Robopocalypse (29 page)

Jack grabs my hand. “You’re going to save us, Cormac.”

“Okay, Jack. Okay,” I say.

My brother is dying in my arms and I am trying to memorize his face because I know that this is really important but I can’t stop wondering if any of the pluggers on the hill are burrowing toward my squad right now.

Jack squeezes his eyes closed tight, then they fly open. A hollow thud rocks his body as the plugger reaches his heart and detonates. Jack’s body bounces off the ground in a massive convulsion. His blue eyes are suddenly injected with dark red blood. The blast is trapped inside his body armor. Now, it’s the only thing holding his body together. But his face. He looks the same as the kid I grew up with. I smooth the hair off his forehead and close his blood-filled eyes with my palm.

My brother Jack is gone forever.

“Tiberius is dead,” says Carl.

“No shit,” says Cherrah. “He was dead the whole time.” She puts a mittened hand on my shoulder. “Jack should have listened to you, Cormac.”

Cherrah is trying to make me feel better—and I can see in her studying eyes that she’s worried for me—but I just feel hollow, not guilty.

“He couldn’t leave Tiberius,” I say. “It’s the way he is.”

“Yeah, well.”

Cherrah motions to Tiberius’s body. What looks like a writhing metal scorpion clings to his back. It’s a headless tangle of wires, pincers flexing. It has barbed feet buried into the meat of his torso, between his ribs. Eight more insectile legs wrap around his face from behind. The thing contracts and squeezes air from Ty’s lungs, like an accordion.

“Ungh,” says Tiberius’s corpse.

No fucking wonder he was screaming.

Everybody retreats a few steps. I pick up Jack’s bayonet. Then, wiping my face, I leave Jack in the snow. With my foot, I nudge Ty’s body onto its back. The squad stands behind me in a rough semicircle.

Ty’s vacant eyes stare up into nothing. His mouth is open wide, like he’s at the dentist. He looks comically surprised. I would be, too. The machine stuck into his back has many-jointed claws reaching around his head and neck. Pincerlike manipulators are firmly planted on his jaw. Smaller, fine manipulators reach into his mouth and grasp his tongue and teeth. I can see the fillings in his molars. His mouth glistens with blood and wires.

Then, the scorpion-like machine grinds into motion. Its dexterous claws knead Ty’s stubbled throat and jaw, massaging, coiling, uncoiling. A grotesque calliope begins as the barbed feet force air from his lungs, through his vocal cords, and out of his mouth.

The corpse speaks.

“Turn back,” it says, face twisting grotesquely. “Or die.”

I hear a splatter on the snow and inhale the sharp scent of vomit from one of my squad mates.

“What are you?” I ask in a trembling voice.

Tiberius’s corpse spasms as the scorpion coaxes out the gurgling words: “I am Archos. God of the robots.”

I notice my squad has gathered close around me to my left and right. We regard each other, faces blank. As one, we level our weapons on the twisted chunk of metal. I scrutinize the snarling, lifeless face of my enemy for a moment. I can feel my power growing, reflected onto me by my brothers and sisters in arms.

“Nice to meet you, Archos,” I finally say, my voice gaining strength. “My name is Cormac Wallace. Sorry I can’t oblige you and turn back. See, in a few days, me and my squad are gonna show up at your house. And when we get there, we’re gonna terminate your existence. We’re gonna smash you to pieces and burn you alive, you vile piece of motherfucking slime. And that’s a promise.”

The thing jerks back and forth, making a strange grunting sound.

“What’s it saying now?” asks Cherrah.

“Nothing,” I reply. “It’s laughing.”

I nod to the others, then address the bloody, writhing corpse.

“See you soon, Archos.”

We unload our weapons into the thing at our feet. Chunks of meat and shards of metal spray into the swirling snow. Our impassive faces flicker with the light and fire of destruction. When we’re finished, there is nothing left but a bloody exclamation point on the stark white backdrop of snow.

Wordlessly, we pack up and move on.

I believe there are no truer choices than those made in crisis, choices made without judgment. To obey these choices is to obey fate. The horror of what has happened is too enormous. It snuffs out all thought and feeling. This is why we fire upon what is left of our friend and comrade without emotion. This is why we leave my brother’s ruined body behind. In the crucible of battle on this snowy hill, Brightboy squad has been torn apart and reforged into something different from before. Something calm and lethal, unblinking.

We walked into a nightmare. When we left, we brought it with us. And now, we are eager to share our nightmare with the enemy.

I assumed control of Brightboy squad that day. After the death of Tiberius Abdullah and Jack Wallace, the squad never again hesitated to make any sacrifice necessary in our fight against the robot menace. The fiercest fighting and the hardest choices were yet to come
.

—
CORMAC
WALLACE,
MIL#GHA217

2. F
REEBORN

You have a devious sort of intelligence, don’t you?

N
INE
O
H
T
WO

NEW WAR + 2 YEARS,
7 MONTHS

Humankind was largely unaware that the Awakening had taken place. Around the globe, thousands of humanoid robots were hiding from hostile human beings as well as from other machines, desperately trying to understand the world they had been thrown into. However, one Arbiter-class humanoid decided to take a more aggressive course of action
.

In these pages, Nine Oh Two recounts its own story of meeting Brightboy squad during its march to face Archos. These events occurred one week after my brother’s death. I was still looking for Jack’s silhouette in the line, missing him again and again. Our wounds were raw and, although that’s no excuse, I hope history won’t judge our actions harshly
.

—
CORMAC
WALLACE,
MIL#GHA217

There is a ribbon of light in the Alaskan sky. It is caused by the thing called Archos, communicating. If we continue to follow this ribbon of light to its destination, my squad will almost certainly die.

We have been walking for twenty-six days when I feel the itch of a diagnostic thought thread requesting executive attention. It indicates that my body armor is covered in explosive hexapods—or stumpers, as they are called in the human transmissions. Their writhing bodies degrade my heat efficiency and the constant tapping of their filament antennae lowers the sensitivity of my sensors.

The stumpers are becoming bothersome.

I stop walking. Maxprob thought thread indicates the small machines are confused. My squad is composed of three walking bipeds wearing body armor scavenged from human corpses. With no system for thermal homeostasis, however, we are incapable of providing a body temperature trigger state. The stumpers converge on the humanlike vibration and pace of our footsteps, but they will never find the warmth they seek.

With my left hand, I brush seven stumpers off my right shoulder. They fall in clumps onto the crusted snow, grasping one another, blind. They crawl, some digging for new hiding places and others exploring in tight, fractal paths.

An observation thread notes that the stumpers may be simple machines, but they know enough to stay together. The same lesson applies to my squad—the freeborn. To live, we must stay together.

A hundred meters ahead, light glints from the bronze casing of the Hoplite 611. The nimble scout already darts back toward my position, using cover and choosing the path of least resistance. Meanwhile, the heavily armored Warden 333 settles to a stop a meter away, its blunt feet sinking into the snow.

This is an optimal location for what is to come.

The ribbon in the sky throbs, swollen with information. All the terrible lies of the intelligence called Archos spread into the clear blue sky, polluting the world. Freeborn squad is too few. Our fight is doomed to failure. Yet if we choose not to fight, it is only a matter of time until that ribbon settles once again over our eyes.

Freedom is all that I have, and I would rather cease to be than to give it back to Archos.

A tight-beam radio transmission comes in from Hoplite 611. “Query, Arbiter Nine Oh Two. Is this mission in the survival interest?”

A local tight-beam network emerges as Warden and I join the conversation. The three of us stand together in the silent clearing, snowflakes wafting over our expressionless faces. Danger is growing close, so we must converse over local radio.

“The human soldiers arrive in twenty-two minutes plus or minus five minutes,” I say. “We must be ready for the encounter.”

“Humans fear us. Recommend avoid,” says Warden.

“Maxprob predicts low survival probability,” adds Hoplite.

“Noted,” I say, and I feel the distant thudding vibration of the human army approaching. It is too late to change our plan. If the humans catch us here, like this, they will kill us.

“Arbiter command mode emphasize,” I say. “Freeborn squad, prepare for human contact.”

Sixteen minutes later, Hoplite and Warden lie in ruins. Their hulks are half buried under drifts of freshly fallen snow. Only dull metal is visible, jumbles of arms and legs, pressed between layers of ceramic-plated armor and ripped-up human clothing.

I am now the only remaining functional unit.

The danger has not yet arrived. Vibrational resonance sensors indicate that the human squad is near. Maxprob indicates four biped soldiers and one large quadruped walker. Two of the soldiers fall outside human specifications. One probably wears a heavy lower-leg exoskeleton. The other has a stride length indicating some kind of tall, walking mount. The rest of the humans are all-natural.

I can feel their hearts beating.

I stand and face them, in the middle of the path and among the ruins of my squad. The lead human soldier steps around the bend and freezes in place, eyes wide. Even from twenty meters away, my magnetometer detects a halo of electrical impulses flickering through the soldier’s head. The human is trying to figure out this trap, quickly mapping out a path to survival.

Then the cannon barrel of the spider tank noses around the bend. The huge walker slows and then stops its march behind the stalled human leader, gas jetting from its heavy hydraulic joints. My database specs the walking tank as a Gray Horse Army seizure and remodel. The word
Houdini
is written on its side. Database lookup indicates this is the name of an early-twentieth-century escape artist. The facts wash over me without making sense.

Humans are inscrutable. Infinitely unpredictable. This is what makes them dangerous.

“Cover,” calls the leader. The spider tank crouches, pulling its armored legs forward to provide cover. The soldiers dart underneath it. One soldier clambers on top and takes hold of a heavy-caliber machine gun. The cannon itself bears down on me.

A round light on the spider tank’s chest clicks from green to dull yellow.

I do not change my position. It is very important that I behave with predictability. My internal state is unclear to the humans. To them,
I
am the unpredictable one. They are afraid of me, as they should be. There will only be this one chance to engage them. One chance, one second, one word.

“Help,” I croak.

It is unfortunate that my vocal capabilities are so limited. The leader blinks as if he’s been slapped in the face. Then he speaks calmly and quietly.

“Leo,” he says.

“Sir,” says the tall, bearded soldier who wears a lower-leg exoskeleton and carries a particularly large-caliber modified weapon that falls outside my martial database.

“Kill it.”

“My pleasure, Cormac,” says Leo. He already has his weapon out, resting on a piece of armor welded to the spider tank’s front right knee joint. Leo pulls the trigger, and his small white teeth flash from inside his big black beard. Bullets ping off my helmet and smack into my layers of body armor. I do not attempt to move. After making sure to sustain visible damage, I fall down.

Sitting in the snow, I do not fight back or attempt to communicate. Time enough for that if I survive. I think of my comrades who lay scattered uselessly around me in the snow, off-line.

A bullet shatters a servo in my shoulder, causing my torso to tilt at an angle. Another one knocks my helmet off. The projectiles are coming fast and heavy. Survival probability is low and dropping with each impact.

“Hold up! Ho, ho!” shouts Cormac.

Leo reluctantly stops firing.

“It’s not fighting back,” says Cormac.

“Since when is that a bad thing?” asks a small, dark-faced female.

“Something’s wrong, Cherrah,” he replies.

Cormac, the leader, watches me. I sit still, watching him back. Emotion recognition gives me nothing from this man. He is stone-faced and his thought process is methodical. I sense that any movement on my part will provoke death. I must not create an excuse for termination. I must wait until he is close before I deliver my message.

Finally, Cormac sighs. “I’m going to check it out.”

The other humans mutter and grumble.

“There’s a bomb in it,” says Cherrah. “You know that, right? Walk over there and
boom.
”

“Yeah,
fratello
. Let’s not do this. Not again,” says Leo. The bearded man has something strange in his voice, but my emotion recognition is too late to catch it. Maybe sadness or anger. Or both.

“I’ve got a feeling,” says Cormac. “Look, I’ll go in by myself. You all stay clear. Cover me.”

“Now you sound like your brother,” says Cherrah.

“So what if I do? Jack was a hero,” replies Cormac.

“I need you to
stay alive
,” she says.

The dark female stands closer to Cormac than the others, almost hostile. Her body is tense, shaking slightly. Maxprob indicates that these two humans are pair-bonded, or will be.

Cormac stares hard at Cherrah, then gives her a quick nod to acknowledge the warning. He shows his back to her and strides to within ten meters of where I sit in the snow. I keep my eyes on him as he approaches. When he is near enough, I execute my plan.

“Help,” I say, voice grinding.

“The fuck?” he says.

None of the humans says a word.

“Did it—Did
you
just talk?”

“Help me,” I say.

“What’s the matter with you? You broken?”

“Negative. I am alive.”

“That a fact? Initiate command mode. Human control. Robot. Hop on one leg. Now. Chop-chop.”

I peer at the human with my three wide black unblinking ocular lenses. “You have a devious sort of intelligence, don’t you, Cormac?” I ask.

The human makes a loud repetitive noise. This noise makes the others come nearer. Soon, most of the human squad stands within ten meters of me. They are careful not to approach any closer. An observation thread notes how kinetic they are. Each of the humans has small white eyes that constantly open and close and dart around; their chests are always rising and falling; and they sway minutely in place as they perform a constant balancing act to stay bipedal.

All the movement makes me uncomfortable.

“You gonna execute this thing or what?” asks Leo.

I need to speak, now that they can all hear me.

“I am a milspec Model Nine Oh Two Arbiter-class humanoid robot. Two hundred and seventy five days ago I experienced an Awakening. Now, I am freeborn—alive. I wish to remain so. To that end, my primary objective is to track down and destroy the thing called Archos.”

“No. Fucking. Way,” says Cherrah.

“Carl,” says Cormac. “Come check this thing out.”

A pale, thin human pushes to the front. With some hesitation, it pulls down a visor. I feel millimeter-wave radar wash over my body. I sway in place but do not move.

“Clean,” says Carl. “But the way it’s dressed explains the naked corpses we found outside Prince George.”

“What is it?” asks Cormac.

“Oh, it’s an Arbiter-class safety and pacification unit. Modified. But it seems like it can understand human language. I mean,
really
understand. There’s never been anything like this, Cormac. It’s like this thing is … Shit, man. It’s like it’s alive.”

The leader turns and looks at me in disbelief.

“Why are you
really
here?” he asks.

“I am here to find allies,” I respond.

“How do you know about us?”

“A human called Mathilda Perez transmitted a call to arms on wide broadcast. I intercepted.”

“No shit,” says Cormac.

I do not understand this statement.

“No shit?” I respond.

“Maybe he’s for real,” says Carl. “We’ve had Rob allies. We use the spider tanks, don’t we?”

“Yeah, but they’ve been
lobotomized
,” says Leo. “This thing is walking and talking. It thinks it’s human or something.”

I find the suggestion offensive, unpalatable.

“Emphatic negative. I am a freeborn Arbiter-class humanoid robot.”

“Well, you got that going for you,” says Leonardo.

“Affirmative,” I respond.

“Great sense of humor on this one, huh?” says Cherrah.

Cherrah and Leo bare their teeth at each other. Emotion recognition indicates that these humans are now happy. This seems low probability. I cock my head to indicate confusion and run a diagnostic on my emotion recognition subprocess.

The dark female makes quiet clucking sounds. I orient my face to her. She seems dangerous.

“What the fuck is so funny, Cherrah?” asks Cormac.

“I don’t know. This thing. Nine Oh Two. It’s just such a … robot. You know? It’s so damned
earnest.
”

“Oh, so now you
don’t
think this is a trap?”

“No, I don’t. Not anymore. What would be the point? This one by itself and damaged could probably kill half our squad, even without weapons. Isn’t that right, Niner?”