by Isaac Hooke
When he was satisfied that all of the AIs were on high alert and maintaining a proper vigil of the estate, Rade gave the order for the team to raid the pantry. They dined on a luxurious meal of canned beans.
When they were finished, Rade instructed the rest of the Argonauts to rack out.
Rade didn’t go to sleep immediately, however. Instead he lingered in the kitchen. There was someone he wanted to talk to, first.
twenty-four
He chose Shaw’s ID from his contact list and initiated a video call. Her hologram appeared in front of him a moment later. It looked like she was lying on a bed, judging from her posture, and the partial representation of the comforter that appeared underneath her. She was leaning up on one elbow.
“Hey,” she said sleepily.
“Come on, give me those dimples,” Rade said. “You can do it if you put your mind to it.”
Shaw forced a smile, and her cheeks dimpled.
“There we go,” Rade said. “That’s the Shaw I know.”
She nodded wearily, the smile quickly vanishing. There wasn’t much to smile about lately, he supposed.
“Any trouble at the estate?” Rade asked.
“No,” Shaw said. “It’s been dead quiet here. Have you seen the news? Marseille has fallen.”
“Oh,” Rade said, unable to hide his shock. “I didn’t know that.”
“It won’t be long now,” Shaw said. “We’re going to have to seriously consider leaving the planet. As much as I hate the thought.”
“But the Earth can’t fall,” Rade said. “It’s never fallen.”
“We never faced alien enemies of this power before,” Shaw said. “Enemies that were able to sneak all the way to our doorstep before attacking. We have no way of repelling them.”
“If Earth falls, we’ll simply take it back,” Rade said.
“Assuming there’s anything left to take back...” Shaw replied.
Rade didn’t know what to say to that. So he changed topics. “Did you get my earlier text?”
“Yes, you’re staying at a different estate,” Shaw said. “To avoid leading the enemy to us. Though honestly, I’d rather have you and the men here on watch than a bunch of combat robots.”
“I’d rather be there, too,” Rade said. “But Tahoe has a point about the enemy tracking us.”
“You expect to fend off an attack tonight?” Shaw asked.
“I don’t know what to expect with these enemies,” Rade said. “We’ll relocate in the morning. Maybe head to another second tier city that hasn’t fallen. What’s the closest?”
“I hear Aubagne, right next to Marseille, has been putting up a ferocious defense,” Shaw said. “Most of the Marseille defenders have fallen back to that city.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” Rade said.
“Maybe we should just take the booster rockets into orbit now,” Shaw said.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Rade said. “Especially with the mothership orbiting on this hemisphere. We’ve heard reports of evacuation craft being shot down.”
“Well, then we should make our way to the opposite hemisphere then,” Shaw said.
“We might just have to,” Rade said. He paused. “How are the twins?”
“Fine,” Shaw said. “Alex was asking after you. ‘Dada,’ he says. ‘Where dada?’ I told him you were on an important mission.”
“Did Sil ask about me?” Rade said.
“No,” Shaw replied.
“Figures,” Rade said.
A notification appeared in the lower right side of his screen. Rade sat up straighter.
“Have to go,” Rade said. “Surus is tapping in.”
“Let me know how it goes,” Shaw said.
“I will.” Rade disconnected and then switched to Surus’ call. She was requesting a visual conversation this time. Rade accepted, and her hologram appeared momentarily.
Her host, Ms. Bounty, was standing in her usual form-fitting black fatigues, except the normally impeccably-kept clothing was ripped and dirty. Her hair was not carried in the usual ponytail, and instead flowed disheveled and unkempt on all sides, giving her the appearance of a feral woman. She had a small chunk of skin missing from the lower right of her face that revealed the metal underneath the artificial flesh.
“Surus,” Rade said.
“Rade,” she replied.
“You’ve seen better days,” Rade told her.
“Things have become a bit fraught in Shanghai,” Surus said. “It’s not safe to roam the streets.”
“The same is true of most capital cities across the world, from what I’ve heard,” Rade said.
“Humanity has not lost,” Surus said. “This is only the first round. Your species has been knocked to the mat with a bloody nose. But in the second round, you’re going to get up kicking.”
“Tell me you’ve learned something to support that optimism,” Rade said. “You promised a way to protect any mechs I got my hands on?”
“You may have been wondering where I have been these past few hours,” Surus said.
“I was wondering, yes,” Rade said.
“I’ve been busy,” Surus said.
Rade suppressed an annoyed laugh. “Well, I figured that much out...”
“I possessed one of your clones,” Surus said. “The organic part incinerated upon my touch, of course, but I was able to enter the brain region formed by the nano-machines—essentially the AI core. I followed some of its brethren around for several hours while I digested the contents of its memory.”
“Digested,” Rade said. “Why don’t I like the sound of that word choice?”
“Let’s just say, the nano-machines didn’t survive my probing,” Shaw said.
“So what did you learn?” Rade said.
“It is fascinating,” Surus said. “The clones... each of them believe they are you. They have a subset of your memories: some of your early life from childhood to training, and much of your MOTH experiences, up to your capture during the Second Alien World. But they also have alien thoughts and directives. It is truly boggling.”
“All right,” Rade said. “That’s interesting and all, if a little disturbing, and I’m almost wishing you hadn’t told me. Because it makes me feel a little... violated. But let me rephrase that: what have you learned that could help us?”
“The Mahasattva have developed new space-based stealth technology since last you encountered them,” Surus said. “It allowed them to creep all the way to Earth without revealing themselves. They used the Gates to get here, I believe, passing through each system unnoticed.”
“That begs the question, where did the Mahasattva get this technology?” Rade said. “I thought the United Systems had their homeworld under quarantine. They weren’t allowed to build starships. Nor were they allowed to ever leave.”
“Yes, and they have done both, it appears,” Surus said. “Or some of them have, at any rate. As for your question: where did the Mahasattva get this technology? They got it from the planet they chose as their homeworld.”
“What do you mean?” Rade said.
“They didn’t choose to settle that world randomly,” Surus said. “It was once owned by a Tech Class V race. Perhaps you have heard of them. The Elder.”
“Now you tell us,” Rade said. “You could have informed the United Systems about that before the Brass allowed the aliens to claim that world.”
Surus shrugged. “They never asked. Besides, I figured if I volunteered the information, it would only cause the United Systems to give the Mahasattva more grief. Perhaps nuking them again, or forcing them to relocate to a different planet. As you know, I have a firm non-interference policy when it comes to humanity and other species in this region of space. A policy I have adhered to ever since the Greens chased the Phants away in the First Alien War. I only intervene when it becomes obvious that the existence of the human race is at stake. Such as now.”
“That policy of yours may have to be adjus
ted slightly,” Rade asked. “If it’s going to result in future invasions of the scale we’re seeing here.”
“Perhaps,” Surus replied.
“Have you been able to figure out what happened to all the fleets we had in the system, and those past the jump Gates?” Rade said. “Fleets that should have come to the rescue of our planet by now?”
“As you know, the InterGalNet is currently offline, including the MILNet portion, restricting access to Earth-side nodes only,” Surus said.
“That’s right,” Rade said.
“Well, I’ve been able to access some of China’s land-based telescopes,” Surus said. “In addition to monitoring the local chatter of Sino-Korean government and military officials. I have determined that the fleets have indeed returned to Earth. They’ve staged several attacks against the mothership, and their last run, made several hours ago, caused the most damage yet. However, the vessel is self healing, like the motherships of the Phants, and can quickly recover after laser damage. And nukes never reach it: a floating shield of pods envelopes the mothership at a safe distance, and some of those pods break away whenever incoming nukes arrive, swarming them to trigger the proximity fuses. Those pods also strike any ships that approach too closely, converting them to the side of the enemy.”
Rade sighed. “So you still haven’t told me anything that could help us. There has to be something embedded in those memories...”
“There are a few useful things, yes,” Surus said. “First of all, I want to mention that when I took over the clone, I inherited its particle beam weapon. I’ve been analyzing the device, and I believe I can design an EM emitter that will disable the nano-machines as soon as a particle beam comes into contact with the enclosing EM field lines. You’ll need to get access to a jumpsuit at minimum for this to work. Preferably a mech, mostly for power reasons.”
“We’ve got access to both,” Rade said. “As well as booster rockets.”
“Excellent,” Surus said. “Send me the schematics for your current mech model and I’ll begin working on an EM design immediately. I’ll test it with the particle beam rifle I’ve procured. Do you have access to an industrial grade 3D printer?”
Rade finished sending the schematics of the ATLAS mechs and said: “At the moment, no. But we can get to one, so that’s not a problem. Is there anything else you have for us?”
“I’m also developing a spoofing emitter,” Surus said. “Something you can use to trick the invaders into believing you’re one of them. It will respond to the basic EM signals transmitted by the nano-machines in the brains and AI cores of the clones and robot units, mimicking the expected responses. It won’t get you past a detailed interrogation by an enemy unit, but it will allow you to pass a cursory check. That won’t be ready for a while yet, but I should have the particle beam protection ready by this morning. I’ll send the emitter design to you for 3D printing as soon as I’m able.”
“I actually encountered a clone patrol earlier,” Rade said. “And I was able to join them by virtue of my DNA alone. I was wearing one of their helmets and uniforms at the time. I stayed for maybe half a minute before sneaking off into a side street.”
“You were lucky,” Surus said. “Because the clones periodically poll all members of such patrols. Likely you had joined the patrol between the polling interval. That’s my only explanation. If you hadn’t looked the way you do, they probably would have attacked you on sight.”
“One of them did aim a rifle at me,” Rade said, “but hesitated, eventually lowering its weapon. At the time, my guess was that it assumed I was damaged.”
“That’s possible as well, I suppose,” Surus said.
“One thing I wanted to ask you,” Rade said. “So these mechs we’ve procured... they’re ATLAS units. The cobra lasers don’t have the same intensity boost you programmed into our Hoplites, so I’m guessing we’ll still have to aim for known vulnerabilities, such as the eye regions.”
“That would be an accurate assumption,” Surus said. “Though you could certainly try to target other regions, and see if it has any effect. Cobras are at least an order of magnitude more powerful than a tiny laser rifle, after all.”
“So, we’ll be immune to their particle beams once we get the new emitters printed and installed,” Rade said. “But how will we fare against the scorpion lasers?”
“The ballistic shield attached to the model you sent me should provide adequate protection from their laser fire,” Surus said. “Several blows to the same area will still penetrate those shields, of course. But that’s nothing you haven’t experienced in previous battles.”
“All right,” Rade said. “Thanks for the updates. You’ve given me hope, Surus. And all of humanity hope.”
“I plan to join you, eventually,” Surus said. Her expression turned grim, and the bare metal on the lower right of her face seemed to glint ominously. “As I told you earlier, we’ve only lost the first round. The second round begins tomorrow. We will take the fight to the enemy. I swear it to you.”
With that, she disconnected.
Rade sat back, gazing into the empty kitchen.
We might have a chance of defeating them yet.
twenty-five
Rade spoke to Tahoe over the comm and asked him to get in touch with Lieutenant Bastille.
“While there might not be any working 3D printers in Saint Tropez,” Rade told Tahoe. “See if the lieutenant can hunt down any working printers in the outlying districts.”
“Will do,” Tahoe replied.
Afterwards, Rade updated Shaw and went to sleep.
He received the anti-particle beam blueprints from Surus early the next morning, shortly after waking. She also managed to get him a preliminary signal-spoofing design. That was good, because it meant Rade wouldn’t have to make two separate trips to the 3D printers.
He summoned the team to the kitchen and held a briefing.
After he explained what Surus had discovered, he turned to Tahoe: “Was Bastille able to scare up any 3D printers?”
Tahoe shook his head. “As you saw firsthand, all of the manufacturing buildings in Saint Tropez were damaged. Bastille sent search and recovery teams to all of them, but no industrial printers remain intact. He did manage to turn up a few small 3D printers in different shops and cafes, but those are hardly industrial grade, and the materials definitely won’t suit our needs, not if we’re creating EM emitters meant to interface with ATLAS mechs.”
“No, that won’t cut it,” Rade agreed.
“He did tell me that some printers should still remain intact in Aubagne,” Tahoe said. “He’s sent the coordinates of an aerospace company whose warehouse should contain the printers and supplies we need. There’s also a robot shop that might have a smaller 3D printer we could use, though it might not have all the raw materials.”
Rade accepted the coordinate transmission request from Tahoe and pulled up the map of Aubagne. The two buildings were highlighted, and appeared relatively close together near the center of the city.
“Bastille didn’t give you linkage codes to the Aubagne branch of the Gendarme?” Rade asked. He wanted to see the red and blue dots indicating tangos and friendlies on that map, which the linkage codes would provide.
“No, he doesn’t have them,” Tahoe said. “We’ll have to get that from the local troops when we arrive in the city.”
“Assuming there are any local troops left,” Fret said.
“That’s a good point,” Rade said. “Do we know the status of the defenders? Has the city fallen?”
“Bastille isn’t sure,” Tahoe said.
“He isn’t sure...” Rade said.
“No,” Tahoe continued. “He lost contact with Aubagne shortly after two a.m. last night.”
“Hmm,” Fret said. “Not sure I like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I,” Rade said. “But that city contains the closest 3D printers. So we don’t really have a choice.”
“Assuming those printers remai
n intact,” Harlequin said. “If Aubagne has indeed fallen, and the damage is as severe as Saint Tropez, there is a high likelihood we will arrive to discover only rubble.”
“It’s too bad the orbital MILNet is still down,” Tahoe said. “Or we could get Bastille to access the latest satellite imagery of the area.”
“We’re just going to have to check ourselves,” Rade said. “Because without those printers, we don’t have a real chance against the enemy. Surus has offered us hope. We need those printers to turn that hope into reality.”
Bender snickered. “You sound like a 3D printer salesman or something.”
Rade frowned at him.
“Sorry boss.” Bender held his hands behind his back and kicked at the ground like a school kid being chastened by his teacher. “But all joking aside, you know I’m coming with you, right? I’m all for improving my mech. Whatever it takes to get me the advantage, so I can do some proper bug killin’. And if those bugs just happen to look like you, it’s only an added bonus!” He flashed his golden grille at Rade.
“I’m not sure whether to be offended or proud,” Rade said.
“Definitely proud,” Bender said. “Doing my part to help rid the world of your clones. And of course I won’t pretend I’m shooting my boss. Oh no siree. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Try not to sound too sarcastic,” Manic said.
“Who, me?” Bender said. “Sarcastic? Naaaaaw.”
“Bull,” Manic said. “You’ll be shooting those clones with a smile on your face.”
“Won’t you?” Bender said.
“Actually, I probably will,” Manic said.
“If we were back in the military, I’d almost be worried you two were planning to frag me,” Rade said. “But I know you well enough that I get your sick senses of humor.” Rade surveyed the men. “So who else is coming?”
All of the men, and combat robots, volunteered.
Rade nodded. “Good. We leave in half an hour. We’re taking the ATLAS mechs. Suit up.”