Man and Machine 18
[I had been looking forward to writing this part… I will admit, I did not expect the twist at the end. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.]
"Come on, Theo," Buck said over the rattle of the Earth Defense Directorate vehicle's engine. "You have to be able to tell me something about the destruction of my people."
The Colonials, insisted on calling the tracked vehicle a Landram, saying that it's design was very similar to the tracked vehicles they used, except of course this one had Earth lasers mounted in the turret that was being manned by Starbuck, while Apollo and Wilma were up front.
"I told you before, Buck. Most of the records from that time have been lost. I myself, in fact, none of the Computer council existed then to have any first hand knowledge of what happened," Dr. Theopolis said.
"Bidi-biddi-bidi-biddi," Twiki said.
"You are not helping, Twiki," Dr. Theopolis said.
"What did he say?" Buck asked.
"I'm taking your side," Twiki answered.
Buck and the others had taken a shuttle halfway across the planet to one of the other few domed cities, an set down, claiming engine trouble. It had placed them within driving distance of the unknown section of the planet.
"We're getting close," Apollo said.
Starbuck ducked back down into the landram's interior. "Apollo stop the vehicle! You have to see this."
"See what?" Wilma asked, "What is it?"
The landram slid to a stop, and the doors opened.
"Radiation levels are nominal," Wilma said, stepping out onto a bleached out piece of white rock with a few scattered round rocks around it. Like most of the landscape, the larger rock had once been a building. Nothing remained of the city except rubble, not even a clue as to which city it had been.
"What is it Starbuck, I don't see anything special," Apollo walked around the landram, studying the landscape.
"You can tell they haven't been pushing agriculture in this area," Buck joined the others, while Twiki was climbing down behind him.
Beyond the lip of the flat rock/wall the Landram had parked on, was a hill made up of the uniform round rocks.
Starbuck pointed franticly at the rocky mount they were approaching. "Look."
"Oh, God," Wilma said, a thought echoed by Apollo's "By the Lords…"
Buck grew cold, well beyond any feeling that cursing could express, at the sight of an entire mountain made up of skulls, with other bones poking up in between them. "This was no war, Theo. This was extermination."
"Buck… we should go back…" Dr. Theopolis said.
Buck ignored him, and began walking up to the top of the mountain of skulls, the dutiful Twiki following behind him, carrying the unwilling Theopolis. Wilma, Apollo and Starbuck followed, dreading what lay beyond.
The sky overhead was black, which fit Buck's mood perfectly… some of the pollution the Computer Council was working on removing. From the top of the mountain of bones, they looked down into a huge crater. A crater of skeletons. At the center of the crater, in the distance was a black city, but it was no city any human would live in. Instead of buildings, there were tall machines, sparking electric arcs and looking ominous. The machine city was surrounded by towers, each lined with orange pods, containing… something.
"Holey frack," Starbuck said, "That is uglier than any Cylon city I've ever seen."
"We need to leave, it isn't safe here," Dr. Theopolis said.
"Why? What's coming?" Apollo asked.
"Bidi-bidi-bidi… Fuck." Twiki said.
"Machines from the past," Dr. Theopolis said, "This can't be. The Council made no decision to reactivate them!"
"Well, someone did," Apollo said, pointing to the side where two floating mechanical squids were working to repair some sort of troop carrier, even as the carrier flew towards them. The transport stopped, and dropped several shiny silver humanoids out.
"Cylons!" Starbuck cried, pulling his weapon.
"They're not Cylons," Apollo un-holstered his own weapon. "Everyone, back to the landram!"
Starbuck looked back as he ran with the others for the landram. Apollo was right, they weren't Cylons. While they were mechanical and chrome, these were not as bulky or as advanced as Cylons were, these looked more like artificial human skeletons, equipped for war with red glowing eyes. If one were to encase one in skin, it would likely be able to pass as human. Each one of them had a bulky pulse rifle that they wouldn't fire until they were in range. The mechanical monstrosities were making good progress crossing the shifting ground of bones.
By the time they reached the landram, the machines were already cresting the top of the hill, and opening fire. Energy from their pulse rifles were impacting on the ground around them, and thumping against the landram's armored plating.
Before climbing inside, Buck aimed with his pistol, firing off a laser that struck the lead machine, only to be refracted harmlessly away by its chrome surface. "Damn, this thing is useless." He threw his pistol on the ground, and climbed inside as the landram started moving off.
Starbuck saw the effectiveness of Buck's attack. He quickly climbed up into the turret, but instead of using the turret laser, he leveled his own pistol at the machine. The muzzle of his laser flashed with light, and the chest of the machine exploded.
The next few minutes were tense, with the landram being driven at full speed, with everyone glued to a window, on the lookout for any signs of pursuit.
"Its all right now," Dr. Theopolis said, "the shutdown command has been issued."
"Theo," Buck turned on the disk shaped computer, "I've had it with distractions, diversions, non-answers and threats… I want—"
"The Holocaust that destroyed your world," Dr. Theopolis said, "was not the result of the East/West conflict you assumed. The United States of America and the Soviet Union found a sort of peace, and ultimately the Soviet Union dissolved, but mistrust remained, and development of defensive systems continued to advance, becoming ever more sophisticated. Finally, the Skynet system was developed… I computer system designed to improve and coordinate the entire defenses of your entire nation, and its allies."
"I heard about the development of a Skynet before I left… part of the Star Wars program," Buck said.
"Skynet became self-aware, and as part of a preemptive strike against those it saw as it's true enemy, it assimilated the armed forces of every nation, and Judgement Day began. The humans were harder to eradicate than Skynet originally expected, and new methods were continuously being developed to destroy humanity. Terminators were developed to infiltrate human strongholds, but each time the war was about to end, the humans managed to find a way to survive or turn the tide in their favor."
"But why are you helping us now?" Buck asked
"I'm coming to that. In one attempt to wipe out humanity, Skynet blackened the sky, so that your food supply would die out. In another, time travel was developed in an attempt to kill your leaders before they could pose a threat, but the humans countered by hijacking the machine and sending back their own agents.
"This time war attracted outside attention; a visitor arrived from another place and time. Skynet was impressed by him enough that a version of Skynet built its own Terminator body based on his appearance. This visitor, altered the structure of the neutrino flow within our nuclear reactors, poisoning Skynet's power supply. An alternate source of power was required." [this refers to a story attached to a picture in my flickr account]
"An alternate source of power?" Wilma asked.
"The power loss caused the Skynet program to fragment into billions of smaller, but equally self-aware programs. They were able to arrive at a solution. Humans were harvested, and plugged into the machine so that the electrical power of the human brain could power the system."
"That is sick," Buck said.
"It was necessary, and as a result your species survived, as well as mine," Theopolis said. "The humans were made comfortable, living their lives in a computer-generated matrix that simulated life before the war. Most of the Council Members were programmed during this time, fulfilling one role or another, either maintaining the System, or the Matrix itself."
"What changed?" Apollo asked.
"What do you mean?" Buck asked Apollo.
"They went from hunting and harvesting humans to trying to help you rebuild your society. What caused that change?"
"On this, I can speak from firsthand knowledge," Dr. Theopolis said. "There was an incident... within the Matrix that, if unchecked, could threaten the System. One of the free humans who could manipulate the Matrix offered to help in exchange for peace between our peoples.
"I met him, once, when I was very new, while I was being smuggled out of the System and into the Matrix. He was a lot like you, Buck. Brave, and handsome, risking death for those he loved… he didn't have your sense of humor. He helped save the Matrix and the System, and I found a purpose programming sunsets… although I only do that now as a hobby."
"That is why the Council has been helping us rebuild our civilization? As part of that peace pact?" Buck asked.
"That is correct," Dr. Theopolis said, "and our two civilizations have been co-existing ever since. The council is afraid that the arrival of the Colonials will disrupt the balance we have both worked so hard to achieve."
"That's not how I see it," Apollo said. "Your council may have helped some, but humans still remain firmly under their control, if not in some virtual matrix, then living as drones in the domed cities, doing whatever the computers tell them too. If your two societies were really co-existing, then shouldn't the humans be ruling themselves?"
"We don't rule ourselves, because we can't be trusted to rule ourselves," Wilma said, "the pollution, and wars we had decimated the planet making it unlivable."
"That argument no longer carries any weight, considering Dr. Theopolis just told us it's all a lie," Apollo said.
The communicator in the landram chimed. Wilma turned the screen on, revealing the face of Dr. Huer on the screen.
"Dr. Huer," she cried.
"Colonel," Huer's voice was heavy and serious. "I have just been informed that an arrest and execution warrant has been issued against you and Buck for crimes against Humanity. What have you to say for yourself?"
"Dr. Huer, that's ridiculous," Wilma said, "I would never do anything against the best interests of Earth, or humanity. You know me!"
"I thought I did," Dr. Huer said, "but that was a long time ago." He cut the connection.