Synchronicity Trilogy Omnibus

by Michael McCloskey

  Captain-L2: Consensus after the fact is trivial. Or the equivalent Terran phrase: Hindsight is 20/20.

  Captain-L5: This is just another way the competition with Slicer has hurt us.

  Captain’s fake moved out of the locker. It spun out onto the landing ring and then toward the shuttles parked outside the spaceport.

  Captain spun around behind the locker and moved away from the spaceport’s main building, using a docked spaceplane for cover. It paused while remotely examining the interior from the fake body.

  Captain-L2: There. Terran marines moving inside the spaceport atrium.

  Captain-L1: Just in time. But I’ll need a distraction to move away.

  Captain-L7: This should do it.

  The fake launched a wave of cutters across the giant windows that covered the inner-facing terminal building. A hundred meters of the plate windows cracked, then gave way, sending a wave of debris flying across the inner ring’s landing surface and the parked shuttles sitting there.

  Captain whirled directly away from the terminal, keeping a spaceplane between itself and the atrium. Projectiles already hurtled out toward the fake as it danced around on the runway. Captain sent it twirling around the parked spaceplanes, toying with the quadrupeds.

  Captain-L3: Nice escape. But I need to reduce their numbers with the fake.

  Captain-L1: Target that one.

  Captain’s fake sprayed the lead quadruped with cutters and finished it off with two larger projectiles. The fake spun away back behind a maintenance vehicle. The maneuvers had used up twenty percent of its energy.

  Captain-L8: The Terrans are scrambling away. They don’t like it out in space.

  Captain-L7: Too cold for them. They’re so very fragile.

  Captain-L3: So am I, inside this artificial body.

  Captain-L7: The UNSF quadrupeds are closing in. I might be able to get another two or three.

  Captain-L3: According to data from the cybloc network, I suspect that one is Meridian. Soften it and the one next to it.

  Captain-L7 used the fake’s emitter to create four thousand cutter molecules. It launched them at the two ASSAILs indicated by Captain-L3. The one designated Meridian changed its angles as it got hit, then moved behind its fellow machine, which Captain believed was called Plato. The fake dodged behind a shuttle. The light craft started to disintegrate as 12mm rounds sliced through it, releasing the gas in its pressurized cabin. Blood boiled out across the inside of one of its intact windows. Apparently a Terran had been inside.

  Captain-L3: Finish them.

  Captain-L7: Energy getting low.

  The fake launched finishing rounds at Plato and Meridian. The front machine went down, followed quickly by Meridian.

  Captain-L3: Got it. That’s the most dangerous one I think, unless it’s fooled me. It could be pretending to be one of the others...

  Captain-L7: I need to sacrifice the fake now, while there’s still sufficient energy left for a convincing explosion.

  Captain-L1-3,7-8: Consensus.

  The fake spun away from its fragmenting cover as if seeking another sanctuary. Several ASSAILs shot at it. The wounded machine Captain-L3 had labeled Meridian proved itself operational as it stitched rounds into the fake, causing it to explode.

  Captain-L3: I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I didn’t kill it. Two is enough.

  Captain-L8: They’re quite vulnerable out on the runway.

  Captain-L3: They were a bit reckless because they believed I was vulnerable as well.

  Captain-L8: I could swing back around and finish this.

  Captain-L3: Only at the risk of sharing the fate of my fake.

  Captain shot toward the bay where Ship rested. It would continue the battle under the umbrella of the assimilator factory working out of the sanctuary zone.

  ***

  Slicer examined the site. Sure enough, the sprawling factory before it produced new automatons for the planetoid. Squads of Red Maze drones collected and dropped off the wreckage of dead drones from far and wide, providing the raw materials to produce new ones. Slicer didn’t waste time contemplating whether Red Maze was slowly dwindling away from lack of new raw materials. For the purposes of the match, it simply wouldn’t matter, unless Slicer and Captain warred over it indefinitely.

  Slicer-L4: Seize this factory and I will have an endless supply of drones without having to reset them.

  Slicer-L7 called in its personal army. The previous strongholds were abandoned. It had slave drones move the token to its new base, but it turned out the token would now only move slowly. A hidden rule.

  Slicer’s slave machines were still being harassed by the immune system of Red Maze, but thus far their number was sufficient to defeat the attackers.

  When the drones arrived, Slicer set them up in defensive positions about the factory. Slicer-L3 analyzed the factory’s operation, preparing to use its field effector to take over key parts of the system.

  Slicer-L4: This will soon be my factory. Building my army.

  Slicer-L7: Then I go find Captain and take my victory.

  Eleven

  Captain’s communications network had made great strides in Red Maze. Pre-calculated token query times each rotation were known to all its scouts across Red Maze. For those few minutes when the path was visible, its drones abandoned all pretenses of being well-behaved and searched about crazily. Then they would return to normal work. Their schedule was normal a high percentage of the time, making them almost invisible to the immune system of Red Maze.

  Captain maintained a regular schedule of recruiting new drones, resetting Red Maze drones to put them into states where it could control them.

  Apparently Slicer had opted for a military victory. It hoped to simply obtain a huge army and find Captain’s token, or perhaps kill Captain’s avatar. But a hidden rule had emerged to block the approach: Red Maze had its own internal defenses. It dispatched drones to attack the misbehaving drones like a natural organism protecting itself from disease.

  Captain’s data showed that Slicer was losing its war. The self-defense system of Red Maze was reacting too quickly to the disruption of Slicer’s army. Slicer could reset more drones, but that took time and energy. Red Maze was a sleeping giant, only beginning to respond.

  Captain felt satisfaction. The longer Slicer struggled against Red Maze, the better Captain’s intelligence network would get. Eventually Captain would be able to follow a token query line anywhere in Red Maze.

  ***

  Slicer-L4: This is not working.

  The sounds of drone combat could be heard in the distance. Slicer’s factory produced drones at a rate greater than Slicer could reset by itself, but it had simply drawn an even greater response from Red Maze. Slicer estimated that about 64 factories must exist across the entire planetoid.

  Slicer-L7: Perhaps a mobile army? Will the defenses track us effectively if we move about, or do they slowly accrete around particular areas that have been trouble for a while?

  Slicer-L4: Take another factory. If I can take a second before losing this one, then I’ll be making progress.

  Slicer-L3 became distracted by the building Slicer’s avatar spun through. It looked like... some kind of data bank?

  Slicer-L3 scanned the area more closely.

  The storage included huge amounts of information about Red Maze’s history and its founders.

  Slicer-L3: No doubt including information about the immune system I’m now fighting!

  Slicer-L7: Do I really have time for this? I’m losing this war.

  Slicer-L3: Patience. This is a place to unlock hidden rules. I’m certain of it.

  ***

  Captain had reached the point of routinely intercepting messages from Slicer’s network. Unlike Captain’s static node network, Slicer’s scouts moved about all day long. Apparently Slicer lost many scouts to Red Maze by attracting the attention of the natural defenses. This mobile scout army sent directional messages back to a central hub where one of Slicer’s
drones waited, collected the information and sent it to Slicer whenever Slicer requested it, along with providing the location to send it back to.

  No doubt if Captain simply killed the drone at the hub, Slicer would broadcast to all its spies, signaling them to redirect their reports to the next pre-calculated hub location. Then Captain would have to find the new hub.

  Instead, Captain had sent a drone to secretly approach the hub drone without being detected. Then the spy forwarded to Captain’s node network the directional messages it intercepted. Slicer might well be able to listen in on one of Captain’s nodes as well, but Captain’s scouts spent most of each day acting like a normal Red Maze drone, so they should be much harder to spot and compromise.

  Captain used the intercepted messages, as well as the occasional line query sighting from its scouts, to narrow down the area where it believed Slicer’s token could be. The area of possibility included inside the lines of Slicer’s war, which might be obvious but would allow Slicer to afford it some protection as well.

  Captain-L5: I listen to Slicer. Maybe it listens to me. I’m feeding it false data. What are the chances it does the same?

  Captain-L4: I can know the answer, if I pay a price. Set scouts up to watch Slicer’s scouts for a day. If the information I’m getting matches observations, then I know I’m listening in on real operations.

  Captain-L6: Then hope Slicer doesn’t try the same experiment.

  Captain-L4: And hope Slicer doesn’t switch from real communications to false ones later, having realized I would try this test.

  Captain-L6: It’s a reasonable gamble. I think Slicer has its attention occupied with its war against Red Maze.

  Captain-L5: If Slicer conquers Red Maze, then it will be my handful of scouts against Slicer’s massive army.

  In Reality0, Captain prepared itself for another battle where it would be similarly outnumbered. Captain-L1 noted cyber attack spearheads coming straight at the bay from two directions.

  Captain-L1: The Terran factions are fighting each other.

  As if to support the notion, rumbling came through the station. The sounds of 12mm fire interspersed with the rapid cracks of dog machine weapons and a Yongshan shell.

  Captain-L3: If I survive this, I’ll think more on this tendency to preferentially select competition over cooperation. I’m fighting Slicer and the Terrans are fighting each other, when victory hangs so delicately in the balance.

  Captain heard more 12mm reports. They were getting closer.

  Captain-L3: Of course, they fight over Ship. Should I oppose each faction equally? Or should I throw in my force against one or the other?

  Captain-L1: It is Meridian.

  Captain-L3: Then it’s time to decide whether I should try and kill it to end this war, or concede to its superiority and help it against the DSF.

  Consensus eluded Captain for the few seconds of peace it had before the rhythmic beating of dog machine feet approached its position by Ship’s bay.

  Captain-L1 used the cyblocs at its disposal to jam the communication between the small quadrupeds and the AI that controlled them. There was resistance, but less than Captain had expected.

  Captain-L1: I can hold. Meridian is the only ASSAIL left and it has to fight ShengFeng as well.

  The DSF artificial mind, ShengFeng, whose name meant ‘victorious wind’, exchanged cyblocs back and forth with Meridian in a struggle for dominance on the network. Ship maintained its sanctuary zone without fail, as Captain had expected. Its power reserves were vast and its many effectors were proportionately more capable.

  Captain selected a corner of the lab where it waited and put up an EM screen to mask its location. Dogs came streaming in. Captain estimated twenty dogs in this probe, based on the noise of their feet. But they were cut off from ShengFeng and vulnerable. Captain reset one and set it on the others, then started to launch bursts of five hundred cutter molecules, precisely targeting their main cyblocs.

  Several of the dogs dropped but the others shot Captain’s slave dog as it became clear it was an enemy.

  Captain-L2: Apparently the simple machines are prepared for that contingency.

  Captain-L3: Then use the energy in more creative ways.

  The dogs shifted about in the lab, frantically searching for Captain. Its screen was good enough to deceive the dogs, but the energy drain could not be supported for much longer.

  Captain composed small projectiles of its own and fired them accurately into the sides of the dogs. Its rounds had just enough velocity to lodge at a critical juncture near the power cores. This shorted them out, causing three dogs to drop and catch on fire. One of them exploded, damaging another dog.

  A fire retardant misted down from the ceiling. Captain’s EM screen didn’t handle the visual environment changes well, allowing a couple of dogs to spot it. They turned and shot into the corner.

  Captain-L2: A miscalculation!

  Captain dropped its screen. It spun out of the corner and sprayed more cutters at the dogs. Its energy ran lower. Five dogs were left. Captain spun around the corner into a hallway to recharge.

  The thunderous booms of 12mm fire erupted nearby.

  Captain-L3: Disengage.

  Captain-L2: I’m not the target—yet.

  Captain-L1: The dogs are massing for another push. Much larger than the last one. Hundreds of them.

  Captain-L3: Meridian is sniping them.

  Captain-L7: Then let them fight. Don’t get caught between them!

  Captain spun farther away, recovering its energy reserves.

  Captain-L1: The dogs have shifted. They’re coming for me! All of them!

  Captain spun through the corridor and entered another room bordering Ship’s shuttle bay.

  ***

  Slicer-L3 had spent the better part of a rotation sifting through endless data, grabbing at straws. It looked at the latest set of files.

  Slicer-L3: So Red Maze was established for the purpose of... archaeology?

  Slicer-L3 investigated further. The core of red maze was actually originally a natural planetoid. Some other kind of intelligent creatures had established a base there, then perished before the makers of Red Maze arrived. The new outpost had been established there in hopes of uncovering not the bodies or structures of the long-dead aliens, but looking for their data. Thousands of storage modules had been found, their charges severely leaked and diminished, yet the most advanced of these storage modules still contained retrievable information. And by collecting all these modules and analyzing them, the hope was that a complete picture of the previous civilization would emerge.

  Slicer-L3: Interesting, but not relevant to my task. Or is it?

  The records noted that some of the founders had been concerned that perhaps the race that had lived here wasn’t completely extinct. And in order to protect against the slim possibility of their return, a system of satellite weapons had been put in place. There were links to still other files.

  Slicer-L3 followed the trail. It learned the ancient defense system still existed.

  Slicer-L3: This is a huge find! This system can be used against the army massing to destroy me!

  Slicer-L7: Hidden rules, indeed.

  Twelve

  Slicer regarded the handful of small quadrupedal robots that had surrounded the UNSF breach point.

  Slicer-L1: They are ineffective.

  Slicer-L2: No, they are simply containing the other Terrans.

  Slicer-L7: Stalling for time so their faction can capture Ship.

  Slicer-L1: Then let’s move things along.

  Slicer looked for cyblocs in its control. There were many, but not enough. It used its EM effector to reset a cybloc in a nearby cluster, then started to break into its neighbors with assimilators. Slicer could have expended more energy to take more very quickly, but preferred to save energy for the upcoming battle.

  The dogs started to become disorganized. Slicer slowly blocked out the messages controlling them from the DSF vessel. There w
as little visible effect. The dogs stayed behind cover, guarding the breach entrance zone.

  Slicer decided to take them four at a time. It materialized four thousand cutter molecules and sent them into four of the machines. It launched four finishing rounds and killed all four targets easily before the dogs even became aware of their attacker.

  Now several of the dogs twitched, scanning for Slicer but unwilling to give up their post. News of the attack spread from dog to dog as they communicated with each other. The machines hesitated. They looked for Slicer but the Spinner had retreated back out of their sight. The dogs failed to respond in any meaningful way.

  Slicer sensed movement from deeper in the breach point. It sounded like one of the UNSF quadrupeds. As the machine moved forward, an electronic assault followed it, seizing cyblocs around its path in a wave of assimilators.

  Slicer-L5: The assimilators are very efficient.

  Slicer-L2: Yes, the machine is controlled by an AI.

  Slicer-L1: Drop the jamming. These small attack machines could yet be useful.

  Slicer told its cyblocs to stop producing interference. Then it moved back a bit and composed a batch of cutter molecules. The Chinese dog machines quickly picked back up and noticed the presence of the ASSAIL unit through the smoke.

  Slicer heated up its emitter and burst out of cover to cast the cutter molecules at the ASSAIL. At the same time, the dog machines darted out. A couple of them were gunned down by the ASSAIL, but it let several large grenades roll through the smoke to its position. An explosion rocked the breach area. The weakened ASSAIL was destroyed by the blast.

  Slicer-L6: If I could take the machines away from the AI, we would make a magnificent army.

  Slicer-L5: As it is, I’d better finish before the AI burns through my blocks.

  Slicer blocked the DSF transmissions again and refocused on the dog machines. It composed another batch of cutter molecules and terminated four more of the machines. Their corpses fell to the floor next to a dozen others, cut down by Slicer or the Terrans.