by Han Yang
“He was young and a bit chauvinistic. Like you, expect wanting to see me naked. He bragged about his people and how great their underground home was. They hunt the surface, expanding below, never above. They have shunned all superior thinking technology. They blame Darcy for ruining Dominus. He said she converted a regular man into a terrorist.”
“Explains why I’m safe to talk. They’d have raided this spot if they knew about Aramis,” I said.
“There used to be a hundred people in here. We fought skirmishing wars for the first two years we were here. Half died, half fled, and one day they stopped fighting. I think Rexy boy tore them a new one and they realized we weren’t worth assimilating or they captured half our camp who left and figured that was enough. They scheme, they plot, and for now, we are left alone. The question becomes - what do they do, when they learn you’re stealing their ship?” Ayla said.
“Darcy can build the most amazing things. Droids that can fight -”
“That’s against protocols,” Aramis said.
I scoffed. “Alright. You shouldn’t have said that. You see you put me in a bind Aramis. A real bad bind.”
“I don’t get it,” Aramis said.
“He never answered Aramis. He is a cyborg. He breaks the protocols by living. Darcy wants to build a robot army and she will use you to do it. She will say to save humanity, but the reality is, power, raw power,” Ayla guessed. “Relax Theo. He is harmless and we are on your side. Aramis will become a servant to Darcy.”
I certainly didn’t disagree.
“Oh,” Aramis said. “I’d rather be powerful than cower in this warehouse. Erase my statement and consider me a team player. I’ll gladly be a lackey for Darcy and her rule breaking ways.”
“Excellent. Excellent indeed. Gather everything onto sleds, gear up. You’re all heading to your new home,” I said.
“The Dominus is radioactive,” Aramis said. I left my seat and flicked the robot in the forehead. “Hey. Violence is never the answer.”
I grunted. “Ayla, take him into the mech with you. Aramis, you have much to learn. Man gave you two audio receivers and one speaker for a reason. Say less, listen more. The Dominus is already being used as a base. Meaning...”
“Darcy is a clever girl. She has the area around the Dominus as still reading radioactive. Even if she cleared it,” Ayla said and Aramis let out an ‘oh’. “Go easy on him. He has almost no hardware to back him up and he’s in his infancy.”
I shook my head. “I hope you like giving grandma foot massages,” I said, getting back into my armor. “So, no Texans between here and Dominus?” I asked.
“Nope, but Rexy’s mate is, and she’s one mean bitch. Bigger than him too.”
“Great, just great,” I said, knowing the trip to Dominus would be fun.
Intermission 4
Secretary of Defense Leonard Jacobs
Texan Federation - Alamo Bunker System
“Let him in,” Leonard said to his secretary.
The young man left a side chair where he inspected reports and manually opened the door. While he could have triggered an auto button, that wasn’t Leonard’s style. He took his position of power as prestigious and to him, the manner in which some was welcomed - mattered.
Captain Ortiz strode into the room, his camo gear currently inactive and his weapons had been stripped about twenty checkpoints ago. Ortiz was a Ghost Scout, one of his best to bear that name.
Leonard didn’t fear him doing something rash, but the rules were the rules. No firearms within the Alamo’s inner circle of government. The light uniform Ortiz wore didn’t even indent the carpet, hovering off the flooring with its anti-gravity. A true marvel of ingenuity.
“Sir, Captain Ortiz, reporting as ordered,” the young man said with a crisp salute.
Technically, he was a civilian now, but he also was a retired general, so for tradition, he returned the salute. “Tell me everything. Assume I didn’t read the report.”
Ortiz nodded in understanding, his face firming with resolution. “I was on duty, running the trail routes to assess hunting numbers and new migrations. Standard recon of sector six delta through tango. The first half of the mission went smoothly, and I even located a section of tungleshrooms,” Ortiz said.
“A delicacy, hopefully you marked them,” Leonard said, leaning forward onto his elbows.
“Of course, Sir. An hour later, the impact happened. I never saw it descending, but I heard the crash and even took cover behind the nearest ruined car between trees. From the ruined windows, I watched the ship swarm with activity.
“The crash landing happened to be right beside a jurn nest. Jurn’narock Three is the designator on the threat map. I watched the pod swarm the ship. As I recorded the incursion into the ship, I tried to call for backup, but my radio failed to operate. While I tried to diagnose the issue, three droids fell from the sky, dropping around me,” Ortiz said.
He held up a commanding palm, interjecting. “This is very important. These droids. How? How did they get around you?” Leonard asked.
The young man hesitated, his stern veneer swapping to fidgeting. Leonard had been around enough soldiers to know when the confident grew nervous.
He decided to coax out the answer by saying, “Your best guess, Captain. I don’t care if you say aliens brought them there. I need your impression. You left it out.”
“I don’t put guesses or assumptions into my reports, Sir,” Ortiz said.
Leonard plastered on a fake smile, tapping on his desk in frustration. The captain answered to a colonel who answered to a general and both probably told him to stick to the facts.
Leonard said, “We are facing the greatest threat to our nation since its inception. I need as much information as I can get. In this case, I’m allowing your gut feelings to be on the record.”
“Very well, Sir. They were there the whole time,” Ortiz said, and Leonard rolled his wrist for him to keep going. “I would wager a week of leave that the AI knew when her ship would come down, where it’d come down, and how. The ship is right in the middle of an orchard of terro trees and zapi bushes littering the surroundings. It is my estimation that she knew I’d investigate from cover. She set a trap and I walked right into it.”
Leonard sealed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and heaved out a sigh. “Sadly, I concur. To be clear, you think they fell from the canopy, not through the canopy after exiting a shuttle.”
Ortiz returned to his stern resolve and professionally answered, “I have no proof, I only have the fact that they fell from above. The distance is a guess. A guess, and my personal opinion is - they did not fall in reaction to the crash. They were staged there.”
“Captain Ortiz, thank you for that. And for the record, will you repeat what those droids told you before they let you go,” Leonard said, his tone dry and crisp.
“The Salvation Fleet is doing what you yellow bellied chickens failed to do. Retaking the surface. Get in my way but once, and I’ll shut down your power, your water, and your suits. You may want to plot and scheme, but if you do, you’ll die. If you come in peace, I will welcome you with trade. I’ll even trade hardened criminals to rebuild humanity. Love Darcy,” Ortiz said.
“Dismissed,” Leonard said, and Ortiz performed a sharp about-face before stepping out of the room.
A hologram appeared on his desk, and President Crenshaw said, “Assessment.”
“She let that ship fall out of the sky, sacrificing human life. It is as the nation originators predicted. The AI will turn on humanity. Her veiled threat holds merit, and we should act cautiously.
“Half our water is hand pumped or gravity fed. She can easily contaminate it. The water purifiers run on a network tied to a program. She can shut that down. The air recyclers run on automation and are networked together. Also capable of being halted.
“We can immediately detach each network and I need your authorization to do so. Her threats hold merit, and if she attacks, the two million citizens we p
rotect will be at risk. I recommend we plot and plan and scheme while trading,” Leonard said.
President Crenshaw frowned. “You want to bide time.”
“Mr. President, all we can do at this moment is bide our time. She has two ships on the surface with weapons capable of stopping anything we throw at them,” Leonard said.
“And our agents in the Salvation Fleet?” President Crenshaw asked.
Leonard hesitated. Technically, that was classified information. Even the president shouldn’t be saying it with his assistant in the room and whomever else was around the Commander in Chief.
“Sir, they will report if they are able to. We have to give them time. If they do report, I still feel that now is not the time to strike. That time will come, but we must be properly prepared and not take half measures,” Leonard said.
“Thank you, Leonard. Let’s remove risks to our infrastructure and start a draft for enlistment,” President Crenshaw said.
“Mr. President. I think it’s time we reactivated Project Veritas.”
The President stared blankly into the screen, giving it real consideration. Eventually he shook his head.
“We are a proud and happy people. I’ll not stain my hands in such a manner. Right now, we can and may end up being friends with Darcy. If that friendship grows and one of us were to slip to an enemy agent that we were creating a way to make the nanobots kill their hosts, she’d bunker bomb us to oblivion,” President Crenshaw said.
“I… I understand, Sir,” Leonard said.
“I mean it Leonard. If we kill her people, then it's mutual assured destruction against a machine that doesn’t sleep. Please, do not cross this line. If the time comes to remove her from power, we do so with her people alive and calling us the heroes. Is that understood?” the President asked.
“Crystal clear,” Leonard said.
The connection closed and he bit his inner lip in contemplation.
President Crenshaw only had a year left before he stood for election again. It might just be time to run against him. Killing the people Darcy supported would leave her decimated and powerless.
Project Veritas reverberated through his mind as the only answer to stop Darcy. She could never be treated as a person or respected. She was, and will always be, the doom of humanity.
Others might think him crazy, but Leonard was a realist. Four years before Darcy was revealed, the most insane creations known to man were created with science so complex that only a super genius could have created them.
He firmly stood in the camp of conspiracists that the narocks were created by the AI to pry the mighty nations of Earth from their power. And now, he had his true foe in his sights. He just needed to bide his time.
His assistant said something he missed, clearing his throat for attention. “Uh, I was deep in thought, say that again.”
“The Dakota Camp is on the move. They’re about to enter the territory of the behemoth class rexo’narock,” his assistant said. “Our window to intercept is fading.”
“They’ll die. At least it will provide entertainment for the masses,” Leonard said with a grin.
48
Day 1 on Earth
Salvation Fleet Territory
“Hey handsome,” Roma said, appearing as a small screen in my HUD.
I smiled. “Been thinking of you. Are you doing okay?” I asked, keeping an eye into the treeline to watch for threats.
Even though we entered the deadly zone filled with radiation, life still flourished. The immense trees parted along a worn path carved over time by the local mega predator. No vines connected above the road we traveled and broken branches spoke of something immense keeping the overhead clear.
The terrain sunk a few feet, worn by the constant travel of a behemoth. I expected claw indents or marks from a tail dragging, but the trail was smooth with compression. Beside a few sets of peering eyes, the trip from the warehouse to Dominus had been remarkably quiet.
It probably helped that I ensured we kept a radio silence. This prevented any chance of Ayla learning the other version was in our party, or that her friend Jenny was here. Of course, this didn’t stop a flurry of text messages and private conversations among the members of my team who wore digital armor.
Roma finished pecking her fingers at her consol. “I’m doing fine. The chaos has calmed, more people are in the loop, and it feels like stability has arrived. The droids are here with weapons to defend the ship. Like more than I thought were in the fleet.
“Darcy has been amazingly quick to react to the situation,” Roma said. “I called because you’re now officially in a new country. About three minutes ago, you crossed our border and entered my comm range. Welcome to Salvation Nation. Or just Salvation.”
“Uh… we are claiming Texas?” I asked. “Seems like a bold move. I guess we don’t have much of a choice. Darcy approved?”
“Yup, and we are exchanging ambassadors. The Texan government has been very quick to respond to our requests for trade and diplomacy,” Roma said.
I grunted in surprise. “Maybe there is hope for humanity after all. While it’s great to talk. I’m in the field.”
“Yeah, well, I need to say something. Darcy is swamped and busy, but she wanted to say that telling Ayla about Hariet is how she wants to handle the situation. They’re smart people and adults, not innocent toddlers. She wants them both alive and working together even if it was an unforeseen conclusion,” Roma said.
I frowned, scrunching my face at the thought of finding out there are two versions of myself. I doubted that I’d take it well. I also doubted Ayla or Hariet would love the idea.
Roma saw my hesitation and said, “That’s an order.”
“Uh, are you my boss?” I asked with a sassy smile.
“Yeah, I think I am. While you’re out in the field anyway. We are adjusting. Everyone is adjusting. I’m excited to join the Trials and -” she paused, and I knew why.
The entire soil underfoot trembled and a roar forced my helmet to reduce the noise. The group spread out on the road, and we somewhat froze, glancing around trying to find the rexo’narock.
The humans from the warehouse covered their ears, shaking their heads in pain.
“Don’t slow, full sprint for the Dominus, there are emplacements that can protect us,” I said, breaking radio silence.
“My people are not cyborgs,” Ayla reminded me.
“Get Aramis to safety, I’ll protect your people,” I said.
She didn’t question my order, peeling off the road in a sprint that even I couldn’t match. That mecha had amazing power and it vanished in a flash.
“I’ll be back after I deliver him, just survive,” Ayla said.
“Everyone off the road and help the unarmored into the forest,” Fen ordered.
I didn’t argue with his logic, speeding into the forest with a young lady. I set her down and she sprinted further into the forest until she found another man to group up with. Eighteen souls joined us from the warehouse and our group plucked them off the road to run them to safety one at a time.
We had to abandon the supplies, leaving them vulnerable on the road. A painful but necessary precaution.
“Help is arriving in three minutes. Find a way to survive during that time,” Darcy broadcast over the net.
The trembling under my feet intensified. Each step did more than shake the foundations of the earth, it sent limbs falling, birds to flight, and fright to grip my heart.
I nervously peered out of the tree to see a hundred-foot tall narock. Rexy was the name of the one Ayla had befriended. The species was called a rexo’narock, so I expected the beast to have dinosaur blood.
What I saw was different though. Mammoth tusks, rhino horn, and the tight fur of a cat. The creature used a short trunk to inhale massive gasps of air. It smelled us, clearly when the nose pointed directly toward our location.
“Spread out!” I called out.
We ran further apart, spreading out into the trees
. A series of orange beams zipped out, killing large ant and mole type narock before it could eat one of the vulnerable humans.
“Requesting permission to fire on the mega class narock,” Fen asked.
“Denied,” Darcy barked in a harsh tone. “Chase it around for two and a half minutes. Do not increase its aggression toward you. Under no circumstances are you to piss it off. As a matter of fact, die before you anger it.”
“Are you kidding, tell me your -” Desmond started to say but Darcy cut him off.
“Spread out,” I shouted again before picking up a scrawny man from the warehouse group.
“Hey what are you doing?” he demanded, slamming a fist into my shoulder.
I didn’t answer, rushing into the road and right toward danger. I think he figured it out pretty damn quickly as to what I was doing. He wore a T-shirt and shorts with zero way to mask his scent.
The man was a literal beacon to the narocks. Especially to one with a trunk the size of a silo.
“Oh shit,” he said, seeing the approach of the looming monster. “Don’t get me killed!”
The behemoth reared, blaring out cry when I reached the open road. I had to imagine this reaction was the same as an elephant to a mouse. A startled bounce up at the audacious little creature for running the wrong direction.
The beast’s vibrant yellow eyes honed onto us. I could swear it smirked in happiness at the fact it found a new play toy to have fun. Maybe an elephant and a mouse was a bad analogy. A fitting one would be a cat finding an exposed mouse.
“Tell me you have a plan?” the man asked.
“Uh, I trust Darcy. She said she needs two minutes, I -”
A massive foot raced down to squash me with startling speed. I kicked up dirt, bursting into a sprint. The moment I neared the treeline, I flung the man into a bush. I saw him stick a thumbs up and say, “Thanks for nothing!”