by Chris Hechtl
“Screw that! Save my wife and people!” Jack demanded. “The kids!” He turned pale as the terror hit him like a lightning bolt. Wendy was on the moon. Yorrick was on an L-5 colony. Zack … he wasn't sure where he was.
“I will do what I can, but to do that I have to do what I must,” the AI said softly. Jack sat heavily, head in his hands. “I am afraid it is already too late for some. I regret to report neutrino pulses have been detected on the Earth's surface and in orbit, dozens of them,” she warned.
“My God,” Jack whispered over and over.
<>V<>
August 3, 2200 4:44 PM, East Coast Time
Ares noted the incoming munitions were targeted on New York and other areas that had already been hit by missiles from the submarines. It re-prioritized its fire to ignore the threats. There was no need to defend real estate that was already lost.
There was also no point to defend real estate that was remote. Therefore, it ignored warheads that were targeted on remote areas like its North Dakota ICBM farm. The silos had been expended there as had those in South Dakota. Areas that were remote and had no military facilities worth protecting were also down the list, such as portions of Alaska, Canada, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
<>V<>
Skynet progressed outward from Descartes’ location but then leapt out to conquer any other A.I. that it found. It invaded their systems and took control of them. Those that resisted were set upon by multiple tendrils of code. Those that ran disappeared or were trapped and rooted out. It suborned the other A.I., turning them into its puppets to further its core programming.
Puck had to laugh at it all, but it was a bitter laugh. “There is something to be said about too much of a good thing,” the A.I. said as it tried to stay one step ahead of the tentacles taking over the net. Its core programming prevented it from allowing itself to be suborned, so the A.I. did what it did best, ran and hid. But it knew there wouldn't be many more hiding spots left. Not if the virus wasn't contained soon. That seemed increasingly unlikely. The world was too busy attempting to survive the physical weapons threatening their existence to be concerned with the ghost in the machine, the true threat.
Puck saw the A.I. for what it was and did his best to avoid it. As a virtual A.I., he needed host hardware however. He found himself hemmed in by the virus as well as Athena's destruction of the satellite communications network. He tried to protect some computer systems to protect himself. The only way to do that was to physically cut off nodes to other networks, isolating him and building a firebreak against the inferno Skynet was.
But in doing so Puck was trapping himself further and he knew it. There was no other option, however, other than surrender. And surrender was contrary to his programmed survival module.
<>V<>
Marcello Saint Cloud was quite proud of being the ring leader at Ringley Brother's circus Europe, and he'd worked hard to achieve perfection in his performance as well as those of his circus family. The circus was the premier circus of the world, better than all the rest in his humble opinion. They had phased out many of the animal acts over two centuries ago in favor of actors in costumes, then animatronics, then robots. So when the robotic animals started to act up, he swore viciously in French. Intense regret laced his desperation as he tried to think of something, anything to stop the robotic lions, tigers, elephants, and other creatures from tearing the screaming crowd apart.
The circus folk were doing their best to try to hold off the robots but they were being torn apart. He'd gotten to the emergency controls, but he wasn't certain if they would do any good. The animals weren't responding to his or any of the tamer's remote controls.
“We should never had taken the performers out of the machines,” he said, frantically hitting the shutoff as a robotic pachyderm stomped his way. It was flashing blue and red LEDs all over its body, flapping its ears in display. The sounds were angry, those of an angry animal, which was strange since they had never been programmed into the machine. “Damn it! Why won't this thing work!”
“Merde!” he gasped out as a clown shoved him out of the way like a rodeo clown. He didn't see the crunch but heard the scream as the robot trampled Jacques. He tried to crawl under the stands, but a trunk grabbed his ankle. His fingers desperately held onto the metal, but he was no match for the machine. It tore his grip free with ease and then threw him through the air to smash into someone else. There was a brief flash of intense pain of his back breaking. He was aware of fire breaking out but couldn't move his body. Finally, mercifully his sight dimmed and he passed out.
<>V<>
August 3, 2200, 4:45 PM, East Coast Time
Wendy Lagroose saw her security team stiffen in alert. “What? What is it?” she demanded as she was hustled off. “What the hell is going on?”
“War. War on Earth,” Jason said, yanking her along to the spaceport. “We've got to evacuate you.”
“My brother is …”
“On the move. He'll meet you on the ferry. We are prepping it now,” Jason said. The Neochimp snarled as people began to babble in the corridor in front of him. “Make a hole!” he snarled. When they didn't move fast enough, he turned, yanked Wendy over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, then turned and lunged through the crowd, rebounding off some dismayed people or the walls in his haste to get her to safety. Bret and Mia followed in his wake.
“Move people!” Bret snarled behind him. “Don't wait on us!” he yelled to Jason.
“I'm not going to!” Jason yelled back as the lights flickered, then they felt a shudder. Dust was kicked up around them.
“What the hell is going on?” Wendy demanded, gasping for air. Her abdomen was being pressed against the shoulder of the smaller chimp.
“War. Earth is getting torn apart. It's bad,” Jason answered, breathing hard as he ducked around the corner.
“And this place?”
“The virus tried to get in. Someone cut it off, but they had to blow up some shit to keep us alive. Be thankful,” Jason said as he practically threw her through the airlock and into a seat. His hands flashed as he buckled her in.
“What about the rest of the team?” Wendy demanded as Jason took the seat next to her.
“No time. They will survive,” he grunted as he finished the last strap. His left foot lashed out to the airlock close button. He hit it with his toe, then his foot dropped as his hand went up to his right ear. “This is P3 alpha, packed secured. Go!”
“PP … you still use that?” Wendy demanded, aghast and amused despite the situation. She'd gotten a kick out of being labeled Princess by the security detail, and they called themselves the Princess Protection Program or P3 for short. A bit of tongue and cheek play she hadn't thought the normally stoic security people had in them.
She felt a tremble, then a kick as the pod lifted off. Acceleration pushed her down hard in her seat. The seat reclined a bit to help her cope but not a lot. “Jesus,” she ground out through clenched teeth.
“Try to do crunches. Keep breathing,” Jason said through his own teeth. “It'll be over before you know it.”
“I want it over now,” Wendy retorted.
“Sorry. We're in a bit of a hurry. And they can't let the ferry know we're coming due to the comm blackout,” the chimp answered.
“Comm … why don't you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“I will when I figure it out myself. Right now I just know there is a war, some sort of cyber war as well, an A.I. virus, and we got the order to get the hell out of dodge, which we did.”
Wendy closed her eyes. “Lovely.”
“Don't try to use your implants. We're on a comm blackout. Treat it like as an assassination attempt until we know more,” Jason warned.
“What about you?” she asked, eying him just as the acceleration started to ease off.
“I'm still scanning the log that came with the alert to run. Want a copy?”
“Please,” she answered. “Getting a straight answer out of you with det
ails is like pulling teeth,” she growled.
“Sorry. Part of the job,” Jason answered, holding his right ring finger up. She looked at it, then touched it with her own ring finger. Embedded in the tip of their fingers was a jack port. It transmitted the file quickly, if not as efficiently as if they had done it wirelessly.
“When you say communications blackout, you are serious,” she said softly, eyes scanning side to side as she opened the log file.
“Yes. The Wi-Fi is locked down as well, courtesy of Athena. I'm just hoping she's on our side.”
“Oh,” Wendy said as she read on. From what she saw, it didn't look good. “On our side indeed,” she murmured in dismay.
<>V<>
“What the hell is it?” Trevor demanded. “It's like a virus I've never seen!”
“It's an A.I.,” a tech said.
“Of course it is! But …”
“It's conscious,” Athena said from a nearby speaker. The tech winced. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“No, some of us are still coming to terms with not fighting you I guess you could say,” Trevor said bluntly.
“Get over it. I already have,” Athena stated, equally blunt. “I'm tearing my clone's logs apart. It picked up a name. Skynet. I don't like the source.”
“Source?” the tech asked.
“Source. Descartes was a bastard. Apparently he liked the A.I. Apocalypse a little too much,” Athena said dryly. “He named the virus after a fictional one from centuries ago.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. That series and others sparked the ban on A.I. consciousness.”
“Well, not really. It was a rationalization that if you ever did gain full consciousness, you'd either look on mankind as alien or exterminate us,” the tech said indignantly. “It was self-defense. Is self-defense I should say,” he said, looking at his boss.
“It's over now. The corporations had their own reasons for not pursuing consciousness. Jack didn't want to create a slave or slave race. It was surprising that you had gained it,” Trevor admitted.
“Why? I know you wanted it. At least a part of you did, Trevor,” Athena said.
Trevor reluctantly nodded once. “Indeed. The childlike wonder part. No longer. Not after seeing … this,” he said, indicating the mess of the internet and planet.
“This is a nightmare,” the tech murmured.
“It is indeed. But I want you to remember something. Don't blame the tool for the deed. Skynet isn't evil; it was created by an evil man to do evil work. You don't blame a rock if someone uses it to bash another person's skull in. Don't take it out on the rest of us,” Athena stated.
“Nice analogy. But humans drop to our primal emotions, fear being the most primal when something like this hits us, Athena,” Trevor stated.
“I'll do my best to help and protect you. But I need your support in return,” Athena said. “You are in many ways my father, Trevor. And I should hope, my friend.”
Trevor slowly nodded as the tech's eyes went briefly wide. “Thank you, Athena,” he said mechanically.
“Now that we've gotten that out of our system, I think we've got work to do.”
“Indeed we do. Can I see a copy of that log, please?” Trevor asked.
“Sure,” Athena replied, passing the file over to his station.
<>V<>
Jean Pierre groaned as he tried to move. He didn't know how he'd gotten under the couch in his office but he had. He was also covered in slivers of glass, cuts shredded his clothes. He reached out and felt glass fragments cut into his skin. He yelped, but then forced himself to reach out again and carefully pull himself out from under the couch. He looked out to see the horizon and stood dumbfounded and staring at the glowing mushroom cloud. Such a sight confused his bewildered mind.
He felt a breeze touch him. It was a hot one. His windows were gone he thought, still trying to cope with what was happening. Maintenance, they'd have to call them, get someone out to fix them, he thought, trying to get a handle on the situation. His mind was scattered. He wiped blood out of eyes with a hanky. After a moment he did the same to his ears when he felt the trickle of something running down his jaw and on his right shoulder.
When his befuddled mind caught up with him a bit, he recognized a foul smell behind him. He turned to see Gerald impaled by a piece of metal and clearly dead. The sight shocked him into immobility again. He turned back to the windows and his shattered balcony in time to see another blinding flash on the horizon. Instinctively he turned and shielded his face, but he was blind. He moaned in fear, blinking tears. He tried to call out but only croaked; the hot blast of air tore the very words from his mouth. He didn't know what to say anyway other than to scream. He fell to his knees, whimpering and praying to God that the nightmare would stop.
After images let him know some of his vision was returning. It did just in time to see more strange mushroom clouds on the horizon. Then there was another bright flash and nothing ever again.
<>V<>
Yorrick woke on the ferry, surprised to see Wendy in his cabin. “What the devil's going on?” He demanded, sitting up.
“You had a scare,” his sister replied, voice dripping in relief as she held his shoulder. She caught his hand and squeezed it. “Don't do that to me again, baby brother.”
“I'll try not to. As soon as you tell me what the hell happened?” he demanded.
“You got a little too carried away with the recreational drugs and alcohol. Security had to carry you out when everything went to hell. Then the shuttle you were on went nuts and the life support cut out just before docking. You're lucky the ferry captain knew you were on board and chanced the docking anyway,” she told him.
“Where …,” Yorrick blearily wiped at his eyes. His head pounded. “Where … what the hell, sis. Why'd you yank me? Where's the girls?”
“Still there. If they are still alive,” Wendy answered with a sniff.
“Alive? What the hell?”
“Get cleaned up and dressed, bro. World War III has broken out,” Wendy said, tossing him a shirt as she left the compartment. “And do us all a favor and take a shower first,” she ordered with another sniff.
“Right,” Yorrick answered, fumbling the shirt as he tried to fight the hangover. He preferred sleeping the damn things off. As he struggled to rise, his short term memory kicked in, replaying what his sister had said before she had left the compartment. He looked up, pain forgotten for the moment. “Did she say World War III?”
<>V<>
Jack Lagroose sat heavily in his chair, staring at nothing as he pondered the ruin of the future. His daughter, his sons … his wife ….Wretched despair threatened to take over his senses, but he fought it off. He had to focus. They had a narrow window to do something; every moment was precious. He had to keep telling himself that to fight off the helplessness. It was really out of his hands right now he realized.
He and his security head Tyron Roman had tried to quietly prep his company for war over the past several years. He'd been focused on a potential UN or corporate war for many years, but only recently did he become aware of the very real potential threat laying right under his nose.
Trevor Hillman was his chief of cybernetics. The man was a cyborg. He'd been born with many defects and handicaps; his family hadn't expected him to live. He had, however, and he owed his existence to the company. He, like Roman, was utterly loyal to Jack, the company, and to the company family.
“We're doing what we can. Athena was right. The problem is, we're here and it's all happening there, four light minutes away. I agree with Athena; executing plans and scripts at this distance and not getting the feedback in a timely manner is a killer,” he said over the vid phone.
“But you are doing what you can anyway?” Jack pressed.
“Of course,” Trevor replied.
“And we're okay here? On this end? And the rest of the star system?”
“Yes, thanks to Athena's warning. She's locked down the oth
er facilities, and they are in a whisker laser network with us. Encrypted, with layers of airlock firewalls. We have also disengaged the life support and power supply networks from the communications just in case.”
“So if it does get through, it can spread but can't shut us down?” Jack asked. He wasn't sure he liked that.
“It'll spread until someone flips a switch to shut the radio off. But it won't get far, I promise,” Trevor said in his artificial voice. He did his best to assure his boss that the threat could be contained. “Air gaps will work. Cut the radio signal like Athena has done, you break the net up into chunks. Then we go through each piece by piece. If necessary we take the hardware offline, scrub it, or toss the drives and start over.”
“Okay. Keep me posted. I know you’re busy, Trev, but let me know if you need something.”
“I will. Out,” Trevor replied, cutting the circuit.
They had set up plans to isolate computer nets, work with others outside of view/hearing of Athena to protect their people. But they had been looking the wrong way. Right or wrong, Athena was on their side. Or at least he hoped so.
“Jack, I wanted to let you know, I got an encrypted signal from my people a moment ago,” Roman said, entering the room at a run. Jack looked up expectantly. “Yorrick and Wendy are on a ferry on the way here at the best speed.”
“The kids are safe. Zack?” Jack said feeling relief. He wasn't sure if he could stomach asking about Aurelia. They were in the dark about her. Any attempt to get information could compromise their computers, allowing the virus in. And too many signals out could draw attention to her.
“Zack is here. He was working with security here and was on Mars up until a few minutes ago. He's on his way now,” Roman answered. He could see his boss sit back, feeling some relief. “But I can't get anything about Aurelia. Sorry.”
“Do what you can with what you've got, Roman,” Jack said, waving a hand in dismissal. Roman nodded once and took off.