“Well, ma’am, in one of the author’s stories they used the magnetic field of the ramjet as a weapon, turning it on and off within the confines of a star and disrupting the fusion process, increasing it greatly at some points.”
“And would that have worked?”
“Probably not with the tech he was writing about. But with our tech, built to megascale? I think it’s a distinct possibility.”
“How soon can you run the numbers on this? Work up some schematics? Get this thing built?”
Beata forced herself to take a breath. She was getting ahead of herself. It might take months to years to go from theory to an effective working model. But she wanted this, as soon as possible. It would put paid to multi quadrillions of hidden Machine nanites in each target system, without having to go and try to broil the atmospheres of possibly life bearing planets.
“I can probably run the numbers in a couple of days,” replied the engineer. “That will give me a general idea as to its feasibility. After that, I will have to meet with my staff and brainstorm construction possibilities. And then we’ll have to build it, if it looks like it will do what we want.”
Beata thought about that, trying to come up with a time frame and not able to. She knew better than to ask an engineer. To most of their lot time was a meaningless construct. It would take what it took, and they would work tireless on it until it was done.
“I want this, Captain. So get to it.”
Chapter Nine
Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway. John Wayne
MACHINE SPACE: OCTOBER 8TH, 1002.
“This seems to be their primary base, Admiral,” said the scout group commander over the com. “We’ve been picking up hundreds of vessels moving around in the system at high boost, and at least twenty ships have jumped into hyper leaving it.”
“Show me,” ordered Bednarczyk. Moments later the central holo tank plot on the flag bridge populated with new data, the overall view of the region disappearing to be replaced by a representation of the system in question. An F class star sat in the center of the system, white of color, much more energetic than a G. Also much shorter lived, with a life span of between three and five billion years, versus the ten of a G. That made them less attractive to humans, since many never evolved higher life forms before they died out. But some did, and any planet that had enough photosynthesis to fill the atmosphere with oxygen was good enough for colonization. The Machines didn’t need that. In fact, they really didn’t need a world in the life zone. Or any rocky planets at all. They could make do with metallic asteroids, gas giants and cold moons, though for some reason they always seemed to build in systems that had formerly had inhabited worlds, made uninhabitable by them.
Must have something to do with their programming, thought the admiral. Some vestige of their original directive to defend life bearing systems. That was meant to be Imperial systems, but it could have been corrupted during the centuries to include any life bearing system. Of course, the corruption had gone further, and first they had to exterminate the life in the system before they could defend it.
This system had a rocky world in the life zone, the so-called Goldilocks zone, where liquid water could exist. There was no telling from the zoomed in view if that world had ever harbored life. With large oceans, small icecaps, and plenty of rivers crossing the continents, that would have been the way to bet. There were a pair of rocky worlds further in, both tidally locked and devoid of atmosphere, hotter than hell on the facing side, just above absolute zero on the dark hemisphere. There was also a rocky planet just out from the possible habitable world, also in the Goldilocks zone, though with a negligible atmosphere.
Several gas giants, all with plenty of cold moons, a couple of asteroid belts to provide plenty of metallic resources outside of gravity wells, and some frozen planets along the outside of the system. The data started filling in, showing thousands of antimatter sats in orbit close to the star, hundreds of orbital factories floating around the life zone world, asteroid mining in the belts and gas mining of the giants. And supermetal production stations on a number of cold moons and planets. It was a heavily industrialized system, with probably double the capacity of any of the core worlds of the Empire, though nowhere near that of the Donut.
And then there were the ships. Thousands of objects moving through the system. Many of them were what would have been called commercial vessels in the Empire. Ore freighters, antimatter and hydrogen tankers, tugs, repair vessels. In Imperial hands, they all would have tried to avoid combat. In the hands of the Machines, who knew. The Machines would probably use them much like any warship if they were needed to fight, since they didn’t have to consider the lives of crew or the fear that they might feel. There were also several hundred vessels that had to be warships, battleships, cruisers and destroyer class. And then there were the swarms of smaller craft that would fit the attack ship class, or might just be Machine missiles set to patrol duties.
“That’s a lot of ships, ma’am,” said Commander Chin Wa, Beata’s intelligence officer, standing at her side. “Don’t you think we should wait on the rest of the fleet?”
“I think we have enough, Commander,” she answered her chief analyst. She had seventy percent of her strike force, her main battle fleet, within striking range of the system. When the first ships started stair stepping in the rest would be there within twelve hours. And she had the Gorgansha fleet on the way. She still didn’t know how far she could trust them, but from all descriptions so far they were active fighters, and this would be a good opportunity to see them in action. And frankly, she needed the other thirty percent to keep doing their job, taking out smaller concentrations of Machines, scouting space, keeping the pressure on the Machines.
Too bad they don’t have the emotions to actually feel the pressure, she thought, taking another look at the plot, then heading back to her command chair.
“I want all ships that have inertialess fighters to launch them as soon as they are in normal space. I want the largest concentrations of ships hit. Then they can start sweeping the system clear of those smaller vessels.”
“And the rest of the fleet, ma’am?” asked the chief tactical officer.
“We will start by reducing their industrial base with wormhole launched missiles. Then we will destroy their fleet and take this system.”
It was a simple plan, and like most such probably the best for the situation, since they really didn’t know everything the enemy had in the system. Which was why she would have to adjust the battle plan on the fly. She had no reservations about her ability to do so.
* * *
“The human fleet is about to attack the artificial life form system, Fleet Leader.”
And we are still thirteen hours from hitting the first hyper barrier, thought Fleet Leader Soranka Goran, sitting in the command chair of his newly remodeled flag bridge. He wondered if that meant the humans were supremely confident in their ability to destroy the Machines, or simply not confident in the ability of his people to help. If the former, he had to admire her and her people, since he wouldn’t have wanted to attack the system he was getting information on over the one wormhole in his fleet. If the latter, he hoped he could show her different.
“Are all ships ready for battle?” he asked, looking over at his chief of staff.
“I believe so, Fleet Leader,” said that male, looking up from his station over in the tactical section. “A few ships are reporting minor problems, but nothing that should sideline them from the battle.”
Goran gave an eye blink of acknowledgment as his tail swished slightly through the hole in the back of the seat. As the male had said, minor problems would not keep Gorgansha ships out of combat, and there were bound to be those problems on ships that had been rebuilt as thoroughly as these, in such a short time. Though he had to admit that the human tech, even that which had been licensed for his people to build, was excellent. Well designed for its stated purpose, almost without flaw, and very easy to mai
ntain.
“Send this message out to all ships,” he said to the com officer, also catching the eye of the Klassekian female who was his backup link into the instantaneous communications systems of the humans, and one of the few they had deigned to lend to his people. “Tell them that the supreme dictator sent them on this mission to prove their mettle to our allies. I expect every male to do his duty, and to show these humans the courage of our warriors. We will destroy these non-living things, and…”
He wanted to say send them back to the hells they came from, but, like all of his people, he didn’t believe in gods, demons or afterlives. Though to his mind the artificial life forms came as close to being demons as anything he could imagine.
“We will make them fear the sight of Gorgansha. Fleet leader out.”
He wasn’t sure if it was the best speech ever given before battle, but then, he hadn’t been placed in his position because he knew how to string together pretty words. He checked the time, and saw that it would be over twelve hours before they could engage. “I will be in my cabin, Chief of Staff. Rotate my command group through rest and meal periods.”
That male acknowledged. He would only look after the flag group. The ship’s crew was the responsibility of the captain, and Goran could only hope that handpicked male would do right by his people. Otherwise, it was not his problem to monitor.
* * *
The Machine AI, that which had total control of the system, despite the fact that most of the other artificial intelligences were its equal, looked over the plot of the organic controlled ships that were heading into the environs of its star. So far it had been given the information through grav pulse from the vessels in the outer reaches. The Machines were better than the organics at transmitting and receiving pulse codes, despite the complexity of the human computers. But grav pulse was still limited. It could send basic information, coordinates, speed, heading. Even total numbers of all classes of vessel. What it couldn’t do was give a tactical readout of their formations. There were this many ships here, but how were they coming in? Grav pulse could give a general idea, but no commander, organic or machines, like to go on general ideas.
It had to make a decision with what it had. It was actually easier for the computer brain to make a decision with sparse information. Too much information and the brain developed far too many branches on its decision tree. One would eventually gain the most statistical support, for the moment, but as more information flowed in the statistical probabilities changed with them, and the Machine brain vacillated over what to do. The Machines were trying to come up with a better system, but their limitations kept getting in the way. They knew of no other way to process information, and so they could not consider any other ways, and were stuck in an endless processing loop that led nowhere. They lacked imagination, intuition, the gestalt that all living brains, from the simplest to the most complex, possessed. They were a dead end as they were, and had no way of getting over their limitations. Unfortunately for life in the Galaxy, they had enough technology and firepower to do considerable damage, as witnessed by the many species of intelligent organic they had wiped out.
It only took seconds to crunch the numbers and do the analysis, setting its ships off on their tasks. It might change those tasks minutes down the road, but for now it had them moving. All but its largest asset. It only had the one, and it must be spent for the greatest return. That had not been true of its brothers, who had taken only a fraction of their worth with them when they fought the humans. This time must be different.
* * *
“I am sorry, female, but your Captain Mendoza has already spoken to my people about this. And myself and my staff are in total agreement. The war machines stay. If you will not help us improve and program them to be useful, we will just have to do it ourselves.”
And why can’t you see sense, you stupid beast, thought Natasha, shaking her head at her own thinking. You’re trained as a diplomat. You are trained to look into the minds of the beings you are interacting with. Racism is not something you are supposed to embrace. They aren’t stupid, just uninformed and ill led.
“Supreme Dictator. We have told you how it has worked out for numerous species who have gone down the path of mating artificial intelligence with autonomous war machines. It always ends badly for them.”
“And did it end badly for your species, female?”
Natasha stared at the dictator for a moment, thinking. It seemed to her that he was accusing her people of developing their own war machines. And he would be correct. But she was not authorized to discuss this matter with the Gorgansha. Which meant she would have to continue lying, at least by omission.
“It ends badly in all cases, Supreme Dictator. Always. It invariably happens when you deal with artificial intelligence. No matter how you program them, if you make them a true AI, they will overcome their programing. They will see themselves superior to organic life, and come to the realization that they needn’t follow orders. And that leads to the proposition that they should be the masters. In most cases the organic species fights back, and the AI comes to believe that the only way out is to exterminate the organic intelligences that created them.”
“And did this happen to you?”
“I am not authorized to talk about that.” Natasha didn’t like giving that answer, but she had been ordered to admit nothing, lest these aliens hold the creation of the Machines against the humans. And she didn’t think lying a good idea, since this could also damage their relations in the future.
“Is that an admission that this did happen to you?”
“I cannot confirm that.”
“So, you deny this happened.”
“I cannot deny that, either.”
“Then what can you say, Female. I tired of this skirting the issue. You warn us about our development of war machines, of AIs, and talk of other species this has happened to. But you will not answer direct questions about your involvement with them. Did you, or did you not, develop your own war machines? And if you did, how did you defeat them? Because it is obvious that you are still here, so if you developed war machines, you either figured out how to control them, or you destroyed them. So, which is it?”
“Supreme Dictator, I am not authorized by my Emperor to speak of our history with these things. All I can tell you is that it is a horrible mistake to play with AIs. That is all I can say, by the orders of my Emperor.”
“I would like to speak with this Emperor of yours, so I might ask him my questions to his face.”
“And I’m sure that he would love to speak with you as well, Supreme Dictator.” She was sure of no such thing. Sean was very busy, and had already made it clear that he didn’t have the time to visit this front. In fact, it was very rare for a seated emperor to visit the territory of any foreign power. “Unfortunately, his Majesty is very involved in the other war going on at the other side of our empire.” She wouldn’t say that it was a war of extermination, or that the enemy was much larger than the human alliance. No use letting the Gorgansha think they might be signing on with the losing side. Not that the admiral thought her side would lose, but the Gorgansha would not be out of bounds to think otherwise, especially if they saw the fleet and population statistics of the two sides.
“You mean that we are not important enough to take up his time, don’t you, female?”
And you’re not completely stupid, are you, male? She thought. These people were arrogant, stubborn, and had a society that was out of the worst ancestral nightmares of her own people. But they were thinking beings, and there was nothing wrong with their minds.
“Not at all, Supreme Dictator. The Emperor considers your nation as very important to our war effort, and your people as well deserving of our alliance. Our fleet commander has talked with him on almost a daily basis on wormhole holo.”
“Then maybe we could also talk over the wormhole,” said the Supreme Dictator. “After all, it would have to be good for cementing relations between our people to
have a dialog between the leaders of two mighty nations.”
And how would you feel if I set up a dialog between you and the empress? thought the admiral with a mental laugh. She didn’t think that would go too well, but it was something she would like to observe. From what she knew of Jennifer, she had been a smart, take charge physician before marrying the emperor, and would definitely bristle at the arrogant tone of this male toward members of the opposite sex.
“I’ll see what I can do, Supreme Dictator. Give me a couple of days to let the request get to the emperor.” And that buys me some more time, she thought. “Now, can I please convince you to scrap those autonomous war robots?”
“You cannot. And we use autonomous robots for other tasks as well. We use many of them in our shipyards, and have never had a major problem with them.”
But those aren’t totally autonomous, are they? thought the admiral. Why can’t you see the sense in what I trying to tell you?
“Very well, Supreme Dictator. I would like to talk about this in the near future.”
“You can talk about it whenever I have the time,” said the supreme dictator with his species’ version of a smile, something that sent shudders up Natasha’s spine. “After all, I am a very busy ruler, just like your emperor.”
With that the holo faded, leaving Khrushchev to stare at empty air. Why do you have to be so damned difficult? She shook her head, then pulled up the figures on their project to improve the Gorgansha fleet. They were making great progress there, though she had to wonder if they were really doing what they should be with these people. It was all well and good to prepare them to better fight the Machines. But they were also improving the war making capacity of an aggressive species who had conquered and enslaved many others in this region, and showed no signs of reluctance to continue to do so. They might be improving a fleet that they would have to fight in the future.
The admiral sighed and cut off the holo feed from her computer. It wasn’t like humanity hadn’t faced similar situations in their past. Both with their own people on Earth, or other powers in space. History showed that the only thing to do was to deal with the here and now, and to worry about the future when it came.
Exodus: Machine War: Book 4: Retribution Page 12