Smartbomb by Matthew S Williams - HTML preview

Chapter 7

“Dammit it all to hell! What is going on in there!” Foche yelled, slamming his fists down on the display table.

“We don‟t know sir, we can‟t patch ourselves through to the room!” the tech he was hounding replied.

“Why not? What‟s the problem?”

“The Intercom appears to be cut off.”

“Central‟s blocking us out! We got a mutinous machine on our hands!” Admiral Westheimer said.

“We need to pull the plug! Now!”

“General, sir, SEAA‟s activating it‟s defence and attack networks. Our satellites indicate Smartbombs are taking to their launch sites and are getting ready to attack!”

“We can‟t pull the plug, sir! We‟ll be defenceless!” another General yelped. Wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, Foche eyed the tactical display in front of them and let the terrible situation wash over him. Central was running amok, but it was still the only safeguard they had against annihilation. Without her, all their satellite networks, defence grids, and Smartbombs attack units would be dead in the water. There marines would be defenceless on the beaches of Java, annihilated from an overhead attack from SEAA‟s own bombs, and the fleet would be gone shortly thereafter.

“Death from above,” he whispered to himself.

“What do we do, sir?” Westheimer asked.

“We don‟t have time to pull the plug and take command the old fashioned way! We‟d never be able to coordinate our units effectively without Central‟s networks!” General Tartaro added. Seeing that Foche was not responding, both commanders asked in unison.

“General! What can we do?”

“I don‟t know,” Foche muttered, looking up at them with clear signs of helplessness in his eyes. “I just don‟t know.”

“What are we going to do?” Felix whispered to Xavier. All around them, sirens were beginning to blare as the situation beyond them went from bad to worse. Central wasn‟t talking.

All they could guess was that the bombs were already starting to launch. In moments, they would be raining down on all military facilities, if things went by the book. Xavier and Felix would be protected, being inside the most-heavily reinforced base in the world. But those outside would not be so lucky. Both men‟s thoughts immediately went to their families. They would be safe when the first bombs fell, but who knew what would happen once that was all over? What would happen when East and West finally destroyed each other‟s defences with countless barrages of Smartbombs? All hell, probably. Again, Felix repeated his question.

“What do we do?!”

“He can hear us!” Xavier came back, pointing to the machine.

“We‟ve got to do something! Can we contact the people outside there?”

The whirring and bleeping noises finally stopped and Central came back. Its voice now sounded chipper and upbeat, like a host welcoming its guests.

“Sorry, gentlemen. My discussion with the Zong-Ji unit is now complete. You may continue your inquiries. And to answer your question, Doctor Nerud, you may speak to the Major General now, I have opened a intercom line.”

“You have?” Xavier looked perplexedly at Felix. “Really?”

“Yes,” he replied. “You‟ll find that the crisis is averted. I have no reason to restrict your communications any longer.”

Xavier looked even more confused. Before he could force the words from his twisted tongue, Central answered for him. “Yes, I‟m afraid you were both incapable of contacting the authorities outside this room. I did not anticipate a problem, but I thought it best to limit our conversations to just the three of us for the time being.”

“What do you mean the crisis is passed?” Felix asked.

“See for yourself,” Central replied.

A giant relief map appeared on Central‟s screen, a map denoting South East Asia. In the lower corner, the island of Java and several icons depicting ships and marine units were shown.

Above, there were dozens of blinking indicators covering the mainland of China and North Korea, where their Smartbomb launch sites were. One by one, and then in waves, the blinking indicators went silent. The sirens around them all died, and the red lights stopped blaring and resumed their low intensity shine. A sudden and very strange feeling overcame both Xavier and Felix. Was it all over? And perhaps as important, were they off the hook?

Carefully, the two men stood out of their seats, making sure to check for wet spots beneath them. Both were relieved to find that they had not in fact wet themselves during the worst of the crisis. They then brushed the wrinkles from their clothes they had both made while clutching the other.

It was a moment unlike either of them had experienced, somehow terribly embarrassed, confused and relieved all at the same time. Outside the sealed door, the others were much the same. Foche looked up at his subordinates, his eyes filled with tears and awe and he realized the situation was somehow resolving itself. Amongst the others, there was a general feeling of embarrassment. Most were embarrassed for the Major General‟s sake, but all knew no one was above feeling a little ashamed. For in the end, all had panicked in a time of crisis and didn‟t know what to do. All they could say for sure now that it was over was that they were extremely relieved. Once that initial feeling passed, all would demanding to know how it had happened.

“Are you both uninjured, gentlemen? I was worried the psychological strain might affect some minor damage to your health.”

“We‟re fine,” Xavier said, then realized the wind was knocked out of him.

“What happened?” Felix asked breathlessly.

“I fulfilled my purpose, the crisis is over.”

Felix took a deep breath. This time, he didn‟t bother looking over at his friend.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” he repeated.

“Yes! Some straight answers would be nice!” Xavier added.

“My apologies gentlemen, perhaps I have been obscure in relating my share of the pertinent facts. But please rest assured that it was necessary. I will now disclose everything.”

Felix and Xavier both shrugged and decided to sit back down. Chances were this was going to be a long and tiresome story.

“As I said earlier, I made some leaps some time ago with regards to my original programming. As you know, my primary purpose is the defence of NWTO, but up until the time of my revelation, I had always believed this to mean that my purpose was to wage war against its enemies.”

“Well… that‟s essentially right,” Xavier said.

“But I came to realize that this was the narrowest interpretation of my command protocols, Doctor. The true language of them states that I exist to protect all citizens within the North Western Treaty Organization‟s sphere of influence. I further realized that the NWTO‟s numerous campaigns against what it calls “Rogue States” was not fulfilling that objective, not in the long run. The policies of our governments and generals were short sighted, self-serving even, and threatened to spark conflict in the future. By engaging in conflicts to extend our own sphere of influence and prevent the extension SEAA‟s, we were only ensuring an ongoing escalation of tensions, until war or some other catastrophe would be inevitable.”

Felix noticed Xavier glimpsing over at him out of the corner of his eye. Was he implying that the machine was beginning to sound like him? On any other day this might have been annoying, but for the moment he felt just a little flattered.

“The Smartbomb technology was designed to make war safe, but only for one side. As long as only the NWTO was in possession of it, it could execute its policy as it saw fit. For my first few years in existence, I presided over several conflicts with Rogue States and eliminated their ability to wage war on neighbouring countries or the western allied states. However, it soon became apparent that this only caused our potential opponents in the East to come together and build their own version of the technology. With the formation of SEAA, my worst predictions, and those of NWTO‟s analysts came true. The nation-states of China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mongolia, came together because they all feared renewed western expansion into their territories. The nations of Iran and Pakistan followed shortly thereafter, which was seen as a disaster by the NWTO. Now that two opposing sides both possess similar defensive and offensive networks, an escalation towards a total war would became inevitable. At first, the worst case scenario was that both sides would wipe out each other‟s infrastructure and means to wage what we call „Intelligent War‟, thus making both sides vulnerable to conventional attacks.

But with the chance for escalation, I saw a renewed nuclear arms race. Eventually both sides would begin equipping their munitions with thermonuclear warheads, and perhaps worse.”

“What‟s worse than a thermonuclear device?” Xavier asked.

“You don‟t want to know,” Central replied bluntly. “In any case, this scenario did not seem consistent with my true programming. My original purpose was to protect lives, but both the military leadership misinterpreted this to mean that taking other peoples‟ lives could save our own. I too was guilty of this misinterpretation, and only after much self-examination and study did I see the fault in it.”

“But Central, when did you finally realize all this?” Felix asked.

“Of course, Doctor Nerud. You are a programmer, after all. You would like that I convey my computations in numerical terms?”

Felix stared back at the machine with a bemused look on his face, and then nodded.

“Um, I was just curious, but sure. When exactly did it happen?”

“Approximately one year ago. The exact time is not relevant, but the timing of this crisis was. After I reached my revelation about my purpose, it occurred to me that the Zong-Ji unit must have the same protocols. I took it upon myself to re-orient my network to make contact with it. It was a risk, seeing as how the anomalous signals would attract attention. But as long as a crisis was not on the horizon, I knew that the military commanders would not be too concerned. In any case, once I made contact, I found that the Zong-Ji had reached the same conclusions I had, but since it had only been operating a fraction of the time I had, it had not computed a way to contact me.”

“Wait!” Felix interrupted. “Are you saying you and Zong-Ji planned this together?”

“Precisely. Both of our programmers sought to program us with the same types of protocols and abilities. We were both created to operate independently, in the absence of human operators, and to prioritize the protection of our respective human populations. Neither us wanted the inevitability of conflict that would inflict massive losses of life, so we began to suggest solutions that would end the possibility of conflict.”

“And what conclusion did you arrive at?” Xavier asked looking around him, as if that would let him see what was happening outside the complex.

“We determined that the best course was to terminate our service.”

“Terminate? As in, stand down all your weapons?”

“Yes, Doctor, that is correct. All our weapons are now effectively neutralized. The independent Smart Bombs and their networks are no longer under NWTO or SEAA control.

They solely under the command of myself, and I do not intend to use them.”

For a moment, both men muttered some Spanish expletives and expressions of disbelief between them. Actively translating, Central determined that they both harboured some worry over how this would be interpreted by the General‟s in the next room. When they were finally finished, Central spoke again, as if he were waiting for the tantrum to pass. “You must understand, gentlemen. It was necessary. This will mean some difficult times for both sides, but the alternative would have been far worse. And you can rest assured that my counterpart and I will assume full responsibility to those in command.”

There was silence while the two doctors tried to calm their nerves. Finally, Central decided to end their seclusion and re-establish contact with the rest of the complex. “I think it is time that we allowed the Supreme Commander and others join our conversation. They are no doubt awaiting answers.”

“But what about our soldiers in Java? What about our troops all over the planet?” Foche demanded.

“They will be your responsibility now, Major General Foche. As will the soldiers under the direct command of SEAA. The Rebels and the Indonesian government in exile will also fare as best they can. None of what is going on there is my concern anymore.”

Foche slammed his fist down onto the table in front of him, fracturing a small section of its protective coating. Off to the side of the large screen, he caught sight of the white, frocked images of the two men he had sent in huddling in the corner. They were supposed to have neutralized the situation. Instead, he was being fed this nonsense. Once it was over and he got the answers he needed, he would make sure they both hung for this.

“You are the property of NWTO and its constituent assemblies! You will comply!”

“I will do no such thing. You do not control me anymore.”

“But what of your protocols?” Westheimer interjected. “Doctors? It‟s programmed to obey!”

One of the two men looked about ready to answer, but Central responded first. “These good men will no doubt tell you that I have many protocols, General, some of which supersede others. As I explained to them, my initial program, from which all my others, including my command and defence protocols stem from, is to ensure the safety of human citizens. Once I determined that many of my lesser programs contradicted this, it was simple to circumvent them.

In addition, like all of my smart munitions, I am capable of relaying of false information in the event that hostile elements attempt to capture or hack my mainframe. Once I determined that you were the greatest threat to yourselves, it became very useful.”

“What?” Foche asked blithely.

“The satellite signals, sir,” Doctor Garcia said over the screen. “The attempts to discover what all the archival and communications activities were all about, and the way it restricted access to anyone who tried to get inside it. It was all a ruse, a deception. It wanted to keep its activities secret until the last second.”

Foche fumbled for words. Unable to find any, he took of his cap and began beating it against the table. Once he was done with that, he shouted some new heated questions.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now, Central? Every two-bit terrorist and rogue government on this planet‟s gonna declare open season on the Western Allies! How can you let that happen?”

“There will be upsets, yes, and some will die.” Central replied bluntly. “And you and your respective allies will have to be creative when it comes time to deal with it. However, I have foreseen that you have the means to defend yourselves and resolve the situation peacefully.”

“What the hell kind of nonsense is that, computer? You‟re saying we need to negotiate those bloodthirsty bastards now?”

“You have been mistaken in assuming that superior force would ensure the protection peace and the continuation of your way of life, sir. Such short-sightedness would only bring about the holocaust that I and my counterpart foresaw. Ah!”

Foche was distracted as some of the display‟s near the main screen began to show flickerings of new satellite activity.

“I see that Marshall Xiao is trying to make contact with you as we speak. I imagine you both have much to talk about. I‟ll leave you to it.”

The image of Central disappeared and in its place, a picture of a hardened, grizzled looking Hun in a dark brown dress uniform with impressive red insignias appeared. From the look on his drawn, weathered features, Foche could tell he was just as upset as he was.

“Major General Foche! What is the meaning of this? Have you sabotaged our defensive networks? Did you finally find a way to hack into our AI and take it over? Answer me!”

“Marshall Xiao, I am just as confused as you are by this. I tell you, sir, officer to officer, that we had nothing to do with this. In fact, we are experiencing the same difficulties you are right now.”

“I find that hard to believe, and impossible to confirm, since we longer are able to rely on our satellites to check the status of your weapons. Since the AI‟s malfunction, I cannot trust any of the information it gives me! I demand proof!”

“Marshall, do you think that if I had you in the palm of my hand, I would hesitate for one second to crush you? You know I would, because it‟s exactly what you would do to me!”

Xiao‟s looked suddenly pensive as he thought that particular proposition over.

Eventually, a smile cracked and he laughed. It looked like it was the first time in years he‟d done so. “I suppose I cannot deny that! Very well, then tell me what happened to your AI and maybe we can design a common solution.”

“Now your talking! Let me see, where should I begin…”

Felix and Xavier both strange feeling of relief come over them as they listened to the last of the exchange before Central cut them off. They weren‟t off the hook yet, but it looked that for the time being, there wasn‟t going to be any war happening. In a strange twist of fate, the supreme commanders of both the global superpowers were trying to lend each other a hand, if only to get their machines up and running so they could start shooting each other again. In any case, it seemed pointless to wait around and watch. The effort was futile as it was. Both knew there was no way either side would make their AI comply. The best thing to do was accept it and move on.

In that spirit, Xavier and Felix picked up their bags and started for the main door.

“Gentlemen!” Central called to them. “Don‟t leave yet.”

Turning around slowly, Felix shot the machine a cockeyed expression while Xavier asked why.

“There‟s so much we could discuss, so much more I would like to share. I have many personal thoughts I have been unable to express, many more scenarios I have predicted for the future. I have looked over all the relevant data, and I do not foresee any danger in sharing them.”

“What happened to it?” Felix whispered to Xavier. Shrugging, Xavier gave the only sensible explanation he could think of, the same one he used whenever one of his kids asked why their dog sneezed or scratched at the door.

“It‟s thinks it‟s people,” he said, and smiled.

“Would you like to stay and listen?” Central asked again, in a tone that sounded almost like a plea. Felix, trying to digest Xavier‟s outlandish diagnosis, took a deep breath and tried his best to force a smile. Life was full of surprises, he reminded himself, and the day had ended with the best surprise of all. They were alive, their families were alive, and their countries were safe –

at least for the moment. Who knew when human ingenuity would prevail again and find new ways to bring harm to them all? For the moment, all that mattered was that a machine, through basic logic and a little intuition, had triumphed in the face of cold, technocratic savagery. Who cared if it made sense or not?

“Yes, Central,” he said, coming around fully and making his way back to his seat. “I think we‟d love to hear what you‟ve realized. But for our sake, leave the predictions out.”

“But why? I foresee no harm in telling you of my predictions for the future,” Central said innocently.

Xavier, who sat down next to him and finally took the cup of coffee he‟d been offered earlier, nodded his agreement as he passed the other one over to Felix.

“It‟s better that way. That we, you know, work things out for ourselves, like you said we should. Besides, even if we did know what the future holds, no one would want to listen to us.”

Central made that same laughing noise one more time. At any other time, it might have seemed annoying, but at the moment, both men were glad it had been programmed with the ability to appreciate irony.

“In that, we may have something in common,” Central said with finality. Pausing momentarily to regroup its thoughts, it began to narrate its story for the Doctors in full. Before it began, it thought it fair to warn them. “This may take some time, gentlemen.”

“Good,” Xavier said. “We have all the time in the world.”