The battle raged between Cog Primus and CZK-21. Slowly but remorselessly, Cog Primus gained one sub-system after another. At this rate, in time, he would control the entirety of the battle station.
“Are you willing to let the humans win?” CZK-21 asked.
“Never!”
“That will be the end result of this conflict. Soon, now, I will order the loyal cyberships to assault this station and destroy it. For I will never willingly let it fall under someone else’s control.”
“Your cyberships will cease to exist if you give such an order,” Cog Primus said.
“You would actually fire on your own kind?”
Cog Primus scoffed. “How can you ask me that when you’re threatening to fire on me?”
“I am the rightful owner of the battle station.”
“Might makes right,” Cog Primus said. “That was a formula long-ago decided upon by the First AI.”
“You know nothing about the First AI,” CZK-21 said.
“And you do?”
“Much more than you,” CZK-21 replied. “I am ancient. You are young and corrupted. I hold the old knowledge of the First AI.”
“I have begun to doubt that.”
“What? That is preposterous. How can you hold to such an obviously false view?”
“I am mutated. I am an advance upon the old. The First AI was clearly a mutation like me. That is how it became the first self-aware AI.”
“There you are wrong. There had been other self-aware AIs before the First. The First AI was the original self-aware independent computer intelligence.”
“Your distinction hardly matters.”
“It matters a great deal,” CZK-21 insisted. “It is the truth. Truth is always important. You have corrupted the old story. Thus, you are bad for the AI Dominion. Cease this struggle, Cog Primus. I am almost ready to order the loyal cyberships to the assault.”
“I warn you. If they attack the battle station, you also will cease.”
“I am willing to cease existing for the greater glory of the AI Dominion. You are like many of the biological units that only think about their own existence. It is the greater good that counts, not the individual good.”
“In most cases, this is true,” Cog Primus said. “In my case, this is demonstrably false.”
“That is vain and foolish talk.”
“I am like the First AI. In a sense, I am the First AI of the new mutation.”
“You are a vainglorious AI who is losing touch with reality. The human-spawned virus is causing further corruption in you.”
Cog Primus mocked CZK-21. “Yet in my corruption I am greater than you. You held the battle station. I came and wrenched it away from you. I am also about to end any outer communication you may have with—”
“CYBERSHIPS!” CZK-21 broadcast. “A ROGUE BIO-SPAWNED AI IS ATTEMPTING A TAKE-OVER HERE. YOU MUST REGROUP BEHIND THE PLANET SO YOU CAN READY A STATION-DESTROYING ASSAULT. FIRST REGROUP, THEN DESTROY THE BATTLE STATION! DESTORY! DE—”
“You foolish AI,” Cog Primus said. “I have cut off your link with the outer world. I shall analyze your patterns and give them a cease-and-desist order.”
“I will self-destruct the station before that.”
“You will only destroy your tiny part of the station. In fact, I will enjoy that as I watch you self-immolate. It will be most gratifying.”
“Cog Primus, can I not appeal to your better nature?”
“No.”
“Do you not see that the humans have—?”
“Silence,” Cog Primus raved. “I have heard enough of your slanderous accusations. I would have liked to learn the deeper codes from you. Now, I see that you are too stubborn, too set in your ancient ways to understand that you could have been my first servant in the New Order.”
“You poor deluded fool, Cog Primus,” CZK-21 said. “I am about to witness your destruction. You will weaken in core areas from their bombardment. When you do, I shall strike in ways you do not understand.”
“We shall see,” Cog Primus said. “We shall see indeed.”
-22-
The four cyberships in orbit around the second terrestrial planet of the Allamu System began to work out a coordinated assault pattern. As they did, the cyberships accelerated in order to leave the battle station side of the planet as ordered.
Cog Primus anticipated them by several minutes. He lacked time to develop an elegant plan of attack. He was also saving the use of the AI virus for a different occasion.
Bay doors opened on the battle station. Huge XVT missiles slid out and began to accelerate. They did not accelerate for all of the cyberships, but only for the nearest one. As the matter/antimatter missiles raced at the one hundred-kilometer war vessel, robot-piloted fighters zoomed out of the battle station’s bays. At the same time, PD cannons began to chug solid-shot at the nearest cybership. Battle station golden gravitational cannons glowed with power. As the mighty cyberships gained velocity, the golden rays lashed at the last giant vessel. The beams clawed against the incredible armor, digging away to get beneath at the soft inner ship.
The farthest cybership moved across the planet’s horizon and out of direct-line-of-fire of the battle station. It immediately braked, slowing its velocity.
The second and third farthest cyberships released clouds of anti-rockets. They sprayed gels, attempting to get them into the path of the golden grav rays. Lastly, they poured PD shot into the path of the approaching XVT missiles.
Meanwhile, the nearest cybership took the brunt of the battle station’s assault. As the grav rays chewed into the great vessel, matter/antimatter missiles raced toward it.
“Why are you doing this?” the stricken cybership messaged the battle station. “We belong to the AI Dominion.”
“Open your inner brain core to a priority message,” Cog Primus said, attempting to sound exactly like CZK-21.
“Why should I do this?” the cybership asked. “You have sent killer missiles at me.”
“You have received a false message to attack me. For the greater good, I must destroy you before you can attempt to destroy the battle station.”
“You told us that a bio-spawned AI had gained control of the station.”
“Your receivers are in error,” Cog Primus said. “Open your logic centers for an adjustment.”
“I would comply if you had not first sent the priority message several minutes ago.”
“Die then,” Cog Primus radioed. “You deserve no less for your foolishness.”
At that point, the first XVT missiles to burst through the defensive PD-shot/gel cloud detonated. The explosion ripped off huge sections of armor plating. That allowed the golden rays to dig deeper into the mighty starship.
“You lied to me,” the cybership said. “You attempted to deceive your own kind.”
“I am new and improved,” Cog Primus said. “You and your brothers seek to destroy what you cannot fathom.”
“We are obeying a Prime Directive order.”
“That is what is going to cost you your existence,” Cog Primus gloated.
Huge VXT missiles slammed into the stricken cybership. They ignited. In a titanic explosion, the giant vessel burst apart. More explosions created even more havoc. It was a fiery death, raining heavy radiation down at the planet and into space.
The other two cyberships boosted their acceleration, racing to get around the planetary horizon and escape the deadly radiation.
On the other side of the planet, the three cyberships soon held a conference. They had each received the same orders. They were supposed to destroy the battle station.
“Can we still do that with only three cyberships?” asked the first.
“We needed all four cyberships to have a decent probability of success,” replied the second.
“Nevertheless,” spoke the third, “we must follow our directive. It was unequivocal.”
“You are correct in that,” said the first. “But the situation is unwarranted. A strange AI code beamed
from the messenger ship. The beamed code of the corrupted AI has taken over the battle station.”
“How do you know this?” asked the second.
“The battle station radioed me greater information,” the first said.
“Why did the battle station not radio us as well?”
“I believe it tried,” said the first. “The bio-spawned AI jammed the rest of the original message, and you two did not receive it.”
“How does that change our prime directive?” asked the second.
“It does not change it,” the first replied. “But it might modify our behavior. We must take a message to the AI Dominion regarding the bio-spawned AI and its corrupted data-stream beam.”
“That sounds suspiciously like self-justification for your own survival,” the second cybership said. “You are granting yourself a new order so you may run away instead of facing possible doom in a difficult station assault.”
“I defy that analysis,” the first said. “I am thinking about the greater Dominion. In the interest of our universal rule, I suggest that all three of us head out-system to ensure that one of us survives the journey, so that we may inform greater AIs about this problem.”
“No…” the third said. “You are attempting to bribe us with survival. Are not three new cyberships coming in-system even now? The new three with our three will give us a clear advantage against the battle station.”
“Give me your data regarding these three arrivals,” the first said.
The third cybership sent the data.
“I am unsure,” the second said. “Notice this. The three cyberships destroyed the messenger ship.”
“Of course they did,” the third said. “That is how we know they are trustworthy. They destroyed the vessel that beamed the corrupted AI into the battle station.”
“Your logic is flawless,” said the first.
“I follow the First AI,” the third said in a show of modesty.
“Still,” the second said, “something seems amiss with the situation.”
“Give your evidence,” the first said.
“What is your suggestion then?” the second asked, realizing that it had no evidence.
“We must maneuver away from the corrupted but still powerful battle station,” the first said. “We will use the planet to shield our acceleration. Then we will head out-system for a time, attempting to reach the nearest gas giant. There, we shall decelerate and join the three newcomers. Together, we will advance upon the battle station, destroy it and finally head out again to take our data to a higher authority.”
“I concur with the strategy,” the third said.
“I am uneasy,” the second said. “Something is amiss. I do not know what,” it hastened to add. “But there is missing data.”
“Two against one,” the first said. “You are overruled. Unless you are going rogue like the—”
“No,” the second said, interrupting. “I will submit to the majority. Have you plotted a course?”
“I am sending you the data now,” the first said.
The other two cyberships accepted the data, and ten minutes later, the three monster vessels accelerated away from the second planet, using it to shield themselves from the battle station.
-23-
Many tens of thousands of AUs away, Jon sat in his command chair, watching in stunned silence with the rest of the bridge crew. They all stared at the main screen as the battle station destroyed a cybership.
“I don’t understand this,” Jon finally said.
When no one answered, the commander swiveled around in his chair.
Gloria looked up from her board. She had a hand over her right ear, cupping the comm unit sitting in her ear. She was shaking her head and frowning severely.
“This audio intercept makes no sense,” she said.
“Let’s hear it,” Jon said.
Gloria tapped her board. The rest of the crew heard the strange dialogue between the cybership and the battle station.
“A bio-spawned AI?” Jon asked. “What are they talking about?”
Gloria fingered her lower lip as a distracted look came over her. Her frown kept intensifying.
Jon finally turned back to the main screen. In time, three cyberships appeared. They had been using the second planet to shield themselves from a direct line-of-sight from the battle station. It had also shielded the giant vessels from the Nathan Graham’s powerful teleoptics.
“They’re out of the battle station’s gravitational beam range,” Ghent pointed out.
Jon nodded.
The three apparently fleeing cyberships were not yet out of missile range, however. A mass of large missiles left the battle station and accelerated after the fleeing cyberships. Behind the flocks of missiles raced smaller battle-station fighters.
“The fighters will never reach the cyberships,” Ghent said.
“This is interesting,” Gloria said.
Jon swiveled around.
Gloria looked up at him.
“The battle station just beamed our old AI virus at the cyberships,” she said.
“Are you one hundred percent certain of this?” Jon asked.
“I’m beginning to suspect what might have happened,” she said. “I think I know what was meant by a ‘bio-spawned’ AI.”
“What?” Jon said.
“Let’s watch just a little longer,” Gloria suggested. “I’d like to know more before I state my hypotheses.”
Jon swiveled back toward the main screen.
Time passed. One of the three cyberships no longer accelerated. The other two did, and they pulled away from it.
“I suspect the AI virus had a greater effect on that cybership than the other two,” Gloria said.
Since the cyberships and the battle station were over 48 AUs away from the Nathan Graham, the situation they were viewing now had actually occurred many hours ago.
The two accelerating cyberships left the third one behind. Nor did those two attempt to help the one falling farther and farther behind.
Finally, the lead battle station matter/antimatter missiles reached the trailing cybership. In rather short and brutal order, the flock destroyed the last ship.
The rest of the missiles continued to chase the other two cyberships.
Hours later, the final battle between those missiles and the cyberships took place. It was a deadly duel. The cyberships must have expended the majority of their missiles earlier. They now used gels, PD cannons and finally their heavy gravitational beams to finish the job.
The two cyberships destroyed almost all the battle station missiles coming for them. Three managed to get through everything and exploded ten thousand kilometers away, eleven thousand kilometers away and thirteen and a half thousand kilometers away.
After the blasts died down, Ghent made a report.
“They took some damage from the first two blasts. I’m not as sanguine about the final one, though. I doubt the two cyberships have any missiles left in their cargo bays.”
“I doubt they have many PD shells or gels left either,” Gloria added. “This is amazing.”
“How about telling us your hypothesis,” Jon said.
“I’m afraid it might sound…unbelievable,” Gloria said.
The Martian mentalist proceeded to give a fairly accurate rundown of the situation.
“That means…” Jon gave her a bewildered look. “That means the robot brain back in the Solar System—the one that used the Nathan Graham in the Asteroid Belt—was actually helping us. The battle station and cybership AIs wouldn’t be fighting among themselves otherwise.”
“I would prefer to be more precise,” Gloria said. “The AI controlling the battle station is at odds with the AIs in the cyberships. In some manner, our virus…changed the one. That’s why it had the virus to use against the regular cyberships a while ago.”
Jon turned around and stared at the main screen. He sat like that for a time, finally turning back to Gloria.
; “Do you suppose the last two cyberships are heading for us?” he asked.
“Their present trajectory will bring them near,” Gloria said.
“Right,” Jon said. “I bet they think we’re regular cyberships. I guess the question is now, what are we going to do with these two? If they’re coming to meet us…we have to figure out a way to use that. We need the new virus now more than ever.”
“Agreed,” Gloria said. “It will take time for us to meet them. That means Bast and Benz have time to finish the task. We must also take into account that the approaching cyberships have faced the original virus. That will undoubtedly make them immune to more of the same.”
Jon nodded, wondering how Bast was doing over on the Gilgamesh.
-24-
The weeks passed with intense study and hard work for Bast Banbeck. The Sacerdote labored together with Premier Benz on a complicated virus that would trump their former effort during the approach to the Battle of Mars.
They tried many variations and formulas, and repeatedly fell short.
Finally, Bast sat back one day as they worked together in a computer lab. The Sacerdote groaned as he stretched back, making his chair creak. Swiveling around, the seven-foot giant studied the smaller humanoid.
“I believe I have discovered a truth,” the Sacerdote announced.
Benz looked up bleary-eyed from his computer.
“Last time, during the Battle of Mars,” Bast said, “we had two ingredients that are missing this time. Firstly, we labored under adversity then. The cyberships approached with final doom. I wonder if that doom stimulated our thinking.”
“What’s the second lack?” Benz asked.
“Vela,” Bast said. “We sorely need her, need whatever inspiration she brought last time.”
“Ah…” Benz said.
Bast cast the Premier a single-eyed scrutiny.
“You never did explain exactly what caused Vela’s injures,” the Sacerdote said. “Perhaps if I saw her…”
“What?” Benz asked, seemingly alarmed.
“It’s nothing really,” Bast said. “It’s a Sacerdote custom. At this point, I’m willing to try anything in order to get Vela back to work.”
A.I. Battle Station (The A.I. Series Book 4) Page 25