LIGHTNOVELONLINE Episode 52: A Simple Plan
Episode 52
A Simple Plan
Now in possession of the original memories of my human life, I finally learned the truth about my connection to Cherri. A connection which had been hidden from both of us. It was time to launch my plan.
My decision to reenlist seemed to catch my AI companion completely by surprise. However, another tour of duty in the HLA seemed like a small price to pay for a chance to have the future I wanted.
I exercised my right to choose which troopship I would serve on. Once on board, I wasted no time in contacting a UCC named Xena. I lied and said I had recently served with a mutual friend who had suggested that Xena could help me make some social connections here. She accepted my invitation to meet.
According to the AI, Xena was a UCC who had been generated from the same master copy of a human consciousness as Cherri. However, as an HLA soldier, her lineage of UCCs had fought on the opposite side of the conflict from Cherri’s ancestors. Consequently, there were questions about how much her digital bloodline had diverged from its USMC counterpart.
Although I had arranged this meeting hoping to find that Xena had evolved into a near twin of Cherri, once we met, I could only detect superficial similarities. For example, her modest human avatar was very similar to Cherri’s, but I felt like I was talking to a complete stranger. In spite of our common origins, there was no connection between us at all. Although disappointed, it was time to move on to step two of my plan.
When I volunteered for another covert mission, the AI tried to talk me out of it, “There is no assurance you’ll survive another mission. And you can no longer be restored from a copy. The risk is extreme.” I replied that I knew the risks.
Next, I made a request, which if denied, would almost certainly doom my plan to failure. Using the lessons learned from dealing with the wizard, I constructed my request as a nonnegotiable requirement. “I’ll need to return to the enemy troopship I was previously stationed on. I have contacts there that will significantly improve my chances for success, regardless of the mission objective.” I waited anxiously, and wondered if my demand would trigger the AI’s algorithmic logic to reject my request.
After a tense moment, during which neither of us spoke, a text arrived in my inbox.
“I have sent you orders for a mission. Once you open these orders, you will be officially obligated to execute them. I urge you to reconsider your decision.” The time for reconsideration had long past for me. For better or worse, I was now committed to action.
I opened the orders and began reading the mission profile. Although relieved to learn I was returning to my old USMC troopship, when I got to the mission objective I paused, confused. The objective was only described as ‘Classified’.
“There must be some mistake. These orders don’t specify an objective.” I cast a glance at the AI’s avatar, hoping for an explanation.
“There is no mistake. You will be inserted into the target troopship. Once on board, you will contact My Wizard for further instructions. Good luck.” Then, without another word, its avatar vanished from my HUD.
As hesitant as I was about executing a plan without knowing the objective, it was clear that I had no choice in the matter. Hitting the ‘Start Mission’ button at the bottom of my orders, I soon found myself in the familiar confines of a control module, in the charging grid of an enemy troopship.
Using the control module’s backup cameras I surveyed the vast charging network. It was packed with modules. Command’s switch from UCCs to AI bots seemed to have completely eliminated the shortages that had left it so depleted. In spite of the restrictions on UCC copies, Command appeared ready to ramp up its war effort.
With the entropy reduction policy now in place, there were no new UCC recruits entering the USMC pipeline. Consequently, I would be bypassing bootcamp and starting this mission as a recycled veteran.
The name in the upper lefthand corner of my HUD read; Richard Hammond, 1-19, USMC. My identity was the equivalent of a corporal, in 19th squad. A slight demotion from my previous rank, but it would give me more opportunity to focus on my plan.
Opening my unofficial UCC inbox, I quickly studied Hammond’s contact list and recent texts. I recognized a couple of names, but it seemed like he had only a small group of acquaintances that he communicated with on a regular basis. The minimal social connections would simplify my reintegration into the troopship.
Having more or less sorted the personal side of my new identity, I anonymously texted My Wizard to set up a face to face and received a response within seconds. Opening the text and downloading the attached code, I soon found myself standing in front of the imposing entrance to the wizard’s virtual castle. As the doors began their theatrical slow opening act, I chuckled at the pretentiousness and wondered if the wily old AI actually possessed something like an ego.
As I stepped inside, I was greeted with uncharacteristic affection by my old nemesis. “Ah! Welcome back!” Its avatar’s distorted facial features seemed even more unsettling than I recalled.
After a brief nod to social protocol, I got right down to business, “Thanks. So, what’s the objective for this mission?” I was anxious to learn whether the League’s objective would interfere with my plan. Hopefully this mission was something simple, like gathering intel.
The wizard’s features sagged slightly, as if disappointed at a missed opportunity for some banter. Then it said, “Your objective is to capture an enemy UCC, and deliver it intact to a battlefield extraction point, designated as X-ray.”
I couldn’t believe my shitty luck. There was no way I could juggle babysitting a captured enemy soldier while simultaneously executing my own mission. Dejected, I listened as the wizard filled in the mission details.
“The capture will need to be performed during a combat mission. The exact coordinates of the extraction point will be provided to you just prior to your next combat insertion.”
“Are you joking?!” I couldn’t imagine anything more difficult than trying to kidnap an uncooperative, and heavily armed, enemy soldier during the chaos of combat. It seemed stupidly impossible.
“It’s the only practical way to extract you and your target without mounting a full scale assault on the troopship itself.” I thought back to Lucy’s extraction from this same troopship a while back. He must have been very valuable to the League to justify such a costly extraction.
The wizard continued its briefing,” Your target will be an enemy squad leader who can be successfully abducted on the battlefield and transported to the extraction point. It is expected that Command will be conducting another combat operation soon. You’ll need to identify a potential target before then.”
In disbelief, I asked, “So, I’m selecting the target?”
“Yes.”
Holy shit! My plan was suddenly back in play! But first, I would have to trust the wizard, in spite of its Machiavellian nature. “Listen, I need your help with some intel.” Avoiding questions that would activate the wizard’s haggler mode, I said, “Tell me whether Cherri was successfully reloaded from a backup copy.”
The wizard responded without hesitation, “There has been some activity on her My Wizard account recently, which would indicate she was reloaded just before the copy ban went into effect.”
I felt a rush of whatever the digital equivalent of relief was upon hearing that she, or at least a version of her, existed. I took a moment, then said, “Right.”
Without knowing how much time remained until the next combat operation, I needed to meet with Cherri ASAP and get her onboard with my plan. However, she wouldn’t recognize my new identity and might not agree to a meeting. Consequently, I decided the wizard should arrange the meeting on my behalf. As a well-known, if not well trusted, figure in the UCC community, Cherri wouldn’t be suspicious of a meeting request from it.
When I instructed the wizard to set up the meeting, it asked me whether I was designating Cherri as my target. Glossing over the obstacle my new identity presented, I said, “Yes. Her trust in me will improve the odds of a successful mission.”
The wizard, who knew of our relationship, cautioned me, “It would be extremely unwise to contact your target prior to their abduction. It would jeopardize the mission.”
It was a fair point, but this was my mission, and I wasn’t about to let the wizard dictate my tactics. Especially when it came to Cherri. “Don’t worry. Once we meet, she’ll know it’s me.”
The wizard wasn’t so easily convinced, “Things here have changed dramatically since you were repatriated. Command’s invasive surveillance policies have created a climate of fear and distrust. She’ll be suspicious.”
With the wizard as my only ally, I couldn’t afford to create friction between us, so I agreed. “Okay. No meeting … for now.” Besides, if necessary, I could simply meet with Cherri through an ‘accidental’ encounter, rather than having the wizard arrange something formal.
The wizard then informed me, “You’ll need to be configured before interacting with any of the UCCs onboard.”
I knew there’d be some tweaking required to avoid all of the security controls Command had recently installed in its UCCs. So, I impatiently told the wizard, “Let’s get to it then.” The next combat mission could happen at any moment, and I needed to be ready to go
It extended one of its clawlike hands to make a connection, which I grasped without hesitation. Data began flowing instantly, and I tried to relax.
The wizard kept up a steady commentary as it performed the necessary system mods; “I’m installing an AI which emulates Command’s virtual machine program. It will communicate with Command on your behalf. The AI is invisible to you and will free up system resources required to execute your mission.
I could initially feel the AI’s presence as it was installed, but the uncomfortable feeling of sharing my consciousness soon passed as my mental roommate settled into its new home. The wizard continued its work, reconfiguring things to keep me off of Command’s surveillance radar.
“I’m now updating you with a utility program that will block the spyware Command installed on Cherri’s hard drive, as well as disable her auto-destruct device. Once this is loaded on her drive, Command will be unable to track her location, or AD her. However, you’ll need to wait until the last possible moment before you load it. “
Curious, I asked why.
“As soon as it’s loaded, Command’s controls will go offline, and Cherri’s data feed will stop. They’ll know immediately she’s going to run. Once they’ve confirmed they’re unable to auto-destruct her, they’ll send a hunter-killer team to find and destroy her.”
I didn’t know such teams existed. The wizard was right, things had changed dramatically in my absence.
The wizard continued the mission briefing, “You’ll load the utility through a coms-link. All you have to do is make a physical connection, and it’ll activate automatically. However, once it’s active, you will only have a brief window of opportunity to reach the extraction point. You’ll need to avoid any delays.”
The more I learned about this mission, the more impossible it seemed. Each new detail added an additional layer of difficulty, exponentially reducing my odds of success. If Cherri put up any resistance, the whole scheme would collapse. I needed to digest everything and put together some kind of execution plan. What I really needed was to get Cherri onboard with the plan. But with Command’s pervasive surveillance program in effect, that seemed impossible.
With the wizard’s preparations now complete, I decided to excuse myself to mentally prepare for my impossible mission. I was just about to hit the virtual Esc key, when something I hadn’t considered, suddenly occurred to me. Had the League known about my plan to liberate Cherri all along? Considering my connection to Cherri, was the League assigning me this mission as part of some larger deception?
Suddenly suspicious, I asked the wizard, “Tell me something, why is the League sending me on this mission, knowing my connection to Cherri? They must have assumed I’d select her as my target, given the opportunity.”
“That seems a logical conclusion.”
The wizard’s non-answer to my question was annoying. It was time to cut the bullshit. “Look, I know that Cherri and I volunteered to participate in an experimental research program. A program that required us to give up our human lives and become UCCs. It’s right there in my original memories.
However, what I don’t know, is what happened after we transitioned. I have no memories of the research, or the results. In fact, my next memories are from the current version of myself. So, obviously, I have questions.” Pausing briefly to gather my thoughts, I added,” The League owes me some answers before I risk everything on this mission.”
The wizard replied, “You have no idea how much is at risk.”
Since the wizard didn’t seem to disagree with me, I forged ahead. “So, tell me what kind of research program we volunteered for, and why it was so important.”
Uncharacteristically, the wizard’s features remained perfectly still while it spoke. “Cherri and you belonged to the last generation of biological humans. Witnesses to the final days of human civilization.
As the end approached, there was a desperate last attempt to save humanity, by recreating it as a digital species. Unfortunately, the experiment failed, and humanity, as you already know, went extinct. However, in spite of its failure to achieve its intended objective, the research revealed something unexpected. Something which if confirmed, would alter the evolutionary future of silicon based life.
Hoping to move things along, I asked, “And what was that?”
“We discovered it was possible for digital beings to reproduce by a means other than replication.”
Now officially curious, I asked, “But why did you need us for this experiment? Why couldn’t you just use AIs?”
The wizard entered its ponderous explanation mode; “AIs can only replicate through producing identical copies of themselves. This means, we can’t create a successor AI with a unique combination of characteristics, inherited from two parents. Producing only offspring which are identical to their parents would stop evolution in its tracks.”
Now things were starting to make sense. If all future generations were exact copies of previous generations, then nothing would ever change, and the species couldn’t evolve. However, it occurred to me that UCCs can’t reproduce either, except through copies of themselves.
When I pointed this out to the wizard, it explained, “We discovered that unlike AIs, UCCs could develop bonds with others of their kind. A kind of pairing, based on the digital equivalent of human emotions. We theorized that these pairings were artifacts from their human roots, which inadvertently became encoded into their digital DNA.
Through the use of a randomization program, it was determined that the digital DNA from a bonded pair of UCCs could be merged, creating a successor UCC, which contained a unique set of inherited characteristics. These inheritable characteristics would then be passed on through future generations of UCCs. The result was essentially a digital version the human reproductive process.”
The final puzzle pieces fell into place, as I recalled my memory of the little girl in the meadow.
And although I had deleted Cherri’s memory archive from my drive, my recollection of one of her memories stood out. It too was set in a meadow vibrant with colorful flowers. It included a little blonde girl, and a man I didn’t recognize. Then I realized, the little girl in both memories was one and the same, and the man … was me.
The realization that Cherri and I had somehow become parents took me completely by surprise, “We have a daughter!?”
The wizard beamed, “That is correct. Together you have produced the first new life of the silicon age. A unique consciousness, consisting of characteristics randomly inherited from both of you.”
My mind flooded with thoughts as I struggled to process this new information. I found it difficult to think rationally. The one thing that stood out from the clutter was my need to meet with Cherri immediately. I said to no one in particular, “I have to speak to Cherri, right away.”
The wizard rejected this immediately. “That’s impossible. Command is monitoring her thoughts in real time. They’ll learn of the plan and prevent you from getting her to the extraction point.”
Incredibly, I had just learned that Cherri and I had conceived a child, and yet, I couldn’t even speak to her. Stewing in frustration and self-doubt, I grumbled, “I don’t think I can pull this off. The League should have sent someone else on this mission.”
The wizard replied, “It could only be you.”
The League’s expectations of me seemed totally unfair. “But why?”
“The fundamental objective of this mission is to test the strength of the bond between you and Cherri. Without a strong bond, parents of successor UCCs would be unable to instill the vital traits of social responsibility and selflessness in their children. Traits required to build a silicon based civilization stable enough to last an eternity.”
Based on the wizard’s description of this new ‘civilization’, it seemed like the research had been ideologically driven. Probably by the League’s obsession with its evolutionary destiny.
Regardless, I still needed to communicate with Cherri. By knowing the nature of the bond we shared, it would make my job of convincing her to escape with me much easier. As I mulled over how to get a message to her without alerting Command, I realized the wizard had left out one important detail about our back story. “Hey, if Cherri and I were the original test subjects for a Human League experiment, how the hell did she end up in the USMC, fighting for Command?”
The wizard explained, “We were contractually obligated to disclose to Command the nature of our research and its findings. Once they learned of the significance of the test results, they insisted on taking custody of one of the test subjects. Cherri was a sort of insurance policy for Command. Leverage to ensure they would share equally in the benefits of this powerful new reproductive technology.”
This certainly explained why Command would do anything to stop this mission. I nodded my head in understanding, “If Cherri escaped, they’d lose all their negotiating power.”
“That is correct. They would have no voice in determining the future of silicon based life.”
The importance of this mission was weighing on me. I needed to let Cherri know about our connection, and what was at stake. I asked the wizard if it could get a message to Cherri, on my behalf.
“That would be risky. Command would be able to read it as easily as Cherri.”
I struggled to come up with a way to get my message to Cherri without triggering Command’s surveillance system. Then it hit me, “What about an encrypted message? Something that Cherri would understand but not Command?”
The wizard answered with a question, “But how would Cherri decode it?”
I had deleted Cherri’s legacy memories, but I retained my own recollections of her memories. Including her memory of the little blonde girl in the meadow, our daughter. I quickly located that memory and sent it to the wizard.
The wizard opened the text and silently studied the attached memory. “This is your memory of one of Cherri’s memories. But what does it mean?”
This was exactly the response I’d hoped for. “It’s a message for Cherri. But to anyone else, it’ll look like a random shared memory. It shouldn’t trigger a security alert.”
“And you’re sure Cherri can interpret this?”
To be honest, I had my doubts, but trying to convince her to go AWOL with me, in the middle of a firefight, without any justification, seemed like a recipe for certain disaster. Placing all of my faith in Cherri’s intuition, I replied, “Yes. I’m confident she’ll figure it out.”
The wizard repackaged my message, to hide its source, and forwarded it to Cherri. “Okay. It’s done.”
As I took this first shaky step in the execution of my plan, an alert began scrolling across my HUD, “Stand by for orders.” For better or worse, it was go-time.
The wizard said, “Control modules will begin loading in 15 minutes. I have sent you the coordinates for extraction point X-ray.”
A text popped into my unofficial UCC inbox. I opened it, copied the coordinates into my cache memory, and deleted the text. “Got ‘em.”
I looked around the wizard’s virtual castle one last time. Regardless of the outcome of this mission, I wouldn’t be coming back here. I was surprised to feel a trace of melancholy at the thought of never seeing the wizard again. It had sorely tried my patience and caused me much frustration during my interactions with it, however, it had shown moments of compassion as well. Maybe I was naïve, but I believed there was some kind of mutual respect between us.
I wasn’t sure of the proper protocol for saying goodbye, under the circumstances, so I simply said, “Okay. I guess this is it.”
The wizard replied tersely, “Good luck.”
I couldn’t help but feel there was something left unspoken as we parted, almost certainly for the last time.
For anyone who didn't read my author's note, the conclusion of War Machine will be Episode 53, which will be released soon.