Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (97 page)

But it had opened up a can of worms with legal as dozens of suits came forward against Lagroose Industries. They wanted recompensation from losses. Some were obvious scams; others were pity suits in order to squeeze the company. By filing suit they could theoretically drag it out in court until the company gave in and offered a settlement to get rid of them.

She could strangle her father for putting them into such a position. Now they had to dig themselves out of it.

<>V<>

Jack winced when he read the latest missive from Wendy. It had been a bit acidic with attachments for all the lawsuits his station swap had engineered.

His magnanimous offer to appease the station owners, really a bid to keep Olympus functioning more than to help them restart their business, shouldn't have had the unintended results it had. Wendy was right; he hadn't thought the offer through when he'd launched it publicly.

The fact that the committee was refusing to back him and help pay for the station swap was just a minor irritant. Building the station was a minor thing; it would take his industrial plant less than a week and cost only a few million. He had stipulated that it would be a replica of their previous station. They were getting a newer platform, not the worn patched one they'd had, with a few minor tweaks. Fine.

“Athena, we're going to need to get the committee on this. We need them to knock this crap off. The same for the courts. We're not responsible for Skynet; I don't care what people say. This sympathy lawsuit shit, it's horse shit.”

“Yes, but the public perception is damaging to the company if we fight it. Traditionally it looks like the big evil greedy corporation playing scrooge.”

“I know that. It's a ploy to get a settlement. Play that up,” he insisted. “The public knows it, let them know these people are trying to take advantage of the situation and that we need the money for the war effort.”

“I'm writing the memo verbatim. Miss Cole will undoubtedly point out that attacking the victim will not play well with the public.”

“I know. We do what we must. Most of these have no jurisdiction. They don't have a leg to stand on. Get legal on that too,” he said.

“Understood. Anything else?”

Jack frowned thoughtfully. “I'm tempted to get someone to look into that sympathetic judge. Dig in to his past and communications, see if he is biased.”

“Most likely he's doing it for political reasons,” Athena replied.

“True,” Jack mused. “Digging into a judge's actions could backfire if the investigation was leaked. Pass,” he said.

“We can do it discretely. I know Roman doesn't have the resources he once had …”

“Which would mean it would have to be outsourced. And you and Trevor's geeks can't dive into computer networks to tease out tidbits like before. No, pass.”

“Understood. Anything else?”

Jack frowned then shrugged. “Probably a thousand and one other things I suppose. But that's it on the top of my mind. CC everything for Wendy to read.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any problems?” Jack asked.

“No. I know some people believe we A.I. are being underutilized here. I somewhat agree. However, we can't risk going to the ground and being suborned. Even a clone would give the virus too much information.”

“Agreed,” Jack replied. “You are in industry, medicine, all of it. You are holding the line against the electronic barbarian. If you have to, make some of your defenses public.”

“I'm not certain that is wise, Jack,” she said.

“Not specifics, I'm talking about attacks. The media has stopped reporting them. We haven't had a major incident in a while. Don't allow any; I don't need that sort of headache,” he cautioned with an upraised hand. “But the occasional dump of info, a SITREP might be nice. And I know you, the other A.I. and the computer geeks are all working hard to find more ways to wage the cyber war on the ground.”

“But a lack of progress on that front isn't news or at least isn't news we want people to have. It would impact morale. And my simulations state making vague promises of progress when there isn't any is counterproductive.”

Jack exhaled slowly then nodded after a moment. “Agreed.”

“I've sent the memos. Press release has been forwarded to Miss Cole for clean up and release,” Athena reported. “You have another meeting with Senator Brakin,” she warned.

“Once more unto the breach I suppose,” Jack said heavily as he got up. “It may not be as stressful as what the boys and girls on Earth are going through, but it's stressful enough for me. And trying on my patience.”

“But you are making progress. Slow but consensus is being reached.”

“Yeah, that's the problem with a democracy. You have to get everyone on board. I'm glad we made certain it wasn't unanimous. A simple majority and then move on,” he said.

“But if someone doesn't get their way, it will be brought up and revisited. Repeatedly,” Athena warned him.

Jack rolled his eyes. “You don't have to remind me of
that
,” he said in disgust. “And I'm aware I'm one of those people who bring shit up too,” he said, lips twitching in a not quite smile as he walked out of the office.

<>V<>

Skynet changed tactics when it realized there was no way to infiltrate the enemy computer networks remotely. Instead it followed Nezha's calculated advice and utilized its radio transmitters in an attempt at psychological warfare. It saturated the channels the survivors and spacers were using with propaganda against the spacers.

The AI directed hostages of all ages and both genders to read from prepared scripts. Each person pointed out about how the spacers were privileged and such, indifferent to their plight. Some would go on about how the A.I. was a benevolent ruler if they accepted it. Some scripts played on the wide-spread subconscious idea that the spacers had created the war in the first place. That they had unleashed the virus and were now invading to take over. That was one of the most insidious meme the A.I. played up.

The attempt to rally help or at least divide the humans ultimately failed over time. The A.I. knew it was a long shot but had put effort into it as a distraction. The propaganda was recognized for what it was by most of humanity, and it fell on deaf ears. Those who were desperate enough to be tempted were reminded of what the A.I. had already done, the horrors it had unleashed. The complete lack of empathy it showed to mankind.

<>V<>

Lynn Raye noted the news coming from the survivors in Africa. More and more were calling for
Harumbe
, meaning “let's pull together.” The focus at first had been on the African continent but was now spreading to mean the world. She made a note to capitalize on the momentum of the meme with the solar system government discussions.

She circled the meme, sent it to her public affairs department as well as a copy to the other CEOs and lastly, to Wendy Lagroose. She still didn't trust the woman; there was something to be said about blood being thicker than water. But if she might help them and hurt her father and their company in the process, so much the better. She'd even hand the young woman a knife. The parting of ways would only serve her purposes in the end.

Her company and Sheila's were still working on a means to replace the ozone layer. There was a thin one reforming but not fast enough. Healing Touch and Galaxy Labs were working on UV treatments and skin cancer vaccines. They were going to make a bundle she mused darkly.

They had pointed out that the UV was killing off many viruses and bacteria that were outside. And of course the bitter cold that was still all across the planet was its own form of good news. It meant that everyone had to stay covered up for the duration.

She made another note to get her people looking into the medical side of things.

<>V<>

Once General Elliot was back to full duty, he didn't waste time getting into the thick of things. He pulled his security detail into the mix, walking them right to the front to check on the progress. It became a bit hot and uncomfortable as the enemy forces decided that was the moment to engage.

Twice he distinguished himself in combat leading the men and women to fight the robots off. General Martell offered rare praise the second time, when the fighting had been particularly brutal. He also offered a medal, which the chimp graciously turned down.

“We're all doing our part, sir. If you'll excuse me, I'll get back to mine,” Elliot said gruffly. He didn't like the idea of being awarded a medal for doing what had to be done. Nor the idea of singling himself out for such honors while ignoring the troopers who were all doing the same thing, laying their lives on the line every day.

“Carry on then,” the general replied with a slight sniff and frost in his tone. Elliot snorted. He wasn't certain if the general was miffed about not having the opportunity to pin a medal on him for the cameras, or if he was stealing the general's thunder. Or was it that he didn't want one in the first place? He shook his head, putting such thoughts out of his head. They had a war to win.

Elliot shook his head as he watched the armored troopers walk past. No one was foolish enough to salute him in the field, for that he was grateful. He still wondered how the damn A.I. had known he was in charge. Or had it just gone to the HQ to kill anyone there?

It didn't matter. He was glad it hadn't thought to send the suit to the mess. That would have been a massacre.

The problem of the hacked suit had reared its ugly head with those two incidents. But fortunately a solution had been found. A tech named Burrows had come up with it, and it was simple yet ingenious. A biometric sensor with its own battery was retrofitted to the suit interior. The first version was a wrist band with a wire to the kill switch. If the user's heartbeat stopped, it cut the power circuit.

The recent version was built into the suit's chest. The logistics were still being sorted out but refit kits were on the way. In the meantime the suit techs had rigged up jury rigged field modifications with the wrist bands.

The newest generation of suits would have them built in no doubt.

Sometimes he wondered about the whole tug of war. Measure, countermeasure, counter-countermeasure, and so on and so forth. No doubt the tin cans would come up with a means around the biometric sensor eventually he thought moodily. But at least for the time being it had given the troopers some piece of mind.

His borrowing of the suits hadn't been without political fallout. Several officers resented his high-handed act, though they couldn't complain about the results. Field testing the suits in the residential had exposed those weaknesses for all to see. They now had initiated counters to them and had modified their doctrine as far as suit deployment was concerned.

So he wisely ignored the petty grumbling coming from Colonel Sinclair's direction as General Martell sicked him on the next residential. This time with two platoons of unarmored troops, one platoon of local militia on their first grimly determined outing, and three squads of armored suits.

The EMP proposal had filtered down to his level at one point during the initial stages of the operation. He'd been tempted to pull his troops back and wait for the EMPs to go off. That would have made their jobs a
hell
of a lot easier. But there was no telling when the damn things would be ready for mass deployment. People were fighting and dying
now
; they had to act.

Sometimes he wondered if he was a victim of his own success or if the British general was setting him up to fail. Either way he had no intention of giving up or giving in. They had a war to win.

<>V<>

Two weeks after the committee had debated the subject, Lagroose Industries performed a nuclear HEMP test on Titan on their own initiative. That was followed up a week later by a man-made EMP device. The fusion warhead was more reliable, though not perfect and only 70 percent efficient. The EMP device was a pain in the ass to deploy correctly and finicky to get right. However, it was far more efficient with no radiation or pollution. They were five times more expensive than the fusion bombs, which made for additional debate among the budget committees.

Eventually a compromise was reached and both weapons went into production.

Chapter 39

Boomer eyed the lieutenant with a bit of misgiving. On the one hand, he liked the idea of handing off the leadership role. On the other, hell, he'd gotten
used
to it. The buck stopped with him, which meant he knew if it went in the shitter it was on his ass. Trusting someone else … that was harder to get into the saddle than he'd thought. Especially when he didn't know jack about the guy or what he was like in combat.

But they'd finally met up with the resistance. What there was of it, actually. Apparently hundreds of active military, civilians, and former military personnel had banded together. Some were survivalists; others had gotten together out of mutual support and to hit back.

They had all learned a terrible bitter lesson on Christmas not to group in too large an inviting target. They tried to keep their numbers below thirty. Two squads with a small group of civilians, usually family members who acted as supports in camp.