Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (28 page)

The A.I. did learn that the robots under its control, even the maintenance robots, were suboptimal to the tasks it had assigned. They could not compete effectively with a human. Consequently, it reclassified its mission, moving to find a way to exploit humans as laborers in the process. It worked on a plan it could enact without compromising its overall mission or facility safety.

<>V<>

The weather was setting in like a big wet blanket. Severe storms were wracking the continent. The coastline villages and cities were ruined; the tsunamis and earthquakes had taken a devastating toll on life and buildings alike.

Hachiko knew all this, but it was at the back of his mind. His duty was on the mission: to find more survivors and to bring them to safety.

Hachiko was an Akita or at least he looked like one. He was a genetically engineered smart dog, but not from the Lagroose Labs. No, Pavilion Industries had created him and his littermates as an experiment. An attempt at breaking into the smart dog market that Lagroose dominated so thoroughly.

He knew all this but didn't care. He wasn't as smart as the humans; again, it didn't matter. His duty was to look to them, to follow their orders, and to die for them if necessary. That was his duty, his honor. He would not fail.

Unfortunately, so many of the humans he had found were dead. Many had died from the tsunami, washed inland by the massive tidal waves, then deposited like cherry blossom petals stirred by the wind.

As they crept ever closer to the Okinawa Marine base, he noted that it was alert. His tail wagged for he could see the lights on. That was indeed a good sign. With any luck they could use the base and its people as a center to house and care for the refugees. He rushed back to the human handlers.

Master Ochi took his report then had him lead him to the fence line. It took a bit of exploring to find the road that led to the gate a kilometer away.

“No guards,” Master Ochi observed, looking around the perimeter. “Odd.”

“The lights are on but no one is home?” a familiar baritone asked. Master Ochi turned in annoyance to Master Chi. The massive man was a friend to Hachiko. His heavy hand stroked the Akita's head. “Our little one has done well?”

“Apparently so,” Ochi stated. He observed the fence then grunted at the warning sign and razor wire at the top. The moat was filled with debris and tepid water from the recent rains. “I'll check the gate. You stay back and watch.”

“I?” Chi demanded.

“You are fat and slow. I can get there and get back by the time you get halfway there,” Ochi growled. He headed off, stomping for a bit before he realized he was only making a fool out of himself with such a display. Besides, he was splashing muck all over himself. He barked an order to the Akita to follow, and then continued on to the gate.

“Be careful little one,” Chi ordered. The dog nodded once then bounded away.

<>V<>

Ares still had a link to the foreign bases, but it was a tentative one through old fiber optic lines. His control of the Okinawa base was tentative, but it was an important link to the bases he had in Korea and further south. Therefore, when he saw the intruding human, he ordered the sentry weapons to target him.

<>V<>

“This isn't right,” Master Ochi observed, looking around them as he slowed his pace. He had the feeling that he was being watched. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. “This doesn't feel right,” he said again.

The Akita whined. The master glanced his way then to the fence, studying it like it was an opponent. “No, something is wrong,” he said.

Hachiko could smell dried blood. Entrails, death. The bodies were there, in the ditch. He didn't know why. “Death,” the dog reported through his vocoder, pointing with his nose to the source just as weapons opened fire. The dog danced away as dirt and mud flew up. The master screamed in terror and tried to run, but he was bracketed by two sentry guns. They tore him apart.

<>V<>

Ares studied the report briefly. The target had been neutralized. The video feed showed a dog still on the scene but that was unimportant. It classified the dog as not a threat and to be ignored, then turned its attention to other matters.

<>V<>

Hachiko saw the master go down and yelped. It went to the man's side and nudged his arm but the master didn't move. After a long moment, it looked up. The mission was incomplete. He went to the gate, padded it, searching for a way in but not finding one. After a few minutes, he heard someone hiss and then whistle from the bushes. His sharp ears perched up and swiveled to track the source. He turned his head, and as he did so, he noted the cameras and guns turning as well.

“Run,” the dog growled, turning in place as Master Chi stood up and waved frantically to him. He barked as the weapons locked onto the human. He took off, running fast.

<>V<>

Riza Chi saw the guns tracking to him and yelped. They shouldn't be active, but they were. He ducked, then turned and slid down an embankment to splash into a trickling stream. The stream was freezing over due to the cold, but it wasn't solid yet. His bulk made him break through. He grunted at the sharp bite of cold touching his feet but that wasn't what worried him.

When nothing happened he turned back and climbed up the embankment at a different place to look. The Akita had run until he'd disappeared. The guns had lost lock and then turned away. The cameras were tracking but couldn't see him. As he watched, Hachiko sniffed Ochi and then used his nose to flip his arms up onto his chest. The human wondered why the dog would do that, why he was getting himself bloody but then felt his chest constrict. He knew the answer then as the dog bit at the back of the human's coat and dug in, slowly dragging the dead man away from where he had fallen and back to where Chi was.

Chi's eyes darted up to the cameras and sentry guns, but they ignored the dog. They just kept moving. He wasn't sure what it meant. But as soon as he could he'd call in the danger over his ham radio and relate the story. Ochi's family deserved to know that much.

<>V<>

“Someone hit the reset button. Hard.” Clive said, shaking his head. “I wish I was there to beat the shit of them for being so asinine stupid,” he growled. The Neochimp was referring to the meme that had gone on for nearly two centuries where civilization was brought to its knees. It went by various names, fire sale, the great flush, worldwide enema, CTRL ALT DEL, Doomsday, whatever.

“Yeah with a vengeance,” Fiben Bollinger the IV replied quietly. Fiben was the leader of the Lagroose cleanup teams on the South and Central American continent. Being stuck in southwestern Columbia, where it was normally hot and humid, sucked. Staying near Popayán, the nearest small city and spaceport, was a double-edged sword. The place could be an evac site or a nest of rioters, a place for civilization to be reborn from … or another target. “I wonder if the idiots who wished this ever wondered about the cost? I don't think they did. I think they assumed they'd survive it.”

“If they were lucky, maybe. Then again, maybe not. It's pretty hot,” Clive Newhaven replied.

“True.”

They were fairly confident that the tsunami that had wracked the area had killed many of the dolphins working in Caribbean, those who had been concentrated on the surface and near the beaches. One luckless pod had been torn apart by a tsunami; several of the pod members were swept dozens of kilometers inland and deposited high and dry. Out of the water, their own weight crushed them despite everything they tried to do with their attached harnesses. It was a slow, painful way to die. It was made painful to the survivors since they had heard their pleas for rescue for an hour before something had cut them off.

Most of the dolphins had refused to work in Asia due to that region's continued hunting of primal dolphins and whales centuries past their knowing they had language. He couldn't blame them; as an ape he didn't much care for going to Africa.

Lagroose personnel had orders to hook up together and find the nearest airstrip that could serve as a runway and to stick near it. Some were still coming in. Others were hunkered down wherever they had been when the nightmare had begun. The weather everywhere was brutal.

“Why the freak is it so damn cold?” Clive demanded. Fiben rolled his brown eyes. “No seriously! You've got a fur coat, I do too, but I'm still freezing,” he said, with the last word a teeth-chattering exclamation point to his complaint.

Fiben sniffed as he crossed his arms. He'd given his jacket to a kid who'd been stripped butt naked some time ago. He looked at his comrade and then sighed. “Stick your hands in your armpits. Keep moving.”

“This shit is for the birds. I chose South America because it's
warm
!” Clive complained.

They heard a sound as some of the others woke. “He still complaining?” a sleepy female voice asked.

“Isn't he always?” another voice said.

“Bitch, bitch,” Pat “Wash on” Morita sassed, giving the two Neochimps a disgusted look. “Try having no hair you fuzz balls,” he growled, eyes squinting. Pat had the unenviable name and looks of a long lost movie star from back in the twentieth century. He was constantly teased about doing martial arts, which was funny since the human was an engineer and
hated
fights.

“The clouds are doing it. Blocking out the light, Clive, we've been over this,” Fiben said, voice straining to keep his patience. “You want to tell him again?” he asked, eying Boyd Silest. Boyd was a massive human, a native of the area despite his Norte sounding name. He was, or had been, their liaison. Now he was a refugee trying to survive like the rest of them.

“Why bother. He doesn't get it. I bet he forgot why we're in the cave too,” a female voice said. They turned to her then sniffed.

“You know, you are a guest. You could go step outside,” Clive said, helpfully motioning with both hands to the mud puddle strewn muck beyond the trail. It was raining cats and dogs outside.

Kelsy “Babycakes” Nelson sniffed. “You first,” she said, rising to her feet. “Ape or not, I'd like to see you try it.”

Clive opened his mouth, teeth bared, eyes flashing, but Fiben's hand shot out to block him. “Enough. We're all in this together,” he said, eying the humans and then Clive. “So stop with the bickering. You're like two-year-olds. I don't have the patience for the crap.”

“I just thought the lady would like a shower,” Clive grumbled. That got a snicker from some of the others. Kelsy just gave him a one-finger salute.

“Oh baby, I don't think you can handle a real cock,” Clive mock panted. Pat groaned, covering his face with his hands.

“I got up
way
too early in the morning to put up with this shit. I need a toothbrush in the
worst
way,” Kelsy grumbled, ignoring the jibe. Kelsy was a Pavilion employee, of that they were sure of. She said she was on holiday in the area. Fiben was pretty confident that she'd been in the area as some sort of spy, most likely keeping tabs on his team. She'd just gotten caught out like the rest of them when all hell had broken loose. “Awake, kid?” she asked, eying the little girl trying to rub sleep or grit out of her eyes. Impada looked up at her with brown eyes and nodded. She yawned though.

Her mother, Asa Celi, took her by the hand and led her off to the latrine area behind a curtain. Fiben eyed it and then turned away.

“Why are we out here? In the jungle?” Clive demanded.

“It's safer than being anywhere near a city. That's why. And it's far enough away from the coast to be protected from the brunt of the storms and tides, but we can get high enough to see around if we need to,” Fiben explained needlessly. “Plus there is that landing strip. You know, the spaceport a dozen kilometers that way?” he pointed to the west.

“Right,” Clive grumbled. The spaceport had been shut down after the Ecuadorian skyhook had gone up. “I still think we should go to the skyhook. I mean, we might be able to get up,” he said. “It can't be all bad, can it?”

Fiben shook his head mournfully at the other Neochimps wishful thinking. He, however, was a realist; he knew better. He had to be if they were going to survive. He saw Asa stoke the fire a bit and then swing a pot over the fire. She put a few leaves in, most likely to brew some tea. He nodded ever so slightly. That was good since they were low on food.

“What we should do is hit the nearest town. I know you said our credit is no good, but we can still try again,” Clive grumped.

“No, it's not worth it. The locals … they don't like your kind. They think you are evil spirits,” Asa said.

“Who asked you,” Clive growled under his breath, just loud enough for Fiben to hear. Fiben could see the other chimp's fur rising.

“You take the watch, Clive. Pace, move around, do some isometric exercises. Don't sit in one place for too long or you'll get cold,” Fiben said.

“Me? Why me?” Clive asked. When he got a steely look from Fiben, he grunted, backing off. “Sorry.”

Fiben turned away to look at the group: one engineer, a couple of natives, some gear they had salvaged from their wrecked jeep, and a cave. Not a lot of hope.