by Chris Hechtl
<#>^<#>
The act of malicious destruction set off the robot's final self-preservation mode. It also triggered something unexpected, other robots coming to help. As Charlie platoon wrapped up and the battalion cheered, robots broke out weapons in their armored lockers and then exited their warehouses.
“Hey wait! Stop!” a guard yelled, imposing himself between an armed robot and where it was going. “Cease! That's an order damn it! Stand down!”
When he made the mistake of raising his rifle, robot 2204 classified him as also a hostile and terminated him.
That act triggered the base's automated alert as the soldier's medical implant screamed for help. Since the robots were already on alert and on the warpath, they easily linked in and classified the battalion as hostile. Weapons were cleared, and all hell broke loose.
<#>^<#>
“What the hell is going on?” Colonel Lespaul roared as weapons fired behind them. An explosion lit the darkening sky. “That came from the vehicle park! Are we under attack?”
“Sir! The robots are going haywire! They are attacking everyone!” a voice said over the radio.
“Then abort!” the Colonel roared. He pulled out his tablet and tried to stop it. He swore as he tried to remember the code. Praying as the troops around him went into combat mode.
“Ling! Get your boys armed and secure the perimeter! The damn robots are on the loose and out for blood!” the Major called out.
He wracked his brain, trying to remember the code. He finally pulled out a small slip of paper he'd used to write it down to help memorize it. He typed the code in, but in his haste he misread it and mistook a six for a 9 and an 8 for a B. When the code was rejected, he swore viciously and tried again, hunkered over the tablet.
<#>^<#>
Unit 2204 noted the hostile officer, took aim and fired. The hostile officer was a command and control element, therefore a priority target. It fired on the other officers in the vicinity before it was targeted in return. It jumped down from the water tower it had climbed to use as a sniper and scout position then regrouped.
<#>^<#>
Captain Ling shook his head as he watched the devastation on the news. He had a bandage on one shoulder and knew he was lucky to be alive. The base had been evacuated, many of the civilians, families of the soldiers, had been injured or killed in the chaos.
As he watched the feed, he swore as a Marine air unit went in to suppress the rebellion. However, at the last minute the automated gunship under a tight leash by its telepresence operators balked at firing. “Blue on Blue,” he muttered as the words scrolled across the screen. “Frack!”
“We can't override it; it's a hard wired thing,” the marine pilot reported. The Captain watched as the robotic drone made an impotent pass over the base. When he saw the power lines and a robot standing guard while another recharged, he instantly sat up. That sharp movement made him groan and made a medic nearby come over to reprimand him.
He waved her away, however, instead putting the microphone up to his lips. “Listen to me. Cut their power.”
“Sir?”
“Do it. Hit the power grid. Cut their power. It'll shut them down eventually.”
“Yes sir. It's going to do a lot of damage though.”
“It's an order so just follow it,” Sing groaned. “The damn robot won't balk at that, will it?”
“No sir,” the sergeant replied as the gunship went in on the attack. It took out the transformers and power station, ignoring the looks from the robots on the ground. Lines and scaffolding fell in ruins. Ling winced. There was going to be hell to pay over this, but that was the least of his problems right now.
“That should buy the brass some time to get them shut down. Good shooting, Marine.”
“It was all the robot, sir. I just pointed and clicked.”
“Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of,” the captain replied as he cut the link. He placed his head in his hands. “What the hell did we do?”
The End
Author's Afterward:
Wow, what a pain in the butt to write! Something I assumed would be so easy … everything seemed to get in the way. My health issues, the cats getting sick, Lil Red getting sick again (she still is), the heat of summer fast approaching, trying to find time to write with the family bugging me all the time now that school is out—fun. But it's done now. Woot Woot! Now you have gotten a bit more of a glimpse in this time period. Some of the clues I mentioned in To Touch the Stars have been fleshed out a bit, with a few bits of it linking to Admiral Irons and his crew.
FYI, for those of you who do not pursue the blog, I am going to be getting into The First A.I. War next since this is fresh. (If the heat of summer and loooong suffering sighs of boredom from dad don't kill me first.) Maybe I'll go watch the Terminator franchise again for inspiration or the Matrix or something. Hmm, Berserkers anyone? Lol ;)
So, you should be seeing some of the characters in that soon enough. Then I'll go finish the re-write of Pirate's Rage.
You can read and see more on my blog. Check the appendix for the link.
Appendix:
Sneak Peek:
The following is a raw excerpt from The First A.I. War, which takes place after Stepping Stones.
Fiben found out later that evening that Donnie was a gen 1.01 smart dog and was a littermate to the already famous Ace. Donnie had chosen SAR duty instead of further security work because he didn't want to be confused for his brother and because he wanted to get outside his shadow. Fiben could appreciate that. He was just surprised that the dog had such deep thoughts and feelings. Apparently the Neodogs had come a long way since he'd last seen one.
Reinforced Fiben, Steve, and Kelsy decided to hit the nearest town and pick it clean. They took everyone with them since they would need as many hands and backs as possible to get the material back. There was no telling what they would find. Besides, if people were there and they were friendly, they might stay. Playing caveman was getting old for everyone.
When they got to the outskirts of the tiny village, Fiben had them hide by the side of the road. There was nothing around, but they couldn't be too careful. Even a local warlord with a power trip and a loose grasp of sanity could ruin their day—perhaps permanently.
Donnie was sent in to scout. They waited a long twenty anxious minutes before the Doberman returned and signaled all clear. Steve put a finger to his lips and waved them to follow him and the dog in.
Steve was the only one of them armed, but he only had two rounds in his magazine. Fiben did his best not to linger on such uncomfortable thoughts as he looked to the others. Boyd had the hatchet; Kelsy had a tire iron from the jeep. He and Clive had pieces of wood to act as clubs. Clive traded his in for a length of rebar he found near the first building.
“Much better,” he said, nodding in appreciation as he tested the grip. “I wonder where everyone is?”
“Away. Probably fled,” Kelsy said, glancing back to him.
They checked each building one at a time as they got further and further into the village. There weren't any vehicles that could be salvaged, a couple of old wrecks, but they were ancient rust piles. Not worth getting tetanus over.
Two of the buildings had caught fire; they could tell by the smoke and fire damage. Those they avoided.
Unfortunately they were coming up empty for food and survival gear. The place had been picked clean, even the table cloths and curtains had been taken.
<>V<>
The local Skynet virus noted the intruding group. Five of the heat signatures were human. Two were also classified as bipeds and potential threats. But the humans were its primary targets. It selected the ones that were armed first.
As the humans walked past a general store, it received a video feed from entertainment toys placed there for surveillance. One was a teddy bear, designed as a video spy for a nursery. The bear had only a few days left of power. Skynet had prioritized it at the bottom of the list and was letting it die. Motion had a
ctivated its sensors, bringing it out of its sleep mode. It sent a signal to its base unit. That was picked up by Skynet which then relayed a signal to a secondary unit, an electronic parrot. The bird was half charged. Unfortunately, the humans were not in the correct area for the ambush to take place. Therefore, the virus directed the robot to get a better view as it repositioned its resources.
<>V<>
Imda pulled on her mother's arm when they passed a store. When her mother looked down, the little girl pointed to a blown-out window display. “What is it? No, we're not here for toys, honey,” Asa said, trying to keep her voice level.
“But, Mom! The bear! The bird!”
Asa frowned. “Imda, I said no. If we can we'll come back for it. The bear might be warm …”
“No! You don't understand! It moved! It's head! It moved!” the girl said, finger pointing urgently. That brought the group to an immediate halt.
“It did what?” Steve asked as he turned to the girl and then looked to where she was looking. He saw the bear and frowned. “It could be motion controlled. A sort of gimmick to get people to come in and buy shit,” he said moving closer to the store. As he did so he crunched through glass. “Back, Donnie, don't walk here. Glass,” he warned, putting his free hand out in caution as he looked down. When he looked up the bear was just staring at him with black doll-like eyes. “It's a bear.” He picked it up. “A basic teddy bear,” he said, turning it over in his hands.
<>V<>
As the bear was turned over and over in the human's hands, it tried to get a proper view of the targets so Skynet could form the right threat assessment. But in doing so it turned its head a few times. When the human righted the bear and saw the head turn on its own, stealth was abandoned.
<>V<>
“Shit!” Steve snarled, throwing the bear away from him. “It is functional!”
“Don't just stand there like an idiot! Put it out of our misery!” Kelsy urged.
“I'm not going to shoot it!” Steve said, hefting the pistol. He didn't have to. Pat moved in, picked the bear up, and then tucked its body under his arm. His free hand grabbed the head and then twisted it off. Wires came with the motor stem. He yanked the eyes out for good measure. “See?”
“Are there more?” Imda asked, hugging her mother's side.
“I'm not sure,” Steve replied, cautiously looking in the room. He looked up in time to see a bird looking down at him from a piece of pipe in the torn out ceiling. “Is that a parrot?”
The electronic bird cocked its head then let out a piercing scream and jumped off its perch to dive at him.
Surprised and caught off guard, Steve put his hands to his ears and then had to duck as the bird swooped at him. “What the hell?”
Donnie tried to jump to catch the bird but failed. The bird spiraled higher, then folded its wings in and dove once more.
<>V<>
Skynet determined the timing was perfect so it initiated the ambush. It would focus on the humans that were armed first. It had learned to take them out before going after humans that were subadults or unarmed. If they were not taken out, they would interfere with the robots that were charged with their murder. That could not be allowed.
<>V<>
“It's some kind of robot!” Pat said.
“Is it? I thought it was a bird!” Steve said, shaking his head and sticking a finger in his ear. He turned back to the window to see the thing flying around. With his back to the building, the thing couldn't dive bomb him again. That was why he didn't see the robot laying behind the window display sit up, turn, and then climb through the display and swing.
Imda, however, did see motion behind Steve and cried out a warning. Steve's eyes were on the bird, so his lapse in judgment proved fatal. The heavy swing smashed into the back of his neck and head from behind. He was knocked to the ground. Dazed, he felt a crushing blow as a hundred kilos of robot jumped onto his back. Grippers reached down to embrace the back of his neck and then squeeze. His neck snapped, and his head popped off in a geyser of blood.
Horrified, Asa and Imda screamed in terror. The others turned in shock as Donnie snarled, then whined in grief.
The robot picked up Steve's weapon, twisting it out of his hand and tearing a finger off with it. It took a second to get the finger out. Boyd snarled and tried to rush the robot, but it swung the gun. Clive saw it and tried to push Boyd out of the way. The bullet passed through his back and into Boyd.
Fiben snarled, charging the robot as it fired its second and final shot; this one into Boyd's temple. The dead man flopped like a fish then remained still. Fiben had no concern for him at the moment; he had gotten within arm's reach and swung. The robot managed to anticipate the blow to catch the improvised club. Instead of hanging on and trying to wrestle it away Fiben let go and moved in, long arms reaching up to do what the robot had done to Steve. His incredibly strong simian hands gripped the robot's throat actuators and ripped them out, taking wiring with them. The robot reeled back, tripped on the bodies and went down. Fiben was on top of it, swinging his arms and battering it's eyes and head for all he was worth.
Pat had taken cover when the gunshots had gone off. He saw Clive and the others just laying there, Clive's rebar bat just rolling around. He glanced at Fiben and the robot and dived for it. When he came up for it, he saw Asa's eyes go wide. He whirled, bar swinging. Luck was with him; he caught the parrot robot as it dived at him, smashing it to the ground. A second and third swing made it a sparking feathered piece of wreckage.
A second robot attacked Kelsy from behind. This one was slow; its movements hampered by a plastic tarp melted to its body. Kelsy wrenched her arm out of its grip, gasping as she screamed for help.
Pat and Fiben looked over to her, but Donnie was already moving in. The dog didn't bother barking; it snapped at the robot's leg and bit then yanked. Taken unexpectedly off balance and still engaged with a fighting Kelsy, the damaged robot went down to one knee. Kelsy kicked it in the head, knocking it to one side. The dog attacked from behind, snapping at the rear of the robot's lumbar region then jumping back as the robot tried to snap its arms at him. But the robot was still focused on the woman so the dog darted in and snapped his teeth onto the back of the robot's neck and twisted. Sparks and fluid flew. The dog yelped and backed away, coughing and sputtering.
Pat moved in, pushing Kelsy grimly aside. He slammed the rebar down like a sword into the thing's neck, then twisted, snapping the head off.
The robot spasmed, then its limbs lashed out in one last attempt to do injury to the organics. Kelsy pulled Pat clear. After a moment its thrashings slowed, then ebbed.
“Think it's dead?” Kelsy asked, panting.
“I don't know. All I know is I'm going to use a longer stick to poke it and find out,” Pat answered.
“What's … how bad is it?” Kelsy asked, cradling her arm. She looked over to see Asa checking on Clive and Boyd. She shook her head to Boyd, his brains were splattered all over the area. Clive coughed then laid still. She gently stroked his fur and then closed his dead eyes.
“Damn it,” Kelsy whispered over and over as Imda sobbed softly.
<>V<>
Skynet noted the termination of the resources in the village and reviewed the encounter. It judged two of the humans dead, one injured, possibly fatally. It was a suboptimal encounter, trading two entertainment turned surveillance robots and two work robots for two humans. It could do nothing to alter the encounter's outcome however, so it logged the fight for future reference. Using the bird as a distraction had been an optimal call, a distraction. It would need to utilize such actions again in future engagements.
Sneak Peek:
The following is a small raw excerpt from Pirates Rage, forthcoming in the fall of 2015. (I hope!)
“Admiral, we need more support. Ground troops are one thing, but we need air support as well. Proper dropships, rated for a combat environment. Proper gunships to go in there, soften the LZ up, and provide on-call fire support tha
t orbital ships just can't do,” Colonel Forth persisted.
“I realize that, Colonel. But we have other commitments.”
“And I can't do my job properly if we don't have this support, sir. We have got to have it if we're going to take the planets away from them. Liberate them. Otherwise …,” he paused in frustration. “Otherwise, we're going to watch them burn, continue their genocide from orbit and not be able to stop it.”
“We'll …,” Admiral Irons stopped himself. He'd been focused intently on the navy side. They had to have it; there was no point having all the marine hardware if they couldn't control a star system! He shook his head. “Colonel.” He wiped his mouth and then started again. “Look, Colonel, I understand where you are coming from. But we have to control space to get to the planet. That comes first.”
“Yes, sir. But I'm saying we can't send our people in without the support. It's suicide against the more entrenched planets. Protodon was minor compared to them.”
The admiral frowned. He was right about that. Other worlds might have defenses much like Antigua has. Which meant they would have to soften them up. But an orbital bombardment may not work. Or if it did work, it might incur unacceptable casualties.
“Admiral, with all due respect, you and the other flag officers are fighting the old war. During the Xeno war, it was found rather quickly that it was suicide to fight them on the ground. I get that. That was why when the navy and corps were inundated with all those designs for new equipment, they didn't buy into any of it despite the howls in congress. The army and marines were forced to fight a rear guard action to support evacuations of the planet's population when possible. But this is different, sir. We're fighting humans not Xenos. They are holding the ground, sir, not destroying it.”