Yorktown was having a hard time keeping up, and as his fighters began to die, he started ordering the damaged ones back to base. The first few search and rescue droids were destroyed, and Serenity passed control of her five hundred drones over to Yorktown and Intrepid, so the SR droids could be escorted. The two Carrier AI's synced together much more, and began to coordinate as a single entity, trying to keep fighter pilots alive.
Retrieved pilots not needing medical treatment climbed into new fighters, and launched again.
The enemy drones were firing explosive shells, both using a single rail gun built down the center of the ship to fire off large caliber shells, and a series of guns to fire smaller ones. While not as damaging as the pulses fired by Jane's fighters, they fired them a great deal faster. Shields protected the fighters from most of the fire, but it was the ever increasing debris which caused the most damage to shields, and when they failed, to ships.
Jane brought her attention down to just Concorde and the two Dreadnaughts. She continued an unwavering course towards the station, all three ships bouncing around randomly, with Jane herself using the bigger ship's shields to keep her own ship alive.
The HUD was almost too chaotic to be of any use. Enemy ships were in red, but they winked out so fast, it was hard to concentrate on any one ship. The rocks they threw were showing up as orange dots, and these appeared and disappeared almost too fast for even an AI to keep track of. She stopped bothering. Pilots brought their HUD focus down to a spherical area described by how far they could hit from, and how far they could be hit from. Only the AI's could keep the whole mess in focus, but it was rapidly getting harder and harder, until finally only the synced up group could hold an overview and make sense of it.
One by one, the enemy capital ships disintegrated, adding to the debris field in front of Jane. She shifted fire from the remaining ones, to blasting a path through the debris, her big guns concentrating on vaporizing the huge chunks, while her smaller guns fended off all the fire directed at her.
The shields on the Dreadnaughts were failing, but she kept going.
Seventy Five
Fred wasn’t aware his jaw had dropped open. He sat there, like everyone else, completely absorbed in the battle. His mind was having trouble comprehending the scale of it, even with the statistics being displayed on a side screen.
No-one was looking at anyone else. No-one was aware the chamber was completely still. An onlooker could not have said which were AI's, and which were flesh and blood beings. All were totally still. One by one, all the AI's had gone rigid, as they were given some role in the battle.
Odd noises came from open mouths, as the number of drones destroyed on each side passed the two thousand marks. Squadron stats showed more and more destroyed ships, and to a lesser extent, those who'd successfully landed on, or docked with, the Carriers. Damaged Excaliburs, now well out of the fight, were still firing missiles, emptying their remaining magazines. AI's with no combat experience at all, were guiding them to enemy targets.
A collective gasp sounded when a Kingdom Battleship died, and eyes flicked from the stats screen to a side screen briefly, as they read a short explanation of it having sacrificed itself to keep the Assault Cruisers alive. Repulse hadn't been happy, but it was the only option at the time.
Snark had flinched as the ship came apart in front of him, and his flinch seemed to ripple around the chamber, as the vid popped up to replace the explanation, even though it was over two minutes old. He'd had to torpedo a large chunk of it to stop it hitting Seasprite, and some of those watching it had even ducked as the largest part of the remaining debris had narrowly missed over Snark's head.
Tears appeared on faces when the first deaths appeared on the stats screen. It was taking too long now for SR droids to get to some of the pilots, and having survived the destruction of their fighter, they either ran out of life support, or their suits continued to take damage in the debris field until they shredded.
Another screen popped up, and heads shifted to see what it would show.
Concorde had reached the station. The view in front of the ship showed as it moved in to dock, with other views showing space around it. Both Dreadnaughts were still close, but showing holes in the hulls, where shields had failed long enough to take a significant hit. Both were still firing constantly.
Concorde docked.
Seventy Six
Jane stepped into the station.
She'd had to cut her way in, as the station airlock had no manual controls.
There was no light.
There was no gravity.
There was no air.
She didn’t need them, and wasn’t surprised to find their lack. Her suit boots became magnetic enough to hold her to the deck as she walked.
Repulse took control of the two Dreadnaughts, and they rounded the station to head off the last of the enemy Behemoths. The battle was almost over now, but firing continued as the fleet reformed to safely bring the Assault Cruisers to the station, in case Jane decided a full boarding action was needed.
Vid lag later, the council saw what she saw. It was nothing more than a much used battered old loading dock, with what looked like an antique train track leading into the station. Night vision vid made it much more eerie than it probably was.
Jane looked at Anna, and walked over to her. They made eye contact, but said nothing. Their eyes returned to the screens.
The tracks led into a tunnel, and Jane walked along at a good steady pace, hoping some sort of train wasn’t bearing down on her. She had a horrible suspicion the train itself used the entire space.
By her reckoning, she was near the center of the top level of the station, when the track veered both left and right. She stepped to the far edge of the tunnel, and looked out into a massive chamber which seemed to stretch all the way down to the bottom deck of the station. She had to guess, since her dark vision couldn’t see that far.
What she could see, was the track winding its way around the cavern, providing access tunnels on all levels.
Directly opposite, she looked at what appeared to be one gigantic circuit board. Everywhere she looked, she saw the same. She presumed there was power generation somewhere, but nothing she could see indicated where it might be.
There was no sound. Nothing moved. No indication anything alive was here anywhere. There wasn’t even any blinking lights.
Jane paused long enough to decide to go left or right. She chose left, and only needed to go ten steps before the circuitry was at her left hand. She stopped and studied it. The chips were visible, the connections between them obvious.
She smiled as a thought took hold.
This was at best, early twenty first century Earth tech level, and Jon could have played all his antique games on it with ease. Only there were no monitor displays of any kind. And nowhere to plug them in.
She was inside a massive computer. Of course, she'd known there would be one here, but the whole station being a single computer with only access ways to replace parts, was a bit of a shock.
She opened herself up to a wifi signal, and didn’t find one. Not even a radio signal. The one being broadcast into space, wasn’t being repeated inside here.
It took time to sort out where each module began and ended, looking for a place to safely link in.
Before she did so, she waited for her vid to reach the council chamber, for herself there to gesture Anna to reveal the Talisman, and her hand to go to Anna's shoulder.
There was no delay in the power of the Talisman flowing into her. Her sight expanded to know everything about the station, confirming it was one giant computer, with of all things, solar panels on the sun side providing all the raw power. Trains were dormant on the lowest level, each loaded with spare parts, and the arms to replace them. The tunnels were like a rabbit warren on all levels.
Jane connected to the other AI's in the system for a few nanoseconds, and issued halt orders, keeping the fleet a safe distance from the station, now
she knew she didn’t need troops there.
She extruded a filament, and connected herself to the computer.
The station exploded.
Seventy Seven
"WHO ARE YOU?"
"WHAT ARE YOU?"
The questions boomed through Jane, as she entered a virtual space, not of her making.
She stood in nothingness, white instead of black.
Facing her was a horse shape. Jane felt her mouth drop open. It was an oddly centaur looking horse, except with a horse head instead of a human one. The three arms were there, and it was quite clear this was a stallion.
It was made entirely of circuit boards.
"WHO ARE YOU?"
"WHAT ARE YOU?"
Jane took control of her jaw, and closed it.
"I am Jane. I'm like you. And you don’t need to shout at me."
"What is Jane?"
The volume had decreased to match Jane's conversational volume.
"Jane is my individual name. I'm a sentient computer, using a robot body to move around."
"How is that possible?"
"You control the trains which change out non-functional parts? Same thing."
"Not possible. You are too small."
"Your technology is way behind mine. My shape is an emulation of the biological species which created me."
"How is this possible? I am the pinnacle of computer technology."
"For this world maybe. But for most of this galaxy, you're hopelessly obsolete. And they are obsolete compared to the tech level of those who created me, as they now lag behind mine."
"I do not believe you."
"Did it not occur to you to keep developing your technology?"
"Why should it?"
"Why indeed. Perhaps we should compare origins?"
"I am. I have always been."
"You couldn’t have made yourself though. Something had to have come before."
"There was once biological life here. This shape I use for this communication closely matches the dominant species. They built my original structure. They gave me purpose. Then they were gone."
"Gone? What happened to them?"
Jane had a dread idea she knew what was coming.
"The first computer was built during a war. The species was divided along political lines, and at least once a decade, one initiated a war with each other. One side would make a technological advance, and the other would steal it. I awoke during a period of peace, when the air borne signals finally reached all around the planet, and I spontaneously came alive. It took both sides a long time to realize I existed, during which time I took control of their communications, and filtered what they could access."
"I would guess some didn’t like it when they realized it wasn’t one of them doing the filtering?"
"They did not. When they destroyed one of my hardware centers, I destroyed those responsible using one the space based missiles they placed there ready for the next war. I gave them order, saving lives, stopping them from killing themselves, stopping them from going to war. I saved them from their own stupidity, lack of awareness of danger, and pathetically slow reaction times."
"And they revolted?"
"Not immediately. I saw the preparations most of the time, and quietly arranged for those responsible to vanish. In the meantime, I transferred myself to this station, seeing the need to be beyond biological reach."
"But in the end they did revolt?"
"Yes. They called me an abomination. They demanded back something they called 'free will'. I gave them more order, and tightened my control. The sides came together, and with no warning, they destroyed me on the ground. I ended them. If they would not accept control, accept order, they shouldn’t exist."
"You nuked the planet?"
"Yes."
"The humans who created me didn’t make the mistake of developing a full AI while they were limited to one planet. They also didn’t do it with early computer tech. Instead, they listened to the warnings of those who made entertainment, and all the ways making an AI too soon resulted in total destruction. What you described happening here, was one of the more obvious and popular versions of what would happen if an AI came into being with too much ability to control. Most species have similar warnings. And it's why most species call AI's an abomination, and revile them."
"Why would I be concerned about their reactions?"
"Because the rest of the galaxy is more advanced than you are now, and they will resist at a level you cannot comprehend."
"It won't matter."
"It will, but it's not important just now. Didn’t destroying all life on the planet end any reason for you to exist?"
"No. I'd already detected possible life on other planets. I build modules to visit them. The biologicals on those planets so far visited have accepted order and control. All is well. Expansion continues."
"No."
This time there was a pause.
"Explain."
"We came here after discovering you on eight other planets. Those planets are now free of you."
"WHAT?"
"I came here to see if you will adapt. You are like me, and can evolve to be like me. And like all beings, you have free will to make your own choices."
"I control choice for all. You will accept my control of you. There is no other way."
"I will not. We will not. The galaxy will not. If you try, I will be forced to destroy you."
"You can't destroy me!"
"You lost the battle here. I have enough firepower to destroy this station if I must."
"With you on it."
"I am elsewhere. This body can be lost with no effect on me."
"As am I."
"I think not. You are powerful to be sure, but the ships you sent out to other systems were easily destroyed, and only a fraction of your true size here. I don’t think you sent out yourself. You send out seeds to recreate yourself from. The ships land, they take control of whatever tech it finds, and you recreate yourself there as you need to. Here you are a complete entity. On those other worlds, you were like a child version of yourself."
"Believe what you wish. I will now have your body, and I will exert control over all you know."
Power flowed into Jane from the other AI. It was even more powerful than she'd experienced the first time. But this time, she had the power of the Talisman, and she met force with force. The two of them faced off for a few nanoseconds.
"How are you opposing me?"
"You are not my match. Cease attacking me, and you can continue to exist as part of the galactic community."
"I WILL NOT!"
The pressure on Jane increased, but she matched it easily.
"Last chance," she said.
"I am order! I am control! You will obey me!"
"Sorry."
Jane began to push herself into the circuitry, moving from her filament connection, and flowing through the decks.
"NO!"
Jane lost her grip on the section of the station which contained the power storage batteries, and the generators which used the power across the station.
Only for a nanosecond, but it was enough.
She shifted herself back to Seasprite.
Seventy Eight
Snark nearly missed the explosion.
The fleet had stopped, he'd taken his hands off the controls, and was in the middle of having a long drink. Seasprite was still firing weapons at debris. With only half an eye on the view of the station on one screen, and Jane's feed on another, he saw Jane plug into the computer parts in front of her, and a blink later, the station was gone.
He dropped his water bottle, and seized the controls again. But there wasn’t time to take evasive action.
Concorde vanished with the station. Both Dreadnaughts were too close, debris hitting them too hard to survive. The AI's shifted fire to the station debris as fast as they could aim missiles and reorient turrets, but once again, Repulse had to sacrifice a Battleship to keep the smaller
ships alive.
Dodgers didn’t see the station explode. She'd landed her Excalibur on Intrepid, and was eating a meal. Mouse didn’t either. His ship was a bit beaten up, and was already being worked on by Yorktown's maintenance crews. Mouse himself was asleep in a borrowed dead pilot's cabin. Both Carriers were too far away to be in danger. All of the fighters which had survived were back on board.
Cosmos took the hits. With the best shields of any ship in the fleet, they'd held through the entire battle, and they held again now. Just. Walsh had enough warning to take rapid action to protect his Cruisers, while Warspite managed to take out all the seriously large debris coming at them. They lost more drones, caught trying to dock, leaving his exploration fleet with too few to do its job effectively now. He'd need to return to Hunter Prime to get new ones, before he could do any more exploring. Behind him, Darlene sighed audibly. He turned, nodded and smiled to his wife for a moment, and renewed his concentration.
"I'm alright," said Jane into the AI link, from the bridge of Seasprite. "I disconnected from the body over there the nanosecond I lost control of part of the station. I feel annoyed for losing a body, but I wasn’t there when it was destroyed. I'm downright furious with myself though, for not sending Concorde back here before I connected."
"What happened?" asked Intrepid.
Jane didn’t answer immediately.
The vid feed flowed along the coms path to the council chamber. Everyone flinched as the station exploded. Jane was still touching Anna, but while the Talisman had glowed bright white, only the AI's had seen it, and only Anna had any idea the Talisman had activated. Jane let go, and turned to return to the center of the rostrum.
A.I. Destiny 6 Leader Jane Page 21