Entry – 2 part I

7th May 2355

I woke up pretty early in the morning owing to Husky’s howling. It was odd since the number of break-ins after the war were zero. What else can be expected when all of the population in the world has been obliterated. I was able to save a few and the civilization was not all lost. I went to the door cam to check and the sight was not soothing. A storm was brewing in the horizon and a storm could never be a good sign.

The last storm was a few months ago in erstwhile New Minnesota and it wreaked havoc for two whole weeks. We don’t have rainy storms anymore, there’s no humidity outside, for obvious reasons. The atmosphere had become very dense during the later part of the war. The results were disastrous. Humans, animals, plants, insects all started dying. There were massive piles of dead bodies, rotting away and no one to burn or bury those bodies. Governments were busy establishing their dwindling superiority.

The colder regions were the worst affected. Smog killed thousands every night till there were no more living left to die. The dead froze by the morning. All living entities would have choked or nuked to death if they had not been moved to an artificial environment. Some of us had seen this situation coming and had already built a huge underground vault in the then non-operational Cortez gold mine, artificially supplemented with plant life.

However, this vault was still restricted in size and only a few hundred could be settled. Although, there was something none of the brilliant minds could anticipate, these storms. Now, that the air was denser, all sorts of heavier particles floated around causing immeasurable damage to both living and man made. The storms just accelerated this damage exponentially.

I remember being outside the vault during one such storm, a hundred and fifty years ago maybe. I had planned a field trip to study the current environment for future reference. I had been searching for potential areas for a settlement for a long time but the radiation levels were still too high. It was during one of those runs, I was taking readings on my Geiger counter, when I saw the approaching storm from the corner of my eye. I packed up and ran inside a derelict high rise to save myself and my supplies. My next strategy was to hide in the basement which proved to be one of the best decisions in my life. These storms don’t just carry dust particles, they carry chips from stones and metal objects, whatever can float in the dense combination of smog and acid vapours.

The next morning, after the storm had died down, I thought to come out of hiding and finish the remainder of my task. The sight on ground shook me to my very core. Everything above the basement was ripped apart except the core steel frame with chunks of concrete that could not be ripped away. The rest of the area was ravaged in a similar manner and that was not the end. New crevices had formed and my Geiger counter spiked whenever I approached one of them.
I knew that day, our Earth was just one step away from the biblical end of days. Thankfully the war was over by that time as no one else was left to continue it. I returned back to the vault as soon as I could, the oxygen supply was running low.

To be continued…

We are not safe…

26th July 2355, 10PM

I can’t reiterate enough the significance of a glass of Scotch in the comfort of your favourite couch. I am just appreciating the peace my home provides me. Husky is sitting beside me, licking himself, something he hadn’t been able to do because of our “field trip” at Sergei’s compound. I was examining the wound on my left arm a while ago and decided to record the final details of our expedition. Minerva is no more, because of me. She got what she deserved. She screwed with Chronos, repercussions of which are never good.

As I had already mentioned in the last entry, I was waiting near the perimeter wall. Husky’s body cam covered quite a wide angle. He had entered the building through the same gates from which the murderous robots had come out. From what I could see, it was a huge training area for soldiers and completely empty at that moment. I didn’t let Husky get cocky even for a second. His safety was paramount. I commanded him to stick to the walls or large objects as much as possible and his cloak did the rest of the job. I looked around and found security cams in every corner of that war room. After roaming about for a while, Husky was able to find the exit. He crossed the two large doors to enter another large area. The long rows of plants told me it was a greenhouse. I wish I had more time to observe the area. The plants were nothing like I had seen before. Some of them were even responding to Husky’s presence. I asked Husky to keep his head low and move steadily. The greenhouse was really large and very weird even by my standards. Sergei was not as myopic as I had assumed. Not only that, this also meant he had lied to us. I knew something was wrong since the beginning of the journey. Sergei’s eyes didn’t sit right by me. I have never been someone to take such matters lightly. As soon as I had realised the fact that Sergei had again being deceptive I called Phil.

Phil responded to my call in his usual manner, “Yeah, speak.”

I said hastily, “send an assassin to Sergei’s cell ASAP. Patch me through the comm of that soldier.” On the other hand, I asked Husky to get out of the greenhouse and stay in a corner. I needed to show Sergei the level of torture I can dole out.

In about a minute Phil called me back, “I have sent the Jonas. He will reach in twenty seconds.” I had the visual and the audio soon. Sergei looked up at the assassin and said, “I don’t think you found what you imagined in the building” and he started laughing hysterically. Somehow, he managed to speak, “You all will die here. I led you to a trap. I am not Sergei. I am just another clone. You will never find the real Sergei.”

I was extremely irritated and I have had enough at that time. I said to Jonas, “Can you please break Sergei’s left elbow and use his left arm to slap his face.” Jonas answered,”with pleasure.” He walked towards the clone and ripped off his arm from his elbow, followed by painful howls from Sergei. Then he slapped the clone’s face as I told him. I asked Jonas to allow me to speak, “Sergei’s clone or whatever you are, as you can see, I am in no mood for frivolities. I’ll ask questions and for each wrong answer, this guy in front of you will tear off a part of your body. Are you ready?”

Sergei’s clone was still howling. I asked Jonas to slap him again, the same way but harder. The second slap seemed to work. The clone said, “Sergei isn’t a human anymore. He managed to transfer his consciousness to a supercomputer long time ago. He procured research data from all over the world and perfected cloning. Then he made clones with different physical capabilities and transferred bits of his consciousness unto them.” I asked Jonas to hit him again.

Sergei was taken aback, “Why are you hitting me now? I am speaking the truth.” I replied, “I just felt like it. Continue”

“I am just one of the supervisors. I was tasked with overseeing the siege of your city. As soon as Sergei learnt of our capture, he started planning for the next step. Bringing you here was a trap. He had evacuated the facility before you arrived here. All the non fighting clones have been shifted to the other facility. I do not know anything more about his plan. Sergei maintained a strict need to know basis with his subordinates. With the fast calculating power of the supercomputer, he has been unstoppable. The machines you encountered are hardly the most lethal ones. There are worse below the ground level.”

As soon as I heard the last part, I asked Husky to return back to me. It would be very stupid to go in unprepared. I asked Jonas to amputate another hand of the clone and cauterize the wound for misguiding us before. I contacted the city administration and asked them to be on the lookout for another attack. As soon as Husky reached my position, we doubled back to our base. I needed to talk to the clone one on one.

Within thirty minutes I was in front of the clone. Fortunately, the prison van blocked all kinds of outside communication. So, the real Sergei, wherever he was, would not be able to contact his subordinates. I sat down in front of him, looked into his eyes and said, “You know what I’ll do to you if you lie to me again. I have a bunch of amazing doctors. I’ll make sure that you are alive to feel every kind of pain I inflict on you and I will be very slow. So, for your own sake, don’t test me. What else have you kept from me?”

I could smell the clone’s fear. He spoke slowly, “Sergei would kill me as it is. I was a supervisor, a clone with a part of Sergei’s consciousness. I oversaw weapons research. There are five others like me. The real Sergei does not come out of his strongroom which is at the bottom most level of the compound. We don’t even know whether he is in human form. Nothing goes in and nothing comes out. The last communication with him was before I was transferred into this vehicle.”

I asked him, “How much does Minerva know about Sergei? What was her role in your organization?”

Sergei looked at me and spoke, “She knows about the cloning and about real Sergei. She was the offspring of two of the clones and for some reason she showed intellectual promise. So, Sergei trained her to be a field agent. She was not associated with research directly but she did procure a lot of data from the outside world. She reported directly to Sergei and I have not much information about her reports.”

I said, “Okay, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I stepped out of his cell and went inside Minerva’s. She was defiant as ever. I was in no mood to tolerate her antics. So, before she could even utter a syllable, I shot her in the knee. Her eyes showed surprise at first which quickly filled with pain and fear and she cried out loud. I injected her with a pain inhibitor which I had taken earlier from a medic. I spoke to her in a calm tone, “I will ask questions, you will answer. If I feel that you are lying, I’ll shoot again. Where can I find your reports to Sergei?”

She replied while sobbing, “They are stored in the memory chip in my head. It cannot be accessed externally so forget about it.”

I stood up, shot her in the head and got out. I stepped out of the prison van and approached Phil. He looked at me, shell shocked. I said to him, “There’s a chip inside her head. Remove it inside the van so that Sergei can’t access it.”

Phil looked at the van behind me and said, “You shot her in cold blood. You maimed that clone even after he spoke the truth. I never dreamt of seeing you like this.”

I looked at him and said, “Phil, there are things in my past which were way worse. It’s better that you don’t dwell upon it.”

There was no point in staying there. We had no idea about Sergei’s plans as of now, neither were we prepared. There’s no dishonour in falling back to fight another day. I made sure that Minerva’s dead body reached Sergei’s facility before we left.

The Attack on The Citadel

24th July 2355, 9 PM

We are almost there. Atmost another hour. It’s absolutely dark outside, the only lights are from our vehicles. I don’t remember the last time I saw stars twinkling in the sky. I wonder sometimes, whatever I am doing, is it really worth it? We, I mean me and the people who I work with, have indeed come a long way but at the cost of what? All I could see the whole day were dried up rivers and oceans, broken remains of buildings, fallen bridges which boasted of the engineering capabilities of humans. It’s ironic how humans themselves were responsible for the destruction of their proud creations. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any storm till now. Even a small one was powerful enough to topple us. We need to clear up the atmosphere soon if we want our civilization to progress.

I had expected the presence of some new species. Maybe because of the constant sub-zero temperatures nothing could thrive. There’s also a probability that there might be existence of organisms below the surface like the Scaloids(refer to Episode 16) but to ensure that we need to explore properly and now is not the time. The soldiers are chattering among themselves. The vehicles are slowing down. We have reached our mark, our camp which is surrounded by a bunch of worn down skyscrapers, keeping us hidden from the eyes of the enemies. The facility is about three hundred metres away from our location.

I hadn’t finished documenting the description of the facility. As far as Sergei had confessed, the levels of the facility above the ground were dedicated to researching brain control, AI, weaponry and other war machines. The levels below the ground served as living quarters for the clones involved in research work and other responsibilities.

10 PM

We have reached our destination. It’s an eerie feeling. Last time I was involved in something similar was more than two centuries ago. Still all of it seems to have happened just yesterday. I could feel my heartbeat increase thinking about it. The moon was hidden even on that night, the sky murky. Me and my team were to infiltrate a heavily guarded nuclear silo. Our actions were going to change the whole world and they did, not entirely to my calculations but the end result was almost the same. I was supposed to die that day but I didn’t. I had sincerely hoped for death as I am doing now but fate had more torture in store for me. Most unfortunate I’d say though I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have any reason or wish to live but I couldn’t die. Let’s see if I get to die today. These people can take care of themselves after this facility is destroyed. No, I can’t die. I have Husky to take care of. I can die after he dies. Time to move out.

25th July 2355, 5AM

Still living, not without a few scratches though. Didn’t get those in a long time. The singeing feels nice somehow. Right now, I am waiting to regroup with the others near the entrance of the facility. Last night was long and bloody.

At about 10 o’clock last night, four stealth drones were sent to the citadel for reconnaissance. Our information checked out. It was best to take out the mortar teams first. That meant we had to go in as soon as the first mortar team was struck. Two of them were just behind the first entrance of the compound on either side. The assassins were divided into two groups and their job was to take out the sentry guns and the guards posted on the minarets starting with the ones at the entrance.

After taking out the first two guns, they were to move out in opposite directions along the outer wall and take the rest of the sentries out. Of course, disconnecting the sentries from the main command was not an option. No one inside the compound could be allowed to witness anything which could raise even a single eyebrow before the Phantoms struck the compound. So, the only way was to take out the guard first and then disable the firing and receptor mechanisms keeping everything else intact. However, a feedback loop needed to be placed which would relay the information that all the mechanisms were functioning normally. The assassins had a built-in hacking module in the abdominal region which could be connected to machines through an extensible wire.

Pressure sensors on the walls were a norm since much before the War, along with laser grids on the parapets. The laser grids were not a problem, the pressure sensors were. The Assassins were supposed to move along the outer walls towards successive minarets to avoid detection. Cloaking wasn’t going to be a problem. Each armed unit had its own cloaking drone which created a holographic image of the surroundings around the unit. It gave the least distortion possible and small black bodies on the drones rejected any form of thermal imaging. Climbing the minarets was the prime issue. Using jet pods would give away heat signatures. Airdrop was out of the question and even though the assassins moved on a cushion of air beneath their feet, the extra force of air during the climb could trigger the sensors.

The last trick in our books was to use electric turbines. The R&D department had introduced a feature in all the soldiers which facilitated the attachment of certain mechanisms externally. These apparatuses were to aid the soldiers in overcoming specific situations. The electric turbines could be fitted on the backs of our units as an add on. They were not very powerful and hence couldn’t exactly provide enough force to fly on command but they could provide enough power for the units to hover or slowly glide up. The air cushions on the feet and their hands would help maintain their position when they moved up along the walls. The fins built in their suits could help them glide on their way down.

As soon as the assassins were done with their job, the infantry units were to move in and deploy the explosives on the first entrance. The explosives would be timed to go off as soon as the first mortar team was taken out and we would go in.

Jonas and Nate decided to form two teams Jumbo and Mumbo, after the entry, each comprising of one machine gunner, three infantry units and two assassins. They would move again in opposite directions, taking out one platoon at a time. Stealth drones were to be kept hovering above the compound to keep an eye out for other enemy movement.

We moved out at 10:30PM. The broken down buildings loomed over us, silent, watching. Darkness spread out like an endless shroud above us, sudden gusts of wind trying to sway us from our path. The Assassins were leading the pack with me and Husky at the end. Phil had stayed back to monitor our movements and the drone video feed and relay relevant information back to us. I had enough time to upgrade mine and Husky’s suit before leaving the city. “Upgrade” isn’t the appropriate word here. The suit was converted into a small walking tank.

I had kept the inner lining since I was comfortable in it. I had attached a flexible blackbody mesh over it which absorbed any incoming or outgoing radiation. This modified suit could be worn separately or inside an armoured exoskeleton I had designed especially for these situations. The outer layer comprised of small plates made from Titanium Aluminium alloy. These plates were arranged like scales on a fish and could slide over one another allowing extensive maneuvers and certain other functions. The limbs were motorized with the joints augmented with hydraulic systems. These mechanisms amplified the wearer’s strength by a factor of ten under normal conditions and could be boosted by twenty five times for short durations. Though the boosters were needed to be recharged externally before they could be used again. The layer just below the exoskeleton consisted of a mesh of carbon nanotubes. These tubes could slide within each other to provide openings wherever required. The next layer comprised of all the weapons I had installed inside the armour. One reaper assault rifle and a smaller gun were fitted on both arms which could spring up and shoot when needed. Two sets of miniature missile systems with a payload consisting of aqua tabificus, that insanely strong acid we discovered, were installed on the shoulders. On one side of the back was housed a gattling cannon which used Piercer rounds and on the other side was a drone which could be used for reconnaissance. The mid back housed a powerful turbine which facilitated jumping to a height of thirty metres.

The head of the exoskeleton housed an onboard computer which controlled all the mechanisms of course with a manual override. It could also store a data of over ten petabytes and feed the information visually or through audio. The eyes of the armoured suit had targetting systems along with thermal imaging and a certain level of X-ray vision. Husky’s suit had similar upgrades but with only the gattling cannon as the firing weapon. Husky could operate the mechanised jaws built in his suit though the rest of the systems were AI controlled with the override in my command. I did what I could as preparation for battle but I had never faced such a conflict before. Fighting the Scaloids was different. They were primitive and lot less in number. Our current adversaries were humans and we weren’t sure about their numbers but we knew it would be more than hundred not to mention the mechanical units at their disposal. If we lost this battle, the enemy would attack the city and without proper leadership the city could fall. Failure was not an option.

To be continued…

The Supposed Future of Humans

22nd July 2355, 12 noon

We are ready for another journey but it’s different this time. Me and Husky are not the only ones traveling this time. We’ll be accompanied by a dozen mechanical humanoid soldiers, Phil, Sergei and Minerva. Of course Sergei and Minerva will be in separate isolated compartments. We had to design two different vehicles for this purpose not to mention the new soldiers. Three Rhinos, two panthers and about half a dozen Bulls were going to tail us. Air support which consisted of five Spectres and two Revenants were put on standby.

The armed unit manufacturing facility had been continuously working to produce stronger versions of the units. Sergei’s tank was being studied to understand the working of its shield. The administration didn’t want to take chances anymore. I am glad that they understood the gravity of the situation before there was any major damage. From damage, I forgot to mention our dome was repaired to its full capacity. Coming back to the topic, our arsenal was being enhanced continuously. The next time we have a meeting, I’d discuss expanding the city for our new establishments.

The humanoid soldiers were designed according to different needs. The weapons were built in, and the design of the body was based on the type of weapons a soldier handled. We didn’t induce any sniper unit since we already had the Panthers. The type of units designed were:

A. Assassins: Close combat units, armed with two katanas, one fitted with each arm. Those katanas could rotate about two orthogonal axes and the added rotation of the arm gave it immense flexibility. These units were further outfitted with a pair of shotguns, one on each shoulder. These shotguns could rotate about the horizontal and vertical axes and used shells which contained pellets that exploded upon impact. These units moved on a cushion of air to minimise the sound produced during motion.

B. Infantry: These units were outfitted with two built in assault rifles which used piercer bullets for ammunition. They operated mid range to short range combat and could be used in almost any situation. Additionally, they carried remote explosives that deployed a semi solid form of aqua tabificus upon detonation. This could help us immensely if the need to destroy something arised.

C. Heavy machine gunners: These were the largest of all units, almost half the size of a bull. Each of their arms contained a multi barrel machine gun firing about 100 rounds per minute. The guns were housed under a tapered casing. The main role of the casing was to cool the gun. The cooling mechanism operated by passing a coolant over the barrels which evaporated reducing the overall temperature of the gun and the gases were exhausted through four vents in the casing. The ammunition used were larger versions of Reaper bullets. The legs of these units were made appropriately large to provide balance during movement and while firing. However, while firing, two supports emerged from the back and provided added foundation to handle the recoil of the guns. Their range was enough to use them as mini artillery units.

I had requested for two machine gunners, six infantry units and four assassins to accompany us. All of the units had AI and their behaviour modified based on their experience. Phil was telling me that the programmers had included humour in these soldiers to create a more realistic environment. No, I don’t get it. What’s the need of humour among killing machines? I just hope that they do their job right. We will leave in two days. The robots need some training apparently to gain some perspective in teamwork. Me, Phil, Husky and the soldiers were supposed to go in an armoured personnel carrier, Magnus, similar to the Unmanned Probing Vehicle but larger in size to carry at least twenty people. It was much slower than the UPV because of the additional armour which also made it sturdier. It also had the same self defence mechanisms which I had employed in my car.

Sergei’s car Azai, well it’s more of a prison van, also unmanned was little smaller. It’s interior was designed to carry a total of six prisoners each in an isolated cell. Every cell was cutoff from the outside including sound proof walls, with a built in camera and microphone. The inside of the walls had screens to give the prisoner a simulation of the outside. The sound of the vehicle moving was channelled to each cell. This environment was to keep the occupant calmer and thus less susceptible to harming his own self. Of course the walls were coated with protègo for obvious reasons. Sergei didn’t know that Minerva was absolutely fine and we intended to keep up the ruse till we reached our destination. That’s why, it was best to put Sergei inside his cell and secure him first followed by Minerva. It’s late. I’ll sleep now. Gotta make some preparations tomorrow before we start for the trip.

24th July 2355, 10 AM

Sitting inside the Magnus presently. We started about two hours ago. Minerva almost succeeded in creating a ruckus. She was hell bent on seeing Sergei before getting on the van. She had to be sedated finally. Sergei was for some reason very calm. Didn’t sit down well me. What’s even more irritating is the constant chattering among the soldiers. The training did give them a better perspective on combat but at the same time they developed bonding among themselves and now they are cracking jokes in mechanical voices. I have absolutely no idea how do they even recognise who is whom. I think one of them is calling me.

Yeah, it was their team leader, an assassin unit. I heard, “Hey chief! What’s up with the gloomy face? You ain’t happy traveling with us?” I saw Phil chuckle, I was little embarrassed.

Phil quipped, “Don’t mind him guys. Smiling isn’t his cup of tea. You carry on with your conversation. It’s entertaining.”

The team leader said, “Thanks man. I am Jonas by the way. This is my second in command in infantry Nate. Fellas, don’t be a chum and introduce yourselves. And make nice with the chief or else he will tear you apart.” And he laughed in that nasal cracked voice. Phil nodded, “You got that last part right Jonas. The chief can tear you apart.”

Jonas was taken aback,”Dayyummnn man!! We got a solid chief. Fellas, start talking.”

The rest of the assassins spoke in unison, “we are the three musketeers but instead of muskets we carry katanas and shotguns apparently.” Then the one in the middle spoke, “this one to my left is Athos, the one to my right is Aramis and I am Porthos. We intend to start a revolution. I have a question for you chief,” as I nodded with a faint smile, Porthos said, “why weren’t we given assault rifles like Nate and his team? You think we can’t handle those little weapons or are you too scared of the revolution?”

I started grinning at this point,”You are sarcastic little mugs aren’t you? You want to start a revolution because you are the musketeers? How old are you?”

Porthos sounded embarrassed now, “Me and Aramis are five days old I guess. Athos is the youngest. He was born two days after us. Don’t kill us please.”

“Don’t worry. I am not entirely heartless. Well musketeers, your weapons are as important as the others. Your role is in close combat and sometimes stealth. I hope your shotguns aren’t very loud. Assault rifles aren’t accurate enough for close combat purposes and hence only infantry units carry them. Are you satisfied now?”

Porthos grinned, “Yo chief, peace.”

They went back to their chattering and I took report of our prisoners. Minerva had tried banging on the walls but upon seeing no effect sat down. Sergei was enjoying the view outside. His face was calm, I couldn’t understand why. We had about twelve hours of journey left. The facility was about two hundred kilometres from the bunker Minerva had taken me to.

As per our information, it was a fortified compound with a 2.5 metre thick and ten metres high outer concrete wall enclosing an area of about ten square kilometres. Minarets, each about twenty metres high, were built in the wall at a gap of five hundred metres. Those minarets housed automated turrets. A guard was posted with each turret. Platoons of armed clones were posted in different pockets for added security. Some of the clones also operated mini nuke mortar systems. These mortars as per our knowledge had a range of about seven kilometres. There were a total of eight mortar teams. About one kilometre behind the outer wall, started the inner wall of same thickness as the outer wall. The area near the central building which happened to be the manufacturing facility was used as training grounds. The main facility started five hundred metres behind the inner walls whose entrance were a pair of blast doors. The central area of the facility served as the army barracks. Surrounding the barracks rose the main research and development facility. This facilitated fast deployment of troops if the complex came under attack. Every nook and cranny inside the building was under AI surveillance coupled with automated short range high power laser guns. The building was segregated into five levels, three above the ground and two below. Each level had sections for specific purposes. Will continue later. It’s time for lunch apparently. Few more hours and we will reach our destination.

To be continued…