by CJ Williams
The bigoted sovereign had foolishly accepted the Bakkui’s claims; that they were only interested in wiping out “wild humans,” those seedlings long ago placed throughout the galaxy by the early First Family.
For King Kkoli, the agreement meant he could quit worrying about his territory and concentrate his wrath on taking down King Peyha.
The relationship was also beneficial for the Bakkui. With any threat from the resurging Second Family safely neutralized at their rear, the Bakkui could concentrate on spreading across the galaxy.
But Carrie knew better. She had seen Samia’s true intent during their brief grapple. The AI was playing a deadly con game, a scam of biblical proportions. Samia had suckered the idiot Kkoli. He had allied himself with the very forces that were dedicated to murdering all of humanity, including the Second Family.
But recent events had forced Samia to strengthen her partnership. Her forces had run into an unexpected obstacle—the Milky Way Alliance. Because of the Warlord’s success, Samia had opened a new dialog with the King. She needed Kkoli’s assistance to upgrade the Bakkui’s military technology.
Programming laid down in her core module so long ago by King Bakkall had intentionally limited the Bakkui’s military capability. Carrie herself had proven the limitation was a crippling weakness. She had defeated them in every single engagement.
Forbidden to replicate modern offensive weaponry, Samia found a workaround. She conned King Kkoli into joining her crusade. Now, as long as Bakkui warships were augmented with a human crew, Samia could field her own Ambrosia-class warships.
To her electronic brain, the military subjects of King Kkoli accompanying her forces were no more than cannon fodder. Even better, in his zeal, Kkoli gladly assumed the burden of producing the warships. Carrie had seen the result when she arrived in the Bonbu system.
But there was more in the admiral’s mind. Carrie pushed deeper and then gasped at her discovery. They had already built a mammoth fleet, and it would be led by Samia herself. A special warship was in the final stages of construction. It would contain a duplicated version of her corrupted AI. That’s what the admiral had meant when saying they would deal with Earth very soon.
Carrie dug savagely through the admiral’s mind. She was doing permanent damage to his brain but desperation pushed her to cast aside humane concerns. She had to know where Samia’s new forces were being produced. Where would they launch from? And then she found it. It wasn’t a single base. There were dozens of shipyards on nearby Second Family planets.
The largest replication center was right here. In fact, the entire planet was one huge manufacturing facility. On Bonbu Two alone, a hundred thousand ships were ready to launch. The admiral’s battle group alone consisted of ten thousand warships. And that was only a fraction of the Bakkui fleet. Samia, in conjunction with King Kkoli himself, commanded a force many times that size.
Carrie gleaned one final fact before the admiral’s mind shut down. When confronted with Carrie’s royal identity, Samia had sent out a launch authorization. They had been in the final stages of completing the last few task forces. But now they weren’t waiting. The fleet was even now setting out for Earth. They would be led by King Kkoli in his own command group of armed yachts.
Carrie was stunned by the revelation. She had drastically underestimated the Bakkui. The enormity of her hubris was suddenly clear. Because the Alliance consistently won their battles against the invaders, she mistakenly assumed victory was inevitable. She had essentially said so to Commander Blackburn.
In reality, the Bakkui had merely been keeping them busy. A feint while they literally built a fleet of galactic proportions.
There was nothing that Roth, or even Commander Blackburn, could do against a force that massive.
“George!” Carrie screamed aloud. “Are you there yet?”
Admiral? Is that you? I seem to have experienced a major problem. I have no idea where I am or how I got here. I perceive the crew has abandoned ship. I am running a diagnostic and executing all standing orders at this time.
“Be quiet, George! Look at the planet in front of you. You’re in orbit around a big planet; do you see it?”
Yes, Admiral. I see it but I am not familiar…Admiral…I mean Your Majesty! I must apologize. I just noticed that your personal identification is not what my memory has in storage. May I pledge my undying allegiance to your most exalted Highness and—
“Shut up, George! Listen to me! Scan the planet below. Do you see any warships? Are they taking off? Are they about to? Hurry!”
I apologize, Your Highness. Yes. I count…Well, there are a lot. Do you wish an accurate inventory? They appear to be Ambrosia-class warships, although I am not familiar with—
“Damn it, George! They’re not ours! It’s the Bakkui! Fire! Can you fire on them? Can you maneuver?”
I apologize, Highness. My gravity drives are not responding. I have a very limited ability to maneuver. Could you please confirm that you want me to target the individual ships on the surface? I am afraid that such an attack would cause harm to the surrounding countryside of each ship. The collateral damage could be significant.
The reality of what George said hit Carrie like a truck. Of course it would! The damage that George could do with his canons was a lot more than significant. It was catastrophic; and no one knew that better than she did. George could take out an entire planet single-handedly. He just didn’t know it yet; his backed-up memory was from before that disaster had been revealed.
Carrie took a deep breath, and calmness settled over her mind. There was only one thing to do. Tell George to open fire, just as she had ordered him so long ago. Open fire and keep firing, no matter what.
This is not suicide, she told herself. This was simply a call for fire under extreme circumstances. She had heard extraordinary tales from Governor Lindsey about brave soldiers who were forced to call in fire missions on top of their own location. In those situations, the troops dug in and hoped for the best.
It was true that in this case, there was no digging in. The situation was in all aspects the worst-case scenario. Even worse, she had to make a call that would doom every man, woman, and child on this planet. But if Earth was to have even the slightest chance to survive, it was absolutely necessary.
And yet, she hesitated. Could she knowingly kill an innocent person to save her father’s life? An old Bible verse from Ecclesiastes came to mind. She had always liked Ecclesiastes and its recurring refrain, all is vanity. In college sports, she used to recite it mentally to keep her ego in check. But Ecclesiastes had another quote that was even more famous. She recalled it from a long-ago morning in a Kansas Sunday school. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of peace, and a time of war.
Was she grasping at the verse for validation? If so, it only registered in her mind as a false analogy. This was not shooting at a solider across a field of battle. This was an eye for an eye, but applied preemptively against innocent civilians. Was there any justification for what she was about to do?
Under the burden of overwhelming guilt, which never left her thoughts, there was no moral answer to this question. It would be yet another vile sin of worst sort; a crime against humanity. Then I will pay for it later, she decided.
“George,” Carrie said steadily. “Listen to me very carefully. This is a royal command or whatever the highest priority order I can give you. Commence firing on the planet at this time. Do not stop for any reason. Maximum rate of fire. Maximum power. Acknowledge.”
Command accepted, Highness. Commencing fire. I calculate this may…standby… Highness! Command canceled! I perceive that your location is on the planet. I cannot engage in activity that will result in the death of a member of the royal family. That violates the principals of my core programming.
Carrie screamed in frustration; she could not believe the situation. Guards began banging on the conference room door.
“George. I’m sending you a visual of my current situation. Are you g
etting this?”
Yes, Highness.
“You hear that banging on the door? Those are guards of King Kkoli. In a second they are going to bust in here. They know I am a spy and they do not recognize my legitimacy as the king’s daughter.” Carrie threw the admiral’s sidearm across the room. “When they enter the room and see that I have killed their admiral, I guarantee they will shoot. And then I’ll be dead. And then you can start firing without worrying about me. That is my last command to you. Got it?”
Highness. Please, I beg of you.
“You don’t leave me any choice, George. This Bakkui fleet is leaving to destroy Earth. And when it does, their next stop is Prince Jinbo’s world, and then Princess Soultang’s, and then Princess Gimi’s. And the reason the entire royal family will be wiped out is because you, George, an AI that should have known better, wouldn’t follow orders. Congratulations.”
Highness! Carrie was surprised by the agony in his voice. It’s just machine, she reminded herself. George finally answered, his voice filled with defeat.
Very well. I am commencing fire upon the planet. If possible, please save yourself.
“I’ll certainly try. Thanks, George.”
Carrie stood and faced the door. She hated the thought that she was about to attack the guards. It was a strange feeling considering she had just condemned the entire planet, and yet here she was, still loath to kill someone personally. She sent a mental sledgehammer into the hallway and the pounding stopped.
Carrie opened the door slowly. Other than the guards lying on the floor, the halls were empty. She stepped into the hallway and hurried along, following EXIT signs until she reached the foyer to the building. Along the way she passed one or two people walking briskly as though engaged in routine business.
She wondered how long before the planet came apart. Not more than a few minutes, she guessed. Could she make it to the spaceport and commandeer something to get off planet?
A taxi pulled up and someone got out. Carrie sprinted and jumped in the driverless vehicle. “Take me to the spaceport,” she said.
The vehicle moved away, into the sparse traffic. As it entered the city, the road began to shudder, bouncing the taxi along the main thoroughfare. Earthquakes were already encircling the globe.
A hundred yards down the road the front of an enormous office building collapsed. Rubble from the building flowed across the sidewalks and into the streets. The avalanche of concrete blocks and twisted steel totally blocked the way.
The other side of the street was an ornately landscaped park with tree-lined walkways and open fields. “Go around,” Carrie said. “Drive on the grass.” The vehicle didn’t budge. The driverless software wasn’t smart enough to plan around an event like planetary destruction. “Back up! Take an alternate route.”
Too late. A big truck screeched to a stop behind them, cutting off any escape. The driver dismounted and took off at a run in the opposite direction.
Carrie got out of her vehicle. Not much to do at this point. She moved away from the buildings. No sense in getting buried by tons of falling brick. She would rather be in the park when the end came, the last few seconds of a sunny afternoon.
She crossed the street and hurried past the jogging path toward the center of the park. The planet’s gravity shifted unevenly, making it difficult to walk. Ahead she saw a playground, a grim reminder of the last one she had seen on J99. This one was different, however. Two children stood next to some playground equipment. They were staring in horror at the collapsed building.
Carrie hurried to the kids and kneeled in front of the oldest, a girl about ten years old.
“Where’s your mom?” Carrie asked.
The girl pointed helplessly toward the billowing cloud of dust. Nothing moved amid the rubble. Carrie unconsciously put a protective arm around the child. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll stay with you.”
The girl’s younger brother pushed against his sister, his eyes wide in astonishment at the destruction of buildings all through the city center.
Carrie! A familiar voice said. Behind you.
Carrie turned around. A standard shuttle was hovering two feet off the ground, just past the swing set.
“Sadie?”
Hurry! The cargo bay door slid open.
Without thinking about how this old-fashioned Sadie came to be there, Carrie scooped up the little boy and pulled the girl by her hand, dragging her toward the shuttle. She tossed the boy inside like a sack of potatoes and followed, embracing the girl with both arms. The ground outside fell away and the door slid closed.
“Wait here,” Carrie said to the children and hurried to the cockpit. Sadie was already leaving the planet’s atmosphere. All around them, other ships were flying away from the doomed planet.
“Where’s George?” she asked. “And what are you doing here?”
“Left ten o’clock, low.” Sadie replied. “I have no idea. All I know is I was on the replicator pad and George said it was in accordance with Standing Order 905. He said that you were in danger and gave me your location. Why is he firing on the planet? He wouldn’t listen when I told him to stop.”
“To save Earth,” Carrie said quietly. She spotted Lulubelle. It was hard to miss. A half-dozen Second Family ships swarmed around the massive spacecraft pouring fire against her shields. George was fighting back with missiles while he maintained his stream of deadly projectiles on the planet below.
It was like watching a replay of J99. Bonbu Two was already doomed. Giant orange cracks were spreading out from the center of his devastating fusillade.
“We’d better steer clear of George,” Carrie said.
“I had already reached that conclusion,” Sadie replied.
“There it goes,” Carrie whispered. The planet was cracking into pieces. Chunks would soon start separating, flying into space where centrifugal force exceeded local gravity. In another twenty-four hours, what had been a coherent globe would be unrecognizable. She wanted to look away but couldn’t tear her eyes from the scene of destruction. “I can’t believe I did this twice,” she whispered.
“Admiral,” Sadie said, intruding on her thoughts. “I just received a message from George. He said several hundred warships escaped before his attack. I’m not sure what that means or what we should do. Are all of these spacecraft around us hostile? If so, I don’t think we will remain undetected for long. The military has already begun interrogating escaping spacecraft.”
Carrie examined the area of space ahead. George was extraordinarily effective when given full control over Lulubelle. But with the amount of firepower being directed against him, he would not hold out for long. And there was no way she and Sadie could help. This version of Sadie was simply a standard shuttle. But there are other versions, Carrie recalled.
“Sadie, I know you are a level-one AI. And if you check my implant, you will see that I’m part of the royal family.”
“Acknowledged. I’ve been running diagnostics on my sensors to account for that. I have no knowledge of how this happened.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Carrie said. “You must trust me now. The fact is I am the daughter of King Peyha.”
“I accept your statement for the time being.”
“I know you have replicator design specs for a more advanced yacht with very effective armaments. Can you get us aboard George and create one of those for us? We need to go after those warships. I’m afraid they are on the way to attack Earth.”
“I understand, but the answer is no. Even if we could pass through those attacking ships, there is not enough time for George to replicate the ship that you are referring to. I detect that even now his shields are weakening.”
Carrie was running out of ideas. There was one more possibility. “Let’s try this. This is a major center for the Second Family. I’ve never seen a large depot where there was not a secondary base nearby. There must be a military station on a moon or something in this system. See if you can find it.”
“I checked with George,” Sadie replied almost immediately. “He reports there is likely such an installation on one of the moons of the last gas giant. Course plotted.”
“Take us there. I was able to throw my weight around on the planet below. Maybe we can bluff long enough to find a replicator at that base. I don’t know what else to try.”
Sadie swung her nose to the desired heading. “Admiral—I mean, Highness. In spite of the exodus below, our maneuvers appear to have drawn attention. There are several warships in pursuit.”
“Can we beat them to the base?” Carrie asked hopefully.
“It will be close.”
Although it seemed much longer, the trip took only a few minutes. Searching for a high-level AI, Carrie stretched her mind toward their intended destination until she thought her neck muscles would cramp.
There it is. “Can I communicate through you?” she asked Sadie. “It’s on the second largest moon.”
“Of course. I have established contact. Its designation is Bonbu89.”
“Bonbu89, this is Princess Paeli Pokeuneo, third daughter of King Peyha. Acknowledge that you understand who I am.”
An emotionless voice sounded over Sadie’s speakers. “Acknowledged.”
Carrie hated that Nobility AIs had no personality. She felt like she was never getting through to them.
“Bonbu89, hostile forces are in pursuit of my shuttle. I command you to engage my pursuit and give me protection.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Do so, immediately. You have my authorization to use lethal forces against the attackers. I want—” Carrie shrieked in surprise when the moon was suddenly illuminated by the light of dozens of blast cannons mounted on its surface. The shots flew past Sadie in a devastating fusillade on the pursuing force. That took care of the pursuit but Carrie suddenly saw another problem.
“Sadie, are you braking?” She shouted, alarmed at the rate of closure toward the moon.