“That’s why you said political earlier,” Jon said. “I’m starting to get it.”
The stealth ship no longer remained stealthy as it accelerated to get out of the way. Shortly thereafter, the orbital-launched missiles and the Earth Fleet’s antimissiles met in space. There were masses of detonations, EMPs, blasts, expanding radiation zones and plain-old heat.
Time passed.
“The ship must have gone into stealth mode again,” Ghent said. “I don’t see it anywhere.”
“Are there any messages directed at us?” Jon asked.
“None so far,” Gloria said.
“Benz agreed to work with us,” Jon said. “What if that was him and the others killed him? Will the SLN warships still work with us, or will they work against us?”
They debated about that for a time. They—
“Sir,” Gloria said. “I’m receiving a message. It’s from Premier Benz.”
“Where is he?”
Gloria looked up. “The message originated in the stealth ship. It looks like he survived the missile attack.”
“I’ve found the stealth ship again,” Ghent said, interrupting. “It’s on a collision course for the drifting Earth Fleet.”
“A political missile battle,” Jon said. “Let’s hear his message. This should be interesting.”
***
Jon and Gloria discussed the ramifications of Premier Benz’s message while walking in a corridor.
Jon walked with his head bent and he rubbed his two days’ growth of beard. Gloria had her hands clasped behind her back. She looked up with her forehead furrowed.
“Are they insane on Earth?” Jon finally asked.
“No. They think differently from you and I—much differently than you.”
That startled Jon. “You have something in common with them?”
“I was raised under a communal system. The Martian practice of Social Dynamism is different from that practiced elsewhere. Maybe our homogeneity had something to do with that.”
“What?”
“We have similar genetic backgrounds on Mars.”
“So what?”
“So that tended to mitigate some of Social Dynamism’s worst tenets. Since we’re genetically similar on Mars, with similar belief systems and outlooks, we act in similar ways. We have higher societal trust on Mars because of that.”
“Huh?”
“Homogeneity tends to breed greater trust societies. Diverse societies generate greater distrust. It’s basic logic, really. If your neighbor is like you, you tend to trust him more. If your neighbor is different from you, you tend to view his actions as strange. Most people find strangeness to be troubling.”
“What does that have to do with—?”
“I’m merely pointing out that I understand Benz and Earth culture better than you do. Social Dynamism—”
“I’m sure that’s all highly interesting,” Jon said. “Here’s what I want to know. Will the SLN ships do their part? Or will they try to screw us before the battle?”
“Your question implies they plan to screw us after the battle.”
“I know they’re going to try that.”
“You do?”
“Of course,” Jon said. “I don’t know how different they are from us. But they’re human, right? Humans usually put their back against their worst enemy if an even bigger threat shows up. After the bigger threat is eliminated, it’s back to basics.”
“You don’t trust the Solar League?”
Jon snorted.
“That is New London ideology talking,” Gloria said.
“Governments are like gangs,” Jon said. “The biggest one with the most territory is the strongest. The strongest get to do what they want, and so on down the line.”
“You do not have great faith in governments, do you?”
Jon stared at Gloria. “People respect strength. If governments are strong, and no one equals them, they do what they want. When people do what they want because they can, they don’t have respect. No, I don’t trust governments. That’s what Colonel Graham taught me, and what I learned in New London as a kid.”
Gloria pursed her lips as she nodded.
“Will the SLN ships work with us before the battle?” Jon asked.
“Benz wants to,” she said.
“Does he hold enough authority to keep the SLN warships together?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah,” Jon said. “That’s what I thought.”
-9-
The Earth Fleet resumed its acceleration to Mars. The SLN ships lacked the Nathan Graham’s gravity control. Those warships had gravity dampeners, which helped, but not nearly enough during rapid acceleration. They still couldn’t reach or tolerate massive velocities.
In comparison, the Nathan Graham flashed toward Mars. Before the cybership came, it took two years for an SLN battleship to travel from Earth to the Neptune System. It would still take an SLN ship that long. The Nathan Graham was the great exception among human-owned spacecraft.
The Earth Fleet barely had to travel one AU to reach Mars. The Nathan Graham had 33 AUs to go. It would reach Mars first, though, by a considerable margin.
Yet, as fast the Nathan Graham traveled, it didn’t compare to the three AI-controlled cyberships or the missiles those ships had launched.
When the first AI missile salvo reached Makemake, the fighting platform fired antimissiles and used its tracking system to help the gun tubes on MK2’s surface.
A strange radio signal attempted to contact the Makemake computers. None of the computers responded to the software. Every tech system was working on MK2 and the fighting platform. The MK2 defenses knocked down every AI-launched missile. The AI salvo failed, utterly.
That brought cheering on the Nathan Graham. Jon passed the results on to the Earth Fleet. He wanted to show Benz that they could beat the AIs. It was possible.
“The cyberships might alter course now,” Gloria told Jon, “in order to rake Makemake.”
“I hope they do,” Jon said. “We need more time to prepare at Mars. The Earth Fleet took too long picking up Benz. We might have to face the cyberships with the Mars and Venus fleets alone. I’m beginning to wonder if Benz staged all that in order to trick us.”
Gloria tapped her fingertips together and blinked rapidly. “That is quite possible. Do you believe Benz is that underhanded?”
Jon snorted. Of course he thought that.
“This is a troubling development,” Gloria said.
***
As the Nathan Graham flashed past the Uranus orbital path—the ice giant was presently on the other side of the Sun—an AI-launched missile salvo roared at the Neptune System.
The Neptune System had been through hell several years ago. They had lost most of their population. More slowly than surely, the surviving Neptunians had rebuilt. They had a few lesser warships. But it would take decades and many immigrants to rebuild what the cybership had demolished.
Once more, radio signals preceded the missile attack. Like before on Makemake, the Neptunians had seriously degraded the speed and power of their computers. It seemed, though, as if the AIs transmitted a different kind of software this time.
Viruses took hold in most of the Neptune computer systems. However, two computers still worked well enough for the technicians to radio the data to the Nathan Graham. But Neptunian gun tubes malfunction. Neptunian antimissiles exploded on the launch pads. It was chaos throughout the Neptune System.
Into the chaos sped the four-kilometer long AI missiles. The missiles seemed to have minds of their own. The AI missiles didn’t target old ruined satellites. They chose those with high signature values.
One of the huge matter/antimatter missiles slammed into a dome on Triton before detonating. The warhead obliterated the living quarters and sent seismic shockwaves through the moon.
Another of the giant missiles found a Neptune orbital habitat. Nothing seemed to work right on the hab. Many people had planned to
flee in small spacecraft. The computers had stopped working on those craft. One lifted off and then died in the giant matter/antimatter explosion.
The AI missiles achieved a one hundred percent kill ratio against the orbital habitats. It was a perfect and therefore devastating orbital strike.
The same thing happened as two giant missiles zoomed down into Neptune’s upper atmosphere. Each detonated against a different cloud city. Both cities vanished in the blasts.
The overall carnage proved dreadful. The Neptunian survivors numbered only in the hundreds.
Nobody had expected such capacity from the AIs, except maybe the AIs themselves. No one had tried to radio the three cyberships and ask for terms.
Meanwhile, the bigger missile salvo heading for the Saturn System continued its flight for the ringed planet. Word of what transpired in the Neptune System reached Saturn almost as soon as it did the Nathan Graham.
On the bridge, Gloria informed Jon that Kalvin Caracalla wanted to speak to him again.
“We’re nearing the Saturn System,” Gloria told him. “I think Kalvin is going to try one more time to get us to stop there and help them.”
Jon nodded. He didn’t want to speak to Caracalla. But he couldn’t in good conscience deny the industrialist mobster the right.
He headed for the bridge exit.
“Jon,” Gloria said.
He regarded the mentalist.
“After listening to Caracalla, you’re going to want to stop at the Saturn System. New London Dome is your home. But if you stop at the Saturn System…”
“I know,” he said.
“Do you?”
The way she said that…What did she know about him that he didn’t know about himself?
With some trepidation, he headed for the message center with the Black Anvil flag on the wall. What was Kalvin Caracalla going to say that would prove so persuasive?
-10-
Jon sat at the great desk with his hands folded on it. He was wearing his dress uniform. At the edge of the desk, the screen shifted before revealing the Saturn System Prime Minister.
Kalvin was still tidy, white-haired and deeply tanned. He wore a gold chain and had expensive rings on his fingers. He seemed more like a mobster this time. The high-pitched voice actually seemed right now.
“Captain Hawkins,” Kalvin began.
Jon didn’t bother telling the PM about his new title. He still rather liked Captain.
“I’ll get to the point,” Kalvin said. “I’m told you don’t have much time to begin braking in order to help us.”
“My latest report shows you didn’t build a P-Field,” Jon countered. “That could be a mistake.”
“How did the P-Field help the Solar League ships against you?” Caracalla asked.
“It saved a lot of their ships from destruction,” Jon said.
“Wrong. They made a deal with you for that. What kind of deal will the cybers give me?”
“Robots,” Jon said automatically.
“What?”
“I call them robots.”
“I don’t care what you call them. There are huge missiles heading for my planetary system. Cyber missiles wiped out the Neptune System people. Why didn’t those missiles destroy Makemake? What kind of deal did you make with the cybers?”
“You don’t get it,” Jon said. “The AIs made a mistake at Makemake. They tried the old self-aware software trick on our computers. It didn’t work because we’d downgraded the computers. They weren’t fast or powerful enough to become self-aware.”
“Downgrading didn’t do shit for the Neptunians.”
“Of course not,” Jon said.
Caracalla scowled. “What do you mean by that?”
“The AIs obviously adjusted. They figured out what happened and used viruses instead of self-aware programming.”
“Yeah? So?”
“So now it’s your turn to adjust. You have to change your plans. You need to take into account that the AIs can spam your computers.”
“We’re dead if that’s the case.”
“Come on,” Jon said. “Use your head. The AIs aren’t gods. They’re machines. I beat them. You can beat them. Why not turn off your computers just before the AIs send the signal? After the software message quits transmitting, turn your computers back on.”
“It won’t be that easy.”
“Do you think storming the Nathan Graham the first time was easy? You do what you have to do.”
Kalvin Caracalla gave him a challenging stare. “I made you, Hawkins. Without me throwing my weight behind your project—”
“Caracalla, I want you to win. Don’t you get that? I’m rooting for you. Do you think I want to see New London Dome go down? No. But answer me this. How does it help you having us save the Saturn System and the cyberships winning at Mars? The bulk of humanity’s warships are at Mars. After destroying those, the cyberships will come for the Saturn System anyway. I need those massed SLN warships to have a chance of defeating the cyberships. You’re going to have to defeat the missiles on your own to live. You already know that. I have to defeat the cyberships for everyone to live. That can’t be this hard to understand.”
Caracalla looked away. He nodded, and without another word, he cut the connection.
“Bastard,” Jon said. “I was going to wish you luck.” He used his hands, pushing down on the desktop to help him stand. That hadn’t gone as well as he’d hoped.
Checking the time, he realized the AI missiles would reach the Saturn System in another nine hours and twenty minutes. He hoped Caracalla and his people got lucky.
***
The Nathan Graham continued its terrific journey toward Mars. It passed the Saturn System orbital path. Behind it by several hours came the mighty AI missile salvo.
The stolen cybership left the ringed beauty behind it as it continued deeper into the Solar System.
Too soon, the AI missiles began their third attack in the Solar System. Just like in the Neptune System, strange comm signals sped ahead of the missile salvo. Like before, software began ramming viruses into various Saturn System computers.
Some of the computers resisted with highly advanced software of their own. It made no difference, though. Other people shut down their computers. That helped—a lot.
Soon, the software-pulse phase of the battle ended. Sometime after that, people turned on their computers.
Gun tubes readied. Antimissiles launched. Radar systems targeted, and lasers as well as a few gravitational cannons warmed up.
The heavy missiles launched hundreds of AUs away converged on the Saturn System. The AI missile defenses and ECM proved highly effective against the human-built systems.
Laser beams did nothing to the AI missile armor. A tiny percentage of the antimissiles managed to detonate near their targets.
In the outer Saturn System, twelve percent of the AI missiles either failed to continue the attack run or blew up at that point. Eighty-eight percent of the salvo continued to flash inward.
The farthest moon domes took the heaviest blows. The domes blew up, killing millions.
The remaining AI missiles bored in.
Gravitational beams starting raying at the missiles. Saturn System warships came around various moons and fired heavy lasers. Two of the biggest ships also had gravitational cannons.
AI missiles began to blow up. A few tumbled uselessly in space, disarmed.
Dark sand lay in the path of others. That stopped another five percent of the salvo. Thermonuclear mine detonations confused some of the remaining AI missiles.
Then, the big suckers from deep space began reaching their next round of targets. Moon domes blew up. Orbital satellites exploded, and cloud cities sank into Saturn’s heavier atmosphere below.
Heavy radiation bounced throughout the system. EMPs destroyed comm-sets. Heat, blast and debris added to the mayhem.
Even so, a picture soon began to develop. Sixty-three percent of the AI missiles detonated. Fifty-four percent o
f the Saturn System populace were dead, dying or would die in the next few days.
Industrial power was crippled although not altogether wiped out. Hope had been dashed, though. Anger rose exponentially.
Still, there were a few bright points. New London Dome had survived. Kalvin Caracalla still lived and had a burning desire to rebuild. Some of the Saturn System battleships remained operational. Maybe compared to the Neptune System, this was a glorious human victory. The people of Saturn System didn’t understand that. Whether they would ever understand might depend on the coming battle at Mars.
-11-
Jon met with Gloria and Bast after the missile attack on the Jupiter System. That system took heavier damage than the Saturn System. The lack of gravitational cannons had been crucial.
Seventy-nine percent of the missiles reached their targets. An estimated twenty-six percent of the Jupiter System populace still lived. Those were terrible numbers.
“The AIs are murdering us with missiles,” Jon said bitterly.
They met in the officers’ lounge, the three of them sitting together. The same oak forest scene was still playing. Jon saw the same wolf he’d seen earlier.
A waiter in whites served them.
Jon drank wine. Gloria had water. Bast guzzled beer. It turned out the Sacerdote loved beer. He even held his liquor well, seldom showing any signs of drunkenness. Of course, he had to drink gallons of beer before it seemed to hit him.
“Some people are surviving,” Gloria said. “That is critical.”
“I see your point,” Jon said. “But do you see mine? We could win the Mars Battle. Let’s suppose we do. Most of the Outer Planets population will still be dead. Its industry shattered. Mars will likely take it in the teeth, as well. What does that leave? Earth, Venus and the small Mercury colony. Social Dynamism will win because they’ll vastly outnumber everyone else.”
“They already do,” Gloria said.
“But now they’re going to do that by an even larger margin than before.”
A.I. Assault (The A.I. Series Book 3) Page 20