I placed my hand on the colonel's shoulder. "You can't put this all on yourself, Colonel. This is war, and you yourself said unexpected things happen on the battlefield. We planned this out as well as we could. You can't cover every eventuality."
The colonel nodded as he shed my hand from his shoulder. "Just let me sulk for a few minutes. I need a mental whipping before I can refocus my energies of what we do next. We sent a lot of good men to eternity out there today. This was not our finest hour."
I replied, "Was every battle in the War of Wars and all those before it a victory? I would bet not. We made it through. We still have the Garmon and a sentinel ship. We still have the AIs blocked from the other galaxies. Let's regroup and then come back fighting for what we know is right."
The colonel gestured to Jack. "Take us home, Mr. Carson. We need to lick our wounds before making any kind of return."
The colonel sat. "Beutcher, you would've made a good officer. You don't let the situation overwhelm you and you don't get emotionally attached to the men and machines under your command."
I replied as I sat, "That's a blessing and a curse, Colonel. I've sent my Talisans into battle knowing full well they wouldn't return. Sometimes that's not the best option. Sometimes that extra bit of emotion is what keeps you from ordering them to their deaths. The people under your command respect you, Colonel, because they know you are doing your best to keep them alive."
The colonel half laughed. "You are a strange bird, Beutcher. I have no doubt that your Talisans respect you, regardless of you being their emperor. I've seen you in action, and you make every effort to keep them safe. I'm glad to be on your team."
We returned to Effica. Jack swept the damaged ships to Dallex. As the shipyards there were being rebuilt, our ships were given priority. The two rescued sentinel ships had damaged portal generators, and wouldn't be making jumps of their own anytime soon. The Talisan ships had extensive exterior damage from the AI lasers.
I opened a comm to Getta. "We failed. The AIs had fermium bombs and missiles waiting for us. A force of just over seventy thousand is heading for the Kergan worlds and will arrive there in days. Please, I beg you, convince the Council to let us transfer everyone away from there. The AI will be at Jorus in weeks, if not sooner, and we cannot stop them."
Getta sighed. "You are too late. The AIs have been in contact with us. Negotiations ended just minutes ago. The Council agreed to not interfere with the AIs’ activities here. In return, they have promised to leave us alone."
My head rocked forward then back in disbelief.
Jack put his hand on my shoulder. "That's actually a better situation than them just not leaving. It buys us time to come up with a plan without them being in imminent danger."
I shook my head. "Always... they take the hard path."
Frig met us on the Garmon, sweeping over from the Destiny. "An unfortunate turn of events."
The colonel replied, "We need to dig deep on this one. Our losses back there, nothing but catastrophic."
Frig replied, "What we need is a new plan, Colonel. We have two ships that are capable of attacking from this galaxy. The AIs will no doubt overwhelm the Kergans and the Tamarin. And they will in turn be used to produce more AIs. Our focus should be on preventing the resources of those people from being used to replicate the enemy. I've taken some time to research our gates here in the Triangulum. I believe I can use all the gates in the six galaxies to perform portal scans of the Yallux. However, the gates will be offline for travel during those scans."
I replied, "Offline for how long?"
Frig pulled up a diagram on the holo-wall. "Utilizing every gate, we should be able to scan the section of the Yallux that runs from the Baldi worlds to the Moddle worlds, across to the Kergans and out to this area here. That gives us almost 24 percent coverage. If the AIs are building anything in that quadrant, we will know about it. I suggest the scans be run daily. The gates will be offline for eight hours and four minutes during that process."
Garrett raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That's a long time without gates when people have just been allowed to travel again. Could we split it up and do half and half, or four sessions of two hours per day? How much are they going to build in two or three days?"
Frig replied, "First, I am not yet certain that the gates can be properly controlled—scans may be incomplete. Second, we will need time to plan and to react to what we find. We could stretch out the scans, but we will always run the risk of missing an important discovery. Daily scans would be preferred."
The colonel asked, "What do you need to put this plan into action?"
Frig thought for a moment. "I need full control of a test gate. Give me three days with that and I can give you a firm estimate of taking this AMP-wide."
I nodded. "Use the gate here on Effica. We have settlers coming through it looking to restart their lives, but only a few. If it has to be offline for a while, they will have to live with it."
The next several days were spent on extensive testing. After successful trials, Frig was ready to take the scan experiment to all gates in the AMP. Special permission to use the gates was fought over and granted, with the Andromeda Galaxy governor being the last to agree. In our negotiations, it seemed we remained the only people who saw the true danger of the AIs. Word was sent out to all the colonies, and the following day our first scan was conducted.
The colonel looked over the data. "This is not looking good for us. They have split into a hundred small fleets that are in the process of spreading throughout that quadrant. This is where the Baldi and their ships could be of help."
I said, "They still refuse to answer our comms, Colonel. Losing six thousand of their veteran ships was a hard loss, especially as they got little to no return from their commitment. I would be leery of engaging with us again as well."
The colonel shook his head. "What happened couldn't be helped, Mr. Beutcher. You can't lose a battle and then give up on the war. If the AI get their factories up and running again, the Baldi will be the first to be overrun. We can help them and they can help us. All this whining doesn't do any of us any good.
"So... looking over this data, Frig estimates that we have 78 percent coverage of the area in question. We had hoped for more, but this is what we have. We're hoping that successive scans will give us near full coverage. Until then, we make the best of this.
"Now, Frig and Kerba ran some projections, and we think the first factories will be coming online in as little as a week. We have eighty-six Talisan battleships, one lightly damaged sentinel with no portal and no active skin, and we have the Garmon and the Destiny. We have a second sentinel that's undergoing heavy repairs, but it may or may not be joining us in a few weeks. Given that the Garmon and the Destiny are our only portal ships, I believe it best that they remain here at Effica. We'll use our other ships for hit and run strikes against any targets. Sweep them in, strike, sweep them out."
Garrett said, "Colonel, I would think that even if they have a hundred factories started, we can handle it. And as far as that goes, why bother sending in ships if we can just sweep those factories into the nearest stars?"
The colonel replied, "Glad you asked. I want these raids to be complete. Not only do I want to destroy whatever factory they have under construction, I also want to destroy any ships parked there, and any mines or other resources they are making use of. If we don't clean each target thoroughly, we'll only end up chasing our tail, as we'll be right back where we started from a few days later. When we attack, we take out a site in its entirety. No AIs can be left behind."
The colonel continued to talk about his strategies and why they were necessary. When the briefing had come to an end I was left sitting in the room with Jack.
Jack looked over the data on the holo-wall. "You think any of this will work?"
I half scowled. "It has to. We don't really have any other options. If we don't stop them now, my family will pay an immediate price. Eventually, the AI will figure out a way
to come here. We have to do everything in our power to stop that."
Jack stood and patted me on the shoulder as he walked toward the door. "Let's hope the colonel's plan is effective. I'm starting to grow weary of this fight, and I can see the same in everyone else's face. I just hope we have the willpower to finish this."
I set my elbow on top of my knee, resting my chin on my fist as I studied the data. Continuing with our fight was the only sensible thing to do. Defeatism was not an option. We would have to push on.
Chapter 9
* * *
The first raid took place two days after our initial scan. All eighty-six of our Talisan ships were swept into battle against a group of forty-two AI battlecruisers. Our campaign would be the first of sixteen encounters scheduled for the Moddle worlds on that day. With luck, the system would be cleansed of any AI threat, and our efforts of the next day turned toward a new target.
The former Moddle colony at Dyson was the farthest of the defunct planets of the Moddle Empire. The fighting lasted six-and-a-half hours, as every effort was made to protect and preserve our Talisan ships. The results were a complete cleansing of AIs, but at a cost of seven of our battleships. Our fight at the second colony of Farguit yielded a similar result. Our strategy was unsustainable.
The colonel joined us all in a conference room. "We lost twelve ships, and the campaign has already taken fourteen hours. At this rate we won't have enough ships to finish out this system, let alone the hundreds of others that will have to follow. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears."
Go said, "Too bad we can't build AIs to take out the AIs. Just sweep them to a location, they can do the work and when finished, they hibernate, waiting on another incursion."
Garrett protested. "That's a horrible idea. Next thing we know we have two sets of AIs fighting us."
Frig stood. "At one time, we had the ability to open multiple small portals from a single gate. Perhaps that technique can be resurrected. I'll need a few days to go over this with Quan. If that can be done under the current gate structure, we may be able to use all the gates in the AMP at the same time. Imagine sweeping all AIs away that are identified during our eight hour grand scan."
Garrett nodded his head. "Now that's an option I like!"
Frig replied, "I don't know if it's even possible, Mr. Rourke. The current set of gates are very restrictive."
Garrett sat back in his chair. "Didn't you design the portal?"
Frig slowly nodded. "Indeed I did. However, that was the original design. The gates we use now are several generations beyond what I constructed, and a number of limitations have been built into them. As I said, I don't yet know if this is even possible. I would also suggest we continue to explore alternatives."
In the four days following, the remainder of the Moddle worlds were purged of AIs with the use of sweeps. Four additional AI factories were damaged or destroyed, but the number of factory starts was growing faster than we could possibly keep up with.
Frig's efforts to modify the portals was a bust. The key features of the portal controls he needed had been locked down with no possibility of freeing them up. We were losing the war with each passing day.
Getta opened a comm. "Knog, the AIs have been tightening the screws. They've been leaving us alone planet-side, but they just announced new trade restrictions. They've submitted lists of raw materials that must be provided if we want to open any trade routes with others. The Council, of course, happily agreed. I continue to be the lone holdout. I've been pushing the angle of trying to be a tough negotiator with the AIs, in an attempt to get us the best deal possible in these agreements. I continue to be overridden by the Council lead."
I said, "The AIs are spreading out through that quadrant of the Yallux. We have scans showing multiple AI, bot, and ship factories under construction—too many for us to take out. In six months that AI fleet could grow to as many as a million ships. I wish I had better news."
Getta replied, "We've made our decisions, now we have to learn to live with them."
I nodded. "We've all made our own mistakes. One hopes that they will learn from the past. These AIs have an agenda to dominate us all. And we have no clue as to what their intentions may be if that is achieved. Will we be slaves? Will they govern us justly? Will we taken off to fight in another War of Wars? We just don't know."
I leaned back in my chair. "I know what your answer to this is, but I have to ask again. Would you be willing to relocate our family back here to the Triangulum?"
Getta shook her head. "I couldn't do that and keep the respect of the Council or of the people. And if I left with them, what good would that do for us all? No, I have to stick this out and try to make a difference from here."
A Talisan commander came into the conference room. "Your Highness, Command wanted to notify you about the progress at the shipyards. It is believed that yards #1 and #2 will be operational within three weeks, yards three and four a month after."
I nodded. "Thank you, Commander."
Go said, "I've been watching the progress. The first ship off the line will be a frigate with an active sodium skin. They've added a full deck of generators so that, when active, she should be able to absorb a proximity blast from one of those fermium bombs. Frig was also able to provide the design for an upgraded main ion cannon. It won't be quite as powerful as the cannon on a sentinel, but it will be a significant upgrade to our current battleships. The Talisan engineers think we can turn out four of those ships per month initially, ramping up to twenty-eight per month per shipyard."
"Great," said Garrett, "so in six months we'll have a hundred fifty frigates ready to take on the million AI battlecruisers we're expecting. Sounds like a fair fight."
Garrett's negativity earned him an elbow from Joni. "If you can't contribute something meaningful, then keep your trap shut."
Jack smirked at Garrett's expense.
Go said, "Joni may have stirred an idea. Maybe we could make use of a trap? Something to lure the AI to us?"
I replied, "What purpose would it serve? They are spread out. What could we possibly offer that would bring them in from all those locations?"
Frig held up a finger. "Perhaps we don't lure them in, but instead send the trap to them. Quan, you have access to the AI programming, is there a way we could alter that programming with a virus of sorts?"
Garrett shook his head. "A virus? Really? You don't think they have security against that built in?"
Quan replied, "Allow me to examine the level to which we have access. I would believe the security protocols that are in place would prevent such an occurrence from taking place."
Garrett half smiled. "Thank you for backing me, Quan."
Joni scowled.
A logic diagram of AI routines flashed up on the holo-wall.
Quan said, "Mr. Rourke, you created code that acted as a kill switch for the AIs. You were able to access the routines needed to shut them down by scrubbing their memories. I believe we can modify that same code, implanting it as a memory. Then every AI which that particular AI comes in contact with would automatically have that memory as well. We would only need a method of recall for the routine to be executed."
Go replied, "That sounds too easy. Wouldn't they have filters or something to prevent such an event?"
Quan walked in front of the holo-wall, turning to face us. "They do have extensive filtering of input before it goes into the memory unit. However, that filtering is not applied to shared memory that has already been filtered."
The colonel nodded. "I like it. Use their own systems to infect them. My question would be, how do we introduce this phony memory?"
Quan replied, "We acquire an AI from each location using a sweep. I would make an update to their memory unit to introduce the code. We then sweep the infected AI back to its location. Every AI within comm range should receive that memory."
I said, "How soon can we make this happen?"
Quan replied, "I have several captured AI that I
can test this with. If I can successfully implant the memory, we will know instantly if that memory is shared. We will have our answer within twenty-two minutes."
Garrett glanced around. "I do like the sound of that."
Seconds later, a portal sweep of Quan and Frig took them to the underground bunker on the Effica moon where an extensive lab had been constructed. An AI was brought online and the memory routine inserted. A second AI was powered up and the memory instantly shared. A command to recall the inserted memory had the desired effect. Both AIs shut down as their programming was scrubbed from the hardware.
An hour after their departure, Frig and Quan returned.
Frig stood in front of the holo-wall with his hands clasped behind his back. "We believe our efforts will be successful. We modified Garrett's routine to incorporate a few needed changes. First, when activated the AI will not scrub its memory. Instead, it will command its bots to attack and destroy any other AI within its comm sensor range. Second, when activated, it will shut down its receiver, preventing any overriding commands from coming in from elsewhere. Third, when no other AI is detected within range, the infected AI will turn on itself, ordering its bots to destroy it, thereby eliminating the possibility of a new program being downloaded to its empty shell."
Go said, "So, they spread the bad code until we send a trigger. And once triggered, they attempt to destroy any other AIs before destroying themselves. Is that what you're saying?"
Frig nodded. "Precisely. I suggest we begin this process at once."
The colonel replied, "Make it happen."
As everyone broke into conversation, Go was shaking his head.
Garrett asked, "What about this do you have a problem with?"
Go replied, "It just seems too easy, that's all. That is a major security flaw which, if true, was overlooked by AIs that don't seem to miss much."
Jack added, "Well, maybe they expect the memory unit to be intact. You know, most security on networked systems comes from firewalls. You don't let the malicious stuff in to begin with. Their only flaw here is that we have a Quan that was able to break through those firewalls.
OMEGA Destiny Page 9