Infliction (Mech Wars Book 4)

by Scott Bartlett

  “What have you…originated?”

  “The Gatherers, for one. The Amblers. The Ravagers. The alien mech that your friend Jake Price pilots. And…” The robot held up a spindly hand, palm-up, in a nonchalant gesture. “And the Ixa.”

  Lisa shook her head. “You’re lying. The Ixa weren’t created by anything. Their evolutionary past is well-studied, well-documented.”

  “You’re right. But we initiated that evolutionary past, Lisa. There’s a lot for you to get up to speed on, you know—things that the rest of your species has known for twenty years, now.”

  “The rest of my species…they’re alive?”

  “Yes. They won the war. Congratulations, by the way.”

  Despite herself, a tiny flame of hope flickered inside Lisa. So there’s something for us to return to after all.

  “It was, effectively, a war against us, since the Ixa were our unwitting war hounds. But actually, the term ‘battle’ might be more appropriate for that conflict—maybe even ‘skirmish.’ Because the war is far from over, Lisa. Far, far from it. You might say that our little scrimmage here in the Steele System was another battle in the same war; a battle it seems we have won.”

  “That’s wrong,” Lisa snapped. “We’re not done fighting yet.”

  “We’ve won,” the Progenitor said, sounding slightly uncomfortable, as though it felt awkward about having to explain this to Lisa. “But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is what all this means for our continuing efforts to exterminate humanity.” The thing’s voice had gotten increasingly cheerful, putting Lisa in mind of a vid advertisement for some new system net service. “Are you ready to learn?”

  She said nothing, not enjoying the sense that she was being toyed with.

  “I’m going to assume you are,” the Progenitor said. “Okay, so here it comes: everything that’s happened here in this system, it was just one big intelligence gathering exercise. How’s that for a mind-bender?”

  “I can’t even begin to unpack that gibberish,” Lisa spat.

  “My,” the robot said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Testy. Okay. Let me help to break it down for you. We engineered Darkstream’s arrival in this solar system. For a while now, we’ve had the ability to tamper with wormholes as they’re being created, and we tweaked the one Darkstream used to leave the Milky Way so that it brought you to this specific part of this galaxy. Once your former employer arrived, their exoplanet experts saw that this system was the only one around that showed no signs of colonization. So they selected it and hoped for the best. That was also by our design. Are you with me so far?”

  Lisa didn’t answer.

  “I think you are with me. You’re sharp, Lisa, that’s well known to us. So, okay. Darkstream chose this system to colonize, and of course they were delighted to find resource exploitation infrastructure already in place—infrastructure far more efficient than anything humanity has had access to before. The only obstacle to using it, of course, were those pesky four-legged giants. The Quatro. But they seemed primitive enough, and humans have always been easy to manipulate when it comes to making them fear and hate something. So Darkstream taught their fighting men and women to hate, and to kill, the Quatro, and all was well with the world.

  “Until, that is, Bronson and the Darkstream board of directors learned that the Gatherers’ owners were well aware of how they’d hijacked them. We’re getting into new territory for you now, aren’t we? You see, we approached Bronson and the board soon after that first year—soon after they succeeded in suppressing the Quatro and seizing a healthy share of the resources for themselves. And we cut them a deal. We told them that they were welcome to continue using those resources. We didn’t even want a percentage. But we did have one condition.”

  The Progenitor paused, clearly leaving space for Lisa to say something. She didn’t want to play its game, but she did want to know what Darkstream had given them in return. “What was it, damn you?”

  “In exchange for the use of our resource-gathering robots, we required Darkstream to build a surveillance apparatus the likes of which humanity has never known. It’s perfect, for its purpose—the technology is ours, so of course it’s perfect. Since almost the beginning of humanity’s little experiment in the Steele System, we’ve had access to virtually everything that every human here has said or done. Everything in the Steele System was either constructed by Darkstream or using their materials. Everything from the habitats you’ve lived in to the devices you’ve used to communicate. We could never have done this without the company’s help, but we did do it. Through lucid, we practically came to learn some of your thoughts, though of course most of those did escape us. Pity.”

  “Why did you want to spy on everyone?” Lisa said.

  “I’m sorry, didn’t I mention already? This was an intelligence gathering exercise, and we have everything we need, which is why the whole thing is coming to such a violent end.”

  “Intelligence on what?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? On humanity, and on the Quatro. We pitted you against each other, in a war fought solely for our benefit. You see, Lisa, we are very methodical. We’ve unleashed a superintelligent AI on every galaxy of the local cluster. Each AI is configured differently, with its own unique set of skills and strategies. It’s all part of a grand process of algorithmic evolution, designed to solve the problem of conquering this entire universe. The galaxy we’re currently in is one where the AI succeeded with flying colors, and so we will be using it again in the next generation of AIs, to be unleashed on the next cluster of galaxies. We own this particular galaxy now, which is why it was relatively straightforward for us to set up this little experiment involving you and the Quatro. In fact, we’ve either conquered or are very close to conquering every galaxy in this entire cluster—all except two. The only two galaxies where we were repelled are the Milky Way, where humans are dominant, and Canis Major, where the Quatro are dominant. No doubt you can see why we were so keen to learn about you—about your technology, your weapons, your tactics, your psychology…and, of course, your weaknesses. And we have learned, Lisa. We’ve learned so much. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we now have everything we need to exterminate your species.”

  Lisa felt light-headed as she sat in stunned silence. She could feel how wide her eyes were as she stared at the robot’s inhuman face.

  “You’re very sharp, Lisa, so no doubt you’re now wondering why your species has posed such a challenge for us, and why the Quatro have as well. Other than their strength, the Quatro reproduce rather rapidly, which allowed them to overcome even the numbers marshaled by the AI we sent to their galaxy. It also helped that their Assembly of Elders maintains such strict control of the population that they function almost as though they are a single entity. As for why humanity has proven so troublesome, I’ll let you in on something that the rest of your species knows, but which you in the Steele System do not. You’re familiar with the Kaithe?”

  She bobbed her head, still feeling dumbstruck. The Kaithe were a reclusive, childlike species with only one known planet, located along a string of darkgate-connected systems called Pirate’s Path.

  “Yes, well it turns out the Kaithe created humanity to be a weapon species, just as our AI created the Ixa. Humans were meant to be the Kaithe’s very own hounds of war, if you will. Of course, they never ended up using you, and having felt terrible for creating such a warlike species, they turned inward on themselves. We don’t have those hangups, obviously.”

  The corner of Lisa’s right eye twitched.

  “Oh, dear. I fear I’ve gone too far—it’s all so much for you to take in, isn’t it?”

  “Why did you tell me any of this?” Drawing a deep breath to rally herself, Lisa continued: “My friends will come for me. They won’t stop until they find me. And when they do, they’ll learn everything you just told me.”

  The Progenitor nodded. “That’s not a problem. In fact, we intend to send you back to the
m ourselves.”

  “You…you do?”

  The Progenitor’s oblong head tilted to one side. “Well…in a sense.”

  Chapter 46

  A Selfish Impulse

  The arrival of Rug’s brethren had spelled an end to the Ravager incursion, and now the Quatro patrolled the corridors of the Morning Light while Rug remained on the bridge to coordinate the defense, and also to provide aid to the human warships.

  At first, it had been all they could do to keep the Ravagers from tearing the ships apart stem from stern. Now, several hours into the battle, the tide was turning, and if that continued, they should be able to start devoting some of their arsenal to firing back at the Meddler ships.

  Except, Rug was reluctant to do so—at least, not at the ship Captain Stephanie Yates had identified as the one to which the Ravagers had taken Lisa Sato.

  After Rug had lost her mate, she’d undergone a period of recklessness, during which she’d thrown herself into danger with little concern for her own safety. The whispers that periodically rose up inside the quad encouraged her to continue down that path, and she almost had, even though she’d know oblivion waited at its end.

  But then, on the space elevator, remembering what a dear friend she had in Lisa Sato had finally brought her back to her senses, and she’d realized that she did have something to live for. Now that Lisa was taken, Rug scrutinized the tactical display, her entire being focused on finding a way to extract victory from an engagement that showed every sign of ending in defeat.

  The Meddlers had not brought their particle beams to bear at all, which she found strange. They’d focused almost exclusively on Ravagers.

  Why?

  A transmission request came directly to her suit, and she patched it through to one of the wall displays.

  It was Jake Price, and despite her command, the mech dream stubbornly rendered him as standing right next to her.

  “So this is the inside of a Quatro ship,” he said, looking around.

  She ordered the wall showing the tactical display to expand its view, and when she did, she saw the massive fleet of ships—mostly civilian—which had just reached the periphery of the engagement.

  “You succeeded?” she asked in disbelief. “You evacuated all of Alex?”

  “Half of it,” he said with reluctance. “The rest of the Meddler ships began sweeping through the system, centering on Alex and attacking everything they encountered along the way. We ran out of time, Rug. We…had to abandon Habitats 3 and 4.” Jake’s shoulders fell as he delivered the news. But he still met her eyes. “We lost Tessa Notaras, Rug.”

  Rug moaned, long and low. It was some time before she found her voice again. “This has rent my soul in two, Jake Price.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Rug. But we need to leave this system, now. If these Meddler ships don’t take us out, then the others will.”

  “We…we cannot leave yet, Jake Price.”

  “What? Why not?”

  Rug lowered her head. What she was suggesting went against everything she stood for—against the Quatro way. It was not meant to serve her drift. Instead, it was a selfish impulse, born solely of a desire to save her personal friend.

  But she did not care.

  “The Meddlers have Lisa Sato,” she said slowly. “I will not take my ship away from this place until I have her back.”

  “We have Lisa.”

  Rug’s head whipped up toward him. “What?”

  “We picked her up on the edge of the battle, the moment we arrived. She was in her MIMAS—the mech wasn’t operational, but Lisa’s fine. I’m heading down to the shuttle bay to speak with her the moment we finish our conversation.”

  Rug breathed a sigh of relief. “Then let us leave this place, Jake Price. Let us leave and never return.”

  Chapter 47

  Painful to Watch

  Jake started jogging toward the Melvin’s shuttle bay even as he terminated the conversation with Rug. As he ran, he sent Bronson a transmission request, and after several long seconds it was accepted.

  “Price. What can I do for you?”

  “I need you to open the wormhole, now.”

  “Right. Uh, about that.” Bronson rubbed the back of his head. “We actually tried to open it, and we’re having trouble with our generator.”

  “I’m out of patience for you.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “What do you think I’m saying, Bronson? You ordered me to abandon my family to their deaths, and my disobeying that order is the only reason my parents are still alive. I’m saying that my tolerance for your bullshit has bottomed out, and if that wormhole isn’t open within fifteen minutes, I’m going to kill you.” With that, Jake cut off the transmission and ran faster.

  Andy arrived at the hatch leading to the shuttle bay at the same time Jake did, and they studied each other for a few moments. Then Andy hit the control for the hatch and entered without a word.

  Jake spotted Lisa standing at the base of her MIMAS, surrounded by the other Oneiri pilots who’d accompanied Jake to Alex. Nearby, the empty mech they’d acquired on Valhalla stood, motionless. After a few seconds, Lisa noticed Jake and Andy, and she jogged across the shuttle bay toward them.

  When she reached Jake…she ran straight past him, into Andy’s arms, who was nearly knocked off his crutches.

  Lisa gave Andy a passionate kiss, which lasted an uncomfortably long time. For reasons Jake wasn’t entirely clear on, it was an incredibly painful thing for him to watch, and yet he wasn’t able to pry his eyes away from it.

  Finally, they came up for air, and a silence stretched on as Andy watched Lisa’s face, looking a bit baffled.

  “I escaped,” she said at last, her gaze shifting from Andy to Jake. “The Meddlers—they call themselves the Progenitors—they captured me, and they managed to get me out of my mech. But I was able to fight my way back to it. They’d done something to the MIMAS, though, and it froze up again shortly after I escaped their ship.”

  Jake nodded slowly. “Did they say anything to you?”

  Lisa’s grin broadened. “Did they ever.”

  Hesitating, Jake asked, “What did they tell you?”

  “We beat the Ixa, Jake. Humanity is alive and well in the Milky Way.” Her grin faltered a little. “That’s the good news, anyway.”

  “And the bad?”

  “The Progenitors are planning to move against the Milky Way with everything they have. The one I spoke to claimed that they created the Ixa.”

  Jake shook his head. “That would make them pretty damn old. Anything else?”

  “No, nothing. I was lucky to get that, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah,” he said slowly. “You were.”

  “How did things go on Alex?”

  “We were able to evacuate half the planet. The other half…” Jake pursed his lips. “That isn’t all. Tessa, she…Tessa didn’t make it, Lisa.”

  Lisa’s eyes went blank and distant. “God…”

  “I’m sorry. Are you, uh, all right?”

  “Yeah. Sorry, I’m just going to need a bit to process that. It’s a lot.”

  “Yeah.” Jake gestured at the hatch leading to the rest of the destroyer. “I’m going to contact Bronson about opening that wormhole. Let me know if there’s anything I can do…okay?”

  “Definitely. Thanks, Jake.”

  “No problem.”

  As he walked toward the hatch, he glanced back over his shoulder to see Lisa gazing lovingly up at Andy.

  Strange…

  He wasn’t reflecting on the fact she was apparently head-over-heels for Andy, though that was a bit weird. What seemed truly strange to Jake was how little Tessa’s death had seemed to affect Lisa.

  They were extremely close. And she’s acting like Tessa’s already forgotten.

  Giving his head a shake to clear it, Jake left the shuttle bay.

  Chapter 48

  Just as He Always Did

  Bronson trudged through
the corridors of the Javelin toward his office, for his first meeting with the Progenitor since before Valhalla fell.

  He’d been toying with some choice words he planned to use with the thing, but now that the time had come, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. True, the Progenitors had grossly violated their agreement with Darkstream. But they could also very well be his last lifeline. Returning to the Milky Way did not spell very good things for him. A lengthy jail sentence might be the best he could hope for.

  He’d lied to Price about the wormhole generator not functioning. As far as he knew, it was working just fine. But he’d needed to buy some time to consult with the treacherous alien robot that lived in a secret closet inside his office.

  Once he got there, he used his implant to open the hidden panel that concealed the tall machine. For the first time ever, it was already activated, waiting for him, and it stepped out as soon as Bronson opened up its enclosure.

  That made Bronson yell out involuntarily, and he found the edge of his desk with a shaking hand.

  “Calm yourself,” the robot said. “Sit.” It pointed at Bronson’s desk chair.

  “Why should I?” Bronson said, hating how pathetic he sounded. “You promised us profit, and expansion that never ended. We surveilled our entire population for you!”

  “The populace were the ones who sacrificed their privacy unknowingly. You didn’t sacrifice anything.”

  “We had a deal.”

  “We still have one,” the robot said, towering over Bronson’s, its gold and silver plates glimmering under the halogens.

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I need you to have some faith. And to stay silent for a moment so that I can speak. I trust you’re capable of that?”

  Bronson waited.

  “Sit down.”

  He circled the desk and lowered himself into his chair.

  “The data we’ve compiled on humanity isn’t limited to what you’ve supplied to us,” the Progenitor said. “We’ve also monitored the humans in the Milky Way, though not nearly with the granularity of detail we had access to here, of course. Using what we’ve learned, we’re confident that we can bring about Darkstream’s resurgence in your old galaxy. You can come to dominate your society again—but this time, it’s a society that has advanced twenty years, and which now incorporates the wealth of multiple alien species.”