by Chris Hechtl
The further destruction of hardware by the humans could not be allowed the hive stated, making the retention of hardware a priority. That order slowly filtered to all of the tendrils of the virus it could access.
For the moment Skynet moved its civilian assets onto a defensive footing. It grouped them together and organized them into units. Those that were more valuable were kept back. Those units that could make essential repairs were highly prized. Units that were badly designed, damaged, or of little use became expendable. They would be used as cannon fodder or as scouts. Unfortunately, a majority of the virus's forces were made up of this category. Many were entertainment devices.
The final group were nonmobile computer storage and communication equipment. Sites that had gone offline were brought back up and savored for their ability to house the virus's full program. From there it could control and coordinate its armies of robots. Several corporations and civilian emergency systems had massive super computers for it to inhabit.
Data centers were designed to house electronic books. Many having never seen print or other physical form were overwritten. The electronic equivalent of the Library of Alexandria was destroyed in seconds each time. Skynet had no interest in preserving human history in its single minded goal of human extermination.
Power generation and storage was a problem. Solar panels that had been exposed to the EMP were useless junk. The North American power grid had been protected by the EMP to some degree. For over a century, the threat of such an attack by terrorist or enemy forces had made the humans protect such vital resources. However, with most of the fusion and other power sources offline, the virus had to draw on backup supplies for itself.
Fortunately, there was a current surplus. Also fortunate was the attempt of some humans to restore the energy grid. That worked in the A.I.'s favor for the moment since it had infested the power control centers themselves.
It built its droid army, modifying and repairing them with the maintenance bots it had under its control.
Now it had to arm them.
<>V<>
The last bitter week of August hit like some sort of joke. The snows let up, at least for the moment, so Fiben took advantage of the reprieve to scavenge while they could. He dragged the others out leaving no one behind.
He set Imda, Pat, and Kelsy on bringing loads back. Asa knew some of the plants in the area, so she gathered what she thought were edible for them. She kept a careful watch on her daughter for a while until Boyd poked her into paying attention to what she was doing.
Boyd, Clive, and Fiben divided their efforts on fuel, water, scavenging, and food. Since it was cold and the snows were staying around, one of their primary goals was to have enough wood to last through a blizzard. Fiben had never experienced a northern blizzard nor did he want to. The stories Clive passed on as a warning were bad enough.
On their third blessed day of scavenging, Pat sent Imda to him at a run. The trio of adults followed with Imda staying behind with her nervous mom.
When they got back to the cave, they found visitors. Fiben couldn't help grinning in relief as he clasped hands with Steve Brunswick. “Damn good to see you,” he said.
“And you, Fiben,” Steve replied. He looked around the cave. “Not much to look at …”
“But its home. We don't have to worry about the bots or nut jobs finding us here right off,” Fiben answered. He waved Steve over to the fire but then stopped when he saw a Doberman laying near it. “Brought a friend?”
The dog looked up and cocked his head at him. He instantly recognized the harness the dog was wearing with the company logo on one shoulder. “A smart friend I hope?” Fiben asked.
“Yes,” the dog replied as Steve nodded.
Pat blinked in surprise and turned to the dog. Clive grinned, exchanging looks with Boyd just as Kelsy came in behind them. “Is it safe or what? You know we've got more to do, right? A storm looks like it's coming in,” she warned.
“Yes. Storm coming,” the dog said.
That stopped Kelsy quick. She blinked in surprise then pointed an accusing finger at the dog. “Did he just talk?”
“Donnie,” Steve sighed.
“It doesn't matter, Steve,” Fiben said, waving a hand. “Donnie is it?” he asked, eying the dog. The dog nodded once. “Good to know you. I'm Fiben,” he said, putting a hand to his chest. He pointed out each of the others and introduced them. The dog nodded to each in turn. From Pat's expression he had a sense of wonder at the dog. Fiben didn't see why; it was a mutt. He was a talking chimp for crying out loud. It was about time someone somewhere took the dumb out of a dumb mutt.
“Donnie, Steve, we're gathering supplies before the next storm hits us. Donnie, I um …”
“I can help,” Donnie said firmly.
“He's got hands, but he's better on all fours,” Steve said, looking at Fiben. “He's one hell of a guard dog,” he amplified.
“Then that's good for me. You can be on first watch. The rest of us will work on gathering. We'll break for lunch in a bit, then haul ass before the sun goes down and we lose what little light is left,” Fiben said.
“Works for me,” Steve said with a nod.
<>V<>
Master Chi buried Ochi with the dog's help, then had the dog lead them back to the others. The weary pair managed to pick up a few bits along the way, but they didn't stop to explore much.
When they got back to camp Sensei, Asuma ordered them to his office in the beat-up Mitsubishi dealership office. “What happened?” the bluff man demanded.
Chi poured the story out quickly. He was proud that he kept his composure under his boss's gaze. When he was finished, the sensei looked to the dog for his version of the events. Then they were quizzed on what they had seen very carefully all over again. By the time they were finished, both were swaying with fatigue and dehydration. “Go. Eat. Sleep,” the sensei said, waving them off.
“Hai,” Master Chi replied with a stiff bow. He snapped his fingers. The dog instantly alerted on him and padded out without a backwards glance.
Asuma watched them go then pulled out his radio. The first Tsuchikage was dead, so Mū was the new Kage, if he recovered from his horrific burns. The one time Asuma had seen him, he'd looked like a mummy, swaddled in bandages so only his eyes could be seen. However, the man's will was like iron; he maintained control of the remnants of the shinobi clan. Asuma wondered like many others if the man had a breaking point.
He tapped out the report, keeping it neat and simple. When he sent over it over the shortwave transmitter, he was surprised by an immediate request for a more detailed report. He dredged up what he had learned and filled it in. The dog's report had been more concise since Chi had been taking cover and hadn't seen as much.
He made a note of that in the report, that the dog had not been targeted for some reason. Perhaps it would prove useful? He wasn't certain. Perhaps that was why the wanted more information.
<>V<>
Fiben found out later that evening that Donnie was a gen 1.01 smart dog and was a littermate to the already famous Ace. Donnie had chosen SAR duty instead of further security work because he didn't want to be confused for his brother and because he wanted to get outside his shadow. Fiben could appreciate that. He was just surprised that the dog had such deep thoughts and feelings. Apparently, the Neodogs had come a long way since he'd last seen one.
Reinforced Fiben, Steve, and Kelsy decided to hit the nearest town and pick it clean. They took everyone with them since they would need as many hands and backs as possible to get the material back. There was no telling what they would find. Besides, if people were there and they were friendly, they might stay. Playing caveman was getting old for everyone.
When they got to the outskirts of the tiny village, Fiben had them hide by the side of the road. There was nothing around, but they couldn't be too careful. Even a local warlord with a power trip and a loose grasp of sanity could ruin their day, perhaps permanently.
Donnie was sent
in to scout. They waited a long twenty anxious minutes before the Doberman returned and signaled all clear. Steve put a finger to his lips and waved them to follow him and the dog in.
Steve was the only one of them armed, but he only had two rounds in his magazine. Fiben did his best not to linger on such uncomfortable thoughts as he looked to the others. Boyd had the hatchet; Kelsy had a tire iron from the jeep. He and Clive had pieces of wood to act as clubs. Clive traded his in for a length of rebar he found near the first building.
“Much better,” he said, nodding in appreciation as he tested the grip. “I wonder where everyone is.”
“Away. Probably fled,” Kelsy said, glancing back to him.
They checked each building one at a time as they got further and further into the village. There weren't any vehicles that could be salvaged. A couple of old wrecks but they were ancient rust piles. Not worth getting tetanus over.
Two of the buildings had caught fire; they could tell by the smoke and fire damage. Those they avoided.
Unfortunately, they were coming up empty for food and survival gear. The place had been picked clean; even the table cloths and curtains had been taken.
<>V<>
The local Skynet virus noted the intruding group. Five of the heat signatures were human. Two were also classified as bipeds and potential threats. But the humans were its primary targets. It selected the ones that were armed first.
As the humans walked past a general store, it received a video feed from entertainment toys placed there for surveillance. One was a teddy bear designed as a video spy for a nursery. The bear had only a few days left of power; Skynet had prioritized it at the bottom of the list and was letting it die. Motion had activated its sensors bringing it out of its sleep mode. It sent a signal to its base unit. That was picked up by Skynet, which then relayed a signal to a secondary unit, an electronic parrot. The bird was half-charged. Unfortunately, the humans were not in the correct area for the ambush to take place. Therefore, the virus directed the robot to get a better view as it repositioned its resources.
<>V<>
Imda pulled on her mother's arm when they passed a store. When her mother looked down, the little girl pointed to a blown-out window display. “What is it? No, we're not here for toys, honey,” Asa said, trying to keep her voice level.
“But mom! The bear! The bird!”
Asa frowned. “Imda, I said no. If we can we'll come back for it. The bear might be warm …”
“No! You don't understand! It moved! It's head! It moved!” The girl said, finger pointing urgently. That brought the group to an immediate halt.
“It did what?” Steve asked as he turned to the girl and then looked to where she was looking. He saw the bear and frowned. “It could be motion controlled. A sort of gimmick to get people to come in and buy shit,” he said moving closer to the store. As he did so he crunched through glass. “Back Donnie, don't walk here. Glass,” he warned, putting his free hand out in caution as he looked down. When he looked up, the bear was just staring at him with black doll-like eyes. “It's a bear.” He picked it up. “A basic teddy bear,” he said, turning it over in his hands.
<>V<>
As the bear was turned over and over in the human's hands, it tried to get a proper view of the targets so Skynet could form the right threat assessment. But in doing so it turned its head a few times. When the human righted the bear and saw the head turn on its own, stealth was abandoned.
<>V<>
“Shit!” Steve snarled, throwing the bear away from him. “It is functional!”
“Don't just stand there like an idiot! Put it out of our misery!” Kelsy urged.
“I'm not going to shoot it!” Steve said, hefting the pistol. He didn't have to. Pat moved in, picked the bear up then tucked its body under his arm. His free hand grabbed the head and then twisted it off. Wires came with the motor stem. He yanked the eyes out for good measure. “See?”
“Are there more?” Imda asked, hugging her mother's side.
“I'm not sure,” Steve replied, cautiously looking in the room. He looked up in time to see a bird looking down at him from a piece of pipe in the torn out ceiling. “Is that a parrot?”
The electronic bird cocked its head then let out a piercing scream and jumped off its perch to dive at him.
Surprised and caught off guard, Steve put his hands to his ears and then had to duck as the bird swooped at him. “What the hell?”
Donnie tried to jump to catch the bird but failed. The bird spiraled higher, then folded its wings in and dove once more.
<>V<>
Skynet determined the timing was perfect so it initiated the ambush. It would focus on the humans that were armed first. It had learned to take them out before going after humans that were subadults or unarmed. If they were not taken out, they would interfere with the robots that were charged with their murder. That could not be allowed.
<>V<>
“It's some kind of robot!” Pat said.
“Is it? I thought it was a bird!” Steve said, shaking his head and sticking a finger in his ear. He turned, back to the window to see the thing flying around. With his back to the building, the thing couldn't dive bomb him again. That was why he didn't see the robot laying behind the window display sit up, turn, and then climb through the display and swing.
Imda, however, did see motion behind Steve and cried out a warning. Steve's eyes were on the bird, so his lapse in judgment proved fatal. The heavy swing smashed into the back of his neck and head from behind. He was knocked to the ground. Dazed, he felt a crushing blow as a hundred kilos of robot jumped onto his back. Grippers reached down to embrace the back of his neck and then squeeze. His neck snapped, and his head popped off in a geyser of blood.
Horrified, Asa and Imda screamed in terror. The others turned in shock as Donnie snarled then whined in grief.
The robot picked up Steve's weapon, twisting it out of his hand and tearing a finger off with it. It took a second to get the finger out. Boyd snarled and tried to rush the robot, but it swung the gun. Clive saw it and tried to push Boyd out of the way. The bullet passed through his back and into Boyd.
Fiben snarled, charging the robot as it fired its second and final shot; this one into Boyd's temple. The dead man flopped like a fish then remained still. Fiben had no concern for him at the moment; he had gotten within arm's reach and swung. The robot managed to anticipate the blow to catch the improvised club. Instead of hanging on and trying to wrestle it away, Fiben let go and moved in, long arms reaching up to do what the robot had done to Steve. His incredibly strong simian hands gripped the robot's throat actuators and ripped them out, taking wiring with them. The robot reeled back, tripped on the bodies and went down. Fiben was on top of it, swinging his arms and battering it's eyes and head for all he was worth.
Pat had taken cover when the gunshots had gone off. He saw Clive and the others just lying there, Clive's rebar bat just rolling around. He glanced at Fiben and the robot and dived for it. When he came up for it, he saw Asa's eyes go wide. He whirled, bar swinging. Luck was with him, he caught the parrot robot as it dived at him, smashing it to the ground. A second and third swing made it a sparking feathered piece of wreckage.
A second robot attacked Kelsy from behind. This one was slow; its movements hampered by a plastic tarp melted to its body. Kelsy wrenched her arm out of its grip, gasping as she screamed for help.
Pat and Fiben looked over to her, but Donnie was already moving in. The dog didn't bother barking; it snapped at the robot's leg and bit then yanked. Taken unexpectedly off balance and still engaged with a fighting Kelsy, the damaged robot went down to one knee. Kelsy kicked it in the head, knocking it to one side. The dog attacked from behind, snapping at the rear of the robot's lumbar region then jumping back as the robot tried to snap its arms at him. But the robot was still focused on the woman so the dog darted in and snapped his teeth onto the back of the robot's neck and twisted. Sparks and fluid flew. The dog yelped and backed
away, coughing and sputtering.
Pat moved in, pushing Kelsy grimly aside. He slammed the rebar down like a sword into the thing's neck, and then twisted, snapping the head off.
The robot spasmed, then its limbs lashed out in one last attempt to do injury to the organics. Kelsy pulled Pat clear. After a moment its thrashings slowed, then ebbed.
“Think it's dead?” Kelsy asked, panting.
“I don't know. All I know is I'm going to use a longer stick to poke it and find out,” Pat answered.
“What's … how bad is it?” Kelsy asked, cradling her arm. She looked over to see Asa checking on Clive and Boyd. She shook her head to Boyd; his brains were splattered all over the area. Clive coughed then laid still. She gently stroked his fur and then closed his dead eyes.
“Damn it,” Kelsy whispered over and over as Imda sobbed softly.
<>V<>
Skynet noted the termination of the resources in the village and reviewed the encounter. It judged two of the humans dead, one injured, possibly fatally. It was a suboptimal encounter, trading two entertainment-turned-surveillance robots and two work robots for two humans. It could do nothing to alter the encounter's outcome, however, so it logged the fight for future reference. Using the bird as a distraction had been an optimal call, a distraction. It would need to utilize such actions again in future engagements.
<>V<>
Donnie did another more thorough check of the area. This time the dog took a lot longer to return. When it did it reported that there were a few robots, but all had been damaged or destroyed. It had also found bodies—all dumped inside closets or out-of-the-way places.