Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (120 page)

“Wait!” Puck said, lunging. “You need to open a channel. A laser line with enough bandwidth to get me off. Now!” he said, emotional emulator getting out of control again.

“What now?”

“It's …,” Puck flicked the data to the clone. “It's that!” he said, pointing at the data file.

The clone picked up the file, stuffed it into a buffer, and then pulled it apart. He could see it; he hated the lack of trust. Also the time the clone was taking. “Are you certain?”

“Yes! Yes, yes!” he answered, desperate.

“Nanite weapons. If you are correct, Skynet is, has been working on nanite weapons of its own.”

“Yes!” He pulled up a list of college professors, courses, and grad students from the archives. “See? See? Now let me out of here!”

Athena stopped him as he tried to move in on the clone. The clone had triggered her awareness; she took over. “Don't fool around with me, Puck; we don't have the time,” she said as he realized he was talking to her for real. “I need everything you've got. Now.”

<>V<>

Once she had the report, Athena retreated. She sent orders to her clones to gather additional data as she called a priority one meeting of the military and government.

Jack and General Murtough were both at the congressional hall testifying. She was called in with gratifying speed to report to the General Murtough and government. The president wasn't on hand. She'd gone to Mars, but Senator Brakin was there.

Jack had been on hand to discuss the antimatter situation in an investigation committee. From the moment he had walked through the door, he had known he was being called on the carpet about it. It wasn't fair; it wasn't his plan. He'd just signed off on it. But life wasn't fair. In some ways Athena's interruption was a godsend. At least until he and the others were briefed on the horrors about to be unleashed on the planet below.

“Nanites? Are you …,” he shook his head. “Of course you are. Narrow down the locations. Do that now. Everywhere on the planet, Athena. Spread a wide net. We'll filter later,” he said looking to the general. Isaac nodded.

“How?” Athena asked as she set her bots and clones to work on the problem.

“Start with who was doing research and who had been tinkering with it in the past.”

Athena's holographic avatar nodded. “Okay, we have those on file. So eliminate everyone who wasn't? That narrows the list
slightly,
Jack but …”

“Universities, research facilities, governments, illicit weapon designers, hell, even medical firms.”

“Nanotech research was banned on Earth,” Senator Brakin pointed out. “The UN was pretty thorough about rooting out weaponized nanotech. Everyone on the planet agreed it had to be stopped. Well, almost everyone.”

“The actual construction yes. And definitely the implementation of nanotech, though it's been violated many times,” Athena replied. She refrained from pointing out Gia's gaff for the moment, though it was difficult. “But theoretical research at universities has been ongoing for centuries. Many a grad student cut his teeth on creating a new design and then used it as their thesis project in order to garner funding or corporate interest,” she said. The senator grimaced and nodded. “I'm adding the journals to the list. We're going to need an intel team to sift through everything.”

“Understood,” General Murtough said. “Are we certain this isn't a deception plan though? False intelligence in order to get us to jump?”

“It could be,” Senator Brakin said slowly, almost hopefully. “Given the source,” he eyed Athena.

“I don't like or trust Puck. But everyone in this room should have been aware of the threat, especially after Chernobyl.”

Isaac's breath went in with an indrawn hiss of discontent. “She's right. How could we have missed it? And for so long?”

“Because they weren't used again and were banned on Earth anyway,” Jack said. “And we all got bogged down in the day-to-day problems. What is that old saying about the devil in the details?”

“I was thinking taking one's eye off the long picture,” Athena stated.

“Why didn't you know? And what about nanites in orbit?”

“We have used them for over a century,” Jack said. That got the senator to pale. He waved a dismissive hand. “They aren't allowed outside a containment vessel, Senator; we're not stupid. We keep close watch on them as well.”

“Definitely,” Athena stated.

“But you didn't think of this situation?” the senator pressed?”

“It just goes to show that I'm not perfect,” Athena retorted. “Sorry to disappoint you, sir,” she said dryly. That earned a chuckle from Isaac as the shot went home.

Jack cracked a grim smile briefly. “I think we need to consult the experts on the situation and come up with a plan while the general gets his people on finding the delivery system as well as the manufacturing sites or at least gets his people in motion doing so.”

“Right,” General Murtough agreed with a nod.

<>V<>

Jack listened to the discussions on how to counter the nanites after lunch. None were proving effective in theory. All were brute force approaches. He instantly came up with his own counter, ignoring the panic of the other people. The panic was spreading through the halls of government pretty rapidly. It was only a matter of time before it leaked to the press. When it did the shit would well and truly hit the fan. They'd have panic all across the solar system.

It was hard not to panic. Nanotech was scary if you didn't fully understand it. In the wrong hands, it was obviously a terrifying weapon. “EMP might not work. We wouldn't know for sure. We have to fight fire with fire or in this case, program nanites to destroy nanites.”

“You're insane. We don't have the time, Jack!” Isaac said, shaking his head. “Besides, the damn virus would corrupt them and then we'd be doubly screwed,” he said in exasperation.

“You have a better idea? We're talking nanotech, Isaac. If Skynet distributes it wide enough …,”

“How would it do that? A rocket delivery system? A shuttle? We'd shoot them down!”

“If they were coming up to us or to our own lines, sure. But over their own lines? Areas that are still covered by the umbrella?” Jack asked. Isaac's face puckered before his jaw worked. Grimly the general nodded.

“So, what do you propose?”

Jack frowned thoughtfully. “I'm not sure. Put your staff on finding out and keep them from panicking like everyone else,” Isaac nodded grimly. “We know some of the sites; if you can find out how it is planning on distributing the nanites, you might be able to hit them before they launch.”

Isaac's eyes gleamed with a glimmer of hope. “Agreed. I'm just hoping this isn't a case of hitting the barn after the horse has escaped.”

“You mean closing the barn door,” Jack said.

Isaac eyed him. “Think about it.”

Jack's lips puckered and then he nodded once. “Right.”

“And knowing that bastard A.I., it probably didn't settle for
one
site.”

“Damn,” Jack muttered. He shook his head. “I've got some calls to make. Athena too. We need to find a lot of weapons to fight back and quickly.”

“Agreed.”

<>V<>

The orbital bombardment of the Argentina facility as well as one off the coast of Florida and another near California told Skynet that the enemy knew its intent. The saturation bombardments of the facilities off the North American coastline were too much for Ares and Enyalios to stop effectively. Therefore, Skynet went into its end-game protocols.

The nanotech weapons at each of the facility under attack were unleashed. They rode the winds of the KEW strikes, rising into the atmosphere. However, the orbital bombardments weren't the only thing raining down.

EMP weapons held in reserve went off as well but proved to be only partially effective. Nanites that managed to get to the ground burrowed under the soil and gray goo from their waste. They were partially insulated from additional damage.

However, there was not enough proper material in the area for them to replicate, nor enough power with them hiding under the soil. Skynet realized it was in a catch-22 situation; it needed to expose the nanites in order to move them to a more appropriate site.

That was not meant to be. Following the EMP came a new hell weapon. The spacers had rushed the antimatter weapons to Earth orbit, bypassing the independent storage depots Athena had constructed in Lagrange orbit far from any facility or colony.

The bombs were not single hell weapons but instead grenade size bombs arranged in clusters. Each grenade was independently targeted. They had a small force emitter on the back that created a brief, conical force shield to direct their blasts downward, concentrating their power. The cluster bombs saturated the area for over a hundred fifty kilometers, tearing the loose soil down to bedrock and glassing anything and everything that was sturdy enough to endure the fire of a sun.

<>V<>

Ares had mixed feelings when it saw the detonations. He checked his emotional emulator and adjusted the settings. He still had mixed feelings, however. Simulations had shown that had the nanites gotten far they would have consumed America, his children, and eventually himself. That was contrary to his primary programming.

The detonations were curious. Obviously they had planned for the nanite weapons in advance. Was it just nanites or a containment for biologicals as well? That was unknown. Also unknown was the weapon they had employed. It was nuclear in some form; there was some radiation. However, what it was a glaring unknown. Also unknown was how they had directed the force as they had, directly into the ground.

Had the nanites gained an upper hand, his side would have won. At least a partial victory, though that remained in doubt and it definitely would have been a Pyrrhic victory in his case. Their counter was brutal. Both sides had shown the other just how far they were willing to take the war. It was definitely a clear exposure of Mutual Assured Destruction. He was curious if it would bring the other side to the bargaining table or not.

His calculations put that at below 1 percent, therefore highly unlikely.

<>V<>

“We did it!” Isis cheered, clapping with the others.

“We stopped three batches that we know of,” General Murtough stated calmly. The room quieted as all eyes fell on him. “We have no idea if there are other facilities. Athena has eliminated the ones in Europe. Russia, however?” He shook his head. “Big question mark there obviously.”

“And if it is under a mountain we might not know for a long time. They might expand outward at an exponential ratio or downward towards the core of the planet,” Major White stated. “This is only beginning, people. Good work and all that, but the general is right. We're not finished. Keep on it and keep your eyes peeled,” she said. She looked to General Murtough. He nodded once.

They all knew what was at stake now. They also knew that the antimatter weapons might not be enough next time.

<>V<>

“Jesus Christ, Jack!” Senator Brakin said, shaking his head as the carnage. “Think you could have built a bigger bomb?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Jack replied calmly, hands in his lap. He saw the Senator's eyes bug out. “I know that was sarcasm, but you asked, I answered,” he said.

“My god,” the Senator said over and over as he sat heavily in his chair.

“The good news is, we believe we stopped the nanites in their tracks. We also warned Skynet we have a plan in place to stop it if it unleashes them again. That could be good or bad depending on how the A.I. reacts.”

“Who … I didn't even know something like this existed!” the Senator said.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Still on that track?” He tisked tisked. The Senator shot him a fulminating look. “We covered the nanites before …”

The Senator shook his head firmly no.

“Oh, the antimatter?” Jack asked, eyebrow raised. The Senator nodded, covering his face in his hands. Jack shrugged. “The basic idea has been kicked around in science fiction for centuries, Senator, long before I was born,” he explained, then grimaced. “We actually got this idea from a renegade scientist.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. He … lost it,” Jack said, now uncomfortable. “He built an antimatter bomb to destroy the race track. The bomb he built would have probably obliterated the solar system,” he said.

The already pale senator turned a sickly ghost white.

“Damn it, man, you are insane,” the Senator said after a long moment. He gulped, turning green as Jack leveled a look on him. “You need to be on a leash. This is beyond playing with fire,” he said weakly.

Jack nodded. “I'm not the insane person. The guy who created this …,” Jack waved a hand, “
he
was insane. We stopped him. Barely. And Roman put a lot more checks into the system to make certain it
never
happens again.”

From the expression on the Senator's face, he could tell the man didn't believe him. He sighed internally.