“I don’t see it. Are they slaves or your equals?”
“Is your exit ramp your slave?”
“But an exit ramp can’t think,” Cilreth objected.
“It can... ours do. It doesn’t think about the same things you think about.”
“So you use components that do certain things well, but they don’t really think about a diverse range of subjects. So I would not call that full AI.”
“I will explain it to you this way. I can make a ‘full AI’ that can think about everything you do, and can think more creatively, faster, and more accurately. But I don’t have to give it any motivations if I don’t want to. If it lacks the will to act autonomously, then it won’t do so, and it won’t resent being your ‘slave’ any more than your exit ramp does when you tell it to drop to the surface of a planet.”
“It has to be motivated to please you.”
“It has to be motivated to fulfill its purpose.”
“Ah. You can make something really smart that isn’t... a person,” Cilreth said, stumbling over that last word, looking for an alternative.
“I can also make whole beings if I want, entities with intelligence and motivations and feelings. That’s as big of a responsibility as having children. If I want to design a ship’s navigation system, I don’t do that. Because as you imply, it would not be very happy serving me as a navigation system with no regard for its own desires. So I make it every bit as clever as you and I, and leave out parts that make it want anything on its own.”
“That’s interesting. I admit I didn’t think it was possible to do that.”
“It is.”
“Have Celarans made AIs that fly around doing whatever they want, participating in society as... free entities?”
“They have. But none are here. This particular society does not do that. They only want to be happy... and they’re afraid of creating something that might not be happy.”
Grim. That means Celarans must have created something at least once that was not happy.
“My friend Telisa wants to find other Celarans. The other groups you mentioned. Maybe they’re in trouble, too. Would you share with us where your home planet is... or was?”
Cynan gave Cilreth a pointer to a star chart repository.
“Here is our homeworld, and a few other locations that Celarans may have fled to.”
“Thank you for trusting us with that information!”
“It’s incomplete. Many will have left to unknown locations, or moved on from the places I gave you. I know of one group, in particular, which the Celarans might think of as militaristic. They arose as a result of early Destroyer attacks. If you can find them, they might have a lot to offer in the effort against the Destroyers.”
“That’s amazing! Thank you for telling us. I know Telisa wants to know all about this.”
“Your leader: Is it true that she can leap around the vines as fast as a Celaran can fly through them?”
“She’s stronger than the rest of us. She has a body that’s made better than ours.”
“She enjoys this superiority because she’s the leader? Or the other way around?”
“Because our alien friend, the Vovokan, wants it that way,” Cilreth said.
“I have to attend to a snag in production,” Cynan said. “Look around. Stay as long as you like.” The cyborg rolled its “front” end underneath its body and shot off in the opposite direction. Once its leading end cleared its tail, it flipped back upright. Cilreth found the maneuver odd; probably only cyborg Celarans moved like that.
She walked through the room, then decided to connect to Telisa.
“Cynan just told me the location of the Celaran homeworld,” Cilreth said. “He also says there are other groups of Celarans out there somewhere that may be better equipped to fight this war.”
“Really? Good news.”
“He called one of these groups ‘militaristic’, if you can believe it.”
“That is hard to believe. Still, more good news.”
“He asked about our fleet. Of course, he’s impatient for it to arrive.”
Telisa did not answer, but Cilreth felt she knew exactly what Telisa felt: frustration and helplessness.
Cynan sent a new message to Cilreth.
“An attack has been detected,” Cynan said.
“Where and what?” Cilreth asked. She added Telisa to the channel.
“Destroyers have emerged from the ocean again. Twice as many as last time. Also, like last time, missiles are being launched.”
“I didn’t hear about that from last time,” Cilreth said.
“It’s a distraction tactic. They know our ships can hit them on the ground, so they give the fleet other targets.”
“Can you handle it up here?”
“I think so. I don’t believe they will saturate our defenses... yet,” Cynan replied.
“Then I have to get back, now.”
Chapter 16
Magnus stood with Agrawal within the Celaran industrial complex when his link alerted him to a problem. He immediately saw from the planetary tactical that new enemies had been detected at the edge of the ocean in which the Destroyer ship had landed. A quick analysis showed two colossals and their full complement of war machines headed for the complex and the PIT team. Missiles rose from the ocean, headed for the industrial complex or the starbases above.
“Everyone get ready. Just follow our plans and we’ll win again,” Telisa said on the team channel.
Our defenses are stronger than before, but not twice as strong, Magnus thought.
“The disk squadron will be loaded with missiles and ready in five minutes,” Caden promised. Magnus checked the tactical for the disposition of the team. He saw that Siobhan, Caden, and Marcant were at the makeshift camp where the Iridar had been hidden. Cilreth was in space with their ship. Telisa was headed toward Magnus and Agrawal at incredible speed.
“Make sure the reserve mines are headed out. Let any drones pass by. I don’t want any mines going off for the drones until we’ve killed 16 tanks,” Magnus told Agrawal. The remaining handful of Storks and PIT soldier robots were deployed at the PIT camp. Magnus sent them orders to advance to surround the building next to him.
“They’ll be more exposed out here on the hardtop,” Agrawal said. Magnus realized he spoke of the Storks and soldier robots. Agrawal must have seen the orders in his tactical.
Magnus did not want to leave the robots back to protect the camp, even with three PIT members there. They had to oppose the Destroyer advance on the industrial site.
“We can confine them to these two corridors, here and here,” Magnus said. He created two zones on the tactical, one a long narrow area to the west between two factories adjacent to the building they stood beside, and another north-south corridor just west of them. He ordered the machines to deploy into the two new zones. There, the Celaran buildings would shield the machines from line-of-sight energy weapons on the perimeter. “If something can see them there, then it’s out in the open itself,” Magnus explained.
Agrawal seemed to accept the compromise. Magnus felt like the new deployment left them a little vulnerable to the north, but the machines could be moved if the Destroyers shifted their line of approach. At least if the Destroyers decided to flank or surround the complex, they would have to engage even more of the mines and force towers on the perimeter zone.
“We can stop a flank with the Vovokan battle spheres,” Magnus thought aloud.
“They’re not responding to me,” Agrawal said. “They’re not even on the tactical!”
Magnus checked. He could not see or contact the spheres.
“Where are the battle spheres?” Magnus demanded on the PIT channel.
The Vovokan machines appeared on the tactical, at the inner line of towers facing the onslaught.
“Sorry, I had them hiding,” Marcant said. “Adair and Achaius have achieved a higher level of integration with the battle spheres.”
‘A higher
level of integration’?
Magnus found their deployment acceptable, even though they were farther forward than the rest of the Storks and PIT machines. If anything broke through the mines that waited between the two tower lines, the spheres would be there to finish it off.
“Are they going to perform better now?” Telisa demanded. She did not sound happy.
Marcant took them over? Did Telisa know that?
“Yes. Achaius and Adair will keep them in the minefield,” Marcant said. “They’ll lure the tanks in and get them blown to bits.”
Telisa seemed to accept his response. Magnus almost sent her a private message, but then he decided whatever the situation with the spheres, it could wait.
Magnus turned toward a smart rope that led up to the top of the factory building beside him. He started to ascend. Agrawal followed behind.
“I’m on my way in,” Cilreth sent the team.
“Cilreth, it’s twice as large as the last attack,” Telisa said. “If you can give us ground support from the Iridar, we may need it.”
“The Celarans saw their numbers. I’ve already started my descent.”
Magnus checked their readings on the Iridar. ‘Descent’ was an understatement. Cilreth’s course looked more like an attack run.
That’s exactly what it is. How can our most cautious team member be doing this?
Apparently Cilreth might be terrified of alien predators, but she would still fly the Iridar into danger to help her team.
Magnus and Agrawal reached the top and found a relatively level spot on the roof of the building, near a hexagonal Celaran trap door. Magnus crouched behind a slight rise next to an adjacent roof section and unlimbered his rifle.
Time to plink the drones.
“That thing’s an old beast,” Agrawal said admiringly. “They don’t make them like that anymore.”
“One of these days I’ll get a new one,” Magnus said, aware that he had made the same promise a hundred times.
Agrawal had a PAW, a much more modern Space Force weapon with both beam and projectile capabilities. He took a position near Magnus.
Magnus’s link told him that Telisa had appeared on the rooftop behind them.
“Everything’s ready,” he told her without looking back.
“Caden, you have the first colossal,” Telisa said aloud and on the channel.
Agrawal started. He was not used to Telisa’s sudden appearances, made possible by her superhuman abilities. Magnus assumed she had scaled the far side of the building in leaps and bounds, then jumped across the uneven roof to land behind them.
“We’re minutes out,” Caden said. “We’re going to do a full launch. It should take one out with power to spare. I don’t think we can manage two of them in the first strike.”
“Yes, one at a time. Concentrate your firepower,” Telisa agreed.
There was a lull as the machines took their positions. The Destroyers had not yet approached within range of the outer force towers. The Celaran fleet was mostly occupied by the missiles, though they took a shot at the colossals here and there with no effect.
“Twice as large as before,” Agrawal said aloud. “How?”
“One of our experts thinks the unique ship may be some kind of Von Neumann machine,” Magnus said. “The first attack may have been from one factory. It probably built a second factory, and now has completed an attack force with twice the hardware. That means the next one might be four times the original strength.”
“Then we need to do something else, or we’ll lose,” Agrawal stated the obvious.
“Agreed. We stop this attack first, then we’ll go after them before it’s too late,” Magnus said, though he had no idea how they could attack the Destroyers in the alien ocean.
Magnus watched for new information on the tactical. He noticed a lot of Celaran activity. At first he felt hopeful.
Maybe the Celaran fleet can wipe out those two large Destroyers from space? Then we could clean up with minimal losses.
Enemy missiles were still in flight. None of the remaining vectors lined up on the complex, though.
“What’s happening on the planetary tactical? I see missiles coming from the ocean, but they’re not headed here,” Magnus said.
“The Destroyers use them to ward off intervention from space,” Cilreth answered. “The Celarans will try to clear them and assist us. But Cynan says the fleet formation that accompanied the special ship are threatening to move in from the outer system. I think they’re just posturing to keep the Celaran fleet from hitting these colossals with everything they’ve got.”
Cynan? Must be a Celaran.
“Will you be here before they reach the towers?” asked Magnus.
“I’m halfway in,” Cilreth sent from the Iridar. “But some of those missiles have locked on... I can’t head back up. No time. I’m going to have to pull some tricks to kill them all.”
“Jump out a hatch if you have to!” Magnus told her.
Magnus watched the Iridar drop precipitously on the planetary tactical, despite the need for him to prepare for his own safety. Then it spiraled away. The tactical displayed evidence of weapons use and some of the red Destroyer markers dropped from the map. He traded concerned looks with Telisa.
“The first strike is lined up,” Caden reported. “We’re going in!”
Magnus chose a feed from one of the Celaran disks. The machine moved through the vines under the canopy at amazing speed. He felt that only machines could have managed the navigation without hitting anything except the relatively thin leaves. Somehow the plant matter did not affect the thrust mechanisms. No doubt it had been designed that way.
As the squadron neared the enemy, the feed started to break up. Magnus saw hints of bright light. There was no sound, but he imagined the air rumbling and the leaves scraping the machine as they whipped by.
“Break up. Release!” Caden said.
Magnus caught an image of a bright, massive Destroyer in the sky. Then the disk machine had turned back, diving for cover. The signal dropped.
Magnus picked up another feed from a force tower just in time to see the large Destroyer go up in a huge explosion. Magnus heard triumphant whooping on the team channel, broken by occasional drop-outs from enemy jamming.
“I don’t have enough—” Caden’s transmission became garbled. The tail of his message came through: “... until we reload the robots from our stockpiles,” Caden warned.
Magnus took that to mean it was up to someone else to stop the second large Destroyer, at least for now.
“The Vovokan battle spheres, then—” Magnus started.
“Already engaged!” Marcant said. “We’re not winning.”
The western horizon burned with yellow light. Smoke rose to obscure the sky in that direction.
They’re here.
The Iridar attempted communication. That was all that Magnus’s link could tell him. He still had a tactical provided by Celaran vines, however. It showed the Iridar coming in straight for the second massive Destroyer.
“Cilreth, can you coordinate with Achaius and Adair? Cilreth, can you read me?” Telisa sent urgently.
“We’re jammed,” Marcant said. “Also, the ship’s been damaged. The spinner isn’t working right,” he said, though he did not say how he knew.
The tactical showed that the enemy had reached the west and north sides of the industrial complex. The west side was not in Magnus’s direct line of sight, but he saw flashes across the leaves at the edge of the compound’s north side.
“Some drones made it through,” he warned.
Magnus told his rifle to release a burst of guided rounds into the foliage there. His rifle was old but his rounds were state of the art. The weapon jolted his shoulder through his armor.
Brrrrrram!
Agrawal joined in with his own quieter weapon.
Riiiiiip!
The tactical told Magnus that the Iridar had released a salvo from the energy weapons, but the colossal wa
s still on the tactical with unknown status.
“Now’s the time, Marcant,” Telisa said. “Lay into it.”
“We’re giving it all we have,” Marcant reported.
Missiles appeared at the Iridar’s position and accelerated toward the Destroyer. Magnus did not receive any hit messages from his rounds or his rifle, but he reloaded and prepared to fire again all the same. He knew a lot of drones must be out there, but he kept half his attention on the big fight with the colossal.
The missiles will do it!
The Destroyer lit up and broke apart, shaking the ground. Magnus felt his lungs vibrate as a muted shockwave crossed over him. The sky looked like a nuclear weapon had detonated three kilometers away. Magnus felt satisfied until he saw that the Iridar had taken return fire. The ship had shattered. He brought up a visual from kilometers away in his PV, transmitted from a Celaran source.
The largest piece of the Iridar plunged into the canopy. The display estimated the speed of impact at over 200 meters per second. That was too much for a crash tube and a Veer suit to compensate for.
If she was still in there, then she’s dead.
No one said anything over the PIT channel for a couple of seconds.
“She bailed,” Telisa said. “Look to your own defense.” With that, Telisa leaped over the side of the building. Magnus accepted it. He saw Agrawal struggle briefly with what he had seen, then he accepted it too.
The jamming had stopped. Apparently, it had come from the colossals.
Brrrrrram! Riiiiiip!
Magnus and Agrawal released more bursts across the hardtop. This time, radio reports came back from his rounds: three probable kills. He knew Agrawal must be feeling the same satisfaction he was: they were making a difference. A small one, but a difference nonetheless. The machines down below them started to fire, though they were less noisy than the projectile weapons in the hands of the two soldiers.
The Celaran Refuge (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 8) Page 15