Eventually , that seemed like forever but was only a couple of minutes , the side of the build ing again grew quiet.
“ Ok that is enough Collins.” Captain Summers said as she used her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “We are going to headquarters.” The jeep turned away from the tower.
Mark breathed a sigh of relief . But less than 15 seconds later Mark took a deep breath. “
Damn. I hate leaving the job unfinished. Do you want me to fly? I might even do a better job dodging fire if the AI controller has any heavy weapons left. Sh ells got a bit close way to many times. ”
The Captain gave Mark a dirty look, grimaced and jerked the jeep around heading for the 4 th side of the building. “You get us killed and you will wish you were sent to hell boy.”
The 4th side of the building was even worse with a constant blaze of fire coming from and going back into the building as all four of the APCC’s that had been brought along with their big gu ns , joined the circus parade . Firing their 105’s and 3 inch cheek guns into the building in spirts.
Mark grabbed for the hand hold over his head as the Jeep shook from a hit opening up a two foot ragged hole through the blast bulkhead into the little cargo compartment . Mark could see daylight coming in the side where the round had hit. The back seats shredded. Their suits keeping both the Captain and Mark from being killed by shrapnel . The front corner blew off a second later leaving jagged edges and a panel flapping in the wind.
But finally the firing slackened off and then quit altogether and as they turned toward the Camp Mark had started from before they had headed for the Command center . Though this time he did not even try to relax. The last 5 minutes of being thrown around the jeep as shells streaked past with no control, was enough to unnerve anyone. Mark had, had enough this time.
Approaching Marks original Camp, the Captain smiled back at him and said. “Well that worked so well. Why don’t we make another orbit a little closer and see if we can take out the medium sized weapons as well.”
“Are you crazy Captain?” Mark could not help blurting out. “At this distance we can at least see what is coming and there was not that many big weapons. That tower must have hundreds of smaller weapons that can kill us if we get closer.”
“That is the point Commander. But we need to move the lines back closer to the Tower. Well within t T he range of the smaller long range sniper weapons that did are the ones doing most of the killing of my troops before I pulled them back . They need to be taken out before we assault th e building anyway. ” Smiling at Mark. “Not as brave when it comes to saving English troops are you?”
“Mark.” Mickey said. “The Captian Captain is right. When we assault the tower, m M ost of the deaths are going to be from the smaller medium sized long range weapons sniping at the troops . . Not to mention that every bot you take out now is one less that can kill later. ”
“Fine.” Mark said. “But I get to drive.”
“Sorry. My jeep so I am piloting.”
Shaking his head. “Frick you Captain. Just drive. ” ” Mark started to slide down into his seat behind what little armor the sides of the jeep offered . B b ut seeing the Captain sitting tall in the driver’s seat , he forced himself to sit back upright even rolling down the armored window and putting his arm over the side out the window of the door , elbow in to the wind.
Realizing that the boy ’s nerves w ere starting to wear thin just sitting there getting shot at for the last half hour. At least she had been busy flying making it easier for her to find her ’s. A fter wanting nothing more than to get away from the building and all the heavy weapons. Only to have Collins drag her into doing what she knew had to be done. Captain Summers shook her head. It was time to provide the crutch he needed and get his mind off of their situation . “Mr. Collins; I saw and heard the recording of your little leap and I take it that you are having a few problems with your AI.”
A With a ll the light tanks and APCC’s in formation spread out around the jeep as it started spiraling closer to the Tower . Mark started talking, getting his mind off of their danger. was start ing to relax as they made their third orbit without receiving any fire from the tower .
“What Artificial I nteligence Intelligence ? It is more like Stupid Artificial Crazy Female. Little intelligence is present. I just don’t understand what the hell she is anymore. One minute she is a cold computer full of information , helping me and even telling me what is expected of me as a ship ’ s officer. Then the next she is telling me to stop as not to do something was too because it is dangerous . Hell she keep s telling me or that I shouldn’t do something every time I turn around , then in the next minute she tries to kill me . Not to mention her sounding though a little quirky not making any sense once in a while . Then this ghost program entity of the inspector that was in the bonding chair imprinted on the glasses a thousand years ago when the bombs went off on Earth shows up, that keeps telling me she loves me but keeps panicking and getting in the way when I need Mickey most to stay alive. I should never have told the two of them to stop fighting and to get along with each other. At least before I had the one that at least tried to function when I needed her.” As he talked and the jeep and its escort , made their second orbit without receiving any fire from the tower, Mark started to relax.
Mark looked over at the tower they were going to have to assault soon and the smoke and pock marks on the lower floors from the resent barrage hitting it. “This new crazy bitch Mickey , just tried to kill me three times or should I say her stupidity at not thinking things through almost got me killed by telling me to jump off of the platform when I thought she had put gravity coils in the suit but hadn’t and then was pouting when I asked her for the nearest hatch into the shuttle and refused to answer me because she was mad at me and just now she was too busy apologizing to me for almost getting me killed, to tell me that I was being shot at. She is being too damn fucking human to be an AI computer.” The jeep was hit by something as Mark heard a zing through the front of the cab. They had just reached a thousand yards from the building as Mark suddenly saw sparkles growing from half the windows in the lower floors of the building.
The jeep started jer king around the sky as the Captian went to work. Mark starting to get pissed that he had to sit there and do nothing. He couldn’t even shoot back.
A bang sounded in the cab as a hole opened up in the floor only a foot in front of Mark as the jeep banked steeply as the Captain continued to maneuver sharply .
Looking up from at the small half inch hole in the front of the cab, Mark noticed a lot of small shells streaking past the jeep as suddenly massive numbers of shells started streaking from the light AI driven tanks and APCC’s respond ing . W w ith the mass of shells them plastering most of the windows at the same time. The 8 inch shells hitting one after another blowing out whole walls around windows as flashes were coming from the m n .
After a few seconds mi nutes , the massive amount of fire streaking past the jeep slowed with the return fire tapering off as well. The Cap tain leveling the jeep back out .
They flew half way around the tower without getting a s ingle shot at them making Mark start to relax again. That is until individual shells started streaking past the jeep ever few seconds until one hit the front engine compartment of the jeep with a popping ping again. Several tanks firing back at the offending windows each time a shell passed the jeep. But only after each shell streaked from the building.
“Mark, the bots are now shooting once fr om deeper inside the tower and disappearing before the tanks can target them. The tank shells are hitting late. Unlike the bigger weapons that were shooting at you from the longer ranges that could not move quite as fast and were knocked out.”
Mark looked around at the half a hundred tanks , APCC’s and even APC’s with a heavy weapon t urret now mounted on the front corner of their hull s . Mark now flying formation, f f rown ed ing for a few second s as he thought . “Well Mickey, let’s try placing the bot
tanks ahead of us spread out in fixed positions, scanning sections of the building. We have enough tanks and APC’s to look into every window and hole from several perspectives. They should be able to see anything that pokes its head into any of the rooms and passageways to take the bot it out before it shoots. You can have the bot tanks and manned APC’s keep rolling forward to new fixed positions as we pass.” Mark turned from the building as the sporadic tank shots stopped as the tanks redeployed.
The Captain noticing the sudden change. “ N Kn ow what Commander. Your tanks giving up just when we are finding the damn snipers?”
Shaking his head as he glanced at the Captain and went back to staring at the building. “No. Just redeploying trying a new tactic. The bots are getting away after they fire. ”
He knew the Queen’s marines he w ere as going to have to assault that building and was not liking what he was seeing when he did look at the building. Mark started going over possibilities and assault plans in his head trying to think of something better than what Captain or now Commandant Saunders ha d planned . Shaking his head. If that ass hole AI Controller had enough bots to waste them snipping at him, any assault was going to be costly. The damn AI in the Tower could see them coming miles away. He needed to get the numbers down until the ass hole had to think twice about wasting bots sniping. Hell, just keeping the bots away from the outer shell would make a big difference. That he probably could do. Mark smiled as the hovering uni ts started sending shells into the building before anything streaked out toward the jeep.
Mark’s new deployment plan for the tanks and APC;s seemed to be working. The Jeep kept circling the Tower getting closer and closer with the bot tanks and APCC’s leap frogging ahead of them to take up fixed positions. Able to detect any movement no matter how slow or change no matter how minor from a previous scan . A head or hand or barrel behind a new hole in a wall.
Individual as well as then small groups of 3 and 4 tanks started sending shells into windows or dark holes or passageways before anything could streak out of most of them toward the bright Civilian ID squawking jeep.
Though Mark did not ice a few streaks coming out as the origination point of the shot blew up. The 8 inch gun s able to fire on the targets, sending in their shells a fraction of a second later t the same time as the rest , just to stamp make paid to many mos t of them. Some of the shells penetrating deep into the building down passageways to take out sniper’s firing down narrow clear paths as the jeep crossed predictably in front of them. The count got up to well over a hundred bots taken out by the time the Jeep was flying only a couple hundred yards from the building without a single shot going in either direction the entire orbit around the tower . , Captain Summers finally turned the Jeep away toward the Command Center.
As the jeep settled onto its predictable co urse toward the Command center building at the center of the city, the jeep suddenly came under heavy fire . But even that was quickly silenced after only a few seconds. The jeep getting hit by small arms fire in the rear several times even with the Captain side slipping and dropping and climbing unpredictable . The beams and shells hitting Jack and the Captain in the back of their armored suits a couple of times and even hitting the jeep ’ s lightly armored gravity coils designed to take some damage without affecting their operation much .
While the AI Tower Controller had a thousand bots and at somewhat over a hundred heavy weapons to start with, Mickey’s count said that the big SP guns and then the bot light tanks had destroyed most of those heavy weapons and then with the he lp of the APC’s a couple hundred bots. Even if the AI Controller sent more bots out to snipe, their light assault guns would not harm anyone over a thousand yards from the Tower even in the old armor the English troops had. Leaving the ring of English troops mostly safe from sniper fire. Mark breathed a big sigh of relief as he finally was able to sit back and relax with the big building out of s niper range behind them.
The Captain called command and ordered the English troops moved forward again to their original front lines then turned to Mark. “I may have been wrong about you Collins. But that still does not change anything about your ship. I don’t see how you guys made it this far. Your ship s should have been in debtors debtor’s prison on some Planet years ago and wouldn’t last 6 months in the Outback no matter how many weapons we gave you. That is unless you dump half your crewmen here.” The Captain smiled at Mark. It was the last thing she wanted but she had to say it. Fact was she might even have to physically take half the cr ew off in order to force the ship to do what she knew had to be done.
Mark turned and stared glanced at the Captain as he frowned . “Tell you what. Why don’t you cut off your right arm, leg and boob while you are at it and see how long you last hopping around on one foot. You are making less sense than my stupid Glasses.” Then turned to look at the massive towers scattered as far as his eyes could see. Ribbons of sky bridges between most of them in graceful arcs and curves.
A few minutes later the jeep was well away from the Tower with the bot tanks returning to their marine units. The Captain looked over at Mark frowning. “You said something earlier about Mickey being imprinted Mark?”
Mark looked over at the Captain for a few seconds then shrugged. “Yes, when the industrial capacity of the Empire was destroyed starting the Bug Bug War and the Dark Ages. Evidentially the Inspector was imprinted on the A.I. circuits by a near miss nuclear neutron bomb somehow and spent the last thousand year’s catatonic reliving the inspector’s implanted memories. The glasses AI has spent the last thousand years trying to repair the damaged circuits erasing the human memories. With about half of the circuits usable by the computer side again from what I can surmise. That is until I came along and she, the human imprint , saw me.”
Mark took a deep breath as he shook his head and looked down at his hands and his suit the armor that was a deep dark black now. “Since I bonded with the glasses, the two of them have been locked in a fight for control of the glasses. With the remnants of the original inspector only able to surface with difficultly because the computer AI was trying to destroy or drive the other out as a virus so she could finish repairing and regain access to the rest of her processors. I felt sorry for the inspector Mickey and told them both to get along with each other and for the computer to stop erasing the human side.”
Mark started look ed ing over the side of the jeep at the ground below. “I don’t think I trust her anymore or the stupid crazy bitch she has become.”
A miniature Mickey appeared on the dash wearing the same string bikini as before. “I said I am sorry Mark please forgive me love. I promise to do better.” She clasped her hands together pleading as she started to cry before she disappeared.
“Humm..” Captain Summers looked over at Mark as she pulled the throttle back and descended towered the ground. “Did you bother to ask her if she had put Gravity coils in the suit or just Assume she had. Did you really look for other hatches or just stubbornly head for the obvious and you had to have noticed the shells streaking past and hitting around you or were you to busy being stupid and assume she would tell you if you were in danger as you stubbornly pouted because you were mad at her yourself?” Bringing the jeep to a hover low over the grass with a stream trickling down through the meadow before touching down. The Captain turned to Mark. “Ya, I think she is a Stupid Crazy Bitch.”
“The miniature Mickey in the skimpy bikini materialized on the dash. “How dare you call me a, a crazy bitch you whore! I will slap your fricking face off!” She screamed as she pointed a miniature finger at the Captain. Her whole body shaking in rage including her big boobs that kept flopping up and down in her string top with little patches over her nipples . I will put up with Mark calling me a bitch but not your fricking ugly face d.. .” Bringing both hands up she balled her fists up and shook them at the Captain.
The Captain bit her lip but the corner of her lips still tried to curl up into a smile. Finely she looked away from the life like doll on the dash to s
ee Mark gazing open mouthed at Mickey. Turning her face to stone she looked back at the figure on the jeeps dash. “I am terrible sorry Mickey. I apologize. Can you forgive me?”
Mickey stopped shaking as her face became confused for a second and then stubborn. “You just stay away from my man you cunt.” She walked across the dash to stand in front of Mark, her face growing soft with a smile as she starred at him.
“I assure you Mickey that I have no romantic interest in any stupid dirty tramp hicks romantically or otherwise. He ...”
“You bitch! He is not stupid or a dirty hick and...”
“Yes, I know but I have a boyfriend and the only reason I am here is that it is my job . S s o relax Mickey. Mark is all yours girl.” The Captain smiled. “Can you tell me what happened a thousand years ago to put you inside the AI?”
Mickey looked away thinking for a few seconds. “I have no idea. Now that I am part of the AI, I can see what happened instead of just floating around in my mind seeing but not understanding much for so many centuries. ” Mickey walked back and forth across the dash a few times. Her face going through many looks as she seamed to be think ing .
Then turning toward the Captain. “ The basses AI main frame controller was mapping the candidate’s brain, my brain, into the Inspector AI so it could eventually learn to read her or my thoughts. A days long process of sitting in a chair as a holographic picture was built up and placed into the 3D matrix of the AI to be eventually saved into its memory for referencing and understanding her thoughts. The subject’s brain has to be completely rendered into one complete whole 3 Dimensional picture inside the AI’s computer matrix before saving it to memory. Trying to save small sections at a time of the 3D image results in much loss of the interactive data of the 3D sections. Even though the AI can never completely understand the 3D picture or read the actual thoughts. It uses that 3D picture to read changes in sections of the Inspector Controller’s brain to determine the Inspector’s needs in time after it learns from what the Inspector does and says and the minds electrical pulses associated with those actions and words . Then the bomb went off and I think permanently etched me into the atom ’s crystal s . All I know for sure is that I remained as that body died.” A tea r seemed to come to her small eyes. “I watched myself die.”
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