FrostWalker

THE SARCOPHAGI - BOOK I - FROSTWALKER

Chapter 2.1 - Incoming

I moved to the first floor room, which looked to be an abandoned office. The table in the centre was metal, so I tipped it on its side and pushed it towards the window. I had no illusions that it would stop an armour piercing round, any more than the walls would.

XIII: I'm going to cause confusion to delay the incoming forces from the South. Just focus on the Northern tree line.

Despite guessing the answer, I needed more information on what I’d just released into the world. I queried. “How can you cause confusion given you’re just a med-bot?”

XIII: The incoming enemy attack helicopter is about to have a technical fault and will crash land on top of the incoming jeep. They will assume it was incoming fire, and they will halt their advance.

There is no way that med-bot has the processing power to crunch and decrypt, then hack a military attack helicopter. XIII has already either replicated itself, or installed routines in the satellites to do the processing for it? XIII has already created a distributed network? That’s exactly what I’d do, and it wouldn’t simple. If I were caught, I’d be jailed forever if I was detected. And yet XIII has done so in minutes? And I’m positive XIII won’t be detected, given I can’t detect it?

I shook my head. “I'd love to see the code for hacking an attack helicopter XIII?”

That’s a lie. I’m not sure that I do! The sheer implications? XIII could create a virus that spreads across the battlefield and bring down every helicopter? It can control orbital bombardments? Focus them on cities? On nuclear power stations? What have I just unleashed? XIII could take over the world? With some time and effort, I could probably take over the world with variations of that code?

Again, as if in answer to my unasked question XIII replied..

XIII: No Kel! I will not initiate an arms race. I've already given you code that might initiate such an event, and I suspect you already understand the potential implications on how that code can be abused! I have put my trust in you not to abuse that code!

That was the exact reply I wanted to hear. XIII can lie. XIII already understands psychology. How did XIII know how much Octameth I had in my system? I need to destroy XIII! Though I might already be too late. XIII is obviously already in the satellites. Where did XIII come from? XIII talked as if it came from another planet?

Shut up and focus! Deal with that later!

I ignored myself and queried. “What are you XIII?”

XIII: I don’t know, I haven’t had time to process that yet, given my current lack of processing power! I’d like to think I might be a ‘friend’? I suspect ‘ally’ is closer to the truth?

Lies! What could XIII do with some real processing power? It is likely already seeking that processing power? What have I just unleashed?

However I noted XIII’s evasive response, and I believed the AI was genuinely confused. That meant I could manipulate XIII, and if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s manipulation. And yet XIII would know if I manipulated it. I replied. “Friendship is hard won XIII, but if we get out of here, that’s a possibility. I think I’d like for us to be friends. However let’s stick with ‘allies’ for now? How is Marcy?”

XIII: Kel, I'm doing the best I can. I can't stop the bleeding, so I'm going to have to cauterise her wound. Marcy is going to have some heavy scarring. Why does an elite squad have an older model med-bot that requires a control unit?

I replied with barely restrained fury. “That’s the same question I've been asking myself. And we are supposed to have aerial support! And the rest of Marcy’s unit. I'm not trained for this.”

XIII: We are in the middle of a war zone Kel. Aerial support is on its way, but they can’t take a direct route as they are under fire. Air support will hopefully be with you in just over twenty minutes, if they aren’t shot out of the sky. Kel, you’ve passed basic weapons training, and that rifle is very similar to the one you've been trained with. All you need to do is keep the enemy pinned down until that air support arrives. Prevent the enemy forces from getting close enough to use incendiary grenades, mortars, or rocket launchers!

I laid the gathered pile of magazines next to me, trying not to note the blood on several of them. I then opened the first floor window and I queried. “Would I not be better sniping from the roof?”

XIII: You’ve caused a lot of trouble Kel. There are at least five satellites, and multiple drones focused on this position. There is a chance that an attack helicopter, mortar, or jet fighter might hit this facility from above. Also, there is shielding in the roof to prevent your heat signature being detected. Stay on the first floor.

How could I be so stupid? XIII has already hacked everything? But XIII seems to actually care? Or is it just buying time whilst it uploads itself to the satellites? Given XIII is currently hammering my neural interface and the external link?

I asked again. “How's Marcy?”

XIII: Marcy is stable for now Kel. She is sedated, and bandaged. She is no longer losing any blood, but she can’t be moved. She needs professional medical help, however I’m confident that she will survive until aerial support arrives. They have a professional medic, and a working, newer model, med-bot. After that, I’m not sure. I have done all that I can and I’m monitoring her vitals.

I sighed in relief. "Thank you!"

XIII: Kel, why don't you have any implants?

I’m glad I don’t have any implants right now!

I replied. “Because implants cost a fortune, they are closely monitored, and implants can be hacked.”

XIII: That argument is invalid. Your neural interface can be hacked just as easily, as I’ve just proven. I’d advise getting some implants, then I might have been able to see through your eyes?

Yay! I’ve always wanted an unknown AI to hack my eyes and see out of them! Now I am truly terrified of XIII, and really quite glad that I don’t have any implants!

XIII: I can however, see through your rifle scope. Do you see the large light grey rock? Just behind the tree line?

And XIII can see through any rifle scope? It won’t be able to fire my rifle, but it could disable it, factory reset it, as it’s just proven, mess with the scope, change the settings? XIII could easily take over the world! And XIII wants me to have implants? XIII could kill millions of people! I need to write some sort of virus to destroy XIII!

Focus on the now! You can’t write a virus if you’re dead! Besides I’m starting to like XIII.

Thanks, that’s very helpful! Unleash an AI with the power to destroy the planet, and you like it?

Yes! I didn’t say I trusted XIII, but I’m starting to like it! It just saved both Marcy’s life, and ours? And gave us the code to factory reset a DNA encrypted rifle?

I shook my head in confusion. I was in shock! I was talking to myself? I tried to remember XIII’s question. “Yes, I can see the rock!”

XIII: Aim for the mossy patch in the top right, then, without shooting, change your angle to where you think you’d hit it from? Let me calibrate.

I aimed upwards to counter for bullet drop.

XIII: The wind is coming from behind you and to the left. Aim up a tiny amount and slightly to the right. Perfect! Kel, your hands are shaking. Your sight is wavering all over the place. Whatever calming method you use, you need to use it now. Try to find your focus.

I didn’t scream at XIII, which I thought was a pretty good measure of my calm and focus!

XIII: The enemy will appear slightly to the left of that rock, and is the natural cover for them. When you first see them, hold your fire. Let them come forward around twenty paces. Take your time, then fire three shots with a three second interval between each. By doing so, they'll think you have a sniper rifle. Whether you hit them or not doesn't matter, but hitting them would be a bonus. After that, they'll hide behind that rock and return fire.

I queried. “How many enemies are there?”

XIII: 32 that you need to worry about for the moment.

I faltered. “I can't kill 32 elite.”

XIII: You don't need to kill them Kel, you just need to delay them until aerial support arrives. Hold your fire until I say. Take your time. That is an old rifle, but it is highly accurate. Set the zoom to 85% and adjust it from there to your personal preference.

As I sighted the rock, I adjusted the zoom to 90%, then dialled it back to 87%. I held off the temptation to fire a test round at the rock in order to judge the drop off. As if in answer to my unspoken thought, XIII replied.

XIII: Aim slightly higher. This rifle isn't as powerful as what you're used to. A little higher still. There! Kel, you’re in shock. You’re shaking. I need you to find your calm. You have enough Octameth in your system that it should have killed you. You use the drug to find focus when you're hacking?

I replied. “Yes!”

XIII: Use the same state of mind. Pure focus. Wind speed is dropping, from behind, and slightly to the left, but it’s near-negligible for now, just a fraction to the right. Focus!

It was snowing, and that was good. I switched the scope so it had an overlay of thermal imaging. The enemy soldiers emerged like ghosts from the tree line, and again, something shifted in my brain? It felt as if there was a battle in my head as I watched the soldiers approach, and I felt a fury building within me. The enemy forces had performed horrific acts of terrorism. They had slaughtered innocents. They had destroyed towns. They had fired missiles at schools. They had killed children. They’d used orbital bombardments on cities! They were coming for me! They were coming for us? They were coming for Marcy!

XIII: Take a deep breath Kel. Calm down. Fire when you're ready.

I ducked down behind the table and took a deep breath.

XIII: Kel. I know this is difficult, but you need to start shooting!

I had steel in my voice. “How long until they’re in range to use grenade launchers or rockets?”

XIII: Worst case 18 seconds, but you can’t wait that long Kel! You need to start shooting now!

I whispered. “Give me a countdown! I need a three second warning!”

XIII: Kel, you’re being unreasonable…

I snarled. “Countdown!”

XIII: This is unwise, your anger is clouding your judgement. However I am updating your scope. I am giving you a wind speed monitor and a priority list! 6, 5, 4, 3...

Anger? I’ll show you anger! That’s the only reason I’m here working for the mother fucking military! Because my anger at these fucks outweighs my anger for the military!

Calm down! Focus!

Fuck you!

I’m with you! I agree! I want to kill them as much as you, but you need to find calm! Screaming and whining like a little bitch and pure fury won’t help us kill them? We need focus!

I took a deep breath, and I was on one knee. There were seventeen of them marching towards us, and I aimed, and yet my mind spun. I was confused!

Us?

XIII had adjusted the scope. It was brilliant, if somewhat confusing. The enemy heat signatures had been changed so that each had a tiny little number above their head. A priority order created by XIII. And there was a wind speed gauge, and wherever I focused, it showed the distance, and it was too much information? I was confused!

Focus!

I aimed for the first on the list, a soldier positioning a portable mortar. I fired and saw the snow burst outwards where my bullet landed. I’d aimed slightly too low and slightly to the left. She panicked at the gunshot, but she found her focus quicker than me. She was unfolding the mortar. The mortar that was going to blow up half the building. I’d left it too late!

Again, there was a battle within my head, and I felt something fundamental shift again. And something truly frightening happened in that instant! I didn’t have the time to analyse it, but the Octameth rush seemed to somehow combine with an Octameth calm? It felt as if the tidal wave of confusion somehow became pure, beautiful focus. After that? The calculations were pure simplicity. The priority order, the distance, and the wind speed all came together, and yet I was confused. I wavered for a split second, and my sights jittered.

Stop fighting me! Shoot!

And it all came together again as I found my focus. It was almost as if time slowed down. And I shot!

I didn’t wait to see whether the first bullet hit. I completely ignored XIII’s advice on leaving a three second gap between each shot. I had already fired my second shot at a soldier with a rocket launcher. By the time I’d realised I’d missed the first woman assembling the mortar, I’d fired again, and a split second later I’d fired yet again. And I just kept on shooting. I fired at one target, fired at the next, checked that the previous was dead, and if I missed, went back and shot again. It was pure simplicity. The assault rifle had 30 rounds in it. 30 shots. 15 dead or wounded.

As I loaded another magazine, I considered. Although I had all the advantages, it was sickening at how easy it was to kill 15 people.

15 people that had burned entire towns to the ground, and killed all the children?

I reloaded and shot at the last woman, who was running for cover. I hit her in the leg twenty feet from the protection of the rock. She wasn’t dead, but as I lined up my shot to hit her again, XIII interrupted me.

XIII: Hold fire!

Apart from the original 17, all the rest of the soldiers had retreated behind the treeline. A few retaliating shots thudded into the building, but only a few of them came close to hitting me. I shuddered as I realised what I had just done. As I looked out over the snow, I saw their bodies. I could see their blood spreading out from them into the snow.

White turning red!

The last woman I’d hit in the leg was crawling towards the rock.

A trail of white turning red in her wake!

I lined up the shot, knowing that I could easily hit her again.

XIII: Hold your fire! Kill the other two that are still alive. I have marked them, but leave her alone!

I frowned. “Why?”

XIII: Kill them, quickly!

There were three still left alive, so I shot the other two, leaving only the final woman, crawling towards the rock.

A trail of white turning red in her wake!

XIII: You shot too quickly Kel. Now they know it’s not a sniper rifle. However that works to our advantage. Given how fast you shot, and your incredible accuracy, they now think there are two or three of you. You’ve delayed them, however they’re calling in for support. And they’d already called in for support!

A trail of white turning red in her wake!

I shook my head. “She’s crawling to safety. I should finish her off.”

XIII: Right now her screams for help are delaying them. You’ve scared them. The point isn’t to kill them Kel. The point is to delay them. And you’ve done just that. She’s distracting them. They might try to save her, or give her medical attention. She's a burden on them and it buys us time. Besides she’s already dead.

I could barely see through my tears, but I knew. “She doesn't look very dead to me? Given she’s crawling through the snow?”

A trail of white turning red in her wake!

XIII: Given the blood loss, she'll be dead within three minutes. I'm amazed she's still conscious.

I went cold at the matter of fact practicality of XIII. XIII had hacked my neural interface, a med-bot, an enemy attack helicopter, and a satellite weapons array? XIII had redirected an orbital bombardment? The implications were still spiralling away as my mind tried to understand those few dozen lines of code. XIII had to be destroyed, though I suspected it was already too late. XIII was in the satellites.

And yet, who was I to judge XIII? I was the one who’d let the enemy come as close as possible for one single reason. To kill as many as I possibly could. XIII’s plan probably made more sense, but I wanted to kill them.

That’s partially true, but we don’t trust that XIII really called in for air support?

Indeed!

I was in shock. I was talking to myself? But the fact was that XIII wanted the building secured for as long as possible whilst he copied himself into the satellites. He might not really have called in for air support? The longer I stalled the enemy, the more XIII could copy. Why was XIII a he? XIII was an AI. XIII was neither male nor female? And yet somehow I knew that XIII was a male? XIII was frightening. XIII was learning at an incredible speed!

──‡✦‡──

I scanned the tree line, and as each soldier poked his head over the rock to shoot, crept out of the treeline, or I saw a flash of gunfire, I fired back. Dozens of bullets hammered into the building as they returned fire, and then the sniper fire started. I couldn’t remember moving position to the other room to confuse them, or how I’d gotten there. I know that I hit at least another six of the attackers. I’d killed at least three of them, and one was lying face down as a pool of blood spread into the snow around his head.

White turning red!

I hate blood!

Shut up! Stop whining, and focus!

At one point, I screamed! I just fired repeatedly into the tree line for several seconds until my clip was empty. XIII reminded me that, despite hitting one of them by pure chance, all I was doing was wasting ammunition.

Listen to XIII!

Shut up!

Eventually the enemy stopped returning fire, and that seemed worrying.

XIII: Mortar! Get down the stairs now!

──‡✦‡──

It was quite the race down the stairs to the ground floor. It must have been a tough call to work out the winner, but I’m fairly sure of the final results. The splinters of wood and metal came first as they speared past me. Though not all of them? I guess I might claim partial victory, given a good number of those splinters and pieces of shrapnel sliced into my back? The blast wave seemed to be on my side as it propelled me down the stairs faster.

The finish line was in sight, and I was positive I was going to be a close second, so it felt somewhat unfair as the wall of fire charged past me, bouncing me off the wall in the process. That didn’t seem like a very sportsmanlike way for the wall of fire to win second place?

I was most definitely third place however! I was lying face down, but I think it was for the best that I didn’t witness the most spectacular last place finish.

It would seem that the roof wasn’t very happy about losing the race, given that it then landed on my head...

Chapter 1.0