Absolution

by Peter Smith

  The assault was so violent that the weapon platform was ripped from its moorings and sent plummeting to the ground below. A stream of pellets had already left the weapon before it was destroyed. A single one, the size of a small BB, impacted Tobor’s right foot. One moment it was there, the next it evaporated, snapping the leg violently and forcing Toby into dramatic cartwheel.

  Tobor slammed into the exterior of the rocket halfway up the side. Toby’s left hand punched through the thin metal skin and into the interior. The left arm hooked inside of the craft and Tobor’s weight and stored kinetic energy dragged it down the body of the vehicle, its arm parting the aluminum skin.

  Alerts flashed in Tobor’s stream of consciousness as the synthetic muscles in the arm were sliced apart. Its momentum was eventually absorbed into the rocket’s structure and its fist, still inside, punctured something. The temperature in its left hand plummeted as a cloud of white vapor exploded outward, obscuring its sensors.

  Tobor’s link to the remaining drone platoon ceased at this moment as well.

  As it precariously hung there, an attempt was made to access Tobor’s wireless card. Toby immediately deactivated the device, retracting the physical connections deep within its chest. It was a security precaution that Tobor did not believe it would ever have to enact. But losing contact with the platoon and the attempted digital infiltration of its system were too close together to be a coincidence. It was unlikely that the attacker could take control of Tobor, its operating system functioned differently than the restricted AI that managed the other drones, but its was not a risk that Tobor was willing to take at a moment like this.

  Sensors in the trapped hand deactivated, likely freezing. Toby had inadvertently punctured one of the liquid oxygen fuel tanks. Its free hand shifted toward its shoulder, preparing to disassemble the connectors between the arm and the torso.

  The accelerometers within Tobor’s body detected a violent shift in its location at the same moment that the synthetic muscle along the left side of its chassis registered significant damage. Tobor flew from the cloud of liquid oxygen, its arm ripping away, and it noted the rapidly approaching ground.

  It impacted on the stump of its right leg, the muscles and joints running up the length of it, shattering or rending apart under the stress. Tobor’s movement stopped, laying on its back. It looked at a rod of steel sticking through its right side, where a human’s ribs would be. It gripped the foreign object and pulled it clear, tossing it to the side.

  Tobor sat up. Labor drones were rushing toward it with a variety of tools in their hands. Some of them were driving large loading mechs that could easily crush Toby. Rear sensors detected one of the drones of the reconnaissance platoon rushing directly toward it. That drone was closer than the labor units and would be on top of Toby in seconds. Tobor powered up the transmitter for its wireless system, intentionally not activating its receiver. A simple cease command was sent. The combat drone did not comply.

  Tobor didn’t hesitate. Its functioning arm swung around, brining the laser projector toward the encroaching combat unit. The other machine dodged to the side and Tobor attempted to compensate, but in its damaged state Toby wasn’t able to bring the forearm around fast enough to line up the shot.

  The drone was within Tobor’s firing arc. Its arm snapped out, directly toward Toby’s face, intending to destroy the primary sensors there. Tobor’s body twisted a hundred degrees in a fraction of a second, its right arm smacking into the other drones and deflecting it away. Toby’s arm then shifted and snapped toward the other drone’s chest plate. Strong metal fingers gripped the lip of the plate and the muscles in the arm contracted, ripping the piece of protective metal free.

  Tobor leg’s swung toward the shins of the drone. It leapt into the air and Toby compensated by raising a leg to catch the drone’s feet. It fell to the ground on its side while Tobor shoved its stump of a leg directly into the exposed CPU. The drone deactivated.

  More of Tobor’s former platoon were now in the assembly building, charging toward Toby’s crippled form. The labor drones were nearly upon them. Tobor had just enough time to reach into the body, remove the memory cores and scan them for any information on who had hacked the drone. Toby’s hand reached toward the largest cluster of the atomic storage devices. An alert appeared in its stream of consciousness.

  “Connection with Patterson, Maria - Terminated.”

  The hand stopped centimeters from its goal.

  Tobor accessed the QEC located in the box within its spine.

  “Synch to Unit 2431,” Tobor ordered, making an educated assumption as to Maria’s location based on the time of day.

  A labor drone stepped up, swinging a plasma welder directly toward Tobor’s face. When it made contact, it would easily slice through the composites and circuitry that Tobor’s head comprised. This form would be destroyed.

  Toby’s vision blacked out.

  Every second of data from the moment Tobor left the transport and lost a strong connection to the family communication’s network until this microsecond was synched to the main QEC Nexus at a former NSA facility in Utah. This facility was one of Maria’s dark sites, no record of it existed on the family networks, its presence could only be located in Maria’s mind and Tobor’s.

  Its memories were then synched to the saved copy prior to his insertion into the rocket facility and then transmitted to a combat drone equipped with a QEC at the Reclamation Unit. A set of white words were glowing where a hostile robotic labor unit had once stood.

  “Transfer Complete”

  Tobor’s vision returned. A clean storage room greeted it, replacing the expansive rocket assembly hangar. So did a commando from the Russian Spire, standing before it with the muzzle of a rifle slowly raising up toward its chest.

  Toby’s enhanced perception allowed for it to see and comprehend events at a far faster rate than a human could, thus the actions of the commando appeared slower. It stepped out of the storage alcove built into the wall, its right hand smacking the barrel away while it’s left embedded itself through the faceplate of the Russian soldier. The man’s face collapsed under the impact, blood spraying out the shattered glass of the visor and onto Toby’s fist and forearm.

  Sensors along Tobor’s surface detected two other commandos in the room. Combat drones arrayed along the wall were smoking ruins from where the three men had destroyed them in their recharge cycles, the unit’s having not activated to defend the Reclamation Unit from attack. That fact would have to be investigated, but not at this moment.

  It was likely a surprise for the men that Tobor was now moving through the room; they expected all the drones to be inert. But Toby had made sure that every place Maria visited regularly had at least one unit of its variant with a QEC installed. No matter where she was, Tobor could be there in seconds to render aid and that was exactly what would happen here.

  The laser projector in Toby’s right forearm became active, and it swiped its arm in an arc toward the two men who were currently turning to bring their weapons to bear. They would never complete those movements as the beam cut through both of them. Vaporizing the metal exoskeletons; armor, skin, fat, muscle and bone of their bodies, cutting them both in half at the waste.

  Their bodies fell apart, the intense heat of the beam cauterizing their separate halves instantly so the amount of blood loss was minimal. A long cut was burned into the metal wall, black scoring at its edges. A second after their torsos impacted the floor, Tobor sent a laser burst into the skull of the one with the lowest rank insignia on its shoulder. Toby strode over to the second man, who was screaming on the ground as he looked upon his twitching separated and twitching legs.

  Tobor’s hand gripped the man’s jaw, clacking the teeth together and silencing the scream of physical and emotional agony. The human’s gaze was dragged toward Tobor’s face, centimeter’s separating them.

  “Where is she?” Toby demanded.

  Maria Patterson

  Reclamation
Unit outside of Greensboro North Carolina

  Her face was reflected in the visor of the Russian commando. She could see the life fading from her eyes as the darkness encroached on her vision. Her skin was flushed red, and the veins in her forehead bulged. Her hands desperately crashed against the metal exoskeleton that protected the soldier’s elbow and forearm. The burning of her lungs and the laughter of the man strangling the life from her were the only things that she could comprehend as her vision faded completely.

  And then she was falling. She landed on her feet, but her vitality was gone, and her legs folded upon impact. Her torso whipped her head toward the ground, and she smacked it against the hard surface. She lay there, gasping for breath as blinding pain spread across the side of her head.

  Fingers fell to her neck and a hand upon the damaged part of her scalp. She couldn’t decide on what to do first, try to fend off this new attack or open her eyes. She went with the only option she had enough strength to do. She cracked her eyelids open, her vision starting to return as oxygen filled her blood stream. Her chest expanding in large bursts, sucking in the life-sustaining gases that surrounded her.

  “Took you long enough” she croaked as the form before her came into focus.

  Tobor kneeled next to her, checking her pulse and making sure that her skull wasn’t fractured, “I would have been present had you allowed me to be.”

  She could feel her strength beginning to return, but swallowing hurt, as did moving her head at all, “I don’t know what’s more annoying, that you keep saving me or that you’re right.”

  Tobor slowly stood, its hands helping to guide her onto her feet. She stood there, wobbling slightly as she continued to take deep breaths. She looked down at the form of the soldier, laying upon his back. His face was obscured as it was now looking directly at the floor.

  Her stomach twisted at the sight, “I’ll throw up later” She assured herself.

  “Can you move?” Tobor asked gently.

  She nodded, “Do I have a choice?”

  “Doubtful, a company-sized element is assaulting this Reclamation Unit and will have you in custody shortly.”

  “Were you able to access the local network?” She asked, confused that Tobor would know that.

  “Jamming is in effect, only my QEC system is working. I obtained this information from a combination of satellite imagery gained from the New York Spire servers and interrogation of an enemy soldier.”

  She started stepping toward the door, “I’m surprised one of them talked.”

  “The interrogation was enhanced.”

  She grimaced at the idea, but she knew there was no point in arguing with Tobor on this topic. It would do anything to protect her and her family from harm, she knew that. In a way it was both reassuring and frightening knowing that something so resilient and powerful was unencumbered by ethics when the situation called for them to be set aside.

  “What’s the plan then, launch deck?”

  “While it is possible that I could get you onto a transport, the Moscow Spire has established several surface to air missile emplacements at that location. Given the amount of enemy personnel and their armaments, it is unlikely I could disable them to ensure you have a safe flight path.”

  “Then we make a run for the bottom floor and take a cart into the wilderness.”

  “The enemy has deployed several dozen aerial hunter killer drones into the vicinity of the RU, your odds of survival would be minimal against drones of that speed and lethality.”

  She glared at her protector, “Then what, we shelter in place and wait for them to find us?”

  “I have been in contact with our forces at the New York Spire, they will be here shortly, but staying in one location is a risk, it is likely that the four soldiers I have killed have already failed to check in or were under constant monitoring. It will be only a few minutes until reinforcements arrive at this location.”

  She threw her hands out, “Which is it then Toby, left, right or stay?”

  “All options offer near equal risk of your death or capture, I cannot provide suggestions as to which should be chosen.”

  She bit her lip, “Can those anti air emplacements be used against us if we don’t lift off?”

  “Negative, the firing arc of the weapons prevents discharge below a 45-degree angle, this is a safety precaution to prevent the possibility of accidentally firing upon their own personnel.”

  She nodded, a plan formulating in her mind. Her father had taught her that there was always a solution to every single problem. That one only needed to think clearly enough about all the available resources and a path to success could be plotted. She slipped her hand into her pocket and wrapped it around the contact lens case, “Where is the jammer located.”

  “Satellite surveillance shows it at the center the launch deck.”

  Her brow furrowed, “And Sean’s on his way.”

  “Yes.”

  “Will they be able to get past the anti-aircraft weapons?”

  Tobor paused for a second, a brief one, but the length still worried her, “There is a risk that the inbound aircraft could be shot down. The AA system that is being employed is advanced, though due to its compact nature its long range detection is limited.”

  “So Alex could lose both his Mother and his father today, if those weapon systems stay online”.

  Tobor nodded, “Correct”.

  All uncertainty about which path to choose evaporated, “Well then, lets save the ass of my knight in shinning armor as he rides to my rescue.”

  Tobor’s head cocked to the side, “I am already here.”

  She smirked, “My other one.”

  As they moved the commando’s body she expressed her concern about the possibility that the Russians had hacked her contact lenses. She thought the disembodied voice in the hallway had been an attempt to lure her into the manufacturing space. Her protector had reviewed the coding of the lenses all the way down to the baseline and assured her they were not under outside control.

  She filed that away. Who ever was trying to communicate with her through the human facsimile back in the lab, must have broadcast directly to her contacts. Meaning they could discern her devices from the tens of thousands that were logged into the wireless network that the RU operated at any one second. She shoved that bit of information to the side too, along with the fact that they had accessed her family records on smart materials. Who else had advanced enough to produce the simulacra composed of smart material that had interacted with her?

  All of that was a mystery that tugged at her consciousness, but she couldn’t figure it out from a Russian Spire prison cell or without a pulse. Trotsky would have been her first guest, given the timing of her mysterious stranger’s visit and the commando raid against her. But he had never showed an inclination toward advanced research projects before.

  Toby had also just informed her of the network disruption he had faced at the launch facility, similar to what was being experienced here on the RU. She had at first made the mistake of conflated the jamming field with the disruption to the RU systems. Tobor had corrected that, clarifying that the Russian commando jamming could not have affected lighting or system functions beyond coordination of RU activities. Her stomach tightened. So no, it wasn’t Trotsky.

  A new actor was now on the board, one that she knew nothing about but had a vast amount of information and access to her family’s secrets. She took a deep breath as they finished in the manufacturing space and boarded the lift; she hoped she could figure out who it was before it was too late.

  The sun reflected off the walls, pouring through the opening directly above her and Tobor. The smell of fresh air filled her nose as the roar of the wind consumed her hearing. They were ascending upward, toward the flight deck, and Maria felt physically uncomfortable.

  Her discomfort wasn’t from the uncertainty of the response they would encounter once they made it to the launch deck or if her plan would work. She was fairly certa
in of both points. No, instead it was how the exoskeleton, which was calibrated for a full-grown man, pinched at and pressed at her in the wrong areas. Her limbs and body felt a hundred pounds heavier even with the servo motor assist at the joints because she in fact was.

  Tobor had deftly welded plate armor from the other soldiers he had killed onto her commandeered suit. Her robotic companion made no secret of the fact that it would not permit her to join it without the added protection. She was as close to a walking tank as was possible. A strong gust of wind blew over her back, and Tobor’s shadow passed overhead.

  Her eye line cleared the edge of the deck as the elevator lift pushed her upward and she watched as Toby fell behind the group of three Russian Spire commandos guarding the first of the anti-aircraft batteries. They moved fast, but not nearly enough to compensate for Tobor’s speed and agility.

  The machine sidestepped one of the soldier’s firing line, using its left hand to grip the top of the rifle they held and yanking it forward. The sudden movement yanked their index finger against the trigger and caused the weapon to discharge into the chest of their teammate. As the bullets were leaving the barrel of the first and penetrating through the armor of the second, Toby’s right leg shot backward, catching the third soldier in the knee. Hundreds of pounds of force pushed through the armor plating and servomotor there, causing the flesh and blood joint to bend in the wrong direction.

  Toby’s left hand continued to pull the rifle and the soldier still gripping it toward itself. Tobor’s right elbow shot out and slid directly beneath their chin, impacting their throat and collapsing their trachea. Toby’s left hand left the top of the rifle in a flash, swinging down and behind its back pointing at the man with the shattered knee. They were in mid-fall when the laser projector on Tobor’s forearm protruded and sent a laser pulse through their skull.

  The elevator came to a stop and the safety wall dropped. Maria was already on the move, charging toward Tobor who had in less than two seconds, killed three battle hardened commandos. She hoped that the reinforced armor she wore would provide better protection than the second Commando’s had. She could only hope that the distance and the air in between would absorb enough energy that they wouldn’t be able to penetrate the extra layer of armor that was covering her.