Machines of Eden (26 page)

From seven meters away,
SB01 watched her. SB01 was a security bot, lacking the heavy
firepower options of KB01 and KB02, but it did carry a perfectly
serviceable 9mm semiauto in its left forearm. At the moment SB01
was engaged in a complex routine involving its mission priorities.
It, unlike KB01 and KB02, had a priority programming mission
already hardwired into its CPU, which, among other things, mandated
it to protect the organics involved in Project EDEN from harm. SB01
wasn’t sure if this organic qualified under those criteria. It
seemed possible, but the organic was not operating in a capacity
that SB01 recognized as having anything to do with Project
EDEN.

On the other hand, the
orders the techie had given it were much more recent and
unmistakable: Locate, engage, and destroy all bots and organics
approaching the Facility. SB01 took another millisecond to make its
decision. Then it raised its arm and sighted on the organic,
initiating a quick infrared scan to attain a perfect sight picture
of the organic’s heart, which was beating 1.76 times over the
healthy range for a female of her age and weight.

Janice gathered her legs
underneath her and prepared to sprint to a nearby tree. From behind
it she could run unseen for several meters, then turn and come in a
wide semicircle from the rear to ambush the ambushers. She rose to
her feet, noticing a second too late the tiny red laser reticle
that was brushing across her chest.

SB01 disintegrated as a
massive barrage of bullets shredded its carapace and internal gear
systems. SB01’s scanners had not been maintained to manufacturer’s
standards, and had deteriorated even more under the tropical
conditions of the island. It did not sense the telltale sounds of
its killer’s approach – in this case a streamlined VXC4 Doggett –
and perished before it could relay the circumstances of its demise
to KB01 and KB02.

Janice screamed for the
second time in as many minutes and dove for cover. The Doggett
rumbled past, searching for new targets, and she breathed a sigh of
relief.

That one should have
killed me. No one can be that lucky. No one.

She straightened.
Unless they have a purpose to fulfill. Like
me.

She gripped her rifle and
slipped into the jungle.

KB02 knew its destruction
was imminent. The enemy bots were coordinating their attack for the
exact same moment to minimize KB02’s ability to respond. KB02
briefly considered singling out one or two of the bots and ensuring
their destruction along with his own, but a simultaneous scan of
the terrain and the attack vectors of the approaching bots
suggested an alternative strategy. It still had a teammate, and
bots were very good at teamwork.

KB02 began to discharge
every weapon it carried at maximum rate of fire, in all directions.
It reserved only its grenade launcher, since the explosives would
be useless against the bots approaching under tree
cover.

KB01 sat motionless, all
power in its scanners, trying to locate its next target. A burst of
coded information suddenly reached it from KB02. KB01 understood
and began to move to the right, opening up a better field of
fire.

KB02 kept firing until the
moment of attack, sending a constant data stream to KB01, and died
almost instantaneously from a combined barrage that tore it limb
from limb.

KB01 adjusted its grenade
launchers according to the last data received from KB02, and fired
off every grenade it carried in a rapid scatter pattern.

The jungle around the
smoking wreckage of KB02 erupted in light and noise as the grenades
hit. The bots who had killed KB02 were blown apart or shattered
into twisted metal and melted plastic as the surrounding tree
trunks rattled under the steel rain of shrapnel. The air was thick
with dirt, plant fibers, and the sharp scent of high
explosives.

KB01 was on the move in
search of targets. It had no way of knowing exactly how successful
its salvo had been, but based on its own accuracy and KB02’s
information, it calculated a destruction probability of 80% of
enemy combatants. KB01 trundled forward on high scan, following a
curving trajectory that would sweep the perimeter of the blast zone
to destroy any survivors.

Then KB01’s infrared picked
up a heat signature, moving parallel to its own course, fifteen
meters away. KB01 ran the probability; it was slightly more than
93% likely that the heat signature was the organic. KB01 changed
course.

Janice heard the thunder of
the grenades and ran faster. The ambushers were putting up a good
fight. She knew the superior numbers of her own bots would win the
battle, but the cost might be high. It was time that she was
losing, and time was more precious than gold. While she was forced
to fight here in the jungle, who knew what havoc the man was
wreaking in the Facility? Eve couldn’t be relied on to stop
him.

Janice came to a small
clearing; a tree had fallen, leaving a hole in the canopy. She
stopped to catch her breath. The sounds of battle had disappeared
and the jungle was silent once more. She strained her ears,
listening.

Nothing.

KB01 paused. It had lost
the heat signature; the target had probably stepped behind a tree.
It waited patiently. The odds of reacquiring the target in a few
seconds were high. It used the time to run diagnostic tests of all
its systems. Everything was operational; its grenades were
depleted, but that was hardly an issue. Flechettes were an ideal
way to dismantle organic tissue.

Something felt wrong.
Janice scanned the jungle, every nerve alert, watching out of the
corner of her eyes for movement. Her life depended on seeing the
enemy before it saw her. She took a step backwards, then another. A
suspicion burned in her brain. She had been hearing noises off to
her right through the trees; what she assumed was one of her own
bots. But since she had stopped, she had heard no more
movement.

My bots would not have
stopped. They’d still be in sweep mode.

She retraced her steps
through the jungle, curving in an even wider arc. If an enemy bot
had been tracking her, it would be using infrared. And if it had
stopped, it meant she had momentarily disappeared behind a tree.
The bot would pause until it reacquired her. That meant that for
the next minute or so, she had a window.

Janice ran wide, then
circled back, moving from tree to tree, rifle held at high port.
The forest floor was a mass of rotting vegetation and moist earth;
her shoes made no sound. The bot would be somewhere ahead,
scanning, relying on its speed and accuracy to pick her off when
she appeared in its kill zone. Even if it heard her approach, it
would take a few seconds to pivot its weapons to aim behind it.
Those few seconds were hers to use.

She saw it. A gleam of
plastic through the green tangle. She moved slower. Its form slowly
coalesced and she saw its scanners moving slowly back and forth,
covering the area she’d been a minute earlier. She felt a surge of
triumph and raised the rifle.

KB01 reassessed the
situation. The organic had not appeared as predicted. Either KB01
had miscalculated, which was impossible, or the organic had access
to some kind of detection hardware that had revealed KB01’s
position. It calculated some new probabilities, chose a new course,
and –

Janice squeezed the
trigger, saw the bot’s head jerk under the impact, and fired again,
this time aiming at the exposed wiring on the stubby neck. The bot
sparked furiously and went still. She put another round through its
head to destroy all optics, and sauntered forward to deliver the
coup-de-grace.

Too easy.

KB01, unable to see, spent
a microsecond calculating its best response. Under the
circumstances, it realized that it had approximately 9.2 seconds
left before the organic finished it off. KB01 felt no fear or
regret. It was unable to do so. Instead, it decided that there was
still a 52% chance of terminating the organic, if she approached in
the same direction from which she had taken her shot.

KB01 fired off its last
three rounds near-simultaneously.

Janice felt a hard blow on
the side of her head, and white-hot pain stabbed her ear as the
sound of the gunshots echoed through the trees. She gasped, dropped
the rifle, and stumbled behind a tree. Her hand darted to the side
of her head and came away smeared with blood. Her searching fingers
had made a horrifying discovery.

She was missing an
ear.

The room John found
himself in was large and had a low ceiling. Glowing monitors and
projected screens covered all the walls, showing data tables,
scrolling texts, images from the valley outside, and jagged line
graphs. In the center a long, curved table was littered with maps,
lists, and a small scale model of the island. There was also a
food/beverage vendor and an open doorway leading to a restroom and
a small sleeping area. The place had the air of recent use.
It’s not somewhere Nut would hide, so this must
be Janice’s roost. Unless Eve really does have an avatar walking
around here somewhere. Nut said she wasn’t physical, but I wonder
if that was her in the hologram?

He walked in, half
expecting to be confronted by one or the other of the female
threats he was stuck on the island with. But the room was silent,
and the only other door leading out of the room was sealed
tightly.
First things first.
He sat at the main console, an impressive
six-screen wraparound desk, and pulled three controllers toward
him.

Ten minutes later John had
sealed off the room, locked the ventilation and power to his
control, and cut off any outside tampering with the computer
systems inside. The last part was pre-programmed and all he had to
do was execute. The basement had been created as a panic-room of
sorts; now it made a virtually impregnable bunker for him instead
of Janice.

Next, he relieved himself
mightily in the restroom, letting all the shakiness from his
hallway ordeal run out of him. He took a few nutrient-dense bars
from the food vendor and a huge bottle of water, convinced that
here at least it would be uncontaminated. As he chewed, he scanned
through the imagery on the screens. He was looking for evidence of
Janice’s whereabouts, but nothing had been revealed before he cut
the live feeds from outside.

He turned to the table and
sorted through its contents. There were many maps of various kinds
detailing the earth’s surface. In fact, there were maps of all the
kinds he knew of except for political ones. Apparently, Janice
wasn’t concerned with the boundaries of people and governments,
only the land as it actually appeared.

At least she isn’t racist.
Just xenocidal.

There was a
population-density map of the whole earth, with red marks
encircling every metropolitan center and little lines connecting
them to outlying towns. He picked up a data tablet and activated
it. It looked like a personal device, and he assumed it was
Janice’s. Looking through the contents, he found a promising series
of documents created over the past year, and read through
them.

It took several minutes.
When he was finished, every last detail had fallen into place. The
documents went by phases, with headings and summaries that were
followed by detailed requirement lists, schedules, and execution
plans.

Phase One: Construction and
Research (99%)

Complete construction of
primary facility and Eden -- While observing Eden’s results,
research requisite nanotechnology and disassemble construction
giants for use in In Corpus Deo

Phase Two: Nanobot
Development (95%)

Improve lab equipment and
safety measures -- Design final working bot structure and
programming -- Begin limited replication for testing

Phase Three: In Corpus Deo
(98%)

Finish designs -- Build
Gaia

Phase Four: Release
(0%)

Inhabit Gaia -- Begin
releasing bots into the wild

Phase Five: Search and
Destroy (0%)

From Gaia body: monitor
progress of bot replication -- Travel and trigger new chains where
necessary

Phase Six: Hibernation
(0%)

Ensure that no pockets
remain -- Initiate DeepSleep for 50 years

Phase Seven: New Dawn
(0%)

Awake and assess global
environment -- Retrieve seed banks -- Begin caretaking

John read through some of
the details, figuring out how feasible the plans really were. What
he found chilled him.

Although the Facility had
originally been created for advanced research, Janice was
definitely weaponizing the whole thing. She had Eve developing
nanobots, sub-microscopic machines that individually were
insignificant, but powerful in numbers.

The truly dangerous part,
however, was that she was programming them to do one very simple
thing: self-replicate. The tiny virus-like robots, made into a form
of completely biodegradable “smart dirt”, would attack specific
non-organic substances and use those molecules to build more of
themselves. The current programming mandates called for them to
target and dismantle about a hundred of the molecular materials
most commonly used in construction and technology: steel, plastic,
concrete, silicon semiconductors, and the other compounds the
civilized world was built on.