Toy Wars (39 page)

“Ah, the infidel returns.
Did you think you could escape the Humans’ justice?”
As I approached Isp, I noted
a tremor in his arm.
It wasn’t a large motion, but Isp
no longer controlled his body.

“Isp, I have come here for one reason and one reason only.
I want you to surrender to me before you are destroyed.
Six can repair your damage.”
Isp consciously reached down and grabbed hold of his errant arm before speaking.

“Ah, you are profane
.
You think we would side with the corrupted minion of the
d
evil itself?
Never!”
Isp then turned to look over the edge of the scaffolding and spoke in a booming voice
that belied his damage
.
The crowd that watched my passage had grown to most of the village.

“Come my brethren and see the heretic.”
Work stopped as far as I could see and all faces turned to look up at me.
Isp paused only long enough for dramatic tempo.
“It tramples all over Humans with its talk of Devil Six.
We
have
hear
d
its words and scorn
them
.
We will
now
remove
the blasphemer’s
ability
to speak as we empty its tubes of fluid so it can no longer move.
Then we shall leave it in the river, to be taken away to whatever fate the Humans have in store for it.”
The crowds below began to cheer, although I could see some of the screams were not wholehearted.

Dozens of units stormed the scaffolding steps, rushing to get at me.
The platform soon swarmed with them, each trying to get close enough to get a hand on me.
Before I could do or say another word, I was tied with a crude rope and toted down the stairs by a gross or two of them.

They leaned me, like an empty rifle, against one of the main structural pillars of the
Wrath
of
Humans
.
A ring of jeering, antagonistic
t
eddies formed around me
,
and as far back into the crowd as I could see their ugly fists waved maddeningly at me.
How many of them would I have to destroy?

The roars fell to mere ugly murmurs and the crowd parted.
Isp strode shakily forward with a
60
-centimeter-long knife in his hand.
Looking at it, I think maybe sword would be a better word.
The immediate use of the blade was obvious.
B
arely containing the tremors, he raised his hands together to call for silence.
It was granted immediately.

“Heretic,
b
lasphemer,
t
ool of the
d
evil.
Renounce your ways and we shall make your passage easy.”

“Isp, there is no way for you to win,” I said in a very low voice.
It was not good for a leader to lose face in front of his followers.
“I will make sure all your units are well cared for.
Your damage can be repaired.”

“The evil minion of Six offers me bribes to spare his own life.
Now we will see how his words change as his life spills to the ground.”
His quick move took me by surprise.
The impossibly large knife flashed through the outer skin of my belly with a tearing sound.
There was no pain
—
just
an intense desire to protect my now open innards.

I opened my mouth to cry out when the crowd shattered open at one point to reveal a thundering form.

The huge pink and purple mass smashed into Isp like a thousand-car-freight-train into a rubber ball.
Sancho’s fast moving bulk, his head lowered, hurled Isp a hundred meters.
Isp
’
s
body
slammed into the dome of Six with a great loud crash.

“Units of Six!” I bellowed, both verbally and over the long-neglected net
.
Thousands strong, the tanks, elephants, and even
teddy
units came to the top of the lip of the rim which surrounded Six’s valley, with weapons leveled at the followers of Isp in the valley below.

The crowd stopped its surge forward as it looked at the mass of destruction that could rain down on them.
The fire and fight
left them
before it could even get started.

In several places in the crowd, fights broke out
. U
nits, no longer forced to show loyalty to Isp, took
out
their
long pent
-
up aggressions on Isp’s
adherents
.

“Please stop fighting. There is no need for any more to deactivate,” I placed on the net. What even I hadn’t realized was the sentience in these units. Their decisions and paths were their own.
Even so, many of the fights stopped
as
abruptly
as they began
.
Those nearby broke up the few skirmishes that continued.

I’d not been paying attention to my friend, but
he’d recovered and trotted behind me. After several attempts, Sancho managed to bite
through
my bonds enough to allow me to get at the knots
.

“Good job, Sancho.
Thank you once again.”
I patted his head as I turned to see what had happened to Isp.
He climbed up from the dirt
looking
stunned.
His body
shook even harder
from his infirmity.
The damage must be cumulative.
I watched the expression on his unmoving face change from being the master of his destiny to being nothing more than a slave to the whims of his enemy.

A very small part of me felt sorry for my son.
Isp
didn’t corrupt out of greed, evil intent
,
or a lust for power.
He believed his own pronouncements.
This
was
what gave him
influence
over so many burgeoning souls.
This
was
what made units listen
to any voice that proclaimed to know the true path
.
Isp was merely misguided in a way that I don’t think could ever have been cured.

“Isp,” I whispered to him after I walked to his side, “Six and I have the advantage in surprise, equipment
,
and numbers.
We can easily destroy you and all your units.
Do you concede this point?”

“I do concede you have this power
,
”
he offered after a long pause. He choked on each of the words.
His eyes never looked in my direction but rather at the ring of troops
that
sealed his fate, all the while trying to control his own errant body.

“I offer you a deal.”
I could see by the tiny pinch at the corners of his eyes that he was fighting to rein in his emotions.

“It appears I have nothing to bargain with, so this is no deal
—
it
is a dictum from you to me.”

“Well, believe that if you will.
Here is my proposal.
Neither Six nor I have interest in killing you.
Your beliefs are equally without consequence to us.
We offer you, and as many units as wish to go with you, a place where you can live without disturbance.
If you and your followers stay within its boundaries, we will no longer concern ourselves with what you do.
That concludes my proposal.”
Isp turned toward me and deliberately looked deep into my eyes.

“I accept only because I have no choice
.
”
His words
seemed to come easier than his earlier concession.
“Understand this, Don Quixote, I will avenge this wrong done to us.”
The malice in his voice and the cold
ly
rational hatred he bore toward me in his eyes was enough to chill my hydraulic fluid.
He meant every word.
But I also knew he would honor the boundaries I would define.

“If I ever come within your lands,” I said quietly to him, “you are free to do with me as you will.”

“I will,” he replied with a predatory smile.
The private negotiation ended.
He stood, keeping his body fairly well under control.
“My fellow units,” he said, turning back to the rabble.
“I have to report a small setback in our plans.
We must do as these units say and live where they tell us.
Do not fight them.
There will be another time to vanquish evil.”

I
added,
“And any of you who wish, may join with Six and the
se
units you see up arrayed on the valley’s rim
.
” I
tried
to sway any of those who could still listen with an open mind.
“We go on an even greater adventure.
We are trying to put an end to the war on our planet.
If you wish to renounce the teachings of Isp, you may do so and stay with us.”
Isp gave me a penetrating look.
“But we will not coerce you in any way.
You are free to make whatever decision you wish
—
at
any time.”
I would be fair about this transition.

Life for all would continue and that was a victory I could honestly be proud of.

Leader

Two
artillery shell
s
fell in and exploded
near
the base of 55474’s
pink and gray
dome.
In
terest
and research
in
the
Wrath of Humans
and the T
.
rex led directly to
exploding artillery.

“Left forty. Add thirty
,
”
called out the giraffe fire control officer.

At
8
kilometers, the rumble of the explosion didn’t reach us for nearly three seconds. Many of t
he next explosions actually
detonated
on the surface of the pink and gray dome, gouging out huge sm
oldering
holes.

“Target on. Fire for effect.”

A cheer erupted from Allied lines as
the en
tire
area of the enemy dome
vomited red-orange flame, flying red dirt
,
and lighter
colored
pieces of
enemy itself
.
The
pathetic
few remaining defending units were immolated. Furrowing h
illocks of dirt traced their way from our line trace directly toward the dome itself as e
nhanced gopher units dug in under the cover of the
hellish rain of death
.

I watched calmly as
squad and platoon commanders
did all the work.
As Grand Marshall of the Allied Army, I had no duties at this mop
-
up stage of the campaign
.
They executed my plan
and
its success or failure rested on my shoulders. Not even the most pessimistic simulation showed anything but the total destruction of this Factory.
Only the number of casualties defined the differences.

“How long as it been, sir?” asked General Bradley, my battlefield commander.

Things
had change
d
r
apidly with the newly enhanced units.
That my troops would talk back with animation and intelligence was still something I was trying to get used to.
Instead of a world of five sentient
F
actories, the world had grown.
There were now over a hundred thousand units of all types, all alive and thinking.

“
It is 17,403
as of this morning,” I said
,
keeping my eyes on the progress of the gophers.

“Sir?
” Omar asked, turning his turret in my direction.

“The passing
days are
not as important as th
e number of sentients we’ve lost.”
I mentally censured myself for many of the units I
’d
lost through inexperience or failure to predict our foe’s responses. I couldn’t completely revel in the victory that lay at hand.

“I can heartily agree on that, sir.”

I’d tried to avoid the honor of Grand Marshal
l
. Nine and Six stubbornly insisted
on it
due to my experience and my ability to control on either net. The remaining mass of units wouldn’t let me demure
.
More than half the units still called me
F
ather whether I had direct implantation into their sump or not.
No other names were nominated for the position. I don’t believe
any of
their reasons were logical.

While I didn’t crave the position of
m
arshall
I performed my duties to the best of my abilities.
Under my direction, t
he
A
llied forces cut through the forces of 55474 in
216
days, where I’d taken no fewer than eight additional wounds leading my troops.
Sancho, with his trunk restored, acted as my bodyguard
and
protected me from numerous others. His hide still bore the garish mottled yellow patching I’d done so many months ago and several newer repairs in my defense.

“Should we give 55474 another opportunity to surrender, sir?” Omar asked.

“No. There is no new argument
,
”
I replied after processing hard for a good five seconds. I wasn’t hypocritical. I
’d
offered 55474 the opportunity to surrender or join us twice as we pressed forward, annihilating its units and carving out great swaths of territory. The intelligence was as inflexible as steel and about as brittle as the units we exiled with Isp. 55474 listened but did not yield.

Two of the wounds I’d received came from 55474 setting an ambush for me after one of those in
-
person negotiations. Even so I tried repeatedly to reason with it over its own net at a safe distance. It had continued to rebuff me.

“
But
it is directly being attacked this time.”

“If it gave up now, it would do so only to give it an opportunity to take control at a later time.
We don’t need dissention in our ranks.
No. As much as it pains me to do so, 55474 must be irrevocably destroyed.”
It shocked me that I could even voice such a proclamation.

“Gopher
S
quads
E
ight and
T
en reporting back to base with mission successful,” communications officer
said.
“All stations report ready.”

“Father, would you care to do the honors?” Omar said
,
indicating the control panel.

“I will take the responsibility. Lieutenant Custer
,
if you will please put me on speaker.”

The cowboy threw some switches on his own console. “You are on,
Marshall
.”

“While I know this is a
time
for jubilation
,
it is also a time for regrets. Death and destruction, even in a time of war is not something
to wish for. We do here only what needs to be done to one too sick to understand peace.
FIRE
IN THE HOLE!”

With a bright yellow flash,
55474’s dome
flipped end over end some
200
meters in
to
the air.
The concussion hit us like a large hand slapping us in the chest. I’d already turned down my aural amplifiers so I didn’t truly appreciate the intensity of the explosion’s sound.

The dome
remained intact all the way to the ground, where it shattered like
frozen
mercury struck
by
a hammer.
Through the yellow-blue flames and dense blue smoke left in the wake of the explosion,
a deep crater now occupied the
F
actory’s place. 55474 was dead.

Cheers once again
rang out from our line. Units jumped up from their defensive positions. Teddies danced with Nurse Nans. Tommy
T
anks spun in circles. Cowboys patted themselves on the back and shook hands.

“Congratulations,
Marshall
,” Omar offered. “Your victory over 55474 is complete.”

Sancho
looked up at me.
I could almost feel my own emotions echoed back at me from him.
The smoking remains mocked me.

“Victory, General? I…” My thoughts seemed to defy mere words. “Yes, a victory, but the loss of even one sentient made it a
P
yrrhic
v
ictory at best.”

“But how many more would have been lost if we had failed,
s
ir.”

“That is why we did this awful thing,” I said, smoothing down the fur on Sancho’s head.

W
e were close to controlling the entire world
. No force either
remaining
F
actory
could muster stood the remotest chance of standing up to our might. One way or another, it was only a matter of time.
I hoped persuasion rather than bullets and explosives could accomplish that.

I’d heard the l
oose talk
rolling
among the troops as to what form of government we should erect for ourselves
once we finished this campaign
.
I didn’t scoff and I kept from laughing.
I was very proud of my self-control.
Why do free thinking individuals feel someone must command them
—
or
have some group conscience?
Worse than proposing a government, however, most of them wanted me to be the
k
ing,
p
resident,
c
zar or
p
remiere, depending on the governmental form.
After we completed our victory today
I could see no way out of the burden of rule without self-deactivating.

The Factories
had kept v
ery
tight
-
lipped
on the affairs of our
fledgling
society.
They must certainly feel dismay over their loss of control. Units
had already found a way to remove the self-destruction device on our sumps, so the Factories now only had one order
that
we must obey
—
return
to base.

While the Factories
remained
silent upon our affairs, they were very excited about the impending
completi
on
of
their mission.
I had already been consult
ed
by Six and Nine
about how to spend our resources to
create
an extra-planetary drone string.

My belief in Humans had wa
v
ered from time to time over my own existence, but the idea of sending something to them smacked of a
virgin sacrifice to an angry volcano
god
. Myth. Legend. Fiction
.
But if
Humans
didn’t exist, who created the Factories
?
These issues
wearied me at time whe
n
I must concentrate on m
ore proximate
matters
. The conclusion of the
war and this silly notion of me becoming
the ruler of all
.

“Might for
r
ight,” sloganned the ancient Earth ruler, King Arthur of Camelot.
If I were going to be thrust into a position of authority, I would force that upon my brothers.
That is what we would stand for.
We would carry out the Humans’ programs, but there would be minimal death
. B
uilding, not destruction
. A
nd no more toy wars for the benefit
of
our absent lords.