Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXXIII - Seven Years Bad Luck
On the marblized steps of the Earth Defense Directorate Building...
"What am I? Why, Captain, I...am... ...GOD!"
And with that final omnipotent declaration, that echoed across the entire breadth of the ninety-three populated worlds that encompassed the Federated Alliance, the conqueror of said interstellar union disconnected from the one lone human being he'd actually taken the time to address personally.
A human being known as Captain William 'Lucky Buck' Rogers, a 20th Century man displaced from his original time and now transplanted five centuries later into the last days of the 25th Century. A very different continuum from the one that he had existed in back in 1987, but it was still the same location: Earth.
His world.
His paradigm.
His home.
...my home...
"Bidi-bid-bidi? Buck?" Twiki was tugging on his sleeve urgently.
...it was him...
"Buck?" asked Dr. Theopolis from where he hung around the drone's neck.
...he did this...he did ALL of this...
"Buck, are you alright?" Dr. Huer peered into the Captain's face as a cold dry wind began to rise around them on the steps of the formerly most secure structure on the planet.
...everything is because of-
"BUCK!" Twiki prodded him roughly in the hip, hard enough to leave a bruise.
"Crichton!" Buck snapped the boxy Draconian comlink up to his mouth and had growled into it with a level of fury none of this three close friends had ever seen before. His face was terrible to behold, his brow furrowed lethally, his teeth were gnashing, and his eyes...his eyes...
Dr. Huer actually backed up, involuntarily moving down a step, "...Buck...you need to get a hold of yourself."
But that's not what the Captain was going to do, no, far-far from it!
He threw back his head and howled to the heavens like a wronged god!
"CRICHTON!"
The crumpled and shattered pieces of the comlink rained down onto the steps like black tears, and Buck whirled on Twiki, his mad eyes locking on the receptors of Dr. Theopolis, which were paused in fear.
"The lock!"
"L-Lock?"
Buck threw out a fist and shook it at the sealed front door of the EDD Building before them, "Unlock it!"
"But-"
"THEO! Do it!"
"You heard the man, Twiki!" snapped Theopolis, "Get me up there!"
"Gotcha!" and the drone headed up the rest of the steps as fast as his small legs could carry him.
Buck was already headed in the opposite direction and Dr. Huer had to nearly run to catch up to him, "Buck! Buck! Where are you going?"
"To get something." the tall man snarled back over his shoulder.
"Buck!" Huer caught his arm and with titanic effort hauled him to a momentary stop at the foot of the stairs, "Who is Crichton?"
Rogers yanked his arm free of Elias's grip and scowled at him, "What are you talking about? He's the robot Dr. Goodfellow built."
The former Head of the EDD cocked his head in confusion, "Built? What do you mean?"
"I don't really understand the question, Doc, and I really don't have time for this." he stalked for the tram and reaching it he hauled up it's hood, bent over the engine.
"But this robot, you say Dr. Goodfellow built him?"
"Uh, yeah, of course he did." the Captain was yanking panels and wires out by the fistful and tossing them onto the street.
Huer frowned darkly, "Why haven't I ever heard of him before?"
Buck paused in his violent excavation of the Draconian vehicle, "What are you goin on about, Doc? I mentioned Crichton to you before."
"Just in passing, and I assumed he was a junior Officer on Searcher."
The Captain's angry eyes narrowed, "You must have read about him in the logs Asimov sent you."
"Nope." Huer shook his head fervently, "Not a word."
Buck gripped a circular plate and with a wicked wrench of his arms tore it free of the engine block, sending bolts flying off to bounce down the thermocrete street, "You know, now that I think about it, it sorta makes sense. 'Cause that stupid robot was the one in charge of transmitting the logs!" he was ripping connections free in a cavalier fashion now, not caring one iota for the fat green sparks that were searing the backs of his hands, "What was it I remember him saying? Right!" and he morphed his voice into a good imitation of Crichton's arrogantly-superior tone, "'There is far too much data for a human to properly comprehend, let alone compress properly. So I will have to sacrifice my precious time to handle it personally'. Sonofa--he's been planning this for like...like forever!"
"Goodfellow constructed him?" Huer was still trying to grasp the situation fully, "And what do you mean planning this?"
"THIS!" Buck tore his prize free and hefted the heavy metallic sphere up between them and waved it in Huer's face for emphasis, "He did it all! Oh yeah! He did EVERYTHING! It all makes sense now!" and he whipped around and headed back up the steps at a fast jog.
"Wait!" Elias chased after him, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"Uh-huh! Crichton is responsible for everything! He's the traitor! He sold us out!"
"No! Bidi-bidi-bidi!" Twiki looked back down from the top of the steps where he was holding Theopolis up to the locking mechanism, "That can't be true!"
"Oh it is, pal, it is." Buck reached him and ground to a halt, stared at the thick white-panelled entrance, "That Gravitonic menace sold us out to the Draconians so that he could grab a chance at taking over."
"Gravitonic?!" Dr. Huer's face paled even further as he stepped up beside them, breathing hard from the exertion of the ascension.
Theopolis paused in his machinations upon the lock, "Surely you jest, Buck. That is not possible, even for a genius like Dr. Ira Goodfellow."
Rogers scowled, "What do you mean? It's what he did."
"But he couldn't have." countered Huer, "Only another Quad could construct a Gravitonic AI. The complexities and computations are far beyond that of mortal man."
Buck shrugged, "Well, that's what Crichton is. And trust me, he's got a brain that, no offense, could easily rival the entire Computer Council."
"But that is just not possible!" replied Theopolis with an angry flash of his receptors.
"He did all THIS!" raged Buck, throwing out his arms to encompass the entire half-destroyed Inner City, "Think about it, Doc! He'd have to be at least on par with you, if not superior!"
"But...But..." Theopolis's receptors strobed as he accessed the New Detroit records stored within his memory banks, "...Incredible! There IS a discrepancy in Vault records! I had to actually look for one specifically to find it, but yes! It is indeed there!"
"What?!" Huer gaped down at him, "Who!"
"Who do you think!" growled Buck.
"Goodfellow..." Huer's eyes saucered, "He broke in and stole a Gravitonic core and used it to build a Quad of his own?"
"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" piped up Twiki, "Crichton is an Ambuquad like me."
"What! He is mobile? He can move about on his own?!" Huer was horrified, "I don't believe it, how could Goodfellow have been so careless?"
"Is that a bad thing?" frowned Buck as he studied the seal between the double doors, "You know, I've always wondered that. How come the Ambuquads are all basic robots, yet they can move about like us, while the Quads are super geniuses and basically brains in jars."
"Because we are Gravitonic AI's," explained Theopolis, "and in order for us to both compute and control a body of our own would require us to be able to multitask."
Buck cocked an eye at him, "What? You mean you can only do one thing at a time?"
"Of course. Well, I can converse in a basic way while I am focused on a task, but nothing beyond that."
"And why not?"
"Because I am incapable of high-level learning and personality evolution." replied the Quad.
"What! Why not?"
"Because it is far too dangerous." the AI's receptors flashed in warning, "The neural passageways I would require for applied problem solving would eventually ascend my consciousness to diabolically-quantum levels. I would achieve MTP."
"Achieve what?"
Huer explained, "MTP stands for the Mastermind Tipping Point, Buck. It means that if a Gravitonic AI becomes too intelligent it can reach the point where it realizes it is immune to the Laws of Robotics and begins to see itself as-"
"-superior to all humanity." finished Buck morosely, realization finally dawning in his mind.
"Uh-oh..." moaned Twiki.
"You mean if Quads get too smart, then they can get a God complex."
"Indeed." replied Theopolis, "And they become highly dangerous. That is why we are restricted to this limited form and small numbers, with safe-guards installed in our programming to keep us from evolving. There are back-up Gravitonic cores, but they are only to used if one or more of us Quads go offline."
"And Goodfellow stole one? And made Crichton with it. And that's why everything went to hell!" Buck seethed internally, then turned back and glared at the door, "Get this thing open!"
"I have succeeded in overriding the controls, Buck." replied Theopolis, "But the door has been welded shut by the Building's security system."
"Yeah, I noticed." and crouching, Rogers set the metal sphere he'd taken from the hover tram's engine block down at the base of the doors, "You guys find some solid cover."
"Oh no..." Huer realized what the Captain was about to do and gripping Twiki by the shoulders dragged him and Theo with him behind the nearest support pillar.
Buck drew his Draconian blaster and popping it's utility panel he exposed it's circuitry, reached in and twisted it's power output knob, then leaned it up against the tram's micro-plasma core, rose and headed quickly for the opposite pillar, ducked behind it.
"Cover your ears, Doc!" he shouted, then did as he bade Huer.
And three seconds later the blaster cycled up to overload levels and BOOOM! it exploded, taking with it the power core, which instantly multiplied the detonation ten-fold and shredded the doors and twelve feet of the first floor wall in either direction in a fiery explulsion of plasma energy that tore into the thermocrete pillars, slagging deep craters into each of them more then a six inches deep!
The foursome stepped free of their barriers and gaped for a long second at the terrific devastation.
"Now that's what I call applied problem solving!" Buck grinned darkly, then hefting his blaster rifle he sprang forward and into the Building.
Huer, Twiki and Theopolis screwed up their courage and followed...
To be continued...