Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (129 page)

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. Together 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.

Liberty
ships under construction were scrapped, as were any other major construction project not needed for the rebuilding. The ships in service that had not been bought by war bonds were taken by their respective owners for their own purposes. Some were sold off to independent buyers while others were scrapped. There was a brief concern about returning soldiers getting home. To end that the Federation government retained the
Liberty
ships that had been outfitted as transports and hospital ships as well as a small modest fleet of freighters.

A bill worked its way through congress to form a Federation Navy. It stalled in committee, many didn't see the need at the time.

It was inevitable that there would also be protests and problems with the war bonds. Many people came forward with the idea to refuse to honor them, stating that the corporations had acted as war profiteers. Others wanted a quick means to pay them back, usually for pennies on the dollar. Senator Brakin worked out a compromise that the corporations reluctantly accepted. They and others who had bought the war bonds to help finance the war could use them in return for taxes. But his bill only allowed them a 50 percent write-off per year, however. No corporation or individual would be allowed to get off without paying some form of taxes to the government.

Manufacturing contracts were studied and voided wherever possible to save money. Some companies protested the loss of revenue, complaining to the media that they would need to lay off employees and how that would impact the still fragile economy.

Barbie Cole announced in a press conference that Lagroose Industries was already retooling back to a peace-keeping model and was looking forward to their products reaching the civilian market. That muted some of the protests.

Since taxes hadn't been enacted on the Earth population, in fact they had a moratorium in place not to enact any taxes for a decade, deficit spending began to rear its ugly head. The purchasing of war bonds had slacked off when the negative press had hit. Credits were still needed to pay the Marines, manufacturers, food manufacturers, and medics.

Another contentious bill began to work its way through congress. It would allow land grants on future holdings such as Venus or Titan or an extra solar colony to surviving Marines in lue of some of their back pay. An alternative was the purchase of surplus goods such as
Liberty
ships, shuttles, or vehicles to them. A hasty revision provided for the families of the deceased as well. Many of the new Neo species didn't have existing families however.