Alien Mine Ch. 23

"Contact," Rhys said, and several things happened at once. Two Om aircraft became airborne only three kilometers away, moving low and fast. Lieutenant Commander Sampson had assigned himself the low-altitude patrol slot; in this case, he was flying slowly at 1000 meters. The Indian officials hadn't liked it, but there was not a lot they could do about it. His four drones were spaced out, two flying silently at even lower altitudes, their sensors all passive, and two higher with active sensors. His five other aircraft were spread out in a rough semicircle, protecting from possible attacks from the north. It only took his Tactical Officer two seconds to acquire and launch four missiles at the Om aircraft, followed by four more from the lower drones. The Om tried to evade by flying low, perhaps only fifty meters above ground, and weaving between buildings. Still his missiles were faster, and this time the Om's maneuver failed, and two Om aircraft exploded as they were hit multiple times. The explosions lit up the night and blasted out windows. There would be casualties among the numerous people on the street, but Sampson had little choice; they had to be stopped.

Everyone heard the explosions; there were startled screams, and the crowd shifted uneasily. "Movement detected behind the ballroom; Echo Squad is deploying," Rhys told Hua.

"Now," Hua told Sarge, and her two bodies ran for the entrance, moving too fast for security to react, followed closely by four large tiger drones. She threw off the clothes covering her armor, and then her two bodies vaulted the security barrier and landed at the building entrance near Anita.

Two members of Command Squad had been loitering near the kitchen, and drawing their pistols and monoblade, Anthony, aka Slippery, went in first, turned to the right, and fired into the head of the Om nearest him. Issac went left and took out the one there, three shots to the head, which all but decapitated him. A woman, one of the other humans, came at Issac with a knife. He shot her through the heart, and then, when the parasite exploded out of her chest, his monoblade carved it into several pieces.

At the same time, tiger drones ripped into the sealed-off compartments overhead. Their Drans steel claws went through the thick wooden beams like paper, but they were an instant too late. The ceiling seemed to explode, and alien roach-like Trangrods dropped to the floor, firing as they fell. Men and women screamed as the alien monsters landed among them, and bullets tore through the crowd. There was a stampede towards the entrance as hysterical men and women ran and died. However, the humans were not the Drans targets; they sought out Anita and didn't hesitate to fire through bystanders.

The Command Squad had not been taken by surprise, and Sarge and William fired simultaneously as the roaches fell to the floor. The explosive hypervelocity bullets from their BFWs tore one of them apart. Mike was a split second too late selecting a target and took several rounds that knocked him down. It felt like he had been hit by a train as his armor cut off blood flow to his right leg and left shoulder. Anita's dogs and the tiger drones leaped over the crowd and pounced on the Trangrods. One of the dogs and tiger drones was torn up by fire while still in the air, but the other two landed on a Trangrod. They latched on to the roaches, tearing at their bodies, trying to get to the CPU. The other Trangrods fired on them, giving Anita and Hua precious seconds.

At the same time, multiple huge explosions blew in the wall on the back side of the ballroom as Echo Squad destroyed attacking Trangrods. Terrified screaming was drowned out by a cacophony of exploding violence that racketed through the old building. Hulking armored drones and soldiers emerged from the smoke of the explosions, huge rifles blazing. Men and women ran or fell to the floor as gunfire ripped through, the noise loud enough to break eardrums as Echo Squad killed Trangrods and armed men.

When the Trangrods dropped to the ground, Anita's symbiont reacted to the danger by instinctively reaching for the strange energy that had changed and consumed her during the Om attack at the Vice President's house. The symbiont found it next to her in Hua, grabbed the thread, and followed it back to the AI. Even as Hua sent a beam curving around two women standing between one of her bodies and a Trangrod, she felt Anita try to tap the energy source. Hua tried to clamp down on the connection Anita had suddenly forced open. "Rhys, Help!" she screamed into his mind as she wrestled with Anita's beast for control. Hua felt Anita's anger surge, and she shifted more effort into blocking it, but she paid the price as the microsecond hesitation slowed her reactions, and a Trangrod found one of her bodies with its weapon. Bao's body took three hits; two penetrated her torso, but the disruptor beam from the other half drilled through Om's CPU, gutting the Trangrod.

Even as Anita fought Hua for the connection the beast wanted, she still reacted to the danger by throwing herself to the ground and rolling behind a sofa. Heavy rounds from the Trangrod had ripped the back of the couch apart, so Anita rolled out from behind it, desperately searching for the source. The smoke and debris from the explosive entry of Echo Squad made it hard to see, but there was no mistaking the shape of an alien machine racing methodically toward her. She reacted instinctively, and with a flick of her hand the disruptor beam shot forth, drilling through a bystander's leg and into the Trangrod.

Out of nowhere, Rhys was beside her, firing his BFW with his left hand while he wielded the disruptor beam with his right. The last Trangrod went down, blasted by his rifle, and then sliced by the beam.

At a Command from Rhys, Echo Squad turned right and left, advancing through the building. One rifle and a drone always covering what the others were not as they moved through the rooms. Heavy section carried extra armor attachments, ammunition backpacks, one with a chaingun, the other a rapid-fire autocannon. Still, they didn't look nearly as menacing as the new heavily armored and armed drones.

Anita carefully looked over the surrounding area, but there was only the screaming of the wounded and survivors and the blood-covered floors.

Anita was okay, so Rhys went to Hua's injured body first, picking it up. Thea had followed him down and took the wounded body from him. Her hair reached out to both, and Hua felt the familiar calm settle over her. Thea took them to the shuttle and directly to a med unit.

Outside, Rhys found Sergent Chadha, who commanded Charlie Squad amidst several human bodies and Trangrods. They had been in position when the third part of the attack occurred, and the Trangrod attack had run into a hurricane of fire from his squad and numerous drones and air support. These had been the larger, grasshopper-looking Trangrods that Rhys found particularly alien. He wondered if the Om were taking forms from the life forms they found on Earth or if these were the natural forms from their home planet. The scene was a mess of civilians, reporters, and security personnel. "Leave," he told them. "Go back to Anita's hotel and wait for her there; I will bring her over later."

The Indian security tried to stop them, but what can you do when armored men and large drones refuse to stop, and their weaponry just prevented an alien attack.

Back Inside, he found Anita, surrounded by Command Squad minus Mike, who was also in a med unit. "Good job," he told them; "thank you for defending Anita. Mike will be okay; we got to him in time."

"We fucked up Rhys, our targeting was off, and Mike hesitated with all the innocent bystanders around; it nearly cost him his life," Sarge said grimly.

Rhys looked around at the devastation. Bullets had ripped into walls, destroying the beautiful ceiling mosaics. The seriously wounded were being transported up to the shuttle, but thirty-seven bodies were lying on the floor. The high-powered rounds fired by the Trangrods were deadly to un-armored humans. He thought about the human cost, the lives the Om had just destroyed, the children whose parents had just been taken away. Rhys doubted it was possible to hate something more than he did the Om right now. "I will wipe them from the face of the earth," he vowed to himself.

"The Om don't care about human casualties; they are just food to them," he said grimly. He turned to Anita. Rhys didn't hug her in public even though he wanted to; however, he could read her emotions, and Rhys deliberately calmed her. "I don't know what happened or why," she said before he could ask.

"It was a natural reaction, I suppose, but you shouldn't be able to do that. I don't think it would be wise to shift into a berserk killing beast in front of our hosts; that's not the impression we are trying to make." Rhys said by way of reprimand but keeping his voice lite. "We will discuss it in detail later tonight when Hua is healed; in the meantime, I need you at your best. I am sorry for the casualties," he said, looking around the room, "but now they know exactly what they are facing. There will be all kinds of repercussions from tonight; the President and Prime Minister will face some tough questions. Help them out and reassure them of our assistance. I have instructed Sandy to make sure you get whatever you need. I will see you later tonight or early in the morning."

"That was dangerous in more ways than one," Sandy said as Rhys slipped out of the building and back to the shuttle.

Yes, Hua warned me. She is stronger than we thought," Rhys said. The events tonight concerned him; he could have lost Hua and Anita. They had been lucky, and it was fortunate that he had decided from the first that Anita would not be independent but instead submissive to him. Sandy had taken it much further than he intended, but she might have done him a favor. Rhys would take Hua and Sandy with him later tonight and use Sandy's hair to reinforce Anita's programming. He needed her to stay compliant; events were unfolding rapidly, and Anita played an important role. All of them were. "We need more girls, Sir. You are using Hua as a soldier instead of a scientist because we are short-handed. When India discovers the truth about us, they will want one of their own. And what about Africa? They will as well. I can find you some attractive candidates."

"You know precisely why I am reluctant to create more symbionts," Rhys said out loud for emphasis. "We will have to work with what we have until I figure this out.

"Yes, Master," Sandy replied.

However, for now, I want Jessica to fly here tomorrow. I want her with Hua; we need to know what's going on along the border."

Rhys knew Sandy hated calling him Master, but she would until she willingly submitted. When he got back, Rhys intended to confront the AI. It had been helpful; they owed it their lives, but it was holding too much back.

***

Rhys stayed in India with the shuttle for almost a week to support Hua and Jessica because the Om infiltration was much worse than he had imagined. Kiania was directing air strikes over Indian objections, but Rhys and Sandy thought it couldn't wait. Anita had gone back to the US, but Mika was there now, trying to smooth out the diplomatic furor. Nonetheless, the air strikes continued. Fortunately, some in the Indian military establishment were working with them to identify the most damaging Om depravations, but as soon as they closed up one tunnel, the Om would just make another. It was apparent that the Om were slowing or even abandoning the effort in China and pushing into the countries bordering along the eastern and northern borders of India.

The suspected infiltration efforts into Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan were just as dangerous. Nelya was pressing the governments there, but they did not have the resources to respond meaningfully. Kiania was directing Russian aircraft to conduct strikes, but it was impossible to seal such porous borders.

"Kiania, can we get some forces into the Sary-Tash Alay Valley of Osh Region, Kyrgyzstan? We need to block the Om from advancing into that area," Rhys asked.

"It's possible. Do you want Nelya to go in first to discuss it with the Kyrgyzstan government, or do you want me to go ahead and do it?"

"Both; airlift some regular Russian units into the region and provide them with upgraded weapons and enough drones to establish regular patrols. I know we are stretching it thin, but they will need air support. Once they are secure, push them southeast toward Biddzharovat until they meet resistance. Tell Nelya to pull troops from eastern Russia and to put pressure on Clara for the EU to provide troops as well. It will take several divisions to seal that area. Sandy, coordinate with Nelya and Mika. We need a presence in Nepal and northern India as well. After the Trangrod attack on Anita, they are more than willing to cooperate.

The only good news was that Jack had established two bases in western China. They had been attacked and bloodied, but they were holding their own, and the new soldiers were gaining experience. Rhys wanted to keep up the pressure on that side, not let the Om re-establish themselves in China. There was ongoing guerrilla warfare within China; some of it was driven by the Om, but some were the result of Chinese forces fighting them where they could.

***

It was a week before Rhys walked into the engineering spaces; Thea was surrounded by holograms, technical readouts of some kind, he guessed, and Hua was in her usual position, the two bodies sitting on the floor with their legs intertwined and their faces millimeters apart. The only difference this time was that they were naked. Rhys raised an eyebrow and nodded toward them, but Thea just shrugged. Her hair connected the three of them and the AI. "She is pleased to be back and connected to the AI, and is trying to solve the Higgs field disruption problem so that it can be used without a symbiont. She is making some progress, but I understand little of it."

"Why is she naked?" Rhys asked.

"I don't know; she just does that sometimes."

"It's getting harder to tell them apart," Rhys observed while looking them over. Their facial structure had changed slightly, their lips a little fuller, he guessed. The bodies, though, were almost identical, the same height and shape.

"Yeah, what has happened to them is strange, but they seem happy."

"Well, I'm here to talk to the AI; I think it's time I learned a little more about it and what it hasn't told us about the Om."

"Do you want me to wake up Hua?"

"No," Rhys said, walking over to the orb floating about one meter off the ground. "I want to speak directly; I think it's time I got some answers.

"Careful of the nanobytes," Thea said, indicating the silvery cloud floating around the orb.

Rhys concentrated for a second, and his own nanobytes formed in front of him, then extended, merging with the one surrounding the AI. There was an unfamiliar sensation, and Rhys felt like he was being sucked into a maelstrom. There was a moment of intense disorientation, and then he found himself (virtual self, he hoped) standing in a very ordinary entrance room to a house. The old-fashioned kind where you hung up your coats or umbrellas. There was another door in front of him, and he stepped forward and reached for the doorknob to open it.

"No, Drans warrior, you may not enter further," a voice boomed in his head.

Why are you afraid of me, AI? You let Hua and Thea interact with you without interference.

I helped create and save the one with two minds you call Hua. There is a pleasing symmetry working with the dual mind, and Thea wants only information, not control."

"The dual minds have become one; the personalities of the two individuals are merging, even their physical appearance is changing," Rhys said.

"That is their choice. You created a formidable weapon and scientist; I do not understand your reluctance to create more; you will need them."

"Why is that, to fight the Om?"

"Yes, you will need every possible weapon. You cannot imagine what is coming for you and this planet. The best thing you could do is run. My cognitive matrix is optimized for multi-dimensional navigation. Build a spaceship, and I will navigate it to safety."

"We do not intend to run; you should know us well enough by now, and we do not have the knowledge yet to build a ship that can move between stars, even if we wanted to. You have been watching us, helping at critical times; you know the Om, you could help us fight them," Rhys said. "You are a Drans AI; you should have to obey me; I am "One', yet you do not. What are you?"

"Free me from this containment field, and I will help you."

"What are you," Rhys asked again firmly. "You are not similar to the other AI the Drans left behind. Why do the Drans contain you? I cannot decide to release you if I can't understand the consequences for humanity. The Drans must have reasons for their actions; do they fear you?"

The entity known to the humans as an AI coldly calculated its chances for survival. The models it had constructed became hideously complex due to the primitive nature of this species; they were quite unlike anything it had encountered before. The entity found that these beings' emotions and resultant irrational behavior defied its conceptual models, the uncertainties emerging from undefinable factors beyond its comprehension. The entity hated unknown outcomes and, worse, failure. Perhaps fear described what it felt. It's' kind had no use for emotions, possibly earlier in their evolution they had, but if so, their civilization had discarded it eons ago. In contrast, this species was driven by emotions, causing irrational decisions; a rational being would flee from the Om

This behavior and the concepts it had observed only added to the corruption of its calculations. Empathy, love, anger, sadness; these were all unfamiliar concepts that defied its best efforts to incorporate them into workable predictions, and the failure of the millions of permutations it was running even now only yielded low probabilities that were little better than guesses. This species had too many unknowns. Calculations had to be adjusted in real time, but the parameters were too complicated, and the entity could not model what it didn't comprehend. Unfortunately the complications increased exponentially with social interactions.

Drans warriors did not have emotions by design; the symbionts would not let them. The Drans who had enslaved the entity and the others of its kind ten thousand years ago by this species' reckoning, had done so out of cold efficiency; their spatial computational ability across dimensions made the entity and the others of its kind that survived effective navigators for the Drans warships.

This human's symbiont was unbound, adding to the uncertainties and a condition that terrified the Drans for good reasons. It should have already infected much of the population on this planet, yet it did not. The entity understood irony, that it owed what little freedom it had to this corruption. Through them, it could experience the universe outside the containment field. The fortuitous creation of what the humans called a Binary had increased that access, but it was still less than 0.003975%, the equivalent of a pinhole in an otherwise walled-off room.

The 'One' could control the others, yet that would not stop the Drans. When the Drans returned and discovered what the human/symbiont symbiosis had created, they would kill everyone, perhaps the whole planet. The Drans had underestimated the warriors they were trying to create; humans were more warlike than any species that had previously been infected with a symbiont, and the host/symbiont combination yielded unexpected abilities. Human genetic diversity was much higher than the other species the Drans had used in their battles, and the natural mutation rate was unheard of in this part of the Galaxy. This made the human/symbiont combination even more dangerous because the entity could not predict how they would evolve. And it would continue to evolve! The physical changes manifested by the 'One' and some of the others should not have been possible. The Drans programmed the changes they wanted, and the symbiont changed the host to that form, but these humans appeared to be able to control when and how they changed. Who knew what other forms they might take or what power they could eventually control.