The Great Destroyer

by Jack Thorlin

  Takagawa recognized her phrase and added, “Their height is doubtless an adaptation to their higher-gravity planet.”

  Eldridge was less circumspect. “They look very innocent, with their small stature and their clear desire to make contact with us.”

  The Supers were linked together and to their shuttle craft by a thin white rope, which extended behind them as they activated miniature thrusters on their suits to push them over to the Empathy.

  “The Supers are coming!” Equality Minister Eldridge exclaimed.

  The chief ground control officer said on the radio, “Equality Minister, please put on your helmet. We have no way of knowing what their presence might do to the atmosphere inside the Empathy.”

  “No, the Supers are honored guests, and one does not greet honored guests from a plastic bubble,” Eldridge explained simply.

  No one in mission control except Yazov noticed Drew Murphy putting on her helmet, her hands shaking.

  * * *

  The Supers reached the airlock door with a jolt visible on Charlie II’s camera.

  Takagawa triggered a radio communication. “Charlie, switch to internal video feed and stand ready.”

  Charlie II radioed back, “Yes, Dr. Takagawa.” The camera feed being sent to observers around the world switched from Charlie II’s movie-camera quality portable camera to the less-polished feed from his optical sensor. Charlie II tucked the portable camera away in a side compartment and stood squarely facing the airlock door, his hands at his sides, ready for anything.

  The Equality Minister was too focused on the Supers to worry about what Charlie II was up to. She exclaimed, “They’re here! Robot, let them in.”

  “Yes, Equality Minister.” Charlie II waited until the Supers were all fully inside the airlock, then pushed a button to shut the outside door. Once that was accomplished, he pushed another button to pressurize the airlock, then another to open the inner door.

  The Supers floated in the airlock, a small space adjoining the main habitable area of the capsule. There was just enough room for the three of them to fit in the airlock, and they spread out a little, two of them moving into the main capsule and one staying in the airlock. All of their faces were still hidden behind golden visors. They faced the Equality Minister, Drew Murphy, and Charlie II, all of whom were anchored to the opposite wall of the capsule about five feet away from the closest Super.

  “On behalf of Gaia, I welcome you,” Tanya Eldridge said, bowing as far as she could.

  Jackson couldn’t suppress a snort in mission control. He whispered to Yazov, “Looks like she forgot what planet she’s from.” The Russian grinned slightly, as much emotion as he allowed himself to show at a time like this.

  The technicians in mission control watched as one Super touched an electronic display on his forearm. He gestured to his companions and himself and spoke, his voice emitting from speakers embedded in his suit. “Ushah.” The middle “sh” came out slurred, almost a hiss. He repeated the word.

  Eldridge, realizing that the Super was telling her what to call them, gestured to Drew and said, “People.” She didn’t mention Charlie, who stood out of the way.

  “People,” the Ushah said awkwardly, testing the unfamiliar word. He pointed to Eldridge and Murphy and said, “People,” again. Then, he pointed to the Earth out the portal, and held his long, thick finger. After a moment, it was clear he was prompting the Equality Minister.

  “Earth,” Eldridge said.

  There followed an hour of explaining vocabulary. The talkative Ushah conveyed that he was a linguist, and he translated for his companions as he rapidly gained familiarity with Terran Standard. Eldridge first described the components of the ship, then basic facts about humans.

  The linguist asked in a raspy voice, stumbling over the hard consonants and grammar, “You leader Earth?”

  Eldridge didn’t hesitate. “I speak for and represent Earth.”

  The Ushah linguist spoke rapidly with the other Ushah over a private channel. After a moment, he asked, “You alone leader Earth?”

  The Equality Minister’s ambition and ego were on full display. “Yes.”

  The Ushah linguist conferred again with his colleagues. One of the Ushah was taller than the linguist and skinnier, standing about five and a half feet tall. The other Ushah was short and very broad. He fiddled with a control screen on his wrist and, suddenly, small mechanisms emerged on the top of his left and right hands.

  The mechanism on his left arm appeared to be a complicated mechanical device with a small opening at the end. Its purpose was not immediately clear to Igazi, watching the event unfold on television as seen through the camera built into Charlie II. On the Ushah’s right hand, a blade about a foot long had snapped into place. Its purpose was much more obvious.

  Jackson and even Yazov flinched, but if Takagawa was surprised, she didn’t show it. She merely said calmly, “Charlie, do not attack enemies until they attack a human.”

  Charlie II replied, equally calmly, “Yes, Dr. Takagawa.”

  The linguist Ushah could not hear the entirely radio-based discussion between Charlie II and Dr. Takagawa. He said in a faster, harsher tone, “Leader, you give Earth to the Enshath.”

  Eldridge’s face was more confused than scared. “What do you mean?”

  The linguist replied, “Ushah need Earth. You leader Earth. Give Earth to Enshath, leader of Ushah. She lead you and your people now.”

  Jackson slapped a fist down on the control console he stood near. “Shit, their civilization must be so hierarchical that they think Eldridge has the authority to hand over the whole planet.”

  There followed several seconds of pause. Eldridge’s face contorted in pain as if she had been slapped into wakefulness after a long sleep. “I... I can’t do that.” She took a step toward the Ushah linguist and reached out her hand, “Listen, I—”

  The tall Ushah said something sharp and the short Ushah raised his left arm, aiming it straight at the Equality Minister. The linguist shouted, “Stop!”

  Eldridge didn’t seem to hear. She merely screamed, “No, it’s all wrong, listen, lis-”

  An electronic noise warbled for a split-second, and the mechanism on the short Ushah’s left hand recoiled slightly as the mechanism shot out a projectile straight at the Equality Minister’s head, which erupted in a fountain of blood, bone, and brain matter.

  Chapter 14: Charlie II

  Initiate subroutine protect_humans.exe.

  Charlie II was not far advanced beyond his predecessor, the robot who had operated the telescope on the Moon base. He had been taught specific combat subroutines, but they were little more advanced than the sort of diagnostic and maintenance tasks that had been programmed into Charlie I.

  The most significant upgrade in Charlie II’s intelligence was a primary overriding objective: the protection of human beings. Instead of every task requiring an order (“go to the telescope and see that it’s still working”), Charlie II could justify his own actions if they seemed consistent with the direct physical protection of human beings in his immediate environment.

  Charlie II could autonomously decide to follow his own judgment. He was thus alive in a way that Charlie I never was.

  In the present situation, Charlie II’s internal processor, guided by its own algorithms and by Takagawa’s input, had long since classified the Ushah as non-humans and potential enemies. He had also, of course, concluded as soon as the short Ushah had aimed his left arm at Eldridge that the Ushah posed a threat to a human in his close proximity.

  Charlie II decided to act.

  Initiate subroutine close_combat.exe.

  Professor Jackson, Viktor Yazov, and Dr. Takagawa had spent many evenings figuring out the best way for their creation to fight onboard the Empathy. He couldn’t use a firearm; such a weapon could easily penetrate the hull after its bullet went through a target. Charlie II needed a weapon whose power he could directly and precisely control, and the spaceship was small enough that
he would be able to reach the enemy very quickly. That was where Yazov’s experience came in.

  Yazov knew that Charlie II would need a stabbing implement, not a slashing weapon. Slashing an enemy rarely totally disabled him; a stab could hit vital organs and kill a victim instantly. He recommended a spear-like weapon about the length of Charlie II’s arm, long enough to gain a hopefully decisive reach advantage, but small enough that it could be wielded quickly.

  Of course, Takagawa would not arm her child for war with a metal spear. The shaft was made of carbon nanotubes, the strongest material humans had ever created. The spear’s warhead was made of synthetic diamond.

  Jackson had supplied the name: Ascalon, the spear that St. Simon had used to slay the dragon.

  In testing, Charlie II had stabbed Ascalon through a half-foot of concrete. He would now wield the blade against the Ushah.

  Initiate subroutine draw_ascalon.exe.

  Faster than any human could, Charlie II withdrew Ascalon from the thin scabbard hidden beneath the decorative clothing he wore.

  Target distance = 1.85 meters.

  1.85 meters < Effective combat radius

  Initiate zero_g_movement.exe.

  Initiate kick.exe.

  The short Ushah still had his left arm extended and pointed at the Equality Minister’s falling body when Charlie II kicked off a bulkhead and flew toward the Ushah in a zero-g lunge.

  The Ushah was slow to react, perhaps because he had immediately looked at Drew Murphy next, who was screaming out of the way off to the Ushah’s right. By the time the Ushah realized Charlie II had sprang at him, it was too late to do more than reflexively flinch.

  Initiate subroutine combat_stab.exe.

  Charlie II cocked his hydraulically powered arm back and then rammed Ascalon into the Ushah’s chest. The Ushah let out a high-pitched scream as the diamond blade tore through the skin of the Ushah spacesuit, an inch of some exotic metal that sent a small current back through the blade, a soft rubber-like undershirt, the skin of the Ushah itself, six inches of Ushah flesh and bone, two inches of Ushah heart, and then the same materials in reverse order on its way out the other side.

  Initiate ascalon_withdraw.exe.

  Initiate enemy_damage_assessment.exe.

  Charlie II yanked Ascalon free, his optical sensor and image processing software noting a gout of light-red blood.

  The stab to the chest had been highly successful, the robot’s learning algorithms concluded. The anatomical assessment sent to him by Dr. Takagawa forty minutes earlier had proven accurate—if evolution had driven the Ushah into a similar shape as humans, it stood to reason their basic organs wouldn’t be dramatically different.

  Initiate threat_scan.exe.

  The Ushah linguist recoiled in evident horror as the mechanical servant came alive and killed his companion. The taller Ushah, however, reflexively pressed a button on his suit to call up his weapons, the same blade and firearm combination the shorter Ushah had wielded.

  Enemy 2 = Threat.

  Charlie II had observed the shorter Ushah’s use of the firearm moments earlier. His programmers had given him the power of inference, of deduction. He knew the taller Ushah had drawn weapons, and knew what would stop him.

  Target distance = 1.3 meters.

  1.3 meters < Effective combat radius

  Initiate zero_g_movement.exe.

  Initiate kick.exe.

  Charlie II sprang forward again.

  Initiate combat_stab.exe.

  This time, the Ushah saw him coming and reacted, bringing up his own blade to deflect Ascalon. The Ushah’s weapon deflected Ascalon so that it struck nothing but air.

  Initiate combat_punch.exe.

  Here, Yazov’s tactics once again proved their worth. Charlie II had two arms, after all, and only one was needed to wield Ascalon. With his left hand, Charlie II punched through the Ushah’s face plate. The panel deformed and collapsed around the robot’s fist. Charlie II withdrew his hand, taking the remainder of the faceplate with him.

  The Ushah’s face was reptilian, a darker shade of green than his lime green spacesuit. His skin was scaly and creased by lines. He appeared to have no hair.

  The Ushah let out a shout and began deeply inhaling in the shuttle’s air. He breathed like a human at high altitude, on the verge of hyperventilation.

  Initiate combat_stab.exe.

  It took only two breaths for Charlie II to pull Ascalon back for another stab. In that time, the Ushah saw an opportunity. With Charlie pressed right up against him, he didn’t have enough space to bring his left arm around to fire on the robot, but he could take another human down with him.

  The Ushah raised his left arm and fired at Drew Murphy, still cowering in the corner. He didn’t have quite enough time to aim precisely, however—the projectile impacted Murphy’s arm, severing it grotesquely below the elbow.

  The Ushah did not have time for a second shot. Charlie II skewered his heart with Ascalon, killing the Ushah instantly.

  Initiate threat_scan.exe.

  Charlie II turned his optical sensor to examine the linguist. Though his golden faceplate covered his facial features, he was clearly shocked and disoriented. Though he presumably also had weapons in his suit, he did not bring them up as the other Ushah had. Charlie II, not detecting a threat, did nothing.

  Chapter 15: Takagawa

  Mission control stood in stunned silence for a few seconds. The first contact had turned into a tragic bloodbath. And yet, deep within the technicians of the 27th century, a tribal pride stirred.

  Humanity was not helpless in the face of this new danger. It had a champion to defend it.

  Murphy’s screams of pain returned the room to reality. The head of mission control radioed to the stricken astronaut, “Hold on, Drew, we’ll get you home.”

  Takagawa called over the radio, “Charlie, apply a tourniquet to Drew’s right arm.”

  Charlie II, having been designed to protect humans, knew rudimentary first aid. He sheathed Ascalon and, consistent with his programming, retrieved a tourniquet from a first-aid kit in a wall compartment. He applied the tourniquet to Murphy’s shoulder, and the Deputy Equality Minister mercifully passed out from the pain.

  Luke Tanner called out, “We have another launch from the Ushah mothership. Looks like another shuttle. The mothership’s on a different orbital trajectory; it’s drifted away considerably over the last hour. ETA at Earth orbit thirty minutes.”

  “Shit,” Takagawa observed. “We need to get the Empathy back down.”

  “What do we do with the last Ushah?” Jackson asked. “He’s bound to know all sorts of interesting things. Might be useful to have a hostage.”

  Takagawa nodded and triggered her radio. “Charlie, strap the last enemy to Equality Minister Eldridge’s chair.”

  “Yes, Dr. Takagawa.” Charlie II moved to comply with the order, grabbing onto the Ushah linguist’s arm and leading him to the seat. The Ushah did not resist, thankfully. Takagawa guessed that Charlie II’s most likely reaction to resistance from the Ushah would have involved Ascalon and the swift death of the Ushah linguist.

  Charlie II had been given basic programming, repurposed from factory robots, on how to tie an object down, which required rope or an available substitute. He used the Equality Minister’s shirt, taking it off of her headless body to the disgust of viewers around the world. Charlie II had not been programmed to think about public relations.

  Takagawa thought fast. War, or a very tense peace, was coming. The Ushah clearly possessed advanced technology, but Charlie II had shown that they were not invincible. What humanity needed now were better weapons. “Charlie, get the EVA jet pack, go to the Ushah shuttle and retrieve whatever electronic items you can.”

  “Yes, Dr. Takagawa.”

  The mission control director’s face showed shock, which quickly turned to anger. “The Ushah reinforcements are coming and we’ve got a wounded astronaut up there. We need to initiate reentry and get her back as quick
ly as possible.”

  Takagawa continued looking at the room’s main screen, which displayed Charlie II’s visual feed. Jackson answered for her. “Ushah technology could be worth more than one life.”

  The director, taught the Terran Alliance Creed since infancy, said reflexively, “People matter more than things.”

  Jackson shook his head. “Not right now they don’t.”

  As it turned out, Charlie took four minutes to travel to the Ushah craft, rip out several electronic instrument panels, and return to the Empathy. After securing the Ushah spoils and jettisoning Equality Minister Eldridge’s body, Charlie II made sure everyone was securely in their seats, including himself. Space Administration technicians then initiated reentry of the Empathy. The Ushah reinforcements were five minutes too late, and the Empathy returned to Earth, its mission over.