by M. R. Forbes
Sho laughed. “All of that, and as soon as Valentine unleashed the hounds at the enemy’s gates they would have blown the dog whistle and driven the entire army insane.”
“Essentially,” David said. “It would have been a massacre.”
“This keeps getting better and better,” Flores said. “Forty-thousand people, two hundred years, and we would have all been marched right to our deaths. When I see Riley again, I’m going to knock a few teeth out.”
“Not if I knock them out first,” Sho said.
“Guardians,” Caleb said, getting them back in line. He understood they were trying to let off some of the tension they all felt. None of this was easy to absorb. “Sho, Washington, find the armory and see if there’s anything in it worth using. I don’t have my hopes up, but you never know.”
“Roger that, Sarge,” Sho said before heading out of the lab with the big Marine.
“Flores, head back to the control room and monitor the comm. Also, see if you can get access to the sensor network or any other systems that might give us a little more tactical data. Shout if you come up with anything useful.”
“On it, Alpha,” Flores said, leaving Caleb alone with David in the lab.
“David, let’s head over to the alien ship,” Caleb said. “Tell me what you know about the alien AI.”
“I’ve already told you what I know, Sergeant.”
Caleb started for the door out of the lab. David walked beside him. “I mean physically,” he explained. “Assuming we can get past the Cerebus armor, how hard will it be to destroy the intelligence underneath?
“Oh. Yes, I understand. The intelligence is composed of thousands of nodes distributed across its physical volume. The algorithms powering the intelligence are decentralized across the entire subsystem at the subatomic level.”
“English?” Caleb said.
“As long as a single node is operational, the intelligence itself is operational. Such was the case during my first interaction with it. Constructing the more complete form meant copying the single node across all of the nodes. With that being said, if you cut off its head, it will no longer have a head. If you remove its limbs, it will no longer have limbs. Does that make sense?”
“I think so. Destroying it completely is pretty much impossible. Disabling it, a lot less difficult.”
“Precisely.”
They reached the door to the area where the alien ship was stored. David tapped the control pad to open it, giving Caleb his first look at the craft. He had thought he would be more amazed to see the advanced alien technology, but in reality he had too many other things on his mind to be impressed.
“Looks kind of like a drone,” he said.
“It does,” David replied. “The shell is nothing special, I admit. The energy unit is worth the price of admission.” He walked around to the rear of the craft and waved Caleb over. Then he tapped on an otherwise invisible latch, causing a rear panel to move aside and reveal the energy unit. It was a perfectly round sphere floating in the middle of a small compartment. It had a faint blue glow to it and lines of sharper, denser blue lightning that flashed out around it and into small rods positioned around the chamber. Caleb found he still wasn’t all that impressed.
“How do you turn it off?” he asked.
“I don’t even know how I turned it on,” David replied. “The sphere is the reactor, but the chamber is part of the unit. It will take me a little time to remove the entire enclosure. It may shut down once it’s disconnected from the craft.”
“If it does, can we get it turned back on when the time comes?”
David smiled. “I believe a sufficient electrical charge will get it running again.”
“Riley told me that the unit grabbed you and held you. That you couldn’t get your hands free, and that’s when she shot you in the head. Do you know what it was doing to you?”
“I don’t remember that moment for obvious reasons,” David replied. “But I did perform subsequent experiments on the unit. The system is designed to be expanded as needed. In fact, my theory is that the aliens only utilize one form of energy production, regardless of the application. It can transmit as little or as much power as is required by the systems connected to it. In that case, it mistook my hand for a receptor. It created a magnetic field around it to create a safe interchange. In fact, we can use the same method to extend the reactor to the ship’s power supply. If we introduce a receptor to the chamber, it will bind it and begin delivering whatever amount of energy the system requests on demand.”
“You’re telling me this thing can produce infinite power?”
“I doubt it’s infinite. We haven’t been able to measure the limits yet.”
“Even so, how could that be possible?”
“Sergeant, considering the aliens’ mathematics based linguistics, I would estimate that they are at a minimum ten to twenty-thousand years more advanced than humankind. At a minimum. Now, that doesn’t mean they are exceptionally smarter than we are by general intelligence quotient, but what it does mean is they have much, much more established history and technology to draw upon. This is a race that has either already experienced the technological singularity or discovered the means to overcome it.”
“Technological singularity?”
“A hypothesis that the creation of AI will result in rapid, unimaginable technological growth ending with the AI essentially becoming so superior its organic masters are no longer required. Nobody knows what would happen at that point, which is why it’s a hypothesis. But if this species experienced it…” He shrugged. “...I don’t know if the AI is the alien race, or if the alien race sent the AI.”
Caleb stared at David in silence, once again trying to get his head around a concept that was flying over it. Things had been so much easier when extremist militias were the worst problem he had to deal with.
“Well, whichever it is, we have to figure out a way to take out the one on this ship. I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”
David looked back at Caleb and rubbed his beard. “Give me a few minutes to think. I just might.”
Chapter 36
Riley stared at the thing wearing the Cerebus armor, studying it. Ten minutes had passed since they had spoken to Sergeant Card. Ten minutes that had left her mind reeling, desperately trying to figure out how she was going to get the situation under control.
The fact that David was still alive didn’t surprise her. Until a short time ago, she had believed he was the one who had captured her. She felt stupid about that now. She should have realized the speech was all wrong. The mannerisms were all wrong. The lack of emotion was all wrong. Yet she had no idea there was another player in this out of control game. She hadn’t guessed the alien spacecraft they had brought on board had introduced a wildcard into the equation.
So many things were starting to make sense, two hundred years too late. David’s escape, the rebellion of the Reapers, the loss of control. It all came into laser-like focus in her head. She hadn’t made mistakes. Everything she’d done was right. She had been sabotaged. Tricked. Cheated. David had done it, with the help of this…thing. This strange alien.
The enemy she had come all this way to kill.
She felt her hands curl into fists. This was the creature she had come to destroy. This was the creature she had sacrificed her team to end. David had made a deal with it. He had bargained with the enemy. He was a traitor. A damned traitor.
She would find a way to kill him too. She would convince Sergeant Card he couldn’t be trusted and get the Guardians back on her side. Caleb was a good Marine, but beyond that, he wasn’t especially bright.
“Do you have a name?” she asked, still glaring at the armor. It had lowered the faceplate again, hiding the strange, hardened gelatin form beneath it.
It didn’t respond. What was it doing? Something related to the systems on the ship no doubt. Reviewing personnel records to understand what it was up against? Altering something on board, like the lifts
? She wished she knew. It had agreed to meet the Guardians in the hangar at her urging. She knew Sergeant Card would plan something. Some kind of diversion or trap to catch it.
It only stood to reason the alien, the Cerebus, was planning something too.
She had convinced it she was going to help it. Or at least, it was acting as though it believed she would help it. There was no way to tell with the Cerebus. It had no facial features. No expressions. Its voice held a hint of emotion, but it was subtle and harder to decipher. It was as though it were emulating humanity, rather than sincerely feeling.
“Why did you come to Earth?” she asked. “Why did you send the trife to destroy us? What did we ever do to you?”
She kept her eyes on the Cerebus. It didn’t react. She sighed heavily, throwing her fist into its chest. The metal scuffed her knuckles, peeling back skin and causing them to bleed.
“Damn it,” Riley cursed, grabbing her hand. She was letting her frustration get the best of her. Now wasn’t the time to act like a spoiled brat. She had to stay even or she was going to lose whatever remained.
David was still alive. How much had he told Caleb? How much did Caleb believe? It was true, she had omitted some details and modified others, but she was sure she was in the right. She had affirmation from Command. She had clearance to change the destination coordinates of the Deliverance. Maybe he would judge her. Maybe he would think she was a monster for what she had done. She decided she didn’t care. This was war. War meant hard decisions. It meant sacrifice. It meant casualties. If things had gone according to her plan, if David hadn’t weaseled his way to escape and freed this thing, she would be an unsung hero. Sergeant Card was smart enough to at least see through the bullshit to that truth.
“Where did you come from?” she asked. “From out there? Or from somewhere else? Our team was never quite sure.”
They had traced the trajectory of the asteroids the trife had arrived on, following them back to this area of space. They had used the last of their resources to scour the universe, searching for planets, and then searching those planets for signs of life. The planet outside the primary display, the planet they had designated XENO-1, had shown the most promise. There were signals coming from the surface. Odd messages delivered on quantum bands. Bands that couldn’t be accessed naturally. It was tech they could identify, but not tech they could reproduce. It was far too advanced.
When she had seen the planet in the display for the first time, she had thought perhaps there would be signs of the enemy. Ships, space stations, satellites, or even grand silver cities spotting the otherwise blue and green and brown landscape. There wasn’t any of that. The only reason she believed they were in the right place was because the Cerebus wanted so badly to land there.
She sat back, closing her eyes. There was no point in trying to talk to it. Whatever it was doing, it wasn’t going to give her a shred of attention. It was just as well. What good would the answers to any of those questions do? Earth was gone. Lost to the trife. The population decimated. Civilization destroyed. She couldn’t stop it or save it. They were too late for that. At best, she might have exacted some revenge.
Revenge didn’t sweat the details.
“I’m going to see you destroyed,” she said, opening her eyes to glare at it. “You think you’re so superior. You’ve never gone one-on-one against a squad of Marines.”
A short burst of noise escaped from the Cerebus, deep and choppy. It took Riley a moment to recognized it. Laughter. It had heard everything she said. That was the only thing it felt compelled to respond to, and it was laughing. It wasn’t afraid of the Guardians. Maybe it wasn’t afraid of anything.
And maybe that would be its downfall.
It finished laughing at her comment, finally turning to face her. Only it wasn’t the Cerebus she saw. It was her sister. She had a syringe in her hand.
“Amber?” Riley said. Her sister looked good. So much better than the last time she had seen her, a week before the trife had arrived.
“Hey Rye,” Amber said. “You don’t look so good.”
“This isn’t real. You’re dead.”
“No thanks to you, sis. You were supposed to cure me.”
“I was trying. The trife…”
“Always excuses, Rye. Always so many excuses. Nothing is ever your fault, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You had one mission, sis. One. And you blew it. Don’t move.”
Amber leaned toward her, leading with the syringe.
“What is that?” Riley asked. Her pulse was suddenly pounding, her face hot with fear. “Amber, what are you doing?” She tried to stand up. To get away.
Amber shoved her back into her seat with impossible strength. “I said hold still,” she growled.
“I’m sorry,” Riley said. “I tried.”
“You didn’t try hard enough. Don’t you think it’s pathetic that an alien machine knows more about keeping its word than you do?”
The syringe sank into her neck a second time. It hurt so much more than the first, and she let out a painful, mournful scream. “I’m so sorry!”
“You will be.”
Chapter 37
“I can’t be certain this is going to work, Sergeant,” David said. “It’s a theory based on minimal understanding.”
“I get the feeling that what you call minimal understanding, I would call expertise,” Caleb replied. “How do I work it?”
“The wave generation is already active. You’ll need to keep it that way or risk hallucinations. I modified the amplifier to bolster the signal, and I have it cycling through wave patterns at a faster rate. You can be sure the AI will attempt to utilize its most effective weapon. This should neutralize it, but I can’t guarantee you’ll be completely hallucination free. In any case, when you’re ready, press here.” David tapped on part of the wand. “It will invert the signal, which with any luck will stun the AI for five to ten seconds. If you can’t destroy it during that period, you never will.”
“That’s not very positive thinking, Harry Potter,” Flores said.
“Who?” David asked.
“Nevermind,” Caleb replied. “We’re here. Knuckle-up.”
Caleb snapped David’s device to the magnetic band around his waist, holding it tightly in place. Then he shifted his rifle, watching the reticle on the HUD in front of his eyes. Sho and Washington had found more of value in Research’s armory than he had expected, mainly in the form of tactical helmets which had been reserved for each of the Reapers.
They had cycled through them to find the best fit, and then quickly paired the helmets to their combat armor and then networked their completed equipment. It meant each of them had regained full comms, a complete HUD with sensor array, a computer-assisted targeting reticle for their rifles, and general protection for their heads.
While the armory didn’t have a replacement P-50, it did have magazines for the MK-12, which Caleb had chosen to carry to give his plasma to Washington. He had already determined his role in this would be diversionary. It was up to the rest of the Guardians to deal the actual damage.
They approached the jammed doors leading into the hangar. The ADCV was still pressed tight against one of the doors.
The headless Reaper was gone.
“Shit,” Sho said, the first to notice. “We should have cooked it when we had the chance.”
“The AI must already be inside,” Caleb said. They had come ten minutes early to get a jump on the intelligence. Clearly, it had either anticipated the maneuver or had arrived ahead of time to make preparations of its own. One of which included freeing the Reaper.
“This doesn’t change the plan,” Caleb said. “We can handle the Reaper.”
“Don’t fear the Reaper,” Flores said.
They moved through the door and into the hangar. Caleb wasn’t surprised to find the Cerebus armor already positioned in the center of the open space. Riley was standing beside it, her face set in stone. Caleb’s
heart started racing at the sight of her. He had a fleeting urge to put a round between her eyes.
The Reaper was nowhere to be seen. Caleb’s ATCS wasn’t registering it, either. Was he wrong? Had it escaped on its own and ran away?
“Here we go,” Sho said as they crossed the hangar. Caleb moved out to the front of the group, keeping his eyes level and his gait steady despite a suddenly threatening panic. What had the intelligence done while they were still recovering the energy unit?
They came to a stop a few meters away from the intelligence and Riley.
“You’re early,” Caleb said.
“We will make the exchange,” it replied coldly.
“Get ready,” Caleb said, too softly for the sound to escape the helmet, but loud enough for it to cross the comms.
“Do not attempt to deceive me through radio communications,” the AI said. “I have not yet decrypted the channel, but I am aware of the transmission.”
Caleb smiled beneath his helmet. Damn it. “Did you expect anything less?”
“No.”
“David, the energy unit.”
David came forward, holding the unit in his arms. The chamber was twenty centimeters square and completely contained. They had placed a patch over the open back to prevent any of them from accidentally reaching into the compartment.
“Place it on the floor in front of me,” the AI said.
David moved between Caleb and the armor, bending and putting the unit on the floor. He stood up straight, remaining in place in front of the AI.
“You should never have crossed me,” David said. “All of this could have been avoided.”
Caleb couldn’t tell if David was speaking to the intelligence or to Riley. “Riley, go with David,” he said.
Riley glanced at the intelligence. It nodded curtly, and when David offered his hand she took it. They crossed back behind the Guardians together.
“I require the landing codes,” the AI said.
“I have them here,” Caleb said, taking the blocking device from his hip. He rotated it in his hand, putting his finger on the area David had shown him. “I don’t know the code myself. It’s all stored on this device.”