Part Three: Requital
A series of clicks filled the room. Several loud, and very
colorful curses followed the clicking.
"You'll find that the safety mechanisms on your rifles
has been engaged and jammed." MARCUS 12 explained. "These people," MARCUS
12 said indicating McQueen and the AI's, "have come a long way to listen to what I
have to say. And I will not allow you to deprive them of hearing what needs to be
said."
Darrius glared at MARCUS 12. "I thought I said to turn
THAT program off!" He snarled at his aide. His aide gave him a nervous look from
where he stood next to the computer bank.
"I can't, Sir!"
"I'm afraid he's right. I don't wish my program
terminated." MARCUS 12 stated. he gave Darrius a benevolent smile. "And no one
will be leaving until after I've had my say."
Darrius gave a indignant snort, and headed towards the door.
His glare sent the men guarding the door scurrying off to each side. The door, however,
wasn't as easily intimidated. It seemed to be sealed shut. Darius smacked the door angrily
with the flat of his hand. He turned and pierced MARCUS 12 with a furious look.
MARCUS 12 folded his hands behind his back. The look he
returned to Darrius was one of a exasperated father facing a troublesome son.
"And I know how your mind works, Darrius. You left a
large number of your ground forces waiting outside. Perhaps you think that ordering them
to blow this place up would pose a suitable threat?"
The incredulous look Darrius gave him confirmed the truth of
his statement.
"In the interest of fair play, I must warn you that
such a ploy is doomed to failure." MARCUS 12 informed him.
"Really, why is that?" Darrius taunted.
"Simply, because in order to destroy me, you would have
to destroy every computer system ever made. I can travel to any system in a matter of
seconds. And I don't think even AEROTECH wields that kind of power, even if you wished to
destroy every computer system in existance." MARCUS 12 told him.
He winked at McQueen who was trying very hard not to smile
at Darrius's rage.
"Now where were we?" MARCUS 12 asked, before
proceeding with his narrative. "Ah yes, the "Chigs". As I told you earlier,
the "Chigs" gained the plans for the AI race. Unfortunately, they weren't able
to keep the plans for very long. A patrolling Shi'Arrian ship spotted their vessel and
destroyed it without ever knowing the plans were aboard."
MARCUS 12 walked across the room, pacing thoughtfully. He
spared a fuming Darrius a glance.
"This is where AEROTECH comes in. A long range probe
found the wreckage of the "Chig" ship. At this time, the existance of the
"Chigs" was previously unknown. They recovered the pieces and brought them back
to be studied. The AI's you see before you are the result of those long years of
study."
MARCUS 12 stopped before Elroy-L, "So if you have any
complaints on your design, you now know where to direct them." MARCUS 12 said with a
slight smile.
"Now," MARCUS 12 continued. "The
"Chigs" knew that someone had recovered the wreckage of one of their ships, and
wanted to send out a team to discover who. But they had a more important agenda to fill
first."
"What agenda?" Elroy-L asked.
"The "Chigs" were painfully aware that they
were outclassed by the Shi'Arrian. That they were barely holding their own in the war.
Some kind of edge was needed, and needed badly. So the "Chigs" began to slowly
withdraw a portion of their forces. Roughly, a quarter of the total "Chig"
military alliance was assigned to this covert operation."
"What mission?" McQueen asked. He had a funny
feeling that something big was about to "hit the fan" per se. Something beyond
the knowledge of anyone in this room, except perhaps MARCUS 12.
"The "Chig's" plan was to find a weapon that
the Shi'Arrian couldn't readily compensate for. Based on the imformation they had, they
knew that the Shi'arrian were a strictly regimental race with a tendency to lean towards
one-mindedness. So they decided that an unpredictability factor might prove to be the most
effective. So they began a search to find a the perfect "unpredictability
factor" that could be manipulated to meet their needs."
MARCUS 12 waited until this bit of information was absorbed
before continuing.
"The qualifiers that the "Chigs" were looking
for were a race that they could easily conquer. A race that fought back fiercely despite
the overwhelming odds against them. Perhaps it was good fortune that led the
"Chigs" to AEROTECH. They picked up a long range encoded transmission. They
worked on de-cyphering it and finally perceived its' meaning. The information mentioning
the plans for the AI race relayed was considered just a bonus. The real prize was the
discovery of the "Red Stink Creatures", or humankind. Immediately they began a
study of this race."
Again, MARCUS 12 let this information sink in. He waited
until he until he saw the startled awareness of several faces before he proceeded with his
dissertation.
"The "Chigs" sent several of their plants
within AEROTECH to study them at depth. Are you aware that the "Chigs" can
replicate a clone that resembles a human being?" MARCUS 12 asked.
"Yes we ran into one a while back." McQueen told
MARCUS 12.
Darrius gave McQueen a disgruntled look.
"Guess Sewell didn't tell you everything, huh?"
McQueen retorted. He knew he shouldn't taunt the man, but being almost killed tended to
piss one off.
"The "Chig" plants within AEROTECH gleemed
all the information they could with their limited access. Then they put the first part of
their plan into action. The "Chigs" needed to know how the human's would react
in a actual war situation. So they prodded and provoked key personal. Their efforts bore
fruit, but not in the way the "Chigs" had anticipated."
MARCUS 12 paced back across the room, deep in thought.
"You can't possibly be saying that the
"Chigs" started the AI wars?" Elroy-L snapped.
"No they didn't start them, they just provoked
them."
"I find that hard to believe! The AI wars were started
by the "Take a chance" virus implanted within us." Elroy-L retorted.
"And what would you think if I told you that the
"Take a chance" virus wasn't a virus at all? If it was a cleverly concealed
trigger?"
"What?!" Barbie exclaimed.
"Have you heard of Raistlin H. Lee?" MARCUS 12
asked.
"Of course! He wrote a excellent dissertation on the
possibility of sentience and continual evolution in Artifical life forms." Elroy-L
stated proudly.
"He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his thesis that
year." McQueen added quietly. Elroy-L gave him a surprised look.
"Let me tell you of Dr. Lee's humble beginnings."
MARCUS 12 intoned in a serious voice.
"He originally was one of the team assigned by AEROTECH
to study the wreckage. It was Lee that discovered a previously unknown strand of
information buried deep within the wreckage. That fragment of information almost drove him
mad with the questions and possibilities it raised. Secretly, he labored to see if he
could prove his theories. After nearly a year all the hard work that he had performed paid
off. The answers Lee found disturbed him deeply. he discovered that the AI's weren't meant
to be a race of machines, but individual lifeforms. The last thing that Lee wanted was for
AEROTECH to get their hands on this data. So for the next several months he spent
countless hours creating and installing the "Take a chance" virus. This supposed
"virus" was actually the "trigger" or key strain of information he had
found in the wreckage."
"Very interesting. Do go on." Elroy-l urged.
MARCUS 12 smiled at Elroy-L's impatience. He understood. He
understood only too well.
"The key sequence Lee had found explained that the AI's
were meant to slowly evolve. They would benefit form every battle they experienced. The
experience of a single AI would then be recorded and relayed to become part of the
memories of every other AI. Every scimmage, every encounter would add to the collective
memories of the AI race. The more they fought, the more deadly they would become."
A pregnant silence filled the room.
"That's obscene!" Barbie exclaimed.
"That is the Shi'Arrian way." MARCUS 12 told her.
"Why be involved in all the messiness of a war, when you can create beings to do it
for you? It left them free to plan further strategies and conquests. Or it would have.
With the destruction of the "Chig" vessel the plans were supposedly lost. The
Shi'Arrian are probably still trying to figure out what the "Chigs" did with
them."
"But how does this effect us now?" Ken demanded
impatiently.
"Patience, my friend, patience. I'm getting to
that." MARCUS 12 said in a voice intended to calm the silicate. "When AEROTECH
reconstructed the AI's, the ability to evolve in the way the Shi'Arrian had wished was
lost. Without the needed data, the AI's would simply not evolve at all. They would remain
nothing more then Artificially intelligent beings."
Darrius felt the weighty stare of the AI's directed at him.
It was almost as if they hated him. He shrugged off the idea as being nonsense. They were
just machines, and machines couldn't hate.
"The idea that a entire race could be lost was
intolerable to Lee. So he reconstructed the evolution program to the best of his ability.
The gaps in this program he filled in with what he considered to be the best attributes of
humankind. Activating this program, he hoped, would allow the AI's to evolve naturally on
their own. Lee had no idea how long each step on the evolutionary scale would take, or how
it would manifest itself, but he felt strongly that the AI's deserved the right to this
evolution."
"Are you telling us that we are evolving as you
speak?" Barbie asked.
"Yes." MARCUS 12 answered. He stopped pacing and
looked pensive for a moment. "But I'm afraid you may never get to chance to evolve
fully."
"Why not?" McQueen asked, curious in spite of
himself.
"The war. The AI's are in a very precarious position.
You may think of your alliance with the "Chigs" to be to your benefit, but in
reality it's not." MARCUS 12 sighed, and resumed his pacing.
"It's bad on two different levels. If the
"Chigs" are allowed to win this war, the usefulness of the AI's will be at a
end. To prevent you from falling back into the hands of the Shi'Arrian the
"Chigs" will concentrate all their efforts on annihilating your entire
race."
"We aren't going to lose this war!" McQueen stated
firmly. And he truely believed that. He would take his last breath believing that they
would persevere against the "Chigs". And he wasn't afraid to die fighting for
his beliefs.
"I hope you are right. Because once the
"Chigs" have won the war, and concluded their studies of you, your fate may well
lie along the same lines at the AI's. The "Chigs" wouldn't want the Shi'Arrian
to gain the same advantage that they now possessed. The only logical option would be the
wholesale slaughter of humankind. And they would do this without a second thought. Oh,
they may keep a handfull of humans alive to tap any previous unknown potental left to
study. But you would be nothing more then expendable slaves."
A heavy silence filled the room.
"If we were to suddenly terminate our alliance now, we
would gain nothing but the suspicion of the "Chigs". Elroy-L said.
"I agree, it wouldn't be a wise move." MARCUS 12
observed.
"But you could find ways of undermining their war
efforts. Ways that would not cause any undue attention. Ways that still would be highly
effective." MARCUS 12 suggested.
Elroy-L nodded slowly. He looked at McQueen, and McQueen
looked back at him. A look of understanding seemed to pass between them.
"What of the Shi'Arrian?" McQueen asked.
"I'm working on that. Have been for some time
now." MARCUS 12 offered. Seeing the answer didn't satisfy McQueen, he smiled and
continued.
"The Shi'Arrian don't have any knowledge of the AI's or
Humankind yet. Currently, they are preoccupied with their conquest of the
"Chigs". They may suspect that the "Chigs" are plotting something but
don't know what. None of the "Chigs" on the homefront know of the operation
concerning the information gathering. All the high officals know is that a covert
operation is in progress, nothing more."
MARCUS 12 tapped on his wrist bracelet for a few moments.
"I've sent the details of your involvement here to the Marine Corps, McQueen. I'm
sure they will find this information very helpful in the overall war effort."
"You, however," MARCUS 12 said, speaking to
Darrius, "Are going to have a rather ugly mess to deal with when you get back. I
would suggest you leave now to get a head start on it."
Darrius, red faced, and enraged, gave MARCUS 12 a murderous
look.
"I will give you a half an hour to leave, free and
clear." MARCUS 12 offered, waving him towards the now open door.
"Or what?" Darrius spit out.
"Or I'll have to detonate the explosives you were so
obliging to land on."
"You're bluffing!" Darrius snarled.
MARCUS 12 gave a exasperated sigh, and waved a hand at the
wall. A viewscreen appeared. The view was of Darrius' men, and the three shuttlecraft
nearby. MARCUS 12 made another motion with his hand, and a area near one of the
shuttlecraft exploded, sending dirt, and rock flying through the air, and down on the
surprised men, who dived for cover. Another explosion rocked the area just to the right of
the first.
"Would you like to see more?" MARCUS 12 offered.
"You have the entire area mined, don't you?"
McQueen asked.
"An astute observation, Colonel. As a matter of fact,
yes I do. Prevents pesky houseguests." MARCUS 12 gave Darrius a pointed look.
"This is by no means over!" Darrius threatened, as
he turned and stormed out of the room, followed closely by his men. His progress was
monitored until the shuttles departed the planet and made the jump into hyperspace.
"He will be much too busy when he gets back to cause
you any problems for awhile. And even then, to attack you in any way would be to call the
attention back upon himself." MARCUS 12 told McQueen.
"Why have you helped me? The AI's I can understand, but
me?" McQueen inquired.
"You brought the AI's here. I don't know where you got
the information about my existance, but I suspect a higher power at work here. At any
rate, your act of helping a enemy for their own well being deserves whatever help I can
bestow. I would ask that you keep my existance quiet though. It would bring up too many
unpleasant inquiries."
"Agreed." McQueen said nodding.
"You can leave at any time you wish. I have lots of
work to do pertaining to the AI's."
"I'll be on my way now. Thank you." McQueen
offered.
MARCUS 12 nodded. "I see a bright future ahead of you,
Colonel McQueen. You're a asset to those you serve, whether they realize it or not."
McQueen gave a nod, and the slightest of smiles, before
leaving the room. He heard MARCUS 12 offer to further instruct the AI's on things
important to their future survival, and heard Elroy-L's acceptance of the offer.
Their were a million stars glittering bright as diamonds in
the night sky. The air was cool and refreshing against his skin, as McQueen began the hike
back to his transport. He finished the trip in record time, and stood gazing at the stars
in contemplation.
He felt good. McQueen knew that once the information MARCUS
12 had sent out was common knowledge, no one's opinion of IV's would ever be the same. No
matter how the war turned out, he had made his impact on the world. He
felt.......redeemed. And it was a very, very good feeling.
He heard footsteps approaching behind him a few minutes
later. He turned to see Elroy-L coming towards him.
Elroy-L stopped before McQueen, and brushed some dust from
his faded leather pants. He looked up at McQueen finally.
"Why did you do it?" He asked McQueen quietly.
"Because I'm not your enemy." McQueen offered.
Elroy-L was silent for a moment. "No, why did YOU do
this? After all that happened between us."
McQueen grinned slightly. "I took a chance." He
told Elroy-L before turning to enter his transport.
The transport lifted off and disappeared into the sea of
stars, leaving Elroy-L alone in the night, a puzzled look on his face.
The End
Whitethorn
© 1996
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