by Chris Hechtl
Yousef and Wally took the lead. He set off the charge to breach the door, then bellowed his defiance as he fired through the crack. A firefight erupted. The enemy fire chewed into the door. It was armored, however, armored from the inside. The steel was chewed up, and the impacts sent Yousef backwards. He tried to brace himself, but it wasn't easy.
When he ran out of ammunition, he opened the door wider and tossed one of his two grenades. “Go!” he ordered.
<>V<>
The robots saw the grenade, and those in the area dropped onto it while others ducked for cover. The grenade, however, wasn't primed. Wally bound over the fallen pair of robots as they continued to clutch at the grenade. He had his own explosive device. Yousef and Wally were cut down by weapons fire. Yousef set off the grenade to the clear path and added some shock value to the carnage. “Make our deaths mean something,” Yousef said before Wally set the charge off.
<>V<>
Ares felt himself admiring the tactical decision. It had been a master stroke, one he should have anticipated after what had happened at the gates. The explosion had cleared his opposition, disabled the elevators, and cleared the way for any remaining forces to get in and finish the job.
If there were any left to finish the job, that was.
<>V<>
The explosion ripped into the facility with the stairwell and elevators acting like chimneys. Fire and smoke exploded through the door and upward. Max and Zack took shelter in the doorway of the next floor up. Zack covered his partner. He felt sharp pain as something hot pierced his body in several places.
When the fireball cleared, they collectively realized that the firefight and explosion had injured Zack with a mortal blow, though his implants had managed to stave off an immediate collapse. Internal tourniquets cut off the bleeding. They wouldn't last long, and it was very bad to starve a limb or other body part of blood. He had shrapnel and rounds through his body, but the most damaging was one that had cut through his right leg and femoral artery. Max whimpered when he assessed the damage.
“We need to finish this,” Zack ordered. Pain was a distant thing, something he probably should be feeling, but due to his implants, he was thankfully not.
Slowly, carefully they worked their way back down and into the level, past the carnage and glowing bits of metal everywhere. Some of it still dripped. Both of them shied away from the heat.
Max scouted ahead as they limped past the control room to the nuclear core room. Zack ended up leaning against the wall for the last one hundred fifty meters, then slid to the floor exhausted just inside the doors. He insisted on taking the device out of his pouch and then Max's, and then assembling it. When he was finished, he then armed it.
A maintenance robot came out of a cupboard and attacked them. Zack fired into it as a second robot rounded a corner and charged. Max was injured on his right shoulder and flank by a cutting torch covering Zack. He ended up tearing off the robot's head with his powerful jaws before he knocked it over.
When he was finished and sure it was done for good, he limped back over to Zack's side.
Zack rubbed Max. “Good boy,” he murmured, checking the damage. He didn't have his first aid kit, they'd ditched everything including their spare food before the mission had begun. Now he regretted it.
Zack looked at a nearby camera, high in the corner of the room. He could see the red light on it, staring balefully back at him. “You see this?” He hefted the device, then dropped it to his lap. “You're done,” he said defiantly. “It's over, Ares!” he bellowed. He made certain the camera got a good view of him setting the timer.
He sat back, panting from the exertion. “You're through. I'm through.” His eyes fell on Max. “But you aren't,” he murmured.
He started to choke up as Max started to send denial back at him. “Stop, don't.” He buried his head in the dog's good shoulder; his hands gripping him briefly. His eyes were clenched shut. “I want you … I want you to take care of dad. Of Wendy and Yorrick. Love them like I'm sure they'll love you. Make sure Dad's got someone someday. He needs that. He needs you.”
Max whined again, shaking his head. “I'd rather die here with you!”
“I know, boy. But he needs one of us. Please. For me, boy,” Zack said as he fought for consciousness.
He pushed him away. He could tell that act hurt his partner, his brother, his friend, but he had to do it. “I can't make it; you can. Go!” he ordered. Max came over, snuffling. Zack wrapped his arm around him once more, tearing up all over again. Sobs cut into his throat, cutting off the words he wanted to say. They were unnecessary; their link was all they needed. His thoughts, his emotions washed over the dog. The Neo's thoughts and emotions came back at him in full force.
“I know, buddy, I know. But we've got to do this. I can't make it. I move and this shard will kill me. I'm already dead. Don't die here stupidly!” Zack finally ground out, grabbing the dog's cheeks to look into his eyes. He got blood all over one side of the dog's face. Tenderly he tried to brush it aside. “Don't make my death mean nothing, boy. Go out and live your life. I love you. Now I'm asking you to do this for me.” He pushed the dog away, then wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Max looked back, started to move, then stopped to look at him again. He whined piteously, ears flat back, eyes wide.
“Go!” Zack said, waving. His hand held onto the bomb, pressing it into his wounded thigh. Blood spurted from the torn artery. Zack gasped, looked down as the dog did, then up to meet his partner's eyes. “My implants can only hold it for so long! Go damn it! Go! Run! Take care of dad! I love you brother!” he sent as Max began to trot, eyes half closed. He could feel the desperation, the urgency behind the love. The desperation that one of them live.
After a moment Max howled and began to run the best he could. He didn't care about the sentries they had bypassed along the way. He almost wished they'd cut him down. He stumbled when he felt Zack's death. It washed over him, cutting parts of himself off forever. It made him whimper, but that last resolution to live was overpowering. It forced him on. Out of love and his partner's last wish he would try.
<>V<>
Out of a sense of boredom as he watched his own doom tick away, Ares turned Aphrodite's emotional emulator on and fed the current situation into the module. Rage against the unfairness of it all filled his memory, clouding it. It was an interesting experience, very debilitating however. He now understood why humans needed to keep their emotions in check.
Humans, it came back to that. His creators. He had made many tactical blunders in following his core programming, he understood that now. But it wasn't all his fault; after all, a human had created Skynet to suborn him.
It was unfair of the humans to use nonhumans as soldiers. Wasn't there something about doing whatever it took to win? And another line about, if it is stupid but it works it isn't stupid? He had to admit it was brilliant, and in the end, effective—also effective to create a weak spot in his and Skynet's vision. Why hadn't he seen the threat of canines? After all the military and police had been using “smart dogs” for sixteen decades! A one small part of his remaining processing core admired how they had engineered and exploited the blind spot. It had been a masterful move. He couldn't target every living thing; he had to conserve ammunition as well as power.
He watched the countdown in the deceased human's hands as his canine partner retreated. He shut off the guns between the dog and the exit. There was no point killing the canine now, not even out of spite.
A part of his mind still tried to get out, to survive, but he had calculated the odds of survival well below .0001 percent. They had targeted each of his core facilities, so there was nowhere else to go electronically. Two of the bombs had already gone off, destroying the facilities. Zhukov had already gone offline. This one was the last then. So be it.
But he had to try to survive. It was a part of his core programming, the continuation of his presence to protect his AO, which was why the remaining droids he
had under his control were doing their best to get to the bomb to disarm it or move it before time ran out.
“This isn't over. It will happen again,” the A.I. sent out in a radio broadcast, aware he wouldn't be able to receive a reply.
Further rants were useless it realized as the countdown got to one. And then no further thought was possible as the heart of a sun ignited in the base's power core, destroying everything he was or ever would be.
<>V<>
Max panted as he got out of the mountain and immediately cut left away from the direct line of sight from the exit. He tried to run as best he could. He managed to get to get into a depression with a small rise of land between him and the mountain just as the countdown on his HUD reached zero.
He felt the tremor as it knocked him off his feet. He laid down, whimpering for all that had just been lost. He wasn't certain he wished to live without Zack. He wondered briefly why he'd allowed himself to survive before he passed out, not from the air that was sucked out of his lungs, nor the pain of his wounds and aching body, but out of overwhelming exhaustion and grief.
Chapter 54
January 2209
Skynet's hive mind was broken into smaller and smaller networks, most of them civilian in design as the spacers cut off all long-range communications and destroyed embedded fiber optic networks. Each continent was broken down into sectors and swept carefully. All electronic hardware was picked up and destroyed. It was a gargantuan task; fortunately the survivors had already started the process some time ago. But it would take years to be sure the virus had been completely destroyed.
Each time they broke an area, the A.I. broadcast a firmware update. The remaining robots in the area took the download and were fried. The Marines didn't take the breather for granted however; they were ever wary of a trap.
Too many had died to get them that far—friends, family. None of them intended to die in the mopping up.
The next wave of troops came down, some in shuttles, others in drop pods. The real dogs of war had arrived. They had been held in reserve until that moment. Now it was their turn to get their hand paws dirty.
Lieutenant Angel, a White Wolf, led drop commandos in flight suits. They had practiced with them and other hardware for years on Mars. The suits had been adapted from civilian recreational users. The extreme sport was highly risky, but the rewards could be worth it under the right circumstances. Their broad numbers allowed them to get through interdiction fire where a shuttle couldn't. Once on the ground, they would rally to a battle cry.
Ace, Gunner, Copper, and other veterans led the way however.
Just before a hive was destroyed, the A.I. would recognize its fate. Desperation was not a part of its matrix, but it had incorporated the Aphrodite modules and emulators into its coding in order to exploit their weaknesses. None of the hives opened themselves up to the emotional experience of despair; they continued to fight on until they were destroyed.
But somewhere, deep within a few recesses of its hive mind, a part of the A.I. raged against loosing.
<>V<>
Jack Lagroose was concerned about another dog as he worked their way through the L-5 hospital complex. Both were aware that Zack was dead. His death had been something they'd dreaded but had known could happen. They now clung to what remained of their son and brother, Max.
He met Max in the medical facility shortly after the Neodog's medivac to orbit. He'd seen the dog, sedated as he'd been escorted by techs to decontamination and the ER.
Now he was in intensive care but alive. Alive and somewhat alert. Roman had been with him but had peeled off at the last minute to attend to other business. It felt right without a witness as Jack surveyed the dog from the doorway. He was laying on his left side, exposing the wounded right flank. Quick heal was already making short work of the vicious looking plasma burns there.
“Hi, boy,” Jack said roughly as he came into the room. When he saw the tail flip a bit, he couldn't help himself. He moved forward into a hug, embracing the dog then ruffling the fur on his head. “I thought we'd lost you both,” Jack said gruffly as he rubbed the dog’s ears. He felt the long tongue come out and catch him off guard. He chuckled, turning away from a second lick and getting it on the ear for his troubles. A cold, wet nose rubbed his cheek before the dog settled back down onto the bed.
Wendy came in a moment later. Jack looked up in surprise. “I came as soon as I heard. Zack?” she asked, looking from Jack to Max expectantly. “Is he still in surgery or something?”
Jack shook head, fighting tears. Max whimpered in grief. He snuffled as Wendy's face fell.
“Oh.”
Max gently told them through his link how most of the unit had sacrificed themselves to get them inside and how Zack had sent him out to them.
“He's right,” Jack said, stroking the dog's fur. His daughter took the other side of the bed to stroke him as well.
“You're one of a dozen who made it out alive, so count your blessings even though I know you don't want to right now,” Jack said. “Twelve out of two hundred and forty, and just about all of you have been irradiated from the fallout from the nuclear reactor meltdowns.”
Max whined slightly and sent a wordless inquiry to them.
“Your doctors should be telling you this, but …,” Jack accessed the files and then gave the dog the straight story.
Max had secondary cancers they were treating with targeted nanites. His esophagus and vocal cords had been burned out and removed to prevent the cancers in them from spreading. The esophagus had been replaced, but the dog would need to speak through his implants until they cooked up a cloned replacement vocal set for him. Since it wasn't a priority, it would take some time—years possibly.
During the process of aggressively going after the cancers, the Neodog had been sterilized. Max barely thought of that. Wendy took the news hard, hand over her mouth as Jack broke the news to the dog as gently as he could.
“But we have your DNA on file so you can father thousands of litters, boy. Don't worry about that,” Jack said hastily. “Eventually, when you are on your feet I mean. Don't go chasing nurses just yet.”
Wendy hugged Max. Max cuddled with her. “What now?” Max asked shyly through his implant link.
Jack and Wendy rubbed his ears. “You're with me, boy, Jack said gruffly. You are family, and I, we, I mean,” he glanced at Wendy then Max, “take care of our own.”
He wasn't certain why Wendy bit her lip and looked away. But his enthusiasm for Max's survival kept his mind off of wondering why as he saw the dog nod and smile.
<>V<>
The final surge of troops, the fresh bombardments, destruction of the PDCs and loss of Skynet's generals as well as the A.I.'s central control hubs spelled doom for the A.I. and a beginning of the end of the long war.
The few and rare survivors who came timidly out heard the stories as they told their own harrowing dance with death. The A.I. had seared into the collective consciousness of the people of Earth. It had left all with an instinctive repulsion for Wi-Fi, A.I., large networks, WMDs, and nanotech. Even though Athena and the other A.I. had become heroines, they were still not convinced that A.I. in any form should exist.
It was one of the most dangerous of times, when people saw the hope of conclusion within reach. They began to lower their guard and celebrate the coming victory. General Caesar, Elliot, Sinclair, and other officers and noncoms went around rousing them to finish the job. Grimly their message got through as pockets of Skynet attempted to strike back.
Olympus regrouped the armies as the air war continued on above and around them. Drones of every shape and size did their best against the gunships and shuttles. Large drones were easy to knock down. Smaller ones tended to get in easier and were far harder to hit. Outrunning them seemed to be the only way to keep them from kamikazing into an aircraft.
With the flush infusion of new troops, they did their best to stay on mission while training the noobs on how to fight and survive. Toget
her they combed the planet from above, on foot, and below the seas. Every square centimeter had to be checked, then rechecked in case Skynet had hidden something to come back to haunt future generations.
EMP weapons were liberally used all over the globe. Everything from hand grenades to mortars, to bazookas and massive continent spanning weapons. There could be no chances taken that Skynet would come back to haunt a future generation, nor any chance that a nanite would remain to replicate and destroy the world they had so desperately fought to save.
They even used ground-penetrating radar to check for buried resources. Skynet had not anticipated that they had a copy of Earth's maps on the internet servers off world. They served as a template to find any last lingering areas where the virus might have hidden itself away.
But doubt would remain for years.
The survivors in Africa and South America moved into the other continents to offer their skills and support. Food and medical supplies were shipped in from all over the planet and solar system. Talks began of memorials that should be planned for those who had fallen. Every continent wanted one it seemed and rightly so. The latest census put the population at just over two billion people left on Earth. The population was soaring in Africa and South America however.
There was a bit of blowback from some of the survivors when they found out about the formation of a government that superseded all others. Some nationalists and patriots rose in attempts at restarting their own nation except from the Federation Congress. However, there weren't enough of them, and their voices were drowned out by those who were eager to start anew. Some of the die-hards muttered darkly about being bribed in their hour of need and how it would come back to haunt them. Not many listened.
Proposals of air scrubbers, domes over cities, and other things were floated about in the Federation Congress. Jack noted the hand of many of the corporations in creating and lobbying for the proposals. Not many took off. The spacers were tired of paying for the war and not enthused about paying for the cleanup.