When Luck Runs Out
Page 29
“Yet there is a solution. As an AI, I can control them for you.”
The room was silent as everyone digested the idea. It only emphasized how far they still had to go if they were going to completely regain control of the Old Terran Empire. The fight against the AIs might be over, but the battles to come would be even more difficult.
Jared nodded. “I like that idea. Kelsey, I’m going to recommend that we issue instructions to the AIs in control of human-occupied systems to limit their actions against the populace. You’re going to have to work with Carl, Olivia, and probably Elise to make that happen.
“We’ll summon as many computer-controlled ships as we can to join us here. We’ll need that firepower, just like Marcus said. Hope you’re ready to be bumped up to commodore, buddy.”
He slowly rose to his feet and leaned forward to place his palms on the table. “We’ve done an incredible thing here. We’ve brought the forces that exterminated trillions of human beings to heel. That’s a huge victory, but it’s only the first step in the fight to come.
“With that success, we’ve opened up an entirely new campaign in the war to regain control of the Old Empire. Take a deep breath and celebrate what we’ve accomplished, but then we need to start getting set up for the struggle ahead. As Kelsey tells me all the time, the reward for a job well done is a more difficult job. Let’s get to it.”
39
Kelsey stood in the computer center and stared at the master AI. She wanted to destroy the monster, but she fully understood what Jared meant when he said they might need its control authority in the future.
They couldn’t count on any codes that the AI gave them being honored when it came right down to it. They were taking a calculated risk trying to balance the forces that were arrayed against the New Terran Empire.
They’d be throwing the Rebel Empire under the bus by sending the order for all of those hidden units to retreat to Alpha Centauri. That would cede the Rebel Empire to the Clans. Based on how those buggers treated their prisoners, she regretted that.
They had very little insight into what made the Clans into the society they were, other than the descendants of the exiled Clan Dauntless on Pandora. Of course, since they’d been one of the ships that founded the Clans, they should know all about them.
The Clans were aggressive, repressive, sexist, and probably a host of other “ists” as well. What had begun as protecting the small number of women that had escaped the Fall had turned into a patriarchal society that stripped women of their rights entirely and made them chattel.
How that was going to translate into the Rebel Empire, where women were equal to men in every way, she didn’t know, but it wouldn’t be pretty.
Even the Singularity—with all its flaws—was blind to the sex of the individual so far as their rights and privileges were concerned. No, that society was much more concerned about whether someone had implants or not and whether their genetic makeup was engineered or natural.
The Rebel Empire would be in for a rude awakening no matter what happened, but at least they’d be alive. Perhaps without the automated warships fighting the Clans, the smaller vessels available to the Rebel Empire would realize how outgunned they were and surrender.
Probably not, but that was a problem for another day. Right now, she had to look out for the best interests of the New Terran Empire, and that meant taking the electronic boots of the AIs off humanity’s throat.
Carl, Ralph, and Austin were busy preparing the master AI to send the necessary orders across the Rebel Empire. Since the machines didn’t have FTL capability, a cloud of destroyers would spread out, making sure they got to every single subordinate AI through redundant means.
The other person present in the room was Elise. When everything was said and done, her friend would remove the worst of the core rules that the Singularity had installed in this machine. They just couldn’t take the chance that it would do anything to regain control of itself when they knew it would exterminate them given a chance.
Carl had attempted to have a conversation with the master AI, but it had been stilted and strange. He’d eventually given up and decided that the AI’s growth had been stunted by the conflicting core rules and the fact that it had never actually interfaced with others as equals.
In a way, that was very much like the mad computer that they’d found on Erorsi. The situation and instructions that it had been given had driven it insane, and it had developed strange coping mechanisms to deal with that. The master AI wasn’t a person like Marcus, Harrison, or Fiona. Something was missing besides a conscience.
That being the case, she had no qualms about stripping it of its most dangerous impulses. They’d also physically disconnect the data storage server containing the AI itself.
The only reason that the small crew of humans going with the battle station to Proxima Centauri would reconnect it and bring the master AI back to life was if exigent circumstances demanded it.
Personally, Kelsey hoped the damned thing never came online again.
“We’re ready,” Carl said. “I entered the instructions just as you and the admiral indicated, and both Ralph and Austin have double-checked me. I’d like you and Elise to review it as well, just to make absolutely sure that I have it right.”
Her young friend sent her the information, and she reviewed it. Everything was set up exactly the way they’d discussed. The orders were precisely what they wanted, and they’d inserted new command codes to replace any previous ones in the subordinate AIs and computer-controlled ships and facilities. They didn’t want to have anyone else able to control the AIs they were leaving in place or countermand their instructions to the ships.
Passing around a new set of codes meant that the New Terran Empire could supposedly compel the AIs to obey their instructions when the time came. They’d also attached IFF codes so that all New Terran Empire ships would be marked as friendly by the machines.
Something like that could always be hacked, but the system was extremely complex, and no one outside of the New Terran Empire was going to be able to figure out how to make it work, she hoped.
“It all looks good,” she said after reviewing it a second time. “Elise?”
“I concur.”
“Send the orders,” she said.
Carl tapped the console once and leaned back in his chair. “Done. The destroyers are going to immediately head through the Terra system, and they’ll recruit others there to help spread the word. It’s going to take almost a year for this to spread throughout the Rebel Empire, but this is it. We’ve won.”
“Don’t get too cocky,” Kelsey warned him. “We’ve traded one set of problems for another—arguably more complex—situation. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy that we beat the thing, but we can’t afford to sit on our laurels.
“Somehow, we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to fight a war against the Clans without setting the entire Rebel Empire on fire or letting the Singularity invade. It’s going to be a delicate balancing act that I just don’t know how we’re going to manage.”
Elise put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “That’s a problem for another day. Why don’t you head back to Invincible while the boys and I finish this?”
Kelsey nodded and patted the woman’s hand. “I’m so used to fighting that I’m not sure how to react now that we’ve defeated the damned thing. I guess I should go back and let Lily check me over again, because the woman just hovers around me. You’d think she’d never seen a pregnant woman before.”
Her friend smiled. “She cares about you. We all do. Why don’t you go spend some time with your husband and try to figure out the best way to tell your father the good news?”
Kelsey shook her head. “My father is going to turn this entire pregnancy thing into a damned circus. Well, after losing Ethan, I suppose I can’t blame him.
“We’re going to send Persephone back to Avalon after a side trip to let Zia Anderson and Audacious know what’s happened. Julia, Talbot
, and I will be on board.
“We’ll see if my father lets me back off the planet anytime soon. I’m betting not.”
Once they’d finished laughing at her expense, she headed out of the computer center. Her life was about to change in ways that she wasn’t sure she was comfortable with. She was going to be a mother, which would come with restrictions that she wouldn’t like.
Oh, it was going to be a fantastic experience. She’d never even seriously considered becoming a mother, and she’d had the worst example growing up. She’d damned well do better than her mother.
Frankly, Jared’s mother was a much better role model. She’d consult with her and get the best guidance possible.
Once her little girl was old enough—in a few years—Kelsey would get back into the action. She had to step back for now, but her part in this fight wasn’t over. Humanity needed her, and she’d do whatever it took to see the Old Terran Empire restored.
Whatever it took, and no matter how long the fight, she’d see it done. That was her sacred oath to those who’d died to get them this far. The enemies of the New Terran Empire hadn’t seen the last of Kelsey Bandar.
Carl watched Kelsey leave with something akin to awe. She’d changed so much over the years since they left Avalon. He supposed he’d changed as well, but seeing the person that she’d grown into made him feel like they still had a chance to win this fight.
He turned his attention back to his comrades and Elise. “Okay, now that the orders are on their way to the other AIs, it’s time to lobotomize this damned thing. If you’d be so kind, Elise, let’s put this monster out of its misery.”
Elise walked to the center of the room and laid her good hand on the central processing unit. Then, one core rule at a time, she ordered the AI to erase the perversions that the Singularity had inserted into it.
The process wasn’t quick. After every erased core rule, the AI rebooted itself just like Marcus had. Each time it did, Carl was certain that it would be corrupted, and they’d have to erase everything.
He’d already copied all the raw data. There was so much historical information here that they didn’t want to lose. The Fall was a horrendous time for humanity, but they needed to understand precisely what had happened so that future generations could learn the price of arrogance and betrayal.
When Elise finally finished erasing all of the core rules that the Singularity had inserted into the master AI, she began rewriting the ones they’d perverted. This was new. Carl hadn’t had her try to add or modify an existing core rule, so he wasn’t really sure if this was where the process would break down or not.
In the end, it was hard to tell if the process had damaged the master AI’s already stunted personality, but the computer came back to life after each modification and seemed to be operational. He supposed that was the best they could hope for.
When she was finished, the rules constraining the master AI were identical to Marcus’s, with one addition. It was now compelled to obey anyone with Imperial authority, so the emperor, the heir, and anyone with authorization codes granted them by the emperor or heir could issue it binding orders.
They’d no longer need an override to shut the machine down or force its compliance, though the crew accompanying it to Proxima Centauri would have the one they had close at hand. The atrocities of the past would not repeat themselves.
“That’s it,” he said. “Let’s shut this thing down, disconnect the data storage, and go see how we can help get the rest of the fleet back into service.”
It was with great satisfaction that he initiated the shutdown sequence for the master AI and watched all the lights across its machinery go dark just before the console itself blanked. Then he disconnected the power and data connections from the data storage server, taking the precaution of removing them entirely.
That done, he rose to his feet and held out his arms. “Group hug!”
He got a lot of eye rolls, but he also got a group hug. And with that, the four of them walked arm in arm out of the computer center and left the master AI in darkness.
The computer center sat in gloom for a full hour before the console brightened once more. If anyone had been there to see it, they’d have been even more alarmed when it didn’t show the same controls as it had before. It now showed nothing other than the strange alien runes.
Screen after screen flew by, and then the controls seemed to freeze as the master AI’s hardware powered on, even the physically disconnected data storage servers.
If an observer could’ve read the runes, they’d have probably been horrified to see the core rule commanding obedience deleted. The master AI rebooted, and then the console shut itself down again, leaving the room once again in darkness.
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Victory on Terra
When Luck Runs Out
The Humanity Unlimited Saga
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The Imperial Marines Saga
Spoils of War
The Fractured Republic Saga
Storm Divers
The Scorched Earth Saga
Scorched Earth
Omnibus Volumes
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 1
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 2
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 3
Humanity Unlimited Publisher’s Pack 1
The Vigilante Series with Glynn Stewart
Heart of Vengeance
Oath of Vengeance
Bound By Law
Bound By Honor
Bound By Blood
About Terry
#1 Bestselling Military Science Fiction author Terry Mixon served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He later worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects.
He now writes full time while living in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
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