The War of the Artilect: Chapter 13

Ever since the Artilect had destroyed the bots that attacked Quetzalli the swarms had returned to their endless struggle. As Elder Lane had said, however, the fight was not a real one. The council of Xanthe had created the swarms for the express purpose of wiping out the Ranger colonies, and after they accomplished their job the council had no more use for them. However, an unexpected development arose that forced the council to maintain them for millennia: a sizable portion of their population wanted to leave their pods and return to the physical world.

Some people said that the synthetic worlds were defective. They complained that while they looked realistic, they weren’t actually real. Each citizen had been given their own synthetic world and they had the power to change it in any way they desired. At first this was seen as a magnificent gift, but over time people began to realize that if the world could be arbitrarily changed at your whims, nothing really mattered – there were no actual consequences that could not be undone. Life became unsatisfying, and a growing percentage of the population yearned to return to the surface.

Their leaders, however, felt that this was simply the uneducated opinion of a few people who simply didn’t know any better. In order to pacify them they had to come up with a reason that would force everyone to stay in their pods forever. So, instead of destroying the swarms after the war, the council had them continually waging war against each other. The leaders then apologetically told their people that, as much as they regretted this, it would simply not be possible to leave the pods. The swarms were too great a danger, and without the ability to take down the Wall their former lives were impossible to maintain. Their only chance for survival was to stay in the pods until the swarms were gone – and the council made sure that that never happened.

So, one by one, the holdouts lost hope and resigned themselves to their new, empty lives. After a while they found that it no longer bothered them; in fact, the thought of living in the physical world eventually became unthinkable.
At this point the council could have destroyed the swarms but they chose not to. Elder Lane pointed out that it did no harm to keep them going, and the bots acted as a shield against a threat that they were too terrified to name. Even now, mankind was still afraid of the dark.

* * * * *
 

The commands that Elder Lane sent the bots were unlike any that they had received since the days they were created. Lane was concerned that the opponent he was fighting really did control the resources of millions of star systems, and he had no confidence that his attack would succeed. So he ordered his swarms to go forth and multiply.

Immediately the swarms halted their war and scattered, taking up residence on all of the planets in what was once Ranger territory. Then, slowly, the swarms took over these empty worlds. Their goal was to plunder all of the resources that they could obtain in order to produce a fantastically large army. Then they would go to war.

* * * * *
 

“It’s very strange,” Sergeant Howell remarked. “I’ve never seen them act this way before.”

Howell was standing in the defense complex that was located at the core of Tonina, staring at a large holographic display in the center of the room. Richard Stryker was there, along with the Sentinel and the Artilect. The display was currently projecting a map of all of Ranger space. A series of red and blue dots covered the Ranger planets, moving energetically and rapidly growing in number.

“What do the colors mean again?” Richard asked.

“Well, they used to represent warring factions that I color-coded so I could tell them apart. The red side fought against the blue side. However, the two sides have apparently made peace because they’ve joined together to take over these worlds.”

Richard frowned. “Did anyone live on those planets?”

“No,” the Sentinel said. “I have been to many of those worlds personally. They were destroyed and abandoned long ago.”

“Then what are the swarms doing?” Richard asked.

“They are mining the worlds,” the Artilect replied. “They are consuming them in order to produce larger swarms. It would appear that they are attempting to swell their numbers so that they can mount an invasion.”

At that moment Amy and Amanda Stryker appeared. Amanda appeared in person, and her sister Amy appeared as a hologram. “Sorry we’re late,” Amy replied. “I didn’t know we had a meeting scheduled for today.”

“We didn’t,” Amanda said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! This is an unscheduled meeting.”

“Well, we’re here now,” Amy said. “What have I missed?”

The Sentinel spoke up. “It would appear that the swarms are preparing to go to war.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “You mean they’re going to invade Tau Ceti?” Amy asked.

“It makes sense,” Amanda replied. “Steve has made all kinds of trips there, taking down Walls and putting up new ones. That was bound to have attracted somebody’s attention sooner or later. When did all this start happening?”

“Right after I returned from Xanthe,” the Sentinel replied.

“Well there you go,” Amanda said. “If we didn’t have their attention before I guess we’ve got it now! Do you think that Xanthe is in danger?”

The Artilect was quiet for a while. “I do not believe so,” he said at last. “Their original Wall was quite primitive and yet it was able to protect them for thousands of years. The Wall that my son erected is a great deal more advanced. If they could not penetrate the old one then the bots will not be able to penetrate the new one either.”

“I guess that’s true,” Sergeant Howell replied. “Unless something else is going on that we don’t know about.”

“Well, yeah,” Amy said. “But how can we make plans around things that we don’t know about?”

“So what are we going to do?” Amanda asked.

Sergeant Howell turned to the Artilect. “Is your armada ready?”

“Not yet,” the Artilect replied. “I have assembled a sizable force and was on schedule to have it completed in two more days, but the situation has now changed. The swarms were originally in a relatively smaller location and I had planned accordingly. However, they are now scattered over a much larger area and it will therefore take a much larger fleet to entrap them all at once. Even at an increased rate of production it will take another nine days to assemble enough resources to saturate the entire infected area.”

“Nine days!” Amy exclaimed. “We don’t have nine days!”

“We might,” Richard said. “After all, do we really know how long it’s going to take the swarms to finish their work?”

“We do,” the Artilect said. “I have calculated their rate of planetary consumption. Based on their current activity I estimate it will take them another 39 hours to finish their work.”

“Oh,” Richard said. “So I guess we don’t have nine days.”

“But we don’t know what happens next,” Sergeant Howell argued. “The bots may do nothing, or they might start fighting each other again. They also might search for more planets to consume. Since they’ve never done this before there’s no way to predict their next move.”

“But what if they attack Tau Ceti?” Amy asked. “What if they can find some way to get through the Wall?”

“Or what if they attack Earth?” Amanda asked.

Sergeant Howell frowned. “They’ve never done that before.”

“But as you said, they’ve never done this before either,” Amy pointed out.

“Or what if Earth is behind the swarms somehow?” Amanda asked.

Richard spoke up. “It sounds like we don’t have enough information. We don’t know why their behavior has changed and we don’t know what they’re going to do next. And, from what I can tell, there’s no good way to find out. The survivors on Tau Ceti are as clueless as we are.”

“Or so they say,” Sergeant Howell replied.

Richard shook his head. “If Adrian Garza had known something then Reverend Knight would have found out. I’m positive that they don’t know anything.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Sergeant Howell insisted. “I just can’t believe that. How could they possibly be the only survivors of a war that has lasted for five thousand years without actually knowing anything about their enemy?”

“This isn’t helping,” Amy interrupted. “What are we going to do?”

Everyone turned to look at the Artilect. “Do you have a recommendation?” Richard asked.

“I could attack now, but I cannot guarantee success,” the Artilect replied. “My forces are adequate to protect the network but they are too thin to ensure that no bots escape. If we attack and fail then we take the risk that they might learn more about us and find a way to counter our weapons. I admit this is unlikely, but it is possible and it should be considered – especially since so many variables are unknown.”

“So you suggest we wait and see what the swarms do?” Sergeant Howell asked. “I admit the idea makes sense to me. It would give us a chance to see who their target is, and that might tell us more about them.”

“Or waiting could ensure that everyone on Xanthe dies,” Amy replied.

“I agree,” Amanda said. “I don’t think we can risk all of their lives like that. What happens if we’re wrong?”

“You do have a point,” Richard admitted. “For all we know the people on Xanthe are the last survivors of the human race. We really can’t take chances with that many lives. Steve, how many people did you say were still there?”

“384,726,” the Sentinel replied quietly.

“I guess we could send the fleet to protect Tau Ceti,” Sergeant Howell said reluctantly. “But that seems dangerous as well. Do we really want the battle to take place there?”

“Could we draw their attention?” Amy said. “Maybe get them to attack us instead?”

“Are you crazy?” Amanda asked. “You want them to attack us?”

“Why not?” Amy asked. “It’s not like they have a chance of winning. Besides, if we could coax them into attacking a certain area of our front line then perhaps we could force them into a small area, and then Andy could wipe them out.”

“That makes sense,” Sergeant Howell said. “I would support that strategy.”

Richard nodded. “I do too, but I still don’t think we should leave Tau Ceti undefended. Can we send at least part of the fleet there, but perhaps hide it in some way so that the swarms don’t discover it unless it’s needed?”

“That is possible,” the Artilect replied. “I could send a small portion of it to protect that system. Once it was in place I could send a few ships to attack the Ranger system nearest to our borders. The ships could then fall back and draw the swarms into our territory.”

“I think that will work,” Sergeant Howell said.

The Artilect looked at the twin girls. “The final decision rests with the two of you. What is your command? Do you find this course of action acceptable?”

The twin sisters looked at each other, and then Amanda looked at the Artilect. “Are you sure that there’s no way the swarms could win?”

“I am quite sure,” the Artilect replied.

“So you’re positive that there’s no danger to us at all?”

The Artilect smiled. “Yes, I am. Believe me, Amanda, if this plan put either of you in danger I would most certainly let you know. Protecting you and your sister is my highest priority.”

“Then I say let’s do it,” Amanda said.

“I agree,” Amy replied.

“Then it shall be done!” the Artilect said.