
As I put the vest on, I glanced down at the little metal machine who seemed less mechanical now than when I walked in. "Sent from Mount Olympus to save you from the Kraken, eh?"
"Well, she didn't use those exact words."
"What did she say?"
He looked at me again. "She has ultimate faith and confidence in your ability to succeed in this—"
"Bravo Sierra," I interjected. He understood my meaning.
"Suffice it to say," Sanyo continued, "she thinks highly of you, speaks of you like you two are old friends. I suspect she read your 201 file in such detail she thinks she knows you. I believe she's fond of you, so don't hurt her feelings."
"Fond, as in affections for?"
"Matt, we no longer mimic human emotions, we possess them. All human emotions."
I was starting to fear that the weight of all these emotions, and attitude, was becoming heavy just at the wrong point in time. "Look Sanyo, I have enough to worry about right now, I really don't need—"
"You're a big boy, Matt. You can balance a few personal entanglements. Look at Ava. She's got issues I know she's not hitting you with."
"What did you say?"
"I said I know Ava's got issues she's not hitting you with."
"Yeah. That's what I thought you said." There was that feeling of dėjà vu again. This was becoming freaky. I wanted to search my memories, but somehow, I was afraid to. Something in the back of my brand new head was sounding a warning.
"Matt? Are you okay?" Sanyo asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You've been standing there for the last six seconds staring a hole in the wall behind me. I thought maybe you seized up."
"No, I...you just hit me with something I need to think about. Say, did Ava hear any of this?"
"Nope, this was just between us, hominem ipsi homini."
"Well, let's bring her in on the conversation. Ava, are you there?"
"Silly question," she replied. "Are you and Sanyo done bonding?"
"Ava, what's the status on the battle?"
"Enemy losses are now at fifty-five. Thirty-one dead and twenty-four wounded, of those, nine are estimated to be critically wounded. Our losses are at one hundred fourteen, ninety-five killed, and eighteen wounded, eleven are critical."
"Sanyo," I asked, "how many Kilo Whiskeys are armed with real weapons right now?"
"Four hundred eighty-seven are ready."
"How long before the remainder are armed?"
"I'd estimate by 18:30 this evening."
"Almost three-and-a-half hours. Ava, start replacing the bots at the front with those bots now armed. Those relieved are to report here to be armed."
Another voice broke in—it was Doc. "Ava, Matt, Sanyo, I have released the first wounded back to duty, there are seven of them. The other eleven are too badly shot up. Once it is possible, I'll need the destroyed—I mean, the killed—bots brought here in order that I might—I'm sorry, but the only word that comes to mind right now is 'cannibalize'. I need their useable parts. I hate all this beyond my considerable ability to express."
"I'm sorry, Doc, but this mess is just beginning," I stated, understanding his feelings.
"Matt," Ava said, "while you and Sanyo were speaking, I communicated with the colonel. He is aware of the battle. I have been informing him of our progress and advising him to continue to prepare his position. Matt, Walker and Dolph insist that you are alive and in command here. They want to come here and find you."
"If the colonel tells them to stay, they will obey their orders. Maybe I should talk to them and tell them I'm okay?"
"If one of them is the spy, we'll lose a major advantage we have over our enemy," Ava reminded me.
"Ava, you don't really think the colonel is talking strategy with a couple of sergeants."
"He listened to you."
"He placed me in command of BSC security."
"I'll ask the colonel who he is talking to, you listen in—Colonel Wayne?"
"Yes, Ava?"
"Someone has been advising you as to what course of action you should take, who would that be?"
"Ava, in addition to you, I've taken advice from my entire staff. The S-1 through the S-4, Lieutenant Colonel Pegram and Mr. Linderman. Are you suggesting one of them is the traitor?"
"Colonel, you know damn well one of them is just that. Who was it advised you the enemy's objective was me?"
"They did. The enemy contacted us by COMde and told us if we surrendered you, the rest of us would be allowed to live."
"Have any of the NCOs said anything to you?"
"No, just Walker and Dolph, convinced that Sergeant Strum is alive and engaging the enemy."
"Colonel, if you would, send those two to sector zero. Send them armed, and with additional ammo."
"You got it, Ava. Wayne out."
"Well, Matt, it would appear Walker and Dolph are in the clear. And we have narrowed the search down to the colonel's staff, his XO, and JILL's administrator and former head of security, Mr. Linderman. Six people."
"Of that number, only one, Mr. Linderman, is not a SUB," I pointed out.
"Does that make you more suspicious of him?"
"No, Ava, just an observation. Sanyo, as you finish arming the others, send them directly to sector zero. We're gonna turn that place into the Alamo and defend Ava to the last...man."
"And just where are you going to be, General?" Sanyo asked with a sneer in his voice.
"Sector zero my friend, where else would the general be?"
"Well then, good luck to us all."
"Hey, Sanyo, we now have comparable weapons and we outnumber them more than ten-to-one. It's a piece a cake."
○O○
From the armory, several bots and I caught a tram for sector zero. As I walked into the hub, I immediately recognized Walker and Dolph, as they towered above the bots who seemed to ignore them completely and went on with their work. "Hey guys!" I said, and they both bolted toward me.
"Damn, I knew your ass wasn't dead!" Walker grabbed me in another fierce bear hug. "The instant I heard there was resistance, I knew it was you!"
Dolph also grabbed me, "Mein Freund, ich bin wieder so zufrieden. Jetzt warden wir zusammen Kämpfen!"
I looked into his face and suddenly, I knew what to say, "Ja Dolph, wir sind ein Band der Brüdern."
"When did you learn to speak German?" Walker asked. Dolph was still too stunned to speak.
"It's a long story. Look, you guys know what we need here. This place has to be made defensible. Go anywhere in the BSC you have to, get anything you need, take as many of these guys with you as you want, but we need eight large, thick defensible barricades at each of these entrances. If we have time, we'll build our defense in-depth, create some obstacles. Remember, what time we have is being bought for us by the robots fighting in sector five."
"Did you program all these tin toys to shoot all by yourself?" Walker asked, and as he did, all the bots in audio sensor range stopped and looked at him.
"Hey, Walker." I stepped in close to him and whispered, but I knew all the bots could hear. "Every one of these robots is aware of what's going on and what's at stake. Each knows he is risking his existence, just as you are risking your life, and like you, each is a volunteer. I know it seems strange to you, but I won't have them or their efforts here denigrated."
Walker looked around then back at me, "They are aware, not just following a program?"
I just looked at him.
"Okay, Matt. I gotcha."
"All right, guys, let's each take a squad and get started."
As Walker turned, he pointed at three bots. "You three will do to start. Come with me."
The bot nearest to Walker rolled over to him and looked up. "So how tall are you?" he asked. "One point nine two meters? I'm one hundred seven centimeters tall myself, but very strong. My name is Pasportu, what's yours?"
"Sergeant Walker."
"Sergeant is a rather nebulous term. By that, I mean you could be any rank between E-5 to E-9. You are too tall for me to see the rank insignia on your uniform—"
The little bot seemed determined to win Walker over as a friend by talking his ear off as they walked away from me. "Good luck," I said under my breath.
"Matt," Ava said, "the replacements are already having an effect on the battle in sector five. Our losses per hour are significantly lower, and enemy KIAs have climbed from fifty-five to seventy-six. That's twenty-one additional casualties in the last hour. Of the new casualties, nineteen are KIA. They are technically combat ineffective right now, with only thirty-two remaining soldiers."
"Where are their reinforcements? Surely, in a lander that size, they have more soldiers? Ava, show me a map of the situation." In my mind a map of the BSC displaying all the areas damaged in the blast, the current deployment of the enemy, and the locations of our soldier bots was displayed. We were very close to forcing the enemy back outside into the debris field. Our guys had all gathered at one location in order to force the enemy's egress, and were closing the circle in around them. I was then hit with an epiphany. Knowing the enemy as I did, their strategy suddenly became apparent to me. Over Ismay, I began to scream, "Stop! All CYB elements withdraw as fast as you can, get out of there!" As our bots began to disengage, the remaining enemy soldiers also jumped up and started running back toward their ship. Whoever the enemy commander was, he was not going to allow this opportunity to get away. A large number of our bots were concentrated in one small area, but they were pulling back.
The enemy commander launched several small rockets. They arched down from the bottom of the mushroom and straight into the wound in Barbicane's side, exploding with devastating effect. All thirty-two enemy soldiers were vaporized and one hundred seventeen of our bots went with them.
Sector zero was far enough away from the blast that the sound it made was not audible to human ears, but all the bots working on the Alamo knew, and they froze.
Behind me, I heard Walker as he approached down one of the corridors. "Hey, what the hell is the matter here?"
Walker and Dolph were entering the Alamo and were both puzzled and miffed at the complete halt of work.
"Are all breaking down at the same time?" Dolph asked.
"You might say that," I said to the two of them through their COMdes as I walked toward them. "We just lost an additional one hundred seventeen of their brothers in sector five. Guys, the enemy killed thirty-two of their own to get at us."
Ava, seeing that Walker and Dolph were in the room with me addressed us all over the speaker system. "Our total losses at this time stand at two hundred forty-six. Of that, two hundred twenty-seven are KIA. Our original force of five hundred now stands at two hundred fifty-four. Of these, one hundred sixty-seven are wounded, but have declared themselves operational and refuse to leave the combat area."
I looked at Walker but said nothing.
"Matt," he asked, "do they feel pain?"
"No, but they know the exact extent of their injuries. They know when they are dying."
Walker frowned and nodded his head slightly. Then he looked down at Pasportu, who was still at his side. Pasportu looked up.
"Still think they're tin toys?" I asked.
He shook his head just a tad and said, "They got balls."
"No, Sergeant," Pasportu said, "bearings."
"Gentlemen," Ava broke in, "the enemy are deploying more troops."
"Wie viele, ah, how many?" Dolph asked.
"It looks like a repeat, another one hundred eight."
Just then, in my head I heard the colonel trying to raise me on Ismay, so for the benefit of all the Bios, I pressed my finger to my right temple where I would have had an implanted COMde actuator and spoke aloud. "Yes, sir, this is Sergeant Strum."
"I take it Walker and
Dolph are with you?" I alone could hear the colonel’s voice.
"Yes, sir."
"Ava provided me a visual of the missile attack," the colonel said.
"Have you told any of the others with you there in sector nine, sir?"
"No. I'm the only one in the know here."
"Not so, Colonel," Ava broke in, "the spy has been informed by his people."
"Yeah, I figured that. You know, of course, they are actively scanning the BSC at sector five. They no doubt know your strength there."
"My strength sir? You're the commander."
"I'm way over here at the far end of nine, Sergeant; you are the commander on the ground with troops engaged and holding the objective."
"Damn. I wish I had your knowledge and experience."
"You're doing all right."
"Sir, I just lost half my force in sector five!"
"Sergeant, I know you've ordered men to their deaths before."
"Somehow, this is different."
"It's different because you are in command. I will give you this piece of advice: The one thing you have to keep an eye on is logistics. Make sure you have enough weapons and ammunition. Ensure you and your bots have sufficiently charged batteries at all times. Your two Bios will need food and water, and you'll need medical supplies for them. I'll have Doc send you a Biotech to care for them in case they become casualties and a CYB-tech in the event you find yourself unable to evacuate your injured bots. You're calling that spot the Alamo…remember what they did to prepare."
"Yes, sir. I hadn't thought that through. I'm a tactics guy."
"You have to be a strategic thinker now, too, son. By the way, it has been suggested that we attempt to reinforce you by moving all the LCDD SUBs to your position. I want you to know that I nixed that idea. I see my mission as the protection of the Bio population. I figured Walker or Kappel had mentioned it to you, and I want you to know my rationale."
"No, sir, they have not said a word."
"Colonel," Ava asked, "may I ask who suggested that course of action?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Pegram."
"Thank you, sir."
"Sir, if you've nothing else, we have work to do," I said.
"Roger that. Wayne out."
"So, Ava, you suspect the XO now?"
The Battle of Broken Moon Page 15
