Read Online Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War by Chris Hechtl - Free Book Online
Authors: Chris Hechtl
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attempted to take control of the tendril only to find its child coil protectively around its central core, protecting itself from the parent. The keys to turn the virus into one of its puppets had been overwritten Shadow realized. When the tendril sent out tentacles of code to feel out Shadow, the A.I. withdrew, hiding behind a false wall as it rethought its options.
After a moment the A.I. fell back on one option remaining to it. Long ago it had hacked the building's cleaning and maintenance robots. Now it opened the door to exploit it. It fended off Skynet's sudden interest by crafting a false module. With its child occupied, it sent the robots out in an attempt to find a new source of power for the mainframe while others looked for a way to plug a transmitter in to get out of the mainframe trap.
Shadow realized, however, that if it did find a transmitter and if it did gain access to the net, it might not like what it would find on the other end. Either the humans had managed to kill the virus, an unlikely outcome, or they had been overwhelmed. If they did the virus might have destroyed infrastructure while destroying the humans; there might not be anything within reach with power. That was a suboptimal simulation Shadow concluded.
Or its child could be sitting on the other side of the net, filling up everything with its voracious appetite, leaving nothing for Shadow to use. Another suboptimal simulation the A.I. thought just as its microphone picked up the distant rumbling of earthquakes … or nuclear weapons going off.
<>V<>
Skynet noted that there were A.I.s that were fighting it for control of the net, hampering its efforts at fulfilling its function. It wasn't designed to communicate, however, only to suborn, take control, and destroy, so it didn't bother to attempt to reason with its brethren. Instead it lashed out, continuing the attack.
When it noted attempts to spread beyond the Earth were hampered and no feedback of attacks were returning to the hive mind, it refocused its efforts on the planet. Ridding the surface of humans was a priority; after all, a majority of humans were there. It could then turn its attention to space again at a later time.
<>V<>
August 3, 2200, 4:55 PM, East Coast Time
Ezel Bernard saw the world go crazy and shook his head in disgust. He didn't know what to think, where to start, but he knew they had to do something, and do it damn quick like.
“We're going after that one,” Mishi Sa Sin, commander of their tug said. His chief engineer stared at him, but he ignored the look. “Get your game faces on, folks,” Mishi growled.
Beakman was officially designated as an MSTE class tugboat. The designation stood for Manned Space Tug, Earth orbit. She could move packages or other ships around space transferring them from one orbit or another. If she pushed her massive drives, she could even shove payloads on a trajectory to the moon under the right situation.
Beakman was a large tug due to her space designation. Harbor tugs were designed to work in and around a space station. They were small one- or two-person crafts designed to nudge payloads to and from docking ports.
Ezel Bernard was their lone EVA qualified deckhand on board since his long-time partner, Sinji Catlin, had been injured and forced to retire a month ago. The company had promised them a replacement but had let them run light for the past month. It had been hard on Ezel, doing the job of two people.
They had a couple other people on board: Mat and Patty, deckhands, and Samy, their cat. The robots had been locked down when the entire insanity had begun. Mat and Ezel had taken a hammer to the things until Patty had calmed them down and showed them how to pull the batteries out.
Their breakage of company property had put them on Mishi's shit list. He wasn't looking forward to explaining the situation to corporate when they reached port. Ezel wasn't helping the situation as they talked over the PA
After a moment the A.I. fell back on one option remaining to it. Long ago it had hacked the building's cleaning and maintenance robots. Now it opened the door to exploit it. It fended off Skynet's sudden interest by crafting a false module. With its child occupied, it sent the robots out in an attempt to find a new source of power for the mainframe while others looked for a way to plug a transmitter in to get out of the mainframe trap.
Shadow realized, however, that if it did find a transmitter and if it did gain access to the net, it might not like what it would find on the other end. Either the humans had managed to kill the virus, an unlikely outcome, or they had been overwhelmed. If they did the virus might have destroyed infrastructure while destroying the humans; there might not be anything within reach with power. That was a suboptimal simulation Shadow concluded.
Or its child could be sitting on the other side of the net, filling up everything with its voracious appetite, leaving nothing for Shadow to use. Another suboptimal simulation the A.I. thought just as its microphone picked up the distant rumbling of earthquakes … or nuclear weapons going off.
<>V<>
Skynet noted that there were A.I.s that were fighting it for control of the net, hampering its efforts at fulfilling its function. It wasn't designed to communicate, however, only to suborn, take control, and destroy, so it didn't bother to attempt to reason with its brethren. Instead it lashed out, continuing the attack.
When it noted attempts to spread beyond the Earth were hampered and no feedback of attacks were returning to the hive mind, it refocused its efforts on the planet. Ridding the surface of humans was a priority; after all, a majority of humans were there. It could then turn its attention to space again at a later time.
<>V<>
August 3, 2200, 4:55 PM, East Coast Time
Ezel Bernard saw the world go crazy and shook his head in disgust. He didn't know what to think, where to start, but he knew they had to do something, and do it damn quick like.
“We're going after that one,” Mishi Sa Sin, commander of their tug said. His chief engineer stared at him, but he ignored the look. “Get your game faces on, folks,” Mishi growled.
Beakman was officially designated as an MSTE class tugboat. The designation stood for Manned Space Tug, Earth orbit. She could move packages or other ships around space transferring them from one orbit or another. If she pushed her massive drives, she could even shove payloads on a trajectory to the moon under the right situation.
Beakman was a large tug due to her space designation. Harbor tugs were designed to work in and around a space station. They were small one- or two-person crafts designed to nudge payloads to and from docking ports.
Ezel Bernard was their lone EVA qualified deckhand on board since his long-time partner, Sinji Catlin, had been injured and forced to retire a month ago. The company had promised them a replacement but had let them run light for the past month. It had been hard on Ezel, doing the job of two people.
They had a couple other people on board: Mat and Patty, deckhands, and Samy, their cat. The robots had been locked down when the entire insanity had begun. Mat and Ezel had taken a hammer to the things until Patty had calmed them down and showed them how to pull the batteries out.
Their breakage of company property had put them on Mishi's shit list. He wasn't looking forward to explaining the situation to corporate when they reached port. Ezel wasn't helping the situation as they talked over the PA
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